Irvingia gabonensis – new to my ears

I do not know how it is pronounced.  Is it ir*vin*ja or ir*vin*ya?  I don’t know but it’s good news for the obese and for people with slow metabolism.  A research study was made about the effect of irvingia gabonensis seeds which can be found here.  Results showed effects like weight loss that were accompanied by waist circumference and hip reduction, controlled blood pressure, and controlled cholesterol concentration and glucose levels.

Irvingia gabonensis is an African herb that has many uses from its bark to its kernel.  It is a new discovery that can be worth the try.  Still, if one is interested, it is vital that further research must be done.

Teen Addiction

One of the scariest things that haunted my mind when my children were still young and in their primary years was the possibility that they can one day get into drugs.  Just like any other parent, I was very afraid of the odds that one of my children will undergo teen rehab.  Though I know that I worked very hard in establishing my relationship with the kids, in instilling values to their young minds, and in reproving the wrong deeds, I was truly alarmed of the world outside our home.  We know for a fact that there are other people aside from family that the children get to communicate and share their thoughts with.  And I know that being a good parent is not guarantee.

Teen drug statistics are escalating.  News from all over the world shares the dim world of young people being dragged and drugged.  It may sound a relief to know that a minor is only going to a teen alcohol rehab or a teen marijuana rehab.  But just the same, they are forms of addiction.  Dependence of a teenager on alcohol and marijuana is not a lesser predicament to deal with.  But I am just so glad that my children hated the idea of being an addict.  I am a triumphant mother to see that until this day and age, my children did not resort to any form of craving for the unwanted chemicals.

In relation to this, I feel so sad seeing the son of a neighbor who came back from a mental institution.  I heard that he was into drugs when he was a teenager, when someone he liked rejected him.  Being poor and uninformed, the parents did not even bother researching for teen addiction info which I believe will help ease their burden. Or maybe they do not even care at all.  The growl of the stomachs are probably more demanding than the need to give their child medical attention that would really require money.

News: Edwin Valero and Manny Pacquiao’s Match no more

When I reached home today, Papsie asked me if I know Edwin Valero.  I have no idea I told him.  Then briefly, he told me that he was the boxer that was supposed to be matched with Manny Pacquiao in the boxing arena in the future.  I was told that he committed suicide inside his prison cell after killing his wife.  That was shocking.

Papsie continued that he learned that Valero is involved in drugs and alcohol abuse.  How come he gets to fight if he is, was my question.  I mean, he was not simply taking alli diet pills, he was a drug user, if not a drug addict.  I wonder if it is a requirement that boxers must be checked if they are drug users or addicts, or there is history of alcohol abuse. Or they will only be obliged when an opponent requested or demanded it?

News from The Washington Post mentioned this line:

Arum said he did not know Valero very well, but despite hearing rumors of drug and alcohol troubles for the Venezuelan had not seen evidence of that himself during several meetings.

Life is indeed ironic. Sometimes it makes me think what people really want in their lives. Valero has money and fame but he chose to kill his wife and end his life as well.

A sad end for a crowd-pleaser.

Photohunt: Covered

This was taken during an outing last 2008.  Papsie was covered from the sun by the shades of this open cottage while we were waiting for the others.

Visit other photo hunters doing Photohunt.

Cigarettes are Papa’s best friends

I cannot help but think of my father after the preceding post.  And his killers.

Cigarettes were Papa’s best friends from his youth until he died.  And his killers, too.  No, not the cigars.   They’re the cigarettes.  Those finely cut tobacco in rolls, smaller than cigars and wrapped in thin paper and not with tobacco leaves.  They are called Champion.  Actually, they are many.  There’s the Marlboro.  There’s the Philip Morris.  There’s the Winston. And a lot more.  They are all killers.

They make one an addict and dependent to the core.  Habitués have this overpowering compulsion to use these killers.  It would be a challenge to break the addiction.  Especially when Papa got acquainted with them when he was only 14 years old.  He died 61, stopped only about two years using them.  That’s 45 years of addiction.

I am thankful I did not become an addict and was able to break off from the bait.  I could have been a walking dead, too, rotten with the deadly and chronic emphysema, or other lung ailments, or a lung cancer.

My poor Papa.  His best friends were all he have during those down times, I know.  And his buddies during relaxation and freedom from life’s worries.  I know he knew that the the day will come they’re going to make him pay.  And they made him pay with bad ramification.

*Image from Your Detox Store Blog.

Remembering an old joke and the banana

It was my father who told me this short story about monkeys when I was still young (I was about 9 to 10 years old).  He started with a question why monkeys do not have pimples.  Of course, I asked why.  It’s because they always eat bananas he replied.  “Really?” I responded with awe and innocence at the same time.  Then he laughed.

Bananas indeed are good for the health.  It is one of my favorite fruits.  The benefits of eating them are many and that includes being a dietary supplement, an aid to nicotine withdrawal, a sugar fix, a diet aid, a digestion aid and a sports tonic.  Visit LiamBean of Hubpages for more details about the benefits of eating bananas.

Other than that the peel of the banana can be used to reduce the wrinkles around the eye.  This is what my father also told me.  You won’t be needing the best night creams to get rid of them.  You just have to rub the peel around the eyes.

Here in the Philippines, there are varieties of bananas.  The most common that I eat is the latundan and the lakatan.  But I prefer lakatan though my aunt told us that it has more sugar than latundan.  It is not advisable to eat when one is diabetic, she said.  I am not diabetic so I eat a lot of lakatan.

I do not remember my father having pimples.  Was the jest true?  Or we had evolved from apes?  But that is a totally different story for another day.  😀

*Image from Live and Feel.com.

Photohunters: Vertical

From Thesaurus.com:

Main Entry: erect
Part of Speech: adjective
Definition: straight up
Synonyms: arrect, cocked, elevated, erectile, firm, perpendicular, raised, rigid, standing, stiff, upright, upstanding, vertical

Here is my take for today’s theme for Photohunt.  Happy photohunting everyone!

A cat’s weight loss regimen?

This handsome cat definitely is not in need of weight loss supplements to maintain such a nice body and posture and have that admirable strength to stand on his hind legs.

I might try tip-toeing for 20 minutes. That will save me lots of money enrolling in a gym routine and give me unbelievable strength. 😀 But the cat looked like it’s an effortless feat for him. I will be struggling the way I imagine it.

It’s freakin’ hot!

The aircon in my office broke down three weeks ago. The compressor was bought just recently and still has to be tested for a day! I feel like I am in an incinerator. Can you imagine how it feels? It’s freakin’ hot I cannot think straight and work right! All I can think is about the getaway we had last Friday – dipping into the pool.

This hot weather can pass as best in a fat burner review. The amount of sweat one discharges from the tremendous heat burns fat fast. I mean, to be in a seemingly incinerator room on a daily basis can drain all the liquid in the body fast (and dry the wits out!).  And yet, I could not choose this hot weather as means to burn the fats in my body.  I can be dead in a few days staying in my room with the aircon absent and the heat wave doing its finest.

To dispose, or not to dispose

I have an old Epson printer that I want to dispose. I am sure it is already in a clogged state because I had not used the equipment for quite some time.  It is a c45, very far from the tm-t88iv type. Seeing this new thermal printer designed for high-volume retail, I thought of my erstwhile desire to have a printing store business which had become impossible to materialize for many reasons that I could not enumerate.

Anyway, if there is a way to have this business become real, I know Papsie will agree. Unlike before when I thought of having a photocopying business. He did not like the idea because for him, it is a health hazard to have a business like that. Oh, well.

I wonder what do I do with the old printer.

Happy Anniversary to Us!

It fell on a Good Friday.  Well, everyone is up for the Visita Iglesia while we really didn’t plan on anything because it fell on a Good Friday.  Our 21st wedding anniversary, I mean.

Funny, I was only thinking about eating out.  I was even thinking about the laundry when I woke up.  I saw the dirty door mats and even thought of cleaning them all before the four-day vacation ended.  But it was already late.  I woke up past seven o’clock in the morning.  I was torn between many things to do and many things to think about.  I was torn between going out and staying at home.

Daughter Kay woke up late, about past ten in the morning.  She asked if we are going swimming.  I was speechless.  Then after a while, we all decided to go swimming.  A random thought but off we go.

Check out where we landed on that day of April 2 HERE.

Not her heart but her legs that ache!

I saw an office mate in the mall one time.  I asked her where she went because she went undertime from work.  She said she visited her doctor.  She has heart ailment.  The doctor did some tests on her including running on a treadmill longer than she had expected.  I cannot remember how long.  To make the story short, while doing her running activity, her doctor asked her if she is in pain or if her heart is aching.  She replied, “Doc, it’s not my heart that’s aching but my legs!”  We both laughed.  Still the doctor advised her to prepare for a possible operation that would cost her more than 50 gran. Wow.  A lot of money.

I cannot help but think about myself.  There were times there were aches in my chest that I feel once in a while.  Most of the time it happens before my period.  But there was a time when the pain lingered for weeks.  It was right there on the upper left part of my chest.  By the time I decided to see the doctor, the pain was gone like a bubble that popped.

The indecision to see the doctor always come from fear.  I have to admit that I am afraid.  Even with a reminder that ‘an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure’ that is almost as old as time itself and is very familiar, I am afraid.

Yes, I am afraid.  I seem to be a woman who cannot be scared easily, or be frightened that easy but dealing with the possibilities of lingering ailment is not really easy for me.  I am going to have a face off with this fear one day.

Do you believe in horoscopes?

In my Facebook account, my Daily Horoscope says:

Taurus

There are financial opportunities in your chart. You may be learning from a new investment seminar, or studying about different savings plans. You will be thinking about your future, about retirement, home equity, educational savings plans and other forms of deferred gratification.

Not that I believe in horoscopes. It is just fun to read them.  If they are true, then what it said for today is an indication of hope.  And one deferred gratification I have in mind is a health insurance like NC health insurance.  The one that I have, which half I have to pay, will only be to a certain extent because it is just a small premium I am paying for myself.  Well, it is what I can afford for now.  Perhaps staying another decade in the organization will recompense me with a free health insurance.  🙂  Scary idea.

Speaking of horoscopes, WikiAnswers has this definition on what they are:

A Horoscope is a person’s Birth Chart or the Natal Chart. It is a figurative analysis of the positions of all the planets in the zodiac, for a specific place, and for an exact time and date. This means, that any person’s horoscope, is based on the planetary positions according to their place of birth, date of birth, as well as the precise time of birth.

Hmm.. what position did Planet Earth had for me today to give me such nice-to-read horoscope? I wonder.