When laughter rolls through...

There is always something special about someone who knows how to make me laugh. I always like a guy with whom I can share a few inside jokes, and it is just amazing how well two people understand each other.

I think aside from compatibility and understanding, laughing at life's quirks and follies is a good way to go through the day. I believe that two people who laugh together deals with life in a healthier manner, than those who sit in forlorn silence. Besides, laughing can also serve as a double-bonding thing: not only does getting through tough times bring two people together, the laughter will also help them become even closer.

As one who believes that we should laugh maniacally at life, I cannot imagine a good relationship without laughter. There is no better feeling than someone knowing how to make me smile, especially since I have a difficult sense of humor. To me humor is vital to life and to love.

You know there are times when I could be cranky and difficult about something (especially when I am PMSing) and I would wish someone would jolly me out of it with some humorous remark. It's pretty hard to stay in a bad mood and I want a partner who can make me laugh at myself. I believe that the experience of sharing humor with my mate about my own idiosyncrasies and childish behavior would strengthen and reinforce the bond. .

In my home, there is always a lot of banter between me and my kids and a great deal of humor related to things our three cats do. We often comment that our cats bring us their own very special form of therapy. Sharing humor with the boys related to our four-legged family member undoubtedly helps to keep me upbeat about life - when otherwise I could be worn down by considerable stress. It's great that my boys has wit and are a natural comedian. Of course I am glad that (fill in the blank) constantly lightens and brightens my day with his hilarious comments.

Is your partner just as goofy? Do you laugh together too?

Gone no more.

Inee, is a one year old kitten and is among the first litter born from my older cat Stray. She is a calico cat with the most snobbish personality. She doesn’t like to be touched by the boys, but would snuggle close to me and would allow me to pet her. She follows me in the house wherever I go, and I like to scoop her up and cradle her in my arms.

When it’s nap time, you will find her sleeping in my bed or in the stairway next to my bedroom. When it’s playtime she likes to harass her mother and her younger brother Loki.

Inee is an indoor kitten and doesn’t normally dash out of the door whenever the kids leave for school. But last Sunday when I woke up and was putting food on their plate, only Stray and Loki came. She normally was the first one to run towards the kitchen, and that’s when I realized that she is gone. I looked through the entire house to no avail. I started looking outside, no luck.

Then I remember that Benjie had mention the other night that he wants to bring Keisha home to visit me, but that he worries the cat fur may give her an allergy. Maybe he took Inee with her and let her loose somewhere hoping she won’t find her way home. I was torn between my desire to see my grand daughter and my beloved kitty. I know Inee is somewhere close by. I think she is hiding and scared. With several dogs and neighborhood cats around, there are plenty to scare the little feline in the big bad world of the unknown.

I have been watching Stray and Loki the whole day. They both sat at the window for hours when they noticed that Inee had been missing. Loki has been watching the front window as though it was a vigil. I think the cats feel my woe. When they are not by the living room window, they hide in my bedroom on my bed or they come to me and purr loud as they can. I feel that Inee being gone has affected not just me, but them as well.

Then, yesterday when I come home from work, she is there!!! My kitten finds her way home! I am so glad to see her, and she hasn’t stopped purring since she came back through the door. I am so glad my kitten has the ability to find her way back home even when left alone in an unfamiliar territory.

I know Benjie won’t be pleased. And even if my son will try it again, I am certain now that Inee will come home again and again.

Let’s see who will eventually give up this game...

I believe.

Is it possible that our thoughts are guiding our destiny?

Why do you think no two people ever experience the exact same thing along with the exact same details? Think about it, no other person, living or deceased, had or will, experience the things I have experienced, nor the things I have yet to go through. Sure, other people may have or will experience strikingly similar events, but none exactly the same down to the most minute details. So why is this so?

Simple. Because we are controlling our own lives and the events we experience without even realizing it. It is no secret that the mind is a powerful tool. Hence we attract the things we think most about and with greatest intensity.

Our thoughts become events or things. If we look carefully at all that is around us, we will know that they had happened in our life as a result of how we have thought about our life, and our belief about it all. Yes we may want to have a great amount of money, or happiness and may think about obtaining it. But if our belief system centers around feeling undeserving, that we will never have what we want, or that there will never be enough, then our bank account or life will reflect those thoughts. If lack and limitation is what our focus is, lack and limitation is what will manifest in our life.

Knowing that likes attracts like, I have tried to think of positive thoughts. Of things I desire and I truly believe that I will have it - in due time. Everything in this world has a natural development time, and this fact will not change no matter what resources I will throw at it. Being part of the universe, I am also governed by the laws of the universe, and I cannot change the natural development of time.

But I am patient. I believe, that I will eventually get what I want.

How about you? What are you most passionate about? Do you believe you will have it too?

Sigh!

Do you like to scan through a women’s magazine like Vogue, Elle and the likes? Or watch a Victoria’s Secret fashion show in Lifestyle channel? I do!

Not that I desire to buy one of those snazzy clothings/undergarments whose wash tag is larger than the garment itself, but I just love seeing women with legs without a dreaded cellulite, breasts that are large and perky and a stomach that looks like a freakin’ washboard. I also like to see smoldering eyes and pouting lips staring back at me from these magazine pages.

I know I shouldn’t have, because looking at those beauty goddesses only point out what's lacking in me. In fact, I haven't looked over my shoulder in years because I already know what's back there (ignorance can be bliss). Many times I lift my arms to see where my breast were ten years ago. I also know which stretch mark belong to each of my three kids.

Sometimes when I open a fashion magazine, and see that glossy cover with some blonde babe in her oh so chic pose on it, it sparks on sadness stirred up with a feeling of a pipe dream. I know I am never going to look that good. But I don’t wish for a miracle bra, and that high-cut thong looks uncomfortable. What a nightmare to wear those!

But I still love looking at new fashion trends, even when I know I won’t be buying any of them. Besides the pretty models are a feast for the eyes. However, I believe that no matter how much money a woman invests in herself to look 'beautiful' if she doesn't feel good about herself nothing will change.

Well it is a shame that how smart a person is and what her mind is able to do, does not have a picture to justify its beauty.

Or am I just sour-graping?

Heartless beast.

Fifty seven people dead. Not three or five...and the election have not even started yet.

This shocked everyone, including the international media because of the unbelievable scale of atrocity. This is so far the worst outbreak of electoral violence, the worst loss of life in journalism history.

I shiver with horror watching the news last night when I saw vehicles clustered together in a partly grassy area, as though someone had decided it was the perfect place to park for a picnic. But the doors are ajar, and on the ground, just outside the vans and the SUVs, in the clear sunlight, lie the bloodied bodies of several victims. They look like they never stood a chance. Of course, they never did!

Unarmed women was sent by a candidate who desire to contest the governorship of Maguindanao in next year's election. He opted not to file it himself to avoid stirring trouble or adding to the political tension, thinking that only a maddened beast or an untouchable could have killed unarmed women, lawyers and journalists in broad daylight. But he was wrong.

The picture shocked many into realization - that the men who did the killing, and the men who ordered it, could only have been either beasts or gods.

The sheer brutality of the mass murder, the gross shamelessness of it, only show the sign of an unreasoning animal or a conscienceless warlord who can break human laws because he is a law unto himself. Shame, shame, shame!

The picture beg for description...I am at loss for word.

Is he?

So, People's magazine had chosen the sexiest man for this year, and it's none other than - Johnny Depp.

I always wonder how they come up with an ultimate winner. It would seem that most of the past winners have been actors/celebrities. I would still argue though that beauty is in the eye of the beholder (a saying, that has been toss around for decade and holds true). Also I believe that there are many who deserve a fair shot at the title.

Since I will never likely meet all the men in the planet to assess their sexiness, and also because sexiness is very subjective, let me just write then what makes a man sexy in my book.

- A man who is sure of himself without the arrogance is sexy.
- A loving person who doesn't have qualms expressing his feelings and know how to love a woman including her faults, fears and failures.
- A good look that exudes from the inside out.
- A man who knows that he is not perfect and has faults and owns it.
- Someone who is devoted and loyal.

Short lists, but that's all I want from my man. Now if you disagree with me , I have three words for you - Captain Jack Sparrow!

A shocker.

Every mother and father of a teenager, is terrified of the word, "pregnant". I am no exception. It is amazing how one little word, can change my life in such a big way! It doesn't matter that my teenage child is a boy, it has the same reaction for me.

Even though I know and trust my son completely, that word, that one little word....changes everything for a lifetime, his life specifically. Oh darn, how one brief moment of pleasure, can make or break his future!

No matter how many times we discussed sex with our kids; no matter how often teenage pregnancy was talked about; no matter how much dialogue we had about contraceptives, we would never expect to hear, the word pregnant to come from their mouth. Or at least I hope and pray that I won't hear it.

All of these runs through my mind, in a matter of seconds; long, agonizing seconds.

All my son did was open his mouth and those words came out.

"Mom, I need to talk to you. I want to tell you that Jess is pregnant."

I couldn't breathe, the world stopped. I was dizzy and nauseated.

Yes Tracey, I am officially a grandmother now. My son's girlfriend gave birth to a bouncing baby girl whom they called Akeisha.

I have to let this sink in first....