First thoughts on The Art of Possibility

photo from : www.coverbrowser.com

The Art of Possibility - Stepping Into A Universe of Possibilities

Let me just start that had this book could not have come to me, (even as a required reading) ata better time. I used to be one of those “too cool to care, or too cool to be kind” people, and I was too cool to be caught with an inspirational book.

Fast forward to June 2009, and I am loving every page of this book. I think if we “feed” a little bit of this book to every American, we will be a nation of shiny happy people. Organically happy. Seriously. There is just too much negativity in our society.

So much fear. So much hating. So much worrying.


You know I thought when I came to live here in the USA, I would be happier or my life would be better. Well, it is now. But before I got to this point of happiness and peace, I must say that I was more worried about making it here in US compared to making it in the Philippines. I am not putting the blame on America. I am pointing my fingers at our culture of fear, commercialism and our massive superiority complex. The bottom line is, even though we are more comfortable compared to other people living in less affluent countries, most of us are still not happy. I know I wasn’t.


I had to be reborn spiritually to come to where I am now.

And so I embrace the Zanders’ book with a warm hug. Here are a couple of thoughts on the first chapter.


On the two marketing scouts for a shoe company

“ A shoe factory sends two marketing scouts to a region of Africa to study the prospects for expending business. One sends back a telegram saying

SITUATION HOPELESS STOP NO ONE WEARS SHOES

The other write back triumphantly

GLORIOUS BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY STOP THEY HAVE NO SHOES


Needless to say, this anecdote cracked me up. After a few moments of settling my laughter, this story made me reflect on my which kind of person I am. The anecdote made me ask myself, which one am I? Am I the like the first scout or am I like the second scout? I was very much like the first scout for most of my life. It’s been two years now that I seem to be more and more like the second scout.

When I resigned from work and got rehired by my district as a Special Ed High School English teacher, I was scared and worried. At one point I was grateful for getting rehired. However I also felt sorry for myself for being stuck with the school’s baddest of the bad. For a hile too, I thought I was being punished for making hasty decisions.

What a trip!


What was I thinking?! Teaching special ed has been a great blessing! It really is. And to quote my “kids” I say teaching special ed is a blessing. Dead ass. Do you want to know why? Because not every teacher can teach special ed and live to tell the tale. Being that I have been blessed to be in this field for 12 years now, I suppose you can say I have the right to say what I said.

Teaching special ed, for me was not a punishment. It was a privilege. It was a privilege to teac my kids and to be a able to get to know then. I feel that I have learned so much from my two years. I feel that I emerged from my experience a better teacher, equipped with new skills.

This coming school year, I am moving back to my original home, the middle school. My principal was able to get first pick, and I feel so loved that he asked for me to come back. A part of me is sad to leave my kids. We have a strong bond already. But see, If I wallow in sadness, then I would not see that I am embarking on a new adventure at the middle school.

I choose to step into the universe of possibility.





“We grow up in a world of measurement, and in this world, we get to know each other and things by measuring them (p. 18) ”

I was immediately struck by the similarity of this message to a passage from The Little Prince. There was part in the beginning of the story when Antoine de Saint Exupery’s pilot’s character when he was describing how grown ups put importance in numbers. This is so true. Sometimes, when I catch myself giving in to self pity because I don’t earn as much money as my childhood friends, I tell myself off and remind myself how blessed I am to love what I do. My fiancé reminds me every now and then, of how happy he is that I love my job. He’s right. I do love what I do. Who wouldn’t love waking up in the morning and preparing for a day full of surprises,( both pleasant and otherwise?) Who wouldn’t love playing dress up for school , dressing up for a show? Who would not love hanging out with teenagers and inviting them to express how they feel about stories written by people who have long gone, or of stories from another place and time, either real or imagined?


I know I do.


And though from time to time I am still plagues by values of measurement, I try my best to look at life as little adventures and my successes with them. After all, there is always something gained from experience, be it a good or a bad one.

The American idol Phenom

Yes, I also used to watch American Idol.

Yes, I have, at one point called the 1866 or 1800 to cast my vote.

I love Kelly Clarkson.

The chapter on American Idol brought back memories of eagerly making it home in time to plop myself in front of the TV and yell out loud to it, either in glee or indignation at the talents and/or lack thereof on the contestants. The cattiness of Simon Cowell was also amusing.

Reading Jenkins book was amusing too. I can definitely say I am one of the people he's talking about. Yes, I was guilty of voting for Jasmine Trias, the Hawaiian contestant because of her Filipino ancestry.

What blew my mind (a bit) was how it took one show to fast forward the popularity of what now is seemingly and indispensable means of communication : texting. FI\inally, America embraced the wonderful world of text messaging. Finally, we caught up with the other half of the world who has used text messaging for quite some time now.


Again, the question the bugged me was, can we use text messagins for a greater good other than teach our youth how to be creative spellers?


I kid you not. In the Philippines, since we don't have 911, one can just text his/her friendly police station for help.


gah.

repulsively wicked

i didn't have to go work until 12 today. my bus does not leave until 10:55. i woke up at 4:30 and after my morning ritual of checking my mail, playing the guitar, a cup of joe, i had of couple of hours to kill.

i finished the love curse of the rumbaughs and damn that book is simply disturbing. it's a YA book too. i'm surprised some parents heven't petition it to be banned yet.

it kinda reminds me of six feet under.

this book is told from the point of view of ivy. she tells of her obsession with the rumbaugh twins and her life. a lot of talk on taxidermy, eugenics and abnornal obsession with one's mother and the fear of losing one's mother over death. so stuff their mothers they did.

disturbing i tell you, but a genius.

i highly recommend this for halloween reading. i'm just spreading the love.

a lame pick-up line, and a day full of treats, sort of.

music : are you diggin on me? by joss stone


yippee, i got home "early" today.

the teacher i subbed for teaches 5th grade dual language so for today, i'm a professora. the class was very good, i must say. much tamer than yesterday's kindergartners. i had a boy named jesus, though. and i can't help but chuckle everytime i tell him to concentrate on his work and stop minding everybody else's business.

me : jesus, stop talking and mind your own business.
jesus, will you please be quiet? really.

yeah, it sounded perversely funny like that.


dual language classes are quite cool, but i must say i really need to learn a lot more spanish words. i tried reading a chapter on the chinook indians in the spanish history textbook. i think i understood only 20% of what i read. oh well.


i had two free periods today so i took the opportunity to go down to the local panera for lunch. i'ts been a while since i had their chicken tomesto sandwich. i also wanted to try moonshine's recommended drink, the chai latte. i got mine iced. it was yummy, but next time, i'll ask them to go easy on the sugar. so anyway, the cashier at panera was in flirt mode so he decided to hit on this hungry chick. i don't usually make small talk with clerks (unless, they're comic store/toy store clerks) but i'm no snob so i was polite. cheeky bastard asked me the usual questions, am i on break from work or school?
oh, you're substitute teacher?
how are the kids treating you?
i'd like to be in your class,

ladida-dida. so in my head i was, oh come on dude, all i want is to get my sandwich.
then when i handed him my money he just came up with "is it hot outside as well, coz it's hot in here. maybe because you're here."

no he didn't.
unfortunately, he did.

thank goodness jane did not laugh at his face. joffin just turned around and went straight to the bathroom, i didn't know who to feel embarrassed for, the guy or myself. i would've just walked out the back door but i had to wait for my sandwich, dammit. i just avoided the poor bloke.

that was just so lame.

note to self. stay away from the panera of that city.


back to the hall of justice...


so lately i've been telling my close friends about a minor inconvenience. lubs and richard said to buy toys. so i did.

i went to KB toys.


and look at what i got...



a new addition to my collection -- lady deathstrike. tee-hee. now i have to fish wolverine out of my toy box so she and he can duke it out. fun. fun.

i also got this



sweet huh? this'll do until i get my hands on the optimus prime convertible toy that matt talked about when we went apple picking. gotta have that. gotsa. gotsa.gotsta.


then i headed off to the public library to meet up with lynn, my librarian friend. yes, i am a librarian groupie. anyway, she tipped me off to two new books....



this is a twisted tale of twin taxidermists who stuffed their mom when she died.




and this one won the prince award.



to finish off my afternoon, i got me a venti




since j called for me to come in early and i can't drive all the way to mitsuwa for my green tea ice cream.

i tortured olivia for three hours today. i must say, it's been a great day of goodies.

it's back to the liquor store for me tomorrow after a run with j.she said she wants to run now too. great.


noo-ni-noo-ni-noo.

i heart spider jerusalem

background music : galang by M.I.A.

i have a new crush. his name is spider jerusalem.





why am i always one of the last people to know about great things? i swear, i am on uber delayed reaction. everytime. i got into sandman 14 years after it came out. and now this, i am obssessed with spider jerusalem. come on, pangalan pa lang panalo na.

this guy is so bad ass, he reminds me of my other comic book crush Lobo. though i must say spider is way cuter, and he's smart too, being this foul mouthed chain smoking,gun-toting journalist. i'd have to get used to the bald head though. in terms of hair, Lobo wins.




so, i leafed through my book 0 of transmetropolitan, and i am so hooked. a spider jerusalem action figure? hell yeah.

hey batjay, thanks for the tip on this one. you never fail to give the best recommendations on graphic novels and music. you, me and jet should go to next year's comic con in san diego.

hint hint candy. can i stay over at your place next year. please?! i promise to be good.

sigh. i'll be humming the spiderman theme all day long at the liquor store today. noo-ni-noo-ni-noo.

score!!!

background music : fiance by fossil
i hung out lubs and tita norma yesterday. got up, got dressed and had planned to go to dc for the greek festival, but was too lazy to go to the metro and go gallivanting around dc by myself. i had wanted to go to a comic store there, but i figured i can always run into midtown comics in nyc to get my nerd fix.

we picked up tita norma from ed's house. then we headed to one of their dollar stores in bowie. what joy!!! i found shoe boxes and other stuff. man, the dollar stores in jersey are so shitty, i'd feel bad to spend my money there. but the dollar store that we went to was very well stocked. i also got some milkduds and whoopers to sugar me up on the drive back tomorrow.

but wait, there's more. joffin the dork spotted a sign while walking around the bowie strip mall --- was that what she thought it was? alliance comics. a comics store?! eyeluvit!!!! score!!!!




the geekette was obviously excited at the find and i literally ran to the shop.
it's a decent shop, actually. i would have walked out with loads of shit, but i am on a budget, so i had to pick and choose. i almost bought books 5 and 6 of the walking dead, but i saw books 0 and 1 of transmetropolitan, and the maxx. screeeee!!!
i was also about get a wonderwoman action figure, until i saw an emily the strange t-shirt. but they7 didn't have my size. i walked out with 3 books, and two smurf toys. i'm going to complete the smurf cast and buy one everytime i visit here. tee-hee-hee. i love it here. bowie/md/dc is looking really really good to me.


afterwards, we went back home, popped bridgett jones on the dvd and laughed our asses off. we headed out again for a taste of one of maryland's goodies, this refreshing ice cream/ italian ice combo at rita's




happy happy joy joy.


late last night, ron lubs and i hung out with vince and nikki. ate pizza and ice cold san miguel beer,





and watched --- howard the duck. man that movie was soo bad, it was good. lubs slept through it all.

i'm heading to church with lubs' family. this afternoon i will watch my first football game with the bowie crew. nikki told me i'll have to wear a red skins jersey. traitor jersey girl. oh well, i look forward to the chicken wings....


we eat. we drink. for tomorrow, i'm driving back home. boo-hoo-hoo. brat.

bedmates

the past few days have been brutal to my body. i wake up in the morning and i am hurting all over. thanks soccer practice. thanks tae-bo.

i felt i have not met my quota of number of words read in a day the past few months. i haven't been reading in my usual pace. us usual, ze bed is cluttered with books, keeping me warm and entertaining me until i fall asleep. many a times i've woken to a sharp pain on my face, back wherever. damn those hardbound books!
but here are some new reads that i highly recommend. these, btw were passed on by my friends. ahh, lucky me. if not for them i'd probably have bad taste and be a dimwit. here goes folks....



Best New YA cool character : Skullduggery Pleasant



a skeleton detective in a sharp suit? winner!



Best New Graphic Series Novel next to my fave, Fables : The Walking Dead



Okay, this GN is not something i would normally pick out from Midtown Comics. this zombie infested psychological odyssey is definitely one of the most engaging reads i've had in a while. Rick Grimes is the epitome of the modern day hero who tries desperately to keep things together despite the gloomy and apocalyptic circumstances.
i can't wait to read the rest of this series. well worth it, you guys.


Best New Suited Hero : The Madman Oddity Odyssey



This is freaking hysterical -- a yoyo wielding oddball in a mask and suit certainly makes him a new crush of mine. Frank Einstein ( a clever wordplay, because he is a modern day frankenstein) is someone I'd like to hang out with on Halloween, or any given day. And this guy's got the moves too.


So while I wait for Bigby, Percy Jackson and Neil Gaiman to come up with new reads, I think I'll read up more on these guys.

Thanks Richard and D.