Woe! Woe! Woe! (was that dramatic enough?)

According to one group's calculations, the day of rapture described in the bible is May 21, 2011 12:01am standard time.
One of the main guys behind this revelation/ calculation is Harold Camping.
He also runs a non-profit radio program that depends on donations from listeners.
Listening to his program yesterday was interesting as he seemed to fumble in responding to one of the callers.
The caller asked that how come his program is still soliciting funds if the rapture is 4 days away?
His response: "We still have to pay our bills. We will be paying our bills till the very end".

I am not laughing because quite a number of people are actually giving money away to the needy. Just slightly worried about those making sure they spend their life savings by May 20th.

Ok, I lied. I chuckled a bit at the "we will be paying our bills to the very end" part. Couldn't resist.

You might be the 1

If you are reading this in Ghana, here's a little exercise for you.
Look around you and pick 9 people at random. Does any of them exhibit signs of mental illness?
If the answer is "No", you might want to check yourself.
It turns out that 10% of the people in Gh have mild/ moderate mental disorder.
That means 1 out of every 10 people in Ghana have a mild mental disorder.

Thanks Dentaa. Your blog posts urged me to look this up.
There is hope though. The new mental health bill will promote prevention of mental illnesses as opposed to curing it like we do now.


stats source http://www.who.int/mental_health/policy/country/ghana/en/

Worst advice ever heard

My brother and I were talking over the weekend when he mentioned that he recently got in touch with one of his friends from way back. The guy used to live across the street from us.
He was a good guy. He and my bro used to be tight.
Thats why I was surprised one day, back then, when he told me to do my best to NOT be like my brother. I just laughed it off and said OK.
I laughed it off because I lived to be like my brother. He was my role model! He had the girls, he and his friends threw the best summer parties, and he was laid-back & cool - didnt talk much. Meanwhile in school, 3 of my teachers that knew my bro never missed a chance to tell me how I needed to me more like my bro, academically (I had my slacker days).

What's the worst advice you've ever been given?

Our Gold Coast

I was excited to find this database http://www.colonialfilm.org.uk/home
The files on our motherland include documentaries and short films from as far back as 1933.
Some educative, some entertaining and some just hard to take.

 Mouse-over "Search Film By Country", and go from there.
Some of the films you will find are:
I Will Speak English
The Boy Kumasenu
Mr Mensah Builds a House
Progress In Kojokrom

Finding a Therapist

I was exposed to the field of Psycholgy in my early teens, but my priority at that stage in life was being out, running the streets playing. Once in a while, I'd read an interesting article in Psychology Today. I did listen to analysis of everyday events by a couple of psychologists once in a while too.
Back then, I thought that field was all fluff and added no value to life.

Fast fwd a few years later, in a different environment. I'm older, with more responsibilities and life is moving at a faster pace. I had only me to deal with my own slacking and mistakes.
Observing others around me, how different people handled the same challenges I faced and imagining how I would have handled same challenges if I were not in this new environment, was enlightening.
That was when I started to see the human psyche in a completely different way.

I now believe that our psyche can be isolated and managed.
Managed in a way that if a person is not doing too well, their psyche can be fine-tuned to get the person in a better, stronger frame of mind.
Since we all do not have the same level of fortitude, some of us do just fine with our family as our therapists.
I hope it becomes easier for people to see shrinks. I can't avoid shrinks though. A couple of them are family members I can't disown. LoL

BTW
not to scare anyone who reads this but here's something I found "Delayed neuropsychiatric effects of malaria in Ghana" Watchout for those mosquitoes. :-)

I tried. I lied.

3 weeks ago, a man I was listening said the best advice he will give his children is "always look a man straight in the eyes when you speak, then speak the truth".
Later that evening I decided to go the next day without telling a lie.
Not even an itsy bitsy lie. Zero lies. No lies even if someone's life depended on it.

Next day came.
I managed to remind myself in-time in some situations and spoke the truth.
E.g. Someone asked about a report I was supposed to complete & send out that day. I was about 99% done and would have said "I'm done". I caught myself before speaking and decided not to lie about it.

I gave up before the day was over though. A friend asked what my plans were for the weekend. I knew what direction the conversation would go if I said "Yes". I didnt want to go in that direction so I consciously lied.
It will take some work for me to get to a stage in life where I can live without ever telling a lie.

Can you imagine living each day without telling a lie? Are there some instances that make it ok to lie?

Casting stones

So, the carpenter's son is strolling through downtown with his posse and they come up on a mob harrassing a lady.
He asks them "what's up people. Why are you messing with the dame?"
"She is a bad woman and we can't have people like her living amongst us" they said.
The carpenter's son said to them "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone".
The crowd slowly disperses.
Then one woman picks a stone and throws it at the woman.
The carpenter's son turns to her in exasperation and says "sometimes you really piss me off, Mom!"