Oh no. I'm one of them!

I'm usually the sarcastic one when people ask off-chart questions. E.g. A friend sees you at the movies and asks "what are you doing here?".
Well, I had my turn last weekend.
I'm on the highway day-dreaming about the joy that comes with a long holiday weekend, when the flashing red & blue lights and siren of a highway patrol car jolts me back to earth.
Busted I was. Busted I was! Good God Almighty. Busted I was.
I knew I was speeding so I wasn't upset.
The lady officer walks up to my window and I start thinking "She looks like the officer that gave me a speeding ticket less than 10miles away, 3 weeks ago!"
Without asking permission from my brain, my mouth proceeded with this question before I could censor it:
"Were you the officer that cited me for speeding 3 weeks ago?"
She laughed a little as I buried my face in my hands.

Word definition: Junk

Junk is something you kept for years and never used then suddenly had a need for it 3 days after throwing it away.

Chicken Licken & Foxy Loxy

What did you think of the Chicken Licken (AKA Chicken Little, Henny Penny) story when you were a kid? What do you think of it now as an adult? Chicken Licken honestly believed the sky was falling after the acorn fell on her head. I don't know if Chicken Licken investigated the situation before concluding the sky was falling on her head.
An acorn falling on a chicken's little tiny head could cause some severe head injuries resulting in mental issues too. I don't know if that's what happened. There was no way Loosey Goosey, Ducky Lucky and the gang could have known either.
Instead of blindly believing and following Chicken Licken, they could have looked up and checked for themselves if the sky was really falling.
Turkey Lurkey following blindly, I can understand. He has too much time on his hands anyway. Plus, he is always high from smoking that stuff, he will follow anybody anywhere!

Is there something you routinely do that you learnt from someone or somewhere, but you havent taken the time to look into how much it helps or harms you? Since you are thinking about it now, take the time to make any adjustments you deem necessary.
What do they say about breakfast being the most important meal of the day? Well, not for me. I choose to skip breakfast regularly unless I feel the need for extra energy on random mornings. (kids, dont try that at home). Why do I skip breakfast? Breakfast pumps into my body, more calories than I need to get through the morning. It also makes me lethargic.

It is OK to listen to what people say and watch what others do. Just be sure to think about things you pickup before applying them to your life. It is YOUR life.

Vocabulary

The little command of the english language I have gradually slips away the longer I stay outside of Gh's borders.
I am reminded of this when I use english words and Americans look at me like I made them up. (And I dont even look like Sarah "Refudiate" Palin)
For example:
compulsory
alight
junction
loaf (of bread)

Do you remember any english words you have used, that stumped anyone that claimed english as their first language?

Time for some mischief:
If you live in the US and want to have some fun, greet people with "How do you do". You will laugh aaaaaaaaaaa

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!"