Tag Archives: work

Everybody’s Free to Wear Sunscreen: The Second Quarter of 2012 Edition

Posted in Eureka Moments, The Muse is Home by

If I could offer you only one tip for the near future, swimming would be it. Return to your parents’ house and hit a nearby beach. Swim with a pink bathing suit on, and yeah, swim without it.

When dealing with family, friends, work, weight, and such, use a mind filter. Don’t take in stray stressors, let things flow as should be. Physicists believe that everything our planet encompasses, comes and goes in one fluid motion. When tossed among ass-kissers and bullies, choose dignity, excellence, faith, honor, and grace.

Feeling trapped? Take to the roof deck. Clarify your perspective.

Or hie off to the mountains. Visit a museum. View art with a friend. Take photographs. Preserve the experience. One day you’ll have something to fall back on, in case you’re trapped again.

Watch every sport you can’t play; rugby for one, that ruffians’ game played by gentlemen. Support your country, cheer for your players. Who knows but that from the bleachers you’ll discover a piece of who you are?

Eat and be merry. If you don’t have a comfort food, find one. Explore the metro, or the weekend markets. Make plans.

Don’t begrudge people who play favorites. Life has its own balancing act anyway. Make efforts to extend peace to one and all. Stop swallowing your pride, spit it out instead. That way, you’ll taste life’s flavors at their best.

Scrawl your bucket list somewhere, and tick items off it one by one.

Hear out fellow bloggers. They have stories to tell. But before strangers, listen to your friend, sister, mother, father. They’re a great part of the stories you share.

Never mind failed first dates. Open your heart to love.

Laugh.

Smile, dance, scream, sing.

Meditate in the morning.

And trust me on the swimming.

*****

PS If I could offer you one tip for the whole year, swimming would be it.

PPS The best advice you can offer is the advice that you took.

Thoughts on brogues and being friends with trolls

Posted in Eureka Moments, The World is My Runway by

“Objectivity regarding brogues relies on a number of variables. Hence: it depends. A quality pair of brogues (with good material, color, and shape) CAN look good on certain people. By process of elimination, I conclude that they don’t look good on women with cankles.”

~ SDJ, fashion police

The ensemble: Blue cardigan (Red Girl), blue denim with periwinkle detail tube dress (YRYS), AND THE cream brogues (Cole Vintage); thanks TJ for the place and the iPhone, and JC for the all-out support

Some eons ago I, the fashion primitive, thought I might actually hack putting on brogues – “oh, those ugly shoes  for women,” typed the fashion police on our Skype friends thread. I ended up almost hacking my keyboard to square bits instead, in an effort to virtually bark out a defensive answer.

What could you really say to a heels person; the guy who advocates women’s right to step on a good duo of three-inches and who always sizes it up himself, that if an outfit could match effortlessly with high heels, why should a lady bother with flat footwear? Point taken. Next thing I knew, a deal was on. And I was hell-bent on proving him wrong (at first). I even came up with a plan:

1. Google “brogue looks” to copy.

2. Search for that kind of dress that won’t flow seamlessly with high heels.

3. Buy a neutral, two-toned, or three-toned brogues for a good finish.

The Brogue Project was spurred on to completion by the support of my circle of friends in the office, the fashion police included — we call ourselves the trolls. After I went over the whole shebang, my friends’ verdict was… well, it was a smashing success. And this is where friendship trumps fashion. It feels warm to be surrounded by a small bunch that would nudge you to express yourself a little more than the usual.

Let me confess: I wasn’t the type who believed in making genuine connections at work. I sucked at it before. But whatever my doubts were, the trolls erased them.

We’ve been through the last Christmas, Valentine’s Day, birthdays, lunch-outs, after-work hangouts, 3PM breaks, all sorts of breaks (like bio-breaks and “cut us some slack, we are PMS-ing” for the girls, sorry TMI), spontaneous photo shoots, teasing, violent reactions, and so yeah, I mean all those shared memories.

We differ in so many things: age, heel-size preferences, fashion statements, Alma mater, lunch-out venue decisions, religious and perhaps political opinions, etc. But we, the seven of us, are always welcome to be ourselves and speak our minds on the thread or face-to-face.

They have taught me things I never learned in school, like anger management and sensitivity. They also never fail to make me laugh. I’d be worse than a hermit to not admit that yes, what I have here are people whose companionship and presence have filled a part of my life. It is not by way of survival or chance that I am friends with them. This I can say with all my <3. Yet they hate sappy moments like this so I should stop.  Better yet, might we stop for a…

*group hug*