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Sunday, January 08, 2006
Luab: Closing doors, moving on
By Evelyn R. Luab
Light Sunday
We cannot move on if we keep on looking back. Close the doors on 2005. It’s gone. Now let’s see what we can do with 2006.
So many things have increased. True! Small entrepreneurs are ready to give up. Yet if we do give up, where can we go?
When I read the announcement that the real property code of the city of Cebu will take effect on Jan. 1, 2006, my heart fell.
However, I said to myself, I will just have to forgo the 10 percent discount for whole year payments and go for quarterly payments instead.
When the 12-percent Evat takes effect, this February (what with the electric bills rising) we will just have to do away with certain things, like no more movies, eating out at restaurants, less malling, taking snacks, etc.
We can be creative and plan things at home. Watching TV together, especially the sports channels, can be fun. Mondo bananas fried or boiled, peanuts boiled or fried, can be very affordable TV snacks. What’s wrong with water instead of soft drinks?
Health-wise we can avoid getting sick. We all know that dashing and prancing in the rain can bring on the colds. An umbrella handy would help.
Eating less of the “cholesterol kind of food” or avoiding too much sugar or salt in our dishes would help us avoid huge hospital bills.
Two weeks ago I was on the apple juice, Epsom salt, lemon and olive oil treatment package for six days. Many doctors told me it wouldn’t work, while one or two doctor friends of mine said it might dissolve the stones in my gall bladder. The treatment can be found in the Internet.
My list was given to me by a close friend and her daughter-in-law. Briefly here’s the list.
1. Drink at least five glasses of apple juice daily for six consecutive days.
2. Skip supper on the sixth day.
3. At 6 p.m. drink two tbsp. of Epsom salt dissolved in water. Epsom is a laxative.
4. Repeat No. 3 at 8 p.m.
5. At 10 p.m. drink 4 oz. (1/2 glass) of olive oil (preferably extra virgin oil) with 4 oz. of lemon juice. Mix both well.
6. Lie on your right side for 30 minutes with both knees brought up near your stomach; after which, you can go to sleep in a more comfortable position.
7. The following morning when you go to bathroom, watch out for the greenish black substance in the toilet bowl. Those are your precious stones.
For me this worked. I fished out about 15 tiny stones. I’m not saying this treatment is the ultimate cure for stones in our gall bladder or that it might work for you. However, one does not lose anything if one wants to avoid surgery. One can always have an ultrasound again if those stones are still there. One can always approach one’s doctor. Prayer also always helps.
Everybody says eating vegetables and fruits make one less prone to illness. Others say less grease if you want to remain healthy. So lets make it a vegetable and fruit filled year, while we wipe our pan free of grease.
In the States, holding two jobs seems to be the norm. So if one can hold two jobs, why not?
Do you know that dresses can be recycled? Our husband’s shirts can even be re-sewn into beautiful blouses. There really a thousand and one ways to survive. It is a matter of outlook and creativity.
Do we want to start the year grumpy? Or do we want to start the year with the eagerness of a child who believes that something good can still come our way?
This year we didn’t have our usual reunion. Why? Plane fares, boat fares, etc. are so out of reach now when we think of children fares plus their yayas. So we decided to visit one another when able. I believe the magic word is “able”.
Some people get into trouble because they overspend. Let’s take our Christmas and New Year celebrations. True, it is good to partake of a buffet in a well-known hotel. However, with the staggering season’s buffet rates going as high as P800 to P1,000 per person, why go for sky-high prices. There are buffets at P118 and the bonding those among family members is just as good.
Why must we give name brands for Christmas gifts. There are blouses and T-shirts just as good. With Tutuban, Greenhills and our very own Divisoria here in Cebu, not to mention the good buys during sales blitz we can save a lot. By the way, who needs a lot of clothes?
Are you the type of person who looks at people by the clothes they wear? If you are, then let me give you a lesson in life. A person who is very good at his job in a boutique is a personal friend of ours. We respect him not only for his expertise at work but because he is quite knowledgeable in many things. Last Christmas I attended their Christmas party and--behold, I was amazingly stunned. This friend wore a sarong to the party and topped his get-up with a wig. He gave a surprise dance number, for us, and got a warm and loud applause from us.
Had I not seen the performance at close range, I never would have dreamed that the person inside the man was just as nice as the man himself. So much for appearances and apparels.
2006 should be a year of new things. We must look at persons, at ourselves, at our jobs, at our dreams at our hopes with new eyes.
People can still be Manny Pacquiaos, Lea Salongas, Lucio Tans, and if one wants to be --a mother Theresa.
Reach for the stars, travel light without the burdens of despair, callousness and envy. Walk that rainbow and you will find that pot of Gold.
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (January 8, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board.Click here. |
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