Cheezums

Some things that flitted across my mind this week:

1.  That thirteen year old girl is having the same problems with her friends than I am having thirty years later.

2.  Stepping back from something is a huge step forward in the personal growth journey for me.

3.  Choosing not to be friends with someone anymore doesn't mean you can't be friendly. 

4.  Or that you wish them ill.

5.  Some people you forgive and others you just need to walk away from.

6.  Venus is in retrograde.

7.  I didn't need to throw those runes to know I am confused.

8.  But I do need my yoga to bring me inner peace and balance.

9.  Saving my baby from putting that Cheezum into his mouth is less important than accepting the generosity of a new friend. 

10.  List of ingredients for a cheezum:  wheat flour, hydrogenated vegetable oil and a heap of unrecognizable things that don't bear thinking about but that probably account for that brilliant orange color.

11.  Note to self: there is no cheese in a cheezum.

12.  List of ingredients for a friendship still open to debate.  Starts with not criticising newfound friend, from Ethiopia, for feeding them to the neighbourhood though!

13.  When an Australian adult says "a heap of " it sounds normal.  When an American man says it it sounds like something out of "Leave it to Beaver."  As in, "Gee Dad, I sure am in a heap of trouble today."  Buzz cut out of the 50s. 

14.  I should stop mocking said American man for saying "heap of" all the time.  He is the father of my children, after all.

15.  When you explain to an Australian that Americans don't use the term "heap of" they really struggle to find an alternative.  "Ton of..." doesn't translate to anyone under 40, since Australian DID manage to successfully convert to the metric system at the same time that America was struggling- and failing - to do so.  "1000 kgs" of just sounds stupid though.   A lot of, loads of, a slew of, lots.......blank stare of amazement from the Aussies.

16.  The longer I am here, and the more I learn, the more I appreciate that I am in another country.  It's more than the koalas and driving on the other side of the road.

17.  Kumasta, Kumasta, Kumasta.  Kumaste apo kayo.  Ako ay masaya.  La la la la la.

18.  If an 80 year old woman can care for her grandchildren, raise her own vegetables, cook, clean and get around on public transport and still find time to teach my son, my family and now my friends, Filippino, then the least I can do is buy her a white board to help her out.

19.  Careful not to let the twins knock over said 80 year old woman as they twirl in a circle singing.

20.  I am so glad Andrew vomited in Nicole's driveway and not in my car.

21.  It is so funny that Ryan vomited on the side of the road coming home from riding at about the same time Andrew was vomiting in Nicole's driveway.

22.  It is going to be a hell of a night.

23.  Although I am in a new hemisphere, on the other side of the world, people are people no matter where they are now or where they are from originally.

24.  You cannot change the circumstances.  You can only change your circumstances.  (This is a blatant copyright infringement of an author I read while in Haiti.   Have it written down somewhere in the boxes still stored behind the bar.)

25.  Focus.  Balance.  Om mani padme hum.