Edward Elric's 10 Commandments

1. This pain's nothing...compared to what he's given up...

2. Train the body as well as the mind.

3. Nobody calls me a pipsqueak and gets away with it!

4. I'm not like YOU!

5. If we don't take care of each other, then no one else will.

6. I never sold my soul to them (refering to the Military).

7. Even when our eyes are closed, there's a whole world out there, that lives outside ourselves and our dreams.

8. I'd rather be considered a child than follow a doctrine of cynicism, chaos—apathy.

9. Stop jerking me around!

10. I hate milk. It's like drinking vomit.

Reflections for the New Year.

Now that the New Year is approaching and I was fulfilling my self-imposed duty of following the Facebook trend of posting season images on my wall, I started remembering why I am such a fan of Fullmetal Alchemist first TV series, and it is not only the solid characters, appealing plot or intriguing elements, but the actual philosophy behind it.

"Humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost. That is Alchemy's first law of Equivalent Exchange". Some people call it Karma, others the Balance of Life, but, as simplistic as it may seem, once you come to understand that nothing happens without a reason, and that everything in life comes from your own decisions, understanding how the world and people's minds work becomes way easier.

"... all things do come at a price..., there's an ebb and a flow, a cycle, that the pain we went through, did have a reward, and that anyone who's determined and perseveres, will get something of value in return, even if it's not what they expected". Some would say this is just a "a contrived order to give sense to a world that has none", but, in Edward Elric's words, "I'd rather be considered a child than follow a doctrine of cynicism, chaos—apathy". It is now, at this time of renewal, that I remind myself what I have to do to keep control, and strength to go on when it seems my country is facing some of the hardest times ever... It is with that spirit, that if I work hard I will be rewarded, that I'm going to start the New Year.

MAY YOU HAVE A PEACEFULL AND FRUITFULL NEW YEAR!!

Men & Women on Christmas Eve

1. Women spend days checking what they want to purchase for presents and then one day come home loaded with presents. Men rush to the empty stores the last day and come back loaded with weird things.

2. Women discreetly find out what you would like for a present. Men fire a "What do you want for Christmas?" at your face... or get you something weird.

3. Women cook, clean, cook, clean and then get ready for the party. Men drink, cook... and then get ready for the party.

4. Women spend 8 hours measuring, cutting, placing scotch tape and attaching ribbons to get the perfect wrappings. Men buy present bags.

5. Women spend 3 months at a store choosing a dress for Christmas Dinner. Men put on the least wrinkled suit and are ready to go.

6. Men drive to Christmas Dinner. Women drive BACK from Christmas Dinner.

7. Women never have enough Christmas decorations. The Christmas Tree is one too many for men.

8. Women lie that Santa Claus exists. Men die if the toys get discovered.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO EVERYONE!!

ONE FREE DAY

Most people, who are used to living fast and high, would not understand this, but I have just enjoyed one of the most beautiful privileges of vacations: one totally free of responsibility day.
Staying in bed, reading like crazy, not seeing anyone, not having to go out (well, being able to postpone it for a day), no incoming phone calls, silence and rest during this awfully cold first day of winter was exactly what I was looking for. Tomorrow I will be back on track to run my errands (thank God no Christmas shopping this year), invite a co-worker to bake Christmas cookies (no money for presents, sorry), etc. But today, just for today, I rested my mind and body from the world.

Only "Good" will never be good enough for me.

I just received my first performance evaluation and I was pissed as hell. For starters, the categories were "Needs to Improve", "Sufficient", "Good" and "Exceptional". No "Very Well" category, which already means evaluator is ready to minimize employees' performance.

I was told that getting all the "Goods" and one "Exceptional" was more than OK compared to other employees but, after wearing my ass off to exceed my last years' performance and obtaining an "E" for something any barely competent secretary can do, my poor ego was really beaten. I'm a teacher, for God's Sake!

On the other hand, the evaluator's inability to answer the straight question about what to do in order to exceed expectations really kicked my ass. How come the one evaluating cannot provide an answer to that? Isn't there a checklist of the things to be done to be granted a certain evaluation or was this done based on a whim?

And to cap it all, no one around was able to understand that I hate mediocrity. Wherever I go, I want to be the one to be bested, the cream of the crop, the ultimate winner, and not because of the acknowledgement provided by my superiors -that comes as a plus- but to fulfill that extremely competitive area of my personality which craves on feeling superior to others in the only fields that my intelect finds relevant. Money, status, popularity and the likes are not as important to me as succeding in "doing things right". My "Being Someone" is related to "Performing As No Other", even if there is no applause from the crowd. But I cannot grant myself my own "Inner Cookie" if I am still stuck in the middle of a gray crowd.

I granted myself one cookie, though. Being who they are, the fact that all my students wished me Merry Christmas with big smiles the last day of School made my ego soar.

NO CHRISTMAS (TREE)

It's really terrible but, for the 3rd year in a row, I don't feel like setting up my xmas tree, nor placing any decorations around the house. Given the fact my school vacations just start 5 days before Christmas eve and my work schedule has been so tight since my brand new boss believes nobody is fulfilling their 8 working-hour shift plus teaching 60 teenagers how to behave more than how to speak English, I cannot bring myself to go up to the attic, unpack 6 neat boxes with all the stuff and bring them 2 stories downstairs since our elevator is out of service (now I do understand how "The Big Bang Theory" guys feel).

Honestly, I'm seriously considering purchasing a small Menorah and light eight candles... It's definitely less trouble.

CLOUDS 3

Suffering unusually low temperatures for Mexico City for a few days had a couple of rewards, at least. They reminded me of giant snow flakes, and I took them just with a few minutes difference. And again, I'm amazed about the patterns created by the winds.

CLOUDS 2

I think there's nothing more wonderful when you are stressed out by work than staring at the sky for 5 minutes, and having your camera at hand. Just look at those patterns!

CLOUDS 1

It's really funny the amount of things that you may get to see if you only look around and pay a little attention.

I started this picture collection because I became intrigued by the unusual patterns, and I was reminded of my blogger-friend Kyklops and his vending machine collection.
The first picture was taken from a hospital window, where my Mom was lying with a severely broken ankle (you can see some scotch tape on the glass), and that made me think about the flow, and the balance... and my head hasn't come back from the heights yet.

First Shot

Second Shot

THANKSGIVING MEXICAN STYLE

Mexican people do not celebrate Thanksgiving. We usually save our grateful prayers for Christmas or December 12th (The Lady of Guadalupe), but among all the religious non-sense Mexican people are devoted to, I find this foreign holiday particularly appealing. Just reflecting upon all the good things, about how lucky you are, despite the catastrophes around, seems pretty fair to me, wether you believe in God or not.

All in all, I do have a lot of things to be grateful for. In spite of all the accidents, drawbacks, changes, crisis, and trouble, my family and I are still alive, and more or less in one piece. We are still granted our daily bread, and our problems have solutions. We have reasons to be grateful.