Rant about decision making and the power of religion

This post is about not knowing what you want. We have all had this happen to us before, when we were kids, like for example you went to the store with daddy and he told you that you could have a candy from the candy section, and you like any good child you asked daddy, if you could have all, after a lot of convincing you finally budge. But there is a problem you want everything. You want the chocolate bars, you want the lollipops, you want the toffee, the taffy, the gumdrops, you even want to try those super spicy Mexican candies that your brother says you are too young to try, but you know that’s bs so you still want to try those…. Any who… at that age you probably thought your daddy was cruel for making you make that awfully hard decision. But then when you got older you started to go to school, and you had this really fun class called PE. And another really hard decision popped up. You were asked by the awful teacher to choose your team mates for a game of dodge ball. But you knew it was not as simple as just choosing your teammates. You at that moment were choosing your longtime friends; you were choosing if you wanted to be accepted into the “in” crowd or just going to be ignored. If you choose all the cool kids for your team, they might remember you after class or when they see you in the hallway. But if you choose any of the uncool kids you will instantly become one of them, but then the uncool kids might not be so bad they could become your longtime friends, they might be more reliable than the cool kids. But at the same time they might not. And you think “o my god this is the hardest decision I have had to take” yeah right, wait a few more years bother.

Then comes harder decisions, in your school dance you have to decide what girl to invite, then after high school graduation you have to decide what college to go, then you have to decide what you want to become, then you have to choose if you want to marry, then if you do you have to decide who to marry. Then you have to decide with your partner if you want to have children and how many. Just to make this short, your life is full of hard decisions, or at least they look hard at the time. There is nothing you can do about it, there is always going to be some sort of decisions that you will have to do. What really matters is how you handle that. You could go and create a bunch of drama, you could be cool and think things thru, or you could decide to take a risk and let destiny decide. For this there is really not a right answer. Technically all of the answers all right, the only answer is to make a decision. You could be all Machiavellian, you could be a second Mother Theresa, or you could just be a regular Joe from around the corner, and you know whatever you decide is fine. Because at the end the person who is going to bear the consequences, either if they are good or bad, is you, the decision maker.

In my opinion if the consequences affect the others then you should rethink about it. Cuz I also believe that my decisions should not affect those around me in a bad way, because no matter what I do they will be affected, but what matters then is if they will be damaged in any way by my choice.

Now if you ended up damaging in any way those around you, what you do about it will say a lot about you, and that will determine the way others behave near you. For example if you try to fix your mistakes, even if you don’t succeed, people will not leave you, in the contraire if you decide not to care for what happens to the other, people will see you as a threat, and they will not want to be near you.

A colloquial example would be this:

If you have seen the movie “The Devil Wears Prada” you know the way people behave towards Miranda Priestly (Played by Meryl Streep), they all fear her, but because of the power she has no one dares to defy her. But if she did not have that amount of power then the movie would have been completely different.

The power that we grant others will determine how much will our lives will be suppressed. Though some of that is necessary in our society. For example parents need to have power over their children; government has to have power over the people. Our minds are wired so we accept this. If the USA government decided to close it self completely. And become an anarchic country. There would be massive chaos. Our society will try to fill that vacuum, in the process there will be failures, and disaster as people who are not qualified to take control will try. Some people might use religion or race as their platform. And if we learned something from history, it’s that a government cannot be influenced by religion or any other factor. We have to truly embrace the fact that we are all born equal and we all have the same rights. We would have to stop to think about the differences and think about us a whole, as one, group of people under one government. For that government to work we would have to truly trust it. But if that new reign makes a mistake will it be able to hold our trust. Or would we need to create a new one.

For explanations sake, let me explain this a little bit longer. Let’s look at the Catholic Church. Its base is in the Vatican City one of the smallest countries in the world but look at the amount of power it has. That country has at least one church that belongs to the Vatican in each town in the world. It houses masterpieces by most of the masters. It has treasures hidden to the rest of the world. They had power enough to stop countries to pass marriage equality laws, and freedom of choice concerning abortions. It has been around for more than two thousand years. It caused many wars and genocides. This church could fall in the category of organized crime organization. It covers for their crimes. It steals from the community. It feeds from the community.

No matter how they paint it religion is a parasite that feeds from society. It takes the money earned by the workers. It controls the government just to fulfill their agenda. It creates insecurity and violence. But there is not much we can do unless the people realize that they don’t need religion to tell them what to do if they learn or acquire what they look in religion in society they could be a better place. If they realize that we all are the same and there is no need for biases. This world could be a better and peaceful place.

 

 

Hello everyone hope you are having a good week, now for next week’s entry I’ll be writing about anything that you guys want. Just email me what you want me to write about to a.adamsreade@gmail.com and ill choose one randomly.

 

P.S.

My editor is in vacations, so this week’s blog is unedited; please forgive any misspelled words or sentences that don’t make sense

 

 

Stuffy nose i know (MAN #3)

This recipe did come from the book, but this entry was added
by yours truly, I got this one from an ex-boyfriend of mine who was really into
metaphysical things and natural medicine. One week I got a really annoying
cold, and was congested for quite a few days. I was reluctant to go to the
doctor, so my ex brought his diffuser and some oils. He told me to get into my
room and to turn the diffuser for fifteen minutes. At first I was not convinced
that this would do anything or that it would help at all. But to my surprise it
actually made me breath better. The fifteen minutes passed and I turned the
diffuser off, he came into the room with a bowl of soup, it was really spicy,
then after that, he told me to go to sleep and by the time I got up I would
feel better. So I went to sleep, for some reason I was really tired, when I got
up I felt way better. Not completely healed but better than I had felt in the
past three days. Later I asked what the oil was he said that it was a combo of
eucalyptus oil and lavender oil. He said that doing that is basically the same
as using a menthol diffuser. He said that the soup was a curry chicken soup, he
said that chicken and curry make people feel better, he explained why to me but
I really can’t remember why at the moment.

I thought something like that was worthy of being added to
the notebook.

So here is what I wrote in it:

For those who are afflicted by a cold and congestion this
might be helpful. The only things you need are a diffuser and some essential
oils. What you need to do is add five drops of eucalyptus oil in the diffuser,
and then followed by three drops of lavender oil. Turn this on in a room where
you would be able to breath in the vapors, but be careful not to smell them
directly. Make sure that you only do this for 15 min max, once the fifteen
minutes are out. Turn of the diffuser and open the door, make sure you get
enough clean fresh air after breathing the vapors. Make sure to rest and drink
lots of water, this might be followed by a bowl of some kind of hot soup, by
hot I mean both temperature and spice wise. Try to not drink or eat any dairy.

Once again I have to remind you that this is not to be taken
as medical advice, if you present any symptoms of the cold or flu make sure to
go to a doctor, this happened to work for me but it’s probable that it might
not work for you.

 

The process of I (part 1)

                        Some lucky people know exactly everything about them, or at least they know enough to function well as members of society. Other people don’t have to worry about themselves, since people do that for them, but is it worth it living other people’s lives. Some of us have no idea who we are, what we want or how we are going to get it. Some of us lived in such an isolated and controlled environment that we see the ideas of those in control as our ideas, but once we are abruptly left to fend for ourselves, we have no idea of what to do. Or if we are left with instructions, we can’t stop thinking that those ideas are phony and fake, they seem awkward and so not true to our persona.

This trip that you decided to go is going to explain how I found out who I really am, the process that is taking me to figure out what I want for myself, and the hopes that I keep inside about what I see myself in the future.

***

                        It took for me close to 19 years for me to figure out, and accept who I am. Let me explain how I was raised to give you a better understanding of my situation.

                        I was born into a catholic conservative family, whose members are expected to have an important role in our community. Each of us had big shoes to fill up; My grandpa had had a term in our local government and was close friend with the, at that time, governor of our state. My great grandpa was a really successful sales person; know in the surrounding communities for his honesty and hard labor, his wife a charitable figure of her time. Who always went out of hand to protect those who could not fend for themselves. Another person further in the family tree, was one of the first of our family who got accepted into a prestigious college, this became a tradition for the males, we all had to try to enter the same school. Another relative of mine was a supporter of the rebel movement against the government of Mexico, he provided with food and ammunition to the rebels, legend says that he took care of the rebel leader when he was shot, by a soldier. His wife the only midwife in their town, knew her role as submissive wife quite well, and still she worked around it to make a name by herself.

                        Each new generation grows listening to stories about our family. We are all told that we have to give 100 per cent and nothing less is expected of us. We are to achieve the highest grades and accomplish as much as possible. I remember being grounded for getting a c in a math test.

When people asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up my mother had already prepared me for that answer. Since I always seemed to have an artistic eye, she thought, no she knew I would be a successful architect. At that time I had no idea what an architect did I just knew that was the expected answer. Later in my schooling I changed my future profession from architect to mortician or criminal scene investigator (this was way before the popular show about investigators was aired). At first my family thought it was just a phase, and they were right. Though I do find it interesting, that was just my way of saying, I am a rebel teenager and you are not the boss of mine.

At the end of my rebel stage my family had convinced me to change my plans once again. My grandpa wanted me to get a degree in physics and work for the NASA, my grandma wanted me to join the seminary and become a priest, my mother, though she knew how to convince me, and so I “decided” to become an art teacher. That was what I had planed up to my graduation right after my graduation I realized that instead of having on choice, I had many, and there were two that seemed the most tempting. The “most” reasonable and kosher one was to attend the college that I had decided already. Another one was to drastically change my major to something that I wanted, and the last one was to take the year of and see the real world for the first time. Tis process was kept in secret from the beginning until the final decision was made. Who knows what my family would have done if they knew what I was planning.   The first of the choices seemed ok but now really appealing; I had this feeling that going in that path would not be fulfilling. So I quickly discarded that option. The second had a lot of pros, but there was a really big problem. I had no idea what I wanted. All those years of brainwashing finally gave fruits. I had no idea of what I wanted or who I really was. So I decided to take the whole year of and find the real me who had been tied and buried so many years ago.

Two weeks before the start of the school year I notified the school that I would not be attending anymore. That afternoon I notified my work and I asked if it were possible to get a full time job instead of the part time that I had planned already. And that evening I told my family of my plans. They were flabbergasted, angry and about to commit murder. And to make matter worst I came out of the vegetarian closet and told them that I would become a vegetarian.

This all was such a rush for me. After all those years of knowing what to do all the time, this seemed like the biggest adventure of my life. The only thing that I did not know it was what I would find about me during that year.

I knew that the person who wore my clothes, who went to my school, who ate my food, was not the real me. I was conditioned to be my family’s reflection. I knew deep inside that I could never be like the others, that I was different. Since I was in my teens I started to notice that I did not feel the same way as other boys do, I never had the urge to go and be intimate with my female peers. I liked them but the same way a brother likes a sister. Nor did I feel and attraction to boys. It was as if I were asexual. Now I reflect and think that it was due to the suppressive environment that I was raised, and my natural submissive attitude.

Since I did not show any interest in girls and I always was a little feminine, I went through a lot of harassment and bullying from my peers. They went as far as trying to push me down the stairs from the stairs were we were going to have our graduation dance. Now I have to make clear that I do not hate them, I feel sad for them, because they were taught to hate and discriminate. They are the victims of society, just like us. I hope that one day they learn to love and accept or at least that their offspring does not commit the same mistakes that their parents did. Of course there was a time that I just hoped that they would stop that my anger overtook me and I wanted for them to get hurt so they would feel a portion of what I felt every day. Years later I overcame my past thanks to a dear friend and my therapist.

 

A book worth a salad

This week, it was indicated to make a bacon, eggs, and sparagus salad. The idea was really apealling, I love eggs, I love asparagus, and I love salads, so I just could not wait for an special occasion to rise. I waited and waited until finally in thursday, a book that I had ordered arived. To me that is worthy of celebration. So I prepared an array of spring dishes. On the menu was: Lunar Gazpacho, mushroom pate sandwiches, and as the center of the meal was this weeks select…… The amazing veggie bacon and eggs and asparagus salad (Not that the other recipies are not good, believe me they are).

The salad seemed awfully simple, and it was. The only thing I could live without was the dressing, I’m just not a fan of vinegar. But maybe a lemon vinagret would do the deal. I loved the idea of leaving the yolk runny. Instant dressing. I tell you Dorie is a geneous.

Now I must mention, the gazpacho recipe and the mushroom pate are from the book “passionate vegetarian” by the awzm Crescent Dragonwagon. If you come across this book you have to get it. You will never regret that purchase.

The book that my little celebration was all about is, “I <3 macarons” by Hisako Ogita. I heard great reviews about this book. I can’t wait to try the recipees in it. Something I loved about it is the detailed descriptions and pictures in it. This is another book that you should add to your collection.

Now I just need to go out and find something to celebrate or a new book to purchase, so I can have this salad again.

 

Quiche delish

This delicious trip that I have embarqued with dorie and the doriestas is turning into a fantastic adventure. weach week I’m pressented with a new challenge. This weeks contender was the delicious spinach and bacon quich. This was my first time doing a quich… Actually I have never tasted a quich so I had no idea what to expect.
I was not as nervous as other weeks. And to be honest it could have turned out better. I think I over baked the crust. But the eggie filling was nice and fluffy. Of course I had to do some minor adjustments. Like I used vegie bacon instead of the indicated in the recipe. And I totally forgot to restock my parmesan cheese so I used shredded mozarela instead. I think this is going to do an awsome weekend breakfast.

Until next time.

 

A headache’s cure (MAN #2)

Today’s topic is Headaches. If you are like me and suffer headaches more often than you wish, you might be able to name countless remedies and medications that are supposed to help you relief the pulsating pain. Some work, but if you are like me you try to keep your med consumption low, so you try different alternatives. I tried massages, which only made my headache stronger, I even tried to sticking some weird leaves in my forehead, and this last one was done under the peer pressure of my ex-boyfriend. I never found out if they worked, because I threw them away when he started laughing at how silly I looked.

Not long ago I came to an entry in MAN (Mum’s Alchemy Notebook) in it was a recipe that my great great grandma came across; it was given to her by an old lady when she was visiting Mexico.

…

When you are suffering of headaches and stress pains, you have to drink water that has been stored in a large clay pot in a cool place, do this during the rest of the day, and it’s important that you continue, even if your headache is gone.

Since most of us don’t have large clay pots to store water, what you can do is just to drink a cool glass of water, and just as the notebook says, continue doing this even if your head ache is gone.

It might sound weird or way to simple but I found that it actually helps… well sometimes not all the time.

(The contents of this blog have not been approved to cure any illness. This entry is just for the enjoyment of the reader. I am not responsible for the actions of any of the readers. If you are not allowed to read this, then stop and go away)

 

Stake irony

Now friends since this week my day off was escheduled for thursday instead of friday I decided to do this weeks choice that day.
Now some background info. Me a vegetarian, hardly ever cook any meet. Have not eatened in the last 5 years, and I am not planing to eat it any time soon.
So I pondered and pondered. And I came up with a solution. I would cook the stake for someone else. I would deal with the shame later… Poor poor cows .

Anywho, I went shopping, and it did not surprised me that I am naive when it comes to buying meats. So I went to the meat section. And I looked at the display. I could not find any filet mignon in any of the display-cards. The minutes passed and I felt like a fool. But thank god a worker came and asked me if I needed any help. I explained to him that I needed filet mignon. He told me that I could take a piece of top sirloin and cut it myself. I thanked him and then I turned to the display and grabbed a piece of the meet. I walked away and I resummed my shopping.
Once home I called a friend and asked her if she could be do me a favor and come over to eat some stakes. Surprinsingly she said yes…. Well I knew she would.
So she came home in record time.
I made the stakes and the sauce. I served her and while she ate I just sat there taking notes. But my thought went back to the poor cow she was eating. She finished and asked me if I had made more by any chance, so I got her more and I packed the rest in a doggie bag. At the end of the meal I asked her to descrive the stake. This is what she said:

“It was so juicy and good. Not tough at all. It had a butter flavor that I loved. The sauce was rich, but good, it really went well with the stake.”

So it seemed to me that butter and alcohol where the stars of this recipe. I might try doing that sauce again. It smelled good as I made it.

 

Batons and friends

This week for FFWD, the task at hand was to make mustard batons. Since it is easter week I’ve been running around getting things ready at work and at home. So when I saw the calendar and I realized that it was Thursday and I completly forgot to buy the puff pastry. My level of panic excaleted to a much higher level than it already was. I took my phone, my keys and my walet and I drove to the nearest store. When I was there I found an old friend that I have not seen in a couple of months. So I invited her to eat lunch, at my house, the next day.
Now let’s fastforward to today. For lunch I made a fresh cucumber and carrot salad, paninis and carrot curry soup. I had made the batons earlier so she would have something to chow in case it took me longer getting the lunch ready (which of course it did took me longer) but I had no complaints from my friend, she was way too bussy making all the batons disappear. She loved them. I got to try a couple and they were really, really good.
I had only one thing to say…. Batons where have you been all my life. Now I have decided that there is going to be at least one packet of puff pastry in my freezer and a jar of dijon mustard in the fridge. I am pretty sure that they will be a hit in the summer potlucks and in the autumn holidays.
Now I can’t wait for next Friday.

 

Mum’s Alchemy Notebook #1

First an update. Finally I got better and tried the gumbo I had made…. It was sooooo good. I’m probably going to be making it often. I miraculously managed to sneak some time to make last week’s eclairs for FFWD.

Now to the main topic.
I decided to post the contents of “Mum’s alchemy notebook”. This notebook is a compilation of my family’s natural treatments or remedies (note that the content has not been aproved to cure any illness, this is not to be taken seriously). This recipies come from my great great grandma, who visited mexico in her youth, my great grandma who lived in france all her life, and a few from an ex-boyfriend who was really into natural medicine. Most of the recipies are written in an old notebook that has been passed down from great great grandma Dominique. Whom in her youth traveled to mexico to collect medicinal recipies from the native indians. After her death, the notebook was then given to my great grandmother Aurore, who then passed it to my grandma, who passed it to my mom who then passed it to me when I moved to college. I must admit that some of the things in that notebook are just plain foolish. But I decided to post some of the most sane recipies in here.

…

Cumin seed tea
This is probably the least useful recipe, at least for me, this tea is supposed to bring relief from the menstrual pains that women seeme to be victims to every month.

You are to boil two cups of water, put a pinch of cumin seeds in the water. Remove from the heat, cover, and let rest until it becomes fragant (about 5-10 minutes). Drink the tea without any sweetener. My sister swears that this tea works, she even says that this tea will force a late period. But since I have never tried it (and probably never will) I don’t know for sure.

Now until next time, 

Alfred Adams

 

When it rains, it pours

In my last blog I posted that I planned to make gumbo. And I did, it took me longer than expected but it looked great (notice the use of “looked” instead of “tasted”). I started late in the afternoon and by the time I was finished, it was 10:00 PM. So I put some of it in the freezer and some in the fridge for the next day.
The next day started just like any other day, I got up, had my needed cup of coffee and went to work. Half way through the day I returned home sick. I suspected it was flu. I got out my mum’s alchemy notebook and made every remedy in it (now I wonder if some of the foul tasting remedies I had made more sick… Hmmm).
By now I felt drained, so I went to bed early. Without even remembering about the gumbo. The next day I was not feeling any better so no work, no friends and no gumbo.
Now Friday has come and the eclairs that I had planned to make will have to wait a few more days. And the gumbo…. Well, if I can’t eat it today it’s just probably going to be thrown away. Thank god I have some saved in the freezer . 
Now to finished this post, i’ll leave a recipe that I found in mum’s alchemy notebook, it’s a tasty tea that it’s supposed to make you feel better if you have the flu. Does it work you ask?… Well I don’t know but I tell you, this is so good that you will be making it even if you are not sick.

…

Put a pot of water to boil.
Remove from heat and put in it raisins, cinnamon sticks, star anise, a small piece of ginger, lemon grass tea, whole cloves, and a crushed cardamom pod. Let it steep for a couple of minutes. Then pour in cups through a sieve. Sweeten with honey (DO NOT USE SUGAR OR OTHER SUBSTITUTE, this tea needs the honey).

…

Now I know what you are going to say. “But Alfred, that sounds awfully similar to a chai tea recipe”. Well that is because it is. Mum of course does not call it chai, she calls it flu tea. But regardless of name, you still have to try it, you will get hooked.