Disclaimer

The author is aware that there have been many assumptions made about the work that has been presented through this outlet. Said work does not in any way represent anyone’s opinion but those of the writer. There were occasions when interviews/talks were indeed held in order to advance a certain degree of research on the subject presented, but said interviews/talks were not transcribed as such into any article. The author also recognizes the work presented might at times sound extremely sarcastic and cynic, perhaps even arrogant and narcissistic, but rest assure that it is always genuine. But rather than focusing on such superficial details, the reader is invited to be amused at minimalism in every aspect, which is somehow presented in this space. Nevertheless, the reader must not forget to thrive to find the complicated in every detail because there is certainly more than the previously mentioned superficial aspects to this work. In order to understand one must read between the lines and observe the world that surrounds the opinions expressed through them since there is so much more to these articles than what is written on them. Although many times the author failed to do so, there was an attempt to articulate the need for qualitative writing as opposed to quantitative in every aspect of the literary sphere especially when the issues discussed are of particular controversy.
The author does not seek approval for the thoughts here expressed because they are not aimed to conform but to challenge the norm. Furthermore, this is not an opportunity to flaunt the author through words or throw some candy-coated façade about the author’s opinions and thoughts. It is simply a space to express them.
Finally, please do note the Irish proverb that reads: “work like you don't need the money; dance like no one is watching; sing like no one is listening; love like you've never been hurt; and live life every day as if it were your last.”


xoxo,
Poison Drops


©Copyrighted 2009


p.s. This is, as it might be obvious, the last blog. It was a pleasure to have written all the articles.

Not Thy Shadow But Thyself

It is often said that the only guarantee one has in life is the fact that one will inevitably die one day, which is a mistake. There is another detail that life has guaranteed from the moment of one’s birth: pain in any of its varied forms. One is bound to be hurt and to suffer whoever one is and whatever one does. While such suffering is at times self-perpetrated, many others it is caused by those around. Yet, the only reason one is able to feel such pain is because one allows the feeling to overpower oneself. One must be able to differentiate between the trust one has on oneself and the trust one places on others, which is ultimately what makes the difference in feeling painful disappointments or dismissing such events as simple discontent. If one disregards others’ ability to account for one’s happiness, happiness will in fact be reached especially when it requires one to depend exclusively on oneself in order to be achieved.
As unnecessary as this might sound, one should know that life is not an easy task to experience despite the fact that the only architect of a life is the person who lives it. There will always be difficulties surrounding one’s every step since there is not anybody who can design a perfect life. One must be prepared to cope with the shortcomings of the design one makes. Regardless of those deficiencies, one must trust oneself to be strong enough to withstand the winds that will shake one to the roots and attempt to break one. One must remain solidly attached to the ground and in one piece. It will hurt, but one will be well if one so decides. One must also understand that pain is necessary for one to grow. One must comprehend the extent to which suffering plays a role in advancing potential as it is said, what does not kill will strengthen. It is inevitable to suffer. But the pain, whatever its source and however strong, is only temporary. The amount of time it remains depends on the kind of wound and who caused it. One should be able to discern the past of each wound so that one can surpass the pain. Whatever or whoever caused one to ache exists in a past that can only reach the present if one is not strong enough to leave it where it belongs. If said pain continues in the present, it will prevent satisfaction.
It is also important to realize that the only person one should trust is the one who can be observed in the mirror every morning. As one can guarantee people will harm one in one way or another, trust should be placed only on oneself; especially considering that the only person interested in someone’s personal well being is the person whose welfare is in question. Thus, trust should be a personal affair. Nevertheless, one should not by any means forgo relationships of any kind due to fear of being hurt. One must trust oneself enough to entertain those relationships and know that when and if they end, one will emerge perhaps with scars but well. One should, of course, trust the people who take part in one’s life. Yet, one should not trust them to the degree where one depends on them to be well. One should only trust them to a certain extent that will always allow one to be perfectly fine without ever having to depend on others’ actions.
Finally, one must be able to face that fact that one can also be the cause of the pain experienced. Perfection is not a quality enjoyed by anyone and as such one is bound to make mistakes. Hopefully, one makes many since that would mean one has actively participated in life as opposed to having remained inside watching life walk on the sidewalk from the window. Watching from the sidelines will not build the confidence necessary one needs to stand up after each mistake and continue the journey towards success. A success that means one will be well despite the flaws discovered, which is an important insight because the question is not about what is possible, the question is, what does one really want? Whatever the answer is, trust it can be done if one desires it enough to achieve it. That is the only way one can live a life in which one will truly live, learn and move on.


xoxo,
Poison Drops


©Copyrighted 2009

The Implications: Theory Plus Practice 101

There is a dream held by many children around the world that in some cases materializes and in others it simply remains a dream that follows them everyday until it begins to haunt them if it is never reached. There are many other children, however, who have never heard of such dream. College is a dream that seems so far away when one starts school at a very early age; but which one learns is attainable, as one grows older. One must remain in school and earn good marks in order to be able to attend college. There is also the cost issue, but that does not seem to stop many if they really wish to attend an institution of higher education. Yet, it is a dream that many seek to achieve although for different motives. More than a dream, college is also a rollercoaster of enjoyment, an enlightening incident, a nightmare, an escalator of growth, and a safety net.
There are many who know about the dream and who choose to let it walk by. Their reasoning is perhaps based on past unjustifiable mistakes or in a different dream, which they hope will provide a better future than college would. Most of these people, however, do no realize that they are merely exchanging future stability for the ever-fleeing present delight. There are, of course, other options that vary according to the person since there are many who have accomplished their heart desires’ without necessarily attending college. Yet, the fact that it has happened does not mean it always will. It is an unreliable option.
One goes to college expecting to learn a life lesson and hoping that upon abandoning the institution one is fully prepared to engage in real life. Much to the contrary, once one is actually in college, one finds out that college will perhaps do as we hoped, but it will do so in its own twisted ways. College, one learns, is a time to enjoy life. One has many liberties that were not previously enjoyed and advantage of such is taken plenty. The joy is never ending because there is always something new and exciting to be discovered. Many of those things lead to positive paths; others lead to damnation where what has been lost will never be recuperated. But such mistakes and experiences are an important part of the college experience.
It is inevitable that college will be an enlightening incident as well. Despite the efforts to focus on the fun encountered during those years, one learns much more than one had expected the day one’s parents left one outside the dorm building. One learns not only the difficulty of acquiring all the responsibilities that one’s parents took care of at home, which included but are not limited to paying the bills, making sure one arrives home alive and well at night and feeding oneself. One learns that there is another world outside the bubble one had lived in. There are simple lessons to be learned such as complicated math and how to write a proper analytical essay among the hundreds of other available subjects, but there are other important lessons that are not directly addressed inside a classroom: everyday survival.
College is also dreadful due to the innumerable assignments, exams, readings, countless nights spent at the library and the like. But that is small price to pay. In that process, one also dismisses all the mistakes one has made while walking that path in the hopes that they’ll remain part of only a nightmare and thus unreal. Yet, the most terrifying bit is that one is mostly alone and independent. Along the way, one also grows or at least hopes to do so. One must mature and become a better person once all the pieces of the puzzle are properly arranged together.
Finally, college is a safety net. It will not matter how many times one fails attempting triumph, one can always rely on that college diploma as a flashlight to find new opportunities and a settee to rest when those opportunities do not produce the expected results.
Whether pleasant or painful, every single memory shall be greatly cherished. Additionally, if one falls while reaching for the stars, the fall, though frightening, will be amusing. In the process, a lesson must be learned so that the next time one tries, one arrives at the stars. In the meantime, however, the clouds will be there to hold one.


xoxo,
Poison Drops


©Copyrighted 2009

Fishing Trip

There are many people who need help with life. In fact, everyone needs help at some point in life. The difference lies in how people deal with this need. Some people never attempt to seek said needed help and learn after difficult and long struggles, how to cope with their problems alone. Other people, however never learn and they need constant encouragement, which at times turns into a hand holding procedure whenever they encounter a problem that seems to be bigger than them which might not necessarily be the case. The dilemma raised by this situation is that there is a very thin line between encouraging someone in order to help them overcome their difficulties and holding their hands through as they walk through their problems on their way to defeating them.
There is a very small group of people who are self-sufficient. These people actually do not necessitate at any given time anyone to provide them help with anything. They tend to help others often, and in consequence people sometimes tend to feel as if they own them some help when they need. But that time for repayment never arrives. These people are very uncommon, yet they exist. They are also generally humble since they know there is not any need to swank their abilities. They are good at whatever they do, hence if any of them offers help one most definitely should accept it. There will not be a disappointment in doing so.
There are other people who as those who fall in the previous category also do not need help achieving their tasks. Yet, they require something a bit more drastic. They need to be encouraged in any endeavor they might choose to take. They need to be constantly reminded of how well they perform their job or any task that is given to them or which they choose to do. It is not that they are incapable of doing what they must; rather they need someone to remind them that they are capable to do so. They tend to forget their passed glories since more often than not these people are those have suffered a crisis that let them fall from the branch where those who are completely self-sufficient sit. They need to be simply encouraged, merely through words but not actual physical help or whichever kind of help is required for them to accomplish their tasks. Finally, there are those others who need to be walked through life whatever path they choose. These people do not only need to be continuously encouraged in any possible way that might provide them some confidence. They also need to have someone next to them at all moments in which they attempt to complete a task. Otherwise, they will not make an effort since they are afraid that they will fail and there will not be anybody to fix their mistakes. They persistently need to be taken care of and the support of those around them because they feel as though the world will end if that is not the case. They simply cannot do anything on their own. They always need a presence of someone whom they believe stronger and thus capable of holding them as they walk if the occasion might present itself when they stumble in order to prevent them from falling.
There is, however, a problem. The first category of people is so sure of their capabilities, that when they fail, they fall to the bottom. It is difficult for them to rise again. The last category of people is simply incapable of survival. They must constantly be nurtured. Helping them is rewarding because one feels accomplished since the task at hand that required help is done by the helper not the one who sought help. They are regularly given fish so they can eat, but they never learned and never will learn how to fish so they can feed themselves.
The second category of people is more practical. They will make their best effort to success, but they know they will need the help of those around them in the same the same way those around need from them. Although they might need to be reminded, they have longed learned how to fish in order to feed themselves. The key is to know the rules as if one had written them, but knowing that one is merely improving them.

xoxo,
Poison Drops


©Copyrighted 2009

The Mask

It is often said that beauty is costly. Being beautiful is expensive in every possible way. It is not only about the money invested on beauty products, but also in the time spent on trying to highlight one’s best features through the use of those products. There are many ways to reach such high standards of beauty that go from the seemingly simple, but rather complex make up kit running through facials and the perfect clothes to surgeries. The budget to which one has access is a decisive factor in choosing the products one will use to attempt beautification.
Make-up went from being a luxury to a requirement. In the present, considering the different prices there are in make-up options, most women have access to some kind of make-up. Hence, the important role it plays in the attempt to appear beautiful that many women engage in. Many women begin wearing make-up as teenagers whether through peer pressure or through home pressure, such women become so accustomed to make-up use to the point that by the time they come of age they already have the appearance of a thirty year old thanks to make-up. Others begin later in their adolescence or early adulthood, thus remaining truer to their age in appearance regardless of their level of maturity. Others simply choose not to wear make-up at all which seems to give them a childish look but their skin also ages at a slower rate. Make-up is thus a very sharp double-edged sword in every woman’s drawers. There is both a positive and a negative side to its use.
Make-up is not only a socially acceptable, but it has taken the proportions of something required for a woman to wear in order for her to be socially accepted. Make-up holds positive characteristics, which bestow on it its general public appeal. Women simply grow knowing that one day they will wear make-up. Even if they question said practice at any given time, most give in to the pressure. It becomes an addiction of sorts because once one begins wearing it; it is very difficult to stop. Women tend to be more confident when wearing make-up. As a result, they not only feel better about their physical appearance but also psychologically. They become more comfortable with every aspect of themselves; and, they tend to have a better attitude towards life because they like what they see in the mirror better. But the fact that make-up has the power to cause such level of comfort and confidence is rather problematic. It is precisely such consequences that condemn make-up also as negative and dangerous.
Make-up creates a façade. It does not only cover facial flaws, but it also conceals certain psychological predicaments. By endowing the women who wears it with a more confident self, make-up successfully hides insecurities, which in turn means it brings about the existence of two people within one body. Women who use make-up as a shield tend to become more reserved when they are not wearing it. They do not only hesitate in speaking but also in acting because they lack the confidence make-up allows them to have. A false confidence that is only as temporary as the time the make-up remains in the women’s faces. This practice is not only acceptable but somewhat required since it has become the norm. Although there is plenty of information and research on how the use of make-up alters a women’s skin in the long run, there does not seem to be, however, any concern with the psychological damage make-up can cause to those who wear it on a regular basis.
Society criticizes greatly those who dare walk outside their homes without a masquerade that in the best way possible hides those physical flaws that a woman observes everyday in the mirror. Make-up ensures that the low self-esteemed and physically unfit women do not show themselves to the world. It is the best solution to society’s obsessive attitude towards feminine beauty and lack of tolerance towards imperfection. Thus, women fill the aisles of the retails and the specialty make-up stores in an attempt to acquire the latest products that they hope will hand them over the keys to a more confident and beautiful version of themselves. Yet, there is only one truth: even though the doll might be dressed in a silk gown, it will remain only a simple doll. Unfortunately, the same policy is applicable to the doll’s make-up use.

xoxo,
Poison Drops


©Copyrighted 2009

Great Expectations

Prostitution has been known as the oldest profession for centuries. It is important to point out, however, that prostitution as commonly defined does not encompass the different kinds of prostitutions there are actually in existence in the world today. It is a harsh truth to accept that dating is one of those kinds of prostitution that are not recognized as such in the present time. There is a misunderstanding of the concept of payment, which is the basis for dating to be a kind of prostitution. A clarification is in order that although there is a widespread belief or tradition that requires men to pay whenever a couple goes out whether to dinner or to the movies and the like, it does not matter who pays because if it is not a fifty/fifty split of the costs, then it is prostitution. This is a situation that repeats itself in marriage as well.
As a couple in a prosperous relationship, people always want to do certain things together whether this means merely spending time with each other seating at a bench watching the sunset to having dinner, watching movies or even traveling. There are activities that do not involve a monetary transaction in which case the relationship is simply that: a couple of equal people spending time together in a romantic way. Conversely, if there is money involved, the situation changes. This problem begins when two people meet. For example, if they meet at a club and the man buys the woman a drink, then there is an underlying expectation for her to dance with him; and, in many occasions if she agrees to such and he continues to buy drinks, the expectation grows into believing the woman would go home with him that night. A situation otherwise known as one nightstand where through paying for the drinks, the man has paid for the woman to sleep with him. From meeting someone in such situation, one can understand why it is prostitution. It could perfectly function the other way as well because women are nowadays independent and able to earn their own money, which means they can also pay for the drinks.
When there is already a self-defined couple, they seem to be officially exempt from societies judging eyes. Although the same twisted belief, which says men should pay for everything, women sometimes take a stand and they decide to pay or at least to divide the cost in equal amounts. The problem here is that the situation remains the same as the one previously exposed when two people meet at a club or a bar. The difference is that in this case the couple does a lot more things together that might involve monetary transactions. But there is still the expectation that they will have sex at some point in the relationship whether right away or after a few weeks or a couple of months. It is not necessarily openly accepted that such event is all there is to wait for in the relationship, but it is an important stepping-stone in today’s society. Before people believed that one should wait until marriage, now everyone wants to take the car out for a drive before they buy it.
If marriage occurs, the situation does not change much. There are the extreme cases when it is very clear that the only reason the marriage took place was due to the economic interest of one party but the other one does not care. This is clearly a way to pay for a wife or a husband. There are other cases where the couple appears to divide the bills and the like as well as the payment for their outings and trips, but there is always a certain expectation that one of them will contribute more whether it is because said person earns more money or for other reasons. Provided they are already married and society is very accepting of these situations, if it not evenly divided, it is still prostitution. It can still be included because one way or another it still implies paying for sex; and, there are obviously complications when there are children.
There is not anybody allowed to hijack a Ferrari if they do not know how to drive. People must know what they step into. So, unless either party involved is ready to share in the good and the bad whether marriage is involved or not, they should not attempt to form a couple. Otherwise, a different label will be required.


xoxo,
Poison Drops


©Copyrighted 2009

Making History

It is a sad fact, but today’s youth fails to understand that the many years they spend learning inside a classroom will only deliver knowledge, never experience; and, without the latter, the former is not enough. A life is formed not only by the present, but also by the past and the future.
The past is represented by those days that have only left lessons from which one has to learn however painful they were since they have made one a better individual. It is as simple as the saying goes, “the devil knows better because he is old, not because he is the devil,” and it is precisely due to such saying that one should listen to the stories grandparents have to tell because the experience they have comes from the life they have lived. It is not for sale. Their stories appear to be taken out of a fiction novel because they reflect a life one can only imagine full of a richness that go beyond the material and seem impossible to obtain. Grandparents have all the experience one needs today in order not to commit the mistakes that will make one spend the future trying to amend them and repeating how many times one had the opportunity to listen and learn but did not. One is so accustomed to a life plagued by materialism which makes one forget how important it to learn from those who came before because their roots are deepest in the soil. Such deepness reflects the experience grandparents have acquired through out their lives, which one must take advantage of instead of dismissing them as simple ideas from times passed. It is true that many opportunities one can celebrate; they never had which is the reason why their roots are so important. As a tree does not fall held by the strength of its roots, one also remains standing. Without the many privileges one has today, grandparents built a life on a strong basis fed through their roots, a life that now extends itself to their offspring and grandchildren.
If the grandparents are the past, then the parents are the present. They represent the stability of the trunk, which the tree needs to continue its growth. They have also had an opportunity to add their corresponding part to history. Although they do not lack knowledge, they have not lived enough to have the wisdom grandparents have and so they remain strongly attached to the roots. As a basis one has had education and the love parents provide, in such way one has become the fruit of the struggle in which everyone has participated. Without parents, the tree would not have survived because a tree without branches is only a trunk that is near death. However, one remains, which can only mean the branches have protected the fruit held by a strong base. One must take complete advantage from the educational opportunities one has in order so the tree continues to flower and producing fruits. In the present one must learn what will allows one to continue in the future because giving up now would be equivalent to drowning at the shore after having swam for so long and such a long distance. If one allows the tree to die, it would only be the result of the failure of the fruit to absorb the nutrients, which it was provided with as well as its lack of seeds.
Today one has the future at hand as the fruit of the tree that represents the family. Family that is not only formed by blood ties but also by friends, teachers, coworkers who have helped to take care of the tree. The future will be the result of everything one has been able to intake through the roots; from what the present has provided as care, protection and love as courtesy of the parents; and, the educations one has acquired as a personal achievement resulting from the constant struggle to excel. Finally it will be a result especially of how one puts to practice the lessons one has learned. Now it is one’s turn to leave a mark in history, but one must be very careful how that mark will be left.
Life is not today. Life is tomorrow because tomorrow is when the effort will bring results. The road does not end today. The path merely begins day because success is found before work only in the dictionary.

xoxo,
Poison Drops


©Copyrighted 2009

Mutual Immunity

A well functioning immune system is a very important asset, which does not only carry the medical implications that it should prevent one from becoming ill or accelerate the process of recuperating from any illness one acquires. An immune system is also a support system created by the people one is surrounded by. The immune system is the body’s physical protective measure. The body needs the immune system functioning well in order to continue enjoying a healthy life in the same way being surrounded by the right people as a support system serves as an indirect preventive mental measure to remain sane.
The immune system has plenty of work with the body on a daily basis because there are many pathological agents wherever one goes that are invisible to the naked eye. The immune system has to fight them in order to prevent them from settling in the body and causing the disease to develop however severe or insignificant this might be. The observation here should be that the immune system never rests. When one is not sick, it is busy fighting off diseases one encounters so that one might not become one more victim; and, when such measure fails, it is busy fighting the disease off the body so that one may quickly recover and be healthy once again.
In the same way the immune system fights disease, the support system created by the people one is surrounded by also fights off other negative agents that one encounters. The first one of these systems is one’s family. They are there from the beginning not by choice though by choice they remain. Family does not only protect, but also provides until one is able to do it alone. Family is the first immune system that protects one from all the maladies that one finds outside one’s home, which are mostly irrelevant as one comes to find out. Yet, the family proves competent enough to deal with the many trivialities one encounters as a child then as a teenager and early adulthood.
The immune system becomes stronger as it fights off diseases because it can create immunity. Yet, it cannot create such immunity on its own. It often necessitates vaccines that will aid in its quest for permanent health. Though it is practically impossible to be one hundred percent healthy at any given time, with the help of vaccines and medicine the immune system has a better chance at performing a well done job. In that same way, the support system created by the family is complemented with friends, as one grows older.
Friends become a different type of support system. Friends not only help with the unimportant but also tend to have a better access to what one is living through since one tends to become distant from the family, as one grows older. Friends function then in a certain way as vaccines because they are able to directly prevent one from being in a bad situation whereas family is a more after the fact group. However, this does not mean that friends prevent one from unpleasant situations at all times. Sometimes friends are the cause one is in said situations.
But that is a personal choice.
The immune system is already part of the body when one is born, and although recommended, becoming vaccinated is a choice. Thus, there is a difference between the family support system and the support system created by friends. Though the support system is mutual in both cases, one tends to be obligated through family bonds to be part of that system for a family member whereas one is part of the other system by choice. The immune system’s job is to maintain one healthy though it sometimes fails because it cannot alone do its job. Equally, friends and family try to be supportive in any facet of one’s life, but there are times when there is so much work one gives them, which eventually causes them to also fail in their attempt.
In order to remain healthy, one must not leave all the work to the immune system. One must play the part that is correspondent by eating healthy and taking preventive measures. It has to be a complimentary job. In the same way, one has to be cooperative if friendships and family relations are to function because in the same way they are one’s support them one is also part of their support system. It is mutual.


xoxo,
Poison Drops


©Copyrighted 2009

Cheers!

The act of drinking alcoholic beverages was born in ancient times and it has evolved into a very different practice in the present. Although largely a social practice, the intake of alcoholic beverages might also lead to alcoholism. Alcoholism is now considered a disease that results from the constant consumption of alcohol despite health problems and negative social consequences of said act. As a social practice, however, there are not any specific guidelines people follow when drinking. Yet, there seem to be a series of unwritten rules people do follow as far as determining who is allowed to drink and on what situations. There is even a legal age for drinking, which varies around the world.
Everyone’s philosophy of drinking is different but there is a general idea of how one starts in such practice. One’s first exposure to drinking is through observing people doing it –usually family members at family events. One wonders what that liquid adults drink is and why it provokes them to act in a certain way and especially why one is not allowed to drink it if they seem to have so much fun with it. Some times one of those family members decides to let one taste said beverages and one comes to find out how ridiculously bad it tastes. One tends to decide at that time that one will never drink it again, but as time passes by one reencounters it, usually in a different setting and after another trial a sort of habit is created. It becomes a form of social interaction in which one participates because one does not want to be left out. But one grows to enjoy its effects if not the taste. That is not to say that said effects are particularly good. On the contrary, other than the health hazards it represents, alcohol also leads to memory lost among other things. In cases when people actually like the taste of it, alcoholism begins to develop.
The second exposure usually comes when one is a teenager. At that time, one learns the thrill of drinking. The strange yet enjoyable effect it produces, which tends to decrease inhibitions. Teenagers drink as a way of rebellion but also as a way to demonstrate that they are mature enough to do so. It is a game of appearances. If adults are doing it, then they will do so as well in order to prove they can control it though they are unable to do so. As teenagers grow older, they find a different meaning to drinking. It is not longer a symbol of maturity rather it becomes a symbol of simple adulthood. But it never stops being a way to fit in.
People have different reasons for drinking, which include celebrating important events, whether with friends or family, people toast to those who are celebrated or the event that is remembered. There are others, who drink, usually alone, to forget past mistakes or sorrows, which is a mistake itself since alcohol will only make them forget for the time being. Not only that, but there are also different types of drinks which also have different symbolisms. Wine has always been a symbol of sophistication for whoever drinks it. Hard liquor is usually a way to demonstrate strength although it is also considered somewhat vulgar whereas mixed drinks are usually taken as a sign of weakness. Historically, the former have been linked to men and the latter to women, yet that does not mean the correlation is correct or that only men or only women drink in said categories.
Drinking also has many effects some of which are recognized while others are not. Aside from the previously mentioned health hazards, some of those effects include but are not limited to making people violent, melancholic, sad, sleepy, increasing their sexual appetite, and sometimes happy. There is also the hangover, which seems to be a certain punishment for the abuse of alcohol. Not everyone experiences them because not everyone abuses alcoholic substances, yet most people fear the hangover due to its devastating feeling.
Due to the different levels of tolerance, it is difficult to generally define when one drink becomes too many. Alcohol as a form of diversion is acceptable. But when it becomes a habit used to drown sorrows, one finds out often too late that sorrows know how to swim and one’s life cannot withstand the extended exposure to alcohol –and drowning it has been.

xoxo,
Poison Drops


©Copyrighted 2009

Citizen of the World

The world is more abundant in diversity than one could ever imagine. Every distant place has a history and a future that makes it appealing or appalling to those who inhabit a different place. As a child, one dreams with visiting remote locations for which one develops a certain fascination. Many of those places are so magical that they exist only on one’s dreams or in the pages of a fiction book or science fiction novel, but many others form part of the planet one inhabits. After one grows older, one tends to devise a plan to visit the places that are real from the extended catalog one created as a child. One begins to accept that many of those places will only be visited in dreams as well as decided that certain others are not as attractive anymore. At the same time, the reasons one might want to visit a certain place might very well differ for the reasons one had as a child. One might travel due to a work related issue as opposed to having pleasure trip. One might travel with the family, friends or alone but always hoping to learn and enjoy. Yet, many people travel because they do not have any other choice, such as immigrants who want to improve their living conditions not because they wish to leave their motherland. Traveling is, thus, a subjective activity that nonetheless holds a passion for many; and whatever the motive, a lifetime is not enough to tour the world.
For most people, the first trip is with the family and does not necessarily involve long distance. Any trip out of town will classify for this category. However, in order for it to amount to an actual traveling experience it would require an overnight stay at the destination. More often than not, these trips mean a visit to a relative who for a reason or another lives in a different town than does one. But there are others who experience family trips of the kind that count as vacationing with the family and are the type of trip one tells people at school for years to come. Further, there are those family trips that mean a complete relocation of the family, as do immigrants.
As one grows older, one learns about places one previously only had vaguely heard of and a new desire to travel to those places, which attract one, begins to grow. Thus, when the resources are available, one travels more prominently usually with friends to those new places. One travels with friends because there is more freedom to enjoy the newly discovered grounds. At this time, one designs new ways in which one can enjoy the world. A list is constructed that contains the places one must absolutely visit and those others one would rather not go to. Also in the list are places one wished to return to. The world is constantly changing which provides another motive to travel around it.
Then, one hopes and attempts to be prosperous in order to continue indulging in the pleasure one acquires through traveling. Sometimes, such prosperity brings with itself the necessity to travel due to work related business. That kind of travel is rather draining because one must be in and out of places while doing work and does not have time to enjoy the trips, especially when the destination is a place one had never before been to. Nevertheless, one must appreciate such opportunities since they open the door to new destinations; and, of course, pay for the other delightful trips.
The first place one must absolutely admire through the art of travel is the motherland. Whatever this might be, it requires special attention. Yet, traveling must not be limited to such destinations within the international border of one’s country. One must travel to become acquainted with planet one inhabits. Every continent must be paid a visit. Every type of environment must also be visited. One must not only travel to be amused and pleased with what one experiences, but one must also learn from each trip. Details must be carefully observed in order to completely absorb what the encounter with a new place has to offer because the fact that one is foreign does not mean one is intellectually challenged.
One must be a traveler that takes pleasure in the journey as well as the stay while unwinding tensions, not a tourist who enjoys only the glamour in retrospect.

xoxo,
Poison Drops


©Copyrighted 2009

Personal Holiday

There are too many holidays in any given country or religion though they are not celebrated or observed by everyone who is eligible to do so. There is one day, however, that holds a special connotation and is celebrated by everyone: a birthday. The reasons people have to commemorate such day seem to be somewhat misguided. People tend to mark such day as a special day that represents life. That is to say, the life that has passed. On such day, one celebrates that one is becoming older and presumably more mature without noticing that there is not any real reason to celebrate such event. One is unknowingly merely rejoicing in the ignored truth that death is nearer. At the same time, one is celebrating one more year of life, one also celebrates one has one less year to live. There is a need to celebrate that one is still alive, which is wrongfully celebrated as having lived one more year by adding one more candle to the cake; and, delighting in the knowledge that has been acquired. But it should be celebrated with an emphasis on the year that begins and lays ahead full of opportunities and lessons to be learned.
Birthdays become the biggest holiday in each individual’s lives. As such, they doubtlessly create great expectations at any given year. There is always something to be desired that day. The first one, the day one is actually born, has the obvious expectation that the new addition to the family will be a healthy and to become a remarkable person. Then, people anticipate the first birthday to be celebrated with fanfare. Later, the second is expected to exceed the first. But as time goes by, the expectations switch from the people around to the child. As children grow older, they begin to aspire to better birthday parties to which they can invite their friends. They look forward to a cake, gifts, games, etc. if such expectations are not met, there is disappointment. Eventually, however, the disappointment is surpassed because one reaches an age when the expectations change from birthday parties to attain other purposes. First, one yearns to be sixteen in order to acquire a driver’s license. Later, one wants to be seventeen in order to be able to view r-rated movies at the theater without needing parents present. The magic eighteen is next: finally one is able to have access to nightclubs, and achieve a certain freedom. Then, leave to college. Finally, one awaits turning twenty-one in order to be able to legally drink. But these are all trivial aspirations. When they reach an end, one begins to have other types of expectations that become goals to accomplish.
One reaches an understanding that when one was so young, one was prevented from realizing the true meaning of the celebrations one had as a child. The details escaped the young mind. As an adult, one comprehends slightly more of what those parties represented. They were simply a way to show one’s social status; first for one’s parents, then unconsciously for oneself. The gifts received were only a way to fulfill one’s caprices. Finally, a cake with the candles as a reminder of how old one is becoming. All of which are superficial details. However, through those details one completely misses the fact that a birthday does not only mean one more year of life is starting and there is so much to be lived and experience. A birthday also symbolizes the end of a year one has already lived. It means one has less time to live. The focus of a birthday is the celebration of life, but there also needs to be a certain awareness of the time that has passed and one will not be able to recuperate. That is not to say one should dwell on the past and what one did and did not do, but on what one can do with the now accumulated knowledge.
At the sunset of one’s life, every birthday festivity will only revive memories of satisfying days full of enjoyment. But the true fulfillment will only come from having achieved every goal and having materialized every wish one had when blowing out the candles on every cake one had in the past. A birthday does not simply mark the end of a year one would hope left great memories but most importantly it is also the first day of the rest of one’s life; treat it as such.Personal Holiday
There are too many holidays in any given country or religion though they are not celebrated or observed by everyone who is eligible to do so. There is one day, however, that holds a special connotation and is celebrated by everyone: a birthday. The reasons people have to commemorate such day seem to be somewhat misguided. People tend to mark such day as a special day that represents life. That is to say, the life that has passed. On such day, one celebrates that one is becoming older and presumably more mature without noticing that there is not any real reason to celebrate such event. One is unknowingly merely rejoicing in the ignored truth that death is nearer. At the same time, one is celebrating one more year of life, one also celebrates one has one less year to live. There is a need to celebrate that one is still alive, which is wrongfully celebrated as having lived one more year by adding one more candle to the cake; and, delighting in the knowledge that has been acquired. But it should be celebrated with an emphasis on the year that begins and lays ahead full of opportunities and lessons to be learned.
Birthdays become the biggest holiday in each individual’s lives. As such, they doubtlessly create great expectations at any given year. There is always something to be desired that day. The first one, the day one is actually born, has the obvious expectation that the new addition to the family will be a healthy and to become a remarkable person. Then, people anticipate the first birthday to be celebrated with fanfare. Later, the second is expected to exceed the first. But as time goes by, the expectations switch from the people around to the child. As children grow older, they begin to aspire to better birthday parties to which they can invite their friends. They look forward to a cake, gifts, games, etc. if such expectations are not met, there is disappointment. Eventually, however, the disappointment is surpassed because one reaches an age when the expectations change from birthday parties to attain other purposes. First, one yearns to be sixteen in order to acquire a driver’s license. Later, one wants to be seventeen in order to be able to view r-rated movies at the theater without needing parents present. The magic eighteen is next: finally one is able to have access to nightclubs, and achieve a certain freedom. Then, leave to college. Finally, one awaits turning twenty-one in order to be able to legally drink. But these are all trivial aspirations. When they reach an end, one begins to have other types of expectations that become goals to accomplish.
One reaches an understanding that when one was so young, one was prevented from realizing the true meaning of the celebrations one had as a child. The details escaped the young mind. As an adult, one comprehends slightly more of what those parties represented. They were simply a way to show one’s social status; first for one’s parents, then unconsciously for oneself. The gifts received were only a way to fulfill one’s caprices. Finally, a cake with the candles as a reminder of how old one is becoming. All of which are superficial details. However, through those details one completely misses the fact that a birthday does not only mean one more year of life is starting and there is so much to be lived and experience. A birthday also symbolizes the end of a year one has already lived. It means one has less time to live. The focus of a birthday is the celebration of life, but there also needs to be a certain awareness of the time that has passed and one will not be able to recuperate. That is not to say one should dwell on the past and what one did and did not do, but on what one can do with the now accumulated knowledge.
At the sunset of one’s life, every birthday festivity will only revive memories of satisfying days full of enjoyment. But the true fulfillment will only come from having achieved every goal and having materialized every wish one had when blowing out the candles on every cake one had in the past. A birthday does not simply mark the end of a year one would hope left great memories but most importantly it is also the first day of the rest of one’s life; treat it as such.

xoxo,
Poison Drops


©Copyrighted 2009

How to Wear Mexican

There seems to be an intrinsic need to classify every aspect of one’s life as well as everything and everyone that one is surrounded by. In such a way, one finds that nations are classified based on the many features in which they are similar or differ from others. Every country arranges others in an unofficial way to have a record of what the country doing the organizing believes the country in the catalog should be like. Every country is guilty of such practice. The definition of culture emanates from this procedure. Culture is not something one thinks about while living in one’s country of origin; one simply lives the life one has without classifying certain details as part of the culture. Culture is a simply a lifestyle that takes another name once one departs the motherland to inhabit a foreign country. It is only after said relocation that one begins to grasp the importance of the everyday details one never before deemed as customs and traditions, but which have now acquired different dimensions.
As a young child growing up in a very small town in Mexico, it never occurred that life there was culturally rich. However, upon arriving to a foreign country one finds a new truth: everything one previously considered as a simple lifestyle becomes what constitutes the culture of one’s country. The new idea starts to gain ground when one’s thinks about the past. One necessarily begins to appreciate every detail of the precious past and regards the present as rather monotonously dull. One realizes that, indeed, the past from which one came from and to which one could return if so one wished is full of customs and traditions. Yet, such only takes the name of culture because one is now observing it from the outside. When one was still active in it, that culture was simply a way of life. Being Mexican is precisely that: a way of living. Such living must be experienced in order to be understood, appreciated, and loved. It is not a culture that one can express through a theory or learn about at school.
Certainly, there are traditions and customs, which uphold Mexican living. For example, speaking Spanish (or rather Mexican since it is a variation of the original Spanish). Then, there is the unofficial national religion: Catholicism, and passion for soccer. The culinary practices as well as the world famous tequila. The music, the education system, the importance of the family along with its complicated hierarchical system, the freedom children can enjoy, the celebration of national holidays in very specific ways, wedding ceremonies, and even poverty to name a few. These are, however, not labeled as customs and traditions when one lives in Mexico, they are simply part of the way life is. They do not completely encompass Mexican living, but provide an insight into a far from perfect, yet enjoyable and happy life.
It is worth the tautology to say that one learns to be Mexican only by being Mexican, which necessarily includes spending a great deal of time living in Mexico. It is only by living there that one learns to love the motherland and understand its flaws. One cannot miss what one never had. Nonetheless, there are many who depart at such early age that prevents them from absorb what being Mexican is. There are others who choose to portray themselves in a certain way, which they believe best in order to benefit from hiding their identity. Others do not realize they are incorrectly representing what being Mexican means in an effort to be accepted. Finally, there are those who attempt to be immersed in said ‘culture’ while in a foreign country without having spent any time in Mexico. The results are often an outrage to the idea, which they wished to represent. It is a complete failure because they only receive filtered theory without any practice. They only take what is appealing whereas those living in Mexico take the pleasant and the appalling. It does not matter how great, modest and passionate their attempt is, they will never be able to wear Mexican properly. One only learns to do so by having the suit carefully tailored to fit one’s body using the direct experiences that one accumulates through life in Mexico.
Suits are tailored to fit the customer not customized to order.
Dear beautiful Mexico, if I should die away from you, let people say I am only sleeping and take me to you!


xoxo,
Poison Drops

©Copyrighted 2009

Scarce Perfection

Women are sadly psychologically engineered to seek approval from everybody around them in different ways and at different times. Although many learn to control such flaw, others simply never discover its existence or choose to ignore it. As a result, most women are afraid of rejection and loneliness, which tends to impact their romantic life in negative manner. Women seem to be able to conform to the man they wind up with. Yet, the conformism is due to their constant quest of approval that hinders their pursuit of the perfect man they have imagined themselves with. The perfection women seek is, of course, subjective since every woman appreciates different qualities in a man. However, there are several qualities in which women usually agree when it comes to creating a template for the perfect man.
After careful research through numerous interviews, the model of a perfect man would be as follows. Women first and foremost want a man that will be not only faithful, but also loyal to them. It is important to recognize the difference. Being faithful means that there will only be one woman (at a time) in the romantic side of the relationship whereas being loyal means that there will not be any lies or secrets in the different aspects of the relationship.
To continue the perfect man should also be intelligent, which does not mean he should have only academic knowledge, but also he should be worldly knowledgeable. This is very important because he should be able to carry a conversation other than monotonous details of life, business, sports and cars. Women can hold such conversations, but they tend to become obstacles to real communication and insightful conversations. Said communication should also include a carefully crafted vocabulary that displays trust, yet respect and intelligence; without forgetting the vital importance of a pleasant sense of humor. However, the previously mentioned form of intelligence is not the only kind of intelligence a woman looks for in a man. The perfect man should also be streetwise. He should be able to survive in the city and possess a sense of direction. Such form of wisdom is not acquirable in a classroom, but it should complement academic scholarship.
If this man should have goals and ambitions, then he is a step closer to perfection. A woman does not want a man that does not aspire to be more than who he already is. Lack of which would mean he does not have space for growth; which might very well translate in not having space for a woman or a family. The now almost perfect man must also live on his own. As a result of such life, he would be able to appreciate those tasks performed at home that he would otherwise take for granted. Living alone also means that he should have a life of his own. He must be independent. He cannot expect to form an “us” if there was not previously a separate “I” and “you.”
He should also be physically fit. Every woman has her own definition of what this means, but the general idea is the same for most women. The general consensus of the interviewees included a minimum height of 5’10”. Women know that models are exceptions rather than norm, yet the commonly observed specimens are mostly unfit. It is also very significant that the perfect man possesses a sense of style. He cannot simply be the reflection of a piñata in every aspect of his life. A fashion sense is not the only necessity. He must also have manners and have a proper public and private demeanor. He must be masculine, yet mindful of his appearance and scent.
The perfect man must also know how to dance and how to cook. Women like to dance whether they admit it or not. The same way they enjoy a home cooked meal not prepared by them. Lastly, but not least critical, the perfect man should be skilled. Women do not fancy faking though many conform because most men are unable to perform.
There are also a series of qualities that depending on their presence or absence on a man automatically destroy any chance of a relationship. These, however, vary greatly with every woman the same way the perfect woman is contingent to every man. The perfect man is rare and not displayed on sideboards. Research should be done. But remember that even an overly expensive car is taken out for a drive before it is bought.

xoxo,
Poison Drops

©Copyrighted 2009

The Circus is coming to Town!

The circus has always been acclaimed for its simple, yet effective ways of entertaining people from all ages. Hundreds of people are involved in the preparation of a single performance through the many hours, which are necessary for the planning. In the same way, the amount of money that is invested in a circus is plenty. The presentations are planed with meticulous details. However, the circus has a rival for the best show in town: a wedding ceremony. One only needs to consider the time and money required to plan a wedding along with the people who take part on the wedding, and the details of the reception in order for one to realize the kind of show a wedding is. The only difficulty is that on a wedding the star of the show is not the lion trainer nor the trapezists, but those who steal the show are the clowns.
It is not clear why there is a need to publicly display the meaning two people have for each other. Nevertheless, however difficult to grasp many people find it necessary to sign a legal document, and in many cases have a religious celebration, as well as offer a reception for people to be witnesses of the affection they privately proclaim for each other. This need seems to arise from a desire to ensure that said affection will endure.
The beginning of it all is the socially constructed idea of the glamorous wedding reception that many people learn to desire. The characteristics of what a wedding reception should be like have been molded into acquiring alluring motifs. The engagement is a parallel to the opening act of the show. It is a common practice for the man to make a wedding proposal to the woman, which is symbolized by the gifting of a ring. In the circus the master of ceremony introduces what is to come. In the case of the proposal, the ring and the way in which the proposal is made is a sort of way to forecast what can be expected at the wedding.
After the engagement has been made official, the planning begins. This is obviously a stage that in the circus performance occurs prior to the opening act, yet the planning is still arduous. A color scheme must be chosen for the flowers, table settings, and bridesmaids’ dresses, among other things. The circus also has a sort of theme to be followed at every presentation. Then, invitations must be sent to family and friends through a cautious selection in order to ensure that only those people that one truly wants in attendance are invited and not those whom one would not wish to see at the reception. At the same time, one should also carefully choose those who will participate in the wedding itself. Such selection is also done in the circus when those who will participate in the performance are selected in order to ensure it will be flawless.
Then, the ceremony takes places in most cases beginning with a religious celebration. If any, after the religious celebration, the wedding guests arrive at the reception where the wedding party greets them. Then, they are offered dinner. The maid of honor and the best man toast the newly weds. Shortly after, the cake is cut, and the throwing of the flower bouquet by the bride, which is falling out of practice, also occurs. If a dance has been provided, the groom and the bride dance with their parents, then with the maid of honor and the best man. After such dance, they rejoin to dance together. There is a hierarchy of who is allowed to follow in the dance floor until everyone in attendance is permitted to do so. In the circus, there is also a hierarchy of acts to be followed.
Although weddings and circus shows are different in kind, both have a carefully devised protocol. The reasons for a circus performance to be meticulously prepared become clear with the response of the public to the different parts of the presentation. As for a wedding, however, those in attendance will never be pleased. At the end of the reception, it will be drastically criticized. There is, precisely for that reason, a difficulty in understanding why is there a public showcase of what two people say to feel for each other. But rather easy to be aware why the clowns are the monarchs of the show.

xoxo,
Poison Drops


©Copyrighted 2009

A Criminal Affair

There are some people who thoroughly enjoy surprises to the point that makes their bones shiver. They live for the surprises they receive while many other people detest surprises with the same passion of those who enjoy them. Nevertheless, a surprise is a detail in everyone’s existence that is supposed to make life more enjoyable due to its precisely self-explanatory nature. It is an opportunity to showcase one’s creativity. But it only functions when the receiver does not expect it. It is important to point out the different between detesting surprises and expecting surprises. The former do not like to receive them, the latter enjoy knowing in advance that there will be one. Then, there are those other people who expect surprises. Of course, at that point the surprise loses its magic even though it remains a surprise. Relationships are a special case of this phenomenon. Many people reach the point in their relationships at which they expect the object of their affection to do something for them as a form of showing their proclaimed affection in special occasions such as birthdays, anniversary, Valentine’s day, Christmas and any other day that has a special significance for both even though more than likely only one of them remembers. There is a widely spread trend that has sent the element of surprise in a journey from which it seems to have vowed for never returning.
Surprise has left, but its destination is unknown. How such event took place remains a mystery. It is difficult to deduce after how long of being in a relationship do people arrive at the conclusion that they have the right to expect certain things from their partners. Especially difficult is then the task of reconstructing a series of events that would lead those people to said conclusion. Such event is an act of murder against romance. Surprises make a relationship sparkle. When a surprise is receive, one is strangely reminded of the reason why one has chosen that person to be part of one’s life, even if such is temporary. It is a challenge to discover why some people would want to destroy that spark. Yet, there are many, who believe that after having been in a relationship for a certain amount of time, which varies according to who is asked, one has the right to expectation. There are still many who do not question the idea that there must exist that element of surprise in a relationship in order to make it enduring because they understand the deeply embedded role creativity plays.
Romance is abstract and subjective, but it implies an artistic expression of one’s fascination for the object of one’s affection in the case of a relationship. Otherwise it simply is an artistic expression of one’s creativity. As such it implies the freedom to be creative when the choice of showing said affection in especial occasions presents itself. Although the element of surprise does not seem as important part of a relationship as one might at first think, it actually has an important purpose. However, if one cannot longer rely on the element of surprise for such events, romance has failed to play a role in the relationship. Thus, people who believe they have the right to expectation have killed romance. They have extinguished the spark that kept the relationship alive.
It is only too late that one realizes that spark has stopped burning. By that time, expectation has eradicated any trace of the so-called uniqueness of a relationship and makes the romance that still remains ironic. Surprises do not matter anymore. At this point, surprises become optional and, as such, not essential as nurture to the relationship. The main problem raised by this situation is that the relationship becomes a routine because creativity is not allowed to work its magic. Incredibly enough, some people are perfectly satisfied with such situation because custom has become stronger than love.
There are those people who prefer to refrain from expectation because they deem such practice as a waste of time and energy that might be used for more important tasks. Views change with the person expressing them, but at the end most agree that a surprise is not a surprise if one already knows what it will be. In the same way, most people do not consider the fact that expecting something also nullifies the surprise. Yet, the most important detail to remember is that those who do not expect anything are fortunate because they will never be disappointed.


xoxo,
Poison Drops


©Copyrighted 2009

Illegal Results of Education

Segregation is an illegal practice throughout most of the world; and, as such, there are many laws that protect people from suffering said fate. However, the segregation that seems to be the subject of those laws is of racial nature even though such segregation is not the only one people experience. The most notorious one being that caused by the difference in education attainment levels. Education, as a system, does not only educate people, as one would tautologically claim, rather its effects are far more complicated and appalling. Education segregates people in the most unrecognized, yet definite way.
The first stage of the problem begins with the fact that not everyone has the opportunity to attain a college level education. Attending a university is not an opportunity everyone enjoys. Then, the problem is exacerbated by the lack of ambition from many of those who have the opportunity to attend such institutions. However, the problem feeds off of the changes education brings about. Education changes the way people appreciate and observe the world through simply changing the way they think.
The world is such a plain place without the benefit or detriment of education. After one has experience higher education, however, the world becomes a completely different place. It is not longer simple rather it becomes very complicated. Every observation becomes detailed and is meticulously analyzed because there is an urge to discover a meaning beyond what the senses provide. This challenge is first experienced during college, any education before is of a more general sense such that the puzzles there observed do not have many consequences due to the simplicity of the courses.
Elementary education is precisely of such basic nature that the children are at that time much more interested in the time they are given as recess than they are on what they learned in the classroom. There are, of course, exceptions to this rule. There are those children who at an early age learn the importance education has in their lives and they strive to acquire the knowledge their teachers offer them. As children progress through the education system, their mentality changes. But as a result of the many physical and psychological changes they experience, most fail to realize the intellectual change that is also taking place. Unfortunately, if not recognized, such important change is not fed and it eventually perishes. It abandons its objective of creating a well-rounded individual who can face the twisted world one inhabits.
University education, nevertheless, has the biggest impact on this modification to human knowledge. If the transformation experience in the early years of one’s life is properly attended to, one will, first, find a way in which to attend an institution that will provide a higher level of education despite the superficial impossibility of doing so. In this way, education becomes an issue of a certain choice. If one truly desires such learning experience and what it brings about, one will procure it. The wisdom then obtained is not necessarily the wisdom one had expected to come across when one first walked through campus. Conversely, one learns that the world is a cruel place and that one will struggle unless one is at the top position in whatever one decides to do after one has received a diploma. In the mean time, this new education alters not only physical appearance since one struggles to be more of a college student, to leave behind the rich past from which one emerged in order to be accepted in the academic sphere, but it also revolutionizes one’s views and thoughts about the world and the people who inhabit it. It becomes so deeply embedded that one’s vocabulary learns to accommodate itself according to the occasion and the people one interacts with. Those who are college educated then become a segregated group with visions of what the world should be like. They criticize the world’s every detail, but fail to admire and complete a project, which would allow for real change. Through them, the problem they attempted to solve roots itself more deeply as they find themselves benefited by the system they once wished to dismantle.
Education creates an invisible barrier between those who know and those who do not even without a definition of such knowledge. It creates a new form of segregation, which it encourages and propagates. As such, education is useless because it bends itself into becoming one more tool of oppression even if liberation remains undefined.

xoxo,
Poison Drops


©Copyrighted 2009

Disguised Lion

It is widely said that the lion is not as painted which seems to complicate identifying them in a metaphorical sense. Such distinction becomes more difficult when the lion exists in disguise as a lamb. There are many people who fit said description. In fact, there are too many that they blend with the rest of the human population such that their wrongdoings become more easily ignored. The case in point is whether cheating and lying are ever acceptable in a romantic relationship (since the other types of relationships and life in general, seem to require at times a so called white lie for better results so long as these are positive).
From the perspective of the cheater, it seems to be the case that cheating should be, if not acceptable, at least excusable. In this theory it is believed that lying is more difficult than cheating as a result of the measured effort one places on either activity. There is a well-known argument for cheating that rests on the assumption that the flesh is weak. However, it also seems to be the case, when one accepts such assertion, that the mind is then not strong enough to control the misguided desires of the flesh. If the mind knows the flesh’s actions will be unjustifiable, and, as a result, unacceptable, then it should not refrain from acting in such a way that would prevent the latter’s weaknesses from materializing. Thus, the flesh appears to be stronger than the mind judging from who has the upper hand when making such decisions as cheating and lying which is supported by the fact that it is harder to lie. The mind is faced with the problem of devising a lie that would be believable to itself first in order to make the person to whom it will be told believe it as well. This is required in order to make the lie real so as to prevent the other person from suspecting it a lie. The cheater is then faced with the problem of how to conceal the action committed. The mind has to suppress the past up to the point where it accepts that it never happened so as to create an acceptable excuse for cheating in order to make the other person believe that it truly never happened as well.
Although nearly innumerable, boredom along with the lack of something that seemed to have been there before are the most broadly quoted as reasons why people cheat. But if that is the case, then why do cheaters remain in a relationship of which they are bored and which lacks something that is obviously important to them. The answer: custom is stronger than love. Most importantly, however, people want security and stability, which are more easily measured and observed than the idea of love that is used as reason to cheat rather than being accepted as an excuse. Hence, the unwillingness cheaters exhibit to relinquish it, and subsequent reason for the return to the boring relationship.
On the other hand, there is the victim, otherwise known as real lamb, who laments the way the situation occurred, but does not necessarily attempt to change it. Perhaps this is due to the different reactions people have as far as coping with the truth. However, it seems more plausible to think that the reason many accept what has happened is because they believe that cheating is emotional and not physical. Hence, the would-be victim dismisses it. Since lying and cheating cover a wide range of actions, everyone becomes a hypocritical victim. Then, everyone cheats or lies whether physically or emotionally. The reason for a victim to remain with the victimizer is perhaps due to hope that the other person would be as forgiving as they are when the truth about them is known as well. But there is also the factor that some people have such low self-esteem that they believe there would not be anyone else who would want them.
The infamous second chance, nevertheless, is what every actor in the play wants to achieve. There is the hope from both parties that if the first attempt was ruined by some mistake, then the second time something would be learned from said mistake and the performance would be impeccable. The truth is that people know the lamb might be a lion in disguise hence the flawed performance, but they are afraid of loneliness so they ignore the disguise and continue to hope.

xoxo,
Poison Drops


©Copyrighted 2009

Crossroads

There is always a point in time when one needs to make a choice. Whether implicit or explicit or whether many options present themselves or not, a choice must always be made. Said choices are not necessarily between two similar things, at times the choice must be made between two very different things. One is sometimes forced to sacrifice something in order to obtain something else. The choices one has are nonetheless innumerable because as it is said every head is a world.
As a child, one always chooses more unconsciously whether to play outside, inside or do homework. But those are vain choices because at that time we are not yet conscious of the choices that truly matter. One’s parents are the ones who make the important choices when one is still young. In such a way, however, one grows into being responsible enough to make one’s own choices. As much as one spends the early years wishing one could choose, when that age is finally reached, it is not so pleasant.
A choice always involves options that one must weight in order to decide which of the options is less worthy. One must decide what is necessary and what is worth relinquishing so as to acquire or conserve the other. The choices that are present in everyone’s lives are of general nature that then fall into specifics depending on the situation such that involve more often than not stability and security in its different variations. It could be medical whether physical or psychological, financial, romantic, or personal such that family and friends could be affected.
Health is indeed the most important factor one has to manage. Whether physical or psychological one must always put health first since as it is well known without good health one cannot really have much else. The problem this choice arises is that one often forgets about psychological health and focuses completely on the physical. Perhaps such is due to the more easily observable poor state of the body, but is should not be an excuse to neglect one’s psychological well being. Both are important in the scheme of a healthy life. One should not choose between one and the other, rather place them in the same category because they are parts of a whole.
Financial matters are always important as well since without financial stability one must sometimes forego other important things. But financial choices are made at an early stage in life when one is not actually conscious of making said choice, at least many people are not. One chooses to stay in school and figure out how to afford such luxury in this selfish world in order to improve one’s condition in the future. One might contrarily choose to abandon school but find another way to be financial stable, which seems to work occasionally. It is not relevant how one achieves financial security so long as it is through a legal way otherwise one faces other important choices of legal consequence.
The choice everyone seems to be constantly facing is a romantic choice that involves the love that already exists in their lives or the lack thereof. Many seem to place this factor of their lives at the top of the list due to fear of loneliness. It is understandable because one is always surrounded by people thus the need to have someone at one’s side for the better part of one’s life, but such does not excuse neglecting other equally or more important factors that seem to suffer at the mercy of whatever this romantic choice results to be.
However, choosing is not as easy as it might seem when the choice is first presented. All the categories involved in acquiring security and stability are intertwined, thus creating a difficulty for the decision making process. Hence the need to consider the secondary effects a choice could have in other aspects of one’s life as well as how said choice could affect one’s family and friends.
Yet, a choice is always personal. Options and opinions can be heard, but the only responsible person for the choice made is the one making it. The rest are only spectators. However significant the choice, one must always choose since it does not make a difference how intensely one tries one cannot have two glories. A choice must be made as to which one is more important because there are not any two things worth the same. It is always one or the other.


xoxo,
Poison Drops


©Copyrighted 2009

Sensing the Feel of Life

The feelings experienced are more often than not intertwined with what the senses provided when evidence of being alive is required. If a signal reaches the brain from one of the five senses, it is taken as a proof of life. At the same time, one’s feelings also send signals to the brain that serve the same purpose. Although the signals seem to produce the same effect, they are rather different. Then one must face the inquiry of how does one know whether one is alive or not. Such is due to the difference between living an existing. Everyone exists as it is obvious, but very few people actually live. Here is then where the difference between those signals sent by the senses and those sent by feelings is so important. The signals received by the brain from the senses tell the body that one continues to exist whereas those that are received as a result of a certain feeling one experiences remind the body that one is alive.
The sense are only able to report the existence of someone due to their capacities are very limited as is their number. There are only five senses, which only allows a certain reach into the world; and, said limitation prevents them from reporting of the state of living of the individual in question. Through the senses one is able to experience the world in its most simple form.
One can hear the world. There are too many sounds at once for one to be able to discern specifics, however, one is still capable of knowing the different sounds there are. The sounds range from the simple sound of the wind makes on a split second when it is passing by on its way through when it is traveling the around the world, and, the sound the ocean makes when it is in rage or when it is calm to the sounds animals makes in order to send a message about the dangers that approach, passing through the sounds that can be heard in industrial cities… and, then there is silence. The view of the world is equally fantastic at times and very disturbing at others. One learns to enjoy what is pleasurable to the sight, which varies greatly since the same things do not please everyone. At the same time, one also sees other landscapes and images that are not amiable to the eyes, thus one tends to ignore them or tries to. Not necessarily a solution since as a result of such action many problems in the world remain.
One can also smell and taste the world. The odors to which one is subject when walking through the world are very numerous, some are pleasant others are disgusting but that is only normal since not everything can be pleasing. The same occurs with the things one tastes. Sometimes one is pleased with the choice made; others one might regret it since the palate was not comfortable. Then there is the power of touch. It is indeed another sense that provides for evidence of existence because one can touch the world as simple as that. The world is there for one to enjoy, the change, to improve, to touch…
Contrary to what this evidence might prove, in order to be alive one needs more than what the senses provide. One needs to be able to feel something when the senses are active and even when they rest. Hence, there are feelings and emotions to account for life. One is alive when one is capable of feeling anger, sadness, happiness, love and even stress, etc. Said emotions are a proof of one’s life because they are not superficial as is the evidence they take from the senses. Even though the senses supply the necessary data for the existence of life, they alone cannot serve as a sign of life. There are many individuals whose senses are still active, yet they cannot feel anything and all there is left for them is to fall in a deep and eternal sleep. If one is not longer able to feel sad or angry or happy and exhibit the signs of such feelings, then one is not really alive but merely existing as one more object in the world.
Life is a possession everyone believes to own, but living is much more than having a space on earth. Life is not hearing, seeing, smelling, tasting or touching, life is feeling…

xoxo,
Poison Drops


©Copyrighted 2009

Near Life Experience

Despite what is thought by many, there is only one chance given to each individual. There is, however, a certain influence that can be exerted to make that one chance last for as long as one exists. It can give one the motivation to live. But it can also take away all of one’s essence and never return it. Nonetheless, there is the choice whether one takes the right one or not is something one cannot predict until it has happened already; from there after, it becomes entirely one’s responsibility.
The sunlight was as bright as it can possibly be. The grass was of a beautiful green; I could not resist lying on it. I was enjoying myself as the sunrays caressed my skin. Then, suddenly I felt that I was falling into an abysm. I could really tell that it was infinite; there was not any doubt in my mind about it. Falling was as if I was in a free falling previous to opening a parachute, and I was part of the air around me rather than being myself. After a while, I noticed that what was my body had become something immaterial. It wasn’t real anymore; or it was not there anymore. Invisible, untouchable, nonexistent in the realm of reality, gone, nonetheless, somehow it was still there alive and more powerful than ever before. I could not feel it existing yet I felt how struck something softer than cotton. I could not think. Whatever was going on was unexplainable though enjoyable and it stayed that way.
After I felt my body touching the cotton like bed, I woke up. I was not longer in the grass, however. I turned everywhere and all I was able to see was a white gaseous substance going around an enormous hall. To add to my surprise, I was on the floor. It appeared just like normal floor except that it was the softest thing I have ever touched. I wanted to stand on my feet and run around to see what else was there in that unrecognizable dimension. But all I could do was look not move. Suddenly, I felt as if someone had grabbed me and in that instant my essence had been taken away without giving me time to notice, and I was unable to prevent it. At that moment I was completely gone and incapable of distinguishing whether I was or had been. Where I was and where I was not? I do not know. All I know is that the place where my remains could be found at that particular instant was somewhere in the middle of nowhere and in the center of everything.
I saw many bright colors around me and there, as if those colors were just a flash of light passing by, I was able to only see a bright white light. The white was a cover for all the colors that were hiding from my eyes, but that somehow I was still able to distinguish under the white blanket that covered them. I also heard many voices calling me simultaneously from every direction. That was something I had never experienced before. I did not quite recognize the voices, but at the same time they were very familiar; I felt the need to answer their call in some way or another.
There I was inside the chaos for the first time in my existence, able to identify real peace. I felt as if there was not any conflict between my thoughts and my desires. Reason and passion became one. Peace alone was left.
Suddenly, I closed my eyes in a place that I was visiting for the first time, but when I opened them, I was back in the grass looking at the blue sky. Such experience is unexplainable and it has become unattainable.
The question then becomes how to make that experience last for as long as one can even when others cannot understand. There is the challenge. One is the only one able to make or break oneself, thus one’s experiences are what one makes of them. Only one can decide what effect they will have on one’s existence upon their occurrence; and what will happen after one has been through one of those important events. When one knows that besides existing in this monotonous universe, one can also live in one’s own world, sometimes. But it is always one’s choice when, where, why, how and with whom one does so.

xoxo,
Poison Drops


©Copyrighted 2009

Occasional Miracles

There seem to be unwritten rules and instructions on the how to charm a person. These rules, however, vary so much that they have become unrecognizable in the present day. Some people seem to believe that anything will do, but that is not the case. There are extreme cases when people reach a level of creativity unknown until then in order to charm someone that has called their attention but who does not seem to noticed them. Then, there are the other cases of those who believe that only occasional miracles will do. If the method of the former is bound to work at some point if only to later find out that the relationship did not work, the method of the latter also works and more often than not leads to a longer lasting relationship. There seems to be a contradiction within the very idea of such events, but the reasons are unknown. It is difficult to reach a consensus on whether occasional miracles are enough o charm someone because in theory they should not be and so do many people believe, but in practice the results are very different.
In the case of those who put their every effort in to charming someone, it is quite difficult to figure out why the victim, in other words the one to be charmed, does not fall for the tricks. However, it might becoming somewhat clearer why this method does not work if one analyzes the fact that some people feel suffocated when someone is around them literally or figuratively at all times. It is true that people cherish attention, but that does not necessarily mean that they want to be under the spotlight at all times. There are those who enjoy this sort of thing, which is why this method of overly straining oneself to charm someone else tends to work on certain people. Some people might even feel as if the other person is trying to control them because this person that seems so interested appears to have all tricks under the sleeve and there is not any possible way to escape their reach. Lastly, perhaps most important is the fact that it does not seem natural that someone would try so hard to charm someone. Usually people realize whether their tricks will work in order to continue trying, otherwise they move on.
On the other extreme are those who simply do not try or at least make it seem as if they are not. This method as absurd as it might seem, appears to have better results than the aforementioned. People respond to cravings. This is perhaps one of the reasons that this method of the occasional miracles has positive results. If someone that is there or had a neat detail towards someone else, then all of a sudden this person disappears, might cause the victim, again the person to be charmed, to want more attention or another one of those details that show that person still cares. As mentioned earlier, people like attention and if suddenly they do not have it, then they enter a sort of chaotic state. Thus, some people conform to those occasional miracles because that is the only source of attention they receive. For others those miracles might be enough, but because due to how sporadically they occur, these people are left with the idea that if even this person one comes around every so often, then certainly there won’t be anybody else who would. But then again, details do matter; and, if that is all someone is receiving, then they perhaps carry extra weight.
Then, there does not seem to be a clear answer as to what is the correct method as to how to charm someone. The best guess is perhaps that every person functions in a different way and what might work for someone might not work for someone else in the same way that what works one day might not work the next. The idea of having a mixture of both tricks is possibly the best choice. In this way, the person doing the charming can show that they truly care about the other person, but without the latter feeling on the verge of asphyxiation.
Occasional miracles are like lays because one cannot have only one. But if one has too many without control, then the consequences might be rather unexpected, and not necessarily the premium results one expected when one had the first one.

xoxo,
Poison Drops


©Copyrighted 2009