Status Magazine

Skinny Sweets will be available at the Status Magazine Yard Sale at Fiamma, Makati from 10am-6pm on Saturday, October 22, 2011. See y'all there!

Panem

I am honestly the biggest geek in the world.

Cyberspace-ing.

So, posting a playlist of songs is something I haven't done in awhile. I'd like to say that I've been too busy, but truth is I've just been too lazy to go out there and look for new and new-old music. I've had ONE playlist with about 30 songs that has been on loop for the last couple of months. Work & routine isn't exactly inspiring, you know. Thankfully, I've also closeted myself at home with new books and tv shows so through those, coupled with astounding internet researching skills, I've found some pretty good tunes I think you guys will enjoy. Okay, astounding internet researching skills didn't really play a part; all I did was look for artists, preview their stuff, and get a copy of those that I enjoyed.

[It is to be noted that some songs here came from the aforementioned 30 or so song playlist. I just can't get them off my brain.]

1.) Coyote Song - Bright Eyes
2.) Shell Games - Bright Eyes
3.) Oxford Comma - Vampire Weekend
4.) This Modern Love - Bloc Party
5.) Grey Lynn Park - The Veils
6.) 99 Problems - Hugo
7.) Crosses - Jose Gonzalez
8.) I Will Follow You Into The Dark - Death Cab For Cutie

Take a cue from me, kids. Go hide yourselves at home with books, old movies, and tv shows and scorn social interaction. You'll come out bitter and cynical, but if you add some leftover childlike exuberance and joie de vivre, you'll seem more sardonic and mysterious and cool!

Psychopathy Checklist

1. Glibness/superficial charm
2. Grandiose sense of self-worth
3. Pathological lying
4. Cunning/manipulative
5. Lack of remorse or guilt
6. Shallow affections (genuine emotion is short-lived and egocentric)
7. Callous/lack of empathy
8. Failure to accept responsibility for own actions
9. Need for stimulation/proneness to boredom
10. Parasitic lifestyle
11. Poor behavioral control
12. Lack of realistic long-term goals
13. Impulsivity
14. Irresponsibility
15. Juvenile delinquency
16. Early behavior problems
17. Revocation of conditional release
18. Promiscuous sexual behavior
19. Many short-term marital relationships
20. Criminal versatility

I think I need to go talk to someone now.

Culturally Specific Emotions

Words that don't exist in the English language:

L'esprit d'escalier
French
The feeling you get after leaving a conversation, when you think of all the things you should have said. Translated, it means, "the spirit of the staircase".

Waldeinsamkeit
German
The feeling of being alone in the woods.

Meraki
Greek
Doing something with soul, creativity, or love.

Forelsket
Norwegian
The euphoria you experience when you are first falling in love.

Gigil
Filipino
The urge to pinch or squeeze something that is unbearably cute.

Pochemuchka
Russian
A person who asks a lot of question.

Pena ajena
Mexican Spanish
The embarrassment you feel watching someone else's humiliation.

Cualacino
Italian
The mark left on a table by a cold glass.

Ilunga
Tshiluba, Congo
A person who is ready to forgive any abuse for the first time, to tolerate it a second time, but never a third time.

Elliott and Bowie

Yes, these kids are adorable.

Yes, I do hope they end up together.

Yes, they are getting more action than I am.

Best of luck, Elliott and Bowie! You kids have it good. And I'll be pulling for you!

Hand Of Hope

A picture began circulating in November. It should be "The Picture of the Year," or perhaps, "Picture of the Decade." It won't be. In fact, unless you obtained a copy of the U.S. paper which published it, you probably would never have seen it.

The picture is that of a 21-week-old unborn baby named Samuel Alexander Armas, who is being operated on by surgeon named Joseph Bruner. The baby was diagnosed with spina bifida and would not survive if removed from his mother's womb. Little Samuel's mother, Julie Armas, is an obstetrics nurse in Atlanta. She knew of Dr. Bruner's remarkable surgical procedure. Practicing at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, he performs these special operations while the baby is still in the womb.

During the procedure, the doctor removes the uterus via C-section and makes a small incision to operate on the baby. As Dr. Bruner completed the surgery on Samuel, the little guy reached his tiny, but fully developed hand through the incision and firmly grasped the surgeon's finger. Dr. Bruner was reported as saying that when his finger was grasped, it was the most emotional moment of his life, and that for an instant during the procedure he was just frozen, totally immobile.

The photograph captures this amazing event with perfect clarity. The editors titled the picture, "Hand of Hope." The text explaining the picture begins, "The tiny hand of 21-week-old fetus Samuel Alexander Armas emerges from the mother's uterus to grasp the finger of Dr. Joseph Bruner as if thanking the doctor for the gift of life."

Little Samuel's mother said they "wept for days" when they saw the picture. She said, "The photo reminds us pregnancy isn't about disability or an illness, it's about a little person" Samuel was born in perfect health, the operation 100 percent successful.

Now see the actual picture, and it is awesome... incredible... and hey, pass it on! The world needs to see this one.