when females fight

The simple title is very graphic. But let me explain.

Females like me are done with the ritual of looking up through lashes and whispering behind fans with other lady friends. As a matter of fact, I don't like sharing stories with so-called girlfriends. And I don't like going into the powder room with other ladies. At all.

Hugh Jackman can lasso and Christian Bale can scream. But us females - we have a whole lot of other things in our own world. And it's not a totally friendly world at all.

DROP THE SHOP

Start with the boutique. You come in and you set your sights on a fetching red number hanging on an unassuming rod. You pick it up and you to try it on. As you go inside the fitting room, two women will be staring at you and the dress.  It's as if like, what am I thinking?

When you emerge from the cramped space and you are returning the dress, another woman will snatch it from you and try it on herself. And if you end up buying it, another female will ask for that same blouse from the sales assistant.

And the mirrors in those boutiques! They are very cruel if they happen to be a big one by the wall. Never stand before a mirror! Or else you'll only end up either scrutinized by the bombshell at your left, or sneered at by the heavyweight at your right.

GET FIT FOR GYM? OR GYM TO GET FIT?

I used to spend two nights in a week dancing in the sports center nearest the house. But the gym has closed those dance sessions, so I proposed to a former acquaintance that we pursue our dance nights at the gym located in the commercial district instead. She voted no immediately.

She told me that the other women in that facility will gauge you by the brand of shoes or dance apparel you wear or the bottled water you drink or the gym bag you lug around. Heaven forbid if they categorize you by the sweat you manage to muster, not because of the exercise but because of the self-consciousness you try to hide.

And again! The gym mirrors! They are the most unforgiving of all! They could almost see your soul in there!

Whenever I go to salons for a hair trim, I often pick the corner seats to avoid the dames who feel like divas entering the place. You'd know them when you smell them, because you can sniff them the moment the door would open six meters away from you. Then they would drop their signature bags on the cozy chairs as they ask for their regular hair color.

WEAR YOUR PEARLS TO THE GROCER

Whenever I go to the grocery, I try to memorize the items I need to get and pick them as fast as possible. You don't want to reach out to your box of cereals with your chipped nails, while the woman beside you contemplate on the benefits of green tea and black tea and advises you that your preference for strawberry flavor is very juvenile.

Oh yes. It's played in a subtle fashion. But it's actually a bitch versus bitch world out there. Men no longer have the monopoly of complaining that it's such a competition and the next guy is out for your neck.

DRIVING LIKE A GIRL

So let's bring the animosity to the highway. Driving comfortably in my 60km per hour speed, I look down upon female drivers who cannot decide on which lane to take. Following a car one day, I thought it was high time I play my own battle and I honked.

She was swerving left and right at the merciful speed of 30, and cannot even keep an intersection open! When the lights were green, she stopped to let people cross the street and the red light caught us. I honked again in desperation.

Then I maneuvered my SUV beside her car and I looked at her the way my first grade teacher had looked at me when I couldn't spell the word "happy". If looks could kill. Then I tossed my hair at her and I put on my big sunglasses.

Ah, I fight too. Without claws for the meantime.

new years bring upheavals. but

Mirror, mirror on the wall - something wonderful will happen to me today!

Affirming this every morning, I am happy to be an advocate of positive conditioning. As a matter of fact, I have been its pupil ever since I was in college - when I would use my bus ride to school as the time to pray for the day’s events and activities, and for a special intention of a random happy surprise from Our Lady. And I always had one every day!

I will let you into a little secret. Whenever I look into a mirror, I smile. This might seem queer, but I believe that if the person in the mirror is smiling back at me, it forebodes positive impact to my day and the general feeling for myself. It's like self-affirmation.

Thus every day I pass by the mirrors in the house - in the bathroom, in the dining room, and the welcome mirror in the living room - and I smile and confirm that I am where I was supposed to be, doing things that I can do efficiently and creatively, and that in good times and in bad, I am beloved by someone.. all the way.

Smile and believe!

month of may, here i am!

Your birthdate: August 23

You are an adventurer.

You're not good at any one thing, and that's the problem.
You're good at so much - you never know what to do.
Change is in your blood,
and you don't stick too much for long.
You are destined for a life of travel and fun.

Your strength: Your likeability
Your weakness: You never feel satisfied
Your power color: Bright yellow
Your power symbol: Asterisk
Your power month: May

CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT WHAT YOUR BIRTHDATE MEANS

eyes wide open with poker

Sometimes it takes something so unexpected to make you come face to face with yourself. Something like poker.

The game that recently consumed me and the one I love to play over the internet is Poker Superstars II. According to the information provided, the game is called No Limit Texas Hold ‘Em, and it is the fastest moving, most exciting variation of poker yet.

And like a Montessori level 1 student, I am adding new words to my vocabulary. NO LIMIT means I can bet part or all of my chips at any time, called moving all in. ANTES are the most familiar forced bet in poker, but in No Limit Texas Hold ‘Em, there are also mandatory BLIND BETS. The player left of the DEALER places the SMALL BLIND, and the BIG BLIND, which is twice that amount, is placed by the next player. The blinds are also raised throughout the ROUND, which forces the smaller stacks into action, and that is going to drive up the betting.

Now here is the complete instruction on how to play: After the deal is made, and after the antes, each player receives two cards face down called Hole Cards. This will initiate the first round of betting.

Then three Community Cards are dealt out in the center of the table. This is known as the flop. After the second round of betting, the Turn Card, also called 4th Street, is revealed. It is followed by the third round of betting. Then the final cards, the River Card, or 5th Street, is exposed and the fourth and final round of betting begins. The players then combine the community cards, with the face down cards, to form the best possible poker hand of five.

The official ranking of winning poker hand begins with the highest card. But any pair will beat that high card. Then you have two pair, followed by three of a kind also known as a set or trips. A straight is five cards in sequential order. A flush is any five cards of the same suit. Next is a full house, or full boat, which is three of a kind and a pair. Then four of a kind, sometimes referred to as quads - then followed by a straight flush, all five cards in numerical order and of the same suit - and finally, and the best possible hand, the royal flush.

Since I brought poker into my life, I started to get to know myself better. I admit that I have accepted my quirks, but poker is teaching me a host of self-defining lessons and placing everything in perfect clarity for me. It humbles me when I am faced with weak cards and I am forced to fold and not join the hand. It challenges, excites, crushes, encourages, cautions, lifts, quizzes, depresses, taunts, and lectures. Alternately, I scream, churn, laugh, dance, frown and rejoice. And almost always, the question of - SHOULD I OR SHOULD I NOT? It's a maddening moment!

I was speechless the time I won a hand with just a pair of two when the others got their high cards of Ace, King and Queen respectively. I regretted not placing all my chips in, but then again, I knew that the confidence was just in hindsight, when all the cards are down. On the other hand, calling another's bluff when I held a pair of Ace and a three of a kind of tens was so exhilarating - such a full house indeed!

In the game, the number of times that I lose is way, way over the number of times I get a lucky hand. And I know that the losses are nothing though, because I am just playing with the computer and not with real opponents. But nudging at the back of my mind is the knowledge that I am liking myself, whether I got scared once there or cocky there too. And at the end of a round, the computer would ask me if I am the future of poker. Hahaha! Far from it, but to my future, where poker now plays a part, and with you real breathing partners soon – here’s looking at you!

But wait, let's stay away from strip poker and just start with marbles for chips, okay?

reasons to be in love

These may be rational, logical, cerebral, sensible and reasonable points.  Or these may be irrelevant, ridiculous, foolish, absurd and impertinent issues.  Whatever!

1. Surprises
2. A stranger mistakes you for a movie star
3. Slow dancing without any music
4. You like it
5. You want to go to bed smiling
6. You feel giddy hearing him say goodnight
7. Operas, and movies with Tom Cruise in it
8. Classical music, to pepper your mounting MP3 collection
9. His smile
10. His laughter
11. Your laughter together
12. Someone sent you flowers with no card attached
13. He said the phrase
14. You kinda said it back, no big!
15. A full moon
16. The salary raise is still so far away
17. That fatal attraction
18. You won't find it in the duty free section
19. Your boss is not against it
20. He would recommend it, if he knows
21. Tradition
22. Super stylin'
23. It is allowed
24. It's expected of you
25. Holding hands
26. Confidence
27. Curiosity, maddening curiosity
28. The way you feel when he is near you
29. You deserve to
30. Your anniversary
31. Leaves of absence
32. Numerous endless long distance calls
33. Morning messages
34. Your bestfriend
35. The traffic light turns green
36. First dinner
37. Looking forward to your first shared Christmas
38. You don't mind reading chain letters
39. Wishes on a star
40. It's overwhelming
41. It's Thursday
42. He wears glasses
43. He looks gorgeous on khaki pants
44. He smells good
45. Winks
46. Second glances that last too long
47. Gravity
48. Decreasing your sugar intake
49. Fireplaces you dreamed about
50. Guitar solos
51. Piano solos
52. Singing for him
53. Someone unexpectedly has invited you to lunch
54. A politician's task is to search for the eligible man in town
55. You're already spoken for
56. Class reunions
57. You can't take it with you
58. You can't even blasted talk about it 24/7!
59. It has a lot of premiums
60. Spring
61. Cable tv
62. Clean white sheets
63. The world wide web
64. He is very sweet
65. Road trips to nowhere
66. Destiny prepared you for this
67. Bathing in the rain
68. Collecting memories
69. Modesty
70. Pizza with extra cheese
71. Casablanca
72. Staying unloved and uninspired is so - uninspired
73. Italian dressing in that salad
74. Trust
75. His flight has just landed
76. He is so different
77. There's nothing else to try after swimming and badminton
78. Lazy afternoons
79. Wishing, just wishing, you know French
80. Letting go of seatbelts
81. A prince is not necessarily a king's son
82. The idea of eloping and flying away
83. White porch swings
84. You're difficult
85. Office hours
86. Fireworks
87. Being called by a special name
88. A thousand times
89. Fantasies
90. Valentine's day everyday
91. Reading poetry aloud
92. Nice to be caught under a mistletoe
93. Icecream toppings with diet soda
94. You have gotten tired of being cynical
95. The thought of being awakened by a kiss
96. Nights out
97. It's payday, and you're getting the whole works
98. A dimmer switch in the piano bar
99. Topping the scores in Text Twist
100. You won't run since you can't hide
101. Picnics that you plan to have next time
102. Values
103. The distance between you is - what distance!
104. Champagne
105. He is the Viking
106. Lust
107. His mind
108. His corny jokes you laugh at
109. Romance
110. Bridges
111. You only live once
112. Reincarnation
113. Success
114. The blues and all that jazz
115. Honesty
116. Finding out his childhood games
117. Finding out his greatest obsessions
118. It's your birthday and it's your party
119. Time to give in
120. Your prayer gets answered
121. Car rental agencies
122. Acting silly for a change
123. Wind in your face
124. Staring at work
125. Multi-tasking at work
126. Emails
127. Conquering a hill
128. Climbing the mole hills you created
129. An attentive secretary
130. Being born too early or too late or in a wrong century
131. Birds on your window sill
132. Solitude is deafening
133. You are really allergic to coffee
134. Daydreams
135. You're not in therapy
136. You gained a pound
137. There are 365 days in a year
138. Love at first sight, though nobody won't admit to it
139. It's the greatest while it lasts
140. It's a gift
141. Hugs and kisses
142. The pink sunrise
143. Love