Sunday, March 15, 2009

Living dangerously

I've been reconnecting with old, old friends recently. Whoops...let me reclaim one "old". Since my friends and I are relatively the same age, we can't be all THAT old. Hahaha!

What was I saying. Oh yeah! Old friends...well, at least 3 of them have indicated in various ways that I really need to "relax a little" ... "hang loose" ... "liberate myself" ..."live a little dangerously". And these are folks who knew me some decades ago...some can even be considered among my best friends though... I'm considering chucking you aside for your brutal honesty. LOL!! Hmmmmm....what are you saying, pals??? That yours truly is uh...umm...somewhat uptight (i.e stiffly conventional in manner or attitudes)? Kinda a control freak? An overachieving perfectionistic Ms. Smarty Pants?

Ugh...methinks you are right. Don'tcha hate it when your friends are right?

In my defense, I have "eldest child syndrome". Hahaha! Add the word "Chinese" in front of that phrase and that will explain a lot about who I am, what I do and why I do what I do. I could go on and on about that...would take many blog pages to "purge" myself of that syndrome..but not now. :)

So - frankly, I somewhat agree with my precious friends. I need to "relax" and "hang loose" a little. But how to do that? Years, no decades, of choosing to do the right thing for the good of all those around me...not easy to change overnight.

I decided to attempt one suggestion from the friend from Down Under. Said I should start drinking coffee...and that if I dared... I should drink it black! Actually, first the suggestion was that I take some time for myself. Those of you who are moms, working inside and/or outside the home will know that we are notorious for not taking time for ourselves. So - this is what I did - a few weeks ago, I managed to carve out 30 .. nope..40 minutes in my week for myself. Whoohoo!!

I went to the library - must have books :)... then I went to Tim Horton's (famous Canadian Donut and Coffee chain) and ordered...a Cafe Mocha (half coffee, half hot chocolate). What???!! You thought I was going to order a Coffee... black?? Are you crraazzy??? Puh-leeze...do you know how hard it is to do something out of the ordinary? :) But wait - I'm not done...the server said, "One Cafe Mocha. Would you like whipped cream with that?"

Ooohhh...whipped cream....very, VERY b-a-d for the likes of me (struggled with weight issues all my life). But... I remembered! You could almost see little thought bubbles popping up around my head - Relax! ... Hang Loose! ... Live Dangerously!

So, I said to the friendly Tim Horton staff - "Whipped cream? Sure...why not?" HAHAHAHAHAHA! How's that for living dangerously? I know...lame-O!! HAHAHA...if you are laughing with me, that's good.

But wait - fast forward 2 weeks (this time, I got 50 minutes to myself!)... another visit to the library... (I'm a fast reader!) ... another visit to Tim Horton's. Same order...Cafe Mocha...same Q....and I said, yet again, "Yes - whipped cream please" :O!!! Sin!! ... and I added, " And may I have a muffin with that?" She asked, "Which one?"

I pointed to a delectable looking muffin that was studded all over with tiny brown flecks and gleamed with coarse crystal-like granulated sugar and said, surely but certainly , "THAT Chocolate chip one". Hey...if I was going to live "dangerously", I might as well go ALL OUT, right? Hahahahaha! And thus, I completed my journey to the Dark Side. I don't know if even Master Yoda can save me.... :) Did I mention I'm a huge Star Wars fan?

Whaddaya think? Is this living dangerously enough or do I need to go further? :D

I wonder what the next outing will bring? Maybe I'll go hog wild and get a donut...glazed or with icing!!! :D

Have a good week folks. Spring officially arrives in Canada in less than 1 week. Unbelievable! That means brace, brace, brace for one last snowstorm. :)