Life's Brilliance

My friend Mark wrote these words just for me at a time when I really needed them and although it's been some time now, his words still deserve to be heard today.

He's a Veteran, and a sweet man. Mark is an excellent writer and he says the words just flow through him and I believe it. I like to think of him as a "gentle giant" he's so considerate.

He's helped me think about my problems in a way that has really helped me in the past plus it's nice to know that someone does care that much to go out of their way to write a blog for you especially in hard times.

We have just had the horrific earthquake and tsunami in Japan that will forever change our world as we know it and we still all have problems of our own to contend with. It’s amazing how just the right words can move your soul.

To Mark, I pray that your soul finds peace through your writing and you have a long life to enjoy with your family and grandkids!

Life’s Brilliance*

Wonder do I what people see; be it a dandelion or a weed.
See you not the brilliant yellow; with the green of the leaves.
Or be it that what you see is just something unsightly.
They need nothing from man, yet held most contemptible by him.
Be this not like life, when what we see becomes unsightly.
That the harshness of life’s cruelty; be this when we see that which be a weed.
Oh, could we not see the color of the dandelion, life’s brilliance.

*For Bekkie

I hope you find peace in these treasured words.


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Tastes Like Chicken

Human tongue on the hospital canteen menu?

A human tongue has been served up in a hospital canteen's chicken risotto and bosses figure it was accidentally dropped into the food by another doctor.

Slovenian officials are investigating after a doctor complained about a strange piece of meat on his plate. The doctor insisted it was not chicken and after some intense bickering it was sent away for tests and found out it was part of a human tongue!

I guess that answers the question that "everything" doesn't always taste like chicken!

Inspectors have closed the canteen in Izola, southern Slovenia, to review hygiene standards. A hospital spokesman insisted: "I can say clearly that we have never used patients' parts in any of our dishes."

Bosses believe that another doctor could have unwittingly dropped the tongue in the food after treating a patient. This begs the question…Slovenian Doctor, why are you even carrying around a human tongue specimen in the canteen area of the hospital in the first place? Gives me the creeps! Thank heavens I don't live in southern Slovenia!

(And yes, this was a true story in the sense that it was in a newspaper article I saw online.)

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Alice In Wonderland Syndrome

I picked Bekkie In Wonderland for my website name because Alice In Wonderland is not only a book I'm fascinated with but it seemed a name like that for my site really captured my offbeat creativeness and personality. Just like my own little Wonderland in my head and heart! Then as I did more research into the book, the author and other things Wonderland I found many fascinating things connected to it all. My mind can do wild and wonderful things for me, but sometimes it can seem like I'm under the Red Queen's decree, "Off with your head!"

I'm sure we all have had these days, and as I was searching the web today I found a real illness named after Alice In Wonderland! It doesn't sound like any fun at all in this case! At About.com this is what I found and it's called Alice In Wonderland Syndrome.

What Is Alice In Wonderland Syndrome? Imagine this: You're hallucinating, and you know it. Time is messed up. First, time seems slow, then it seems to be speeding up. Even more noticeably, when you look at your body, it seems to be morphing. You're getting smaller. Minutes later, you're growing larger and larger. Alice in Wonderland Syndrome is a rare form of migraine aura. The most distinctive symptom is this type of metamorphosis, a distortion of body image and perspective which migraine sufferers know is not real. This can occur at any age but is more commonly experienced by children.

This syndrome was first described by C.W. Lippman in 1952 and named such by J. Todd. In his 1955 article, the syndrome of Alice In Wonderland was written about in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. He named it for Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There.

Carroll is known to have had bad migraines and it's thought that much of the imagery for his writings may have been inspired by his own migraine auras.

The idea for the name of the syndrome comes mainly from the opening scenes of Alice in Wonderland. After Alice falls down a rabbit hole and lands in a hallway she finds a bottle that says, "Drink Me," which she drinks that causes her to shrink. "I must be shutting up like a telescope," she said and so she was, now only 10 inches high! Later, she eats a piece of cake that says, "Eat me," that makes her grow. "Curiouser and curiouser," cried Alice. "Now I am opening out like the largest telescope that ever was! Goodbye feet!" (For when she looked down at her feet they seemed to be almost out of sight they were getting so far away.)

These are textbook migraine symptoms and describes the Alice In Wonderland Syndrome well. Lewis Carroll used his strengths and weaknesses to his advantage when he wrote his books and throughout his life. Along with this, he had other fascinating characters in his books that have very interesting backgrounds like the Mad Hatter. But that my friends is yet another blog.

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A Pill For Happiness

You know those days when you wake up feeling somewhat…unhappy. On those days, wouldn’t it be nice to have a happy pill to make you feel better? One that doesn’t even require a prescription?

A design firm in Barcelona has come up with a fun and different candy shop called “happy pills” selling placebo happiness in jars and pill cases not unlike real pharmacies.

So you wake up feeling bad for no reason with a full day ahead of you, what do you do? Maybe you need a bottle of “happy pills” to sweeten your day. Something that will make you happy by popping a pill that has no side effects. Imagine tasting that yummy candy on your taste buds; pills you can’t overdose on. Let the sugar rush take care of the doldrums and have an awesome day.

Just what the doctor ordered.

Nestled literally between two buildings on Avinguda del Portal de l'Angel, the “happy pills” shop would be fairly easy to miss. That is, if it weren't for the crowd of tourists and gawkers outside the store.

Once inside, you are greeted by rows of different flavors of gummy candy. You pick what kind, what size prescription you want and they pack them in tamper proof bottles for you. They seal the bottles shut and put the descriptions on the bottles in English or Spanish.

“Against the unbearable lightness of being”, “Against Mondays”, and “Against the square root” are some of the (translated from Spanish to English) prescriptions of happy pills they are offering at their unique store.

The process and the presentation are clean and enjoyable, long after the candy has been consumed (which happens very quickly). So I have a smile on my face and a bottle of happy pills on my desk as I write this blog.

What a clever idea for a candy store! Now, if I only lived in Spain…or had some stock in the company. Ha ha!

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