Chammak Challo

In Sharukh Khan's movie Ra.One, a new dance sensation was created.  Here is Sharukh doing the Chammak Challo at Yale University.  It is definitely a song that will put a smile on your face the more you listen to it. 

Here is another video of songs from his 2 latest movies.....the first dance is from Don 2 and the second and third songs are from his movie Ra.One

You can also find the entire Yale University speech Shahrukh made on YouTube!  He had some great insight into how to live life.....basically have fun and don't take yourself too seriously!  Here is the speech:

Have fun!

Something Old....Something New

Today I watched a remake of a wonderful old movie....the name of the movie is True Grit.  The original starred John Wayne, Kim Darby and Glen Campbell.  The new version starred Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon and Josh Brolin. 

While I remember Jeff Bridges was nominated for an Academy Award for his role in the remake....I must say that I came away disappointed.  In this particular case....the original won out over the remake as far as I'm concerned.

Old movies.....there are some movies that cannot be shown.  One movie that I loved was called A Bridge to the Sun.  It starred Carroll Baker and James Shigeta.  It was a movie about a Caucasian woman marrying a Japanese man right before Pearl Harbor was bombed.  During the war she lived in Japan, a concept that was rarely depicted in movies.  Usually the movies showed the internment camps and how the Japanese American citizens were moved to camps foregoing their businesses and homes...with the threat of being deported to a land they had never been to.

While there have been many movies that have been restored.....I don't believe that this particular movie made the cut because I haven't been able to locate it.  What a pity.  It was such a great movie.

Bear with me as I go through an indulgence that was taboo to me for so many years.  Movies have been my secret passion.  As a kid growing up....I was not allowed to indulge in my favorite past time.  Now that I'm retired I am really making up for lost time.  I'm like a woman possessed!

Have you ever been made to feel guilty about something that you totally enjoyed?  Well, I was.  I did everything that was expected of me and now I am finally doing whatever I want to do.  To some that may seem weird....but I'm still in the pendulum swing period.  The fact that I had denied doing what I loved for so long.....now the pendulum is swinging the other way.....at some point (be patient),  I will reach a point where my passion is manageable.

My advice for anyone and everyone.....don't deny yourself.  When you deny yourself....that's when the habit can become addictive.  If we deny sweets.....we crave sweets.  If we deny fun.....we become cranky and rather than spreading joy we are spreading doom and gloom.  Ugh....let's stop the insanity! 

The time to have fun is NOW.....go forth and enjoy yourself!  There will be no remake of your life....this is it!  One caveat though....make sure that you are not in the President's Secret Service and you are not going to embarrass yourself!

As for me....if I could pick a character to live life as....I would pick Auntie Mame.  Not only are the outfits beautiful....but she lived without concern for being goofy or criticized!  A woman in her own world....doing her own thing!  My kind of woman....either will do....Rosalind Russell or Lucille Ball....both versions were great!

Fun at a Live Comedy Show

My best friend Shirley is a closet comedian.  She absolutely loves comedy shows!  She had a couple of tickets for a live comedy show at the Flamingo Hotel and Casino.  The comedian was none other than George Wallace.  He has been at the Flamingo for about 5 years....and I'm told that he packs the house every time.

His favorite line is:  "I be thinkin"......  His style is very laid back and he is very quick to improvise.  His jokes come from the audience itself. 

He returned last night after being on vacation for 3 weeks.  He showed us some of his travel photos.  He also showed us pictures of famous people he's met over the years.  His observation upon meeting Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace (supposedly her home)....but he was questioning why she was still carrying her handbag and he asked the women in the audience if they carry their handbag when greeting guests in their home.  The photo made us all laugh.

I especially liked his jokes on what he would do if elected President of the United States.  His idea would be to have a 3 day work week for everyone....Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  Even garbage collectors would have the same 3 day work week.  Hospitals would have the same schedule.  If you had a heart attack on any other day....oops....too bad.  Think of how much fuel we would save, not to mention health care benefits.

Throughout the show my friend was in tears....and she is a hitter....she would keep hitting me after each punchline. 

His ethnic jokes go way back and he talks a lot about his momma....and even showed us pictures of their sofa covered with plastic.  I was first introduced to this custom when I lived in the midwest for a year.  Every sat on one?  Ugh!....in the summer time heat.....it was UGH...UGH....UGH!

He would ask various people from the audience where they were from and he could discuss with them his favorite shops and eateries in that particular city.  Of course when someone talked about a place he didn't know he would tell them not to make up towns just for the sake of trying to foul him up.

There was a minister in the audience and George just went on and on about religion with scenarios that were quite funny.  In the end he gave the minister and his wife a free dinner at Caesar's Palace for being the target of his joke....all in good fun.

What was great about the show was that it wasn't raunchy.  He didn't have to be vulgar to make us laugh.....everyday life for some of us is already funny when put in the proper context.  A comedy show...especially a live one.....can lift your spirit....Thank goodness we have such talented people in the world making us laugh.

I recommend his show if you are visiting us in Las Vegas!  We are known as the "Sin City".....but I would rephrase it to be the "Fun City."

Making Lemonade

The other day I looked in the mirror and realized that I have the same hairdo that my mother had for so many years.  I have natural curls that have a mind of its own.  But that day in particular, I had a wave in my hair that reminded me of my mother.  Quite frankly, I never liked her hairdo.  I always wondered why she never had it styled.  She had natural curls too....with a mind of its own as well.

It got me thinking about how some of us don't want to be like our mother or our father.  As children we grow up saying I won't be like so and so....keep this thought in mind....it will become clear soon.

There are so many wise sayings that we hear from time to time.  "When life throws you lemons...make lemonade," or "Don't get mad....get even."  When we would get mad at our parents we would say to ourselves...."I'll never be like them!"

But here's the reality.  Who else would we emulate?  Our parents taught us a lot over the years.  Who else would we learn from about life?  While education in school is important....it is fleeting.  How many times a day do we use what we learned in school?  How many of us really need most of the facts we learned in school?

Believe me....I loved my parents very much.  But quirky stuff like a wave in my mom's hair made me realize that what we don't like or what we fear will definitely come into our life....so that we can learn the lesson of making lemonade....it is the way God or the Universe or Karma.....whichever you believe in....gets even with us.  Isn't that funny?  A mere wave in my hair caused my mind to go every which way with thoughts about life.

A friend of mine called today and mentioned something that happened in her life and how she was afraid that people would think she was a bad mother.  "Judge not....lest ye be judged."  That one is appropriate here.....but it goes deeper than that....being judged is just the shallow end of the pool.  The deeper end is about the fear.  Fear of letting go of the side of the pool will not allow you to learn to swim.  How many of us live life this way....in fear?

These days there are very fearful things happening in the world.  Tsunamis, earthquakes, countries going bankrupt, gas prices....falling real estate market....unemployment, war, banks closing, huge companies closing their doors.  The other day when I was at a buffet.....the casino decided to make a decision to not serve spinach in their salad bar for lunch....only for dinner.  That was my favorite part of the buffet!  There was another woman in line and she asked where's the spinach....and I mentioned that the last 2 times I was there it wasn't served.....that's how we found out.  Silly don't you think?  We are a planet living in scarcity....living in fear!  But shouldn't we be living in abundance?  It is like the chicken and the egg all over again. 

Our scarcity thinking has put us where we are today!  Now....instead of living life in fear....how about living it in abundant love.....let's help our neighbors in need and at the same time make our life more enjoyable?  I know that this goes against everything we have been taught.  We have been taught to save for a rainy day.....well it isn't raining it is flooding!  Fire ants cling to one another in a flood so that they can float along....think about it....these tiny creatures know better than we do.

The answer is to give away.....not take away or withhold.   Give more love and "pay it forward."  Remember that movie?  Whatever you can contribute to the planet.....do it.  At the very least....give a smile to everyone you pass by.  Say thank you with a smile.....to everyone that serves you.  When you get in an elevator....smile and say hello!  We all need this!  Contribute to the world and it will be a better place!

Life can be a bowl of cherries....so why are we living in the pits?  What can we do to put more fun back in our planet?  Let me know if you have any ideas.....I am all ears!

Happy Easter!

"Here comes Peter Cottontail.....Hopping down the bunny trail....Hippity Hoppity Easter's on its way!"

"Little Peter Rabbit had a flea upon his ear.....Little Peter Rabbit had a flea upon his ear.....Little Peter Rabbit had a flea upon his ear and he flipped it and he flopped it and it flew away!"

Two of my favorite Easter songs.  When I think about Easter I remember the Easter baskets we would get as kids.....the bigger the better.  There was always a chocolate bunny in the basket (I especially loved the solid ones.....not the hollow ones).  Usually toys were in the basket too....with the green grass and jelly beans.....how I loved those!  It  was like having Christmas in the Spring! 

Dyeing eggs.....also a lot of fun......in school they would have us prick a hole in the raw egg and blow the contents out of the shell....ugh I didn't like that part.  Then we would decorate them and hang them on a tree....or rather on a piece of dried wood tree.  I'd rather dye hard boiled eggs and then decorate them.  If you used a candle or a wax pencil that was included with the kit of dye....you could make designs on the eggs.  Funny thing though....I would never eat the eggs after they were dyed...Yuk!

When my daughters were growing up.....one year I hid the eggs in the apartment we lived in.....HUGE mistake.  About a month later.....there was such a bad odor in the house.  From then on it was strictly plastic eggs that were hidden....and we ceased to dye eggs.

I remember one year when we lived in Kansas City, MO., I did something like a scavenger hunt......poetic rhyme clues were inside each plastic egg which then led to the prize at the end....usually cash!  Then....I would say whether they were close to finding the eggs by indicating whether they were hotter or colder.  One of my more creative hunts.

The other favorite I had on Easter were Hot Cross Buns!  I don't know why.....but for some reason I liked those....although you don't or hardly seem to find those nowadays.

Easter was always the end of a period that started off as Ash Wednesday and then no meat on Fridays.  At church on Easter Sunday.....every one was dressed to the "nines."  My mom always bought me a brand new dress and white shoes!  Such happy times!

However....Easter has a more beautiful meaning....it celebrates the resurrection of Christ in the Catholic religion that I grew up in.  However.....over the years I have experienced other religions as well.....I tried Southern Baptist when we lived in Missouri.  I tried Nichiren Shoshu (Tina Turner's a well known follower of this religion).  I attended Lutheran services...and the most recent religious ceremony I attended was a Buddhist service that was done in what was once a Catholic church.  The stained glass windows from the Catholics remained on the windows by choice.  The Buddhists felt such peace when the Catholic nuns allowed them to acquire their church......Now....that's my kind of religious belief. 

This experience came at such a time when after studying Art History, Philosophy and Comparative Religion in college I read quite a lot about Buddha and Bodhisattvas.  It saddened me to hear about how the Buddhas of Bamiyan created in the 6th century AD were destroyed by the Taliban in March 2001.  These were gigantic about 180 feet high!  Although there are people that have committed to re-creating these again....I was saddened for the loss of such a treasure in the name of religion....because one religion frowned on idol worship the statues were dynamited.

In the spirit of Easter today....let us believe in love for ALL mankind.  Religion should not be about separatism....we are all one......we are all connected.  Let us heal our world!

Michael Jackson sang a beautiful song called "Heal the World" and co-authored "We are the World."  Both are so beautiful....see for yourself on YouTube!

http://youtu.be/zqMSnigL0aA        1993 in Pasadena, CA


http://youtu.be/ydP-2hu8dS0           We are the World - Video for Africa Benefit

http://youtu.be/v2y1pE3yn6M         Lyrics for "Heal the World"


Have a very joyous Easter!

Wonderful Words of Wisdom

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Return-of-the-Divine-Feminine/294515654562


Highlight and click the above and the URL will appear....Enjoy the message that is posted on the left side of the page of this site.

Thanks Maureen for sharing the wealth of this message!

"Ever After"

Last night I re-watched the movie "Ever After" starring Drew Barrymore.  This movie is based on the fairytale Cinderella which has always been my favorite.  Although there have been many versions of this story, my 2 favorites are the original Disney cartoon and "Ever After."

So many thoughts ran through my mind about why I enjoy this particular fairy tale so much.  This morning I am struck by the realization that at my age I am still looking for the fairy tale ending....where Cinderella marries her prince and lives happily ever after.

I know that this may sound silly....but basically it is about never losing the ability to dream about something better.  We have always been told to set goals and we will achieve them.  Now this method seems so cut and dry.  Been there done that.

Wouldn't it be better to dream in....what do the movies call it.....Cinematic, Technicolor, 3D, IMAX.....you name it....go do it.  Dream about something that will make you completely happy and believe that it will come true. 

Some people say to tell everyone about your goals.....well there are some dreams that we all keep to ourselves and we all know which dream that is.  Although our physical bodies get older....our dreaming minds keep us very young at heart.  It puts a smile on our face even during the dark periods.

Clinging to the belief that our dream will come true and that we can overcome whatever the roadblock may be in life will keep us from losing faith.  Don't be daunted by time.  The longer it takes....the sweeter it will be.

Whatever that dream is.....get up every morning and picture it in your mind.  See the vibrant colors.....feel the feelings......smell the smells.  By doing this diligently.....it is finding its way to you and I know it is finding its way to me too.

What a wonderful way to start the day.....this is so much better than the alternative.....UGH. 

May all your dreams and desires come true and may you be blessed and loved on your journey!

Sharing Historical Moments in Time

When my grandson Chris was in the 5th grade, the private school that he attended in California, had a wonderful tradition celebrating Grandparents Day....grandparents attended each of their grandchildren's different classes.  In his history class, Chris' teacher asked us to share something that we experienced when we were their age.  This started a wonderful and very comical series of discussions that I was able to share with 2 of my 3 beautiful grandchildren.

At the age of 10, I lived in Hawaii and it was a very historical time because around that time Hawaii went from being a territory of the United States to becoming the 50th state.  I can still see the local newspaper headline reading STATEHOOD!  That was in 1959.  We also remembered having to hide under our desks during atomic bomb drills....now as I look back....I don't believe that would have saved us.

When Chris was in the 8th grade, the students asked the grandparents to share what school was like for kids at their age.  Well we really had a lot of fun on this question and it was so interesting to realize that across the states there wasn't much difference with what was happening in Hawaii.  Nationally, it was a time when President Kennedy started his fitness program in schools.  Not being a very athletic person, it seemed like we were experiencing a scaled down version of the Olympic trials. 

I shared that in our day, corporal punishment was allowed in schools.  The vice-principal was usually the one to be feared because it was part of his job description to punish the really bad ones....usually with a paddle to the buttocks.  YIKES!  As a left handed person...I can remember teachers whacking my left hand with a ruler because that was the hand I used to write with in school.  As a result, the only things I do left handed are eating and writing.  The rest is done with my right hand, like crocheting and playing the ukelele (it's been years for those two tasks).  I was one of the luckier ones....I have heard of some kids that were so totally confused as a result of the trauma of parents/teachers trying to switch them to being right handed.

A grandparent that was visiting from the Midwest shared how the girls had to wear dresses to school....pants were not appropriate or allowed for girls.  That discussion led to the subject of crinolines.  Those were scratchy under garments we had to wear to be in fashion with a flared skirt.  I shared how the boys would wear mirrors on their shoes to take a peek at our underwear at my school in Hawaii and to my surprise, it was the same across the country...because we had grandparents that grew up on the east coast that experienced the same thing.  Would you believe that after the discussion, one brave grandfather came up to me and shared that he was one of those guys that had mirrors on his shoes?  Too funny!

Television...when we got that wonder....we had just 1 station....and it wasn't on all day.  We used to sometimes stare at the screen and see the test pattern.  The antenna was on the roof and we also had rabbit ear antennae on the set...sometimes covered with foil.  When the picture was askew....some brave family member would be on the roof moving the antenna till the picture appeared.  If we wanted colored TV we would put cellophane paper over the screen...because TV was strictly black and white back then.

Well, after the fun stories that we shared during Grandparents Day, every so often I would amaze my grandchildren with additional stories at home.  In my life time thus far....I got to witness the following life changing inventions.....some of them are:

     Pampers - disposable diapers...what a time saver....but bad for the environment
     Baby formula from a bottle that we just snapped on the nipple and didn't have to sterilize
     Electric typewriter...we had to use a lighter touch or we would end up typing the same letter several times
     Copy machine....no more using carbon paper when typing letters for our boss....when NCR paper came along....it was the bomb!
     Word processor made by Wang....wow we were really cooking along here
     Computers....now these things were huge and usually took up a couple of rooms....and those rooms had to be really cold so the computer wouldn't go haywire...there was no way we could fathom having computers on a desk in our homes
     Transistor radios....we could carry these without having to be near an electric outlet
     The Internet....we used to have to go to the library to do research...unless our family could afford to have encyclopedia sets at home...which was always outdated
     Push button phones....we had the dial up models
     Roller skates....these metal things with metal wheels....we just attached them to our shoes and used a metal key to adjust the width by our toes....years later we found out that these caused damage to our ankles....gee the price we paid for fun!
     Fast food restaurants....the first in Hawaii that I remember was called Scotty's....they served great hamburgers and french fries.  McDonalds hadn't been invented yet.

Now not all inventions were great......
     Full service gas stations turned into no-service gas stations....pump your own! UGH
     Gas became a major consideration when buying a car....gone are those huge cars with fish tail rear lights and bench seats in front....now we have hybrids, electric and golf cart looking wonders
    Juke boxes in restaurants went away...now it is considered to be a novelty
    Rock and roll music.....my ears just can't handle heavy metal groups

Oh well.....we can still reminisce about the good ole days!  Boy they were fun....weren't they?