This forward came by from my friend, Arnold from NYC today. It was very touching and heartfelt, a great reminder in life and I thought it would be nice to share.

Five Lessons About the Way We Treat People

1 - First Important Lesson - The Cleaning Lady.

During my second month of college, our professor gave us a pop quiz. I wasa conscientious student and had breezed through thequestions until I read the last one: "What is the first name of the woman who cleans the school?"

Surely this was some kind of joke. I had seen the cleaning woman severaltimes. She was tall, dark-haired and in her 50s, but howwould I know her name? I handed in my paper, leaving the last question blank. Just before class ended, one student asked if the lastquestion would count toward our quiz grade.

"Absolutely," said the professor. "In your careers, you will meet many people. All are significant. They deserve your at tention and care, even if all you do is smile and say "hello."

I've never forgotten that lesson. I also learned her name was Dorothy.

2. - Second Important Lesson - Pickup in the Rain

One night, at 11:30 p.m., an older African American woman was standing onthe side of an Alabama highway trying to endure a lashingrain storm. Her car had broken down and she desperately needed a ride.Soaking wet, she decided to flag down the next car. A youngwhite man stopped to help her, generally unheard of in thoseconflict-filled 1960's. The man took her to safety, helped her getassistanceand put her into a taxicab. She seemed to be in a big hurry, but wrotedown his address and thanked him.

Seven days went by and a knock came onthe man's door. To his surprise, agiant console color TV was delivered to his home. A specialnote was attached. It read: "Thank you so much for assisting me on thehighway the other night. The rain drenched not only my clothes,but also my spirits. Then you came along. Because of you, I was able tomake it to my dying husband's bedside just before he passed away.God bless you for helping me and unselfishly serving others.Sincerely,Mrs. Nat King Cole."

3 - Third Important Lesson - Always Remember Those Who Serve.

In the days when an ice cream sundae cost much less, a 10-year-old boyentered a hotel coffee shop and sat at a table. A waitress put aglass of water in front of him. "How much is an ice cream sundae?" heasked. "Fifty cents," replied the waitress.

The little boy pulled is hand out of his pocket and studied the coins init. "Well, how much is a plain dish of ice cream?" he inquired. By nowmore people were waiting for a table and the waitress was growingimpatient. "Thirty-five cents," she brusquely replied. The little boy again counted his coins. "I'll have the plain ice cream,"he said.

The waitress brought the ice cream, put the bill on the table and walked away. The boy finished the ice cream, paid the cashier and left.When the waitress came back, she began to cry as she wiped down the table.There, placed neatly beside the empty dish, were two nickelsand five pennies. You see, he couldn't have the sundae, because he had tohave enough left to leave her a tip.

4 - Fourth Important Lesson. - The Obstacle In Our Path.
In ancient times, a King had a boulder placed on a roadway, then he hid himself and watched to see if anyone would remove the huge rock.Some of the king's wealthiest merchants and courtiers came by and simplywalked around it. Many loudly blamed the King for not keepingthe roads clear, but none did anything about getting the stone out of theway. Then a peasant came along carrying a load of vegetables.Upon approaching the boulder, the peasant laid down his burden and triedto move the stone to the side of the road. After much pushing andstraining, he finally succeeded. After the peasant picked up his load ofvegetables, he noticed a purse lying in the road where the boulder hadbeen. The purse contained many gold coins and a note from the King indicating that the gold was for the person who removed the boulderfrom the roadway.

The peasant learned what many of us never understand! Every obstacle presents an opportunity to improve our condition.

5 - Fifth Important Lesson - Giving When It Counts.

Many years ago, when I worked as a volunteer at a hospital, I got to know a little girl named Liz who was suffering from a rare and seriousdisease. Her only chance of recovery appeared to be a blood transfusionfrom her 5-year old brother, who had miraculously survived thesame disease and had developed the antibodies needed to combat theillness. The doctor explained the situation to her little brother, and asked the little boy if he would be willing to give his blood to hissister. I saw him hesitate for only a moment before taking a deep breathand saying, "Yes, I'll do it if it will save her."

24 SET

Last night Tree and I went to the gym to find no available treadmills or elypticals. So instead of our usual training session, we decided to take the 24 Set Class. It was such a great workout! I think this is going to be our new thing going forward. It's basically like a weight-lifting and core-strengthening class. I loved it!

After class, we went to her place to have dinner and watch Grey's! Dinner was so good, I was able to be her little assistant in making caprese, salad and rosemary salmon...yumm! It was so healthy and tasty too! I really like her cooking, I'm so amazed at how something can be so good and healthy at the same time. My goal is to cook great-tasting healthy meals like her! It was really quick to prepare also, we took about only 20 minutes to complete everything and were ready to eat :) As for Grey's last night, it was soooooo good! Tree and I were getting teary-eyed throughout the end of the show. It was so sad.

Tonight, going to meet up w/Tree for another workout session! Then we're going to tofu house and have a home spa treatment night. Yay, can't wait! Good times! The rest of the weekend, mainly study on Saturday and at night go out w/Rosie, Thitam and Maile for a bday party at Cinespace. Sunday, meeting up Tree and Jen at the Santa Monica Stairs in the morning. Aftewards, meet up w/Het for studying and shopping. We figured we might as balance ourselves out right? Need to have some type of incentive after shopping =) Sunday night, probably spend time w/my parents. I feel like I haven't been able to see them lately. I miss them :( It's kinda nice moving out and having this feeling again...helps me realize to cherish the time I do have with them :)

Snow in So. Cal!

I know, totally unheard of, but that's what we experienced yesterday afternoon. The weather has been extremely cold for my taste, I know it's bad when I have to detach myself from flip flops and sandals =
Last two nights, I went to spinning class with Greg D. on Tuesday and yesterday, worked out with my coworker at the company gym. It was so nice to run again. I haven't ran in awhile and it felt refreshing to do so.

Got home and did some studying, although I have a pile of laundry to work on (sigh). I have been procrastinating and it's getting to the point where there is a cloud over my head raining, "do your laundry." I'll attempt again tonite! =)

So I've been taking a few breaks here and there as I study. During my breaks, I've been perusing through the internet. I love how there's so much info readily available for us out there.

I'm an astrological junkie and as some say, it's all how we interpret it. "They" say that if you believe in reincarnation, astrology is there for us to realize our characteristics in our past life so we can work and improve in our lives right now.

Some things I picked up are moon and rising signs! We have our normal sun signs, which pertains to our birthdate. However, we also have moon and rising signs as well, which may contribute to other qualities and attributes about ourselves. It explains why sometimes we may feel as if we're not our true sun sign.

The moon sign is our innermost feelings and thoughts, only those close to us and you can see this side. Your moon sign is important in determining your true soulmate. This is for the reason that they will understand you deeply for who you are inside and can sense your feelings.

As for the rising sign, this is how you portray yourself to the whole world and how everyone perceives you. To determine your moon or rising sign, you need your birthdate, birthplace and time of birth. If you're interested, here you go and enjoy!!

http://alabe.com/cgi-bin/chart/astrobot.exe?Y

Happy New Year!!

Oh my, I know I have been lagging, stalling and being caught up in the midst of everyday life which includes the holiday parties, errands and what not. All in all, last month was a great month. Got to spend time with family and friends. I've been so exhausted after each weekend that I used my workday weekdays to recover, leaving me no motivation to blog. I feel so horrible =\ Oh wells, better late than never right? K, in a nutshell what happened last month:

- Wine Country Cycling Tour w/Greggy
- Christmas Party with the girls at Deva's Cookie Exchange Party
- Lizette's Birthday at 80's Club
- Het's Company's Christmas Party & April's Birthday at Zanzibar
- Meeting up w/Tree and Bev for dinner and some xmas shopping
- Dan's house party
- Seeing Pursuit of Happiness
- Hanging out w/Thitam, Mailie and Rosie just chit chattin' the night away
- Xmas dinner at Thitam's place - Del Taco style
- Santa Monica Stairs w/Tree
- Jimmy coming home for Xmas!!
- New Year's Eve party at the Queen Mary
- 80's club again w/college buddies
- Spending time w/my Goddaughter and getting her ready for her dance
- Doing errands w/Theresa
- Sushi at Naku's - funniest sushi chef in the Southbay
- Church reception and going to housewarming party w/Thitam
- Doing homemade workout sessions w/Tree
- Maybeth coming over on the weekend to spend time in Woodland Hills
- Cycling :)

Yeah, that's basically all I can remember at this point. I've been overdosed w/Sudafed all weekened long. Aaaya =\ Health is wealth, I hate being sick. I just feel so blaaaah and useless. It makes me sad when I'm sick cause that means no working out and I love my cycling class to even say no. So after a weekend long of rest, I'm hoping to jump back today!

However, I must admit, I really enjoyed just resting. I was forced to rest and it was nice to wake up whenever I wanted and take naps whenever my eyes felt heavy :) I started a tv series on Saturday night and completed the whole season Sunday morning. Talk about productivity right? I loved it! ABC.com and NBC.com launches all episodes of current season online. You must check it out! I saw the entire season of "What About Brian" and started on "Heroes."

"What About Brian" was pretty good and interesting. So much drama! I caught myself gasping and saying "Omg, I can't believe he/she did that" the whole way. Hey, keeps life interesting when you are sick in bed right? =) As for "Heroes," I enjoyed that a lot too. If you are into "X-men," you will enjoy "Heroes." It's the same theme of discovering powers and special abilities. I must admit, there's this one character on there, totally freaks me out. She's the stripper mom and her power has a reflection that follows her and tries to protect her. Aaaaya, reminds me of those days when kids would try to run in the bathroom and scream "Bloody Mary" numerous amount of times to see someone appears. Yeah, I'm not into that so much. Other than that, the show is really good itself. I just finished the first episode on "Heroes." Hopefully , I'll be done with the rest of the season soon.

Aside from my tv absorption, I have only been resting, taking it easy and doing some studying here and there. This week, gonna try to keep it chill and see what I have store this weekend.