weyes

one should not assume s/he knows how it feels or is to be anyone else. to be smiling may not be happy, to be at the top may not be satisfied, to be rich may not be successful. also, to be crying may be relieved, to be jobless may be busy, to be exhausted may feel accomplished. one never knows. but when one finds him/herself analyzing what others show on the outside and using that to make judgments as to who they are or what they feel, it is probably a good occasion to turn his/her eyes inward instead. tune in tomorrow.

after lots of conflicting news reports have been broadcasted the past two days, it is good to remember that seeing - and hearing, smelling, feeling, personally witnessing or experiencing in general - is believing. unless, of course, one is schizophrenic - then things get a tad more complicated . tune in tomorrow.

when there is a news story to which a cable news network decides to devote all its coverage for the day, it is generally a waste of a person's time to watch all day, hoping to catch new pearls of information. these news networks repeat themselves constantly for the benefit of people who have just tuned in at any given time, and also to take up airtime when they don't know anything new. the most efficient way to stay on top of a situation like today's tragic mass shooting and not get crazy or numb (the two extremes, i'm supposing, that a viewer could reach) is to check in from time to time. it's also good to note that, the earlier the report, the less accurate it will be likely to be. lots of speculation fills the airwaves when there are few facts yet known. tune in tomorrow. r.i.p., peeps in texas.

i know there have been a lot of installments involving money in one way or another since i've been laid off, but this was so exciting i just had to share: reading those supermarket ads one usually just throws out with the other junk mail can pay off, along with recycling. what a great combo for me, today, when i took in only two grocery bags full of bottles and cans and bought 10 pounds of russet potatoes with the money i earned, with over a buck left over . talk about [sort of] getting something for nothing [$.99!!! seriously!!!] . scalloped potatoes, prepare to be eaten. tune in tomorrow.

a note to anyone sneaking a younger person's - whether it be his/her child, sibling, whomever, it doesn't matter - hallowe'en candy: it's not right, and not just 'cause stealing is a no-no. hallowe'en is a lot of children's first exposure to earning something; trick-or-treating may not seem like work to adults, but it's a lot of legwork, and asking for things from strangers is tough, especially for children, who tend to be more shy than adults. it also isn't easy to walk around in costumes that may be unwieldy, less than what they had hoped (i remember, when i was really young, some kids being disappointed in what they were made to wear), or that no one recognizes or compliments. adults often forget and/or fail to recognize the little details of how hard it is to be a kid. taking candy from children, when they worked so hard for it, is truly shameful ! tune in tomorrow.

sometimes a total break or escape from one's troubles is the best way to deal with them. dwelling in misery rarely leads to positive results - or a way out of it. tune in tomorrow.

onions and garlic are flavorful, popular, abundant, easy to find, come in many varieties, inexpensive, and all sorts of positive adjectives. but there are some circumstances wherein it is only common courtesy to pass on them, such as before: visiting the dentist voice lessons band/choir practice getting a haircut (especially if you have bangs) having nails/makeup done a date with someone new any work situation that involves being close to a co-worker, such as training someone common sense should help here, but one might be surprised . tune in tomorrow.

here's hoping everyone had or is having an awesome hallowe'en! i'd like to send a tribute out to the folks at my local wal-mart, who took on an attitude i once had to on a new year's day: if one has to work on a holiday s/he would much rather spend either out partying or at home relaxing, it's much better to interact and have fun with one's co-workers and other surrounding people than to be grumpy and take it out on everyone in sight. it's important for a person to remember that co-workers, and, in the case of retail - customers, are not the people who required him/her to be there. might as well make the best of it. tune in tomorrow.

here's my pre-halloween column: it's such a bummer for kids to find, after getting dressed up in their awesome costumes and convincing an adult to chaperone them, that when they knock on their neighbors' doors, said neighbors have no candy. i know that a lot of people, especially we dance fans, plan to go out and party like crazy on halloween, but we tend to still be home, getting ready, when the little ones come around. even if one does end up not being home when trick-or-treaters stop by, it can't hurt to have a bag of candy ready. and if no one comes by, there is sure to be someone after the 31st who will be glad to take it . tune in tomorrow.

when visiting the doctor, it's easy to get overwhelmed, distracted, intimidated, or embarrassed to such a degree that one may forget to mention all of one's concerns. while bringing along a list may take care of the first two cases, here are some thoughts on the second two: by the time one has gone to all the trouble of actually seeing a doctor in person, s/he might as well take care of all the business that originally sent him/her there. that is, after all, the most direct way to address medical problems. and there's no need to be embarrassed; doctors don't have the time or inclination to judge patients. they certainly don't spend their free time laughing at the conditions or people that bring business to their offices. and, most important of all, doctors can't help patients to the best of their ability - and to the patients' greatest benefit - without knowing all of the details they can get. to health ! tune in tomorrow.

when one feels as though a person is trying to lay a guilt trip on him/her, it can feel like a personal attack - like the "tripper" is accusing the "tripee" (so to speak) of having done something wrong, or very often, neglected to do something. one can avoid feeling attacked, however, by trying to understand where the complainer is coming from. when someone is so distraught that s/he inflicts guilty vibes on someone else, s/he generally has had his/her feelings hurt, and is just trying to express that. remedying the situation can begin when both parties acknowledge that the upset party has those feelings. tune in tomorrow.

coupons and sales are fabulous things, but if they cause someone to spend money that s/he otherwise wouldn't have spent, s/he really isn't saving money, in the short run. what one decides to do all depends on whether or not one can afford to spend - and save - for the long run. tune in tomorrow.

anyone?

while it may be ok to look to professional athletes for inspiration in some matters, such as physical fitness and self-confidence, there are others in which athletes are not good role models - and i'm not just referring to michael vick and o.j. simpson. for example, it is not acceptable to: readjust or scratch one's own crotch repeatedly in public. spit any and every place. start fistfights with people, just 'cause. hit other people's butts as a sign of appreciation. head butt other people as a sign of appreciation. bump chests with other people as a sign of appreciation. attribute your success to "god's will" and your failure to "bad luck." make obscene amounts of money and keep it all to oneself. it's important to remember that, while athletes are referred to by many as "heroes," that they're just people, like the rest of us. tune in tomorrow.

unless one is told otherwise, everything one is told should be considered confidential. just because a person says something out loud to one other person in conversation doesn't mean that that information is intended for anyone and/or everyone's ears. while one can argue that common sense can dictate what can and can't be spread around, simply not telling other people anything that one hears in private conversation takes away the guesswork and ends up being more considerate. tune in tomorrow.

for those who don't use the oven much, here are just a couple of things to remember the next time you finally do: move the racks inside to where you want before you turn the oven on. remove everything that matters from on top of the stove before you turn the oven on (e.g. salt and pepper shakers - they get very hot!). preheat the oven before starting prep work. don't forget to be aware of pan-greasing instructions for your recipe. when cooling your finished dish, don't put it on top of the hot stove; putting it on the stovetop not only slows down the cooling process, it may cook the dish more. bon appetit! tune in tomorrow.

if there's something one absolutely does not want to forget to bring with him/her when s/he leaves the house, it's all well and good to write notes and tape them around or even write reminders on one's own hand, but one can still get distracted from reading those notes somehow. there is one surefire way to not forget to bring that bag, present, ticket, envelope, or whatever it may be: to put it in front of the front door itself. if one can't leave the house without tripping over something, that something is sure to be in one's hands while opening the front door, to leave. tune in tomorrow.

an important thing to remember for world series-only baseball viewers: with playoff games so far lasting up to longer than 5 hours, there is reason to believe that the series may be the same way. whoever designs the guide for tv, however, seems to assume that games will only last 3 hours. this means that if one hopes to record a game and watch it later, that s/he will have to record at least an extra 2 hours to catch it all. missing the end of a game with extra innings can be incredibly annoying, and is something to be avoided at all costs. it is worth the extra dvr space, especially considering that the game'll probably be watched and erased by the end of the night. tune in tomorrow.

a person's past, while certainly an indication of what s/he is capable of, is not a sure demonstration of what s/he will do in the future. everyone has the chance to learn from and not repeat his/her mistakes, no matter how large or small the mistakes may be. tune in tomorrow.

if one is ever totally stumped on what to get someone for a birthday present, sometimes all s/he needs to do is take a walk - in a neighborhood with lots of stores, a mall, a department store, even a frikkin' target. even if one doesn't find exactly the right thing in the course of that trip, s/he may get inspired enough to know where to go or what to do next . tune in tomorrow.

i don't even know of any good soulful house djs, in general. i'm terribly unschooled in this genre, i just know that i love it. i can't dance to it at all, though, which is a shame for a type of music that makes me want to dance so much ... anycrap, any good peeps coming to l.a.? any local peeps? i do like bigger venues, but local djs do tend to play more often. help!!!!!

when one finds him/herself with one of those e-mails that asks its reader to send it to a certain number of people - including the person who sent it to the reader - or else something terrible will happen, one may find him/herself tempted to forward said e-mail to a bunch of people. here's how to decide who those recipients should be: chances are, if you're ever actually driven to send one of these e-mails on to others, you've done it before. if people ever do send them back to you, then they probably don't mind receiving them. it's a safe bet that you can forward these things to those people. however, if there are people to whom you send these that don't ever send them back to you, said people are probably too busy to bother with these things, don't like cluttered inboxes, and/or find them terribly annoying. as one of those people, i hereby ask the world to pay some attention to previous results and not repeat this process . [weyes steps off soapbox] tune in tomorrow.

even in southern california, where it hardly ever rains, the weather report is worth listening to, when bad weather would cause one problems. for instance, if one intends to spend a day at the beach and it is cloudy, s/he may not want to just assume that the sky will clear up. sure, the odds are in our favor here, but if it bad weather would ruin one's day, it's worth the extra few minutes of effort to look up the forecast.* tune in tomorrow. *has anyone ever seen l.a. story ?

reading, watching tv, surfing the 'net, and listening to music are all common, popular, and effective ways to unwind, but they are passive methods, and, for many, less powerful than creative methods. dancing, singing, drawing, painting, writing, and other activities that are more productive have the capacity to bring about a more significant release. tune in tomorrow.

a practical one for today: lots of printers these days are so helpful with their ink monitoring capabilities that supposedly tell you exactly how many pages your ink tanks have left in them. it may just be that the pages that are being estimated have more written on them than the ones that i print out, but the cynic in me says that the ink manufacturers are just trying to sell more ink, and here's why i say that: my printer said it had zero pages left in it about 20 pages ago, and it's still going strong. i bought a new ink cartridge weeks ago, when my black ink cartridge was "half full," just in case, but i'll keep the one i have in there until my printouts look different. my eyes are a better judge of when my printer is out of ink than a window on my computer screen is. tune in tomorrow.