the first sign of aging isn't your body parts trying to fight gravity - it's the hands. the skin on the hands is first to go and i'm suddenly experiencing very very dry hands. most of you know that i'm a bit freakish about protecting my hands, be it wearing different rubber gloves (of a certain kind) when doing dishes, cleaning, or wearing different colored cashmere or leather gloves almost 9 months of the year, i'm a bit particular. i never ever put nail polishes on my fingernails nor do i get a manicure to take care of my nails. just has to be protective of the wind, temperature, etc.

so i'm sadden to report that nightly hand creaming isn't very effective when your skin on hands is drying up naturally. my skin is a bit chapped - poor hands.

any good solutions? aside from hoppin on a time machine to get youthful hands?

in a sad attempt to deflect the responsibility of packing, i've reorganized my closet...and to realize that i have too many t-shirts. i'm not a t-shirt kinda gal. i'm giving them all to salvation army except my Roots, Juilliard, Star Trek, Yankees, CBGB, RCMP, Linkin Park....okay so not that many are to be given away. BUT NO MORE T-SHIRTS!!!!!! okay, except for a THRICE shirt...

i'm a bit obsessed with ENCHANTED right now and this morning, i can't get this song outta my head. have a looksee on youtube. but here's the lyrics:

(A Capella, Giselle)
How does she know you love her?
How does she know she's yours?
(Marlon Saunders - Calypso Singer)
How does she know that you love her?
(Giselle)
How do you show her you love her?
(Together)
How does she know that you really really truly love her?
How does she know that you love her?
How do you show *her* you love her?
How does she know that you really really truly love her?
(Giselle)
It's not enough to take the one you love granted
You must remind her or she'll be inclined to say
"How do I know he loves me?
How do I know he's mine?"

Well does he leave a little note to tell you you are on his mind?
Send you yellow flowers when the sky is Grey?
He'll find a new way to show you a little bit every day
That's how you know
That's how you know he's your love

(Calypso Singer)
You got to show her you need her
Don't treat her like a mind reader
Each little something to lead her to believe you love her

(Giselle)
Everybody wants to live happily ever after
Everybody wants to know their true love is true
How do you know he loves you?
How do you know he's yours?

Well does he take you out dancing just so he can hold you close?
Dedicate a song with words meant just for you?
He'll find *someway* to tell you with the little things he'll do
That's how you know
That's how you know he's your love
He's your love

That's how you know he loves you
That's how you know it's true

Because he'll wear your favorite color just so he can match your eyes
Plan a private picnic by the fire's glow
His heart will be yours forever
Something everyday will show
That's how you know (x5)
That's how you know he's your love
That's how you know
That's how you know he's your love

i don't get overwhelmed easily but lately, i've been feeling really really overwhelmed to...catch up on my reading list.

currently on my "library":

• Macbeth (i'm going to see the production on B'way in April)
• This is Your Brain on Music (nuff said)
• Duchess of Langeis by Balzac (cuz i feel like reading something french every time it rains...and it's been raining a lot)
• Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks (i've been "reading" this for like 3 months now...sigh...)
• Precision Heart Rate Training (i'm curious about this)
• Wagner Nights by Joseph Horowitz (it's interesting how the Opera culture affected the NYC area, etc. etc.)

now, the problem with the above list is that i HATE reading non-fiction. aside from shakespeare & balzac up there, it's all interesting but....i just don't like non-storylines.

i have a true book ADD. any feedback on what i should ditch/later or any tricks to "managing" multi-book-obsessions?

apropos of my previous post, i think i covet...way too much.

recaping of the seven deadly sins:

• lust: i look at and all
• gluttony: i think about what i'm going to eat even as i'm eating a meal
• greed: once i have something, i want more
• sloth: ...i'm blogging...during office hours
• wrath: i don't forgive even though i was forgiven
• envy: grass is always greener on the other side
• pride: i think that i don't need anybody
  

... i think i commit all seven daily...maybe even every second!

oy vey.

from today's CNN.COM

ROME, Italy (AP) -- A Vatican official has listed drugs, pollution and genetic manipulations as well as social and economic injustices as new areas of sinful behavior.
Monsignor Gianfranco Girotti said in an interview published on Sunday by the Vatican's daily newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, that known sins increasingly manifest themselves as behavior that damages society as a whole.
Girotti, who heads the Apostolic Penitentiary, a Vatican body that issues decisions on matters of conscience and grants absolutions told the paper that whilst sin used to concern the individual mostly, today it had a mainly a social resonance, due to the phenomenon of globalization.
Catholic teaching distinguishes between lesser, so-called venial sins, and mortal sins.
When asked to list the new areas of sinful behavior, Girotti denounced "certain violations of the fundamental rights of human nature through experiments, genetic manipulations."
He also mentioned drugs, which weaken the mind and obscure intelligence; pollution; as well as the widening social and economic differences between the rich and the poor that "cause an unbearable social injustice."
Girotti said the Catholic Church continued to be concerned by other sinful acts, including abortion and pedophilia.
He said Church authorities had reacted with rigorous measures to child abuse scandals within the clergy, but he also claimed that the issue had been excessively emphasized by the media.
His comments came at the end of a week-long Vatican conference on confession.
A recent survey said that 60 percent of Italian Catholics do not go to confession.
Traditionally the Catholic church has had a list of seven deadly sins, that of lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy, and pride established by Pope Gregory the Great in the 6th century.
The terms entered the popular vocabulary after the publication of Dante's "Divine Comedy."
The deadly sins are in contrast with venial sins - relatively minor sins that can be forgiven.
A person that commits a mortal sin risks burning in hell unless absolved through confession and penitence.
Now the Vatican says it is time to modernize the list to fit a global world.
On hearing the Girotti's suggestion, some priests thought it was a good idea.
Father Antonio Pelayo, a Spanish priest and Vatican expert noted that it is time for both sinners and confessors to get over their obsession with sex and think about other ways humans hurt each other in the world in which they live.
"There are many other sins that are perhaps much more grave that don't have anything to do with sex - that have to do with life, that have to do with the environment, that have to do with justice," he told AP Television.
Father Greg Apparcel, a local priest said that the Pope may have been talking About this aspect of sin as a response to the recent "Italian confession" survey.
Apparcel also hinted that the announcement may have a wider agenda ahead of the Holy Father's trip to the United States and his speech to the United Nations.
"There is some sound going around that perhaps he is going to speak about ecology and environment, and if he does, this is kind of preparation for that," he said.

Find this article at: http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/wayoflife/03/10/vatican.updates.sins.ap/index.html

i saw this sticker in the subway yesterday.

Herbalism, Christianity and Islam started with a lie from Moses

Religion = War Evolution = Life

Our evolution started from waves solidified into hydrogen atoms

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