Merry, Happy Kissing Under Mistletoe on Christmas Day!

Christmas is one of our favorite holidays of the year. According to Christmas lore, the weather on Christmas foretells the weather for the coming year. If windy on Christmas, trees will bring much fruit; if there is ice on trees on Christmas day, there will be clover tall enough to cut by Easter. Then, do you know about mistletoe? How about the tradition of kissing under the mistletoe and how that came about? Why don’t you fill in the blanks given below to complete the fascinating mistletoe folklore?

 

In an old Norse legend, Frigga, the goddess of 1.______________, had a son named Balder who was the god of 2. _______________ and light. To protect him, Frigga demanded that all creatures -and even inanimate objects – swear an oath not to harm him, but she forgot to include mistletoe. Loki, god of 3. __________ and destruction, learned of this and made an arrow and guided it to kill Balder. The death of Balder meant the death of sunlight, which explains the long winter night in the north.

 

Frigga’s tears fell onto the mistletoe and turned into white 4. ___________. She decreed that it should never cause harm again but should promote 5.___________ and peace instead. From then on, anyone standing under mistletoe by accident had to put their weapons aside and exchange a kiss of peace, declaring a 6. ______________ for the day.

 

*One caution!! Raw mistletoe 7. ___________ are very poisonous and tend to fall off the plant easily. They have been known to cause 8.__________________ and death when ingested and can be especially lethal to children and pets. To be on the safe side, ask your florist to replace the real 9. _________________ with imitation ones or just use artificial mistletoe in your decoration.

 

Answer Keys

1.  love

2.  innocence

3.  evil

4.  berries

5.  love

6.  truce

7.  berries

8.  seizures

9.  berries

Dr. Jedidiah's Diary Episode #96: Freddie, Wake up and Get Real!

Dr. Jedidiah’s Diary

Dr. Jedidiah is a psychiatrist who loves traveling, meeting new people, and exploring different cultures. As a single father who lost his wife to drug overdose 10 years ago, he has not been his old perky self for the last decade. During those hard years, he has met hundreds of, thousands of people from various walks of life around all over the world. Meeting new people and listening to their stories outside his office have given him different feelings from the ones through the formal encounter groups or being truly honest with himself. Here is Dr. Jedidiah’s monologue that has left him with some food for thoughts in life….. or a fodder to justify his own mistakes in the past.

 

Episode # 96. Freddie, wake up and get real!

“Are you kidding me? Anna is not just what you see. Actually, she’s the opposite to your definition of her.” My friend Freddie said that I’d need to go back to Med school and study the whole courses over again if I really thought Anna was the most warm-hearted and compassionate person in the world. Freddie had lived with Anna for 5 years and now he was about to separate with his once beloved wife. I kept wondering why he said that Anna had been totally misunderstood by me for all those years. It was not long before I started to see what Freddie meant to say about Anna. She was a manipulator disguised in her smile of mansuetude.

 

Whenever Demi and I went out on a double date for dinner or movies with Freddie and her fiancé Anna, nothing seemed peculiar or suspicious to my eyes in terms of their relationship. They always looked like a picture-perfect couple that kept cooing and caring for each other. They’d finish each other’s sentences and never fail to give compliments about how they looked. Honestly, I’d find Anna’s sense of humor somewhat offbeat from time to time. She would hysterically laugh at her own self-deprecating humor in front of us all. “What do you think of my dress tonight? This is such an old clothing that is the most expensive. It’s all torn and worn in the hem, but I like it because it is the priciest dress that Freddie bought me 3 years ago. Well, this has become my uniform for date nights, and Hank has always been praising my look. He is either extremely patient with boredom, or…. the OG cheapskate.” We all laughed, but Freddie was like this was not his kind of humor and it didn’t make him laugh at all. 

 

Freddie said Anna was obviously lying through her teeth when she mentioned her dress and how she felt about her wardrobe on that night of our get-together. He said he got no reason to gasp in surprise at all when she cracked a phony joke that would make her look down-to-earth, simple, and pure in front of other people. For the past five years, Freddie was blind to the fact that he had been maltreated by the woman he called his soul mate.  Anna always made sure that Freddie should take the responsibility for his choice of wife and her happiness, even if it made him leave all his relationships or rapport with his family and close friends. No matter how much money he had to spend, how much time he needed to spare, how hard it was to ditch his religion, and how much emotionally drained he would get, Freddie thought he was supposed to follow what Anna wished for. The more effort he made to please Anna, the lonelier and emptier he felt inside. And finally, he made up his mind to set forth on his new life and let her know how he felt being controlled and gaslit for all those years. He was fully ready not to let Anna’s fake love for him slide anymore. Freddie said “Well… You have seen a lot of guys totally whipped like me, right? You must also have seen many women like Anna who manipulates their partners. A dime a dozen, right? I need your help. I decided to leave Anna, but still need some faith in my belief that she was gaslighting me. I want to make sure she’d been more like my arch-enemy in life.”

 

The exotic mehndi on Freddie’s forearm along with the initial “A” looked like another sign that he had been trapped inside the web weaved by Anna, and it reassured me to help my friend to wake up. Now I look back in hindsight, the dress that Anna pretended to humblebrag and joked about on the night of our double date had a moiré texture, which appeared who she really was. ‘Poor Freddie. You’ve been spellbound and too dizzy to look straight. But better late than never, buddy. It’s time you moved on with your life as you wish.’

 

Expressions

1.  mansuetude: gentleness; meekness

2.  to coo: to speak in a soft, gentle voice; to murmur

3.  offbeat: unusual; unconventional

4.  OG: someone or something that is an original or originator and especially one that is highly respected or regarded

5.   to lie through one’s teeth: to say something completely untrue

6.   to gasp: to take a short, quick breath through the mouth, especially because of surprise, pain, or shock

7.  phony: not genuine; fraudulent

8.   whipped: being completely controlled by your girlfriend or boyfriend

9.  a dime a dozen: very common and of no particular value

10.      mehndi: the practice of making designs on someone's hands with henna

11.      to humblebrag: to make an ostensibly modest or self-deprecating statement with the actual intention of drawing attention to something of which one is proud

12.       moiré: ripple-like pattern (*Moiré effect is a visual perception that occurs when viewing a set of lines or dots that is superimposed on another set of lines or dots, where the sets differ in relative size, angle, or spacing.)

 

Time to play the latest NPR Sunday Puzzle!

Today I've brought a game of Categories based on the word JOKES. For each category I give, name something in it starting with each of the letters J-O-K-E-S. For example, if the category were "Four-Letter Names Traditionally Given to Boys," you might say John, Owen, Kurt, Evan, and Stan. Any answer that works is OK, and you can give the answers in any order.

(Note: In some cases there may be other answers. Any answer that works will be counted as correct.)

1. PLACES IN FLORIDA

2. BIRDS

3. HIGHWAY SIGNS

4. SPACES ON A MONOPOLY BOARD

 

Answer Keys

    1.  Jacksonville, Orlando, Key West, Everglades, St. Petersburg  

    2.  Jay, Oreo, Kiwi, Eagle, Swallow

    3.  Junction, Off Ramp, Keep right/left, Exit, Stop

    4.  Jail, Oriental Avenue, Kentucky Avenue, Electric Company, Short line

Dr. Jedidiah's Diary Episode #95: Adil from the Horn of Africa

Dr. Jedidiah’s Diary

Dr. Jedidiah is a psychiatrist who loves traveling, meeting new people, and exploring different cultures. As a single father who lost his wife to drug overdose 10 years ago, he has not been his old perky self for the last decade. During those hard years, he has met hundreds of, thousands of people from various walks of life around all over the world. Meeting new people and listening to their stories outside his office have given him different feelings from the ones through the formal encounter groups or being truly honest with himself. Here is Dr. Jedidiah’s monologue that has left him with some food for thoughts in life….. or a fodder to justify his own mistakes in the past.

 

Episode # 95. Adil from the Horn of Africa

“Are you sure you want to file a suit against your track team coach, Adil?” When I asked this promising young athlete immigrated from Tanzania, I was full of mixed feelings; concerns about his future as an elite runner and the downside of bringing up the issue that will have a big impact on my friendship with his track team coach Sam. Adil gave me a stern look and said, “Yes, I do. Coach Sam is as mad as a hatter. I’m ready to split up with this nutty coach that destroys and shatters me and my fellow runners.” I felt deeply ashamed of myself at the moment, looking for the right way to discouraging this young man with nerves of steel to rock the boat. In that moment, I was like a crisis negotiator who might be more like pushing a suicidal person to the limit rather than saving his life by saying that I was down with his decision.

 

Adil had never failed to show up at this local running club for mentoring kids who love running from low-income families. As a national elite runner, he did not have enough time or energy left. However, whenever he came for the children, he brought with a great big smile that instantly gingered up the kids who were not as happy as most other young ones in town. These children felt truly grateful for Adil’s presence, which was way more wonderful than many of those spurious presents underneath a Christmas tree for well-healed friends of theirs. Adil had always let these kids believe in their own potentials and passion for running by saying and showing that when their stamina ran out, their spirits kick in. The children in this weekend track team learned about the meaning of their Tanzanian coach’s name ‘Adil’ in Swahili language: “JUST and HONEST”. I was there to watch and join their weekly logging meets as a shrink who listened to their problems at home and school. After each and every weekend running meet, Adil and I took the children to our favorite local park to enjoy healthy and delicious lunch made by Adil’s girlfriend. She would bring her grandma’s signature dish called Kreplach along with her favorite side dish Succotash. All the veggies and the hearty, cheesy dumplings in the soup warmed up not only the kids but me and Adil as well as the perfect post-run carb load to the inexplicable level of mind. 

Our peaceful and healthy weekend meet-up for running and mentoring had been smooth until I saw one day Adil’s frazzled face with not much high spirit in his eyes. Adil kept silent all along the trail run that day. When we called it a day and got ready to leave for home, he swizzled his soda and looked me in the eye and said “I guess it’s time for me to take action, Dr. J. I’ll report this to USADA.” That was the day when I came to learn about his track team coach Sam’s abusive drug recommendation to the athletes for the purpose of enhancing race day performances. The coach also taught the runners how to evade doping tests as the race day came along. While I was becoming mad and devastated by Adil’s confession or report, I felt stabbing pain inside of me because his abusive coach is none other than my good old buddy Sam. 

 

 Adil followed what he believed in as his name manifests itself. He made up his mind to seek after “just and honest” virtues that he was born with from his root country. Adil was not only a mentor for the kids from poverty-stricken area, but also much-needed conscience that raised the voice of justice in this relentlessly competitive society. He was the cleanest and shiniest gemstone of strength from the most fragile Horn of Africa.

 

 

 

Expressions

1.  as mad as a hatter: totally crazy and insane

2.  to split up with someone: to end the relationship with someone and leave that person

3.   nerves of steel: an impressive ability to remain calm in dangerous or difficult situations

4.   crisis negotiator: the experts who de-escalates volatile life and death incidents

5.  to be down with …: to agree with… / to see eye to eye with…

6.  to ginger up …: to jazz up/ to spice up/ to juice up

7.  spurious: not being what it purports to be; false or fake

8.   Kreplach: (in Jewish cooking) triangular noodles filled with chopped meat or cheese and served with soup

9.   Succotash: an American dish of corn and lima beans cooked together

10.              to swizzle: to drink especially to excess = to guzzle

11.              USADA: United States Anti-Dope Agency

Time to celebrate Thanksgiving Day with a brief history of its tradition!

Thanksgiving is just around the corner. Some have a family get-together, while some others enjoy their lone time by indulging in their own hearty meals and binge-watching their favorite shows.

Why do we celebrate Thanksgiving Day in the United States? Let us go over a brief history of this all-important American holiday.

 

In a 1789 proclamation, President George Washington called on the people of the United States to acknowledge God for affording them “an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their _______________ and happiness” by observing a day of thanksgiving. Devoting a day to “public thanksgiving and prayer,” as Washington called it, became a yearly tradition in many communities.

 

Thanksgiving became a national holiday in 1863. In that year, during the __________ War, Abraham Lincoln made his Thanksgiving Day Proclamation. He asked his fellow citizens “to set apart and observe the last ____________ (which day of the week?)  of November next as a day of thanksgiving and praise……”

 

It was not until 1941 that Congress finally designated the fourth ________________ (which day of the week?) in November as Thanksgiving Day, thus creating a federal holiday.

 

Of course, Thanksgiving is not born of presidential proclamations. ____________  _____________ (who was the original tribes living/owning the American land?) harvest festivals had been celebrated for centuries, and colonial services date to the late ______th century. Thanksgiving Day, as we know, began in the early 1600s when settlers in both __________________ and Virginia came together to give thanks for their faith. The most widely known early Thanksgiving is that of the Pilgrims in Plymouth, ________________ (which State?), who feasted for 3 days with the __________________ (Which native American tribe?) people in 1621.

 

Turkey has become the Thanksgiving fare because at one time it was a rare treat. During the 1830s, an 8- to 10-pound bird cost a day’s wages. Even though turkeys are affordable today, they still remain a celebratory symbol of bounty. In fact, astronauts named _______________________ and Edwin Aldrin (who first landed on the Moon) ate roast turkey in foil packets for their first meal on the Moon.  

When did the presidential turkey pardon start? The Turkey pardon ceremony officially began with President ________________ in 1989, but the practice of pardoning a turkey may date back as far as the ________________ administration.

 

*One quick fun idiom! Know the meaning of “talk turkey”?

It means….._______________________

 

 

(*Source from the Old Farmers’ Almanac)

 

 

 

Answer Keys

    1.  safety

    2.  Civil War

    3.  Thursday

    4.  Thursday

    5.  Native American

    6.  16^th

    7.  Massachusetts

    8.  Wampanoag

    9.  Neil Armstrong

    10.  George H.W. Bush, Abraham Lincoln

    *to talk turkey means “to have a frank and honest talk”

image source: https://www.history.com/topics/thanksgiving/first-thanksgiving-meal

Find the synonyms that sound alike from the words in given sentences! (NPR Word Puzzle from yesterday)

Here’s the latest On-air challenge of Word Puzzle from NPR! In each one, find two words that sound like two other words that are synonyms

Ex. I can pare an apple, too. --> pair, two

 

1. I stubbed my toe running down the hall.

2. How much do the shutters on the manor weigh?

3. Winnie Mandela voted "nay."

4. In Korea a pail costs three won.

5. The spy was sent on a mission to the Oder river.

6. Dad went to the grocery to buy some chow.

 

Answer Keys

1.   tow and haul (toe and hall in the sentence)

2.   manner and way (manor and weigh in the sentence)

3.   whinny and neigh (Winnie and nay in the sentence)

4.   pale and wan (pail and won in the sentence)

5.   scent and odor (sent and Oder in the sentence)

6.   bye and ciao (buy and chow in the sentence)

 

Sunday Word Puzzle from NPR! Find the anagram of an article of clothings.

Here’s the Sunday Word Puzzle from yesterday. Every answer is an anagram of an article of apparel.

 

Ex. BORE --> ROBE

 

 

1. TACO

2. PACE

3. WONG

4. GOAT

5. WALSH

6. CUT-IN

7. OBELUS

8. X'ED OUT

9. THIRST (hyph.)

10. ROUSTERS

11. UNGREASED

 

Answer Keys

1.  Coat

2.  Cape

3.  Gown

4.  Toga

5.  Shawl

6.  Tunic

7.  Blouse

8.  Tuxedo

9.  T-shirt

10.              Trousers

11.              dungareese

 

Dr. Jedidiah's Diary Episode #94: Their Own Ways to Say Goodbye

Dr. Jedidiah’s Diary

Dr. Jedidiah is a psychiatrist who loves traveling, meeting new people, and exploring different cultures. As a single father who lost his wife to drug overdose 10 years ago, he has not been his old perky self for the last decade. During those hard years, he has met hundreds of, thousands of people from various walks of life around all over the world. Meeting new people and listening to their stories outside his office have given him different feelings from the ones through the formal encounter groups or being truly honest with himself. Here is Dr. Jedidiah’s monologue that has left him with some food for thoughts in life….. or a fodder to justify his own mistakes in the past.

 

Episode # 94. Their own ways to say goodbye

When I was on a short trip to Ireland for the international conference of psychiatry, I happened to pay a visit to a funeral. It was the traditional Irish Wake for my friend’s father, Mr. Thompson who passed after 5 tormenting years of struggling with dementia. Contrary to my own belief or feelings about “loss of loved ones” that I felt when I lost my wife Demi, this funeral was like a very last celebration of the deceased in the most special way, which was not too saddened, nor too upbeat. Some of the visitors were quietly humming a tune with my friend’s relatives, which seemed as if they would ginger up the dark mood of the funeral. Some others were busy checking with all the wall clocks if they were properly stopped and also made sure to open windows, and place coverings over every mirror in the place. What most of the visitors did was to share beautiful memories they had with Mr. Thompson and never forgot to laud him in every possible way. One thing funny though was that a couple of friends of Mr. Thompson’s jokingly complained about the spats they had with their late buddy long time ago. One of them said “He habitually borrowed my bloody money, but never paid it back. Welp, but it is what it is. We all failed in metamorphosing that bloody guy.”

 

It was such a selcouth scenery to me, but felt way better and more meaningful than a spurious, flashy funeral where not everyone had a chance or a moment to reconnect with the deceased through walking down the memory lane with him from the bottom of their hearts. Mrs. Thompson was offering home-baked chocolate chip cookies to all visitors there and getting ready to read her own piece of poem dedicated to her husband. As I was leaving the funeral, Demi, my beloved wife came to my mind with her shiny smile for the very first time since she left me for Heaven.

 

 

Dear my darling husband Luke Thompson,

 

Life with you had always been like a rainbow of frondescence.

I would say my heart was always brimming with pride, being your closest soul yesterday and tomorrow.

Me being here alone today cannot make a bubbly picture, but rather quiescence.

I know you’d never like it if I became withdrawn deep into a black hole of sorrow.

Just like your sweet smile that was always there to ensorcell,

I will keep sharing my morning kiss with you in this picture.

My dining room will be filled with the aroma of your favorite tea with caramel.

One thing only missing here will be your boring daily lecture.

 

 (*Picture Source: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/312366924161213953/) 

Expressions

    1.   Irish Wake: The Irish wake is a tradition associated with death and funerals yet surprisingly, it is a kind of celebration.   

    2.  to ginger up someone: to make somebody/ something more exciting or lively (=to jazz up/ juice up…)

    3.  to laud someone: to praise or extol someone

    4.  spat: a short argument/ bickering about something that is not important

    5.   It is what it is: an expression used to characterize a frustrating or challenging situation that a person believes cannot be changed and must just be accepted

    6.   to metamorphose somebody/something: to change the form or nature of; transform

    7.  selcouth: strange; uncommon

    8.  spurious: not genuine, authentic, or true; not from the claimed, pretended, or proper source; counterfeit

    9.  frondescence: leafage/ foliage

    10.  quiescence: quietness or stillness; inactivity or dormancy

    11.   to ensorcell someone: to bewitch someone    

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