Good Times with Mo, Mojo & Grace Lee (he's just not that into you): February 25, 2009 blog

Notes from Ariel's Diary

I’ve been staring at these photographs of George Clooney in front of my desk at home,pictures I've clipped after reading it in a Time Magazine article a year ago. I particularly liked his picture on a bike and thought he was cute here, until that is, I was dumped by my boyfriend last Valentine's Day.

How ironic! Here I was sticking pictures of George Clooney on my wall, People's Magazine's Sexiest Male on the Planet, and the person in Hollywood who personified the uncommitted male. Was I asking a plea from the Universe to be dumped by my boyfriend?

I looked at the photograph of George on his motorcyle, and Golly Gee Moses! Was that fear on his face? Oh my, I get it. That's the expression he uses to a girl when he wants to run away fast.

I was listening to Mo Twister talk about this movie ‘HE’s JUST NOT THAT INTO YOU’ starring the notorious dumper Ben Affleck (rumor was that he vacillated on a wedding once before with JLO, and la Lopez forgave him. When he appeared unsure about going through with planned wedding no. 2, the divine Latina just called the wedding off!) and the beguiling, but nevertheless dumped Jennifer Aniston. What an unlikely pairing!

Long before this movie became celluloid reality produced by Drew Barrymore, there was a book with the same title hovering in the New York Bestsellers List for a number of months five years ago.

The writer,the quite dashing Greg Behrendt who was a consultant for ‘Sex and the City’ had observed the number of star crossed romances gone wrong, and one day, as he was listening to the women writers in the hit television show moan and groan about their love lives, Behrendt just finaly said to one gal to stop making excuses for the atrocious behavior she was getting from her boyfriend and just said, "You know what, he's just not that into you. Move on. Get a life.' That line turned into a bestselling book co-authored with Liz Tuccillo, and the book became celluloid reality and had its world premiere last week. Sweet!

Why didn’t anyone warn me to read this book first before embarking on a romantic relationship? It would have saved me a lot of heartache and all encompassing rage at my ex if I read this book first.

Guess what? I’ve replaced George Clooney’s picture with this other list on the wall. It’s a guidepost for me to read everyday until I get it.


1 He's Just Not That Into You If He's Not Asking You Out
2 He's Just Not That Into You If He's Not Calling You
3 He's Just Not That Into You If He's Not Dating You
4 He's Just Not That Into You If He's Not Having Sex with You
5 He's Just Not That Into You If He's Having Sex with Someone Else
6 He's Just Not That Into You If He Only Wants to See You When He's Drunk
7 He's Just Not That Into You If He Doesn't Want to Marry You
8 He's Just Not That Into You If He's Breaking Up with You
9 He's Just Not That Into You If He's Disappeared on You
10 He's Just Not That Into You If He's Married (and Other Insane Variations of Being Unavailable)
11 He's Just Not That Into You If He's a Selfish Jerk, a Bully, or a Really Big Freak

I've also reread a book that rocked the world of women called THE RULES by Ellen Fein and Sherrie Schneider, a Victorian guidepost of manners that surprisingly has worked well with a lot of modern romances. I read it again, and I can’t help but laugh, and roll around the bed giggling. I wouldn’t be putting this guidepost up my wall, but just the same, I’m sticking it in my diary. I’ll be trying this out with a guy I really dig. If it works, then it will be up on my wall in bold letters . Goodbye Clooney! Good Riddance.

To wit, here are the 25 RULES:

* 01: Be a “Creature” Unlike Any Other
* 02: Don't Talk to a Man First (and Don't Ask Him to Dance)
* 03: Don't Stare at Men or Talk Too Much
* 04: Don't Meet Him Halfway or Go Dutch on a Date
* 05: Don't Call Him & Rarely Return His Calls
* 06: Always End Phone Calls and dates First
* 07: Don't Accept a Saturday Night Date after Wednesday
* 08: Fill Up Your Time before the Date
* 09: How to Act on Dates 1,2, & 3 End the date first especially if you like him.
* 10: How to Act on Dates 4 through Commitment Time
* 11: Always end the date first
* 12: Stop Dating Him if He Doesn't Buy You a Romantic Gift for Your Birthday or Valentine's Day
* 13: Don’t See Him More than Once or Twice a Week
* 14: No More than Casual Kissing on the First Date
* 15: Don't Rush into Sex & Other Rules for Intimacy
* 16: Don't Tell Him What to Do
* 17: Let Him Take the Lead
* 18: Don't Expect a Man to Change or Try to Change Him
* 19: Don’t Open Up Too Fast
* 20: Be Honest but Mysterious
* 21: Accentuate the Positive & Other Rules for Personal Ads
* 22: Don’t Live with a Man (or Leave Your Things in His Apartment)
* 23: Don't Date a Married Man
* 24: Slowly Involve Him in Your Family & Other Rules for Women with Children
* 25: Practice, Practice, Practice! (or, Getting Good at The Rules)
* 26: Even if You're Engaged or Married, You Still Need The Rules
* 27: Do The Rules, Even when Your Friends & Parents Think It's Nuts
* 28: Be Smart and Other Rules for Dating in High School
* 29: Take Care of Yourself and Other Rules for Dating in College
* 30: Rules for Dealing with Rejection
* 31: Don't Discuss The Rules with Your Therapist.
* 32: Don't Break The Rules!
* 33: Do The Rules and You’ll Live Happily Ever After!
* 34: Love Only Those Who Love You
* 35: Be Easy to Live With

Happy Dating!! Goodtimes!

(Photograph of the gorgeous George Clooney by Sam Jones for Time Magazine)

Good Times with Mo, Mojo & Grace Lee ( Light at the End of the Tunnel): February 18, 2009 blog

Notes from Ariel's Diary

My boyfriend dumped me on Valentine's Day and boy, that experience felt like a derailed train ran over me twice. The pain was physical - I felt like my heart was ripped open and slashed into many pieces, and all the bones in my body felt broken and smashed into a gazillion pieces.To be honest, I wanted to crawl in my bed and stay there for a year.

But then I didn't want my Mom to worry so the next day I stood up and did my normal routine, all the time crying on the inside.

Anyway, I was listening to Mo Twister today as usual, and this dude really pisses my off sometimes when his radio show plays the same music again and again. Golly Gee Moses! Even the Twister acknowledged that his radio show is more talk show than music show, and I forgive him.

But then again, I forget my annoyance when he produces a jewel insight, or a funny audio recording of CNN reporter Zain Verjee saying peanuts like penis (and repeating it twice). I started laughing despite feeling like a dumped chick by a hot guy, which I am. Reality sucks!!!

My day considerably brightened when he mentioned this website F***My Life- where people can ventilate about their sorrows and rant about what bothers them.

I looked into it and I realized that I wasn't the first girl dumped on Valentine's Day.

Here are some samples of what's written in that site:

"Today, while at work I was reading "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" to me class of 5 year olds. I got near the end of the book and said "Look at the big fat caterpillar" to which one of my pupils replied "Just like you, Miss!"

Today, I received a box in the mail from my mom which I assumed was a care package. It was a scale to encourage me to lose weight.

Today, I spent $20 on a spray tan, $30 to have my make up done, and $50 on a pretty new dress all for a special date with my boyfriend. It turns out I spent $100 just to get dumped.

Today, I told my boyfriend that I was afraid our future children would be fat and ugly. He reassured me, saying that he was sure our spawn would take on after him.

Today, I saw my friend across campus, and I decided that I wanted to play a trick on her and scare her from behind. Turns out, I scared a complete stranger with really bad panic induced asthma.

Today, I made a couple videos of me playing guitar and singing some of my favorite songs. I arrived back from school to find my family huddled around the cam-corder laughing, imitating, and making jokes about the video.

Today, I was complaining to my mom about how my sister looked like a barbie doll next to me. I was saying how she was so tan and her hair looked awesome next to mine. She paused for a while and then said "Well you're pretty on the inside."

Now, do you feel better already? Check the site out and ventilate. You'll feel sooooooo much better. Goodtimes!

(Postscript: Notes from Ariel's Diary is fictional and comes from the imagination and point of view of the blogger. Photo of the tunnel by Vinay Shivamukar.)

Good Times with Mo, Mojo & Grace Lee (The Secret): February 16, 2009 blog

Notes from Jaceo's Diary

I usually spend a lot of time alone, gazing at spectacular landscapes such as this Sedona landscape in Arizona.

I start the day driving around a particular place, and when an area interests me enough to catch my attention, I stop, and with my trusty Julian easel,paint away for an hour or two until I complete a painting.

Many people see painting as a very lonely profession and it couldn't be farther from the truth. There's a sense of exhilaration that's impossible to describe whenever I see an empty linen canvas in front of me and smell the turpentine, and touch the oil colors that I'll use, colors galore that make my eyes crinkle in delight: cerulean blue,quinacridone red,rose madder,cobalt turquoise light, alizarin crimson.

I usually bring my Ipod and listen to downloaded stuff from my Itunes folder - a bunch of french lessons I really diligently listen to perfect my french accent; a couple of audio Tonight shows with Jay Leno (my brother-in-law records it diligently for me. He downloads it and listens to it in his office too) and an audio copy of one funny radio show from the Philippines called Goodtimes with Mo which leaves me in stitches the whole day.

I was listening to their Monday show and the hosts were talking about secrets people keep which were anonymously revealed to the world at large. It was so hilarious since many of the secrets involved people sleeping with their partner's siblings. That's with an s in case you didn't notice. I find it funny since I found the situations surreal. I just realized these people had a lot of time on their hands for titillating stuff which border on the ridiculous.

Whenever I hear the word secret, it means something totally different for me. I read this book a few years ago, "The Secret" by Rhonda Byrne, with a lot of contributions from wise sages like Jack Canfield, John Grey and Lisa Nichols among other resource persons. There's been a lot of hullabaloo about this book, some good, some bad. I found the riff raff quite disconcerting since the principles espoused in the book has been around for quite some time.

I've known about the Secret for quite some time. For a very long time, I wasn't sure what my career path was, and I took a lot of missteps to get to where I am today. I read a lot of books to find out why I was placed on this earth. The more I read, the more I realized that the messages were quite similar. The message: You can be whoever you want to be, if you believe and work hard to make that dream come true.

The book helped me redefine what I wanted, a very easy guideline to create what you want in three simple steps.

1. ASK
Lisa Nichols :'The first step is to ask. Make a command to the Universe. Let the Universe know what you want. The Universe responds to your thoughts.'

2. BELIEVE
'Believe that it's already yours. Have what I call unwavering faith. Believing in the unseen.'

3. RECEIVE

Three simple steps. That's all. Trying having this kind of Secret rather than the other troubling, salacious kind. Goodtimes!!!!

(Notes from Jaeco's Diary is fictional and comes from the imagination and point of view of this blogger.Photo of the Sedona mountains by Krikit. Photo of the Arizona sunset by Threaded Thoughts )

Good Times with Mo, Mojo and Grace Lee (You Teach How Others Treat You) : February 12, 2009 blog

Notes from Marley's Diary

I was listening to Mo's radio show last Thursday and I was tremendously saddened when he talked about Rihanna's situation with Chris Brown.

What happened? They both seemed so young and so in love.

Did Rihanna have any inkling about her friend's violent tendencies?

I used to be a battered girlfriend by a seemingly kind man - gentle in demeanor; submissive, until a sudden unexpected incident triggers some malevolent, violent behavior and he turns into an ugly,ugly monster.

He slapped me once after an argument, and I forgave him once that time. But when he boxed me in the stomach after an innocuous argument, I fled from the malevolent ogre right there and then.

Never mind if he came crawling the next day with chocolates and flowers. I refused to see him and that ended whatever relationship we had.

What helped me was reading this great, if a little old book by Dr. Phil McGraw entitled "Life Strategies'. Written in 1999, his book had ten life lessons which helped me get through my hellish boyfriend situation.

If you're in a miserable situation, grab this book, and try to apply what he has written. I guarantee you that your life will change by applying the strategies laid out in this book.

In summary, these are five of his total ten life strategies featured in his book:

Life Strategy No.1 : YOU EITHER GET IT OR YOU DON'T

" If you break a criminal law, such as those prohibiting theft (or in Chris Brown's case- assault), you will pay a fine or go to jail. If you violate a physical law, such as gravity, you can experience pain or- depending on your elevation when you commit the violation - even death. Just as with these types of laws, if you break a Life Law, there are penalties, quite severe. I will bet that you have been paying dearly for those violations throughout your life.

"You break the current Life Law whenever you operate without the necessary information and skills to create the results you want. When you DON'T UNDERSTAND THE RULES OF THE GAME, SUCH AS WHICH BEHAVIOR WILL GET RESULTS, OR WHEN YOU LACK A STRATEGY, YOU ARE LIKELY TO RUN FOUL OF CONDITIONS AND REQUIREMENTS THAT WOULD GUARANTEE YOUR SUCCESS. In competition with those who do get it- that is, they do have the SKILLS,KNOW THE RULES, AND HAVE A PLAN -you are not even a threat, but a patsy.

"When I see people who just don't get it, stumbling along in life, I wonder how they ever survive. It's painful to watch people who do things when you know, before they ever do it, that their fate is sealed.

"YOUR STRATEGY: Become on of those who get it. Break the code of human nature, and find out what makes people tick. Learn why you and other people do what they do, and don't do what they don't."

Life Strategy No. 2: YOU CREATE YOUR OWN EXPERIENCE

"You are not a victim. You are creating the situations you are in; you are creating the emotions that flow from those situations. This is not theory, it is life.. You must be willing to move your position, and, however difficult or unusual it may seem, embrace the fact that you own the problem. While everybody else is still out there blaming those who aren't responsible for the results in their life, you can be as on taret as a laser-guided missile, and therefore, work only on those things that will truly change your life.

"YOUR STRATEGY: Acknowledge and accept accountability for your life. Understand your role in creating the results that are your life. Learn to choose better so you have better."

Life Law #3 :PEOPLE DO WHAT WORKS

"By now, it should be exceedingly clear that the behavior you choose creates the results you get. If you repeat the behavior, then by definition, those results must be desirable, or you wouldn't behave that way over and over. Conversely, if you do not repeat the behavior, then the result is not desirable. In other words, there is nothing in it for you.

"YOUR STRATEGY: Identify the payoffs that drive your behavior and that of others. Control the payoffs to control your life."

Life Law # 4 : YOU CAN'T CHANGE WHAT YOU DON'T ACKNOWLEDGE

"If you're unwilling to acknowledge a thought, circumstance,problem, condition,behavior or emotion - if you won't take ownership of your role in a situation- then you cannot and will not change it. If you refuse to acknowledge your own self-destructive behavior, not only will they continue, they will actually gain momentum, become more deeply entrenched in the habitual patterns of your life; and grow more and more resistant to change.

"YOUR STRATEGY : Get real with yourself about your life and everybody in it. Be truthful about what isn't working in your life. Stop making excuses and start making results."

And the most important, and which Rihanna should take note:

Life Law #8 : WE TEACH PEOPLE HOW TO TREAT US

" So if you ever wonder why people treat you the way they do, see Life Law #3 : People Do What Works. They do what they do because you have have taught them, based on results, which behavior gets a payoff and which one don't. If they get what they want, they keep that behavior in their repertoire. If they do not get the desired result, they drop that behavior and acquire a new one. Understand that here, as in all areas of your life,results, not intentions, influence the people with whom you interact. You may complain or cry or threaten to give them negative results, but if the bottom line is that you reward the behavior by providing a response that the other person values, then that person decides, 'Hey, this works. I now know how to get what I want.'

"YOUR STRATEGY : Own, rather than complain about how people treat you. Learn to renegotiate your relationships to have what you want."

So there, get the book if you need help strategizing. I know this book changed my life. I hope it does yours."

(Postscript: Notes from Marley's Diary is fictional and comes from the imagination and point of view of this blogger. Photo by ki-Ga)

Good Times with Mo, Mojo and Grace Lee (Confessions of an Addict) : February 9, 2009 blog

Notes from Adi's Diary

Surfing through the waters of California is an indescribable feeling. Your heart stops at a certain point, and you hold your breath till the waves die down, and you paddle to shore.

It's an ecstatic feeling that no words could describe. The high that one feels being on top of a wave, without losing balance and crashing beneath the waves is akin to experiencing a little piece of heaven.

There are a few things that make me happy - surfing; taking the time to talk to my wife and kids at the end of the day; eating chocolate cheesecake; watching the sunset in any California beach; watching the Superbowl last Sunday; listening to a goofy radio show called Goodtimes which a good friend introduced to me and which I continue to listen to everyday,and lastly, just lounging around the house on Sundays ,chilling out and watching my favorite movies.

Back to surfing. I wasn't like this before. Going near the waters to swim is not my idea of fun. You can blindfold me and force me to the beachshore and swim and I wouldn't do it. But at one point in my life, it was either swim or die, and I decided to live.

You see I'm a sex addict, and my addiction was overtaking my life and taking out whatever happy feeling I was supposed to experience.

I've been in therapy for a time, and I can't really describe in detail what a sex addict is, but according to medicinet, behaviors associated with sexual addiction include:

* Compulsive masturbation (self-stimulation)
* Multiple affairs (extra-marital affairs)
* Multiple or anonymous sexual partners and/or one-night stands
* Consistent use of pornography
* Unsafe sex
* Phone or computer sex (cybersex)
* Prostitution or use of prostitutes
* Exhibitionism
* Obsessive dating through personal ads
* Voyeurism (watching others) and/or stalking
* Sexual harassment

I used to be a purveyor of sexual pornography websites, and all I did the whole day was drool over these pictures.It got to a point where I was not talking to my wife and kids anymore; not even eating anymore, but sought my happiness through looking at these body parts the whole day and night.

I used to listen to Mo's show at Goodtimes, since a good buddy of mine from the Philippines introduced me to the show, and I enjoyed all the topics the funny trio of hosts dealt out to the listeners everyday.

But the show has become quite tiresome. All I hear day in and day out is about this website they're about to put up where you send photos of your private parts, and anyone can comment on it.

It's not just tiresome, but pathetic. One time, I even heard Mo asking a caller to send in photos of her naked self (without the head of course), and the caller was a bit reluctant in doing this. So what's funny about that?

I don't know. I think the hosts are exhibiting sexual addictive behavior, like myself before, which can harm their health. I also don't think they have real friends or family members who can really tell them what is right or wrong anymore. Grace Lee threatens to vomit if she sees anymore naked pictures, but do they listen to her? Hearing that made me so sad.

All I know is they've started to annoy me and I switch the radio show off as soon as they start becoming un-entertaining.

As part of my therapy, I've started to surf to take my mind off this obsessive sexual addiction. There's nothing like staying on top of the board, with the water underneath like a floor plank and just ride the endless powerful waves to make one feel fulfilled.

It's a powerful tool to focus on something other than behavior that can destroy my life. It's a never ending battle, but it's all worth it in the end.

(Notes from Adi's Diary is fictional and comes from the viewpoint and imagination of this blogger. Photos from moonjazz)

Good Times with Mo, Mojo and Grace Lee (Snowbound Day) : February 2, 2009 blog

Notes from Davina's Diary

This is what I see from my window today. They've just declared it Snow Day in London, and the streets are blanketed with unbelievable white powder. We haven't had this kind of snow in so many years. In fact, I don't know if I could work because I don't have a 4 x 4 vehicle, and I can't use a snowmobile to glide to work in the London streets. I'll be arrested by the bobbies in three minutes flat, what with London's surveillance cameras kicking in, in every street corner (haven't you heard, Big Brother is truly watching our every move here!)

A year ago, I would dread staying at home, and the sight of snow and ice would send me to the pits of depression.

In fact, a year ago, I was confined to a kind of loony bin hospital, and all I could remember was that everyday, rain or shine, I sat in a wheelchair at a particular time,usually morning,and we were led outside the grounds to bask in the sunlight. With the gloomy weather here, that's a bit of wishful thinking, but whatever wisp of sunshine we get, we're thankful.

Everyday our schedule was like this. After an hour has passed for our 'sunning' time, we were led inside the confines of our room, where we waited until the bell would ring again for lunch time; after two hours, it's recreation time, then finally dinner and lights off.

I don't remember the exact day I was confined by my parents. All I remember was that my boyfriend broke up with me this same time last year, and I slid in the tub and tried to slice my wrist. All my memories after that incident is hazy.

It is only now, that I'm up and about did my parents reconstruct the day to day events from my mental breakdown, and subsequent cure.Oh did I tell you? Yes, by some miraculous cure, I was able to get out of my blue, blue funk and recover from said loony bin. How?

Our nurses would play us music during recreation time, and try to interest us in all kinds of music. There was no response, but when a talk show on TV is on, the response was better. Name it, the nurses tried it - Oprah and Ellen were our top facorites, and according to the nurses, we stopped being in a catatonic state and started nodding, but there were no smiles or laughter.

One day, a Filipina nurse turned to the web for radio shows via live audio streaming and she chanced upon this radio show by the Twister named GoodTimes with Mo, Mojo and Grace Lee.

The patients who were lined up like ossified, petrified, mummified stuffed animals now started smiling, then giggling and then laughing and rolling out their heads from side to side.

It created pandemonium and the doctors all started running by the sounds the patients created. When they learned it was a mere radio show, they all started listening and subsequently cracking up too by the wild subject matters elucidated by Mo Twister.

From then on, all the patiends, nurses, doctors and orderlies got hooked on the show and we all looked forward to the taped shows created by a fan, and we just listen and laugh and have a great time.

After three months of a zombie like existence, the doctors started observing the improvements in my personality. I was still a little depressed, but it was now becoming more manageable. The good thing is, I don't need to take expensive medicines for any mood disorder. I still go to a psychologist once a week, but in three months, I could see the therapy sessions ending because I see myself getting really well from the depressed state I'm in. I've become a real functioning human being who can take reality really well.

The thing that helped me go through the toughest time in my life is listening to Mo Twister, Mojo and Grace Lee's show. Oh yeah, their music sucks since they play the same music again and again, and I hate porn, especially Mo's predilection to nubile men and women showing their junk and sending it to their yahoo address, which they'd eventually post in their JudgemyJunk website. But on the whole, this show beats Prozac and ten other mind numbing medications to combat depression.

Oh my, the snow has now hit my window sill. The white powder has become balls of rain and sleet and snow.

If this weather holds up, this city will look like "The Day After Tomorrow". But I dont' care. I could even look outside my window now, and just marvel at its opaque magnificence. It's so nice to stay at home and just curl up with a book and a hot mug of chocolate. The best thing is, I could tune in to that funny,funny radio show and just bask in laughter and happiness for three hours.

Oh glorious snowbound day!!

(Photo thanks to wolfiewolf)