"You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else." (Albert Einstein)

Yesterday I got home to find my answering machine flashing with two messages. One message was my usual mate from India always asking for the same person... dude I have been telling you for the past two years that I don't know Silvia and I am not Silvia... The other message was from a good friend and she was mad... not just angry, shirty, irritated... but M-A-D!!! Initially I thought oh my gawd... what have I done and the past ten years flashed through my mind... no I am clear as... I replayed the message and between all the profanities I made out that someone had let her down and she wanted to talk!

I jumped on her facebook before calling her back... "Every dog has its day" status update. You know you mean business when you start using the dog word. So hesitantly I called her back with the receiver not too close to my ears and listened attentively as only a good friend does... this is not her blog and although the story was extremely riveting, unfortunately it is not mine to tell to the cyber world. What I can disclose is that someone she thought would never let her down... well they let her down bigtime.

How bad does it feel to be let down? To expect things from people and feel disappointment when they do not deliver? To realise someone you care about really does not care if you are happy or not? To feel that someone only wants you in their life because of what YOU bring to THEIR life and what YOU can do for THEM? I could go on for a little while... LOL We have all been there but when it suddenly hits you in the face, well hell have no fury like a woman scorned. So my friend was pretty furious and uttered something along the lines of when will I ever learn... She so wanted to be bitter and hate the world but after thirty minutes of coaxing and empathising she realised that you just got to take a deep breath, take the situation for what it is and let it go. You also got to block that person off your facebook immediately!!! (OUCH:)!!!!)

So sometimes we never learn... we make the same mistake over and over again... so what? There will always be someone to help you pick up the pieces and make you laugh again... and one day when you least expect it you may even be able to tell that story to a group of friends over dinner and make them cry with laughter about how you got the ultimate revenge without even trying!!! (OUCH:)!!!)

Found this snippet by comedian Dave Barry. Some good advice to take on board.

Things that it toke me fifty years to learn:

1. Never under any circumstances take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night.

2. If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved, and never will achieve, its full potential, that word would be “meetings”.

3. There is a very fine line between “hobby” and “mental illness.”

4. People who want to share their religious views with you almost never want you to share yours with them.

5. And when God, who created the entire universe with all of its glories, decides to deliver a message to humanity, He WILL NOT use, as His messenger, a person on cable TV with a bad hairstyle.

6. You should not confuse your career with your life.

7. No matter what happens … somebody will find a way to take it too seriously.

8. When trouble arises & things look bad, there is always one individual who perceives a solution & is willing to take command. Very often, that person is crazy.

9. Nobody cares if you can’t dance well. Just get up and dance.

10. A person who is nice to you, but rude to the waiter, is not a nice person.

11. Never lick a steak knife.

12. Take out the fortune before you eat the cookie.

13. The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender, religion, economic status or ethnic background, is that, deep down inside, we ALL believe that we are above average drivers.

14. You should never say anything to a woman that even remotely suggests that you think she’s pregnant unless you can see an actual baby emerging from her at that moment.

15. Your friends love you anyway.