Freckle Cheeks

About ten years ago, a young and very successful executive named Josh was traveling down a Chicago neighborhood street. He was going a bit too fast in his sleek, black, 12 cylinder Jaguar XKE, which was only two months old.

He was watching for kids darting out from between parked cars and slowed down when he thought he saw something. As his car passed, no child darted out, but a brick sailed out and - WHUMP! - it smashed Into the Jag’s shiny black side door! SCREECH..!!!! Brakes slammed! Gears ground into reverse, and tires madly spun the Jaguar back to the spot from where the brick had been thrown. Josh jumped out of the car, grabbed the kid and pushed him up against a parked car. He shouted at the kid, “What was that all about and who are you? Just what the heck are you doing?!” Building up a head of steam, he went on. “That’s my new Jag, that brick you threw is gonna cost you a lot of money. Why did you throw it?”

“Please, mister, please. . . I’m sorry! I didn’t know what else to do!” Pleaded the youngster. “I threw the brick because no one else would stop!” Tears were dripping down the boy’s chin as he pointed around the parked car. “It’s my brother, mister,” he said. “He rolled off the curb and fell out of his wheelchair and I can’t lift him up.” Sobbing, the boy asked the executive, “Would you please help me get him back into his wheelchair? He’s hurt and he’s too heavy for me.”

Moved beyond words, the young executive tried desperately to swallow the rapidly swelling lump in his throat. Straining, he lifted the young man back into the wheelchair and took out his handkerchief and wiped the scrapes and cuts, checking to see that everything was going to be OK. He then watched the younger brother push him down the sidewalk toward their home.

It was a long walk back to the sleek, black, shining, 12 cylinder Jaguar XKE -a long and slow walk. Josh never did fix the side door of his Jaguar. He kept the dent to remind him not to go through life so fast that someone has to throw a brick at him to get his attention. . . Some bricks are softer than others. Feel for the bricks of life coming at to you. For all the negative things we have to say to ourselves, God has positive answers.

An eatery at Maine decided to create a “Skinny Dip” special, featuring sliced prime rib in a baguette roll, and it is free at The Black Frog Restaurant to anyone who is willing to plunge naked into Moosehead Lake.

The promotion has generated a lot of publicity for the restaurant, but apparently did not violate any of indecent exposure law in Maine. Why you might ask? That is because in order to violate the law, one would have to expose genitals for the purpose of offending or shocking. But in this case the patrons of the restaurant are exposed briefly only to a skinny dipper’s derriere as a participant takes the leap from the end of the restaurant’s dock.

So I guess it is alright to get naked in public, as long as it is to get free food, not to offend or shock anyone. Well, now the homeless people in Maine knows where to get free food. They just need to be very comfortable to get naked of people, and plunge into a freezing cool lake.

Well, apparently even dogs need a little help from wigs. And guess what, you can even style them according to your favourite celebrity! Want an Elvis Presley hairdo for your dog, get a dog wig!

A Hollywood stylist who was also a master wig maker had enough of styling humans, decided to style dogs instead. A friend of her asked to make a wig for her beagle, and the next thing you know, a business of making dog wig was formed.

It’s amazing what people do to their pet. So what else can they come up with next time? A fake dog tail?

An elderly woman and her little grandson, whose face was sprinkled with bright freckles, spent the day at the zoo. Lots of children were waiting in line to get their cheeks painted by a local artist who was decorating them with tiger paws.“You’ve got so many freckles, there’s no place to paint!” A girl in the line said to the little fella. Embarrassed, the little boy dropped his head.His grandmother knelt down next to him. “I love your freckles. When I was a little girl I always wanted freckles,” she said, while tracing her finger across the child’s cheek. “Freckles are beautiful!”

The boy looked up, “Really?”

“Of course,” said the grandmother. “Why, just name me one thing that’s prettier than freckles.”

The little boy thought for a moment, peered intensely into his grandma’s face, and softly whispered, “Wrinkles.”

Both freckles and moles are produced due to increase of pigment (melanin) in your skin. But they’re not the same.

Freckles are small, flat, pigmented spots on your skin. Their colors may vary from red to tan to brown. Freckles are not present at birth but they later developed as a result of repeated sun exposure. Freckles occur primarily in sun-exposed areas of your body, such as your nose, cheeks and shoulders.

Moles are clusters of pigmented cells. Although they often appear as small, dark brown spots, moles come in a range of colors and sizes. They can be raised or flat and can develop almost anywhere on your body — even between your fingers and toes. Unlike freckles, moles can be present at birth. They often become more prominent with age. Moles also may darken with repeated sun exposure or as a result of hormonal changes in pregnancy.

Freckles rarely develop into skin cancer. However, freckles are especially common in people with light skin, and having light skin that burns easily increases your risk of skin cancer. Also, some skin cancer in its earliest stages resembles a freckle. If you have a pigmented lesion — whether you think it’s a freckle or mole — that changes in size, shape or color, or becomes painful, consult your doctor.

4.       Some medications that you take internally or apply to your skin can cause skin sensitivity. Among the medicines that can cause this are certain antibiotics and birth control pills. Check with your doctor or pharmacist to determine if what you use on your face or take internally would make your skin more sensitive to the sun.

5.       Stay out of tanning beds. Tanning is equally harmful to your skin as compared to the sun. One tanning bed session is equal to a whole day spent at the beach. These devices expose your skin to lots of pigment-inducing UV radiation, and it’s only inches from your skin.

6. Be consistent in using the sunscreen. Even a few minutes of unprotected sun exposure each day will add up, such as the rays your skin absorbs from walking to the work and getting in and out of your car. Even if you are indoor or in a vehicle, it is still necessary to use sunscreen because most of the pigment-causing UV rays still come through them.

Many people would rather not develop freckles or, if they already have freckles, they would like to get rid of them. It is always better to take preventative measure from developing freckles than to treat them.

If you do not have freckle but based on your family history there is a hereditary tendency to freckle — you should take prevention measure sooner rather than later to minimize the possibility from developing them.

Freckles are a warning to people who have them that their skin is highly vulnerable to sunburn and to skin cancer. There are steps that can be taken to prevent them:

1. Use sunscreen. You should always wear sunscreen whenever appropriate and also minimize your skin from sun exposure. This is to suppress their tendency to produce freckles and to reduce their risk of developing skin cancer. Wear a sunscreen that blocks both UVA and UVB rays. Apply the sunscreen every day when you get up, and reapply every two hours or after swimming or sweating.

2. Wear a hat. Get a broad-brimmed hat that could not let light through. This is to keep the sun from directly hitting your face.

3. Avoid peak sun hours. The sun is most intense between the hours of 10 am and 4pm therefore avoid from going out at these hours if possible.

Guess what, Pepsi with its usually dark-coloured drink is going green!

The Japanese, true to their healthy lifestyle nature has launched a mint-coloured soda named as “Pepsi Ice Cucumber”. “Pepsi Ice Cucumber” hit the stores this week, and has been artificially flavored to resemble “the refreshing taste of a fresh cucumber,” said Aya Takemoto, spokeswoman of Japan’s Pepsi distributor, Suntory Ltd.

The mint-colored soda is on sale just for the summer and only in Japan. I guess we are out of luck guess wanting to get one to keep ourselves cool as a cucumber with this heat in Singapore. Hmm… I wonder what would the rivals come out with? Any suggestions?

This cute little cat name Oscar was featured on the cover on the Chinese Mypaper recently. Why you might ask? This cat is no “Lassie”, but just the exact opposite. You see if Oscar hangs with you, that means death sentence is upon you.

Oscar was a adopted by a nursing home in Rhode Island, USA. He walks the floor like the doctors will curl up with the patient during their final hours. According to the staff of the nursing home, Oscar is welcomed by the family members of the patient because it allows them the opportunity to say their last goodbye to their loved one.

Taking into consideration that this is a nursing home, most of the patients there are of old ages and therefore having a cat to be the messenger of Death seems to be acceptable because some of them have accepted that fact there their time is up soon. By having a cat to be the messenger of death, death is then associated with grace and tranquil because that is how people perceive cats.

What gets me thinking is that if Oscar is not residing in a nursing home but instead, it is roaming a hospital where sick people are ranging from babies, childrens, young adults etc, will he still be welcomed by the family members of the patients? Would it still be ok for the parents to see this cute cat curl up to your child in a cuddly way but it means that your child will die in a matter of hours? Would the patient come to terms with the fact that he or she is going to die, and see it as a last opportunity to do something meaningful with the last few hours of his or her life? Maybe, maybe not.

Appearance and packaging is very important and is dominating our perception of things and lives. ‘Death’ packaged in the form of cute, lovable, adorable-enough-to-be-your-pet package, is more readily accepted than having the Grimm Reaper coming to visit you, telling you that you are going to die.

The same message can be delivered in two extremes, one instill grace, the other instill fear. Therefore, when you want to put across a message, beware of the method of delivery, as it can achieve very different results.

Yup, I nickname myself FreckleCheeks for the most obvious reason, I have freckles on my cheeks. Am I proud of them? Not really, but I’m sure not ashamed of them. I think every morning before I go to work, I put in more effort in trying to conceal my dark eye circle than my freckles.

I have a confuse relationship with my freckles. Some people who don’t have them will say that they are cute and add character to the face. Well to a certain extend I do agree, ‘Lost’ star Evangeline Lilly does look cute with hint a freckles on her face. But the truth is when it comes to photo shoot, I think most of her freckles will get a visit from a guy with an airbrush. So like I said before, I don’t hate my freckles, just that once in a while I will think of paying a visit to the beauty saloon for some IPL sessions =P

I was cracking my brains out trying to think of a suitable domain name for my blog site, because I feel that the name should be something that I am congruent with, and I don’t want to use my own name. I was trying to think of something cute, but not too cute because don’t get me wrong, I’m not the kind of gal that likes all things pink, no way. I prefer to think of myself as a cute girl with some spunk. And then one night, FreckleCheeks.com pops into my head. Cute but not too cute, catchy and…. it’s me, a girl with freckles and my cheek.

Talk about self expression, I am flaunting a part of me that I do not want people to pay attention to. Did I tell you that I have a confuse relationship with my freckles?

Maybe now with this blog site named as FreckleCheeks, I can associate them with something more positive, and grow to be proud of them. Hmm…. what if one day I become a famous blogger and everybody knows me as FreckleCheeks? Does that mean that I will have to kiss my IPL sessions goodbye?

Well, I’ll worry about that dilemma later.