Praying the Rosary in different languages

Last year or thereabouts, a night of prayer and fasting was organised in the Grand Stand of our Queens Park Savannah. The Grand Stand has  been known for many things over the years from Panorama Finals ( Competition between the various steel pan groups) on the night before Carnival to the Parade of the Carnival bands on Monday and Tuesday, however I was not familiar with the place or shamefully enough the location.
The night actually started at about 6:00p.m. or thereabouts with  the recitation of the Rosary. One of the orders which was chosen, elected to recite the familiar prayer in French, Spanish among other languages. Hearing familiar words spoken in other languages and understanding the use of  words which would be spoken in an every day langauge class  created a sense of there are other ways of thinking, which I have been trying to hold on to over the last year  Here are some of the images which I have located since then in an attempt to hold on the spark which was re created that night.

The Hail Mary in French

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoUbuesLqXI 

French

Je vous salue, Marie, pleine de grâce.
Le Seigneur est avec vous.
Vous êtes bénie entre toutes les femmes,
et Jésus, le fruit de vos entrailles, est béni.
Sainte Marie, Mère de Dieu,
Priez pour nous, pauvres pécheurs,maintenant et à l'heure de notre mort.
Amen

Prayer: Dios te salve, Maria (Hail Mary) in Spanish

Dios te salve, Maria.
Llena eres de gracia:
El Señor es contigo.
Bendita tú ere entre todas las mujeres.
Y bendito es el fruto de tu vientre:
Jesús.
Santa María, Madre de Dios,
ruega por nosotros pecadores,
ahora y en la hora de nuestra muerte.
Amén.

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name: Thy kingdom come: Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread: and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation: but deliver us from evil. Amen.

The Our Father in French

Notre Père, qui es aux cieux,
Que ton nom soit sanctifié,
Que ton règne vienne,
Que ta volonté soit faite sur la terre comme au ciel.

Donne-nous aujourd'hui notre pain de ce jour.
Pardonne-nous nos offences
Comme nous pardonnons aussi à ceux qui nous ont offensés.
Et ne nous soumets pas à la tentation,
mais délivre-nous du mal,
car c'est à toi qu'appartiennent le règne,
la puissance et la gloire, aux siècles des siècles.
Amen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npb1ZqcuYDA&feature=player_detailpage

http://www.ourladyweb.com/mary-avemaria.html

House of Hades - Rick Riordan

I started reading this series as a result of one of my nephews leaving his sister's book around.  Over the years, the acquisition of each book meant  a delayed wait, while someone else  read the book, trying not to take the book before someone finished it. I was extremely happy to start reading the  series  after several books had been acquired, however I soon caught up with the others and that meant I was waiting and waiting. So I am happy to say that there is one more day to the release of  House of Hades, and  I am wondering is this going to be the end of the series? Will there be a shorter release period between books?  Don't know at all.  Just in case you do not have a clue as to what I am speaking about, here is a summary:

The House of Hades is the fourth book in the bestselling Heroes of Olympus series, set in the action-packed world of Percy Jackson.

The stakes have never been higher. If Percy Jackson and Annabeth fail in their quest, there'll be hell on Earth. Literally.

Wandering the deadly realm of Tartarus, every step leads them further into danger. And, if by some miracle they do make it to the Doors of Death, there's a legion of bloodthirsty monsters waiting for them.

Meanwhile, Hazel and the crew of the Argo II have a choice: to stop a war or save their friends. Whichever road they take one thing is certain - in the Underworld, evil is inescapable.

Some rules to think about in life - I

Many things happen in life, there are those that you understand through intellect, experience, wisdom, those that you accept and those that you just deal with, either through prayer, gritted teeth or a smile or a laugh. However there are rules or things that persons consider or examine which gets them through all of the above times. At this time in my life, here are some that I think that are important.

1. Try to see the big picture. Sometimes what you see, may not be the whole picture, sometimes you have to trust your instinct and sometimes you have to care enough about the other person or persons and  that is what spares you to see another day. There is a concept of "grace", which can be obtained from attending funerals with some form of reverance, some form of caring and this is one of the fundamentals of most religions. There are times when you may not attend the funeral for the grace which you will get, but for the feeling which you had for the person,  in recognition for all the good which the person did, for all of the times when they showed up and helped at an event when help was needed.
2. Try to see one step further. When you feel like giving up, try to see one step further, hard as it may be to see in any direction under the current circumstances.  Every so often, stop and instead of staying where you are, try to look at things from another angle, try to see how to move whatever it is one step further. It may take days of trying, but once you understand that you have to go forward and in tough times, having a strategy may help you to learn something other than getting the job done. 
3. Celebrate the future in the present. Tonight I listened to Mary J Blige's Have yourself A  Merry Little Christmas on the Music Speakeasy section of the Wall Street Journal website and I realised that I needed to start celebrating Christmas all now, as I may miss out on a big part of  he celebration if I wait until Christmas. I do not know what Christmas will be like, however I can start celebrating now. See the link for access to the  pre release which is located on the right side of the page.  http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/category/music/

Microsoft Surface

I would look longingly at IPads. Having just bought a laptop  as I figured that a laptop would suit my needs more than an IPad, as the time spent at meetings was  less than the my needs which ranged from attending  meetings, notes at meetings ( to keep track of what went on, so that I could compare that info to the minutes which would be circulated,) preparing notes for studying than the impact and use of an IPad at a meeting. Now I can revisit my choices, see the comparison via the link below.
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/compare#T1=microsoft-surface-rt

The Joys of Discovery I - Harvard Manage Mentor

Many times when I become too engrossed in the "to do's" and I start losing sight of the intellectual stuff, ( call it the big picture)  in life, I get a silent nudge to start browsing. Realising that I was not leaving work early, not for an reason, missing appointments because I got caught up in just one more, today I left early, went browsing after an appointment that finished early and took some time just wandering around before reaching home. Tried reading but this time my brain  is churning and churning and I am unable to enjoy the power of words, the joy of discovery. So much so that I am sharing the link on Facebook, hoping to come back and read the article or hoping that it would benefit someone. Then I suddenly discovered  that Harvard Business Review has a Harvard Manage Mentor. For different prices, you can access skills packs which allow you to sharpen your skills.  "BUILD, BROADEN, AND REFRESH YOUR SKILLS FOR SUCCESS"

" Making a presentation, creating a budget, negotiating a contract, Harvard ManageMentor® includes 44 modules that address these critical management issues and more.." Best of all, you can select the price which suits your pocket. Here is the link to the site:  http://hbr.org/harvardmanagementor?referral=01121. There are:

MASTERING FINANCE FUNDAMENTALS

• Budgeting
• Business Case Development
• Finance Essentials

COMMUNICATING FOR RESULTS

• Negotiating
• Persuading Others
• Presentation Skills
• Writing Skills

IMPROVING PRODUCTIVITY

• Delegating
• Meeting Management
• Project Management
• Time Management

MASTERING BUSINESS FUNDAMENTALS

• Budgeting
• Finance Essentials
• Marketing Essentials
• Negotiating

MANAGING MORE EFFECTIVELY 

• Delegating
• Goal Setting
• New Manager Transitions
• Managing Upward

 Suddenly I am back on track with hope, energy and enthusiam to learn and guess what I am sharing the link.

Certificate in Financial Planning - Module 1

Module 1 of the Certificate in Financial Planning (Financial Planning Fundamentals) has come to a close for me!.

How was it?  It was a good experience overall....

The purpose of the course was to get me back into a mindset of studying at the tertiary level which I felt that I needed and this happened. Also my lecturer lived up to the excellent start that she opened with. Her technique was consistently good  throughout the course, and what I enjoyed about this module was the opportunity to learn.

Yes the computations were good, challenging at times, however the information on the Canadian system of Pensions and personal planning which is encouraged, took the course to the next level for me.

On the other hand  the reality of life stepped in and I got ill during this period which impacted on my attendance at class and the results of the second set of quizzes which we sat were also affected.

However I got a  good enough grade on my final score which makes me look forward to the next course. September here I come!

1st Module - Marketing - MBA Heriot Watt

I must admit I was daunted by the sheer volume of reading material which I was to cover in the Marketing book of the MBA - Heriot Watt programme, then I saw the class schedule and realised that there were at least two chapters to be read for each class and I was even more daunted. However after the first class where there was a lot of interaction, exercises which allowed for your experience to come through and for you to go along with the class if you were introverted, as well as the explanations and guidance offered by the lecturer from start to finish, I got back  to being excited over this module.
I have to admit the lecturer is extremely good, she has explained about the structure of the exams, has walked us through templates of the models which we are expected to use in exam questions, discussed exam planning and ways to earn marks and most of all, allowed us thinking time in class. The thinking time in class came early on that Monday evening,  after introductions by the attendees where we covered our experience and background and we realised that there was such a variety of experience and knowledge there, with most persons having some form of practical work experience as well as the technical knowledge in an unrelated field.
In short I am happy that I selected this course as a starter as I like the strategic element which is introduced up front.  I am reading the text lightheartedly for my class on Monday, even though there are two chapters which I have to catch up reading through, having been ill from since last Sunday and missing a lot of work. I am not worried, if I have time to spare, I will read up on some of the companies mentioned in the Case studies which form part of the chapters and which are current and real life and if I start to obsess, I will find the names of the companies on Facebook and add them to my page as a shortcut to finding out about them in real time.