May brings with it all the freshness of flowers and the brightness of summer. After the long, cold drudgery of winter, it’s time once again to bask in the golden sunlight. There are a lot of things happening out here! So dig in and enjoy the spread…

Kaitlin has a peculiar problem. Rick is in bad company. Sad, but that’s true. However, the best part is that Rick realizes his friends are toxic. He told Kaitlin that he wanted to break away from his group of friends. But this group has been persistent in contacting him, dropping messages and stuff. Rick has been trying his best to avoid them, but their hangout is on the way, and each time he passes, they pull him down for a drink.

“This group of people can only cause him harm, Bob” Kaitlin told me, “I don’t want him to be like them.” Kaitlin’s concerns are justified. Rick has a very impressionable mind and this group can only cause damage to him, if that’s the case here. Rick is doing his best to steer clear. He’s taking a separate way now, giving the hangout spot a total miss. The trick is working and the group has slowly been getting the message and letting him be. But there’s a long way to go. Let’s hope for the best.

Adrian has always been in favor of blending the flavor of the season to spice up his love life. Remember how he celebrated Chinese New Year with Cathy? He’s planning to have a great time with Cathy during Cinco de Mayo. Since Cinco de Mayo is all about the Mexican flavor, Adrian is planning to take Cathy out to a Mexican restaurant. Their love life has been riding the bumps for some time now, what with Cathy’s colleague expressing his love silently, but gallantly.

Adrian is looking forward to this date as a great time to set the love ball rolling again. So guys, you can well understand, this date might just be the make or break date for him. At least that’s how he sees it. He wants to woo Cathy in the most romantic way possible. Cathy has a strong affinity for anything to do with regional cultures, having grown up in a small town. And that has given Adrian the perfect excuse to get his love life back on track. For his sake, I wish he succeeds; else, I’ll have to do a lot of love counseling for my love-lorn room-mate!

A talkative co-worker is someone we have all met at some point in our professional lives. Yes, I’m talking about the co-worker who’s the root of the office grapevine. Yeah, she’s the one who told your immediate superior the award worthy imitation of his accent that you delivered at the basement party. She’ll share information and also assimilate information. One such talkative co-worker is giving Kate the shivers these days.

Kate couldn’t really complain any more. “You know, Bob, this girl is always at my desk, talking about stuff when all I want is to get some work done!”, Kate says in despair. Apparently all attempts of subtle hints have fallen flat on their faces. Kate’s work is being affected and her deadlines are zooming past. All thanks to that wagging tongue of an insensitive co-worker. Kate’s run out of ideas really. Megan suggested she report to her superior, but Kate isn’t going to get so drastic all of a sudden. This one can be interesting folks! Stay tuned.

After Emily deciding to shed weight and giving Donna sleepless nights, it’s Irina who has come up with a new reason for us to be concerned. Irina’s been taking some medicines lately. Apparently these medicines were not prescribed by any doctor. Irina’s taking them on the advice of her friend to “get a glowing skin”, as Irina put it the other day. Megan immediately asked her to stop having those and take care of herself. But Irina wouldn’t hear any of Megan.

Irina’s feeling dizzy these days. Though she denies it’s because of these medicines, we strongly feel Irina needs help. Despite our best efforts, Irina’s determined to take them. Irina has always been sensible this way. Wonder what happened to her all of a sudden. We’re in a fix as to how we’ll explain it to her that it could be really bad for her health. Maybe she doesn’t understand that these medicines may be great in the short term, but won’t really have a positive effect on her health. Eleanor has taken up the task to drill this into Irina. With her persuasive skills, she will definitely dig Irina out of this pit she’s dug herself in.

This week’s Zen quote is by Jim Rohn: “Take care of your body. It’s the only place you have to live.” That’s well said, what say?