Cheat. Why not?; Astronomical Events Calendar of July 2023; Attention! Road Closures for 10 Days: Here, the Affected Streets; Most Committed Crimes in Panama; Panamanian Recipes for breakfast.

Friday, July 07, 2023 This morning I woke to this insatiable craving for blueberry pancakes.  As usual, my queen was already stirring around the kitchen… …quite literally… …stirring her coffee, stirring pancake batter, and probably stirring a protein shake for later.  The smells were amazing and I couldn’t wait to have some of her mystical creations with a few perfectly ripened blueberries we had left in the fridge. As she pulled away from the house with our loveable lads, in route to eagerly absorb the teachings of their socratic pedagogues, I happily snuck my way to the kitchen, giggling all the way.  I know I shouldn’t have pancakes.  I have a goal to lose weight and I’ve been keeping at it quite nicely these last 3 weeks since my birthday, but today I’m having my damn blueberry pancakes and I’m going to love it.  Hoping there was left over batter, I checked the counters, fridge and even the freezer.  Nope, no batter.  “Darn it, now I’m actually going to have to make them myself from scratch!”, I whined to myself.  But that’s ok because I was on a mission… So I grabbed the flour, baking powder, eggs, milk, coconut oil, salt and a little bit of sugar, at which point I started feeling nervous.  I hadn’t had a gram of granulated sugar in a while.  Nonetheless, I pushed ahead once again.  I made the batter as I heated the pan and folded in these amazing blueberries.  In a short time, I had more than enough to placate my urges; 6 to be exact.  I mean, I wasn’t actually going to eat SIX pancakes, was I?  No sir, I still need to stay true to myself and eat just ONE pancake.  I’ve been doing great on my weight loss and there’s no need to fall apart now just because my brain was screaming at me to gobble them all down.  So, I ate 3 of them.  (Ugh.).  In Spanish there’s a saying, “Primero el gusto y despues el disgusto.”, which loosely translates to “First the like and then the dislike.”.  I was full-on disgusto after that.  Ooohhhhh but they were sooooo good!  “Oh hell.”, I thought, “let’s just call it a cheat meal and move on like it never happened.”, I tried to convince myself.  I mean, if I say, “I had my cheat meal this morning.”, it’s sure as hell better sounding than “I cheated on my diet today!” or “I caved to my ancestral yearnings!”.  This way, it’s sounds like it’s just a part of the diet plan.  “I had my cheat meal this morning”, is perfectly ok. And that’s when it hit me…. We don’t use “cheat” as often as we should to cover for our daily pitfalls.  Heck yeah, we need to use that more often.  For example, if you fool around on your spouse or somehow significant other, don’t say “I cheated on my wife.”, just say “I had a cheat meet.” and it’s ok!  Did you spend more than your scheduled family budget?, or, did you embezzle money from your boss’ company?, don’t confess to any failures silly man, just say, “I took a cheat bonus!”.  I wonder how far we could go with this???  Hhhmmmm…. Murder?  That’s probably taking it too far, but what if they “had it coming to them”?  Nope, too dark even for me…. Although, in panama, this type of cheating is already pretty common.  Here we just call it “jugando vivo” and the person that does it, is a “juegavivo”.  If you’re new to Panama, learn it quick.  If you’ve been on the ass-end of being played by a juegavivo, you’ve already been taught the intricacies of the term. Just my golden thoughts provoked by a delusional hunger. TOP NEWS and TIDBITS: Yoli’s Wisdom CSS HAS 605 DRUGS; THERE ARE STILL COMPLAINTS ABOUT SHORTAGES Discussion on expediting purchases of medicines and supplies. The Social Security Fund (CSS, for its initials in Spanish) has a total of 605 medicines listed in its official inventory, as reported on Thursday during the \”Conversation on streamlining the procurement of medicines and supplies.\” Out of this total, approximately 50 medicines are difficult to acquire. Eliécer Cortés, the national deputy director of Health Technology, explained that in 2022, the CSS dispensed 16,944,606 medicines, while in the first four months of 2023, there have been 5,712,938 dispensations. However, the reality for many Panamanians is that they are unable to obtain the medicines and find themselves in need of purchasing them with their own money. According to Cortés, it was decided to make the dispensation of medicines a state issue so that CSS pharmacies, as well as other healthcare entities, can be adequately supplied, and patients can have all the necessary medicines. For this purpose, the Technical Committee for Medicine Supply was created, with the participation of the Ministry of Health (Minsa), the CSS, the regulatory entity for Pharmacies and Drugs, and the Association of Patients with Chronic Diseases. During the conversation, Medicsol was also discussed. It was created to provide an immediate response to patients in case of medicine shortages. Cortés specified that Medicsol is installed in the polyclinics and in some units in the city, with 12 lines of products, as well as in implementing units in Chiriquí. Negotiations are currently underway with suppliers to extend the plan to the central region of the country. Additionally, there are plans to expand the list so that patients can have an immediate response. Enrique Lau Cortés, the director of the CSS, stated that their objective is to pay suppliers within a maximum of 30 days. He added that with the endorsement of the Comptroller\’s Office and the budget allocation, the supplier can deliver the medicines, and they must pay as quickly as possible. Regarding the loss of fentanyl at the CSS, Lau Cortés mentioned that the institution detected this situation and that it is a matter in the hands of the Public Prosecutor\’s Office. He noted that he cannot provide any insights into this investigative process since it is up to the Public Prosecutor\’s Office to disclose what is happening. READ HERE: CSS TIENE 605 MEDICAMENTOS; AÚN HAY QUEJAS POR ESCASEZ