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 |  My Blog. Generally Intended for Reading-Not Eating!. |
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Rose-Tinted Ramblings ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** A Little of What You Might Expect & A Lot of Everything Else that You Don't!. My writing style for my blog is invariably 'snarkastic'. This is because I am a nice, unassuming and quietly-spoken person IRL-and this blog is where my innermost moments and torments happen. Trust me, I am no exception to that delightful rule. Greetings! Welcome to my THIRD blog here on WDC. A re-incarnation of my earlier version of my Blog, here "Insanties and Sensibilities" this v.03 should prove to be equally...challenging and hopefully, entertaining. That said, life often weaves through our writing in mysterious ways, and this Blog will probably prove to be no exception to that. We are very likely all quite different, yet the same, us writers and our collective little whims, fascinations and insecurities. |
| October 04, 2008. Whether the Weather be: 61 (F) Breezy, warm and wild. Events of Note: All is cozy in Rainbowapple Land. In the Nudes: Turkish soldiers killed in clashes with PKK.  Still recovering from yesterday-a major rainstorm [no phone/internet for five hours, our laundry flooded], as well as me having some kind of stomach flu/migraine and throwing up three times an hour for 12 hours. Still feeling iffy, today. "Beanie" is wanting to go shopping for cheap toys over the road at the Mall, but I'm not sure if I can walk as far as that. Poor child was stuck inside all day, yesterday. She has a five gallon bucket of 25 cent bits-we call it the "Beanie" Bailout Bucket. Not to spend all at once, mind you. She also has some New Zealand currency-$1 and $2 gold coins, and big, fat 50 cent coins, too. She's watching "Looney Tunes" right now, so maybe I can change her track?. Or, maybe I should sneak in a nap while I still can.  House looks like a tip, but I'll get to it, all in good time. We're cozy and out of the rain, and that feels pretty excellent for now. |
| October 02, 2008. Whether the Weather be: 60 (F) Rainy and breezy Events of Note: Why do people 'believe' everything that they hear/see in the media?. In the Nudes: Wreckage searched for Fossett's remains. I wonder what would happen if we suddenly, absolutely, decaffeinated the whole of the U.S society for a week?. Would people go crazy from such sensory deprivation?. Hrm. For an hour a day, for "funsies", I read medical journals. Yesterday, for instance, I read the archived journals of NZMJ (New Zealand Medical Journal), as well as looked at WHO's website for updates. Medical-related research tends to date itself incredibly fast, but in order to understand the emergent material, you have to have a grasp of what has happened before that. Presumably, this is why mainstream news networks employ so-called medical experts, to interpret new [although not always significant] research studies for the average Joe Public flicking their T.V remote around aimlessly. All while networks can be self-congratulatory and feeling all warm-fuzzied about having been so public service and public health oriented. What amazes me, is that people swallow this about as readily as all of those phantom-complaint medications that they're taking for erectile dysfunction, insomnia and RLS. See a pattern here?. Am I peeved and irked, today?. You betcha. Wanna hear about an outbreak of something nasty and disturbing in Kosovo?. Didn't think so. Have I had coffee this morning?. Nope, I don't drink coffee-which might explain why I am capable of even suggesting a coffee-free week. Tea, on the other hand...See?. I can be such a hypocrite, when I want to be. It's like getting coupons in the mail offering you X$ off, while neglecting to mention the original price. That's called the carrot and the stick syndrome. Think I'm overdue for my sleep... |
| October 01, 2008. Whether the Weather be: 48 (F) Cold and cloudy. Events of Note: Making more changes... In the Nudes: Hikers find I.D., Steve Fossett's belongings. Don't think that the typical corn-fed, high fructose corn syrup, U.S. diet is doing me any particular favors, despite the apparently heightened flavors. I don't eat out, except for once a year-my wedding anniversary. Why would I, when I married a chef?. We try to prep and eat fresh from scratch every night. Another exception is breakfast, which is usually pre-packaged whole wheat cereal or oatmeal. Which itself, sounds like a contradiction in terms. I've progressively cut out soda, or "canned candy" as we call it in our household.  My treats today, were planting some new flower seeds, and purchasing myself a new sunscreen online. I wanted something stable, oil-free, and that wasn't smelling like zinc oxide, especially since I'm gardening outside a lot. It will be something to look forward to in the daily mail - and it is that simplicity and quietness of everyday life that's letting me put one foot in front of the other. That, and the unconditional love and support of my husband and daughter, with lots of emotional hugs, and just hanging out together. There's a huge pile of "medical" paperwork that's currently cluttering up my desk, which I'm refusing to look at it quite yet. It can keep.  Today's Revived Musical Flashback/Haunting: "Southern Cross"-Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. |
| October 01, 2008. Farewell to Rob Guest. Died of a massive stroke, overnight, in Australia. So much death and misery back home at the moment, that I'm scared to keep my computer on. |
| September 30, 2008. Whether the Weather be: 54 (F) Cool. Events of Note: I took a sick day off from a sick day, if that makes sense. In the Nudes: There's no news that isn't politics, money or sex. Happy, now?.  I've been pampered by my family-that's all I'll say. I'm feeling worse, but I can still sit at my computer, so I'm not too badly off. |
| September 29, 2008. Whether the Weather be: 50 (F) Foggy. Events of Note: It's been a shitty day... In the Nudes: Horny Goat Weed could be next Viagra.  Since blogs are invariably a tool for documenting our daily lives, I'm going to follow that definition a little bit today, by discussing what an outrageously bad day [for me] this has been. By late this afternoon, it all culminated in my bawling in public and a DHHS County Social Worker comforting me - or, trying to be less trying. Am I in trouble?. Not exactly. But, my medical situation isn't looking very pretty, and even the eternal optimist within me, which has so far sustained me through 30 years + of varying stages of medical BS-fled, screaming from the building, today. Something about my being overwhelmed by seemingly meaningless paperwork, surrounded by sick, decaying, smelly, scary people, and surly security officers, really set me off. More paperwork is needed, before more clinic appointments, and more questions asked than anxieties lessened. Probably prescription medication, too-for pain relief, as well as muscle relaxation, since, if I take too much more Tylenol, my liver's going to serve me with an early eviction notice. Livers are sort of essential for a continued state of...well, living, really. Oddly, the more that I cried, the more I cried... Added to that, my husband is experiencing renewed dental difficulties with a tooth that was just recently capped, suggestive of the tooth nerve dying underneath. Oh, joy.  On top of that, my favorite uncle is in the operating room right now, having a major growth removed from his brain. There are risks, as with any surgery under general anesthesia, as well as neurosurgery risks like permanent brain damage, paralysis, and the loss of speech and hearing. Still, that's worst case scenario-and I happen to know the surgeon, and that this is the best man for dealing with/to this particular breed of brain abnormality. Sorry to be all doom and gloom. I did apply to the Med School to have them send me my degree by FedEx, today. And, I made a payment against my Student Loan balance, even though we can ill-afford it at the moment. Hope you all had a better day than me... |
| September 28, 2008. Whether the Weather be: 59 (F) Sunny, warm and mild. Events of Note: Slow Sunday, after no sleep, but I'm doing o.k. In the Nudes: U.S. Financial 'rescue' bill revealed.  Many different, contradictory and conflicting thoughts have been dominating whatever passes for my intellectual mind throughout the past 24 hours. My main feeling is that a basic inattention to life creates a lot of unavoidable stress for a lot of people-and that stress has cumulative consequences for subsequent generations to come. Not just by the actions and attitudes of individuals, but in the decisions and policy directions of governments and lobbyists, and in the fundamental changes to how nations operate and sustain themselves. No-one exists in isolation. In my weekend newspaper, I happened to read a quote that caught my eye: "You can sum up much of 20th-century history by saying that in the 1930s, Americans decided that markets didn't work and government did, and that in the 1970s, Americans decided that government didn't work and markets did."-Michael Barone Now, you can fool me once, and while I'm still a scholar in American history and culture, and still finding my feet in my own, mythological "American Nightmare" - I find it difficult to swallow that people in positions of power and responsibility, and many of whom had all been watching the deteriorating financial situation in the U.S, for quite sometime now, chose at some now way past, faraway point, to fantasize that everything was still honky and dory down on Wall Street, "K" Street and Main Street, out of criminal-scale complacency, out of sheer greed, and at the behest of a government which no longer worked "for" the people. As Barone points out, there are delicate balances to be drawn between public sector involvement and private ventures, and in the provision of government aid programs, and people fending for themselves. Which begs the question, how will the lines be re-drawn now-and perhaps, most importantly, since so many 'key' people seem to be conveniently oblivious, and beyond the reach of any sort of public accountability-on whose terms?. Those aggravating network television therapists are frequently to be heard exclaiming, "We teach people how to treat us!." Well, I'm sorry, but I think that because a lot of ordinary citizens stopped paying attention a long time ago-in so many different ways-from bothering to read the fine print in their mortgage and loan agreements, to having false hope that the government would rescue them from their roofs after Katrina and Rita swept away their lives, to those facing bankruptcy because they didn't realize what their health insurance policy did and didn't cover-to name but a few-that folks are now reaping what has been sown. Little people who have to take the fall because the government has protected big business interests and manufacturers at the cost of most everyone else. They've gotten away with that kind of behavior, because, we, the people, have LET them!. But, the voter issues are much, much bigger than greed. America's situation today is the product of its long history. Some of what has happened actually worked. Some of it hasn't. If it's true that voters only think about what they know when making their choices. I wonder how many will still be able to think past this whole torch-passing change mantra, and think about what sorts of lessons could be learned from our "Founding Fathers"?. Compared with now, I don't think those dudes were too far wrong....just a thought. |
| Special thanks to reikidreamer for her salute. Now, I don't feel quite as invisible. |
| ...yeah, that's me, bright and yellow all over...Oh, and shining. September 27, 2008. Whether the Weather be: 65 (F) Steamin' Events of Note: If I'm good, do I get a Cow's Tail?. In the Nudes: "The Debate", Tropical Cyclone Kyle, and assorted stupidness. Well, yesterday pretty much sucked the big Kahuna. I stuck on my Giant Hat of Cleverness and set about writing a balanced and considered article on health [yours, mine and ours]-and as I suspected all along, my left hand flew out of nowhere, hit the keyboard, and I lost the lot. So, as of this moment, I have three articles in-progress in my secure birthing room, or tomb-otherwise known as MS Word.  Blogville is tetchy, jittery and virulent at the moment. As I see it, we all need a holiday, and to cut ourselves a little more rope... Cusp of the season generally plays havoc with imaginations, attitudes and immunity. Some are questioning the validity and time-consuming nature of maintaining a daily blog here. Fair enough. Blogging is a skill. However, I would have to say that this is one of the more comfortable sites on which to write, especially when compared with "Farcebook" or "MoiSpace", WordPress, or any other of those conformist, impersonal websites. I'm on an 80's music flashback at the moment, too. So much excellent Kiwi music, too...and massive memories to match...Christmas stock has been in the stores since I got back here from New Zealand, which was the first week in August, and now, today, I saw 2010 calendars in the store. I ask you, is our world spinning fast enough, or nah?. Oh, and all of this economic crisis hype just isn't being heard here in Northern C.A. Nope. The lines for Starbucks in my neighborhood are 12 deep, today [I peeked in the window], and there were lines six deep in the local drugstore, with folks buying eight bottles of vodka each, and huge containers of Twizzlers. Consolation prizes?. Maybe. Jeebers. Goobers. Have a splendid Saturday, and I devoutly hope that SOMEONE skulls a triple JDs and Coke on my behalf. If they can still afford to, that is. |
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