It seems like America is becoming jaded to hearing those words, "Deadly Gun Massacre" or words to those affect. They will tsk tsk, maybe rail out against the gun industry and behind doors they will cheer with glee that PEOPLE they don't think deserve to live are gone. I'm here to tell you it's not a gun problem. I know, I must be one of those eeeeeevvvvviiiiillll NRA members. Sorry, just a true American who believes in my Rights. Love the 1st, 5th is a must and so many more. Read our Constitution and Bill of Rights. There's more to life than your fantasy football game.
Now, back to my thoughts. On a night like this, it's impossible for me to sleep. The words keep poking me, demanding to be let out. The last newspaper editor I worked for told me I cared too much about my family to be a "good reporter." HAH! Just the week before he was crowing about me finding a murderer's best friend and getting him to agree to go on record about what he knew BEFORE the police found him. The next, I'm not good enough. He did get rid of most women in the newsroom, so I won't take offence, much. Revenge is beneath me, but accidents do happen.
Guns are not the only means to cause mass casualties, not by far. Does anyone remember the OK City bombing? Am I giving away my age? Not 1 gun was used to kill those people. It's a simple recipe, a 2-minute Google will find it for you. If that nut who murdered all the innocents in Orlando yesterday had gone out and rented a truck, bought a load of fertilizer (gonna outlaw those two things? Didn't think so) and that one last ingredient, backed that truck up to the door of the club and it would have killed more than 50 people, not just in the gay club, but in the streets, other buildings, etc... Again, it's totally legal to buy and 99% of the time isn't even written down)
This is America, we fought to become FREE. Yeah, freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose. Well, I say that's how we all need to live. We're free! You don't know what nut is out there and hates you. Maybe he hates women, children, blondes, bodybuilders, etc, etc, etc. It doesn't matter who or what you are or believe in, there's somebody out there that hates you for it. It could be just random, you are in the wrong place at the wrong time, such as the Boston Marathon. Should we stop living because there's chance that we could walk out our door and not come back? Stay hidden behind our walls and just bleet to the government to protect you and take away all your rights? I'm sure there are many who would be happy to do just that. I'm not one of them. I will hop on a plane with one of my kids for a three day adventure on the other side of the country and end up there over a week. That's what we all should live for. Who cares about the STUFF you own? I have a little house, in a little town, but I've spent a week in Paris alone, seen most of the US and absolutely love Canada and Mexico. I go, see and do. The thought of having one of those huge McMansions people seem to want with the fence around their perfectly manicured lawn and huge flower beds make me want to sell my Coach or Louis Vuitton bags, well, almost.
I don't' know the real point of this post. I'm not really writing it, the words are just coming out the way they want. Maybe the blessed Darkness will allow me entry for a few hours now? Until I'm manic again. TA!
Monday, June 13, 2016
Monday, February 1, 2016
You shouldn't be ashamed to have a mental illness
It's 2016 and you would think in this "enlightened" age people would understand that a mental illness isn't contagious or the person's fault. People shouldn't be ashamed to seek treatment, but they do. With the right combination of therapy and medicine, the person can live a close as possible to normal life. I have seen the devastation a mental illness can have on a person's life.
General Hospital is currently featuring a storyline about a 20-something young man who has just been diagnosed as bi-polar. The young man's father also suffers with that and the raw emotions shown that he passed his mental issues onto his son were heartfelt. The son was resistant to even going to be diagnosed because of the stigma. Once he lost control and almost hurt his girlfriend, he agreed to see the psychiatrist. The actor is showing how once the diagnosis was made, he had to start taking medication daily. He shows how the medication makes him feel like a zombie. He feels dead inside and just wants to be normal.
I talked about the stigma of having a mental illness, but it is no more the fault of the person than if they had a seizure disorder, blindness or any other illness. Depression is one of the mental illnesses that many of the people I know deal with. We talk at all hours of a day and sometimes, all we can do is cry. People will look at the depressed person and tell them to just "think happy thoughts" or "what do you have to be so sad about? There are lots of people that have it worse than you do." The cruelty of those statements make me cry. People don't choose to have depression, they don't want to sit up all night crying. The highs where you have plenty of energy, clean the house top to bottom then want to go out and see friends to the lows where you literally don't have the energy to get out of bed. Nobody chooses to live that way.
If you do seek treatment, either yourself or by being forced, it goes on "your record" forever. If you're looking for a new job, your potential employer will eventually find out and the odds are, you aren't getting a job. You have to worry that Children and Youth Services deciding that your mental illness is dangerous and will take your children away. Ex-husbands, ex-boyfriends, ex-girlfriends or just ex-friends can be vicious and use your mental illness to destroy your life. Posting on social media that you have this problem would be one way to hurt you.`
If you are applying for a concealed carry permit or handgun permit, the forms all ask if you've been committed either voluntarily or involuntarily for a mental illness and can and usually will deny your permit. With all the mass shootings going on, law enforcement is digging deeper into the shooters' background and splash it all over if the shooter had a mental illness. I don't understand why it's anyone else business about your health, but that is one thing people feel they have the right to tell the rest of the world about that.
The next time you see someone who suffers with depression or any other mental illness, maybe you should take the time to get to know them. They aren't monsters, they aren't their illness, but just people dealing with issues you are lucky enough not to. Talk to them, you might just learn something.
General Hospital is currently featuring a storyline about a 20-something young man who has just been diagnosed as bi-polar. The young man's father also suffers with that and the raw emotions shown that he passed his mental issues onto his son were heartfelt. The son was resistant to even going to be diagnosed because of the stigma. Once he lost control and almost hurt his girlfriend, he agreed to see the psychiatrist. The actor is showing how once the diagnosis was made, he had to start taking medication daily. He shows how the medication makes him feel like a zombie. He feels dead inside and just wants to be normal.
I talked about the stigma of having a mental illness, but it is no more the fault of the person than if they had a seizure disorder, blindness or any other illness. Depression is one of the mental illnesses that many of the people I know deal with. We talk at all hours of a day and sometimes, all we can do is cry. People will look at the depressed person and tell them to just "think happy thoughts" or "what do you have to be so sad about? There are lots of people that have it worse than you do." The cruelty of those statements make me cry. People don't choose to have depression, they don't want to sit up all night crying. The highs where you have plenty of energy, clean the house top to bottom then want to go out and see friends to the lows where you literally don't have the energy to get out of bed. Nobody chooses to live that way.
If you do seek treatment, either yourself or by being forced, it goes on "your record" forever. If you're looking for a new job, your potential employer will eventually find out and the odds are, you aren't getting a job. You have to worry that Children and Youth Services deciding that your mental illness is dangerous and will take your children away. Ex-husbands, ex-boyfriends, ex-girlfriends or just ex-friends can be vicious and use your mental illness to destroy your life. Posting on social media that you have this problem would be one way to hurt you.`
If you are applying for a concealed carry permit or handgun permit, the forms all ask if you've been committed either voluntarily or involuntarily for a mental illness and can and usually will deny your permit. With all the mass shootings going on, law enforcement is digging deeper into the shooters' background and splash it all over if the shooter had a mental illness. I don't understand why it's anyone else business about your health, but that is one thing people feel they have the right to tell the rest of the world about that.
The next time you see someone who suffers with depression or any other mental illness, maybe you should take the time to get to know them. They aren't monsters, they aren't their illness, but just people dealing with issues you are lucky enough not to. Talk to them, you might just learn something.
Friday, January 29, 2016
Is our food safe?
Randy and I went to Dubois this morning to send Trevor his snowboard and gear because he is going on a weekend to Big Bear, CA, with his girlfriend and her family next month. Of course, all the gear for both of them is here. You wouldn't believe how difficult it is to ship a snowboard across the country!
We first went to Staples and they didn't have a box big enough for Trevor's board. His board is my size. The other board is Arielle's and she decided to give it to Trevor's girlfriend because she can't use it. They used them when she was here for a visit last year. That board fit in a TV box, but we need to send both. I have the boots, goggles, gloves and snowsuits all packed in a separate box that weighs 20 pounds. It's ready to go. They suggested we go to the main UPS center. Of course, it isn't open all the time and we had three hours to kill.
We decided to go to Pizza Hut for their buffet. It was a half hour wait for the buffet, but that's no problem. We could have something to drink and have a few minutes to talk. It seems like we're never alone anymore. I go to the restroom and when I get back, I go to take a drink and there are black specs floating in his Mt. Dew and in my water. Yuck! I take the glasses and request clean ones. I'm standing there waiting and the next Mt. Dew is still gross and the waitress just returned my glass without even changing it. Hello? She calls her manager and while I'm standing there waiting for clean drinks and I hear her asking if anyone ever cleaned the ice holder and she starts to take it and throw away all the ice and a new bucket is brought up. By then, I was feeling more and more uncomfortable and concerned about the sanity of the food. With my health issues, I don't dare get ill from unclean food. Randy agreed and immediately left. Me being me, I start to Tweet about the incident and by the time I was to Facebook to talk about it, I get a Tweet back from Pizza Hut corporate headquarters asking for more details. Of course, I told the entire thing. I only wish I had taken photos! That mistake will never happen again.
We went to another pizza place called Buck's Pizza. I had Chicken Alfredo and Randy had a Stromboli. The food was incredible! We have a new favorite restaurant!!
We still had an hour to go, so we ran to Lowes to get insulation and ask for a box large enough to send the board. No boxes were available. Then we ran to WalMart. Going there, you can spend hours just watching the people and how they dress. :)
It's finally time to go to UPS and they have nothing big enough to mail a snowboard. All they do is ship things and they can't even put two golf cart boxes together and make a box? We're so upset now. Randy will make a box and I'll send it to him on Tuesday. Even sending it by ground mail, he'll have it in plenty of time for the trip.
It's been a real eye-opening day in so many ways. I'll always complain about food we're served if it isn't right. How many people are killed or sickened every year at restaurants because people keep it to themselves? I don't expect anything for telling my story, but hoping that by making them clean out their ice holder kept one person from getting sick means a lot. I'm nothing special, I hope that everyone who reads this will start to do the same. Our cellphones all have cameras, take photos of your food and drinks, especially if it's questionable and post a Tweet or Yelp or any of the sites that allows users to rate and talk. It's important.
We first went to Staples and they didn't have a box big enough for Trevor's board. His board is my size. The other board is Arielle's and she decided to give it to Trevor's girlfriend because she can't use it. They used them when she was here for a visit last year. That board fit in a TV box, but we need to send both. I have the boots, goggles, gloves and snowsuits all packed in a separate box that weighs 20 pounds. It's ready to go. They suggested we go to the main UPS center. Of course, it isn't open all the time and we had three hours to kill.
We decided to go to Pizza Hut for their buffet. It was a half hour wait for the buffet, but that's no problem. We could have something to drink and have a few minutes to talk. It seems like we're never alone anymore. I go to the restroom and when I get back, I go to take a drink and there are black specs floating in his Mt. Dew and in my water. Yuck! I take the glasses and request clean ones. I'm standing there waiting and the next Mt. Dew is still gross and the waitress just returned my glass without even changing it. Hello? She calls her manager and while I'm standing there waiting for clean drinks and I hear her asking if anyone ever cleaned the ice holder and she starts to take it and throw away all the ice and a new bucket is brought up. By then, I was feeling more and more uncomfortable and concerned about the sanity of the food. With my health issues, I don't dare get ill from unclean food. Randy agreed and immediately left. Me being me, I start to Tweet about the incident and by the time I was to Facebook to talk about it, I get a Tweet back from Pizza Hut corporate headquarters asking for more details. Of course, I told the entire thing. I only wish I had taken photos! That mistake will never happen again.
We went to another pizza place called Buck's Pizza. I had Chicken Alfredo and Randy had a Stromboli. The food was incredible! We have a new favorite restaurant!!
We still had an hour to go, so we ran to Lowes to get insulation and ask for a box large enough to send the board. No boxes were available. Then we ran to WalMart. Going there, you can spend hours just watching the people and how they dress. :)
It's finally time to go to UPS and they have nothing big enough to mail a snowboard. All they do is ship things and they can't even put two golf cart boxes together and make a box? We're so upset now. Randy will make a box and I'll send it to him on Tuesday. Even sending it by ground mail, he'll have it in plenty of time for the trip.
It's been a real eye-opening day in so many ways. I'll always complain about food we're served if it isn't right. How many people are killed or sickened every year at restaurants because people keep it to themselves? I don't expect anything for telling my story, but hoping that by making them clean out their ice holder kept one person from getting sick means a lot. I'm nothing special, I hope that everyone who reads this will start to do the same. Our cellphones all have cameras, take photos of your food and drinks, especially if it's questionable and post a Tweet or Yelp or any of the sites that allows users to rate and talk. It's important.
Saturday, January 23, 2016
Scammers Out There Making New Rounds
I made the mistake of signing up for a Best Buy card because I use a lot of high end cameras and computers and with their membership, you get points to give free merchandise. When we were in CA in June, I earned enough points to purchase a free camera battery. I thought it was a great deal until I started getting calls from Citi Bank a minimum twice a day. I have no idea what that is for because I have no cards from Citi Bank. I finally get tired of this nonsense and return their call. It's Best Buy. I received my current statement on Thursday, but the "customer service" says I'm 11 days behind in payment. What?
I go through the game they play that I'm mistaken and the bill WAS delivered. Of course, I'm a liar. They never make a mistake. They also say they record all calls, I tell them I also record all my calls. The "escalation" manager said he does not give permission to record his call and I repeat that I do not give consent to record my calls. He blubbers around. I explain in my State, only one person has to give permission to record and I give myself permission. I ask what State he was in and he refused to give it. Why? Because he is in a State that requires both parties consent to record a all or any conversation. Please people, learn the laws in your State. Don't let these scammers take advantage of you.
I took care of him and his garbage and told them I never want to hear from them again or I'll call our Attorney General and file formal harassment charges. He blubbers again and I let him off the hook and hang up.
I don't let scammers get me anymore. After the "IRS" called to tell there was a warrant out for my husband's arrest because we sent entirely too much money to our family in other countries. All my family is within 30 minutes drive of me. They called again and my husband was home. He was furious because they had me so upset. I was very ill and the stress was bad for me, so he played with them. He said you had to send me a certified letter about this. The "agent" said it was sent and they knew he threw it in the garbage. Oh really? Yes, they went through our garbage and found it. We have three cats, so I'm wondering how they managed to find anything with the cat litter. He insisted a warrant would be sent to our local sheriff and we would be arrested. Hubby asked which officer would be coming since they were here, he's save them time. The scammers hung up and never called back.
Another scam is going around and that I want to let you in on. I have been getting calls from a man with an Indian accent asking to talk about my computer. What computer? The one you check your e-mail on. I have 4 computers, a couple laptops, plus a bunch of smartphones. He gets confused. I ask if he's with the scammers that called the day before. He said, "Yes," and I started laughing then. He got very angry. He'll shut my computers down if I don't let him have access to them now. RIGHT! I tell him where he can put his phone and hang up. They haven't called today, but I imagine they will.
Please people, NEVER sent money to anyone without checking with your local police department. They have all the scams and will save you everything you have.
I go through the game they play that I'm mistaken and the bill WAS delivered. Of course, I'm a liar. They never make a mistake. They also say they record all calls, I tell them I also record all my calls. The "escalation" manager said he does not give permission to record his call and I repeat that I do not give consent to record my calls. He blubbers around. I explain in my State, only one person has to give permission to record and I give myself permission. I ask what State he was in and he refused to give it. Why? Because he is in a State that requires both parties consent to record a all or any conversation. Please people, learn the laws in your State. Don't let these scammers take advantage of you.
I took care of him and his garbage and told them I never want to hear from them again or I'll call our Attorney General and file formal harassment charges. He blubbers again and I let him off the hook and hang up.
I don't let scammers get me anymore. After the "IRS" called to tell there was a warrant out for my husband's arrest because we sent entirely too much money to our family in other countries. All my family is within 30 minutes drive of me. They called again and my husband was home. He was furious because they had me so upset. I was very ill and the stress was bad for me, so he played with them. He said you had to send me a certified letter about this. The "agent" said it was sent and they knew he threw it in the garbage. Oh really? Yes, they went through our garbage and found it. We have three cats, so I'm wondering how they managed to find anything with the cat litter. He insisted a warrant would be sent to our local sheriff and we would be arrested. Hubby asked which officer would be coming since they were here, he's save them time. The scammers hung up and never called back.
Another scam is going around and that I want to let you in on. I have been getting calls from a man with an Indian accent asking to talk about my computer. What computer? The one you check your e-mail on. I have 4 computers, a couple laptops, plus a bunch of smartphones. He gets confused. I ask if he's with the scammers that called the day before. He said, "Yes," and I started laughing then. He got very angry. He'll shut my computers down if I don't let him have access to them now. RIGHT! I tell him where he can put his phone and hang up. They haven't called today, but I imagine they will.
Please people, NEVER sent money to anyone without checking with your local police department. They have all the scams and will save you everything you have.
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