9/11

9/11……… all you have to do is utter those two numbers and suddenly, no matter where you are, no matter what you are doing, people’s demeanors will change as quickly as our Country did that cold September morning. It’s like asking “Where were you when you heard that JFK was shot, When The Attacks on Pearl Harbor descended, When Space Shuttle Columbia came crashing back to earth” All of these things make us all historians, instantly we are transported, often not by choice, to the exact, day, time and place we were when we heard of these shocking events.

 

I will share where I was on September 11th 2001. It was a Monday morning, I was getting ready for school, as was my sister(she was a student teacher at the time) and my mom was getting ready for work, all of the sudden, all three of us came into the hall, we looked at one another as if to say “It can’t be true…… can it” we all walked into my parents room like a heard of sheep and watched, much like the rest of the country, what was going on in New York City.

When I got to school,(I was a senior in HS) some people knew, some did not, as the day went on, more people knew, the days classes turned into one hour grief sessions we talked, cried, and supported one another.

And Now, 17 years later, September 11th 2018,  I am still in shock, but even angrier, as this world has become a far more darker cruller place then it was, the way our world was on September 10th 2001, I fear we will never get back, in my eyes, the Terroists have won this country has never been more at odds with one another, and yes, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and snapchat make it all the more easier for us to spew our anger and ugliness at one another but give it that power, all those forums can also be used to spread Love, Kindness, and acceptance.

Gleason

This past Tuesday I went and saw a movie that has put my hometown, as well as one of its many hero’s in the national spotlight.

 

Gleason, simply named, is a documentary about Spokane Native Steve Gleason, he played high school football at Gonzaga Preparatory School (the high school school equivalent to the more popular know Gonzaga University) College ball at Washington State University or as us Washitonians,WSU grads, and current students know it, WAZZU. Then of course went on to play professional ball for the NFL’s New Orleans Saints he is known for brining the city back after Katrina with his famous block , now memorialized in a bronze in front of the Superdome.

Now, he is know for bringing ALS and finding a cure into focus, his motto? “No white flags” he refuses to surrender the to disease that has slowly taken over his body, with his wife Michele and son Rivers by his side, he fights, he is wheelchair bound can no long walk, talk, drive, go to the bathroom shower, cook, or eat on his own, everything is done for him by Michele and team of care givers, they say it takes a village to raise a child, the same is true when it comes to caring for some one with a sever physical and/or mental disease, and yet, Steve has still found ways to be a dad, husband, father, philanhorpist, and friend. I think we can all take a page or two from Steve Gleason’s life, if he can over come what he has then surely we can do the same in our lives.

Is This The Real Life?

 

Queen Bohemian Rhapsody

 

Every day we wake up go to work, or stay home, or go to school, we run errands, stress over deadlines that have to be met, wonder if we are doing enough to make a change in this crazy world we find our selfs living in, eventually, go to bed, get up in the morning rinse, repeat.

I wish life were as simple and mundane as described in the paragraph above, but its not. Currently in the US we have a president who only 30 percent of the of the country approves of, he cares more about the crowds he draws then the negative impact he is making on this country. There are wild fires in Canada, have been in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and California, Texas, and Louisiana are having historic flooding all thanks to a weather phenomenon known as Harvey.

School shootings and shootings in general seem to be a daily, if not weekly occurrence and we all say “Something needs to be done” but we all (my self included) just sit by and wait for some one else to do something,  Meanwhile I get regular e-mails from a mom who I should not be getting e-mails from, her son was one of the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting that happened 5 years ago, her son died, he was in the first grade, and instead of wallowing in her own self pity she started the Sand Hook Promise (You can learn more about her charity and what she is doing to put an end to gun violence in schools here www.sandyhookpromise.org) 

Earlier this evening I watched, with heart break as Jillian Harris (from Love It Or List It Too(Vancouver) The Bachelorette, Extreme Make Over: Home Edition and The Bachelor) talked about getting attacked on social media about not caring about Houston. Let me tell you, Jill is perhaps one of the most compassionate, empathetic ready to help in anyway she can, people I have ever “Met” so for someone to say that……. I have no words, Jill and her family (Fiance Justin, son Leo and Dog Nacho) where in Seattle over the weekend, they just got home Monday night, she had not watched any news, no news paper no social media, what this long rambling paragraph is getting at is, before you judge, ask, before you comment.

I really had no planned direction or theme for this blog, I just wanted to get some stuff off my chest.

I have an idea,

 

This idea just came to me, and I think most people, sadly will not be able to follow even simplest of instructions. How about we talk on Facebook, actually talk, no sharing of posts that read “I am going to see how many people are really paying attention” no GIFs no polls Just talking, going back to basics, back to what Facebook was meant for, human connection, talking, actually having to type more then a few words, or inserting an emoji or GIF. I want to get to know my friends, (those that I have met through Facebook and have yet to meet in person) yes I will still play games, partake in polls, use GIFs and insert emoji’s but every day I am going to post, actually type, as I am doing now, at least one thing on my wall, and I would like to think that at least one of my friends, if not more, would reply to that with actual words and maybe an emoji or two, and if they feel like it, a GIF

Where Did All The Anvils Go?

Where Did All The Anvils Go?

This question has had Gilmore Girls Fans, such as me, thinking; Where did the Anvils Go?  these things were so as Lauren Grahm AKA Loralie  Gilmore “Ubiquitous” at one point that child knew what they were (the fact that they were in Cartoon shows how familiar the younger population would be with these things)

Here is my working Theory: (For you non Gilmore Fans Character references will be listed below, and also if you have never seen this show, What the He-Haw is wrong with you?!) here it goes

After Lorielie’s Revelation at one of their traditional Friday night dinners, Richard being a tad inquisitive and also growing tired of hearing Emily go on and on about how Lorilie and Christopher should have gotten married when she became pregnant with Rory, Richard packed up suitcase, kissed a still ranting Emily goodbye and headed out for the land of Looney Tunes, having no idea where the land of looney was, or what the proper behavior would be once he got there Ricahrd decided he needed to take a couple people with him to help him fit in and pull off a truly wacky persona so he swung by Starshallow, picked up Taylor Doose and Kirk (whatever his last name is) and head off on his quest for these heavy metal objects.

 

Finally after many hours of walking there in the middle of Connticut the trio came across  the Land Of Looney Tunes they searched and searched and searched for the Anvils, finally finding them in Wylie Coyotes cave, turns out each and everyone of anvils that had been dropped on him over the years, he had kept and had taken back to his home, after some intense negotiation, handled by Richard and Taylor of course while Kirk stood awkwardly in the background, the group of men walked away with Anvils and decided to divvy them up Equally.

Taylor used his as weapons of threat for anyone who dare not come to the town meetings,

Kirk turned his into his latest business, Anvils with different town happenings put on them, among the more popular ones being “Babette Ate Oatmeal” and “Rory’s Going to Yale”

Richard put his hidden in a deep dark corner of the house with the Panic Room, Emily purchased while they were separated (111111) only he and the maids know of their existence and location, so when Emily threatens and/or actually fires a maid they can go to the deep dark corner of the house pick up an anvil and hit Emily with it on their way out the door, this has no lasting effect on Mrs Gilmore because as a true Gilmore Girls Fan knows nothing can bring her down

 

Characters

Richard, husband to Emily, Father to Lorielie, Grandfather to Rory, Feared by Dean

Emily, Wife to Richard, Mother to Lorielie, Grandmother to Rory, Fear by both Jess and Dean a like

Lorielie: Daughter to Richard and Emily, mother to Rory, friend to all

Rory, Daughter to Christopher and Lorielie, Granddaughter to Emily and Richard, Girlfriend to Dean, Jess, Logan and oh shoot whats his name, oh that’s right Paul.

Christopher Father to Rory, on again off again life partner to Lorialie

Kirk: Son to his mother, whatever her name is, Boyfriend to LuLu

Dean, first boyfriend to Rory, town hunk

Jess, second boyfriend to Rory, town hoodlum

Logan Rich college kid, future newspaper tycoon

Paul, the boyfriend no one can remember

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I want to spend a day speaking “Social Media”

 

So did the title of this blog get your attention? Did it confuse you? Did it do both?  Here is what it means. We seem to behave differently on social media then we do in real life and that is something that I just do not get. When we go about our day to day life, we talk, we interact, we make eye contact, at least I hope we do, I know these are all rabbits that are sorely lacking in todays society, witch is why I am so happy to see the children in my extended family being taught, they are going to be the adults, when they get older who are looking up at the world instead of down at technology, but I am getting off track here.

When I go onto Facebook, Twitter and other Social Media I try to actually interact with my friends/followers instead of just “Liking” or putting a thumbs up on posts made by my friends and loved ones, though I do that too.

I wonder what would happen, if for one day I went around saying “I like that” or giving a thumbs up every time I liked something, or made a heart with my hands when a bit of a stronger emotion was required, I wonder what the living, breathing, thinking, feeling people around me would think, after all that is who we are interacting with on social media is people, try to remember that next time you long into your Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Periscope, Snapchat and other social media accounts.

Social Media……….

Back when Facebook, Twitter, AOL messenger, and Myspace fist came out, I was hesitant to get into this thing every one was calling “Social Media” but the more I tried it, the more I liked it, especially as family, and then friends started to move away, it was a quick easy way to keep in touch.

 

Over the last few years, though it has taken on a whole new meaning, there seems to be very little to no “Socializing” and  A LOT of media going on. Games are played, ads are displayed, in between the occasional post made by our friends and family. Posts, thats another thing, very few of them have very little to do with day to day life and more about gaming or trying to sell something or those cut copy paste and share things, the ones trying to raise awareness for cancer, those are the ones that bother me, NOT that they are trying to raise awareness for a good cause, cancer has effected MANY people, I want awareness raised about it, but I want whoever is posting about it to write the message, I want their story, not something that is copy and pasted, or shared I want to hear how cancer, MS, Diabetes Depression, PTSD, Anxiety, or whatever the illness maybe effected their  lives. I want their personal story.

Same goes for these copy and pasted inbox massages, I have Facebook Messenger to talk to my friends and family about their lives and how they are doing, I am growing tired of these chain letters, I don’t want to get stuck in this circle of copy and paste, so far that I forget my friends, who they are and what they are.

 

Now onto Instagram and other video sharing/streaming sites, I do not get why we need all these filters, I go onto these sites, into these apps, to see pictures and video’s of people’s life’s I truly doubt that people are going about their day to day life with the face of a deer, bunny rabbit or some other wooden creature on their face. oh and another thing, if there is something that you want to share with your followers and it is longer then five seconds, take a video and post it to your social media feed, that way you do not have to post multiple video’s.

 

All these apps and services are great, I just feel they are being miss used. This is my rant for the day (actually I have been holding it in for a while now, its just today something finally made me blow my top and I needed to vent)

 

 

 

The Right Of Freedom Of Speech Does Not Give You The Right To Speak In Hate

Earlier today it was announced that Seattle Mariners Suspended catcher Steve Clevenger with out pay for the rest of the season after hateful tweets were sent out from Clevenger’s account, these tweets were aimed towards Preside Obama and the black community as a whole. Below are tweets sent out by the Mariner’s catcher as well as an apology, I have copied all this content from espn.com

 

Clevenger’s Tweet’s

 

“Black people beating whites when a thug got shot holding a gun by a black police officer,” one of the tweets said, according to Seattle radio station KOMO reporter Jon Humbert, who published screen-grab images of Clevenger’s account, which was set to private Thursday night. “Haha s— cracks me up! Keep kneeling for the Anthem!”

Clevenger’s Apology:

“I grew up on the streets of Baltimore, a city I love to this very day,” Clevenger said. “I grew up in a very culturally diverse area of America and I am very proud to come from there. I am also proud that my inner circle of friends has never been defined by race but by the content of their character. Any former teammate or anyone who has met me can attest to this and I pride myself on not being a judgemental person. I just ask that the public not judge me because of an ill worded tweet.”

“I do believe that supporting our First Amendment rights and supporting local law enforcement are not mutually exclusive. With everything going on in the world I really just want what is best for everyone regardless of who they are. I like many Americans are frustrated by a lot of things in the world and I would like to be a part of the dialogue moving forward to make this a better world for everyone.

“I once again apologize to anyone who was offended today and I just ask you not judge me off of a social media posting. Thank you and God bless everyone.”

Now, here is where I take issue, and where my blog got its title. I fully support our right to free speech,what I do not, will not and will never support, is to use that right as way to support a momentary lapse of judgement, or as a way to support hate speech in any way shape or form. There are ways to get our thoughts, feeling and aggressions out with out using hate speech, now a days we, adults want children to be more respectful of others. How can we possibly expect them to do that when we, adults in their lives, don’t do it our selfs. You don’t think they hear and see everything you do, your wrong children are so intuitive, and are such good listeners (no really they are) the absorb EVERYTHING around them, they soak it up like a sponge and remember it for a looooooooooong time.

We cannot continue to use The First Amendment as a way to back up our hurtful words, we, as adults simply need to learn how to be more respectful of each other

 

 

Sometimes I am just blah….

Ever had one of those days (or a period of days) where you are just “Blah” where you are not really sick but at the same time you don’t feel like doing much, and I don’t mean putting off house work for the mere reasoning that you just don’t want to do it, you are just blah, where your body is telling you “Woah slow down we are going WAY to fast these days” well that has been me the last two days. With summer winding down and fall right around the corner (literally today is the last official day of summer) and having been on the go since it feels like May, I think my body finally yelled at me and said “YOU NEED TO STOP AND SLOW DOWN NOW!” so I did.

 

I kept trying to find excuses for my laziness, when in reality, I was not and am not being lazy, I am simply listening to my body, so what if it is 2:30pm, I have half eaten hot dog from lunch on the TV tray next to me and I still have yet to get dressed( though I will I need to go to the store and while I am not above wearing pajamas to run a couple of errands, wearing adult Eeroye footie pajamas is pushing it) All of this is okay with me, tomorrow I will go back to work and so will start my weekly routine, I will go back feeling refreshed and recharged witch will benefit not only me, but my co-workers and the residents I help care for.

 

So remember this, if you have had a busy period in your life like have, and you all of the sudden find your self in one of these “blah” moods, if you can, for as long as you can, plop your self on down on your couch or in your bed, watch some good TV have some good junk food and just do what makes you happy, its amazing what a little bit of me time can do for you.

It’s Okay With Me If You Say “I am A Little OCD” but……..

If you must utter the words “I am a little OCD” even if you do not have a formal diagnosis in hand, that is fine, I will not be offended, however, let me inform you on what it is really like to have Obsessive Compulsion Disorder, O.C.D  Those of us who truly suffer from it (as in we have to be on medication and/or be in therapy  for it,) it truly is a compulsion, the things we do, we have to do, to us it is as necessary as breathing, so when you see us behaving oddly or we lose our cool because things are not exactly the way we want them, please know its because we have reached a level of frustration. As hard as it is for you to understand our little idiocracies it is equally as hard for us to understand why you “The outsider” just don’t get it, because in our mind (witch we have a hard time escaping, harder then most) it just seems so logical, arguing with us does not help. Oh and telling us to calm down or “Its not that big of a deal” yeah, not a smart move

 

Believe it or not we are good problem solvers, just not when we are surrounded by chaos and have to many problems to solve, we really need to remove our self’s from the situation take some time and come back with a clear mind. I try to be as open as possible, I try to do things in a way that seems more effective, but I can guarantee you when I tell you I have to do things a certain way, its because I have tried every other way I could possibly think of, and they way I am going it is the most logical to me, does not matter if it makes sense to you, so long as it does not effect you, just move on, there are bigger fish to fry.

 

The one area I have the greatest issue with my O.C.D is work, mainly because people do not pay attention and I am constantly having to move things around to make my work more effective, I have come to find most of the time when I do these things my co-workers says “Oh that makes sense like that” but because for them it is not absolutely nesseacary to have it that way, it does not stay that way

 

The Take Away:

Obsessive Compulsion Disorder, O.C.D., is a real illness with real cause and effects, do not simply brush it off when someone comes to you says they have been diagnosed by a doctor to have had OCD, if you do not believe in mental disorders, that is fine, that is your right, however it is equally my right TO believe in them so do not try to push your beliefs on me, it is not going to help. and if you notice a co-worker, friend or family member showing signs of OCD just leave them be, don’t push them to go to a doctor or try to stop them from what they are doing, remember, its compulsion, its something we have to do, the more you stop us, the more frustrated we are going to get and in the end we are going to need to do it any way. Also wait for the person to come to you to admit they have a problem or to say they are getting professional help, whatever the situation and whatever your personal beliefs, support them, support what they are doing. Hard as it maybe, its the best thing you can do for them.