Post Holiday Update
Where to begin,
Went on a cruise with the family...had an ok time, but a cruise is not my idea of a fun time.all the ports of call were rained out, so we didn['t get to experience anything new.....the interesting part is there were 38 different nationalities on board....lots of interesting people to talk to.......but I spent most of my time being embarrassed to be an american...I can easily see why Americans are generally considered rude, obnoxious and inconsiderate by most of the free world.I have never seen so many rude pushy people in my life.and everyone of them had an american acent.it got to the point when I would see someone do something rude I would call them on it.being another american with an acidic wit, it was kinda fun to see the look on their faces when made to realise that they were not the only people on the boat and there mother's must have taught them better manners at some point in their life, and now would be a good time to put them to use.
Missed my family and friends over the holidays and was looking forward to coming home...........had an 11 hour drive after we left the ship.got home and......................
found that the person house/pet sitting for us had allowed the animals to do over 1500.00 in damage to my furniture, had allowed about a dozen minor kids to come hang out and drink beer and smoke pot in my home while we were not there.....the house chocked me with it's urine smell..she obviously didn't bother to let the dogs out.......I ajm not angry at the animals,.they can not open the door when they need to go out..and I know I am overly attached to some of my belongings, mainly because there are a few peices that my father got for me.the last thing he was able to do for me, his last gifts, before he died.....so they are more than couches and such to me.they are links to my father..........I know it sounds strange.but when you've lost someone that you are abnormally close to.the strangest things take on significant meaning..I have cried every day since we returned from the trip
I am never going on holiday during christmas ever again...........
it's now the year 2006.I am trying to be optomistic that things wiull improve
El
Merry Christmas
I've decided I don't like Christmas this year.....just can't seem to get into the holiday spirit...I miss old friends..I miss my dad....dogs knocked over my tree and broke most of my ornaments that had special meaning to me...we're not going to be home for Christmas, we'll be on a cruise ship with a bunch of old people...........it's going to suck.I've been very depressed the last few days.not even able to drag myself out of bed.....
yipee....hurray for the holidays
I'll be glad when it's over
Halloween
It's Halloween weekend and I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone's going to come up with......I'm going as an aging porn star.............Just think "Whatever happened to Baby Jane" and naughty school girl uniform........
YIKES
I'm sitting here mulling over the whole Blog thing.....so far I've just been jotting down banal ramblings and I think it's time to choose a writing style, or flavor, if you will....
I've noticed most of the popular blogs have fairly short entires........which is my downfall.........I can be a bit wordy in conveying my thoughts....
What tone should I take?.sardonic....acerbic....ironic....the list goes on and on, as I encounter each of these viewpoints during the course of any given day...............or should it just be scattered........should I develop a "persona" and write satire?
hummmm
L
NC Seafood festival and other stuff
I'm thinking of sending a letter into the editor of the local paper..........the Seafood festival this year was awful.hardly anyone showed (compared to year's past) and I have definate ideas why it is going downhill
1) It is no longer North Carolina seafood......there were no local shrimp at the Festival this year, and the smaller booths that were selling seafood were selling over breaded stuff that barely passes for seafood - example.I bought 5 shrimp fritters for 5 dollars.only to find that there were no shrimp in them.I had paid 5 dollars for fried cornmeal lumps.
2) It costs too much for most local groups to participate, so you lose the local "Flavor"
3) They have vendors from out of state that are selling frozen seafood, and undercut the smaller organizations that in the past have been the heart and soul of the Festival.
The NC Seafood festival started out as a wonderful way to promote the Seafood industry here, but with "organization" it has simply become about profits. They need to use local groups only, use fresh seafood, or they will find the numbers dwindling year after year after year. With the current gas crunch, it costs too much for tourists to come from out of State, and with the poor quality of seafood being offered there is no incintive to invest that much in coming down to the coast. The local people who could make up the difference have no interest in coming because the seafood is not of the quality that they are used to.
I hope the Seafood festival Board wakes up soon.
Errand Day
Today is the day I've decided to get a bunch of errands out of the way.here's a sample.ugggh
Pick up silk Palm Trees
Mail packages to surf shops along the NC coast
Mail package to Germany (about 6 months overdue)
Mail package to Florida
Go by Staples and pick up 5 display racks
Update Foundation website
Spring Clean family room
Change halogen bulbs
Chainsaw old fort in backyard
Buy a truckload of mulch for winter season
Do laundry (every day chore)
Follow up phone calls for Foundation
Get 5 passports (start with Forms)
Finish commercial web site for client
Grocery shopping
can't wait until tomorrow to see what kind of list I have to work on
NOT
Personal rant, since no one is watching
I think I like the idea of a blog...........even moreso because no one is watching, so I feel an unusual freedom in being able to put down my thoughts
The state of healthcare in America
I love my country, but it is a state of the "haves" and the "havenots"......the "havenots" are people who do not fit into mainstream society....my brother is one of those people...........he is a lifelong drug addict....he is clean now, but a lifetime of destruction to his body has taken it's toll...and he is dying.......he doesn't have to die.....there are things doctors can do......he needs a liver transplant........but they told him he is not eligible because he has lived a high risk lifestyle.......emphasis on the past tense..........but, they have written him off and left him to go home and slowly bleed to death internally and with lots of pain.......so sorry.too bad.maybe the next life will be better........
now.the other side of the coin,the "haves".another family member has cancer, but because society has deemed them more worthy, there has been no expense spared in seeking to prolong their life in any way possible, even though they are elderly..........experimental drugs and treatments not available to the general public has been made accessible to them for the small sum of 45,000.00 per month....
Now please understand, I want everyone one in my family to live a long, happy and healthy life, but I can not understand the wide gap in treatment...
I even offered to donate part of my liver, to bypass the long line of people waiting for a transplant, and we have still been told no..........we have had to re-educate each and every doctor we have come in contact with and have been almost militant in assuring that my brother gets the care he deserves..which has helped to some degree......My job is to stand guard at the door of his hospital room to let them know we are ever watchful and that he has strong advocates on his side.........I have had to stand down doctors who have said they would do nothing more for him because of his past...I can be very verbally persuasive.....and it is my job to get them to go back in that room and try again....
What scares me is there are people in my brother's situation who do not have advocates like he does...who do not come from influential families, who do not have brass plaques in the hospital in honor of their family and their contributions, who do not have vocal and stubborm family members.......
These people die a treatable, preventable death simply because society does not approve of how they lived their life
I have already lost one brother, but he was a world class athlete , very well known and is honored in death......who will honor my other brother when his time comes?.....why is he less deserving?
As the hospital visits become more frequent, we learn how to cope and adjust...........humor gets us through almost anything............when he has hallucinations (due to ammonia build up in the brain from the failing liver).we make the best of it......he will ask me if the TV is on.when I say no.he proceeds to tell me about the wonderful show he is watching on the TV ......we can laugh about it.......
I know there are terrible things happening all over the world...but this is my world....and it makes no sense
Rambling thoughts for the day
I vehemently dislike "The Man"...........being a bit of a hippie,I do not care for jumping through government hoops,and yet,I will spend most of the day doing just that.....I have to get my passport......but before I can do that I have to go to the social security office and get my card updated.........I hate going into places like that....there's a security guard at the office, and I never understood why until my last visit there(to replace my son's lost card) .after a wasted afternoon, watching how they deal with people.....I now understand......it's to protect the bumbling rude employees.
I STILL need to get to the Post Office and mail a package I promised to send MONTHS ago.yes.I am very busy, and very slack all at the same time........
I need to call and make a Doctor's appointment.I tore ligaments in my ankle trekking through the Grand Canyon and am still wearing a brace 7 months later......I can walk with the brace, but I can no longer swim.which is one of my favorite things........living on the water I am a bit of a fish...I did come up with a strange compromise though (ever the clever girl)...set an anchor line in high currents, then holding a rope and "swimming" against the current......that way when my ankle is tired, I just pull myself in, instead of having to really swim.......
sometimes you have to think outside the box
Lisa
Living in Hurricane Alley
This is likely to piss a few people off.,but it’s what’s on my mind these days.
With the catastrophe down along the Gulf Coast states recently, I’ve been pondering what went wrong....
Other than corrupt government officials, going back decades, I can’t help but lay some of the blame on an “entitlement” mentality. This is not directed at individuals, so much as the mindset that creeps in after generations of public assistance. It is not their fault. I feel it is the fault of pork barrel politics that make it too easy to allow others to “take care of you”. After generations have grown used to being “taken care of” it must be hard to break out of that mindset during an emergency.
Before you start bitching, .I am very proud of all the people who pitched in and helped others. And there were lots of them. But there were just as many who did little or nothing to help themselves or others.
Perhaps I have a different spin on it because I have lived with Hurricanes my entire life. And never once did I see or hear anyone say they were waiting for FEMA or the local government to come before they started recovery. Ever. You live on the coastline.......you have to deal with and prepare for the risks, such as massive storms barreling in off the Atlantic Ocean. We just went through Ophelia, and luckily it was only a Cat 1, but a Cat 1 is still is a mighty storm. It’s been almost a week and people are still cleaning up the debris and repairing structures and homes. You don’t hear much about it on the news because it’s not “news-worthy” these days......no looting, no stabbings, rapes or murders. It’s just not juicy enough. But living here I see the damage and I know the cost to some is as great as the cost to many of those down in New Orleans. But I see a big difference in “attitude” . Everyone pitches in. We get things done ourselves.
During Floyd, nearly the entire interior of the state was under water...not just one town........but 1/3 of the state.......FEMA came in after a week or so..........you didn’t hear the kind of bitching you’re hearing now.........because we’re not waiting for anyone to come “take care of us”.
I could go on for hours, but it boils down to this..if you’re going to live along the coast, .and you DON’T take precautions and plan ahead.(This includes what to do with relatives who may be in the Hospital or Nursing Home) then you are willingly taking your life into your own hands. I am overwhelmed by the losses suffered in New Orleans, because I know firsthand it didn’t have to be that way.
OK.first random thought to come to mind
I need three people working for me to whittle down my list of things I need to do......
I only have me
boy.some people are gonna be disapointed
