Old Love

I am sure we all have looked back to our earlier selves and wondered what if? What if I had done something different, what if I had not said those words, what if those clams I had last night where caught off the coast of Japan, these are the kind of questions that has haunted humanity from the beginning of time.

Judy and I were at Castle Rock near our home and we ran into a strange little couple. They were strange not because he was a dentist with really bad teeth but because the two of them had done something that few people ever will.

The two ancient people (he was 96 and she was much younger at 94) came up to us and started talking. I am one to always show respect to my elders but this seemed odd to me. How could they know Judy and I were not some evil couple that had decided to take over the work of Dr. Kevorkian? They seemed geniuanly interested in talking to us.

I started to wonder if they were into some kind of cult and they wanted to save our souls or the souls of our cats but they never mentioned anything of the sort. Instead they went on about how lovely of a couple we were and how we looked like we truly were in love. They went on and on about how they travel the world and meet thousands of people but that there are only a few that they have met in their life time that looked like they actually loved each other by the way they moved, spoke and acted.

This couple held hands, and spoke to each other with wonder in their eyes as they looked at each other. The seemed quite wealthy and spoke of their grand kids who were getting ready to retire but said something I shall remember for the rest of my life..... "We have lots of money and our kids are all successful in business and long marriages but our children see our success in how much we have and we see our success with who we have (each other)."

He said that he was glad to see that there where young people (hey, the dude is 96 so I am young) that understood that no matter what happens in the world to be successful at 96 you have to have that woman who you have loved for years loving you back stronger then ever before.

Sappy enough blog for you? If you know my goal in life then you will understand why I found this couple so endearing.......

Evil Comes in Many Colors

I must be a real lucky guy, I seem to get into battles with evil beings of every stripe and color. This is actually good news for me because I love the idea of going to war for really no good reason. I guess this makes me some kind of warmongering evil person myself but I will simply claim that I was born this way so you HAVE to accept me as I am.

Last summer I had the wonderful time of going toe to toe with a ground hog, I am not sure that I actually won the war but it eventually gave up and went home, or most probably just found another home that did not have a raving lunatic as a neighbor. This summer I am facing not one but a whole herd of critters that have set out to conquer my yard and set me fuming over their every action.

Raccoons, the size of a medium dog, have invaded the neighborhood. These creatures are not eating the garden yet but have this wonderful ability to tip over trash cans, strew the nastiest parts of it and then leave the rancid garbage for the seagulls to further make a mess. The simple solution would be to lock the cans up but I suppose that would take the fun away.

I am plotting and planning my revenge on this motley crew with a few neighbors. We have even thought that if it comes down to a life and death situation that we would be able to supply the meat for a neighborhood block party. I guess what I should do now is ask my southern friends for a good recipe for BBQ coon ribs.

I will keep you posted as the battles unfold.

Rootabagga's Rambling's - The rambling's of a single mother raising special needs children.

 

 

Kate is a real life friend, yes I do have friends in real life..........

 

Rootabagga's Rambling's

The rambling's of a single mother raising special needs children. A birds eye view into mental illness in loved ones and how it effects those around them. "I can do all thing's through Christ who strengthens me." Phillipians 4:13

       Everyone knows what it feels like when you have to sneeze, right? You can feel it coming before you actually sneeze. You feel the proverbial tickle in the back of your nose. You sometimes get that "I'm gonna sneeze" look like in the picture above. I have even felt and looked this way for up to a minute before the sneeze actually builds up enough to be a successful sneeze.
       Does a sneeze actually have a purpose? Yes, it most certainly does. It is your body's way of reacting to a foreign object in your system. When it senses that there is something in your airways that doesn't belong there, like pollen, a common reason for sneezing. Your body needs to expel that" invader" in a quick manner. Sneezing is your bodies way to do just this.
       You may have a second or two before you sneeze that you feel "it coming on" and sometimes you have a minute or two. Regardless of the amount of time you have, you don't try to stop it because you know it is going to come eventually, right? I mean we all know what purpose a sneeze is doing so why stop a good thing.
        Like a sneeze, where there is a "force" that is built up and then escapes the body with such force, your whole body usually reacts to it happening, that same thing can be said about bp rages. The individual with bp can "feel" things being built up inside prior to a "rage", yet they have no means to prevent it from coming to pass. There were years I believed I could change their behavior by positive reinforcement with no luck. I didn't understand how they could not control their actions, I mean even when I was mad as all heck, I still have a choice to act or not act.
       That mechanism is not as easy to activate when you have MI as it is when you have no MI. I have stated before how we all have a build it gauge that tells you to run and to stand your ground in certain situations. When you have MI, you can see the signs that things are getting hot. The steam flows from your mouth usually in forms of vulgarity and threats. You can see the "water almost at a boil" by the hands clenching or someone hitting a wall or throwing things.
       When the gauge is broken, there is no "off button" or "easy button", no way to "turn it off" even though you can see it coming to a head. This is one of the many reasons why people with MI have such a hard time with it. They can see it coming but there is nothing they can do to stop it. This however does not mean it has to continue. There are ways to "control" it to a point. Medication slows down the thought process of that is needed to make the upward climb to rage.
      If you can slow down that process so it takes an hour to reach the "melting point" rather then seconds, there is time in which those around them can see the signs and change the outcome. It gives you the ability to get PRN meds into the individual to prevent rages or you can utilize coping mechanisms to lessen the chance of a blow up. We may not be able to totally stop it but we can lessen the blow and effect of it. 

 

 

 

Stop by her blog and check it out....

Rootabagga's Rambling's

 

Cyberbully, A Kids Opinion

Nicole is a well read author, even at her young age. She wrote about cyberbullying on her blog and I felt as though it would help give us old folk a bit of insight into what is going on in the world of young people today. I call her a "kid" but the fact is that she is more mature in her thoughts in many ways then I or most adults.

I cut and past so please understand that the following may not be formatted right.... blame me and not Nicole.

Please make sure that you click the link at the bottom to visit her website and her blog.....

Cyberbullying, Part One

Back then, we just had to worry about bullying.
Now?
Now it’s cyberbullying.
Since I spend a good deal of my time on the Internet, I’ve seen quite a bit of cyberbullying, so I know about what I’m talking. I’ve seen it, stopped it, been victimized by it, and even caused it unintentionally.
So here’s part one of my Cyberbullying Special.
How do you know when someone is being cyerbullied?
Most of the symptoms are the same for actual bullying—like being depressed, angry, and withdrawn and not talking to friends or family. Similarly, the bullied victim may have a drop in grades—I know I would—and will likely refuse to go to school, especially if the cyberbullies are people they know from school.
A big one is pretending to be sick. Granted, the person might just want to skip school. But if the victim always claims s/he is ill, there’s a chance s/he is being bullied.
And, of course, there’s the cyber part.
The victim probably becomes upset, enraged, or simply depressed while surfing the Internet or talking on a cell phone. Or maybe even afterwards. Either way, the person has mood swings that correspond to cyber-use.
Take it from me.

Cyberbullying, Part Two

Being on the Internet makes you feel stronger. More powerful. Because you’re anonymous. They can’t touch you. Ever.

So someone uploaded a video to YouTube complaining about that great movie you loved. That doesn’t mean you have to post a comment saying that the uploader of the video is a “retard” and “doesn’t know what he’s talking about.” It’s better not to put anything at all. Yet, you cannot say that you have never done something of the like. Maybe you unfriended someone on Facebook or disliked a video. Perhaps you made a sarcastic remark, not realizing who might see it. It is within the bounds of imagination that you even wrote a kind comment that others might identify as sarcasm.

And yet there is another, worse way of cyberbullying.

You see on a website that someone has posted an insensitive, rude comment, and you think to yourself how much of a bully that person is; however, you do nothing, merely go on to the next page. As with real bullying, bystanders often wield more power than the bullies themselves.

So how can we stop cyberbullying?

Cyberbullying is real, and it will be around for as long as we have technology. It can cause depression. It can cause suicide.

Think before you write. If you have nothing nice to say, don’t say anything at all. Realize that nothing on the Internet can ever be private. If you’re just sharing a joke between friends, it could very well turn into a nasty conversation that hurts everyone. Be mindful. Use the “report” button wisely—if you see an inappropriate comment, report it. Keep track of the behavior of your friends and family. Never hesitate to ask. Don’t forward “funny” emails and text messages without thinking. Don’t dislike something for no reason. And never, ever be a bystander. Write something nice.

Remember.

It’s up to you and me to stop cyberbullying.

What are you doing about it?


http://authornicoleizmaylov.blogspot.com/


http://nicoleizmaylov.com/

Marblehead - The Semi-true Story of it's Founding

This blog is about my personal life and my day to day experiences and I have been greatly remiss in not even talking about my new home, Marblehead Massachusetts. Let me start off by saying that it took me a simple trip of almost 5,000 miles to get here but that is a story to itself. When I first planted my feet in this burg I realized that I had found home, a place filled with preppys that also had a very strange streak of individualism and arts that runs deeply through it.

There are a few things noted about this fantastic little town, one is that it is the birth place of the US Navy another is that it is the yacht capital of the US and that it got its name from the cliffs over looking the ocean. When the people were sailing in they thought that the cliffs were made of marble but after they named the site they did a little closer inspection and realized that it was just seagull poop on the rocks.

My secret theory about how Marblehead became populated has to do with the town next door, Salem.... yes, that Salem, the one with the witch trials. My theory goes along the idea that when all of the wackos in Salem decided to go after women that were too pretty and accuse them of witchcraft then even kill them that all of the beautiful women anywhere in the New England area became concerned for their lives. The concern was felt as well among fathers, uncles, mothers .... well, anyone that had a beautiful female in their family.

These elite few realized that the only way to protect the beautiful women of New England from the evil witch hunters was to band together, in which they did. They all congregated in Marblehead and started their own town. Today Marblehead still benefits from those first courageous founders with the wonderful bounty of beautiful women and guys like me that found one that even liked him back.

I love my new home and would never think about leaving Marblehead Mass. until I die because I am pretty sure that heaven is the only place that could even come close to giving it a run for the money.

Monkey Meat Dinner

This is one of those blogs where you might get the story and find it mildly amusing or you might just assume that I have gone completely nuts and you will probably be closer to right if you fall within the later group.

Lets start off the short story by explaining that I, just like everyone else in the world, I have a person who is the proverbial monkey on my back. It kind of helps to understand that they act a bit like a wild beast and even their own kids claim they look like a monkey. (Please note, this is NOT some kind of slight racist inside joke).

This last Tuesday Ari had her birthday party.... ok Parties, they just kept coming in waves that day. We went to the Cheese Cake Factory with a few friends and a ton of family. I set between two of my favorite people. On my left sat the most beautiful woman in the world, the love of my life, Judy and on the other side sat a great friend who is in his mid 70's.

It is a well known fact that Judy has a problem with choosing something on a menu that has more then 2 dishes listed. This little quirk really is not a problem to me but it did cause some interesting conversation because of her trying to figure out what to order. Judy was dutifully perusing the menu for a good 15 minutes when she jabbed me in the side and said that "they have monkey steak". Now anybody that knows me or Judy will fully understand that she is capable of reading and that was not what caused the comment. I had to see what she was talking about and she pointed to a steak named with the same name as the monkey on my back.

Her comment was mildly amusing but the gentleman next to me only got the part about a "monkey steak" He immediately wanted to know where the steak was listed, he thought he might actually try it. I am looking at him with my mouth open realizing that I would probably have done the same thing if I thought there was a monkey steak available but he is an absolute gentleman. He kept prodding me about where it was listed and I kept him guessing till not one but TWO ladies at the table both announced that they have consumed monkey in the past.

This just floored me because both ladies are exactly that... LADIES. The strange part is that they told how, when and where and the stories where both true. So I am sitting there looking around the table and it hit me, 2 true ladies had eaten monkey meat and a man I highly admired wanted to give it a shot.

Then it hit me big time...... I finally understood....... I really do fit in with New England Yankees..... they will try anything at least once.

Return of the Stalker 2011

I hate to keep even recognizing a stalker but enough is enough. Becky, I will not run from you. You are just an old lady with to much time on your hands.

This is the way it is going to work from now on. Every time you raise your head and try to trash me I will release a little of the whole story, I will show the emails, photos and posts that you have left and my responses.

Your daughter blew it and while she is still upset with her actions she has at least slinked away into the gutters of the internet and left me alone (with just a few exceptions). Your last post was totally uncalled for but I left it up for all to see. I do not run from a withered old woman who is angry that her daughter trashed her reputation with that porn thing. All I did was direct you to the evidence after you asked me to.

Now is the time to move on with your life and simply leave me alone..... is it a deal?

Judy, the girls and I are all very happy and we really do not need you and your family to keep popping up and trying to rehash why I broke up with your daughter so long ago (remember the porn stuff?). I have dated other women in my life and the vast majority I am still friends with but there is something really strange with your whole family.

Now leave me alone please.