I am extremely saddened by the way people have become in the world today. No one seems to even listen to an opposing viewpoint without attacking another person with name calling and verbal threats. Gone are the days of compassion, the want to make the world a better place. Instead we find ourselves in a day in which money and power are all that seem to matter. Mankind is slowly destroying the Earth with all the technology we have to rip the Earth of her mineral and other riches. And yes, most of these are for the betterment of mankind, but at what cost? Many acres of land are being ripped up for some precious minerals, oil, gas, forever, destroying the ecology of the area. And I know that in order to fuel today’s society, most of these are an absolute necessity. However, I put this to all those who are followers of the ‘book’ religions, those who are of the earth or nature based, religions, and everyone else who does not fall into those categories, ie Politicians. I just had to add that. Now, I believe, that if we all stopped to actually help another instead of working towards our own personal ambitions, many of the worlds problems would be solved. If we were not all worried about having to stockpile weapons, we could work to eradicate Cancer or other diseases. If those who had money were not so worried about how they stack up on the Forbes list of the richest in the world, we could lessen the plight of those who are starving to death, or are homeless. And if people were not so materialistic, there would be less crime, and more happiness. In a time of rebirth, how about all the people of the world bring about a rebirth, of being good for the common good, help your neighbor, a stranger, donate time and or money to a worthwhile cause, let all your hearts be reborn for the greater good of ALL mankind, and not for the greed of money. For if we all work TOGETHER to solve all the issues that plague mankind, our society will flourish, and not destroy ourselves over who has what. People of the world UNITE!! Together we can do this!!
Monthly Archives: April 2014
Remembered and Forgotten
Well, another birthday has come and gone, and with it came all the birthday wishes from family and friends. However, that being said, there are always those few family or friends who don’t call, write, or even contact on someone’s birthday. And yes, I am just as guilty of forgetting a birthday, and I know people are much busier in today’s fast paced society. But, there are also many more ways to remember someone’s birthday, other than looking at a calendar. Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Google, Skype, and other social media sites will let you know which of your contacts are having an upcoming birthday. Now that being said, I did hear from my immediate family, which was nice, as tension, always surrounds those conversations, but, this year, all the calls were pleasant, and I felt good after each one. Only person, in family I wish I would have heard from is my Grandma, but, talking to her on the phone, is very difficult these days, and since I am about 1200 miles away, that is the only way to contact, so, suffice it to say, unless another family member is there to help her with the phone, a call doesn’t happen. Most of my other friends contacted me via Second Life, Skype, or Facebook, although, I did have a wonderful call from my dear friend Becky, whom I miss her and her kids a lot, but, we have all gone in different directions in the US. But, this was the first year, I didn’t hear from one of her kids, and I will say, it did hurt a bit. I would watch them every weekend for 5 years, and on occasion, they would slip and call me mom, and that slip, even though, it was unintentional, really made me feel good, for I have no children of my own, never married, and to be honest, never wanted any. But, I had grown very close to them. And granted, the younger two, boys, there was never a strong bond, but the older two, girls, there was. I suppose it was inevitable, that as time and distance had pulled the bonds apart that they would move on with their lives, and I would be forgotten. I suppose, being so far from all those I know and love, makes feeling forgotten, a bit more painful for me, and easier for them to forget. I suppose it will get easier in time, to not expect to hear from others, for birthdays, and holidays. I would encourage each and everyone one of you to try and remember family and friends on birthdays and holidays, for just a simple email, text, or other contact, can and will brighten their day.
Is Anyone Home?
I haven’t really been in the mood to right much lately. Writing for me, is not something that comes naturally to me. I am in my nature, a fairly private person, but, I do have the occasional outbreak of share-it-itis, in which, I truly do want others to know how I am feeling, some crazy thought (OK, crazier than normal) I had, or something else I feel I need to share. So there may be times when the posts will come fast and furious, and other times when nothing really is said. So, I am taking this post to let you know, my faithful followers, not to give up hope on me posting daily, because I know there well be times when the ideas just get stuck in the cobwebs inside my head, like the past two weeks. Sometimes nothing really inspires my writing, or there may, be an idea, but how to put it into words escapes me, or, the mood, just isn’t there to actually sit and write. Today is one of those days, but, I did figure I needed to let those of you who do follow me, to let you know, I haven’t forgotten to post, I just seem, to have a writer’s block, in that nothing taps my mind to write. Hope to get some inspiration soon, say goodnight Gracie. Goodnight Gracie.
April Fools!!
Happy April Fool’s Day!! Yes, it is April 1st 2014, and today is the day jokers all over the world, get to play practical jokes on all their unsuspecting family and friends. However, not all practical jokes occur on April Fool’s Day, I am about to all of you, my unsuspecting readers, a practical joke I had the pleasure to plan, and execute on an unsuspecting classmate. Firing up the way-back machine and here we goooooooo!!! It is during my college years at the local Community College, I am taking Human Anatomy and Physiology during the summer, which takes the normal 17 week course and condenses it down to 8 weeks. However, instead of meeting twice a week, we have class 4 days a week, and for 3 hours a day. Talk about intense!! But, due to being together 4 days a week, and then also getting together after class in study groups, we became fairly close, and like all friends jokes do get pulled on each other to help keep the spirits and minds up. And they were all in good fun, but, you know how some jokes just seem to cross over that line? Yeah, this was one of them. So, part of the class was to learn the muscles of the body and the function of each. And to do this, we had a cadaver, who we called “Pickled Pete”. So, as I said the jokes were going all term, and there was one girl ‘Karen’ who was really good at the practical jokes. So good, that people were teaming up to play jokes on her. So, ‘Dave’ and I decided to work together on our little joke. Ours involved getting ‘Pete’ to sit up, while ‘Karen’ was working on learning the muscles. So, a few days later we put our plan in motion. Now, ‘Pete’ was housed in a stainless steel box with two doors that met in the middle above him, and you would open one door at a time to reveal him, then to raise him out of the box were two levers on each end you would swing down, to bring his back even with the top of the box. This would allow full visual access to all the muscles of the body (as ‘Pete’ had no skin). So, ‘Dave’ and I devised a plan to get ‘Pete’ to sit up once the box was opened. On each of the two doors were two small holes to allow the formaldehyde fumes to escape should air pressure rise within the box. So, we placed two eyelet screws with nuts into the holes, and ran a wire from one, behind ‘Pete’ to the other screw so when the doors were opened up he would sit, and for added fun, a Frankenstein mask was put over his face. So, in class we could sign up for times to work on our own time with ‘Pete’ to learn the muscles. And we saw ‘Karen’ had put down a time, so ‘Dave’ put down the time before her so we could get it all set up. So we get everything together and set up and even set up a mirror so we could watch, after we had it all set, we hid in the room next door, and waited. The door opens and in walks “Karan” we forgot there were two Karens, although names were spelled differently. Now, ‘Dave’ and I are concerned, as “Karan” is afraid of ‘Pete’ as it is, but we cannot really go in and tell her what we did, as well, we could get in trouble. And yes hindsight is great, but at the time, it sounded like a good plan for a joke. Now we are both watching intently as “Karan” gets ready to open the doors of the box. First the one door and we can see ‘Pete’ start to sit up, and then the other door and up come ‘Pete’. We both held our breath waiting for “Karan’s” reaction when she sees he is sitting up, and sure enough, she sees him, gives a small squeak, and passes out. “Dave and I rush into the room, and I tell ‘Dave’ to get ‘Pete back to normal while I make sure “Karan” is okay. I lightly tap her face, nothing, feel her pulse and her heart is beating fine other than a bit fast, so I pull out the smelling salts that are in the room just in case someone does pass out while working on ‘Pete’. That didn’t work, so I splash some cold water on her face and that brings her to. First words out of her mouth are “Thh at th thing is alive!!!!” I look at her confused and reply, “What is? Trying not to give myself away. “Karan says, “The cadaver sat up!” I help her to her feet and show her he is laying down like he always is. She asks if we could close the box up for her as she is going to leave and we both say sure. “Karan leaves and both ‘Dave’ and I breathe a sigh of relief as it could have been much worse. I really haven’t played a practical joke since. At least not that elaborate. Oh, and “Karan’ dropped the class, was studying to be a nurse, but decided to go into Psychiatry as I had run into her years later and she was working on her PhD, so she didn’t have to be a medical doctor. It all ended up well, in the end, but, it is easy to see how a practical joke can turn tragic. Hope you all have a very happy and safe April Fools!!
Nikki Moonshadow 