Mel Gibson as Psycho? Aug 13, 2006

What is wrong with Mel Gibson? The man has lost his marbles. Kirk Douglas spoke out about Mel's drunken tirade during which Mel had some horrible things to say about the Jewish people.

According to Douglas, there is a Talumidic saying to the effect of "When the wine goes in, the truth comes out." I guess he's not buying Gibson's excuses.

It's really hard watching the fall of Mel. He's been one of my favorite stars of all time. He's sexy, and seemed smart and together. You didn't hear much out of him participating in far-out behavior. He appeared to be a devoted father and husband.

I guess he saved all for one fatal incident. His career is dead. The only future he has would be as spokes-ass for a white supremacy group.

Born and Die in Kentucky, August 11, 2006

I discovered a stupid opinion I have.  I have lots of opinions, but I usually manage to agree with myself.  It's a rare occasion when I disagree with my own self.
I have this superiority issue in re: my neighboring states.  This is quite incongruous, because I'm not prone to being clannish about anything.  I don't have "school spirit" when I think of my alma mater.  I don't have a great deal of pride in the city I live in. You won't catch me waving an American flag.
But for some obscure reason, I'm proud of being from Kentucky, and would not want to be born or die in Ohio or West Virginia.
I was at work when this profound knowledge was revealed.  I have to make copies of people's personal documents on occasion.  Social security cards and birth certificates are rather interesting to me.  I can tell from the number on a social security card if a person got their Social Security card while living in a state other than Kentucky.  Kentucky numbers begin with 40*.  Though I can't tell you off the top of my head which numbers Ohio and West Virginia have, I do recognize them when I see them.
Of course birth certificates tell where a person was born.  You get a little snapshot of their life.  If their parents were married when they were born, and what the mother's name was.  Old birth certificates tell the race of the parents and the occupation of the father when the child was born, as well as where the parents lived at that time.
I must have been unusually contemplative today, because I noticed a woman's birth certificate showed her mother had been single when she was born about 30 years ago.  That was rare then.  She is a single mother herself.  I wondered what impact it has on a person to be born to a single mom.
The next person had been born at a hospital across the river in West Virginia.  About 25-30 years ago a lot of the locals had their baby at that hospital because they had a Neo Natal Intensive Care unit and neither of the hospitals here had them. 
I found it disturbing that a native Bluegrass resident would have their child in West Virginia on purpose.  I then found it ridiculous that I felt that way.  What does it matter? 
We are all born and then we die.  Does it matter where these events occur?
I thought about it, and I guess it's about geneology.  It's a lot more difficult to find your roots when people are scattered to the four winds.  At least that's what I hope it is.

August 8, 2006... How young is too young?

A lot of times I have  young guys that show more than a passing interest in me. 
I have to admit it is a bit flattering to have guys half my age hitting on me, though we all know WHY most of them are doing it.
Then there are a few that fall into a more serious category.  They seem to have a genuine interest in establishing a real relationship.  That's when I start getting confused.
Let's say he shares a lot of my interests.  Likes the same music, can hold a conversation with me, and is really an interesting person.  He is someone I think I wouldn't mind hanging out with.
But he's younger.  HOW MUCH YOUNGER IS TOO YOUNG???  Anyone who is 8 years younger than me is closer to my daughter's age.  I don't  know that I'm comfortable with that.
It is said age is only a number, and that's not entirely true.  It is a number, but it is  not only a number.  There are differences in perspective based on how long you have lived.  Understanding comes with age. 
How can I decide how young is too young?  Perhaps I need to look the other direction?  If  a fellow is older than me, how old is too old?  Perhaps that would clarify things for me. 
I would date a guy 10 years older than me with no thought about it.  15 years ....  if the fellow shared a lot of my interests.  20 years..... that's pushing it.  I can't see me dating someone that's 70 at this point in time.  I won't categorically say no, but I do doubt it.
So?  I guess I would consider a fellow who was 43 or so, but any younger?  Nah.  I think that would be pushing the limits of rationality

Aug 5, 2006 The Barnyard

Current mood:calm

I went to see "The Barnyard" with my children and 3/4 of my grandchildren.  I loved the movie.  It was hootalicious!  My only 2 gripes with the film are:
1)  Male cattle are commonly known as bulls.  It is only in the broadest sense that cow is used to describle a male.  Cow is the female term.  When one of the males in the movie died, the tombstone said something like "Here lies ____ , he was a great cow."  It should have said here lies a great bull.  Period.
2)  Said bulls, or whatever you want to call the male of the bovine variety, DOES NOT HAVE UDDERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Great Caesar's Ghost, people, no bull has an udder.  It is the bovine equivilant of breasts!  EVERY bull had an udder.  These udders were bright pink, four teated udders.  I found it to be utterly silly. 
Look.... my way of thinking is this:  It is okay to make a movie that portrays animals with human characteristics in a very absurd fashion.  If they had made fun of the bulls having cow boobies, that would have been funny, but I feel it's important to stick to basic truisms though.  Bulls do not have udders.  That's like making a cartoon where all men have large breasts.... Hm, now THAT might be interesting!

Stomach viruses scare me!

Are you afeared of stomach viruses? Here's a little post from my MySpace blog, written in 2009:

• Countdown to doomsday, t -38 hours & counting

  ..

  There are few things in this world that I have real-time fear of.
  What do I mean by real-time fear? It's a fear I have personal experience that caused the fear. My recent blogging of my arachnephobia is based on real-time experience: My family members have been bitten by mean spiders.
  Fear of nuclear annihlation is not real-time. It's based on the horror I've seen on televison or in print.
  Gastrointestinal viruses are personal. I have had many. In addition, I had some never identified condition for several years. I would awake in the middle of the night with violent, projectile vomiting that went on for hours. Nothing made it stop. This happened from about the age of 3 until I was 8 or so. Extensive testing never identified a cause, and it ended as mysteriously as it began.
  My poor dear children know my emetophobia is deep. (for more on emetophobia, go here:
  http://www.changethatsrightnow.com/emetophobia.asp
  I used to throw a receptacle at them and run as if they were carrying ebola. I would peek in once in a while to see they were still alright, but I was not my loving, nurturing self when they were chucking.
  I had real paralyzing anxiety over regurgitation. The last panic inducing regurgitation occurred about 9 years ago, three days before my first grandchild was born. I got this horrible virus, the worst one I ever EVER had. All the people that got the virus later said it was the worst they had ever contracted. My (now) ex-husband laid in the bed and cried, and my (now) ex-son-in-law begged hospital personnel to give him an epidural for the pain.
  So, in the midst of this horrid event, my darling, nine-month's pregnant daughter came to care for me, proving herself to be much braver than I. I'm still not sure she wasn't proving a point to me for, you see, I had abandoned her to a virus a couple of years before. I stood outside her door, and asked if she was alright, but never ventured into the room. I made other people take her water, whilst I stayed far away.
  My daughter, Athena, waited on me hand and foot. She took wonderful care of me. You know what her thanks were, for mothering me? The most horrible stomach virus on earth hit her in the middle of labor. She was the most stoic laboring mother I have ever seen, and remained so throughout the regurgitation and diarrhea.
  I will be sent to one of the circles of hell for this, I am certain. Not only did she lovingly take care of ME when I was sick, but her kindness was rewarded with misery.
  So, present day.... I learned my lesson. Stomach viruses are not likely to kill me. My granddaughter came down with one about 14 hours ago, here at my home. She brought it here from my nephew and his wife, who had it two days before.
  So here I sit. I know I will get the virus, because I ate a cracker my granddaughter had taken a bite of.
  And I am not afraid. Thanks Athena. You cured me.