What does it mean to you?

Here we all are, scrambling through our individual daily lives, paying rent, mortgages, buying groceries and term life insurance, wondering how we'll pay for that next tank of gas, or the food or medication we need, and here we are, humans, together.

A recent High School graduate, Peter, had to come up with the answer to the following question;

What does it mean to be human?

This is what he did and observed to find his answer.

For a class project, I went into the street and asked 100 people what it means to be human. About 40 of them responded and were willing to be interviewed. Here are their answers.

This was brilliant and deep, and I loved it.
I especially loved the little girl who replied to her father, "I don't know, I'm 10."
How absolutely simple and honest.
I loved this video project.

Hat tip Hemant

It's a windy hot rainy kinda day!

My neighbor out back's wind chimes woke me back up.
He has about 4 of them attached to some trees back there, and the wind picked up so it's like a symphony of clanking.
Kind of annoying when you're trying to sleep.

I have some stuff to do this morning, and then an appointment at noon, but I'll be around off and on most of the day.
Later days!

The EBS will be in effect.

The Emergency Blogcasting System will be in effect during the upcoming hurricane season.
What is that?
Well it's where I will have 2 contacts, other bloggers, that I can contact if in the event I lose power or have to evacuate due to a hurricane hitting this area.
Sarasota has not been hit in the 10 years I've lived here now, *knock on wood* but it could happen.
This year's crazy weather is making me think it could be a bad hurricane season here.
There's been a ton of tornadoes in the midwest, the earthquake in China, the cyclone in Myanmar, and flooding elsewhere in the country.
I'm concerned, but not panicking.

My 2 contacts are Christine and Holly.
If in the event I lose power or have to evacuate, I will contact the both of them to let them know, and they will post here to keep you all updated.

I may go out and check out the prices on generators now rather than wait till a hurricane is coming.
If you wait too long here, you won't get any plywood or a generator, or food and water.
I start stocking up on hurricane supplies the first week of June.
I go shopping and get canned food, batteries for the flashlight and radio, more candles, lighters, water etc etc.
Every time I go shopping, I buy at least 6 more cans of spaghettios or other easy to eat, don't need to be heated food items.
If we don't use it ourselves during season, I either slowly add things to the cupboards for the teens to eat, or I take it and donate it to an area where people did get hit.
Hurricane season starts June 1st, and I'm hoping I won't have to use the EBS, but if I do, I have 2 really great blogging friends to help me keep all my readers updated.

Try to keep still!

Have you ever taken a video with your camera and it ends up being all shaky?
I hate that.
But Buy.com has an awesome sale price on a Case Logic flexible tripod.
It can stand on just about any surface because it's legs are flexible for those times when taking a picture means putting a tripod on uneven ground.
How much is it on sale for?
$10!
That's it!
That is such an awesome price for people who take a lot of pictures or make videos and don't want the shaky hand appearance.
Look how cool this thing looks!

Check out some of it's features;
Segmented leg design allows for flexible joints that can rotate 360 degrees
Lightest and most versatile camera tripod available today
Firmly secures your compact digital camera to virtually any surface
Ideal camera accessory for photographers on the go
Throw it in your pocket or backpack and you'll be ready for your next adventure
Wrap it around a tree branch
Hang it from a pole
Perch it on a jagged rock
Standard 1/4 diameter 20 thread count screw mount
Designed for use with digital cameras weighing up to 9.7 ounces (275 grams)
Rubber feet gives extra grip

It sounds like it's small enough to take anywhere and use on just about any kind of surface.
I may actually pick this up this week. I would love to try it out and for only $10, it's totally affordable to try.

Buy.com has tons of awesome weekly deals every single week, and I've gotten into the habit of checking them out every week now because they really do have some amazing prices on certain items.

The rainy season begins.

Yesterday after my massage appointment, the skies opened up.
Lightening, thunder, and gallons of rain came down and didn't let up until about 5pm.
The teens walk home from school everyday, we only live about 7 city blocks from the high school, it's barely a 10 minute walk.
I knew they would be soaked when they came in the door, so I positioned myself at 2:37 and waited for them to walk in.
They get home every single day at the same exact time, 2:38pm.
I don't know how they do that perfect timing every day, but they do.
Anyway, like I said, it was down pouring really bad at that time, so I waited for my perfect moment.

Ha!
They were soaked right down to their boxers, their shoes were just like little spongy buckets for walking, their backpacks were full of water, all their notebooks and everything were just water logged.
That part wasn't so funny, we lost a really expensive calculator, but hey, school gets out on the 30th, so not a huge loss.
But damn if it wasn't funny watching them come in.
Sebastian loves getting wet, playing in the rain, so he was all hell yeah baby! That was fun!
Mark on the other hand wasn't quite so pleased with being so wet.
Haha!
I made them go straight back to the laundry after I snapped my picture, and strip out of the wet clothes and place them straight in the dryer, and then dry off and put on clean dry clothes.

I'm hoping it doesn't rain again today, but it has that look in the sky, it's a little gray, a little cloudy, and the humidity is way up.
If they get soaked 2 days in a row, they may get a little mad.
Well, not Sebastian, he's a puddle jumper.

One massage at a time.

I want to clear up some confusion over my loathing of massages.
It has absolutely nothing at all to do with my nerve endings or how my back feels.
It is a mental issue. (Ha!)

The massages themselves are fine, it feels good (mostly) while it's being done.
It feels ok later.
It's me, it's me being tired of being touched.
I spent from 2001 to now, being poked and prodded by a gazillion doctors and nurses and techs.
Ok, not a gazillion, but I went through 19 different orthopedic specialists before finding the surgeon who could do my back surgery, which took place in February 2006.
I had 19 different doctors touching me, poking, x-raying me, MRIs, CT scans, blood draws, urine, and a multitude of other tests in preparation for the surgery.
I've spent the last 2 years still being poked, prodded, CT scanned, x-rayed, injections, physical therapy and massage therapy.
I'm fucking over being touched!

It sends my OCD into over drive at the very thought of being touched again.
I just can't freaking stand it anymore.
It get nervous, the sweats, I feel sick to my stomach, I just don't like being touched.
This thing has gotten so bad, I barely hug my sons anymore.
One of them moves to hug me, and I actually find myself backing up.
I do hug them, but it's very brief. A quick hug, a pat on the back, done.

So anyway, today was the first appointment with the new girl, and we're going over my records, she asks about the fusion and my previous massage appointments.
She noticed that I canceled a few of them and asked why.
I explained to her my phobia, my issues with being touched.
I assured her it was nothing personal at all against her or the other guy who was doing them, but I was having panic attacks on my way to the office, sitting in an air conditioned waiting room sweating to death, freaking out about having to undress and have someone rubbing down my entire body.
I told her it was nauseating laying there like that.
She said she understands, especially after all that I've been through, it's normal for some people to develop anxieties about being touched after so much work being done to their bodies.

So we're taking it one appointment at a time, I can keep my shorts on, and we'll only work the areas that are in pain that day, not do full body work.
She worked on my left shoulder and just when she thought it was loosening up, it spasmed and locked in place.
She seems to think I have something called frozen shoulder, and all we can do is keep working it and hope it clears up.
After it locked up, she rubbed something into it, it smells super minty, and we left it like that, it wouldn't unlock from it's tightened position.

I have another appointment Thursday at noon again, and then we'll just take them one at a time, work on trying to be comfortable.
She said if I show up and am in a severe panic attack, we won't do the massage, we can just sit and talk for an hour about pain levels, medications, whatever, she's willing to work with me and help me be more comfortable instead of not being able to relax like I should be doing.

Been in a blah bland mood.

I just don't feel like doing much at all, side effect of the new med?
Don't know.
But I'm getting ready to go to my massage therapy appointment much to my displeasure.
I'm just going to be honest with the girl, I hate being touched, and massages make me want to vomit the whole time I'm there.
I'm nervous, anxious, just counting down the minutes until it's over.
Don't know what good it will do me, but I have to speak up or I'm going to go crazy.

I need to get in the shower.
Later days.

$3.5 million for the Boy Scouts.

Source

On May 15, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 5872, an act "To require the Secretary of the Treasury to mint coins in commemoration of the centennial of the Boy Scouts of America, and for other purposes." The sale of the coins by the Secretary of the Treasury, with a surcharge on each coin sold to "be paid to the National Boy Scouts of America Foundation." In other words, this is a congressionally mandated fundraiser for the Boy Scouts.

With the act allowing for up to 350,000 of this coin to be issued and fixing the surcharge at $10 per coin, the Boy Scouts could receive as much as $3.5 million from their sale. Never before, in the long history of U.S. government issued commemorative coins, has this benefit been granted to an organization that promotes religion or discriminates based on religion.

Un-believable.
This is unconstitutional based on the Boy Scouts Declaration of Religious Principles.

The Boy Scouts of America maintains that no member can grow into the best kind of citizen without recognizing an obligation to God. In the first part of the Scout Oath or Promise the member declares, 'On my honor I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law.' The recognition of God as the ruling and leading power in the universe and the grateful acknowledgment of His favors and blessings are necessary to the best type of citizenship and are wholesome precepts in the education of the growing members. No matter what the religious faith of the members may be, this fundamental need of good citizenship should be kept before them. The Boy Scouts of America, therefore, recognizes the religious element in the training of the member, but it is absolutely nonsectarian in its attitude toward that religious training. Its policy is that the home and the organization or group with which the member is connected shall give definite attention to religious life.

It's religious discrimination!

A private organization can have whatever beliefs and religious requirements it chooses to. That's their constitutional right. But Congress can absolutely not financially aid the Boy Scouts in the promotion of their beliefs and enforcement of their religious requirements by legislating a fundraiser for them!

Desperate Housewives 2-hour season finale.

There are 2 back to back episodes tonight to close out the season, and here are the descriptions of each.

The Gun Song Sun May 18 9/8c The ladies of Wisteria Lane meet Susan and Mike's new baby, Gaby forms a strong bond with their new tenant, Ellie, and Lynette is accused of child abuse.

Free
Sun May 18 10/9c
Several residents of Wisteria Lane are faced with deadly threats, Susan realizes she will soon lose someone she loves, and Katherine Mayfair's secrets are finally revealed.

I'm gonna be totally honest, I hate that brat Kayla.
I can't believe they would create a child so wicked, and have her accuse Lynette of child abuse.
I kinda wish she had died during the tornado.
That child has been nothing but a pain in the ass since the day they introduced her character.

I'm over Susan.
She is a whiny, insecure, waste of screen time.

And of course Gaby is going to screw up the police sting concerning Ellie.
Just when she has the chance to do something right and help Carlos get the charges dropped against him, she's going to muck it all up.

I'm not really interested in Katherine's story line at all.
I'm more interested in how her daughter Dylan is going to handle the truth's that come out.

Today is just dragging ass.

Why is today going so slow?
I've been up since 9am, and it's been painfully slow.
And hot.
I've got the AC cranked and it's just miserably hot in here still.
The teens said it's cold in here, so it's just me.
Whatever.
I'll probably go take a shower and see if that helps me cool off, then I'm going to need to start dinner, fold the laundry and move the last load over to the dryer, and then finish the dinner dishes.
Bor-ing.

But you know what's not boring?
A blog contest.
Leslie is having a contest to give away a bottle of Cynthia Rowley perfume with a matching umbrella.
All you have to do is leave a comment for 1 entry, or for 2, write about her contest in a blog post like this.
Easy peasy.