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About This Author
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Each Day Already is a Challenge
A Texas Sunrise
 
A friend, William Taylor, took this picture. He visits Surfside Beach with his dogs almost every morning, watching the sun rise while the dogs prance about at the water's edge.
This is only about ten miles from where I lived in Lake Jackson, Texas. Sadly, I only visited this beach about four times in the six years I lived nearby.
Each day is a challenge. A challenge to get by without thinking about the fibromyalgia pains. A challenge to stay awake when chronic fatigure wants to take over. And a challenge to navigate through fibro fog.
I haven't been writing as much as in the past. For years, I wrote at least 500 words a day. Now, I'm lucky if I write 500 words in month. Sigh.
For more information about what my day (or life) is all about with fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, chronic pains, IBS, depression and everything else thrown in, check this out:
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Grrrrr!
I never took any debating classes in school, nor was I ever a member of a debating team. But...I think I know that debates or discussions require a give and take. Well, don't they?
I really hate (okay, my mom said never to use the word hate...so I strongly dislike) it when two people - defined as me and one other person - are engaging in a discussion or debate when he/she says, "I can't believe you said that!"
Looks over shoulder to see what it was that I said that was unbelievable. Finding nothing, I respond, "Is there something I said that you don't understand?"
"No. I just can't believe you said that."
With a bit more give and take, it is determined that the person with whom I am discussing/debating has a different point of view. Well, duh! That's why we're having this discussion!"
The other person is stuck in the, "I can't believe you said that" mode and cannot climb out.
I am left scratching my head, wondering what went wrong. And the other person is left feeling that he/she has somehow won the debate. Huh?
Another thing that really gets to me is the person who refuses to answer quesitons I pose while discussing/debating and, instead, asks a question of me. I calmly and accurately answer the new posed question, then head on back to the original discussion. What is his/her next commnent? "I can't believe you said that." Grrr.
Imagine if you will:
I have just given an illustrious speech about the importance of eating blueberries, for instance. The most recent studies have found that this is one of God's best foods, because of the anti-oxidants found in blueberries. Etc., etc., etc.
Second person: "Hmmm. Interesting. Do you like oranges?"
Me: "What???? We were discussing the benefits of eating blueberries."
#2: "Yes, but I don't like them."
Me: "Surely you understood the importance of eating them, though, right? You did hear what I had to say about blueberries?"
#2: "Yes, but I don't like them."
Me: "You know that.... Oh, never mind. Why don't you like blueberries?"
#2: "Well....they're blue. But not really. And I just don't like them."
At this point, I might back-pedal and repeat what I've already shared about how we should be thinking about food as being the fuel to feed our bodies and be searching for the best fuels. (After all, we do that for our cars!) Blah, blah, blah.
#2: "Hey, how about apples?"
Me: "What about apples?"
#2: "Do you like them?"
Me: "YES I LIKE APPLES! And they are a part of a good diet as well. But we were discussing blueberries."
Again, I retreat a bit and mention all the benefits of all fruits and veggies, of eating a limited amount of red meats, etc. Again I bring up the fact that Americans are way too fat and unhealthy and why that is. Etc., etc., etc.
#2: "I can't believe you said that."
Me: "Said what?"
#2: "What you just said."
GRRRR!!!!!
The above is not a real discussion. It's just being used as an example of what has happened to me in recent months - on a number of different issues and in a number of different locales.
By the way...do you like pomegranates? Hey, watch your mouth. I can't believe you said that. 
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Okay, on an entirely different matter...
Most of you have probably gotten one of those scam emails supposedly from someone in another country wanting you to deposit sales moneys for them, keeping your share and sending the rest back to them. The scam is that the checks you deposit will be no good, and you'll be sending your own money. Most folks look at those emails and know right away that they're trash.
But did you know that there are some "companies" preying on people who have resumes posted on some of the Internet resume posting sites - like Monster and Yahoo Hot Jobs and others? I only found this out because I still had a resume out there somewhere that I had completely forgotten about.
The company writes to you and praises your resume. Then they ask that you fill out one of their online applications so that you can be scheduled for an interview. They seem to have jobs that match your job skills, because they search your resume for key words. If your resume says something about training, the job is about training. If it mentions sales, the job is about selling. Etc. The money they are proposing to pay is just a bit above what might be normal for the area, but it's not so outrageous that you would laugh at the money. Or run the other way.
I got one of those emails a while back and something about it just didn't "feel" right. For one thing, I have not been actively looking for a job - at least not a responsible high-paid full time job - for quite some time. But it was more than that. Instinct just said that the email and the company was probably bogus.
Still, I clicked on the link and was sent to a job application. Again, bells and whistles went off in my head. The name at the top of the application didn't match the name in the email I received. I thought that was strange.
I hit the "about us" link on the home page and discovered that this outfit supposedly provides professional Internet applications for lots of companies. Hmmm. The application appeared to want just a bit too much information.
So, I decided to Google both the name in the email and the name at the top of the application. What I discovered what that both of them are bogus. They're using the information they collect to solicit, to send spam emails, perhaps even to steal identies (since one of the application pages wanted way to personal information).
What I find as odd is that while there are pages and pages about this particular scam on the Internet, I have not heard it being reported by any major TV networks or newspapers.
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Well, of course it is. Yes, it hurt to get out of bed this morning. And it will hurt to get back into bed tonight. And in between, there will be more hurting times. But I'm alive. And I am blessed with being able to sit at my computer and write a few words.
I can watch out the window and see things gradually changing. (I would wish for faster season changes, but...)
I have two cats that depend on me. And I think each one loves me, in its own way. Of course, being cats, they might not admit to that. 
Yes indeedy, it's a beautiful day in the neighborhood. Well, maybe not for someone.
As I was riding down the street to pick up my son from work, I noticed some folks in front of a store gathered around and pointing and shouting. From where I was, I couldn't tell if they were shouting at each other or about someone else. Then, a car sped up behind me, went around me, then decided to make a right turn from the left lane. Curious.
Farther down the road, there were four police cars racing in the direction of where I had been. They had lights flashing, but no sirens on. Real curious. I don't think I've ever seen that many cop cars in our area before. Except at parades and community good time events. 
I picked up my son at Target, and on the way back, we noticed a bunch of flashing lights ahead. I told him what had happened on the way to get him. As we passed the police cars, we noticed that two more had joined in on the....chase? It must have been because it appeared that they had cut a car off. Very, very curious.
Then I realized why my mom always loved having a police scanner tuned to local police and fire stations. There are some flashing light events that you can pass and never know what happened. They just don't always make the newspaper or the nightly news. (And we only get the newspaper on the weekend anyway.)
Poor Mom. Some might think she had a fascination with police and fire calls and the tragedies of others. She loved listening to the police scanner.
When I was a kid (and later as a teen and young adult) my mom loved chasing fire trucks to see what was happening. As a kid, I thought it was fun. If the fire engines roared past our house, we would get on our roller skates or hop on our bikes to follow my mom to the fire. We never saw any major fires. Just backyard burning piles that got a bit out of control. Or kitchen fires that damaged just one room.
Then one day, when I was working and in college at nights, we heard sirens. By then, Mom had her scanner and when we heard where the fire was - near where we shopped for groceries - we hopped in the car to go and see what we could see. We parked the car, then walked to within a block of the fire, but on the opposite side of the street.
This fire was a bit more serious. It had spread to most of the stores in a strip mall. The roof caved in, and two fire fighters fell through. The gathered crowd cheered when they exited the building, knowing that they were safe. At the end of this strip mall was a gas station, and it was then that I realized this could really be a serious fire (and explosion) if the fire traveled a bit more. We left, and Mom was forced to listen on the scanner.
I'm not sure we did much fire gazing after that. I know I didn't.
How did my mom become so fascinated with fire? Actually, she feared fire. When we went to restaurants or movies, she always looked for all the exits. If there were not lots of exits, we would have to leave and go somewhere else.
You wonder why? When my mom was about three years old, the lumber yard right next to their house burned to the ground. My grandparents had six kids and they got them all outside. Then my grandfather and the other men in the neighborhood started using their garden hoses to squirt down their houses and roofs so they wouldn't catch fire.
My mom snuck back into the house and alternated between hiding under the bed and watching from the upstairs window. The fire scared that three year old child horribly. And, it's a wonder that her fears didn't get embedded into each of us.
Still, I was curious about what happened down the street a ways. But not curious enough to want to get a police/fire scanner.
Since that day that we feared that the gas station might catch fire, there have been two fires that I saw that I'll always remember.
The first was in Michigan. My first husband and I lived in a fancy mobile home park. He wanted new stuff and all the things that his parents had right off the bat in our marriage. And the easiest way to appear to have those things was to buy a new mobile home.
The first weekend that we were in our home, there was a fire. Just like folks often say, that mobile home was completely destroyed in less than three minutes. Not long after that, we had a bunch of fire and smoke detectors installed in our home. There weren't a bunch of the cheap ones that you can find today. No sireee. It cost us over $300 for those smoke and fire detectors. But we felt just a bit safer with them.
Then just a few years ago, when my son and I lived in Texas, the hardware store and lumber yard just a few blocks from our house burned down. I think I finally understood my mom's fear and fascination.
It was probably 10 pm, maybe a bit later, when we heard explosions, one after another. From inside, they sort of sounded like gun shots, but a bit stronger. I went out on the porch to see what I could see and discovered lots of neighbors rushing down the sidewalk. The stench of fire and smoke was in the air. I heard the crackling.
I was just as curious as my neighbors, so my son and I joined them all to go and see what we could see. What a mess. The hardware store had lots of paints and other chemicals in it, and that's what we heard exploding. The spray paint cans had actually flown across the street and embedded themselves in the sidewalk.
The mixture of burning chemicals soon had us all turning back to the safety of our homes. Even indoors one could smell the horrible smells.
Once the fire fighters had the hardware store part of the fire under control, they just stayed around to make sure that things didn't get out of hand. The lumber yard part of the fire just burned until there was no more fuel for the fire. How sad for the owners.
Strange, how the mind works. All of this came from just seeing a few cop cars with flashing lights. |
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