Anger

“Nothing else makes such havoc in the lives of ordinary men and women as yielding to sudden fits of anger.

How sweet the serenity of habitual self-command. How many stinging self-reproaches it spares us!

When does a man feel more at ease with himself than when he has passed through a sudden and strong provocation without speaking a word, or in undisturbed good humor?

When, on the contrary, does he feel a deeper humiliation than when he is conscious that anger has made him betray himself by word, look, or action?

Nervous irritability is the greatest weakness of character. It is the sharp grit which aggravates friction, and cuts out the bearings of the entire human machine. “

Orison Swett Marden, 1898

More rolling artwork

I know it is illegal to paint graffiti on other people’s property. I am not endorsing it. I was just waiting at a light today while a train passed by and I snapped a couple of rail cars that caught my eye. I wasn’t quick enough to get the really colorful one that I first saw.

The shame of this to me is to see the talent these individuals obviously have, and fear the talent might go to waste. In my heart of hearts I hope these artists find a spot in some endeavor that will be wonderful for them, and visually a joy for others. I couldn’t paint either of these EVER!

Look for beauty in surprising places!

SPAM

Ummm. Used to love it when I was a kid. Now when I think of spam I simply remember I hold the “power” with my delete key. I think:

Stupid - Pathetic - anal retentive - morons = SPAM…..and the irritation is immediately gone

I feel immediately better

Create a GREAT DAY!

Save a bit at the gas pump

Ride a bike Or walk! I say that, but honestly, I drive every day. Here is another way to save just a bit. Keep your speed down.

For every 5 miles you drive over the 60 mark, you can add ten cents a gallon to your fuel cost at the pump. Besides, we all pretty much arrive at our destination as we should. Speeding is just an irritant to others and it raises our own blood pressure. We arrive at a light and no matter how fast we’ve gone, it’s still a time we are supposed to stop.

So instead of speeding, take a breath and enjoy the privilege we have of being able to drive to destinations - and the privilege of even having a car to do so! Look around. Smile at someone and surprise them. You may even see someone smiling back at you.

Andy Rooney you suck today

This is my personal opinion. I haven’t always thought his comments sucked, but today I feel differently. His commentary was on the draft “lowering it’s requirements for inductees. “

He stated that when he was in the military in WWII, the military only was excellent when the educational background of those drafted was higher. To me that negates the honor of all those who were wounded and died for our country (unless they were educated, of course) . How ridiculous. I know many incredible and intelligent people who are self-educated.

He also stated that the idea of letting those who have been in prison serving in the military was terrible. I disagree. Everyone has a right to make amends, and if someone has served in prison and opts to serve our country and is denied, what kind of country is this afterall? We are supposed to be forgiving and a country who offers rehabilitation.

He stated that these “persons” would represent our country poorly. I know people with no jail record and lots of education who can’t even find their common sense.

At the worst case scenario, perhaps someone with street skills and already with the capacity for violence would be a perfect candidate to send to a conflict.

Instead of sending the “average American” (perhaps your local librarian or school teacher) - maybe it would behoove us to consider someone with the acquired skills to have to the capacity to do the job (at least perhaps experienced in raw survival), instead of a graduate who’s ability to defend himself may be next to zero.

I must add to this, I don’t necessarily mean a graduate can’t defend himself. I certainly am not endorsing little education. We can all tear down one another until the day we die. It is useless and only adds agony to life. My comments about his commentary are only my personal observations and thoughts. I am not judging the man.

One beautiful thing about this life is that we are all different - from different cultures, homes, and backgrounds in character training, education, financial situations and so forth.

One ugly thing is that usually, without respect, we forget that we are not all alike and judge according to our own personal standards of excellence, and experience. We all have a right to voice our own opinions.

We certainly have the right to draw the line for ourselves in personal philosophy and actions. I will respect yours and I hope you will respect mine.

With that being said, CREATE a wonderful day for yourself!

2 Movie Reviews

 I selected “Babel” as I thought my husband had mentioned he’d like to see it.  He actually had never heard of it.  To our surprise it kept our interest the entire movie.  Probably one of the most unique movies we’ve seen for a while and we both enjoyed it.  Thought provoking.

The one I knew he wanted to see was “Marine”.  He was a Marine (so was my son) - not lifetimers nor war mongers, but good men educated by unbelievably difficult training.

My husband thought it might honor Marines.  DREAM ON!  Even I was insulted by the representation of the Marines in this one.  It was a B movie (maybe even worse), with terrible actors, terrible music and a badly written  story.

I often wonder how movies like this get the funding to actually be produced.  I guess different strokes for different folks, but this one was so bad we only watched a few minutes of it.  My husband said the guy looked like he was on steroids and acted so poorly he must have paid to be on it.  It really was bad.

Carlos Mencia (comedian) a much better choice.

Life

My twin brother is a very talented man. He is an author. He is also a songwriter. I wish I could sing the melody to you, but instead will just post the words and consider them as one of the choice quotations from authors. (I’ll just hum along)

“Life is never like your dreams
It’s never what it seems,
It seems to me that real,
is only what you feel and not what you believe
you need

Now love is sometimes in disguise,
It fools the old and wise
and that’s why it survives
Beyond our earthly lives
And lingers on and on
Beyond

Beyond, the fact I can’t predict
I wouldn’tchange the script
not even if I could

Now fools, might think they understand
Because they know the land
Because the they know the rules
Believe me their still fools,
but happy none the less,
to never have to guess I guess

The fact, I think there is no end
Just makes me glad again,
To end is to begin again
Begin Again
Begin Again

Life. . . “

Morris Walker

World’s shortest poem

……of course this is not my endorsement on how to handle stress

“Fears, tears, beers, cheers!”

FYI Gas price information

Just in case anyone out there is interested, a friend of mine on the east coast sent me a website that shows the various prices of gas.

Check: http://autos.msn.com/everyday/GasStations.aspx?m=1&l=1&zip=02840

Have a fantastic day!

One eye sees it all clearly

I must have been 18 or 19 when this incident happened. I’ve told it over the years to only a few people, as I don’t want everyone to think I am totally crazy.

I was feeling quite down as I recall. At 18 I was already a widow! I also had recently witnessed a terrible auto accident. I just couldn’t pull myself up on this particular day. I decided to try an experiment. I thought, “hmmm, if I cover one eye with a patch for the day, maybe when the day is over, I will at least appreciate having sight in both eyes. It was an off the wall idea, but I committed to spend the day viewing the world differently.

I wasn’t working that day so decided to drive to a park near the beach. About half way there I realized it was much more difficult to drive with only the sight in one eye. Still I was bound to keep this brief experiment going.

When I got to the park I sat on a bench watching children swing and play on the equipment. The breeze blew my hair across my face and when I brushed it away two little girls were standing in front of me.

One chirped, “You’d be pretty if you didn’t have that patch on your eye.” The other asked, “Will you push us on the swings?”

Of course I would and before you knew it both girls were flying high. Suddenly the corner of the swing nearest my eye patch hit me directly in the eye. It nearly knocked me down. The pain was terrible. Both little girls clustered around me and asked if I was okay. I said “Yes, but I think I need to go now. We waved good bye.

I took a path to the beach and as I stepped on the sand a young man blew by me and sand from his surfboard flew into my “good” eye. After a few minutes of dabbing it with a tissue,  I was able to see once again, but I knew my eye lens must have been scratched from the sand. Now both eyes hurt.

I kept to my commitment and left the patch on until I drove home. The patched eye was throbbing, but prior to removing the patch I had to put eye drops in my other eye as it was still stinging from the sand.

As I removed the patch I found my eye swollen and actually starting to show a huge shiner!

All I could think was “If I didn’t think I had anything to be happy about, I was wrong. Just having two good eyes to see with is truly a wonderful gift. I showered, ate a bite of supper, and went to bed with an ice pack laying on my poor eye. I drifted off into sleep appreciating all of the wonderful gifts we all take for granted.