Month: August 2009

  • surviving health care

     
    Does anyone else out there ever base their lives around whether they might die this year?
     
    I'm a natural doom and gloomer.  To me, the ultimate optimism is expecting the worst, and when it doesn't happen, your day is going pretty good, even if stuff is still going wrong.  It's kept me pretty sane, don't seem to need anti-depressants or anything.
     
    I have a conundrum this year.  Since I experienced a nasty viral infection that hit my liver about 1 1/2 years ago, I'm highly med-intolerant.  I'm not able to treat for lupus and fibro and use pharma pain management because of this.  I'm subject to infections because my immune system loves getting hyper on me, and my lungs are already scarred up from years of low grade fevers and inflammation in my tissues inside my chest wall.  My conundrum?  The swine flu is coming...
     
    I had to make a new plan when my liver got sick and changed everything.  I HAVE to eat healthy, get lots of rest, and stay as far away from extra germs and stress as possible.  I'm a good person and try really hard to stay as productive as possible, but necessarily have to recluse myself from society quite a bit.  I'm learning to live with that, being left behind while others have fun and enjoy traveling and holidays and stuff.  I'm learning to deal with the bad feelings of jealousy and self pity and turning them into new ways to do nice things for others.  I love to cook, and this summer I made a big load of peach jam to hand out.  I cook meals for older in-laws.  I send surprises in the mail to people.  Get lots of books from the library, keeping my mind busy.  Hang out with my 'girls' (chickens) and do my own little studies on their behaviors and egg production.  It's a fun hobby.  Sometimes I work on articles to share what I've learned.
     
    But in the back of my mind, every single day, is the thought that this might be my last year.  This might be the year that my kidneys crash, or my lungs fail during a combo of illness and lupus flare.  This might be the year that I go into some kind of unstoppable catastrophic failure that medications can't fix.
     
    How can a person live like this?  When I try to discuss this with people who don't live with illness, they get upset and tell me all kinds of things about 'hanging in there' and 'don't be so down' and 'think healthy'.  It won't matter how much pain I might be in or how much difficulty I might be having on any particular day, just bringing it up is very upsetting to others.
     
    I know other people who live like me.  Some people are born with cystic fibrosis and live like this their whole lives.  Some people live with lupus for decades.  Some people get much more devastating illnesses, some have no idea they are sick and find out they have 3 months to live.  And some people simply destroy themselves severely neglecting their health.
     
    There is a lot of debate going on about health care reform right now.  I've heard nightmare stories from every conceivable angle when it comes to people winding up in hospitals, and it had nothing to do with insurance or a lack thereof.  Just last week a young man (20) went to a local hospital with chest pain, had all the tests and was told he was fine and to go home, and two days later he was dead, and AFTER the death they concluded it was pneumonia.  He didn't have a health challenge, and it had nothing to do with the swine flu.  We have a local chest bug going on around here, and everyone is being tested for H1N1 with it, coming back negative, but still making people VERY sick.
     
    If universal health care goes through, I will be one of the people at the top of the list to 'weed out'.  Nature is already weeding me out, I can't even take advils (or anything related) any more without instant fever and kidney response.  I could live another ten or twenty years trying to be as useful as possible to the people around me, but not if getting health care becomes even ~more~ difficult than it is now.  I've heard pros and cons, I've lived through medicaid controlled health care in the past (I was so restricted back then that a doctor smuggled 5 months worth of drug samples to me that medicaid refused to cover, most likely saved my life because I was so very ill at the time), and I have 'awesome' *ahem* insurance now.  But the key is managing one's own health care.  It doesn't just magically happen.  You could get a great doctor who is stuck in a dinky little clinic with crappy staff and very little to offer in the way of radiology and lab.  You could be in the biggest clinic in town with all the latest toys and get a doctor who gives you five minutes of negligence.  I've * seen * it * all.  I've had to work very hard to not only keep doctors coordinated, but to keep test and blood work orders from being mangled up along the way.  I've been lost in the system, took 3 years to dig up records over 10 years old when insurance changed, so many FACTS are lost that I can no longer prove I broke my foot over ten years ago, for instance.
     
    Cancer treatment in the United States is phenomenal, if you are willing to make the sacrifices to get to special treatment CENTERS.  We have some pretty dang impressive cardiology clinics.  Been in one, had heart surgery.  But these things don't magically happen just because you 1) walk into a doctor's office 2) with private insurance.  In short, I know plenty of people who have died already ~because~ they don't know the ropes in the health care system.
     
    THAT IS THE KEY.  Knowing the ropes.  It takes a lot of time to learn the ropes.  Long term patient care can be a nightmare in this country, depending on how well you monitor and manage the health care you are offered, how much you insist on more when it doesn't seem like you're being responded to sufficiently, how much you neglected your own health in the first place...
     
    Some of us wake up and face our deaths every day.  It's not all about the elderly being denied hip replacements and pace makers.  It's also about millions of people who live with chronic illness and need continual monitoring and maintenance to stay out of the hospital.
     
    I'm going to ask a question.  If the FDA and universal health care suddenly took all your OTC cold medications off the shelves and told you that you just had to live with your colds (which are self-limiting and you get over anyway), would you be upset?  Everyone knows how miserable a cold can be.  Imagine being told you can't take something to relieve your congestion and sinus headache, your sore throat and raspy cough.
     
    Now imagine that sometime in your life you will inevitably, sooner or later, be much more ill than simply having a cold.  Imagine that you have to argue your way into an appointment after a trip to urgent care because a specialist requires a referral, and you can't get an appointment with your regular doctor for at least 3 weeks, and no one is returning your calls.  In the meantime, you are having incredible pain breathing because the lining around your lungs is inflamed (but your lungs are clear), and all it takes is one week on a corticosteroid to keep you out of a hospital, which would cost you at least several hundred dollars (or even a thousand) AFTER insurance pays on your ER visit.  One $15 prescription, and it takes 3 doctors, 2 x-rays, and 3 clinics (and $90 in copays) to get it...  And that's before universal health care even gets here.
     
    That is NORMAL.  There are already people in the United States who spend weeks and even months pushing to get diagnosed and treated.  It took a year and a half and 3 doctors before I was FINALLY tested for lupus, and it came back positive.  I lost 75 pounds over 9 months, carried a low grade fever the entire time, but because I was on medicaid at the time (divorced parent in college), I was DENIED health care.  Until a doctor smuggled me in and then smuggled drugs to me.  I can't imagine government-run universal health care making that nightmare any better.  Isn't that what medicaid already is?
     
    I've already been through this.  I'm not afraid of universal health care.  I've been expecting to die for 2 decades.  What I AM afraid of is getting the swine flu because people are stupid and show up to work or go shopping when they have high fevers.  Yes, they do, you know they do.  I ~know~ people who live carefree happy lives and run out of everything in their cupboards, then when they get sick they panic and have to go shopping for pepto or advil or even just basic food to get them through a couple of days of hanging close to the bathroom.  These same people are not avid hand washers and don't carry hand sanitizers with them.  These same people wipe their noses on their hands, and then touch stuff on shelves and set them back.  They don't care that some germs can live up to 7 days in a dormant state on surfaces, easily picked up by others.
     
    When you reach a point where you are sick ~all the time~ and never get better, you get really tired of this.  If every time you go to a holiday dinner or go to the mall you wind up sick for a week, you start paying attention.  You get to the point where you don't think it's cute or funny when your friends show up at your door whining about being sick and wanting to hang out and get sympathy for it.  You reach a point where you barricade your life and stock up your entire house for two months of quarantine in the event some kind of nasty bug sweeps the schools and churches and work places and you don't dare go out, because you know you could wind up in a hospital.  Like that 20-year-old guy.  Actually, he was sent home.  He died.
     
    You don't see people like me out and about very much.  I worked for years with people who think that violently throwing up every week is 'normal'.  They think snotty noses and hacking coughs and gut wrenching trips to the bathroom are inevitable, and don't give a second thought to how many people they infect in passing.  And for many people this probably isn't a problem, unless you get disgusted with constantly having to deal with bodily fluids spewing from all angles and all the misery it causes.
     
    Sorry, that was gross.  But you get the picture.
     
    Anyway, just wondering if other people out there are thinking about the fact that this could be it.  This could be the year that a lot of people just die.  Maybe people we know.  Maybe us.  I see people drive around with support ribbons on their cars.  I see ads on tv about breast cancer and mesothelioma and motorized chairs that you don't have to pay a penny out of pocket for, and I wonder if this is the year it's going to hit much closer to home than that.  Like, maybe all it's going to take is a new virus to sweep through weeding ALL  of us out.  Before universal health care even gets here.
     
    I think we all need to slow down a bit and take stock of who we are, why we are, and what the debate is all about.  I have no idea, given that our country has millions of people and we have so much science and technology, whether one plan will work better than another.  But I do know that, as individuals, we've ALL got to be smart, and not just wait for other people to make the decisions for us.  If you WANT good health, you will do what it takes to HAVE good health.
     
    Confession-- before I got sick with lupus, I was a smoker and enjoyed a fair amount of alcohol.  I engaged in extreme dieting.  I loved Coca-Cola and rarely ate vegetables.  I ran my body into the ground between work and college and being a mom.  I was Super Woman.  And I nearly died when the lupus hit me.  It was very painful, and took months of drugs to stabilize me, took years to bring the SED rates down.  If I had been in better health to BEGIN WITH, I might not have gotten so sick or taken so long to recover and heal.  I have a lot of damage in my body that will never get better.
     
    My advice?  Live like this could be your last year if you don't change things.  Every day when you get up, think that this is the year you could die from something as simple and stupid as a virus.  It happens to other people, it can happen to you, too.  Take an inventory of all the things you do that make it harder for your body to function well.  Ask yourself if you really want to rack up tens of thousands of dollars in unforeseen emergency health care costs.
     
    Because it's YOUR choice, no matter what kind of health care policies are coming down the road.  Be proactive NOW, and take a good look at what the debate is all about.
     
    A final word on private insurance.  I love it, but ONLY because it saved me from government health care.  Private insurance doesn't fix everything.  You have to be smart about that, too.  For all the illness I've been through, I've taken the biggest financial hit because I was willing to pay cash when insurance wouldn't approve tests and treatment.  I sometimes feel like my insurance is a scam because we pour so much money into it, and it seems like I see diminishing returns when they only pay out $1000 for alt preventative care like chiropractor, but are willing to pay tens of thousands on spinal surgeries and resulting months of physical therapy.  But that's the wrong way to look at insurance.  Insurance is a safety net, that's all.  They make no big promises.  In the end, you've still gotta make the decision over whether you're willing to pay out the cash for the health care you want instead of shopping at the mall or upgrading your car.
     
    And for those who don't have the cash, I've been there, yes, it sux.  I was so very lucky to find a doctor who cared enough to get around the system and save my life.  I may not like everything about big pharmacy, but those hundreds of dollars' worth of free samples saved my life.  There IS a way around the system.  I know a woman who was smuggled into chemo through a back door after hours by a doctor who didn't want her death on his conscience.  I know we don't all get that lucky, but at least there are still good people out there fighting for the right to heal people.
     
    Please don't let the government kill that spirit.  The health care part is easy.  The having to explain everything on piles of paperwork is what's hard.  All those rules and regs.  Find ways around them.  Keep searching for ways around them.  But don't think for one second that someone making up more rules and regs can fix the mess.  The freedom to practice medicine is what is being eradicated in our country, eroding slowly over time through big pharma, big insurance, big govt.
     
    Be smart.  This could be your last year.
     

  • a tag survey from facebook

     

    1. What time did you get up this morning? Way too early.  I wonder if my post office will be one of those that close.  (Watching the news.)  We have a really tiny post office.

    2. How do you like your steak? Gimme a t-bone marinated in teriyaki and garlic salt, med-rare.  Literally.  I love attacking what's left on the bone.  The caveman genes are thrown way back in me.

    3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? I refuse to speak of it.  I'm still angry.  You know the South Park where the boys fall apart over Stephen Spielberg and George Lucas raping Indiana Jones in the Crystal Skull?  That's how I feel about the new Trek.

    4. What is your favorite TV show? I would have loved to see the Big Bang gang on Comic-Con Live on G4 this year, but noooo, they had to feature an interview with the Chuck girl.

    5. If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be? I used to think it would be cool traveling the world living in nice hotels, but the older I get, the more I like my own house and my flat screen tv.  No new germs this way.  Yes, I'm a phobe.

    6. What did you have for breakfast? Later I ~will have had~ creamed eggs on toast, a long lost beautiful experience in our modern rat race.  I love using future past tense, thanx for allowing me that opportunity.

    7. What is your favorite cuisine? Depends on my mood.  I easily flip around ethnic and regional cuisines.  I have to admit, though, that the person before me triggered a slavering craving for my fave Chinese restaurant.

    8. What foods do you dislike? Too salty.  I can't get over how salt happy the world around me is.  Nothing ruins a good meal for me faster than feeling like I've gotten my full day's supply of salt in the first bite.

    9. Favorite Place to Eat? Here, actually.  If I were rich, though, I'd have Red Lobster staff on stand-by.

    10. Favorite dressing? Depends on what I'm eating.  I think honey mustard mixed in miracle whip is a gorgeous way to dress up a sandwich.  But then, so is a croissant, and bacon, tomato, avocado, and onion.  But I'm not really a sandwich person, so the experience HAS to be mind blowing.

    11.What kind of vehicle do you drive? I once read somewhere that there were more Chevy Luminas on the road than any other car.  I look upon mine as my storm trooper mobile.

    12. What are your favorite clothes? Lounge wear and t-shirts.  I love my comfort zone.  My grandmother would never have approved.

    13. Where would you visit if you had the chance? I can't get over all the plane crash problems in the news this year.  Easier just to turn on the tv than deal with all that in a personal way.  I'm impatiently waiting for football season to start.

    14. Cup 1/2 empty or 1/2 full? When times are tough, just get a smaller cup so it can runneth over.  I have a unique viewpoint on life.  Too many whiners out there who are way better off than most of the world and don't appreciate it.

    15. Where would you want to retire? Already dealing with it.  My psychologist tells me that going through becoming disabled at such a 'young' age is putting me through all the same things older retirees go through.  The key is to continue to find ways to be useful to others.  Or annoying...

    16. Favorite time of day? Hard to choose, but I like it best when Scott's home.

    17. Where were you born? Nuevo Mexico, land of the bright manana.  I really miss the regional indigenous artwork and style.  I hate the fakey stuff you can get in tourist shops that are supposed to look 'southwest'.  Someone once gave me a carved wood silhouette of a coyote howling that was painted a weird dusty pink...  Not quite sure what that was about.

    18. What is your favorite sport to watch? Triple Crown horse racing, pro football, nasty extreme sport accidents on youtube...

    19. Who do you think will not tag you back? I wasn't able to forward this in my own tag since it required naming 25 friends.  I'm one of those anti-friend people.  It's more fun keeping stuff private and letting friend requests just sit there and pile up.

    20. Person you expect to tag you back first? I'd better not have to go through this again.

    21. Who are you most curious about their responses to this? I'm not.  I could never be a school teacher and grade the same papers over and over.

    22. Bird watcher? I still maintain that bluejays aren't the bullies that other people think they are, even though I saw one pick up a fledgling and fly with it down to the yard and drill its brains out.  All it takes is one to make all the rest look bad.  I don't make blanket presumptions about entire races and species based on one incident.

    23. Are you a morning person or a night person? I'm an around the clock person with a severe sleep disorder, but a lessening dependence on the internet.  I'm weaning off so I won't go into shock when our nation is pulse bombed by a nuke and all our technology grinds to a standstill.

    24. Do you have any pets? Chickens are the bomb.  There would be far fewer neglected dogs and cats in this world if more people got chickens instead.

    25. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share? Wow, forgot all about this survey.  Whadayaknow.

    26. What did you want to be when you were little? A flying horse.  I'm still disgusted that wasn't a viable option.

    27. What is your best childhood memory? Pretending I was an Indian surviving off the land.  And pretending I was Mr. Spock.  Actually, just about anything mom-less.

    28. Are you a cat or dog person? Grew up with both, good with both, no longer care for either one, and I'll tell you why-- they try to kill my chickens.  Cats love hooking chickens by the eye through the wire, dogs just wanna chase and rend with blood lust.  And they both drag parasites and disease around, and the neighbors don't care if their pets are destructive and evil.  And I keep seeing so many unwanted ones by the highway or in ditches.  You just don't get these problems from chickens.

    29. Are you married? At this age, *everyone* is in self perception crisis, but yes, and I'm glad I stuck through it and didn't drag around an ugly divorce, like many people my age are doing.  People hit that middle age brick wall and suddenly get selfish and whiny and love blaming it all on the other person or lack of other person in their lives.  It's such a redundant theme that I think it must be a built-in part of human existence to go through selfish whiny phases every other decade.

    30. Always wear your seat belt? Being thrown out of a violently flipping car is actually probably what saved my life.  Most people don't live through volkswagen wrecks like that.  But, so that no one here takes that seriously enough to apply to their own lives, I was once first on the scene were all but one person were thrown out (no seatbelts), and out of 5 or 6 people, only one lived, and she was one of the ones thrown out.  The guy inside was crushed.  Another person was decapitated going through a fence, another broke their back into jelly on a tree, and another bled to death in my arms.  That was before seat belt laws, but that law would NOT have saved ANY of them in that wreck, since the vehicle was so badly crushed it couldn't be identified as a car or truck right away.  What saved the girl who survived was being so drunk that she didn't know what happened, and was wandering all bloody on the highway.  So if you aren't wearing your seatbelt, the key to safety is being really tanked on alcohol, just realize that still won't stop sudden very nasty death.

    31. Been in a car accident? I think I've covered that one pretty good.  Btw, another first on the scene of an accident, the girl was NOT wearing a seatbelt and smashed her face so hard on her steering wheel that her nose bone was shoved into her sinus, and she was bleeding into her lungs.  I had to keep her coughing (thank goodness she was responsive to commands) until ambulance could get there and aspirate.  So yeah, you might wanna think about that seat belt and save the ol' face.  Btw, I think they're doing the Cash for Klunkers all wrong.  They should base trade-ins on safety needs, NOT mileage according to a book.  They'll take SUVs, but they won't take something that really should be condemned off the highway because a book says should still be getting so many mpg.  If they REALLY wanna help poor people, they'll consider people driving around without working air bags and no AC during killer heat index.  But, I don't think really saving people is the goal...

    32. Any pet peeves? I once tried to make a list, but it turned into a complex breakdown that looked like an outline for a presentation, detailed with subclauses and little asterisks.  I think, at this point in my life, I would break it down into two main pet peeves that fall under the section of "happening before 6 a.m. and/or coffee"-- 1) majorly dropping something and having to clean up a big mess and even change my sox, and 2) having to chase a big spider around.  When you reach my age and you've got little life altering complications that make it harder to bend, twist, and otherwise move quickly, these two things upon first arising can really suck.

    33. Favorite Pizza Toppings? Used to be Italian sausage and mushrooms, but over time the Italian sausage has gotten incredibly spicy and the mushrooms have become these gigantor 'fresh' things, so I no longer say that.  Then I thought super supremes were good for awhile, until the onions and peppers grew into monstrosities that don't get cooked.  The hamburger and pork topping have gotten so tiny I can't see it, and I'm disliking sauce more and more.  So now I make homemade pizza.  Scott says it's really good.

    34. Favorite Flower? Lilacs, honeysuckle, roses, carnations, morning glories, gladiolas, crocus...  I stopped before this became a big paragraph.  Hard to pick a fave, moods jump around.

    35. Favorite ice cream? - I don't eat it much any more.  Burned out.

    36. Favorite fast food restaurant? Gee whiz, how old is this thing?  I musta started it two weeks ago.  I loathe fast food in general, but I'll take a 7-layer burrito from Taco Bell in a pinch.

    37. How many times did you fail your driver's test? I failed so badly that they passed me.  I'm not kidding.  Helps to be loaned a really old volkswagen and you've never driven a stick shift outside of a hayfield before.

    38. From whom did you get your last email? I seriously get emails from Gary Graham.  Want emails from a celebrity?  Oh, who is Gary Graham.  Soval on "Enterprise", Detective Sikes on "Alien Nation", I won't list his resume.  Anyway, go to garygraham.com and leave a comment on one of his posts and you might wind up on his mailing list.    Cool, huh?  I get stuff from Weird Al on myspace, too.  Anyone who has over a million friends and still runs their own myspace is cool.

    39. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card? I cut up my credit cards and refuse to get another one.  And if I had a thousand bucks I'd still spend it in a grocery store on expensive fish and cheeses.

    40. Do anything spontaneous lately? I very spontaneously killed a big brown spider this morning.

    41. Like your job? It's amazing what you can discover when you keep careful egg charts.  Dooney has already laid 183 eggs since New Year's Day.  What a machine!

    42. Broccoli? In a variety of ways.

    43. What was your favorite vacation? Ever?  The time Scott accidentally forgot to tell me he got tickets to fly out to see his dad, and I suddenly had a week to myself.

    44. Last person you went out to dinner with? I'm watching a food challenge on the food network, and wondering why in the world someone would put spiced polenta with nearly raw duck.  Nearly invented duck sushi there...

    45. What are you listening to right now? My stomach.  I'm on a medrol pack right now, it's screwing my blood sugar, and all I can think about is *food*...  So I'm sucking on menthol-lyptus cough drop.  ~Nothing~ will taste right after this.

    46. What is your favorite color? Now the challenge is trout.  Even with a cough drop in my mouth I'm drooling over all 3 dishes, even though one looks only half-cooked, another didn't get finished, and the third is so full of curry I'd never be able to eat it.  I once put 12 pounds on during a week of corticosteroid therapy.  Never doing that again.  I could never stay on it for, say, two years at a time like some people do.

    47. How many tattoos do you have? I have neglected skin decor in my life.  I feel it is a serious waste of money, and will become a big joke as my skin ages and gets weird hairs or moles or wrinkles or whatever.

    48. How many are you tagging for this quiz? Nobody.  If you'd like to do it, hit the email link and grab it.

    49. What time did you finish this quiz? Two weeks after I started, apparently.  Wonder if anyone else took this long.
     
    50. Coffee Drinker? Only at home.  Too picky.

  • yay for survey <3

    y a y f o r s u r v e y<3

    a l l t h a t b a s i c c r a p<3


    what is your name?: You're right, this is basic crap.

    age?: If people never guess my age right, does my real age exist?

    what's your hair look like?: Scott can't believe that I can smell paint long after it's dry.

    bday?.. I wanna send a card :) : When I was in high school I sent mail with surprises in them.  Once I put a tick into the envelope.

    height?: No one ever asks depth.  Man, this survey is sucking so bad already.  I'm going to have to get mental or something.

    nicknames?: We're about to paint one of the walls "Morocco Desert".  So far the other walls are "Oat buff".  Going for that 3D effect.  With a vaulted ceiling and one angled wall and another inset wall with a big shadowbox shelf, it really is 3D.

    y o u h a v e s o m e f a v s r i g h t ?<3

    color?: We tried various yellows in other parts of the house, what a disaster.  I am NOT a yellow person.

    sport?: When you get store ads online and compare the sales, watch the coupons and rebates, and wind up with 3 pounds of free Folgers coffee or get 18 giant bubble mailers for only 39 cents each, you win.

    food?: And then I got bogo (buy one get one) filet mignons at Harter House.  I watch for when something nice goes cheap and then load up.

    drink?: You're right, where's my ice tea?

    movie?: My fave Geena Davis movie is "The Long Kiss Goodnight".  Bet you thought it would be something with Jeff Goldblum in it, didn't you?

    tv show?: TV is unplugged right now.  Painting.  Many tarps and things.

    mag?: I bet no one EVER says Tea Time magazine in one of these.  I'm wanting to try making the pumpkin creme brulee.

    non-living item?: That was a jolt, I suddenly got the vision of all the previous items being alive.  Way too literal in my head.  And what is up with asking it like that?  Can you see reversing the question?  "What is your fave living item?"  See how stupid that is?

    thing to do when you're bored?: SURVEYS.  Egads.  I'm pathetic.  I finished my book covering the impact of the cosmos on world mythologies and human consciousness, and now I stoop to this...

    place?: My house.  My cave.  My sanctuary.

    place to just visit?: I like to visit Walgreens.  It's so cute and tiny, and they have awesome novelty footies.  If you buy 3 packs of footies, they wind up being around $1 for each pair, and they are the GOOD kind, the ankles aren't too tight or too low, they stay on in tennis shoes, and they don't fall apart.

    day of the week?: I've always liked Tuesdays.

    m a k e y a t h i n k<3

    most embarrassing moment?: That implies getting caught.  However, I did find it embarrassing to realize I look like my mother when I fuss at my kids.  I really hate that.  Best to stop fussing, eh?

    favorite inside joke?: Lately it's that my klunker doesn't qualify for cash.

    favorite childhood memory?: Oh, gee, pulling weeds, scrubbing the floor, picking my fingers raw in the garden...  My parents actually believed in WORK, and they didn't worry about child labor laws.  Ok, fave tongue in cheek memories...  Will I ~ever~ forget pitting 10 gallons of cherries?  Probably not.

    first crush?: I'm not sure that I ever really had a 'crush'.  I think the closest I came to a crush was desperately wishing I could time travel, or had wings so I could fly.  My crushes are on ideas.  They sweep me away.

    i laugh the hardest when..: Perfect looking adults are suddenly surprised by kids throwing up all over them.  Surprise!

    i'm a sucker for..: Food.  You can buy me with food.

    it makes me mad when..: People ignore their children to the point of the kids being absolutely miserable, and then they slap the kids to shut up.

    w h a t d o y o u t h i n k / a r e y o u<3

    about lying?: You'd be surprised how that can save your life when you get in a pickle.

    about cheating?: I don't understand the belief in 'love' when it's so easy to cheat.  I've never cheated, maybe that's why I don't get it.

    about opening doors for people?: I've seen shoppers let heavy doors fall on old people to the point where injury and blood happens.  All I can say is, what goes around comes around.  When you get old, everything you ever did to others comes back to haunt you.

    about laughing for no reason?: I'm learning to suppress the giggle at idiocy so I don't have to say there was no reason.

    about college?: I think it needs to start in high school.  Too much time is wasted between 16-18 on being bored with childish things.

    about country music?: Aside from a good song here or there, I really can't stand the genre.  It ranks directly behind rap in the "quick, turn it off" department.

    about dying?: I sometimes think that fragile nature of our bodies is the only thing that gives our souls a chance.  If you don't get that, go bloat up on some french fries or something.

    you a health freak?: My mom was a health freak.  I'm healthY.  Big difference.  You can jam all the jars of healthy pills and juice and special foods in your body that you want, it doesn't save you from being ignorant to the point of allowing diabetes to ravage your brain until you live like a vegetable in a nursing home.

    you mean?: Is this 'are you mean'?  Only in the kindest way.  I will be honest enough for you to hate me.

    you friendly?: In my own little introverted way.  I think it's friendly to point out a bug in someone's hair to a total stranger, but I refuse to pick it out for them.

    you mad right now?: I am in no condition to handle being the least angry.  Too bad the entire world can't feel like this, we'd all be way more laid back.

    you believe sneezing is contagious?: Surprisingly so...  Yes, I get it, but the layers of stupidity in this survey are grinding me down.

    you ready for this to be over?: This survey maker has dreams of one day going into the psychiatric field.  I feel for the patients.

    l e t s f i n i s h w i t h s o m e r a n d o m<3

    do you have something better to be doing right now?: Actually, no.  This time slot is for wasting.

    why do people get mullets?: Because Americans live under the illusion that they are free to choose.

    should using all blue eye makeup be considered a sin?: Wow, haven't heard this one in years.  Do they still say this?

    one thing you adore: I discovered The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai last night.  I was in dork heaven.  I love dorks!!!!!

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I've started transferring my survey posts over to Surveypalooza so people coming in from search engines on mobile devices will be able to see the surveys.

surveypalooza

Apologies for the missing vids, another upgrade during the server migration swept through like a scan sweeping through the Enterprise. I'll fix those later, kinda busy...

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