BBs Blog

I was going back over some of the news stories I’ve read the last couple of days, and have decided what we need is a really good anti-bully ad campaign like the ones mentioned in the story about a surprising new way to discourage risky behavior. If the ad folks could just come up with the right ad campaign, perhaps it would discourage the kind of cruel schoolyard bullying that hurts so many of our children. And that’s leads me to wonder why don’t we see ads that make it plain that bullying behavior is wrong? We have ads that are meant to discourage young folks from smoking, doing drugs, and indulging in sexual activities, yet I have never seen any kind of ad that tries to discourage young folks from bullying others.

A quick Google search for anti-bullying organizations in America assured me there are plenty of anti-bullying organizations here. So, why aren’t they getting the press that other anti-this and that organizations are? I’m not sure what the answer to that question is, but I do think that this is a problem that needs to be addressed in a more aggressive manner than it has been.

Because of a car accident that happened when I was in my early teens that left me with some scars, I was one of those kids that endured a lot of bullying in and out of the schoolyard. Fortunately, I had parents and friends who helped me to deal with that bullying in as positive a manner as possible. But, I have never forgotten the emotional pain that bullying caused me. I’ve been told by a lot of people that I should forget that pain. And for many years I did try to do that. However, that kind of emotional pain is never easily forgotten. And as I sit here and see how bad bullying has become in our society, it occurs to me that forgetting that pain is not the right thing to do because if I sit back and forget it, then how can I help others who are going through that pain? Remembering that pain, and knowing how much damage it can do is what helps inspire me to try and reach out to others who are going through it now.

Now a word of warning to those reading this column, do not, under ANY circumstances email me or make some comment to this article about how the poor bullies of the world are just misunderstood kids or grown ups who are acting out because they had really bad crap happen to them. I had more really bad crap happen to me growing up than you can shake a stick at. Yet I never used what happened to me as an excuse to turn around and hurt other people. I am sick to my soul of people excusing bullies because of bad crap that happened to them. We all have had bad crap happen to us at one time or another. But, that doesn’t give any of us the right to hurt others because of whatever bad crap happened to us.

I believe the only way we can stop bullying is to stop making excuses for the bullies, and make a stand that clearly says, “We don’t care what the hell bad crap happened to you, that doesn’t give you the right to hurt others.” Only by taking such a stand and making it clear that we as a society will not tolerate bullying under any circumstances will we be able to stop it. If we don’t stop it, then we face a world where more and more children will grow up to be adult bullies who do things like abuse their spouses and children, and go online as trolls. Help break the bullying cycle, and take a stand today against those who think hurting others is a fun and acceptable form of behavior. Don’t just make an excuse for a bully, make a difference!

A couple of weeks ago I ordered one of those H20 steam mops that came with a free hand held mini steamer. Monday morning my nifty new steam mop and hand held steamer arrived. After putting the mop together, I filled the water reservoir, plugged it in, and while I waited for the light to turn green, gave the floor a quick sweep with my Bissell featherweight vacuum. I knew the moment I started mopping the floor with my latest greatest homemaking gadget, I had done the right thing ordering said gadget. I was just as happy with how well the hand held steamer worked. By the time I finished giving the mop and hand held steamer a good test run, the kitchen and both bathrooms were positively gleaming, and I was totally hooked on my newest groovy gadgets.

Tuesday morning found me steam mopping the floor in Larry’s “Man Room”, then steaming the outside of the freezer and his little beer fridge with the hand held cleaner. Larry was not very impressed with the mop, but as he watched me using the hand held steamer, he started getting ideas about what he could use it for. I tightened the grip I had on my groovy little steamer and said, “This in MY steamer gadget. If you want one for out in the shop, go buy your own.”

Larry thought about that a moment as I continued steaming the outside of the freezer and said, “But that was my money you bought that thing with.”

I moved over to his little beer fridge, and as I began steaming it replied, “No, that was our money I bought this gadget with.”

Larry pondered that for a moment then said, “Well if it was our money, then that makes that thing in your hand our gadget.”

I turned and gave him “The Look”, then replied, “No. Possession is 9 tenths of the law. And since I unpacked said gadget, not to mention put the mop together by myself, read all the instructions, and the gadget is now in my little hand, it makes it my gadget. And if you try taking my gadget out to your shop, I will steam you with it.”

I spent the next few days steam cleaning walls, window blinds, curtains, silk flower arrangements, nick knacks, lampshades, and everything else in the house that could be safely steam cleaned. After all that, do I think the H20 mop and hand held cleaner are well worth the $133 we paid for them? Hell yes! The little hand held steamer alone is worth its weight in gold. Had I known how handy those little gadgets are for cleaning, I would have bought a hand held steamer a long time ago.

Since the hand held steamer and H20 mop only use tap water and a little electricity to clean with, they are an environmentally friendly method of tackling even the toughest cleaning jobs. Now all I have to do is figure out what I’m going to do with all those bottles of chemical cleaners I have under the kitchen sink. Maybe I’ll box those up and take them out to Larry’s shop….

Lately, I have been pondering how to keep a healthy mental balance in a world that seems filled with violence and cruelty of the worst kind. The answer for me turned out to be rather simple. I have to look for, and be able to see and appreciate all the beauty and kindness there also is in this world. This is especially true for me when it comes to my wandering around on the net. Unfortunately the world wide web is filled with people whose only ambition in life seems to be making life as miserable as possible for others. Trolls, are what this article I read called a certain group of these people. And trolls is a perfect description for this group of sad souls.

I’m choosing to stay away from the trolls of the net, read the important news whether it’s good or bad, and see if there is any way I can make even a tiny bit of positive difference concerning some of the bad news. I also spend a portion of each day finding beauty and kindness in the physical world around me, as well as the online world when I’m wandering around in it. Both of these worlds are filled an abundance of beauty, grace, charm, and human kindness.

Am I sounding like a bit of a Pollyanna here? Probably. But, in my humble opinion, the world needs as many Pollyanna type people in it as possible right now. I suppose in a way I’m not being completely like the young girl who actively confronts the bitterness in the town she is forced to go and live in with her aunt. I am instead choosing to avoid the places on the net that are heavily infested with trolls. However, in my own peculiar way I am opposing the effects of what they do by finding as much humor, beauty and human kindness as I can in the physical and online world, then sharing that humor, beauty and human kindness with as many other people as I can through my Musings From The Bottle website, as well as my Stumble Upon pages.

Sharing ourselves with each other is what helps keep the milk of human kindness flowing. I refuse to let the trolls and other nefarious people on the net take that ability to share completely away from me with their cruel games. I’ve been sharing bits and pieces of my life, and myself for a long time now. I started doing that when I began writing for the local papers. When the jawbone of the moral majority rose up and smote me for sharing some of my life in a way they didn’t like, I turned to the world wide web to continue with that sharing. And as long as my fingers are capable of typing the thoughts that run through my brain, I will continue that sharing. I will not “get over myself” to the point I can sit back and ignore cruelty of the worst kind going on around me because if I do that, then I have become as cold hearted and callous as the people instigating that cruelty.

The one thing that I realized from reading that article about trolls is that they are even more sensitive and susceptible to negative comments than the people they think they are superior too. Proof of this lays within the fact that those who are brave enough to speak out against them, are often hit hardest by them. While they tell the rest of the human race to “get over ourselves” and learn to live with life being filled with their kind of cruelty, they can’t “get over themselves” enough to follow their own advice. Which just goes to prove that trolls are even bigger hypocrites than the people they feel so superior to.

Am I taking a chance on becoming a target of the trolls by saying what I have? Maybe so. But, if I am targeted then it will only prove that my words are golden, and all their words concerning “getting over ourselves” are nothing but lead based hypocrisy. After all, if they can’t take some of the same heat from one little old blonde lady that they dish out to others without striking back, then how can they really be so superior to the people they deem weak? And I if I am targeted, then I guess as much I do not want to score any points in their vicious games, it will be me who truly scores the lulz, in this instance.

In the Wizard of Oz, it was the Wizard who was hiding in the booth. In the opening ceremonies of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, it was the little girl actually singing, we were suppose to pay no attention to. Personally, I would love to kick the butts of the idiots who deemed the little girl whose voice actually sang their beloved “Ode to the Motherland” song not cute enough to be seen, so hard their noses bleed for the harm they have done to the self esteem of young girls everywhere. Dove’s Self Esteem Fund and the Girl Scouts Uniquely Me Program are going to have to work overtime now in their efforts to help young girls feel good about themselves after the effects of that disgraceful lip syncing fiasco. No, it isn’t just going to effect the self esteem of young girls in China. The message the Chinese officials sent when they cooked up that lip syncing fiasco will be read loud and clear by any young girl who hears or reads about it.

Basically, what the Chinese officials who cooked up that lip syncing fiasco are saying is, “We don’t care if you have the voice of an angel. Unless you are so cute the mere sight of you sends the warm and fuzzies coursing through people the moment they lay eyes on you, you are not fit to be seen, only heard. Now get in the booth, and sing like an angel.”

Well I have a message I would like to send to those Chinese officials, and anyone else who worships cuteness and beauty that much. Cuteness doesn’t last forever, but true talent always leaves its mark on the world. Beauty fades, but the glow true talent leaves behind even after the truly talented person is long dead, lives on for generations.

It was grocery shopping day, and I was feeling too lazy to bother with make-up or fixing my hair.  I pulled my badly in need of a root touch up and trim hair into the world’s shortest pony tail, slapped my shades on, and called it good.  I had been thoughtful enough to put on one of my groovy little, no matter how flat chested you are this will give you cleavage, wonder bras, and a tight fitting, gathered down the sides v-neck grey t-shirt.  The only thing tighter fitting than the wonder bra and t-shirt, were the “Was she poured into those jeans?”   Now even with the skin hugging attire I was wearing, I didn’t expect to get any second looks as I went about my shopping.

It really made my day when as I was standing in the bread aisle, I glanced up and discovered a dude actually staring at what passes for cleavage with me.  When he saw I had caught him staring at said cleavage, he gave a guilty start and got a look on his face that clearly said, “Oh boy, is she going to be pissed off now.”  The look on his face was priceless when instead of giving him the dirty look he expected, I positively beamed at him.  We both went away smiling from that encounter.

And if anyone is thinking about emailing me and expressing outrage that I could beam instead of bitch about having what passes for cleavage with me ogled, don’t bother because not even for the Sisterhood am I burning my wonder bras.

Texas Star

Later that evening I was expanding my horizons and enlightening my mind when I came across a story about a very rare fungus plant that until now, had only been found in two places on earth.  Because of the way my horror loving little mind works, normally when I think of fungus, I envision some icky green fuzzy stuff slowly creeping over the couch potato as he sits drinking from the beer can that contained the spore of said icky green fuzzy stuff.  Or, I see visions of huge red blobs that were not dropped in Antarctica in a timely manner, covering women, children, houses and villages.  Yes I read way too much Stephen King, watch far too many horror movies, and listen to Alice’s Restaurant a little too often.  But, that’s not the point here.  My point in writing about this rare species of mushroom known as The Devil’s Cigar, or Texas Star, stems from the fact that upon clicking on the link to that story, I was immediately struck by the simple beauty of this rare plant.  I had no idea such a pretty little fungus plant existed in our world.  I just hope it continues to grow and even flourish in the three places it calls home now. It would be a shame if we did lose a plant of such simple beauty.

And speaking of Mother Nature’s beauty, the next day I once more ran across this link, FALL AT BUTCHART GARDENS, VICTORIA, B. C., CANADA.  I’ve seen that link several times before on various RSS feeds and social bookmarking sites, but since it was summer, hadn’t bothered clicking on it.  This time, something urged me to follow that link.  I am so glad I did because I saw some of the most stunning photos of Mother Nature in all her fall glory I have ever seen.  And I discovered Fall is so NOT just the shades of reds, yellows and oranges I have always thought of it as.

Isn’t is a wonderful world we live in? In this wonderful world there are such things as gel filled wonder bras for us gals the Goddess was more than a little stingy with when it came to boobage, and a cool place called the internet where one can find pictures and stories that show us what the true beauty of Mother Nature is really all about.