Just Links!

Addendum: Sometimes you come across something that just tears you apart. This post did it for me. It is a daughter discussing her mom's possible last days with having Progressive MS.

Don't even bother with my links...go here instead.

This post will stay with me for a long time. I don't know why but I can't stop crying.

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In lieu of the fact that I am losing my marbles (has anyone seen them?) I am finally posting my links now on Saturday! This week went by so fast that I have yet to catch up. I have tons of good stuff to share.

So without futher ado...

On MS Health Central:

*Can one exercise when you have MS? Ya sure can! Which reminds me that I have to get off my duff and do it! Here is my latest post on Health Central about MS and exercise right here!

* Next up are some contributor posts about MS and exercise with the wonderful writings of our Nadja, Vicki Bridges, and Schmoozin Susan, OT extraordinare who also writes for Stu. Nadja writes about yoga and MS, Vicki writes about exercise from a wheelchair, and Susan writes about exercise from the standpoint of someone who has MS and is also an OT. Please do stop by to read and to comment. These ladies did a fantastic job! Just follow this link.

* Doctor Nitin Sethi, who is a neurologist, answers some reader's questions about MS. You may find that Q& A right here.

On Health Central's Depression Connection:

* Many years ago I had a miscarriage. It was one of the most emotionally devastating events in my life. I wrote about my experience in hopes that it would be of help to any other woman who has gone through this. It is one of my better pieces. I do hope you will read it. Here is the link.

* Here is something new and easy! There is no article to read...just a question of the week! Come on by to join the discussion of what helps you the most to cope with depression. Just follow this link!

On Health Central's Sexual Health Site:

* My post about the emotional pain of infertility is still up. If you haven't read it or know someone who has gone through this please do stop by.


On Health Central's ADHD site:

* If you have a child with special needs it is sometimes difficult to find an appropriate education for your child. My solution was to become one of the growing ranks of parents who homeschool their child having special needs. To get more information about homeschooling to see if it is right for you just follow this link.

T-t-that's all folks!

And if you need a cute kitty fix just see my post below!

Devious Cats Unite!

I still remember a joke from the Bob Newhart show...where someone asks him, "Do you have cats?" And Bob says "No" and the lady asking him says, "How do you know?" And of course Bob gives that deadpan double take he is so famous for.

Okay...maybe you had to be there.

But seriously...if you are into cats you gotta get this new book out called, The Devious Book for Cats.

And speaking of devious cats...my miss Mew Mew is still stealing things from my bathroom! Now she is into carrying around plastic cups! She trotted off with one the other night and I took her photo. Now tell me she is not the epitome of "devious."

And here she is elongating herself to new kitty lengths.

I have lots of links to share but I am too tired to post them now...perhaps tomorrow.

Stay tuned!

Gentlemen prefer blondes...

I had only seen clips of this infamous movie and especially Marilyn's rendition of "Diamonds are a girls best friend" but until last night I had never seen the entire film.

In my quest to see all the classic films (and yes I say this movie is a classic) I rented Gentlemen Prefer Blondes from Netflix.

I must say...this film was a delight! It was terribly corny with the dance routines and all the breaking out into song but it worked. It was fun and who knew that Marilyn Monroe was funny.

Here are just some of my reflections and ruminations:

* Marilyn Monroe was born on June 1, 1926. So she would be 82 today. Hard to imagine isn't it?

* This film came out in 1953 and so Marilyn was in her late twenties then.



* Here are someof my favorite quotes from the movie:

----[Staring at Lorelei and Dorothy] Evans: Say, suppose the ship hits an iceberg and sinks. Which one of them do you save from drowning? William J. Stevens: Those girls couldn't drown.

Esmond Sr.: Have you got the nerve to tell me you don't want to marry my son for his money? Lorelei Lee: It's true. Esmond Sr.: Then what do you want to marry him for? Lorelei Lee: I want to marry him for YOUR money.


Lorelei Lee: Don't you know that a man being rich is like a girl being pretty? You wouldn't marry a girl just because she's pretty, but my goodness, doesn't it help?

Lorelei Lee: I won't let myself fall in love with a man who won't trust me, no matter what I do.


* I love how they named characters in movies back then. Lorelei Lee is such a great name.



* I kept thinking of how Marilyn would have played Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffanys. I was reading once that this part was originally for her. It would have been a totally different film of course, but I would have liked to have seen it.

* I didn't know Marilyn Monroe's voice was as deep as it was. Her singing voice surprised me at times.

* No matter how many diamonds a man has, a man with a monocle named "Piggy" is just not attractive!



* For the 1950's this movie was very risque I thought! I always thought the 50's was so conservative but I am thinking that they thought about sex as much as we do now.



* How did the ladies get their boobs to look so...so out there? And then I found the secret. It was their bra! Take a look. This is how the "sweater girls" achieved their look.

* When I think of Jane Russel I think of the 18 hour bra that she advertised in later years. Would Marilyn have ended up selling bras later in life? Or maybe she would have ended up on a reality tv show. The possibilities are endless.

* Overall I think the movie was a smart parody of American values. Marilyn was totally making fun of a lot of our culture and values in this film.

* After watching this film I am definitely a Marilyn fan!

Muah! You all have a wonderful weekend

Lotsa Links!

I was just not up for posting links yesterday. Today I am still fatigued and foggy but that is okay...who needs to be peppy and coherent? Very over rated qualities if you ask me.

Been writing...a lot.

What have I learned about writing?

* Don't write with the TV on. I once had House reruns on for most of the day and my writing steadily grew to be more sardonic and sarcastic the more I watched. Maybe that isn't such a bad thing.

* Don't turn down all opportunities to write for free. Sometimes it gets you the exposure you need. But do achieve some sort of balance.

* You are only as good as your last post, chapter, book and so forth. Just because you did well once doesn't mean you can ride on that success forever. You have to treat every writing opportunity as the first. You have to get people to remember you. You have to work it.

* A writer doesn't just write. You are also your ad agency, marketing manager, and salesperson. I have learned that writing is not enough. You have to be willing to put yourself out there. The publisher may do a little but it is usually not enough. You must promote your own writing.

* Just because you are a good writer doesn't mean the red carpet will always be rolled out for you. Writers have no entitlements. You may be cut at any moment, your pay may be reduced, and you can easily be replaced by someone who is willing to work for less money. Don't assume people know your worth. You must show them...constantly.

* If you want to write, really love it, because there will be times when you question your sanity. Don't lose sight of why you wanted to become a writer in the first place.

And now for some links!

* If you know anyone who is going through infertility it can be an especially painful process. I write about my experience going through this time in my life here.

* If you are the parents of a child with ADHD does this mean you are more at risk for divorce? According to a new study, you just might be. As a matter of fact, couples who have a child who has special needs are more prone to splitting up. But this doesn't have to be the case. Read my article to find out what things can lessen the stress of raising a child with special needs.

* In an article by J. Douglas Bremner, M.D. entitled, "The Invisible Epidemic: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Memory, and the Brain" the author cites a statistic of sexual abuse as a cause for Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome: "....a prime cause of PTSD is childhood sexual abuse. About 16% of American women (about 40 million) are sexually abused (including rape, attempted rape, or other form of molestation) before they reach their 18th birthday." I have some personal experience with this topic, unfortunately as I was sexually molested when I was five years old. The memory still haunts me today. In an attempt to reach out to others who have also experienced sexual abuse I wrote this article.

* If you have Multiple Sclerosis, the decision to take the MS disease modifying drugs or not can be one of the most difficult decisions you may face during the course of your disease. In a series of three articles I have presented a balanced (hopefully) perspective of why some people do take these drugs and why some people (such as myself) do not. Please stop by to join the discussion of how you made your decision right here.

I do plan on visiting you guys very soon. I know I am so behind. Thank you so much for continuing to come to read me here and on Health Central. I am so appreciative.

I need to clone myself

After seeing Watchmen I am wondering why I can't clone myself like the blue dude did. Well okay that really wasn't cloning. What was that he did anyway? Okay and I would use my extra selves for work and not ahem...what he was doing. Moving right along.

What was I saying? Hell if I know.

How about thinking of nonsense? I am in the mood how about you?

Things I wonder about:

1. Seriously...haven't you ever noticed the resmblance between Simon Cowell and the monster from the Bugs Bunny cartoons? The hair...is so similar.

I am just saying...don't ya see the resemblance?

2. What makes dogs eat other dogs turds? And even sometimes kitty turds and crayons and eyes off of stuffed animals and other odd and assorted non-food things?

3. Why does my cat shun me? All I want to do is sit her on my lap and make her sing the meow mix commercial song. Is this so much to ask? She has the never ending bowl of kibbles...I mean really. Such ingrattitude!

4. Where are the leprecauns? Where is the rainbow and the pot of gold? After the Great Pumpkin fiasco I am having a hard time believing in anything anymore.

5. I had a cookie which had a brownie in the center of the cookie. No lie. I want to know who invented this because I want to thank them profusely. And how did they get the brownie in the middle of the cookie?

6. Why have I not recovered from daylight saving's time? How does daylight savings time figure into Einstein's theories?

7. Why don't you ever see a baby squirrel? Do they come out adult sized?

8. Where are my links? Oh my sweets...you will have to wait until tomorrow. I have so many that I cannot begin to list them today. I am too tired. Bone weary would cover it. Whatever I am supposed to be doing or if I am supposed to get back to you...rest assured....I will...tomorrow or sometime in this century.

Oh yeah...it is Multiple Sclerosis month. and next month is Autism Awareness month. I need a chocolate bunny. No wait...cheesecake. Yeah chocolate turtle cheesecake. I doth declare it chocolate turtle cheesecake awareness week.

How can I look more like Simon Cowell? It is all in the hair.

Nonsense...I got it. Don't touch that dial. Same bat channel...same bat time...tomorrow.

Need sleep....ZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Question for the day

What is your favorite and least favorite fast food restaurants?

I have a fondness for Arbys. Used to go there as a kid and the particular one I went to was in the shape of a hat. Or am I hallucinating this memory? And I love the special arby's sauce.

My most hated fast food restaurant has to be Burger King. I once went on a greyhound bus from Pittsburgh to Santa Barbara California. It was a three day ride...on a bus. And for the most part it was Burger King all the way. Did I mention it was for three days? Ever since that trip when I was a teenager I vowed never to eat Burger King again. I have been successful in my
avoidance of the king.

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Lotsa links coming your way next week.

But in the meantime...

Doctor Nitin Sethi, neurologist and blogger extraordinare has written a post for me for MS Health Central about a topic which affects most people who have Multiple Sclerosis. This community discussion is about whether one should take the MS disease modifying drugs or not. What are your thoughts? Come and join this discussion here.

Thank you Doctor Sethi!

And just wanted to thank all the people who have contributed interviews, quotes, and even articles for the on-line communities I am leading. If I haven't caught up with you yet, know that I will soon. I am definitely going to be giving a shout out to my editors about some of you. :>)

Have a great weekend and I will see you guys on Tuesday!

Escape into film...

Watched an old classic last night I had never seen before. Humphrey Bogart and Ava Gardner in The Barefoot Contessa. I love watching old movies now and then but they surely were made differently weren't they? I wanted to turn it off probably a fifth of the way into it. This movie was self indulgent, over acted, and terribly slow moving. But in the end I gave it a chance and now the movie is growing on me. Perhaps our modern minds are not able to deal with a meandering pace or long dialogue. I was forced to be patient. And that is not such a bad thing.



This film was made in 1954, ten years before I was born. I always wonder...where was I? How can this be...this whole world of things going on...movie stars being made...before I was even a thought inside my mother's head. And then I look at everyone in the movie and imagine how they aged and how most of them are gone. It is an eerie but comforting feeling that these people are forever captured on film. But that life goes on. And now I am becoming as long winded as this movie was!



Here are some observations about this movie as well as old movies in general:



* Humphrey Bogart is one goofy looking guy. How did he get all the babes! Actually he looks every bit like the Bugs Bunny cartoon caricatures I saw as a kid.



* They sure did drink and smoke back then. In most old movies that is what they are doing in between action...drinking or smoking. In this movie Ava didn't smoke and talked about herself as a freak for not doing so. I wonder how many of these people died of lung cancer.



* Women back then would be considered fat now. What did they say about Marilyn Monroe? That she was a size ten. For movie stars now...that would be grounds for dismissal and ridicule. How did we get to wanting everyone to look like stick figures?



* I loved the women's make up back then. The red lips, the arched eyebrows. So glamorous!



* Being a movie star back then was more than it is now. Now we make stars out of people who post youtube movies. Everyone has their five minutes of fame nowadays. But back then...audiences depended upon the entertainment industry more. They demanded bigger than life stars.



What are your thoughts?



I also watched french film called "Amelie" This is a movie I wish to buy so I can keep it. It is a delightful feel good movie...so much so that you don't even mind reading the subtitles!



I find myself relating to this character both in the mischief she causes and in her girlish fantasies.

Here are some wonderful quotes from the movie:

Narrator: Amélie still seeks solitude. She amuses herself with silly questions about the world below, such as "How many people are having an orgasm right now?" Amélie: Fifteen.

Raymond Dufayel aka Glass Man: You mean she would rather imagine herself relating to an absent person than build relationships with those around her?

Hipolito (The Writer): We pass the time of day to forget how time passes.

Narrator: With a prompter in every cellar window whispering comebacks, shy people would have the last laugh.

Bretodeau, The Box Man: Time's funny. When you're a kid, it passes slowly, and next thing you're fifty and your childhood fits into a rusty little box.

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So yes you should rent this movie. It makes me happy every time I see it. It is good for the soul.

And now I must dissapear into that realm called real life...

I'm a lean mean writing machine...

Okay maybe I am not so lean...or mean....but I am a writing machine lately!

But as I was visiting some of you recently I felt a wistful longing for a type of writing I have not done in ages. It has probably been more than a year now since I wrote any sort of poetry. I do miss it. And I also miss my stream of consciousness...I don't care who reads this...kind of writing. I feel myself growing more concrete-ized with facts, stats, and research churning through my brain. My logical self has been turned on and the other switches have grown dusty with neglect.

Sometimes I feel dissected. A part of me is over here. Another part is over there somewhere. I am like the scarecrow in the wizard of oz desperate to pick up my stuffing and make a whole person.

Not sure what to make of it...this constant feeling of being unsettled. Yet I know that this is the process of writing. I wouldn't trade it for the world.

And so I write...

Here are a couple of poems from the past to remind me of this part of myself.

Settling

put all the maybes, and soons, and we will sees
and put them in a ziplock bag for me
the half gallon size should do

place the bag in the crisper
keep it fresh and away
from bananas

open up the fridge
periodically
and know they are in there
waiting

to be mixed into the souffle
of half baked proportions
and sunken dreams



Signless

corner figure of a wizened profile
standing with open sign
the end is coming!
prepare!

cars streaming by in mocking procession
undaunted with her task
she stands to warn
and beckon towards
a certain future.

the world is
as the world was
too much the same
too much spinning

where do people go
when they spin off
into the stars?

some people look for signs
in amorphous clouds
and in tears from statues

me...i just pass by
without a sign
without a warning
simply holding on
and dizzy
from spinning

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And now for some links!


I am writing more lately and I am very grateful for the opportunities given to me. I am fortunate indeed. I have another site I will write for...interestingly enough...I am also going to be writing for Health Central's Sexual Health site. It has been a lot of fun to write on such diverse topics of special education, depression, multiple sclerosis and now...sexual topics.

Please do come to visit me on the different sites. I love your comments and especially when these lead to lively discussions.

• Are you taking antidepressants? Has your libido plummeted at a result? In this post I share which antidepressants are most and least likely (according to the research I have read) to affect your sexual desire and functioning. Care to share any of your personal experience about this? I would love to read your thoughts and suggestions. Follow this link to add to the discussion.
  


• Are you in limbo and awaiting a diagnosis for your symptoms which you feel may be Multiple Sclerosis? March is MS Awareness Month so let's spread the word as to the signs and symptoms of MS. If you are in medical limbo, I wrote this post to include what things to tell and ask your doctor. Some people go months, years, sometimes decades before they know what is wrong with them. I am hoping that greater awareness will lead to a quicker diagnosis for some. Please follow this link to read my post.
  


• Do you have a child with special needs? Do you want to know how to get your child's attention? In this post I give you ten very detailed ways to gain your child's attention so that he or she has more of an opportunity to both engage and to learn. Follow this link to read my article.
  
  
• And last but not least, can you get pregnant from upside down sex or by using a turkey baster? I kid you not, these were some of the suggestions given to me for getting pregnant. Do you have any old wive's tales to share about how to increase your chances of conception. Share them here in a comment after reading my story.

And lastly...the invitation is always open for any of you to join Health Central. As I was saying last week, I am the Community Leader for the Depression and Multiple Sclerosis sites. The site as a whole is a really nice place as members are kind and supportive to one another. There is a lot of good information and support and it is an opportunity for you to meet others who may be experiencing the same medical and/or mental health issues as yourself.

Also...I am just going to put this out there. During my initial interview, even before I was officially hired to write for Health Central I was already thinking about the notion of community. I said...look...there are a ton of people who write well and know about these topics...how can we include them? One way is for you to join the site...write... and show what you can do. I have...from the very beginning...always included a good word for people I feel are great advocates and writers. This is also why I have done the series of interviews. I feel bad that I don't have as much time to come and visit everyone on a timely basis but do know that a sense of community is everything to me.

I hope everyone is having a good week so far...time is going way too fast! More to come...stay tuned!

Hold on!

During the interim...

I will give you Sam and Dave with ...Hold On I'm Comin'

I promise to come around soon to see you all!