Years ago, one of my parents' favorite thing to do was to drive to the county seat, on a Friday night, park in front of the Ben Franklin store and watch the people walk by. People watching can be fun and I was able to do a lot of it when we recently attended an event that drew in thousands of people. One of the most fascinating things about watching other people is seeing someone who looks just like someone we already know.
Another thing about being in the proximity of that many people, at least in this neck of the woods, is seeing just how many of us are out of shape. I only saw one person, who was in my age group, who actually looked to be in pretty good shape. That made me decide that perhaps it was time to take some action to make some changes in my appearance.
The youngest of our brood is into all things healthy and loves to do body building workouts, so I asked her for some advice as to how to get me started. She said she would love to help and sent me a text message with my first set of exercises. It consisted of 20 sit-ups, 15 squats and 10 push-ups and I was to do as many rounds of these as possible, in a twenty minute time span. Since I am already walking two miles a day, I thought an extra 20 minutes would be a piece of cake.
I set a timer for 20 minutes and tucked the tips of my shoes under the edge of the couch when I started the sit-ups. It had been quite awhile since I had done any and I finally got through the first 20. Then I was off to do the squats and that wasn't too bad either. When I got to the push-ups I remembered she had told me that if I couldn't do an entire body push-up, I could do them from the knees up. The first full body push-up looked like a roll up, so I opted for the knee position.
Satisfied with completing a full round of the exercises, I set out for round two. The sit-ups took a bit longer to do and Runtly, the ever so entertaining Jack Russell Terrier, was there to drop a toy behind my back for each one. When I had to take a breather, he licked me in the face and thoroughly enjoyed me being down on his turf. I managed to get through the second round and thought surely the 20 minutes were almost over. I looked at the timer, ten minutes had passed.
I started on the next round. By the time I got to the last sit-up it looked something akin to a fish that had been carelessly tossed up on the bank and its tail ever so gently quivered, as it gasped for its last breath of air. I struggled through the squats and when I got to the last push-up, I face-planted in the carpet for several seconds. When I finally got up off the floor and looked at the timer, 16 minutes had passed. It was the longest 16 minutes of my life.
From that point I'd had enough and made myself some breakfast. When I was done, I shuffled down the hall to the bathroom to get cleaned up. I walked in, turned on the light and looked in the mirror. Even though I had ran the vacuum cleaner the day before, my forehead was covered in white dog hair. Luckily my breakfast consisted of an egg white omelet so if any of the dog hair fell in it, I was none the wiser.
I'm not sure what the next set of exercises will be, but I do know one thing. If anyone ever tells you a Jack Russell Terrier does not shed, they be lyin'.
Tuesday, August 29, 2017
Tuesday, August 22, 2017
Let's Go Racing
It had been over 30 years since I had attended. It was not one of my favorite things to do. That honor goes to my husband. It is his thing. My honor has been to be able to walk past the television set, every so often, glance at the action and then waltz on. But, there I was. In Bristol, Tennessee at a NASCAR race.
The last time I had been to a race, we sat on the inside of the track, right by turn four. For those of you unfamiliar with race car terminology, turn four is the last turn before the start/finish line. The cars went by so fast, that it made me dizzy trying to keep up with them. When it was over, I figured that was my first and last car race.
The track in Bristol, TN is inside of what is referred to as the world's last great Colosseum and once inside, it was easy to see the why. The structure completely surrounds the race track with seating and can house 162,000 people. The half mile track sits at the bottom of this giant soup bowl and its sides are so steep I was sure one of the track maintenance trucks would surely tip over as it went slowly along the upper edge of the track, sweeping up any debris that may have found its way to the surface. This race track has also been dubbed to be one of the loudest.
When it was time for the race to start, we took the time to get our ear safety gear in place. We took no chances as we poked little foam plugs into our ears and topped them with sound proof headphones. When the green flag was dropped to start the race, I sat mesmerized as 40 cars pulled together to form what honestly looked like a "living" thing and crossed the starting line and they were back at that line in 14 seconds. From there, it took me over 125 laps to figure out who was in the lead and how to keep track of them.
The opening ceremonies that NASCAR puts on are worth the price of admission, and if I were to ever go again, I would go simply for that experience. They opened with the Pledge of Allegiance and followed that with a prayer. They played that great song, "God Bless the USA" by Lee Greenwood and standing with over 100,000 people, all singing, made the hair stand up on the back of one's neck. Then they had the children of all the NASCAR associates sing the National Anthem and once again, all the voices joined in. As the "home of the brave" words were being sung, two fighter jets screamed over the top of the last great Colosseum and I felt privileged to have been a part of it.
The people who attended this race came from all walks of life and ethnicity. There were vendors selling everything from shaved ice to Confederate flags. There were preachers dressed in black suits, white shirts and red ties, shouting the Gospel on loud speakers to all who passed by. There were no protesters nor was there any racial tension to be seen. All though it is still not one of my most favorite things to do, perhaps it needs to be a prerequisite for everyone to attend a NASCAR race at least once in their life.
The last time I had been to a race, we sat on the inside of the track, right by turn four. For those of you unfamiliar with race car terminology, turn four is the last turn before the start/finish line. The cars went by so fast, that it made me dizzy trying to keep up with them. When it was over, I figured that was my first and last car race.
The track in Bristol, TN is inside of what is referred to as the world's last great Colosseum and once inside, it was easy to see the why. The structure completely surrounds the race track with seating and can house 162,000 people. The half mile track sits at the bottom of this giant soup bowl and its sides are so steep I was sure one of the track maintenance trucks would surely tip over as it went slowly along the upper edge of the track, sweeping up any debris that may have found its way to the surface. This race track has also been dubbed to be one of the loudest.
When it was time for the race to start, we took the time to get our ear safety gear in place. We took no chances as we poked little foam plugs into our ears and topped them with sound proof headphones. When the green flag was dropped to start the race, I sat mesmerized as 40 cars pulled together to form what honestly looked like a "living" thing and crossed the starting line and they were back at that line in 14 seconds. From there, it took me over 125 laps to figure out who was in the lead and how to keep track of them.
The opening ceremonies that NASCAR puts on are worth the price of admission, and if I were to ever go again, I would go simply for that experience. They opened with the Pledge of Allegiance and followed that with a prayer. They played that great song, "God Bless the USA" by Lee Greenwood and standing with over 100,000 people, all singing, made the hair stand up on the back of one's neck. Then they had the children of all the NASCAR associates sing the National Anthem and once again, all the voices joined in. As the "home of the brave" words were being sung, two fighter jets screamed over the top of the last great Colosseum and I felt privileged to have been a part of it.
The people who attended this race came from all walks of life and ethnicity. There were vendors selling everything from shaved ice to Confederate flags. There were preachers dressed in black suits, white shirts and red ties, shouting the Gospel on loud speakers to all who passed by. There were no protesters nor was there any racial tension to be seen. All though it is still not one of my most favorite things to do, perhaps it needs to be a prerequisite for everyone to attend a NASCAR race at least once in their life.
Tuesday, August 15, 2017
Feeding The Beast
"Living your life solely on one's emotions can certainly be interesting. There will be lots of ups and downs and twists and turns. But, just like a roller coaster, it will always bring you right back to where you started." R.E. Reeves
Emotions fall into many categories, but a basic definition of what emotions are would be, a state of feeling. We can feel happy, joyful, sad, guilty and be filled with intense anger and most everyone has experienced these feelings.
Usually, along the course of one's lifetime, people learn how to control some of these feelings. For instance, it is never a good idea to break into a fit of hysterical laughter during a funeral, unless you hail from my family and there may be a story like that somewhere down the lineage. Wailing out of the top of one's head during a happy celebration is usually frowned upon too.
Making decisions during an emotional crisis can lead to disastrous results. There have been many bonds broken by words spoken during times when anger has been at an all time high and that can lead to years of guilt and sadness.
Regardless of religious beliefs or lack there of, most people will agree that there is evil in the world and the remote control is only one click away from proving its existence. I believe this evil, or darkness, is an actual living thing or entity. If my opinion of evil is true, then just like every living thing in the universe, it needs something. It needs to eat. In order for it to eat, it needs to be fed and I believe the food it eats is made of the energy that comes from emotions.
I do not visualize evil standing at the edge of a happy birthday celebration, sucking up the high frequency energy because evil vibrates at a much lower level. It needs dark energy, like the kind that comes from mobs of people filled with anger and they do not even know why. It feeds off of any energy thought of greed or causing harm or mayhem. It likes to hang around with people who can whip the masses into states of hate filled frenzy. Then it can become gluttonous and just like living cells, divide to make more evil that needs more food.
If people of planet Earth do not learn to control their emotions and figure out how to use some logic to come to peaceful solutions, then we will continue to feed the beast. Feeding the beast and becoming complacent to its existence could be compared to that young man who lived with the grizzly bears. That did not work out so well.
Emotions fall into many categories, but a basic definition of what emotions are would be, a state of feeling. We can feel happy, joyful, sad, guilty and be filled with intense anger and most everyone has experienced these feelings.
Usually, along the course of one's lifetime, people learn how to control some of these feelings. For instance, it is never a good idea to break into a fit of hysterical laughter during a funeral, unless you hail from my family and there may be a story like that somewhere down the lineage. Wailing out of the top of one's head during a happy celebration is usually frowned upon too.
Making decisions during an emotional crisis can lead to disastrous results. There have been many bonds broken by words spoken during times when anger has been at an all time high and that can lead to years of guilt and sadness.
Regardless of religious beliefs or lack there of, most people will agree that there is evil in the world and the remote control is only one click away from proving its existence. I believe this evil, or darkness, is an actual living thing or entity. If my opinion of evil is true, then just like every living thing in the universe, it needs something. It needs to eat. In order for it to eat, it needs to be fed and I believe the food it eats is made of the energy that comes from emotions.
I do not visualize evil standing at the edge of a happy birthday celebration, sucking up the high frequency energy because evil vibrates at a much lower level. It needs dark energy, like the kind that comes from mobs of people filled with anger and they do not even know why. It feeds off of any energy thought of greed or causing harm or mayhem. It likes to hang around with people who can whip the masses into states of hate filled frenzy. Then it can become gluttonous and just like living cells, divide to make more evil that needs more food.
If people of planet Earth do not learn to control their emotions and figure out how to use some logic to come to peaceful solutions, then we will continue to feed the beast. Feeding the beast and becoming complacent to its existence could be compared to that young man who lived with the grizzly bears. That did not work out so well.
Tuesday, August 8, 2017
Back Under My Tinfoil Hat
Excuse me while I tighten my chin strap and give the whirlygig on top of my hat a spin. I think that helps me spin my words onto the page!
I'm going to share a few excerpts and ideas from a book I am presently reading. The title of the book is, "Voices From the Cosmos" by C.B. Scott Ph.D and Angela T. Smith Ph.D. The entire book is filled with interviews with different races of the universe and this book is NOT considered fiction.
Some folks are already rolling their eyes, but bear with me and consider this idea for a moment. We now know that the galaxy we live in is but one in a million or trillions of galaxies that fill the universe. Science tells us that there are hundreds if not millions of earth-like planets orbiting stars, in the same proximity as earth orbits our sun, in what they refer to as the "Goldilocks Zone", where all the components of life are 'just right'. So maybe, just maybe it is a bit smug of us to think we are the only intelligent beings swirling through the cosmos.
The authors interview 18 different ET races. They ask the same questions of each race and the questions were chosen on the premise that if we were to meet a group of people we had never met before, what questions would we ask them.
The group I would like to focus on and share with my readers is the Angels. Whether or not you believe in this sort of thing really is not the point. The point is the message to mankind.
When asked if they received benefits for helping the humans, the Angels said there were no benefits to them, it is simply what they do, guide and help. "Humans always have to have something back for what they do, we do not have to have something back." When asked if we, as an earthly population, would be destroyed, the Angels answered, "The human race is always trying to extinguish itself. Why is this? Humans are always doing things to end their lives by risk and danger. We do not understand this. Life is precious. Why would humans keep trying to end their own and other human's lives? We do not understand."
Although there were many more questions asked, I would like to end with the answer given about what shape our planet is in. They suggested that if the big corporations at the top would start to take responsibility for what damage they have produced, that would have a trickle down effect for the rest of us. When told that sounded like common sense, here is what the Angels had to say, "It is common sense but humans have lost their common sense. They have become complacent. They expect other people to clean up their messes instead of cleaning up their own messes. Everything can be cleaned: the air, the water and the land. All of these elements are self-sustaining without human help but with human interference they cannot sustain themselves. Humans think that they have to manage everything: the air, the water, the animals and the land, but they are self-managing...(4 farmers just quit reading)...They were self-managing before humans and can do so again. Managing is control and control is not needed when an element is independent and self-sustaining. Leave them alone once they have regained balance. Humans have become overwhelmed with trying to manage."
So, are we to believe we have become zealous about control and management along with looking like we are our own biggest threat? Since 8 people, all of whom are billionaires, own as much money as 3.6 billion of the worlds poorest people, I would say that was a pretty good evaluation.
One last thing, never wear your tinfoil hat out in a thunderstorm.
I'm going to share a few excerpts and ideas from a book I am presently reading. The title of the book is, "Voices From the Cosmos" by C.B. Scott Ph.D and Angela T. Smith Ph.D. The entire book is filled with interviews with different races of the universe and this book is NOT considered fiction.
Some folks are already rolling their eyes, but bear with me and consider this idea for a moment. We now know that the galaxy we live in is but one in a million or trillions of galaxies that fill the universe. Science tells us that there are hundreds if not millions of earth-like planets orbiting stars, in the same proximity as earth orbits our sun, in what they refer to as the "Goldilocks Zone", where all the components of life are 'just right'. So maybe, just maybe it is a bit smug of us to think we are the only intelligent beings swirling through the cosmos.
The authors interview 18 different ET races. They ask the same questions of each race and the questions were chosen on the premise that if we were to meet a group of people we had never met before, what questions would we ask them.
The group I would like to focus on and share with my readers is the Angels. Whether or not you believe in this sort of thing really is not the point. The point is the message to mankind.
When asked if they received benefits for helping the humans, the Angels said there were no benefits to them, it is simply what they do, guide and help. "Humans always have to have something back for what they do, we do not have to have something back." When asked if we, as an earthly population, would be destroyed, the Angels answered, "The human race is always trying to extinguish itself. Why is this? Humans are always doing things to end their lives by risk and danger. We do not understand this. Life is precious. Why would humans keep trying to end their own and other human's lives? We do not understand."
Although there were many more questions asked, I would like to end with the answer given about what shape our planet is in. They suggested that if the big corporations at the top would start to take responsibility for what damage they have produced, that would have a trickle down effect for the rest of us. When told that sounded like common sense, here is what the Angels had to say, "It is common sense but humans have lost their common sense. They have become complacent. They expect other people to clean up their messes instead of cleaning up their own messes. Everything can be cleaned: the air, the water and the land. All of these elements are self-sustaining without human help but with human interference they cannot sustain themselves. Humans think that they have to manage everything: the air, the water, the animals and the land, but they are self-managing...(4 farmers just quit reading)...They were self-managing before humans and can do so again. Managing is control and control is not needed when an element is independent and self-sustaining. Leave them alone once they have regained balance. Humans have become overwhelmed with trying to manage."
So, are we to believe we have become zealous about control and management along with looking like we are our own biggest threat? Since 8 people, all of whom are billionaires, own as much money as 3.6 billion of the worlds poorest people, I would say that was a pretty good evaluation.
One last thing, never wear your tinfoil hat out in a thunderstorm.
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