Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Philosophy 101

The two most important choices not only for women, but people in general, must be in the selection of reading material and music. These two things have the most profound effect on the brain because they use the most important senses, sight and hearing, and the areas of the brain involved in the processing of these two mediums are also used in cognition and the formation of thought. Trust me, nothing is more important to the human race is the formation of thought.
Thought produces profound energy. The music a person chooses can be seen as an interpretation of their individual thought process. A person’s choice in reading material is often a reflection of a) the music choice and b) the thought process.
For example, and I will use myself as one, I prefer more complex music with the tremendous energy produced by thundering bass and electric guitars, industrial, punk, metal and the like. My preferred reading material is often intellectually intensive, wither with philosophical or theoretical themes, fiction with complex twisting and turning plot lines. Usually being required by some college course I have not yet reached in my limited experiences in academia.
Based on my personality, basically a powerful person with a tendency to be controlling, with a seemingly never-ending internal stream of consciousness, I can confidently say that a person who prefers a lighter kind of music, such as adult contemporary, and prefers to follow the books suggested by Oprah’s Book Club, does not have the depth of thought that a person like me may have. Don’t take this theory to heart, remember, I’m just a little girl with something to prove.
The intricately woven web of humanity is in danger of being swept out of the dark and dusty corners by an old lady with a broom. I am that old lady. With the help of some back street tattoo parlor wisdom, I propose that I can have all of human kind standing knee-deep in the idea that one can make this planet a better merry-go-round to be on. The key is thought, pure and simple. Not only the production of thought, we’re not talking about the pondering of belly button lint here (but if that’s what you enjoy, go for it), but the process of higher-order thought as the means to a smoother sailing end.
The key to producing more profound thought is the simple act of letting go of the artificial for the natural mechanics of things. By this, in one example is giving up automobiles and television. Although I have not personally transcended the ingrained conditioning of my parents to depend on people with cars or have weaned myself from the plug-in drug known as the television, I have adjusted my life tremendously to a point where most people think I am insane and that I am making things much harder on myself. Quite the contrary. Yes, I do a lot more walking than most and I also spend a lot of time waiting for buses, boyfriends and gracious roommates, it gives me plenty of time to think, which is the basis of my plan for a better human race, which works out.
The problem with getting people to turn off and tune in is that most people, especially Americans, don’t like to think. They prefer to have the thinking done for them. This concept tends to make me violently ill. That’s how I think we have acquired the mandates of society we have now. Intellectually, I know that societal mandates originally come from the Judeo-Christian ideas which are the bases for present-day western society, which keeps most people from running amok, killing each other over something as simple as the colors someone wears. Although this practice is not only still being carried out in the epicenters of America’s largest cities, and is the product of abject poverty that have nothing to do with society in general, as people that are not in that particular in that particular environment and subculture.
I digress. I’m not saying we should overthrow the government that has it’s base in Judeo-Christian doctrine or, although I am a closet anarchist that has not come out for fear of persecution, that the laws that exist for the protection of society should not be repealed. The law of the land and the judicial system should be trusted enough to actually protect the weaker components of society, deal with those who clutter our correctional facilities more effectively, by sending the more violent of the lot to the military for covert suicide missions to serve as a way to prevent pointless foreign wars. The current war has turned into a huge, bad reality show with hundreds of people being voted off by means of car bombs and suicide bombers.
This is where I advocate the resurrection of sanitariums and lunatic hospitals. Most people in prison today have mental disorders that can be treated instead of cluttering up the works of correctional facilities that were designed with an optimistic view that less of a capacity would be needed, only to overflow year after year like too many rats in a cage. We all know what happens if you put too many rats in a cage, right?
Enough. The sacrifices that the general public should consider are giving up the artificial, as mentioned before. The artificial consists of not only the unattainable standard of sexual attraction that women continue to kill themselves for, but the status symbols that basically mean nothing in the grand scheme of the universe, currency systems based on credit cards, electronic transfers and have no basis in a real sense of reality. Yes, those things are convenient, but not real, and exist only in a printout that some temp in an office somewhere has to file.
In the society I am familiar with in the twilight of 2005, all an individual life boils down to is a series of electronic transfers and an invalid password. That’s when I propose the introduction of a bartering system instead of free commerce. Nearly everyone in America has shit they have just lying around, and there are people in such desperate that they can’t even feed their families, much less clothe them. They all have something valuable based on some other type of currency, whether it is physical, intellectual or spiritual. In short, if every human being worked to find this individual potential, using wastefulness, transforming it into something good, not only a blind donation for a tax write-off, but in exchange for the non-monetary value of another person, it would virtually eliminate the need for hard currency, and status symbols, among other antiquated parts of the current financial system. Thus, poverty felt in most of the world. That alone would bring the United States as we know it down, but more of a forced reconstruction of the current system and could be replaced with a more humanitarian system that would not only benefit those who are less fortunate in monetary means, but also bump up the standard of living for everyone. The only people that this would not work very well for are higher-ranking officials and those who make huge amounts of money on the suffering of the poor and vulnerable. As someone once said to me, anyone who aspires to be President should be informed that they would be living in public housing. For most people I’ve met, that is definitely one place that it wouldn’t matter very much and the mere thought of living in public housing would deter those who are in it for the money. And you can’t deny that the current administration is only in the false world of politics for the money and by no means the prospect of change for the greater good and the general public.

Thursday, December 08, 2005

pain

Pain. One of the most important sensations a body needs. It warns of potential problems in the body...provided some schmuck who managed to stay sober at least part-way through medical school can find something wrong. Nutshell version, I have been in some kind of pain I would say 95% of the time for about ten years. Every joint in my body becomes inflamed at least once in a couple of weeks. Every once in a while its just a fun-fest when everything acts up at the same time. Here is a general run-down, then I will get to my main point: I have tendonitis in my foot, both of my ankles are weak and are given to giving out when I least expect it, both my knees are fucked up, to the point that one is currently waking me up in the middle of the night and is really hot to the touch, my back has been wrecked since I was a teenager and a couple of car accidents didn't help, my hip just hurts and has actually gone out of joint and was agitated by a bout of domestic violence (but not my Beloved), my shoulder goes wonky on me to the point that sometimes i can't lift a glass, my neck is so fucked up a neurosurgeon said that basically I shouldn't be walking, and a more recent development, I'm getting gnarly headaches.

Before you break out those little violins and ask what kind of cheese I want with my whine, let me tell you I don't let any of that stop me. I walk nearly everywhere I go, I chase after Baby Genius, I'm planning a wedding and I'm in school full-time, so I'm not just sitting here like a dork with nothing better to do than keep up this blog. My real point is this...of the countless doctors I've seen regarding this pain, none of them can come up with a conclusion?? I've had countless x-rays, with doctors saying nothing except something to the effect of "Yep, that's a knee (or shoulder, ankle, hip, what have you)" and prescribing me really addictive substances, which don't take the pain away but only make me high, and it's really not even enough to make me not care about it. I feel I've fallen victim to being a tool for a doctors and pharmecutical companies to make money. I've even been asked if anybody has told me I have cancer! With of course, making no move to find out. So goes the American health system.

I know an older woman that will NOT allow her doctors to prescribe her more than one medication, which she takes for high blood pressure. Her reason was that one of her friends was on literally dozens of medications for various maladies and at her friend's funeral, she heard that when the coroner opened her body, basically her insides had just turned to gel. As you may well know, there is a drug for every ailment, no matter how trivial it may seem, if there can be an acronym made out of what's out there, there is a pill for it, and if that makes you nervous, don't worry, ther's a pill for that, too.

That's why I am not only for a centralized national healthcare system, but also more of a DIY approach, and the legalization of medicinal marijuana, which is the only thing that makes the pain fucking go away. Doctors are only advisors and not really that great of advisors, because they are human and greed sets in with them, too. Will I ever find out why I have this kind of problem? I seriously doubt it. Will I find a doctor that is willing to listen to me and take my wishes into consideration? Um...no. Will I keep racking up outragous medical bills for emergency room visits, because I have no other choice, only to have the docs there tell me they don't know, and be looked at as a pill-shopper? Probably.

Friday, December 02, 2005

Christmas Manifesto, 2005

It's that time a year when I know my inbox is getting inundated with Christmas jokes and crap. That I don't mind, who can resist poking a little at such a superficial holiday? I think we should head off big corporate advertising at the pass. Cartoons are vital for my child (and myself, I might add. Who can resist a moving drawing, really?), and who wants to see all those commercials for all that cheap plastic junk that has no real purpose? If you are Christian, Christmas should be about Christ. If not, and you choose to celebrate anyway, for whatever reason, make it a time to spend some time and energy with your family. If you don't want to spend time with your family or its simply not an option, at least let your friends know how much you appreciate them, without buying something for them. Time, energy, love and appreciation. Isn't that what this holiday is about? Not cheap plastic junk made in other countries and really just developed to make the captialist system thrive by creating wants nobody can really afford to have in this day and age (for those of you out there who know me very well, read Republican administration, for those that don't, don't jump down my throught, its simply an observation). This message was not meant to political in any way, just my frustration of how a Board of Directors somewhere have changed not only Christmas, but other gift-giving holidays, into buying-fests aimed at taking your hard-earned money and turning it into clutter that will only be sold at the next yard sale. The jolly Santa most of us grew up with was invented by Coca-Cola. I'm not saying don't buy anything, there may be people in your family, neighborhood, or even some of your friends who don't have much of anything all year anyway, much less Christmas. Share with them, if you have it to share, if you don't, simply spend time talking to significant others or children before seemingly harmless ill-percieved actions, unresolved issues, etc., turn into long tear-filled nights or long therapy sessions. I know you could be wondering by now, if you haven't already deleted this message, how on earth do I celebrate? I make stuff, I don't buy it. I get my son and fiance something small, yet meaningful, and chances are, whatever the rest of you get, I made myself. See? Time, energy, love and appreciation. Something I think we all need more of, not only for our families and friends, that's only where it starts. Good energy starts in the heart and could have such an impact on the world! Throw some of that out there instead of your money, and it just may come back to you...three-fold.

Happy Winter Holiday, Whatever You Choose to Call IT!