Living Proof

It hit me just this morning: I don't care. You know, as a part of my faith of being a Christian and trying to wrap my head around all of these horrific events that are taken place in the world, my thoughts on this is, I really don't care anymore. It sounds very 'gloom n' doom' -- but it's not supposed to come across that way. For instance: this world we live in is so very temporary. We're only here for a fraction of what it's like to be on the other side (whatever you deem to be the other side), so why does this place, this earth, this world, matter? I'm speaking in terms of being feared by terrorists, or getting freaked out by ebola becoming airborne and hitting the United States. What about Anton Nolen who just beheaded a co-worker after he had just gotten fired. He was trying to convert them to Islam and failed miserably. ISIS is here, or -- they've been living among us for a very long time. There are Muslim extremists who plan to behead...

This may or could be a part two of my previous post , but a bit more focused on our obsession with our smartphones. Even I have to sometimes catch myself and consciously turn my ringer off or tuck it away when I'm in the company of other people, especially in a restaurant. But it goes beyond just being rude in general. We're so focused on capturing that perfect rainbow or that amazing view of the mountainside or that incredible sunset right before nightfall, that our minds forget the actual moment. We cannot enjoy that moment, because we're too busy trying to capture it all onto our smartphones and then loading it up onto social media. I did an experiment and refrained from grabbing my iPhone because I saw a huge owl sitting peacefully up on a phone wire, on the road next to us. I could have gotten a great shot of it. It's my favorite bird in the world. Instead, I watched him jerk is head around and I looked at all of his beautiful colors, until he opened up his magni...

When I was around 18 years old, I wrote a book. It was a fictional love story about two women who were just coming out of the closet. It was also in one of those black and white composition notebooks - handwritten. Can you even remember the last time you wrote something at great length with a pen and paper? It's kind of sad today and I know I'm totally guilty of it too, but we are all microblogging and shortening great stories into 140 characters or less.  We're posting our deepest thoughts and adventures onto Facebook with only photos and a few words. We're downloading ebooks and not holding a printed out paperback or hardcover book and reading it from front to back, getting lost in every single word. There's a movie for every book and it's quite rare to hear, "the book was better" these days because nobody reads anymore. And if they do, it's the electronic version - which is fine. But hold up… Technology has advanced, so to keep up, we a...

A few weeks ago, we were sitting at the bar having a late lunch watching the soccer game. It was a beautiful day out so the bar was pretty much empty, except for this one guy sitting with his girlfriend or wife (or whoever) across the way drinking pints of draft beer. Although they were in their late forties or early fifties, they looked like a new couple - you could just tell. They saw Madelene and I watching the game as well and we all started talking about it. As soon as the woman left to go use the restroom, he had stated that she was not his wife and that his wife was home. This was a girl he had met online and has been dating her for several months. Whatever. I didn't need to know all the details, but he felt the need to get it all out on the table. I felt that instant 'creep' vibe. I focused more on my wife after his awkward confession. Anyway, they both asked if we could take a photo of them with their phones. Sure, why not, right? Then I see them tinkering arou...

There are times when I'm okay. Most times I'm okay I prove it with a smile. Most times when I'm not okay, I also wear a smile. Facebook tells people I'm happy. "You seem so happy lately," because I plopped up a funny post or a photo that seemed jovial. I'm not going to bog down someone's feed with nonsensical depressive quotes or statuses. I try to be upbeat, but I am much more than my Facebook status or tweet. I think it's sad when friends and family only check social media to see if their loved ones are "okay". What about a phone call or text or even a visit? Our way of life is social media, but I'm not going to write a status message saying, "Well, today I felt depressed, but I'm okay now." And I have those days believe me. They pass quickly as they come, and sometimes, they linger a little too long for my liking. I'm like anyone else. I have my limits and sometimes, I get angry or frustrated at certain things, ...

I was bored waiting for Mad to check her circulars… Did you ever notice a lot of people complain about social media (including myself) and how society has just plummeted to a whole new low by being antisocial because of it? I remember a girlfriend of mine was talking about her sister-in-law and said, "She's on Facebook like 24/7 -- doesn't she work or have a life?" And when you think back to the good ol' days when there were no smartphones or any "devices" to connect you to the world other than the dial up internet connected to your wall, then yes, I would have to say, "GET OUT OF YOUR HOUSE!" But that's not the case here. Now, it's quite the contrary. People who do have lives and have something to say about it are all posting about it with their smartphones. I'm an avid tweeter, Instagrammer, Facebooker, and if I see something funny or something that'll raise your eyebrows, my iPhone is gonna capture it and send it out to t...

So I'll admit, most of my posts nonsensical. I have a million and one fluff pieces to dish out so bear with me. I never said I was a journalist, so just keep that in mind. Also it's Saturday and I'm in my pajamas still and of course…I'm a blogger. I. am. a. blogger. Even with that being said, I have received quite a few emails regarding a few of my posts where people were so outraged over my opinion. Who really cares what I have to say? But hey, it stirred the pot and if people are outraged by your content, then you must be doing something right.  It's my nonsensical opinion as a blogger. The art of blogging is so lost. So many of my blogging buddies have either deleted their accounts or have just let their blogs float away out into cyberspace somewhere. A lot of the opinionated bloggers, such as myself can easily received more than their share of hate emails per day. I try to limit my 'piss you off' posts the best I can. At times, it's great to have t...

That was me bored out of my mind. There was a time when I once thought that getting older would be somehow easier, perhaps a bit carefree and more spontaneous, because well, grown ups were allowed to do everything and anything they wanted. As a kid, looking up at people who were adults, I envied the "freedom" I thought they had. I envied the millions of things that they could have done, but most around me didn't do most of what I thought I would do myself, say if God came down and said, "Voila Deb! You're an adult! Go do whatever it is that makes you happy!" So then one day, I became an adult. I became that person who had the freedom to live her life the way I wanted. Then I learned about fear, not only learned it, absorbed it. I saw people getting into trouble, getting hurt, getting killed over the things I thought were once "fun". I saw people being at the wrong place at the wrong time. I saw young adults having heart attacks, dying of cance...

As a blogger, I read quite a lot of other people's blogs. As an author, I read lot of other people's books. As a musician and guitarist, of course, the same applies. Isn't that how we learn and how we get new ideas or perhaps even opposing ones? When you're half awake, maybe sipping on your first cup of joe and reading someone else's blog, the first thing that needs to be embedded into your noggin is that blogs are simply opinions or facts taken from other sources. I have seen so many people get riled up over activists' posts and articles that are written to do just that --- stir the pot. While taking everything with a grain of salt, we sometimes fall under a 'thought-to-be' personal attack that we think is either uncalled for or unnecessary. Simple "X" out and move on. Read it like a bad article in the newspaper. No nasty comments can be thrown at the author. But people want their voice to be heard. And why not? They want their opposing opi...

New York has been thrown some pretty wicked curve balls lately, having dealt with Hurricane Sandy and the recent blizzard that dropped more than 3 ft of snow on us. People in Staten Island are still picking up the pieces, some are homeless and others trying to rebuild and repair their houses. They are still in need of help. This morning when I turned on the news, I was outraged a bit annoyed over the fact that Mayor Bloomberg has his priorities up his wazoo again. First he was on a mission to ban big sized sodas, and now he wants to spend $250,000.00 on "raising awareness" about the dangers of listening to your earbuds at high levels, especially in public or on the subways. "People are annoyed."  People are annoyed with the idiotic attempts to ban things that aren't New York's biggest concerns. How about putting that $250k into helping the victims of Sandy or to help "raise awareness" about all the rapes, murders and drug dealers out on our stre...

Remember the days of Myspace, where people could just leave random crap on your account without the ability to comment back? You would have to trek over to their account in order to respond to anything. It was tedious and well, self-indulgent in regards about your page being all about you, photos of you, tons of glitter, what you like, what you do, live, work, etc. Facebook is like that but much broader. Anyone can comment on anything you post, depending on your settings. It's more private, where as Myspace was usually kept open by many people. I admit, Facebook has become a major part of my communication with friends and family, but it doesn't help me search for things of interest like Twitter does. Twitter is fascinating, if you really learn about how to use it. At first, I was like, "Why would I just want to leave a bunch of status messages?" It's more than just telling the world you had the best seafood taco - it's about hashtagging topics of your choice...