Bleary eyed and brain fried!

It’s been a long process to get this blog going and I really appreciate it when someone sends me a comment. It’s nice to know there are people out there reading it and sometimes agree with my (occasionally) offbeat ramblings.

I was reviewing some of my postings and I caught a slew of errors. You see, sometimes I write late at night when I’m right on the edge of passing out or when my muse kicks me out of bed. Of course this always happens when I’m having some amazing dream about my future husband. Oddly enough no one has ever called me on them. Thank heavens! So I’ll be going back over some of them and fixing my mistakes.

So keep the comments coming. I even have set up an email address for you to use, so don’t be shy. It’s just nice to know you spend a few minutes with me out of your busy day. You can send to 21stcenturyvixen@earthlink.net. Now please be kind. No spam or asinine insults simply because you can. Let’s be adults about this and keep it friendly. Ciao for now!

What planet do you live on?

I’ve always been a huge fan of science fiction. It can take you to new worlds and give you hope for the future. In a few instances some of what was written by the great writers of sci fi 60 years ago have come to be reality. We as human beings still dream big inspite of our differences. Ok, I’m still waiting on my flying car.

It strikes me as funny sometimes when I see reports about the possibilities of life on Mars. Some years ago I read an article on how we could eventually make Mars habitable for humans. It seems scientist have drawn up plans on how it can be done and believe it or not some politicians want to devote more money than can be made by the entire world population to make this happen. Yet every day scientists give us proof of and warnings about global warming and politicians turn a blind eye to it.

I think instead of figuring out how to bring oxygen to Mars we need to be figuring out how to keep the Sahara desert from expanding and creating usable farm land in Africa so famine can be wiped out. We should be directing our attention to saving and restoring the Amazon rainforest, which it the largest source of oxygen on the planet. Instead of building more housing which further encroach on wildlife habitats, why aren’t we going back into those areas we’ve abandoned and rebuilding them into nicer living spaces for people of all incomes.

We are being warned by Mother Nature and she’s about to spank our bottoms good! Just remember the devastion of Hurricaine Katrina. We can undo the damange before it’s too late but it will take all of us. How can we even think of inhabiting another planet when we have not taken such good care of the one we have. Instead of turning our eyes to the stars, we need to focus on healing the Earth because it is the only planet we’ve got.

Coming in second

I used to make a joke about my love life. It went like this:

If a guy had a choice between me and another girl, he’d turn to me and say “ I know you’ll be good to me and we’d have a great time but I’m going to go over here with this ....(expletive deleted) who’s going to use my heart for a butt wipe. When she’s done using me for everything I’ve got and I’m a whipped puppy, I’ll call ya!”

It always got a good laugh but most people never knew how true it was. I spent most of my youth and a good part of my adult life feeling second best because I was never the one a guy would choose over all others. I was overwhelmed with feelings of inadequacy and became introverted. I was afraid to open myself to letting anyone get close to me. My fears ran to why let anyone get close because if they met someone else it would be over for me.

I say all that to say this to those guys who go after the women who mistreat them and take them for all their worth. Every woman is not a gold digger. Sometimes someone who shows you love just wants that in return.

Let's talk about... SAFE sex

Ok, here’s the scenario, things are getting hot and heavy. You really like each other and you’ve spent hours in high flirtation mode. The big moment is about to happen and then....you want to discuss protection. Yeah right! How many of us really sit down and talk about sexual histories and health issues? We are still truly uncomfortable with that topic even in the day and age of rising cases of HIV transmission.

I worked in a pharmacy in the 80’s during the early days of the AIDS crisis. I lived in Midtown Atlanta, a largely gay neighborhood. A large percentage of our customers were HIV positive. Then the drugs were newly created and sometimes had adverse affects. It was hard on the body. Or sometimes the person would find out too late and be too far gone for the drugs to have any effect. Hence I saw the disease devastate a lot of lives. Some I befriended and each time one passed away I took it very hard. I vowed that I would never become a statistic. These days we know so much more about HIV and other STDs yet we still act like it will never happen to us. The drugs are much more advanced and carriers are living longer, more active lives. But the numbers are climbing. The largest group of rising cases is black females. But that’s another blog entry.

I once spoke to a group of elementary school children (6th graders) about the rudiments of sex. Don’t worry I didn’t describe the mechanics of it or give them graphic descriptions of anatomy. I tried to answer their questions about when is the right time to have sex in a manner that was age appropriate for them. More importantly I tried to impress upon them the need to be responsible for their own health. And just like I told those 6th graders, if you think you’re big enough to have sex, you’re big enough to protect yourself from disease transmission and unwanted pregnancy.

So the before you get hot and heavy with someone, be mature enough to talk about your histories and practices. If you really care about the person you’re going to be with, it shouldn’t be a problem. And if you can’t be with the one you love, then glove the one you’re with. You know what I mean.

Taking it's toll

Wow, I’ve been away a really long time. I’ve been burning the candle at both ends, working and looking after my parents.  Recently my mom had a bit of a health scare and my dad also went back into the hospital. It is never easy to see your parents grow old and especially in light of my dad’s injury each infection hits him harder and harder.

Unfortunately I’ve not been taking care of myself so I am exhausted a lot of the time. There just aren’t enough hours in the day to take care of all the things I need to do so something gets neglected, usually me. I am sick at least once a month because of all the time I spend between the nursing home and the hospital. I try to eat right and get enough sleep but that is never easy when you are worried about someone you love.

To add to that my job will run out at the end of the month because of the end of the school year and I have no clue what I will do next. I have been home for a year and a half, which is a little longer than I intended and I’m ready to move on. I need to get back on my feet and become independent again.

So if any of my wonderful visitors have any ideas or suggestions, feel free to let me know. So many of you have been incredibly supportive since I started this blog. Thanks to all.