rantings Archives - Life Views 101

September 23, 2024September 23, 2024

Plastic People, Plastic Robots.

Hello this is Kris, and welcome to my blog. Today I am re-releasing a blog I wrote several years ago. I feel this blog says today, what it did back in 2017. And it starts with the question, “why are all these stars cutting up their faces to look like some creature out of a toy story?” I must ask, are we real or imagination? Does our skin melt away only to be replaced by plastic? Is this a dream? Foolish questions really, but when I look at many of the stars and people of “importance.” I am seeing plastic dolls. What has happened to their faces?

I will not name names here because I don’t want to get my butt kicked by said people but, after viewing Yahoo time and time again with its many pictures of the stars, I am shocked at what stares back at me from the pages. I see stars that I haven’t seen in years, and I don’t recognize them. What the hell are they doing to their faces? Who wants a face that looks like it is frozen in time with a mouth like Heath Ledger from Batman? Even the men are in on it. Some of my favorites look hideous. Do they even look in the mirror when the plastic surgeon is done with their face?

I am disgusted with the stars as there is nothing wrong with getting a little older. Our bodies are going to do what it does as it ages, and that is wrinkle and sag. I bet underneath a lot of the dresses and suits their skin is just as marked with age spots as mine. The flesh on their thigh’s sags just like mine because that is what it does, it loses its elasticity and sags. And their skin is just as thin as mine even though their faces are frozen in some weird time period. Do they think that that we don’t know they have a neck like a Turkey with those scarves and high button collars?

What about all that face paint and blinding white light that these producers douse their announcers and stars in? These people are cast in bright lights so we can’t really see all the lines and wrinkles. And it hides their necks,

They use to call me shrimp, after leg surgery I am called Tall.

What is wrong with just being ourselves? When I look at some of the stars that I stood in awe of with their frozen looking faces I am so disappointed. How can we look up to them when they refuse to remain human and grow old like us?

We have all seen the pictures when plastic surgery has gone wrong for some of these famous beauties. There isn’t one of them that looks natural and lovely. Oh, if they do a tiny little bit, they get by with it, but once they get started, they come away looking like something out of a toy factory. Some even look like they are wearing a mask!

I don’t go to the movies or watch a lot of television so it might be years before I see one of my favorite stars again, so when the show comes on and I see what they have done in the last several years I am often shocked, and a little pissed! Where did the person I fell in love with go? Who is that standing on stage?

Now I would love to look beautiful all the time, but it goes against nature, and I would rather have my health than look in the mirror and not see me anymore. If some news person would do a slideshow of some of these famous people as they aged with their plastic surgery and showed what they have done to their faces over the years, it might even shock these stars. I know it does me.

Who says all of us must look like dolls out of Walmart? When did all this start and why do we buy into it? We are amazing creatures! No, we are not all brilliant or beautiful, or talented but, we are all wonderful, unique, and very special in our own way. We should not strive to be one of the “Stepford” wives, but instead let our inner self shine through.

How can we teach young girls and boys to love and appreciate themselves when all around are these walking, talking dolls trying to look perfect in every way? The sad thing is we know that this is not really how they feel inside. No way. If they did, they would not cut away pieces of themselves to fit into a certain mold

Did I tell you I can see into the future? What I see is that we will be able to walk into a designer shop somewhere and pick a face off the wall just like we can pick out a wig we want to wear, and that is who we will become instead of who we are. It will be like a Stephen King movie. Steven don’t steal my idea!

This is another frightening thought as I have never been in a plastic surgeon’s office but, I would imagine the plastic surgeons have books just like the beauty shops so you can pick out your cheeks, eyes, lips, breasts, and buttocks. Anything that can be replaced is offered.

Maybe they could open a big shop like a Walmart only call it Plastic Mart where all they sell will be the things you could hope to replace on your body through surgery or just try out the replacement parts like face mask, bra stuffers, and booty pants.

Sadly, while I’m trying to be humorous, I am sure it will happen at some point in time. Did you know that in China they have made a female robot that is lovely, walks, and converses with you? There is also a company somewhere where you can order your own favorite robot star doll to have as your companion. And, on Yahoo awhile back some organization or such reported that it is predicted by the year 2030 humans will be marrying and mating with robots. What do you think of that? Not only will our parts be replaced, but we will be replaced as well.

None of us are perfect and we shouldn’t want or expect that from each other. Our own uniqueness is what puts such flavor in the world. If we were all dolls out of a factory, I think humanity would come to a standstill. Don’t let any institution sway you to change how you look and feel. Do not let them take away your specialness. That is what we love about each other, that is the attraction. If we take away what is us, we might as well be mating with robots!

I say it’s time to take control and be who we are through our real appearances, and our behaviors towards each other, period. I’m going to steal someone’s saying here or part of it and say, “people will not necessarily remember how you look, but they will remember how you made them feel.” Make us feel happy, excited, and glad to be part of humanity. Leave all your parts in place and focus on giving your inner loveliness to the world. And if Hollywood doesn’t like it, then form your own company called “Real People”, and use real people, not plastic looking dolls. So, for today appreciate your beauty and the beauty in others, and as I always say, have a great day today, you and I deserve it!

October 9, 2023October 9, 2023

Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Hello, this is Kris, welcome to my blog cast, this is part two of my rant on breast cancer awareness month.

Sometimes the monster starts as a little tiny bump, a lump or scratch. Sometimes it catches our eye right away, and at other times it goes unnoticed for days, weeks or months. But once that creature has caught our attention we are very aware from then on that there is something abnormally wrong inside our bodies, be it small or large. It could even be some funky lab results. Whatever!

If you have paid attention to Yahoo or any of the other news networks there have been a plethora of stories telling about doctors who missed the boat and misdiagnosed patients for months, even years as they slowly died or almost died from cancer.

I cannot tell you the number of people that I have personally known, because the list has gotten very long, that have had something abnormally wrong in their bodies and were told to watch and wait.

Some days I just want to scream when I hear the stories of women and men who have been told “ let’s watch it” and then were later diagnosed with cancer. Young mothers told they were “just tired.” Young men who were scoffed at and told to come back in a few months. The list goes on and on.

I had a lump in my breast. I noticed it one time when I was showering, isn’t that the story we always hear, it’s true. And I did what anyone else would do, I watched it for a few months. Did I mention that the lump was tender, it was, so I assumed I had hurt myself helping my son move.

The first thing my doctor said was that I needed to have a mammogram as the lump shouldn’t be there as if I didn’t already know that. I had the test which showed a small lump in my right breast. I followed recommendation after recommendation after recommendation for almost two years. I had ultrasounds, mammograms, saw a surgeon who told me it was nothing “it’s too tiny to even bother with.” I saw a breast specialist in Kansas City at a great cancer treatment center which I was so excited about because that is the place to go, “right?” the specialty place. That’s where they will get things right!

Let me just say I was dumbfounded when she told me it was “nothing, nothing” and treated me as if I was a great bother to her. She informed me when I mentioned that my lump was tender that “breast cancer isn’t tender, it isn’t tender, that is why we teach self-breast exams, it isn’t tender.” Well God Dam it, mine was tender and stayed tender until they cut the bastard out. Excuse my language.

Sadly, this specialist treated me like I was a complete idiot bothering her with this tiny lump. She told me to go ahead and quit my job of 21 years with good health insurance to go to school and have horrible health insurance which is exactly what I did as I heard her voice saying, “it is nothing, nothing.” She even stated that if it was her that she would do just go to school. Now I will share that she said, and I swear this is true, “I can go in and traumatize your body, but if it was me, I wouldn’t bother.”

Can I ask who out there would say, “oh, okay, yeah, traumatize my body.” My reaction was hell no I don’t want you to traumatize my body if there is no reason. I just want to go to school. I just want to get my nursing degree, and in my second full semester I also got to do chemotherapy which almost killed me, and radiation. What a success story! And what hell those months were for myself and my son.

So, the theme for today’s blog is that if you have something wrong in your body rather it’s a lump in your breast, in your testicle, in your neck, under your armpits or in your groin have it checked out, please.

If your doctor says let’s watch it, that’s OK. It’s OK to wait a little bit and see what happens, but my push for you is that you strongly encourage your doctor to run tests and find out what this abnormal foreign body is inside of you.

It could just be a fatty cyst, but a fatty cyst can grow and attach to the muscle causing you problems. If it’s just a swollen lymph node watch it and figure out why the hell it’s swollen because our lymph nodes shouldn’t be swollen. If it’s your blood work and your labs are abnormal go back for your rechecks. Don’t wait!

I must admit as a nurse I know patients who do not return for their follow ups like they are told, and honestly doctors are too damn busy to chase you down.

My book is about taking action, doing something now, don’t just watch and wait and wait and wait. Almost two years after I found that lump, I finally found out what it was. Need I say I was so furious. This lump that had been so small in the beginning had grown because I did as they said and “watched and waited.” By watching and waiting it had grown, moved out of the duct into the breast tissue resulting in me suffering through chemotherapy and radiation in my second and third semesters of school.

There is more to the story that I will cover through the month of October, or you can read my book that is for sale on Amazon. The most important thing for you to understand is to take action sooner rather than later so that you don’t have to fight the monster in your body.

Let’s start a new mantra this year, and for all the years to come. Let us shout it from the rooftops, TAKE ACTION NOW against any cancer so that you will live another day and not have to fight the demon that may be hiding out in your body. And as I always say, have a great day today, you and I deserve it..

September 29, 2023October 10, 2023

The Facebook Challenge. The “Take Action Now Challenge”

I am re-releasing this blog because ” Breast Cancer Awareness Month” is right ahead of us, just, one more day , and our minds will get blown away with all the “caring, sensitive, advertisements for products supporting breast cancer awareness. If you have read my previous blogs you know this is a sore spot for me. Below is my book which expresses those painful, angry opinions. They come from my experiences with breast cancer.

I will add a piece each week about my opinions and experiences with breast cancer. I hope my book will be an awaking for you. If I tell you one thing, it is to take action now if you have something that is wrong inside your body. Do not wait! Waiting can and will lead to death. Here’s the actual piece from Facebook.!

Okay, I have been thinking. A dangerous thing for me to do, but I must. I want to send out a challenge to all my friends, and friends of friends to share the new ” Take Action Now.” theme. Did you know that cancer kills, but did you know that sometimes cancer kills because we didn’t act fast enough.” My book, ” Screw Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Take Action Now. The New Mantra.” is an important message for all to hear. When something is wrong in our bodies we need to act. I would like to have this message reach a million people. I know, I know, I expect a lot, but the projections for the number of new cases of cancer for 2020 was roughly 1,805,695. I am talking just in 2020, with an estimated 606,800 deaths that year. The driving force behind my book is that I feel I am not reaching enough people with this important message of ” take action now” through just my blog. So if you will share this blog, and this post with all your friends on Facebook, and have your friends share it, and continue on to who knows when, maybe as a group we will save someone’s life. There is much to learn about cancer. It is better to learn it now instead of when you really might need to have this information http://www.amazon.com/dp/BO8GFCX7MK

Add as I always say, have a great day today, you and I deserve it!

December 9, 2022December 9, 2022

Holiday Mayhem

Hello this is Kris, welcome to my blog. I hope that you are looking forward to Christmas, and the holidays as they will soon be upon us. If this is not a good time for you then give it a new meaning. Make it something more personal, something that will bring You happiness. Did you know that Constantine, a Roman ruler started this celebration on December 25th in the year 336AD? It was a way to push Christianity to the masses. And it is still going strong!

If you’ve read my blogs in the past, you know I’m not real fond of Christmas thanks to an unhappy childhood.

When I look at all the chaos in the world it’s hard to feel happiness, joy, good tidings, and cheer. I am not even sure most of us know what Christmas is really about!

We definitely know it is about spending money, shopping, buying gifts we can’t afford, pasting on a happy face, and listening to Christmas carols as soon as Halloween is over.

But what is Christmas really about? We know that it’s not Christ’s birthday because the experts cannot agree on the actual date and time, although I read somewhere it started with “ Christ Mass” thus the name, a mass that was held for Jesus.

I’ve also read that Saint Nicholas played a part in this celebration by starting the gift giving part one year. And if I did a google search there would be 98,500,000 bits of information at my fingertips. Okay, I looked! But really, what does it mean to you.?

For me it is a time when I get depressed when I have nothing to be depressed about. I think it is in my genes as Christmas past for me were not so good. I struggle with not allowing these feelings to take control as I have many things to be grateful for. I have children and grand children whom I love, but sometimes it is just hard.

Now I know this is not a very motivational blog piece, but I want you to know that it is okay for you to feel down and/or depressed as long as you pull yourself out of that pit.

Do not let yourself give into feeling bad. It’s okay for a few moments but look at what you have to be grateful for. I know if you and I could have a conversation I could help you see that there are many things you have to be thankful for.

There are people in your life who care. They don’t have to be family if yours is crappy. This season does not have to be about money, or gifts. It needs to be about feeling joy within.

There is hope on the other side of that tunnel

When I stop the whining and look at what I have, I am amazed that I can walk, talk, think, work, create, hold my bladder, and make whatever choices I want to make about my life. It is not about giving anything, unless it is something I want to give. It doesn’t have to be tied to any religion unless that is what I want, what you want.

We have been given this spot-on earth to do what we will and can for ourselves and each other. We do not need to give it a name. Just call it being human. Things are crazy right now. People are afraid of each other. There is a lot of hatred surging across this planet earth.

We each need to tune into feeling good about life. This IS a great world, there are great people in it, and we can be one of those as well. Yes, I hear the news, but I demand that the networks start telling us all the truth, not just the parts they want to keep us estranged, but that will bring us together.

There are people everywhere doing good things for others. All I ask is that you do things for yourself and the people around you. The hell with calling it Christmas, let’s just call it being kind.

If you are one of the masses who need help then reach out. Do not be afraid or ashamed, we are all here TOGETHER to help each other. It can be in big ways or small ways. The joy comes in that you get to choose.

If your depression is really smothering you, seek help. There are many help lines, emergency services, and people who can help you get through the hard times. We all have needed help at one time or another. There is no shame it choosing to take that next step in seeking help. I have posted one of the help lines to this blog, but you can pick which one you want to use. Just do not give into the depression, fight back, it only takes one foot in front of the other to lead you in a new direction. And don’t worry about the holidays, they will be over soon. And as I always say, have a great day today, you and I deserve.

https://988lifeline.org/ or you can dial 988.

Little things bring her joy, let little things bring you joy too!

September 28, 2022September 28, 2022

Whine With That Cheese Please!

Humans are selfish. When we think of the happenings going on in the world we always think how they affect “us.” It’s natural. Our world revolves around what is happening in our life. So, while there are many things exploding in the world, I must still take a moment and complain.

My grievance is the treatment I received from the car rental place, actually I should say the website for the car that I rented as I was misled.

You want the story in a nutshell. I’ll give it to you in a walnut, that might be big enough. I traveled 1200 miles to see my sister who is not well. We are both in our seventies, and I don’t know how many more times I can make this trip. I normally drive, but it has gotten too much for me, so I flew into Toronto and rented a car.

I made all my arrangements online. And when it came to renting a car, I did the same thing. I figured the drive from the Toronto airport to her place in Orilla was easier to make then the drive from my home in Kansas to her home in Canada.

There are always hiccups in the road aren’t there? So, when I rented my car in August the Internet website handled it very well, I foolishly thought. The printout that I received stated that I could drop this car at the Best Western Plus Hotel at the airport and take their shuttle to the terminal if it was after hours. The fee was $10 to $20 to me. I felt the extra fee well worth it as I would have to drop my car off at 05:00am in the morning as my flight home was leaving Toronto at 8:30am.

Here comes the hiccup. Before I left the car lot, I stated as a question that “I could drop the car off at the Best Western Plus Hotel as I was leaving at 05:00am on September 22^nd and take the hotels shuttle to the airport.”

The car rental staff person looked at me like I was foolish and stated that “No I had to bring the car back to the lot and put the keys in the box and call a taxi or Uber to pick me up and take me to the airport.” Let me say that this lot was in a very industrial, busy area 15 to 20 minutes away from the airport. This business expected a 71-year-old woman to come to their lot at 05:00am, sit in the dark, call an Uber or taxi, and hope that they arrived in time to get me to my flight.

My big concern was would I be able to sit there safely, let me say that again, safely in this car while I waited for some unknown person to pick me up and take me to the airport.

I was dumbfounded. I said to the guy that the printout said that I could leave the car at the Best Western Plus Hotel after hours and catch their shuttle. He said, “Show me” at which time I pulled out the paperwork and showed him where it was printed from this website that I could catch the shuttle and leave the car at the Best Western Plus Hotel at the Toronto airport. The staff person said, “No that is wrong, you have to bring the car back here.”

Believe me had I known this ahead of time I would not have rented from Zoom or used the website that I used to rent the car. I would have gone a different route.

If there’s anybody out there who has ever driven around Toronto on the highways, you will understand my upset and fear at the thought of trying to return that car at 05:00am in the morning. The traffic is horrendous and there are lanes of stopped traffic all along that route.

I was in a state of shock. Here I was far away from home in an unknown area upset that now I had to figure out a different way to bring this car back or bring it to the lot and figure out how to get transportation at 05:00 o’clock in the morning back to the Toronto airport.

The Toronto airport is one hell of a busy place. You must be there very early to get things done. I spent my whole time with my sister worrying about getting that dam car back to the lot.

My final decision was to return the car a day early and stay at a hotel the night before. I cut my vacation a day short and spent $364.83 Canadian on a hotel room that I stayed in for seven hours to drop this car off in the daylight and feel safe that I would be able to get to the airport on time. The car rental place did not even refund my early return. And then they balked at even taking me to the hotel as it “wasn’t at the airport.” he said.

Their suggestion was that the shuttle person could take me to the airport, and I could take a taxi to the hotel. I am not kidding you. They wanted to drop me at the airport and leave me to find my own way to the hotel. What terrible people!

Let me say, as it turned out, the hotel was only about 10 minutes from their car lot. There I stood in their lobby with tears pooling in my eyes over the fact that these cruel men would expect me to find my own way to the hotel after driving through horrific traffic to return my car a day early.

There are monsters among us, unkind, heartless people

Finally, they decided to take me to the hotel as there were five new clients coming into the lobby to rent cars, and I am sure they did not want an old woman standing there crying over the dilemma she found herself thanks to them.

Now, I’m not looking for sympathy. I want you to understand that I was going by the paperwork that I had from the website which included me dropping this car off at the Best Western and taking their shuttle to the airport. It did not include me sitting out in the dark at 05:00 in the morning waiting for somebody to come and pick me up, somebody I wouldn’t know, somebody who would know I was a tourist, and who I should trust to take me safely to the airport to catch my flight back to the states.

What I want is for you to feel as outraged as I do when you hear their the websites response regarding this miscarriage of justice. They told me there is nothing they can do to get a refund for me, then they sent me a copy of a voucher that left off the part about returning the car and included only four pages. In this email they stated, “It doesn’t say anything about pickups or drop offs.”

My copy has six pages and is directly from their website. I printed all the documents as soon as I completed the transaction. This website is all over the world. How can they be so deceitful? They sent me a fake printout. It is not what was available to me at the time of the booking. I have copies and sent them pictures of what is in my printout.

At this point what I expect is a full apology, and a full refund. What do you think will happen?

I guess the lesson that I’ve learned that I want to share with you is that no matter what it says in print on the Internet I would say that you call and verify every single detail before you make a trip far from home. No one should be expected to sit in the dark somewhere in an unknown place and try to find transportation anywhere. Not with the world wide web at our fingertips, or at least that’s what I thought.

Fool me once but you will never fool me again. I shall not use the internet to plan a trip ever as I am sure there are many, many other people out there who have lost lots of money over similar situations. For me, I will go directly through the business I will be dealing with and hope that in the end they will be truthful and trustworthy. What do you think my chances are?

Oh, and by the way, the hotel that my sister and I stayed at in Windsor refused to give me a refund when we left a day early. We had made the trip from her home to Windsor to see family. She is on oxygen and can barely get around. I had to push her everywhere in a wheelchair. It about killed us both.

The casino hotel in Windsor said they could not give me a refund as it was “prepaid.” Hotel.com got me a refund and were quite wonderful. At least I got lucky once. How about you, have your gotten lucky on your trip?

Thankful I made it home safely, and as to you, I hope you have a wonderful day, you and I deserve it.