Mother's Little Helper

Post Mother's Day thoughts. A few weeks ago the TV program 20/20 did a spot on mothers who abuse alcohol and as usual with TV they highlighted only the dramatic details of devil fire water but didn't really deal with the issues of why these women turn to alcohol to help them cope with the stresses of motherhood. The media, in this post Woman's Lib Era, seems to want to put the glam into motherhood and almost want to canonize famous women who embrace motherhood by not only having their own but adopting children from every third world nation on the planet but never seem to adopt a child from their own homeland. What the media doesn't tell or show is the fact that these women, being rich and famous, have "HELP"! They have nannies and servants to deal with the demands of child care, so they can continue their own brilliant careers. But the average woman must wing this job alone. And raising children is a JOB! A job that is 24/7! And it can be alienating and frustrating and so demanding that a woman can get so lost with meeting the demands of her children, she forgets to take care of her own needs, I use to work with children,. While in college I was a teacher's aide and I loved working with the children but damn; it was the most exhausting work I ever done. I would be so joyful, that after work I could go home, relax, read, study and enjoy alone time, but the mother's of these kids have no evening down-time! All the women on the program, were married and they all seem to suffer from an emotionally detached relationship with their husbands. Little wonder they drink! One needs to be praised and petted for doing a good job but what praises do mother's get? One holiday a year? I recall the big news story of a young woman, who when asked why she left her husband and small child to run off with another married man, she stated that she felt no one would really miss her. My heart broke for her, for you could see, she truly felt that she had no feelings of self-worth within her own family, We all need to feel important! That the work we do in our family does have value and that we our loved! I admire women such as Bohemian Mom, who cope with the stress of single-motherhood, with art and poetry, Art and poetry is hard to do when one minds is on bills and everyday living. So, what is this all about, Hug your mother and thank her everyday! Mothers of the world I lift my glass of champagne to you!

"Put the blame on Mame..."

Ever since Eve talked Adam into taking a bite out of that silly apple, women have been blamed for everything that goes wrong with the the world. Now there is an iranian cleric, Hojatolesiam Kazen Sedighi, who has made the insane declaration, that the cause for all this current world-wide earthquakes is due women dressing immodesty and there for leading men astray from the moral codes of Islam? Say what? What does immodesty have to do with a natural disaster? What :The Gods most be crazy"? Besides, if women dressing sexy keep your men's minds off of making car bombs, then ladies, let's lower that neck line and shorten our hem lines!

Food:glorious food.....

One thing I notice while walking among the Collective at PIH (hospital), is the poor eating habits of the staff. You would think, that after seeing the ill effects of a fast-food diet, that Health-Care professionals would be anal, about the kind of food they eat. But while there, I noticed a lot of the nursing staff would walk into work carrying MacDonalds bag, with a cup of coffee in their hands. Often I would go to tho hospital coffee cafe- called Jazzman and watch the doctors and medical staff order sweeten coffees and sweet, bake goods. I got a fresh fruit cup of strawberries and blueberries and was shock that the fruit had no flavor!!The coffee cafe did offer hot tea as well as fresh fruit, lived on hot tea and pears during my mother's stay. Once I stopped at the Marie Calendars' pie cafe across the street and recognized one of the ER doctors, he was eating with a fellow doctor, they were eating big ass cheese burgers and downed it was a whole pot of coffee, then they stepped to smoke a CIGARETTE; then drank another pot of coffee! I hope he doesn't do surgery, pumped up with all that coffee! For the whole in the Collective, the doctors are lean, whereas the nurses and aides run a little heavy set. Then I believe the nurses and nurses aide eat more out of stress. The doctors are so detached and not emotionally invested with the patients, they come in for a few minutes, do their "Ya-da-ya-da-ya-da" and dash off into the halls of the labyrinth of the hospital get on with theirs; but the nurses and nurse-aides are hands on with the patients and they have to deal with the stress of patient care. Little wonder nurses and nurse-aide find comfort in fast-food and show a little booty spread. I have nothing but love and respect for nurses and nurses-aide, a feeling I do not share for doctors! Doctors just supervise one's health-care but truly- I advise your own health-care! Google your doctor, google the drugs and the side-effects of each drug. I know doctors get a little testy when you confront them with intelligent questions or concerns but then if they are not willing to listen to you then you should get another doctor. That is why I sing the praises of Dr. Abbid Shah and Dr. Sarvesh J. Patikh, I know I can be a pain in the ass with questions but they showed me respect for my annoying inquisition of health concern for my mother.I know men find verbally aggressive women it be very unattractive but I'm more concerned about my mother's health and can care less what a young male doctor thinks of me! Besides, I have no interest in sparking a MD's interest! I'm more into artistic-edgy men!

Resistance is futile

This has been an odd few weeks, surreal actually: for I've been spending it at my mother's bedside at Presbyterian Intercommunity Hospital in Whittier. I only take a few hours break to go home to shower and collect our mail and such. Spending so much time within the walls of a large hospital reminds me of what life in a spacecraft must be like, for I feel like I'm walking in the hive among the collective and like all hives not all drones are creative equal. They are even color coded! The Brahmins are the doctors, walking through the labyrinth of hallways in their white lab coats. And what a variety of doctors did I see! During her last visit, my mother had one doctor, Dr. Abbid Shah, due to the fact she had only one, most excellent doctor to review and supervise the details of her health-care, I was well informed and felt great comfort in the consistency of having only one doctor. But during this last stay, I feel like I'm in an episode of "Doctor Who" not knowing what doctor is going to step out of the TRADIS! It's most confusing and I have to be anal about keeping details notes and Googling like a woman possessed each doctor, processor and, medication handed out to her. So many news faces wearing white lab coats has become a haze in my head ,only one Dc. Parikh, remains in my head. One reason, I saw him more than once and like Dr. Shah, he was very kind, open to questions and gave me precise,information, But like all hives, it's not the aristocracy of doctors that keep the hive running smoothly but the worker drones that one's life depends on! Check the color codes Rns/Lvns Ocean Blue or as they also called it in the booklet (Royal Blue) (Queen Bees of the drones I guess), Nurse Attendants,/Unit Clerks- Unit Registration Clerk/lab Clerks - Wine (or as they say burgundy) Orderlies/ Transportation Attendants -black - Cardiology - Caribbean Blue (greenish Blue),Radiology-Navy Blue- Physical Therapy -Midnight Blue (dark Blue -Respiratory Services - Ciel Blue (light Blue) - Environmental Services (I guess they mean janitor) Evergreen (Light green). Interesting don't you think? My mum had wonderful nurses taking care of her! Really PIH, is an mazing hospital. But one thing I begining to think is an Urban Myth is where are all those handsome doctors you see on TV? All are were rather, well average, not Doctor McDreamy! Not dreamy at all, as a matter of fact doctors dress rather like nerds! I mean , who wears a neck tie anymore? Also, for this all brave new world of woman's lib there was only a very tiny handful of women doctors! All I could tell it's still a man's world in the collective! But what can one do? Go with the flow I guess, resistance is futile!

Story without pictures

Yoga Gal is one unhappy camper! For over five years I been attending the Yoga Journal Conference in Boston because I love Boston and in the past I got a great room at the Boston Sheraton on Dalton Street but this year I got a rat hole of a room with the view of a concrete wall! I usually got a great room with a breathtaking view of lake Charles ! Now I can understand if I was new and booked in the last minute but I booked five months in advance for crying out loud! FU Sheraton org you give bad customer service! My room is so bad I can't get good can't get good reception on the clock radio! Thus will be my last stay at a Sheraton! And I go to a lot of Conferences not to mention Comic Cons and World Cons!

No one expects a Spanish Inquisition!

I haven't fallen off the face of the earth or gotten lost on the freeway of the world wide web: just the fact that my mother's health has been very fragile lately. She is so weak lately and I fear I will have to rush her back to the ER of Whittier Presbyterian Inter community Hospital, a place that makes me feel like I'm walking through the third level of Dante's Hell. Don't get me wrong the staff there is truly wonderful, Doctor Abbid Shah is a superb doctor, who not only possesses medical expertise but compassion as well. All the medical staff there are lovely people! Once in a while, when I meet my friend Linda at Marie Calendars,(in California there always seems to be a Marie Calendars across the street of a hospital) I see some of the nurses there, enjoying a much needed after work libation and I feel compelled to buy them a drink to show my gratitude for their hard and good work. No: it's not the staff of PIH's ER that given me the creeps while at the ER, it's just that one must wait for hours at the ER and I feel I'm sitting at the mouth of Hell! It's a depressing and cold place, I can't see how any sane person can bare working there! Also, whenever I"m there, I'm the one who has to answer the same question after question, makes me feel I'm facing the Spanish Inquisition! Things are looking better for my mom, she is still very weak but feeling better! Please; pray for her!

Location, location, location

If anyone was wondering where I took the photos of the elephant seals it was on my way up to Big Sur: it was about two above Hearst Castel, Every year during late Fall the elephant seal go to the local beach and have their pups. The photos are of the pups , the male elephant seals were too busy acting macho and boxing each other in the ocean. And they are huge! They don't call them elephant seals for nothing!
It was raining the day I took the photos but the seals didn't mind the rain. Well, I guess when you spend so much time in the ocean a little rain does bother you.

Ain"t Misbhavin all by myself,,,

"They say that bear have love affairs:
And even camels,
We're men and mammals-let's misbehave!" Cole Porter

May you all a happy Valentine's Day and misbehave with the one you love!

Go on the wild side-this is the Year of the Tiger! Happy New Year too! ROAR!

Love makes the world go round

May you all enjoy a happy St. Valentine's Day, may love warm you throughout the year!
Sunday will also be Chinese New Year! This year will be the Year of The Tiger! Rather like the sound of that! May you all have a happy new year.

I dreamed a dream of time gone by....

Ten years ago, I had a major crash on a yoga teacher. I was so smitten by him I took every class he taught. Each evening after seeing him, I would have an evening of very, colorful and vivid dreams. These dreams always had bright, colorful and exotic, beautiful flowers in it. It was a delightful and painful heaven I was in. The poor yoga teacher, didn't return my feelings. Since then, no other man, has ever captured my emotions or imagination.
There have been other men in my life but not one ever stirred such powerful nocturnal images.
Since last Friday, when I passed the handsome Doctor Abbid Shah in the hallway, I've been dreaming of my ex-boyfriends! Talk about your nightmares! Seeing the good doctor, only made me aware, how numb I've have grown below the waist! It's been ages since I felt any stir of desire! !I can care less if I NEVER have sex again!
Why is that?
My mother fragile health is always on my mind. Must confess, in the past, if a handsome doctor, with a sexy English accent walked into a room i was in, I would be smitten with curiosity! But now,: all I feel is concern over health matter. Have I grown immune to handsome men?
I see handsome men, everyday in the yoga studio, the plus of yoga in West Hollywood. Yesterday, a dropped dead gorgeous, blond male actor stood next to me in class and all I could think. He needs to work on his alignment. Hell, I felt nothing!
Then if you had been involved with the men, I had in my past, you too would be immune to desire!

Comments from the peanut gallery

When I wrote on my Face Book page that I thought if anyone should be crowned as the "King Of Goths" it should be Stephen King, an ardent fan wrote on my wall, asking me if I ever had read the Sandman books. I wrote back that I had and that I greatly love them! Then I wrote back to him. had he ever read, "The Stand"! The the young man response was, well, he would rather hang out with Neil Gaiman than with Stephen King. At first, I was rather confused with this declaration. I would love to be able to spend an evening with Stephen King discussing things that make our skin crawl over a glass of wine but I would also enjoy eating sushi and drinking sake with Neil Gaiman, discussing the power of myth. But then, I realized that one thing that makes Mr. Gaiman so bloody interesting is not just his amazing talent but the amazingly talented people he has as friends. From his very talented P.A. The fabulous Lorraine, to his web wizard Dan Guy,Cat Mihos, the beautiful goddess Malena Teves and the musical Olga Nunes and let's not forget his bride to be, the amazing Amanda Palmer! If you ever have a chance to see her perform, you must go! She is more a performance artist and not in the cheesy over the top way of Lady GaGa! It would appear to be a friend of this gifted writer, you must be gifted too! Yes, I would love to hang out with that group as well, but my talents fade compared to theirs!

Hat full of rain

Talk about your bad rain karma; all week it has been pouring down rain, this afternoon the sun actually came out and I thought, "Glory be!", I can go out and run a few errands. I needed to pick up the mail at my post office box, as well as stop by the local hospital to pick up a prescription for mom. The sun was shinning with all it might but as soon as I parked my car in the hospital parking lot, the rain came down in buckets. And not just a straight down pour but the wind was blowing it right into my face. So when I walked into the hospital, my makeup was washed off, my hair fuzzed out and I looked like the proverbial drown rat! "Find" I though,"I have no one to impressed" No sooner did that thought cross my mind than the handsome doctor, that was so kind to my mother in the ER, Dr. Abbid Shah, walked by me. Isn't it ironic? Not that I have any romantic designs on the good doctor, it's just that running into handsome men always makes me appearance aware. It's the same feeling I get whenever an A-List actor comes into my yoga class, somehow I regret not putting on any makeup. However, handsome doctors are like A-List Actors, so involved in their own reality that they are unaware of others around them. The good doctor didn't even see me:; no doubt he had better things on his mind, such as saving a life! One creepy thing I did noticed while picking my mother's prescription and walking through the hospital, was that the hospital lobbies were packed with people! It was unreal! I never seen so many people in the waiting areas! Is this due to the rain? People in California just don't know how to drive in the rain and the freeways look like a war zone from the flashing red lights of auto crashes. Or maybe this flue business is really as dangerous as the press say. I'm clueless; just notice that there was a lot of traffic in the hospital today! Heaven help us! At least the rain is starting to let up, tonight is beautiful and rain free. However: I must confess, I love falling asleep with the sounds of rain outdoors and thunder storms just fill me with a rush of lush! It's that inner Goth Goddess in me, I guess. This week, has been the ONLY week, I longed to have a man in my bed! Love has left such a bitter taste in my mouth, I don't care If I NEVER fall in love again. So, I pacified those amorous feelings brought on by the rain, by re-reading Emily Bronte's "Wuthering Heights".

The King is dead: long live the king!

I just read a profile on Neil Gaiman, in "The New Yorker" magazine, calling him, "The King of the Goths"! Excuse me:: who died and crowned him king?

Now; don't get me wrong! I believe Neil Gaiman is an AMAZING talent! His novel "America Gods" converted me to Horror/Fantasy Fiction. Before I read that book, the only work of Fantasy fiction I read were the three Lord of the Rings; and that was when I was in college and dating a handsome, tormented artist ,who's dream was to illustrate a graphic novel version of the series. (Can you imagine the volumes of those books!) It wasn't until I read Mr. Gaiman's dark tale of Shadow and his encounters with displaced Old World Gods, that I started to become a fanatic fan of dark tales of the macabre. His short stories are full of twisted wit and dark humor.

However: he's far from being the "king" of the sinister genre! There are far too many writers that are not only his equal but surpassed him. Christopher Moore novels are brilliant with wit , his first novel ,"Practical Demonkeeping" is a must for fans of Horror fiction! And other names, such as Joe Hil (Heart Shape Box & 20th Century Ghosts)l, Charlaine Harris (novels that the wonderful show "True Blood"),just come come to mind:hell, not to mention Stephen King! If any Horror/Fiction writer should be crown with such a title it should be Stephen King!

To be fair on the so called Dream King Gaiman, he does have an enormous number of devoted fans. (I confess, I'm one of those fans!) I also I noticed that the New Yorker writer who pen the profile was female and Mr. Gaiman can be as charming as the devil himself. And even though he's greying. his face is starting to shows the sagging signs of age and he is beginning to have a older man's gut (Amanda take your man to yoga class) he still can be said to be an attractive, handsome, mature man! So maybe, he charm himself into that crown?

The king is dead: long live the king! But remember Mr. Gaiman:"Heavy hangs the head that wear the crown".

I'll build a staircase to paradise...

One good thing about illness is that it gives one the free time to read those books you have piling up by one's bedside. You know that pile of books that are your most read one of these days? A few days ago I saw a current film version of the classic H.G.Wells "The Time Machine". It was one of those film version that made me wonder if the writers, producers and director had bothered to even read the novel?It was so off the mark the only thing they got correct it seem to be the title! Instead of making the Eloi the small, fair and androgynous people they were in the look they made they dark skin, native looking people who could have the physical force to kick the ass of the Morlocks.

I wrote in my FaceBook wall how being so ill made me feel like I was a Morlock , living in the dark and not being able to take the sunlight. When I wrote and ask did anyone know who the Morlocks were my friend who claimed to not only read SF Fiction but write it as well stated they were clueless to the reference! Excuse me; now can you claim to love Science Fiction and not have read H.G. Welles? That like stating you were an English Lit major and never had read Shakespeare! Only two people knew what I was talking about : one an old friend who does read SF and the other a friend who son loves computer games and they're charcters in a game.

However, bad the film was, it did inspire me pick up the book and read it again! It's a wonderful novel!