A Random Act

While at the library the other day, I did a search on books that were uplifting true stories. One of the books that came up, that the library also had on the shelf, was the book “A Random Act” by Cindi Broaddus. She is the sister-in-law of Dr. Phil’s. I must say, I have a little more respect for the man after reading this book.

I’ve debated for over a week whether I wanted to read it. It sounded like it would be sad and depressing. It is the story of how someone threw a gallon of sulfuric acid off an overpass onto Cindi’s car. She was severely burned as the acid ate away her skin.

Scarred for life, the story is her road of survival. I couldn’t help feeling like crying through several parts. How so horrible that someone could commit such a horrible act on a perfect stranger.

Cindi’s message, since her recovery, is to offset the random acts of violence we see everyday, we need to practice random acts of kindness. Maybe if we all tried to practice this everyday, there would be a little more peace and a lot more love in the world.

Spelunking

Spelunking – what is the attraction? I’m watching the movie “Descent” for about the 20th time. It is about a group of British women who love dangerous adventures. They decide to go spelunking in an un-surveyed cave which, of course, happens to house very yucky huworms. Yes, that is human and worm put together.

As I watch them slither through holes so small they can’t even sit up, it makes me want to throw up because it brings back the sensations I felt when I was stupidly doing the same thing.

I was a teenager and my science class decided to take a field trip to a cave there in Iowa. Having never been spelunking, I was excited over the prospect. The cave was very well known and each of us was given a handwritten diagram on how it laid out. Each of us was also given a flashlight.

Once inside the cave, our teachers split us up into two groups. I went with the non-whiners because they would probably have more fun. My teacher decided we were going to explore the tunnel off to our left while the other teacher, laughing, said they were going through the right tunnel.

It didn’t take me long to figure out two things. One, a cave is a pitch dark place when everyone turns out their flashlights; and two, I obviously was with the wrong group because this teacher was psychotic. He liked small spaces and soon had us on our bellies worming through a very small opening.

This space was so tiny that the only thing you could see were the tennis shoes of the kid ahead of you. We wormed around for quite awhile before the tennis shoes in front of me suddenly stopped.

So there I laid, unable to sit up or even roll over onto my back, not knowing what was going on. As there was nothing else to do, I started thinking about all that rock above me and thus my claustrophobia was born.

After what seemed forever – I was starting to hyperventilate – I heard someone ahead of me yell “backup!” which I then yelled to the person behind me and on down the line it went. We slowly wormed our way out backwards until we reached the main caravan again. The moment I could stand, I tried to run outside – I banged my head into a low hanging rock I forgot was there. Almost in hysterics, I ran through the mouth of the cave to the fresh air.

My teacher chided me for going on the trip if I was so claustrophobic – I told him I hadn’t been till then. I found the other group’s smallest tunnel was one they crawled through on all fours and then only for a few feet.

I have never been spelunking again – would never go no matter how much money someone offered. I’m still terribly claustrophobic and have occasional nightmares about being buried alive.

Repeats

Turned on the TV this afternoon and what did I see? They are STILL re-running “Man From Snowy River.” Again….and again…and again.

Mind you, I loved the movie when it came out a hundred years ago but come on! There are so many other movies made since then! I can’t see why they still play it. I see it at least once every week or two when surfing channels.

I’d say it is time the network checks for some fresh, old stuff.

“Childrens do learn”

Please, can’t someone just keep Bush from opening his mouth? His mangling of the English language is far from funny. Sure, occasionally it would be acceptable as a joke but basically he is telling the young people today that it is ok to sound like idiots. Mr. President, they don’t need your help there…

Never, ever would I claim to speak perfect English – but it does seem to me that our President should. He keeps pushing his “no child left behind” and his stance on education – yet he constantly flubs up himself.

Brain-eating Amoeba

Was reading the “science” news today on the internet and found that lakes now have an amoeba in them that swims up the nose into the brain. There it feeds on your brain tissue until you die. The whole process, from first contact to death, is about two weeks. A 14 yr old boy just died from this in Phoenix.

There is no cure for this amoeba even if a doctor did manage to diagnose it correctly. Once it is in your body, you die. Of course, there have only been 6 deaths from this little parasite this year – three here in Florida, two in Texas and now the one in Arizona. From 1995-2004 there were a total of 23 cases nationwide.

The pest thrive in warm, standing water – something easily found in every state at some point of the year. You can become infected if you are swimming and water goes up your nose. In Florida, they recommend you use nose clips if you are going to swim in fresh water.

You know…being bit by a shark sounds a lot better then having your brain eaten by a bug. Think I’ll stick with the saltwater, thank you very much.

Must Say…

I must say I pretty much frittered away this day today. Watched some tv, cleaned a bit here and there, and ran a few errands.

Tomorrow will be more productive, I’m sure.

I wish I could think of something profound to write about but alas, I can’t. Promise to work on that tomorrow.