Random Thoughts/Rants

The Healing Power of Laughter – Last night Anastasia and I watched Happy Gilmore on ABC Family Channel. After the movie Joel Osteen Ministries was on. Normally we don’t watch ministry/evangelical type programming, but the topic caught our attention. If you’re interested in watching the episode online it is "#413 – The Healing Power of Laughter".

The first thing that struck me about this "message" was how topical it is. How when times are tough we need to do things to lift our spirits, how our bodies can create their own "medicine". How laughter creates endorphins and can improve our mood and sometimes even improve certain medical conditions like depression or fibromyalgia. How something as simple as finding ways to laugh everyday can make a difference in our lives. How important it is do watch a funny television show or movie or read a funny book. Even having a laugh at ourselves. I have to say, Anastasia and I laugh every day. We both have similar senses of humor and can find the funny in anything.

Another thing that struck me was how much difficulty ministers, evangelists and religious leaders must be having in today’s times finding sermon topics that speak to their congregations. Sermon topics that acknowledge the times we are in and inspire hope must be very difficult to write.

Am I the only one that finds it odd that ABC Family airs 700 Club programming and Joel Osteen Ministries programming? I’m guessing this is not something new, perhaps I just never noticed.

Inattentive Mothers – Today I spent an hour and a half in a waiting room. There were numerous young mothers with young children. One young mother had an almost newborn in a baby carrier and a very active 2-3 year old son. He was all over the very large waiting area, running, climbing on chairs, etc. His mother did nothing to reprimand him or get him to return to her. She let him run wild.

At one point he grabbed his privates and said he needed to use the bathroom. The mother grabbed his hand and took him to the Ladies Room and LEFT THE BABY where she was sitting! The mother and son were gone for at least 5 minutes leaving the baby unattended. (Unless you count us strangers and some of them looked pretty sketchy.) Then the mother returned alone, leaving her 2-3 year old son in the Ladies Room alone! He came out nearly 5 minutes after that and proceeded to parade around the waiting area again, running, climbing, etc. Another mother with a son the same age who was seated clear across the room let her son run and slide on the floor on my end of the room. After this continued for more than 40 minutes the security guard finally called out "hey, you need to get your son" and the woman retrieved him, but he was back at it in a few minutes.

WTF is wrong with these mothers? How do you leave a baby unattended in a very large waiting room? How do you let your toddler be in the Ladies Room alone? How do you let your child run around like a wild animal disturbing the staff of the facility and the other patrons? These mothers were in their 20’s, not in their teens and you would think they would know better. When my kids were little ones I made sure they behaved themselves in public. Don’t these women read the news about child abductions? Call me crazy, but I won’t leave either of my children alone in a crowded public places and my kids are teens!

Jeez, I sound like an old lady. Next thing you know I'll be saying "Get off my lawn!" Who/what am I becoming?

Octuplet Woman – Haven’t we all heard enough about her? Now the news is saying she has had lip injections and possibly other things done to make her look face like Angelina Jolie. What I want to know is how exactly does she plan on attracting a Brad Pitt look alike? Or is she planning to attract the real Brad by having a larger brood than the real Angie?

Octuplet Woman’s Mother – Doesn’t she have anything nice to say about her daughter? I mean, caring for 6 grandchildren while her daughter visits her new babies has to be a lot of work. She does sound a bit bitter, don’t you think? If her mother isn't going to help her and her father is going to Iraq, who is going to help her?

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