Let me preface this by saying I'm not Dr. Phil by any means, but I can speak from prior experience on this one and HAVE given advice on this subject due to my experiences. Feel free to leave comments if you have any after reading this...
How many times have you set out to find something that you misplaced or knew you just had in your possession and couldn't remember what you did with it? I know, me too. Here's the catch though. Why do we find ourselves looking for our house key in that coat we haven't worn since last winter or looking in the car we just got out of for the same key? You know as well as I do that you just used that same key to get in the door AFTER you got out of the car. Why did you go back to the car? The answer is understandable, yet not as simple as 2+2. The reason is you just got out of that car and you know you had the key while you were in the car, so the logical thing to do is retrace your steps and go backward. When you realize how proposterous that idea is, you move forward and begin to look wherever you can. You know if you search everywhere, high and low;that key will pop up,right? So you begin your search for that most important necessity to you at that moment: the house key. You look in that pair of pants you wore three days ago. Empty. Then you move onto the bathroom, knowing you haven't even stepped foot in the bathroom since you've been home. Is the key there? Of course not. Why would it be, and why would you look somewhere that you know the key can't be present? Well, because you want to find that key, and you'll stop at nothing until it's back in your possession. So, the hunt continues. You get to the point where on the verge of giving up hope, you make one last ditch effort to round up that key and you call a friend to ask for their help. You don't want them to find the key; you just want them to help YOU find it. Now the friend isn't the guiding light, but they offer something that you can't at this point: alternate perspective.
Over the last few months, I have seen posts on Facebook from a few of my friends stating that they were LOOKING for "Mr. Right/Ms. Right". They don't know where he/she is at; but they know he/she's out there somewhere and they want to find him/her, no matter the cost. Now, as I stated before; I'm not Dr. Phil but I have been through this ringer a time or two.
Here is the first and most important piece of advice: STOP LOOKING for them. Let them find you, or even better,hope you find your way to each other. When you have it in your mind that "Mr. Right/Ms. Right" will be found, you overlook a few of their inadequacies instead of having what you really want. Yes, they make you laugh; and you just love the way their passion exposes itself when speaking on a subject they firmly believe in. However, what if they have a pet and that pet is a cat? Now you know you're allergic to cats, so unless you are only going to see each other at your place, you need to think about this dilemma and think about it early. Yeah, I know you can get a shot to take away this minor inconvenience, so let me give you another reference. Let's say you find what you think is "Mr. Right/Ms. Right", and you realize two weeks in that they enjoy smoking marijuana rather frequently, yet you have random drug tests at your place of employment. Are you going to hang around? Some will, some won't; but those who do are "hoping they change" instead of realizing if they were that way when you met them, you can't expect them to change. Have you ever test drove a car;decided to buy it and then tried to take it back because you wanted a different color? Let me know how it works out for you if you ever try that one. You will have no luck, just to save you the trouble. If you meet someone in a bar, yet you don't agree with their drinking; there in lies a problem. Why are you trying to meet people in a bar in the first place? I assure you that "Mr. Right/Ms. Right" is NOT in a bar or a night club. Now "Mr./Ms. Right Now" they can be, but not for the distant future. Also, when looking for your future, do not go back to previous pawns in your game of love. This is in reference to looking in the car for the keys you used to get in the house. Why are you going backwards? There's a reason you go back to that person and it's called convenience or comfort. It may be a person who gave you the most pleasure to your body, yet the most pain to your heart. Memo to you back trackers: Keep it moving! There is a reason they are in your past, so they should be left there. Go out tomorrow and walk down the road looking over your shoulder to see what's behind you. I will tell you thank you right now for reading my blog because this will be the last one you read before you get hit by a car. DO NOT look back; keep your eyes forward. That also goes for that pair of pants you wore three days ago, yet you're looking in them for keys you misplaced five minutes ago. They are not in them either. Those jeans have no bearing on your keys, as they were not present when you lost the keys.Look in the door. I know it is the obvious choice, but it's also the safest place.
After I tell you to look in the door, your friend just walked in and pulled the keys out of the door. They already knew on the way over to your house that they were going to look there first. Why? They are your friend for a reason, and they know that you would never think to look in the obvious place:the door. They know you're in panic mode right now and aren't thinking clearly, and that's what friends are for. That is the same reason that we, at times, will rely on our friends to find that "someone" for us. They know what our strengths, weaknesses, turn-ons, and turn-offs are, so we trust them with the possibility of our future. Let them ride with you, but make sure you are still in control of the steering wheel. It's your heart and your future. They may be able to find your keys for you, but that doesn't make them the Gatekeeper, so take their opinion as "advice", not "direction". Remember, you're still steering the car because you know where you want to go.
Moral of the story today is simply this: How many of you out there have ever been "in love"? Quite a few I would imagine. How many of you that answered "yes" were looking for it when it found you? Were you ready for it when it found you? My guess would be probably not, and I would imagine it scared the hell out of you when you realized you were losing yourself to someone else, but how good did it feel? When you look for it, you "convince yourself" that the feeling is love. When it finds you, your heart "enlightens you" to what you've just found. If you want it to make an impact, let it find you, and hope you're not ready for it when it does. That's when your heart and soul will be put to the test, and that's what makes loving someone else fun.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Friday, May 1, 2009
My adventures with "Strep" and the update.....
OK, first let me start by saying that I was raised by a single father who is from the old school. I mean, this is the same guy who would make me piss in a cup when I was little if I had an earache. His rationale was that the "acids in the piss would fight the infection away". Yeah, that's easy for you to say as you use that dropper to squirt piss in my ear and then cover it up with a cotton ball. The slightest turn of my ear from a 90 degree angle and it would be running down my face. That's old school. Well, when you're raised by that mentality, you develop the same mentality. "If it ain't falling off, broken, or bleeding profusely;it will heal without a doctor making me pay him to tell me how to do it."
I now bring you to the present day and my battle with something us smokers battle rather frequently: STREP THROAT! As some of you know, I had been battling being sick a few weeks ago. I went to my dad's to help him rake up all of his leaves in his yard so he could get it presentable for "pool season". Well, that day of all days, it began to rain. I had a softball tournament the next day and needed to get the leaves done so it wouldn't be a burden later. So like an idiot I decide to rake in the rain and stick it out. The next morning I felt OK, but not as good as I needed to considering I would be playing ball all day in the sun. Needless to say, I gutted it out, but remember making the statement in the last game that I would be "sick as hell" the next day. Low and behold, Sunday morning comes and I feel like death heated up for 20 minutes in a microwave. On my way back to my dad's I go to finish raking leaves that "I missed". Are you serious Dad? The damn Masters is coming on, and we have to do the leaves now? So we do the leaves and my throat is killing me, but of course I'm chiefing my heaters as per usual.
It's now the end of the day, and I need rest and water....lots of water, and cough drops, and anything else I can find to lower my temperature and make me feel better. Have I mentioned yet that I was leaving for Greenville,NC at 5a.m. to work for the entire week with 3 guys I've never met before in my life? Well, that's the plan. So I finally doze off at about 12:30 and the alarm goes off at 3:30 a.m. Man, do I feel fantastic at this point? I may have five pounds of sweat in my shirt as I try to pull myself off of the couch to go get in the shower. I really have to ride in a car with a guy I've never met before for 3 hours as sick as I am? Oh well, suck it up. You're just sick John;it happens to all of us. So I'm showered and ready to go; and my dad says to me as soon as we get in the car: "Damn boy, you look like shit. You gonna make it?" With everybody cheering me up this way, how could I not, right?
So, I get to the boss' house and good thing he's a friend of my dad's and myself or he might have just told me to take my sick ass back to the house. He hands me my per diem money for the week,and the first thing I'm thinking is "Get me to the damn store so I can grab some cough drops and orange juice, dude!" Did I tell you that I've never met this cat before in my life? I thought so, which is what makes the next party LOL funny to me. We get on the highway heading for G-ville at about 5:15. This cat needs to double as a NASCAR driver in his spare time because the speedometer never dropped below 95 mph the entire time. You may be laughing, but I'm serious. At 5:45 a.m. he fires up some shit that would have had Cheech and Chong smiling. This was a "hog leg" this cat was holding and he proceeds to wake me up before 6 a.m. asking me if I want a hit. Look bro, you don't know me and I don't know you, so why are you trying to send me to "Zulu Nation" at 6 a.m. on Monday? My exact words were "Hell no. I've been sick for 3 days;I'm sweating like Hillary Clinton running for president, and we have to work in about 2 hours. If you want me out of this truck TODAY, get that thing away from me." So, I worked until Thursday, doped up on Ibuprofen and beer. When I came home, I still felt like death, but I kept it moving. Last week, I continued to feel bad and on Thursday I developed a "rash". Where the hell did that come from? Ok, the sore throat I can deal with, because as I said before;I'm a smoker. However, I now have a small rash. With all respect to my father, I listen to most advice, and although it's not bleeding profusely, broken, or falling off; it's a damn rash and I'm done avoiding Trapper John M.D. Off to the doctor I go. So I go in and the girl at the front desk asks me why I'm there. My response is short and sweet: "My throat has been sore for almost 2 weeks and when I woke up yesterday morning, I had this." I proceed to show her my disfigurement and she says: "Ooooh, what is that?" It's a damn rash you moron!! Get me some help.
After an hour, the little chic who is supposed to take my blood pressure comes to get me in the lobby. I sit down and she straps me up and sees the rash while lacing me up for my BP check. "What happened?", she asks me with an uncomfortable sound in her voice.Well, you know me. Mr Jokester couldn't resist. " I sleep in the nude and I sleep walk. I guess I took the wrong path last night, because when I woke up in the back yard this morning, the first thing I thought was where are my clothes and why do I have this rash on my arms and stomach?" She laughed and led me back to my room. I sat there for about a half an hour and in comes the Doc. "What can I do for you Mr. Herndon?" "Well, my throat feels like I swallowed sandpaper and I have this thing and I want to know why." I'm pissed because I look like someone tried to play connect the dots on my chest and stomach. She gives me a strep test and the results are positive. She also informs me that due to the fact that I waited so long to come in, I now have a bacterial infection and need PENICILLIN to get rid of it. Nice!! So she writes my prescription and off I go. I spend all day Saturday playing in another softball tournament and popping penicillin pills. My teammates are talking to me but keeping their distance from me like I'm a damn social leper. But, in all honesty, it freaked me out and it was on my body. Hopefully it will get better soon. NOPE! Sunday was pretty much the norm, and I spent most of the day inside since I was packing to move.
Back to Greenville I go Monday morning this week, and yes, 100 mph the whole way and the usual "Hey man, you want a hit?" I put my headphones on and close my eyes. We work all day Monday and needless to say it's "hotter than 2 rats f-ing in a wool sock". I take a shower and am ready to relax. The guy I'm rooming with says: "Jesus dude, what the hell happened?" I look in the mirror and I feel like Macaulay Culkin in Home Alone. I look like someone just shot me with a damn red paintball gun while I was in the shower. The rash has spread considerably and is now darker. I call the doctor who examined me in K-ville, and she tells me I "may have had an allergic reaction to the penicillin." My first thought is "How many years did you go to school to come up with that assessment?" "I'm gonna call in a new prescription for you." she tells me with assurance in her voice. So she gives me the Z-Pack, which the price proves just how proud they are of this jewel. I'm thinking that this might just kick this shit to the curb. NOPE, same results, so I call today and they tell me to come in and they'll re-examine me. So I do.
Well, here I am back home and in the doc's office. He comes in and takes one look at my rash and I think he's got it pegged. Talk to me doc. He says "You wanna know what's going on?" "No doc, I wanna keep looking like a circus freak, but thanks for the concern." He looks me dead in the eye and says "You're toxic." I couldn't resist at this point. "The only thing that could have made that statement any better would be if you were Britney Spears on an airplane, wearing a stewardess outfit and rubbing your rack in my face." He got a kick out of that, but proceeded to tell me the infection had spread and got into my blood stream and that's where the rash came from. "I'm gonna give you a shot and some steroids. You'll be good as new in a few days." SWEET! Wait, did you say steroids? I took Prednisone last year for 5 days and I was ready to fight everybody at Myrtle Beach. So, in comes the nurse to give my shot of steroids. Wait, do you have anyone under 200 lbs. and under the age of 45? "Can you give me your name and D-O-B please?" I give the info and she, without flinching says, "Can you drop your shorts and bend over the table for me?" Damn, it's a good thing she got my name and D-O-B or I might have felt a little violated. She tells me that my shot is steroids too. Great, am I gonna be on Capitol Hill next week? So, there I am with my shorts at me knees and getting a needle jammed in my right ass cheek to make an infection go away. The funny thing is that I will not "misremember" that pain for a while. My damn right leg almost went numb. Then she hands me my prescription and sends me on my way. So I drop off my prescription at Wally World and wait to see just what I'm getting. 30 Prednsione??!! YES!! I have to take steroids for 2 weeks. The Madman will be on the war path for the next 2 weeks. If you had seen me at Myrtle Beach last summer, you'd know what I mean. Me and steroids don't gel very well
Moral of today's story? If you have strep throat or you feel bad for a minimum of a week, go to the doctor. Old school, new school, no school. Your health is nothing to play with, and this story is living proof. I don't even want to leave the damn house right now, but have to start moving, so I guess I have no choice. Have a great weekend, and pray you don't cut my "roided up ass" off in traffic anytime in the next 2 weeks.
I now bring you to the present day and my battle with something us smokers battle rather frequently: STREP THROAT! As some of you know, I had been battling being sick a few weeks ago. I went to my dad's to help him rake up all of his leaves in his yard so he could get it presentable for "pool season". Well, that day of all days, it began to rain. I had a softball tournament the next day and needed to get the leaves done so it wouldn't be a burden later. So like an idiot I decide to rake in the rain and stick it out. The next morning I felt OK, but not as good as I needed to considering I would be playing ball all day in the sun. Needless to say, I gutted it out, but remember making the statement in the last game that I would be "sick as hell" the next day. Low and behold, Sunday morning comes and I feel like death heated up for 20 minutes in a microwave. On my way back to my dad's I go to finish raking leaves that "I missed". Are you serious Dad? The damn Masters is coming on, and we have to do the leaves now? So we do the leaves and my throat is killing me, but of course I'm chiefing my heaters as per usual.
It's now the end of the day, and I need rest and water....lots of water, and cough drops, and anything else I can find to lower my temperature and make me feel better. Have I mentioned yet that I was leaving for Greenville,NC at 5a.m. to work for the entire week with 3 guys I've never met before in my life? Well, that's the plan. So I finally doze off at about 12:30 and the alarm goes off at 3:30 a.m. Man, do I feel fantastic at this point? I may have five pounds of sweat in my shirt as I try to pull myself off of the couch to go get in the shower. I really have to ride in a car with a guy I've never met before for 3 hours as sick as I am? Oh well, suck it up. You're just sick John;it happens to all of us. So I'm showered and ready to go; and my dad says to me as soon as we get in the car: "Damn boy, you look like shit. You gonna make it?" With everybody cheering me up this way, how could I not, right?
So, I get to the boss' house and good thing he's a friend of my dad's and myself or he might have just told me to take my sick ass back to the house. He hands me my per diem money for the week,and the first thing I'm thinking is "Get me to the damn store so I can grab some cough drops and orange juice, dude!" Did I tell you that I've never met this cat before in my life? I thought so, which is what makes the next party LOL funny to me. We get on the highway heading for G-ville at about 5:15. This cat needs to double as a NASCAR driver in his spare time because the speedometer never dropped below 95 mph the entire time. You may be laughing, but I'm serious. At 5:45 a.m. he fires up some shit that would have had Cheech and Chong smiling. This was a "hog leg" this cat was holding and he proceeds to wake me up before 6 a.m. asking me if I want a hit. Look bro, you don't know me and I don't know you, so why are you trying to send me to "Zulu Nation" at 6 a.m. on Monday? My exact words were "Hell no. I've been sick for 3 days;I'm sweating like Hillary Clinton running for president, and we have to work in about 2 hours. If you want me out of this truck TODAY, get that thing away from me." So, I worked until Thursday, doped up on Ibuprofen and beer. When I came home, I still felt like death, but I kept it moving. Last week, I continued to feel bad and on Thursday I developed a "rash". Where the hell did that come from? Ok, the sore throat I can deal with, because as I said before;I'm a smoker. However, I now have a small rash. With all respect to my father, I listen to most advice, and although it's not bleeding profusely, broken, or falling off; it's a damn rash and I'm done avoiding Trapper John M.D. Off to the doctor I go. So I go in and the girl at the front desk asks me why I'm there. My response is short and sweet: "My throat has been sore for almost 2 weeks and when I woke up yesterday morning, I had this." I proceed to show her my disfigurement and she says: "Ooooh, what is that?" It's a damn rash you moron!! Get me some help.
After an hour, the little chic who is supposed to take my blood pressure comes to get me in the lobby. I sit down and she straps me up and sees the rash while lacing me up for my BP check. "What happened?", she asks me with an uncomfortable sound in her voice.Well, you know me. Mr Jokester couldn't resist. " I sleep in the nude and I sleep walk. I guess I took the wrong path last night, because when I woke up in the back yard this morning, the first thing I thought was where are my clothes and why do I have this rash on my arms and stomach?" She laughed and led me back to my room. I sat there for about a half an hour and in comes the Doc. "What can I do for you Mr. Herndon?" "Well, my throat feels like I swallowed sandpaper and I have this thing and I want to know why." I'm pissed because I look like someone tried to play connect the dots on my chest and stomach. She gives me a strep test and the results are positive. She also informs me that due to the fact that I waited so long to come in, I now have a bacterial infection and need PENICILLIN to get rid of it. Nice!! So she writes my prescription and off I go. I spend all day Saturday playing in another softball tournament and popping penicillin pills. My teammates are talking to me but keeping their distance from me like I'm a damn social leper. But, in all honesty, it freaked me out and it was on my body. Hopefully it will get better soon. NOPE! Sunday was pretty much the norm, and I spent most of the day inside since I was packing to move.
Back to Greenville I go Monday morning this week, and yes, 100 mph the whole way and the usual "Hey man, you want a hit?" I put my headphones on and close my eyes. We work all day Monday and needless to say it's "hotter than 2 rats f-ing in a wool sock". I take a shower and am ready to relax. The guy I'm rooming with says: "Jesus dude, what the hell happened?" I look in the mirror and I feel like Macaulay Culkin in Home Alone. I look like someone just shot me with a damn red paintball gun while I was in the shower. The rash has spread considerably and is now darker. I call the doctor who examined me in K-ville, and she tells me I "may have had an allergic reaction to the penicillin." My first thought is "How many years did you go to school to come up with that assessment?" "I'm gonna call in a new prescription for you." she tells me with assurance in her voice. So she gives me the Z-Pack, which the price proves just how proud they are of this jewel. I'm thinking that this might just kick this shit to the curb. NOPE, same results, so I call today and they tell me to come in and they'll re-examine me. So I do.
Well, here I am back home and in the doc's office. He comes in and takes one look at my rash and I think he's got it pegged. Talk to me doc. He says "You wanna know what's going on?" "No doc, I wanna keep looking like a circus freak, but thanks for the concern." He looks me dead in the eye and says "You're toxic." I couldn't resist at this point. "The only thing that could have made that statement any better would be if you were Britney Spears on an airplane, wearing a stewardess outfit and rubbing your rack in my face." He got a kick out of that, but proceeded to tell me the infection had spread and got into my blood stream and that's where the rash came from. "I'm gonna give you a shot and some steroids. You'll be good as new in a few days." SWEET! Wait, did you say steroids? I took Prednisone last year for 5 days and I was ready to fight everybody at Myrtle Beach. So, in comes the nurse to give my shot of steroids. Wait, do you have anyone under 200 lbs. and under the age of 45? "Can you give me your name and D-O-B please?" I give the info and she, without flinching says, "Can you drop your shorts and bend over the table for me?" Damn, it's a good thing she got my name and D-O-B or I might have felt a little violated. She tells me that my shot is steroids too. Great, am I gonna be on Capitol Hill next week? So, there I am with my shorts at me knees and getting a needle jammed in my right ass cheek to make an infection go away. The funny thing is that I will not "misremember" that pain for a while. My damn right leg almost went numb. Then she hands me my prescription and sends me on my way. So I drop off my prescription at Wally World and wait to see just what I'm getting. 30 Prednsione??!! YES!! I have to take steroids for 2 weeks. The Madman will be on the war path for the next 2 weeks. If you had seen me at Myrtle Beach last summer, you'd know what I mean. Me and steroids don't gel very well
Moral of today's story? If you have strep throat or you feel bad for a minimum of a week, go to the doctor. Old school, new school, no school. Your health is nothing to play with, and this story is living proof. I don't even want to leave the damn house right now, but have to start moving, so I guess I have no choice. Have a great weekend, and pray you don't cut my "roided up ass" off in traffic anytime in the next 2 weeks.
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