I Wear Speedos

I love that song "Despacito". Actually I love anything Puerto Rican and there isn't enough Puerto Rican music out there anyway, but when one of the songs hits the top 10 in pop music, people pay attention. If you haven't heard the song here is the video:

I saw this parody on it and thought I would die laughing. It's hilarious:

It's like a mankini! 

HAHAHAHAHA

TOO FUNNY!

Laughter is good...

My New Joyful Theme Song

I LOVE this song! I love the message! So joyful!

Happiness is good. So are ice cream-colored pastels. And girl power!

Everybody's Got Somebody But Me (Hunter Hayes with Jason Mraz)

Hunter Hayes has to be the cutest kid I've ever seen, besides he's teamed up with my idol, Jason Mraz. I can't find the video yet so you'll have to do with this link:

http://www.cmt.com/videos/hunter-hayes/968635/everybodys-got-somebody-but-me-featuring-jason-mraz.jhtml

Surviving the Holidays

 

The holidays are here! Woe to those who are chemically sensitive.  It doesn't matter if you celebrate Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Al Hijra, Hanukkah, Ashura, Christmas, Kwanzaa, Boxing Day, New Year's Eve or New Year's Day, it's human inclination to want to join together in merriment. That means lots of people and lots of stink. Here are my Top Ten Tips for surviving the holidays:

1.) Don't go shopping for gifts. Buy them online and have them sent directly. Or buy gift cards and mail them. Better yet, don't contribute to the materialism of the season. Make mementos or give IOUs for things like massages, house-cleaning projects, car washing, or other helpful acts of kindness. Or donate to charities in the name of your friend or relative to feed the hungry or give basic necessities to the poor. We own too much.

2.) If you plan to murder and waste a living tree, get an organic one that hasn't been sprayed with pesticides or preserved with pine-scented fresheners. Or better find a little fake tree so you can use it every year. No wait, they are usually made from plastics or chemicals. Even better, go outside, pick up one of the many branches that broke off in the last storm and decorate it. The Swiss have a tradition of putting a Christmas tree on top at the apex of a newly constructed house frame as a symbol of happiness to come. It's just a stick with a few decorations, but the meaning is enormous. Do we need a ten foot tall, freshly murdered tree to symbolize our materialism and bad taste? If you need the fresh scent of pine,  gather pine branches from your neighbor's pine tree that's in pieces all over your yard. There are benefits to winter storms! Be grateful. Make a wreath while you are at it!


3.) Christmas lights. Oh, I love Christmas lights. Do you know the plastic used to cover the wires is made with lead? Check the box or packaging the lights came in as there is often a warning. CAUTION: Prop 65 WARNING: Handling the coated electrical wires of this product exposes you to lead, a chemical known to the State of California to cause cancer, birth defects and other reproductive harm. Wash hands after use. Who would have thought? You don't want to eat any fudge with bare, unwashed hands after handling twinkle lights. In addition, when this plastic gets old it starts to disintegrate and the lead flakes off creating a dust all over. I guess most of us should feel lucky only in the State of California is lead hazardous. Does that mean everyone else's lights are safe?

 

 

4.) Don't buy Christmas cards or stand in line at the post office with smelly people for stamps and mailings. Instead, there are many websites for ecard deliveries or make your own Christmas letter with embedded photos. Email doesn't involve licking scented adhesives on stamps or envelopes.




5.) Don't go to people's houses for holiday dinners or you risk being poisoned and disappointed. Invite them to come to your house scent-free for a fragrance-free gathering. Buy an organic, free-range turkey and other organic trimmings for your holiday dinner. If you can't get friends and family to be fragrance-free, eat it yourself.


6.) If you choose to drink wine or champagne, get the kind without the sulfites and uses organic grapes. I know someone who makes their own wine from all kinds of berries. It's pretty potent. Or drink Sparkling Cider. You can even find sugar-free Sparkling Cider. Or make your own.


7.) Don't eat junky foods like cookies, cakes, pies, divinity, candy canes, fudge, peppermint milkshakes, eggnog mocha lattes. Yeah, I know. Easier said than done. Stuff the stockings with nuts, fruits, and paperback books. If you can tolerate the smell of essential oils, use peppermint oil to scent your house.


8.) If you order and buy Christmas music CDs, be aware they might come scented. Instead download music or listen to radio stations that specialize in Christmas music. We have one in my area that starts playing Christmas music the day after Thanksgiving and doesn't stop until the day after Christmas. What a variety of music there is! Traditional, country, rock, hiphop, jazz, children's, religious, movie and television show soundtracks, medieval Gregorian chants....


9.) Use electric candles instead of those normally made from paraffin or beeswax that can negatively affect your air quality. Cough...cough...choke.


10.) Create your own traditions for the holidays that are scent-free and non-toxic. I start playing Christmas music on Thanksgiving and don't stop until Christmas day. I also watch the movie White Christmas with Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye on Thanksgiving Day every year. I think I've been watching this every year since I was eight years old. It never fails to bring in the holiday spirit!

Be happy. Have fun. Stay safe. Feel grateful.

 

Happy Holidays!

Happy Stuff: Dancing, Music, Harmony



Watching flashmob videos makes me cry. It's a reminder that everything is right with the world. People can get along and have fun. Music knows no language or cultural bounds and can magically  bring everyone together. The bigger the flashmob, the harder I cry. This video is priceless:

 

 

Web address: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120710.html


I'm posting lots of happy stuff lately as I think I've been too negative. I need some upward mobility in the attitude department. A friend sent this to me to cheer me. She says she watches it every morning before starting her day for a little lift.

Enjoy!

Here's another that is equally as delightful:

Entertainment, Part Ten: My Computer, My Playground

How did I ever live without a computer?

Living just beyond civilization without radio or television or even a telephone, my computer is my only contact with the real world. It's how I communicate with people, pay bills, balance my checkbook, keep up on news, get weather updates and all manner of general day-to-day life management and business. It also keeps me from going insane with isolation and boredom. Here are some of the ways I entertain myself using my computer:

Email  Who needs a phone? No one writes letters anymore. This is my primary mode of correspondence with friends, relatives, business associates and even complete strangers. The greatest thing about email for someone who is chemically sensitive is it's communication without human contact! I can't imagine having MCS twenty years ago without the technology that makes our lives easier. I would have found ways to survive, but not as efficiently as I am able with all this assistance at my fingertips (literally!).

Writing Remember typewriters? White out? Mimeograph copies? Carbon copies? Wow. Times have changed. I love to write. Journal entries, letters, short stories, magazine articles, websites, discussion groups, comment sections, online activism, and blogs. Attach the document to an email and who needs snail mail?

Reading  I read blogs, websites, short stories, magazine articles, comment sections, discussions on lists, recipes, and research information on various subjects. I could download a fictional ebook on my computer, but I still love holding a book in my hands and curling up in a comfy chair. Well, as long as it doesn't stink of print dye or someone else's perfume.

Library  I can do all my library business online, order through interlibrary loans, see what's available, put items on hold. Before I even check out the item, watching my hold numbers is fun for me. Strange, I know.

Art by Danny Roberts

Art  There are all kinds of art software for computers like Sketchpad, iPaint, Photoshop, etc. Lately I've been having a blast using my scanner to scan pictures and my digital camera to download photographs. Incredibly fun. There are many artist websites, videos, and galleries for viewing as well as museum and gallery sites. My latest favorite artist: http://dannyroberts.com/

http://dannyrobertsartstore.blogspot.com/

Games  I have to admit, I'm not a game player, but I know they are available to those who enjoy this type of entertainment. Also, virtual worlds and other fantasy games are in abundance.

Music Music may be downloaded for listening or purchase and your favorite CDs may be played right on your computer. Nearly any song you've ever heard is now available on YouTube often accompanied by photo montages or video clips created by music fans. Radio stations are even online.


Videos  YouTube is spectacular. Unfortunately, I can sit around all day watching footage of concerts, music videos, movie trailers, clips from movies, clips from television shows, animals doing cute things, animals doing not so cute things, people doing really stupid things, babies laughing, memorial montages, news briefs, comedy routines, people talking about anything or nothing, etc. You name it, there is a video out there for you to watch.



Movies  Hulu.com is the best website for free movies, old and new. I have also watched old movies through YouTube, one scene at a time. Many local libraries have movie downloads for patron home use and most computers now accept DVDs to be watched right on the computer screen. Every now and then I consider buying a big-screen TV so I can hook it up to my computer. Maybe someday. 

Warning:  I once had a friend tell me about a movie site you could download recently released movies for free. Yeah, it sounded fishy, but this was the same friend who told me about Hulu so I thought he knew what he was talking about. It was an illegal site, and I got my first virus. Do be careful and unless you know the site, don't be downloading anything.



Television  Hulu.com, again. Before Hulu came on the scene, I never watched TV. Now I'm a television junkie. My current favorite shows are: Smash and Once Upon a Time, although I'm growing fond of New Girl, Touch and Missing. And yes, on occasion I watch The Vampire Diaries. It's my guilty pleasure. Ian Somerhalder is dreamy. I am rather fond of checking out whole seasons of television shows from the library and watching them on the computer. No commercials! The only thing missing is awards shows like the American Music Awards, Academy Awards, Tony Awards or Grammy Awards are never online. Darn.



Stalking & Lurking  I love reading Facebook and Twitter posts.  There is something sleazy and stalker-ish about reading someone's inner thoughts and seeing their private photos without them knowing. Celebrity stalking is really fun and it keeps me updated on pop culture. I really hate it when people make their social networking accounts private.  Social media is like going to a party without the stink.

Although I am a huge fan of computer technology, I do worry about EMFs (electromagnetic fields) and radiation with all the electronic devices available these days. Those of us chemically sensitive are susceptible to becoming overloaded with EMF exposure creating many symptoms we already experience plus a few other health concerns: chronic fatigue, joint pain, nausea, brain function issues, heart problems and cancer. I can't imagine what I would do if ever I became sensitive to my computer!

As it is I have two computers and two screens on my desk in an office located away from my sleeping area. In hopes of alleviating some exposure and more importantly, because I'm a bit of a non-materialistic minimalist, I'm way behind with most technological advances (other than computers) and getting farther behind with every passing year, sorry to say. I don't use cell phones or smartphones, Kindles, microwave ovens, electric blankets, hair dryers, answering machines, or cordless appliances. I do have home wiring, an electric clock and a digital camera, but I'm not living under power lines and I avoid getting radiated at the doctor's and dentist's offices.

Does this help? I doubt it. With all the EMFs created by all the technological junkies, I don't think my minimalist approach matters. We are doomed!!  I think in time society will pay with technology-related health issues we have not yet imagined, and as the canaries, we will be the first in line.

What have I forgotten? How do you use your computer for entertainment?

Beyonce Stinks

The Organic Consumers Association is a wonderful lobbyist-type organization that's mission is to educate the public and rally those who want a cleaner world to support various petitions on any number of subjects regarding chemical poisons.  www.organicconsumers.org

Portrait of a Perfume Ho
"I love the smell of money!"

One petition was an open letter to celebrities who promote perfumes and colognes as spokespeople. Halle Berry, Jennifer Lopez, and Taylor Swift are just a few who have expanded their empires to include toxic chemical sponsorship. Do these people not already earn enough money? I read somewhere Taylor Swift makes $35 million a year. THIRTY FIVE MILLION? A YEAR!? But the ignorance shocks me. Halle Berry signed with Coty  just about the time she had a baby. Is she really that stupid to want to subject her child to these poisons? Are they really that clueless?  Like a majority of the population, YES, they are! Blinded by the smell of money and brain-dead by the smell of poison.

I do make an effort to boycott the movies and music of those so money hungry they feel the need to promote stink, but every now and then I forget or I just don't know the latest celebrity who is prostituting him or herself to a chemical. There are so many!  Since I do a lot of my shopping online, I ordered Beyonce's latest CD "Four" from Amazon.com.  As soon as I unwrapped the plastic I could smell it. There was a perfume sample inside. I've never encountered this before and was a little taken back. It took me about two seconds to shove the CD in three plastic bags while holding my breath and toss it outside. I had never returned an item to Amazon. In my haste (panic) I wrote a really quick reason, ran the package to the post office, and carrying it like it was a bomb heaved it into the post office's mail box. Only then did I step back, relax, and breathe, literally, a sigh of relief.  When the panic subsided and I came to my senses, I re-read the return instructions thoroughly. I missed a few steps. I surmised my reason for return didn't quite qualify as a valid excuse:  A perfume sample? Are you people trying to kill me??  I assumed I just lost $12.00. What a waste. Why wasn't there some kind of  warning on the Amazon website?

I may have lost some money, but I wasn't going to lose the opportunity to make my views known. I wrote emails to Sony Records, Amazon, fan site comment sections, CD reviews, and several MCS support groups. The posts were titled, "Beyonce Stinks". I figured that might get someone hot and bothered.

A week later I received a refund from Amazon! I love Amazon! But now I'm quite leery of ordering music from them. I guess it's time to splurge for an iPod.

Have you found perfume in unexpected places?