It's Just A Jump To The Left....

Or a hop. A Time Hop.

Gonna ramble around a bit here....

My love / hate thing with Facebook and Social Media is ever evolving more toward the hate side of things.

One of the last times before I knew I had cancer
June 2009

My Time Hop App and the "Memories On Facebook" thing is becoming very difficult for me. Two terrible things are looming if I continue to open the App or look at Facebook...a cancer diagnosis, and the epic fail of an attempt to move to the east coast to improve our life.

I really don't have a whole lot to say on the subject, other than, it's very hard for me to be reminded, by seeing actual posts and comments from my Facebook, on how life was b.c. 
Before cancer. 
Even now at seven years out.

I keep thinking I'll turn the "Memories" thing off on Facebook. Can you even do that? (Ooooh, just learned it has filters that will filter out people or dates of your choosing!) And that I'll just delete Time Hop from my phone for a few months. But then I don't. I look. It's like, I have to. Like when people pass a bad car accident. You look to see what carnage is there, and then sometimes wish you could unsee what you just saw.

And I think I'm that way with these stupid apps. I have to try to remember the feelings. 

I don't know why. 

But then, I've kind of always been this way, even before technology took over our lives. I always have kept a pretty detailed wall calendar & will, from time to time, go back through them & just remember when.

I know why there wasn't anything in there from this day in 2009, that's for sure.

On this day in 2009 (June 24 at the time of my typing this), I was having an ultrasound of my breast and being told to come back tomorrow for a biopsy. 

And Time Hop or no, I will not, can not, forget it. It's stuck in my brain like it was yesterday. Why can't chemo brain lose that memory for me?

Anyway...just a rambling musing. 

Let's (not) do the Time Warp again!

Bully For You...

Chilly for me...

Fame!

Looks like you've achieved it, Chewbacca Mom.

Ok, so yeah...I've been in a bad mood for a bit, so, is it any wonder that I break the blog silence with some bitching? Didn't think so. 

First, this rant is NOT in any way directed at this lady. She is clearly a really nice person with a great disposition, wonderful attitude and outlook on life. I'd probably very much enjoy hanging out with her. She seems like a lot of fun to be around.

But no, this is more directed at our society and the way we are now...a result, no doubt, of social media and reality TV.  Similar to a previous rant I did about the Grumpy Cat.

Does it make me an asshole, that I have issues with the fact that this ordinary, regular woman, is now achieving fame from a random moment she had, Live on Facebook, with a mask? And that she is now everywhere?? On TV, going to FB HQ and morning shows and Late Night Shows...and who knows how much more we'll see of her... Yet, so many other TALENTED people...people who have worked SO hard for years and years, sacrificed, are living in their cars, MORE than paid their dues, just trying to achieve their passion...to work in and make a name for themselves in the entertainment industry, hoping to be able to even just cross paths with celebrity like, James Corden, morning shows, etc. and may very well never even see their 15 minutes...or one second...or achieve the career they've longed for...

So, I'm an asshole, right? Because I'm annoyed that this Chewbacca Mask video is all it took to launch this woman straight into fame. No hard work in the entertainment field (that we know of, and if she has been trying, I will stand corrected), no years of auditions with call backs, just to not get the gig even....

I feel badly for all of you with unbelievable, award winning talent, who work so hard...those who, after years of studying this craft of entertainment, actually did the work, will never be more than an extremely talented waiter/waitress, [insert job/career here] still living in your car, cause you didn't just go LIVE, joyfully, on Facebook.

Enjoy your fifteen minutes.

But what do I know?

I'm an asshole.

#NotJudgingJustAnAsshole

#SourGrapesPost 

[Added 6/21/16 - This post has been sitting in drafts since May...wasn't sure it would ever come out, cause, you know, it's such an assholish post...and I really figured the fifteen minutes was over. But Nooooooooo.... Now, Hasbro has come out with a Chewbacca Mom Action Figure. Awesome. *head-desk*]

All I Need Is A Miracle...?

Yeah. It's time for me to bitch about stuff I've already bitched and blogged about. Again. And I realize that I have a new excuse reason for why I don't blog as much as I once did. Know what it is? It's because I'm finding myself writing about the same stuff. Same shit, different day. So, here we go again. What's one more ranty, ramble of the same ol same ol, right?

I dunno if maybe I just need to get off of social media for awhile or what, but I am just getting so so SO annoyed with all the suggestions, some quite ridiculous, about how to "prevent" breast cancer, or "prevent" it's return or "prevent" metastasis, and these "all natural miracle cures"! All manner of silly suggestions scroll by with these "cures"...everything from detoxes, cleanses, super food gorging...try to enhance your calm and stay all Zen all the time...

*rolls eyes*

Like I've said before...
...if "beating it" were as simple as only eating organic, consuming tons of kale and blueberries, chowing down on lentils while burning patchouli incense and singing "Kum Ba Yah" around a fire pit, then surely info on this would take bc treatment more that way, oncologists would prescribe it & proclaim the elusive cure has been found...

Anyway.... I think the one piece of advice that grinds my nerves the most, and I get advised the most is "alkalize your body...only eat alkaline, etc."

I swear to *insert deity of choice here*, if one more person forwards me stuff about "How to eat all alkaline to beat cancer" I'm gonna totally lose my shit. Please read Myth Number 3 of Cancer Myths Debunked.  If you make your body 100% alkaline, YOU WILL NOT BE ALIVE!!! Ok? So just, STOP IT! GAWD!!! (I know y'all mean well, but it's just silly...)

I dunno...I guess I'm just weary of reading about all the "miracle diets" and how a "Zen-like state of mind" can "guarantee" you will "beat cancer forever". 

Look, don't get me wrong, of course I've made some lifestyle changes and eat more Chia Seeds and kale (I actually LIKE kale, thankyouverymuch) than I did before my diagnosis. I didn't even know you could actually eat chia seeds before I was diagnosed. And yes, it's in an effort of prevention. No guarantees, but yeah, I think it's because I gotta feel like I'm being proactive in some way. But I'm not about to pick up a book claiming to have the way to cure cancer written by some all organic garden growing, tofu munchin', yoga posin' health guru and call it the holy fuckin' grail of curing cancer. Ya know? 
*Disclaimer* Yes, I do believe organic is better when you can find/afford it. I do believe yoga is good for you, but I can't do it. And I'm sure there must be some way to prepare tofu that makes it edible. 

If the biggest brains in the oncology world, with all of their experiences and degrees haven't found the cure for breast cancer yet, I seriously doubt it's gonna be found in a damn pomegranate!

</ end rant >

Photo snagged off Facebook

All You Need Is...Love?

Love is all you need... ?

Photo Credit: American Cancer Society Facebook Page

Ok, here's the thing...and this is gonna be a rambling ranty ramble...

WTF does this ad even mean?! This thing has gotten quite stale as I tried to figure out, first...what the hell are y'all trying to say here? And second, can I even put into words my thoughts and confusion surrounding it? I mean, this has been in rewrites for weeks now. But just looking at this ad just works my damn nerves.

"If we had a dollar for every time LOVE triumphed over cancer..."

Love can triumph over cancer? Well then...shouldn't it be fucking cured by now? I'm pretty sure so many beautiful people who are sadly no longer with us had PLENTY of LOVE. It didn't triumph. I'm pretty sure I've had lots and lots of love, several surgeries plus excellent doctors and surgeons, hard core chemo, skin searing radiation, and the jury is still out on whether or not LOVE plus all that other stuff "triumphed over cancer". 

"LOVE cancer's greatest fear."
What? cancer doesn't fear. It's fucking cancer. 

"...finish the fight..."
Ugh. Just...yuck. 

I dunno...I guess my problem with this is, when you get right down to it...the tiresome battle language of the thing. And from an organization that should know SO much better by now. (I'm pretty sure it was a recent post from the 
Cancer Curmudgeon that reminded me that I wanted to bitch blog about this ad, but chemohead here forgot! LOL!) And I am just kinda tired of ranting ad nauseam on it. Cause it ain't going anywhere. 

Anyway, I totally understand what you're trying to say here. I just am annoyed at how it's being said.

And can we please, once and for all, for the love of *insert deity of choice here* change the language of cancer?

It's easy...