Pool Poop Galore

So I was at the pool going swimming, doing my laps.  

It was very busy there with lots of people of all ages. 

All of a sudden, I hear some screaming. 

Then the guards come over and tell people they have to get out of the pool, pronto!

There’s been an accident. 

No, not someone getting hurt.

Someone had a bathroom accident in the pool.

The director of the pool is going around explaining to the inconvenienced swimmers that:

“Someone pooped in the pool.”

Not exactly an eloquent way to say it, but it gets the point across. 

What is worse, it was on the side of the pool where the adults were swimming!

Next come the lifeguards with the nets and they are literally scooping swathes of this sh*t out of the pool. 

I see it literally spans almost a half length of this olympic pool. 

What a crappin’ mess. 

Luckily I got almost all my swim in–yes, I am dedicated!

And then took a long hot shower with tons and tons of soap. 😉

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

You’re Driving Me Nuts

There is just something so crazy funny about this Simpsons’ painting. 

Homer is mad as h*ll and has Bart by throat!

Bart is screaming for help.

It so funny how art imitates life. 

Where people drive others $%#&^*)* crazy. 

And the other person just wants to wring their freakin’ neck. 

Yeah, this never really happens. 😉

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Wig and Taped Mouth

Thought this was a pretty scary mannequin. 

Aside from the disheveled hair covering her head and half her face. 

You can see that her mouth and nose is taped over with clear masking tape!

Clearly she looks like she has been abused or worse, and the image is that she can’t even scream for help. 

Why anyone would advertise women’s fashion in this misogynist way should be beyond all of us. 

There are a lot of crazy nuts out there.

This photo is a small reminder of what we face in terms of ugliness in this world. 

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

How Some People Cope With Stress

Thought this was incredible. 

Someone opened up a “Rage Room” in Maryland. 

I know the atmosphere in D.C. is polarized and sort of toxic lately, and there is lot’s of identity politics, obstruction, and even people hating on each other, but this really shows how things have degenerated.

And let’s face it, it’s not just the politics that people are stressed out about–how about stress from family, work, and bills.  We’re on 24/7 these days and a lot of stress can build up in people that way. 

But now, people can actually pay money to go to into a room, wrap themselves in safety clothing, and spend their time smashing things. 

Almost like when they put crazy people in a padded room in a straight jacket and let them hit their heads against the wall for a while. 

In the Rage Room:

You can break 10 glass items for just $25!

Or throw in a medium printer in the starter pack and it’s $35. 

You can even BYOB (Bring Your Own Breakables) and have at it for $15.

Group packages and even gift cards are available. 

Fun maybe, a little crazy for sure. 😉

Beautiful Hiking @Harpers Ferry

Hiking the Appalachian Trail, oh so glorious. 

The only photo not shown is the large snake we ran into on the rocks on the side of the path.

My wife screamed:

“S-n-a-k-e!”

And we were running for the hills in this direction and that.

We had no idea where she was pointing to.

It was pretty hilarious. 

 

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Pain Pain Go Away

So I am more the emotional type who cries at sad songs or heroic endeavors. 

But with the hip surgery, I have to admit that I have had some moments of literally screaming pain. 

The surgeon said he did about a full half hour of cauterization to prevent another bleed (hematoma) and infection that happened last time…so not sure if this is causing the extra-extra sting. 

Usually when they ask my level of pain, I say like 2-3, because I imagine a 10 being some horrible torture like being sawed in half (while hung upside down–actually saw this in a movie) or flayed of your flesh, burnt alive at the stake, or quartered by horses–or countless variations on these.

Let’s just say, the medieval tormentors had this torture stuff down.

In a way, I almost feel guilty expressing my post surgical pain (sort of child’s play) relative to these made-to-order cruelties.

Of course for pain, the doctors give you medicine, but honestly I don’t like to take these because of side-effects and even addictive properties. 

But the nurse and physical therapist told me not to let the pain get ahead of me, because then it is harder to control it (and also harder to do the full PT and get the benefits from it).

In the hospital, I was amazed that some people had so much pain (i.e. me) and others just sat there in PT seemingly shrugging off the whole experience. 

Still I made it the full loop with the walker the first day (which the therapists told me is maybe 3x what most others do at that point).

Another thing that I am thinking about with pain, is how do you compare emotional and physical pain–which is worse?

The loss of loved ones, deep disappointments, suffering with sickness or disability, anxiety and depression can certainly cause a lot of pain inside–those are the screams that often no one hears.

Also, that hurt can often lead to physical sickness and bodily pain and vice versa–so they are not mutually exclusive.

My father used to tell me that “When you have your health you have everything.”

I think this is partly because if you don’t have your health, you can’t really do or enjoy much else anyway–so good health is sort of a precursor to all other activities and pursuits.

Probably the worst pains are the ones where their is simply no hope of getting better…and you just have to accept the loss or the end. 

The corollary that my father taught me was “Where there is life, there is hope!”

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Shout, Let It All Out or Shut Up and Take 10

I like this photo…”I don’t know what we’re yelling about!!”

On one hand, some people may yell out of frustration or anger–because they feel terribly wronged or even abused by someone else (i.e. they feel a “righteous anger”).

On the other hand, others may yell because they are mentally unstable or just can’t handle their sh*t (i.e. “they are losing it”).

Some may yell like in martial arts training to scare the other person and get them to back off. I remember someone telling me back in NYC that if you’re about to be attacked, start to talk to yourself, act crazy, foam at the mouth, and yell…this way maybe they will leave you alone (i.e. “they’ll look for an easier target”).

While some studies are saying that yelling is becoming less of a problem, the sheer number of articles on this topic tell a different story. From yelling at your children to yelling at your employees, the yelling phenomenon is alive and well.

Parents are yelling more, maybe to avoid spanking, which is now more a social taboo. Studies show that 75% of parents scream at their kids about once a month–this includes shouting, cursing, calling them “lazy,” “stupid,” or otherwise belittling and blaming them. The problem is that yelling only makes the kids depressed, angrier, and creates more behavioral problems, not less.

In this way, shouting at children is no different than physically abusing them (e.g. hitting, pushing, etc.)

Similarly, when superiors or customers scream at employees, the workers feel they are in an out of control situation where they are powerless. There are numerous negative impacts that this has on them, including problems with memory, reduced creativity, worse performance, and higher turnover rates.

While some people may not resort to actual yelling in the workplace, they instead do “silent yelling–sending flaming emails, making faces or otherwise denigrating employees or simply marginalizing them. In other words, they don’t yell, but rather are silent and deadly, nonetheless.

Businessweek quotes Rahm Emanuel about how he motivates people, “Sometimes–I don’t want to say scream at them–but you have to be…forceful.”

Rather than yell or scream, the common advice is to bring it down–way down–using measures from taking a deep breath to meditating, counting to ten or waiting 24 hours before responding, describing how you feel to focusing on problem-solving.

The key is to calm down, act with your brains not your brawn, and figure out how to get to the root cause of the problem and solve it.

People may raise their voice to vent or make a point, in the heat of the moment, or if they are being personally attacked, but in general, as it says in Ethics of Our Fathers, “Who is strong? One who overpowers his inclinations.” 😉

(Source Photo: here with attribution to Soukup)

Can’t Wait For The Walking Dead – Season 4

This show, The Walking Dead, is just awesome.

It’s the end of the world…

With the the few battling to survive.

The scary fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaah 26:19 that the “dead will live; their corpses will rise up.”

But rather than “shout for joy,” in this version of events, we scream with horror as zombies keep coming and coming, and their is no place left to hide.

Those left have to run and fight, but if they get bitten (and eaten) and die, they too become what they fear and hate most–“The Walkers.”

The characters, the action, the intensity, the ultimate challenge for humanity.

Can’t wait for October 13, 9 pm on AMC. 😉

Cries In The Night

Last night, we heard screaming.

We were woken out of our sleep, by a blood-curdling cry.

I ran to the window to see what was going on, but the street seemed empty.

There was yelling mostly from what sounded like a young man–or boy.

He was saying things like “get away from me.”

That turned into “don’t hurt me.”

Which ended in “H~E~L~P!  Somebody call the police. He’s beating me…”

The police came quickly, yet we still heard the craziness.

“He abuses me. He beats me.” and then “He tried to throw me off the terrace.”

The boy was literally begging the police to take the man to jail.

He seemed completely traumatized–unreconcilable–and kept repeating himself again and again.

Until finally everything went abruptly silent and “the show was over,” but the impact lingered in the warm, humid air of the night.

People disagree, argue, and fight–they are only human; not every moment can be a “Leave It To Beaver” hour–loving and copasetic.

We all understand that the pace of life and stress gets to people and sometimes, they say and do things, they do not mean or intend–and some which they do, but that they are sorry for afterwards.

Again, people are “only human”–or as we learned in Jewish day school, there are no angels here on this earth.

But the blood curdling cries we heard last night, left us up, sitting and holding each other–and trying to make sense of it all.

There is too much suffering out there–some of it we hear, some of it we don’t, and some of it we tune out and ignore.

As a child, I learned that the prayers of the community rise up together to beseech G-d almighty for his mercy and blessing.

Sometimes, I wonder, whether the cries of anguish of the people who are hungry, sick, raped, and abused, also rise up in the same way–as one “communal” single cry for help or more as a chorus of people in need.

In the dark, at night, everything somehow seems worse, and while I tried to explain to the kids what this world is about…sometimes, it is hard to understand or even attempt to explain.

Are these things tests, challenges, opportunities for growth, or punishments–only G-d really knows.

But hearing (and seeing) people “losing it”–and their pain that you can hear mostly only in the dark of night–can put doubts and fears about the cruelty of some human beings into any soul.

These are memories that etch into our very consciousness–scaring and maiming, but hopefully also leaving us to appreciate every peaceful and loving moment bestowed on us.

(Source Photo: herewith attribution to PalmSpringsDude)