What I Think

What is up, Internet? It's been a while. How's your health?

I left the last tagline up way too long. But, you're not thoroughly neglecting your website if you change the tagline, and I don't believe in doing anything halfway. The new one was my humble entry in another blogger's "Six Word Memoirs" contest.

I was honored to be co-winner of the "Invisible Internet People" category of this competition, and eagerly await my unspecified prize at an unspecified time. That's not exactly true; Lori's official winner e-mail stated that she would send it "you know, whenever I get around to it." You gotta admire the honesty. This chick is a much better writer than I am, and God knows she posts more often. So, if you like this, you'll love this.

OK - the following is NOT a political rant. I'm not suggesting you vote for a particular candidate. That's not what this is about. Think for yourself, and vote your conscience. Recently, I received an email forward that completely baffled me.

DISCLAIMER: Before I go any further, it's important that I note that I LOVE the person who forwarded me this e-mail. He did not write it, he simply forwarded it on. I've also reformed my old ways and no longer hold senders accountable for their forwards, so, no hard feelings, dude. The following rant is NOT targeting the forwarder, just the ORIGINAL WRITER. To avoid confusion, let's call this person, "O.W." (Feel free to pronounce it, "Oh Dubyuh" in your mind as you read.)

Also, the subject line was "What Do You Think?" Since this website is my little soapbox, I'm gonna hop on and express my opinion. There are many versions of this floating around, but I'm just addressing the one that hit my inbox.

The subject line "What do you think?" serves as this message's first defense against the delete button. Two lines in, my jaw dropped and it got a little hard to breathe. This email presented several arguments supporting why the "O.W." believes Barack Obama to be the Anti-Christ.

This post will, no doubt, get lengthy, so I won't copy and paste the message here. I'll just give you a list of the message's claims. After each one, I'll tell you what I think.

• It called our nation "pathetic," followed by something about bleeding-heart, secular liberals

There's really no need to address this directly. Keep reading and you'll figure out where I stand.

• It uses the Senator's middle name, "Hussein."

This one's always fun. It comes with the built-in argument: "hey, that's really his name." We all know the purpose of that comment is to label him a terrorist. Did you choose your middle name, Mr. O.W.? Didn't think so. (I apologize for assuming the writer is male. That's just how I see him in my imagination. For the record, I also picture him in a white, pointy hat. But that's just, you know, what I think.)

• It states that Senator Obama is a Muslim and "takes great care to conceal it by mentioning he went to Catholic school."

As long as I've hopped aboard the speculation train, let's just ride it to the next stop: I'm guessing O.W. was equally worked up over whether or not John F. Kennedy would become the Pope's puppet in the White House. Remember? Catholics used to fall subject to hate campaigns back in the day. Kinda interesting that since we've moved past that societal hurdle, it's now feasible to use Catholicism as a cover for the newest religion it's trendy to hate.

• It states that we are at war with the "Muslim nation"

Islam is a peaceful religion. It has a few radical wackos that are very dangerous. In case you haven't noticed, Christianity has some of those, too. I pray that their form of terror doesn't go any farther than writing fear-driven, hate-laden e-mails and forwarding them around.

• the message states that Senator Obama's "mother married a RADICAL Muslim."

What? O.W. is calling someone a religious radical?

Hey, O.W. The kettle called. He referred to you as "the pot." Yeah, AND he says "you're black, too." I wouldn't take that shit if I were you.

• O.W. states that Senator Obama is the Anti-Christ.

OK, I can tolerate a lot of name-calling, but labeling a fellow human being the Anti-Christ is a little too Anti-Love-Thy-Neighbor for my comfort level.

• It says that Snopes.com confirms all this stuff as factual.

Snopes is a website that debunks urban legends. O.W. has undoubtedly received links to this site from his grandkids after he sent them some other outlandish shit. The link in the email takes you to the site's front page. O.W. obviously hopes you won't click on the "politics" link, then the "Barack Obama" link, because once you do, you'll see a whole bunch of "red light" icons signifying that these claims have been debunked. If you're interested, here's a link straight to a very informative article.

• It states that Senator Obama was sworn into Congress on the Quran.

Senator, why don't you take this one?

In the spirit of the six-word memior, I'll sum this up with a six-word response to the Original Writer:

What would Jesus do?
Not this.

Reality Show Hybrid

A month is kind of a long break between posts. For a while there, I was in a funk and didn't have anything positive to say. After that I'd just gotten out of the swing of things. In the interest of easing back into it, I'll keep it short.

The writer's strike is hitting me hard; because when I go through a hard time, mama needs her fiction. In the mean time, to keep things fresh, I'd like to suggest a new reality show that would be the love child of two existing reality shows:

Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader?

+

Don't Forget The Lyrics

=

Are You Whiter Than Wayne Brady?

Thank you, and good night.

First Blogiversary

Mississippi Raw Footage is one year and 2 days old today. I've certainly enjoyed it so far, and I hope you have as well.

Racking your brain for that perfect gift to give me for my first blogiversary? A comment would be PERFECT, of course! (I know it's shameless, but it's a holiday. Sort of. Or something.)

Kitty

I write about my dog a lot, but not much about my cat. Honestly... it's because she's mean. (You should be aware that while I can say she's mean, I'm not really cool with you saying she's mean. It's a family thing.)

Anyway, I'd like to introduce you to the seldom mentioned Ren Ramsey. My stepmom took this photo of her, and the picture kinda says it all.

New Strength

Tonight the physical pain really caught up with me. Which, in a way, is good because perhaps it means this will be over soon without medical intervention. But, Holy Moses! I took the double dose of Advil that my doctor suggested, but I felt the need to supplement with some wine. (At least when you face this particular tragedy you get one of your coping mechanisms back.)

Speaking of the big T word, I'm actually kind of okay. I know I'll face some harsh judgement saying this, but I am.

Of course, it's a sad situation. You don't have hopes and dreams of a due date then not be sad when they're taken away.

But there's one part of this I wasn't expecting: see, this was my biggest fear. My BIGGEST. The possibility that this might happen was a huge hurdle for me to get past even deciding to try to conceive. I thought I would literally crumble... that my emotions and my mind would totally give way to a loss like this. But then it happened, and as awful as it is, I'm living through it. I'm walking, and breathing, and working in the midst of my biggest fear. And it in no way hinders me from having hope for the future and wanting to try again someday. I guess I'm just saying it's amazing to find out you're stronger than you thought you were.

I have this one friend who doesn't know, and he's been sending me inane text messages all night, just like normal. I SO love that. It makes me not want to tell him, because it's quite a ray of sunshine when everyone else outside my house gives me the sad face. I understand though; it's an awkward position. You don't really know what to say, and you don't want to make anything worse. But, just so you know, you can totally be silly around me again. I would appreciate, maybe even cherish, a little bit of silly.

Silent

I can't believe I'm writing this. Bryan and I found out yesterday that we lost the baby.

We left a concert early Monday night because the spotting I was trying desperately not to worry about escalated into cramping and bleeding. Yesterday morning I called the doctor and she had me come in for an ultrasound.

I couldn't see the monitor, but the room was SO quiet. I mean, no one said a single word. Then, at the point where they turn up the sound there was no heartbeat, just silence. Deeply sad silence. When I got dressed, the technician said she called my doctor who wanted me to come right over, and I didn't need to bother checking out at the desk. When they want you to leave that quickly, you kind of know what's coming. What's more, they told Bryan but told him not to tell me.

I'm an Optical Technician. While it's completely different, I understand the laws that apply to both of us. I know a non-M.D. giving a patient a diagnosis is considered practicing medicine without a license and can lead to severe legal nastiness. So, of course I wasn't shaking anyone's shoulders demanding answers, since they seemed pretty obvious anyway.

My doctor was off that day, so her partner broke the news. The ultrasound showed the embryo was exactly the same size it had been at the six-weeks test and no heartbeat was detected. They have no way to know what went wrong, but there was a problem with the fetus if it wasn't growing. After a brief overview of our options we chose to go home and let nature take it's course, assisted by double-doses of Advil. Hopefully this goes OK on it's own. They took some blood before I left to test the pregnancy hormone level. I had a checkup appointment the day after Christmas so we're going back then to recheck the blood with hopes that the hormone level has dropped to zero.

I know this happens more than people talk about, but at least the doctor who broke the news avoided using the word "common." I deeply appreciate that. I hate the connotations of that word as it relates to these situations, because it sure as hell doesn't l feel common. When you thought a baby was going to join your family and then you find out it isn't... you get where I'm going with this. It is distinctly UNcommon.

Thank you for all your prayers and kind words through the joy and sadness. I know that God is still good and there will be brighter days.

Wow

You should watch the short film All About My Dog when you have 10 minutes to spare. Make sure you have a few tissues handy. If you're pregnant, you're gonna need a whole box. (Also, try not to go embrace your pet while your still sobbing. It really freaks them out.)

It's about a little girl, Mika and her dog, Marimo.