Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Warrior Tribute Video June 29, 2011

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Tribute to Wounded Warriors June 28, 2011 Reflections





If the above embeded video above doesn't work click here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCACsP6A2_A  or-->

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCACsP6A2_A&feature=player_embedded


I will not forsake you my constitution, ...this I swear unto my life...I will fight with every ounce of energy for you as you did for me.

When I signed up at 18: I took an oath to the constitution to the United States of America. I will protect you as you have protected me. I honor you my brothers & sisters in arms.

Growing up as a kid in the mid-west I always dreamed of going to The Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., The Metropolitan Museum of Art Those completely amazing places you see on PBS and read about in school.

I remember watching the opera, symphony and thinking someday I want to hear music there! Is it better in the Kennedy Center than it is coming out of my little glowing box on my parents living room floor?

I finally got my chance to go to The Kennedy Center for Performing Arts:

First a whole lot of gratitude to some amazing people who made it happen:

Thanks to my amazing friend at KSW Connect, LLC ! Without your support (that was straight from my PBS days) made possible... Smiles!

Also, The amazing people at the Wounded Warrior Foundation. Thank you for all you do!

F. Kirk Lininger Well done Sir!

The performance:

As we stood for the National Anthem, I sang my heart out and cried (at the same part as always..."when the flag was still there" Too many memories, I would digress farther than I ever have before if we go for that one :D) as I closed my eyes after the introduction to inhale, taste, feel and hear through my entire body the beautiful music I became restro-spective once again.

They played the usual patriotic hymns:
America the Beautiful : Carol Connors (melted my senses from head to toe!) TY
God Bless America etc....

I thoughts to my self about the actual who, what, where and how those words were written and the pain,loss, hardship that the revolutionaries went through to both leave their country AND fight for some SIMPLE common grounds that the republic would hold true....

Where I was once moved by those worlds now I question them. What are we doing today to ensure those things our ancestors fought for "still ring true today".

While the performance was amazing, I was thrilled to be there and a part of such a wonderful group of people, supporting a cause I support with everything I have....


The following questions came to mind:


Why are the private citizens being asked to provide for Wonderful Amazing Warriors?

Is our Government so pathetic it is once again going to "forget" the same people that believed in that constitution and answered that wake up call of 9-11 (no matter what your believe, conspiracy theory is currently)volunteered to defend the flag that still waves? Those injured, killed, those who survive without partners, fathers, mothers etc....Like they did denying Agent Orange, or Gulf War Syndrome?

What happens to those who don't show legs blown off...those with PTSD or TBI that doesn't show up until years later.

What are the statistics on suicide? Ratio of Enlisted vs. Officer? I will never forget being told I was only a number and expendable....That attitude must change.

Are we once again waiting until the actuaries report it is in our favor to address it and then pay it lip service?

This is how our government treats its wounded warriors? Pawning off their injuries? If there is anyone more deserving of PRIORITY FIRST class treatment it is those who have served in the name of their country!

My wake up call came eight almost nine months ago...

That will be the subject of my next blog...to be released...

Until then, My kindred warriors: Your service will not go un noticed. I will not allow your sacrifices to be forgotten. The time away from your children, families, your valiant effort will not be forgotten.

I will not stand down, as you did not stand down for me. Every hurt soul I will do the best I can to make sure you are never lost, forgotten or anything I can do to aid in your effort.

Let me make this CRYSTAL clear: The way the United States Government both protects our warriors and our VETERAN POPULATION AS a WHOLE must change.

I've got your back, but I am only ONE!

Thanks to my amazing inspirations!




Thank you: Michael Parenti

If you want his art:

exiledsurfer@artificialeyes.tv

You can find his work at:

exiledsurfer@esp.artificialeyes.tv

http://esp.artificialeyes.tv/albums/esp.artificialeyes.tv/usa/libertyonthecross.jpg

Sunday, June 26, 2011

June 26, 2011 Update: Pretty Little Boxes Part V (edited)

Yes, I'm a Blonde.

Yes, I am a woman.

Yes, I am very good at decompressing very complex subjects into very simple ideas that anyone can grasp.

Yes, I am a professional.

The questions begin HERE:

Why have we become as a society so incredibly polarized.  Always passing judgment-putting people into pretty little boxes.  It is truly stifling for any human.

I feel like I am living in the 1930's in Germany.  The rhetoric is the same.  The tone is the same.  The actions are quite similar.  Why are we allowing history to repeat itself?

Here are just a few of the patterns I see:

The hate spewing polarized religious groups actions are astonishing.

Tell me please:  The broad based generalization that I hear so often: ALL Muslims are Terrorists.  That goes into the IGNORANT myopic view file.  AKA, why the rest of the world thinks the myopic view that ALL Americans are bigots.

(I know many people that represent that statement.  It is sad in 2011 it still exists.  Funny thing most people would think (generalizing once again) that I'm making a generalization about people from Mississippi, Alabama.

I’m actually referring to a conversation I had with a very prominent person in the Washington Elite crowd last week that left me positively floored.  This person proceeded to pontificate his supposedly well versed knowledge of the globe.  The specifics included HUGE generalizations about the entire Middle East, the entire continent of Africa (there's lots of difference there between countries and a HUGE amount of space to be able to make a blanket statement such as this).

I winced like I was being slapped across the face throughout the entire conversation....It was incredibly painful to have to endure.  I swear I felt my jaw hit the ground floor 12 stories down to the street.  When the said individual was finished blowing his hot air.... accompanied by a big exhale of finality, every one was rushing as we were all uncomfortable and madly trying to change the subject. But interestingly enough:  NO ONE told him he was a BIGOT...Call a spade a spade.  Especially when it is that clear.  

Instead of changing the subject, I asked one simple question, which was:  " Have you ever been to the Middle East, Africa, Asia etc?"  My point was well made and coherent when the answer that came out of said individuals mouth was: that the only travel undertaken was to Canada and Italy.  I barely could conceal my smile nor could others.  Why do people think they innately have the right to generalize things about humans they know NOTHING about!

Unfortunately, the media exploits this.  Giving the few the extremist groups a nice chunk of airtime. Replay, drama, sex, violence, sensationalism.  (Goes into why I don't own a TV and could care less about mainstream media, it all has a vested interest:  like pumping up air time costs during elections sky rocketing campaign costs benefiting a few (not the one's that are truly in need) but not the whole....

They think "we" aren't listening, seeing, and digesting.  But many of us are not tied into a sitcom, PS3 or Movie) it’s really a sick cycle of people too tired to engage.  Overwhelmed and over stimulated to the point they want to just check out.

Since when did dissent become un Patriotic!

That is what this country is founded on!  FREEDOM! Free speech! BASIC HUMAN RIGHTS to choose whom you love, marry, talk too, associate with, pray or not pray too. (Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson thought that organized religion destroyed more than it helped individuals...I just learned that this week)  Here is a very nice wiki regarding the relationship to religion and founding fathers: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Founding_Fathers_of_the_United_States ~Thanks Alan for finding that one for me!

I've been reading lots of historical biographies lately.  Eisenhower, JFK, Benjamin Franklin, etc.

I've been trying to grasp the who, what, why, where progression of why people fled Europe and came to America. When, where, why is it that we have completely lost our way.  Try to put some sense of semblance to the chaos of hate, war, greed and judgement that my homeland has become. Looking for hope in reading history. (Yes that was a broad statement but if you knew a bit more about me perhaps you will open your mind and understand)

We have become quickly deduced definitions....Become tied to lexicons of language...One man's definition of what "is" is....Is another's quick rational on what he meant with a pre-programmed response sound bite response, instead of a question.  Instead of returning with questions to try to understand intent, basis, perception of  speakers meaning.

We are not engaging one another in an actual dialogue.  We have pre-programmed ourselves into polarizing arguments based on assumptions and I find it positively deafening to deal with.  It is almost like everything has become about winning....not about solving the real issues.

Shout out to NY for passing the Gay Marriage Bill

I don't care who you sleep with just as long as you are consenting....I don't have to share a bathroom with you!  Quite frankly I don't want anyone in MY BEDROOM either, unless invited of course!

Since when does my private life need to parallel my profession?  Just asking....All this grief about Weiner (his wife needs to deal with it, poor thing, how embarrassing, UNLESS of course she is consenting and doesn't care...so be it it's her husband)....

Just a question:  If President Clinton would have just said “yes I cheated on my wife [let him deal with it at home) instead of denying it: How would our country have benefited? If religion/political party line ignorance had not come into play what could have happened positively?

Well, the way I see it (purely pragmatic of course) for one my tax dollars would not have been wasted on a defense team that was completely useless except to confuse truth with political opinion poll manipulation.  Thus millions hours of time (Time=$$$ Learned that on Wall Street) of important people in DC and the country, congress etc …Wasted hours and $$$ spent on trying to prove innocence instead getting to the business at hand!

We would have been much better off with out the circus...but sex, sensationalism, dwelling on the unimportant, red herring to what is really going on (that is a h*ll of a lot more important than what the definition of what is, is..)

I digress again.

I AM a unique, exquisite DNA specimen. I have a unique set of beliefs, gleaned from many experiences that shape my perception.  That said, I know I am not always right.  This always seems to lead me to un chartered territory (none of it illegal in this country, but if I lived in an austere dry county in KY and wasn't a baptist I might be in trouble) that the majority of people can not even remotely comprehend.  

Enough of the mud-slinging PEOPLE!  Let's get on with LIFE!

It's my life! I will explore it however I choose, with or without your permission...because I believe in FREEDOM! I hold it very very dearly to my heart.

The litmus test is the following for me before I potentially engage in something:

Will my potential actions hurt any living being---> IF NO--->

Will my potential actions cause undue expense/hardship to others?---> IF NO--->

Will my potential actions help humanity evolve from my silly mistakes? (most are too fearful to undertake)---> ****IF YES***--->

THEN lets get it on!  If it's not me than who will it be?  Change is not easy, but I was born to look fear in the eye and say:  "What of it, your on!"  Nothing (absolutely nothing) is impossible.

It seems we have become afraid of EVERYTHING we don't understand!

HOW CAN YOU LEARN IF YOU DON'T TRY!

Life is a LIVE real time lab experiment, not a sterile test bed of safety.  Complete with pre programmed mathematically calculated outcomes modeled and proven in S-Plus (Don't forget the multiple clinical trials! With the skewed statistics adjusted based on brand preference).

We as individuals seem to be so overwhelmed by the complexity of everything in addition to complete overstimulation we need drugs to calm ourselves.  I found a funny thing today on FB:  "In the 60's people took LSD to make the world look weird.  Now people take anti-depressants to make the world look LESS weird." When did being different become so unpopular? 

Over stimulation excetera used to make it difficult for me (personally) to even care what I order to eat at the end of the day!  I'd just look and say:  "whatever, has no sugar, meat and is a complex carb"  Which of course has been WEIRD  until just recently.

Let me expound:

Me

Just one example of how completely un attached we are to truly understanding the individual human as an exquisite creature of uniqueness.

What do most people know about me:

I LOVE great shoes!

I LOVE to laugh.  I rarely raise my voice.  Most people cannot even begin to grasp a day in my wonderfully crazy life.  Occasionally, it is tiring being me.  Today, I am tired.  I'm sorting out the reminents of stuff.... at one of my storage spaces (I have stuff all over the world)

BUT I found my SHOOOOeee collection! So very HAPPY!  So I can wear these:







But I also LOVE THESE:





Does it mean that because I wear picture Number 1 I can't wear picture Number 2?

As long as I don't wear picture Number 2 while speaking at this:


About THIS:



With an amazing man like this:



I play a part in the IT world, on the world stage.  I do it well!

It's one of the few things in life in which I will open my mouth and throw the BS flag if... you try to pull one over on me....

It is NOT complex; it is 1's and 0's at the end of the day..... On and Off...Logic Driven.... You control the risk, you control the 1's and 0's.  Control the gate, input, output, ON & OFF!

Whatever mistakes you make, learn from them, try desperately NOT to repeat them and EVOLVE!

Don't get caught up with people telling you what you should be, could be, if only you were a certain way.

I tried that. All it did was provide me with a ton of grief, a divorce and feeling like I was inadequate all the time.  Not good or productive.

What have I learned?  I'm me...for all that I am and all that I'm not.... I do IT.... I refuse to pretend to be something I am not.

I will not tell you something because it's the thing to do.... I will tell you the brutal truth...Always in business.... Though, I can soften it up for my personal circle...

I don't like social ladder climbers.  I don't care what your bank balance says, your title, or what car you drive.  Do you have something worthwhile to contribute to this world?  Let's go!  I don't fit into your pretty little box of who, what, why, where and how and I don't expect you to fit into mine.

I enjoy studying things I don't yet understand and questioning things I think I might understand.  I have a voracious appetite to read, learn and digest anything I can get my hands on!

That said, I do NOT believe in the premise you need to sit in a boring lecture hall,  pay several Thousands of $$$$ and owe crap loads of $$$$ in student loans to learn it.  Go to your library, pick up a book, kindle, IPod, get your hands dirty and above all try!

I don't really care if what I am learning makes sense to you.... It makes PERFECT sense to ME!  I also don't feel the need to prove that too you!  I can't control you OR your thoughts of what is important....but I CAN control me :D (More on my theories of control in another post).

Example, many years ago I decided that I would teach myself to knit (Before it became retro fashionable like it is today).  So I started reading books, bought some cheap yarn and knitting needles sitting on the subway (which was also unacceptable.  But waiting in traffic in a cab was considered an "acceptable" waste of time... go figure that one) giggling at myself when I screwed up and the socks looked hideous.... Which was no big deal at all it was cheap crappy yarn and I was having fun AND being productive.

The most difficult thing for me was when people who thought they could just chime into my little knitting gigglefest and say, "Well what are you doing that for?  What a waste of time? That's pathetic. Or my favorite:  People here don't do those sorts of things, we hire people to do it...." BARF!

That's when I read Feynman's Book:  "What Do You Care What Other People Think?: Further Adventures of a Curious Character" and stopped caring what the masses thought and just did my own thing.

Sometimes I don't like to wear make up...

I wear heels as well as combat boots, rock climbing shoes and Vibram 5 fingers.

I enjoy getting dressed up in a ball gown getting all prettified, but not all the time.

I can look like:



From a kid as THIS:



Or In College as This:

Or Painting India Colorful during Holi as This:


Hanging with my friends in the desert looking like this:


At the end of the day, I am still the same person inside...I just changed clothing to adapt to the situation and LIVE!

I enjoy silence, I don't mind being alone inside my head, and I need silence to digest all the world has to offer.

I love to ski, (all kinds) surf, rock climb, ride my bicycle, swim, smile at people, would enjoy a nice opera in Vienna someday.

I love AC/DC, DJ Tiesto, everything but hard core rap just as much as I love Beethoven.  I live through music, art, feelings and my heart.

I survive in a modern world through my JOB.

I love animals, kids and the elderly because they are a lower risk level threat and an easy personal puzzle after a long day at work.  Work is where, all everyone wants to do is argue with one another, stab you in the back, try and make you look bad and whinge about rather mundane things.

I GO to Burning Man Whenever I can!  (no, I'm not a Hippie (although I like most "hippies" and they everyone has something interesting to contribute no matter what they look like) or a person who does drugs).  I go to restore my faith in the HEART of the Gift Culture and meet with some of the most interesting dissections of humans from around the world..... I go to be inspired by people who can create something out of nothing or something out of what most would consider JUNK.  Burners are people who continually give back to a society.  The same society that tries to put them into a box as something UNUSUAL!!!! Scary!!!! Unknown and Different!

One of my favorite video's I am thankful for:  Thank you to Apple, Inc and Steve Jobs (although Steve after reading the what you are doing for the GOV I am a weeee bit concerned about " Who is your Caesar” Than I ever was before.... That will be the subject of another post) I share it (thank Gd for YouTube) with people who I see struggling with the same things I struggled with for so long.




I AM ME:  I found this thanks to one of my interesting trumpets of interesting things in #140chars of TWITTER:  "If you can't handle me at my worst, you won't deserve me at my best."  I don't know who wrote it...if anyone knows let me know so I can give gratitude where due!

Loving vibes of acceptance, love and global solidarity to all!


Your Nomadic CIO....Traveling with her toes....Sometimes covered or not...







Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Sailing

If it was easy everyone would do it....
Maybe I'm just too stupid or too stubborn....TBD
 
Throw caution to the wind, 
Set sails in full motion,
Look toward the horizon,
Through the storm into clear sky,
Embrace the rain,
Watch the lightning bolts fly,
Throwing back my head,
If this is all there is I am
Laughing enjoying the ride! 

~Susan

Monday, June 20, 2011

What If....

What if:

American Broadcasters, News Agencies and Papers:

Provided Live Real Time 24 Hour Coverage of Iraq, Afghanistan, Sudan, Libya ETC. (Like they did during Vietnam) on Television, Radio, Newspaper? 

Do you think the American population could deny the atrocities that are happening 24/7 around the world?

Do you think they would so readily sell arms, souls and soldiers for hire?

Do you think the military-industrial complex would continue to thrive?

 Once the population figures out that WAR does NOT come with background music like in the movies and it is truly as ugly as it gets (NOT like in the movies where the good guy gets kissed by the girl etc...with background music) they would NOT be outraged and think twice about the politicians, companies and agenda of those making the decisions?

I for one, without 24/7 feel like puking at least 3x's per day when I think of all of the humanity, veterans and lives..

The game must stop.  The time is short.  There is NOT an off button.

Please, I beg of you find your conscience...before it's too late.

~Susan

Friday, June 17, 2011

Silence=Death

I have been sitting here silently measuring my words carefully and living in fear.  For eight long months....


Truth = Power 
 in the current climate: 
Power FEARS Truth

Data Doesn't Lie
People Do



If I remain silent, I am not serving my country or humanity well.

I am one.  But I refuse to live in fear anymore of what potentially could happen. 

"Here in America we are descended in blood and in spirit from revolutionists and rebels - men and women who dare to dissent from accepted doctrine. As their heirs, may we never confuse honest dissent with disloyal subversion."
Dwight D. Eisenhower



This is my act of civil disobedience.  I will not let others be harmed because I was in fear.  There are no protections for people like me in this world these days.  Let them do whatever they wish to do...Truth will prevail in the end.  I hope I am here to see it.



Sunday, June 12, 2011

You...

You kicked me, when I was down,

Hoping,  I would not get up,

Praying I would stay down,

Thinking I would take it,

And just lay down,

Thinking I was pathetic,

and die without a sound....


You Were Wrong


Saturday, June 11, 2011

I AM ONE ~Susan

I am one as you can see,

But close your eyes, go to sleep,

When you wake, surprise, surprise,

It's not just one it's one plus three,

Because I am a starfish you see....

Cut my leg off and you'll find,

I will survive and be just fine.

A few more scars from the battle this time.

~Susan

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

? Everything

As I sit here gazing at the moon, the tears flow with the thought:
If it ended all today:  Did I feel, smell, taste, understand and give everything I have
I sure hope so...I want nothing from this world other than to make it better than when I left it....
and morsels of love left for everyone!
...If I wake tomorrow, I will fight again!

Traveling Toes

Pointing toes to the sky,
Taking deep breaths,
Hands held high, 
Wondering once again which path to try. 
Hugs and love to all by my side.
~Susan

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Elephants Do Not Forget #WDYDYD

Do you feel my piercing eyes peer into you?


I am like an elephant and do not forget like most do.


You can dress me up.


Parade me around.


Play games with me. 


Try desperately to get me stuck in the weeds.


But I will never be what you want or


Expect me to be...

~Susan