Y is for...

YUCKY!

I'll be honest.  I am writing this post sort of late in the day under the influence of a few drinks.  It is Friday, after all!  And it's after five-o'clock, so it's all good.  Y is a challenging one for me.  I was just going to write "You are going to die one day."  And that was going to be the whole post, but I had a feeling that that might be perceived as rather cold and that isn't the impression I want to leave you with when we're almost done with the challenge.

So, then I pulled out my trusty dictionary and started perusing through the words and "yucky" stuck out.  Why?  Well, sometimes death can be yucky, especially for the ones who have to deal with the aftermath.  I followed a crew of firefighters for about three months (only went on three calls because I am the white cloud) and I heard tales of "stinkers," or people who have died and nobody finds them for awhile. I hate to break it to you, but after we die, we smell REALLY BAD after a few days of decomposition. Not even a "stick up" is going to help.

I also interviewed a bio-hazard cleaner.  He showed me the difference between a hand gun and a shotgun and what it did to a room.  He didn't want anyone to end their life, but if they did, he would prefer that they use a handgun.  I saw the difference.  One room maintained an air of tidiness, while the other looked like Jackson Pollock had a can of red paint and went nuts on it.

Okay, enjoy your breakfast or lunch or dinner or whatever.  Take time to smell the roses.  And have a bitchin' summer!

And this is why Pamela shouldn't drink and blog.

X is for...

I think everyone participating in this blog challenge will agree, "X" is the most difficult letter.  I seriously looked in the dictionary to see if any word connected to death.  There was X-Ray, but I don't really want to talk about that.  Heck, I don't even really want to talk about an X over someone's eyes to indicate death.  (Thanks Claire, or was it Jill, who offered that idea up a month ago.)

Okay, but how short would this post be if I just wrote that?  I want to exercise my mad blogging skills now that I've got some people who actually read this damn thing and say nice stuff about it. So, I'm gonna go all weird and stretch that X into a post about something else.

Pick up your cell phone.  That's right.  The one that's glued to your hand, or your hip, or maybe it's lost in the bowels of your over sized purse.  Found it?  Cool. Now look at the dialer.  What letters coincide with WXYZ?  The number...

The number 9 is in probably my least favorite Beatle's song, Revolution 9.  Charles Manson liked this song.  A lot.

It was a movie.

There are three 9's in my anniversary date--9/11/99.  Yes, yes, I know.  Believe me, I know.

And if you look at the first three numbers of my anniversary date, what do you get? 

911!!!

Hello, 911? McDonald’s is Out of McNuggets! (Hear the Actual Audio Here)

Whatever you do, please don't call 911 if McDonald's is out of Chicken McNuggets.  When should you call?

When there is an emergency.  When lives are in danger.  When there is a serious injury or medical condition.  Or when there is a crime in progress.  Do not call to ask how to bake a turkey.  Yes, this can sometimes be an emergency, but that's what google is for. 

Want some advice about how to be a good 911 caller?  Remember, when you are on your cell phone, you need to know where you are calling from. Are you one of those rare people who don't use cell phones?  Guess what?  An inactive cell phone can still call 911. It's a good idea to have a cell phone in your car with a charger, even if you don't have a cell phone provider.

So that's my super stretch X post.  I hope you learned something.  If you liked it, call your friends, call your mom, but whatever you do, don't call 911.

W is for...

WHEN?

As in the big when. (You know.  When you, yes you, are going to die.) I'd bet a dollar that if you are relatively healthy and under forty you haven't given your own personal "when" much thought.  If you're anything like me, you think your when will happen way off in the future, like at the age of ninety-nine-and-a-half.  We've all seen the t-shirt or the card or the saying...

 

But really, how many of us actually do that?  I don't know about you, but if it really was my last day, I would  go do something totally kick ass.  So what is preventing me from donning a superhero outfit and fighting crime  for a day or bungee jumping off a really tall bridge?

Fear.

Yep, fear.  Because what if it really wasn't my last day?  What if I get thrown in the slammer doing something stupid like wearing a superhero costume outside of the Wells Fargo waiting for someone to rob it?  Or for bungee jumping off that really tall bridge and I break my leg and I've got a $5000 deductible on my insurance and no money to pay for the emergency room visit?  Then what?

I'll tell you what.  You'll have fun and you'll have a story to tell.  (Speaking of stories to tell, have you heard of Story Corps? Check it out!) Some of my best experiences have come out of facing a fear.  And if you quiet your mind and think about it for a moment, I know you are afraid of something.  It could be flying, talking to that one person who really makes your heart race or going to the movies alone.  But there's something.  The only way to get over a fear is to go through it.

Okay, okay, maybe your not a total wimp like me.  Maybe you're one of those super brave types who is over forty and has no fear of attending a movie like Twilight by themselves among mostly squealing teenage girls.  

So, what haven't you done that you're dying to do? 

Jump out of a plane?  Run with the bulls?  Cage dive with sharks?  Eat pastries in Paris?  Audition for American Idol?  Whatever it is, write it down, or better yet go here and do it online.

Or share it here.  I love to see what people are dying to do.

I'll start.  I want to jump on Oprah Winfrey's couch.

Okay, now you go.