A Helping Hand

This picture is worth a thousand words.

Health Care Chaos

I understand the Democrats don't like this chart. After reviewing it, I can certainly see why. Maybe it is too hectic and chaotic, but the facts are there. Any government run health program will resemble this insanity.

Health care needs a lift in this country, but this proposed bill is not the lift it needs. An old friend of mine has taken the time to break the bill down line by line. You can read his entry from the link to the left or click here.

The Importance of Adjectives

Yesterday afternoon, I stopped at one of those 'no appointment needed' national chain hair salons. My hair was in need of a trim and in an effort to save money, I chose this option. I have gone to this same salon several times before and been satisfied with the cut.

There was an older woman sitting in the waiting area when I wrote my name down on the sign-in sheet. I took a seat not far from where she sat and glanced at a magazine. A young stylist appeared from the back room and called her name. When she stood up, I noticed about a third of her hair was missing at the crown of her head. As the stylist shampooed her, I overheard the woman say she had been on dialysis and as a result her hair had thinned a great deal. She went on to explain she recently received a kidney transplant and the anti-rejection meds did further damage.

Not long after, my name was called and I took my place in a different stylists' chair. I explained I only needed a trim on the overall length, some long layers and my bangs trimmed. She nodded and began spraying some good smelling potion into my hair. She told me it was a conditioner - and my hair desperately needed some conditioning. I glanced in the mirror and didn't really see the desperate part, but agreed because I figured it couldn't hurt.

She combed all through my hair and began to cut. When she got to the long layers part I requested, she asked why I wanted them. I told her that my hair tends to just hang if there isn't some sort of layering effect. Her exact words were, "Yeah but your hair is so bushy!"

Bushy? I have never thought of my hair as bushy. I know I haven't met any of my readers in person, but I can tell you that all my life my hair has been thick with a natural curl. It tends to curl more in humid weather or when I get caught in a rain storm, but I have never been told my hair was bushy! In fact, most hair stylists compliment my hair.

When the stylist finished my cut, I stood up to leave and pay. The stylist told me I had "quite a head of hair, but she wasn't sure she could live with it." I smiled and told her there obviously wasn't much I could do.

Here's the worst part - I gave the girl a decent tip! The cut was $14.95 and I handed her a $20 bill, mumbling that she could keep the change! I have replayed this instance over and over in my mind and I continue to ask myself why I gave her a $5.05 tip! Most likely, I just wanted to get out of there. So much for saving a few dollars!

On a positive note, I followed the older woman with the kidney transplant out the door. I realized it was a good thing I got the stylist with a limited vocabulary (as Brian said must be her problem) instead of her. The stylist with a lousy vocabulary may have really hurt the woman's feelings.

Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson and The Jackson 5 photos hung on the walls of my pale yellow bedroom when I was a girl. I eagerly awaited the new issue of Tiger Beat magazine and the free pull out posters. The Osmonds were my second favorite and I had their posters displayed, too.

When I was in college, Michael Jackson ventured out on his own. I had lost interest in pop music by this point, but I still enjoyed his music when I heard it on the radio. When Thriller hit the charts, I bought a copy. It's still around here somewhere - vinyl, of course. I had never seen anything like his music videos, which were more like a mini movie than a short video. His dancing was incredible. It was as if he were made of rubber bands with the way he could move and you could tell he felt every beat - every note - in his soul.

I didn't pay much attention to the trials and tribulations of MJ, but like most everyone else, heard about his lawsuits and strange life happenings. Everything with him became a circus act and I would often shake my head in disbelief. I don't know if he was truly guilty of what he was accused, nor do I really want to know. This is between he and God.

I choose to remember him as an incredibly gifted entertainer who had an uncanny ability to wow his audiences all over the world.

No doubt we haven't heard the last of Michael Jackson, his estate or his children. As was the case in life, his affairs in death remain a circus act. I have strong opinions on what I think should happen with his children, but I will also reserve those comments.

Today the world mourns the loss of a gifted entertainer. I pray the man can finally be at peace and for strength for his children to carry on. To the world he was a freak, but to those three children, he was their father.

Regardless of who you are, loosing your dad is a horrendous event.

Below is a link to one of my favorite Michael Jackson songs. The dialogue and angel, I think, is appropriate today.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iPWeu33s34&feature=related