I've Always Been An Excellent Speller.

It's taken me 30 years to learn to appreciate myself, respect myself and to just enjoy the gifts and quirks that make me "me".  All the good, all the bad, all of the yet-to-be-categorized.  As I sit here writing this, I'm still not 100% sure why I feel compelled to start this "all about me" -esque blog series, but nonetheless, I do.  Maybe it's because, for the past year or so, I've been traveling at warp speed on a journey of self-awareness and I'm writing it to myself to make sense of things.  Or maybe it's because I observe the people around me who have yet to embrace themselves and their wonderfully weird idiosyncrasies, and I want share my stories to make them feel not-so-isolated in their journey.  Or maybe a little of both?  Who knows.  Either way, I'm writing it, so welcome to the first installment of "Tiffany: The Mini-Series".

From the time I was a wee lass, I remember feeling like I was different and that being "different" meant that something was wrong with me.  I wasn't acutely aware of exactly what it was that made me different, but I've always known that I didn't think or act or react in similar ways as my family or peers.  Although you wouldn't know it by encountering me today,  I was a painfully shy child.  I preferred being left to my own devices and getting lost in my head rather than being bothered to play with other kids my age.  My favorite past time was barricading myself in my bedroom, with my art set and my Beach Boys tapes, and escaping to whatever enchanted land my little noggin could dream up.  That may not seem like such unusual behavior for a creative soul, however, the hours I spent alone also made way for other thoughts.  For example, I went through a phase where I was OBSESSED and terrified by the thought of growing up, because that meant my grandparents would die.  Pretty sure I was around 4 years old at the time.   I was also a conspiracy theorist who believed that everyone was constantly judging me and making fun of me.  Paranoid, much?  On occasion, when I didn't feel like my parents were listening to what I was trying to communicate with them, I'd pack up my favorite stuffed animals in a handkerchief, tie it to the end of a stick (aka: a brindle stick....a la cartoon world and very popular method of moving on with tv hobos) and "run away".  Of course, my version of running away was climbing a tree just passed our barn and waiting for someone to miss my pouty little self and forcing them to come find me.  This scenario never really worked to my advantage because a.) it was normal for me to disappear, so how were they to  know I'd "ran away"? and b.) I was a clumsy kid.  I fell out of said tree more that I actually sat in it and no one actually knew where I was to come help my wounded tush back to the house.  Ahhh, the innocence of childhood, right?

For most of my elementary school years, I just accepted that I was a weird kid, kept my mouth shut in class and tried to draw as little attention to myself as possible.  Although I loved to read and show off my sweet spelling skills, I often got so nervous that I would mispronounce words, be it in front of class or in one-on-one conversations.  Much to my chagrin, this typically this led to snickers and snide remarks from the more vocal little brats.  I hated being called on to answer questions, getting matched up with a partner who was not one of my friends, and maybe most crippling of all...(GASP!)...gym class. I HATED P.E.!!!  I mean, what's to love about being the last picked for a team, or being one the weaklings who, without fail, was annihilated in dodge ball?  To this day, it still blows my mind that dodge ball is legal. (Shutters...uuuhhhh).  I know it seems as if I'm painting a picture of a kid who was equipped with the social skills of a rock, but my parents did keep me very involved in extracurricular social activities.  Thank God for that.  I was a little jazz dance-ah, a softball pitcher, a tumbling machine, a failed pianist and a wannabe beauty queen (hey, I'm from the South... we do pageants).  Although I didn't always love it, these activities allowed me to get out of my head for a while and, every now and again, figure out that I was more than an incredible speller and horrible orator.  Even though I may have never been the fastest, or the best, or the prettiest, or the smartest, I had the desire to become better.  And I made it my JOB to get better.  At the time, I had no idea what that meant.  Perhaps I was just trying to gain acceptance from my peers and my parents and my teachers, but looking back now, I realize it shows that I have always been driven and ambitious.  Those things aren't really taught, either you are or you're not.  Being a kid weirdo has it's perks, it toughens ya up and and prepares you to enter a world where some of those mean little brats age to be grown up a-holes.      

I'll go ahead and flash forward through the awkwardness and growing pains of the teenage years and my 20's, for now.  Don't worry, (because I'm sure you're on the edge of your seat to hear all about it) I will revisit in future rambles in this blogosphere.  I suppose I started by introducing a teeny glimpse into the mind of the weird introvert kid because it seems like the appropriate vehicle for introducing my evolution into this weird extrovert adult, which will be fodder for my next post.  I'll wrap up today's nonsense by saying that I'm finally to a point where I'm able to appreciate and to be thankful for the fact that "normal" really doesn't exist.  We are all blessed with strengths and weakness and quirks, and we have the ability to utilize it to our advantage.  We are all divinely designed to be different.  We are ALL some flavor of odd.  That's right...even you!  Ahhh!!  Accept yourself for it.  Accept others for their differences.  Embrace it.  Love who YOU are and it will make loving others much easier.  I know, deep, right?  Ta-ta for now! 

Blackberry Smoke Interview

Q&A: Blackberry Smoke

FEATURES, INTERVIEWS — BY TIFFANY MCDONALD ON MAY 29, 2010 AT 9:05 AM 

The faint aroma of incense eased through the air of Nashville’s Mercy Lounge as the five longhaired, Skynyrd-esque rockers of Blackberry Smoke took the stage. Often cited as “Too Country for Rock, Too Rock for Country”, Blackberry Smoke delivered a foot stompin’, lighter-wavin’, ‘hell yeah’ of a good time that fully lived up to the aforementioned slogan.

Their current single “Good One Comin’ On” is (deservingly) seeing its fair share of spins on satellite radio and the video has made it to the top of CMT’s fan-voted “Pure Country 12-Pack”. They’ve shared the stage with the likes of ZZ Top, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Shooter Jennings just to name a few, and have collaborated with the finest talent Nashville has to offer.

The bands’ sophomore album, Little Piece of Dixie, is a patchwork quilt of hard-living Southern-Rock anthems, traditional country melodies, feel-good jams and everything in between. Blackberry Smoke has managed to take an amazing variation of songs and sew them together seamlessly. If you haven’t heard of these guys before now, download the album immediately and be prepared to rock out. (You can thank me later.)

The recipe for this flavor of Country/Rock is a potent mixture of Charlie Starr’s gritty vocals, Brit Turner hammerin’ down on drums, Richard Turner’s low notes, Paul Jackson bending the 6-string and Brandon Still tappin’ the keys. Although these guys convey an image reminiscent of stereotypical Southern Rock groups of the 1970’s, their music tells a different story. Blackberry Smoke graciously took the time to sit down with me before the show to give me a glimpse into their world.

Country Music Pride: How did you guys come up with the name ‘Blackberry Smoke’?

Blackberry Smoke: We couldn’t think of our own name. The ones that we thought of were taken. So we had the law dogs to look and see if they were taken or not and they came back taken. We were like, ‘Damn! We’ve got to do a gig, we’ve gotta be called something’, so we enlisted friends from other bands to help us come up with names. Our friends are in The Black Crowes, and you know, they’ve been The Black Crowes for 20 years so we thought maybe in those 20 years they might have thought of a cool name that they were like ‘Shit! We wanna be called that but we’re already the Black Crowes and we’ve sold 20 million records’. So they said what about “Richard Turner Explodes” and that was too long and perhaps a better album title. Then they said ‘The Blackberry Smoke’, we’re like still long but cool, let’s do this. Drop the ‘the’ off of it and there you go.

CMP: So you were named by The Black Crowes?

BBS: Yeah, Chris Robinson actually came up with it. We owe him money for that I’m sure. He’ll collect when the time is right. It’s funny to even hear him say the name now. Like they played in Owensboro, Kentucky, where we’ve played tons over the past 10 years, and he said “Right up front, I saw some Blackberry Smoke t-shirts”.

CMP: I know you guys are based out of Atlanta, but you’re not all from Atlanta, right? How did you meet in the middle?

BBS: Atlanta was the nearest place where you could go play music. There were a couple places in Atlanta, bars that stay open all night, and that’s where all the musicians go. And that’s where you meet women of ill-refute…

CMP: How long have you been together now?

BBS: Almost 10 years.

CMP: Your current single, “Good One Comin’ On”, is doing great on satellite radio and on CMT. Has mainstream radio been showing you any attention?

BBS: The radio add is actually June 20th.

CMP: Have been out on radio tour?

BBS: Yes, we’ve been doing some radio stuff in Phoenix, LA, here we tried to break into Cumulus this morning but they were out on vacation. But yeah, we are starting to do a lot of that.

CMP: How did you guys get a hold of that song? I know it was on Trent Willmon’s second album…

BBS: We actually demo’d the song. We got together and wrote a song with David Lee Murphy and then one of his people, and I actually met the lady, she’s a really nice lady, and she actually came up to us when we were playing with Travis Tritt just a couple weeks ago and said “I’m the one that sent that song over to you guys a long time ago.” We demo’d it before he (Willmon) did and the demo that we got was actually David Lee Murphy singing it. He and Lee Roy Parnell and Gary Nicholson wrote it, we still have that somewhere. So we did it first.

We were starting to meet different songwriters in Nashville doing co-writes and we had never done that before. We were new to that, it was neat. At the same time, we would get together and write songs with these guys and somebody might go “You know what you should record, is this one”, which at first, we were like ‘hey, hey, hey…we got this”. But then when you hear a song and it’s that great… That was perfect though, it was right up the old alley.

CMP: Who have you written with in town that just blew you away?

BBS: Rob Hatcher, Randy Houser, David Lee Murphy, Jeremy Spillman, Travis Meadows, Anthony Smith, Craig Wiseman, Bobby Terry, Jeffrey Steele….gosh, the list is a lot longer than I thought…Luke Laird, Gordon Kennedy…

CMP: With your album, Little Piece of Dixie, I think it’s really cool how you guys have been able to go across the board from the hard rockin’ “Up In Smoke” to the feel-good “Good One Comin’ On” as well as a more traditional country element, and you were able to tie it together beautifully. How were you able to make this work?

BBS: It just works. There has definitely never been any plan. It happens the way it happens. Music that you love the most, your biggest influences always show. Unless you try to stifle them and we definitely don’t do that.

CMP: From the variation on your album, I couldn’t pick who your biggest influence would be. So who would you say that you draw your most inspiration from?

BBS: Us! No, really there’s too many, because it runs the gamut from Bill Monroe to Little Feat. You know when you touch music and you just love it, it doesn’t really matter what kind of music it is as long as it’s good. If you were listening to Kenny Chesney’s radio station and ACDC’s “Highway to Hell” came on you wouldn’t turn it off.

CMP: You look like Southern rockers and you’re often given the title “Too Country for Rock, Too Rock for Country”, so everyone automatically says, “Oh, Lynyrd Skynyrd” when they see you. Is it safe to assume they would be an influence to you guys?

BBS: Oh totally, yeah.

CMP: So would you say that there is anyone in today’s market that could compare to that? I want to say Jamey Johnson….

BBS: He’s definitely one of our absolute favorite artists. He’s just really, really damn good at what he does and he sticks to doing what he wants to do and it shows. It’s real. You can tell first glance if somebody’s real or not.

CMP: I’m really impressed that you guys have jumped the pond and have a big following in Europe as well as here. What’s the connection with those audiences who have no Southern roots or background and how did you make that leap?

BBS: It first started with the internet. We had a store on our website and sold CD’s, then wholesale companies and one-stops in Europe were hitting us up and wanted to buy 100 CD’s at a time or whatever. So for the past 5 or 6 years we’ve been shipping CD’s over there and we play on the Skynyrd Simple Man cruise and at Sturgis and there are a lot Europeans that come to those events. Finally we were just like we’ve got to go over there and play for these people, they’ve been coming to see us 4 years in a row and you start to feel like an asshole, ya know. But we like to travel and meet people and play our music and we got over there and it was great.

CMP: What are the venues like there?

BBS: It varies. We went into a place in Marseille, France. We got there in part of the city that was really seedy and scary. We drove in, it was already dark. This was the first Uh-Oh! when we got there. Because we go into the club and it looks like an old biker clubhouse that the door hasn’t been opened in 10 years, they opened the door and it was like bats flying out. There’s no PA, no sound systems, no nothing. The guy is just now grabbing posters that say “Blackberry Smoke Appearing Tonight”, just now going to put them up and it’s 8 o’clock. We were like, ‘so we should probably leave’, but people were already getting there. And they had really no PA so we couldn’t set the band up to play, so we had our acoustic guitars so we’re like well, we’ll just play like it’s our front porch because these people want to hear some music and they paid money already. So that’s what we did. It ended up really being a lot of fun. Except for there was a refrigerator in the corner and I opened it, I don’t know why. It smelled like there was a dead body in there, it cleared the place out. Then we went in February and played for 8,000 people at a country and western festival, just outside of Paris, and they were line dancing…and very good at it too. There were people selling saddles and cowboy boots and it was great. I was like man some of those type shows that we’ve played over here, these rallies and stuff, the venders need to get with it! There was some quality going on. They’re enthusiastic about music and about knowing everything about bands when you go to Europe. They’ve read the liner notes and they know as much about you as they can possibly get their hands on. It’s exciting to go do that.

CMP: Sounds like you have a very loyal fan base there.

BBS: They love all kinds of music. There will be a guy with a Skynyrd shirt and a guy in a Slayer shirt and they’re just diggin’ whatever’s in front of them playing live. We’re going to play in Sweden at Sweden Rock, it’s like a European Bonnaroo, but bigger I think. It’s gonna be Rick Springfield, Slayer, Guns N’ Roses, US!!! Moby will probably be there too, there’s just tons of music and everybody loves it and they all get along.

CMP: What would you say is the biggest difference between your shows here and your shows there?

BBS: No difference as far as what we do. But those people in a lot of those cities are really quiet until you’re finished, they’re very, very attentive to everything that goes on and they can get very stoic.

CMP: Do you find that uncomfortable?

BBS: Yeah, at first it was until you get used to it and then at the end of it, they are stomping their feet and wanting more songs. We had so many shows to play. We were like okay, as per the contract we only play an hour. That’s not much of a show, but we had 21 shows in a row to do with no day off, and as singer’s that’s tough. But those people wouldn’t let us leave. We were doing like double encore’s, we would at least go out and play 2 or 3 extra songs every night. In Spain, somebody told us, “They’re gonna be so enthusiastic about music” but we didn’t know what to expect going over there for the first time. Then we were like ‘wow, you didn’t tell us it was gonna be like this’. It was great. Great experience.

CMP: With everyone you’ve played with and shared a stage with, have you had one of those ‘Oh my God’ moment’s where you’re thinking “This is it; this is what it’s all about”?

BBS: ZZ Top. We looked around one night at sound check while on the road and Billy Gibbons was playing drums with us. He was like “give me the sticks real quick” and then he just sat down and played. That was amazing. The first time that ever happened to me (Britt), was when we played with Skynyrd at Smirnoff Amphitheater. Skynyrd’s band thought we were the crew for our band, so they were thinkin ‘who are these guys, not showing up until they have to walk on stage, just have their crew here doing their shit for them all day’, they told us this later, and they were like ‘then we realized it was you guys playin’ and it was so cool. We start playing and look over and see Rickey Medlocke watching us play and it was wild.

CMP: Do you guys still get a case of the nerves when you’re up there and those folks are in the audience watching you?

BBS: Yeah. We were just playing the other night in Austin, TX. We played an acoustic show at this little place called Headhunters and we were doing “Good One Comin’ On” and it had just got out of my mouth “throw in Ray Wylie Hubbard” and in walks Ray Wylie Hubbard and stood right there. I couldn’t look him in the face! When we were playing every other song I was looking everywhere but.

CMP: Do you know what’s next single-wise? I know this one is just now about to hit radio, but just out of curiousity…

BBS: No, we don’t know yet. A lot of people like “Prayer for the Little Man”, a song written with Craig Wiseman. There’s a ton of stuff. There’s huge underground stuff that I don’t even know how it’s getting out there, like “Yesterday’s Wine” with Jamey and George and I don’t even know how it’s getting out there.

CMP: You’re touring right now, trying to get your voice out there, and your words out there. What’s the next step?

BBS: Just keep on doing exactly what we’re doing. We’re going to Europe in June and then the Zac Brown Sailing Southern Ground cruise in September, BamaJam. Just keep on doing what we’re doing.

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As always, thanks for reading folks! To read the live article and to get the inside scoop on what's going on in country music check out our website at www.countrymusicpride.com! Peace!

Choices, choices, choices

Each and everyday, we all have to make a plethora of decisions. Some are based solely on freewill and desire, others upon things set into play by circumstances outside of our control. We chose when to get up, what to wear, what to eat. We have to decide whether or not to finish something now or put it off for tomorrow. We are also responsible for making choices for other people. In todays world, it seems we are expected to be all-knowing and all-giving, and that all of our choices are the "right" ones. Talk about pressure!

Today I am inspired to blog because it finally occurred to me that, of the few choices that are 100% mine, most decisions I have to make have absolutely nothing to do with what I want or desire. For instance, I get to decide what time I get out of bed, what to wear and what to eat for breakfast. However, all of those things are influenced by what has already been dictated by what "my" itinerary is for the day. Five days a week, I am to be sitting at my desk by 8 a.m., wearing clothing that falls within the guidelines I've been given and breakfast consists of a bowl of cereal or fruit because I recently discovered I have an intolerance to wheat (bye bye biscuits/gravy/pancakes). Of those five workdays, I am responsible for deciding what needs to be done and at what time, coordinating a statewide calendar for a multi-location company full of people who each think that their need is of greatest importance, juggling phone calls, door entrance, emails, visitors needs, staff members needs, faxes, deliveries, conferencing, supplies, broken equipment, venders, REFRIGERATOR CLEANLINESS, roof leaks, broken toilets, and my personal favorite task of deciding what OTHER PEOPLE want to eat for lunch. I'm not talking about coordinating catering for a group of people, I seriously have individuals ask ME what THEY should order for lunch, followed by them telling me to order it for them. I don't know about you, but lunch is one thing that I can handle on my own. I can guarantee you that nothing I chose between the hours of 8 to 5 are even loosely based upon my own freewill or desire.

When not at work, I should be able to choose what to do or what not to do, right? Technically, yes, but it seems the rest of the world also has dibs on my influencing my decisions. I'm not saying that is always a bad thing, but the deeper I delve into the philosophy of freewill choices versus influence choices it seems that we have very few 100% freewill shots to call. Most days when the clock strikes five, I am tired, irritated, stressed, and on "people overload". My only desire is to go home, maybe take my Ipod for a walk, and eventually park on my couch with my kitties and a glass of wine. This is not because I am depressed, a hermit, anti-social or lazy. It's because that's what I feel would be most beneficial for me. In reality, this simple pleasure is judged or derailed by the needs of others or simply by responsibilities and commitments I, myself, chose. Somedays, I am expected to leave work and fight rush hour traffic to attend a meeting that I know ahead of time will be additionally exhausting or perhaps just to meet up with friends for dinner and conversation. Don't get me wrong, I am thankful that my world has such distractions so that sitting on the couch with my cats isn't by choice, but it seems the older I get, the less interested I am in staying out late when I know I have to be up at "set time" in order to re-live the joys of 8-5. Wow, now that does make me sound old!

Then there are the weekend choices to be made. Do I sleep in (as would often be my first choice), or should I get up and get started on all those things that I don't have time for Monday-Friday? As most of you know, I'm an ADHD kid who has a hard time getting anything done (well, completed, I should say) if I stray from my routine. For me, Saturday means housecleaning and laundry, once that is out of the way it's time to go play outside or just relax. Sunday is "grocery shopping / any other shopping that needs to be done" day. Doesn't sound like much, right? Wrong! Housecleaning and laundry for me takes double the time it does for the greater population as I am often distracted and bounce from task to task, taking frequent "breaks" to re-group because I get confused as to what in the hell I was doing and what should be done next. The grocery store is equally as time consuming thanks to my new wheat-free existence. Do you have any idea what a wheat-intolerant vegetarian can eat? Not a lot of variety, that's for sure! I prowl each aisle (just as I did the week before), praying to discover something new and TASTY to toss in my cart. This blog is beginning to make me sound like a hemit, isn't it?!

I guess the point I wanted to make by writing today is that everyone has needs, obligations and responsibilities. Although no one has the same needs, responsibilities and obligations, we all have to make choices based upon them in our individual lives. I had a phone conversation earlier today with a friend, and we were talking about everything that we had to do and then countering with what we actually wanted to do. At one point she said, "You are an adult. If you don't want to do that, then don't! It's your choice, don't worry about what you're told you have to do." After our chat, I thought to myself, "she's right, it's my choice and I don't have to do anything I don't want to!" Then I began to think about all of the things that aren't my choice that I still have to do. In closing, I guess I would just like to remind everyone that sometimes the choices we make aren't actually our choices at all. We just have to makes the best choice based upon what we're given and call it a day!

Facebook made me do it: The Great Healthcare Debate.

Okay, I apologize for this up front, as I know there are throngs of folks who will completely NOT agree with anything I am about to say, but I feel the need to voice my opinion on the matter. I promise, very few of my blogs will be politically charged. With this warning issued, I digress.

Government Subsidized Healthcare. Americans are all over the board when it comes to this topic. For those of you who know me, you know I am a Liberal. This being said, I would also like to state that just because I would categorize myself as such, I do have an opinion on most all facets of the title and if I disagree with any position/platform that lies beneath this umbrella I will challenge it as I would anything else in my life. I consider myself a Liberal, but please don't assume that just because I'm playing for that team means I'm automatically gonna swing at every pitch. However, I am whole-heartedly in support of "healthcare for all". Not because I'm a Liberal, a Democrat, or an Obama supporter. It's because I have first hand experience with living, breathing, working, loving, struggling, law abiding people near and dear to my heart who do not have, nor do they have any means and access to health insurance. Before I dive right into my opinion, let me ask you, The Reader, a few questions that have influenced my stance on the matter:

• Do you know someone (family member, friend, co-worker, acquaintance) living without health insurance?

-If so, do you love them and are you concerned about their well-being and that of their spouse/children? -Are they without insurance because they are lazy, no-good, leeches on society? Or are they hardworking, dependable folks who simply cannot afford it?

• Have you ever been without health insurance for either yourself or your children?

-If so, was it because you chose not to work? Or possibly because the premiums at your place of employment were too high or you could not find employment?

• In these economic times, with soaring unemployment there are a number of those with graduate degrees resorting to taking multiple low-paying, minimum wage fast-food, retail or entry-level "jobs" (that typically DO NOT provide benefits) in order to secure any form of income possible. Know anyone who falls into this category?

With those questions to chew on, let me tell you about the folks who I know that are personally affected by the above scenarios. First to come to mind is my Dad. A man in his mid-50's who has worked manual-labor jobs his entire life, and who was laid off last year. I'm assuming due both the economy as well as his age, he can't find full-time/full-benefits employment. He works where he can find work now, typically on a temporary basis and of course without the luxury of health insurance. Could he enroll in an independent health plan? Sure. Well, he could try anyway, but do you have the slightest clue as to how much a monthly premium/annual deductible would cost a male at his age? Double what I pay per year for the plan that I am fortunate to have, assuming they would insure him at all. It literally sickens me to think of what could happen if he were to fall ill or be involved in an accident.

I, too, have been without insurance in the past when I was between full-time, full-benefit employment and let me tell you, it's not a fun place to be. The what-if's are enough stress alone to make one physically ill. As I said in the previous paragraph, I am VERY fortunate to have insurance provided to me by my employer, but I have a countless number of friends who aren't as blessed. Some are full-time employees whose place of employment will not offer them health benefits, and on the entry-level salaries they earn, they simply cannot afford to enroll in an independent policy. Others are musicians, artists, songwriters and entrepreneurs who make enough money to feed, clothe and shelter themselves and their families, but as well cannot afford to go the independent route.

Then there are the folks who can't get a job to save their lives. Not because they're lazy, or stupid, or unqualified, but because THERE ARE NO JOBS TO BE HAD. We are in tough economic times and we simply do not have the opportunities available to send off a resume and get hired on the spot. What are these folks to do?

I know those who oppose say things like "I get up and go to work everyday" or "I already give enough money to the government for those lazy pieces of shit" or "I EARN what I have". Sure, I feel the same way, too. Especially when it's in regards to the particular subset of "lazy pieces of shit" who milk the system for all it's worth while poppin out a herd of babies they can't, and never had the intention, of supporting. In my opinion, the government should also be able to zone in on those folks and sterilize them, but I'm sure there are people who would not be in favor of that suggestion either, but hey it's my blog and I can say what I want, right? lol I could write and entire blog about my opinions on that situation alone but I will spare you at this time. :) However, my mind keeps going to the folks who are hard-working, intelligent, law-abiding AMERICAN'S that can't seem to catch a break and who have to struggle with the decision on whether or not to go into overwhelming debt in order to have testing performed to ensure they aren't on the verge of a stroke, or who face the consequence of loosing their home due to a car accident/stroke/ heart attack, OR who simply have to make the decision every month on whether or not to buy groceries/pay their electric bills/buy their children necessities versus purchasing the medication they need to survive.

Will there be flaws in the new system? Yes. Definitely. Are there serious flaws in many of the systems that we currently abide by and have for decades? Yes. Is the thought of change in the society that we are accustomed to scary? Hell yes. But is it necessary to cross into "scary" territory in order to make a POSITIVE change in our world and to accommodate our ever-changing society? YES.

If you are lucky enough to not be affected by any of the personal situations I've discussed you are BLESSED. THANK GOD EVERYDAY FOR YOUR GOOD FORTUNE. Just keep in mind, it might not always be that way. When the shoe's on the other foot, how will you feel?

Watch out, World!

Hello family, friends and you poor unknowing souls who have somehow stumbled upon my little corner of the blogosphere!! I was recently inspired by my dear friend Anna Marie to create a blog to share my thoughts and opinions with the world at large, or at the very least, to give me an outlet to exercise some form of free mental therapy. :) I welcome you to read my random rants, raves and opinions (as you know, EVERYBODY has one....and I believe you are probably also aware of the value of them...), and please feel free to respond! Thanks for stopping by!