Annoy Your Facebook Friends, Get Facebook Blocked - a How-To Guide

Candy Crush Saga is a time-eating addictive ploy to get my money and piss off my friends.

A) I spent way too much time playing it.
B) Every cool "Booster" costs Facebook Points or Friends, and sometimes both.
C) Although the first two episodes are free, it's a lot like a drug pusher who gives the first few hits to get you hooked - every episode thereafter requires the player to invite three other Facebook friends to help the player to "get on the train", or to unlock the next episode. Or, alternatively, the Player can buy Facebook Points.
D) Candy Crush Saga posts to your Facebook wall incessantly, unless you restrict its access, and even then, you can't be sure.
E) Your friends will hate your incessant Life Requests, Ticket Requests, and Invitations.

So, is this all stuff I didn't know?  Of course not! But did I play, did I get hooked? Yeah, I did.

Did you know all this stuff about Candy Crush Saga?  Perhaps, and you might still get hooked too.

Sounds like there should be a CCSA 12-step meeting we should be attending.

The sheer genius of the game impresses me - because IT WORKS. I bugged my friends, I even almost bought Facebook Credits, and I even looked for Cheats.

What other Facebook game does this remind me of?  Oh yeah, Farmville.  Which was never THAT addictive, never as addictive as the Candy Crush Saga game. But it also incessantly posted to Facebook about game progress and would bug your Friends for help in the game.

Bejeweled Blitz and Zuma Blitz, while addictive, weren't nearly as intrusive on your Friend's Facebook as Candy Crush Saga.

Candy Crush Saga is directly responsible for the dishes in the sink, the rank cat box and dandelions in the yard. It is why I'm not on my bicycle keeping fit, it is why Sarah Palin is evil, and why Fox News still sucks. I simply can't change the world while playing Candy Crush Saga.

I have decided to give up Candy Crush Saga, and so far, I am officially On-The-Wagon (3 days!). And yet, I find myself blogging about Candy Crush Saga. Am I a goner, after all?

I still get requests from others who play, though.Perhaps an Intervention is imminent? No, wait, I need my 30 Day chip first.  At least.

RANT

RANT: Marketing companies who produce commercials for local or big business but don't appreciate your talent enough to pay their actors: YOU SUCK.Quit advertising for actors willing to do the commercial to "build their resume..." YOU CHEAPEN THEIR ART!.

And Actors, SHAME ON YOU FOR ACCEPTING THAT! You are worth more than just free...  expect more, demand more! Even a modest stipend is better than nothing!  Save your charity for community theatre - Actors should get paid in any business setting!

END RANT.

Exercises for Each Stage of Cancer Recovery

Recently I was contacted by one Melanie Bowen. She asked if I would " allow guest posts because (she) recently (has) been researching and writing about how staying physically fit can be extremely beneficial to people going through cancer treatments." Melanie's bio states she "is currently a Master's student with a passion that stems from her grandmother's cancer diagnosis. She often highlights the great benefits of alternative nutritional, emotional, and physical treatments on those diagnosed with cancer or other serious illness. In her spare time, you can find Melanie trying new vegan recipes, on her yoga mat, or spending time with her family."

I thought to myself, "where's the harm in in an article that explores the benefits of exercise for cancer patients?" And so I asked her to send me her submission and I would read it and decide. The article she sent me appears at the bottom of this entry. It became immediately apparent, in fairness, that Melanie wanted to promote her blog for the Mesothelioma Cancer Alliance.

Personally, my only awareness of Mesothelioma was from those commercials I always see on certain networks and in certain hospital waiting rooms claiming that some law firm is standing by waiting to take your call to see if they can make a buck off of your Mesothelioma case. Because, of course, Mesothelioma is the "Asbestos Cancer," and so surely money can be made off the case by suing corporations, businesses and other "responsible entities" (the manufacturer) that exposed you to asbestos in the first place. You know the commercials of which I speak - the ones with the American Flag flying in the background and some anthem-like patriotic music and an actor who got paid to elicit your sympathy and make you feel like that law firm actually cares (The truth of such commercials is that they are a paid advertisement for a referral mill in which they seek a cut from a locally referred lawyer's fees - the claimant would be just as well-served, if not better-served, by contacting a local lawyer directly).

As it turns out, upon a very-quick-educate-myself-on-Mesothelioma session, Mesothelioma is in fact caused solely by asbestos. Asbestos liability is what's known as "strict liability" - the plaintiff doesn't have to show negligence, or even demonstrate that the manufacturer was aware of the risks. Because the product is inherently dangerous, a diagnosis is practically a guarantee of full compensation to either the patient or the surviving family.

A whole industry has arisen out of this Mesothelioma thing.  Don't get me wrong, Mesothelioma is very serious, and people DIE from it. But a Mesothelioma-industry that has sprung up out of the disease that includes a network of doctors and healthcare professionals who specialize in it, lawyers (of both the legitimate and ambulance-chaser varieties) who specialize in it, insurance companies and processors who specialize in it, awareness/charity organizations that generate cash flow (and thus salaries) off of it, and the media industry that benefits from advertisers in all the aforementioned categories. It's an industry that capitalizes on the misfortune of the victim, and drives healthcare costs up through the milking thereof.

However, Melanie's blog appears to be oriented more for cancer in general rather than (just) Mesothelioma, and carries an overall positive message that explores things that can be beneficial to cancer patients. Some examples I read included exercise, nutrition and therapy. Still, reader beware: seek a doctor's advice, do your own research, etc.,  etc.,  etc., and be aware that the overall purpose of her blog appearing on the Mesothelioma Cancer Alliance website is to drive web-traffic to that parent site, though Melanie's personal motivations may be more noble than that. You decide.

I firmly believe that an physically active lifestyle can be beneficial to anyone, regardless of their health or diagnosis, except when their doctor does not advise physical activity. Mental acuity and spiritual fitness are things no self-respecting doctor would ever advise against. So therefore, I have included what Melanie sent me - Melanie's blog is here: http://www.mesothelioma.com/blog/authors/melanie/

And thanks, Melanie, for improving my awareness of Mesothelioma.

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Exercises for Each Stage of Cancer Recovery

It’s important for people to remain physically active to preserve bone strength and muscle. Heart and lung function can also suffer from a lack of exercise. When people are ill, it’s often impossible to maintain their normal exercise routine, but it’s important that a sedentary lifestyle isn’t adopted. When the symptoms or treatment for cancer leave you unable to pursue your regular activities, speak to your medical team about ways to work your body to remain as physically fit as possible.

Beginner `

Light exercise can give a feeling of calmness and encouragement, thus reducing the depression that may accompany illness. Even low impact exercises like light stretching can increase vitality and make you more flexible. A light exercise program can improve sleep so that your rested body and mind are ready for the next day. Simple stretching can help strengthen the body even while receiving aggressive cancer treatments. The exercises can be done without taking away the breath. You can even carry on a conversation while improving your physical fitness. People in the late stages of cancer can relieve the swelling and discomfort caused by surgery or lymph-edema. For those with the prognosis of mesothelioma, there may be respiratory related complications that prevent heavy exercise. As a result, simple stretching can improve fitness without suffering difficulty in breathing. Almost anyone can remain flexible by simple body movements and stretching.

Intermediate

There are many benefits to exercising in the water as opposed to on land. Water has the unique ability to disperse body heat, which prevents your body from overheating while exercising. Patients can easily do moderate exercises like water aerobics as they begin to recover from the treatments received to fight cancer. The buoyancy of the water supports the body, allowing a greater range of motion. It is often easier for those who suffer from joint and muscle pain and stiffness. Water aerobics are very beneficial in the building and regaining of strength, due to the fact that water provides 12-14 times more resistance than training on land. Circulation is increased, cardiovascular endurance is improved, and bone health is maintained.

Advanced

As the cancer recovery progresses, advanced exercise routines can be practiced so that strength is regained and overall physical condition is improved. To battle fatigue, the continuous movement of aerobics will improve energy. With approval from the medical team, the recovering cancer patient can combat the fatigue, a common symptom caused by chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Rest alone will not overcome this fatigue, but an aerobic exercise routine can improve the circulation and strengthen the heart. Emotional health and brain function can be improved as overall physical well-being is being restored.

If your cancer treatments won’t allow you to follow a strenuous workout routine, there are several other options available to strengthen your body, improve your emotional state, and work toward a healthy lifestyle. Ask your medical staff about various exercises to make sure that you are strong enough to embark on the new physical fitness routine at every stage of your disease, treatment, and recovery.

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Feeling "Fat"

The feeling of feeling "fat" was the same when I was 230 pounds as when I am (now) 175 pounds. You can call it a self-image issue, but there is actually a FEELING, a bodily sensation, of feeling fat. I don't feel any less or more fat now than when I was 230 pounds, except that I was fatter, physically.

The problem with diets is that food tastes so good, is readily available, and is necessary for survival. So I can't avoid eating - and my problem always was portions, not what I eat. My problem is discipline. Self-control.

I can make the healthier choice of poultry or fish over red meat. I can choose fruits, nuts and veggies over junk food. I can choose the lower-calorie fast food choice, or not have fast food at all. No problem.

The problem lies in portioning.

So when I overeat, I feel fat. Literally. Pressure on my abs/tummy/lungs. I experience acid reflux, because I ate too much. My energy feels depleted. These are physical ways in which I feel fat.

The one thing I know for sure is, I cannot overcome an overeating problem through diet alone. I didn't lose weight by mere diet - it took exercise, and physical activity.

When I exercise, it is a natural appetite suppressant, and a natural energy booster. I feel better after a bike ride, or a workout. 

Not to mention, it helps my knee pain, a problem I've had all my life that only is better when I'm active (versus sedentary).
So today, weather allowing, I'm biking to work. Don't try to stop me.

A Quandary

It is sad, sobering, cold-hard fact that there are people in this world who follow blindly this thing called religion.
I recognize that people get through life better with a moral structure, a framework that allows them to follow their straight-and-narrow path to their version of the "there-after." I get that it helps them find peace of mind and puts them in commune with others so they can feel less alone in this world. For this reason, I recognize their need, acknowledge the necessity, and try my hardest to accept it.
But, more aptly put, I think many of them are following a straight-only, narrow-minded path to their "there-after." In the name of their "God," they follow intrinsically elitist thought, thinking themselves better than others because they are can justify themselves with this lemming-logic called religion.

To provide a specific example, I have a relative, who shared a meme espousing the belief that Marriage is between one man, one woman. She claimed that this message was "God-Approved," and ignored the fact that the meme she shared was the propaganda of a hate group focused on couching hate in religious terms to further their hateful agenda.
I called this relative out on this. She responded with an assertion that she would not apologize for what she believed in and "was not a member of" the hate group and "didn't know it was a hate group," as if that were any excuse. AND, she left the meme posted. No remorse, no apology for having offended her own family member(s), and was defiant in her defense of her belief, stating she had no intention to offend anyone when she posted it.
I told her she had lost respect in my eyes, asked for the removal of the meme, and tried to debug her logic. Eventually, she relented, but only sort of. She removed the meme, but the retraction came with a caveat: she posted this in its stead:

"I removed a post that I shared today because I was told that it comes from a hurtful source and I believe in keeping peace. :-) As far as what the post said, however, I still believe that the definition of marriage is a lifelong union between a man and a woman and nothing more."

I cannot call this a victory. I may have prevented the circulation of hate-driven meme, but I did not change a heart. I have no superpowers here, I am a mere mortal, and one that falls directly outside the fence of her elitist thought.
Is it her fault that her "religion" calls for the systematic segregation of those with a broader capacity to love?  Is it her fault that her "religion" is based on Old Testament scripture and written works by men lead astray from Jesus' teachings?
Is it her fault that hate permeates this world in the guise of love?

YES.

She, and all others who have been taught this way of thinking, should apply critical-thinking skills and the actual teachings of Jesus to examine more carefully the messages in and behind the religion, the memes, the faith, that she wears on her sleeve. She should not accept blindly that which she does not truly understand, she should know the sources and motivations behind the thing(s) she repeats. She should be open to dialogue that challenges her to think, that expands her knowledge, that broadens her world.
And, she should, at the very least, be sensitive to the people in her family that she claims to love - apparently with qualification.

As for me, I question why I care. Who is she to me, other than a relative of the family? I assert that the true definition of family is those that act like it. Do true family members say things like "I love you, but I don't agree with your lifestyle," as if being gay was MY choice? Do true family members say "I don't think you are equal to me, and therefore I oppose your rights to live your life? Do true family members oppose my right to live a happy, healthy life in which I cause no harm to others?

People such as these really have no place in my life. And yet, how can I change their hearts if they are not? It is a quandary I must ponder...

#Caturday

People will invent any excuse to do as their Cat(s) command.

Hence, "#Caturday.

I have been Imperiused, I have no control:

Meet Buddy, a cat I met in a Liquor Store one day.  He was a daily customer, absolutely refused to be ignored, and impossible to resist. He convinced me to take him home one day, and he has controlled me with the Imperius Curse since.

Buddy is a carouser, a party animal, a bar-hopper kind of cat; here he commands me to take him out, he wants to go pick up chicks.

His idea of picking up chicks is to wait, in stealth mode, for the unknowing, innocent chicks to walk by, and then...

Look Out, Chick!!!!!!

But of course, she is wise to his ways, calls the cops, and...

Poor ol' Buddy lands himself in the slammer....

Simple Machines.

How can there still be people in my life who claim they love me and care about me and YET still qualify their "love" by saying crap like "I don't agree with your lifestyle," or call being gay a "choice?" WTF?
The truth is, any argument or retort I might have to offer these people tends to be a waste because their minds don't ever want to be changed, they're almighty in their assertion that they are right, and I, therefore, must be wrong. 

I suppose I'm just as guilty of that logic. 

Point me, if you will, or if you can, to any credible evidence that proves I ever had any choice in being gay. 
And don't quote me any lemming bible - that is NOT evidence. 
Because all evidence I have is to the contrary.
I know many folks who live a falsehood, by hiding their true selves in an unsatisfactory marriage or lonely bachelorhood - wishing, of course, to avoid the "consequences" of being "out." They forget that they are involving innocents in their deceptions - spouses, children, family and friends.
Had I made that "choice," I'm sure I would have committed suicide many years ago, or at the very least, have been victim to severe depression or other mental disorder.
My "lifestyle" is NOT about sex, or lust, or debauchery.
It's about identity, and about having the capacity to love a PERSON, and gender has little to do with it.
And don't tell me "don't knock it until you try it," because not only have I tried it (relationships with women), but I challenge you to find a vehemently straight person who felt the need to "try it" with a same-gendered partner before they "knew" they were straight. They KNOW they're straight, same as I know I'm gay.
And I refuse to live a lie, especially not to satiate religious, societal or moral expectations of a misled and misinformed group of people or individual.
So, I am forced to move beyond such arguments with people who might never be convinced by logic. Instead, I'm forced to examine the importance of my relationships with such people: Just how important is "family?" My assertion is that "family" is defined by people who actually ACT LIKE IT, and most times has absolutely NOTHING to do with blood ties. And in that sense, family is very important to me. 
My assertion is that love of a person is unconditional, but the degree in which I need that person involved in my life is directly related to my comfort level with that person. Obviously, if they're willing to try, so am I, and in doing so, I might gently change their minds through example - through them seeing that my relationship has richness, fulfillment, quality - and genuine love. They may be able to see that whatever prejudice or preconceived notion they may have about a gay person is changed by their willingness to care, to be involved, to be open-minded.
With such open-minded or open-hearted people, it is easy to see a clear path for association, for friendship, for quality relations.
But just how (and why) do I need a person in my life who is closed in mind and heart? Shall I just dismiss them, count them out, edit them out of my life? Should they be deleted (in modern terms) from my Facebook, my twitter, my newsfeed? Should I recognize that they are unchangeable, immovable, hopeless - in terms of their capacity for unconditional love?
One thing I know for sure: I'm NOT editing my life for their personal comfort - NOR should they. Certainly they are entitled to their opinion, and I defend their right to do so, just as surely as I defend my own right. But i don't have to compromise my integrity, my happiness or my identity.
But I have to ask, if that is their mindset - if their hearts are truly closed, why do they insist on calling me "family?" Are they relying too heavily on a deep-rooted "traditional" definition of the word?
If "family" is so important to them, why does it seem to come with conditions (I love you but I don't agree with your lifestyle...), with prerequisites (we don't talk about, or just simply ignore, the "gay" thing)?
I'm left with the only logical conclusion - and that is simply that they're leaving a door open for dialogue, whether it be locked, barred, bolted, welded or otherwise - the door is still there, and I should not give up hope. If the door wasn't there, why do they bother? Why not just simply be completely uninvolved? Why include me in their life at all?
So with that in consideration, I have to study intent. Perhaps the phrasing, the word choice, is a an accidental offense, one that comes from a lack of familiarity or association with real-live-gay-people. Perhaps they simply do not know they are being offensive.
So, I'll just continue to be myself. They can continue to be themselves. Perhaps by continued association, we will both learn the intent of the other, and it won't be so bad as it was in my head. There are keys to locks, pry bars for bolts,  the inclined plane was  invented for exactly this purpose. The gentle wedge shall prevail. 
And if it doesn't, time will solve it, eventually - TIME - the simplest machine of them all.