Voting In The Face Of Despair And Agony

Shannon D.

“If voting changed anything, they’d make it illegal.”~ Emma Goldman

Yesterday it was brought to my attention about this contest by People Magazine.

It is called “PEOPLE’s Real Beauty At Every Age.”

Contestants submit a photograph and then the general public votes.

And for once, this was a contest where voting was allowed that you did NOT have to sign up for anything. You weren’t going to be issued future spam by the contest holder. And it was free to vote.

And you were also allowed to vote as many times as you wanted.

I had seen contestants that had hundreds of thousands of votes.

From what I am understanding a winner will be chosen from each decade (20’s, 30’s, 40’s, 50’s etc.) by People Magazine and will be featured in a future issue.

The only reason why I know about it is because it was posted on Facebook and I went to see what the fuss was about.

This 31 year old woman named Shannon from Idaho Falls, Idaho was being featured in this Facebook post and come to find out that Shannon lives her life to help others every day and gives back to anyone that needs help. So selfless! And not to mention pretty.

But I was told “no flirting!” with her.

We were there to vote. And vote I did. In the 24+ hours that I knew that this contest existed I punched that button and clicked so many times that at last check she was over 9,000 votes.

Unfortunately this afternoon during a time of the day where this had actually slipped my mind that it was going on I had banged the side of my hand really hard against a table and its been throbbing and hurting ever since. Sadly its the same hand I use to control the computer mouse with. All the clicking and refreshing and voting came with a painful price.

But I kept on doing it.

As much as Shannon D. is selfless…. my voting through the agony of my arm hurting was my way of being selfless in return. I did stop and take a break when the pain was getting too bad. But when it would pass, I would go back and vote some more with the boring and tedious process of clicking and refreshing and then clicking again. Then repeating the process many times over.

Shannon thought that the voting ended at midnight Eastern time.. but I am still voting. So who knows when this is going to really end.

If you like what you see and wish to vote for this wonderful person then you can take your chances with the link provided below.

But be warned: I don’t know when they will close the voting. You don’t have to pay for anything or sign up for anything. Just click, vote, and hit refresh and vote as many time as you would like.

As for me and my hand and arm….. we’re defeated and I can no longer withstand the repetitive process any more.

I hope Shannon does well. She is at this point in the top 18 of all contests. I’d like to see her at least get to the top ten.

Vote for Shannon (if you can):

http://specials.people.com/realbeauty/?id=55506

Get Out Of My Way

“Don’t be mad because I don’t care anymore. Be mad because I once did, and you were too blind to see.”

Perhaps you feel that it is too difficult. Maybe you feel that it is too much money or expensive. Maybe you think that its a waste of time and resources.

Maybe it is because you don’t like the idea and you personally don’t want me to do it. And that probably is coming from the fact that you are either jealous because it seems like to you that I have a better life than you or you want me to be as miserable as you are because it seems like to you that you have no life.

Or you think that I am not going to be successful in life and will just fail and want me to stop.

If any of you fit the above descriptions. I have a few things to say to you.

First off- GET OUT OF MY WAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It is NOT up to you to dictate what I do or don’t do in my life. I did not come out of your birth canal. And the fact that I am a grown adult. Your argument is invalid!

My successes and failures come from one person and one person only: ME!

Should I fail miserably, it is because of me. And if I succeed, it is because I had the will to try hard enough.

Keep your hands off of me and stop trying to drag me down to the ground so that I will fail. Your name is not “God” and my destiny is not in the balance because of your own opinions or actions. Again, get out of my way and let me try!

You tell me that I shouldn’t disturb people or step on their toes. YOU are the one who who has been stepping on my toes this entire time. Keeping me from accomplishing what I have been wanting to all along in the first place. Maybe it is time to step on toes and knock on doors. Because with as many times as I will be told NO (and I will be- I understand that) there will be someone who will tell me YES. Let me find those people!

If you are not going to support me, believe in me, or even let me try? Then all you will find is the back of my head as the dust begins to rise.

 

 

One And Done

“Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened…” ~ Dr. Seuss

Very powerful words there. This coming from an author with the most expansive imagination and capable of entertaining small children. I’d still hate to find out who his illustrator was. I digress.

Life has its cycles, its chapters. With every beginning, must come an end. And of course they always say that in order to open one door, you must close another.

I believe that it is challenging enough without all of these fancy words being tossed around from all sides, only to say those words that you honestly never wanted to hear in the first place. Just because they are not telling you those words, doesn’t mean that they are not saying them.

I said farewell to a friend today. I knew that it was coming though. And it was not a matter of fight or disagreement. Their life simply came to the end of another chapter and so tomorrow morning, they will begin a new one. Unfortunately that meant without me.

Many people come and go throughout our lives. We meet the most wonderful and glorious of people and we also meet the scourge of what we consider to be the most horrible waste of space. Yet those whom we can hold on to for long periods of time, we able, willing, and happy consider them “friends”.

I wish my friend well in their newest adventures of life. And I hope that the prosper to the best of their ability. And who knows? Anything is possible. In this I truly believe. Yet the chances that I will meet up with them again, are next to nothing.

After a long pause in silence and staring at one another, they left and I watched them get into their vehicle and drive off until I was no longer to see their back bumper as it turned into just a tiny dot on the horizon as they climbed the hill along the street that they were driving.

It didn’t really hit me until I had returned home. Realizing that there would be no more phone calls, no more e-mails. I was absolutely overwhelmed. And this really got me thinking about certain things. Mainly the different types of relationships I have with each individual person that I know and have grown fond of.

In the past three years, I have met some incredible people. I say “met”, but not really. Simply put, several people that I have come to know, I have known them from being online. The person that left today was of no exception. Even though they did live closer to me than others whom I associate with frequently.

Now it is true, that I have actually “met” people who have been totally amazing and quite the asset to my life. These are the kinds of people that I would do anything for. We all have those kinds of people in our lives, I think. “Blind Faith” is what I call it.

There are those people that I have become more of acquainted with from online, and the joy that I felt on those days when I was able to meet them face to face. It really is a wonderful feeling in my book.

Yet as I sat upon my couch, staring up at the ceiling, each individual person came to mind that I have grown to know better and better throughout these past few years. What a solemn and frightful moment that would run through my mind, had I not done what I have done in the past to make these people all that more important to me in my life. Had I not known them as well as I do today. And the fearful illusion of actually coming to know these people even better, only to have either never met them in person at all, or met only one time in my life. As was the case with this friend who just left.

Over a year of e-mails and chats and lengthy phone calls led to what seemed to have been a friendship that had been going on for decades. And never once met in person. But I had that opportunity today to meet them for the first time, at least in person. We acted as if this fact was never a part of it. As if we had been around each other the entire time.

I had become the fortunate one today. To have been able to have that opportunity. And still, even though I should concentrate on the fun that was had earlier… I sat there, sighing.

My hands trembling in sync with my bottom lip when the visionary mind games came into place about whether or not I would meet those whom I truly want to meet deep down in my heart of hearts. And the terrible scare of this happening again with them after it was all said and done.

One… And… Done.

To be fair, I think that if I were to meet someone in person and things just didn’t go very well then I would have to agree that “yeah, maybe meeting again is not the right thing to do.” But who wants to think about that??? I sure don’t.

I want to be positive, yet firm, cautious, and open-minded. After all, who goes on a blind date in this day and age and even before you get there, you think to yourself, “Good grief, I hope I never meet this person ever again!”. I don’t think anyone does. If they have, I am sure that their doctors can lead them towards the correct medication and treatment that they are needing.

I have been there too many times in my life, where I have met someone (whether it be from online or not) and I never heard from them again. For me, its not a great feeling. I do not like it! I simply don’t do well in that kind of situation.

Even within the past 12 months, I have become rather commonly acquainted with some really fantastic people. Male, female. Tall, short. Old, young. All of them though: just wonderful as can be.

Some of you may remember in a previous post a few months ago about my trip to Houston. Those people were absolutely incredible. And the thought of never seeing them again, just isn’t an option for me tonight.

I have now developed a determination. I WILL see them again! It may not be tomorrow, it may not even be next month or even next year. But I WILL see them. And I’ve also determined that those whom I have endeared for so very long, and have not met yet, I shall see them as well. And with the exception of some unforeseen tragedy, I WILL see them again.

Where there’s a will, there’s a way. You bet your sweet bottom line there is! And I will find it. So here I come world of friends, colleagues, and acquaintances. If you will have me, I will be there!

And if it does come to the fact that I never really DO see these people again, it will only be because circumstances were as such that I could not control. And I will be happy that I have been able to do it the first time.

Look out world! Dambreaker is on the move!!