2014: A Look Back

This has been an interesting year indeed.  As always, there were some ups and downs.  I will start with the not-so-great moments because I feel it is best to end with the positive!  The most troublesome time this past year was getting into a heated argument with my best friend.  I know I should let it go, but my heart does not want to; however, I am too stubborn to give in.  We both said some horrible things, which some may never be able to be forgiven, but time has a way of changing things.  I will just let time take its course.  K.B., our dog, had two surgeries and both were cancer.  :(  Fortunately, she is doing well now!  After that, she got a skin infection, which the antibiotics made her hair fall out in the places the infection was.  Poor thing.  Again, she is well now!  Of course, there have been some friend's family members that have passed.  Again, my heart and love is with you this year and every year.

Other than those bad things, Forrest and I have had some incredible times!  First, we celebrated our 5th anniversary!  Wow, time does fly!  Happy Anniversary Forrest!  I was invited - and accepted the invitation - to the National Society of Collegiate Scholars!  I still have not grasped that situation yet.  I also received 100% in two classes!  That was a total shocking moment, and well worth repeating!  I had the opportunity to write an article for HIV Positive Magazine, which was very personal, yet was published in its entirety.  That brings me to an incident I had been contemplating for years: telling my friends and family about my status.  I have heard some various stories about people "coming out" about their status, and I was in part terrified to relinquish that information.  Then, after the article was published, I realized that I could help others.  I could only do that if I was honest with myself.  I began to think that if I could not divulge the information to my family and friends, how could I help others?  So, I posted the article to my Facebook page.  The responses were overwhelming!  In all honesty, I cried on a couple of them.  Not because they were hateful, but the opposite.  So full of love, understanding, and respect!  Thank you!

As I look back on 2014, I can only believe the best is yet to come!  I am half of an incredibly sweet, loving man, and I honestly have the most loving and supportive family and friends.  Onward and upward!

2015:  I welcome you with open arms!  Cheers!

To those of you reading:

Stay safe this New Year's Eve.  There are loved ones that want to continue to say "I love you"

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Sugar Cookies picture!

This was my first attempt at decorating sugar cookies.  Not bad for a first timer!  Of course, these are not all the cookies.  I did not take a picture of the ones that did not look presentable.  In fact, the rest were horrible!  However, they still taste good!  I do have to say that I am proud of the result of these.  Just these ones took 2 ½ hours to decorate.  With that said, I have come to the decision of not attempting this again!  It was fun.  I tried it.  I prefer to bake pies or cobblers!

Merry Christmas everyone! 

Sugar Cookies

This weekend I am going to accept the challenge of making sugar cookies for the first time (other than when I was a child).  I found a wonderful recipe on cooks.com.  The recipe states that the baker can add a liqueur!  Since Forrest and I have had Kahlua Cinnamon Spice for the longest time, we are going to incorporate that into the batter!  Then, Forrest is now looking up a recipe for regular frosting, which we will add food coloring, and to stick with the concept, we are going to add Bailey's!  We are also going to decorate them.  This should be interesting!  I cannot wait to try them.  I will post pictures of the final product!  Happy Holidays - Merry Christmas!

* If you would like the recipe, you can find it on cooks.com.  The name of the recipe is Sugar Cookies For Rolling (Cooking School) and is submitted by CM.

Affordable Care Act (ACA) (Obamacare) is a joke!

I am very irritated with the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which is better known as Obamacare.  I registered last year (did not wait until the last minute) and I find out last month that I am still being covered by the state of Georgia.  Why?  Because this new health care system is ridiculous.  Even if the state of Georgia was not paying the full amount, they would still have to pay $1,000.00 (approximately) per month.  Otherwise, I would have to pay that amount out of pocket.  They would only cover 30% of my coverage.  First of all, I am a full time student, not working.  How could I afford almost a grand per month?  How can anyone that is working?  Sometimes I wonder if I would be better off paying the $75 yearly fee for not registering.

This brings me to the frustration tonight.  It is the last day to enroll, or renew, for 2015.  Do you think I can, or have been able to for two weeks, to get through.  NO!  I cannot even log into their site because it says I do not have permission.  I have a username and password.  What a dang mess!  I hope whoever gets into office next time removes this hilarious and pitiful plan!  Of course, I am still on the call back waiting list (because they had no one available to take my calls for two weeks).  Thus, it is looking like Georgia will be picking up my medical bills again.

I did write the Governor Deal (Georgia) last year about this plan, and he replied saying he was trying to get rid of it.  I hope he does!

Two very angry

Thumbs Down!

Spanish I Grade

I was really nervous about taking Spanish.  I took it in high school, but that was decades ago and I was not sure how much I would remember.  The class started and I was relieved to a point because the professor realized that not many people know a different language.  The most difficult portion was the verbs, adverbs, etc.  The other troublesome part was knowing which word was used.  In other words, Spanish words are not like English.  Some words are used for multiple meanings.  For instance, tarde can either be later or afternoon.

However, with all that said, I was pleasantly surprised when I looked in the classroom this morning.  My final grade was posted.  I will start with week five first though.  The final was a team project, which weeks 2-4 were team projects about two countries (both with the dominant language Spanish).  The final had to be a presentation that took the most valuable information from the previous weeks.  For this, we received full credit (100%)!

Now on to the final grade.  I have not mentioned any of the weekly grades because I did not want to jinx myself.  It must have worked because my final grade is 100%!  This is the second time I have received 100, and both have been within the past six months!

Spanish II starts next Tuesday, the 9th!  We will see how that goes.  It looks like we will have to use our microphones, most likely for pronunciation.  This is where I may have difficulty because I cannot roll the R's.  Like I said, we will see.  I just have to remember to stay positive!

Mariah Carey's Performance at Rockefeller Center 2014

I am reading multiple articles about Mariah Carey's live performance at the Rockefeller Christmas event.  Jason Hughes, from the Warp, commented, "diva straining to reach certain notes and choosing to avoid others altogether" (2014, para 2), but is it really, honestly her fault?  I sat back and started to think about this in a serious manner.  This is what I have come up with:

First, I give credit and respect to any performer who is determined to sing live at any event.  Lip syncing is out of control.  Of course, one can definitely notice when someone is really singing or if it is a prerecorded segment.  Yes, maybe she (Mariah) should have practiced more before the event, but no one truly knows what she did before it; that is, until she says otherwise.  In my opinion, that is what makes people human again: failure.  Every person on this wonderful planet goes through ups and downs.  If you do not, then you are not being honest with yourself.  Plain and simple.  Therefore, her unsuccessful performance at the Christmas special reminds us all that even celebrities are not perfect, and we should stop putting them on a pedestal.  Once we do that, we expect them to always be consistent and when they are not, we ridicule them with such force.  Time wasted, in my eyes.  There are so many other things in life we should worry about: diseases, hate, poverty (to name a few).

Second, these artists are not like they used to be.  They are in the studio recording their new albums for days, months even.  I remember last year watching one of the New Year's Eve specials with Kathy Griffin and Anderson Cooper.  During one portion, Kathy asked to sing a song with Deborah Harry.  For someone who was not prepared, she was magnificent.  The point to this is that the studio crew (producers, directors, etc) have the artist sing what sounds perfect.  However, sometimes they cannot provide that perfection on stage night after night.  An example is Mariah Carey's high notes.  Yes, she has proven that she can absolutely hit those notes for many decades, but after a while the throat would take a beating.  Not to mention other influences to make it less perfect, such as an ailment (flu, cold, etc).

In short, it is both the artist and studio's fault.  The artist should know what their body (throat) can handle, and the studio should not strive for perfection.  All they (both the artist and the studio) are seeing is dollar signs.  That leads to the question: What happens when the artist cannot live up to the expectations?  The answer is simple: the audience stops buying, and the money runs dry.  So the next time any out there decide to critique a person's performance, make sure the whole picture is clear.


Hughes, J. (2014). Mariah Carey vocal struggles during live televised performance lead to polarized twitter response (video). Yahoo.com

Skyes, C. [Photographer]. (2014). Mariah Carey performs at the 82nd Annual Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony on Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2014, in New York [Picture]. Invision.