Duang Jai Akkanee: Thai Drama with Spanish Subtitles

I found this accidentally and can't stop watching. I just love Asian dramas. I have loved Japanese dramas for many years and discovered great work coming out of South Korea more recently. 

I can read Spanish, however my skills are nothing to get excited about. I can probably read at about a 5th grade level. I'm certainly no threat to native speakers!

~DJ Dolly~

Cie went looking and found a version with English subs so I don't have to tax what little functioning ability my brain has left. ;-)

PLAYLIST!!!!!

Online Education: An Explanation and a Rant

MOOC stands for Massive Online Open Courses.

MOOCs are currently free and taught by instructors at top universities. There is no grade associated with taking the class.

Online education is an extremely important area. I am currently taking the courses necessary to advance from an LPN license to an RN license via online courses through Excelsior College in Albany, New York. I would not be able to do this otherwise, because I'd have to go to school all day and work all night. 

Which brings up a beef that I have with the way most nursing programs are run.

Nursing programs overall seem to stuck be in the dark ages. Most of the classes I attended to get my LPN license could have been taken online, but the school didn't have the funds to pay online instructors. They were lecture classes. The teacher read right out of the textbook.

I was able to obtain my LPN license because there was a part-time school option. The school in my area does not offer a part-time option to obtain the RN license. One would have to go to school full time, which I simply couldn't do. I don't have the option to work part time. I do not have a spouse or parents to support me while I go to school. One should not be expected to have such.

As well, I can understand requiring that clinicals be done on a day or evening shift rather than a night shift, because nights tend to be an oddball shift. I should know, I've worked night shift for a great part of my working life, and I prefer it. 

This one is the fault of the hospitals, not of the college. The hospitals do not offer a day or evening option for clinicals, which I very much think they need to do. Not everyone does well on day shift. Some people, like me, work night shift, and an evening shift clinical would be much less difficult to adapt to.

Medical school is another area that needs to advance out of the dark ages. My brother is an EMS captain in Tucson. He works closely with the staff at the area hospitals. He says that interns are still treated as the "resident's bitches," and the hours they work during their clinicals are horrible, i.e. 36 hours at a time without a break. 

It seems to me that nursing school and med school remain shitty experiences because the people who came before had shitty experiences, so they want to insure that those following in their footsteps will suffer too. It's a poor attitude, and it's time to work to make these experiences positive ones for students. I think people graduating from a more flexible program where they were treated in a humane fashion would be better doctors/nurses.

I realize that people have to have their skills down pat before they can be certified. I'm not saying that nursing and med school programs should be lax about requiring excellence in the necessary areas. I'm only saying they should treat the students with common decency rather than continuing with harsh, outmoded practices.

~The Cheese~

Cross-Posted to:

KHEL 666

Sly Fawkes

Cold War Kids: They Don't Write 'Em Like That Any More

If you're not a child of the cold war, you wouldn't understand the real significance. It was more than just a game. It symbolized a fear that many of us lived with all the time.

Cold War Kids: They Don't Write 'Em Like That Any More

OR

Rambling Incoherent Bullshit Self-Absorbed Navel Gazing Self Reflection Interspersed With Cool Music and Cultural References From A Bygone Era That I Never Really Reconciled With The Events Of So It Continues To Haunt Me

by

The Cheesemeister

AKA

The Real Cie

AKA 

Creator and Head Buttmunch In Charge (and I use the term loosely) of Team Netherworld

The Breakup Song is the inspiration tune for the Midweek Blues Buster prompt. It also happens to be the song I was listening to as I approached home base last night and it inspired me to do some navel gazing—er—self-reflecting.
This post will only be very lightly edited, and will probably become rambling and go off the rails, because that’s how I tend to roll. See this post about “bipolar disorder” and “brain like the web of spiders on drugs” for more detail about why this happens if you care to learn more about the way my brain works, and why I’ll never be able to be one of your cute little published authors who “made the grade.”
 I will include the tunes as I listen to them, for your listening pleasure as well as mine, because, hey, I’m a generous soul. You can just listen to the music if you want, or you can read my rambling thoughts too.
 Once again, I don’t get to share my work with the Midweek Blues Buster people because, like is so often the case with me, I’m not following the rules. The prompt is for the creation of flash fiction. This isn’t fiction, no matter how improbable it may seem to others, or no matter how much I might wish it was at times. This is my real life and my real, actual, messed-up thoughts.

The mix that I’m sharing here includes the poppier side of the music of my seemingly self-absorbed g-g-g-generation. I was a metalhead, albeit a nerdy one. I’m still a metalhead, albeit an aging one. However, my musical tastes have always been eclectic. I enjoy pop as well as the hard stuff. I also listen to a lot of mellow, ambient tunes. 

As I’ve said before, I like everything from African folk music to Zydeco. Backtracking to The Breakup Song. I’ve never really been able to break up with the demons from the past, even though I changed the locks and took away their keys. I don’t press charges when they stalk me. They generally don’t rip huge wounds in my psyche the way they used to. They just nibble at my already iffy mind day in and day out, and I fear that one day they may consume it, and I’ll wind up a blithering mess not recognizing the fact that I’m sitting in my own piss and shit. 

 I’ve taken care of people in this sort of condition since 1988. True, it’s prions (myself, I think that Alzheimer’s disease is a prion disease) and dementia caused by strokes, and being medicated into a twilight state to offset the horrific agony caused by certain cancers, and other forms of dementia that cause people to become deteriorated to such a degree that they don’t realize they’ve soiled themselves; not having a troubled past or a major but somewhat manageable mental illness or three. 

Still, sometimes I want to run out of this setting screaming. I (and everyone else who works with this population) hopes we die, not before we get old but before we become like this. Seriously, sometimes death is better. I’m not trying to be morbid, although I’m certainly capable of that. I’m being truthful. Name me one person who wants to live unaware of their own bodily functions and unable to care for themselves in any way. Yeah, I thought so. 

This is the Twilight Zone for reals, Bitches

This leads me back to thoughts about getting older. All of my relatives from my grandparents’ generation are dead. My own father died three and a half years ago after a long period of physical and finally cognitive decline. My mother turned 74 on Sunday. I am on my way to becoming the older generation. What the fuck wisdom do I have to impart when I’m still not a finished product by any means? This is my parting wish as I prepare to step into the Twilight Zone. 

Xenophobia does not mean fear of these critters. It means hatred and distrust of foreigners.

Could we please not have another cold war? Could we please stop with the damn xenophobia and desire to appear to be the coolest kid on campus whether we actually are or not? Can’t we all just fucking get along? I hope against hope.

~The Cheese~

Cross-Posted to:

The Cheese Whines

KHEL 666

To Adam Lambert, Riff Cherry, and my Son

A beautiful video featuring Adam and his little godson.
This video was made in honor of the birthdays of Adam and Riff.
Today is my son's birthday.
23 years ago today, I was in horrible agony.
It was worth it!

He was born at 8:19 A.M. on May 8, 1990 via C-section with me knocked out cold cause things weren't going too well at that point.

I haven't been a very good person in life, and I don't think I deserve much, but somehow I got this miraculous gift anyway.

Without him, I would not be alive today, and I mean that.

We should always be grateful for our young ones, and for those who offer them their love and support.

I know there are some out there who think people like Adam shouldn't be allowed to be part of raising children, just because he's gay.

I say bullshit.

Love is love. 

There are some who will say people like me shouldn't be allowed to raise children because I'm mentally ill.

I could have used a fuck of a lot more help.

I could have used having people to listen to me and help figure out what was going on, instead of berating me and telling me to "just stop thinking/feeling/being like that."

But in the end, my son and I made it through.

This is a great day in history.

I'm here because I need to be here to help my son achieve his goals.

I know Adam wants to help his godson achieve his goals.

So, we're pretty good people, regardless of what anyone else might think.

Cross-posted to:

Crazy Town in Looney Land

KHEL 666

Undead in the Netherworld

Five Love Songs

Ejection Decision: A Second Too Late

A 1981 Defense Department film created for pilots utilizing planes with ejection seats.

By the way, happy birthday, Cie Cheesemeister. Don't you go bailing out on us--we need your heart and your art!

Beyonce Playlist and the Cheesemeister's 48th

Happy birthday to my fellow perma-single writing sis, Cie Cheesemeister. Those damn guys who let us go were fools, but we're better off without 'em!

Here's some tunes from Beyonce for you to listen to you for the big 4-8! Cheers!

Image credit: davinci / 123RF Stock Photo

Songs to Edit (and Dream) by

Here are some songs that I'm listening to while giving Rose's manuscript a going-over. You may find that they also go nicely with some of the forthcoming posts on the Undead in the Netherworld blog. Yeah, I cheated and read ahead! That's a dirty little admin privilege. ;-)

You will find that the admins of the KHEL 666 and Undead in the Netherworld blogs are an eclectic lot. We're like Colorado weather. If you don't like one post, just wait a few minutes, and one you like will surely come along!

I have Rose, Cie, and Lily's permission to speak about this issue, so I am not breaking a confidence. I am also keeping things fairly superficial while expressing my feelings on the matter.

Rose is a fine writer. Lily is also a fine writer. Neither of them are very conventional in their approach.

Lily stopped writing because of personal attacks after she released her book, Eternal Death, Lost Beneath the Surface.

Rose revised the manuscript, but she found the process of writing a book for publication absolutely onerous. She also came under attack by some of the same individuals. She has said that she will not write another book.

I think it is a very sad and discouraging thing that this world often causes people to give up large parts of what makes them who they are. People believe that if they don't conform to a certain standard of beauty--both physically and personality-wise--that they should hide away. They come to believe this because if they do not conform to such standards, they tend to undergo bullying.

Counter to what many think, bullying does not end with school. It continues every day in magazines which tell girls and women that if they aren't less than a size 6, they are fat and ugly. To a lesser degree, young men get the idea that if they don't have washboard abs, no one will ever want them. As a counselor, I often work with people dealing with the backlash from these unhealthy messages. Eating disorders are a very common problem.

Fat and ugly are not the same thing, by the way. Yes, there are larger people who are attractive. I've never thought of myself as particularly attractive, but my fiance, a fellow who stands five foot nine and weighs 145 pounds, finds my six foot two, 325 pound red-haired self attractive, love handles and all. Who am I to argue with him?

On the personality end, people are told that if they don't conform to the 2.5 kids, white picket fence, heterosexual family unit where Mom and Dad work nine to five at an office, there is something wrong with them. And woe betide anyone who may be living with a mental illness. Anyone with a mental illness is made to feel so fatally flawed as to believe that they are not allowed to find happiness.

Sensitive people in this society are targeted for bullying. This is what happened to both Rose and Lily, both of whom are highly sensitive women with a history of mental illness. When they tried to break out and express themselves, they were shot down.

Cie Cheesemeister is much the same. She edits the posts that others create and she creates some of the graphics. Once a very prolific blogger, she rarely interacts any more.

Admissibly, I'm only a sometime participant in this little venture, but I hope that in some small way my support will help my more talented friends realize that their voices are worth sharing.

Just had to get that off my chest.

Never take away a person's hope. It may be all they have to live for.

Peace,

Adam

 

Annoying Orange and Cheese

Just for my Writing Sister, Cie Cheesemeister.

Go Down

I have been randy as hell since this afternoon when my esteemed Writing Sis Cie Cheesemeister inspired me to watch a certain old sci fi movie with a high Hot Dude quotient. And this video did absolutely nothing to alter that state of mind. Maybe I just need to take a freaking cold shower.

The dudes of this world have missed out by messing with my heart and mind so much that I won't go there any more.

Porn really doesn't do a damn thing for me. I can get a lot more turned on by watching a guy who has all his clothes on if there's something about his personality and attitude that appeals.

Damn You, Cie Cheesemeister!

My super awesome writing sister, the one and only, the incomparable Cie Cheesemeister, has been working on a super cool top secret project that she's let me see while it's in process! Whoo Hoo!

The Cheese is a total sci fi geek.

I hadn't seen the movie Aliens in years.

Then she created some crazy posts involving the characters from that movie.

If you want to see them, ask. I'm not giving the URL to just anybody. The Cheese is kind of a sensitive soul, though she seems like a thick skinned curmudgeon until you get to know her. She's been a bit vulnerable for a while now, and I'm not going to play any part in having her get hurt.

Still, The Cheese is an evil, evil woman who drew me down into the vortex of damn silliness and made me act like this:

I'd forgotten how totally smoking hot this guy is:

He's still got it goin' on too.

Anyway, so then this happened:

It's all your fault, Cie Cheesemeister! If I hadn't watched that movie, my pants would still be with me!

All kidding and foolishness aside, The Cheese's new project is totally awesome and she's working up to being one hell of a photoshop maestro!

Keep it up, Sis!

Illy

How...Posterous!

So many things have happened in the world of my Writing Sisters since I've been gone! We lost the ability to use the Ping service for our exciting KHEL 666 Radio Station Blog. It seemed like KHEL 666 might be no more except on Facebook, and that would have sucked. But then my brilliant Writing Sis, H.P. Liebekraft, saved the day by finding this service. Helena rocks so much--and she likes jazz too!

I know I'm a little late to the party, Helena, but I want to say thank you too. This looks like it will be a fun way to blog. Blogger is actually kind of a pain in the ass if it isn't being used for a specialized blog. At least I think so!

Speaking of Blogger, we've all been pitching in to help our Writing Sis Cie Cheesemeister work on a really cool epic full of madcap fanfic fun. I so wish I could give you the URL, but Cie has been a little vulnerable lately, and we want her to feel free to express herself. I'm just thrilled to be part of it! She loves each of her characters as if they were a real friend. I know some of you might see this and think "what a loser," but when you've had a hard life, sometimes it's kind of hard to relate to the real world. So don't judge.

 

 

Meet Your New DJ!

Hi friends, it's my first night as a DJ on KHEL 666! Excitement! Trepidation! Nah, I'm gonna love it, I'm sure.

I like Modest Mouse, so I'm going to share Modest Mouse and other groups in the same vein.

Follow me on the great KHEL 666 blog, or on our Facebook page.

I'm also helping my writing sister, the one and only Cie Cheesemeister, work on her absolutely madcap story line, which she is sharing on the Rattling Bones Undead Musician Magazine blog. I can't give that URL away without Cheesy's permission, but I have to say, I am thrilled to see her back on the horse! Like me, she had been away for too long. And I'm excited to have a part in helping her make some crazed dreams come to life. The written word is powerful!

I love the arts. Life would be a far duller place without them.

The Undead Metalhead's Favorite Toothpaste

What is the Undead Metalhead's favorite toothpaste? Dolly and the Cheesemeister reveal the secret here on RBUMM!
http://sphereofmusic.blogspot.com/2012/05/metalheads-favorite-toothpaste.html