Giving up my addiction was much harder than I had anticipated. I attended weeks of meetings before I had the strength to stand before the other addicts and state, "My name is Denise, and I am a television addict." The psychiatrist I went to was no help. "Do you realize," she said, "that television is…
THE WORLD’S OLDEST PROFESSION?
When I graduated from high school, I was naive and aimless. While leafing through a magazine, I found the name and phone number of a career counselor named Herb. Maybe he could provide some direction. "What are your interests," asked Herb. Are you interested in retail work? No? Maybe food service? No? Agriculture? Do you…
AN OPTIMIST, A PESSIMIST, AND A FLAKE
While an optimist can occasionally be pessimistic, and a pessimist can occasionally be optimistic, but a flake remains eternally as flakey as grandma's homemade biscuits. I have a theory that every social group has at least one in each of those categories. Not sure which one you are? If a homeowner receives a piece of…
YOUR COMPUTER: THE CYCLOPS THAT KNOWS TOO MUCH
Our computers know way too much. I haven't totally trusted them since way back when I watched the movie "2001, A Space Odyssey," in which Hal, the computer, proved to have a murderous, power-hungry mind of his own. I am convinced that in the decades since the first computer was developed, computers are in constant…
RUSH HOUR; IT CAN’T BE THAT BAD, CAN IT?
When my friend Melinda asked me if I would mind helping her out in her office for a week, it sounded like fun. Besides, I had milked the argument that I wanted to be a stay-at-mom about as long as I could get away with it. My youngest was nineteen years old at the time.…
THE BOOK OF HOME REMEDIES
When a health magazine sends a person a pamphlet called Good Health Magazine's Book of Home Remedies, don't you think they should tell the reader right up front that the health tips are for pets and not humans? I got one last week. It was chock full of useful tips. I was so pleased with…
THE NUTS DIDN’T FALL FAR FROM THE TREES
My friend Lynn, whose hobby is genealogy, is oddly proud of the "black sheep" in her family history. Not only were they embezzlers, bank robbers, and pirates, but they were very successful ones. I got tired of hearing about it. The next time she started in on me about it, I was ready. "You know,…
