Hillary’s Blog

Finally.

Dear who-ever-you-are,

Recently ads have been running condemning those who choose not to buy your crummy product, instilling the ever-present American fear of putting people out of work, or worse, getting arrested. I hate to believe that just because people don’t like your crummy product that you think they really still like it and are finding illegal ways of getting it. LOL. Well, I’ll have you know, if there is ever a project that I support, I buy it. In the past 6 years there have been approximately 5 movies that I have liked enough to purchase. The majority of those being the Harry Potter movies.
Want to sell more movies? Here’s what you do. Make a quality product, not just an “eye-candy” film. Find some real talent for once (like Johnny Depp, the guy’s a genius on film.) Then maybe you’ll start selling DVDs.
As for the music business… the same. People used to tape your songs off the radio and give them FREE air time blasting around town… and you didnt bat an eye. The last CD I purchased was in 2004, the time before that I can’t even remember but it was sometime in 1999 I believe. I dont download a song unless I REALLY love it, and even then it’s from iTunes, not some illegal download sharing software. So save your blab… it’s really not becoming and makes me not even want to buy any music. STOP accusing innocent people, you’re only making more enemies. NOT everyone is RICH like you! (*gasp* HONESTLY)
What you’re feeding them is not what the people like. The business as a whole is deluded. Pre-packaged pop that has been put through numerous mixing and re-mixing machines as well as “in-key” tuners and selling these people as musicians. UGH, it makes me ill. It’s just about making as much money as possible putting out a piece of crap song.
Get up off your lazy BUMS and cut a decent song made by real hard-working musicians, not people who “play musicians on tv”. It takes YEARS of hard work to become a decent musician, not 5 minutes in a recording studio. To become the best takes decades. It should be those musicians who get a shot. Those who live and breathe music. It’s not wonder you’re not selling as many CDs as you think you should. More than half the music you put out today is crap. No one wants crap that they’re never going to listen to. Why not you ask?
You want to sell more CDs you say? Here’s what to do… STOP putting one good song on a CD and selling it all together. I have NEVER and will NEVER buy a CD just for one song, I’ll find another way of getting it. (iTunes is great for this). More live concerts on TV. I dont know about you but my friends enjoy live music better than pre-recorded and having it on TV is a good reason to have a party (GTG or whatever). Get a wider variety of bands, groups, dont assume that people will just like what you put out. I’m getting sick of the same old pop/rap combo. Mix it up a little. I’ve actually taken to listening to country or the latin station just to get away from the same songs that play over and over again.

Signed, An American

Stress has officially taken over my life again. I fear I have made a mistake and I’m heading down a path taking me farther from myself. What do I do? I feel like I dont fit in here. I get confused and perplexed by their ways. I miss the comfort of community. I miss the feeling of home, of a place for me. A place where I am understood and accepted. Why must everyone around here strive towards nothingness and call it everything?

We’re in a hurry… a hurry with no where to go. It makes me sad. I want to leave and find home. I’ll make my home, and they will follow.

Yesterday was local election day. It was also my second day on my new job and I worked from 7:30am-6:30pm! So, needless to say I wasnt too keen on getting into the voting booth before heading home, so my unconscious took care of that. I had forgotten by the time I got home (auto-pilot must have kicked in). So I got home around 7:00 and proceeded to make dinner, even commenting to myself “where is my husband?”, “I just talked to him and he should be home by now!”, “I hope he wasnt in an accident!” Well about 7:30 he walks in and comments about voting. “Opps! Aw crap, I forgot!”

Then today I find out the one candidate lost by only 4 votes!

Scientologists are INSANE. Its such a cult. Where else would any sane person believe that they are descended from alien gods (haha) and believe that a silent birth and basically not speaking to your child for 7 days could have good results. WTH?

According to Aftanas and Zubeck (1964) a restriction of sensory input (for example from a lack of social, verbal, auditory interaction) causes those neurons in the CNS (central nervous system) to become hypersensitive to stimulation. These effects are long lasting. They did an experiment (which you could test on yourself but I dont recommend it) in which a cup placed on a person’s forearm for one week (7 days) to block tactile stimulation. This will cause the corresponding area on the opposite arm to become more sensitive! This can also be tested with EEGs (brain waves). For example, Melzack and Burns (1965) found that puppies raised in barren (lack of visual stimulation) kennels become hyperexcitable and the EEG showed signs of overarousal over 6 months later. The brains of autistic children show signs of high arousal (Hutt et al. 1965). Handling baby rats produces calmer adults which are more willing to explore alone (Denenberg et al. 1962; Erhlich, 1959). Therefore, tactile, visual, and auditory stimulation in-utero and during and after birth are critical because of the number of connections in the brain during those few months. There are also studies showing that hearing the mother and father’s voice after birth has a tremendous impact on calming the infants.

My personal favorite experiment was with college students. They had a group of college student go around wearing glasses that turned everything upside down, they had to wear these all day every day for 7 days. At first, everything was upside down and it was hard to function. Slowly their brains adapted and they soon were seeing things right side up! Then, at the end of the 7 days they were able to take the glasses off and then everything was upside down to them even though they were no longer wearing the glasses. It took them time to recover.

So, after reviewing the research, I worry about the impact scientologists are having on the long-term brain functions of their children. Some would say that its not for me to judge, but when my tax dollars are paying for the services these children need because they are autistic, or heaven forbid develop antisocial personality disorder because of their inability to successfully develop the neuron pathways necessary for emotional development… ugh… its scary!

A cult’s a cult’s a cult.

We put a bid in on a house and it was accepted! Hooray! Now we have tons to do to close on the day before Thanksgiving. Looks like soon I’ll be a Lancasterian.