Oops! The one that got away...  June 9 2003

As promised this is the one from yesterday that I forgot. There was an aspect of the whole mental health issue that I had forgotten when I went to put it on here. It took me all day to remember what it was that I intended to say. This entry is not 100% about mental illness. There is another subject after the mental illness part.

I have this novel "Metro" by Alexander Kaletski. In general it is about these young people living in the Soviet Union (Moscow) during the 1960's or 1970's. (I am not sure exactly when the story takes place.) If you find a copy at a garage sale please buy it for me. I am looking for two CHEAP copies. I want to send them to my Russian pen pals. At one point in this book, someone reads a billboard. Under communism they did not have advertising. So they put communist sayings on billboards. This one said something to the effect of, "Life gets better and better every day in the Soviet Union". (Ha!--my opinion.) And the reason that they made note of this billboard, is because the hero of the story and his wife wanted to leave the Soviet Union. Because they wanted to leave the USSR, they were considered "crazy" or mentally ill. If life gets better and better every day in the Soviet Union, then you must be crazy if you want to leave.

In reality, people did spend time in mental institutions because they wanted to leave the Soviet Union. This brings up a situation in my home country at the moment. We are supposed to stand on guard looking out for terrorists and child abusers. I know people who are listed as being racist or "anti-Semitic" simply because they are against, ILLEGAL immigrants, and the current "devilish" government of Israel. These people are not racist or "anti-Semitic". But if you look up these names on the Internet you will find that the "anti racists" are keeping watch on these people. It is a situation of these "racist" (so called) people not accepting the "official" viewpoint of the world.

[It is like, if I did not believe the sky was blue. And what if I promoted the idea that the sky was really green. I would be branded a "skyist" or something. And if I tried to promote this idea that the sky was not blue, I would get branded a crazy person or some such in the media. Suppose I had reputable scientists to back me up and I had other people who believed that the sky was not blue. "They" would still say things like, "Everybody knows the sky is blue, just look up". Or "It is scientifically proven that the sky is blue"; even if a large group of scientists could prove the sky was green. The opposing viewpoint would not be considered much in the media. And the opposition scientists might be labeled the equivalent of "quacks". And so on... I have seen this happening in science and medicine. I know it works in "politics" or rather "daily life" too. If you want to see a real example of this, look up the "AIDS" issue online. There are "AIDS Dissidents". Their contention is that NO ONE has ever PROVEN that HIV causes AIDS! http://www.whatisaids.com/whatisadissident.htm http://www.rethinkingaids.com/ http://www.virusmyth.net/aids/ http://www.duesberg.com/ http://allafrica.com/stories/200301090378.html ]

So as regards mental illness... Some day if someone is very vocal and speaks out against "the government" could that spell trouble for them? If a person does not agree with the "facts" as reported by our "news" media, could they become branded as "mentally ill" and "put away"??? Right now we still live in a fairly "free" country. As they toughen the "security" of this country and they toughen the mental health laws; things can start to look scary. I would hate to see a day, when someone who speaks out and says that events did not happen like they are reported on the "news"; gets put in a mental institution and called mentally ill. It is almost like that now. If you disagree with the "official" scenario of events, then "they" treat you as if you are insane. I have learned that by reading the Internet.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Enough of that I guess! Like I may have mentioned before, I write to someone in China and people in Russia and Latvia. Sometimes it is difficult to explain to people certain American or English language concepts. One of the ones I have trouble explaining is, "yuck" and "yucky". Then I had difficulty explaining to the Russians the phrase "See you in the funny papers". I do not know what it means either. I have heard it many times. I used it as a closing to E-mails. If you know a definition for this, let me know it please. I tried to explain what the "funny papers" were. That was not too difficult. But the meaning of that phrase was difficult.

My Granny used to use a phrase "dukes mixture". It meant that something had a little bit of everything in it. If you clean out the refrigerator and throw into a pot a little bit of what ever you have---that soup is called a "dukes mixture". Well, I learned this week where that comes from. There was a brand of tobacco many years ago. It was called, "Duke's Mixture".

No, I do not smoke, but I do have a small collection of cigarettes and tobacco related items. Of course my favorite is Camel. I have some cigarette packages (with cigarettes inside) that I do not think they make anymore. I do not remember seeing any "St. Moritz" or "YSL" lately. These were "premium", "designer" cigarettes. I have two imported brands, "Gitanes" and "Gauloises". I wish I had kept the fancy Egyptian package I used to have.

I knew a guy who smoked nothing but fancy imported cigarettes. And that was about all he did all day long too. I collected the packages after he smoked them. I did not save them though. One of the neater brands came in a can or tin. I think the name was "Dunhill". If I am correct they were (are?) British. I don't know why I wrote about tobacco....Oh, the "Duke's Mixture". And then my "collection" sits above me on a shelf. Duh!

The "St. Moritz" reminds me of my trip around the world. I have a trip around the world mapped out. I would probably have to invent a time machine to be able to travel the way I want to. If I were to venture back to the 1930's things might be a little safer. AND the trip would definitely be lots cheaper!! The reason the cigarettes remind me of my trip, is because "St. Moritz" is a fancy resort in Switzerland. If I can't afford to stay there, I would at least like to walk into the lobby and look around. Or better yet, have lunch there or something. I always thought it would be nice to see the horse racing on ice. (If they still do that---AND if it is not too expensive.) Maybe one of these days I can stick my trip around the world itinerary on here. (Maybe I should learn to spell ITINERARY first!! It took forever for the computer to figure out what I was trying to spell!!!!! Is it too much trouble for you to get out a dictionary? No M'am. Ha!)

It is June the month for weddings. I have this nice calendar up which has a theme of tea and tea services. I am a tea and dishes freak so this is a wonderful calendar. The only problem is the picture for the month of June. They show wedding dishes and miniature wedding cakes. They look to be English cakes with a ribbon around them. I have never understood why they put ribbons around cake in the U.K. I sit at the computer here and I drool over the picture of the cakes. One of my favorite things is white cake with nice butter cream icing.

I am trying to find a recipe for a plain white cake in my cookbooks. I can't seem to find one. I haven't looked in all of them. Right now I have the cookbooks on a shelf at the top of the closet in this room. I wish I could put a large shelf near the kitchen to house them. I also wish I had a bigger room for a library. (Then if I get a bigger house with more rooms---will we have a bigger yard? Can I get a dog?? You can have your swimming pool....) I know there is a large database of recipes online. I could sit for hours looking at that! I do not visit it very often.

Ok, I am getting hungry again. I have already had

my raisin bran fix for the day.... lets see what can I have now... maybe a Westfalian (spelling) ham sarnie??? Tomorrow is Monday!!!!! Yea!!!!! Another episode of Corrie!!!!! I can't wait until the villain gets his comeuppance!!!!!! See you in the funny papers.... Robyn