Day 26: My Toothbrush

Believe it or not I've actually been looking forward to the "My Toothbrush" theme and you'll see why in a minute.

Until then, please peruse the photography participants:

MikeWJ, Nicky and Mike, Mo, Meleah, John, aka nonamedufus, Bryan, aka Unfinished Person, Malisa, Nora, LaughingMom, Tanya, Elizabeth A., 00dozo, Cheryl, Kristen, Katherine, and, last -- but definitely not least, Ziva.


Day 26 --  My Toothbrush:

As you can probably tell...my toothbrush (the pink one) is in the bathroom trash can. In there is also my son's toothbrush. We threw them away as WE AREN'T SICK ANYMORE! Woohoooo! If you don't know you are supposed to toss your toothbrush after a cold or flu...you do now. Face it, you wouldn't keep reusing the same tissue over and over again - brushing your teeth with the same germy toothbrush you had been using while you were sick - is pretty much like swallowing a big cup of saved phlegm -- only, well, not as gross.


On that happy note...there you have it - and now you know why I've been so looking forward to photographing my toothbrush. :)

Day 20: Bird

Since 1 April, we've all been tasked to take photos given the stipulated theme...and we've all done them relatively well; some better, some worse, some odd, some with animals, some with manipulation.

Well, since Monday, mine have taken a sinister turn in a way...mine are all versions of the theme...but the theme as it plays out when you have a flu. Today's photo was no exception.

First off, please go 'round to all the other participants of the non-contest and see what they've come up with as I'm sure you'll be inspired much more than if you only looked here. Their names and links are: MikeWJ, Nicky and Mike, Mo, Meleah, John, aka nonamedufus, Bryan, aka Unfinished Person, Malisa, Nora, LaughingMom, Tanya, Elizabeth A., 00dozo, Cheryl, Kristen, Katherine, and, last -- but definitely not least, Ziva.

Day 20: Bird

This is my Alessi tea kettle I've had for at least 25 years...it sports a little bird whistle made out out of moulded plastic or high-heat resin fibers or who knows what it is...but it whistles when the kettle boils. I've been using the tea kettle a lot lately as I'm sick.

Truth be told, my son did not appreciate the angle and the staging of the kettle in my photographs and took a couple of his own. He was right. They were better. I never claimed to be artistic...he was always the artistic one. So, in a way, I believe he deserves credit here and all I deserve is the fact that I came up with the kettle/bird whistle idea. So, if I have to be moved down to the bottom of the pile...go ahead and do so -- as I already feel low enough with my sickness.

I was going to "capture a whole other bird" - but my children told me it was too juvenile to do...so I didn't...but it did indeed capture how I felt about feeling sick, that's for sure.

Day 19: White

I feel so crappy still. I am sick. My temperature at this minute is 101.8. My day revolves around trying not to feel sick. But more about that later.

First off...go look at my fellow non-contestants...and don't forget to thank Ziva for coming up with this idea...

MikeWJ, Nicky and Mike, Mo, Meleah, John, aka nonamedufus, Bryan, aka Unfinished Person, Malisa, Nora, LaughingMom, Tanya, Elizabeth A., 00dozo, Cheryl, Kristen, Katherine, and, last -- but definitely not least, Ziva.

Day 19: White

I knew this theme was going to be harder than the others. I was tempted to take a photo of my white cat on top of my white car with the blaring white halogen light bathing them both with an unnatural kind of glow...but I used her yesterday and I didn't want to do two cat photos in a row because Mike would be mean to me again. So, I decided to take some tissues, Ambien and Tylenol and create a little depiction of how I feel.

Yes, it sucks...but I feel so much more sucky. :(

Sick Vs Evil

"Oh, he's sick in the head."

No, he's not - he's just plain EVIL.

Frankly, (upcoming pun intended) I am getting pretty sick and tired of hearing the above to "why away" what people do.

The other day, I'm driving down I-85 and I notice a kitten smashed almost beyond recognition in the middle of the four lanes. There's nothing else around it...but above there is an overpass. It dawns on me...I bet some "sick ****" (you can fill in the blanks I'm sure) threw the kitten off the overpass and into the traffic. Did he or she want to see if kittens indeed land on their feet? No. They did it, I'm sure, to see how fast it would get splatted...regardless of which way it landed.

Now, you might argue, "Why, yes, Mariann...that is just plain sick."

Of course I have no proof this is the scenario - but the odds of this kitten making it all the way across the highway in the middle of nowhere, by itself, is pretty damned slim. Most kittens don't go venturing solo. I've had many cats and kittens - if they stray too far, you can bet the mother will pick it up and bring it back.

But let me get back to my original thought...and for the sake of this example, let's say this is how it happened. The person who did this was not sick...they are just plain EVIL.

Chances are they knew the outcome ahead of time - and they knew the odds of the kitten surviving was nil. They made a conscious decision to toss it over the edge anyway. That is pure evil. No doubt about it - nothing sick going on here.

Granted, there are "sick" people who do things - and I don't discount mental illness...and I don't discount there are people in this world who don't have the mental capacity to make sound decisions. This exists.

But evil also exists.

When a person goes on a rampage and kills a bunch of people...and plots it out and otherwise can make it through their daily life and know which side of their bread to butter...well, these people are not sick in my opinion.

I am sure you remember Jeffrey Dahmer. Everyone and their mother was saying "oh...this guy's sick in the head". "NOOOOOOO!" I said. If he's deemed sick in the head - he won't stand trial and be convicted. He'll just go to "get cured" and then be released. This man KNEW what he was doing. He deliberately went about his "mission" to seek out and kill and then dismember and dispose of his victims. This requires some forethought - it requires an amount of intelligence and care to not get caught. Had this person indeed been "sick in the head" - he would have been doing something totally contrary to his actions...and been caught long before. Dahmer DID do sick things...I never said he didn't - but he was evil. There was an evil in him which crept up each and every time. Had he really wanted to stop...he could have. He enjoyed what he did...even if it repulsed him...or so he said. The very first time he killed, he "knew what had to be done in order to get rid of the body". He himself admitted he "knew" what had to be done. Not sick. Evil. End of story. He was proven "sane" and sentenced. Luckily they didn't buy into the "sick" scenario.

So, as I watched the Dahmer trial on "Court TV" all those years ago, I was desensitized by hearing the horrid details. The first time I heard -- I cringed...I flinched...I winced. Absolutely gross. The second day of the trial...same details - less wincing. By the third day...and, mind you, it only took THREE days of testimony...I was desensitized enough not to cringe thereafter. Each time I heard what he did -- even though what he did should have been just as horrific the first time I heard it...or the one-millionth.

I know you've probably heard this one on the news as well...or maybe you, yourself, have uttered a version of it: "A man walked into a building today, injuring eight, but only three died." ONLY??? So, wait, let me get this straight...one, two, or three is okay? How many have to die to make it "unacceptable"? Twenty?

Hearing this type of talk...from the news, from our co-workers, or from passers-by waiting in line in the supermarket...subconsciously creeps into our brains and tweaks them. "Only one dead. Thank goodness ONLY ONE died." What the heck kind of reasoning IS this we are subjecting ourselves to?

I've even heard myself saying it.

We, as a nation, are becoming desensitized. We are becoming complacent. We are becoming convinced...the things some people do...which are horrid and pure evil, are just "sick".

"Sick" seems to discount what they've done..."evil", however, doesn't.

I say it's time we wake up and stop branding people "sick in the head" so easily and nonchalantly - and start calling them what they truly are: just plain evil. Perhaps then there will be stricter penalties and accountability across the board.