Twinkie the Cat

My cat has just brought me a mouse – her toy mouse. She does this every morning the moment I open my eyes. She wants me to play ‘fetch’, so she pushes the mouse closer and closer to my face until I give in. She doesn’t care that I have to get ready for work. Her persistence though, achieves the result she bullied me into doing. I throw the mouse off the bed so she can fetch it and bring it back to me. I know, only dogs know how to play fetch. Twinkie is different.

They say that cats are aloof, but I haven’t found this to be true of Twinkie  (not her real name to protect her identity!).  She is very affectionate and likes me to hold her in my arms while she sleeps. She especially likes me to kiss her head while I cuddle her. I believe she sees me as a surrogate mother.

She has more than 7 toys and mice around the apartment. Guess which one is her favorite? The one she has chewed and ripped almost to death. I had to tie up the shreds of material on the core to keep it functional. I don’t what I will do when she’s chewed and ripped it apart and beyond what I can fix. Hopefully she’ll move on to another mouse.

Twinkie has some typical cat mannerisms. She likes to put her foot in her water bowl to make waves before she drinks from it. She religiously follows me from room to room. Once I settle down in a room say, the kitchen to cook, she will lie down and watch me.

No matter what I am doing, especially if I am on my computer, she will demand her “Twinkie Time”. She wants me to play with her when I am busy. I kind of think she’s jealous of the attention and focus I have on my computer. So, she just walks across my computer keyboard. Sometimes she’ll sit on it. I always get angry until I realize that she only wants about 15 minutes of my time until she gets bored or wants to take a nap elsewhere in the house. I love her – so what else can I do?

An Open Letter to R&B Artist Chris Brown

The act is so tired. Once again, singer Chris Brown, you lose it. You tore up the Good Morning America dressing room, threw a chair and broke a window and basically had a temper tantrum after your interview with Robin Roberts.

Roberts asked you a few questions about the Rihanna incident. Mind you, you had given her permission to ask a few of those questions in advance. Although you tried to focus on your new CD, Robin continued to ask about the 2 year old incident. Once the interview was over, you stormed in your dressing room, screamed at the top of your lungs, and broke a window on the 43^rd floor with a chair.

Security was called, but not before you ripped off your shirt, left the building, and didn’t return for your second song. While leaving the building, you allegedly stared down a producer, up in his face, until others had to get between the two of you. The news spread faster than a California forest fire.

You are on probation for five years. I don’t think that was on your mind. You can’t seem to be able to control your temper and violent outbursts. You made a good point, though about the interview. Charlie Sheen gets away with doing whatever he wants and is called a bad boy. Everything you do is looked at through a microscope.

Well, Chris, you aren’t Charlie Sheen and you don’t have Charlie Sheen clout and money. When you make as much money as Charlie Sheen does for his studio, you will be able to get away with some things, too. Charlie pays publicists and lawyers to help him and do damage control when he does something stupid. Clearly you do not. Here are a few suggestions you need to think about for your future:

1. Grow up already. You are not 14 years old; you are a grown man. Stop acting like a spoiled brat. No one will focus on your music when watching you act like a crazy person is so much more entertaining;

2. Get a new manager. The one you have is failing you big time;

3. Get a new publicist. If you do not have one, hire the best firm in the entertainment business. Someone needs to help you respond to tough questions in a responsible manner;

3. Get a good lawyer that will cover your back when you act crazy, like tear up a dressing room, break windows, and walk down the street with no shirt on;

5. Nobody likes an angry Black man. Nobody will pay an angry Black man who destroys property. Go back to anger management classes, or begin therapy;

6. Stop with the tattoos. You look like you’ve been to prison. Even 50 Cent removed his tattoos so he could do acting jobs;

7. Talk to some entertainers that can give you support and some perspective about improving your career;

8. Leave your clothes on. Walking down the street after ripping off your shirt and sending naked pictures of yourself over the Internet are not classy things to do;

9. Your clean cut image is history due to your behavior. You are still spiraling out of control. People now call you a thug. This is why you need a new manager. You seem to be out there on your own with no direction;

10. Stay off Twitter for a while. You tend to speak without thinking first. Once it goes on the Net, it’s out there forever;

11. It’s called Show Business, Chris. If you can’t sell records because of your personal life, you will no longer be an asset to your record label. Get it together before it’s too late, or your next album will be called, “Former Artist’s Meltdown Exit”.

The Japan Earthquake - A Wake-Up Call

I turned on my TV today to watch an endless number of reality shows. I tell myself that it’s research for my novels, but we all know the truth. Like soap operas did before, Maury, Judge Lynn Toler, Judge Mathis, and even Oprah keep us hypnotized every day with what is going on with other people. We laugh and shake our heads at the novelty and shameless way people behave on national TV.

What I saw was a tsunami raging through Japan and laying waste everywhere. I watched the throes of a devastating earthquake and tsunami disasters. High-rise buildings swaying back and forth like trees in the wind. Cars, boats and houses were flying through the streets and fields by the force of the tsunami waves of water. People sleeping and huddled packed together on the streets, afraid to go inside from fear of after shocks.

We all knew that an earthquake was imminent. All of the Channel 2 and PBS and Discovery documentaries told us so. Still, seeing it in front of you is different. I felt an inner terror as I watched something more powerful than us throw water and debris around more than three countries.

It put my life into perspective. Charlie Sheen’s antics aren’t so amusing anymore. I don’t care who wins American idol anymore. I don’t remember who won the Oscars. While we are focusing on ‘winning’, Japan Hawaii and the West Coast are losing. People have real lives at stake, and we need to watch that and figure out our place in the world. What is more frightening is the fact that it can and will happen again, someone on this planet.

I hug my cat, and I'm grateful that I'm alive. I feel real fear as I put everything in perspective. The truth is it doesn’t always happen to the other guy.

Go See Your Doctor!

I have been working on a revenue producing web site called www.answerspay.com. Subscribers ask questions and contributors answer them for a piece of the revenue raised by the quality of the questions and answers. This is a relatively new web site, established in February, and still has its kinks.

What I have noticed is that there are a lot of questions about aches and pains and whether or not they should see a doctor. The questions go the gamut from mild headaches to anxiety attacks to moles changing color.

Everyone should have a doctor. Whether at a hospital, a health clinic, or private practitioner, the older you get the more you need a doctor. If there are significant or persistent changes to or on your body, you should see a doctor. If you are in severe pain, see a doctor.

I know health care costs are through the roof. Still, a visit to a doctor early could save a big problem later. By the way, if you have the flu or a hacking cough, stay home from work and see your doctor. I was in a Walgreens and saw one of the clerks stocking products sneeze all over the boxes in an aisle. I immediately left the store, grossed out. I didn’t want her germs on something I could perhaps take that she had sneezed on in another aisle.

If in doubt, don’t self-diagnose your problem. See a doctor or please stay home from work until you are well.

Relationship Pain and Acceptance

Cheating makes a relationship miserable. Two people who are both unhappy is a horrible situation. Two unhappy people who live together is hell.

Being on the receiving end of a cheater is a nightmare. The pain feels as if it will never end. When you are betrayed, it is because your partner made a decision not to be committed to you. He or she just doesn’t tell you about it. It's why the pain of a broken relationship hurts so much once the cheating comes out. It’s a betrayal of commitment, trust, and honesty.

Some of the inspiration for my poems and prose on my web site www.carolynscorner.com reflect what I see on television shows like Cheaters, and celebrity judge and divorce shows. No one is immune to life’s romantic challenges. Some of it I have lived. Today’s parade of serial celebrity cheaters has provoked a lot of debate. When we feel betrayed or treated poorly, we have a right to be bitter.

I have been a bitter woman at times. Today, as age moves on, I find I am no longer a bitter woman, but a wiser one. No need to keep harping on the spilled milk bottles of life. I can finally see that with acceptance, I can and will achieve inner peace.                                                                                                           3/9/11