HUG LIFE!!!

Yesterday, the blogs were astir with "news" of Rihanna's knuckle tatt that says "THUG LIFE" and Smiley Walrus' pics drinking a HUGE alcoholic beverage & pretending to lick her boyfriend's birthday cake which was shaped like a male member. We discussed both of these things among my email crew & some people boiled it down to the children being the breadwinners & thereby having no REAL parental guidance.

While I absolutely agree with that, I also think it comes down to human contact. Why is Rihanna acting so aggressive & angry? Why is Smiley Walrus taking pics doing wild & inappropriate things? They need more hugs! Such a simple concept. When is the last time YOU hugged someone?

I don't mean that Christian side hug.

from: http://sarcasticbite.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Side-Hug.jpg

Or the awkward, not really touching, back pat.

from: http://cobblog.cord.edu/wp-content/uploads/DSCN6411.jpg

I mean a full-on, nonsexual, heartfelt hug!

from: http://www.recover-from-grief.com/images/comforting.jpg

The kind of hug that fills whatever void you are feeling inside. The kind of hugs that brings tears to your eyes even when you don't know WHY you are crying. The kind of hug that you get just because!

I said yesterday that I want to get "HUG LIFE" tattooed on the insides of my arms (one word per arm) so when I spread my arms akimbo I can tell people to: "Bring it in!" Getting a hug when you sell a million records, or sign a new endorsement deal, or get a huge royalties check (is there a such thing? lol) is not the same as getting a hug when you are standing at the stove, or walking out of the living room, or watching the morning news. Sometimes when you are having what seems to be the worst day ever, a hug makes EVERYTHING alright!

Too often, these days, fame & money win out over common sense & self-respect. Like I have said before MONEY over ERRYTHANG! is the motto for too many people. One of my mottoes is: HUGS over ERRYTHANG! (Another one is: Bacon Makes Everything Better! but that's neither here nor there.) Hug more. HUG more. Hug MORE. HUG MORE. Famous people need real hugs too. Not from people they pay to tell them yes, or people that obsess over them night and day and finally get a chance to meet them, or people that they make money for but from people that TRULY have their best interest at heart. Or someone who truly knows & understands the power of human contact.

Have you hugged someone today?? No? Make sure you do!

Has anyone hugged YOU today?? No? BRING IT IN!

YES I really took the time to DRAW you a hug! Now, take dat take dat!

What About Your Friends?

Recently people have come to me with tales of friendship issues that would make anyone shudder. Misplaced priorities, lying, selfishness all at levels above and beyond my comprehension. These people are all just regular joes, with nothing about them that screams: "I deserve to be mistreated...", yet they were. Totally out of the blue and unannounced these people have had their friendships, shredded to little pieces & discarded in some of the most disrespectful of ways.

No one is perfect & everyone has done something they regret to someone, and people know that it was a one time thing, a simple misunderstanding or lapse in judgment. But some things are just WHO people are and TRUE testaments to their character. There comes a point in time when you have to really decide if friendships are worth salvaging and when you take inventory of the friendship you realize there is more trash than treasure. When it comes down to it, you want a friend that respects your space, your time, and your feelings. You sometimes need them to be ride or die & some people are just not capable of doing so. You sometimes need them to reign you in & some people need more reigning than you have rope for.

I am going to regret even mentioning this name here, but OJ Simpson is a PRIME example. Who are these friends of his? Who are these people that are NOT discouraging his hair-brained schemes & supporting his plans whole-heartedly. There is ride or die & there is ride or DUMB! Regardless of WHAT happened in that room in Vegas, OJ & his friends did something DUMB! Guns or no guns, invited or uninvited, set up or happenstance... one thing cannot be refuted, something DUMB happened! And no one said to the other, maybe this isn't such a good idea. No one considered the consequences their actions would have on themselves.

All it takes sometimes is a LITTLE forethought. Friendship is about thinking of the GROUP. It involves being concerned about not JUST you. What I have been confronted with this week has been on BOTH sides of the spectrum... you have the severely selfish friends & the blindly selfless friends.
As for our dear, best good friend Orenthal, maybe jail is just the thing he needs to EVALUATE his life & find balance. And his so-called friends, need an intervention... could they have been THAT desperate for money & fame?

Life is about balance as are friendships... finding that medium. The balance is not the same in EVERY life or friendship. And if you find it hard to maintain that balance with someONE, maybe it's not YOUR fault. If you find it hard to maintain that balance with EVERYone, it probably IS your fault.

THINK ABOUT IT!