I have I.F.B.S. What does that mean? It's called Irritable Face Book Syndrome. You see, I went on the exciting world of Facebook in September. I was happy and excited to be on Facebook. It was great to reconnect with old friends, relatives I hadn't heard from in years, and be in on this oh so secret world. I loved seeing pictures of people I went to college with. It was wonderful to see and hear from people I knew. I couldn't have joined Facebook at a better time with my son starting college, and my daughter going through her drama-princess phase, (it never ends).

Soon the excitement waned, and the newness evaporated into the air---the new car scent was gone. Going on facebook became a chore much like cleaning the bathroom for the thousandth time. The thrill was gone! Boredom set in. Then I became irritated, because Facebook only seemed like a place for people to promote their jobs, their careers, themselves. I found myself scanning anxiously to see if anyone said anything resembling a real word. I thought even a How are you, would be nice.

I stopped sending personal messages to friends because they didn't answer back, were dis-interested, or too busy to bother. In short, I felt short-changed, socially ripped-off and pissed off. Going on facebook became irritating and dull.

I felt like a person who couldn't run away from a tragic traffic accident---I had to look, but I felt disgusted at the same time for going on and reading other people's self- promotion. I had I.F.B.S.

I was grossed out to the max!! People were not talking to each other, or even trying to read each other's whats' on your mind comments. People were facebooking without reading each other's comments. In other words, people were talking AT each other, and not listening.I felt like the only living soul, who was reading responsibly.

I realized that Facebook was better off as a social site for college kids to talk to each other!! I came to the conclusion that we adults had all but made a mess of Facebook. Young adults were communicating better than we adults. I pondered this question--- Have we lost our ability to communicate? Have we only become a society where people don't talk to each other anymore?

Personally, I'd rather have the old Facebook back where college kids tell each other what they are doing, and helping each other with homework. Even though young adults were sending short messages, they were communicating better than we adults.

Manufactured pop star---Miley Cyrus

Rising from the pack of characters that Disney brings to television every day, Miley Cyrus is a manufactured pop star. Watching any amount of the popular television shows on the Disney Channel will cause major stomach upset, and make your heart yearn for real rock and roll and pop songs from a long ago era when the artists wrote songs that came from their hearts.

*Unheard of just a few short years ago, Miley Cyrus has become a household name.

*At the age of just 12 she received her own Disney TV show where she plays Hannah Montana who is a star and Miley Stewart who has a regular life.

* She had her first television show debut several years earlier when she played a girl named Kylie on her adopted father's (Billy Ray Cyrus), show, called Doc.

* Appearing on her show and singing on Disney Radio, Miley Cyrus has become a household name for adoring pre-teen girls, who flock to her concerts to see Miley's lively performances.

* Cyrus is a teen singing sensation enabling tweens to dream a little dream of becoming a super popular teen singing sensation.

*Miley's songs were all written for her, until recently with Cyrus writing her own material.

Miley's face is plastered on every thing imaginable from t-shirts, to lunch boxes, to fuzzy slippers. What's next? Fuzzy dice, hanging off of the rearview mirror with Miley's face on those too!!

Miley Cyrus is getting older, surpassing sweet 16, and someday she too will be a shadow of her former sweet self.

*Cyrus dated a male model six years her senior. (She was 15, he was 20). I think that's called statutory rape!

* Cyrus also pole danced at the Teen Choice Awards, leaving her younger audience wondering if they too can pole dance at an impressionably young age.

*Miley's star won't shine brightly forever though- every young pop star grows out of her cuteness factor.

*Britney Spears, a former child star, grew older, had children and her left sexy kittenish role behind as a pop princess.

It can't last forever. But Miley will be a billionaire before her time in the spotlight is up. By the way ---the Jonas Brothers are also manufactured pop stars as are Demi Lovato and Selena Gomez---who has a super weak singing voice.

The song "Iris", written by John Rzeznik, from the band the Goo Goo Dolls, is a true masterpiece of artistry. The GooGoo Dolls, Buffalo, NewYork-born and bred John Rzeznik wrote this song of a tortured existence in a mere sixty minutes.

*When approached by the makers of the film, "City of Angels", to contribute a song to the soundtrack, Rzeznik was more than up for the task.

*Enduring a lifetime of pain, Rzeznik grew up with his four older sisters in Buffalo, New York. His parents were relatively poor, hardworking Polish immigrants.

*Rzeznik's father unknowingly provided a lifetime supply of song writing topics with his alcoholic abuse of the family.

*By the age of 16, Rzeznik was an orphan when his Dad died at the age of 55 and his Mom passed a year later. His older sisters stepped in to raise him.

Listening to the songs, Rzeznik has written over the years such as "Iris," "Name", and "Slide", you are invited into a hellish existence. You can tell that Rzeznik was emotionally as well as physically beaten by his father,
*You learn just how tough his life really was and how he felt like an outcast.This could be the source of Iris' incredible and enduring popularity a decade after its initial release on the soundtrack.
*Teenagers as well as adults identify with the song "Iris."

*The song has a soulful, melodic, catchy quality, but you get caught up in the words that seem to reach out and grab your very inner being.

*Any person that has had a hard life or has any feelings for that matter, gets wrapped up in Iris and feels a major connection to this song.

*In fact Goo Goo Dolls fans are still downloading Iris off the Web many years after its initial release.

Hi out there in blog Land,

I enjoyed this summer so much, I did not write. Sorry! Seems I am always apologizing about not writing.
Poor Taylor Swift---first time she goes to the MTV Awards, and Kayne West grabs her mike and her award and tells her she doesn't deserve it. How about putting West in rehab for drinking and behavioral problems. His mother died and he used that as an excuse for his bad behavior. Where was security at the MTV awards? Why didn't they yank his sorry butt off the stage? Why didn't they defend Taylor Swift? If I were her, I would never go back to MTV anything and totally dis MTV. But she has too much class to do that. Poor girl---Didn't she know that the MTV Music Video Awards was just a freak show on parade??!!! They taught girls how to be HO's, now they are teaching people how to be freaks. Anybody get a look at Pink's act? How bad is that , when noone even noticed one breast was not covered!! Speaking of MTV---anybody see Shakira's new video---She Wolf?All I'm saying is that girl is really limber.

I had a stroke in the very beginning of February. That's why I haven't written in my blog for months. I became super busy with Christmas, and I was writing for several different media outlets with a fiery passion. I was writing so much so, that I had no time for my blog, my husband or my kids. Then on February 9, 2009 I had a stroke. It seems my cartoroid artery decided it was going to part ways with my body.

Then I spent ten days in the hospital, and one week in rehab. Never in my life did I think I would need to go to REHAB!!! Where's Amy Winehouse when you need her? In the meantime, I have gone through in- home therapy. I can function once again, but I still feel like a drunk person some of the time.

That's the reason I have not written any new blogs. I started writing again after I was home for about three weeks out of total and complete boredom. I sold a few articles on Helium.com. I started writing for another outlet that pays absolute garbage pay of $5 to $15. The unnamed media outlet demands absolute perfection for hardly any money. They want sources and a writer to cite every idea she has. I enjoy writing, but not when you can't include any personality, ideas, or creativity.

Now I have several book ideas ruminating around my head, and I am currently making a decision of what to write and for whom.
So, God willing, and the hard work of everyday living, and with continued workouts, I just might get to write a book or two.

Thanks for reading my BLOG!!!

Give the Gift of LOVE For Christmas

How about doing something different this year and completely forgo buying expensive gifts for everyone on your Christmas shopping list? Why not wrap your arms around the ones you love and give them the gift of love and time? Forget booking an expensive holiday vacation to a warm, sunny place. Visit your friends, neighbors, relatives, co-workers, neighbors, the homeless, hospital patients, and even older folks in nursing homes.

The holidays are really supposed to be about giving the gift of love, not some meaningless gift bought at a store to increase the retailer's bottom line. With the commercial aspect of the holiday season getting way out of line, just doing something simple for everyone on your holiday gift- giving list can be the best thing you c an do. And guess what, you won't come across as Scrooge, or a cheapskate for not buying people super expensive holiday presents, or purchasing the biggest, greenest Christmas tree in the lot.

You will become the happiest person alive by spreading holiday cheer to one and to all. Throughout the holiday season, smile everywhere you go. Throw holiday parties and invite people and extend the warmth of the season by giving everyone a big hug. Make certain that you engage each person who wanders in through your front door, in earnest, heartfelt conversation. Put your arm around a longtime friend. Give hugs and kisses, to everyone, even your grumpy boss. Extend your invitations to your children and have them give hugs and kisses to relatives, and friends.

Take your kids to an elderly neighbor's home and bring them cookies freshly baked from your oven. Bring the kids along and give your neighbor the gift of time. Sit with her and talk about the neighborhood and life in general. She will appreciate it very much and won't feel left out this holiday season. Have your children shovel elderly neighbor's driveways and sidewalks, so that they can get out of the house without the hassle or the worry. This way, your children will learn the gift of giving, and you will be helping someone else at the same time.

Instead of just donating items to your local animal shelter or your local food pantry, volunteer at one instead. Bring the kids along, a friend or a neighbor and have a good time volunteering together. Walk stray dogs, and give them the gift of a loving hand by petting them. Volunteer at a local food pantry and get the inside view of how they feed all those people. Smile and talk to everyone you see that day. This will brighten their life a little and yours as well!

By serving other people and extending yourself you are giving the best gift of all LOVE. Giving the gift of a warmth and cheer, you will feel the real reason behind the holiday season. Now, isn't that better than getting caught up in all that commercialism and spending a lot of money on meaningless gifts that people will only return to the stores the day after Christmas?
Learn more about this author, Kate Johns.

Career Opportunities in Cosmetology

Career opportunities in cosmetology by Kate Johns

The field of cosmetology is growing by leaps and bounds and is creating new careers every day. Cosmetology is expanding so fast that area schools are starting up just as fast to supply each city and town with new enthusiastic members of the work force to work in this very creative field. Where else can you go to work everyday and make good money, utilizing your inner creativity to become the next biggest hair designer or the next stellar makeup artist that creates your own line of best selling line of makeup products?

The cosmetology field is growing so fast that according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics in 2006, there were 600,000 career cosmetologists, and by 2016 there will be 700,000. With over 100,000 jobs being created in ten years that means the cosmetology field is growing by so fast because millions of people have the desire to look and feel great. Even in a stagnant economy people need to look good for work and for their own personal health. People will cut back in other areas of their lives, but nearly everyone has that desire to be pampered by getting their hair professionally cut, their bodies massaged and their skin taken care of.

This area of careers, the cosmetology field, is so fast growing that you can literally sign up for new courses at accredited institutions overnight and get your degree within a few short months. This area is developing and growing so much so that you always have to take new courses to further develop and enhance your skills so that you stay ahead of the proverbial curve. Cosmetology is a field that people always are learning new aspects of, that is why it is a very interesting, creative field to go into.

With new careers opening up every day this field is wide open for potential growth in nearly every sector of the job market. You can go to school to become a hairstylist and within several years open your own salon. There are three basic specialty areas of cosmetology that include, hairstylist, manicurist and esthetic's. The plethora of careers available is a stunning example of how fast this industry is growing. Just some of the careers available are: Massage Therapist, Reflexologist, Dermatologist, Therapeutic Massage, Color Consultant, Beauty Consultant, Aromatherapist, Makeup Artist, Barber, Hairstylist, Owner of Salon, Corporate Manager in Cosmetics Company, Stylist for Rich and Famous, Cosmetic School Instructor, and Film and Theater Hair Specialist.

The field of cosmetology is a growing sector of the job market that is seeing exponential growth. Go to school for a short time and have a creative, growth oriented career in matter of a few short months. And once you have obtained your job, there is virtually no holding you back from reaching your career desires.

HELIUM.COM
Learn more about this author, Kate Johns.Click here to send this author comments or questions.