A little about me...

The scariest moment of my childhood

lolhall:

‘Nother thought

I should probably warn myowninnerchild (my new follower) that I’m extremely long-winded and when I need to unload, I unload.  If that makes your eyes bleed, I apologize.  Good to have you along!

Been awhile…

Been awhile since I’ve posted, so I may as well.  And since I’ve been lax on keeping a real diary I may as well make the transition.

Okay, first things first.  My sister graduated from college (TRC) in May and STILL doesn’t have her fucking diploma yet!  When I graduated from SEMO I got mine within two weeks.  They mailed it to me since Miss Clever somehow managed to miss her own commencement!  But my sis hasn’t gotten hers yet; TRC told her to come pick it up since they are jumping on the eco-bandwagon and cutting out envelopes.  Well she’s been back THREE LOUSY TIMES and still doesn’t have that diploma!  She starts classes at SEMO (my old alma mater) in a little under a month, and we’re hoping and praying that she’ll have that sucker in her arms by then!

Thing two:  We’re on what my family calls “famine mode.”  We’ve been eating out WAY too much and Sister’s tuition is through the roof and it’s really blown Mama’s money so now we’re having to pinch our pesos until she gets her next paycheck.  Good for our waistlines since all we eat now is salad, but kinda boring.  We don’t go for long drives on the back roads anymore (again, good for the gas tank), and we don’t eat out a lot as I stated above.  But I have my Snapple and a tub of rainbow sherbet so it’s good.  And we have enough money for groceries and dog and cat food so I really have no right to complain.

Thing three:  It’s raining here, praise God.  Our part of the country is in what the Weather Channel calls “extreme drought,” so any rain is good.  Too late for the crops, unfortunately.

Thing four (and this really should be thing one; shows you how shallow I am):  Twelve people got killed in Colorado.  Some nut went into a movie theater in Aurora during the new Batman movie and shot a lot of people.  Twelve died and I think fifty-nine was the number of injured.  I’m sorry to report that one of the dead was a child; I love kids and I hate it when one gets hurt or killed due to something senseless.

Thing five:  THE WHO ARE GOING TO TOUR!!!  But they won’t be coming to St. Louis or Memphis.  Bummer.  Roger Daltrey also said that he doesn’t think Pete Townshend can take another long stent on the road without going completely deaf.  I hope he’s wrong.

Thing six:  We have a new kitten on the premises.  He’s black and white and we named him Pebbles.  That’s right, him.  I think the name Pebbles sucks for a male, but what can I say?  It stuck.  Pebbles is blind (long story) but seems to be getting around without a lot of fuss.  So cute!

And now that the thunder has stopped and the TV is working I reckon I can sit back and shut up.  ”1,000 Ways to Die” is on, to the chagrin of my mother and the delight of myself.  LOL

So much for my pledge on the last post!

This should be pretty quick, but here goes. It seems that Egypt has fallen to the Muslim Brotherhood.  And the Muslim Brotherhood’s goal…is to make Jerusalem Egypt’s new capital!!!  It’s a sign of the times, I fear.  Ezekiel 38:13, Zechariah 14, and Zechariah 12:3 all say that all nations will turn against Israel in the end times, and this appears to be coming true as I type.  Egypt is now threatening Israel, as are Syria, Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the pieces of filth in the land they call “palestine” (I refuse to capitalize that cursed name).  A lot of the European countries back the so-called palestinians but haven’t done anything to outright threaten Israel yet…and the U.S. is fronted by a “president” who sides with the Arabs and wants to cozy up to them every chance he gets.

I don’t know why I’m so worked up about this…this “Muslim Brotherhood” won’t succeed at what they’re trying to do.  At most they can hope for half of Jerusalem (Zechariah 14.2), and even that won’t be permanent!  Revelation 21:10 through 27 speaks of a new Jerusalem “having the glory of God” (Revelation 21:11).  Jesus will be their light, and there will be no night.  It will be pure, and “no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only whose names are written in the Lamb’s (Jesus’s) book of life” (Revelation 21:27).  Muslims and haters of Israel, beware.  This hatred of Israel can lead to both your death and your eternal damnation.  Don’t play Russian roulette with your souls…it’s not too late yet!  Turn to the one and only God, the Father of Israel, and His Son Jesus, and you will be spared a terrible fate.  For God will protect His people and He will smite anyone who stands in his way.  

New theory…

…having lost one of my followers (and I only had two anyway) I’m going with a new tactic.  And it’s not going to be all that drastic from what I’ve been doing anyway.

The blog will largely consist of dolly reviews and dolly-related stuff.  I’ll still undoubtedly bitch about life’s problems and post random stuff (like classic rock news and my freight train obsession), but it’ll probably be mostly for the dolly world and those in it.

Sincerely yours, CatScratchFever1987

P.S.  I have a Flickr account now as well.  It has nothing but dolls right now; when I can afford a Pro Account it will also have my freight train crap and my rather large cache of sky pictures.  If you want to take a gander at what I do have right now, my name is RagingMoon1987.

Have you ever noticed that the majority of my usernames hearken back to the musical world?  LOL

O’er thee, like thine own sea birds

I’ll circle without rest

For me earth holds no corner

To build a lasting nest.

—Empress Elisabeth of Austria, on finding the right man and domestic life in general.

I wonder…

…have you ever been in a room full of people and been lonely as hell?

…is railfanning a hobby dominated by men?  If so then I, a female, should be a breath of fresh air.

With regards to railfanning, I went on my first…mission, I’m gonna call it.  I caught a Union Pacific train with mixed freight on film earlier this evening.  It had a Chessie System boxcar on it.  Unfortunately the film is way too dark for YouTube.  Too bad, because the Chessie had excellent colors…it was heavily graffitied, but the “C” logo on the side was nice and bright, and I am very happy with that.  If there’s one Chessie boxcar out there like that, then there will definitely be others.  And that’s the third Chessie boxcar to come through my hometown in less than a month.  That makes my odds of seeing another one very good compared to other types of railcar.

On Pinterest…

…I have an account there now.  My mother and sister insist that I’ll love it, but I have no desire to become active there.  If anyone wants to look at my blank board, my name is ChessieGirl1987.  

If I do decide to become active (and hopefully I will not) the boards will consist of the same crap that’s on my Facebook page…tornadoes, dolls, Christian, Pro-Israel and right-wing stuff, and music.  But instead of getting down to the nitty gritties, it’s just pictures. No getting to know the user, no making friends, no nothing.  It’s just pictures of shit I’ll never own, see, or do.  And none of ‘em are my pictures.

I hate trends.

Tokidoki Barbie and Katniss Everdeen

Don’t worry, the two will end up connecting.  Trust me.  <takes deep breath>  Okay…prepare to read a long spiel about nothing in particular but the shallow-minded ramblings of CatScratchFever1987.  If you want something deeper and more intellectually stimulating, I recommend my Twitter page, but beware…it crawls with right-wing ramblings and politically incorrect commentary.  Hmm…better just stick with this.

Okay!  I’m not a trend follower.  I was able to resist the Pokemon craze (even though it’s still pretty cool), weather Harry Potter, and completely avoid anything that concerns the Twilight Saga (geez, I hate Twilight…except Taylor Lautner, and even then I was a fan of him before he became Jacob Whatever-his-last-name-is).  But the Hunger Games books I like.  My sister turned me onto them a year ago, before they became the hugely popular monster they’ve become.  It saddens me to see the strong political and social messages that the story brings get dampened by every silly trend-following teenager screaming “TEEM PEETA!” or “TEAM GALE!”  I myself have not seen the movie and have not chosen a boy to support (though I’m thankful Katniss Everdeen is not a slut like Bella Swan is).  I have no intentions to buy any merchandise related to the books except the books themselves…and one other thing.

As you should well know by now, I’m a doll collector, and Mattel is (not surprisingly) itching to cash in on the popularity of the Hunger Games series, and create a doll in the likeness of the heroine, Katniss.  I saw the press photo today, and I can’t WAIT for her to come out…she looks a lot like how I pictured Katniss when I read the books, and she comes with her silver arrows (so cute!).  She is intended to be for collectors, but kids happen to like the Hunger Games (and Barbie) too.  That is where the problem lies.

What I’m fearing in the case of a Katniss Everdeen Barbie is a situation like what happened with Tokidoki Barbie last October.  I don’t know if I’ve blogged about Tokidoki Barbie and the controversy surrounding her or not.  If I did, I apologize, but I’m gonna recap for my own feeble little mind’s sake.  Tokidoki Barbie was a beautiful pink-haired, tattooed, Steffie-faced doll available to collectors last fall for fifty bucks.  The press photos for her were released about a year ago, and I waited SIX MONTHS for her to be released.  I had the fifty dollars plus shipping and handling set aside for her, had a spot cleared for her on my shelf, and two days before she’s scheduled to be released, BOOM!!!  A bunch of silly parents saw Tokidoki’s tattoo (which covered her entire arm, part of her chest, and her back) and hit the roof, saying that Tokidoki set a bad example for little girls and encouraged them to get tattoos at too young an age.  Never mind that the doll WASN’T A TOY!!!  Thanks to the controversy the doll sold out in two lousy days and won’t be back in stock.  And get this:  most of the jack wagons that snapped up the doll bought her for the fifty dollar retail, and are now SELLING THEM ON EBAY FOR OVER FIVE HUNDRED BUCKS!!!  Meanwhile, guess who never got her Tokidoki Barbie?  Right…me.

Given the fact that the Hunger Games Series is so violent, I’m waiting for a backlash against Katniss from goody-two-shoes parents who will be saying that “the doll encourages violence.”  In addition to that, the market for this doll will probably be pretty hot since the movie and the books are hot as well.  Controversy and high demand are gonna equal a tough doll to find!  But there’s no way in hell that I’m gonna let Katniss Everdeen slip through my fingers.  I’ll get her if I have to cut my hair and pole dance!  

“Chill out, it’s just a doll!” one may say.  Yes, but it annoys me that non-doll collectors turn out in droves to buy up these awesome collectors’ items and then either junk ‘em up or resell them later at jacked-up prices.  All the while collectors like me suffer.  And all that time the parents and the media are screaming at us what we should not buy, should not do, should not have because it’s bad for kids.  Uh, I don’t have kids yet.  And when I do, I’ll be the one who decides what’s good and what’s bad for ‘em.  Being exposed to the Hunger Games series at a young age is no worse than watching Tom & Jerry (which I did, and I turned out fine).  Parents really need to learn some common sense…if they don’t want their kids to be exposed to something, then it’s up to them to keep their kids from it instead of trying to spoil the fun for everyone.

Okay, I’m done.  All apologies.

On Easter and trivial matters…

…Today, April 8th, 2012 is Easter.  I wish all of my followers (all two of ‘em) a happy Easter and a happy week.  I myself had a good one, though one of the children I mind in church had a meltdown…in my arms.  

Tomorrow I go with my mother (who has half the week off) and my grandmother to get Grandma’s eyes checked.  She had a cataract removed and it’s just a routine followup.  What I am hoping for is the aftermath…my mother has mentioned an interest in hibiscus bushes for our yard.  I am strongly in favor of this idea (though I know fully well that it will be I who has to plant them) and I hope that this will mean a trip to Wal-Mart.  She also mentioned wanting a pair of shoes.

I have an ulterior motive, of course.  Remember a few blogs back when I mentioned clothes for my Lalaloopsy doll?  Well, I never got them.  The swimsuit and the pajamas are still at the store, but I bought clothes for my Stardoll instead.  At the time that was what I wanted, and since Barbie clothes that I desperately want tend to become hard to find, I went ahead and bought the Stardoll set.  Raven (my Stardoll) subsequently came out looking like a little dominatrix.  Now all she needs is a whip; I think an apple stem will fit the bill nicely, as it has a perfect little curve to it, and is thick at one end and thin at the other.  But that’s WAY off the point that I’m trying to get at.

My Lalaloopsy Blossom’s birthday will be April 22nd, and I desperately want some cute little clothes to give her.  I’m hoping that the Wal-Mart at the town we’re going to will have some new things.  I’ll have to mooch a couple of bucks probably, but my mom is kind about such things.  But all that depends on if there are any new Lalaloopsy clothes there.  And if there are not, then no problem!

I can’t believe that I’m twenty-four and talking about buying clothes for a doll like she’s a real little person!  LOL I don’t believe I’ll ever grow up!

Hmm…

…so it seems that folks have been lobbying and nagging Mattel to create a bald Barbie for kids with cancer, alopecia, and that mental disorder where kids pull their hair out (and occasionally eat it).  MGA Entertainment took up the cause and are creating True Hope Bratz and Moxie Girlz which are bald and come with cute little caps, headscarves, and bravery beads.  And I’m okay with that.  I can’t wait for them to hit store shelves.

After the MGA’s announcement, I guess Mattel saw that they had no choice…it was either create a bald doll or allow their main business rival to make them look stupid (and Mattel has a history of caving into pressure anyway—I remind you of that infernal Greedypeace boycott which Mattel foolishly gave in to).  Bald and Beautiful Barbie will be produced…but only to kids hospitalized with cancer!  The kids with alopecia and that kooky mental disorder are either going to have to be hospitalized themselves or just do without, which isn’t fair.  I think that if Mattel is going to make a bald doll, then it should be released to everyone, just like the True Hope Bratz and Moxie Girlz.  But I’m still okay with the idea…I wasn’t in the beginning because I think it glamorizes a terrible disease and encourages little girls to focus more their looks instead of developing individuality and focusing on getting well.  I still feel that a bald doll may do that, but that’s where the parents should be stepping in to encourage their kids.  I just hope that Barbie doesn’t get the blame when some of those parents fall down on the job (and some will…it’s inevitable).

Okay, so that’s what’s been going on.  Bald Barbie for cancer-stricken kids, bald Bratz and Moxie Girlz too.  Fine.  But now…NOW there’s a group lobbying for a Barbie stricken with diabetes, as well as an HIV-positive Barbie!!!  Are you fucking KIDDING ME???  HIV BARBIE???  What will the parents say about that one?  How did Barbie get HIV in the first place???  Parents didn’t like Tokidoki Barbie with her full-body tattoo (never mind the fact that she was for collectors like me), they don’t like the idea of a Katniss Everdeen Barbie (based off that Hunger Games series and also directed at collectors, IF the idea even comes to fruition).  Do these lobbyists honestly think that parents will accept an HIV-infected doll?  I can hear it now…”Barbie promotes risky lifestyles.  Barbie promotes drug use.  Barbie promotes unsafe sex.”  No, I can’t see the idea of an HIV-positive doll EVER taking off.  And frankly, I think the idea of a diabetic doll is pushing it too.  Cancer victims end up deformed by the meds they take, which for a young girl can be traumatic.  Diabetics don’t have to put up with deformity.  And imagine if the doll came with an insulin kit with needles?  I guarantee that there will be some kids who will pretend that it’s a heroin kit instead, and that will definitely get parents hot and bothered.

Whatever happened to the days when a child had to simply put up with being different, and had no doll, no toy, no NOTHING but themselves, their families, and God’s grace pulling them through?  You see, this Bald Barbie campaign started because of one little girl who felt bad about how she looked and thought a bald Barbie might help her to fit in.  Don’t get me wrong, I truly am sorry that she is sick and I hope she beats that cancer and goes on to live a healthy life.  But where are her parents to tell her she’s beautiful no matter what, and that fitting in is NOT anywhere near as important as beating this bastard of a disease?  She and all other sick kids need to understand that there were plenty of children before them who were sick or deformed and they made it through life without the aid of a doll, and subsequently went on to become productive members of society.

I don’t mean to sound uncaring about the plight of pediatric diabetics and young HIV victims.  But for Pete’s sake, where did the common sense go?  Just because one set of folks has a Barbie doesn’t mean that every set of folks can or should.  It simply is not possible, nor is it reasonable.  There are far too many diseases in this world, and far too many conditions.  And if there were a Barbie for each one then she’d cease to serve the function she was intended for (that being to serve as a plaything and a source of fun and enjoyment for children and some adults).  And we all know what happens to a toy when it ceases to be fun.  It becomes discarded, and production ceases, and kids are left without a very vital plaything.  That should not be allowed to happen.

Whew!!!  I feel like I’m writing a term paper for college instead of blogging!  But there are my feelings on the subject, and you may take them or leave them.  And for the record, I think that the idea of a Katniss Everdeen doll is splendid.  I hope they’ll do Effie Trinkett and the boys too.  If the overly protective parents don’t like it then they can sit on a landmine. 

For traitors on the block should die;

I am no traitor, no, not I!

My faithfulness stands fast and so,

Towards the block I shall not go!

Nor make one step, as you shall see;

Christ in Thy Mercy, save Thou me!

—Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury, on the day of her death.