Thinking of Michelle Meldrum

It hit me pretty hard to find out this morning that Michelle Meldrum had died last night of what I was told was a cystic growth on her brain that cut off oxygen and blood flow. I don’t even know what that means or what kind of growth, how long it was there and more importantly, why the hell?

Most of you know about my love of bands like The Runaways and may not have thought I was into Phantom Blue or Meldrum, but I came to The Runaways through Lita Ford. Albums by Lita, Vixen and Phantom Blue were the ones I played when I practiced rock star poses with my guitar in front of the mirror. They (as well as Heart) were the ones I put on when I started learning drums. When I wanted to pretend I was a huge rock star I swung around my Les Paul or my bass to those three and only a few others. And when someone asked me what my entrance theme would be if I was a wrestler, I said either “Through Shattered Eyes” or “New World Order,” both songs by Meldrum.

The Perfect Drug Commercial

We’ve all seen them.  Those commercials that claim Drug A will cure your every condition, and only cause a few minor side effects.  You know, like death. I’ve never seen a commercial that didn’t turn me off, so I decided to write one that might even attract my attention.  The scene is a lovely rolling stream, where a lovely young lady is standing and smiling her biggest smile.

It is important that the lady is always happy. She must enunciate every word with great joy.

Enough Pain To Cry Over Isn’t Enough

My ideas on health care fall about where all my other ideas do – somewhere in between what the two sides are usually promoting (but never actually start). But I thought I’d respond to someone (who shall remain nameless because he won’t respond to my emails asking if I can quote him directly) who claims that the reason our current system is the best is because everyone has access to it and we can always go to the emergency room if we can’t pay a doctor’s co-pay. Two personal experiences to counter that idea.

A couple weeks ago my mother suddenly got a shooting pain in her shoulder. Fearing a heart attack and also worried because it was the same arm her PICC line is in, I rushed her to the emergency room. She checked in, crying in pain, and I told the nurse up front about her PICC line and my worries that something may have gone wrong with it. That her crying in pain and grabbing at her shoulder couldn’t be a good thing.

A WrestleMania 25 Dream

During the buildup to WrestleMania 24, I’ve been thinking a lot about WrestleMania 25. You know Vince McMahon will make a big deal about his baby reaching the quarter century age, as well he should. I wouldn’t be surprised if he pulled out stops he never would ordinarily to make it an even bigger show than it already will be. So I thought I’d throw out a little dream I have for that show. Of course since I’m saying it, that guarantees it will never happen, but dreams don’t always bend on reality.

My idea is pretty simple, and the celebrity involved most likely will have other things to do. If I had my way, this is the way it would go. Now since I can’t control future injuries or new stars, I’m going to use two current wrestlers as an example of what I want to do.

The Five Universal Truths

We are routinely bombarded with “truths” that usually end up looking more like trussed up fairy tales than anything worth holding on to. Because of this, I have compiled what I believe are THE five universal truths no one can dispute. In no particular order:

1. Those of us who are born will eventually die. Fairly self explanatory. I haven’t met a 200-year-old yet.

2. Without purposeful vomital intervention or an unavoidable illness, if you eat too much of it, it will stay. The grand majority of us know this to be true to some degree.

3. There is at least one person who will complain about everything. And at least one who simply doesn’t care about anything.

4. Cats are born with an innate and overpowering attraction to coffee mugs and any cup a human may have.

And finally, what I believe may be the single most important universal truth of all….