An MS blog redo, a Mad contest, and our boy Jack
Today’s blog-
Bullying is bad, very bad. Violence is bad too. Never, ever be violent. It is mean, the man upstairs doesn’t like it and legal fees are expensive.
I was never a bully when I was younger. Fortunately, I was never bullied either. I was simply a go with the flow type of kid. Funny then, how as an adult, I so enjoy beating up on a bully even though I am basically nonviolent.
In my twenties, I took my nephew to a zoo with an awesome play structure. He was five. The structure had a Tarzan-like swing where kids reached up to grab a bar and then could zip-line from one side to the other. I noticed that Drew had been at the head of the line for a while, with a bunch of little kids behind him. The line was not moving.
I went over to investigate and saw that while my nephew and the other kids waited patiently, a taller, older girl, probably at the cruel age of nine, was grabbing the bar first and swinging in a taunting manner. I watched her do this several times.
Finally, using my adult height to the utmost advantage, I leaned over her and grabbed the bar just as she went to reach it. It was all she could do to steady herself and keep from falling.
I glared the meanest bully look I could come up with and said, “it is HIS turn now,” and handed the bar to Drew.
She looked at me terrified and ran away. I let Drew take a few turns and then I passed the bar to the next short kid in line.
One might say that I shouldn’t be picking on someone younger than me and/or that I missed an excellent teaching opportunity to show the brat, oops, I mean sweet little girl, a wonderful, life altering lesson. But I must admit, I still get a sadistic moment of glee when I think about it.
Does that make me bad?
What does this have to do with multiple sclerosis? Well, I see MS as the ultimate bully.
The meanest playground stalking, slang calling, tear inducing, skinned knee causing bully around. And that sadistic moment of glee encompasses me again when I feel like I am beating up on it.
Since violence is wrong, (and really, who would I be violent towards?) my bully beating weapon of choice is a giggle stick.
Soon after my diagnosis I decided that whenever possible, I would laugh when MS was trying to make me cry. It isn’t always possible of course. Sometimes the meanest bully actually bites.
But when I can taunt MS by making fun of it, it is sadism of the righteous kind.
Unfortunately, MS has given me way too much material to work with. I have a lot of giggle stick beating to do. So much so, that I wrote a soon to be released book just to beat up on MS some more.
It is called MS Madness: A “Giggle More, Cry Less” Story of Multiple Sclerosis.
Today’s contest-
To help all of you get as excited as I am about the book-ok, that may be a stretch as I am really, really excited- I will be featuring a contest each month until the MS Madness February release date.
Here are November’s contest details-
1. The contest will run from today, 11/15/13 to midnight on 11/28/13.
2. The winner will be announced in the 11/29/13 blog which will also include excerpts from Chapter 19 of MS Madness which is titled Hey MS, Hug This!
3. The first correct answer to the contest question will win a free autographed copy of the book along with a $10 Amazon gift card to use to buy more copies of my book. (Ok kidding. The winner will still get the Amazon gift card but I don’t think that I can legally insist that you use it to buy more copies of my book. I can only strongly suggest what an excellent use of the gift card that would be!)
4. If more than one person gets the answer to the contest question, the next five correct answers will get a free ebook.
5. You MUST enter by either private messaging me here in the contact section of https://yvonnedesousa.com/contact/or by sending a private message to my website Facebook page Yvonne desousa.com If you chose to enter using my Facebook page, please like it if you have not done so already.
6. Your answer must be specific.
7. Only one guess per person allowed.
8. Regular followers of my blog have a slight edge as the contest is based on book trivia that you may or may not be able to figure out from things I have posted about previously.
9. Friends and family are eligible to enter as long as they don’t actually know the answer. That leaves my writing group out. Ok, they can enter the contest but they just can’t win!
10. If you don’t win, don’t fret. There will be additional contests in December and January.
Ok- are you ready for the contest question?? Here it is-
Chapter 19 (Hey MS, Hug This!) is one of the more serious chapters of MS Madness and details one of the most frustrating aspects of living with multiple sclerosis. What is that aspect?
Hint- it is not the MS Hug.
Thank you for entering and good luck! Please don’t forget to submit your entry via private message.
And now, for-
Today’s DWTS moment-
This is a brief moment as there is nothing much to be said except-
Holy Dancing Jack! Semi-finals, here he comes!!!!!
I see a possible Mirror Ball Trophy in Jack Osbourne’s future but he can’t do it alone.
Vote for Jack Osbourne and his partner Cheryl Burke by calling 1-800-868-3402 up to 60 minutes after the show on Monday nights or by logging onto ABC.com or Facebook.com/votedwts up to 24 hours after.
Note- this actual blog post was originally published in May 2013 on MSRelief.com