Category Archives: Humor

As a kid, I looked forward to the annual playing of The Wizard of Oz on TV as much as Christmas and Halloween combined. The music, the friendship, the scary witch. Until high school, I’d never seen it in color, so I hadn’t even witnessed the magical transformation from Kansas to Oz, or what was so funny about the line “A horse of a different color” being a horse that actually changed colors.

In high school, I was invited to my friend Laurie’s house to watch it in color. And it was magical. To see something so very familiar that looked so very different, well, it was, as I already said, magical.

Interestingly, Laurie’s mother actually knew the actress, Margaret Hamilton, who terrified me for years as the Wicked Witch of the West. I learned about the fact that Ms. Hamilton’s costume had actually caught on fire in one scene, putting a stop to several other would-be fiery scenes. But mostly I learned that she was just a nice lady who played a memorable part. It all took place while I was dreaming of becoming an actress myself.

I saw this clip on dailykos.com. Showing the transformation of Margaret Hamilton into the Wicked Witch of the West, and her explaining that she was just playing dress-up. Anybody who has kids might want to share this video with their very scared kids!

Happy Halloween!

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Filed under Childhood Traumas, Daily Kos, Holidays, Humor

Tagged as Humor, Middle-Aging

October 23, 2013 · 0:00

Why Should They Get it Better?

The voice inside my head is getting louder and louder. It has been happening for over three weeks now. I have to let it out or my head will explode.

It’s not what you think.

I haven’t been trying any of the products I research, or no more than usual.

I haven’t become a schizophrenic hearing demons that chant “kill, kill, kill.”

I haven’t even become a Tea Party member muttering “screw the poor, screw the folks who don’t look like me, don’t touch my Medicare.” Nope.

It’s just my Dad’s voice. But he won’t shut up. He keeps on saying:

“For Cryin’ Out Loud, Lease, What Did You Expect?”

It’s no use telling him that I agree with him and that really, I didn’t expect this whole thing to go smoothly. He was a hard man to beat in an argument before, but since his death it has been absolutely impossible to win an argument with the man. He’s gone all passive-aggressive on me, the bastard.

But in point of fact, I figured that the roll-out of Obamacare would be just like it has been since October 1. Full of problems that lead everyone to bang their head on their desk, throw their laptops out the window and threaten bodily harm to anyone who interrupts them when they’re just about done. I could have told you that before the bill passed either House of Congress, was signed by the President. I could have told you there would be huge problems even before the Supreme Court deemed it constitutional.

Remember how I am an expert patient? An expert patient who has had health-and-therefore-insurance issues for 40 years? I am pretty sure I have fought with each and every single insurance company that has done business in the United States, and a few in Europe. And this includes the six hours I spent online and on the phone with CareFirst this past Monday trying to figure out the fine details of the two different policies I had to choose from. The recordings of my running commentary would not be suitable for training purposes.

So really, I think the folks who set up Healthcare.gov did the folks who qualify for insurance under the Affordable Care Act a favor by having so many problems on the website.

Because they’ve gotten just the first taste of what it’s like to deal with a god damn insurance company.

* * *

With heartfelt apologies to my Dad, who was an insurance agent and would have been able to tell everyone that this is exactly what they should have expected.

Apologies also to my favorite live insurance agent, Peg of PegOLeg.com who is probably too busy working on getting folks covered to read this post anyway.

Thanks to both List of X for his two funny posts on the rollout here and here, and Moe of Whatever Works for inspiring me to comment on their blogs and inspired me to write this one.