My CFS Diary

[MuffyBee]

   

[Lucinda]

Thanks klass and muffy, course I can do it,  Its when I get online, no food, and a six pack of beer, I spill my heart out.  Since Josh hung himself, after his brother was murdered, yes. I suffer depression and all my other woes.  I have a reason too.  Next week, hubby knows (captain) he will take pics of me.  At this cfs stuff.  They ordered the smallest pants made for me, and they fit, but a bit tight, they will do.  Australian size 8.  I think I am a usa size 2.  I just have to fit them over my normal clothes.  I want my son back here, I miss him, and he would give this lil prick a word or two that I climbed too slow up the truck.  Lil shyte wait till next week.  He paid me out all night, even at the fridge where bottles of water and coke, I asked him nicely "How much is a bottle ofwater, he told me DERR IDIOT ITS FREE.   
 I said thanks/ next week he is gonna die for treating me like that.

[Lucinda]

.my son has done cfs, and passed with govt permission, cos he was 17, but so strong, and so good.  He never missed one of cfs.  Nor did Josh.  But, me and barb dropped them off at cfs and we came back to my house to catch up on the towns gossip, cups of tea, then we would pick up jeff and josh.  A pizza was ordered, and Josh would sit with my "thats life magazine" and do all the puzzles for me.  It was lovely times for us all.  Still accepting brian's murder, we did not do too bad.

[MuffyBee]

Hello Lucinda~  I hope you will have some good news to report for next weeks CFS classes.   

[Lucinda]

I sure will muffy.
I got A new job at night, bouncer,  A bouncer throws drunks out the pub and breaks up fights,  I did do this job for years, tonight a six foot two man started up a fight, I Seperated and spoke to him, both itcing to fight.  I tackled him to the ground and got him out.  I am not  bragging, but I can safely paralise and thus my name here is lethal.

[MuffyBee]

I sure will muffy.
I got A new job at night, bouncer,  A bouncer throws drunks out the pub and breaks up fights,  I did do this job for years, tonight a six foot two man started up a fight, I Seperated and spoke to him, both itcing to fight.  I tackled him to the ground and got him out.  I am not  bragging, but I can safely paralise and thus my name here is lethal.

   Wow Lucinda!  That's amazing!  So you pinned him, eh?  I guess the bigger they are, the harder they fall 

[Lucinda]

yes, I can do that, easier than typing on a keyboard with no letters.
Wait till his back is turned, with your right arm in a fold position from behind grab that arm firmly around his neck (it wont choke him, but immobolise and shock him) meanwhile you have two good legs free.  Im right legged, one slam under the back of his knee cap, he is down, meanwhile you still have him around the throat, then the cops come. 

[Lucinda]

forgot to add, you gotta sit on him till the cops come.
Its so easy, you all can do it. 

[Lucinda]

This is one other thing I know.  When you think you are in danger, JUST SCREAM YOUR LUNGS OUT.  The best word to yell is RAPE  someone will call 911, HELP, sadly people think its a domestic, and they can call 911 with "Help" and they get a lot of questions, sadly too late. 

[MuffyBee]

Thank you Lucinda.  You gave us some very helpful safety tips.   

[Lucinda]

omg, on the late news tonight in aussie, we got casey anthony 

[Lucinda]

thanks muffy
if any one wants self defence stratedgies, just ask.  I didnt write this, but saved it, its (to me could save a life)
I received this in an email and thought i should share it....



Through a Rapist's Eyes (No Joke). This is important information for females of ALL ages.

When this was sent to me, I was told to forward it to my lady friends, but I forwarded it to most everyone in my address book. My men friends have female friends and this information is too important to miss someone. Please pass it along.

A group of rapists and date rapists in prison were interviewed on what they look for in a potential victim and here are some interesting facts:

1) The first thing men look for in a potential victim is hairstyle. They are most likely to go after a woman with a ponytail, bun, braid or other hairstyle that can easily be grabbed. They are also likely to go after a woman with long hair. Women with short hair are not common targets.

2) The second thing men look for is clothing. They will look for women who's clothing is easy to remove quickly . Many of them carry scissors around specifically to cut clothing.

3) They also look for women on their cell phone, searching through their purse, or doing other activities while walking because they are off-guard and can be easily overpowered.

4) Men are most likely to attack & rape in the early morning, between 5:00a.m. and 8:30a.m.

5) The number one place women are abducted from/attacked is grocery store parking lots. Number two: is office parking lots/garages. Number three: is public restrooms.

6) The thing about these men is that they are looking to grab a woman and quickly move her to another location where they don't have to worry about getting caught.

7) only 2% said they carried weapons because rape carries a 3-5 year sentence but rape with a weapon is 15-20 years.

Cool If you put up any kind of a fight at all, they get discouraged because it only takes a minute or two for them to realize that going after you isn't worth it because it will be time-consuming.

9) These men said they would not pick on women who have umbrellas, or other objects that can be used from a distance, in their hands. Keys are not a deterrent because you have to get really close to the attacker to use them as a weapon. So, the idea is to convince these guys you're not worth it.

10) Of course the things we always hear still apply. Always be aware of your surroundings, take someone with you if you can and if you see any odd behavior, don't dismiss it, go with your instincts!!! You may feel a little silly at the time, but you'd feel much worse if the guy really was trouble.

11) Several defense mechanisms he taught us are: If someone is following behind you on a street or in a garage or with you in an elevator or stairwell, look them in the face and ask them a question, like what time is it, or make general small talk: "I can't believe it is so cold out here," "we're in for a bad winter." Now you've seen their face and could identify them in a line-up; you lose appeal as a target.

12) If someone is coming toward you , hold out your hands in front of you and yell STOP or STAY BACK ! Most of the rapists this man talked to said they'd leave a woman alone if she yelled or showed that she would not be afraid to fight back. Again, they are looking for an EASY target.

13) If you carry pepper spray (this instructor was a huge advocate of it and carries it with him wherever he goes), yell I HAVE PEPPER SPRAY and holding it out will be a deterrent.

14) If someone grabs you, you can't beat them with strength but you can by outsmarting them. If you are grabbed around the waist from behind, pinch the attacker either under the arm (between the elbow and armpit) OR in the upper inner thigh VERY VERY HARD. one woman in a class this guy taught told him she used the underarm pinch on a guy who was trying to date rape her and was so upset she broke through the skin and tore out muscle strands - the guy needed stitches. Try pinching yourself in those places as hard as you can stand it - it hurts.

15) After the initial hit, always GO for the GROIN. I know from a particularly unfortunate experience that if you slap a guy's parts it is extremely painful. You might think that you'll anger the guy and make him want to hurt you more, but the thing these rapists told our instructor is that they want a woman who will not cause a lot of trouble. Start causing trouble and he's out of there.

16) When the guy puts his hands up to you, grab his first two fingers and bend them back as far as possible with as much pressure pushing down on them as possible. The instructor did it to me without using much pressure, and I ended up on my knees and both knuckles cracked audibly.

17) Tip from Tae Kwon Do: The elbow is the strongest point on your body. If you are close enough to use it, do! Anywhere- face, gut, groin. Make it hurt.

1Cool If a robber asks for your wallet or purse, DO NOT HAND IT TO HIM. Toss it away from you....chances are that he is more interested in your wallet and/or purse than you, and he will go for the wallet/purse. RUN LIKE MAD IN THE OTHER DIRECTION!

19) If you are ever thrown into the trunk of a car, kick out the back tail lights and stick your arm out the hole and start waving like crazy. The driver won't see you, but everybody else will. This has saved lives.

20) Women have a tendency to get into their cars after shopping, eating, working, etc., and just sit (doing their checkbook, or making a list, etc.) DON'T DO THIS! The predator will be watching you, and this is the perfect opportunity for him to get in on the passenger side, put a gun to your head, and tell you where to go. AS SOON AS YOU GET INTO YOUR CAR, LOCK THE DOORS AND LEAVE. If someone is in the car with a gun to your head DO NOT DRIVE OFF, repeat: DO NOT DRIVE OFF! Instead gun the engine and speed into anything, wrecking the car. Your Air Bag will save you. If the person is in the back seat they will get the worst of it. As soon as the car crashes bail out and run. It is better than having them find your body in a remote location.

21) A few notes about getting into your car in a parking lot/parking garage: A.) Be aware: look around you,
B.) Look into your car, at the passenger side floor, and in the back seat.
C.) If you are parked next to a big van, enter your car from the passenger door. Most serial killers attack their victims by pulling them into their vans while the women are attempting to get into their cars.
D.) Look at the car parked on the driver's side of your vehicle, and the passenger side. If a male is sitting alone in the seat nearest your car, you may want to walk back into the mall, or work, and get a guard/policeman to walk you back out.
IT IS ALWAYS BETTER TO BE SAFE THAN SORRY. (And better paranoid than dead.)

22) ALWAYS take the elevator instead of the stairs. Stairwells are horrible places to be alone & the perfect crime spot. This is especially true at night!

23) If the predator has a gun and you are not under his control, ALWAYS RUN! The predator will only hit you (a running target) 4 in 100 times. And even then, it most likely WILL NOT be a vital organ. RUN, preferably in a zigzag pattern!

24) As women, we are always trying to be sympathetic: STOP! It may get you raped or killed. Ted Bundy, the serial killer, was a good-looking, well-educated man, who ALWAYS played on the sympathies of unsuspecting women. He walked with a cane, or a limp, and often asked "for help" into his vehicle or with his vehicle, which is when he abducted his next victim.

25) Another Safety Point: Someone just told me that her friend heard a crying baby on her porch the night before last, and she called the police because it was late and she thought it was weird. The police told her "Whatever you do, DO NOT open the door." The lady then said that it sounded like the baby had crawled near a window, and she was worried that it would crawl to the street and get run over. The policeman said, "We already have a unit on the way, whatever you do, DO NOT open the door." He told her that they think a serial killer has a baby's cry recorded and uses it to coax women out of their homes thinking that someone dropped off a baby. He said they have not verified it , but have had several calls by women saying that they hear baby's cries outside their doors when they're home alone at night.

Please pass this on and DO NOT open the door for a crying baby. This should be taken seriously because the Crying Baby theory was mentioned on America's Most Wanted this past Saturday when they profiled the serial killer in Louisiana.

I'd like you to forward this to all the women you know. It may save a life. A candle is not dimmed by lighting another candle. I was going to send this to the ladies only, but guys, if you love your mothers, wives, sisters, daughters, etc., you may want to pass it onto them, as well.

[Lucinda]

Hey guys, sorry I havent been here for a while, just had to make sure I got my act together, Im a lot better now.  I have kept a whole diary from my cfs adventure, so might just copy paste it all here, might be two things I doubled up on, that i already wrote in here. 

e had to go out in the truck to a fake gas fire, and learnt the five man front, which is where two people are on 2 hoses, one person behind each on the hoses, and one in the middle to yell instructions, to step forward shuffle to right etc, then the middle man goes turns off the gas tap.  All took it in turns on the hose, middle man and the one behind, got drenched, and one of the guys took a pic of me on my camera on the hose, and the batteries didnt work.  Got two of me in the truck tho, david can upload tomorrow.  Then, we went fill up the truck, and I rode in the back, and it was cold as shyte, cos the driver went up crowsnest road, the long way back to the station.   

[Lucinda]

that didnt work, maybe i am copy pasting too big a post?  I will try again, im really sorry for that.  I always stuff up sheesh 

[Lucinda]

My first night out in the truck.  I learnt very quickly how to get up the steps, into the back and the front of the truck.  This is not an easy task, when you are wearing big heavy boots, and fire fighting coveralls, over your normal clothes.  Especially since i am new, I got tight pants and big floppy boots, so its like running like a clown.  We were taught how to spot the blue reflectors in the road, as that means there is a fire hydrant nearby on the side of the road.  I played spot the blue reflector that first night.  Next week, we learnt how to get out of the truck correctly, no lucinda, you dont just jump from the back, towards the road, You actually disembark the truck, with your front facing the truck, back towards the footpath, not on the side that is directly on the road, with oncoming traffic, and  and then you climb down.  Pretty easy you would think, but it is a safety technique, I had to master, before they let me out again. 

Once I discovered the blue "spotto" tecnique, learned how to safely disembark the fire engine, I was allowed on the hoses.  I had been reading up about this, so i did show em all what i could do.  Also, at training nights when it was coffee time, i went over and over the truck, where everything was kept.  each truck is different, in my small hometown, we have two identical ones.  On the sides of the trucks, they have lockers, where tools are kept.  I knew where every item was stored, how to get it out, and safely put it back. 

By week four, I was such an expert at spotting the fire hydrants, disembarking the truck in a safe manner, following instructions from the leader, and retrieving every item "yelled at me" to go get.  My helmet is too big, slips ova my ears and eyes,  im deaf in my right ear, so i keep saying pardon?  LOL, So now they just holler at me LOL.  We were sent to a "fake fire", I did everything so perfect, retrieved the fire hose, ran with it (in my big floppy boots) and someone fed the hose out, and when the person at the truck yelled "WATER ON"  I turned the hose on, and it blew me back 6 foot i suppose, from the water pressure.  the men stood back LOL @ me, they had me on ole Bertha, which you need a person behind you to catch you when you fly back.  That was all good and funny, and then when they stopped their fun, a man came up close behind me, but by then, i got used to the pressure, and told him, no I didnt tell him, just thought it LOL.  Here, he showed me the different ways you can turn the nozzle of the hose for different fire situations.  Full blast, for house fires, a full circle for gas situations, grass fires, a half circle stream, you get what im saying?

Now they let me go fill the truck with water.  I was prepared, been reading the manual, but when I had to lift the fire hydrant from the road, with a piddly allen key thing, and couldnt budge it, up comes the "big bloke" to "show me how".  LOL, he couldnt budge it either, "Yells" to me go get the hammer and a crowbar, so off i run back to the truck in my floppy "clown" boots as fast as i could, got the crowbar and hammer, run/floppily back, give said man the tools, and he could not budge it.  Trying my hardest to be concerned, (actually i did bring this topic up at the meeting), but apperently it is the water departments job to ensure all roadside fire hydrants are easily opened.  *rolls eyes*

We drive on, find another, same deal, me "spotting" me disembarking, me lifting up the fire hydrant lid, this time, yay it lifted.  meanwhile, got the pump, it is a  pump that you have to screw one section of the hose into this plug.  Well, it wouldnt go in, no matter how hard i tried.  In the end, "they" believed me, and the captain says, "This is not what you do", but he sticks his hand down the hole, and pulls out all this litter and junk, then he says "Go now Lethal"  (thats my name there LOL)  AND I DONE IT. 

You all have to remember how cold it is here right now.  Im so cold, rayniods in my hands, but all the adrenaline, warms me up.

I got thermal underwear now. 

The following week, expecting to be the "spotto"  and "wet thing" again LOL, IM told there is a fire in a building, and I am needed to go in and "see what I can find".  They tied me to a man, and put blind glasses on me, so it was all dark.  The man tied to me was lovely, he taught me how to use my right foot, before I took a step, and swing it to the left and the right, before I walked.  What they didnt tell me was what to "find". 
It was actually in the cfs headquarters, and I didnt know what they wanted me to find, and I got so excited, when i found a chair LOL.  I yelled, "Chair" but they wanted me to find a body.  Derr, coulda told me LOL.  The CFS is full of rooms and corners, and they had a person hidden in the toilet.  Well, if they told me a body, I woulda ignored the chair, sheesh.

We had a break cos school holidays, and then a dinner, which was nice.  Then, a meeting.  Then, can you believe they went and purchased a new truck, and its all different to the old one.  Its got lights that go up and down, big spotlights, more lockers, everything in different places,  hoses that self wind.  I was at training, and it all went ova my head.  Im still working the new truck out, everyone is excited about, cept me.

Tonight was CABA training, but phew for me, there was not enuff breathing appartus for me and four others.  So, they send me off in the "new truck".  We had to go out in the truck to a fake gas fire, and learnt the five man front, which is where two people are on 2 hoses, one person behind each on the hoses, and one in the middle to yell instructions, to step forward shuffle to right etc, then the middle man goes turns off the gas tap.  All took it in turns on the hose, middle man and the one behind, got drenched, and one of the guys took a pic of me on my camera on the hose, and the batteries didnt work.  Got two of me in the truck tho, david can upload tomorrow.  Then, we went fill up the truck, and I rode in the back, and it was cold as shyte, cos the driver went up crowsnest road, the long way back to the station.     Then, we went fill up the truck, and I rode in the back, and it was cold as shyte, cos the driver went up this huge winding hill, the long way back to the station, so he could practice driving the new truck.  It was fun tonight tho, no pressure, and I got more acquainted with the new truck. 

[Lucinda]

I still havent been called to do  (it will either be a six day straight course, or a six week, one night a week), Im hoping six day straight.  Then, I can actually go to real fires and emergencies.  Altho, after that, I have to get my first aid certificate again.  Thats a two day course, I already done it, but didnt renew it, so need to do it again.  Part of my post up there^^^ double posted, so sorry for that.  it must be my keyboard.  All in all, I love it, and I think I will do well at this. 

[klaasend]

I still havent been called to do  (it will either be a six day straight course, or a six week, one night a week), Im hoping six day straight.  Then, I can actually go to real fires and emergencies.  Altho, after that, I have to get my first aid certificate again.  Thats a two day course, I already done it, but didnt renew it, so need to do it again.  Part of my post up there^^^ double posted, so sorry for that.  it must be my keyboard.  All in all, I love it, and I think I will do well at this. 

That's wonderful Lucinda! 

By the way, I see you mentioned Raynauds and your hands.  I have Raynauds and the calcium channel blocker I take for my blood pressure has really helped with the Raynauds as well.  I don't have any noticible symptoms at all any more. 

[Lucinda]

Thanks Klaas,
Wow you have rayniods too?  I was on a drug, called adalat that thinned my blood, but it made my ankles swell.  Rayniods is part of the scleroderma condition I have.  I wear leather gloves at cfs tho.  Training wont be so tough when the weather warms up here.

[klaasend]

Thanks Klaas,
Wow you have rayniods too?  I was on a drug, called adalat that thinned my blood, but it made my ankles swell.  Rayniods is part of the scleroderma condition I have.  I wear leather gloves at cfs tho.  Training wont be so tough when the weather warms up here.

Yes, Adalat is the blood pressure medication I am on..have been for almost 15 years now.  But Adalat is also used to treat Raynauds as well.  Works out well for me, I'm on a very low dose and it keeps my BP in check and also takes care of my Raynaud problem.  My fingers used to turn completely white and numb before the Adalat.  Not now. 

[Lucinda]

yeah mine go white and blue, when I was a barmaid, all the cold beer gave me ulcers on my fingertips, so I had to give that job up.  Fancy being on adalat, I couldnt take it, like I said, made my ankles swell, and made me feel sick too.  Its good it works for you tho.  By the way, feel free to delete my physco posts in here, wow I really was a nutjob, cant believe how messed up my head was