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Glasses Micro-Rant

Thu Jun 30 19:16:10 +0200 2005
daBlog » Snippets

I really hate looking for my glasses, especially when I need my glasses to find them! Arrrgggh!

 

Not Your Average Joe

Wed Jun 29 18:32:10 +0200 2005
daBlog » Current Events

Right now I am sad, angry and overwhelmed. Sad because my brother’s friend just died. Angry because he died in the most senseless way, apparently the victim of a gang initiation. Overwhelmed because I know this is just one of many problems happening in the States today, and also one of many that we must all try to fix.

His name was Joe Wagner, 21 years old, a young man who wanted to dedicate his life to civil rights. He volunteered for an organisation called BAMN , also known as the “Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action By Any Means Necessary,” a group my brother has been involved with for about ten years. Joe moved from Ann Arbor, MI to Detroit to make a difference. This is what my brother says about him:

He grew up with few friends, but found that committing himself to

something bigger gave his life meaning. Nearly every day he has organized and spoken to classrooms of Detroit high school and middle school students to get them involved. He struggled through a reading disability to learn about history and make himself a better leader. He was “a good guy” in every sense of the word, and was one of the few people who was genuinely friendly to everybody and wanted to know and help everyone he knew. A good soul who seemed all heart, had his stabbed at a Church function of all places. His aorta punctured, he died 11 hours later. Here are a few articles:

Here was a young man who overcame several obstacles to reach out to other human beings to educate and get them to take action. We need to learn from his example. We all know there’s a lot of crap going on in the world, particularly in our own neighborhoods, and the best we can do is lock our doors and be afraid. But that’s not the answer. We need to step outside of ourselves for once and embrace the world without fear.

“Ye have heard that it has been said, Thou shall love thy neighbor, and

hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you.” —Jesus (Matthew 5:43)
 

Bush Game

Sun Jun 26 00:05:41 +0200 2005
daBlog » Linkables

Wow, just spent an hour playing this great flash game, BushGame. It was produced before the 2004 Election, and obviously was created to sway voters into voting for Kerry. Tho that event has come and gone, the game is still a great way to get educated on how this current administration has destroyed America.

It’s got two modes, one where you’re reading the facts and getting entertained by the hilarious dialogue, and the other is a straight up video game. If you don’t go for the latter, use the pull-down menus at the bottom.

This is the most inventive, creative thing I’ve seen on the web. Definitely worth checking out.

 

Lost Boys

Sat Jun 25 17:00:00 +0200 2005
daBlog » Current Events

A realy sad story has come out of Camden, New Jersey recently. Three boys, ages 11, 6 and 5, went missing Wednesday night. They were last seen playing in the yard by one of their mothers, who said she was watching them squirt each other with a garden hose. She went inside the house for a few minutes to check on dinner, only to come back to find them gone. For two days, police officers searched the Delaware river, combed dumpsters, were even ready to put out an APB on a potential suspect. Tragically, one of the boys’ fathers found them, curled up in the trunk of his Toyota Camry, located in the same yard where they had orginally gone missing. Official word was that there was no sign of foul play. “Accidental suffocation” was the phrase used this morning. Story here

This story really gets me in a number of ways. I particularly feel for the parents who—unlike others who can vent all their anger on kidnappers, child molesters, whatever—are going to be left thinking for the rest of their lives “What if I hadn’t left them alone?” or “Why didn’t I check the car?”. Imagine the kind of guilt they all must be going through. Do you ever get that sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach when you realize something you did, or might not have done, caused something bad to happen. It must be 1000x times worse for them.

Then there’s another thing. The fact that we are all programmed to think the worst whenever a child goes missing. The parents thought they had run away. The police thought they were kidnapped. There was even a troupe of divers on standby ready to search the nearby river…. when all along, these kids were probably playing an innocent game of hide-and-seek, who thought they were being so clever not to answer the calls of family and friends who were frantically searching for them. How sad that we go through all these lengths to reach a certain goal, when the answer is almost so obviously right under our noses, or just not sexy enough to consider, that we ignore it? Yep, I’m not just talking about these kids. We all do it, don’t we?

 

TP Embarrassment

Tue Jun 21 12:40:58 +0200 2005
daBlog » Snippets

There are few things that embarrass me nowadays. I go out sans make-up, sometimes even half awake occasionally with crud still in my eyes. My wardrobe is essentially the same as when I first came to Amsterdam: faded tops, worn jeans, holes in conspicuous places. Heck, once you’ve been to a nudist resort, what is there left to be embarrassed about?

But here’s what gets me…. toilet paper. Actually, buying toilet paper. More specifically, buying a 32-roll value pack of toilet paper and then carrying it home. Yeah, seems like nothing, but in the back of my head, I keep thinking that folks first look at the TP, then at me and think “Damn, she sure sh*ts a lot.” And that really bothers me!

I don’t know. There’s just something about TP, and lots of embarrassment associated with it, isn’t there? Have you ever been in the situation where you’re at someone else’s house, you’re using the bathroom, and you realize there isn’t enough TP left on the roll, or it’s completely out, and all your efforts to find a spare are futile? Don’t you get overwhelmed with a feeling of dread, of having to poke your head out the door, with your ass all hanging out and dripping, asking your host for another roll? You know the feeling.

Or even the flipside.. say you’re the host, and your guest is asking for another roll. Don’t you feel like an ass for not stocking up on TP, and then all you have to offer is a Brawny paper towel?

Eh, maybe I’m getting too much into this. I’m sure this whole TP embarrassment thing will go away soon enough and then I can go on with my life again. ;)

 
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