i meant to reply to this yesterday but got distracted by the mc and bfj's movie. (i have zero time to be on the computer; i really don't even know why i do it . . . it's fun i think is the reason why.)
but that's so amazingly simply true of our country, and perhaps great britain too; i'm going to quote you out of context as if in an interview
str: pixie, why is our country insane?
pixie: at the moment the drunk frat boys outside are why I think this country is insane
str: brilliantly well said!
honderus
famous blue (and green) raincoat
so today was almost a total loss in the preparations for honduras. first i was supposed to be getting my hep a and b shots, but a sixteen year old called me, she needs to get her driver's license, so i had to go get on the road with her.
she nearly backed us out of the parking lot and into a parked car. i was on my cell phone bitching about the check my bank would not cash and screamed into the phone dropping it and grabbing the wheel at the same time. that was a life lesson. all eyes, all four of them, on the road. so that was exiting doctor's office where i was told that the doctor who is supposed to be providing my shots free of charge was not in and his office staff knew nothing of giving me shots for free, so at that point i had no money, no shots, and a small nervous breakdown while in the car with the kid.
then i came home to create an animal cell with my rear window kid, and i can now tell anyone who'd like to know what a lysosome is, what it is, and where it is located and what its function is. i'm pretty sure i learned this a long time ago, but that was a long time ago, now a lysosome is a purple painted mac and cheese noodle, it's located on the styrofoam disk the kid's grandma bought him, and its function is to get this kid an "a" in biology.
then i went back to town alone to recycle, not only my stuff, but the kid's family's stuff; i've recruited his little sister, she now collects cans for me throughout the week; her grandma collects their papers, and their uncle his beer bottles
and i got pulled over for speeding by a state trooper -- this is why i believe that kharma is really a load of shit
what was i going to say, but gw deserved to get pulled over, not me.
the trooper was pretty nice, and together we proved kharma wrong again; i lied and told him that i did not know i was speeding, and he gave me a reduced ticket for something like faulty equipment
then i went on to recycle, still smiling and thinking of how much i love the sex pistols for remaining punk rock, not even the ticket could ruin that.
so i decided to go to goodwill industries because i am bound and determined to go to honduras as much a green-go as possible. and at this point in my life, i don't care if i'm going it alone. i'm just having fun with it.
i've already got two great pairs of hemp pants and two great hemp tees. i was wearing the black one with a dove on it as i was pulled, i think it was this that actually got me a reduced ticket, not telling the lie or kharma, the dude was a dude and i am a chick in a fairly tight black tee shirt i think if i'd had my hair did and my face doned and faked a flirt i would have gotten completely out of it, but i really don't like the fake flirt, if you're not feeling it, it's terrible, the real flirt is fine, it's genuine and pure, the fake flirt is disgusting and as smarmy as gw.
so i went to goodwill and i looked for a lightweight rain coat; i started in the adults section but everything was huge or bulky or furry or leathery, just not going to work in the backpack
so then i moved on to the kids clothes. i almost got a poncho with whales on it, but it seemed difficult being that it was armless.
then i almost got one with penguins on it because i am quite certain that the penguins are smarter than the humans. i've seen the movie, they seem to have figured out how to work together to help their young, use their environment wisely, and maintain egalitarian semi monogamous relationships, so as not to wipe out their own species or piss each other off too much (and according to one article i recently read, they are very open to homosexual relationships, the males just pair up together when they feel like it, the females are like, i knew there was a reason you needed male time while i went to fish); we've yet to do that. the penguins are smarter.
but the pocket was torn, so i settled on a blue one that is lined in green, and it was five dollars, which offsets the cost of the hundred dollar hemp back pack, and i will wear it and think of leonard cohen and ralph nader at the same time, two males who are almost as smart as the penguins.
she nearly backed us out of the parking lot and into a parked car. i was on my cell phone bitching about the check my bank would not cash and screamed into the phone dropping it and grabbing the wheel at the same time. that was a life lesson. all eyes, all four of them, on the road. so that was exiting doctor's office where i was told that the doctor who is supposed to be providing my shots free of charge was not in and his office staff knew nothing of giving me shots for free, so at that point i had no money, no shots, and a small nervous breakdown while in the car with the kid.
then i came home to create an animal cell with my rear window kid, and i can now tell anyone who'd like to know what a lysosome is, what it is, and where it is located and what its function is. i'm pretty sure i learned this a long time ago, but that was a long time ago, now a lysosome is a purple painted mac and cheese noodle, it's located on the styrofoam disk the kid's grandma bought him, and its function is to get this kid an "a" in biology.
then i went back to town alone to recycle, not only my stuff, but the kid's family's stuff; i've recruited his little sister, she now collects cans for me throughout the week; her grandma collects their papers, and their uncle his beer bottles
and i got pulled over for speeding by a state trooper -- this is why i believe that kharma is really a load of shit
what was i going to say, but gw deserved to get pulled over, not me.
the trooper was pretty nice, and together we proved kharma wrong again; i lied and told him that i did not know i was speeding, and he gave me a reduced ticket for something like faulty equipment
then i went on to recycle, still smiling and thinking of how much i love the sex pistols for remaining punk rock, not even the ticket could ruin that.
so i decided to go to goodwill industries because i am bound and determined to go to honduras as much a green-go as possible. and at this point in my life, i don't care if i'm going it alone. i'm just having fun with it.
i've already got two great pairs of hemp pants and two great hemp tees. i was wearing the black one with a dove on it as i was pulled, i think it was this that actually got me a reduced ticket, not telling the lie or kharma, the dude was a dude and i am a chick in a fairly tight black tee shirt i think if i'd had my hair did and my face doned and faked a flirt i would have gotten completely out of it, but i really don't like the fake flirt, if you're not feeling it, it's terrible, the real flirt is fine, it's genuine and pure, the fake flirt is disgusting and as smarmy as gw.
so i went to goodwill and i looked for a lightweight rain coat; i started in the adults section but everything was huge or bulky or furry or leathery, just not going to work in the backpack
so then i moved on to the kids clothes. i almost got a poncho with whales on it, but it seemed difficult being that it was armless.
then i almost got one with penguins on it because i am quite certain that the penguins are smarter than the humans. i've seen the movie, they seem to have figured out how to work together to help their young, use their environment wisely, and maintain egalitarian semi monogamous relationships, so as not to wipe out their own species or piss each other off too much (and according to one article i recently read, they are very open to homosexual relationships, the males just pair up together when they feel like it, the females are like, i knew there was a reason you needed male time while i went to fish); we've yet to do that. the penguins are smarter.
but the pocket was torn, so i settled on a blue one that is lined in green, and it was five dollars, which offsets the cost of the hundred dollar hemp back pack, and i will wear it and think of leonard cohen and ralph nader at the same time, two males who are almost as smart as the penguins.
i chopped off my hair.
this too is partly for honduras. there won't be a lot of clean water there, so i don't think it's a great idea to have long hair and take long showers. a little crappy if you ask me to be taking really long showers over there when they don't even have clean drinking water; part of one of our jobs is de-worming children who get worms because they don't have clean water. plus my hair was really thick making it hot for me and bothersome. it's gone.
the kids were great about it though. they made two interesting observations, one hey, you look ten years younger
i said watch out tomorrow i'll come in shaved and ten years old
it was great though, they said, oh, why did you cut your pretty hair? and i smiled and i said, for kids with cancer and a trip to honduras and then i explained in greater detail.
they also observed that i had on hippie pants.
i said, absolutely, they are hippie pants, they're made of hemp, and they said, oh, like weed you can smoke, and i said, not really you'd get a headache, it's more like it's completely sober, practical cousin.
happy birthday johnny cash.
i'd like to wear a rainbow too, but somedays it has to be short hair and hemp pants.
this too is partly for honduras. there won't be a lot of clean water there, so i don't think it's a great idea to have long hair and take long showers. a little crappy if you ask me to be taking really long showers over there when they don't even have clean drinking water; part of one of our jobs is de-worming children who get worms because they don't have clean water. plus my hair was really thick making it hot for me and bothersome. it's gone.
the kids were great about it though. they made two interesting observations, one hey, you look ten years younger
i said watch out tomorrow i'll come in shaved and ten years old
it was great though, they said, oh, why did you cut your pretty hair? and i smiled and i said, for kids with cancer and a trip to honduras and then i explained in greater detail.
they also observed that i had on hippie pants.
i said, absolutely, they are hippie pants, they're made of hemp, and they said, oh, like weed you can smoke, and i said, not really you'd get a headache, it's more like it's completely sober, practical cousin.
happy birthday johnny cash.
i'd like to wear a rainbow too, but somedays it has to be short hair and hemp pants.
-
TragicPixie
- Mile High Club
- Posts: 831
- Joined: Tue Jan 27, 2004 4:19 am
- Location: St. Louis, MO
- Contact:
oh - I was going to cut my hair but not for any good reason. For Elemental I had wanted to make this awesome outfit white flowy outfit: white phat pants (yeah yeah that does NOT sound like a good idea, being as I'll end up sitting in raver goo) and wear a blue tank top (cause we all know layers of clothing need to be shed when dancing to happy hardcore all night) and wear a kimono sleeve style white hoodie over it (since well.. Minnesota is fuckin' cold). I wanted to cut my hair (so it would be less to dye) and dye it black with some aqua blue bits.
But this did not happen - I looked cute just not in white.
Eventually I will do the hair - like when I have money. I will just end up working at the ever-evil Convergence this summer and I'm ok with a really shitty job that pays well for a few months. Working at Convergence also allows me to have blue hair.
But I'm sure your hair looks nice... and hippie pants are the best.
But this did not happen - I looked cute just not in white.
Eventually I will do the hair - like when I have money. I will just end up working at the ever-evil Convergence this summer and I'm ok with a really shitty job that pays well for a few months. Working at Convergence also allows me to have blue hair.
But I'm sure your hair looks nice... and hippie pants are the best.
Lie to me, it takes less time to drink you pretty.
you should post a picture of your out fit. it sounds neat. i saw a girl at the record store the other day who had short red hair with this cobalt blue streak down the front side. it was really cute on her.
it would look ridiculous on me, but if you can get away with it it, i say, go for it!
my hair looks, i don't know. i think i look like a mom, but the kids say i don't. (of course they do not not to bite the hand that grades them) so, but who cares. it's just hair it'll grow back.
yes about layering, just going to clubs drenches me. it's tough you go in in feb or march without a coat, you get soaking wet dancing and then you come out to catch your death.
this one night my friend was like you look like a drowned heroine addict after a visit to a club, i was like thanks, that's the look i was really going for.
it would look ridiculous on me, but if you can get away with it it, i say, go for it!
my hair looks, i don't know. i think i look like a mom, but the kids say i don't. (of course they do not not to bite the hand that grades them
) so, but who cares. it's just hair it'll grow back.yes about layering, just going to clubs drenches me. it's tough you go in in feb or march without a coat, you get soaking wet dancing and then you come out to catch your death.
this one night my friend was like you look like a drowned heroine addict after a visit to a club, i was like thanks, that's the look i was really going for.
cherish the ladies
Last night I went out with the professor. The professor was very excited to be joining me in watching Cherish the Ladies. I thought I was really going to hate it because when I walked in the entire room smelled of moth balls, and I was the youngest person there by twenty years. Cherish the Old Ladies I thought.
She's freaked because her niece is in Africa right now, and there was something on the news about some folks who were with Doctors without Borders who were almost killed there. Her niece is 18 and working in an orphanage. She's a vegetarian. The only thing she's really worried about is how she's going to eat. So the professor shrugged, she's idealistic she said. I said, yeah, I know what you mean.
As we sat waiting for the performance to begin, she told me about her students. One is a former convict. Another is a young kid who got his GED. I asked her how she liked it. She said, “There've been times when I've felt really burnt out in my career. I could be teaching world lit or british lit or something. But this fulfills me. It makes me happy. These guys may be able to get into college comp next year.â€
I smiled at her and said, “I know this is going to sound weird, but I'm so proud of you.â€
Near the end of the performance, I was struck with a coughing spell and had to leave the auditorium. I stood at the back doors hacking my head off. This little black lady in a sweat jacket came up to me. She said, “Who's my cougher?†I looked at her feeling a little guilty because I was making a lot of racket. Then I started belting out a cough to beat the band, literally, I mean I think I was louder than the symphony that was accompanying the ladies. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a wad of peppermints, “Here,†she said, “Have these. They'll help.â€
When I got home, I checked my emails, and I had two new ones from the Honduras team. One of the guys who is part of the team I'll be joining is already there, and he's started a travelblog. I checked out his pictures. His team is working with an eye clinic. The pictures were amazing; they looked professional. One he titled “Pretty Eyes†was of a young girl who had the most beautiful cat-like yellow brown eyes. Another was titled “Old Eyes†and they were of woman whose eyes were surrounded by wrinkles. Her face was so weathered. The pictures was equally beautiful.
She's freaked because her niece is in Africa right now, and there was something on the news about some folks who were with Doctors without Borders who were almost killed there. Her niece is 18 and working in an orphanage. She's a vegetarian. The only thing she's really worried about is how she's going to eat. So the professor shrugged, she's idealistic she said. I said, yeah, I know what you mean.
As we sat waiting for the performance to begin, she told me about her students. One is a former convict. Another is a young kid who got his GED. I asked her how she liked it. She said, “There've been times when I've felt really burnt out in my career. I could be teaching world lit or british lit or something. But this fulfills me. It makes me happy. These guys may be able to get into college comp next year.â€
I smiled at her and said, “I know this is going to sound weird, but I'm so proud of you.â€
Near the end of the performance, I was struck with a coughing spell and had to leave the auditorium. I stood at the back doors hacking my head off. This little black lady in a sweat jacket came up to me. She said, “Who's my cougher?†I looked at her feeling a little guilty because I was making a lot of racket. Then I started belting out a cough to beat the band, literally, I mean I think I was louder than the symphony that was accompanying the ladies. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a wad of peppermints, “Here,†she said, “Have these. They'll help.â€
When I got home, I checked my emails, and I had two new ones from the Honduras team. One of the guys who is part of the team I'll be joining is already there, and he's started a travelblog. I checked out his pictures. His team is working with an eye clinic. The pictures were amazing; they looked professional. One he titled “Pretty Eyes†was of a young girl who had the most beautiful cat-like yellow brown eyes. Another was titled “Old Eyes†and they were of woman whose eyes were surrounded by wrinkles. Her face was so weathered. The pictures was equally beautiful.
i am a little nervous. i feel sort of like a kid again. i'm going to meet the team today. i've never met most of them only talked with one of them on the phone and sent the guy who gave me his plane ticket a thank you card, so i'm intimidated because these are folks who've been doing this for years. i feel sort of like a i don't know. just nervous and excited.
i hope they like me. that's how i feel. i haven't felt like this since middle school. it's a weird way to feel at thirty, but good.
i hope they like me. that's how i feel. i haven't felt like this since middle school. it's a weird way to feel at thirty, but good.
they liked me, and i like them. they are all a lot older than me, but that's okay. they're so nice; incredibly welcoming.
one guy showed me pictures of the place where we'll be staying part of the time. we aslo saw some pictures of the people they know . . . they've developed a relationship with a lot of them from going year after year. one guy named norman from honduras was amazing, the things they told me about him, amazing and his picture i don't know it made me cry. i don't think i've been happier about anything. it's almost the same feeling i had when i switched my major from environmental to english . . . the ahhh of i'll be working with the thing i really love . . . people.
and it's ten times better than the day i got married. it really is.
one guy showed me pictures of the place where we'll be staying part of the time. we aslo saw some pictures of the people they know . . . they've developed a relationship with a lot of them from going year after year. one guy named norman from honduras was amazing, the things they told me about him, amazing and his picture i don't know it made me cry. i don't think i've been happier about anything. it's almost the same feeling i had when i switched my major from environmental to english . . . the ahhh of i'll be working with the thing i really love . . . people.
and it's ten times better than the day i got married. it really is.
I was thinking about norman just now in the shower. You know, what is it about norman that got me. . . And it wasn't the fact that he's in a wheelchair and that his body looks like a pretzel, I believe it was his face, and something else too . . . Something that reminds me of my parents' friend, john, who was also in a wheelchair his whole life, and it was that he saw them coming down the road, got out of his wheel chair, dragged himself to the edge of the yard, and flagged them down . . . All because . . . He wanted to talk to them. I think the Normans of the world are the ones who show the best of the human spirit, this natural curiosity about others and trust of them . . . He had no clue who they were, and yet, he wanted to talk to them, and he doesn't even speak their language. . . :) to norman.
i was at the park yesterday and passed another norman, this guy was dressed like he was going to do the tour twice, i mean full everything on his bike, i know him sort of from going to the trail so much, he's down there a lot, and he's older, not a great cyclist or even a good one, i know some of those, and he's not one of them . . . but he has all this gear on, and he's stopping people telling them that they need to carry cell phones and how to come up with a neighborhood watch kind of thing there at the park. i smiled. he is an original. he thinks i'm something special on a bike, i'm like look, i'm just thirty, and have been biking for a while, you're fifty and haven't . . . that's the only difference. that and you're incredibly unique and nice ~ to all the normans :)
i was at the park yesterday and passed another norman, this guy was dressed like he was going to do the tour twice, i mean full everything on his bike, i know him sort of from going to the trail so much, he's down there a lot, and he's older, not a great cyclist or even a good one, i know some of those, and he's not one of them . . . but he has all this gear on, and he's stopping people telling them that they need to carry cell phones and how to come up with a neighborhood watch kind of thing there at the park. i smiled. he is an original. he thinks i'm something special on a bike, i'm like look, i'm just thirty, and have been biking for a while, you're fifty and haven't . . . that's the only difference. that and you're incredibly unique and nice ~ to all the normans :)
people needing something to believe in to keep them from killing themselves and others.
i'd have to say that probably is factoring into my going to honduras.
there is one purpose of the group other than provided eye care, deworming, vitamins, and triage type care to folks who don't have other options -- it is a very strange "hippie" concept, but it is the concept of love.
one of my new friends was telling me about one trip. they were riding through the mountains on their way to a village -- they were all in the back of a flat bed truck and they were being accompanied by two armed men.
some one, perhaps the government, had sent them in to protect my new friends, and in an instant, these fellas whipped out black ski masks, put them on, and readied their ak47's. my friends were not sure if they were being kidnapped or being protected or what was going on, but they smiled looked at each other and said, either way, oh well, we've come to love these folks and that is all we're here to do, kidnapped, killed, or cured, we're here for one reason, spreading the love, not gettting folks killed.
we won't have body guards this year unless the government forces us to, and i don't think they will, they did not even pay the guards that were sent the first time, but the team feels and i agree that ak47's are not the best way to spread the love . . . it just projects a bit of non-love to protect yourself this way.
when my new friend told me this story, i think it was to prepare me for what we might (in the very worst case scenerio) encounter and how that might change a person's mind, i said, my husband worked in central and south america for a while, he's told me a lot of stories, meaning i know cognitively what this has the potential to be, and well . . . the rest i'll just have to see about when i get there.
anyway so this person, me, believes in love, it is what keeps me from killing myself and others, and i really think it is the only thing that does.
my mother years ago was asked to define love. she said, god is love. this is an interesting sentence because the verb that connects the subject to the predicate nominative is linking, it works like an equal sign, what is on one side is equal to the other side so that one can logically say:
love is god.
i think if there is an abstract noun worth believing in, it is love, it seems to be the one that bails humans out of death more than any other concept.
i'd have to say that probably is factoring into my going to honduras.
there is one purpose of the group other than provided eye care, deworming, vitamins, and triage type care to folks who don't have other options -- it is a very strange "hippie" concept, but it is the concept of love.
one of my new friends was telling me about one trip. they were riding through the mountains on their way to a village -- they were all in the back of a flat bed truck and they were being accompanied by two armed men.
some one, perhaps the government, had sent them in to protect my new friends, and in an instant, these fellas whipped out black ski masks, put them on, and readied their ak47's. my friends were not sure if they were being kidnapped or being protected or what was going on, but they smiled looked at each other and said, either way, oh well, we've come to love these folks and that is all we're here to do, kidnapped, killed, or cured, we're here for one reason, spreading the love, not gettting folks killed.
we won't have body guards this year unless the government forces us to, and i don't think they will, they did not even pay the guards that were sent the first time, but the team feels and i agree that ak47's are not the best way to spread the love . . . it just projects a bit of non-love to protect yourself this way.
when my new friend told me this story, i think it was to prepare me for what we might (in the very worst case scenerio) encounter and how that might change a person's mind, i said, my husband worked in central and south america for a while, he's told me a lot of stories, meaning i know cognitively what this has the potential to be, and well . . . the rest i'll just have to see about when i get there.
anyway so this person, me, believes in love, it is what keeps me from killing myself and others, and i really think it is the only thing that does.
my mother years ago was asked to define love. she said, god is love. this is an interesting sentence because the verb that connects the subject to the predicate nominative is linking, it works like an equal sign, what is on one side is equal to the other side so that one can logically say:
love is god.
i think if there is an abstract noun worth believing in, it is love, it seems to be the one that bails humans out of death more than any other concept.
i got a wee bit drunk this weekend as is the tradition, but honduras was on my mind. the drink gave me heartburn. i think i really am too old for it, of course i'm saying that sober, but even still i had a couple of sips of my drink and said, god this is awesome then i said, god when is my tikki tappa tofu platter going to get here? i need something on my stomach.
the hubby is fully supporting my decision to go, and i don't think i've been happier. he didn't want me to go to peru and it caused a lot of problems. he hasn't supported me in a lot of my hair brained ideas, but this weekend he was with me all the way. i don't think we've been happier. it goes back to protection, and he's very very protective; his being happy for me to do this, has i think made more a difference in our relationship than anything else. we've been on and off for two years and i think we might finally be on for good. i hope so.
he may be getting a new job this year and if so he said he'll help me out with africa next summer if i want to go, and he'll even try to go with me to honduras the next time. i think really, he'd be more of an asset to the team than i will be because he's emt certified, works with people who are on the verge of death, has been to and hiked around central and south america and knows what it is like first hand to have someone put a gun in your face. i think it's like i have a partner now. i told him that today. it's like we are what i thought we'd be and really who i thought we were, but it's taken something like seven years to get back to that.
i told him about crunchy cons and that i thought we should buy it and he should take it to work. he laughed and thought it was a good idea.
i got my my boots check and waterproofing stuff for them
i got my toilet paper squashed and in a plastic bag --check
i got my hemp back pack -- check
i got my socks -- waterproof -- check
i got two pairs of hemp pants -- check
i got two hemp tees -- check
i got towels and wash clothes to leave there -- check
i got this cool dr. bronner's all-one stuff, it's shampoo, soap, mouth wash, etc, and hemp, so are my boots. -- check
i ordered my kleen kanteen -- so just about check
i met my teammates and i like them a whole lot -- check
i need to get my malaria pills asap, i'm supposed to be taking them right now actually
i got the hubby happy about my going -- check plus.
and i got a phone call from my best friend in raliegh, and i didn't tell him about the guns and stuff. i sang him working at the car wash, cause that's where he was, but he wasn't working, he was getting his car washed, so i sang him the song and just said i'm going to honduras, i'll see you when i get back and then he told me about all the clubs / bars he'd been to friday night, and i said, so you're going to take me out when i get back, and he said, you bet i'll take a couple of days off.
the hubby's gone to get a nine year old. he made one of these tee's with the kid's face on it that he's wearing today while he picks him up. i'm like god what a terribly dorky thing to do . . . i love you. he and the kid are going to be working on a bike together -- the kid's bike not his, what a cool thing to do.
sometimes life is good in spite of war and wacko presidents, but really i think it's just the people you love who are, really. i think i'm very lucky.
thanks pax people for allowing me to share. read you all later.
adios amigos.
the hubby is fully supporting my decision to go, and i don't think i've been happier. he didn't want me to go to peru and it caused a lot of problems. he hasn't supported me in a lot of my hair brained ideas, but this weekend he was with me all the way. i don't think we've been happier. it goes back to protection, and he's very very protective; his being happy for me to do this, has i think made more a difference in our relationship than anything else. we've been on and off for two years and i think we might finally be on for good. i hope so.
he may be getting a new job this year and if so he said he'll help me out with africa next summer if i want to go, and he'll even try to go with me to honduras the next time. i think really, he'd be more of an asset to the team than i will be because he's emt certified, works with people who are on the verge of death, has been to and hiked around central and south america and knows what it is like first hand to have someone put a gun in your face. i think it's like i have a partner now. i told him that today. it's like we are what i thought we'd be and really who i thought we were, but it's taken something like seven years to get back to that.
i told him about crunchy cons and that i thought we should buy it and he should take it to work. he laughed and thought it was a good idea.
i got my my boots check and waterproofing stuff for them
i got my toilet paper squashed and in a plastic bag --check
i got my hemp back pack -- check
i got my socks -- waterproof -- check
i got two pairs of hemp pants -- check
i got two hemp tees -- check
i got towels and wash clothes to leave there -- check
i got this cool dr. bronner's all-one stuff, it's shampoo, soap, mouth wash, etc, and hemp, so are my boots. -- check
i ordered my kleen kanteen -- so just about check
i met my teammates and i like them a whole lot -- check
i need to get my malaria pills asap, i'm supposed to be taking them right now actually
i got the hubby happy about my going -- check plus.
and i got a phone call from my best friend in raliegh, and i didn't tell him about the guns and stuff. i sang him working at the car wash, cause that's where he was, but he wasn't working, he was getting his car washed, so i sang him the song and just said i'm going to honduras, i'll see you when i get back and then he told me about all the clubs / bars he'd been to friday night, and i said, so you're going to take me out when i get back, and he said, you bet i'll take a couple of days off.
the hubby's gone to get a nine year old. he made one of these tee's with the kid's face on it that he's wearing today while he picks him up. i'm like god what a terribly dorky thing to do . . . i love you. he and the kid are going to be working on a bike together -- the kid's bike not his, what a cool thing to do.
sometimes life is good in spite of war and wacko presidents, but really i think it's just the people you love who are, really. i think i'm very lucky.
thanks pax people for allowing me to share. read you all later.
adios amigos.
I think I figured out why Africa is calling.
One former child soldier from Burundi stated that: “We spent sleepless nights watching for the enemy. My first role was to carry a torch for grown-up rebels. Later I was shown how to use hand grenades. Barely within a month or so, I was carrying an AK-47 rifle or even a G3.â€
When they are not actively engaged in combat, they can often be seen manning checkpoints; adult soldiers can normally be seen standing a further 15 meters behind the barrier so that if bullets start flying, it is the children who are the first victims.
And in any given conflict when even a few children are involved as soldiers, all children, civilian or combatant, come under suspicion. A recent military sweep in Congo-Brazzaville, for instance, killed all “rebels who had attained the 'age of bearing arms'.â€
Girls are also the victims of child soldiers. In Algeria, a young woman from one of the villages where massacres had taken place, said that all of the killers were boys under 17. Some boys who looked to be around 12 decapitated a 15-year-old girl and played 'catch' with the head.
Atrocities have all too frequently been committed by child soldiers, sometimes under the influence of drugs or alcohol which they may be forced to take.
In Sierra Leone, for example, a journalist from the French newspaper Le Figaro claimed that most of the rebels are children not older than 14, who are under the effect of drugs and alcohol. He reported what one of them told him about torture they inflict on their victims: “at 2 p.m., they gouge out two eyes, at 3 p.m., they cut off one hand, at 4 p.m., they cut off the other hand, at 5 p.m., they cut off one foot and … at 7 p.m. it is death.â€
Coercion aside, children may join the military for security, a pressing need for unaccompanied children who are vulnerable to nearly every kind of threat.
Desperation for food or medical care often drives children into military life.
Some children also volunteer to join the armed forces.
In Congo, for example, between 4,000 and 5,000 adolescents responded to a radio broadcast calling for 12-20 year olds to enroll to defend their country; most were street children.
In Liberia, about 10 percent of an estimated 60,000 combatants in the civil war that began in 1989 were children.
This problem is enormous. Numerical estimates, only hint at the damage done to children and to the fabric of the societies in which they live. In 1998 alone, there were 35 major armed conflicts where children were used as soldiers.
Use of Child Soldiers in Africa ::
Algeria
Angola
Burundi
Congo-Brazzaville
Congo-Kinshasa
Djibouti Liberia
Rwanda
Sierra Leone
Somalia
South Africa
Sudan
Uganda
http://www.andrewagnes.com/english/afri ... ierboy.htm
One former child soldier from Burundi stated that: “We spent sleepless nights watching for the enemy. My first role was to carry a torch for grown-up rebels. Later I was shown how to use hand grenades. Barely within a month or so, I was carrying an AK-47 rifle or even a G3.â€
When they are not actively engaged in combat, they can often be seen manning checkpoints; adult soldiers can normally be seen standing a further 15 meters behind the barrier so that if bullets start flying, it is the children who are the first victims.
And in any given conflict when even a few children are involved as soldiers, all children, civilian or combatant, come under suspicion. A recent military sweep in Congo-Brazzaville, for instance, killed all “rebels who had attained the 'age of bearing arms'.â€
Girls are also the victims of child soldiers. In Algeria, a young woman from one of the villages where massacres had taken place, said that all of the killers were boys under 17. Some boys who looked to be around 12 decapitated a 15-year-old girl and played 'catch' with the head.
Atrocities have all too frequently been committed by child soldiers, sometimes under the influence of drugs or alcohol which they may be forced to take.
In Sierra Leone, for example, a journalist from the French newspaper Le Figaro claimed that most of the rebels are children not older than 14, who are under the effect of drugs and alcohol. He reported what one of them told him about torture they inflict on their victims: “at 2 p.m., they gouge out two eyes, at 3 p.m., they cut off one hand, at 4 p.m., they cut off the other hand, at 5 p.m., they cut off one foot and … at 7 p.m. it is death.â€
Coercion aside, children may join the military for security, a pressing need for unaccompanied children who are vulnerable to nearly every kind of threat.
Desperation for food or medical care often drives children into military life.
Some children also volunteer to join the armed forces.
In Congo, for example, between 4,000 and 5,000 adolescents responded to a radio broadcast calling for 12-20 year olds to enroll to defend their country; most were street children.
In Liberia, about 10 percent of an estimated 60,000 combatants in the civil war that began in 1989 were children.
This problem is enormous. Numerical estimates, only hint at the damage done to children and to the fabric of the societies in which they live. In 1998 alone, there were 35 major armed conflicts where children were used as soldiers.
Use of Child Soldiers in Africa ::
Algeria
Angola
Burundi
Congo-Brazzaville
Congo-Kinshasa
Djibouti Liberia
Rwanda
Sierra Leone
Somalia
South Africa
Sudan
Uganda
http://www.andrewagnes.com/english/afri ... ierboy.htm
i am very excited. we had our packing meeting tonight. we only had to pack three bags, but we're taking twenty-eight. two for each person; they are the size of navy sea bags, in fact they look exactly like a sea bag, only instead of being green they are black. they are all filled with medicines.
then i went and recycled all the boxes that we emptied. people have been very generous. they've given so much to the trip already and i'm so grateful -- gracias, gracias, gracias, mas amigos de honduras.
it's been an amazing experience already and i haven't even left. i'm also making friends with an eye doctor, two general practioners, a pharmacist, a former dentist, and a former tobacco company's lawyer . . . it's an interesting group for sure.
i was digging the boxes out of the trash as they tried to put them in there -- i said, i can't help it, i'm ocd about recycling, it is a disorder, i know, i'll pick up cans off the ground to take them to the recycling center. they said, you're absolutely going to freak out then because there is trash all over the place there.
they also do slash and burn farming, which is what many people in poor areas do because they can't buy healthy fertilizers and it clears the land adding some nutrients back into it. it is an old farming practice, the people who farm around me still do it. i asked the lawyer if there was no one down there to teach better land management practices and he said, no, they have no money for this. so there are some days that it may be very smokey, you may not be able to see much of anything.
so i went and looked at the weblog that one of the guys is doing and i thought i'll be okay. there was a picture of this absolutely beautiful lake in front of a mountain. then i looked at the kids again, and i said i know i'll be okay.
i think i've got everything. the hubby and i went out of town to a store last night to get the rest of my stuff. i wanted to take all organic stuff, just because i guess it's like the ocd about recycling -- if i've got to buy stuff i want it to be something good, and i think that stuff is pretty close, so we went to this store, an organics store, and we're looking around and all of a sudden he goes, i don't see any meat, and i'm like, yeah that's cause these folks are vegetarians. everyone in there was about the size of a toothpick, and wearing something very low key that probably cost an arm and a leg, and there he is in a choppers for life sweatshirt, sent to him from west coast choppers because he's making a chopper, jeans, and converse tennis shoes, and of course he's huge, but he was a real sport. i mean really, because he's a real meat and taters kind of guy, but he's back to his old self and interested in the organic rice and especially the granola; he was always a fan of the mcdonalds fruit and yogurt parfait, so he may eventually come around to the organic hemp nuts and soy milk parfait. i've not given up on him yet.
then i went and recycled all the boxes that we emptied. people have been very generous. they've given so much to the trip already and i'm so grateful -- gracias, gracias, gracias, mas amigos de honduras.
it's been an amazing experience already and i haven't even left. i'm also making friends with an eye doctor, two general practioners, a pharmacist, a former dentist, and a former tobacco company's lawyer . . . it's an interesting group for sure.
i was digging the boxes out of the trash as they tried to put them in there -- i said, i can't help it, i'm ocd about recycling, it is a disorder, i know, i'll pick up cans off the ground to take them to the recycling center. they said, you're absolutely going to freak out then because there is trash all over the place there.
they also do slash and burn farming, which is what many people in poor areas do because they can't buy healthy fertilizers and it clears the land adding some nutrients back into it. it is an old farming practice, the people who farm around me still do it. i asked the lawyer if there was no one down there to teach better land management practices and he said, no, they have no money for this. so there are some days that it may be very smokey, you may not be able to see much of anything.
so i went and looked at the weblog that one of the guys is doing and i thought i'll be okay. there was a picture of this absolutely beautiful lake in front of a mountain. then i looked at the kids again, and i said i know i'll be okay.
i think i've got everything. the hubby and i went out of town to a store last night to get the rest of my stuff. i wanted to take all organic stuff, just because i guess it's like the ocd about recycling -- if i've got to buy stuff i want it to be something good, and i think that stuff is pretty close, so we went to this store, an organics store, and we're looking around and all of a sudden he goes, i don't see any meat, and i'm like, yeah that's cause these folks are vegetarians. everyone in there was about the size of a toothpick, and wearing something very low key that probably cost an arm and a leg, and there he is in a choppers for life sweatshirt, sent to him from west coast choppers because he's making a chopper, jeans, and converse tennis shoes, and of course he's huge, but he was a real sport. i mean really, because he's a real meat and taters kind of guy, but he's back to his old self and interested in the organic rice and especially the granola; he was always a fan of the mcdonalds fruit and yogurt parfait, so he may eventually come around to the organic hemp nuts and soy milk parfait. i've not given up on him yet.
I'm going to graceland, graceland, not in Tennessee
I was just thinking, and on nights like this I'm wound up, can't sleep and think about stuff, so I was just thinking, you know, what is the most amazing thing I've seen with this team so far, and I think probably the most amazing is, they don't wear gloves. A few years ago a friend of the hubby's, a former firefighter, was on a trip similar to this one and the people he was there to help came to him with a bleeding child, and he worked on the child and developed hepatitis C. He had to quit his job at the fire department because of it, but he doesn't regret it.
These folks are sort of like that. When I asked them why they didn't wear gloves, they said, we're already twice their size and white, (which is not exactly true, one of the doctors is African) but rubber gloves would frighten the kids, and there are too many of them. There's no way we could care for all of them if we wore gloves.
I was just thinking, and on nights like this I'm wound up, can't sleep and think about stuff, so I was just thinking, you know, what is the most amazing thing I've seen with this team so far, and I think probably the most amazing is, they don't wear gloves. A few years ago a friend of the hubby's, a former firefighter, was on a trip similar to this one and the people he was there to help came to him with a bleeding child, and he worked on the child and developed hepatitis C. He had to quit his job at the fire department because of it, but he doesn't regret it.
These folks are sort of like that. When I asked them why they didn't wear gloves, they said, we're already twice their size and white, (which is not exactly true, one of the doctors is African) but rubber gloves would frighten the kids, and there are too many of them. There's no way we could care for all of them if we wore gloves.