I had a plan to write this heartwarming Easter post about how every Easter for the past 3 years my mind immediately returns to my Easter in Kenya, at a small church in Emakoko. Then I was going to go on and say I love Easter because it's the holiday that really unites Christians throughout the world and isn't it reassuring to know that the same thing is being preached at thousands if not millions of churches on that day, blah blah. But clearly, I missed that.
I was going to post about a whole lot of other things too. I never got to them. Instead I will give you some random thoughts/updates/announcements.
Announcement: I give you my last (pretty much at least) coffee cup post. Though I love reading my "The Way I See It"s with you, I will no longer be getting my coffee or tea in a paper cup at Starbucks. I was reading a global warming website and was struck by this question "How many coffee cups will you throw away in your lifetime? Now think of all the other coffee drinkers out there." Wow. I was wrought with guilt. The thing is that when it comes to global warming and reducing the family's carbon footprint, I'd give us a C, and considering most other people in the world, it's pretty high (eg, my neighbors don't even recycle. *shudder*) I gave us a C because we've been slowly making improvements in our daily lives to be more efficient. We insulated our house, we replaced a majority of our lightbulbs with those swirly energy efficient ones. My mother and I use laptops and don't keep them plugged in 24/7 (they draw energy!!) I try to remember and unplug my phone charger each morning. We don't leave the lights on - actually we never have been one of those "bright light" families, and our house is usually creepily dark! We recycle a lot of stuff. My mother just bought reusable grocery bags. We have rain collecting barrels and compost barrels. We're slowly making changes. The one thing I really think I do too much of is generate trash - I feel like I generate sooooo much, and a lot of it is unnecessary. Getting a sexy thermos from Starbucks seems waaaay cooler than throwing all that stuff away, so tomorrow, I think, I will go to my new favorite Starbucks in Central Square (they're the nicest people ALIVE, I swear) and buy a commuter mug thermos thinger and put some Tazo Wild Sweet Orange tea in it. And love it. The end.
And now, the final Way I See It.
The Way I See It #214
What would you do for someone
you love?
Would you lie, cheat, steal?
Brek the law and call it justice?
Would you say yes? Scream no?
Would you kill? Would you give
up your own life?
Would you move mountains,
swallow fire, keep a promise?
Would you change the world?
Would you change yourself?
What would you do for someone
you love?
--Jodi Picoult
Novelist. Her most recent book is
Nineteen Minutes.
What would you do for someone
you love?
Would you lie, cheat, steal?
Brek the law and call it justice?
Would you say yes? Scream no?
Would you kill? Would you give
up your own life?
Would you move mountains,
swallow fire, keep a promise?
Would you change the world?
Would you change yourself?
What would you do for someone
you love?
--Jodi Picoult
Novelist. Her most recent book is
Nineteen Minutes.
Because I'm insane, I said yes to most of these questions, LOL. Kill someone was tricky. For Jam I think I'd say to him "can't we work it out some other way??" but for my child, I already know the answer, and I'm not even a parent. Of course I would.
Speaking of children, a while ago, I saw this gorgeous picture of a mother and child on someone's favorites on flickr, one of my new FAVORITE sites. After clicking on it, I noticed that not only does the lady featured take photos every day (fabulous!) but she has a blog (even better!!). I read the blog a few weeks ago and loved it, but due to CRAP clogging the pipes of my LIFE, I hadn't been able to read it in a while. I read some back posts today, and I found them touching. Then I went onto her flickr site to see pics of her wicked cute daughter, Ruby, and while I was scrolling through them, I cam across this, and was distressed. What kind of mail would generate that response? Then I read February 21st's post and my stomach dropped. Then I was enraged. Then I calmed down enough to delurk and comment, which you know is a big deal for me because I never comment on people's blogs, which is probably bitchy considering how I love getting comments of any sort on mine! If you read the post, you'll see my comment. Yes, I made an admission about the tan babies that the world will see, LOL, but I needed to say those things. Yeah, Jam and I have definitely had people stare, and stare in such a way that I've wanted to stand up and say "Can you tell me exactly what the f*ck you are staring at?" Except I wouldn't do that to Jamaal, because you know I would start a fight, and because he's the man he'd have to join in, and he'd be throwing punches and looking back at me like "I love you and all, but as soon as I'm through here I'm going to kill you for opening your big mouth!!!" Anyways, the brazeness of a single individual to write such hateful garbage is really unfathomable to me. I mean, I know people say sh*t and think sh*t and say the sh*t they think in public *cough cough Imus cough cough* but such a brutal attack....It's just so wrong. God, sometimes I wonder what could possibly make a person so evil. Anyways, if you do check out the blog, be sure to read the other parts too, because they are funny and inspiring :) Good stuff.
In other news, I testified at the Massachusetts State House yesterday. I think it should be called the Commonwealth House because we're a commonwealth, but I digress. Anyways, I think my ultimate job is state senator. Why? Because you get to wear a suit and hawwwttt shoes, not move to Washington, dabble in the politics of a small ahem Commonwealth, work in a building imbued with history, and still have someone bring you coffee. Awesome! I have to admit though, I dozed off during testimony about individual price-tags on individual pieces of merchandise in supermarkets (ie every single item in the store must have a price tag affixed to it). I made it through the pro-bill section, but dozed when I got to the con. God, it was boring. I definitely understood parts of the argument, but in the end, it honestly sounded somewhat petty, because from what I could understand, the bill applied to smaller stores. And where does it piss you off most that things are not individually priced, or the shelves aren't marked with the price? Not the mom and pop corner store where you buy slush puppies and lottery tickets, hell no, it's the 200,000 square foot Wal-Mart, where the aisles are desolate tundras of UNMARKEDNESS! Anyways, this testimony was just for bringing the bill to the Senate, nothing was being decided that day. I was there to lobby for the Unweaned Baby Bird Bill. Basically, this bill proposes that no unweaned baby birds be sold to pet stores or inexperienced owners. Which honestly to me, seems elementary. A reputable dog or cat breeder would not give an unweaned cat or dog to a pet store or a person unequipped to take care of them, right? Then why would any reputable bird breeder (I take issue with people breeding birds, but no soapbox on this right now ;) ever give a bird away to someone unable to take care of it? It's pretty much an automatic death sentence. The senators and reps we talked to were sooooooo responsive. That is until the opposition talked after us and got them confused, saying the dreaded phrase "this bill will hurt local business" (Crock!). If you're reading this now, and live in Massachusetts, I ask you to please contact your local legislators about this bill. Here's how to find your elected officials. All the letter needs to say is: Dear Sen/Rep
Speaking of children, a while ago, I saw this gorgeous picture of a mother and child on someone's favorites on flickr, one of my new FAVORITE sites. After clicking on it, I noticed that not only does the lady featured take photos every day (fabulous!) but she has a blog (even better!!). I read the blog a few weeks ago and loved it, but due to CRAP clogging the pipes of my LIFE, I hadn't been able to read it in a while. I read some back posts today, and I found them touching. Then I went onto her flickr site to see pics of her wicked cute daughter, Ruby, and while I was scrolling through them, I cam across this, and was distressed. What kind of mail would generate that response? Then I read February 21st's post and my stomach dropped. Then I was enraged. Then I calmed down enough to delurk and comment, which you know is a big deal for me because I never comment on people's blogs, which is probably bitchy considering how I love getting comments of any sort on mine! If you read the post, you'll see my comment. Yes, I made an admission about the tan babies that the world will see, LOL, but I needed to say those things. Yeah, Jam and I have definitely had people stare, and stare in such a way that I've wanted to stand up and say "Can you tell me exactly what the f*ck you are staring at?" Except I wouldn't do that to Jamaal, because you know I would start a fight, and because he's the man he'd have to join in, and he'd be throwing punches and looking back at me like "I love you and all, but as soon as I'm through here I'm going to kill you for opening your big mouth!!!" Anyways, the brazeness of a single individual to write such hateful garbage is really unfathomable to me. I mean, I know people say sh*t and think sh*t and say the sh*t they think in public *cough cough Imus cough cough* but such a brutal attack....It's just so wrong. God, sometimes I wonder what could possibly make a person so evil. Anyways, if you do check out the blog, be sure to read the other parts too, because they are funny and inspiring :) Good stuff.
In other news, I testified at the Massachusetts State House yesterday. I think it should be called the Commonwealth House because we're a commonwealth, but I digress. Anyways, I think my ultimate job is state senator. Why? Because you get to wear a suit and hawwwttt shoes, not move to Washington, dabble in the politics of a small ahem Commonwealth, work in a building imbued with history, and still have someone bring you coffee. Awesome! I have to admit though, I dozed off during testimony about individual price-tags on individual pieces of merchandise in supermarkets (ie every single item in the store must have a price tag affixed to it). I made it through the pro-bill section, but dozed when I got to the con. God, it was boring. I definitely understood parts of the argument, but in the end, it honestly sounded somewhat petty, because from what I could understand, the bill applied to smaller stores. And where does it piss you off most that things are not individually priced, or the shelves aren't marked with the price? Not the mom and pop corner store where you buy slush puppies and lottery tickets, hell no, it's the 200,000 square foot Wal-Mart, where the aisles are desolate tundras of UNMARKEDNESS! Anyways, this testimony was just for bringing the bill to the Senate, nothing was being decided that day. I was there to lobby for the Unweaned Baby Bird Bill. Basically, this bill proposes that no unweaned baby birds be sold to pet stores or inexperienced owners. Which honestly to me, seems elementary. A reputable dog or cat breeder would not give an unweaned cat or dog to a pet store or a person unequipped to take care of them, right? Then why would any reputable bird breeder (I take issue with people breeding birds, but no soapbox on this right now ;) ever give a bird away to someone unable to take care of it? It's pretty much an automatic death sentence. The senators and reps we talked to were sooooooo responsive. That is until the opposition talked after us and got them confused, saying the dreaded phrase "this bill will hurt local business" (Crock!). If you're reading this now, and live in Massachusetts, I ask you to please contact your local legislators about this bill. Here's how to find your elected officials. All the letter needs to say is: Dear Sen/Rep
During the public hearing on April 11th, the Committee on Community Development and Small Business heard testimony on S. 147, legislation intended to ban the sale or transport of unweaned pet birds in Massachusetts.
I sincerely hope that you will vote in a favorable manner in passing this legislation.
Currently, there are no protections for baby parrots in the pet trade and this will be a great step in protecting these sensitive creatures at the most vulnerable stage of their lives.
Don't forget to sign it with your name and address!!
Well. That's all from me for now.......lots to do!
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