"Whoso loves, believes the impossible."

-- Elizabeth Barret Browning

LOL intertubez!

I can't get this song out of my head:



So catchy!

Let it be known that in the event of my untimely demise I want the box of chocolates one. This is my dying wish. I WILL haunt you...

Creepy gnome terrorizes town

1. Skulk around creepily
2. ?
3. Profit

"When you are not a free man, time passes more slowly: your soul is delayed and defeated along the way. You unconsciously moderate your actions and responses in order to be prepared for any evil. Any unexpected capriciousness of the occupier. Or of the situation itself. The time which passes for the inhabitants of the West Bank and Gaza under Israeli rule cannot even be measured in prison terms. Its end is unknown, and this makes it even harder to deal with. I asked Shehade if he had not tired at the end of these five years, at the end of twenty years, of being sumud*

'No,' he said, 'I go on believing in it. Of the two ways open to me as a Palestinian--to surrender to the occupation and collaborate with it, or to take up arms against it, two possibilities which mean, to my mind, losing one's humanity--I choose the third way. To remain here. To see how my home has become my prison, which I do not want to leave, because the jailer will then not allow me to return.'"

- David Grossman, The Yellow Wind, 1988

[*sumud is "to endure," applied to Palestinian refugees living under Israeli occupation]

One decade later, and still no hope for the Palestinians.

All time favorite TV commercial:

* Strange Euro-toilets.
* Everything is on military time.
* Boobs are allowed on TV, but Happy Tree Friends and South Park are controversial.
* Alcohol is sold, drunk on street. Get caught driving drunk, though, and spend 10 days in jail.
* Smoking is allowed pretty much everywhere, and cigarettes = hella cheap. Like, $1 for a pack of Camel Lights.
* Mullets. Even on chicks. And lots of dudes with headbands.
* People drive and park pretty much however they want to. I'm told that a bribe will take care of most traffic tickets.
* Food is extremely cheap; clothes are extremely expensive.
* No drinky the tap water.
* No straight-lined notebooks. Only graph.
* And no Sunkist, either – only evil Fanta.
* Pretty significant gender gap.
* Different system of education, but that's kind of a big difference, deserving of its own separate post.

Ok, so I figure it's about time to do a real update. Let's see... *taps lower lip thoughtfully*

Most of my stuff is taken care of. I still have to get an ATM card and get the Post Office to hold my mail, which I was supposed to do today, but... Well, you know how it goes. I've been trying to get out and visit all my friends before I leave. This means I've gotten little accomplished in the way of packing. I have a lot of stuff to pack. I kind of wonder if I'm really going to need all these clothes, but I'm not sure what the laundry situation is going to be. David said if there isn't a place to do laundry nearby, we can probably ask someone to take us to their place. Everything seems to be going along smoothly. I'm told that there are students there who want to meet us already, so we shouldn't have too much trouble making friends. I am a little disappointed that I won't get to go to the moose farm, though. I can't understand why no one but me is interested in the moose farm.*

So, on the agenda for tomorrow: Get ATM card, go to post office, visit family, go to last Writing Center meeting, pack some more, and try to get the house to an acceptable level of cleanliness. *le sigh*

I'm worried about a lot of things, like if my grandma is going to be ok. She took the news about me leaving extremely well - so well that I wonder if she really understands the situation... Plus, if anything happens to her while I'm gone, I will feel horrible. I mean, she's 90.

God, I can't believe we're leaving Friday. That's like practically two days and some hours from now.

I've taken up smoking again. I know, I know. But I got carded for cigarettes yesterday, and it felt good.

[* Quote from the web site: For you - is it dangerous? Perhaps. Do not break rules (1). Do not run, do not cry, do not try to pick up dropped sweets... and be patient with a soft warm tender moose.]

I can't decide which is worse: believing everything or believing nothing.

People will forget what you said
People will forget what you did
But people will never forget how you made them feel.

--Maya Angelou

So this church sign on the way to Texarkana: YOU ARE ONE DAY CLOSER

Creeps me out.

"Tap Dancers for Obama" minstrel show merchandise at Cafepress.com

Here is the link to their customer service department where you can register a complaint.

[ETA: Complaining does sometimes work.

Thank you for contacting CafePress.com!

As you may know, CafePress.com provides an automated service to a rich and vibrant community of international users. Unfortunately, because our service is automated, sometimes content that is not consistent with our Offensive Material & Prohibited Content policy is posted on CafePress.com. We appreciate that you have brought this content to our attention and it has been removed from our site. Please let us know if we can be of further assistance.

Your ticket code is **************. Please use this code in any further communication.

Best Regards,

Margene H.
Content Usage Associate
(650) 655-3104 (O)
(650) 240-0260 (F)
www.cafepress.com ]

(This needs more work; I'm posting it anyway.)

How to be Broken

First-
Be without fear
Of crossing broken bridges
Take each step with confidence
Across rotting, groaning wood.
Go not seven times, or seventy times,
But seventy-times-seven times!
Believe you can be freed from history:
When asked, "Can these bones live?"
Say "Yes!"
Don't hesitate! There is no other
Answer

Second-
"One must love without ceasing,
after having loved."
Believe in poetry!
When you feel that warm breath
On the back of your neck,
Feel your soul stir also
With each inhale, each exhale,
Your being moves on the face of primordial waters.
In that dark stillness, find your only peace.

Third-
Be as rigid as a tree who never dreams of falling
Whose hard and brittle flesh delights in strength
Trust that the sweet breath that moves your soul
Could never become a storm
Could never break you.