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kali_shey

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The best birthday present ever.. [
Posted on January 02, 2009 @ 8:09 pm
]
Pesaro Team Triumphs at Basketball Game Against Racism
 
The Pesaro team triumphed, winning 99-72 at the Basketball game against racism held at Pesaro, Italy, on Dec. 28, 2008. The representatives of the Roma community applauded the skills of Hicks, Curry, Akindele, Hurd and Myers. The “Vuelle” fans applauded in their turn the red and white banner bearing the words “The Roma of Pesaro and Scavolini against racism”.

http://www.tolerance.ca/Article.aspx?ID=30608&L=fr
 
In a few days’ time the players of the Pesaro team will visit the derelict factory where some of the Roma families of Pesaro live in poverty, but with great dignity. “The visit means a lot to us”, said Rodolfo Filippini, who is in charge of relations with schools, “because our team wishes to become an example of tolerance for the younger generations: without these values, sporting victories would lose their meaning.

News about the “anti-racism basketball game” has travelled around the world, aided by the most important networks representing the Roma in the EU, like “O Nevo Drom” and “Roma Virtual Network”. A dossier on the initiative promoted by Scavolini Spar, in collaboration with EveryOne Group, has already been sent to the European Commission and the UN’s Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD).

Scavolini Basket represents the soul of Pesaro and now we hope that the local institutions follow the team’s example and undertake a serious project of integration of the Roma of Pesaro who are living in conditions of great hardship.

Before the game the speaker announced the presence on the terraces of Roberto Malini from EveryOne Group and a large number of representatives from the Roma community living in Pesaro who had received free tickets. Some children walked around the hall holding a banner with the slogan of Scavolini’s antiracist campaign: “All different, all the same”.

(x-posted to several Romany communities)

 




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Murmur

When someone loses a loved one.. [
Posted on December 04, 2008 @ 8:39 pm
]


When someone loses a loved one.. that is the time to put grudges aside. It is a time for forgiveness. It is a time for understanding. It is a time to give them that extra bit of slack.. or huge amounts of it, if necessary.


When someone loses a loved one.. that is the time that they are most vulnerable. It is a time when they are the most 'human'. It is a time when they are the most fragile.. and easily broken.


When someone loses a loved one.. they are not going to 'get over it' tomorrow, or next month, or even next year. They are not going to stop thinking about the person who has passed. They are not going to forget what is missing, even after everyone else does.


When someone loses a loved one.. they need compassion. They need love. They need to cry, to scream, to laugh, to fall apart and put themselves back together, over and over again. They need you to realize that every day of their life is now different.. another unique reminder of what they've lost.


When someone loses a loved one.. don't be afraid to comfort them. Don't be afraid to acknowledge their loss. Don't be afraid to make them cry, because they're going to cry anyway. Don't be afraid to say the wrong thing, because the worst thing to say is nothing at all.


When someone loses a loved one.. they are haunted by the person they used to be. By the life they used to have. By the memories of the one who is gone. A person can never be replaced, and those they leave behind are never the same.


When someone loses a loved one.. they will be angry. They will be sad. They will tell you the same stories, share the same anecdotes, over and over, until you could recite them yourself. Let them. It is a way of keeping their memory alive.


When someone loses a loved one.. be kind to them. They are going through their own private hell, and every single day requires a strength that, until you've experienced it yourself, is simply unimaginable.

Murmur

Police brutality is going to the dogs.. [
Posted on July 26, 2008 @ 6:41 am
]
I would love to get people's opinions on this article. It was actually posted in the [info]childfree community, but it's really more of an animal rights issue.

This is the article (in it's entirety) for your convenience:
Murmur

Happy Birthday, Dad... we love you & we miss you! [
Posted on July 04, 2008 @ 9:06 pm
]
Today is my Dad's birthday. It will always be Dad's birthday, no matter how many years pass.

We got the memorial signs up alongside the highway, and we went to his favorite restaurant (Salty's) and had coconut prawns and did a calamari toast in his honor. We had a good laugh and a good cry, and shared some memories of Dad. When we were leaving, I was stopped about to pull out onto the main road from the parking lot, and I said "I don't want our 4th of July to just be like everyone else's"... and right as I said that, a blue car drove by with the license plate 638 DAD. This was the last time I talked to him... he called me less than 20 minutes before the crash, at 6:38pm.




That's the sign. We installed them on each side of the intersection (which you can see in the background) where he was killed. We are very thankful to the property owners who allowed them to be installed on their land (Oregon law prohibits "non-official" signage on their highways and roads, unless a property owner ok's the installation on their property).
Murmur

Proud of myself... and sad [
Posted on June 30, 2008 @ 9:17 am
]
Yesterday, I took the Jeep in to get the oil changed (Jiffy Lube). Turns out my air filter was clogged with oil because I need a new internal pcv valve. My engine was also rather dirty because of it, so they flushed the engine and replaced the air filter, and I bought a new pcv valve which is going in today. Serpentine belt is also ready to be replaced, but they will do that when they install the A/C as it will need a bigger one to run it. The Jeep is running great now, and I'm happy about that... it's just that Dad always did this stuff. I've never had to take her anywhere or pay anyone... and, it's not about the money. I just miss him.

It's just another reminder that he's gone.

And, we all shared a mobile phone plan. Since the accident (because we couldn't find the phone - probably smashed in the door frame of his van somewhere) we've had his cell phone forwarded to my parents' house. It's been over three months now, and the calls have mostly tapered off, so my Mom asked me to delete his number off the account. He's had that number for over 10 years, and that was hard to do, thinking now someone else will have it, and have no idea how significant it is to our family. (503)310-8030... I will remember that number for the rest of my life, probably. And, I still have it programmed into my phone under 'Dad'. His messages he left say from 'The Yacht Doctor'... when someone else takes that number, the messages will say someone else's name. I have them backed up on CD and on the computer, and it's probably time to delete them, but I don't want to.

It's stupid, the things a grieving person will hang on to. Some days it just feels like this is not the life I want to live anymore, if he isn't in it. It's not like I'm going to go jump off a building or anything, but it just really, really sucks.
Murmur

damn germs [
Posted on June 21, 2008 @ 9:03 pm
]
What I thought was allergies appears to actually be something more like a mild flu. Yep, again. I have the cough, stuffy nose, headache, fever, chills and body aches. Lastnight, I went to bed at 10pm but woke up again around midnight and didn't get back to sleep until 6:30am. My body was aching and I kept getting warm, then cold, then warm, then cold again. After an hour of pulling on more blankets and then throwing them off and then pulling them on again, I just said "fuck it", and got up to read my book. I just got it from Amazon, and I read the whole thing in one night. It's called "If I Am Missing Or Dead", by Janine Latus. It was a good book, though I thought it had too much back story... still, it was better than (another) re-run of Forensic Files. I love that show, but damn.... I only need to hear the one about the 17 year old boy and the pipe bomb so many times before I die. Today, I still feel crappy and basically laid around the house all day, doing nothing. I did make it out to Target for some Gatorade and throat lozenges, but that's about it.

I had planned to take it easy for summer term, so I registered for two one day seminars, another psych class (the next in the series) and a drama class. I log on to my email account earlier, and find that they've dropped the drama class I wanted to take, 2 days before the term begins. I decided to go ahead and do business law, even though I know it's going to be heavy. I need to get back in the swing of things, and maybe this was the little push I needed in the right direction. I'm a straight-A student... I can do this.
Murmur

State of disillusion [
Posted on June 09, 2008 @ 12:06 pm
]
This is the kind of bullshit that is allowed to happen in Oregon
(not my Dad, but someone's, I'm sure..)

http://www.portlandtribune.com/news/story.php?story_id=121281781242553900


Disgusting..
Murmur

seriously? [
Posted on June 01, 2008 @ 3:28 pm
]
Japanese man finds woman living in his closet

TOKYO (AFP) - A Japanese man puzzled by food mysteriously disappearing from his refrigerator got a shock when he found out a woman had been living in his home for months without permission, police said Friday.
ADVERTISEMENT

The 57-year-old man living alone -- or so he thought -- in the western city of Fukuoka installed a security camera and called the police when he saw images of someone walking around his home while he was out.

"We searched the house in the man's presence. We found the woman in the closet," said a local police spokesman.

The woman, named as 58-year-old Tatsuko Horikawa, was found in a flat storage space only just big enough for a person to squeeze into lying down.

She had sneaked a mattress and several plastic bottles into the cubby hole, police said, adding that the women had been arrested.

"She told police that she had nowhere to live," the spokesman said. "She seems to have lived there for about a year, but not all the time."

It is unclear how she managed to enter the home undetected. Police suspect she might have been closet-hopping, moving from house to house.

source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/japancrimeoffbeat
Murmur

memorial [
Posted on May 24, 2008 @ 10:22 pm
]
Today, husband and I took flowers to the cemetery, but not for my Dad, for his parents and his brother (my grandparents and uncle). It is in another state, and he always used to do that for Memorial Day. It was important to him, so now it is my way to honor him, too.

On the way back, I took a photo of a church bulletin sign. ( Read more... )
Murmur

Italian tolerance goes up in smoke as Gypsy camp is burnt to ground [
Posted on May 16, 2008 @ 3:16 pm
]

In cruel and unusual concert, Italy's new government, its police and paramilitary carabinieri, and even its gangsters, have turned their joint might against the nation's enemy number one: the Gypsies. (link here)

Yesterday Pope Benedict XVI and a small number of left-wingers raised lonely voices in central Naples against the national hardening of hearts towards Europe's perennial outsiders. To little avail: the Pope's appeal for a spirit of welcome and acceptance was met with a hail of angry rejection in blogged comments on news websites.

But what will remain scorched in the nation's memory – as a mark of shame, or a beacon pointing the way forward, depending on how you see it – are the flaming structures of the Gypsy camp burnt in the Ponticelli district of Naples on Wednesday.

Residents of the former communist stronghold on the northern outskirts of Naples have been raising hell about the camp since Saturday, when a woman claimed a Gypsy girl had entered her flat and tried to steal her baby.

The first Molotov cocktails descended on the improvised huts and cabins on Tuesday evening, after which the 800-odd inhabitants began moving out of the area in groups. On Wednesday the fire-raisers, said to belong to the Camorra, the Neapolitan equivalent of the Mafia, burnt the camp in earnest, watched by applauding local people and unchallenged by the police. When firefighters showed up to douse the blaze, local people taunted and whistled at them. The last Roma moved out under police protection.

Only then did local politicians shed a few crocodile tears: Antonio Bassolino, governor of the Campania region, declaring: "We must stop with the greatest determination these disturbing episodes against the Roma." Rosa Russo Iervolino, the Mayor of Naples, chimed in: "It is unthinkable that anyone could imagine that I could justify reprisals against the Roma."

But the first act of ethnic cleansing in the new Italy passed off with little fuss. Flora Martinelli, the woman who reported the alleged kidnap attempt on her baby, said: "I'm very sorry for what's happening, I didn't want it to come to this. But the Gypsies had to go."

Roma have been living in Italy for seven centuries, and 70,000 of the 160,000-strong population have Italian citizenship. They amount to less than 0.3 per cent of the population, one of the lowest proportions in Europe. But their poverty and resistance to integration have made them far more conspicuous than other communities. And the influx of thousands more from Romania in the past year has confirmed the view of many Italians that the Gypsies and their eyesore encampments are the source of all their problems.

The forces of law and order took up the struggle yesterday. In Rome, some 50 Roma without identification and living in the city's biggest Gypsy camp were arrested as part of a crackdown on illegal immigration which resulted in more than 400 arrests nationwide.

Meanwhile, the government announced that its new diktat on security is almost ready and will be approved at its first cabinet meeting in Naples, as announced by Mr Berlusconi, to symbolise his determination to crack the city's chronic refuse problem.

The "decree law", which will have immediate effect, is expected to make illegal immigration a criminal offence, punishable by up to four years in prison. The discussion of the draft of the law and the announcement that there will be no more amnesties have thrown the hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants who work informally as nurses and old people's companions into a panic. Now the government is trying to fine tune the law so it only applies to criminally inclined clandestini – and Gypsies.
Murmur

I never missed an opportunity to tell you that I loved you [
Posted on April 02, 2008 @ 10:17 pm
]


I couldn't post about this when it happened, because I couldn't accept it yet. It felt like a bad dream, it was so surreal. I still don't want to accept it, but I will probably feel that way for the rest of my life. ( Read more.. )

My father was my hero, my best friend, a trusted authority on almost every subject under the sun, someone I could laugh with and the only person I could cry in front of, and the person I trusted with anything and everything. We talked every day, usually multiple times a day, and even within an hour of his death. I had just written a tribute to him in one of my classes, and last Christmas, when someone asked me what I ’wanted’, I had said I wanted to freeze time so that my Dad wouldn’t get any older and he could be with me forever. I hadn’t known, at that time, just how little we had left to spend together.

I miss you, Dad, more than you will ever know. I never missed an opportunity to tell you that I loved you, and I am so thankful for every memory, for every silly moment, for every day you were alive, and I know that, even in death, you are watching over all of us, sending messages through license plates and mysteriously fixing a leak in the Jeep that we could never find before, no matter how hard we tried. It is heartbreakingly difficult to accept the tragic death of someone who never missed an opportunity to truly live. You will live on in the stories and memories of the family and friends you held so dear. We will never forget you.
Murmur

aw, crap.. [
Posted on March 17, 2008 @ 8:32 pm
]
Oooh... oh, pain. Ouch.

My back has officially gone out. I felt it coming on this morning, but I was stressed over my math final and I think the adrenaline kept it at bay... until now.

This hasn't happened in probably a year or more, to this degree. I fractured my spine when I was twelve, and have been in a few car accidents that shredded the nerves in my neck and between my shoulder blades, so I get migraines often, but my back actually going out like this is rather rare. Could be the weather... when it gets cold quickly or the temperature drastically changes, it acts up.

Damn, I feel old.
Murmur

What's your sign? [
Posted on March 10, 2008 @ 7:57 am
]
How closely do you follow your horoscope? Do you identify with your zodiac sign? Have you ever thought perhaps you belonged in another sign instead? Chances are, you do.

The real Solar Zodiac has more than twelve signs, and the dates differ from the standard Tropical Zodiac, which is the most familiar.

( What is your true Zodiac sign? )
According to this chart, I am actually a Sagittarius (the Tropical Zodiac places me in Capricorn). Interestingly, my husband's sign (which remains the same in both) is an opposing sign of Sagittarius (Gemini). ( Sag traits... what do you think? )




I think I have traits from both signs (Capricorn and Sagittarius) though I do think Sag fits me better. Caps are often portrayed as very 'stuffed shirt' workaholic type, which doesn't often apply to me. Though I can be very serious, I am also a rebel. I would love to know what others think about their 'true sign' and if it fits them better than the other.
Murmur

nicknames [
Posted on February 29, 2008 @ 1:05 pm
]
1. Do you have any nicknames or other names that you or others use to refer to you on a regular basis?
Yes, a few... one of them is my username here.

2. Did you adopt it/them, or did someone else or a group give it/them to you?
Some were given by family and others by friends, co-workers, my husband..

3. Is it okay for anyone to use it/them, or is it a mark of intimacy/familiarity for someone to be allowed to use it/them?
The nicknames used in my family have cultural significance (and are in another language), so generally no one else knows what they mean ~ anyone who is close enough to me to know them can use them, but it's more frequently only family that does. There are others that are specific to individual friends, and in some cases my 'real' name is rarely used.

4. Do you tend to make up nicknames for your friends and/or partners?
For people I am close to, or people I dislike.. some people probably don't want to know what their nicknames are :P

5. Do you use those nicknames you make up in day-to-day conversation, or only when referring to the person in the third person?
Day-to-day conversation, definitely.
Murmur

if it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck... [
Posted on February 28, 2008 @ 9:57 pm
]
I love when people ask a question they already know the answer to, because they want someone to give them an excuse to stay ignorant. They see the red flags, the obvious reasons why it isn't a good idea, and all it takes is one person telling them it's ok, and they fold, ignoring their guilty conscience screaming at them, telling them it's wrong.

I am both amazed and appalled at the way people toss aside their ethics and any moral code for a 'good deal'. How good of a deal is it when it hurts others? Of course, I am assuming here that these individuals have any sort of integrity to begin with, which may or may not be accurate. It is exhausting even speaking with these people, claiming to want your advice or opinion, only to toss it aside when, true as it may be, it isn't what they wanted to hear. They want an excuse to be a selfish jackass. I just can't be a part of that anymore.
Murmur

new on the pet store shelves.. Purina with barbed wire! [
Posted on February 24, 2008 @ 6:13 pm
]
So, there is a post in the huskylove community about what dogs should and should not eat with regard to 'human' foods. The post essentially starts out fine, about grapes, etc., and the comments are fine... that is, until the one where megadog states that it's completely fine for dogs to eat anything they want, including barbed wire!!

I don't know about you, but I always feed my dogs barbed wire... and chocolate.. mixed with anti-freeze.

*idiot*
Murmur

who thinks up these surveys? [
Posted on February 15, 2008 @ 9:32 pm
]


1.) If I were a doll, the accessories packaged with me would be:
A laptop, a mini-Gizmo, a piano, a 'Naked' juice drink (orange-mango) and a Jeep.

2.) I have an irrational fear of:
Sharks

3.) What type of food do you eat at your grandparents house?
My biological grandmother is dead, and my living adoptive grandmother is an insufferable bitch, so I don't eat at her house.

4.) What weight were you when you were born?
7 pounds, 5 ounces

5.) What would you do if you were stranded on an island with the person you hate most?
Honestly? Probably beat the crap out of them, tie them up and torture them until I got bored with that, and then eat them... hey, you asked.

6.) What would you do if you found out you had been cheated on?
They'd never see me again. I'd gather my things, and leave them behind.

7.) Do you stalk anyone on myspace?
No, I hate MySpace.

8.) I find the thought of childbirth:
Impossible. I'm fixed.

9.) Next door to my house is:
Trees

10.) My feet are:
Bare

( Read more... )

Musings (1) Murmur

happy girl [
Posted on February 14, 2008 @ 1:57 pm
]
I can't write much because my wrist is still f*cked up and I'm not supposed to be using it, but I wanted to update...

I got an A (actually, better than an 'A', because I did the extra credit, so it was 103%) on my psych exam, an A on my thesis in writing, and (are you ready for this???!) an A on my math test, as well!! I am a straight-A student!!!!!!

I cannot even begin to express how happy I am right now =)
Murmur

Dear Dogs & Cats [
Posted on February 09, 2008 @ 5:36 pm
]
Dear Dogs and Cats,

The dishes with the paw print are yours and contain your food. The other dishes are mine and contain my food. Please note, placing a paw print in the middle of my plate does not stake a claim for it, nor do I find that aesthetically pleasing in the slightest.

The stairway was not designed by NASCAR and is not a racetrack. Beating me to the bottom is not the object. Tripping me doesn't help because I fall faster than you can run.

I cannot buy anything bigger than a king sized bed. I am very sorry about this. Do not think I will continue sleeping on the couch to ensure your comfort. Dogs and cats can actually curl up in a ball when they sleep. It is not necessary to sleep perpendicular to each other stretched out to the fullest extent possible. I also know that sticking tails straight out and having tongues hanging out the other end to maximize space is nothing but sarcasm.

For the last time, there is not a secret exit from the bathroom. If by some miracle I beat you there and manage to get the door shut, it is not necessary to claw, whine, meow, try to turn the knob or get your paw under the edge and try to pull the door open. I must exit through the same door I entered. Also, I have been using the bathroom for years --canine or feline attendance is not required..

The proper order is kiss me, then go smell the other dog or cat's butt. I cannot stress this enough!

To pacify you, my dear pets, I have posted the following message on our front door:

To All Non-Pet Owners Who Visit & Like to Complain About Our Pets:

1. They live here. You don't.
2. If you don't want their hair on your clothes, stay off the furniture. (That's why they call it 'fur'niture.)
3. I like my pets a lot better than I like most people.
4. To you, it's an animal. To me, they are adopted children who are short, hairy, walk on all fours and don't speak clearly.

Remember: Dogs and cats are better than kids because they:

1. Eat less
2. Don't ask for money all the time
3 Are easier to train
4. Normally come when called
5. Never ask to borrow the car
6. Don't hang out with drug-using friends
7. Don't smoke or drink
8. Don't have to buy the latest fashions
9. Don't want to wear your clothes
10. Don't need a gazillion dollars for college, and...
11. If they get pregnant, you can sell their children.
Murmur

nevermind all those shelter dogs... puppeeez r so cUtE!!! zomg [
Posted on January 20, 2008 @ 9:58 pm
]
Um.. wow...

'Help me, I can't figure out how to train my dog that I don't have time for ~ oh, and did I mention I want to make more?!'

Please tell me this is a troll.. otherwise, my already frighteningly low respect for humanity has just dropped another notch..


( The Backyard Breeders' and Puppy Millers' Big Book of Excuses.. )
Murmur

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