If you get a chance, you should take a look at this petition against the fees AOL and Yahoo want to begin charging for "guaranteed safe delivery" of emails. Please sign it if you agree. Ask friends to sign it.
Boing Boing has an article today about the details of what these fees would mean. Not only would this be the first step toward an internet equivalent to a toll booth on every sidewalk, but it means that spammers will now be able to pay a small fee to ensure that you receive every single one of the penis enlargment emails they send.
Brrr.
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Victory!
Update: the idiot neighbors removed all the trash piles and the garbage bin from their front yard today, and the street has also been quiet. Woot! I dare them to keep it up.
Monday, February 27, 2006
Isn't this a Raffi song?
There's nothing quite like a beluga whale blowing bubble rings to a little girl with her face against the aquarium glass. And for those of you who can't view the video:
There's another site about bubble rings here with some very pretty pictures and some video.
There's another site about bubble rings here with some very pretty pictures and some video.
Evil. As in, "the fru-it of the dev-il."
I just talked to someone at the city's "Building and Sanitation" Dept, and was told that though it may take a while to happen, an inspector would come out and check things out, and issue citations etc. Mwaahahah!
Hopefully my complaint will be anonymous, because I don't want my house burned down.
Hopefully my complaint will be anonymous, because I don't want my house burned down.
Won't you be my ex-neighbor?
Gah. I loved our neighborhood until the a-holes next door moved in a couple months ago. We had a quiet, tidy little street, with friendly neighbors and pretty front gardens.
Then someone bought the house next door to ours, apparently did a bit of rennovating last fall, and since then there have been heaps of trash in their yard and down by the road, even after they officially moved in. Fine. If you're actually in the process of working on the house, that's understandable, but it's been FIVE MONTHS that this stuff has been out there.
Our town also has city-issued trash bins (which are great) that need to be kept out of the line-of-sight from the street. They've never brought their bin up from the curb. Ever. Ironically, last week, we received a city notice on our trash bin that we needed to take it in (got it the same day as the trash was collected.), and the neighbor got nothing. How could an inspector walk past huge heaps of trash and an obvious bin, and not notice? Makes my blood pressure rise.
If they were nice people, the trash would just be an annoyance, but they're not. I don't doubt that they're running some sort of illegal "business" there--cars are always roaring up to the house and leaving within a few minutes. Fine. Roar away. But don't park in my freaking driveway. How stupid do you have to be to think that's okay? I went over there the other day to ask them to move their car and the pissy asshat that came out to move his truck from where it was blocking me in-- pulled out of the driveway, drove up and down a couple times, and then parked ACROSS THE END OF MY DRIVEWAY. I had to go back over and ask them to move the car again. More bitching and moaning from them about having to walk a half a block. Screw you. I finally called the cops later when one of their car alarms had been going off for 2 hours and no one had bothered to see to it.
I miss my nice little neighborhood.
Then someone bought the house next door to ours, apparently did a bit of rennovating last fall, and since then there have been heaps of trash in their yard and down by the road, even after they officially moved in. Fine. If you're actually in the process of working on the house, that's understandable, but it's been FIVE MONTHS that this stuff has been out there.
Our town also has city-issued trash bins (which are great) that need to be kept out of the line-of-sight from the street. They've never brought their bin up from the curb. Ever. Ironically, last week, we received a city notice on our trash bin that we needed to take it in (got it the same day as the trash was collected.), and the neighbor got nothing. How could an inspector walk past huge heaps of trash and an obvious bin, and not notice? Makes my blood pressure rise.
If they were nice people, the trash would just be an annoyance, but they're not. I don't doubt that they're running some sort of illegal "business" there--cars are always roaring up to the house and leaving within a few minutes. Fine. Roar away. But don't park in my freaking driveway. How stupid do you have to be to think that's okay? I went over there the other day to ask them to move their car and the pissy asshat that came out to move his truck from where it was blocking me in-- pulled out of the driveway, drove up and down a couple times, and then parked ACROSS THE END OF MY DRIVEWAY. I had to go back over and ask them to move the car again. More bitching and moaning from them about having to walk a half a block. Screw you. I finally called the cops later when one of their car alarms had been going off for 2 hours and no one had bothered to see to it.
I miss my nice little neighborhood.
Saturday, February 25, 2006
Landscaping vs. Apartment Life
Now you can have both! No need to wish you had something growing to cultivate-- even if you haven't the space, there's always room for a petri garden. They're even stackable!
Actually, some of the...um....growths...are quite lovely. They look like pen and ink designs.
_____________
I've been ruthlessly freecycling things away lately. I have to say, I love the idea. The concept is thus: You need something. Someone else has what you need and doesn't want it any longer. They give it to you. And vice versa. Contact is made via the freecycle site and/or mailing list, on which you can post if you're offering or searching for something. The only stipulation is that it be no-strings-attached free. I can live with that. It's also nice to be able to give something you don't need to people who will use it. Makes me feel much better than throwing things out.
I've been making room around here by being a little harsh about what things we actually use and which things we just don't need to keep. It feels good to get a bit more space. The next step is to go through our gazillion books and weed out duplicates and ones that aren't worth re-reading. Then on to the forty quadrillion cds.
This is interesting: We have around three thousand cds (no joke) and we haven't bought a new one in god knows how long. It's been about a year. Not to say that we haven't bought music, it's just that it's all been in digital form. That lovely, space-saving form. I'm surprised at how utterly I don't care about having cover art and cases anymore. That all stopped when we hit critical mass on the shelves and had to resort to piling in cardboard boxes. Not only have I not bought a cd, but it's a rare occasion that I listen to one, even. In fact, it's gotten to the point where the idea of a cd is almost quaint.
Why should I bother with this physical thing that can only hold one album's worth of music, when I have a much smaller physical thing that can hold hours and hours of songs or audio books? Or better yet, I can just play them on the computer and not have to deal with any extra physical things. And even best yet, I can just stream music from Epitonic "Radio" or Pandora, and not even have to take up virtual space. It's the future! What's not to like? Digital media has also saved me countless hours of scanning shelves of cds I've never managed to put in order (though I'm sure I would subconsciously be SO much happier a person if they were alphabetized) in search of a particular disc. Go zeros and ones!
Actually, some of the...um....growths...are quite lovely. They look like pen and ink designs.
_____________
I've been ruthlessly freecycling things away lately. I have to say, I love the idea. The concept is thus: You need something. Someone else has what you need and doesn't want it any longer. They give it to you. And vice versa. Contact is made via the freecycle site and/or mailing list, on which you can post if you're offering or searching for something. The only stipulation is that it be no-strings-attached free. I can live with that. It's also nice to be able to give something you don't need to people who will use it. Makes me feel much better than throwing things out.
I've been making room around here by being a little harsh about what things we actually use and which things we just don't need to keep. It feels good to get a bit more space. The next step is to go through our gazillion books and weed out duplicates and ones that aren't worth re-reading. Then on to the forty quadrillion cds.
This is interesting: We have around three thousand cds (no joke) and we haven't bought a new one in god knows how long. It's been about a year. Not to say that we haven't bought music, it's just that it's all been in digital form. That lovely, space-saving form. I'm surprised at how utterly I don't care about having cover art and cases anymore. That all stopped when we hit critical mass on the shelves and had to resort to piling in cardboard boxes. Not only have I not bought a cd, but it's a rare occasion that I listen to one, even. In fact, it's gotten to the point where the idea of a cd is almost quaint.
Why should I bother with this physical thing that can only hold one album's worth of music, when I have a much smaller physical thing that can hold hours and hours of songs or audio books? Or better yet, I can just play them on the computer and not have to deal with any extra physical things. And even best yet, I can just stream music from Epitonic "Radio" or Pandora, and not even have to take up virtual space. It's the future! What's not to like? Digital media has also saved me countless hours of scanning shelves of cds I've never managed to put in order (though I'm sure I would subconsciously be SO much happier a person if they were alphabetized) in search of a particular disc. Go zeros and ones!
Thursday, February 23, 2006
From the desk of...someone confused.
Remember the vacuous junior high cheerleader who had signed up for a MySpace page using my address? Well, prepare to be dazzled. It's clear now that there are currently multiple obtuse Stephs who have given away one of my email addresses as their own. A few years ago, I had received a few emails for some Steph graduating college on the East coast. Mostly it was her university hitting me up for donations (which I can understand puposely giving out the wrong email address for) and her mother, of all people (who OUGHT to have a correct address. Or not, depending on the mother.). Well, apparently she's moved to California and is on a job hunt, obliviously giving out the wrong email address again becasue today the junk mail filter almost caught this:
Steph,
Thank you again for coming in to meet with our team and for your time. We appreciate your interest in AppStream. Although your qualifications are impressive, we do not feel they are commensurate with our needs at this time. We will retain your resume for future consideration.
We wish you continued success in your career.
L--
L-- C, SPHR
Human Resources
AppStream , Inc.
Oh...OOPS, I guess. I'm so not sympathetic. It makes me wonder if I'm a real schmuck. I'm tempted to write HR back and let them know they made the right decision. Actually, my only choice is to let her try to follow up about the position and get the bad news in person....Which I really hope makes her realize that she's fallen prey again to whatever stupidity it is that makes people forget their own email addresses on multiple instances when it's important they get their contact info correct.
Human Resources
AppStream , Inc.
Wednesday, February 22, 2006
Don't you DARE Put Your Feet Up.
As much as I adore the idea of this high-tech coffee table from HP, it would die quickly in our house. Here at Casa McW, the point of coffee tables is to have someplace to put your feet, the mail, and various beverages. Out coffee table is never empty. I can imagine that the high tech version would just sigh and stop working the 500th time someone accidentally set a hot mug of coffee on it, or used it as a catch-all for some crafty project involving sawdust or little slivers of plastic (both have happened to ours).
Nonetheless, it would be ever-so-keen to be able to gather around to play games or look at a map, watch a movie or just browse the web, etc. I just know that it would end up awkwardly tilted on its side because the "looking down from above" thing may be very Star Trek, but it's not at all practical.
Nonetheless, it would be ever-so-keen to be able to gather around to play games or look at a map, watch a movie or just browse the web, etc. I just know that it would end up awkwardly tilted on its side because the "looking down from above" thing may be very Star Trek, but it's not at all practical.
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
Makers (and Muad'Dibs)
Recently I've spent more time making things and thinking about making things. It's nice to be planning and making little drawings again, even if it's about silly little things like LED throwies, or puppets for my niece. I think when we have a kid that it would be fun to make a bunch of white throwies and mount some light sheet metal so they can have little stars at night, and make constellations. It's been interesting looking through places like Make or Instructables for ideas and jumping off points.
I really really need space to organize my collected "stuff to make other things from." I have things like yellowed crackly pages from old novels, copper wire, mason jars, wire brads, glass beads, plywood scraps, old postcards and black and white photos I collect from flea markets, various stones, paints, fabric scraps, yarn, fishing line etc, ad infinitum. Not to mention the quadrillion pairs of needle nosed pliers and implements and soldering irons. It's scattered in little caches around the house at this point - a box of stuff here, a bag can fit there - What I really need is a big cabinet with lots of drawers. Many many little drawers. I'm positive there's something Freudian about my obsessive need to organize things out into drawers.
The Boy might be a little miffed that I've been snickering about him. He's at his desk, I'm at mine (as often we are in the evenings). There was a long period of silence, then a few minutes ago suddenly, in a flat, robotic voice, he said, "Help." And then he said it again. And again. Of course I turned to see what he could possibly need help with that would require such a weird way of expressing it, and I realized that he wasn't talking to me. He was apparently conversing with his new smart phone, because once it was up and running, it asked him, "What would you like help with?" Out loud. In a phone lady-voice. Crazy. "Call Mom," he told it. "Mom at home, or Mom's cell?" it asked.
In any case, the "help... help... help," bit had me laughing, because it reminded me of a story about one of my sisters. When she was about 3 or 4 years old, she got stuck crawling under the couch or something, and called to my mom for help. Mom, seeing that she wasn't in immediate danger, let her know she'd be there in a second. My sister still squirmed and continued to call for Mom until it fell into a rhythmic, "Help!....Help!....Help!" Eventually she became resigned and the urgent note in her voice turned into a flat robotic tone, and Mom heard her little voice repeat, "Help...this is a recording...Help." If it were me, it would have taken a couple minutes for me to stop laughing and assist her.
The boy has just informed me that his Smarty McCellphonepants will not only play MP3s, but he can simply say, "Play Godspeed You Black Emperor," (or whatever) and it will. Or if it's on random, he can ask, "What song is this?" It also plays movies and such, and does the whole camera/video thing (even has a flash). It's easy to see why he's enamoured with it. It's basically a little computer he can take everywhere. Boy + computer = loooove.
I proudly informed him that my phone can not only make calls, but it can receive them as well.
I really really need space to organize my collected "stuff to make other things from." I have things like yellowed crackly pages from old novels, copper wire, mason jars, wire brads, glass beads, plywood scraps, old postcards and black and white photos I collect from flea markets, various stones, paints, fabric scraps, yarn, fishing line etc, ad infinitum. Not to mention the quadrillion pairs of needle nosed pliers and implements and soldering irons. It's scattered in little caches around the house at this point - a box of stuff here, a bag can fit there - What I really need is a big cabinet with lots of drawers. Many many little drawers. I'm positive there's something Freudian about my obsessive need to organize things out into drawers.
The Boy might be a little miffed that I've been snickering about him. He's at his desk, I'm at mine (as often we are in the evenings). There was a long period of silence, then a few minutes ago suddenly, in a flat, robotic voice, he said, "Help." And then he said it again. And again. Of course I turned to see what he could possibly need help with that would require such a weird way of expressing it, and I realized that he wasn't talking to me. He was apparently conversing with his new smart phone, because once it was up and running, it asked him, "What would you like help with?" Out loud. In a phone lady-voice. Crazy. "Call Mom," he told it. "Mom at home, or Mom's cell?" it asked.
In any case, the "help... help... help," bit had me laughing, because it reminded me of a story about one of my sisters. When she was about 3 or 4 years old, she got stuck crawling under the couch or something, and called to my mom for help. Mom, seeing that she wasn't in immediate danger, let her know she'd be there in a second. My sister still squirmed and continued to call for Mom until it fell into a rhythmic, "Help!....Help!....Help!" Eventually she became resigned and the urgent note in her voice turned into a flat robotic tone, and Mom heard her little voice repeat, "Help...this is a recording...Help." If it were me, it would have taken a couple minutes for me to stop laughing and assist her.
The boy has just informed me that his Smarty McCellphonepants will not only play MP3s, but he can simply say, "Play Godspeed You Black Emperor," (or whatever) and it will. Or if it's on random, he can ask, "What song is this?" It also plays movies and such, and does the whole camera/video thing (even has a flash). It's easy to see why he's enamoured with it. It's basically a little computer he can take everywhere. Boy + computer = loooove.
I proudly informed him that my phone can not only make calls, but it can receive them as well.
Monday, February 20, 2006
Oh, The Places I've Been... (in red)
create your own visited country map
That may look slightly impressive, but it's more than a little misleading. I mean, it looks as though I've tromped up through the entire Canadian North and tooled around Russia from Siberia to Ukraine. Which I haven't. I have been (at least briefly) to
- United States. I tend to visit the US permanently.
- Canada. Ah, the country of my birth.
- Mexico (long enough to realize that Reynosa is a pretty dusty place)
- England
- Scotland
- Wales
- France
- Germany
- Italy
- Begium
- Switzerland
- Netherlands
- Luxemborg (just long enough to look at a couple WWII graveyards. It took about 30 minutes to drive across the entire country.
- Vatican City (do most people count this as another country? I know technically it has its own money and postage, etc, but come on...)
- Russia
- Austria
HOWEVER, one thing that does appear to be in the cards (as it were) is a rennovated kitchen. I am making a concerted effort to not squeal like a small, thrilled child and do little impromptu dances. However, I am VERY excited, and am hoping like h311 it works out. More later if it does actually work out.
Friday, February 17, 2006
Tom vs. Oprah Smashup!
I'm not usually one to even pretend that the silly, silly lives of celebrities have any bearing on reality whatsoever, but I'm deriving much amusement from Tom Cruise this past year. The timeline goes something like this:
1. Tom and Katie hook up. (Why Katie, why?)
2. Tom goes batshit, declares himself a psychology expert and accuses various people of being "glib." (This is a performance of the script of the interview word for word.)
3. Tom goes on Oprah in the now famous couch jumping interview.
4. Clever nerds transform the video into one of Tom killing Oprah with his mind. It works quite well.
5. More insanity from Tom (ha...microphones that squirt water. ha...)
6. Oprah has James Frey back on her show to scold him after finding out his "biography" is fiction
7. Fark.com posts rumor of a Tom/Katie breakup. Farkers post amusing comments regarding it.
8. Tom Cruise has hissy fit and stomps feet. Shouts, "Glib! Glib!"
9. Clever nerds make a smashup video for Best Week Ever with pieces of Oprah's show from the jump the couch episode and the James Frey reprimand. The world smirks and waits for Tom to react.
1. Tom and Katie hook up. (Why Katie, why?)
2. Tom goes batshit, declares himself a psychology expert and accuses various people of being "glib." (This is a performance of the script of the interview word for word.)
3. Tom goes on Oprah in the now famous couch jumping interview.
4. Clever nerds transform the video into one of Tom killing Oprah with his mind. It works quite well.
5. More insanity from Tom (ha...microphones that squirt water. ha...)
6. Oprah has James Frey back on her show to scold him after finding out his "biography" is fiction
7. Fark.com posts rumor of a Tom/Katie breakup. Farkers post amusing comments regarding it.
8. Tom Cruise has hissy fit and stomps feet. Shouts, "Glib! Glib!"
9. Clever nerds make a smashup video for Best Week Ever with pieces of Oprah's show from the jump the couch episode and the James Frey reprimand. The world smirks and waits for Tom to react.
Monday, February 13, 2006
WHAM! FLASH MOB!
Guess what tomorrow is!! No... Well, it is Valentine's day and all that mushy tripe, but what I'm excited for is the 419 virtual flash mob. Yay!..? That didn't make any sense whatsoever, so allow me to explain:
Artists against 419 is sick and tired of scammers hijacking auctions and taking advantage of people in order to weasle money out of them. Scammers regularly set up fake bank websites to convince their victims of one thing or another ending in them scuttling away with cash. These fake banks are sometimes really funny pieces of work, and they're generally not set up to support more than a few visitors at a time.
The flash mob is one day where hundreds of indignant law-abiding internet users organize to visit fake bank sites in order to bring them down, and hopefully acrue nice fat bandwidth bills for the scammer. Mwahaha!
Pop in at the AA419 site tomorrow and click away while chuckling quietly to yourself. It's so satisfying to see the results of your handiwork, as links go dead. Go ahead--feel indignant! Do it!
Artists against 419 is sick and tired of scammers hijacking auctions and taking advantage of people in order to weasle money out of them. Scammers regularly set up fake bank websites to convince their victims of one thing or another ending in them scuttling away with cash. These fake banks are sometimes really funny pieces of work, and they're generally not set up to support more than a few visitors at a time.
The flash mob is one day where hundreds of indignant law-abiding internet users organize to visit fake bank sites in order to bring them down, and hopefully acrue nice fat bandwidth bills for the scammer. Mwahaha!
Pop in at the AA419 site tomorrow and click away while chuckling quietly to yourself. It's so satisfying to see the results of your handiwork, as links go dead. Go ahead--feel indignant! Do it!
Tuesday, February 07, 2006
Sweet Fancy Moses!
This may be passe' to those of you who read cuteoverload.com, but consider the following:
Ragingly adorable, is it not? I had thought the amount of head exploding cuteness imbued in this flying squirrel from Samurai Champloo was a figment of the imagination, but NO!Great googly moogly! Nature did it first!
The squirrel in the link above is native only to Japan, which does a lot to explain why the Japanese are so adept at creating things that make me reel from the effects of cuteness overexposure.
Speaking of Japan, my new favorite Flickr photgrapher hails from there. Here is a link to his photo sets, which are full of beautiful images taken with a very expensive digital SLR that I lust after. See in particular his most recent sets, and don't forget the wonders of the "jumping cats" set! His apartment is so clean and mod. Hey jealousy.
House of Fog and...Fog.
Just to clarify - the picture below is our foggy neighborhood from our house. No housefires, though that would have been exciting. Or...maybe not. The people across from us have a very yellowy light on their garage.
I do have some pictures of a real live housefire I saw. I'll post them if I can find them.
Yesterday was a shitty, shitty day.
Fact #1. When your fifteen minute checkup turns into your doctor sending you to get an emergency CT scan, it's not a rollicking fun time.
Fact #2. Hospitals can't even get the simplest of foods (like a turkey sandwich) right. Everything tastes like its been rolled carefully in sand and stale flour.
Fact #3. Having a CT done on your head feels like going in a time machine. You have to have your eyes closed, but all that whirring and flashing through a giant ring makes you feel like you should be disembarking at the signing of the Declaration of Independance or the unveiling of the first moon colony.
I should have the results today or tomorrow. Though I have been thinking about it, I'm not terribly worried. Thankfully, I haven't keeled over, which I assume is a good sign.
I do have some pictures of a real live housefire I saw. I'll post them if I can find them.
Yesterday was a shitty, shitty day.
Fact #1. When your fifteen minute checkup turns into your doctor sending you to get an emergency CT scan, it's not a rollicking fun time.
Fact #2. Hospitals can't even get the simplest of foods (like a turkey sandwich) right. Everything tastes like its been rolled carefully in sand and stale flour.
Fact #3. Having a CT done on your head feels like going in a time machine. You have to have your eyes closed, but all that whirring and flashing through a giant ring makes you feel like you should be disembarking at the signing of the Declaration of Independance or the unveiling of the first moon colony.
I should have the results today or tomorrow. Though I have been thinking about it, I'm not terribly worried. Thankfully, I haven't keeled over, which I assume is a good sign.
Saturday, February 04, 2006
Burnin' Down the House!
Welcome to my foggy, post-apocalyptic neighborhood.I used the Surrealist's Ebay Feedback Generator to make the critical decision on what I should leave for my most recent purchase. We bought a 1 MB iPod Shuffle, and they originally sent us a 512MB, so I thought I'd experiment with a little over the top negative feedback. Here is what was generated:
Item detestable. Beastly packaging. Immensely slow dispatch.
Notably horrid quality! Cursed packaging. Sluggish delivery.
Daunting quality. Uncomely packaging. Ever so dire delivery.
The item was detestable! Foul packaging. Abhorrent delivery.
Item abhorrent! Very, very slow dispatch. Heinous packaging.
Item sickening. Loathsome packaging. Delivery was repellent.
Rotten quality! Packaging was vile. Delivery was detestable.
Item is of heinous quality! Haglike packaging. Slow to send.
Item is of eerie quality! Slow to send. Frightful packaging.
The item was icky and lurid. Cursed packaging. Late to send.
Notably horrid quality! Cursed packaging. Sluggish delivery.
Daunting quality. Uncomely packaging. Ever so dire delivery.
The item was detestable! Foul packaging. Abhorrent delivery.
Item abhorrent! Very, very slow dispatch. Heinous packaging.
Item sickening. Loathsome packaging. Delivery was repellent.
Rotten quality! Packaging was vile. Delivery was detestable.
Item is of heinous quality! Haglike packaging. Slow to send.
Item is of eerie quality! Slow to send. Frightful packaging.
The item was icky and lurid. Cursed packaging. Late to send.
The packaging was uncomely and haglike! I demand a refund!
Thursday, February 02, 2006
Silly rabbit - when will you ever learn?
Clearly it won't be anytime soon! Those of you who read my blog from the beginning may remember a certain post where I vowed never to own fish again. Well, three years later and whaddya know? Actually, I can still feel self-righteous about that one. I don't technically own fish...yet. But I do own fish food, and have a little tank humming away here in the study.
I have finally found something to do with the stones and shells I've collected from some of the places I've been. Instead of being piled in a mug on the mantle, I've dumped them into the tank. My future fish will certainly appreciate that they're swimming over some shells from Hilton Head, some little stones from Brighton beach in England, a flat rock from Dachau, a skipping stone from Point Pelee, and some beach glass from Galveston. A weird little collection that, when put all together, represents the life of someone I maybe don't know.
Não ocupado!
I have finally found something to do with the stones and shells I've collected from some of the places I've been. Instead of being piled in a mug on the mantle, I've dumped them into the tank. My future fish will certainly appreciate that they're swimming over some shells from Hilton Head, some little stones from Brighton beach in England, a flat rock from Dachau, a skipping stone from Point Pelee, and some beach glass from Galveston. A weird little collection that, when put all together, represents the life of someone I maybe don't know.
Wednesday, February 01, 2006
Glad Day
I found out today that for the second time, I'm going to lose a pen pal. This might not initally sound like something I should be ecstatic about, but trust me--I am!
For the past 5 months, I've been exchanging letters with a little girl named Nastia in an orphanage in Odessa, Ukraine. She's earnest and sweet, and has been utterly dejected since her best friend was adopted by a family in the US a couple months ago. Weeell, today I found out (from the friend who lives in Odessa and translates my letters) that, though Nastia doesn't know it yet, a family is trying to adopt her. Not just any family, but one that is close friends with the one who adopted her best friend! Whoo! Double plus! So pray, cross your fingers, light a candle, or whatever it is you do in hopes that there won't be any problems with the adoption.
Last year my pen pal was a 13 year old boy named Dima. He'd been the parent to his three younger siblings on the street before they were put into the orphanage. He was so terrified that someone might adopt one of the other siblings, and they'd never see each other again. His dream was that they'd all be adopted together. Who'd adopt 4 siblings, ranging in age from 5 to 13? Against all odds, (and probably some common sense, but does it matter?) a couple in Maryland did just that. Crazy! I got to chat with their adoptive mom before hand, which was nice. I still get letters and pictures. The kids actually look healthy now, and so darn happy.
I'm so glad people are adopting older kids--the ones who are ready to give up hope that anyone would want them or love them. I have two little brothers from the same orphanage as Nastia and Dima. They've been in the family over a year now, and it feels like they've always been there.
But it still kills me that they say things like, "You know what's cool about living with Mom and Dad? They just give me food. I don't even have to pay for it." An eleven year old shouldn't have to think like that.
For the past 5 months, I've been exchanging letters with a little girl named Nastia in an orphanage in Odessa, Ukraine. She's earnest and sweet, and has been utterly dejected since her best friend was adopted by a family in the US a couple months ago. Weeell, today I found out (from the friend who lives in Odessa and translates my letters) that, though Nastia doesn't know it yet, a family is trying to adopt her. Not just any family, but one that is close friends with the one who adopted her best friend! Whoo! Double plus! So pray, cross your fingers, light a candle, or whatever it is you do in hopes that there won't be any problems with the adoption.
Last year my pen pal was a 13 year old boy named Dima. He'd been the parent to his three younger siblings on the street before they were put into the orphanage. He was so terrified that someone might adopt one of the other siblings, and they'd never see each other again. His dream was that they'd all be adopted together. Who'd adopt 4 siblings, ranging in age from 5 to 13? Against all odds, (and probably some common sense, but does it matter?) a couple in Maryland did just that. Crazy! I got to chat with their adoptive mom before hand, which was nice. I still get letters and pictures. The kids actually look healthy now, and so darn happy.
I'm so glad people are adopting older kids--the ones who are ready to give up hope that anyone would want them or love them. I have two little brothers from the same orphanage as Nastia and Dima. They've been in the family over a year now, and it feels like they've always been there.
But it still kills me that they say things like, "You know what's cool about living with Mom and Dad? They just give me food. I don't even have to pay for it." An eleven year old shouldn't have to think like that.
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