which country?

On April 7, 2004, in memes, by keifel

Would you accept $10,000,000 to leave your country in two hours and NEVER set foot in it again? (You can not take family with you.)

but seriously, it`s not about money. for the last four years i`ve been away from the country of my birth for prolonged periods and i have to say i haven`t missed it. i miss my children, i miss my friends, i miss the food, but honestly i can`t say i`ve missed the place.

but at the end of the day, no family and no ability to go back, no amount of money would ever be worth a decision like that.

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double plus ungood

On April 7, 2004, in opinions, by keifel

there is no middle ground it seems. it is always one extreme or another.

everything seems to be in the name of protecting the children. i have children and sometimes you need them to run a little wild, bump their heads, do stupid shit, because if you protect them from everything they wont learn anything.

this isn`t about children so much as it as about the mrs. brofloski`s of the world who get up on their high horses and believe they know what`s best of everyone else.

i wonder if the people who complain or start these protest organisations ever look back and think as it snowballs out of control, what have i done? three months after the superbowl the fcc is still using 3 seconds of nipple as an excuse to crackdown on indecency.

as we were unpacking books i jokingly told vic there may come a point where some of the books are going to have to be secreted, as i read/listen to the news everyday i wonder how far from the truth that is.

i wrote here before about being afraid of the backlash and i think this current fcc witch hunt is only the beginning of something more sinister. think about it, the popularity of the passion, abortion rights being eroded piece by piece, the rabid nature of the gay marriage debate, all within the space of three or four months, i think the pendulum has definitely started swinging in the opposite direction.

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again

On April 6, 2004, in personal, by keifel

i had one of those inspirational writing moments, got started and lost it, so you`re stuck with more tales of the unpacking.

there is a space in the living room. there are less than 15 boxes left and i think most of them are going straight into the attic. it feels odd saying that, i`ve never lived somewhere with an attic so it`s a bit of an adjustment.

the books are mostly on the shelves, the shelf with the cookbooks has been organised and there are still some on the floor probably enough to take up another shelf on another bookcase. looking at the books i`m wondering how it`s all going to fit.

slowly but surely the ground floor is beginning to take shape.

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moved

On April 5, 2004, in personal, by keifel

we`ll the moving is done. the beds are up, we have clothes to wear and the kitchen is clear.

now we can start unpacking. the living room area is a sea of boxes. well if you can call boxes stacked 5` high and 8 – 10 deep, a sea. i should be unpacking but i`m a little overwhelmed at the moment, yesterday`s adrenaline is gone and i`m exhausted and every muscle in my body aches.

i`m hoping to catch a second wind momentarily. the boxes are all labelled and they are mostly books, i just need to start putting stuff on shelves, when vic gets home we can rearrange into an order we find amenable, what`s a little frightening is that these are just her books. there is still another 6 boxes of my books sitting in the basement of her mother`s house and we have nowhere to put them

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greetings from yard

On April 3, 2004, in personal, by keifel

so being the geek that i am, i`m standing at the kitchen counter surrounded by boxes testing our dsl connection. well obviously it works.

time to go pick up the truck.

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that’s not it

On April 2, 2004, in personal, by keifel

i`ve been trying to write another one of those satirical pieces that i did earlier this week, it`s coming together, but i`m kind of cranky today so it`s a little more bitter sounding that it`s original intent. the piece can keep, so i`m going to leave it alone for a little while.

the moving continues piece by piece there are only a couple more boxes in the garage, then we have the attic to face and the large stuff that requires the truck and able hands. our addresses are officially changed, the utilities are all in place and what is our only extravagance; dsl; the modem arrived today and the line is functional. although i`m not entirely sure if dsl counts as an extravagance, in this day and age it seems like a necessity.

we have a pair of snakes under our stoop, apparently. they are the good kind, the bug and rodent eating variety, so that`s a good sign, a visit from an exterminator may not be necessary.

i`m feeling very rundown and cranky today and i think i`ll quit this while i`m ahead.

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the joke’s on you

On April 1, 2004, in links, by keifel

here are the top 100 april fool`s day pranks and some of the best pranks pulled online

hope your day has been interesting.

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rollin’ rollin’ rollin’

On April 1, 2004, in personal, by keifel

we`re still moving boxes, that`s the plan for the next couple of days. on saturday evening we get the truck and the major items move early sunday. we`ve already moved three carloads of boxes and that`s pretty much the stuff that`s in day to day use. there is still the bookcases, the beds and the attic full of stuff. we have a lot of stuff.

i think when you`re moving you see clearly what your priorities are; the kitchen is pretty much moved and all the books that we had immediate access to. food and food for thought, pretty good priorities i think.

there are a couple things the rental company need to come fix forthwith but the apartment is very liveable. it seems like we have a lot of space now, but once all of our stuff is moved in i sense a lot of reorganisation to accommodate it all.

one of the things i`m looking forward to is combining the libraries. we have four 7` bookshelves which i think we have the ability to fill with ease. i know there is going to be some culling as there is some overlap and with our book buying moratorium in place, we can catch up on what we may have missed in our respective collections.

in other news there i`m also doing some reorganising on the site,  i`ve changed some of the categories, so i`m back-tracking to update entries to their appropriate categories, not an easy task with just over 800 entries. next week will be a year since i started here, i have to say looking back over the last 51 weeks, it`s been interesting.

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all your key are belong to us

On March 31, 2004, in personal, by keifel

today we get the keys for our apartment. ours. for the first time, we will officially be lessors, together. it`s been four weeks since i arrived and it`s been about settling in and even with all the expectations of things going wrong, three people unaccustomed to living together have found a rhythm. next week the rhythm changes again, for the better.

this weekend is the major moving but with keys in hand the boxes that have been packed and are in the process of packing are being transported by the carload.

with me still technically a non-person [no SS#] this is going to take a great deal fiscal juggling and worship at the great sacrificial altar of the household budget. i think we can do it however. we`ve been working at it and i think we can manage until i get full time work.

i have my fingerprint/photo/signature appointment at the local ins office next friday, bringing my existence as a person in the system closer to reality and taking some of the burden off vic. as much as i`m enjoying my times as a house husband, i`m feeling the baser imperative to being a provider.

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‘the man’ owes me what?

On March 29, 2004, in opinions, by keifel

i don`t believe in reparations.

actually let me quantify that, i think the people that are most deserving and in dire need of reparations would be the remaining descendants of the tribes that were enslaved. these people lost at least four generations and are still feeling the effects.

there are a number of issues i have with reparations, primarily who`s footing the bill?  logically it would be the colonial powers, but who`s going to pay for that? the taxpayers? what about the taxpayers who are descended from slaves? should they have to pay? or the people that immigrated after the abolition of slavery?

should come out the pockets of businesses? are any of the business still in existence and do they pay less if they have the descendants of former slaves as stockholders?

which brings me to my other problem if the actual descendants of slaves [ie the people in the caribbean and the americas] are being compensated, how does that work? do you get more money if all your ancestors are black? or should get more if you`re of mixed descent because one of your ancestors may have been raped? what about people who voluntarily have mixed ancestry do they get less money?

why is there this perception by my people that something is owed to us? i mean, the same descendants of slaves from the caribbean move to the US, chase the dream and make something of themselves. but a lot of US born slave descendants just sit around talking about `the man keeping us down”

what are the differences that drive us?

caribbean people in the US are a standing joke of some sort, working three and four jobs and sending money home. that`s the ethos that we were brought up with, `hard work brings reward` but it seems to be fading for the illusion of the quick dollar. everyone wants that lucrative sports/music/movie deal but no one wants to put in the hard work it entails anymore. it`s owed to them.

nobody owes you anything until you get off your derriere and work for it.

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