Family meme...
The rules are simple.

If you want to claim as family the person who posts this, send him or her a reply saying "I am your family." (Sorry. The whole family as verb thing was making me nuts.)
But, you have to post this in your journal, in exchange.

You aren't required to play and you can pass by this post if you wish.

Comments are not screened.

Six apart has sold LJ to SUP - a Russian organization. There is a mass migration of users, led by the Russian LJ-ers to alternative journals - such as Insane Journal. They are recommending that you do not leave your credit card information (if you have automatic renewals, it is stored on LJ servers) and to change or delete the full birthday info on your profile. This may be tin foil hat time, but a lot of people do get nervy about Russian access to private and/or financial information.

Current Mood: disappointed

Can anyone remember the hair band that did that song in 12/13 or whateverthehellitwas that Doc told me? It's the one that sounds Irish, but it isn't, just uses the same time as many of the Celtic tunes. endora,docgrauzer,omorka, anyone? Aaaaahhhhhhh!!

Current Mood: frustrated

Holy Kresheeta! I just found a cousin on ::blech:: myspace and he's wiccan!!!

Current Mood: shocked

If we can reclassify Pluto as a whateverthehell but NOT a planet, then I vote for doing the same for Mercury. G***bedamned retrogrades. BAH!

Current Mood: bitchy

( Is this the Real me? )

YARN PORN!!! Okay, time to break out the hook and needles ...

If you read my previous post, you will find out a bit of family history that relates to this story. I don't recall if even my kids know this bit of family lore or not.

The cousin who was a POW of the Japanese in WWII was a distant one to my mother.  His story is more of third hand information.  He was marched through some Pacific island jungle, though not to the extent of the Bataan Death March. He was beaten. He was starved. He worked as slave labor. And finally, he was locked in a bamboo cage, about the size of an iron maiden, and left there. He was fed poorly, and erratically. He could not stand up fully, nor sit normally, nor lie down. He was exposed to the elements. But he survived, and was liberated somewhere about the time of the retaking of the Philippines.

The cousin who was captured by the Germans is a different story.  Charles was either a first or second cousin to my mother. They had known each other throughout childhood.  My mother always talked about Charles' wicked sense of humor, his laugh, and how much fun he was. He was a very bright spot in my mom's childhood.

Charles was shot down behind enemy lines, though I don't know where.  His letters home were heavily edited, and his position was not very clear to the family back home.  When the family was notified that he was a POW, my mother was almost hysterical, and became physically ill. After the war, she found out there was a good reason why.

Charles was questioned by the Gestapo. He was almost drowned, the German equivalent of waterboarding.  They then put him, naked, in scalding hot water for 12 hours, then immediately submerged him in freezing water for 12 hours. Over and over again. He was beaten. He was humiliated. Over and over again.

He never gave them the information they wanted. He kept the United States safe.  But it broke him.  He was a changed man. He lost his humor. He lost his laugh. He became a different person, a stranger to his family.  It broke my mother's heart all over again to see the wreck he had become.  If I recall correctly, he became an alcoholic and drank himself to death.

And he gave his life, Mr. Bush, so that you could turn us into the monsters that we fought so hard against?

I don't think so.

I will not live in fear.
I will vote my conscience.

Edit: As I spell check this before I post, what does it say about us that I have to add the vile term "waterboarding" to my user dictionary? The legacy of the 43rd presidency is the shame that we feel belonging to our country? I feel like I've been crawling through a sewer.

Current Mood: disgusted

Sunday and Monday nights, ABC/Disney will broadcast a travesty of a story, using an event that shaped my nation, and changed the world that I live in.  This fiction is a blatant attempt to sway, yet again, the electorate of my country, to have them vote from their fears, rather than their conscience.

I have protested this, both to my lawmakers and to the network, to no avail.
I cannot stop this mockery of my country's tragedy and grief for political gain.

But this is what I can and will do:

I will not watch this program.  I will record it however.  I will fast forward through all content until I reach the  "limited commercial interruption."I will begin listing all the companies that bought commercial air time for this program. I will post these companies and products to every concerned Internet source that I can find.  I WILL NOT BUY FROM these companies. I will encourage others not to buy from these companies. I will write to these companies and I will tell them EXACTLY why I am not buying their products.

And I will not live in fear.

And I will vote my conscience.

ETA: Yes, I will publish the list on my journal.

Current Mood: determined

vicki_sine you've got nothing on ( me )

Current Mood: mischievous

So--
Took Tally to her first class in Freestyle. That this was NOT a rousing success would be an understatement. Tally is a BC and a trained herder. She promptly alerted on all the small dogs in the class and zoned out. Classic BC pose, lying down, tense even in the feet, staring holes. Standing in her way simply made her move around me. If we started moving, she would attempt to flank whichever dog she had in her sights. When I could call some attention away with treats (beef heart!!) she did some major sharking, to the point that my hands are still sore.  I gave up trying to do anything in class, and put us over in the corner.  I realized that lying down is not a good position for a BC. By the end of class, I had her in a sitting position, still focused on the class movement, and at least eating treats.  I know I have a lot of work to do to shift this focus.  I was thinking about taking her to Petsmart/Petco, but she only seems to do this when other dogs are in a working environment. Otherwise, she will alert on them, but I can shift the focus to me.   I am also going to be doing the Leading the Dance Protocol, but I have to be careful not to stress her knee injury too much. Gah!
 
The amusing thing this morning? When we were loading up the accouterments, (treats, water, bowl, etc.) Taz freaked out so much that she wasn't going that she streaked out the front door and beelined for the car. ::Sigh:: I will be doing freestyle on Thursday nights with her now. (Yes, I know I am puppy-whipped. I like it this way, or so I tell myself. wyldraven just rolls his eyes and says "Whatever.")

Tally ('round 'em up! I tell you!)

Current Mood: disappointed

Happy Birthday to my dear daughter sollite! Like I said on the phone, the first 6 cm were so easy - why did it take 8 hrs for those last 4?  And that shyness thing (She kept moving away from the external fetal monitor, so they had to put an internal one in - and my obstetrician had been a wide receiver in college football - big hands - ouch! He finally handed it to the nurse to do because 1.Contractions; 2. Small workspace; 3. Uncooperative child -she moved away every time they tried to get the monitor on her; 4. Pissed off mother-to-be.)

Yet it was all worth it, for more than just me, my baby. You are truly an "arrow that has flown swift and far."

And Life Longing for Itself is indeed well satisfied in you. Dwell safely in the House of Tomorrow.

I love you.

Hey endora! Have you seen this?

Have these people never had cats?

Queens will regularly stun mice and bring them back to the kittens to teach them to hunt prey. It is so much fun </SARCASM> to deal with when they are trying to teach their "not quite bright" human kittens to hunt. This is why you should always keep a terrier handy.

( it goes on... )

( It's Sunshine's Fault )

Happy Happy Birthday to butterflysedai! Your meme post couldn't have come at a better time - a bright spot in a crappy day - but you always seem to have that gift my baby.

Comment, and . . .
* I’ll respond with something random I like about you.

* I’ll tell you what song/movie reminds me of you.

* I’ll name something we should do together.

* I’ll say something that only makes sense to you and me (or just me).

* I’ll tell you my first/clearest memory of you.

* I’ll leave you a quote that is somehow appropriate to you.

* I’ll ask you something that I’ve always wondered about you.

* If I do this for you, you must post this on your journal so you can do the same for other people.