Sunday, November 12, 2006

quick post, no pics

Sunday, November 12, 2006
tastey news bits
did you know that death row inmates have myspace pages? and, well, of course they don't ADVERTISE the fact that they live on death row. hmmmm ... scary. and, did you hear about the family that's suing greyhound for damages after a sanitary tank got emptied on the highway on the family's SUV. YUCK! can you say ... e coli ... c diff ... and all kinds of other ICKY BUGS??? guess who's buying a new family vehicle?

a note for M
moose tried to undress himself again last nite, of course. i had to fasten the belt to his leather jacket. naughty moose ... :^B ... truly, i have this feeling that moose wants to somehow plot his way to those 'sexy boy' leather pants hanging on the doorknob of my new bedroom.


the radio's playing jewel, and i'm having an emotional orgy with her voice and the enrgy of her song. she asks "do you love me like i love you?" and darling i smile because i need not ask you this question. i know. i know the answer. i feel your absence. not just as a loss or silent aching. but i feel the entity that connects us - love. it burns brightly. i treat moose like he's holding a piece of your soul inside him.

about war and remembering our soldiers
i happened on the remembrance day service yesterday at the cenotaph in downtown vancouver. a sea of people, as far as the eye could see - all around victory square, all along cambie, hastings, and that little side street on the western edge of victory square whose name i cannot remember. anyway - the psychic wave from this gathering of 10,000 people just flooded me. it felt - overwhelming. but in an okay way. i could feel the intense emotion in the crowd. since i'm on the topic of the military, i will just say i think its pointless to vocalize opposition to current military campaigns. its like a zero sum game. what's the point? what does it accomplish?

i suppose those who oppose iraq and afghanistan don't consider the folks who sacrifice themselves to a military career. well, y'all should, y'know. ya should. i can say this because i opposed the invasion of iraq this time around. but, several years later and many lives lost and broken, does it matter? not really. its like protesting against the softwood lumber deal or free trade. futile. and i wonder, what value do opposers place upon military service and sacrifce? just wondering. perhaps it would make a difference of opposers channelled their energies of frustration and despair into constructive causes, like writing letters to soldiers, sending them care packages, or just taking some time to visit the cenotaph in your own town. SPREAD SOME POSITIVE ENERGY is what i'm saying.

pink luvs vancouver
i love this city. love it. have i told you, i feel as though i've come home? i went wandering again down east hasting. and i found a cool market grocery store. and just when i began to pine away for my reusable canvas shopping bag, this cool store had the for sale - tres cheap! yeaaay. and so i filled the bag with all kinds of good things. yum. i'm glad i remembered to pack my umbrella - we love rainfall warnings here, don't we?

the spirit of vancouver fills me. its verdant and lush, damp and cool like a rainy fall day. its hot chocolate at 4 am in at the wireless internet cafe downtown. its the tree outside my bedroom window with orange leaves AND succulent green buds. its screeching seagulls searching for their lost mates. its those steep hills that leave me almost breathless. its the high i feel just breathing in the air and considering all the amazing possibilities. its shiny, wet holly bushes, complete with lovely red berries. its sheets of rain puddles cascading along the slopes of the back lanes. its the towering old evergreens - not just the kind with those tiny needles, also the kind with cypress-like leaves. its the pittering tap of the raindrops against the side of the building that lulls me to sleep in mid afternoon. its shopping for fruit and vegies on the sidewalk in november. its a sea of umbrellas coating the sidewalks.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Vancouver sounds beautiful. I've never been to Canada. I work with women whose sons are in Iraq. One apparently is suffering from PTSD and I think he is in a hospital. One of my sons best friends joined and got blown up by a grenade. He lived but it broke his scapula and he lost part of his lung. They said that if he hadn't had such a good bullet-proof vest on he wouldn't have lieved. My point is....these guys really believe in what they are doing. I don't understand the way they think and I'm sure they don't understand the way that I think. But I would never get into it with them because I respect what they are doing. All of them came from military families. Jim...Joel's friend is willing to go back though I don't know if he could now. Truthfully, in the end who completely knows who is right and who isn't.

Anonymous said...

I love Vancouver, it's beautiful. My dad (the biological one, who left when I was five and whom I recontacted as an adult) lives there with his fourth wife. The rugrats and I have visited a few times over the years, and it's obvious why he stays there and doesn't come back to the states.

Anonymous said...

I would love to visit Vancouver one day... Hey, I have been to Niagra Falls... both sides! Does that count?

Support the troops! If you disagree with the government, then help change it. Don't blame those who have been sent to fight because of our government. They are not only fighting for others freedoms, but to ensure you keep yours.

Anonymous said...

Vancouver truly sounds lovely. hmmm, that dern war. I have relatives and sons of friends who have fought in this war. Of course, I support the soldiers. I have a problem with the war though..

Anonymous said...

Vancouver truly sounds lovely. hmmm, that dern war. I have relatives and sons of friends who have fought in this war. Of course, I support the soldiers. I have a problem with the war though..

Anonymous said...

blue - i am embarking on a self-imposed writing project that involves writing about the cost of war ... writing the stories of soldiers. perhaps it seems morbid to some, but i truly - out of love, respect, incredible awe - want to share the experience that soldier's have had. i know it must be hard for these chaps to talk about their experiences ... but ... if you know of any who want to share their stories ... injuries, things that haunt them from the battlefield, struggles with PTSD ... i would love to hear them. please, point anyone who wants to share this to my email - roxannegalpin@yahoo.ca

it takes a special kind of person to be a soldier. i believe it is a calling ... a vocation, in much the same way being a nurse, a doctor, a medic, a preacher, a teacher ... is. we need to understand this as a society. and i think we don't. i do because i tried my hand at nursing and it caused so me so much anguish i had to stop. dying in a war is not neccessariy the worse thing - living to tell about it is, i think.

its taken me awhile, but i now see it is so inappropriate, and almost disrespectful to show anything but love and support and admiration for our soldiers who go to war and do well (ie i don't include abusive soldiers in this - ie such as those that commited atrocities at abu ghraib or mogadishu/africa).

i just think all those who oppose the reasons that bush invaded iraq should channel their despair in a more positive way. yes, bush fucked up. yes, he ignored history - king fiesel's opinion on the iraqi nation and also churchill's experiences forming iraq after the fall of the ottoman empire. ok. that's in the past. we all need to GET OVER IT! and support humanity. that means put those fucking anti-war placards away! and get your pens out and write letters of support to soldiers. or write to your MP or congressman. or VOTE. but don't persecute the soldiers for doing the job ... they and their families make huge sacrifices. whether we agree with it or not ... its not our place to judge a soldier who is fullfilling his mandate.

spring - its like i've entered the garden of eden. truly. i love it. and this time, i'm not leaving. nice to see you spring, hope you are well. and rugrat, too.

kevin - niagara falls is beautiful ... i have been there a few times. and liked it everytime. especially at night when the falls are lit up. sure it counts. i agree, with you, about the troops. i hope that protesters get the message. to me protesting the wars seems like protesting sunset. silly. and futile. welcome to my blog.

schaumi - i know its not the same, but i sort of feel like in a small way i can identify with soldiers on the battlefield, having practiced nursing for several years. i, too, in my nursing practice, came across patients who villified me because my workload could not afford me the time really warranted with patients.

i felt, all the time, guilty, for not doing any service to patients - despite saving their lives in many cases (this is simply not enuf, i think) - because i had so many to look after. and i felt like, at times, i was dropped on the front lines without any ammunition. especially working ER.

and the carnage, and suffering and death i witnessed. i can relate. tho my experiences pale in comparison to a soldier's i'm sure. still i have seem amputations, and amputees, gaping wounds, smelled rotting flesh, and other ugly things that shall forever remain ingrained in my self.

i no longer have dreams or anxiety attacks, now that i have left nursing. i am glad it is a choice i could make to leave that war. i know that a soldier of the military has no such choice.

i, too, have a huge problem with bush's invasion of iraq, particularly in the face of historical records. churchill was a brilliant stateman and a most intelligent man. and still he believed forming iraq the way he did was not an appropriate solution.

i remember asking my husband, when this whole thing first started, 'why do we think sadam has lasted so long?' ie - perhaps sadam, brute that he is, knew things that western do-gooders clearly did not. perhaps, perhaps, such a collective of people (i will not call iraqi's a nation - they really do not appear to have such a conscience) needed a tyrant to keep a lid on things.

just a thought.

i respect soldiers. and anyone who has lived thru war. i want to know their stories. most of my husband's german relatives do not want to talk about WW11. please keep writing about your mother's experiences. welcome to my blog.



thanx, y'all for your thoughtful comments!

good thoughts to you all.

Anonymous said...

you went to vancouver...wow...gawd..there's nowhere I ca go except here..in my dining table typing to kingdom come..swamped with wooork...sigh!

I read through quickly..I'll be back sometime after I finish this project... I was thinking of you the past days..dunno why...I had to say "hi"..and you're doing real good me' friend..a big huggy' to you!

Anonymous said...

just popped in to say high...
...a case of the insomnias here...
wow, i have tons of respect for nurses..
did you serve as a nurse during a war? i'll have to be back later..
cya..maybe i can sleep now.