a christmas story!

i love christmas.  i heart it.  it’s the most awesomest holiday EVER.  motherfuckin’ *santa* is comin’!  yippee!!

so, mah tree is up…

my fireplace is ~lit~...

(chestnuts roasting on a ... bunchacandles…)

and i’m busy busy busy gettin’ everything else ready.  have i mentioned i really love christmas?

while roaming the internets, i came across this article the other day (a 2008 series of interviews with mall santas):

“I don’t hear kids wanting Wii’s or Barbies. They want Daddy to come back, they want socks and shoes,” he tells me adjusting his red hat, taking in the cool breeze from the fan pointing directly at him.

it caught my eye, because i used to work at the toy store in that mall, many many many….many.  moons ago. 

the last year i was there, we’d a little boy, maybe 4 or 5 years old, who used to hang around all day by himself.  his mother worked at the walgreen’s *diner* (yes, they used to have a diner!) and she couldn’t afford daycare.  since he pretty much had the run of the mall, he made friends with those of us at all his regular stops, but the toy store was ~obviously~ his favorite place.  i had a brother close in age and, feeling sorry for this little boy with nothing to do all day but roam the mall, i pretty much adopted him as my “little helper”.

his mother and i would wave at one another, though i don’t think we ever spoke.  she only knew me as ~the toy store girl~.  the other employees, even the store manager, would “find” open toy packages and leave them for me to give him.  he’d draw and color pictures for me, “help” me stock toys, play store security (“miss, i think that boy has a tonka truck under his shirt” - like i’d not noticed), and just generally became a fixture in our store.  i’d come into work and they’d tell me, “your little friend was here looking for you”. 

daily, he’d follow me around, babbling non-stop.  repeatedly, he’d tell me that all he wanted was for his dad to come back home.  his dad had gone to “this place called cadifurnia” looking for a job and his mom and he had no furniture in their tiny apt.  he hoped to someday have a real bed.  absolutely broke my heart.

then one day, just days before christmas, i came into work and there stood the little boy… WITH BOTH HIS PARENTS!  his father had come home - bringing a bed, new clothes, and a whole heap load of happiness for one little boy.  his parents had brought me a gift (perfume and a tray) as a thank you (i told them it wasn’t necessary, he was a delight to have hanging around) and begged me to take a picture on santa’s lap with their son (which i did. poor santa.).

every christmas, i remember that lil boy and wonder where he’s gotten to and how well he fared in life.

koorosh, wherever you might be, i hope the happiness you felt that christmas has stayed with you always.

and may ~all of you~ have as wonderful a christmas, as well.

i’ll leave you with this, my favoritest christmas song EVER:

maurice chevalier - jolly old st nicholas

Blogged, Life, Personal, Memories, Comments (1)
Tagged as: memories,christmas December 10, 2009 @ 07:29 am

“the story of cap and trade”

from the story of stuff (also well worth watching) comes “the story of cap and trade”:

The Story of Cap & Trade from Story of Stuff Project on Vimeo.

this reminds me…

i once worked for a company who built refineries / chemical plants.  the engineers would talk about “toxic waste pools” that poisoned the wildlife around the plants / refineries over in the middle east - wild dogs who “went crazy” from drinking from the pools, bedouin who’d have to be paid for cattle that died after drinking from the pools, etc.  i was taken aback by their nonchalance.  they just thought it was funny.  when questioned why such a thing would be allowed, that it was harmful to the environment, they said “but that’s over there, not over here” and they were *serious*. because.  you know.  we don’t all share one atmosphere and one earth.  “over there” can’t get all mingled up with “over here”.  thank god for those invisible barricades, borders.  :|

Blogged, Just for Fun, videos, Current Events, Politics, Comments (0)
Tagged as: politics,videos December 10, 2009 @ 07:12 am

adt, it still sucks, *proof*...

in a follow up to why adt sucks, i give you this beaut (oh, and now? comcast sucks, too, but we already knew that), False Sense Of Security?:

adt customer’s alarm found lying on the floor, beeping, after her house is burglarized.  adt never called her nor the police.
another adt customer found her system wasn’t working either.
comcast customer sets off his own comcast alarm accidentally… no response by comcast.

“You may have service. You may not. Play Russian roulette and find out,” said Dan Parsons, president of the Houston Better Business Bureau.

Parsons said it’s not what consumers expect when we pay for a service.

“People are doing this, thinking they are doing the right thing and counting that that expenditure’s protecting them,” he said.

in the case of the comcast customer, his account was accidentally placed in “inactive status” for 15 months.  15 months that he’d been paying for service.  (comcast did credit the customer for those 15 months.)

one adt customer was told that the ~adt authorized dealer~, protect your home, (seriously, don’t get an alarm from some guy in a back alley) had placed her account out of service.

the other adt customer…

When ADT refused to give McDaniels any answers, her insurance company hired an alarm expert to test her alarm system.

We obtained a copy of the investigator’s report that says ADT improperly installed the cellular backup alarm in McDaniels’ home. When the burglars ripped out the alarm hooked to her telephone line, the backup never sent a signal to ADT.

The investigator wrote, “ADT’s actions and inactions in this matter were deceptive and a deliberate disregard to the safety and security of Ms. McDaniel”—what he believes is a violation of the Texas Occupations Code.

“They provided me with a box that beeped when I went in and out of my house to make me feel a little better,” McDaniels said.

McDaniels’ insurance company is now battling with ADT to recoup the $14,000 in damage and stolen property from the burglary.

both adt and comcast put the onus on the customer to test that their systems are working properly (btw, so does broadview security).

“You’re doing your part in paying the bill and turning it on isn’t enough,” Wilson said.

Local 2 Investigates got the same information from alarm companies. Both ADT and Comcast told us it is the customer’s responsibility to test their alarm every month.

Comcast’s customer contract actually reads that the subscriber shall “carefully test the system daily during the term of this agreement” and “notify the company in the event of any defect.”

“The company’s getting paid to do this,” said Parsons. “And you’d like to think that you shouldn’t have to worry and then have a false sense of security. It’s more than a false sense of security. It’s letting the ball drop from someone who’s in the business to do this.”

in other words, make sure you’re testing your alarm, because the alarm companies aren’t really as interested in protecting your home as much as they are in collecting your payments.

Blogged, Life, Comments (1)
Tagged as: home,day2day December 02, 2009 @ 07:19 pm

The End of Poverty?

i want to see this film… 

The End Of Poverty? from Philippe Diaz on Vimeo.

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Tagged as: poverty December 02, 2009 @ 02:14 pm

World AIDS Day - To Daddy, With Love…

in early 1992, my father told us, after 25+ years of marriage, he was gay… and hiv-positive.

words just cannot adequately express what my family went through: sorrow, despair, anger, guilt… you name it, we grappled with it.  also, shame.  lots and lots of shame.  heaped on us due to the stigma associated with aids.  it was one thing to know someone with aids.  it was an entirely different thing to be “the wife of…” or “the child of…” someone with aids.  *that* was such a rarity that we often felt completely alone.  my brother told no one.  my mother and i told very few people.  mostly keeping it to a “need to know” basis - some family, supervisors, a few very close friends.  but people that i’d grown up with, people i’d known my entire life, my parents’ friends in our church… they often turned away from us when they saw us.  then we’d know they’d heard. 

my dad’s health deteriorated rapidly (the “aids cocktail” was in its infancy) and in may 1993, he lost his battle with aids.  the indignities the disease ravaged upon my father were horrific, heartbreaking.  (no one should ever have to wear plastic gloves to comfort someone they love.)

life is often not as simple, as black and white, as we might wish it.  so much might be missed if it were.

not a day goes by that i don’t miss my daddy.  they say “time heals all wounds”.  i say “they lie”.  some wounds never heal.  they merely scab over, becoming more easily hidden from public view.  perhaps this is what’s meant by “heal”, i honestly don’t know. 

what i do know… my family is extremely grateful to all those people who stood by us and offered us their love and support -  the charities who paid my dad’s rent, his health insurance, helped to feed him.  a minister who insisted upon coming to the funeral home to help us think clearly.  a priest who didn’t condemn us but showed us great kindness instead.  people who visited my father so that we could rest, who came to tell him he was loved and cared for, who didn’t turn away, who listened, who showed up with food, who randomly offered a hug, a touch of reassurance, who *made us laugh* when we thought we never would again. 

sometimes it’s the smallest things that can mean so much.

aids statistics

THE GLOBAL PICTURE:

Global deaths from AIDS reached an estimated 2 million in 2008, the same number as in 2007. Since the AIDS pandemic started in the early 1980s, almost 60 million people have been infected with the virus and 25 million have died of HIV-related causes.

In 2008, around 430 000 children were born with HIV, bringing to 2.1 million the total number of children under 15 living with HIV. Young people account for around 40 percent of all new adult (15+) HIV infections worldwide.

The annual number of new HIV infections remained the same in 2008 as for 2007 at 2.7 million. This is down from 3.0 million in 2001.

Although 33.4 million people suffered human immunodeficiency virus infections in 2008, more of them are living with HIV than ever before because people are living longer at least in part due to the beneficial effects of antiretroviral therapy.

Sub-Saharan Africa remains the region most heavily affected by HIV, accounting for 67 percent of all people living with HIV worldwide and 91 percent of all new infections among children.

Asia, home to 60 percent of the world’s population, is second only to sub-Saharan Africa in terms of people living with HIV.

India accounts for roughly half of Asia’s HIV prevalence. With the exception of Thailand, every country in Asia has an adult HIV prevalence of less than 1 percent.

HIV prevalence in eastern Europe and Central Asia is on the rise, with severe and growing epidemics in the Ukraine and Russia. With an adult HIV prevalence of 1.6 percent in 2007, Ukraine has the highest prevalence in all of Europe.

In Latin America, new HIV infections totaled an estimated 170,000 in 2008 bringing to 2 million the number of people living with HIV in Latin America. An estimated 77,000 people died of AIDS-related illnesses last year.

In 2008, North America had 55,000 new HIV infections and Western and Central Europe had 30,000 new infections.

small things you can do:

from join red :

Twitter: We’ve been working with our good friends at Twitter to do something really exciting. We’re turning the color of tweets red for the day! Just use #red or #laceupsavelives to turn your tweets red.

What else can you do on December 1st? This World AIDS Day, (RED) partners are making increased contributions to help fight AIDS in Africa:

Starbucks: 5 cents for every hand-crafted beverage in US & Canada, and 5p/5 Euro cents for every espresso-based beverage bought in UK & Ireland.

Gap: 1% of all revenue at participating US and Canada stores.

Dell: Doubling their contributions on DELL (PRODUCT) RED™ products in US, UK and Japan. Until December 2nd.

Bugaboo: As always Bugaboo will be contributing 1% of their total revenue to the Global Fund.

also:

Stone Soup Food Pantry, my personal favorite, started by a friend of my father’s - Provides nutritious non-perishable food boxes specifically designed for People Living with HIV/AIDS and a supermarket voucher redeemable for fresh produce or meat, personal hygiene items or household products. You can donate to them through aids foundation houston

aids foundation houston, AIDS Foundation Houston, Inc. (AFH) has steadily evolved over the last 25 years from a grass-roots community agency to a professionally managed human services organization. The agency currently administers 43 separate programs funded by 26 federal and state grants that continue to assist and comfort Houstonians infected with and affected by HIV.Think of AFH as a work in progress. As the face of HIV/AIDS changes, so do we.

aids memorial quilt, Their mission: To provide a creative means for remembrance and healing, to effectively illustrate the enormity of the AIDS pandemic, to increase awareness of HIV and AIDS throughout the general public, to assist others in providing education on the prevention of HIV infection, and to raise funds for community-based AIDS Service Organizations (ASO’s).

i give to you my father’s last words to me, because they are true for *everyone* : “you have the capacity and the ability to do or to be anything you want in life, but always be true to yourself.  experience life and all the wonders that it holds.  laugh, love, and be yourself.  you are enough.”

Blogged, Current Events, Personal, Memories, Comments (4)
Tagged as: memories,personal December 01, 2009 @ 12:59 pm