Whose hunger are we saving?

you know I'm not one to go around politically speeching or trying to save the world. I leave that to some of you guys around here who are way more skilled than I am to do so.
But this came through my inbox, from someone I love and admire.
It says the text is attributed to Mentor Muniz Neto, director of creation and partner of Bullet, one of the biggest publicity agencies in Brazil.
It may be, maybe not and maybe you have seen it before. If so, please remember I was translating from the Portuguese language and that English is not my native one.
I just thought it was valid.
Even if it's for my daughter to read in the future and have some reflect of what was going on at this time, which is the only reason I blog.
Thanks :)

"I'm gonna play a slide show for you,

are you ready?
Nothing new though, surely you have seen these images before,
so much that you may even be familiar with them.
It starts with those starving children in Africa,
those with their bones coming through their skin,
those with flies in their eyes.
And the images keep rolling.
Exodus of entire populations.
Starving people.
Poor people.
People with no future.
For decades we've been watching these images,
in the Discovery Channel, the National Geographic, photographic competitions.
Some of these images have even become art objects, admired in books published by famous, well known photographers.
They are images of misery that can move the soul.
They are images that have created starting points for government's campaigns.
They have created world organizations.
They have created institutions.
They have created social movements.
The misery of the world, be that in Uganda or in Ceará, in Índia or in Bogotá touches the soul.
Year after year, we've been discussing what to do.
Year after year of pressure we' ve trying to find the way to move the infinite number of leaders who have passed through governments of the most powerful nations in the planet.
It was said that 40 billions U$ dollars would be needed to solve the problem of hunger in the planet.
To solve it, capicce?
Extinguish it. Terminate it.
There would be no more skinny children with no future, not one in a single forgotten corner of the planet.
I don't know how they achieved this estimate.
But lets say they are wrong. Lets say we need twice as much.
Or even three times as much, yes, lets say trice.
With 120 billions our world would be a much fairer place.
There was no manifestation, public movement, political or philosophical speech, nor photo which moved a soul.
There has been no documentary, world organization, lobby or pressure which could solve it.
But in one week those same leaders, those same powerful nations which failed to be moved by the disaster and unfairness of hunger, those same have open their wallets and safes to give 2.2 trillions U$ dollars (700 bi in the USA, 1.5 tri in Europe) to save the hunger of those who already sleep with a full belly. Banks and investors.

Like someone said, what a shame that this text is only in blogs and not in the mass media,that one that knows how to slap and hide....
If you want, forward this...if you don't..... never mind, anyway...
"Our dinner is granted..."

Down memory lane.....

... with the music of today.

So now we have the iMac, iTunes at hand, but LimeWire is the blessing for the less fortunate on the financial side (that would be us), so, not having gotten around to get the PC, our dear dinossaur, going to retrieve my old collection, I set out to get some new (old) songs.
But when I got into our LimeWire library I saw that Sarita downloaded a few songs, I decided to give a bit of attention.

She still makes a point to be home in time to watch the Cheetah Girls movie and new episodes of the Sweet Life of Zack and Cody, but I can see her wondering into a different period of her life.... and, providing it is not Britney, I try to learn as much as what she likes to be able to share and encourage her to sing and keep performance a part of her days, though we, not surprisingly, have no more money to pay for the classes.
( I've just got my energy bills for the quarter, which total the amount of £297 Sterling Pounds... there goes Sarita's birthday's sushi dinner, I'm afraid)

And I found a couple of jewels.
One was Beyonce (why the Brit presentors call her BeyonceYYY, is beyond my comprehension of the eastendernest of the Shakespearean language, and makes me puke, but that is a minor detail) , which did not surprise me as I had watched (to Sarita's insistence, the E channel's life of the girl, and hey, a girl with determination, with intelligence, supportive parents and a drop of luck that came in the right time, a voice to kill for and.... well.... have you seen her and Shakira performing together?
my idea of heaven.
(well, one can't help but lust...)
So Beyonce singing *If I was a boy*
[I almost got all happy thinking she was changing teams, but hey, chances of her ever noticing us are slim, so, never mind...;)]
The other one was Jennifer Hudson singing Spotlight.
So I go into YouTube....
this was at, what...18:30h?
I'm still here, with Sarita coming and sitting in my bed to share a kebab and what she called *quality time with my mummy*, as she has been spending time with Syan because if this party on monday... (that will be something to talk about on tuesday...right now, I wish I had a double barrel shotgun to keep all the boys and whatever influences she can find when she goes out with her friends..., but as that is not very civilized or makes any sense, and your children are not your children and all that.... lets leave it as that and go back to YouTube, safer subject)

Not only is Beyonce amazing on all aspects of If I was a boy, but I found this video of her paying tribute to Tina Turner and singing dancing and fiercing Proud Mary... hwich by the way I have been trying to embed here for the past 20 minutes and, no matter what I do, this thing here wont paste the code I copied from YouTube, but, make an effort go watch it, it's well worth it, the user is Karavias, because you'll find a number of videos of Beyonce WITH Tina, that's not what I'm talking about... also, if you are familiar with my Vox, is there.

So,as much as I'm always complaining about the young *artists* performing (and recording) old stuff without notifying the younger ones as to who authors the songs, I'm amazed when things are done properly, and, to crown it all, I kept going back and back in time with the click of the mouse and I was not lying in my bed with the computer no more, but tripping my head of and listening to a mixture of Pink Floyd, Tangerine Dream and Air Supply (yeah, don't ask) in a big cassette player and eating grapes half by half at my parents place...
You gotta love YouTube.

There is also the video of Jennifer Hudson doing Spotlight, look for the official one, another jewel, certainly (another code which wont paste here!)

it makes me feel like standing up and dancing a bit too...
(which I actually can't as Sarita has fallen asleep fully clothed in my bed .... three more days of her 12 years of life...
I'm enjoying all the attention and at the same time praying to keep it in the best way....)

And, to go, I just thought I share with you something which came into my mailbox tonight and made me laugh, though I presume you computer-wise people have seen it in every other language...this came to me in Portuguese, from a Brazilian, so I'll try to translate it without loosing the humor.....

A Jew is walking in the desert and finds a Coca Cola bottle... picks it up and.. surprise...a genie comes out of it!

-"Hello, I'm the 1 wish Genie, at your service. I can grant you a wish, an only wish, what would you like?"-

"Oh, I want peace in the MIddle East... look at this map, I want all these countries to live in peace, in harmony. Yes, that's my wish"

"But, my friend, come down to reality, get your feet on the ground.... I'm a genie, and a good one as it goes but.....man, these countries have been at war for the past 5000 years!!!!!!! nah, I'm not all that good, ask for something else, man"

"OK, I have never found and ideal woman...so I would like one that has a sense of humor, likes to have sex a lot, likes cooking, cleaning the house,is not jealous, is loyal and wont cheat,likes football, enjoys a beer or three,is gorgeous, hot, young, affectionate and it's not addicted to credit cards."

The Genie takes a deep, deep breath and says:

-"Give us that shit of that map again!"-

and this is the last of my photo scraps I m making to print....




and now I really need to go (to listen to Air Supply and Peter Cetera...yeah, I know, but hey, I'm 50 now, I can do as I please, I'm officially old!)

Nothing happens by chance....

.. coincidence is not a word I use much.

I'm convinced, saw this through my many years alive in this planet, that everything, each and every little thing, all has a reason, and the energy in which our lives flows is like a chain of events. Everything fits, it's just we sometimes don't look deep enough, but lets get on with the actual events.

Sarita had a parents evening last night
I was pleased to receive, not only a letter through the post, but also a phone call from the head of year, letting me know that they had provided a room for me, so I wouldn't have to move about and queue to talk to each teacher.
It may have to do with the fact that, for the last progress review day, in which I was having a horrible pain wise day, had to climb 2 floors of stairs on my crutches, and complaint (to say loudly would be an understatement) to all who wanted to hear (and the ones who did not too) also about the zillions of parents coming in by car, when they live just around the corner, to hell with being green, is it?
Anyway,
complaining works.
In this country though, you have to be wise as to the actual way of complaining.
In some cases the shouting and moaning in an almost bullying way fits, in others you wont get not even a second look and, in my very case, they would stay with the *bloody foreigners* idea for (at least) a week.

The whole thing couldn't have been better.
Not only I sat there listening to all these brilliant (the ones I know Sarita adores) and not so brilliant (the ones she hardly mentions and when she does is to say that *she can't teach, poor soul*) but nice teachers telling me how great, amazing, gifted, talented and well behaved my child is, but also how all these is My Doing. YaY Me!!!!
(well, we wouldn't want some false modesty, would we?)

Then we had this talk about net, the kids and net use, safety, what to do, what not to do, you know the drift.
In this I was also left with the feeling of blessing with my (by now I should call her Super) child, my beautiful daughter.
Apparently every other parent in the room has problems getting the kid off the computer, and they have no clue what the kids actually do in their machines.
I was so, so, so proud to be able to speak up to answer that nope, we do not have a game console at home and comment on the fact that, every site Sarita joins or every person she speaks or any new things she finds, she makes a point of sharing with me.
Also as a solution for getting the kids away from the computer the Task Force lady suggested that parents need to find something other than machines for the kids to do.... and here, again, my pride could almost be seen , so bright it was, when I spoke up to answer that Sarita does not even logs on every day, when she logs on is never for more than a couple of hours, half of which we are together (mainly dressing up dollies) and to present a numbered list of my child's outside school activities.....

Yes.
A brilliant evening, only to crown the earlier events....
Had another sleepless night a couple of days ago, only this one was not to do with medication or pain or insomnia, but with my internet connection falling constantly precisely when I had to finish a college essay.
Stressed and almost angered, I spoke to my providers, who are now called Virgin Media but something tells me the only thing they have of Virgin is the name. I doubt that Branson would run an enterprise so badly organized.

Anyway: first phone call, nice guy, but when I'm getting there, my (bloody!) cordless phone runs out of battery.
Familiar with this *problem* I go get the lounge's phone and call again.
This time the guy wasn't so nice, and did not have the patience to wait for my PC (the other computer to which the modem is attached to) to start, he wanted to finish the call and kept telling me they do not offer advice for Mac users and that the problem was my Mac and....... I'm not gonna relate all, but lets say I put the phone down elegantly, and promising him I would contact customer services with his name.
When my PC was up and running, I called again.
And the first guy picks up... great.
He helped me sorting it by changing the router's channel, but suggesting that, would this happen again, to connect an ethernet cable to the back of the Mac.... he assured me it would work, and offered more advice even:
"do not go to PC World, go to your local shop, it'll be cheaper"
to what I said I wont do neither, but post it on ...yes... Freecycle.
and that's what I did, though I thought it was a long shot, as I needed 15 meters.
Here I was to amaze myself once again: within an hour of my posting, two people answered.
Then a third.
This third was a lady,the only one who knew she had 15 m or more (the others weren't sure about the length) but she also offered to drop it of. MY oh My. God bless Freecycle.

But the chain of events does not finish here.
She comes.
She is rheumatoid arthritis sufferer.
She has 4 children, and, within the conversation, with all the naturally I never attribute to the Brits, she tells me:
"I'm gay, I'm very happy now in a lesbian relationship"
and then she tells me she is an artist, and she has co-founded a group of women artists, and, well...
nothing could be better at this time in my life.

I could have chosen any of the 5 people (two others wrote after her too) to get the ethernet from.
I even started writing back to the first, and, for some reason, that little voice in my head told me to save it in the drafts and wait, someone may be on the sure of having more than 12 meters, someone would be even nearer than his location....
Anyway
My net is beautifully working with the (almost 20 meters!) of ethernet attached to the back of the Mac.
I spent another night awake, only this one has been one of total pleasure, almost pain free.
I finished my college essay.
I produced even more Scrapblogs.
I dealt with everything I had to deal online. I woke Sarita up with a coffee (she loves it when this happens, as usually is her waking me up), we had breakfast, chat about the teachers, about the geography they are studying, she got ready, I decided to be good and keep a record of all this.
I wonder if I can get a company to print my Vox...
I thought I could sit and print page by page,then I realized I started in 2006.... wow, time runs when you are having fun

Thanks to everyone who have mailed me or messaged me to sympathize with my pain: your words, even the tiniest one, is a bit more of a pain killer.
Now I should get some sleep, as we want to go to the National Portrait Gallery later, and I cannot be spaced out for that. I'll try.

Now, to all who tagged me in Facebook or in Vox and I did not face the challenge, I apology-se. Also my apology for not being able to keep up with everyone's blogs, it's just that I start going through,get on to comment, sleeps starts to kill me or there is life calling.....
but here I answered to the Random Things tagging thing, so, if still interested, is here.
if you are REALLY interested, open it in full screen, or you wont be able to read.
The following SBs are stuff I made for Sarita and I, we are gonna have some books printed, and, in some cases I was so glad I kept the blog in Vox, as I was able to retrieve the posts to copy into the collage....
Ok, so, if you are still there, enjoy!
If you aren't, it doesn't matter, I know I talk too much!!!!
;)



hahahahahaha I just realized I had posted the 20 things already...oh well!!!!

there are a few more, but you know what to do, only go to my SB page.
To my famiily
Los quiero muchismo,
Adoro vcs
Saudades!

Another sleepless night....

...oh well, maybe not totally sleepless but lacking enough for my eyes to be closing heavily now, 20.20 hs.
And this time the cause was a kind of anger, a bit of an impotence feeling.
My internet kept falling of line last night (well, this morning) so, like a good girl that I am and having learned the basics along the years, I restarted the computer.
First time, it did it, only to last just under 20 minutes, second time lasted 10 minutes, third time I unplugged everything, waited then turne it all back on: no net this time.
I gave up at 4am after loosing 4 pages of work.

I'm now literally, truthfully falling asleep sitting don, have to admit I came here on the hope that it would keep me awake, but I'm failing..
Waking up at 6.45 to see Sarita of to school, I tried again after she left... it lasted probably 15 minutes and nothing else on reboot.
So I called my ISP...long story short:
we changed the channel and it worked, but the (lots) bite in the middle was upsetting.
I always wondered why people who detest people work in Customer `service.
Now I'm gonna go to sleep.
I was tagged by Lucy (AlohaBailey) on Sb, and was very reluctant at first, I had been tagged in Facebook by zillions of friends, and we all know Facebook is an uncomprehensible jungle to me, with all the poking and request which I will never, ever get myself sorted to understand...but on a second thought, this girl is nice, quiet adventurous and I thought it could be fun....
So I did it...



now I'm gonna try to drag my child from the TV and go to sleep: a total record, going to bed at 9pm!!!
the letters move in front of my eyes, thank Goodness for spell checking!!!!

The emotional thing and BDD...

...are just a couple of things I could write about right now.
Emotional, me, yup. I always put it down to the being latin thing, which only means we show more than the rest of the world, but then you get the online world....
there is now way of not getting emotional with such shows of affection, especially when affection come from people one admires, people one feels protective of, people one feels have known all one's life....
So I have been shedding a tear or two.

I got a phone call this morning, from one of the very (very) few people I actually allow to wake me up, my friend Peggy, who is just a few hours ahead of us...9 hours, to be more precise, in Australia.
Terrible thing, the fires, the destruction, the deaths....
And what enrages me the most is that the elites and governments do little to fix years, centuries of man kind wrecking the planet..... we had the floods in Brazil a couple of years ago, hills melting under the rain and bringing down with them the houses, the cars, the people...
last summer was Greece... but I have no spirit to get into a world saving rambling right now, lets get back to the point:
I met Peggy over @ Scrapblog.com, a bit over a year ago, she mentioned she was coming over in summer, we exchanged mails, then phone numbers and, before you know it, this little hurricane of energy, intelligence and beauty in all senses is nestling in your heart. She inspires me and heals me, and is because of her that I gathered all my energy today and had another productive one.(almost finished, at 3.26 am)

And as a string of events that all led down to the emotional path, Sarita had to come back from school this week because her leg was hurting. Today they went ice skating, I know she didn't fall, but she asked me to write a note to the PE teacher because she had back pain, she couldn't bend over and was walking funny. I write the note, because I'm 90% sure she isn't lying, but I wish I was more suspicious that she was lying...
then I wouldn't be worried about the Multiple Sclerosis thing. (her father is a sufferer, I've been told that science knows little about the genetic possibilities, and that she is too young to get her through the testing)
Maybe she is just gonna get her period and then all these aches and pains will go.
Please God, do not let me down, I trust you.

And in this emotional predisposition, I decide to read my mail before sleeping.... (ha ha, as if!!!!, of course, that was at 10pm)
I scan through the freecycle emails, nothing really worth for us tonight, answer a couple of people, forward some funny stuff, forward some not so funny political stuff to the Brazilian crew and, last but not least, I start going through the (always pouring) SB notifications. And then I start the tearful thing.

I know it may seem silly for some, but I know some of you out there understand:
all these people, beautiful, talented people, inspirational people, funny people, lovable people, all these people bringing me all these beautiful words....I try to say thank you...
how do you get people miles and miles away from you to understand the dimension, the magnitude of their words, their presence in your everyday life?
I'm not sure I got that much a mastering of the English language, but I'm sure these women understand what I'm saying.
There is a guy too, this guy who is a bit of a me male version, Belge, married to an English woman, living in Spain...and he runs a radio channel....

I'm not full of goodness and sweetness as many may think though.
There are a couple of kids who really, really annoy me at SB (though I'm quiet sure it s the same kid in a different identity, there CANNOT exist 2 of such annoying little girls)

Something else caught my attention (and I really, really hope she isn't a sufferer because I have seen the condition and...but let me tell you) a SB posted by Gwendoline Kay, about Bipolar Disorder. Extremely informative, well designed, greatly done.
And then reminded me of my friends who are sufferers, and some other people who used to be friends but aren't, because of BPD.... also reminded me of the zillions of cases I saw working for Camden NHS Health Trust.
I was an interpreter, then I was a Health Advocate.
Then I started ..err mm.... (was gonna say hating but I'm trying to teach Sarita that *hate* is too big a word, so) disliking the youth of this country even more.
I do not deny the existence of conditions like BPD or ME, (and many other abbreviations), I have seen the reality of the conditions, but in this century, in this automated, *nanny state* lie of a world we live in, the amount of young (and not so young) people who uses conditions as such to give a posh name to laziness and get a place in full government welfare....
*puke*

I know what I have, I got to the conclusion:
I, MesDammes et Monsieurs, I have BDD, the BiDOLLAR Disorder.
That is, in fact, simple: when the dollar is high, when I have the currency (oh well, it can be any really, but we all know the dollar rules the world...) when my pockets, wallet, bank account, card and tins of savings are full, I am in the euphoria of happiness, life is grand.
But then (and wouldn't you?) when the coffers are running low, I feel depressed and wanna sleep for days......
(joke, joke here...as this does not agree with my Simple Abundance way of life, but I just thought it funny and also, one cannot deny it: makes sense)
OK then: I've done it, Peggy.
I came, I overcame my inertia and writer's block (though you couldn't really call this ramblings of mine a master piece of any kind) and I'm here, just because you lit my day this morning and because you reminded me that I can.

For you, the ones who are at SB, the ones who do know me, from wherever, for you I would love to have a word which describes the kind of love I feel, the kind of gratefulness inside my heart that makes me overcome every aching bone in my body to come and tell you so.
One day, perhaps, I will find the right words.