Sunday, December 31, 2006
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
nthposition....
Hallo, dear readers and blogateers.
One of the more important websites I am a proud member of are in need of a little extra support on behalf of the Red Cross, and as such, I would like to appeal to all you sensible and decent people to download the file below from my server, and enjoy the excellent poetry found therein. The poems themselves will be available in paperback form in due course, with 100% of the profits going to the Red Cross. In the meantime, please feel free to download the .pdf of the poems, and if possible, please make a donation of whatever you have spare to the Red Cross. No matter how modest the amount, the Red Cross really need all the help we can give, and probably now more than ever.
Why the Red Cross? They are looking after people who lost everything in the tsunami and in Katrina. They are helping close to two million people in Darfur ~ the world's "worst humanitarian crisis", according to the UN ~ who have fled their homes over the last two years. They are assisting 11 million East Africans ~ food shortages are particularly severe in central and southern Somalia, northeastern Kenya, southeastern Ethiopia and Djibouti. They safeguard prisoners-of-war's rights. I could go on, but we all know the facts and figures.
If you have a website, please feel free to upload the .pdf yourself ~ it's copyleft.
Please also tell your poetry-minded friends about it. eMail it to whomever you like. The object of the exercise is to raise as much money as possible for the Red Cross, so we are hoping to do exactly what we did with '100 Poets against the War': rely on nthposition readers' generosity to spread the word.
Babylon Burning ~ Poems in Aid of the Red Cross
nthposition.com
Find your country's Red Cross website here
Thank you all for your time in this matter.
Namaste,
Rachael....
One of the more important websites I am a proud member of are in need of a little extra support on behalf of the Red Cross, and as such, I would like to appeal to all you sensible and decent people to download the file below from my server, and enjoy the excellent poetry found therein. The poems themselves will be available in paperback form in due course, with 100% of the profits going to the Red Cross. In the meantime, please feel free to download the .pdf of the poems, and if possible, please make a donation of whatever you have spare to the Red Cross. No matter how modest the amount, the Red Cross really need all the help we can give, and probably now more than ever.
Why the Red Cross? They are looking after people who lost everything in the tsunami and in Katrina. They are helping close to two million people in Darfur ~ the world's "worst humanitarian crisis", according to the UN ~ who have fled their homes over the last two years. They are assisting 11 million East Africans ~ food shortages are particularly severe in central and southern Somalia, northeastern Kenya, southeastern Ethiopia and Djibouti. They safeguard prisoners-of-war's rights. I could go on, but we all know the facts and figures.
If you have a website, please feel free to upload the .pdf yourself ~ it's copyleft.
Please also tell your poetry-minded friends about it. eMail it to whomever you like. The object of the exercise is to raise as much money as possible for the Red Cross, so we are hoping to do exactly what we did with '100 Poets against the War': rely on nthposition readers' generosity to spread the word.
Babylon Burning ~ Poems in Aid of the Red Cross
nthposition.com
Find your country's Red Cross website here
Thank you all for your time in this matter.
Namaste,
Rachael....
Monday, September 04, 2006
Requiescat In Pace....
"A master in the art of living draws no sharp distinction between his work and his play; his labor and his leisure; his mind and his body; his education and his recreation. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence through whatever he is doing, and leaves others to determine whether he is working or playing. To himself, he always appears to be doing both." ~ François-René de Chateaubriand.
Monday, August 21, 2006
Please help!
Hallo, all you lovely people! I'm re-posting this from my friend Bryant McGill's blog. If you can do anything at all, whether it's practical help, or even just passing this on to as many people as possible, please do so. Your time and energies will be eternally appreciated.
Best wishes, all,
Rachael.... ♥
Dear MySpace Friends World Wide,
I am on the Cover of the Wall Street Journal Today, and it means nothing. This message means more, and what you do next means everything.
First of all I am letting you all know that I was the subject, with my friend Jim Karol, of a front-page cover story in the Wall Street Journal today. In the world's largest international newspaper, sitting on racks in Starbucks, bookstores, paper racks and libraries around the globe is a photo of my humble face, which accompanies the story; a story about myspace.com and celebrities. While I am excited about the article and my good fortune, something heavier and darker is weighing on my heart, and I hope you will help me.
While I am glad for myself, I want this press to really count for something more than just me and my insignificant goals. This is as good as classic press gets. This is the biggest press I have ever had. They even have a caricature drawing of me in the traditions WSJ format. I am honored by this once in a lifetime happening, but while I am enjoying my fortune, a family I know about is teetering on the edge of homelessness and utter ruin.
A few days ago, a friend of mine and Jim's contacted us. His name is Jim Labriola, the actor and comedian from Tim Allen's show, Home Improvement. He shared a story of heartache with us that deeply effected me. Since that call I have been feverishly working around the clock with Jim to do something to convert this blessing of an article from a shallow victory for me to a deep blessing to someone in desperate need. In order to make this work I need you.
The family I mentioned has a son, who was parallelized for life by a hit and run criminal, who fled the scene, leaving him to die, and then fled the country. The family, of limited means, has been left with mountains of medical debt, and a son with a broken body who needs their full attention. There are young children at home and all of them are just one step from the streets. ONE STEP FROM THE DAMN STREETS!
Please make this day count. You all know me. Please do not allow this day to go by with a hollow victory weighing in on my heart, as a family such as this suffers so profoundly. I spoke to the father yesterday on the phone, and this former Marine cried, and sobbed to me for 30 minutes. He hyperventilated and shuddered for many minutes trying to utter the gut wrenching words, My firstborn son. I was humbled to tears.
I Bryant McGill, am now begging you. If you were here, or I there, God as my witness, I would get down on my hands and knees, and beg you to help this family. I am begging you now. Please show me that people care. Please, I am begging you to show me that people can make a difference. Please validate every high and noble thought I believe in my heart about the goodness of people. Please send these people money, checks, gift certificates, food, cards, well-wishes, cloths, and anything that can be sold. They need money and lots of it. They need tens and tens of thousands of dollars. If people ignore my plea I will be devastated. I refuse to believe people would let a family like this down. You must help these people. Please, I beg you.
Please help, and work all day and all night if you have to-- posting this bulletin all over MySpace. Do not relent. Do this to reaffirm to yourself who you are inside. Tell your friends and have them post. Post all day and all night. Send messages to everyone you know. You can send 450 messages a day, so send every one of them. Call every friend on the phone. Do everything in your human power. Tell every contact you have to do the same as you. Me, Jim, Mike, Rachael and Jimmy have been working around the clock 20 hours a day preparing materials and websites so that this family could be rescued because of this article. I am exhausted and sick to my stomach. I am sick with fear that no one will help. I am trying to have faith in the goodness of people. If this day goes by, and you all do not rally behind this, I will be so depressed I don't think I will know what to do. Please make this the most talked about MySpace event in history. Let this amazing press turn into something good. This family deserves to be rescued. Me and my friends can only do so much.
Please make this day meaningful for me, and meaningful for you, and meaningful for people struggling for meaning at their very core. Set aside your own concerns, and be concerned for this family. Work all day and night with me getting the word out. Silence the cynics and critics with your defiant insistence that the World be made a better place, and NOW! Take all this time you would normally use playing and chatting on MySpace, and do something powerful and meaningful that will last forever. If you do not have time make it in the way you would want others to do if this were your child, or brother or parents.
There are instructions on the bottom of this site that Jim and I have built for the family explaining where and what to send. Repost this bulletin with links. Post Blogs. Post in Groups. Post in Message Boards. Post it anywhere you can. Post it as if your life depended on it, because someone's life does.
Include this plea and the links in everything you do.
Here is a letter I received from the father FIVE minutes ago:
Good morning my brother it was a pleasure talking and sharing my heart to your wife. I thank you both more than you will ever know. I know I get very emotional at times but that is who I am. Even as I write this to you I cry because you [bryant mcgill] took time out from I know an extreamly buisy life to help a man you dont even know. I pray that GOD will bless you and yours abundantly and above all that you could ever imagine, And I want you to know that I am here also IF YOU EVER NEED ANYTHING TO LAUGH CRY OR JUST TO TALK. I am not very educated but I have tried to searve my country and fellow man. I know that in worldly eyes I may be a failure, but I can do all things through CHRIST who strengthens me. And my life is just beginning. I can see light where there was none, and love and peace that gives me hope that I may be a blessing to others as you and others are blessing me and my family. Thanks again --sorry for writing on and on my cell number is xxx-xxx-xxxx I look foward talking.to you...phil
The Family In Need
www.Robert.NeedsHelpNow.com
www.GiveYourself.com
Celebrity Group The Article is About
MySpace Verified Celebrities Group
My MySpace & Jim's MySpace
www.myspace.com/bryantmcgill
www.myspace.com/jimkarol
Please leave messages of support to the family, and public commitments to help in the comments of this blog. Millions of people around the world are watching and reading.
Namaste...
Your humble servant,
Bryant McGill
Best wishes, all,
Rachael.... ♥
Dear MySpace Friends World Wide,
I am on the Cover of the Wall Street Journal Today, and it means nothing. This message means more, and what you do next means everything.
First of all I am letting you all know that I was the subject, with my friend Jim Karol, of a front-page cover story in the Wall Street Journal today. In the world's largest international newspaper, sitting on racks in Starbucks, bookstores, paper racks and libraries around the globe is a photo of my humble face, which accompanies the story; a story about myspace.com and celebrities. While I am excited about the article and my good fortune, something heavier and darker is weighing on my heart, and I hope you will help me.
While I am glad for myself, I want this press to really count for something more than just me and my insignificant goals. This is as good as classic press gets. This is the biggest press I have ever had. They even have a caricature drawing of me in the traditions WSJ format. I am honored by this once in a lifetime happening, but while I am enjoying my fortune, a family I know about is teetering on the edge of homelessness and utter ruin.
A few days ago, a friend of mine and Jim's contacted us. His name is Jim Labriola, the actor and comedian from Tim Allen's show, Home Improvement. He shared a story of heartache with us that deeply effected me. Since that call I have been feverishly working around the clock with Jim to do something to convert this blessing of an article from a shallow victory for me to a deep blessing to someone in desperate need. In order to make this work I need you.
The family I mentioned has a son, who was parallelized for life by a hit and run criminal, who fled the scene, leaving him to die, and then fled the country. The family, of limited means, has been left with mountains of medical debt, and a son with a broken body who needs their full attention. There are young children at home and all of them are just one step from the streets. ONE STEP FROM THE DAMN STREETS!
Please make this day count. You all know me. Please do not allow this day to go by with a hollow victory weighing in on my heart, as a family such as this suffers so profoundly. I spoke to the father yesterday on the phone, and this former Marine cried, and sobbed to me for 30 minutes. He hyperventilated and shuddered for many minutes trying to utter the gut wrenching words, My firstborn son. I was humbled to tears.
I Bryant McGill, am now begging you. If you were here, or I there, God as my witness, I would get down on my hands and knees, and beg you to help this family. I am begging you now. Please show me that people care. Please, I am begging you to show me that people can make a difference. Please validate every high and noble thought I believe in my heart about the goodness of people. Please send these people money, checks, gift certificates, food, cards, well-wishes, cloths, and anything that can be sold. They need money and lots of it. They need tens and tens of thousands of dollars. If people ignore my plea I will be devastated. I refuse to believe people would let a family like this down. You must help these people. Please, I beg you.
Please help, and work all day and all night if you have to-- posting this bulletin all over MySpace. Do not relent. Do this to reaffirm to yourself who you are inside. Tell your friends and have them post. Post all day and all night. Send messages to everyone you know. You can send 450 messages a day, so send every one of them. Call every friend on the phone. Do everything in your human power. Tell every contact you have to do the same as you. Me, Jim, Mike, Rachael and Jimmy have been working around the clock 20 hours a day preparing materials and websites so that this family could be rescued because of this article. I am exhausted and sick to my stomach. I am sick with fear that no one will help. I am trying to have faith in the goodness of people. If this day goes by, and you all do not rally behind this, I will be so depressed I don't think I will know what to do. Please make this the most talked about MySpace event in history. Let this amazing press turn into something good. This family deserves to be rescued. Me and my friends can only do so much.
Please make this day meaningful for me, and meaningful for you, and meaningful for people struggling for meaning at their very core. Set aside your own concerns, and be concerned for this family. Work all day and night with me getting the word out. Silence the cynics and critics with your defiant insistence that the World be made a better place, and NOW! Take all this time you would normally use playing and chatting on MySpace, and do something powerful and meaningful that will last forever. If you do not have time make it in the way you would want others to do if this were your child, or brother or parents.
There are instructions on the bottom of this site that Jim and I have built for the family explaining where and what to send. Repost this bulletin with links. Post Blogs. Post in Groups. Post in Message Boards. Post it anywhere you can. Post it as if your life depended on it, because someone's life does.
Include this plea and the links in everything you do.
Here is a letter I received from the father FIVE minutes ago:
Good morning my brother it was a pleasure talking and sharing my heart to your wife. I thank you both more than you will ever know. I know I get very emotional at times but that is who I am. Even as I write this to you I cry because you [bryant mcgill] took time out from I know an extreamly buisy life to help a man you dont even know. I pray that GOD will bless you and yours abundantly and above all that you could ever imagine, And I want you to know that I am here also IF YOU EVER NEED ANYTHING TO LAUGH CRY OR JUST TO TALK. I am not very educated but I have tried to searve my country and fellow man. I know that in worldly eyes I may be a failure, but I can do all things through CHRIST who strengthens me. And my life is just beginning. I can see light where there was none, and love and peace that gives me hope that I may be a blessing to others as you and others are blessing me and my family. Thanks again --sorry for writing on and on my cell number is xxx-xxx-xxxx I look foward talking.to you...phil
The Family In Need
www.Robert.NeedsHelpNow.com
www.GiveYourself.com
Celebrity Group The Article is About
MySpace Verified Celebrities Group
My MySpace & Jim's MySpace
www.myspace.com/bryantmcgill
www.myspace.com/jimkarol
Please leave messages of support to the family, and public commitments to help in the comments of this blog. Millions of people around the world are watching and reading.
Namaste...
Your humble servant,
Bryant McGill
Sunday, August 13, 2006
Updates....
Wifeage™ and I have just returned from the abode of the Lovely Lisa™, where another delicious meal was cooked for us, tea drunk and chattage ensued. Computers were tweaked and enhanced and all, thankfully, went well.
In other news:
Wifeage™ and I spent a few hours in the Botanical Gardens here in the delightful city of Bath. A few photographs were taken, shown below:
On Wednesday evening, a dear neaighbour of ours and fellow painter, Tom, Wifeage™ and the Lovely Lisa™ attended a private viewing of a local painter of equestrian fine art's new collection, Amongst Horses, the follow on from Horse Play in 2004. Stuart James Knowles really is one to watch, and his creations are astounding.
And finally, a superb shot of our cat, Bingo™:
In other news:
Wifeage™ and I spent a few hours in the Botanical Gardens here in the delightful city of Bath. A few photographs were taken, shown below:
This was carved from a dead giant redwood tree, and not an oak tree and certainly not an elm, either, as previously informed.
If anybody can help me to identify those two beautiful plants, I would be most grateful. Thank you.
On Wednesday evening, a dear neaighbour of ours and fellow painter, Tom, Wifeage™ and the Lovely Lisa™ attended a private viewing of a local painter of equestrian fine art's new collection, Amongst Horses, the follow on from Horse Play in 2004. Stuart James Knowles really is one to watch, and his creations are astounding.
Wifeage™, Tom and the Lovely Lisa™
Tom doing what Tom does best!
And finally, a superb shot of our cat, Bingo™:
Have a superb week, dear readers! Mine will be spent painting and putting further touches to my new Flash enhanced website, all things being equal.
Rachael.... ♥
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Back....
I have had a rest, and I have had a rant. I have pondered, philosophised, cogitated and wept, and now I feel much better than I did at this time yesterday. Admittedly, there is still much room for growth and improvement, naturally, but I do feel calmer today, which can only be a good thing.
Best wishes to (most of) you all,
Rachael.... ♥
PS: If any other prima-donna, melodramatic, grovelling, snivelling, dirty, pig-fellating shitboxes want to hassle me again, they can go piss up a rope. That would please me to the point of erection. Go ahead, c#nt, make my day!
Best wishes to (most of) you all,
Rachael.... ♥
PS: If any other prima-donna, melodramatic, grovelling, snivelling, dirty, pig-fellating shitboxes want to hassle me again, they can go piss up a rope. That would please me to the point of erection. Go ahead, c#nt, make my day!
Monday, July 31, 2006
Therapy....
I think I need to consider therapy again.
Prior to my relocation to Bath in September 2005, I was receiving some rather intense counselling by way of therapy from my past as a survivor of physical and sexual abuse as a child and teenager. Although I thought I was able to adjust, not that I would like to feel I was ever dependent on the therapy sessions, although they did help me in many many ways, I sometimes think I may have ended those sessions a bit too eagerly.
This past few weeks, I have been struggling with all manner of internal conflicts, and in all honesty, I have no idea what the triggers were. The previous few weeks have been spent in an all-encompassing whirlwind of activity with a view to avoiding what I knew was inevitable. I have helped friends with all manner of things, from PC repairs to health care issues to website assistance to shopping for groceries. When not helping others, I have been working myself mad with my own website, creating music loops as and when inspired, and quite frankly, and somewhat inevitably, I am exhausted.
Yesterday, I was walking from the apartment toward the centre of Bath with Wifeage™ and we were chatting about the movie Quadrophenia as Wifeage™ is keen to watch the movie at some point soon. We were talking about the scene where one of the characters in the movie realises that his idol ~ played by Sting, no less ~ is not the suave sophisticated mod he once believed, but little more than a concierge/bell boy. This shattering of illusions is a key part of this excellent movie as Sting's character's scooter is stolen by way of vengeance and thrown off the cliffs to the holler of 'BELL BOY!!'. At this point, a chap walking a few paces ahead of us turned around and asked if I was taking the mick. I asked why he would think such a thing before realising from his attire of green waistcoat and black tails that he was precisely that ~ a concierge type worker. I politely and calmly explained that we were chatting about Quadrophenia, however, he was not to be placated, preferring instead to remain concvinced we were talking about him. Stalemate.
Earlier this evening, I received news that a fellow musician was struggling with an album being written and recorded. As per usual for me, I posted encouraging words in the hope that they would ease the pressure, only to be told 'your fukin odd (sic)'. I became instantly angered at this seemingly offensive and pithy remark, replying that I would not like to know the response had I been any less than encouraging. The reply to this was that although it was still believed that I was odd, that there is nothing wrong with odd (granted), and that it was not implying that I was at all bad. Perhaps I did over-analyse and over-react, which is why I am relieved that I did not react in the angry manner I was feeling, but I cannot deny just how clear it became at that point that perhaps I am in need of some further help with unresolved anger management issues, of which stem from the abuse when I was younger. That one comment made me so angry I had to go for a walk for half an hour to earth and clear my head as I may have (mis)interpreted it as an attack of some kind, rather than expose Wifeage™ to this.
I do not like the idea of thinking I have a short fuse, which at times, I do, but this is more about tolerance levels, again adding weight to my apparent need for therapy of some kind. I have made a point of isolating myself more than usual these past few days, and I do not wish for people to think I am ignoring or neglecting them. This is not the case. I just need some me time.
Thank you for your time in reading this, and for your patience and understanding.
Best wishes,
Rachael.... ™
Prior to my relocation to Bath in September 2005, I was receiving some rather intense counselling by way of therapy from my past as a survivor of physical and sexual abuse as a child and teenager. Although I thought I was able to adjust, not that I would like to feel I was ever dependent on the therapy sessions, although they did help me in many many ways, I sometimes think I may have ended those sessions a bit too eagerly.
This past few weeks, I have been struggling with all manner of internal conflicts, and in all honesty, I have no idea what the triggers were. The previous few weeks have been spent in an all-encompassing whirlwind of activity with a view to avoiding what I knew was inevitable. I have helped friends with all manner of things, from PC repairs to health care issues to website assistance to shopping for groceries. When not helping others, I have been working myself mad with my own website, creating music loops as and when inspired, and quite frankly, and somewhat inevitably, I am exhausted.
Yesterday, I was walking from the apartment toward the centre of Bath with Wifeage™ and we were chatting about the movie Quadrophenia as Wifeage™ is keen to watch the movie at some point soon. We were talking about the scene where one of the characters in the movie realises that his idol ~ played by Sting, no less ~ is not the suave sophisticated mod he once believed, but little more than a concierge/bell boy. This shattering of illusions is a key part of this excellent movie as Sting's character's scooter is stolen by way of vengeance and thrown off the cliffs to the holler of 'BELL BOY!!'. At this point, a chap walking a few paces ahead of us turned around and asked if I was taking the mick. I asked why he would think such a thing before realising from his attire of green waistcoat and black tails that he was precisely that ~ a concierge type worker. I politely and calmly explained that we were chatting about Quadrophenia, however, he was not to be placated, preferring instead to remain concvinced we were talking about him. Stalemate.
Earlier this evening, I received news that a fellow musician was struggling with an album being written and recorded. As per usual for me, I posted encouraging words in the hope that they would ease the pressure, only to be told 'your fukin odd (sic)'. I became instantly angered at this seemingly offensive and pithy remark, replying that I would not like to know the response had I been any less than encouraging. The reply to this was that although it was still believed that I was odd, that there is nothing wrong with odd (granted), and that it was not implying that I was at all bad. Perhaps I did over-analyse and over-react, which is why I am relieved that I did not react in the angry manner I was feeling, but I cannot deny just how clear it became at that point that perhaps I am in need of some further help with unresolved anger management issues, of which stem from the abuse when I was younger. That one comment made me so angry I had to go for a walk for half an hour to earth and clear my head as I may have (mis)interpreted it as an attack of some kind, rather than expose Wifeage™ to this.
I do not like the idea of thinking I have a short fuse, which at times, I do, but this is more about tolerance levels, again adding weight to my apparent need for therapy of some kind. I have made a point of isolating myself more than usual these past few days, and I do not wish for people to think I am ignoring or neglecting them. This is not the case. I just need some me time.
Thank you for your time in reading this, and for your patience and understanding.
Best wishes,
Rachael.... ™