in that i've been a little hoarse... my wife tbV [aka the beautiful Val] and myself have been living in Americaland and working with two different non-profits [The Simple Way and Common Change] for over three years now and are in the process of heading home. to Africa [the continent]... and more specifically to South Africa. and what i've been telling people of late to sum up the feeling is that i am really looking [...]
i think most people know my feelings about raiSINs [the face that the word 'sin' appears in the word 'raiSIN' is a clue!]. in fact i may have even blogged about it once or twice, such as over here, which includes links to the two raiSIN songs i wrote and recorded [yes, i wrote songs about my passion against raiSINs]. even my alter ego, Brad Fish, had something to say about them. two things in [...]
A friendly anti-drug service announcement from our beloved punster-in-chief Stephan Pastis and the gang from Pearls before Swine: [For Pearls before Swine take on Solving the Energy crisis, click here] [For Pearls before Swine helpful tips on Cartography aka map-making, click here]
this is something that my friend Deborah Dowlath reminded me in her simple blog post, A Drop in the Ocean which included this line: I wish that followers of Christ would be as vocal about the injustices that occur on a daily basis as they are about the progress of their favourite team. and this passage: Romans 12:2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then [...]
'I've never forgotten him. Dare I say I miss him? I do. I miss him. I still see him in my dreams. They are nightmares mostly, but nightmares tinged with love. Such is the strangeness of the human heart. I still cannot understand how he could abandon me so unceremoniously, without any sort of goodbye, without looking back even once. The pain is like an axe that chops my heart.' [The Life of Pi] This [...]
A community of friends who pool their money to meet the needs of people they know. That is what Common Change is all about. And that is the non-profit that my wife, tbV, and i work with and have been for the last year and a half. Almost every time we explain the concept to people and they get it, it excites them and they want to know more. But many people in that boat [...]
If only this was just a fun cartoon and not a too startlingly close depiction of how too many people view life... [For a different 'Pearls before Swine' strip looking at the finely honed insult of "Just being honest" click here] [For a 'Pearls before Swine' strip focusing on that much maligned Facebook practice of The Poke, click here]
i am busy reading this poetry book which was a gift to me by a friend i have only met online and know through friends of friends but his gift of words and wielding them to weave and create and display and be creative is at the same time obvious and captivating here is a second one that really resonated with me [maybe cos i am all that kinds of crazy myself]: [from the book, [...]
Michael Toy is one of my imaginary friends, you know like the one you had as a kid, that you were convinced was real. Except that this one really is. No seriously, you gotta believe me! Although his last name even suggests that i might have trouble convincing anyone of that. 'Imaginary' in that, though we have been 'friends on Facebook' and have at least 30 mutual friends [most of whom i actually real-life know] [...]
One of the most powerful passages from the book i am busy finishing at the moment, because it will start with laughter and end in tears. Such a powerful read: I suppose that the number of homies I've baptised over the decades is in the thousands. Gang members find themselves locked up and get around to doing things their parents didn't arrange for them. Homies are always walking up to me at Homeboy Industries or [...]