Below are the 17 most recent journal entries recorded in aamaal's LiveJournal:

Tuesday, September 19th, 2006
10:05 pm	Paul Harvey can be so wise. We tried so hard to make things better for our kids that we made them worse. For my grandchildren, I'd like better. I'd really like for them to know about hand me down clothes and homemade ice cream and leftover meat loaf sandwiches. I really would.(I'm the oldest, never had the hand-me downs. Had the rest, and holy cow I crave the leftover meat loaf sammich right now) I hope you learn humility by being humiliated, and that you learn honesty by being cheated. I hope you learn to make your own bed and mow the lawn and wash the car. And I really hope nobody gives you a brand new car when you are sixteen. (check, check, check, check, check, and oh, yes, no car there) It will be good if at least one time you can see puppies born and your old dog put to sleep. (Saw kittens born, had to put Turney down a few years ago) I hope you get a black eye fighting for something you believe in. (Well...as much as anyone can believe in anything in 3rd grade) I hope you have to share a bedroom with your younger brother/sister. And it's all right if you have to draw a line down the middle o f the room,but when he wants to crawl under the covers with you because he's scared, I hope you let him. (Yeah, with my baby sister. And yes, there were lots of storm where she crawled into the top bunk with me until I moved into the basement.) When you want to see a movie and your little brother/sister wants to tag along, I hope you'll let him/her.(No, sadly, when I was finally old enough to go on my own, I disowned my brothers and sisters in effect. I have resolved that now, but we missed so many years in there.) I hope you have to walk uphill to school with your friends and that you live in a town where you can do it safely.(Up the hill and through the woods along a trail. The BEST!) On rainy days when you have to catch a ride, I hope you don't ask your driver to drop you two blocks away so you won't be seen riding with someone as uncool as your Mom. (I did, and I had her drop me off at the door) If you want a slingshot, I hope your Dad teaches you how to make one instead of buying one. (well...no slingshot for me) I hope you learn to dig in the dirt and read books.(both, and I still do them both) When you learn to use computers, I hope you also learn to add and subtract in your head.(I've always been allergic to math, though) I hope you get teased by your friends when you have your first crush on a boy\girl, and when you talk back to your mother that you learn what ivory soap tastes like..(Lava soap, actually. *shudder*) May you skin your knee climbing a mountain, burn your hand on a stove and stick your tongue on a frozen flagpole. (Check, check, and check :s ) I don 't care if you try a beer once, but I hope you don't like it. (Um, I love beer...OH, Back then! Yeah, I was a prude in high school) I sure hope you make time to sit on a porch with your Grandma/Grandpa and go fishing with your Uncle.(I still do with my Grandparents, and try to take my neice and nephew fishing when they come down here to visit.) May you feel sorrow at a funeral and joy during the holidays. (hear, hear) I hope your mother punishes you when you throw a baseball through your neighbor's window and that she hugs you and kisses you at Hannukah/Christmas time when you give her a plaster mold of your hand. (<3) These things I wish for you - tough times and disappointment, hard work and happiness. To me, it's the only way to appreciate life. Written with a pen. Sealed with a kiss. I'm here for you. And if I die before you do, I'll go to heaven and wait for you. We secure our friends, not by accepting favors, but by doing them. as I am reading this, seeing all the things I did as achild, I see how very much my own children will miss out on in their lives. (Comment on this)
Thursday, July 27th, 2006
6:14 pm	Home Sucks Especially when you've been on vacation to the Atlantic. Anyway, I have a couple of pictures saved here, not sure how this livejournal thing works, but they are saved to my account. I only took about 275 pics. ;p Some suck, some are ok. Problem is that I had a spot on my lens and didn't realize it until I got home and started playing with them. So here I am, two weeks later, and only have like a dozen pics that are viewable because I soooooo suck at my photo-shop program, and editing out the spot is very time consuming. Not that I'm complaining, its great practice. (Confidentually, its kind of fun too.) Any my av? I can only say: DO NOT feed the birds, lol! We ate lunch, (me the kids, a cousin and sister) and I thought I'd be funny and throw a fry at the bird that was eyeing us. 2 seconds later and there were like 30 of them fighting, circling, and trying toget close enough to steal more food. The bird in the picture was flapping furiously not 3 feet from me, and closer to poor Shannon. Of course, being a spunky 15-year old, she was laughing and taking her own picture at the same time! Fun stuff. They make Lake Michigan gulls seem like canaries. Current Mood: chipper Current Music: "Twilight Zone" - Golden Earring (Comment on this)
Saturday, July 22nd, 2006
10:47 am	Bored So bored. I'm so very bored. Current Mood: bored (Comment on this)
Friday, July 7th, 2006
3:13 pm	COMBAT CARDS 2.0 watch aamaal fight view children view parent CREATE YOUR CARD (Comment on this)
Tuesday, July 4th, 2006
4:36 pm	So many names, so little time. (Appropriated from elsewhere...thanks. ;) ) After 4 days of cleaning up all sorts of explosive projectiles coming from all ends of my kids, I needed a laugh. This has taught me one very important lesson, though: Always instill the importance of chewing your food well in your children. I found this and it amused me. Or at least bided the time until the next explosion. 1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet and current street name) Jip Eliza. Gotta be a rocker...or punk. Can't be pop with a name like that. 2. YOUR MOVIE STAR NAME: (grandfather/grandmother on your dad's side, your favorite candy) Geraldine Linders. If that doesn't scream diva, I'm not sure what does! 3. YOUR "FLY GIRL/GUY" NAME: (first initial of first name, first two or three letters of your last name C-Sar. Um..no. 4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite animal, favorite color) Falcon Violet. The falcon part sounds cool for a private dick, but not so sure about the violet part. Maybe purple? naah. 5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born) Ann Grand Rapids. lololololol...no. 6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (first 3 letters of your last name, last 3 letters of mother's maiden name, first 3 letters of your pet's name) Sarson Raj. OK, now thats a cool name, I might use it somewhere. 7. JEDI NAME: (middle name spelled backwards, your mom's maiden name spelled backwards) T'naeras Nosk'cire. I added the apostrophes for balance, didn't look right before them. Another name I like. I love names no one can pronounce! :) 8. PORN STAR NAME: (middle name, father's middle initial, street you grew up on) Ann H. Sibley. Snoooore... 9. SUPERHERO NAME: ("The", your favorite color, an automobile you have) The Purple Caravan. The Violet Caravan. Holy hard water, Purp! TO THE MOM-MOBILE, Robin! That laundry needs softener! (Shoulda bought the Bugatti...) Current Mood: tired Current Music: Gun fire from "Call Of Duty 2" someone is playing nearby. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Sunday, May 28th, 2006
2:06 pm	Happy Memorial Day, Dave and Dan. Thanks for serving, I don't have the personality to be in the armed forces, I greatly appreciate those of you who do. (Comment on this)
Monday, May 22nd, 2006
12:52 pm	Sugar Leatherthong >>See what your stripper name will be, and share it with your friends: >>We all need a little stress-reliever! This only takes a minute. Please >>don't be a prude and ruin it. Send it on to everyone you know including >>Sometimes when you have a stressful day or week, you need some >>silliness to break up the day. And, if we are honest, we have a lot >>more stressful days than not >>Here is your dose of humor... >>A. Follow the instructions to find your new name. >>1. Use the third letter of your first name to determine your new first >>name: >>a = Fantasia >>b = Chesty >>c = Starr >>d = Diamond >>e = Montana >>f = Angel >>g = Sugar >>h = Mimi >>i = Lola >>j =Kitty >>k = Roxie >>l = Dallas >>m = Princess >>n = Heidi >>o = Bambi >>p = Bunny >>q = Brandy >>r = Sugar >>s = Candy >>t = Raquelle >>u = Sapphire >>v = Cinnamon >>w = Blaze >>x = Trixie >>y = Isis >>z = Jade >>2. Use the second letter of your last name to determine the first half 0f your new last name: >>a = Leather >>b = Dream >>c = Sunny >>d = Deep >>e = Heaven >>f = Tight >>g = Shimmer >>h = Velvet >>i = Lusty >>j = Harley >>k = Passion >>l = Dazzle >>m = Dixon >>n = Spank >>o = Glitter >>p = Razor >>q = Meadow >>r = Glitz >>s = Sparkle >>t = Sweet >>u = Silver >>v = Tickle >>w = Cherry >>x = Hard >>y = Night >>z = Amber >>3. Use the third letter of your last name to determine the second half of your new last name: >>a = hooter >>b = horn >>c = tower >>d = fire >>e = thighs >>f = hips >>g = side >>h = jugs >>i = shock >>j = cocker >>k = brook >>l = tush >>m = sizzle >>n = ridge >>o = kiss >>p = bomb >>q = cream >>r = thong >>s = heat >>t = whip >>u = cheeks >>v = rock >>w = hiney >>x = button >>y = lick >>z = juice Current Mood: chipper Current Music: Phil Collins (Comment on this)
Thursday, May 4th, 2006
7:01 pm	I have to brag about my girls... Remember at the begining of the year my Brownie troop collected pop cans for Katrina victime? Well, they did it again. While selling Girl Scout cookies for the first time in their lives; not only did they sell cookies to people, but managed to convince those people to buy boxes of them to send to Iraq. A lot of them. To the tune of 263 boxes of cookies to send. On top of that, they sweetly pried open those pocketbooks even wider, and talked those same people to pony up for shipping too! We wrote letters to some companies, and found one to underwrite the freight from the U.S. to Bahgdad, we just had to get the boxes to him in Virginia. They did it, and then some. I know I'm bragging, but I am just so damn proud of those little girls. 13 girls, only in first grade, and 263 boxes. Sure those cookies are easy to sell, and who wouldn't give just a little extra to buy a box for the troops? But still, they went above and beyond what was reasonable. Anywhoo, not that all that many people read this, but I had to spread the word when I got the final numbers today. My little minions rock. Now I just need to turn their skills towards making me rich...... Current Mood: thankful Current Music: Reflections of Earth (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Monday, May 1st, 2006
5:38 pm	much happy dancing Finally, it's real. I finally registered for my first round of classes on my way to a Bachelor's Degree. It took much "browsing" (a term which is faaaar too peaceful for what I actually had to go through) between the registration site and the online class catalog to bring my classes in line with my kids' schedules, but I did it. I even managed to stay entirely within my curriculum; no need to burn electives. I had to take "Geography of Michigan" but eh, *shruggs* it covers my Geography requirement. (I think...I hope...I should double check that one.) Anyway, my lite first term is rounded out with "Adolescent School Learning," "American Judicial Process," and "Political Parties and Elections." OMG! I am the complete noob on campus. Its H-U-G-E! (Compared to what I'm used to, anyway) And being this was my first visit to the campus ever, I naturally got completely lost. A few times. Alex (my 5-year-old sidekick) found a lot of sculptures and fountains to entertain him though. :D And we accidently walked into a practice session for the percussion section of an ensemble who allowed us to sit in for a bit. He loved that. I think he's inspired to take up drums now. My feet hurt. Peace, all. Love education, its good for you. ;p Current Mood: sore Current Music: Chieftains (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, April 27th, 2006
11:24 am	frogs Once upon a time there was a bunch of tiny frogs.... who arranged a running competition. The goal was to reach the top of a very high tower. A big crowd had gathered around the tower to see the race and cheer on the contestants....<> The race began.... Honestly,no one in crowd really believed that the tiny frogs would reach the top of the tower. You heard statements such as: "Oh, WAY too difficult!!" "They will NEVER make it to the top." or: "Not a chance that they will succeed. The tower is too high!" The tiny frogs began collapsing. One by one.... Except for those, who in a fresh tempo, were climbing higher and higher.... "It is too difficult!!! No one will make it!" More tiny frogs got tired and gave up.... But ONE continued higher and higher and higher.... This one wouldn't give up! At the end everyone else had given up climbing the tower. Except for the one tiny frog who, after a big effort, was the only one who reached the top! THEN all of the other tiny frogs naturally wanted to know how this one frog managed to do it? A contestant asked the tiny frog how he had found the strength to succeed and reach the goal? It turned out.... the winner was DEAF!!!! The wisdom of this story is: Never listen to other people's tendencies to be negative or pessimistic.... because they take your most wonderful dreams and wishes away from you -- the ones you have in your heart! Always think of the power words have. Because everything you hear and read will affect your actions! Therefore: ALWAYS be.... POSITIVE! And above all: Be DEAF when people tell YOU that you cannot fulfill your dreams! Current Mood: nerdy Current Music: none (Comment on this)
Friday, March 24th, 2006
9:46 am	What NOT to do in a relationship I had the pleasure of being associated witha "cheap internet whore" today. By the one person in my life who should be the last to do so. My crime? Trying to bring a little spark, a little spice into my stagnant love life. If any of you read this, do me a favor today: LISTEN to your mate. Find out what they need and desire from you, and do your best to not ridicule them for it. Their inner fantasies may not be the easiest things in the world to share, and it may be something as simple as not being referred to as "baby" amidst all the gruntings. But what they need is important, and worth at least listening to. Whatever you may feel about it. Then give them a hug, and tell them thank you for sharing. Current Mood: cold (Comment on this)
9:43 am	Ben Stein For many years Ben Stein has written a biweekly column called "Monday Night At Morton's." (Morton's is a famous chain of Steakhouses known to be frequented by movie stars and famous people from around the globe.) Now, Ben is terminating the column to move on to other things in his life. Reading his final column is worth a few minutes of your time. Ben Stein's Last Column... ============================================ How Can Someone Who Lives in Insane Luxury Be a Star in Today's World? As I begin to write this, I "slug" it, as we writers say, which means I put a heading on top of the document to identify it. This heading is "eonlineFINAL," and it gives me a shiver to write it. I have been doing this column for so long that I cannot even recall when I started. I loved writing this column so much for so long I came to believe it would never end. It worked well for a long time, but gradually, my changing as a person and the world's change have overtaken it. On a small scale, Morton's, while better than ever, no longer attracts as many stars as it used to. It still brings in the rich people in droves and definitely some stars. I saw Samuel L. Jackson there a few days ago, and we had a nice visit, and right before that, I saw and had a splendid talk with Warren Beatty in an elevator, in which we agreed that Splendor in the Grass was a super movie. But Morton's is not the star galaxy it once was, though it probably will be again. Beyond that, a bigger change has happened. I no longer think Hollywood stars are terribly important. They are uniformly pleasant, friendly people, and they treat me better than I deserve to be treated. But a man or woman who makes a huge wage for memorizing lines and reciting them in front of a camera is no longer my idea of a shining star we should all look up to. How can a man or woman who makes an eight-figure wage and lives in insane luxury really be a star in today's world, if by a "star" we mean someone bright and powerful and attractive as a role model? Real stars are not riding around in the backs of limousines or in Porsches or getting trained in yoga or Pilates and eating only raw fruit while they have Vietnamese girls do their nails. They can be interesting, nice people, but they are not heroes to me any longer. A real star is the soldier of the 4th Infantry Division who poked his head into a hole on a farm near Tikrit, Iraq. He could have been met by a bomb or a hail of AK-47 bullets. Instead, he faced an abject Saddam Hussein and the gratitude of all of the decent people of the world. A real star is the U.S. soldier who was sent to disarm a bomb next to a road north of Baghdad. He approached it, and the bomb went off and killed him. A real star, the kind who haunts my memory night and day, is the U.S. soldier in Baghdad who saw a little girl playing with a piece of unexploded ordnance on a street near where he was guarding a station. He pushed her aside and threw himself on it just as it exploded. He left a family desolate in California and a little girl alive in Baghdad. The stars who deserve media attention are not the ones who have lavish weddings on TV but the ones who patrol the streets of Mosul even after two of their buddies were murdered and their bodies battered and stripped for the sin of trying to protect Iraqis from terrorists. We put couples with incomes of $100 million a year on the covers of our magazines. The noncoms and officers who barely scrape by on military pay but stand on guard in Afghanistan and Iraq and on ships and in submarines and near the Arctic Circle are anonymous as they live and die. I am no longer comfortable being a part of the system that has such poor values, and I do not want to perpetuate those values by pretending that who is eating at Morton's is a big subject. There are plenty of other stars in the American firmament...the policemen and women who go off on patrol in South Central and have no idea if they will return alive; the orderlies and paramedics who bring in people who have been in terrible accidents and prepare them for surgery; the teachers and nurses who throw their whole spirits into caring for autistic children; the kind men and women who work in hospices and in cancer wards. Think of each and every fireman who was running up the stairs at the World Trade Center as the towers began to collapse. Now you have my idea of a real hero. I came to realize that life lived to help others is the only one that matters. This is my highest and best use as a human. I can put it another way. Years ago, I realized I could never be as great an actor as Olivier or as good a comic as Steve Martin...or Martin Mull or Fred Willard--or as good an economist as Samuelson or Friedman or as good a writer as Fitzgerald. Or even remotely close to any of them. But I could be a devoted father to my son, husband to my wife and, above all, a good son to the parents who had done so much for me. This came to be my main task in life. I did it moderately well with my son, pretty well with my wife and well indeed with my parents (with my sister's help). I cared for and paid attention to them in their declining years. I stayed with my father as he got sick, went into extremis and then into a coma and then entered immortality with my sister and me reading him the Psalms. This was the only point at which my life touched the lives of the soldiers in Iraq or the firefighters in New York. I came to realize that life lived to help others is the only one that matters and that it is my duty, in return for the lavish life God has devolved upon me, to help others He has placed in my path. This is my highest and best use as a human. Faith is not believing that God can. It is knowing that God will. By Ben Stein I was moved by this. Current Mood: crappy Current Music: none (Comment on this)
Sunday, March 5th, 2006
7:51 am	OMG, I finally found my rapture... OK, before anyone gets all excited here, there is nothing holy, or symbolic, or even really meaningful to most people about what I finally did yesterday. I finally got to see THE LION KING onstage yesterday. I bought tickets for my Brownie troop way back in the summer and the date finally arrived. I have been waiting for years to see this. See, I love Disney (no comments please. ;p ) And The Lion King has long been one of my favorite movies. Waaay back when Disney announced it was going to adapt it to stage, I decided that seeing that would be one of the things I MUST do before I leave this life. (Not that that's happening any time soon, mind you. :D) DESPITE the fact that we saw it in the Wharton Center at MSU, a fine, quality theater, if a bit smaller than I pictured... DESPITE the fact that when the nice ticket sales lady told me the seats were in the "First and second rows," she meant from the back wall on the upper tier, not form the balcony... DESPITE the fact that I had to constantly "borrow" my daughter's binoculars (THANK GOD I rented them, lol) in order to see the incredible detail of the actors costumes and make up... Despite all those things that could be viewed as a dissappointment, it was still the most wonderful, moving, goose-bump-inspiring thing I have seen in a long time. (ever) The actors were all so very talented, from the main villain of Scar (OMG, that VOICE, so EEEEEVIL!) to the nimble dancers who played grass. (Yes, grass, you have to see it.) Rafiki (the baboon) was played by this delightful South African woman. Her authenticity, her humor made her version of Rafiki better than the original. And the man who was Zazu (The hornbill) Oh. My. God. He was so funny, he had the whole audience in stitches the entire time he was on stage. It was a roaring success. And what made me even happier than seeing it at last, was seeing the look on my girls' faces. I'd like to think that this adventure (To them it was an adventure, some of them hadn't been this far away from their homes ever, and never been to a stage production of any kind, let alone a traveling Broadway company.) that it may have inspired in them the love of theater that I have. With so much money being cut from public schools here in Michigan, I'm not sure that these young ones will have the opportunity to sample the rich arts programs that us old fogies were blessed with. (oops, stepped on the soapbox again, sorry) Anyway, if any of you, Disney fans or not, ever have the chance to go see this, do so. It is so, well, words pale compared to what I felt for three hours yesterday. Yeah, it was rapture for me. You all should see it. Current Mood: ecstatic Current Music: Music from The Lion King Broadway (Comment on this)
Saturday, October 15th, 2005
6:52 pm	Must be Halloween.... So, it's getting to be near Halloween. Every year we, along with a friend of ours build a little haunted house for the neighborhood kids. It started out as one of us jumping out at them from our back porch, expanded into a little tarp-walled room outside our door filled with fog and strobe lights, then moved into our garage, built a 2x4-framed building in our drive, and finally into what it is (will be) this year. They have plans to move out and take over out back yard this year with...something, I'm not really clear on what. They've gone to the local businesses and actually managed to solicit donations, everything from free movie rentals for kids (200 of them) to donations of wood from the lumber yard. It's becoming a monster. There are people approaching me in school, 20 minutes away, asking if we are having it this year again. It's wild. Kids I don't even know are asking me when we are going to build it. I decided to document the progress this year. I'd post the pictures, but I can't figure out how to load them, lol. Ah, the holidays! Current Mood: creative Current Music: Danny Elfman - "Nightmere Before Christmas" (Comment on this)
Sunday, September 11th, 2005
1:19 pm	You know, there is nothing I know of that can equal the depth of caring and generosity found in a child's heart. They want so much to give, to heal the hurt they find in the world. Sure, some of the things they do make no difference whatsoever, but they MEAN it from the depths of their souls. Their earnestness shines so brightly, that it's an inspiration. If I spend enough time with them, I see how far I have truly fallen from their innocence and their unconditional love of the whole world. It's not a pretty thought. And if I've fallen that far, how far, then, have those people in a position to actually DO something worthwhile fallen? How is it that the crumpled up handful of weeds and wildflowers sold to strangers at a garage sale "For Katrina people" can do more than an whole army of politicos with the means and resources? Obviously that quarter isn't going to do much on it's own, but 0.25 of that quarter is going directly to people who need it. There is no handling fee, no reallocation, no committee on how to break that quarter up to "better serve the people." No financing the effort at the expense of the effort. AND, on top of it, there is the attitude of "How much more can I give, what more can I do to get more to give?" Children are beautiful. Governments are made up of people who were once children, why is it so hard for them to remember that? FEMA and the like could learn a lesson or two by spending a day in a young child's shoes. Or at a fundraiser by children. *Steps off the soapbox to go spend more time with my kids* Peace, all. Current Mood: contemplative Current Music: NFL football theme (Comment on this)
Saturday, September 3rd, 2005
6:07 pm	"Relief" efforts I love the government. Or rather, I love what the government is supposed to be ideally. I am the first to stand up in defense of the government and the office of the President. I try to see beond the spin the media puts on stories, beyond the sensationalism they feel they need to sell copies, to retain viewers. I try to remain objective, to remember that the shocking revelations from the man on the street are just one small story in a ocean of stories making up the event. I have to wonder, now, one thing: Why is it we(the current administration) are so hell-bent on fixing everyone else's problems around the world that we turn a blind eye to our own? Why is it we can not trust the structures we have set up in these foreign nations to stand on their own now that they have established? Why does the administration not do more, more effeciently to take care of it's own citizens? Why is it that children trapped by Katrina are dying because the president can fly over the disaster site, but can't figure out how to get a necessary supply of bottled water to them? What about those people effected by the tornados and severe storms further inland? Do we forget that those people have lost homes and lives just as perminately as the ones on the coast did? Where is our government for them? Enough of my rant of the day. I am very dissappointed in this government I love. I hope the country can make up for the leadership's failings. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Friday, September 2nd, 2005
7:02 pm	noob! Right. Newbie here. I'll post more later. (Comment on this)