my uncle was retelling the story of coming out to his mother a couple of years ago. he had been with his partner for well over a decade, though he had never even mentioned his name. apparently, after my uncle finished telling her that he was gay and had just adopted a 17 month old girl from haiti, my grandmother (probably already in her mid-80s) looked at him and say : "well, that's a good idea!" my aunt even commented about how it seemed silly, in retrospect, to have kept that to himself all these years.

gosh, sometimes my dad's family surprises me.

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we talked a little bit afterward about how she is doing in her "so-so" state of sanity. she's mostly happy, though, and thankfully forgets that she is 91 and spends most of her time in bed.

when i go visit her, she sometimes asks me if i've become a nurse. she knows who i am, but she thinks that i came to care for her, which i do, i suppose. she takes my hands between hers and warms them up. then apologizes for the fact that i have to brave the cold to come see her. i should tell her that these moments i spend with her truly warm my heart.

one of my workers came today and dropped an envelope off from me. it contained a magazine for the pentacoastal church with a hand written note wishing me a happy holiday season.

now, two things: either he...

- thinks i'm doing a good job and wants to show his appreciation
- believes i need to be saved


anyways, happy holidays!

ok, so the political-rant was probably way overdue, or not! but i've got one for you.

i've been donating money to greenpeace for the past couple of years. it actually started out of coincidence, but i eventually thought that it was a good idea to donate money for the environment despite the fact that i've not always been in agreement with greenpeace's policies. i mean, i honestly think that the greenpeace hardcore defenders tend to get a bit too extreme to prove their point and rely on tactics we usually condemn about, say, the Bush administration. their stand against Kimberley-Clark (the makers of well-know brand of tissue Kleenex), though valid up to a certain point, sounds way too Axis of Evil for me.

anyhow. i got a call yesterday, very similar to the one last year where i was asked to up my monthly donation by 2$ (which is really no biggie, when you think about it). in return for my contribution i was offered a free greenpeace t-shirt. okay, let's do the math:

2 $ x 12 months = 24 $
price of the t-shirt as advertised on the website : 25 $

i asked the man on the phone how it was that greenpeace could manage to give me a free t-shirt with such a small increase in my contribution. doesn't it defeat the purpose? i also asked him how could i trust that the people who made the shirt were paid a decent wage (e.g. fair-trade) when i was getting the thing for free? it seems a bit too good of a deal.

also, how can a serious organisation offer their members merchandise they don't really need when one of their priorities is to make us aware of how overconsumption is harming the environment?

needless to say, i did not get much in the way of answers. poor guy really, he was probably a volunteer!

but, i did a bit of research. did not find out much about the t-shirts, aside from the fact that some of their campaign have been done in partnership with t-shirt making company that claims to be fair-trade and organic. so that's good.

my reflexion is : cotton farming has disatrous effects on the environment, mostly because of the use of pesticides and other chemicals. organic cotton farming of course counters that problem. but, it still does not justify the fact that greenpeace openly encourages it's members to consume things they don't need / care for that has a detrimental effect on the land.

more t-shirts
= more tree cut down to create land on which to cultivate cotton
= more landfill when said t-shirt is worn-down or no longer in fashion.

an alternative could to part of this problem could be to use recycle cotton? can that be done?

or, as a colleague of mine suggested, stop using kleenexes (as suggested in the Kleercut.net website) and use the t-shirt instead!

anyways, enough sillynest, i've been thinking since being prompted with the same offer last to actually donate my couple of bucks elsewhere. i'm still debating on the issue though and the more i'll read about the topic, hopefully, the more i'll be able to make up my mind about it.

aya!

i'm going for my yearly evaluation in 1 minute(the intercom just rang actually!). truth is, i'm a bit put off by the whole process as i think it's a good way for my employer to try to bargain down most of our requests for a raise. though, you never know, i might be surprised.

don't pass go. don't collect 200$.

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on a cheerful note, i just found out that i'll be off from the 23rd of decembre to the 2nd of january.

first thought was : go to china.
second thought was : go to japan.
third was: go to mexico
fourth, and more reasonable thought was, maybe rent movies, go skating and go for a weekened in the laurentians.