SING A SONG AND SMILE - A SINGING PERFORMANCE WORKSHOP

Practice, Perfect and Perform your favourite song in one day

Brighton Unitarian Church, New Road, Saturday 19th April 10am-4.30pm.

• Nick Andrews - Musical Director
• Becky Rocheleau - Performance Director

The cost for Performers is £55 and Observers £15.

To book your place or for more information contact Becky on
07957 133317 or rocheleau@hotmail.co.uk

Interesting.  And, ultimately, disappointing, if not at all surprising.  When will the American people be presented with a candidate who’s not just another dishonest, corrupt politician?  When will the American people demand more?  From the Times:

Mansion ‘mistake’ piles the pressure on Barack Obama

A British-Iraqi billionaire lent millions of dollars to Barack Obama’s fundraiser just weeks before an imprudent land deal that has returned to haunt the presidential contender, an investigation by The Times discloses.

The money transfer raises the question of whether funds from Nadhmi Auchi, one of Britain’s wealthiest men, helped Mr Obama buy his mock Georgian mansion in Chicago.

A company related to Mr Auchi, who has a conviction for corruption in France, registered the loan to Mr Obama’s bagman Antoin “Tony” Rezko on May 23 2005. Mr Auchi says the loan, through the Panamanian company Fintrade Services SA, was for $3.5 million.

Three weeks later, Mr Obama bought a house on the city’s South Side while Mr Rezko’s wife bought the garden plot next door from the same seller on the same day, June 15.

Mr Obama says he never used Mrs Rezko’s still-empty lot, which could only be accessed through his property. But he admits he paid his gardener to mow the lawn.

Mrs Rezko, whose husband was widely known to be under investigation at the time, went on to sell a 10-foot strip of her property to Mr Obama seven months later so he could enjoy a bigger garden.

Mr Obama now admits his involvement in this land deal was a “boneheaded mistake”.

Right.  Read it all >>

my friend rebecca’s launched her new site - Reiki :: Rebecca Hutley - Brighton, Hove, Worthing, Sussex.  Read a little more about her below.

—

I became an Usui Reiki practitioner in 1998 after completing a degree in Japanese and living in Japan. I immediately felt compelled to begin practising and in 2000 I set up a full  time practice in London. During that time I treated clients with depression, nervous breakdown, anxiety, grief, childhood issues, addictions, conception and fertility issues, back pain, and those who simply felt there was more to life.

In 2001 I became a Reiki Master Teacher and I offer my deepest love and gratitude to Reiki Master Anrul Ullah, and all those of my lineage.

In 2002 I toured Europe with MTV giving Reiki at club nights for which I created ‘Light Touch Reiki’. I later went on to spend 8 months doing weekly sessions for an international Corporate Identity consultancy.

I currently specialise in corporate therapy, taking Reiki into the workplace and in pregnancy and childbirth where Reiki has been welcoming the new generation with love.  I am also involved in the treatment of Horses with Reiki alongside veterinary practices.  I am now working with others to take Reiki and meditation into schools and the labour ward of hospitals.

http://www.rebeccahutley.com/

 Daddy

Sand flowers and leafs

Jellyfish are flowing

Flowers are pittering down from the sky

Rain makes everything glittery

Steam makes you hot when you have flowers

You make everything great for me daddy

and I love when you give me kisses

I want for you tonight to bring me something that you like

I love you daddy

xxxx

Ray says:

Thank you for your donation to the children that need it.  Please dig deep and we WILL raise £2,500 or more!

Donating through this site is simple, fast and totally secure. It is also the most efficient way to sponsor me: Barnardo’s will receive your money faster and, if you are a UK taxpayer, an extra 28% in tax will be added to your gift at no cost to you.

Many thanks for your support.

- Ray

http://www.justgiving.com/vietnamforkids

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she designed, i carved. brilliant!

a lot.  he’s probably 9 pounds by now, has had his first set of shots, and is generally doing very well.  he sleeps, eats, and excretes, which as a parent is more exciting than it ought to be, but what it means to us is he’s growing and healthy : )

thursday morning, 21 september. at home, 5 weeks early. beck and bean and i delivered him by ourselves. or, rather, he delivered himself while we ‘helped’ : )

his name is joseph james rocheleau. he’s doing great : )

fresh pod

bean and pod

pod with tube

bean cuddling pod

bean celebrating with her rain dance

Times 2 - August 25, 2006 - Ginny Dougary

If the Muslims who choose to live in our society do not protest against those who wish to destroy it, how can they expect our tolerance?

Read more >>

looks better than gehry’s stuff to me.

this is mary. pretty much bean’s favorite “baby” doll, although annabel runs a close second.

bean and i went to the beach, in lancing.  it was great.  we swam a little, built some sand castles (bean built about 10 of ‘em, with rocks) and just relaxed.  she has such a great time, she was shouting at the top of her lungs “I LOVE THIS PLACE AND THIS IS THE BEST DAY EVER”.  i love to see her so happy and expressive, she is very LOUD but i think that’s because she’s very ENGAGED.  she just kills me, she does.

that’s what bean calls shrimp. yesterday she took off all her clothes and sat in a bucket of water in the back garden. it was hot hot hot. i wish i coulda done the same.

spent the weekend redecorating the office-cum-bedroom. moved all bedroom stuff into lounge (living room for us yanks), all office stuff into old bedroom, then peeled wallpaper, scraped, filled, and de-moulded walls. painted, re-hung radiator (still no hot water - oops), cleaned carpets, moved stuff around, flopped. so that was my three-day weekend. beck did a great job prepping and cutting in, as i can’t see well enough to do it anymore. bean opened the valve on the radiator and let about a gallon of water out onto the carpet, and scared herself more than i did when i came in and yelled WHAT ARE YOU DOING. yeesh. i really gotta start thinking a little before i speak, sometimes.

three days on top of each other and i think we could all use a break. we’ll get the house sorted over the rest of this week and hopefully just go down to the beach this weekend and fly a kite or something.

found out that my brother mike was once again the target of some heartless fuck trying to grift him for 30k. she worked at the bank where his account was and she actually had the balls to withdraw the money and tell the bank it was a “personal loan”.

it hurts that i can’t be there to help him. but he doesn’t want my help. i’m just glad that, this time, someone was there to help him, and that he spoke up when something wasn’t right. i miss him terribly. but every time i call him he’s dead drunk and further off his rocker than the last time. i don’t know what i should’ve, or could’ve done. not only do i feel like i’ve failed him, but i’ve failed my father and myself. but how do you get someone to accept your help if they don’t want it? i guess you don’t get them to. i just feel really powerless and like accepting that there’s little i can do is just an excuse to do little.

can’t win this one. sigh.

is over here,  fellow  montessori-esque parent and  tech .  we are collaborating (clobbering?) a new site for bean’s monty-school.  he’s started playing with wordpress, too.  i forget how i found it but mit had something to do with incoming link thing or something.

what have i done?

not much, really.  it will be interesting to see what we come up with, though.

TIMES SATURDAY MAGAZINE - May 13, 2006
Ginny Dougary

For all her achievements as Cherie Booth QC, Cherie Blair has had a rocky ride at No 10. Ginny Dougary joined her on last month’s tour of Pakistan and Afghanistan to gain a remarkable close-up view of the PM’s spouse in action.

Read Ginny’s interview with Cherie Blair at Ginny Dougary’s blog >

are going to do their thing at the brighton fringe festival. becky is a soprano and will be singing and bean and i will be going and ginny dougary and mj paranzino have been composing so it ought to be a good time for all.

personally, i look forward to the drinks afterwards… yippee.

“i didn’t hit anyone.”

that’s what bean told becky when becky picked her up from school yesterday. apparently, some kid at school named harvey  ‘punched her in the stomach’ at some point, and she’s retaliated, but didn’t feel the need to yesterday.

sometimes, i worry.  and laugh : )

bean’s faaaavorite.  we have to watch her closely.  she’s like, bean’s national treasure or something.  life stops if she gets left somewhere, like nanna’s.  bean still chews her feet a little sometimes.