(I don't normally cross-post entries, especially since I'm primarily using Blogger, but I felt this was important enough to me to spread the word wherever I can!)

I think I have found my pet (excuse the pun, you'll see why in a moment) cause.

It comes as no surprise to most of you that I love animals. More so than people, I daresay ;-P While I rail against human suffering, animal suffering is especially heartbreaking. And so it again comes as no surprise that when I want to find a cause to donate to or volunteer my time with, it will be animal-related. Problem is, which one? There are so many! I can't stretch myself too thin, but how do I pick which one(s) I want to get involved in? I've looked. But the majority of the organizations out there seem to be devoted to a particular subset of animals. House pets. Farm animals. Endangered wildlife. They're all important to me.

A second issue that stymied me was that of humanitarianism. In the Christian sphere especially, there is great emphasis on compassion, love and ministering to the needs of your fellow man. And while I do believe in that, I was left wondering: where do animals fit in? If I spent a lot of time and resources toward animal welfare projects, would I feel guilty about not spending that time and energy towards human welfare? Just as there was a wide range of animal causes to choose from, there is an even wider range of humanitarian causes, all equally worthy, in my eyes.

Then I came across this website, thanks to a colleague having become a fan of it on Facebook: Not One Sparrow

As I read more about the motivation behind it, the causes behind which its founder rallies, and most importantly, a spiritual perspective on concern for animals, I was deeply moved. Not One Sparrow answered every question I had and spoke to my main concerns (as explained above). Most importantly, it really resonated with me. Never have I felt so uplifted by a cause. Never have I felt more than piqued curiosity or sympathetic interest in a cause, no matter how noble. At the same time, I didn't feel the sense of inadequacy that must daunt us all when undertaking an active role in a cause we believe in: "Can I really make a difference?"

I firmly believe that the earth and its wonderful array of creatures are God's gift to us (just think of your favorite animal, marvel at its unique characteristics and beauty, and tell me it's not an amazing, well-thought-out creation), and that it is our responsibility to take care of them and use them wisely and respectfully. Sadly, the rampant abuse of both our natural resources and animals makes it clear that man has been more than negligent in this responsibility. And this is something I sincerely wish to rectify.

Of course, I have only just stumbled upon this site. What I hope to be able to contribute concretely remains to be seen. I look forward to it, whatever it may be.

Allan summed it up nicely when he referred to me as so: "Helly's not a tree-hugger. She's a turtle-hugger!" Indeed. God loves even the tiniest of sparrows. Why shouldn't we, also? 

Where have you been? I've posted Friday Fives that need participating in, written about an interesting visitor that came to our new apartment last week, lamented how hard kids can be on the pocketbook, and played around with my friends' names on a cute census-type site.

But you won't find it here. You'll find it in my blog's new home:

http://hellykwee.blogspot.com

I know there's a few stragglers still out there. So what are you waiting for? Hop on over to the new blog. And while you're there, don't forget to subscribe so you'll receive an email everytime I post a new entry. It's a lot more reliable than Myspace email notifications!

Last call. After this, the only time I'll be blogging on Myspace is if I need to write a friends-only entry-- one that will, of course, be linked back here from Blogger :-)

See you over on Blogger! 

I've sent email invites to a bunch of you to subscribe to the Google Groups mailing list so you'll receive emails everytime I post-- just like you currently do with Myspace. And I think I've managed to get almost all my regular Myspace readers onto my new blog at Blogger. But there are still a few stragglers.

So, to make it easier for you, all you need to do is enter your email address in the box below, click "Subscribe", and you should be good to go (once you go back to your Inbox and verify your subscription, that is)!

Or, if you'd really rather not bother with doing that or visiting the group's website to sign in and join, then just contact me (leave a comment here, or email me, or Myspace mail me, or...) and I can add you manually.

EDIT: Okay, it seems there's still some issues with subscriptions (see the comments). I also heard from someone else who thought she'd followed the link in the invitation email, but she isn't showing up as subscribed to the list (and hence not receiving any emails). So, if you could take a moment to comment here and let me know if you're having any issues not receiving emails, I'd appreciate it! Thanks :-)

Subscribe to Hellys' Blog

Email:

Visit this group

In the meantime, I've posted a handful of new entries since the last time I wrote a re-direct post here, so have a gander and get all caught up:

http://hellykwee.blogspot.com

:-)

Looks like blog email notifications are working on Myspace again. So chances are, you received an email to let you know about this post.

But what are you still doing here? ;-) You can also get email notifications everytime I post to my Blogger blog. Simply go to the Google Groups I set up here:

http://groups.google.com/group/hellys-blog

and sign up. Or, just go to my blog and in the left-hand column is a box for you to enter your email to subscribe to it.

And don't forget that if you use your Blogger/Google account to leave a comment, you can elect to receive emails everytime someone leaves a new comment on that post.

Finally, if you prefer using a feed reader, well, there's an RSS feed for the posts AND for the comments!

So what are you waiting for? Make the switch today :-)

Meanwhile, here's the newest entry:

http://hellykwee.blogspot.com/2008/08/all-moved-into-new-place.html

Find it on Blogger:

http://hellykwee.blogspot.com/2008/08/friday-five-memory.html

My tummy commands you to go here:

http://hellykwee.blogspot.com/2008/08/how-long.html

And while you're at it, go ahead and subscribe either to the RSS feed or to the Google groups mailing list to get email notification of new posts/comments!

Read all about it here:

http://hellykwee.blogspot.com/2008/08/busy-week.html

And while you're at it, you can subscribe to receive email notifications of new entries in my new blog. I sent a bunch of you invitations via email, but since I did so many at once, Google flagged it as possible spam and it may take a day or two to process. Meanwhile, you can sign up yourself at:

http://groups.google.com/group/hellys-blog

See you over on Blogger!

I've been blogging for 3 years. When Grab.com introduced blogs in August 2005, I immediately became hooked. Many of my current readers, I probably would never have gotten to know were it not for blogs. Then, 1 year ago, I switched to Myspace for my full-time blogging needs, having outgrown Grab. Despite its bugginess and frequent outages, I've stuck with Myspace because it provided almost everything I wanted in a blog. Almost.

In a nutshell, my top features included comment threading and an easy way to notify readers of new entries (i.e. via email). But I also pined for a way to notify readers of new comments, so they wouldn't have to keep checking back manually. Wordpress and Blogger provide RSS feeds for comments, but I am aware that most of my readers won't want to bother with it. Again, email notification is almost always the simplest solution.

Well, now Blogger, with a few tweaks and additions, provides everything I want in a blogging service.

So, I am writing this post to let you know that I've decided to (yet again!) move my blogging to another forum. You can read more about why I'm moving, at my new blog address:

http://hellykwee.blogspot.com

Hope to see you over there, and hope the transition will be seamless!

We all have recurring dreams/dream themes. I have my own little handful, some common, some unique.

For instance, the classic flying/falling dream-- in my dreams, it's manifested as leaping/bouncing high into the sky, soaring for a moment, and then feeling that sickly drop in the pit of my stomach as I plummet to the ground. You know-- the ticklish sensation brought on by freefall. I wonder if it's because I really loathe that freefalling sensation, probably more so than most people. It is why I won't ride the aptly-named "Freefall" ride at Magic Mountain, and why I won't bungee jump or parachute out of a plane.

Another common recurring dream is a bit more unusual-- I dream that my mouth is stuffed with food or gum. Then a situation arises where I have to spit it out-- either the food is dry and chewy and I don't want to eat anymore, or I need to do something like speak, but can't chew and swallow the food fast enough (or HAVE to spit it out, if it's gum) to empty it. Only problem is, the food refuses to come out of my mouth! I end up having to use my fingers or a spoon to manually scrape the stuff out of my mouth-- but despite my best efforts, it never completely empties! This one is interesting to me-- I can't even begin to fathom what it's supposed to mean.

And then there's the dream where I am driving a car, and the brakes don't work (or if they, do, they're extremely sluggish to respond). Usually I'm in the middle of a turn, or trying to back the car up, and wind up jamming my feet onto the brakes HARD, hoping desparately that I won't hit anything. Eventually I do slow down, probably due more to losing momentum due to friction rather than the brakes working at all. A corollary to this dream is the opposite scenario: my accelerator won't work and I find myself lugging the car up a steep hill, Flintstones-style.

It comes naturally that when your head is deeply mired in something (like school or work or a particularly pressing situation) you'll take it to dreamland with you. More than once have I found myself doing programming or working out formulas in my dreams, during the time when I'm supposed to be RESTING and taking a break from it all! :-P A few times, however, it's served me well in that I've discovered a solution to the problem/task at hand in my dreams :-) Now that's what I call productive sleeping!

Finally, an entertaining note: have you ever been sooo furious or yelled so loud that you could hardly make a sound? I have not, in my waking life. But quite a few times I've dreamed that I've gotten so incensed that I could hardly speak, or yelled so loud I could hardly form sensible noises. Who do you suppose was my chief source of aggravation in such dreams? Why, none other than Allan, of course! ;-)

How about you? What recurring dreams do you have? Are they fairly common or unique to you?

... being thankful that the week is at a close.

... Happy Hour!

... staying up late and then sleeping in on Saturday.

... dragging yourself into work, tired and sleepy because your upstairs neighbors awakened you far earlier than normal with carpentry-like sounds of pounding on the floor. Irritated and wide awake anyway, I leaped out of bed and pounded my fist on the wall. I hadn't expected it to reverberate as loudly as it did, but they got the message. The pounding was reduced to rhythmic tapping before dissipating. I am soooo glad that in just a couple short weeks, we move out of there and into an UPSTAIRS unit, where we won't have to contend with lead-footed neighbors anymore.

It was 2.5 years ago that we moved. Those of you who have been reading my blog that long might remember the first time I ranted about the neighbors. If not, allow me to refresh your memory:

http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=28049135&blogID=102838529

... oh, and Friday Fives!

1. What drink wakes you up best in the morning?
2. During the day, what do you drink to keep going?
3. Do you drink the recommended 8 glasses of water per day? Why/why not?
4. What are the ingredients of your favorite mixed drink? (Doesn't have to be alcoholic!)
5. Are you a coffee drinker? How do you take your coffee, if so?