Everything2

On Mother's Day

It's Mother's Day again. I never really made a fuss over it, in the same way that any enforced gift-buying day could pass me by. Christine was uncomfortable around the day; her own mother died (of ovarian cancer) around this season, and it held those memories. Nonetheless, she'd get a hand-drawn card or letter from Tess, and tea and breakfast in bed from me. But generally, the day would leave me as it came - quietly and without fuss. Today is different. There's a big Christine-shaped gap in our lives, and those of you who truly knew her will understand that the chasm is hard to fill.

Today is different. I am off to the Davis Whole Earth Festival; a gathering of hippies at the university, to celebrate overpriced handmade jewellery, organic clothes and garish tie-dye. Normally I eschew such events, but today I have a Purpose, and will brave the heat, the barely-clad and the dawdlers to man the…

Romany Word for a Non-Romany Person

"Mashkar le gadjende leski shib si le Romeski zor"
"Surrounded by the Gadje, the Rom's only defence is his tongue"

Pronounced "gah-jay" or "gay-djuh", the word Gadje (or Gadjo) is a Romany ("gyspy") word used to describe someone who is either not of Romany extraction, or one who has left the Romany life and is living outside the community and…

I have someone very close to me who has recently had the self-awareness to admit they have an addiction to prescription pain medication; specifically, hydrocodone. Apparently this person has been functioning at a full-time job even while taking as many as 6 pills a day. I'm not sure how many mgs. that constitutes, but I know it's a lot and I know I'd be a zombie after taking that many of those. As a former junkie, I do not understand the attraction of this drug at all. They do not make me feel…