Sarah's Tidbits

Sarah Pack’s Obituary: Here is the link. Unfortunately, I’m not surprised with the parents’ choice of donations. I do not think Sarah would like that at all.

Few words from Jade: Here is the message from Jade, another close friend of Sarah Pack in New York:

A TRIBUTE TO SARAH MARIE PACK

The news has come unexpectedly that SARAH MARIE PACK, a friend, my publicist, and confident has suddenly departed from the earth on Sunday, November 20, 2005. We will all sorely miss her.

Each Day When Tomorrow Comes

Each day when tomorrow comes, you would find a way to create an optimistic outlook on life and impact others.

Each day when tomorrow comes, you would rotate the troubles of the world into humor.

Each day when tomorrow comes, when mass of obscurities came knocking on your door, you manage to produce energy, form luminosity, and brighten those around you because you refuse to succumb its powers over you.

Each day when tomorrow comes, you walk the warrior in you shielded from adversity of every sinew and fiber of your being.

Each day when tomorrow comes, you are an essence and the mastery of life, and you teach us what life is all about.

Each day when tomorrow comes, your heart is enormous that you radiate love and support to those close to you and knows you.

Each day when tomorrow comes, you always look forward to life: * “…making snow angels, dancing in the rain, going down a block, swinging at a playground, walking a friend's dog, and many more fun stuff!”*

*This is an excerpt from Sarah’s blog while being hospitalized for 13 days.

To read more about Sarah and her beautiful and inspiring blog, please click here: Just Wondering OutLoud

Check These Out: Evidently, Sarah's impact on many others can be noted on people's blogs/xanga all over the country.

And so our creation begins.....
Melmira
Hirself
witty, charming, funny, resilient, optimistic, humble, timeless
Guthrie's TrekAsia Journal
Key Lime Pie Lovers unite!
Update: ~~~** Introspectives of the jenko
Update: Deaf In The City
Update: Wherever You Go
Update:The eyes translate body language and communication...
Update: Epiphaneia


Anyone to add? Please email me at Ridor9th@gmail.com so I can add. Thanks!

Sarah's Three Pictures: These pictures of last Thanksgiving Dinner which Sarah Pack hosted at her palace in Hell's Kitchen, I was invited and there, I got to meet some of Sarah’s close friends. After eating the massive food which I was not used to, I asked Sarah if I could sneak into Kaybee’s bedroom to lay down because I was stuffed and too tired to converse with many people for 15 minutes or so. She nodded. I vanished into her bedroom to lay down -- you know how it is with the turkey, it puts you to sleep.

Guess what happened next? Sarah joined. Boris joined. We were having a good time, evidently. I watched Boris playing around with Sarah next to me -- making it impossible for me to catch few Zs. We were joking about different things related to sex -- as you can see Sarah laughing out loud when Boris tried to do something. I tried to tell KD not to take pictures, naturally -- I was ignored. As you can see, I was amused at the antics Boris did to Sarah. Little did I know that it was our last Thanksgiving Dinner.

Enjoy!



One of Many Little Things That Binds Sarah with Me: Sarah’s grandparents lived in the southwestern part of Virginia near Blacksburg. My Hrandparents also lived in the southwestern part of Virginia in Big Stone Gap. The southwestern part of Virginia is the long rectangular that surrounded itself between North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia -- between these two towns is about 165 miles long due to the fact the roads has to go up and down the damned mountains.

We discussed about the morbidity of Appalachian Mountains folks or The South who seemed to be into taking pictures at the funerals. I had been to many funerals in the South where relatives and friends took pictures of deceased bodies. Sarah confirmed that she is not crazy about going to these funerals because she had the same experiences that I did. Needless to say, Sarah and I had heavy fits of laughters that I think the neighbors thought we were nuts.

Note to readers & friends of Sarah Pack: Feel free to email me of your memories with Sarah. I'll be sure to insert it in the next few days. This week on the blogsite practically belongs to Sarah Pack and her friends to celebrate her life. A part of this surely has helped me to cope with her sudden death, I guess, and I hope it does for others. After all, that is what she would like it to be. It is OK to be upset and reflect on this -- but you gotta celebrate somewhere down the route. I still have her emails sitting in my Inbox -- especially the last one that she wrote around 7:30 AM last Sunday before she passed away.

Sigh.

R-

11.21.05 Tidbits

Stop The Tmobile Spam Attack! Joseph Rainmound requested me to link this in order to warn anyone who has SK2, blackberry or pagers owned by T-Mobile. Last night, there had been a spam attack. My sister complained that it went on all night -- she turned it off.

At first, the national office denied that it was a national problem. But they admitted it. It will be cool if everyone who has the pagers call them -- in order to force them to stop this activity.

Notice The Change? As of now, I am still reeling from the shock regarding Sarah Pack's death. I noticed that more and more hospitals are now known as "Medical Center". It implied that it is for profit business. Pay up money, we'll save your life. No money, you'll wait bit longer -- you gotta dance with Death the best way you can do. The hospitals are quickly getting on my list of "hateful things" along with police officers.

Whatever happened to the concept of hospitals being a hospital to HELP people? Today, thanks to the American capitalism, money comes first. Many hospitals will not proceed without the approval of insurance. To me, it is not appropriate.

Another Death: Sam the Ugly Dog has died at 14. Thanks for the link, Christian.

Jose Padilla Finally Charged: After 3 years in the brig without a charge, Jose Padilla was accused by the Government that he plans to use 'dirty bomb'. He was born in the United States and was denied of his due process. Finally, after 3 years, he got the list of charges against him because the government did not want to deal with the Supreme Court's rulings. What a wuss. And the best part is that no charge from Jose Padilla has to do with the 'dirty bomb'.

According to the constitution, the American citizens has the right to have a speedy trial. 3 years in the brig before getting the speedy trial says a lot about the administration and Pentagon's respect towards the constitution.

Virginia Cavaliers Women 2-0: They are now 2-0 after posting two wins over George Washington 66-53 and Wright State 74-56. They'll play Alabama and Minnesota in Paradise Jam Tournament in Virgin Islands. I hope the Cavaliers get to issue some kind of payback to Sonny Wasilowski's favorite team!

Yes, Barry, There is One! My father told me that he informed Barry Strassler of DeafDigest that there is one Deaf person that drives 18-wheeler truck, Barry did not believe him. In fact, Barry Strassler dismissed my father's claims. Last Saturday night, I got to meet Andrew King of Dale City, Virginia, the man who held the Commercial Driver's License. He said he was very lucky -- he got the CDL, then few years later, the computers came in to screen all drivers. The state also disallowed Deaf people from driving the 18-wheeler trucks because of "safety" reasons. Bullshit.

In more than 20 years, he said he hadn't gotten in an accident and he drove his 18-wheeler truck, hurling the materials to many states. He said that many businesses that he worked with knew that he is Deaf but as long as he gets the deeds done, nothing else mattered. No, he does not use voice, use hearing aids or has cochlear implants. He is just plain Deaf who is profilic in ASL. His appearance reminded me of Elvis Presley except that he has white hair all over. I teased him that Elvis is already dead so drop dead.

Oh, yeah, Barry Strassler claimed that no one has CDLs. Not even Andrew King of Dale City. Barry thinks he knew it all.

Remember Tower Clock 2001 Yearbook Controversy? In 2001, there was a 32-page section in Tower Clock's 2001 Yearbook that was considered to be one of the most hilarious, brilliant and radical. Provost Fernie seized the yearbooks and had this 32-page section removed. I vividly recalled seeing the drama at Gallaudet about this for weeks.

I was able to read these 32-page section when my friend told me she has it. I thought it was great! It was funny, they poked fun at almost everything else. But apparently, Provost Fernie does not like it at all. So she used the excuse to indicate that "6 students and parents" do not like it. My hunch is that there were no six students at all, just only Provost Fernie, President Irvie and Vice-President Paulie did not like it because they feel it may tarnish the image they worked hard to preserve.

If you guys want to read page by page, check this link!

Deaf People Cannot Donate Blood: In Canada, the Canadian Blood Services forbade Deaf persons from donating the blood. Their reason? That Deaf people would be embarassed in talking about sensitive information in front of interpreters. That is not reasonable and good cause to forbid Deaf persons from donating the blood. Wow, some places do make us feel less than 2nd class citizen!

Two Wisdom Teeth Pulled Out: It was 50-minute performance but I felt like 5-minute. I'm so high on vicodine. Who cannot love it?!

Cheers,

R-

Sarah and I

I arrived in New York by Chinatown Bus for a job interview more than 3 years ago. It was around 6 AM in the morning. The stench of Chinatown is pretty repulsive, to say the least. Standing on a street named East Broadway waiting for Kaybee to arrive, the sky slowly brightened as the skyscrapers on Lower Manhattan illuminated against the sky.

Prior to the trip, I had been to New York only twice but each time, it was very superficial visits. But not after this.

Kaybee was kind to let me stay with her in Hell's Kitchen. Later, after the job interview, I went to kaybee's place. There I got to meet her roommates. Normally, I am cautious and wary of meeting new faces. That is who I am. But kaybee's roommate, Sarah Pack broke through easier than committing a sin. How? She said something outrageous that made me like her instanteously.

She was saying, "Did you know that ... umm ... I often get free rides on cabs here in New York because of this [she pointed at her breasts]?"

From that point, I was hooked with her. Sarah went on to explain that most of the drivers are Arabs, Indians or dark-skinned guys. They always stared at her big breasts. She said it was such a nuisance but she knew that it excited them as well. Sarah said that they often declined her money to pay for fare. One time, Sarah told me that one guy personally thanked her for riding in his cab. She rolled her eyes and said, "At least, they are happy."

The next night, I was drunk and hungry. Sarah suggested a 24-hour diner on 11 Avenue by 49 Street. Today, the place went out of business. But when we entered the premise, it was cozy. WE munched bacon, sausage strips, eggs, pancakes and fried potatoes. It was fun chatting with Sarah as she mentioned about things in life from 2 AM to 5 AM. It was only the second night after I was formally introduced to her.

Her thoughts, frustrations and aspirations are similar to mine. We were able to change the subjects liberally as things go by. I hate the people who said, "Let's back to this subject ..."

IN fact, Sarah told me she HATED it!

It is no secret that Sarah and I am not in shape like many people. We are out of shape beings who struggled to deal with the issues surrounding ourselves. Sarah did not get big on "purpose". Her medical condition required her to take steroids which caused her to grow by size. Not her fault. I was able to divulge my frustrations on her, and her on me about our appearances.

When I moved to New York, and if I needed a timeout from the daily drama of New York Life, I simply paged Sarah and asked if I could come by and chat. She'd say, "Why bother to ask? Just come!" I ended up staying for hours and one time, for two days in a row.

One time, Sarah paged me to tell me to come over to her place for a dinner. When I arrived at her door, I saw Sarah standing by her apartment door. She said, "Bad news or good news?"

I opted for bad.

"I got locked out."

Good?

"I ordered the food from 9 Avenue diner and they're already here. We are going to eat at [pointing at the neighbor's door]."

I said, "You kid me or what?"

The old irish woman came out of her apartment and motioned us to enter her kitchen where we dined at her kitchen table. Throughout the dinner, we laughed, laughed and laughed about having our dinner at some stranger's home. We stayed about an hour before Kaybee finally got home and opened the door for us.

That is so Sarah. If things comes up in her face, relax -- it'll pass eventually. There are moments that I could not figure out what's going on in New York -- little tidbits that puzzled me. Sarah was there to explain that. I learned to appreciate New York through Sarah. One time she ordered ice cream shakes. I told her that I was not interested. She said, "Trust me on this."

It was homemade ice cream shakes from some restaurant on 9 Avenue It was heavenly. She introduced me to a lot of things and for that, I appreciated her very much.

It was such an unfortunate that three persons I knew and loved, Chanda Smith, Jake Temby and now Sarah Pack are gone. But I like to think that they are somewhere else to prepare one massive party for my Grand Arrival someday.

Yeah, that is probably the reason.

Cheers,

R-

If You're Bored In Sioux Falls ... !

This is amusing. 18 years old guy was caught having sex with ... a dummy. And he may have to register as sex offender, just because he was caught with his pants down fucking a mannequin.

Where did it happen? In Sioux Falls, South Dakota!

Cheers,

R-

1st Deaf Hunger Strike!

In Flint, Michigan, Ryan Commerson has decided to go on a hunger strike in order to force the Michigan School for the Deaf, Detroit Day School for the Deaf and the state of Michigan to change the policies and procedures related to ASL and Deaf Education.

For years, the state of Michigan has largely neglected the needs of Deaf children. Today, more and more people wanted the best for their children who are Deaf, the state of Michigan and its two deaf schools refused to comply with the changes.

For months, Ryan Commerson has pleaded, pressured and fought to get the schools to recognize ASL at these schools but these schools rejected, manipulated and blocked him from achieving something positive for Deaf children in Michigan.

For further information on this fiasco in Michigan, check the link at Starving for Access :: One Man's Mission.

Jeers to the MSD & DDSD for its plantation mentality on Deaf children in the state.

Note: Ryan is already tall and thin. Just don't get too thin, Ryan. Hang in there!

Cheers,

R-

An Update About NBC's SURFACE

Greetings! I got an email from Michael Krajnak who attached the message from Marc Hirschfeld regarding the hiring of a hearing actress as deaf character.

They do not get it. I understood that they could not find any. They could have stroll up to Gallaudet campus, I'm sure someone there would have done the job. They chose to get in touch with talent agencies. These talent agencies are well-known for ignoring Deaf people's aspirations.

R-

From: Hirschfeld, Marc (NBC Universal) >
Cc: Olmstead, Kahlil (NBC Universal)
Date: Mon Nov 21, 2005 01:24:26 PM EST
Subject: Surface

Michael,

I wanted to respond to your letter regarding your concerns about the actor who portrayed Lee's deaf girlfriend in the episode of Surface a week or so ago. For financial reasons we needed to hire a local actress who was proficient with sign language. Our local casting directors sent a notice regarding the upcoming role to approximately 50 talent agents in the Southeastern United States and only received a handful of submissions. Several were auditioned and the actress that booked the role was the only one that was the right fit physically with Ian Anthony Dale, who plays "Lee". We were told that she was proficient in sign language but clearly that was not the case and there was no one on the set to supervise her signing.

We apologize for her performance on the episode and will supervise this more closely in the future. Thank you very much for bringing this to our attention and thank you for being a fan of "Surface".

Sincerely,

Marc Hirschfeld
Executive VIce-President, Casting
NBC Entertainment

JuneAnn LeFors Is Xian Nut

June Ann LeFors Is One Xian Nut! This bitch has no right to capitalize the death of Sarah Pack to fit in with her twisted agenda of promoting Xian religion. By reading her entry, June Ann LeFors is what I termed as: Fundamentalist Xian. That kind of group is nuts. They try to justify the means of something hocus pocus to define what is wrong with their lives.

Sarah is not a friend of June Ann LeFors just because she is friend to Melissa Yingst! Let's be honest here. June Ann LeFors has been greatly brainwashed by Xians to a point where if she sees a face on a palm tree, she'll say that it was done by the act of Jesus Christ.

May June Ann LeFors rot in Hell for what she wrote about Sarah Pack! Even I'm certain that Sarah would roll her eyes at June Ann's condescending comments. Sarah and I occasionally discussed about our distaste in fundamentalists (be it Islam, Jews or Xians). We loved to poke fun at them. Know why? Because we knew they were idiots.

Perhaps the best lesson for June Ann is yet to come when one of her own brats drop dead, then I'll say something about her God doing NOTHING for her! That would be amusing to see how she reacted to it. She is one big delusional bitch, issuing her opinions on everything else that she's better. Well her sin is what? Pride and narcissism. These will be the downfall of her life.

Know Who Tom Willard Is? Tom Willard used to be Editor-in-Chief for the national newspaper for the deaf, Silent News. He was pushed out of Silent News after his repeated conflicts with the owners of Silent News.

However, that is not the issue here. He was placed on persona non grata from Rochester Institute of Technology. Why? Because he tried to offer the business card to one swimmer in the locker room. Tom thought it was no big deal.

Look at Tom's face, he does fit in the image of a ... pervert, by any means. I'm sorry to say this but let's use common sense. He does look like one, is he?

I think he should know better than to offer his business card to a "prospective model" in a locker room. That, to me, is creepy thing to do. That is more of solicitation, in my opinion.

Not only that, he's 48 years old. Why was he on the RIT campus? To cruise? What was he up to? If he wants to cruise, go to Gold's Gym or any local gyms in Rochester instead.

Anyway, Tom Willard is correct about one thing -- he was deprived of due process. But it is tacky to know that he would lurk around the college campus to solicit students for his "photography" exhibits. And it is tacky to set up his own website to whine about it.

Good thing, it rained today. Am working on logistics to get myself to New York immediately to pay my respects for Sarah Pack. I am entertaining no supplicants today!

Cheers,

R-