1. Noticed from Statcounter that I had a lot of people coming to my post entitled Water Chestnuts, Guitars, Hobart, and Jack. They're all coming from Facebook. My initial fear was that I had posted the wrong entry on my Facebook page last night. I wondered if people had noticed they were reading an old post. But I checked the Facebook page, and the right post was posted.
So then I figured that someone must have posted the link on THEIR Facebook page. That could be seen as an honor, but with me being paranoid....I started to guess they wrote something like See this ridiculous American blog! This woman is a freak.
It's actually not far-fetched. A lot of people followed the Facebook link. Do people usually follow links on Facebook? I sort of think not, unless something outrageous is promised. People are rarely going to follow a link that says, This is a lovely blog entry.
2. Decided to read through the blog entry. Is there something terribly exciting or outrageous there?
I talk about lesbians and water chestnuts. Maybe that's exciting? I talked about talking to Jack. That's sort of interesting...to me, at least.
Ah! I solved the mystery. I found Patient Zero; or I should say...reader zero.
They were searching for Elliot Freeman, the musician.
So it probably wasn't a matter of them thinking I was a freaky creepy American blogger. They probably were just sharing my blog with their fellow Elliot Freeman fans.
I wonder if they read my bit about water chestnuts. Or did they just skip over that? It's okay if they skipped it. I'm just curious.
3. Re-watched Elliot Freeman's "Across the Universe" Video. It's the worst singing I have ever heard in my life. And the video is disgusting. The female singer vomits at the end of the song, peels off her face, and then screams like a banshee. Then a disembodied floating head appears, and says you will die in seven days since you watched the video.
I'm lying. But see if I just say It's a lovely video with great singing, no one is going to care. People won't click on the video.
I need to lie with my own videos too, because people rarely click on them. Instead of saying Here's a video of me singing, I should say Here's a video of me singing naked while wearing a George W. Bush mask. I bet my videos would get much more hits.
4. Listened to Elliot Freeman sing Here Comes the Sun. I like that song. It reminds me of The Bee Movie.
5. Saw that because of the ending of Daylight Savings time, the time change between Texas and Australia has changed again. We're there hours apart; at least that's how I see it. It's easier for me to think of it that way instead of fifteen hours apart. I look at my time, add three hours, and then switch it from PM to AM. So it's 12:38 here, and then it's 3:39 in Australia...or at least eastern Australia. But it's not three in afternoon. It's three in the morning. At some point, it doesn't change from PM to AM or AM to PM. But I forgot when that is. Or maybe it doesn't. I'm not in the mood to stretch my brain to figure it out.
6. Read article about James Parker, the new Green MP, complaining about Jews. He said we drink the blood of children. How rude! He shouldn't be telling people that. It's our secret!
I'm joking. He said Jewish people get all bitchy when you speak out against Israel. We do. It's our thing. Yet we'll complain about Israel ourselves. See, it's like when you complain about your sister. You blab on and on about how she's such a horror. Then your friend says something negative about your sister, and suddenly it's your friend you're mad at, and not your sister.
So, that's the rule. Jews are allowed to complain about Israeli government. Other people need to just walk around saying Israel is great. Israel is the best. We love Israel.
Seriously though. Parker says he got a letter saying he was going to turn Balmain station into a gas chamber. Yes. That's ridiculous. It's totally far-fetched and unfair. Yet, it's unfair of Parker to judge all Jews on that letter. We're not all extreme like that. Assuming that is like assuming all Muslims carry around bombs just in case they have the urge to blow up a bus.
The truth is it goes both ways. People can't complain about Israel without some Jews coming forward and saying You're anti-semitic. You don't even want Israel to exist! You wish we were all dead. You're a Holocaust denier!
On the other hand... if someone criticizes Israel, Jews can't come forward and question the person's comments, or disagree, without someone coming back and saying Jews are too sensitive about anti-semitism. They won't let anyone say anything bad about Israel. They keep whining about the Holocaust.
7. Read that there might be a cyclone in The Kimberley. I hope there's not.
8. Absolutely disgusted with all the news outlets that are reporting Miranda Kerr's post baby weight loss. Who the hell cares? Obviously a lot of people.
There's way too much pressure on women to be thin. Even new moms get the pressure. What moms of tiny babies have time to work out and diet? Well, celebrities probably do. But the rest of us our are usually screwed.
There are women out there doing amazing things. They're saving lives. They're writing books. They're making inspiring speeches. They're taking care of children with disabilities. They're starting new businesses. They're learning to walk after a horrific injury. But obviously all that is less important than the fact that Miranda Kerr has managed to melt away her pregnancy fat in three months.
It's really sad when I go to the grocery store and peek at the covers of all the women magazines. It seems the focus of most of the covers is weight loss.
9. Had some deep thoughts because of my other blog. The Harry Potter one. When I look at Statcounter, I see it doesn't have that much less hits than this one. The difference is this blog's hits are divided by about one to two hundred visitors a day. The Harry Potter hits are almost all coming from five people. I don't have many visitors, but the few readers I have are really spending a lot of time there.
That brought up the question. Is it worth creating something that's enjoyed only by a few people. Shamefully, at first I thought....NO. But then I changed my mind. If you create something, and at least one other person enjoys it, I think it's worth something. I mean Tim spends hours creating fantastic meals, sometimes it's just for him, myself, and Jack. Does that mean it wasn't worth it? No. Though he probably prefers making these fantastic meals for my whole family.
It makes me think of my novel The Dream Games. I've had such trouble getting people to read it. Sometimes it feels like it was all a waste of time. But I did manage to get about five people to read it. Three of those people seemed to like it, and two of the people seemed to really love it. I won't lie. It would be better if I had written a bestseller because then I'd have enough money buy property in Australia. But I can still be slightly happy that my novel was entertaining for a couple of people.
10. Heard a very lovely song on the Australian Screen website. It's one of those songs that I like immediately upon first hearing it. It's called Bye Bye Baby. Or maybe it's NOT the first time I've heard it. Maybe I heard it in my past life in Australia. Maybe it was my favorite song in my past life. Or I might have heard it sometime in this life and forgot about it. Whatever. I love the reincarnation theory. That's fun.
11. Found Bye Bye Baby on YouTube because the Australian Screen website had too short of a clip. The song gives me such a warm and eerie feeling. Major nostalgia; not really for the 1950's but for the 1980's when I watched a lot of Stand By Me.
12. Listened to another song by Col Joye. He's the guy who sang "Bye Bye Baby" This song is Oh Yeah. Uh Huh.
13. Consulted Lord Wiki about Col Joye. He got in a bad accident and was in a coma. He received a bad prognosis, but ended up being pretty okay. That's good!
14. Disagreed with stuff I read about in an article regarding childcare centers. First, children are not supposed to be removed from the group for bad behavior. I'm assuming that means no time-out. Now I don't know if time-out's are very effective in stopping most bad behavior. But I think maybe it works SOME of the time. When Jack was a toddler, I stuck him in his pack-n-play when he hit me. It worked fairly well.
I don't think it's wise to use time-out excessively. But I feel it probably would be useful in rare and extreme occasions.
The other rule is that centers can't require children to participate in religious/cultural activities. I suppose that's okay, but I don't think childcare centers should require children to participate in ANY activities. If a child is so against it, then let them do an alternative activity. Life is way too short to force a child to make a necklace out of Fruit Loops. Why waste your time and energy?
15. Listened to Think it Over by Col Joye.
16. Perplexed by article which says someone is upset that Jackie O fed her baby while crossing the street. I don't get it. I suppose it could be dangerous, but most mother are probably capable of holding the baby, watching the road, and walking all at the same time. There's a such thing as multi-tasking.
I breastfed while walking sometimes. It's a good skill to have.
Oh good. I peeked down at the comments, and saw at least the first three were on the same page as me. Really. It's absolutely ridiculous. There are parents who STARVE their children to death. That's disgusting. That's child abuse. Walking while feeding a baby? That's fine.
17. Looked at more comments. People are saying the same thing. Good!!
18. Realized that the person criticizing Jackie O. is Pru Goward the Minister for Families in New South Wales. Lord Wiki says that Goward was caught speeding in a school zone. Maybe if DRIVERS drove more carefully, mothers could walk without endangering their children.
19. Read the first chapter of The River Baptists by Belinda Castles. It was fantastic. I hope I enjoy the rest of the book. I ended up daydreaming through most of the Patrick White book. If I wasn't so stubborn, I would have quit it. I seriously doubt the problem was with Patrick White. The novel is probably wonderful. It's just I've been distracted lately. I started daydreaming while reading, lost track of what was going on, and led to more daydreaming. It's a vicious circle. I probably should have just quit the book and tried again later. Then again, even before daydreaming it wasn't like the book was absolutely captivating for me. I don't know if I'd want to try again.
20. Went outside to check our garden. Our green bean plants are growing! Yesterday there was only one, and I had little hope there'd be others. Today there's 4-5. I also planed a few soybean seeds in another area. There's something growing over there. I'm not sure if it's soybeans or weeds.
Anyway, after I watered the plants, I stood in our backyard and just enjoyed the atmosphere. I must admit it. We have a very lovely backyard. For a moment, it reminded me of our rental house in Hawaii. This week is our anniversary of that trip. Today, Jack got a Wii message from Tara, his Australian-in-Hawaii friend. We don't hear from our friends that often. I'm wondering if they remember it's our Hawaii anniversary too.
21. Read about Australia in the Harry Potter Wikia. They talk about Lockhart defeating the Wagga Wagga werewolf, and they say that there's a town near Wagga Wagga called Lockhart. But apparently, JK Rowling didn't use the town as inspiration for the character's name.
Here's Lockhart on Google Maps. It's about an hour west of Wagga Wagga.
22. Read about the Thundelarra Thunderers. They're a Quidditch team. I can't find Thundelarra town on Google maps, but I do see a Thundelarra Well, and Thundelarra streets.
Ah....
Lord Wiki says it's not a town, but a pastoral lease. I gotta wonder how JK Rowling found these places.
Supposedly, the top Quidditch team in Australia is from Wollongong.
23. Liked a part from Ed Husic's first speech to Parliament. He says, I was born in a generation where capitalism and communism struggled across different planes for supremacy and we lived under a shadow of potential elimination. That contest has been closed but I argue that the question of how we organise ourselves to improve society continues to evolve. We are now driven by a new quest to establish a balance between the hunger for individual freedom and the need for us to act collectively. My overarching desire is to ensure our collective actions can help individuals and their communities reap their full potential.
Yeah I think capitalism and communism are both dangerous extremes. What we need is a combination of both of them. Fighting over which is better is like those who fight over whole language learning vs. phonics. I don't think either are that great in isolation. Language education works best when the two approaches are combined.
So then I figured that someone must have posted the link on THEIR Facebook page. That could be seen as an honor, but with me being paranoid....I started to guess they wrote something like See this ridiculous American blog! This woman is a freak.
It's actually not far-fetched. A lot of people followed the Facebook link. Do people usually follow links on Facebook? I sort of think not, unless something outrageous is promised. People are rarely going to follow a link that says, This is a lovely blog entry.
2. Decided to read through the blog entry. Is there something terribly exciting or outrageous there?
I talk about lesbians and water chestnuts. Maybe that's exciting? I talked about talking to Jack. That's sort of interesting...to me, at least.
Ah! I solved the mystery. I found Patient Zero; or I should say...reader zero.
They were searching for Elliot Freeman, the musician.
So it probably wasn't a matter of them thinking I was a freaky creepy American blogger. They probably were just sharing my blog with their fellow Elliot Freeman fans.
I wonder if they read my bit about water chestnuts. Or did they just skip over that? It's okay if they skipped it. I'm just curious.
3. Re-watched Elliot Freeman's "Across the Universe" Video. It's the worst singing I have ever heard in my life. And the video is disgusting. The female singer vomits at the end of the song, peels off her face, and then screams like a banshee. Then a disembodied floating head appears, and says you will die in seven days since you watched the video.
I'm lying. But see if I just say It's a lovely video with great singing, no one is going to care. People won't click on the video.
I need to lie with my own videos too, because people rarely click on them. Instead of saying Here's a video of me singing, I should say Here's a video of me singing naked while wearing a George W. Bush mask. I bet my videos would get much more hits.
4. Listened to Elliot Freeman sing Here Comes the Sun. I like that song. It reminds me of The Bee Movie.
5. Saw that because of the ending of Daylight Savings time, the time change between Texas and Australia has changed again. We're there hours apart; at least that's how I see it. It's easier for me to think of it that way instead of fifteen hours apart. I look at my time, add three hours, and then switch it from PM to AM. So it's 12:38 here, and then it's 3:39 in Australia...or at least eastern Australia. But it's not three in afternoon. It's three in the morning. At some point, it doesn't change from PM to AM or AM to PM. But I forgot when that is. Or maybe it doesn't. I'm not in the mood to stretch my brain to figure it out.
6. Read article about James Parker, the new Green MP, complaining about Jews. He said we drink the blood of children. How rude! He shouldn't be telling people that. It's our secret!
I'm joking. He said Jewish people get all bitchy when you speak out against Israel. We do. It's our thing. Yet we'll complain about Israel ourselves. See, it's like when you complain about your sister. You blab on and on about how she's such a horror. Then your friend says something negative about your sister, and suddenly it's your friend you're mad at, and not your sister.
So, that's the rule. Jews are allowed to complain about Israeli government. Other people need to just walk around saying Israel is great. Israel is the best. We love Israel.
Seriously though. Parker says he got a letter saying he was going to turn Balmain station into a gas chamber. Yes. That's ridiculous. It's totally far-fetched and unfair. Yet, it's unfair of Parker to judge all Jews on that letter. We're not all extreme like that. Assuming that is like assuming all Muslims carry around bombs just in case they have the urge to blow up a bus.
The truth is it goes both ways. People can't complain about Israel without some Jews coming forward and saying You're anti-semitic. You don't even want Israel to exist! You wish we were all dead. You're a Holocaust denier!
On the other hand... if someone criticizes Israel, Jews can't come forward and question the person's comments, or disagree, without someone coming back and saying Jews are too sensitive about anti-semitism. They won't let anyone say anything bad about Israel. They keep whining about the Holocaust.
7. Read that there might be a cyclone in The Kimberley. I hope there's not.
8. Absolutely disgusted with all the news outlets that are reporting Miranda Kerr's post baby weight loss. Who the hell cares? Obviously a lot of people.
There's way too much pressure on women to be thin. Even new moms get the pressure. What moms of tiny babies have time to work out and diet? Well, celebrities probably do. But the rest of us our are usually screwed.
There are women out there doing amazing things. They're saving lives. They're writing books. They're making inspiring speeches. They're taking care of children with disabilities. They're starting new businesses. They're learning to walk after a horrific injury. But obviously all that is less important than the fact that Miranda Kerr has managed to melt away her pregnancy fat in three months.
It's really sad when I go to the grocery store and peek at the covers of all the women magazines. It seems the focus of most of the covers is weight loss.
9. Had some deep thoughts because of my other blog. The Harry Potter one. When I look at Statcounter, I see it doesn't have that much less hits than this one. The difference is this blog's hits are divided by about one to two hundred visitors a day. The Harry Potter hits are almost all coming from five people. I don't have many visitors, but the few readers I have are really spending a lot of time there.
That brought up the question. Is it worth creating something that's enjoyed only by a few people. Shamefully, at first I thought....NO. But then I changed my mind. If you create something, and at least one other person enjoys it, I think it's worth something. I mean Tim spends hours creating fantastic meals, sometimes it's just for him, myself, and Jack. Does that mean it wasn't worth it? No. Though he probably prefers making these fantastic meals for my whole family.
It makes me think of my novel The Dream Games. I've had such trouble getting people to read it. Sometimes it feels like it was all a waste of time. But I did manage to get about five people to read it. Three of those people seemed to like it, and two of the people seemed to really love it. I won't lie. It would be better if I had written a bestseller because then I'd have enough money buy property in Australia. But I can still be slightly happy that my novel was entertaining for a couple of people.
10. Heard a very lovely song on the Australian Screen website. It's one of those songs that I like immediately upon first hearing it. It's called Bye Bye Baby. Or maybe it's NOT the first time I've heard it. Maybe I heard it in my past life in Australia. Maybe it was my favorite song in my past life. Or I might have heard it sometime in this life and forgot about it. Whatever. I love the reincarnation theory. That's fun.
11. Found Bye Bye Baby on YouTube because the Australian Screen website had too short of a clip. The song gives me such a warm and eerie feeling. Major nostalgia; not really for the 1950's but for the 1980's when I watched a lot of Stand By Me.
12. Listened to another song by Col Joye. He's the guy who sang "Bye Bye Baby" This song is Oh Yeah. Uh Huh.
13. Consulted Lord Wiki about Col Joye. He got in a bad accident and was in a coma. He received a bad prognosis, but ended up being pretty okay. That's good!
14. Disagreed with stuff I read about in an article regarding childcare centers. First, children are not supposed to be removed from the group for bad behavior. I'm assuming that means no time-out. Now I don't know if time-out's are very effective in stopping most bad behavior. But I think maybe it works SOME of the time. When Jack was a toddler, I stuck him in his pack-n-play when he hit me. It worked fairly well.
I don't think it's wise to use time-out excessively. But I feel it probably would be useful in rare and extreme occasions.
The other rule is that centers can't require children to participate in religious/cultural activities. I suppose that's okay, but I don't think childcare centers should require children to participate in ANY activities. If a child is so against it, then let them do an alternative activity. Life is way too short to force a child to make a necklace out of Fruit Loops. Why waste your time and energy?
15. Listened to Think it Over by Col Joye.
16. Perplexed by article which says someone is upset that Jackie O fed her baby while crossing the street. I don't get it. I suppose it could be dangerous, but most mother are probably capable of holding the baby, watching the road, and walking all at the same time. There's a such thing as multi-tasking.
I breastfed while walking sometimes. It's a good skill to have.
Oh good. I peeked down at the comments, and saw at least the first three were on the same page as me. Really. It's absolutely ridiculous. There are parents who STARVE their children to death. That's disgusting. That's child abuse. Walking while feeding a baby? That's fine.
17. Looked at more comments. People are saying the same thing. Good!!
18. Realized that the person criticizing Jackie O. is Pru Goward the Minister for Families in New South Wales. Lord Wiki says that Goward was caught speeding in a school zone. Maybe if DRIVERS drove more carefully, mothers could walk without endangering their children.
19. Read the first chapter of The River Baptists by Belinda Castles. It was fantastic. I hope I enjoy the rest of the book. I ended up daydreaming through most of the Patrick White book. If I wasn't so stubborn, I would have quit it. I seriously doubt the problem was with Patrick White. The novel is probably wonderful. It's just I've been distracted lately. I started daydreaming while reading, lost track of what was going on, and led to more daydreaming. It's a vicious circle. I probably should have just quit the book and tried again later. Then again, even before daydreaming it wasn't like the book was absolutely captivating for me. I don't know if I'd want to try again.
20. Went outside to check our garden. Our green bean plants are growing! Yesterday there was only one, and I had little hope there'd be others. Today there's 4-5. I also planed a few soybean seeds in another area. There's something growing over there. I'm not sure if it's soybeans or weeds.
Anyway, after I watered the plants, I stood in our backyard and just enjoyed the atmosphere. I must admit it. We have a very lovely backyard. For a moment, it reminded me of our rental house in Hawaii. This week is our anniversary of that trip. Today, Jack got a Wii message from Tara, his Australian-in-Hawaii friend. We don't hear from our friends that often. I'm wondering if they remember it's our Hawaii anniversary too.
21. Read about Australia in the Harry Potter Wikia. They talk about Lockhart defeating the Wagga Wagga werewolf, and they say that there's a town near Wagga Wagga called Lockhart. But apparently, JK Rowling didn't use the town as inspiration for the character's name.
Here's Lockhart on Google Maps. It's about an hour west of Wagga Wagga.
22. Read about the Thundelarra Thunderers. They're a Quidditch team. I can't find Thundelarra town on Google maps, but I do see a Thundelarra Well, and Thundelarra streets.
Ah....
Lord Wiki says it's not a town, but a pastoral lease. I gotta wonder how JK Rowling found these places.
Supposedly, the top Quidditch team in Australia is from Wollongong.
23. Liked a part from Ed Husic's first speech to Parliament. He says, I was born in a generation where capitalism and communism struggled across different planes for supremacy and we lived under a shadow of potential elimination. That contest has been closed but I argue that the question of how we organise ourselves to improve society continues to evolve. We are now driven by a new quest to establish a balance between the hunger for individual freedom and the need for us to act collectively. My overarching desire is to ensure our collective actions can help individuals and their communities reap their full potential.
Yeah I think capitalism and communism are both dangerous extremes. What we need is a combination of both of them. Fighting over which is better is like those who fight over whole language learning vs. phonics. I don't think either are that great in isolation. Language education works best when the two approaches are combined.
