Sam Moran, Mean People, Work, and Laziness

1. Watched Sam Moran's goodbye video to his fans.

It's pretty sweet. I imagine it was hard for him to do.  He looks like someone who's struggling to look happy when he really just wants to cry.  

I might be imagining things...reading too much into it.

2. Watched the other video attached to the article. It's an interview with Greg, Anthony, and Jeff.   Anthony does most of the talking.

I think what happened is they never clicked well with Sam. I don't know if they were enemies, and it was a hostile work place; or if they were friendly with each other, but not friends. 

I don't think it's a huge deal really.  That happens.  Not everyone who works together loves each other, especially when one person is replacing a beloved friend who's become ill. 

Hopefully, everything works out for all of them. 

3. Wondered how the hell did I not see this video before?



This is a great one too.



4. Heard Stephen Colbert sing "Carolina In My Mind" with James Taylor. Colbert sings really good!

I was thinking of the lyrics of the song, and I realized it reminds me of my pretend Australia trip.

5. Enjoyed reading about barefoot Australians in The Shark Net.

Drewe talks about moving to Perth from Melbourne.  One of the adjustments was getting used to the no-shoe culture.

I think the time period of that part is the 1950's.  I'm guessing these days shoes are more welcome.

Drewe says, Foot know-how seemed the key to belonging.   Feet were an instant giveaway for a newcomer.   Only mother's boys and English kids-or Melbourne boys-worse sandals in summer.  Or worse, shoes and socks.   So said Miss Langridge, my new second-grade teacher, when I relayed her my mother's message that despite Miss Langridge's advice to the contrary she would be continuing to send me to school with covered feet. 

6. Went to Tallygarunga.

Today I'm going to read a story called A Bad Day For Discoveries.  It takes place on the playground in the Whitlam Bilby Wing. This is the section of Tallygarunga that's for younger students.

The stars of this story are Geraldine Richter and Lee Evans.

I remember Lee. He's a Muggle, but his sister (Leanna) is a witch.

I think Geraldine is new to me.

7. Started to read.  

Geraldine isn't having a good day.  She's been teased, and when she tried to defend herself, she was sent into the hall.

She's waiting at the playground for her parents to pick her up. They're late. She feels abandoned.

The PBS show Arthur had a great episode about that.  Two kids are not picked up on time by their parents.   The show makes it seem like the kids have been abandoned.   It seems like they've been waiting for hours and hours. Then their parents finally show up, and it's revealed that they were only 5-10 minutes late.

It was very cute.

8. Realized that Lee might not be a Muggle.  It's mentioned in his post that he hasn't shown signs of magic...YET.    He's only six, so there's a chance for him.

It's funny.  I never considered that he might be magical like his sister.  

9. Learned that Lee has been the victim of teasing too.

10. Saw that Lee has approached Geraldine, asking her to play.  She was worried this would happen.  She doesn't want to be bothered, especially by someone so cheerful.

Geraldine rejects his offer of companionship.  Lee starts to cry.

11. Saw that Geraldine feels no sympathy towards Lee for crying.  She likes seeing people hurt.  It makes her feel powerful.  She reminds me very much of a woman who used to visit my blog.

12. Excited to see that Lee DOES have magic.  Geraldine punches him and he causes a ball to hit her.  What's sweet is he's more apologetic and nervous that he hit Geraldine, than he is excited about being magical.

13. Felt some hope for Geraldine.  She has a little voice inside that tells her to be nicer, do the right thing.  She tries hard to ignore that voice.  Hey, but at least it exists.

14. Thought it was interesting that Geraldine became nicer once Lee managed to harm her in some way.  It kind of reminds me of Améa and her man.   I forgot his name. It's the one she didn't like until he tried to strangle her.

15.  Felt happy for Lee, but also a little jealous.  He's all excited about being magic, and now Geraldine is being nice to him.  She congratulates him.  They're getting along.

I wish I could suddenly discover I have magical powers when someone's treating me like crap.  It would be such a nice turn of events.

Then again, in JK Rowling's universe, it's not that easy. There are so many rules.

I would think the most satisfaction would come from using magic on Muggles.  Someone is teasing you, and you make their hair turn gray. If your sister sneers at the outfit you're wearing, you make her gain 10 pounds.  Your boyfriend is flirting too much with your friend, so you make a snot bubble blow out of his nose.

But none of that's allowed, really. You can get into a lot of trouble for such behavior.  

I think using magic against those who can use magic back is a little less satisfying.

Crap.  I sound like a bully.  It's like saying it's no fun to fight with people your own size. It's much more fun to fight with people smaller than you.  

Or maybe it's the whole element of surprise.  It's like the small kid who's picked on by bigger kids.   Then it turns out he's a martial arts expert and is able to kick their asses.

16. Felt sympathy for Tom Riddle.  I can see how he'd turn out the way he did.   How would it feel to be abandoned to an orphanage, bullied by other kids, and then learn you can scare them with magic?  It might be hard to give up that sense of power and follow the laws.  It might be tempting to rebel.
 
I'm thinking, deep inside of me, I have a Tom Riddle.

But I also have a Hermione, Luna, and Dumbledore, so it all evens out.

17. Started to read the biography of Geraldine Richter.  

Her face claim is Joanna Levesque. Lord Wiki says she's an American pop singer who's known by the name JoJo.  

18. Learned that Geraldine was born in Melbourne. She's ten-years-old. She's Muggleborn.

19. Learned that Geraldine is self-conscious about her forehead because it's a bit large. 

I think we all have body parts that make us self-conscious.

Right now I have a lot of them.  I've gained weight. My hair has gone blah.  And...well, I guess that's only two things.  It's not too bad.

20.  Thought of the bloggers who were awful to me when I read this about Geraldine.  If you have something to say, it better be in agreement with her own views or something nice, because she don't take no poo from anyone. 

21. Started to read Geraldine's history.

I was confused at first because there's talk of a girl named Morgan.   I had no idea who she was and how she fit into the picture.   Then I remembered she was mentioned in the story as someone that Geraldine likes.  A friend. But it turns out she's more than a friend.   She's Geraldine's half-sister.   Her father had a relationship with another woman.  Geraldine and Morgan met at school not realizing they were related.

22. Wondered about this line.  Not only does she still sleep with a teddy bear, but she has a curfew of 8:30 and still wears pajamas into bed.

Do most kids NOT wear pajamas in bed?

Maybe most do what I do—wear t-shirt and shirts.  I rarely wear clothes specified for sleep.   Well, I personally specify them for sleep, but the manufacturers don't.  I did buy a nightgown a year or so ago; but I rarely wear it.  

23. Saw that my Australian of the day is Thomas Armstrong.  He was also known as Tom Armstrong.

24. Learned that Tom Armstrong was born in England, and migrated with his parents to New South Wales when he was a baby.

25. Learned that Armstrong ended up working for a company called J and Brown.   It was a company that did mining stuff, and also ship stuff.

26. Learned that Armstrong started off as clerk in the company; and then made his way to general manager.   The owner of the company had no heirs, and he stipulated, in his will, that Armstrong should continue to be general manager.

27. Learned that Armstrong wasn't a fan of trade unions.  That might be one of the reasons he ended up becoming a liberal politician.

28. Started to look at Fredweng's day Nineteen in Australia Flickr set.

It's Uluru time! 

Although first we have Kata Tjuta (the Olgas) 

29. Amazed by the blueness of the sky. 

30. Wondered what the tourists are doing in this photo.  

Maybe the guide is telling them a story?

31.  Annoyed by Jessica Mauboy singing "Stand by Your Man."

That song totally annoys me.

It gives me the idea of a little woman being obedient to her husband no matter how well he treats her.

Well, the lyrics actually say....

You'll have bad times

And he'll have good times

Doing things that you don't understand

But if you love him you'll forgive him

Even though he's hard to understand

I feel in certain circles there really is the belief that the woman's job is to support her husband.

I prefer situations and cultures in which the husband and wife support each other equally. 

32. Consulted Lord Wiki.  He says the writer of the song (Tammy Wynette) defended the song saying it wasn't about telling women to stand behind their man.   It's telling them to forgive their husband's shortcomings.

I can live with that...as long as the shortcomings aren't too extreme, like the husband giving his wife a black eye.   And I'd also expect the man to forgive his wife's shortcomings.

It needs to go both ways.    

33. Remembered that there's a biography book about the wives of Prime Ministers called Stand By Your Man.   From what I remember of it, it had the attitude I don't like. I think it WAS about the woman standing behind the man.

34.  Went back to looking at photos.  There are lots of pictures of the amazing blue sky.

35. Decided that if a man wants a stand-behind-me woman, he should tell her that before the wedding.

Or I guess it's her fault for not picking up on the earlier clues.

36.  Liked this photo of Kata Tjuta.  

37.  Wondered if homosexual couples were just as likely to have relationships where one person is given the role of the stand-behind-one.  In gay relationships, is there more equality? 

Of course it varies because every couple as different.  But as a whole?  Averages? 

38.  Wondered about relationships where one person is obviously more successful than the other.  Do they manage to give each other equal support?

The prime example that comes to my head is Stephen King.   He and his wife are both writers.   Mr. King is much more successful than Mrs. King (but judging from her writing, not necessarily more talented).  Does he give her as much support and encouragement as she gives him?

I guess there are zillions of other such examples, now that I think of it.

How much support does JK Rowling's husband get from his famous wife? Is she there for him as much as he's there for her?

I guess what I'm thinking is that gender often causes inequality in relationships, but maybe also degrees of success.

39. Likes this photo of trees, grass, flowers, etc.  

40. Went to Funtrivia to take another Australia quiz.

This one is called Aussie Surf and Sand Quiz.  

It's about beaches and coastlines.

41.  Got question #9 wrong and learned Fraser Island has a beach called Seventy-Five Mile Beach.

Australia seems to have a lot of these mile beach things.  We've been to one mile beach and seven mile beach. 

42.  Got #10 wrong and learned Byron Bay is the easternmost point of Australia.

I didn't know that. 

43. Googled and learned that Cape Byron is the easternmost point, but I guess that's part of Byron Bay.

Lord Wiki says it's three kilometers north of Byron Bay.   So I'd say they're close enough to be counted as one thing.   Probably. 


44. Thought about how it was kind of insane for me to go from taking a break to writing two posts a day.

I'm feeling stressed and wanting to be more lazy.

I didn't think it would be hard to write two posts a day.   I thought the imaginary trip posts would be very short.   But as a commenter said the other day, I get carried away.   I get carried away with the research, and I get carried away by my imagination. 

The other thing is, I think it's kind of unfair and rude of me to hope that people will read both posts.   There's too much out there to read. And like me, people don't have unlimited time at their disposal.   I'm lucky enough if people sacrifice their time to read one post.

I don't want to give up these posts though. I did consider it.  I thought of  stopping them until we got home from our pretend Australia trip.

But I LOVE doing these posts. I'd miss it all way too much. 

So I came up with a compromise. 

I'll post these posts every other day. 

That way I'm kind of bombarding people with my writing, but not horribly so. 

And I'll have more free time to read, pet the cats, exercise, play with Jack, stand by my man, etc.