Matt Dies, Bye Bye Chris, Risk-Taking, and Being Safe

1. Dreamed that on Neighbours it was Amber (Jenna Rosenow) that died instead of Matt (Josef Brown)

And then later, I dreamed there was going to be a special episode of Neighbours taking place inside Amber's head. I guess it would be the Neighbour's version of Inside Out. 

2. Started watching an episode of Neighbours.

There's a scene with Lauren (Kate Kendall), Amber (Jenna Rosenow), and Bailey (Calen MacKenzie) waiting in the hospital while Matt's in surgery. Music plays in the background, and to me, it sounds like music you'd hear at a Chinese restaurant.

3. Realized I was a victim of comedy. Yesterday I quickly read an article regarding Eric Abetz and gay marriage. I came out of it believing Abetz was a guy who not only supported gay marriage, but had a great satirical sense of humor.

Then this morning I tried to find more information, and found articles that painted a completely different picture of Abetz.  From what I read in these articles, Abetz sounded very conservative, very serious, and not at all supportive of gay marriage.

I wondered if I dreamed the other stuff or was losing my mind. 

I decided to look at my browsing history from yesterday and found that the article, I had read,was listed as SBS comedy. 

Oops.

I wish it was real, because it would be fun to have a politician that expressed his views in that kind of way.

Here's an example of something from the article:  “This is a truly frightening prospect,” said Abetz. “If we start letting same-sex couples express their love who knows who will be declaring their love next? Are we just going to let society sink into some desolate wasteland where everyone loves each other and peace reigns throughout? Frankly, I’d rather vomit.

Yeah. I really thought Abetz said those things. I thought he was clever and hilarious.

I really love the last line in the article. “My hope is that we take some time to consider these issues before possibly moving to a conscience vote. I mean, we’re already falling behind the rest of the world - aren’t you curious to see just how far back we can fall?”

Would that not be awesome if there was someone in Parliament saying those things?

4. Thought that Abetz looks a bit like Nicholas Bell.

5. Wanted to take another look at what the real Abetz said about gay marriage.  This article says he thinks gay marriage will lead to things like polyamory, and that children need the best start in life. To him, traditional marriage=best start.

Okay. Whatever. People can believe what they want to believe.

Personally, I believe the best start involves good nutrition, a roof over the child's head, lots of cuddling and lullabies, parents who have a sense of humor, etc.

Yeah. But I get it. Even if a child receives love, care, and safety; it's going to be a bad start for the child if the two people delivering it have two penises or two vaginas rather than a penis AND a vagina.

6. Failed to see the big deal about polyamory. Yeah. It's not traditional. But neither are microwaves and MP3 players.

7. Started watching another episode of Neighbours.

This is a sad episode. Matt is dead. What's unsettling about the story is he pulled through the surgery. Everyone was relieved. Then he started bleeding again, and died.

8. Delighted that Lucy (Melissa Bell) mentioned her dad and having a dog as a kid. I wonder if she's talking about Basil. She mentioned a labrador. Was Basil a labrador?

I wish Jim Robinson didn't die, so Alan Dale could have come back for the anniversary. Although maybe he wouldn't have.

9. Thought that Lucy and Chris (James Mason) would be good candidates for polygamy.  They're close friends and making a baby together. Chris is gay and originally wanted only twice a year visits with the baby. Now he's wanting more. I remember seeing spoilers about James Mason leaving the show, so I'm expecting him to move to NYC to be with Lucy and their child.

Let's say they live together. They could be co-parents, but Chris probably wouldn't be sexually or romantically satisfied by Lucy.  Then again, I'm not sure many parents of young children are romantically and sexually satisfying each other.

But eventually Lucy and Chris might want some romance and sex. So they could bring other people into the family.

I was, at first, thinking they could just date and sleep around. That might work to a limited degree. Eventually, though, they might fall in love and/or want something more substantial. So about a child raised by four parents? I think that would be cool. The only condition I feel is needed, is for the non-biological parents to love the child and want the child. If they're just putting up with the child because they have the hots for Lucy or Chris, I don't think that's an ideal situation.

10. Wished that Nate (Meyne Wyatt) would be part of the family, but he's not very keen on having children. I think he and Chris are going to break up.

11. Found out that Lucy wasn't referring to Basil. She was referring to Bouncer.

I don't think I saw the Bouncer episodes.

12. Felt sad for Nate and Chris. They love each other, but what they want out of life is too different.

I think Chris is asking for a bit too much. He wants Nate on board with the baby thing even though Nate said he doesn't want children. Nate agreed to Chris being the father of Lucy's baby.  But now Chris also wants them to live part time in New York. He wants them to go back and forth every three months. I don't think that would be horrible IF Nate was as excited about the baby as Lucy and Chris are. But he's not.

Why not encourage Lucy to move back to Australia? She was born and raised there. Her uncle and nephew live there.  Why should Chris be the one to have to move? He's the one that has a partner. Lucy doesn't. And he has parents living in Australia.  So the baby would have nearby grandparents.

Plus, he has a lot of friends.

13. Realized I'm kind of arguing against my old plans of moving to Australia. Because we would have left behind a lot of family.

I'm totally not against a family moving away from extended family.  I think they can get on fine on their own, probably.

But if there are two people trying to come together from two sides of the world; maybe it makes more sense to choose the location of the person who has the most friends and family.

14. Felt like I'm not making sense.

I'll be honest.

I just want Chris and Nate to stay together. And I'd like Lucy to come to Australia, so all three of them will continue to be on my soap opera.

I love my extended family but still often wish we had moved to Australia.

15. Figured if there was going to be a spin-off about Lucy and Chris moving to New York, I'd totally be on board with their plans.

So really I'm just bringing up the extended family thing as a manipulative tactic to keep Chris around.

16. Thought I might have found an argument against gay parenting; though I knew it was sexist.

The thing is, in our family, it's the men who are risk-takers and the women who are safety conscious. It's the men who are willing to do wild things with the kids on the jet skis. It's the women who say Are you sure it's safe to go that fast? Do you make sure no other jet skis are around? Don't forget the lifejacket! 

I wondered. If you have two fathers, will no one be around to make sure the kids are safe? If you have two mothers, will the kids be over-protected and live in a bubble?

I talked to my sister about this, and she helped me realize that even with same-gender parenting, there will probably (hopefully) be a yin to the yang.  Even with the men in our family, there are some who are more safety conscious than others. And with the women, there are those of us more willing to let the kids take risks.

Also, with mother and father families, you might end up with both a mother and father who are overprotective. Or you might have a mother and father who are too willing to take risks.

17. Started watching another episode of Neighbours.

18. Glad to see that Alice (Vivienne Awosoga) is back on Neighbours!  I like her. I hope she'll be on the show for awhile.

19. Disappointed to see that Alice is back for only one episode.

20. Wondered if Nick (Damien Fotiou) is only a little evil and not super duper evil. Maybe he's not really giving Paul chemo. Maybe he's giving him a placebo?

21. Thought scene with Bailey and Alice was very sad. The two of them get together and Bailey keeps his father's death a secret. Alice talks on and on about space camp and her life; though she's not oblivious to the fact that Bailey is quiet and distracted. She asks him what's wrong, and asks if he's found someone else. Then finally Bailey breaks down sobbing and tells her his dad died.

22. Thought good-bye scene between Chris and Nate was painfully sad.