Dogs, Online Presence, Being Pushy, and Suicide

1. Decided to make Johnny Depp my arch-nemesis.ani
I think it's important to always have an arch-nemesis, and no one I personally know fits into that role for me right now.

2. Decided it's not just that Johnny Depp broke the laws of Australia by bringing his dogs into the country. It might be enough that he simply has small dogs.

I think I might be a bigot against small dogs and the people who own them. Though I think I'll be the type of bigot who denies my prejudice. If someone accused me of being a bigot; I'd say, I have nothing against people who have small dogs. One of our best friends has a small dog.

That's a lie, though. We don't have a best friend who owns small dogs. Though Tim has a friend/acquaintance that has small dogs.

3. Remembered that I did meet a lovely small dog this summer. He was adorable. He jumped into our golf cart, and wouldn't let us go. He gave us so much love.

So maybe I don't dislike all small dogs. Maybe I just dislike celebrity small dogs that fit into purses and/or carry on bags.

4. Tried to find out the breed of Johnny Depp's dogs.

This article says they're Yorkshire Terriers.

5. Looked at pictures of Yorkshire Terriers and tried to love them.

It's not happening.

I think one of the reasons I dislike them is they stayed at our house once. We had Tim's friend (mentioned above) house and cat sit for us. They brought their dogs.  I don't blame them. We thought the idea would be a good one. But after they left, and we came home, one of our cats acted differently. Mushu was nervous, and hardly ever wanted to leave my office.  He kind of became a hermit. I think the dogs traumatized him, maybe.

I say this is one of the reasons I dislike Yorkshire terriers, because I don't think I was a big fan before that.

6. Found a list of other celebrities who have yorkie doggies.

I can't make them all my arch-nemesis. I'd be stretching myself too thin.  But maybe I'll boycott the others celebrities.

7. Saw only one Australian on the list. Naomi Watts. It won't be hard to boycott her. I don't really watch any of her stuff, anyway.

8. Hoped no one on Neighbours has a Yorkie.

 I guess if I find out they do, I'll just fast forward through their scenes.

9.  Wanted to say that I'm mainly joking about all of this...in case anyone was obliged to take me seriously.

What IS true is that I'm not a fan of small dogs that people fit into their bags. I'm also not fond of Johnny Depp's behavior and attitude towards Australia.

10. Started watching an episode of Neighbours.

11. Thought Brad (Kip Gamblin) had an interesting speech for his students.

He tells them to think of the worst photo of themselves they have online and imagine that their teacher, principal, or future employer saw that photo.

It's scary to imagine how people might be judged by what they have online—whether they put it there or someone else.

I wonder, though, if it's going to become expected to have embarrassing photos of oneself online. Maybe people will be somewhat lenient. I mean it's one thing if you've taken a photo of yourself drowning a puppy. But how about a photo of yourself drunk at a party? Will that deter someone from hiring you, or will they laugh it off as typical behavior?

12. Wondered if it will get to the point where the people most judged are the ones who have a quiet online presence. Maybe they'll be seen as being too closed off—too secretive. Maybe the mystery will unnerve people more than average-levels of obnoxious behavior.

13. Decided it will probably depend on who's doing the judging. Some employers might prefer people who have a strong presence online and won't mind if the potential employee has some wild photos. Other employers might prefer the more private person.

14. Annoyed with Nate (Meyne Wyatt) for pushing Tyler (Travis Burns) to go after Paige Olympia Valance).

First of all, it's not really any of his business.

Second, why push someone to go after someone who has rejected them and is interested in someone else?

15. Decided I shouldn't say it's none of Nate's business. Because I haven't minded in the past when other people pushed people to pursue a love interest.

It's more the fact that Nate is being abnormally pushy about the whole thing—as if he secretly has something to gain from Paige and Tyler getting together.

Also, Tyler was rejected by Paige. It's one thing to push two people together when they're both interested in each other. It's another thing to push someone to go after someone who is interested in someone else.

16. Thought of an example.

I think it's fine for people to push Imogen (Ariel Kaplan) to give Daniel (Tim Phillips) a chance. And I think it's fine for people to push Daniel to not give up on Imogen.  But I think it would have been wrong for someone to push Imogen to fight for Daniel while he was in love with Amber (Jenna Rosenow).

Basically, don't push people to go after a lost cause. It's kind of cruel and annoying.

17. Amused by Karl's (Alan Fletcher) daycare pros and cons.

Toadie (Ryan Moloney) and Sonya are considering daycare for Nell (Scarlett Anderson).

To summarize what Karl said: daycare is pretty much a place to pick up germs and birthday party invitations.

If you like spending your weekends at bouncy house places and gymnastic places; then the germs of daycare are probably worth it. Maybe?

18. Started watching an episode of Water Rats.


How would our world change if we knew for sure there was life after death, and it was easy for our dearly-departed to talk to us via the Internet?   

The Dead are Online, a novel by Dina Roberts 



19. Went to the grocery store.

They had Tim Tams! We haven't seen them here in quite awhile.

They look different than they used to. Now the packaging looks much more similar to the Australian packaging. The old packaging had a Pepperidge Farm emphasis.

20. Felt sorry for Frank (Colin Friels) on Water Rats. The police have told him that they think his brother Kevin (Jeremy Callaghan) has jumped—committed suicide.

21. Hoped that the police are wrong.

22. Went to the Triple J 2014 list.

Today I'm going to listen to the 42nd song, which is "Window to the Sky" by Kim Churchill.

23. Learned from Lord Wiki that Kim Churchill was born in Canberra.

24. Started watching the video to "Window to the Sky"

25. Liked Kim Churchill's  voice. It reminds me a bit of Vance Joy and Matt Corby's voice.

26. Worried I might get dizzy from watching the spinning disks on the video.

27. Wondered if this scene, from the video, is from the Grand Canyon. Or is it a place in Australia that looks like the Grand Canyon?


28. Saw that the video provides filming locations.

None of it was filmed in Australia! That surprises me. I assumed a lot of parts were Aussie locations.

Most of it was filmed in the western part of the US, including the Grand Canyon. Then other parts were filmed in Montreal.  I think probably the snow bits?

29. Interested in Montreal, because the three of us concluded we'd like to go to Canada in 2016. We had the hardest time figuring out what places are where in Canada.

All I know is A) Vancouver is a city in the west B) Quebec is a state or territory where they speak a lot of French C) There's a Montreal city, and a Toronto city. I have no idea where they are.

30. Saw, from Google Maps, that Montreal is in Quebec, and that's above the eastern part of the United States.

Toronto is in Ontario, but it seems to be near the border of Quebec.

31. Started to watch a Neighbour's backstage video.

I think this one is about Ariel Kaplan and the wombat.

32. Tried to remember if it was the wombat adventure that made Imogen (Kaplan) fall in love with Daniel (Tim Phillips).

I'm pretty sure it was.

33. Thought it was very cute and sweet for Kaplan to thank whoever wrote the wombat episode. She's very grateful to get the chance to hold a baby wombat. I would be too!

34. Saw Kaplan make mention of love between Daniel and Imogen. So maybe she developed feelings for him before the wombat incident.

35. Sought help from The Perfect Blend site, but they haven't updated Imogen's page in awhile.  The last thing they have is Imogen's jealousy over Amber (Jenna Rosenow) taking over the school captain role.

36. Saw that Lord Wiki has the answers.

He says what I said. It was the wombat that made Imogen fall in love with Daniel.

37. Started watching another episode of Water Rats.

38. Surprised by plot twist on the show.

In the last episode, it seemed Kevin had committed suicide.  I hoped this wasn't the case, but then sadly they found his body.

In this episode it's revealed that he probably didn't commit suicide. He was probably murdered.

39. Imagined what it might feel like to learn a suicide of someone you love was really a homicide.

I imagine first I'd be relieved that the person wasn't depressed enough to take their own life.

Then I'd feel horribly sad and angry that someone else took their life for them.

After all that, I'd start having confusing thoughts, such as...well, how do I know the person wasn't depressed enough to take their own life? Maybe they were very depressed, but too scared to kill themselves.  What if they were relieved when the murderer attacked them?

40. Wondered how often suicidal people are murdered. Does it ever happen? And how do these people feel? Are they grateful? Relieved? Do they change their mind about wanting to die?

41. Heard Frank say that he's somewhat relieved to know his brother didn't commit suicide.

So, I guess I'm on the same page as the writers...at least with this storyline.

42. Saw Steve Rodgers on Water Rats. He looks very different from how he looked in Slide.

43. Saw from Steve Rodger's filmography that he was on The Code.

I remember seeing Rodgers on something else besides Slide. It makes sense that it's The Code. Though I can't remember who he played on The Code.

Maybe it was one of the very horrible torturers.

44. Agreed with Helen (Toni Scanlan)

Rachel (Catherine McClements) considers giving up her son instead of battling for partial or full custody.

Helen tells Rachel she'll end up regretting it. I think that's true.

I understand why Rachel doesn't want to fight.

She doesn't want to put her son through that, especially since he seems content living with his father.

She also probably doesn't want to put her own self through it. It's very hard for her, because her ex is horribly dishonest and manipulative. His main tactic is trying to turn their son against Rachel.  And it's easy for him to work his evil, because he works for the family courts. He knows how to work the system.

If someone is working to turn someone against you, sometimes it's easier to just give up and back away from the relationship. I think I've done this in the past.

But when it comes to our children, I think we have to fight for them no matter how much it hurts and now matter how much rejection we have to endure.

In the end, it's better that we feel the rejection than our child.

I think Rachel's son would be very angry later on in life. He'd probably believe the reason his mother didn't fight for him was because she didn't care enough.

45. Felt that I was having these opinions and ideas because of another TV show I watched.

Then I remembered that it was Wonderland.

Dani (Jessica Tovey) had tons of love for her father (Roy Billing) and only resentment towards her mother (Gia Carides).  She thought her mother had given up on her; wasn't interested. But then it turns out the beloved father had worked hard to keep Dani's mother away.