I took a hiatus from blogging (don't ask me why) but I didn't take a break from Australia. Of course not!
And I took notes.
So here is a summary of stuff I did this week....well, at least the Australia related stuff. It's pretty much in the order that it happened.
1. Finished reading Three Dollars by Elliot Perlman. It was okay. I didn't love it.
2. Started reading Two To Go by Nick Earls.
3. Worried about Horsham
4. Wondered if there was any validity to Bob Brown's proclamation that coal consumption is to blame for floods.
5. Heard Australia mentioned on Forgetting Sarah Marshall.
6. Read that someone from Cold Chisel died.
7. Watched lots of old Cadbury commercials on Australian Screen website.
8. Named a family after Billy Hughes in my Sims 3 neighborhood.
9. Realized if I was a super good person, I'd give up our 2012 trip to Australia, and donate all that the money to flood relief instead. I decided I'm not THAT good of a person. Plus, Tim reminded me that when we visit Australia, we'll be contributing to their economy.
10. Received article (via email) about how flood will increase food prices.
11. Saw picture of Ryan Kwanten on Golden Globe's Facebook page.
12. Saw a picture on the National Library of Australia's site that makes Captain Cook look like a vampire.
13. Watched Golden Globes and was disappointed that Geoffrey Rush didn't win.
14. Learned of Aussie actor I've never heard of before. Chris Hemsworth
15. Watched my favorite Cold Chisel video.
16. Got email from someone else who has trouble sticking to one accent. Nice to know I'm not alone.
17. Tim sent me the link to a Mario Bros website that features a photo of his cookies. When the woman wrote to ask for his permission to use the photo, Tim thought she was British. I said maybe she's Australian. It turns out I was right.
18. Misunderstood an excerpt from an article and thought they were saying Claire Danes is Australian.
19. Named a Sims family after Stanley Bruce.
20. Watched a 1940's Aussie commercial that made me feel like a domestic failure. Tim does most of the cooking for our household.
21. Voted yes in a poll about whether a Russian tennis player should be allowed Australian citizenship. I have no idea who she is, and I don't care about sports. But I can relate to wanting to be Australian.
22. Saw war propaganda commercials on Australian Screen website. Interesting how people in the past were much less apologetic about war.
23. Read editorial about flood insurance. Interesting stuff.
24. Read about Nicole Kidman's surprise baby.
25. Introduced to actor Frank Thring via Australian Screen website.
26. Learned about a used bookstore in Sydney when my friend liked it on Facebook.
27. Watched old Holden commercials on the Australian Screen site.
28. Learned from Nick Earl's novel that Joh Bjelke-Peterson (the Premier) made it illegal to do street marches in 1977 Queensland. Wow.
29. Joined Holden's Facebook page. Why? I'm SO not into cars. But yeah. It's Australian. So there you go. It's Kind of like Vegemite, though…ultimately owned by an American corporation. Oh well.
30. Saw news about more floods and thunderstorms in Queensland. Shit.
31. Dreamed about making plans for our Australia trip. Had to do some problem solving because we had a drive that was too long, and we didn't give ourselves enough time in Sydney.
32. Got an email from Qantas saying I have zero points. How sad.
33. Read about floods in Victoria.
34. Named a Sims family after James Scullin.
35. Got all political, and wrote an email to my congresswoman about healthcare. I mentioned Australia's system.
36. Saw koalas having sex on Oprah. Glad to see her mentioning the floods. But for the rest of the show….I felt kind of the way Mitchell felt on Modern Family when he talked to the hot tub guy.
37. Via a breastfeeding advocacy Facebook page, saw photo of Miranda Kerr nursing her baby. Initially, I was actually not sure if she was Australian but kind of thought she might be.
38. Read on a blog that insurance companies will sometimes not include damage caused by river rising. They don't count this as flood damage. Ridiculous.
39. Saw another Holden commercial, and it made me think that it's lucky a woman like me is living in this century. I probably would have had difficulties in the 1950's.
40. Wondered why I didn't like Oprah show when other people loved it so much. Maybe I'm just jealous of Oprah and all the Americans she took to Australia
41. Watched yet another Holden commercial and decided maybe I shouldn't use commercials to judge a society and/or time period.
42. Named Sim family after Joseph Lyons.
43. Watched a tiny bit of Oprah in Australia part 2. Wondering if Megan is that YouTube star? Okay. Checked. Yes, Megan is Jewelchic.
44. Watched the making of The King's Speech; learned Tom Hooper is half Australian.
45. My friend sent me an article about how floods are natural events that have happened through out history....vs something we can blame on global warming.
46. got very sweet email from an Aussie who included a forwarded email with a link to Australia Day recipes.
47. Dreamed a mysterious Australian man called me. I had no idea who he was and how he got my number. I hung up on him. I guess I was in a bitchy mood.
48. Saw something about Vegemite ice-cream. That is probably not something I'd want to experience.
49. My pro-Israel Australian friend informed me about the proposed Marickville Boycott of Israel. It's nice to find an Australian who is neither a religious Christian; personally Jewish; or a member of the Liberal Party, who has not completely sided with the Palestinians. Weird when Americans and Australians complain about Israel occupying land and oppressing others. A wee bit hypocritical. If we're going to boycott Israeli stuff, how about we also boycott all Made in America and all Made in Australia products….unless it's made by Native Americans or Australian Aboriginal people.
50. Read that the University of Canberra is going to start banning the sale of water bottles.
51. Saw a cute 1946 Aussie advertisement about kissing…trying to sell dental cream.
52. Learned that there's a Perth in Tasmania.
53. I added new gadgets to iGoogle. One of them was Art of the Day. The first painting I saw ended up being by an Aussie (Will Longstaff)
54. Watched more of Oprah. I liked the Oprah kangaroo cake.
55. Dreamed about being in danger from scary giant crocodiles. Fortunately I escaped.
56. One of my passionate opinionated Australian friends is making me rethink my position on certain things.
57. Saw a photo of Karl Quinn, the entertainment editor for The Age. He looks like Steve the bartender from Sex and the City!
58. Saw a happiest country list, and Australia was on it! Of course!!!
59. The beginning of a song entered my mind. I couldn't remember where it was from. I thought the strain of trying to place it would drive me crazy. But I thankfully figured out that it was "Flame Trees". For some reason, "Flame Trees" reminds me of the Queensland flood.
60. Watched the Flame Trees scene in Little Fish, and cried.
61. Read article about Australian expat angry at British people teasing him for being Australian. Most Australian commenters think he is being too sensitive. I probably agree depending on whether we're getting the full story or not.
62. Thought of the novel The Slap, and the event in my family that were somewhat similar to events in the novel.
63. Read that donations to the flood greatly increased after Oprah mentioned it. Awesome!
64. Watched a 1946 commercial for the Liberal Party
65. Learned about an Australian from the 1800's named William Francis King. He was famous for taking long walks. Kind of inspiring.
66. Decided that if there's ever a movie about JK Rowling, Cate Blanchett might work well in that.
67. Learned about Jorrocks, another famous Aussie racing horse (besides Phar Lap)
68. Learned that the suburb of Leichhardt was named after a Prussian explorer. Like Harold Holt, he disappeared without a trace.
69. Heard the David Bartlett is going to stop being the Premier of Tasmania.
70. Gained more tolerance for the extreme love (and worship) that's showered on Oprah when I realized it's sort of the way I feel about JK Rowling.
And I took notes.
So here is a summary of stuff I did this week....well, at least the Australia related stuff. It's pretty much in the order that it happened.
1. Finished reading Three Dollars by Elliot Perlman. It was okay. I didn't love it.
2. Started reading Two To Go by Nick Earls.
3. Worried about Horsham
4. Wondered if there was any validity to Bob Brown's proclamation that coal consumption is to blame for floods.
5. Heard Australia mentioned on Forgetting Sarah Marshall.
6. Read that someone from Cold Chisel died.
7. Watched lots of old Cadbury commercials on Australian Screen website.
8. Named a family after Billy Hughes in my Sims 3 neighborhood.
9. Realized if I was a super good person, I'd give up our 2012 trip to Australia, and donate all that the money to flood relief instead. I decided I'm not THAT good of a person. Plus, Tim reminded me that when we visit Australia, we'll be contributing to their economy.
10. Received article (via email) about how flood will increase food prices.
11. Saw picture of Ryan Kwanten on Golden Globe's Facebook page.
12. Saw a picture on the National Library of Australia's site that makes Captain Cook look like a vampire.
13. Watched Golden Globes and was disappointed that Geoffrey Rush didn't win.
14. Learned of Aussie actor I've never heard of before. Chris Hemsworth
15. Watched my favorite Cold Chisel video.
16. Got email from someone else who has trouble sticking to one accent. Nice to know I'm not alone.
17. Tim sent me the link to a Mario Bros website that features a photo of his cookies. When the woman wrote to ask for his permission to use the photo, Tim thought she was British. I said maybe she's Australian. It turns out I was right.
18. Misunderstood an excerpt from an article and thought they were saying Claire Danes is Australian.
19. Named a Sims family after Stanley Bruce.
20. Watched a 1940's Aussie commercial that made me feel like a domestic failure. Tim does most of the cooking for our household.
21. Voted yes in a poll about whether a Russian tennis player should be allowed Australian citizenship. I have no idea who she is, and I don't care about sports. But I can relate to wanting to be Australian.
22. Saw war propaganda commercials on Australian Screen website. Interesting how people in the past were much less apologetic about war.
23. Read editorial about flood insurance. Interesting stuff.
24. Read about Nicole Kidman's surprise baby.
25. Introduced to actor Frank Thring via Australian Screen website.
26. Learned about a used bookstore in Sydney when my friend liked it on Facebook.
27. Watched old Holden commercials on the Australian Screen site.
28. Learned from Nick Earl's novel that Joh Bjelke-Peterson (the Premier) made it illegal to do street marches in 1977 Queensland. Wow.
29. Joined Holden's Facebook page. Why? I'm SO not into cars. But yeah. It's Australian. So there you go. It's Kind of like Vegemite, though…ultimately owned by an American corporation. Oh well.
30. Saw news about more floods and thunderstorms in Queensland. Shit.
31. Dreamed about making plans for our Australia trip. Had to do some problem solving because we had a drive that was too long, and we didn't give ourselves enough time in Sydney.
32. Got an email from Qantas saying I have zero points. How sad.
33. Read about floods in Victoria.
34. Named a Sims family after James Scullin.
35. Got all political, and wrote an email to my congresswoman about healthcare. I mentioned Australia's system.
36. Saw koalas having sex on Oprah. Glad to see her mentioning the floods. But for the rest of the show….I felt kind of the way Mitchell felt on Modern Family when he talked to the hot tub guy.
37. Via a breastfeeding advocacy Facebook page, saw photo of Miranda Kerr nursing her baby. Initially, I was actually not sure if she was Australian but kind of thought she might be.
38. Read on a blog that insurance companies will sometimes not include damage caused by river rising. They don't count this as flood damage. Ridiculous.
39. Saw another Holden commercial, and it made me think that it's lucky a woman like me is living in this century. I probably would have had difficulties in the 1950's.
40. Wondered why I didn't like Oprah show when other people loved it so much. Maybe I'm just jealous of Oprah and all the Americans she took to Australia
41. Watched yet another Holden commercial and decided maybe I shouldn't use commercials to judge a society and/or time period.
42. Named Sim family after Joseph Lyons.
43. Watched a tiny bit of Oprah in Australia part 2. Wondering if Megan is that YouTube star? Okay. Checked. Yes, Megan is Jewelchic.
44. Watched the making of The King's Speech; learned Tom Hooper is half Australian.
45. My friend sent me an article about how floods are natural events that have happened through out history....vs something we can blame on global warming.
46. got very sweet email from an Aussie who included a forwarded email with a link to Australia Day recipes.
47. Dreamed a mysterious Australian man called me. I had no idea who he was and how he got my number. I hung up on him. I guess I was in a bitchy mood.
48. Saw something about Vegemite ice-cream. That is probably not something I'd want to experience.
49. My pro-Israel Australian friend informed me about the proposed Marickville Boycott of Israel. It's nice to find an Australian who is neither a religious Christian; personally Jewish; or a member of the Liberal Party, who has not completely sided with the Palestinians. Weird when Americans and Australians complain about Israel occupying land and oppressing others. A wee bit hypocritical. If we're going to boycott Israeli stuff, how about we also boycott all Made in America and all Made in Australia products….unless it's made by Native Americans or Australian Aboriginal people.
50. Read that the University of Canberra is going to start banning the sale of water bottles.
51. Saw a cute 1946 Aussie advertisement about kissing…trying to sell dental cream.
52. Learned that there's a Perth in Tasmania.
53. I added new gadgets to iGoogle. One of them was Art of the Day. The first painting I saw ended up being by an Aussie (Will Longstaff)
54. Watched more of Oprah. I liked the Oprah kangaroo cake.
55. Dreamed about being in danger from scary giant crocodiles. Fortunately I escaped.
56. One of my passionate opinionated Australian friends is making me rethink my position on certain things.
57. Saw a photo of Karl Quinn, the entertainment editor for The Age. He looks like Steve the bartender from Sex and the City!
58. Saw a happiest country list, and Australia was on it! Of course!!!
59. The beginning of a song entered my mind. I couldn't remember where it was from. I thought the strain of trying to place it would drive me crazy. But I thankfully figured out that it was "Flame Trees". For some reason, "Flame Trees" reminds me of the Queensland flood.
60. Watched the Flame Trees scene in Little Fish, and cried.
61. Read article about Australian expat angry at British people teasing him for being Australian. Most Australian commenters think he is being too sensitive. I probably agree depending on whether we're getting the full story or not.
62. Thought of the novel The Slap, and the event in my family that were somewhat similar to events in the novel.
63. Read that donations to the flood greatly increased after Oprah mentioned it. Awesome!
64. Watched a 1946 commercial for the Liberal Party
65. Learned about an Australian from the 1800's named William Francis King. He was famous for taking long walks. Kind of inspiring.
66. Decided that if there's ever a movie about JK Rowling, Cate Blanchett might work well in that.
67. Learned about Jorrocks, another famous Aussie racing horse (besides Phar Lap)
68. Learned that the suburb of Leichhardt was named after a Prussian explorer. Like Harold Holt, he disappeared without a trace.
69. Heard the David Bartlett is going to stop being the Premier of Tasmania.
70. Gained more tolerance for the extreme love (and worship) that's showered on Oprah when I realized it's sort of the way I feel about JK Rowling.
What would our world be like if we
knew for sure there
was life after death, and
we could easily talk to our
dearly-departed on the Internet?
The Dead are Online a novel by Dina Roberts