1. Got one of those friends-with-birthdays emails from Facebook. Two of them were Aussie birthdays. I don't do well with those. I usually end up being a day late.
I marked the days on my calendar. Now I just have to hope I remember to look at my calendar this week.
2. Saw that the Adelaide Now Facebook Page is planning to give a $1000 to one of their Facebook fans. I wonder if Americans would qualify. If we won, I'd definitely save the money and apply it to our 2012 trip. They're also looking for more fans, if anyone wants to join. You'll get a chance of winning money. And they're Facebook updates are pretty informative.
3. Listened to Feel Like Going Back Home from Bran Nue Dae. I love it. I think I could develop a girl-crush on Missy Higgins.
4. Read about the man who was bit by a shark in Exmouth. He sounds fortunate in that his injuries aren't too serious. I mean he didn't lose a limb or his life. He just needed some stitches. Hopefully, his wound won't cause him too much pain, and I hope he has a quick and easy recovery. he article says he doesn't plan to avoid the sea. That's good! Shark attacks are SO rare. There are scarier things in the sea, though....
5. Looked at Australia's weather. Well, I'm really just looking at capital cities. It looks like Melbourne, Adelaide, Canberra, and Hobart will be having nice days. There's lots of rain in Darwin. Perth would be too warm for my taste.
6. Read about the Australia Hotel on Castlereagh street in Sydney. I saw an old photo of it on the Library of Australia website. I wanted to know if it was still around. This Sydney architecture site says it closed down in 1971. Is the building still there? And if it is, what is it being used for?
This Sydney website says the building was demolished. That's a shame.
Here's a photo of the building that took its place. I'm not impressed. I think they should have kept the old building.
I'm becoming an architecture snob.
I marked the days on my calendar. Now I just have to hope I remember to look at my calendar this week.
2. Saw that the Adelaide Now Facebook Page is planning to give a $1000 to one of their Facebook fans. I wonder if Americans would qualify. If we won, I'd definitely save the money and apply it to our 2012 trip. They're also looking for more fans, if anyone wants to join. You'll get a chance of winning money. And they're Facebook updates are pretty informative.
3. Listened to Feel Like Going Back Home from Bran Nue Dae. I love it. I think I could develop a girl-crush on Missy Higgins.
4. Read about the man who was bit by a shark in Exmouth. He sounds fortunate in that his injuries aren't too serious. I mean he didn't lose a limb or his life. He just needed some stitches. Hopefully, his wound won't cause him too much pain, and I hope he has a quick and easy recovery. he article says he doesn't plan to avoid the sea. That's good! Shark attacks are SO rare. There are scarier things in the sea, though....
5. Looked at Australia's weather. Well, I'm really just looking at capital cities. It looks like Melbourne, Adelaide, Canberra, and Hobart will be having nice days. There's lots of rain in Darwin. Perth would be too warm for my taste.
6. Read about the Australia Hotel on Castlereagh street in Sydney. I saw an old photo of it on the Library of Australia website. I wanted to know if it was still around. This Sydney architecture site says it closed down in 1971. Is the building still there? And if it is, what is it being used for?
This Sydney website says the building was demolished. That's a shame.
Here's a photo of the building that took its place. I'm not impressed. I think they should have kept the old building.
I'm becoming an architecture snob.
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
7. Saw an old photo of Albany, Western Australia. That's one of the places on the map quiz I've been doing so frequently. I should do some learning about Albany.....
Lord Wiki says the population of Albany is 33,600. The population of Albany, New York is 857,000.
The population density of Albany is 281 per square kilometer. The population is Albany, New York is 2,119 per square kilometer. Yep. America is much more crowded than Australia.
Albany was founded before Perth. It's birth year (at least in terms of white people) was 1826. Albany, New York's birth year was 1686. Albany, New York is old!
Whaling used to be a big industry in Albany...the Aussie one, at least.
8. At lunch, Tim asked about Tony Abbott. He wanted to know who he was. I said he was the Leader of the Opposition, and Tim asked who was the last Leader of the Opposition. My mind went blank for a second. I think Jack actually answered before me. Or we answered at the same time. It's funny enough that my child knows the Prime Minister of Australia but to know the previous Leader of the Opposition?
Tim asked why Malcolm Turnbull lost the job, and me being me (and not Jack), I couldn't remember. Wasn't it that he voted in line with the government on something? He wasn't oppositional enough? Was it something to do with the stimulus package?
9. Liked this line from The Good Parents. He caught himself talking to her in his mind all the time, which always happened when he was going to get involved with a girl. He wanted to tell her everything about himself. I can relate to that, although these days I more often write imaginary blog posts in my head. I think I have less imaginary conversations than I used to.
The last line reminds me of how self-centered we are. He wants to tell her all about himself. But does he want to know all about her? I think a lot of relationships are truly about self-love.
I think back to crushes I've had, and the imaginary conversations that accompanied them. Were they more about me or more about learning about the object of my affection?
I think though that when we have a crush on someone, we DO learn about them. Sometimes we become little detectives regarding the subject So maybe the me-centered imaginary conversations are less about self-centeredness and more about the desire for the affection to be reciprocated. We want them to want to know about us as much as we want to know about them.
10. I saw an old photograph of some children with a snake. Mr. Snake is just crawling around towards the bottom of the picture. Maybe he's a pet? Hopefully, he's not venomous. I can just imagine the snake crawling into the picture, and then biting the kids a few minutes later. None of the kids seem to be noticing the snake. Do they know it's a harmless snake? Or had they just not noticed it yet?
11. Found an article about the Salmonella issue in Adelaide. Tim and I talked about it this morning, because I'm so paranoid about such things. One of the bakeries that tested positive for the bacteria is St. George's Cakes and Gelati. I wonder if they baked the guilty pastries themselves, or was it obtained from elsewhere? OR... they might have done their own baking but used a pre-made custard that was infected. That could explain why two bakeries were having problems. It might be important to know where these bakeries are getting their custard. There's either a custard problem, or there's an egg problem.
12. Read something that made me feel a little better. I thought Salmonella was always VERY severe. I saw it as a range between throwing up so much that you want to die and throwing up so much that you do actually die. But this website (and others I've been seeing) say that you could just end up being mildly sick. You might not even vomit at all.
Oh! This is interesting. That website says, in terms of eggs, the salmonella is contained only on the shell. I always thought it was the insides that were more worrisome. That being said, if I just accidentally touch the CARTON with the eggs, I wash my hands.
This USDA website, however, says the eggs can be contaminated on the outside OR inside. And other websites I'm seeing are saying the same thing.....
13. Remembered that it's immoral to talk about the danger of eggs to humans, without talking about the impact on animals. So I went to this Australian website about the treatment of farm animals. Every time we eat eggs we should remember hens squished tightly in cages, and birds having their beaks chopped off. Do they get anesthesia for the surgery? I'm doubting it, but I could be wrong.
And we need to remember the fact that millions of male chickens are gassed and chopped up since they don't lay eggs.
This UK website says, Once the eggs have hatched, newborn chicks pass down a production line to be sexed and sorted by factory workers who sift through, picking out the males and any others who look weak or sickly. These 'rejects' are tossed into giant sacks or crates, where they risk slow suffocation or being crushed by their fellow rejects.
Yeah. That doesn't resemble Nazism and the Holocaust in any way. I'm being sarcastic here (just in case you didn't know).
I think I should stop eating eggs. Shit. I keep saying that. But this time I really want to stick to my word. I say that a lot too. Crap.
Maybe my problem is that I bite off more than I can chew. I keep trying to stay away from dairy AND eggs. It's probably better to just give up one....at least initially. I'm not going to be too drastic about it. I'm not going to demand ingredient lists when I eat at someone else's house. But I'm really going to try and avoid eggs.
The big question is what to do about Tim's cooking. A part of me says if he makes something, I might as well eat it. But if he does make something, and I eat it, that encourages him to make more. It's like money talks in the market. My mouth and stomach talk in our household. He can either bake for just him and Jack. Or he can start using alternatives....like applesauce and fake egg stuff.
13. Realized that if I give up eggs I'll probably have to give up most cookies, cakes, waffles, pancakes, French Toast, etc. So not only will I be ethical, I'll probably be a bit thinner. I won't complain about that. Don't worry, though. I won't get too thin. Chocolate doesn't have eggs! Although that's not super ethical either. But I think it's less cruel than eggs.
14. On the way to Dallas, Tim brought up Adam Hills. The other night I had him watch the 2010 Edinburgh comedy thing. In the car, I tried to tell him some of Adam Hill's other funny jokes. Not a smart idea. It's foolish to try to repeat what a comedian said if you're not a comedian yourself. I should have just waited and gave him the videos. Tim often tries to tell me about funny things he's seen on TV. I'm rarely amused. Often I'm completely lost. I try to fake laugh, but I'm not good at it. I could SO relate to the line in Modern Family about laughing with your mouth and not your eyes.
I'm not saying Tim isn't funny. He can be very funny. I think I can be funny. But I don't think many people are good at repeating comedy they've borrowed from someone else. I guess sometimes it works. Maybe?
Tim told me a story today about my dad....a conversation they had. THAT was hilarious, and I didn't have to fake laugh. Maybe it's funnier because I know my dad, and I know Tim. I can totally picture them having that conversation.
15. On the way back from Dallas, I heard on the radio that the The King's Speech won a bunch of BAFTA awards!!
16. Tried to figure out the Malcolm Turnbull thing. It wasn't the stimulus package. Lord Wiki says it had to do with the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme. Turnbull wanted to support the government in this, and some members of the Liberal Party weren't too happy with that.
17. Read that Kristina Kenneally is gifting Australian couples with free marriage certificates. For the next year they won't have to pay a $45 fee. And what if you want to get married, and you're gay? Then what? For some reason this bothers me more than the schools kicking out gay students.Well, maybe because one is a private group, and this is the government. I think there's a difference.
I don't know. I think it's a slap in the face to encourage more people to get married when other people are not allowed to.
Oh! Someone in comments has the same thought as me. St says, If you really want to give a valuable gift, how about assisting in making marriage legal for all Australians. Yes! Thank you.
Now I see....there are lots of comments. In general, people are not in support of what Kenneally has done.
Most don't mention the gay marriage thing. The thing that most people are saying is that $45 dollars is really NOT a big gift. So much money is spent on weddings. Subtracting $45 is not going to make a big dent. But the amount the government is giving up to provide this gift is supposed to be about 2 million dollars. That's huge, and good things could be done with that money.
If the New South Wales government really has two million dollars to spare, this is what I'd want them to do with it. How about have a contest where 1000 people get free plane tickets to Australia? Then Australia could get money back, because the people would have to pay for accommodations, food, admission tickets, etc.
18. Watched the Get Up ad for marriage equality.
19. Saw that Geoffrey Rush won the BAFTA award!! I wasn't sure who had won when I heard it in the car. I just knew it got seven awards, and won best picture.
Oh! Helena Bonham Carter and Colin Firth won too!!!! That's awesome.
I peaked over at the Leaky Cauldron website. Harry Potter has won a BAFTA award as well. I watched the video of the award acceptance. That made me a bit emotional. And I saw from the Leaky Cauldron that Rowling is working on new projects. I'm so happy and relieved to hear that!
20. Realized that I probably ate eggs tonight. My sister made lasagna, and I think sometimes that has eggs. I wasn't about to ask. The thing is they made a vegetarian lasagna along with the meat lasagna. I think it was made for mostly my benefit since I'm the vegetarian in the family. It's nice enough that they did that, so I'm not going to suddenly announce Hey, sorry. I'm not eating eggs anymore either. I'll probably let them know...eventually.
This is what makes me feel guilty, though. I had one serving. Then when I was alone in the kitchen with Tim, I asked him if lasagna had eggs. He said he doesn't use eggs when he makes it, but sometimes people do use it. I interpreted his words as meaning people usually DON'T use eggs. I took that as an excuse to get a second serving. Now I went to look at recipes, and I see most use eggs. I think I heard what I WANTED to hear from Tim. That's the kind of behavior I need to avoid.
21. Decided I will eat the vegetarian bacon and chicken in the freezer; even though it contains eggs. I bought it for myself, and Jack and Tim rarely eat it. There's no point in letting it go to waste.
22. Watched this amazing Lost video. It's of Michael Giacchino conducting the orchestra. I think it's amazing to see the actual musicians making the music. It's very educational for me, because I don't know much about instruments. I didn't realize so much of the music comes from violins and cellos.
What's REALLY amazing though is that I'm watching this, and I haven't started crying yet.
Here's more of it. I'm sure I'll start crying eventually.
Seeing Carlton Cuse watch them play kind of gets to me.
The music towards the end reminds me more of Up than Lost. Oh....Because it is. Okay. I just read the comments. Many other people had noticed the same thing.
