1. Annoyed by seeing someone on Facebook trying to use Rhonda Byrne-type advice to fix someone's problems. I'm sorry, that's just not something I can easily tolerate. Sometimes life is complete shit for people, and I think it's wrong to infer that they have problems because they're letting too many negative thoughts into their head.
Now I'm not saying I don't sometimes get annoyed by people who are overly negative. Sometimes I think negativity clouds our judgment. We decide something is bad and then we ignore all evidence that might tell us otherwise. But I don't think that filling our heads with positive thoughts is going to make all our problems go away; nor do I believe that positive thoughts will magically bring good things our way.
I personally feel that balance is the key. As annoyed as I am with people who are too negative, I also get annoyed with people who are too positive. The world is full of some pretty bad stuff. If someone is positive all the time, I'd feel they were oblivious and in denial.
2. Saw article about Kristina Kenneally having a secret singing talent. There's a video, but I can't watch it now because Jack is playing his keyboard next to me. He learned how to play the Harry Potter song last night, and I learned to play a little bit of Lost music.
3. Read Albion Love Den's blog post on man crushes. His thing is music, and he crushed over a guy named Dan Luscombe.
I'm glad more and more people are admitting to homosexual crushes. Well, I shouldn't say that. I should say crushes that don't coincide with their sexuality. I think some gay people probably have heterosexual crushes.
Crushes don't have to be a sexual thing. It can just be a feeling of thinking someone is REALLY cool.
With sexual crushes, I think the fantasy is to want to have sex with the person. But I think we can have crushes in which sex is not part of the picture. We might have parental crushes on someone— wishing they were our parents/caretaker...probably more likely to happen when we're young. We could have best friend crushes—wishing someone was our best friend. And then there's crushes where we admire someone and wish we could be more like them.
4. Watched the video of Kristina Kenneally singing. That was cute, but not to the point where I think I might develop a crush on her.
5. Saw that Griff the Invisible has gotten an 83% on Rotten Tomatoes. I think that's pretty good. I looked because I saw that there are movie reviews out on it. I kind of shy away from reading those, because I don't want one person's opinion to influence me too much. Plus, you never know if someone's going to give something away.
I want to see it. I saw the trailer a few weeks ago; and it looked good to me.
I wonder if it's going to be playing in Fort Worth anytime soon. I hope so. You know what, though. I don't think we ever got Tomorrow, When the World Began. Oh, never mind. We did. Or at least America did. IMDb says it had its US premier in November 2010. I don't remember seeing it. But I don't often look at what's playing at the theaters.
6. Joined the Griff the Invisible Facebook page. Maybe it will help keep me up to date.
7. Read article that says wealthy people shouldn't be shy about announcing their donations to charity. I agree! I will admit that sometimes it looks like bragging. And there's also the idea that charity should be completely altruistic. You shouldn't do it to make yourself look good. However, I think people end up showing off their wealth in other ways. They buy big houses that everyone in the neighborhood can drive by and look at. They wear expensive jewelry. They carry around the newest gadgets. They wear clothes that would cost other people a month's salary. People look at the wealthy and want to be like them. So if their clothes and toys can influence people, maybe their donations can do so as well.
The article says, the secrecy around philanthropy provided a safe hiding place for rich individuals who contributed little.
Ah. Yes. Exactly. And when you combine wealth with fame, openness about charity can create peer pressure among celebrities. In this case, I think peer pressure would be a good thing.
The article talks about an argument against being public about donations. You'll end up getting harassed by other charities. I sympathize with this. It's annoying getting so many solicitations. But that's going to happen whether you're rich and famous; or not. Maybe someone should do a study on THAT. Do solicitations from charities bring in more money, or do they deter people from donating?
I'm guessing it does help, since charities keep sending these solicitations out. I personally don't respond to them for the most part. When I donate, it's usually because I cared about something and sought it out on my own. Or sometimes I'll follow a link on a website. I usually ignore email, snail mail, and phone call solicitations. One exception is if someone I know asks for the donation. For example, if I have a cousin who's doing a run for Leukemia and asks for support, I'll likely donate.
8. Went to Half-Price books and spent my birthday gift certificate. I bought one Australian book. It's a coffee table book—a promotional thing for the 2000 Sydney Olympics. The bookstore has a whole section on paranormal romance. I think that's pretty cool. I'm a bit burned out from the teen paranormal stuff, but I think I might like this stuff.
I bought a HEAVY world architecture book. It's beautiful—full of pictures of famous buildings, both old and modern.
We bought a copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Shamefully, this is our third copy of the book. We bought it because it's the British adult version. No, it's not a more risqué version of Harry Potter. It's just the cover-art is more adult-oriented. Here it is on Amazon. They're selling it for $999. Is that a mistake? The copy we bought was only $10. Half-Price books had a bunch of them. I asked how they got all of them, hoping the cashier clerk would excitedly say something like We got them from the UK. They sent over a bunch. Isn't that cool?! Instead she was totally disinterested and oblivious. Now I can see what people mean about heartless bookstores. I want the people working at these places to be EXCITED about books. I don't know. Maybe I'm a total geek to get excited about various editions of Harry Potter. Am I? Well, anyway Jack got excited too. So, at least I'm not alone in this.
9. Just remembered that most people who read my blog are Australian; and I think Australia has the British version of Harry Potter. So people are probably reading this and wondering, what's the big deal?
10. Saw that Mushu is sleeping on my new Australian Architecture book. He has his head resting on it, like it's a pillow. It's so cute. I should take a photo. Maybe I will....later.
11. Took a picture of Mushu sleeping on the book.
12. Decided to play my Hobart vs. Adelaide Flickr game. This is where I pick a random picture from Hobart and a random picture from Adelaide; and then see which I like better. Well, it's not really random. I go to recent photos, and pick the first picture on the seventh page.
For Adelaide, I got this photo. It's a rusty fence. I guess it can be attractive, depending on your perspective. There was that guy from American Beauty— the one who thought a floating plastic bag was beautiful. He'd probably like this fence.
For Hobart, I got this photo of a window plant. It's pretty interesting. It's a succulent. I never heard of that before.
I think I like the Hobart photo better, so I'm going to give Hobart a point in my little game.
13. Uploaded the cat picture. Here it is.
14. Read Mathias Cormann's first speech to Parliament. Cormann is a Liberal Senator from Western Australia. He says:
As an Australian, I am proud to say to my fellow migrants: this is a country where, if you put your shoulder to the wheel, work hard, embrace the people and values and become an integral part of the community—in short, if you have a go—there is no limit to what you can achieve in your chosen field of endeavour.
I wish that were true. Sometimes it does work out that way. Disadvantaged people work hard and they become very successful. I bet a large chunk of wealthy people started out as hard-working poor people. They have every right to be proud of themselves.
However, it doesn't always work out. What if you're not that smart? What if you have to study hours upon hours just to get a C in school, but you don't have time to study because you need to work part-time? What if you work hard, but people don't want to hire you because they don't like your accent; or they'd rather hire their best friend's cousin's neighbor? What if you're not good at interviewing or selling yourself? What if you're not attractive enough and a prettier person is hired instead of you?
There's so many variables. It's not always a matter of working hard.
15. Looked at Mathias Cormann's website. He was born in 1970; is the same age as my sister. He moved from Belgium in 1994.
16. Saw Sesame Street message about cyclones and floods in Australia. I got the link off of the Cyclone Yasi's Facebook page.
17. Read article about young child who was saved with CPR. I decided to brush up on my own CPR knowledge, by watching a CPR video. Well, actually that was just the first part. They just gave an introduction. It was fairly interesting. They said with adults you should call the emergency number immediately. With children, you should do 2 minutes of CPR, and then call. If you're lucky, there will be another person with you, and they can call. That way the compressions don't have to be interrupted.
I have to find part 2. Is there a part 2? I can't find it.
I'm going to watch this video instead.
Lord Wiki says that with adults who have cardiac arrest, you can do compression-only CPR. But with kids, you need to do the breathing. Children who get compression-only CPR have the same chance of survival has those who have no CPR.
18. Found out that child CPR is only for children eight and under. I guess 9+ get adult CPR.
Here's an adult CPR video.
Now I'm not saying I don't sometimes get annoyed by people who are overly negative. Sometimes I think negativity clouds our judgment. We decide something is bad and then we ignore all evidence that might tell us otherwise. But I don't think that filling our heads with positive thoughts is going to make all our problems go away; nor do I believe that positive thoughts will magically bring good things our way.
I personally feel that balance is the key. As annoyed as I am with people who are too negative, I also get annoyed with people who are too positive. The world is full of some pretty bad stuff. If someone is positive all the time, I'd feel they were oblivious and in denial.
2. Saw article about Kristina Kenneally having a secret singing talent. There's a video, but I can't watch it now because Jack is playing his keyboard next to me. He learned how to play the Harry Potter song last night, and I learned to play a little bit of Lost music.
3. Read Albion Love Den's blog post on man crushes. His thing is music, and he crushed over a guy named Dan Luscombe.
I'm glad more and more people are admitting to homosexual crushes. Well, I shouldn't say that. I should say crushes that don't coincide with their sexuality. I think some gay people probably have heterosexual crushes.
Crushes don't have to be a sexual thing. It can just be a feeling of thinking someone is REALLY cool.
With sexual crushes, I think the fantasy is to want to have sex with the person. But I think we can have crushes in which sex is not part of the picture. We might have parental crushes on someone— wishing they were our parents/caretaker...probably more likely to happen when we're young. We could have best friend crushes—wishing someone was our best friend. And then there's crushes where we admire someone and wish we could be more like them.
4. Watched the video of Kristina Kenneally singing. That was cute, but not to the point where I think I might develop a crush on her.
5. Saw that Griff the Invisible has gotten an 83% on Rotten Tomatoes. I think that's pretty good. I looked because I saw that there are movie reviews out on it. I kind of shy away from reading those, because I don't want one person's opinion to influence me too much. Plus, you never know if someone's going to give something away.
I want to see it. I saw the trailer a few weeks ago; and it looked good to me.
I wonder if it's going to be playing in Fort Worth anytime soon. I hope so. You know what, though. I don't think we ever got Tomorrow, When the World Began. Oh, never mind. We did. Or at least America did. IMDb says it had its US premier in November 2010. I don't remember seeing it. But I don't often look at what's playing at the theaters.
6. Joined the Griff the Invisible Facebook page. Maybe it will help keep me up to date.
7. Read article that says wealthy people shouldn't be shy about announcing their donations to charity. I agree! I will admit that sometimes it looks like bragging. And there's also the idea that charity should be completely altruistic. You shouldn't do it to make yourself look good. However, I think people end up showing off their wealth in other ways. They buy big houses that everyone in the neighborhood can drive by and look at. They wear expensive jewelry. They carry around the newest gadgets. They wear clothes that would cost other people a month's salary. People look at the wealthy and want to be like them. So if their clothes and toys can influence people, maybe their donations can do so as well.
The article says, the secrecy around philanthropy provided a safe hiding place for rich individuals who contributed little.
Ah. Yes. Exactly. And when you combine wealth with fame, openness about charity can create peer pressure among celebrities. In this case, I think peer pressure would be a good thing.
The article talks about an argument against being public about donations. You'll end up getting harassed by other charities. I sympathize with this. It's annoying getting so many solicitations. But that's going to happen whether you're rich and famous; or not. Maybe someone should do a study on THAT. Do solicitations from charities bring in more money, or do they deter people from donating?
I'm guessing it does help, since charities keep sending these solicitations out. I personally don't respond to them for the most part. When I donate, it's usually because I cared about something and sought it out on my own. Or sometimes I'll follow a link on a website. I usually ignore email, snail mail, and phone call solicitations. One exception is if someone I know asks for the donation. For example, if I have a cousin who's doing a run for Leukemia and asks for support, I'll likely donate.
8. Went to Half-Price books and spent my birthday gift certificate. I bought one Australian book. It's a coffee table book—a promotional thing for the 2000 Sydney Olympics. The bookstore has a whole section on paranormal romance. I think that's pretty cool. I'm a bit burned out from the teen paranormal stuff, but I think I might like this stuff.
I bought a HEAVY world architecture book. It's beautiful—full of pictures of famous buildings, both old and modern.
We bought a copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Shamefully, this is our third copy of the book. We bought it because it's the British adult version. No, it's not a more risqué version of Harry Potter. It's just the cover-art is more adult-oriented. Here it is on Amazon. They're selling it for $999. Is that a mistake? The copy we bought was only $10. Half-Price books had a bunch of them. I asked how they got all of them, hoping the cashier clerk would excitedly say something like We got them from the UK. They sent over a bunch. Isn't that cool?! Instead she was totally disinterested and oblivious. Now I can see what people mean about heartless bookstores. I want the people working at these places to be EXCITED about books. I don't know. Maybe I'm a total geek to get excited about various editions of Harry Potter. Am I? Well, anyway Jack got excited too. So, at least I'm not alone in this.
9. Just remembered that most people who read my blog are Australian; and I think Australia has the British version of Harry Potter. So people are probably reading this and wondering, what's the big deal?
10. Saw that Mushu is sleeping on my new Australian Architecture book. He has his head resting on it, like it's a pillow. It's so cute. I should take a photo. Maybe I will....later.
11. Took a picture of Mushu sleeping on the book.
12. Decided to play my Hobart vs. Adelaide Flickr game. This is where I pick a random picture from Hobart and a random picture from Adelaide; and then see which I like better. Well, it's not really random. I go to recent photos, and pick the first picture on the seventh page.
For Adelaide, I got this photo. It's a rusty fence. I guess it can be attractive, depending on your perspective. There was that guy from American Beauty— the one who thought a floating plastic bag was beautiful. He'd probably like this fence.
For Hobart, I got this photo of a window plant. It's pretty interesting. It's a succulent. I never heard of that before.
I think I like the Hobart photo better, so I'm going to give Hobart a point in my little game.
13. Uploaded the cat picture. Here it is.
14. Read Mathias Cormann's first speech to Parliament. Cormann is a Liberal Senator from Western Australia. He says:
As an Australian, I am proud to say to my fellow migrants: this is a country where, if you put your shoulder to the wheel, work hard, embrace the people and values and become an integral part of the community—in short, if you have a go—there is no limit to what you can achieve in your chosen field of endeavour.
I wish that were true. Sometimes it does work out that way. Disadvantaged people work hard and they become very successful. I bet a large chunk of wealthy people started out as hard-working poor people. They have every right to be proud of themselves.
However, it doesn't always work out. What if you're not that smart? What if you have to study hours upon hours just to get a C in school, but you don't have time to study because you need to work part-time? What if you work hard, but people don't want to hire you because they don't like your accent; or they'd rather hire their best friend's cousin's neighbor? What if you're not good at interviewing or selling yourself? What if you're not attractive enough and a prettier person is hired instead of you?
There's so many variables. It's not always a matter of working hard.
15. Looked at Mathias Cormann's website. He was born in 1970; is the same age as my sister. He moved from Belgium in 1994.
16. Saw Sesame Street message about cyclones and floods in Australia. I got the link off of the Cyclone Yasi's Facebook page.
17. Read article about young child who was saved with CPR. I decided to brush up on my own CPR knowledge, by watching a CPR video. Well, actually that was just the first part. They just gave an introduction. It was fairly interesting. They said with adults you should call the emergency number immediately. With children, you should do 2 minutes of CPR, and then call. If you're lucky, there will be another person with you, and they can call. That way the compressions don't have to be interrupted.
I have to find part 2. Is there a part 2? I can't find it.
I'm going to watch this video instead.
Lord Wiki says that with adults who have cardiac arrest, you can do compression-only CPR. But with kids, you need to do the breathing. Children who get compression-only CPR have the same chance of survival has those who have no CPR.
18. Found out that child CPR is only for children eight and under. I guess 9+ get adult CPR.
Here's an adult CPR video.
