1. Watched part of the Underbelly trailer. It's really long, so that's why I didn't watch the whole thing. It doesn't look that interesting to me. I wanted to watch it because I know it has a lot of Offspring actors. The only one I saw was Kat Stewart. I'd probably see more if I watched more.
2. Decided to watch Asher Keddie win her 2011 Logie award. She has such a cute accent.
3. Surprised by how much I'm liking Candy. Although the characters are junkies, they're still likable. I like books with likable characters. And even though I don't do drugs or understand why people do drugs, I can relate to the characters. Their feelings and ideas aren't completely foreign to me.
4. Went to sleep and had Australia and Australian related dreams. In one of them....We arrive in Australia late Friday afternoon. I think of calling Gina to ask if she wants to get together with us. But then I start thinking she likely has plans for a Friday night. Although I'm also thinking there's a chance she doesn't, so maybe we should call. Then there was a dream in which....I'm packing up our suitcases because we're moving to a new location. realize our two suitcases aren't very full and I can combine everything into one. I'm very pleased with myself, with anticipation that Tim will be pleased with me. But then I realize we're not at home. I can't just leave a suitcase behind. We have to take it with us.
In the other dream....I'm planning to go to the mall with Julian McMahon. He's supposed to pick me up soon. I start wondering if it would be okay to Jack take with us. I'm not sure if that would be rude. Then I think, why not bring Tim along too? I think of inviting them but then worry Tim will think he's intruding on a date. But I definitely feel it's not a date. It was funny that in the dream there was no idea that a married woman shouldn't be going off on a date with someone else or any feeling that Tim would be offended by this. Maybe we weren't married in the dream?
5. Found an old dream in my archives with an Australia related thing. It's from March 2006. I look at some catalogue of some place selling food (maybe related to above?). I keep asking if the food is organic. The person says no. I see it is grown in Texas, though. I say that is good too. But then she tells me the jams are sold somewhere else. I notice baby food when flipping through pages and see the word kangaroo there. I look for vegetarian food. I think I see it, but find something else instead.
6. Found an old Australia related dream...same night as the one above. Although at the time I didn't know it was Australia-related. I am on maybe a stage from actors from BrokeBack Mountain. Jake Gyllanhall almost seems to be pretending he is really gay. He flirts with the other actor. I talk to Jake and sheepishly admit I have not seen movie. He really pushes me to see it. He's near tears when he talks about it. He says it is the type of movie that have people talking for hours about it. I try to excuse myself saying I only see one or two movies a year. I think of telling him they're dumb trivial things like The Ringer, but feel embarrassed to say that. I must have meant The Ring. So Heath Ledger to me at that time was just the other actor. I think it's funny that I'm reading this dream the morning after reading Heath Ledger's obituary article.
7. Read on the Peres Center for Peace's Facebook Page that an Australian football star (Brett Kirt) went to Israel to spend time with the AFL Israeli-Palestinian Peace team.
I think that's really great. I love that there's a peace team out there.
8. Looked at Brett Kirt's website. He mentions being in Israel with the Peace Team.
9. Looked at the AFL Peace Team's Facebook Page. They're playing in an international Australian Football competition in August. And here's the website for that. It lists all the various international teams. There's an American team. And here's the Israeli-Palestinian team. Thirteen Israelis and thirteen Palestinians play together on one team. That's really beautiful.
2. Decided to watch Asher Keddie win her 2011 Logie award. She has such a cute accent.
3. Surprised by how much I'm liking Candy. Although the characters are junkies, they're still likable. I like books with likable characters. And even though I don't do drugs or understand why people do drugs, I can relate to the characters. Their feelings and ideas aren't completely foreign to me.
4. Went to sleep and had Australia and Australian related dreams. In one of them....We arrive in Australia late Friday afternoon. I think of calling Gina to ask if she wants to get together with us. But then I start thinking she likely has plans for a Friday night. Although I'm also thinking there's a chance she doesn't, so maybe we should call. Then there was a dream in which....I'm packing up our suitcases because we're moving to a new location. realize our two suitcases aren't very full and I can combine everything into one. I'm very pleased with myself, with anticipation that Tim will be pleased with me. But then I realize we're not at home. I can't just leave a suitcase behind. We have to take it with us.
In the other dream....I'm planning to go to the mall with Julian McMahon. He's supposed to pick me up soon. I start wondering if it would be okay to Jack take with us. I'm not sure if that would be rude. Then I think, why not bring Tim along too? I think of inviting them but then worry Tim will think he's intruding on a date. But I definitely feel it's not a date. It was funny that in the dream there was no idea that a married woman shouldn't be going off on a date with someone else or any feeling that Tim would be offended by this. Maybe we weren't married in the dream?
5. Found an old dream in my archives with an Australia related thing. It's from March 2006. I look at some catalogue of some place selling food (maybe related to above?). I keep asking if the food is organic. The person says no. I see it is grown in Texas, though. I say that is good too. But then she tells me the jams are sold somewhere else. I notice baby food when flipping through pages and see the word kangaroo there. I look for vegetarian food. I think I see it, but find something else instead.
6. Found an old Australia related dream...same night as the one above. Although at the time I didn't know it was Australia-related. I am on maybe a stage from actors from BrokeBack Mountain. Jake Gyllanhall almost seems to be pretending he is really gay. He flirts with the other actor. I talk to Jake and sheepishly admit I have not seen movie. He really pushes me to see it. He's near tears when he talks about it. He says it is the type of movie that have people talking for hours about it. I try to excuse myself saying I only see one or two movies a year. I think of telling him they're dumb trivial things like The Ringer, but feel embarrassed to say that. I must have meant The Ring. So Heath Ledger to me at that time was just the other actor. I think it's funny that I'm reading this dream the morning after reading Heath Ledger's obituary article.
7. Read on the Peres Center for Peace's Facebook Page that an Australian football star (Brett Kirt) went to Israel to spend time with the AFL Israeli-Palestinian Peace team.
I think that's really great. I love that there's a peace team out there.
8. Looked at Brett Kirt's website. He mentions being in Israel with the Peace Team.
9. Looked at the AFL Peace Team's Facebook Page. They're playing in an international Australian Football competition in August. And here's the website for that. It lists all the various international teams. There's an American team. And here's the Israeli-Palestinian team. Thirteen Israelis and thirteen Palestinians play together on one team. That's really beautiful.
10. Saw a Facebook update from an American thanking an Australian dentist for saying nice things about America. My BS meter dinged, and I went to Snopes. The America is Awesome letter didn't come from an Aussie dentist. It came from an American.
I rely on Snopes a lot but just found this website. BreakTheChain.org. I think this is my new cause...passion. I'm so tired of people believing stuff without doing research. I'm tired of people having too much faith. I'm tired of hearing, we trust her. Well if evidence points to otherwise, maybe you should rethink that trust.
I'm tired of hearing well, she's my friend and I trust her. Okay. But just because she's your friend, it doesn't mean she's incapable of sending you a chain letter with false information. I'm tired of hearing, The doctor said.... Okay, so she's a doctor. But why don't you ask yourself if what she said makes any sense based on what information is out there and your own experiences. Don't just trust the doctor. Look it up. Do research. Read! Then read some more.
If I ever write anything on this blog that seems questionable to you, don't take my word for it. Look it up! If you find that I'm wrong, email me notreallyaustralian@gmail.com, so I can learn something.
I don't trust any single person 100%. People spread misinformation. Sometimes they deliberately lie. Sometimes they're mislead and then in return mislead you. Sometimes they get confused.
So okay I'm going to get bossy and preachy here. If you get a chain/forward letter....or see something on Facebook, please look it up on Snopes (or a similar site) before passing it on. If you're skeptical about Snope's conclusion, do further research. There's no guarantee that Snopes is 100% trustworthy either.
11. Had a deep thought. If there's an earthquake at 6 pm in New Zealand, that doesn't mean the rapture is happening. If there's no earthquake and no rapture this weekend, that doesn't mean Christianity is a false religion.
If there are earthquakes and only certain types of Christians are saved, it would prove to me that Jesus is mean, evil, and totally yuck.
12. Looked at the IMDb page for Candy. I wanted to see who plays Colin. I don't see the character in the credits. Maybe they left him out of the movie? Or maybe they changed his name. I see that Damon Herriman from Offspring is in the movie.
13. Saw that Damon Herriman did some work in an American TV show. Justified. He did five episodes. So I guess he was here for awhile. He might still be here.
14. Did some more stalking of Damon Herriman and saw that another Aussie TV show has been Americanised. That annoys me. Just give us the Australian version!
I haven't even heard of the Aussie version. Wilfred? It was on in 2007.
Here's an article about the American version. It stars Elijah Wood. And there's a trailer here too.
Never mind. Apparently, the trailer is private.
15. Watched clips from the Australian Wilfred. So is the dog supposed to be a dog? Are we supposed to imagine he's not a human in a costume? I'm lost.
Anyway, I know that sometimes remakes of shows work out really well. I know the American version of The Office is very popular and well-loved. That Psychiatrist show starring Gabriel Byrne is based on an Israeli show. What's the name again?
In Treatment. Thank you, IMDb. And here's the Israeli show.
I think remakes can be great. I wish, though, that we could see more original shows from different countries. Apparently, America DOES accept Chris Lilley, though. We got Summer Heights High, and now we're getting Angry Boys.
16. Read article that says some folks are predicting the Aussie dollar will equal 1.16 American dollars within a few months. It will cause problems for Australian exporters, and there's talk of them slashing prices. Well, I hope tourist venues do that as well. But I don't know if that will work. I guess it would depend on whether a place gets more international or domestic tourists. I don't know if it would be fair (and legal?) to offer one price to Australian customers, and then a lower price to international customers. If a tourist venue gets mostly international tourists, it would make sense to lower the price.
17. Thought of a way to relate to heroin addicts. Well, I'm learning a lot from Candy.
I think chocolate (and food in general) would be a psychological addiction for me. I get in my mind that I want something. I know it would be better if I didn't have it, because I'd fit into my clothes better. But I still want it, and I usually go after it even though I think I shouldn't.
With heroin addiction, there isn't just a strong desire for the drug. There's a need for it. There's a feeling of sickness and weakness without it. Sometimes I have blood sugar issues. If it gets really bad, it's hard for me to do anything. My hands are shaking. I'm sweating. I can't really think straight. I feel sick and out of it. I don't feel all right until I get food again. Fortunately, that doesn't happen to me too often. So that might be a bit how heroin addicts feel when they're in need.
18. Got an email from Twitter saying that they miss me. Come back! Come back! That reminded me to stalk my friend...see what she's up to. She's a Twitter addict. I can see her updates on her blog, so I just went there. She never updates her blog, but I go to her blog to see her Twitter updates.
Anyway, she just updated which is weird because I'm used to her being asleep at this time. It's 3:00 in the morning in Sydney. But she's not in Sydney anymore. She's in California.
Anyway, I'm going to try to email her.
19. Emailed my friend. Hopefully she'll write back someday.
20. Received email back from friend. She talks about her blog being updated. I haven't seen it. She had another blog. Maybe she's talking about that one? I should go check.
Okay. I found it. She changed the address of her blog, and I didn't know. Here is the new one. NOW I can properly stalk her. There's a post about marshmallow sculptures. Those are fun. I like using gumdrops too. We should do that.
21. Read disturbing chapter of Candy. It involved stealing from someone with no apparent guilt or concern for the victim. There's a real lack of compassion. Is that just part of humankind? I often see people doing mean things. Sometimes they do it out of selfishness. They want what they want, and they don't care if it hurts someone else. Sometimes they do it out of pure cruelty. One person's fear and sadness is another person's entertainment.
Does the desperate need for heroin increase selfishness? Are selfish people more likely to be the the reckless type who would try heroin in the first place? What about people who get drunk and then drive? That's reckless and selfish. It's not just a disregard for their own lives but a disregard for the lives of others.
What about less selfish people who try heroin and become addicted? Does the heroin cause them to lose compassion? Do they remain compassionate but act against that compassion in order to get what they need?
I guess what I'm asking is whether a heroin addict can still be a decent person? And by decent I mean one who doesn't steal, lie, scam, murder, use, etc.
22. Decided to watch a few more minutes of Offspring.
There's a new girl....Jimmy's girlfriend.
Okay. I watched up to the commercial break. I've done 20:40 of the show. It's a movie-length episode, so I have quite a lot of time left.
I like spacing it out this way. Then I get a bit of Offspring everyday.
23. Read an interesting chapter about crabs in Candy....not the type that you see at the beach.
I rely on Snopes a lot but just found this website. BreakTheChain.org. I think this is my new cause...passion. I'm so tired of people believing stuff without doing research. I'm tired of people having too much faith. I'm tired of hearing, we trust her. Well if evidence points to otherwise, maybe you should rethink that trust.
I'm tired of hearing well, she's my friend and I trust her. Okay. But just because she's your friend, it doesn't mean she's incapable of sending you a chain letter with false information. I'm tired of hearing, The doctor said.... Okay, so she's a doctor. But why don't you ask yourself if what she said makes any sense based on what information is out there and your own experiences. Don't just trust the doctor. Look it up. Do research. Read! Then read some more.
If I ever write anything on this blog that seems questionable to you, don't take my word for it. Look it up! If you find that I'm wrong, email me notreallyaustralian@gmail.com, so I can learn something.
I don't trust any single person 100%. People spread misinformation. Sometimes they deliberately lie. Sometimes they're mislead and then in return mislead you. Sometimes they get confused.
So okay I'm going to get bossy and preachy here. If you get a chain/forward letter....or see something on Facebook, please look it up on Snopes (or a similar site) before passing it on. If you're skeptical about Snope's conclusion, do further research. There's no guarantee that Snopes is 100% trustworthy either.
11. Had a deep thought. If there's an earthquake at 6 pm in New Zealand, that doesn't mean the rapture is happening. If there's no earthquake and no rapture this weekend, that doesn't mean Christianity is a false religion.
If there are earthquakes and only certain types of Christians are saved, it would prove to me that Jesus is mean, evil, and totally yuck.
12. Looked at the IMDb page for Candy. I wanted to see who plays Colin. I don't see the character in the credits. Maybe they left him out of the movie? Or maybe they changed his name. I see that Damon Herriman from Offspring is in the movie.
13. Saw that Damon Herriman did some work in an American TV show. Justified. He did five episodes. So I guess he was here for awhile. He might still be here.
14. Did some more stalking of Damon Herriman and saw that another Aussie TV show has been Americanised. That annoys me. Just give us the Australian version!
I haven't even heard of the Aussie version. Wilfred? It was on in 2007.
Here's an article about the American version. It stars Elijah Wood. And there's a trailer here too.
Never mind. Apparently, the trailer is private.
15. Watched clips from the Australian Wilfred. So is the dog supposed to be a dog? Are we supposed to imagine he's not a human in a costume? I'm lost.
Anyway, I know that sometimes remakes of shows work out really well. I know the American version of The Office is very popular and well-loved. That Psychiatrist show starring Gabriel Byrne is based on an Israeli show. What's the name again?
In Treatment. Thank you, IMDb. And here's the Israeli show.
I think remakes can be great. I wish, though, that we could see more original shows from different countries. Apparently, America DOES accept Chris Lilley, though. We got Summer Heights High, and now we're getting Angry Boys.
16. Read article that says some folks are predicting the Aussie dollar will equal 1.16 American dollars within a few months. It will cause problems for Australian exporters, and there's talk of them slashing prices. Well, I hope tourist venues do that as well. But I don't know if that will work. I guess it would depend on whether a place gets more international or domestic tourists. I don't know if it would be fair (and legal?) to offer one price to Australian customers, and then a lower price to international customers. If a tourist venue gets mostly international tourists, it would make sense to lower the price.
17. Thought of a way to relate to heroin addicts. Well, I'm learning a lot from Candy.
I think chocolate (and food in general) would be a psychological addiction for me. I get in my mind that I want something. I know it would be better if I didn't have it, because I'd fit into my clothes better. But I still want it, and I usually go after it even though I think I shouldn't.
With heroin addiction, there isn't just a strong desire for the drug. There's a need for it. There's a feeling of sickness and weakness without it. Sometimes I have blood sugar issues. If it gets really bad, it's hard for me to do anything. My hands are shaking. I'm sweating. I can't really think straight. I feel sick and out of it. I don't feel all right until I get food again. Fortunately, that doesn't happen to me too often. So that might be a bit how heroin addicts feel when they're in need.
18. Got an email from Twitter saying that they miss me. Come back! Come back! That reminded me to stalk my friend...see what she's up to. She's a Twitter addict. I can see her updates on her blog, so I just went there. She never updates her blog, but I go to her blog to see her Twitter updates.
Anyway, she just updated which is weird because I'm used to her being asleep at this time. It's 3:00 in the morning in Sydney. But she's not in Sydney anymore. She's in California.
Anyway, I'm going to try to email her.
19. Emailed my friend. Hopefully she'll write back someday.
20. Received email back from friend. She talks about her blog being updated. I haven't seen it. She had another blog. Maybe she's talking about that one? I should go check.
Okay. I found it. She changed the address of her blog, and I didn't know. Here is the new one. NOW I can properly stalk her. There's a post about marshmallow sculptures. Those are fun. I like using gumdrops too. We should do that.
21. Read disturbing chapter of Candy. It involved stealing from someone with no apparent guilt or concern for the victim. There's a real lack of compassion. Is that just part of humankind? I often see people doing mean things. Sometimes they do it out of selfishness. They want what they want, and they don't care if it hurts someone else. Sometimes they do it out of pure cruelty. One person's fear and sadness is another person's entertainment.
Does the desperate need for heroin increase selfishness? Are selfish people more likely to be the the reckless type who would try heroin in the first place? What about people who get drunk and then drive? That's reckless and selfish. It's not just a disregard for their own lives but a disregard for the lives of others.
What about less selfish people who try heroin and become addicted? Does the heroin cause them to lose compassion? Do they remain compassionate but act against that compassion in order to get what they need?
I guess what I'm asking is whether a heroin addict can still be a decent person? And by decent I mean one who doesn't steal, lie, scam, murder, use, etc.
22. Decided to watch a few more minutes of Offspring.
There's a new girl....Jimmy's girlfriend.
Okay. I watched up to the commercial break. I've done 20:40 of the show. It's a movie-length episode, so I have quite a lot of time left.
I like spacing it out this way. Then I get a bit of Offspring everyday.
23. Read an interesting chapter about crabs in Candy....not the type that you see at the beach.
Read my novel: The Dead are Online
