1. Had lots of dreams; some of them were Australia related.
In one: I'm in a car with people I know, and Deborah Mailman is there. Someone (not sure who) grabs Mailman and pulls her towards them so they can get a closer look at her. Mailman is quite taken aback and doesn't seem pleased. I tell her how recently I was talking to Jack about Offspring. Jack had interrupted me to ask about Deborah Mailman. I say the fact that people in my life seem particularly interested in Mailman indicates the two of us might have some kind of spiritual connection.
At one point I think about announcing that she and the woman who plays Billie Proudman (Kat Stewart) are my favorite actresses on the show. But then I worry Asher Keddie will find out, and this might offend her.
In another dream...
In the third dream, I'm writing to one of my Australian email-pals while in the closet. I can sort of see him while writing—like I'm getting glimpses of what he looks like. I try to explain why I don't like Ayn Rand (we've been talking about her in real life). I say that one of my friends read her book and admires her. I don't like the political beliefs of this friend, and I describe these views to my email-pal. Since I don't like her views, and I know she got many of them from Rand, I assume I probably won't like Rand.
In real life we did exchange fiction, but we both knew it was fiction.
2. Reminded about Mike Rann leaving his Premier job from Kevin Rudd's Twitter. I thought Rudd's Tweet about it was sweet.
Actually there were three Tweets. I'm guessing he did them all in a row—a way to get around Twitter's word count quota.
He said: Mike Rann leaves the office of Premier of South Australia today with a first class record of achievement for the state. Mike has been attacked relentlessly in office. History will be kind to him. 10 years ago, SA had a narrow and vulnerable economy. Now it is broad and strong. Mike's leadership made a difference.
From what I know of the story, Rann was pushed out. He didn't want to leave. I'm sure Kevin Rudd can relate to that a bit.
3. Read article with accompanying video about Mike Rann.
Although Rann has been angry with the faction that got him pushed out of office, his goodbyes were done graciously. He says he feels malice towards none.
I'm not sure if he REALLY feels that way. But it's nice that he's trying to feel that way.
4. Went to Tallygarunga.
Today I'm going to read the continuation of The Next Step.
It's the love story of James Young and Sergei. I'm not going to type out of his last name. I'm too lazy.
James has been waiting for Sergei's call. He's been wondering if it will ever happen. Then it does! The phone rings.
5. Started to read where I last left off.
James has stubbed his toe.
Hopefully, it's a minor injury.
I once stubbed my toe and it hurt for several weeks.
6. Reminded of myself when I read this on James' post. In truth, James wasn't really interested in 'dating' anymore. He wanted to find someone and settle down. He didn't know why, but he felt like Sergei was that person (or at least had potential to be).
I think the first time I talked to Tim on the phone I wrote in my diary that I was going to marry him; or I wanted to marry him. It sounds quite romantic, since I did end up marrying him.
If I take a more skeptical stance, though, I probably believed that about a lot of people.
I probably assumed every guy I had a crush on was my soul mate.
7. Saw that my Australian of the day is John George Appel.
He was the son of yesterday's Appel.
8. Learned that John George Appel was born in South Brisbane in 1859.
9. Learned that Appel went into law. He became a solicitor.
Appel became law partners with his sister's husband.
10. Saw Appel had local government type jobs—mayor and stuff like that.
In 1893 he tried to get into local parliament. He lost the election.
In 1908 he finally got a seat. He kept it for about 21 years.
11. Learned that Appel died from drinking tainted water.
That's kind of scary.
12. Started to look at another John Lampard Flickr set. This one has art from a cafe in Randwick Sydney.
The cafe is called Stack Cafe.
13. Liked the first picture in a set. I guess it's part of a mural? John describes it as a kaleidoscope.
Yeah. It does look like that.
14. Thought this crocodile was very scary.
I don't like crocodiles too much.
15. Reminded myself that humans are scarier than crocodiles.
Yep.
But....we're cuter.
16. Thought this mural was very well done. It almost looks like a photograph.
Well, it IS a photograph...of course.
I mean the painting inside the photograph looks like a photograph.
17. Thought these women's eyes were a bit spooky.
Then I realized they kind of look like olives.
18. Looked at the Australian Monopoly board.
I'm now on Melbourne.
Well, right now I'm at a station which I think is equivalent to the four railroads in Monopoly. Then tomorrow I'll be on the yellow properties, and those are Melbourne places.
It turns out, though, that that train station for today is a Melbourne one—Flinders Street Station. I've heard of it before; and I've seen pictures. It's a lovely building.
19. Found Flinders Street Station on Google Maps. It's located where Flinders Street meets up with Swanson Street. But it looks like, right below the station, Swanson turns into St. Kilda Road.
20. Learned from Lord Wiki that Flinders Street Station is a popular meeting place for people.
21. Learned that a station was first built in the location in 1854. It was the first train station in Australia.
The current fancy station wasn't built until later.
It started with an architecture contest in 1899.
Is that particularly common in Australia...having contests to pick the design of things? Do we do that in America too?
I know the Opera House and Canberra's design came about in that way.
22. Learned from Lord Wiki that a design partnership called Fawcett and Ashworth won the contest. They designed Flinders Street Station.
The station was built in stages and officially opened in 1910.
Since then there's been a lot of refurbishments.
23. Watched a flash mob at Flinders Street Station.
It's for a group called Youth Decide.
24. Went to the Youth Decide website.
Their mission is preventing climate change.
25. Started to watch another flash mob at Flinders Street Station.
This is one in which people freeze.
It's interesting.
I think it would be more effective seeing it live.
Some of it seemed a bit far-fetched. There were people playing Twister in the middle of the station. Does that really happen?
Maybe....it does in Australia.
26. Watched another video of the frozen Australians.
I think this one was much more effective. I even got a little bit of the goosebumps.
I still don't understand the Twister game.
27. Bombarded by Jack with questions about One Night the Moon. He brought it up because he saw I was reading a book called The Girl Who Chased the Moon. One thing reminded him of the other.
He asked me to sing the title song from One Night the Moon.
I did that.
Well, I sang a line or two.
Then I told him about Rachel Perkins, the director of the movie. I told him about the documentary she made...The First Australians.
I also told him about Paul Kelly—how he was in the movie and how he is also the one who sings "From Little Things Big Things Grow".
28. Remembered that Rachel Perkins made a movie with Deborah Mailman. I don't remember the name offhand. It involved cremation. I saw only a few clip, but I liked what I saw.
I'll go find it.
29. Found it.
It's called Radiance.
And while I was looking for that, I saw Rachel Perkins also made Bran Nue Dae.
I totally forgot she made that.
Deborah Mailman is in that as well.
30. Watched clip from Radiance. I think it's the cremation scene.
No....that's not the scene.
Here's the scene.
31. Disgusted with story about man in Sydney who incited his pit bull to attack four people.
It's like the guy in Ohio. I was totally obsessing over the story yesterday.
At first I was angry at the police for shooting the animals. But the more I read about it, I couldn't really think of a better option.
I AM disturbed by imagining that some of the police might have enjoyed the thrill of hunting the animals. But I'm hoping most are sad and regretful about what happened.
Anyway, I put the blame on the horrible criminal who selfishly kept the animals and selfishly released them before committing suicide.
I disagree with people who say suicide is selfish. I don't think it is. But SOME types of suicide are very selfish. And I would put the Ohio guy in that category.
It's horrible that people are allowed to keep dangerous animals, especially when they have a criminal record. Supposedly the guy in Ohio had a record, and he had been in trouble previously for animal abuse. Yet he managed to keep all these beautiful and exotic animals.
As for the guy in Sydney, he should never be able to own a pet again. That's for sure.
He purposely put the dogs in harms way by pushing it to attack people. The dog has probably been euthanized by now.
The Sydney guy mistreated both animals and people.
32. Went to Langers8294's YouTube Channel.
And....
I didn't look at much because our internet has turned off.
We're having someone work on it right now, so it's probably going to go off and on.
33. Got the internet back.
34. Started to watch a video of a guy named Jon making waffles.
I think Langer2894 is filming the ordeal.
I've gotten the idea that waffles are perceived to be an American thing. That's funny, because I think of them as a Belgian thing.
When we were in Hawaii, though, our Aussie friends were excited about our rental house having a waffle maker. They made some comment about it being so American.
Tim and I had never made waffles in our lives.
No wait. I just unintentionally lied. We had made waffles before. At some cheap hotels they have free breakfasts. Sometimes they'll have a waffle mix ready and waffle maker. You can make your own waffles.
But the first time we really did it on our own was in Hawaii.
Then recently I was reading an Australian novel. Some of the characters were talking about waffles or making waffles. When they did this, one of them imitated an American accent.
So...I don't know.
Maybe as Australians ride kangaroos to school, Americans all make waffles with their waffle makers.
35. Saw one of the waffle-cooking Australians pick something up with his foot.
I do that sometimes.
In one: I'm in a car with people I know, and Deborah Mailman is there. Someone (not sure who) grabs Mailman and pulls her towards them so they can get a closer look at her. Mailman is quite taken aback and doesn't seem pleased. I tell her how recently I was talking to Jack about Offspring. Jack had interrupted me to ask about Deborah Mailman. I say the fact that people in my life seem particularly interested in Mailman indicates the two of us might have some kind of spiritual connection.
Deborah Mailman doesn't seem overly pleased by this. She doesn't seem to like me much; yet she's not leaving us, so I'm thinking she doesn't hate me. She seems to like Jack. She's very interested in a paper he has—something he's drawn and/or written.
At one point I think about announcing that she and the woman who plays Billie Proudman (Kat Stewart) are my favorite actresses on the show. But then I worry Asher Keddie will find out, and this might offend her.
In another dream...
An Aboriginal man has been fighting for native title. At one point, awhile back, he had announced he won't get a TV until the native title thing happens.
It finally happens. As a jovial token of good will, the government buys him a small TV.
In the third dream, I'm writing to one of my Australian email-pals while in the closet. I can sort of see him while writing—like I'm getting glimpses of what he looks like. I try to explain why I don't like Ayn Rand (we've been talking about her in real life). I say that one of my friends read her book and admires her. I don't like the political beliefs of this friend, and I describe these views to my email-pal. Since I don't like her views, and I know she got many of them from Rand, I assume I probably won't like Rand.
Then I panic a bit, because I've been sending this same email pal a fictional story. I worry he'll think it's true; and I don't like the fact that I may have unintentionally lied to him.
In real life we did exchange fiction, but we both knew it was fiction.
2. Reminded about Mike Rann leaving his Premier job from Kevin Rudd's Twitter. I thought Rudd's Tweet about it was sweet.
Actually there were three Tweets. I'm guessing he did them all in a row—a way to get around Twitter's word count quota.
He said: Mike Rann leaves the office of Premier of South Australia today with a first class record of achievement for the state. Mike has been attacked relentlessly in office. History will be kind to him. 10 years ago, SA had a narrow and vulnerable economy. Now it is broad and strong. Mike's leadership made a difference.
From what I know of the story, Rann was pushed out. He didn't want to leave. I'm sure Kevin Rudd can relate to that a bit.
3. Read article with accompanying video about Mike Rann.
Although Rann has been angry with the faction that got him pushed out of office, his goodbyes were done graciously. He says he feels malice towards none.
I'm not sure if he REALLY feels that way. But it's nice that he's trying to feel that way.
4. Went to Tallygarunga.
Today I'm going to read the continuation of The Next Step.
It's the love story of James Young and Sergei. I'm not going to type out of his last name. I'm too lazy.
James has been waiting for Sergei's call. He's been wondering if it will ever happen. Then it does! The phone rings.
5. Started to read where I last left off.
James has stubbed his toe.
Hopefully, it's a minor injury.
I once stubbed my toe and it hurt for several weeks.
6. Reminded of myself when I read this on James' post. In truth, James wasn't really interested in 'dating' anymore. He wanted to find someone and settle down. He didn't know why, but he felt like Sergei was that person (or at least had potential to be).
I think the first time I talked to Tim on the phone I wrote in my diary that I was going to marry him; or I wanted to marry him. It sounds quite romantic, since I did end up marrying him.
If I take a more skeptical stance, though, I probably believed that about a lot of people.
I probably assumed every guy I had a crush on was my soul mate.
7. Saw that my Australian of the day is John George Appel.
He was the son of yesterday's Appel.
8. Learned that John George Appel was born in South Brisbane in 1859.
9. Learned that Appel went into law. He became a solicitor.
Appel became law partners with his sister's husband.
10. Saw Appel had local government type jobs—mayor and stuff like that.
In 1893 he tried to get into local parliament. He lost the election.
In 1908 he finally got a seat. He kept it for about 21 years.
11. Learned that Appel died from drinking tainted water.
That's kind of scary.
12. Started to look at another John Lampard Flickr set. This one has art from a cafe in Randwick Sydney.
The cafe is called Stack Cafe.
13. Liked the first picture in a set. I guess it's part of a mural? John describes it as a kaleidoscope.
Yeah. It does look like that.
14. Thought this crocodile was very scary.
I don't like crocodiles too much.
15. Reminded myself that humans are scarier than crocodiles.
Yep.
But....we're cuter.
16. Thought this mural was very well done. It almost looks like a photograph.
Well, it IS a photograph...of course.
I mean the painting inside the photograph looks like a photograph.
17. Thought these women's eyes were a bit spooky.
Then I realized they kind of look like olives.
18. Looked at the Australian Monopoly board.
I'm now on Melbourne.
Well, right now I'm at a station which I think is equivalent to the four railroads in Monopoly. Then tomorrow I'll be on the yellow properties, and those are Melbourne places.
It turns out, though, that that train station for today is a Melbourne one—Flinders Street Station. I've heard of it before; and I've seen pictures. It's a lovely building.
19. Found Flinders Street Station on Google Maps. It's located where Flinders Street meets up with Swanson Street. But it looks like, right below the station, Swanson turns into St. Kilda Road.
20. Learned from Lord Wiki that Flinders Street Station is a popular meeting place for people.
21. Learned that a station was first built in the location in 1854. It was the first train station in Australia.
The current fancy station wasn't built until later.
It started with an architecture contest in 1899.
Is that particularly common in Australia...having contests to pick the design of things? Do we do that in America too?
I know the Opera House and Canberra's design came about in that way.
22. Learned from Lord Wiki that a design partnership called Fawcett and Ashworth won the contest. They designed Flinders Street Station.
The station was built in stages and officially opened in 1910.
Since then there's been a lot of refurbishments.
23. Watched a flash mob at Flinders Street Station.
It's for a group called Youth Decide.
24. Went to the Youth Decide website.
Their mission is preventing climate change.
25. Started to watch another flash mob at Flinders Street Station.
This is one in which people freeze.
It's interesting.
I think it would be more effective seeing it live.
Some of it seemed a bit far-fetched. There were people playing Twister in the middle of the station. Does that really happen?
Maybe....it does in Australia.
26. Watched another video of the frozen Australians.
I think this one was much more effective. I even got a little bit of the goosebumps.
I still don't understand the Twister game.
27. Bombarded by Jack with questions about One Night the Moon. He brought it up because he saw I was reading a book called The Girl Who Chased the Moon. One thing reminded him of the other.
He asked me to sing the title song from One Night the Moon.
I did that.
Well, I sang a line or two.
Then I told him about Rachel Perkins, the director of the movie. I told him about the documentary she made...The First Australians.
I also told him about Paul Kelly—how he was in the movie and how he is also the one who sings "From Little Things Big Things Grow".
28. Remembered that Rachel Perkins made a movie with Deborah Mailman. I don't remember the name offhand. It involved cremation. I saw only a few clip, but I liked what I saw.
I'll go find it.
29. Found it.
It's called Radiance.
And while I was looking for that, I saw Rachel Perkins also made Bran Nue Dae.
I totally forgot she made that.
Deborah Mailman is in that as well.
30. Watched clip from Radiance. I think it's the cremation scene.
No....that's not the scene.
Here's the scene.
31. Disgusted with story about man in Sydney who incited his pit bull to attack four people.
It's like the guy in Ohio. I was totally obsessing over the story yesterday.
At first I was angry at the police for shooting the animals. But the more I read about it, I couldn't really think of a better option.
I AM disturbed by imagining that some of the police might have enjoyed the thrill of hunting the animals. But I'm hoping most are sad and regretful about what happened.
Anyway, I put the blame on the horrible criminal who selfishly kept the animals and selfishly released them before committing suicide.
I disagree with people who say suicide is selfish. I don't think it is. But SOME types of suicide are very selfish. And I would put the Ohio guy in that category.
It's horrible that people are allowed to keep dangerous animals, especially when they have a criminal record. Supposedly the guy in Ohio had a record, and he had been in trouble previously for animal abuse. Yet he managed to keep all these beautiful and exotic animals.
As for the guy in Sydney, he should never be able to own a pet again. That's for sure.
He purposely put the dogs in harms way by pushing it to attack people. The dog has probably been euthanized by now.
The Sydney guy mistreated both animals and people.
32. Went to Langers8294's YouTube Channel.
And....
I didn't look at much because our internet has turned off.
We're having someone work on it right now, so it's probably going to go off and on.
33. Got the internet back.
34. Started to watch a video of a guy named Jon making waffles.
I think Langer2894 is filming the ordeal.
I've gotten the idea that waffles are perceived to be an American thing. That's funny, because I think of them as a Belgian thing.
When we were in Hawaii, though, our Aussie friends were excited about our rental house having a waffle maker. They made some comment about it being so American.
Tim and I had never made waffles in our lives.
No wait. I just unintentionally lied. We had made waffles before. At some cheap hotels they have free breakfasts. Sometimes they'll have a waffle mix ready and waffle maker. You can make your own waffles.
But the first time we really did it on our own was in Hawaii.
Then recently I was reading an Australian novel. Some of the characters were talking about waffles or making waffles. When they did this, one of them imitated an American accent.
So...I don't know.
Maybe as Australians ride kangaroos to school, Americans all make waffles with their waffle makers.
35. Saw one of the waffle-cooking Australians pick something up with his foot.
I do that sometimes.
Read my novel: The Dead are Online