Speds, Long Lists, Popular Politicians, and Koreans

1. Had a weird dream about Australia.  I remember it a bit vaguely. 

I help create an Australian trip for other people. I hit a snag somewhere and have to make changes.   

Later, I watch a program from the future in which people talk about the trip I planned for them. One of the travelers is Drew Barrymore.  She's an old lady now, but still very cute.   She has long grey hair. I feel a little neglected, because they're not mentioning the fact that I was the one who planned the trip.  Then they do mention it, and they show a photograph of me on the program. I end up feeling shy and embarrassed. 

That goes along well with me craving attention one minute and wanting to hide from the world the next.

2. Started thinking it was weird that I dreamed about Drew Barrymore—not her specifically, really.   I'm just bemused by random celebrity dreams.

Then I went to do my daily tradition of reading dreams from the past.

Today I read one from June 10, 2007.

There were two dreams about Drew Barrymore.

Seeing Drew Barrymore and Sean Astin in a movie together. They sit on couch. I think I look at Sean Astin--trying to decide if I find him attractive.

Something else with Drew Barrymore. Maybe? Something like she's with nude people and she's nude. But they have underwear. And she gets punched in stomach and I feel it. Idea that maybe I'm having a psychic moment...wanting to talk to her and get clarification?

So I guess I'm having a Drew Barrymore day.

3. Listened to an adorable Playschool video my friend sent to me.



I love the song at the beginning.

It's so cheerful and soothing.

I think it would be fun to sing.

Noni Hazlehurst is in the video, later after the song.  Now when I see her, I think of her reading Go the F*** To Sleep

4. Felt very grateful to the two people who emailed me with input on my accent videos. That was very nice of them.

5. Had this song on my mind while taking a shower today, but just the beginning part.



6. Read fascinating article about Kevin Rudd returning to Parliament. He was gone for a few months because of his heart surgery.  

Kevin Rudd is very popular with the general public.  He's not so popular in Parliament.    It seems neither the Labor Party nor the Liberal Party want him returned as leader of the Labor Party. For the Liberal Party, it makes sense to me.   If he's so popular, people will vote for the Labor Party, and the Liberal Party will have to continue on as the opposition party.

Why doesn't the Labor Party want him?

Someone once told me he overworked people.  Could that be one of the main reasons he's disliked?  Is he one of those people that's pleasant on television and in other small doses, but not fun to work with? 

7. Reread the article. A Labor backbencher has vowed to quit Parliament if Kevin Rudd returns to Parliament.

Why?!

It reminds me of when John McEwen made some threat regarding William McMahon becoming Prime Minister.

I forgot the threat.....

8. Remembered the threat. Maybe.

I think he was going to severe the partnership between the Liberal Party and his party. Was it Country?

9. Consulted Lord Wiki. He says I'm right.

Thank you, Lord Wiki.

10. Consulted Lord Wiki about Graham Perrett, the guy who doesn't want Kevin Rudd to be Prime Minister.

He's written a novel.  It's called the Twelfth FishThe Australian gave it a bad review.  

11. Went to Tallygarunga.

Today I'm going to read the beginning of Advanced Charms Terms 4

There seems to be a lot of classroom storylines going on.

I guess there's a new term.

Australians must be finishing with their spring break.

I should be on top of such things.  But I'm not.  

I know there's a break sometime around September or October. But I don't know the exact dates.

12. Looked up Victoria school holidays.  

Tallygarunga is right on schedule.

The new term started on October 10.

I feel bad.

I hadn't realized all the young witches and wizards were on holiday.

I hope they had a good one.

I know Artemesia didn't. That poor girl.

Maybe she'll have a nice summer break.

13. Started to read the story.

There's just one post from professor Adrian.

14. Learned that Adrian secretly loves paperwork.

That's cute.

There're those things that most people hate, and it's kind of funny when someone doesn't hate it.

My thing is fruit cake.  It's so unpopular. People make jokes about it.

I LOVE it.

I guess I'm not alone. Otherwise why would they even sell it?   

15. Saw that my Australian of the day is Daniel Herbert Anthon.  

16. Did some math. There are about 14,358 people in the Australian Dictionary of Biography.

If I write about one person every day, it would take me about 39 years to finish.

I'll try to do that. I'll be almost 80 when I finish.

I would be very lucky to get that far.  

17. Learned that Daniel Herbert Anthon was born in Sydney in 1890.

He became a soldier who fought in World War I.

It sounds like he was a good soldier—like some kind of action hero. The Australian Dictionary of Biography says, A month later, near Beaurevoir, he ran forward through heavy machine-gun fire and, single-handed, captured an enemy-held farm.

That's pretty impressive.

18. Saw that Daniel Anthon also fought in World War II.

19. Went to Sped's YouTube channel

He doesn't have much uploaded yet....only 4 videos.

I'm going to listen to his song. It's called "Dear Friend"



It's quite good for a video that's gotten only 31 views.

He has a very interesting voice.

He sort of reminds me of Cat Stevens.

20. Wondered about the figurines in the background. I wonder what they are.

And are those comics behind Speds?  Or maybe they're magazines.

21. Went to Sped's website.   It's called Psycho Janitor.  

22. Saw that the Psycho Janitor links to Broni's website.

Broni is the one whose song I had in my brain during my shower.

Is Sped Broni??

Is this all some kind of trick?

Maybe it's an alter-ego?

23. Learned that Speds name (according to the Psycho Janitor) is Rob Lisle.

He was in a band called Mightyboy.

And here I thought Speds was new to the whole performing thing.

24. Learned that Broni was in Mightyboy too.

So, Broni and Speds aren't the same person. But they do have a connection.  

25. Went to Sped's blog.  

He talks about a podcast, and has a link to this site.  Actually, the link is broken on his blog.   But he provided enough information so I could get to the site. 

26. Started listening to the Wild Bore podcast.

27. Decided to multitask. I'm going to look at Sped's deviantART page while I listen.  

28. Continued to listen. They say they have a firm that helps celebrities who feel their public image is failing.

I think they're joking.

29. Thought this cartoon by Speds was sweet...charming.

I have to be honest. I don't get a lot of his other stuff.  But I think this happens to me often with comics.

30. Paused the podcast because I need to go feed the cats.

31. Went back to listening to the podcast.

32. Thought of Artemesia Bellerose because they mentioned Mila Kunis. 

33. Learned from the podcast that there's going to be a new Flintstones in 2013.

Here's an article about that. 

I wonder if it will be any good.

It's being made by Seth MacFarlane.  I don't watch any of his stuff.

34. Looked at my new Victoria book.

It turns out they don't have a section for every town.

There's no section for two of the places we plan to stay.  They're on the general maps in the book, though. They just don't have their own section.   I wonder why.....

35. Looked at Google Maps.

I'm still not 100% sure which town near The Great Ocean Road we're going to stay at.

It might be Port Campbell; but I'm also looking at Warrnambool and Torquay.

36. Looked at the website of Torquay Tropicana Motel.  It's one of the places advertised in my beloved Victoria book.  

Back then (1997) the place was owned by Ken and Carol McCallum. I wonder if that's still the case.  

37. Saw that all rooms have wireless internet.  I got excited, but then I realized it doesn't say FREE wireless internet.  

38. Looked at the prices for the rooms. They're not so bad.  

39. Looked at my Victoria book more.

Lorne might be a possibility too.

40. Went to the website of the Sandridge Motel. That was advertised in my book as well.

They charge less per room; but they charge more for the third person.  It comes out about the same.

The problem with Lorne and Torquay is they're both pretty far from The Twelve Apostles.    It's about a 2 hour drive, according to Google Maps.  We'd probably end up just skipping it, and that would be a bit sad.

41. Realized today is the anniversary of the Bali bombing. 

Lord Wiki says 202 people were killed. 88 of them were Australian. 38 were Indonesian.

24 people from the UK were killed. There were also victims from the United States, Germany, Sweden, Netherlands, France, Denmark,  New Zealand, Switzerland, and other countries. 

25. Learned from Lord Wiki that 11 Australians died in the September 11 disaster. And 68 British people died.  That's a lot.

Lord Wiki says 12% of the casualties of 9/11 were foreigners.

26. Learned from Lord Wiki that there's a memorial to the Bali bombing victims in Swanston Street in Melbourne.

There's a fountain with lights. Then on October 12 each year, they turn the fountain off and it becomes a reflecting pool.

There are also memorials in the Gold Coast, Perth, Canberra, and Sydney.

It's all very sad, and it makes me feel like crying.

People shouldn't kill each other.

It's as simple as that.

27. Started to look at Baroo42's Tassie and Back to Sydney Flickr set.  

28. Thought the scenery in this photo looks amazing.

It almost looks like the people are photoshopped. 

29.  Though the coloring in the Tasmania photos looked a bit odd.

I don't know if it's Tasmania, or if Baroo42 used some kind of saturation effect.  

30. Thought it was strange to have a statue of a dead fish.  

31. Saw that the Baroo42 group had another flat tire.  

32. Watched trailer for Let Me In



It's spooky.

The book is spooky.  I think it's probably the first scary vampire story I've read in a long time. Most vampire stories are fun and romantic.  

33. Looked at the Australian Monopoly Board.  

The next street is Barrack Street.

I know in Australia, people "barrack" for a team.  They don't root for a team like Americans do.   That would be a bit too pornographic.

34. Saw on Google Maps that Barrack Street is parallel to William Street.

The street goes through a park; or two parks.  

West of Barrack Street is Alf Curlewis Gardens. East of the street is the Supreme Court Gardens. 

35. Saw that there's a Korean restaurant on Barrack Street.

It's called Arirang Korean BBQ Restaurant

36. Saw that Arirang is a franchise

I'm wondering if there are other Arirang restaurants around.

There's an Arirang BBQ in Irving, California.  But I'm not sure if it's related to the one in Perth.  

37. Saw that there's another Korean restaurant on Barrack Street.  It's called Took Bae Kee II.

Maybe Barrack Street is kind of like a Korea Town type place?

There's a third Korean restaurant called Poppo.

And there could be even more.....

38. Saw that there's a Japanese grocery store on Barrack Street. 

39. Saw that the Consulate for Tanzania is on Barrack Street. 

40. Learned from Lord Wiki that there are 136, 848 Asians living in Perth. They make up 9.47% of the population.

 The neighborhood in Australia with the highest ratio of Asians is Box Hill, Melbourne.  40.04% of it's population is Asian.  

41. Looked up Box Hill on Google Maps.   It's about 20 minutes east of the CBD.  

42. Consulted Lord Wiki about Korean-Australians.

In 2006 there were 150, 873 people in Australia with Korean ancestry.

The majority of Koreans living in Australia live in New South Wales; and the majority of them are Christian.     

43. Learned that there's a young Korean-Australian actress on Neighbours. Her name is Hany Lee, and she plays a character named Sunny Lee.

44. Learned that like her neighbour Pepper Steiger, Sunny Lee also had a same-sex kiss.

This was another case in which it didn't mean very much.

Is there anyone in that town that's actually gay, or do they all just like to experiment?  

45. Learned that the first prominent gay character on Neighbours was Chris Pappas.

46. Learned there's another Korean-Australian actor.

His name is Leonardo Nam.  He has an interesting background. He was born in Argentina.  His ancestry is Korean.  When he was six, his family moved to Sydney.

He's been in some American movies including Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, it's sequel, and He's Just Not That Into You.  

47. Went to Leonardo Nam's website.  

48. Started to watch video about Hany Lee.

I know. I'm really jumping around here. I hope I'm not making anyone too dizzy and confused. 



50. Saw that the Australian dollar is in parity with the American dollar still.

I don't know if I said that right.

I don't know all of this currency lingo.

51. Saw that the Australian dollar is still worth .64 British pounds.

It's at 6.66 Swedish Kroner. It's gone up a teeny tiny bit there.

In Japan, it's worth 76.53 Yen. It's gone up a teeny tiny bit there as well.

52. Tried practicing the Australian accent again, but I kept sounding British.  
I don't know.

Maybe it's really NOT something I can control.  Although I haven't really practiced for long.   It's kind of early to give up.

I'm just wondering....

It could be a matter of my mood and what accents I've heard recently.

53. Tried again and again and again, but I'm unhappy with each of the recording.

I'm not giving up forever.  But I am going to give up for tonight...or at least this hour.

I think I shall go and read my vampire book. 

54. Decided to not read the vampire book yet.

I tried making a recording without reading book.  Instead I just rambled, but only for a minute.  (52 seconds to be exact)

I thought maybe that would work better.   Maybe it would sound less forced.

I don't know.

Maybe it sounds Australian, but probably not.

It probably sounds Kiwi-American or something like that.  

Don't feel obligated to listen.

I wish more people watched my videos, but I've been thinking about it; and I kind of understand why they don't.

I think there's something kind of unnerving about knowing someone from their writing and then hearing them talk....or sing.

I once had a penpal when I was a kid.  We wrote for awhile. Then we talked on the phone and the friendship jumped the shark after that.

It's not always bad though.  Tim and I called each other after being email friends for awhile. That worked out fine.

55. Wondered if hearing someone's voice is close to being as scary as actually meeting them in real life.

I kind of think it is.

But then I think hearing someone's voice before you meet them makes meeting them a little less scary.

Or maybe not.

I met Tracey after seeing her and hearing her on the phone. I was super nervous. I was tempted to hide in the bathroom.

When I met Gina, I had NO idea what she looked like...or sounded like. I was completely in the dark.  But I was less nervous about meeting her.

But maybe that's because I met Tracey first and was totally in love with her.  Since that was such a great experience, maybe I felt more safe about meeting Gina.   

There's also the fact though that I was staying at Tracey's house. It was all a bit scary—staying with someone we've never before.

I was just meeting Gina at an outdoor market. That's a little less daunting.

Anyway, here's me talking.

You can listen to it if you're feeling brave...or have time to kill.