1. Realized I said something yesterday that was a little stupid.
No, actually it was very stupid.
It was about Perth and Hay street. I said there didn't seem to be much there for tourists, and I couldn't understand why the hotels were so expensive.
What I wasn't thinking about is the fact that it's in the middle of the CBD. The street itself might not have much, but the area definitely does.
2. Dreamed about Australia related things.
In one dream....I find that Julian McMahon has his own YouTube channel. There's a video about Universal Studios. I don't want to watch it, and I have an urgency to close the window in case the video might turn on by itself.
It wasn't a magical ghost type thing. On YouTube, you can arrange it that videos automatically start playing when someone comes to your channel.
In the other dream....
Jack and I arrive at an apartment in Sydney. We're waiting for Tim. I find a package from Apple. It has information about the Sydney Apple store and comes with a free stapler and other free office supplies. The phone rings. I ignore it. It ends up being Tim. I didn't consider the fact that he might call. Later he reaches me. I tell him about the Apple package. He's going to the store (not the Apple) one and asks me what we need.
3. Was embarrassed about my mistake.
Then I realized I can just delete it now instead of being embarrassed about it.
Well, I'm still embarrassed, because people probably already read it. But this way no one else will see it.
4. Deleted my lines of stupidity. Although I did keep in the lines about thinking the hotels should be cheaper. Even being in the CBD, I thought they were a bit too high for what they offered.
Yes. I'm cheap.
Okay, but not always. The other day Tim bought these awesome lollipops. They were apple flavored with real caramel. They were SO good. I asked him how much they cost, and he said 25 cents. I was shocked, and said I would have definitely charged a dollar for them. Tim laughed and said something like he was glad I wasn't the one setting the price.
Also, when we stayed in Hawaii, I was very surprised at the cost of one of the hotels. It was much lower than I would have expected.
So.....
I'm sometimes stupid, and I'm sometimes cheap.
But I'm not always cheap and stupid.
5. Looked up Chillingham, New South Wales because it was mentioned in some writing someone sent me.
Google Maps shows it as being about 1.5 hours north-west of Byron Bay.
No, actually it was very stupid.
It was about Perth and Hay street. I said there didn't seem to be much there for tourists, and I couldn't understand why the hotels were so expensive.
What I wasn't thinking about is the fact that it's in the middle of the CBD. The street itself might not have much, but the area definitely does.
2. Dreamed about Australia related things.
In one dream....I find that Julian McMahon has his own YouTube channel. There's a video about Universal Studios. I don't want to watch it, and I have an urgency to close the window in case the video might turn on by itself.
It wasn't a magical ghost type thing. On YouTube, you can arrange it that videos automatically start playing when someone comes to your channel.
In the other dream....
Jack and I arrive at an apartment in Sydney. We're waiting for Tim. I find a package from Apple. It has information about the Sydney Apple store and comes with a free stapler and other free office supplies. The phone rings. I ignore it. It ends up being Tim. I didn't consider the fact that he might call. Later he reaches me. I tell him about the Apple package. He's going to the store (not the Apple) one and asks me what we need.
3. Was embarrassed about my mistake.
Then I realized I can just delete it now instead of being embarrassed about it.
Well, I'm still embarrassed, because people probably already read it. But this way no one else will see it.
4. Deleted my lines of stupidity. Although I did keep in the lines about thinking the hotels should be cheaper. Even being in the CBD, I thought they were a bit too high for what they offered.
Yes. I'm cheap.
Okay, but not always. The other day Tim bought these awesome lollipops. They were apple flavored with real caramel. They were SO good. I asked him how much they cost, and he said 25 cents. I was shocked, and said I would have definitely charged a dollar for them. Tim laughed and said something like he was glad I wasn't the one setting the price.
Also, when we stayed in Hawaii, I was very surprised at the cost of one of the hotels. It was much lower than I would have expected.
So.....
I'm sometimes stupid, and I'm sometimes cheap.
But I'm not always cheap and stupid.
5. Looked up Chillingham, New South Wales because it was mentioned in some writing someone sent me.
Google Maps shows it as being about 1.5 hours north-west of Byron Bay.
What would our world be like if we
knew for sure there
was life after death, and
we could easily talk to our
dearly-departed on the Internet?
The Dead are Online a novel by Dina Roberts
6. Went to Tallygarunga.
Today I'm going to read Term 4 2011-Intermediate Musiciary Class.
The professor in that class is Ivan Valentin. I knew he was part of the vampire-type family, but I wasn't sure if I read his biography or not.
I searched through my blog and found out that I did.
Now I'm rereading parts of that post to refresh my memory.
Ivan is the father who was believed to be dead; but then it turned out he wasn't quite dead. He was a vampire.
Speaking of vampires....
I'm still reading the Swedish vampire book. It's quite good.
7. Started to read about the music class.
It's the evening of October 13th.
I guess the music class is a night class.
Well, maybe that's what works best for a vampire.
8. Intrigued by the class. It's music but definitely not Muggle music. There's magic involved—talk of spells.
I thought maybe they were going to use magic to enhance their music, but instead it seems they're using music as a magical tools.
It's like instead of wands they use violins and other instruments.
9. Read the next post which is from Viktoriya Valentin.
The professor is her dad, and it turns out it's his birthday.
She wishes him a happy birthday as walks into the classroom.
10. Saw that my Australian of the day is Henry Colden Antill.
He was born in my country—New York City in 1779.
His family had been in America for awhile. His great-grandfather had come over in 1680.
If I'm reading this right, Henry's father fought on the British side in the American Independence War.
So I guess, after the war, the Antill family wasn't so popular with the neighbours. They fled to Canada.
11. Learned that Antill joined the British military forces when he was old enough.
During that adventure he became friends with Lachlan Macquarie.
I wonder if that was before or after Macquarie became associated with Australia.
12. Consulted Lord Wiki.
Macquarie was appointed Governor of New South Wales in 1809.
This was after the time he had been doing military-type bonding with Antill.
13. Learned that Antill was with Macquarie when he sailed to Australia in 1809.
In the next few years, he worked with Macquarie on Australia settlement and discovery projects.
14. Started to look at the last page of Baroo42's Australian pictures on Flickr.
After I do this, I shall have to find a new Flickr account to stalk.
15. Thought these rocks looked very neat.
16. Thought this was a very unique photo of the Sydney Opera House.
It's pretty awesome.
17. Wondered if this is a dangerous snake.
18. Saw something shocking in my new Australian travel guide book.
It says there was a wildlife park in or near Parramatta. And connected to the wildlife park was an amusement park called Wonderland Sydney.
Actually, they don't say there was an amusement park and wildlife park.. They say there IS an amusement park and a wildlife park. But the book is a few years old, and I'm thinking the parks are gone. How would I have not have heard of it, otherwise? Even with it being gone, I don't understand why I never heard of it.
I'm going to do some googling.
19. Learned from Lord Wiki that Wonderland Sydney was the largest theme park in the Southern Hemisphere.
How did I miss this?????
I feel like I'm in the Twilight Zone right now.
20. Read about the park.
It opened in 1985 and closed in 2004.
It had Hanna-Barbera characters.
Like Disney's Magic Kingdoms, the park was divided into different lands.
21. Learned that from 1997-2004, Wonderland Sydney was owned by a Malaysian company called the Sunway Group.
22. Followed Lord Wiki's link to a Sydney Morning Herald article about the closure.
I followed it because I wanted to directly see the newspaper's statement that was quoted by Lord Wiki.
The Malaysian company Sunway Group, which has part-owned the theme park since 1997, blames Wonderland's demise on everything except poor management.
Ouch.
To Sunway's defense, there was a lot going on. They listed many factors: September 11, Bali bombings, collapse of Ansett Airlines, the Asian flu, etc.
Business life in the 21st century hasn't been at all easy.
On the other hand, some businesses have managed to survive. So management does play a role.
23. Saw from last line of article that Luna Park had been closed for eight years at that point. It planned to open in April the same month that Wonderland Sydney would be closing.
I'm guessing that wasn't a coincidence.
Did the owners of Luna Park feel they had no chance competing with Wonderland Sydney?
Maybe it's like Harry Potter and Voldemort.
Neither can live while the other survives.
24. Followed Lord Wiki's link to a Wonderland History website.
25. Saw that Wonderland Sydney had 5 lands: Hanna Barbera Land, Medieval Faire/Botany Bay, Goldrush, Transylvania, The Beach.
26. Told Jack about Wonderland Sydney.
He likes amusement parks.
He's a big fan of Disney World.
27. Learned, from this page, that a ride called The Demon was sold to an amusement park in Alabama.
It's at a park called Alabama Adventure, and the ride's name is now Zoomerang.
28. Went to the website for Alabama Adventure. The Zoomerang can be seen on this page.
29. Thought that this balloon ride is the type of ride I like these days. Most of the other rides look way too scary for me.
I like log rides too. For our upcoming Disney trip, Jack is wanting to go on Splash Mountain. It's a pretty intense version of the log ride. If he gathers the courage to try it, I'm wondering if he'll love it enough to go on again. Or will it be a one time only type thing?
30. Watched Wonderland Sydney TV advertisement.
Wouldn't it be fun if the world was Wonderland?
It would be fun, maybe....as long as we didn't have to pay admission every day.
31. Went to Smorgy Vision's YouTube page.
Her profile says, I love coke. That all people need to know.
Is that like Cocaine; or is she just talking about soda?
31. Started to watch Smorgy Vision's London Adventure video.
It features one of those cool penguin toys—the ones where the penguins go down a slide. I think the toy was in one of the Baby Einstein videos.
Also in the video: a Marmite cookbook, squeezable breast toys, and an Obama paper dolls book.
32. Watched Smorgy Vision's video about Bamboozled Jelly Bellies
33. Looked at the Australian Monopoly board.
The next thing on the board for me is the Adelaide Railway Station.
Lord Wiki says it's a dead end station. All the train lines come in from the west. So I guess you can't go any farther east—at least not by train. If you want to head east, you'll have to get out and walk or ride in a car.
34. Found the railway station on Google Maps.
It's near a casino and the Adelaide Convention Centre.
35. Learned from Lord Wiki that the Adelaide Railway station has been around since 1856.
Since that time there's been a lot of rebuilding.
36. Looked at an Adelaide Rail map. I can see the whole dead end thing; except there's a reddish-orange line that continues. It's a tram, though; not a train. And it doesn't go more west. It goes south.
37. Saw an editorial by Don Allan. His argument is that it's not just Christians who have a reason to oppose gay marriage.
I've read something like this before. Maybe it was by Don Allan? Or maybe it was by someone else.
There was nothing in the past editorial that persuaded me that gay marriage might be a bad idea.
Maybe this Don Allan editorial will have something that will make me see things in a different way.
38. Started to read the editorial.
So far, Don's argument seems to be that we can't know for sure that gay marriage is accepted by the population, because who knows if the right questions and the right people were asked.
People seem to remember the fallibility of surveys and polls when they dislike the outcomes. They seem less concerned with validity when they like the outcomes.
39. Read about how Don is agnostic and is against gay marriage.
He says, An identical legally binding contract conferring the same social benefits on same sex couples as a marriage contract confers on man and a woman should also be created. What should it be called? I am in no doubt that sensible homosexual, lesbian and transgender couples could suggest an appropriate name.
I think that's fair....probably.
But I can't really see why the name can't be "marriage". What's the difference?
Although then we can argue, what's the difference if it's NOT called marriage?
Really. It's all about semantics in that case.
Can we call it Marriage II?
Maybe we can just call it a gay marriage. Instead of saying. Hi. We're married, people can say. Hi. We're gay-married.
How often do people say, Hi! We're married?
40. Found myself unable to agree with Don Allan's viewpoint.
He brings children into the whole thing.
His last few sentences are:
On this question it seems to me more care needs to be taken when the wording accompanying pictures of two homosexuals, two lesbians or two transgender people posing with children suggest that the couple's sexual coupling was what caused their conception. The fact is, and much as they might otherwise wish, this cannot be. I also think acceptance would be easier if they stopped using and displaying children in their care like trophies won in what seems to have become an unseemly sex war.
Finally, perhaps both the religious and same sex groups should cast aside their prejudices for a moment and consider the following: in the future religion might disappear but without children there will be no future.
Yes. Gay people can't make babies together when they have sex, and they should stop trying to fool us into thinking otherwise.
And what does he mean by the last line? Are we in danger of having no more children?
I mean I know there's a lot of gay people in the world. But there's still some heterosexuals out there, and some of them are having some sex. Babies are still being made.
On top of that, there are ways for gay people to make babies too....like sperm donor situations.
I'm seriously doubting we're going to run out of babies. I think there's an equal chance of us having a zombie apocalypse.
41. Thought of this.
Let's say something happens, and we ALL turn gay. No one wants to have sex with the opposite gender anymore. On top of that, fertility technology disappears.There's no way to make a baby without sex.
What do we do?
The human race could disappear!
Well, I'm guessing if it came down to that—if we really were going to run out of people, some of us could suck it up and suffer through some heterosexual sex.
Right now, though, we have too many people on Earth and there's no need to worry about homosexuals getting married. It's not going to cause the end of human civilization.
41. Realized I feel the Christian argument against gay marriage is actually more logical than this agnostic one.
If I believed in Jesus and believed that Jesus says it's wrong partake in homosexual activities, it's logical that I'd try to follow that rule and convince others to do the same.
It's not logical, to me, to worry about a lack of babies when our planet is overpopulated.
All in all, though.
I don't believe in Jesus.
I don't believe in God.
I'm not worried about the slow extinction of the human race.
So I'm all for gay marriage.
Well, I'm not really for it. Weddings are expensive, a pain in the ass, and too many marriages end in divorce.
I can't really see the point of being overly excited about any marriage.
So I'll just say, I'm sort of okay with both homosexual and heterosexual marriage.
42. Saw that the Australian dollar has gone up even more. Or the American dollar has gone down. The latter is more likely the case.
The dollar is now worth 1.02 American dollars.
No....
Wait.
It looks like the Australian dollar has actually maybe gone up.
It's worth .65 British pounds. That's the highest I've seen it since I've been looking. It's usually around .63 pounds.
It's worth 6.68 Swedish Kroner. It hasn't changed much there.
It's gone up a bit in Japan. The last time I checked it was worth 76.53 yen. Now it's worth 78.38 yen.