1. Started watching an episode of Neighbours.
2. Did not like Nate's (Meyne Wyatt) rudeness towards Aaron (Matt Wilson).
Nate demands that Aaron sign an exclusive male dancer contract for Sheila (Colette Mann). In the same conversation, he heavily criticizes Aaron's career choice.
The thing is, some people like to see almost-naked people dancing. They like the human body. It makes them happy. If other people are happy providing that and get paid well; what's the harm?
3. Realized the storyline is somewhat similar to the early Neighbour's storyline with Daphne (Elaine Smith) being a stripper. Most of the people on Ramsey street were tolerant of Daphne's career choice, but Max Ramsey (Francis Bell) was prejudiced about the whole thing.
4. Liked Imogen's (Ariel Kaplan) simple comforting words to Daniel (Tim Phillips). I know things are really hard right now, but it's going to be okay.
She acknowledges his bad situation; doesn't dismiss it. Then she offers realistic hope.
I don't think it would be appropriate to tell someone with cancer it's going to be okay; or someone who's waiting for a medical diagnosis. Then it might be about clumsy false reassurances.
But Daniel is dealing with a break-up. I think with loss, whether by death or break up, things will USUALLY end up being okay. Eventually. It might take months, or even years. But I think most people eventually pull through.
5. Liked that Kyle (Chris Milligan) pointed out Paul's (Stefan Dennis) hypocrisy.
Paul accuses Kyle of not doing anything to protect his daughter Amy (Zoe Cramond) from men whistling at her while she works. Kyle reminds Paul that he was in on a bet involving Kyle's wife Georgia (Saskia Hampele). The bet involved major sexual harassment—a person in authority trying to trick Georgia into sleeping with him.
Sometimes people are okay with things happening to other people...as long as it doesn't hit home.
6. Liked how Kyle handled the whistling men. He approached them in a peaceful manner—even offered them beer. He asked them to stop whistling at Amy, because it made her uncomfortable. The man was apologetic, said he meant it as a compliment, and said he'd stop.
I think someone whistling at someone is neither okay or not okay. It depends on the situation and the person being whistled at. Sometimes it can be taken as a compliment, and sometimes it can be hurtful and offensive.
I saw an Amy Schumer thing recently where she talks about it. I think what she said is that when she was young it bothered her. Then when she got older, she loved to hear it. There's probably a lot of truth to that. Young women often get a lot of attention for how they look. It can start to feel like that's all anyone notices, or that's all that matters. Then when they get older, their looks might start to fade, and some of us women start to feel less valued.
There were times that I felt my college boyfriend liked me only for how I looked; or at least that's what he liked most about me. It bothered me. But now I kind of miss that feeling of feeling beautiful.
Yes, it's what's inside that counts more—our soul, personality, and all that. But I don't think we need to completely dismiss physical beauty. I think it has some value and importance. We have no problems admiring things like a sunset, painting, colorful bird, cityscape, flower, etc. So why do we sometimes feel so conflicted about admiring a physically attractive person or wanting to be a physically attractive person?
7. Decided the problem is when all we care about is the physical.
For example, I personally don't think it's horrible that Amy was whistled as. I would, though, think it's bad if the men said insulting things about her being a woman doing carpentry work.
I think it's fine that Aaron dances for money, and I think it's fine that people enjoy watching him. I wouldn't think it's fine if people assumed, because Aaron has a nice body, he must be lacking in brains and/or personality.
If my college boyfriend was very impressed with my beauty but didn't think much of my personality; it wouldn't be fair for him to be dating me.
8. Started to watch an episode of Packed to the Rafters.
9. Saw Nathan (Angus McLaren) talking to a kidney transplant coordinator (Andrew Crabbe).
The coordinator says he wants to make sure Nathan isn't wanting to donate his kidney for the wrong reasons.
One of the wrong reasons is to win back his wife. I agree that's the wrong reason....mainly because it's not likely going to work.
I'm not sure I agree with some of the other wrong reasons—to validate himself and fill an emptiness inside of him. Or something like that.
I don't think those are horrible reasons. If someone is having a really hard time in life; it might be helpful to their soul/psyche to make a huge sacrifice. It might be extremely helpful to save the life of someone they love.
10. Thought about how when people go through a very difficult time, they sometimes indulge in self-destructive behavior. Losing a kidney is very destructive but at the same time, it's very constructive.
Isn't better to lose a kidney because you're donating it to your grandma than to lose parts of your liver, because you're drinking away your sorrow every night?
11. Heard song on Packed to the Rafters that I'm pretty sure I also heard on Offspring.
I need to look it up.
12. Tried to use the Channel 7 Packed to the Rafters music page, but it's too confusing.
It's very unorganized.
I'll have to go with the lyrics.
13. Struggled and failed. There's a lot of talking over the music, so I can't really get enough to search.
So far, what I have is so long so long; now I'm lost; and your parents, my parents.
14. Had a feeling the singer is named Holly something. Maybe I'll use that and try to find the song on my Spotify playlist.
15. Found the singer I'm thinking of. It's Holly Throsby. But Spotify has only one song from her.
I'll look on YouTube.
16. Found the song! It's "Now I Love". And I'm right about it being Holly Throsby.
Am I right about it being on Offspring?
17. Searched for Holly Throsby and Offspring, and got my own damn blog.
A year ago, I heard the song and thought it was from Offspring. But I couldn't find anything to verify that.
18. Wondered if I'm forever going to be on this loop. Maybe every year, I'm going to hear "Now I Love"; think it's from Offspring; learn that it's not; and then forget again.
19. Continued to believe the song might have been on Offspring. Maybe it just hasn't been verified anywhere on the Internet.
Or the information is out there, and I'm simply not seeing it.
20. Cried a bit when Nathan gave his reasons to the coordinator for why he wants to donate.
It's hard to explain it
Maybe I'll try.
He was inspired by what his Dad (Eric Thomson) said at baby Ruby's naming ceremony—something about love being a two way street. You give love, and you get love back.
So, Nathan tells the coordinator that yes, he's donating his kidney for himself. He's doing it for selfish reasons, and he's not going to apologize for that.
If you do something good for someone, you're going to feel good about yourself. Probably. It's hard to avoid that. If you FEEL too good about yourself; then there's a problem.
If Nathan becomes smug about donating a kidney; that's not good.
If he feels content about donating a kidney, I think that's lovely.
21. Decided to watch another Packed to the Rafters episode.
I wasn't sure, because I'm not sure I'll have time to do that and also watch a Triple J music video and watch a Neighbours backstage video.
I decided to give priority to Packed to the Rafters.
22. Saw that John Howard is in this episode—the actor; not the former Prime Minister.
Or maybe it is the Prime Minister. That would be a surprise.
23. Thought Rachel (Jessica Marais) was a bit rude.
Jake (James Stewart) and his brother Alex (Kristian Schmid) have finally moved out of their mother's home. They've gotten a place together.
I was actually impressed with the size of their new home. I thought Rachel might be impressed too. But no. She's more worried about the mess. Jake said they wanted to move in fast, and so they told the previous owners not to clean.
I didn't think it looked horribly messy. I thought it looked like a place where people are busy moving in and unpacking their stuff.
Jake asks if Rachel might want to help unpack the kitchen. She politely declines, because she already has plans. That's fine. Then he asks her to come by in the evening for their small house warming party. With skepticism, Rachel asks if he thinks the house will be ready by then.
I think the nice thing to say would have been, After I get done, I'll come by and help you guys.
24. Saw that John Howard plays Dave's father—the one is prison.
25. Took a screenshot of Jake and Alex's house.
Is that really so bad?
Rachel seems quite bothered by it...in a snobby kind of way.
Maybe it's just that I'm a slob, and I'm used to this kind of living space.
26. Was grossed out by stain on couch.
I'm with Rachel in terms of refusing to sit on it.
27. Had no idea what Rachel meant when she said, If you drop your wallet, kick it all the way home.
This is in reference to Dave and Nathan going to the prison to finally meet the other patriarch of the family.
28. Googled, and saw people using the phrase to reference areas with high concentrations of people who are homosexual.
And though I don't think there is a high proportion of gay people in prison; rumor has it that there's a lot of homosexual activity.
I guess what Rachel is saying don't bend down, because the prisoners might be too interested in Dave and Nathan's butts.
29. Had idea from what I'm seeing in Google, that it's a phrase that's used by homophobic people.
Or maybe I'm wrong.
30. Felt bad for Chel (Gillian Jones).
When Dave and Nathan go to the prison and meet Tom (The dad/grandfather), they learn that he doesn't have any memory of Chel. He's a slut and has slept with many woman.
To Chel, Tom was very important. It seems as though she was very much in love with him—so much so that she had a nervous breakdown when her parents told her he had died.
Now Chel doesn't know yet that Tom doesn't remember her. And maybe Dave will protect her from that information. But still.
It's sad to think someone important from our past might not remember us at all.
31. Realized that there might be someone out there that sees me as an important part of their past, and I don't remember them.
32. Saw Chel get the news about Tom not remembering her. Well, Dave didn't blurt it out. But she asked the right questions and figured it out for herself.
33. Thought Rachel was a bitch in this episode.
She gets mad at Jake and Alex for letting their mom clean and make them a lasagne.
I can understand, to some degree, where she's coming from. She's worried they're going to be the type of men who are complete slobs and depend on women to take care of them. It could turn into that, and that would be quite awful.
But at this point, I see it as a mother doing a favor for her sons who have a big job in front of them.
Couldn't the lasagne be seen as a housewarming present?
34. Hoped that Alex and Jake didn't sit around watching TV while their mother cleaned. That would be gross, and I wouldn't blame Rachel for being annoyed.
But maybe they worked too?
Or maybe not.
I personally think Rachel should have done more to help them with the moving in work.
Then again, I don't think I've ever helped anyone move in anywhere. And I can't remember anyone helping me.
Well, no. Wait. I think my parents and sisters helped me when I moved into college.
My parents helped me move when I went to graduate school.
They might have helped me in New York as well.
They at least gave me a huge help financially with all that. I'm pretty sure they helped with some cleaning and organizing as well.
35. Felt I might not be a good one to talk about this, because I probably do too much cleaning up for Jack.
I'd rather clean than battle.
I figure he'll either be a total slob and the mess won't bother him; or he'll marry another slob, and they'll happily live in squaller together.
OR he'll realize he likes things clean, and since Momma aint there to do it for him, he'll start doing the work himself.
Other option: He could end up partnered with someone who doesn't mind cleaning up after him.
36. Remembered that I didn't do much housework growing up, and through the years, I've managed to do house-cleaning chores.
I do a lot of it. We don't have a housekeeper, and my mom doesn't come over to clean out house.
2. Did not like Nate's (Meyne Wyatt) rudeness towards Aaron (Matt Wilson).
Nate demands that Aaron sign an exclusive male dancer contract for Sheila (Colette Mann). In the same conversation, he heavily criticizes Aaron's career choice.
The thing is, some people like to see almost-naked people dancing. They like the human body. It makes them happy. If other people are happy providing that and get paid well; what's the harm?
3. Realized the storyline is somewhat similar to the early Neighbour's storyline with Daphne (Elaine Smith) being a stripper. Most of the people on Ramsey street were tolerant of Daphne's career choice, but Max Ramsey (Francis Bell) was prejudiced about the whole thing.
4. Liked Imogen's (Ariel Kaplan) simple comforting words to Daniel (Tim Phillips). I know things are really hard right now, but it's going to be okay.
She acknowledges his bad situation; doesn't dismiss it. Then she offers realistic hope.
I don't think it would be appropriate to tell someone with cancer it's going to be okay; or someone who's waiting for a medical diagnosis. Then it might be about clumsy false reassurances.
But Daniel is dealing with a break-up. I think with loss, whether by death or break up, things will USUALLY end up being okay. Eventually. It might take months, or even years. But I think most people eventually pull through.
5. Liked that Kyle (Chris Milligan) pointed out Paul's (Stefan Dennis) hypocrisy.
Paul accuses Kyle of not doing anything to protect his daughter Amy (Zoe Cramond) from men whistling at her while she works. Kyle reminds Paul that he was in on a bet involving Kyle's wife Georgia (Saskia Hampele). The bet involved major sexual harassment—a person in authority trying to trick Georgia into sleeping with him.
Sometimes people are okay with things happening to other people...as long as it doesn't hit home.
6. Liked how Kyle handled the whistling men. He approached them in a peaceful manner—even offered them beer. He asked them to stop whistling at Amy, because it made her uncomfortable. The man was apologetic, said he meant it as a compliment, and said he'd stop.
I think someone whistling at someone is neither okay or not okay. It depends on the situation and the person being whistled at. Sometimes it can be taken as a compliment, and sometimes it can be hurtful and offensive.
I saw an Amy Schumer thing recently where she talks about it. I think what she said is that when she was young it bothered her. Then when she got older, she loved to hear it. There's probably a lot of truth to that. Young women often get a lot of attention for how they look. It can start to feel like that's all anyone notices, or that's all that matters. Then when they get older, their looks might start to fade, and some of us women start to feel less valued.
There were times that I felt my college boyfriend liked me only for how I looked; or at least that's what he liked most about me. It bothered me. But now I kind of miss that feeling of feeling beautiful.
Yes, it's what's inside that counts more—our soul, personality, and all that. But I don't think we need to completely dismiss physical beauty. I think it has some value and importance. We have no problems admiring things like a sunset, painting, colorful bird, cityscape, flower, etc. So why do we sometimes feel so conflicted about admiring a physically attractive person or wanting to be a physically attractive person?
7. Decided the problem is when all we care about is the physical.
For example, I personally don't think it's horrible that Amy was whistled as. I would, though, think it's bad if the men said insulting things about her being a woman doing carpentry work.
I think it's fine that Aaron dances for money, and I think it's fine that people enjoy watching him. I wouldn't think it's fine if people assumed, because Aaron has a nice body, he must be lacking in brains and/or personality.
If my college boyfriend was very impressed with my beauty but didn't think much of my personality; it wouldn't be fair for him to be dating me.
8. Started to watch an episode of Packed to the Rafters.
9. Saw Nathan (Angus McLaren) talking to a kidney transplant coordinator (Andrew Crabbe).
The coordinator says he wants to make sure Nathan isn't wanting to donate his kidney for the wrong reasons.
One of the wrong reasons is to win back his wife. I agree that's the wrong reason....mainly because it's not likely going to work.
I'm not sure I agree with some of the other wrong reasons—to validate himself and fill an emptiness inside of him. Or something like that.
I don't think those are horrible reasons. If someone is having a really hard time in life; it might be helpful to their soul/psyche to make a huge sacrifice. It might be extremely helpful to save the life of someone they love.
10. Thought about how when people go through a very difficult time, they sometimes indulge in self-destructive behavior. Losing a kidney is very destructive but at the same time, it's very constructive.
Isn't better to lose a kidney because you're donating it to your grandma than to lose parts of your liver, because you're drinking away your sorrow every night?
11. Heard song on Packed to the Rafters that I'm pretty sure I also heard on Offspring.
I need to look it up.
12. Tried to use the Channel 7 Packed to the Rafters music page, but it's too confusing.
It's very unorganized.
I'll have to go with the lyrics.
13. Struggled and failed. There's a lot of talking over the music, so I can't really get enough to search.
So far, what I have is so long so long; now I'm lost; and your parents, my parents.
14. Had a feeling the singer is named Holly something. Maybe I'll use that and try to find the song on my Spotify playlist.
15. Found the singer I'm thinking of. It's Holly Throsby. But Spotify has only one song from her.
I'll look on YouTube.
16. Found the song! It's "Now I Love". And I'm right about it being Holly Throsby.
Am I right about it being on Offspring?
17. Searched for Holly Throsby and Offspring, and got my own damn blog.
A year ago, I heard the song and thought it was from Offspring. But I couldn't find anything to verify that.
18. Wondered if I'm forever going to be on this loop. Maybe every year, I'm going to hear "Now I Love"; think it's from Offspring; learn that it's not; and then forget again.
19. Continued to believe the song might have been on Offspring. Maybe it just hasn't been verified anywhere on the Internet.
Or the information is out there, and I'm simply not seeing it.
20. Cried a bit when Nathan gave his reasons to the coordinator for why he wants to donate.
It's hard to explain it
Maybe I'll try.
He was inspired by what his Dad (Eric Thomson) said at baby Ruby's naming ceremony—something about love being a two way street. You give love, and you get love back.
So, Nathan tells the coordinator that yes, he's donating his kidney for himself. He's doing it for selfish reasons, and he's not going to apologize for that.
If you do something good for someone, you're going to feel good about yourself. Probably. It's hard to avoid that. If you FEEL too good about yourself; then there's a problem.
If Nathan becomes smug about donating a kidney; that's not good.
If he feels content about donating a kidney, I think that's lovely.
21. Decided to watch another Packed to the Rafters episode.
I wasn't sure, because I'm not sure I'll have time to do that and also watch a Triple J music video and watch a Neighbours backstage video.
I decided to give priority to Packed to the Rafters.
22. Saw that John Howard is in this episode—the actor; not the former Prime Minister.
Or maybe it is the Prime Minister. That would be a surprise.
23. Thought Rachel (Jessica Marais) was a bit rude.
Jake (James Stewart) and his brother Alex (Kristian Schmid) have finally moved out of their mother's home. They've gotten a place together.
I was actually impressed with the size of their new home. I thought Rachel might be impressed too. But no. She's more worried about the mess. Jake said they wanted to move in fast, and so they told the previous owners not to clean.
I didn't think it looked horribly messy. I thought it looked like a place where people are busy moving in and unpacking their stuff.
Jake asks if Rachel might want to help unpack the kitchen. She politely declines, because she already has plans. That's fine. Then he asks her to come by in the evening for their small house warming party. With skepticism, Rachel asks if he thinks the house will be ready by then.
I think the nice thing to say would have been, After I get done, I'll come by and help you guys.
24. Saw that John Howard plays Dave's father—the one is prison.
25. Took a screenshot of Jake and Alex's house.
Is that really so bad?
Rachel seems quite bothered by it...in a snobby kind of way.
Maybe it's just that I'm a slob, and I'm used to this kind of living space.
26. Was grossed out by stain on couch.
I'm with Rachel in terms of refusing to sit on it.
27. Had no idea what Rachel meant when she said, If you drop your wallet, kick it all the way home.
This is in reference to Dave and Nathan going to the prison to finally meet the other patriarch of the family.
28. Googled, and saw people using the phrase to reference areas with high concentrations of people who are homosexual.
And though I don't think there is a high proportion of gay people in prison; rumor has it that there's a lot of homosexual activity.
I guess what Rachel is saying don't bend down, because the prisoners might be too interested in Dave and Nathan's butts.
29. Had idea from what I'm seeing in Google, that it's a phrase that's used by homophobic people.
Or maybe I'm wrong.
30. Felt bad for Chel (Gillian Jones).
When Dave and Nathan go to the prison and meet Tom (The dad/grandfather), they learn that he doesn't have any memory of Chel. He's a slut and has slept with many woman.
To Chel, Tom was very important. It seems as though she was very much in love with him—so much so that she had a nervous breakdown when her parents told her he had died.
Now Chel doesn't know yet that Tom doesn't remember her. And maybe Dave will protect her from that information. But still.
It's sad to think someone important from our past might not remember us at all.
31. Realized that there might be someone out there that sees me as an important part of their past, and I don't remember them.
32. Saw Chel get the news about Tom not remembering her. Well, Dave didn't blurt it out. But she asked the right questions and figured it out for herself.
33. Thought Rachel was a bitch in this episode.
She gets mad at Jake and Alex for letting their mom clean and make them a lasagne.
I can understand, to some degree, where she's coming from. She's worried they're going to be the type of men who are complete slobs and depend on women to take care of them. It could turn into that, and that would be quite awful.
But at this point, I see it as a mother doing a favor for her sons who have a big job in front of them.
Couldn't the lasagne be seen as a housewarming present?
34. Hoped that Alex and Jake didn't sit around watching TV while their mother cleaned. That would be gross, and I wouldn't blame Rachel for being annoyed.
But maybe they worked too?
Or maybe not.
I personally think Rachel should have done more to help them with the moving in work.
Then again, I don't think I've ever helped anyone move in anywhere. And I can't remember anyone helping me.
Well, no. Wait. I think my parents and sisters helped me when I moved into college.
My parents helped me move when I went to graduate school.
They might have helped me in New York as well.
They at least gave me a huge help financially with all that. I'm pretty sure they helped with some cleaning and organizing as well.
35. Felt I might not be a good one to talk about this, because I probably do too much cleaning up for Jack.
I'd rather clean than battle.
I figure he'll either be a total slob and the mess won't bother him; or he'll marry another slob, and they'll happily live in squaller together.
OR he'll realize he likes things clean, and since Momma aint there to do it for him, he'll start doing the work himself.
Other option: He could end up partnered with someone who doesn't mind cleaning up after him.
36. Remembered that I didn't do much housework growing up, and through the years, I've managed to do house-cleaning chores.
I do a lot of it. We don't have a housekeeper, and my mom doesn't come over to clean out house.