1. Started to watch an episode of Home and Away.
2. Wondered about Maddie's (Kassandra Clementi) cancer. Since I've started watching it, I've not heard what type she has.
I'm guessing it's some kind of cancer that's common in teens.
Maddie seems open to the idea of dying. It's not that she's excited about the idea. But she seems to have accepted the possibility. When she tries to talk to her friends about this, they're dismissive. They act as if death is not an option. Maddie just needs to go through with the treatment, and all will be well.
I'm wondering, then, if Maddie has a very treatable cancer, and she's overreacting. Or is fairly likely she'll die, and her friends just don't know how to respond to that fear?
3. Wondered about this Summer Bay High trip to the Anzac Memorial.
I'm getting the idea that this field trip was not connected to any curriculum.
I think the teachers just brought the kids to the museum with the idea that seeing artifacts would make the kids learn something and feel something.
Evie (Philippa Northeast) sees the field trip as a waste of time—time taken away from what they need to be studying. I'm doubting she'd feel the same way if they were actually studying World War I in history class.
4. Saw that with one short, passionate lecture, Marilyn (Emily Symons) was able to miraculously transform the high school students from callous selfie-taking brats to deep-thinking, caring kids.
5. Had a brief moment of emotion.
It was when Alf added a poppy to the memorial. Evie, who had belittled the war multiple times in front of Alf, watched him and then put her hand on his back as a sign up support.
Evie's rude attitude was fixed by Marilyn's speech, AND also, she was transformed by looking at some stained glass artwork. For some reason, the stained glass made her see the error of her ways.
6. Heard Maddie tell her estranged mom that she has cancer. Her mom asks what type. I was thinking, oh. Funny. The day I wonder about what kind of cancer she has, it's going to be revealed to me.
Except I couldn't understand what Maddie said.
It sounded like Cevarian cancer? Maybe it's cervical cancer? Maybe Australians have a different name than we do?
7. Googled Cevarian cancer Australia and was redirected to cervical cancer.
8. Listened again to see if it might be ovarian cancer.
But it doesn't sound like that.
9. Looked up Maddie's mom, because she looked familar to me.
The actress is Kathryn Hartman. She played Sally Clements on McLeod's Daughters. I'm not sure who that is, but I'm guessing maybe she's the woman who was engaged to Nick (Myles Pollard).
10. Started watching an episode of Tangle.
11. Learned from Tangle, that people in Australia call traffic cones, witches hats.
Or at least some of them do.
12. Had some synchronicity between my episode of Home and Away and my episode of Tangle today.
Both shows have a teenager who has moved out of their home and gone to live with someone else.
On Home and Away, Maddie is living with Roo (Georgie Parker), in Summer Bay, rather than with her mother in the city.
On Tangle, Max (Blake Davis) has left his adopted mother Christine (Catherine McClements) and has gone to live with his birth mother, Nat (Kat Stewart)
Today, in both episodes, the abandoned mother gets mad at the temporary guardian for withholding information.
Maddie's mom is mad that Roo didn't tell her about the cancer.
Christine is mad that she wasn't told that Nat's troublesome ex-boyfriend (Dan Wylie) has come to live in the same house as her son.
13. Tried to figure out how I feel about the above.
I guess I don't know except that I have sympathy for all of them.
I have sympathy for the teens not wanting to share information with their parents.
I have sympathy for the mothers who were kept in the dark.
I have sympathy for the temporary guardians who were caught in the middle of it all.
I've actually thought about something similar before. What would I do if one of my nieces and nephews shared something with me that they didn't tell their parents? And what if Jack shared something with one of my sisters that he didn't share with me?
I think if it's just something personal and not something that puts the child in direct danger, the aunt or uncle should keep it a secret. Sometimes a child needs an adult besides their parent to talk to.
I guess the biggest example that comes to my head is homosexuality. It would be nice if kids could/would come out to their parents first, but if for some reason, they'd rather first come out to an aunt, uncle, or other adult; I think that's fine.
The times where I think parents should be told is when professional intervention is likely to needed— That might include things like suicidal plans, eating disorders, scary medical symptoms, being a victim of crime, etc.
14. Hoped that the second category of things never comes into play for the kids in our family.
I also hope that the kids in our family feel most comfortable talking to their parents. And if not, I hope all of us parents can be forgiving of the other adult who hears the information first.
15. Went to the Tropfest website.
The film I'm going to watch today is a 2010 finalist called "My Neighbourhood has Been Overrun by Baboons".
It looks animated and not the type of animated movie I like.
16. Decided to dislike all Tropfest finalist films by default.
Hopefully, every so often a film will make me veer away from my default setting.
17. Started to question the Tropfest judges.
At the very least, I know they don't have the same taste in film than I do.
18. Started watching the film.
19. Finished watching the baboon film.
I'll have to step away from my default mood, mostly for the song.
The film is a music video.
It's cute.
20. Saw that the script consultant for "My Neighbourhood has Been Overrun by Baboons" was Simon Butters.
I can see from IMDb that Butters has done a lot of writing and/or script work for popular teen/kid shows in Australia—Pirate Islands, Scooter: Secret Agent, Wicked Science, H20: Just Add Water, The Elephant Princess, etc.
21. Consulted Lord Wiki about The Dairy Brothers. They're the ones who are responsible for the Baboon song. If I'm understanding Lord Wiki correctly, The Dairy Brothers also do work as the band The Beards. I think I have one of their songs on my Spotify list. It's about beards.
22. Got the name of the song from Lord Wiki. It's "You Should Consider Having Sex with a Bearded Man".
23. Started watching the video for "All the Bearded Ladies".
I expected it to be a parody of "All the Single Ladies", but it's not.
24. Liked the sound of the song.
I'm not sure I care about the lyrics.
25. Learned from Lord Wiki that The Beards have at least forty-eight songs about beards.
I think that would get old after awhile...but maybe not, if someone is really into beards.
Are there people who are that into beards?
26. Found a website that asks, who's better, The Beards or The Dairy Brothers?
Is that a joke, or did Lord Wiki mislead me?
27. Visited one of Lord Wiki's cousins—a guy who has a passion for the Adelaide music scene.
He says members of The Beards ended up forming The Dairy Brothers.
28. Saw I got it backwards.
The Beards didn't become the Dairy Brothers. The Dairy Brothers became The Beards.
29. Started watching "Grapefruit" by the Dairy Brothers.
30. Thought the song brings up some important questions and issues.
Why is a grapefruit called a grapefruit when it is nothing like a grape?
Why is a pineapple called a pineapple when it has nothing to do with an apple?
Really. Who made up these names?
31. Thought of eggplants.
That's a crazy one too.
32. Thought maybe Australians call eggplants a different name.
I think I may have come across it at some point.
33. Learned that Australians call eggplant, Aubergine.
Or at least the British do. I'm assuming Australians use the same word.
34. Learned from this website that eggplant got that name because the white and yellow versions of the fruit were thought to look like goose eggs.
35. Started to watch video of Wolfmother singing "Wuthering Heights".
I was inspired to do so, because Jack and I learned about the novel today.
36. Thought I had another cover of the song on my Australian Spotify list.
I don't remember who sang it, though.
I'm pretty sure it's not Wolfmother.
37. Looked at the list.
It's Josh Pyke.
I'm not sure who he is.
I assume he's Australian.
38. Decided to look at my Spotify list and see if I have any other Josh Pyke songs.
39. Liked the Josh Pyke cover of the song better than the Wolfmother one, but I don't dislike the Wolfmother one.
40. Saw that I have only one other Josh Pyke song on my Spotify list. It's called "Particles".
I'm not sure I've ever listened to it.
Sometimes I add songs; then never hear them.
My Spotify lists are WAY too long.
41. Started to listen to "Particles".
It doesn't sound familar to me.
I wonder which song I added first—"Particles" or "Wuthering Heights".
And how did I hear of Josh Pyke in the first place?
Did I hear one of his songs on a TV Show? Was I looking at a list of Aussie singers so I could grow my Spotify list into something massive?
42. Decided I should listen to the original Kate Bush version of "Wuthering Heights".
I have a hard time watching and listening it.
It's creepy in an American Horror Story kind of way.
I like American Horror Story, but I don't want to associate Kate Bush with that.
I want to associate her with Kevin Bacon in the hospital waiting room.