Yara-ma-yha-who, Birketts, Christmas, and John Lampard

1. Started reading a new book. It's called The Sweet Terrible Glorious Year I Truly Completely Lost It.  It's written by Lisa Shanahan.

I've read only the first page, so I can't tell if it's good or not. 

2. Saw the Jirrahlinga Koala and Wildlife Sanctuary in my Victoria guidebook.

I googled to see if they were still in business.  They are. But sadly they had a horrible fire. 

Six of their koalas died.

3. Read an article about the fire. It's not known how it happened. 

It's really sad.

4. Considered Anglesea for the coastal place we'll visit in Victoria.

It's on the Great Ocean Road which is nice.  It's a bit too far from the Twelve Apostles.  But now I'm asking myself, do I really need to see it?   I've seen it a thousand times in photos.  Is it important to see it in person; or will I be just as happy seeing other cliff walk scenes?

5. Liked that the Port Campbell Holiday Park has free wireless internet in their cabins. That's great.   It's too bad Disney World can't say the same. 

We do get free internet because we're in the Disney Vacation Club.  It's one of the perks.  But it's not wireless. You have to use a cable connection; so only one of us can go on the internet at a time. It's pretty ridiculous. You'd think a company like Disney would be more high tech.  

6. Thought Summer's Rest Units Port Campbell sounded nice. And I like the prices. But the name? It reminds me of a funeral home.  

7. Read about Anglesea and Airey's Inlet on this Victoria website.

It sounds really nice.  

8. Consulted Lord Wiki about The Great Ocean Road.

He says it's not just the Twelve Apostles that's in Port Campbell National Park.  The London Arch and the Grotto are there as well. I think I've seen those in photos. I probably WOULD like to see them in real life.

Maybe we'll go to Port Campbell after all.  

9. Played around with Victoria on Google Maps.

I'm very excited about our plans.

We're actually not going very far, which is good. I prefer short car rides.

We have two days with three hours drives.  Then the other days are all around an hour or so.

10. Realized I will probably have to change all our plans, because I think something's going on the weekend we planned to go.  On one of the holiday park sites, it showed that weekend as being high season.  That was for 2011, but it was around the weekend we were going. I had a feeling the high season would be repeated in 2012, but I was hoping I was wrong.

Now I'm looking at another holiday park and they're already sold out for that weekend.

11. Saw that there's a Port Fairy Folk Festival that weekend.

The sad thing is I already knew that.  I already went through all this. I changed my all our plans.  Then I forgot about it and changed the plans back.

I'm so lost sometimes.

12. Fixed the calendar. All is well, except now we have three days of three hour driving.

But that's not a huge deal.

13. Went to Tallygarunga.

Today I'm reading another classroom story.

It's Advanced Broom Flying. 

The professor of that class is the one James Young is crushing on—Sergei Zhalobov Bogaevsky.

14. Started to read.

It's the afternoon of Wednesday October 12.

Sergei is sweating. He's from Russia, and is not used to Australia's heat.

Oh!   He has a relationship with James now. It's gone beyond that nervous phone call.

It says here,  He was comfortable (apart from the heat) and feeling much better than he had been for a long time. Most of that was James. Even though Sergei was still anxious about their relationship, he couldn't deny the Australian man made him happy.

I'm so happy for them.

I love good news...even when it's fictional.

15. Decided for brevity's sake, when talking about Lisa Shanahan's book, I will refer to it by it's Australian title, My Big Birkett.  

Anyway, I'm now on chapter seven of My Big Birkett. The book's okay, but it reminds me of the fiction I wrote when I was about thirteen or fourteen.  It's very over the top.

Then again, some of the Dursley stuff in Harry Potter is over the top.

I guess it's just exaggerated characterizations.  There's a lot of prejudice, uptight, and controlling men out there, but I don't think they're often as obvious as Vernon Dursley.

Most characters in the real world are more subtle.

16. Saw that my Australian of the day is John Henry Antill.

I see no indication that he's related to the Antill I wrote about yesterday.  But I peaked ahead. The Antill I'm writing about tomorrow is the grandson of yesterday's Antill.

17. Saw that John Henry Antill was born in Sydney in 1904.

18. Learned that Antill's thing was music.

He became an apprentice in the railroad industry.

While he was doing that, he wrote operas in his spare time.

That's very cool.

His father had reservations about music as a career.  That's why Antill had pursued the railway thing.  But then he decided to be brave and go for the music thing.

That's even more cool.

What is it about parents not wanting their children to pursue their artistic dreams?

I think I'd be more understanding towards parents who didn't like the arts.  They don't like reading.   They don't watch television. They don't go to art museums.  They don't listen to music much. It makes sense that they'd have no respect for that career choice.

But what about the parents who love all that?   Why would they believe in other artists, but not their own child?   I guess they could feel their child is not talented enough.  That would be one reason, I suppose.  But if they can see talent in their child, why not encourage them?   Yes, it's a risk.  But if they're unwilling to watch their child take the risk, they shouldn't be enjoying the artistry of other talented people who have taken that risk.

It's like people who support the war in theory.  But they then declare they'd never allow their own offspring to fight.  I've actually encountered this before.

19. Learned that Antill ended up going to music school. He attended the New South Wales State Conservatorium of Music which Lord Wiki says is now called the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. It's located near the Royal Botanical Gardens.

We've probably walked past it.

20. Saw Lord Wiki's pictures of the building. It reminds me of the building I saw when I was depressed and walking through The Royal Botanical Gardens.  Maybe it's sort of in the gardens? Or maybe I kind of walked out of the gardens?

Or maybe there's another building that looks like that.

It kind of looks like a castle.

21. Learned that Antill worked for the ABC for awhile.

At one point he was the conductor for the Wireless Chorus. I'm guessing from the name that it was a chorus heard on the radio.

22. Found a picture on Flickr of the Wireless Chorus.

It's from October 1939, and if I'm understanding the Australian Dictionary of Australia right, Antill stopped being the conductor in July 1939.  So he's probably not in the photo.

23. Learned that Antill is best known for his ballet about Aboriginal people— Corroboree. 

Here's some music from that.



It kind of reminds me of the music John Williams would do for a scary scene—like Jaws type stuff. 

24. Looked at the route from Melbourne to Halls Gap.  There're a lot of places we can stop.

It's only a three hour drive.

But we'll probably want to eat, and we'll have to pee.

We can stop at Bacchus Marsh, Ballarat, Beaufort, Ballan, Ararat, or maybe somewhere else.

25. Looked at places to stop between Halls Gap and Port Campbell.

There's Lake Bolac.

I consulted Lord Wiki about that place.  He says they had a tornado in 2006. There was about 2 million dollars worth of damage.

26. Saw that we can also stop at Terang and/or Mortlake.

I'm not sure if there's much there.

Hopefully we can at least find a toilet and a small lunch.

27. Found the website of the Terang Court Cafe.

It looks pretty nice.

Maybe we'll eat there.

28. Saw that Lake Bolac doesn't seem to have much in terms of places to stop.

All I can find so far is one hotel.

29. Found a website about Lake Bolac.  They mention only one hotel too.  It seems to be the only place to eat in town.

 30. Talked to Tim about vampires, and how blood-sucking creatures are seen in so many different culture's mythologies.

I knew there's an Aboriginal-blood drinker, but I forgot the name.

I found out from this article that the Aboriginal vampire is Yara-ma-yha-who.  

Lord wiki says the Yara-ma-yha-who doesn't have fangs.  In fact, he doesn't even have teeth.   He has suckers on his hands and feet.  He uses this to extract blood from the victim. When the victim is weak enough, the Yara-ma-yha-swallows him. Then he takes a nap, and when he wakes up he regurgitates the person.

The person survives. That's good. But they're a bit shorter than before, and their skin is more red.

31. Found more information on this website.  

They say the Yara-ma-yha-who doesn't let the person go willingly.  The person has to sneak away.   If he's caught, the Yara-ma-yha repeats the process.  He swallows him again and regurgitates him again.  The victim becomes even smaller and redder. If the process is repeated enough times, the victim becomes a Yara-ma-yha-who.

It's very interesting to me that so many cultures share this idea of contagious blood-sucking behaviors.

32. Found website with pictures of the Yara-ma-yha-who.  It has artwork done by various people.

This one is pretty creepy. 

This one is adorable.   It looks like a Muppet. 

I like this guy. He's cute too.  

The person who makes the website says he doesn't consider the Yara-ma-yha-who a vampire.  He says:

The Yara-ma-yha-who may share the diet and transformative powers of many "vampiric"
monsters, but has never been described as a form of the living dead, and it feels a little cheap to
label every mythical bloodsucker a "vampire." The sucker-fingered pygmy isn't even explicitly
supernatural, but viewed more as a very weird, very special beast of the forest.

Is it cheap?


I don't really think so.

I think the main attribute of vampires is the blood-drinking, not the living dead part.

The Yara-ma-yha-who isn't a vampire in the traditional sense. But I think he's a good illustration of the fact that blood-drinking monsters play a part in many mythologies across the globe.   

33.Watched video about Yara-ma-yha-who.  It's part of a vampire documentary.




34. Watched a short animated film about the Yara-ma-yha-who.  Someone made it for their school project.



35. Went back to Half Price Books.  It used to be my favorite store in Fort Worth. Now it's Jack's favorite...or one of his favorites.  Last time we were there he discovered they have video games.

I warned him that there probably wouldn't be much new stuff, because we were just there a few days ago.  I didn't even know if I wanted to go with them. I figured they wouldn't have any new Australian stuff.

But they did! 

I got a fantastic 1983 Australia coffee book called Treasures of Australia. It was only 5 dollars.

36. Saw the book on eBay for $35, so I think I got quite a bargain.  

When we were there I saw that Eastern European books come right before Australia books.   Last time, we were there, I remembered seeing a Bulgarian travel guide, and thought maybe it had been out of place.  I thought it was a weird coincidence because I dreamed about Bulgaria and Australia.

But it turns out the book was in it's rightful place.

Although, MAYBE my dream was predicting we'd go to the bookstore and see that the Australian books would be near the Eastern European books.

What else....

Half Price books has old National Geographics.   I saw, from the spine of one issue, that they had an article about traveling through the outback on camel. I found the article and saw it was written by Robyn Davidson.   I didn't buy the magazine.   National Geographic often bores me, and I figure.... I already read her book.  

37. Liked these lines from My Big Birkett.

Mum was clearly not a true birkett chucker.

A true birkett chucker never thinks twice about whether their birkett is justified or not.  They don't worry about whether their behavior is appalling or uncalled for because their too busy focusing on the behavior of the people they think provoked them in the first place.

A birkett is an emotional fit. The person becomes extremely intense, and they also become irrational. It's not an Australian term.  It's a private joke kind of thing between the family members in the novel.

Anyway....


Jack once said something very profound. I wrote a blog post about it for our unschooling blog.  

He said something along the lines of, When you're in a fight, you always think you're right. But later as you review the fight, you might feel guilty.

I think that's so true.


I've had birketts in my life.  I've seen other people have them.

I don't think we ever realize we're in the wrong....at the time.  If we did, we wouldn't be having the fit in the first place.  Sometimes I have this little voice saying.   Stop.  Stop.  You're being completely foolish.   Shut up!  It would be nice if I listened to that voice, but I think I usually ignore it. I think in some ways, that little voice makes me MORE angry.  I think I end up arguing with myself....trying to justify my reaction. I push myself to be more angry at the other people, so my reaction can feel valid.  

38. Felt grateful that I don't have birketts that often these days.

I think I used to have a lot of them.

Well...I think now I more often internalize my anger.

Or I write about it.

Lately when someone does something to offend me, I write it down in my private journal.  I think this helps because it prevents me from causing a scene.  But at the same time, I'm not allowing it to just fester.

Writing's good therapy.

39. Went to Mattybee73's YouTube Channel. 

He has videos of his father (Wayne) singing. That's really sweet. 

Here's Wayne singing a song he wrote called "Christmas Time Down Under". 





I love the picture at 1:56.   That's too cute.

40. Started to watch "Christmas Time Down Under" sung by a very young Olivia Newton John.   I looked for it because I thought I remembered a song with a similar title's to Wayne's.  I thought maybe it was the same song, and he was joking (or lying) about writing it.

But no.  It's a different song.



41. Found another "Christmas Down Under" song!



How many are out there?

42.  Read the introduction to my new Australia book.  I wasn't sure if I wanted to actually read the book; or just look at the photos.

I think I'm going to try to read it...but slowly.  Maybe I'll read a little each day.

The writing's nice. I wasn't bored by the introduction.

43. Went to my next Flickr stalking target.  The account belongs to a guy named John Lampard.   He's from Sydney, and he's a content producer.

I don't know what that is.

44. Went to John Lampard's blog. 

He writes about a variety of things.

His latest post is a review of a new movie called The Cup.   It's about the Melbourne Cup. John gives it 3 stars.  

45. Liked what Lampard wrote about in this post.  He talks about a study which indicated people who like sweet foods tend to be agreeable and pleasant.

I love sweets.

I'm probably not that agreeable and pleasant though.

I think have a good heart, but sometimes I can be a bit bitchy.

Maybe the bitchiness is about me also liking spicy foods.

46. Went to read more about the studies via John Lampard's link.  

It's interesting, but I don't know how much merit they have.

In one of the studies, people rated themselves on how nice they are. Then those people ended up liking sweet foods.

Could it be though that these people weren't nicer. Maybe it's just that they SEE themselves as being nicer. 

I definitely think there's some merit to self-evaluations, but they do have to be taken with a grain of salt.

47. Looked at another one of John Lampard's movie reviews.   It's for an Australian movie starring William Dafoe.  It's called The Hunter, and it's about the search for the thylacine in Tasmania.  Some people think those animals are extinct, and others think there are some still out there.

Lampard has a link to the trailer.  I'm going to watch it.

Well...no actually he has a link to the movie on IMDb.  

Here's the trailer.



It looks pretty good.

48. Thought of three fairly recent Aussie movies about animals that starred American actors.

A) Rogue

B) Red Dog

C) The Hunter.

I wonder if there are any more.

49. Decided I should probably start stalking John Lampard's Flickr account.

I'm going to start with his Taste of Sydney 2010 set. 

Oh!  You know what. I totally forgot.  We went to the Taste of Sydney 2009!   It was in Hyde Park, and we had a great time with our friends there.

Here's a post about it if anyone's interested.  

50. Started reading the post so I can get all nostalgic.

What's weird is this is the post where I see the building that might have been the music school.

I'm not sure if I actually mentioned it in the post.   I'll see.....

51. Saw that I didn't mention it.   I said, I walked through the Royal Botanical Gardens. I had left early and could take my time. There was hardly anyone else there. Oh! It was so peaceful. At one point, I sat alone among rose bushes and read my book.

I think the gardens were near the castle building.

I might be wrong, though. 

52. Went back to looking at John Lampard's photos. 

I like the colors in this photo.  

53. Decided I will have to go off my no-egg diet to try this type of macaroon.   I've had the Passover type many times, but I don't think I've had this time.

I've cheated on my egg thing a few times lately.

But for the most part, I've done pretty okay.  On most days, I refrain from contributing to chicken abuse.

Have I mentioned I made cake with diet soda?   It turned out really good. You just take a cake box mix and instead of using oil and eggs, you pour in a can of soda.

I remember my friend saying though that Australians don't use mixes as much as Americans.   I'm not sure if that applies to cakes?

Tim is REALLY into cooking and does a lot of things by scratch.  He makes his own bread.  He makes his own cookies. He makes his own pizza crust.   But when it comes to cake, he usually uses a mix.

54. Felt hungry when I saw this Paella.   It's not vegetarian,  but I'm just imagining it that way.   

Tim made paella once. It turned out pretty good.

55.  Finished looking at those photos.   I enjoyed the set.   I look forward to seeing more tomorrow.  

56. Looked at the Australian Monopoly board. 

My street for today is North Terrace in Adelaide. 

Lord Wiki says the street has a ton of important buildings.

These include the Adelaide Convention Centre, the railway station I talked about yesterday, the Adelaide Casino, both an old and new Parliament House, Government House, South Australian Museum, University of Adelaide, Adelaide Botanical Gardens, etc.

It seems like the whole city is on one street.

57. Found North Terrace on Google Maps.  

The road starts at a park called Kingston Gardens.  Then it goes on to the east.

I think it ends around the Botanical Gardens, but I'm not positive. I'm having trouble understanding the map. 

58. Saw that there's accommodations on North Terrace called La Loft Apartments.  If you go to the website, a woman starts talking to you.  

59. Saw that the prices at La Loft Apartments are very reasonable.   If you stay for 7 mights, a one bedroom apartment is $120 a night.   I think that's really good.  

60. Saw that there's a place on North Terrace called Chris Jarmer@air.   It's a restaurant and bar.  They also have cooking seminars and catering. 

61. Went to the website of The Cavern.   It's another restaurant on North Terrace.  

It has live music.  

They have a Motown-themed Christmas show on December 16 and 17th.  

The 17th show is already sold out.

On December 3, they're going to have a Christmas celebration with a London theme.   

I think I might like that. 

62. Looked at The Cavern's page about having a gig at the restaurant.  

They allow bands to play there for free.  The catch is the group has plan a program with at least two other bands in the lineup.  They say the reason for this is that it shows the musicians are good at networking and working with others. 

That makes sense.

They say people from outside the state can set up a program; but at least two bands in the show must be local.   How local?  Do they need to be from Adelaide, or can they be from somewhere else in South Australia?

Another rule is that the music groups must have a website, MySpace, or Facebook listing.

I don't know the reasoning behind that, but I like it.

I tend to ignore businesses and other entities that don't have a presence on the web. Part of it might be prejudice towards those who aren't technically inclined.   It's not just about lacking knowledge.   But I picture them being the type who clings stubbornly to the good old days. I picture them being the type that's grouchy about the internet.  

I shouldn't talk, though.  I still avoid the whole texting thing.

The other thing is I don't like talking on the phone.  If a business doesn't have a website, if I want more information I have to call them.   I don't want to do that. 

It's so easy to have a website these days. And if you have internet access it's free.  You can set something up on Blogger.

I'm sure there's other free sites as well. 

63. Annoyed with myself.   I'm going on a small diet and bought protein bars.  Today I noticed they have eggs!!!   I forgot to check.

I'm going to go ahead and eat them, but I'll make sure not to buy them again.

Sorry, chickens.  

Jack, Shoalhaven, Grapes, and Soda

1. Talked to Jack about Sydney. He was looking at Lord Wiki's entry on Woolloomooloo because one of my stuffed animal characters is named that. Then he looked at a list of suburbs Lord Wiki had listed.

He asked me about Surry Hills.  Have we been there before? I reminded him that it was south of where we stayed, and that we walked past there when we walked to Moore Park.

I also reminded Jack it was there that he suddenly mentioned wanting to move to Australia.   I repeated what I had told him back then. If we did move to Australia we probably couldn't afford Surry Hills.  We'd probably have to live somewhere like the Western Suburbs. Then I showed him that on Google Maps.

2. Went back to read my trip report post for that day.  It was Crown Street where Jack mentioned wanting to move to Australia.  That does go through Surry Hills though.  So I don't think my memory was making a mistake.

From the blog post, I can see that I didn't tell Jack back then we'd probably live in the western suburbs. I just told him we probably couldn't afford to live next to the CBD.   

3. Excited to see I Wasn't Blogged Yesterday's post about food in her life. She had a similar post a week or so ago.  In that one she provided her life history in shoes.  That was so much fun to read, and I don't even care that much about shoes. I do care about food, so this should be even more entertaining.

4. Learned that I Wasn't Blogged Yesterday has some Italian roots. I'm totally picturing Looking For Alibrandi, especially because she talked about her Italian grandmother in her post.  

5. Watched an old KFC commercial on I Wasn't Blogged Yesterday's post. It's VERY interesting.   The children in the commercial wear no seat belts, and they're both overweight. These days I don't think any fast food restaurant would feature overweight people. They wouldn't want people getting the idea that their food might make people fat.

The little jingle actually talks about the children getting thinner. There's the idea that they need to hurry and get some food before they starve.

6. Learned from Shelly Argent's Facebook Page that Queensland's government site has a petition page. I can't sign it because I'm not from Queensland. But if you are from Queensland, there might be something on there you'd want to sign.  

If I was a Queensland resident, I'd sign the one Shelley Argent wants us to sign. It's called "non-violent homosexual advance defense". In Queensland, someone can murder a gay person; then get pardoned if they explain that the gayness of their victim made them panic.  

That's really crazy. I'm wondering if anyone has used that for a defense and won. I hope not.

7. Annoyed by Australian family psychologist Sally-Anne McCormack. According to this article she suggests having two, four, or even more children. But don't have three. The middle child will be ignored.

I think what makes me most annoyed is she left out the suggestion for having just one. Is she against only children?   

As for having three, why not just tell parents to give more attention to the second child?  She could say, Middle children are often ignored, so try to avoid doing that.

What about a child with three siblings? Wouldn't they take up much of the parent's time? Wouldn't their be less time left for each child to have individual attention?

8. Went to Tallygarunga.

Today I'm going to read a story thread called If You Come With Me, I'll Warm You Up.

It takes place in the Sturt dorms; and it stars Artemisia Bellerose and Reade Ainsworth.

The date of the story is Saturday, August 13. It's late afternoon.

9. Started to read the story.

It's funny. I feel negative towards Arti because her face claim is Mila Kunis. Mila recently was in an article that annoyed me. She lost weight so she believes this means EVERYONE can lose weight. I get annoyed with that kind of arrogance. It worked for me, so it will work for everyone.

We all have different bodies and different situations.

I would say most people can lose weight if they use extreme measures. But then they'll probably gain it back again once they get tired of being extreme.

Anyway....

I'll get back to reading the story.

I'll try to separate Mila from Arti.

10. Learned there's big some celebration in the Great Hall.  I wonder what that's all about.

The Penrose students are there. Maybe. This includes Arti's sister. Arti is worried about running into her. She doesn't want her her sister to see Reade and then report back to their parents that Arti has a boyfriend.

Arti and Reade are avoiding the celebration.

They go to Arti's dorm. She has something to show him. There's all this suspense.

It reminds me of the Twilight Zone movie. 



I forgot that Nemo's dad was in that. 

11. Learned what Arti can do. It's not scary like Dan Aykroyd's trick. Her magic is much more pleasant.

12. Learned that my Australian of the day is Valentin George Anderson.  He was a chemical analyst.

Valentin was known as V.G. He was born in 1885, in Hotham Victoria.

Like the Anderson I read about yesterday, V.G lost his father when he was very young.  He was raised by a single mother. As soon as Anderson was able to work, he helped support his family.

V.G went to the School of Mines in Ballarat.

Lord Wiki says this school eventually became the University of Ballarat.

V.G went on to do chemistry work and chemistry teaching.

It seems his big thing was water.  He wrote a paper on evaporation of Australian waters.

13. Reminded Jack that today is his birthday in Australia.

14. Went to Flickr.  I'm going to start looking at the Shoalhaven photos.

The first set is called Shoalhaven Beaches. 

15. Decided to find another Flickr stalking target. Unfortunately the photos on the Shoalhaven account aren't the best quality. They're a bit small.

Well, at least that set is.

I'll try another set rather than finding a whole new target.

16. Started looking at Shoalhaven Culture. The first two photos look okay at least.

Here's a cute baby pig. 

And here's an upside down clown. 

17. Saw this photo from The Treat Factory in Berry. Then I went to the Treat Factory Website. 

They make handmade old-fashioned candy.

Yum.

18. Looked up Berry on Google Maps.  It's about 12 minutes north-west of Shoalhaven.  

19. Loved this picture of grapes.  They look so delicious.  

I love grapes.

20. Looked at a website that describes the health benefits of grapes. 

They say grapes have antioxidants, and that slows down aging.

They also contain something called Resveratrol. It's believed that Resveratrol has cancer-fighting qualities.

Cool!

21. Consulted Lord Wiki about Resveratrol.  He says it might also have adverse effects. Some studies show it can prevent breast cancer.  Other studies say it can stimulate breast cancer cells.

The idea I'm getting in general from Lord Wiki is there's not sufficient proof that there's benefits to humans taking supplements with Resveratrol. There may even be adverse effects.  People get a small amount of Resveratrol from eating grapes, peanuts, or drinking red wine.  That's probably enough.   Studies are still being done, and maybe one day it will be suggested we all take supplements.

I'm just going to stick to grapes....at least for now.

22. Enjoyed this picture of someone picking grapes.

I'm really in a grape mood lately.

We have a few left in our house, but they're getting old.

We have lots of strawberries. I should push myself to be in a mood for them.

23. Saw a picture of more grapes. Plus there's also cheese and crackers.

That looks so delicious. 

24. Saw more grape cutting. It's at a vineyard. 

And here's a great photo of grapes. It reminds me of A Walk in the Clouds.



25. Saw this photo of grape-crushing. Unlike A Walk in the Clouds, it doesn't involve feet. 

It's probably less fun, but maybe more sanitary?

Although I guess maybe people wash their feet before stomping on them.  

26. Saw that the photo set DOES have a grape stomping photo. 

27. Ate some grapes while watching this Harry Potter video with Jack.



28. Started to look at a Shoalhaven photo set called Shoalhaven Wildlife.

I like this kookaburra picture.  

29. Liked this picture of pelicans and seagulls together.  

30. Read James' post about soda. He's stopped drinking it, and he believes the abstinence has helped with his weight loss. 

I drink too much soda. I need to cut down.

The thing is I like drinking water. I love water. But I don't like water with meals. Maybe I'll make a rule that I have to drink water except for meal times. For dinner and lunch I can have soda.

Although I don't know if that rule will mean anything. What I do is open a soda, drink some of it, and then put it back in the refrigerator to drink later.   I can rarely drink a whole can in one sitting. So if I drink half a can at lunch, would it be so wrong if I finish the rest of the can later?

I doubt it.

Maybe I should just make a rule that I can have only 1 can a day.  

The worst is restaurants. In America, we have the refill thing.  Some places keep bringing you refills, even if your first soda isn't even finished yet. I think I just have to remember to say no refills—ask for water for the rest of the meal.

The last restaurant we went to was a Japanese restaurant. I don't think they take your glass away to refill. Before you can even say yes or no, they bring you a new glass filled with soda.  

Now that I think of it, it's a bit wasteful. I was too busy enjoying the food to notice. They have REALLY good food there.

Next time I'll tell them no refills...or I'll just order water when we go there.  

32. Confused by Finnikin of the Rock. 

33. Thought more about James Young, the squib who looks like Simon Baker.

I think now I understand why I was bothered and distrustful about his niceness—especially the lines James is also very patient and slow to anger and quick to forgive.

I have someone close to me who is slow to anger and quick to forgive when it comes to his interactions with SOME. He is always 100% super nice to certain people. But he's not like that with everyone. With some people, he's quick to anger; and his anger can get nasty.

I know everyone has different sides to themselves. And we show different sides to different people.  But when there's such a huge contrast, it can be unnerving and frustrating.

34. Started looking at Shoalhaven photo set called Bawley Point. Shoalhaven.

35. Saw a photo of the Bawley Beach Cafe and went to look at their website.  They have pizza there.

I'm feeling like such a foodie today.

36. Saw from Statcounter today that there are people from The Netherlands looking for information on Julie Goodwin's restaurant.

I'm not sure why that's of particular interest to people in The Netherlands. Is she opening up a restaurant there?

37. Started to look at Shoalhaven photo set called Depot Beach.  

I think this picture is very beautiful. I like the clouds. 

The water in this picture is very blue. I wonder if that's real, or did they use some type of color-editing.  

38. Read sad scene in Finikkin of the Rock.

39. Started to look at Shoalhaven photo set called Dolphin Point. 

I wonder if this is the type of rock pool where you'd find a blue ring octopus.

40. Started to look at Shoalhaven photo set called Kioloa.   

Kioloa...that sounds kind of Hawaiian to me.

41. Amazed by all the kangaroos in this photo.  I'd love to be in one of those houses!  

Wait...actually.  The photo says it's a caravan resort.

42. Looked at the website of Merry Beach Caravan Resort.   It's the one featured in the photograph.  

I wonder if they have kangaroos all the time.

Lord Wiki says Kioloa is infamous for not having good mobile phone reception.   Well, that's okay.   People can use their phones to take photos of the kangaroos. Then when they reach the next town, they can send the photos to their friends.

43. Saw this holiday park website which talks about the kangaroos at Kioloa.  They say pebbly beach is famous for them.  I've actually heard of pebbly beach and kangaroos.   I just didn't realize it was
 part of Kioloa.  

44. Looked at Kioloa and Pebbly Beach on Google Maps. They show them being about 40 minutes apart from each other.  So maybe there're just lots of kangaroos all around that area? 

45. Read some more of Michael Fuery's Dream Within a Dream. 

Strange things are happening yet certain characters won't even consider a supernatural explanation.   If I remember correctly, the same thing happened in John Birmingham's time travel series. 

I'm so not like that.  If something weird happens, my first suspicions are along supernatural lines.   Then I'll start considering other possibilities.

I don't always speak about my supernatural ideas, but they're at least swimming around in my head.

46. Watched True Blood.   I haven't been watching it this season.  But Tim was watching it, so I decided to join him.   It wasn't bad.  But I can't say it was good enough to make me regret missing episodes.  Nor am I sure I want to watch all the remaining episodes.  It might be nice though to watch some here and there.

47. Consulted Lord Wiki about True Blood episodes.  We saw #5 tonight.  So that means I missed only 2, 3, and 4.

48. Started to look at Shoalhaven's Lake Tabourie photo set.

49. Wondered about the Jack Nicholson collection in this photo. Is that like the actor? Or is it just someone with the same name? 

50. Found out from this website that it's a different Jack Nicholson.  This Jack Nicholson is not an actor, but rather the guy who started the Tabourie Lake Museum.

51. Thought this picture was a little scary.   I don't know.   I get the idea of something hiding behind the grass.  My imagination is probably influenced by True Blood type stuff right now. 

52. Started to look at Shoalhaven's Shoalhaven Heads photo set. 

The pictures are beautiful.  They seem to all be around sunset time. The sky has a dreamlike quality.

53. Watched some Megan Cracknell's bird video on Kondoot. 

I wonder if she's related to Ruth Cracknell.  

Oh!  Wait. There're other Cracknell people on Kondoot. One of them left me a comment on my videos earlier today.  It's funny.  I didn't notice the last name then. I was probably too busy being excited about getting a comment.  

Finnikin, Fakeness, Forgiveness, And Frans

1. Realized I may have to follow through with my new rule of quitting a book after two chapters.   I read the first chapter of Finnikin of the Rock.  So far I'm bored with it.   I'll read one more chapter and see what I think.  If I don't like it, I'll return it to the shelf and maybe try again one day.

I don't think it's a bad book. I've heard very good things about it.  It's just not my thing.

Well, it could be my thing.  Who knows.  Maybe something in the second chapter will grab me.

2. Read James' post about his return to Sydney.  He was a recipient of someone's random act of kindness. That's really cool.  

That actually happened to us in New Jersey.  We were at an arcade and someone gave us their leftover game tickets.   I realized then that although we've occasionally given tickets to strangers; I think New Jersey was the first time tickets were given to us.  It was pretty cool.

I disagreed with James when he said, That said, the first day back at work after a holiday always tends to be a fairly nice day doesn’t it? You spend a lot of the day answering the question “how was your holiday?” and receiving compliments about your tan.

I used to hate going back to school or work after a holiday.  I always found it depressing. The only exception would be if the holiday wasn't that great; and I had a major crush on someone back home.   Then I might be eager to return.  

3. Went to Tallygarunga.  I'm going to read the continuation of Advanced Dada Lesson 1: Boggarts and Ridikulus. 

Two students have entered the story; Reade Ainsworth and Cecilia Chorrol.

Cecilia is new to me. 

Reade is nervous to be in the class because Arti isn't with him. He's a bit attached to his girlfriend; not just for romantic reasons, but because Jackson (the bully) tends to leave him alone when Arti is around.  

Cecelia is optimistic about the class even though she doesn't tend to do good in school.   It says here, Professor Rodrigez seemed like she'd give Cecilia a fair shot at a passing grade if she put enough effort in, so she was going to try her best. Of course, Cecilia's best was a little less than everyone else's average, but this was beside the point.

Some people have to work much harder than others to learn things.   

Well, hopefully she'll enjoy the class and do fairly well in it.

4. Finished reading the first two chapters of Finnikin of the Rock. I think I'll continue with it. Some if it's getting interesting, sort of a reflection of our own world.   It's confusing though.  There're all these names that are unfamiliar to me, and I end up getting people confused with each other.

It would be helpful if the book had one of those character guides.

5. Consulted Lord Wiki about the characters in Finnikin of the Rock, and I think I just got a major spoiler. It's my fault.  I knew the risks of talking to Lord Wiki about fictional things.  He tends to give away too much information.  

I guess I thought I'd be safe if I avoided the plot description and looked at only the characters.
 
6. Started to read the biography of Cecilia Chorrol.

Her face claim is a Norwegian singer named Marit Larsen.

Here she is singing at a green grocer in Oslo.



She's very cute. And I like her singing.

7. Learned that Cecilia was born in Kilcoy, Australia. It sounds familiar to me...I mean in a Tallygarunga context.  Was there another character from there?  

8. Googled Kilcoy and Tallygarunga.  I found only Cecilia's biography, so I guess she's the only witch or wizard from there.

9. Consulted Lord Wiki about Kilcoy. He says it's in Queensland.

Here it is on Google Maps. It's about 1.5 hours north-west of Brisbane. 

10. Learned that Cecilia is a fourth year student. She's Muggleborn, and her Patronus is a wasp.

A wasp?  That's very interesting.

11. Learned that Cecilia is petite, but in excellent physical shape from doing work on the farm. 

12. Learned Celia is not up to date with pop culture.  She's an old fashioned farming type girl.

She believes in using good manners.  It says here, She thinks things like politeness and company manners have the utmost importance even if there is no sincerity behind them.

What is meant by sincerity?  I think there's sincerity just in the fact that someone is trying to be kind.  I think some people are so worried about being fake that they're rude to people they hardly even know. To me gross fake is when people are overly enthusiastic about getting together with you when they don't even like you.  Oh! We really should get together and have lunch!  

But I think it's nice to greet people in a friendly way.  I think it's nice to say please and thank you. I think it's nice to say sorry if you bump into someone.

If someone gives you a gift, is it fake to say thank you if you dislike it?  I don't think so.   You can at least be thankful that they made an effort.  What's gross fake to me is acting overly excited about a gift when you don't really like it. To me, action speaks louder than words. If you say you totally love the necklace I bought you, I'm not going to believe it if I never see you wearing it.  

13. Learned that Cecilia is not always very nice.

 Cecilia may be quiet and a little passive, but when it comes to fulfilling her aspirations she can be ruthless. She is capable of doing amoral or even cruel things if she feels the path to her goals is being threatened.

Yikes.


I don't know if I know anyone like that.  Well, at least they're not open about it.

I mean nothing is screaming out to me right now.  Yes, that reminds me of so and so......

I guess that's a very good thing.

14. Started to read Cecilia's history.

She's a twin.

Her story has some similarities to my fictional blog.  Cecilia's sister Vivian is a prodigy.  The witch in my story has a sister that's very intelligent.   It's different though because Cecilia liked fairy tales and daydreaming.  In my story, the witch had no interest in that type of stuff.

15. Thought more about fakeness. I feel some people get this idea that they shouldn't be friendly towards people they don't know and love.  To me, they appear rude and unwelcoming.  They make me uncomfortable. Fortunately I don't encounter these type of people too often.

I think it makes sense not to be overly friendly with people we knowingly dislike. We don't need to go up to our enemies and say, Hi!  How are you!   Wow you're looking great!  We should get together sometime.   That's pretty annoying...and confusing. It probably wouldn't hurt though to be civil—give a nod or small wave.   It can be like Draco and Harry in the train station.

What would be the best is if the enemies went up to each other, and one of them said, Hey, look I'm sorry for what happened.   Maybe we can talk about things and end this whole disaster between us.   But people are rarely brave enough for that.

16. Thought about a time recently when I was nice to someone even though I had ill feelings towards them. Was that fake of me?  Probably. Would it have been better if I said, Hey, you really bothered me with things you said last time I saw you. I really have lost a lot of respect for you.    

I doubt it.  Who needs all that extra drama?   I think a moment like that is worth it when we really care about the person and want our relationship to be honest and whole. If we don't care that much, I think it's better to just fake it a bit.  I wasn't overly friendly and enthusiastic with this person. I was polite and nice, but in a distant and reserved kind of way.

17. Decided to illustrate the difference between okay fake and gross fake—well, in my opinion.

Here's an okay fake email beginning.   Hi! It's so nice to hear from you. How have you been doing?

Here's a gross fake email.   Hi!!!!!   I've missed you so much!   I'm so excited to hear from you!!!!!! My husband and I were just talking about you yesterday. We think about you guys a lot.  We definitely need to get together soon!

Now if the person really means it, it's not bad at all.  It's really nice and awesome.  But if they're faking it, it's just too confusing. Then how in the world are we supposed to know when people really DO love us?  

18. Saw that my Australian of the day is another Australian who was into the education thing.

His name was Peter Corsar Anderson.

He was born in Scotland.

Peter was good at Hebrew, church history, rifle shooting, and golfing.  

He studied theology, but ended up not pursuing it at his career.  The reason given by the Australian Dictionary of Biography is that he had a breakdown in health.   Yet then he moved to Australia and got a career in the education business. Working with children is a lot of work.  I think you'd need to be healthy for that as well.

Well, maybe he started to feel better, but he had already lost interest in theology.

For his health, Peter went to visit his brother in Western Australia. He was in his mid-twenties.

Maybe Peter just needed some clean air and time to think.

He soon ventured off to Victoria and got a job at the Geelong Church of England Grammar School.

After Peter worked there, he went back to Western Australia.  He became the Headmaster of Scotch College.   He had the job for 41 years.   That's a pretty long time.   It sounds like he did a good job.    The school didn't do well under the previous headmaster.  With Anderson in charge, it became one of the leading independent schools in Western Australia.  

19. Read article about Jandamarra O'Shane. When he was only six-years-old, a man came to his school playground and set him on fire.  Now it's fifteen years later and Jandamarra is ready to forgive the man who hurt him so much.  I think that's very brave and noble of him.

I believe in his forgiveness because he's had time to deal with these issues. I find it difficult to believe people who are immediately ready to forgive someone after a tragedy. Yes.  You killed the love of my life.   But I forgive you.    Sometimes people want to forgive; and they say they forgive.  But deep in their hearts they don't really feel forgiving.  Or maybe they do.   I don't know. The idea is so foreign to me.

I think after fifteen years I could maybe forgive someone for doing something totally awful—like setting me on fire.  I think my forgiveness would come from the hope that the criminal has regrets for what he has done and has changed for the better. If I found out he didn't feel guilty and was still an evil asshole, I'd take back my forgiveness.

Anyway, I hope the arson reacts in a way that makes him deserving of Jandamarra's forgiveness.

The story sounds familiar to me, by the way.  I think I read about it before. I'm guessing maybe he's related to Pat O'Shane and I read it when I wrote about her.

20.  Looked at my post about Pat O'Shane. Jandamarra is her nephew.  

21. Went to Mousie's Aussie music database.  

The song for me today is "Cigarettes and Suitcases" by Something For Kate



It sounds familiar to me.  I might have heard it before.  

22. Started to look at page 12 of Frans de Wit's Australia set.

This place looks fun.  It's little shops—kind of looks historical and touristy.  

23. Loved this picture of Australia looking like Ireland.  

It's not the first time I've seen Australia being Ireland.  

24. Excited to see some snow in Australia. 

25. Saw a witch's face in this tree. She looks a little scary, but I think she's probably nice.  

26. Saw that I ended up going past page 12 of the pictures.   Now I'm on page 13.   It's the last page.  

27. Heard this song on iTunes.



I was totally in the mood for it.

It's a nice way for me to end my time with Frans de Wit.

28. Felt thankful to everyone who reads my blog. And I'm also thankful for all the writers, photographers, singers, etc. who keep me entertained (for free!) as I surf the internet.  

Coffee Table Books, Serco, Other Worlds, and Maybanke

1. Finished reading Cloudstreet.

I was sad to have it end. I had an urge to shout out to the Pickles and the Lambs, No, don't leave me behind. Please!
 
I'm happy with myself for giving the book a second change. And I feel smart for understanding it enough to love it. I don't think it's a light and easy book. Maybe if I was more brainy I'd feel differently. But I'm not. It was a struggle at times. I had to really pay attention and sometimes I'd have to reread things.

It was totally worth it, though.   

My next book will be light reading probably. It's a kid's book by Liane Moriarty called Nicola Berry Earthling Ambassador. I've read two of Moriarty's adult novels, and I think I've read all of her sister's books.

2. Excited to see that Liane Moriarty has a new novel out; What Alice Forgot. The plot sounds very much like an episode of Medium.

3. Excited to see that the other Moriarty sister is coming out with a new book too! Actually, it's a trilogy. That's so cool.

I hope I like it.

It's nice to get all this Moriarty news. It makes me feel less sad about saying good-bye to the Pickles and Lambs.

4. Wondered if I'd want there to be a sequel to Cloudstreet.

A part of me wants it; but it would probably be a bad idea.

I don't think it's ever going to happen.

5. Watched a video about Cloudstreet. It features music from the miniseries, and scenes from it.



6. Read article about the Cloudstreet miniseries. Tim Winton was in his 20's when he wrote the book. That's amazing. He's totally brilliant.

I shouldn't be surprised, though. I've encountered a lot of brilliant young writers in the last few months.

The article says that America owned the screen rights to the book. That's disturbing. I guess they gave it up eventually?

7. Lost our internet connection so now I'm writing on text edit. Hopefully it will be fixed soon.  Then I shall copy and paste.  

8. Read the first three chapters of Nicola Berry Earthling Ambassador. So far, I'm not loving it. It's too cutesy.

I'm not sure if this is a valid judgement.

It could be that I'm not in kid's book mode because I so recently finished reading Cloudstreet.

I just get this sense of an author who's used to writing for adults; and now she's thinking, I better make this very fun and cute because kids are going to read it. It seems slightly condescending.

It's likely just my mood right now.

9. Figured it probably is my mood that's making me dislike Nicola Berry. I used to read the Junie B Jones books with Jack. Those are very cutesy, and I loved them.

10. Went to read a page of June B. Jones. I didn't mind it. It's cute, but in a way that's much more tolerable to me.

11. Learned about pearls in the book Cousteau's Australia Journey. The book says that peals are made by oysters when a piece of coral or sand grit gets inside their shell. The oyster coats the irritant with a secretion called nacre. Then this creates a pearl.

It's rare though. The book says about 1/1000 make a pearl. Does this mean it's rare for grit to find its way into the oyster shell; or that not all oysters do the nacre thing?

People have figured out a way to force the process on the oyster, so then pearls don't have to be so rare.

I would think it also makes it less special.

12. Looked at the Cousteau book with Jack.

13. Started to feel slightly entertained by the Nicola Berry book. There's been a few amusing scenes. They're not funny enough to make me laugh aloud, but I enjoyed them.

14. Tried to find Australian novels for Tim to read. He finished reading the Evil Genius series. I don't know if he'll like the other books I have.

15. Looked at an Australian coffee table book with Tim.

16. Noticed that it's very windy outside. It looks like a huge storm is brewing. That's exciting because it hasn't rained here for weeks.

17. Went outside and looked at another Australian coffee book. I waited for the storm to begin. There was a lot of wind and then I heard thunder. I went inside. I don't know if there's been any rain yet. I haven't seen any. I hope it's not one of those false alarm storms.

18. Had a few minutes of rain.  It was a bit anticlimactic. 

19. Finished reading the Nicola Berry book. I ended up liking it. It was overly cute and silly at times. But it was interesting, and I liked the message of the book.

20. Took Melina Marchetta's Finnikin of the Rock off my bookshelf. I've heard good things about his one. Hopefully, I shall like it.

21. Got back on the internet.

But we're still having problems.

22. Saw article about the detention centers.  There's been some scathing reports by an entity called Comcare. They're the government's workplace safety agency.  

Basically the centers have undertrained staff. They're not trained to deal with people in such a stressful environment.

The centers are overcrowded; and there's no attention given to the fact that certain ethnic groups in the center hate each other. Sometimes enemies are chosen to be roomies. 

Well, that worked out okay for the twins in Parent Trap. They hated each other.  Then they were locked in a room together and they became friends.

Maybe it only works in Disney movies.   

23. Hoped the report by Comcare will lead to action.

The company that runs the detention centers is called Serco.   Maybe the government needs to find a new company.

24. Looked at Serco's website. They have a page about the detention centers.   They call them Immigration Removal Centers   Removal? Why removal? That's creepy.

I thought the purpose of these centers was to house people while they're waiting for the government to decide if they can stay or not. 

Removal sounds so horribly negative.  

25. Learned that Serco is a British company.  

26. Consulted Lord Wiki about Serco.   He says it started in 1929 as the British division of RCA, the American electronics company. Initially it provided services to the cinema industry. Wow.  Who would ever imagine something from the movie business would be later working in the detention center business. Maybe that's why they're sticking enemies in the same room.   They're thinking like filmmakers.

INT. DETENTION CENTRE ROOM-MORNING

We see two men glaring at each other across the room.   In their old countries, they were enemies.   Now they're forced together.  Man 1 reaches into his pocket to take out a knife.   He remembers he doesn't have one here. All he has is an old candy bar.  Man 2 takes a step forward with menace in his eyes.   Man 1 is scared.  Out of desperation he tries to hand Man 2 the candy bar. Man 2 shouts in his native tongue.   He's diabetic.  He thinks Man 1 is trying to kill him.   Man 1 has no idea what's going on because they don't speak the same language.

Then.....

Later we'd learn the truth.   Man 1 and Man 2 are brothers—twins.   They were separated at birth and raised in communities that hated each other.  They become friends and come up with a plan.   They'll switch places and work on a way to bring peace upon their communities.  



27. Had doubts I'd like Finnikin of the Rock.   I haven't started to read it, but I looked at the first few pages.   It has maps of a mythical pretend world. I don't like books set in mythical worlds UNLESS they have some connection to our world.

Does that make me ethnocentric?

Maybe.

It can be on a planet far from earth.  It can be in the way past or the way future. It can be in an alternate universe. But I want to know how the setting relates to earth.

I sound very picky. I know.

I may be wrong about the book.   It might have earth connections.   If it doesn't?  Well, I'm going to follow my rule of trying out the first two chapters.   I might quit.   I might like it.   I'll definitely give it a chance.

28. Read the prologue of Finikkin of the Rock.  It's okay so far.   I never like prologues, though...at least not in the beginning.  They're usually much more interesting after I've read most of the book.   Cloudstreet is a prime example of that.   

Before reading the Finnikin prologue, I started thinking maybe I have liked stories that take place in a mythical land (without any real connection to earth).  Would Shrek count?

I guess any fairy tale might count.  Sort of.

What about Eragon?  Was that supposed to be earth, or somewhere else?   I didn't love it, but I didn't really dislike it.   

29. Learned from Lord Wiki that the type of fantasy books I don't like are called high fantasy.

No wait.  I got that wrong.  He says high fantasy is a book that is set mostly in an alternative (fictional) world. But there are three categories.  In one of them, our world doesn't exist. THIS is what I don't like.

In another subtype our world exists and the characters access the other world through some type of portal.  Narnia and the Dark Tower series are examples of that. I often like these types of books.

Then the third subtype is a world (or community) within our own world. Harry Potter is an example of that. 

30. Loved the photos on Amy Almost's blog.   Her photos here, and on Facebook, often have a 1970's look.  I love that. I prefer that type of photo to the over-saturated photos I often see these days.  

31. Amazed by Fruitcake's brilliance.   She just says these amazing things that I have never thought of before.

Here's the one for today.   She talks about the welfare cheats. Who are the people that take advantage of the system?   We usually think of the lazy ones who refuse to work.   They sit around getting drunk while watching talk shows.  They hang out in gangs. They don't contribute to society.   Blah, blah, blah, blah.

Fruitcake says, Is someone who works 100 hours a week, pays taxes and then drink-drives a potential welfare cheat? 

What if something happens to the person and they can't work anymore? By knowingly putting themselves in a dangerous situation, did they take advantage of the system?

Maybe.

Then there's the question I often have. What's worse—the guy who begs on the street for his living, the woman who lives on welfare, or the man who works for a company that dumps carcinogenic pollutants in the water.

Our society puts so much value in employment.   You're a good person if you're employed. You're a lazy bad person if you're unemployed. Sometimes people are employed in jobs that are bad for the community.  Sometimes people are unemployed and do good for the community.  Or at least they refrain from doing bad things.

Then there's people who have jobs and aren't really working.   In NYC, I worked for a temp agency for a few months.  At one placement I was paid to press a button to let people into the office. It was extremely easy and I spent most of the time reading my books.    

32. Went to Tallygarunga.

Today I'm going to read the continuation of A Serendipitous Sprawl.   It's the story thread with the two first years; Ella Glenn and Thatcher Hyland.   It looks like a lot has been added since the last time I read it.

33. Tried to figure out which was the last post I read. I think it's #5, so I'll start with #6.

Thatcher sees Ella's books and tells her he likes to read too. He likes adventurous heroic stories.   That's fitting because Thatcher wishes to be a hero.

Ella is very excited to see that she's found a fellow bookworm.

34. Liked Ella's line here.  

I’ve read the story of Arthur at least ten times. I think it’s like that a lot of the time in real life – the people who we think won’t be heroes, because they look so ordinary, really are. ‘Cause things aren’t always what they seem to be. Like I always thought magic wasn’t real. 

What would it be like for a lover of fantasy to learn a magical world truly did exist?   As far as I can remember, that's not addressed in any of the Harry Potter books.   Harry Potter himself doesn't seem to be a fantasy fan.  Hermione is a book worm, but she seems to be more into nonfiction than fiction.

35. Disagreed with Thatcher here. 

Of course, he was too old now to make up adventures, so they would have to find real ones.

I'm almost 40 and I still make up adventures.


This week I've been amused with myself for playing stuffed animals with Jack. Then tonight we started watching The Muppet Movie. I realized what Jack and I have been doing is similar to puppeteering. 

It's fun.  

Pretend play ends for some in childhood.  But for many of us it continues.   We play on role-playing sites.  We write novels.  We write screenplays. We make up stories for our children. Sometimes we just make up stories in our head.

36. Saw that Ella's Muggle family is like the family in my fictional blog. They're excited about the whole magical world.   Her brother wants to Ella to write to him and tell him about Tallygarunga.   That's very much like Alex in my story.  She loved fantasy and all that—was thrilled to learn that magic was real.

Ella is very different from my witch though.  She likes fantasy. Julia had absolutely no interest in it; nor was she pleased about being at Hogwarts.

37. Decided Ella reminds me of Jack and myself.  She has philosophical monologues.   I do it all the time.  Anyone who has read this blog can see that.  Jack does it too.  We even call them "monologues".  Sometimes his will be about some kind of philosophical psychological thing.  Other times, he has a movie, book, or game idea.  He'll explain it in detail.     

Sometimes I'll have Jack do a monologue while I'm exercising.  It makes exercising a bit less boring.   Sometimes he'll start a monologue when I'm stressed or busy.  I tell him to hold off a bit and tell me later. He's usually good at waiting.  

38. Started to read the biography of Ella Glenn. 

She was born in Sydney.

She has brown hair, brown eyes, and some freckles.

She doesn't like pink.

She likes to wear layers of clothes because she's often cold.

39. Learned that Ella is shy and very sensitive

I was shy and very sensitive when I was a child.

I'm still very sensitive, but not very shy anymore. 

40. Found more things about Ella that remind me of me.  She love to read and write.  And she reads fast.

I'm a pretty fast reader too.

Ella loves to run.  That's something we do NOT have in common.  Well, I don't hate running.  But I'm not good at it.  I'm very slow.

41. Started to read Ella's history.

Both her parents are authors. They're not super famous, but they make enough money from their writing to pay the bills.

42. Confused about Ella's dislike of summer.  Her least favorite season is summer because her snobby cousin spends her (American) summer vacations with them.  Then that would be Ella's winter.   So I think maybe that's a slight mistake?   Or I could be misreading it.  It should probably say that Ella dislikes winter. Or she could hate the American summer?  

43. Learned that my Australian of the day is Maybanke Susannah Anderson.  She was a feminist.

Despite having the surname Anderson, she was not born in Scotland.

Maybanke was born in Surrey England. Are they affected by the riots there?

When Maybanke was about ten, her family moved to Sydney.

44. Learned that Maybanke became a teacher.

45. Looked at a map of the riots.  It looks like Surrey hadn't been attacked yet.

46. Learned that Maybanke got married and moved to Marrickville.

Later her husband abandoned her.

Maybanke ended up opening her own school.   Wow.  That was pretty brave of her.  
 
47. Saw that there is a Maybanke Youth Centre in Sydney.   I'm betting it was named after Maybanke Anderson.  

48. Consulted Lord Wiki about Maybanke Anderson.

Lord Wiki says Maybanke ran the Maybanke school in her home.   It's purpose was to prepare girls for the University of Sydney's entrance examination.   At first I was thinking Lord Wiki mean that it was more of a class/seminar than a school.   I pictured it as one of those places you go after school to practice for the test.  Here in America we have something called Sylvan.   It's a place to get various types of tutoring.

But I think what Lord Wiki means is Maybanke was a college prep type school.   Well, that's what we call it in America.   In Australia, would it be uni-prep?  Or maybe university-prep?  

49. Learned that Maybanke was involved in the suffrage movement.

She also helped start the first free kindergarten in Australia.  It was in Woolloomooloo. 

50. Went to Mousie's Aussie music database. The next song for me is "Buy Now Pay Later" by The Whitlams.   



It's a pretty song. 

I like it a lot. 

51. Read article about victory parade for Cadel Evans.   It's going to be in Melbourne on St. Kilda Road. Then there's going to be a celebration at Federation Square. 

I guess it's today?  It's 1 pm in Australia right now.   Maybe it's already happened.

I'm all confused. 

52. Started to look at page 11 of Frans de Wit's Australia album.  

Here's some kangaroos at Lake Entrance.  

Like most Americans, I like seeing kangaroos in Australia.

I did become a bit jaded when we went in 2009.   I was all excited when I saw my first wild kangaroo in Canberra.  Then, by the time we saw them at a natural park, I was sort of over the whole thing.  

But now, two years later, seeing wild kangaroos seems exciting again.   

52.  Wondered if this was Frans.  Or maybe it's his friend.

I'm wondering if Frans is the type who'd hand his camera to someone and say, Can you take a picture of me?

53. Listened to a song about Australian geography. It's very cute...and educational.  

54. Thought this pelican picture was pretty cool. 

They're cute in this picture too.   

55. Saw pictures of flooding.

I wonder if it was a bad flood.  

The photographs say they're from Foster, Victoria. They were taken in October 2009. 

I can't find anything about 2009 floods.  Maybe it wasn't anything major.  

56. Thought of Andrew when I saw these train photos.   He likes trains.  

Kindertransport, Australian Realism, Drops, and Crazy Tourism Ideas

1. Considered quitting my fiction blog thing.  I have Pottermore now; and Tallygarunga. I think I have enough of the  Harry-Potter-universe in my life. 

I don't know if I'll quit it completely, or just stop writing in it as frequently.

I'm tired of doing it, but giving it up makes me feel sad.  I'm attached to the characters.

I was thinking, though, that I don't have to let them go.  I can still make up stories about them inside my head.  It would be great for times that I'm bored—those times where I don't have access to a computer, book, or interesting conversation; and deep thoughts aren't running through my head.   I'm very good at daydreaming most of the time.  But there are other times I sit there thinking.  This is so boring.  When is it going to be over?   I should think about something interesting while I'm waiting.  What should I think about?   I can't think of anything.

This happened to me recently.

But, anyway, if it happens in the future, I'll try to think up Julia and Alex stories. 

2. Went to sleep and had an Australia-related dream.  My sister puts up a message on Facebook.   She says she's surprised to learn this actor she likes is Australian; and that his love interest doesn't come from the same time period as him (maybe it's like the movie The Lake House?)  My sister says it's strange that despite reading my blog every week, they didn't know about this. I'm thinking, since when do you read my blog every week?   

Then there's something about the actor wanting to become an American citizen.  He was told he could do this, but then learned later that it was less simple then he had been led to believe. 

3. Felt conflicted about the 19 children being sent to Malaysia.   I understand sending children there with their parents or guardians.  That makes sense to me.  But why are they sending unaccompanied children there?

I don't know.  Why would parents pay a ton of money to send their child off a on a dangerous boat heading to a far away land? They would have to be extremely desperate and worried for their kids.

It's like the bible Story where Moses is put in a basket and left to drift in the sea. 

Or was it a river?

I understand the government is trying to send a message to people in far off lands.  Don't get on the boat!  Don't put your children on the boat.  But maybe they're going too far with the message?

The only thing that makes me hesitate condemning the situation is the question of whether life for children in Australian detention centers is that much better.

4. Hoped that some of the adult asylum seekers, being sent to Malaysia, will unofficially adopt the children.  I hope someone out there watches out for them.

It reminds me of stories I heard about the Holocaust. European (often Jewish) parents would send their children away with the knowledge they might never see them again. But they clung to the hope that somehow their kid would survive.

5. Consulted Lord Wiki about the Kindertransport.  Well...and first I had to do some googling to find out it was called that.  

Nine months before World War II, parents from Nazi-Germany, and other countries, sent their children on a train to England.  There were 10,000 of them.—mostly Jewish.

Lord Wiki says some lived in foster homes, some lived in hostels, and some went to live on farms.   A few were reunited with their parents after the war.  Most learned that their parents had been killed.

But, no. Countries like Australia shouldn't be sending away unaccompanied children.  They should at least see if anyone in the community is willing to take them.  

Lord Wiki says this is what England did. They asked for foster parents volunteers, and 500 people came forward with offers.

6. Introduced to Coles' Down Down advertising campaign, thanks to Andrew's blog.  

7.  Enjoyed reading Iwasn'tbloggedyesterday's post.   She talks about her life by showing the various shoes she has worn.   There are baby shoes, high heels, nursing shoes, jellies that would get small rocks stuck in them, etc.

At one point her arthritis was so bad she had to wear gym shoes all the time.   She was probably mistaken for an American tourist.  

8. Learned that Andrew is having major fantasies about some guy at work.   I was amused because someone in comments said, Ha! You should listen to Asher Keddie as the obstetrician Nina Proudman in the series Offspring. Her internal conversations are hilarious, but they can drive a person nuts :)

There were other funny comments as well; and I liked some of Andrew's responses.


9. Learned that Fruitcake has camera issues.  They might even be worse than mine.   And you know what, I don't even think I have camera issues usually.  I think I have SYDNEY camera issues.    Who in the world loses a camera twice on a holiday? I don't, except when I'm in Sydney.

Fruitcake might have more of a photography issue.   Although the flower example displayed on her blog doesn't look all that bad to me.   She says it's her seventh attempt. That's fine. This is why God invented digital cameras.  We can make 30 attempts if needed.  And people do that!   I'm learning that from my Flickr stalking.  I end up having to look at the same scene five time...sometimes much more than that.

10. Saw that the Australian dollar is worth 1.05 American dollars today. It's getting lower. Or America is getting higher.   Maybe it's a bit of both.  

11. Read article that says Unions NSW wants DIY (do it yourself) reality TV programs to warn their viewers about asbestos.

I think it's a reasonable request.  People should be aware of the dangers.

I do wonder though about the motivation of Unions NSW.  Are they really that concerned about the health of DIY people?   Or is it more a matter of them wanting the jobs for themselves. Do they want to scare DIY people into leaving the work to professionals?  

Sometimes we warn people about stuff because we want them to take the necessary precautions.   Other times we warn them because we don't want them to do something.  We hope our warnings will make them think twice about doing the thing in the first place.

12. Saw website, for DIY people, about removing Asbestos.  

It looks complicated and scary.  Personally, I'd call the professionals.  But that's just me.

I'm not a DIY type when it comes to construction issues.   If I was into it, I'd probably be willing to go through the whole daunting process.

I am DIY when it comes to cutting and coloring my hair. And we're DIY when it comes to educating our child.  

That's about it, probably. 

13. Read article that says indigenous infant mortality rates have declined by 55% in the last two years.

It's nice to hear positive news for a change.  I hope the improvements keep coming.  

14. Went to Tallygarunga.

Today I'm going to read a story thread called Like Seven Inches From Midday Sun.   It stars those two characters that make me think of The Exorcist, Eudoxia Karras and Jason Miller.

The story takes place in Brighton Beach.  This is that (real) place in Melbourne which has the colorful beach box things.

15. Started to read the story.

Eudoxia is eagerly waiting for her date with Jason.  He's coming over to her place, and she's cooking.

No wait.

I got that wrong.

She's going to his house, and she's going to cook.  He has the bigger home and she has the cooking skills.  It sounds like a good arrangement.

16. Found out my Australian of the day is John Anderson; but not the same John Anderson from yesterday.

They were both born in Scotland though.

17. Saw that today's John Anderson was born thirty-five years after yesterday's John Anderson died.

He grew up to be a philosopher, educator, and controversialist.

What is a controversialist?   I'm guessing it's someone who talks about controversial things?  

This dictionary site says, it's someone who likes to disagree with other people and say things that make people angry or think about a subject.  

It kind of sounds like an internet troll.

I'm not saying there's anything wrong with disagreement.  But if someone actually LIKES the drama brought on by being controversial, I would say they might be a troll.

I don't like the drama caused by disagreement, but I'm also not the type of person who will stay silent in order to avoid drama. I guess I'm the type who speaks out and then feels really nervous about it.

The other keyword in the definition is "angry". If people say things just to get others angry, I'd say that's also a good sign they're trolls.

I do like making people think about things; but I'd rather them not get angry at me.

18. Thought about how trolls don't just exist on the internet. They're in the "real world" too.  I guess here we call it pushing buttons.

I think maybe in Australia they say stirring the pot?  

Actually, I don't know.  I saw an Australian using that term once, so I assumed it was Australian.   But he could have gotten it from another culture.

19. Wondered if I ever stir the pot, push buttons...whatever.

I can't imagine that I never do it.

I'm not perfect.

But I think I'm more likely to do it if I'm already angry or annoyed.

You know, I'm thinking about this incident that happened this summer.  I started a conversation with Tim that led to someone else being incredibly annoying.   Then I sort of bitched them out about it.   Did I innocently start the subject—just wanting to talk about it?   Or did I know the other person would join in, annoy me, and then I'd have an excuse to be bitchy.

I really don't know the answer to that.

It's crazy when we don't know our own intentions.

Anyway though....

I don't think I purposely stir the pot just for the fun of it.   I mean if everyone is getting along, I'm not going to think, Oh, this is boring.  What can I say to cause some drama?

I like it when people are getting along.  

20. Went back to reading about John Anderson.

He went to uni in Scotland and studied math and physics. Then he became more interested in philosophy.  He got a Masters of Art Degree in philosophy, and became a philosophy lecturer at various universities.   One of those universities was the University of New South Wales. He taught there from 1917-1919.

Then he worked at the University of Sydney from 1927-1958.   The Australian Dictionary of Biography says, Over the years he was probably the professor most often in the news as a result of controversial utterances not fully comprehended by those who took exception to them.

That's kind of funny.  But is it fair?  Is it true?  Probably in some cases. I've made people angry when I've shared my feelings.  Based on their responses though, I can tell they didn't fully understand what I was trying to say. Is that my fault or their fault?

It's probably a little bit of both.—maybe more one than the other, depending on what's being said and who's in the conversation with me.

21. Liked one of Anderson's philosophical views...if I'm understanding it right.

It's that no one can know everything about anything.

He also believed that nothing was above criticism.  I agree with this...in theory.

I get upset when people criticize the Harry Potter books.

And I don't like critics who talk as if their opinion is absolute.

He's a terrible writer.

No.  You THINK he's a terrible writer.  That doesn't mean he is a terrible writer. And the fact that he has sold many books proves that much of the world disagrees with you. Why is your opinion more valid than their opinion?

22. Learned that John Anderson was not aloof with his students.  He would socialize with them.  Apparently this type of behavior from a professor was rare in the 1930s.

23. Consulted Lord Wiki about John Anderson.  Sometimes the Australian Dictionary of Biography goes over my head.   I figure if I read the same information in a different form, it may help me understand.   Plus, it also helps for me to read about something multiple times.  

24. Learned that John developed a type of philosophy called Australian Realism. I asked Lord Wiki to explain it to me, and I didn't understand what he was saying.

You know what. Maybe I'm just not smart enough for philosophy.  

25. Followed a link that Lord Wiki provided. It's a page about Australian Realism.

This too goes over my head.

I start to understand it, or imagine I'm understanding it.  Then something else is said that's in contradiction to what I thought I had learned.

What I'm getting here (and I could be totally wrong) is that Australian Realism has the idea that things exist outside of us knowing about it. Then we end up knowing about things by using our senses.

Oh......

I think I'm starting to get it.

The website says realism is the opposite of idealism.  In idealism, there's a belief that things exist only if someone's there to witness it.

I think I'm more of a realist than—at least with that definition.   I believe things exist even if no one is around to see them.   Plus, when is nothing around as a witness?  Maybe there's no humans, but there might be other animals.   If a zombie walked into a building and was seen only by a cockroach, does that mean the zombie didn't exist?

26. Learned more about John Anderson from Lord Wiki.

At one point, he associated with the Communist Party of Australia.  But he lost some interest when he realized Stalin's communism was a dictatorship.

John became a pluralist and libertarian.  I think I could be called that. I'm all for freedom and diversity.

I'm less of a libertarian when it comes to finances.  I believe in taxation. I think the government should take some of our money and use it for the common good...although unfortunately sometimes it's wasted.

I'm a libertarian when it comes to morals.  I think there are some absolutes, like don't murder someone or do something reckless that can likely cause an accidental murder.   But in terms of sex, drugs, and stuff like that; I think people should be free to make their own decisions.

Well.....

That's not completely true.

I don't think adults should be having sex with children.  I would find it very hard to tolerate a society in which that is allowed.  But then other people find pornography and homosexuality intolerable.

I think it's very wrong for parents to kill their toddler.   Other people think it's equally wrong for a mother to kill the embryo inside of her.

Can a society exist in which everyone decides on their own personal morals and ethics, and there are no laws regarding these things?

If we went around and asked people, What is absolutely wrong? What should society never tolerate?   How many things would everyone agree upon?  

Something I've wondered about is whether I'd protest a law that forced others to follow my own moral beliefs.

What if a law was made against meat-eating?  Would I stand up and fight for the freedom of meat-eaters?  Or would I stay quiet because I wanted what was best for animals?   I think it would be the latter.   Then I have to ask, if I wouldn't fight against the law, why don't I fight FOR the law?

Do I not fight for anti-meat laws because I think people should have the right to eat what they want to eat?   Do I not fight them because I feel it's a lost cause?  Do I not fight for the law because I'm too lazy and am hoping someone else will do it?

Or maybe I don't fight meat-eating because then I may find myself getting in trouble.   If they outlaw meat, who says they won't someday outlaw dairy products. How about honey?   What if they outlaw pets and zoos?  What if the health nuts get involved and I'm no longer able to eat artificial sweeteners and refined sugar?

27. Decided I prefer a society in which there are minimal laws, but society can work to convince others to make the "right" choice.

Then that makes me think about smoking though.  I know in some cities, the government says you can't smoke in restaurants and bars. I like that because I hate the smell of smoke, and sometimes it makes my eyes sting.  But maybe it would be better if the government didn't interfere; and individual places decided if they wanted to allow smoking or not.  

28. Tired of thinking about morals.

29. Learned from Lord Wiki that John Anderson didn't believe in supernatural beings.  He also didn't believe in non-natural realms.

I disagree with him there.

I believe in supernatural stuff.

30. Continued to think about morals even though I don't want to think about it.

I guess if I'm honest here.....

I like laws that support my morals; and I dislike laws that would prevent me from doing what I want to do.  And then there's stuff in which I don't care either way—like (adult consensual) pornography and prostitution.   I'm not personally into those things, but I'm also not against them.  

And there's drugs.  I'm against them, but don't feel it helps to outlaw them.  And it's hypocritical.  Why outlaw marijuana, but not alcohol, nicotine, caffeine, and psychiatric medication?  Why not outlaw junk food?  Studies are showing they can have a drug-like effect on people and they can cause major medical side-effects. 

31. Saw that the stocks here have plummeted, and we might have a recession. 

But America isn't falling alone.  We seem to be taking everyone down with us, including Australia.

The Australian dollar has gone down.  It's now worth 1.049 American dollars. That's the lowest I've seen it in awhile.

32. Decided money has made the world way too complicated; and it would be better if we went back to trading goods and services.

33. Went to Mousie's magical Aussie music database.  

Today I'm going to listen to Holy Grail, another Hunters and Collectors Song.   One thing I don't like about them is the & symbol.  For some reason, Blogger messes that up.   If I switch to edit HTML and then come back, it looks all weird.   Here I'll do it here....how about Jack & Jill.    See?  It adds this amp thing.   What the hell?    Then I have to go back and erase them.   I didn't erase the one between Jack and Jill so you could see what I'm talking about.

Anyway....here's the video.



I've heard it before.  And I knew what the song was before I heard it.  Sometimes I don't know I know a song until I actually start listening to it.

And shit.  The amp crap has come back. I have to fix it again.  

Maybe I should just avoid using that symbol for now on.

34. Alarmed and confused by headlines reading "Tourist Figures Fall off a Cliff".   I thought there was a dreadful accident, but then I wondered what do they mean by figures? I started picturing statues of tourists falling off a cliff.   

It turns out it's about tourism numbers. There's no literal cliff here.

Here's the article. 

It says Australians are off visiting foreign lands, and not many foreigners are coming to visit Australia.  There's a tourism deficit.

This tourism guy (John Lee) says tourism companies should do things to attract Chinese people.   They're the key market.

Well, fine.  What are we? Chopped liver?

Really.   I think Australia is attractive enough.  It has beautiful beaches, weird animals, nice people, awesome accents, and cool giant things.

The only thing Australian tourism needs to do is make it more affordable....unless they want to only cater to wealthy people.  

35. Thought about what I think would have been a better alternative to the Oprah thing.   Instead of spending all that money (3.5 million) to bring her to Australia;  I think Australia should have offered a monthly sweepstakes where they give people around the world free plane tickets to Australia.

From my previous adventures on the Qantas website, I'd estimate that average economy ticket prices are about $1400 round trip.  Let's say you make it family friendly and allow people to take up to three people with them.  That would be $5600.  Let's round it up to $6000. If you divide 3.5 million dollars by 6000 you get.....

583 months.

That's 48 years....which is kind of ridiculous.

Is my math right?

36. Redid my math on the calculator.  It seems to be right.

So let's change it to allowing people to take a whole crowd with them...like Oprah did.   Each winner would be allowed to take 20 guests.   Or we could have multiple winners.   But let's say 20 people are given free plane tickets to Australia.

That's $28,000 a month.  I'll divide that 3.5 million by that.   

That would give Australia a ten year campaign.

What happens after Oprah's Australia week is months in the past?  How about years?  Are people still going to be thinking about it?   I doubt it.  They'll have watched other travel shows, and they'll have gotten other ideas into their head.

I think a ten year campaign made up of regular average people would have been better.

Yes, Oprah is famous and influential.  But other people can make an impact too. They'll tell their friends about Australia. They'll take pictures. They'll blog about it.  They'll make viral YouTube videos.  

I think the winners will make other people interested in coming to Australia.

Some of those people might wait around hoping that they'll win too.  But if people can afford it, they'll go ahead and buy their own plane tickets.  

It might be good to shave off some of the contest years, or winners per month, and use some of the 3.5 million to give away prizes to people already in Australia. 

The 300th person to go through customs gets a free ticket to Sydney Wildlife World.     

The 405th person gets a free shopping spree.  

The 500th person gets a free lifetime's supply of Tim Tams.  

Disney World did that. They would randomly approach people (via some weird system) and give people prizes.  Some were very small and some were huge. I do think it made it more exciting to be there.  

37.  Wanted to clarify that although Australia would pay for airfare, the tourists would have to pay for their own lodging and other expenses. So tourism companies could get a lot of money.

Oh...you know what....it should be the private companies that give out the random prizes. That would encourage people to choose their restaurants, hotels, attractions, etc.

The 10,000 visitor at the zoo this month gets a free cuddle with a koala!

How about a hotel that picks a random time each day.  Then whoever calls for room service at that time gets a free meal.

I'd have some restrictions though.  Otherwise someone might say, I'll take everything on the menu. 

38. Asked Tim how much our Australia trip coast minus the plane tickets.

We figured out it was about $5000.  We stayed for about 4 weeks so that's 1240 a week.

I think that's a reasonable contribution to Australia's economy.  Some winners wouldn't be able to afford that, but they could go for a shorter time. The contest wouldn't dictate how long you stay in Australia.  Some winners might stay for a week. Other winners might stay for six months.

As some might spend less than we spent in Australia, others might spend much more. They might go to more expensive restaurants. They might stay in five star hotels. They might go on private tours.....
 
39. Went to Flickr so I can look at more Faun070 photos.

I'm going to look at his Melbourne album.  And while I do that I'm going to listen to the "Holy Grail" song again. I like it.  

Here's a picture of Mackenzie Street. Is it famous for something?  It seems like Faun070 purposely took a photo of that particular street. 

40. Googled the street. It doesn't seem to be a huge deal.  I'm guessing it means something to them personally.  Maybe they stayed near there?

Or it could be the name itself.  We sometimes take photos of streets and businesses that have the same name as us, or people we know. 

41. Decided to listen to iTunes while looking at the photos.  I'll use the DJ.  It will be fun to see what songs come up.

42. Started to listen to Christine Anu and The Wiggles sing "Taba Naba".




43. Wondered about the meaning behind this statue at Carlton Gardens. Why are the children holding animals on their head?

44. Started to listen to a song called "To Wish Impossible Things" by The Cure.

45. Proud of myself for knowing this was a photo of the Royal Exhibition Building before looking at the caption.  

46. Started to listen to "Life and Death" from Lost. 

It's so damn beautiful.




47. Loved seeing the Australia flag on this photo.  

48. Thought the kangaroos looked sweet on this statue. 

49. Liked this photo.   It's kind of mystical.  

50. Started to listen to "Buddha's Delight" by Haley Bennett.

51. Saw a statue of Adam Lindsay Gordon.

Who is that?  

52. Consulted Lord Wiki about Adam Lindsay Gordon.

Lord Wiki says he was a poet, jockey, and politician.

He did a famous leap (on his horse) at Blue Lake in Mt. Gambier.

53. Listened to "Departing Sun" from Lost.



And now I'm listening to the theme song from Maisy.



The cute little voices in the background are done by The Umbilical Brothers, an Australian comedy duo.  

Jack was a fan of Maisy when he was a toddler.

54. Reminded of Epcot when I saw this mini Tudor Village in Fitzroy Gardens.   The German pavilion in World Showcase has a mini village thing.   

55. Listened to "I Got A Plane To Catch" from Lost. 

I an embedding my own video for that because I used it for our London trip.



There's a very bad edit at 1:23.   But I like the rest of the video.   

56. Touched that there's a JFK memorial in Fitzroy Gardens. 

I have a few tears, but that's partly because now I'm listening to this song.




It was sort of my personal theme song for our 2009 Australia trip, and I featured it in this post.

And I think that's one of my favorite posts.   

57. Felt like giving huge hugs to Tracey, Gina, and Michelle. 

58. Figured I better stop embedding videos in this post.  

59. Saw a photo of 1010 building.   Is that the very eco-friendly one?

60. Googled the 1010 building.   I don't think it's the building I was thinking of. 

61. Found the building.   It's Council House Two.  

62. Liked this statue of Dame Edna. 

63. Proud of myself for knowing this statue was Dame Melba before reading the caption.