Kosciuszko, Moreton Bay, Bernard Fanning, and An Irish Mystery

1. Had deja vu when I saw this article.  

A doctor from Egypt, working in Western Australia, has been denied permanent residency because his daughter is disabled. She has cerebral palsy, and the government thinks she'll be a burden to the health system.

A few years ago the same thing happened with a doctor who's child had Down Syndrome.

I think they eventually let the family stay, but it was a battle.

I would have hoped their battle would have prevented other people from having to endure the same battle.

2. Learned from my Australia travel guide book that Mount Kosciuszko was named after a Polish freedom fighter.

I didn't know that.

Lord Wiki says the name of the mountain was originally Mount Kosciusko.  Then in 1997 they changed the spelling of the name to better match its namesake.

The guy who named the mountain was Pawel Edmund Stzelecki.  He was a Polish explorer who climbed the mountain and named it.

3. Consulted Lord Wiki about Tadeusz Kosciuszko.

He wasn't just a Polish freedom fighter.  He was an American freedom fighter.

He fought on the side of the colonies during the American Revolutionary war.  Then he became an American citizen.

4. Learned from Lord Wiki that Kosciuszko eventually left the United States. He left with Thomas Jefferson as the executor of his American estate.  He requested that his money be given to a fund that would free African slaves and help them become educated and independent.

Unfortunately, that went wrong.  People did wrong. And none of the money went where it should have gone.

5. Felt a little emotional when I saw from Lord Wiki that there are many places around the world named after Kosciuszko.  

There's a Kosciusko, Texas.  It's near San Antonia.  I think it's a pretty small town. I have to zoom in a lot on Google Maps before I can see it.  

Lord Wiki says America also has a few statues of Kosciuszko.  There's one in Washington D.C

6. Saw that the Australian dollar has gone up even more. It's now equal to 1.03 American dollars.

I have to go back to my old post to see what it was last time. I think it was 1.01 or 1.02.

7. Saw that the last time I looked at the currency thing was Sunday. And the Australian dollar was worth 1.02 American dollars.

It's comparison to the British pound has stayed relatively the same.  It's still worth about .65 pounds.

It's worth 6.81 Swedish Kronor.  Last time I checked it was 6.78.  It's gone up a bit there.

The Australian dollar has also gone up in yen.  The last time I checked it was worth 78.12 yen.   Now it's worth 79.1 yen.

8. Went to Tallygarunga.

Today I'm going to read a story thread called Or Perhaps You'd Rather Be Nude.

It takes place in a wizarding robe store in Oliphant Lane, Melbourne's wizarding village.

The two characters in the story are Eudoxia Karras and a new guy named Henry Hunter.

Henry is a professor of practical magic...probably at the university, but I'm not sure yet.

9. Started reading the story.

It's the evening of Sunday, October 16.

It looks like Henry Hunter has recently moved to Victoria.  In his previous hometown, the robe shop folks knew him very well. He could just walk into the store and they would have clothes ready for him.  They knew his size and what he liked. Now Henry is wondering how long it will be before he has that type of relationship with the shop in Oliphant Lane.

Eudoxia is also in the shop.  She's looking for robes for her brother. He has a thing about starting fires, so she's thinking of getting him a fireproof robe.  

That might be wise.

10. Saw Eudoxia and Henry exchanging some small talk in the shop. It started with a question about the weather.

11. Learned that Henry is from England, and he's teaching at the university.

12. Started to read the biography of Henry Hunter.  

His face claim is Gordon Ramsey—the cooking guy.   From what I know of that man, I don't like him.   But then I really don't know much, so I suppose I'm being a bit prejudice.

13. Watched a video of Gordon Ramsey getting angry.



There's a lot of videos on YouTube with him getting angry.

He has quite a reputation.

And maybe there's more to him than that. Maybe he has anger issues, but is really nice when he's not angry. Maybe he gives a lot of money to charity.

I'm trying to think positively here....

14. Learned from Lord Wiki, that Ramsay would lie to vegetarians and feed them soup with chicken stock.

Yeah.  I'm not finding much to love about this guy.  

15. Started to read about Henry Hunter.

He's 42.  He was born in London. His Patronus is a hedgehog.

16. Learned that Henry Hunter is not like his face claim.  He's friendly and has a good sense of humor.  He likes games and jokes.

17. Thought of the dad in Gremlins when I read these lines. 

The man is perpetually tinkering with one thing or another irrespective of the time of day or the season (or what company may or may not be over at the time), and he has invented just as many useless things as he has destroyed.

18. Learned that Henry is a bit sexist....or maybe a lot sexist.

He doesn't think women are suited for proper charm work.

19. Saw that Henry does have something in common with Ramsay.  He has a hot temper. However he doesn't hold grudges.

I wonder if Ramsay holds grudges.  

20. Started to read about Henry Hunter's history.

His father is a wizard, and his mother is a Muggle.

The two met at a benefit event for Muggles. The wizarding Hunter family cared about Muggle-welfare and involved themselves in those types of charities.

21. Learned that at Hogwarts, Henry was sorted into the Ravenclaw house.

22. Learned that Henry lost his Ministry job in the UK because he started a lab fire.

He escaped to Australia feeling they were a backwater continent, and therefore probably wouldn't have heard of his reputation yet.

23. Amused by this bit about Henry.

Easily tricked or distracted out of a temper (or assignment... or anything) with questions about things that interest him.

That's kind of cute.

Henry Hunter is described as being a mad scientist.  Besides the Gremlins dad, it also reminds me of the Back to the Future guy.   

Henry is creative, but dangerous.

It sounds like he's a bit like Eudoxia's brother.  I wonder if she'll come to realize that.  

24. Read something in Summerland that reminded me of Sarah's fight with the bullies, in the Tallygarunga story I read yesterday.  

The narrator of Summerland says,

If a woman has obvious flaws, a man can, mentally, take out his anger upon them.  He can silently curse her breasts slopping across her like a pair of jowls, her rippled cellulite, her thick waist, her lank hair.  And then his recovery starts: he scolds himself for his unfair wrath.  

I think that's fascinating, and I feel there may be some truth to it.

Our anger at people can make us think really nasty things—superficial things, bigoted things, unfair things.  I know I've done this at times.

If we're relatively decent, we feel guilty about these things.  Then maybe some of the anger and disgust we direct at the other person is redirected towards ourselves.  This might somewhat calm our anger towards the other person.  

The key word, though, in Summerland is silent.  When Sarah insulted the bully for his weight, she was far from silent.  Because of this, I'm tempted to believe she sees no fault in her way of thinking, and no guilt for her words.

I could give her  the benefit of the doubt if something slipped out once.  Sometimes our secret shameful thoughts are blurted out in a moment of negative passion. But if they're said repeatedly, I would think there's no shame.

25. Saw that my Australian of the day is George Appel.

He was born in Germany in 1823.

When Appel was fifteen, he went to London and started working in a bank.

In his late twenties, Appel decided to seek gold in Australia.

He arrived in Melbourne and then headed off to Bendigo. He didn't have much luck there.

He moved on to the Moreton Bay area, which is a little bit north of Brisbane.

He took part in the German community and was a founding member of the first Lutheran church of South Brisbane.

If I'm reading this right, Hamburg Germany appointed Appel to be a sort of consul to Brisbane. I guess he was kind of a liaison between Germany and Queensland. 

26. Went to Silkw0rm1982's YouTube channel.  

Here's his cover of Crowded House's "Fall At Your Feet".



I think he has a nice voice.

27. Listened to Silkw0rm1982's cover of Bernard Fanning's "Wash Me Clean".



It's quite lovely.

I'm not sure I've ever heard the original.

28. Started looking at John Lampard's Flickr set of a garden in Mt Eliza Victoria.

29. Saw that Mt Eliza is a tiny bit south of Frankston.

One of my favorite Australians lives in Frankston.

30.  Liked the trees in this picture. 

31. Looked at the Australian Monopoly board. 

The next space for me is Wickham Terrace.  Lord Wiki has nothing to say about it.  But I'm assuming since it's part of the red property group, it's in Brisbane.

I'm not saying the color red symbolizes Brisbane. But the other two red properties were in Brisbane, so I'm assuming that's the case for Wickham Terrace.

32. Found Wickham Terrace on Google Maps.  It's near Brisbane Private Hospital. 

33. Saw on Google Maps, that there's a Wickham Park.

34. Learned that the name Wickham comes from a guy named John Clements Wickham.

He was a captain on the HMS Beagle.  This is the ship that was made famous by Charles Darwin's adventures.

He later became a police chief of the Moreton Bay area. 

This is the second time I've run into Moreton Bay today.

I'm having Moreton Bay synchronocity.  

35. Saw that there's one of those non-sleepover hotels on Wickham Terrace.

It's called The Mill Hotel. 

I'm looking at their menu right now.

They don't have a vegetarian option on their kid's menu.  I don't like that.  There's not many vegetarian options on the menu...period.

That doesn't necessarily mean there's no food for vegetarians.   They might be willing to make something vegetarian or put together a side plate of vegetables.

I've been to some places in which every dish has meat, and if you ask for something without meat, they look at you like you've lost your mind.    Actually....I've been to only one place like that recently— a Vietnamese restaurant in Fort Worth.  Most places these days are vegetarian friendly. The thing is, it's not just vegetarians who want to order meatless dishes.   Before I was vegetarian, I often wanted meatless meals.

36. Wondered. If I expect meat restaurants to serve vegetarian food, should I then expect vegetarian restaurants to serve a few meat dishes?

I decided my answer is....

No.

There's a difference.

Meat eaters usually still eat vegetables, grains, and other stuff.  Unless they're on some kind of extreme protein-only diet, they should be able to find a vegetarian dish they can eat.

I do think the best restaurants are those that serve meat from ethical sources, and then also have a lot of vegetarian and vegan options.  Elevation Burger is like that.  The dead cows they use in their burgers are grass fed, organic, and free range....all that fun stuff.   Then they also have a vegetarian burger AND a vegan burger.  Oh, and what I love is they have a burger called Half The Guilt Burger.  You get one beef patty and one vegetarian patty.

37. Looked at my Australian travel guide.  I read about an explorer exploring a place.

Guess what place it was....

Moreton Bay!

That bay is haunting me today.

I'm going to be honest here.

The Australian travel guide is my designated bathroom book.   I like to read when I'm on the toilet.  I don't often mention that, because it seems to be such a guy thing.   But...well....there you go.

Maybe most women do it too.  Maybe I'm not alone.   It's just I more often hear men admitting to it.

Anyway, so I went to pee and ran into Moreton Bay again.

38. Consulted Lord Wiki about Moreton Bay.

Lord Wiki says it's the only place in Australia where the dugong gather in herds.  I guess it's their hang out place.

39. Learned the Aboriginal name for Moreton Bay is Quandamooka.

40. Learned that Moreton Bay is named after a Scottish astronomer named James Douglas. He was the Earl of Morton.

The change from Morton to Moreton was due to a spelling mistake.  Oops. 

James Douglas was the 14th Earl of Morton.  Now Scotland is on their 21st Earl of Morton. This guy's name is John Douglas.

I'm guessing all the Earls of Morton are related.

Why do they use the name Morton?

Why not say they're the Earl of Douglas?

41. Learned that Captain James Cook only passed by the bay, and that's when he named it.   That was in 1770.

Twenty-nine years later, in 1799 Matthew Flinders was the first to go IN the bay.

Twenty-five years after that, a guy named John Oxley brought in the first settlement.

It's amazing to me that so much time passes between these events.   My brain knows that.   But a part of me imagines it all happening at once.  Well, I don't picture it happening simultaneously.  I imagine it happening within a few months or years.  Sometimes, though, it's decades.  

So in the 1820's, there were convicts and soldiers in the area.

In the 1840's, ships with immigrants started to arrive.

41. Saw that one of the immigrant ships has the same name as a Tallygarunga wizard. Artemesia.  

Artemisia was the first ship to bring immigrants into Moreton Bay.  She arrived in December 1848.  

42. Learned from Lord Wiki that the relationship between the Quandamooka people and the Europeans was not a sweet one.   The white people showed a lack of respect for Aboriginal marriage rules and they desecrated sacred sites.  The other problem is the white people took over the land and there were not enough places for the Aboriginal people to hunt and father food. They started going after the stock animals, which I think is fair and understandable. 

The cattle grazers didn't think so. They thought this gave them valid reason to massacre the Quandamooka people.

43. Learned that, in March 2009, there was an oil spill in Moreton Bay. It was an environmental disaster.

That's bad, but the badness doesn't end there.   

In the 2011 Queensland flood, contaminated water got into the area.  Fishing folks were told not to catch anything.  The water was investigated, and the investigators learned there was sewage, pesticides, and metal in the water.  

44. Learned that there are 360 islands in Moreton Bay.

One of the islands is Bribie Island. I think I've heard of that.

Peel Island was used as a leper colony from 1907-1959.

45. Learned from Lord Wiki that there's a song called "Moreton Bay".

Now that he's said that, I'm thinking I've heard it before.  

46. Watched video with Moreton Bay song and scenes from the Ned Kelly movie. 



It's a pretty song.

Lord Wiki says it's about convicts being treated with brutality by a guy named Patrick Logan.

Logan was in command of the penal colony there from 1827-1830.

The convicts thought he was hateful, but some people see him as the father of Queensland.

It's interesting how there can be so many varying views about a person.

47. Learned Bernard Fanning is the one singing "Moreton Bay" in the video above.

It reminds me of this song that played at the end of this TV movie about Protestant and Catholic Irish children.  I forgot the name of the movie.  There was a program in America where they'd take in two kids—one from each side of the conflict.   It was a peace initiative.  

I like stuff like that...things that promote peace.  

48. Struggled to find the name of the movie.  This is frustrating.  It's so rare that I can't find the answers with googling.

I DID find that the program is called The Irish Children's Fund.  

You'd think knowing that would help me find the movie, but I'm still not having luck.

Anyway, it was a good song...in the movie.   I used to love it. They played it during a tearjerker moment.

I'm guessing it's a style of music.  Irish folk music, perhaps?

Lord Wiki says "Moreton Bay" is an Australian folk song, which makes sense since it is about Australia.  I'd also say it was Irish, though, since the creator of the song was an Irish convict.

49. Listened to John Denver sing "Moreton Bay" on Spotify. I downloaded Spotify months ago, but didn't have a need to use it until today.

I tried to find Denver's performance on YouTube so I could embed it, but no such luck......

50. Listened to Barry Crocker sing "Moreton Bay".

I'm falling in love with this song.

I can totally imagine it making me cry if I heard it in a movie.  

51. Remembered the name of the TV movie!

I'm so happy.

It's called Children in the Crossfire.  

I found it by looking at the RareTvMovie YouTube channel.   They have a huge collection of American TV movies.  I actually didn't see that movie.  I saw a movie called Cross of Fire.  But that triggered my memory of the other movie's name.  

I think if I kept digging on this channel, I'd find Children in the Crossfire as well.   They seem to have everything.  

52. Searched through the channel.  It seems they DON'T have Children in the Crossfire. Oh well.   I'm still grateful to them for helping my memory out.  

Now that I've found what I was looking for, I have to admit I kind of enjoyed the challenge of searching.

53. Thought I wouldn't be able to find the song in the movie, but I did!

I thought the song was played only in the end, but it's also played in the beginning....at least a little bit of it.

Google Video has it.  

54. Found the name of the song!

It's called "The Town I Loved So Well" and it's by the Dubliners.  

I think these are the lyrics that are played at the end of the movie.

But when I returned how my eyes have burned
To see how a town could be brought to it's knees
By the armored cars and the bombed-out bars
And the gas that hangs on to every breeze.
Now the army's installed by that old gasyard wall
And the damned barbed wire gets higher and higher
With their tanks and their guns, oh my god what have they done
To the town I loved so well.


Now the music's gone but they carry on
For their spirit's been bruised never broken
They will not forget but their hearts are set
On tomorrow and peace once again.
For what's done is done and what's won is won
And what's lost is lost and gone forever
I can only pray for a bright brand-new day
In the town I loved so well.

Here's a video of the song.

Joan Lindsay, Parrots, Grief , and the Amos Family

1. Decided that I really don't give myself enough chances to be ignored, rejected, and excluded.  So I joined Google+.   This gives me the chance to put names I recognize into circles, and then wonder why these people aren't adding me to their circles.

2. Started watching an interview with Joan Lindsay that someone suggested I watch.  



She talks about her life and career.   It was recorded before Picnic at Hanging Rock came out.  

I may be too tired to understand and enjoy it. I had major insomnia last night; only got two hours of sleep.

3. Confused by interview.  Joan Lindsay talks about some mountain.  Mount...something.   She says she said her first words there, at the age of three.  I think she may be referring to Hanging Rock, but I'm not sure.

4. Rewinded the video a bit.  She must be referring to Hanging Rock.   She talks about how she didn't go to the school in the book; but she did go to Mount...something; and she mentions most of the book taking place there.

I can't understand the mountain name she's saying.  It's something like Mesna?  

5. Started to find the interview more interesting.  It kind of reminds me of the Lost issue.   Joan Lindsay talks about how fans will write to her wanting to know the answers to the mystery.  She thinks they should accept the lack of answers.  Although I think later she wrote a book that provided the answers.

Do all mysteries need to be answered for the reader?  No, probably not.

Does the writer need to know the answers to the mystery?

I don't know.

I think it helps the writer to avoid inconsistencies and paradoxes.

I'm dealing with that issue now for my fictional blog.   My characters have just found out that Julia's ex-boyfriend is dead.  He was killed by his sister.  Why was he killed?  I don't know yet.   I'll probably never reveal it on the blog.   I don't think my characters will ever know the truth. But I should probably figure it out—at least, in my head.

Or is it better that my ignorance match the ignorance of the characters?  Should I know something they don't know?

We don't need to know where the picnicking school girls vanished to; but does Joan Lindsay need to know?  Did she know while she was writing the novel?   

6. Learned that Joan Lindsay believed she had the power to stop people's watches just by sitting by them.  I guess it happened to her a few time, and she believed it was more than a coincidence.

She could be right.

I've begun to think I have a power.  It's like a new-parent karma thing.  You know when you have a baby or young child; pre-parental people tend to make ignorant comments and assumptions.  When Jack was little, pre-parental women would say things that would make me want to slap them.   I'm not a violent person so I refrained from doing so.  Instead I would think, just wait until you have kids....

Most of the people who said annoying things to me ended up having karma slap them hard on the ass.

I won't give any real examples right now.  Instead, I'll just illustrate with a made-up one.   Let's say a pre-parent says, What do you mean you can't get sleep?   Just put the baby in the crib and go to bed.   It's not rocket science!  This person would end up with a baby that rarely sleeps; the type that only sleeps if someone is holding them.  Sleep would end up being a huge issue for the parent.

Yeah, so Joan Lindsay stops clocks.  I have karma on my side—at least with the annoying pre-parental people.

7. Realized I can think of only four examples of the karma thing; so maybe it's just a coincidence.

8. Consulted Lord Wiki about Picnic at Hanging Rock.  I've consulted him before about it, but I need help remembering stuff.

The mountain Lindsay mentioned was Mount Macedon.

Some bits of Where the Wild Things Are was filmed there.

I forgot that was partly filmed in Australia.  Or was the whole thing filmed there?  

9. Reminded by Lord Wiki that Joan Lindsay solved the mystery in the last chapter of the book.  But then she changed her mind and removed the chapter. A few years after her death, the chapter was published as another book.  I have a feeling Joan wouldn't have been to happy about that.  

10. Looked at IMDb for the filming locations of Where the Wild Things Are.   Except for a little Los Angeles studio work, it's all filmed in Victoria, Australia.  

I love the trailer to the movie.  It has my current favorite song.  Well...and I actually learned of the song from the trailer.  



The song also reminds me of Lost. Camp Erdman in Hawaii used the song for one of their montage videos.  Some of Lost was filmed at Camp Erdman.   



11.Read Lee's very funny post about bushranger names.  He sent me the link yesterday, or the day before.   He thought I might like it; and I did.  

Here's a little sample:  Guys like Frederick Ward, whose bushranger name was Captain Thunderbolt. Now while Thunderbolt can come across a bit threatening in a Thor, Viking God way, it's highway cred is completely undermined by that Captain bit. When I think of Captain Thunderbolt I can't help but see a guy on a horse – or maybe a pony - in tights and a cape.

12. Felt a bit jealous of James because he had a cockatoo visit him on his balcony.   

We had a raccoon visit us on our balcony.  That was a bit creepy.   It happened late at night.   I heard a noise and looked out the window.   I thought it was the friendly neighborhood cat at first; but then I saw that it was a raccoon.  I was glad I didn't open the door for the "cat".   I wouldn't really want a raccoon in my house.  Although he would have probably just ran away.

Anyway, I'd much rather have a cockatoo visit.

13. Wished that some pet parrots would escape and breed so we'd end up with feral parrots in America.  I want parrots!

I'll feel bad though if my wish comes true; and it totally messes up the ecology.

When I visited my sister in Miami several years ago, there were some wild parrots that had flown in from....somewhere.   South America, I suppose.

14. Found website that says wild parrots ARE in America.  I'm so excited!!!

And I feel guilty for my excitement.  

15. Felt better after reading the website.  It says feral parrots have not caused major problems.

That's good.  And I'm so excited they're here.

I'm feeling like the eHarmony cat girl; although I'm not crying....yet.  

I do have a few tears.  It might be from the lack of sleep.  When I'm tired it's easier for me to get emotional. 

16. Read Maggie's post about the very friendly people of Oklahoma.  Her opinion differs from a commenter on Andrew's blog.   Linda thinks people in Oklahoma are awful.  

Anyway, when I started reading Maggie's post, I figured I had the answer.  People are nice to her in Oklahoma because she's Australian.   Americans tend to love the Aussie accent.

The first time we went to Australia, I met Michelle.   She's an Australian who spent many years living in California.  She told me Americans were so friendly.   I disagreed.   Australians are the friendly ones.  After awhile, I came up with a theory. Americans were nice to Michelle because they loved her accent.  Australians were nice to me because they liked my accent.

But Maggie says this wasn't the case for her.  She says, They often seem genuinely interested in you.  And that’s BEFORE they find out that you’re a foreigner and that you have a cute accent and that you might know Steve Irwin.  Which I don’t.  But there’s no harm in asking, right? 

Although, MAYBE Maggie didn't realize that they did know she had an accent.   Maybe they had heard her talking earlier?   Maybe that's why they struck up a conversation in the first place.

It's possible.

But it's also possible that Maggie didn't talk at the store.  Maybe she was alone there, and not the type to talk to herself.  Maybe she really did meet very nice people in Oklahoma.

I can't remember if I've ever been to Oklahoma, or not.  I'll have to ask Tim.

People in Texas are usually friendly; but with strangers we don't often go beyond Hi and how are you—stuff like that.  Every so often, we'll get into a conversation.

My parents randomly started talking to people at some restaurant when they were in California.  I don't know who talked to who first; but they ended up being all friendly with each other. The other couple owned a castle and winery. They invited my parents to visit it. That was pretty cool.

Tim and I started chatting with strangers in London. We didn't become friends or anything; but we had an enjoyable conversation.

It's not an American thing though. When we were in Hawaii, our Australian friends got all chatty with some Canadians.  

17. Thought of another theory about Maggie's friendly encounter with Oklahoma people.   It's the same with me in Australia.  Maggie loves America.   American-love oozes from her pores; just like Australian-love oozes from mine.   I think people can sense when you're happy to be in their town.   You have a type of happy enthusiasm; and it attracts people.   I go to Australia filled with Australia love, and I think people pick up on that.  I'm full of joy, enthusiasm, and love when I'm there.

Just as there's a pregnancy glow, there's also a I'm-so-happy-to-be-here glow.

On the same token, if you're NOT happy to be there, I think people will pick up on that as well.   They'll be resentful of your dislike of their town.   They'll be less friendly towards you.   Then you'll dislike their town even more.   It becomes a horrible cycle.   

18. Decided I'm doing pretty well blogging for someone who's had only two hours of sleep.   I'm not sure I'm going to survive math today though.  We're supposed to do long division today.   Scary.  It's two digits into three digits.  We've just worked our way through one digit into three digits. That was hard enough, thank you very much.

Yesterday, Tim and I were practicing the hard stuff.  Thankfully, we were both able to do the problems.   I got most of them right.  I was very happy with myself.    But transferring the process to Jack is going to be hard.  I might just do the problems WITH him, and not require him to be able to do it on his own.  It will depend on how much he pays attention and participates.  If he gets that attitude of I'll sit here and daydream while you do all the work; then I'll get mean and force him to do it on his own.   Otherwise, we'll do it together.   When he's older, we can push more long division independence.

19. Saw that the Offspring Facebook page is asking whether people are team Patrick or team Chris. 

I'm totally team Patrick, but I might change my mind after seeing Chris again.

By the way, I found a way to watch the show for free.   I'm going to refrain from giving any details on that issue.

20.  Related to Peter's comment on the Chris/Patrick issue.  He says, Am I the only boy on here? Seems to be all girls!!!! LOL.   That's how I feel about Magic is Might, but with the age issue.   Sometimes I was tempted to ask, am I the only one over twenty-five here?   

21. Read article comparing Generation X people to Generation Y.  They say Generation Y folks are more responsible. They're less likely to engage in risky behaviors.

I'm Generation X which includes people born between 1962-1981.   Generation Y people were born between 1982 and 2000.   I guess I'm more like them because they're less likely to smoke, have unprotected sex with a stranger, and drink and drive. I don't do any of that.   

The study talks only about Victorian people, so I guess the study was done there.  I wonder if the same results would be obtained in other locations.   

22. Went to Tallygarunga.   Today, I'm going to read the spin-off to Find An Orbit Closer To The Ground.   It's called Kick it Up A Notch.  The story thread involves Adrian Tallenry and Mereditha Tallenry.  They used to be married.  Then they were driven apart by the loss of their baby.   Now they've ended up at the same party.  Things are awkward, yet also romantic.   

I heard something interesting in the chatroom yesterday.  Meri and Adrian were created eight years ago.   The same two role-players created them for another role-playing site.  I wanted to know if it had been a Harry Potter site; but the conversation moved onto something else.   

23. Started to read the story thread.  

24. Had a hard time relating to Meri.   She exits the room to be by herself, and she doesn't want anyone to follow.   When I leave the room because of some drama, I'm wanting someone to follow.   I want someone to ask me what's wrong.  I want someone to ask me if I'm okay.   I want someone to let me know that they're there for me.   After awhile, though; then I might want to be alone.

25. Tried to figure out if I tell people to leave when I really want them to stay.  I don't think I do.   If I say I need time alone, I probably mean it.   But I do engage in the ridiculous nothing's-wrong-when there-is-something-wrong game.  What's the deal with that?  Why do we do it?

It's tempting to think that we're testing the other person.  Are you going to stay and fight to figure out what's wrong with me?   But I don't know. I think we're intelligent enough to know that it's a losing battle.    Most people (especially men....sorry to stereotype) are going to say, Oh. Okay. You're fine.  Good!  I'm going to join the poker game then.   

I think I say nothing's wrong because I fear it will be too much of a struggle to explain my feelings.   And I think I say nothing's wrong when I feel I'm going down the same road I've gone down a million times.  I get upset over the same types of behaviors from the same people.   It happens again and again and again. Will talking about it really help?   

Sometimes I think the nicest thing is for someone to just stay with you, know you're sad, but not demand to get all the details of why you're sad.  That being said.  They don't need to fill the silence by rambling on excessively about their own problems. That's annoying. When I'm upset about my own problems, I really don't feel like being a good and sympathetic listener.   

Hearing other people's problems can be helpful to a small degree; especially if you're ashamed of the problem.  It lets you know that you're not alone.   It lets you know other people can understand your feelings...to some degree.  But often people run with it, and it becomes more of a. Oh look.  Now I have an excuse to blab on and on about my own life.  Unfortunately, I do that to Jack sometimes.  

And now I'm doing it to Meri.  

26. Decided to shut up and keep reading.  I can imagine Meri thinking, Shut up, Dina.   This is supposed to be about me.  NOT you.  See.   It's the lack of sleep. I'm imagining conversations with fictional characters.  

I probably need to take a nap.   

27. Thought it was sweet but frustrating that Meri and Adrian both miss each other; but they both seem to feel they don't deserve the other's love and attention.   

Awww, this is very sweet.  They're opening up to each other now.   

It's a very sad story, and I can imagine it's probably realistic.   I mean I don't know how common the situation is...medically speaking.  But the emotions and reactions ring true to me.

Something happened during Meri's pregnancy.  Adrian was forced to make a decision that cost the life of the baby.  They were both devastated.   In her grief, Meri was less loving towards Adrian.   Adrian felt she blamed him for what happened to the baby.

I can totally imagine that happening.   I don't know if a woman would blame her husband on a conscious level.  I guess it might depend on what was the risk to her own life.    If the risk had been low, she might have felt the baby died for nothing.    

But even if the risk had been high; and what was done needed to be done, I can imagine there might be some unconscious resentment.  Then even if there is no unconscious resentment, the grieving father might mistake his partner's cold withdrawal (due to grief) as blame and rejection.   

28. Thought about miscarriages.   Before I was pregnant, I really didn't understand the fuss.   I could imagine the sadness. Yeah.   It's sad.  But I couldn't understand women who totally lost it; became depressed for months.  Or even years.  What's the deal?  They didn't even know the child. Is it that hard to lose something that you never had?

Then I got pregnant with Jack.  I was one of those people who bonded with their child as soon as I took the pregnancy test.   No, actually that's wrong.   I bonded with Jack at the first sign of pregnancy—a brief moment of dizziness that left me full of hope that something was going on with my body.     

I LOVED that little cluster of cells in my body.   When I was a few weeks pregnant, I started bleeding a bit.   I was absolutely terrified, and a bit depressed too.   I didn't care that miscarriages were natural and common.   I didn't care that I could try again and make a new baby.   I didn't want any old baby.  I wanted Jack.  Although I didn't know he was Jack at that point.   

So knowing how sad I felt just being scared of losing my baby; I then could see how a woman might have a total breakdown if she actually did lose the baby.   

The weird thing is I've lost the empathy now.  I'm back to not getting it.  I can understand in a vague sympathetic way.   I know it's sad, but I can't personally imagine the sadness anymore.    It's easier for me to imagine and understand the sadness of parents who've lost a child they've already gotten to know.  Although I hate to imagine it because it makes me horribly depressed and scared. 


29. Thought about a quote I read earlier in The Secret Life of Maeve Lee Kwong.   It reminds me of Meri's and Adrian's story.  Grief is a lonely place, Maeve.  Nobody really "gets it".  Nobody can go into that darkness with you.  But you have to have faith that things will get better.

Yeah.  I think grief is a party usually attended alone.  Even if you share a loss, it can be hard to connect with the others who are grieving.  I think the quote applies best to grief caused by death; but it can also apply to break-ups and other types of grief.   One of my Facebook friends had his heart broken.   He had a lot of supportive messages and Facebook comments.  That was good.   But no matter what you say in those situations, it's not going to make the mourner feel happy.   The only thing that will make them truly happy is to have the lost one send them a message.   I made a huge mistake.   I still love you!   Do you forgive me?  Or There was a huge mix-up.  I'm not really dead!  

But even if we can't make someone happy again....for a long time.   It's not okay to stay quiet and leave the sad one alone.  Our presence might not bring them joy, but it might help them from falling completely apart.  Or they might fall and we can be there to pick them back up.  When they're ready.  

30. Tried to take a nap.   I slept off and on for about two hours.  It wasn't a very good sleep.  It didn't make me feel any better.  Then I went upstairs and found that the air-conditioner is not working again.

Shit. 

31. Found out my Australian of the day is Adam Amos.   He was a pioneer settler type person.  

Adam was born in 1774 in Scotland.

When he was in his forties, he moved to Tasmania.   Back then it was called Van Diemen's Land.

There's all this stuff here about a guy named George Meredith.   Before moving to Australia, Adam and his brother moved to Wales.   They leased land from Meredith; then later they sailed to Australia with him.

I'm too tired to try to understand it.  Sorry.   But it has something to do with the Amos brothers having difficulty with Meredith.   I could be wrong (because I'm tired), but it seems maybe Adam and his brother had an agreement with Meredith, but they failed to get it in writing.  Later down the road, the lack of formal agreement caused them some problems.

32. Found genealogy page that might be for the Amos family.  Here's Adam Amos, but not the one I just read about.   I think it's his nephew.  He was born in Tasmania, and his father's name is John.   My Australian of the day's brother was named John.

Yep.  That's the same John Amos. I checked back with the Australian dictionary of biography.   They provide the birth and death year of John Amos, and it matches the information on the genealogy site.  

And here's Adam himself.  

Adam Amos had four sons and five daughters.

33. Decided to follow through the genealogy of one of the kids....or maybe a few.   This could be fun.

One of Adam's daughters was named Mary.   She was born in 1814 in Scotland.   She died in Launceston in 1876.   She married a British guy named Henry Lyne, and had four sons and six daughters.

One of the sons was Harry.  I'll pick him in honor of the Harry Potter movie coming out soon.

Harry Lyne was born in Tasmania in 1849.   He had four sons and five daughters.

One of his daughters was named Minna Una Lyne. She was born in 1881.  She married Trevor Murray, and had two sons and four daughters.

One of the sons was Caerleon Murray.   This guy ended up in Queensland.   He died there in 1973.    He had three sons and and one daughter.

One of the daughters was Bette Murray.  She was born in Mackay Queensland in 1945.

Bette married Rodney Pattemore.  Mr. and Mrs. Pattemore had two daughters and one son.   Brett Pattemore is eight months older than me.  The genealogy site doesn't specify where he was born.  

34. Decided to follow another line in the Amos family, one that keeps the name in the family.

I'll start with the son named after his father.   Adam Amos the sequel was born in Scotland.   He and his wife had five sons and six daughters.

One of his sons was William Amos.   He was born in 1847.   He died in Victoria, so I guess family ended up over there.    He and his wife had six sons and five daughters.

One of William's sons Victor was born in Victoria.   I wonder if he was named for his birthplace.

Victor ended up with only one son; Maxwell Amos.

35. Saw that Maxwell Amos and I share the same birthday!  

Maxwell ended up providing lots of grandchildren for Victor, but they were all daughters.   So there goes the Amos name from that line.

36. Decided to pick another one of William's sons.  

There's yet another Adam.    He had three sons.   One of them was Ian Amos.  

Ian was born in 1927.   He ended up in New South Wales.    He had three daughters and one son.  The son was Desmond Amos.   Unfortunately, Desmond died in his late twenties, and had no children.

37. Went back to Adam Tasman III to pick another son.

Roy Amos was born in 1920 and he's still alive (at least according to the website).

One of Roy's sons is Christopher, born in 1954.    Christopher has two kids; Yale and Melanie.  The website doesn't provide any information about them.

Political Agendas, Relationships, Myki, and More Premature Trip Planning

1. Regretted transferring all my Facebook Likes to my Facebook page.  I realize I feel awkward commenting as That Weird American Who's Obsessed with Australia.  Oh well. I'm not changing it all back.  I'll either get used to it, or I won't comment.  Maybe I'll just go around liking other people's comments.  That's usually easier, anyway.

It might be one of those cowardly things.  Most other people aren't using their Facebook pages to comment, so I feel awkward being one of the few.  It's silly really. If more people were doing it, I'd feel better. I really hate being like that. I should be a pioneer and not a follower.

2. Realized that maybe I'm a little bit embarrassed to shout out that I'm a weird American obsessed with Australia.  That's silly too, because I shout it out every time I publish a blog post.

I really am a coward sometimes.  But I'm not going to be too hard on myself, because sometimes I'm brave.  Well, I mean I'm brave when it comes to embarrassing myself on the internet.   Like I sing on YouTube.  That takes a certain amount of courage.

3. Finished reading Grace.  I think I shall try to read more books by Robert Drew.

4. Consulted Lord Wiki about Robert Drewe.  He wrote a book called Our Sunshine.   It was about Ned Kelly, and was the basis for the Heath Ledger Ned Kelly film.

It seems his most famous novel is The Shark Net.  It involves a serial killer.  I don't often like those types of stories...crime stuff.  But I suppose sometimes I do.  I liked The Silence of the Lambs.    I liked Grace, and that involved a criminal.  I was interested enough in Frederick Bailey Deeming to remember that one of the murders took place on Andrew Street.   Maybe I should just say I might like the stuff less than the average person.  I don't watch a bunch of crime/forensic shows like a lot of people seem to do.

5. Started reading The Prosperous Thief by Andrea Goldsmith.   It's about the Holocaust. 

6. Had another one of my recurring Australia dreams in which I forget to tell people we came to visit.  I actually dreamed about the trip, but I don't remember much; except for a part where kids are watching Snow White.  I think we were in Australia for about five days,   When we get home, I plan to write a blog post about the trip.  I decide it's not a big deal that we visited only one family of friends.  The others will understand that we were there for a short time and didn't have time for visits. Then I remember another friend who might mind that we never told her we were there.   I decide I'll need to keep the visit a secret.  

I have no idea why I keep having this type of dream.

7. Read article about a Liberal leader  (Campbell Newman) who personally supports gay marriage, but won't work to lift the ban because he feels it's not supported enough by the public.  He's wrong about that. Polls have shown that the majority DOES support gay marriage.   

It seems Newman isn't paying attention to the polls.  He's going by the fact that not many people have approached him about the issue.  The article suggests that will probably change now.  People will probably be approaching him like crazy.  Will he then fight for gay marriage?

There's a man mentioned in this article that makes me want to scream.  It's Jim Wallace, the head of the Australian Christian Lobby.  He's says the gay marriage issue is not at the head of anyone's political agenda except for gay activists.  That's complete bullshit.   I'm not gay, and gay marriage is a very important issue to me. There are whole organisations for straight people supporting gay marriage.

Wallace says, I think his position is like a lot of the community who misunderstandingly think that this is an issue of discrimination in some way when it is not, It's merely a political agenda run by the homosexual lobby.

How in the world does that make sense?  How is denying marriage rights to homosexuals NOT discrimination?   And aren't most causes political agendas?  Wasn't it once a political agenda to end slavery?  Wasn't it once a political agenda to allow women to vote?

8.  Read about poll done by The Australian regarding who voters would want as Labor Leader; Julia Gillard, Kevin Rudd, or Wayne Swan.  

The winner for the poll is Rudd. Gillard comes in second, and Swan comes in fourth. The third most popular option chosen was no answer/none of the above.

I wonder if there's a chance Rudd could become leader again.

9. Read article about something called singular relationships. These are people who have a partner, but they don't live with that partner.  A study done by the Australian Institute of Family Studies shows that 24% of people reportedly single are in a relationship.

We have friends like this.  They've been together since the mid to late 1990's.  For the most part, they've lived in different cities. At one point, one of them was living in New Zealand while the other was in Florida.

They seem very happy together even when they're not physically together.

I think it's a good option for people who like their independence.  It's kind of the best of both worlds. You get companionship and love, but you also get a lot of space.  

10. Read a story in an Aussie parenting newsletter.  It's written by a mom who still hugs and kisses her teenage sons; and frequently tells that that she loves them.

I like reading that.  We're still very affectionate with Jack, and he's VERY affectionate with us.  He loves hugs and cuddles.

When he was younger for some reason I got the idea that all that would stop when he was six.   I don't know.  Maybe someone warned me?  Enjoy the cuddles now, because when he's six he'll hate all that.   Nope....not Jack.

My family can be very judgmental about all of this.  We had a family party several years ago.   My cousin sat on his father's lap.  He was close to fourteen years old.  I remember people in my family being very creeped out by all this.  It's not normal.  It's not healthy. It's a little off.  That's what my parents says about people who display behavior they see as being unacceptable.

My cousin turned out quite well.  He's in his twenties now.  He's happy, smart, cool, and seems to be pretty popular.  Affection between older kids/teens and parents might not be normal, in the sense that it's not exactly common. But this likely has more to do with social norms than what is healthy and not healthy.  Who knows. It could be the lack of affection between older kids and parents that's unhealthy.

11. Thought more about the parental affection thing. In my family, it's probably more of a gender-prejudice thing.  My parents had three daughters, and both my parents have always been affectionate with all of us. They're very demonstrative.  I'm guessing they felt it should be different with boys.

The good news is I don't think they still feel this way though. My dad loved and framed a photo of Jack sitting on my lap last summer. Then again, maybe he's never had a problem with parent-son affection.  It might not have been him that was bothered by my cousin sitting on his father's lap.   That might have been my mother and sisters. I know some people in my family complained about it, but I can't remember exactly which ones did and which ones did not. It would be funny if it had been me.   But no...I don't think it was.  

12. Talked to Tim about trip-planning stuff.   The conversation made me realize I can probably worry less about finding restaurants near attractions we visit. If we're hungry, we'll grab a snack.

For the most part, we'll probably eat near our hotel or apartment. So when we find out where that is, then we should do restaurant research.   

If I happen to see or hear of a place while doing other research, reading, or getting recommendations, I'll mark it down. It might be near a place we plan to visit. Or it might sound so great, we'll be willing to take a tram just to eat there.

13. Listened to a recording of an eighty-one year-old man singing a folk song on the Australian Screen website.  He sounds old, and it got me wondering why the elderly have a certain type of voice.

14. Found a website about elderly voices. It says when we age, changes happen to our larynx.   These changes are called presbyphonia.

The website offers some advice in keeping the voice sounding younger for a longer time.   I don't know if these are really effective or not. They say to drink lots of water—keep the vocal cords moist.  And they say to avoid yelling, screaming, and talking excessively.

15. Started planning another Melbourne day.  This is where we go to the library and Cook's Cottage.   I thought maybe Tim and Jack would take the train out to Scienceworks, but we talked it over and decided we might skip it.   Jack seemed okay with instead going back to the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney.  He likes that, mostly because of the exhibition that spits out chocolate chips.  It's funny because we are not the wholesome type of parents that deprive their kids of sugar.  He gets plenty.  

16. Found the State Library of Victoria on Google Maps.  It's on Swanston Street. Now I'm going to switch to the other map site. 

I'm looking around the area to see if there's anything exciting.

If we walk south on Swanston and then turn east on Little Bourke, we'll end up in Chinatown. That might be nice.

17. Got directions from Google Maps.  They say  go east on Lonsdale, south on Exhibition, and then east on Flinders.  That will get us to Fitzroy Gardens.   Jack can play in the park, and we can take a peak at the cottage of Captain Cook's parents.

18. Went to the website for the State Library of Victoria.  I remember they have some kind of video game room there. Jack might like that.  

Here we go.  Yeah.  There's a video game room.   I don't know if it will be that exciting for him.  He has a lot of the stuff mentioned at home. But then again, he'll be away from home. He might miss all his video game stuff.  

19. Went to website for Fitzroy Gardens.  

20. Thought that Jack might like the fairies tree; although I can't see him getting overly excited about it.

You know what Jack likes to do.  He likes to sit in the grass, pick up clovers and pieces of grass and use them in his imagination play. He gets really into it.   He's also big into playing with sand.   When we were in Hawaii, we went to a beach.  Tim and I were most excited about the fact that it was a set from Lost.    My friend was most excited about the fact that there were sea turtles on the beach.   Jack didn't care much about Lost or Sea Turtles. He was too busy making hamburger patties out of wet sand.  He loves that kind of stuff.

21. Decided to leave the rest of that day open.  If we're bored, we can take the train to the science museum.  We could also make it easier on ourselves and just return to the Melbourne Museum.  I think that will have enough stuff there to keep us busy for multiple visits.

The thing about science museums is each one is pretty much the same. It doesn't matter what state or country you're visiting.  Jack loved them when he was young, but the past few years he seems less interested.  We went to Questacon in Canberra, and weren't overly impressed.  Jack had more fun at the children's area at the National Museum.  We also all had a great time at the old Parliament House.

22. Decided these days it's harder to predict what Jack will like and not like. When he was young, it was easy:  playgrounds, zoos, and kid's museums. These days it's more complicated.   Mostly, it's better though, because we're not completely dependent on kiddie stuff to make him happy.

23. Remembered in London, Jack got really into riding the trains and learning all the different train lines. So in Melbourne, he might love just riding the trams and trains.

24. Remembered another favorite holiday past-time for our family—visiting grocery stores. We all love this. 

25. Explored the Metlink site.  I looked at trips to various places outside the city. They all look tedious to me.  I think we'll stick to the city for the most part.   The exception will be visiting our friends who are moving to the suburbs.  That will be our opportunity to get out of the touristy area.  

26. Looked at the myki seven day pass.  It's $30. That seems reasonable. Concession is $15. Would kids be included in that? 

This is just for zone 1 though.  I'm hoping our friends don't end up living in zone 2.

27. Read on Metlink's Children page that kids do get concession. And that includes any child under sixteen.  That's really nice.  

28. Struggled to figure out the different zones on Metlink.

29. Figured out our friends are probably going to be living in Zone 2.

30. Learned that you can put myki money and a myki pass on the same card.  So we can probably do the myki pass, and then add a little money to it to get to our friends in zone 2.  Although it could end up being cheaper just to get the zone 1/2 pass.   

31. Saw that Myki has its own website. I think I have managed to figure out the difference between a 2 hour and daily ticket.  I guess really it's self-explanatory.  But I'm slow sometimes. A two hour ticket is cheaper, but it's only valid for two hours. I'm guessing though that travel is unlimited for those two hours?  Then with the daily ticket, you can use it all day.

32. Learned that you have to pay a $10 fee for a myki card.  Is that on top of what you pay for the myki pass?   If it is, I don't know if it's worth it.  The site brags that it will last us four years. But we're not going to be in Melbourne for four years. We're going to be there only for a week!

I'm thinking (hoping) that if you buy the pass it includes the $10 fee.  Maybe they charge only those getting the card for the myki money.  That would make sense. You wouldn't want people wasting the card if they're only going to use it for a 2 hour fare.   

33. Decided if we have to pay a $10 extra fee for the myki thing, we'll just go for the Metcard; if they're still using them by then. 

34. Found an article complaining about the myki and tourists.   It says, How are tourists going to use Melbourne’s public transport system. Each car costs $10 and that doesn’t include any trips. You have to order a myki card online so how are tourists going to use the system. It won’t look very good in the tourists eyes when a simple task of catching public transport becomes a hassle.

One idea for a solution might be to charge us tourists the $10. Then if we manage to return the card (so it can be reused by someone else) we get a rebate.   If we're too lazy to return it, and take it home for a souvenir, then we lose the $10.   

35. Came up with a better solution.  We'll just go ahead and move to Melbourne. With all this research, I'm already feeling a bit attached.  Then we can put our little myki cards to good use.

36. Felt my excitement for visiting the State Library of Victoria diminishing.  The thing is...is there much information there that I couldn't find online?   There's so much great information about Australia online. You could learn so much by just the Australian Dictionary of Biography alone. 

It would be cool if we lived in Australia, and I could go to a library to check out hard-to-find novels and biographies.  But I can't check out any books.

I still want to go to the library. I just don't think I'm going to stick to my plan of spending hours alone there. When I do stuff like that, I usually end up overwhelmed with glazed over eyes.  

A good place to casually look at Australia-related books is the Australia Museum. They have this nice search and discover room with taxidermic animals you can touch, maps, computers, etc.   Then it also has a bunch of books to read. It's really great.

37. Decided to see if the Melbourne Museum has something like the search and discover room.   I couldn't find that; but I did see that the Melbourne Museum has one of the world's oldest computers.  It's one of those things that pretty take up a whole room.  I think Jack and Tim will like that.  Actually, I  might kind of like it too.  It's fascinating.  

38. Looked at the website for the See-Melbourne card.  You pay a certain amount of money and then you can have unlimited access to several attractions.  It looked good until I saw the price

It's confusing because they say it's valid for 12 months, but then on this page they say you can get 2, 3, of 7 day passes.  I think what they mean is that the pass is valid until you begin to use it. Once you use it, it expires within 2-7 days.  

A seven day pass costs $32 per day for an adult, and $23 for a child.  A day at the Melbourne museum costs $8  per adult, and is free for kids.  The only way I can imagine this pass would save people money is if they plan to go crazy and do multiple expensive tourist attractions everyday.   

39. Saw that the Melbourne Aquarium costs $33 dollars for  adults.  We might think, that if you want to go to the aquarium everyday, the See-Melbourne card might be an investment. You can go to the aquarium everyday PLUS go to other attractions for free. 

The other option is to just get an aquarium membership.  A family pass is $175. That comes out to $25 per day if you're only staying for seven days.  Oh, and that's $25 for the whole family vs. $32 for each adult.  

It would cost Tim, Jack, and me $88 per day for the See-Melbourne pass. That's CRAZY!  

40. Asked Tim about our London transportation cards.   He said those had a fee as well....about 7 pounds.  You could get a refund, but there was a line, and we ended up skipping it.    I could understand the fee for that though.   It wasn't a pass. It was one of those cards where you deduct money from it.  It wouldn't be right if some people bought a card, put five dollars on it, and then threw it away.

Then again, they could just have a minimum requirement on the card.  

I wish Melbourne would do that. They could say if you initially spend $25-30 dollars on the card, then you can have it for free.  

41. Heard a song I liked on Pandora.  It was "More than Life" by Whitley.    Here's a video for the song.  I think it's a very good slideshow and/or montage song.    I didn't realize it until about five minutes ago, but yeah...I think there are songs that are especially good for montages. 

42. Heard some of "Hollywood" by Angus and Julia Stone on Pandora.  The lyrics sound really fun.   I'm going to go read them.  Well....they're fun in a depressing way.

They all would have been killed
in the sound of music,
they would have found out that
Pinocchio could never tell the truth.

She never would have made it to shore,
the little mermaid. He would have married a whore
from a wealthy family, after all he was royalty.

That's not true.   The Sound of Music is a true story.   They did survive, and they did escape.  

43. Liked this passage from The Prosperous Thief.   It's beautifully sad.   Heini wasn't accustomed to kindness and the old man's kindness was making him soft.  The Jew was just like his cake, a luxury Heini couldn't afford, so he tried to visit less often.  But he couldn't stick to his plan, and in the end-it was hard, so hard-he forced himself to stay away altogether.

I was trying to think of what that reminded me of.  It took me a few moments, but I figured it out.   It reminds me of food.   In some way, I think it's easier to go on a very restrictive diet than to just reduce intake of something, or eat in moderation. Moderation is actually very challenging. 

I never succeeded at reducing the amount of dairy and eggs that I ate.   But when I decided I'd avoid  eggs and became fairly strict about it....that's been pretty easy.   If I decide to relax my rules for vacations, I fear that I won't manage to do it in moderation. I worry that I'll be eating omelettes, pancakes, waffles, macaroons and Pavlova left and right. 

   

Qantas, Permanent Residency, Wishes, and Oscars

1. Read article about mental health during a disaster.  They give advice on how to avoid depression, a nervous breakdown, and other stuff like that.  I like the advice. It's basically don't isolate yourself and drown in your own misery.  Connect with people.  Help others. Exercise.

Last week I had some bad days.  I felt somewhat depressed. We had a get-together with my family.  I was totally dreading it.  But I ended up having a good time, and I felt better afterward. 

That being said....It CAN backfire.  What if you're in a disaster, and you have no friends and family?  What if you're very lonely?  What if you go outside to connect to people, say hello to someone, and they just walk on by?  What if you go to offer help and they turn you away; or they ignore you because they're already too busy?   Then you might end up being more depressed.  

2. Delighted to hear Helen Reddy singing "We'll Sing in the Sunshine".  I checked to see if YouTube had a video, and found this Muppet thing.  

3. Read article about Qantas not providing free charter flights for New South Wales police to travel to Christchurch.  They claim though that they're giving the police a discount.  Really?  The flight is averaging out at about $1000 a person. How much does a flight from Sydney to Christchurch usually cost?

I'm looking at the Qantas website right now.   I chose a flight in late March.   If I want to save a lot of money I can use the Red e-Deal option and get a round trip ticket for a little over $500.

If I choose the more flexible option I can get a round trip flight for $1158. 

Okay. Where's the discount?  If it's there, it's not very substantial.  I understand I'm not doing a charter thing. I'm sure there's differences. But this is for a good cause.  Why is Qantas being so stingy?  

4. Still bored by Nicki Gemmell's Love Song.  I hope I start liking it more.....soon.

5. Read comments on Facebook regarding the carbon tax. Pearl Maya says, You mean we are actually going to have to pay the real price of our pollution without it being put on the never never and we might have to be responsible for our choices - outrageous! Yes I would pay it.   

A few people are also wishing for a mining tax.

Some, that are against the tax, talk about governments needing to spend more wisely. But isn't the main point of the carbon tax to get people to be more conservative with their carbon usage?   It's kind of like speeding tickets.  Yes the government makes money off of our transgressions.  However, I think the main point of having speed limits is to keep people safe.  

Something that some other people mention is that there's no point in Australia doing the right thing if other countries aren't going to do likewise. Barrie Hall says,  Happy to pay when the US, China and India have also put a price on carbon. Otherwise this is just a waste of time (and our money)...   It's not fair for some countries to hold all the burden.   But change always has to start somewhere.    Tim and I were talking about my egg thing today.  Sometimes I have that feeling of what's the point of avoiding eggs.  So I don't eat eggs.    Other people are still eating them.  Chickens are still being severely mistreated.  What's the point of making a sacrifice if other people aren't going to do the same?

But if you look at vegetarianism through the years. It used to be such a fringe movement. It was hard to find vegetarian food anywhere.   Now our regular old grocery store has a large selection.   Some people (or countries) change first, and then others slowly follow.   

6. Talked to Lord Wiki about which countries have carbon taxes. There's a few.  He says India has one.  I wonder if Barrie Hall is aware of that.  If I'm understanding things correctly, several countries in Europe have taxes (Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK).   Costa Rica has a carbon tax.  Some provinces in Canada have them.

America doesn't have any sort of federal tax, but certain areas have something in place. These are Boulder Colorado,  some counties in San Francisco, and a county in Maryland.

You know....it's like gay marriage.  Slowly things are changing.

7. Heard the Seekers singing "Danny Boy" on Pandora.  It reminds me of the last episode of Modern Family.  Jay sings a bit of the song.  My parents brought up that episode yesterday. My dad said they were concerned it would make me self-conscious; and they wanted to assure me I didn't sing as bad as Gloria.

I don't know if I sing as bad as Gloria, but I AM like her in that I'll sit there singing by myself with the karaoke machine.  No one yet has told me shut up. They probably won't. I don't think my family minds bad singing. I mean we're all pretty tolerant. We just have fun with it.

8. Related to this bit from Love Song.  Lillie (the protagonist) reveals to someone that she wants to write.  He responds Oh love, waste of time that.

Then the book says, And the dismissal burns in Lillie and something is hardened, there's a determination from that point and she knows in her heart that she will one day write of him.  

I've dealt with those types of dismissing comments. There's the You're good at it, but don't quit your day job.   Then there was the Maybe I'll try to get one of my books published, and the response of Or we could try to win the lottery.

Yes, these dismissing comments burn, and they harden me into a malicious bitch. No, I'm joking....sort of.   But I will say I do NOT forget those comments.  My memory fails me at times, but it does not fail me when someone has hurt my feelings.   Well, that's not exactly true. I've come to realize that I do sometimes forget the things that people say or do to hurt my feelings. Then I read it in my old journal, and the memories come back.  

9. Read article about Vegemite. It says that Vegemite might have genetically modified ingredients.  Now I know there's debate over whether GMO is even bad for us, but I would be weary of any company that is secretive about the whole matter.   

There's something called the Truefood guide; and they judge food based on whether their companies are transparent about what goes into their food.  Vegemite has been given a red light. Weet-bix gets a green light.  SO.... maybe people need to be changing their breakfast habits.  

For those who love Vegemite, but don't like the idea of giving their money to a big secretive American corporation, there are alternatives.  Here we have....Aussie Mite.  Have any of you tried it?  Maybe I'll try to buy it the next time we go to Australia.

Aussie-mite is rich in vitamin B, it's vegan, and has no GMO ingredients.  I don't think it's very easy to find though.   

10. Received Facebook wall message from my sort-of Australian cousin.  She says American private schools DO get money from the government.  She also says that if you're not a citizen of Australia, you have to pay for government schools.  I think I'd probably just homeschool.  

Lord Wiki slightly disagrees with my cousin...if I'm understanding him correctly.  He says Non-religious private schools theoretically could qualify for such funding, but prefer the advantages of independent control of their student admissions and course content.  So I guess the basic idea is that there would be strings attached to the funding.

I'm guessing that some private schools take government money, but most don't.   

Wait. You know what.  I bet I know what my cousin is talking about....vouchers!  With this, the government doesn't give money to the school. They give money to the students who give money to the school.

I've heard vague things about vouchers, but I wasn't sure to what extent it was used in America.   Lord Wiki says that the voucher thing is happening in Milwaukee. This website says there are also voucher programs in D.C, Ohio, and Louisiana. Then Florida, Georgia, Ohio, and Utah have vouchers for kids with special needs.   

11. Found a NY teachers blog that agrees with my cousin, and disagrees with Lord Wiki.   It says, Public schools are funded through federal, state and local taxes and do not charge a tuition. Private schools, on the other hand, receive their funding through tuition, fundraising, and partial government funding.

I should be fair though.  Lord Wiki didn't say that private schools do NOT receive funding.  He says they qualify, but prefer to have freedom from government.  

12. Read website page about expats.  The only thing they say differently from my cousin is that you have to be a permanent resident to get a free education. You don't have to be a citizen.  

13. Went to Australia's immigration website to remind myself of who qualifies for permanent residency. Unfortunately, it's not me.  AND I'm having a hard time finding the information.    

Okay.  Finally.   I found it.  Permanent residency means you have a Visa that allows you to stay in Australia indefinitely.    I still can't find the info about qualifications.   I'm just gonna go to Lord Wiki.  Maybe he knows.  

I think I understand it. You have to look under each immigration option...such as business owner, skilled migrant, talented person, etc.  The idea I'm getting is that when you come over, you qualify as either temporary or permanent. If you're permanent, I guess you get the free education.  

15. Looked at this website which lists the benefits of permanent residency.  They say,  Children of permanent residents who are born in Australia are deemed Australian Citizens by birth.  This will be one great advantage because they will enjoy the maximum benefits in the field of education and health care.

So, that seems to be saying there ARE extra benefits to being a citizen, in terms of education. This same website mentions that permanent resident people are eligible for health care.  My guess is that there are education/health benefits to being a permanent resident; and then even more benefits to becoming a citizen.

16. Read this government website about the benefits of being a citizen. They say Australian citizenship is a privilege that offers enormous rewards. By becoming an Australian citizen, you are joining a unique national community. Our country has been built on the combined contributions of our Indigenous people and those who came later from all over the world. We celebrate this diversity and at the same time, strive for a unified and harmonious nation.

I gotta admit it.  Reading this stuff triggers some old feelings—the intense longing that made me depressed in 2008.   But for the most part I'm okay.

Anyway.....

Education stuff isn't mentioned.   They talk about political stuff—voting, becoming a member of parliament, joining the military, etc.    

17. Wondered if Geoffrey Rush will win the Oscar.  I hope so.  But I probably don't care as much as I did a few weeks ago. Maybe watching the Oscars will make me care again.  

18. Reminded myself that I no longer dream of becoming Australian.  My old wish was to move to Australia.  I wanted to be an expat like my cousin.  And I wanted to become a citizen.

I love Australia no less than I did a few years ago, but my wishes have changed.   It's still a pipe dream really.  What I'd love is to be a long-term American tourist in Australia.  I'd love to spend 6 months to a year there.  I'd even be super happy with three months. I'd love to have lots of money so we can move about without worrying so much about the cost.  I'd want to go to every state and territory, and lots of cities and towns in each one.

I don't imagine that happening in the next ten years because it would be hard to leave the cats for so long. I figure in about ten years, we'll no longer have cats.  Jack will be almost twenty, so he'll be old enough to decide whether he wants to join us, or stay back in America. Who knows....maybe he'll go elsewhere.  He could end up in Japan; well, since he loves Nintendo so much!

19. Decided that if I have my way (wishes DO sometimes come true....right?) we will go to Australia for a month in 2012, a month in 2015, a month in 2018, and for six months in 2021.  Or if money is tight, maybe we'll skip 2018 and save up for 2021.  

You never know though. Things could go really bad, and I might NEVER return to Australia.

Personally, I think it's better luck to face the fact that things might not go the way you want them to go.  When you have an attitude of entitlement, the universe is likely to slap you in the face.  

20. Started to like Love Song....a little. Well, at least I'm understanding it better. It's kind of weird.   It goes back and forth from first person and third person. 

21. Ate vegetarian Kung Pao while watching the Oscars.    

22. Informed Tim and Jack that Jackie Weaver is Australian.

23. Failed to understand Kurt Douglas's joke about Hugh Jackman.

24.. Saw that one of the short animation winners is Australian; Shaun Tan.   The movie is The Lost Thing, and it's based on Tan's picture book.  

25. Was VERY happy to see David Seidler win for best screenplay.

26. Liked Anna Hathaway's song about Hugh Jackman and Australia. It was funny, and Anna Hathaway sings very beautifully.   

27. Decided I REALLY want Geoffrey Rush to win. Maybe my King's Speech love has returned.

28.  Disappointed that Geoffrey Rush didn't win.  I was upset that Christian Bale won, but felt better once he started speaking British. He's SO much more appealing with a British accent.

And I used to love Christian Bale when he sang this.  

29. Hoped that Alexandre Despat (The King's Speech) would win for best music, but also hoped The Social Network's music would win. I love the music in The Social Network.

Recently, I learned that Despat also did the music for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. 

30. Started to lose hope for The King's Speech. 

31. Had this sudden feeling that one day I shall see Inception, and it will become my favorite movie.   It makes sense, if I think about it. Lucid dreams are what brought about my Australia obsession in the first place....well, lucid dreams AND regular dreams.

31. Told Tim that I think Cate Blanchett could play JK Rowling in a movie.  She is VERY beautiful.

32. Tried to figure out if Dave Elsey is Australian.

Well, there's a Linkedin profile for a Dave Elsey in Sydney who works in the film industry. That could be him.   

33. Found article about Esley. He IS an Aussie! He's a British-Aussie.

34. Loved the Tangled song.  It makes me think of a certain Australian who saw the movie and loved it.  He's going to be going to animation school very soon. One day I might see HIM winning an Oscar.  That would be SO cool.   

35. LOVED the auto-tune thing!!!  That is too cool. It makes me want to laugh and cry at the same time....especially the Harry Potter bit. 

Jack loves it too.  He's rewinding it for the third time.  

36. Actually liked Oprah's speech about documentary films.

37. Wondered...Who is Banksy?   Someone joked about it during the Oscars, and it was mentioned in one of the documentary clips.   The only Banksy I know is the one who does news.com.au's Facebook Page.  

I just checked with Lord Wiki.   Banksy is some kind of secretive artist in the UK.

 38. Very sad to hear about Cameron Wiseman.  My thoughts and prayers are with him and his family.  Their story makes my heart ache.  I hope little Cameron will be okay.  I hate stories like that, because I imagine it happening to Jack.

Note: Cameron has nothing to do with the Oscars.  I was reading news via Facebook while watching the award show.   

39. Had my hope restored for The King's Speech!   TOM HOOPER WON BEST DIRECTOR!!!!!!!!  He tells the story about how his mom led him to the movie. It's very sweet.

He says the moral of the story is listen to your mum. Yes!  Yesterday I listened to my mom, and now I'm all into Pandora again! Mothers do have good ideas sometimes.  

40. Impressed by the Rabbit Hole clip with Nicole Kidman.

41. Happy to see that Colin Firth won! He's very funny.  Glad to see that he mentioned Guy Pearce.   I tend to forget he was in the movie.

42. Learned from Jack that The King's Speech won!!!!!!!!   He had to look it up on the Internet because our damn DVR didn't tape the end of the show.  I'd like to see the acceptance speech someday. I want to know if they mentioned Lionel Logue.  Oh well.  I guess they'll have it on YouTube someday.