Balmain, Redfern, First Fleet, and Pretend Julia Gillard

1. Reminded by my new Treasures of Australia book that the Sydney suburb of Balmain was named after a surgeon on the First Fleet.

William Balmain.

Lord Wiki says he delivered the first baby on the First Fleet.  I wonder whatever became of that baby.  Did it survive?  Does it have descendants?

2. Learned that William Balmain ended up getting together with a convict named Margaret Dawson.   They ended up having a child together.

Did I do a post on Dawson?

I can't remember.

I'll go check.

3. Saw that I did do a post on her.

I shall read it and relearn what I learned almost two years ago.

I wonder if I mentioned William Balmain.  

4. Read some of the post and saw that I did mention Balmain.

I also mentioned the fact that Redfern was named after a surgeon as well.

I was thinking before that Balmain had impressed me for some reason; but now I'm remembering that it was Redfern. There was something I liked about the guy, but I can't remember what it was.

5. Consulted Lord Wiki about Redfern.

That surgeon had William as a first name too.  

William Redfern was a convict.

What got him into trouble was being part of a mutiny.

He was a doctor before becoming a convict, and in New South Wales he became a doctor again.

William Redfern spoke up against the sanitary conditions of the ships.  His words were heard and improvements were made.

Lord Wiki says Redfern can be considered one of the fathers of the Australian medical profession.

6. Read article that says there have been huge storms in south-east Queensland.   

It sounds very intense.  I hope people and other animals stay safe. 

7. Read Andrew's distressing post about the mistreatment of chickens.

This is timely for me since I accidentally bought products with egg in it.  

I guess on the plus side, the protein bars probably don't have a lot of eggs.  I think there's a difference between eating an omelet which uses a 2-3 eggs per serving and eating a baked good or other product that uses 1-2 eggs for many servings.

8. Agreed with what Andrew and Anonymous discussed in Andrew's comment section. Anonymous says.

The fact is modern farming practices and thinking have reduced animals to products where the bottom line is the almighty dollar - farmers and corporations want to make high profits and consumers want cheap, plentiful food. To get either, food animals must live appalling lives where terrible cruelty is commonplace and sanctioned at most levels of society.

Andrew replies, You may well be a few months younger than me, but you would remember when chicken was a luxury. It was a luxury because it was expensive. Now it is so cheap, because of the mass production of chicken meat. 

Yeah.  I think meat and other animal products should be expensive.  I don't think everyone needs to be vegetarian.  But I do think meat should be something people have once in awhile, rather than on a regular basis. 

Meat shouldn't be mass produced and cheap.

9. Thought maybe there's a correlation between the obesity issues, that people worry about lately, and factory farming.  People want to pay low prices for huge portions. To keep up with that, there needs to be factory farms.

10. Went to Kevin Rudd's Twitter page.   I thought this Tweet was cute:  The students at the model UN were first class. A few too many future foreign ministers for my liking… I better watch out. KRudd.

11.  Read article about asylum seekers.  It sounds like good news. Although some of it confuses me.  

Some people who come by boat are going to be put into what's called community detention rather than mandatory detention.

Rather than being isolated from the community, they'll live in the community. But they'll be monitored and required to check in with officials.

12. Read the article more closely.  People won't automatically get released into the community.  They'll spend a short time in the detention centers for medical and identity checks.

I wonder how long they'll be in there?  Days? Weeks? Months?

The people released into the community will have what's called a bridging visa.

A human rights advocate named Marion Le worries nothing will change. She's concerned that the bridging visa is just another name for the protection visa.  With the protection visa, sometimes it would take three to four years for people to get one.

Hopefully her suspicions aren't warranted, and people won't get locked up for that long.  

13. Read editorial in the Sydney Morning Herald about the best characters on television.

Only one character is Australian and it's Tim Mathieson from At Home With Julia.  I heard of that, but I didn't know it was an actual show. I thought it was a one time special.

Most of the characters on the list are from American shows.

I don't watch a lot of Australian television, so I don't have much to go by.  But my favorite characters are probably Maggie Beare from Mother and Son and Billy Proudman from Offspring.  

14. Went to the website for At Home With Julia.

I was sort of right.  It was a miniseries—not an ongoing thing.  

15. Started to watch the video clips they have on the website. The actress who plays Julia Gillard does a good job of imitating Gillard's voice.

I laughed a few times during that. The show looks pretty good.

16. Watched more of the show. I'm finding that I agree with the editorial's pick of best character on the show.

17. Went to Tallygarunga.

Today I'm going to read History of Magic: The First Lesson. 

It looks like there's a new professor for that.

I think last semester the class was taught by Professor Rodrigez.

Now we have Edvard Adalwin. 

18. Started to read.

Professor Adalwin is a bit nervous about teaching his first class at the school.

He eats a Bernie Botts bean and gets pumpkin pie.

I think of pumpkin pie as being an American food. I guess because of Thanksgiving.  I wonder if other countries eat it as well.

I peeked at Adalwin's biography.  He's from Norway.

I wonder if Norwegians eat pumpkin pie.

19. Consulted Lord Wiki about the history of pumpkin pie.

It's pretty interesting.

He said pumpkin seeds were first found in Mexico. They made their way to France, and then to England.  The British started using pumpkin as a pie-filler. Then it was brought, by the pilgrims, to America.

20. Went back to reading about the Tally class.

The students are entering the room.

21. Wondered about Reade's line here.

Sure, he was still feeling the lowest he ever had, with the Arti situation hanging over him, but History was his favourite class and it was brightening up his day considerably just thinking about attending it.

So what is the Arti situation now?   This story takes place on October 10. I need to go see when the coma storyline took place.

According to Reade here, is Arti missing?  Does he know she's in the hospital?   Does he know what has happened to her?

22. Went to the coma storyline....or the awakening-from-the-coma story.    

It takes place on October 5.

So by now, Reade should know Arti is in the hospital—unless she's being hidden.

23. Intrigued by the fact that the class is going to be learning Australia history.

Riley's not at all excited about it.

I wish I could trade places with him—well, just for a few hours.    

I'd love to hear about Australian history through the eyes of a wizard.

24. Read Sarah Kent's post.  She's very excited to see Victor Hartwell in the classroom.

That triggered my memory.  Victor's the one who has recently found out he's William Kent's son.   This means he's Sarah's half-brother.

I'm guessing, from her excitement about seeing him, that she knows they're siblings.

Or maybe she doesn't know and adores him as a friend?

25. Finished reading the story thread.

Most of the students are not at all excited about history. The exceptions are Reade and Juli Preston.

26. Wondered what kind of magic was happening in the beginnings of Australia.

Any witches and wizards on The First Fleet?  

Maybe that baby, William Balmain delivered, was a wizard.   Or maybe the intrusion of Muggle medicine in his childbirth messed things up, and the baby became a Squib.  


27. Went to the biography of Mr. Edvard Adalwin.

His face claim is Vincent Furnier, who is also known as Alice Cooper.   I didn't know that. Lord Wiki had to tell me. I'm usually ignorant when it comes to music stuff.

I know of one Alice Cooper song: "Welcome to My Nightmare".



I think,  for some of the Tallygarunga students, they're biggest nightmare is attending history class.

28. Learned that Edvard is in his early sixties.

He's tall.

It sounds like he's a skeleton.   In fact, one won’t find an ounce of fat or muscle on his body.

What is he? Skin and bones?

29. Reminded of myself when I read this.  He loves natures and strolls out through forests and wooded areas but cannot stand humid, stick heat or the frigid, chilling cold. This is why he so often spends his time indoors.

I'm very picky about weather. Anything over 82 degrees is too hot for me, and anything under about 70 degrees is too cold.

30. Liked this detail about Edvard. Also when out on strolls, assuming his attire has pockets, his hands will typically be shoved deep into pockets. 

I think it provides insight into both his appearance and personality.

I'm not sure what it says about his personality though.  What kind of person sticks their hands in their pockets?

Maybe....

My guess is it's someone who's a bit nervous and insecure. They may be trying to hide a part of themselves, in a subconscious way. They also might be holding something in their pocket to give them security.

In the story, Edvard had candy in his pocket.  I wonder if that's usually the case for him.

31. Learned that Edvard has the type of face that makes him look grumpy, but it doesn't match his personality.  He's pleasant and likes to joke around.

32. Reminded strongly of someone I know when I read this line about Edvard.

He can keep his cool around certain company like strangers or pupils, but behind closed doors, if one is disrespectful or overly-insulting with their words, he will not hold back his fury.

Some people are very good at controlling their temper in some situations, but unable to control it in other situations.

33. Started to read Edvard's history.

His mother is a witch but worked at a Muggle department store.

His father made money casting runes.  He would do this for both Muggles and magical folks. The Muggles saw it as mostly entertainment.

34. Learned that, although Durmstrang is the closer and more logical choice of wizarding school for Norwegians, Edvard was sent to Hogwarts. The reason is his parents didn't like the school's association with the dark arts.

35. Learned that Edvard was sorted into Hufflepuff.

He would have started school around 1970.

Who would have been there then?

36. Consulted Lord Wiki's cousin about Sirius Black.  He was born in 1959, the same year as Edvard.

So he'd probably be in the same year as a lot of Harry Potter people—Black, James Potter, Lily Potter, Snape, Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew.

37. Saw that when Edvard finished with Hogwarts, he went to London's Magic University.

He didn't do so well there—too much partying.  He was kicked out. His dad was very angry about that.  He refused to pay for any more of Edvard's education.

Edvard worked instead.   After struggling, he made enough money to pay for his own education.   That's where he learned the history stuff.

38. Intrigued by these lines.

His luck took a turn for the better though in his early forties when at least a teaching position had opened up. The Hogwarts History of Magic professor had grown deathly ill and had to take an extended leave of absence; unfortunately, the professor’s conditions never improved and died a few months later.

I wonder if that's referencing a Harry Potter character.

39. Did the math. That would have been around 1999, and that's after the battle at Hogwarts took place.

It still could be a Harry Potter character though.

Who taught History of Magic?

40. Consulted Lord Wiki's cousin again.  The class is the one that's taught by a ghost.  

I'm guessing the ghost wasn't the one who got sick. And it really couldn't have died. 

Maybe someone else was hired to do the job, and then he or she got sick?

41. Did another Australian accent practice video.  I followed the advice of a friend who suggested I try reading nonfiction.  So I read about Broken Hill in my new Treasures of Australia book. 

I think (hope) that this time I sound more Australian and less British. That's not to say I don't love British accents.




42.  Went to the YouTube channel of Stephniijane. 

She's another singer, and has done a lot of videos.

Her profile says she has a degree in zoology and is a wildlife demonstrator.

At the time she wrote the profile, she was living in London as an au pair.  I wonder if she's still doing that.  I also wonder if she liked the job.

43. Listened to Stephniijane sing the Glee version of "Defying Gravity"



It's interesting. I don't think I've ever seen an interesting cover on Glee. I need to check it out.

44. Listened to Glee's version of "Defying Gravity".

It's less interesting than what I hoped for.

It sounds very much like the one in the musical.



45. Thought it would be funny if Stephniijane was simply singing the song wrong, and I'm liking it because it's different.

I think her version sounds different from the Glee version. 

46. Listened to Stephniijane sing Katy Perry's "Firework".



In some parts, her voice sounds good.

Often I can't hear her well over the guitar.

47. Watched Stephniijane do one of her animal demonstrations.

This is with her pet potoroo. I've never heard of that.




She mentions that her most popular video is of her singing Lady Gaga's "Just Dance."  She talks about how she gets mixed reviews.  Some people love it and some people hate it.

I decided I'd watch it and see for myself.



I don't think she has a very powerful voice, but she does have a cute one.

48. Consulted Lord Wiki about the potoroo.

He says there are four types. Two of them are endangered. One of them (Gilbert's Potoroo) is the most endangered animal in Australia.  There's not many of them left.

49. Learned from my Treasures of Australia book that the main streets in Broken Hill are named after minerals.   

I'm looking at it on Google Maps.  

I see Silver City Highway.

There's Argent Street. Is that a mineral?

Lord Wiki says it's a tincture. I wasn't sure what that was; so I asked him.  He said it's a color used on a coat of arms.

50. Saw Galena Street.

Lord Wiki says Galena is the mineral form of lead sulfide.

There's a Gypsum Street.

Gypsum is made of calcium, sulfate, and water. 

Lord Wiki says gypsum is used in the making of tofu. Interesting......

51. Saw that my Australian of the day is John Macquarie Antill.   He's the grandson of the guy I wrote about two days ago: Henry Colden Antill.

Henry worked with Lachlan Macquarie, so I'm guessing that's why John Antill has Macquarie as his middle name.

52. Saw that John Antill did military work.

He won medals for that.

53. Saw that one of Antill's pastimes after retirement was "bowls".   I'm not sure what that means.

He also liked gardening, woodwork, reading, and writing.   He and his daughter wrote a play about William Redfern. It was called The Emancipist.

It's funny to read that since I was thinking about Redfern last night.   

54. Amused because I saw, from IMDb that the woman who plays Julia Gillard in At Home With Julia was one of the stars of The Upside Down Show. 

Her name's Amanda Bishop, and she played Mrs. Foil.   I don't remember her...except maybe vaguely.   It's been a long time since we watched that show.  

55. Saw that Phil Lloyd, the guy who plays Tim Mathieson, is also the writer of the series.  

56. Started to look at more of John Lampard's Flickr photos.

Today I'm going to look at his Spot Food and Film Festival pictures.

It's part of the Australian Film Festival.

Here's their website.  They have a page about the Spot thing.  

57.  Thought  these cupcakes are cute and colorful.  

58. Saw different names on a walk of fame type thing.   Here's one for an actor named Steve Bisley.

Lord Wiki says he was in Mad Max and currently he's on Sea Patrol.  He was also on Water Rats and Sea Rescue.

I really haven't seen any of that stuff. 

59. Saw Claudia Karvan has a circle on the Walk of Fame.  

60. Saw that Peter Garrett was at the festival.

I have to admit, it took me about three seconds to remember who he was.  

But I'm pleased with myself for figuring it out eventually.

61. Continued to watch At Home With Julia.

It has a lot of funny parts.

62. Found article about At Home With Julia.   It's about Tim and Julia having a sex scene involving the Australian flag.   I saw the headlines a few days ago, but didn't pay much attention. It wasn't of interest to me. Now that I've seen the show, I'm interested. 

Some people were offended by the flag thing.   

A spokesman for the show responded.

If it's OK for others to drape themselves in our flag for all manner of occasions, I really don't see why it can't be draped over our prime minister as a symbol of love.

Yeah...why not.

63. Read blog post from someone who found the show to be funny but disrespectful.  

Scarlett Harris liked the first two episodes and felt it made Gillard seem more human.  But she pointed out anti-feminist aspects of the program.  

She doubts a show like this would be made about other Prime Ministers. She acknowledges that Rudd and others have been mocked in comedy, but it was about their public lives and not their private ones. 

I don't know.  She might have a point.  There's probably some gender prejudice involved in the motivation behind the show.

But I still like it.

Gillard and Mathieson are portrayed as being kind of buffoons.   But I think they're very sympathetic characters. 

It would be nice if we lived in a world where no one would think twice about a female Prime Minister being in a de facto relationship with a hairdresser.  Someday that will probably be the case.   But I CAN imagine that there's truth behind the show.   It can't be too easy being Mathieson in today's society.   We still cling to the idea that in heterosexual relationships, it's the man who should have the more powerful career.

I imagine it's hard enough for most men to be in a relationship where his partner has more power and money.  I think it would be even more difficult when you're constantly under media scrutiny.

That being said...is the show adding more salt to the wounds?

Maybe?   Or maybe Tim and Julia find it funny.  Do they have the ability to laugh at themselves while watching the show? Or do they feel it goes too far?

Do they even watch it?

64. Decided I personally feel the show isn't disrespectful or cruel.  Why? Because it's actually made me kind of LIKE Julia Gillard.

I don't often give Tim Mathieson a lot of thought, but after seeing the show....I'm liking him too.  

The characters are a bit silly, but they're also very lovely.   

Now instead of seeing Gillard simply as the anti-gay marriage person who stole Kevin Rudd's job, I also see her as the woman wearing a bathrobe who doesn't know her way around Canberra.  

65. Looked at the Australian Monopoly board.  

Today's street for me is Victoria Square.

Well, I guess it's not really a street.

Lord Wiki says it's a public square.

66. Learned from Lord Wiki that Victoria Square has a statue of Queen Victoria.

67. Found Victoria Square on Google Maps. 

It looks like there actually is a street called Victoria Square.

It's to the east of the square.

68. Read article from May 2010 about fixing up Victoria Square.

It seems for a long time there has been talk about fixing up the square, but people were slow at making actual plans to do something.

There's a Hilton in/near the square.  The general manager of the hotel, Michael Schmitt feels revitalizing the square will be good for business. He says, Victoria Square at the moment is the centre of the city but not the heart.

I'm not sure if that's true or not; but I think it's a great quote.

69. Went to the Adelaide City Council's page about the redevelopment of the square.

One of their taglines is a bit off to me.  They say, think inside the square.

I'm guessing it's a play on, think outside the box. 

And in that saying , thinking INSIDE the box is a negative.   The whole point of thinking outside the box is to be original.

So what's the point of thinking inside the square. Does it have a meaning? Or did they just like how it sounded?

I think it sounds cute, but I'm not sure if the message works for me.

70. Decided it probably works all right if you don't connect it to think outside the box.   

Monopoly, John Pilger, Clucky Women, and Western Australia

1. Realized I haven't checked the Australian dollar in a few days.

So....

It's equal to .97 American dollars. It's gone down a bit there.

It's equal to .62 British pounds. It's gone down there as well.  The last time I checked it was at .63 pounds.

It's equal to 6.67 Swedish Krona and 74.68 Japanese Yen.

2. Looked at my post from a few days ago and compared what's there to what I'm seeing now. The Australian dollar has gone down in Sweden and Japan as well.

3. Looked at an Australia-themed Monopoly board with Jack—thanks to Lord Wiki.

Jack's suddenly obsessed with Monopoly.  It's not the first time. He used to love it when he was younger.  We played it often, and ended up buying three new variations of the game.

Anyway....

The Australian Monopoly has different streets from around Australia.

The Boardwalk is represented by King's Ave. I didn't even know what that was. We clicked on Lord Wiki's link, and saw it was in Canberra.  It kind of surprises me that this was chosen as the most expensive property.  Yeah, Canberra is the capitol of Australia, but I think it's less famous and prestigious than cities like Sydney and Melbourne.

4. Looked again at the Australia Monopoly board. 

It's a good way to learn about streets in Australia.

Maybe I'll learn about a street a day.

That might be fun.

5. Looked at the first property.  It's one of the cheap $60 dollar ones. The street is Todd Street in Darwin.  

Strangely I can't find it on Google Maps. I see only Todd Crescent.  

6. Saw that there is a Todd Street in Alice Springs.  

Lord Wiki might be confused. Or is Google Maps missing Darwin's Todd Street?

7. Found an Australia-related dream in my old Livejournal.  It's been awhile since I've seen one. I think in April, and in the beginning of May 2007, I had been thinking less about Australia because I was busy trying to rewrite my novel.  I was a bit preoccupied with that.  

The dream I found today is from May 22, 2007.

Stuff about Australia. Thinking of going there. Thinking about plane ride. Thinking of taking sleep drugs, but then thinking even then...I might be awake for long time. Wondering if it really is 24 hours or could it be even longer than that.

Saying the only thing I want to see is Great Barrier Reef. But then changing mind and saying I want to see Sydney Harbor.

I used to think the plane ride from America to Australia was 24 hours.  We went to a Wiggles concert, and I thought one of the Wiggles men had said that. I think what he meant was that with connecting flights, it might take 24 hours.  

8. Continued to read K.E. Mill's The Accidental Sorcerer. I'm starting to like it a lot.

9.  Listened to part of an interview with a guy named John Pilger and Phillip Adams. My email-pal sent me to link.

 Pilger thinks Australia acts too much like America's 51st state.  

I don't know if I agree with that. But I do think some Australians put too much thought and energy into America.   There's that hate-love thing going on. It reminds me so much of relationships I have with certain people.  I'm angry with them.  I want to NOT think about them and push them out of my mind and life.  But then I continue to think about them.

10. Decided that Australia and America are friends, but it's not always a healthy and egalitarian friendship.  

Now I'm just talking about the two countries as a whole—and probably the two governments.    Individual American citizens and individual Australian citizens can certainly have great and healthy friendships with each other.

11.  Listened to more of John Pilger and Phillip Adams.

Pilger believes the American government is run by the military—that they have more power than the president.

That's interesting.  Maybe it's true?  I don't know. I do feel like the president doesn't have much power.  I think it's because they have to fight so hard to get things done. They can't just come up with an idea and make it a law.

It's frustrating when I like the president's idea, and want it to become policy.  But I also know that if there's a president with an idea I don't like, I'll be glad it's not easy for a president to make massive changes.  

12. Liked Miss Sparkle's blog post about feeling clucky. She's feeling that every women she sees is either pregnant or with a newborn.

She says, I've spent a lot of time with kids these past few years and I absolutely love all things kid - bedtime stories, fairytales, trips to the park, singing the same nursery rhymes over and over, answering their endless questions, helping them reach the top shelf, all of it. I feel that I'm so ready for that next stage of my life and I'm just patiently trying to wait the next few years out.

In my opinion, those are good reasons to want a child.  If you love the world of childhood, having a kid gives you an excuse to indulge in all that.

It's not all easy though, and Miss Sparkle is clever enough to recognize that.  She says, I'm sure in about five years time when I haven't slept a full night in months, I'm tripping over toys and dealing with nappy rash I'll be longing for these days where I had almost infinite time to do whatever I wanted.

Exactly.

Parenting is fun, especially when you love childhood things.   But it IS hard work. It's stressful, scary, and exhausting.

13. Thought of other reasons people have children. I guess personally I find these reasons to be less admirable.  But other people might be okay with them.

A) Pass on the genes and the family name
B) Following tradition.  I'm supposed to be a mom, and that is that.
C) Wanting to buy cute baby clothes and nursery furniture
D) Wanting to have something you can control.
E) Wanting to be loved in that special way moms are loved by their young children.

I think I had E when I was a preschool teacher. The kids liked me, but I saw the way they loved their mommies and daddies. I wanted that.

I don't know if it's necessarily bad to want that love.  But I'm not sure if it's good to have that as your main reason to want a baby.  Mom and Dad aren't always going to be #1 in the kid's life.

It's probably not a great idea to have a baby just so you'll be the center of someone's world.

14. Decided I probably also had a little bit of A,B and C.  I don't think I had much of D. I've never been one of those people who had a child so I could mold it to my liking.

I got over A pretty quickly.  I no longer care about passing on my genes or my family name. Maybe playing Sims 2 and 3 helped with that. I passed on the genes of my Sims through many generations.   I got all that out of my system.

I'd like to have grandchildren just so I can play in the world of childhood again. But if Jack doesn't make or adopt babies, I'll try to have a good relationship with my great-nieces and great-nephews.   

15. Listened to more of the John Pilger thing. I like what he says about the American population.   He says we're NOT like our rulers.

That's what I wish people around the world would understand.   They can be against the American government without being against the American people. I think most people can manage this.  But with some, their hatred of some things American, has leaked into their feelings about everything American.  

16. Found myself disagreeing with John Pilger.  He takes his defense of the American people way too far.   As some make the mistake of lumping us all into the role of George W. Bush fans, he goes too far in the other direction.  He makes it seem like we're ALL on the left. We all want health care for all. We all want an end to the war.

That's not true at all.

I know of some Americans who are very right wing. They perfectly fit the stereotype that many people have of Americans.  They're ethnocentric.  They don't believe in paying taxes to help those less fortunate than themselves.  They believe in the war. They believe any type government health coverage will likely lead to us becoming Communist.

17. Thought about how it annoys me when someone lumps everyone in a group together...even if it's positive.

Americans are all different.  We're a country made up of different people. We don't all have the same beliefs, opinions, intelligence levels, attitudes, etc.

The same goes for everyone, including Australians.  The other day someone learned that I have a thing for Australia. They told me Australians are such nice people and that they love Americans so much.

Many Australians are very nice, but not all.   Some are quite awful, in my opinion.

I've only encountered a few who have a great love for America and Americans.  Others I've encountered really can't stand America, but will make an exception here or there....as long as you tread very carefully.  

Others have a very balanced view of America and Americans.  They like some and they dislike some. They take the good and the bad.

18. Remembered feeling that Australians were super nice the first time I visited...with only a few exceptions. I think that's because I had my rose-colored glasses on. Although it could be that there's an Australian tradition of being very friendly towards tourists.

I'm not sure though if it's different in other countries.

Are Americans usually less friendly towards international tourists?  

I don't know.

My suspicion is that most countries are made up of a mixture of people. Some are very friendly.   Some are mildly friendly. And some are cold and rude.

Australia might have more friendly people than other countries. I'm not sure. How do you test that?

19. Saw that Askmen.com has a listing of the friendliest countries. They put Australia at #4.  

They say the friendliest country is Ireland.

20. Saw Forbes has a list as well.  They talk about which countries are most friendliest towards expats. In their top three: South Africa, Bermuda, and Canada.  The United States and Australia came in after those.

21.  Figured some countries might be very friendly if you're a tourist, but less friendly if you're planning to stay for a long time.

Some people might be friendly enough to take the time to give you clear and careful directions when you're lost.  But they may not be friendly enough to invite newbies to the neighborhood barbecue.  

22. Thought it might be wonderful if we could magically place Earth's people in countries that would fit their political beliefs.

What if America became a right-wing paradise? All of us on the left or in the center would disappear.

Well, we wouldn't vanish from the planet, but we'd end up in a new country.   How about Australia?  I'd like that. Australia could be the left-wing country, but not the extreme left. We'll send those people to another country.  

Would there be enough room for all of us left-wing people? Maybe. Because all the right-wing people would be in America.

There's so many other countries out there, of course There'd be so many choices.   

I was going to say there could be a country for each group of religious extremists. But I think it would be more fun to put them all in one country together. Then they'll be too busy fighting each other to fight the rest of us.

23. Decided there could be a sorting hat. It would know which country is best for you.

Would it work?  Would people get along better that way?   Would there be less internal conflict?  I think so...maybe. Although there'd still be variations within the group, and people would still find excuses to be intolerant.

Families would likely be separated, but there would be email and video chat.

What about children, though?  Do you send them away as soon as they get ideologies that don't fit the country? Or do you wait until they're a certain age?

24. Went to Tallygarunga.

Hey!  Maybe there could be a country for Harry Potter fans. That might be fun.  

25. Found the story thread I'm going to read today.  It's called Don't Push Me, I'll Bite.   It's starring the bully-victim pair— Jack Dalton and Reade Ainsworth.

I saw a really sad bullying story yesterday.  I can't find the article I read, but here's another one. A 14 year-old New Yorker named Jamey Rodemeyer committed suicide after years of relentless bullying.  Now even in death, people are being incredibly nasty.  When Lady Gaga's "Born This way" was played in honor of Jamey, people began to chant, Better off dead.

It's absolutely disgusting.

How could people be so evil?

Later that day, we watched The Simpsons.  It annoyed me because of the way they presented the  bullying issues.  Other days I might have been able to tolerate (maybe even enjoy) the humor, but not after hearing Jamey's story.

First, they took one of the show's bullies and showed him in a very positive light.   I'm fine when they do that with Nelson. We've known for a long time that he has a sweet and tender side.  But this was different....at least to me.

Then there were jokes about the whole push for parents to look out for bullying and victim behavior in their children.  

I got the feeling the creators of the show were pushing the mindset that we shouldn't worry about bullies.  Let kids be kids.  It's fine and normal for them to cruelly taunt each other. We're overreacting, blah, blah, blah.

I think it's fine and normal for kids to tease each other a little bit.   I think it's fine and normal for kids to have disagreements sometimes.

It's not fine and normal for children to be relentlessly teased and abused. It's not fine and normal for people to cheer over the death of someone committing suicide.

26. Started to read the Tally story thread.  It takes place on October 1, on the Quidditch field.

27. Confused because Reade's post describes Jack's feelings.

I'm guessing the two role-players talked about it beforehand. But if the first post was supposed to be through Jack's eyes, why not have him do the first post?

I'm lost.

28.  Finished reading the post. I'm guessing for the story to work, maybe they needed multiple viewpoints in one thread.

Anyway, all that aside.....

What happens is Jack says nasty things about Reade's sister.  Reade gets very angry and punches Jack.

In his head he says, Insult me, call me mutie I don’t tangoing care, but don’t you dare talk about my sister like that. She’s thirteen for god’s sake! And Arti is a thousand times a better person than you are on your best day without even trying! You think you’re so tough? See how you like my fist in your face you ass!

It's nice that he defends his sister like that.  It's very sweet.

29. Started to read Jack's post.

He's shocked about Reade punching him.  Good!   I wonder what his reaction will be now. Will he leave Reade alone?  Or will this make him go after Reade even more?

30. Wondered if the role-players were at all inspired by the Casey Heynes story. This was the story in which the teenager finally fought back against his bully, and it was all caught on video.

31. Saw that Jack struggled to fight back against Reade's attack.  He's very angry and also a bit scared.

32. Consulted Lord Wiki about John Pilger.

From what Lord Wiki says, Pilger is probably too far left for me. Well, actually I got those feelings before consulting Lord Wiki— I guess from what I'm hearing in the interview and the little article/introduction that accompanied the interview.  Lord Wiki's just confirming my suspicions.

Pilger seems to be anti-Israel. He's been accused of being biased in that regards.

He blamed the 2005 London bombings on Tony Blair saying that he was the cause of the anger that led to the bombs.  

I'm very much against the idea that violence towards innocent people is deserved, and that it's the fault of the people who made the terrorists angry.  

33. Read some of Pilger's editorial about the bombs.

I do agree that the war in the Middle East was a huge dangerous mistake.  If you attack, something is likely to attack back.

But it all starts somewhere.

Could we then blame Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda for the war in the Middle East?   If they didn't want America to invade Iraq, they shouldn't have bombed NYC.

It doesn't begin there. I'm not an expert on history. But I know Osama Bin Laden and his minions were angry at something the United States did in the past.

It keeps going and going. One group does something bad and the other seeks revenge.Then the other group seeks revenge against the revenge.

Innocent people die.

I say the blood of the innocents is on the hands of those who couldn't resist seeking revenge.

34.   Read more of Pilger's editorial. It's pretty much America and Israel=very bad. Muslim Countries=innocent victims.

It's really not that simple, and that type of attitude annoys me as much as the far right's attitude.

I wish the far-right and the far-left would get together, have their fights, and leave me out of it.

The annoying thing, though, is that some of the far-right people seem to assume I'm in agreement with people like John Pilger.  This is the thing.   If you don't think America is the best and most important country in the world, and you don't think all Muslims are evil and the scum of the earth, then it must mean you hate Israel and support terrorism.   

35. Wondered if I'm being ridiculous by not immediately recognizing the parallels between what's happening in the world and the fight scene between Jack and Reade.

I liked that Reade stood up for himself and attacked Jack. I enjoyed that violence. I thought Jack totally deserved it.

So if I can cheer on Reade, shouldn't I also cheer on terrorists who fight back against what Americans have done in the Middle East?   Should I then have sympathy for those who cheered about September 11?   Should I feel the bombings in Bali were valid responses to what's going on in the Middle East?   Yeah.  It's sad that some Australian tourists died, but hey it's not the fault of the bombers.   It's the Australian government's fault for being too friendly with America.  

I think it's very different though.   Reade attacked only Jack.  He didn't go and kill innocent wizards in honor of his anger towards Jack. He didn't kill innocent wizards so he could scare people into not-supporting Jack.

It's one thing for a bully's target to fight back against the bully. It's another thing entirely when they take a gun and start shooting random students in the cafeteria. To me, the former is somewhat admirable. The latter is disgusting and evil.  I don't care how much torment the bullying victims have endured; once they kill innocent people, they're just as bad as the bullies.  

36. Annoyed at the world.

I think it's no longer a matter of what's right and what's wrong.  Most people pick their good guys and
bad guys; and stick to that no matter what.

America can do no wrong. They're always right.

America is the cause of all the world's problems.

Israel is always right.

Israel is always wrong.

The Muslims are bad.

The Muslims are all good.  None of it's their fault.

Americans all disagree with their government.

Australians are all friendly and love Americans.

It would be really nice if we could move past generalizations and hyperbole.  

It would be really nice if we could condemn the violence and/or hypocrisy of those on our own teams as much as we condemn the violence and hypocrisy that we see coming from the opposing teams.

37.  Saw that my Australian of the day is an artist named Leonard Lloyd Annois.

The Australian Dictionary of Biography says he more often went by the name Len Annois.

Len Annois was born in Melbourne in 1906.

When it came time for him to choose a career, he picked engineering.  He did that, and then he became a concrete salesman.  I guess that means he sold concrete?  Did he lose interest in engineering, or were there no jobs available?

38. Learned that Len Annois lost his concrete job during the depression.  He then started taking art classes.

Without a job, how did he afford the classes?

39. Saw that in 1935 Len Annois became employed again. He got a job with the advertising department of G.J Coles and Co.

I googled that, and learned it's Coles, as in the supermarket.

40. Learned that Len Annois painted landscapes.   The Australian Dictionary of Biography says he went beyond the typical sunburnt plains and blue distances seen through gum trees. He tried to give a different perspective of Australia.

41. Looked at a website that has Len Annois' paintings. 

I don't really like any of them too much. I don't think it's my type of thing.

42. Did like this Annois painting a little bit. It's called "Country Road".  

43. Went to blankankle's YouTube channel.  

He has walking fingers with a cover of "Little Red Riding Hood".  




It's very....interesting.

I think he sings pretty good.  

As for the fingers. I think he does a great job of making them look like legs.   I'm just not sure their movements match the song very much. Sometimes they do....sort of.

44. Watched blankankle do a cover of a Dave Matthew's song called "Typical Situation"



I hear a good voice in there, but it's kind of a struggle to hear it. The guitar's too loud.

I'm getting the idea it's hard for people to balance instruments with the voice.   I'm finding people sometimes sing too quietly, or their instruments are too loud.  

45. Started to look at more of Baroo42's Darwin to Perth Flickr set.    

46. Liked this photo.  It looks very stereotypical Australian.  

I like this one too.   It's beautiful.  

46. Liked this photo.   

There's a lot of lovely scenes in this set.  

47. Loved this picture.  

I'm sorry I'm being repetitive.

I'm at a loss for words.  There's not much you can say about beautiful scenes.   As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.  So why add more words?

48.  Figured this might be The Pinnacles.  

And this picture makes me believe it even more.  

49. Looked up the Pinnacles (near Cervantes) on Google Maps.   I forgot where it was. All I remembered was that it was in Western Australia somewhere.

Anyway, it's about 2 hours north of Perth.  

50. Thought this rock looked like a friendly troll-type creature.

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.  

Sleep Training, Venting, Chick-Lit, and Statistics

1. Sent myself an email.  I saw a Facebook link to a Q and A program with Julia Gillard.    The questions look very interesting.  Right now I could watch the video, but they're going to have a transcript later.  I prefer to read the answers.  I thought that I'd probably forget to check back, so I sent myself a reminder.

Here's the list of questions. They look really interesting. Unfortunately, I think Gillard is going to bullshit her way through.

Maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised.  

2. Read article about the crocodile victim.  The guy's having a rough time; at least his body is.  He's on his third surgery now.  His wounds are very infected.

I hope he'll be okay.  It will ruin the story if he dies.  It'll become a tragedy instead of an inspiring survivor's tale.  The world doesn't need any more tragedies right now.

3. Read article about James McKenna visiting Sydney to do lectures for the Australian Breastfeeding Association.   His big thing is co-sleeping.   There's a caption on a photograph that's a bit misleading.  It says, a doctor researching SIDS is now recommending sleeping with your baby in a responsible manner.   McKenna has been recommending co-sleeping for years.  Although I guess that would include NOW.  I think though it would be more precise  to say A doctor researching SIDS recommends sleeping with your baby in a responsible manner.  

McKenna thinks it's healthier for babies to co-sleep rather than be away in a crib in its own room.   He believes that if parents don't want the baby in the bed, they should at least keep the crib in the room.

He's also against our obsession with babies sleeping through the night.  McKenna says, They need to feed frequently to supply nutrients to the brain trying to grow and expand at a speed never again to be matched through the infant's life.

I can understand parents who want their children to sleep through the night, because it means more sleep for them.  It's selfish, but an understandable selfishness.  We ALL need our sleep.  What I don't like is the idea that sleeping through the night is some kind of necessary accomplishment in children.  OR there's the idea that if a baby doesn't sleep through the night, it will NEVER sleep through the night.  There's the idea of sleep training.  Don't start "bad habits" in infancy, because the kid will be stuck with them for life.

Jack never was able to fall asleep on his own without assistance.  He needed either breast milk, or a nice constant motion (such as being in the sling or a car). I couldn't just lie him down and wait for him to fall asleep.

No worries. The kid falls asleep on his own now, and he sleeps through the night. It didn't really take any training.  Some things just happen when a child is ready.

4. Related to lyrics from "Scar".

She told me don't, trust them trust me.
Then she pulled at my stitches one by one,
Looked at my insides clicking her tongue,

And said This will all have to come undone.

The reason for this is, I broke my rule (resolution) against venting.  So, it's mostly my fault.  I complained to a friend about various things, about other people in my life, that were making me angry or annoying me.   

I think venting usually brings up unsatisfactory results.  What would I WANT to happen?   I'd probably want someone to validate my feelings of annoyance.  How rude.  I hate when people do that.  And then in most cases,  I'd want them to wish us well.  I hope you guys can work it out.  

When we vent though, that's usually not what happens.  Sometimes we don't get the validation or empathy we're seeking.  The listener might laugh at us or say we're being too sensitive.  They might try to one-up us by telling us a story that's "worse" than ours.  They might try to put the blame on us.

Other times, we get the empathy we're seeking, but the listener seems eager for us to simply drop the relationship. There's the don't trust them, trust me.   I don't know if anyone ever explicitly says this.   It's usually more subtle. There's that sense of disapproval. Well, you shouldn't be friends with THEM anyway.

I didn't just break a rule about venting in general.  I made the stupid mistake of venting to someone who is against the thing I'm venting about.  If you're a Christian, it's really not wise to vent to an atheist about your annoyance with a church sermon or people in your congregation.    People might be wise not to vent to me about their annoyances with their child's school.

I vented about blogging and Facebook to someone who's against all that stuff. They don't believe in internet friendships.  They don't believe in making our lives and feelings public. How can you be friends with someone you've never even met before?  Why don't you just write in a private diary?   Why share your feelings with the whole world? 

Anyway, the venting was a horrible experience for me.  And it was almost like an eating purge.   You know how someone will be dieting....very restrictive.   Then suddenly they let themselves go and eat out the whole fridge.  That's how I was.  I kept rambling on and on as if there were no tomorrow.    Afterward I felt dirty and ashamed...like a bulimic, I suppose.  

5. Read about Adelaide, and learned that 45% of it is parklands.  That's pretty cool. In general, it sounds like a nice place to visit.

6. Learned about some Aussie chick-lit authors from Susan's Reading Upside Down blog.  This is good, because I like chick-lit.  I don't think I've heard of these authors before.  I've read some Aussie chick-lit before.  I love some of Monica McInerney's stuff.   I loved Liane Moriarty's two chick-lit books, and the one written by her sister.  I read a Catherine Jinks novel, but liked it less than some of her young adult/middle reader stuff.  There are others I can't think of offhand. But anyway, the important thing is I've been hoping to find more.  So, I'm glad to be seeing this blog.

In this post, Susan admits to not usually being a fan of chick-lit.  She says, It is perhaps a sign that I am getting older (dare I admit it), but I often find it difficult to relate to the supposed trials faced by the central character (“Oh no! I’ve snapped the heel off one of my favourite Jimmy Choo boots. WHAT WILL I DO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”).   Yeah.   I wouldn't want to read that type of book either.    But I don't think many of them are like that.  I think there's a wide range. There's sisterly chick-lit.   It's pretty much adult women dealing with their siblings. Both Moriarty and McInerney deal with that stuff.  There's the young single professional type.  I'm usually less into that type, because I relate to it less.  But sometimes I like it.  And then there's the Mommy chick-lit. Those books deal with marriage and parenting.

 I think chick-lit is actually one of my favorite types of books. But with any type of book, after awhile I get burned out.  I pick up books, read the back cover, and feel like rolling my eyes.  I feel this way now about young adult vampire/supernatural literature.  I usually love it, but there's so much out there.   It's getting old. It's also hard to distinguish between authors who truly had a story they wanted to tell, and the ones who said Schools for the supernatural are popular right now.   I'll write about that.    I think it's totally possible for authors to have the same type of ideas that other authors have had.  And I also think it's possible for an author to be inspired by another series, and come up with her/his own great thing.  That's all fine to me.  But there are other times where people are just jumping on a bandwagon, so they can make more money.

7. Read article about Australians in Japan during the disasters.  There's a teacher who has returned to Australia, and she fears radiation poisoning. She also worries about her students, friends, and colleagues she left behind.

Another family heard from their daughter, and then didn't hear anything again for a few days.  They still haven't heard from her personally, but they've gotten notice that she's at a refugee center somewhere. Hopefully, she's okay and it's not misinformation.

There's another family that hasn't heard from their son.

All the waiting and worrying.  It's horrible.

One couple was on their honeymoon. They thought they were going to die, and got in touch with family members to say good-bye. Fortunately, they're alive. And I like this part. A cab driver took them home; offered them refuge.  He took them to his family home, where his wife fed them dinner and his toddler son sang to them. The couple slept on a futon until the the roads cleared and the man drove them to the airport.  That's lovely.   I love when humans do nice things for each other.  

8. Read media release about the cinema on the Australian Bureau of Statistics website.  Two out of three Australians go to the movies at least once a year. That beats out stuff like live performances, zoo visits, art galleries, and museum.

Once a year doesn't seem very frequent to me.  If someone said they went to the movie once this year I'd think of them as being the type who hardly go to movies.  I feel I hardly go to movies, and we probably see about five movies a year.  I think it's because I compare my teen/young adult years. I think in those days I probably saw 4-5 movies a month.

Oh, okay. Here we go. The study says that 53% of people go to the movies at least five times a year.  

Canberra had the highest cinema attendance. Tasmania had the lowest.

9. Read article about woman whose car crashed, and was perched over a cliff.  Scary. It's just like the way Claire died on McLeod's Daughters. But this woman was lucky, and was able to get out of the car.   That's good!

10. Read Sarah Hanson-Young's editorial about fear tactics in politics.   I like what she says here.   Just like in the United States where the Tea Party is transforming the Republicans into a fringe protest movement leading mass revolt against wickedness such as universal health care (oh dear - providing health care to people who can't afford it, what next?)

I think the idea in America is if the government does anything to help those who are unable to help themselves, we'll soon become Communist.  Oh, and if the government provides health care, this will lead to there being NO private businesses. The government will own everything. And they'll control us all!!!!!

I like this bit too.  Using over-blown and hysterical rhetoric is their stock in trade.  Yep.  Although I've seen it from the far-left as well.  I hope Sarah Hanson-Young realizes that.  I would have less respect for her if she didn't.

I'm looking at the comments, and people are saying the same thing.  The left is sometimes just as guilty of using fear tactics and hyperbole.

You know, I unfortunately do it as a parent.  We say things like, Jack, stop climbing on that chair.  You'll fall and break your arm.  Jack don't eat while you're lying down. You'll choke.  

There's a very good chance he can climb to his heart's content and be totally fine. He also could eat a whole meal lying down  and not need to be heimliched.  

Sometimes (rarely) I remember to instead say Jack, stop climbing on that chair. You MIGHT fall and break your arm.  

11. Read on the Australia Bureau of Statistic site that Australia's population is now estimated to be at 22,589,192.  Births are estimated at 1 every 1:44 minutes; and deaths are estimated to be happening at a rate of 1 every 3:44 minutes.

Australia gets an international migrant every 2:47 minutes.

So when an Australian dies (RIP) he is quickly replaced by either a baby or a migrant.  

12. Looked at population growth rates in Australia, by state or territory. Western Australia has the highest rate of growth.  Tasmania has the smallest. But all the states and territories are having positive growth.  That's not positive as in good; but positive as in more people are coming than going.  

13. Looked at the median age in Australia.  For anyone who's forgotten their statistics lessons, median is the number in the middle...if you line up everything in order.

Example:  In our DFW extended family, we have birth years of 1948, 1949, 1967, 1970, 1972, 1972, 1973, 1977, 2001, 2001, 2003, 2009, and 2010.  The median is 1973.  That's my brother-in-law; my younger sister's husband.

Back to the Australian age thing.  Tasmania has the oldest median age.  It's 39.9. Northern Territory has the youngest median age; 31.3.

There's a major increase of people over 85.  In the last two decades the increase has been 170.6%.    Wow.  There's also been a large increase of people over age 100.

I'll be happy if I make it to 75, although maybe once I get close to that, I'll want more. I guess it depends on my health, and whether or not I'm still having fun.  

14. Learned that more male babies than female babies are born in Australia. Males make up 51% of the births.  

15. Learned that 65% of births in Australia occur within a marriage.  Non-married births have been increasing since the 1950's. That's not surprising.

What I found interesting is that it's becoming more and more rare for the fatherhood issue to be secret.  In 1989, 24% of fathers in non-married births remained secret....unknown.  Now it's down to 3%.  That's probably a good thing. Maybe?

16. Looked at age-death rates in Australia.  Children 5-14 are safest from death.  That's very fair, in my opinion.  If I'm reading the chart right, babies have about the same rate of death as 60-65 year olds.  After age 40, the death rate steadily increases.  I think that's fair too.  

17. Looked at infant death statistics in Australia.  The majority (71%) happen within the first four weeks of life.  If you get past that, you can probably do a little sigh of relief.   But don't count your blessing with too much cockiness.  

18. Looked at death statistics by month.  You're more likely to have that first chat with John Edward or Allison Dubois in the winter month of August.

19. Wondered what life would be like if we all knew our exact age of death. I mean it might be depressing to know; but I think then we could live our life accordingly.    It's like going on a holiday.   Does it make things worse to know the date you're going back home?  It IS sad. I cried in the days leading up to our departure from Sydney.  I cried the day before we left for Hawaii. I always think those last few days are a bit depressing.

But I think holidays would be worse if we had no idea when it would end.  What if we're all sitting there eating our pineapple ice-cream and pineapple upside down cake; and the next thing we know we're back home sitting in the den.  That would be awful. We wouldn't even get a chance to say good-bye to our friends.  And we would have missed seeing Otherville.  I think we also would have felt on edge the whole time, knowing that any minute the holiday would end.

I know what some people would say. Live every day as if it's your last.   

Well sorry, but I don't want to do that.  Sometimes I just want to be frivolous and waste time.   I want to check Facebook and read statistics.  I want to play Sims and wash the dishes.  If I knew when I was going to die, I could time things better.  It would also help to prioritize my relationships. If I know someone's going to be around for several more decades, I'll give them less attention then a loved one who's planning to die next week.

Now I'm not trying to glorify death row here.  People there get a definite date of death, but I don't think that's a positive.  First of all, they're in jail.  That can't be too pleasant.  Second, I think my plan would have benefits only if we knew from birth. We'd need enough time to know and plan.  

20. Read article that says Kevin Rudd doesn't expect to become Prime Minister again.  That's too bad.
Although it's not a definite. While he says, It’s more likely for me to be captain of the Broncos....When Gillard was asked a similar question about her chances of becoming Prime Minister, she said she was more likely to travel to Mars.

What is the deal with these people?

21. Dropped out of the Harry Potter game. I might still lurk, but I really shouldn't.  It got to the point where I began to suspect some of the people pretending to be mean really WERE mean. I hope I'm wrong.

I'm so tired of mean people.

And you know what I learned.

People always talk about how stupidity and ignorance are the cause of our problems. I think that's wrong.  Really. People with Down Syndrome don't have high IQ's. Are they the ones causing wars and poverty?  

Lack of brainy bits aren't the problem.....it's lack of compassion; plus greed, selfishness, and hypocrisy. Those are the problems.  Well, that and earthquake type things.  

Anyway, I was disturbed by the attitude of some of the people on there (although they MIGHT have been acting) and I didn't want my worship of JK Rowling and her fictional universe to be soured by all that.  I'll keep reading the Facebook stuff.  That's all really cute...so far.

22. Decided if I can manage to write a blog entry almost day, the creators of Modern Family should be able to make an episode every week.  I wish!   I was sad to learn that there's only three more episodes for this season.  That show totally brightens up my life.  

23. Read an email from myself.  The transcript is up!  I get to read Julia Gillard's answers.


The first question asked if the Labor Party will continue to support the idea of nuclear power...you know with what's happening to Japan.  Gillard says, We haven't entertained the idea of nuclear power. The Labor position has been opposed to the development of nuclear energy. We don't need it. We're a country with abundant solar, wind, geothermal, tidal - you name it, we've got renewable sources of energy so we don't think nuclear energy is right for this country.

In other words, they didn't need Japan to convince them it might be a bad idea.

I wonder how pro-nuclear power people are feeling about the terror in Japan  Will the problems make any of them change their viewpoint?
 
24. Liked this person's question.   Hi. Prime Minister, in your gushing speech to US Congress last week, you tearfully proclaimed that America "can do anything!" Millions of Australians cringed. In the year 2011, can we really not have a relationship with the United States without paying lip service to the myth of American exceptionalism?

Wait! Myth?  Myth! What does he mean by myth??????


Seriously though.  America IS exceptional.  And so is every other country out there. Although since we're all exceptional than really none of us is exceptional.   But we're all very special and lovable.

25.  Compelled to admit that Gillard has some fair insights when she talks about the difference between Australian culture and the American one.  Now, I don't think in modern Australia we talk about male bonded welfare states and I don't think that that's how we think of ourselves but I do think we still have that sense of a fair go and pulling together. I think Americans tend to a more individualised view of the world. They look less to government. You know, health care is a good example of that, where we look at the American debate and think what on earth are they going on about? We know public health works. We know Medicare works. We know the PBS works.

I like that.  She criticized America, but it was in a very polite and subtle way.  I like that mixture of positive and negative.  It's better than spewing hatred or gushing.  It's nicely balanced.  

 26. Got to the part about Julian Assange.  This is probably what interests me the most.  

Gillard says, We are supporting Julian Assange the same way we would support any Australian citizen who got into a legal difficulty overseas. We support people who are accused of drug trafficking. We support people who are accused of murder. Whatever view people have about those kinds of crimes, and I'm sure everybody here would say, "Well, drug trafficking is wrong. Murder is wrong," we support Australian citizens who have got into trouble overseas. So my view about the conduct is neither here nor there in that sense. He's getting the same support someone called John Smith would get in the same situation.

Okay. That is what I wanted to hear.  I don't necessarily believe that Assange should get special treatment from the Australian government.  But I don't think it would be fair for him to get LESS help than someone like Schapelle Cordy. Although she's still stuck in prison, so maybe that's not saying much.   

I wouldn't want Gillard's admiration for us fabulous exceptional Americans to get in the way supporting someone who needs support and deserves her support.

Gillard says, I have got a lot of respect for people who whistleblow. I know enough about American history to know the history of Watergate and Deep Throat did the right thing getting that information into the public domain. There are people who have worked for big tobacco who have got information into the public domain, been whistleblowers. They've acted and they've acted for a moral purpose. I respect that. At the centre of Wikileaks, I don't see that moral purpose.

How is it different? Is she going to explain that?

I shall keep reading.

27. Struggled to understand Gillard's viewpoint, and be tolerant of it. She talks about motivation.   It's not the information that separates Assange's whistleblowing. It's his motivation.   

It reminds me of some lyrics from Wicked.  

One question haunts and hurts
Too much, too much to mention:
Was I really seeking good
Or just seeking attention?
Is that all good deeds are
When looked at with an ice-cold eye?

How do we know that other whistleblowers from history had completely pure and altruistic motives?  

It reminds me of a conversation I had recently. I complained about people who excessively publicize their family dramas and traumas.  Sometimes it seems as if they're just screaming for attention.   Sometimes I feel that way about myself when I whine about my issues on my blog.

But sometimes we talk about our problems because it HELPS us to talk about them.  We need to get those feelings out.  And sometimes we talk about our problems because we believe it might help other people who have the same problems. It's not always about attention-seeking. 

How do we distinguish between valid reasons for sharing, and attention-seeking reasons for sharing?  In the end, I don't think we CAN tell the difference.  There's a thin and hazy line.

28. Saw Gillard trying to prove her loyalty to Australia by saying this.  You don't have an accent like mine and get confused with being someone from another nation so let's just put that to rest.

So, it's all about the accent than?  I should assume Portia de Rossi is American then. Julian McMahon too.  Oh, and there's probably others that I can't think of off the top of my head. I'm tired.  AND I dreamed about Nip/Tuck last night.  That's probably why I thought of those guys.   


29.  Decided that it's almost my bedtime, and I'm done with blogging for tonight. I'm going to post this and then read the rest of the interview for my own personal pleasure.   


I suggest you do the same...if it's something that interests you.