Aneurysm Surgery, Funny Matt, Peter Rowsthorn, and Nicholas Bell

1. Started to watch an episode of Home and Away.

2. Relieved to see that Leah (Ada Nicodemou) has finally made the choice to get the aneurysm surgery.

I have sympathy for her fear of the surgery, and I think people have the right to make choices about their medical treatment.

BUT...I think waiting for a aneurism to maybe burst is very nerve-wracking.

3. Thought that there are probably a lot of people who are ticking time bombs. Many of them probably don't know about it which is both a blessing and a curse.

If you know about a condition, you can sometimes take steps to protect yourself. But sometimes the steps are difficult, and people don't have the perseverance.  Or sometimes, like Leah, a person has to undergo frightening surgery.

If you don't know about a condition that's going to kill you, or almost kill you, you can be blissfully ignorant.

Well, it will be blissful until the shits the fan.  Then you and your loved ones, or JUST your loved ones, are not going to be very blissful anymore.

4. Saw Zac (Charlie Clausen) being very selfish.

Leah tells him there are thing she wants to take care of before the surgery.

Zac is dismissive about her worries. He has the attitude of, it's going to be fine. No worries.

I really hate when people act like that towards someone with a medical condition. Do they REALLY think they're doing anyone a favor by giving false and/or dishonest reassurances?

Anyway, then Zac takes things a step further by telling Leah they don't have to talk about it. It's almost like he's presenting it as a favor to her.  At least he could be honest about his selfishness and say, I don't want to talk about it. Instead he acts like he's relieving Leah of the burden to talk about it.

If Leah didn't want to talk about it, then she wouldn't have brought it up.

5. Started watching another episode of Home and Away.

6. Annoyed to see Andy (Tai Hara) and Hannah (Cassie Howarth) together.

I forgot that they undid their break-up.

7.  Liked Matt's (Alec Snow) sense of humor. I think, joke-wise, he's my favorite on the show.

In the episode I'm watching today, he apologizes to Leah for causing her stress. She replies in a loving supportive way but does ask him not to rob anymore ATM machines. Matt says he won't have to, since he's now scratched that off his bucket list.

I think that's cute.

Then when Nate (Kyle Pryor) and Kat (Pia Miller) insist on being there for Matt during his court appointment, he requests that they refrain from heckling.

I know it's not funny when I write it down. I think it rarely works when people try to describe or explain comedy they've seen elsewhere. It's just I didn't want to say I think Matt was funny without having evidence to back me up.  In my school days, I learned that was a no no.

Anyway, I like that Matt can bring light to serious situations. He doesn't do it in an annoyingly avoidant way as some people tend to do. He still takes things seriously. But then he makes a joke or two to help release the tension.

8. Bewildered by what the neurosurgeon (Luke Pegler) says about the aneurysm surgery. He says they don't go through the skull. They go through an artery in the groin.

Did I hear him correctly?

It seems to me that our groins are pretty far from our brains.

Medical stuff amazes me sometimes.

9. Looked at a medical website.

I didn't mishear the doctor.

There really is an aneurysm surgery where they go through the groin.

10. Learned from the website that if an aneurysm is very small, it doesn't need to be treated right away.

I guess this is when they take a watch and see kind of approach.

11. Looked at a website about endovascular coiling, the surgery Leah is planning to get.

There's a lot of scary risks listed, but the website doesn't list how common they are.

The list includes stroke, paralysis of half the body, loss of ability to speak, and rupture of the unruptured aneurysm.

I don't blame Leah for initially not wanting to have the surgery.

 

12. Went to the Tropfest website.

I think it's been awhile since I've been there.

Today I'm going to watch a 2011 finalist film called "The Applicant".

13. Started watching the film.

The actor in it looks familiar to me.

I'll find out who is he later.

14. Saw another actor that looks familiar to me.

Then I realized it's Nicholas Bell.

Or at least I think it's him.

15. Got the idea that the mystery actor played a villain in one of Jonathan Shiff's shows. Maybe Scooter: Secret Agent?

16. Finished watching the film.

It was interesting.

I didn't love it.

I didn't dislike it.

I guess that would mean I like it, but I don't think I really did.

I guess my feelings are between like and dislike.

17. Guessed that I would like the project more if it was the beginning of a TV series rather than a short film.

I think many short films are too long, but then some rare ones are too short.

18. Decided to watch the film again.

It's one of those films where knowing the ending might give a different perspective on the preceding events.

19. Started liking the film.

Knowing what it's all about makes a big difference—at least for me.

Though it would probably ruin the film if it gave away the end at the beginning.

20. Liked the film a lot after watching it a second time.

I still wish it were a TV show, though...now even more so.

21. Saw that the mystery actor is Peter Rowsthorn.

He's from Kath and Kim! He's the husband. I remember now.

What I can't remember is which one is Kath and which one is Kim.

22. Got help from Lord Wiki.

Kim is the younger one.  Peter Rowsthorn played HER husband. Or maybe they were just dating.  I forget.

23. Saw that Peter Rowsthorn was NOT in Scooter: Secret Agent.

24. Saw that Nicholas Bell was recently in a TV show with Rebecca Gibney called Wanted.

Stephen Peacocke from Home and Away was in it too.

25. Looked at the filmography of Tim Dean, the director of "The Applicant".

He also made "Fences". That's the film where the father reluctantly takes his son out on one of his police jobs.

26. Saw that Chris Corbett, the writer of "The Applicant" is pretty established in the business.

He's written for Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, Neighbours, The Secret Life of Us, McLeod's Daughters, Blue Heelers, All Saints, etc.

27. Saw that Corbett was a script editor for Wanted, the TV show I mentioned earlier.

28. Learned from Lord Wiki that Nicholas Bell is an English actor.

He's worked in Australia for twenty years.

I guess he hasn't gotten citizenship. Otherwise, I think Lord Wiki would call him Australian.  He'd be an Australian born in the UK...like Naomi Watts, Julia Gillard, and many others.

29. Learned that Nicholas Bell has been a narrator for some audio books.

At least four are religious related.

Is Nicholas Bell into religion? Or maybe he just has the right voice for it.

30. Followed one of Lord Wiki's links, and saw there's a website where you can listen to excerpts from Nicholas Bell's audiobooks.

31. Listened to Nicholas Bell talk about Jesus.

32. Thought that since Nicholas Bell is British, he can one day play The Doctor on Doctor Who.

I don't know why I'm thinking that. I see lots of British actors and don't consider them being The Doctor.

Well, I might have done that when we were in the midst of watching Doctor Who.  But now I don't think of the show very much.

33. Thought that maybe there's a Doctor Who quality to Nicholas Bell.

It could be something about his voice, since I thought about it while hearing the audio book.

Or maybe Jesus made me think of it. Because I was hearing about Jesus when I thought of the Doctor Who thing.

34. Realized it's not really true that I haven't thought much of Doctor Who lately.

We've been watching 12 Monkeys lately—the series, not the movie. There are Doctor Who elements in that.

35. Googled Chris Corbett, and saw from Chrome that I already went to a website about him, and I went to his Twitter page.

I must have already watched something of his.

36. Saw that it was the same thing I watched of Tim Dean, the director.

They made "Fences" together.

37.. Consulted Lord Wiki about Peter Rowsthorn.

Once upon a time, he was a drama teacher.

In the 1980's, he was part of a comedy-singing duo called The Cactus Brothers.

38.. Saw Cactus Brothers videos on YouTube, but they're from the 1990s.

I don't think it's the same thing, but maybe it is.

39.. Learned from this website that there was a Nashville band called The Cactus Brothers.

I think that's what I'm seeing on YouTube.

40. Learned, from Lord Wiki, that Rowsthorn's brother and father are wealthy businessmen.

They worked for a transport company called Toll Holdings.

41. Learned from this website that Peter Rowsthorn was featured on the show Who Do You Think You Are.

He learned about his convict ancestors.

42. Wished I knew more about my ancestors—not just their dates of birth and dates of death; or their jobs or where they got married.

I wish there were diaries.

43. Thought it would be neat if, one day, my descendants (direct or non-direct) read my blog.

44. Imagined my great granddaughter reading my blog in the year 2016.

12 Monkeys is messing with my head.

45. Thought it would be silly of my granddaughter to spend her time-traveling adventure reading a blog.

Although if blog-reading was keeping her busy, she'd have less time and chance to mess up her timeline.

Or maybe not.  She might leave a comment, and that could have an effect. Then she might find her way to Twitter and mess with the time continuum there.

46. Started to watch a Thank God You're Here segment with Peter Rowsthorn.

47. Liked the segment a lot.

It's about property development. Rowsthorn had some very funny lines.

I should watch that show more often.

Not Amused, Not Caring, Not Australian, and Not Getting the Message

1. Saw from Twitter that there's a new sketch comedy TV show premiering called Black Comedy.

2. Saw, from this article, that Black Comedy is actually NOT new.

It was on before, and now it's coming back.

How did I not hear of it?

Or maybe I heard about it; then forgot about it. Like usual.

3. Watched the video trailer included with the article.

Nothing made me laugh, but it looks sort of interesting.

4. Decided to try another clip.

5. Didn't laugh at that clip either.

I thought it was annoying.

6. Felt pressure to like the show. Why? Because it stars black people. So if I don't like it, I worry I'll look like a racist.

That thinking in itself is racist. It's not like I feel pressure to like comedies with white people.

Actually, no. Sometimes I do. If something is very popular with Australians, I feel like a failure if I don't like it.

7. Thought of two white comedies popular with Australians that I don't like too much—Chris Lilly Stuff and Kath and Kim.

Eventually, Kath and Kim grew on me a little bit.  But still. It's not one of my favorite things.

8. Decided to try again with Black Comedy.  I watched this clip about GPS voices. I was amused at first—even laughed out loud. But then I felt the joke went too far, and I got bored.

The joke is that this guy driving realizes he can choose an Aboriginal accent for his GPS system.  The voice/personality of the GPS is a bit harsh. That made me laugh, because sometimes the GPS voices sound a bit bitchy to me. It's like they're annoyed that we didn't take the turn they suggested.

But then, in the sketch, there's the idea that the GPS is aware of and watching this guy's life. It doesn't feel like GPS anymore. It feels like there's a man spying on this other man via his car.  At that point, it wasn't very funny to me anymore.

9. Tried to figure out why one thing is funny to me and the other is not.

Maybe I see humor in the idea of AI people bitching us out.

I'm not that amused by the idea of someone using our computer technology to spy on us and talk to us. It's not like I'm offended or bothered by it. It's just not something that would make me laugh.

I think MAYBE it would be funny if it happened in real life. It might be good as a practical joke.

In fiction-comedy, though, t doesn't work for me. Or at least it didn't work for me in that particular sketch.

 

10. Started watching an episode of Wicked Science.

11. Finished watching the episode.

12. Confused about Grease Live. Was it done in Australia? The US? Both places?

When I first heard about it, I assumed it was American. Then I saw something about it being done in Australia. Or at least that's what I thought I saw. But now I see an article about it that makes me go back to thinking it's American.

13. Thought the main reason I'm assuming it's American is we don't usually get TV programming made in Australia.

14. Consulted Lord Wiki.

He says Grease: Live is American.

So is this what Australians were Tweeting about yesterday?  Or was there a separate Australian version?

15. Learned from Lord Wiki that Grease: Live was shown on Australia television February 2.

I'm guessing it was the American version.

16. Skimmed through this article and saw that there was not a separate Australian version of Grease: Live.

17. Started watching an episode of Home and Away.

18. Could relate somewhat to Oscar (Jake Speer). He wrongly assumes Maddie is going to break up with him and he realizes he's not really upset about it. He feels fine.

There was a time I wrongly assumed an online friendship was over and realized I didn't care all that much. What happened is our emails got crossed, and I didn't hear back from the friend.  I had thought the friendship was very important to me but then realized I didn't feel sad about it ending.

I think, in my case, I thought I loved the friend, but it turned to be more of a mild-like than love. There's a difference between, I love you! I need you in my life. You're so important to me, and, I like you enough, but if you disappeared from my life tomorrow, I wouldn't be too bothered.  

So, what's the deal with Oscar?

From his behavior and words, I get the sense that he's over Maddie (Kassandra Clementi) He had a crush on her for years, and now he's over it.

19. Thought about how I could be wrong, because Oscar and Maddie had the majorly romantic date a few episodes back.

But the most romantic thing Oscar  said was that he's been dreaming about this date for years.

Just because you dream about something happening doesn't going to mean you're happy about it when it actually happens.

20. Thought more about online friends.

I've lost quite a few.

If and when it bothers me, it's more like a blow to my ego. I don't really miss the person.

Am I coldhearted? Probably.

I think these days I don't usually form strong emotional attachments with people outside my family and our little lakehouse group.

Well...no. I also get emotionally attached to fictional characters.  In the past, though, I would have wished for them to be my friends. I'd want to be in their universe. Now I have no such desires.

21. Thought about how there does seem to be a correlation of me having an increase in very social dreams (mostly with strangers I've never seen in real life before) and losing interest in finding/keeping friends in real life.

It might be less about me becoming asocial or anti-social and more about me getting my social fix while I'm asleep.

22. Admitted to myself that there are other factors...such as having had too many so-called friends who talked excessively about themselves and rarely seemed interested in what was happening in my life.

Though the friend I mentioned above wasn't actually like that. She was a good listener. So part of it IS about me being cold-hearted...and having excessive dream socialization.

23. Saw Phoebe (Isabella Giovinazzo) get rescued from her kidnapper.

They really didn't drag out that storyline!

I think she was missing for only two or three episodes.

A part of me is glad because the kidnapping scenes were really creepy.

On the other hand....

Though, it's annoying when soap opera storylines drag on for months or years, I'm not sure it's a good idea to have them so super short.

24. Read a little more of The Rosie Project.

I didn't like what I read.

The book's annoying me.

Don is looking for a wife—or maybe just a girlfriend.

He has a list of qualities he wants and doesn't want.

His friend then sets him up with a woman who is pretty much the opposite of what Don wants.

Since this women is named Rosie, I'm guessing Don ends up falling in love with her.

I'm assuming the basic idea of the book is that Don needs to be fixed, and the type of person that can do that for him is the type of person he prefers not to be around.

In this mindset, if the universe wants to fix me, it should send me a smoker who  a) vomits a lot b) is careless about germs c) eats tunafish salad on a daily basis d) talks a lot about themselves, e) brags frequently f) Goes on and on about the importance of positive thinking

Would being partnered with that person make me a better person?

No. I think it would just drive me insane, or I'd become incredibly depressed.

What MIGHT make sense, from the universe, is if someone matched all the things on my list except one or two things. Let's say there's a nonsmoking person who's very careful about germs. He hates tunafish salad. He rarely brags. He listens as much as he talks. He has a realistic view of emotions. But he has a disease that makes him vomit often.  Having that person in my life might help me become a better person.  I might become more habituated to vomit.

Or let's say I found the perfect friend, but she happens to be a smoker. Maybe I could get used to the smell, and maybe I could learn to worry less about the detriments of second-hand smoke.

25. Thought about how the relationship of Don and Rosie is somewhat similar to the relationship of Penny and Sheldon on The Big Bang Theory.  On The Big Bang Theory, though, both characters influence and change each other...to a rather small degree.

I'll be okay with Rosie improving Don to some degree IF Rosie is also improved by being with Don.

26. Returned to the Home and Away episode.

27. Thought that Maddie is adorable.

28. Went to the Tropfest website.

Today I'm going to watch a film called "Song for a Comb".

I like that title.

29. Wished I was good at writing songs.

If I was, maybe I'd write a song for all of my favorite objects.

30. Thought the film was quite clever.

There's this creepy tiny statue person who goes through a bag of various objects and turns them into instruments. For example, he finds some pills and makes a sound by shaking them.

31. Thought that the film reminds me of the kind of films we'd watch in elementary school—stuff like "The Red Balloon" and "Paddle to the Sea".

32. Wondered if elementary school kids are still shown these films.

33. Wondered what other films we watched.

I also remember the Duffy Moon movie but nothing beyond that.

34. Found a message board thread about movies shown in elementary school.

So far, nothing is ringing a bell. Though someone mentioned a scare-film which made me remember another such scare film. It was about kids distracting a bus driver, and then the bus gets into a violent accident.

35.  Saw "The Electric Grandmother" mentioned.

I think I saw that at school; or maybe on TV after school.

36. Went back to watching the Tropfest film.

37. Wondered why we were shown these movies in elementary school. Did it have something to do with what we were studying? Or did the teacher just need a break that day?

38. Thought that "Song for a Comb" might fit in with music class.

39. Decided I liked the beginning of "Song for a Comb" more than the ending.

The beginning has the theme of turning everyday objects into musical instruments. I think that's fun and creative.

Then the last part of the film has the mini-statue person using the comb as a piano.  It actually sounds like a piano, which isn't very realistic. I kind of felt the filmmaker was using his film to showcase a musical piece.

I suppose someone who likes piano music would be entertained. I found it kind of boring.

40. Looked back at the film.

Almost half of it consists of the piano-comb being played.

41. Went to the website of Sal Cooper.  She or he is the one who made "Song for a Comb".

Is Sal a male name or female?  Or is it one of those names that can work with either gender?

42. Saw, from this name website, that Sal is for both boys and girls.  It's a nickname for Salvador, Sally, and other names like that.

43. Went to the video page.

I watched Sal Cooper's advertisement for Autism Australia. I didn't get it. It shows people playing Pictionary.  There's frustration and confusion during the game. Then we're told people with autism experience frustration daily. Yes, because neurotypical people only experience frustration when playing Pictionary.

Then some kind of Pictionary charity game is promoted.

Or multiple Pictionary games, actually.

So, in 2014 people dumped ice on themselves to support motor neuron disease. Back in 2008, they played Pictionary for autism.

Interesting.

44. Watched Sal Cooper's showreel.

All his (or her?) stuff reminds me of the elementary school movies.

45. Thought about how we could take all our activities and say we're doing it for a cause.

I'm blogging for blindness. Why blindness?  I liked the alliteration.

I'm using alliteration in honor of colon cancer.  Sorry, lost the alliteration there.

I'll drink hot chocolate in support of people with MS. Why? I don't know. I just really like hot chocolate.

I'll watch YouTube videos in support of people with heart disease.

What else?

I'll write down my dreams in support of abused children.

46. Thought of the games/activities my family enjoys at the lake house. Why just have fun? We  can turn it all into a cause.

Water balloon fights can be in support of asylum seekers.

Boat rides can be for Lupus sufferers.

Scattergories can be for Crohn's Disease.

Tripoly can be for sufferers of Schizophrenia.

Trips to the ranch can be for victims of Ebola. Well, how about this. The morning trips will be for Ebola. Evening trips will be for the Zeka virus.

47. Started to watch one of Zal Cooper's non-animated films. It's called "Art vs. Sport".

48. Saw that most of the film consists of two people playing badminton in the ocean.

49. Finished watching the film.  There's nothing in it besides two people playing the ocean badminton game.

It seems a bit pointless. Though I do like the idea of playing Badminton in the water.

50. Read the description/explanation of the film.

Beyond the immediate comedy of this video piece and its reference to the sport-obsessed culture of this country, there sits the absurd notion that we might - as the waters around us continue to rise - just play on, regardless.

Okay. Yeah.  I didn't get that.

51. Thought of a conversation Jack and I had the other day. He complained about artsy films and books.

I'm not a big fan either.

I'm okay with artsy qualities IF it's not the main point of the project.  I'm okay with someone showing an extreme close-up of a crumb in a toaster if it's within a movie with great characters and a great storyline. I'm not okay with a filmmaker making a movie just so he could show off his ability to get a good shot of a toaster crumb.

The other thing I'm thinking is that if you have to give an explanation of your artsy film so people can understand it's message; then something isn't right.

52. Thought about how all films are going to have a mixed audience. Some people are going to get it. Some people aren't. That's why we have YouTube comments.

53. Figured there ARE probably people who understood the message of "Art Vs. Sport" without first reading the explanation.

For me, though?  Even after reading the explanation, I'm not seeing the message in the film.

To me, it just looks like two people enjoying a game of badminton.  I don't feel like they're sport-obsessed.

54. Saw from the press page on Sal Cooper's site, that in this case, Sal is a female.

55. Thought that my post is especially negative today.

Or am I usually this negative?

56. Decided I'm not usually this negative.

57. Wondered whether I'm in an especially negative mood this morning or is it just a matter of me running into things today that I didn't like.

On another day, would I have liked these things more?

Or if I read and watched different things today, would my post have been more positive?


Read my novel: The Dead are Online 

Looking Young, Immigrants, Immaturity, and Oddness

1. Started watching Love Serenade.

It looks fun so far.

2.  Thought that actress on Love Serenade has a voice similar to Magda Szubanski on Kath and Kim.

I don't know which actress. I'm not sure who is who yet in this movie.

It might be Rebecca Frith.

3. Noticed the cast, listed on IMDb, is very small.

There's only eight people.

Does the movie really use only that many actors; or did IMDb not list everyone?

4. Realized that Miranda Otto is a teenager in the movie.

I looked up the character Dimity, and saw that Miranda Otto played her. I figured what I was watching was a flashback, because the person I was seeing is much younger than Otto. But then I realized this movie was released in 1996. Maybe Otto was a teen back then?

Or maybe not?

I thought she was older than that.

5. Saw that she is older than that.

She's older than me.

She was born in 1967. She would have been close to thirty when the movie came out.

6. Wondered if the girl I saw was not a teenager after all.

Maybe I made a mistake.

7. Saw what I got wrong.

I thought the two women were mother and daughter; but no. They're sisters.

8. Learned from Twitter that Tony Abbott is telling Europeans to close their borders to asylum seekers.

What the hell?!

9.  Started to read an article about the Tony Abbott thing.

I'm not sure why Abbott is giving Europe immigration advice.

10. Thought about how the Tony Abbott stuff coincides well with something I found for our U.S history lesson today.

It's a video about the Native American viewpoint on illegal immigration.

If looking at migration with a historical perspective, it seems kind of ridiculous to talk about illegal immigration.

How can white Australians and white Americans talk about illegal immigration?  It's so hypocritical.

As for Europe, that involved a lot of invasions and conquering as well. Plus, Europeans went abroad and invaded other lands. So do they have the right to complain about other people coming to their land now?

Plus, asylum seekers are coming to Australia for good reason. It's not like Syrians are going to new lands to search for gold.

11. Thought about how Love Serenade has similar themes to the Crash Course video I watched this morning.

It's the idea that cultures with less technology are stereotyped in both negative and positive ways.

The negative stereotype is that they're less intelligent and more primitive. The positive stereotype is that they're more peaceful and less complicated.

In Love Serenade DJ Ken Sherry leaves Brisbane to find peace in a small rural town.  He talks to the townspeople in a condescending way; and he talks about them in a somewhat degrading way. Yet he sees this town as his escape from the world.

There's that term, noble-savage; well maybe there's also a noble-rural-person as well.

12. Got the idea that Vicki Ann (Rebecca Frith) is a liar and/or delusional.

13. Wondered if many chronic liars are delusional. Do they believe in their fabrications?

14. Thought that Dimity (Miranda Otto) looks so young in this movie. She doesn't look close to thirty. She looks about nineteen....or younger.

Ken Sherry is showing interest in her. It almost feels like he's doing something sordid.

15. Decided that Dimity has the aura of a fourteen or fifteen-year-old.

16. Learned that Dimity is supposed to be only twenty.

Miranda Otto was playing someone younger than herself...which is not unusual.  I mean it's not unusual for actors, in general, to play people younger than themselves. I don't know if not unusual for Miranda Otto, specifically, to portray someone younger than herself.

17. Wondered if Miranda Otto still looks young for her age.

Because I used to look young for my age, and I usually don't anymore.

I'm close to forty-three, and I look I'm in my forties.

When I was sixteen, I looked about twelve.

18. Wondered how old I looked when I was twenty-nine.

Maybe only slightly younger.

Maybe mid-twenties rather than late twenties.

19. Felt bad for Dimity. Ken Sherry, the guy who's wooing her, is a creep; and her sister is a delusional bitch.

20. Saw that Miranda Otto is in the third season of Rake. I hope to watch that one day.

21. Thought that this movie might be about how people who are different tend to be mistreated—taken advantage of.

Dimity is odd. Her sister puts her down because of this, and Ken tries to take advantage of it for sexual purposes.

22. Decided it's not different in general. Well, first of all, because everyone is different. Otherwise, we'd all be identical twins with each other.

I'd describe Dimity as being immature. She's a twenty-year-old who acts around fourteen or fifteen...or maybe even younger. In some ways, she acts like a nine or ten year-old.

She has a little-girl quality.

I'm not sure if it's a matter of low-intelligence.  I think you can have normal intelligence but low maturity.

23. Thought about how I was "diagnosed" with low maturity, by a psychologist, when I was a teen.

I was horrified and offended by that, but now it doesn't seem bad at all.

In some ways, I think maturity is overrated.

24. Decided it depends on the type of immaturity.

I wouldn't have much respect for an adult who has a tantrum when they don't get their own way. But I like adults who like child-like stuff.  For example, I like reading the blogs of people who are huge Disney World fans.

I like that my family has started to have water balloon fights at the lake house.

Stuff like that....

25. Thought that Vicky-Anne, in the movie, reminds me of Frollo from The Hunchback of Notre Damn.

They're both people who try to convince someone, under their care, that they're lucky to be getting that care, because no one else could possibly love them.

There's that message of, I'm a good person, because I love you even though you're odd and don't really deserve that love. 

It's a way of keeping someone in an emotional prison.

26. Liked the Galah in the movie.

Crap.

In the screenshot, it kind of looks like a weird rock.

27. Thought there might be some magical realism in the movie...or some type of gross, weird illness.

28. Continued to think that Ken is very creepy.

I hope we're not supposed to be liking him.

29. Decided he's not just creepy. He's an asshole.

He takes Dimity's virginity; then rejects her and moves onto her sister.

30. Decided that although I'm open to the idea of open-relationships; I don't think they should involve siblings.

Or maybe they can. I don't know.

Maybe in some cases, it would be sweet for sisters to share a boyfriend or for brothers to share a girlfriend. Maybe I'm just bothered by Ken, because he's so swarmy.

31. Finished watching the movie.

It was strange.

I guess it would be classified as a dark comedy.

It turns out that Dimity is a little more than just odd and immature. It might not have been a case of Dimity, the good, innocent sister, being victimized by Vicky-Ann, the other sister.

32. Learned from Lord Wiki and this PDF that a stuntman died in a falling stunt for the movie; and the shot was kept in the film.

That's kind of horrific.

33. Went to Random.org to pick my next thing to watch.

I'm back to TV shows.

I got season two of Tangle.

I think I actually saw the first episode of season two; or part of it.  This was way before I finally watched season one.

34. Looked at the cast of Tangle, and tried to remember what I saw Blake Davis in recently.

It was The Slap. He played Ritchie.

35. Went to palg1305's Flickr account.

Today I'm going to look at his Gold Coast album.

36. Looked at it.

Nothing really interests me that much.

I don't think I'm very interested in ever going to the Gold Coast. I thought of us going for Jack's sake. But by the time we go back to Australia, he'll likely be old enough that he can just go by himself, if it appeals to him.

37. Thought more about maturity.

Now I'm thinking there's a difference between being immature and being in touch with your inner child.

I still wouldn't say that immaturity is definitely a bad thing. I guess it would depend on the type of immaturity and the circumstances.

38. Figured that people have different ideas of immaturity depending on their values. Well, if we're talking about immaturity being a bad thing.

Someone might think I'm immature because I love Disney World; would rather go to an ice-cream shop than a bar; and would rather drink hot chocolate than coffee.

Someone might be seen as immature because they collect comic books and play video games.

For me, I would judge someone as being immature if they got unusually angry or upset when someone disagreed with them.

39. Thought about how I FEEL immature when I'm in shyness mode.

It's not a good feeling. I feel awkward and inadequate. And I feel trapped inside myself.

It doesn't happen to me that much anymore, but when I was a child and teenager, it happened very often. I think it might be part of the reason why I was seen as immature.


Read my novel: The Dead are Online 

No Kiss No Coach

This morning I watched the "Money" episode of Kath and Kim.

Kath (Jane Turner) wants to rent a Cinderella coach for her wedding transportation. The episode is about her trying to raise the money. At the end, she gets close, but she's fifty dollars short.  The guy who owns the wedding transport business tells Kath she can have the coach if she kisses him.  He says, No kiss no coach.  It would be easy to just kiss him and get the coach, but Kath sticks to her principles and runs out.

The episode reminded me of Australian surgeon Gabrielle McMullin. She's the one who said that women should stay silent about the sexual abuse they endure, because speaking out can ruin their careers. 

Just grin and bear it.

Sometimes that's the easy way. I guess. I mean if we define easy as not putting up a fight...maybe McMullin has a point.

But easy isn't always the best path.  

And although accepting unwanted sexual advances might be a career boost; and it might prevent you from having to endure a legal battle, I'm pretty sure the interactions are going to result in some type of damage. And dealing with that damage probably won't be easy.

Well....

Here's an article about the problems people can endure from sexual harassment. On their list: depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, high blood pressure, sleep problems, suicide, and neck pain.

I don't think any of those things are easy.

I wonder, though. Are there women who accept the sexual advances yet do not have problems because of it?  

What if Kath cheerfully kissed the coach guy, got what she wanted, and didn't feel any less about herself or the world? Would we still say she did the wrong thing?

I really don't know what I'd say.

I'm thinking I'd probably say it was her choice and if she's okay with it, that's her business.

I hesitate a bit, though, because if she says yes, she's making it easier for the guy to do it to the next woman.   

Then again, what if the next woman WANTS to kiss the coach-guy. What if she has a big crush on him?

No....

I guess it wouldn't matter. Whether you find someone attractive or are repulsed by them, no one should be pressured to trade sexual/intimate activity with goods, services, advancement, etc.  

Now I'm thinking it's probably best for all women to say no—stand up for themselves and all other potential victims.  But if a woman does end up saying yes, because that felt like the easiest thing to do, I wouldn't villainize her. I could probably understand where she's coming from.  

Before I end this post, I'm going to get on my soap box and bitch about one of my pet peeves.  I know it might sound a bit far-fetched to some folks. But I think adults forcing young children to kiss and/or hug people they don't want to is quite similar to sexual harassment.  If adults have a right to say no to unwelcome affection, why not children?

Yes, it's awkward when Great Aunt Trudy asks for a kiss, and Mikey pouts and says no.  But I think Mikey has a right to say no. Personally, I think the best thing to do is ask Mikey if he'll wave to Great Aunt Trudy instead.  I think that's much less intrusive.  

I don't think it's wrong to gently ask for a kiss or hug but preferably only when there's a comfortable and positive relationship between the adult and child. If the adult hardly knows the child or there's been shyness from the child, it's probably best not to ask for that kiss or hug. And if the child says no or backs away, I strongly believe their answer should be listened to and respected.  Yes, it can be a bit of a sting. But I think mature adults can be gracious about the situation.  

Here's an article talks about these issues...if anyone is curious.  

Read my online novel:  The Dead are Online 

  

Health Quote on Kath and Kim

Today I watched the fourth episode of Kath and Kim, titled "Fat".

In the episode, Kim says, It doesn't matter how healthy you are on the inside. It's what you look like that counts. 

It's not that I agree with that quote. Or at least I don't WANT to agree with it. Judging by my bad behavior in the past, I'd say there's unfortunately a part of me that does agree with it.

Kim makes her statement after deciding to give up quitting smoking so she can lose weight and fit better into the bridesmaid dress that she's supposed to wear at her mother's wedding. Her mother is proud of her for this. She'd rather have a smoking daughter than a chubby daughter.

The episode reminded me of an exaggerated version of my own family. We tend to idolize thinness. The feelings are often marketed as a health issue which makes me think most of them have not seen (or they've ignored) the studies that show being underweight is a health risk. Concerned emails circulate about our overweight members, but not much is mentioned about those who are underweight.  If I skip dessert, there's a comment about me being good.  I don't hear similar comments being made when an underweight person takes a larger piece of pie than usual.

I think if the weight thing was about health, there'd be equal pressure on both the underweight individuals and the overweight individuals to make changes. And if someone lost a large amount of weight in a short period of time concern rather than compliments would be distributed...the same amount of concern that would be shown towards someone who gained a lot of weight.

Kath and Kim and House Husbands

Right now, my two Aussie binge-watching shows are Kath and Kim and House Husbands.

I watched some clips of Kath and Kim, a few years ago and didn't like it.  I thought maybe if I tried a whole season, I'd grow to like it.  So far, it's not working. Today I watched episode #3 of the first season, and I've not yet fallen in love. Maybe I will like it by the end of the season?

I've heard it said that Americans aren't typically able to appreciate Kath and Kim.  For example, Wendy Butler Gregory, a Hulu commenter, says,  I LOVE this show!! I think it's hysterical. But I'm an Aussie expat living in the States. When I came across this I was surprised (and grateful) that Hulu's showing it, only because I think it's true Aussie humor, very tongue-in-cheek which I don't think our friends here in the States would get or really appreciate.

So I guess I'm not the only American who's unable to love Kath and Kim. But why?  I mean why am I able to enjoy some Aussie comedy, but not others.  Is it the tongue-in-cheek aspect? Do I not like tongue-in-cheek humor?  I don't know.  I think A Moody Christmas and At Home With Julia had a similar style of humor, and I enjoyed both of those.  Do they use tongue-in-cheek humor? Or is it a different style.

I'm trying to find a definition of tongue-in-cheek, but am not really finding anything that makes sense to me. Lord Wiki says the term is used to imply that a statement or other production is humorously or otherwise not seriously intended, and it should not be taken at face value.

Doesn't that apply to most comedy?

What I feel about the Kath and Kim comedy is that I'm being hit over the head with it. I feel it's not subtle enough for me.

As for the characters. I feel very annoyed by Kim (Gina Riley). And yeah. I know she's supposed to be selfish and annoying, and that's part of the joke. But I end up feeling more annoyed than amused. I do like Kel (Glenn Robbins). He's probably my favorite character. He's such a nice guy. And I like Sharon (Magda Szubanski) She's sweet and cute.

I'm wondering if I'll end up growing to like the show eventually.  I might. I'll see what happens in the next few days.

As for my other show. House Husbands. I love it. I think I liked the first season, and now with the second season, the like has grown to love.  As we have comfort foods, I think we can also have comfort shows.  They're the ones that make us feel warm and cozy. The characters feel like our friends; they make us laugh and cry. That's how House Husbands is for me.

Jews, Disappointment, Qantas Dishonesty, and Aussiechrisrob

1. Watched Modern Family.  

They talked about Australia!

I think that show has an Australian thing going on.

They've referenced Australia many times— The Wiggles, The Book Thief, Kath and Kim's Baby Jesus joke, etc.

There might have been something else.

I forget.

2. Went to sleep and had a dream about an Australian person.

There's talk of us going to a party near the lake house.  It's at the Blake's home. They're Australian so I'm kind of excited about that.  However, I'm weary of going to the party because Jack is shy around large groups of children. He's better in very small groups.   

At the Blake's house, Mrs. Blake talks to me about her pregnancy-caused aversion to scented lotions, perfumes, soap, etc. I feel bad and confess I have those types of products on.  

Later, we go to another party.  (I think this one was IN Australia). It turns out one of the little girls from Port Stephens was there. I'm surprised and delighted to learn that she remembers Jack.  

As far as I can remember I don't know an Australian Blake family in real life.

The scented product thing came from Jack and I buying that type of stuff yesterday.  And on our walk, I told him about how I had an aversion to the stuff when pregnant.

3. Fed up with Qantas.  This morning I got a red alert email from them. They said they're increasing service to DFW, and they have a five day sale.  The awesome thing about it is the sale would include our travel dates.  Usually Qantas sales apply to the winter months (June-August...maybe also May and September).

The sale price is advertised at $649 per one way ticket, and it's supposed to apply to travel dates between January 15-August 31 2012.

That's fantastic.

Or is it?

I went to the booking area and found not one $649 ticket.

I did the whole "Flexible with dates" thing.  It doesn't matter.

The lowest ticket on the way there is $697.  For the three of us, it's a $144 dollar difference when compared to the advertised $649 ticket.  That's fine, even though it reminds me of a bait and switch tactic.

On the way back though, the lowest price is $752!  That's quite different from $649, and close to the prices I was seeing before the sales.

What's the deal?

The only thing I can think of is that they advertised the sale and forgot to change the prices.

4. Changed our dates a bit and saw that for the return flight, it never gets lower than $752.

That doesn't make sense because the flight is actually shorter coming back.  It's fifteen hrs vs nineteen because of the whole wind thing.

5. Decided I'll give Qantas the benefit of the doubt and hope that it's just a glitch.

6. Worried for the young teenager who has been arrested in Bali.  The 14-year old was found with marijuana and could face up to 12 years in prison.

Well, at least that's better than life in prison....or execution.

If the child purposely carried marijuana, I would say, shame on him. I say that not so much for participating in the whole drug culture. It's more for the fact that he took such a huge risk in a country that's known to have tough drug laws.

Well, I'm sure we'll be hearing more about the story in the next several weeks and months.

Hopefully, since he's so young, there'll be some leniency.

Even if he did something a bit shameful, he definitely doesn't deserve to spend years in prison.   

7. Realized I forgot to check the Australian dollar yesterday.

I'll check it now.

Okay....

In terms of the American dollar, it's pretty low still.  It's at .94 cents.

The dollar is worth .63 British pounds.  I don't think there's been much of a change there.

It's worth 6.68 Swedish Krona and 72.29 Japanese yen.

I'll have to check my earlier post to see if anything has changed.

8. Checked my post from two days ago.  

The Australian dollar has gone up a tiny bit in Sweden and has gone down a tiny bit in Japan.

9. Read Andrew's post about Christian prayer in Federal Parliament. He's a lovely heathen and against all that.

He wants church and state to be separated.  

Andrew reminds me of me when he says:

I am not much of one for multiculturalism as it seems to defined in Australia. I don't like us being separate streams of culture. I would like us all to mix in and get on. You foreign born person, give me a bit of yours, I will give you a bit of mine, and the rest we have in common.

Of course we won't literally have everything in common.  Even people from the same ethnic groups will have different traditions, habits, lifestyles, etc.

I do think it's sad and difficult though when people in a country are overly divided by language, skin color, religion, etc.  We don't have to be exactly alike, but let's try to blend in a little bit.

10. Inspired by Andrew's post to look into Jewish history in Australia.

Andrew says, Maybe earlier still, but at least from the early twentieth century, Jewish people were in Australia.

A few years ago, I did a post on Jews in Australia, so I vaguely understood that the Jews WERE around earlier than the 20th century.  Not surprisingly, though, I've forgotten much of what I've learned.

This website about the First Fleet says 250 Jewish convicts arrived in Australia before 1820. That's not a huge amount, but it's something.   

The website says there were less than 10 Jewish men on the First Fleet itself.   It doesn't specify how much less than 10, but at least we know Jews were there from the beginning of white settlement in Australia.  

11. Found government site about Jews in Australia.  

They say there were at least 8 convicts on the First Fleet.

By 1848, more than a thousand Jewish convicts had been sent to Australia.

12. Decided to read my old post.

It's almost three years old now!

13. Had Tim look at the Qantas issue, and then I wrote a message on the Qantas Facebook Page.

I think it's just wrong to get people excited about a price, but then not have that price available.

14. Started to look into Virgin Australia.

Their prices are high, but I guess that's okay since they weren't advertising a sale.

They were advertising a sale, but it's for this October-December. That wouldn't really work for us.  

15. Looked at the sale.

Virgin does the same thing as Qantas. They offer a price, but then the price isn't available.

They say if you fly from October 5 to December 8, round trip tickets should cost 1448. That's $724 each way.

When I try to book a ticket, the cheapest ticket is $771.38 for the way there and $826 for the way back.  Combined that's $1597.  

16. Went to Tallygarunga.

Today I'm going to read a story called The Next Step.    It's with James Young( the guy who looks like Simon Baker) and Sergei Zhalobov-Bogaevsky.  

I read a story with them a few months ago.   James is a chef and was excited to see Sergei, the Quidditch player in his restaurant. They both flirted with each other a bit.

Maybe now they're on a date?

17. Started to read.

The story takes place on August 3.

James gave Sergei a napkin with his phone number on it. He hoped that Sergei would call him instead of throwing the napkin away.

Then then next day he did the horrible wait-by-the-phone thing.

It really is awful—waiting for someone to call.

I think the worst was when I felt they really liked me, when I didn't have doubts they'd call. There'd be romance and kissing...maybe a little more.  I felt strong feelings emerging and assumed (from their actions) that they felt the same way. I imagined we were beginning a relationship.

Then they wouldn't call and....

That hurt.  

It was still somewhat painful when I did have doubts.  Did he like me?   Did he not like me?  Will he call?  Sometimes I hoped for a phone call from guys who barely talked to me in person.  I had delusional-type hopes that they were quietly interested in me, and one day they'd be brave enough to pick up the phone.  

18. Read Sergei's post.

He wants to call, but is nervous.

Then finally he picks up the phone.

When the phone doesn't ring, that's what I'm hoping for.  The guy was too nervous to call. Maybe he doesn't realize I have feelings for him too.  

I bet he lost my phone number!

19. Felt happy for James and Sergei.

I'm glad Sergei found enough courage to call, and I'm happy James got to hear the wonderful sound of the awaited ringing of the phone.  

20. Excited because we found good flight prices.

Tim might be buying them soon!!!!!!!!

21. Did not buy plane tickets.

We're really not happy with Qantas right now.

What happened is Tim found really good prices on the American Airlines site.   It was their code share thing with Qantas. We'd fly to Brisbane and then to Sydney.

The whole thing was under $4000 for the three of us.

Tim tried to pay for the tickets through the website. It didn't work.

He then called American Airlines. They said that Qantas wouldn't give us the tickets for that price.

If that's not bait and switch, what is?

22. Wanted to say, we're still planning to come to Australia.  It's just we might have to teleport there.

It's good I know of so many wizards and witches in Australia.  

Speaking of that....

23. Started to read the biography of Sergei Zhalobov Bogaevsky.  

His face claim is Gerald Butler.

I know him from P.S I Love You.



I went to the library today and got a book written by Cecelia Ahern.  She's the one who wrote P.S I Love You.  

Like Julian McMahon, Cecilia Ahern is the offspring of a former Prime Minister. Irish, in her case; not Australian.

24. Learned that Sergei was born in Russia.

His Patronus is a mink.

He's very tall and muscular.

He's pale and burns easily.  

25. Learned that Sergei has had his nose broken by Bludgers.

26. Liked what is said here.

He is generally incredibly sweet natured, but he does not come across as intelligent. He is not, however, as dumb as he seems, just exceptionally bad at expressing what he thinks using language, especially in English, which is not his native tongue

Often when I hear people with a thick foreign accent, they sound unintelligent and immature. They sound almost childish.  I have to remind myself that in their native tongue, they likely sound much more intelligent.  And if I tried to speak in another language, I'd probably sound like I was about two-years old.

Two-years-old is being generous, actually.  

27. Started to read Sergei's history.

He was raised in a wealthy family.

I like seeing wealthy characters who defy the stereotypes of rich people being all snobby, greedy, uptight, etc.

28. Got a tiny bit of a tear when I read this.

As he grew from a teenager to a young man it became apparent that Sergei had real talent on the Quidditch Pitch and scouts approached his parents to get him into training for the national team. His father, who wanted Sergei to take over the family business, put aside his dreams for his son and supported him, something Sergei never forgot in the coming years.

I want to hug that daddy.

It's so nice that he came through for his son like that.  

I'm sure all parents have dreams for their children—even if it's just on a subconscious level.   It's good if we can remember their dreams for themselves are more important than our dreams for them.  

29. Had to take my hug back from Sergei's Daddy.

He wasn't so great after all.

Sergei found out he was gay in his adult years. Prior to that, he didn't understand why his relationships with women didn't work out.

Anyway, he came out to his family and his father disowned him.

Sergei ended up being isolated not just from his father, but also from his mothers and sisters.

That's very unfair.

30. Sad that his father died before there could be any reconciliation.

Maybe he can come back as a ghost.

31. Learned that Sergei is insecure about his homosexuality. He's not quite full out of the closet yet, and he hasn't had a gay relationship.

Maybe James will be his first.

32. Talked to Tim about Qantas and bait and switch tactics. He says technically they can get away with it because their site says, Seats are very limited and may not be available on every flight. Other restrictions apply.

They could offer a few seats, and then say they've all been sold out.

I think it's complete bullshit.

The date on my Qantas email was 8:02 am.  I think by 8:30 I was already trying to find tickets. Are they telling me it sold out that fast?

Plus, the advertisement is still up on the site. If they already sold out of these special deal tickets, they should take the advertisement down.  

33. Saw that my Australian of the day is Edward Alfred Anstey.  

He was born in South Australia in 1858.

He became a builder.

34. Learned that Anstey got into politics. 

He was with the Labor Party. Then he jumped ship with Billy Hughes and became a founding member of the National Labor Party.  

35. Went to aussiechrisrob's YouTube channel.  

His occupation is a shotfirer.   This website says that is a mining job.  They use explosives to dislodge rocks and stuff.   It's kind of what Jack's doing lately with his Minecraft game.  

36. Saw that aussiechrisrob has a video of his explosive stuff.





It's a bit boring and hard to see at times; but the destructive part of myself enjoys seeing the explosions.

I started feeling guilty about that.  But then I decided it's like being in awe of a tornado. They're horrible—deadly and destructive.  Yet they're fascinating to watch.

37. Watched aussiechrisrob sing my new favorite song.



It is AWESOME.

I love that song, and I think aussiechrisrob does a fantastic job with it.

38. Sad to see that aussiechrisrob hasn't done a singing video in 2 years.

He should do more.

Here's the last singing video he made.




I love that song.

It reminds me of Eli Stone. 



39. Listened to aussiechrisrob sing "From Little Things Grow" 



His guitar playing makes me want to cuddle something and take a nap.

There's this gentle quietness.

40. Started to look at Baroo42's Perth to Melbourne Flickr set.  While I do that, I'm listening again to aussiechrisrob sing "Mad World"

41. Thought this photo would make a good album cover.  

This one too.  

I think they did a guy's only camping trip.

42. Found another great album cover photo.

If these guys ever want to form a music group they're set....at least image-wise.

I wonder if they sing good.

43. Loved this photo.  It seems otherworldly to me.  

44. Hoped some disgruntled Qantas pilots will start a new airline.  

45. Looked at the Australian Monopoly board.  

The next place on the board is Salamanca Place.

I know of that one.  It's in Hobart, and there's a big market there.

46. Learned from Lord Wiki that Salamanca Place used to be known as The Cottage Green.

In 1812, they changed the name to Salamanca to honor Duke Wellington's triumph in the Battle of Salamanca. That was Salamanca in Spain. They fought against the French.  

47. Learned from Lord Wiki that the Battle of Salamanca was part of the Peninsular War.   This was a war fought between France and Spain.

France and Spain were initially on the same team. It was them against Portugal. Then France turned against Spain.

Wow.

48. Looked at the Salamanca Market website.  

The market is on Saturdays.

49. Learned from this page that if Anzac Day falls on a Saturday, the market day is moved to Sunday.

50. Wished I had become obsessed with a place that was closer, and one in which I could travel to cheaply.  

51. Felt disillusioned.

I still love Australia.

But I no longer love their airline.  

Read my novel: The Dead are Online 

Denial, Delusions, Jack, and Co-Stars

1. Had this Australia-related dream....My mom gives my sisters and me each a Mad Libs book.  We look at them.  I see mine already has writing in it.   It looks like a child has filled some of it out. I mention this, and my mom acts annoyed; not at the book being used but at me for saying something. It's as if she thinks I'm making it up.  She insists the books are new, and that is that.  I'm not really bothered by the book being used; more bemused.  I drop the subject and look at the book. Then I realize it has an Australian theme to it.  I'm touched that my mom bought me something Australian, and I feel bad that I didn't notice it immediately.

I think this dream has a ton of meaning. It greatly represents my relationship with both my parents.  I feel they often don't believe me; that they don't take my perceptions, memories, and feelings seriously.  I feel they want to think they always do things perfectly; and if I present evidence that says otherwise, they'll try to deny it.

As for the Mad Libs being Australian, I think that represents how I let negative memories of my parents overshadow positive memories.  I become too busy thinking about times they weren't there for me, and I neglect the memories of when they were around to help and support me.   I'm so busy noticing the flaw in The Mad Libs that I fail to notice that my mom has gone out of her way to get me such a thoughtful gift.  At the same time, she's so defensive about me pointing out the flaws that she won't take the time to address the issue.  She refuses to believe that there could be anything wrong. 

2. Dreamed another Australia-related dream.  My sister and I are outside sitting somewhere looking out at the beauty all around us.  The whole family has been in Australia for about a month.  We're leaving soon, and I'm getting depressed about that.  I'm close to crying. I tell my sister that I can't really remember our life before Australia.  It's like the good memories began here.  My sister acts empathetic and seems to be feeling the same things.

My relationship to my sister in this dream was different than it is in real life. So maybe this is one of those I-wish-it-was-like-this dreams.  In real life, I often feel my sister doesn't get it.  OR when I tell her my problems I get the sense that instead of feeling sympathetic, she feels there's something seriously wrong with me.  It could be my imagination. I don't know.  

3. Dreamed about blogging.  My local friend starts a blog and sends me an email with the link. She sheepishly asks me to go to it and to visit again and again and again.  I'm sort of annoyed, since she hasn't been to my blog for years.  I'm tempted to write something like "Yeah.  I know how it feels to want people to visit your blog.  I was sad that you never visited mine".  

4. Saw the reflection of the window through my computer.  The blinds are open and I'm seeing trees and the ocean behind me.  It's beautiful, but an illusion. There's no ocean behind me—just the street and houses.

What I'm seeing is the sky. It looks like the ocean.  

It's kind of cool, but it's making me wish I was I REALLY was near the sea.

5. Yelled for Jack and Tim to come over so they could see the ocean too. They tried but couldn't really see it.  Oh well.  The ocean can be my own little personal delusion.

6. Read article that says Kevin Rudd showed support of Jews and Israel by indulging in chocolate at Max Brenner.  It's the same store where anti-Israel people held a protest a week or so ago.   Rudd says, I went there deliberately to make a point and that is I don't think in 21st century Australia there is a place for the attempted boycott of a Jewish business.

Boycott's are fine. We have a world full of different opinions. But I do like that other people are boycotting the boycott and showing support of the Max Brenner shop.  

I like that in Australia, Jews are probably now going to be associated with chocolate. That's pretty damn awesome.

When you think of me, please think of chocolate with salty caramel. Spicy hot chocolate (the kind with chili pepper) is okay too.   

7. Read complicated article about media issues in Australia.  Now that we know Murdoch's people were doing shitty stuff in the UK, should we worry the same stuff is happening in Australia?

I almost wrote, should we worry the same stuff is happening here?  With the pretend ocean outside my window, I'm feeling like I'm on a beach in Queensland.

Anyway...

Bob Brown wants to do an investigation of Australian media.  Julia Gillard says she's open to the idea.

John Hartigan the chief executive and chairman of News Limited is against any probing. He says, I know the newsrooms. I know how cultures develop and I'm hugely confident that there's no improper or unethical behaviour in our newsrooms.   


It sounds like Cam and Mitch when they insisted their daughter would never bite another child at the playground.

And it sounds like my mom (the dream version) refusing to believe there could be anything wrong with the Mad Libs.  

Hartigan also tries to differentiate the British news from the Australian ones.  They're very sensational, they deal with people's lives, private lives and some of the behaviours that have come out are obviously being driven by the need to get in front of each other. I would argue very strenuously that we don't have those behaviours in Australia.  

Now I can't speak for the behaviors of the Australia media, but I can speak of the content. At times it is very sensational and exploitive. I saw something this morning on Facebook from an Australian news source. I won't say what it was because then I'll be adding to the sensationalism.  But to me, it seemed very unnecessary.

It's such a hard balance.  I'm struggling here to get my feelings out of my head and onto the screen.   There's some stuff that the public NEEDS to know and if someone gets the information via hacking or spies, they're being unlawful but kind of heroic.  There's other stuff that we don't need to know, but it's interesting; and if the information is obtained ethically....fine.  Then there's stuff that really should be kept private.

I'm trying to think of how to illustrate this.

Okay.   Here we go.  We have a right to know that Julia Gillard is against gay marriage.  She's the Prime Minister.  We have the right to know her ethical and political beliefs. (I just typed she's our Prime Minister, and had to change that.  I am REALLY delusional today) 

We don't need to know that Julia Gillard vomited after eating a meal that her partner cooked for her; nor do we need to see a photograph of the vomit.  That's complete sensationalism. Come look at our newspaper. We have photographs of Prime Minister vomit!

Disclaimer: As far as I know, Julia Gillard has not obtained food poisoning from her partner's cooking.  I'm making all of this up to illustrate my point.

8. Asked by Jack, who's my favorite Australian Prime Minister.  We were sitting on the couch and asking each other various questions like that. It was thoughtful of him to ask me because he tends to want to stick to his favorite topics (video games and technology companies).  

I felt lost, though and stupid.  I don't know if I'm particularly fond of any Australian Prime Minister.  And despite spending many hours writing about each of them, I remember very little.

The first person I mentioned was Francis Forde, but not by name. I just said, that Prime Minister that was there for only about a week. I don't really remember anything wonderful about Francis Forde. I just think it's amusing that he was Prime Minister for such a short time.

I then named Malcolm Fraser.  I think I like him, but I can't remember if I liked him as Prime Minister. I like what he's become in the last several years.   I like that he seems to be now leaning more to the left.

I also mentioned Bob Hawke. I might have liked him.  Maybe?  If I did like him, I can't remember why.

I probably need to do a review of Australian Prime Ministers.  Well, I guess I shall when I come across them on the Australian Dictionary of Biography Site.    

Jack asked about Kevin Rudd.  Yes, I like Kevin Rudd. And Jack also reminded me that we got to see him LIVE in Canberra.  That was very exciting for both of us.  We didn't get to talk to Rudd.   We didn't even see his face.  But it was thrilling just to be in the same room as him.

Then I felt conflicted because Kevin Rudd showed no more support for gay marriage than Julia Gillard. Why do I tolerate him but not her?   Then I remembered that it's because he's a religious Christian.  Although I believe people can be Christian and accept gay marriage; I'm somewhat tolerant of the fact that it's hard for many Christians to accept a progressive idea like that.

When Julia Gillard became Prime Minister, I think there was hope that, with an atheist in the throne, religion would have less influence over politics and legislation.  It seemed exciting. Australia was open to new possibilities.  But it turned out to be a big disappointment.   

9. Watched another Natalie Tran video. Thanks to Tim.   It's about math. She refers to it as maths.  That confused Tim.  I had to explain that Australians call it maths instead of math.

Other differences:  We go to the hospital. Australians go to hospital.  When we're there, we get surgery in the operating room. Australians get surgery in the theatre.  

Just for the record, Tim didn't show me the video because he was confused about math vs. maths.  He just thought it was entertaining, and he wanted to share it with me.  The math vs. maths lesson was a bonus I provided for him.



10. Disappointed because I got an email from Zazzle. They can't make my t-shirt, because it has copyrighted images.  It was the shirt I made with Australian book covers.

I can understand if I was planning to sell the shirt, but I was just planning to wear it. I would think that's a good thing for the people who owned the copyright.   I was pretty much advertising their books.

Oh well.

11. Thought about something Tim said this morning about Natalie Tran.   He didn't realize all the people in the video were one person.  We joked a bit about the racist idea that all Asians look alike.  

But is it very racist?   For the most part all Asians have the same color hair and same color eyes.   With that, faces kind of blur together unless one is very familiar to you. I could pick Tim out of a crowd of Asians.  I'm not sure I could pick an Asian, I just met, out of a crowd of Asians.

I think the same type of they-all-look-alike confusion would occur if there was a large group of people with platinum blond hair and blue eyes. 

12. Impressed with Jack.  We were looking at the screensaver on the computer, and there was a picture of Kath and  Kim.   Jack asked me who they were and I answered.   He was surprised when I said I didn't like the show and said, I thought they were the ones with the baby Jesus joke.  I told him I did like that bit.     

I thought it was neat that he remembered me telling him that the joke came from that show. Then he asked me about Mother and Son.  We didn't see a picture on the screensaver.  I think he just thought of it because it's an Australian TV show.

And he recognized a photo of Heath Ledger.

I like when Jack knows Australian stuff.  

13. Went to the ABC website to get new feeds for iGoogle.  I had them but then something went wrong.  ABC said they moved and I needed to go get the feed again.  So, I'm doing that now.

I like the ABC news widget because you can click on the article and get a short summary before actually going to the article. Well, and then you can decide if you care enough to read the whole article.   

14. Went to Tallygarunga.  Today I'm going to read the continuation of This Is Not A Party.  The problem is I have no idea where I left off.  

I remember reading the Headmaster's post which is #11; so I left off somewhere after that. Maybe I'll just start at #12.   It won't kill me to accidentally reread something.  

15. Realized that I was much farther ahead than I imagined.  I remember reading Améa's post, and that's #15.

16. Found myself interested in the story when I got to post #22.   All this crazy partying thing is really not my thing, whether in real life or a story.  But now Tamarah's here and there's some Tamarah/Améa action.  It's starting to look intriguing.  

Tamarah, apparently, is cousins with the headmaster.  I don't think I knew that.  She jokingly awards the Spencer house a thousand points for having a party and doing it without permission.  Then, since she doesn't have the official power to award points, she asks her cousin to do it for her.  He has the power.  He's headmaster.

17. Shocked by Tamarah's meanness.  I can't say I understood all that I just read. It was all magical and involved bricks, projected images on the roof, and water soaking Améa.

It was pretty awful.  Tamarah used her powers to humiliate Améa.  That's cruel.  I hope someone defends Améa.

18. Went back to read Améa's post.  Did she at all deserve Tamarah's attack?

Well, she did scold the partying crowd, and threatened to use force to get them to stop. This is why Tamarah humiliated her and fought back.  Was her retaliation fair?  Deserved?

Well, I think some retaliation was deserved maybe. But I think Tamarah went too far. It would have probably been enough to just roll her eyes.

19. Glad to see that Riley Lightfoot feels bad and conflicted about what he's witnessing in the party room.  Riley couldn't help it; he smirked. It was a brilliant invention, after all. Still, he couldn't ignore the guilt that was gnawing on his insides. What was wrong with him? He was laughing at a girl who was probably hurt. Unless someone had hurt him badly, Riley usually wished no one harm.

This story is exceeding my low expectations.  I expected the story thread to be a bit trivial and superficial—something that's more fun for the writers than the readers. Who am I to talk?   I'm sure there's a lot of stuff on my blog that's more fun for me to write than it is for anyone to read.

Anyway, it seems this thread is going to be much more interesting than I imagined.   It seems to be dealing with the whole bullying issue; and so far, I think they're doing a fantastic job.

We all know it's wrong for the mean kids to bully the sweet innocent person who did nothing wrong—who's only crime is being homosexual or not being able to afford decent shoes. But what about when the popular house captain bullies the annoying, seemingly evil girl that no one likes?  Is it okay then?

20. Felt a little choked up when Thomas showed a lot of concern for Améa, and spoke out against what happened to her.  From what I remember, he's Améa's friend, so it makes sense that he'd help her.  But he's also Tamarah's brother.  

21. Decided to read the biography of Darren Donavan.  He's one of the characters at the party. 

Darren is a year five Muggleborn Flinders student.

He's scrawny and has sun-sensitive skin.

22. Learned that Darren is introverted but friendly. I think Tim's that way.  He's very outgoing— not at all shy.  But I think he often prefers to be alone. I mean he likes parties, and he likes being with people.  But I think he needs a certain amount of space and alone time.

23. Learned that Darren likes to sing and play the flute.

24.  Learned that Darren is trying to learn sign language so he can better communicate with Reade.

I wonder how different Australian sign language is to American sign language.   I know the letters are different.   I think Americans use one hand while Australians use two hands.  But what about words?

25. Watched part of a video about Auslan. 



The video say Australian sign language is very different from American sign language.

26. Found this Auslan visual dictionary.  I'm looking for words I know in American sign language (dog, ball, play, etc).   So far, they are very different.  

27. Found that candy is the same in American and Australian sign language. 

28. Looked up more signs, and Jack joined me. We used to do sign language with him when he was a toddler.

29. Learned that Darren is a fan of TV and movies. He loves science fiction.  He has that in common with Reade.

Darren wants to find ways to make Muggle electronics work better in the wizarding world. For some reason, large amounts of magic causes problems...interference.

I didn't really remember that from JK Rowling's books, but it was mentioned in the Magic is Might experience.  

I'm sure it's in the books. I just don't remember where, or why, it was mentioned.

30. Learned that Darren is gay but in the closet for now.

31. Liked this bit from Darren's biography.  His accent is now a hybrid of Irish and General Australian. It amuses him that to Australians his accent sounds completely Irish, whereas his Irish cousins rave that it's been totally converted by the Aussies.

It's funny that people can view us in such different ways, depending on their perspectives.   You're not quite this and you're not quite that.


I very much feel that way when it comes to parenting and educational philosophies. When we're around mainstream people (which is most of the time) I feel so incredibly radical.  Our child doesn't go to school.  We let him learn on his own, and he usually learns whatever he wants to learn. Jack has much more freedom than the average child.

But when I look at other unschooling families,—usually on websites—I feel like I'm this very strict and stifling parent. We insist that Jack do math even when he doesn't want to do it, and we insist that he be polite when politeness is deserved (and it usually is deserved).

 32. Reread my kind of bitchy comment on an unschooling blog post about restricting the unschooling label to only strict followers of the philosophy.  I said, some of us aren't lucky enough to fit into other people's preconceived label.

Compared to other homeschoolers, we're unschoolers. My son does chooses what he wants to learn 99.99% of the time. Regular homeschoolers would be horrified and shocked by the amount of freedom he has. They'd definitely see as unschoolers Rigid unschoolers would want to kick us out of the category because a few times a week, I have my child do about 5-10 minutes of math online.

So that's why I ended up calling my blog "Sort of Unschoolers But Not Really".

We don't religiously follow any type of learning/parenting philosophy. And no, I'm not ashamed of that. I like being a free-thinker rather than a strict follower. 

I can't say I feel the blogger didn't deserve that response.  But I just read her response to my comment for the first time, and it was pretty nice and mature.  It sounds like you're doing a wonderful thing for your children, whether it's easily labeled or not! My intent wasn't to criticize anyone's choices at all, and I'm sorry if it came across as if I was. 

33. Embarrassed that I'm going off on this tangent based simply on the fact that Darren has a hybrid Australian-Irish accent.  But the unschooling thing has been on my mind lately, and the caught-between-two-worlds thing struck a chord.  

There's people in the mainstream; and there's people on the fringe. We're like on the fringe of the fringe.

34. Saw that my Australian of the day is Clifford Werlin Andersen.  He was an accountant.  I don't think that's going to be too exciting to me.  Sorry.

35. Looked at the reflection of the window again.  I can still see the ocean.  It's beautiful! It looks like the cover of a Patricia Shaw novel.

36. Learned that Clifford was born in Adelaide in 1906.

Hi parents were Danish and had a lot of children.

Clifford did the accounting thing.  He also did  tennis, classical music, carpentry, and debating. I wonder if he ever debated about accounting. Probably.

37. Started to watch Offspring even though I really don't care whether Nina chooses Patrick of Chris.  I hate storylines like that.  

38. Went to Google Maps, so I can maybe plan more of my fantasy trip to Australia. Last night I was fretting about when we'd go. I'd rather go in the spring than summer, but if we start in New South Wales in March by the time we get to Victoria and the next state, it will be too cold. I thought of starting in December, but the summer can be so hot.

Then I remembered this is a fantasy trip.  The weather's going to be perfect. There will be no crazy heat wave days.

Okay.  Wait.   I'll allow two heat wave days. I want there to be some realism in my story. But we'll have really good air-conditioning and a pool.  

39.  Decided that instead of making rules such as one month in each state and territory (which would actually equal seven months instead of six), I'm going to pick the towns I want to visit. We'll spend two nights in each town, and five nights in the major cities.   

So the itinerary I planned yesterday would take up around 21 days.

40. Came up with my next planning adventure.  The planning IS the adventure, really.   

We're going to start in Coffs Harbour, because that's where I left off yesterday.

Then we'll go to...

Newcastle
Adaminaby

We'll move onto Victoria and go to

Lakes Entrance
Wilson's Promotory
Melbourne
Nagambie
Woodend
Castlemaine
Clunes
Ballarat
Horsham
Port Fairy

And then back to Melbourne where we'll fly somewhere—probably Tasmania.  

That's 25 nights.  Add the 21 nights from yesterday and we have a total of 46 nights so far.  

41. Went back to watching Offspring.

42. Felt sad for Patrick.

43. Decided something.   My trip to Australia is imaginary.   Right.   So if it's imaginary, I can go to places that really don't exist.

We're going to visit Tallygarunga.   I'm going to hang out with Jezabel because I want to learn more about her dream powers.  I think I'll also try to befriend Améa.  I really feel for that girl. Underneath her fierceness I think she's decent. 

Maybe we'll go to Adrian and Meri's vow renewal ceremony. Or did they get divorced?  I can't remember.  I think maybe they did. So it will have to be a second-wedding rather than a vow-renewal thing.

Jack and I will have fun trying to plan a prank to impress the Spencer students.

AND....

When we're in Melbourne I'm going to hang out with the Proudman family. I'll become best friends with Cherie.

When we're in the Woodend area, I'm going to search and search until I find missing school girls from 1900.  I'll then say, So where the bloody hell were you?

I'm going to attend gay weddings; and I'm going to hang out with refugees in a country where detention centers no longer exist.

43. Felt very glad that I'm not Nina Proudman.  I would totally lose it if I had to go through what she's going through in this episode. No, it's not disaster, death, torture, or imprisonment.  But I still wouldn't be able to stomach it.

44. Decided I'd rather be the Patrick or Chris in this situation. I would rather be chosen or not chosen; then be the one who has to choose.  

45. Thought about Offspring, and how it makes me feel normal.  It's not just that I'm neurotic like Nina.  But my family is like the Proudman family.   I think a lot of kids grow up and go their separate ways.  If their life was a TV show, their parents and siblings would appear as occasional guest stars.  They have their own lives, and every so often their family intrudes upon it. Sometimes when I write on and on about my family problems, I feel so immature.  I'm a grown woman. Why does my sisters and my parents have such an effect on me?  Why do they matter so much?

But...see...like the Proudman's, we all live in the same area.   We see each other on a very regular basis.   As much as they drive me nuts, the members of my family—my sisters, my parents, my brother-in-laws, my nieces, my nephews, along with Tim and Jack; they're the most important people in my life.  They're my main circle. If my life was a TV show, they'd be the stars.