Tuesdays

I just watched this clip from Bananas in Pyjamas.



Some teddy bears don't like Tuesday because the bananas chase them on Tuesday. They decide to fix things by getting rid of Tuesday on the calender.

I thought it was funny because lately we've been LOVING Tuesday.

Why?

It's the day the Mr. Softee man comes to our neighborhood. 

Two Tuesdays ago, Jack and I were inside the house and heard eerie loud music.  We ran to the window and saw the truck. Unfortunately we weren't dressed (because we're lazy sometimes).  We rushed to put clothes and shoes on; then ran outside. We ran and ran and ran, but were unable to catch up with the truck.

We caught up with some people who had more luck, and they told us the Mr. Softee Man will be driving by every Tuesday.

So the next Tuesday the three of us got dressed and put money by the door so we'd be ready.  We were unsure of the time he'd be coming because we didn't pay enough attention the last time. So we had a lot of waiting, and Jack was ready to give up. But Mr. Softee did come, and we enjoyed our ice-cream.  

I was wondering about ice-cream trucks in Australia.   I vaguely remember one coming by when we were at a holiday park.  But maybe I just dreamed that.

Anyway, I found a website for a Mr. Whippy Van.   He has ice-cream plus other stuff. You can get fairy floss and jam donuts. Fun!

In an Aussie book I read recently, a bunch of children die by getting ice-cream from a vendor.   Then there's been other horror stories involving ice-cream trucks.  Charmed had one. Maybe Medium did as well? 

So although I was excited, I was also a little paranoid.  I came up with a code for Jack. I said if the truck doesn't look safe to me, I'm going to suggest he get a pre-wrapped treat.

I worried that perhaps it wasn't a Mr. Softee (which I think you can usually probably trust) and instead some random person who might be a demon or serial killer.  

But it ended up looking okay, and we survived our ice-cream experience.

In two more days, it's Tuesday again!


Does an ice-cream truck come to your neighborhood?   Do you ever buy anything?

Do you have any happy ice-cream truck childhood memories?   

Barry Humphries, Anorexia, Welfare, and Sharks

1. Felt a bit envious of one of my Facebook friends.  Her status update is about bonding with a kangaroo.  I shouldn't be jealous though.  I have my cats.  They are both adorable, and one of them is EXTREMELY cuddly.   

2. Decided that now I have even more respect for Barry Humphries.   It's not that easy to create an alternate identity.   I'm doing it all for the Harry Potter game; and  I'm getting really into it.  I hope it doesn't lead to me becoming insane.  Oh well.  In the meantime, I'm having a lot of fun.  

3. Read news about Yang Hengjun.   At first I thought it was good news, but now I don't know.  He called his friends, said he was sick, and explained that his phone wasn't working.   That's a plausible explanation, but people aren't buying it.  They feel there's something weird going on.   He sounds weird to people talking to him, and there's the possibility that he's in duress and trying to speak in code.

I hate when those things happen.  You're worried.  You get good news, yet you get the feeling that it's a lie, and there's really bad news.   I've never been involved in a kidnapping, or anything traumatic like that.  But maybe I can relate to it through fiction, such as it reminds me of the second to last episode of Medium.  Allison was kidnapped.  

From my own personal life, it reminds me of when relationships go bad.   Someone stops calling so you worry that's it's over.  You finally get up the nerve to call.  You ask the other person if something's wrong.  They insist everything's fine.  They try to act like their good old self.  They give you reassurance against all your insecurities.  You get off the phone feeling somewhat relieved, but deep inside you know it's all a lie.  You try to be happy despite feeling sick.

4. Read article about Anorexia in children. It makes me furious.  I'm angry that this happens to children so young. I'm also angry at the people with the nerve to say this is a purely genetic/biological mental illness.  What bullshit!  If it's purely genetic, why is the rate in children increasing?  Maybe someone out there can explain it to me.

Our society is so thin-obsessed.  I found this blog entry earlier today; Katie talks about the "fat talk" we use and has examples of the damaging language.  

There's the weight talk in the disguise of a compliment. You look great!  Have you lost weight?  I've gotten that even after telling my family multiple times that I had an eating disorder.  Sometimes they leave out the you look great, but the tone of voice definitely indicates that the weight loss is a positive thing.

There's the fat talk that's not aimed directly at us, but said about others AROUND us.  Katie has the example of “Maybe if she’d lay off the Cheetos just a little bit…”   

From my mom, I've heard the saying She let herself go referring to a beautiful movie character who no longer had a perfect concave abdomen.  It's funny that SHE let herself go.  But when I was obsessively counting calories, weighing every bit of my food (including fruit and veggies) and pacing my office almost constantly (to burn calories) no one said that about me.  

Once, when I was openly struggling with eating disorder issues, we watched home movies with my parents.  Almost every comment that came out of their mouth was about people's weight. This person was thin back then. This person was fat. Oh, too bad that one gained all her weight back.

I complain about my family, but sadly I'm just as bad sometimes. This thin-obsession is ingrained in some of us.  Once I scolded my brother-in-law for making some snide comment about losing weight.  Then on another occasion, I was stupid enough to make the same mistake.  I think I even said it in front of him. I was ashamed but didn't apologize.  I should have.  I can't remember exactly what I said.  Oh well.

5. Thankful that the anorexia article has a poster of a very ugly victim of Anorexia.  She kind of looks like Zelda from Pet Sematary.  Often eating disorder articles have photos of very thin, yet also very attractive women.  What happens when people like me look at these?  Well, I end up thinking.   Eating disorders are so evil.   Why do we value the malnourished look?   Oh....and I really wish I could look like her.  

6. Read article about Tony Abbott's proposed welfare reforms. What he wants is people, under the age of fifty, working for the dole if they've been under unemployment for over six months.  He doesn't want people getting a free ride.  I'm all for that.   I might even raise the age to sixty or seventy.  My parents are in their early sixties, and they'd likely be capable of doing the type of work that Abbott is seeking.  Abbott wants people to clean and pick fruit....stuff like that.    If there's a need in that area, people should be put to work.  What I disagree with is CREATING jobs just so people can have a job.  That doesn't make sense to me.  A person can be fulfilled and contribute to society without having an official job. They can take care of their family.   They can write novels that end up being a cultural phenomena.   They can make entertaining popular videos for YouTube.   They can do volunteer work. They can sing in the church choir.

I also disagree with making primary caregivers go out and work.  I'm not in favor of sending single mothers (or daddies) out to pick fruit while their kids hang out at a substandard daycare center.  I'd rather the mother get the dole and stay home with the kid.

7. Read article about great white shark being near the beach, where water is about knee deep. That's scary.  The article though makes it sound like this is unusual...alarming.   Well, it IS alarming.   But someone commented on my blog a year or so ago, saying that sharks can be found very close to the shore.  So, the news isn't too new to me.

8. Started watching a video with Dame Edna interviewing Barry Humphries. I guess this is my kind of comedy, because I'm less than a minute into it and I'm already laughing out loud.

Barry Humphries is brilliant. I think he's one of my favorite Australians.

9. Wondered if Oprah has ever met Dame Edna. I think she should have visited her in Australia.   Or maybe she did?  I didn't watch the last two episodes.

10. Had a great idea.  Dame Edna should guest star on Modern Family.  That would be AWESOME.

11. Loved Dame Edna's response at around 5:09, but the exchange has to be watched back from about a minute or two.   Let me rewind and see where it starts.  Well, it probably starts at around 4:05.    Humphries give this long rebuttal to Dame Edna.  He lectures her.  Then she just totally ignores all of it.  I'm not at all funny trying to explain it.  You'll have to watch the video for yourself....I mean if you want potential amusement.

12. Laughed very much out loud at 5:44.

13. Thought about how Humphries can be hilarious with facial expressions alone.   I think the same goes for Stephen Colbert.

14. Decided to play my Hobart vs. Adelaide Flickr game.    Let's see what pictures I get.

For Adelaide I got a photo from the Wollongong Hawks.   It's a sports thing.    The Hobart photo is going to have to be either very boring or very offensive in order for Adelaide to win. 

For Hobart I got a photo of a man and woman sitting next to a mural.   When it comes to art vs. sports, art is usually going to win with me.  So I give Hobart the point.  

John Noble

I'm betting that John Noble is an actor.

The other day I remembered adding all these actors to the list. I found them on some website, and I added them all on the evening of 21 August.

I can't remember which website it was.

My goodness. I am totally blown away in surprise again. John Noble is in Fringe. He's the scientist guy. I had no idea he was Australian too.

Noble has the same birthday as Jack....August 20th. And he was born in the same year as my mom; 1948. He's fourteen days older than her.

He was born in Port Pirie, South Australia. I've heard of that, but don't know exactly where it is. I'm going to look it up on Google Maps....

It's about four hours north of Adelaide.

I'm looking at Ellen Street, in Port Pirie, on Street View now. It looks pretty cool. There's a post office with cool architecture, and then a station to the left. I'm not sure if it's a fire station, police station, or some other kind of station.

Lord Wiki doesn't have much to say about Noble. One thing that looks important is that Noble is not just an actor. He's also a theater director.

From 1987-1987, he was the Artistic Director of the Stage Company of South Australia. And from 1997-2000, Noble was the head of drama at Brent Street School of Arts.

Now I shall move onto IMDb.

In 1988, Noble was in an Australian horror movie type thing called The Dreaming. It involves Aborigines, curses, and weird dreams....TOTALLY something that would interest me.

Noble plays a doctor.

The movie was filmed in various places in South Australia.

Unfortunately, I can't find much about the movie. An IMDb user provides a small amount of information. T-birkhead says it's about a curse that's unleashed when whalers attack Aborigines. It also involves archaeologists.

In 1989, Noble was in A Sting in the Tale. It was an Australian political movie. Noble played the Prime Minister's minder. What's a minder?

This website has some information about it. What I'm getting is that it's an adviser, one with the task of taking care of the Prime Minister, making sure he looks and does okay. It sounds like a personal servant in a way.

The tagline for A Sting in the Tale is, Australia's First Female Prime Minister? Though the person listed as Prime Minister in the credits is male. Maybe it's about an election?

The movie, like the last one, was filmed in South Australia. I guess Noble didn't get to travel a lot for his career in the beginning.

In 1990, there was another South Australian movie. This was Call Me Mr. Brown. Noble did not play Mr. Brown. He was Sergeant.

Actually, this movie was filmed in both South Australia, and Sydney. It's about a guy who steals money from Qantas. Here's an article about the guy the movie is based on.

I can't find any videos for the movie, but I did find a song Call Me Mr. Brown. It's a cute little country song.

In 1993, Noble was in The Nostradamus Kid. Noah Taylor was the star.

Lord Wiki says it's about a Seventh Day Adventist Boy who believes the world is about to end. Before it does, he wants to have sex with the Pastor's daughter.

I don't think John Noble has a big part in the movie.

In the 1990's, Noble did various one time guest appearances on TV shows. I'm not going to go into those.

In 1999, he was in an Australian science fiction TV movie; Airtight. The movie is about the earth running out of air. Uh oh.

Marshall Napier is in it, and there's also an American actor from Another World.

In 2000, Noble did another Australian science fiction TV movie. This was Virtual Nightmare. I can't find much about it. The title sounds interesting.

Also in 2000, Noble did a lesbian thriller called The Monkey's Mask. Abbie Cornish, Kelly McGillis, and Deborah Mailman are in it. Those are the names I recognize.

Here's a video about the film. I guess it's a trailer. I don't think I saw John Noble. I may have missed him, or failed to recognize him.

In 2002, Noble was in another TV movie; Superfire. I think this one was American.

It was co-written by Douglas Preston. He wrote one of my favorite books; Jennie. It's a beautiful books, but incredibly sad. Now I'm seeing there was a Jennie TV movie. How did I miss that? YouTube has the movie. I'm afraid to watch it. What if it's really bad, and ruins the book for me?

I'm watching just the end. I want to see if it's the same as the book. It turns out this is a Disney movie, so I'm doubting it.

Yeah. They've totally Disneytized it. I'm sure the book is much better.

Anyway, back to Superfire. It's about fire.

Here's a scene. John Noble isn't in it, but that girl is from Dead Like Me.

Next we have another American TV movie; The Outsider. This one also starred Naomi Watts. It's a western-romance. Oh. And it was filmed in Queensland.

Here's some scenes from the movie. I'm not sure if we'll see Noble.

The movie is based on a romance novel written by Penelope Williamson. The plot deals with very religious people, and sheep.

I'm seeing blood in the snow. That's kind of gross.

I should probably search for a part with John Noble.

I'm too lazy. I'm going to move on.

Noble was in Lord of The Rings. He played Denethor. But I guess he was only in the extended version?

Here's a clip. That other guy is David Wenham, isn't it?

Lord Wiki says that the movie version of Denethor is much different then the book version. The movie turned him into a much more tragic figure. Yeah. He looked pretty tragic in that clip. It's sad.

Okay. I'm getting it now. Wenham plays Denethor's son. In the book AND movie, Wenham's character is the brother that is not Denethor's favorite. His favorite son had died. So that's what I was seeing in the scene. Denethor was having visions of his dead son.

I'm unsure whether or not that scene came from the first movie. I'm confused.

Oh! Noble was in four episodes of Young Lions. I knew I had written about that show recently, but forgot which actor was in it. It's Anna Torv, Noble's co-star of Fringe. So they've worked together before....probably. I mean there' s a chance they never had scenes together. But if not, maybe they mingled at the catering table or something.

Here are some scenes. I see Anna Torv.

Ah! There's John Noble. He appears at 7:10. He's talking about a guy named Bill Martin. Supposedly, Martin is a killer. I wonder if that's true or not.

In 2003, Noble was in the sequel to Lord of the Rings. It looks like this time, he made it into the regular movie, and was not just in the extended version.

In 2004, Noble did an Australian-American TV movie called The Mystery of Natalie Wood. Noble played a director. He's very low in the credits, so his part might have been small. He played an American actor-director named Irving Pichel. Lord Wiki says Pichel was one of those Hollywood people blacklisted by Hollywood.

Wait. Crap. We have to majorly back up. Like usual, I missed a TV show. I gotta get better about these things.

Starting in 1998, Noble was on All Saints. He played Dr. John Madsen. IMDb says he was in 32 episodes between 1998 and 2004. TV.com classifies Noble's role as being recurring.

Let's get back to our place in the timeline. In 2004, we also have Fracture. It's a New Zealand movie. Lord Wiki says the movie is about a young mother who has to deal with the fact that her brother broke a woman's neck in a burglary. That would be such a sad situation. I don't think it's often dealt with in books and movie. Or maybe it's just something I don't encounter. I don't read a whole lot of crime stuff. But how would it feel if someone you love was convicted of a horrible crime?

In 2006, Noble was in the horror movie Voodoo Lagoon. This film website says it's about college students who get lured into holidaying on a remote island. It ends up the guy who lured them is some wicked voodoo practitioner. I wonder if Noble plays the evil guy.

Here's the trailer. I see Noble at :39.

Even though the movie was made by a British film company, and was filmed in Australia, I hear a lot of American accents. Although it's not like the trailer has a ton of talking.

The guy at 1:28 sounds a little Australian...maybe.

I'm not sure what Noble's accent is supposed to be. It's like a horror movie character accent.

Noble was in Running Scared. His character's name was Ivan Yugorsky. Is that Russian?

Well, Lord Wiki says there's a Yugorsky Peninsula in Russia.

The plot of the movie involves dirty cops, guns, abusive stepparents, and the Russian mob.

Here's the trailer. I think that's noble at about 1:15.

One of the actors (Cameron Bright) is from the Twilight movies. He plays Alec. I'm not sure who that is. From Google, I'm getting that he's part of the...what do you call it? Those Italian vampires.

Ah! The Volturi. Here we go. Lord Wiki's cousin provides more information. Alec is Jane's twin. Jane is the one played by Dakota Fanning.

In Running Scared, Cameron Bright plays a kid who kills his stepfather. I think John Noble plays his step-uncle.

Noble was on Home and Away in 2006. He played Dr. Helpman. From what I see on this Home and Away forum, he was not exactly a good guy. He got in trouble for sexual harrasment.

Also in 2006, Noble did a Jewish-related movie called One Night with the King. It's about Esther, the Purim hero. Purim is the holiday where a story is read, and everyone makes loud noisemaker noises when the villian (Haman) is mentioned. It's also the holiday where Jews eat Hamentashen. Those are pretty yummy.

Noble plays Prince Admantha. I tried to google him, and just got information about the movie. Maybe he was added to the story? Or maybe I'm not digging deep enough.

Here's the trailer. I think it's cool they made a movie out of the story. I wonder if it's any good.

Lord Wiki says the movie generally got bad reviews. But the American Biblical Society liked it. I wonder how it was perceived by Jewish groups.

In 2007, Noble was in the series Pirate Islands: The Lost Treasure of Fiji. He had one of the main parts, it looks like. There were only thirteen episodes. I can't tell if it was a miniseries, or if it was an unsuccessful show that was pulled off the air. The plot sounds a bit like Jumanji, but instead of a board game you have a video game. Or maybe I should say it's like Pleasantville, but instead of getting sucked up in a TV Show, the kids get sucked up into a pirate video game.

I think it would be awesome to get sucked up into a fiction world....as long as I knew I could get out in a week or so.

Lord Wiki says the show was a sequel to a past show, just called Pirate Islands.

Noble was in two episodes of 24...day 6. Does that mean it's season 6? Has that show really been on that long?

Noble appeared in the hours between 5-7 pm; dinner time.

He played Anatoly Markov. IMDb says he's a shady, corrupt Russian consulate operating with terrorists via L.A. Lord Wiki's cousin says that Markov gets his finger cut off by Jack Bauer. I guess the show supports torture. I wonder if it's favored by right-wing people.

I just googled and there are a lot of blogs/articles about the subject. Here's one of them. It seems it IS often well-liked by right-wing people. And Lord Wiki says the same thing. It's popular with the conservatives, and the creator of the show is a Republican.

Still....not all fans of the show are right-wing. Tim's very left-wing, and he used to love the show. Although he did get tired of it. Maybe all the right-wing stuff started to bother him.

In 2008, Noble started working on Fringe. He plays Dr. Walter Bishop, a fringe scientist. I'm going to read the character description that Lord Wiki provides. I'm curious about what's been going on with this guy. Some of it I saw in the episode or two we saw. I'm getting some memory twinges.

Bishop worked for the government as a fringe scientist. Then an accident happened in the lab. He was convicted of manslaughter, and put in an institution. Well, he was supposedly using students as lab guinea pigs.

Here's something fun. Bishop had parts of his brain removed, and implanted into other people. This was to remove information about a dimension gateway. Maybe that's the alternate universe thing? The people with the brain transplant go insane, but they're okay again once the brain tissue is removed. I am LOVING this.

I guess Bishop is a bit nuts, but when he gets back his brain tissue, he's sane. Well, Lord Wiki says he's temporarily sane. I guess they don't put the stuff back in permanently.

I gotta start watching this show. I'm intrigued by the alternate universe stuff. Lost, which has one or two of the same creators as Fringe, also deals with alternate universes.

I've been thinking of alternate universes lately, and I think it's the one science fiction/supernatural thing that would totally explain my life. I can't say I like the idea though. I prefer reincarnation, spirits, and all that kind of fun stuff. I guess there could be both. Maybe?

Anyway, alternate universes could explain:

A) Why I feel an instant bond or connection with certain people....or why I feel an aversion to other certain people. Maybe in another life, I have a huge relationship with them.

B) It could totally explain my Australian obsession. Maybe in an alternate universe, I AM Australian. Or maybe those I'm close to, in another universe, ended up in Australia. So this obsession is my way of finding them again. My Australian obsession has also brought me some American friends. I'm not sure how that would fit in, but it could.

C) I get really bad feelings about various things....like I'll see a word or an image....something on TV. I'll feel a horrible sense of dread. Fortunately, these things rarely play out to be something scary. But maybe they're thoughts seeping in through experiences in an alternate universe.

D) My meaningless psychic dreams. I sometimes have psychic dreams, but they're usually incredibly trivial. I can't imagine they're there for some deep purpose, like Allison Dubois' dreams on Medium. Maybe random memories are just leaking through.

I've seen or read stuff that says every time we make a decision, an alternate universe is created. Maybe it was an episode of Outer Limits. That's mind boggling. I feel it could be true.

I still prefer reincarnation. I like imagining that I feel a connection to people because in a past life we were best friends or something.

Anyway, I should really start watching Fringe. It sounds like something I'd like.

I just went to pee, and while I was on the toilet....I didn't sing this time. But I did do some thinking. I think the Jane Roberts' Seth books deal with the alternate universe idea.

Yeah. Lord Wiki says I'm right. He says the books deal with a concept called the Many-worlds interpretation. He's now reminding me of various fiction things that use the concept.

There's Stephen King's Darktower series. I think Lost was heavily inspired by that. The whole series of Sliders was about Parallel universes. Charmed had a few episodes. I remember those. Well actually, I think they used the alternate world/time travel theme several times.

There are tons on the list. I'm not going to name them all.

Here's a scene from Fringe.

Wow. This is full of suspense. So far I don't see Noble, but I'm enjoying Anna Torv.

Here's Noble. He appears at 3:10.

The man that appears at 4:38 is also on Lost.

I'm looking at the official site of the show. It looks like season two just ended. Maybe I'll catch up via YouTube, and Lord Wiki. Then I can watch season three. Maybe it will replace Lost for me, although I already have Flashforward as a replacement. I was considering V, but I don't much like that show.

Fox has the full episodes, but I'm doubting it will work on my computer. My computer is a bit outdated.

Wait. It's working! Cool.

Although I just remembered I also have True Blood to watch soon. I get stressed out if I have too many shows to watch. I feel way overwhelmed. Well, I'll just watch a little here and there to get caught up. If I like it, I'll watch season 3. When does that start?

Lord Wiki says it will begin in Autumn (Northern Hemisphere version) 2010. So that's good. True Blood's season three should be gone by then. I'll just have FlashForward, Fringe, and Medium. I can handle that.

Enough about my TV schedule. I'm asking Lord Wiki about fringe science. I thought it was the same as pseudoscience, but he says it's different. Both sciences are controversial and often rejected by the mainstream. But fringe scientists adhere more strictly to the scientific method. I think it's open to interpretation, though. There's that book I read....The Conscious Universe. It talks about how parapsychologists will use the scientific method, statistics, etc....all that stuff that is needed for science to be science. Yet it's still rejected by the scientific community, and/or it's held to much more rigorous standards and expectations.

Let me get back to Noble's filmography.

In 2009, he did a voice in the video game The Saboteur. Lord Wiki says it's a World War II thing.

In 2010, Noble is going to be in the movie Risen. I thought it was a horror-thing, but it's not. It's a sport biography.

Here's John Noble's official site. They list some of the plays he's been in. And it might have other stuff that people might want to look at.

I'm going to watch a couple of interviews and then quit. I have Sims 3 now! Tim got a new computer.

Here's something from the Los Angeles Fox network. The news guy says Americans love Australian actors. Okay. Then why don't we let them keep their Australian accents? What's the point? I mean I do understand that actors like to fake accents. It's part of acting....playing someone that you're not. But I think it should be a once-in-awhile thing. I think Australian actors should bless us with their Australian accents. It should be, Cool. Did you hear Rachel Griffith's American accent? I'm impressed. She imitates us perfectly....rather than Rachel Griffiths is Australian? What? I had no idea!

Noble says that in America, actors get more attention from fans. I wonder if that's true. I wonder if we're a bit more crazed here. To my credit though, I saw actors when we lived in New York. I never bothered them. I just looked, enjoyed, and then went about my way. Tim saw Jorge Garcia at the grocery store in Hawaii. I was very proud of him, because he didn't approach him. He said the reason he didn't was because he couldn't remember the actor's name. But I said it's good he didn't. The guy was grocery shopping. I don't think people should be pestered in their real life day-to-day business. I mean maybe if you're on an elevator with someone, you can say something brief....or if they buy something at your store. I love your show, by the way. But I don't think it's nice to attack someone with gushing or ask for their autograph. That's just my personal opinion. If an actor is at a work related thing, then I think it's totally fine to approach them....like a convention or something. For example, if we saw Jorge Garcia on the set of Lost, and he was taking a break....then I think it would be okay to go up to him. We could act like crazed fans, and I wouldn't feel guilty. I think that's different from bothering someone as they're shopping.

This is nice. In the interview, Noble says that Dr. Bishop is his dream character. That's great. I like his character too. And I'm glad he likes his character.

A YouTube user says this about the interview: It's interviewers like this that result in the rest of the world concluding that Americans are as dumb as dog shit. I might agree with him. The interview grates on my nerves. Although I think I've seen Australian morning shows that are just as bad. It's just this certain style of interviewing. I find it hard to tolerate.

Anyway, I'm going to quit here and see what Jack's up to. He says he's learning Japanese. I've been pushing him to do this since he likes Nintendo so much. Maybe I've finally gotten through to him. Although I think our Hawaii friends probably deserve most of the credit. Alex (who Jack adored) is fluent in Japanese.

So...that's cool. If Jack actually learns Japanese, maybe I'll learn too.

OR....you know what would be an awesome language to learn. Hawaiian! And I still really want to learn an Aboriginal language. I'll probably never learn any language, because I can't stick to one thing. Maybe I should just learn a little of each language. That's probably what's best for me.

Andrew O'Keefe

I'm not a happy camper right now. We're leaving for Disney World in three days, and I'm feeling slightly ill. It seems to be just a small cold, and hopefully that's all it is. But I've been nervous about getting sick. Rhonda Byrne would probably say I got sick BECAUSE I've been nervous about it. She might be right. Or I could have caught a bug. Or maybe my worrying made me more susceptible to catching a bug. I do have a strong mind/body connection.

Jack seems to have a small cold. It hasn't resulted in a fever or lack of energy. So hopefully that's all I caught.

I can deal with a cold.

Anyway, on with Andrew O'Keefe.

I'm guessing he's a a performer of some sort, because the names behind him on my list were performers, and the names ahead of him are performers. I'm guessing I added a bunch of actor-type people all at once.

Lord Wiki says O'Keefe is a game show host...Deal or No Deal.

I'm not sure why I added him to the list.

I don't really watch game shows.

What would our world be like if we

knew for sure there 

was life after death, and 

we could easily talk to our 

dearly-departed on the Internet?

The Dead are Online a novel by Dina Roberts 

Lord Wiki says baby Andrew was born on 1 October 1971. His birthday is one day before my sister's birthday. Although we didn't celebrate my sister's birthday this year. Nor did we celebrate my mom's. We're going to celebrate their birthday along with my birthday over the Thanksgiving holidays. It's getting too hard to celebrate every single birthday. People are busy. People go out town. So, some of us want to combine birthdays. It just makes things easier. Someone suggested celebrating all the male birthdays on one day, and all the female birthdays on another day. But to me, that just replicates mother's day and father's day. The four kids get their own birthday celebration. We wouldn't rob them of that. Then all of us adults are mothers and fathers.

I know I'm going off in major tangents. But how much is there to say about a game show host? Watch I say this, and O'Keefe turns out to have a super interesting life.

But come on. Tell me. Could it ever be more exciting than my family's birthday celebration plans?

Little baby Andrew was born and raised in Mosman, Sydney. That's where the zoo is! I wonder if he went to the zoo a lot when he was a child. We live pretty close to our zoo. We don't go very often now....maybe 4-5 times a year. But there have been years where we've gone much more often.

O'Keefe's daddy was a judge in the New South Wales supreme court. I guess Andrew initially followed in his father's law footsteps. Lord Wiki says that he was once a property lawyer.

Before all that though, O'Keefe attended Saint Ignatius College. This is the same school that Robert Hughes went to, although I'm sure Hughes went there YEARS before O'Keefe went.

During his school years, O'Keefe did some debating. In 1989, he was on the winning New South Wales Team at the National Schools Debating Championships. That reminds me of Looking for Alibrandi. Or was the debate team stuff in Melina Marchetta's other book? I can't remember now. I'm pretty sure it was Looking For Alibrandi.

O'Keefe went to The University of Sydney. But he also studied at something called Marylands TAFE. I've heard of TAFE before, but now I've forgotten what it is. Oh. It's South Western Sydney Insitute. That doesn't sound very familar to me. Maybe I haven't read about it before. Maybe I'm just confused. Maybe this cold is going to my brain.

While in school, O'Keefe was interested in something called Theatressports. Lord Wiki says this is improvisational stuff. That's funny, because about a minute ago, Jack came into here talking to me about improvisation.

I should read into this. It has all kinds of games. There might be something we can play with the family during Thanksgiving.

There's one game called genre replay. You do the same scene, but with different genre styles. You could make it a comedy, than drama, then horror, etc. I think that would be fun.

Oh! I love this one. It's called Alphabet. Each line has to start with the next letter of the alphabet. One person starts with the letter A. The next person has to start their line with the letter B. And so on.....

There's Emotional Roller Coaster. The players act out a scene. Then someone yells out emotions. The player has to incorporate these emotions into the scene.

I'm just going to print out the list and take it with me on Thanksgiving.

Oh. If I'm reading this right, O'Keefe liked this Theatresport stuff, but he didn't participate. I guess he was more of an audience member?

O'Keefe is married. He has two sons.

What else?

In November 2008, someone filmed O'Keefe while heavily intoxicated. He was on the ground. Someone helped him up. Then O'Keefe asked for a shoulder to cry on. Poor guy. I hope he found that shoulder.

Oh. Andrew was not always Andrew. He was originally Mark. So earlier, when I said baby Andrew, I was being very inaccurate.

I'm going to read about Deal or No Deal. I think I've seen part of one episode of the American version. Here it's hosted by....

Shit. I forgot.

Howie Mandel. There we go.

Lord Wiki says the show was originally a dutch thing. Then like a virus, it spread around the world. It looks like almost every country in the world has a version of the show.

I feel I should read about how the game is played, but I'm too tired. Right now it's equivalent to me trying to understand Cricket.

Maybe I'll just watch a clip from the show.

Oh! You know. I don't think I ever saw a real episode of this. You know what I saw? I think they had a dream sequence on Medium involving the game. I think it was the episode with Nev Campbell. I could be wrong though.

Here is a video with what is supposed to be the unluckiest contestant.

I don't understand it at all, but I guess something quite bad is happening.

I am SO lost.

I'm going to quit early.

I'm not in the mood for thinking....especially about binge drinking and invasion-of-privacy controversies.

I feel a bit drunk myself right now. Although all I've drunk is herbal tea and vitamin C stuff.

I guess the best thing to do when feeling drunk is to tell people you love them.

So...

I love you guys. Okay? There you go.

Lindsay McDougall (thanks Nurse Myra)

Well, we're back from Chicago. We had a nice time. I saw my first cousins. Our kids played together. It was cute to see.

I have no idea who Lindsay McDougall is.

I guess I shall go and find out.

It's a radio person. Male? Female? I'm not sure. I think of Lindsay as a girl's name. But in Australia, there's Norman Lindsay. That's a LAST name, though.....

Lord Wiki doesn't have a full entry on Mr. (or Mrs.) McDougall. He just has an entry on the duo itself. They call themselves Jay and the Doctor. The other part of the duo is named Jason Whalley. So I guess he'd be the Jay. McDougall must be the doctor.

The two of them were (or still are?) part of a punk band called Frenzel Rhomb. They started doing their thing in 1993 in Sydney.

McDougal plays the guitar. I still don't know if this person is a boy or girl. I am feeling it's a boy, but I could be wrong.

Lord Wiki says McDougall also organized the creation of a compilation album called Rock Against Howard. That's regarding John Howard. It was inspired by America's Rock Against Bush albums.

I found songs on YouTube from the American album, but not the Australian one.

I'm not a fan of Bush or Howard. But I'm not sure I applaud making anti-albums like that. It seems so...negative and hateful. I'm not saying Bush and Howard don't deserve hatred. It just seems to me that it would be better to make a positive album.

For example, instead of making an album against Bush, how about making an album that's FOR someone who is not like Bush.

I think sometimes we put so much energy into being AGAINST something. We don't direct enough energy towards being FOR things.

You know, it's kind of also like one of the rules from Charmed. The witches are supposed to protect the innocent; NOT punish the guilty. So, I think we should spend our time and energy helping the victims of Bush and Howard rather than spending our energy on hating Bush and Howard.

Well, there IS some good news here though. The proceeds to McDougall's project went to refugee charities. So he did use some of that energy to help victims of Howard.

Still, if it was up to me, I'd probably label the album Rock for Asylum Seekers. I'm sure there could still be some anti-Howard lyrics in there.

I guess in a way, it's a matter of semantics.

I'm probably just rambling here so I can avoid reading about McDougal's music career. This stuff really does bore me. I hate reading and writing about which album came out when.

I'll do a little bit of it anyway.

Their first album album (not just EP thing) was called Coughing up a Storm. I like that name. In America, the same album was called Once a Jolly Swagman Always a Jolly Swagman. That's very cute. I like the whole "Waltzing Matilda" reference. I wonder why they used that for Americans rather than the coughing thing.

They did an album in 2003 called Sans Souci. That's what my mom named their lake house. It hasn't quite caught on, though. I think she was hoping we'd all say things like Let's go to San Souci this weekend! We don't do that. We all call it simply the lake house.

Ah! There's another album with an Aussie cultural reference. For the Terms of Their Unnatural Lives. That's a cute play on the novel title For the Term of His Natural Life.

The album title makes me think of True Blood. I'm totally loving that show. I watched part of it last night. My other new favorite (Drop Dead Diva) was also on, so I was flipping back and forth between the two. Then Drop Dead Diva ended, so I could put my full concentration on the last half of True Blood. There was some very suspenseful scenes involving Anna Paquin and a horrible church. Just when I got to the good part, Jack came downstairs and I had to turn it off. I'll need to try to catch it again this week.

I probably should just TAPE the shows and watch them religiously. But I'm getting bad at all that. I got so behind on Medium. Our DVR ended up erasing them before I watched them. Now I have the last Eli Stone episodes taped. I need to watch those.

See? I'm rambling again. It's avoidance.....

Anyway, I'll be a good girl and get back on track.

Maybe I'll listen to some of their music on YouTube.

Here's a song called "Mum Changed the Locks".

Well, THAT video is one of the most disturbing things I have ever watched on YouTube. Lovely. Uh...well, the dog is cute, I suppose.

Here's a song called "Russel Crowe's Band".

Well, the animation is cute. I like the Monopoly Money bit.

I probably don't like the song much...neither the lyrics nor the music.

I'm reading now about how these punk band people started hosting a radio show.

In 2004, they temporarily replaced some of the Chasers who did a morning show. The Chasers were busy doing election type stuff.

The funny thing is...prior to this, the band's music was actually banned from the station. Why? Frenzal Rhomb had criticized the station for always playing the same forty songs.

I think all radio stations do that. You turn on the station for the first time and think I LOVE this. They play awesome songs. I haven't heard this song in SO long. Then a few weeks later, you get sick of that awesome song and realize they play it way too much.

We listen to Sirius music at the lake house. My parents put on this instrumental station when we eat lunch. It seems almost every lunch we've had there, the past few weeks, features the theme song from The Mission.

The Jay of Jay and the Doctor left the radio show in 2007. McDougal still works for the station. He now co-hosts with people named Robbie Buck and Marieke Hardy.

Lord Wiki lists features of the Jay and the Doctor program. Some of it seems somewhat funny. I guess I'd have to listen and see.

I'm done with Lord Wiki now, and he pointed me towards the ABC website for the show.

The show provided wake-up calls. You leave your name and number in their guestbook. And then I guess you hope for a phone call from Jay and the Doctor.

I like this: They ask people to send them tourist photos from around Australia. The catch is they want you to look totally depressed in the photos. That's pretty funny.

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The site has some excerpts from the show. I guess I'll listen to some. This one features Borat. According to him, the Jews are not just responsible for every war. We're responsible for the end of the dinosaurs. If that's the case....I apologize for that. I mean I really don't feel that guilty about the Jesus thing. I'd definitely feel guilt for the dinosaurs.

Borat makes reference to Home and Away which once featured his alter-ego's fiance. He mentions a character named Colleen. Was that Fisher's character?

Okay. No. Fisher played Shannon, not Colleen.

Well, that was pretty long. I don't think I'm going to listen to a second one...at least not right now.

This article has a photo of McDougall.

Oh. This makes me like McDougall. The article says he's angry because he was used in a video that preaches anti-downloading. When he lent himself to the video, he thought it was simply about surviving as an Australian musician. It turns out it was a video directed at high school students--teaching them how evil it is to download music illegally.

McDougall says, I have never come out against internet piracy and illegal downloading and I wouldn't do that - I would never put my name to something that is against downloading and is against piracy and stuff, it's something that I believe is a personal thing from artist to artist.

He also says, I'm from a punk rock band, it's all about getting your music out any way you can - you don't make money from the record, the record companies make the money from the record. If they can't make money these days because they haven't come onside with the way the world is going, it's their own problem.

My feeling is the Internet has changed everything. There's so much you can get for free. People are DOING so much without any payment. People are writing. People are making videos. People are making websites.....

I think the illegal downloading thing is pretty silly. I can go to the library and get books for free. Why can't I go to a website and get music for free? I can also get music free from the library. We can check out CDs there.

This website has the video that angered McDougall. I'll watch it.

So far, it seems to be a woe-is-me kind of video. It's not easy being a rock star. It's not all parties, big houses, and hotel-room-crashing.

Yeah. I thought being an asylum seeker in a detention camp might be tough. But being a rock star?  That's where the REAL hardship occurs.

The video talks about the Internet....the good and the bad. One of the Veronicas twins talks about how it allows your music to get an international audience. But then if people listen to your music for free, how do you make money? Are rock stars becoming poor?

Just for the record, I DON'T download illegal music anymore. I used to...via Napster and some other site. Now I take the legal route. I download from I-Tunes. But I usually just listen to stuff for free on YouTube. Is that illegal? I don't know. Maybe it's illegal for some of these videos to be posted on YouTube. I can't see how I can go to jail for watching....

These rock stars make it sound like they're on the verge of poverty.

One guy says if we don't support the artists, they won't exist anymore. Hey! That's kind of like Tinker Bell.

Maybe when we listen to music for free, we should clap our hands. Maybe that will help the artist continue to exist.

Seriously, though. I can imagine it might be quite damaging if rock star people stop making any money. They'll have to find day jobs, and will have less time to do music stuff. But I don't think that will happen. They can make money via concerts. They can sell t-shirts. And there will always be people out there who are willing to buy the CD. There are people out there who like to have a tangible object in their hand. They like to OWN things.

I like I-Tunes. I think paying a dollar for a song is pretty reasonable. I much prefer that to buying a CD. I used to hate liking ONE song and having to buy a whole CD just so I can listen to it.

McDougall is on Twitter. He seems fairly active. He's done about thirteen post in the last twenty-four hours. For the most part, he seems to respond to other people. He's interactive about the whole thing.

Here's an article about McDougall on an animal liberation website. Is he vegetarian?

Ah! He's a vegan. And he makes me feel a bit guilty. He says, I always knew the problems with dairy, but used the 'at least I'm doing something' defence to justify my cheese and egg lovin' diet. Then, about a year and a half ago, I realised that it wasn't any defence at all, in fact acknowledging the problems but not doing anything about it was almost as bad, if not worse, so I cut out all dairy products, too.

I agree with him. I hate that I agree. But I do.

I'm such a horrible hypocrite for eating dairy and eggs. I'm NOT going to become vegan. But I do want to be better; eat less dairy and eggs. I did make a good choice the other day for breakfast. We ordered room service for breakfast. I wanted the French toast, but I figured that probably had a lot of eggs. Instead I got rye toast. I'm not sure if that has eggs, but I'm pretty sure it has less eggs then French toast. Maybe? The recipes I'm seeing for rye bread do include eggs. I guess it would depend then on what kind of bread you used for your French toast. If you used bread without eggs, you'd just have the egg batter. But if you used a bread like Challah (which has eggs) and then added an egg batter, that's a hefty contribution to chicken cruelty.

I'm thinking I DON'T want to become anal enough to check the ingredients of everything I eat; avoiding all dairy and egg. But I'd like to avoid things that are heavy in dairy and eggs...especially if it's made by companies that don't try to use organic free range type stuff. So it's probably bad that I ate cheese pizza the other night. And it's probably bad that I recently bought a can of processed cheese.

I REALLY need to put more thoughts and ethics into my eating.

McDougall says some honest upfront type things here. No, seriously, it does feel good to be in a group of people doing the right thing, when the majority of people aren't, it 's probably how people brainwashed by a cult think. But I realise that's just a superficial feeling of superiority, and I would feel a lot better if everyone in the world was vegan, and I was no different to them at all.

I sometimes feel all superior to those around me eating their huge sausages and steaks. But then I remember dairy cows are often treated like shit too. And here I am eating nachos with tons of cheese....

My feeling is we don't need to strive to be on the top of the ethical chain. Instead, I'd rather us ALL be a little more ethical. I think meat-lovers should eat a little less meat, and try to get it from ethical sources. Vegetarians should eat a little less eggs and dairy. Vegans...well, I guess they're ethical enough, at least food-wise. Although it would be hypocritical of them to eat any chocolate or coffee that is not fair trade. I think it would be wrong to care about the mistreatment of animals but support the mistreatment of humans. Hey, humans are animals too. Right?

McDougall is a very strict vegan. He avoids ALL the animal stuff. He's an ingredient reader.

McDougall says, But there were times in my life when I realised things were a little off kilter. Like when friends would say how they could never hurt their pet, or how much they loved their horse, and I'd think, 'but you still eat meat, isn't that the same.

I think about things like that. People get sad when they see a lonely-looking puppy in the pet store. Then those same people will go to the food court and get a hamburger.

How do they do that?

They might be like me...forgetting ethics when they order lunch.

They might believe that farms animals live a Charlotte's Web life.

I don't know.

McDougall is asked about which countries are most vegetarian tolerant. He comes down hard on America. I was about to debate him on that. America has a lot of vegetarian restaurants...just like Australia does. But I think there is a difference. In America, you can get good eating in the big cities. The thing we noticed about Australia is that even the smaller cities have vegetarian stuff. Well, we've been to only a few small cities. I'm really making a leap here. I'll just say that in my limited experience, I've noticed Australia's small cities are more vegetarian friendly than America's.

McDougall is VERY strict in the vegan thing. He's like a PETA person. No animal products in the house. No circus. No zoo.

I'm not sure how I feel about that.

I feel when you're so militant, and advertise the fact, you kind of scare people away. Although some people think I'm scary and militant. I guess scary/militant is in the eyes of the beholder.

No, but when I first became vegetarian I bought a PETA type book. It pushed me to being vegan. I felt it was something I HAD to do. I drove my family nuts. I think Tim wanted to strangle me. I probably kind of wanted to strangle myself. It was hard to find food. I'd find something and think it was okay. I'd buy it, eat it and then learn it had some wrong ingredient.

I gave the whole thing up after about a month. I did stick to being a vegetarian. That's never been too hard for me. I've never loved meat all that much. But the whole vegan thing backfired. I mean maybe that's why I'm so unethical when it comes to dairy and eggs. Maybe things would have been better if these books didn't make me feel like a nasty human being if I ate one lousy little Lucky Charms marshmallow. Maybe I would have stuck to a more ethical diet if I read a book that pushed the idea of REDUCING rather than fully eliminating.

I have trouble with these extreme organizations. They make it very hard to get to the truth. They make it very hard to be ethical. In their eyes, the only RIGHT thing to do is eat NO animal product whatsoever. I don't think that's helpful. Because let's face it. The whole world is not going to become vegan anytime soon. What would be more helpful is if they distinguished between practices that are horribly cruel and practices that treat the animals fairly okay.

Let's take zoos. Is it helpful to say, all zoos are horrible. Stop going to them! Or is it better to say Some zoos are good. Some zoos are bad. Avoid zoos where you see these things going on.....
There's that saying. Choose your battles....

So no. I'm not impressed with organizations like Animal Liberation and PETA. I'm sure they do SOME good. But I think sometimes they do more harm than good. It's the same way that the preacher yelling on the street, that we're all sinners, totally turns me off from Christianity; and how Richard Dawkins and Robert T. Caroll make me want to hate science sometimes.

It's hard to find that balance. I don't think we should shut up. I think we should be able to share our beliefs. There is a chance that someone will listen and make a change because of us, and what we've said. I think we just have to guard against going too far and alienating people. Well, we're always going to alienate SOMEONE. I think I might offend some people by simply BEING a vegetarian. But if you can promote your message without offending too many people than you're probably doing an okay job.

And if you can live a highly righteous vegan life without acting snarky and oh-so-superior to others....then you're doing a REALLY awesome job. I'd surely fail at it. I already failed at becoming vegan. If I ever succeeded, I MIGHT become a little snarky about it. I most definitely would have a superiority complex. That might be okay, though, because I have such low self-esteem in other areas. It would all probably balance itself out.

Well, enough of that. I'm going to watch Jack play his video game. Then I'm going to watch more McDougall videos on YouTube.

Here's something called "Ben Lee vs. The Doctor". I think it's a Triple J thing. They're doing some kind of busking contest. I watched about half and then I got bored.

Here's McDougall doing a vegan video. It's about the food pyramid. It features McDougall chewing on a bike tire. Yum. The video is actually more comical than didactic. It's cute.

Here's another Triple J thing. It's called "Priceless Pleasures, Looking" I like that. It promotes people watching and looking at nature. The whole idea is that we can entertain ourselves without spending money. That's a valuable message. And it's cute and funny. I laughed out loud at least once.

Here's McDougall trying to set the world record for hot dog eating.  That's vegan hot dogs. He doesn't get too far.

Here's a Jay and The Doctor thing. I guess that was a promo for their show. It's interesting. It involves bees. Bees make almost anything interesting. At least I think so.

Now I'm going to listen to some more Frenzal Rhomb stuff.

Here's "Forever Malcom Young".

It's cute. Tim might appreciate the red balloon scene.

Who is Malcolm Young? Is he a random fictional type character, or someone famous I should know about?

Well, Lord Wiki says he's a guitarist with AC/DC. So he is real. I'm guessing that's probably who Frenzal Rhomb was talking about in the song.

I'm looking at the lyrics. Angus is mentioned and he's part of AC/DC too. So I guess that confirms that the song is about AC/DC Malcolm Young.

Here's a video called My City of Sydney. I'm going to watch it, and then I'm going to end this post and go to something else.

Okay...interesting. It kind of moved too fast for my brain to follow.

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Day 13...in which I'm a bitch

On Friday morning we left Canberra and headed towards Seven Mile Beach Holiday Park in Gerroa.



We saw lovely sights out the car window. Hey! We were in Australia! How could it NOT be beautiful?

We stopped in Goulburn for lunch.

We saw the giant sheep.



We ate at another Abe Frellman recommendation, The Paragon Cafe.




Jack had spaghetti and Tim noticed there was no tomato sauce in the meat sauce. Tim had a theory that Australians use less tomato sauce than we do. He had noticed at another restaurant that their pizza had very little sauce.

I forgot what Tim ate. I had some kind of cheese on toast thing.

They had pizzas on the menu including an American one. I'm always curious how America is perceived. Well....in terms of pizza, we're black olives and pepperoni. I thought that was awesome because before I was vegetarian that was my favorite type of pizza! My taste in pizza represents America. How nice.

After eating we walked around the little strip of shops. We found ourselves in a discount store. Each of us found a treasure to take home. Tim found some jasmine rice. Jack found a jump rope. I found an Australian flag beach towel.

We then went to find Jack a new rash shirt for the beach, because I had been careless and left his other one at Tracey's house. Oops.

Yeah, they might come to Sydney to see us. They might bring the rash shirt. But we needed one now! We had a whole week at the beach.

We tried to find one at the Red Cross Op shop, but had no luck. We had to look elsewhere.

We eventually found one.

After our shopping, we stopped in Bryant's Cafe for dessert. Tim got something called a Rock Cake. Jack got a cupcake. I got a caramel slice.



With our tummies full, we headed towards our new home on the beach.

The ride was absolutely awful.

Terrifying.

The damn TomTom must have gotten pissed off at us for some reason. His revenge? Dragging us through Kangaroo Valley. This involved mountains and twisty roads. I'm sure Kangaroo Valley is a lovely place. But I do NOT like it. Just hearing the name puts a chill through my spine.

I don't like driving on mountains!!!

Somehow we survived. Tim got us through it. For an hour or so he was my hero. Actually, it was probably for about three minutes. Hey, but that's something. Right?

We made it to the Holiday Park. Tim had the same reaction he had at the Canberra Holiday Park; disbelief that I could have found a decent place. The Seven Mile Beach Holiday Park has two sides. One is near the river and one is near the beach. There's a highway inbetween. The office is on the riverside and we didn't know that the rest of the holiday park was across the road. Tim didn't sense a beach nearby. He thought I had accidentally picked a place that was not on the beach. He wanted a beach.

We soon figured everything out and drove to the other side of the holiday park. I worried a bit that we'd have to cross a busy highway to get to the office if needed. But it turns out they have a nice little pedestrian underpass.

It was a bit of a challenge for us to find our cabin. I could blame the holiday park on that, but frankly we're just a little bit stupid sometimes.

Eventually, we found our cabin. And it was awesome! It totally restored Tim's faith in me. The little cabin was darling. It was clean, comfortable, and cute. The location was great. The walk to the beach was shorter than our walk in Port Stephens. And best of all, we were right across from the playground. Jack could go play, and we could watch him from the kitchen window. A little farther down was a big jumpy bouncy thing for kids.

While we unpacked, Jack went off to play and explore. At home, Jack lives the life of a 21st century child. He can go out alone on our back porch and balcony, but that's it. He can't go out in the front yard alone. He can't take walks down the street alone. It's so different from my childhood. I don't know why our lives have become that way, but I know we're not the only one because I rarely see kids out without an adult chaperon.

In Port Stephens last year, we had let Jack have some freedom. He loved that and we gave him that gift again.

We didn't give him full freedom though. I told him he could go to the bouncy thing and the playground. I didn't want him wandering through the whole park...at least not in the beginning. I figured we could amend that rule in the future if needed. Jack didn't mind it though. In Port Stephens, he had wandered too far once and got lost. I think although he likes being able to go off on his own, he still gets a little nervous.

Tim headed to the grocery store while I was left in charge of Jack. I thought the grocery store was close by and I expected Tim to be back within about an hour. While he was gone, I think I alternated between hanging out around the cabin and checking up on Jack. He was very eager to find children to play with. He had met friends in Port Stephens and wanted to repeat the experience.

There were some children hanging out at the bouncy thing; two boys and two girls. Jack tried so hard to fit in with them, but they were not very welcoming. They weren't cruel. They didn't tease him. They didn't bully him. They just didn't act like they wanted to be friends. They were stand-offish. They were disinterested. As a mom, it hurts to see your child rejected even if it's not intentionally malicious.

I had mixed feelings about socializing at this point. We met people last year, and I felt this obligation to repeat all that. But at the same time, I really didn't feel like it. I didn't really feel like talking to anyone. None of the people I saw seemed like people I wanted to be friends with. I felt stand-offish myself. I'm not sure if I was going through one of my asocial stages or if I just didn't feel any type of kinship with the particular people at the park. I forced myself to be friendly...smiles and hellos. A little chit-chat here and there. But what I wanted to do was magically make all the other people in the park disappear. Or at least most of them. Yes, I get like that sometimes.

Some of the kids went to the pool And some of them went without adult supervision. I think that added to my feelings of alienation, because I still feel the need to be with Jack when he's swimming. He can swim pretty well, but I feel safer if I'm at the pool with him. I felt insecure. I worried the other parents would see me as overprotective. At the same time, I judged those moms as being too callous.

One mom did come by to check on her kids. I talked with her for awhile. She warned me that there were blue bottles on the beach so we probably couldn't do much swimming. I didn't think much of that. There were Blue Bottles on the beach in Port Stephens. We still swam. I should have considered that this woman lets her kids swim alone. One or two Blue Bottles wouldn't keep this type of family out of the water.

It was cold, so we didn't stay in the pool for long. It seemed some time had passed since Tim had left and I started getting a little concerned. I didn't get too concerned though because Tim is almost always late. I know if he says I'm going to run to the grocery store he really means I'm going to run to the grocery store and then stop at some other stores and then drop by to visit your mom and dad. If he says he'll be home around 5, I expect to see him around 6:30. That's how Tim is. I'm pretty used to it by now.

But after awhile, I did start to worry. It happens every so often. I think to myself this is it. This is going to be the time that something bad happens.

And he didn't have his phone with him. I saw it in the cabin.

I couldn't call him.

I thought who the hell takes two hours to go grocery shopping. I started thinking it would be pretty rude of him to go do other things without telling me and without bringing a phone. I can tolerate it at home somewhat, but not when we're off in another country.

Finally he did come home....home to an angry bitchy wife.

We bickered like good little married people.

He told me he went to Kiama to shop which is a twenty minute drive. That's why it took him so long.

I forgave him somewhat for that.

Meanwhile I was annoyed at him for what he had bought. We were sick of restaurants and one of the reasons was the huge portions. But now Tim had bought SO much food. I felt like we were moving into a new house rather than just staying in a cabin for a week. He bought two loaves of regular bread plus a package of flat bread. He also bought a whole bag of potatoes and multiple bags of pasta. I'm thinking he was having some kind of carb craving thing while shopping. Maybe he was protesting the Atkins diet. I don't know.

Oh! I'm looking at my notes. He also bought this whole frozen garlic bread thing. Yes, that along with flour to make his incredibly wonderful homemade pizza.

He did buy one awesome thing that I can remember---these chocolate covered honeycomb candies. We all loved those.

He bought me a Valentine's Day present. Did it make me happy?

No. I'm very picky about gifts. I'm a bitch when it comes to gifts.

There is a simple rule to follow if someone wants to guarantee that I'll like their gift. Make it Australian. If it's related to Australia, it's VERY likely I'll love it.

Here we are....IN Australia. It's the perfect place to buy Australian stuff.

What does Tim buy me? Belgian chocolate. Guylian. The seashell stuff. What the hell was he thinking? He told me there wasn't any Aussie Valentine's Day chocolate. The Australians themselves were all going for the Guylian. I accepted that excuse then because I actually didn't remember seeing any Australian V-Day themed chocolate. But now I'm thinking the Guylian box didn't have any V-Day theme to it. It wasn't red or heart-shaped.

He should have bought me the Cadbury collection or something. But we ended up buying those later so it's okay. And I was a bitch and didn't buy him anything. I told him his gift was he could share the chocolates he had bought me.

All was well.

Tim buys bad gifts.
I'm a bitch.
Nothing really new here.

We ate dinner, and before or after that we walked to the beach. There weren't one or two Blue Bottles. They were everywhere. Jack and I are both educated enough to know that if there's a lot of Blue Bottles on the beach, it's not a good idea to go swimming. We were a little disappointed, but figured we might still have fun.



Still. Things were a bit gloomy. Jack didn't seem to be clicking well with the other kids. I was feeling socially avoidant. There'd probably be no swimming at the beach.

Then Tracey sent a text that cheered me up a bit. She reminded me the season premiere of Medium was going to be on tonight. We watched it. That was a nice diversion.

Read my novel: The Dead are Online 

We Got Our Phones Back!!!

In case I didn't tell you guys this yet, I had a VERY hard time adjusting to leaving Australia and coming back to the United States.

I have to say it went way beyond the usual post-holiday blues. What made things even harder for me is my sister went to Australia about a month after we came back. I love my sister. I do. But I was incredibly jealous. The analogy I thought of back then was someone being told their sister was going to sleep with their boyfriend. I know that sounds crazy. What can I say? I was THAT jealous. I actually felt sick about it. It tore me apart.

I did try to be nice about it.

I did try to be mature.

It was a huge struggle, though.

Before they left, my husband offered to let them borrow our phones we bought in Australia. This way they wouldn't have to buy new phones when they got to Australia. This really upset me. I was very emotionally attached to the phones. I had all these text messages from friends. And I don't know. I just didn't want to share my phones. 

My husband kindly said we could take back our offer. But I said no. We should share. I'm all into sharing because of eco/financial reasons. There's no need to buy new phones just because I have some weird emotional attachment. I also TRY to not become emotionally attached to objects. So, I knew the right thing to do....the thing I HAD to do was let them borrow the phones.

They took the phones.

They returned to America.

We waited to get the phones back.

We didn't get them back.

Then one day, about a month ago, I asked my brother-in-law about the phones. He told me they had already given them back to us. He said they put them in our lake house room. He said they had put them in the mesh bag we had given them.

I remembered them leaving us stuff at the lake house once. They gave us a bag with Tim's scuba license, a knife, and a box of Murray River Salt.

My brother-in-law insisted the phones had been there too, but he said he'd check their electronic stuff to make sure.

I was confused, at first and questioned my own memory. But then things didn't make sense to me. I was so emotionally attached to those phones. I told Tim that I would have been so excited to get the phones back. I would have wanted to read all my old text messages. I would have noticed the return of those phones. It would have been an emotional occasion for me.

Still, despite all this, I questioned myself. A couple other of my memories of recent events have been denied lately. So...yeah. I've had this awful suspicion at times that I'm losing my mind...forgetting things that have happened and creating events inside my mind that I feel truly happened.

I told my husband about my beliefs—that they didn't give us the phones, because I would have remembered it. I would have wanted to turn the phones on, so we could read the old messages.

Tim said that's not true. We wouldn't be able to read the messages because we couldn't plug in the phones in the United States. He then said that now that he thought of it, he DID sort of remember us getting the phones back. And he sort of remembered me asking to see the messages, and he had told me he couldn't do it.

I was confused. I thought maybe he was right. I looked around the house, thinking maybe I'd find the phones and realize how wrong I had been.

I couldn't find the phones.

I also didn't hear back from my brother-in-law about his search through their electronic equipment. I didn't want to pester them too much, though, because they're busy with that whole what-to-expect-when-you're-expecting business.

But then tonight Tim was going out on a James Bond movie outing with my two brother-in-laws. I asked him to ask about the phone. He did.

And guess what he came home with tonight!

The phones!

This is wonderful on so many levels

1. It's further prove that, although I'm weird and in love with a country in a way that some women are in love with a man(or woman); I'm not totally insane. I haven't lost my mind or memory.

2. I was right and they were wrong. So ha!

3. We were able to read the old text messages. It was all totally like the Hanukkah miracle. Those damn phones still had juice in them...after all these months. Don't ask me how that works. I saw messages from Tim. I saw messages from my cousin. I saw messages from my friends. It was awesome. My heart is all warm and cozy right now.

4. I can give some of you guys my phone number so you can text or call us when we're in Australia. It might be hard to keep up via the Internet. I'm not going to post my mobile number on a public blog. (of course!) But when we get closer to our leaving time, I'll send a reminder and if you want my number, you can email me.

5. The phones have the ringtone from Medium! I love that ringtone and had asked Tim if we could get it on my phone...the American ones. He said that wasn't possible because we didn't have right service. Well, it ends up that it's on the Australia ones. I wonder if we used those ringtones while we were there, and I didn't realize they were the same ones from Medium. Oh! Maybe the reason I loved the ringtone on Medium so much is my unconscious mind remembered it was what we heard in Australia!

Anyway, this is so awesome. I can pretend I'm Alison Dubois while we're in Australia!

I am so happy right now!

Read my novel: The Dead are Online 

American Stuff

My cousin and other expats talk about how being in a different country makes you appreciate and miss your own country.

I think my cousin believes that if I come to live in Australia, I will be like her and miss America.

Well, the funny thing is, I'm actually still IN America, and I kind of miss it.

This summer has been so totally about Australia. We watch an Australian TV show. I have been sometimes forgetting to speak with my American accent. Most of friends are Australian. I write in a blog about Australia. I do research about Australia. Lately, all the music I listen to is Australian.

In some weird way, I'm already a bit homesick for America.

So in honor of my homesickness, I decided to write a post celebrating that which I currently love about my own country.

Here be my list.

1. Stephen Colbert--He doesn't make me proud to be American, but he makes me feel okay about being American. He can make me take a break from hating our government....fearing it, and have me laughing at it instead. I rarely watch his show anymore, but when I do, I almost always end up laughing hysterically. I think he's so funny that he doesn't even really have to say anything funny.  I just look at him and laugh. Oh!  And I love when he struggles to keep a straight face. He's too cute when he does that.  

2. My TV Shows!  I love McLeod's Daughters, but I really miss my American shows, and I can't wait for them to come back on. My current favorite American shows are Medium, Eli Stone, and Lost.  Well, Lost is kind of Australian related too since the fated plane did take off from Sydney.

3. American authors.The funny thing is one of my favorite books about Australia was written by an American.  Blue Latitudes by Tony Horowitz. I highly recommend that book to anyone interested in Captain Cook and all that stuff. And I also love another Australian book written by an American. In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson.

I love a lot of popular American fiction writers: Stephen King, Anne Rice, Pat Conroy, John Irving, and a lot of less known authors as well.   

4. Joshua Radin. I got into his music after hearing it on Eli Stone. I'm not big into music and usually do not get interested in a specific artist.  I'm one of those people who never knows what's going on in the music world. You guys could probably tell that from my post about my favorite Australian music. I didn't really have anything current on my list.

But I love Radin's music.

5. Chocolate Rain. I didn't even know about this until my friend told me about it. It is a huge YouTube phenomena and I totally missed it. I thought it was very creepy when I first heard it and then I found myself wanting to hear it over and over. I like the song. I love that some guy wrote a song, recorded it, put it on YouTube, and then became famous.  I also love all the parodies.

6. Americans. I love the people who live in my country. Close to half of us didn't vote for Bush, and I think many of those who did now regret it.  Yes, we're a bit ignorant about what's going on in the world, and yes we're very ethnocentric. But most of us are fairly okay. As a whole, we're pretty decent humans--okay, even some of those who still support Bush. As Jesus said."Forgive them for they know not what they do."  


Below is the first Joshua Radin song I've ever heard.   I'm waiting for someone to put the clip from Eli Stone up on YouTube, but no one has yet. So, here is a VERY awesome cover by FabTheGap.   BTW, He's not American OR Australian.