1. Saw that Australia has a new Prime Minister.
I hardly paid attention to the Malcolm Turnbull stuff last night. I didn't even read it. I just glanced at the headlines.
I didn't expect it to wake up to the news of a new Prime Minister.
2. Hoped that Turnbull will be good at the Prime Minister thing.
He acted out one of my pet peeves.
The article says,
Mr Turnbull said his election as Liberal leader had been a very sobering experience but one about which he was humbled.
Really? How? Why? How can becoming the Prime Minister of a country be humbling? I think if someone was normal and very honest, they'd say becoming Prime Minister has swelled their head.
I think LOSING the job of Prime Minister is humbling...but not gaining it!
4. Wondered, since the article didn't have a direct quote, if the article made a mistake with the paraphrasing.
Or maybe I'm just hoping.
5. Looked at other articles.
They all say the humbling thing.
6. Found an
article that has a direct quote.
"This has been a very important, sobering experience today. I am very humbled by it,” said the man often accused of displaying limited humility.
7. Wondered how one goes about displaying humility.
I certainly don't think it's by declaring you're humbled when you receive a huge honor.
8. Found an
article or editorial about how people use the word humble when they've won something.
I'm going to read it.
I love the introduction.
Winning an award is about the least humbling thing in the world, and yet when people receive an Oscar or some other illustrious honor, they often say they feel “humbled.” Really, what winners feel is immense pride—and immense fear of being seen as prideful—and so they cover for it by saying they feel the exact opposite, humility.
Exactly!
Why can't Malcolm Turnbull jump up and down with a big smile. Do a happy dance. I think that would be much preferable to using words like "sobering" and "humbling".
9. Read more of the article.
It says people prefer winners looking unhappy to ones like James Cameron who acted excited and declared he's the king of the world.
Okay. I do think James Cameron went too far.
It wouldn't be tasteful for Malcolm Turnbull to declare he's the king of the world. It probably wouldn't even be tasteful for him to declare he's the king of Australia or the king of Parliament. But what if he shouted out,
Yay! I'm the Prime Minister of Australia!
I don't think that would be bad. I think it would be cute.
10. Started to get the idea that I'm different from the majority.
The article talks about studies and says the studies show that people prefer winners who suppress and hide their joy.
I can kind of see it in myself and my family now that I think of it.
It's like that embarrassed smile we get when someone compliments us or we receive some kind of honor. We don't want to gloat or seem over-excited.
11. Thought that a middle ground is the best way to go.
I don't want a winner who thinks they're the king of the world or who can't stop talking about their honor. But at the same time, I don't want someone who pretends to be humbled and pretends that they're not happy about winning.
12. Wondered if there would be a more appropriate use of the word "humble" in these situations.
What if the winner/honored talked about feeling excited and happy. Then instead of saying they were humbled BY the award or new job; they can say something along the lines of,
Although I am thrilled to be the next Prime Minister, I remain humble, because I realize this is not a job one does alone.
Being humbled by something doesn't make sense, really. If Malcolm Turnbull was very humbled by being Prime Minister; does that mean he wasn't very humble before he won? Was he totally up himself until the votes were counted?
13. Started watching an
episode of
Neighbours
14. Wondered about Brad's (Kip Gamblin) T-shirt.
It says Midnight Tides.
What is Midnight Tides?
15. Saw that there's a
book called
Midnight Tides, but it doesn't look anything like Brad's T-shirt.
16. Had a closer look at the shirt. Under Midnight Tides, it says Closed Circuit.
It sounds like a sporting thing, maybe? A race?
17. Looked again at the shirt. There's a date. October 10, 1964. Wow! Very vintage.
18. Did some Googling and could not find anything about Midnight Ties of 1964.
19. Felt that the Daniel (Tim Phillips) and Imogen (Ariel Kaplan) thing happened a bit too fast.
I liked that Imogen was refusing to be a rebound relationship for Daniel.
But then all Daniel had to do to win Imogen over is read her favorite book and sing a bad song.
20. Wished Daniel had grown enough to realize he gets into these things too fast.
I wish both he and Imogen had chosen to move slower with all of this.
21. Felt also that they had sex too fast. And Imogen is a virgin! It almost seems like Daniel was just horny since Amber dumped him. So he goes for the next best thing.
Well, actually I do think Imogen is the best thing not the next bet thing. At least for Daniel.
I do like Daniel and Imogen together. Or I DID like them together. But they needed to take things much more slowly.
22. Learned that Daniel HAS changed, after all. Or at least he says he has.
He tells Imogen that he no longer believes in fate. He believes in free will. And with that free will, he's chosen Imogen.
I like that. It makes me feel a little better about the relationship.
Although I still believe in fate. I just don't believe in there being only one right person for us. I think what I believe is that fate leads us to multiple people, and each person helps us grow in some way.
23. Noticed that Josh (Harley Bonner) is wearing a shirt that says 1969.
I guess the Willis family is going with a 1960's theme in this episode.
24. Started to watch another
episode of
Neighbours.
25. Watched
a video of Samuel Johnson having trouble staying on his unicycle.
I think that would be a humbling experience but also empowering if he has the strength and perseverance to keep on going.
26. Thought watching the video was a humbling experience, because I'm sitting comfortably at my computer chair with the air conditioner on and the fan blowing while watching someone else work hard at doing something amazing.
27. Thought about how how I'm not too impressed with people throwing a bucket of ice over themselves for charity. But I am impressed with a man who rides a unicycle across the country in the heat with flies attacking him.
28. Thought about how Paul Robinson (Stefan Dennis) reminds me so much of my dad sometimes. It's in a good way and bad way.
The good is that my dad and Paul are very dedicated to family and want to keep family close by. The bad is that, in order to keep the family close by, my dad and Paul might not always do what's best for family.
The best thing for Paul's daughter Amy (Zoe Cramond) would probably be to leave town. In Erinsborough, she's getting a bit too close to a married man. To get away from the married man, she has to quit her carpentry job. Paul wants to keep her around so badly that he gives her an administrative job that she's totally unqualified for.
Amy is in danger of breaking up a marriage which will be bad for the marriage, and probably not so good for her self-esteem. Her self-esteem will also suffer a blow if she works in a career that's not right for her.
29. Hoped that when it comes to Jack, I encourage and support him to go in directions that are best for him rather than in directions that will keep him close by. That's probably easier said than done.
30. Imagined some people get lucky, and what's best for their kids IS close by.
31. Wondered whether or not living in Fort Worth was best for me.
I do like it here. I'm happy. The best part, though, is probably being near family.
Is it the best career-wise and lifestyle-wise for us? Probably not.
32. Wondered if Tim, Jack, and I would have flourished more if we ended up moving to Australia.
What would our lives be like?
Would Australia still be such a huge part of me or would I have ended up taking it for granted? Maybe it would have stopped being a passion and hobby and would have just ended up becoming the place where I reside.
OR maybe my passion for Australia wouldn't have died down. Maybe it would have grown huge and wonderful. Maybe I would live this wonderful life where I studied Australia in the libraries, took classes about Australia; got involved with the community. Maybe I would have gotten some type of entry-level job in Australian television. Maybe instead of watching TV, I'd be working in it.
33. Started watching another
episode of
Neighbours.
34. Pleased with Russell (Russell Kiefel) in this episode.
He shows more regret for the way he treated Tyler (Travis Burns).
First he asks Tyler why he hasn't told his brothers about what happened between then. Tyler says it's because he doesn't want to be seen as weak. Russell is very kind and tells Tyler that he's not weak at all. He talks about how he (Russell) was having a hard time, and that he took it out on Tyler. Then he says he wants things to be better between them.
I like that he's taking on that attitude. He's owning up to his mistake. He's reassuring Tyler that Tyler's not to blame for being beat up, and he's showing that he wants a good relationship with his son.
35. Liked the Russell storyline, because it shows how parents make huge mistakes, but it's not the end of the world.
Parenthood is not a pass or fail endeavor. It's a continuous struggle and a continuous adventure.
36. Decided that even when the parent or offspring dies, the struggle and adventure continues. Then it becomes about remembering, facing mistakes, and making life improvements.
Let's say someone's mother died; and they had a horrible relationship with their mother. Instead of feeling all hope is lost; they can still grow from it. They can think A) what their mother did wrong B) what they themselves did wrong C) decide how they can take what they learned from A and B to improve other relationships in their life.
37. Saw Toadie (Ryan Moloney) have a bizarre bouncy house accident.
I had to watch the scene three times to understand what happened.
I guess he jumped up to catch it, because it was blowing away. I think he missed, and then fell backwards.
38. Found this
article, which says that it's estimated bouncy houses cause about 30 injuries a day.
The article says most of the accidents involve the child falling out of the house. So it's not the bouncy aspect that's causing the most problems. It's the falling. Although I guess if you're bouncing around, you could end up falling out. If the kids were just walking around a non-bouncy platform, maybe they wouldn't fall out.
39. Consulted Lord Wiki.
He says between 1990 and 2010 there have been 65,000 children injured from bouncy thingies.
It sounds dangerous, but I'm not sure what to think.
I guess I would have to know how the dangers compare to other childhood activities.
For example, how many children are injured playing soccer each year? How many children are injured on waterslides? Regular slides? Swings? Monkey bars? Rollerskating?
Are bouncy houses particularly dangerous? Or is simply dangerous to allow your child to participate in physical activity?
I'm not trying to be funny or make a point. I'm just wondering.
40. Found this
article about waterslide accidents. It only looks at New Jersey statistics. It says waterslides are the most dangerous amusement park rides.
41. Thought about something Tim was trying to tell me recently. I forgot why we were talking about it. But it was basically that you can't compare danger rates...which I was planning to do in his post.
42. Remembered what we were talking about.
Sharks!
I was talking about those statements people say—you're more likely to die this way or that way than be eaten by a shark.
Tim was trying to tell me that it's often not a fair comparison, because the injury and death rate is dependent on how often people engage in the activity.
Maybe people are unlikely to be eaten by a shark, because it's very unlikely that they're going to go swimming in the ocean.
It's extremely unlikely that I'm going to be swimming in the ocean this week, so it's pretty much impossible that I'm going to be eaten by a shark.
Likewise, I can't compare bounce house accidents to waterslide accidents unless I take into account which activity is more common. I'm guessing it's bounce houses.
Lord Wiki says bounce house injuries have been on the rise. That's probably because more children are playing on bounce houses, and not because bounce houses have suddenly become more dangerous.
43. Though the best way to do the math is add up the number of children engaging in an activity during the year; then divide it by the number of children injured. Then you can compare the injury rates in the different activities.
I'm not going to do that, mainly because I'm not sure where I'd find the statistics. I'm not sure there's anyone out there interviewing people to figure out who's playing on what.
44. Looked at the
statistics about playground equipment. In public playground, falls cause the most injuries. Hangings cause the most deaths.
I imagine bounce houses and playgrounds cause similar types of injuries. It's probably less about the equipment and more about rambunctious children and bad luck.
45. Looked at more
statistics.
If I'm reading things right, the most dangerous activity your child can engage in is riding in a car.
If we're going to be paranoid about our child being injured, we should probably worry more about the drive TO the activity than the activity itself.
Then again, it could go back to the frequency of the activity.
No...never mind. Because the thing that they're comparing motor vehicle accidents to, COULD happen every day. It's things like poisoning, falls, fires, suffocation, etc. It's not like they're comparing car accidents to roller coaster accidents or shark attacks.
46. Saw, from the statistics, that falls are the most common non-fatal injury in children.
47. Wondered why I'm looking at all these statistics about childhood injuries...all because Toadie fell while trying to prevent a bouncy house from flying away.
Toadie's not even a child.
And I think his injuries might have been partly caused by his ongoing spinal problem.
Still. I think statistics are fascinating. I enjoy doing the research.
But it does scare me.
It will probably make me glad that I have a child who prefers playing Minecraft to engaging in outdoor physical activity.
I'm imagining how I might be when he turns sixteen.
Jack, are you really sure you want to practice driving? What if you miss something important that's happening in your Minecraft community?
48. Reminded myself that it's not outdoor physical activity that's likely to kill us.
It's driving in the car.
So, we'll stay home for now on.
49. Reminded myself that we're ALL going to die sometime.
Does it really matter that much, how or when? Well, when is kind of important. But how probably doesn't matter. No, I guess how matters too. If it's a choice between falling off a tall building or being in the hospital pumped up with morphine, maybe most of us would pick the latter. Not everyone, though. Some people might prefer the excitement of the fall.
50. Concluded that we should concentrate on having a meaningful life and enjoying most of that meaningful life. We should take moderate risks, and hope for the best.
51. Thought that riding in a car with our seat belts on with a driver that's alert and not intoxicated is a moderate risk.
Riding in a car without a seat belt with a driver who's drunk, busy texting, tired, or in a wild mood is high risk behavior.
Just wanted to clarify that.
52. Went to the Triple J 2014
list.
Today I'm going to listen to "I Can Feel That You Don't Love Me" by Kingswood.
I like the title of the song, though it's sad.
53. Started watching the
video to "I Can Feel That You Don't Love Me"
So far, I like it.
I like the beat in the beginning.
54. Liked the song and the video.
55. Started watching a
Neighbours backstage video. This is about Matt Preston visiting the show.
I would have been more excited about his visit if I watched
MasterChef.
56. Learned that Matt Preston is a fan of
Neighbours. That's sweet. So it wasn't just about the
Neighbours cast and crew being excited about his cameo appearance. The fan feelings were probably mutual.
Read my novel: The Dead are Online
