Intolerance - want of toleration of the opinions or practices of others.
I have been following a comment thread these past few days about gay marriage and civil unions and another on how much racism there is in Australia. I have come to the conclusion that what we have to guard and fight against is intolerance.
The first thread was not homophobic in the true sense of the word and I found the commenters revealing the usual reasons for their intolerance. "I don't understand it - it's not natural - children need a mother and a father - marriage is special between a man and a woman" and the old standby, "I love my dog, why can't I marry it" firmly putting homosexuals down there with animals.
Kelly from "The Muriels" blogspot, Anonymous Lefty, Sam from QueerPenguin and others all had logical and clear arguments for civil unions, marriage and equality. I didn't comment because these bloggers said everything and better than I could. The main commenter kept saying he had answered all the questions but he didn't, all he showed was his intolerance to gay and lesbians, an unquestioned belief in his idea of marriage and disregard for any major research showing that children of gay and lesbian couples can flourish and become fully functional adults.
So I announce here like a member of AA that I am intolerant as well. I have zero tolerance for people who have fixed and inflexible ideas "loitering with intent" inside closed minds. I am also biased, admiring Kelly and Sam's intellects and counting both as friends. Everyone who comes here knows I am not gay, just a straight divorced grandmother. I have members in my extended family who are just family, not 'gay' family. It was not until the gay marriage ban that I began to realize how the bias against a group of Australian citizens could be made into a law.
I was offended that this could be done in my name and without my vote.
The second thread on racism is also close to me as my granddaughters are part Sri Lankan along with several other nationalities. My father-in-law, a true racist and bigot of the old school, would look them over carefully to see if their skin was darkening as they got older. He also disliked the fact that my son had no objection to them being brought up in the Catholic Faith. I'm not sorry he died before the girls became aware of his subtle hostility.
So if we don't have overt racism in country we certainly have intolerance to other races because of skin colour. I have said it before that people ask me what nationality the girls are which I always think is strange as they are asking an anglo-saxon me. They have not, for the most part, been subjected to racial slurs and hopefully as they get older, intolerance will fade out of our society.
So here I go again saying I am intolerant. I have zero tolerance for any person judging another on the basis of skin colour. So am I any better than the commenters I have been criticising? I think so because I've changed my views as I've grown and I'm still willing to listen and change more. As we go into the second half of the first decade of the 21st Century, I'm sad that this sort of discrimination is still going on but happy that it can be discussed by everyone with an opinion.
Saturday, December 31, 2005
Friday, December 30, 2005
GOODBYE TO THE YEAR OF HOWARD
Tomorrow is the day I sit down with my diaries and write down the things I've learned this year. Five years ago the list was very short but this year I think I'll be into double pages. It seems that the older I get the more I learn and I'm going to be really pissed off if I don't live to be one hundred or more. I keep finding out how little I know and how much I want to keep learning. Good argument for no intelligent designer or that he was a bloke. No woman would have put an expanding brain into an ageing body, we're much too sensible and practical. Okay so we wear stupid stilleto shoes but men designed them and put temptation in our way, we're not angels.
It's going to be a scorcher of a day so I thought I would post a photograph taken by my son and think about cool water. There is a safety fence on the other side of the torrent but you can't see it this side because he had his foot in it hanging over the water to get the best shot.
Wednesday, December 28, 2005
THE MOUTH OF BARNABY
Extract from The Australian newspaper, December 27.
"renegade Nationals senator Barnaby Joyce said he would oppose any Liberal backbench pressure for the Coalition to allow gay civil unions, mainly because it would entrench the rights of gay men and lesbians to adopt children.
"You can do what you want, but once you start coming on somebody else's rights then you've got to pull back," Senator Joyce said. "You will end up, it's just the nature of the beast, having to argue about why they are not allowed to adopt kids."
"People will say there are so many bad mothers out there and I would make a better mother, and people always look for the exception of the rule to prove their position, and in the end you have a child growing up with a father and a father or a mother and a mother."
Senator Joyce said that while people might think it was their right to have a child, it was wrong to bring up children without a father and a mother.
"You're now dealing with someone else's rights - the child's rights - and the child has the right to have what nature gives them, both a father and mother to balance themselves up psychologically, emotionally and everything," he said.
"It's asking too much of a young child to try and explain....why they have a dad and a dad not a dad and a mum."
There are so many things wrong with those words that I'm inclined to give Barnaby the benefit of the doubt knowing how afflicted he is with Foot in Mouth disease.
This is not only an insult to gay fathers and lesbian mothers who are successfully bringing up their children but show a total lack of understanding of how Australian families have changed.
There are single mothers, divorced mothers, widowed mothers, divorced fathers and widowed fathers, all bringing up children without partners.
A young child accepts its parents without question and why would a child have to explain anything? If nature has given a child same sex parents then I think the child will handle it a lot better than Barnaby.
If he thinks having a father and a mother is better then I suggest he checks the relevant government department for the child abuse statistics for the Christmas/New Year period. He then can check the whole of 2005.
As for the child's rights, they have the right to be loved, to be kept safe, to be fed and clothed, to sleep at night without fear and to have parents, same sex or other who do all of these for them.
"renegade Nationals senator Barnaby Joyce said he would oppose any Liberal backbench pressure for the Coalition to allow gay civil unions, mainly because it would entrench the rights of gay men and lesbians to adopt children.
"You can do what you want, but once you start coming on somebody else's rights then you've got to pull back," Senator Joyce said. "You will end up, it's just the nature of the beast, having to argue about why they are not allowed to adopt kids."
"People will say there are so many bad mothers out there and I would make a better mother, and people always look for the exception of the rule to prove their position, and in the end you have a child growing up with a father and a father or a mother and a mother."
Senator Joyce said that while people might think it was their right to have a child, it was wrong to bring up children without a father and a mother.
"You're now dealing with someone else's rights - the child's rights - and the child has the right to have what nature gives them, both a father and mother to balance themselves up psychologically, emotionally and everything," he said.
"It's asking too much of a young child to try and explain....why they have a dad and a dad not a dad and a mum."
There are so many things wrong with those words that I'm inclined to give Barnaby the benefit of the doubt knowing how afflicted he is with Foot in Mouth disease.
This is not only an insult to gay fathers and lesbian mothers who are successfully bringing up their children but show a total lack of understanding of how Australian families have changed.
There are single mothers, divorced mothers, widowed mothers, divorced fathers and widowed fathers, all bringing up children without partners.
A young child accepts its parents without question and why would a child have to explain anything? If nature has given a child same sex parents then I think the child will handle it a lot better than Barnaby.
If he thinks having a father and a mother is better then I suggest he checks the relevant government department for the child abuse statistics for the Christmas/New Year period. He then can check the whole of 2005.
As for the child's rights, they have the right to be loved, to be kept safe, to be fed and clothed, to sleep at night without fear and to have parents, same sex or other who do all of these for them.
Tuesday, December 27, 2005
CHRISTMAS SWANSONG
This is my last Christmas image. It's a star- forming region called the Christmas Tree cluster and got its nickname when amateur astronomers observed its triangular outline of stars. It looked like a tree bedecked by dazzling holiday lights but this was viewed through small telescopes. This new infrared image reveals ribbons of gas and dust swirling like snow blowing in frigid winter winds and adorned by a festive collection of brilliant stars. Dozens of newborn stars are just beginning to emerge from their natal cocoons. The image was taken by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.
A big hurrah for Christmas being over for another year. There were a few small glitches. I must remember to look at what I'm doing after the neighbours give me a glass of Moet&Chandon champagne for breakfast. (Divine champagne by the way). That way I won't pick up the Mistasheen in mistake for the hairspray although my hair never moved all day and had a lovely gloss.
I must not distract the cook when she's making gravy by eating the fresh peas. It causes her to drop an entire salt container into the middle of the pan and the splash radius would rival the Chixulub meteor event. While she's laughing at me covered in gravy, the plastic container is melting and sticking to the pan.
It was her fault for considering me and buying fresh peas but $10 worth of fresh peas. I felt as though I should keep a few and have them bronzed. She's already been through one trauma, hearing a recall broadcast for the pudding (expensive too) she'd bought. Some of them had developed mould so all were recalled. She went over it with a magnifying glass and assured us it was clear which we would have believed had she not passed on it herself. Once again for me, she checked that it didn't have suet in it.
And where would we be without a mother drama. All she had to do was walk across the road.
She was not going to South America but she packed her walker with everything she might need.
Halfway across the street, she stops to talk to a neighbour and when I start yelling, she's "well you keep saying not to walk and talk at the same time". There are three cars coming round the corner and I'm calculating how many points they'll get for an old bat on a walker, a screaming daughter and chatty neighbour. But being Christmas they stopped long enough to let us throw said old bat onto the footpath.
We had bought her a DVD player so after lunch and a return expedition across the road, she was happily in bed with a trailer load of junk mail circling DVDs she wants to buy. Sis and I had not had a drink at all, discounting my early morning glass so we passed on it altogether. I didn't even open my chocolates but that won't last. As Scarlet says, "Tomorrow is another day" and I'll be into them later.
Best gift of all, a card from my granddaughter wishing me a Merry Christmas "with all my love & heart & soul". Solid gold.
Sunday, December 25, 2005
HAPPY CHRISTMAS, KID
Euan James 1971 - 1995
He is made one with nature; there is heard
His voice in all her music, from the moan
Of thunder, to the song of night's sweet bird;
He is a presence to be felt and known
In darkness and in light, from herb and stone
He is a portion of the loveliness
Which once he made more lovely.
Percy Bysshe Shelley.
CHRISTMAS AND COUNTING
The photo is by Declan McCullagh and the cows are grazing in Big Sur, California. I could have just had a cow but I fell in love with the background so the cow is incidental and it does fall into my Christmas posting. I made a comment at 'Plodding along' about cows laying down in the grass meant it was going to rain but no-one had heard that particular old wives' tale. A google search only came up with one mention and that was a personal blog but I found a lot of other 'cow tales'.
This is where the Christmas bit comes in. There's a superstition that cattle kneel at the stroke of midnight on Christmas Eve.
Cows lifting their tails is a sure sign that rain is coming.
If cows lick trees you can expect rain.
Cattle who stand close together in low ground, and feed hard together are said to be foretelling rain.
Considering the lightning, thunder and rain we had here last night, a lot of cows were working overtime with the lifting and licking.
If the cows stand on high ground, the weather will be fine.
If a cow holds its head up and smell the air, someone living near you has died.
Pick up a Daddy Long Legs and ask it "Where are the cows?" It will then point in the direction of the cows! I'd test this out if I didn't know Daddy Long Legs were poisonous and the only reason they don't kill is because their mouths can't open wide enough to bite humans. I'd like to hear from anyone who tries this.
You know you will be married soon when you hear a cow moo at midnight.
It is an evil omen if a cow moos after midnight.
I didn't know cows were this smart.
Saturday, December 24, 2005
MORE CARDS AND NEARLY THERE
Merry ******mas, Gerry. This was the closest I could get to a Cab Sav coloured bear.
A very Happy Christmas, Muriels. This little one is waiting for you in 2006.
This is just for you, MD. A Welsh one by the looks of him. Have a happy Yuletime.
Friday, December 23, 2005
Thursday, December 22, 2005
THREE AND COUNTING
Merry Christmas, QueerPenguin.I love funny Christmas cards but I hate the price and if I do pay for them, you'll never receive them because I can't part with them. I found that by googling for a star to top today's post but that was better.
I went to Space.Com to find a star but found their list of the Top Ten Alien abduction movies. I couldn't resist that.
1. X-FILES - FIGHT THE FUTURE. Remembered, loved it and grabbed the video to watch
tonight.
2. TAKEN. Couldn't get into the series on tv but it might be better on DVD without annoying ad
breaks.
3. THE INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS. The original black and white. It didn't need
a multitude of special effects to frighten the daylights out of me, watching it on the late, late
show in a dark room.
4. MEN IN BLACK. A comedy which I think will last. Must get that out of the cupboard for
Christmas Eve.
5. FIRE IN THE SKY. Don't remember this one at all. Anybody like it?
6. CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND. Sort of liked it but it's a bit boring now.
7. THE ASTRONAUT'S WIFE. What can I say, I'm more the StarWars fan.
8. SIGNS. 50/50. Anybody else instead of Mel Gibson except Tom Cruise.
9. V: The original mini series. I never missed an episode and loved it just as much when they
repeated it.
10. THE ARRIVAL. Watched this three times in two days. The way the aliens bent their knees
backwards really caused me pain because I was between operations to hack my own
kneecaps out.
Now during the silly season why doesn't someone get the bright idea of holding a late night science fiction film festival. We don't all have DVD players, some of us have pension age televisions still. I'd like everyone to see the original 'War of the Worlds' with Gene Barry instead of Cruise. Then there's a couple of Quatermass black and whites that were memorable.
If nothing else, there's 'Threshold' which looks promising as a series and 'Surface' which will put me off swimming this summer.
Wednesday, December 21, 2005
IS THERE NOTHING???
I'm in the middle of my usual making 'Christmas presents at the last minute' (unlucky ones get I.O.U.'s) and went googling for Christmas ornaments and found these. Being vego, the photo up top is my idea of a Macca so I had to have it but on the same site I came across these little ornaments for the tree. Just what you want the kiddies to be staring at for the twelve days of Christmas, a tree full of Ronalds. I think I'll give them a miss but I have to admit I love the burger.
ON THE FOURTH DAY BEFORE XMAS
This is how Christmas is supposed to be. Pink and warm and fuzzy. Unfortunately a report from the chief executive of the Women's Domestic Violence Crisis Support Service, Rhonda Cumberland says that support services would not meet demand for victims of domestic violence over Christmas. Assistant Commissioner of Police Leigh Gassner said a combination of stress and alcohol around the Christmas and New Year period often resulted in an alarming increase in domestic violence.Part of that domestic violence is concentrated on access visits involving children. It's common now to meet at McDonald's or in front of a police station to exchange children for access visits.
In a bitter divorce or even an amicable one, the temptation to use children as a weapon is always present. The wisdom of Solomon was never needed more than at Christmas. One or the other parent is going to be alone and the last thing a child needs is to feel guilty at having a good time on Christmas Day.
I've seen a lot of divorce, in the family and with neighbours and friends. There never seems to be a common thought that the children come first, at least not what I've seen first hand. It's hard to be polite when you're volcanic inside but when you've seen the faces of children standing between two warring parents, waiting for the first blow, it's hard not to feel for them. They learn to survive of course, learn to watch their tongue, learn to live two separate lives and hopefully, not to grow up bitter.
The police have joined the Women's Domestic Violence Crisis Support Service and the Australian Football League in raising the awareness of the serious nature of family violence.
Family violence is not confined to husband/wife/children. Elderly people are subjected to violence by relatives and children. Abuse is now recognised in gay and lesbian relationships as well. Husbands are reluctant to talk about being abused physically by women but that also is rising. It's hidden violence and it happens in religious families, low income or wealthy families.
So my Christmas wish is for a peaceful day, even if hostilities break out again and they will, give the kids a day they'll remember. Just one pink, warm, fuzzy day.
Sunday, December 18, 2005
THE RANT IS RIGHT
I have been accused of hating men. Not true. Hate is a strong word and a violent emotion. What I don't like and don't appreciate are men's attitudes and beliefs towards women. No, not all men have these attitudes and yes, some women exhibit the same attitudes and beliefs as the men I have mentioned. The thing is men and women do not experience certain events in the same way. Men and women can sympathise with each other but they can't empathise.
It would be like saying to a war veteran, "I can imagine how terrible it was for you". I can't say that because there are experiences that have to be first hand. I can say that I know how it would feel to have a son go to war, that's within my experience as a mother.
I can't say to a woman who has decided that abortion is her only option that I know how she feels because I've never had one, never had to make the decision and never had to live with the reality of that decision. But I can empathise with her pain leading to that decision because it's a place I've been in.
Post-natal psychosis is a horrible condition and I was borderline between post-natal depression and full psychosis. The feeling of terror of being left alone with your baby because you know you could lose reality altogether and harm or even kill him can only be understood by another woman experiencing the same emotion.
As much as you try to explain, it never quite gets absorbed by the man in your life, because he can't imagine himself ever hurting his child. The doctor finally accepts your condition, discarding the possibility that your husband is inflicting the injuries you inflict on yourself in order not to touch your child. The Psychiatrist listens and prescribes drugs, so many you write your name and address on a piece of paper and keep it with you, because sometimes it's hard to remember.
Your mother finally stands up to all of them and says, "I will take the baby. You take her off the pills". So for the first year of his life, you travel to your mother's to look after him every day. You and your husband put him to bed at night and go home.
You are still very ill in mind and body. All your doctors agree that another pregnancy will send you into full psychosis. So if pregnancy occurs, abortion is the first option. The second option, is pyschosis with a certainty of harming or even killing your child. The third option is a long term stay in a psychiatric hospital.
Inside your tormented mind you know you won't survive any of those options. There is a fourth option which you offer to them. You will have no more children. You will have a tubal ligation. You are 23 years old and your psychiatrist says you are the sanest person he has seen all week.
The one question he asks, in several ways, is what happens if your only child dies. You tell him he can't be replaced by any other child, he is unique. Your husband is glad to agree, to finally make an end to something he experiences secondhand and admits he doesn't understand.
All the men involved in this year, even the most experienced of doctors, say we can see what you are going through but we don't know what it's really like.
So I go back to my last rant and I stand by what I said. Men cannot make decisions about our bodies because they can only know secondhand, through us, the pain we experience in any decisions we make regarding abortion or pregnancy.
It would be like saying to a war veteran, "I can imagine how terrible it was for you". I can't say that because there are experiences that have to be first hand. I can say that I know how it would feel to have a son go to war, that's within my experience as a mother.
I can't say to a woman who has decided that abortion is her only option that I know how she feels because I've never had one, never had to make the decision and never had to live with the reality of that decision. But I can empathise with her pain leading to that decision because it's a place I've been in.
Post-natal psychosis is a horrible condition and I was borderline between post-natal depression and full psychosis. The feeling of terror of being left alone with your baby because you know you could lose reality altogether and harm or even kill him can only be understood by another woman experiencing the same emotion.
As much as you try to explain, it never quite gets absorbed by the man in your life, because he can't imagine himself ever hurting his child. The doctor finally accepts your condition, discarding the possibility that your husband is inflicting the injuries you inflict on yourself in order not to touch your child. The Psychiatrist listens and prescribes drugs, so many you write your name and address on a piece of paper and keep it with you, because sometimes it's hard to remember.
Your mother finally stands up to all of them and says, "I will take the baby. You take her off the pills". So for the first year of his life, you travel to your mother's to look after him every day. You and your husband put him to bed at night and go home.
You are still very ill in mind and body. All your doctors agree that another pregnancy will send you into full psychosis. So if pregnancy occurs, abortion is the first option. The second option, is pyschosis with a certainty of harming or even killing your child. The third option is a long term stay in a psychiatric hospital.
Inside your tormented mind you know you won't survive any of those options. There is a fourth option which you offer to them. You will have no more children. You will have a tubal ligation. You are 23 years old and your psychiatrist says you are the sanest person he has seen all week.
The one question he asks, in several ways, is what happens if your only child dies. You tell him he can't be replaced by any other child, he is unique. Your husband is glad to agree, to finally make an end to something he experiences secondhand and admits he doesn't understand.
All the men involved in this year, even the most experienced of doctors, say we can see what you are going through but we don't know what it's really like.
So I go back to my last rant and I stand by what I said. Men cannot make decisions about our bodies because they can only know secondhand, through us, the pain we experience in any decisions we make regarding abortion or pregnancy.
Saturday, December 17, 2005
9 DAYS TO GO
Racial tension - racial conflict - race war. A group of bronzed "Aussies" beating up a group of bronzier "wogs" beating up a group of bronzed "Aussies" beating up a group of bronzier "wogs" etc. etc. etc. Shove them all in the Sydney Cricket Ground and let them go. Last man standing proves nothing. One group spits out comments about immodest Aussie women. The other group has a go at ragheads. See a pattern here, hidden in the race war is the usual war on women.
The Senate Committee is supposed to be about RU-486 since abortion is already legal but it's going to be hi-jacked into rolling back the abortion law. Francis Sullivan, Chief executive of Catholic Health Australia says,
"It is a judgement based on what is socially acceptable, not just technically feasible."
"This level of consideration does not fall within the competency of the TGA."
"The responsibility falls to the community's representatives, namely the government of the day."
Well listen up you patronising, Bible bashing, hymn singing, women hating Parliamentarians. Women do not like abortion. No woman likes the thought of abortion but in a lot of circumstances, none of which apply to men, abortion is the only option. Accidents happen, the pill doesn't work, condoms break, rape occurs. Women demand the right to choose what is best for us not what men want to impose on us. If we do have to terminate, and there's not a woman anywhere that decides that without hours of agonised thought, then we demand the right to have it done safely.
This is war on women.
Another sideline skirmish in this battle is denying the Medicare safety net to Lesbian parents who get PREGNANT and want to be PREGNANT and want to bring up their children. How hypocrital can men get? Deny women who don't want children then turn around and deny women who do want children. At least men are consistent in this war, deny women everything they want for their health.
It's the same with a November report about the dangers of ceasarean births with a first child because of the risks involved having a natural birth with the second. Women who try for natural birth in a second baby usually have had an emergency c-section with the first and know the risks. After all, the most dangerous thing a woman ever does in her life is give birth. Put ten women in a room and you will get five horror stories. We're designed to give birth in our teens when everything is supple and moving easily so if older women weigh up the risks of natural against ceasarean then it's their informed choice. And if they have a ceasarean with the first, they'll have it with the second.
Like abortion, women are made to feel guilty about not having a natural birth. Look at actress Kate Winslet who concealed the ceasarean birth of her first child because she felt as if she had failed as a woman. I hope this report stays just a report and doesn't become another Medicare issue to save money by making it harder to claim for a ceasarean birth.
We aren't stupid, we think and make informed choices about a multitude of issues every day and one of those choices is what we will and will not let men decide for us. All of those pious cretins in Canberra can pronounce on these issues but don't expect us to take you seriously until the first man gets pregnant and gives birth or is so horrified by this event, he decides to take RU-846.
The Senate Committee is supposed to be about RU-486 since abortion is already legal but it's going to be hi-jacked into rolling back the abortion law. Francis Sullivan, Chief executive of Catholic Health Australia says,
"It is a judgement based on what is socially acceptable, not just technically feasible."
"This level of consideration does not fall within the competency of the TGA."
"The responsibility falls to the community's representatives, namely the government of the day."
Well listen up you patronising, Bible bashing, hymn singing, women hating Parliamentarians. Women do not like abortion. No woman likes the thought of abortion but in a lot of circumstances, none of which apply to men, abortion is the only option. Accidents happen, the pill doesn't work, condoms break, rape occurs. Women demand the right to choose what is best for us not what men want to impose on us. If we do have to terminate, and there's not a woman anywhere that decides that without hours of agonised thought, then we demand the right to have it done safely.
This is war on women.
Another sideline skirmish in this battle is denying the Medicare safety net to Lesbian parents who get PREGNANT and want to be PREGNANT and want to bring up their children. How hypocrital can men get? Deny women who don't want children then turn around and deny women who do want children. At least men are consistent in this war, deny women everything they want for their health.
It's the same with a November report about the dangers of ceasarean births with a first child because of the risks involved having a natural birth with the second. Women who try for natural birth in a second baby usually have had an emergency c-section with the first and know the risks. After all, the most dangerous thing a woman ever does in her life is give birth. Put ten women in a room and you will get five horror stories. We're designed to give birth in our teens when everything is supple and moving easily so if older women weigh up the risks of natural against ceasarean then it's their informed choice. And if they have a ceasarean with the first, they'll have it with the second.
Like abortion, women are made to feel guilty about not having a natural birth. Look at actress Kate Winslet who concealed the ceasarean birth of her first child because she felt as if she had failed as a woman. I hope this report stays just a report and doesn't become another Medicare issue to save money by making it harder to claim for a ceasarean birth.
We aren't stupid, we think and make informed choices about a multitude of issues every day and one of those choices is what we will and will not let men decide for us. All of those pious cretins in Canberra can pronounce on these issues but don't expect us to take you seriously until the first man gets pregnant and gives birth or is so horrified by this event, he decides to take RU-846.
Friday, December 16, 2005
10 DAYS TO CHRISTMAS
This is how I see Christmas, blue, blue and more blues.
This is how my Mum sees Christmas.Remember the movie, The Griswolds' Family Christmas? I intend to bury a copy with M so she can light up Heaven. I hate to think what she'll do with Angels and sheet lightning.
Every year she tries to outdo the Griswolds. She pays extra credits on the electricity all year to pay for the Christmas extravaganza. There is so much lighting I wouldn't be surprised to see three wise men turn up with gifts. An extra danger is the fact she's near the flight path of the local airport. There must be a way for the blinking lights to say "not here, mate!".
I refuse to help, so call me Grinch, but I have enough gripes about Christmas without stringing pissy little bulbs on pissy little wires over the house, carport and every tree in the yard. Inside doesn't miss out. the window is made up as a toy shop. I've lost count of the dolls, teddies, elves and tinselled knick-knacks that make their appearance on December l.
It's on the must visit list for every kid within miles. The joy for them is being able to come up the drive right to the window and press their little faces to the glass. Little droolers. She never takes my advice to leave the spiders there to make it interesting. Poor little blighters are sacrificed every year. Dutiful (not me) daughters even wheel the oldies from the nursing home round to see the spectacle.
Now the woman has made me more of a grinch than usual. "I know you hate Christmas," she says. "So I've got something you really want." She's given me a scanner for my computer. A scanner! My dream of a scanner has come true! Oh, am I going to have to pay for this. The grovelling has already gone into overdrive. I can't believe what I've promised to cook for Christmas Day and I'm going to be nice to my *choke* relatives *heave*. I might have an out there since I keep telling them M isn't up to having too many people so they're staggering the visits and if I'm careful I'll miss most of them.
I hate Christmas but I love my scanner. I might even learn to love pissy little lights. Nope, that's too much of a stretch but I love my scanner.
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
11 DAYS TO CHRISTMAS
My sister is computer illiterate otherwise I wouldn't get away with writing this but when she interrupts M's morning phone call and has me in fits of laughter, I have to share.
Sis has a wonderful capacity for booze. She can take on a bottle of vodka and still get her key in the door. Her tolerance for beer is just as good but wine not so good. She's had a bad day yesterday with the shock of how much tax Costello siphoned from her holiday pay and sundry other annoyances, like M.
She drank everything in the house but still hadn't hit that blissful stage of forgetfulness until she found the Chardonnay at the back of the fridge. I don't know how she missed it, there's never any food in there, our family doesn't feed, it forages.
It was all downhill after that. She vaguely remembers lying on the couch and probably singing but wonders where she undressed because all the blinds were open this morning. We'll find out tonight if cars start slowing down as they pass.
The biggest worry was waking up and finding her teeth at the bottom of the bed with the cat. The explanations are ongoing. Did she sneeze and lose them? Did she throw them at the cat? The cat is a bed hog. Was she snoring so loud that the cat tried to shove them down her throat to shut her up? I'm not kidding, the cat is so pyschotic I call it Bates, as in the motel.
I didn't think I could laugh harder but I did when she asked me to ring her mobile number so she could find the phone. She'd already looked in the freezer (she did need ice) and checked the cat's dish (it needed food). We found it but who would have thought to look in the empty pay packet.
And after all this, she doesn't have a hangover. She never gets a hangover. I fall over and die after one drink. She has given me a vodka and soda and I haven't walked a straight line of the three kms home. She's out shopping now and buying a turkey. She rarely has Christmas Day off so her turkey cooking skills aren't up there with Nigella but she's promised not to drink until it's on the table, after that, all bets are off.
Sis has a wonderful capacity for booze. She can take on a bottle of vodka and still get her key in the door. Her tolerance for beer is just as good but wine not so good. She's had a bad day yesterday with the shock of how much tax Costello siphoned from her holiday pay and sundry other annoyances, like M.
She drank everything in the house but still hadn't hit that blissful stage of forgetfulness until she found the Chardonnay at the back of the fridge. I don't know how she missed it, there's never any food in there, our family doesn't feed, it forages.
It was all downhill after that. She vaguely remembers lying on the couch and probably singing but wonders where she undressed because all the blinds were open this morning. We'll find out tonight if cars start slowing down as they pass.
The biggest worry was waking up and finding her teeth at the bottom of the bed with the cat. The explanations are ongoing. Did she sneeze and lose them? Did she throw them at the cat? The cat is a bed hog. Was she snoring so loud that the cat tried to shove them down her throat to shut her up? I'm not kidding, the cat is so pyschotic I call it Bates, as in the motel.
I didn't think I could laugh harder but I did when she asked me to ring her mobile number so she could find the phone. She'd already looked in the freezer (she did need ice) and checked the cat's dish (it needed food). We found it but who would have thought to look in the empty pay packet.
And after all this, she doesn't have a hangover. She never gets a hangover. I fall over and die after one drink. She has given me a vodka and soda and I haven't walked a straight line of the three kms home. She's out shopping now and buying a turkey. She rarely has Christmas Day off so her turkey cooking skills aren't up there with Nigella but she's promised not to drink until it's on the table, after that, all bets are off.
RAGE
I'm only leaving this photograph up for 24 hours since I respect my granddaughters' privacy. They are beautiful, talented and extremely intelligent. I've been asked time and time again, "What nationality are they?" They are Australian, born here as was their father and mother. On their father's side, they inherited French, German, Scot and American genes. On their mother's side, they inherited, Sinhalese, Dutch, English and Irish genes. They are my United Nations. They are Human Beings.
Tuesday, December 13, 2005
MEME TIME
I was tagged by a delightful young man who will grow into a delightful adult if I don't throttle him first. If you think you'll get anything sensible out of me, in your dreams, OoC.
SEVEN THINGS THAT ATTRACT ME TO MY (Romantic interest, best friend, whatever applies)
1. Makes me feel equal and special.
2. Strength and softness. Think Terminator meets Luke Skywalker.
3. Honesty. But he is allowed to lie about my age, weight and how good I am in bed.
4. An elegant mind. As in the scientific meaning of elegant.
5. A sense of humour. He'll need it.
6. The usual - Green Eyes! And if you haven't got green eyes, wear contacts, I'll never know.
7. Smell. Expensive yummy crisp yummy citrusy yummy cologne yummy smell.
SEVEN BOOKS OR SERIES THAT I LOVE
1. The adventures of the Potter kid and Wind in the Willows. Because I had an insecure childhood and I keep trying to rectify it. Made more insecure by finding out Biggles was a misogynist racist and the Famous Five were anti-social mutant teenagers.
2. Moby Dick. For the sound of the words and the imagery.
3. Christopher Isherwood's Diaries. For the background to his books.
4. The Lovejoy series. Invaluable for the information I'll need for my career in antiques as a dealer or forger and for the character of Lovejoy himself.
5. Dick Francis' racing mysteries. As being raised around racing I know how true the skulduggery is.
6. The Illiad and The Odyssey. For the memory of trying to learn Greek so I could read it in the original.
7. Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta and Reichs' Tempe Brennan. Because I'd never be able to slice and dice a body in real life.
Nothing very deep here, no Plato or Cicero although I do love some of the Greek tragedies and no animal books. I was scarred forever by the sadist who let me sob my way through Black Beauty.
SEVEN THINGS I WANT TO DO BEFORE I DIE
1. Get a life.
2. And a figure to match.
3. Travel. If I ever get over my fear of flying, deep oceans and the peculiar toilet arrangements of other countries.
4. Wake up one morning to find I've become intellectually brilliant.
5. Deal in antiques.
6. Deal in Gems
7. Become obscenely wealthy so I can do most of the above.
SEVEN THINGS I CANNOT DO
1. Regain the figure I never had.
2. Dive into deep water head first. I was on the Titanic. (A previous life so lay off the betting on my age)
3. Ice skate. Ice is cold, hard and unforgiving even with my padding.
4. Ballet. The dancing hippos in Fantasia are never far from my mind.
5. Drive - a car, bus, truck or anything that goes fast on wheels with me in control.
6. Ride a horse. They're large with kicking things on each corner, teeth at one end and something unspeakable at the other.
7. *shudders* Re-marry or think of re-marrying. *shudders*
SEVEN MOVIES I WOULD WATCH OVER AND OVER AGAIN
1. The Potter kid, all of them and the ones to come.
2. StarWars. The original version not the one he fiddled with later.
3. Camelot. For the sets and the costumes and 'Lance' wasn't bad on the eye either.
4. Blade Runner, director's cut.
5. Aliens. The second one where Ripley kicks both men and alien.
6. Willow. The best villianess since Snow White's stepmother.
7. The Abyss. Not the director's cut. Why don't they leave good things alone?
SEVEN THINGS I SAY MOST OFTEN
1. *expletive deleted* pain.
2. *expletive deleted* computer.
3. *expletive deleted* politicians.
4. 'Flying Fruitbats' (how did a clean one get in here?)
5. *expletive deleted* happens.
6. *expletive deleted* shaddup (to the cats).
7. *expletive deleted* *expletive deleted* *expletive deleted* Ex.
SEVEN PEOPLE I WANT TO JOIN IN TOO
You know who you are! I'll be lurking. Don't make me come and get you.
SEVEN THINGS THAT ATTRACT ME TO MY (Romantic interest, best friend, whatever applies)
1. Makes me feel equal and special.
2. Strength and softness. Think Terminator meets Luke Skywalker.
3. Honesty. But he is allowed to lie about my age, weight and how good I am in bed.
4. An elegant mind. As in the scientific meaning of elegant.
5. A sense of humour. He'll need it.
6. The usual - Green Eyes! And if you haven't got green eyes, wear contacts, I'll never know.
7. Smell. Expensive yummy crisp yummy citrusy yummy cologne yummy smell.
SEVEN BOOKS OR SERIES THAT I LOVE
1. The adventures of the Potter kid and Wind in the Willows. Because I had an insecure childhood and I keep trying to rectify it. Made more insecure by finding out Biggles was a misogynist racist and the Famous Five were anti-social mutant teenagers.
2. Moby Dick. For the sound of the words and the imagery.
3. Christopher Isherwood's Diaries. For the background to his books.
4. The Lovejoy series. Invaluable for the information I'll need for my career in antiques as a dealer or forger and for the character of Lovejoy himself.
5. Dick Francis' racing mysteries. As being raised around racing I know how true the skulduggery is.
6. The Illiad and The Odyssey. For the memory of trying to learn Greek so I could read it in the original.
7. Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta and Reichs' Tempe Brennan. Because I'd never be able to slice and dice a body in real life.
Nothing very deep here, no Plato or Cicero although I do love some of the Greek tragedies and no animal books. I was scarred forever by the sadist who let me sob my way through Black Beauty.
SEVEN THINGS I WANT TO DO BEFORE I DIE
1. Get a life.
2. And a figure to match.
3. Travel. If I ever get over my fear of flying, deep oceans and the peculiar toilet arrangements of other countries.
4. Wake up one morning to find I've become intellectually brilliant.
5. Deal in antiques.
6. Deal in Gems
7. Become obscenely wealthy so I can do most of the above.
SEVEN THINGS I CANNOT DO
1. Regain the figure I never had.
2. Dive into deep water head first. I was on the Titanic. (A previous life so lay off the betting on my age)
3. Ice skate. Ice is cold, hard and unforgiving even with my padding.
4. Ballet. The dancing hippos in Fantasia are never far from my mind.
5. Drive - a car, bus, truck or anything that goes fast on wheels with me in control.
6. Ride a horse. They're large with kicking things on each corner, teeth at one end and something unspeakable at the other.
7. *shudders* Re-marry or think of re-marrying. *shudders*
SEVEN MOVIES I WOULD WATCH OVER AND OVER AGAIN
1. The Potter kid, all of them and the ones to come.
2. StarWars. The original version not the one he fiddled with later.
3. Camelot. For the sets and the costumes and 'Lance' wasn't bad on the eye either.
4. Blade Runner, director's cut.
5. Aliens. The second one where Ripley kicks both men and alien.
6. Willow. The best villianess since Snow White's stepmother.
7. The Abyss. Not the director's cut. Why don't they leave good things alone?
SEVEN THINGS I SAY MOST OFTEN
1. *expletive deleted* pain.
2. *expletive deleted* computer.
3. *expletive deleted* politicians.
4. 'Flying Fruitbats' (how did a clean one get in here?)
5. *expletive deleted* happens.
6. *expletive deleted* shaddup (to the cats).
7. *expletive deleted* *expletive deleted* *expletive deleted* Ex.
SEVEN PEOPLE I WANT TO JOIN IN TOO
You know who you are! I'll be lurking. Don't make me come and get you.
Sunday, December 11, 2005
IT'S SATURDAY
So what, you say. Well for me remembering what day it is, calls for celebration.
Nearly half way through December and I've forgotten to post the November earthquake report. Nine earthquakes in Oz last month, six of them north of Kalanie in Western Australia. Is there something in Kalanie we should know about? Big meteor in the sky last week. That film with David Duchovny about the giant worm/slug/snake thing, name escapes me but the movie doesn't. That was filmed outback. Keep you posted.
I found the perfect Christmas present for the parents of those kids you hate. I had to control the panic attack on seeing this on full display, THE SOUND OF MUSIC SING-A-LONG VERSION on DVD. The horror, the inhumanity, the total disintegration of a family gathering as an entire room full of Mini-Marias go full bore. It must go to someone, somewhere on a hate list.
One for me, if I was solvent, if I could stand kids, if I didn't want to hit all Santas with a brick. Steamrail Victoria has a Santa Special Picnic train going to Geelong on Sunday Dec. 18. A steam locomotive and heritage carriages. Picnic lunch in the parks and foreshore at Geelong. Love it.
Every holiday for years our treat was a steam locomotive trip somewhere. Up at dawn with the boys (son and brick outhouse), Spencer Street and steam engine. Every mother should be a hero to her kids for one moment and mine was providing swim goggles so they could spend the entire trip with their heads out the window and no cinders in the eyes. It was then I realized I must be doing something right when they offered to share goggles with the other kids. *sunbeams in the heart* Something else I must have been in a former life, a sherpa. I managed to carry food for three, drinks, extra clothes (they always found water, little camels) books (me), cameras, torches, swiss army knife and kitchen sink on my back.
That leads into one of my favourite hates. Fat mothers who say they want to loose weight so they can play with their kids. I say 'whadaloaddarubbish'! I hiked up mountains, waded creeks, climbed down cliffs, rode a bike, snorkled with the boys and I was so fat we had to look out for Japanese scientific research vessels.
Ending the week goodly was Barmey actually crossing the floor and keeping a promise. Ending the week badly was Family First Fielding voting for VSU. He said no deals were made but as an opponent of RU-486, I wouldn't trust him an inch. Brenden Nelson and the Prime Miniature aren't divulging what was discussed at the meeting prior to the vote. HAH!
In good news for me and Mandy Vanstone, being overweight is not nearly as bad for our health as everyone says. Of course, being overweight and a liberal minister is not necessarily good for Mandy V's health but I'm okay. Haven't read the full article yet, I'll save it for a snack break later. There'll be a catch there somewhere. I'll fill you up, er in, next week. I think I've got enough sedition in this week.
Be warned, I'm finishing a meme.
Nearly half way through December and I've forgotten to post the November earthquake report. Nine earthquakes in Oz last month, six of them north of Kalanie in Western Australia. Is there something in Kalanie we should know about? Big meteor in the sky last week. That film with David Duchovny about the giant worm/slug/snake thing, name escapes me but the movie doesn't. That was filmed outback. Keep you posted.
I found the perfect Christmas present for the parents of those kids you hate. I had to control the panic attack on seeing this on full display, THE SOUND OF MUSIC SING-A-LONG VERSION on DVD. The horror, the inhumanity, the total disintegration of a family gathering as an entire room full of Mini-Marias go full bore. It must go to someone, somewhere on a hate list.
One for me, if I was solvent, if I could stand kids, if I didn't want to hit all Santas with a brick. Steamrail Victoria has a Santa Special Picnic train going to Geelong on Sunday Dec. 18. A steam locomotive and heritage carriages. Picnic lunch in the parks and foreshore at Geelong. Love it.
Every holiday for years our treat was a steam locomotive trip somewhere. Up at dawn with the boys (son and brick outhouse), Spencer Street and steam engine. Every mother should be a hero to her kids for one moment and mine was providing swim goggles so they could spend the entire trip with their heads out the window and no cinders in the eyes. It was then I realized I must be doing something right when they offered to share goggles with the other kids. *sunbeams in the heart* Something else I must have been in a former life, a sherpa. I managed to carry food for three, drinks, extra clothes (they always found water, little camels) books (me), cameras, torches, swiss army knife and kitchen sink on my back.
That leads into one of my favourite hates. Fat mothers who say they want to loose weight so they can play with their kids. I say 'whadaloaddarubbish'! I hiked up mountains, waded creeks, climbed down cliffs, rode a bike, snorkled with the boys and I was so fat we had to look out for Japanese scientific research vessels.
Ending the week goodly was Barmey actually crossing the floor and keeping a promise. Ending the week badly was Family First Fielding voting for VSU. He said no deals were made but as an opponent of RU-486, I wouldn't trust him an inch. Brenden Nelson and the Prime Miniature aren't divulging what was discussed at the meeting prior to the vote. HAH!
In good news for me and Mandy Vanstone, being overweight is not nearly as bad for our health as everyone says. Of course, being overweight and a liberal minister is not necessarily good for Mandy V's health but I'm okay. Haven't read the full article yet, I'll save it for a snack break later. There'll be a catch there somewhere. I'll fill you up, er in, next week. I think I've got enough sedition in this week.
Be warned, I'm finishing a meme.
Saturday, December 10, 2005
MEDICINE
Ron, I thought perhaps a box of eye candy might help you feel better instead of just a piece.
WHERE WOULD YOU GO?
This article http://www.ssonet.com.au/display.asp?ArticleID=4923will make you wonder more about the American Government than you already do.
So much for tolerance about HIV/AIDS.
So much for tolerance about HIV/AIDS.
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