Dayz Out

I know that posts have been few over the christmas holidays and i'm terribly sorry. To combat the few posts, here are a few pictures of what we've been up to.

merry christmas, may you be utterly depressed

I have always looked forward to attending the christmas service of my local church. They bring in special music items and the children are always dressed in their christmas best. This year was no exception. I was amazed by the chior and the many different styles of music that was being presented. i enjoyed it greatly!

That is, until the minister felt the need to speak. As soon as he reached the podium he was talking about how terrible the shape of the world is. He spoke about SIN! and how acceptable sin was becoming in our society. How it was encouraged that if we were going to go out and sin, we should do so safely! (our row said amen, but i think the rest of the church found it inappropriate) He warned us that as we went into the world to be careful of things things that looked safe but would lead us away from God.

At the end of the service, he admonished us to give generously to his buy-a-new-video-camera-for-the-church fund.

Dream Weaver

Some of the american indians believed that a bad dream could be caught in a dream weaver to keep in from coming back. Last night, my husband and i could have used one. While it may be believable to have a couple have nightmares in one night, what are the chances of having the same nightmare?

Last night my husband and i had a very similar nightmare. It was located in a school and we both were substitute teaching in a classroom full of 6 year old. In my dream, a serial killer was targeting children, a little girl was being hunted and the teacher had to go save her. She succeeded but the child was severely hurt. In my husband's dream, the little girl fell off a cliff face and was caught by a stray tree branch.

Anyone got some sort of explanation for this?

So Sue Me!

The newest ruling in Australia relating to copyright infrigement states that linking from your blog to a copyrighted material makes you legally responsible. apparently if i put a link to a music video on my site, i can get sued by big name record labels who can't figure out how to make money now that the internet is out to get them.

I would love to put a link to where i found this information, but it might be copyrighted and i'll get into trouble!

The downfall of me

Have you ever watched a really cheesy movie and then had the most dreaded reaction? I recently did. I watch the film Dead or Alive. This is a rip off of a computer game (or so I'm told) and it shamelessly insults the intelligence of all viewers. i loved it. For some reason i can't stop quoting the film. it is a very quotable movie! It is action packed (it doesn't bother with little things like plot) and it is amazingly fun. Of course, you had to pretend you did not have any sort of common sense and that your morals were on holiday.

But there is something quite enduring about a bunch of women who can just kick butt. They can kick butt in jeans so tight you have to sew them on. they can do it in high heals. They can do it soaking wet, they can do it while hanging upside down! They never show any physical sign of bruising, nor of any sort of intelligence (but maybe that is a side effect of all the fighting).

The point of this blog entry, i think I've lost my way.

The MySpace addiction

I keep hearing how addictive myspace is. People spend hours on it. (not sure what you can do for hours on end, but apparently people do that.)

I use myspace like a more advanced email system. Along with the message, you get a picture of who sent it. You can openly share the messages or keep em private. You can get background info on whom ever sends you things. Its greet!

I like how i can get mass emails (or bulletins) from friends and ignore them without feeling even a little bit guilty! i like being able to spy on my friends and see what is happening in thier life in a glance. i like being able to drop a quick note just to let them know i care.

And while i do admit that myspace is probably the fast-food version of keeping in touch, we do live in a fast-food society. while we may not want to lose track of our friends, we do. This fast food relationship allows us to keep track of more people. Although, a relationship can't thrive on fast food, it allows us to make a decision. It is our decision how we decide to grow the relationships we have.

another christmas

Last night we celebrated Christmas. I know, its not the right day. I could get into a theological and historical debate over the validity of celebrating Christmas on the 25th of December, but i won't. Lets just say that the family has a very open view on when Christmas gets celebrated.

This year, do to the fact my sister in-law is leaving to go to america for christmas, we decided to open presents early. We had christmas dinner (i cooked my mother's famous special k loaf). Christmas dinner involved cooking all afternoon. Salad, mashed potatos, brocolii and carrots were all prepared well in advance. Whenever we weren't preparing, we were setting the table to look stunning. While we prepared mum (in-law) and i would chat. At first it was light stuff, but soon turned into family issues. There is something sinister about having to cook christmas dinner while discussing family issues. The bright side of that is that i know understand that side of the family SO much better.

By 6 everyone had arrived and we started the meal. After some discussion about the ligimatcy of reciepes that came from America, the food was finally eaten. (apparently the loaf wasn't cooked quite right, but no one died so i don't know what the complaintes were for)

And then part that is always the most exciting, we went outside to open gifts under the christmas tree (which happened to be the tiny mandarine tree out back). I played 'santa' and handed out the gifts. and just like that it was over. christmas was cleaned up and they were gone by the stroke of 8:15.

Now that it is all over, i feel justified in getting terribly sick.

Live

Someone asked me why i read PostSecret. I don't think i've got a good answer. i want it to be an answer that is deep and profound. I don't want it to be "because i like knowing people are more screwed up than me".

I am a faithful reader. i read each week as people talk about how much they were hurt by people in thier life or how they have a secret habit that is socially unexceptable. Sometimes i wonder what sort of postcard i would send in...

Maybe i would send in one that talks about how much i love my home or how much i dispise the one i left. Maybe i would talk about what sort of life i want to live or how lucky i am to be living it.

I'm really not sure what i would say so i guess i'll just continue to read quietly from a distance. (Yes, i'm a creepy silent reader)

lavender blue

not long ago, i spoke about the horrors of deepfrying your thumb. Today we will speak of the horrors of inhaling lavender powder.

Now please do not think i am some sort of strange junky. I am merely a holiday shopper who got too keen on smelling lotions at The Body Shop. I was looking for the perfect sent for my grandmother. As i went from Mango to Vanilla hand lotion a shop assistant found me and assured me that the sent i was looking for was something more exotic. She was right, i loved the smell immediately, but right above this exotic smell (which i can't remember the name of) i found (in a similar jar) what looked like lavender hand lotion.

"HURRAY!" i thought to myself. "i love lavender smell!"

I greedily grabbed the container, unscrewed the lid, and took a deep breath. Sadly, the container did not contain lotion but rather a powder. The sent was lodged in my nose and would not leave for the rest of the day. but at least when the hubby let out that big fart at tea it smelled of lavender

Bad Hit

Talk about a bad hit, HIV and Malaria turn out to be a deadly combination for regions in Africa. According to research done in Africa, the two diseases actually feed on eachother. If you happen to be sick with Malaria, the fever in your body makes your HIV count 10 times higher, making your chances of infecting someone else significanly more likely. If you happen to have HIV, your more likely to get infected with Malaria.

I can not imagine anything worse than being sick with HIV and Malaria. If one doesn't kill you, the other one likely will. What really bothers me though, is that the western world has ways to make both of these illnesses livable. Neither one of these are the death sentence they used to be...at least not for us rich people.

Bono (you know that really famous lead singer of U2, who insists on being known by only one name? like cher or shakira, except neither one of them openly acknowlege the plight of the poor...but this side note is becoming too much) Anyway, Bono mentioned a while back that we had the ablitiy to cure AIDS. I don't know about a cure, but i'm more than a little suprised that all those big pharmaceutical companies (you know the ones making millions, billions, katrilians. mostly from celebrity using their anesthetic during thier nose/ breast/chin implant surgeries) aren't doing more. Their profits are soring (not quite as much as oil companies but still soring) and as far as i can tell, they are putting their money into making TV comercials where pretty girls frolick on the beach with their partners while the voice narrator discusses genital herbies. Wouldn't it make more sense to work on an actual CURE for these diseases? or maybe send some of the treatments (along with people to distribute it)...

but thats just a thought...

Please, hire me

Today I spent my time avoiding writing a cover letter. I never know what to say. I'm always afraid of coming off either too desperate or too full of myself. Is there a happy medium? If there is, I have yet to find it.

So after avoiding it for as long as possible, I finally gave in. I sat down opened my open office word document and began to type out a cover letter. It started out fine with the usual, "please consider me for this position" and ended with something close to tears about one sentence later.

"Sell yourself!"

This shouldn't be a problem. I know I'm a fabulous and well qualified person (modesty should probably rate somewhere in here too) but do you think I could write it in a coherent sort of way? Nope. Not a chance.

*le sigh* I guess I'm just doomed to sound conceited and out-spoken..at least I'm not desperate though....

All I want for Christmas

I hate Christmas. Not in the Scrooge sort of way though. He hated Christmas because he never got into the decorations, or maybe just the cost of the decorations. I hate Christmas for a completely different set of reasons.

On the morally superior side, I hate Christmas because as much as everyone talks about "the true meaning of Christmas", the reality is that it is an excuse for the rich to flaunt their goods and make businesses even richer. It is also an exercise in gluttony and greed. All this is, of course, done with the ever-present help of the Chinese sweatshops that keep the 'made-in-china' decorations coming.

On a more personal note I hate Christmas for the dreaded question. "what do you want for Christmas?" I think I've been asked the question four or five times today. and the truth of the matter is, I want nothing. Nothing that any one could give me is going to make me happier, better adjusted to my society, or (significantly) better off economically. But the question is not about my needs. It is about my wants. Everyone has them. Little things that you have desired for some time without putting too much energy into actually acquiring. Once you acquire this little thing, it will take an honored place in the back of a cupboard or closet where you won't think about it again. I really don't want to have my house cluttered by these sort of things though. So this year, this is want I want. I want you to donate a toy to a needy child. I want you to send money to your nearby homeless shelter. I want you to say something nice about that really annoying person in your life.

And once you've done that, then we can really have a happy Christmas. (but not a merry one because apparently 'merry' isn't the right sort of lingo anymore)

Survive it

picture from PostSecrets.blogspot.com