You have to listen to me, I'm a mum now!

Let's face it. Being a mother changes who you are. It really does. I never used to be an emotional person. Oh wait, scratch that. I never used to be a SOPPY person. You know, one of those people that cries at the drop of a hat? Who has little tearies when a moving ad comes on. If my mum would cry because of something in a movie I would say "Mum! Get over yourself!" Now I fear my children will be saying it to me when they're older.

You see, your whole perspective changes. The child crying, lost at the station (that horrible quit smoking ad) is your child. The family waiting for their father to come home from work (work cover ads) is your family. The first time I watched Titanic after I'd had my first son, and I saw the mother and baby floating frozen in the sea towards the end of the film, I started crying. Because I was imagining that baby being my baby.

For me, being a mother has made me less careless and irresponsible. I would never go skydiving again for fear of leaving my sons motherless. If some losers are walking past my house being loud and obnoxious I will no longer scream out to them "Shut the hell up you filthy bogans!" for fear of them coming and threatening my children. Even as pathetic as worrying when I go out at night that random things will happen to me which will leave my sons motherless- getting into a car accident, falling tree branches, being kidnapped or raped (touch wood to all of those). I NEVER used to care about these things before I had children. Before motherhood I was indestructible. "It won't happen to me" was my motto. I would have tried anything, and the scarier the better. I liked testing life's boundaries. God knows how I'll deal with it if my sons ever get to that stage.

But it's even little, random things. It's like that episode of Scrubs when Turk and Dr Cox are talking about how being a parent changes your life and the way you see everything. For most people having poo, spew or boogers on your hand is disgusting. But if I'm changing my baby's nappy or wiping my 3yo's bum and I get poo on my hand, it's no big deal, I just grab a wipe or piece of tp and wipe it off. Hey, sometimes I even forget to wash my hands afterwards. And I could walk around all day with my top smelling like baby spew and it doesn't bother me.

Now, I think like a mother. I haven't chosen to do so. I didn't consciously choose to start thinking responsibly. It's just that everyone I come in contact to I see as someone's son or daughter, or someone's mother or father.My friend across the road popped by after a run one day, having seen Lachlan and me playing in the front yard. When we went inside I offered for her to ring her her mum and tell her where she was, which she didn't, with my old attitude of "she'll be right". Needless to say, her mum came knocking, worried sick. When my friend told her mum I'd suggested she ring and say where she was, her mum said "You should have listened to her, she's a mum now!"

I also remember having a conversation many times about how no good deed is ever selfless, because at the end of the day you do a good deed because you want to help someone, because it makes YOU feel good. That is, until you have children. And everything you do for your children is for THEIR happiness, THEIR well-being, THEIR safety. It doesn't matter if the decision you make makes you feel like shit (and believe me, sometimes they do), because THEY are what's important. They are THE most important people in your life, more than your partner, more than yourself.

Being a mother exposes you to the beauty of unconditional love. I don't believe unconditional can exist for any other relationship except a parent for their child, and vice versa. It's the most humbling, most fulfilling, most painful type of love there is.

So, I might still be Melissa Wallace- cheeky, immature, sometimes selfish, stubborn, determined, and fun-loving, but being a mum does take precedence over all of those. Not by choice. That's just the way it is.

Book Review - Cents and Sensibility (Maggie Alderson)

Sometimes it's good to read something that requires no brain power, and this is one of those fabulous works of fiction where you can just get lost in another life of fantasy, pretending to be the character and leading that life.

Cents and Sensibility is about Stella Montecourt-Fain, a journalist at one of the best newspapers in London. She specialises in luxury feature stories, and so is exposed to that awe-inspiring world of luxurious clothes, accessories, high jewelry, money, and beautiful people. Not that that's important of course.

On one of her regular trips to France (sigh) she meets the heir to one of America's biggest fortune...but she doesn't find out straight away. The story is about hers and her father's reaction to the amount of money this man would inherit, as well as love (of course), and family values.

There are some colourful characters in the story, my favorite being the womanising Lord Montecourt-Fain, Stella's father, who has had six wives and a myriad of children to each wife. Of course this makes for an interesting and complicated family mix, but full of love and fun nonetheless.

The story is a lighthearted read when you feel like escaping life without having to put too much thought in it.

You can buy Cents and Sensibility here

Book Review- Tuesdays with Morrie: an old man, a young man, and life's greatest lessons (Mitch Albom)

I loved this book. It is an easy read, but at the same time it tackles life's greatest questions and makes you think, which is what makes this such a great book.

The story is about a Mitch Albom's college professor (Morrie) who has been diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. Mitch goes to visit him (yep, every Tuesday) as the disease slowly takes control of his body. During this time Mitch comes up with a list of topics he'd like to discuss with Morrie You see, Morrie is one of those people that everyone could benefit from having in their lives. He was the type of person who followed his passions, never let superficial things get in the way of his true loves, drew people towards him like moths to a flame, didn't care what society thought, and was incredibly insightful and wise- all of which were magnified when he found out he had a terminal illness.

The topics (or the syllabus) that Mitch and Morrie covered are: The world, feeling sorry for yourself, regrets, death, family, emotions, fear of aging, money, how love goes on, marriage, our (western) culture, and forgiveness.

We need more books in our life that approach these topics with an open mind. I took away three lessons from this one:

1. That no matter how much money and material possessions you have, they will never buy you lasting happiness and contentment. I mean to the point where you say "I don't need anything else in my life, I have all that I could possibly need to make me happy". I've covered this briefly in my post Generation X and Y: the lost generations?.

2. The most important things in life really are friends and family. Because at the end of the day, if you have no one to talk to, it's all worth nothing (unless, of course, you're one of those people that is perfectly happy being on your own)

3. We will never be truly happy until we can look at ourselves and accept all our faults and try to make them better, rather than try and make more money, get skinnier etc. If we can learn from our imperfections, accept that we all age and eventually die, and learn to enjoy life for what it is rather than slowing down the process of death, we will be able to live better lives.

You can buy Tuesdays with Morrie here

Quick and Easy Meal: curry meat and potato with jasmine rice

Ingredients:

One tub of Campbell's microwaveable Chunky Curried Meat and Potato soup (or butter chicken and veggies)
One packet of Sunrise microwaveable jasmine rice (or brown or basmati)

Method:
Microwave soup
Microwave rice
Combine

Feeds: 3 people
Time: 3 minutes 30 sec

Lesbian kiss censored on Channel 7

Ok. A few weeks ago the Herald Sun decided that Home and Away having a lesbian relationship and lesbian kiss scene was newsworthy. So newsworthy that it made front page headlines (must have been a slow news day). And I thought "Please, how pathetic. That's not news. This is the 21st century. I'm surprised it hasn't happened sooner".

However. On inspecting today's The Age I found this. If you can't be bothered reading it, the gist is that Channel 7 have decided to censor the lesbian kiss in H&A:

Protesters are planning to pucker up in a mass 'kiss-off' at Melbourne's Federation Square tonight to rally against Channel Seven's decision to censor a lesbian kiss on teen soapie Home and Away.

Hundreds of people are expected to gather as the soapie airs at 7pm to peacefully demonstrate against the move by the station to reportedly cut scenes from a lesbian storyline.

Policewoman Charlie Buckton, played by actor Esther Anderson, and deckhand Joey Collins, played by Katie Bell, were due to kiss on tonight's episode.

But according to News Limited reports, some intimate close-up shots were cut following complaints from conservative groups and viewers.

St Kilda-based photographer Emma Phillips said it was a shame people still viewed homosexuality as "shocking".

"It's pretty outrageous in this day and age that we have programs still censoring any gay content and something like Home and Away which is on at prime-time, it's pretty mild content that they have generally anyway," she said.

"I'm surprised at their level of conservatism."

Ms Phillips said she was originally pleased that a show marketed towards teenagers had decided to include a lesbian relationship.

"It's a tough time being a teenager anyway, being a gay teenager is doubly difficult and it's something that's never spoken about at school and my experience has been that the majority of gay people were bullied at school so for something like Home and Away to actually have some positive content just would have contributed enormously to their well-being," she said.

A Melbourne lawyer, who because of discrimination fears did not want to be named, said word of tonight's gathering for straight and gay people was spreading through text messages and emails.

The woman said she did not usually "get involved with these sorts of things" but had been appalled that two women kissing on a television show was still an issue in 2009.

" I think it highlights that there is a large proportion of the community who feel they need to tolerate gay people as opposed to accept them and I think people lose sight of the difference between tolerance and acceptance," she said.

The lawyer said she believed a minority of conservative voices were being given an undue level of influence over what was being screened.

"In this case the conservative minority has been able to sway public opinion to the detriment of the majority," she said.

"And certainly when I forwarded this email this morning to 200 people on my email list, maybe less than a third or even a quarter of people on that list are gay.

"You'd struggle to find a straight person today who doesn't have a gay friend, or knows someone who is gay, so what's the big issues? Come on people, wake up."

She said she was worried what kind of message the decision to censor the kiss would send to Home and Away's young audience.

The lesbian relationship follows a kiss between two schoolgirls on the program last month that seemed to escape the controversy surrounding tonight's episode.

This story was found at: http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2009/03/31/1238261562800.html

If you couldn't be bothered reading it, the gist is that Channel 7 have decided to censor the lesbian kiss in H&A.

This is newsworthy. This is not ONLY newsworthy, it is FRONT PAGE OF EVERY PAPER IN AUSTRALIA newsworthy.
As mentioned in the article, I can not believe the conservatism that still exists in a society that allows pre-teen magazines to promote wearing makeup, women's clothing stores to sell clothes labeled xxxs (I mean COME ON), and magazines that allows photoshopped images.

As if it's not bad enough being a teenager. Even more so now than when I was one 8 years ago. How are those teens out there battling with their sexuality supposed to feel? I'd expect such conservatism from the Vatican, for sure. But Australia? Today? REALLY? Censoring something as normal as a lesbian kiss (I repeat KISS, not sex scene) is giving our society the impression that there is something wrong with it. There are so many things wrong with that on so many levels.

This really got up my goat. I don't care if people think it's wrong. The point is that gay people exist. Deal with it. Don't alienate them more by censoring something as low-key as a kiss.

Second time around

Photo sourced from Blog "Someone's Photos"

I was watching Scrubs last night (which, by the way, they FINALLY put on at a reasonable hour- 8pm on a Monday- my blog must have got through to them huh?) and something really hit home with me. Turk announced to everyone that he and Carla were expecting a second baby, and no one really cared. And this made me think.

When Shane and I announced we were expecting our first child, everyone was ecstatic (albeit wary, as you are when you're not sure if the couple was trying or if it was a 'surprise'). In the hospital once Lachlan had been born, I was inundated with flowers and congratulatory cards. Both sets of new grandparents announced it to the world the very next day via our local and metropolitan newspapers. Visitors came in every day of the four days I was in, sometimes five or six at a time (screw the hospital rules). I went home with a car full of flowers, "It's a boy!" cards and balloons, gift hampers, clothes and chocolates. When I got home I filled a whole scrap book of cards I received for Lachlan's birth.

But.

Guess how many cards I received for my second son's birth? Go on, guess.......... Eight. Yep. Enough to fill two pages of a scrap book. Two. Pages. And guess how many flowers I received when I was in hospital? One bunch. Just one bunch, from my hubby and my mum (they went halves, the cheap bastards). And the birth announcements? I asked on the 3rd day:
"Has anyone put Liam's birth in the paper?" to my mum.
"No, why, did you want us to?"
"Well, why wouldn't I? You did it for Lachlan, why wouldn't you do it for Liam? Isn't he as important as your first grandson? Do you want him to grow up with a complex that he's not as good as his big brother?" (I may have been slightly emotional).

My question is this. Why isn't having another baby as exciting or important as the first time? It's no wonder older children and only children have god complexes (well, not really, I'm an only child, but that's not the point). Every child after the first one that is born is treated with a "meh". I mean, how rude?

To this day (3 months later) I still can't believe I only got one bunch of flowers while I was in hospital. That's like everyone announcing "I'm sorry, I just don't think having a second baby warrants a congratulations. It's getting old already." If any of my friends have a second baby, I will be sure to be just as excited when it happens, as I was with their first.

Book of the moment: John Lennon- The Life

I've always been a huge fan of The Beatles. I don't know where this stems from, but it doesn't matter, their happy-go-lucky, sometimes psychedelic, sometimes sombre music has fascinated me for as long as I can remember. I especially liked John Lennon. I guess because he was the troubled one, the "tortured artist", the lost soul of the group, and for some reason I automatically gravitate towards these types. So when I read about the a biography of Lennon by the same guy that did the Beatle's book "Help" (Phillip Norman) in The Age M Magazine, I wanted it. I had to have it. Fortunately it was my birthday a couple of weeks after reading about it (read: today) so when my 3 year-old son asked me what I wanted for my birthday, I was quick to reply.

So I've started reading it already and I will keep you posted how it goes.

Toys, clothes and cute stuff

If you're after presents for babies, toddlers and children, and are tired of boring stuff found in the major stores, I have discovered two adorable websites that have unusual, original, and just plain fun toys, games and clothes. Everything- toys, clothes, decor, furniture- whatever else you can imagine. I only wish I'd discovered it 3 years ago so I could have spent my money on CUTE things that are quirky and different, instead of the same old toys! So, I am sharing these websites with you in the hopes that you won't buy all the Egglings- I need some for Easter and an upcoming 3rd birthday party, so please leave me some!

Check out:
Cradle Rock
Kid's Got Style

Nine-year-old rape victim aborts twins

So sad...

A NINE-YEAR-OLD girl who was carrying twins, allegedly after being raped by her stepfather, underwent an abortion today despite complaints from Brazil's Roman Catholic church.

Police said the stepfather has been jailed since last week, the Associated Press (AP) reported.

Abortion is illegal in Brazil, but judges can make exceptions if the mother's life is in danger or the fetus has no chance of survival.

Fatima Maia, director of the public university hospital where the abortion was performed, said the 15-week-old pregnancy posed a serious risk to the 36-kilogram girl, AP reported.

"She is very small. Her uterus doesn't have the ability to hold one, let alone two children," Ms Maia told the Jornal do Brasil newspaper.

But Marcio Miranda, a lawyer for the Archdiocese of Olinda and Recife in northeastern Brazil, said the girl should have carried the twins to term and had a cesarean section, AP reported

I found this on another blog site and I have to agree with the guy- how can the church give the unborn fetus's more rights than the girl, who was still a child?

Archibald Prize 2009

I'm not really an art person. I don't really get art. I can't stand there an ponder a piece of art and what it means, or doesn't mean, or how the artist felt at the time of painting, what they are trying to convey. I need to be told. I need it to be obvious. That's why I like things like landscape, and portraits. Cos they're obvious. So I like it when it's time for the Archibald Prize, because it gives me the opportunity to appreciate art without having to pretend to understand it.

Have you seen the winner and finalists for this year's Archibald Prize? OMG there are some AMAZING portraits! God, I wish I could paint...or draw...or even evolve beyond stick figures and 2D stuff...

anyways...

The winner this year was Guy Maestri for his portrait of Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunipingu (the blind aboriginal musucian- amazing). But it must have been pretty tough for the judges, there were so many amazing pictures I don't know how they choose just one (hence why I would never make a good judge, they'd all get 1st prize!).
Here's the winning portrait and some of my fave finalists. Enjoy.


winner

Aging gracefully

I went to the bookshop today to look for a couple of books I want to read (as opposed to use as doorstops) when one big, fat book caught my eye. It was called something along the lines of "You, growing old, and how to slow down the process".

Boy did it irk me. Why? Where do I start?

It's been a while now since I found my first grey hair. Then, every time after that, I would pull them out religiously. Until one day, not that long ago, when I thought "screw this. What am I going to do? Keep pulling them out as they come? And then what? Be bald? Dye my hair for the rest of my life? Why? I might have beautiful silvery-grey hair. I can't put off aging forever."

Then, a few weeks ago, having a lovely roast lunch with two friends and their parents, I took the opportunity during a lull in the conversation to tell them: "I'm going grey."

Their reaction was not only relieving, it was enthusiastic. They too thought they were the only ones who had found grey hairs. And here I was thinking that it was because I have children. Here they were, two of my childless friends, also with grey hairs. And the funny part? They all grew in the same place!

I showed them where mine was and my friend's mum proceeded to yank on out of my head and examine it. "It's a lovely silvery colour," she said. I was rapt. I like to think that that conversation with my friends helped change their mind about the aging process. I wonder if I would have a different opinion if I were single though?

Anyway, back to this book. I', just so sick of all this pressure put on women to retain their youth for as long as possible. Cover greys. Get rid of fine lines and wrinkles with botox. Ladies? Your face looks BORING with no expression lines! It looks as though you've never laughed or cried a day in your sad, pathetic little lives!

Or what about retaining your fabulous pre-baby body as fast as you can? All these celebrities who have magically become thinner than before the baby in just X weeks! How is THAT meant to make us feel good about ourselves? Do they think it makes us little people say "well, if THEY can do it, it MUST be possible!" Sure! If we have excess time and money...or maybe just money, to pay a dietician, nutritionist, nanny, personal trainer to tell you what to do and look after your child for you. Not to mention losing so much weight so fast is actually BAD for your baby because it releases toxins into your blood stream and your breast milk. Oh wait. Most celebrities don't breastfeed do they? For fear of ruining their perfect little size X boobs and having them sag like a cow's udder. That's right ladies. A COW'S udder!

So screw them all, I say. Screw the hiding my grey hairs. Screw the getting rid of my wrinkles. Screw the fixing my boobs (my husband won't be pleased). I want to look like I've lived an exciting, colorful life, not a boring, monotonous one. The next time I colour my hair, it won't be tho hide greys, it'll be because I feel like a change. And the only moisturiser I'll be using is one purely for MOISTURE.

Talk to me again when I hit 30, and I'll see if my attitude is still the same, After all, I'm only 26!!

Streets of London

It's easy to forget how lucky we can be, especially on a bad day when it seems everything can go wrong. Sometimes I get grumpy because my husband doesn't do as much housework as I'd like him to (ladies everywhere giving the 'here here'), but hey, at least I'm not grumpy because my husband is cheating on me with one of the beautiful people he works with right? And sometimes I get shitty at my 3 year old because he doesn't listen, but at least I'm not getting shitty with him because he is an absolute feral like some of them can be, or worse, at least I'm not shitty because I don't have kids. You know what I mean?
There is always at least one other person in your life who has things worse of than you. Whether you know about it or not. That's just the way life is. If you're ever feeling crap about your life read a bio on someone who's had a pretty horrible one. Or go hang out where the homeless people sleep. It's like that song "Streets of London":

Have you seen the old man
In the closed-down market
Kicking up the paper,
with his worn out shoes?
In his eyes you see no pride
And held loosely at his side
Yesterday's paper telling yesterday's news

So how can you tell me you're lonely,
And say for you that the sun don't shine?
Let me take you by the hand and lead you through the streets of London
I'll show you something to make you change your mind

Have you seen the old girl
Who walks the streets of London
Dirt in her hair and her clothes in rags?
She's no time for talking,
She just keeps right on walking
Carrying her home in two carrier bags.

Chorus

In the all night cafe
At a quarter past eleven,
Same old man is sitting there on his own
Looking at the world
Over the rim of his tea-cup,
Each tea last an hour
Then he wanders home alone

Chorus

And have you seen the old man
Outside the seaman's mission
Memory fading with
The medal ribbons that he wears.
In our winter city,
The rain cries a little pity
For one more forgotten hero
And a world that doesn't care

Online shopping is frickin fantastic!

I have become addicted to online shopping. Not the dodgy kind that hits the tv at 3 in the morning, the "ring now and get two for the price of one" kind. No, not that one. More like the jump online to the Woolworths or Coles website, register, and do your grocery shopping from home. I don't know why I haven't done it sooner, it is an ABSOLUTE LIFESAVER! I have been raving about it to anyone who listens. Having just successfully received my third lot this morning (albeit 20 minutes later than ordered, but whatever) I thought I would jump on here and rave some more. It's AMAZING!! Let me list the reasons why:

1- I am a sucker for getting things that aren't on my list. If I see a bag of Doritos on special, I'll buy them (my butt hates me for it). If the blocks of chocolate are on special, displayed pleasingly at eye level, I'll buy some. I'm also a sucker for shopping while hungry, which often leaves me with a pantry full of stuff I'll probably never eat. And here's the thing- I'll definitely buy more stuff that's not on my list than the price of the cheapest delivery time ($9.45 btw 10am and 1pm). So it scraps the problem of impulse buying.

2- I am really bad at buying good quality meat, fruit and veg. I'll feel an avocado and think it feels good, but when i go to use it it's blacker than an over-ripe banana, and is stringy as celery. As for meat, I have this mind frame that meat is just too bloody expensive, and so I try to buy the cheapest cut I can find, which results in my husband complaining about its toughness/ fat content/ lack of fat content. But the brilliant thing about online shopping is that because they want to you to keep doing it, they pick the best quality meat, fruit and veg they can. The fresh food I've got from all 3 shopping experiences have been better quality than anything I could ever find, let alone pick, from the supermarket. I'd say it's also because it's fresher than the stuff that sits on the shelves at the supermarket.

3- Everyone has experienced that frustrating moment when you KNOW there's something you forgot to put on your list, but just can't remember what it is...so you don't get it, but remember the moment you get home anyway. Well, online shopping removes this problem for you. Woolworths kindly provided me with one of those shopping list books on a magnet that I can stick to my fridge and add to whenever I think of something. Then, I usually start making my list online on the Monday. If I can't think of anything, I'll walk around the house, looking in the fridge and cupboard to see what I need. That's the problem when you go to the supermarket, if you forget to check to see if you're running out of something, the fridge and cupboard just aren't there for you to check! A few times during the week I'll suddenly remember something and jump online to add it to my list (you can save your list, or even make a master list of stuff you order every week). Then, I'll put my order through on the Friday and have it delivered the following Monday! You can even put the order through on the Sunday and have it delivered on the Monday for the same price!

4- It's really for parents that have kids who aren't particularly fun to cart around the supermarket. It certainly removes the dread of taking your 3-year-old and 11-week-old to the supermarket, wondering what your toddler will demand this week, while wondering what isle your baby decides he wants to scream the house down. Now, don't get me wrong, my children aren't like that, thank goodness, but I never want to be in that situation to find out! So if you just don't have the time, or it's totally incovenient to do a weekly shopping, this is definitely the way to go!

5- Another great thing is that you can actually see how much your shopping is going to cost you before you buy it, and it really helps when you're on a tight budget. You can sort all the items by price, and see right there, in a neat list, which ones are the cheapest items. The specials show up in bright red, so all your specials are right in front of you too, you don't have to go searching for them. If you only have $100 for the week, you tailor your list to meet that budget, whether it's sacrificing those Arnotts Premium Choc Chip biccies for some bread, or only getting the essentials you need for that week. One of the things I hate about shopping is the part where I'm at the checkout and I have no idea how much it's all going to cost me, so I wait anxiously, watching the price go up on the register, hoping that I have enough cash on me and I don't have to break out 2 debit cards and pay for it in 3 bits. That's just mortifying.

6- You get freebies! Yep. F-R-E-E-B-I-E-S. Who'da thunk it right? A big corporate type giving away freebies. I still haven't quite figured out why yet. A little part of me is expecting a knock at the door from a collectors agency saying "you own us $3.45 for the 3 head of broccoli you got last week- pay up or we'll break your leg", but so far this hasn't happened. The first time I actually thought I'd been given the wrong groceries, when I opened up the first bag and say a bottle of lemon, lime and bitters and a bag of doggy biscuits I hadn't ordered. I admit, I was so upset that my first online shopping experience ended in disaster that I was about to swear off it forever before I thought I'd better check the rest of the shopping instead. And lo and behold, it WAS my shopping- ALL of it correct, with some freebies thrown in! What the??? So far I have received 2 bottles of lem, lim and bitters, doggy biscuits, 2 heads of broccoli, and a points card that tracks how much I spend and gives me points to discount fuel.

7- You can compare which supermarket is cheaper. Go to the Woolworths and Coles website, make your list of the exact things and see which one is cheaper!!

I can't think of more great reasons why it rocks right now, but I'm sure there are plenty, plenty, plenty! Of course, there has to be one bad thing about the experience, otherwise it's all just too good to be true, so the negative thing would be the amount of shopping bags they use to pack your groceries. Its really enough to make you think twice about online shopping. But I am going to take all my bags down to the supermarket or green grocers where they can use it instead.

Online shopping isn't for everyone. If it's only you, or you and your partner, and you have no real reason why you can't make it to the supermarket every week, then it's probably a waste of money. But if you're like me and just don't like taking your kids to the supermarket, or can't stop your impulsive buying habit, then this is definitely the shopping of the future! Tell all the mum you know!

For those of you in Australia, try going to the Woolworths or Coles website and see how you go!

Scrubs- I LOVE it!

Has anyone had the pleasure of watching this show? It's unbelievably funny, creative, strange, and sometimes downright ridiculous, but it's such a refreshing change from the other crap on tv. The writers and creators have some real imagination! The main character- JD- is often going off on his own little imagined tangents. There's the crazy, neurotic blonde; the janitor, who we never really learn his name; the grumpy old chief of medicine; the scary, alpha male doctor who JD desperately wants acceptance (and maybe even love) from. It's just great. So WHY is it on at 1030 at night? I just don't understand it.

sleep or blog? That is the question.

I should be in bed. My 10 week old will want a feed soon. But I have to express some milk. And I'm tired but this is my me time. People wonder why I don't go to bed earlier, like when my newborn has finally gone to sleep. Why?? Because I want a LIFE! This time of night is my ME time! I can watch tv (yawn, nothing ever on anyway, except for Thursday night's Grey's Anatomy, The Practice, and Scrubs- and some psychotic little show called Bringing Up Baby on ABC, but that's another story), blog, read other blogs, read ezines, read the newspaper, basically whatever I want without having to rush for the potty for my 3 year old, or clean a new spew-patch off the floor, or find something for my husband because he can never seem to find anything unless it's waving wildly and shouting "here I am- under the tv guide!" (a trait which unfortunately has passed to my 3 year old).
So if I look like shit it's because I spend 2 hours a night on me, and it's well worth it!

Gladiator sandals- in or out?

While I have been a great fan of the spring/summer fashion trends- boho/vintage is definitely my style of choice- I have to admit I never really understood the gladiator sandal. How something big, butch men used to wear during vicious blood baths became trendy is beyond my comprehension? But then there are those that follow the trend no matter what. It took me a while to figure out what my problem with them was. If I would see someone down the street wearing them, all I could think was "yeurcchhh", they just do not look right. Yet watching those tall, thin waifs gliding down the catwalk made me realise: gladiator sandals being the way they are, only look good on people who are tall and thin. Their bulkiness and height just look stupid on anyone less than 6 foot, making a usually thin, albeit short, person seem frumpy.
If you aren't tall, do not wear gladiators- they just look ridiculous.

Restored faith in humanity

It's true what they say, that bad times bring out the best in people. It was just a few weeks ago that I was complaining to my husband about how selfish and inconsiderate people are. And yet here we are, in the face of uncertainty, facing the worst crisis our little state of Victoria has ever seen, and all over the country people have banded together to give what they can. The last I heard, $23 million had been raised to help bushfire victims and families. Twenty. Three. MILLION. That is unbelievable, and totally overwhelming.

My faith in mankind has been restored.

Random acts of kindness Part 1- Driving etiquette

How to be considerate on the roads....


This really does my head in, but how many of you have tried to change lanes and find it virtually impossible to because other drivers are intent on refusing to let you in? Particularly at traffic lights when they AREN'T GOING ANYWHERE!!! Well, my advice is really quite simple and logical, and just makes driving a happier, more pleasing experience to all involved. This goes for merging traffic. If every person just let one car...yes...ONE CAR...in front of them there would be no angry drivers, accidents or people running late.

I was driving home from uni yesterday and the lady in the car behind me needed to get into the left lane to turn off. We were stopped at traffic lights and as I watched I noticed (quite sadly) that not one person let her in, despite the fact that we were STATIONARY at the lights. As a result, this woman missed her turn off and almost ended up on the freeway. And yes, I can hear some of you saying "well, she shouldn't have changed lanes at the last minute." True, but what difference would it have made if she tried to do so 5 minutes before? (aside from not missing her turn off). What I mean is, those same people that didn't let her in in this case, wouldn't have let her in 5 minutes before, or at all. It just makes me so angry that people are so inconsiderate. The poor lady was shaking her head, and I could really empathise with her. I just hope that next time she finds herself on the other side of the experience, that she remembers this day and decides to do the right things.

I could go on for hours and hours, days and days about considerate driving, but I won't. I will simply end (and perhaps I should also start) with my key message:

If someone wants to merge/ change lanes, LET THEM IN! You may lose 2 seconds of your time, but it will make driving a much more pleasurable experience. Stay tuned tomorrow when I will talk about public transport etiquette.

Random acts of kindness- the series

Ages ago..like...June 2007, I started blogging on my Myspace blog a section called Random Acts of Kindness. I really thing the world would be a better place if people weren't so inconsiderate and selfish, so I started posting little tips on how to do nice things for people. So here it is again- in case you didn't get it...

When was the last random act of kindness you did? Or, better yet, when was the last act of kindness you did? What's the difference? Well, acts of kindness are everyday things- driving your mum around so she can get her errands done; holding a door open for a stranger; tipping the chic who makes you an awesome coffee in the cafe up the street; waking the person next to you on the train to make sure they haven't missed their stop; giving up your seat on public transport for the elderly, disabled or pregnant; helping a woman pick up the contents of her handbag off the footpath. Acts of kindness are things you are almost expected to do, and with every right.

Random acts of kindness are the completely unexpected, extremely pleasing (for both parties) and uncommon occurances. Things like: paying for the person in front of (or behind) you groceries, petrol or whatever else; or giving your all day train ticket to someone without expecting any money for it.

The last random act of kindness I did (which I do everytime I'm down there) is stick my parking ticket at Deakin back into the slot in the ticket machine where it spits it out. That way the next person who comes along to buy a ticket already has one!

Look, I'm not here to brag, I just want more people to do these things. Short of ideas? Here's a few- basically just reiterating the ones I mentioned above:

* next time you're in the express lane at the supermarket, pay for the person behind you
* next time you get petrol, pay for the person next to you
* next time you receive good service from a shop, ask to speak to the manager and TELL THEM HOW GOOD THE PERSON WAS!
* if you see a homeless person, buy them a meal

Ok, so look, I only have a few up my sleeve, but my point is if you do just one random act of kindness a day, or even a week, the world will be a much better place, and yes, it does make you feel awesome.

PEACE! :)
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

Book Review- The Bang-Bang Club: snapshots from a hidden war

So I just finished reading this book called The Bang-Bang Club: Snapshots from a hidden war. It's about four photographers- Greg Marinovich, Joao Silva (authors), Kevin Carter (dec) and Ken Oosterbroek (dec) who were covering the Apartheid in South Africa during the 1990s. This is a book I think everyone should read.

Many of us -most of us, I think- live in our own little comfortable boxes of which we rarely step out of. Sure, we read the newspaper, watch the news, listen to the radio. We know about the war in Iraq. We know that homeless people exist. We know that many countries have civil wars. We know what genocide is. And we know about AIDS and poverty and famine and disease. But the difference between knowing that it exists and understanding what is happening is huge. Before the book, I had a vague idea of what the Apartheid was. As I was only eight when Nelson Mandela was released in 1990 I didn't really know what was going on, why he was jailed in the first place, or why it was such a big deal that he had been released. Except that it showed some form of hope for the black majority in South Africa (and unease for the white minority).

The Bang-Bang Club opened my eyes to what really happened in South Africa during the time of the Apartheid. It was a time of extreme violence, where anything could happen. These four photographers were subjected to such horrible images that one of them committed suicide, while the other died on the job, having been shot at.

Let me give you a brief idea of what the photos they took were of:

- one photo of a vulture stalking a starving child in Sudan
- a photo of a man running away from the camera, with his clothes on fire
- many images of the dead
- an image of a 2 year old boy, whose head had been smashed, laying dead next to his aunty. The justification the guy who killed him (part of an extreme right-wing political party) was that "snakes give birth to snakes"

I know humanity is capable of some horrible things, but you don't realise just how horrible until you read the details- unedited by the media, with no hidden agendas. If you want to know about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, check out the blogs of the local people. Don't read about it in the paper. The media has nought but its own agenda to worry about, never mind giving you the full picture of what's really going on behind the scenes.

The Bang-Bang Club was written by Greg Marinovich and Joao Silva, the only two remaining photographers of this exclusive club. If it weren't for this book (which, by the way, is banned in Australia- but you can buy it off Amazon), I wouldn't have known the truth behind what happened during the Apartheid, and the extent to which humans can commit utterly horrible crimes with no remorse.