Photos from last night at the Christmas thing.

For the first time in three years, the view was actually clear, as opposed to us being closed in by smoke from bushfires or fog, as we were in the previous years. Although I guess that forced us to admire the Christmas decorations (which are beautiful). Later in the evening, a thunderstorm was happening in the distance over the city and it was all rather gorgeous.

Plus the evening itself was hilarious (particularly with my officemate and his girlfriend) (oh, and then with the plunger thing - got a vid of that somewhere!).

Thank God for the end of the year.

And thank God for no work for a few weeks at least. Even though it pays the bills and keeps me out of mischief, sometimes you do sort of think to yourself, "Gosh, I think I need a holiday or I'm going to scream. Loudly."

Postcards from lunch...

I'll drown my beliefs
To have you be in peace
I'll dress like your niece
To wash your swollen feet

Just don't leave
Don't leave

I'm not living
I'm just killing time
Your tiny hands
Your crazy kitten smile

Just don't leave
Don't leave

And true love waits
In haunted attics
And true love lives
On lollipops and crisps

Just don't leave
Don't leave

Just don't leave
Don't leave

- True Love Waits by Radiohead.

Just because it's been stuck in my head this evening.

Per aspera ad astra

I bought the Oct/Nov/Dec issue of cream the other day because of the "This Era Vulgaris" article. Although I could have just read it online, but there's something about having a physical copy of the magazine in your hands that's more satisfying than words on a screen.

Anyhoodle. I was standing in the newsagent flicking through the issue and stumbled across the article and am standing there reading it thinking, "Yes, yes, yes. I must buy this. Damn this vulgar era." Not that every era isn't vulgar in some way or another - there's something to be despised in every decade/century/millenium really - but I thought the article summed up so well the way in which our culture so happily feasts on the rotting carcass of trash.

Particularly interesting was the statement by the writer of the featurette, Thereyns Koo: "No longer does the mainstream aspire to dressing up, reading challenging books or listening to clever music, but instead are determined to dumb down the world around them even more, to avoid challenge or change." Amen hallelujah. It pretty much sums up the instant gratification culture and the way in which people are more than happy for "information" to be disseminated through less-than-reputable sources ("I read it on Wikipedia!" "A seven-year-old could have written that!!"), using it as some excuse to avoid having to engage in too much further thought or in-depth analysis...

Instead of being inspired to greatness, we're told to keep it dumb. Particularly if we're female, in which case we should be both dumb and slutty (and yet somehow chaste, because although guys demand you put out, they apparently don't like it if you do), as well as subservient to the whims of men, air-brushed and lifeless. And if not, we must be fat, hairy, man-hatin' feminists. Having an opinion about the things that matter in life is something that seems to be frightening for people, whether you're male or female. However, what you *really* need to have an opinion on is whatever Famous or NW or whatever is peddling about celebrity x this week. As if it matters.

Koo also notes the way in which literature isn't immune from vulgarity at the moment and it's something I strongly agree with. Earlier in the year, my friend Kim and I were lamenting the death of the more interesting variety of book at the hands of such things as chick-lit and other mental midgetry while we were in a bookshop in the CBD. I find it enormously hard to care about chick-lit as it all runs on the same basic theme of 30-ish female faces challenges and singleness, other challenges, nice man, more challenges about as mentally taxing as choosing shoes in the morning, happily paired off with nice man at end of novel. Ooh, innovative. Challenging.

Bad fashion, bad books, bad music, bad art, constantly reveling in things that we really could care less about. Not that the occasional bit of trashy goodness should be avoided at all costs, but why not make the intellectual version of junkfood just a small part of our viewing/reading/consuming "diet"?

Instead of aspiring for better things on an intellectual and personal level, we're encouraged to aspire for the latest plasma-screen tv or a holiday to Bali or some other superficial way in which to "reward yourself" that only depletes your bank balance as you attempt to keep up with the Joneses.

It's all frustrating. Why should we celebrate mediocrity when excellence can be aspired to?

This afternoon, the Pirates of the Carribean-style production of Pirates of Penzance was on ABC when I got home (admittedly, only the last half hour of it or so). When it was finished, I dug out my Pirates of Penzance CDs and cleaned the house while singing along. And probably annoying the hell out of my neighbours. And not being able to reach the high notes Mabel does. But that's something I'd not want to do, for fear of breaking glass.

Anyway.

The whole thing made me feel rather nostalgic. When I was growing up back in the glorious state of South Australia, my parents and I would regularly attend the Gilbert and Sullivan performances put on by the Scott Theatre group. That was from a very young age for me (and I was terrified of The Sorcerer when I was about five - the production featured a character appearing in massive explosion and puff of green smoke). And it wasn't just G&S. It was going to all sorts of concerts and theatre productions and art exhibitions and so on.

When we moved to New South (Cultural Drought) Wales, it kinda stopped. And I've done a bit of it since moving to Victoria, which is far better than NSW. But I miss all of the concerts and productions and everything so much.

That's just my little whinge, I guess.

And it's something I have to work on - finding more interesting things to go to, exploring alternative cultural stuff, just getting back in touch with the things I enjoy instead of life being all about work. Which is not really all that exciting.

Painting evolution

After seven hours, the painting is done. Hurrah! It's a present for my parents for Christmas - just something simple. Although with the amount of time it took, I guess it's not that "simple." But still, at least it's done (aside from a couple bits to add some more paint to and the frame to work on).

New Shoes

Two pairs of shoes bought today while shopping for final Christmas stuff. I needed new black ones for work, but these are perhaps a little too high and squeezey to be a sensible option. As for the gold ones... They had to come home with me, you see.

The weekend so far...

^ Christmas decorations, which look like they were designed by some Scandinavian IKEA person called Sven. Although they were in a cheapie shop...


^ Finished making truffles for the work people Christmassy thing. I never want to make truffles again. Well, other than the dark chocolate ones with glace ginger centres, coated in another layer of dark chocolate. So, so good.


^ Raspberries. Organic. $4.50. So luscious!

I found this today while flicking through a notebook, and seeing as I can't be bothered coming up with anything to post, here it is:

Country. Public. Transport. A combination of words to fill you with horror.

The quiet 7.30 run with loud Vega FM. The abundance of teens who live there and tote around Supre bags, which are not really a replacement handbag in any sense. Combine that with trackpants and my overwhelming desire to scream. Especially when they involve horrible flourescent colours.

Trackies, Supre bags, some weird variety of country-meets-Frankston wear. Emo/punk-wannabe guys who look like they think life is all pain in between hittin' on chicks and working at the local supermarket to earn some money for hairdye.

And there's so much greyness. Cardigans, shirts, camel-toe trackies... All in varying shades of blandness.

A lone kangaroo in a sun-filled patch between trees in a scrap of bushland looks up as the bus rushes past. The sun's further up in the sky, glinting in the corner of my eye. On top of that, we're inflicted with U2.

A bee fuzzes along at the window as we pull up at traffic lights, disappears as we drive off. The bus pulls up a few metres ahead to let some elderly people and guys with bad hair onto the bus. One smells like cigarette smoke and the attempt to cover it up...

I guess you could say it's a love/hate relationship with public transport. Melbourne trains are fascinating, though - never fail to have freaks on there, such as the guy who spent 15 minutes or more telling a friend and I about the evils of plastic shopping bags, which according to him, make houses burn down. Not that they're bad for the environment. No. THEY. BURN. DOWN. HOUSES.

The winner of the Turner Prize has been announced. First, I should say I think the Turner Prize is great and I like the idea of it. And some of the art of it. But then at the same time, so much of it is a load of bollocks. I mean, Mark Wallinger's work was described thus: "In this meditative yet disquieting work, notions of national memory and allegory converge to continue Wallinger's examination of the themes of identity and representation."

As you do when you dress as a bear and wander around a gallery.

I wish I was British. Then I'd definitely be trying to enter with whatever randomness I could come up with. For example, this film from last night with the rain...



...which I think can safely be interpreted as our need to allow ourselves to occasional regress to our childhood states of enjoyment and pleasure in simplicity. I shall call it "Regression Verse 5." The shortness of the film is indicative of the shortness of our lives, and thus the need to make sure we are able to find enjoyment in every possible moment.

My other idea is a single solitary stick in a huge room with a tv with blaring static only at one end, which will represent the alienation and disquietening aloneness of the clinical, technological, meaningless 21st century.

And if the judges don't like it, I can simply smack them with the stick. In an art fashion.

For those interested, there is also the Turnip Prize.

Last night's rain

And this was actually after it had stopped raining - water was cascading down the steps like some kind of unwanted water feature when we had the serious downpour.

The Demon Dentist of Fleet Street

ARGH!

I had to go to the dentist today. And, in the words of Bollo, "I got a bad feeling about this" as soon as I saw the dentist. You know how you just have one of those gut instinct moments that says, "RUN! NOW!" but I was in uber-heels and really needed something done about my tooth.

Instead of fixing the area of concern, the dentist drilled and filled (unnecessarily) the other side of the tooth, completely nowhere (in tooth terms) near the actual problem. When you're unable to feel what's going on courtesy of the anesthetic, that's not really a good thing.

So now I have to go back on Wednesday to get the tooth fixed. Properly. Although now I've got an unhappily flattened "filled" opposite side of my tooth. And I'm so cross.

I miss my normal tooth :(

For the first time ever, I made focaccia.

Mmmm!

It worked out so well! Topped with kalamata olives, thinly sliced marinated artichoke and caramelised onion. Of course, it was about 3000 degrees in the kitchen while doing the cooking.

Really should avoid doing any baking during the Summer, for fear of melting the oven...

Oh, and surely I'm not the only one to be kind of disappointed about The Side Show getting cancelled? Yes, I am? Oh... But it was good! And Paul McDermott - so gorgeous! *sigh* Ah well.

Moses supposes his toeses are roses... Heh.

^ Photos from a couple of churches in Lübeck.

When we were in Germany, I took a fancy to lighting candles in the churches and saying a prayer after doing so - never done anything like that before with churches or prayers and it had a nice ceremonial, reflective, serious sort of feel to it. Sometimes the candles cost a couple euros, sometimes they were free (usually depending on whether the church had a lot of tourists through or not).

I loved the art in the churches (the most peculiar things often tucked away here and there - one church in Lübeck had a plaque with delicate skeletons on it), the serene atmosphere they all had, the way your eye is drawn upward with the arches and vaulted ceilings, the combination of opulence and simplicity...

But then, I do rather like old churches.

Punica granatum

^ Random photo of my Dad's tie the other weekend.

Was thinking about the post-election post I made and how it sounded like I don't mind the Liberals. But the fact is, I do. And somehow I'm not surprised they've all got the knives out for J-Ho for not retiring soon enough or whatever else. And saying Work Choices should be dumped - why not a hint of that just a wee bit earlier?

Part of me would love to see Tony Abbott as the new leader of the Libs, simply because it'd be like an extra gift that just keeps on giving to the Labor party - perhaps even somehow Lathamesque.

I'm glad to see the Liberals out of power. As with every political party, there was the good. But there was also the bad. And I think there was a lot of the bad displayed in the final years. The arrogance, the dog whistling and wedge politics, treatment of refugees and the vulnerable in our society, etc. Enough people had gotten fed up with this all, and although the economy is strong enough, perhaps people are moving back thinking governments need to involve ethics somewhere. Or something like that. Or even just to have a "fresh" government. Or perhaps it's just because enough "battlers" were impacted by Work Choices and not enough by all the pork being thrown around.

Although there are still a lot of Howard Huggers out there (as demonstrated by some of the letters to editors in newspapers around the country that tell us we know not what we have wrought, followed, presumably, by "I'm going to my room!" and a full hour's worth of sulking).

But contrary to the warnings of what would happen if we voted Labor, the world hasn't ended, interest rates haven't suddenly shot up to 30%, we've not all been packed off to the gulags or anything like that. No-one would be silly enough to suggest the election of Rudd signifies some variety of glorious new dawn for Australia, really - it's politics and they're all politicians in the end. But hopefully it'll help to restore some of the balance that has been lacking in Australian politics.

I guess in some respects, I don't see myself as being committed to voting for any particular party for life or something (that said, I love my Greens). But I'll vote for whichever one will hopefully be doing the right thing for the country in terms of policies and practice, as idealistic and naive as that sounds. Governments need to change on a fairly regular basis because of the whole power corrupting thing. Change is needed for balance, and in some ways, is kind of part of the flow of things.

Christmas Cometh

The Christmas tree (which was purchased for $20 - $20 worth of defective dementedness) has been beaten into submission with a hammer and then decorated. Inspiration was found yesterday. Although really it was procrastination, because dealing with the trimmer line for the mower was bending my brain. And the cat that randomly comes over to my house had fun batting at the lower-hanging baubles, so amusing distractions can't be too bad a thing.

Really not ready for Christmas at all. This year I've set myself the challenge of making some Christmas presents for the people at work.* It's going to be something like truffles, provided they work out. To force myself to do it, I've bought a whole lot of cooking chocolate and other ingredients to make said truffles. Besides, the recipe makes it look easy.

Chocolate, things, more chocolate, flavouring, attempt not to burn down kitchen, roll chocolatey things into balls, dip in cocoa or other chocolatey thing, put in fridge, everyone's happy. And if not, then they can throw the truffles at people wandering past their offices or something like that.

*People tend to give out Christmas presents here. Which can be kind of awkward if you haven't gotten them something. "Err, here, have this post-it note. Merry Christmas!"

Election '07

It's interesting watching John Howard declare his innings closed.

And it's been interesting watching the election night coverage, which I really didn't think would be that interesting, but somehow it is. I thought the best thing would be the ads Channel 7 had been running about their coverage. But Channel 9's coverage was surprisingly fascinating.

Plus it's free of moustaches... (I know, it's Movember) (okay, the moustache actually makes Geoff Kennet look very dapper.)

I was glad to see Malcolm Turnbull keep his seat. He's someone I'd much rather see as leader of the Liberal party than Peter Costello, and I think he is someone who could be a genuinely good influence on re-creating the party for the future.

Also, in a lot of ways, a Liberal loss might be a good thing for the State Liberal parties. I think it was Barnaby Joyce who was saying Mal Brough would be a good leader for the Libs in Queensland. You never know - could be the case. The Libs in the States have been rather crummy in the past number of years. Just in the case of New South Wales alone, you know people would LOVE to have someone other than Labor to vote for but the other parties just haven't been anywhere on the radar.

With all of that said, though, I'm glad to see the Labor party and Kevin Rudd elected. It was definitely time for a change.

Hopefully Rudd will lead the country well. And perhaps choose better music to come on stage to in future... It'll be interesting to see where things go from here. Guess all we can do is find out! Even if it includes vaguel awkward Bernie Banton/Union mentioning moments. I bet they'll have the people who believed "The Unions Are Comin'!" ads quaking in their boots.

In other thoughts, BenBen and my convo about election coverage is as follows:
Ben says: I was just picturing "and now we cut live to the marginal electorate beyond the black stump ... oh dear, seems our camera crew took down the local power grid... Let's try Black Stump where there's quite a stir - looks like Marjorie has just turned up to cast her vote this evening"
Della says: *lol* "Oh wait, we've just found out Marjorie actually did a postal vote earlier in the week and has come to tell us to turn the damn lights out because she's trying to get some sleep..."
Ben says: "So as soon as George has finished his game of cards and casts his vote that's all 20 people and we can start counting. So Mildred, what do you think the result will be?"
Mildred:"I think it will be an ace of spades"
Della says: "Now, anyone for some left-over pav? I'm not taking this home!"
Ben says: That's gold
Della says: Come result time... "And apparently we have no result, as all of the locals did a donkey vote... Any of that pav left??"
Ben says: I'm just imagining the following year and a chopper is heard on the horizon: "Hey we've got visitors for the pav - I wonder if it's little johnny or Kevin '07?" ...and suddenly the candidates become reality, but not beacuse of their campaigns, but becuase the ladies are beginging to argue who's pav will be preferred (on a 2-pav preferred basis)

*bwahahaha*

I remembered tonight when I got another random hang-up call that I had meant to phone Telstra about nuisance calls today. Will have to do it tomorrow. Although I'll probably end up forgetting.

Thus, if you're my random hang-y up-y phone stalker person, remind me to call about it. You're starting to annoy me.

Random pix from today.

"If you read it, you'd be laughing!"

I didn't watch the news last night - too busy bracing myself for Nigella and her cooking and oh my goodness the chocolate cherry trifle and excuse me while I salivate slightly over said trifle... - but I was up late and caught Lateline.

"Good golly gosh" was only one way in which to describe my thoughts on the first item, which was about how it appears supporters of the Liberal candidate in the Sydney seat of Lindsay, Jackie Kelly, had been distributing pamphlets from a fake Islamic organisation, praising the Labor party for "forgiving" the Bali bombers and how they'll support building more mosques in the area.

Particularly amazing was the way in which Andrew Robb, vocational education minister, went from saying the pamphlets were bad (which they are) to attacking the Labor party for being unhappy about it. It was like he was in a six-foot deep grave, shoveling away while saying, "Yes, it was bad. But you don't see MY point. I'm right and you know it! The Labor party are evil! We've done nothing wrong at all! Bad! And I quite happen to like digging, thank-you VERY much!"

Of course, they ran out of time for what Robb and Penny Wong had been brought on the show to talk about...

Also surprising was the way in which Kelly has "laughed" off the mail campaign "allegedly" involving her husband (and also apparently doesn't know who really was the naughty person/people behind it but they have told her they were chased by Labor people and the Labor people are like totally evil and horrible and included "unionists"! and they followed us, they forced the pamphlets into our innocent hands and made us distribute them, therefore it's not our fault).

Dismissing it as a "prank" (when if the Labor party had done it, they would have been all over them like a rash) also doesn't make much sense to me - I think because it seems just so inherently racist and stoops to such a new political low that in some ways it's almost incomprehensible. I know there are people in Australia who are racist and who don't like people of Islamic faith. But to deliberately be going out to target that dislike for political gain (or any gain) is just something that sickens me. So divisive, so dishonest, such race-baiting rubbish. And it disgusts me to think that it's gotten to a point in Australia where this sort of thing has the potential to work, where people's prejudices are so easily appealed to over sense.

I'm very glad to see John Howard has condemned the letter drop, though. Particularly after listening to Kelly being interviewed on the ABC and going around and around and around saying how she had read the pamphlet and thought it funny, but had actually only read about it in the newspapers this morning, yada yada, blame Teh Unionists. This isn't something that can be dismissed as a joke. It is definitely something that should be condemned, regardless of the parties involved. You can't really do something like this letter-boxing scam and not expect to get caught out with it at some point or another, particularly if you're involved somehow in a political party.

So, just how much has Australia lost its moral compass?

For other people's thoughts on the issue, check out The Age's Your Say bit or on the ABC. Also worth enduring the Kelly drivel is the vid on this story from the Today show for Lauie Oakes's comments at the end (it's around the six-minute mark if you want to get to the point). Right on the money.

More roadtrip stuff.

Just a shame I can't upload the vids (too big), but there were some hilarious moments. Including singing along to Enrique Iglesias songs. With alternative lyrics.

Caution: Christian/political-y kinda rant ahead

The more you hear, read or see about Family First, the more unlikeable they truly seem. And the less credible their claims The Greens are "extreme" become...

Oh, plus the way they go down the "Christian"-nutjob route instead of looking at the ways in which Christians are meant to behave, according to various things in the Bible like "Love thy neighbour as thyself," or "Forgive us our sins as we forgive each other," or "[You should forgive] Not seven times, but, I tell you, 70 times seven," or "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law," or "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone..." or "Judge not lest ye be judged."

I likes me some King James language sometimes...

Anyway, along with "Thou shalt not kill," there perhaps should have been somethin in the Bible about "Thou shalt not be a hypocritical jerk. Remember thou hast all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." Just to keep things in a little more perspective (okay, the "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God is in the Bible. But not the first bit with "Thou shalt not...").

And yes, I realise that things like abortion can be a strongly emotional sort of topic and thing to deal with - particularly when it comes to dealing with anything like that on an individual level. I doubt many women who have abortions performed do so with a sense of glee. And yet there are these people out there who seem to enjoy pointing the finger and breaking out some serious judgin'.

Hypocrisy? Everyone does it. I'm pretty sure I do it. It's part of being human. But when we're Christians - or at least claiming that name for ourselves - we should be trying to reflect a Christ-like nature and treat others accordingly. Is that going to happen in this lifetime, realistically? Probably not at all... Nym would tell me to stop being so optimistic about people's behaviour for a start (or something along those lines).

At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" "No one, sir," she said. "Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin."
- John 8:9-11

Random roadtrip pic

There are never enough days in a weekend

I'm still braindead from the weekend, which is actually generally how I feel about Mondays anyway, but this is all due to a long, long lot of traveling over the weekend, much silliness, a great time visiting family, a couple hundred kilometre's worth of jokes about "Yass" and all of that kind of thing.

And now, for my next trick, I shall think about sleep while attempting to stay awake.

Initial thoughts upon seeing this billboard:

"So does that mean Ron Jeremy doesn't speed, then?"

So, is God embarrassed by Family First?

I was looking at a release this morning from Revenue Review, featuring Richard Hackett-Jones condemning "religious interference in politics," and it got me thinking about religion and politics and so on.

Mr Hackett-Jones is a practicing Christian himself and has spent more than 30 years as a member of the Liberal party. Although in some ways it seems to be something having a wee bit of a whinge about Family First not giving them a higher ticketing spot (they've been put at seventh, as opposed to the second placing the Libs have given to Family First) (and especially since this is the first election he's been running in apparently), I still thought it was interesting how the title of the release was "Is God embarrassed by Family First?" and went on to affirm the importance of the separation of church and state.

He also commented about the way in which "many Christians" feel anxious about the way in which we could end up duplicating the "religious right" of the US, which he says tends to degrade democratic processes.

As a Christian, I'm in favour of secular democracies. Input from a variety of religious and non-religious groups isn't a bad thing, provided none of the groups want to start saying that whatever they're bringing to the table is far superior to anyone else's belief system. And yes, I'm embarrassed by Family First, particularly when people seem to think that's what all Christians are like. Maybe God would be embarrassed, too, but I'm not sure what He thinks on the matter and that's probably something to ask Him in a more face-to-face encounter.

I don't know that God would agree with my political choices. Maybe He would, but maybe He wouldn't. I'm not going to start saying that because I'm a Christian, the way I vote is obviously the way God would want everyone to vote - including all other Christians. Or that I have a greater right than anyone else to say what direction our country should take, etc.

Personally, I don't think the Family First focus extends beyond a rather narrow view of Christianity, Christians and what we want from our politicians - for a start, I'm not entirely sure how it ties in with "Thou shalt not bear false witness" when Steve "The Greens are Extreme!" Fielding is going around slandering the Greens on a regular basis.

I do not think that saying, "Look! We have Christian members!" makes one party better than another. Neither does "We've got Christian values!" They're politicians. I find it hard to believe they have values at all. I also find it hard to comprehend how people get fooled by that into thinking that makes the party and their policies "nice" and something worth voting for. It's like throwing in the word "Christian" means that people suddenly don't look at policies and party actions and beliefs. Those policies, actions and beliefs are what will end up being the things used over "Christian values."

Christian faith does not have to mean ultra-conservative values. Our focuses aren't just on gay marriage and abortion. They may not be on these issues at all. Some of us might even think they're all not going to herald the apocalypse. Other issues like the environment, international aid, housing, job security, Aboriginal treatment, education, healthcare, equal opportunities, etc are issues that will probably get people more interested than what consenting adults are getting up to in the privacy of their own bedrooms.

Plus with the four million or so Christians in Australia who attend church at least once a month, I'd say there would be a diversity of opinion and ideologies when it comes to the individual voters political preferences. Some might have a fancy for the Libs. Some might like Labor. There are others who'll be voting for the Greens. Some may not even have preferences, instead choosing to *gasp* just vote for random people on the day and hope to avoid all the pork barreling, political advertising and general rubbish that goes hand-in-hand with election campaigning!

I fail to understand the phobia some Christians have of the Labor party or the Greens, and yet so unquestioningly think the Liberals and Family First are sent by God to caress our wallets and our souls. Tony Abbott himself has said that the ALP and Greens doing a preference deal should sound a "very cautionary note" to Christians planning to vote for them. Oh, and they also "don't have the degree of Christian commitment (that Coalition politicians do)."

Yes, those good ol' Christian commitments and values of locking up refugees. Lying. Giving tax cuts to the rich. Ignoring the poor and homeless and mentally ill. Insulting dying people. Not saying sorry...

Recently, there was an older Christian guy I was speaking to who was saying how he'd heard that none of the Labor Party members were Christian and that they were refusing to say the Lord's Prayer in Parliament. For an e-mail forward told him so. Things turned vaguely frosty when I pointed out Kevin Rudd is a Christian, as were a number of other party members. This guy then went on to say that he hoped Labor won the election because it would be a "sign of the end of the world."

It was hard not to say, "Either that or a sign that Australia might be coming to its senses, although I wouldn't hold my breath over that just yet."

The cat who keeps coming over.

I'm not sure if it belongs to anyone, because it seems to be getting a little skinny (if it does belong to you, feed it more!!!). But it keeps turning up at my place and wanting to come inside. So I let it - because so far it hasn't hairballed anything or worse - but I think I might be a little allergic to kitties.

Maybe time to buy a little cat food or something for it...

This, that and the other

I hate the weekend neighbours.

Or to be more specific, I hate the weekend neighbours always burning yard rubbish when the wind is blowing toward my and the nice neighbour's houses, smoking us out (I'm also not overly fond of the way they stare at you when you're out working in the yard. It's most unnerving). The weekend neighbours have an uncanny ability to only ignight random piles of leaves/twigs/etc when the breeze is coming our way. Particularly if you've just put the washing out.

And it's every weekend they come up.

This will probably be the only time I say it, but thank God the fire restriction season starts on Monday. Even if it means we're heading into bushfire season, which is another thing I hate. But at least it means we'll endure slightly fewer weekends of being smothered with smoke, courtesy of the weekend neighbours.

Anyways...

I have to burn the final enormous pile of leaflitter tomorrow (sorry, ozone layer). I just hope that a) the burning behaves itself and doesn't incinerate the yard and b) the breeze oh-so-generously blows the smoke the way of the weekend neighbours.

I also hate mayonaise.

Just to balance the hate up, here is a list of things I love at the moment:
> Having the spare room clean and organised.
> The gorgeous sunny weather we've been having.
> Bundling up things for charity that I don't want any more.
> Raspberry and cranberry juice.
> Finding a 10-year-old Bliss magazine with a sample of the Spice Girls Impulse bodyspray in it while talking with Amy and laughing myself silly over it all. Although I didn't love feeling old because of that.
> The cricket.

Eriobotrya japonica

Mowing: Two hours.
Degree of Difficulty: 7/10.
Do You Want a Medal for That?: Not particularly...

Although it might be nice...

The mowing had to be done. The grass had somehow managed to return to the exact height it had been prior to mowing about three weeks ago. Some of it was actually even taller, like cutting it had been taken as constructive criticism that told it, "You're just not trying hard enough to grow. Put in more effort next time!"

Apparently this is tropical Victoria...

The yard is a challenge. Multiple terraces, weird little contours, etc. I'm just glad the yard isn't as terrible as my former officemate's yard, where you almost needed to be a skilled mountain climber just to navigate it - you'd need some particular talent to be able to rappel yourself down the yard while clutching a whippersnipper.

Anyway. Now the challenge is to work out how to replace the trimmer line - the instruction book describes it in such non-existant detail that you just think, "Fine. Would make sense to people who already know how to do this. Blindfolded. With gloves on. Hanging upside down on a trapeze."

Oh well, nothing like a challenge.

This lipgloss came with Bazaar.

It has a light!

A LIGHT!

The lipgloss itself is about as sticky as fly paper, meaning that on occasion, your lips may just get stuck together, which may not be a good thing whilst in a conversation. But the container has a light!

Shiny goodness makes up for gluey badness.