Today, we discuss random idiosincracies.

Now, I know I have been absent for ages; allow me to apologize, any who follow my rantings. Right now though? Just a few random thoughts to document now, not much interesting really.

1) Why do people complain about the current movies in our production, when to be honest, they're not that much worse, if at all, than those made 10 or so years ago? I mean, compare Gremlins, a 1984 film about furby creatures, mogwai, and their mutated state, gremlins, with something like ice age.
Both films are PG rated, both start off seemingly aimed at the younger audiences. And then Gremlins turns to death, and mass violence, and blood, and horror, and stories of past deaths that make one just about cry. Sure, its something I could imagine *all* kids would just LOVE; sarcasm, does wonders. On the other hand, Ice age, and its 2 follow up movies, is fun all the way; sure, people get hurt, but they 'get better' again, and they don't have senseless violence or horror aimed at young audiences. And here I was, talking to a woman tonight about how the kids of today are so much worse than the kids of back then...maybe the kids back then hadn't seen the pg movies around in their times? Or maybe the kids of her day were that scared by the prospect of furbies turning into killer monsters that they had no time left from mindless fear to try anything cruel on their own? Or possibly they saw there was no way they could be competition to such things as the Mogwai. Who knows.

2) Call centre work is what I do in life, mainly, when I'm not debating with the other half, being told I am obviously insane, or having a perfectly reasonable human being counsel me and tell me sincerely that I am the sole root cause of any complication in my life currently, even thought the root of it all is not my mother, thank you Freud, but the way my relationship coped with the loss of our child. That being a different rant, the fact remains that I deal with people who call the company i work for presumably to inquire, but realistically simply to complain and cry on someone else's shoulder as the ones they used to use have gone AWOL. Presumably because they died due to the frustration caused by their friend constantly whining at them. Why is it that when someone calls to ask a question, if I cannot answer it due to lack of training, *I* become the one at fault for everything so far in their day going wrong? And have you ever wondered about the ability people have to be so appallingly rude to the friendly helpful person they call when they're in a bad mood? Those people, they have restraint. That person abusing them could be the 15th one in a row, no fault of theirs...and they stay calm, cheerful, and polite. Personally, I only manage it by imagining how many knots i could attempt to tie in the person...

3) Counselling. Why, why, WHY, is it the answer to everything? When things are fine, there is no mention, but the instant things start shaking, he cries COUNSELLING!! and not another word about the 'problem' passes until we are right there, at $100 an hour, with a counsellor, who is trying hard to 'pull teeth' which is how it goes when I get forced to a counsellor. Wouldn't it be smarted by far to simply sit and talk? Not go racing off for the artificial mummy who can fix it all, and tell you yes dear, you are 100% correct? Not that they do, after all they are there to work it out for you, not support you. So in the end, its self defeatist in many more ways than one. For starters, the other half doesn't talk; why should I when I'm only here because you wouldn't talk it out at home and threatened insta divorce if i didn't come? Also, if you are here to have someone back you, then you just failed; the counsellor does not care who is wrong or right, only about making you and your problem better so you go away. And thirdly? By dragging us here instead of talking it through when we had the chance at home, it means the problem has been left, hanging like a horrible cloud of angry storm over us, for the 3 weeks it took you to get us an appointment! Wise? Me thinks NOT.

FRIENDSHIPS

Human beings are interesting creatures. Like monkeys of all varieties, we are social animals, better suited to pack life with a large group of members existing within our pack. And an integral part of our pack, one that exists without question for most of us, is family; those annoying siblings whom Mum and Dad seem to favour over you, the aunts and uncles who are always nosing around in your life and pinching your cheek and spoiling you, the grandparents with their stories of “back in my day...”.

However, family is not the only social group we need to make our world go round properly. In fact, it is only one of the groups; the other group, just as important, is that of our friends. Those people we meet over our years on this earth, who influence our lives, share adventures and misshaps with us, with whom we share our secrets and with whom we laugh. And without them, our family would most likely drive us all to the verge of insanity.

Now, insanity can be fun, we all know this, or should do if we have had any form of havoc in our lives before. But insanity is no fun without friends. And the better the friend who shares your insanity, the better the fun, as with everything in life. And without good friends we may as well check ourselves into the asylum.

I can safely say that my last few weeks, months, would have been a lot different if I hadnt had so many awesome, supportive friends there with me...shoulders to cry on, drinking buddies, sharers of hangovers, when necessary, someone to shake me firmly when I was being unrealistic and tell me to get over it and grow up. And you know, only a friend, a good, real friend, can do any of that. Anyone else can try, but it will never be the same.

And friends are the people who need us as people, as who we are, the most. Had a bad day? You are going to call your best friend, or even rock up on their door step. And so you should, thats why friends are who they are. I've randomly appeared on doorsteps this past couple of months with my bag, and no idea how long im stayng, and each of those friends has taken me in, given me a cup of tea, and let me sort myself out. And they can do the same to me, some have before, others will in the future.

The best part of a friend is you can just drop pretences and simply be yourself. You dont have to look good around them, you dont have to watch what you say, you dont have to be bright and cheerful. If you feel like teaching them some new uncouth words, they are fine with it; heck, my friends could probably teach me a word or two of their own! They expect you to be no one but yourself, act no other way than you normally would on your own; with good friends, you can be free as a bird to do as you wish, and its awesome.

The other day I was down south, in Bunbury, walking along in a medieval dress with my best friend, and we randomly started skipping, arm in arm down the main street, singing 'We're off to see the Wizard' from the Wizard of Oz. And we looked insane. We scared people off the side walk and across the street, just by being so uncontrolled and free. And afterward we went and got coffee, and laughed ourselves silly, and agreed it was the most fun we had had in months. And there is no one else in the whole world I would rather do that with, or know it was ok to do that with, and at the time, acting like that with that friend, really made my day so much brighter, and made the problems all go away, just for the day.

So I guess what im saying here is that friends are amazing. They are the best people ever, and when the whole world seems to have gone to hell in a little pretty hand basket, they are there. They pick you up, dust you off, tell you off if they need to, tell you if you've been stupid, and are there on those dire occasions when you really need a drinking buddy, and nothing else, not that I've called in that favour much in the past, or am going to much in the future. And they know, or should know, that you are there for them as much as they are for you, and any favour they do for you when you need it will always be returned. And I know there are people out there who dont understand the attachment I have to my friends; all I can say to them is that friends, more than family, are the most important features in my life. They will always be there for you. Family won't, partners won't, but friends...there will always be a friend there for you to turn to.

Thanks guys, all of you, for being there the last couple of months; you have been amazing, and I hope I get the chance to return the favours some time soon :)

Cats, Relationships, Stuff.

Cats are glorious, cats are a marvel. Forget about dog being mans best friend, bring in cats to fill the position! I know that opinions vary, but you can easily be won over to loving cats, and incorporating them in your life, where is it is no where near as easy to try and add, say, a dog to an already jam packed lifestyle. Who would feed it, and walk it? Who would play games with it? Suddenly all your free time after work, all that relaxation tome that was yours and yours alone, its gone. With a cat, you are spared all those finicky problems that go with dogs, all the demands of attention, all of the lack of independence. Heck, sometimes you don't even see them for days at a time; talk about wonderfully independent creatures! So this one goes out to all you cat people out there. All you people who can think of nothing better than cuddling up to a cute, fuzzy, purring ball of self contented self centered love.

Now, I myself used to be a dog person. I grew up with dogs, I had a puppy of my own, and I loved all 5 of our dogs to bits; to this day I still believe that red cloud kelpy cross is the most amazing lovable energetic breed of dog out there, and is specifically designed to be everyone's best friend. And they're loyal to one person, and one person alone; that gets them the most brownie points in my books. But my relationship with dogs as a collective started going downhill a few years ago now, when I came home one day to find my gorgeous puppy was no more; still, I see that as one of the saddest days of my life. I moved on, life went on, I moved to Perth a couple of years later, and was convinced by a friend to take one of her kittens. A more entertaining ball of fun I have never since experienced, and that kitten, with her various antics, including suspending herself off my balcony railing, kept me so highly amused that I could not help but get another one a year later, just to double the laughs.

Recently my marriage has been going through a very nasty rock filled stage that reminds me of the rapids you get on the Blackwood river in autumn or spring; beautiful to look at, a mincer to be within. And both my husband and I have been distraught and upset 90% of the last month. And each time that I have retreated to a different part of the house, or someone else's house for that matter, there are cats. My kitten crawls in with me each night these days, and when I went to someone else's place to give us a little time apart, a random cat made its way in and made itself at home. And at home here, whenever he has been upset, our original cat, now coming up for two years old, curls up on his lap, or gets into bed with him. She isn't a very hug loving cat, and is rather independent, but she has spent 90% of the last month on my husband's lap.

So, no matter how things turn out, I must say I will always be grateful to those cats who have been by us the last month, and who we have nurtured in their lives for the last nearly two years. They are selfish independent creatures most of the time, but when you need a non biased friend, who has no opinion and no favoritism, I suggest to you a cat every time. They won't tell you what they think of the situation, they wont give you advice. They will simply love you unconditionally provided you feed them. And what more could anyone ask of a good friend? So Maus, Sootica, I thank you both. The last few months, and the last one in particular, have been hard both of your owners. And you two cats, black little panthers that you are, have been the best friends anyone could have asked for.

Humanity's Inability To Live And Let Live

Now, i will be the first to admit this world is going stale. To admit that people are becoming too picky, too finicky, too up tight, blaming others rather than themselves as a part of their daily lives, and on a whole, living to complain. I do it sometimes, when i feel like it, when I'm having one of those days. Anyone does it. But you know, there are various pockets of people the world over, who take it just that step too far, all the time, every day. Heaping their problems onto other people as all they have to do in life is whine and complain. And here, i think, we have the perfect examples of these people, the bane of society who exist to make life a misery for the rest of us. Allow me to introduce you to Mrs Giselle Bertozza, an elderly lady located in NSW, in Mannering Park. Mrs Bertozza is one of those lovely people who just love to complain, and complain she does. And for the last eight years, she has been making her neighbors, the Carr family, miserable...and all over a frog. That is not even the Carr's pet. Simply a wild frog.

Now, what could a simple frog possibly be doing to cause neighbourhood warfare you ask? How could one tiny creature, no bigger than your hand, cause an eight year feud between neighbors of twenty years? Well, as dear old Mrs Bertozza will happily tell you, it is all because the frog, who took up residence in the Carr's garden pond eight years ago, killed her husband. Now, i know what you're thinking, how dare the little blighter sneak in and murder him in his sleep like that, but no, the frog, like the Carr's was not even directly involved. All the frog was doing was trying, like all the rest of us, to find its one true mate, or at least some other froggy who would respond to its mating call. How then did this creature cause the death of Mrs Bertozza's husband? Simple. Mr Bertozza had already, at this point, been diagnosed with terminal cancer, and so already had one foot in the grave. However the frog, while trying to find someone to love it, made so much noise, from the Carr's pond next door, that the Bertozza's had trouble sleeping, and Mrs Bertozza's dear husband was driven to an early grave, at the excessively young and tragic age of Seventy-two.

And so the war was begun, and the first casualty had occurred. Negotiations were now a thing of the past. Mrs Bertozza petitioned for the council to make the Carr's fill in their pond; the council and the Carr's refused. She demanded the removal of the frog; the Carr's complied. All seemed to settle down until, yes, you guessed it, yet another frog, three years later, came and took proud residence in the same pond, and dear Mrs Bertozza once again heard the frog...and is now demanding its removal as she did the previous pond dweller, lest she too die from stress and lack of sleep, as she claims her husband did! Now, while dear Mrs Bertozza may think she has a justifiable complaint, I do believe she is spending too much time assigning the blame to someone, in this case the Carr family, to whom it does not belong.

Certainly, it is possible that her husband, hearing the frog crying for a mate every night and finding himself unable to sleep with its constant love song, was aided into his grave by the entailing lack of sleep. However, despite the acknowledgment that the frog may have had something to do with his degrading health, we must all admit that by no means did the frog kill Mr Bertozza; in fact, his own body, rife with cancer, did that for him. And no one could possibly accuse the Carr family of being responsible either; after all, while it is their pond, they certainly did not place the frog there with hopes of this situation. What we have here is simply a very sad case of a woman, whom upon losing her husband of many years, was unable to rationally cope with the loss and instead assigned the blame to an element that was unable to defend itself, the frog, and the family who's pond it resided in, the Carr's. Though, my personal opinion of Mrs Bertozza is that she is one of the many women in the world who has to have something to complain about, or something to stick her nose into, and so decided to pick constructively upon the frog in revenge at the world for her husband's death.

Having dealt with the truly laughable tale of Mrs Bertozza and the frog, and the effect the combination has been having upon her poor neighbours, let us move on to a very messy and very public divorce case, that of Mrs Mrs Rosaand her husband. Now, this time, I must admit, the situation is actually at least partially the fault of the government. Now, Mrs Rosa married her husband in 2000, had a child, a daughter, with him in 2002, and they lived in Sydney until 2007, when they moved to a small dead end town in a very remote part of Queensland for her husbands mining engineering job. All good so far. Then, they decide eight months later, were bad together, lets divorce. So they did, Mrs Rosa won the main of the custody for their daughter, and she proceeded to move back to Sydney. And that, folks, was where all the trouble began.

Mr Rosa, not wanting his daughter to be out of his control, or more likely, being spiteful and seeing a way he could aid his ex other half to suffer more from the split, because lets face it, people are malicious like that, took his ex wife to court claiming that by taking their child back to Sydney she was damaging his relationship with his daughter. Fair enough, I would say, but honestly, could you not arrange for the child to spend more time in your town? Is not the whole point of a divorce to get as far away from your once partner as possible? The courts obviously did not think so as they ruled that Mrs Rosa should move back to the dead beat small town with her daughter, specifically so the relationship between father and child was not upset.

So where did this get the family? Well, Mr Rosa is all happy, for now. Mrs Rosa and daughter are living in a trailer park, the only accommodation Mrs Rosa can afford. And as Mrs Rosa is unable to find work in said small town, she is a stay at home unemployed single parent. So due to her ex husband demanding her presence in the town he chose to live in, she is now involuntarily bringing their daughter up to believe that its OK to leech off the government and your divorced partner. And who knows what else. So, for all of us, let me congratulate Mr Rosa. Well done fine sir, you have effortlessly, in one single move, forced someone to live where they have no ability to make a life for themselves, and you have shown a child how not to live. Now one has to wonder, will she remember its meant to be that way around when she too grows up and gets married?

Now, if it were not for the base human nature of nit picking, whining, and complaining, not to mention laying the blame anywhere but at our own feet, these two situations could so easily have been resolved to the betterment of all. For starters, Mrs Bertozza simply needs some councilling to encourage her to realize that the frog, and her neighbours the Carr's, were not the cause of her husbands death; his lack of ability to fight off cancer and his advanced age were. Or possibly her constant nagging over the years may have weakened his immune system, who knows! However, she can not bring herself to realize that no one is actually to blame for an act of nature, like most people, and is instead laying it somewhere, anywhere, she can.

As for the Rosa family, one has not seen such a pathetic situation in quite some time; it is quite obvious that Mr Rosa thought nothing of his daughter at all in his actions, but simply thought of the best way to make life harder for her mother. If he had been thinking of his daughter he would have realized that uprooting a child twice, as well as breaking apart its family, is the worst thing you can do for him or her. He would also have realized that forcing its soul carer into unemployment would provide a bad example for that child, and added yet more stress to its home situation, and all due to his own inability to accept seeing his child once a month for a couple of weeks instead of every day. Which almost defeats the point of a divorce in the first place, wouldn't you think, having to see your ex partner every time you go to see your kid?

There are many many more examples I could give for human stupidity, whinging and neglect of blame, but right now, I can feel brain cells dying from the lack of exposure to normal, healthy unembittered people. And so I bid you adieu, and take my bow, so I can go dance in the rain, and lay the blame for any cold I succeed in catching at my own feet with pride.

Because I Can.

The Weekend From Hell, And Why I Have No Trust Reserves Remaining.

Weekends; fun things in general are they not? I used to think so too. I also used to think friends were awesome people who you could trust endlessly and who you didn't have to worry about when you were around them, that you know you're safe with friends, and your friends know they're safe when around you. Well people, I think I learned a new lesson about friends and weekends recently. And I know that I really am not impressed, and I do not like it at all, which is true of most lessons one learns in life I suppose, but this particular lesson was dangerous, and potentially deadly, and taught to me, of all things, by a woman I once called a friend.

So, lets look at my weekend as a whole before I analyze it for myself and for you. You know who you are, by the way dear girl, you know who you are. I cooked dinner Friday night for myself, my husband, a friend from when I was in school, and a mutual friend of my husband and I, our house mate, and I had a beer while doing so. We all ate at about 6:30pm, and then my school friend, female, and I sat in the kitchen chatting, and each had 2 small glasses of port. A couple more mutual friends arrived, and I introed them to my friend, then 3 of us had a shot of jagermeister. I then poured a glass of champaign each for my friend and I, looked at the clock, quarter to 9, then...lost all memory. Next thing I remember is being awoken at half midnight by my understandably upset husband throwing me my phone, with a text to another man on it telling the man I loved him and was drunk, and asking me to explain it or get out.

Now, for the record, I am faithful to my marriage. I do not cheat on my husband, and if ever I did I would have more sense than to leave a message to my lover on my phone at all. Added to which, I had apparently passed out, as had two others, by 10pm in a puddle of my own vomit, and no one could wake us at all. And the text had been sent within the time period in which I had been semi conscious in the bathroom, throwing up anything my stomach had to offer, oblivious to the world, and most certainly not able to send a text, let alone tell you what a phone was. Not pretty, by far, and nothing I am in the least proud of, but definite proof, to me at least, that there was no earthly way I could have sent the message. And of course, we are overlooking here the fact that when my husband found my phone, with its message, it was directly beside my so called friend in the kitchen, the opposite end of the house to where I had last seen it, before my memory loss. And so the plot thickens.

We shall now fast forward about eight hours from half past midnight, and I have finally succeeded in convincing my husband that a) I did not send the text message, and b) I was not about to leave him, unless of course, I was asked to. I was also dedicatedly telling him that there was no way the events of the night before were normal at all, and that never in my life had I ever suffered memory loss form any amount of alcohol, let alone the small amount I recalled drinking the night before. Shortly thereafter, my husband got the most delightful job of taking the former 'friend' to the train station, and, lo behold, on the drive there she admitted she had been trying to break us apart, who knows why, and had very little to say about it at all. Needless to say, upon the return of my man, I got a lovely bunch of flowers as an apology from my husband for his lack of belief in me.

Meanwhile I had been comparing notes with our house mate and the other friend who had been effected, let us call them mike and john, and both men also said they had had memory loss of the night before, but also knew they had drunk very little before they passed out; less, in fact, than I myself had consumed. We all agreed that there had been nothing normal about the night before, and that we were all still too sick and too weak, let alone too uncoordinated, for the normal effects of so little alcohol in our systems, and also that the only common element had been Jagermeister. My husband, let us call him Rob, when he returned home, was unwilling to believe that we were serious about there being anything wrong with the Jagermeister, so, because I felt I had to prove to him, and myself, that I was not lying, I took a shot of it. Within fifteen minutes I was having trouble breathing, my legs and face were numb, I was dizzy, my vision was blurry, I was nauseous, and feeling very disconnected from the world. And it took me a further three hours for the effects of that single shot to wear off. As for the effects of that Friday night, it took a total of three whole days for my body to recover from whatever was in the Jagermeister.

So, you ask, what lesson was it I learned? I learned that if you have someone over for drinks at your house, make certain you don't just know them well, or even very well; make sure you know them enough that you would trust them with your life. I learned that despite there being no motive, some times people are just out to kill you. I learned that even in your own home, you cannot leave a drink alone. I also learned, and this is the most valuable lesson of all, that some people don't know where the line is that they should not cross. And that when they cross it, they have unwittingly stepped off the level ground, and into the deep end, the end in which deep fury lurks, then end in which a nice little woman who is there for her friends turns into a furious monster when crossed. And dear girl, if you are reading this, then please, do not underestimate me. I will follow you to the full extent of my ability to find a way of making you realize the wrong you did, and I will do it politely, lawfully, and with the dedication of a hound. They say hell hath no fury like a woman scorned; I was not simply scorned, and hell has not yet seen my like.

As to the effect this had on my marriage, well, its recovering; she failed in her attempt to destroy my marriage, though she came close. Rob and I are talking things through still, but we will remain together, we will survive as a couple, and we will work in out. I do believe we still have a couple of issues, such as the fact that he was so willing to believe her word over mine in the beginning, but which couple doesn't have issues?

Because I Can

My Apologies...

To any of you who have started following my work, I must apologies; i shall not be making any more blogs for a few days, maybe even weeks, as i currently have to sort through some problems in my marriage.
And until i have it would seem the creative urge has left me, and I'm currently boring and uninteresting anyhow *sigh*

RELIGION

And today, i admit, i am out of rant material, so for once, and hopefully for only, i shall simply randomly rant about all things pointless. God only knows, i need to.

But wait, God! That entity who we all call upon when frustrated, confused, upset, lost, desperate, or any severe emotion at all, or sometimes even when were not, sometimes simply to use to empathize our point. But we all do it, we all call upon him, this figure upon whom all religion of our modern world seems to be in some form or another based. And despite not truly knowing whether this entity exists or not, we have already gendercised (if that is already a word then I will be amused; how i mean it is that we have assigned a specific gender to this entity) it, and led human beings into battle with its name as a battle cry, and preached to the masses in its name. So what is this entity, why should we follow it, and is it really as all powerful as our religious fellow human beings would have us believe?

Gods in general have been around hand in hand with humanity for as long as we have been growing in intelligence as a race. Originally there were religions such as paganism, which is technically in itself not a religion, but a group of now long forgotten religions such as the old Greek and roman religions, and their many gods, the Greeks headed by Zeus, the Romans headed by Jupiter, the Greek gods seeming today to be more similar to aspects of nature, and the Roman ones seeming to be referring more to the Heavens, both in naming style and in placing of the various myths surrounding the various gods. Also in this category of long forgotten religions are the Druids of the Celts, who existed and practiced their religion for, evidence suggests, centuries, before the Roman empire swept through the country in the first century AD. Due to the thorough job the Romans did destroying the religion, as it would be blasphemous to believe that any God but their own horde existed, very little is left of this group in the way of information; we know they were recorders of history, to some extent bardic, and that they did not record the written word, but that they created rhyming verses to teach those who followed of their past.

Yet another religion that has disappeared into the sands of time is the Norse religion, that originated in Europe, mainly in the area of Germany, and again, very little evidence remains of these Gods. Interestingly, the Norse religion also follows a very similar story throughout as the Christian and catholic bibles; Ragnarök is the base story of the book we call the Bible, in which the world is destroyed by floods, and all the land is covered, then finally, the waters go away, and two survivors are left to repopulate the world. The only major difference appears to be that Christian and Catholic religions blame the sins of humanity for the floods, where is Ragnarök is actually described as a raging battle between the gods, and the fault of no human.

But I get ahead of myself here; currently we were attempting to pinpoint where, in fact, religion began to feature in humanity, and currently, the answer is that ti has always been there, a belief system of sorts has been in place, from the very first burials, through to current society. Never has it been directed at one single god for all people to worship, in fact often there has been a different god for every cause, from abandoned children, all the way through to the beloved tax collector. Don't believe it to be possible that the church would be so kind? Take a look for yourself.
The main point here though happens to be that no matter how advanced the civilization has been, all peoples who have existed on this earth have turned to the unexplained and unconfirmed 'God' when in need, and for a backbone upon which to base their society.

And most religions to date all agree on there having been an event in the history of the world in which the earth was engulfed in water, all the land was flooded, all life was extinguished, and then finally the waters receded and a small amount of the human race remained to repopulate the earth. The reason for the flooding varies dramatically from religion to religion, with the Christian bible giving the reason of human sin, the Norse mythology seeing it to be a war of the Gods, the Islamic belief, as shown in contrast to the Christian/Catholic religions in this article here, is that, like the Christian view, the world was over run with human sins, and god cleansed it via the floods. So we have here the example that despite the variation of the religions, they all follow the same story, which points to at least some basis for religion within them.

All versions of bible, unto a certain extent, agree on the major happenings in the natural world, and ergo we can conclude that all the religious texts, the world over, are to a degree historical records; also due to the variety of religions whom follow matching gods, we could safely assume that they all follow the same unknown deity. Now, right about here, I wish to make it clear that I am not trying to destroy faith with this rant; I in fact used to be quite a believer in the lord. But I am endeavoring to suggest that all of the various religions share a main god, and that possibly he is not as all powerful as priests and preachers and monks and nuns would teach us he is, but that in fact many of the occurrences that were marked to be acts of the gods at war, or the result of God's displeasure were simply natural events in the world, like the great flood from Noah's time, that is found also to be in Norse mythology, and Islamic and Jewish beliefs.

In some ways it is very similar, as an explanation, to the way we were taught it all in church as children. Basically, the priest taught that if you believe in God, then nothing bad will happen to you, and God will protect you. And for many years I believed this teaching, until one day I had a son, and no one could help him. Then, while he was dying, a priest from the hospital came up to me, and asked if I didn't want him baptized so the lord could take care of him? I was a little uncivil to that priest at the time, but basically, what I realized, and then told him, was that this is not an act of God, and God does not protect us all. We are not born sinners; we are born innocent and shaped by the actions of ourselves and those around us as we grow older. God does not protect us one way or another at all in our lives; he is just a name we can turn to for advice when we feel we need it, and a personage whom we can feel protects us.

Who knows, maybe there is a being out there who does fit the categories that we assign to God, or the various Gods that humanity follows. Maybe the various biblical texts are correct about how he or it acts. But most probably there is not. Most probably humanity simply needs someone to blame, or rather, a person to have responsible for past events, so long as they themselves is not that person. So the most likely answer here is that faith exists, and all of humanity believes, but God does not as such, exist as a real being, rather as some figment in our minds to whom we turn when in need, to whom we pray when lost. Humanity as a whole needs the idea that there is someone else other than themselves in charge of their lives, and so countless civilizations through time have again and again invented Gods to be the ones watching over their civilization.

The bare basic of the situation is that religion is real. Faith is real. Gods, on the other hand, are no where near as easily placed. Natural events of the past have been attributed to the wroth of god, one way or another, so the technicality of the situation seems to be that if something in our world, our lives goes wrong, as a race, we turn to someone else, blame someone else, and for this purpose, humanity invented Gods. As a race, we need to mature. We need to grow out of laying the blame for anything at the feet of an unknown entity, that most probably does not exist, and we have to realize that we, and we are the real creators of God.

Because I Can.

Police Brutality.

Police officers. In our society, their role is to protect, and aid those who need it, to maintain public order, to arrest criminals, to prevent and detect crime, or at least catch the criminals after the cause. In our society they are here to keep the peace, create order, and enforce it without violence, but do they really stick to that? Or mores to the point, how worrying are those who don't stick to the code, to us, the society they abuse? Lets have a look, and find out.

Today, as I was eating my sushi, don't ask why sushi, and going through coffee number three, I found this gem of an article on, yes, my favourite site, news.com.au. http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,25539347-421,00.html

A teenaged boy, apprehended for knocking another kid off their bicycle and punching him, so lets call it a school yard scrap, because i for one saw plenty of that sort of thing when i was in school, ends up back at the police station, alone, without a parent with him, which as we all should know is part of the legality, that he has the right to have a parent with him in the interview, with the police officer threatening him. Classy. Also highly illegal. But then again, who would anyone believe hey, the police officer, or the violent kid he arrested? Its obvious the officer will get away with this one...except for the minor detail that the kid had a mobile phone and recorded the entire thing, right down to the officer threatening to stick his baton so far up the kid's behind that he 'wouldn't know what day it was', quote.

Now fair enough, the kid was being violent toward another person, and despite not knowing the background to that, we all know that scraps should be taken care of in a little more of an adult manner. So we acknowledge that this child handled the situation badly to begin with. But by no means does the officer have the right to act the way he did in return, by threatening the kid with violence, and causing him to have a panic/asthma attack. So while both of them did the wrong thing here, and forgot all about using that thing in their head that we all refer to as a brain, the essential part of this article was that the police officer, who should know better and set the example, acted as badly as the child had; unpardonable. But I hear that's all OK, as I hear our friendly, though very scared teen, who incidentally said he 'feels abused', does not want this violent tempered officer to lose his job.

Luckily, that is not at all what was said by the victim in this particular case from late may last year, http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,25276341-952,00.html

in which a man who had been attempting to break up an argument between friends was arrested in Queensland, cuffed, and therefore heavily lacking in defense, and then assaulted by the arresting officer. About half an hour later, or a little over, when he finally appeared in the station, his face had been smashed into the police car, he had been repeatedly punched and kicked by the arresting officer, and to add fuel to the fire, the officer had then proceeded to shove a fire hose into the man's mouth, and turned it on for a total of 90 seconds. Who knows how this poor man managed to survive, But i hear he pressed charges due to his extensive injuries, and that the case is due in court some time this year. My only words on this case are o for it, win the case, then hope, like the rest of us, that this sorry excuse for a keeper of the peace does not ever get the chance to do a repeat performance anywhere.

Now, just to make it clear that I am in no way picking solely on Australian officers, lets examine this video article, fresh from the US of A, in which the story of the officers, and the video evidence, are at complete odds and by no means have a hope of matching. Let me introduce to you Janet Johnson, a 62 year old woman who has recently been the victim on unprovoked police stupidity. http://www.policebrutality.info/

According to the arresting officers, Janet hit them, and they were acting in self defense. As we can all clearly see from the video of the attack, she did nothing of the sort, rather, they rushed her, and proceeded to attack for no reason that was foreseeable, and seemingly unprovoked. Janet is now suing for 8 million dollars, US, due to the damage they inflicted upon her body, and the treatment they dealt to her. And rightly so, as there is no way the treatment meted out to her was by any definition the duty of a police officer in society.

So what are our various police forces doing about officers like these? On the main, ignoring them. Or if it becomes public enough, they reprimand them. Or occasionally, such as with Constable Benjamin Thomas Price, they will fire them due to the severity of the publicity they manage to attract with their brutality. But on the whole, nothing is being done, and nothing will be, unless people such as the 14yr old boy who believes the officer who threatened him should not lose his job, change their tune, realize that the person who attacked, or threatened them is actually a danger to society due to their position of power, and make more of a fuss about their encounters, instead of being simply a doormat in the path of abuse in our society.

My role in life, and Why I Don't Appreciate Being Judged as Useless by it.

Warning folks, today's rant is personal.

Now, I am a mother, and I have/had one child, James, and everything about me is all about being the traditional, home maker, stay at home, look after the family type of mother figure. It is my job description, despite what the government may say about it, and it is my love. Now, I am more than aware that in today's society, all of those things that personify me are seen to be a little bit archaic, redundant, and pointless, and that, say, a career, is perceived to be more worthy and understandable, but that's forgivable as we all know that society forgot all about the children and childhood, and the security a loving caring well grounded family provides years ago anyhow.

Now, I've made it no secret over the years as I grew up, and throughout my life to date that unlike the rest of you who all want to have careers and be 'real' people and do grown up things like go to university, and all of that long list of stuff you all want to complete before kids and family and partner, all I aspire to do with my life is find that elusive, proverbial 'right one' that everyone swears exists, settle down, and have a family. Plain and simple. So needless to say I found it quite shocking last night when one of my closest female friends took it upon herself to tell me how she thought my sort of life style, that of the stay at home mother/wife/family carer, was a waste of my life.

Lets break for a moment and review the role of a mother and wife in a family. She is a home maker, a loving caring person, a child raiser and bearer, a wise person, someone to whom everyone goes when they need advice, sympathy, or just hugs. She is the person who makes the grazed knee all better, who bullies those who bully you, who stands up for you in any situation. She is the person who you can call, any where, any time, and ask for help, she is the person who loves you unconditionally, cares for you, and makes you warm, fuzzy, love filled memories. A mother is the one who is always able to tell you when you've done wrong, or when you're being a fool, and when she does, that means you really have.

A mother, and a wife, is the person who makes the household tick over, and keeps it working, and shes the person who is always there to sort anything out, and make things go smoothly. Shes an organizer, and she constantly works under chaotic stress. And when something goes wrong with her family, its her who feels she has failed, even if she hasn't, and its her who picks up the pieces, no matter how broken she herself is feeling. And it is she who has to take criticism from every other know it all in the world, and pointless advice on how to do things 'the right way' from all the busy bodies who think she really needs their nosy input. So in my eyes, her role is quite sizable. And certainly, I no longer have a child to represent my status as a mother, but despite that, I remain one, and I remain a wife.

I am in a role that I fit into like a hand to a glove, and I see no reason why I should change from that to something I fit like a hand to a shoe; IE, not at all. And yet many out there see people like myself as time wasters, people who live off society, and are putting their lives in to a waste occupation. Now, I can to a certain degree see where these ideas are coming from, because a lot of stay at home mums do a pretty average job. My own mother didn't do that well with myself and my siblings, but, you know, we worked out in the end, despite none of us keeping in touch with her anymore. And a lot of single parents just can not be assed getting up, getting off the dole, and getting somewhere with their lives, and I'm not advocating them in any way; I feel they do not deserve mention for their leech like behavior.

But in general, most of the at home mothers I know are brilliant. They're there, day in and day out, for their kids, their partners, and anything random that comes up with their friends where their help is needed, and not only that, they do a great job with their families. So I see nothing bad about people like myself, and personally I find it horrifying how some people, even those I have valued as friends for many years, are able to see my role in my family as useless. I see my life style as being as important in the lives of those in my family as those career women see their careers to be in their lives; I know I have no qualifications, but I have a home, not just a house for my family to come back to, and I have the ability to raise my children, and care for my group.

If I really was just sitting on my ass all day, doing nothing at all, wasting my time, my life, my partners money etc, then by all means, tell me what exactly you think of me. And if I had failed at motherhood when the chance presented itself, then again, I agree whole heartedly with you, I would now be wasting my life. But I made the best of my chance at motherhood, and I believe I make the best of being a part of a functional marriage, so from my view point, while I am not working my ass off furthering my education, or career, I am performing a role in my life that I fit, and that not only am I suited to, but I do well.

I don't care if you're a career woman or someone like me, its your choice, but I do honestly think that we all have the right to decide what sort of mother we will be, if and when the time for us to be a mother comes up, and that those of us who have as yet not settles down should by no means judge those of us who have on how they raise their family, or how they chose to be a mother, until they themselves settle into motherhood as well. After all, that friend who sees my life style as a waste of my life may herself one day have children and wish to be nothing more than a stay at home mother. Or, she may even dump her kid on me before work each day while she becomes a career mother; we just don't know until the time comes for us to find out.

So to all of you out there, don't judge it until you try it, whatever it is, and in this case, motherhood.

To Give or...To Sell?

And news of the day, extra extra, read all about it, 18 year old Romanian girl sells her virginity for $17,900. http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,25521752-401,00.html Now, we have to wonder whats happening to the world that she couldn't find a more private way of 'popping her cherry', but before we do that, we also have to wonder, are men really becoming that desperate for a date in this world that they have to resort to something so public as this? I know women aren't that awesome as people in the long run some times, but you would think that at 45, http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,,25511058-5001021,00.html men like this one would have found someone? And personally, how good would he feel afterward, knowing that that pretty little lady he had just slept with, and taken the virginity of, only wanted anything to do with him so she would then be able to pay her way through the university bills she's been building up?
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/news/world/teen-sells-virginity-for-23000/2007/07/03/1183351162028.html

Also, lets take a moment to look at these girls. Apart from being mercenary, what else is there to them? Well, teen number one, going through university, losing half her virginity earnings to taxation, and enjoyed it so much that she so thoughtfully decided to tell the world that she would willingly do it again with her mystery 45 year old for free. Nice sweetie, just nice; we'll leave you classified as 'mercenary'. Teen number 2, British, “wanted to keep my first time special and wait for the right guy.” and is “not like other girls who want rid of it from the word go.” I'm sorry sweetheart, you too count as mercenary; I agree you are not at all like other girls; no one else you went to school with saved it for the right guy only to sell it for university fees.

Now I know for a lot of people out there, sex is no biggie, but for me, my first time was special, and anything in the bedroom is special, and only done with special people. So I find it a bit odd, and not at all reassuring, that there are girls out there, like these ones, who are willing to just casually sell their first time to any random who can outbid the rest. Firstly, wheres the fun in it for them? And don't they think of how their partner feels after? Sure, the sex was awesome, but I now feel used as heres the 23 grand I promised to pay you for a casual fuck. I'm certain that would leave a warm, glowing happy feeling.

And I wonder how these girls feel about themselves after? I know I would feel cheap, but thats just me. But hey, its certainly a huge change from the times of our parents, in which sex came after marriage, and shopping round first, let alone selling your first time, was taboo. In some ways I think its fantastic that views on sex are a lot looser; you know what you're getting when you enter a relationship, you get some experience in life, and you have some fun, and get to learn a hell of a lot about yourself. On the other hand, STI checks are really not fun, a lot of the time situations arise that you wouldn't have expected and cant control, and when someone says they love you, how can you tell? So I guess good and bad still come hand in hand.

However, open mindedness toward sex in general is awesome. It means that society is willing to change its views, and maybe one day, it will all be OK, regardless of who you are and what/who/how you like it. But still, selling your virginity? Girls, thats not the way to 'find the right one to be with' or whatever you're aiming for, thats a way to get into a mess you're uncertain how to get out of. All I have left to say is good luck, and I hope that 5 years down the track you can claim more than just being 'that girl from 2009 who became famous for selling her virginity'. Special things should be given, not sold.

Man, I sounds like a dried up old prude today! :)

Our Homophobic Society.

Homophobia is the intolerance and prejudice that some members of our society have, and seem unable to get rid of, that is primarily aimed at the groups of people in our society who are actively gay or lesbian, ie actively sharing their love lives, and therefore personal lives, with a member of the same gender as themselves. As far as I am aware, it is a fear of prejudice that they can not forcibly stop themselves from feeling, and generally it is one that is actively passed to them from their parents, or older influences in their lives. Now that we've outlined what exactly homophobia is, lets have a look into it. The fear of gay people is to my mind irrational; what have they ever done to cause fear and hatred? Been different? There appears not to be any other factor in the matter. So there is no rational explaination for homophobia.

Now, i have a large number of gay friends, many of whom I went through school with, many more of whom i have only met in the last 3 years since moving out of school an home, and the one thing i can say definitely about all of them as a group is that they are a lovely, gentle bunch of people. Theres' nothing different between them and i; we all have similar interests, similar likes and dislikes; we still sit down for chick flicks, talk about our partners, share tips on clothing and all that junk that we normally would. And i can still sit with my male gay friends and have a long convo about their car, or sport, so the way i see it, there's nothing different there to be seen. Yet these people can walk down a street with their partner in tow and be met with scowls, outrage, anger, and verbal abuse.

Why? Simply because by existing they scare the rest of society with their difference. They make other people wonder “Could they catch gayness too?” and “I have close same gender friends, what makes me different to these people?” The main reason these people ask these inane questions is obviously that they are ignorant, as we all know, and some times, in a small percentage, because they think really, they just may not be straight. The repercussions they deal to the gay populace are often inexcusable. Realistically speaking, the main reason for much of the homosexuality, at least for the male population, is that scientifically speaking, facts point to female being the default gender, and the fetus going through a battle in the womb to become male, as explained in this 1979 film, HORIZON: THE FIGHT TO BE MALE. The essence of the film is that basically those few who are born with both genders, and gender confused people, as society would love us to call them, are actually BORN that way; they didn't simply 'catch gayness'. So it would be logical to suppose that you cant help who you are anyhow, no matter if youre gay or straight, and that those who are against this group of people are ill informed and illogical, not to mention uneducated.

A large factor that appears to be working against society accepting gay relationships is parents of these people. For instance one couple I know are being forced apart because their parents found out they were gay. They are perfectly normal people, have been best friends forever, and yet...their loving, caring, supportive parents, who have always been there by their sides, are now claiming that the other child “corrupted” their innocent sweet baby. And that's only one of many examples. With supportive families like that, its no wonder no one else in society is willing to accept them being different!

Personally, I think the first step to acceptance in this world is taken in the home, in the form of baby steps. We are all equal, no matter our beliefs, or our loves, or our social background; we should teach this to our children, instead of starting their lives by telling them they will be normal, like all the other sheep like people in this world, because that is the only option. Wrong. Its a good place to start changing this world dont you think, the cradle? Who knows, those little people of tomorrow may just be the ones who make this a better place to be, for all of us...if their opinionated parents dont try to teach them what is right and wrong in society as well as ethics and morals!

The Right Thing

Living, thats easy. People will tell you its hard, but they really have no clue if thats their theory. No, living is easy, its LIFE thats the hard part. Creating it, nuturing it, sustaining it.

Think about it for a second.
Out of 9 planets in our solar system, only one has managed to produce and successfully sustain life. Only our planet, from the whole of the galaxy, is known to have intelligent life forms. Now lets focus on those life forms. Is life easy to create? Some would say yes, but lets take a closer look. Women only succeed in getting pregnancy 30% of the time, and about 20% of all pregnancies end in miscarriage. Of those that carry through, theres a 30% chance the baby will have deformations, or birth defects, or mental problems, many of which impede the ability for the child to live a successful normal life.

So understandably the human race has evolved to treasure life and do anything within its powers to preserve it. But some of us would have to agree that in recent years, our medical scientists and our doctors have taken this desire to preserve life too far. In this I refer to many examples of people who are comatose, or vegetative, have no quality of life, and would be better off simply being allowed to let go, yet doctors, and our laws, world wide, are keeping them in pain and misery. A key example of the cruelty of our medical system is this poor family, torn apart over their child and sibling, being kept alive against his wishes, simply because we as a culture fear death and hence refuse to allow him the final dignity, and his final wish www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,25498807-421,00

Yet another example of the inhumanity of our society is the case of 13 year old USA boy, Daniel Hauser, who has declined chemotherapy treatment for leukemia, and is currently on the run from authorities in the USA because a court has ordered that he see a doctor and receive treatment. http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,25515726-401,00.html Despite displaying his wished of receiving natural remedic treatments, and claiming belief that chemotherapy would kill him, the courts remain adament that Daniel will be found, and will receive treatment. What happens if Daniel is to die before they find him? His mother, whom is aiding him stay out of sight in America, will most likely be imprisoned. Are we so wrapped up in the preservation of life as a society that we would send a dying boy on the run and make him live in exhile rather than accept his choice and allow it to him?Are we as a society willing to disregard personal decission in order to make life continue? edition.cnn.com/2009/US/05/19/minnesota.forced.chemo/index Now, if as this version of events is telling us, Mr Hauser really is severely lacking in awareness of his own situation, which, personally I find vastly problematic to believe, then it is understandable that there is considerable concern, and that the American Courts would want Mr Hauser to come back, and at least learn all the details about his condition. But it will continue to remain wrong that they have ordered him back for treatment, with no mention of simply allowing him to learn all he needs to know and making his own choice. In essence, the American Courts have taken this teenagers right to personal choice away from him.

On the note of lack of personal choice, lets also spare a thought for those people who are dying, or comatose, or vegetative, or any variation of those problems, and the fact that if they do not want to remain in the state they are in, they don't really have a choice at all. My husband and I had an extremely ill son, who we opted to bring home for his own sake, and ours, and also due to what we saw as his choice. James had no working pituitary gland, and hence no thyroid hormone to keep him awake and alert, and yet he managed to remove his central IV line from his body, then had to be sedated to prevent him doing this again. I feel greatful that we had the choice with our son to do for him what was right, but I know many parents whos children are worse off than our son was, who have no choice; they have to watch their children live out their lives, trapped in their own bodies, with no ability to help them at all. And if they do help them, as some have done and others will do, then they are charged for murder. So all in all, a no win situation.

I believe, along with many others who have all been in situations that have shown them the extent of disrepair our medical system is in, that our medical law system needs some urgent reviewing. Euthanasia laws need to be made. Doctors have to be able to realize when a patient is not going to get better, when the best thing for them is to put their life in their own hands, or if that is not possible, into those of their family. And most of all, regardless of whether the condition is treatable despite its severity, our governments and medical systems have to realize, that no matter what, the choice should ultimately be left in the hands of the person who's life they are treating. Because ultimately, personal choice should matter more in this world than maintaining life at all costs, even when there is no real life left, just a husk of a body, with a person trapped inside.

Blogging tool implimented!

Welcome through the door from fantasy land, to reality, where pigs don't fly, pink elephants do not stand in the corner unmentioned, and the controversial is the word of the day. Hold onto your hats, Kansas is a place of the past.

I tantrum from every day abnormalities or occurrences, all the way through to whats wrong with our world, and all that usual shite that every body and their dog rabbits about, but i also throw in research, fact, truth, and the unmentioned reality of how it all works and why its all so badly done. I'm a hot headed realist, and i don't sugar coat things for anyone; some of you out there wouldn't hesitate to call me a bitch.

My spelling leaves much to be desired, and my language boarders on crude, and it could be supposed that if i were saying any of this irl it would be a blur of noise often associated with the generic female in a temper.
Enough about me, enjoy the controversial.