Tuesday, April 12, 2005
Oh come on blogger!
Why have you eaten my side-bar again? I'm sure I've blogged past the large photo now but I still don't have any links. Has blogger outgrown itself? People keep complaining about all sorts of glitches, mainly with comments, and I'm getting decidedly annoyed to have no links all the time. We rely so heavily on our technology behaving as we expect. What will we all do if blogger implodes?
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Random thoughts:
Her face drained white with the shock of his sudden, unexpected and hate-filled comment.
In the outback the flies made their flesh crawl black until they moved to a river where great colonies of predator bats wiped out the problem.
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Random thoughts:
Her face drained white with the shock of his sudden, unexpected and hate-filled comment.
In the outback the flies made their flesh crawl black until they moved to a river where great colonies of predator bats wiped out the problem.
Grumpy old men
There's a new show on the ABC called 'Grumpy Old Men'. I suppose it's a reality show of sorts based on research that men between the ages of about 35 to 55 are a lot more grumpy than anyone else, a panel of men talks about how annoyed they get by certain aspects of modern life. Now I can't go along with the statement that anyone in their thirties or even forties could be termed old, and the show is not that engaging except that, as a grumpy old woman, at the bad end of the fifties, I find I can relate to most of what they are complaining about.
I wonder how many readers, young or old are excessively annoyed by these things too.
Here are some of the things that drive the grumpy old men mad with annoyance, I've rated my annoyance levels with them at 1 to 5 with one being the lowest and 5 the highest. Some of them don't really annoy me, but that doesn't mean I find them attractive. Let me know how you feel.
Body piercings - we're talking the tongue, 6 earrings, belly button, eyebrow sort of thing here. Well they don't really annoy me but I do think they look exceedingly unattractive in excess.
Low hipsters and high shirts on women with beer bellies - as above but girls, please... if it doesn't enhance your appearance, don't slavishly follow fashion. Big bums and big guts on women or men are much more attractive when sedately covered by clothes.
Low hipsters that show thong underwear - puleeze they just look disgusting. The old men reckoned they were the equivalent of those short shorts on builders that show the bum crack when they bend over! They always remind me of the antique variety of womens' feminine hygeine products that used to be attached to a 'belt' so I find their appearance vaguely embarrassing.
Mobile phones - the poor old geezers feel left out by the technological revolution and resent anyone who enjoys mobile phones or computers. I only hate them when they talk loudly in a confined space where I can't avoid them and particularly when they have pointless, boring conversations. Not so bad when there's something juicy to eavesdrop on :). Rate 4 for these ones.
Computerised answering systems of the "press button 1 if you want" variety. Yep I reckon you don't have to be a grumpy old person to really hate those - 5 for me. Where do these businesses get off wasting my time listening to their options upon options, then making me wait 20 minutes while they tell me they value my call and an operator will be with me shortly. This is even worse when they also play terrible loud music or chimes while you wait, or worst of all give you an advertising spiel on their products.
They hate the feminist revolution because they no longer know how to behave. Is it still correct to open a door for a woman or give up their seat or will they be taken the wrong way and vilified? When women wear low cut clothing that shows their breasts, they don't know where to look. Oh grow up guys - get a life!
Ah, it was interesting seeing these men, many of whom I would have thought of as young, having such difficulty enjoying modern life.
Now that I analyse it, I don't really find any of these things overwhelmingly annoying - guess I mustn't be a grumpy old person after all!
I wonder how many readers, young or old are excessively annoyed by these things too.
Here are some of the things that drive the grumpy old men mad with annoyance, I've rated my annoyance levels with them at 1 to 5 with one being the lowest and 5 the highest. Some of them don't really annoy me, but that doesn't mean I find them attractive. Let me know how you feel.
Body piercings - we're talking the tongue, 6 earrings, belly button, eyebrow sort of thing here. Well they don't really annoy me but I do think they look exceedingly unattractive in excess.
Low hipsters and high shirts on women with beer bellies - as above but girls, please... if it doesn't enhance your appearance, don't slavishly follow fashion. Big bums and big guts on women or men are much more attractive when sedately covered by clothes.
Low hipsters that show thong underwear - puleeze they just look disgusting. The old men reckoned they were the equivalent of those short shorts on builders that show the bum crack when they bend over! They always remind me of the antique variety of womens' feminine hygeine products that used to be attached to a 'belt' so I find their appearance vaguely embarrassing.
Mobile phones - the poor old geezers feel left out by the technological revolution and resent anyone who enjoys mobile phones or computers. I only hate them when they talk loudly in a confined space where I can't avoid them and particularly when they have pointless, boring conversations. Not so bad when there's something juicy to eavesdrop on :). Rate 4 for these ones.
Computerised answering systems of the "press button 1 if you want" variety. Yep I reckon you don't have to be a grumpy old person to really hate those - 5 for me. Where do these businesses get off wasting my time listening to their options upon options, then making me wait 20 minutes while they tell me they value my call and an operator will be with me shortly. This is even worse when they also play terrible loud music or chimes while you wait, or worst of all give you an advertising spiel on their products.
They hate the feminist revolution because they no longer know how to behave. Is it still correct to open a door for a woman or give up their seat or will they be taken the wrong way and vilified? When women wear low cut clothing that shows their breasts, they don't know where to look. Oh grow up guys - get a life!
Ah, it was interesting seeing these men, many of whom I would have thought of as young, having such difficulty enjoying modern life.
Now that I analyse it, I don't really find any of these things overwhelmingly annoying - guess I mustn't be a grumpy old person after all!
Monday, April 11, 2005
Filled up and fed up
Yeah well I'm dragging this post out of myself because I think I've worked out what's happened to my links. The new photo host gives me such large photos that they cover the side-bar. At least that's what I think's happening because the side-bar disappeared last week after I posted some large pictures and now it's disappeared again. I really like the larger pictures but the thing is, I don't know how to adjust the size, so can't do much about the disappearing links...ah, sometimes lately I just feel like blogging is more trouble than it's worth. So tonight I'm blogging just to fill up a space and see if my side-bar reappears.
I feel this obligation to blog something and often don't have anything to say. Then there's my blogging friends and their problems. One I've mentioned whose blog simply disappeared, never to be seen again. Another has suffered a monumental loss of function on his computer and lost all his files going back 20 years. He had numerous back-up strategies, all of which appear to have failed for one reason or another. Go visit him and cheer him up or offer some good advice if you can. He's a really talented man and a good writer. Then of course there's that smartass cutie in the west who I could always rely on for a good laugh and she's disappeared from blogland too.
What else is making me depressed and nervous and stressed and feeling as though blogging is the last thing I'm interested in? Well there's a frantic two weeks at work before I fly off again this week -running from morning to night. Then there's my former partner who's just suffered a traumatic week in hospital having a stent put in a coronary artery - and that's made me feel worried and unsettled. Then there's my beloved sons - the one who likes me and wants to talk to me is going a long way away and I'll miss him and I guess he's on my mind, the one who never talks to me and rarely shows any interest in seeing me is tormenting me with his insecurities and the one who is dutiful towards me is getting no communication from me at all because he keeps getting put to the bottom of a very long list of my obligations and that makes me feel guilty.
I'm sleeping badly. Most nights I'm up every two hours wandering the house between naps. Two nights ago I didn't go to bed till 4.30am because I knew I wouldn't sleep. The night before that I went to bed at midnight, stayed awake till 1.30 whereupon I got up and stayed up till 4am. Makes you a bit sluggish the next day all this nocturnal life.
...and I can't imagine why anyone would bother reading this tripe I write. So until I can think of something more interesting to write about... goodnight!
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Random thought:
The traffic lights glowing green along the highway looked so beautiful. Was it just the association of their function that made the red ones appear threatening?
I feel this obligation to blog something and often don't have anything to say. Then there's my blogging friends and their problems. One I've mentioned whose blog simply disappeared, never to be seen again. Another has suffered a monumental loss of function on his computer and lost all his files going back 20 years. He had numerous back-up strategies, all of which appear to have failed for one reason or another. Go visit him and cheer him up or offer some good advice if you can. He's a really talented man and a good writer. Then of course there's that smartass cutie in the west who I could always rely on for a good laugh and she's disappeared from blogland too.
What else is making me depressed and nervous and stressed and feeling as though blogging is the last thing I'm interested in? Well there's a frantic two weeks at work before I fly off again this week -running from morning to night. Then there's my former partner who's just suffered a traumatic week in hospital having a stent put in a coronary artery - and that's made me feel worried and unsettled. Then there's my beloved sons - the one who likes me and wants to talk to me is going a long way away and I'll miss him and I guess he's on my mind, the one who never talks to me and rarely shows any interest in seeing me is tormenting me with his insecurities and the one who is dutiful towards me is getting no communication from me at all because he keeps getting put to the bottom of a very long list of my obligations and that makes me feel guilty.
I'm sleeping badly. Most nights I'm up every two hours wandering the house between naps. Two nights ago I didn't go to bed till 4.30am because I knew I wouldn't sleep. The night before that I went to bed at midnight, stayed awake till 1.30 whereupon I got up and stayed up till 4am. Makes you a bit sluggish the next day all this nocturnal life.
...and I can't imagine why anyone would bother reading this tripe I write. So until I can think of something more interesting to write about... goodnight!
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Random thought:
The traffic lights glowing green along the highway looked so beautiful. Was it just the association of their function that made the red ones appear threatening?
Sunday, April 10, 2005
Forest kingfisher drawing pastel drawing
Brunswick Heads Beach
royal wedding
Raking up enthusiasm for blogging between efforts to catch up on correspondence, a hellish week at work and the necessity to get my house in order before flying out again at the end of next week has not been easy.
The Royal Wedding coverage tonight on Channel 9 with -fortunately- most of it crossed to BBC's coverage finally overcame my exhaustion and lack of motivation.
I grew up in an Australia where the Royal family was the highlight of our otherwise dull and parochial lives. Nowadays, I think most of us can take them or leave them and the soap opera their goings on have evolved into over recent years means we don't take them all that seriously any more.
Nevertheless, I maintain a reasonable knowledge of who is who and am always attracted to watch any ceremonial occasions. I'm pretty liberal in my ceremonies as I spent the afternoon watching a re-run of the pope's funeral while I caught up on ironing and shoe cleaning tasks!
Charles and Camilla and all that's gone on has left me feeling that he's a bit of a joke and she is just a boring, horsey woman and they are an unattractive middle aged couple not at all worthy of my interest but I still couldn't resist a peek at the Royal Wedding.
Much to my surprise I saw that this boring middle aged couple looked happy. This might be the first time I can ever remember Charles looking happy. He made tender gestures towards her, albeit in the restrained royal way. They actually looked as though they genuinely loved each other. And not only that, Camilla looked beautiful and dignified and I can't imagine how difficult that was to pull off with all the constraints that would have been on her, plus the definite disadvantage of being a fairly ordinary looking middle aged woman rather than movie star material.
The ceremony at King George Chapel at Windsor was elegant and worth watching just for the music and the readings and the sheer glory of the building.
The only downside was the drippy channel 9 presenter who obviously knew nothing about the royals, nor the history of the chapel - the best description she could come up with was that 'lots of royals' have been married there. She then went on to describe the new Mrs Windsor as The Princess of Wales, which title has not been given to her, and spent the rest of her time on camera dripping on about them loving each other for 30 years which she qualified by saying except for the 15 years of the Prince's marriage to Diana. Where has this woman been for the past 20 years? She was done up in a fluoro pink ballgown with a huge glittery necklace which was quite a bit over the top for the occasion. The only other thing the Channel 9 team contributed was an interview with Diana Fisher - a snobbish, stupid and loud-mouthed woman who managed to gain some fame in Australia simply on the basis that she was related to the Archbishop of Canterbury. As I said, we're pretty isolated here and sometimes it shows.
I wonder when Australia (and I) will grow up and lose this passion for the pommie royals.
The Royal Wedding coverage tonight on Channel 9 with -fortunately- most of it crossed to BBC's coverage finally overcame my exhaustion and lack of motivation.
I grew up in an Australia where the Royal family was the highlight of our otherwise dull and parochial lives. Nowadays, I think most of us can take them or leave them and the soap opera their goings on have evolved into over recent years means we don't take them all that seriously any more.
Nevertheless, I maintain a reasonable knowledge of who is who and am always attracted to watch any ceremonial occasions. I'm pretty liberal in my ceremonies as I spent the afternoon watching a re-run of the pope's funeral while I caught up on ironing and shoe cleaning tasks!
Charles and Camilla and all that's gone on has left me feeling that he's a bit of a joke and she is just a boring, horsey woman and they are an unattractive middle aged couple not at all worthy of my interest but I still couldn't resist a peek at the Royal Wedding.
Much to my surprise I saw that this boring middle aged couple looked happy. This might be the first time I can ever remember Charles looking happy. He made tender gestures towards her, albeit in the restrained royal way. They actually looked as though they genuinely loved each other. And not only that, Camilla looked beautiful and dignified and I can't imagine how difficult that was to pull off with all the constraints that would have been on her, plus the definite disadvantage of being a fairly ordinary looking middle aged woman rather than movie star material.
The ceremony at King George Chapel at Windsor was elegant and worth watching just for the music and the readings and the sheer glory of the building.
The only downside was the drippy channel 9 presenter who obviously knew nothing about the royals, nor the history of the chapel - the best description she could come up with was that 'lots of royals' have been married there. She then went on to describe the new Mrs Windsor as The Princess of Wales, which title has not been given to her, and spent the rest of her time on camera dripping on about them loving each other for 30 years which she qualified by saying except for the 15 years of the Prince's marriage to Diana. Where has this woman been for the past 20 years? She was done up in a fluoro pink ballgown with a huge glittery necklace which was quite a bit over the top for the occasion. The only other thing the Channel 9 team contributed was an interview with Diana Fisher - a snobbish, stupid and loud-mouthed woman who managed to gain some fame in Australia simply on the basis that she was related to the Archbishop of Canterbury. As I said, we're pretty isolated here and sometimes it shows.
I wonder when Australia (and I) will grow up and lose this passion for the pommie royals.
Saturday, April 02, 2005
Disappearing links
This is just a quick update from my holiday location on the NSW north coast. Sensational beaches, lovely little towns. Gotta go now, more later. Just hoping my disappeared links return next time I open up sweet sweat.
