Thoughts on everything

Letter to my MP

2011-10-04T13:06:00.002+01:00

26th September 2011

Dear Mr Heald,

I am sad to be writing to you with a bee in my bonnet. I have seen much of your work lately in the Comet and heard tell of your involvement in Letchworth through friends and felt that you would provide the listening ear (and hopefully representative voice) that I am looking for. It is a very simple one, but no less shocking for that.

I am not a Daily Mail reader, but working in PR, my team and I read all the newspapers every morning, flagging interesting articles. I suppose you could say that reading The Daily Mail is our cross to bear. This morning my team flagged the following article: "At last, statistics that prove a sexist stereotype... Women are worse at parking", by Emily Andrews: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2041741/Sexist-stereotypes-Statistics-prove-women-worse-parking.html#ixzz1Z2iazMGQ. I have pasted below the offending article in case the Daily Mail sees sense and removes it from their site.

Upon reading the article, it is evident that the gender information that damns more than 50% of the population of this country was released by the Driving Standards Authority; a part of the Department for Transport.

And here is my complaint. The Department of Transport is paid by the people of of this country to provide services. At no point in its remit should it be attempting any sort of unnecessary PR - and certainly not engaging in stories that are so fundamentally prejudiced to a proportion of the population. If you are in any doubt as to the appropriateness of this data analysis, I would advise re-reading the piece, removing the gender delineations and replacing them with ethnic groups. I am sure you can see that that would be wholly inappropriate and something that while the Daily Mail might not hesitate to cover I believe the government would think twice about releasing or commenting upon.

I have a bit of an interest in feminist discussions, and so know of the multiple psychological research programmes that have discovered conclusively that women DO underperform in "male" classified tasks (maths, driving, spatial tests), but that this underperformance is entirely cancelled out (in fact reversed) when women are not subjected to the often only implied societal belief that they are expected to do worse.

To be explicit - it is exactly the perpetration of stories such as this that create the gender imbalance (and implicit female under achievement) of which they report.

As my MP I would very much value your taking this matter seriously and raising a debate in the appropriate government forums about the responsible analysis and presentation of government data, specifically with regard to continuing societal prejudices - whether gender-based or otherwise.

In the 21st century this article should have galled every reader, and the comments (often by women) beneath the article only serve to reinforce the importance of educating - both through classrooms and the mainstream media - women of their inherent ability to succeed, not fail.

Yours faithfully in anticipation of a response,

Emily Wearmouth

Things I made #4

2010-11-30T19:55:00.001Z

Courgette Jam (w/ginger and lemon), Courgette Chutney and Tomato Chutney

Things I made #3

2010-11-30T19:49:00.001Z

Apple and walnut bread

Things I made #2

2010-11-30T19:41:00.003Z

Wholemeal flatbreads, veggie curry and mango raitha

Things I made #1

2010-11-30T19:34:00.002Z

Beetroot Brownies.

A new home

2010-08-10T14:17:00.002+01:00

Hello everyone,

I have sussed it. I don't rant anymore (hence nothing here for a long while), instead I just cheat and take pictures, or find stuff on the internet I like to share.

Hence my love of twitter.

So I have set myself up a Posterous. If you want to keep up with banal nonsense from me (and let's face it, that's what you were getting here), feel free to check me out here.

Love,

2010 projects

2010-01-29T12:13:00.003Z

I am rather embarrassed to notice that I haven't blogged at all this year. Ahem.

It's because, frankly, I got writers block. Then I realised I had writers block because I wasn't really doing anything that I cared to blog about. Plus I can get away with shoddy blogging while Luke covers off the main stuff.

Anyway I am currently brewing a project. A side effect of the project, should it go ahead, will be excessive amounts of blog-worthy things I can talk about.

Will keep you posted.

2009 - a recap

2009-12-31T17:04:00.001Z

I realised today that 2009 could possibly have been my best year ever.
So before we kick the year to the kerb I thought it deserved a quick
recap.

I kick started the year with a trip; Alice Springs, Uluru, the Olgas,
Kings Canyon, Coober Pedy and Adelaide, the Barossa, Grampians, Great
Ocean Road and Melbourne.

The V festival, cocktails with pals, sunny days in Bondi. Brunches.

I met two great friends at a chocolate making class just as 2008 ended
and spent 2009 getting to know them even better (while auditioning the
chocolate cafes of Sydney).

My first Australia Day celebrations saw me kitted out in full Aussie
flag and wash-off tattoos.

Then I got into gym-going. My personal trainer Daniel got me fit and
lythe and in March I bought proper running shoes. I felt healthier
than I can remember ever feeling before.

I got into feminism.

Professionally I learnt how to network, created a PR networking group
in Sydney and really began to use Twitter socially (making some of my
best friends through Twitter networking and even my boyfriend!)

Fell in love. First with luke, then his family.

Did the soppy things you do when in love, like driving for an hour to
have breakfast by a beach... When you live 10 mins walk away from
breakfast places by Bondi beach. Also went to Canberra. Less soppy.

I went a month without drinking (kinda) for my mate's charity
fundraiser Dry July which frankly spelt the beginning of the end for
my excessive boozing.

I took a holiday to magnetic island off the coast of Queensland -
stunning and empty.

I learnt to knit.

Got a fab new job back in the uk.

Went to an old friend's wedding on Hamilton Island in the Whitsundays.

Headed out for my big travel adventure; Perth, the west coast
including Karajini and the Ningaloo reef, Broome, the Kimberley,
Darwin, Lichfield and Kakadu, Fraser Island and all over Tassie.

'Emigrated' home to the UK with boy in tow. Bought new car, rented
cute house, started great job...

... Slowly began to catch up with friends, old and new.

And here we are at the end of the year. My weekends involve trips
around the UK and next year Venice and Paris are to come (Luke and I
think alike for Xmas pressies!).

Gosh I lived this year.

Kate Miller-Heidke sings Tim Minchin

2009-12-23T07:46:00.003Z

Last night Luke and I went to see Kate Miller-Heidke at Borderline and along with her own songs, she sang Tim Minchin's Christmas song; White Wine In The Sun. I loved every moment and Luke, standing next to me, listening to his favourite singer singing a song by his favourite comedian, looked like he might die of joy.

I did cry (as I tend to with his song) because it reminds me of what Luke and I left behind in Australia. Here it is for you. I filmed it on my iPhone but found someone else's upload before mine got up.

The haunting

2009-12-21T13:38:00.002Z

On Saturday morning I went downstairs and then decided to take a christmas tree chocolate back upstairs for Luke. So I started the Christmas tree chocolate (CTC) hunt - you know the one... where you scan the branches in a systematic manner, helped by landmarks such as the red angel, or blown fairy light bulb, to locate the precious chocolate decorations.

But a short scan later (its not a massive tree) it became apparent that there were no xmas chocolates left. Just seven little gold strings hanging over seven branches.

I went upstairs, ready to accuse; "Did you eat all the Christmas tree chocolates? I have had two and there are at least seven missing from the tree..."

But Luke denied pinching any.

We both headed downstairs to look and there were indeed no CTCs left on the tree. We counted; Luke had had one, and I had had two. We looked under the tree in case they had fallen, leaving their strings hanging. Nothing.

We looked all around the room. Nothing. Thoughts of chocolate stealing burglars occured to me. Even this story came to mind.

We even got to the point of considering the possibility that our old cottage might be haunted by the ghost of a chocolate lover... then Luke found a wrapper.

Hiding behind the curtain, this wrapper was remarkably undamaged. Until you looked closer. And then you could see lots of pinprick holes. Luke still looked confused but I needed no help from Jonathan Creek at this point.

A quick peer down the radiator pipe hole in the floor showed bits of foil glinting back at me, and I knew I was right.

We have no other signs of mice, but I have no doubts that one or more have been sneaking into our lounge, climbing our tree, tugging the chocolates down and taking them home for tea.

I feel quite inspired to write a children's Christmas book. But have also dispatched Luke to buy traps....

A week in Sydney

2009-12-18T16:36:00.003Z

No no, dear reader, I haven't just spent a week in Sydney. That title is rather misleading isn't it? Well a colleague of mine is heading to Sydney over xmas and I put together my top 10 'must do' list for him, and then thought I would share it with you too. If you ever find yourself in Sydney, make sure you tick off as many as these as possible and then you may find you love the city as much as I do :)

Sneaky number 11 is whale watching, but its out of season at the moment, hence not being included in the full list.

1) Sushi Train in Bondi Junction. PERFECTION. Don't go to the Town Hall or Bondi Beach ones, its just not as good.

2) Cocktails/meal at Orbit/Summit

3) The Hyde Park Barracks Museum

4) Take a ferry to Watson's Bay and walk up to the South Head for a view back into the harbour and out through the harbour heads

5) Glebe markets. You can also do Bondi markets or Paddington markets (not to be confused with Paddy's market), but my fav is Glebe and its the biggest.

6) $7 steak on a Wednesday night at the North Bondi RSL. Just sign yourself in and indulge in the best steak in the world. Get a balcony table and watch the sunset behind Bondi. Kitchen closes at 9pm and it gets mad busy in summer. (its the upstairs floor of the building in the pic, door down the side).

7) Thai and BYO (bring your own booze) in Newtown (wander down King St and take your pick of a million places)

8) Cocktail at Opera Bar as the sun sets behind the bridge

9) Sydney Opera House tour (and if poss, see something there)

10) Blue Mountains for a day

Because that's the point of getting married...

2009-12-02T13:00:00.001Z

Courtesy of FailBlog and one very rude and shallow lady on Facebook.

Memories

2009-12-01T21:55:00.006Z

I just took a look through some of my travel snaps on Facebook and gosh I had the best time. Here are just a few randoms I love.... because I never did upload any for you... I may do this every month or so just to keep me smiling :)

They are (out of chronological order):

Karijini National Park
The Malcolm Douglas Crocodile Farm in Broome
Shark Bay and Ningaloo Reef

The joy of not being sold anything

2009-11-30T09:38:00.001Z

From Something Changed:

When I met Henry VIII

2009-11-23T17:36:00.001Z

I don’t often blog about things I have been up to. Even when I used to blog lots, I tended to tell you all about things I thought, or that other people said.

However this weekend The Boy and I went to Hampton Court Palace and had a fabulous time, so I thought I would mention it. We did all the audio tours all over the palace, and learnt that pies were originally invented as an oven dish, so you are supposed to tear the top off, eat the middle and chuck the pastry away. We saw the Henry VIII stuff (throughout which I insisted on boring The Boy with my deep Tudor knowledge (gained half from BBC History Magazine and half from excessive reading of Philippa Gregory books). We saw William and Anne, we saw the Georgian bits. We played in the maze (Luke lost me and left me wandering for 10 mins alone between box hedges trying to find the centre, which made me giggle a lot). We wandered in the gardens and saw the world’s oldest and biggest vine...

AND I SAW HENRY VIII! No I really did! He was all dressed up and wandering through his palace on his way to his wedding to Kateryn Parr. I curtseyed (I really did!) while Luke loitered in a corner, scared because the guide book said he has a tendency to shout at rude courtiers. We saw him again coming out of the Royal Chapel with his new queen on his arm and looking very cheerful. Was bloomin’ good fun.

And the best bit? Well not only is Hampden Court our ‘local’ palace (just 15 mins drive down the road), and not only have they nearly finished constructing the pictureskew ice skating rink out the front, but the gardens are entirely free all winter! That’s 1^st October till the 31^st March ... totally free (except the maze, but we have done that now...)

So we can wander back for more fun (pretending to be Tudors, or Georgians or whoever else we fancy) any time we like J.

(In?)-Equalities Bill

2009-11-20T11:32:00.002Z

In the Queen’s speech this week we found out some details about Harriet Harman’s Equalities Bill. And I don’t like it. The bill proposes that firms will have to prove their commitment to the equal rights agenda to win tax-payer funded work worth a total of more than £200bn.

The bill has immediately proven to be unpopular with small businesses, who claim it will make it even harder for them to win public sector contracts, as they will be lost in bureaucracy and disadvantaged by the numbers game.

But I object on a more fundamental level.

I am a feminist and I find this to be an incredibly patronising and misplaced ‘positive’ discrimination. Tweeting my dislike for the bill I was pointed, by a fellow twitterer, to the Norweigan example of female quotas for boards as an successful outcome from such legislation. The idea, I suppose, is that the end justifies the means. Equality, this all suggests, is a numbers game and we can all declare victory and go home once women and men occupy all the positions we value in society in equal numbers.

But hang on a minute, surely that misses the point? If you believe (as I do) that equality is not about outcomes but opportunities, then the numbers of women on the board can only ever be an indicator, not a conclusion. Personally, I don’t give a monkey’s bottom how many women occupy board positions – as long as every woman who wanted one of those seats was given the opportunity to compete and was judged fairly and regardless of sex.

What woman would want to occupy a board position knowing she was there to make up her company’s numbers? Her colleagues would know likewise and her opinions and ability to do her job would be severely undermined. Through actions like this we drive sexism underground into a deep seated resentment.

An article in last weekend’s Sunday Times Magazine gave great detail about the successes that women are seeing in our society. School grades outstrip those of the boys, female university graduates outnumber male, the predominance of male doctors is being balanced, ‘female’ (urgh) skills are central to the UK’s services economy and this (combined with increasingly flexible employment conditions) have meant that the recession has affected men in the workplace more than women. We are also members of a society where increasing single parent families (read; single mum-headed families) are producing boys lacking in male role models, unable to cope with their own biology and massively underperforming.

I am not suggesting for a moment that the battle is won. Nor can we stop in our efforts for equality because female successes inevitably cause a rebalance in male successes. There are multiple forces at work here, all of which need addressing.

However I fundamentally cannot believe, with so many examples of women successfully breaking through the glass ceiling and simple economics and market dynamics driving companies to recognise the benefits of female input, that the focus of legislation should be at such an elite level.

Girls need to be given fair access to education, exposed to powerful role models and allowed to achieve their own ambitions. If women cannot compete for board seats on their own merits then there is a problem further down the chain. I fear for a society where we develop resentful male / female professional relationships and promote individuals on the basis of quotas rather than ability.

The Tube

2009-11-16T18:54:00.000Z

So here I am. On the tube. At Turnham Green actually - my first
station in London. I am en route to Richmond from Paddington and boy
has my mental state changed since I last commuted on the tube.

I need to work harder on my seat-securing strategy, my balance and my
vacuous stare (at the moment I am aware of looking far too interested
in the goings on of everyone else). I have even forgotten how to keep
track of stations out of the corner of my eye, so as to give the
impression of a psychic link with the route.

But frankly it makes it all exciting again. And this carriage is nice
and new and clean. Just wish the man next to me was as clean...

It's all gone quiet... Ah, that's coz she can't talk

2009-11-14T09:21:00.000Z

Wow getting your brain to think in blog frames is hard after so long
off.

This week I have mostly been moping in bed and on the sofa with what I
first thought was flu but turned out to be a nasty bout of tonsilitus.
Who'd have thunk something so teenage sounding could wipe you out so
thoroughly!

So I managed 7 days in the new job before having to phone in sick.
Very not ideal as I was due to meet two clients on the day in question
- and one of them in Finland! Running a temperature of 39 degrees I
was rather emotionally unstable and had quite a 'poor me' weep after
making the call to the new boss. The weeping continued that night
while at an NHS walk in centre (I of course have no doctor, having had
to start work on the first working day of living in twickenham. Not
sure how to resolve that) because by then I was such a sub-human I
couldn't hold my head up straight.

3 days of enforced silence (a delight for the boy and no hardship for
me, feeling as I was) and dehydrating sweats and I am beginning to
feel better. Thank the lord for penicillin. I just wish the tablets
didn't taste so rank because I have to take them for another 8 days...

Business as usual

2009-11-09T08:46:00.000Z

I am not going to dwell on the long period of silence here at TOE. Least said soonest mended and all that. I shan't even recommence my regular web diatribe with excuses because, frankly, I have too many and haven't yet worked out bullet points on the iPhone.

Instead I shall begin service as usual and hopefully posts over the coming weeks will fill you in on fundamental facts such as: I now live in the uk. I have a new and great job. Er, and such.

So without further ado.

This morning when the boy stumbled downstairs to dutifully help me wash my hair (well, he chose the house with no shower) he asked; Did I ignore you while you were talking to me this morning? No, I replied, he hadn't. It transpired that he had had a dream where I was talking at him and he could only hear white noise and so decided to pretend I wasn't talking at all.

And his closing remark? I wonder if it's indicative of our relationship? Cheek.

Update from my travels #2

2009-09-25T13:50:00.002+01:00

So, where did I leave you? Ah yes... in Broome.

Well first off I should mention that I totally forgot to tell you in my last update that I had hand fed a WILD dolphin with a fishy for brekky. Awesomely cool. Never been near a dolphin before and my eco-ness highly appreciated that it was wild, and therefore only eating my fish because it felt like it.

OK, so what since Broome? Well.... in my last I told you all about how I had been served on a platter for bed bugs in my hostel, and how those bites had blistered. I set off into the Kimberley with 6 major blisters and about 4 others I disregarded. Major, by the way, means at least a centimetre in diameter. 4 on the top of my arm, one on the calf and one on my wrist. Just a scene setter there, as the Kimberly is one of the most remote regions in Australia - medical attention is 3 days away in some spots and infection is a BAD idea. How brave/silly am I?

Now onto the fun stuff.... We headed north on the first day, straight onto the Gibb River Road. If anyone has ever been cornered in a pub by a four wheel drive enthusiast you will certainly have heard of the road - its a hobbiest's idea of heaven. It is basically the road formed by the drovers (a la Hugh Jackman in Australia) droving cattle to Darwin. Only they never bothered to make it good, coz they whacked highway one about 200km beneath it eventually. So slackers take highway 1, and 4WD capable vehicles embark upon 5 days of AWESOMEness. We found on the road the following:

- Gorgeous gorges (one walk you can only start by loading your manditory 2 litres of water, clothes, hat, shoes etc, into a polystyrene box and swimming across the river with it)
- A walk through a gorge which is basically a cave and you have to wade through ankle deep water (with crocs) with a torch
- The BEST scones I have ever eaten (on a cattle station in the middle of nowhere, with a wild wallabee hopping around, an outside bath with a view, gorgeous birds....)
- Some fabulous stubby coolers (if you have no idea what this is, google it - Australians won't drink beer bottles or cans without one. It keeps the hand warm, and the beer cool). I have resisted this particular souvenir since my arrival, but finding a souvenir for - say - a roadhouse in the middle of nowhere on the Gibb, is pretty unique.
- Mucho scenery from the film Australia (which I love a lot already, but can now annoy Luke by not only making him watch it, but now also pointing out stuff)
- Zebedee hot springs (in El Questro station, a million acre plot - (??!!)). This is the springs that reputedly helped Nicole Kidman's man get her up the duff... along with 6 other members of the crew of Australia (not him, you understand, I think their own men got involved)
- Three men GENUINELY mustering cattle
- An aboriginal community (you have to phone ahead for permission) and their art gallery. They have no tradition of painting on flat surfaces until the seventies, and their stuff has no outside influences but is really lovely. Check out Warmun in the google).
- Sunsets
- Sunrises
- Road trains shifting cattle - droving is now done by diesel power

We came off the Gibb River Road to head south into Purnululu National Park (home to the Bungle Bungles). I was very excited about this - I have wanted to see them since I can first remember hearing of them and never thought I would get there (not being the adventurous type). And wow. I can't wait to download my photos. After a couple of gorge walks I opted to helicopter over the range. Caps required.... WOW. I had to stop taking photos at one point to have a serious internal word with myself; "Emily," (I said) "you are in a helicopter flying over the bungles. Just how much can life ROCK?"

Lots of swag action all along the way - in 21 days since Perth (and gosh just get back on Google and look up on the map how far that is from Darwin, where I currently sit. 6,600km no less!!) - I have slept in a swag too many times to be bothered to count.

What else...? Its hot. Bloomin' muggy. I naively thought the tropics simply had two seasons - wet and dry. Well they do, but these things don't change over night. The 6 weeks before the wet are called The Build Up (caps probably not required). That's when I appear to have chosen to head to the Top End. Wally me. This is the time of year when every other advert on telly up here is a suicide hotline, because Territorians (folk from the Northern Territory) all go "tropo" in the mental unescapable heat. Clouds come over around 1pm for a couple of hours. They are tantalisingly gray and heavy. Yet they do nothing. We all continue to wait for rain. Apparently when it appears everyone dances in the street and holds BBQs. I plan to escape long before that. In the meantime I am spending far too much time in overly air conditioned tat souvenir shops. Bliss.

But Darwin is a really nice city. On the way in we all got a shock when we stopped at traffic lights. No I really did intend to end that sentence there. Nothing happened - they merrily turned green again and we went on our way, but we hadn't had traffic lights for about 3,000km - possibly more.

Other things we have done that I have neglected to mention include:

- Taking a boat on Lake Argle - this man-made lake cost just $20 million in the seventies because the damn is, frankly, underwhelming, but it successfully flooded some unloved valleys to make a lake which (although I can't remember the dimensions) is vast. I think the water that flows through from the River Ord into the lake is enough to fill Sydney Harbour every hour. Or something. And to show how much rain they have in the wet season, this lake which was supposed to take 8 years to fill, filled in just 3. Anyway, it has successfully irrigated the Ord River region around Kununurra to become the nation's fruit bowl. Although now they seem to be growing a lot of Sandalwood - a controversial move according to the lady who made me a delicious mango smoothie.
- Driven through gushing rivers in our trusty 4WD bus
- Aboriginal rock art
- Walked more than 15 gorges, all of which (except 2) had a rewardingly paradisial (made up word?) waterfall/pool at the end to swim in.
- grass hoppers of around 4 inches in length
Crossing the border from Western Australia to the Northern Territory (WA goes on much longer than I thought, NT is a really narrow state and much of the north coast is WA or Queensland)
- Full roast dinners cooked in the camp fire. The last night goes down on record as one of my favourite meals of all time

So here I am in Darwin. We got in last night and all headed to the Mindil Beach Sunset Markets. Bustling busy craft and food stalls. Lovely. Today I went to a croc place (Again. Because they are fascinatingly ugly and beautiful, big, scary, cute...) had a nice brunch with some pals, a good thai dinner). Tomorrow I think I am the last one from my bus tour in left in Darwin so I plan a lazy day and then heading to the outdoor deckchair cinema with our tour guide Pete in the evening. Then Sunday morning I head off for my 3 day tour into Kakadu. Except it has been cancelled so I am instead going on a Lichfield/Kakadu one. Which is pretty cool because I heard on the route that Lichfield is lovely.

Signing off with love from a very happy and life-enhanced,
Em

Update from my travels #1

2009-09-25T13:46:00.002+01:00

Written on the 15th September but not uploaded due to internet time running out and me feeling a little miserly - I bought a beer instead....

Today is my last day in Broome before I head out for 9 days in The Kimberley. I am having a great time, although over the last two days I have been eaten alive by something and a couple of the bites have now got massive blisters. VERY not ideal to be heading into the most remote part of Australia. I just stopped in at the pharmacy and am carrying a massive first aid bundle. Advice from the pharmacist - just don't let them burst and get infected... whatever you do. Still, because I was feeling sorry for myself I stopped in at the outback supplies store and just treated myself to a nice camping pillow. Swag luxury here I come!

So what have I done so far... gosh... loads!

Um. First we went to the Pinnacles. That's these odd rocks that stick out of the sand in the desert all up the west coast of Australia. Then we went to the beach and sand boarded down a big dune.

(This is the much abridged version of everything by the way, for your sake).

We went to Shell Beach, which is entirely made of shells. And Coral Bay where we went out on a boat for the day, snorkelling the Ningaloo Reef. We swam for about 20 mins with a 5 metre manta ray as it had its mouth open for feeding. It was right below me and spinning round and round. Incredible. We saw turtles and some massive bright fish, giant clams, starfish and even a gray nurse shark on the edge of the reef. It was all amazing.

The next main thing was heading into Karijini National Park. Which is simply stunning. We camped there for 3 nights and did lots of gorge walking (which involves lots of death defying shimmying). Its really beautiful there - despite the casual nature with which the locals approach redback spiders and king brown snakes (the most deadly snake in the world). We did lots of swimming in pools at the bottom of gorges - all deliciously tropical looking although a little chilly in the morning! We also did a star watching thing in the evening one night, which was one of my favourite things so far. The sky in the southern hemisphere is a lot busier and more interesting than in the north, and Karijini is one of the best spots in the world for stargazing. We were using these GINORMOUS telescopes and saw Jupiter, its rings and four of its moons. Plus we learnt all about other bits on the sky. Scorpio, Libra, Sagittarius (or as the Australians call it 'The Teapot'), the southern cross (including alpha centauri) the milky way... we also found the closest galaxy to ours, and a star nursery where suns are being made. It was all incredible.

We got into Broome on Sunday and have spent the time washing clothes, pottering around the town (its very cute, and the centre of Australia's pearl industry) and relaxing while we have bunk beds. Yesterday I went to the Malcolm Douglas crocodile park (Malcolm Douglas is like Steve Irwin before he was a twinkle in his parents' eyes). All the crocs had been caught locally - problem crocodiles - and there were some big buggers!! We went on the feeding tour and saw them in action. Ahem... I may swim in fewer water holes in the Kimberley!! We will be swimming with fresh water crocs, which are smaller and only attack by accident (if they think you are a fish), but still ... losing a hand is not in my plan! I was supposed to do the sunset camel ride on cable beach tonight but have cancelled in case the friction pops the blister on my calf.

Tomorrow at 6.30am we head back out on tour - 9 days to Darwin. We have met our guide, who seems nice, and its swags all the way this time. The majority of the group from the last tour are coming on the next, which is nice. This next tour is pretty hardcore, the Karijini camping was a kind of preparation, so I will probably be exhausted by the time I reach Darwin! Still - I have my pillow now, and a couple of nights to recover in Darwin before Kakadu....

A musical interlude

2009-08-26T06:42:00.002+01:00

One of The Man's songs from cabaret last night (yes, it's a Tim Minchin). My favs aren't yet up on YouTube but I shall add more when they are!

Modern art in three paragraphs

2009-08-26T03:00:00.001+01:00

From Something Changed:

Impressionism — painting outside of a studio with quick, loose brushstrokes to capture an evocative impression of their subject. Van Gogh was an Impressionist but wanted to express how he felt about what he saw so he distorted the subject. This helped to lead to Expressionism practised by artists from Edvard Munch through to Francis Bacon. The Fauves (wild beasts) expressed themselves by painting with bright colours. Jackson Pollock did it by throwing or dripping paint on a canvas. His paintings were abstract — Abstract Expressionism.

Cézanne was very important. He began as an Impressionist but then started to look at a subject from two different perspectives to represent how we see. Picasso and his friend Georges Braque were very impressed and started to paint subjects from lots of different views. This is Cubism. Marcel Duchamp was a Cubist but then changed art for ever. He said the idea is more important than the medium and refused to stick with the limited choice of canvas or stone. So he chose everyday objects and called them art because he had altered their context. This led to Conceptual Art where the idea becomes the medium.

The Dadaists were very cross. They blamed the horrors of the First World War on the Establishment’s reliance on rational and reasoned thought. They radically opposed rational thought and became nihilistic — the punk rock of modern art movements. Dada plus Sigmund Freud equals Surrealism. The Surrealists were fascinated by the unconscious mind, as that’s where they thought truth resided. Piet Mondrian thought he could paint everything he knew, felt and saw by using two lines placed at rectangles and three primary colours. This was called Neo-Plasticism and was inspired by Cubism. So was Futurism, which is Cubism with motion added. Vorticism is the same as Futurism, but British. The Minimalists might represent the real truth because they weren’t trying to represent anything. Performance Art is Dada live.

Design strategy

2009-08-24T06:32:00.006+01:00

I came across this video on Get Shouty and although sceptical at first about the words it uses (in American accent no less) like 'resonate', 'action' (as a verb), 'surprise and delight', I found it really enjoyable to watch.

The video shows how a design strategy team approaches a challenge to identify the right idea for a business - a new product, service, etc.

Much love for the large plastic box of coloured pens on their desks, plus their dependence on coloured post-it notes. Design strategy looks like a great job... and without knowing a thing about them, this team (Continuum) seem to have their heads screwed on.

RESONANCE from chris hosmer on Vimeo.

Japanese socks

2009-08-19T13:25:00.004+01:00

This blog post is like Ronseal. It does exactly what it says on the tin.

In it, you will find a photo of my new Japanese socks. They are from two different pairs, but I have worn one of each in order to show them both off in one picture.

One is a carrot, the other a watermelon.

I would like to thank my friend Nozomi (one of the infamous Chocolate Girls) for the present. She brought them back from her recent trip home to Japan. Puts the incessant Cadburys Dairy Milk (compulsory UK export from all trips home) a little in the shade, don't you think?

Life is a cabaret old chum

2009-08-19T04:56:00.005+01:00

I don't think I told you before (because I refrained from simply blogging his CV and vital statistics when I met him) but The Man has a theatre company, Two's A Company, which runs a cabaret night every Tuesday in Sydney.

For the last two weeks on special request the evening has involved a host of guest singers all under one theme - Disney.

I went to both nights (no I am not a WAG, I don't always go, but come on peeps... it was Disney!) and it was so much fun! A pal last night took a couple of videos and popped them up on YouTube and I wanted to share them with you.

First up, The Man sings with his pal Courtney in an arranged-at-the-last-minute duet.

Then Lauchlan does a turn as a blue genie from Aladin.

Very entertaining :). Enjoy!

Christian FM

2009-08-18T08:12:00.002+01:00

A few weeks ago I finally cracked.

I have always enjoyed Merrick, Rosso and Kate Richie (yes, Brits among us - Sally from Home & Away) on the radio on Nova in the mornings. Yes they are rather annoying but also often amusing. As long as you only tune in between 6am and 8am, and on week days. Because before 6am they play the show from the morning before, and on the weekend they just rerun stuff from the week. I know... bit poo.

Anyway a couple of weeks ago Rosso, or Merrick (I can never tell them apart) was shouting just a little bit too loudly just a little bit too early. I think he was pretending to talk like a dog.

I leapt out of bed and turned the radio off and demanded that The Man retune the radio. Which he did.

The next morning I awoke to a very peaceful yet friendly pair of DJs. Triple J, The Man had assumed, but I swiftly realised it wasn't. Seemed we had found Hope FM - Sydney's Christian radio station.

Now my religious beliefs are... lacking... but I appreciated the soothing tone and didn't mind the religious undertones to the songs (hey, if you don't listen properly they all just sound like love songs anyway). So we have stuck with it. Except on Sundays when you get preached at.

But this morning the dulcid tones woke me at 6.30.... and then I was awoken again at 7.30 as the radio switched itself off again. A whole hour of mellow godly chit chat had passed me by and I had to do a quick sprint into the shower in order not to be late. That's not the point of an alarm!

Tonight the radio gets a re-tune again.

Mixed emotions

2009-08-13T04:48:00.006+01:00

The whole moving home thing brings with it very mixed emotions.

I have some amazing friends out here and the lifestyle is so much better than in the UK. I will miss it a lot. I don't think I realised in time that it wasn't Australia that was making me homesick but just one piece of my life here that I could have changed to make it all better. Oh well, live and learn.

I am very excited to be returning home - I do love London and the UK.

I keep throwing around comments like "gosh I will miss XX" and "first thing I will do when I get home is XX". So I thought I would work on a couple of little lists:

Things I will miss:

- Fabulous sushi that costs pittance
- The sunshine
- Winter lunches in Hyde Park in my shirt sleeves
- The journalists out here (so nice to work with)
- All my social media crowd pals - the UK tweeps have big shoes to fill!
- My very good friend's wedding, which makes me sad

Things I am looking forward to:

- British Dominos Pizza - its like a completely different food group to the Australian version
- Curry
- Cocktails and wine bars
- Being reunited with my shoes
- Understanding systems and laws
- Seeing my (much bigger than when I left them) nieces
- Dickensian Christmas with log fires, red wine and all that jazz
- Putting more effort into seeing Europe now I have seen how Australians never really get to see Oz and we do the same back home

The Big News

2009-08-13T04:32:00.002+01:00

The teasing is over, I can now announce my news....

I am moving back to the UK! Sooner than planned, but I finish up at Kinetics on the 28th August and will be boarding a plane home on the 21st October.

I have been offered a stonking job at a great agency for when I get back, and so will be renting a flat in London rather than booting out my tenants and moving back into my dream cottage (they will have to excuse me turning up and emptying my belongings out of the loft though!)

From the 2nd September to the 16th October I shall be travelling around the wonderful world of Oz taking in the Top End and much more!

- Flying to Perth and spending a couple of nights with my good friends KK and Matt
- Heading on a 10 day trip up from Perth to Broome, taking in the Pinnacles and Monkey Mia
- A couple of nights in Broome staying on Cable Beach
- A 9 day trip through The Kimberley and the Bungle Bungle
- A night in Darwin
- A 3 day tour in Kakadu
- Bit more Darwin
- Fraser Island
- Tasmania: Hobart, Port Douglas, Cradle Mountain, Devonport, Launceston
- Back to Sydney for a leaving bash then HOME!

By the time I fly home I will have been to every state, every state capital (bar Brisbane, except for a brief stop over), a bit of New Zealand and some of the most amazing sights I will ever see.

More excited forward looking and reminiscing backward looking posts to come now my gagging order has ended!

Secret keeping

2009-08-03T04:36:00.003+01:00

I am not very good at keeping my own secrets.

Right now I really want to blog about all the exciting things I am up to, but I have to keep my lip digitally buttoned.

I would like to tell you what I just bought at lunchtime, but its a clue about the exciting things I am up to, so I can't.

I would like to share with you what I am talking about endlessly with my man. But that would be tantamount to telling you my news, so its off limits.

I can't even tell you what my man achieved this morning (a big tick on his secret to do list)... needless to say I am not allowed.

Sorry.

Perfect wellies

2009-07-31T04:12:00.004+01:00

I have never really liked the new trend for fashion wellies. You know the ones I mean... pink with big flowers, or zebra prints, or somesuch.

I have blogged previously on a number of occasions about my wellies (sadly left behind locked in my garden shed in the UK) as my favourite pair of shoes. And its a hard fought competition with a lot of contestants in the rack.

I refer to my wellies as I-could-marry-a-farmer wellies because they are slushy green and do their job without ostentatious fanfare.

But this pair is really rather cool and I believe that they could make my pal Elle edge a little away from her towering stillettos and towards my prefered mode of pedi-transportation. The Jimmy Choo Hunter welly. Pretty fabulous.

Tim Minchin

2009-07-31T01:15:00.003+01:00

The boy introduced me to a great comedian and I wanted to show him to you all. So check out these two songs from Tim Minchin. Happy Friday!

The silence...

2009-07-30T08:02:00.000+01:00

Please don't think I haven't noticed that things have been a little silent over here on TOE of late. After all, I am usually the one deafening the place with my rants and musings.

However at the moment my life is rather complicated and filled with things I can't say publicly so you lot, darling readers, shall have to wait until all is revealed in the next week or so.

Sorry!

Twitter for business

2009-07-24T00:29:00.000+01:00

A couple of months ago I was asked to provide some comment for a training session on Twitter's value for business. This presentation was given in Melbourne this week - I am famous (from slide 59) :)

Can Twitter do Business?

View more presentations from Anthony Caruana.

Boyfriend bonuses

2009-07-19T03:35:00.003+01:00

When I was single I thought life was easy. Noone making messes for me to get annoyed about around the flat, you know, stuff like that.

But check this out! Total boyfriend bonus!

Working from home

2009-07-18T07:32:00.003+01:00

Took this snap a few weeks ago... working from home. Enough computers? :)

Knitting

2009-07-14T11:49:00.002+01:00

Last night Erin taught Emma and I how to knit. So, still a beginner, but check this out! I am dead chuffed! You will see my attempts at two different stitches here.

I totally rock.

Except that I started with 8 stitches and after yoyoing up to 9 and back to 8 for a while I suddenly seem to have 10. Oh well!!

Where'd she go?

2009-07-13T08:05:00.002+01:00

Sorry for the silence, I have been on a little holiday in the sunshine. Back in work today and to my delight I have been tagged in a meme while I was away by Polly.

So here goes:

What is your current obsession? Um... my feminist blog A Woman's Writes. I am reading Germaine Greer to write a review at the moment, and trying to make feminism relevant for the 21st century.

Coffee or tea? Neither please. Or peppermint tea.

What’s for dinner? Gosh goodness knows! I am heading to a lovely cafe for hot choc and a knitting lesson from Erin with Emma so maybe I will get something there. Otherwise I do have some home made pumpkin soup in the freezer...

What was the last thing you bought? Sushi train for lunch.

What are you listening to right now? A very quiet office.

What is your favorite ice-cream flavor? Mint choc chip. Mmmm.

What is your favorite colour? Red to wear, yellow for flowers.

What is your dream job? Marketing for English Heritage or the History Channel or something like that.

How many times do you press the snooze button before you get up? I don't... I lie there listening to the radio for up to 45 mins! :S

Lost that loving feeling

2009-07-01T04:39:00.003+01:00

As humans do we only have the capacity to be excited and enthusiastic about a certain number of things?

Before I met Luke, I had turned into quite the little gym bunny. I had a personal trainer I was seeing once a week and I would go by myself once or twice more, depending on my hectic and fabulous social life. I had even started running and was beginning to be able to do it *at the same time* as breathing, which was a big breakthrough.

Goodness, I even registered in the City2Surf 14km run, like I promised I would.

But recently I haven't been running. Or going to the gym. I even cancelled my personal trainer once - and he knew I was lying when I said I was ill. You see all my enthusiasm has transfered to spending time with Luke. Boys, you see, spoil everything.

The final straw came this week... I am sorry to announce that I will not be partaking in the City2Surf after all. You see I am off on hols next week, and have the parentals in town for the two weeks before the race. If I am not managing to run an inch now, I will never make it round the course.

Its terrible when a hot man tells you he loves your (slightly) squishy belly. Harrumph.

Identity theft vs mistaken identity

2009-06-23T07:52:00.002+01:00

I went to a seminar recently hosted by Laurel Papworth, in which was discussed the methods of managing your reputation online. We heard about people who have an alter ego (someone with the same name that they get confused with in online searches), and others whose online presence is nothing but a few personal posts in a health forum (not something you particularly want an employer to find).

Ever since, I have been meaning to Google myself (“ego-surf”) to see what came up. I haven't done it for a while...

I just did it (here) and am really rather pleased!

Of the top ten results on the first page of results (essentially all that matters) when searching for Emily Wearmouth you get:

1) This blog
2) A random old post from this blog (wonder why that post?)
3) My Dry July sponsorship page (incidentally when you google Dry July I am the third result!! Weird)
4) My Twitter profile
5) A random Tweet I made about chocolate (wonder why that tweet?)
6) My blogger profile
7) A comment I made on another blog
8) My company’s website, reporting the news of my joining last year
9) My LinkedIn profile
10) A very very old press release for a client I am bizarrely working with again on the other side of the world

So everything is me, and everything is stuff I create to be public content. My Facebook profile hides away in Google searches (which I specified in my settings), my other blogs lurk a little in the background (at least one is easily found if you go looking, but its single topic does not dominate my online identify by appearing here). I think the only thing I would change if I could would be the posts and tweets it chose (they aren’t very representative), and the aging press release.

It is interesting to think on your ego search results for a while. Many are afraid to put too much of themselves online for fear of identity theft, but isn't mistaken identity just as bad? My heavy online activity has ensured that any prospective employer googling me (or indeed future mothers-in-law even!) will only find things about me, that I have chosen to put out there. It isnt until page 2 that you even get one random result about a different Emily Wearmouth.

Its all about managing your online identity - including its security - and I am pleased with how mine is going.

Light Up The World With A Smile today

2009-06-23T05:19:00.000+01:00

When I was little I had a brilliant plan to become Prime Minister. I was going to run for election on the back of a ‘Light Up Britain With A Smile’ campaign. The premise was simple. I would smile at a couple of people in the street. They would be bitten by the smiley bug and would in turn smile. Their smiles would be seen by two more people and the smile would spread quickly around the world. Because everyone smiles unconsciously in response to a random person smiling as they go about their day. Smiles are infectious.

I would of course use some nice media interviews to make sure everyone knew I started the smile, and because everyone had become so cheerful they would all vote for me without a second thought because everyone likes to be happy. And anyone who can make the country smile deserves the top job.

That was the idea. And I still stand by the premise today (even if advancing years have lost me some of my faith in the way the good folk of Britain would vote – a lot of them seem to like hateful holocaust deniers at the moment).

I was reminded of this all this morning as I was walking to Bondi Junction station on my way to work. A young man was walking towards me with a big beaming grin on his face. Not a psycho grin, but a bloomin’ big smile like he just heard some great news. It was the unashamedness of his happiness that made me smile too. I don’t know if he saw that he made me smile, I had walked past him by then, but the straight-faced guy behind him saw my big smile and goodness knows what that made him do. I hope he caught the bug and smiled at the woman behind me...

Ireland language map

2009-06-17T01:20:00.003+01:00

A blog I really enjoy is Strange Maps. It does exactly what it says on the tin, in that it posts strange maps and stuff. Sometimes they are old maps, sometimes they are cartoons, sometimes maps depicting demographical information... all sorts really.

Last week they put one up that I wanted to share with you because I thought it gave a really nice insight into Ireland's language landscape. Having had a conversation with the boy recently about languages spoken in the UK and Ireland - and how related (or otherwise) they are, this gives some nice takeaway facts on how the Irish language is faring.

I am not sure that the key will be legible. Basically it says:

Ireland as 100 people:
55 would speak only English
39 would speak mainly English, occasionally Irish
2 would speak only Irish
1 would speak Polish
3 would speak other languages

For those who don't know about the EU politics... a couple of years ago Poland was accepted into the EU, bringing an influx of Poles to the UK and Ireland. They have turned out to be short term migrants, returning home after a couple of years of money making, but their numbers have still had a big impact on the demographics of Western Europe. In the UK their arrival has made Catholicism the largest religion for the first time since the reformation yoyo changes.

As if I am not bad enough at posting...

2009-06-16T05:01:00.002+01:00

... I have gone and started another blog.

I know what you are thinking. You, my long suffering readers, will have to queue up just a little bit longer to get any attention from me.

Well hopefully not, but also I am hoping that you will be jolly interested in my new venture too!

You can see it over here (click on the word 'here'...).

You see, I have been talking a lot of feminism over here recently and wanted to make a specialist home for those thoughts. Firstly to give them the recognition, time and space that they merit, but also because excessive blogging on one particular topic is not the name of the game over here at TOE.

So go on, pop over to A Woman's Writes and have a look around. And join in the conversation. Its only day two of my new blog's life and already it has had more than 50 visitors, 6 comments and its own Twitter profile.

Should be fun!

Dry July

2009-06-11T01:22:00.003+01:00

A couple of my pals set up a charity fundraiser a couple of years back; Dry July.

This year it will be bigger and better than ever - going national across Australia for the first time.

The idea is to sponsor people to stay off the booze for the month of July, raising money for cancer charities. In New South Wales our beneficiary is the Prince Of Wales Hospital (my local).

Those of you who know me will know that laying off the grog for a whole month is going to be tough. I am hoping that regular readers who don't know me will also join in the fun. Consider it a small donation to thank me for sharing my random thoughts with you - aha.. you didn't realise there were strings attached did you?

You can sponsor my efforts here on the Dry July site. I will keep you updated on my progress through the month!

Fewer words?

2009-06-05T05:18:00.003+01:00

In the UK people are losing the ability to discern when to use the word "less" and when it should be "fewer".

Less is used when dealing in quantities, fewer when describing something that can be counted.

So...

"We have fewer people in our team than we used to"
"I used less than a tank of petrol to drive to Scotland"
"Woah, dude! A little less ketchup please!"
"You may use this shopping aisle if you have 12 items or FEWER in your basket"

Why do I raise this now, you ask? Because in Australia they don't seem to have the word fewer AT ALL. Educated people don't use it, professional writers don't use it... noone uses it.

At first I thought I had discovered a whole nation to which I could teach the rule, but I have been thinking... is the rule just different out here?

Australians spell some things differently to the Brits, but they aren't American in their language either... perhaps over here the word fewer has genuinely died out from the language. In the UK people use it and use it wrongly. I think I prefer its full omission than inaccurate application.

Local news

2009-06-04T02:11:00.002+01:00

What is the future of media? Will readers pay for quality journalism? Who has a responsibility to keep the media funded? These and other such highbrow and concerning questions are being asked in every PR agency, media company, freelance home study and, well, media company, around the world. But this post from a blog I like to read gave a whole new angle to the debate.

What about the local news? Anna Pickard (the author of Little Red Boat, and the afforementioned post) is a freelance features writer who recently moved to San Francisco with her 'beloved', Bobbie Johnson, the tech writer at the Guardian. Australian readers of this blog will be familiar with both their writings as they are syndicated in many of the Australian papers.

The purpose of this post is solely to get you to read Anna's post on a couple of local newspaper articles she has found since her arrival in the USA. In case you missed the link above - you can find it here. It is incredibly funny and reminds us of the lighter side of the media.

(this post was syndicated from - i.e. actually written by me for - the Kinetics team blog; Shoot The Messenger. If I am ever too quiet over here, you may find me chatting over there (on work time...)

Two is a conflict....

2009-06-02T02:45:00.003+01:00

I found this diagram on one of my favourite blogs (which I believe I have spoken about before). It put me in mind of something an old colleague of mine always used to say about client conflict.

"Two makes a conflict, three is a speciality"

An insight into client conversations

2009-05-28T06:02:00.002+01:00

I work in PR. In an agency. This is a hilarious take off of the budget conversations I have with my clients.

Is name calling racism?

2009-05-27T00:12:00.003+01:00

There have been a couple of stories hogging the news in Australia this week, and the contraversy surrounding them both leads to one question; is name calling racism?

Story 1)
There is a shooting on a Saturday night in Kings Cross. A 'merry' girl sees a TV camera and decides on a whim to pretend she witnessed it - afterall, it would be a laugh to be on TV. The story she tells is so believeable it gets widely covered and only when the police try to question her does it come out (very quickly, in her defence) that she made the whole thing up.

The hoo-ha has come from her use of the word 'wog'. For my non-Australian readers I should explain it means a very different group of people over here - those of Italian descent. Many who would be classed as wogs use the word to describe themselves (just as some black Americans - or maybe just the rappers - call themselves niggers). However others find the term offensive. The comments towards the end here show the kind of feeling the word can produce.

Story 2)
Sol Trujillo, until recently the CEO of the Australian national telecoms carrier Telstra, has called Australia a racist country. His tenure at Telstra wasn't popular and the media, politicans and (I am lead to believe) his peers regularly made comments about him relating to his race (Hispanic).

There is an article of general outcry at the allegation in The Australian this morning. Politicians and business leaders saying they have never experienced racism... that Trujillo is demonstrating sour grapes. I quote:

"I note today that Sol is complaining that Australia is somewhat racist country. The sad irony is that Sol and his amigos bought this focus on themselves by their greed and unnecessary antagonism."

The Prime Minister greeted news of Mr Trujillo's departure with the word, "adios".

Now I am a WASP through and through. White Anglo-Saxon Protestant. And have never been the victim of racist taunts. However I do have an opinion on this stemming from my experiences as a woman.

Perhaps the Kings Cross girl and the Australian business and political communities weren't being racially prejudiced. Perhaps the two "wogs" in the Cross and Sol Trujillo have never been disadvantaged in any way because of their race in Australia.

But as in any bully/bullied situation surely we need to take our lead on whether something is acceptable from the target. If those of Italian descent find the term wog offensive - don't use it. If Sol was offended or hurt at being called racially-based nicknames, surely the adults in the room know better than to do it. Rather than defending name calling as if its some sort of national sport which should be consistutionally protected ("if you don't find the PM's comment witty you are obviously very unaustralian") why not just say "hey Sol, didn't know it upset you, sorry mate. I stand by my comments about your crap management of our telecoms network though."

A woman, an older worker, a short person, someone with excessive hair.... someone of a different racial descent.... everyone has sensitivities. An insult is an insult. And if it is a racially-based insult it is racism. Let's not haggle over symantecs.

Lots of thoughts on few things

2009-05-26T04:18:00.002+01:00

My head is full right now, but with nothing that doesn't contravene the self-made rules of my blog:

Posts should be on thoughts that:
- Can be publicly disclosed
- Should be publicly disclosed
- Are of any interest whatsoever to someone other than me
- Can somehow be formulated into sentences

The thoughts I am having certainly fail on point 4, and quite possibly on others too.

Too cute....

2009-05-22T05:23:00.001+01:00

The little boy wanted to know “if the President’s haircut felt like his own” (via The Official White House Photostream), courtesy of somethingchanged.

This is just too cute.

On emos

2009-05-20T06:09:00.004+01:00

Emo is not Australian lingo for a flightless bird (they do *so* love to put O on the end of all their words), but is in fact a style of music, and in turn a type of person (those who like emo music and dress accordingly).

The whole emo scene has been brought to my attention recently by someone who used to be one, and I have to say I am rather flummoxed.

Here is the low down (with thanks to Wikipedia - emphasis my own):

Emo (pronounced /ˈiːmoʊ/) is a style of rock music typically characterized by melodic musicianship and expressive, often confessional lyrics. It originated in the mid-1980s hardcore punk movement, where it was known as "emotional hardcore" or "emocore". As the style was echoed by contemporary American punk bands, its sound and meaning shifted and changed, blending with pop punk and indie rock.

Emo broke into mainstream culture in the early 2000s followed by the emergence of the more aggressive subgenre "screamo".

Emo is commonly tied to both music and fashion and the term "emo" is sometimes stereotyped with tight jeans on males and females alike, long fringe (bangs) brushed to one side of the face or over one or both eyes, dyed black, straight hair, tight t-shirts (usually short-sleeved) which often bear the names of emo bands, studded belts, belt buckles, canvas sneakers or skate shoes or other black shoes and thick, black horn-rimmed glasses. In recent years the popular media have associated emo with a stereotype that includes being emotional, sensitive, shy, introverted, or angst-ridden. It is also associated with depression, self-injury and suicide.

And here is my problem with the whole thing (ignoring for now the whole Screamo thing, which is frankly a little scary)... since when did being emotional have to be so negative?

I am a very emotional person and one of my greatest weaknesses (and strengths) is that I respond to situations with an emotional reaction first, logic second. But my emotional reactions are just as likely to be positive emotions as they are negative.

Why can't emos go around emotionally extolling how happy sunny days make them? How lucky they are to be raised by comfortably-off middle class parents? How much their friendships mean to one another and how punch drunk with happiness they were when they secured the graduate job they always wanted?

To that end, can emo music never be hauntingly cheerful?

Come on people - emotions can be positive too!

Plummy

2009-05-18T07:22:00.004+01:00

Gracious! Have I not blogged since last Wednesday? How terribly remiss of me. Do please accept my sincerest dear readers.

Today as I was catching up on one of my favourite blogs I found this post, all about how Anna (the blogger) has become more aware of her British accent since moving to the US. She says that the accent hasn't slipped, but her brain has - making her notice that her voice is shouting “Hey, look at me, I’m ostentatiously foreign!”. She describes herself as a duck, quacking in a land of goats.

It was an interesting perspective and one with which I empathise.

However my own "foreign" accent experience goes a little further.

When I was (insert small number here) years old, I famously (within my family) told my grandmother that "Oy loyk moy boyke", only to be corrected by my nanna; "No Emily, Ay lyke my byke". My mum wouldn't let us watch Grange Hill or Eastenders because "They speak terribly at your school and I don't want you hearing that accent when you are at home as well."

Needless to say, all these efforts had little impact on my accent which, to my parents' dismay continued to descend perilously close to 'estuary' English.

Throughout my art A Level my dad visibly winced everytime I discussed what I needed to do on my ar' project. I rather cleverly always defended my use of the Glottal Stop, insisting that "it wasn't finished yet!"

When I moved to London everything changed. I lived in Fulham with a fabulous girl from the 'Shire' (Oxfordshire, that is).

Suddenly my vowels started to fill out. While the ends of many of my words still seemed to be superfluous, I began to give the impression that I was raised in a gentrified family's country seat, partial to scones (pr. scone, like gone) and fully cognisant of the correct direction in which to pass the port. My parents' consant nazi-esque grammar corrections began to bear fruit and the prepositions vanished from the end of my sentences. My sentences comprised, they no longer comprised of (she says, thereby proving the previous sentence about her grasp of the correct placement of the preposition to be entirely inaccurate).

Australia has been the latest step in the development of my accent, but rather than adding an absurd 'Australian intonation' to my speech, the move Down Under has in fact just made me sound like the queen. I don't know whether it is just the contrast to the Australian accent and the rarity of finding too many plummy voices out here, but to my ear, my voice now provides plenty of justification for ridicule and inaccurate class-ist taunts.

I say:

"It's terribly good of you"
"I shall take a peek in a mo"
"Cheerio"
"Simply ghastly"
"Goodness gracious"
and
"Gosh!"

But I quite like my accent and I can honestly say it has evolved naturally and not been fabricated in any way (which I am sure any of you who have heard my attempts at regional accents will believe entirely).

I do mix it with some words I have picked up over the last year (avo, devo, servo, bottlo... you get the gist), but the accent is rather fundamental to the impression I create.

It's just what I sound like now, innit?

Musical clues

2009-05-13T00:07:00.003+01:00

This morning as I was doing my customary skipping through shuffle on the iPod I had a thought.

(For those of you who don't own an iPod, shuffle is the setting where it randomly selects an order for your thousands of music tracks and plays them for you. You can skip forward if you don't like one.)

Anyway, back to business, I had a thought.

The thought: I wonder what you can learn about someone and their mood from seeing their morning commute's shuffle activity. You will surely get a great random insight to their bad music taste. You will also see what they want to listen to, and perhaps more crucially what they rejected from their aural passages.

Here is my list for this morning:

Made the grade
Kate Nash – Merry Happy / Little Red
Stevie Wonder - Superstition
UB40 – Red, Red Wine
Tim McGraw – It’s Your Love
Josh Pyke – Don’t Wanna Let You Down
Talking Heads – Road to Nowhere
Skippy the bush Kangaroo
The Stone Roses – Fools’ Gold
Fleetwood Mac – I don’t wanna know

Skipped without ceremony
Jamiroquai – Corner of the Earth
The Fratellis – Creeping Up The Backstairs
Basement Jaxx – Jus 1 Kiss
Eminem – Mockingbird
Kelly Jones – Emily
The Clovers – Love Potion No. 9

What does this list tell you about me?

Venn

2009-05-08T06:27:00.002+01:00

Publishing protectionalism - let's keep it

2009-05-08T02:56:00.003+01:00

There has been a bit of debate in Australia recently about proposed changes to the book import restrictions over here, and its got me a bit hot under the collar. I wanted to let you all know about the debate (because many of my friends outside of the literary world haven't even heard of it) and tell you my thoughts (because thats the point of my blog).

So; the facts (stolen from news.com.au because they put it so clearly):

Currently, if a book is published in Australia within 30 days of its release overseas, booksellers cannot import potentially cheaper versions.

In its draft report, the Productivity Commission recommends importation of foreign books should be allowed 12 months after a title is first published in Australia.

It proposes that this arrangement be reviewed in five years.

Now I have to acknowledge that I have complained on numerous occasions that books out here are so much more expensive than back home. The protectionalist environment in which Australian publishers have been allowed to do business has kept book prices (on both new and older books) high. It is very usual to purchase for AU$25 a paperback fiction book which clearly states on the back that its RRP is 7.99 stirling (excuse lack of pound sign on this foreign keyboard...). A quick look on a currency converter shows that 8 quid is closer to $16.

So it may come as a surprise to many that I am in strong opposition to these proposed changes. Why?

1) Those in support of the changes are saying classic lines like "Children growing up in poorer households don't own many books as the cost is prohibitive". In response I would like to suggest that households where reading is important can access all the literature they can desire - FOR FREE - from their local library. I would also be bold enough to suggest that many households that are book free are in no way influenced by the cost of books. They simply wouldn't buy them anyway - its not a priority for many.

2) Those who know me will know I thoroughly dislike the constant Americanisation of English speaking societies. Television is already flooded with 'Two and a Half Men" (which is the worst thing to happen to television EVER). The cinemas are practically a Hollywood monopoly. Opening the Australian book market to cheap imports from the US (and even the UK) will further dilute Australian culture. Why buy a local author for your beach read this summer when a cheap American book published by an American publishing house and written by an American author costs half the price? We will also be subjected to American spellings and words; humor, glamorized, faucet, sidewalk. For goodness' sake, in the US the first Harry Potter book is called the Sorcerer's Stone because they don't have (or understand?) the word philosopher!! Australia's literary selection will be just as threatened by UK imports on the economics/culture... although spelling is less of a problem.

3) I was astounded about a month after arriving in Sydney to see second hand books selling at a market. Selling for between $5 and $10 dollars for a paperback. The surprise was because I had realised at my own recent UK car boot sales that second hand books don't even fetch a quid in the UK. They have become disposable because they are so cheap. Second hand book shops in the UK are becoming a rarity and my recently discovered gem in Bondi - a second hand bookshop/cafe called Gertrude & Alice - is just one of hundreds of businesses in Australia that benefit from a healthy market (and return) for second hand books. Lower the value of the product when it is new and you practically wipe out the market for trading it second hand.

Just to add some context; the UK and the US have their own book import restrictions, limiting threats to their own local publishers. Australia's are already less protectionalist than theirs - why should it lower them more? The publishing industry in Australia is thriving - and I want to see it stay that way.

How scary-ass is this??

2009-05-07T12:53:00.001+01:00

Its a bit like "When Martine McCutcheon got made ugly for a pantomime"... ahem.

MyHeritage: Family tree - Genealogy - Celebrity

Celebrity Collage by MyHeritage

2009-05-07T12:43:00.002+01:00

Not entirely sure about the whole "sporty spice" thing.

MyHeritage: Celebrity Collage - Descendents - Roots

The Bard

2009-05-07T04:19:00.006+01:00

Reading my BBC History Magazine while chowing on my lunchtime sushi today I had a thought. It was spurred by the monthly feature "The Six Degrees of Francis Bacon", a geeky historian play on the popular classic Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon game (name anyone ever in the world and you can get to Kevin Bacon in six moves or fewer).

The last link this month was Chrisopher Marlow who, like Francis Bacon, was alleged to have been the author of Shakespeare's plays.

Because we all know of course that the Bard didn't actually write any of his plays. Don't we?

This site here goes into the whole "Who was Shakespeare and did he really write that stuff?" question rather nicely, and suggests 6 candidates for The Bard (one of whom, I was pleased to note, was a lady!)

I am torn on how I feel about this....

On one side I think; what is our problem with genius? If Shakespeare was a Yank I am sure they wouldn't have such trouble celebrating the greatness of the man. Beethoven was deaf as a post yet you don't get the same accusations levelled at him. Noone asks whether he actually composed some of the world's greatest toons himself or whether some politican magnate (or woman) was behind the phony identity, stolen from an illiterate farmer.

Yet on the other side I kind of like the idea that Shakespeare could have been an early 'brand'. An identity assumed by a person (or group of people) to generate a certain understanding of product. "I like a good Shakespeare play - you are guaranteed to laugh at the comedies and cry at the tragedies. You can't say that much for the home brands."

So, considering none of us really know... does anyone have any opinions on the true identity of the Bard?

Sydney Comedy Festival

2009-05-06T07:04:00.004+01:00

The Sydney Comedy Festival is on at the moment and last night Erin, Lauren and I went to see Hannah Gadsby. She was hilarious and just what everyone needed after their own individual poo days/weeks/marriages.

Here is Hannah in action at the Edinburgh Festival and the Melbourne Comedy Festival. Don't watch them both - its essentially the same act, except for small differences. I couldn't choose which to give you. Pick and view one at random.

Puppies

2009-05-04T04:34:00.003+01:00

In the UK, pet shops are not allowed to sell dogs.

In Australia they are allowed, which really upsets me.

Gorgeously cute puppies in shop windows attract the eye of passers by. They went to Bondi Westfield for a new pair of trousers and suddenly find themselves mulling over the addition of an animal to their home. An animal that they hadn't even considered that morning, but who will live - and need constant care and considerable investment - for 16 or so years.

The dog is sitting in the gaze of thousands of shoppers all day, and stays stuck in their plastic prison cell all night too. They are just waiting for someone to rescue them, but the tragedy is their rescuer has not been checked in any way to see whether they will provide a suitable home.

Animal cruelty figures over here are startling. The RSPCA rescued 70,514 dogs in 2007/8, over 33% of which had to be put down. This number has risen every year for the last 5 years. The most common reason for the euthenasia of dogs is behavioural problems; e.g a perfectly healthy animal whose owners have not trained it properly, or abused it so that it can no longer be considered safe to live with humans.

While the figures for cats follow similar patterns, the noticeable difference is that for cats the most common reason for euthenasia by the RSPCA is medical problems.

60% of all cruelty prosecutions brought by the RSPCA in Australia in 2007/8 were for cases involving dogs.

What is it going to take to outlaw the selling of dogs (and cats for that matter) in pet shops? Taking advantage of the whim of shoppers and neglecting to carry out appropriate checks on the families wishing to home the animals is, in my book, aiding and abetting the neglegent owners.

It is a simple change to make and (to go all political and hard hearted) surely the animal lover vote is worth something?

Twitter in the real world

2009-05-01T07:12:00.001+01:00

I have a continual case of verbal diahorrea on Twitter. Been on there for about a year and I genuinely think in 140 character bursts. So this entertained me somewhat.

Watch Real Life Twitter and more funny videos on CollegeHumor

Email from my mum

2009-04-28T08:07:00.004+01:00

I got a fabulous email from my mum last night. It simply said:

Things that remind me of you (1)

The dessert spoon in the drawer with the bead pattern on the handle

Acclimatising

2009-04-27T04:57:00.003+01:00

This morning when I woke up the nice lady on the radio told me it was going to be a fine day, highs of 19 degrees.

"That's cold" I thought, and I dressed in stockings, knee high leather boots and a jumper (plus other articles of course, a skirt and suchlike).

As I went to walk out of the front door she downward revised to 17 degrees.

I nipped back into my bedroom to grab a scarf.

Visitor

2009-04-24T03:50:00.002+01:00

I am rather excited.

Yesterday I got a message on Facebook from a very good friend and Boo member, saying that she is in Malaysia a lot for work in the next couple of months and is looking into detouring via Sydney to pay me a visit.

Now, as a disclaimer so she doesn't worry that everything is done and dusted; I know this is still just at the IF stage.

However.. WOOOOT!

I haven't yet had a visitor out to Sydney and really want to see her.

Fingers crossed everyone!

Factoids

2009-04-23T06:30:00.004+01:00

In celebration of the fact that my replacement copies of BBC History Magazine's March and April editions arrived in the post this week (thanks to lovely bro-in-law Phil!), here are some choice facts pilfered from the April edition:

- The word avocado derives from a central Mexican language and its root means testicle
- John Bull, icon of Englishness was in fact Scottish. He was first drawn in 1712
- The first British motorist ever to be convicted of speeding was doing 8 mph. He was overtaken by a bobbie on a bike and then charged with speeding
- Pitt the Younger became British PM aged just 24. He didn't just get the job because his daddy had been PM before him - his CV was pretty good because he was chancellor at 23.

Lawks I love facts!

Grrrr

2009-04-21T12:32:00.003+01:00

The following items have vanished from the care of the postal services between the UK and Australia:

- One care package of chocolate
- Two BBC History magazines (two replacements have finally arrived - thanks Phil!)
- One monthly care package from lovely sister Edwina
- One easter card from other lovely sister Liz
- Reckon a letter from my dad too as have received only one in the last month and he writes them weekly.

Really unimpressed. Nothing to make you feel further from home that a shite postal service.

Tell me why... I like Wednesdays

2009-04-21T04:34:00.003+01:00

Today is Tuesday. Which, logically, means tomorrow is Wednesday.

Wednesday is my day off under our 4-day week scheme.

For the last 5 weeks I have had to work my Wednesday because I have had so much to do (so I have accumulated a whole week's leave owing - Kakadu here I come... soon).

Anyway tomorrow is the first Wednesday for yonks when I don't have to go to work, but I have forgotten what it is I used to do on this day off!

I need to pop to the library to return a book (Kafka and I didn't work out), but other than that.... ?

Suggestions are very gratefully received. For those in the UK about to suggest I head to the beach, the weather forecast is warm-ish but sporadic and often heavy showers.

So... ideas?

Blissfully chilled weekend

2009-04-20T02:20:00.004+01:00

Hello my lovelies. How are you all this Monday? I am sleepy, which is strange because I have had the most chilled weekend. Ever. Judged by an independent panel of me.

I wanted to tell you about two of the highlights of my fabulously antisocial, insular, chillaxed weekend.

1) On Saturday I had to be at the gym at 11am to meet my personal trainer. That's a highlight? I hear you wonder. Well yes, because he got the boxing gloves out for the first time! I think he had clocked my envious looks at the boxing people in previous weeks.

Jab. Jab, cross, jab. Jab, cross, jab, knee, hook, kick. Oh yeah.

Bizarrely my left boob muscle (not sure what that is technically known as) is sore. I am using that to prove that boxing IS for girls because it uses boob muscle.

2) Sunday it was raining buckets, which I love, and very very windy, which I also love. (Energetic weather makes me feel alive). So I spent all morning in bed painting my toe nails and reading Terry Pratchett.

The rain eased around midday so I took a stroll down to the beach to watch the waves pounding in. As I was heading home again the rain put in another appearance so I ducked into a book shop cafe to pass the time.

Well.

This cafe is opposite my Favourite Bondi Brunch Place, but I have never before ventured inside. Inside is a second hand book shop with tables randomly squeezed in the middle. Tasty looking food and a gloriously eclectic bunch of customers. Not your dull cookie-cutter Bondi babes in here.

I ordered a pot of mint tea, found a corner and got stuck into Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit. Got bored and then spotted the complete works of Oscar Wilde so I meandered through A Woman Of No Importance. An hour later, the tea drunk, I purchased Wilde for $14 ($14!!) and an Anne McCaffrey Pern book ($5!!!!!) and headed home.

If you can't find me on a weekend or Wednesday off from now on - look in the book cafe Gertrude & Alice on Hall Street in Bondi.

Remind me to tell you about #PRGathering

2009-04-17T05:07:00.003+01:00

I just tried for a little while to blog about #PRGathering. Only, I was there last night and it was really cool (which is why I want to tell you about it) but it involved a lot of booze and a 3am bedtime and, frankly, I don't seem to be able to get my words out.

So instead, enjoy some link love today:

The new Harry Potter film trailer is out here.

Pirates - just for Boo

2009-04-15T04:34:00.002+01:00

This post can be seen in two ways. Think of it as a hologram. Or one of those 3D image things. Except if you aren't in Boo you will just see a flat picture. But its a nice flat picture, so I think thats OK.

Anyway...

One of my favourite blogs is Indexed. Every morning Mr or Mrs Indexed (whoever they are) posts a graph showing a graphical representation of random things. Some of my favourite recent graphs have shown how poverty + materialism + desire for status = babies with pierced ears, the effect sunny days have on the sale of running shoes, and where on a chart and how exactly Insomnia becomes beautiful (when watching sunsets and sunrises overlap).

Yes I know, it sounds weird, but it makes me chuckle.

But anyway today was a rather factually accurate one which made me think of Boo and our love of sharing pirate related stories. Apparently we are in for good times:

Do we have to let the men speak for us?

2009-04-14T05:10:00.005+01:00

This morning my colleague Polly handed me the S supplement from Sunday's Sun Herald. "Thought you would agree with this", she understated.

I have tried to find the article online because it so perfectly sums up my thoughts on feminism, but for some very strange reason the Sun Herald's site not only has no search facility, they also don't upload all their print content.

So you can't read it in full, unless you dig out your print copy from Sunday 12th April and turn to page 31 of S. But I wanted you to see it so much that I have typed out three sections from the piece. Yes, I know, a tremendous time waste, but trust me - this is worth repeating.

Sorry Sam de Brito, for not hyperlinking to your original work. Have a word with your bosses and get your content online. But thank you, for putting it so clearly.

Ladies - do we really need a man to point out to us where 51% of the world's population is going wrong??

....

There can be nothing more sobering for an old-school dinosaur than watching his darling daughter grow into a young woman, assured she's gonna meet a generation of narrow-minded creeps just like Daddy, who'll treat her like a brainless piece of meat.

Its a pity the same perception shift doesn't occur in so many women, with huge numbers of mothers continuing to transmit the trivial obsessions of shoe shopping, beauty products and gossip magazines to their baby girls.

As I've written before in this column, it's a bit much to expect men to take the insoluble issues of Western gender equality seriously - things like abortion rights, equal pay and sexual discrimination in the workplace - when millions of intelligent women spend their days consumed with what Gwyneth Paltrow is wearing.

....

We now live in a country where a generation of Australian women don't even consider themselves feminists, having rejected the term because they think they'll be labelled a lesbian and won't get a boyfriend if they even utter the word.

....

I could walk into any bar, supermarket or fashion boutique in this country and I guarantee I would know more about feminist issues than 90 per cent of women there.

Ask a woman under 30 to even define what feminism is and I bet you'll get a pea soup of misconceptions about hairy armpits, man-hating and rabid activism instead of this: feminism is the belief that women should have equal political, social, sexual, intellectual and economic rights to men.

Update: The full article is now online here.

3 things you may not know about me....

2009-04-14T04:35:00.004+01:00

1) I love country music. I also love red or brown cowboy boots. I want to go to Alabama and meet a genuine redneck. I enjoy a barn dance and quite fancy trying my hand at line dancing next to a man with a mullet. I own a Tim McGraw album and love the Robert Plant/Alison Kraus album Raising Sand. One of my favourite films is Sweet Home Alabama for combining my penchant for romance with the Deep South.

2) It may surprise some (not least my mother) but my all time favourite crave food is bok choy cooked with lots of ginger, garlic and soy sauce. Yes; a green vegetable. This beats chocolate (even British Cadburys), pizza and thai food. But it is close...

3) I wish I was intelligent and knowledgable, but usually have to use my best PR skills to convince people that it is the case instead. I would like to learn to speak German and I wish I enjoyed high brow literature more than I actually do. I have to concentrate really hard to do maths. I collect facts but often forget the best ones.

What about you? Tagging Cathy, Polly, Katy, Nicole, Lawrence and anyone else who wants to join in. Or just add yours in the comments. Let's all get to know the less obvious about one another....

On hugs

2009-04-09T02:00:00.003+01:00

Regular readers will remember that earlier on this week I did a bit of a cop out post in the form of a meme.

One of the questions asked who was the last person I hugged, which made me realise that I don't hug anyone in Australia.

That sounds like a really sweeping statement and one that I expect you are thinking cannot be true. Because everyone loves a good tight hug. How can you exist day-to-day without one?

Well I agree entirely. I *love* a hug. Its such an unambiguous gesture and can totally embody (oooh good use of word!) your feelings for someone. The closeness is comforting. Not only do you feel someone's arms safely wrapping you up, but you are at the perfect proximity to get a good whiff of their smell. Which could be gross, but personally I only hug people whose smell doesn't offend. And we all know how good it can be to catch a whiff of someone you love.

So how can I exist without them? To be honest it hadn't really occured to me until this stupid meme pointed it out so explicitly. Today is Thursday and I wrote that on Tuesday and I have been thinking about that one question quite a lot.

Because now I *really* miss hugs.

My family is a group of pretty expert huggers, if I do say so myself. We aren't a particularly kissy family (well, at least not to each other!), but hugs we do bloomin' well. My sisters and I didn't hug too much until I left the country, but returning at xmas taught me that they are brilliant co-huggers. My parents hugs are the epitome of love and comfort.

It can actually be quite amusing to watch my (large) extended family saying hellos and goodbyes at family functions. Hugs for aunties, uncles, cousins, cousins girlfriends, grandad, sisters heading back up the road with husbands, nieces.... and we all give good hug.

I have some really good friends in Australia, but noone that can make a hug much more than just another way to say goodbye.

Gosh I would give anything to teleport home briefly for some good strong hugs.

One for the mothers...

2009-04-08T04:27:00.001+01:00

Stolen, without remorse, from FAIL blog - I thought my mum readers would like this:

Original art works #3

2009-04-08T01:12:00.005+01:00

I made a resolution a while ago not to scrimp when buying original art. When I see art work that I love, why not treat myself to it? Its not like I buy loads, and I don't mean that I can spend thousands of dollars I don't have... the resolution was just intended to alleviate some guilt in investing in original art works.

I bought my first pieces in the UK (having looked through my blog archive I never seem to have uploaded a picture... one will be added as an edit to this post when I get home this evening. These two prints, bought after Andrew cajoled me, are still my favourites). Then I acquired another on my arrival here in Oz (check it out...). Now here is the third purchase.

I bought this in an aboriginal community somewhere in the thousand+ kilometres between Uluru and Coober Pedy on my recent holiday. It has just come back from the canvas stretcher folks and I am very excited about hanging it over my bed...

UPDATE: and here is a picture of the first pictures I bought, in situ in my Letch living room. LOVE THEM.

Meme: Emology

2009-04-07T04:03:00.002+01:00

Yes I know, its a bit of a cop out, but yesterday you got nothing at all, beloved reader, so thank your lucky stars that my sister tagged me in this meme...

1) What is your salad dressing of choice?
Balsamic vinegar

2) What is your favorite sit-down restaurant?
I love that they need to say 'sit down'... like otherwise my answer would be KFC (ew). Has to be Asia De Cuba at the St Martin's Lane Hotel in Covent Garden. In Australia it is Sushi Train in Bondi Junction. Best sushi in the world. Had tea there last night...

3) What food could you eat for 2 weeks straight and not get sick of?
Avocado

4) What are your pizza toppings of choice?
Pepperoni, goats cheese, artichoke hearts, sundried tomatos... mmmm.

5) What do you like to put on your toast?
Marmite or strawberry jam

6) How many televisions are in your house?
1

7) What color cell phone do you have?
Dark blue

8) Are you right-handed or left-handed?
Right, although I used to be ambidextrous.

9) Have you ever had anything removed from your body?
A couple of wisdom teeth.

10) What is the last heavy item you lifted?
Ambitious amounts of weights in the gym. Grrr personal trainer!

11) Have you ever been knocked unconscious?
Nope

12) If it were possible, would you want to know the day you were going to die?
Nope. I plan ahead quite enough as it is.

13) If you could change your name, what would you change it to?
I would only change my name for a man I really loved. I have no wish to change it otherwise.

14) Would you drink an entire bottle of hot sauce for $1000?
Nope. The GFC hasn't hit that badly yet!

15) How many pairs of flip flops do you own?
Have no idea. In addition to the many I have here, I have a box full of shoes (including flip flops) in my loft in The Letch

16) What is/are your goal/s for the year?
To continue to live and love every minute of my time in Australia.

17) Last person you talked to?
Kinetics girls in the kitchen over my sandwich

18) Last person you hugged?
How sad... I don't really hug people in Australia. Probably Anna my new housemate. She is Italian (which I believe serves as a good explanation).

19) Favorite Season?
I love them all at the beginning and by the end am looking forward to the next. Not looking forward to winter in Sydney though - it was cold and boring.

20) Favorite Holiday?
My recent one to the desert. LOVED it. Other goodies were the week in Tobago and week driving around the Champagne region with Elle in her Morgan. The good life...

21) Favorite day of the week?
Saturday/Sunday

22) Favorite Month?
It was July, but that is now winter... hmmm. December. Sunshine in Sydney, a short work month, then flying home to snow and family.

23) First place you went this morning?
Bathroom

24) What's the last movie you saw?
How funny that its the same as my sister! The Holiday (pure cheese, but I have a girl crush on Kate Winslet which regular readers will already know about). Plus it was filmed in a town I discovered at Christmas - where a good friend lives.

25) Do you smile often?
Yes

26) Do you always answer your phone?
No. I rarely do.

27) It's four in the morning and you get a text message, who is it?
One of my backpacker friends from my holiday who have no idea of time... or someone from home. Occasionally a nightclub in London - yeah, that's really appreciated.

28) If you could change your eye color what would it be?
Why would I want to do that? Are gravy brown eyes not the best?

29) What flavor drink do you get at Sonic?
??????

30) Have you ever had a pet fish?
Yes I had Abi (Abercrombie and Fish) and Levi. Then I had a load called Marmite, Martha and other M names. I am not good with fish...

31) Favorite Christmas song?
Wizzard or Slade. Don't mind Mariah either. I LOVE christmas cheese!

32) What's on your wish list for your birthday?
An Aquabumps picture. Already choosing!

33) Can you do push ups?
Almost. I do them at a 45 degree angle on the bar in the gym. They hurt.

34) Can you do chin ups?
Assisted ones, which is a big improvement on a month or so ago.

35) Does the future make you more nervous or excited?
Excited

36) Do you have any saved texts?
No

37) Ever in a car wreck?
Nope

38) Do you have an accent?
BBC English - and getting stronger the longer I spend in Sydney!

39) What is the last song to make you cry?
I cry at just about anything. Des'ree Kissing You last week got me. REM's Nightswimming always does, as does Everybody Hurts.

40) Plans tonight?
Gym

41) Have you ever felt like you hit rock bottom?
No. I can't really imagine what that feels like. It hurts enough to watch people you care about do it.

42) Name 3 things you bought yesterday.
Sushi, a diet coke, my week's train ticket

43) Have you ever been given roses?
Yes, and although I had been bought them by a few people and yellows are my favourite, the red one given to me at Kings Cross station 11 years ago still makes me smile to remember.

44) Current hate right now?
Can't say...

45) Met someone who changed your life?
It would be arrogant to say no, almost everyone I know has changed my life in some way, but noone has influenced it more than anyone else (I think...)

46) How did you bring in the New Year?
With some of my favourite folks of Boo... singing to Singstar. Thank goodness Clare's house is detached!

47) What song represents you?
Oh gosh, this is the kind of thing I think all the time. I hear something and think 'that's so me!'. I don't have a theme song though.

48) Name three people who might complete this?
Well let's try Jen, Cathy and Polly

49) What were you doing 12 AM last night?
Sleeping

50) What was the first thing you thought of when you woke up this morning?
Absolutely no idea. My brain takes quite a while to get going in the morning.

Nothing

2009-04-03T05:39:00.002+01:00

I have been really proud of my daily blogging for the last few weeks.

Today I am very busy, but I opened my blog ready to say something.

But....

.... nothing....

I have nothing to say.

So, well, have a lovely weekend. Normal service will resume when I have enough headspace to have a random thought on something.

Power trip

2009-04-02T05:38:00.004+01:00

Tomorrow the boss man goes on holiday and he has handed temporary power of THE WORLD (of Kinetics) to me. I shall, for the next couple of weeks, go by the title Honorable Lady Madam Acting Managing Director (or something similar). I get power over petty cash and other such glamorous undertakings.

I just sent out a tweet asking for suggestions for ways in which my new found power trip should manifest itself and the replies are pouring in. They are making me giggle so I will share them with you...

- Get your minions to create you a throne made from your clients' products
- Walk into the office and make @KdeR reorganise your bookshelf by book colour
- Get someone to do coffee runs for u and fill up your water bottle when its empty and, ensure that the cheese and wine comes out in a nice platter at 3pm
- Get everyone into the boardroom, ask them to pick who should go, let them argue, send them out, bring them in and say 'You're fired'
- Make some senior people clean your car :)
- Make everyone use the term 'egregarious' in everything they write
- Get them to make you a coffee :)
- Oh... PERFECT way to express your power... Go buy heaps of IKEA stuff and get staff to assemble them for you.
- Have a gold statue of yourself erected outside your office door. Make people bow as they walk past it.

I love a lot of these ideas and may try a good many of them out. I do need a lightbulb for my IKEA lamp....

On positivity

2009-04-01T03:35:00.003+01:00

I am an optimist. You have probably picked up on that by now, dear reader.

My mum raised me with the much repeated advice that if you don't have something positive to say, don't say anything at all.

I then moved into a career which is, essentially, about convincing people to do things, and I learnt quickly that if you focus on the positive when telling them their idea is pants they will be more inclined to do what you say.

Looking on the bright side has become second nature to me, to the extent that I wonder whether its in someway genetic (it just feels too fundamental a part of me to be entirely due to nuture).

But when I look at the rest of my family I see that I am quite easily the most positive person. In fact my lovely eldest sister regularly makes me laugh outloud with her Jack Dee-beating pessimism. I love her very much and she is great fun, but she does love a good moan.

I have pondered on this on a couple of occasions recently, when friends have been beating the whinge drum. And I have sussed it.

I actively engage in optimism. And positivity is a self fulfilling proposition.

If I watch very closely I can even spot the moment at which I realign a thought which is tending towards the defeatist, and project it back onto a path of 'but at least....'

I noticed a few years ago that hanging out with colleagues who liked to moan (but never actually resigned) made me dissatisfied with my job. When I stopped listening to them I could begin to enjoy my work by taking it at face value and not looking for the catches in every new policy, the attempts to exploit me... blah blah blah.

Positivity is a conscious part of my day. While I may indulge in a brief 140 character moan on twitter, I always think twice about posting negative blog posts. A look through my archive will see lots of things that I like (indeed two whole posts dedicated to lists of things I like), but the 'Things that annoy me' post was given over to a guest writer, because I don't like to wallow in such lists.

While optimism doesn't make for the best comedy, and can sometimes annoy friends seeking a partner in negativitiy, it does make for a healthy mental state.

I enjoy the plus-sides my brain thinks up for every situation. I was seeing a nice man in the UK, which didn't work.... plus side? It was one of the reasons I moved out here. You have a snake problem at your country house? Well... they will contain the mouse population. Landlord wants you to move out of your gorgeous flat? Moving to a new one will help you discover a whole new coffee place, and the barista may be your perfect man! (Ok, so I am an optimist and a die-hard romantic).

So, dear reader, if this all sounds appealing and you want to try to embrace a little more conscious positivity to your life I challenge you to write the following on a Post It note near your desk. Its a sentence to live by:

Everything that happens in my life is designed to improve it.

Oh and smile. A smile passes down a pavement full of people and can brighten everyone's day.

They're not going anywhere

2009-03-31T03:05:00.003+01:00

I went to see Easy Virtue at the cinema with the chocolate girls on Friday night. Easy Virtue, for those who (like me, until about 4pm Friday) aren't in the know, is a Noel Coward play.

The film is really rather good and I decided I wanted to read some more Coward plays so I hopped on Amazon last night to have a scout around.

What followed was a veritable orgy of classical literature, as I clicked my mouse with gay abandon at the mere mention of a book or author I had heard of but never got around to reading.

The good folks of Boo keep my feet pretty close to the ground if I ever think I might be slightly intelligent or well read, and I decided last night that Now Is The Right Time To Read The Classics - because everyone else seems to have done. The capitalisation there demonstrates my commitment to this, my latest Grand Plan (and the capitalisation there merely illustrates the regularity with which these whims strike me).

I had a 'cold light of day' moment before I hit the buy button, when I realised that classics are what libraries do best. So instead of purchasing, I saved my shopping list and decided to share it with you all here. I will borrow from the lively Waverley Library instead. OK, so a couple are recent prize winners rather than classics, but none are fluff (because although Phillipa Gregory made the shopping cart, I didn't feel the need to transfer her here).

What I want to know from you all is - what is missing? What do you think I should add to the list to ensure that by the time I reach 35 I am a well rounded and literary dinner party guest?

Notes from the Underground - F.M. Dostoevsky
The Metamorphosis - Franz Kafka
The White Tiger - Aravind Adiga
The Color Purple - Alice Walker
Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
The Catcher in the Rye - J. D. Salinger
To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee (already read - want to read again)
Blood River: A Journey to Africa's Broken Heart - Tim Butcher
Random Acts of Heroic Love - Danny Scheinmann
The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde - Oscar Wilde
Three Plays: "Blithe Spirit", "Hay Fever", "Private Lives" - Noel Coward (because the complete works is a LOT of books).

Oh, and if you are wondering why the title of this post... Elle asked me last night why I was asking about all these authors over MSN, and on explanation, why I felt the need to read them now. I replied; They're not going anywhere - I might as well read them.

Evidence of insanity

2009-03-30T02:53:00.004+01:00

Those of my readers who know me personally will, by the end of this post, discover their jaw resting on the desk/floor. Those who don't know me, but regularly pop in for a read may find they have a similar reaction.

Why? you are wondering. What could Emily possibly have to reveal that will so shock and stun her dedicated readers?

Check this out:
Yes, it is a pair of trainers. Or to use the Australian lingo - runners. They are *my* runners. Brand sparkling new and purchased yesterday. I need them, dear reader, because I am going to be running a couple of times a week. I am going to be running a couple of times a week because I plan to take part in this year's City To Surf run.

The Sydney City To Surf takes place in August and is a 14km death-attempt (or so I am thinking) between the city centre and Bondi. It includes the famous Heartbreak Hill through Rose Bay.

I appreciate that, for many people, entering such a race is all in a days work. Ho hum, another 14km, whatever. But bear in mind that on Saturday I achieved a personal best when running for 10 mins without stopping - on a treadmill in the gym (something, I am discovering, that is much easier than road running).

I have simply never, ever run. Ever. At all. Ok, possibly I may have lost a 100 metre race on school sports day once, but after the age of 13 even the teachers didn't put me forward because I was too depressingly representative of my lazy generation.

Its a bit psychological to be honest. Noone in my family does this sort of thing, so when I would get out of breath with a few runs up and down stairs in the past I convinced myself that such exhaustive movement goes against my genetic make up. But then my brother-in-law (who didnt really do much exercise before) did the marathon, and is now a half iron-man, and I got to wondering...

My personal trainer has aleady made me so much fitter than I was before, and I really enjoy going to the gym with him. But I needed to re-motivate myself to go more than once a week, so I thought - why not a running objective?

The stupid addition of the 14km killer race was due to a few glasses of wine and a bet with my friend Brett. Brett is a founder of Dry July (the charity fundraiser where you get sponsored to stay off the booze for the whole month of July) and is using the month as pre-race preparation. I reckoned I could too.

So yes, there you have it. If your jaw didn't hit the floor in hearing I plan to run. For 14km. I heard it thud when I mentioned a sober month in July.

Please someone call the men in white suits. I think it would be for my own good.

Bonus friday!

2009-03-27T05:29:00.002Z

Bonus Friday - could this be the best video on the internet?
I know where I want to go on holiday next time I am in Europe...

Come to Australia!

2009-03-27T02:05:00.005Z

In Sesame Street style, this blog post was brought to you by:

Clancy from Australia - our tour guide from my recent trip from Alice Springs to Adelaide, who introduced us to this song.

Diana - my friend from the trip who found this on YouTube (and blogged it for me to steal).

Scared weird little guys - who actually wrote and sang this.

Window cleaning fail

2009-03-26T04:37:00.003Z

This really entertained me and I can't work out whether its because I *love* hearing laughter (it just makes me laugh) or the video itself. Most likely its the beautiful combination of the two.

Hope it brightens your Thursday!

Reincarnation as an inanimate object

2009-03-25T03:23:00.005Z

Sometimes I have rather peculiar thoughts. I blame this on the fact that I spend a lot of time alone (by choice) and genuinely enjoy the view inside my own head. The thoughts I think are, in perfect alignment with this blog, on everything, and are generally kept safest inside the confines of my own skull.

However today, dear reader, I will share one of my more random thoughts with you. I shall start with the back story...

Once upon a time, a couple of days ago, I was tidying my bed. This is the improved, grown-up version of tidying my room because since I was about 23 my terrible habit of letting my room descend into a worse mess than a Glaswegian sink estate has contracted to involve only certain hot spots. These hot spots change from home to home (the floor under my long mirror was a constant embarrassment in the Letch) but here in Bellevue Hill it is my SUPER-HUMANLY ENORMOUS bed that falls foul of my terrible habits of dumping stuff. (CAPS required to illustrate my point that the bed is humungous).

I think my bed is the target now because it is right by the front door. I don't live in a bedsit, and I know that sounds like a strange set up for a two-bed flat, but there you have it. It is. Its where I dump things when I walk through the door.

[aside - I think this may be becoming one of my more random and waffly blog posts...]

Where was I?

Oh yes.

Anyway so nightly I need to clear my bed of random articles like expired train tickets, sunglasses, receipts, pashminas and possibly something I nearly (but didn't) wear to work that day. A couple of days ago I was midway through this task when my mind wandered (it does that, you know) and I got to thinking about the pen I was putting away.

The pen said "Surfers Paradise" and named some hotel. Now I have never been to Surfers Paradise. It's in Queensland and I haven't yet been to the state at all. So it can't have been my pen originally. "I wonder whose it was?", I wondered. Which led me to ponder on all the places it may have been to, and the things it may have written, in its travels from Surfers to my bed.

And that was really what I wanted to talk to you about today. Because I reckoned if my (or not strictly *my*) pen could talk it may have some exciting things to tell me. So then I reckoned I wouldn't mind being a pen myself, as handbag-based travel is so much cheaper and better for the environment and I would get to see the world.

The upshot of it all was, I wondered whether anyone else had ever envied the existance of an inanimate object? Well?

Albums are not a bunch of singles

2009-03-24T03:05:00.004Z

I have been flat out all morning dear reader. I actually ache from the exertion of all this thinking and mad typing. But I have squeezed 5 minutes in my schedule to write to you because I am annoyed that I have indigestion from having to inhale my lunch and, well, its my life. Oh, and because on the way to work this morning I was surprisingly awake and mulling over good music albums.

Not entirely sure why, but I constructed a pleasing list of three albums which I think are awesome for a very particular reason. An album you see (in my book) is not just a collection of fabulous toooons. Those tunes in time will find themselves broken apart on itunes, mix CDs and greatest hits albums. But a truly masterful album has to be heard in its entirety. It is a bit like a classical thingy (I don't listen to classical music so don't really know what a whole symphony thing of tracks is called in classical stuff, but I know people sit in theatres and listen entranced as it all flows on from each other). Perhaps a bad comparison. Anyway.... Here are my top 3 albums under this criteria. Or top 3 that I thought of on my way to work today. Now I am a little sad that I didn't include Wham! The Final, but four isn't as satisfying a number as three... anyway. What are yours?

Rumours, Fleetwood Mac
Viva La Vida, Coldplay
Reverence, Faithless

A unique Brand of charm

2009-03-23T03:21:00.003Z

Russell Brand has spent the last week or so flirting his way through Australia. If you are unsure who he is (where have you been??) he is the man-who-lost-his-hairbrush-in-1997 who rose to fame by claiming to be a sex addict, sleeping with thousands of women, befriending the likes of Kate Moss, getting Jonathan Ross into trouble with Radio Two and - in between all that - actually being really rather funny.

He came out here with his stand up show and his been mincing through the usual line up of talk-show appearances, radio interviews and parties. Take outs from his interview with Rove ran all (bloomin') week on Channel 10 and the newspapers' gossip pages were filled with accusations that every eligible bachelorette in Sydney has been linked with him. Particularly at risk were politicians daughters it seems.

Anyway, I like Russell Brand and his rather risque humour and have been intruiged by his reception Down Under. Australia likes him. Really likes him. They seem almost caught out by this distinctly unpommy Pom. He is intelligent (all good comedians usually are) and I even find him alarmingly good looking (don't ask me why - as mentioned earlier I am aware of the lack of hairbrushing and am not ignorant to the possible link with other general hygiene).

However one thing hasn't sat right with me, and that is the use of the word "charming" to describe him. A hit with the ladies? Doubtless. Good in bed? Presumably. Cheeky? Of course. But charming?

I (perhaps wrongly) associate charming with gentlemanly behaviour. My grandmother would have said of someone (not him!!) "What a charming man" if they pulled a chair out for her to rest upon while making polite comments about her new lilac hat.

Can a man who texts a woman at 3.15am asking her back to his hotel for what she must certainly know will be anything but gentlemanly shenanigans be charming?

Mulling it over on the weekend I finally today thought to look up the dictionary meaning.

charm⋅ing [chahr-ming]
–adjective

1.Pleasing; delightful: a charming child.
2.Using charm; exercising magic power.

So that must be it. He is a magician weaving his strange spell over the public of Australia. That explains it. Well, good luck to him!

Guest post!

2009-03-19T22:26:00.003Z

Today, dear reader, we have a guest post! Our first ever here on TOE so I hope you are as excited as me.

It started life as an email discussion among the great and good of Boo (Letchworth Book Group to give it its full name, as I haven't mentioned it for a while) and the response from Felicity was too good to keep to a closed group. So here is Felicity's list of things which annoy her. It's gold.

Leeds United. People who make noises when they eat (inc. licking their fingers, and chewing gum). People who eat crisps in the office. Banks who phone me up and then refuse to talk to me until I have told them secret passwords. No! You rang me. It's down to you to prove that you are my bank, and if you were, surely you would have this information already? Now go away and stop wasting my time.

Anyone who swears at children (to them, not just in their hearing). People who play their music in the summer so loudly that I can hear it with my windows closed. Hollyoaks. Any music video where I have to see someones thong. Overuse of text language. People who park in front of my garage, and then sigh when I ask them to move their car. Days when the post hasn't arrived by lunchtime. The fact that the bins are only taken out once a fortnight.

Made up names. Ryanair. Anyone who can see I am trying to park in a space who thinks it will help if they drive up right behind me so I can't reverse in. Food in what I see as unnatural combinations e.g. fruit in cheese, or saltanas in curry. First Capital Connect, who thank me for choosing to travel with them. I didn't. You're the only train line I can use from here.

The continuity man on radio 4 with a really affected voice. The fact that my great uncle Frank will only call me and my sibs by our full names, even though they are never used by family 'Ah, is that Melissa Anne?' instead of Liss, for example, even though his name is actually Ernest, and he insists on being called Frank.

Have a lovely weekend!

Some heartening news...

2009-03-19T06:18:00.004Z

Usually better known for feminist rants, today I have some positive news for you on the status of women in Australia.

According to an article in Dynamic Business, womens' status in the Australian workforce has significantly advanced since this time last year. While still not equal to men, in Australia:

The proportion of women to men in managerial positions increased to 74 women per 100 men, up from 41 women on the previous year

The number of women earning above the median income increased from 59 women per 100 men, to 92

While stunned that in 2008 the figures were *so* disgusting, I have to admit this is great progress. Big claps to Australian employers.

Localisation

2009-03-18T02:45:00.005Z

Having lived in Sydney for 9 months now, I am happy to report I still have no trace of an Australian accent.

However I have noticed that I am beginning to pick up some Aussie phrases.

Words and phrases I am adopting (for better or worse!)
No worries (excessive use is annoying even me)
How're you going? (Meant to mean How are you?... not a question relating to transport options)
Capsicum
Eggplant (I just try not to over think it because its a bloody weird name)
Zucchini

Words and phrases I am not adopting (and possibly don't understand)
Props (as in, props to the firemen for doing a good job) Wha?
Pants (to describe trousers)
Singlet (to describe a vest top)
Manchester (to describe bedding, towels and stuff)
Dooner (for duvet)
Unit (I would call it a flat. Americans would call it an apartment)
Sanger (sandwich still works for me just fine)
Snag (sausage)
Overseas ("I am going overseas". Abroad works)
Austraya

I may update this list and repost in a few more months.

I hate Louis Vuitton monogrammed bags

2009-03-18T02:14:00.005Z

I was reminded today just how much I dislike Louis Vuitton monogrammed bags. When I say I was reminded, I mean I saw a woman with one which made me think "gosh, I still really dislike Louis Vuitton monogrammed bags".

I simply cannot understand why anyone wants to walk around with someone else's initials emblazoned over their stuff. Particularly when the design of said initials is ugly. And the bag is ugly too. Its like these people consciously think to themselves "I don't know what a nice bag looks like, but this Louis dude seems to be famous for it so I will trust him." The monograms are then supposed to serve as a defence. The My Bag Is Nasty But Louis Said Its OK So Its OK defence.

Designer bags are more likely to be stolen because theives know there are more muppets than you out there that will buy it off them. Also your bag will look like everyone elses - what happened to being unique?

Then we need to consider the fakes... I can't decide who is more stupid, the person that spends hundreds of dollars on an ugly bag or the person who buys a plastic fake copy of an ugly bag.

I am not anti designers, per se. It is a real skill to design beautiful clothes, bags and shoes. Its just the blind followers that annoy me. Because not everything designers make is nice. I refer you back to exhibit A for proof; the Louis Vuitton monogrammed bag.

I can't afford designer stuff myself. My wardrobe follows the quanity not quality rule of fashion. My new boots and dress from Target make me feel smug - they are pretty AND cheap.

So stop being a follower people! Go out and find a nice bag and if you want a name on it, put your own. At least that way when you lose it it will be returned.

Perceptions of distance

2009-03-17T06:31:00.003Z

There are two toilets at either side of my office. From my desk I reckon they are pretty much equi-distance apart.

I try to share the love between the two.

How to fall in love with your city all over again

2009-03-16T04:48:00.002Z

... play tour guide to your friend.

No seriously!

After an amazing holiday which rates both as my best holiday ever *and* the best week of my life (more on that to come) one of my new friends from the tour, Anna, came to stay with me for two nights in Sydney. Flying in late in the afternoon on Saturday and heading out early Monday for surf camp I was tasked with the job of making her love Sydney more than Brisbane, Adelaide or Melbourne in the hopes she would move here.

Saturday evening we went with Polly, Erin and Ruth for noodles and dumplings (she had never had either before, weird Italians) then met up with Kylie to see Josh Pyke at The Metro. Josh was fabulous and Anna fell in love with the violinist/guitarist/keyboard/general musical genius, which scored a big thumbs up on the evening.

On Sunday morning we were up and about with the sun and I am proud to say we squeezed in all of the below in just one day:

- Breakfast
- 389 (coolest bus in the world) to Hyde Park
- Walk through the botanical gardens (seeing the bats on the way)
- Farm Cove view of the Opera House in the sunshine (she actually gasped on seeing it!)
- Walk around the Opera House to Circular Quay and into The Rocks
- Susannah Place museum (I have wanted to go for ages and loved it, although when the tour guide was trying to paint the picture of poverty in the 1930s pointing at a full length tin bath in a special shed I couldn't help but scoff, knowing my mum's tin bath hung on the wall of their back yard in the 1950s back home!)
- The Australian pub for gourmet pizza
- Walk to Darling Harbour
- Much needed coffee (she is Italian afterall...)
- The monorail (urgh) loop
- Walk to Circular Quay again
- Ferry to Watsons Bay
- Walk along Camp Cove (such a pretty beach!)
- Walk around the South Head with the view back over the harbour
- Bus back to Bondi
- Admiring Bondi Beach from the shelter of the Lifesavers Club due to sudden downpour
- Walk back from the beach to mine
- Quick shower and change before heading out for sushi at Sushi Train Bondi Junction (she agrees that it is indeed the best sushi in the world and we broke all my records, eating 15 plates between us!!)
- Train into the city for a cocktail at Orbit, the 360 degree revolving bar in Australia Square - night time views over the city.
- Home in bed at 11.30pm

All in all a very packed day, a great way to spend the last day of my holiday before I landed back at my desk, and a good enough tour to convince Anna that Sydney is The Place To Be.

Watch this space - I may have a housemate in a couple of weeks!

A cheeky quickie

2009-03-01T10:03:00.003Z

Oh OK, you didn't really think I was going to leave you without telling you about my favourite dance this week? Check it out... it's Charlie and Penny again!

Special mentions for Pania and Ben who I like a lot, as well as Amy. You can see all of them here.

Annoyingly yet *again* Channel 10 has neglected to select a tune they have the rights to use online. Sort it out guys - there is no point having a clever interactive online presence if you don't think it through to the TV too.

Please leave a message....

2009-02-27T05:57:00.005Z

Well dear reader, I am off on hols.

On Monday I fly to Alice Springs, from whence (nice word) I shall pootle (another goodie) on a tour taking in such sights as:

Uluru
Kings Canyon
The Olgas
Coober Pedy
Adelaide
The Barossa Valley
The Great Ocean Road
Melbourne....

I am very excited about the entire caboodle but it will mean, I am afraid, that I shall go quiet. I may get into an internet cafe in Adelaide to give you a half way update, but otherwise you are going to have to cope without me. I know, it will be hard.

But do feel free to leave a message after the beep and I will get back to you on my return in two weeks ... BEEP

Synaesthesia

2009-02-26T22:55:00.006Z

Regular readers may remember that I have grapheme-colour synaesthesia - a condition which means my brain links words with colours.

Scientists reckon it occurs when nerves in the brain have accidentally merged. Synaesthesia can occur between any senses, some people associate spatial characteristics with smells, or taste can be attributed to sounds... all sorts. I read a really interesting article about it all in T2 (but typically cannot now find it).

Anyway, I came across some research on a blog I enjoy, indicating how common my own form of synaesthesia is in children. Seems grapheme-colour synaesthesia occurs in 1.3% of children.

I am quite pleased with that 1.3%. It's small enough for me to feel special but but big enough (it equates to 170,000 children age 0–17 in the UK alone) for me not to feel too weird.

And in case you were wondering, Wednesday is green, Tuesday is pale yellow and Friday is canary yellow.

Digesting the day

2009-02-26T02:24:00.002Z

Last night I couldn't sleep. No, correction, I could sleep and kept having to go to sleep, because I woke up every hour on the hour. ALL the way through the night.

So, I am sure you will agree, that is rather annoying, but it was also really interesting. Because every time I woke up I woke from a dream. So I got to remember (albeit briefly) many more dreams than I would normally if they had been allowed to run their natural course without interruption.

I was particularly intruiged to note that each dream dealt (weirdly) with something that had occured that day.

So one dream was a strange evaluation of a report I have been writing for work.

Another dream was the direct result of a Twitter conversation I had had earlier that evening.

A third seemed at first unrelated to my day, until I realised I had been thinking about the very issue that mornng.

Characters I had spoken to, stories I had been told, places I had discussed... all came together in a particularly strange subconscious melting pot.

So now I will understand better why some mornings I wake up from a full nights sleep feeling like my head only just hit the pillow. My fingers get a break from typing, my eyes get a break from seeing and (except for bin day) my ears rest from hearing... but my brain carries on in its own little world, like a computer on the hibernate setting.

Ladettes and feminism

2009-02-25T01:07:00.004Z

Sorry, another feminist topic post, purely because my colleagues have started treating me like the token team feminist and are therefore highlighting every media article they see that they think might get me riled. And one has...

Nina Funnel, a columnist at the Sydney Morning Herald, wrote this article yesterday. In it, she takes a swipe at the TV programme Aussie Ladette To Lady. She reckons that middle aged, upper class feminists are essentially bullying younger liberated women. That having earned freedoms for women they now need to surrender their right to dictate how that freedom is used.

While I dislike the way the teachers in the faux-finishing school talk to their pupils, and pull faces of disgust with a ridiculous level of regularity (and it is noticable that its more extreme than it was in the original two British series) I disagree with her dismissal of the goals and ideals of the teachers.

She says:

Still considered the "fairer" sex, women continue to bear the responsibility for upholding moral standards on behalf of the community. So while binge drinking, public urination and belching are considered unflattering (but routine) among young men, young women who engage in such "male" behaviours are not only unattractive, they are also considered dangerous threats to the moral order.

My disagreement with this assertion frames my whole issue with her article. Call me old fashioned (I may be), call me unliberated (I doubt it), call me a bloody Pom (guilty as charged), but I don't approve of women behaving in this way because I don't approve of ANYONE behaving the way they do.

It is no more acceptable for a man to turn to a superior (or indeed anyone) and pull a moony as some sort of retaliatory argument than it is for the woman who did this in the front room of the finishing school. It merely demonstrates their inability to win their point.

I believe that anyone (male or female) who enters a profession that is all about their physicality (be it modelling, stripping like the ladette in the show, or something else) is going to be overlooked in other departments. The teachers are attempting to give the stripper contestant the confidence to make an impression and be liked for more than her body (and actually, watch this space because I think this particular woman may make the most successful transformation to 'lady').

Funnel also argues:

As a 25-year-old woman (and a feminist) I feel particularly compelled to comment. A number of my friends take pole-dancing classes. Another two have had boob jobs. And many of my friends enjoy big nights out on the booze. They also swear, smoke and have sex. Yet these women are highly successful, motivated, intelligent individuals.

But I think she misses the point. As a columnist for a broadsheet newspaper I can picture the kind of 25 year old friends she has. They will be pretty similar to mine. I have had a pole dancing lesson - it was great fun, in the company of women, and good exercise. My friends and I enjoy big nights out on the booze. Some of them may even have had boob jobs. We swear, some smoke, sex is normal.... I don't doubt for a moment that these are highly successful, motivated, intelligent individuals.

But do they belch? Do they binge drink to such extreme levels they are thrown out of a bar for lewd behaviour? Are they violent? Are they so caught up in their mimickry of disgusting male behaviour that they have lost any understanding of the appeal of doing anything that may be classed as "feminine" such as occasionally wearing a dress? Or being presentable in educated company?

This TV show is like any other, extreme in an effort to win ratings. However the premise is sound. You could replace the women with men, call it Lad to Gent and I would approve equally.

Anyone who behaves like they do should not only be taught of its unacceptability in society, but they need to be taught alternative behaviour so they can (if they, as adults, choose) break their cycle. Let's not forget that these women all applied for their places in that school and are free to leave at any time...

SYTYCD week two

2009-02-23T00:24:00.003Z

Last night (after a 5.5 hour walk around the south head of Sydney) I settled down to watch week two of So You Think You Can Dance. I think I can make it official that Charlie is going to be my favourite contestant! However I think my favourite dance this week was Gianne and BJ, so here is the video if you missed it last night.

Overall I don't think the standard was as high this week, but ho hum.

And then because I can't resist ... here is Charlie's. Not as brilliant as last week but great fun again.