I want to share this amazing singer with you. He is Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu and he has been blind from birth. He has the most incredibly moving voice and he has been nominated for an Aria award which he will win hands down. I just love this song and his voice.

YouTube - Djarimirri - Gurrumul Yunupingu
     

It was officially Spring here as of 1st September. In Australia, the change of season is always on the first of the month however I understand that at least in the US, it is usually around the 21st or 22nd of the month. The days are definitely getting longer here and in the last two weeks, the light seems to have totally changed. In fact, in the last week, I have been so amazed to see trees go from zero to having real foliage...how utterly wonderful!

We've had some really warm days but every now and then, a little blast of winter sneaks up again. Today, Saturday, I woke up to beautiful bright sunshine but by 11am it was raining and really cold however I did manage to attend the house auction in my little street. After the global financial meltdown of the last week, I wanted to see how property is travelling in my street as it helps me to gauge my real equity in my house (which I am still buying!) On a better day, the attendance would have been more than double but, I suspect that the weather will never deter those people who are really seriously interested in buying a property. The rest of us, like me, are just curious onlookers. The property was passed in but, I strongly suspect, it will have been sold by negotiation later today to the highest bidder. Over the years, I have observed so many auctions and I have got really familiar with each licensed auctioneer and their patter, and the auctioneer that was in action today is one of the best in the area (if I was going to sell my house, he would be one of only two who I would be chasing!) I will be able to check it out tomorrow as the auction results here are usually published in the Sunday papers.

Max is going okay, in fact, I think he is going really,really well or at least he feels incredibly well judging by the regular thundering up and down the wooden floor boards in my house and his incredible appetite for his (new diet) food. Since I accidentally deleted what I now realise were several blogs (although how many I just don't know), for anyone who did not read those blogs, Max has been through quite a lot lately. He was so seriously ill for so many weeks in July that I really did not expect him to still be here today, but, he's definitely feeling 110% so I am extremely thankful and happy for that. I did have some tests done within weeks of his crisis and there is definitely kidney damage but without a biopsy, it's not possible to know just how much. After all he has been through, and he's been through so much, I won't be pursuing a biopsy which would be very invasive not to mention incredibly expensive. He is due for his annual vaccinations in November so we will repeat the blood and urine tests and do a comparison and hopefully get some idea of where he is at.

He is now on a very special diet; it is a brand called Royal Canin and it is their Urinary S/O diet. They have a wet variety in a pouch as well as a dry variety but at the moment my vet wants to keep him on the wet variety. This diet is meant to hopefully avoid any further urinary blockages and also keep his urine diluted. The food which is available in only one variety, a chicken special, actually smells and looks really great but it is about $1.25 per pouch and we go through two pouches a day so it's not cheap compared to other cat food although when I think about $2.50 a day it doesn't seem so much for my little friend. Fortunately he just loves it which is a damn good thing because if he didn't, the alternative is a canned variety through another company called Hills which to me, does not look at all palatable! Royal Canin is based in France and over the last 2 months, they have had a number of wharf and factory strikes, so I've decided to stockpile this food just in case we can't get it for any period of time. It turns out that there are very few customers like me here in Australia who are so dependent on this special diet so I am at their utter mercy...zut alors!

Anyway, Max is now really comfortable and happy again although we went through weeks where he totally didn't trust me at all (probably because I had to regularly take him back and forth - initially daily - to the vet to have his bladder checked and on occasions had to leave him there for the day) and he was just also feeling so unwell, so between hiding under the bed from me, he stayed in bed all day and was not there to greet me at the door when I got home. Now, he is there to greet me every night without fail. But, he is now also so very well, that he decides he is hungry again at anytime from 3am to 5am and decides to let me know by bouncing on me while I am asleep. I can tell you that I am not happy about that at all and he knows it. Sorry Max, but I am not some kind of human trampoline!!!!!...I love you dearly but enough is enough!

I love this cat so much but I also try to maintain some kind of distance as I know that I will outlive him and I will be ultimately left grieving him and I know it will really, really hurt. I have had cats all my life but I guess he is the one that seems to currently look so large in my life. I adopted him within months of my now ex dumping on me some 5.5 years ago, and Max and I have had quite a few adventures but for over 5 years now, he has been the absolute joy of my life. He's a funny cat. I adopted him from a young couple who were leaving to live in Europe that I met via a mutual friend.   He is so scared of loud noises, strangers, and especially plastic bags (his former owner and I theorised that someone tried to kill him as a kitten in a plastic bag and I think we were right about that) but when he is relaxed he is the most trusting, and affectionate cat I have ever had the privilege of knowing. He trusts me beyond my belief right now although just over a month ago, that would not be how he appeared.

I had to travel interstate for a whole week late last month so I had to leave Max in my vet's cattery where I knew they would keep a close eye on his condition. My vet has the most wonderful staff and I rang them every day morning and night to check on him. Initially we were all traumatised as Max was not going to let them anywhere near him to medicate him without a fight. He was throwing himself at the door of the cage, hissing and snarling, and they were so worried he would injure himself (not to mention the staff!) I asked them to try leaving the medication in his food, which worked a treat. By mid week he was greeting them every morning (although I know it was just for the food!) and allowing the staff to pat him, and, purring! It was a major breakthrough for all of us and they were as relieved as I was.

I am still trying to keep up here in Spaces and mostly falling so far behind.  However, it is my intention to keep up, especially with those of you who somehow regularly keep in touch.  And oh my gosh, if I could ever catch up, I might be able to blog beyond the banal of my life!

Till next time......

Postscript:

The house in my street was, according to my Sunday paper, sold for $5K over the final bid...exactly as I anticipated!

 (Source totally unknown!)

Let me illustrate why the English language is so hard to learn!

1. The bandage was wound around the wound.

2. The farm was used to produce produce.

3. The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.

4. We must polish the Polish furniture.

5. He could lead if he would get the lead out.

6. The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.

7. Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to

    present the present.

8. A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.

9. When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.

10. I did not object to the object.

11. The insurance was invalid for the invalid.

12. There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.

13. They were too close to the door to close it.

14. The buck does funny things when the does are present.

15. A seamstress and a sewer fell down into the sewer.

16. To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.

17. The wind was too strong to wind the sail.

18. After a number of injections my jaw got number.

19. Upon seeing the tear in the painting, I shed a tear.

20. I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.

21. How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?

22. I tried to perfect the perfect swing.

Let's face it - English is a crazy language. There is no egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger, neither apple nor pine in pineapple.

Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren't sweet, are meat.

We take English for granted. But if we explore its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.

And why is it that writers write but fingers don't fing, grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham?

If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn't the plural of booth beeth?

One goose, two geese. So one moose, two meese? One index, two indices?

Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend? If  you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it?

If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?

Sometimes I think all English speakers should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane. In what language do people: recite a play and play at a recital?

Ship by truck and send cargo by ship?

Have noses that run and feet that smell?

How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites?

You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out and in which, an alarm goes off by going on. 

English was invented by people and not computers and it reflects the creativity of the human race, which, of course, is not a race at all.

That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible.

P.S. Why doesn't BUICK rhyme with QUICK?

Excel ant!
(Reportedly nominated for a Pullet Surprise)

Eye halve a spelling chequer
It came with my pea sea,
It plainly marques four my revue
Miss steaks eye kin knot sea.
Eye strike a key and type a word
And weight for it two say,
Weather eye and wring oar write
It shows me strait a weigh.
As soon as a mist ache is maid
It nose bee fore two long,
And eye can put the error rite
Its rare lea ever wrong.
To rite with care is quite a feet
Of witch won should bee proud,
And wee mussed dew the best wee can,
Sew flaw's are knot aloud.
Eye have run this poem threw it
Your sure reel glad two no,
Its letter perfect awl the weigh
My chequer tolled me sew.

--Sauce unknown

Just a quick update. I had to chase up Max's results last night and they were inconclusive...meaning??? they have no idea what caused the problem. Max himself seems to be quite comfortable and in no pain (I did take him for another shot on Monday as a precautionary measure as much for my own sanity as his comfort) so that's good but it's nagging me that they don't know what the cause was. I'm just hoping it was a passing thing and nothing more sinister.

I am still hanging in here - still coughing and spluttering. Somehow managed to complete a whole day's training with a client yesterday, and hoping that I will be 99.9% by Sunday night as I have 3 more full days training to complete next week, and lots more days in coming weeks.

Thanks to everyone for their concerns, thoughts and prayers! Hugs to you all!

Well, I still feel like crap and my throat is now feeling sore yet again even though I have done almost zero this weekend. It's now Sunday night but tomorrow is the public holiday thank goodness. (I know we are supposed to be celebrating the Queen's Birthday even though her real birthday is the 21st April and I voted for a Republic when we last got the chance.....unsuccessfully, but thanks anyway Liz for the long weekend.)

Max is still happily comfortable but the nanosecond/minute I think he's starting to show signs of distress again, I will be onto the vet to get him another pain killing shot. The urine sample has to be cultured to grow whatever crystals/bacteria to work out what's wrong with him so other than pain relief, he's not on any other treatment. Due to the long weekend, I suspect nothing will happen with his sample till Tuesday - it is most likely sitting in the fridge at the vets right now waiting to be sent to the laboratory on Tuesday morning. I am back at work Tuesday and I will be spending all day Wednesday training with a new client so there is NO way I can cope with him being unhappy and in pain again. Absolutely no way. I have so much to do this week at work and that's why I've been lying low doing nothing but if Max gets stressed, I will be even more stressed. That cat is my family.

As they say, there is a silver lining to every cloud. The silver lining is that I have spent a whole lot more time in spaces than usual. It's nice to be back, I must say. I've visited just about everyone on my blog walk and friends' list, changed the template here and moved things around a bit. Thought about changing the music playing here but not quite ready although who knows when the mood will strike...could be later tonight.

I have also managed to finally sort out my hard drive. I had almost nothing left of an 80GB hard drive but now since I deleted a lot of unwanted podcasts, I have a whole 13GB!!! Just as cathartic as cleaning the house!

Now, there are some things about spaces that I can't work out so here's my request for guidance.

I started a new book list. I filled in the blanks, the title, the author, the website, and the ISBN. So why, oh why, do I not see any nice book cover pictures like I do on everyone else's space. Sometimes I suspect that the Australian version of spaces is a cut down version...is that the explanation? Are we being dudded here?

And, my lists.....some of them have descriptions while others display nothing, but I do have a description filled in behind almost every list that no one else can see so what gives?

All advice and suggestions gratefully received.

Does anyone ever feel like the mouse running in the treadmill?  Life seems to be totally out of control timewise lately.

It's the Queen's Birthday long weekend here and I took Friday off thinking I would finally catch up on the myriad of things that need to be done but not to be. I have been fighting off a cold all week and now haven't got the energy to do much else other than read, or maybe catch up in Spaces. I had planned on sleeping in on Friday morning but when I got home on Thursday night, it was obvious that Max was not well and made even more patently obvious at 4am Friday morning. He was very distressed (and so was I not the least for lack of sleep!) I called the vets as soon as they opened and took him in first thing at 8am. It turns out that he has an inflamed urinary tract but we don't know why as he is on a diet that should prevent such problems. It's not blocked so that's good. The vet gave him a pain killing injection which will last a few days and I left him there all day Friday so they could get a urine sample which he finally delivered in the afternoon but just not in the tray so it could be collected! So I brought him home last night with a small amount of polystyrene beads (they are placed in the kitty litter tray to give the appearance of kitty litter but are not absorbent), a specimen jar and a syringe and was able to successfully collect a sample at 5am this morning! I've dropped off the sample and the results will be available in a few days. At least now, Max is very relaxed and comfortable so maybe I can finally catch up on sleep.

When I went to pick him up from the vet, the assistant said he wasn't keen to come out of the cage he was in so I went with her to get him. Max has always been a very shy and nervous cat with strangers, and he was the picture of a scary angry cat. The crazy thing is, when he's at home and relaxed with me and people he knows, he is the most friendly and affectionate cat I have ever had, and all my previous cats have been very extroverted compared to Max! He hates being at the vet's and hates being left in the cattery there.

My new job is going well although the next two months are going to be frantic as we have a number of new client implementations all at the same time. I will also be training in an area of our software that I have not had to train before which will be quite a challenge.

It is officially winter as of 1 June and the days are quite short now but the winter solstice will occur in a few weeks so that's something to look forward to. It is cold and we have had quite a few foggy days including one which closed the airport but it hasn't been windy or raining so far. It does not snow here at all so I should be thankful for that. Snow looks beautiful but I can't imagine living in an area where it snows. One of my work colleagues is travelling to Sweden for work and has been told that as it is summer there, it doesn't get dark till 11pm and it gets light again at 3am! I don't think I could cope with so few night hours.

I helped my mum buy a notebook recently (the first one she's ever had) and I have been helping her out. She has been attending some basic computing classes but they run the classes on Windows XP and her notebook is on Windows Vista so it looks different and for her, it looks incredibly different. Her classes have also covered MS Word and MS Excel (thankfully she is not using MS Office 2007 which also looks very different) and she picks up some things quickly but struggles with others.

I haven't been to the cinema since Easter. I saw 'Gone Baby Gone' and 'The Painted Veil' and I had also seen 'The Edge of Heaven' a few weeks earlier which were all excellent. I also saw a documentary called 'In the Shadow of the Moon' about the first trips to the Moon which was great (I can remember that time so well.) The Melbourne International Film Festival is coming up at the end of July so I will have to plan for that although I will probably only go at weekends thanks to my work.

I am going to do a bit of tidying on my space...I'm tired of the cluttered look so we'll see what happens here. I am going to try and get around to see what everyone has been up to.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun, and in the morning
We will remember them.

Lest We Forget

We will....

Never, ever, ever forget the sacrifices that were made in defence of our freedom, by the men and women of our armed services.

It's April Fool's Day...and it's one of the most amusing days on the calendar. I have been keeping an open eye on our media today for hoaxes.  So let's see...here's just a small selection from my media; you be the judge:

The Reserve Bank met today and decided not to increase interest rates for the first time in several months. True or False?

The centre lanes of St Kilda Road, one of Melbourne's main and best loved boulevards, will only be available to trams and bicycles in the future and motor vehicles will be relegated to the service lanes. True or False?

Google have today announced an amazing new feature called G'day that allows you to search content on the internet before its created. True or False?

Andrew Bolt, the ever charming and erudite right wing columnist at the Herald Sun, plans to stand for the Liberals when Peter Costello resigns.  True or False?

Wayne Carey, the former AFL footballer, is finally telling the truth (see last night's Enough Rope interview with Andrew Denton). True or False?

The Yarra River, the major river that runs through Melbourne, is about to become the third freeway. True or False?

And finally, here is the last word on the Australian media and April Fool's Day.

Oh and PS: And for those of you who like me, just love April Fool's Day, here the link to the (arguably) Top 100 April Fool's Day hoaxes.

And PPS: Please tell me and others here about the hoaxes where you live. Humour has to be shared!

Judging by my last blog and my absence in Spaces over an embarrassing number of weeks, you could be forgiven for thinking this space had been abandoned.. but it's not so. I am still here. Life is just kinda out of control of late. No excuses.

My work is busy but still very enjoyable. I've had my three month review about two weeks ago and it was all good. In Australia, you could be forgiven for being a little bewildered about our industrial legislation however the thing is that it's a lot easier for an employer to dismiss 'one' in the first three months than after that date. Since I am still with my company and have now completed two major implementations/training, it all looks good for me. I have to say I am so pleased to have finally joined an 'enlightened' company where the employees are treated with respect and recognised as a major resource. Can you believe it? I actually enjoy going to work these days...although every day is a challenge, but it's a good challenge.

I thought summer was over - it officially ended on 29th February and this year, February was nowhere near as hot as it can be. Our school year ends in December and the new school year begins in late January. For all of my entire lifetime including my schooldays, we have bemoaned the fact that the schools go back in late January and then experience a heatwave in February (the vast majority of schools do not have air conditioning) but this year, February was pretty mild. Well, hello to March.

In the last fortnight, the southern states of Australia have experienced a major heatwave. The city of Adelaide broke all records for the longest number of consecutive days of more than 37.8 Celsius (100 Fahrenheit). Here in Melbourne we didn't break any records but March has been far hotter than February even though it was officially Autumn from 1 March. In the meantime, there has been heavy rain and severe flooding in Queensland. It's so weird; in my city, there are small children and pets who have never, ever seen or experienced rain but in the northern states, some places have received more rain in 24 hours than total annual rainfall figures elsewhere.

Two weekends ago, I did the annual trek to the Port Fairy Folk Festival (PFFF) and on the Sunday of that long weekend, it reached 39C which is quite extraordinary as Port Fairy is on the coast. Thankfully the humidity has been very low however we have a number of Total Fire Ban days...this is what we do to try to minimise the chance of starting a bushfire. This year, thankfully in my state we have had no major bushfires (unlike the last summer) but we are always on alert when the temperatures soar and we get north winds.

We talk about climate change here these days, not global warming. While there are always sceptics, the vast majority of Australians believe that we are undergoing climate change and we have to take action about it now. I won't reveal my age but I can tell you that I have never seen weather patterns like these.

Now it's Easter and right now it is Sunday night. In Australia as in many other parts of our world, Easter is a long weekend as it is here - a four day weekend. The weather has been simply superb. Lovely cool nights (I had to turn on the heating on Friday night!) and warm sunny days. Today got to about 27C...just divine. I have one more day of my long and peaceful weekend. I love the long days of summer but the best seasons really are spring and autumn. As for winter, nah, you can have that all to yourself.

For those who are wondering, I did buy a Canon Powershot S5 IS and I have been having a lot of fun with it, but I have SO much to learn about photography. I have visited a few open gardens, a sand sculpture park as well as the PFFF and taken photos. I was so frustrated with the open gardens as another 99.9 million people were there at the same time as me! I will try to post some of the better photos soon.

Easter Sunday is almost over in Oz but it's yet to dawn elsewhere. To everyone, I wish you a wonderful Easter and I hope that the true meaning of Easter is the dominant message in your lives.

Easter this year is: Sunday March 23, 2008

As you may know, Easter is always the 1st Sunday after the 1st full moon after the Spring Equinox (which is March 20/21).

This dating of Easter is based on the lunar calendar that Hebrew people used to identify Passover, which is why it moves around on our Roman calendar. A couple more things you might be interested in! Based on the above, Easter can actually be one day earlier (March 22) but that is pretty rare. This year is the earliest Easter any of us will ever see the rest of our lives! And only the most elderly of our population (aged 95 or more) have ever seen it this early. And none of us have ever - or will ever - see it a day earlier!

Here are the facts: The next time Easter will be this early (March 23) will be the year 2228 (220 years from now). The last time it was this early was 1913 (so if you're 95 or older, you are the only ones that were around for that!) The next time it will be a day earlier (March 22), will be in the year 2285 (277 years from now). The last time it was on March 22 was 1818.

So, no one alive today has or will ever see it any earlier than this year!

ENJOY THE UNIQUENESS OF THIS DAY AND THIS (useless?) LITTLE PIECE OF HISTORY!

It appears I will be getting a very nice little tax refund, thanks to my trusted accountant (who is also a good friend who I used to work with). I have been thinking about buying a better camera for quite a while. I have a Kodak Easyshare that I bought about 5 years ago and it's okay but only just - and you can tell with my scenery shots here. So with my tax refund, it's now time to have a little self indulgence.

Some of my online friends and their husbands, have really great cameras including the Canon Digital Rebel, and Canon EOS 400D. Someone I met recently has advised me to look at the Canon Power Shot S5 IS. I have dabbled in the past with SLR cameras pre digital but traded those and the lenses in for another pre digital camera which in hindsight was not worth it.

So now, I am seeking your advice, my friends. I would like to know your recommendations and why you make them. Any links that would flesh out the recommendations would be so much appreciated. My budget is not as flash as I would like, which is why I am leaning at the moment towards the Canon Power Shot S5 IS at the moment which for the price seems to offer incredible options and capability.

I can keep using my Kodak Easyshare for the happy snaps of friends and people, but what I would really like is to be able to take great non people shots (i.e. scenery, animals, architecture, city landscapes etc) so I am looking for a camera that will give me that potential.

All and any advice from you will be greatly appreciated. As a photography novice, any other additional advice you may have e.g. internet links to forums etc. will be incredibly appreciated.

My thanks and hugs to all!

Eight films in less than 3 weeks...do I now qualify as some kind of cinephile or just somebody maybe with way too much time on my hands?

In fact, I had free passes to four films, a friend had a free pass to one, and I paid to see the other three. And that's not including the three DVDs I have already watched this week which were all totally and utterly forgettable.

Okay, so the films were:

The Darjeeling Limited
Into the Wild
The Kite Runner
Atonement
No Country for Old Men
I'm Not There
I Served the King of England
Tell No One

The Darjeeling Limited: Somewhat limited but fabulous great shots of India; typically quirky Wes Anderson (the Director) and lots of humour but also lots of pathos. Not quite there with The Life Aquatic but very nearly almost. Highly entertaining and highly recommended: 7/10.

Into the Wild: This film will require a whole tissue box. This film is based on a true story and it is exquisitely beautiful but also incredibly sad. There are some absolutely outstanding performances in this film particularly from Emile Hirsch as Christopher McCandless, Marcia Gay Harden and Willian Hurt as his bewildered and hurt parents, Catherine Keener, Brian Dierker and Vince Vaughan as some of the wonderful people he meets on the road, and Hal Holbrook as the wonderful older man who really touches his heart. The soundtrack is totally perfect...and I'm getting all teary just thinking about this film. It really touched my heart and if the Oscars go ahead, you will hear a lot more about this film. This is a story about daydreaming and living beyond daydreams. And for the future, just keep your eye on Sean Penn who directed this film - this man has an eye for something that is simply indescribable. Do not miss: 10/10

The Kite Runner: I read this novel very recently in less than 24 hours as I just not could put it down and I don't recall ever reading a novel that moved me so much to tears like this. So the film? Well, it's a tough call making a film based on a best selling novel (and I had to remind myself that it is a novel albeit based on reality). Okay...the film omitted some details of the novel but it did a great deal to flesh out the images that I had in my head about Afghanistan. Based on my companion's experience, this film will definitely touch your heart...this is a story of redemption as described by the reviews. Highly recommended: 8/10

Atonement: Now here it is in reverse. I have not read this novel and I am now tempted to do so, but the image in my head of this film means that the novel will have to live up to the film. Bewildered? So am I. This is another very beautiful and sad film and will require yet another tissue box. Watch for the most amazing scene of the Allied Forces at Dunkirk - as the IMDB review indicates, this scene is totally and incredibly amazing. Again, if the Oscars go ahead, this film will be in there somewhere. Do Not Miss: 9/10

No Country for Old Men: Back to the Coen brothers whose most famous film to date would be 'Fargo'. This is one hell of a thriller but for me, I was left hanging...so where is the ending? A real portrait of serious evil. Great performances especially from Javier Bardem but also Tommy Lee Jones and Josh Brolin. Now if you do decide to see this, can you please do a body count and let me know the total???....Highly recommended: 8/10

I'm Not There: I loved this film but this is so seriously arthouse and it is not going to be everyone's cup of tea at all. I loved all the performances, the music and the reflections but ...this film has absolutely no answers about Dylan. However for me, this was a near perfect...9.5/10. (For me this was so good, I plan to buy the DVD!)

I Served the King of England: I enjoyed this film but I wouldn't go as far as the review that is linked here. 6/10

Tell No One: One of the most intriguing thrillers I have ever seen and I loved it for that. Fantastic performances...and brilliant cinematography and music score. I thought the outcome of the plot was a bit too incredible but I really loved this film...I spent over 2 hours totally and absolutely gripped to the seat. Do not miss: 10/10

And now, I am going to have to wait at least another week for the next wave of film releases here....sigh!!!!

So what's happening here in the Lucky Country?

Well, let's get first things first. Eight days ago, Australia went to the polls and voted out the Liberal Government and the now former Prime Minister, John Winston Howard (JWH). The polls had predicted this for almost a year but I, like many others could not quite trust them. It's great to now say in hindsight, it was bleeding obvious, but...all criticisms aside, JWH has been one of the most astute (read my subtext - cunning) politicians this country has ever known, so there was maybe a delusional belief on the part of his followers (and dare I say it, his critics including me) that he would somehow pull a rabbit out of a hat and win. Well, that just did not happen. Thank God.

In fact, the election handed an incredible landslide to Labour. And, what is also even more incredible is that JWH, lost his own seat. There has only been one other occasion in our history where a Prime Minister has lost his own seat. JWH aspired to follow in the footsteps of arguably our greatest and certainly longest serving Prime Minister, Robert Menzies.  History will now record forever, that had JWH stepped down a year or so ago, it would have served him well. He would have been able to leave on a high with the economy in full swing. But history will now record that he led the Liberals to the most incredibly stinging and humiliating defeat. There are now no Liberal Governments anywhere in the country, not at State or Federal level. The highest level Liberal official now is the Mayor of Brisbane! However, and I think this is a good thing, is that the new government controls the lower house, the House of Representatives but they will not control the upper house, the Senate. The last government (the last 3 plus years) saw the Liberals control both houses which allowed them to dramatically change our industrial relation legislation even though they had not raised their plans during the last election. The Senate traditionally serves as the house of review. I am glad that no single party controls both houses. This is how democracy should work.

I personally worked all day on election day on a polling booth as a polling official, marking voters off the electoral roll and handing them their ballot papers. I have previously worked on both State and Federal elections, purely for the money only folks:-) It is a long and boring day. Well, the booth I worked on was very busy so between voting hours of 8am to 6pm, I was mostly flat out which was great - the day went by relatively very quickly. Voting closed at 6pm and I then had to assist with the count of the ballot papers...there are two papers to be counted. The first one went pretty smoothly but the second paper was the Senate paper. If you live in Australia, you will know why this sent me nearly totally insane!!!!!!!  If you don't live here, well, it's really very hard to describe but there are 23 plus groupings above the line, or 60 plus candidates below the line. No, it's too hard to explain....Well, I finally finished up (after starting work at 7.30am) at 11pm on Saturday night. When I left the polling booth, I had absolutely no idea what the national count was but it didn't take long for me to find out that Labour was over the line, and that JWH was almost conceding his own seat. I got home and watched my TV for the next 2 hours just trying to take it in (and kicking back with a white wine....time to celebrate!) Why was I celebrating? See my previous post. Nothing else to say. I am learning to mellow these days, but ...JWH in my humble opinion, has been the most divisive Prime Minister of my lifetime, and I believe, in my country's history. This is not how any national leader should operate.

In the last week, it's been absolutely amazing to watch the Liberal Party totally self implode...and now the blame game has begun. I should not be so surprised I guess but I am...... just over 10 days ago, the Liberals controlled the universe and were supposedly totally united and now, they are suddenly blaming each other and back stabbing. As the saying goes, a week is more than a long time in politics.

My new job? Well, it has been amazing. I am so, so impressed with my new employer. I have had two weeks of intensive training in all aspects of our software product which is very complex. I am really impressed with the way the business process is organised and the people I am working with are just wonderful. Having said that, I will have to hit the ground running as I will be spending the first full week in January training new customers. But that's fine...I like being under pressure. Compared to my old company, I feel like I am in fantasyland...there is no comparison. I know that my decision to take this job was the right one.

I have now had 8 piano lessons with my newly found teacher ...and I am just totally amazed at where I am now at. I am now playing a number of pieces (including one new and two old) quite well and in fact, I think I will now move this week beyond two of them to something a little more challenging. My teacher and I found that we both love Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. I have the sheet music for both an easy version and a hard version, and ...with my teacher's encouragement (or his madness to think I can achieve it!) I am trying to learn the first movement of the hard version. At Beth's suggestion, I have been listening to several of Beethoven's piano sonatas including the Moonlight, on my iPod while traveling to and from work and I have found it so incredibly calming even though some of the time, the noise of the tram takes over.  In fact, I have now totally rediscovered the pleasure that I used to find listening to classical music.

And it is now hot, hot, hot here...it is now summer (officially from 1 December). I love the longer days and provided I can turn on the air con or my evaporative cooling at home, it's all good. Today it got to 31.5C here....

Max and I have a new understanding..I have just bought him the second new collar in about 2 weeks (after he totally destroyed the first one). He's now getting to middle age and I had him undergo blood and urine tests (oh such joy to collect a specimen!!)  but I am glad to report that it appears that he is in fine condition. He's taken to sleeping nights on my pillow...so much for my head and yes, where do I get to sleep ......but he's a cutie so yes, he is getting away with being totally spoilt beyond belief.

Next Sunday, I will get to see my superheroes, Crosby, Stills and Nash, perform live here. Months and months ago, I blogged about whether I would buy a ticket to see them perform at a winery about an hour out of Melbourne.....well, about 8 weeks ago, I saw they were going to do a concert in St Kilda at the Palais which is about 30 minutes away from my home, and I bought my ticket 15 minutes after the ticket sales opened. The doors open at 7pm and CSN perform the whole concert...no support acts. I am now starting to finally get pretty excited about it...I am going to play nothing but CSN all week!

I think my feet are now back firmly on the ground since Thursday just over a week ago. I have finally after over 12 months of  looking, found a new and far better job! Those of my online blog friends who have known me since mid 2006 will have known just how utterly dismayed I have become with my current employer.

So I have been looking around on and off, mostly off. I've found it interesting. When I was looking for the job I currently have, I sent applications and resumes off to over 30 recruitment agents/employers via the internet. I work in Information Technology so this is the only way to look for jobs in that industry. No newspaper ads.  That was over 2.5 years ago now.

To this very day, I still get phone calls based on that resume that I submitted back then even as late as Friday this week. I have had several interviews but there's always a vague reason given as to why I was not selected. I have even been thinking about leaving IT and going back to Government (where I worked for over 23 years).

But as the saying goes, it is not necessarily what you know, but who you know.

Rewind 4 years. My first software company. Great products, fantastic team members, fabulous clients. But the company management, i.e. the company directors? We're talking about a workplace bully and a total lunatic. Turnover at this company? 150% plus.

One of my co-workers got a really raw deal. Another rather nasty employee complained about her, and there were some management issues but the management then totally crucified her. So she left, and in fact found a much better job with another software company.  She's been there for 3 years now and is very happy there. Another of our mutual colleagues also now works there - again very happy.

I also then subsequently moved on to another company and initially that all seemed good although it was a much smaller company. All seemed to go well for a while but then I realised that I had been dudded on a number of fronts. Although the MD was not a bully or a lunatic and is probably a nice man, he totally lacks the communication skills that one might reasonably expect of a manager, especially for the type of software we produce not to mention all the supposed consulting we are able to provide. There are a lot of other frustrations about working with a small company that does everything on a shoestring.

A. and I have kept in touch since leaving our original employer. Sometimes we don't catch up for months, but we catch up from time to see a film and lunch or dinner. Recently A. rang me to say her current company is looking for Business Analysts and suggested I send off my resume. I've been working in Support for about 4.5 years but my long term goal since I entered this industry has been to become a Business Analyst. So I did, and they offered me a job at the salary I asked for which is a substantial increase for me. I finish my current job on Wednesday and start about 10 days later so I get to have a few days off in between to catch up on a few things and also to see one of my close friends who lives interstate.

I had already organised to visit her, initially just to stay 2 days however since then, it now appears she has multiple sclerosis. She is having further tests this coming week which will either confirm the diagnosis or give a better idea of what else her condition might be. I'm going to stay an extra day with her as her husband needs to go interstate with his job that week so I will be around to look after her as she has very little energy at the moment. It's been a real shock to her; she's a very capable woman who can paint her whole house, or build a fantastic garden anywhere she goes so to suddenly find herself with this diagnosis is just such a jolt however she's trying to be very positive.

It's finally Spring here and we've already had some very warm days but it is incredibly dry. The rains that were forecast to arrive over winter did not eventuate so the drought goes on. Food prices are really on the rise as the drought has had a significant effect on food production.

However, I woke up this morning to real rain - real soaking, drenching rain that I could hear on my roof! And yesterday, I bought my first mango for the season! I did all my housework, gardening, and shopping yesterday so today, Sunday, I 'm going to have lazy day catching up on everyone in Spaces, reading the weekend papers and just generally doing nothing. I only have 2 more days in my current job as Tuesday is a public holiday, the Melbourne Cup, the race that stops the nation. Tomorrow night, a close friend is coming over and we're going to watch some DVDS together and chill out on Cup Eve together. So I'm pretty relaxed and happy at the moment.