The ABC of Me

I am doing this as a dare as I was told I have an answer or knowledge of just about everything and I needed to apply it to myself.
A is for animals, I love all and every kind
B is for babies, which I swore I'd never have
C is for cats, of which we own two
D is for dancing which I studied at school and uni
E is for eggs, can't stand the smell of or eat them
F is for fear, I fear dying young and leaving my family
G is for God, supreme being, whatever, whoever, I believe what I want not necessarily what I was taught to believe
H is for Highpoint, one of my favorite girl and mum shopping places
I is for idealistic, what I am told I am
J is for jealous, I am that too
K is for kindred, something I feel with some people I met, sometimes
L is for love, which I feel immensely almost all the time, either for someone or from someone
M is for mum, mine who I miss terribly, but hope that I can be half of the mum to my own kids, that she was to me
N is for no, something I have trouble saying if asked a favor
O is for objective, something I can be if I REALLY apply myself
P is for patience of which I have NONE
Q is for quiet, which my voice is not either
R is for realistic, which I can be or can't be...Depends who you ask
S is for stupidity, which I have no patience for
T is for tense, which I am most of the time
U is for under appreciated, which is how I have felt in every position I held except one.
V is for vicious, which I can be if it relates to somethng which affects my children
W is for wary, of door to door salepeople, strange cars in the court, suspicious people, etc
X is for xenophobia (ha thought I'd get stuck here didn't you) I have no tolerance for this, it is not an illness!!!! But conditioning.
Y is for yelling, what I know I do a lot and wish I did less of
Z is for zenith, which is the optimum stage I want to achieve in all I do.

There you go, the ABC of me, hope you enjoy it. Feel free to comment or even write your own..But it has to be about YOU!!!!.

And the winner is.......

Ok enough is enough, just what is that makes Shane Warne so great? Apart from being able to bowl? He has ABSOLUTELY nothing going for him. He is the personification of the A- typical suburban cricket hoon, all mouth and an ego to match their perceived notion of their own skill level. If he is SMS'ing women here ,there and everywhere and having torrid affairs...Isn't that between his wife and him? Personally, he would've been out the door with his manhood stuffed in his "box" and I would've had the locks changed when the issue first arose...But, hey, that's me!!! This guy has had the cricket world in a frenzy forever, he's not an all rounder and I think there have been better and there will be..He is damaging Australia's reputation and the ACA. HE is the winner of my GRAND WANKER AWARD.

MDA (Medical Defence ????) is back on TV tonight, a great Aussie show about medical law suits and the investigations and the defence team who defend doctors against malpractice suits. It is enthralling and all encompassing...Last years ratings where poor so it may not continue, it has a four part series starting tonight. They have roped in local stars like Sigrid Thornton (god if I could look like her at when I'm her age) to help revive the failing ratings. But Aunty ,you have a good show and with some more promotion, it can and will be great...Look at the cult "Sea change" created. This is the winner of my Best Aussie TV SHOW AWARD.

Now on TV shows, I also watch a Aussie show called "Last Man Standing" on Mondays at 2130. It's like Sex In The City but with guys and set in Melbourne not NY. It's funny and well done but the continuity person has a lot to answer for in Mondays episode...Call it nit picking but it peeved me. In one scene, Adam (complete spunk) enters his work place in a leather jacket, it's raining outside, rain running down the window of the office..His hair is not even wet..But that's not all..He chats with the girl (forgot her name) who he had it off with the night before and she's wearing a halterneck, backless number like it was 39degrees outside...get real guys. On another note, Cam is supposedly landscaping and paving, he's wearing gloves that look like welders gloves, using "brickies sand" instead of a washed sand/cement dust mix and is leveling with a lump of 4by 2 instead of a spirit level!!!!!Now being married to a landscape gardener(no longer on the tools) and a dab hand myself I know that you don't wear gloves to pave as you can't get the bricks/pavers in close enough, I know brickies sand (orange /red) is for concrete and such and that spirit levels come in 1m lengths with smooth edges for just this purpose. Call it picky but a bit of realism please. They was also the gratuitous but ingenious "product placement" they visited a mythical Mega Mitre 10 warehouse in the show, we have Mitre 10 but Bunnings is the king of warehouse hardware places...But in the ad break came ads for the OPENING of TWO MITRE 10 MEGE WAREHOUSES!!!!!!!!!!!!!BRILLIANCE IN STELLAR FORM. Winner of two awards:
1) Stupidity in story line, continuity and realism
2) Excellence in product placement and making zillions in advertising revenue with the story line link

Now to the next award.....The illustrious "I"m with stupid, oh no I am STUPID" I give to past Labour Party leader, Mark Latham. If you are going to be in a party, that's what it is a party...group legislation, assurance on the majority of issues (at least) common goals, etc....You don't go writing a book and kicking the party that fed you in the guts. I have little time for pollies, call it jaded, but saw too much, learnt too much, in too little a time to trust them, their parties or their motives. But I think that if you have the respect and trust of the party you belong to; to the point that they elect you leader of the Opposition...you should honor that respect....Don't ask, don't tell does not apply here...Simply don't tell!!!! He probably had a ghost writer anyway as he was forever being watched by the eagle eyed spin doctors of the party, the guy has the morals of an alley cat and has proven he was never to be trusted. Let Big Kimmy have a go, he might not be a poster boy like Latham but he's got knowledge. So Latham wins the "I'm with Stupid, Oh no, I am STUPID" award.

Because we're women..................

Because women's work is never done and is underpaid or unpaid or boring or repetitious and we're the first to get the sack and what we look like is more important than what we do and if we get raped it's our fault and if we get bashed we must have provoked it and if we raise our voices we're nagging bitches and if we enjoy sex we're nyphos and if we don't we're frigid and if we love women it's because we can't get a "real man" and if we ask our doctors too many questions we're neurotic and/or pushy and if we expect community care for our children we're selfish and if we stand up for our rights we're aggresive and "unfeminine" and if we don't we're typical weak females and if we want to get married we're out to trap a man and if we don't we're unnatural and because we still cannot get a safe contraceptive but men can walk on the moon and we can't cope or don't want a pregnancy we're made to feel guilty about abortion and.... For lots and lots of other reasons we are part of the womens liberation movement. Joyce Stevens, Womens Liberation Broadsheet, International women's Day, 1975.

Thirty years on this piece remains as one of the icons of the women's lib movement, some of it still stands true today. I have had this piece for many years, it has been inside the cover of every school diary since I was given it when I was 14, it has been confiscated many a time by teachers who thought it wrong for it to be my personal mantra and guide. I had copies, lots of them. It has been framed in every workplace I ever slaved in and on the wall of all my offices. Given the questions now raised by women who believe they were "mislead" by their mothers about "having it all"..I had to resurrect this piece; given that it was my personal life guide; to see if it really affect my ability to "have it all" or at least my concept of having it all.
Yes I worked in male dominated workplaces where the "old boy" school reigned, but you don't have to be one of them to beat them. I worked in totally male oreintated fields such as insurance and vehicle repair...Many a contractor entered my office enquiring "where's the boss, love" or a solicitor would ask for the manager ( THAT WOULD BE ME, IDIOT) I reveled in their embarrassment and quite enjoyed my discussions about repair techniques etc. As far as "trapping" a man, well boy meets girl, both agree its not really heavy..no joint bank accounts etc and four years later boy asks girl to marry him...laws of nature. I don't expect community care for my children I have the option to stay at home and care for them, but many do not.. and until ALL the businesses of this society get their arses into gear and realise the untapped potential in all women and create some adaptive workplace practices in regards to hours and subsidised childcare, they that do not; are only missing out on the rewards. Women have freedom of choice even if that means the choosing to follow a religious creed which directs you to remain answerable to your husband/partner/significant other as long as that choice is made without duress or pressure, it remains their choice. As is with abortion, religious zealots aside; it is a personal choice made by that person (and perhaps their partner) for their own personal reasons..no one should interfere. I cannot claim to ever understand what it would be like to tetter on the edge of such a decision and think they that do, deserve others respect for their wishes..it cannot be an easy decision.
I think the concept of "having it all" a personal one...is to "have it all" to have it all at the same time...fulltime work, children, family life...it's really hard. I don't think our mothers and the libbers of the '70's lied to us ..they gave us the means by which to make the decisions so that we could "have it all" but perhaps they did not mean all at once... do the career thing,have the family, do the kid raising thing, change careers to suit the family dynamics, whatever. But no one was ever meant to have it all at once. We owe a lot to the pioneers of women's rights....they suffered the slings and arrows to make it easier for us...the fact that some think it made it harder is a fallacy created by their own inabilities to see the creed as many shades of grey and not just back and white.

Dog People

Having been a "dog person" but now reformed I find this little piece quite funny....I used to compete in Obedience not Show, but it still holds some truisms to both Show and Obedience dog people.

Dog People Are A Special Breed...

Dog people are a special breed not usually recognised by the public. They...

Think everyone has crates in their living room

Have messy houses..even thought their kennels are spotless

Can always fins a show catalogue from somewhere within arm's reach

Have kids who know more about the "birds and the bees" when they are 5 than most people know when they are 40!!

Drive trucks, vans ,station wagons especially equipped to haul dog crates

Can never be reached on weekends, they are usually at a dog show

Will drive 400 miles, spend $100 on petrol, $200 on a motel and $150 on meals to bring home a 25cent ribbon

Have kids who regard "bitch" as just another household word

Have lush, green beautiful backyards...and have never bought a bag of fertilizer

Get up at 6 am to walk the dogs, can be ringside , dressed to kill at 8 am but have trouble getting to work on time

Will usually give up a $150,000 home in the suburbs to move to a shack on 10 acres, so they can have a $150,000 kennel

Never miss a closing date for entries-but pay the mortgage 10 days late

Would rather be audited by the Tax Office than investigated by the Canine Council

Use dog food bags for trash cans and 300 gallon trash cans for dog food

Talk for hours on the phone to another dog person in a language known only to dog people

Have parents who think they've lost their minds.

This is reflective of my life before children (BC), working, training, trailing,committee meetings, etc. Although we didn't do all of the above...Close to..I know many who did and still do. I think that people who have a extra interest outside of work and home life have something else to contribute to society and the world. If any of the beginners I help train 10 odd years ago, came away with a better understanding of their dogs or even went on to competition; I feel I accomplished something. If I learnt nothing more except persistence, I'd be surprised..I trained one of the most stubbornest dogs who had the most pleasant nature with people but could not stand Rottweillers or larger male dogs. He was attacked at the age of 6 months by a Rottweiller which is all we could put down his subjective aggression to.

He was the most wiley, street smart, ring wise, little SHIT you could imagine. Tolkien was an Australian Cattle Dog (Blue Heeler) he would be 17 now we lost him when he was 13. He was the biggest brute of a heeler you'd ever see...True working dog stature. He would work and work and work for me, training and training, till we were almost foot perfect..In the ring he knew I could not correct him...So he'd play up.

We must've been the biggest joke in the obedience world...But I didn't care nor did Tolly..He was happy and so was I, we were doing something.