After the downer of Friday, Saturday perked up a bit after I treated myself to a new yarn magazine. All the patterns and www links are keeping me amused for quite a while. We are still sorting things out re our FlickrSA photo exhibition. We had taken ages to draw up wall plans etc of the venue so we could arrange the photos artistically; then we had been allocated half the space we thought we had; after getting 3 people together from all over town to do the final hanging scheme, we now have been asked to arrange the pix on 2 walls only, as a collage. Crikey! People are still disagreeing about things so trivial it makes me sick and its all just an amateur show- supposed to be for fun! People! I managed to get a winemaker to sponsor wine for the show and some people don't even seem pleased. I'll leave it to others from now on. Might not even go to the opening myself at this rate. I've got my glass show opening to go to anyway- they haven't required me to do anything except send in my glass!
My 2-day/week clerical job at the uni comes to an end this Friday, so no more income [again]. I still have quite a few $Ks in debt, so I'll have to find something quick smart! The editing work has dried up temporarily- I suppose the people who gave me the initial stuff are delivering their papers at conferences right now during the semester break. Hopefully they will do more writing during Semester 2 and I can edit that!
Yesterday we went for a drive to the end of the Murray River where it enters Lake Alexandrina before the sea. The ferry at Wellington was still sailing gaily back and forth in plenty of swiftly flowing water, although the depth posts said the river was 1 metre below normal. As we drove alongside the river where we could, there was certainly a lot of reed growth where there used to be water flowing, but the lakes are by far the biggest blot on the landscape now- so dry and mostly empty, even of decent enough depth for seabirds and waders. Personally, I think they should let the sea back in and only have barrages further up the river. The lakes used to be tidal and flushed by the sea, although there was a lot less arable land because of salt seepage under the earth. However, that's what the landscape was like for the original inhabitants, who used to have a largely seafood diet. Grazing cattle on the salty flats is not the natural way to go, and growing crops is marginal in most of the area, except for hardy grapes and lucerne. I think we have to allow nature to get on with things- we are mere interfering little ants in things like the estuarine landscape. We should adapt ourselves- we have intelligence, the river and weather do not!

Thrrrrppp.... the previous entries didn't work- have to learn some more html.
Got driven to work today- couldn't get into my [temporary] office- went to Security- they ignored me. Came home. Only have 2 days next week left, so not really significant. Got my Tax statement for the year- even more depressing than I cared to imagine- I earned $4k in a year- my lowest income since I was a child. Poop.
I need some more editing work- people don't want it at the moment. The uni keeps employing my classmates in public health but not me, who has far more experience... it sucks.
I'll go and Plurk now.

I just discovered from Leigh on Plurk that she has a list of the Top 100 Chick Bloggers. I am a bit desperate to find people's blogs to read, although the recent Fifty Something Group on LJ has perked up life considerably.I like to read the blogs about people's lives- I'm not so much into the art and lit crit ones or the political comment ones; I prefer a mixture centred around one human. I tend to find the ones about making a business out of blogging and being online pretty unappealing, although some friends do this style. Hopefully I will find a few kindred souls amongst the ever changing ranks of the Top 100 (and their mates).
I have surprisingly bounced back quite quickly from Black Dog Country, although I wouldn't say I feel wonderful. I sneakily manipulated some of my prescribed chemicals as it takes too long to get an OK from the doc- by then I'd be curled in a ball unable to get there on my own- Catch 22. At the weekend we were a bit slow to get started (and we haven't finished...) but we DID go on a nice little trip to the Murraylands on Sunday. I was keen to get some pix of the lovely "layers" the reeds and paddocks make under the rainy sky. There were beaut stands of reeds with plumy heads, dramatic clouds and rows of picturesque bare grape vines. I think these look like big furry caterpillars! We went on a walk for a few kms through the bush, reeds and protea plantations. There was a bit of drizzle now and then, but nothing to panic about. Naturally Spotrick and I lagged behind taking pix, while everyone else walked ahead. We had to keep jogging to catch up, which was good for us, definitely.Scattered on the path occasionally were pink gum blossoms, to accompany the pink proteas that were bracting away in long rows.

I just had to re-post this messsage from a friend of mine in NYC, who photographs street life- his life has been a tangle lately, with squatters occupying the old family house and his accommodation being flooded by broken pipes upstairs.. now this...
"my wife Genie had a typical kind of NY accident
the night before last, which often proves fatal. She rides
in the back of the subway train, as our stop's steps are
there, so the conductor in the middle would not be able to
see her... at 1:30 AM, she was coming home from work, as
she usually does - the life of a new york lawyer, and she
missed her footing and fell between the train and the
platform, getting wedged at her upper thigh. Quick thinking
passengers pulled the emergency cord, and two, worked her
out of the gap. I got one of those terrible calls from the
police, and beat them all to the hospital. Her leg is a bit
chewed up, but no broken bones. After being up all night in
the hospital, she refused to take a day off... went home,
changed Mum's bandages from her recent biopsy, and then
went to work, where she is sueing the City ( I expect she
might be again soon, for herself as the gap was too
wide...) But, what can you say, luck and pluck, eh? She was
so in shock at the scene, her blood pressure dropped so much
the EMT was nearly in shock... I'm still in shock.

All the best"

I think the family needs a good holiday in Tahiti!

Since feeling like I was sinking into the slough of despond during the week, I have been perked up by handing in my essay (well, Spotrick did actually), and attending a Social Web Media Bloggers etc Group Dinner Meetup- or whatever.

I am quite non-robotic this morning, and feel I've done my best to get through a demanding week. This week I'll be able to connect with all my new LJ friends in the Fifty something group, catch up with Flickr and do some work on our photo exhibition which has been left in the offing for too long. I also have to make some arrangements for my glass works to be ready and delivered to their venue for the SALA Festival exhibition in early August. I must do a few new works also- haven't been able to for ages because of a shoulder injury and lack of time. Here's a sample of what I do
Not many people seem to understand fused and slumped glass working- I must make a little explanatory brochure to distribute on the Net and in real life. *Errp! Another task for the list*.
Since seeing Flamehair at work on her knitting during the Meetup last night, I've decided that, perhaps, I should be a bit less shy about putting my stuff "out there" for people to see. Life is short, and stashes are huge!

i must insert this link to some street art sculpture which Marcia mentioned at the dinner- it's so creative with limited materials and very effective mounted over subway vents in NY:
http://www.woostercollective.com/2008/03/street_art_at_its_best_3_plastic_animals.html and


Someone in the Fifty Something Group was worried about malicious people looking at their blog and making life difficult for her. I'm pretty sure no one is interested enough to bother unless I get a job with the United Nations! Even then, who looks at Emmy Kwa's comments to me on Facebook Chat where he threatens to kill me because I am a white non-Muslim dwelling in a Christian country and I believe that grave injustices have been done to human beings in the Southern Sudan (he works for the UN in Sudan...)?? There are some mad people in the world and I can't do much to stop them. There are far nicer people who just like to live and blog. SO I'm not afraid to reveal a bit of myself on here- people who don't like it can stay away- simple!! :-) If people think I'm also "mad" because I suffer from depression, then, good riddance to them too- I don't need them and they OBVIOUSLY don't need me!
I'm finding blogging quite therapeutic- more so in LJ than in DepressionNet, where most of the other bloggers are also sufferers- it can get pretty black with some borderline types trying to outdo each other with gruesome accounts of their day.
Spotrick is here on the couch next to me drinking coffee- we "should" be out there doing the Saturday shopping, but a break from routine is as good as a holiday! LOL! We are enjoying our 70% dark choccy and listening to the Stranglers. Can't embed- you'll have to go there!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42AoR2HBrhs
There are 2 mogs on the couch, 1 in the dirty washing another in the yucca.

Hmm, it's that time of year when I have to fight to live in the world. I can feel myself gradually sinking, after rising from March until about 4 weeks ago... the old Black Dog is nipping at my heels. I don't like "standing by" and watching myself be swallowed up.. it must seem strange to people who've never suffered depression- but that's just what happens. I'm fighting using my robot strategy- just trying to stick to a set of routine things without deviating or making excuses. I have to talk to myself in my head all the time to keep on keeping on... "get up, put something warm on, go to the kitchen, get water, put on the kettle, clean up the cat poo from the leaky cat, put on all the exhaust fans, mop, make the tea, remember the whole teaspoon of sugar for Spotrick, remember to stir it, take it in, put up the blind so he won't be as likely to go to sleep again, feed the Germans their fish on the benchtop, let out the Germans, get the porridge makings out, remember it's one measure of porridge, one of SoGood, one of water, 2 minutes in the microwave, stir, two more minutes, stop it from beeping, hope Spotrick comes out to serve it up, let Pascal back in, sit down, eat a bit, let Moggsy or Marmy back in, stop Pascal from getting on the bench and eating the fish, serve up more fish, finish eating, collect mugs, put on more tea, get laptop, turn on broadband, turn on Flock, get mail on Thunderbird, check Flickr; few minutes indulgence; try to get SPotrick into shower, mix Vitamin C into cranberry juice, take happy pills,find usable clothes, wait for Spotrick in shower, get in myself, get dressed,try to heave Spotrick out of house, let all cats out, sit down with computer and try to work." Work work work, write some essay, more work, more essay, let some cats back in; carry on till the end of the day... How many months can I go on like this? Some years it is the whole 12 months, this year I had about 3 months respite- a huge amount; How long will I be wishing for this to be over and life seeming worthwhile again? at least I still live in hope.

I would definitely only look after the baby until I could hand it to the police and social workers. I wouldn't be tempted to keep it! It would look a little odd for a 56yr-old woman to suddenly acquire a baby, LOL! Of course, if the baby was available, having not been claimed or placed, I might consider being allowed to keep it, but that is extremely unlikely. However, if there was no other option for the child, I would find a place in my life if I had assessed I could cope. It would be a huge responsibility and a financial drain for a very long time- I'd have to be feeling pretty generous. Given all that, I'm sure I could love the child as well as any natural parent, no matter what race, appearance, talents or abilities. Verrry unlikely scenario, but!

We're getting away from the Sea and Vines Festival at McLaren Vale by going to the Barossa Valley wineries instead. The Sea and Vines has become a horrible mess of drunken busloads of youngsters out for a cheap boozy day on cheap wine. It used to be a time to catch up on all the new flavours and perhaps sample a few really yumptious drops, but not these days- we're getting old and stodgy! If we want a night on the piss we go to a friends, eat pizza and watch DVDs of Northern Exposure until we laugh at our own little finger!
Hopefully the Barossa will be full of bare vines- perhaps a few dawdling autumn leaves, plus big rolls of hay in small fields. The wine will be tasty and the winemakers ought to be extra friendly because we've chosen their area over the place with the Festival! Lunch has been organised- I don't know where, but will be welcome, no matter what. There could be the possibility I'll be posting a few photos up afterwards as well! Haha- more like about 150!
The day was pretty COLD for here- averaging about 9degC I'd say. The rain started about halfway through lunch at Restaurant 1918 in Tanunda. It drizzled down softly but steadily for the rest of the time. Lunch was berry nedicious- I didn't have an entree as I can never fit it in, but there was a potato gnocchi and veal shank number that would have gone down well if there's been a large spare stomach handy. My main was numptious- a rich local sirloin steak, accompanied by a rich slice of Barossa bacon (German butchers know all about it), a German black mushroom, a truffle tortellini and lump of truffle butter, caramelised sweet potato and a great brodo surrounding it all. Mmmm- I didn't leave much! My dessert was a Baileys Plate- icecream, parfait with crunchy praline, chocolate sauce, milk chocolate mousse and Persian fairy floss- mmmmmmm!! The dessert pictured is a pile of quince and tartlet with a clear toffee garnish and quince sauce drizzles.
After lunch we mooched about- the moneyed few bought a few souvenirs and we wandered through a famous local store that hand crafts elaborate German style furniture for rich people and board rooms. I found it rather crass and stomach-churning- but that's me.
Then we choofed off to a winery or two, but it was rather late, wet, cold and dark. At Turkey Flat we saw some beautiful vineyard scenery and tasted a few nice drops. I liked the traditional rose best and bought 3 bottles for very little.
We took the "back way" home through the hills behind Gawler and Adelaide, seeing some gorgeous vistas along the way. As John was driving we didn't stop much- not my car and he's not the photoggy type, besides it being bl**dy freezing and damp! I got some nice blur and a few decent shots before it got really dark.
I did not need more than cheese and bickies for dinner, LOL!

We did a mini rescue on Spotrick's parents today- his mum cracked her pelvis on Monday and has been in hospital. Now she's out on painkillers and with a little walking frame as she can't take weight on her leg. She's black and blue with various bruises but seems in pretty good spirits. We got them a few microwavable and easy-to-heat meals as the dad is 85 and too dotty to make much of a contribution to the household. He seems to have confused this time in hospital with another stay that Steve's mum had about 6 months ago when she broke her sternum in a car crash. I never know whether he is kidding or when his memory is up the creek! Anyway, I'm cooking up a few juicy casseroles to freeze for them as most bought stuff is too expensive, the serves are too big and they have all sorts of new fangled stuff in them that elderly English people can't stand! I'm not too good at looking after us at this time of the year- and with a stressful boss in my new job, so it's a wonder I'm still standing!
However, this afternoon we had a good photo trip to the beach, even though it was looking overcast and seemed cold at first. The councils along the coast have stockpiled the beach sand in great big heaps against the winter storms- I wonder if it will work?? Anyway, it made for some good photos!

I was very interested to see a documentary on the Paris slums on SBS this afternoon. http://video.sbs.com.au/player/news/index.php?mmid=11069&chid=13
I had seen the riots broadcast on TV several years ago, and had driven past these suburbs a few times in the past. They always looked disgusting and reports of fires in migrant housing in France looked like a recipe for a new French revolution. However, this doco from ye old George Negus was very edifying. There are SO MANY people in these ghastly old housing developments- it's a wonder there hasn't been a major uprising. France has experienced huge influxes of migrants from it's former African holdings, plus from the Pacific. In recent years large numbers of Muslim refugees and migrants have overwhelmed the French welfare system and no reforms seem to have been forthcoming in the way governments and "councils" distribute their budgets across the community. They seeem to have the same problem as South Australia- money for stadiums and sport rather than housing for the under-resourced.

I have had a very full week compared to my usual. AS I now have 3 bosses for 3 different things at the one place, a university course to do (which had a big assessment thing this week), commitments re a photo exhibition that a group of friends are doing at the end of July, another artsy commitment to show my glass in a local business with a gallery cum boardroom at the same time, keeping my depression in check will be a bit hairy. However, I feel that I'm coping OK- still sleeping fine- except for the same old moggies invading space and making noises- and there is the household to maintain, the bills to pay, Spotrick feeling a bit icky, plus the 4 cats! Not much relaxation-photography got done this week and I've noticed it's hard to get your pix noticed by the Explore humans at the moment. Just as well I don't depend on outside appreciation to keep photogging! Luckily a good friend who lives nearby was able to give me a lift home today as I've been spending a small fortune on parking this week.
The light northerly winds have been making me all itchy and wheezy- my room-mate at work was quite shocked by my red eyes and swollen face this morning. Spotrick and I are used to it- but it's not a pretty sight really! If I could have a bit of prednisolone for it would be great, but my current GP doesn't believe in it. Funny how treatment depends on who administers it rather than what the patient finds helpful. I can't take the new antihistamines because they make me quite peculiar (well... more than usual)- and I feel quite "high" and jumpy and out of breath on them. They obviously interact with something else I take, or my liver enzymes are fully occupied. I can take the old fashioned sleepy antihistamines at the weekend, but I don't want to sleep all the time! Spotrick just gets really sore sinuses and drowns himself in Panadeine. My sinuses haven't been bad on many days so far, but I'm nervous of them!
It looks like Spotrick is trying to go to bed now but 2 cats have got him pinned down! Perhaps I'll find a pic from when I was walking home yesterday and I managed to take a photo of the sunset.

I and 3 colleagues had to present a short seminar on a public health topic today as part of our Masters program.
This is a map of Aboriginal language groups- we were interested in the very central area near Ayer's Rock.

We had 3 weeks made of 1 hour sessions in class and a few other times we organised ourselves. We were trying to fit in an itinerant university worker (me), a madly mixed lecturer/cross-platform postgrad student [who already has 2 PhDs], an ex- quality control officer from a vaccines manufacturer and a Chinese student who only arrived from Beijing a few days before the course started.We chose to design an intervention for petrol/gasoline sniffing in a remote Australian indigenous community and I think we had a pretty good idea of how to do this and what to consider. We had a bit of trouble dividing the task into 4 neat parts so that each person could speak for 5 minutes, but we thought we had managed it.
However, despite meeting repeatedly (or trying to), submitting all our "slides" to each other and allowing editing so that it all hung together, we didn't manage to have any impression on our Chinese member. She's as bright as a button, but her spoken English is very hard to understand and we're never sure if she understands what we tell her. Well we found out DURING the presentation! She hadn't attended any of the get togethers in the last week when we refined and pruned the talk- but she happily emailed her contribution back and forth and we made suggestions and shortened her part from 10 slides to 5. I had several talks with her about why we didn't think certain parts needed emphasising and how to slant her bit so it fitted with the rest... but, ohs noes, when she came to present, she got to the second slide and discovered it was "her" 3rd slide (according to our editing!!). Well- what does she do?- she goes back off the computer in the classroom, gets her own memory stick and changes what she is presenting to her own old version- saying "no is wrong, is missing". And on she went, giving the talk she had decided on 3 weeks ago, with all ten slides and getting it all up the creek! Well- we just had to cope- but it created a swathe of extra things we had to say, and we went way over time, explaining where her facts and figures weren't quite what she claimed- oh bugga- what a mess! Anyway, we struggled to the end and everyone wanted to rush home because it was cold and dark- so , there it all was. Phewffff! I need a rest!

We are at the stage in our lives that I never thought we'd reach...debating whether we can afford to turn on the heating tonight or go without. We have had this chat a few times this cold season, but never seriously in past years. It really is terrible- I know I can't afford to pay for extra power for heating, and now Spotrick's income relative to other people's is not so good when he mainly supports me as well (plus 4 cats). It is not an energy conservation issue, it's an economic one. Personally, I find it a bit galling when we are both in our late 50s, have worked since we left uni (or before), and previously had a fairly middle-class life, but not luxurious. It seems odd, that in this land of plenty, we are experiencing such negative times- and we're not physically disabled, uneducated, unintelligent, criminal or social outcasts. Sure, we have a sizable mortgage- but our house is a tiny 2 bedrooms with minimal yard- more townhouse style. We have no investments left- cashed them in except Spotrick's superannuation, which will have to suppport us when he retires. I've never had a decent job with benefits for long enough to accumulate anything- casual staff and temps were not allowed into work superannuation funds and the company I invested in de-mutualised when I had little income to spare. I don't even have the "excuse" that I have been out of the wrkforce having kids and being a homemaker- I just haven't got anywhere- or at least not where I thought I might head when I left school and studied medicine. I don't really like life the way it is, but I've managed to overcome my depression and I'm working hard 2 days plus per week and attending uni. Spotrick has always had a steady job and was fairly near the top of wage earners' incomes until the last 10 years, when he has been completely overtaken by private industry "executive" jobs, high-powered salespersons and top public servants. He does a responsible and quite important job, but really gets paid shit compared with private industry.
I really do wonder what we can do to help ourselves- we feel like the new poor- we wonder how 30-something year olds with 3 kids cope? I mean how do they? They have to pay the same for electricity- do they go cold as well? It's a rare occasion that I would turn on heating or cooling when I'm home alone and now we are thinking very carefully when there's two of us.

What's to be done? My feet are freezing, my hands are getting very cold typing and 10 minutes exercising didn't last long in warmth! Perhaps I should try for more jobs?? I already work for 3 bosses plus try to sell my artwork- is that still not enough?

Perhaps I should just accept things. It still stinks.

OF COURSE, dang it ^&****!! my hard disk died when I hadn't backed up my home stuff for months- grrrr. Luckily, I always back up my "jobs"- all except the documents I was sending to one of my current bosses when the HD carked it. And ..phew... she had received the stuff OK and could send me back a copy so I could keep working on it, LOL! I was so relieved because it was a horrible editing job involving formatting in a particular journal style. The job was to convert from one journal style to another without the benefit of EndNote, change from passive to active voice and re-jig the formatting. All my other work stuff is already on a work computer and my Flash drive, as usual.

It's awful having to revivify all your old links and re-install favourite programs, let alone get all the options pesonalised again. Yuck- plus there are all the updates and patches for bl**dy MS Vista that take umpty gigabytes- grrrr. I could not even get anyone to find a single bit of data on the old HD- Ghost was useless. Maybe a nice human at Dell could sort it out for me under warranty- I DON'T THINK SO!! [as they said in the song].

All my photos, except a few from very recently have gone. I only have the ones on Flickr now, plus a few that got stashed in my camera memory. Amazingly a photo session from about 2 weeks ago, plus all my by session from the olive grove in the parklands was still there. I'm so pissed about my Mount Lofty Botanic Gardens shot- so many were so lovely [well, IMHO] and they're lost till autumn next year when I can re-see the scenery.

I need to rave on here about all the "passive voice" writing I come across in my meanderings into editing and reading academic journals. I used to write passive voice with the best of them when this was demanded by the rulemakers of the universe. The The Lancet got all chatty and wanted active voice and quite a journalistic style- it was a bit of a shock! Now I find that passive voice pops up all over and feels really "distancing" to me to read. I just helped out a blog-friend with a newsletter and someone had written some really passive stuff about communication. I felt that it was a real barrier to communication, right there in this newsletter encouraging really getting down to the nitty gritty! Ironic- anyway- all I could do was comment and maybe someone will change things another time. Maybe not- it's their business!
Meanwhile another blogfriend has asked about whether I notice people blogging about blogging! Yep- that's what I do when I can't think of anything else! Here I am- at it again, LOL!
I DO like the blogs about everyday crises and resolutions, but the insy winsy ones about people chatting to others I've never met get up my goat!
Now I must warm my wheatbag animile and go to bed- cold tootsies rule, OK!?
Oops uploaded wrong pic and sideways- bugga- fix 2morow.

Just took a look at Samela Harris' blog on South Australian pelicans - a noble and beautiful cause.
It reminded me of my occasional strange "pre occupation" with certain birds and their names! [Yep I know I'm a fruitcake at times]. For instance, that song whose title I've pinched- anyone recognise it in disguise? I'll leave you to wrack your brains- it'll do you good!

Doves are OK birds- they look and sound friendly, but make a mess- but hey! -they're just doing bird stuff- it fits their society, not ours- and they came first, LOL! I could never really tell a dove from a pigeon, except with those crested things, the coloured fruit doves in Queensland and the fancy white ones that I was always rescuing from far flung places and taking to the bird rescue centre in Felixstowe or somewhere or other I never go otherwise. I must look up a bit of ornithological data, seeing I'm a data freak... Might post some links if I feel energetic.

Ptarmigans started to interest me when I heard THAT song- so I discovered they were sweet little spotty birds who mainly lived in the UK.

[Hat tip to Laurielabar on Flickr]
I spent a bit of time trying to spot them when we holidayed there, and kept pouncing on displays of them in zoos for a while. Their name is kinda neat, too- rolls off the tongue in a warm, cheerful way. I also had a thing for plovers after I saw some walking very cutely in the Healesville Wildlife Park near Melbourne & the Yarra Valley.

[Hat tip to Fotomaker123 on Flickr.]
They looked like super confident little guys, their shape, colours and walk all said "I'm a bloody good bird and I'm a survivor"! They encouraged me t feel less depressed! SO I went on a bit of a plover jag- looking them up, reading about them, trying to spot them near water, on beaches etc. Their name is neat and sort of sounds like a dove noise, don't you think- sort of like a soft verbal hug! LOL!

Back to pelicans- I'm not a great bird watcher- tried it a bit, especially on the Daintree River, but really, I just like photographing them if I can get close enough. A superlong lens is more my idea of a picnic than one of those tedious "bird hides". There used to be lots of pelicans in the place I grew up, Port Macquarie in NSW. In fact they named part of the town after them- Pelican Point. There's a huge marina-style resort there now, plus the usual shopping excrescences. It used to be a sandspit in the Hastings River, just opposite the trawler wharf and about 1km inland from the river mouth. Pelicans had obviously been in the area for thousands of years- correct me if you're an Aboriginal Australian with family in the area who know better. Anyway- those pelicans- I was always trying to get good photos of them. On one occasion, armed with a new 500mm catadioptric lens and one of my old SLRs (the one the guy in Amsterdam mugged me for, and the American Eagle Insurance Company wouldn't pay out on...another tale of woe)I took some real beauties with the pelicans sailing serenely on the water and taking off in great flappy messes. The prints cam out with marvellous blue water, fantastic yellow beaks and the most fascinating circular lens flare/bokeh/interference- little circles of light sparking like donut diamonds! I must have some copies of these pix SOMEWHERE in the pile of boxes that comprise the "spare"/craft room- off to search for them tonight!!
If you can't figure out my musical allusions, try...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znMnR7ArX4I

Got an entry in this gizmo for travellers/tourists.

What is the "boomxing"? Is it terribly loud? Does it look good? How dangerous is it?? Should we buy tickets?

Hmm. Well today I did some work on my Nigeria essay and went to the dentist for a checkup. The Nigeria essay is not progressing well- I can't get a creative boost about it- I keep going over mundane, routine points with it and can't get into the stuff that makes my approach unique. I'm applying various points from the lectures to the problem, but I'm not sticking to just one approach like I should be according to the guidelines. I'm finding it hard to conceptualise what goes on in Nigeria without having an account of it from people who live there. My contacts there have not been wildly forthcoming lately- perhaps they have got into trouble for telling me stuff? I'd hardly think that what we've talked about online has been all that vital, except for some stuff connected with the recently sacked Health Minister who is the cousin of my friend's mother. The international media haven't said much, considering the magnitude of the fraud that's been occurring. Not a lot of kerfuffle about the rising maternal and infant death rate there, either. I would have thought that problems if that size in a country so rich, might have aroused major concern... I guess because it's Africa and the people's skins are black then it doesn't count that a country of 140 million people are being killed off my their corrupt leaders while the country rolls in oil revenue. I've subscribed to "Nigeria Health Watch" , which is interesting; some of the blogs from Nigeria I have got onto via Twitter and Facebook are illuminating. But having no fast personal interaction with anybody right in the scene makes it hard for me to be certain about anything I deduce and say.

I guess its just an essay I'm doing, but I deliberately went after an interesting topic to keep me involved in the uni work- so I wouldn't find it come sort of pointless academic exercise. In fact, it's become quite personally fascinating for me and I feel that I actually care about the health of poor Nigerians- is that TOO involved? Anyway, I can only write what I write and try to get a good mark- I can't change the world.
Still- it's terribly enthralling to me!