Yadda Yadda Yadda

Well I'm off to stay in Geelong for 5 weeks. I'll be coming back on weekends, but will mostly be out in the western suburbs for a while. I start my teaching rounds tomorrow which is exciting! The problem is they are at a school in Hoppers Crossing! That's waaaaaay too far to travel each day! Not only do I not want to spend 3 hours a day traveling, I can't afford that much petrol. So thankfully i have somewhere to stay out there. One of my classmates, Nicky lives in Geelong and is doing the same placement as me, so she said I can stay with her. Yay! It's only half an hour from her place. Much better than an hour and a half from mine! So I won't really be online as much for the next 5 weeks I think. We'll see.

Oh, and check this out. A wonderful blog post by Grumpy Frump about how beauty tends to = talent in our society.

Check out this site:
Bash.org
Not one for the kiddies.
Hilarious stuff!

"Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

From Season 1, Episode 6 of The West Wing
Awesome conversation!


[Donna and Josh are discussing what should be done with the budget surplus]
Donna Moss: What's wrong with me getting my money back?
Josh Lyman: You won't spend it right.
Donna Moss: What do you mean?
Josh Lyman: Let's say your cut of the surplus is $700. I want to take your money, combine it with everybody else's money and use it to pay down the debt and further endow Social Security. What do you want to do with it?
Donna Moss: Buy a DVD player.
Josh Lyman: See?
Donna Moss: But my $700 is helping employ the people who manufacture and sell DVD players, not to mention the people who manufacture and sell DVDs. It's the natural evolution of a market economy.
Josh Lyman: The problem is the DVD player you buy might be made in Japan.
Donna Moss: I'll buy an American one.
Josh Lyman: We don't trust you.
Donna Moss: Why not?
Josh Lyman: We're Democrats.
Donna Moss: I want my money back.
Josh Lyman: You shouldn't have voted for us.

Yes, another youtube video! This one is so worth watching!

By the way, I get the irony of putting this on my blog...

This is the new Hollowmen clip about funding for the ABC. Hilarious!

CADBURY GOES TRAFFIK FREE

Let's celebrate the amazing news that by the end of summer 2009, Cadbury's Dairy Milk bars can be part of our diet again!

We congratulate Cadbury on their commitment to justice and now look to their policy being adopted across their entire product range.

Cadbury's decision demonstrates the power of ordinary consumers in bringing change and freedom. Two years ago, STOP THE TRAFFIK met with Cadbury and was told that a fairtrade Cadbury's bar was impossible and impracticable.

This is a victory for every person who has complained, campaigned and spread the message. But most of all, it is a victory for every child held in exploitative labour on West African cocoa farms. It is important to remember though that all exploited children will not be free until Mars, Nestle, Lindt, Hershey and all the others have put human rights before profit and make similar announcements. Click here to find out more about the trafficking of children to work on cocoa farms.

STOP THE TRAFFIK has been calling for individual companies to take responsibility for the chocolate they sell and asking for it to be traffik free. This is a very significant step in our campaign.

If you've been part of this, e-mail it to your local press and tell them of the campaigning you did.

Together we will STOP THE TRAFFIK

(This is an email I received today coz I'm on the email list for the STOP THE TRAFFIK campaign)

It's my birthday! I'm the birthday girl! Woot! I always love birthdays. So much fun!

Taste the pun! Taste it!

So as you can probably guess, I saw "Wicked". It was absolutely brilliant! Anyone who has seen it will agree, and anyone who hasn't, just has to see it! And I know that everyone goes on about how awesome it is, but they do it for a reason, it really is that awesome! The performances were amazing! These people can really sing and really act! The dancing is also very impressive. Great casting!



The storyline is so impressive too. It weaves in and out of the movie so well. Not only does it not contradict anything, but it compliments the original story of Oz perfectly and actually enhances it. I don't want to give anything away coz I am a big believer that not knowing anything makes the film/show/whatever better than having pre-conceived ideas about what it will be.



The set is also incredible! A lot of money must have been poured into this production.



Anyway, just get along and see it! I plan on going to see it again!



I may have sneakily taken a photo of the set before the show started... Naughty of me I know, but here is the set from our pretty good seats before the curtain went up.

I saw the movie 'Slumdog Millionaire' with some friends last night and just had to tell people about it. It's a truly brilliant film! I'm a big fan of going into movies not knowing anything at all, so I don't plan to give anything away here. Just to say that it is moving and intense and uplifting and tragic and so worth seeing! It's set in the slums of India and is a tale of the journey of 3 people as they grow up and move on. Powerful stuff. It it confronting at times, funny at times and shocking at times. Just go and see it.



Here are some reviews:

"Together Boyle and his co-director Loveleen Tandeen have created a portrait of a city in transition -- a place of relentless energy, of ambition and inspiration; of poverty and exploitation, of obscene riches and modest desires."

"Like all good fairy tales, this outsize celebration of perseverance and moral triumph contains within it a deeper idea -- in this case, the relative nature of what we think we know, and what's worth knowing at all."

"The beautifully rendered and energetic tale celebrates resilience, the power of knowledge and the vitality of the human experience. Horrifying, humorous and life-affirming, it is, above all, unforgettable."

Firstly I have some exciting news! I got my official acceptance letter for my course this week (I'm doing a graduate diploma of education). That's not the exciting bit though. I have a sort of scholarship thing and it's going to cost me $4k for my entire grad dip!!! WHOO!!!! That's instead of about $12k! What a relief that is!

Yesterday was Alison's birthday! And we had a fun day out! We started at a bar just having a drink and a chat, then went and had mexican for dinner, then back to the bar again, then off to a jazz club for a while. Lots of fun! Here are some photos:

Yes, I succumbed and am reading the Twilight series. It certainly is trashy, but enjoyable enough. I'm enjoying the trashy novels! Yes, I am hanging my head in shame... They are nothing super awesome, but worth a read. They are very quick reads, easy to get through fast.

It was that time of year again! Australia Day always marks the best day of radio for the year. Triple J's Hottest 100 song countdown! This year all 10 of the songs I voted for made the countdown! Whoo! These are the ones I voted for and where they came in on the countdown.

#100 - Dukes of Windsor - It's a War
#87 - Jack White & Alicia Keys - Another Way To Die
#45 - Muscles - Ice Cream {triple j live acoustic version}
#43 - Laura Marling - Ghosts
#36 - Death Cab For Cutie - I Will Possess Your Heart
#27 - Josh Pyke - The Lighthouse Song
#23 - The Living End - White Noise
#15 - Cut Copy - Lights and Music
#8 - The Presets - This Boy's In Love
#1 - Kings of Leon - Sex on Fire

I managed to get 1 & 100! There were lots of other awesome bands that made the countdown I didn't vote for like Birds of Tokyo, The Grates, Flight of the Conchords, The Killers, Cold War Kids, Faker, Lily Allen, Band of Horses and many many more! You can check out the list for yourself here. Just click on the link that says 'Launch HTML Countdown'.

A short film done by a guy I taught back in '04 when he was in year 11.

I got to meet an internet friend a couple of weeks ago. I love that. I think the internet should be a supplement for life, not a replacement for it. I've been chatting to this woman from Brisbane on Facebook called Rosemarie and she came down to Melbourne a couple of weeks ago so we caught up for a drink. She's been chatting to Lachy too, so the three of us all caught up. Lachy, Rosemarie & I met at a bar on Chapel St and had a ball together! Lots of fun!
Unfortunately she was here under bad circumstances. Her sister had died and she was here for the funeral.
You know how when you first meet people it can be awkward? You exchange the usual questions and find you run out of things to say coz you don't really know each other. This wasn't like that at all. It was fantastic! It felt so comfortable and conversation really flowed. It was like we'd all been friends for ages. I love that!
Here are some photos from our catch up:

Yet more photos a comin'! I had a great Christmas with the family and a great new years with the friends. Lots of fun! Some of these photos are from a Christmas party, some are from new years down the beach.