Every man, woman and alien

Walking home tonight, irritable didn't even begin to describe how I felt. Irritable and juvenile was probably closer.

That woman in front of me smoking - aargggh.
Finish it quick or give up, lady. Just stop blowing it in my face!

And those men oggling the twig-in-clothes...
It's not even a real woman, you know. It's an alien that doesn't eat or laugh - ever!

Oh and hey, if you're going to change into running gear, then bloody well run! Don't dawdle in front of me!!

(Inhale. Exhale. Pull your head in.)





And then, I wasn't angry anymore. I was sad. Unquenchably sad.

I wanted a hug. I wanted the biggest, deepest, most full-of-love hug that there ever was.

Of course, I wasn't about to get one. I'd just silently offended every man, woman and alien within sight.

(Get your running gear on, girly and take yourself and your mood to the gym. G'on, get.)

A scrubbing good time

I took today off work to get a few chores done and now, in the mid-afternoon, I think I am justified feeling a degree of accomplishment.



So far I have consolidated my superannuation funds, washed the kitchen louvres and curtains, scrubbed the kitchen and bathroom - floors an' all, swept the balcony, put through three loads of washing and tidied away the camping gear from two weeks ago.

I'm not usually so thorough with my chores- particularly cleaning. I take a far more organic approach to things. For instance, I might be walking past the coffee table and notice a fingerprint in the dust and so begins a short spurt of dusting in the immediate area. It doesn't last long and rarely leads to other things. When you add all of these random episodes, the job gets done after a fashion.

Not so today. I got started early and if I started to daydream about shooting off to the shops (really, I could do with a set of curtains in the study) or going for a bike ride, I quite happily reigned myself in and got stuck into the next job.

I even wore a pinny while I cleaned! I really celebrated the whole thing and felt so good, in that domestic goddess kind of way.

It's a good time to be doing all of this, too. We're less than four days from a new moon, which is always a good time to clean out the old and get ready for the new. This particular new moon is also a solar eclipse and even more likely to bring new, good things. It will be in Cancer, a sign that loves the home. My pinny-clad clean-fest couldn't have been better timed, really.

Tonight I'll cap it all off when I smudge the flat to cleanse the energies, light some candles and set my new moon intentions. Ho, the fun I have!

Looking back looking forward

It's the end of an era. Chiron is leaving Aquarius for Pisces.


What era? February and March 2005 is a clue.

I came across this poem tonight, as I was getting started on some goal setting for fitness, finance and all the rest. I wrote it on 5 March 2005. It's bad, nostalgic and untitled.

This night I saw a shooting star.

It introduced me to a petal's kiss,

the scent of velvet, oh

the kiss of a breeze

The blessings of the stars,

this night.

I remember sitting on the front step of my tiny little flat on Mountford Road. I had a glass of Belgian beer beside me and was listening to Joni Mitchell or Nina Simone. Or maybe it was Hedys Lament. I was trying to capture the stream of consciousness that sprung from the sight of the shooting star.

In the same book that I found the poem, I found a list titled 'Achievements to February 2005'. Two of the entries had been crossed out - achieved. Most hadn't.

Some still apply today, like re-building my savings.

Some don't. I wanted to maintin a GPA of 6 (hehe, that didn't happen) and now I'm a few days away from attending my graduation.

Some are ridiculous. I wanted to 'talk less about self'. As if.

Some took time, experience and the resulting maturity to achieve. I wanted to 'be active in my convictions and beliefs' and 'remember that expectations are not universal'. They are lifetime achievements, though.

Looking ahead to this new era, I have a mud map of goals to guide me. It needs details and more visualising. I think I'll go and watch for shooting stars first.

Persona non grata

Check out Persona non grata from Skye Doherty Media.

Investigative journalist Robert Mukombozi has covered wars, corruption and killings in Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

He has been arrested, kidnapped and shot at. In April 2008 he was deemed persona non grata and given five minutes to leave Rwandan soil. He has not seen his family since.

In this interactive video timeline Robert explains the challenges of reporting in a post-conflict state and how his refusal to compromise journalist principles led him to be expelled from his country.

Posted using ShareThis

The cold light of day

I've been cringing ever so slightly about my previous post.

This morning I was reading up on the astro of the moment and Yasmin Boland put some context around what may have influenced me to pull out my soapbox.

Mercury meets Jupiter today – they do this about once a year. It’s a wonderful link if you need the confidence to say something – timidity will go out the window, if you decide you’re going to speak up for yourself. However, be aware that this link can bring out the standing-on-a-soapbox preacher in all of us. If you think you’re saying too much, you probably are! So I will stop now!

So I was a day or so early with my rant. I mean really, who's checking...?

A soapbox moment

The ignorance and lack of thought that I see on facebook leaves me really concerned about our collective social intelligence.

In the space of a week, I saw two group names that were like proverbial 'last straws'-leading to this post (the language may offend, so you might choose to skip the quotes):

- Everytime I see you a voice in my head goes SSLLUUUUTTTT
- Bitches need to get slapped as hard as they act

Do people not consider the implications, interpretations and context that these groups carry? As a society, do we really accept, applaude even, such passive aggressive attitudes?

There are also a good number of groups that begin with 'I hate..'. That's very strong language and it seems to have lost it's meaning and impact today.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a high-collared killjoy trying to pontificate on the lack of values in today's society. I enjoy using facebook and some of the groups are intelligent and funny. For instance:

- And WHY can't my life be a musical?
- Admit it....farting is STILL funny
- An arbitrary group of people demanding some action be taken

It's just that, when I see some of the groups that people join, I feel mild alarm at the ignorance it suggests could be rampant in society. Humour does not excuse ignorance, bias or nastiness, and it definitely doesn't make it okay.

What's new pussycat?

I went to see Tom Jones last night, in the rain. I sent a message to my folks and their reply made me laugh so much that I want to share it. I've left all the typos in, just for authenticity's sake.

Me: It the tom jones gig. It's very wet :) will try and call when he's one so you can hear-unless you don't want me to, me course. Love you xx

Mum: Thats not unusual. Stay dry. It should be worth it.

Mum: Chris says no worries delilah. Think of the green green grass of home. This time of the year whats new pussycat.

Me: LOVE IT! love you guys so much xxx


Needless to say, he was fantastic. He looked a little too orange, but he's still got that gorgeous voice.