I think Chloe might be heir to the Pink Nails legacy

I love the last page of a magazine. Is there a special publishing term for that page? Does anyone know?

Remember when Modern Guru was on the last page in the Good Weekend? It was funnier back then too.

Vanity Fair has the Proust Questionnaire which is always a little pocket of goodness that I forget about every time. VF recently published a collection of them. And Graydon Carter wrote about the Proustian Bargain.

There is also an interactive Proust Questionnaire which I would start and invite you all to answer (we can compare responses) but I can’t get past the first question. Would someone else please get the ball rolling?

Another great last page is the Monthly magazine’s Encounters series written by Shane Maloney. Stories of interactions between two people you may or may not ordinarily think of in the same sentence. This month’s Encounter is between Richard Casey (Australian politician and diplomat) and Mahatma Gandhi.

I think my favourite Encounter was in the third edition of The Monthly in 2006 – between Errol Flynn and Fidel Castro. It could be Maloney’s crime fiction roots that were so suited to that story, but I still remember the humid Cuban setting even though I read it three years ago.

What magzines have you got at your place? What’s on the last page?

I mentioned a couple of months ago how much I was enjoying revisiting Aimee Mann’s music on the Magnolia soundtrack.

Since then, that album and two other albums have dominated my listening because they are soooooo good! (possibly also because they’re at a pitch that doesn’t bother my funny left ear but I’m not musically literate enough to explain these things)

Interestingly, all three albums were on high rotation when I first got them but had been put aside for new music a while ago. Why is there something extra good about rediscovering an album you love. Best thing ever.

Martha Wainwright – self titled

Regina Spektor – Begin to Hope

I found the most amazing job vacancy yesterday. Can I tell you how great a job can be?

1. It requires one particular skill that I’m really good at
2. Not many people like doing this job but I really like it
3. It is with an organisation I know VERY well and in an area I know well
4. It’s in a completely new and completely amazing location
5. In terms of skills and relevant experience there must only be another handful of people in the world who are as well suited to this job as me. I’m sure there are thousands of people who could do the job well but I think I could do it better!

So wish me luck for the application process. I’ll let you know how it goes.

A few weeks ago, MJ and I went for a walk in the bush and bumped into a few kangaroos. It’s common to see one or two, but this mob was pretty cool. I didn’t want to get too close because they’re pretty bloody strong so I had to zoom.

Making up for NaBloPoMo failure by posting twice in one day – a Saturday no less, and in the middle of a moment of socialising.

That reminds me of an ad that I saw on TV the other day. A guy is walking along with two girls and he’s pushing a poker machine everywhere with him. They get to a bar and the others go ahead but he can’t fit his poker machine in the door so he’s stuck outside. Then the tagline: “Is gambling interfering in your social life? Call the gambler’s anonymous hotline”.

“Is NaBloPoMo interfering in your social life?”

Anyway, Lara, Greg and I just went to the shops to buy ingredients for dinner and this sign made me giggle.

If I wasn’t worried about getting caught taking photos I might not have taken such a blurry photo. If you could read it properly you would notice that it’s a special: $9.99 – save 0 cents. But hurry, offer ends 09/11.

Lara and I laughed about the great deal but Greg called us on it, “Hey guys, don’t laugh, it all adds up”.

OK, time to get back to human interaction. Cooking Soto Ayam . yum.

Dropped the NaBloPoMo ball yesterday. I thought I’d make some time in the evening to post but instead went to see a film which was so nice I just forgot about blogs for a while.

The movie was great by the way. I’m trying to share my favourite song from the soundtrack but running into difficulty on someone else’s computer early on Saturday morning.

Try this: I’m Comin’ Home, Baby – Mel Torme

Oh dear, it’s late again, and technically not Thursday yet – but I’ll schedule this to autopost. Is that allowed in NaBloPoMo?

Since we last met I got on the train to Melbourne and am now getting ready for long-awaited sleep in Jess’s toy room/ad hoc spare bedroom.

Best discovery ever happened today (what good fortune for this blog): First class on the train! The Shepparton-Melbourne train is pretty reliably unpleasant. It’s slow and you always get stuck next to someone who is, objectively speaking, awful. Today I wanted to get some work done (which I did – go me) so I decided to pay the extra for First class. It was sooooo worth it. Arm rests, drink tables, giant windows that aren’t so dirty that you’re grossed out when you look through them. I actually enjoyed the journey.

I’ve come to Melbourne with a purpose. Tomorrow I’m babysitting Jess’s kids while she and Mark go to Oaks Day. Have I ever told you about how much I don’t like the Spring Racing Carnival in Melbourne? Too much orange fake tan. But helping Jess decide what to wear is actually kind of fun – especially because I don’t have to do any of the dressing up myself.

I took down some notes as Jess told me what I needed to know for the day, but I’ve only got things like:

• Midday – sleep
• 5-5.15pm – dinner
• 7-7.30pm – bed

What else am I supposed to do all day? I suspect Jess would fill in the blanks with something like:

• 9am to 7.30pm  – Try to stop Liam from terrorizing his brothers

Day taken care of! OK, thinking about this makes me realise I need to be asleep ASAP.

It’s sleepytown here as I wait for MJ to finish the Waranga News for another fortnight. Key members of the usual posse are away so I’ve been roped in to stay the course. I did the layout on a tricky page and it came out looking A.MAZE.ING. I think I’m gifted. I also wrote a schmaltzy letter to the editor to fill up some space. It’s been all hands on deck. But now it’s after 2am and we’re both bored and sleepy. 

Oh boy! I’ve just been called back into action. My task: check the page numbers. It’s a cut throat bizniz, journalism. Toughen up or toddle off to bed…Only the strong survive. 

This picture has been on the fridge since I cut it out of the paper a few weeks ago and still makes me giggle every time I look at it.

The accompanying article was about a stupidly expensive pen that had been released to commemorate Gandhi. Some people pointed out that a pen worth more than an average person’s annual salary probably isn’t the best way to honour the Mahatma. I’ll admit that it was on the fridge for about week before I read the article.

*Photo from Reuters

I just spent the week in Darwin.

In Darwin there is a pub that proudly hosts Tits Out Tuesday. Our flight arrived JUST IN TIME!

As tempting as TOT was, we chose to go to the beach instead.

So Amanda has been living in Darwin for the past six months and through some bizarre miracle, Lara, Clare and I were all ready and willing to visit at the same time.

Clare made the journey from Alice Springs to Darwin by road. If you’re not Australian you might want to look at a map so you can add the appropriate “phwoar, what a massive, hot, desert-y road trip” noises. Lara and I jumped on a plane and arrived a few hours and a very confusing time difference later.

But we did arrive with just enough time to get the beach for sunset. Lara and I brought almond croissants from Melbourne and Amanda had the Darwin mangoes ready to go.

More lovely Darwin moments to share later.

This is Dross*

Rowan and I have double dared each other to complete NaBloPoMo. For those of you who don’t know (spending time under your rock I suppose), it stands for National Blog Posting Month.

Lame jokes about hiding under rocks aside…NaBloPoMo is a spin off of the very cool NaNoWriMo, which stands for National Novel Writing Month. Every November heaps of people commit to writing and completing a novel over 30 days. It’s nuts! I will do it sometime in the future when I have a November free and feel like spending all of my time and effort writing something that will be objectively awful. But I still think it would be fun.

Anyway, this is just an intro to a month of blog silliness. I warn you now, I’ll be scraping the bottom of the barrel early on this month, so be prepared for some dross. Actually, a month of silliness and dross sounds great!

Wait! Brainwave! The NaBloPoMo website says, “The theme for November is there is no theme for November”. Which could mean any number of things, but what I take it to mean is that I get to assign my own ill-defined theme. I choose dross.

Instead of hassling my friends to join the fun, consider this post a personal invitation. C’mon!

Photo credit: stolen from www.pyramydair.com/blog, a blog about air riffles. Original caption: This is Dross. Found by searching “dross” in google images.

Beck moved house a few weeks ago and the first day I was there I saw the strangest thing.

Bees. Lots of bees.

I heard them before I saw them. At about 12 pm they arrived and filled the back yard. At about 12.15pm they disappeared. There were many more than are visible in the photo.

The next day, at about 12pm. Same thing. 12.15pm – gone.

Nicer things to look at in the back yard include this lavender plant.

I haven’t seen any more bees since those first two days.

I went to Ikea with Jess and Beck the other day. I didn’t need any furniture but I did need odd food from the Swedish grocer. I bought some biscuits and caviar in a tube, but my favourite purchase for the day was:

Swedish Rye Bread in a carton.

Following the instructions I:

• just added water
• shook (I feel like the word should be ’shaked’ in this context)
• poured

…and voila!

It was a bit stinky when it first came out of the oven, but was pretty tasty. Over the next day or so it got even tastier until it was positively delicious!

Another seasonal post. This time a contribution from our foreign correspondent, Simone.

Three things to show you . . .
red leaves
purple shoes
blue scarf

It’s finally spring. I came home on the tail-end of winter and it was still waaaaaay too long.

By popular demand, the delightful Piano Stairs.

Found by Simone in Pentwater, Michigan:

Who can resist a peace stick?

I’ve been dipping into TED a bit lately so I thought I’d share the two TED talks I watched this morning as a substitute for a real blog post. If you’re not familiar with TED, the talks might seem long, but they’re worth it.

Barry Schwartz on the paradox of choice

Elizabeth Gilbert on a different way to think about creative genius

It’s only now as I post them that I realise a common theme between the talks. Both  discuss the increased burden of personal responsibility. Elizabeth Gilbert talks about the responsibility for your creative successes and failures and the often crippling effect it has on creative people. Barry Schwartz talks about the burden of choice in modern life.

It seems interesting that young people (and old) are often accused of not taking responsibilty for their actions. I wonder if trying to find excuses for your actions (I have a disorder of some kind; I had a difficult childhood) is a reaction to the constant daily burden of being held responsible for every tiny (and grand) success and failure in life.

I love the Official White House Photostream – I have it on RSS feed. Lots of wholesome shots that make me wonder if employing attractive people official White House HR policy.

Remind you of an episode of The West Wing?

Reggie Love, President Barack Obama's personal aide, drives to the basket during a game with members of Congress and Cabinet secretaries on the White House basketball court, Oct. 8, 2009. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

President Barack Obama, along with members of Congress and Cabinet secretaries, jockeys for a rebound during a basketball game on the White House court, Oct. 8, 2009. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Have a look at the photostream for photos of Bo the puppy’s birthday (!), and President Obama and Malia reading from the Declaration of Independence (aww). I know people are getting a bit tired of unchecked Obama-love. But come on, they have a Flickr photostream, don’t they deserve unchecked love? Sometimes I even wonder if I love the real West Wing more than the show…But only sometimes – it’s a really good show.

Today is Blog Action Day, a day when every single blogger in the universe and throughout history writes about the same topic on the same day. This year’s topic was decided upon based on suggestions from everyone in the whole world, and Climate Change was overwhelmingly the topic of choice. I’m pretty sure I know why…BECAUSE WE’RE ALL GOING TO DIE. Ummm, hello Mr Elephant in the Room.

In the spirit of Blog Action Day,

The Top 10 Reasons Why Climate Change Scares the Hell Out of Me.

1. We’re all going to burn to death. That’s horrible.
2. Pacific Island nations won’t exist anymore, which is obviously not good for the people whose countries stop existing (it seems somehow rather humiliating while also being a complete pain of tragic proportions).
3. It’s also not good to lose all of those amazing holiday destinations. I ask you: do you work to live, or live to relax in a hammock and drink sweet alcoholic drinks with umbrellas in them while reading Eat, Pray, Love?
4. The polar bear dies because he can’t find a piece of ice to rest on. The polar bears. What.About.The.Polar.Bears?!
5. People like me exist. Oh soooooo engaged. Oh sooooo committed to the iss-ewes. But I still fly ALL OVER THE WHOLE DAMNED WORLD WHENEVER I FEEL LIKE IT. Sometimes I fly to the corner shop to get milk when I can’t be bothered walking. I disgust me. I feel hopeless just thinking about me. Usually I feel overwhelmed by my incapacity as one teeny tiny person to affect change. This time I’m horrified that one teeny tiny person has the power to FRY US ALL LIKE BACON IN HELL.
6. The idea of warmer weather sounds actually pretty awesome. OH  MY GOD! PEOPLE LIKE ME – STUPID AS HELL – EXIST. There is no hope.
7. I don’t want to see the end of the world, however it comes. What if that 2012 thing is true and we’re going to die before my 30th birthday? Or even worse, at my 30th birthday party. I know that no one is saying that climate change will kill us all by 2012, but it sure does make me think about the end of the world more than I used to.
8. I do not want to live through a Margaret Atwood novel.
9. There are some little gum trees out the back that are struggling in the drought. If it gets any hotter they don’t stand a chance.
10. I have some friends who don’t do well in the heat. I worry for them.

Eleanor just shared the most wonderful article by Jonathan Safran Foer from the New York Times, Against Meat.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/11/magazine/11foer-t.html?pagewanted=1&ref=magazine

The main theme of the article is vegetarianism, but it also made me think about:

• Living according to your values
• Marriage
• Raising children (I wondered if my generation could selflessly raise children and then I wondered if anyone has ever selflessly raised a child, or is a child always an expression/project of yourself)
• Sacrifice for religion

Here’s the final section of the article. A conversation between him and his grandmother.

“The worst it got was near the end. A lot of people died right at the end, and I didn’t know if I could make it another day. A farmer, a Russian, God bless him, he saw my condition, and he went into his house and came out with a piece of meat for me.”

“He saved your life.”

“I didn’t eat it.”

“You didn’t eat it?”

“It was pork. I wouldn’t eat pork.”

“Why?”

“What do you mean why?”

“What, because it wasn’t kosher?”

“Of course.”

“But not even to save your life?”

“If nothing matters, there’s nothing to save.”

“Is life so wretched? Isn’t it rather your hands which are too small, your vision which is muddied? You are the one who must grow up.”

– Dag Hammarskjöld

Quote seen at The Happiness Project

Speaking of Happiness Projects, I’m listening to an album of the same name by Charles Spearin of Broken Social Scene and Do Make Say Think. He invited his neighbours into his house to record their thoughts on happiness, then turned their words into music. Lovely.

Housesitting for Lara a couple of weeks ago, I saw this view from her balcony.

Around the same time, Beck moved house so we dug up some of her plants.

Last week I was in Rushworth with lots of little girls. One night the whole sky turned pink. We ran out as fast as we could, but it disappeared so fast.

I met Meg bright and early this morning to go take a look at the Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) Refugee Camp at Treasury Gardens. It was excellent! Anyone with a free half hour before 5pm this Sunday should head down and take a look. They’ve set up shelter, toilets, a food supply tent, water storage, medical clinics – it was such an effective way to convey the impressive and logistically nightmarish work that MSF does. Even though Meg and I like to think we’re total pros in the world of international aid (ha!) we were asking a million questions a minute to the women who got trapped taking us on a tour. You and your kids and your grandma and your dog will find it interesting.

My camera was battery-flat this morning so I didn’t get any photos and the MSF website’s photos of the exhibit don’t do it justice, so you’ll just have to head down there yourself.

A bit later I met Ro and Greg for lunch. On the way to Big Mama for the world’s best agedashi tofu we stopped in at the RMIT Gallery to peak at Shelter: On Kindness. You may recall my dream of one day having my very own teahouse. This exhibition filled my teahouse-longing soul with glee! The various kinds of shelter have been constructed inside the gallery – one of them is even cut out of the wall. You can climb into some (and possibly others if no one is looking). Again, no camera, not many photos to steal from the website (just the one below) – go see it for yourself.

Both events are free and no one asks you for money (not even at the MSF Refugee Camp but you’ll probably want to give them loads of it once you’ve seen what they do).

Last week was odd. Almost every member of the family was sick at one point, like sick enough to stay in bed for a day, someone went to the hospital and another one called an ambulance. Gee, more drama than one week needs.

My fancy new phone was stolen too.

There was a tsunami in Samoa, flooding in the Philippines, an earthquake in Indonesia. My amazing Aceh housemate’s house was destroyed by the earthquake, she and her husband are OK. A facebook update from a common friend confirmed she was OK, a follow up email from her gave me a bit more detail, and then I learnt that she’d lost her house via a newspaper article in Melbourne (her story starts in the 4th last paragraph). The newspaper also confirmed that she is pregnant. I hope she doesn’t mind that the newspaper told me before she got the chance. She’d alluded to it in her email but wanted to tell me ‘in person’ via a skype call.

Happy news about pregnancy aside, it got to a point where I lost count of how many sets of “bad things happen in threes” I was up to.

I just followed a link to an article on Twitter which coincidentally and very surprisingly mentions another friend in the midst of earthquake recovery. We chatted on skype on Friday as he waited in a UK airport to be flown out to Padang. Now I know he’s arrived and at work.

Last week was also a really fun week. Em came to stay in Rushworth while she was on school holidays, so we did some gardening, baked banana bread and played Connect 4. Then Siobhan, Abby and Chloe joined us and we stayed indoors doing nice indoor things while it seemed to rain for a few days. Most of us slept Saturday away as we waded through a nasty virus. I slept through my 10 year school reunion. I don’t recall ever having a week that was so quiet and so eventful at the same time.

Even though I’m thinking about an internet sabbatical, I still think the internet is the best thing ever. It has things like the Beckoning of Lovely. You can watch this video below, but I recommend going to the original site. It’s nice to look at.

The girl who organised this has a blog at whoisamy.wordpress.com.  Perhaps we could start a coalition of “girls with a question before our name” blogs.

Earlier this week I contemplated an internet sabbatical. It didn’t take long to realise that I would have to quit my job to take a real internet sabbatical so I just did something else for a while. Do you ever have those moments when your internet world seems to be more hot air than substance? When even a well-researched article on a war somewhere is just another well-researched article on a war and it all turns into a fog of information you should be taking in but aren’t. I think it means I need to turn off the computer and go outside.

I was planning on going to the MarketingNow conference on Tuesday which seemed like an event showcasing the people that epitomised my internet fog - ProBloggers and the like talking about social media. Turns out I was too sick on Tuesday to go anyway, so Rowan reported back. By her accounts, it was an informative, energising day. Following the Twitter tags from home made it sound like inane, vapid dross. It was like Christmas day for all the Twitter haters – not even a social media conference could survive being mauled by social media. I visualised rows and rows of people standing on a platform all yelling a single out-of-context quote at the same time.

I was healthier on Wednesday so I went to day two of the conference. Ro was right, it was interesting. I didn’t taint my enjoyment of the day by following the Twitter feed. I watched people around the room as they tweeted, facebooked, blogged, tweaked their new websites and read the news headlines while arguably some of the world’s most accomplished people in their field presented visually engaging and targeted presentations in front of them. It’s not to say they weren’t interested or engaged, it’s just how so many of us operate now. The day I realised that multi-tasking is not a positive skill was one of the happiest days of my life, but I still struggle to sit with a page as it slowly loads. I imagine that I can check my facebook feed in the 10 seconds I have to wait .

Anyway, the conference was good because the people who spoke are people who are using the fog to get stuff done. I think it requires incredible skills in logic and an ordered brain to use social media to its full potential without getting lost along the way. It seemed comforting somehow. Like those moments when you hear about someone who is an expert on archiving old newspapers, it’s a relief to know that it’s being taken care of. It’s a relief to know that these guys are all over social media, willing to keep up with it and report back.

I still went away thinking that an internet sabbatical wouldn’t hurt.

Overheard: a woman to her friend as they returned to their seats on opposite sides of the auditorium, “see you in the Twitter feed”.

Anyway, I wrote this post to share the Heirarchy of Digital Distraction with you. Cool, huh?

Have I mentioned my upcoming trip to the Continent. I’m going back to the land of my ancestors with the clever woman who played a key role in my being Italian, MJ. (who brilliantly thought to marry an Italian man – sure we don’t get passports, but the nice surname is something).

Today I started thinking about the itinerary which is being guided by a conference that MJ is attending in Rome and visits to places that relate to her work. I can accommodate that I suppose.

I drew up a spreadsheet just to extend the lovely planning process as long as possible. I’ve never really planned a trip before, tending to use the, “let’s get there and see what happens” approach, but I realise now that this way I get to THINK about Italy for much longer, which is certainly pleasurable in itself.

I’ve got an Italian dictionary next to me so I can slowly trawl though Italian websites and a million butterflies in my stomach as I worry how we are going to fit everything in.

This will be my third trip to Italy but there is so much I haven’t seen and would really like to do. We’ll be in Europe for three weeks and also have dates with Paris and Bruges. How is this possible?

If only it wasn’t winter and I hadn’t become allergic to cold weather…I could have just stayed.

Oh, there’s one other brilliant aspect to this trip. We’re going in December, in the lead up to Christmas – which is my favourite time of year. There will be Christmas markets and actual religious references (novelty value!), and I won’t have to listen to everyone hating on Christmas, (ugh, so many parties, have to buy presents, have to eat delicious food, everything looks pretty, grumble grumble grumble), because they’ll be doing it in Italian!

I spent sunny Sunday at the zoo celebrating Ryan’s 2nd birthday. The conversation might have led bystanders to believe that we were actually a gathering of the local Poo Appreciation Society – except that every other kid in the place was talking about poo too. Miles suggested that the giraffe was due for a nappy change.

Sorry, I have no idea what kind of bird this is

An echidna

Birthday cake

Birthday presents

Feel like sharing a few good things on a cosy, got-a-cold/watching-TV Sunday night (after a sunny day at the zoo).

1. United States of Tara. It took a few episodes to warm up but now that we’re about 6 episodes in I can’t wait for Wednesday night. I told one of my friends in Bangkok about it and she hadn’t heard of it, so in case UST is not on the telly wherever you are, I reckon you could track down a DVD and not be disappointed.

2. Revisiting albums from a few years ago. After dinner at Josh’s the other night, with some Aimee Mann on the CD player, I’ve been revisiting the Magnolia soundtrack this week and boy I love it. It’s one of my favourite albums of allllll time (whatever that means) but often I forget to listen to it because I’m listening to something new.

3. Camy Shanghai. Ugh, going to Camy Shangai for dumplings the other night could have been a terribly sad experience. It’s gone a bit funny in the last couple of years since becoming the ultimate Melbourne ’secret’ cliche. Now, the waiters all yell at you Australian slang, they have beer ads on every available surface and the crowd was objectively awful – but the food was exactly the same deliciousness and exactly the same price. Three of us, loads of food, three beers = $30.

****

Today I was crossing the road and a man whispered something under is breath and then, “biffo!” he whacked my shoulder with his shoulder! Weird.

Thank you Rowan, for this real-life example.

Imma Let You Finish Part One

My mobile internet is so BAD at the moment. If I’m really lucky, I’ll get a 30 minute stretch without it dropping out. Once that happens I have to go through a 10 minute process to reconnect it. 3, you suck. I’m pretty sure the only thing that would make crap internet OK is SUMMER! Come on summer… I neeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed you!

Here’s Reuben.

Yesterday we went to Shepparton for the day.

We had coffee. I taught Reuben how to say ‘caffe latte’. Yep, it was pretty intense.

HA! tricked you into reading a whole post in which I say NOTHING!

My new favourite thing is Urban Dictionary Word of the Day.

September 17: Imma let you finish

From the seriously overpopulated worm farm. I dug some out and put them in the regular compost heap – secretly expecting our one-winged magpie to take advantage of the easy meal. Have I mentioned the one-winged magpie yet?

I’m back in Melbourne this week. Reporting notes:

1. This weekend, 100% of my social activities included Guitar Hero. Yes, that included the new Beatles game, and yes it was AWESOME! WAIT, hold the phones, I was just hunting for Guitar Hero links and discovered that the Beatles game is actually, Beatles: Rock Band. Phew, that was close. Anyway, if that doesn’t reflect something about the zeitgeist then I don’t know what does.
2. Saw A Day in Pompeii at the Museum today. Two of the sections were particularly brilliant – the 3D reenactment of the eruption of Mt Vesuvius in 79AD, and the plaster casts of bodies found preserved under the lava. That last one sounds gross but it was actually stunning.
3. It’s SPRING! Sometimes that means that when you think it’s warm and sunny outside, it’s actually not quite, but sometimes it also means it’s 29 degrees! You all want to say it, hooray for global warming! Does that remind you of Postal Service?

“Again last night I had that strange dream where everything was exactly how it seemed concerns about the world getting warmer people thought that they were just being rewarded for treating others as they’d like to be treated for obeying stop signs and curing diseases for mailing letters with the address of the sender. Now we can swim any day in November.” – Postal Service, Sleeping In

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iK-JIckrgPJ30kN2Erx6IBVBCIcw

I’ll write more about this later, but for now, just want to share. Article from AFP.

Indonesian rights groups condemn new stoning law

By Nurdin Hassan (AFP) – 19 hours ago

BANDA ACEH — Indonesian rights activists condemned as “cruel and degrading” on Tuesday a new Islamic law calling for adulterers to be stoned to death in the country’s staunchly conservative Aceh province.

The law — which also allows punishments of up to 400 lashes for child rape, 100 lashes for homosexual acts and 60 lashes for gambling — was passed unanimously Monday by lawmakers in the region at the northern tip of Sumatra island.

The law replaces elements of Indonesia’s criminal code with sharia, or Islamic law, for Muslims. It allows the death penalty for married people and 100 lashes for unmarried people found guilty in cases of adultery.

“The laws that have been approved in Aceh are cruel and degrading to humanity,” National Commission on Human Rights head Ifdhal Kasim told AFP.

The law undermines the secular basis of Indonesia’s law, Kasim said, adding the rights group was appealing to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to review the legislation.

“This will bring Aceh back to the past. Throwing stones is like Aceh in the fourteenth or fifteenth centuries,” Kasim said, adding the law would likely embolden conservatives pushing for sharia on a national level.

The controversial legal change was passed in Aceh just weeks before a new, more moderate provincial assembly — dominated by the Aceh Party of former separatist fighters of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) — is due to take power.

The administration of Aceh Governor Irwandi Yusuf, himself a former GAM fighter, is opposed to the strict sharia law, but has said it is powerless to stop the law, which will come into effect in 30 days with or without his signature.

“(The law) only deals with petty crimes, adulterers, but it doesn’t deal with (significant crimes such as) corrupt officials,” Human Rights Watch spokesman Andreas Harsono said.

“In our opinion it is against the principle of human rights,” he said.

Human Rights Working Group head Rafendi Djamin said the punishments set out in the law were “humiliating and degrading” and a product of politicking among local leaders.

“They’re more interested in private issues than issues of the wider public interest like corruption and measures to empower people who have been suffering in the wake of conflict,” Djamin said.

Arif Budimanta, a senior official of the opposition Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) of former president Megawati Sukarnoputri, condemned the law — despite local members having supported it in the Aceh assembly.

“We are deeply concerned about this cruel law as it is against our national ideology and values of pluralism,” he said.

Spokesmen for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, a liberal ex-general re-elected by a landslide earlier this year, could not immediately be reached for comment.

Ma’ruf Amin, the head of the Indonesian Council of Ulema, Indonesia’s top Islamic body, welcomed the new hardline law.

“The Council supports sharia law in areas where it is allowed, like Aceh, which has special autonomy. It’s not a matter of good or bad.

“For Muslims, sharia law is the best and can be implemented anytime, anywhere. As long as there is agreement from everyone, there’s no problem,” Amin said.

Aceh had previously adopted a milder form of sharia law in 2001 as part of an autonomy package from Jakarta aimed at quelling local separatist sentiment.

The sharia code enforced religious observation and offered lighter punishments — including caning — for gambling, drinking and association between unmarried members of the opposite sex.

Separatists in Aceh had been fighting the Indonesian government since 1976 until a peace deal in 2005 in a conflict that claimed over 15,000 lives.

Nearly 90 percent of Indonesia’s 234 million people are Muslim, but the country also has significant Hindu, Buddhist, Christian and Confucian minorities. Most Muslims practise a moderate form of the religion.

Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved.

Do you remember the scene in Wind in the Willows when Toad takes Mole and Ratty out in his caravan and they get run off the road by a car? They crash into a ditch and the caravan is a wreck. Mole and Ratty are furious but toad is sitting in the middle of the dusty road with a glazed expression.

The Toad never answered a word, or budged from his seat in the road; so they went to see what was the matter with him. They found him in a sort of a trance, a happy smile on his face, his eyes still fixed on the dusty wake of their destroyer. At intervals he was still heard to murmur `Poop-poop!’

The Rat shook him by the shoulder. `Are you coming to help us, Toad?’ he demanded sternly.

`Glorious, stirring sight!’ murmured Toad, never offering to move. `The poetry of motion! The real way to travel! The only way to travel! Here to-day–in next week to-morrow! Villages skipped, towns and cities jumped–always somebody else’s horizon! O bliss! O poop-poop! O my! O my!’

I feel just like Toad today, because I’ve just discovered the real way to garden – with a chainsaw!

MJ regularly confirms with me that my using a chainsaw (and presumably chainsawing off a limb) is frowned upon. I’ve never really suggested that I would, but she reminds me often nonetheless. We’re running low on firewood, but have great logs all over the yard waiting to be cut down to size. I was going to find someone to hire to come and cut them up sometime today.

Just about an hour ago, I was trying to pull down an old tree with a tiny manual saw, Derryn saw me from across the back fence and came to help. He was able to break the tree out of the ground in about 30 seconds. Stupid boys. Always showing off. We took the tree to the wood heap and Derryn saw a hollow log and asked if he could have it for his bird aviary. Reluctant to let any of our most precious commodity go, I did a deal that he could have it if he chopped some of the logs with his chainsaw. He agreed and went back over the fence to get it. On his return he asked why I couldn’t use the chainsaw myself, and the 17 million times that I’ve promised MJ not to use it were quickly forgotten.

Seriously, it was the most fun ever!

Instead of “poop-poop” I feel like saying, “vrmm vrmm vrrrrrmmmmmm”.Take that trees! I’ll chop you ALL down!

I was chopping wood today and as I chopped one piece in half there was an explosion of little flakes of wood – it was like sesame seed confetti. I thought this was delightful (as I think anyone who saw it would have) so I looked inside the wood and looked on the ground where the wood confetti fell and look who I found. Shiny yellow grub. When he fell out of the wood he just lay there for a while – I suppose he needed time to adjust to his new circumstances. But before long he found a new piece of wood to chomp down on.

I went back to chopping wood and accidentally sent wood flying right on top of him. He seemed to be alive but possibly angry – it’s hard to tell what his face is doing, I saw little black things that could have been eyes or teeth or possibly something else I don’t know the name of. So I moved my woodchopping elsewhere.

Had a quick weekend in Melbourne and now I’m back in Rushworth ready to get things done.

My regular workload is increasing and I’m technically in the midst of an internship, enrolled in an online course and I’ve just blocked about one and a half months out of my calendar before the end of the year with travel. I also plan on landscaping the backyard. For those of you who know the backyard you will realise how implausible this is. It’s a bloody big yard. So I’m going to use every hour wisely. Not necessarily busily, but wisely. E.g. On the train back to Rushworth today I did boring and time consuming design work on my laptop.

I could become one of those efficiency experts that rule the internet (and who I read often), but I won’t because there is something vaguely circular and banal about what they do that makes me feel a bit queasy.

Did I mention my new book club? I went to my first meeting a bit over a week ago. We meet at the Alderman which means that no matter what we read it’s made cool by association. We read As I Lay Dying last time which didn’t need any help from the Alderman to make it cool. But for example, if we decide to read The Wedding by Danielle Steel our presence at the Alderman will make it clear that we are employing irony when selecting books, or perhaps reading popular fiction for insight into mainstream America circa 2000. See?!

We’re reading The Crying of Lot 49 next, which is making me wonder if we’re actually out-hipstering the Alderman. Actually, I think the Danielle Steel for irony approach is probably the only way to out-hipster the Alderman.

My love of country living is intensifying daily! Today I spent the day outside instead of doing work. See, the country is great because you can do that kind of thing and it seems like the more responsible option. Instead of sitting in front of the computer all day I’m going to go out into the sunshine and do some work in the backyard.

I spent the morning raking grass down the back and burning stuff, which I think is my second favourite backyard activity, chopping wood being my favourite. I also chopped wood today. Not much though, just enough to keep the fire going tonight. I made frittata to take to the movies tonight, and watched Derryn chainsaw the tree that fell out of the ground. MJ said that when there’s no rain tree roots stay close to the surface, and then when there is a burst of rain sometimes the soil gets too soft for the shallow roots to anchor – hey presto, tree falls out of the ground.

Time to get ready for movie night. We’re going to Star Cinema to see My Year Without Sex and Samson and Delilah. Very excited to see both films. I’m seriously far behind on Aussie films right now.

I’m back in Rushworth and channeling my bucolic inner self. I’m loving the new wood fire and have taken every opportunity to use its stove top to cook things like chicken soup (from scratch).

I think the round about path I took to get to Rushworth might have something to do with my love of all things country this week. Greg and I spent the weekend at his family’s house in Jameison, which is all about trees, hills, rivers and snow-capped mountains in the distance.

We set off on Friday afternoon and after getting trapped by the razzle dazzle of Eastland shopping centre in the middle of deep suburbia, we arrived at the house as it was getting dark. Greg made the point of putting out some wild bird seed as one of our first tasks before going inside and lighting the fire. When I woke up the next morning I understood why.

Hello lovely birds! For those un-Australian amongst us, the white birds are sulphur-crested cockatoos and the coloured birds are crimson rosellas.

After breakfast we headed into Jameison town to buy the papers and wander.

I was excited to see this pole in the school grounds that reads, “May Peace Prevail on Earth” in four languages. We had a similar pole at my last work so I took a photo to send to my colleagues. Greg got excited about it because apparently they used the conjunctive in the Latin or something. Did I ever mention that Greg is a Class A nerd? Fortunately he doesn’t mind that I don’t understand everything he says, and sometimes I even learn some super-geeky fact.

When we got back to the house we embarked on a walk.

I wore gumboots because Greg told me we were going for a bit of a walk and my feet were getting a bit wet in my sneakers. Just 45 minutes, said Greg. After about 15 minutes we got to a steep hill.

Sarah: Are we going up Greg?

Greg: Yep!

Sarah: I thought you said it was a 45 minute walk. It’s a long way up. I think it will take longer…

Greg: It’s 45 minutes from here to get to the top and then 45 minutes down again.

Sarah: …

So up we went.

A little bit more

Up the hill a lot more

At the top!

So even though I grumbled to Greg about his false advertising of our little walk, it was a great climb and well worth the gumboot-y effort.

I insisted on taking the slightly longer but slightly less treacherous and more gumboot-friendly route down and we got home just in time for lunch. The rest of the afternoon was spent looking out the window…

…and reading the paper. Lovely!

Just thought I’d mention ABC Classic FM Drive with Julia Lester. I switched over to it the other day when the Radio National signal went bad and was pleasantly surprised by how good it was. A few hours of classical music is usually enjoyable enough, but this was better than all right, it was excellent! I’m not classical-literate enough to explain why I like it so much, but since then I’ve randomly heard other people commenting on how good Drive with Julia Lester is, like here, so it must be special.

It seems like ever since I started this blog I pose the question that is the title with more and more frequency.

The obvious reason is that I started the blog at the beginning of a period of frequent travel, so I pose the question to locate myself physically. Where is Sarah? Melbourne!

I also pose the question when I’m not posting regularly, i.e. Where has Sarah gone? She doesn’t post anymore.

I’ve recently discovered another use for the question – Ugh, where am I? I’m all over the place!

I had a day of asking myself that question yesterday. I was a bit foggy all morning, so was keen to get out of the house and wake myself up. I left the house and only realised I’d forgotten my wallet when I was on the tram trying to buy a ticket. After that mishap and some of Rowan’s lasagne I thought I’d clawed back the day by getting a whole lot of paperwork signed and scanned. I’d completely forgotten about it in the morning and it was urgent. Then I went to meet my friend at the pub with plans to share my amazing reclamation of the day. I arrived first so I ordered a beer and read my book* and waited. about 15 mins passed and I wondered what was going on, but I didn’t want to hassle my friend yet, so I’d give her a few more minutes. Then she sent me a text wondering where I was….and the penny dropped. I was at the Court House Hotel on Errol St, not the Town Hall Hotel on Errol St. I had just automatically gone to the Court House but her text message triggered something and the information that was lodged in my brain somewhere happily sprang forth only 15 minutes late.

Ugh…

Ah! This post gives me the perfect excuse to post a very serious discussion that Josh and I had once about possible spin-off blogs. Please indulge me:

Josh: Could there be a tandem blog in the offing, “Who is Sarah?”…

Sarah: Maybe “Who is Sarah?” could contain all the internal murmurings and exploration of self, while “where is sarah” could focus just on location. “what is sarah?” could get a bit too philosophical I imagine. “How is Sarah?” would just be status updates reminiscent of facebook. Postings could be titled “Sarah is amused” “Sarah is disgruntled”. etc etc.

Josh: I like the way you think! Nevermind the over-philosophical, if the heart compels, I am definitely there to read what you’ve got to say. Sure, a few “where is sarah?” readers mightn’t get it, or be as keen. But what are they compared to me? Why I’m practically the Father of “Who is Sarah?”! And even if every other reader drops off, we will still be there, and we wouldn’t be as alone as all that! The obamas, their new puppy, and we know very well who else!

Sarah: Seth and Bowie!

Josh: Seth and Bowie!

Bowie I’m SURE will be, was in the sense of being still, or is a big fan of When is Sarah?

Seth – I’m not so sure . But he’ll be there and sit through it somewhat perhaps as he might have done Hanukkah – not that I know a plain thing about whether Hanukkah is something needing to be sat through at all!

Bowie, meanwhile (and it’s ALL about the meanwhile), will wonder “I don’t know why you don’t just call it by its proper name, When is Sarah? Works for me”

Josh (an afterthought): Ahem, there is one point of wonder, or focus, that you left out, “When is Sarah?”. Now I’m not sure what that would entail, but then, in the past, or the future I might be or have been sure what When is Sarah? entailed, is entailing or entails. It’s starting to sound like a strange bowl of soup indeed! But I like the sound of When is Sarah? it’s got some punch, some pierce!

*First book club meeting on Thursday! The pressure is on!

On Saturday, Chloe came over and we hung out for the day while her older sisters did “big kid” stuff…Lame-o. I took Chloe on a MASSIVE walk for a three-year-old – all the way to the supermarket. I was able to gauge whether I had exhausted her too much with the playground test. If we walked past a playground and she made a run for the slide, then I knew she still had a few hundred metres left in her. In fact, the only time we passed a playground without playing on it, we were so close to home that I convinced her that lunch and a rest were just around the corner.

We went to the supermarket to buy ingredients for….BLUE CAKES!

Smile!

I mentioned to Chloe that we were a great cooking team, and she cried, “Team Work!” and showed me how to press our thumbs together which signifies team work. Obvs.

Go team!

After babysitting on Saturday, today I’ve begun house/cat sitting at Lara’s house.

A sunny disposition

My home office for the week

My raison detre

In other news, I got a new phone today and it has a full alphabet of keys. Jeeeeealous…? I now have the gadgetry to match my super professional heart and soul. In fact, my gadget inventory is getting kind of out of hand. I have:

• Laptop
• Camera
• Ipod
• Audio recorder
• External hard drive (the extremely cute WD Passport) x2
• All associated accessories such as chargers, spare batteries, tripod and cables
• Various thumb drives, quantity dependent on how many I can find on a given day
• And now the fancy phone to replace my old piece of junk.

All of these things are independently compact (apart from my dinosaur computer), but put all these tiny objects together and it’s getting a little heavy to carry around with me – which I do most days because you never know what you’re going to need. The problem is, buying one item that serves the purpose of two or more of these things FEELS.LIKE.EVIL. Replace a decent camera with a stupid little thing in a phone…uh, no. A phone with a few gb to play music as a replacement for an 80gb Ipod. Impossible! Now that I know the joy of carrying my entire music collection around with me I couldn’t possibly go back a small sample of a few hundred songs.

In the wise words of Greg, “THAT’S A BANANA!”

I’ve been spending quite a bit of time at home in Rushworth lately. You might recall that I’ve been doing nothing.

When we got home from Port Fairy and the Limestone Coast MJ still had the best part of a week before going back to work.

So we made the most of our time, like this:

Sometimes I would go out into the garden, which looked more like this:

Sometimes we even went walking, which looked like this.

So yeah, it’s not bad at all spending time in Rushworth.

Last night I had the most FRIGHTENING dream. I’m serious! The fear I felt in the dream was palpable!

So, in the dream, I got attacked by Scott Baio from Charles in Charge – twice.

I must confess that I was totally razzing him when I saw him somewhere in public. I was really nasty about his failing career, drug charges, etc (disclaimer: if any of it mirrors Scott Baio’s real life it’s purely coincidental because I don’t really know anything about him other than he was on Charles in Charge…which is probably the nastiest thing you can say to an actor). My tongue was so sharp that he got really angry, pinned me down, cut some of hair and tried to staple my neck! All the while, I was screaming and trapped and just KEPT ON RAZZING HIM! Like, “you’re such a lousy actor that you attack girls with a stapler!” I mean, what kind of stupid coping mechanism was that? I was petrified and I thought I could diffuse the situation by making my attacker angrier. Duh!

I don’t remember what the second attack was, just that I woke up thinking, Charles in Charge attacked me TWICE!

On Tuesday I met with members of the Banda Aceh-Melbourne Ladies Auxilery (BAMLA) to attend the Indonesian Film Festival.

We saw two films and they were both greeeeeaaaat!

Drupadi

Drupadi, an adaptation of part of the ancient Sanksrit epic Mahabrata, was about Drupadi, the wife of five brothers known as Pandawa. Drupadi was “born of fire” and the most beautiful woman in the world. One night, Pandawa was invited to a dice game against Kurawa Brothers. The eldest of the Pandawa, Yuhistiram, lost…a lot. First all his wealth, then his kingdom, then his brothers, himelf, and finally Drupadi. Drupadi made the excellent point that Yuhistiram couldn’t have gambled her away because he’d already gambled his own power away! But sadly, justice did not win the race that day, and Drupadi spent 12 years being “beaten and shamed” until, I think the brothers eventually fought back. Some very beautiful scenes relying on symbolism told the end of the story, so I’m reluctant to assume that my interpretation of those symbols was correct, but there was blood splattered and the final scene shows Drupadi and her five husbands standing by her side – so I think it was a happy ending.

Kantata Takwa

The second film was Kantata Takwa, which I was dying to see after hearing a bit of it on Radio National. This film was 19 years in the making, originally filmed in 1991, during the repressive Suharto New Order regime, but only completed in 2008. It centres around a concert held in Senayan Stadium in Jakarta in 1991 in which the band, Kantata Takwa, made up of popular and politically vocal artists, played the first of what was set to be a series of concerts, but they were banned after the second show in Surabaya. The film showed some footage of the concert, but to make it more “suitable for an audio-visual medium” as they put it, they shot melodramatic scenes of poverty and violence using masked actors and scenes of these ‘badies’ in gas masks hunting down villagers in the jungle. The soundtrack for the film is the music from the Jakarta concert and poetry by W.S. Rendra. Rendra died about two weeks ago so while this film is screening I’ve heard poeple recounting times they saw him at a recital or reflecting on their favourite pieces. I didn’t know of Rendra before I heard about this film, but I am certainly a fan of his poetry now, especially one piece from the film that I thought especially moving. Sadly, I’m having trouble find translations online. Instead, I offer a clip from the film and the audio of a review from the radio that includes the poem (skip to 1:56 of the audio file if you don’t want to hear the review)

Follow this link to download the audio: Brisbane International Film Festival report on Kantata Takwa

This post has taken three four separate attempts over  five days to finish. The time it takes to post lots of photos seems to be too long for my internet connection. Sadly, I’m transferring my frustration onto blogging in general and the Sarah-Blog relationship has soured. Stupid dumb blog.

Once upon a time, I went for over a week without any internet access. I did get a little bit restless, but as I reflect on that time now, I realise how sweet life was. Here are some photos of those good old days.

After leaving Port Fairy, MJ and I travelled further west to South Australia.

Tower Hill

But first we had to risk our lives and pass through the depths of a volcano… (I wish you could hear my scary horror voice that I put on as I write this)

Emus at Tower Hill

On the road

Rusty old shed.

Public toilet - an example of the sophisticated side of Australian culture

Wind power

ANZAC soldiers carves out of gum trees. Doesn't get much Aussier than that

Robe

While we drove, we contemplated our destination and after much deliberation, decided to stay at the place we kind of knew we were going to stay all along, Robe.

Caledonian Inn, Robe

Embarking on a windy adventure

Robe waterfront

Robe view from a hill

Back streets of Robe

Robe Pier

Intertidal reefs sign

Intertidal reefs sign...in Vietnamese...?

Blossom

Flowers by the pier in Robe

Tea and biscuits at Robe bookshop

Robe Bookshop

Robe bookshop window

View from the lookout

Robe Obelisk

You've been warned

Robe police station

On the way home

After two nights in Robe we began the journey home. First we stopped at the Naracoorte Caves (caves don’t photograph well) and then visited Penola to dose up on some Mary MacKillop news. Then drove past what seemed like every famous Australian winery, so obvs we  had to stop in at a winery for lunch. After a hearty winter repast…that was the end of photography. For the historical record, I shall inform you all that we stayed in Hamilton that night and drove home the next day via historic Maldon, which is a much nicer place than the website would have you believe.

I choose not to make a cheesy "bee" pun

Native flower by the cave

Native flower that looks strangely like an orchid

Mary MacKillop's first school

Swans in a paddock along the road side

I got back from Bangkok just in time to join everyone on a holiday down at the beach. It’s the middle of winter here so this was more of a “look at the beach from the vantage point of a wood fire” kind of beach holiday.

The Beach House

We stayed in a great house just outside of Port Fairy, called Bluestone Bay. It comes highly recommended by the people at Where Is Sarah? It was huge, warm, had a great kitchen and totally comfy couches. But the best bit was the view:

View from the house

View of the house

View out the back

Braving the cold to get some pics

Play time

The weather was lovely for most of the trip. After a few days of mild, sunny weather there was a bit of rain. Which obvs means….

Puddles!

Reuben loves muddles (mud + puddles)

It's a COW!

Chloe and the very hungry caterpillar

Seriously fuzzy caterpillar

Venturing further afield

One day we decided to go for a walk to the lighthouse, then we realised that the lighthouse was a few kms further than any kid was interested in. But we went for a wander anyway. The weather was great and the kids were happy to go climbing on mildly dangerous rocks along the coastline.

What better use for a rock at the beach

Strike a pose

I wanna throw the rock into the ocean Sar...

But then it got cold…

Abby realising that she's over it

Wait for me Mum!

Muuuuuum!!

After a week of taking turns to babysit the twins inside the house (a great way to ensure an afternoon nap by the fire), Jess decided it was their turn to go for a walk along the beach.

Twins go for a walk

Eventually it was time to leave Bluestone Bay.

Before we go home...we have to make at least one sandcastle

The others headed back to Melbourne to resume work/school/regular life, while MJ and I headed in the opposite direction for another few days, but I’ll save those photos for tomorrow.