Warning: do not browse blogs

So I was just flicking through other people's blogs and this girl had a section in hers called "today's good news" her good news for today was “this morning when I squeezed my pimple a streamer of puss came out and it looked like a string of cupcake icing”. D-I-S-G-U-S-T-I-N-G!!!! PLEASE if I ever start writing about that stuff chop both my hands off!!! YUCK

fakers

I’m writing a speech to tell the people in the year below me at uni what it’s like to be a social worker. I’ve been working as a social worker for 24 weeks today and I am wondering what I know that would be worth telling 100 of my peers. I’m going to tell them to “fake it until they make it”. It’s funny because in my speech I’ll be faking it too when I pretend to know what I’m talking about. Be warned- there is a faker around every corner!! Ahhh!
I think I know someone else who is faking it right now.

If you're a bird then I'm a bird

Have you ever had the experience when you meet a complete stranger and instantly it feels like you have known them for years? Then there is the reverse when you see someone you have known for years and it has the awkwardness of a first meeting! Isn’t amazing how certain people can evoke such a range of feelings. Do you think that you can ever be too comfortable too quickly? I am starting to pay attention to my surroundings more and think deeper into certain sayings that stick with me. I was watching The Notebook again the other day and noticed that Noah said Ally was “his home”. I think it’s a beautiful concept! For some people, their life partner becomes “home”. It doesn’t matter where in the world they are; as long as they are together they have the content feeling of “home” and the safety and security it represents. Incredible as it is I don’t see myself ever feeling “at home” in a tent or some mud shack regardless of who I’m with. I do quite love my warm bed, tooth brush and air conditioning!!!

just jump

Well day breaks and light fills the darkest room
The air is laced with sweet perfume
What is it about morning light
That makes everything feel alright

Lisa Mitchell: Sometimes I feel like Alice

old people, babies and religion...

I am in shock! I just decided to flip through some other people’s blogs to find some to “follow”. There is nothing!!! If you don’t want to read about religion, other people’s kids or retired old folk’s travel adventures then there does not seem to be anything out there worth looking at.
Why on earth am I writing on this damn blog?

I tunes love

I have never been someone to go out and buy cd’s but now I have free range on iTunes I can’t stop myself! A simple click of my finger and I have the world at my fingertips. My credit card will bulge as I have been home and bored and as a result my spirited fingers have been saving the music world one album at a time!! I use all my will power but I can’t resist, it’s a true guilty pleasure, that and arrowroot biscuits covered in ice magic and sprinkles. Simple and spectacular! What’s your guilty pleasure?

News and current affairs, what can we do?

Image from http://www.pedigreeadoption.com.au/adoptadog.aspx

When engaging in conversations about what is going on in the world I am never able to make a contribution on every topic. Although I take an interest in the news I do not make an effort to know what’s happening on a daily basis. People may have their views on this, my dad for one finds it extraordinarily frustrating. About once a week I click around on the internet for a quick catch up on anything the radio may have missed between songs. If someone mentions something I know nothing about I’ll usually make the effort to catch up if it sounds interesting or important. People always make comments about the things “you should know” but do they think about the things you should do now you know? What good is it to know everything and do nothing about anything?

I think it would be great if there was a section on the news called “how can we help?” without always asking for monitory donations this segment would discuss how we can create change on a grass roots level. Cup cake stalls, letter box drops, donating a bit of our time here and there. On Sunrise the other day they were harping on about the need for abused and neglected children who have been removed and placed into foster care to receive “real care” as apposed the “care” children in foster care currently receive. This would have been the perfect time for them to discuss foster care and thank carers who have already juggled their lives to include a fostered child into their family. Instead they moved on to the next topic. Grr! As someone working in Out-of-Home Care I found this offensive. Their passing comment implied that the care currently being provided by carers isn’t up to an adequate standard. This is an incredibly distorted view of what is really going on. The simple fact is there are not enough registered carers for the number of children who require “real care” because people are watching their news shows and doing nothing in response. Carers are ordinary people doing something extraordinary! They open their hearts, their homes and in the majority of situations their pockets. Children in care are simply children, they require food, a warm bed, baths, patience and love just like any other child. Confidentiality legislation protects these children from being plastered on the news with pictures attached to tug our heart strings like a homeless puppy but they still exist in numbers and require loving homes.

Some people are responding to the news. An abused cat has attracted roughly $6000 worth of donations as it was featured all over current affair shows last week. Six thousand dollars! My opinion is that people only want to hear “the news” if they can sit comfortably sipping their tea and shift the blame, so they can continue on with their lives. The people who abused the cat are labeled as society’s sickest. People wrote in and stated they should be jailed publicly shamed. What if they were abused kids? What if they were burnt and tortured? Would our reaction still be the same? I am not saying it is ok for anyone to behave in this manner but it has to come from somewhere. A fat lot of good watching and playing the blame game is going to do anyone.

I am not saying don’t watch the news. I just think people should try act in response to the issues as well. I think we should watch and consider what part we play in allowing all these things to keep happening. Where do we fit into the system which can’t prevent kids being abused in or out of care, can't provide enough medical assistance in hospitals, allows people to be mugged and bashed as they eat their lunch? They’re the issues touched on today in Sydney alone, I’m not even going to start on where we fit into the bigger picture. So when you do tune into the news rather than just watching maybe start thinking “how can I help?”. Thinking about it is the first step, acting on it is the vital one. I know since writing this I’ll definitely try think and act more.

labels

Labels. Love them or hate them they’re going to stick around! I’ve been spending time with a new man friend for about a month now. It seems to me that we’ve been enjoying each other’s company and all the exciting perks that come with getting to know someone completely new. I know people he knows but have not asked them about him because I want to find out everything for myself as time goes on rather than hearing second hand gossip.

Anyway so far it’s been great! We have hung in there through each other’s hectic lives. The first few times he asked to meet up I had to decline because I had late meetings and had an old friend in town. Then I was on call the second week which meant we had to meet sober at obscure hours and I couldn’t confirm that I’d be there until the minute before. Regardless we had a really nice, chilled “first date” where we talked until the venue asked us to leave so they could close. The third week was quite normal with both of us busy but catching up for a movie and dinner (get into the Greek is so awkward it’s funny) and then dinner at mine when it was too late to go out which was very fun. Finally week four, commencing with me having surgery and becoming house bound. Despite all this he has been pretty wonderful! He’s still sticking around and has been visiting me without calling me a cripple too much. It’s his birthday today and I can’t go out to celebrate, somehow he had managed to make me feel like he really wants me there without making me feel bad because I can’t go, impressive. When he visits he has hung out with my friends and family and actually seemed enjoyed it. The best thing has been that I am not made to feel awkward about my unco foot, it hardly seems to bother him at all. So I’m feeling very happy with what has resulted from meeting a random on the dance floor in a club!

Despite this people still want to know what we are. They need to know if we’re going out or if it’s looking like we will. To put it simply, people need to put pressure on a non pressured situation. Honestly I don’t really care, it’s been four weeks and I think rather than having a label he needs a trophy for hanging in there.

In summary:
1- Occasionally give guys the time of day in clubs when they crack onto you because they could be someone special. Even if it doesn’t turn into an epic love story it could be just what you need.

2- Label things it your own time.

Plastered

Have you ever come to a time in your life when, if only for a brief glimpse in time, you feel completely full and satisfied? I am not just talking about the fifteen minutes after and extraordinary lunch, I am thinking about the bigger picture. For me, this time is right now, and honestly it has caught me by surprise. Now I take some time to reflect I can see that I have been been blissfully content for a while now, it’s just taken me some time to stop and acknowledge it. As I sit here with my foot in a plaster cast a week after having surgery on my foot I wouldn’t have thought I would be feeling this great but, with time away from my job I realise just how much I miss it. With the absence of clubs, alcohol and loud music I have had the opportunity to really catch up with my amazing friends who have signed my plaster saying silly things which make me smile all day. Thanks to the surgery I am officially house bound, because of this I have spent some quality time with my family rather than 15 minutes in passing as I get ready to go out again. Maybe we all need a plastered foot to slow us down for long enough to acknowledge how good we have it.