[Miscellany]

It's gotten to the stage where I've known my newest friends for 10 years.

wow.... just wow.

One such group of old chums of mine met for pre-dinner drinks at a rather self conscious venue in the city the other night and talk, turned to how we make our money - which is hilarious since none of us have any money! However, apparently two of us have share portfolios. SHARES! I could hardly believe it when they started talking about the all ordinaries index like they knew what it was. I use that segment in the news to double check the couch for any stray pieces of chocolate (sad but true) and could barely keep up with the conversation. I was under the impression that only salt and pepper haired men who are trying to reclaim their youth by riding vespas had share portfolios, but clearly I am wrong. Apparently 30 somethings are doing it too. In fact I felt rather left out and behind the times with my common place mortgage and pathetic teacher salary. It's all about shares now, and nobody thought to tell me.

I'm feeling rather like I do when people say they are fans of Ke$ha (should there be an exclamation mark at the end?) and her music. I kind of think wow, I didn't consider her a person worthy of thinking as a musician, let alone someone who would have a serious fan who would spend money on an album. That's kind of like me and shares. It just never crossed my mind to consider them as anything more than an annoyance taking up a whole precious section of the newspaper that could otherwise be devoted to something important, like movies or Charlie Sheen.

I don't know many people read this thing but certainly a great deal more than comment - so please let me know if you play the market. I need to know where I stand in this thing.

Labels: friends, girls and women, grown ups, money, why do people get so touchy when it comes to talking about these things?

posted by M at 7:16 pm 6 comments

Finally. FINALLY a politician has come out and said what needed to be said re: education. It's so simple and full of common sense that I'm surprised it isn't said more often, or quite frankly done more often.

Barak Obama would have my vote (if it counted), based only on this speech, if nothing else. Surely a man who is so practical in this area must be practical in other areas too.

Here's the taped footage..



But for those of you unwilling to watch (oh it's an eye opener alright) - he hits gold at about the 3 minute mark with this gem:

“It’s not good enough for you to say to your child, ‘Do good in school,’ and then when that child comes home, you’ve got the TV set on,”

“You’ve got the radio on. You don’t check their homework. There’s not a book in the house. You’ve got the video game playing.”

“So turn off the TV set. Put the video game away. Buy a little desk. Or put that child at the kitchen table. Watch them do their homework. If they don’t know how to do it, give ‘em help. If you don’t know how to do it, call the teacher.”

“Make ‘em go to bed at a reasonable time! Keep ‘em off the streets! Give ‘em some breakfast! Come on! Can I get an amen here?”

“You know I’m right,”

“And, since I’m on a roll, if your child misbehaves in school, don’t cuss out the teacher! You know I’m right about that! Don’t cuss out the teacher! Do something with your child!”

HELL YES! FINALLY the truth is out. Parents, need to parent. Weird idea I know, but the way I see it is if you have them, then you should raise them. Education doesn't stop and start at the school gate.

I can't remember any time when any politician has made such a statement about individual responsibility - that is, even though it's true. The students I see succeeding are students who:

1) come from money (I don't necessarily mean rich but I do mean they don't have many worries about money for instance; they DO NOT have to worry about the basics, food, water, shelter - and by extension emotional support - yes it's related)
2) come from families that INSIST, hard line, on all those things Obama talks about in his speech.

It's not about catering for gifted and talented children. Or blaming teachers for not teaching properly and thus creating a panic about our test results (for the record Australia has one of the BEST education systems in the world, backed up by world data (OECD - PISA). However the way the media carries on you'd think we were failing). Bottom line is that we need to start being practical about this stuff.

How do we expect kids to learn, if they aren't getting any support at home? Any teacher in the world will tell you that it is a FACT that children who don't get home support by and large struggle. If they don't then they are doing so against the odds. We see exactly how home life helps and hinders children in the classroom. Thinking a child turns the home switch off when they enter a classroom is a mistake politicians have made for far too long when it comes to making policies about in classroom curriculum. This is not the way to improve the way kids learn. We can't ignore the influence of the most important people in a child's life: their parents! It's time a mirror was held up. I'm glad the day has come.

------

Enough ranting, onto Musical Monday - which takes me back to the early 90s waiting for the school bus on windy spring afternoons with my friend Gil. The bus stop was in front of this charming, well maintained art deco house inhabited by a lovely elderly gent who would always wander outside to chat to the youngsters stepping all over his roses with scruffy black shoes and socks that just wouldn't stay up. One day - and I remember it well for some reason - Gil told me about this band she'd heard about called The Sundays - and they, along with Ratcat were her new favourite bands. I thought it sounded like a whimsical name for a band and later discovered they really were rather whimsical sounding in music as well.

Whenever I hear The Sundays I think of Gil and springtime and how we impatiently waited for the bus every afternoon, and how often I'd just pack it in and walk home instead - stopping every few meters to pull up my socks and adjust the volume on my walkman.

I heard the old guy died not too long after I finished high school. I drove past that art deco house the other day but it was graffitied and condemned. I wonder why no one has bought and renovated it? It's a sad sight and a ghostly remainder from a more glorious time.

Here's Where the Story Ends - The Sundays

Labels: memories, money, musical monday, nostalgia, political musings, school, stressed teachers, yes I am taking politics

posted by M at 9:25 pm 18 comments

* Currently rather sick, in manner of throwing up a lot and limited to bed and tele watching but too sick and bothered to properly look for the remote. This means I'm stuck on whatever channel it is that has ready steady cook on it (no, changing channel by getting up is not really something I want to do when fear of bile rising up haunts me). It's rather unfair to be subjected to watching RSC when I can't actually eat anything at the moment. Also rather unfortunate that I'm missing all the parties I actually WANT to go to but am well for the ones that I would rather avoid. How in the hell does that work? Also rather shitty that have fallen sick at time when I have no sick "leave without doc certificates" left. This means I have to pay 60 odd bucks for a trip to the doctor if I want to get paid, better yet the doctor is booked up until after this blasted illness will have already ravaged me and shall be back to normal. I always find it's better not to ask for a medical certificate when you're nice and healthy. Oh ya, I really was sick Doc. Pluz give me two days off for last week!! I iz telling da truth, honest! It's either that scenario or get docked two days of pay. At this point I'm just too bothered to care and that maybe having less pay this week will stop me from splurging over the Christmas season. I knew that I was born under an unlucky sign. Stupid tummy bug.

* Last Sunday afternoon I decided quite suddenly to get Xmas shopping done in one day. Yes, you read right I didn't even get up early in the morning. I just turned up willy nilly mid afternoon thinking righto, now who do I need to buy for? Looking back probably not one of my better plans. Might have worked best if I had a list or ...well my wits about me. I forgot to buy about 5 presents and now I have to make time in-between spews to go back. I have spend a rather gargantuan sum of money all fueled by my philosophy of I'd rather buy this perfect present than spend the rest of the day looking for something similar but cheaper. On the whole I do think that if you get me for your Kris Kringle/Secret Santa gift you've hit a spot of good luck. If, however you happen to be me, you're in the shitter.

* Am absolutely appalled almost beyond words by this

Nine males who pleaded guilty last month to gang-raping a 10-year-old girl at the Aurukun Aboriginal community on Cape York have escaped a prison term, with the sentencing judge saying the child victim "probably agreed" to have sex with them.

Once again I'm just disgusted by the way that rape against women is handled in this country (I'm not even going to attempt to discuss 3rd and 2nd world atrocities against women). This is by far not the first time I've written about how overwhelming evidence was ignored in a rape trial on this journal and I can tell it won't be the last. Next we are going to be handing out medals to people who violently rape women. By the way Ms Judge (yes, it was a woman) a 10 year old can't agree to shit, no matter how much you rationalise it - yes even in QLD. For fucks sake. How can this still be happening? How can rapists still be getting off? Put your daughters in hiding, that's all I can say. :(

Labels: christmas, dirty femmo, gender stuff, money, rape, sick

posted by M at 9:17 pm 17 comments

* #1 has shocked the hell out of me by proclaiming that she is going to start a dreaded parent blog. You know the ones I mean. She knows someone who makes double my salary from professional blogging. Firstly, he's a lucky bastard - I hate him already. Secondly, what the hell? I don't know if I'm too comfortable sharing the internets with people I know in rl. What do you think? Do your closest friends read your blog? Would you write differently if they didn't (or did, for that matter)?

* I never thought I'd be one those people who says this but ....my allergies are playing up. This morning I sneezed 8 times in a row. IN A ROW! EIGHT! Let me tell you something... it felt nuthin' like an orgasm. I don't care what anyone says. It was agony. By the end I was just slumped over begging for mercy. I have no idea what has sparked my allergies this morning. Hell, I don't even know if I HAVE allergies. How do you find out anyway? Is there some sort of home testing I can do to find out? God knows I'm not going to the doctor. Why? I already know what they'll say - "let's prick a million needles in you *test results in* okay I suggest you avoid pollen, grass and dust. That'd be 150 dollars" OR "let's prick a million needles in you *test results in* okay I suggest we do a desensitisation of those things you're allergic to. It's going to cost a shit load of money you don't have and might not work. Okie dokie? *two years later* I suggest you avoid pollen, grass and dust. That'll be $2000 thanks. buh bye". Yeah, thanks for nothing you old quack - give me a solution I can live with. I've said it before and I'll say it again. I wish I had my own prescription pad. It'd save me a hell of a lot of time and energy.

Is it wrong that I've played out this whole scenario in my head before it's actually happened?

* Meeting up with some long lost relatives on the weekend was mighty interesting. My cousins now have a little child who is turning 7. It's all great except that in my conversations with her I picked up something was wrong with her. I know that sometimes teachers can jump to the wrong conclusions - but I also know that I'm rarely wrong when it comes to picking up on children that might have special issues. This kid has issues. I can't follow a conversation with her at all. She's very manic and she makes no sense. I really mean no sense. The parents were very cagey about answering any questions about her but it turns out that although she's almost 7 she's never been to school. She's also not being home schooled. Her mother doesn't believe children should be sent to school before 7 because that's apparently how the euros do it.

I've read a good many studies that support sending children to school later and I don't have a problem with that happening. In fact I've worked with children that have been sent to school TOO early and you know, it's hell. It's hell for the teacher and it's certainly traumatic for the child. HOWEVER, for fucks sake, if you are living in a country where the kids start school between 5 and 6 then dammit, THAT'S when you send your child to school. Can you imagine starting a prep class being two years older than your peers? At that age, 2 years is a huge difference and you are asking for social problems. Furthermore, the school will initially decide that the child should be in an age appropriate class (fair enough) but then that child will have NO IDEA what is happening because she won't have the basics down.

I'm all in a tizz about this because
1) this girl should be in school
2) I have a feeling that when she goes to school there are going to be other special needs problems to deal with ON TOP of being academically behind.

sigh.

* It's the Melbourne Cup today! For the uninitiated this means that Melbournians get a whole day off work to celebrate a horse race. I am not complaining. In fact let's celebrate! I wish we got the whole week. I've got money on so many horses that I'm sure to go broke even if I win. Awesome, all in the spirit of the holiday I say.

Do you gamble? Do you bet a lot or a little? Do you put all your money on one horse to win? One horse to win and place? Many horses? Or are you really serious about it?


*EDIT* I've become rather pathetically addicted to playing pacman lately. Unfortunately I am crap at it. I have no idea how that happened - especially since I thought I was hot shit at it but anyway... Click on this link to go play pacman online and then come back here and tell me if you're good at it or not. Is there a secret pacman strategy or am I doomed to FINALLY make it past level 1 with only one life left and then get done in the first 10 seconds by that bloody inkey forever?

Labels: blogs, gambling, holiday, money, questions, school, sick, stressed teachers

posted by M at 11:22 am 31 comments

Remember Opera man? I loved him. He always knew how to make newsworthy items that would otherwise bore us to death into a work of supreme art. Not to mention accessible to all. With the Australian election looming on the horizon we're being bombarded with so many electoral promises that it's hard to really know what they're going on about.

Where is Opera man when you need him?

La Mr Ruddy
Has a tax plan for me
it means the richies
give up some money.

I like it a whole bunch
rich folks have far too much
we should be spending
..on ed-u-cating



La Mr Ruddy
the working class' buddy
even HE will paaaaaaayyy
more tax to us plebs.

more tax to us plebs.

yaaaaaaaaaaay, tax for the plebs!




Bushy eyed leader man
says Rudd stole his whole plan
except that big bit about
rich folks going without




Under the Liberals
everyone gets a cut
of course that means for you
less roads, health, schools and food.

La Mr Howard
is good at tax breaks.
that last tax break weeeeeent straaaight
...to the petrol tank

...and interest rates.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT WAS SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!

Labels: dumb entry, money, music, political musings, silly rabbit

posted by M at 7:04 pm 15 comments

Us singles have a different approach to life and finance than the marrieds do. Since I'm almost 30 and have pretty much resigned to never finding someone to settle down with I'm really thinking about my financial future at the moment, and looking to set myself up in alone-land. Alone-land involves thinking about 'what if I get sick?', 'what if I lose my job?' 'who will look after me?'. The answer is no one, and actually that's fucking scary. There's a lot of insecurity there - and this is because I know what it's like to account for every penny. It's how I grew up. It's not fun.

I've done a bit of soul searching and I've realised that I've been unconsciously doing something for a very long time that hasn't been good for me. I've been waiting. The waiting has held me back. While I *have* been looking for a house I'm realising now that maybe my fear about 'going it alone' has been holding me back from really laying my savings down on the line and buying something. Going it alone is bloody scary when you know that you're not ever going to earn enough to really be totally secure in mortgage land. Whatever I choose to do I know I'll have to be careful with money. That's okay in theory, but actually doing it is scary. The alternative however - waiting is a lot worse for me. Waiting is not on the cards - I need to be truly independent with waiting not even a factor. If this means I'm cutting off certain possibilities then so be it. I'm not going to suddenly win lotto so I need to really plan for my future now.

I hate people saying 'oh but you're so free'. Usually this comes from people who are snug as a bug in a rug in couple land where they're not thinking about how they are totally dependent only on themselves for everything. It's easy to say 'you're free to do what you want' when you've got a kid on your hip and hubby coming home for supper - I once challenged my friend on this and she admitted in the end that if she didn't have her husband then she wouldn't be able to do half the things that she's done. House, trips, etc - they can rely on each other. It's different when it's just you and I know the quirkyalone among you reading this will totally know what I'm talking about - serial monogamists excluded.

Anyway on being free - I don't really feel like going on an extended trip overseas, coming back with no savings and having to start again in a market that is even worse than what it is now. No thanks, I don't want to get caught up later. Honestly, if I was married, I think I would PUSH for an overseas trip right now, perhaps a stint living there for a while - because quite frankly it's easier when you've got two salaries to play with and there's safety in numbers as well. When you come back you have two salaries to bolster yourself up. Spending money on two living together is almost the same as one living alone - but you have two salaries to do it with. Yes, sure I *could* easily pack up my life and go overseas right now and not have to tell anyone about it. It could be great...for now - but while you hear all those romantic statements about living in the moment blah blah, back in the land of reality that ain't happening. Certainly not with the big stuff anyway. I'm pretty naive sometimes but not stupid. I know I have to plan and I know it has to happen now. I wrote an entry about this a while ago, in the context of men who say 'where have all the girls gone?' - well we went and got ourselves financially secure buddy.

Anyway it's taken a lot of soul searching on my part but I'm at that stage where I know I want to be financially secure so that I don't have to stress about it for the rest of my life. I've worked out a way to make it happen and am in a process of creating a future where I will not become my parents.

The relationship my parents had with money has taught me to never depend on another person for money coming in. Yes, that means I'm scarred but better to live and learn than to repeat the mistakes of others. I never want to have to 'talk about my spending' I never want to have to justify the extra pair of knickers I bought, I don't want to have to talk about how 'since I'm earning more that means you do more housework' (which yes, I have seen happen with friends of mine). I reject marrying for money (and all arguments out there that say that all women look for that in a man) because even the thought of someone paying for the date makes me incredibly anxious. Actually KNOWING that they resent doing this (from what I keep reading on the internets anyway) has opened up my eyes in a very bad way. The crap about women being gold diggers is even worse. For someone who already has a chip on her shoulder about being independent this whole money in relationships issue really gives me hives.

It's a good thing I'm planning for alone-land then eh?

So anyway, the point is I've got this plan that is actually going to happen and it's a good one but then something hit me hard - what if someone comes along in the future - waaay in the future when I least expect it? Where do they fit into the financial stability that I've (hopefully) created? I do believe in share and share alike and I'm generous to boot. I just don't want to be dependent - ever. I like the thought of a buddy relationship where you have each others backs and you both contribute the same, that would be ideal - but I'm wondering does that really exist when money and ego come into play?

The other day I was at my friend S's place and we were playing with her new baby. The baby did a poo and S looked at her husband - "can you please do it this time?" she said. He looked at her smiled and made a joke "no, I'm bringing the money in, you change the baby". I didn't say it was a funny joke, in fact it wasn't a joke at all - he was completely serious. These two actually have very similar work ethics and ideas about money and yet, there it was hanging over the room like a storm cloud waiting to erupt. Money.

Does money get in the way of a good relationship? How do you stop that from happening? Singletons, do you worry for your financial future - have you tried to plan for a future alone or are you waiting for someone to come along and help? Marrieds - did you go into your marriage totally financially secure or is this something you've developed together? Have you ever HAD these worries or were you married before it got to crunch time (for the record, I reckon 30-40 is crunch time). Is it detrimental to a relationship if one person is financially secure and the other isn't?

Labels: money, questions, relationships, singletons, smug marrieds, thoughts, wonderings

posted by M at 8:39 pm 37 comments

This afternoon she smiles knowingly. You see? she teases I can be nice - and nice she is. Golden sunlight stream down between the heavy grey buildings and into her so called famous lane-ways. I walk past those graffitied to perfection in all the right places and those that are dolled up with rows of cafe tables - in order to flirt with a man I'm slightly afraid of. I don't agree with flirting to get what you want, but times are tough and I'm a little desperate.

I arrive at my destination with a bounce still in my step - fresh from a sidewalk packed with sightseers and locals enjoying the surprisingly warm afternoon. I find him in the back of the shop leaning against a wall. He notices me too - how could he not? I have ready to be bought written across my forehead. He by contrast is wearing a hint of sleaze and a gold earring in his ear. He has don't mess with me written across his chest. He could break me without trying I think - but I pretty much think that about all people I meet, though in this case this one I'm guessing actually could.

Against my own will I wonder what it would be like to reach up kiss his full lips - something I wonder about almost all men I come across. I imagine the contrasting tangle of black and white we would create and for a moment I let the daydream creep up along my neck and up to my cheeks. He catches the look and smiles knowingly. This is too easy for him - I smile without any hint of tease, a little embarrassed, and step back. I'm not that girl. I don't know why I thought I could be anything but sincere, even in an exchange that would benefit me.

Back and forth the exchange goes until it seems we both win - or at least both get what we want. I prepare to leave and he looks down at my chest and winks as I step onto the pavement and into the sunlight. My mouth gapes in surprise and I stifle a laugh. Okay, he wins.

I am like a fawn on gangly legs with my newly acquired toy. The old one fit my hand like a glove, and this one is too big, too heavy, too difficult. We argue at each pass - disagreeing with how things should be run. I have the vision but it the technology to make it happen - we haven't learned to work together yet - and I'm just not used to sharing the lead with any dance partner, let alone one that can't talk back. I dip my paintbrush in the light and hand it over - doubtful - this process will take some getting used to.

Labels: art, daydreams, lens, melbourne musings, money, toys

posted by M at 8:34 pm 18 comments