wow almost a year on and I haven't been blogging on here for a while.....

Not that I haven't had any thoughts, or ramblings, but I went back to Uni to do some study and wasted spare time on FACEBOOK!!!   arrgghhh

I have a love hate relationship with Facebook.. i enjoy touching base with a large group of people from the comfort of my lounge room,  have reconnected with high school friends after 30years.  
we are meeting up with about 25 ppl some from interstate,   I am looking forward to it.   Most of us are regular people, some still married some never married some divorced like me.  A few have grandkids already!! 

that has been a good part of facebook.  I have also connected with cousins who live in Holland, another good part.

the bad is the games, I get hooked into them, and I play for hours logging on multiple times over the day to get to the next level, i have cut back to 2 games and scrabble, ok 3 games, hehehe

I have many other things i could be doing hobbies, real friends, etc   but i find myself logging on for 5 min and staying for a couple of hours......       time sucking FACEBOOK

ok the challenge spend less time on facebook each day. 

maybe pick up a paintbrush ....  

maybe,......

Alternative lifestyles

I find it fascinating reading about people's lifetyles, and blogs are a great way to do this.

I am a self confessed techno junkie, I love my computer and the WWW.  I watch Tv (quite a lot)  I play video games alone and with my kids...      this is partly fuelled by having an Aspie son, (Asperger Syndrome)  yes its on the Autism spectrum, his whole world is tied up with electronics particularly XBOX and the game called HALO  and has gotten Xbox live recently.   He gets comfort from the instant feed back that computers give him,  the stimulation and the sameness.... and the interaction with people where u dont have to read body language to understand.  Every ones focus is killing the baddies.......  and if u don't get on/along well, u switch them off kick them out

we dont get out much Mr. ASpie prefers to hang around home, hates shopping, getting too old for playgrounds..... finds travelling in the car tedious and overloads his senses. The sun is too bright, too hot, or there is a smell coming form aircon, the radio is too loud or too soft, or playing a "gay"  (meaning not popular) song. 

so we stay home ... a lot.....   this is hard for me as a social person, i get friends to visit as much as possible.....   and I escape to the WWW,  facebook, blogs and TV and the like

recently an aquaintance prided themselves on their "getting rid of technology"  and i applaud this, but do not feel the need to follow suit, so why am i made to feel "less"  i am told TV and facebook numbs the mind... well in my life TV and facebook have saved me!!!    being on my own a lot with an ASpie son i am thankfull for the technology i have access to

makes me wonder what ASpies and their parents did 100 years ago?  

  

A bit of shameless cross promotion...

I have another blog at JoRaElDesigns@blogspot.com

where I talk about and put up pictures of my creative work in fused glass.

I make plates, platters, bowls, candle holders, clocks, vases, earring, bracelets, rings, pendants and brooches.

On Sat 23rd Oct from 10am - 4pm I will be displaying my wates at MarionLIFE Markets , I would love to see you there!!

Caught Out!!

After my rant yesterday about water usage, I found myself flushing the toilet as usual even though there was a full bucket nearby, so much for good intentions.....

But I did get a second chance.....   wont go into details but the toilet needed a seond flush so I used the bucket :-)   and when i had my shower I used the timer!!!     

It doesn't take long to get out of a habit but it sure takes a long time to set one up!!!

Speaking of toilets found this amusing picture and article


http://www.wisebread.com/how-to-flush-299-down-the-toilet-and-fish-it-out-again

People sometimes have more money than sense LOL

WATER WATER WATER

Taking a shower this morning, luxuriating in it's warmth, and not wanting to get out, my eyes fell upon the little 4 minute egg timer i have in my shower and it got me thinking...  now that the drought is over how quickly i fall back into excess water usage.

When we first started on water restrctions, i had a bucket in the shower to catch the first water while shower warms up and some of the water used while showering, the bucket is still there but I no longer use it to flush the toilet like I used to (it sickens me to think of the drinking quality water we waste flushing)  but I had become to lazy to tke the extra couple of minutes it requires to reach into shower cubicle, carry bucket to loo and "flush"

I really hope the government doesn't lift any more water restrictions, as it seems to develop complacency, we take it as our right, (not privilege) many people in this world would love to have water near there homes let alone running water right in them......

My challenge to myself this week is to resume using the shower bucket and the shower timer , as one of the best ways to solve a problem is to be part of the solution!!!

POST ELECTION BLUES

Well the election has happened yet the results are unknown ... its been almost 3 weeks since we went to the polls and still there is no official winner....  the count is that close, there are 3 independants that seem to hold the balance of power and now ar e playing the "I WANT" game seeing which side offers more ...

and now we wait...   

It's Election time

We are heading for a Federal election in a couple of weeks, and so far the politicians have been mainly mud slinging each other and using "Illegal" immigration as a scare tactic ..... 

Arriving by boat and asking for asylum is not illegal   !!!!   Over staying a visa is......June 7 2010 Rachel Ball in The Age wrote:
The first assumption is that Australia is about to be flooded with boat arrivals. This anxiety is not supported by the numbers. About 4500 asylum seekers have arrived by boat in the past year. Compare this to 200,000 new permanent residents... each year and about 50,000 visa overstayers from such places as New Zealand, Britain and the US.    

SO in effect we increase our population by 255,000 people (immigrants) a year,  approx 2% arrive by boat seeking asylum )  almost 80% by using the "correct channels "   and 18% who illegally stay after their Visa expires.......   (does any one know where these come from??)    

Is it really a problem???