Mother's Day - origin

Apparently Mothersday was a reaction to the American Civil War. Julia Ward Howe called for the day to be celebrated because of all their sons dying and believed that women can unite to shape their society into a more peaceful one. (got this off Wikipedia)

Mother's Day Proclamation

Arise, then, women of this day!Arise, all women who have hearts, Whether our baptism be of water or of tears!
Say firmly: "We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies, Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage, for caresses and applause. Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience. We, the women of one country, will be too tender of those of another country To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."
From the bosom of the devastated Earth a voice goes up with our own. It says: "Disarm! Disarm! The sword of murder is not the balance of justice." Blood does not wipe out dishonor, nor violence indicate possession. As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil at the summons of war, Let women now leave all that may be left of home for a great and earnest day of counsel.
Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead. Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means Whereby the great human family can live in peace, Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar, But of God.
In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask That a general congress of women without limit of nationality May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient And at the earliest period consistent with its objects, To promote the alliance of the different nationalities, The amicable settlement of international questions,
The great and general interests of peace.

So just a quick update... what have I been up to? I found some american candy and tried it. Milk duds are pretty damn awesome, a bit like rolo but much better.

Cinnamon bun cookie dough is really bad. I did eat the whole pack just to make sure, but unlike most wines it doesn't get better the more you consume.

Fresh from the oven taste, I think not. More like fresh from the chemical factory - blergh

Attempted a slow cooker laksa chicken soup, which, while tasting fantastico, was a lot more stewy than soupy. Pictures of what it's supposed to look like and my attempt:

I bought a wacom tablet so I'm slowly making my way learning how to work with Photoshop & Illustrator, at the moment it's not going very quickly, it's just so overwhelming, I'm not really sure where to begin to learn.

Newest music on my Itunes is Elbow, Ramones, King Cannons and Beans on Toast.

I got a Kindle for my Birthday, lucky bitch, I know :) I've ransacked Amazon Kindle's free books - I got Robert Frost and Dylan Thomas's collected works, quite a few Charles Dickens, Rudyard Kipling, Oscar Wilde and heaps others. Working my way through Robert Frost's poems which right off the bat started out with one that I really loved -  Into my own:

ONE of my wishes is that those dark trees,
So old and firm they scarcely show the breeze,
Were not, as ’twere, the merest mask of gloom,
But stretched away unto the edge of doom.
I should not be withheld but that some day	5
Into their vastness I should steal away,
Fearless of ever finding open land,
Or highway where the slow wheel pours the sand.
I do not see why I should e’er turn back,
Or those should not set forth upon my track	10
To overtake me, who should miss me here
And long to know if still I held them dear.
They would not find me changed from him they knew—
Only more sure of all I thought was true.

Some more street art

Found another one on my way to the pool :)

GRAFFITI

I think we've got quite a few Banksy fans in Whangas. Look at the cool graffiti that someone stuck on the Pizza hut building that's been standing empty. I too am sad that there is no pizza being sold here anymore...

Christmas

So, just a quick Christmas post - yes I know it is already 2012, but of course I'm behind again. The above is my yearly Christmas project - the Bronze one is 2011's reindeer. It's been a pretty quiet Christmas & New Years, pretty much just hanging out with some friends and laxing out. The bulk of my Christmas break has been spent on seasons 1 - 6 of Supernatural. Please don't judge me... In my defense it's been miserable weather the entire time, so I was forced to spend the time mostly reading and watching TV. I got to read Stephen King & Terry Pratchett's newest efforts, as well as a few other books, all of which I really enjoyed. The other reason for not really going anywhere much is my new kitten - Boe. I had to spend a huge amount of time with her in order to make her worship me like a god. Boe is named after the Face of Boe in Dr Who - the oldest living being in that universe. I'm hoping that the name influences her lifespan, since my previous kitten, Sloe, only just reached two when somebody ran her over and killed her. Since that experience was enough to make me cry till my nose bled and had me breaking down over picking up her dishes & washing them and emptying her litter for the last time, I'm hoping that Boe manages to live long enough to make the pain of losing her worth it.

25 most powerful songs of the past 25 years

http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/111475

SYDNEY

So, I had to go to Sydney a week or so ago to train someone over there to use our system and to go through the queries and try to sort some of them out. Having just sorted out my permanent residence for NZ (another high stress situation) I assumed I would be okay to fly out to Aussie without a visa. Of course that was wrong, which means I spent the day that I was supposed to spend at the airport waiting for my flight frantically taxiing around Auckland and taking the worlds worst passport foto's to get a visa sorted that would normally take ten days to process. Well, suffice to say that I did make it onto the plane at the last possible minute, and was very happy to be there.
After having had the best steak I've had since leaving SA and a fairly late night, I awoke the next day all bright eyed and bushy tailed, ready to impart my extensive knowledge of JDE. However, bossman on Sydney's side had other ideas, and cancelled the training session, leaving me with an entire morning with nothing to do. Yes, I was very sad.

So I headed into town to do some sightseeing, and wandered around very happily taking pictures of the Harbour bridge and the Opera house. It was an absolute stunner of a day, just the best weather ever. What a luxury to breathe air that's not loaded with humidity!

Mostly, I was amazed by how many beautiful people I saw. The company I visited in the afternoon was surely a front for a group of international models, pretending to work in advertising. Everywhere I looked there was perfectly proportioned people bounding along the paths on their daily excersise routine. The concierge at the hotel was an edible morsel of toned blondeness. If only I could take pictures of them without looking all pervy.

So, all in all, a very enjoyable trip, if a wasted excersise for my work. I have really relished being in a big city again, I've always enjoyed living in them, and found myself rushing up escalators the same way I've done in London, and just having that same feeling of being part and apart from crowds of people.