Sometimes i feel like i have a gene missing:

the ohhhhhhhhhhh wedding dress shopping fantasy

I hate wedding dress shopping!

Perhaps because I want something slightly different:

not white (that includes ivory)

not strapless

not huge

and not expensive

But I do want something that has a train (i'm not really sure why, but for some reason its the one thing traditonal wedding dress part that I like).

I started looking recently because I know it will take me a while, and so far the only one I have found is overseas which means getting it send. What do you think? Too risky?

Satan lurrrrrrrrrving

Ok i stole this from someone else, but just had to pass it along because its makes me laugh so much.

Below is part of a newsletter that St. Mary's church in Colorado Springs sent out recently:

If Your Child is a Gothic, Reform Through the Lord!

Listed below are some warning signs to indicate if your child may have gone astray from the Lord. Gothic (or goth) is a very obscure and often dangerous culture that young teenagers are prone to participating in.
The gothic culture leads young, susceptible minds into an imagined world of evil, darkness, and violence. Please seek immediate attention through counselling, prayer, and parental guidance to rid your child of Satan's temptations if five or more of the following are applicable to your child:

-Frequently wears black clothing.
-Wears band and/or rock t-shirts.
-Wears excessive black eye makeup, lipstick or nailpolish.
-Wears any odd, silver jewelry or symbols. Some of these include: reversed crosses, pentagrams, pentacles, ankhs or various other Satanic worshipping symbols.
-Shows an interest in piercings or tattoos.
-Listens to gothic or any other anti-social genres of music. (Marilyn Manson claims to be the anti-Christ, and publicly speaks against the Lord. Please discard any such albums IMMEDIATELY.)
-Associates with other people that dress, act or speak eccentrically.
-Shows a declining interest in wholesome activities, such as: the Bible, prayer, church or sports.
-Shows an increasing interest in death, vampires, magic, the occult, witchcraft or anything else that involves Satan.
-Takes drugs.
-Drinks alcohol.
-Is suicidal and/or depressed.
-Cuts, burns or partakes in any other method of self-mutilation. (This is a Satanic ritual that uses pain to detract from the light of God and His love. Please seek immediate attention for this at your local mental health center.)
-Complains of boredom.
-Sleeps too excessively or too little.
-Is excessively awake during the night.
-Dislikes sunlight or any other form of light. (This pertains to vampires promoting the idea that His light is of no use.)
-Demands an unusual amount of privacy.
-Spends large amounts of time alone.
-Requests time alone and quietness. (This is so that your child may speak to evil sprits through meditation.)
-Insists on spending time with friends while unaccompanied by an adult.
-Disregards authority figures; teachers, priests, nuns and elders are but a few examples of this.
-Misbehaves at school.
-Misbehaves at home.
-Eats goth-related foods. Count Dracula cereal is an example of this.
-Drinks blood or expresses an interest in drinking blood. (Vampires believe this is how to attain Satan. This act is verydangerous and should be stopped immediately.)
-Watches cable television or any other corrupted media sources. (Ask your local church for proper programs that your child may watch.)
-Plays videos games that contains violence or are of a role-playing nature.
-Uses the internet excessively and frequently makes time for the computer.
-Makes Satanic symbols and/or violently shakes head to music.
-Dances to music in a provocative or sexual manner.
-Expresses an interest in sex.
-Masturbates-Is homosexual and/or bisexual.
-Pursues dangerous cult religions. Such include: Satanism, Scientology, Philosophy, Paganism, Wicca, Hinduism and Buddhism.
-Wears pins, stickers or anything else that contains these various phrases: "I'm so gothic, I'm dead", "woe is me", "I'm a goth".
-Claims to be a goth.

If five or more of these apply to your child, please intervene immediately. The gothic culture is dangerous and Satan thrives within it. If any of these problems persist, enlist your child into your local mental health center.

~St. Mary's Catholic Church

I didn't realise that Buddhism was a dangerous cult religion.

I have more than five!

The drummer's hand after the pillable show (from Alok's 31G)

Why Native English Speakers are sometimes arrogant fuckers

Most of us only speak one language-English and sometimes not so well (i can vouch for that!).

Many travel to other countries where English is not commonly spoken and try to speak English only to get annoyed when they can't communicate back-what a big surprise! Even sadder when this is happening and you are in a non english speaking city and the person on the receiving end of the abuse is apologising for not speaking good english (witnessed in a few parts of asia).

And then when someone is attempting to speak English in our country we either tease them, laugh or the worst thing possible start to raise our voice and talk to them to in a patronising/angry manner. I have seen this over half a dozen times in the last week. Just try for once to slow down and have a tiny amount of patience it might prove more successful than shouting at them like they are deaf.

They are trying to speak a second or perhaps third or fourth language and rather than appreciate the effort, many get annoyed, and even angry and start to spew out comments like 'he/she/they can't even speak English' to others. However generally that comment is made about someone who is speaking English, its just imperfect and/or slow.

Get over yourself arrogant fuckers you can speak English most probably because you were born and raised here (or there), so what?

Stop giving the rest of us decent native English speakers a bad name!

To those of you who are attempting to speak english if you are being treated like that from someone while they are at their workplace (shop, restaurant, etc) make a complaint to their supervisor. Its the only hope to get the message through to them, and even if doesn't they will hopefully get into trouble for it.

Random mini reviews

Watched spanglish yesterday and was pleasantly surprised. I was expecting some brainless comedy but instead it was much more of a drama with a few funny bits thrown in, it actually inspired a d&m between my bro and I, any movie that manages to do that gets the thumbs up from me.

Have tried a few new recipes mostly from online with mixed results. Loved the Lemony lentil soup but just wished I made more. The chickpea curry was just ok but seems to be lacking something, and the basil tofu was very disappointing. The garden of vegans chickpea and swiss chard (p117) was great considering it took no more than 15 minutes to make.

Speaking of garden of vegan, I have been informed that Sarah Kramer (one of the authors of garden of vegan and how it all vegan) will release a new cookbook called La Dolce Vegan at the end of the year. Can't wait!!! Both the current books are my fav cookbooks. I just wonder if she can pull off another great cookbook and this time without Tanya.

What's in a blog name?

Somehow the name of my blog become the topic of conversation amongst a couple of my friends and surprisingly a few interpretations of my blog name (the bluerthanpink part) were given.

I'm interested in hearing how others interpret it before I reveal what its all about.

Flinders Street station taken new years eve-2005.

A new terrorist threat- Melbourne?

I have been discussing the new terrorist threat with a few of my friends and even my mother in pretty much the same way as I discuss what i think is going to happen next in a tv show. Strange that the conversations are so casual but i guess that's the only way to deal with it.

There are a few things I/we don't quite get though.

First why Melbourne? Sydney is Australia's famous city. Besides it has more famous icons- the bridge, and the opera house. I've been trying to think about what is so special about Melb. Don't get me wrong I love it but its certainly not up there as far as big cities go. It is supposed to be the worlds most livable city, is that why? A lot of people don't even know where Melbourne is. I can just imagine if there was a terrorist attack here, all these people around the world asking 'where is Melbourne'? I guess that's one way to put it on the map- for the wrong reason.

The other thing is where in Melb? We don't exactly have a huge population and the city centre is small in comparison to most big cities. My theory is flinders street station (see above) its one of our few icons and has more trains going there then any other station. My mother thinks the commonwealth games but I doubt it. Apart from the countries actually involved I doubt anyone knows let alone cares about the games. The only reason we care is because we win so many medals.

One more gripe. Erin (my AMERICAN friend) pointed out the terrorists incorrect pronunciation of Melbourne. For the record its pronounced more like Mel-burn/ Mel-bun(a cross between the two perhaps) NOT 'Mel-born; as he pronounced it. If you are going to threaten out city at least get the pronunciation right!

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On a much much much happier note I just recently discovered vegan lunch box if you haven't already do yourself a favour and check it out. Its possibly the cutest blog ever!

Vegan Junk food 2

Ok this is going to be the last one for a while as I'm going off sugary snacks for a little while. I've going to be a better snacker I swear.




These are pricey but well worth it, well the mint ones anyway. I have brought two packs in the last week. They taste like a cross between tim tams and choc mint slices. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

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Btw, I apologise for the new word verification thing with comments, it just had to be done, my spam comments seem to be on the rise for some unknown reason and I'm sick of deleting them.

The support act before architecture in Helsinki at the corner hotel-yes a melb pic for once.
 

I've been thinking a lot about work lately.

I'm fortunate to have two very different jobs. Three if you include volunteer work and four if you include studying. But lets stick to the two that i get paid for. One my crapola job which is extremely laid back, and also very monotonous, not very well paid and almost anyone can do. I call it a crapola job because society devalues it, some people even go as far as thinking that they should take out all their problems on you by yelling at you, its also not particularly stimulating. The other of course is my lecturing, which is stressful, and a fairly big responsibly.

Lecturing takes a lot out of me. Not just in preparation, but also in terms of energy and the amount of time that I am thinking about it, stressing, and planning. I guess it doesn't help that I am teaching a science/maths subject to arts students. Each week is a new challenge. This week for example I have lecture notes which are too detailed. What i mean by that is there is nothing more for me to expand on, examples are already included and detailed as well. So basically i feel like I'm going to stand up there and read the lecture notes. Bloody great!

My other job in contrast gives me no stress at all. Its out of my mind as soon as I leave. In fact at the moment I find myself looking forward to it in contrast to the rest of the stressful week. I've also got some bloody great co-workers and often get paid to have all sorts of interesting conversations and/or debates (see below for example). As well as getting some studying done when its quiet.

The thing I have been thinking about is: is it worth it? If your job is interrupting you out of work hours?

The other thing is i hate the amount of presumptions that come with the question: 'what do you do for a living'? Don't get me wrong I ask that too (so i can get ideas for future occupations for me), but judging a person based on their job is just plain stupid. Some of my most interesting friends do crapola jobs (call centre operators, hospitality workers, cleaners, retail staff, taxi drivers). Their job says nothing about their passions, their music taste (highly important), about what they do outside of work (volunteer, write, cook, travel, do a martial art, blog etc)or about who they really are. Take for example an acquaintance who is very selfish and unsympathetic yet job consists of helping people as an international aid worker. I myself am also probably more interesting when I'm not studying or doing a stressful job because of course if your in a job which doesn't challenge you, you tend to look for challenges outside of work (for me learning canto among other things), am more likely to volunteer, to see more of my friends and family, to read more (i miss it!!!) and to travel. I've decided in the future to answer that question with simply my crapola job, if they discontinue the conversation it just shows how boring they are. I've also decided to adopt my friends approach and ask a different question in place of it: 'what do you like to do outside of work?'. Now that will start to reveal how interesting the person is.

Derrick Jensons (amazing writer) words also haunt me. In regard to work taking up 75% of your time and what it does to you to be in a job where you basically wish your life away?

I guess the trick is to get a job which doesn't take all your energy and certainly not more that the 75%, but at the same time you don't hate, any suggestions?

Bringing vegan junk food to a blog near you

There is a vegan woman at my local health food store who has been introducing me to all sorts of new vegan products. I walked in there the other day buying hand cream and walked out with an extra three items. My fav of the week is this one:



Orgran are perhaps my new fav brand. These biscuits rock, as do the other flavours: amaretti and lemon poppy seed. They are also not too bad money wise, are gluten free and come in a zip lock bag.

She also showed me a few of their other good items: Orgran Chocolate Mousse Mix, and muffin mixs. I might actually start baking again.

My other fav junkfood item of the month has got to be tofutti vanilla almond bark. About friggin time we had their tubs in australia. Thanks Erin for introducing it to me.

Are you afraid to walk alone at night?

Perhaps the answer of this question depends on your gender.

The Male privilege checklist suggests it is.

Ari and I were discussing this at work today (yes working really hard as per usual).

He's never afraid (and I know he's not exactly the macho type who would worry about saying if he was).

I am! While it doesn't generally stop me from going out, or walking by myself at night it does make me feel uneasy when I am out by myself. I have created two blanky style ways to help though: being on the phone, and holding the keys in between my fingers (you want a key shoved in your eye?).

Beauty competitions for Men?



The contestants.


Some of the contestants in their national costumes.


When I was in HK I watched a little bit of Mr Asia. A new competition. Its old news now but I was just reminded of it the other day. I was intrigued with what a beauty pageant would be like for men. I only watched the last few sections, however it was enough to give me some sort of indication. As taken from the website:

The Judges indicated that besides physical appearances, the contestants should demonstrate other quality as well. Fanny tends to judge on their charm, masculinity and inner beauty, while Janet will focus on their appearance, character and personlity. Mrs. Judy Hong believes that the vitality of their eyes are very important. [Engrish included]

I didn't see any judging of their inner beauty, strange that.

I'm not sure what exactly I was expecting, but the question/answer section wasn't much different from female pageants. Silly questions were asked and silly replies were give such as the winner -Mr Israel's one reason why he should win:

"I have the biggest eyes"

Or Mr India's reply to the following question:

What is the biggest problem in your country today, and how will you deal with it?

I think the biggest problem in my country is over-population and pollution. I hope that people can be self-discipline and don't waste materials. Just use what must be used and don't waste. Also, keeping hygiene is very important.

Something seems different though. Something I can't quite put my finger on. It was different from competitions like Mr World in that the emphasis wasn't on muscle. At the same time it didn't fully compare to the female pageants either. Perhaps it was just the change of men being subjected to it all.

Photos and quotes taken from the website.

Happy Birthday Mr T!!!

Wow-beer

Ian Lubek visited my small time blog and left a comment here.

At first I was excited and extremely flattered but then I realised he probably found the entry through googling his name (who hasn't done it?).

Sadly though if you do google his name (depending on the country preference) -my blog is quite high up on the list on entries.

Too high. This man, and his cause deserve more attention! Particularly when he is trying to use the media to shame the beer companies into being more responsible in Cambodia as well as spreading the word amongst consumers.

If you haven't already go and read the post or better yet read more at one of the below sites:

Cambodia-HIV/Aids Research
Beergirls
Ethicalbeer
Fairtrade Beer

Btw, I've switched to Icebeer, its cheap and not bad as far as beer goes (although I must admit that i'm more of a wine/cider/spirits girl anyway).

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Also thanks to sourduck i discovered bloglines.

Instead of having to check individually who has update their blogs, i just check bloglines and it tells me. Perfect!