Chinese girls

I come home today from uni and the tv was already on Oprah. I overheard part of the program as I made myself a drink and plonked myself in front of tv to watch the rest and then I cried.

What I witnessed was a clip from the 'Dying Rooms' documentary:

the filmmakers showed the unbelievable living conditions in the orphanages they came across. They also found an actual "dying room" where an unwanted baby girl was left 10 days earlier to die. She was named Mei Ming, which means "no name." Mei Ming gave up on her fight to live four days after the filmmakers filmed her. The orphanage denied she ever existed, but the film proves otherwise.

What I witnessed is probably hard to imagine but the image seems burned into my skull now, its probably best described by true vision/sun morning post-1995:

Mei-ming has lain this way for 10 days now: tied up in urine-soaked blankets, scabs of dried mucus growing across her eyes, her face shrinking to a skull, malnutrition slowly shrivelling her two-year old body. The orphanage staff call her room the "dying room", and they have abandoned here for the very same reasons her parents abandoned her shortly after she was born. She is a girl.

It also went on to show a part of Lisa Ling's documentary on what is happening now(well 2004 it's an old episode):

Lisa found that baby girls are still being either aborted or abandoned by the thousands and boys outnumber girls by 17 million. Although the one child per family policy still stands, Lisa says families do have sons and daughters. "In the countryside, you can have more than one child. If your first child is a girl you can try to then have a boy," Lisa says. "The problem is that no matter how you try, you can't force yourself to have a boy. So if you continue to have girls, a lot of these families, they continue to give away or kill baby girls until they have a boy, and some may never have a baby boy.

It also showed American families adopting chinese girls and the actual moment where they saw the girls for the first time and again I cried a little more.

Then I messaged Mr T and said 'when and if we decide to have children I want to adopt a girl from China'.

Gay politics

From the age:

The bill aims to give same-sex couples equal legal rights with married couples. It expects the bill to be passed in May. But it has caused a furore in Federal Parliament.

In a letter to Mr Stanhope, Mr Ruddock said the Government considered same-sex relationships were matters for the states and territories.

But it opposed "any action which would reduce the status of marriage to that of other relationships, or which would create confusion over the distinction between marriage and same-sex relationships".

Mr Ruddock warned that "the Government would take appropriate action, including the introduction of legislation, to prevent this occurring'.

The Commonwealth has no problem with state laws giving same sex couples the same legal rights as married couples. But it objects to the use of marriage celebrants — licensed under federal marriage laws — performing civil union ceremonies, which the ACT bill appears to allow for as well as all other provisions that equate civil unions with marriage.

The bill aims to give same-sex couples equal legal rights with married couples. It expects the bill to be passed in May. But it has caused a furore in Federal Parliament.

In a letter to Mr Stanhope, Mr Ruddock said the Government considered same-sex relationships were matters for the states and territories.

But it opposed "any action which would reduce the status of marriage to that of other relationships, or which would create confusion over the distinction between marriage and same-sex relationships".

Mr Ruddock warned that "the Government would take appropriate action, including the introduction of legislation, to prevent this occurring'.

The Commonwealth has no problem with state laws giving same sex couples the same legal rights as married couples. But it objects to the use of marriage celebrants — licensed under federal marriage laws — performing civil union ceremonies, which the ACT bill appears to allow for as well as all other provisions that equate civil unions with marriage.

It is incredibly sad that same sex couples are not enabled the same rights as straight married couples.

I've been thinking a lot about same sex issues such as marriage lately. It's something I strongly believe in, so what's stopped me from blogging about it?

In some way I feel that as a straight individual I don't have the right to talk about it. I can't really explain it. Lately though i've realised how ridicilous it is. It's like saying a man has no place defending feminism. Besides this is not just gay rights, it is also human rights!

Banning gay marriage and even worse in our sad little state of a country inadequate recognition of civil unions is discrimination.

Human rights in the way of gay issues has such a long long way to go. Sadly I don't think I will have any more chance of seeing a openly gay prime minister as I will a female prime minister of this country. In fact there is probably more of a chance of a female prime minister (think amanda vandstone-ughhhhhhhhhh) than a openly gay one.

I'm feeling signifcantly better and it was just in time for my birthday.

Sat night I had dinner and drinks with a group of friends and was able to enjoy myself without worrying about what I was eating too much. I did however avoid alcohol just to be on the safe side. I took along my camera but had so much fun I forgot to take pics. Mr T did take a pic of his entree that we shared at shakahari:



Sun was my birthday and I went out for yum cha with my family, and then caught a fairy from willimastown to southbank. Here are some pics from along the way:

Underneath the westgate bridge

Petrol station on the water





The health scare has brought back some bad memories. Memories of being sick constantly, feeling that I had no life because I couldn't go out with friends or family members, unable to work or study, unable to
do anything but be sick. It's got me thinking about my diet again. I'm going to be more careful in the future. Nothing is more important that your health!

As part of my new pledge to eat better, I made my own cereal out of oats, chopped up dates, cashews, almonds, maple syrup, pumpkin seeds, and coconut. It is by far the best cereal I have ever tasted but I can't take complete credit though since I got the recipe from Garden of Vegan.

Yay!!!!!!!

I found + made a design a like.

It is staying like this for a while since it took me so long to adjust the colours alone.

I can't stand the acid reflux diet

perhaps the most stuggling things to omit from my diet are: onions, garlic, and tomatos.

Other things to avoid include lemons, oranges, chilli, Peppermint, Chocolate, and fried foods.

Lunch and breakfast are fine but I struggle for ideas for dinner.

Any suggetions?

I am deteremined to be better by the weekend.