I was woken for the 2nd time this morning with my father telling me that Benazir had been shot. I still can’t comprehend it.
My alarm had just gone off. I walked into the hall. Pabbi walked from the lounge room and said “Benazir Bhutto has been killed”. It took a millisecond for the brain to plug in and process the information. I don’t know what I said. I got in the shower and wept. Throughout the day I have weept as I have listened to the radio. Now as I type this I am weeping. I knew from the moment she arrived back in Pakistan the odds were stacked against her life, she knew it too. I like to be optimistic about life, politics, all those big things, I was wishing so dearly that the mechanisms would click into place and that the engine that is Pakistan would start to run in tune again. Tonight looking at tomorrow I don’t know how they are going to get in tune any time soon. I would like to think that her assassination would be a wake up call to the people of Pakistan that this is not the path they want to go down. I want to stay optimistic, in this day and age can you be anything else if you want to live the following day? I just hope so dearly that Pakistan does not implode, that out of this terrible event a ray of light emerges for Pakistan.
What is a Friend?
I found a piece of paper today which has a piece of prose I wrote in year 12 (2002) or it might have been year 11 (2001) but I am pretty sure it was year 12.
What is a Friend?
Is it someone you can trust with your life?
Is it someone who knows you almost as well as you do?
Is it someone you likes you for who you are and not what society wants you to be?
Is it someone who would give his or her life, so you could live?
Is it someone who will be there for you at the darkest point of your life?
Is it someone who asks you to the party on Friday?
Is it someone who will pass notes to you in class, even though you really should be listening?
Is it someone who rings you just to say good luck before the big test?
Is it someone who will join you on the walk of life?
Will they join you if you choose the road less travelled?
Will they do all of the above and thousands more just because they are your friend?
Looking back at it now I find a few things interesting in it.
I have never been a party girl so I find that line interesting. I rarely passed notes in class because I was terrified that the teacher would see and it would get back to Mum (one way to ensure your child doesn’t mess up, be a teacher at the school they attend).
Looking at this, I wish I could find copies of some of my other writings from high school I remember writing a pretty kick ass short story about a teenage boy and his search for the truth about his mother who died in childbirth and his grandparents’ apparent hate for their daughter. It was all top stuff. However, after a computer blowing up and a hard drive failure I lost most of my school work.
POTN in the City
I spent the better half of yesterday tramping round Brisbane with a tripod on my back and a camera bag on my side with nine other like minded people who I met through Photography on the Net, which is a Canon-centric message board. It was such a delightful day spent chatting, sharing tips and of course taking photos that I was sad to leave after lunch when the others were heading over to the Roma St Parklands but I had books to read, notes to make and granola muesli to cook.
We had arranged to meet at 5:30am at Kangaroo Point to take photographs of the cityscape in early morning light and we were all wishing for clearish skies and sun. We were not that lucky but at least we didn’t have rain like we had been having for the last couple of days.
Once we had had our fill of the view from that area we boarded a cross-river ferry and headed to the Eagle St Pier/Riverside area to play along the boardwalk and between the buildings in the morning light.
The Jogger
Every morning she pounds the footpath,
Every morning she takes the same route.
She sees the same thing day in, day out,
Perhaps she notices the changes that appear,
Or maybe she doesn’t.
By now it was close to 8ish and we hopped on a CityCat to take us up to New Farm Park and the Powerhouse where we explored the industrial elements of the Powerhouse before sitting down for a warm beverage and hoping for the clouds to part again and give us some sun.
The Magnificent Seven walking through the park with the Rose Garden in their sights. Three of us were not in the shot.
In the Rose Garden I spent my time searching for fairies but yet again they let me down, I did find evidence of their life though in the following photos.
First we have some Fairy Tables.
Since the rains have finally started to come to Brisbane, the fairies have been praising the clouds as they bring mushrooms with the rain; growing in little clusters they are just perfect for a Fairy cocktail party.
Second is a newly opened Fairy Fabric Store. Have you ever seen a flower where a petal might be missing or a branch with a few missing leaves? This is prime evidence of Fairy life. Petals and leaves are excellent sources of high quality fairy cloth. This Rose store I believe might be a special occasion fabric store as the petals were all intact. Perhaps they are waiting for more mushrooms to pop up and then they will have a Fairy Ball.
After more chatting and photographing we hopped back on the CityCat and cruised the Brisbane River up to Bretts Wharf, pointing out good spots for photos along the way and then exploring the river bank at Bretts Wharf.
Then it was back on the CityCat to head back into the city for lunch and the Roma St Parklands. However, myself and three others started on the trip home after lunch instead of going to the parklands :(. As we walked through the city streets back to the ferry stop to take us back across the river to our cars I snapped this last one of the Brisbane buildingscape.
Hello Holiday
So the Socceroos didn’t get up, we only lost by two against Brazil and Japan-Croatia tied with no goals, which means that we still look good for the next round.
I did my last exam for the semester yesterday, now I just have to wait for the results to come rolling in, even though grades are not announced until July 5, I already know that I have gotten two distinctions (6) and I think I might get another two yet and one credit (5) if I manage to pull this off, it will be my best semester at uni ever. One of those distinctions would have been a high distinction if I had not done miserably (11/20) on the mid-semester. Bring on next semester (which is my last semester of my undergraduate Bachelors degree)!
I watched three DVDs yesterday. The first was with Mum – Hope Springs, quite a nice romantic comedy and the character played by Minnie Driver was just a total piece of work. The second was with Mum and Matthew – Do You Remember?: Fifteen Years of the Bouncing Souls, which was a really great doco about The ‘Souls which made me think I really should have gone with Matthew and his friends to see them when the played the other month. The last one I watched was Speak, this was an incredible movie, I didn’t think it would be anywhere near as dark as it was but it was just incredibly moving.
Bring on five weeks of holidays and try to forget that this time last year we were busy preparing for the Palsson Grand Iceland Tour of 2005, I guess though in four years times we will all do our best to make our way back as a family for the quinquennial clan gathering.
I have plans of grandeur to fill my holidays with, which include the following.
- Make this top – Simplicity 4589, view A
- Make pasta
- Finish the final testing of a new blog template
- Attack the ever increasing pile of recipes to try and make a good number of them
- Learn how to knit – Continental style (Mum was taught English style like most Australian’s but thinks it would be better for me to learn Continental style as it is so more efficient, she talks of when she was in Iceland and like most of the other women spent a lot of time knitting by hand or with their machines and how the Icelandic women were just powerhouses with their knitting, maybe I can talk her into paying for me to go to Iceland these holidays to learn how to knit?)
- Get a fair stack of scrapbooking done
- Make a couple of bags
- Get my bike serviced so I can start riding again
- Go on a couple of mini photographic expeditions
- Go see Trivia at the Metro Arts
- Go see Death Cab for Cutie at the Arena
- The Brisbane Flickr meet up on Sunday
- Get a couple of photos printed and mounted for a long overdue birthday present
- Have fun
- Work a heap
- Organise some sort of filing system for the clippings I collect
- Hit up the shops/life with Andrea
- Party hard(ish) with Sam
- Play copious amounts of Gamecube with Matthew
- Organise something with The Girls from school
- Read all the books in this monstrous stack I have – five different trips to the library and the four I need to finish beside my bed (if you click on the photo you can see it full size so you can have a “browse” of my library shelf)
The real question is how much of this list will I actually get through and how much I won’t finish.
plaster from toes to mid thigh
Well Mum is not going anywhere fast. She has a leg in plaster and Matthew and I are rapidly adding to the list of reasons why the household needs a laptop. The following is the email that she dictated to Pabbi (hence it does not talk about Matthew and I) that she sent to friends and family. Saves me typing it out.
On Sunday I broke my leg. Paul is typing this for me while I lie in Helen’s bed with my right leg on a pillow. Paul has been fist class at looking after me and helping me etc over this episode
I have plaster from my toes to mid thigh.
I am pain free.
Now for the details:
The following is my own fault, I know I have a tendency to be a bit gung ho and normally I keep that well under control, but on Sunday I didn’tOn Sunday I was leading a small group on a walk from Lemon tree flat to Sentinel point and Mt Huntly (South of Cunningham’s gap) We went up a cliff break on a rope but I decided to come down without the rope. I was almost down when I slipped a bit and where my foot landed gave away, and my foot went in a hole almost to my knee, and I kept going. Before I got myself disentangled from that, I immediately I knew I had done something bad to my knee. I sat still for a while and put some more clothes on, the general consensus was that I had done a ligament bandaged my knee and walked out with the help of two walking poles and someone carried my pack. it was a slow walk. As long as I did not try a twisting movement of my knee and I walked slowly it was quite ok. We had to walk about an hour and a half before we got to the end of the 4 wheel drive road. One of the men had gone ahead and he got back there with his 4wheel drive the same time as we did. Went back to camp and had a sleep while I waited for Kay, my traveling companion to come back from her walk.
Kay packed us up and drove my car to Brisbane. Because I thought I had done a ligament I did not go to the hospital that night but hired crutches on the way home.
On Monday Paul took me to the 24 hour medical centre at Kedron and I had xrays of my knee. The GP there thinks I have fractured the top of my Tibia (shinbone) I was put in plaster (Paul did a great job of assisting the nurse as this sort of plaster is a 2 person job)
I was given a referral to a lower limb specialist but he was not open for business today, I shall call him tomorrow morning.
More news when I know more.
Meanwhile I am drowning in marking and reports. Fortunately a recently retired teacher from my school is taking my classes, by pot luck she also teaches Maths A, B and C
What she doesn’t say is that the GP said that best case scenario she is back at school in a couple of weeks, worst case scenario she may never go back to teaching. It seems that this sort of break can have all sorts of complications. We are all adapting our life to our new found situation. Once she has finished her marking, she plans to break out the embroidery etc that needs to be finished off as unfortunately unless we get a new sewing machine table there is no way she will be quilting.
I had my first exam today which I am pretty sure I did alright in, I knew which questions would be on the exam so I was able to prepare my essays beforehand. I have another exam tomorrow which is for my Ethics and International Relations subject, even more fun.
We have evolved from having a Nintendo 64 which Matthew and I were given for Christmas many moons ago to having a Nintendo GameCube that Matthew bought off eBay for cheap as people sell in preparation for getting a Nintendo Wii. I can’t wait to get Burnout for it as that is one game that I rocked at when I used to play at it my ex-boyfriend’s house. Matthew is planning on attempting to get Mum hooked into playing the games with him; however I do not see that as a likely event.
I picked up this pretty cool book in the 75% bin at Borders today – All My Life For Sale, it is the catalogue of a man selling almost all of his worldly possessions on the internet and the history and future of the items, pretty darn cool 🙂
ANZAC Day
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
We will remember them.
– For the Fallen by Laurence Binyon
Today is ANZAC Day, which without a doubt is the most revered day in Australia and New Zealand, more so than our respective national days (Australia Day and Waitangi Day).
Today is the day when we commemorate those who didn’t come home and honour those who have, the day we thank those who have served and those who are. We know that peace and freedom do not always come without a sacrifice and we thank those who made that sacrifice.
World War I forged the Australian identity, as a federated nation we were only 14 years old at the beginning of the war. We sent 40% (330 000) of our male population to the war, they were all volunteers. 60 000 of these did not return. Australia had the highest casualty rate of WWI and New Zealand had the highest casualty and death rate per capita of any country involved in WWI. It was not a war that threatened either of our nations personally but as members of the Commonwealth we felt a duty to serve.
The Last Post
[audio:LastPost.mp3]
We now pause for two minutes to reflect on the significance of the day and to show our respect to those who served. The idea of a minute’s silence is credited to Edward Honey, an Australian journalist in London during WW1 who published a letter in the Evening News on 8 May 1918 appealing for a moment of silence during the celebrations of the first anniversary of the Armistice (11/11/1918)
Rouse and Reveille
[audio:Rouse.mp3]
Since this is not a Dawn Service, we follow the moment of silence with Rouse instead of Reveille which is played as the first call of the day.
Advance Australia Fair
[audio:AdvanceAustFair.mp3]
Lest We Forget