Chasing Snails

Quixote

2011-02-28T23:44:00.007+10:00

The past week was devoured by a flurry of mental activity; it started with a documentary and a ridiculous amount of notebooks that have been silently nurturing my most private thoughts - (finally) the incessant background hum that has occupied my mind has manifested into a romantically idealistic snowglobe of creativity.

Why a snowglobe? Because, within each snowglobe, a perfectly architectured snapshot of a moment, dream, experience, an idea, is housed in all it's perfection and whilst able to offer the perception of eternal safety, in truth, they offer little resilience and are easily shattered; but that's ok, I am still in exploration stage, there's bound to be some shattering taking place.

Aside from my current 'I can take on the world' sense of empowerment, the past couple of weeks have been very emotionally challenging and rather than turn into a cynical, angry little person, I have been filling my head with zombie nonsense and gore (I do so very much have a zombie fetish). If you haven't yet watched 'The Walking Dead' series, indulge in some quality selfish time and watch it, you won't regret it.

Image Credit: Round and Round - kittyyellowjacket

Donate Life

2011-02-21T23:18:00.000+10:00

Don't think about it, just go and do it - Register as an Organ and/or tissue Donor.

For more information on Donate Life Week, click here.
To register as a donor (you don't even have to get off your butt, you can register online), click here.

Anti-Valentines Day

2011-02-14T13:32:00.002+10:00

I'm not jaded, I don't have a broken heart, I haven't 'struck out on love', I simply refuse to support something that has been bastardised into a day of obligation, that promotes consumerism and encourages shallow displays of emotion.

Or maybe, I just don't like being told what to do.

As a side note, I am ever so curious to know how many people, worldwide, will have sex today.

iSinning

2011-02-09T12:19:00.004+10:00

The Catholic Church has given approval to hurl absolution into the 21st Century, with the release of a new iPhone application: 'Confession'.

After registering some basic personal information, receiving your act of contrition is as simple as selecting your sin and reflecting upon your wrong doing. 'Confession' is, of course, fully customisable. There is no need to feel restricted by the in-built list of sins, you are free to add your very own 'custom' sins.

'Confession' is dubbed as simply an application to 'prepare for the Sacrament of Reconciliation', it does not serve as a replacement for a Priest in order to receive absolution, which leads me to the next benefit of 'Confession' - never again will you face the confessional faux pas of forgetting your sins, they will all be stored safely and readily available via your iPhone. If the thought of your sins falling into the wrong hands concerns you, rest easy, 'Confession' is of course, password protected.

Still not impressed? How's this for a final sweetener; the path of righteousness will only set you back $1.99

Confession: A Roman Catholic App

On Dreams

2011-02-06T22:55:00.003+10:00

Dreams: The bridging of the conscious and the subconscious mind. A place where the mind is void of restriction and without limitation; there are no rules, everything is fair game.

I have from a young age, always been fascinated by dreams; the way our mind catalogues events with a mixture of realism and surrealism. The way in which we receive snippets of our psyche and more-so, the divinatory aspects to dream interpretation. How is it, that a vessel, such as our mind, can at times possess such uncanny truth and guidance to our future?

The dream state presents us with an endearing ability that allows oneself to tap into their psyche; A place where all creations of wonder and beauty reside. A place where nothing is too ridiculous, inspiration lurks behind every corner and the heart is free to manifest desire without restriction.

The Carousel - doomXtongue

Dreams can provide the mind with a place of safety and/or comfort. It’s also a place where longing lingers and breathes; a longing for things long since left behind and those which are yet to be. Desires are delicately nurtured until such time they are within our reach and no longer too impossible to exist in the waking state.

Rabbit Tale – Suzy The Butcher

Dreams however, as with all things, are faced with the confines of balance; there is always a shadow to every whisper of light.

If you happen to venture into the realm of nightmares, into the darkest part of your psyche where you are plagued with fear, regret and guilt; if these parts of your mind stir with desolate resolution, while your inner daemons crawl under your skin, lick at your wounds and tear at your flesh whilst mocking your sanity, the ability to dream can seemingly, become the minds most tragic flaw.

Auschwitz – Gloom82

“Besides those who sneer at dream study, because they have never looked into the subject, there are those who do not dare to face the facts revealed by dream study. Dreams tell us many an unpleasant biological truth about ourselves and only very free minds can thrive on such a diet. Self-deception is a plant which withers fast in the pellucid atmosphere of dream investigation.”
Foreword written by Andre Tridon for ‘Dream Psychology’ by Sigmund Freud

Jason deCaires Taylor

2011-02-02T13:55:00.009+10:00

What's the result of life-size sculpture, merging with the environment?
An artificial reef, that is as stunning as it is haunting; silent beauty.

Jason deCaires Taylor - Underwater Scultpture

Newfound whore.

2011-01-31T01:39:00.014+10:00

I have reacquainted myself with a friend.
Her name is Romance.

She is a whore and she does not give refunds.

Natural Disaster Tax?

2011-01-29T21:14:00.008+10:00

sug·ar·coat
[shoog-er-koht]
–verb (used with object)
1. to cover with sugar: to sugar coat a pill.
2. to make (something difficult or distasteful) appear more pleasant or acceptable: There was no way to sugar coat the bad news.

as in: Flood Levy.

The proposed Flood Levy (tax) whilst being sugar-coated as 'mate ship' is nothing more than our Government shirking responsibility to provide basic, necessary infrastructure; services we already pay for, via income tax.

As it stands, the immediate effects we can expect are an increase in basic living costs; food, home rental costs etc. Less immediate effects are a predicted increase in home insurance costs and the Medicare Levy (funnily enough, the rise in the Medicare Level is reportedly to subsidise the Flood rebuilding cost). Throw into the mix a predicted 1% drop in the GDP and, of course, a rise in the current inflation rate - is this the time to introduce a new tax?

Is taxing the non-flood affected population of Australia necessary, when a scheme that cost $420+ million (a third of the funds the Government is trying to raise) such as 'Cash for Clanks' is still on the table? A scheme created to get older, less efficient cars off the roads, in place for newer, more sustainable vehicles; a scheme that is of no relevance if basic infrastructure is not present; you cannot drive your spiffy new car, if there are no roads. Surely the Government can assess and adjust current spending and future planned schemes, in order to avoid placing a further tax on the Australian population.

I would like to make it perfectly clear, that I personally have no qualms in providing financial assistance to those whom have been affected by the floods. I have, as have most of the Australian public, made a donation to the Disaster Relief Fund, a donation which goes directly to those affected. A donation which was in fact, a larger sum than I would be required to pay if the proposed Flood Levy legislation is approved and initiated on July 1st 2011.

Whether you personally believe that as a nation we need to support those affected financially, is not the question I am raising, it is not what I am asking you to ponder. The issue I would like to raise is whether the Government introducing a new tax to cover the costs of rebuilding basic infrastructure, infrastructure it is responsible for providing and which we are already taxed for, is necessary and justified.

It will take 5 minutes of your day to contact your local member of parliament to give your opinion; email, phone call, snail mail. I urge you to do so, even more so if you disagree with the proposed new tax; you have a voice, use it.

Time flies

2010-12-07T22:18:00.006+10:00

When you're having fun. At least, that's what they say. I think it has a little to do with age. A little with becoming lost within oneself. A little to do with getting caught up in life.

Irregardless, an entire YEAR has passed since I virtually penned something on my lil ole' blog - holy crap! Who would have thought I could keep my virtual mouth shut for so long.

A quick re-cap: my business is off the menu, that path has closed, hence the mass deletion of posts (for those who remember my blog pre-2009). Blogging is back on the menu. Finding, exploring and fondling my passions, school, finding my voice and Chaos. Chaos is most definitely back on the menu, oh how I do love chaos.

Whilst I cruise everyone's blog and play catch-up, a song from Washington:

u is not you

2009-08-16T17:03:00.001+10:00

I am in a tizzy, my knickers are all knotty and my feathers are ruffled.

I simply cannot take it anymore. I need to vent, I refuse to continue sitting idly while basic spelling and grammatical rules continue to be abused!

Ok, that is a little dramatic, but it really does annoy me.

Every week I am sent a newsletter from a particular company (who I shall not name) that is drenched with poor grammar and spelling mistakes. Normally, I would simply delete an email such as this and move along (how can you take a business seriously that continually makes basic spelling and grammar mistakes?) but I really like this girl’s wares and genuinely like to know what the latest buzz is over at her website, however, when newsletter after newsletter contains endless spelling and grammatical mistakes - which not only looks unprofessional, but also makes the content quite hard to read - I cannot help but wonder whether it is really worth the effort, I literally cringe when I read it.

So, please, if you will, let me step-up onto my soapbox. I will try to keep it short:

The word ‘you’ consists of three letters, Y. O. U.
‘You’ is not spelt with a singular ‘u’, ‘u’ is a letter, not a word. Whilst abbreviations have their place, ‘u’ is not an abbreviation of the word ‘you’. ‘U’ when used to imply ‘you’, is incorrect spelling.

The start of a new sentence demands a capital letter, not a lower case letter, a C.A.P.I.T.A.L. letter and while on the subject of capital letters, please spare a thought for the letter ‘i’.

‘I’ is to be capitalised when used as a reference to oneself. Always. Not sometimes. Always!

Full stops always come at the end of a sentence, without it, the sentence does not come to completion. Once you reach the end of your sentence and begin a new one, please, please, don’t forget to leave a space between the full stop and the first word of the new sentence - this rule goes for commas as well. In fact, it goes for most forms of punctuation.

When you make reference to multiples of an object, it is not a case of simply slapping on an apostrophe and an ‘s’. Apostrophes are not used to represent plurals, rather they are used to show possession and note the use of a contraction, i.e., Dress becomes Dresses, not dress’s.

One explanation mark is enough! The emotion conveyed does not gain strength based on how many you use!!!!! You don’t need to use ten!!!!!!!!!!

It’s basic, but important nonetheless.

There. I said it.

The Death of Bunny Munro

2009-08-06T22:46:00.005+10:00

As you may know (or maybe not!) I am a huge and I mean huge fan of Nick Cave - he literally makes me swoon - and I simply have to share with you his novel, 'The Death of Bunny Munro'.

Scoot on over to the website, you will be glad you did: http://www.thedeathofbunnymunro.com
Be sure to click on the 'Audio Book' link and experience the wonder of Nick Cave for yourself.

'"I am damned," thinks Bunny Munro in a sudden moment of self-awareness reserved for those who are soon to die.'