I have to ask, now that they are planning to bring in new criteria regarding gestational diabetes screening, how much we can actually should control for through medical intervention.

I worked in the health industry and I wondered about it. Now I don't work in the industry and am planning to move into alternative medicine I wonder about it even more.

How much should and can we control for? Can we actually get it down to no risk, and in reality should we? The human body is a complex organism.
( An example or a rant about how things go to far )

Okay, so ethically, intelligently, who should be drawing the line in the sand regarding medical intervention, and how much is too much? And should we have the ability to control how much is done to our bodies?

Another example, very quickly, that I have never agreed with (mostly because I come from a family with allergies) is the number of immunisations they give infants at once nowadays. Yes, most of them are important, but seriously, giving injections that cover 8 diseases at once doesn't seem like a good idea to me. Firstly, if there is a severe reaction to one of the immunisations, you have no idea which one. Secondly, it compromises the baby's immune system for about 6 weeks. 6 weeks!! Where you should actually be limiting their contact with anyone as their immune system struggles to deal with having to deal with producing antibodies to 8 diseases. Some of which aren't deadly, have limited protection (take meningococcal C - the non-deadly one- which infants are immunised against with the hope it will help them deal with exposure to meningococcal B), or could be provided at a later date and still be effective.

I have always maintained, even if I have to pay for it, if I have kids I would love to be able to get each immunisation needle (I say this as there are combined immunisations in each needle) done weekly for 4-5 weeks (without looking it up I can't remember how many shots there are). That way I can monitor them and determine whether they have a bad reaction to any of them.

In the end, how far do people think that medicine should intervene?

Had the weirdest conversation about 3D movies today. I don't do 3D simply because my brain doesn't interpret things the same as the 99.9% of the population.

Anyone who has met me can see I have a wonky eye (otherwise known as a squint). It is just normal for me. I have 20/20 vision in both eyes, but I don't have normal binocular vision. My right eyes turns inwards, and means my right peripheral vision isn't as good as it should be.

Anyway, I said something about having a wonky eye meant that I couldn't see 3D movies, and hadn't he noticed. He said he had "but the other one is straight".

That made me laugh!

Anyway, my baby nephew seems to be developing the same issue... most doctors say it should be a direct inheritance and one of my parents should have a squint, however the only picture of someone we can find with it is a great, great aunt. So it is some kind of random recessive gene. On the other hand, my nephew has beatiful blue eyes.

I should go sleep. It is almost 6... and I am working again tonight. Day 3 of 7 is DONE!

As soon as I finish writing this post, I am going to go rearrange the house so I can keep packing without going too mad..

Packing??? Well, yes. The lease in our comfortable little house is up, and so we have to move. I possibly have found us a place but I am waiting to hear from my sister. She is on holidays... in the USA... and currently her phone is either a)off, b) has no reception or c)is just playing up and not working. So I have to wait and see what she says when she gets the sms, or gets onto facebook next.

So far I have managed to pack most of the linens, the books and some of my clothing. I really need to make a run down to storage, but first I am going to rearrange my room and stack all the boxes that are ready to go up so they are out of the way.

I also need to clean and things. THAT is never ending.

Max is being his usual helpful self. He decided yesterday that I needed to be awake earlier than I wanted to be. It wasn't good.

There isn't a lot else happening here. Just work, and moving.

My oldest sister is turning 40 in May and there was an idea that she would like all of us to go to Bali for her birthday. Unfortunately, at this stage, she is not sure she is going. She is a pilates instructor and has a studio in her back garden. In the past 2 months it has flooded twice, which has meant that she has had to get it dried out, replaced the carpet, and then dried out again. And now she is getting the drainage re-done so that hopefully water will have somewhere to go the next time there are bad storms. All that has meant she has lost money from her holiday savings. It is very sad.

Okay, coffee is drunk, and enough with the procrastinating. I know I will feel better when I can see more progress.

I find it so funny... a short conversation about organising what we are doing tomorrow turned into a two hour conversation about everything and anything...This one is good... I can tell...

The rough plan is going to Phillip Island for a drive and a look see :D

Really annoy me!!! My hands are so itchy. I have no idea what is causing it, but I have had an antihistamine.

I get them so oddly - on the back of my left hand below the index finger, and up the side of my middle finger. My right hand rarely is effected. The side of my middle finger blister.

I don't understand why it only hits the back of my left hand.

I don't know what pharmaceuticals are like in the rest of the world, but in Australia, you can buy either the original or the generic drug. The generic tends to be slightly cheaper (for prescription roughly $3). Yesterday I found out that if the doctor hasn't prescribed the original then you don't get asked what you want.

I stick with the original for a couple of reasons. Firstly, the fillers in the generics are different, and although they are not supposed to interfere with the activity of the drug, they can do. Secondly, there is greater variation in percent of active ingredient - some studies have found that up to 94% of generic brands don't actually meet the concentration they are labeled as. And thirdly, Epilepsy Australia has basically told everyone with epilepsy to steer clear of generics. If an association is telling us that, then there must be something wrong with it.

Finally, the thing that has really made me stay away from generics is my experience with generic amoxycilin. I have taken amoxycillin in the past with no side effects, until I tried a generic brand, and then I ended up with huge side effects. It was bizarre! Insomnia and weird dreams. Generally, if I am sick, I sleep like a log unless i have a cold where I am coughing a lot, and then I tend to cough myself awake, but insomnia - thoughts racing and just unable to sleep - is not normal for me.

Anyway, I went to the pharmacy with a script for roxithromycin, and they tried to give me the generic, and when I asked for rulide (the original branded one) they didn't actually have any in stock. If they had just asked in the first place, I would not have waited 20 minutes to find this out. Mind you, while I was waiting they were doing a big trade in generics - everything from antihistamines to major prescription drugs. I ended up at the pharmacy close to home. Much better! I know the government is encouraging generics, but for the $3 extra I will stick to the original!

Holiday movies... There are a lot of them!! I don't have just one that I think is a must see. So in no particular order:

Gremlins
It's a Wonderful Life
While you were Sleeping
Die Hard 1&2
Love Actually
Muppets A Christmas Carol (this is usually on TV).

I wonder sometimes if the world is dumbing down the English language. Part of it is probably because of where I work. Many people use F**K as an adjective, when there are about a million other adjectives out there.

And FAIL. How many times have I heard that in recent history. "That is such a fail", "massive fail" or simply just "fail".

We have a fabulous language, with so many descriptive words. We should use them. Even some of the older words. For example:

Some of the casino patrons are avaricious.

Sometimes my cat gormandises, especially leading up to winter.

The television series Primeval is full of anachronisms.



What do people think? Are we limiting our use of words?

Quotes:

(1)

"A towel, it says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Partly it has great practical value - you can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapours; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a mini raft down the slow heavy river Moth; wet it for use in hand-to- hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or to avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (a mindboggingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can't see it, it can't see you - daft as a bush, but very ravenous); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.

More importantly, a towel has immense psychological value. For some reason, if a strag (strag: non-hitch hiker) discovers that a hitch hiker has his towel with him, he will automatically assume that he is also in possession of a toothbrush, face flannel, soap, tin of biscuits, flask, compass, map, ball of string, gnat spray, wet weather gear, space suit etc., etc. Furthermore, the strag will then happily lend the hitch hiker any of these or a dozen other items that the hitch hiker might accidentally have "lost". What the strag will think is that any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is is clearly a man to be reckoned with."

(2)
"Can I get a towel?"


In the news front, we have put in an application for a 3 bedroom place in Coburg. It is kind of convenient, if a little further out. And having 3 bedrooms is a bonus, as we should be able to get rid of the storage unit.

I am about to start my hell week at work - 50 hours week. I shouldn't call it that, but I always refer to the 6 day working weeks as hell week. At least it isn't as bad as last time, which was a 52 hour week. Which a friend has next month.
( More under here )

Anyway, I am alive, healthy and I think 80% caught up on my sleep finally :D

I have a lot of friends who have a belief system, a religion, so I am very sorry if this is a contentious issue.

I wrote this in response to one of my F-listers, and it is what I believe:

I have a firm belief that religion should be taught at schools.

Not just one religion, but all of them. So first term year one, get a Christian in. Second term get a Buddhist monk, third term a Hindi. All the way through primary school and high school, all the religions they can find from Hari Krishna, to Baha'ii, to Judaism - one hour every week for a term.

Each term, children should be exposed to "this is what our religion is about, and why we believe in it", rather than, "THIS IS THE RELIGION YOU MUST FOLLOW, ALL OTHERS ARE HEATHENS!!!"

The only way forward to tolerance, love, and acceptance is understanding. Understanding that most religions are about preventing anarchy and chaos by providing some sort of moral code, and a belief that that moral code will be rewarded.

There are extremists in most religions, but because of the moral code in certain religions they can never actually become fanatics or terrorists (Buddhism, for example, does not use religion to justify any violent acts done by Buddhists, and does encourage the less violent options, but does not prevent feudal violence, because even though they a Buddhist they are fighting for non-religious reasons).

My personal belief is that there a higher power, whether it is God, gods, or a universal consciousness of all gone before, who knows, but everyone should be taught that any belief, including agnostic, and atheism, is acceptable and that shoving religion to the forefront is not going to make people believe. However, understanding of the underlying principles of each religion means that hopefully people will learn that all religions at their base are pretty similar.

I believe in treating others how I would like to be treated myself. If we all did this, I think the world would be a better place. Live and let live...

One day I will write an update about Perth and things... but hey, I posted something tonight at least!!!

The red moon hovered in the sky like a dark omen. She knew it was just the distant fires causing the colour, but there was something spooky and odd about seeing it like that. The fields around the house were dry, with the stubble from the wheat crop.

The air was hot and still, and she wished she was back living near the ocean, where at least there was a chance of a cooler breeze to blow away the heat of the day. Here the heat seemed to build and build. At night it would leach out the ground, keeping the air warm even after the sun went down. The ground was always warm beneath her feet. The walls radiated heat into her bedroom.

"Damn weather", she muttered as she slid open the upstairs window, before climbing into bed.

Another Grrrr post...

This time back to allergies.

Something is making my hands, arms and feet itch like mad. My hands are actually starting to come up in hives. I have taken an antihistamine and it seems to be helping but still, why is my immune system being so hypersensitive at the moment. I haven't changed soap, shampoo, conditioner, washed my clothes in anything different. I haven't brushed against any strange plants or come into contact with any strange animals. It is very annoying.

I guess, on the plus side, as there should always be a plus side, at least I don't have hayfever at the same time...

I keep looking around me and thinking about body shapes of all things. ( Rambling about how I will never ever be a size 10... let alone an 8... because I would look wrong... )

But the whole where were you when it happened thing is still being discussed.

So where was I?

I was at home, still living with my parents in Perth. We were waiting for Red Dwarf to start on the ABC, when it cut to footage of tower 1 just after it had been hit. Mum accused Dad or I of changing the channel. I think it was acute disbelief that it was real. It did look like something from a movie.

We stayed glued to the tv for the next 2-3 hours, and talked to my sister on the phone about how scary it was and what it meant in the world. We watched as the second plane hit, and the towers collapse. It was a very depressing day.

The aftermath was just as sad and scary. It was a long journey for some people. I read a book called "Love Greg and Lauren" about one of the journeys back. Great book, but sad. Especially with how inefficient the insurance and support networks were. I believe the book was published at least in part to pay for Lauren's medical expenses.

I think this might become part of history the way Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Something we should remember, and hope like anything it never happens again.

Anyone going???

I want to go. I am thinking the Saturday - basically because I will have training on Friday, which means I finish at 8pm instead of 4am, and am working Saturday night.

But darn it... the better panels are on Sunday... of course...

The following weekend is the craft and sewing show.

I suppose I better go get ready for work...

Maybe this explains my post about my relationship:

Todays horoscope:

Little tolerance
Weak, transient effect: Today during the day you should be careful because the energies of this influence are quite discordant and could create trouble in your personal life. The problem is that you are rather emotionally excitable and easily irritated or angered now. With other people you are far less tolerant of individual quirks, and little things irritate you. You may also be in such a contentious mood that no outside aggravation is needed to set you off. Be wary of arguing just for the sake of arguing. But on the other hand, if you feel real anger, you should release the energy; don't hold it in. Your domestic scene may not be very peaceful under this influence, but try to remain calm, no matter how difficult it is. Relations with women may be especially difficult.

Your ruling planet is Venus, the mythic goddess of love and beauty. Because of this, lots of people think Libra should be the easiest sign to understand. All you need is love, right? Wrong. Libra is an air sign. And air is concerned with ideals and principles above all else. Ah, love. Of course you think a lot about love. But the operative word here is think.

Your idea of love isn't really an intimate, steamy tête-à- tête or a chaotic explosion of uncontrolled passions. More likely it will involve a quiet meeting in a pleasant environment, where you can expound on one of your many theories on the perfect relationship, your concepts about how people ought to behave toward each other, and your clear, faultless vision of a world where everything is balanced, ordered, symmetrical and harmonious.

All that discussion about love can drive more emotive types mad. Although you can be as sexually inspired as any other sign, in the end the sharing of ideas is as important to you as the sharing of bodies. If there's no communication, you can get bored pretty quickly. Your sign has less to do with ordinary sweaty human coupling than any other, and for you love must always be stylish, never coarse.

Libra is the great perfectionist of the zodiac. You use the words "fair" and "equal" a lot. You believe passionately in fairness, which can cause you unhappiness, because life and people aren't always fair. You also believe passionately in equality, and here, too, you may encounter unhappiness, because finding a relationship where each partner gives and takes exactly the same amount and loves the other equally is like finding a unicorn.

No doubt you believe in unicorns too, and you're prepared to go on searching for that perfect companion, that perfect career, that perfect environment where no human mess intrudes. You're forever seeking the Good, the True and the Beautiful. And in your eternal efforts to change the world and make it a place where the Good, the True and the Beautiful can make their abode, you're likely to genuinely succeed in making life just that bit better and more beautiful.

Librans have the gift of creating style, grace and harmony wherever they go. You pursue your goals with diplomacy, tact and statesmanship, since you know much more gets accomplished when you've managed to convince people that your idea is their idea by a liberal use of the royal Libran "We". Of course, you usually do exactly what you want. But you have the knack of getting everyone around you to co- operate.

You have a positive hatred of emotional storms, so you probably have trouble expressing your own emotions honestly. Anger, hatred, jealousy, neediness, intense desire - frightening stuff, all of it, and expressing it can get you into trouble (meaning that other people might get hurt or angry with you).

Librans, those great lovers of Truth, are often emotionally dishonest with themselves and with others, although it's never intentional and never out of a desire to deceive. But when your anger blows (and it always does, when you've saved it up for too long), it can really blow. You can be the original "meek as a lamb or mad as a hornet" personality. Yet neither of these is really a true reflection of your essentially harmonious nature.

No matter how many times you get out of balance, the path between the extremes will always beckon with its gentle light, and the search for perfect equilibrium will always ensure that your life never stagnates. And maybe you recognise a secret that lots of other people don't see: that it's genuinely possible for human beings to be more than they are: more Good, more True and more Beautiful.

More positive question!

Would any Melbournites like to attend a free supermarket tour?

I haven't run one in 9 months, and want to have a trial run before I start advertising them.

If so, when, where etc? can/will travel.