Month: February 2007

Crazy news day…

Apparently, homosexuality can be cured.

In Washington, there is a law proposed that will require married couples to produce offspring within 3 years, or have the marriage annulled by the state.  Though it could be a hoax, it does underline the fundamentalist sentiment that is behind the ban on same sex unions.

And in Canberra, the powers that be have again shot down the latest attempt to get some legal recognition of same sex relationships.  I blame Mr Burns.  The man who said last week,  “some people handle detention better than others”.

And if you really want to hate the man a little more, read down the wikipedia entry to this.

In 2006, Philip Ruddock blocked a gay Australian man from marrying in Europe. Ruddock refused to grant a gay man living in the Netherlands a ‘Certificate of No Impediment’ document required by some European countries before marriage, to prove foreigners are in fact single. Ruddock decided that such documents were not to be released to gay and lesbians individuals intending to marry overseas [2]. The government made the statement, “”Following the advice of the Australian Attorney-General’s Department we herewith certify that Australian law does not allow the issue of a Certificate of No Impediment to Marriage to persons wishing to enter into a same-sex marriage.” He went on to say that he did not believe there was community support for same-sex marriage but has yet to put this belief to test.

Charming.  He’s not only preventing Australians from marrying in Australia, he’s preventing them from doing it anywhere he can.  And let’s not go into the David Hicks thing.

And some other news that is pretty obvious to me, but apparently new to a lot of people – Meat Consumption Creates More Greenhouse Gas Than Cars.  What really shocked me was the ignorance of the first commenter “these animals are bred for one reason, without that reason, they’re not of worth to us or to the environment“.  I wonder how he measures worth – and how much worth he has to the environment.

Little TBA is living in a crazy world.  Hopefully having a crazy aunt won’t be too much of a handicap.

Last Minute Knitted Gifts ?

Can someone who has this book give me a hoi ? I looked at it a little while ago, and decided that there s=wasn’t enough in it to justify the purchase price.

But then I saw this. And it looks like just the stitch pattern I’ve been looking for. I have some stash that has been marinating for just long enough, and is ready to fulfill its destiny.

I just need to confirm my idea of how the stitch pattern works (not copying the pattern, I am thinking of an entirely different garment).

Some knitting content

I showed Sarah and Adam the beginnings of the purple and green WIP and they seemed to approve, so I pressed on.  While waiting for the godlike apparition doctor at the fracture clinic today, I reached the decreases.  I discovered that the pattern requires a wee bit of thinking, so I made a leap of faith, and did what I thought was right.  And now I am doubting the wisdom of pressing on without a notepad and paper.  I have done decreases, which I have to match on the other side of the front, and on both sides of the back.  Sheesh.

At this point, I have no choice but to press on, and hope it all works out.  If it doesn’t, I can just post it to Emma, or suck it up and use the rest of my week of bed rest to sort it out.  At least I have something to distract me from the waiting.

Are you a Scissor Sister?

A couple of years ago I heard a disco remake of “Comfortably Numb” by Pink Floyd.  Now, if you know Pink Floyd, and haven’t yet heard the remake, you’ll be thinking that I am on drugs.  This may be true, but the song exists, and it’s damn fine (it’s just stomach medication, and I have a prescription).

As soon as I could identify the artist of this twisted little gem (the Scissor Sisters – the Wikipedia entry is totally worth checking out), I bought the album.  Some people buy a new CD a few times a week, or at least every month.  Not me.  I buy a new CD every time The Pet Shop Boys, They Might Be Giants, or Kylie Minogue put out a new release.  And sometimes Sinead O’Connor.  Seriously.  So to race out and buy a CD from an artist that I have only heard one track from is a rather rash and outrageous act for me.

Nevertheless, I was in raptures.  The beat was pure and righteous, the camp factor was high, there was falsetto singing, and adult themes.  I couldn’t ask for more.  I think there was even a mirror ball on the cover art.  It was that good.

So you can imagine that I waited with trepidation for the follow up album, which took rather too long for my liking.  But late last year, “Ta Dah!” was released, and it was every bit as good as the first, eponymous album.  The single “I Don’t Feel Like Dancin'”, which reached number 1 in Australia, was co-written by Elton John, who also played piano on the recording.  The dancingest song about feeling down I ever did hear.  Another beautiful moment in musical history is the achingly brassy “Kiss You Off”.  “I Will Survive” has been my fave breakup survival song for nearly two decades now, and I think it’s time I made room at the top for this number.  The lyrics deserve a special mention.

I don’t need another tube of that dime store lipstick

Well I think I’m gonna buy me a brand new shade of man

Kiss you off my lips

It’s standing room only for a piece of my pigment (or business?)

So excuse me a minute while I supply demand

Kiss you off these lips of mine

Kiss you off for a custom shine

Pissed yours truly off this time

It’s why I ain’t just kissin’ you I’m kissin’ you off

And then I heard they would be touring Australia.  We had missed the first tour because we don’t read the street press, and obviously don’t listen to the radio enough, but we promised ourselves that if the ever came back to Australia, we would see them. The timing sucked, between both of us becoming unemployed, and our international adventures, it was a poor time to be spending money on concert tickets (or so we found out, just after we bought the tickets), but what the hell, this was a band I would dance to, even sober. Little did I know that I would be handicapped on the big day, but again, a mere trifling matter.

So tonight was the big event.

It was good.

They dedicated the song “Laura” to Laura Bush (“I hope she dies and rots in hell”, was the quote I believe).

But for me the highlights were “Kiss You Off”, and the last encore “Filthy/Gorgeous”. Dirty and sparkly, all at the same time. And the DJ, who is so good, he is the official tour DJ. If he played in Sydney, and they let fat people into nightclubs, I would soooo become a disco bunny again….

Please buy their music, and tell them that you want them to come back and play very soon.

A very social weekend

It was lovely to catch up with the SSK crowd, no pictures because I forgot to pull out the camera.  It was funny to chat comfortably with these lovely people, and recollect how overawed I was just a few short years ago when I first met Mary-Helen (amongst others) after reading her blog for a few months.  I was a very new knitter at that stage, and had only just started reading blogs, so it was an unusual thing to meet someone  that I felt like I knew from reading a blog, and yet she had no idea who I was.  Sydney has a relatively small knitting scene (compared to many cities in the US), and a few years ago it was even smaller, and so meeting M-H was a little bit like meeting Madonna, but with less paparazzi, and more DPN’s.

And the best bit?  Being told that my travel blogging brought some joy to people who have inspired me to blog.

Saturday evening Mark and I went to dinner at the home of Sally and her husband David.  We had such a thoroughly splendid time that we committed the unforgivable crime of being the guests that would not leave.  The conversation was so lively and interesting that it was past 1am when we finally left.  Sorry!

Sunday morning was passed over in favour of a lie in, after which we enjoyed Meg & Craig’s hospitality – and we got to meet the famous Pierre.  He’s smaller than the pictures suggest, but he’s every bit the chewer that Meg complains about.  Damned cute though!  Pictures, again, *WIGATI.

We had just over an hour at the Courthouse S’nB before we had to meet the Nettles for dinner in Newtown.  Kerry and her partner went to Palestine while Mark and I were in Vietnam, so we had dinner and a we slide show to see what she had been up to.  I’ve never had much of an understanding about Middle East politics, but if people could just be nice to each other, I’d be a lot happier. 

The cardi has grown to the end of the available yarn, and I see a trip to a yarn shop in my immediate future.  I also see a trip to medicare to get some money back, and some frugal living on the cards while we pay rego on René de Car, and get used to living on one income again.

And just when you thought it was safe to click on links to craft tutorials, someone had to do this.

*When I Get Around To It.