My very merry christmas.

Today was amazing. Perhaps one of my best christmases ever. It wasn't because of the presents, although I must say, Santa baby, your on the nice list. It was because of how happy I felt with my family. As a tore open the paper this morning, off gifts so thoughtfully given, and looked at mum in her dressing gown watching patiently, ensuring that every single thing was perfect, dad being more excited about our gifts of water guns and candy and books than we were, our dog playing happily with her new toys and food stuffs and my brother being 17, pretending to be too cool but really I think enjoying every moment of our traditional christmas morning, I felt a painful wave of nostalgia. I remembered the times when we were little and all this would be taking place a 5 30 am, and I thought of all the family we had lost and gained.  I appreciated every little tradition, our one hour of beach patrol, our big christmas turkey and my Aunties,  amazing tomato flan, our usual lighthearted dreading of what was to come tomorrow at the annual semi family BBQ and my slightly tipsy gran briefing my brother on how to make mince pies. I watched and observed all of this, and I wondered where I would be next year. I wondered where my family would be next year. I wondered whether I would be able to bear not being there and I concluded that I just don't think I can. It's not because I don't want to travel, or because I will miss out on presents, but rather because it is such a special day of the year. Perhaps the one time, where there truly is happiness, peace and joy, and I wouldn't want to be anywhere other than our little wooden floor, in front of our stockings, wearing pajamas and santa hats.

Merry Christmas!

4. Hidden

Jack Johnson concert. Jack is there, hidden in a blur of lights, cameras and action, but I assure you he was there, and it was spectacular.

This concert is worth a mention. It was at the Domain in Sydney and received quite a mention in the papers, due to the excessive waiting times and over the top security. One man who was 57 years old was asked for ID before he could get a drink, and I was asked for mine after I had walked in and been given an over 18s wristband for showing my ID already. It was... slightly outrageous. And then there was the 2 hour line up for food and the 2.5 hour wait for the first supporting act after the gates opened. As you can imagine, with all of this going on, for $97 dollars, people were feeling a bit ripped off. Once Jack came on though, I must say, the vibe turned around completely and all was forgotten, at least on my part. He was one of the most amazing, laid back performers I have ever seen and I felt so privileged to be there, under the clearest of clear sydney nights, listening to one of my all time favorite singers. 

WikiLeaks

There has been much hype in recent weeks about the whistleblower website, WikiLeaks. Julian Assange is under fire for not just the material he has published, but also for sexual assault? It seems like the media can't make up it's mind whether it wants to take the "Julian Assange is a rapist and therefore we should shut down WikiLeaks" approach, or the "WikiLeaks is a security threat and should be shut down" approach. I have noticed that regularly, when people start telling the world things that our politicians don't want us to hear about or know of, reasons are found to defame and discredit such people. An Australian example would be Pauline Hanson, who was jailed for "fraud" on the record, and "politically incorrect speech" off it. Tony Abbott, who may in fact become the next prime minister of this country, set about derailing Pauline Hanson's One Nation party in the late 90's and he made sure we all knew that there was definitely no free speech provisions in our constitution. She was jailed and derailed because people didn't like what she was saying. She was speaking out, and conservatives particularly among members of the liberal party didn't agree with her views.

Julian Assange is in a similar position. It was all okay, until we found out about all the naughty things American leaders have been up to. I personally do not believe there is a security threat here, I believe there is a threat of exposure. Kevin Rudd, Minister for Foreign Affairs, has recently been accused of encouraging Hilary Clinton at a luncheon to "Use force against China if necessary." Now Australia too is working to derail an internet activist who spoke out, and published something that our precious citizens were not supposed to see. It might upset China? Hardly. It confirms what they already knew, and that is that they don't like Kevin Rudd.

The website may have been taken down, and they can hurl accusations at Julian Assange forever, but if it can no longer expose the people we trust with the running of the world for what they are and what they have been doing with their power, the legacy will still be there. The seed of doubt has been planted in the minds of citizens and hopefully people are starting to realize that wait a second, things are not always as they seem.

3.Round

So I got slightly behind on my "post once a day". Oh well.  Bubbles! Bubbles make everything better, wetter and more circularly fun.

2. Amazing

Today's post is "amazing". I thought this picture summed up that word quite spectacularly. 

When it rains, watch out for the rainbow.

Tall

Thing number 1. Tall. It's that "I've just woken up, and I am going to stamp on you if you don't hurry up and take the picture look" 

26 things

Okay, so my friend sent me a link to this website that does photography projects and we decided to participate in the one outlined below (Even though I realize it is in fact December). I plan on doing one photo a day and uploading it on here. Fair warning though, it has not been good photography weather and I am going to be using my phone rather than an actual camera because I don't own a real camera anymore. 

26 Things: November 2010

It’s time for 26 Things again! 26 Things is a photographic scavenger hunt – for the month of November, go out and take 1 photo to represent each item on the list of 26 Things. On December 1st, come back and share your completed 26 Things entry.

(Upload your photos to your blog, flickr account or anywhere else you host your photographs).

The list for November 2010 is

1. Tall

2. Amazing

3. Round

4. Hidden

5. Green

6. An animal

7. Dirty

8. Early

9. Weather

10. An arrow

11. Curve

12. Tomorrow

13. Inside

14. A ceiling

15. Watch out

16. Key

17. Reflection

18. Track

19. Framed

20. Busy

21. Strange

22. Upside down

23. Spots

24. Shoes

25. Weathered

26. Sunday morning

That’s it! Copy or print out the 26 Things list above, or bookmark this page — remember to take 1 photo for each of the items.