Need a little wisdom today?

I just couldn't agree more. 

There is always more to the story than the bits of it you don't like. 

The Inheritance Cycle

I decided a while back that it was high time for me to renew my passion for fantasy. Actually... I was only ever really passionate about Harry Potter, but I thought I would give another YA series a go. An interesting move at 23...

The Inheritance Cycle seemed perfect. Thick pages, not difficult to read and it had dragons in it. Dragons are my second favourite animal, with unicorns being the obvious choice for first place. I realise that it is unfortunate that neither of these animals actually exist in physical form, but that actually works out beautifully for me because I really dislike most things that breathe.

So I started the first book and was, to put it nicely, disappointed. I can't even really tell you what the story was about beyond Eragon finding a dragon egg, dragon egg hatching, he becomes a rider, he travels round a bit then at the end gets in a battle. In theory, this sounds like the makings of a great book but I just couldn't get into it.

I started reading the second one a few weeks back because I am weird like that. I start something and I need to finish it.. That's actually a fib. I just like to finish books. Partially so I can give it a chance, and partially so I can add it to my "read books" shelf on goodreads.

It started out sucking, and it took me weeks to get a third into it because I kept putting it off, even starting Anna Kerenina, in the hopes that a wee bit of Russion literature would occupy my brain a little better (it didn't). Then suddenly out of nowhere, I found myself being a bit drawn in. I am starting to want to know a little bit more about Eragon and his Dragon, and I like that it is jumping to Roran's story as well...

So although I haven't finished it, and this is the lamest mid book review ever, I just wanted to say that I am glad I was stern with my brain and that I made myself sit down and keep reading.

You should do the same. Put down 50 shades of grey or anything by Jodi Piccoult immediately, and go and read something more realistic, like Eragon.

Maybe it's more like racial stereotyping than actual racism...

Well it seems like it's Gordon Ramsey- 1 Australian sport -0. 

Maybe it's okay if crime statistics put truth in it? 

Landfill Harmonic

I love a good success story in the morning! I am sitting on the opposite side of the globe to where this was filmed, listening to music made on modified landfill garbage, that sounds better than most people can make on regular instruments.

I came across this in a chain email forwarded to me by my dad. I thought it was really rather inspiring.

These kind of triumphs in peoples lives give me a little bit of faith in the world.Somtimes the people who have the most to be bitter about are the ones who are the least bitter and most beautiful people of them all.

Get around this one!

So I don't know whether you are into these things or not, but so it goes, that in the middle of exams, when you should be making life changes, like getting a career organised, or you know, being generally productive in some way, this happens.

Volcom Fiji Pro

And I am getting around it like a hobo with a ham sandwich. Spending the morning in bed watching my dreams happen, on a heart shaped island in Fiji.

Just another viewpoint on one of the more difficult Australian debates: Gay Marriage.

So in response to this article, here's my two cents worth.

 For the record, I am not gay and I have absolutely no authority on the matter whatsoever other than being a savvy follower of any political disagreement.


This is a really interesting perspective and I agree that it is not psychologically ideal for a child to be in that situation where they are going to have an emotionally complicated upbringing. I can't help but wonder though, whether many of these emotional complications could be avoided if society didn't attach a stigma to homosexual relationships that defines them as less valid than heterosexual couples. Gay marriage seems to be something of a moral panic in the same way that there was a moral panic when woman wanted to work, rather than sit at home and raise a family, or when Indigenous people wanted to be recognised in the constitution as people rather than native fauna. These are all societal issues that take time for people to comprehend and come to terms with.

Putting this argument aside and coming back to children in same sex parent families who may suffer some psychological issues as a result of homosexual parenting, and using this logic of a "moral hazard", what about the kids being raised by one parent because the parents are divorced? Or the kids being violently or sexually abused, the kids who are being taken away from their families by docs and put in foster families or adoptive families of a different race? Should we ban overseas adoption too?

 I know that people get sick of the "A loving family with homosexual parents is better than a violent family with heterosexual parents" argument, but I do think there is some validity in this. I would love to see comparative statistics  of kids who grow up in violent households compared with kids growing up with homosexual parents. There isn't much yet, at least not in Australia because this is a relatively new situation. My hypothesis is that kids growing up in loving families of any kind are generally going to be far better off than those who are not. Particularly since in a some situations, that's where the kids of gay couples could have been.

Maybe I will be wrong.

And why is surrogacy for gay couples, than hetero couples that cannot conceive? Do they treat their donor any differently? Can they love their child unequivocally? I know a girl who came from a surrogate, and let me tell you, the love that her parents have for her is certainly unconditional. She is their entire world.

So should this issue of raising children that the LGBT are demanding the right to have, be an impediment to gay marriage? I don't think so. I know that blanket equality is an idealistic concept that probably won't work in many situations, I just am not convinced that this is one of them.