Thankyou Adam.

Some of you may have seen this brilliant picture in The Leader last year. It was part of the 24 hours in Wyndham Layout. Taken by Adam Elwood, a brilliant photographer that I had the pleasure of meeting a few years ago when he took my picture for a local news story. He sent it to me a few weeks back and whilst looking for something else today I found it.

It is an amazing picture and perhaps my very favourite one of David and Indiana. Ever.

Remember Part 2.

Here is another one I have re posted for you all to enjoy. I do have to comment though, that re reading all my old post's kinda has me wondering, why did you guys not tell me what absolute drivel I was capable of?!

Did you ever have one of those days where you stop and wonder, what the hell am I doing?
I don't mean just in relation to any one small thing, I mean in relation to all things. Your whole life. Each and every decision that brought you to this point in time.
Someone once said that 'A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step'. This is true. But do you ever have moments where you look at that thousand miles and think, its just too hard and too far?
Long ago I gave myself the role of eternal optimist. I promised to try as hard as I could to always find the small things that matter in every situation, to always try to see the bright side, to always seek happiness. I truly believe with all my heart that you have to find happiness, that you cannot sit idly and wait for it to drop in your lap, because it wont. Happiness is hard. It takes work. Optimism is a full time job, especially in today's world of seemingly overwhelming negativity. Sometimes the weight of that decision made long ago, is too much for me. Like today.
Today is one of those horrible days where it feels like you are watching yourself from the outside in, everything feels surreal, you are smiling and doing all the right things but it feels wrong. It feels fake, forced, contrived. I hate feeling like that more than anything. Every bad decision I ever made weighs on me today. I see clearly all the mistakes I have made and feel like I cant do anything right. I look at my beautiful children, gifts from the universe, my wonderful family, amazing friends, great job, and think to myself I don't deserve any of this.
I hear the little voice of the eternal optimist telling me I am being stupid, that I am a perfect child of the universe, I do deserve all of this unconditional love and friendship, because I am a good and loving and generous person who would lay down her life for those she loves, and risk that same life for a perfect stranger, but it all feels...wrong. Because a very large, very loud part of me wants to just walk away, find a quiet place to lie down and give up.
I get angry at those who have chosen what seems to me to be the easier path of negativity and sometimes sheer nastiness. Lets face it folks, never expecting anything good to happen is so much easier than trying not to be disappointed when it doesn't. It is easier to be rude than polite, it certainly only requires a much smaller and easier vocabulary. Believing in nothing is easy. It is easier to give up on the world than to fight for it. It is easier to throw your hands up and shrug and say what can I do about it. Why should I fight to be optimistic when these people simply cannot be bothered?
In writing this I have once again come to the conclusion I always come to on days like today...because I will not be one of them. Because I want something better. Because I want my children to learn the importance of choosing happiness. Because I do believe a smile can change a complete strangers day for the better. Because I so desperately want to believe that magic happens. Because I know that tomorrow is a whole new day full of potential and endless possibility and it is up to me to make it happen. Because I know that days like today, feelings like this, go away.
(For those of you who would worry about my mental health, please don't, I am fine) But always remember this folks. 'Do not meddle in the affairs of Dragons, for you are crunchy and good with ketchup...'
Guri Swami Rubber Duckie signing out!

Fourteen.

Serene. Beautiful. Compassionate. Patient. Thoughtful. Eloquent. Idealistic.

Proudly, these are just some of the words I would and do use to describe my eldest daughter Kayla Ann.

Today is Kayla's 14th Birthday. I could not be prouder of the awesome young woman she has become and continues to grow into every single day.

People often tell me how lovely she is and remind me how proud I should be, point out what a wonderful job I have done. They ask me, 'What's the secret to raising such a great kid?'

My answer never changes. I had so little to do with it. She simply is who she is and she is simply wonderful. I am not being modest. I am not looking for protest. I know parenting plays a big part in who we all become. BUT. Kayla is a rare gem indeed. She has been loved and treasured and advised and nurtured by so many wonderful people and all of them have played a part in who she is becoming. Kayla is the type of child that carries the fingerprints of others in her heart.

There are days when I am so proud of her I could quite literally burst with pride. This beautiful girl who will play for hours without complaint with her much younger siblings and cousins, who shows such enormous love and generosity to all who surround her, who will rise from where-ever she is what ever she is doing without complaint or hesitation to answer my calling of her name. I look at her sometimes and think of all we have gone through together, and it dawns on me, this wonderful person is my daughter, she exists because I made it so and I am so very, very delighted that the universe should see fit to entrust such a precious soul into my care, if only for a while. Thank you!

Happy Birthday Rudi, We love you so much xxxxxx

What does EMO Really Mean?

Those of you who know me, know that my current occupation is as a partner in a small business, namely a Cafe/Functions centre. In this role, I have the great pleasure of working with and meeting alot of great people.

One of our employee's happens to be a wildly entertaining young guy named Cory. Thanks to his age, Cory knows everything. He claims to know what an EMO is. I had previously heard the term bandied about in relation to people who were semi goth and depressed about how crap their lives were. This amused me no end, seeing as most of them belong to Generation Y and all of us Generation Xer's know how good their generation got it. (Way better than us, dude's....)

Imagine my utter astonishment when I showed up to work a function wearing a pair of black "Chuck's" (Thats Converse Chuck Taylors for all you oldies) which I had purchsed expressly for the fact that they were black, comfortable and great for the kitchen, only to be informed by Cory that I was wearing EMO shoes. Yeah, this from a guy who wears a black t-shirt with a dead bird on it on a regular basis.

It kind of became a running joke, you know who was the most EMO of both of us. I very nearly lost when I got the black streak in my hair without thinking it through....Well, I have decided once and for all to put this to rest and of course, ultimately WIN the argument.
Thanks to the wonderful contributors of Wikipedia, I have found the definition for Emo. I am pleased to report that I am NOT an EMO, not that there is anything wrong with that....

"At the same time, use of the term "emo" expanded beyond the musical genre, which added to the confusion surrounding the term. The word "emo" became associated with open displays of strong emotion. Common fashion styles and attitudes that were becoming idiomatic of fans of similar "emo" bands also began to be referred to as "emo". As a result, bands that were loosely associated with "emo" trends or simply demonstrated emotion began to be referred to as emo." For further reading go here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/emo

Disclaimer: If you are an EMO and you are offended by what you just read, just think, now you have one more thing to be pissed at the world for!

Remember This One?

I thought I would re-post one of my favourite posts for you all to read. Its also quite long so it should suffice for awhile yeah?

It is human nature to speculate upon the meaning of life. It has baffled some of histories greatest minds, eluded poets, and been the reason for alot of navel gazing throughout time.......


Some believe, life is a series of lessons to be learned and that in learning them, we prepare ourselves to move onto our next life, where we learn still more and gradually the secrets of the universe are revealed, we achieve enlightment and realise our full potential and find our true place in the cosmic order of all things.


Sounds great doesn’t it? I think so. Which is why I too spend time in contemplation of life, the universe and everything, (I do not however navel gaze.....)


Imagine then, my friends, my excitement when I had a cosmic revelation whilst washing the dishes tonight. I have learned one of the life lessons. I am one step closer to enlightment. My wings are being made for me as I type this very post. Tonight, one of the universes biggest secrets was revealed to me. It was the answer to a question that has plagued and frustrated me for 13 years.........now I know and will share it with you all, so you too may be one step closer (and in doing so, hope I get really BIG wings...)


I know why children don’t listen. It is a form of karmic punishment for parents. Yup. Go on, laugh. But, I am right. As a parent, my biggest frustration is that my children don’t listen to me. They do not value my years of acquired wisdom and life experience and in dismissing it they invariably get hurt. I know that putting your finger in a fan hurts, ALOT. Do they believe me? No, as a result, at one time or another all of my 3 children have put their fingers into a moving fan. I know that falling out of speeding billy cart hurts. Does this stop them from doing it.... nope.
After yet another dinner time of telling G-man to chew with his mouth shut, use your fork and get your elbows off the table, discouraged I got up and went to wash the dishes. DH can handle it. Angry, I went through the mental conversation all parents know.... why don’t they just listen? Why don’t they do as they are told? I have told them a million times! Am I speaking English? Are they deaf? WHY DONT THEY JUST LISTEN!!!!!!


That was when it happened folks. The moment. It was magical. Children do not listen, because we did not listen to our parents. They did not listen to theirs. It is punishment for not heeding good advice; given freely, when we should have, as children.......My dad calls it parent’s revenge. Have you ever noticed the smug look grandparents get when your child misbehaves, you know the one that says "Ha Ha! Sucked in!" Usually followed by "You were worse as a child..."


Does this mean we give up? No. See there is the lesson. We know they won’t listen, but we have to keep trying. We have to keep telling them what will hurt them and trying to protect them, it is our whole purpose as parents. To keep trying, keep banging your head against that wall, no matter how hard, how much it hurts, because we are their parents and we love them and we are trying to raise adults who will contribute to society and make the world a better place. This is the lesson we learn.

It is also known as unconditional love.As for the kids, eventually they grow up, keep making mistakes we warned them about in advance and hopefully, if we did our job right, they have kids of their own, stand at the sink, frustrated at why kids don’t listen, and have a cosmic revelation of their own.........

I Missed You...

Hey Guys,

Well here we are again huh?

What can I say, I missed you all so much. Well that and I missed being able to talk and know at least someone was listening!

I cannot promise absolute regularity, or even sanity, but I can promise, I will do my very best to be here some of the time.

God, it feels great to be home....