Educating on Melanoma...

Last week I wrote a blog and it got re-tweeted quite a few times around the world..  By people and to people, I am guessing, who do not understand the "Australianism reference to Kylie Mole".  So I thought I best point out to those of you not in Australia that I am not insane. 

I was using Kylie Mole as a reference because anyone 32+ (okay, maybe 35+) should get the reference - and I thought it would encourage people to click and read.  And it did.  It probably just left a few of you scratching your head to the reference. and why the title..

Any way - click through again (below) and read again with a greater understanding!  Update is he is okay - all clear.  Has some massive scars, a very big "hole" in his back which will take months (anywhere up to 6) to heal, spent 5 days dreadfully ill due to the antibiotics (used to fight infection) BUT is alive and has a good life ahead of him.  And that is all that matters.

So, if you are reading this - get your moles checked.  Please.

giftcards.com.au

I got a giftcard for Christmas.  A Coles Myer Giftcard for $60.  Probably purchased sometime in December.

 I went to use that Gift Card on the weekend and it was declined.  I just rang giftcards.com.au – a 3^rd party provider, so the cheery customer service rep told me over the phone, and was told the only way to fix it was to send in the proof of purchase.  Good luck with that one, five months after Christmas, me thinks..

I get there are a lot of dishonest people in the world and this company probably receives 100 calls like mine a day – 50 of them dishonest.  But surely there should be something in place that prevents this sort of thing happening?  How is it my fault that someone at a register forgot to upload any funds onto the card that was purchased?

I am cross.  It’s not the money.  It is the principal.  I pay for someone else’s mistake.  How much money do they make a year off this type of occurrence?  A lot I would suggest.



All your favourite stores with one place to order them all - but useless if funds aren't added to the card and it isn't activated!!! 

Lucky

I'm laying here on my bed in Shanghai.  Everyone I love is fast asleep back home (there's a 3 hour time difference) with the exception of Lily Cat, who's probably remaining vigil in the bedroom window looking out for the fox who roams the street after midnight looking for food and "screaming" or howling, what ever it is they do, keeping the neighborhood pets awake.

People who know me know China is not my favourite destination.  But this trip I've tried to look at the experience through different eyes.  It hit me today how fortunate I am to travel Asia for work, experiencing new cultures and doing what I love.  Recruitment.  This is what I wanted.  This is what I chose.  And I made it happen.  It wasn't luck.  It was hard work.

So I'm going to suck up being here and accept it for what it is.  A world of different experiences. A world so vastly different to mine.  A world I wouldn't necessarily want to live in every day.  But an exciting world none the less.

Blogging

Sometimes the hardest thing in the world is to blog about things you think people want to read..  Then I reminded myself my blog is for me..  Just because it's out there on the WWW doesn't mean it always has to be about things that are important to everyone.  As long as they're important to me..  

I'm going to remember that next time I want to write something and then refrain because I think I'll cop flak or upset someone because it's a point of view they may not agree with.  Or because they may think I'm mad.  Here's to it being my blog and being myself. 

Just saying! 

And So 2014 Begins.. With a Grateful Jar!

As I said farewell to 2013, surrounded by friends and enjoying the holidays, I listened to a lot of people say 2013 was a bad year and they were glad to see the back of it.  I wasn't one of those people because as far as years go, it was an okay one.  Not overly great but definitely not a bad one.

I have much to be thankful for..

What I am going to do in 2014 is create a "Grateful" jar.  I didn't think up this idea on my own, I saw it on a social media site and loved the idea..
 My grateful jar will sit in the kitchen and the idea is every time something happens that I am grateful for, I write it on a postit note and pop it in the jar, with the date on it.  Next NYE I will sit down and open it and read through all the great things that happened to me in 2014.  Sometimes the enormity of the not so great things consume us, if I write down the good things it will act as a reminder of what happened in 2014.

So happy New Year everyone, albeit a week or so late.. 

Saying.. How Wonderfully True...

I heard a great saying the other day:

When you’re happy, you enjoy the music, but when you’re sad, you understand the lyrics.

Just thought I'd share..  I liked it.

Kids, iPads & Dining Out...

I don’t have kids.  Therefore most of the time I don’t comment about “kids’ stuff” as I usually cop death stares galore from people who then take great delight in saying “you don’t have kids, what would you know?” (I am not going to enter into that debate now.)

But I am commenting on what you are about to read.  Simply because I find if I don’t I may for ever wonder if I am living in the dark ages or if people agree even these parents took it too far…

Out for dinner on Sunday night in Cronulla (one of the best beach suburbs in Sydney!) and at the table next to us was a family of 4 (mum, dad and 2 kids; boys about 2 and 4) and who I can only assume was grandma and grandpa.  The kids have an iPad each and are watching Octonauts (thanks to my niece I know who these guys are..) – not engaging in any conversation or showing any interest in grandma and grandpa OR their parents and really, it went both ways. 

Okay, maybe I can live with them watching a DVD before their dinner is served (actually, I cannot – I mean really, it is bloody ridiculous when you are in a restaurant).  But then………………..

Then dinner is served – and bloody hell – they continued watching their separate DVD’s and the parents and grandparents picked their dinner up off the table and ate with their plate in one hand and their fork in the other because these iPads were taking up a lot of the room on the table (big dishes of pasta and pizza were served)……  I mean really?  I tried to reason with myself that growing up, some families in my era (oh lord I sound old) ate dinner in front of the TV – but that was at home, this was in a restaurant on a Sunday night at 6pm…

 

Is this lazy parenting?  I think so!  Take your kids out for dinner, stick them in front of an iPad and then promptly ignore them for 2 hours while you drink and eat (albeit eat very uncomfortably, juggling plates in the air).

Am I that old fashioned?  Do I need to pull me head out of the sand and appreciate this is what society has become?  If so, wow, our kids of today will have NO social skills what so ever when they grow into adults and enter the work force.

I felt the need to comment on this one.