Bad Message

In my opinion, Beauty and the Beast has a lot to answer for in making generations of little girls think if they're just nice enough, they can tame the beast.

I realise this wasn't the moral of the story, but the message is still clear.
If you're just nice and patient enough, the kind man will emerge from the gruff, cold, mean exterior.


Reality tells a different story.


While there are always exceptions, just as, if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, means it's probably a duck, if he's mean, angry and violent, no matter who you are, you're not going to save him.
That's who he is.

The real message of the movie though is to look beyond the exterior and we'd all do well to do that, but at the same time, you can't assume that an ugly exterior means a pretty inside, or a pretty exterior means an ugly inside.

We are who we are. Not perfect, all affected by our life experiences.

Bottom line, don't make assumptions about people based on their exterior, and don't make excuses for bad behaviour and give people the respect you'd want for yourself.

Going Up? Too bad for you...

First day back at work after annual leave is always a bit of a shock to the system even for a part timer like me.

It was made more interesting for me by the arrival of a new lift system.

Most of the floors in my building are only accessible by swiping your security card.
So previously, you'd get in the lift, swipe your card and press your floor.

Ahhhhh it sounds so simple when it's put like that.

The reality was, you'd swipe your card but it wouldn't register and those lift doors only stay open for so long so if you didn't have your arm out holding the door, god knows where you'd end up.
Particularly bad luck for those of us (me included) on the first floor if someone got in and started trying to swipe before you.

So when I saw the new lift system today I thought great! Problem solved!!!

Let me explain how this new "high tech" system works.
You push your floor number BEFORE you get in, swipe your card and the panel tells you which of the six lifts will take you there. 
Again, great in theory....
So I get there, push 1, swipe my card when asked and.... Nothing. Actually it wasn't nothing, it was some kind of "error" beep... after the third or fourth time I expected the security alarms to start going off.

Meanwhile people all around me are pushing their floor and being directed to the lift that will take them there. It all seemed to be working fine for them.

Now before you ask, there is NO option to walk up to the first floor from the ground level otherwise I'd gladly do that...

After six or ten attempts I just followed a girl into a lift, thinking I'd go to where she was going and then walk down to my floor.... You can imagine how strange it must have been when I follow her in then ask what floor she's going to...
"I'm going where you're going"
She told me she was going to the 11th....
Great


Who knew riding an elevator could cause so much frustration...

Later I found out my card hadn't been enabled yet because I'd been on leave when it was installed.
Hopefully it will work tomorrow... fingers doubly and triply crossed...

When someone thinks for you....

 Saturday night Sarah, Josh and I were in the car coming back from Sweeney Tood (an amazing production/performance). We'd gushed about it for most of the trip back and then were silent in the car.

Sarah breaks the silence by saying
"Mum where's the..."
and before she finishes the sentence, I say
"It's in the bottom drawer"

And silence took over again.


And as I was sitting there replaying those few words in my head I wondered what Josh thought of it so I said
"Josh did you notice how we did that?"

Being a teenage male, he wasn't even aware that we'd spoken, let alone that we'd had a mental telepathy moment....

 But there is something about my daughter that makes her know exactly what I'm going to say before I even say it! This is probably the first time I've noticed it work the other way.

Half the time I don't even know what I want to say myself and I stumble over my words
"Did you see...? where's the....? did you want...? remember when we did that thing?"
No matter what I'm saying, she knows what I'm asking and answers accordingly...

She's a clever chookie that one! Don't know where she gets it from ;)

Feeling for Rudolph

It's the time of year when Xmas carols start being sung. You either love them or hate them but I think, even if you love them, by the time Xmas comes around, you're ready to throttle someone every time you hear one.

This seems to be especially true for me seeing as we have a few Xmas shows coming up with the chorus, and we've been busy rehearsing our Xmas carols.

There's one carol that has always puzzled me. I don't understand why everyone thinks it's a great song. There seems to be a very bad message behind it.

The carol I'm talking about is Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. Lyrics can be found here

Don't know what I'm talking about?

Well, here's this poor little reindeer who is picked on by the other reindeer for being different.
Poor Rudolph had a shiny nose. The song makes it worse by saying if YOU saw it, you'd laugh at him too! So it's saying his nose is so bad,  you couldn't help but torment him about it. As if Rudolph had any control over his shiny glowing nose...

So the cruel reindeer laugh and call him names (honestly couldn't Santa have picked a better crew??)
That is, until that fateful foggy Xmas Eve when Santa came and singled out Rudolph.
"Hey Rudolph, I kind of like that thing you've got going in the middle of your face there, why don't you guide my sleigh tonight?"
So maybe Santa felt sorry for him, or maybe Santa wanted to piss the other reindeer off, or maybe Rudolph was picked for his sleigh guiding abilities.. either way, that night, he was the man.

It's the NEXT bit that really baffles me...
THEN how the reindeer loved him... only THEN???? Only when Santa said "hey this dude is ok"?? There's no mention of the reindeer being repentant or of learning a lesson about bullying.. no, they only loved him because they were brown nosing Santa...
Bad, bad lesson in that!

If you ask me, Santa should have done away with them and picked a new crew and he probably should have interviewed for the sleigh guiding position and hired someone on merit and ability.

But that's the world we live in isn't it.

*******

I was challenged to come up with an alternate version of the song so here it is... set to the same tune of course!

You know Dasher and Dancer
And Prancer and Vixen,
Comet and Cupid
And Donner and Blitzen.
But do you recall
The most famous reindeer of all?

Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer
Had a very shiny nose
And if you ever saw it
You would say his beauty shows

All of the other reindeer
Were mean and often called him names
They never let poor Rudolph
Play in any reindeer games

Then one foggy Christmas Eve
Santa came to say
You're shitting me with your bicker all night
So Rudolph guide my sleigh tonight
Then all the rest were jealous,
And they seethed internally.
Santa has gone and sacked them,
And Rudolph will make history...

On being food delusional....

Do you really want to know who's making your food?

When you go into a restaurant, are you happier if you can see the kitchen, or if it's nestled somewhere out the back out of customer view?
While I understand the value of being able to see the kitchen (after all, if you can see them, they're more likely to use proper hygiene) I don't always want to know who's handled my food.
I like to pretend my food just materialised like that, without any human handling... after all, you can't be grossed out by what you don't know about...

Today at lunchtime, I went into one my regular convenience stores in the city and got a vegetarian baguette. It's not always there so my food obsessed heart did a little leap as I saw one remaining... behind the counter... just waiting to be consumed by me!

So I asked for it and the girl behind the counter said "oh I made those today! I'll just get one for you"

Now she wasn't excessively gross or grubby, but I did find myself assessing her after she'd told me she'd made it.
Yeah ok, I'm strange like that.
Of course, it didn't stop me from eating it but I just wish she hadn't told me and the fantasy of my baguette springing to life from nothing could have lived longer in my head.

I've never thought too much about who handles my food until I started watching those cooking/restaurant shows on tv. Have you seen what they do on some of those shows??? And that's with the camera!! God knows what goes on in a normal restaurant kitchen where there are no cameras and no other eyes watching!
I honestly don't want to know!


Who said delusions were a bad thing??

But you said.....

The teenage brain is a curious thing.

Recently Miss 16 came to ask me if she could attend a certain concert with her boyfriend.
Being the sometimes cautious mum that I am, I said she could go if she could get an adult to go with them...

She shuffled away, brain cells churning no doubt, to see how she could make this happen.

I had suggested asking her dad, or asking my brother, or another relative that might be interested in going...

A few days later she bounded up to me, eyes shining brightly, barely able to keep her excitment level down.
"I found an adult!"

Now I should add at this point, that Miss 16's boyfriend is 17 and just happens to have a birthday a few weeks before this concert that they both want to go to...

"Steven is turning 18 just before the concert!" she exclaimed. I think there may even have been a hint of "a ha, gotcha!" in her voice...

"That's fantastic for him. Why are you telling me?" I replied..
"Because that means he'll be an adult!! And I'll be able to go to the conert with him! You said it had to be an adult!"

And honest to god, she still doesn't get it...

And now for the next attention seeking headline: Sibling Rivalry

Sibling rivalry is sometimes hard enough to live with without having the eyes of the world scrutinising and interpreting every move you and your sibling make.

I saw this headline today

Kate vs Pippa: Royal rivals


Really? You don't think Kate has enough of her hands right now? She has to worry about being upstaged by her sister? She got the prince, I think she's happy enough!

They first sentence in this article states
"As the Duchess steals the show at another wedding, the sisters’ lifelong rivalry over who is “thinnest and prettiest” heats up."

Do you think they are really competing to get more accolades than the other?
"Sure, you got the prince, but everyone thinks my butt is better than yours so there!"

So why do we flock to this stuff?
Why do we demand such articles?
Who is the winner here?
Pippa is now a celebrity in her own right. Why should she be compared to her sister?
Kate is now a princess, why does anything about her have to be compared to her sister?
Why can't these two just enjoy their own limelight? Why do they need to be compared?

I'll tell you why... because we like controversy!
We like to think there's something going on so we can talk about how terrible it is over the water cooler or while we're getting out hair done, or sitting having coffee with the girls... It makes us feel better about our own lives if celebrities aren't having the perfect lives they're sometimes portrayed to have.

And it works!
Magazines live on controversy!
A controversial story will win every time over a feel good story.

I feel sorry for those girls. I just hope they have the maturity required to not give in to the public pressure and won't let a rift or sibling competition appear when there never would have been...