my husband and i don’t celebrate Valentines Day.

i object to the idea that society allocates a day where people are told they should be entirely focused on love. do not tell me when and how i should express my love for someone. it’s inappropriate and entirely unwelcome.

other reasons why i don’t like it:

it makes lonely and unhappy people even more lonely and unhappy, whether they’re single or in a relationship.

it encourages people to put unrealistic expectations on their partners - particularly women towards men - expectations like romantic declarations of love from atop tables in the middle of crowded food halls, or presents like gigantic bouquets of red roses, fancy chocolates, and oversized stuffed teddybears that cost some people most of their paycheque.

it makes it hard for people who are born around this date to celebrate their birthday with their friends and family.

it gives people an excuse to treat their partners like shit for the rest of the year as long as they do something “romantic” today.

it gives florists an excuse to cover the goddamn pavement out the front of their shop with rose petals.

it means the supermarkets are even more overflowing with chocolate in bright, attractive packaging.

that is all. :)

yesterday was Melbourne Cup day. i know this because of all the people that were in the TAB (around the corner from my work) before lunch, because of the lady who was wearing a fascinator in the lift in my apartment building, and because one of my suppliers who’s in Melbourne was shut for the public holiday.

my personal viewpoint is that i think gambling is uninteresting and potentially dangerous, and horse-racing is cruel and pointless, but i don’t care if people bet on the Melbourne Cup - it’s just that i’m not interested.

but it’s another one of those fun situations where people start a conversation with me about something, i say i don’t do it / watch it / know it, and they’re so quick to say how they don’t either … “except for this one time”.

it’s exhausting having to deal with everyone else’s insecurities on top of my own.

anyway, so in honour of Gambling Day, i’m posting some lyrics from Crown Tower Blues by Root!

I’ve got the blues, Crown Tower blues
Ain’t got no shirt, ain’t got no shoes
Well these people here, they treat me fine
They bring me beer, they bring me wine
Well I’m going back - to my family
I left them somewhere in carpark level three

Do the stoney brokey, spent the kids’ school fees,
Loan defaulty, kneecap injury,
Foreclosed mortgagey, wife takes the family,
Skid-row society, help police inquiry,
Month in solitary, rim job sodomy,
Chemical dependancy, Brotherhood bin residency
End of the ropey swinging blokey
Hokey pokie, yeah
… that’s what it’s all about

this is sad. i heard about it on the news and they were like “this train crashed in europe” and i was like “argh!!!!”. very sad. lots of kids saved though, they said on the tv, so thats good.

in other news, i dream too much! last night i dreamt we were visiting some friends somewhere and one of them was really mean to me but the other one was really nice, and we were going to go to the movies, but none of the movies had 4 tickets left, so k and i had to go with one friend at a time to two movies! plus i left a longstitch at the train station (on purpose) and when the train came, we had to run really fast up to the other end of the platform to reach it (the train) and there were these traffic light type things to say when we could go or not. and it was very emotional (in my dream). and i cried when my friend was mean to me. wah!

maybe i dreamt about trains cos of the news story. hmmm. the worst thing is that my dreams either wake me up, or i wake up numerous times in the night for some reason just when i’ve been dreaming. i think its the latter, but i don’t get why.

when i was a kid, i wanted to have more dreams, so now i think maybe its my own fault, maybe i convinced my subsonscious to go nutty with dreams for me. but now i don’t know how to turn it off. i need a magic switch.

anywho, work.

we went to germany! and we had lots of fun. when i can be bothered, i will post selected pictoral highlights for your viewing pleasure. yay! i just realised though that we have been back for 3 weeks tonight, and i haven’t posted yet. boo! so here i am. yay!

germany was wonderful. berlin was my favourite, with munich being one of my least favourites (still had a fantastic time though! especially because of this third reich tour we went on, and the very lovely Englischer Garten). berlin just has this history, both beautiful and terrible, all overwhelming, just oozing out of every corner, which i just loved. i could’ve stayed in berlin for weeks! we went on a bunker tour, and frequented many museums, saw the Dandy Warhols, and i just had an amazing time. luxembourg city was also a favourite of mine - the city is just amazingly beautiful. i cant describe it. gosh. :)

anyway, as i am wont to do - to sum up a bit, here is a list of the places we went, including places we spent less than a day in (with favourite bits):

london (sherlock holmes museum), frankfurt (main cruise, the roemer / altstadt), koblenz (the fortress, the chair lift), duesseldorf (steve + alex!, hazelnut + chocolate milkshakes), duisburg (old iron foundry- cum- industrial amusement park), berlin (museums, remnants of berlin wall), munich (englischer garten, third reich tour), rothenburg ob der tauber (the torture / prison museum in the town hall), nuremburg (the kebabs), brussels (the architecture), ghent (the castle), luxembourg city (its beauty, the casements), trier (its germanness), cologne (the cathedral).

i miss germany. but i am glad to be home. :)

in other news: am kinda speaking with my brother again. dont know what this means yet. well, i know it means emotional anguish, but you know, other than that. i just dont know what to make of him and his decisions and his thought processes. i used to think everyone i knew, especially everyone in my family, was like me - thought like me, cared / worried about the same sort of things - but now i realise that isn’t the case, and maybe i am some sort of different after all. whether that is a good thing or not i am yet to decide.

i am so tired. we haven’t been sleeping properly, and have been working very much. ahh, how easy it is to fall back into the routine of life even after a nice 5 week holiday overseas.

i got a drawing tablet from my mum for my birthday. yay!!!! it is a 9×12 wacom intuis and it is awesome. i get hand cramps though if i draw for too long without a break, so i must be careful - i dont want to not be able to draw anymore. i think i would die.