Are Lemons the answer?

Stumbled upon an article today "Lose weight with Lemons". Ok I'm thinking -Fad Diet. But I will read it anyway, I'm not picky. I've done Cabbage Soup.

I listen to a radio station that has "The Lemon Detox Diet" as one of its sponsors (And I am SO over listening to Tania Zaetta-when was she on TV? Six years ago? How is that a relevant celebrity endorsement? Give me Cate Blanchett and SK-II or Jessica Simpson and Pro-Activ Solution any day) so I thought I would have a quick look to see if it was simply Activspruiking that diet.
Interestingly it wasn't, it's a different one.

Essential differences between The Lemon Juice Diet (hereafter Juice diet) and The Lemon Detox Diet (hereafter Detox Diet)

• Juice Diet you drink Lemon Juice and water before breakfast to "stimulate your digestive system"
  
• Have you seen what you're meant to drink on the Detox Diet? See below (I love the way the photo makes it look like you're in a resort drinking this)
• See below points for recipe for Detox Diet recipe
• One is an eating program with a weird fad thrown in (which is essentially why it will work)
• The other is a fad with no actual food.
  

So the recipe for the Lemon Detox Diet drink seen in the picture above is as follows

To make one glass of Natural Tree Syrup and Lemon Drink mix

• Two small tablespoons (or 20 ml) of Madal Bal Natural Tree Syrup™.

• Two tablespoons of freshly squeezed lemon juice (about half a lemon). Use fresh lemons, not lemon drink or concentrate.

• Half a pinch of cayenne pepper (adjust to taste).

Mix the ingredients and dilute with at least 250ml of water.

Umm, tree sap? Oh sorry, Syrup. Still ew. And Pepper? This stuff sounds revolting, and you're ideally meant to drink 6-8 glasses, or whenever you're hungry.
Ummm, and a "Laxative Tea"(!!!!) and "Sea Salt Water" In the morning.
GROSS

Comparatively the Juice Diet you drink your juice in the morning mixed with water (ok still kind of yuk but hey we're trying to lose weight here without having to become Tri-athletes or Gym Princesses/Hunks-its slightly lazy, yes) and then try to add Lemon to as much of your food as you can.
They try to fluff it out a bit, I mean they're trying to sell a whole book on the idea, but that's it in a nutshell. The "7 Principles" are "Drink Lemon juice and water, eat good and move more"
Clearly I am paraphrasing or they would have a post-it, not a book.

So I'm giving it a go. Hehehe maybe we can fill our fruit bowl with healthy looking lemons, instead of what it currently contains, chocolate.

When Life gives you Lemons, grab the tequila! (Lemonade is simply no fun without vodka)

I'm a Pop Whore

This is my SIGNED Delta Goodrem CD I got today. LOL. I can Delta-it-up with the best of them now. It has THREE versions of Believe Again and one of "Fortune and Love".
"Believe Again" I really feel epitomises the ridiculous-ness of Delta's "new sound". In that it sounds exactly the same as she did before. A song of hope, joy, learning to love again.
Yep. Thats what her last two albums were about too......

Gladiators......ready.......

*cackle gleefully*
I was so excited when I heard they were going to re-do Gladiators. I did enjoy it so, as a young lass. An article announcing Zoe Naylor as the female co-host to Tom Williams has made me re-think whether this is such a good idea though....


I really don't remember them looking quite so hybrid 80's....

Eeek! Scary!

Oh god put it away. That smug self satisified look is enough to make you puke.
He's probably a house painter or something dull now too.

Kimberly Joesph looks so pleased! Taipan (Far Left) looks bored. I want to punch Cougar.
Hammer (far right) looks too pleased LOL And the blonde in the back seems to be saying, "me Miss, me!!!"

This is a stupid shot because its been flipped, stupid because you can totally tell because their names are all backwards on their costumes and the G is backward.

Hey does anyone know where that was shot btw? It seemed to be small stadium sized.....

Beer o'clock!

Cruiser anyone?, originally uploaded by dataceptionist.

Have a great weekend everyone, see you next week : )

Drunken Santa's????

As an addendum to this post, an account of Festive hilarity from our foreign correspondent. (hehehe thanks Loulou, and since I didn't clear this with you just let me know if you want me to take it down)

* After getting over the weirdness of being in da hood with all my homeboy buddies, I have come to appreciate Brooklyn. There is an area known as 'Dumbo', which is as Matthew describes "like the Rocks except grittier". It is under the Brooklyn bridge, and at night it is quite lovely.

We went for a walk and kept coming across all these drunk people wandering around in Santa Claus outfits. It was a bit surreal - this army of inebriated Santas drifting through the night - and we eventually stumbled across the source of them - a raging bar packed with Santas all having a merry old time indeed.

Feeling underdressed, we left that bar and went over to a smaller one with a live jazz band. We were finishing our first drinks when a Santa came in - a hot black chick who insisted on buying us drinks, before getting involved in some of the naughtiest booty shaking I've ever seen, from Santa Claus at least! We made friends with Santa, and I even danced with her three wines later, yes booty shaking - it was fairly hilarious.

The locals say there is a great Blues band on Wednesday night, so we're heading back there tomorrow for more adventures with the "scary black people" (as one of the dudes who was talking to us dubbed himself).

Dammit I need a drink

Now THIS is the sort of story you're surprised you don't hear more of. I wonder at how often this really happens, because you'd be so pissed off if you were over limit and you'd just bought it.

Airport anger:

man sculls litre of vodka

A man nearly died from alcohol poisoning after quaffing a litre of vodka at a German airport security check instead of handing it over to comply with new carry on rules, police said on Wednesday.

The incident occurred at the Nuremberg airport on Tuesday, where the 64-year-old man was switching planes on his way home to Dresden from a holiday in Egypt.

New airport rules prohibit passengers from carrying larger quantities of liquid onto planes, and he was told at a security check he would have to either throw out the bottle of vodka or pay a fee to have his carry-on bag checked as cargo.

Instead, he chugged the bottle down - and was quickly unable to stand or otherwise function, police said.

A doctor called to the scene determined he had possibly life-threatening alcohol poisoning, and he was sent to a Nuremberg clinic for treatment.

The man, whose name was not released, is expected to be able to complete his journey home in a few days.

Sperm donor to pay child support

Sperm donor ordered to pay lesbian couple

A British firefighter who donated his sperm so a lesbian couple could have two babies is being forced to pay thousands of pounds in child support.

Andy Bathie, 37, initially agreed to help Sharon and Terri Arnold after being assured he would not have to be involved in the upbringing of their young boy and girl or have any financial responsibility towards them.

But the British government's Child Support Agency has begun docking his pay to force him to contribute to the children's upbringing because the lesbian couple have split up.

Mr Bathie has launched unprecedented court action in an attempt to ensure he cannot be recognised as a legal parent to the children.

"These women wanted to be parents and take on all the responsibilities that brings," he told the Evening Standard newspaper.

"I would never have agreed to this unless they had been living as a committed family.

"And now I can't afford to have children with my own wife - it's crippling me financially."

I'm sorry, but I just think this is SO wrong. The last line is awful. I beleive in the "rights of the child" and everything, but this appears to be more of a case, of "let's take him for all he's worth for helping us". I actually have a friend who was dating a guy, they'd been seeing each other for 12 months or so when he got a letter in the mail that he owed child support to a woman he'd had a one night stand with (admittedly not good in itself). This woman admitted she'd slept with him purely to conceive a child because she wanted one. The child was now twelve months old and she'd realised she couldn't afford it, so NOW she wanted child support. I fully support "you do the crime you do the time" and that men have just as much responsibility to ensure contraception happens, but this was cold. Their relationship unfortunately didn't cope through this ordeal as he had more of his wages garnished to cover the backpay, so I don't know how he's doing with it.

Sad face :(

*sniff*

I discovered this morning that one of the diamonds in my wedding band has fallen out.
:(

Idol-phile

Is it just me, or does Kyle look like a lecherous old guy in both these photos? Its almost like he's trying to do a cool head wobble photo-still equivalent. Creepy! Either that, or someone at some point has told him "you look great, hold that pose".
Except its a joke Kyle.

I'm sure the irony of the pairing is not lost on them either (you'd hope). She's only famous because of a Reality TV search for a Singer, and he breaks dreams every day he's a judge on Australian Idol. Rest of the Gallery here.
***disclaimer: I watch Idol, and frequently listen to the Kyle & Jackie O Show on 2DayFM. I do actually like Kyle.***

Santa

Santa's graduating from Santa academy in Toyko

Die Trying - Lee Child ***/*

A Chicago street in bright sunshine. Jack Reacher, strolling nowhere, meets an attractive young woman, limping, struggling with her crutches, alone. Naturally he stops to offer her a steadying arm, and then they turn together - to face twin handguns held level and motionless and aimed straight at their stomachs.

Chained to the woman, locked in a dark, stifling van racing 2,000 miles across America, Reacher needs to know who he's dealing with. The kidnappers say nothing, and his companion claims to be Holly Johnson, FBI Agent. She's fierce enough and tough enough, but he knows there must be more to her than that. And (sic) at their remote, hostile destination, they will need to act as a team and trust each other, pitting raw courage and cunning against insane violence and seemingly hopeless odds, with their own lives and hundreds more at stake.

Great Reacher novel, Lee Child never fails to deliver.

3.5 / 5

The Innocent Man - John Grisham ****

An excellent book, and an excellent example of reasons fiction writers should also pay attention to the wider world. Grisham has demonstrated that fact can be stranger than fiction, and when it is, it needs no decoration. He has employed a no nonsense writing style in this work which while you may imagine it could drag, it works wonderfully and keeps great pace.
I admit I was so incensed by the subject matter and the injustice of it all that at one stage I simply had to stop reading, and regroup.
If you like legal thrillers, or True Crime, this book is a must read.
Library loan I'm sorry.

4 / 5

Oh dear god, sheild mein eyes!

The new Spice Girls video, if you haven't seen it.
Why on earth are they all writhing around in their underwear??? This song is supposedly about friendship and yet they're all getting their gear off, and simpering at the camera. It all takes a weird Left turn after Geri comes on the screen wearing only her bra and undulating her abs, as if we really need to see that. There's group shots with erupting breasts, like some sort of sickening pillow fight, sans pillows.

Posh is sitting in this weird stripper pose with her legs spread on a chair, wearing some weird fetish pvc bondage strapping, and looking more and more like the over priced china doll she's become. Just when they could have exploited a real opportunity for her to dispel the long-held theory that she was nothing but a pretty face, she simply gets her gear off and pretends she's singing along!

The whole video is this bizarre orgiastic fest, and it was only a morbid fascination that kept me watching. Sporty looked like a lawyer the whole time, beign the only one not to get her cans out.

She's leaving on a jet plane...

All the farewellers, originally uploaded by dataceptionist.

Well she's left already actually. Had an email today to say they've arrived and are having fun.
I miss her already.

Crap food

You know what I think is worse than crap tasting diet food? A misguided expectation it will taste good. I think there is a huge hole in the market for "healthy" snack food that doesn't taste shit.
Take the "Fruit 'n Crunch" bar above.
This is the second such bar I've tried now, that has tasted like poison.
OK, maybe not poison and the death that follows sharply after, but it was CRAP diet food.
Now I know there's a lot of you out there that are saying "yes but diet food isn't meant to taste nice" or "diet food always tastes like shit, what did you expect?"

I have almost reached a point where if it's edible, it can't possibly be something I should eat. The problem then is that I am wracked with guilt every time I eat. Hiding furtively in the corner, tearing the corner off a barbeque chicken, and diving headfirst into the bag, emerging with glorious fat dripping down my neck.

Don't get me wrong, I actually quite enjoy steamed vegies, unlike a lot of people. Chicken rissoles, steamed broccoli, zucchini, squash, carrots. Yum. Snack food is a minefield though.
That Uncle Toby's muesli bar you used to eat at recess every day? Packed with excess sugar and salt.
Space food Stick? Too much Sugar, too much fat.
Even my crap-tacular K-Time bar above isn't the healthiest thing on the shelf.
But the alternative is the Weight Watchers Snack bars, which, without a joke, taste like compounded cardboard with red stuff smeared in between masquerading as some sort of fruit product.
You can't eat the things without 2 litres of water at the ready, because your mouth simply can't produce enough saliva to masticate them properly.

One thing I will say in WW's defence, for the range of food they produce, they get a lot of it right. Their little fruit cups are great, I love them, but you can only eat one a day really (unless you want to eat more than the recommended fruit intake for the day and spend the rest of the day on the toilet). They also do great shredded tasty cheese, baked beans that taste exactly the same as SPC or Heinz (1/2 point). And their single serve tomato soup cans are fab. Their ice-cream is good but not GREAT, but their single serve dessert puddings are AMAZING! Yummo!

Help me people! Does anyone know any good stuff? What is your experience with Pre-packaged "diet" food?

(btw- I picked Blue text colour because apparently the colour blue is an appetite suppressant (WW packaging) as opposed to RED which is apparently an appetite stimulant (think Maccas, Burger King, KFC).
I wonder where Green falls into with Subway.....

Controversial

An amazing video. I would urge you to watch it, very interesting things to say about Islam.




A link to a story done by Jana Wendt on the woman in the video.

Top Sellings Albums in Oz

The top selling albums of the past ten years
(in Australia)

1 Come On Over (Shania Twain) 1997

I only own the greatest hits....











2 Jagged Little Pill (Alanis Morissette) 1995 ^^

This was the first CD I ever owned. I still treasure it...










3 Innocent Eyes (Delta Goodrem) 2003 ^^

I always liked this album. Can get a bit wearing if you listen on repeat though.









4 Savage Garden (Savage Garden) 1997


I only have a compilation created by Loulou. Its got all the best ones anyway.







5 Falling Into You (Celine Dion) 1996

I love Celine Dion. Not enough to buy her music though. I love her French songs.
She really does have an amazing voice.
And yes, I love my heart will go on. Sorry.







6 Abba Gold (Abba) 1992
7 Immaculate Collection (Madonna) 1990
8 Recurring Dream (Crowded House) 1996
9 Come Away With Me (Norah Jones) 2002 ^^
(at least I did ... somewhere....)
10 Forgiven Not Forgotten (The Corrs) 1995
How good was This album. I had no idea it was so massive in Oz though.
11 Yourself or Someone Like You (Matchbox 20) ^^
(on tape, hehehe so old)
12 Forrest Gump (Soundtrack)
Sister has it. Good album.
13 The Very Best of (The Eagles)
14 1 (The Beatles)
15 Affirmation (Savage Garden)
16 The Eminem Show (Eminem) ^^
17 Live (Throwing Copper) ^^
Sigh, another of my staples. Hardly listen to it anymore though. One of my favourite songs also got kind of ruined when I found out earlier this year that the Snowtown murderers used it while they killed people. Creepy!!!!
18 HIStory (Michael Jackson)
LOVE MICHAEL JACKSON! Always meant to buy this.
19 Don't Ask (Tina Arena)
Hahaha I remember dancing in Year 5 to Tina Arena in my friends basement/rumpus room. Good times.
20 The Sound of White (Missy Higgins) ^^
Must say I'm not as into her second album, this one will always be the best.
21 Soul Deep (Jimmy Barnes)
22 Get Born (Jet)
23 Unplugged (Eric Clapton)
24 Let Go (Avril Lavigne)
25 Barricades and Brickwalls (Kasey Chambers)
26 Fever (Kylie Minogue)
27 Odyssey No 5 (Powderfinger)
28 Remasters (Led Zeppelin)
29 Symbols (Led Zeppelin)
30 The Best of 1980-1990 (U2) ^^
This was MUCH bigger than the secong 1990-2000 Silver one. I have both, this ones better. It has all the Joshua Tree classics on it. I don't know if you ever heard the story, but Eca and I got tickets when the concert was released last year. We were both madly clicking the Ticketek website and I got through (yay!). Then they postponed their concert, AFTER Eca had booked her ticket to London, based on the concert date. Eca was devastated she was going to miss it, and I knew it wouldn't be the same without her either.
Fastforward, they're talking about re-schedule dates, and wouldn't you know it. The re-scheduled for when Eca was back in Australia for our wedding. Only problem was it was smack bang in the middle of our Honeymoon, so now I couldn't go.....
Apparently it was a great concert too.....
31 The Ultimate Collection (Creedence Clearwater Revival)
32 No Angel (Dido)
33 Greatest Hits (Robbie Williams)
34 Back To Bedlam (James Blunt)
35 Just As I Am (Guy Sebastian)
36 Fallen (Evanescence) ^^
37 That's What I'm Talking About (Shannon Noll)
38 Feeler (Pete Murray)
39 Life For Rent (Dido)
40 I'm Not Dead (Pink) ^^
41 Michael Buble (Michael Buble) ^^ (burned)
42 Breakaway (Kelly Clarkson)
43 Songs About Jane (Maroon 5)
44 Mistaken Identity (Delta Goodrem) ^^
45 American Idiot (Green Day)
46 It's Time (Michael Buble)
47 Love Angel Music Baby (Gwen Stefani)
48 Monkey Business (Black Eyed Peas)
49 So Fresh - Hits of summer 2003 (Various)
Now how the hell was this particular
(NO idea why there's no # 50)
^^ Own it.

Not the biscuits!

I keep, on my desk at work, a jar of biscuits for when I get snacky. I only eat one maybe two, every other day. They're Arnott's Snack Right pillow biscuits, which are yummy. Snack rights are low fat, or low something or other, so I don't feel like a pig when I eat them, its like 1 Weight Watchers point for two biscuits or something.

This morning, I read that they've been misleading us! The Apple Blackberry ones (a favourite of mine)

"The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission alleges that the fruit shown on the packaging of five of Arnott's bestselling, Snackright fruit slices and fuit pillows, might not in fact be a major ingredient."

I mean what is going on here!

"....shoppers have every right to expect berries to be a significant ingredient of Snackright apple and blackberry fruit pillows.

..... if berries and apple are on the packs then they should make up ``a significant amount'' of the ingredients...."

Damn right they should be! What the hell else am I eating? Butcher shop saw dust? How the hell are we meant to know whats in stuff if they're lying on the goddam packets! I just don't know who to trust anymore. (but I'm not going Organic anytime soon either)

Dilbert fun

Hello out there?

So, umm....look guys. I'm not saying you need to write like, War & Peace or anything, but it'd be really nice if you could leave a comment sometimes. You know, it doesn't have to be every post or anything, but if you had a chuckle or found what I said kind of interesting, maybe just a
"*chuckle*" or "good post"
You know I'd even take a "hey I found this quite dull"
Just you know, so I know I'm on the right track, or the wrong track, or that I'm even still on the track, not running off through scrubby bushland, with prickly things sticking to my socks.

And if you're just dropping in, how bout a Bangawoyo (hello in Korean)

(because really, who doesn't want a Banga-wo-yo)

You've got to be kidding me

I'm sure that's what the judge thought when this case same across his desk....

Escorts a work expense, court told

November 13, 2007

Question: When might thousands of dollars worth of escort agency services be considered a work-related personal expense for a corporate executive?

Answer: When an accountant might find they relate to entertainment or living away from home expenditure for companionship while interstate.

But even the Industrial Court judge hearing an unfair dismissal case could barely believe that Tas Sinadinos lived in the "real world" in claiming that escort services might be a legitimate tax deduction claim for personal expenses related to his relocation to Sydney as executive manager, logistics, for EDI Rail Pty Ltd on a salary of $185,000.

Mr Sinadinos is seeking orders including 12 months' salary in damages and a declaration that he was not guilty of misconduct in using his corporate American Express card for escort services.

His sacking from the company that provides Sydney trains was "unfair" as he was never shown the company's employee "code of conduct" when headhunted from Melbourne in December 2004.

He told the court he only saw the company policy on corporate card use a month later, by which time he claims to have had a verbal agreement with his manager to charge work-related personal expenses to his corporate credit card provided they were reimbursed directly.

But Mr Sinadinos agreed he did not directly pay back the company for up to $12,000 in personal charges at Coles, Theo's Liquor Store and Delfare Pty Ltd, an Annandale-based escort company, and other Sydney escort services...

...Mr Sinadinos agreed he had not worked since his sacking on August 31, 2005 over "inappropriate and unacceptable" personal spending on escort services....

...Buying escort services for "company" was "not dissimilar" to buying fittings for his apartment. He could not "differentiate [escort services] from buying a rack on which to put food on for my apartment. I would leave that to an accountant."

Jennifer Cook SMH

I mean, how ridiculous!

Cool coffee designs

The Husband - Dean Koontz ****

Great Book.
Good Thriller, good plot twists.
Thanks to Susie and Tom, who gave it to me for my B'Day :)
4 / 5

Just can't get into it....

I've started, and put down, and picked up again, and finally given up on the following books recently

I've had this book on reserve for months. It took ages to come in, and I started it, but just can't get into it.
The narrative style is a series of letters from Eva to her estranged husband. Kevin is their son, who when he was 15, went into his High School with a gun and shot his fellow students and a teacher.
Its an interesting premise, but somehow, I think the letter style really irked me. It gives no opportunity for anyone else's POV. I guess thats also its attraction as an author, and it can't be an easy style to write in either.
Not for me unfortunately.


This book was meant to be great. I wanted it to be amazing.
Ever since I read Infidel, I have wanted to read this. Its a bit of a discourse on Muslim women, but for me it read as more of a lecture.
Again, I just couldn't get into it.
I think it was because I felt like I was being lectured, which can be the difficulty in trying to get your point across about something that the listener doesn't neccessarily fully comprehend and that you're passionate about to boot.


Another book I saw in a book shop, and read the blurb thinking it would be a really interesting read. I think if I was more into colonial history, it would have been. AS it stands though, I'm not, so it wasn't as good a read as I'd hoped.
Unfortunately, on the back of the other few I couldn't really get into, it was a bigger disappointment than it might otherwise have been.
I started at the beginning, and each chapter is dedicated to a mistake. The first chapter is the landing of the British.
Yep.
So I read a few, not an interesting as I'd hoped, thought if I went to the end it might inspire me a bit more.
Last chapter, Gough Whitlam.
Yep, thats the most recent thing covered. So it ended up a bit of a fizzer.

*sigh*
It was all quite disappointing.

This isn't going to be pretty......

From my darling husband....

Hi All,

During Movember (the month formerly known as November) I'll be growin a Mo
(Now I know this isn’t going to be pretty, but neither is prostate cancer – and trust me - Yvonne will be making sure I suffer for the cause).
That's right I'm bringing the Mo back because I'm passionate about changing men's health and the fight against male depression and prostate cancer.
Why...

• Depression affects 1 in 6 men...Most don't seek help. Untreated depression is a leading risk factor for suicide.
  
• Last year in Australia 18,700 men were diagnosed with prostate cancer and more than 2,900 died of prostate cancer - equivalent to the number of women who die from breast cancer annually.
• Men are far less healthy than women. The average life expectancy of males is 5 years less than females.
  

To sponsor my Mo please go to http://www.movember.com/au/donate & enter my registration number which is 156436 and your credit card details.

Or you can sponsor me by cheque made payable to the "Movember Foundation" clearly marking the donation as being for my Registration Number: 156436.
Please mail cheques to: PO Box 292, Prahran VIC 3181. All donations over $2 are tax deductible.

The money raised by Movember is donated to the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia and beyondblue - the national depression initiative, which will use the funds to create awareness, fund research and increase support networks for those men who suffer from prostate cancer and male depression.

For those that have supported Movember in previous years you can be very proud of the impact it has had and can check out the detail at: Fundraising Outcomes.
Movember culminates at the end of the month at the Gala Partés. These glamorous and groomed events will see Tom Selleck and Borat look-a-likes battle it out for their chance to take home the prestigious Man of Movember title. If you would like to be part of this great night you'll need to purchase a Gala Parté ticket .

Thanks for your support

Our First Wedding Anniversary

Wonderful Husband of mine had Champagne waiting in our room when we arrived, complete with a card that said Happy 1st Anniversary to my darling wife.
So we drank the champagne the first night! Heehee
We then proceeded to do our own tasting tour of the vineyards in the Hunter on the Saturday, which was lovely :)

More weird dreams

Ok so yesterday I had this weird dream where I was at one of M's football games and it was getting dark and when the game finished for some reason the lights went off and so me and all the spectators were sitting there in the dark until; the players came out of the dressing sheds again..... weird in itself, and just as I was sort of waking up I decided to go to the bar and get more drinks, and for myself I got either 2 or 4 drinks (massive pisshead, even in my dreams clearly) and for M I got two beers, and then I think his alarm went off, and my brain incorporated it and I thought "oh no, he's not going to have time to drink those two beers" I tried to explain this to him as he left for work but strangely enough he didn't find it as vexing as I did. He said something about virtual beers, like in Facebook. *shrug*

Last week I had a horrible dream that M and I were seperating (I specifically remember this being the term used). I think I heard M say "I'm Leaving" as in he was going to work, and my brain took that sentence and ran with it. That was awful really, as I felt conscious and like I was thinking, I had an internal monologue happening. I woke feeling relieved this was not the case. I hesitated to tell M right away though, as I didn't want him to think I was using my dreaming time to fantasise about getting divorced.

So this morning I dreamt we had had a baby! Literally woke up one morning, went to the doctor and discovered I was pregnant and gave birth. {actually, maybe this is a subconcious hope that I haven't gained weight from over-eating, I'm simply pregnant. Hmmm, think about it.....} Anyway, my dreams lately have been incredibly vivid. For example I can still feel the vomit on my face from the baby puking all over me. I wanted to highlight this as it wasn't like I was dreaming of babies and bunnies and rattles and fun.
I still have a residual feeling of awe though. Its amazing really what the brain can conjure without any prior experience. Having not yet had children, I can't actually draw on experience for a dream like this, and yet it felt quite real, and I really felt immersed in a realisitic way, not in the emotional caricature you can sometimes experience when dreaming about quite foreign things.

I actually woke from this one slightly disappointed it wasn't real.

Breakfast of Champions

Breakfast of Champions, originally uploaded by • w a a •.

Mmm Yum coffee

Nath & Mel

Mark & I @ Nath & Mel's wedding

Mark & I, originally uploaded by dataceptionist.

This is the Dress I ended up wearing to the wedding on the weekend. It was gorgeous, Events, and fully lined and boned. I felt bad wearing black, but I got there and there were 3 other girls wearing black too.

It won't happen to me.....

In Sydney's Northern Beaches, the local paper, The Manly Daily in recent times has been focused a lot on a local girl, Annabel Catt, who died from taking a version of Ecstasy. You may be familiar with the coverage when the ABC came under fire earlier this year for airing a show, Summer Heights High, with a similar storyline to Catt's death.

This has been a very emotional issue for the local community, as she was young, only 20, and it has sparked a campaign by her family to try to raise more awareness of the issue, in the same manner as Anna Wood's death did. Anna wood was only 15 when she died, and it was a wake up call to a community that was probably pretending drugs were something junkies did, not schoolgirls. Interestingly, Anna Wood's father thinks its more likely the ABC SHH program was based on his daughter.

Anna Wood would have been 27 now, the same age as my brother.

When I was in Year 8 at school, I was what, 15/16 myself? We actually went to school with the son of Bronwyn Donaghy, who wrote Anna's Story, which is a non-fiction account, posthumously written by taking accounts from her friends and family.
Mrs Donaghy came to a camp we had and spoke about her experience, 3 years earlier, in meeting the Wood family (whom she previously had no connection with) and sharing their pain in losing their daughter in such a senseless way.
The message of the talk was that drugs can kill, and "party" drugs aren't benign, you never know what's in them and the effects can be devastating.

Unfortunately behind the scenes, for 100 school kids, the message was also "what an idiot" and "as if you wouldn't call an ambulance". Everyone walked away thinking, consciously or unconsciously, It Won't Happen To Me.

This week, Annabel Catt's family are trying to raise awareness about drugs, by visiting a primary school to launch the "Keep Aussie Kids Safe" campaign being run by Life Education Australia at all primary. They feel if they share their pain with primary school children and their parents across the nation, they can help others. This is a noble action, and would be great, if it worked.

The problem with these talks, vital as they are, is that they don't really work, and this is the biggest hurdle facing drug education. The most effective lessons about drugs are learnt the hard way- through experience.

It makes me wonder whether the "It Won't Happen To Me" mentality ever goes away. Or does it simply become "It Won't Happen To Us" when we have our own children. When does it develop? I am sure that on some level, primary school age children are still thinking that with "heroes" like Ben Cousins and Andrew Johns popping pills, that if they try one, It Won't Happen To Them. And why wouldn't they?

I'm not saying teenagers are going to be exposed to drugs and they won't have any power to stop them, being the mindless idiots that they are. That's not what I'm saying at all.
But this mentality permeates society and permeates all of our thinking, without really asking for it, because Bad Things Don't Happen To Good People.
And as far as we're all concerned, since we aren't Saddam Hussein, we are all Good People.

People feel sorry for families like the Catt's and the Woods, but secretly they think something "must be wrong in that family". Maybe they don't eat at the table together, maybe their kids are latchkey kids, whatever people's measure of normal, and "right" is, they suspect when something horrendous happens, it must be something in the way the children were raised. This isn't neccessarily true, no matter how children are raised, everyone knows the phrase, Curiosity Killed the Cat. Curiosity is a natural, human reaction to new things.

Annabel Catt's friends, I can guarantee you, will still be taking drugs. Their friend is DEAD, and they'll still be out, popping pills "to deal with it". Because even though it DID happen to their friend, It still Won't Happen To Me.

Fab? Right???

Well I've done it now.

And I kind of liked it.
It was a bit weird at the beginning, I was afraid of trying something new, but the end result has been pleasantly surprising.

That's right, today, I'm wearing my skinny jeans, WITHOUT BOOTS.
I know I am only a hairline away from Emo-Fug (I said a HAIRLINE bitches)...
I KNOW I bought them ONLY for wearing with my boots.
I know I have a horrid problem with them sliding down my backside Resulting in constant tugging, which I can tell you from seeing other girls, is NOT an attractive, sexy look.
BUT!
I seem to have fixed the ass-crack problem, with (I know this sounds ridiculously simple) a BELT!!!
Amazing!Now, I didn't wake up this morning and suddenly feel a compulsion to wear skinny jeans, it was entirely organic I can assure you (without the ridiculous price-tag).
See it was raining this morning and because M took the car I had to catch the bus so I thought oh well I will wear my boots and so I was trying to think of what to wear with my boots and my brain skipped to the skinny jeans so I put them on and was expecting them to be ass-crack central and make me feel really fat as usually I put them on and then I feel really fat and my belly hangs over the top ( i know, that is SUCH an ATTRACTIVE image for you all) but this morning I put them on and then I put the belt on and that seemed to fix the ass crack problem and I was walking around looking for a top (as you do) and I looked in the mirror and thought, maybe I'll just leave them like this, they don't look as bad as previously though (its slippery slope I'm on........*thinking* do tight black shorts that finish just under the knee class as fuggin's............*hmmm*)
And then as I was walking to the bus stop I passed a plate glass window and after thinking they looked just fine with my thongs on........I was gratified to see they DID look just fine!

Out of all the pictures in Googe Image I could have picked for this, I chose this one, even though she's wearing heels and I'm not, because of how uncomfortable the model appears. Like its a Kmart ad, and the model is 15 and just starting out. (I don't want to think about what that infers about the target market for skinny jeans)

{AND I am under no delusions that this is what I look like in MY skinny jeans. }

Since Monday's breakdown, I'm actually feeling a lot better, we've been to the gym a few times, I'm trying to eat better (I've mentally said no to chips three times!) And I feel like it's already working for me! I feel almost normal sized in my skinny jeans (yeah I know, contradiction of terms). So maybe when we're jumping into bikini's for a possible trip to the beach Sunday, I can do it with a modicum of pride. (or less shame).

So many windows!

About this time every week I start to get a strange anxiety.

Every Friday afternoon we shut down our computers, but at night we only turn the monitors off and lock them, so everything I was working on/looking at/reading is still there the next day. But by Thursday, I've got almost a weeks worth of windows open with stuff I'm interested in, and not ready to let go of yet.

I use Firefox as my browser and the format it uses, IE totally ripped off for its latest version. I only have one window open in my task bar, but I can look at up to twenty tabs at a time. Each tab can be a different web address. (Thanks to Zogg for putting me onto Firefox!)

I currently have ten open, one is constantly Gmail, usually I have at least 1 SMH and most days I keep my blog open all day too. The rest are random stuff, sometimes I find sites and I want to blog about stuff on the page so I keep it open until I write the post. Other times its stuff I'm waiting to hear an answer on for some reason. Some are things I know I want to read, I clicked it, I'm sure I'm interested enough to read it, but I can't find the motiviation to go back to the article....

So about this time every week I start to get a strange anxiety, because I know that all the tabs I currently have open need to be dealt with and read and blogged, all before 5 pm on Friday.
I get tense, thinking I won't get through it all.
And this isn't even my job, this is just all the other stuff I do during the day LOL

Surely I'm not alone here...

More Ebay

After Monday's depressing arrival of the dress that became the herald of doom, I got two more dresses that I had ordered.

YAY!
THESE FIT!!!
While I hadn't really lost faith in Ebay as a whole, I'm feeling less rotund. This feeling is assisted by having been to the gym every day this week (I know its only Wednesday, shaddup)
Baby steps people. Baby steps.

**Edit** Btw as you can probably tell, unfortunately the dress code for the wedding we're attending isn't "beach boho chic" or I could wear one of these. The search continues, T-minus-3 days**

When did I get fat? oh wait....then....

*Sigh*

We're going to a wedding this weekend and I decided to try my old friend Ebay for a dress to wear, as I don't want to wear something I already own.
I found a dress I really liked, then discounted it as too expensive.

So I found another one that I thought would be quite good. This one :So it arrived yesterday, and its beautiful, I really like it, its a lovely purple colour and its silky and looks well made.

But it doesn't fit :(

Which is a problem.

Its too small, because I've gotten fat.

In fact we got married last November and in about February we realised we'd both put on weight, so we got stuck in, dieted, I managed to lose about 6-7kgs and was pretty happy. Then I sort of slacked off, stopped going to the gym when Daylight Savings finished and it got darker, and colder, and I holed up in our unit getting fatter and fatter again. Then I looked in the mirror at the beginning of August and thought, hold on! Its going to be Spring soon, and bikini season starts, and I'm all squishy looking.

So I resolved to go back to the gym.

Then I weighed myself, expecting to see the numbers at the same level as in February (pre-diet and weight loss) and was pleasantly surprised to see that I actually was still only a few kilos over my "good" weight from when I sort of trickled off on the exercise (about 11-15 weeks). So what happened? My brain quietly told me I could afford to wait, and not get right back into the diet.

Six weeks later I actually made it back to the gym.

So here I am, M has joined my gym too and we've only managed to go once together (I've been a few times solo).
The problem is that its the end of October and when I weighed myself again on the weekend I am now back to Post-, Wedding/Pre-Diet weight. In eight or nine weeks I seem to have abandoned my good-but-not-great eating habits and I gained the other 4 kg's I had lost.

I infact, feel fatter than ever before, I'm muffin-topping out of all my clothes. I have embraced the Baby-doll top, and the empire line dress because I don't need to try to suck my stomach in, which I am finding increasingly difficult and tiring to do all day.

In the last few weeks I have been unable to fit into the following items of clothing:

• Ebay dress. Size 12.
• Blue and white sundress, which made my boobs do something REALLY weird, dress may also be in cahoots with Nude colour strapless bra, which is showing signs of fatigue, and has been "on its way out" for six months or so. Think this is age related, not fat related however. I KNOW this dress fit me a year ago, its only that old.
  
• Just about all my jeans. I think they are all staging a revolt against me. Slowly slowly I have stopped wearing them, except for this one pair, which are really stretchy (loving them). I am punishing myself today by wearing a non-stretch pair that are cutting my in half as I sit.
  
• A multitude of slim fit tops which have all stopped slim-fitting. Including a heap of singlet tops that are stretch (Lycra if you will) that seem to display my fat rolls for all to see (back and front)
  
• Boardshorts. Are. My. Enemy.
• My pale pink shorts that I love *sniff*
• My pink sundress which is currently making me look like a beached whale.
• My white skirt that sits roughly just under my breasts now in order to zip it up. (not good look. What's worse, is considered wearing it out the other day regardless.
• Green and black dress, usually a solid friend, am afraid it won't zip up now.
  
• Am getting tuck shop arms!!!! (I know this isn't an item of clothing, more a reflection upon anything that I wear that displays them-particularly bad in strapless things)
  

So I'm back on the diet.
Thinking of doing the cabbage soup diet for a kick start, I've actually always liked that soup. Problem is its quite warm for soup.

...............*sigh*

Murder & Deception - Brian Bock ***

A good little collection, best thing about Short stories is you can pickup and put down with ease. Problem when they're all by the same author is that they can get tired. Not the best I've read recently (I'm also trying to get through another two short collections).

3 / 5

Mark taking off in the Red Baron

Not quite up on loading vids to You Tube, this is my first effort :)

Edit** this wasn't working when first loaded, has been updated and should work now, so try again. :)

Mark - Red Baron flight

Mark - Red Baron flight, originally uploaded by dataceptionist.

Mark in his Flight suit before the acrobatic adventure flight.
More pics on my Flickr.
He wasn't so happy looking at the end....

Mark - Red Baron flight (2)

Mark - Red Baron flight, originally uploaded by dataceptionist.

Red Baron flight (3)

M - Red Baron flight, originally uploaded by dataceptionist.

He was a bit wiped in the end.

Hi

You may have noticed a slight drop in regular posts.
See, the blogosphere is actually quite extensive, when you start reading blogs you can get so caught up in them, there are some that you read that stay with you, and some that make you want to go back and read all the archives (BlankTop Chronicles, Cabblog).

I've been reading blogs lately, not just browsing, but really reading a lot of other blogs. This has unearthed a deep-seated fear in me.
This is my fear-
I'm not very interesting.
I've discovered so many funny, witty, compelling blogs that I feel mine is inferior, and I have lost inspiration for posts. What do I write, that I can am comfortable jettisoning into the blogosphere, that I feel might make a difference?
I'm not sure.
I no longer work with freaks, the people I work with now are quite nice, normal people. People you can have a drink with, without wanting to lace your own beverage with cyanide. So I can't write about them.
My job is actually kind of mind-numbingly-boring presently actually.

I haven't given up, but I've lost a little bit of focus. Hmm.....*musing*

Well this about Sums it up.