Go me.

I took Sage Vivant's Erotic Personality Quiz and discovered I'm a Show-Off!

What is your Erotic Personality? Find out now.

Confessions of a Clerical Assistant

When I was between the ages of 10 and 19 roughly I kept a diary. The entries are generally narrative, no "Dear Diary" crap, and I thought everything I was writing was SO interesting. (hey has much changed?)
I think about my diaries often. They sit at the top of the spare wardrobe in two innocent looking boxes, numbering about 12 A5 books in total, and I rarely look at them. But I think about them a bit.
I don't necessarily muse over whether I should have liked that boy more than THAT boy, or should I have been less of a bitch to THAT girl.
I think mostly about my motivation for keeping them.
I know I reached the age of 19 or so and I realised I wasn't writing in them as often, and I couldn't be bothered making the effort to continue to write so religiously.
It felt all so contrived. And I kind of still think it is.
In a way I think it was a good outlet for my oh-so-angst-ridden teenage thoughts and feelings. I mean, every teenage girl thinks the sky is falling don't they?
Maybe they don't.
Somehow with my oh-so-easy upbringing I still felt entitled to have "issues"
non-existent as they were.
I mean don't get me wrong, it wasn't as though I didn't know girls with issues. Hell I DID!
I have often recounted to people that of all the divorced kids I went to school with, the ones I noticed most were girls, and without exception they all hated their fathers with a passion. I always thought that was an interesting reflection on how girls cope with family break down. They side with their mother.
I think it was probably a good outlet in some ways, maybe I simply didn't feel of any of my friends I could tell them absolutely everything that I told my diary.

One of the interesting things that crop up when people talk about diaries and motiviation is fear of discovery. Some people are terrified their diary will be stolen and read. Some people will stop writing after this. I came to a realisation one day that I think I always wrote my diary hoping that someone would find it and read it.
I think I was hoping someone would understand me. its also possible though that I was looking for pity and maybe "if someone truly understood me they would feel sorry for me"
Except I wasn't worthy of anyone feeling sorry for me. I was a whiny bitch. That's what teenagers do. They feel misunderstood, until they get older and realise they were giant whingers.

I remember one of my diaries was a small Art Book, with blank pages. I was going through an arty phase where I was hoping if I had the tools of the trade I would be more arty than I really was. I had this romantic ideal of being artistic and talented. That fell on its ass. LOL.

In year 10 I took one of the career aptitude tests they give you in "Careers", which I'm pretty sure I had first period Thursday morning.
I ticked all my boxes etc and added my score. I was devastated when the field I was told I was destined for was "Clerical and Administration". I wanted to be in the "creative" category that would yeild me an interesting career like "Museum Curator" or something fancy sounding.
I look back on that test and I think, why didn't I trust that test more?
The job I have now? Well you could class the industry as Technology, but my actual job? Clerical/Administration. And I LOVE it. I've said it a hundred times in job interviews, "I like Admin. Hey it's not for everyone, I admit, but it's my thing. I like the preciseness of it."

LOL

Those crazy celebrity kids

Tom Cruise is nuts. This we know. This we take as fact.

***I always thought this image made it look like he was about to pounce on Oprah, kind of like some crazed cannibal.

New controversial-unauthorised-fame-hack-book aside, the Church of Scientology is trying to stop circulation of a video of Cruisey being fanatical. Gawker is the only site left still willing to host it, even after You Tube took it down.

As Gawker states

The Hollywood actor, star of movies such as Mission Impossible, is a complete fanatic. "When you're a Scientologist, and you drive by an accident, you know you have to do something about it, because you know you're the only one who can really help... We are the way to happiness. We can bring peace and unite cultures." There's much much more.
Let me put it this way: if Tom Cruise jumping on Oprah's couch was an 8 on the scale of scary, this is a 10.

See the video on Gawker here. (hey I ain't risking a lawsuit when they're apparently so quick to sue)

And his wife, she's just plain boring now. Mia Freedman asks the question, is Katie Holmes/Cruise now a femme bot?

I ask, who is more wooden-Katie Holmes/Cruise - or Kim Watkins from 9am?
You decide. Here she is on Letterman, with him apparently desperately trying not to talk about the new book, or Scientology. I mean really, whats left? Does Suri pee often? How does she find mushy peas? And do you miss Gordon's Creek (His joke, not mine)
This interview is arguably worse than the Larry King Paris Hilton post-jail interview

And who knew Eddie Murphy had five more kids on top of the Scary Spice spawn?

Bizarre-o!

Paintball Death - Man Dies at Bucks Party
(Eeek)
Man Turns Up Alive at his own funeral
(umm...they didn't check a bit harder?)
Band use digeridoo to get out of speeding fine in US
Duh...we're Australian and clearly not capable of accepting responsibility. Watch every Aussie tourist in the US now get reamed by every State Trooper that pulls them over. So you got a lucky break, its bad manners to go gloating about it now.

**updated**

"Popcorn Lung"- Man Sues after two-bag-a-day popcorn habit
Food Kills.
Body parts sold by Surgeon, replaced with PVC pipe
Its like something out of CSI! In fact I'm SURE CSI or Law & Order have done this plot.

Stupid child

More on this story



"Because my glasses are famous"
Uhh, Wtf??

Young & Stupid, Pt 1

When I was 14 I liked a boy and we started dating. He happened to be the brother of my (then) best friend. {At the time I thought my friendship would survive this, as she seemed to think it wasn't such a bad idea, and I had clearly had no foresight of how the eventual break up would affect us. }

This boy also happened to be 21 at the time, something I also lacked the outside perspective on, I was silly and thought I was the hottest thing getting around, and assumed that if a 21 year old guy thought I was interesting and attractive, it MUST be all about the assets I was bringing to the relationship. It couldn't possibly have anything to do with him and his mental state.
Now I will qualify this by saying I'm sure perfectly normal teenagers fall in love and live happily ever after with a 7 year age difference, but I'm sure there are 5 broken couples to every 1 intact.
My parents ordered me to break up as soon as they discovered the liaison, which of course as a 14 year old girl I railed against,

*hand to forehead* ....how could they possibly know what it was like, couldn't they clearly see I was the first girl to EVER fall in love with a boy older than me. My anguish must have been evident!

So we broke up, with collateral damage in that my friend and I never quite recovered our close friendship, and we drifted apart.

In the following years I realised he was a massive dropkick, and there was something strange about a 21 yr old boy who hangs out with his 14 yr old sister and her friends, with no friends of his own. I just thought they were so close as siblings. But no.

It wasn't until I turned 21 myself that the whole scenario hit home for me and I fully appreciated HOW weird it was that he hung out with us. In the development stakes, 14 and 21 year olds are worlds apart, and I couldn't imagine anything a 14 year old would say to me that I would find particularly interesting.

So it was at that stage that I learnt a valuable lesson. Parents don't have it in for you. They're simply old enough to see the bigger picture. I can't remember whether they tried to explain this to me at the time, its possible they did and I simply shouted at them until I felt I'd said my piece and conveyed how horrible I thought they were, and how unfair it all was. If they didn't try to explain, I can imagine why (see above) and I don't think I would have bothered, I would never have understood.

I saw that boy a few years ago. I was at TAFE, sort of like community college. I passed a classroom in the hallway that was full of "disadvantaged" and "special needs" students. He was sitting in the class, and it all made sense.

Feel free to leave your own Young and Stupid tale below.

The "youth" of today

I'm in my mid-twenties (yes, MID Eca).
My husband and will be having children in the not so distant future.
I'm not the first or last person to have children, and I'm certain I'm not the first to worry about raising them "right". This is not new ground for me, ever since I felt old enough to pass comment on the coming generations compared to my own, I have worried about how I will ensure my children are as well adjusted as I feel myself and my brothers and sisters have become. How do parents find the right mix of discussions, discipline, clothing, finance, manners.......or is it simply that no one ever knows, and we can only hope that everything turns out ok?
If that's the answer, how will a control freak like me ever let go enough to make it flow?

If you read ten books on parenting, you'll probably get ten different success plans or stories, and ten different opinions on how to do it.
Hugh Mackay, a social commentator who always put across his point succinctly, muses :

.....it's all part of the accelerated childhood (AC) syndrome, reflecting the curious desire of parents - mightily reinforced by the machinery of modern marketing - to hasten their children's development towards adulthood by encouraging them to act like mini-adults.

The "training bra" for prepubescent girls was an early sign of the AC syndrome. Now you can find parents who willingly serve young children drinks that simulate adult cocktails, and who buy their daughters clothes, shoes, cosmetics, dolls and music designed to create the illusion of a precocious, premature sexuality.

Full article. Worth a read.

I mean, it really freaks me out. This aspect particularly, how do you sheild your daughters from this? Is it even possible now?

I compare this to when we were young girls. When I think about it, I can vividly recall owning several pairs of these hard plastic slide-on high heels that must have been awful for my feet. They were hot pink and bright yellow I think, and they had interchangeable snap on bows and sparkly things on the front. They made an awful clack-clack noise as I walked up and down our polished floorboard hallway, and I think they are the root of the reason my mother now hates for me to leave my heels on when I visit. We also had little eye-shadow compacts that had about 25 different colours in them, and we would revel in putting on our peacock blue eye shadow. We owned these things, and yet, it seems so much worse now? Is it purely perspective? Those old enough to remember, like Mackay, disagree. It is worse now.

Mackay ends his Opinion piece by blaming the parents, becuase at the end of the day, they are the ones buying leopard print over-the-knee-boots for their 3-year-old. So maybe there is hope for us Future Parents.

More on bad parenting choices, and a recent discovery in Violent Acres, a blogger with a seemingly massive chip on her shoulder and a writing style that is virtually scornful of her readers and their ability to make money for her simply by clicking on her page. She has some ok things to say though and must have something going for her and I've been reading her site ever since I came across this post "Two phrases that Destroyed American Culture"
I really beleive that part is true, and I loathe the concept that "the Customer is always right" because its complete bullshit.
She recounts in this post a ridiculous situation in her family where they have two christmases so that one spoilt brat can recieve two lots of presents. Its so prepostrous I'm not convinced its entirely true, but possibly an embellishment to a truly horrid child.
Anyone that thinks this is a good idea for their child deserves to have said child taken away from them, as these children will grow up to become lazy self indulgent adults who contribute nothing to society. People like Paris Hilton.

And lastly, children behaving badly in our own backyard. If you haven't already heard/read about it, a Melbourne teenager threw a party over the weekend while his parents were on holidays. While this is generally not unheard of, boys will be boys and teenagers will act up while their parents are away, the stupid moron put the info on MySpace and 500+ people showed up. From the TV footage last night it looked like a fairly nice neighbourhood, clearly parents who had tried to provide their child with a balanced upbringing in not Over-priveledged surroundings.
What I thought was incredible about the story is that even though the massive group spilled out of the house, onto the street, damaging neighbours property and terrifying residents, this stupid kid, Corey Delaney, doesn't even feel bad. He doesn't think any of it is his fault,

In fact, Corey went one step better yesterday.

"Best party ever, that's what everyone's saying," was his verdict.

When asked by the Nine Network what advice he had for teenagers considering throwing a party while parents were away, he said: "Get me to do it for you."

What an utter idiot. This FOOL was also all over the 6 o'clock news boasting how great he was, parading in front of the reporters with this RIDICULOUS puffy hooded jacket without a shirt on. What he thinks he's suddenly P. Diddy??
You know you're encountering true teenage mindset when they come out with pearlers like that. There is just an inherent inability to accept responsiblity and to look at the bigger picture.
I can appreciate all this now of course. To be old and wise, you must first be young and stupid.

Tomorrow- 14 year old girls know best. My tale of Young and Stupid.

My Jewellery apparently hates me

Well I am shocked and appalled.
Because I had thought my purple resin bangle was such a quality Made In Taiwan item.
Nothing a bit of super glue won't fix I guess

Day 3~The great Mona Macc hunt - Hooray! {Sort of}

Hooray!

We have small cup~!

Yippee! Sort of. Coffee is mediocre, but I will probably return. It was convenient, this cafe was on the street on the back way to work and parking was totally easy. I actually quite liked the interior and it wasn't too busy. Sometimes when you walk into a cafe for a takeaway it can be a little awkward, if there aren't clear signs directing you (or sometimes even if there are) and you can tell all the people waiting are regulars and know the system already. There was none of that. They also had great looking muffins and friands!

My regular cafe where I normally get my coffee when they aren't on holidays, its kind of a conceptual cafe. The owner used to be a chef and the cafe is kind of her SeaChange, and she makes all the food herself. Its great and everything, but there's kind of a lack of the "normal" things you expect to find in a cafe, like muffins. I mean, she has muffins, but they're savoury ones and they don't quite hit my muffin-mark. She doesn't do friands either. Not that I need to be eating friands I guess. *sigh*

At my last job, I was in a business park so there were only a few cafes to choose from, and I was usually lazy and chose the closest. They used to have these fantastic mini friand things, closest likeness I could find on the right. They were the size of the lid on my takeaway espresso cup, or just bigger than a 50c piece.
There were blueberry or raspberry to choose from and I think they used salted butter to grease the pans because they had a salty yet sweet flavour. They made one batch a morning, and they were free{!} with your coffee if you were early enough. If I had time to go before I started work I would get one, if I had to go mid-morning they would be gone. They were a great size as you could eat them in one bite, or savour them in three bites.
I miss them. Its the little things in life....

Sorry I wasn't clear Eca, after yesterday's effort I had no intention of returning, as soon as I walked out of the shop. Perhaps that's unfair, but it really does annoy me that much when they don't have little cups. It would have had to be the best coffee I'd ever had, to make me return knowing it would be served in a giant cup.

I actually had a terrible coffee experience over my break. My local shopping centre I'm still trying to determine who makes good takeaway coffee if I want a quick one while I walk around. So I tried a different place, and I tried to watch, but got distracted, (by anything: could have been navel fluff) so the next thing I know, I'm being handed a regular size foam cup (X grr), which when I picked it up, was too heavy (X) and when I took the lid off it was about three-quarters full (X)!!!

After conveying (nicely) that they didn't have espresso takeaway cups (X), it wasn't what I'd ordered, and there was way too much liquid, she offered to re-make it under my direction. In this instance I asked her if she could just put it in a proper cup as I was only going into Coles (next door) and I would bring the cup back. It was at this point I figured out that they serve macchiatos as LONG macc's, instead of Short, how I prefer them.
It was drinkable, but I wouldn't return. This is a rarer problem than it could be as I always try to specify "short" when ordering. Hmmm...

*And I did return the cup

Some funnies

Cyanide & Happiness @ Explosm.net

My name's Dataceptionist, and I'm a Coffee Wanker.

:(

On goes the coffee search, in this difficult post-christmas-working period.

This is today's effort.

I have included the shot below to give perspective. The little cup on the left is the cup I used yesterday to tip my ristretto into. Standard espresso cup.

(Keen observers will note, even though yesterdays coffee was tiny, I still didn't finish it, evidenced by visible remnant in cup.)

So, today's : "regular" takeaway cup used again. X

This one was drinkable though, and I did enjoy it. But I can't really explain fully how much the wrong sized cup detracts from my coffee experience. Ok, this DOES make me sound like a giant coffee wanker, admittedly, but I think you have to be a bit of a coffee wanker if you're drinking short coffee. It's either good or bad, there isn't a lot of room for error. When you've only got 60mL or so to impress, you need to produce goddamit!

In other news, I think you will enjoy this blog I was put onto, as much as I do. Its by a Barista in a 24hr Sydney Cafe. Good writing style, good content. I've enjoyed it since I started reading.
So Check out Graveyard Barista

Billylou I am totally feeling you on the $3 for bad coffee thing.
I didn't mention in yesterday's post about the cost because it seemed a trifling isolated incident, but now, two days in a row, I have paid more than the menu price at two seperate places, which annoys me!
Yesterday's coffee on the laminated table menu (as opposed to the non-existant menu board) said $2.20 for a macchiato, which I must say I was really impressed with, and he could have had a returning customer if the coffee had been even passable, for price alone. He then proceeded to charge me $2.80??? I was just confused, as usually it's DINE-In that is more expensive (and we won't mention that I then got less coffee than expected for the price???).

Then today, I looked again at a table menu, to check out their breakfasts, {as discussed yesterday I do love a good brekky}, and I noticed (having already paid) that I was charged $3, which I feel is overpriced for a small coffee, the large flat white I ordered at the same time was only $3.30 but the menu price for my coffee dine in was $2.50!

So that's a X against them there too.
The hunt continues.....

Happy New Year Y'all!

So I'm back at work

*sigh*

It's not all bad, I was kind of almost feeling ready to return. Is that weird? Over the weekend (where we did painfully little) I was sort of thinking, oh yes, work. Something to do during the day.
I had actually reached the point (mercifully after two/three days) where daytime TV was going to make me stab my eyes out. Who knew 7th Heaven continued to run after it went off Prime Time??? It left for the programming wasteland that is between 9 and 5, and had all its prominent actors grow up and leave for "better" things ("'s for the fact that...where are they now??? Jessica Biel? The boy? ).

9am "summertime" with David & Kim made me feel like throwing myself off the balcony, or at the very least scratching the tv until I had nothing but nubs, those two presenters are so VERY wooden it drove me to tears. I will say though it is refreshing to see an interviewer cry when faced with an emotional subject and Kimmy was very convincingly touched.

So I had some wonderful breakfasts and outings during my time off. I love going out for breakfast, it can be the best meal of the day I think. I love cafe coffee when its made well. Hey it just has to be made nicely usually, you know, just not crap. That's not really that hard is it?
As many of you know, I drink a version of a short coffee, a macchiato, as below. This one looks great actually. I like them best served in a small glass as you can appreciate how good the coffee looks, and you can see what you're getting. If they look cool, it will generally taste good too as they've taken the care. Essentially in a nut shell, a macchiato means "stain of milk" so the way it is made is a single shot of coffee, with a tiny dribble of textured ("frothed") milk, with a little dob of "foam" on top. The shot part is usually the same everywhere, its the milk part that varies.
Can you see those different parts in the one below?
Looks so yum!

So I've started back at work today, and I would usually have a coffee, first port of call.
My local cafe makes my coffee great, the owner is the barista and she makes great coffee.
Unfortunately though they're closed for a further two weeks for holidays and I will need to source my coffee elsewhere. So I tried another place, there's no shortage of coffee places where I work. This is what I recieved (In a "regular" size takeaway cup no less, which didn't score points for them, generally means they don't make short coffees)

Its hard to tell exactly how much coffee is in this cup, I couldn't find a great photo to demonstrate. But I'm fairly certain instead of a macchiato, I actually got a ristretto which is an entirely different beast!
A ristretto is a shot of coffee with like half the water or something, its a very strong and VERY little drink. And no milk! I ended up tipping it into an espresso cup I have at work, and it took up about 2cm in the bottom of the cup. Probably not even.

Not a good sign for the new year. :(

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.
:(