Finding joy in the everyday

Photography by Joluise Describe yourself in one (or two) word.

How true is this quote - have we reached this point yet? I do wonder sometimes. The photo below is a very familiar sight if you have teenagers with phones and friends.  There is nothing more annoying than people on mobile phones in a social setting eg with a group of friend out for meal etc. Will the world end if they ignore or turn off their phones every now and again.  I don't mind if its an important call (children, husband, bank etc) but most often its just friends wanting to chat (or send SMS). At Christmas time I walked into two different stores and on both occassions the young sale assistants were on their mobile phones chatting with friends. It wasn't hard to work out it was friends by the way they were talking. It wasn't a good look for the store and I had to wait to be served. This really annoys me and I always feel sorry for the one sitting "alone". An LA restaurant is offering a discount to diners who leave their phone at t...

A scene from "The Hunger Game" Warning : this may be disturbing to some. A new teenage movie is being released called “ The Hunger Game” .  It is set in post-apocalyptic America called Panem, where teenagers aged 12 to 18 are selected (via lottery) and forced into an annual televised battle to the death (murdering each other). The main character is a 16 year old girl called Katriss who takes the place of her sister to play the "game". The lone survivor (the winner) will return home to wealth and fame. Twenty-three other teenagers will died (violently) as a result of this game.  When two remain, one must die.  Katriss and Peeta (who are friends) threaten the game organisers with suicide and are both allow to live - for now.   The game is staged as entertainment for the rich who are bored with their lives.  The book (part of a trilogy) on which the film has been based has become a worldwide sensation with more than 26 million copies sold thus far....

(Google imagine )    Do you think you generally receive good customer service when you shop? My husband ordered a part for his computer and after waiting 10 days he rang the company to be told that the part had arrived but they were unable to locate it in the shop—it had gone missing.  DH asked what they were going to do able it.  The reply was “re-order the part”.  DH reminded them that it took 10 days to arrive the first time and he really wasn’t keen to wait another 10 days for a part they had lost.  DH asked if it could be send express mail, he was informed it wasn’t store policy.  As you could imagine, DH wasn’t very happy at this point and asked to speak to the manager.  After going in circles, he was informed he could shop elsewhere if he didn’t like waiting or their attitude. He did just this, got his part and received far better service from the other store (also part of the same multi-national company).  My DH made ...

 (Google imagines ) Did you know that — dirty hair has become de rigueur for the most conventionally fashionable. Washing hair has become positively passe . Wow, things I learn from reading the newspaper!!!  (see full article ) This is a not conversation I would have with everyone —BUT  I use to wash my hair everyday. It is a job I don’t really enjoy as it involves the hair dryer and the hair straighter (for the fringe) and product (several different types).  Feeling a bit lazy I started leave my hair unwashed over the weekend and discovered that I could leave my hair a couple of days and it still looked fine. In fact, I doubt if anyone has noticed that I don’t wash my hair everyday.  It doesn’t go oily and at the moment hasn't lose its curl (so no flatness).  In fact the curl hasn’t looked better.   So far I have left it three days but I am sure it could last four (I know this doesn't sound very radical - but for me it has been!!).  It w...

Statistics — most people go into a spin when they hear this word.  Statistics are all around us, however they are used all too often to convince (or manipulate) the public.  Those in government use the numbers to tells us things are improving (this is particularly the case with economic statistics), whilst the opposition uses the same numbers to tell us things are going bad, downhill. Others use the data to convince us that we need to change — the way we think is no longer the norm and it is time to make some changes for the common good of the country.   So who is telling the truth?  The problem is, we live in a society that is not statistically literate.  Therefore many people would not have a clue if the statistics they are being fed are accurately or not.   This is particularly the case during elections — beware of any statistics you hear, they are used to manipulate the truth and both sides do it — in all countries . All of this gives statist...

 " Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity ". (Ecclesiastes 1:2) I am very familiar with these words from the scriptures as my mother said them to me plenty of times as I was growing up.  Why do you wonder, my hair.  God gave me curly hair and all my life I have dreamt of straight hair.  I hated those curls as they never sat nicely, would bounce around and look like a mop (even worse when it rains or we have high humidity).   I would look at girls with their straight hair and dreamed of having hair just like theirs - and didn't everyone prefer straight hair to my silly "moppy" hair? Then someone invented the most amazing machine - the HAIR STRAIGHTENER. And finally I could straighten my hair, and I did. And guess what, I looked terrible.  My face just isn't suited to straight hair.  So now I do something in the middle, I lightly straighten parts of my hair which controls the fly-away bit but keeps the beautiful soft ...

Tonight's blog chat is one I have been meaning to write for some time, it is something that gets my eldest son very worked up about and I am trying to decided what I think. I would be very interested in your views. What do people think of censorship on the internet? Should governments (as in China, Iran and Thailand) decide what we can view on the internet or should we as parents decided what our children can view? The Australian Government is currently formulating a Bill that will censor the internet. This does sound scary, most people do not like the word censorship. What are they planning? The Government wants to create a mandatory content filtering system on the net forcing ISPs from hosting a range of sites that have been placed on the “black list”. The Government tells us the purpose is to protect children and adults from what the they have deemed as unsuitable. Sites the Governed are wanting to Black list include: child pornography sexual violence sites that pro...