Toby

Toby my cat back in the states, I’ve been thinking a lot about him lately. I miss him dearly, but I get to hopefully see him when my sister and I get on the webcam. My sister was nice enough to “adopt” him when I left. I knew when I got Toby from the Humane Society, that I’d one day be leaving him. But I wanted something to keep me company whilst I was still around. I can still remember picking him out and how amazingly cute he was. I named him Toby, after Toby McGuire, from Spiderman. Toby, when he was little he used to jump on my back and crawl up my spine as if he were a spider. Yeh, it hurt, with his little claws, but I got a kick out of it.

I wanted to bring him with me, but I didn’t know how I’d explain it to immigration, or customs why I brought a kitty with me for only staying 4 months. That is what immigration and customs believed when I came back in September. But aside from that aspect, there was a lot of mucking around that had to be done before hand. I would have had to have Toby get a thorough medical check, had to of bought a special carrier for him, and I don’t know how long he would have been in quarantine. Toby can barely handle having the bedroom door closed for more than a few minutes. He’s spoiled yes, and he loves his freedom. I couldn’t do that to the poor bugger.

I hope that once everything settles down here, we’ll buy another kitten. We have one, well my partner does, and she’s a cutie. But she’s just not Toby, she’s not my own cat. It’s always fun having a kitten running around the house, watching it grow up. Here’s to Toby, my baby kitty that I miss so dearly .

-current mood-SENTIMENTAL

Ponderings while on the toilet

I was on the toilet today and I got to thinking. Well, first off, what an unusual spot to be thinking you say? Yeh maybe, but some of the best ideas have come from being on the toilet. Anyhow, I was on the toilet, and I got thinking “I hate the toilets here.” I hate them for two reasons 1) The toilet is separate from the rest of the bathroom and 2) There isn’t enough water in the toilet. Back in the states, the water is pretty high, makes flooding super easy. But the nice thing about the larger amount of water, is when “objects” drop in the toilet, there isn’t as much of a splash. Here, my bum always gets wet, and then I have to spend a few extra moments wiping the water from my bum. If I wanted a beday, I’d buy one. And what is it about having the toilet separate from the rest of the bathroom. My parents have this in their house, but most houses I remember in the states, they had both together. I don’t like the toilet separated. Okay, so if you’re going to be in there a long time (such as myself earlier today) it’s nice to not have to wait till the person is out. But call me lazy, I hate having to go to another room to wash my hands.

As I was on the toilet as well, I got thinking “do people ever wonder if a snake will one day crawl up and bite me in the arse?” I know the chance of a snake getting thru the sewage system is pretty nil, but has it ever happened? What about rats or other animals that live in the sewage system. Does that ever come across your mind as you’re sitting on the loo, takin’ a “load” off I know I’d surely be crappin’ my boots if I felt something crawling up my toilet.

Another thing I was thinking about, was the fact that post offices are different here than in the states. The postal service in general is different. In the states, you have your basic counters, with a stamp machine and a few boxes or envelopes you can buy if you wish. At the post office, you can get money orders (I think) as well as your other “usual” stuff.

Here in Australia, post offices are different. You can buy heaps of stuff at the post office. You can buy paper, art supplies, pencils, pens, cards, calenders, post cards, printers, mobile phones, all different stuff. And aside from the usual mailing stuff, people pay their bills a lot at the post office. Back in the states, we’re used to sending a personal check, or putting it on your credit card to pay bills. Here, you go physically down, and usually pay with cash. Some companies I think, you can pay with credit card or debit card, but you can usually do that over the phone or the internet. Writing checks is not big here, not big at all. Most people do debit or credit transations. I hate going down to the post office to pay all my bills, hence probably why I pay most of them over the phone.

Another quirky thing about the postal service, mail doesn’t come on weekends. And not only that, we can only receive mail. If you want to post something, you have to take it to the post office, or drop it off at one of the “designated” mailboxes. There are no flags we stick up when mail is ready to be sent. I guess it’s okay in the sense that it prevents mail fraud, but people can still get into your mailbox if you don’t lock up your box. People can also steal your newspaper. They wrap it up on plastic, and throw it where ever they seem fit. No special paperbox, but on the ground, where someone can snatch it. We’ve had quite a few instances where our newspaper has been snatched. NOT HAPPY JAN!!

The final thing I got to thinking about while on the loo, was how much I hate the mayonnaise here. I hate it with a passion, and will eat it only when it’s on a hamburger from Hungry Jacks ™. I can’t have a tuna fish sandwich, I can’t have my great potato salads, and I can’t have ranch dressing here. The mayonnaise is sweet, it has sugar. W/o a doubt, the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd ingredient is going to be sugar. People have told me that I can go to an “American” store in the city to buy no sugar mayonnaise, but I don’t want to travel that far. I could of course, make my own, but that goes off so quickly. If only there wasn’t so much egg in the mayonnaise from home, I’d be able to import it w/o a special permit. I tried to, but they said I needed a special permit that cost 100.00 or something like that. Anything to get money out of people. I suffer in silence, but there is so much I’m missing out.

Ahh, the things one thinks about while on the toilet. Oh, and for intuitive minds, the water goes clockwise when it goes down the drain. At least I think so

-current mood-CONTENT

Right to know?

Have you had a moment, where you suddenly feel unsafe? A moment where you think "I don't feel comfortable at this moment?" I was watching tv this evening, and this wave of fear overcame me. When I stopped to think at what could be causing this sudden feeling, it hit me; last night's conversation with my other half.

Last night my partner comes home and tells me "guess who moved into our suburb?" I'm thinking and thinking, and I say "who?" She then says "you know that child molester Mr Baldy?" As soon as she said his name, fear overcame my whole body. I said "yeh??" And she then proceeded to tell me that he's moved right near a school. The school that her niece goes to.

As a little background history, Mr Baldy was recently released from prison. I think he spent the last 15 years or so in prison for a number of offenses that he pled guilty to. As to why they let him out, is beyond me. This man, nicknamed Mr Baldy because he shaved the heads off of the boys that he molested should still be in prison. I say this, because he was sent to prisonbefore this recent sentence. He got out of jail, and within months, he re-offended again. People have speculated he is high risk to re-offend again. What is it going to take, for the government to realize that he shouldn't be out in the real world.

Okay, so some people may disagree with me and think "he's spent his time in jail, give him some credit." I can't give him any credit, because he's a child molester. He's ruined so many lives, and he's not remorseful for his actions. The fact that he re-offended within months of getting out 15+ years ago, goes to show that he doesn't care who he hurts.

Aside from this man moving into our suburb, what gets to me, is the reasoning why he's moved. He was living in another suburb, near a school, nonetheless, but yet he felt "threatened." He probably felt this way because it was leaked out, where his whereabouts were. But c'mon, don't people have the right to know? Granted, people have a right to privacy, but don't people have the right to know if a convicted child molester is living next door to you and your children?

I know in the USA, registered sex offenders have to let their parole officers know where they are, and where they move to. It is the responsiblity of the police force, to let neighborhoods know if a registered sex offender is moving into a neighborhood. Why don't they have that here in Australia? Yeh yeh yeh, people are afraid of the backlash that may develop if someone's whereabouts are to become known. But I still believe that people have every right to know if someone deemed "dangerous" is living near potential victims. That goes with convicted rapists, they are sex offenders, they need to report of their whereabouts, and the neighborhoods are notified.

Not here in Australia, and it's a shame. I know that I shouldn't be feeling scared or worried. But just knowing that he is around, that puts an uneasy feeling on me. I can't understand what he is going through, but I don't want to. In my eyes, he's a monster who got away so easily. Seriously, what is it going to take for the govt. to realize he needs to stay in prison? Is it going to have to take more victims, for people to realize the severity of this man? We all know how hard sexual assault cases are hard to prove, and that isn't the hardest part. The hardest part is for all of the survivors who have been abused by this man, to spend the rest of their lives trying to overcome the psychological trauma that has been forever inflicted on them.

I believe that regardless of how strict his parole conditions may be, he will still re-offend. He's done it before, what makes people believe that 15 years in jail is going to "miracuously" make him not re-offend? I still honestly don't know how the govt. could give him the "ok" to leave prison, I really don't.

I feel safe in the fact that we don't have kids, but there are a lot of kids around, and there is still so much stigma still attached to being a survivor of abuse. Most of the time, the kids who do report it, are not believed. I hope for the sake of all the young individuals out there, that Mr. Baldy moves again. I wonder who gave the "okay." Doesn't the city members have some sort of say in this? Evidently not, b/c it's the first I've heard of it.

Why must we live in fear, especially fear that can be prevented?

-current mood-UNSAFE

Repeats, how utterly obnoxious!

Repeats, why do they put on repeats in the middle of a season? I'm a huge CSI franchise fan, and I was looking forward to sitting down and watching a new episode of CSI Miami this evening. Australia is a season behind the USA in their episodes. February is when CSI started up for the season. The first episode has one of the main characters killed off. So why is it, when I turn on the boob tube, the guy is on the screen?? It absolutely rattles my mind that the tv networks do this.

Goes for the other CSI shows as well, it never fails. On Sundays now, CSI is on at 8:30, with CSI NY on at 9:30. But when the season commenced back in February, they had new episodes on both Sunday AND Tuesday. Then it went to just Sundays. But as soon as Big Brother came on air for the year, new episodes of CSI disappeared. They'd show old episodes of the regular CSI, with Grissom having no facial hair, then on Sundays he's got the facial hair. Will YOU MAKE UP YOUR MINDS??? It ticks me off because a season is a season for a reason. Sometimes there will be dialogue about something that happened episodes ago, that we have watched months ago, but then the dialogue comes up again.

Is the states this bad? I remember once in awhile, they'd have an old episode, but CBS was usually pretty good with keeping on track. It gets utterly annoying when you're seeing re-runs after re-runs, and expecting to see new episodes. They put on old episodes, or completely take the show off the air. Both new episodes of CSI and CSI NY were not on air for a good 2 months. Now they're both on Sunday nights. I guess it's all about the ratings. Channel 9 is always in competition and I guess they will do anything to keep their ratings up.

Another prime example is Will and Grace. They finished season 6 and the next week, season 7 started. I remember season 7 starting because it had Jennifer Lopez and Janet Jackson guest starring. All is great, and the network even does double episodes. Then all of a sudden it's off the air. You don't hear about anything for months, then it miracously (sp) shows up on the weekly tv guide on Sunday nights at 10:30. They show a few weeks of Will and Grace on that time slot, and then it stops again. And I have not seen or heard anything since. There are still a number of episodes left in season 7, so bring them back channel 7!!!!

-current mood-ANNOYED

Stress

Stress, -n. A mentally or emotionally disruptive or upsetting condition occurring in response to adverse external influences and capable of affecting physical health, usually characterized by increased heart rate, a rise in blood pressure, muscular tension, irritability, and depression.

You got that darn right!!! The stressors in my life cause me many emotionally disruptive moments. Usually I try to calm myself down, but sometimes, it's just too much for me.

Earlier this evening, I got an email from the migration agent who was proof-reading my statutory declaration. She sends me this one line email telling me I need to go to the next meeting because I have to do a rewrite. I wanted to punch the computer monitor. I feel like this woman has no time for me, and instead of sitting down and writing to me what could be changed, she just tells me "go to the next meeting, you need to rewrite." This woman has been like this through out the whole entire process. It's like she's sick and tired of all the "little" questions we have. She may be sick and tired, but she's not the one having to worry about an application and whether it will be denied or not.

I rang up my partner and she suggested I email someone else, or ring someone. But that only frustrated me more. I know if I try to email this to someone else, I'll end up getting stuck with the same migration agent. Why do we pay a membership fee, to help pay for these migration agents to help us out, if all they want to do is tell us to "go to a meeting." The next meeting is Father's Day weekend, we're going to be busy. Why can't she just tell me what I need to do? I am just hoping that this migration agent thinks that we don't have the "evidence" explained in the statutory declaration, hence why I need to rewrite it. I emailed this woman back and told her we were going to do another "document" that explains all of the evidence for our case.

The thing that gets to me, is we got a booklet from the organization, and this migration agent told me the book was just a "guideline" for us to use, to help us thru the process. The partner migration book we got from immigration touches briefly on what we need to do in terms of the statutory declaration. I've done everything the books have said, or so I thought. Pretty much the statutory declaration is, is a statement (in our case, a long one) that explains that our relationship is a genuine and continuing one. How can one mess up on that?? Take it to be me to mess it up.

I know I shouldn't jump the gun just yet. I've emailed the woman and hopefully she will email me tomorrow. My partner told me I should email her and ask her if we've done anything to upset her enough to be so standoffish. I said "no, I don't want to open a can of worms if I don't have to. Just how wonderful would that be? I just hope this woman realized it was a misunderstanding and that what I've written is actually okay. If not, I guess we're going to have to go to the meeting on Father's Day. My partner will not be happy. She first of all, hates driving into the city, and secondly it's Father's Day. She's assuming that there will be no meeting. But I told her over the phone, that the organization doesn't care about holidays. I personally hate going to the meetings because I'm the one who does all the talking. When ever something is unclear, I'm always the one who is emailing or communicating over the phone to someone about it. It's not just this immigration process, it seems like with everything, if something is wrong or needs a phone call, I'm the one making it. I'm the foreigner, shouldn't it be her doing the ringing??

-current mood-ANNOYED

Testing

Testing, one, two, three, testing