Present Shopping.

Yesterday I took my mother shopping for birthday presents. Three in the next week. We knew one gift we were buying (Zoo Tycoon) for one of the nephews. The problem was buying for another Nephew and a Niece. I took her to Carousel (which is a BIG shopping centre down the road). We looked in K-Mart, Target, Myers, Electronic Boutique, Games Traders, Dymocks, Angus and Robertsons plus other miscellaneous shops. Nothing. After hours, we had nothing to show for it. I was getting a little pee'd off. We then decided to go to Harvey Norman's to look for the game, and Toys 'R' Us (though, Toys 'R' Expensive might be a more appropriate name for all toy stores!) Other stores had told us not to bother looking for Zoo Tycoon in Harvey Norman ... but guess what, they not only had it, they had the one with the expansion packs (the Dinosaurs, and Marine animals). So we got that. Phew, one present down. Toys'R'Us does have an impressive range, and we were able to get the rest of the presents Phew. The funny thing I noted though, was when we looked at the same stuf fin other stores, m mother wasn't interested in them, but in Toys 'R' Us she didn'tmind looking at them. It was sort of funny, as I'd be looking at a book in K-Mart, and my mother would tell me it was inappropriate, yet in T'R'U she would be like, 'Hey, look at this book', and my brainwould be going, 'But, when I picked it up in K-Mart, it was inappropriate!' I'm sure she likes to make things difficult some times just so she has something to talk about. I can hear her voice now as she tells the party go'ers, 'We looked high and low, and couldn't find anything. Then, after four hours, we finally found what we were looking for!' Yes, she has an adventure to recount at the B'day parties. We then went and did some food shopping for her. I also have B'days for my mother and youngest brother coming up ... luckily, we've already bought presents for mother, and my mother has already bought a present for my brother ... so I just need to get a presetn for Jeff, and my mother has asked that I buy a shirt like one of my black ones which has lace down the front ... I said I didn't want to buy one exactly the same, as we'd look like a pair of idiots. So, I'll look for a similar one in a different colour. Basically, it's so my mother doesn't have to see him wearing the same kaki green shirt he always wears. [Which never seems to get washed either ... ewwww!]

***

Oh, we still have mice. No where near the mice activity we had previously. My mother made me shove some rat sak in the hole near my desk. We'd previously plugged the hole up with plastercine, and the mouse had eaten through it. Then I had plugged it up again ... this time, it has rat sak in it for the mice to chew through first, (That will of course poison them). My mother was going through the pantry today throwing out more things they'd gnawed their way into. This inclued rice and stuff. That means my mother is on the warpath against mice ... she's got little packets of ratsak to chuck in the roof. Ratsak in the pantry (the mice were making little piles of the stuff behind the boxes) and now ratsak behind one the lounges. We have to be careful where we put the ratsak, as the dogs might eat it and get sick, so it all has to be put in places the dogs can't get to.

***

I'm slowly scanning a lot of music and stuff I've collected over the years. It's weird seeing some of the things I've written out - musical stuff other peopel gave me, songs they've written or ones I had to perform. Amongst it all, I found an old note from someone who wanted a double bass player for her blues revival. I kept telling her I could play double bass, she just needed to get me one. She kept insisting that I couldn't! (Silly girl), so she was hanging out for another Double Bass player. In the end, she couldn't get one, but she still wouldn't let me play double bass for her, so she got me to play the electric for her. I got the call up six days before her big review (and people had been practicing for weeks on it). She didn't even have all the music I needed to learn (but I have the hand written copies of some of the songs she had needed me to play). During the six rehersals I attended, I either needed to learn some of the songs by reading over the piano players shoulder, or watching his hands. I challenge most musicians to do that same, it's not easy. Anyway, first night of the big blues review, I played it all through perfectly. Not a hitch. Second night, she had people there to review her. One number, I stuffed up right royally. There was a part where I and the piano player had to keep playing in unison after the choir and other instruments stopped. Then, we both had to stop after playing a number of repetitious bars over and over (ie, it was something like 2o bars of the same eight notes ... over... and over ...and over ... ) Anyway, we both had to stop dad after 20 or so bars (I was never told how many ... or maybe I was ... I just couldn't remember) ... anyway, first night, we'd managed to stop dead right at the same time (like we were supposed to) ... second night, I missed it and stopped about four bars short! OUCH! And the reviewers were there! OW! Why couldn't I have messed up first night, and got it perfect second night. Anywat, I had the letter from her asking me to learn the thirty odd songs in six days, and it just brought back the memories. Lots of other memories of writing music out by hand in the summer in the seventies/early eighties (before photocopiers were as common as they are now). Other music theory and stuff. You are probably wondering how much stuff I have ... it was all kept in folders ... and the latest count from my computer of the pages scanned has come to almost 7,000 pages. (and over 5.1 GB). All the original pages will get stored in plastic tubs in the shed. My brother Jeff is already talking about burning them. (But I don't want them burned!) Anyway, I still have heaps more to go, and looks like it may take upto two DVD's to store the scans on. It does leave a HUGE hole under my computer desk in the other room. I'm hoping that will make somespace to store other things there. When I finish the music, I'm going to start on all my University notes and computer stuff. Easily they'll take even MORE scans than the music. What I am hoping though, is I can go through the rest of my life with about ten or so DVD's worth of these scanned things and it'll make a move to Sydney or London or somewhere so much easier (rather than carting five bookshelves + full of Uni notes etc). It's funny, there are some songs I don't even remember playing from years ago, but I have vague recollections of writing them out and the bands I played them with ... but I don't recall when or where we played the songs. I can remember standing on stage in Adelaide once beltin out 'Get Back' by the Beatles while my eldest brothers band played it (I was just singing for that song), and people telling me off later. [No, they didn't tell me off because of my singing. Some people just didn't know what I was doing on stage ... they had thought the song was an instrumental and didn't have lyrics, therefore they couldn't understand WHY I was singing lyrics to an instrumental ... bloody idiots!] Anyway, I have heaps to do ... must study and get soem training plans organised to train people in Introduction to Computer Networking!

Hedon Pimps Dabido! w00t!!!

Hedonistics Anonymous asked to pimp me a week or so ago, and I was quite flattered by the offer. Let's face it, I need a little pimping. So I agreed. Here is the link to the pimping. [Made as large as possible so that it is difficult to miss]. I'll just write a little bit about what Hedon has said in the pimping, in order to clear or create more confusion. :-) 'On first glance, I think his name is David,' David-Lee is also another first name I use. Never Dave (and I often correct my mother and others who use it.). David does fine by me. :-) The David-Lee moniker has slowly been slipping from use, and my Drivers License and Passport now sport the David as a sole first name, as it was too confusing for people who thought double barrelled first names were for the rich and/or mastibators. (The funny thing being that my Ex Wife's best friend was Cindy-Lee ... how friggin' weird is THAT!) 'Why not Diablo? I think it's literally wickeder!' Diablo is another one of my nicknames. (My friend Rizaldy in Sydney uses that one all the time) Along with Devil Doll, Bear, Little Bear, Mr Hair Bear Bunch, Dog, Mouse, Legend, Libido and several others I've probably forgotten. 'Probably goes to show that Dabido is commitment-phobic and doesn't like clingy girls. So if any of you interested chicks have a tendency to cling like a duct tape or superglue to your man, then scram. Get out of here. Dabido doesn't want you.' I'm not commitment phobic (though a lot of people come to that conclusion, hee hee). I would call it more PICKY. Possibly overly so, but not due to a fear of committment, as once I commit to some one it's normally a 100% commitment. It is true I don't like clingy girls either. :-) 'So now we're left with aloof, independent chicks.' I'm not sure about Aloof ... but independent is KEWL! I like girls who aren't subservient robots. God didn't put you on this earth to serve a man. If God wanted that, he would have made a robot from Adam's spare rib. 'Anyway, Dabido is a real pussycat when it comes to animals.' That is 100% true. 'aspiring Dabdido-lovers MUST NOT have rodent-phobia' That's right, I need a girl to protect me from evil mice. :-) Also, if they can protect me from spiders, snakes and other wild life. Rodent problem is most likely cleaned up at present. [Thanks to my mother laying rat poison everywhere]. ' I put Dabido's age to be between 35 and 45 years old.' Forty. [40] hee hee! 'He's very witty...' Terima Kasih. *BLUSHES* 'All interested sheilas, matildas, chicks, hoes and whatever you call your female species in your part of the world, don't hesitate to hop over on your kangaroos to Dabido's blog and tell him your secret bedroom desires.' Yes, please tell me about your secret desires girls ... If you are chosen as a Dabidette, I will try to fullfill them one day! :-) [Must look up Brad Pitts phone number for them.] :-) Hedon, once again, thanks very much for Pimping me. I am very flattered and I think you did a smashing job. ***BUG HUGS!*** :-)

Mice Plague - Brother In-Law B'Day

We woke up this morning to find mouse poo all over the place. I mean LOTS. A heap near my desk, on my desk, IN MY PRINTER (the mouse had pooed, wee'd and left half eaten insect bits), more were on the kitchen surface, near the washing up (causing my mother to wash everything up again), in the pantry, on my mother's desk ... heaps and heaps of mouse poo. We obvious have a plague on our house! *shakes fist at mice* Grrrrr! My mother apologised to me and told me she was going to have to kill them. Obviously releasing the ones I caught has not been helpful. Either the things have returned with friends, or they multiplied when they were here, and this is their children, cousins, and other distant relatives! They had even eaten through a hole we'd plugged up near my desk, which they'd eaten through (which explains the huge amount of mouse poo there. Either that or they are highly critical of my writing!) Grrrrr! *shakes fist at mice who are also writing critics!* My mother has recently considered buying a cat, but they announced that the bird flu has crossed over to cats! Grrrrr! *shakes fist at bird flu* My mother has placed a lot of ratsack down for the mice. In fact, some of the ratsack was eaten last night when the mice were out playing. Grrrr! *shakes fist at mice who own playstation2's*

*****

Was my brother-in-laws birthday today. Got to spend time with the family. Was being attack by my nephews ... one wants 'Zoo Tycoon' for his birthday in a week. [March is a nasty time for Birthdays in my family. Who doesn't ahve a Birthday inmy family then ... oh that's right ... me! lol] Cake tasted like the frosting was made from margarine, with a hint of sugar. Ewwwww~! Apparently, that's how my brother-in-law likes it ... his B'day, so I guess that's Okay. There was a lot of stand-offishness that I noticed. There were moments I thought we could freezed the air.

*****

A little concerning my father trying to get the house off my mother (or leave her destitute or whatever he is trying to do) came up the other day too. Apparently my sister also suggested that my brother Paul get her [my mother's] solicitor. I find this rather funny that my father, my brother Paul and now my sister Angella have all suggested Paul get the solicitor, when my mother wants to get her own. Still, my mother is in no hurry to get things rolling. Legal things go slowly normally, but my mother is making them go even slower by not doing anything. She certainly isn't going to sign the legal documents she's been given, as they are totally inaccurate and would leave her destitute. So WHY are my brother and sister so eager to get them signed by my mother? Simple answer, they're trying to have her lose the house, and as such my brother Jeffrey 9who stands to inherit it) won't get it. My mother still thinks they are unwitting pawns that my father is using - but my sister refuses to speak to my father, so why is it she is also suggesting to my mother NOT to let me go with her to the solicitor of her choice, while insisting she goes to the one Paul wants to get for her. It is ALL very suspiscious!!!! Anyway, my plans to leave will once again get postponed if this isn't sorted out BEFORE I want to leave! It's bad enough that I know I'm not wanted here, but I also have a feeling that I am my mother's only hope in not getting left completely destitute. Why do I feel I am playing Cordelia while the rest of the family are playing Regan and Goneril, while my mother plays King Lear? Actually, I might even be the Earl of Kent, while my brother Jeff is Cordelia, after all, my mother has hinted of wanting me out of the house again. Is this not what happened to the Earl of Kent, he was banished by King Lear, and hung around in disguise in order to help him? Is this what is about to unfold? Who blessed me to be living in interesting times? [Yeah, it was probably the mice! Grrrrrr!]

Vienna - Dec. 5th 1791 Real Reason for Mozarts Death.

Meanwhile, Mozart walks into his apartment in Vienna. Constanze is sitting in the middle of the room waiting for him. 'Constanze, what are all these arpeggios doing all over the house?' 'Listen here Music boy, you've been lying about the house for ages, and now you've been out partying again! Do you know what time it is? It's almost one in the morning!' 'Hey, the Opera had an after party. I had to attend because I'm the composer.' 'Well, get in the bedroom!' Mozart enters the bedroom. 'SURPRISE!!!!!' One hundred of his closest friends leap out at him. 'My heart! My Heart', exclaimed Mozart falling to the ground clutching his chest. 'Um, I think he's dead', said Doctor Zauberflote examining Mozart. 'Ah, what should we say if any one asks?' asked Constanze. 'We'll just say he died of fever!' 'Cake everyone?' 'Yeah, why not!' And thus explains the real mysterious death of Wolfgang Amedeus Mozart.

Picking Up Womens Course?

I saw this add on the internet trying to convince guys to part with their hard earned cash in order to take courses on how to pick up women. It basically asks the questions listed below, and I've decided to answer them. :-) 1. You see a woman you really find attractive, but are too afraid to talk to her. Not at all. Fear of talking to them is an understatement. If I like a girl, I am running out the door in the opposite direction. Still, I often wonder why I haven't met the women of my dreams. I figure they just can't run fast enough to catch me. 2. Thoughts of ridicule and rejection keep you from having any real success with women. No, thoughts of them kicking me in da nuts does that. As a normal self preservation response, I run out the nearest door. 3. You feel shy and want to meet girls, but don't know how. Oh, knowing how to meet girls is easy. Go to any crowded pub and hang out in the ladies room ... plenty of them in there. [Warning, this could lead to bouncers bouncing you off the walls.] Of course, before the bouncers can get in the ladies room to do that to me, I have normally run out the door. 4. You befriend a woman in the hopes of turning it into a relationship, but then you get stuck in the dreaded "Friends Zone." I like the "Friends Zone". It's a nice safe zone, and you get to keep them without fear of breaking up. If I wanted a women, I wouldn't bother befriending them. Ones that are so troubled as to need befriending are almost always too unstable to make good GF's. If I want them, I would run out the nearest door and be down the road. 5. You fall for a woman that has a boyfriend, and don't know how to get her to like you instead of him. Girls with BF's are off limit. I stick them in the taboo part of my brain and don't even bother to think about them in 'that way'. Of course, if I can't help myself, I would immediately run out the door and hope her BF isn't chasing me. 6. You meet a girl who seems to really like you, and then when you call her for a date, she acts like she doesn't know you or doesn't seem as interested as she used to be (or worse yet, doesn't return your calls at all!). Never had it happen. Let's face it, if they like me, it's most likely going to lead to one of two reactions, if I like them back, I'm out the door and running, if not, I befriend the unstable thing as she obviously needs a friend. 7. You see one jerk after another walk off with the women you want, while you're stuck being the "nice guy." Impossible. Even though I know she has walked off with a jerk, I have run out the door and am at least a kilometre away by this stage, I cannot possibly see them walk off together. Gees, what do you think I am, Superman? With those reponses, we can see why that 'Picking Up Women' course is a complete waste of time. If you want to do the Dabido Course in picking up women though here are the steps.

1. Go somewhere that women frequent, such as nightclubs and so forth.
2. Find a woman you like and wait till you get eye contact with them. make sure they know they are Kawaii.
3. As soon as they seem to have some sort of mutual attraction, run out the door.
4. Keep running as fast as you can.
5. Have they caught you yet? No? Good, keep running, if they are intersted, they'll be right on your tail. make them work for your love.

Now, thanks to the Dabido method, you should be getting lots of good loving. At least two times more than I am getting. :-)

More Neuro Stuff - Mother Problem.

Speaking of Neuro Stuff, Slashdot had a link to this article today. This is all related to the what I've been talking about with the Neuro Linguistics etc the Government and ad agencies use. Interesting reading if you want to have a look. [Article is about the Neuro responses during the latest SuperBowl Ad breaks.]

****

In other news, my mother is still annoying me about being on the computer all the time ... reading, writing and studying etc. Apparently, there was some show about a girl who suicided who was highly intelligent and on the internet all the time ... and my mother kept looking at me and emphasising she was on the COMPUTER!!! Is she dropping hints? Earlier today I went shopping with my youngest brother, who informed me that EVERY MORNING my mother has a discussion with him, as she wants me out of the house. I'm back in my teenage years, where my parents bend over backwards to make my homelife disgustingly horrible and keep trying to PUSH me out the door, but want to do it in a way whcih makes it look like it's my decission. Anyway, it just increases my resolve to stick to my plan of studying, getting my certification and then leaving to travel the world. I'm a bit pee'd off by the fact that it cost me so much to come back here after my mother begged me for ten years to return, yet once I'm here I'm completely unwanted. I'll write more on it later. Have to go. Things to do.

Another Weirdness

Tonight we were watching 'The Biggest Loser'. They had their weigh-ins. One group lost 2.1% of their body fat this week. My mother started claiming it was real easy to do and she could do it. So I challenged her. We worked out she needed to lose 2 kilograms. She still insisted itwould be real easy. Anyway, a few minutes later, she started to claim that it was too dangerous, so she would only lose one kilo this week. I told her that she was avoiding doing what she claimed she could do. She then accused me of trying to give her a heart attack. I was like, either you can do it, or you can't. Don't claim you can do something and then make excuses for it. She insisted that she was doing the challenge, but she only had to lose one kilo for health reasons ... it's like, that's 1% of your weight NOT what you claimed you could do! Gees, If only certain parts of the world were like that ... so I only have to repay half a loan I take out, or I only have to run half a marathon to get a Gold medal ... life would be so much easier. Anyway, I suspect two reasons for her being in a bad mood tonight. She had to spend the day at my sisters cleaning her house (as my sister always seems to need help for some reasons which I won't go into). The second reason is when she arrived home, she discovered I'd done a lot of study and stuff today which helps me along my way. She seemed to really resent the fact I had done good without her hear to annoy me. I am of the opinion she really wants me to fail ... it's just like when I was a teenager. I friggin' regret ever leaving Sydney to return to Perth when she's like that.

Perceptions of Reality - Erickson Hypnosis - Blah Blah

I'll start with the Blah Blah first: Last night, I turned the kitchen light off to hear the mouse scurry near my feet. If you were there, you would have laughed seing me trying to run out of the kitchen without stepping on the mouse in the dark. The dogs thought it was funny enough that they started barking. :-)

*****

My mother has some problems with her reality. If she ever gets caught 'misunderstanding' something she likes to accuse people of lying. She always ends up asking me if, 'Lying is a disease'. Somewhere along the line, my family like to pretend that I 'lie'. Actually, it started back in early childhood. First of all, my elder brother would 'do stuff' [as in drink all the milk after we were told NOT to], and would then run to mum and tell her that I drank it. As such, I'd get into trouble for, 1. drinking the milk and then, 2. lying and blaming Garry for it. It never ever crossed her mind that Garry could have done it. I guess we've all suffered from such things at times. It comes down to your word versus someone elses, and for some unknown reason everyone thinks you're the one who is lying. (Which is funny, as I've been known for my honesty through most of my life, but for some reason people always like to blame me at the first chance there is ambiguity. I guess they are just playing the probability that I must eventually do something wrong.) Anyway, my mother asked me tonight if I 'Changed my mind', on what I wanted to eat for dinner. I explained to her I was just re-arranging my cupboard. Then she insisted that she'd seen me holding a can, therefore, I must have changed my mind. No, I was holding a can, as I was re-arranging the cupboard, and as such, I had actually had a number of cans pass through my hand. She then claimed that I'd lied. Huh? Lied about what? She claimed that I denied changing my mind, and also that I'd denied holding a can in my hand! Huh? I just kept re-iterating that I was just re-arranging the cupboard and was NOT denying that I'd had a can in my hand, NOR that I had changed my mind as to what I was having for dinner. She then went into the, 'Lying is a disease isn't it' routine. Basically, what it amounts to is my family like to pretend I have some sort of 'compulsive lying' disorder whenever they don't want to accept a logical explaination for something. Actually, what this amounted to (if you follow my logic), is my mother claiming she could read my mind [ie she knew I wanted whatever was in the can in my hand for dinner], then refused to accept the fact that I was re-arranging the tins of food in my cupboard [which is obvious, as I went from having six stacks two cans high, to having four stacks three cans high]. Anyway, rather than admit she DIDN'T read my mind, she's had to come up with this convoluted 'You're Lying David' routine in order to justify her honest mistake.

*****

Which I guess leads into our Perceptions of Reality talk. Now, my avid readers will know I occassionally like to talk about the Social Constructions in life. Whether it's money (one of my favourites) or other ones. I've stuck a link to Wikipedia (above) for those who want to read about it. (Reading the first paragraph gives you a good idea). Lets face it, when someone wants you to part with your money now adays, they will often go into the fact that 'money isn't real', but just an idea. Of course, most of the people who will convince you of it, will run off with your money, and leave you with very little (if they can). Money may only be an idea, but it does represent something. That's the joy of social constructions. Language is another social construction (and another one of my favourites). Through our use of language, we can manipulate others, or be manipulated, as well as help others, and a myriad of other things. I think language's greatest achievement, is it's ability to teach others, so that we (as humans) can avoid some things and build on others. Of course, humans (being humans), have invented ways to use it to lie, manipulate etc etc. In the end though, our perceptions will not always equal reality. Some of this will be lack of sensory perception of what is really occuring due to the fact that some things cannot be seen or felt. (For instance, germs can infiltrate our body without our knowledge and effect us). We can't read the minds of other people, nor animals. [So we can't really tell what they are thinking], so when we are confronted by them, we have to take an educated guess. Anyway, I'm leading into what I really wanted to speak about, which is Erickson Hypnosis. Some of our perceptions are basically programmed into us by our surroundings, our parents and basically anything which influences us. Teh way it occurs is this. Normal hypnosis occurs when we are placed into a state of trance, where our minds are susceptible to suggestions. Erickson had a theory that people didn't have to be put into this trance state. The fact is, the subconscious is always there,alwasy listening and always making decisions. Where as we have a good control over our conscious mind, our unconscious is operating without us having much control, and we really don't have an idea what is influencing it. With this in mind, Erickson developed methods of influencing the subconscious mind with suggestions without the need to place people into a trance state. A lot of his work has been used in psychiatry to good effect. Some of it, however, has been used by those in authority, or advertising in order to influence us. A lot of the hard and soft sales techniques use this to their advantage. So do Cult groups, and even main stream religions. Of course, you might think that being agnostic or athiest may mean that you are therefore a free thinker who isn't being influenced, but even this isn't true. Some of the hardliners also use Ericksons techniques in order to convince others. The fact is, you would be hard pressed to find any group, whether politically, religious or 'otherwise' who don't use some of Ericksons techniques, whether intentionally, or subconsciously. After all, a lot of Ericksons work consisted of also classifying things which are part of the social norm, yet fit into the sort of subconscious conditioning now known as Neuro-Linguistic Programming. We even use some of these sorts of things on ourselves. When we hear of people blocking out pain, or any sort of selective perception which we make ourselves do, it is a form of auto-hypnosis. When you hear about groups that do, 'fire walking' and similar things, [often as part of 'team building' or 'confidence generating' programs], they are normally taught how to use auto-hypnotic suggestions on themselves. So, with this in mind, we must wonder, how possible is it to be sure we believe in a world which is true. After all, we cannot trust our own senses, but we also can't trust any body elses. Everything we read, see, hear, will always have a bias, or else our subconscious will place a bias on it. In a way, it is part of the human condition. I know, this has probably been a very rambling and messy post, but I was hoping to raise a lot of questions in peoples conscious (and subconscious) minds about where they are at, where the world is at. I know I wonder about it. I'm not going to sit here and pretend I am some genius with the answers to these sorts of questions [and there are a lot of questions which can easily be asked, which lead onto more questions]. In the end, it leads back to a lot of metaphysical questions I guess. After all, last nights post was deliberately called 'Dabitrix Reloaded', as I was making the connection to the Matrix movies. The very stimulation our minds find around us coudl all be very false. Our mind has developed (either through Evolution or thanks to a benevolent Creator, which ever you prefer to believe), in order to protect us. In this day and age, people in power have arisen who can manipulate that self preservation streak in order to steal from us, confuse us and even cause us to sacrifice ourselves. I would avoid anything which asks us to "SIGN TODAY!', or asks us to laydown our lives. Most of our conscious and now subconscious decisions are being sorely influenced to tap into the survival instinct (whether playing on our vanity, greed or other emotional responses), in order to cause us to do the exact opposite of what is beneficial for us, or our society. Just to bring tonights post full circle, my mothers refusal to admit she can't read my mind, or that she'd made a mistake is the very sort of auto-hypnosis thing that we can see happening. We may even do it to ourselves. She saw me standing with a can in my hand this evening when I started to re-arrange my cupboard. For some reason she assumed I wanted it. In fact, she CONVINCED herself I was having it for dinner. Why did she think that? I never said I was eating it for dinner, and the fact that at least six different cans past through my hands must have been a clue to the contrary. Still, something in her midn decided that what she assumed was the reality of it. After I explained what I was actually doing (re-arranging my cupboard), rather than accept it, she had to try to prove I was lying about it ... but she couldn't prove it directly, after all, my explaination made perfect sense. So, rather than clim I was lying about that, she then convinced herself I had denied holding the can in my hand. It's weird, as my explaination actually CONFIRMS that I must have been handling cans. But, she then convinced herself somehow that my explaination meant I was denying standing there with a can in my hand. Therefore, in her mind, she knew I was lying as she'd seen me with a can ... which she then decided proved I was lying about changing my mind about dinner. This was all a form of auto-hypnosis on her part. It also lead into the 'Lying is a disease, and David must have that disease', which is something my family have spent years convincing themselves of anyway. It all started just because I was standing there with a can of ravioli in my hand ... but lets face it, my mother will probably convince herself it was beans or something else. It's days like this I feel I am in the movie, 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers'. I'm just waiting for everyone to point their fingers at me and start making that weird noise! :-)

Dabitrix ReLoaded

For Once in my life I am wondering what to blog about. No, I haven't got blog block. I've got plenty to talk about. Just, some days [like today], I'm not sure what to share. We still have a mouse running around. I'm still hard at it studying etc and doing stuff. In fact, I spent a lot of today looking into brainwashing (seems as my mother thinks that's what I do to myself), and cult groups. I've become increasingly aware of the fact that Media, and Government seem to use a lot of brainwashing techniques now a days. It leads me to wonder how 1984'ish and Orwellian our society is becoming. Yeah, I know, the media etc have been doing it for years with advertising etc. What I discovered though, in my research today, was that they've proven that T.V. does stick people into trance like states which leaves their minds easily manipulated. [No wonder so many ads work, when they have this added bonus of the shows already causing this]. To add to this, the effect of the TV also gives them a feeling of happiness (nothing wrong with being happy), and REDUCED ability to THINK CREATIVELY!!! Waaaah! As soon as I read that, I was like, 'WHAT? If I watch TV I get less creative? THAT'S EVIL!!!' Well, it won't have any influence on some of our society. But to someone like myself who prides themselves on their creativity, it would be a shock! I know a lot of you are saying, 'Well, where have you been! We already knew all that!' Well, I've read it before, but it was almost always presented as an OPINION, which meant my brain stuck it in a box marked, 'wait for scientific confirmation'. Tonight I was reading HOW it happens! Why it works etc. [Aka, the scientific confirmation so to speak], but it still lacked any listed biography on where the information came from. So in other words, just hearing the fact that someone says, 'The US conducted experiments and did EEC's while people watched TV', is still not enough evidence for me. So it will now be in the boxed marked, 'waiting for reference/validation', in my brain. As someone who has quite often lived by the adage, 'everything in moderation', I was amused to fidn that TOO MUCH MEDITATION has the same results as watching TV. It leaves the meditator in a state where they are easily influenced by those around them. [Of course, they also said that some meditation was actually beneficial]. BUT, they were saying that those who meditate a LOT, like Buddhist Monks, etc are often in these states where they're alpha waves are making them nice and happy (releasing endorphins etc), while they are left susceptible to suggestions. It seemed to me, that out of the chaos and depressions of those who had/have emotional problems, comes great creativity. How much is creativity attached to being different? To being the ODD person out? No wonder so many Art students I know always have weird and stupid haircuts ... and why don't I have a weird haircut? Or the art students are dressed in weird fashion ... okay, I often wear T-Shirts with Japanese messages on them in a country which can't read them ... I guess I sort of qualify there! Those messages are often my own little in joke. I wear my 'Baka Gaijin' [stupid foreigner] T-Shirt in a country where I am neither a foreigner, nor stupid. Anyway, getting back to my 'Reload' - when I was at University the first time [1984 - 1987], I remember we discussed subliminals, and the fact that they trialed using 'Don't Shop Lift' messages hidden in the music they played in shopping centres. At the time, it was made illegal (or so I was taught), as it was removing peoples freedom of will. Where I was reading tonight, it claimed that they were now doing it. I'm not sure whether I am just reading rubbish, or if the laws have changed. Anyway, it leaves me to ponder if the Governments are putting OTHER messages into radio and Television programming. If they are, if we are being brainwashed into some sort of servitude, then how can we tell whre reality starts and ends? Is this the Human version of the matrix? (ie, run by a Human Goverment not machines). I know, I know, there is no reality, there is only our perception of reality. STILL, if someone is manipulating our minds to see a reality other than the one our senses are experiencing, then what should we do? Is it killing the latest innovation and creativity in the human race? Slashdot recently had a link to an article which showed that innovation is actually declining amongst the human race! Is this a direct response to TV and Radio having subliminal suggestions? The only advantage I can see for this sort of thing, is for the current Governments to keep themselves in power, and keep the population in chains begging for their Soma*. [*Brave New World reference]. I personally don't want to bring children up in a world if it is all going to be manipulation of the mind to make them conform and make them think being a slave is something to be HAPPY about. I wonder how much of it is propaganda, how much is real, and how much of what I read is just plain old conspiracy theory stuff. Oh well, I'm tired. Time for bed I think. :-)

Believing in WHAT?

The other day, we visited my Grandmother. My uncle lent my mother a book. He was talkin about it being a true story and stuff and saying how remarkable the womens life had been (who had written the book). It was all supernatural and medium/mystic type stuff involving spirits and where aliens come from etc. Today, my came up to me and asked me to have a look ... she was sure the book was a work of fiction. I looked. It was! So my Uncle, for some reasons, had read this book thinking it was a persons Autobiography! Oh, dear! How does someone make the quantum leap from thinking that a piece of fiction, written by someone as a novel, is REAL???? I know recently a lot of people have started to beleive the 'Da Vinci Code' is real, and in the past, other books have bene past off as being real (such as 'Million Little Pieces'). Still, the Da Vinci Code has something written in the beginning claiming parts of it are real. (Which, to any discerning mind, will mean that the author has actually made stuff up as well, else he'd claim the entire novel was 100% true). Even then, there is a lot of proof that the Priory of Zion never existed historically until 1956, and was an attempt by Pierre Plantard to make a claim to the French Throne. In fact, under oath he addmitted to fabricating everything. The real problem I see though, is some people are so easily influenced that they believe anything, whether on TV or in books. Has the human race stopped thinking for itself? Now I know, in todays modern world, it is very difficult some times to tell the difference between news and propaganda; fact and fiction; truth and gossip. I am very much a sceptic at times (though some people may wonder with my religious beliefs whether I am sceptical enough). At the end of the day though, I don't read a piece of fiction (like my Uncle did), and then claim it to be true and tell people that once they read it their life will change forever. Some books do have 'life changing' qualities, whether it's a true autobiography, or a work of fiction which teaches us, or just a non-fiction work which changes our ways of thinking. However, I am very worried by the trend for people to believe things are 100% true, when they are works of fiction. If I was to write a book and include Adolph Hitler in it as an ice skating monkey or something, no matter how many times you read it, it will NOT turn Adolph into an actual ice skating monkey. Just, take care in what you chose to believe. Even in non-fiction works, you can have experts disagreeing on what actually happened or is happening. History is especially vunerable like that, as it is often written about by people who were not there, writing far removed from the time. Even when the authors were there, they still have their own bias. A good example of this is 'The Persians' by Aeschylus. He was actually at the battle of Salamis. Still, with him being Athenian, you know he has a bias towards his own City [Polis], and away from the Persians. We have enough non-sense in the world to contend with, without suddenly needing to believe in works of fiction as though they are facts. Also, sorting fact from fiction isn't getting any easier when the politicians and others are able to influence the press/media. [What did happen to freedom of the press? Somedays I wonder!] Anyway, be careful what you believe.

Mouse House Still?

We still have a mouse in the house. I have no idea if it is the same one I released, or one looking for his freind, but my brother saw it last night run behind the fridge! Waaaah! Another one to catch. A few miracle today. My mother actually left me alone for a while when I was studying ... amazing. Normally she spends her time interupting me ... maybe my ignoring her has paid off. Back to studying of my CCIE. I keep meaning to write up the next 'Tokyo Gay Hamster Wars' but never seem to get around to it. I'm hoping I have time tonight. I'll try and do a few chapters one after the other so that I have something to post up without having to take a break from it. There is a big thunderstorm happening at the moment. The dogs are going beserk. BARK! BARK! BARK! My brother in-law dropped by and fixed one of our switches, and told me he'd fix up the telephone cable so that I would be able to get back into my office. I have to tidy it up a lot. My mother is sick of me having my internet connection in the lounge room! [So am I. I can at least ignore her from the other room!] :-) Time to go!

If I keep going like this,soon I'll be Ego-less!

surf engine	looking for	searches	original egoPoints	egoPoints now
del.icio.us	dabido65.blogspot.com/	1	0	0
google.com	dabido65.blogspot.com/	2	7306	5289
msn.com	dabido65.blogspot.com/	1	1680	1230
technorati.com	dabido65.blogspot.com/	1	8035	5854
yahoo.com	dabido65.blogspot.com/	1	5581	4052

Japanese T-Shirt Revisited!

Woke up early to go see my Sleep Apnea Doctor. Drove to other side of town to see him. Hi slap top malfunctioned and he couldn't see the data on my machine! D'oh! Anyway, booked in to see him in six months time. Nothing that exciting to report. Went into town to do some business and stuff. Was wearing my Japanese T-Shirt which says, 'Applications open for Japanese Girl Friend'. If you remember, I get a lot of nasty looks from Chinese people ... nothing new today. Got some nasty snorts from some old ladies as well, and one guy who heckled me about Japanese people killing whales. I stopped and had a little talk to the heckler, as he tried to hassle me a second time I walked past, yelling that the shirt said, 'We like killing whales' in Japanese. So I told him what it actually said and he had a laugh. We had a little talk and stuff, mainly about how it is wrong to kill whales. He seemed like a nice enough guy. Anywat, I was getting to the point where I was considering NEVER EVAR wearing the Japanese T-Shirt again, as it's supposed to be funny. I stopped by the Music Library to return some books and to loan some Cello ones. [Must practice! Use it or lose it!] As I was getting my bag out of the locker there, a guy started chuckling to himself and said to me, 'Japanese!' I said, 'Oh, yes, the T-Shirt. Hai!' and I showed him the T-Shirt so he could read it better. 'Um, you Nihon Jin?' 'Yes, I am Japanese.' 'Hai, kewl.' He chuckled some more, I chuckled some more ... and as I walked off, I realised, the Japanese guy never spoke a word of Japanese to me, yet I spoke Japanese to him! Weird, I wonder if my brain kicks into Japanese mode on purpose! I dropped into an Arts suply store to get some more paint and stuff. I am desperate to get soemmore linseed oil to use as a mixing/diluting agent, but FORGOT! How FRIGGIN' DUMB of me! On the way home I went shopping. Bought some ice cream as I've been eating my mothers ... so got home and let my mother have first go at the new ice cream I bought. Very tired now. Will be going around visiting blogs now ... and planning some more study and doing some business related stuff!

Mouse Hunt

I spent this morning catching this little mouse, and releasing it over the park across the road. I saw it last night (I think it's a HE, as I can't see any boobs on it). It popped out of the air conditioner unit, and ran behind the lounge. I was telling my mother about it this morning, she was wondering what to do about it, when she open the pantry door and there he was nibbling on a packet of biscuits he'd got into. So, my mother shut the pantry door and called for me to catch him. We started moving stuff out of the pantry, and he hid behind a plastic tub. My mother kept getting in my way, so I stood back. We were trying to catch him in another plastic tub, when he ran out of the pantry and behind the fridges. We thougt it was all over, when my mother noticed he'd run into the cupboard, so she called for me to catch him again. So I used a stack of plastic folders to make a barricade around the cupboard to stop him escaping, and then started moving everything out of the bottom of the cupboard one by one. I moved a box out, then thought better of it, as I thought the mouse could easily hide in there. So I stuck it back in the barricaded area, and started to remove the papers in the box one by one. Sure enough, the mouse had been in the box. I then stuck a big plastic tub in the barricaded area and put the box in the plastic tub. As I was moving more paper from the box, the mouse leapt from the box into the plastic tub. I then removed the box from the plastic tub, and put the lid on the tub. Then, I took these photos before taking the mouse over the road and releasing him. He's now living in a nice park near where the other mouse I'd released earlier lives (or maybe it's the same mouse! Who knows!) Anyway, I hope he is happier there than living here ... and if he's not, tough!!! :-) But he's sooo cute! :-) [No, you can't eat him Adel!] :-)

Last night, Today, blah blah

Last night was my younger brother Paul's Birthday. We went over to Paul's place. Both our family and his in-laws were over. First time for me to meet his father in-law and one of his sister in-law's. I think my brother is a bit nervous around his Gay Brother in-law and partner, as he always makes Gay jokes. Anyway, my younger brother has suddenly caught the Artistic bug. My mother and I searched high and Low for an art book whcih was actually informative, as a lot of them are just full of crap. If you are into art you'll know what I mean. There are GOOD art books (which actually are helpful) and other ones which seem to be Art Teachers ways to make money on the side, as they don't actually include much useful information nor do they actually do good paintings in them. I'm inclined to write my own art book one day, but I have a fear it might end up in the second category. lol I was discussing with my youngest brother Jeff where he'd like to go on holiday (as people have suggested he get out and see the world a little). I thought Europe, or Malaysia, but he doesn't want to leave the country. So I suggested Cairns. For some unknown reason, my mother got all upset of the conversation! Weird! Then she insisted that we all go on holiday somewhere down south for a few weeks. Like ewwwww! Actually, she wants to do the TreeTop Walk, which we had been planning as a day trip. The party was fine ... oh, it was supposed to be a surprise, but my brother Paul came home early before everyone had arrived. We got home, and my brother Jeff and I discussed today. We were hoping to work on some painting, and made plans. My mother over heard us.

*****

Got up this morning and was doing some walking and self improvement psychology stuff on myself (which my mother considers BRAINWASHING MYSELF), but it involves techniques for removing things from your past which have been brainwashed into you and are holding you back. A lot of the things I am trying to remove is some self destructive behaviour I have and the fact that my family have always put me down & belittled my achievements. The sort of things I mean are:

• I get 'A' grades and they make out anyone can do that.
• My elder brothers hard earned 'C' grades were considered a greater achievement.
• I was on the state team for Gridiron, so the make out it's nothing.
• My father always told me I would be a failure.
• My mother ALWAYS interupts me when I'm thing to study or work.
• My father used to tell everyone I was gay.
• My parents used to get my brothers and sisters to make jokes about me (especially gay jokes)
• My parents through me out of home at nineteen
• I was supposed to have been born a GIRL, but somehow I stuffed up their plans. (There are even PINK things from when I was young that they got!)

The list goes on. As you can see, I have a LOT of DEMONS. On top of that, I have the rejection from my Ex Wife to work through too ... and let's face it, my Ex Wife and Father both did the same sort of thing to me. They both always used to put me down, make me change things from ways they'd work to their way of stuffing things up, pretend I was doomed to be a failure, put down my achievements etc etc. THEN, to make it worse, they BOTH rejected me. It may not seem like much on the outside, but put nineteen years of that from my father, and then nine years of that from the Ex Wife (two years dating, and seven years of married), and you can tell why I'm sometimes so freaking freaked out by a lot of things. Let's faceit, I spend a lot of time berating myself, trying to be 100% perfect, and the abuse (no other word for it) has lead to the Teflon suit (which my readers are familiar for). Some peopel think that I haven't got over my ex-wife, but it's NOT her I am not over, it's the compounded rejection. ANYWAT!, I keep doing these psychological things to help break the past, and get myself heading into a brighter future. My mother on the other hand DOESN'T like me doing it, as she considers it BRAINWASHING. She has NO IDEA what I am doing, or what it means ... so she can't really judge, because as soon as I mention it, she tells me it's brainwashing and turns it into an arguement. Anyway, this morning I was doing the old technique of writing down my achievements and trying to impress upon myself the fact that just because my father and ex wife etc always used to ridicule it, does NOT mean that those things were not achievements. Both my family and ex-wife had done such a number on me, that there are times in my life that I actualyl do stupid things to sabotage perfectly good relationships with people. It's my brain trying to protect me from all the crap and pain that these people have inflicted upon me ... any way, the viscious cycle has to be broken. I've had times in my life when I was completely unstoppable, and yet somehow these people have gone out of their way to ensure I never succeeded. BUT, in their abscence, I often get to the same stage and because they are not there, I AM THE ONE who ends up breaking me. Anyway, I know some people out there have been in similar relationships. They've been with someone who spent all their time putting them down, and treating them like dirt. THEN, they go and dump you, compounding your problems. After all, we keep changing for these people, yet somehow everything is always our fault ... and the rejection at the end is like the final nail in the coffin, as we blame ourselves. Our hearts are in a million little pieces, and even though we go through our grief and get over them, we still come out the other end damaged. liek a car that's been in an accident, and though it has been panael beaten into shape, there are still little deviations in the chassey, or where things just don't connect right ... and the car doesn't function the same after the accident. Well, my father was one accident, my family are like another one, my ex wife is another one, many of the managers I've worked with have been others. Try as we might, we don't want to be damaged, but the only people who can fix us ... are us. Only, it's difficult. I've spent years writing in diaries, and other things trying to talk it through. This is very much Freudian analysis. [And possibly the reason for a blog in the first place]. When one does Freudian analysis with people, you can't tell them what is wrong, even if it is glaringly obvious. You have to let them talk, and let them find the answer. It works for some, but not for others. The reason it sometimes doesn't work, is the person CAN'T break out of the bad habits they've created for themselves. It's like a program that has been written incorrectly, and you have to keep replaying it and running it till you can see what is going wrong and can then fix the bug. Gestalt therapy is when you pretend someone is there adn yell at them ... you might have seen it on some TV or Films or something, when they pretend their father is sitting in a chair and the person yells at them and tells them what they really think. I've never actually done it, but I've thought about it for a little while. It might help, but I've found that talking to my mother, father and ex-wife in the past has resulted in nothing (and that includes yelling screaming matches with them). Let's face it, doing it now with a chair standing in as proxy might actually be good, as thy have no way to reply. ;-) Actually, I'll talk a little about the self destructive behaviour, as some of you might do it yourselves and wonder why you do it ... it comes about because you HAVE ALREADY been brainwashed. It's the pavlov dog's thing. You know about Pavlov? He used to ring a bell before serving his dog a meal. After a while, the dog began to associate the bell with being served food. Just by ringing the bell, he could make the dog drool. In me, the self destructive 'Fear of Success' to use a new term, has come about because my family and ex wife 9and school friends and teachers and managers at work) etc have spent so much time belittling anything I do, and making me feel like a failure whenever I do achieve anything, that now it's conditioned in. In fact, in a lot of cases, people have gone out of their way to sabotage me ... so the condition has been set in my mind ... Do something, and I have to fail, and if I find I am succedding, my brain kicks in to stop me succedding so that I get less pain, because if I fail no one will ridicule my achievements. In the case of girls, I can find the slightest flaw to reject them. Why? because my brain has been conditioned to think of getting close to girls as pain ... it always leads to a break up, and a painful one at that. So, to avoid the pain, my brain kills the relationship BEFORE it begins. So, I've spent the last two weeks working myself through a LOT of issues, trying to associate PLEASURE and GOOD TIMES with success and Girlsfriends and stuff, and trying to REMOVE the PAIN of the past from them. What it is, is UNBRAINWASHING myself, and trying to put in a normal healthy response ... like seeing that being in a relationship equates to being close to someone and feeling pleasure in that. As my mother says, she thinks it's brainwashing and I am removing the NORMAL response and sticking a weird response in ... because of that, she loves to interput and try to stop me ... and the fact is, when peopel DO INTERUPT they do in fact do it to through us. In my mother's case, I know she does it subconsciously. Let's face it, my family LOVES to think of me as being a FAILURE. They conditioned themselves, and as such, they always have to stop me from doing anything which proves that idea wrong. I've tried talking to her, I've tried arguing with her ... nothing works. She still thinks she does nothing wrong when she interupts my work, study or 'self psychiatry sessions'. Well, what she did today, is she knew Jeff and I had organise to do painting today, so she organised this morning for all of us to go see my Nana (grandmother). This is unusual, as we haven't been there for over a year ... as it was a trip over due I don't mind, but it was really organised by my mother to stop us from painting. I really have to break this conditioning, because at the end of the day, I know it's been done to me. Knowing about it, and doing nothing really means that I am ALLOWING it to get the better of me. Anyway, I thought I'd share all of that with you in case there were people out there who find themselves going through similar things. They're sabotaging themselves, or have had great rejection in their life ... or any other phobia or stuff where you've had a factor in your life which has conditioned you to certain types of behaviour which is self destructive. Look at yourself, uncondition the response you've allowed to be created in you. I'm not saying it is easy, after all, the conditioned response has had years and years of work by others to make your brain associate pain with these sorts of things, and you have to get your brain to break that conditioned response. I'm still working through forty years of pain, which my family ensure is on going, so it isn't easy for me. My own mother is even ridiculing what I am trying to achieve - and why should I allow her to stop me from being a success. If I allow her to succeed, then I'll be sabotaging myself long after she is dead and buried. I guess my message today, is be careful with what conditioning you get. It's true you might not even know you are being conditioned!

In the Spirit of Laziness

In the Spirit of Laziness, and the fact that I have to go out, I bring you the lyrics to Strangers in the Night, as per my comment on FStress site. Yes, this officially means my post here is shorter than the comments I made. It's true, my comments are Ancillary posts of a sort. [People should friggin' pay me to come and comment on their sites! Ptttth! hee hee!] I'll make some improvements for this post and called it Losers in the Night. ;-) Hope you enjoy it, I'm off to do stuff. :-) Losers In the Night Losers in the night, not wearing pants Wond’ring in the night What was my chance, we’d be sharing saliva Before the night was through. Something in your eyes, all red and bloodshot, Something in you smile, stoned out on pot, No blood to my brain, Told me I must have you. Strangers in the night, two desperate losers We were strangers in the night Without our trousers When we said our first hello. Little did we know Sex was just a taxi away, A warm yellow taxi away and - Ever since that night we’ve been together. Losers at first sight, free sex forever. It turned out so right, For losers in the night.

Some Good Slogans

The other day, Hedon asked if she could Pimp me. I said yes (see below) dabido: may i pimp you instead? may i? may i? hedonistics anonymous | Homepage | 15.02.06 - 10:17 am | #

---

Hedon - Yes, by all means. Your hit count may decrease 50% as it will scare all the girls away! Dabido (Teflon) | Homepage | 15.02.06 - 11:15 am | #

She hasn't got around to pimping me yet, but I was wondering what some good slogans could be to market me.

Here are Five I just thought of.

1. If his father had used condoms, you wouldn't be reading this.
2. Date Dabido, he's NUTS!
3. Tired of being Lesbian? Get yourself a Dabido.
4. You have two choices, a man with Libido, or a Dabido!
5. Got Dabido?
6. Test Drive a Dabido Today!
7. Tired of the same old boring BF? Chose one with a brain, that is insane!
8. He's warm, he's cuddly, but can you swim that far?
9. You might be a banana to your friends, but he's an inside out rambutan!
10. What looks like an Orangutan and is your next date? Dabido!

Okay, I lied, I said FIVE and my brain just kept going ... not bad for a two minute brain storm. Anyway, just wondering if anyone else can think of any other good slogans.

What sort of thing would make the short fat Aussie appealling to women? :-)

At Last, The Country and Western Song.

Years ago I wrote a generic Country and Western song, and it was a big hit on the bullettin board I used to hang out on. [Bulletin boards people! They were popular before blogs, websites and instant messaging! Oh gees, don't tell me I'm getting old!] Anyway, I might have to dig that ol' song up sometime. In the meantime I'll write this new one. :-) The Perfect C & W Song should include these things - Mama, trains, trucks, prison and gettin' drunk. Here we go. Let's call it another Dabido Challenge. :-)

The Perfect C & W Song. I'm gonna sing a song, About a cowboy true, Who rejected fashion Coloured his long John's blue. He used to own a hat, But he gave it to his Mama, Who lived in a tree Down in ol' Alabama. His head would get wet, If it started to rain, And he used to have a hobby Of robbin' trains. One day it rained, Even too wet for ducks, So he went to bed, Lying under a truck. But trucks weren't invented It was 1864, So he was sleepin' under somethin', He was starting to snore. His friends all saw him, They thought he was dead, Cause he was under a horse, When something landed on his head. Cause he had spent his time, Gettin' really drunk, Now he woke up, Smellin' like a skunk. The sherriff dragged him off, And the Judge wouldn't listen, Gave him three days, And threw him into prison. After three days, Sherriff said he need a bath, So he kicked him out the prison, And he landed on his arth. (Thorry, I hath a lithp!) He got real angry, Challenged the Sherriff to a duel, He'd meet him out the front, Where the cowboys play pool. They'd meet at a time, They call high Noon, Between the pool hall, And the only Saloon. The Sherrif said, 'I gotta warn you son. I'm gonna be armed, And you don't own any guns. He traded his long Johns, For a pair of colt forty fives, I'll shoot that darn Sherrif And be the only man alive. So standing in the street, In nothing but a belt, He waited for the Sherrif, You can guess how he felt. The ladies walked past, They giggled at his thing, He felt very self conscious He'd lost his fighters zing. The cowboys did laugh, And others did scoff, Then the Sherriff turned up, And shot his p**** off. The moral of the story, Is you shouldn't get drunk, And sleep under horses, In droppings smelling like a skunk. Challenging the Sherriff, To see who's guns to sling, When the Sherriffs a good shot, And you didn't gird you ding.

History of Valentines Day

It was Rome, during the reign of Claudius the Second. A straping young man named Valentinus decided to do something romantic ... so he hired Al Capone to take out George 'Bugs' Moran. I'm not sure why that was romantic, but chocolate was not known in Europe at that time, so it is entirely possible that what he wanted was some Cocoa Powder, but due to an unfortunate lisp, came out as Cocapowa. His followers, having never heard of Cocoa Powder assumed he meant Capone. They immediately contacted Al Capone and said Valentinus wanted him for something on February the Fourteenth. Capone figured the worst and thought the Praetorian guard were after his secret cache of liquor. Having fought incredibly hard in the Punic wars five hundred years earlier in order to secure the liquor, Capone was not going to give it up lightly. 'Capone, where did you get the Alpaca Hair coat?' It was Frank 'Tight Lips' Gusenburg. 'Hey, Frankie. What's it to you?' 'I'm just askin' dat's all.' 'Yeah, well I ain't talkin'' 'You can't use dat line Capone. Dat's my line! I'm the one they call tight lips.' 'Get your own alpaca then Frankie.' 'I might jus' do's dat!' With that conversation Frank had sealed his doomed. Capone phoned McGurn to organise it. McGurn phoned Burke, who in turn phoned Claudius just for a laugh and to catch up on old times. Three days later, Frankie and six others were masacred. Valentinus was brought in for questioning and later arrested for organising it all. 'Hey, coppers! You t'ink's I'm some sorta mafia guy huh?' 'Listen here Valentinus! We know you've got mob connections. On top of that, you're Italian! You gotta be a made man! But nodoby screws over Big Claudius! Claudius, he is the man! You follow his orders, you don't do crazy stuff without his say so! Capich!' Claudius came down the Colloseum station to see Valentinus. 'Hey, Valentine. I got something to say to you!' 'Yeah Big Claudius! Well, I ain't got nuthin' to say to you!' At that point Claudius gave Valentinus the kiss of death. 'Hey, why you kiss me Claudius! That's kinda fruity aint' it?' 'You idiot Valentinus, it means you're gonna get it by head loppin'' 'Head loppin'? You want me to lop heads off peopel till I died from exhaustion! Dat's stupid Big Claudius!' 'No you idiot, I'm getting someone to lop your head off.' 'Aw, gees! After I discover what a great kisser you are an' everything! Can my life get any worse?' 'Yeah, I bought you a present. It's girlie mascara.' 'Oh great, just what I needed, some Saint Valentine Day's Mascara!' Later that day, Saint Valentine got his head lopped off, but at least his eyes lashes looked full, long and beautiful. It was a happy day for all ... um ... except maybe Valentinus. Happy Valentines Day to all the cute single girls out there. Throw me an orange! :-)

Tomorrow is Valentines Day!

Tomorrow is Valentines Day, and to celebrate I'm showing this old Television show from the 1950's. It's Bunny Love. Oh NO, The rabbits, they're out of control. The TV's GONNA EXPLODE! SHE CAN'T TAKE IT ANY LONGER CAPTAIN!!!! WAAAAAAAH!

Scrabbler

Three Nil. No wonder people hate playing Scrabble against me. First game (which was yesterday) I was losing the entire game, then came the very last move. I had one letter left, I was twenty points behind, and I placed the H (worth four points) on a three times letter score to form two different words. Total of twenty six points to come from behind to win. The funny thing was, my second last move of the game I had the word Hebrews sitting on my tray and couldn't put it ANYWHERE on the board. It was a pity, as I would have got 50 points for using all seven of my letters and gone out that turn (as well as the points for where ever I placed it on the board). Instead, I had to save the 'H' tile and used the rest in Browse (The 'O' tile was a blank one that I was going to use as an 'E' in Hebrews). I hate it when I have a seven letter word in my tray and can't put it on the baord anywhere! Two games today, lead all the way in both games. My score in the first one was almost three hundred, and was three less than my mother and brother's score put together. Last game I won by over one hundred points. My mother kept trying to cheat or accused me of cheating, which annoyed the crap out of me.

*****

On a happier note, my Cousin came around with his Fiance today, and the Bridesmaid who was dressed appropriately for the upcoming wedding in April. I think her name was Astrida or something ... I should have remembered it. I think she was very nervous, as she sort of babbled a little at first. After a while, she settled down a little and acted more normal. [Not that it bothered me. But my mother thought she was babbling a little at first. Believe me, I thought she looked kinda cute.] :-) In the meantime, I have to start thinking about my costume for the wedding. It's now February, and the wedding is in April. Bucks night is April the first (which is also my cousins birthday). :-) I think my brother Jeff wants both of us to go as Elven warriors (with my cousin being an Elven, like my mother, it's sort of appropriate). In the meantime, I was thinking, wonder if the bridesmaid is single, and wonder if my chances of hitting on her at the wedding are good!? lol Oh, the humanity! :-) The poor girl, she's the only bridesmaid, and as such has a LOT to do for the wedding. Anyway, I better lose some weight, and my mother suggested I go as Friar Tuck to the wedding. I suggested she goes as Gimli [Lord of the Rings reference for those who didn't catch it. My mtoher didn't and she's seen the movies so many times as she owns them on DVD].

Get Over It????

My mother has this problem when people don't do what she wants. She's been annoying me all night to try to MAKE me watch the Winter Olympics opening ceremony. She keeps telling me I HAVE to watch it. I'm like, 'Why?' & 'I don't want to.' I hate watching people marching past. I hate parades. Anyway, after being told about twenty to thirty times that I HAVE TO WATCH IT, I turned to her and said, 'Why do I HAVE to watch it?' And she said to me in a very annoyed manner, 'Get over it! You know why you have to watch it!' HUH? I still don't know why I have to watch something I DON'T want to watch! To add to my annoyance, the commentators keep refering to Nagano (Japan - where they held one of the previous Winter Olympics) as Na-Gan-O. I was sure it was pronounce Na-Ga-No, so I looked it up, and I was right. But, it's not just that, they pronounce the 'A' in the 'Gan' bit in a weird way, so it doesn't sound right to me. You think they would have learned to pronounce it when they were in Nagano ... (same commentators they use every Winter Olympics). Anyway, my mother's been in a foul mood for a long time. My brother didn't get the DIP my mother asked him for this morning, and she hit the roof in a really BAD way. Her Southern English accent became even more noticable as she was screaming at him. So, I went back to the shops with my brother to get the dip, and he got a HOT SPICY MEXICAN one, when she had YELLED at him earlier that she'd wanted FRENCH ONION! Oh geees! I made him go back and get the French Onion one else he'd make my mother pop an artery in her head! I dropped by the music store and got some Rosin too. We had an arguement a week ago over the pronounciation of it. My mother insisted that Rosen is pronounces Resin. I told her it was a type of Resin, but it is pronounced ROSEN! I ended up throwing a dictionary under her nose, but she insists the dictionary is wrong! Blah! On top of that, she's trying to find any excuse to argue with us. I bought a few motivation CD's the other week, and my mother went balistic on me, that's in spite of the fact I got them for one third the price. She told me I was wasting my money on the things. She got even more annoyed when she found out I was actually listening to them, as they're supposed to useless and get stuck in a cupboard somewhere to gather dust. I lost five kilos recently too due to getting back into my walking. That also annoyed her. As I said to my brother, I'm really getting annoyed to the point that I want to move again! Why did I leave Sydney??? Waaaah! Anyway, the other day she yelled that she wanted us to move out of the house! I wish I had of recorded it, as it's the same stuff she and my father used to do when I was nineteen, when I was thrown out of home! I wish I could have recorded it, as it sounds like she is about to start doing the same sort of crap. The funny thing is, later she'll make comments that we're never going to leave (like hell I'm not). As my brother says, she treats us like slaves. If she wants something done, whether it is unimportant or not, she still insists we drop everything for her. The other day, she was having lunch, and she just handed her empty plate to me to put in the sink. Not a word, she just handed it to me as though she is the queen. It pees me off a bit, as I only returned to Perth as she used to beg me everytime I spoke to her on the phone ... as my brother says, she's pretty lonely and has no friends, but mention getting out and meeting people and she'll blow a fuse! I so much want to leave, but I don't want to go until I feel what I need to accomplish here has been done. I've helped in a lot of ways, and my mother admits it's been a lot better for everyone since I've been back here. There is also the family politics crap. My younger brother and his wife aren't going to my cousins wedding under the arguement that he never attended theirs. My Aunty phoned today with the same complaint, about how they're always completely ignored until someone wants something and then they're expected to drop everything to attend. My mother refused to let me go to the same cousins engagement party when it was on because of the stupid fact that she was getting back at my Uncle and Grandmother. Anyway, we're going to the wedding. There is a heap of other family crap that's annoying me! It all comes down to petty jealousy, revenge, etc etc. Who did what to who ten years ago. I soooo wish I never left Sydney when all this crap starts happening. In Sydney, I would hear about it, but I never had to put up with crap from everyone. To think, I amost left for the UK six months ago. If I had of though, I wouldn't be here to help protect my mother from my ex-father trying to rip her off and leave her destitute again! I feel like I can't win some days!

Tutankhamun - The Mummy's curse!

More information I've dug up from when I cracked into the US Defense computers has to do with Tutankhamun's tomb. I know, a lot of you are wondering what it was doing there, with Howard Carter being English and everything. Well, apparently some US archeologist was in the area at the time. This document might explain the 'Curse' which was spoken about by many after the tombs discovery. I give you a fragment stolen from Howard Carters diary, by one Indiana Powell.

****

So, there I was. We had descended into the tomb, and what we saw was magnificent. It was the most in tact tomb of a Pharoah I had ever seen. I checked the cartouche to make sure it was Tutankhamun. It was. Just as I was about to open the sarcophogous, an american, not with our group, suddenly appeared at me left shoulder. 'Hey, Howie, what ya up ta?' he asked. 'I say, what?' I asked. 'What are you up to?' he asked again in a mock English accent. 'I'm about to open the tomb of the Pharoah TutanKhamun. How did you get in here?' 'Oh, I scared the hired help away with this.' He held up a small vial which held a small white powdery substance. 'That scared the hired help away? I think not.' 'Of course it did Howie. It's full of anthrax!' 'Anthrax? Are you an idiot? You can't go around carrying dangerous substances like that.' 'Of course I can. I came here with my buddies looking for Wigwams of Mass Destruction!' 'You sir are an idiot. There are no wigwams in Egypt.' 'Sure there are. I've seen plenty of them pointy stone wigwams all over the place.' 'You mean pyramids!?' 'You say potato I say potarto.' 'Look, please leave, I'm trying to read the cartouche.' 'Bless you.' 'Sorry?' 'I thought you sneezed.' 'Please leave. I'm trying to work here.' 'Okay, I'll just leave this here, I'll be back with my friends. We just want to look around for any wigwams in the area.' I hadn't realised, but he'd placed that vial on the top of the sarcophagus. As I opened the sarcophagus, the vial fell off and smashed. What sort of maniac walks around with a vial of dangerous substances!? I of course thought it was fake, but we didn't want to risk it. I got everyone out of the tomb. After a while we had discussed the matter and decided it was safe. We assumed the American had just been some sort of lunatic with a vial of chalk or something. We placed some canaries in the tomb, and they didn't seem to be affected. I ordered everyone back in the tomb. Little did we know, the vial did contain something dangerous. The substance in the vial had a chemical reaction we all would regret. A week later, the canaries were dead. It was like some freak hollywood movie. One canary had his tongue and eyes ripped out. Another one was found with his vital organs missing. What we had missed was the mummified canary in the corner. By opening the tomb, we had released it upon the world. The vial had set it off on it's path of destruction, as the substance in that vial was exactly what was needed to mix with the embalming fluid in the canary and bring it back as THE MUMMY CANARY! Lord Carnarvan was first to die from it. We tried to cover it up by claiming it was mosquito that had bitten him. Shortly after, we were visited by the Railroad tycoon George Jay Gould. The canary later tracked him back to the French Riviera and took him out with a karate chop to the chest. (Yes, the canary had learnt martial arts). All up, eight people who had opened the tomb have died. If I ever catch that Indiana guy, I'll kick sand in his face! I later learned that the mummified canary wandered down a coal mine and died. Unfortunately, any unsuspecting person could accidentally find it and bring it back to life if they happen to know what was in that vial! The last thing we need is a sequel, 'Return of the Mummified Canary!!!'

Freedom of Speech

Religion and Politics, two subjects worth avoiding if possible. I'll try to keep this brief. I very much believe in Freedom of speech, but, I certainly don't beleive in intolerance. In the west they seperated Religion and the State for a reason. First of all, it allows for religious freedoms within the law. It also allows for Freedom of speech which is not allowed in other parts of the world. After all, if you are living in a theocracy, were the Government and the Religion are one and the same, your freedom to choose your own religion is either removed or restricted, and your freedom to critisize thos in power becomes restricted. The fact is, there will always be people in the world who will always blaspheme in the name of Freedom of Speech. I present to you the Wikipedia article on Freedom of speech, which lists everything from the recent Cartoons (offensive to Islam) and the sacriligious Piss Christ (offensive to Christendom). I find it funny in a way that in Australia they aloowed the Piss Christ to be displayed, but have refused to publish the cartoons. Don't get me wrong, I personally agree with the later decission as the cartoons are obviously blasphemous to Muslims. Just in Australia, which has more Christians than Muslims, they chose to offend one group who hav a majority and not offend another group because we've seen them have a much more violent response. It really is sending a message that violent responses work. I'm wondering if that is what the Government is trying to tell us. After all, the anti-war protests during the Vietname war worked, where as the BIGGEST anti-war marches in Australian history against the recent Iraq War were totally ineffective. Personally, I think the censors should have a good think about things. Of course, Freedom of speech advocates will point out that all blasphemy in their books should be allowed, as any religion will just hide behind any law which decides to outlaw blasphemy. The religious groups will just use it to ban all publications of rival religions or critisism leveled at their own religion. Soon, there won't be a religious text in site (which will make Athiests very happy). There is obviously a line there, and that line was recently crossed. But, people have been crossing that line for many centuries. I think the easy place to draw the line is to consider each individual religious prophets, wisemen, Gods etc as if they are real people alive today (and lets face it, most religions will say they are still alive in a heaven at present). Now, using that pre-requisite, we can consider anything which would be slanderous towards a person who is alive today as blasphemy. (And really, isn't that what blasphemy is, it's slandering someone's God, Prophet, wiseman, whatever). Of course, this will probably result in the press/artists etc getting clever and using loopholes to get around law and blaspheme in otherways (the same way that people can imply you are something you are not without actually saying it in order to get peopel to think lesser of you). It'll be a matter of honing the laws till we get a good balance between not being intolerant to still allowing critism of religions when their followers do wrong, or the religion has very wrong beliefs (like the ones which still practice human sacrifice in parts of the world). Freedom of speech, like a lot of other things, is something we should use wisely. It should be used to reveal truths and not to offend.

Reply to Beyond Religion on MS site.

My Apologies everyone. Stuck this reply to someone called 'Beyond Religion' from Minishorts site here, as it is like LONG. I don't want to KILL MiniShorts site with such a long post. ORIGINAL COMMENT HERE.

Ignore it if you haven't read what it is all about. It's not that exciting.

Beyond Religion:

I’m just saying this to help you understand. Ignore it if you want.

’The problem with Christians, at least to me, is not so much about casting out homosexuals. This phenomenon is not widespread and prevalent sufficiently to make such a generalization.’

Actually, the majority of Christian Denominations DO cast out Homosexuals, or at least demand that they do not practise. So it isn’t a generalisation.

’Firstly, Christians preached to me about Jesus’ love, but when it is evident that I still do not believe in the Christian God, they threaten me with everlasting hellfire.’

Not only Christianity, but almost every religion has something similar. Muslims believe it too if you are not a Muslim, and I’ve had Muslims tell me the same thing, then you go to hell. BUT, is that an hypocrisy? I think not. Go learn the meaning of the word HYPOCRITE. It’s someone who says one thing and does another. Does the Christian tell you that you are going to hell and that another Non-Christian is going to Heaven?

If the do, then that is Hypocracy, if NOT, if they beleive ALL NON CHRISTIANS are going to Hell, then that is just the belief of the religion.

If you understand that the Christian belief of HELL is a place with the absence of God, then you’ll understand why they believe you will go to Hell.

The belief is simple. You have a choice, you can chose to be with God for eternity (in which case the Christian Belief is that you accept Jesus), or you can chose NOT to be with God.

They may be throwing the choice at you in a threatning and militant way (which I believe is the wrong way to go about it), but it doesn’t make them hypocrites.

I’ll give you an example of a similar choice and you decide if it is being hypocritical of me. Imagine you get into Big Brother [I assume you are aware of the show]. Everyone in the Big Brother house are told that the food is in the fridge, and if they are hungry they need to eat from the fridge or starve.

Now, as an agnostic you decide that the food in the fridge is a myth and as such don’t eat from it and starve to death. Now, when Big Brother told you there was food in the fridge and not eating it will result in you starving, was he being Hypocritical? Nom he just gave you the facts.

Now, I’m sorry the fundie Christians have basically beaten you over the head with their message, but it doesn’t make them hypocrites. Jesus does love you (whether you believe it or not … your choice) and Christians DO believe in Hell as well for those who don’t want to hang out with God. [It’s called a stick and carrot routine. One way - pleasure, other way - Pain. Every religion has it in some way and or form]

Why have you singled out Christianity?

Is it just because these are the only ones you are having a problem with at the moment?

When MS has mentioned Jews, Christians, Buddhist and Muslims and their hypocritical practices, you’ve waded in and zoomed on ONE religion.

Admittedly most Jews won’t try to convert you (because they believe they are the chosen ones), but I’ve met plenty of Christians, Muslims, Buddhists and other religions who WILL try to convert (and they’re certainly willing to use the stick and carrot routine on anyone). [NOTE: PLENTY does not mean ALL or even a Majority].

’The second manifestation of that hypocrisy is Christians’ holier-than-thou attitude and especially their rabid compulsion to spread their faith.’

That is ALSO not hypocricy. Please learn the meaning of the word.

The ‘Holier than thou’ attitude is present in almost all religions. As people of any religion believes they are the chosen ones, they WILL believe and act HOLIER than though, as the meaning of the word HOLY means BELONGING TO GOD. So, if you were in a religion, and you believed you are the CHOSEN GROUP who are going to be SAVED and you literally BELONGED TO GOD, then you literally ARE HOLIER THAN anyone of another religion.

I don’t think I’ve met anyone of a different religion who didn’t think they had it all sorted out and I was misguided. In that sphere, they will always believe they are holier than anyone else.

Get used to that feeling, as if you convert to Chrisianity, I can guarantee you, you will get the Holier Than Thou from anyone else of a Fundamentalist nature in a differnet religion.

As for the Evangelism, that’s also a part of every religion. After all, if you were 100% sure you had the answer to life the Universe and everything, you would ALSO want to tell everyone you cared about (and every other stranger), especially when the result of NOT converting them is they go to hell.

If we imagine ourselves back in the ‘Big Brother House’ and someone wasn’t eating from the fidge, wouldn’t you try to force feed them?

Becasue that’s what is basically happening for any religion that evangilises in a militant way. They’re basically force feeding others for fear that they will go to hell.

’On her first day of work she asked me about my religion’

In Australia you could have reported her for that. We have laws against things like that, as it forms the making of an harrassment suit.

’There are people of different religions working in my department.’

How do they feel about your boss, and have they bothered to take the problem to the next level? If no one choses to act on something you consider harrassment, then you are doomed to suffer from it till you do something. In fact, have you bothered to talk to her abou tit and ASK her NOT to do it??

If you haven’t, then you should probably look at yourself. If you won’t do something, you’ll have to tolerate it, and it’ll be your fault till you do.

’I also feel that you may have been a tad unfair about the Buddhists bit.’

You do realise there have been more wars between Buddhists and Toaists than there have been between Christians and Muslims? Considering there are other things which have happened which could have been used (like the buggery of young boys by their Buddhist Priest teachers and stuff), I think they got off quite lightly.

[Those examples are not brought up to accuse all Buddhists of being bad or anything, just pointing out that there are worse apples in the barrel than the turtle releasers, so they got off without a lot worse things that may have been brought up].

’All religions have two common denominators:

1. A message of love, compassion and moral sublimity.’

NOPE! Not true. There are still religions which practice human sacrifice, and many which don’t preach love. [Time Magazine ran soem good articles on one of the ‘Human Sacrificing’ religions a few years ago. Was very intersting to see how much it was still being practiced.]

’2. An assertion of the sovereignty of the diety/ god championed in their religion (This is especially the case for monotheistic faiths) ‘

I agree about the Monotheistic faiths, but most polytheistic ones wouldn’t. In polytheistic ones they normally have ONE god who is Sovereign, and the other gods normally are spaced out in a heirarchy beneath them. After all, in Viking mythology (which started making a comeback in the 1960’s or something and still has followers in some Scandinavian countries), Oden is the Head god (Sovereign one), but Thor is the most popularly followed god.

’However, I am making that generalization in the same spirit and in the same context as your generalization about Islamic terrorists (representing Muslims) and homophobic Christians (representing Christians).’

MS didn’t use the examples to represent ALL Christians and ALL Muslims. It was neither a generalisation NOR was it meant to represent ALL people in the religion. If you had read it correctly, the examples were taking the beliefs of the religion and THROWING them back at those WHO DO NOT FOLLOW those beliefs.

It’s like when a police officer pulls someone over for speeding. It doesn’t mean everyone on the road is a speeder and breaking the law, it just means those who are pulled over are.

Like I said before, the Buddhists got off lightly considering the Dalia Lama wrote in his book condemning Homosexuality, yet there are cases of Buddhist priests buggering young boys. Are all Buddhists guilty of this? NO, just a minority, and as we can see, the Dalia Lama has actually written against the practise of homosexuality as a whole.

So keep it in context. Are the people who practice the things MS has mentioned going against their religion or NOT? That was MS’s point.

’so you are not a target of constant ridicule by the Christian fundamentalists’

Actually, that’s not always true. In-fighting amongst religious factions can lead to many a denomination trying to convert another. Which means that any Fundamentalist of any religion can often target ‘less radical’ or ‘more radical’ groups in the same religion and try to convert them to their denomination. Then, you have the fact that a LOT of Militants, whether ATHIESTS, Agnostists, or other religions target people of other religions. Just because militant Agnostics aren’t harassing you (and there are plenty of them out there), doens’t mean they aren’t there. BUT guess what, the militant ones of any religious belief arequite often the minority.

Just because you’re getting harassed at the moment, doesn’t mean they are completely surrounding you and representing a majority of Christians.

Believe me, regardless of what religion you have, you will ALWAYS have someone of another religion harassing you to convert to theirs. (And possibly even people of the same religion).

’Christian HOD leading prayers in company lunches might not affect you as strongly as it did me.’

If all they are doing is leading prayers, I’m sure you are old enough and mature enough to ignore it. I’ve been at plenty of places where people of other religions have lead prayers for something and it didn’t effect me. So yes, in the case of prayers you are being intolerant, and making yourself a hypocrite after complaining earlier that you thought it was bad that some Christians screwing their nose at incents. Why is it you call Christians out for NOT tollerating other religions practising and then won’t tolerate theirs?

If Christians are not allowed to screw up their noses at incense being burned, then YOU are not allowed to complain about them leading prayers.

If you want tolerance, then give some first.

People praying never hurts anyone. (Unless they are saying slanderous things about you … then you can sue them!)

’Doctors, Teachers, college professors etc are using their advantage and influence they wield over others due to their positions to preach Christianity.’

So because of someones vocation they should not be allowed to evangilise? What a crock! Everyone is allowed to evangalise rgardless of what they do for a living, and if people are impressed because they are a Doctor or Lawyer, then that is fine, because there are plenty of Taoist, Buddhist, Muslim, Hindu who are Doctors, Lawyers etc who also evangalise their religions.

You think that is an abuse of power just because they’re not plumbers, carpenters, airline hostesses … well guess what, there are people who probalby respect their plumber or their garden or whatever who can be influence by them … to eliminate any one group from evangalising on account of their vocation is blatant bias.

’One such lecturer has to be ‘counseled’ by the college after he is found to engage in evangelism at work.’

Well, like I said, in Aussie that’s illegal, and it looks like it might be in Sin as well. Obviously a complaint was made, and like I said above, you should do the same regarding your boss if what she is doing is harassment. BUT, speak to her first and ask her NOT to evangalise to you.

’That pastor never fails to gleefully narrate the way these new Christians smashed up the Buddhist statutes after being saved.’

Go read the Tale of Monkey. In that, the Buddhists often have glee over the misfortunes of the Taoists. BUT, at the end of the day, if a convert wants to smash up their statues, that’s their business. [Provided it is their actual statue].

People of any religion will always be gleeful of what their religino consideres a triumph over another religion. What you’re describing isn’t any different to when the Romans had Glee over setting Christians alight to use as torches in the Colloseum, or the Japanese having Glee over thei persecution of Christians when they closed Japan to Foreingers. [Prior to the Meiji period when they opened it up again].

You expected the teacher to be sad that they converted people?

’Again you are a Christian so you might not fully appreciate how prevalent (and offensive) these kind of behaviours can be.’

Like I keep mentioning, this sort of thing goes more than one way. There are intolerant people in all religions. What you’ve described has happened to people of all different religions by lots of people of all other religions. You just seem to have a bee in your bonnet over Christianity. MS made a post regarding four different religions and you’ve singled one out, but MS was pointing out all of them have problems.

Can you not see how you come across as biased against Christian by going after one group out of all of them?