What a lotta hot... gas...

One of the major things I just cannot understand about humanity, and the media, is exemplified by how this so-called 'gas shortage' is being treated. The news is rife with people complaining about how the petroleum industry is 'cheating' people by increasing the price of gasoline and how panicked everyone is, driving around, trying to fill their tanks. Today, there even ran a story about how taxicab drivers are coping with the shortage, by keeping tabs on one another, and how they're being strategic in the fares they pick up. GIVE ME A BREAK!!!
What I find phenomenal, especially in light of all the hoo-haw that is (finally) being given to climate change, is how no connection is being made. How the fundamental questions of, "How are we going to cope with this when this REALLY happens, for real, when we run out of gasoline?", or even, "Geez, maybe we should wake up to the reality, and push for change in our reliance, nay, our addiction, to oil?" are being completely and utterly ignored. I suppose this is Postman's postulate on Amusing Ourselves to Death: our inability to see beyond the soundbite, our denial of holistic, integrative knowledge, our choosing to be distracted by the immediate and the concrete and what satisfies us NOW vs. what is of true import, of looking at the big picture, of refusing to be swayed by the latest gadget or gewgaw that is being talked about... sigh... it distresses me at how so very few evangelicals think about these things at all; I am so grateful for the handful that do...

Delaying the inevitable...

OK, to re-count, that would be FIVE 24-hour call shifts in TEN days... that is soooo wrong...
At any rate, I am starting to think about the notion that perhaps I should invest in snow tires... probably too late for this season... I keep on using the reasoning that I didn't die in three winters in Ottawa, so why should I get them now? Except for the facts that I got stuck in a snow drift the other day, and had to be punted out by a Jeep pushing my rear-end, and then came fairly close to veering into oncoming traffic several times this evening...

Night of the Living Dead

You know, doing four 24-hour calls in the space of seven days, is NOT FUN... it is, in fact, ANTI-FUN... it is the antithesis of fun, the converse of fun... boy, sometimes you wish the PAIRO rules were still in place...

FFT

In her 2005 book Marriage, a History: From Obedience to Intimacy,
historian Stephanie Coontz writes that our contemporary view of
marriage as the most pivotal relationship in our lives is a
development of the last century. Prior, the notion of favouring
marriage above all other bonds would have been considered hubris, a
betrayal of one's service to the public and extended family... Coontz
points to a study that suggests the time Americans spend socializing
with others outside the workplace has declined by almost 25 % since
1965. Free time is spouse time; let the world beyond the heath wait.
But fewer intimate relationships mean fewer people to lean on and more
pressure on marriages. No wonder they break.
-Katrina Onstad

I'm (kind of) ready for my close up...

So, I just narrowly missed being LIVE! on CBC Newsworld today. Really, the only thing that prevented me from being on TV was that I already had a clinic booked full of patients, so couldn't just drop everything just to get on television. But, this is already the second time I've missed getting on air, as some of you know. Not that that's terrible or anything, but it's weird getting requests from the media to expound my opinions as an "expert" (rolllll my eyes)... apparently, I've been able to pull it off fairly well, so far... :P

James talk

I am not entirely sure how skeptical I am becoming; perhaps it's because I'm fairly dense. I need to be smacked upside the head to notice what and how God answers prayers sometimes; I'm not exactly one for subtlety. That being said, if 'the prayers of a righteous man availeth much', and there are at least three pastors and a good dozen or so profoundly respected men of the Church all praying for the same thing, with no obvious answer, does that mean a) they're all not righteous? b) they're not praying? c) ALL their prayers in combination don't seem to be getting to those pearly gates?
None of those seem right to me. Yes, yes, I know the things you're supposed to say, "Sometimes, the answer is No, not Yes", or, "Maybe God is just working on His timing", or, "Maybe there has been an answer, and nobody's seen it yet"... Oiii. Something isn't entirely satisfying with that; like, when loved ones die, despite prayers of intervention and fasting petitions on our knees, we say simply that God said, "No".... that's IT???
Someone throw me a frickin' bone here...

Cultural minutiae

Three things that struck me since I've been home:
1. Ketchup bottles. I don't have to pay $0.20 for each small packet of ketchup that I want anymore.
2. Bathrooms actually in/on the premises of restaurants.
3. Water extravagance. I think (and hope) I'm going to be a bit more water savvy and conserving than I was before. I'd like to get one of those two-flush or low-flush toilets. One of the elderly people I had dinner with in Melbourne had a small bucket in her bathroom sink: all the water that was used to wash hands/brush teeth drained into that bucket, and then she would re-use it to water the plants in her house, instead of just letting it go down the drain. Because it is such a precious and increasingly scarce commodity in Australia, they are gradually starting to learn to steward it like the treasure that it is (not to say, of course, that they use water the way the majority of the planet does, but I think they are more aware of water wastage compared to most of the West). In even the very small ways that I have seen them carefully use water (turning off the shower while soaping up, never using warm or hot water laundry washes, turning the tap on only after they have soaped up their hands to rinse only, not washing their cars or watering their lawns) have been subtle, but, as we all know, small individual ripples can become a tidal wave...

The Emperor's Story

I had to give myself a huge reality check when I opened my closet; I was actually really quite excited to see the selection of clothes that I had come back to... as I had basically worn the same two T-shirts and the same pair of pants for several weeks. This lasted a little bit, scampering around in my finery, until I stopped dead in my tracks: most people in this world are lucky to even have a change of clothing. Many people that I have seen and worked with in India and Africa would likely die of shock to see how well stocked my closets and drawers are filled... especially down on the riverbanks where they wash their clothes, when they get the opportunity, only when it's really necessary... Well, that certainly put a bit more of a sobering reality to my scads of shirts and skirts and pants and socks and wraps and coats and sweaters and...

Australia VIII

Right, the animals here... the following animals I have seen within 1-3m of myself since I've been here and in the wild (in the wild, of course, as I really had a hard time endorsing seeing animals only within the confines of zoos and tourist spots):
Kookaburra, possum (2 species), bats, koala, kangaroo (at least 3 different species), wombat, wallaby (2 species), stingray, dolphins, sealions, seals, echidna, emu, penguins, um, I think that's it... unfortunately, no sharks...

Things I've learned in Australia

1. Centring your day around a pint of milk makes it interesting
2. Eating endangered species leaves one in very awkward social situations
3. Being a dingo eating a baby is not very nice, even if it's imaginary
4. Why are you crying?/Why are you crying?/Please open your eyes
5. Stuff that is burnt-to-a-crisp is totally not cool, irrespective of what it is...
6. Wombats are totally cute, and seeing animals in the wild is much more satisfying than in a conservation park...
7. Game shows leave one with a feeling of being a bit... unsatisfied...
8. Kangaroos can eviscerate you if they get really pissed off.
9. Celebrating and supporting local produce is very cool.
10. I love Tassie!

Tasmania

This is a little piece of heaven; it reminds me of New Zealand in some senses. Forests and rivers and mountains... beautiful local produce, celebrating the bounty that they are able to create, not just in food and wine, but also in craft and art... I believe about a third of its landmass is World Heritage/UNESCO protected... sigh... gorgeous here... great food and drink... nice people.... the weather would be good, if I hadn't thought, "Gee, it's summer vacation, I'm only going to bring one pair of pants"... not so smart when the summer weather down here, at least this week was running around 16-19C and dropping to 10C at night... :P

Australia VII

So, a few more observations:
1. There are a heck of a lot of Germans in this country; most days it feels like half the country is here. They think so too...
2. One of the great things here is that the price that is listed is the price that you pay: all taxes, tip, etc are included in the price. This works well in that you don't have to calculate an extra 30% onto your resto meals. It's also great in that they actually pay waitstaff a decent wage (starting at about $15/hr), so they aren't dependent on tips to actually make a living.... sounds like an ideal world...
3. There's a, I'm not sure how to say it, not really an undercurrent, but more of a 'whisper in the woodwork' of racism in Australian society, I feel. I know, now people are going to get all over me about how judgemental I am. I think there are societal and cultural reasons why this is so. I am certainly not saying that Canadians are non-racist in comparison, but there is certainly more of an undertone here... I will likely end up mulling about this some more, and I think it would be hard to explain... perhaps the language, in naming their Aboriginal peoples the 'blacks', or how hard one group in Australia is trying to deport Sudanese refugees back to Darfur because they bring violence and diseases here (?), or how blokes will just say things to you that make you go 'hunh???'.... anyways, all very subtle, which is why I can't say it's overt, perhaps just a small subconscious undercurrent.... maybe I need to think about this some more...

Australia VI

So, I can now say that I am capable of driving on both sides of the road, though I still can't drive stick. I can now make wide right turns, and instinctively walk to the right side of the car to get into it. After having driven about 2000km (and another whole state to go), I think I can say that is the case....
That being said, I still think the North American way of driving makes more sense: if I forget something in my purse, my right hand is still free to rummage around in the bag, answer the phone, make some calls, grab a snack, etc.... the way they drive on the left, it forces me to drive safely and legally (the nerve! :P )!
As you may not be aware, Australia is the world's driest continent, and has been in fairly severe drought this past year (I'm not sure how it compares to years previous, or if it's compounding previous years, but it is significant). Most of the places we've been have been on water restrictions, or severe water restrictions. You can see it in the land; most of it has been clearly parched, with dry, brittle, brown landscapes. It clearly is landscape waiting for bushfires. In fact, most of the state we've just arrived from has been having a dilly of a time fighting bushfires throughout the state. This has resulted in some power outages in several cities.
You can also see it in the waterfalls, lakes and rivers: most of these waterfalls we have been looking at have been no more than small trickles coming down the sides of cliff faces, and many of these large rivers have been no more than small streams, and some have dried up entirely.
Speaking of bushfires, I was watching the "Kangaroo Creek Gang", which is an Aussie Saturday cartoon about, unsurprisingly, a group of animals, including a kangaroo, emu, koala, possum and wombat. Today's story was about fire, and how fire is never your friend, and you should never light one, and you should always stamp one out when you see one. It was actually a bit scary, and very strange in terms of the teaching reality that this is what they need to tell Aussie kids....

Australia V

A few cool things of note:
1. Got tickets to see the opera in the Sydney Opera House. That was cool, though I must admit, the inside's not much to talk about...
2. Went to Hillsong Church for a couple of services. My, I understand why they sell so many worship music CDs; it is pretty kicking! Encouraging and refreshing services, and totally cool meeting people who are onto God...
3. Had some terrible delicious Shiraz and tried a new one I'd never heard of before: Verdelho, which was so good, I'm actually disappointed I didn't buy a whole dozen instead of just a bottle...

Australia IV

In the interest of saving some coinage, my sibling decided that for some of our travels we would stay with people within six-degrees-of-separation, that is, people that we don't know personally, but that somehow are connected to her network, eventually, in some way.
This has recently caused me some great anguish as we ended up in some guy's house that had several legions of various biting insects (and cockroaches to boot): I'm not entirely sure what they were: fleas? bedbugs? midges? mozzies? Despite that, they had been eating me alive and I am totally distressed by the state of my legs: I honestly don't think they'll ever look normal again, as the scarring and discolouration from all the attacks have left them looking like I have leprosy (seriously: I took pictures).
I had no idea how relatively vain I was until I started swelling up purple and brown with welts all over my legs and not being able to put on my shoes anymore...

Soap box/Fruit box

OK, I gotta say something about this, only because it has to do with food justice. Here, I've noticed backpackers complaining about the prices for fruits and veg. I have, however, noticed how almost their entire fruit and veg supply is from Australia. Certainly, they are blessed by having such climates and growing areas that they can grow everything that we can in North America, but also can grow tropical vegetation as well. This allows them to be able to be almost entirely self-sufficient in growing their own food supply; that is very cool.
However, with that comes the fact that they then have to pay the 'real' prices for produce, as they have to pay Australian wages for Australian goods. For example, bananas sell for about $4/kg regularly. However, during their growing season, terrible hurricanes hit the banana growing regions of Australia, and, for a while, bananas cost about $15/kg, as that was the true market cost for bananas. Apples are about $5-6/kg, lettuce is about $2-3 a head, etc...
I have got to say: at least this is food justice, in terms of paying close to the true price for foodstuffs. It then alarms me, that if Australians are paying this much for local foods, then how do we justify paying the Venezuelans less than $0.39/lb for bananas?

Australia III

A curious thing that I've noted is that Australian restaurants have an aversion to having a toilet. There's lots of public ones, to be sure, but it's rare to have one -in- the resto, to wash your hands, etc... it's a little bit disconcerting...
One thing that I have noticed is that Australia is quite... I'm not sure how to put it... perhaps, American-ish, but that's not a fair thing to say at all, and certainly not even close to what I'm trying to evoke. However, one thing that I have noticed is that Americans tend to love Australia, and Canadians tend to love New Zealand (of which I'd have to confess, I'm one of those)... I think there's a lot of culture and environment which play into that, which I won't go into here... but certainly it's quite the different vibe than the Godzone...

Australia II

My bad: it's actually just the state of Queensland that doesn't agree with DST, out of sheer concern for cows, not the whole country.
Also, for those of you who are concerned: I did DRIVE by Steve Irwin's zoo, but we didn't actually go in. Also, FYI, his daughter Bindi, who is now eight years old (you remember her, she's the baby that was dangled in front of the croc a few years ago), now is hosting her own jungle show on TV. In fact, in today's paper, there's a contest where you win a day with her at the Crocodile Hunter's Zoo... I dunno, something just doesn't sit right with me, seeing as her dad died less than five months ago...
At any rate, I was going to say that one of my new favorite animals is the wombat. It's terribly cute. It's one of the very few animals that won't kill/eat/bite/poison you here (in fact, it's quite cuddly looking). I've been warned not to get into knee-deep water, because sharks can still get you there. Then I was warned not to go into ankle deep water, because there are certain poisonous octopi that can still sting you at that depth. Then I was warned not to step in the water, because I could slip and fall... then I was told to make sure that I was making enough noise WALKING so that snakes could get out of the way... oh, for crying out loud... at this rate, I likely won't get very far, or will die trying...

Australia I

One curious thing that I've noticed, the more I've seen cities in the developed world, is how darned similar they are to one another. There's always a "St Lawrence Market", a "Bay Street", a "Yonge Street", a "Richmond Street", the "gaybourhood", a "Yorkville", etc etc etc... it's a bit disconcerting. Admittedly, here in Brisbane, it's not exactly a tourist destination by any stretch of the imagination (it is, however, a hub to get to other beach and surf destinations on the North coast, and is also home to Steve Irwin's Zoo, which I will NOT be going to... crikey!). It is very much, a city for locals to live and work in, I guess like a Hamilton, or a Windsor.
Another curious thing here: apparently all of Australia does not participate in Daylight Savings Time (there was previously a big debate about it, but people were concerned about confusing the cows, so they opted not to change it(??) ). So, in the midst of the summer, the sun is down by 7pm(!), but up by 5am(!!!), which makes it a bit hard to sleep in, when the kookaburras are already singing by 4:30 in the morning (kind of reminds me of the roosters in Mizoram...)

Beam me up, Scottie

Could someone puh-leeeeese make me a Star Trek Transporter? I completely don't understand how people regularly make the trek between Toronto and Hong Kong... it's enough to make one go mad. Certainly, small graces, like being transferred to an aisle seat in the bulkhead (yes! Possibly one of the most comfortable trans-Pacific crossings I've done, though it's not actually saying much, since I still wasn't horizontal) made things a little bit more tolerable, but it's still quite something, sitting still for 15+ hrs, trying to prevent DVTs like mad...
Have seen some bats and ibises, but not much else, as I'm trying to get accustomed to the hour still...