The spirit of Christmas

This year I am focusing of the real meaning of Christmas. You know before it became commercialised. I am going back to before it was all about money and marketing. Back before it was hijacked by Christianity and even back to before it was a pagan ritual. I'm going all the way back to when it was just another day of the year. No lead up celebrations, no movie marathons, no cheesy TV specials, no annoying holiday music, no over eating, no fake kindness, no being nice only once a year, no fat men in big red suits, no plum pudding....oh wait a minute. I think Christmas should get rid of everything but the desserts. I can do with out trees being tarted up, I can do without the presents, I can do without the Maria Carey Christmas album and I can do without the thought of freaky little elves crawling around the north pole. So in all I have nothing to say on the matter. HAPPY STAND UP BIG DAY!!!!

a little man with a little brain

I read last Friday that John Howard is still refusing to remove Australian troops from Iraq. This is despite the fact that the majority of Australians want it. And despite the fact that now the majority of Americans want it. And even despite the fact that the Iraq study group is now recommending it. It is obvious that Johnny 'mandate' Howard is not taking into account the wishes of the Australian citizens and is instead sitting down, patiently waiting to see what George Bush will do. He is a pathetic little man with no brain or spine. He hopelessly follows the Americans where ever they go, obediently doing as they ask. You can be sure that the majority of Americans don't know or even care that Australia has joined their war in Iraq. All John Howard has done in supporting this war is to endanger Australia and waste millions of dollars. I suspected this before moving here but America is a piss poor role model for any country to try and emulate. It is time Australia had a long hard look at itself and started making decisions based on our values and ideals. Security my arse. Iraq is a mess and its best we extricate ourselves from it as soon as possible.

jumped the gun a little

Well I might have been somewhat hasty in claiming autumn was over. The leaves had fallen but the temperature hadn't dropped. Well now it has. This last weekend saw the start of some really cold weather. Ana and myself drove up to Chicago so Ana could take the Japanese language Proficiency test. We stayed with our friends up there and spent the weekend playing tourist. Now this was the coldest weather I have ever been in. It was around 13 degrees Fahrenheit which for the rest of the world who have moved on to the metric system is around -11 degrees Celsius. Now the most annoying thing about some of the winter days here is that you look outside and it is sunny with blue skies and you think 'Oh what a nice day!' Then you walk outside and its like someone comes out of nowhere and slaps you so hard you don't know what day of the week it is. Now at least it wasn't windy, apparently wind chill can drop an already cold temperature to testicle imploding temperatures. We did have fun though. We went to a nice Japanese restaurant and a great Korean BBQ restaurant that really reminded us of Japan. After we got back from Chicago the weather here got cold too. It's a little disconcerting when the weather man refers to arctic fronts in his weather report. Well have fun people and keep warm.