"Game on mole!'

Ok just a quick one but did anyone watch Big Brother last night? What was the deal with Gretel's defensive and (i thought) quite aggressive response to Michael? For anyone that didn't see it, Michael brought up how big brother had edited an interaction between himself and David and presented it in a way that basically apppeared as if there could have been a pash between the two men. Gretel's response was massively defensive, basically shutting him down as if he was making massive unjust allegations against Big Brother. Now i didn't like what I saw of Michael's time in the house, but in this instance i would totally come to his defense. The scene between him and David was totally presented in a way to get viewers thinking that there had been some sort of sexual interaction.
The fact is, that there is no such thing as 'Reality TV'(sorry to break it to you kids). As Michael said, there is editing (clips shown without the whole context of a situation), but even aside from that, certain camera angles etc are used to portray people in a certain light. So Miss Gretel, don't go and get high and mighty on me when someone questions the validity of your 'reality'show. The fact is that your show is no more 'real' than Krystal's breasts!

'Satisfied Mind'

I've been reading a report on consumerism in Australia (sent to me from the lovely Karin) and it tells me that nearly two-thirds of Australians say that they do not have enough money to buy what they really need. The report describes how many Australians have a warped perception of basic needs; 'When almost half of the richest households believe they cannot pay for their needs, the idea of what is 'needed' is confused with what is 'wanted'.

The report describes that while 56% of Australians believe they spend almost all their income on basic necessities;
- Expenditure on imported consumer goods rose by 60% between 2000 & 2004.
-Australians spend about $10.5 billion on goods we do not use: food and drink; appliances; exercise equipment; memberships (in 2004, Australians spent about $500m on gym memberships that were never or hardly used).

How did our priorities get so out of whack? How did my priorities get so out of whack? The problem with buying 'stuff' is that no matter how much you get, you still want more! (Apparantly that's what the marketing companies bank on.) Yet its easy to get lured in.

If Jesus says that it's harder for a rich man to get into heaven then why do so many of us that call ourselves Christians desire to be wealthy? Some of us have very good reasons to want to be wealthy (i've heard many say how they want to have more, so they can give more away), but why are we not more cautious of the warning of Jesus about the pitfalls of wealth?

Did you know that sociological studies have shown that there is no difference between the happiness of someone who has enough money to live on with a few added luxuries, compared to somone who is incredibly wealthy?

Consumerism is something that i struggle with (my love for clothes doesn't help this!). In our society shopping is a leisure acitivity(have you seen how many people go to the shops on the weekends?) and i must admit that i do enjoy shopping too. But where is the line of excess?

I guess my prayer is that in the midst of our consumer society, that i may develop the ability to live simply. I'll leave you with some wise words sung by Jeff Buckely;

Satisfied Mind ------Jeff Buckley(J.Hayes/J.Rhodes)

How many times have you heard someone say,
"If I had money, I would do things my way."
But little they know, that it's so hard to find
one rich man in ten, with a satisfied mind.

Money can't buy back all your youth when you're old,
a friend when you're lonely, or peace to your soul.
The wealthiest person, is a pauper at times
compared to the man with a satisfied mind.

When my life is over and my time has run out,
my friends and my loved ones, I will leave there's no doubt.
But one thing's for certain, when it comes my time,
I'll leave this old world with a satisfied mind.
But one thing's for certain, when it comes my time,
I'll leave this old world with a satisfied mind mind mind, mind mind,satisfied mind.

Happy Birthday Ruth!

I have a housemate called Ruth. She is one of my bestest friends and i love her heaps. One of the things that i love about Ruth is her honesty- you can always count on Ruth to tell you the truth- often in a somewhat blunt manner! Example; when Matt and I got engaged we came home and went into her room to tell her. I recounted the story of the night saying 'we did this....and then we went there..... We think we might get married in January....'to which her reply was along the lines of "Great you've started the bloody "we" crap already!'. Ruth looked at my blog the other day and groaned about my Bride blog informing me that i better not blog all about weddings! So to prove that my blog is going to be about a whole variety of things and thoughts in my life, i've decided to write about Ruth.
It was Ruths birthday on Friday night and we went to the Croft institute. It's a bar down this really scarey looking alley off China town. As my friend Stuart aptly put it, 'even guys are scared about being raped walking down here!' Once you get there, its a pretty cool place-a little bit creepy (it used to be a mental institution apparantly and they've stuck with that theme including a wheelchair hanging off the wall and a hospital bed in the ladies toilets) but what i liked is that there is no pretention. There were all kinds of people there- not just good looking, designer kinds of people!
Ruth had heaps of friends there and again what i was struck by was the variety of people that are in her friendship group. Ruth loves meeting new people and what i love about her is that her friends don't have to be the same as her. Even if you tried, it would be impossible to put a label on her friends as they are all from so many different places, backgrounds, personalities, jobs, religions etc. It's a great thing and something that i aspire to be able to do more in my life!
So happy birthday Ruth! You are a fabulous friend and i love you stacks!

'I see you baby....shakin that....'

I believe in a better way....

Some lyrics by Mr Ben Harper that are challenging me at the moment....

'What good is a man who won't take a stand?

What good is a cynic with no better plan?

I believe in a better way!

I believe in a better way!'

'Better Way'- Ben Harper

Here's to standing up to injustice and the searching for better plans.... to always trying to find a 'better way'.

Bethy Bride

As mentioned in my profile I am engaged! My fiance is Matt Parker and he is a lovely fellow. As you can see from this picture i have been preparing for my wedding for some time now! I love weddings! Not only have i forever been trying on bride outifts but i have also been collecting bridal magazines for 00hh possibly the last 3 years! It was like my secret little thing. (Some people keep rude magaines under their bed, i kept bridal magaines under my bed!). I used to feel really dodgey when i bought them at the the checkout. Like people were looking at me thinking "She's not a bride! She shouldn't be buying magazines". I felt like a 16 year old trying to buy beer from the bottle-o!
So now that i'm officially engaged i can buy bridal magazines without guilt or shame. The funny thing is that i'm not so interested in the magazines anymore-that thrill has left me. You know that feeling when you were in high school and you and your friends decide to wag school to go to hungry jacks? Your driving away from the school with adrenilin pumping and although you know you're breaking the rules you feel awesome! Well that feeling changes once you get to uni because you can wag whenever you want. And although its nice to be able to leave and go to hungry jacks (becuase lets face it, your tutor doesn't give a rats where you are), the thrill sadly, is no longer there. I think its the same thing with my bridal magazines!
Regardless of this, i am loving being engaged and am totally excited about my(sorry, OUR) wedding and marriage! Roll on Jan 5!!

At Risk....

This blog is an example of what happens when someone with little to none I.T. skills trys to create their own web page. In teaching, the lowest box to tick to report on a student's development is named 'At Risk'. (My friend Matt from uni always jokes about me being 'at risk') Well i think this blog is 'At Risk'. The problem with me is that i can never be bothered in reading the instructions for anything. Like when you buy some drawers from Ikea and you're all excited until you get home and open the box and the drawers are actually in pieces. (It also doesn't help that the instructions are in another language), in which case you whine to your friend Stu until he puts it together for you (which entails of banging the pieces together with your housemate's hockey stick because you can't find a hammer.) Unfortunately Stu is not here so i've had to work this blog thing out for myself, hence this 'At Risk' blog. Well i think i'm going to get my sister Annie to help me work this out (she's the other person who always reads instructions for me and works stuff out. She is such a fast reader- she read Schindlers List in like 10 minutes! ). So until Annie fixes up this woeful looking blog, keep it real.....Betho