somethings are bigger than the sum of us

I have been involved in the relay for life. I sang at the candlelight ceremony, and I played games with the walkers, trying to get a theme song for all the teams. I had fun.
the relay for life is a charity event that is raising money for a cure for cancer.

tests tests and more tests

I am heading back into Darwin for more tests,
a full body scan (such comfort)
and xrays of hands feet pelvis back and knees.
then a couple of litres of blood.

leaps and bounds

Now I am prednisone I feel that I could take over the world.

Suddenly I have energy....but I know it is not for long, cos I am going off it again in three weeks. Not on a high dose, but you know all about it...makes a wham when you you used to have taps.

back to teaching music again.
Have the timetable sorted, and the rooms booked.
It is a good life, a good place to live.

who knows who

I read Widgets post, and did the personality test too

Your personality tendencies in a nutshell...
You enjoy making plans and commitments but you sometimes don't follow through. You are curious about many different things and highly value artistic expressions and ingenious thoughts. You are calm and logical for the most part, but some things worry you more than others. You are always polite and respectful toward others and avoid confrontation even to the point of being gullible. You show some tendency toward being outgoing and sociable.


About those "Casual" and "Disciplined" bubbles... Conscientiousness is not one of your defining traits, meaning that you are neither anal retentive nor anal expulsive. What does that mean? In a nutshell, you keep it together fairly well, but you do not suffer too much if you let things fall through the cracks every once in a while. If you make plans with a friend, chances are good that you will show up at the designated time. Then again, something better may come up or you just might forget. Either way, you're good. Another possibility is that you are very conscientious about some things, but more relaxed about other things. For example, you might demand the utmost rigor and discipline in your scholarly/work life, but keep your home looking like a garage sale gone terribly awry, with various articles of clothing and personal belonging strewn about. Where's Fido? Hopefully he hasn't been eaten by the alien life that has developed since the last cleaning.

About that "Alternative" bubble... You are intellectually curious, imaginative, and literary. I do believe the technical term is "artsy fartsy." When reading poetry, the images may move you until you quiver with delight, or perhaps quivering from all of the espresso that you've been drinking. Speaking of caffeine, it would not be a big surprise if you indulged in other substances to heighten your senses. After all, whoever heard of creative geniuses who were sober? Freud was a coke-head, Hemingway was a fall-down drunk, and Robert Johnson supposedly sold his soul to the devil, probably while high on wacky tabacky. You have quite the active fantasy life and are often in la la land, earning you the well-deserved nickname "space cadet" from your loved ones. Mostly, you're a lot of fun to hang out with because you're always game for whatever idea your non-medicated (but should be) friend has in mind. The next time someone suggests that you streak naked in the dead of winter, do think twice, or at least wear some mittens.

About those "Unemotional" and "Neurotic" bubbles... To quote the Hershey chocolate company, "sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't." That pretty much sums up your score on the trait of emotional stability. There are times when you feel such intensity of emotions, mostly negative, that you just want to lie down and spend the day thinking about how you can score Prozac. In other contexts (like when you are on your meds), you feel just fine - calm, happy, ready to face the day. The emotions cancel each other out and you look like you are dealing with life fairly well statistically. Another possibility for your middle scores on emotional stability is that some things push your button more than others and when your buttons get pushed, you stress and freak. What's that I hear? Is that your mom calling? For the most part though, you are the epitome of grace under pressure.

About that "Cooperative" bubble... You are such a nice person that people often wonder if there's something darker lurking beneath the surface. Your Eddie Haskell, "Gee, you look really nice today, Mrs. Cleaver" behavior may make some people wonder what it is that you're really after, but then they realize that you're the real deal and they plot to take advantage of your kindness. After all, you also tend to believe that most people are trustworthy and honest so you would fall for just about any ruse. I'll warn you now, don't give away any of your savings to phone psychics or in-laws with big plans to strike it rich. Your tenderness makes you a big sucker for anything that might tug at your heart strings. It would not be surprising if you've sent money off to Ethiopia to save the starving children or at the very least, donated to your local homeless person down the street. In short, you're a sweet, kind person and you should never change.

About that "Extraverted" bubble... I have a friend who can strike up a conversation with anyone: Nobel Peace prize nominees and winners, muppets, sanitation workers, perfect strangers, my crazy uncle Harry. My friend is a bona-fide extravert. Your scores indicate that while you tend to be extraverted, you also have some degree of reserve. Perhaps in some situations, you prefer to say less or maybe you have duct tape over your mouth. Either way, you may save your high energy for the situations when you have a need or desire to be "on" and your quiet moments for those with whom you feel most comfortable.

aha the meme tag

I think I have done this right, I have to linkwidget.....will have to work out how to do this, AAAH I DID IT!!!

Now here are the rules........


1. Link the person who tagged you
2. Mention the rules on your blog
3. Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours
4. Tag 6 following bloggers by linking them & leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger’s blogs letting them know they have been tagged.

Six things about me

*I love salty plums.

* I am starting to work in oils. I have been afraid of oils for a while, but I have started using the water based oils....HUGE difference....I love them. Texture in the brush strokes....I love it.


* I am a Reiki Master. I can sense energy, I use the energy in my artwork....the painting at the bottom of the page, and this one were worked using the energy from Reiki, most of the paintings that work in this manner are the ones that sell.

*I really want to get back to work, outside of the house, but I just can't seem to get there. I work part time, which is great, but I can't manage full time, I fall in a heap. I get jealous of people who can work full time and then bitch about it.

*When I worked as a nurse I worked in palliative care. I helped people to understand death. I did this to work out why someone close to me died. I went to the opposite end of the scale, midwifery at the end of my nursing career. I didn't finish the course, as I got pregnant, and I stabbed my hand with an unsheathed needle in the middle 80's (right at the beginning of AIDS, and it was a fearful thing...remember that ad? the death figure bowling a ball....) So I stopped being a nurse.

*I became a teacher for the holidays...I know I know, it isn't true...but it was a good thought for the holidays to be around with the kids. I trained as an early childhood teacher/music, full time, I had my second daughter in my first year of study....and my son in my third year of study. I took my babies with me to class...and they were a hit. I used an ultrasound of my son to predict his coding (DNA and recessive traits in facial features (mainly))

well well well

Take the Quiz here!

time flies

aint it funny how time flies, even when you aren't looking?
Suddenly you are older than you were, and you feel the same inside, but outside it got different?
My lord my body hurts today.

cooking cooking cooking

so we were in the Mediterranean Sea, and I went to Mexico....chili con carne....mmmmmmm
I served it with corn chips, avocado, tomatoes, sour cream, chili seasoning.....trouble was I cooked the meal, and they all went out. The dog LOVED dinner than night.

So from Mexico we have gone to America. Hot dogs tonight. I am grilling some, serving with the trimmings. onions, cheese, mustard, tomato sauce (ketchup) with a bit of salad...not the best meal, but the boy was in charge of the menu tonight.

home again...again

I came home again from another trip to Darwin.
Have to go in again, again and then again again....wonder why science fiction devises don't work in the real world...you know "beam me up scotty" LOL that would be fun.

It has been really busy in Darwin lately. Hard to get a room. Had to go and stay at the Y. So many people, so much happening, and then the wet comes and nothing. I suppose it is hotter than normal, it is funny seeing all the locals slopping around in jumpers and jeans, and tourists in shorts.

Darwin is a funny town, it wants to be big, but it doesn't quite get there. It has improved since we first moved here, you can have a parcel delivered within two days now....not the week that it used to take. The airport is airconditioned now, and not the tin shed on the army base. It is still isolated, but nowhere near to what it used to be.

If you want to persuade a woman, look straight at her

If you want to persuade a woman, look straight at her

from Cognitive Daily

[This article was originally published in April, 2007]

There is a considerable body of research showing that eye contact is a key component of social interaction. Not only are people more aroused when they are looked at directly, but if you consistently look at the person you speak to, you will have much more social influence over that person than you would if you averted your gaze.

The problem arises when you address a group of people. How do you pick who to engage visually? Most public speakers are encouraged to look around the room, alternating eye contact with individuals in the audience. But there's no way to look at everyone at once -- so some of your potential social influence will by necessity be lost.

Now, a team led by Jeremy Bailenson has figured out a way to get around that limitation. In a virtual reality environment, there is no need for the representations of other people to be consistent. Since each individual's virtual experience is generated separately, in a "room" full of people, each person could experience the phenomenon of everyone else looking at them. Everyone can be the center of attention, all at the same time!

In the figure, person A believes that both B and C are looking at her. But in C's virtual world, both A and B could be shown as looking at her instead.

Bailenson's team wanted to see if they could use this method to allow one person to increase his or her influence over more than one other person simultaneously, by programming her "avatar" -- the virtual representation of herself -- to be looking directly at each of the others.

dinner dinner dinner

I love to cook.
I really hate the process of deciding what to cook. It drives me mad.
So I have taken up cooking in regions.
Currently I am swimming in the Mediterranean Sea....
I love to cook.....
But there are still problems
The kitchen is SO SMALL, and we only have electric....so I have a small camp gas ring...electic pan, electric fan forced oven flat grill, rice cooker slow cooker and microwave. I have devised a system of shelves that I have put up, and I top the sinks with boards and just go for it....
Add to that that I sometimes have trouble bending, so I tend to put things just below waist level, and the bottom shelves are sort of dregs of kitchen society!

Cooking is a bit of an emotional experience for me. I love love love cooking. I just wish I could pass this love onto the kids....they see it as a bit of chore.

Night before last I made a Neapolitan fettuccine. I usually make my own pasta. I mix the dough in the bread maker, and my daughter and I roll the pasta through the machine. It is a family moment. LOL

Last night I made moussaka, egg plant, meat sauce, béchamel sauce. It is a good meal, and the newer egg plants are easier to prepare, but I sliced them lengthwise, so the fussy eaters were having a hard time with them. It was really really nice.

Tonight I made Yiros.

The shop is being revamped so they don't have all the normal things....so I found chick peas. but couldn't find tahini, so I roasted some sesame seeds, and put them through a blender....good lord I think I have gone mad. I made Tzatiski, and had slow cooked lamb steaks in Cinnamon, bay leaves, rosemary, garlic peppers....I had to get the MOTH (Man of the house) who was at a talkfest in Darwin, to pick up some lebanese bread....He rings me from the supermarket "they don't have it" "NO NO, " says I "go three ailse to the left and there they are" "are not" says he, walking the directions I gave him... "Huh" says he, "greek bread..." hmmm I either spend too much time shopping or I am psychic....

I am going to have to have left overs tomorrow night....