Monday, July 26, 2004

The DREADED LURGI

I have this theory - either I'm in the process of building up one heck of an immunity, which will keep me wonderfully free of colds and flues and so on for the next several years... or... I've seriously annoyed someone 'up there'...

It has to be one or the other, I figure.

Personally, I hope it's the former, but... one never can tell... *grin*

Yes, I have it AGAIN - the Dreaded Lurgi or, to be more precise, the FLU, to be a little clearer with my word choice.

I'm not sure where the expression Dreaded Lurgi came from originally. A couple of popular radio personalities here in Australia used to use it to describe the Flu, or anything of a similar nature, on a morning breakfast show I tuned into regularly many years ago now... :o)

Back in May I had the Flu pretty bad, thanks to a girl who sat next to me at the office. It spread from her to three other members of the department, before striking me down. It took me three or four weeks to fully get rid of that. Then a couple of weeks back I was hit with a Kidney infection, which left me ill for about five days, and took just over a week to clear up, mostly... and then... and then... aaarrrggghhhh... :o) a guy I've been working closely with in the office picked up the flu, and passed it back to me mid last week, and my poor immune system, which had been badly weakened already, couldn't cope. Within a day, I was sick again, only this time... Bronchitis, or to be more accurate, an upper and lower respiratory tract infection.

Oh... joy to the world! :o)

I didn't go to work today - I spent most of the day wishing my ribs and head didn't hurt so much when I coughed. That and feeling really, really, really guilty about taking a day off, especially when we are so very busy and understaffed. *sigh* :o(

Anyway, I've decided to play the "Pollyanna Glad Game".

Things to be 'glad' about (thankful for):-

It's just the flu, after all - it will go away.

It's not West Nile Virus - so I will survive.

It's not Mad Cows Disease - so I'm not going to go any more insane than I already am.

It's not Cancer - I will actually live.

In fact - it's not any life threatening disease.

It's not even Pneumonia.

It's JUST the FLU!!!

Get over it!!! :o)

Of course, having said all this, I have wondered from time to time why no one actually ever clobbered Pollyanna whenever she played the 'glad game'. *grin* :o)

But, that's enough moaning from me... :o)

And... if I might steal a phrase from Michael Medved...

Upward and Onward!!! :o)

More soon...

Christine... :o)
Sydney, Australia

July 26, 2004

Sunday, July 11, 2004

BIRTHDAY SURPRISES! :o)

Actually, my Birthday was back on APRIL 26, however, last week I received a lovely belated Birthday gift from my younger sister, Pauline.

In the fabulous little package from my sister were three CDs.

1). Music from the Motion Picture Gladiator

2). More Music from the Motion Picture Gladiator

3). The Passion of the Christ original Motion Picture Soundtrack

All of these soundtracks were on my most wanted list, so it was really wonderful to receive them.

Sadly, I haven't had a chance to listen to any of them at this point, though, as I've been a bit sick since last Wednesday with an infection, so haven't been in the mood to listen to anything much, (although, I DID listen to the Dark Matters radio show this week - July 11 - which was excellent as always). However, I plan to remedy that in the next few days, as I'm really looking forward to hearing these musical scores.

Soundtracks from movies are a particular love of mine, the more powerful, the better, musical score wise. :o) I also like those with rock 'n roll oriented soundtracks as well, and those with soundtracks featuring music from the mid to late sixties through to the early to mid seventies, in particular.

There was also a cute card in the parcel featuring a picture of a big fluffy grey and white dog (Sheep Dog) lying in the grass, and a little bird sitting on a blade of grass near its head.

Written in it is:

To Dear Christine, Happy 30th(?) Birthday (we're the same age now - they always mistook us for twins?) Enjoy!! Don't go deaf!! Lots of love, your loving (choke, cough) sister, Pauline. xxxx 2004.

History:

My sister is 11 and a half months younger than myself, (she was 36 in 2004, I was 37 in 2004 - both of us were born in April - Pauline on the 6th, myself on the 26th), and as kids we were more or less the same height and size as each other, although Pauline's hair is darker than mine.

When we were little kids, Mum also loved dressing us in the same outfits when we went out - usually of different colours, but of the same cut and style. So people often thought we were fraternal twins. As we grew older, of course, we objected to the practice of the same outfits, and that all changed, naturally.

We were also in the same year at school for a little while, until the school decided to keep Pauline back a year because they thought she was too young for the higher year, even though she was having no trouble with the lessons at all, and is in fact the most intelligent of all us three girls in our family. Go figure, huh?! Having said that, it actually worked out better in the long run, though, as Pauline made lots of great friends in the lower year, some of whom are still good friends with her right up to this day.

Going deliberately off track now..:

There was some great music on the Dark Matters radio show again this week - but I can't place all the musical scores. Although they are familiar. It was a treat hearing Sergeant Pepper's, from the Beatles, though - as I'm a huge Beatles fan from way back. :o)

Anyway, that's all! :o)

Christine
The Land Down Under

Sunday, July 04, 2004

HAPPY 4th of JULY, 2004!!!

HAPPY 4th of JULY, 2004!!!

To all my American friends, and to all American's everywhere, from an Australian, I'd like to wish you all a very, very...

HAPPY, PEACEFUL & REFLECTIVE 4th of JULY!!!


May God Bless you all!!! :o)


Here below is a picture I found depicting the flag raising by American's at Iwo Jima during World War II.

In light of the War in Iraq, and in honour of all the brave young men and women who are serving over there, and who are risking, or have lost, their lives for their respective countries in that conflict, I thought this photo would be an appropriate tribute to their courage.


http://www.iwojima.com/raising/l721flag.gif
http://www.iwojima.com


This 4th of July...

Let's remember those who are giving their lives to make ours better and safer.

Who are giving their lives to help make those of the Iraqi people better and safer.

Remember our armed forces personnel.

Regardless of our political leanings, they deserve all of our honour, and all of our respect, wherever in the world we come from.

For those of us who don't serve, or who have never served in the armed forces, we need to, even if just for a moment, put ourselves in the place of those who do and have...

Could we be as brave?

Would we?

Whichever way our feelings fall in regards to the war in Iraq. Whether we support the war in full, or in part, or are against it. Whatever we think and feel... please let's all come together to respect, honour and acknowledge all the courageous men and women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, and any other part of the world, for their commitment to us, to our countries, and to the world at large.

Salute them!

I know that I do, and always will!

Christine
An Aussie, from the Land, not so far, Down Under! :o)

July 4th, 2004

Dark Days, Dark News, Dark Matters - Part 3

DARK MATTERS

There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable...

There is another theory which states that this has already happened.


Quote: Douglas Adams. The Restaurant at the End of the Universe. (Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy series).

At last, here is the final part to this posting. I can't believe it's taken me so long to get this finalised.

This is on to a much lighter note now!

Why have I called this Dark Matters...?

Well, Dark Matters is a fabulous radio show that airs via Reality Radio Networks every Saturday night between 8 pm and 11 pm PST (California time) in the USA, or, 11 pm to 2 am EST in the USA. It can also be heard via Satellite, for those with a link up via that method.

Dark Matters is hosted by two great guys called, Don Ecker (Director of Research for UFO Magazine, past host of UFOs Tonite and Strange Daze radio shows, and author of the excellent supernatural horror novel, PAST SINS) and Dwight Schultz (Former co-host of the Strange Daze radio show, star of The A-Team [Captain H.M. "Howling Mad" Murdock], Star Trek The Next Generation & Voyager [Lieutenant Reginald "Reg" Barclay], as well as featuring in many, many other TV shows, and movies, etc.)

Here's an advertisement for the show:-



The show is basically, in a nut shell, about whatever it is the guys want to talk about. Most particularly, things that aren't generally touched upon by the mainstream media, especially those things that could be construed as "Dark Matters", or those stories often over looked by the mainstream media.

Topics have included, for example: UFOs and Ufology, the paranormal, serial killers, remote viewing, science, technology, advances in outer space, Mars, Saturn, politics, religion, the war in Iraq, terrorism, and much, much more.

You can also phone in (wherever you are in the world) and e-mail the show with questions and opinions.

Every show is a surprise each week, unless they have a special guest coming on, in which case Don usually announces it ahead of time, but even then the conversation with the guests can go anywhere.

*(Note: I'll add in a list of some of the past guests soonish)*

Those who are interested in the Dark Matters radio show can also catch up to past episodes of the show care of Steve Melching's Archive On Demand for a subscription of about US$7 per month. Or, you can purchase tapes and CDs of the shows. The CD's come with a full month worth of shows. You can find out more about the Dark Matters tapes and CDs and Archive On Demand from Steve Melching, who handles the archives and the sale of the archived shows.

There's also a web site (created by Cynthia Boris) for the radio show called Dark Matters Radio, as well as an internet forum/companion (also created by Cynthia) for the radio show at Yahoo Groups at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Dark_Matters, where people can discuss the topics raised on the show each week, as well as other assorted dark matters.

I started listening to Dark Matters back at the end of February, but it's actually been going since January 10, 2004. Why I wasn't listening from the beginning is a bit of a convoluted story.

You see, rampant forgetfulness had a lot to do with it, as did a measure of being a trifle thick. All my own fault. I saw the show advertised last year on a web site devoted to Dwight Schultz, and was really excited to hear about it, as it sounded like a wonderful opportunity to hear Dwight talk about his interest in UFO's, etc., as that was something I had been wanting to experience for a little while. Then I thought, but how can I listen here in Australia, when the show is all the way over there in the USA? In other words, I omitted to read the fine print that said, "available on the internet at..." DUH!!! :o0 So, anyway, I was a bit of a sad vegemite (person), for a bit, thinking I'd never get to hear the show myself.

Meanwhile, Cynthia Boris (Mistress of the Dark Matters) also did post e-mails about the advent of the show on a couple of the A-Team fan fiction forums I'm subscribed to, as well as on Mig's Dwight Schultz forum at Yahoo Groups, and I did read the notices and file them in the special folders I have to store emails I want to keep from each forum.

Unfortunately, I had some health problems in January and February, and between that, and an extremely hectic workload, I didn't get back in to look at any of those archive folders at the emails I'd saved, in order to refresh my memory for what was there... and... well...

Actually, come to think of it... there really isn't any valid excuse at all, is there, really? :o( Guess, the main thing is that I am listening now, and enjoying it all very much indeed. I have also purchased CDs of the shows I've missed. It's not quite like listening to them live, but it's been fun catching up to the missed shows, that's for sure.

The day I first listened to the show, on February 21, Cynthia had posted a message to the Dwight Schultz Yahoo Group, while the show was airing live, saying that Dwight had just been talking on the show about meeting Franne (Purple Gimp) from Israel.

Franne had the great good fortune to meet Dwight at a convention in England in mid February. Dwight was talking on the show about that convention, what he'd been doing, and the people he'd met there, and was astounded and delighted that someone had come all the way from Israel just to meet him.

Cynthia also provided the link to the Dark Matters radio show at Reality Radio Networks in her posting. By some stroke of luck, I was online woking on my computers when the post popped up on Mig's Dwight Schultz forum, so I hopped right on over to Reality Radio Networks, managed to fire the connection up, and so was able to listen to the last half of the show.

That show aired on February 21, 2004 and I've been listening ever since! :o)

Not only have I enjoyed the show very much, it's also been very educational. I think I've learned more about the world, about politics in the USA, about UFOs, in fact about a great many things in the six months I've been listening to the show, than I have in my lifetime, or, at least, in many years, anyway.

I've also read books I might never have considered before, and broadened my horizons considerably. Richard M. Dolan's "UFOs and the National Security State Chronology of a Cover-up, 1941-1973 (Volume 1)", is one such book I'm currently reading, which was discussed by Don and Dwight. Richard was also a guest on the show as well one week, (February 28, 2004), and is a very impressive man to listen to. This book of his is well informed, well researched and put together, and very intelligent as well

I'm now also listening to the radio programs for Dennis Prager and Michael Medved, that air each weekday on KRLA-870. Two people I didn't even know existed before Dwight read, aloud on the Dark Matters show one week, portions of an article written by Dennis Prager. Now I listen to the radio programs from both these gentlemen as much as I can manage. I find them very enlightening as well. I don't always agree with everything Dennis and Michael have to say, but pretty much most of their views coincide with my feelings on any number of issues, etc.

There's this, and there's more, but that's enough waffling from me... for now. :o)

Besides... I have other things I want to get onto talking about... such as the fact that we appear to live in a world gone mad, helped along by a largely dominating liberal (left wing) mainstream media, who seem to have forgotten who the bad guys actually are... but, that's another rant, for another time... although, hopefully sometime soon!

See ya! :o)

Christine... :o)
(of the Land, not too far, Down Under! :o) )