Quote Of The Day

"...my life is now on a spiritual path. I'm now a spiritual warrior, I'm a man on a mission..."

"I was just thinking, many of us read so much and are so wise yet when it comes to it the knowledge we have gained and words we have read, appear to vanish and we forget the wisdom we accumulate through time, could it be that when we read with our ego that is reading to show off or to portray yourself as an intellectual, that we then fail at absorbing the information that we need. Rather we must learn to read, and in reality forget what we have read .
I am but small in this huge world and in reality i know nothing but i feel that it is because i know nothing that iam so content, satisfied and full of meaning."

-Walter Gonzalez

In loving memory of a beautiful man, friend and spirit.

Walter Gonzalez, aka, Chinoblack, 09/05/1988-12/06/2010

A New Dawn

On the 23rd of June, 2010, Australians watching Hey, Hey It’s Saturday, had their program interrupted by a cross to the channel 9 newsroom, where a political bombshell was dropped: an emergency meeting had been called in Canberra and Kevin Rudd wasn’t invited.

For weeks rumours have been circulating that Rudd’s head was going to roll, and that Julia Gillard would be left holding the silver platter Rudd was to be served on. For weeks, Gillard dogged questions about stepping up as Prime Minster, even going as far as saying that she would play full-forward for the Western Bulldogs before she ended up as Prime Minster. (The Western Bulldogs issued a statement tonight saying that although she would make a great, small full- forward, they were sure that she would have too much to do now, to play).

A new dawn of Australian politics has begun and Julia Gillard, Australia’s first female Prime Minster, is at the helm. Although the position of PM is not new to Gillard, as she has stepped in as Deputy PM many times before, it is however the first time in Australian history that a female Governor-General has sworn in a female Prime Minster. The times, they are a changing.

Journalists politely laughed at Kevin Rudd’s parting jokes, as he stood, surrounded by his family, for the last time as Prime Minster of Australia. Kevin 07’s reign had ended abruptly, in another first for Australian politics. Outnumbered and betrayed by his own party, Rudd knew his time was up. At 9am, EST, on the 24th of June, Rudd conceded defeat and without going to a vote, stepped down as Prime Minster. Never before has this happened to a serving Government and Rudd’s bad-luck has already been linked to Gough Whitlam’s untimely departure as PM, in 1975.

His family behind him, Rudd summed up his time in Government with what he was most proud of: the apology to the Stolen Generation and what he was not most proud of: blubbering in public. It was a brave man that stood before the journalists this morning and it would have taken a lot of strength to say goodbye. His bottom lip quivering and long pauses to try and compose himself, Rudd departed with class and a positive attitude: we haven’t seen the last of him; he still wants to be a part of the Labor party.

As parliament sat today with Rudd in the back bench, one had to wonder what was going through his mind. Rudd was not a party man and felt strongly about his beliefs and that, in the end was his undoing. The camera caught him looking forlorn, or perhaps he was being nostalgic; not 24 hours before, he had been sitting where Gillard was now sitting.

Gillard and Rudd were a strong team and eyes now turn to see how Gillard performs upfront. Gillard has the majority of the Labor party’s backing (it was reported that Rudd had as little as 25% of the party behind him) and even if you’re not interested in politics, you must take note of how significant this shift has been.

Victorian Premier John Brumby was ecstatic at the news that his former Chief of Staff was now the PM. It was no secret that Brumby and Rudd did not see eye to eye.

Gillard has declared that we will go to the polls in the next few months as she is aware that the people have not elected her has PM. Gillard has no plans to move into The Lodge anytime soon either, but instead plans to remain at her current residence.

I end this blog with a salute to Kevin Rudd: he introduced us to words like: “detailed programmatic specificity” and did what the Government before him could not: apologised to the Aboriginals and acknowledged that they had been wronged. He tried to implement actions for climate change, pushed for paid maternity leave and spoke (most of the time) like the common man (swearing and visits to strip clubs included). Rudd tried to break the trend of governments before him and in part, succeeded. But in the end, he lost confidence in his party and they in turn, deserted him.

As the bell tolls for Rudd, Julia Gillard steps into the role of Labor PM and has wasted no time in passing an olive branch to the mining companies, pulling the $38 million ad campaigns asking that they in return, can their retaliation campaigns. The mining companies have excepted.

So far so good for Gillard and her Labor constituents. But what is the feeling out their with you all? Are you sad to see the back of Rudd? Do you like Gillard as our PM? (Please note, I don’t care if she has green hair or purple, the way she looks, the colour of her hair, marital status and clothes DO NOT maketh a leader. So please do not post any ranger or sexist remarks here, leave that to your Facebook page.)

How Do You Sign?

Yesterday, I found myself sitting down and writing out a congratulations-on-the-baby card. This action in itself is something of a new phenomenon, one that no doubt in the near future will become a regular occurrence, but when I got to the end of the card, I didn’t know how to sign it. I yelled out to my partner if he wanted to sign it “love” but he said no, but to instead write “Best Wishes”. This got me thinking; what is the appropriate way to sign things?

On the same day, I was also writing out a wedding card (not to the same couple but perhaps Hallmark could look into that; congratulations on the nuptials and the gift from Mr Stalk!) but this time it was for close friends, so the obvious way to sign the card would be with “love.” But the baby card people are friends of my partner that although he has known for years, they weren’t close enough to state love. Or is that a male thing?

This all reminded me of an episode of Sex and the City when Samantha is dating her boss Richard and he is showering her with extravagant gifts, but signing “Best, Richard” on the cards. It’s not exactly what you would want written on a card from someone who you are currently attached to, but until those three gargantuan words, “I love you” are spoken, best or from seems to be the safe option.

I was faced with another signing dilemma the other day when I wrote in a work colleague’s all-the-best-for-the-future card. I liked her and enjoyed our time working together, but wasn’t friendly enough to write love but thought “from” was too cold. I looked at what other people had written and some had written nothing at all but a heart followed by their name. Undecided, I simply signed my name with a smiley face. I thought I had ticked the friendly but not too friendly box without being distant. After being happy with my choice, I just hoped she could read my writing.

When applying for a job, we sign, “Yours sincerely”, “Yours truly” or “Respectively yours”. We don’t know the person we are writing too, sometimes you don’t even have a name, but you don’t want to come across as too friendly or un- professional. You want to impress. When hundreds of resumes and cover letters all sound and look the same (with a lot of creative license no doubt) you want to be remembered, but for the right reasons.

Email etiquette has added a whole new level of what is polite and over-friendly. The standard signing off for a work email is “Kind Regards”. If you are familiar with the person or are replying to an email conversation, the best response would be simply just to sign off with “Regards” followed by your name. But with friends and family you could reply with love and xoxo’s and “hope this finds you well”, depending on how friendly/close you are with them. You wouldn’t sign off with “from” like you would a letter. But emails can get complicated when the format can be far more casual and you don’t want the person to get the wrong impression.

Have you have ever had a situation where you have signed “love” and the other person has felt weird about it? This could have been a friend, potential partner or accidently a work colleague. Have you been at the receiving end of an awkward signing? Let me know your thoughts and the different ways you sign.