You've got to fight for the one you love

I used to watch coverage of awards shows and always be amazed that some of the actors/musicians had been in long-term relationships, whereas most of them seemed to only be able to have fairly short ones. I actually felt that the celebrities that did stick and work on their relationships had more integrity. And in a way, I still think that.

Romantic relationships are a funny thing. Although there are plenty of arguments on how love changes and advances or whether there is only one “the one” for each of us, the fact remains that relationships go through difficult times. Even the best relationships go through difficult times. And if you’re in that difficult time in a relationship, you are faced with a simple decision - do you work on the problems and try and get out of that difficult time, or do you end the relationship. Simply (and evolutionarily) put: fight or flight.

Haiti

There is something extremely distressing about natural disasters, especially when they end the lives of large numbers of people. Although I haven’t been entirely tuned into everything about the earthquake in Haiti, it has really affected me. I cried when I watched one of the news reports mainly because of the pleading screams of people stuck in the rubble, desperate for help and escape.

The last catastrophe of this magnitude was the tsunami in 2004 that resulted in approximately 200,000 dying.

I don’t know if it is because Haiti is a lot further away from us than Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand and all the other countries affected by that tsunami, but this tragedy in Haiti doesn’t seem to be entering into the public Australian conscience nearly as much. And I feel kind of guilty that I haven’t really paid all that much attention to it.

There are varying estimates of how many people have died in the earthquake (30,000 to 200,000), but they have reported that 3 million people have been directly affected by it. That is almost completely unfathomable. Its like if everyone that attended the grand finals of both the AFL and NRL died in one major event.

I’m not really writing this to make any deep points or extol anyone that happens to read it to donate money to the cause. I’m just upset about it and need to write something.

Kyle & Jackie O

I've been meaning to get back into this blogging thing and I've had lots of ideas of things to write about, but I just haven't had the time. Normally its the other way round. I have lots of dead time to kill, but can't think of anything to write about. Either way, I have a few posts ready, but I thought I would hit this one first because its "topical".

If you aren't aware, Kyle & Jackie O have a breakfast show on commercial radio in Australia. I don't listen to it and don't really know much about it, except that in all their advertising (billboards, TV etc) that I DO see, they both seem like total douches. So my opinion is probably already biased against them, but I think that even if I could be completely objective and impartial, I would conclude that they ARE total douches.

Here's what happened:

What a freaking awesome idea!

So it seems that I just can’t get enough of this blogging at the moment. What I wanted to talk about is something I heard on a TV show last week. The thing is, the show in question has a host that I previously thought was a bit of a prat … but I think I’m beginning to be able to tolerate him and at times, might even like him.

I’m talking about Wil Anderson and his show The Gruen Transfer. Check it out on ABC1 on Wednesday nights at 9am.

ANYWAYS, what caught my attention on last week’s show was the innovative way the New York Department of Education is trying to improve school attendance, student behaviour and class performance.

Best music of this century

Well. It has certainly been a long time between my 2nd and 3rd blogs. But I’ve been inspired by my good friend Gilbert, who is planning to start blogging about cars. I know nothing about cars, but I still really enjoyed reading his drafts for his blog, so he must be good.

Anyways, I’ve been thinking that since this decade is winding up, what things have really happened since the turn of the century? Obviously there was the 911 attacks, the war on terror, Obama-fever, getting married, Brisbane Lions 3-peat …. but what I’ve been really thinking about is pop culture.