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	<title>The Cerebral Mum</title>
	<link>http://cerebralmum.com</link>
	<description>currently in the in-between....</description>
	<pubDate>Wed, 01 Oct 2008 23:22:41 +0000</pubDate>
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		<title>Just quickly, what do you choose?</title>
		<link>http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TheCerebralMum/~3/408171006/</link>
		<comments>http://cerebralmum.com/2008/10/just-quickly-what-do-you-choose/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 01 Oct 2008 11:48:11 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>cerebralmum</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[In a dark wood, wandering...]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[experiment of life]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[learning]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[psychology]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[who am i?]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://cerebralmum.com/2008/10/just-quickly-what-do-you-choose/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Just because of some recent discussions I&#8217;ve had, I&#8217;m thinking about these things&#8230;
I choose truth over tact.
I choose independence over companionship.
I choose the hare over the tortoise.
I choose the mind over the body.
I choose ideas over people (whom, to be honest, I often understand - and dissect - as ideas).
I choose voice over silence.
I choose [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Just because of some recent discussions I&#8217;ve had, I&#8217;m thinking about these things&#8230;</p>
<blockquote><p>I choose truth over tact.</p>
<p>I choose independence over companionship.</p>
<p>I choose the hare over the tortoise.</p>
<p>I choose the mind over the body.</p>
<p>I choose ideas over people (whom, to be honest, I often understand - and dissect - as ideas).</p>
<p>I choose voice over silence.</p>
<p>I choose change over peace.</p>
<p>I choose comprehension over empathy.</p>
<p>I choose loss over anger.</p>
<p>I choose intent over action.</p>
<p>I choose loyalty over trust.</p>
<p>I choose the sky.</p>
<p>And winter.</p></blockquote>
<p>Either path <em>is</em> both right and wrong.</p>
<p>I have never believed that you can have, or be, everything.</p>

	<h4>Related Posts</h4>
	<ul class='st-related-posts'>
	<li><a href="http://cerebralmum.com/2007/12/the-cerebral-mum-from-another-perspective/" title="The Cerebral Mum, from another perspective&#8230; (December 1, 2007)">The Cerebral Mum, from another perspective&#8230;</a> (5)</li>
	<li><a href="http://cerebralmum.com/2007/11/mme-7random/" title="Meme&#8217;d - 7 random things&#8230; (November 14, 2007)">Meme&#8217;d - 7 random things&#8230;</a> (4)</li>
	<li><a href="http://cerebralmum.com/2008/01/enrolment-2/" title="Enrolment Pt.2 (January 24, 2008)">Enrolment Pt.2</a> (8)</li>
	<li><a href="http://cerebralmum.com/2008/03/i-cant-wait-for-this-day-to-be-over/" title="I can&#8217;t wait for this day to be over&#8230; (March 6, 2008)">I can&#8217;t wait for this day to be over&#8230;</a> (4)</li>
</ul>

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		<item>
		<title>The in-between and an attention span of a gnat…</title>
		<link>http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TheCerebralMum/~3/407093177/</link>
		<comments>http://cerebralmum.com/2008/09/in-between-gnat/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 30 Sep 2008 09:11:22 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>cerebralmum</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Saffron noodles]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[life]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[motivate me]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[parties]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[the in between]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://cerebralmum.com/2008/09/in-between-gnat/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I thought that it was time I send another &#8220;I exist, but&#8230;&#8221; post.
I&#8217;m still in the in-between and looking for an apartment, which has been demoralising so far but I am remaining optimistic.  However, as the post title says I do seem to have the attention span of a gnat, so those of you [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I thought that it was time I send another &#8220;I exist, but&#8230;&#8221; post.</p>
<p>I&#8217;m still in the in-between and looking for an apartment, which has been demoralising so far but I am remaining optimistic.  However, as the post title says I do seem to have the attention span of a gnat, so those of you who see me on Facebook while my feed is silent, that is why.  Facebook and gnats go well together. <img src='http://cerebralmum.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>
<p>Actually, I am being mentally bombarded with ideas of what to write about, but I just can&#8217;t seem to sit still.  Or I can, but only while doing mindless things, like playing Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix on my new Wii.</p>
<p>Yup, with my newfound lack of poverty I have invested in an entirely <strike>luxurious</strike> useless piece of technology.  And to be honest, I mostly got it so I could use Wii Fit.  Mum bought one when she was here and, as limited as it is, it turned out to be exercise I actually do.</p>
<p>And I never exercise.</p>
<p>I have also invested in a fab new camera.  This one&#8230;</p>
<p align="center"><img src="http://cerebralmum.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/image4.png" style="border: 0px none " alt="Fujifilm Finepix Z20" border="0" height="260" width="260" /></p>
<p><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/></p>
<p>&#8230;which absolutely rocks.  Caspar picked the colour, but <a href="http://lighteningonline.com" title="Lightening">Lightening</a>, if you&#8217;re reading, there is definitely one that makes me think of you. <img src='http://cerebralmum.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>
<p>I also bought that Eee PC that I wanted for my birthday.  Well, not exactly the same one.  I got the new 10&#8243;, Pearl White, instead of the 7&#8243;&#8230;</p>
<p align="center"><a href="http://cerebralmum.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/image5.png"><img src="http://cerebralmum.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/image-thumb1.png" style="border: 0px none " alt="image" border="0" height="244" width="244" /></a></p>
<p><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/></p>
<p>Because every inch makes a difference.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, I can&#8217;t make the most of it until I&#8217;ve relocated and set up a wireless account.  The ISP I&#8217;m considering doesn&#8217;t service this <strike>hellhole</strike> locality.  Even more unfortunately, I stupidly left it within reach of the boy.  Who promptly broke 7 keys off the keyboard.  (I wonder if that will be covered under the warranty?)</p>
<p>In other indulgent news, I have been out TWICE since selling the house.</p>
<p>AT NIGHT.</p>
<p>WITHOUT CHILD.</p>
<p>On those outings I discovered that I no longer have the alcohol tolerance I built up in my years of working in bars.</p>
<p>But more about that another day.</p>
<p>Love to all, from your absent friend.</p>

	<h4>Related Posts</h4>
	<ul class='st-related-posts'>
	<li><a href="http://cerebralmum.com/2008/01/enrolment-2/" title="Enrolment Pt.2 (January 24, 2008)">Enrolment Pt.2</a> (8)</li>
	<li><a href="http://cerebralmum.com/2008/01/walking-blind/" title="Walking blind&#8230; (January 15, 2008)">Walking blind&#8230;</a> (12)</li>
	<li><a href="http://cerebralmum.com/2007/11/do-things/" title="A day to do things&#8230; (November 16, 2007)">A day to do things&#8230;</a> (7)</li>
	<li><a href="http://cerebralmum.com/2008/02/great-nights-sleep/" title="A Great Night&#8217;s Sleep (February 11, 2008)">A Great Night&#8217;s Sleep</a> (2)</li>
</ul>

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		<item>
		<title>Monday’s Child - Words</title>
		<link>http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TheCerebralMum/~3/380278327/</link>
		<comments>http://cerebralmum.com/2008/09/mondays-child-words/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 01 Sep 2008 08:00:20 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>cerebralmum</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Saffron noodles]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Caspar]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[child development]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[smiles]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[speech development]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://cerebralmum.com/2008/09/mondays-child-words/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I know that Monday&#8217;s Child is usually a photo, but to catch everyone up on Caspar, words are required, not a picture.
He is talking. A lot.
And very well considering.
Now is the time that I am supposed to be taking him to see a speech pathologist (which is another thing on my current to-do list) for [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I know that Monday&#8217;s Child is usually a photo, but to catch everyone up on Caspar, words are required, not a picture.</p>
<p>He is talking. A lot.</p>
<p>And very well considering.</p>
<p>Now is the time that I am supposed to be taking him to see a speech pathologist (which is another thing on my current to-do list) for an assessment and, because of his cleft palate, speech therapy was something that I expected to be part of our lives for quite some time.  Now, I&#8217;m not so sure.  The way he is going I can&#8217;t imagine that he will require anything more than a little monitoring.</p>
<p>To my untrained ears there doesn&#8217;t seem to be any evidence of a lisp or a nasal quality - common difficulties with a cleft - or any indication that his language skills have been affected by those first nine months of hearing difficulties before he had his surgery.  (Seeing the audiologist for a checkup is another job on my list but he knows there is an aeroplane nearby before I do, so I think his hearing is better than mine.)</p>
<p>The clarity and intelligibility of his speech is better than some older children I know. (Of course, that could be because he&#8217;s mine so the speech pathologist gets to give her educated opinion.)  His vocabulary is good too, well and truly in the triple figures and increasing every day.  That, however, is somewhat sobering because occasionally I talk like Magneto Bold Too writes (I blame working in hospitality - Gordon Ramsey is not an anomaly) and on Thursday, one of those new words was &#8220;Fuck&#8221;. My friend and I managed not to laugh and I, <strike>sarcastically</strike> innocently, said, &#8220;I have <em>no</em> idea where he picked that up&#8221;.</p>
<p>And last week he brought me his Schleich <em>(I love Schleich!)</em> velociraptor and when he handed it to me he said, &#8220;Raptosaurus&#8221;.  I thought that was genius. For him to be unsure of the exact word, but to categorise the figurine correctly and to choose an appropriate word ending&#8230;</p>
<p>In all seriousness, the way humans acquire language is a beautiful and amazing thing.</p>

	<h4>Related Posts</h4>
	<ul class='st-related-posts'>
	<li><a href="http://cerebralmum.com/2008/02/mondays-child-why-he-doesnt-care-whose-birthday-it-is/" title="Monday&#8217;s Child: Why he doesn&#8217;t care whose birthday it is&#8230; (February 18, 2008)">Monday&#8217;s Child: Why he doesn&#8217;t care whose birthday it is&#8230;</a> (10)</li>
	<li><a href="http://cerebralmum.com/2008/02/burst-into-tears-exhaustion/" title="I burst into tears this morning&#8230; (February 9, 2008)">I burst into tears this morning&#8230;</a> (12)</li>
	<li><a href="http://cerebralmum.com/2007/12/spooky-joh/" title="An overdue update on Spooky Joh&#8230; (December 2, 2007)">An overdue update on Spooky Joh&#8230;</a> (5)</li>
	<li><a href="http://cerebralmum.com/2008/01/saturday-smile/" title="Saturdays and reasons to smile&#8230; (January 12, 2008)">Saturdays and reasons to smile&#8230;</a> (4)</li>
</ul>

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		<title>Where on earth have I been?</title>
		<link>http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TheCerebralMum/~3/379636870/</link>
		<comments>http://cerebralmum.com/2008/08/where-on-earth/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 31 Aug 2008 13:07:26 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>cerebralmum</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Saffron noodles]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[packing]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[suburbs]]></category>

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		<category><![CDATA[university]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://cerebralmum.com/2008/08/where-on-earth/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[On Thursday I officially became a non-homeowner.  So now there is no mortgage to pay and no more borrowing money from Peter to pay Paul. And one huge sigh of relief.
I probably could have written about this sooner, before settlement, before the money was there on paper, but things had really been coming down [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>On Thursday I officially became a non-homeowner.  So now there is no mortgage to pay and no more borrowing money from Peter to pay Paul. And one huge sigh of relief.</p>
<p>I probably could have written about this sooner, before settlement, before the money was there on paper, but things had really been coming down to the knife&#8217;s edge and I - for want of a less superstitious phrase - just didn&#8217;t want to jinx it.</p>
<p>Now, it&#8217;s a crippling stress gone from my life, and things can finally move forward.</p>
<p>I sold the house to Big Sis and her B who - fabulous news! - have a little boy due in November.  Cas and I remain here in Big Sis&#8217; house which, when I find an apartment, they will renovate and rent out.  In the meantime, with Big Sis gone, there is no more broadband connection, so I&#8217;m temporarily reduced to a pre-paid dialup account and won&#8217;t be online as much as I would like in order to get all my blogs running as they should.</p>
<p>But I will be back to full strength at some stage in the near future.</p>
<p>I&#8217;m still packing boxes although, barring the kitchen, I&#8217;m really now just down to the dregs.  I have a few debts still to pay off, when the cheque finally clears, and I am applying for passports so that, finances permitting, Cas and I can have a brief holiday in New Zealand and he can finally meet his Grandad (my natural father). It seems like I still have a million things to do so if I sound hesitant rather than euphoric, that is why.  But once I&#8217;m finally resettled, well, then I will truly feel free.</p>
<p>I did have a celebration though.  It just so happened that one of my oldest friends was staying over on that Thursday night because she had training the next day in the city, so we went out for dinner and ate oysters and drank champagne.  And then got pulled over by a booze-bus* on the way home (my first time ever) so it&#8217;s a good thing the champagne was a glass rather than a bottle!</p>
<p>And the very next morning, I went to the hairdressers&#8217; for the first time in two years.  (And that time, it was a present from my Mum.)  This was after a month of working out my angst on my hair at home - bleaching, dyeing , hacking - so I now have a chic, shorter do and healthy, shiny hair. (I&#8217;ll put up a picture when I can, although I still haven&#8217;t even managed a photo of my new glasses from the beginning of the year yet.  One of the difficulties of being a single Mum is not having anyone else to hold the camera.)</p>
<p>What else? Uni, you ask?  How is that going?  Well, it kind of went belly up.  With Big Sis in her first trimester at that stage, and with her back problems (she has had spinal surgery and there are limits to what she can do), having her mind Caspar while I went to class became a problem, and then I was ill myself.  So I have taken this semester off in order to find somewhere to live - somewhere which doesn&#8217;t entail a six hour round trip to get to class - and will be starting over again in the summer.</p>
<p>All in all, things are happening. And things are good.  And I&#8217;m looking forward to beginning a new chapter very soon.  The cage door has been unlocked and, soon, I will be walking out of it.</p>
<p>Love and hugs to all of you who&#8217;ve stuck around.</p>
<p>XX</p>
<p>*For non-Aussie readers, a &#8220;booze-bus&#8221; is what the police use to set up roadside random breath tests to check drivers&#8217; blood alcohol levels.</p>

	<h4>Related Posts</h4>
	<ul class='st-related-posts'>
	<li><a href="http://cerebralmum.com/2008/04/journeys-trains-trams-ambulances-dictatorship-relativism/" title="Journeys: Trams, trains and&#8230; The Dictatorship of Relativism? (April 18, 2008)">Journeys: Trams, trains and&#8230; The Dictatorship of Relativism?</a> (7)</li>
	<li><a href="http://cerebralmum.com/2008/01/enrolment-2/" title="Enrolment Pt.2 (January 24, 2008)">Enrolment Pt.2</a> (8)</li>
	<li><a href="http://cerebralmum.com/2008/01/enrolment-1/" title="Enrolment Part.1 (January 23, 2008)">Enrolment Part.1</a> (9)</li>
	<li><a href="http://cerebralmum.com/2007/08/life-without-books/" title="Life without books&#8230; (August 23, 2007)">Life without books&#8230;</a> (1)</li>
</ul>

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		<title>Gloriously tired…</title>
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		<comments>http://cerebralmum.com/2008/06/gloriously-tired/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 21 Jun 2008 11:22:06 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>cerebralmum</dc:creator>
		
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://cerebralmum.com/2008/06/gloriously-tired/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
Soooo&#8230; Mum changed her flight schedule and arrived Thursday morning, which entailed a 5am drive to the airport which, living out on the peninsular, is at the opposite end of the earth.  But all my work with Caspar, trying to get him excited about Oma coming on an aeroplane, paid off because he went [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.lighteningonline.com/" title="Lightening - Smiley Saturday"><img src="http://cerebralmum.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/image2.png" style="border-width: 0px" alt="image" border="0" height="133" width="133" /></a></p>
<p>Soooo&#8230; Mum changed her flight schedule and arrived Thursday morning, which entailed a 5am drive to the airport which, living out on the peninsular, is at the opposite end of the earth.  But all my work with Caspar, trying to get him excited about Oma coming on an aeroplane, paid off because he went running toward her as she emerged from customs.</p>
<p>After a couple of days catching up, last night I went to bed early and slept late and then we spent the day out visiting friends and family and now I am gloriously tired and not planning on writing very much more than this.</p>
<p>Did I say I had more important, meaning-of-life stuff to talk about?</p>
<p>Er&#8230; Not today.</p>
<p>But I do think this constitutes a Smiley Saturday post.  Because I&#8217;m smiling. <img src='http://cerebralmum.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>
<p><a href="http://cerebralmum.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/image3.png"> </a></p>

	<h4>Related Posts</h4>
	<ul class='st-related-posts'>
	<li><a href="http://cerebralmum.com/2007/09/understands-words/" title="And in nicer news&#8230; (September 15, 2007)">And in nicer news&#8230;</a> (2)</li>
	<li><a href="http://cerebralmum.com/2008/06/mondays-child-rare-edition/" title="Monday&#8217;s Child: Rare Edition (June 16, 2008)">Monday&#8217;s Child: Rare Edition</a> (5)</li>
	<li><a href="http://cerebralmum.com/2008/01/saturday-smile/" title="Saturdays and reasons to smile&#8230; (January 12, 2008)">Saturdays and reasons to smile&#8230;</a> (4)</li>
	<li><a href="http://cerebralmum.com/2007/10/first-word/" title="Mad dogs and dah-gah.. (October 8, 2007)">Mad dogs and dah-gah..</a> (0)</li>
</ul>

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		<item>
		<title>I have completely forgotten how to do this…</title>
		<link>http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TheCerebralMum/~3/313691717/</link>
		<comments>http://cerebralmum.com/2008/06/i-have-completely-forgotten-how-to-do-this/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 17 Jun 2008 10:03:26 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>cerebralmum</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Saffron noodles]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[confusion]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[connection]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[friendship]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[imperfection]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://cerebralmum.com/2008/06/i-have-completely-forgotten-how-to-do-this/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Honestly.  I&#8217;m drawing a blank.
Why is it when I&#8217;m away from the blog for a while, I feel like I need to post everyday kind of news and &#8220;catch up&#8221; rather than just write about something more important or interesting to me?  There are many things I&#8217;ve been thinking about lately - you [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Honestly.  I&#8217;m drawing a blank.</p>
<p>Why is it when I&#8217;m away from the blog for a while, I feel like I need to post everyday kind of news and &#8220;catch up&#8221; rather than just write about something more important or interesting to me?  There are many things I&#8217;ve been thinking about lately - you know, the meaning of life and all that - but I feel like I need to ease back in.  Perhaps it has something to do with connection and relating.  Because most often it is those we share the mundane parts of our lives with who matter the most, and it is the people we share that with who care about our more difficult thoughts.</p>
<p>Isn&#8217;t it? Maybe. I really have no idea.</p>
<p>The problem is&#8230; I am terrible at small talk.  The fact that I call it small talk is a probably a problem in itself. I don&#8217;t have any idea what to say.  Nothing seems pressing enough for words and when time has lapsed, &#8220;catching up&#8221; is a strain.  For me, anyway.</p>
<p>I have friends who can draw out the minutiae of life from the postman.  Friends who remember little things and make them significant.  Who make the minutiae of other people&#8217;s lives significant.  It&#8217;s a social skill I admire and one I lack entirely.  In some ways, this is probably due to a certain kind of selfishness or vanity or&#8230; whatever.  I guess it&#8217;s that <a href="http://cerebralmum.com/2007/10/3-reasons/" title="3 reasons to be here...">artistic arrogance</a> I talked about once.  I would probably feel worse about it if my own lack of social skill wasn&#8217;t balanced by a lack of expectation of it in others.</p>
<p>I&#8217;ve never minded if people don&#8217;t call me regularly or remember my birthday.  Hell, I&#8217;d forget my own birthday if other people didn&#8217;t remind me.  Half the time I couldn&#8217;t tell you what month it is. But everyone has their limits, I guess, and there are friends who have gone MIA when I&#8217;ve forgotten the way this social stuff works.  Friends who <em>have</em> minded when I haven&#8217;t called.</p>
<p>My guess is that a blog is kind of the same.  That readers are the same as friends, and some people&#8217;s ropes are longer than other&#8217;s.</p>
<p>Right now, in real life, I probably have some repair work to do on a couple of relationships that I do value because I have been MIA myself for a long time.  There are calls to make and questions to ask.  And I&#8217;m terrible at asking other people questions about their lives.  Mostly, I just appear unexpectedly and assume that things will be the same.  That isn&#8217;t always the case.</p>
<p>But I also have friends who know exactly how <strike>selfish</strike> useless I am and love me anyway so I guess it is all okay.</p>

	<h4>Related Posts</h4>
	<ul class='st-related-posts'>
	<li><a href="http://cerebralmum.com/2007/09/arduous-and-exhausting/" title="Arduous and exhausting&#8230; (September 13, 2007)">Arduous and exhausting&#8230;</a> (3)</li>
	<li><a href="http://cerebralmum.com/2007/12/aussie-bloggers/" title="Attention all Aussie bloggers&#8230; (December 30, 2007)">Attention all Aussie bloggers&#8230;</a> (8)</li>
	<li><a href="http://cerebralmum.com/2007/08/because-you-remember-what-i-remember/" title="Because you remember what I remember&#8230; (August 27, 2007)">Because you remember what I remember&#8230;</a> (1)</li>
	<li><a href="http://cerebralmum.com/2007/12/left-on-thursday/" title="Why I left on Thursday night&#8230; (December 17, 2007)">Why I left on Thursday night&#8230;</a> (4)</li>
</ul>

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		<title>Monday’s Child: Rare Edition</title>
		<link>http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TheCerebralMum/~3/312913131/</link>
		<comments>http://cerebralmum.com/2008/06/mondays-child-rare-edition/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 16 Jun 2008 09:42:13 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>cerebralmum</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Galleries]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Caspar Photos]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[daily things]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[motherhood]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[precious moments]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://cerebralmum.com/2008/06/mondays-child-rare-edition/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Yes, a rare photo of Cas AND his Mum.
We went to see The Medieval Imagination exhibition at the State Library a little while ago with a couple of friends; Brett from Airminded, and HG, who wrote that beautiful guest post for me.  That meant there was somebody other than me to hold the camera [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Yes, a rare photo of Cas AND his Mum.</p>
<p>We went to see <a href="http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/goto/medieval" title="The Medieval Imagination: Illuminated Manuscripts from Cambridge ...">The Medieval Imagination</a> exhibition at the State Library a little while ago with a couple of friends; Brett from <a href="http://airminded.org">Airminded</a>, and HG, who wrote that <a href="http://http://cerebralmum.com/2007/12/the-cerebral-mum-from-another-perspective/" title="The Cerebral Mum, from another perspective...">beautiful guest post</a> for me.  That meant there was somebody other than me to hold the camera and that is, I think, one of the best presents you can give a single parent.</p>
<p><a href="http://cerebralmum.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/08062008008.jpg"><img src="http://cerebralmum.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/08062008008-thumb.jpg" style="border-width: 0px" alt="Caspar and Cerebralmum at the State Library" border="0" height="484" width="364" /></a></p>
<p>In other news&#8230;</p>
<p>I haven&#8217;t been very well, hence my long absence.</p>
<p>I haven&#8217;t been very well, hence 1st semester uni was really screwed up.  I&#8217;ll do better next time.</p>
<p>A girlfriend gave me her old car.  Hooray for being able to grocery shopping with ease! (And see friends at the State Library).  The car is sadly purple but my friend still rocks, obviously.</p>
<p>We&#8217;ve received some parcels for <a href="http://winterwarm.org" title="The WinterWarm Project">WinterWarm</a>, which is also great, and I&#8217;ll be working on some blog posts for that this week.</p>
<p>There is a couple of other (possible) good news items but I don&#8217;t want to jinx them so&#8230; we&#8217;ll see.</p>
<p>And my Mum will be visiting soon which means I will get to have a sleep in for the first time in a year.</p>
<p>I&#8217;ll also be able to get to see my doctor, with Mum babysitting and me in my shiny, purple car.  So hopefully health won&#8217;t be an issue for much longer.</p>
<p>Hugs to everyone I&#8217;ve abandoned and I will be trying to catch up with you all soon.</p>
<p>xx</p>

	<h4>Related Posts</h4>
	<ul class='st-related-posts'>
	<li><a href="http://cerebralmum.com/2007/08/still-not-sleeping/" title="Still not sleeping&#8230; (August 29, 2007)">Still not sleeping&#8230;</a> (2)</li>
	<li><a href="http://cerebralmum.com/2008/04/sms-gone-daddy-gone/" title="SMS: Gone Daddy Gone&#8230; (April 15, 2008)">SMS: Gone Daddy Gone&#8230;</a> (8)</li>
	<li><a href="http://cerebralmum.com/2008/01/mondays-child-sleepovers-and-shopping/" title="Monday&#8217;s Child: Sleepovers and shopping&#8230; (January 21, 2008)">Monday&#8217;s Child: Sleepovers and shopping&#8230;</a> (3)</li>
	<li><a href="http://cerebralmum.com/2008/01/internet-died/" title="The day the internet died&#8230; (January 11, 2008)">The day the internet died&#8230;</a> (5)</li>
</ul>

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		<title>Amnesty (Part 2)</title>
		<link>http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TheCerebralMum/~3/281366906/</link>
		<comments>http://cerebralmum.com/2008/05/amnesty-2/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 01 May 2008 11:27:01 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>cerebralmum</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[My writing]]></category>

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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://cerebralmum.com/2008/05/amnesty-2/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[[story continued from Amnesty, Part One]
It wasn&#8217;t until after the bottle of wine had been drunk and her packet of cigarettes finished that she spoke, but I was content just to be there with her in the darkness. She talked to me about her marriage and her childhood and the men in her life as [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>[story continued from <a href="http://cerebralmum.com/2008/05/amnesty-1/">Amnesty, Part One</a>]</p>
<p>It wasn&#8217;t until after the bottle of wine had been drunk and her packet of cigarettes finished that she spoke, but I was content just to be there with her in the darkness. She talked to me about her marriage and her childhood and the men in her life as though I were an adult. I listened, rapt. She told me she had gone to my father&#8217;s surgery at lunch time and found him in the back room with the nurse. She told me about other affairs he&#8217;d had. After the first few times, she had forced herself to stop being suspicious: She didn&#8217;t want to live like that. She couldn&#8217;t leave because she loved my father. She told me the story of how they met and, looking more often at the blue curtain outside the car than at me, she told me what he had been like. Then. I didn&#8217;t quite believe her. And then she rounded on me, hammered questions at me. I found it hard to answer most of them. Her eyes were very bright. Maybe she was a little crazy.</p>
<p><em>&#8220;&#8230;I like my room&#8230;I don&#8217;t really like living here&#8230;I like being by myself&#8230;I like writing&#8230;I would like to live in England or in a city at least&#8230;Because there would be other things to do apart from sport&#8230;I don&#8217;t like sport, I&#8217;m no good at it&#8230;The kids don&#8217;t like you if you don&#8217;t play sport&#8230;I wish that you had let me learn the flute&#8230;I wish that I lived just with you Mum, or all by myself&#8230;&#8221;</em></p>
<p><em>&#8220;&#8230;I wish that Dad didn&#8217;t drink&#8230;He makes me feel embarrassed&#8230;He makes me uncomfortable&#8230;Sometimes I&#8217;m afraid Mum&#8230;I don&#8217;t like the way he hangs over me when he talks to me&#8230;I don&#8217;t like the things he says&#8230;I like being by myself&#8230;That&#8217;s what I would like the most&#8230;Just to be by myself&#8230;To be by myself&#8230;&#8221;</em></p>
<p>My mother took the wine from my hands and swallowed it all. Without it, I felt naked and the air outside seemed to grow thicker. She said, &#8220;We&#8217;re leaving,&#8221; and I thought she meant that we were going home. I wanted to now because I didn&#8217;t have the cup in my hand and everything was dangerous. I wanted to be in my room. I put my seatbelt on. She wasn&#8217;t looking at me.</p>
<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re leaving. I&#8217;ve got the money. I&#8217;ve got enough money to go to Melbourne and find a flat and find a job and the schools are better there. I can&#8217;t go on forgiving him for the rest of my life. Besides, I&#8217;m afraid of him too sometimes and he won&#8217;t stop drinking. We&#8217;re leaving.&#8221;</p>
<p>I wanted to so much. I was shivering with the idea. I wanted to scream <em>Are we really? Are we really?</em> and to throw my arms around her neck. But I didn&#8217;t. I was scared she would change her mind. She started the car. I didn&#8217;t know what to do with all my energy while we drove home and it seeped out in little choking noises. My mother didn&#8217;t notice.</p>
<p>She didn&#8217;t say anything more, not while we drove and not when we arrived home. She walked slowly up the stairs to her bedroom. The light was on. It was the only light on in the house. I rushed to my room and rushed to my alcove, pulling a box clumsily through the sliding doors of my cupboard on the way. I filled it with books. I went out to the kitchen to find more boxes and I filled them with books too. I crawled beneath my bed and gathered up all the brown paper lunchbags I had hidden under there. I gathered them up and put them in the box my rollerskates had come in. I hugged the skatebox to me tightly. My eyes were glazed and my room had taken on the unreality that rooms always do at 3:00am. The rims of my eyes were burning, itchy and pleasant. I was tired without realising it. My mind was already searching for a flat in Melbourne. What would it be like? Wonderful. The city was an ocean. I would be a fish, and I wouldn&#8217;t flounder any more in all this fresh air. I looked at my boxes, wondering if I should take them out to the car. With my skatebox still hugged to my chest, I walked out to the hall, to the family room, to the bottom of the stairs. I stood staring at the blank wall where the stairs turned left and waited for my mother. Maybe she was packing too.</p>
<p>After a while, I sat down. It was cold because the fire had gone out and I shivered. The grey walls of our new house glared at me, reflecting the light which came out from under the door of my room and from my mother&#8217;s room upstairs. I didn&#8217;t care that the walls were mean. I didn&#8217;t have to live here any more. I shivered again and then the light upstairs went out. I sat for a little longer and then I went back to my room. I put my lunchbags back and I put my skates back in their box. I unpacked my books and got into bed. I was glad that I had turned my electric blanket on before my mother had come in to tell me that I was going with her.</p>
<p class="aside">The material in this post is protected by copyright. It cannot be reproduced, in whole or in part, without the author&#8217;s express permission. © <a href="http://www.cerebralmum.com">www.cerebralmum.com</a></p>

	<h4>Related Posts</h4>
	<ul class='st-related-posts'>
	<li><a href="http://cerebralmum.com/2008/05/amnesty-1/" title="Amnesty (Part One) (May 1, 2008)">Amnesty (Part One)</a> (1)</li>
	<li><a href="http://cerebralmum.com/2007/12/left-on-thursday/" title="Why I left on Thursday night&#8230; (December 17, 2007)">Why I left on Thursday night&#8230;</a> (4)</li>
	<li><a href="http://cerebralmum.com/2007/12/ff-rule-world/" title="Why she wants to rule the world&#8230; (December 7, 2007)">Why she wants to rule the world&#8230;</a> (4)</li>
	<li><a href="http://cerebralmum.com/2008/04/sms-gone-daddy-gone/" title="SMS: Gone Daddy Gone&#8230; (April 15, 2008)">SMS: Gone Daddy Gone&#8230;</a> (8)</li>
</ul>

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		<item>
		<title>Amnesty (Part One)</title>
		<link>http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TheCerebralMum/~3/281363966/</link>
		<comments>http://cerebralmum.com/2008/05/amnesty-1/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 01 May 2008 11:17:28 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>cerebralmum</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[My writing]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[alcoholism]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[family]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[i remember]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[original fiction]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://cerebralmum.com/2008/05/amnesty-1/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[What follows is a short story written when I was, I think, 20 years old.  I would probably consider it juvenilia partly because it isn&#8217;t an accomplished piece of writing but more particularly because at the time I did not possess the faculty of fictionalising biographical events or themes in the way I do [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p class="aside"><em>What follows is a short story written when I was, I think, 20 years old.  I would probably consider it juvenilia partly because it isn&#8217;t an accomplished piece of writing but more particularly because at the time I did not possess the faculty of fictionalising biographical events or themes in the way I do now.  I think it also lacks a certain subtlety, especially in the dialogue and the lack of nuance in the depiction of the adults in the story.  When I next get a chance to write, there are some thoughts I want to discuss which this story in some ways relate to, but before I write that, I will also post an excerpt from my novel-in-progress which feeds into those ideas as well, though in a far more fictionalised way.</em></p>
<h3>Amnesty (Part One)</h3>
<p>It wasn&#8217;t late but it was dark. I wasn&#8217;t afraid. It was winter. The car was parked at the edge of Rotary Creek and we were hidden from the highway and the town&#8217;s light by trees and a children&#8217;s playground. For a long time now we had been sitting quite still in the front seat of the car. My mother was smoking and her window was open. I wasn&#8217;t afraid. I was thirteen. The air was mountain blue and the smoke from my mother&#8217;s cigarette floated out through the window and into it, disappearing slowly like a deep breath. The bottle was at my feet but empty now and my mother&#8217;s polystyrene cup lay beside it. The cup was empty too. My cup I still nursed in both my hands; the golden-yellow liquid in it had grown warm. My mother ashed her cigarette and turned to me. Relaxed now.</p>
<p>Not long before my father was due home I had gotten that suspicious, nervy feeling. I always did around that time. It made me sneaky. I acted like a spy. When he did get home, the door, instead of slamming against the door-frame and bouncing back an inch or two, glided slowly into place and startled me. I had been in my room underneath the stairs where my bookshelves were and writing and when I sprang the steady-tray that had been on my knees fell to the floor. I folded the paper I had been writing on and stuffed it into a brown paper lunchbag. I stuffed the lunchbag under my bed. Then I hurried to my door so I could close it, so I could sever my room from the brand-new Jennings house that we lived in and be by myself. I closed the door and stood waiting for the house to fade away. I heard my parents&#8217; voices and I opened my door a crack to see what was going on. Spying. My parents were squared off in the kitchen and my father was flushed although he couldn&#8217;t have been drinking yet; he&#8217;d just got home from work. I opened the door a crack more and tried to hear.</p>
<p>My room and the kitchen were separated by a huge, grey family room with a slanting roof that stretched up to the second floor where my parents&#8217; bedroom was and I couldn&#8217;t hear clearly. My father kept saying, &#8220;Nothing&#8230;&#8221; and my mother seemed to say nothing at all. Most of their words rose like heat to the ceiling or got lost in the crackle of the wood-stove which was burning furiously in the family room. Then I heard my mother clearly.</p>
<p>&#8220;Alex, you had no shirt on.&#8221; There was almost a laugh in her voice. Maybe they weren&#8217;t fighting after all. I couldn&#8217;t hear properly.</p>
<p>&#8220;You had no shirt on.&#8221; She said it again. They were fighting.</p>
<p>I opened the door and tried to look as if I was going to the toilet. Neither of them noticed me. I didn&#8217;t go to the toilet; I stopped where the hallway finished, where they couldn&#8217;t see me, and squatted down still trying to hear. None of it upset me though. I was just curious, fascinated by the argument the way some people are fascinated by Jack the Ripper. I still couldn&#8217;t hear anything so I went back to my room, this time closing the door behind me. I reached underneath the bed for the poem I had been writing and pulled out several brown lunchbags. I had to open five before I found the right one. I heard a few slamming noises so I turned my stereo on loud and went back to my alcove. I didn&#8217;t read my poem and I didn&#8217;t hear the music. I heard footsteps coming towards my room and then the door opened. It was my mother and I was glad.</p>
<p>&#8220;You&#8217;re coming with me.&#8221;</p>
<p>And I got up and followed her. We didn&#8217;t see my father as we walked through the kitchen where my mother grabbed the wine and the cups. I followed her through the front door.</p>
<p>It was only when we reached the highway that I asked my mother where we were going. She didn&#8217;t know. We were almost abreast with the entrance to Rotary Park when she decided to turn in and park the car beside the creek. I thought that we were going to drive straight into the water. She lit her first cigarette with shaking hands and there was something wonderful about it all.</p>
<p>[continued&#8230; <a href="http://cerebralmum.com/2008/05/amnesty-2/">Amnesty, Part 2</a>]</p>
<p class="aside">The material in this post is protected by copyright.  It cannot be reproduced, in whole or in part, without the author&#8217;s express permission. © <a href="http://www.cerebralmum.com">www.cerebralmum.com</a></p>

	<h4>Related Posts</h4>
	<ul class='st-related-posts'>
	<li><a href="http://cerebralmum.com/2008/05/amnesty-2/" title="Amnesty (Part 2) (May 1, 2008)">Amnesty (Part 2)</a> (5)</li>
	<li><a href="http://cerebralmum.com/2007/09/30-poems-1/" title="Drought&#8230; (September 7, 2007)">Drought&#8230;</a> (0)</li>
	<li><a href="http://cerebralmum.com/2008/03/other-babies/" title="Other kinds of babies&#8230; (March 11, 2008)">Other kinds of babies&#8230;</a> (8)</li>
	<li><a href="http://cerebralmum.com/2007/12/ff-rule-world/" title="Why she wants to rule the world&#8230; (December 7, 2007)">Why she wants to rule the world&#8230;</a> (4)</li>
</ul>

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		<title>Mark hard…</title>
		<link>http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TheCerebralMum/~3/275304661/</link>
		<comments>http://cerebralmum.com/2008/04/mark-hard/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 22 Apr 2008 11:27:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>cerebralmum</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[university]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[motivate me]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[teaching]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[womens issues]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://cerebralmum.com/2008/04/mark-hard/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I mentioned in my first history tutorial notes over in my egregiously behind study blog that I didn&#8217;t find the small group discussions very productive, but when I finally went again last week (I&#8217;ve missed tutorials due tothe  ovarian cyst), I was expecting something a little better than what I got. Yes, we were [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I mentioned in my <a href="http://sandbox.cerebralmum.com/2008/03/aih108-t1-introduction/" title="AIH108 Tutorial 1: The Atom Bomb">first history tutorial notes</a> over in my egregiously behind study blog that I didn&#8217;t find the small group discussions very productive, but when I finally went again last week (I&#8217;ve missed tutorials due tothe  <a href="http://cerebralmum.com/2008/03/things-will-be-patchy/" title="Things will be patchy...">ovarian cyst</a>), I was expecting something a little better than what I got. Yes, we were put into small groups again and, not knowing anyone, I just joined those I was closest to.</p>
<p>We were given questions to discuss.  Did anyone talk about them?  Not at all.  Even when the tutor sat with us they didn&#8217;t stay on topic.  It was so bloody annoying that I eventually got up and moved to another group.  (Way to make friends, eh? Chalk me down as another obnoxious mature-age student.)  The second group were not talking about history either, but at least they were discussing another university subject and not football.</p>
<p>For philosophy I have only missed one class and that tutorial is fairly quiet as well. I have to give them credit though, because Plato is pretty difficult to engage with as well as being somewhat daunting.  I&#8217;m think that when we start on Nietzsche next week, they&#8217;ll have  more than can relate to and more will be said.</p>
<p>But this brings me back to <a href="http://cerebralmum.com/2008/03/so-totally-sexist/" title="I am so totally sexist...">my sexism</a>.  I&#8217;ve actually spent some time talking to my female tutors and I like and respect them both but while we (okay, it&#8217;s only me) are in sexual stereotyping mode I&#8217;ll just say that there is one teaching style I like which seems to be fairly rare amongst the women: The Martinet.</p>
<p>I like The Martinet.  He gets down to business.  He knows that you&#8217;re in class for one reason and one reason only.  He expects you to talk, and he expects you to do your reading.  And so you do.  Because if you don&#8217;t, you look like a dick.(If you can&#8217;t imagine the kind of person I mean, think of The Nazi on Grey&#8217;s Anatomy and remember me kindly because I have provided a female, though fictitious, example.)</p>
<p>Captain Slusher, an old teacher of mine that I&#8217;ve <a href="http://cerebralmum.com/2007/09/summer-winter-poems/" title="Summer Cinquain… Winter Tanka…">mentioned before</a>, was a perfect Martinet.  He came into class for the very first time, towering over us all, and gave us a lecture about his expectations; about what he would and would not tolerate, about what constituted an excuse and what did not.   It&#8217;s pretty hard (for me, anyway) to dislike someone who is up front about where he stands and then applies those principles; who is hard but fair. And it has the added benefit that when you&#8217;ve done well, you know that you have done <em>really </em>well.</p>
<p>Perhaps that is a weakness on my part - wanting an external impetus - but I like to be pushed.  If I can just breeze through a subject with high marks, I guess that&#8217;s okay, but I&#8217;d prefer to be stretched.  I like having to earn every last percentage point.</p>
<p>Incidentally, I have only received one mark so far, for a 500 word answer to a weekly question for philosophy.  I only wrote 350 words and I thought my answer was fairly shite.  I got 95%.  Don&#8217;t get me wrong: I was really chuffed (and surprised) by that and I probably did a happy dance for two days straight.  It was the first mark I&#8217;d received in over a decade.  Who wouldn&#8217;t be chuffed?</p>
<p>But I&#8217;m looking forward to getting marked harder and getting whipped into shape as expectations rise over the course of my degree. (Don&#8217;t throw that in my face if I don&#8217;t get an HD for my first history essay next week.  Just let me cry.)</p>
<p>And I&#8217;ve been wondering&#8230;  What will I be like when I start teaching?  Will I be a soft touch?  Or will I try out The Martinet style and have it come across as though I have some repressed, chip-on-my-shoulder issue with my womanhood.  (Another pretty awful stereotype.)  Because, you see, the beauty of Captain Slusher was not only that he was uncompromising in his standards; he was also bloody funny.</p>
<p>And I&#8217;m not. Funny, I mean.  I&#8217;m too serious, too intense, too everything.  And my sense of humour is obscure and personal.  Whatever game face I decide to go with, it&#8217;s going to need a lot of work.</p>
<p class="aside">[Btw, there was an interesting <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/purepedantry/2008/04/a_review_of_smart_people.php" title="Pure Pedantry: A review of Smart People">review of the movie Smart People</a> which discusses the stereotypes of academics.  I might be biased, because I have a blog crush on <strike>Jake</strike> Pure Pedantry but it&#8217;s worth a read.  It might even be worth watching the movie. <img src='http://cerebralmum.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /> ]</p>

	<h4>Related Posts</h4>
	<ul class='st-related-posts'>
	<li><a href="http://cerebralmum.com/2008/02/changing-subjects/" title="Changing subjects&#8230; (February 2, 2008)">Changing subjects&#8230;</a> (9)</li>
	<li><a href="http://cerebralmum.com/2007/09/30-poems-8/" title="Blight&#8230; (September 14, 2007)">Blight&#8230;</a> (2)</li>
	<li><a href="http://cerebralmum.com/2008/03/things-will-be-patchy/" title="Things will be patchy&#8230; (March 24, 2008)">Things will be patchy&#8230;</a> (17)</li>
	<li><a href="http://cerebralmum.com/2008/02/oh-yeah-today-is-my-birthday/" title="Oh, yeah.  Today is my birthday. (February 18, 2008)">Oh, yeah.  Today is my birthday.</a> (23)</li>
</ul>

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		<title>WinterWarm is Live!</title>
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		<pubDate>Sun, 20 Apr 2008 11:16:44 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>cerebralmum</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Administrivia]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[hope]]></category>

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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://cerebralmum.com/2008/04/winterwarm-live/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Me, I&#8217;m an exhausted girl.  With a headache. But I just wanted to quickly let everyone know that The WinterWarm Project is now live.
It took me much longer to get running than expected, not because the work was hard, but because I seem to have minimal skills at coping with pressure these days.  [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Me, I&#8217;m an exhausted girl.  With a headache. But I just wanted to quickly let everyone know that <a href="http://winterwarm.org" title="Knit For Afghanistan - Your Knitting Can Save Lives">The WinterWarm Project</a> is now live.</p>
<p>It took me much longer to get running than expected, not because the work was hard, but because I seem to have minimal skills at coping with pressure these days.  I&#8217;m working on that.</p>
<p>Anyway, the site is finally here.  At the moment, in order to get the knitted items to us, we only have a Melbourne post box, so items will need to be sent to us.  Melburnians can use the contact form on the site to organise a pick up or drop off.  The delivery options will increase throughout the year though, and we&#8217;ll be doing a lot of work when Mum is here in July, organising freight sponsorship to help us with that.</p>
<p>Anyway&#8230;</p>
<p>Run on over and check it out. (You get to see what my Mum looks like!)<br />
Spread the word if you can.  (I&#8217;ll be adding a few different images you can use in your sidebars over the next couple of weeks.)<br />
Help out with the knitting/crocheting if you can. (We&#8217;ll slowly begin to add free patterns to the site, so subscribe.)</p>
<p>Anyway, we&#8217;re excited!</p>
<p><a href="http://winterwarm.org" title="The WinterWarm Project - Knit For Afghanistan"><img src="http://cerebralmum.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/image1.png" style="border: 0px none " alt="image" border="0" height="104" width="244" /></a></p>
<p>xx cm</p>

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	<li><a href="http://cerebralmum.com/2007/09/bad-hour/" title="On the death of my monitor&#8230; (September 19, 2007)">On the death of my monitor&#8230;</a> (4)</li>
	<li><a href="http://cerebralmum.com/2008/01/everything-at-once/" title="Everything happens at once&#8230; (January 20, 2008)">Everything happens at once&#8230;</a> (10)</li>
	<li><a href="http://cerebralmum.com/2008/03/university-week-zero/" title="Week Zero: Scribbles from the tram, never sent&#8230; (March 4, 2008)">Week Zero: Scribbles from the tram, never sent&#8230;</a> (6)</li>
</ul>

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		<title>The 2020 Summit</title>
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		<comments>http://cerebralmum.com/2008/04/the-2020-summit/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 19 Apr 2008 12:16:49 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>cerebralmum</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Iced VoVos]]></category>

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		<category><![CDATA[2020 summit]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[kevin rudd]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[philosophical anarchism]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://cerebralmum.com/2008/04/the-2020-summit/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Watching 2020 today was depressing.
The joy at Howard&#8217;s political demise was, not unexpectedly, a short-lived euphoria.  I quite like Rudd, if only for the fact that he is an unashamedly intelligent man and intelligence is not a much loved quality in Australian life, but the 2020 summit didn&#8217;t feel like &#8220;a breath of fresh [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Watching <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia_2020_Summit" title="Wikipedia: Australia 2020 Summit">2020</a> today was depressing.</p>
<p>The joy at Howard&#8217;s political demise was, not unexpectedly, a short-lived euphoria.  I quite like Rudd, if only for the fact that he is an unashamedly intelligent man and intelligence is not a much loved quality in Australian life, but the 2020 summit didn&#8217;t feel like &#8220;a breath of fresh air&#8221;. Yes, it had a very different atmosphere than anything that would have been possible under Howard, but all I was left with was a feeling of frustration, and worse, disillusionment.  Not disillusionment with the government which, in my opinion (I&#8217;m a philosophical anarchist), has little to offer anyway but with the complete lack of ideas.</p>
<p>Philosophical anarchism isn&#8217;t about storming parliament or violent revolt (though I understand the inclination): It&#8217;s about organic change which renders our current political structures obsolete.  It&#8217;s about building alternative ways of doing things. It&#8217;s a positive philosophy, a humanist philosophy.  It is optimistic about what humans are capable of.</p>
<p>And it is independent.</p>
<p>2020 is supposed to be about ideas.  And there were none.  Each &#8220;stream&#8221; - health, the arts, etc - came back with the same tired thoughts.  <em>We should set up a commission, an independent body, an &#8220;insert new political job title here&#8221;.  We should educate the public about&#8230;</em>  And as my particular anarchism has always been somewhat socialist, I hated the voice in my head which was getting angry that no one could think of any way to improve our society except having the government spend money.  And my sense of social justice hated that I don&#8217;t care whether or not there are indigenous representatives on every art board even though I am fully aware that if the government &#8220;makes it so&#8221; it won&#8217;t do anything to put indigenous art &#8220;front and centre&#8221;.</p>
<p>Indigenous art will never be front and centre.  Art will never be front and centre.  And should &#8220;cultural production&#8221; be in the government&#8217;s domain anyway?  I hated that the majority of my thoughts in response to what I was hearing sounded like right wing echoes.  <em>Why should the government prop up the arts</em>, I thought.  <em>Surely, if the arts cannot maintain themselves, our society is bankrupt anyway.  And does art really flourish under the aegis of bureaucracy?</em>  I don&#8217;t think so.</p>
<p>I don&#8217;t want the government&#8217;s fingers in every aspect of our society.  I want a society that can support itself, that wants to support itself.  Today, I&#8217;m disillusioned by seeing how much it doesn&#8217;t want to, how much it thinks everything is the government&#8217;s responsibility even to the point of choosing what food we eat (banning &#8220;unhealthy&#8221; food was one suggestion).</p>
<p>As far as I&#8217;m concerned, if we must live in nation states and pay our taxes to them (and for the foreseeable future, we must) then they should provide healthcare, education, social security where needed and maybe some infrastructure.</p>
<p>Then they should fuck off.</p>
<p>I can&#8217;t remember who said it, but if man is incapable of ruling himself, he is surely incapable of ruling others. I always thought that, maybe, one day, ruling ourselves we could manage. Today, everyone abdicated.  Today, everyone was a child looking to an imagined parent to orchestrate their lives.  Obviously when someone envisages a world of adults that isn&#8217;t the greatest thing to watch, but worse than that, today I couldn&#8217;t even register the potential for it.</p>
<p>And I don&#8217;t know what that says about me and my &#8220;optimism&#8221;.</p>
<p class="aside">[Note: This is <em>really</em> not a balanced explanation of my political stance - Rather, it is just a tired response to a moribund event. ]</p>

	<h4>Related Posts</h4>
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		<title>Journeys: Trams, trains and… The Dictatorship of Relativism?</title>
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		<pubDate>Thu, 17 Apr 2008 14:55:54 +0000</pubDate>
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		<description><![CDATA[While I was getting ready for university this morning, I had CNN on in the background.
Blah blah&#8230; Pope mobile&#8230; Blah blah&#8230; Sexual abuse scandal&#8230; Blah blah&#8230; White House&#8230;
And then Bush says&#8230;
&#8220;&#8230;end the Dictatorship of Relativism&#8230;&#8221;
WTF?
So off I go to school, with my course readings for today&#8217;s philosophy tutorial, wondering if Bush has any idea what [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>While I was getting ready for university this morning, I had CNN on in the background.</p>
<p><em>Blah blah&#8230; Pope mobile&#8230; Blah blah&#8230; Sexual abuse scandal&#8230; Blah blah&#8230; White House&#8230;</em></p>
<p>And then Bush says&#8230;</p>
<p><em>&#8220;&#8230;end the Dictatorship of Relativism&#8230;&#8221;</em></p>
<p>WTF?</p>
<p>So off I go to school, with my course readings for today&#8217;s philosophy tutorial, wondering if Bush has any idea what that phrase means, and if he thinks we need a War Against Relativism to complement the War Against Drugs and the War Against Terrorism. (Although, if the enemy of his enemy is his friend, he could join forces with the terrorists for this new fight.)</p>
<p>On the train, I start my reading&#8230; Plato&#8217;s Theory of Forms and the philosophical life.</p>
<p>After weeks of struggling to engage with a text full of unacceptable premises and metaphysics, there was some meat there of more interest than &#8220;rational&#8221; arguments for the immortality of the soul. And my head was full of ideas (I think I sketched out 3 different books in my head during my reading) so&#8230;</p>
<p>I miss my train station and go all the way into the city.</p>
<p>Okay. No drama there. The tram I switch to goes through the city anyway and I&#8217;d left early. I board and begin reading the supplementary text. It is painful. Reductive, meaningless quibbles about words, pretending to elucidate while saying nothing. Yawn. So I throw that back in my bag and pull out Nietzsche&#8217;s <em>Beyond Good and Evil</em>. Ahh&#8230; Nihilism: That <em>other</em> alternative to the absolutism of Plato and of the 2 millenia that followed&#8230;</p>
<p>I go 20 minutes further down the tracks than I am supposed to.</p>
<p>I get to my history lecture on time.</p>
<p>Why do we always pay attention to the Hollywood Ten rather than the 1000s of civil servants who got the same treatment under McCarthyism? I reckon there is a thesis in the little, unsexy people. Oh, and Gary Cooper was a dickwad.</p>
<p>Anyway.</p>
<p>I move on to my philosophy tutorial, to discuss The Forms - those pure essences which cannot be perceived with human senses and which the objects and qualities we experience in our &#8220;reality&#8221; are but shadows of. We talk about Beauty. If two people disagree about an object&#8217;s beauty, can both be right? According to Plato, no. Beauty exists as an absolute. If one cannot recognise it where it exists, it is a failure of the mind. Someone must be wrong. According to most of us - living, as we apparently do, under the Dictatorship of Relativism - beauty is in the eye of the beholder.</p>
<p>(Curiously enough, that proverb is a bastardisation of Plato&#8217;s words in <em>The Symposium</em> - <em>&#8220;beholding beauty with the eye of the mind&#8221;</em> - where he was saying anything but what we mean by it today.)</p>
<p>After a quick trip to the library to get some reference materials for my research paper, I get on the tram - which is late, then slow - but I manage to  get off at the right stop and board my train. Which is late and then, almost home, stops altogether. Between stations.</p>
<p>Through the window in the dark I see the driver on the tracks, then the police. Great. After a while we move on to the next station. The police walk passed the carriages toward the driver and we hear an announcement&#8230;</p>
<p><em>&#8220;We apologise for the delay. We had.&#8221; </em></p>
<p>Er? Whatever the problem is, I guess it&#8217;s none of my business.</p>
<p>I make a phone call. B will come and pick me up so I disembark. Over a policewoman&#8217;s radio I hear, <em>&#8220;&#8230;man on top of the woman&#8230;&#8221;</em> Curiouser and curiouser. An ambulance is parked on the verge of the tracks and a police car is blocking the road. An announcement is made that the train has stopped in order to divide the carriages.  (Yeah, right.)</p>
<p>B arrives, and I go home, still wondering about the contextless Dictatorship of Relativism. So I look for a transcript online and discover the phrase is not Bush&#8217;s, but The Rat&#8217;s. (Note: choosing to respect people&#8217;s private beliefs does not necessitate respect for the Papacy.)</p>
<p><a href="http://www.vatican.va/gpII/documents/homily-pro-eligendo-pontifice_20050418_en.html" rel="nofollow">Ratzinger said in 2005&#8230;</a></p>
<blockquote><p><em>Today, having a clear faith based on the Creed of the Church is often labeled as fundamentalism. Whereas relativism, that is, letting oneself be &#8220;tossed here and there, carried about by every wind of doctrine&#8221;, seems the only attitude that can cope with modern times. We are building a dictatorship of relativism that does not</em> <em>recognize anything as definitive and whose ultimate goal consists solely of one&#8217;s own ego and desires. </em></p></blockquote>
<p>So, to escape my relativist, liberal freedom (which, apparently, is a perversion of the idea of redemption) should I go with Plato&#8217;s Forms, or Ratzinger&#8217;s Christ? (And don&#8217;t those possessives speak to how much I currently suffer under The Dictatorship?)</p>
<p>Also interesting, given today&#8217;s history lecture on the Cold War, are the passages there (and in an <a href="http://www.ewtn.com/library/CURIA/RATZRELA.HTM" title="Relativism: The Central Problem For Faith Today" rel="nofollow">earlier address</a>) about the particular &#8220;winds of doctrine&#8221;. Methinks someone is still suffering from a Red Scare.</p>
<p>To sum up though, I went to university then came home.</p>
<p>Who the hell knows where Bush was going.</p>

	<h4>Related Posts</h4>
	<ul class='st-related-posts'>
	<li><a href="http://cerebralmum.com/2007/08/because-you-remember-what-i-remember/" title="Because you remember what I remember&#8230; (August 27, 2007)">Because you remember what I remember&#8230;</a> (1)</li>
	<li><a href="http://cerebralmum.com/2007/09/imagine-if/" title="Imagine if&#8230; (September 10, 2007)">Imagine if&#8230;</a> (12)</li>
	<li><a href="http://cerebralmum.com/2007/11/hump-day-gossip/" title="A horrible hump of a day.  And gossip&#8230; (November 29, 2007)">A horrible hump of a day.  And gossip&#8230;</a> (9)</li>
	<li><a href="http://cerebralmum.com/2008/06/i-have-completely-forgotten-how-to-do-this/" title="I have completely forgotten how to do this&#8230; (June 17, 2008)">I have completely forgotten how to do this&#8230;</a> (8)</li>
</ul>

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		<title>Thankbacks for Trackbacks</title>
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		<pubDate>Wed, 16 Apr 2008 12:48:57 +0000</pubDate>
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		<description><![CDATA[Often the trackback goes unacknowledged, and I&#8217;m not known for staying on top of these sorts of things, so this post is simply to say thanks to all those who have linked to my posts during the first quarter of 2008.  Well, all those that I am aware of anyway.
So here it is&#8230;

Adam at [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Often the trackback goes unacknowledged, and I&#8217;m not known for staying on top of these sorts of things, so this post is simply to say thanks to all those who have linked to my posts during the first quarter of 2008.  Well, all those that I am aware of anyway.</p>
<p>So here it is&#8230;</p>
<ul>
<li>Adam at <a href="http://blog.thebodyshop.com.au/">The Body Shop Activist</a></li>
<li>Andrew at <a href="http://getarealblog.com/">Get A Real Blog</a> and <a href="http://onblogging.com.au/">On Blogging Australia</a></li>
<li>Bettina at <a href="http://dancestothebeetofherowndrum.wordpress.com/">Dances to the beet of her own drum</a></li>
<li>Child Person at <a href="http://childpersonfromthesouth.blogspot.com/">Child Person From The South</a></li>
<li>Commander Khan at <a href="http://insanityworks.org/randomtangent/">Random Tangent</a></li>
<li>Duncan at <a href="http://www.pacifichighlander.postkiwi.com/">Pacific Highlander</a></li>
<li>Gill at <a href="http://gillpolack.livejournal.com/">Even In A Little Thing</a></li>
<li>Guera at <a href="http://www.roamingaussiemum.com/">A Roaming Aussie Mum</a></li>
<li>Joh at <a href="http://www.johblogs.com/">Joh Blogs</a></li>
<li>Karen at <a href="http://www.miscmum.com/">Miscellaneous Adventures of an Aussie Mum</a></li>
<li>Kate at <a href="http://www.byootaful.com/">A Byootiful Life</a></li>
<li>Kelley at <a href="http://magnetoboldtoo.com/">Magneto Bold Too</a></li>
<li>Leigh at <a href="http://www.allforwomen.com.au/">All For Women</a></li>
<li>Lightening at <a href="http://www.lighteningonline.com/">Lightening</a> and <a href="http://www.lighteningsblogworld.com/">Lightening&#8217;s Blogworld</a></li>
<li>Marj aka Thriver at <a href="http://survivorscanthrive.blogspot.com/">Survivor&#8217;s Can Thrive</a></li>
<li>Mark at <a href="http://markdeniz.livejournal.com/">Him That Writes</a></li>
<li>Meg at <a href="http://blogpond.com.au/">Dipping Into the BlogPond</a></li>
<li>Megan at <a href="http://www.imaginif.com.au/~ima33724/blog/">Imaginif</a></li>
<li>Mike at <a href="http://www.crooksandliars.com/">Crooks and Liars</a></li>
<li>Rosemary Nissen-Wade at <a href="http://rosemary-nissen-wade.blogspot.com/">SnakyPoet</a></li>
<li>Tanaudel at<a href="http://tanaudel.wordpress.com/"> Errantry</a></li>
<li>Widdle Shamrock at <a href="http://widdleshamrock.wordpress.com/">The Musings of a Green Knee Capping Leprechaun</a></li>
</ul>
<p>Thanks, guys. I appreciate it.</p>
<p>xx cerebralmum</p>

	<h4>Related Posts</h4>
	<ul class='st-related-posts'>
	<li><a href="http://cerebralmum.com/2007/10/3-reasons/" title="3 reasons to be here&#8230; (October 13, 2007)">3 reasons to be here&#8230;</a> (3)</li>
	<li><a href="http://cerebralmum.com/2007/12/blog-break-2007/" title="Lazy and sick and Caspar is a changeling&#8230; (December 19, 2007)">Lazy and sick and Caspar is a changeling&#8230;</a> (10)</li>
	<li><a href="http://cerebralmum.com/2008/03/other-babies/" title="Other kinds of babies&#8230; (March 11, 2008)">Other kinds of babies&#8230;</a> (8)</li>
	<li><a href="http://cerebralmum.com/2007/11/carnival-submission-call/" title="November Carnival Against Child Abuse (November 10, 2007)">November Carnival Against Child Abuse</a> (3)</li>
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