A profoundly important book

I have been reading "From Naked Ape to Superspecies" by David Suzuki and Holly Dressel. It is a major wake-up call to those of us who want the human species, not to mention the diversity of the life on this planet, to survive. It tells you of shocking, appalling things you won't hear in the media because, as we know, the media is controlled by a small number of hugely powerful and profit-hungry corporations. As are world trade agreements. As are patents on living things!!! The immorality and greed of these corporations is beyond belief. They are exploiting everyone, each and every one of us, but particularly the poorer Third World countries, who can't afford to fight them. And here we are, complacently living our lives, only vaguely aware that there is a climate and environmental crisis happening. Well it's happening now, and it's much bigger and scarier than we think, or are permitted to know about. According to the scientists, if we don't change our ways now, and fight these bastard corporations, we are absolutely on the path to our own destruction.

The more I read this book, the more galvanised I am to action. I haven't finished it yet, but already I'm asking - what can I do? How can I help? How can I make a difference? One thing's for sure - I will be investigating. And my first step to making a difference is telling you all about this book. Please, please read it. I'm buying my workplace a copy, my parents, my boyfriend and my brother. I think in this instance the greater environmental cause will forgive me purchasing multiple copies of the same book.

Weekend with Connie in Athens

I just came back from visiting my pregnant cousin Connie in Athens. She knows what sex her baby is, and she and Antoni have even named him! Wow, that's efficient! ;)

It was wonderful to spend some quality 1-on-1 time with Con. We grew up as close as sisters, until her family moved to Greece when we were nine. The time I've spent with her since I moved to London has been great, but not very private, with few opportunities to be alone. This time, we finally did it, and caught up on love, life and the Universe, and affirmed that we are indeed a different generation from our parents.

I look forward to my next weekend in Greece when I will be a 2nd cousin once removed (or something to that effect)!!

Oh, and a visit to Greece wouldn't be right without a mention of food - managed to have a very tasty galaktoboureko from the best cake shop in Kifisia - fresh out of the oven! Yum!

Heroes

On a less aggressive note, Ben and I have just started watching Heroes. A bit late, I know, but we had to get through the Firefly series (including the Serenity movie) before we allowed ourselves to start watching this new series which already has a cult following. It combines three of my favourite movie/TV show themes - special effects, genetic aberrations and serial killers. Oops, have I given something away? :) I didn't think this show was going to be as dark as it is... I thought it would be slightly more cheesy blockbuster action. Fortunately it's not. It's very well written and as SFX says, the first 3 episodes have the most brilliant cliffhanger endings. (We're up to the 4th episode). This series gets a major thumbs up in my book.

Angry!!

I have been searching high and low for a sculpture course in London that is reasonably priced, aimed at beginners, located conveniently and run outside of business hours. It's taken me weeks, but I finally found a great-sounding course this morning. It's run on Saturdays by CityLit at a reasonable price and it's fairly easy for me to get to. And being run on a Saturday, I don't have to worry about skipping out of work early or getting home late. But, get this, I have to pay double the price because I haven't been a permanent UK resident for 3 years!!! It's a Government-funded school, you see. It doesn't matter that I have been working for this country for the last 2 1/2 years, have an EU passport, pay council tax and make donations to UK-based organisations. Can you believe it?!

This sucks the big one! Up yours to the UK Government for their stupid unfair stipulations!

Anyone know any good teach yourself sculpture books?

Grrrrrrr....

Offsetting your carbon footprint

I just found a brilliant site which gives you the opportunity to offset the nasty carbon footprint your activities generate by funding different environmental causes.

The site let me calculate how many tonnes of CO2 my upcoming weekend trip to Greece would produce (0.686 tonnes), and how much money I would need to spend to offset it, which ranged between £5.15 and £11.75 depending on what cause I decide to fund. That's a pretty good feature in my book. And it doesn't add up to much, either!

I'm going to offset after every trip I take. It's obviously not as virtuous as not taking the trip in the first place, but at least this will help me assuage the guilt a little.

Note - the site lets you choose between British pounds, US dollars and Euros so all you Aussies are best to pay in USD.

Secret Santa is fantastic!

Upon my return to London, I received my Secret Santa gift. I have to say, they made an excellent choice!

Ok, if it's not clearly visible, it's a shower sponge in the shape of a microphone. Pretty cool, eh? I love it!!

More Melbourne highlights

From the cold, harsh climes of London, I can reminisce on the rest of my holiday in my home town:
- seeing Beowulf in 3D at the IMAX - woah!
- discovering I love the retro styles of Quick Brown Fox and spending lots of money there!
- Christmas with the extended family with loads of awesome presents and conversations
- Noticing how much everyone has grown or changed
- seeing some dear friends who I miss heaps
- playing with my cousins' cute spoodles (spaniel x poodle)
- meeting all the babies in my network (well, almost all of them)
- visiting fave haunts - Brunswick St., Acland St., and Smith St.
- being bought a ticket to a mystery event which turned out to be a Hari Krishna performance night. Needless to say we didn't stay long ;)
- being inspired by a new friend's art and cult collectibles
- pointing out places I'd been to for Ben everywhere we walked and describing the memories they evoked
- getting a shiatsu massage at the Japanese Bath House in Collingwood
- an intimate NYE with Gary and Barb and a few choice friends - with cocktails, boardgames and karaoke!
- drinking wine by the Yarra in Fairfield with my cousins
- eating sweet, ripe mangoes on a daily basis
- doing some bar-hopping on our last night in town and discovering some new funky bars: Horse Bazaar, The Toff, and The Workshop
- Yum Cha on our last day with my loud but lovable family :)

Needless to say it was a very special time with lots of great people and delicious food. Needless to say I don't miss the heat and I've started a health kick to recover from the excess consumption!

(photos forthcoming...)