Lucy - online

A pretty lax response to a bigger issue

Without realising it until today I find that I have been conducting a daily self-scan. As each new, wonderful day passes with what is reported to be yet another woeful turn in the financial crisis wheel, I turn inwards and ask myself - well, how do you feel about it?

So today I realise that not only do I ask myself this question on a daily basis, but that I have also found my answer - the one I had not known I was looking for while I hadn’t known that I asked myself the question.

And the answer came through the eloquent, intelligent, world-regarded tome they call the  Guardian in the voice of a Icelander.

15946 kilometres away from me there exists a person who has managed to explain exactly how I feel about this burning, international, fiscal issue while I was still trying to realise if I cared about it at all.

She says: The crisis is “serious, of course it’s serious,” she said. “But it’s only people who’ve got lots of money who’ll really lose out, isn’t it? I mean, I know of a guy, he was worth 3bn kronur before last weekend, and 600m after it. But his wife is still shopping at Prada.”

And in the words of my friend Liz : totally

When does the bit where we all bail out third world debt happen?

Football and David Foster Wallace

I went to a barbeque yesterday. In true grand-final, long-weekend style we sat in my friend’s backyard and drank a whole host of liquid -wine, beer, champange and coke.

I hadn’t seen these friends for almost two months and I had been nervous before I arrived. I felt bad that it had taken me so long to see them and I was worried it could be uncomfortable.

In spite of my eagerness to make it on time and to cause the least amount of fuss, luck would have it that I caught the wrong bus. They had to drive 20 minutes to get me.

We hugged and stood out on the balcony of their local pub looking at the water, smoking and catching up.

Driving back to their place things seemed more comfortable.

They had been house-sitting a relative’s weatherboard cottage -the decor was a throw-back to the 1960’s.

Bar-be-que preparations were strewn across the kitchen table and two empty cartons of beer stood to attention by the sink.

We sat outside on the balcony that had been closed in by mosquito netting. The glass table was scattered with coasters and ashtrays. The television perched on an old Kelvinator that rested against the laundry wall and we smoked too much and ate steak.

Among the conversation which included the ins and outs of the game of football, which hardly any of us really understood, how cold it was getting, new jobs and the real estate market my friend turned to me and said, “Have you heard about that American writer, he’s got three names and he died recently..what’s his name um…er…is it John?”

I had just lit a cigarette and waved the smoke from my eyes, “Yes”, I exclaimed, “yes i know who you mean, my teacher told us all about him. I can’t remember his name either, is it David?”

We both looked at each other intently, trying to remember. “Anyway, whatever his name is, he’s fantastic,” she said. “I haven’t felt that way about any one’s writing for so long.”

“He’s just so raw. It’s like he writes pretty much how I think and I really like that. He makes everything seem OK.

“He wrote that say when you are sitting in traffic and you know there is no food at home and you have to stop at the Quick E mart and there is heaps of traffic, that instead of being the asshole that doesn’t let the person in in-front of you, you should be the first one to do it. You should realise that everyone in that heaped-up traffic jam at 7pm is exactly the same as you.

“Once you realise that, then everything just feels better.”

“But he killed himself,” I pipped in helpfully.

“He can’t have thought the world such a great place if he did that, right…”

“Everyone has bad days,” she said.

Love online

Discoveries from our world at 1:21pm TODAY.

Google love and you get 2,720,000,000 hits

There is a wiki devoted to explaining how to love

There are approximately 74,600 love-tests online

There are approximately 5,620,000 love proverbs online

Greek people have approximately 5 different words/types of definitions for love

CS Lewis, when writing about love gave great kudos to the Greek definitions of love although he only referenced four (in his book aptly titled, ‘The Four Loves’.

But he also heeded warning, saying that despite how wonderful love was/is/can be .. “love begins to be a demon the moment he begins to be a god”

Following the Pioneer Woman

I found the Pioneer Woman as I leafed through the Adelaide Advertiser Review - I’m just keeping up with the other states…

The first thing that struck me was how pretty her site looked. It’s like a personally branded magazine.

Who is she?

Her name is Ree. She is American woman in her mid thirties. She grew up in Midtown America and went to college in LA. She now lives on a ranch in Wyoming with her husband who she calls, Malbaro Man. She is a mother of 4.

At first, I wasn’t sure that I was going to like her but I’ve just finished reading the section she calls from “Black Pumps to Tractor Wheels” and I now, I think I am in love with her!

Why did she start the blog?

She started the blog in May 2006 after marrying a ‘real life’ cowboy. He lived on a ranch and she moved out there with him, abandoning her city ways, for a life of rural bliss.

What kind of things does she write about?

Her blog is predominately a fantastic - albeit well-decorated and seriously well-documented- invitation into her life. She writes about what happens everyday. She is also a terrific photographer and has documented most of her pages with great photos. She is also big on building the interactivity of her site -for instance she runs photography competitions to encourage others.

As a mother of four, a wife, a ranch worker, a home school teacher and a cook book writer she has alot to draw on and she does. What I think is so wonderful about her site (which appeals very strongly to my voyueristic side) is that it introduces us to a life, a million miles from here. It’s like looking through a window - that’s bigger and better than TV or a story because she is real (or, so I presume!)

Design Features of the site

I think Pioneer Woman.com is really well organised and easy to navigate. I really liked the amount of white space she uses. The layout is very consistent and her links are very well organised. Her aricles are archived and in terms of length are always a ‘good’ read if you are just ‘dropping’ in, and they mostly range from 150 to 800 words.

She uses alot of photos and break out boxes which help to break up the pages and also to give it it’s distinctively ‘pretty’ and ‘fresh’ look and feel.

The sound links also work really well, helping to give us an even better understanding of her family life.

Interesting quirks

• Ree has built a hands-on practical guide to Photoshop within her blog. As a not-terribly-confident Photoshop user myself, I find her to be extremely user-friendly. Other people have commented on this too.
• Her account of her relationship with her husband from day one, or as mentioned above the series otherwise known as “From Black Pumps to Tractor Wheels” which is a completely engrossing tale about how her and her husband met. I thought I would hate it, I loved it! I think I even got teary ….
• It has also inspired people.

Things I don’t like

It’s mostly two things. She constantly refers to her ‘retarded brother Mike’ and uses the word ‘hiney’ far too much for my liking. I am also a little concerned about the gushy tones of her avid return-bloggers. She has alot, so she is clearly doing lot’s of things right but they are extremely devoted.