Conan in Haiti

It's probably no secret I already loved Conan O'Brien. Back in the day, I actually got to sit in his audience for an episode in NYC when he was the host of Late Night with Conan O'Brien. I love his latest group of segments where he recently travelled to Haiti and chatted it up with ordinary Haitians. The best way to rid people of prejudice is to have them interact with people of other cultures, and I love this was his way of making Haitian culture accessible to Americans who might not otherwise seek it out or educate themselves. 

There are a lot more on the Team Coco page on youtube.

It's not the heat, it's the...

Apparently the last week in Sydney was the most humid week in the last 15 years, and there have been record-setting temperatures (just like in most places on Earth in recent years). Normally, we don't mind the lack of air conditioning in our home, except for the few hottest nights of the year, but this last week was incredibly uncomfortable. I don't mind if it's 90 degrees outside if it's not humid; you can sit in the shade or in front of the fan and it's fine. It doesn't matter what temperature it is, when it's literally 90% humidity, you just can't escape it. Being pregnant in summer is uncomfortable; trying to sleep while pregnant in a hot, humid room is a mild form of torture. Anyway, I think we are finally up for some relief, so that's good. 

Michael Returns, Summer is fading

Michael has returned safely from his ski trip, but his phone has not. It has returned, just not all in one piece. The screen is in many pieces. Anyway, luckily, we did actually get the insurance on it. We had a pretty lazy Sunday and then got dinner at Spice Alley. 

It's my last day of summer break from work, although I will only potentially work for the first two weeks of the first term. I say potentially, since I don't know how many days I will work yet in those two weeks. I have to work at least one day before I go on maternity leave, to ensure that I get paid parental leave (you're not allowed to have an eight week gap, and including the summer holidays, I would if I stopped working now).

I am ready for summer to end and autumn to begin. I've enjoyed all my pool days, but I wake up enough in the middle of the night, and even more so when it's hot. I know it'll probably still be a few weeks until it cools off as much as I'd like, but it can start any time now. Michael is really not used to it, having just been playing in the snow for a week.

Pipilotti Rist

Saturday, I went with a friend to see the Pipilotti Rist exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art. Parts of it were pretty "trippy"; she does a lot of work with light, projection, and screens. Some of the time I wasn't sure if the art was the art, or if we were the art in how we experienced what she threw together. Some of it was really cool, and some of it just reminded me of exactly why modern art often gets made fun of in classic Simpsons episodes.

Overall, it was a good artsy fartsy/cultural experience, since I hadn't had one in a little while. After that, we went to a classic favorite, the Bitter Phew, to meet up with a few friends. While everyone else enjoyed their fancy brews, I washed down my Mr. Crackles with some ginger ale, and some random guy gave us some of his birthday cake. It was a Saturday in air conditioning well-spent.

Prologue

So I went to pre-natal yoga with a friend yesterday and I ended up having to drive her to the hospital because she was showing signs of pre-labor. We had time to get some delicious brunch before going, since when we had called the hospital at first, they just said to wait before coming in and to call back in a little while. It actually worked out quite well, since I didn't have any other plans for the afternoon, she is giving birth at the same hospital I am, and I got to see how not-insane it can be. TV and movies make it seem very dramatic, but she was very calm and she wasn't really in much pain for the hours I was around. She was just pacing around and could carry on a normal conversation and laugh like normal. Obviously as things progress they aren't as easy, but the beginning didn't seem so terrible. Since things for her were slow to progress, the worst part right now is probably that she has to wait so long, which is fine if you're not in much pain. As far as I know, she still hasn't had the baby, and I'm coincidentally going to be back at the hospital later today for an ultrasound. So, I plan to drop off some non-hospital food/necessities for her and her husband since I'm headed there anyway. 

I had originally joked about the fact that I might have to take her to the hospital, since we were hanging out a day after her due date, and then the nurses and midwives would be confused as to who was in labor, and then it really kind of happened. The only time they were confused was when I came out of the labor ward to direct in the husband in who was coming from work, and someone thought I was a woman in labor who had come out without checking out, maybe running away, and I had to explain that I had just brought my friend in and that I was fine. Until that point, she looked very confused and concerned. 

Then later, when the three of us, my friend, her husband, and I were sitting in her room waiting to see what they would say (I was waiting to see if I could get dropped off at home or if I needed to take a bus or something), and the husband introduced himself as "the father", the midwife made a strange facial expression. Then I said, "I'm just a friend that happened to be with her and bring her in, I'm not a sister-wife or anything", and the midwife gave another strange look and didn't really respond (and of course the three of us were laughing). I guess since it's a public hospital they might get some couples with unusual circumstances in from time to time, so they try not to react too much? Either way, we were amused. 

After this baby friend comes, ours is next on the waitlist. 

When All Else Fails

How does this make anything great?

Brunch, March, Beach

That title could be an alternative to Eat, Pray, Love, I think.

Mike is getting to enjoy his "last hurrah" before becoming a dad - going skiing at Steamboat Springs this week with a friend. Isn't he lucky that he isn't restricted from physical activity and travel and can eat and drink whatever he wants. Moms-to-be get shafted. I shouldn't complain, though, since at least it's still summer holidays until next week for schools in NSW. And, in the long run, I guess we'll have a little person to hangout with, so I guess it's worth it. 

After bidding Mike bon voyage this weekend, I ran some errands, enjoyed some brunch with friends at Cafe Giulia, time at the pool, a terrible (but free) movie (Mazerunner: The Death Cure), The Women's March, and a nice evening stroll at Coogee Beach. The weekend was busy enough, and yet not busy at all. 

OK Go Classic

As appropriate as ever...

I know you are, but what am I?

So, as predicted, the week ends with the US government shutting down. The White House issued an official statement that calls the Democrats "obstructionist losers". An offical government statement has the word "losers" in it. An official statement that passed many adults' eyes and judgment has the word "losers" in it.That's not a story from The Onion or the Borrowitz Report. Let's ignore the idea for a moment that everyone is subjectively deciding who deserves blame, and that in this moment it doesn't really matter. There are three branches of government whose job it is to run the country, all three of them are controlled by the same political party, and that party and can't make up their minds what they want or how to do anything, but somehow they are trying to blame the minority for "hold[ing] our lawful citizens hostage". What really matters is that all of the adults in both parties cannot do their jobs and sit in a room together and come up with a working budget. Stop pointing fingers and do your damn jobs. If any one of us doesn't do our job, we get fired. If anyone of us name-calls other adults at work, we get fired. If I am teaching a class and kids are calling each other names, they get in trouble. Why is the bar so low for the US government?!

The founding fathers would be so proud of how far we've come. 

Melania, your actual anti-bulliying campaign can start any day now. You don't get paid anyway, so the shutdown shouldn't affect you. 

Lazer Kiwi Jr.

Yay for Jacinda Ardern and her family, and for New Zealand! She was elected the youngest ever prime minister of New Zealanad last year, and she has just announced that she and her partner are expecting a baby later in 2018. This is simply something you don't hear about ever happening, and I think it's so great New Zealand will set the precedent of having a prime minister transition into motherhood. The government has a plan in place for her maternity leave, and her partner will be a stay-at-home father. As someone who is also becoming a first time mom, I have much respect for a woman who is up for the task while simultaneously running a country. And, good on the other government officials who are showing how to work as a real team so that the woman can go on maternity leave without having to be guilted for making decisions all grown women should be entitled to make, regardless of their job titles. Having a baby shouldn't have to mean that you put your life completely on hold and make your career suffer. Rock on, kiwis.

Zombie Child Development in The Girl with All the Gifts

Last night, we watched The Girl with All the Gifts. I haven't played The Last of Us, but from what I know, it's kind of like a movie version of that game. It was enjoyable, despite some of the questionable science and character motives. (Slight spoiler) The main character was one of many infants in a hospital maternity unit; the mothers had been infected and the babies cannibalised their mothers. They didn't go into the idea at all, but because the kids are all now living, contained in cells on a military base under lockdown, we must assume that military personnel had to round up and transport these zombie babies at one point. I'm imagining a deleted montage scene with some Benny Hill music of some inept soldiers trying to figure out how they are going to round up these babies and transport them without getting killed. Then, there are the additional questions of of how these babies could have possibly grown and developed in captivity while simultaneously being unsafe to be handled by adults. Anyway, it was a fun sci-fi/suspense/zombie flick. Just suspend your disbelief at the door. 

What a Difference 4 Years Makes

Facebook was kind enough to remind me today that it is Michael's and my four year anniversary of moving to Sydney. Little did we know when we uprooted and packed up our lives and travelled across the Pacific into the unknown that we would still be here, on the path to citizenship, and expecting a baby at this point. We didn't know what friends we would make and where our travels would take us.

The first few weeks here were frustrating - getting started and dealing with the mundane bureaucracy of starting accounts, and finding somewhere to live. Getting the cats over here was an ordeal. The best thing we did in that first week was finding the local ultimate frisbee club and meeting people, many of whom we are still friends with. After that first year of really getting settled and feeling more like we belonged here, we have had so many amazing opportunities that we wouldn't have had otherwise. It's changed the way we look at the world and the way of our life in native country. The world has changed too, in the time we have been here. Our friends and families have undergone big and small life changes too - births, deaths, and all the milestones in-between. We have maintained our double life, staying in contact with those at home and visiting when possible, and building our friendships and life here. 

We anticipate another 1.5-2 years here, and I can't even imagine what those years will have in store.

Less complaining, more action

Reruns

Sometimes, when you're just browsing through all the stuff that's out there on Netflix or Hulu or any of these other streaming apps, and you just realize at least 90% of what is out there is total crap. You just want to watch something that you already know is going to be perfect for the mood you're in. 

There are just some movies that you could re-watch over and over again - ones you usually end up revisiting once a year or every few years. Everybody has a few - maybe some leftover from childhood that just make you feel nostalgic or you're just in the mood for them at certain times of the year. I have some that are just mine, and Michael and I have some that we just come back to again and again. Sometimes you notice something new, you repeat familiar lines, usually you end up saying stuff like, "I always wondered why at this part...", or you talk about the little plot holes or details that don't make that much sense that you choose to ignore. 

One of those movies for us is Truman Show. There's just something timeless about the theme accepting the world with which you are presented, and the trust you place in the people and society around you, without question. It's one of those movies that makes you think of a thousand questions about the lives of the characters before and after the movie. It also happens to have a pretty good cast. I love the archtype of Christof, played so well by Ed Harris, this guy who is a genius as what he does, who has made this world where he is a god, and yet he makes mistakes. Anyway, we recently re-watched it again, and it was enjoyable as it always is. 

I know I've shown this or a similar scene before before, but why not... (spoiler alert)

Hit me, baby, one more time

This weekend there was a lot of baby prep. We (mostly Michael) put together the bassinet, had a meeting with our doula, and then had our class at the hospital on Sunday. So far our doula has been very helpful and it's just good to know that when we do have to deal with labor and a new baby that we will have someone around who is knowledgable, calm, and supportive, since we don't have a lot of support around otherwise. The classes have been a little bit helpful - a handful of new pieces of info, but mostly stuff we've heard before and will definitely hear again (or have the resources to look up). This morning I went and sorted out some Centrelink stuff, so I'll be able to get my paid parental leave when it's time.

The weather has cooled off for a few days; it's really nice to get a break from the heat. This week will probably be pretty quiet/normal. Mike is leaving for a ski trip on the weekend (it is weird that a lot of time those have to get planned during our summer when you're living in the Southern Hemisphere). We are calling it his "Last Hurrah" before the baby comes. I'll be here since I can't travel very far much these days - I'll have a few appointments and a few fun things and pool days planned, and a lot of taking it easy. School starts again the last week in January, and I'm planning to work a few days during the weeks at the beginning of the term before I just go into full nesting and resting mode. 

It seems like a lot of people we know are going on fun and interesting trips around the world right now. It seems like every time I open my Instagram or Facebook, I get to look at pictures from exotic locales on literally every different continent. I guess now I know what it was like to be other people looking at my feeds for a while, now that I'm more restricted from travel than I have been. I suppose it's only fair. We are hopeful that after the baby comes we will still get to go on a few fun trips, and we already have some in the works (in the brainstorming phase so far, anyway). 

Mahalo for nothing

To anyone that supports #45's belligerent and irresponsible rhetoric with North Korea, I hope that you can know what it feels like to wake up to alerts that you are probably going to die from an imminent missile. That is what happened to people I know this morning living in Hawaii. That is not an exaggeration, that is factually and literally what happened. They were calling their family and friends saying good bye and that they loved them and they didn't know how much time they had left. They did not find out for 45 minutes that the alarm was somehow false, and lived those 45 minutes in complete terror. 

This would be less believable if it happened two years ago; there would have been less panic. Was it #45's fault that the message went out by mistake? No. Although, of course he was golfing at the time and hasn't issued a statement yet. But, it is his fault that we are in this heightened situation with another country. Would we be in some kind of situation with NK regardless? Probably. But, perhaps not one where nuclear war has cavalierly been mentioned several times, and real threats have been issued to outlying US states and territories. 

Like most people, I cannot fathom how a message like this goes out en masse by mistake, and creates panic and confusion for as long as it did before being confirmed false. I would be horrified if it happened to me. I'm horrified that it happened at all, even though it didn't happen to me. I don't wish that on anybody. 

Expletives Galore

I've held off a few days on saying something about #45's infamous "shithole" comment because I was thinking about it and seeing how things would unfold. This is what I do have to say about it...

1. There is no question that that kind of language is beneath the office of the president, no matter who is sitting in that office, or really any office of anyone that internationally represents a country to other countries. If I went to my job and talked like that, I would get fired. The same would happen to most people in most jobs. 

2. Whether or not that is the specific language that was used, it kind of doesn't matter. When you have no credibility left from the literally hundreds of other things that you have said (on recording at rallies and in press statements, and from your personal twitter accounts and published statements) that could be construed as ignorant, racist, sexist, classist, lies, etc., you lose the benefit of the doubt with most people. 

3. Usually if something you said was taken out of context or incorrectly quoted, you don't defend the comment before denying it a day later. Again, this is part of why people don't consider #45 trustworthy. 

4. He sounds like a racist grandpa who has dementia, literally. He sounds like the kind of person whose musings you'd look off because he only has a limited scope and time left, and he doesn't do anyone harm. Except, his comments do people harm. His comments can become laws and policies that affect the lives of millions of real people. 

Of course I'm disgusted. I'm kind of doubly disgusted at the fact that I'm not really that surprised because this is just how things are right now. I'm disgusted by the people that try to defend the statement in any way. "America first" is not a justifiable reason to outwardly insult people from other countries. 

Thank goodness that it seems that, by now, most people around the world seem to understand that one nutcase doesn't really represent the views of millions of people. That's such a low bar, though. 

The Shape of Water

We finally saw The Shape of Water. I had wanted to probably see it at some point anyway, but since it's won some awards, that provided the little extra push. I enjoyed the cinematographic style, the characters were interesting and well cast, the special effects were good. Yes, you have to suspend disbelief and it is weird, but that should go without saying for a Guillermo del Toro film. It was like watching a European film, but without accents or subtitles, and the setting was Baltimore. I recommend seeing it if you're in the mood for something a bit artsy or foreign, a little bit funny, a little bit dramatic,, and a tiny bit suspenseful. 

The Sinner (spoiler alert)

Sometimes recommendations can go ignored. I watched The Sinner, and the verdict is: not that great. For those unfamiliar, it's basically a story about this woman who commits this obvious murder in public, and then afterwards the story unfolds for you to find out about her psychological trauma that lead her to act like this. It was just interesting enough that I kept watching to find out what would happen. Then the reveals would not be that great. 

The characters were not that interesting. Towards the end, I kept wondering, if Bill Pullman's character is this investigator, how come he doesn't have any other work to do? He just has all this extra time on the clock at work that he can investigate whatever he wants and he doesn't need warrants or need to account for his time or anything? He can just go down random tangents on a whim. There's all this stuff that they just kind of gloss over that doesn't make that much sense, like the trial at the very end where they tie everything up in a mostly neat bow. And the camaraderie between Pullman and Biel? I just didn't feel the chemistry that those two characters are supposed to have that inspires him to keep digging into her case. And her blankness and melancholy I just found uninteresting; she wasn't a particularly likeable character. She just kept saying, "I don't remember" and acting confused and not really interested in finding out what happened and was just going to give up and go to jail until Pullman's character made her do stuff to try to remember. At the end they made it sound like, "Ooh, she faced all these tough things and didn't give up". What are you talking about? She gave up before she even tried to do anything. The only reason anything happened at all was because the other character did more investigating, she didn't do anything. She lucked out. 

Anyway, I don't recommend wasting the 8 hours on it.

Charterstone (Board Game Nerd Post Alert)

Mike and I finished Charterstone, a worker-placement legacy game, and it was pretty fun. It's not as gripping as Pandemic Legacy: Season 1, but it's still pretty fun in a lighter way. The general consensus seems to be that if you play, you should have at least four players. If you don't have four real players, play with the automa rules. We had talked to an acquaintance of ours who is even more of a boardgame aficionado than we are (like, he writes a critic blog only about games, posts videos online, works at a game store, goes to international conventions, and can be super serious about games, which is kind of paradoxical), and he kind of had a more lax attitude and put less into it than we did and and got less out of it. He played with less than the recommended number and thought the game was slower and less interesting. So, I guess the lesson is if you want to do it, get into it. If you don't want to, don't bother. It's funny to me that we took it more seriously than someone who considers games their life's calling. We even put on corny renn faire music in the background. Anyway, what's the point of games if you don't make them fun? It was kind of  like when we played Tokaido, a Japanese themed boardgame where you are travelling a road and staying at inns along the way. When we played, whenever the characters would stop at an inn for the night and eat, we would get out a different plate of snacks, and it was ridiculous and fun. When your game piece left the inn, you were no longer allowed to partake in snacking until the next inn. 

It's all fun and games.... (there's no catch, this time).

Baby Clothes Rant

Looking for baby clothes, I sometimes cringe at the messages on some of the things I see - some overt, and some less obvious. I'm mainly talking about some of the things I see on Pinterest. There are onesies that say things like, "All mommy wanted was a backrub", or "I'm cute, Mom's hot, Dad's lucky". Eww. There are even more sexualized ones that I won't mention, but you can google image "onesie sexualized" if you want to see more. Then there are the ones that are for little boys with pictures of things like deer antlers that say, "Little Man", and little girl ones with crowns that say, "Princess". Puke. Or, ones meant for either gender depending on the graphic that say, "Heartbreaker". Less bad, but still gross. Babies are babies. They want sustenance and comfort and then eventually learn how to do life skills. That's it. Don't put your kids in clothes that creeps will be attracted to, or that encourage them to be creeps when they grow up. Even if they are too young to understand, just don't. Baby boys don't need to man up, and baby girls don't need to be encouraged to act passively feminine. Ugh. Cringe.

All that being said, I'm not saying a girl can't enjoy wearing a pink skirt sometimes, or a boy can't wear some camo pants. I'm not saying everyone should wear yellow unisex jumpsuits. I'm just saying, give the kids some variety and don't put clothes on them that send certain messages. I wore really girly tutus at one point when I was little, and I didn't become an adult that dresses like that. But, I also wore corduroy overalls and sneakers and hand-me-downs from my brother sometimes too. 

Just comparing what I've seen in US and Australian stores, Aussie stores are a little bit better about having less sexist and more gender-neutral stuff. Bonds, for example, has really fun, colorful prints that are unisex. Here is another list of children's clothing brands that don't fall into stereotypes either - note, they are mainly smaller companies that you are less likely to hear about, and are not generally sold at bigger stores.

Anyway, I like to think we already have a good variety of clothes accumulated - some hand-me-downs, some bought, and some even homemade.  

Black Mirror Returns

Black Mirror is back! We've enjoyed watching the new season; we have the last episode left to go. This about sums it up, but there are a lot of spoilers, so don't read each section until you've seen that episode. It's not my favorite of the four season, but nonetheless I still enjoy watching it and discussing and thinking about the episodes. A lot of good shows have been on hiatus for the last many weeks, so it's just refreshing to get to watch new episodes of something that's more substantive than It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia reruns. Don't get me wrong, silly/crass comedies have their place in entertainment, but sometimes you just want something more. And sometimes Black Mirror goes overboard with its darkness or pseudo-depth, but even then I still kind of enjoy it.

Summer Activity Extravaganza

This past week, Michael got to go mountain biking in Canberra with some friends. They had a great time despite the heat, and survived with only minor scrapes and bruises.

I've been spending a lot more of my time at the local pool since it's been hot, and because anything impactful has really gotten uncomfortable in my larger state. I've actually been going regularly enough that I've improved in my speed and stamina, and have graduated from the slow lane to the medium lane (really, it's dependant on how crowded the slow lane is on a given day). 

Ninja and Eve have also found their summer activity fix. For X-mas, they got a new crinkle tube thing, similar to the one pictured below. Mainly Ninja has been rolling all over the apartment with it and keeping us entertained. Side note: when I looked up google images of "crinkly cat tube toy", I realized how much bad photoshopping is used to try to market cat toys. They use the exact same photoshopped pics of a cat with or next to different toys. It's kind of funny when you see how many times you can spot the same cat.

Last night we went to see The Greatest Showman, which was entertaining and exactly what we expected it to be. Afterwards, we looked up the true story of PT Barnum, only to find out that the movie was completely inaccurate about the true story in a multitude of ways. They didn't even accurately portray how many kids the guy had. That one seems like an easy fix - did they not have enough money to pay two more kids as extras? If they were going to completely fictionalize the story, why even bother calling the character PT Barnum? I also kept getting distracted by the fact that I thought the little Tom Thumb guy looked kind of like a miniature version of my brother, and then I couldn't stop laughing whenever he was onscreen. 

Prenatal and Postnatal Support

I have been navigating the healthcare system here in Australia for several months now, and even more so since I got pregnant. For those that might not be familiar, Australia has a national healthcare system known as medicare, and many people also purchase supplemental private plans in addition to the coverage already offered. Medicare is FREE if you are a citizen or permanent resident. Yes, it is free, but obviously it gets paid for out of the tax money that we and everyone else pay annually, which I am totally happy with. I like knowing that everyone else and I get something back for the money I pay.

In general, I have been very impressed with the quality of care I have received for FREE. I will keep highlighting the fact that it is quality healthcare for FREE because for some reason, in the US, people like paying exorbitant money for inefficient medical services, and want to let drug companies, insurance companies, and hospitals charge whatever they want for services (often without telling you up front the full cost of procedures and services). 

In Australia, this is what is available to families who have babies or adopt. This is some info about how the government supports those with mental health issues surrounding birth. That's all pretty dense, but here's the main point: the government gives a lot of support and education to expectant and new parents because it's good for everyone in society. I haven't had to pay for any of the many blood tests, scans, appointments, immunizations, etc. I've needed; only two extra ones I elected to do. Right now, I have the number of a professional who works at the hospital that I can call to talk to or make an appointment if I have any anxiety about any part of the birth process, for FREE. I don't have to pay for my hospital stay when it happens. Before and after I have the baby, I will receive free breastfeeding support from the hospital. After I have the baby, I will have a home visit from a specially trained nurse within two weeks in order to ensure that I have the support I need and that I am knowledgable about all the FREE services available to me that would help me in general, like support groups for parents with kids the same age. They might also recommend more specific ones if I need help with any issues in particular, for example, postpartum depression. Every baby also gets a "blue book", which is a small binder that makes it easy to keep track of all of the young child's health history, and it has information about when to get every vaccine or test the child will need during various points in childhood. As I may have already mentioned in a previous post, I get a minimum of 18 weeks paid parental leave from the government (at minimum wage, which is again, significantly higher than the minimum wage in the US), and works out to about $12,500 total. That's if a better plan is not offered through one's employer. Almost everyone I know is taking/has taken 6 months leave after having a new child, many might go longer or only go back to work part-time for the first year or two. These are not particularly rich people, but they aren't poor either. It's just commonly what is expected and allowed. 

Again, the main point is not all the specifics, or to say something like, "Australia is so great and the US is not". It's that everyone benefits when a society supports expectant and new parents, and the US government needs to implement policies that reflect this. Even people who don't have kids will end up paying less taxes in the long run and live in a more pleasant society if everyone else around them is well-educated and has the support they need to be good parents. It leads to less of a strain on all the other government services if people are able to get off to a positive start, and everyone has the same access to getting at least a minimum of support and care. Australia's system is not perfect, and they offer less compared to many European countries, but compared to the US what they offer is exponential. 

This what is offered in the US (or not). The ability to take leave from work for several months is something that only the wealthy can afford, and even then they might be given guilt over it in many workplaces. Most new mothers I know in the US have had to go back to work before they wanted to or felt ready to, because they simply felt they didn't have much choice. Also, In the US people there is this idea people who use government services are just lazy and want "handouts" from the government. Many taxpayers don't want people reliant on government assistance. Some people would rather pay less taxes and have the government provide less services, in general. Then there are the people who say that if the government provides these kinds of services, then the amount of taxes they pay will go up. Yes, the taxes will go up slightly, but the current Australian tax rates are not that much higher than those in the US.

In countries that provide healthcare and other services like the ones I have just talked about, people don't consider these things handouts. First off, they pay their taxes and then get something in return. That's not a handout. Second, they consider them essential to a society that functions in a more healthy and efficient way. I've never heard anyone from a country that provides universal healthcare say that they would rather not have it. I've never heard anyone say they wished their country would provide less support to new parents or less paid parental leave. There might be disagreements on how much should be provided, or how programs should be implemented or improved, but generally there seems to be the consensus that they benefit the society as a whole. Whether or not an individual benefits from a specific government program is not important, since everyone benefits in at least some way from some government program or another.

...Which is all why it is so crazy to me that by 2018 the US still hasn't sorted out their healthcare and paid parental leave issues. The US is a great country in so many ways, but it's time to step it up and catch up to the rest of the developed world. Americans should be demanding better from their government. 

What Snow?

I've been hearing ridiculous weather forecasts from all up and down the East Coast of the US. From the sound of it, I think there is a colder-than-Mars-snow-and-ice-hurricane-tornado -bomb, causing flooding and flash-freezing everything and everyone in sight... and some places are getting 2 hour work and school delays if they are lucky. I think we already saw this in a movie a few years ago...

Lookout for escaped zoo wolves, and maybe if you're lucky, that dreamy Jake Gyllenhaal will come hangout with you.

Meanwhile in Sydney...

I'm going to the pool. Catch you guys later.

2018

We rang in the beginning of 2018 with a group of friends in Palm Beach. During the daytime, there was a lot of fun in the sun and swimming. During downtime we took turns submitting questions to make our own trivia quiz, since the Sydney Morning Herald has been neglectful the last two weekends (a regular ritual for the group). The rule was that each person could not answer their own question, but could answer everyone else's. The activity provided a few hours of entertainment, which was longer than expected. Trivia nerds. We watched a few fireworks off in the distance, but watched the Sydney Harbour fireworks on TV just like a lot of people. We saw them live the last two years - and they are spectacular - so it was nice to watch them somewhere more comfortable with no traffic consequences to follow. After living in the Southern Hemisphere for four years now, I can definitely say New Years is much more fun when celebrated in the summer months than in the winter months. All the reports of frigid cold in North America are easy to ignore when you're sitting on a beach or in the pool, and grilling up your lunch. It feels a lot more like the 4th of July.

We just got back and took a much-needed nap and are now sorting out laundry and tidying up. It's confusing to wake up from a nap at 7:30PM and have it still light outside - it deceptively feels like the morning.

Happy New Year to everyone around the world!