Turning 18, and maybe learning some valuable lessons along the way

Well today, according to my calendar, is the 5th of November and that, my friends is my birthday. Now the 5th of November of 2006 was not just your average day - no, in fact it was the 18th 5th of November that yours truly has lived through.

Today, in the eyes of the law - I become a man. Hmm...

To celebrate this milestone, I had a party last night. This party had been in the pipeline for some time - quite well planned. A special shout-out goes to, apart from my mum who pretty much did organise the whoel thing single handedly, Hoddle for the sheer enthusiasm she put into this event! Go Hoddle!

So I rocked up around 6pm in a shirt that was probably smelly and somewhat wrinkled after an hour and-a-half long car trip from Brisbane, where I had an exam earlier in the day. Now from previous experience I should have been prepared - whenever my family attempt to host some sort of gathering, it doesn't just rain - it pours. Maybe the Government should give us some sort of cash initiative to have more parties to try and break the drought or something, I don't know. But yes, it poured for at least an hour drowning out the sounds of music with the earth-shattering splish splash of water on the hall's roof. Eventually however, it died down and people started to arrive (thank God, I always have a terrible feeling that nobody is going to turn up).

I can't really recall the events of the night in chronological order, so instead, I'm going to name people and tell list what they gave me for my birthday... And if you didn't get me anything, well...shame on you! Just kidding!! I love you all!

James - A bottle of whiskey

Nikki - A bottle of vodka

Julie - A bottle of wine (can you see a pattern here?) + scratchies on which I won $7

Hoddle - a sort of drawing/"inking" as I call it, of Alf and Gumby (my childhood favourites) attached to like some sort of timber so I can like... I don't know, mount it on the wall? lol + A DVD about Egypt for when I go in about a year and she came out of cookie retirement to bake me the world's best bakery-related items in the world!

Alysse - the book I've been wanting for about a year now, "Romanitis" by Sophia McDougall

Daniel+ Family - The Da Vinci Code Extended Edition DVD

Greg - "Absolutely Absorbing Australian and New Zealand Bathroom Reader"

Degan - the boardgame "Hungry Hungry Hippos!" YEAH!

Peter - "Picture" magazine... Oh Peter...

Gede and Jarrod - a $25 voucher for ice-cream at Baskin Robbins! Mmmm...icecream!

Lauren - $30 Sanity Gift Card

Other Family - money and gift vouchers

My Uncle Mark and Aunty Leanne put on the beer

But perhaps the most surprising of all was my Uncle Michael and Vicki who managed to find an Alf doll on Ebay that was exactly like my childhood "best mate" that I recently lost, and was devastated about. Sounds stupid I know, but you get really attached to these things... So yeah, that was so unbelievably fantastic

Tim - One of those rubber things you stick between your toes if they're sore... or so Leena explained to mw

Leena - socks in which she embroided my name into

Jack and Alexis - One of those "20 questions" contraptions that tries to guess what sort of object or whatever you're thinking of - HOW DOES IT KNOW!!? lol

Sam - Mark Latham's book of quotes + Stickmen

And not to mention an assortment of creative cards from the likes of Beth, Corrin and Tegan

I know I've forgotten people and I'm sorry but you know, I'm operating on minimal sleep right now... I promise I will edit this if I think of you!

So the night went well, including everybody in the room now being able to say they've seen me naked - we won't go there.

The party wrapped up, I turned 18 and I went out with Hoddle, Nikki and the like to suss out the Toowoomba "night life". Yeah, clubbing pretty much sucks as I already knew before I went out, but I think if I were more "tanked" so to speak, I'd enjoy it...maybe!

All in all, very great birthday and I just want to thank you all for making it a very memorable occasion and for making me feel so special and loved.

Peace out,
Brentus

Death of the Crocodile Hunter

Well, it's not often that the death of a non-royal, non-head-of-state can bring a nation into a period of mourning - but that's exactly what the death of Steve Irwin has done to Australia.

The famed Crocodile Hunter died this morning around 11am while filming a segment for his daughter's new television show, just off the north Queensland coast. A stingray's barb entered his chest, and punctured his heart. Now who on earth would have seen that one coming? When you think about it, it's typical Steve isn't it? He lived a life of unpredictable danger, and to extinguish his life in a way any less rare, spectacular and shocking would have been an anti-climax to a truly remarkable and awe-inspiring life.

Steve Irwin epitomised the Australian spirit of mateship, compassion and family. He lived his life true to his beliefs - he was a fantastic father, a great ambassador for this country and the true leader in the field of wildlife conversation. For many, many years to come, Steve Irwin will be remembered as a truly great Australian -- and one who I must say am privileged to have seen with my very own eyes. A few years ago I visited Australia Zoo with my family, and witnessed one of Steve's famous crocodile shows - a memory I will now always treasure.

A girl at uni today said "I was planning on visiting Australia Zoo just to see Steve, and now I never will." and it sort of just hit me - it's the end of an era for the Sunshine Coast - their main tourist attraction was not the zoo, but Steve himself. He put Beerwah on the international stage, and the Caloundra City Council and indeed the people of Queensland will always be thankful for his work in tourism that heput his heart and soul into.

But that's just it, isn't it? There wasn't a single thing that Steve undertook that he didn't put his entire heart and soul into. Movies, documentaries, television series, ambassador duties, television interviews, charity work - he went about every single facet of his public life with a special pazzaz and zest for life that I don't think anybody in Australia right now could match.

Vale, Steve Irwin. You will be sorely missed.

Toowoomba Referendum - My Thoughts

Well I'm really disappointed at Toowoomba tonight.

I'm not going to get on my high horse too much, mainly because I'm tired - usually I wouldn't miss such an opportunity.

I posted in http://4350water.blogspot.com this comment which pretty much sums up my thoughts:

"Congratulations to Di Thorley and her staunch supporters who tried their hardest to lead the people of Toowoomba through this water crisis.

Unfortunately due to the narrow mindedness of mostly, dare I say, older "living in the Clive days" members of our fair city, Toowoomba is now back at square one.

Thankyou Toowoomba, I hope you're proud of yourselves!"

It's certainly been an interesting period in the history of Toowoomba, and looking back at other such instances in Toowoomba, it's not surprising the referendum was defeated - we're not known for liking change, in reality, it's a surprise someone like Di Thorley was elected to the mayoralty in the first place, let alone for a second term.

I love you Di!

Peace out!

Toowoomba Referendum

Toowoomba City Councillor Graham Barron has told the Courier Mail he believes the city's residents will vote down the proposal to add recycled effluent to the water supply if much of today's sentiment is anything to go by.

“It is not looking overwhelming either way but there is a slight indication that the people of Toowoomba do not want to drink sewage water,” he said.

With just over two hours until polls close, it looks set to be a close race to get the controversial plan over the line.

From talking with voters today, there have been mixed reactions - some saying they'd made up their minds "ages ago", to those who were still making up their minds as they walked through the gates to cast their votes.

Whichever the outcome, it seems that the idea of recycling sewerage will not go away, with Premier Peter Beattie suggesting that even if Toowoomba residents vote "No", he will continue to advertise the pros of recycling water well into the future.

Toowoomba Referendum

CITY STILL DIVIDED OVER WATER FUTURES AS POLLS NEAR CLOSE

With four hours to go before polls close, Toowoomba residents are continuing to vote on the council’s plan to recycle waste water to supplement the city’s water supply.

Rosemary Morley, the co-ordinator of the Citizens Against Drinking Sewerage (CADS) group was ready to cast her ballot, letting the media know in no uncertain terms how she plans to vote.

“There’s nowhere else in the world that’s doing it at this rate, and we’re not convinced about the safety of it, because there’s no long term study where society has done it at 29 – 40% sewerage,” she says.

But despite the polling booth at Centenary Heights State High School being a flurry of media activity due to the presence of many staunch “No” campaigners, members of the Green’s Party were still out in force.

Bede, a member of the party, reiterated the Green’s view that recycled water is important for the future sustainability of the state.

“We have to work towards a sustainable outcome, things like bores and that sort of thing leads to salinity, and it’s not a resource that’s unlimited,” he says.

He also said that he was unsure about Clive Berghofer’s motivation to back the “No” vote, and was less than impressed with some of tactics employed by their opposition.

“Clive Berghofer said in the Australian just this morning that he wouldn’t mind if it was any other city - if he hasn’t got a problem with any other city, than I don’t see why he has a problem with Toowoomba,

“And they resort to some dirty tactics, just yesterday they tried to get our “How to Vote” cards banned, the returning officers ruled them legal, because they’re all authorised, and they’re still complaining about it,” he said.

The polls close at 6:00pm.

Toowoomba Referendum

WaterFuture Poll
By Brent Davidson

CITY STILL DIVIDED AS RESIDENTS HEAD TO POLLS

Toowoomba residents are going to the polls this morning to vote on the council’s controversial plan to top up the city’s water supply with recycled effluent.

But residents are still deeply divided on the issue, with strong voices on either side of the debate still trying to win votes at the gates of polling booths.

Secretary of the Toowoomba Green’s Party, Lee Mason was busy handing out “Yes” leaflets at the polling booth at Darling Heights State School.

He says while recycled water is not the answer to Australia’s water crisis; it is one of a number of steps that has to be taken.

“We’ve been in a period of drought; it doesn’t look like it’s going to break, long distance weather forecasters are forecasting that the next hundred years are going to be dryer than this hundred years,

“If we don’t say yes today, the rest of the state will overtake us… we will then get it back [the recycled water] through a pipeline and be much more expensive,” he says.

On the other side of the debate, Colleen, an independent supporter of the “no” vote says that the council’s figure of 25% of the water supply be comprised of the treated effluent, is much too high.

“It’s already been established that they’re having complications in London which is 14%, and the 1% in Singapore, and the customs warn you not to drink the water in Singapore, so it’s a complete controversy,

“For our children’s sake, the pathologists are saying no,” she says.

The polls will remain open until 6:00pm tonight.

Josh and Emily told me I had to update this blog again. So here I am. Updating. Yes.

Sadly, I can't actually remember what they told me to update it with, so until I'm reminded I'll just have to ramble about something else.

I've been living in Brisbane now for maybe five months? Maybe more, maybe less. I could work it out, but I'm a little bit lazy tonight. This entry is dedicated to the people I've left back in Toowoomba. I can hear you all now "Awww, how sweet", well not quite.

While I miss you all, and think about Toowoomba most days, sometimes I even miss the old Garden City, there's just something I'm itching to say.

I'm getting really quite tired of the way people judge me, (and maybe I'm just being a little too sensitive) about my uni life, my work life and my social life. I doubt you even know you do it, but sometimes it just bugs me. If I hear one more person ask me "Why aren't you out partying?" or "What do you actually DO in Brisbane?" I think I might scream. One other enlightened soul had the audacity to tell me that I wasn't doing enough to make new friends.

Us ex-Toowoomba folk, well, we're out on a limb here, fending for ourselves. Realising that if you put that fucking heater on, it costs you money! Sleeping through that alarm and realising that you're just late for uni. No mum to wake you up or drive you there. You sleep through a tutorial, tough luck. Coming to terms with the fact that if you're too lazy to cook, you don't eat. But we cope! Yes, we do!

I really wish I could say we all come together once a week, bond and have a gay old time, but we don't. It's pretty hard to get around without cars. Some of us have them, but then there's the petrol money factor. So we rely on public transport. And so the story goes, the biggest meeting of ex-Toowoomba people I've had was at Tegan's house last month to celebrate Carli's birthday. So that was Tegan, Hailie, her sister, Leisa, Gede and Michael. We all tend not to travel in packs. I see Michael pretty frequently, and Josh ever day of course. I see Emily around as well. But that's when my regular social contact with these people end. I don't see Degan nearly as much as I'd like, and that goes for Leisa and Gede as well. Hailie and Tegan I see occasionally at uni, and God knows there's probably someone I'm missing out.

So I just wanted to make those things clear. We don't party every night, but we DO actually do things and we cope. Just fine thanks.

Gay Marriage

It's about time I got on my soapbox about something, and what better issue is there than gay marriage?

Our politicians and other big-wigs in the last week have been voting, quoting and carrying on about the ACT's decision to allow gay civil unions, which of course was defeated, but we won't go there.

The thing that bothers me the most about this whole debate, is the "open minded" people who are not "homophobic in the slightest" but yet they pull out quotes like:

"I'm all for gay civil unions, but I don't think they should be allowed to get married."

"Civil unions are fine, but marriage is for men and women only."

I am very sorry, but that just doesn't wash with me. Why is a civil union acceptable between two men or two women, but when it comes to using the word "married" it's back to the 1950's way of thinking? Some might say it's got something to do with religion, and maybe that's true. But the people who have quoted the above lines have not once mentioned that religion was the reason behind that opinion.

It seems that all too often people claim to be "open minded" but when it comes to the crunch, they're just as narrow minded half the members of our parliament.

This little fiasco hits a little close to home for me. In the last few months my dear friend Gede has moved in with his boyfriend, as they plan to get married. Actually, knowing Gede they may already be married as he seems to do these things without letting people know! Now, when I say "married", I of course don't mean some big legal binding document, but instead a Pagan "handfasting" ceremony. Now, I can guess pretty much say for certain that this ceremony will mean more to him than any legal document ever could - and that would be no different to a Catholic heterosexual couple valuing their actual wedding ceremony more than the piece of paper - but what I don't understand, is that why, in 2006, is it good enough for a man and a woman to have a stingy, rotten piece of paper declaring to the world that they're married, but two men who love each other can't?

Look I know you can all say "but a civil union is as good as a marriage in legal affairs", but I really don't believe that's the issue here. Wikipeida says "A civil union is a legal agreement between two people". Nothing about love, nothing about relationships. It's just not good enough.

I need to go back to Naomi Robson here - "And let's hope that common sense prevails"

Amen to that.

PS. Maybe not Amen, unless you're from the Uniting Church...

Mamma Mia!

Well, it seems I'm in love with a fictional character.

On Saturday night I went and saw "The Da Vinci Code" to "seek the truth". I did more than seek the truth ;) Hmm, sorry I can't really make things sound dirty AND witty. I'll move right along.

I think a lot of the reason why I liked the movie more than most people is that during the course of the film I developed a rather huge crush on one, Sophie Neveu.

She is one sexy crytological descendant of Jesus, and I'd walk on water with her anytime ;). Oh, wait... she conclusively proved that she couldn't actually walk on water at the end of the movie.

Oh well, we'll have to find something else to occupy our time...

Ellen, have a little fun today...

Sitting at home during the day, as I so often do these days considering I only have 12 hours of uni contact a week, I've come to enjoy the magic of daytime television.

Executives at the television networks might not put much effort into programming decent shows for these timeslots, but in my mind - and in the mind of my friend Lisa, they've done a pretty damn good job.

In a recent conversation, we realised that, if we wanted to, (and puh-leeze, not that we would! [or would we?]) we could happily stay at home for the entire day and keep ourselves entertained simply thanks to the television shows "not good enough" for a PrimeTime slot.

Now, if you've woken up at some unGodly hour - as I have taken to thanks to the constant banging, swearing and loud truck noises outside my window as the construction workers continue to build a brand new block of units behind me - never fear, Kochie and Mel are here.

From 6am - 9am every weekday morning, Kochie, Mel, Nat, Mark and Grant will entertain you with a myriad of news updates, "Why can't you tickle yourself" science segments, and of course all the daily Hollywood gossip with the delightful, yet "I-can't-figure-out-whether-you're-homosexual" Nelson Aspen.

Now, when Sunrise is over, and despite both Lisa and I vowing that daytime television wouldn't be the same without Bert Newton and Moira (who co-incidently, never once thanked Bert Newton in all the years he said "And now, here's Moira...) but "9am with David and Kim" has a certain charm to them -David Reyne with his arrogance he picked up through his years at working on the station that claims to be "Still the One" despite the fact that Seven is whipping its arse in the ratings, and Kim Watkins with her motherly, "what-am-I-doing-on-TEN" smile. Sure, there's no Moira, but they've already started coining their own phrases "Now, let's go for a spin in the 9am shopping cart. And of course, there's still the guy from Exclusive Photography talking to the woman who used to be on Agro.

At 11am when viewers bid farewell to David and Kim, they have two choices as I see fit. If you haven't had enough news - you can tune into TEN's morning news, (which I would personally, no need to strain yourself to reach over and get the remote) or you can switch over to Nine for their take on the days events.

11:30 rolls around and it's time to get a few tips from Australia's very own D-grade celebrities Alyssa-Jane Cook and Lochie Daddo about the best ways to redecorate your home in this cheap mans version of Better Homes and Gardens. It's called Home.Life.Style and it has its charms. It's thrilling to know that when I become a washed up old newsreader that I could probably find a job on daytime television doing this sort of home renovation show, or hosting "Infobreak" - "I've paid more for a cup of coffee..." Yes, I certainly have.

Of course, if you're not too keen on news or home renovation, you could always switch to Seven and watch a few American sitcoms, but they can never decide which one they want to put on. One day it's "Eight Simple Rules" the next it's one of the myraid of "Fat Husband, Hot Wife" sitcoms they've picked up through the years.

12:00 means it's Ellen time though - it's simply the "be all and end all" of daytime television. Move over Oprah, Ellen DeGeneres is here to ensure we all "have a little fun today". That may have sounded sarcastic, but I actually enjoy this show. It has none of the "Oh my God! Are you telling me bird flu WILL kill hundreds of thousands of people in the United States" that Oprah has degenerated into lately. It's fun, it's a little racy and it's a whole lot of lesbian action! Ellen is the hottest talk show host to come out of the United States in recent years and she pulls the talkshow thing off with elegence, grace and a whole lot of dancing.

When Ellen's over, it's time to grab out the Kleenexs and brace yourself for another touching episode of Oprah. There is already too much written on the internet about Oprah, so there's really not a lot left to say about the Queen of Talkshows. However irriating the episode is, it's a staple for daytime viewing.

Now, at 2:00, Seven are showing old episodes of Blue Heelers, that's always a good trip down memory lane. Lately they've playing the episodes that I remember from about 2002 - ah, how Mt Thomas has changed - hot Jo Parish was alive, Tess married a gay guy unwittingly and Tom Croydon wasn't an arsehole. Still, it's a pity Seven have left Blue Heelers to die on Saturday nights. Shame on you.

By this time you're getting pretty damn sick of daytime TV, but there's still some gems - Judge Judy (or Danoz Direct if you live in Southern Cross TEN area). Then you can watch Simon Reeve asking snotty nosed children questions in "It's Academic" and then more news on Seven! After that it's TEN's News @ 5, and you're straight into PrimeTime viewing!

So there you have it, Lisa and I have conclusively proven that you can quite adequately entertain yourself with daytime television. Now if you'll excuse me, Oprah is on.

Whatever happened to Jerry Springer!?