Caring for Bears

Animals Asia

I seem to have inherited my family trait of devotion to animals in spades. You only need to check out the number of dogs in attendance at our family gatherings (who usually outnumber the humans) to realise we're fanatical dog lovers. All very spoiled little pooches of course, I might add. However I believe it's important also, where we can, to try and support those many animals who don't have devoted owners and in fact are subjected to all manner of inhumane, cruel and neglectful treatment, for no reason other than that they can't adequately defend themselves.

A few years ago, when planning a trip to Thailand, my travel agent gave me some literature on Animals Asia, an organisation which is doing some wonderful work with many animals at risk in Asia, in particular the Asian Moon Bears. I have been a regular supporter of Animals Asia since then. The Foundation is a Hong Kong-based government-registered animal welfare charity founded by an Australian, Jill Robinson MBE, in 1998. The organisation is dedicated to improving the lives of wild, domesticated and endangered species, ending cruelty and restoring respect for animals Asia-wide. Moon Bears have been killed for their gall bladders for 1,000s of years in Asia, as well as having been subjected to the grossest forms of cruelty and torture to extract their bile. Jill Robinson is doing magnificent work in educating those involved to stop this practice, rescuing and treating bears who have been subjected to it and setting up sanctuaries for them where they can live out the rest of their lives in peace and free from suffering.

Do check out their website. There are many ways of giving support, through purchasing gifts, making donations, sponsoring bears and even giving presents to the bears at Christmas.

More adventures in looking for luurve online

A major area of debate with myself in the online dating venture has been deciding whether to show or not to show the photo. I am currently fearlessly exposed, so to speak as am conducting a sort of self-experiment to gauge whether or not my success rate zooms or plummets. Prior to this, suffice to say that most of my efforts (about which I remain extremely ambivalent) had met with resounding, even deafening failure।

Well as they say it's a feast or a famine। Having bravely left my moniker displayed for all to see (hopefully not the boss or anyone else who thinks I'm much too refined for such activities), I added grist to the mill by including a couple more recent shots I had taken professionally for another purpose (seriously). These are if I may say so myself, quite flattering of yours truly. In other words the photographer (more on him in another post) had performed miracles
with, I'm assured, the assistance of only minimal air brushing ... I know, that's what they all say.

Anyway what had been a spark of interest generated by the original photo, erupted into a virtual torrent of contacts. Three days later I was still ploughing through the various entreaties attempting to make considered assessments and politely respond (as we online daters are strictly instructed to do.) Until I lost the plot after a trying day at work and in the attempt to
sort the wheat from the chaff (no offence intended ... as of course what may be chaff to me could very well be someone else's Mr Right (or Mr Weetbix as the case may be), managed to delete the lot. Oh well, there's always next weekend. It seems the weekend is the peak time
for online dating activity - whether it's the climax to a week of frustrated singledom or the home alone on Saturday night again syndrome, I don't know. But the week days in between seem much quieter by comparison. Good thing, I say, gives one time to draw breath.

On the matter of polite responses, previously referred to, the online dating agencies seem rather anal in their fixation about the need for this. To the extent the one I use provides quite a long list of standard pre-prepared one liners, from which one may choose. In their attempts however to couch rejections tactfully, most of the ones that mean "thanks but no thanks" begin with "xxx is thrilled to have received a kiss from you ... however". Now to me this is a wild assumption and a blatant fabrication. If xxx was indeed "thrilled", I doubt she'd be batting the kisser away like a pesky fly. On the contrary, on the rare occasions when a photo and/or profile or email
goes so far as to generate a thrill, one loses sleep waiting for the next exchange! So why can't they tone it down a bit, e.g. something along the lines of "xxx understands your interest and sympathises with your desperation, however you are not ringing any bells with her".
Alternatively, a polite but tactful silence would, I think, be all the message anyone of any discernment should reasonably require.

----------------------------------------------------------------
EscapeNet - Flat rate ADSL2+ broadband from $19.90
http://www.esc.net.au/

Music to quiet the soul

I stumbled upon Levon Minassian, this sublime Armenian artist of the "doudouk" on a world music site called Calabash and fell instantly in love. The album I first heard was "Songs from a World Apart" - aptly titled, as his music literally does transport you to another world ... do have a listen.

When I figure out how to put music on here, I'll try to put it up, in the meantime clicking on his website link above, will play samples.

Bookaholics Anonymous

Given my addiction to books, I was intrigued to note there is in fact such an entity as "BA", although currently no chapter exists in South Australia. Perhaps I should start one. However with the escalating popularity of Blogs on every conceivable subject, not surprisingly there is a multitude dedicated to books. So probably enough is enough. For those who are interested in checking out book blogs, BookFox gives a fairly comprehensive list.

My love of reading started from a very early age. When I turned one, my grandmother presented me with the first of many "Anne of Green Gables" books, presumably on the premise that it's never to early to develop a love of books. (I'd like to say I read it in one sitting, but child prodigy I wasn't!). My reading tastes could be called eclectic, or more honestly random and haphazard and I usually have several on the go at once. I'll keep my "current reading" list updated and will welcome any suggestions, recommendations, reviews or whatever.

Lurve on the Internet

Herein I must say a few words about my ongoing experiences with online dating. As my friends know, I have been single for quite a few years now since the demise of my second marriage.
In the earlier years, well at least before I turned (gasp!) 60 (herinafter referred to as BITGS) this was purely a matter of choice, and there were in fact frequent brushes with romance, some lengthier than others. I hesitate to launch into a roll-call here but there were some notables among them.
From time to time encounters were precipitated by an audacious venture into the world of online dating, which occasioned some optimistic leads at times. At other times Mr Potential materialised in a comfortingly sane non-cyber sort of way. Sadly the last few years have been unkind in the serendipitous romantic encounter domain and of late I have been lurking the murky corridors of one well known online dating site more often than is probably wise.
It occurred to me that the discrete blogging (no real names used of course) of a few of the more amusing excerpts from my online dating experiences may be entertaining and/or instructive especially to those women friends who are similarly partner-challenged and thinking about taking the plunge into the online minefield.
There is no dearth of advice, instruction, helpful hints, warnings etc. available now in the public domain to the hapless (or hapfull???) online dater, but nothing beats a bit of personal experience in my view. Before I launch into the truth and nothing but, an introductory list of basic do's and don'ts compiled by experts in the field may be a good intro.
I wholeheartedly endorse this list, but would include a few additional tips - take a pinch of healthy scepticism, a tablespoonful of honesty, a bucketful of caution and common sense, chuck away all expectations, throw caution to the winds and enjoy!!!

Love it!!!

"The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt". Bertrand Russell .......... mmmm some examples just spring fully formed to mind don't they ???

Women in Politics

Have just finished reading “Getting Even:– Women MPs on Life, Power and Politics” by Anne Henderson. For a political afficionado like me, makes fascinating reading. My interest in politics was initially sparked by several years as a political staffer, which led to a period of party membership, and has been reinforced by the completion of a degree in Politics last year. For any woman with aspirations to a political career this book should be required reading. It is a very frank account of the difficulties women face in entering what is still a very blokey world. She claims that things have changed for the better, citing as examples the 1996 and 1998 elections in Australia which saw a significant influx of new women MPs into Parliament, a trend also seen in State Parliaments, however it is debatable just how much has really changed. What does appear to be a persistent trend, and I have read a previous book on this called “Media tarts: how the Australian press frames female politicians” by Julia Baird (great cover by the way) .. is the savagery with which women MP's are treated by the media, in comparison to men. Everything about them is dissected in brutal frankness from hairstyles, clothes, demeanour, speaking voice, partners or lack thereof, even empty fruitbowls! This just doesn’t happen to the blokes, many of whom quite frankly could equally do with a makeover in the hairstyle and dress departments. Why? Henderson suggests it’s because women by virtue of their gender are always going to be judged on the basis of their physical attributes and conformity or otherwise to prevailing standards of acceptable (read non-threatening to men) behaviour. Of course in any sphere women with ambition, power and influence often become targets of misogyny from not only men, but other less successful women in many cases.