The End of an Era

My blue jacket. My ex hated it. He demanded quite frequently that I ditch it. Things he didn't like about it: its colour, that the lining looked like terry cloth, the cut and its general style. Which made me love it all the more. So much so, that it outlasted our relationship, and it's only now, when the jacket is tatty, ripped, and I've had to cut the cuffs off, that I can admit to myself, that it's time to move on.

The jacket, along with a pair of jeans I bought in Paris (I was miserable and therefore incredibly skinny... I'm happier now and therefore a size bigger than the Paris jeans) and a grey t-shirt are being culled from my already meager wardrobe, for the betterment of the town's clothing donation bin. So long, old friends.

Psychopaths

Good news everyone! I'm not a psychopath, however according to this pseudo-scientific test, I do have criminal leanings...

Psychopath Detector

Glibness/superficial charm = SOMEWHAT
Egocentric, exaggerated self-image = YES
Need for stimulation/bored easily = YES
Pathological lying = NO
Conning and manipulativeness = NO
Lack of remorse or guilt = NO
Shallow emotions = NO
Callousness and lack of empathy = NO
Parasitic lifestyle = NO
Poor behavioral controls = YES
Sexual promiscuity = SOMEWHAT
Childhood behavior problems = NO
Lack of realistic long-term goals = YES
Impulsivity = YES
Irresponsibility = NO
Failure to accept responsibility for actions = NO
Many short-term relationships = NO
Varied criminal behavior = NO
Posts 'first' messages = NO

Probable diagnosis = Non-psychopath with criminal leanings


Psychopathy is a personality disorder largely characterised by a lack of empathy, ruthlessness, charisma, self-centeredness, confidence, and dominance. Not to be confused with sociopaths, who are antisocial, whereas psychopaths are extremely good at manipulating others and fitting in, or with being psychotic, which is suffering from disturbed and irrational thinking, as psychopaths are often think more rationally and analytically than the rest of us.

This article I read recently on psychopaths and psychopathy is really quite interesting -- especially the part about how while most villains in the film and tv industry exhibit psychopathic characteristics, so do most of the heroes. Most psychopaths in real life aren't criminals and in fact are quite successful within society, however, should they turn their minds to crime, they're also quite spectacularly successful at that, too. In light of the recent massive swindle of Société Générale, I can't help wondering if Jérôme Kerviel, the guy they say whodunnit, fits the profile... $7 billion in stock market speculation is pretty big cheese, after all.

Australia Day

Photo courtesy of http://upload.wikimedia.org/

Anyone out there got pics of the 2008 show?

January 25: The infamous day when Captain Kirk, oops I mean, Captain Cook landed at Sydney Cove to commence the white settlement (and black massacre) of Australia. Well, at least we have a government party in power now which might actually say the S word... let's see how the first sitting of parliament goes before we get too confident though...

Ugly history aside, Australia Day is one of the few traditions we have that isn't pilfered from some other country or culture. In WA is a great time for heading down to the river foreshore in the morning, get drunk, play cricket or footy or whatever, have a barbie (that's a barbeque, not a doll), drink and eat some more,(in that order) until 8:30pm or so, when the Lotto Skyworks go off. Fireworks! Yay loud sounds and bright lights!!

Admittedly, I've never actually done the full-on-all-day-foreshore deal. In fact, the closest I've gotten is arriving at the river in the late afternoon with a picnic blanket and some snacks... and in 2005, when I was living in Mt Pleasant, I forgot all about the Skyworks until about 5 minutes after they started, but at least when I ran to the end of my street I still had a reasonable, if distant view.

But, anyway, nevermind that! Here's to all you sandgropers out there who kept up the tradition yesterday!

Château de Berne

Château de Berne is situated north of Lorgues, a really nice, though overly hilly, 3km walk (or drive, if I had a car and wasn't freaked out by having to drive on the right hand side of the road). It hosts concerts and exhibitions, has a hotel, vineyards and gourmet cuisine courses, not that I went to any of those, I just poked around the grounds, avoided the guard dog and hoped like hell the vignerons wouldn't come up to me and ask me exactly what I was doing...

Singledom

Well, apparently I've been single for long enough now that people feel comfortable asking me how my love life is. Just buy me a giant pair of underwear, a copy of "All By Myself" and call me Bridget Jones...

Falling Leaves

Nothing like a pretty bit of fluff =)

Evil's Skydive

My sister sky dived on New Year's Eve arvo!

Circus Beserkus

The circus came to Lorgues this weekend. Nothing gigantic and spectacular like Cirque du Soleil, but on the flip side, nowhere near as expensive either. The animal acts were unexciting and a bit sad, but the clown was quite funny (he made lots of puns in French, that I actually understood... admittedly, the show is aimed at children under 12 years old...) and the acrobats were impressive, and muscular! They cartwheeled, somersaulted, stood on their hands, jumped, tumbled and etc, all hither and thither, high and low with NO safety net!

The whole shebang was run by a couple of families, even the kids were involved the animal training and gymnastics of the show! (When do the carnie kids go to school? Who is teaching them how to read or do long division?!) It's a dying business though; the audience was small and I think people nowadays prefer their Nintendo Wiis...

Thursday

There should be some kind of morning after pill for holidays so that you can avoid feeling like crap upon returning to mundanity. Well, in lieu of taking photos or buying souvenirs, I'll always have the memories... that is until dementia sets in! Lucky for me, some other people I know do take photos...



The Sunday before I left Prague, it snowed, we played and fought in the snow and then went home for hot wine and various other stuff... a perfect day.

Ahh, kids...

They're a lot of work and more often than not, pains in the asses. But when they're really young and unjaded, they just don't hold anything back at all, especially the good stuff. After my three week absence, Baptiste (the boy I'm looking after in France) found his nounou had come back to play with him. I don't think I've ever seen anyone as unashamedly happy to see me, ever.

Jiggity Jig

To Prague, to Prague,
To eat like a pig.
Home again, home again...

Well, you know the rest.

My excuses for not writing much these past couple of weeks range from the weak (too cold outside and me too lazy to go to an internet cafe) to the partially weak (busy having fun and eating yummy food).

So then, what? I've eaten well, laughed a lot and enjoyed some great company. Along the way I saw a bit more of Germany and the Czech Republic, not that I took any photos. And now, back in Lorgues, it's as if the last three weeks haven't happened at all, except as some happy delusion in my mind. (It probably is delusional to think I could be that happy on a permanent basis).

In Prague I visited Strakonice, Cesky Krumlov, watched some fireworks, went for a long hike to look at various gigantic statues carved into boulders, went to the ballet, made a snowman almost as tall as me, watched countless hours of Czech Christmas TV programming, spent several happy nights at the pub and just generally had a good time.

In Berlin, did a walking tour which was great (though it would have been even better had I not been freezing my arse off), visited some museum whose name eludes me, but who had some very nice artefacts salvaged (pillaged?) from Babylon, learnt a bit more about pre-united Germany and even more about myself.

In Potsdam, visited the big park that (I think) was named with Australians in mind: Sanssouci (no worries, heheh) sketched, enjoyed the wide open spaces and pretty trees, walked around town and finally gave in to the cold, spending the rest of the afternoon indoors with some hot wine.

So, what, then? After a while, does it not seem like the endless litany of places visited and things done becomes some kind of keeping-up-with-the-Joneses for the 00s? Instad of mindlessly acquiring gadgets, clothing, knick-knacks or other possessions, or mindfully acquiring shares, property or other investments, is it now a case of collecting travel experiences and listing them like some kind of new, intangible materialism, some kind social passport to being interesting to others?

The litanies of others bore me. My own litany bores me.

Probably I'll feel a bit more optimistic about normal life when I've forgotten a little how nice a time I had on holiday, or at least when the gigantic pile of laundry in the corner of my room has lessened somewhat.