New article published

Published in Signs of the Times, June 2010.

Other published articles can be found here.

Braided scarf

Made my very first pom pom a few weeks ago. It turned out to be so easy and a really excellent way of using up scraps of yarn.

I'm going around making pom poms as and when I feel like it now. I've made four more since, and two have been attached to an elastic to be used as a hair tie. The other two...I'll decide later.

But these particular pom-poms were attached to the end of a scarf done in a cabled pattern that made it look like it was braided. Real easy pattern and you can pretty much knit it up on auto-pilot when you've memorised it (which is not hard at all)!

Pattern here.

First female PM in Oz?

 So, it seems that Australia now has its first female prime minister.

It's been a pretty exciting last couple of years - both Queensland and New South Wales now have female premiers as well.

The interesting thing though is the fact that (if I remember correctly), not one of the female leaders were actually elected per se, they were simply appointed after the man in the job quit/stepped down. This theory is now moot since I've been told that Anna Bligh was actually elected :) (And yes, I realise that when Australia votes, it's for the party, not the person. But the leader of the party when it got elected was a man, not a woman.) I'm not quite sure what that means, other than, hmm...it's interesting.

Would be curious to see what difference a female PM would have on the country!

The ridiculous price we pay for entertainment

Just read in the news today that the stars of Big Bang Theory are asking for a 285% increase in their paychecks. So if they get their way, they'd be getting about well, $250,000 per episode.

$250,000!?!?

That's about how much I'd possibly earn in several years, and that's not even including the fact that I still have to pay rent, food, petrol, tax and all!

Don't get me wrong, Big Bang Theory is one of my favourite sitcoms. I love the show and I would like to see the actors getting paid for their services. But $250,000 per 30 minute episode? Surely that's a bit much.

Yes, I can see that they probably don't just work 30 minutes to produce an episode, but surely they don't put in, oh, say five years worth of work for it!

And even if they didn't get the pay increase, their current rate of $65,000 per episode has got to be pretty darn good too.


That's per episode folks, not a year. I think they make about 13 episodes per season/year? You do the math.

It's a really strange statement it makes about the state of our world today, that we put so much value in entertainment that those in the industry are one of the most highest paid professionals in the world.

Even a doctor, who saves lives, don't get paid that much in a year. And they're actually making a difference in the world.

I have nothing against actors. In fact, I admire their talent and will not hesitate to admit that I'm an ardent consumer of the entertainment industry. But I simply cannot understand or fathom why we would place so much value on what is ultimately meaningless drivel and yet turn a blind eye to the people who contribute so much more to our survival - farmers, medical professionals, teachers and the like.

If I didn't know better, I'd say that our society has become so consumer-driven that we'd pay people big bucks simply so that we can earn even bigger bucks. Oh wait, that's exactly what the TV stations are doing with their TV stars, in the hopes of earning a fortune from companies who will place ads in the shows, in the hopes of earning a fortune from us.

Church personalities?

Seems that some British academics have discovered that church actually attracts a certain demographic of psychological types.

According to the National Church Life Survey (NCLS), "They wondered whether the strong presence of certain psychological characteristics among churchgoers could mean that those with differing psychological types may sometimes feel alienated."

Using the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, they discovered that there is an extremely high percentage of church attenders whose psychological types are:

S - sensing
F - feeling
J - judging

(there is an almost equal number of E and I types).

In NCLS' media release:

They said the over-representation of preference for “sensing” characterised a community concerned with continuity, with traditions, with stability, and with a God grounded in divine changelessness. “Here is a community concerned with guarding what has been handed down by previous generations.

“A community shaped by such a pronounced preference for sensing may, however, be quite alien to individuals who view the world through the lens of intuition.”

The researchers said the over-representation of preference for judging characterised a community concerned with organisation, with discipline, with structure and with a God who welcomes a regular pattern of worship (whatever that pattern might be).

“Here is a community concerned with valuing regular commitment, advanced planning and respect for guidelines (implicit as well as explicit). Such a community may tend to reject spontaneity and flexibility. A community shaped by such a pronounced preference for judging may, however, be quite alien to individuals who view the world through the lens of perceiving.”

The over-representation of preference for feeling characterised a community concerned with human values, with interpersonal relationships and with a loving and caring God. “Here is a community concerned with peace and with harmony. Such a community may tend to project a feminine profile, given the significantly higher levels of preference for feeling reported among women than among men in many national population studies.

“A community shaped by a preference for feeling may, however, be quite alien to individuals who view the world through the lens of thinking.”

***

I'd always thought that the church attracts a certain personality type, but to have it confirmed by academics is rather interesting to me, perhaps more so because my psychological type doesn't actually match that of the majority.

Perhaps that explains why I get frustrated sometimes and why I cannot understand why people cannot see things the way I do?

And perhaps the reason why churches cannot seem to reach out to everybody in the community is because we lack the understanding on how to reach out to certain personality types that are foreign to our own?

What about Jesus? Does He appeal only to certain personality types, or is it simply a church/organised religion thing?

Enough

While editing an article for work a few days back, I came across this verse from the Bible:

"Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised" (Job 1:21).

I've been thinking a lot about shopping, owning...well, material possessions, lately, thanks largely to this book by John Naish:

It's an interesting book. I don't completely agree with what Naish has to say, largely because he believes our drive to consume more, work more, want more options, become more technologically dependent, etc., stems from our Neanderthal roots.

But despite the strong evolutionary emphasis, both the book and the verse got me wondering, "Just how attached am I to my material possessions?"

I'd like to believe that I'm not that attached, that I really can live without whatever material goods I've got in my life. After all, going on holidays have proven to me that I really can survive with only a few items of clothing and without whatever I've got at home.

But if that's true, then why do I sometimes feel an innate need to go shopping and buy more? If I am not attached to the stuff that I've got, why do I want to get more of the same (or not so same) stuff?

Because ultimately, it's all just...stuff, isn't it? Why do we fill our lives with so much stuff? So much so that we transform our garages into stuff-holding rooms and perhaps even hire storage areas just to hold more of our stuff. Stuff that we may not even know we've got, or even need to have.

Sure, some of it makes a lives better or entertains us, but do we need to have that much stuff that we don't even have time to use all the stuff?

And if we don't actually purchase all that stuff, will we feel willing and able to give the money used to obtain those stuff to the poor?

Perhaps it's time to rethink all the stuff in our lives or even our need to introduce more stuff into our lives because after all, just as we've entered naked into this world, we will depart naked, without our stuff.

How attached are you to your stuff?

New articles published

I've just returned from a two week holiday, which explains the lack of updates on this page. Am slowing catching up on the mountain of paperwork on my desk and the crazy amount of emails in my inbox, so it shouldn't be long before I start writing again.

In the meantime, if you're interested, you can catch up on some of my writings over the last couple of months, including:

An interview with Stan Walker

An article on Cate Blanchett

and most recently, a how-to piece on avoiding debt.

Sleeves #2

My aunt liked my sleeves so much she decided she wanted a pair as well. So after about 10 days of knitting (most of which was done in the car while commuting to work), they're ready to be mailed off.

OMG they had sex!

It's an ironical age that we live in.

We like to think ourselves advanced and modern. We like to believe that the sexual revolution helped us in becoming less prudish and more liberated.

We tell ourselves that it's alright for people to have sexual relations outside of marriage. In fact, it's virtually society's norm.

Sex is no longer meant to be something whispered, but something as normal as say, having dinner.

Then why is it that every trashy/gossip magazine that you pick up inevitably revolves around who had sex with whom, when, where and how?

If it's that normal, why are we still gasping when we realise that hey, celebrities have sex too!

And why this endless intense interest in whether Tiger Woods had 101 sexual partners and who Paris Hilton is sleeping with currently?

Ok, so maybe what Tiger did was wrong. There is no way to justify cheating on someone that you've promised to be true to. But I have a sneaky suspicion that the interest is not because of his cheating heart, but because he actually had, OMG, sex! Several times! With several different people!

Why are we so obsessed with something when we keep telling ourselves and everybody else that it's nothing much to talk about any more?

Natural weight

Had a real lovely time at the beach with D yesterday. While there, we hung out at a cafe having a late brunch and reading the Sunday papers and I came across a rather interesting article exploring whether we all have a "natural" weight.

You know how some people just seem to stay skinny no matter how much they eat? And then those who can't seem to diet successfully?

In a recent documentary for BBC2’s Horizon, 10 “naturally slim” volunteers ate almost double their usual kilojoules (14,651 for women, 20,930 for men) for four weeks.

Eight gained weight but two were physically unable to eat that amount of kilojoules, and one of them even lost weight over the month.

Most interestingly, they all reverted to their previous weight within weeks of the trial ending, without dieting.

Dr Susan Roberts, author of The Instinct Diet (Workman), has found similar results.

“I have conducted food trials where we have enlisted ‘naturally skinny’ volunteers to increase their kilojoule intake and they really struggled to overeat at every meal.

Left to their own devices, their instincts were to skip a meal or go light on supper to balance out their intake.”

So your annoyingly “naturally skinny” friend will in fact be unconsciously eating less and regulating her meals.

I'm not sure just how accurate or how true the results are, considering we've all been struggling to find out the secret behind being slim and successful dieting for as long as I can remember, but I have to admit that there is some truth behind this study.

It's interesting that it's no longer about metabolism, but simply about our natural tendency towards something.

Ironical also because I had such a big meal at brunch, I ended up only eating one meal yesterday.

Angua boots

I wrote about the bag that I was going to put these in a while ago, but never actually wrote about the actual project since I wanted the owner to see it first. Now that she has, I can talk about these socks/boots things.


I love them!

I knitted them with two strands of 8-ply yarn, so it's really chunky and gives it a rugged kind of look. They were originally meant for a stage production so that they looked like boots without the chunkiness or clunkiness of boots and I think they would have served quite well.

But I think they serve very well as house socks on a cold winter's night too.

Wonder when I'll make a pair for myself...

Munty

So I was leafing through this magazine in the library and found this gorgeous pattern for a stuffed bunny. In the photoshoot for the magazine, the bunny looked really cute and since Easter is approaching, I thought he might be a great sewing project.

Instead of stuffing him with stuffed toy-stuffing, I stuffed him with rice, with plans to use him as a heat pack. I was given some free scrap fabric months ago from Freecycle and so decided to simply use whatever fabric that I could scrounge.

I'm not sure if it's such a good idea because instead of gorgeous, perfect bunny, I ended up with Munty.


He's my munted bunny.

He can't sit up straight, he's not particularly stuffed and well, he's just not finished professionally. People would probably laugh in my face if I even tried to sell him. But you know what? He's so ridiculously looking he makes me smile. So I think he's served his purpose.


Now we'll find out if he'll serve as a nice heat pack come winter.

June lady sweater

10 months. That's how long it took for me to knit up this sweater.


Sure, there were loads of other projects in between, but this sweater definitely needed stamina and patience. There were times when I really wanted to simply give up. I'm used to knitting up quick stuff that take at the most a month to complete. I'd never attempted something so big and so cumbersome for such a long time.

There were times when I simply wanted to give up. And most of all, there were times when I just wasn't sure if what I was doing was right and that the sweater would either fit or even look like a sweater.

But well, in a grand story of perseverance, stubbornness and perhaps sheer stupidity, I've completed my June lady sweater! (It's called the February lady sweater, but I started it in June last year, so well...)


It's not that hard a design actually. It just needed concentration at some parts sleeves, increases, etc. The lace repeats were really easy and I had them memorised soon enough.

The sleeves are alternated black and orange not solely because of design - I just didn't have enough orange yarn for the whole sleeve. I had initially wanted the sleeves to be super-long, but well, a lack of yarn meant it stayed 3/4 long. I don't think it looks half bad though.

And because I just cannot have things looking too normal, I decided to alternate the colours of the buttons too.


And just in time for autumn!

Now, what grand project will I embark on next?

Pattern here.

Purple headband

Today has been a great day. Yesterday, I finished knitting a jacket that I have been working on for the last 10 months (yes, 10) and this morning? Sewed up a headband for myself.


I've actually sewed this before for friends but liked it so much I decided I needed one for myself too.

Having done this before has made it much easier to sew up again and I think it looks much better the third time round too!


The jacket is currently being blocked and will need buttons sewed on, so when that's done, you'll be seeing pics, as well as my Easter sewing project that is halfway done!

On the case of Etsy.

I have once heralded the wonders of Etsy, but I feel an urge to talk about it and the principles behind it once again.

It's true that the prices of the products sold in Etsy may seem a little dearer, but in actual fact, it's the price we would all pay for products if it weren't for big corporations and their dodgy practices.

Why are the prices low for products?

1. Mass production - it's the same premise as when you buy things in bulk. The more you buy, the cheaper it gets. The more you produce/can sell, the cheaper it is. The downside of this is that everyone ends up looking like clones of everyone else because there are so many of the same things out there.

2. Sweatshop labour - I'm not saying that all corporations adhere to this, but more often than not, products are cheap because labour is cheap. How do you get labour to be cheap? Easy. Ensure people don't get paid minimum wage so they can barely make ends meet with what they're earning. Make them work long hours without breaks (even toilet ones) and remove whatever benefits they have. In some rare cases, employ children. Do we want to be responsible for the suffering of another human being?

These are the two main reasons why I try to avoid purchasing things on a whim. It may seem pretty, it may seem nice, it may seem cheap, but really, what kind of other prices are you paying in order to satisfy a short-term desire?

What can we do about this?

1. Cut down buying - do you really have to have something?

2. Go op-shopping/buy secondhand - I'd be the first to admit it's not easy. I've been looking for a pair of lightweight travel/casual trousers for a while now and have not had much success. But when you do find something, remember that you're helping to reduce your impact on the world because you've bought something that would have otherwise gone into the bin. And there are success stories. I've also bought numerous other great stuff at a fraction of their price.

3. Support handmade - and this is where Etsy comes in. Etsy supports people who do not mass-produce, people who do not have sweatshop labour practices. The people who sell the products are the people who make it themselves. Best of all, the products are either unique or are produced in a very small quantity, which means you will never run the risk of bumping into someone with the exact same thing as you.

4. Make it yourself - it takes time and I know not many people are into this. But believe me when I say there is great satisfaction in producing something yourself.

The prices in Etsy are seemingly high only because we have become used to the low prices of a sweatshop economy. In actual fact, Etsy prices are fair because they actually help people earn a living, not simply an existence.

And perhaps in conclusion, the question to ask is, "If you can't afford its real price, do you really have to have it?"

Celebrate what's right with the world

This video has been doing its rounds but it's such a positive and beautiful clip that I had to share just in case someone hasn't seen it.

It really resonates with me not because of its message, but also because Dewitt Jones, the presenter, is a National Geographic photographer.

I have never thought of being a photographer for Nat Geo (although I do have a keen interest in photography) but I have always dreamed of writing for Nat Geo or producing docos for them. I really wanted it so much that I even did an internship with them one summer. I really enjoyed the experience and would still jump at the chance if it ever came.

But anyway, the philosophy of the clip, that we need to focus on the positive (the glass is half full attitude) is amazing and presented in such an attractive way.

Enjoy.

Sleep your way to the top

I guess what caught my eye about this story in the first place was the fact that it was a seemingly inconsequential kind of news about Singapore that was featured in the Sydney Morning Herald.

Throughout my career, I have been taught (and also teach others) that news is only news when it is relevant to the local population that the paper is based in. News about the extramarital affairs of a Singaporean director in Singapore really seemed irrelevant to Sydneysiders who would probably be more interested to find out if say, Baz Luhrmann or Hugh Jackman had an affair, or if the Sydney Harbour Bridge is going to get airlifted into Brisbane and placed there as a permanent fixture.

But the story of a Singapore director who is virtually unknown in Australia? Even news of director based in Singapore who was born in Sydney was probably more relevant! However, it made the news, and so I decided to read on.

Turns out Mr “I am Singapore’s Tiger Woods” had been having affairs with young, nubile actresses/models by promising them juicy roles in his future films and a certain dose of fame and fortune. And that is what I find rather sad.

I suppose it’s a rather common occurrence. I mean, we even joke about it. That in order to be successful, one basically had to sleep their way to the top. But to know that it’s actually happening? I cannot understand it.

What drives people to be so desperate for stardom that a 20-year-old would even agree to sleep with someone at the virile age of 50 and nowhere near attractive? And to even believe that his assurance of fame are not simply empty promises?

Maybe I’m just a born cynic. I don’t trust people until they have proven without a doubt to me that they can be trusted. So what seems like a flimsy promise of “sleep with me and I’ll make you famous” just doesn’t add up to me. I might consider it if it were “I’ll make you famous first then you have to sleep with me,” but even then, I’d shudder if the person making the proposition were Mr Neo.

What is it that drives these people? Have they no other hope of making something of their lives accept to bargain moral activities with a married man? It isn’t so much that Mr Neo is older and unattractive. It is the fact that he is married and obviously making sleezy offers.

It would have to take someone rather desperate or naïve (let’s not forget his mistresses start from the ripe old age of 16) to take Mr Neo up on his offer.

And that is my point. Be it the desire of success or of becoming a celebrity, such need to be at the top (pardon the pun) that blinds people to making rather shady moral and ethical decisions is something that needs to be addressed. We are raised in a society that teaches us that we have to be the best in whatever we do, and we should stop at nothing to be the best, or otherwise we are worth nothing.

Really?

Is it really worth it?

I’d like to think not because at the end of the day, when you’re lying in bed in the dark, you still have yourself to live with.

Give me a happy, fulfilling life without the opulence of monetary success any day.

Rainbow elf socks

I'm beginning to realise that blogging takes time. I'm a slow learner, I know.

The problem with changing jobs and no longer having internet access at home is that I find myself having less time to blog while at work, and when I'm at home and have the time to think and reflect upon things, I don't actually have an internet access to blog about it.

The upside is that I'm loving my new job and I'm getting a data plan on my new phone, which can act as a modem for my laptop, which means I may be back more frequently. Don't hold your breath though.

Anyhoo, I'm still knitting. And the latest commissioned project is...a pair of rainbow elf socks!


I think they're really cute, if I may say so myself :)

They're actually my first completed pair of socks. I tried knitting socks for myself before, but the thin yarn just got too finnicky for my liking. Give me big, chunky yarn any day.

But these were baby-sized and so were actually quite fun and quick to knit up! I didn't plan for the colours of both socks to match up, it just turned out that way (I was using self-striping yarn).

Being vegetarian

Another article worth re-publishing, considering I sometimes get the "So, do you eat fish?" question when I tell people I'm vegetarian.

And don't get me started on people who tell me, with a straight face, that they're vegetarian, but they eat chicken. How does that constitute being vegetarian?

Personally, I have no problems with other people eating meat, I just don't like it when people try to demean my diet choice. Hey, I don't push salad in your face, so don't push meat in mine.

But to my friends, thank you for respecting me.

The last time I checked, chickens and fish still belonged to the animal kingdom, as opposed to the vegetable realm. So why, when you tell them you're a vegetarian, do restaurant staff insist on asking ''But do you eat chicken or fish?'' This is, I can assure you, but one of a seemingly infinite litany of irritations besetting a vego in this wonderful town. On the eating-out side alone, one might add the chronically limited range of options on menus. Sometimes you get ''placated'' with an offer to remove the meat from a carnivorous dish, leaving you with just the salad. Or else there is only salad in the first place. Or nothing.

And another thing! Why are the vegetarian desserts on planes always so goody-goody? Everybody else gets a chocolate mousse or the like, which would be fine for us too; we get palmed off with fruit salad. Just because you've elected not to make your mouth a graveyard for animals, it doesn't necessarily follow that you're a health freak.

Then there are those ubiquitous people who are determined to catch you out as a hypocrite, or to force you to justify yourself. Nobody's taking them to task, but they insist on launching a pre-emptive strike. ''Hitler was a vegetarian'' is one of their familiar and supposedly damning refrains. So what? He had a moustache, too. So is wearing a moustache wrong? Actually it is, but I digress.

Personally, I'm in no position to be self-righteous. I ate meat until 16 years ago, and anyway it's all relative, and we all compromise and draw a line somewhere. Vegans are my moral superiors, and arguably those Buddhist types who wait for the fruit to drop from the tree have the edge on them.

But if anyone wants to kill animals, can they please at least stop being so damn cute about it? Sentimental ads with kindly grandfathers taking angelic little boys fishing may look pretty, but they can't change the reality of a hook through the gills and a slow suffocating death. And the same, of course, goes for hunting. Not to mention mawkish articles about, say, pork farmers, with photos of them beaming as they cuddle their ''beloved'' piglets.

Almost as stupid and delusive are the selective qualms many people do have about killing. Do they seriously imagine that fish, cows, sheep, pigs, lobsters or chooks feel less pain than, say, whales or baby seals? Or is their pain somehow just less important? Death is death.

But hey, do what you want. It's a free country (unfortunately). I just wish that those who choose to eat meat would consider the small and benighted - but growing - minority who choose differently.

by Mark Demetrius

Entering the giant's garden...revisited

Wrote this article a while ago, but only recently got it published in...Australian Traveller!

Note: The photos were actually by D, not me.