I can't believe -

I haven't written anything since Christmas. I also haven't read any of my favourite blogs since then (sorry).

So much has happened since then, in the world and in my own life. Therefore, there are a lot of things I could write about right now, like:

1) My overactive imagination that's been keeping me awake since NYE, despite the educated, rational person inside me debunking all my irrational qualms. The latest events in Japan and New Zealand (yeah, there was an earthquake there too, I didn't forget) haven't helped. Not to mention the massive moon that came around two nights ago, which is actually kinda cool.

2) I'm half way through Los Peregrinos, and have put it on hold for the next item on this list. And I'm 9000 words into a new project which I'm a little excited about.

3) I've spent the last five weeks traveling around the USA, visiting family and friends, and checking out cities I've never seen before. I decided this trip was reason enough to put on hold the WiP, and the relaxed attitude towards writing has caused me to start the new WiP (currently being called Apprentice Witch). So it's been an amazing experience, and has caused me to muse on different options for my future in terms of writing career and personally as well.

4) Now that I'm heading home, and arriving two days into the future (love time zones), I'm going to have to get a job, and possibly go house hunting. I've been staying with a friend in Sydney, and it's supposed to be temporary.

So, now that I've finished this post, I might just wander by and check out what's new with some of my favourite bloggers.

Water!

Yup, today is Blog Action Day 2010. And I was going to talk about it being a precious commodity - which it is, and no one should take it for granted. But it's hard to think like that since Canberra has been inundated by rain this past week and today was the worst! It's brought out the slugs - and I HATE SLUGS! Just thinking about them makes my skin crawl, and I'm pretty sure I won't be able to sleep tonight for fear that they could be sliming across my window pane. I hate them more than spiders or cockroaches. Seriously, the freak me out.

ANYWAY, because of this, I'm going to talk about being safe around the water. Whenever I find out someone I know can't swim, I never know what to say. It's such an important life skill. Even if you can't swim marathons, it's so important to know how to keep yourself alive if you're ever in an aquatic snafu.
At work, it was Water Safety Week this week, so it coincides with the Water topic quite well. The children learnt how to do safety jumps, and keep themselves afloat, as well as endurance swimming. For the little ones, we teach them to turn to the nearest edge should they fall in.
 I'm not sure what the statistics are, but the Austswim organisation once advertised for volunteers to teach swimming in third world countries. We talk about the safety of drinking water, and the availability of water in general. These are important. But what about those children who never learned to swim. Every year all around the world, there are kids who are permanently, seriously or fatally injured because they never learned how to swim.
 It is such an important part of a child's physical education, and more parents should make it part of their child's life. What would be even greater is if more Governments - local, state, national and international - could subsidise parents for giving their children the opportunity to save their own lives. The two weeks that ACT schools have for swimming lessons per year is not enough. If you only devoted half an hour a day for ten days a year to something, how well do you think you'd know it?

And lastly, the earlier a child learns how to move in water, the more capable they are at reaching the edge of a pool on their own if they fall in, and the less likely they are to panic when all they have to do is swim a few metres and they'll be in their own depth. Having said this, it is also never too late to learn either.

Lastly (really this time), swimming is fun! So it's a life skill that is also an enjoyable vocation :)

What to say, what to say.

Hi guys.

I was almost not going to post today because I can't settle on any one topic, none of them seem interesting enough to blog about. They are things like food, feeling helpless about the state of the world, and why I love my job. All are things that are valid, but I haven't been able to give any of them enough thought to come up with a cohesive and worthy post.

But. I will talk about the weather.

It is Spring here in Canberra, and for a few glorious weeks, I was able to sit and enjoy it. It was that perfect amount of warmth that only ever comes in Spring or Autumn, and there were blossoms everywhere, along with the new little green leaves of the imported trees. 

Well, the blossoms are still around, but the sun is gone. Because the thing about Spring is that she is fickle. It has been raining all day. The rain itself is lovely. When I'm inside. Going outside is not so nice, especially walking from the bus stop in the dark through squelchy grassland. 

The thing about being Australian (and I will cover more of this on Blog Action Day*), is that sometimes it feels like an unspoken rule that one does not complain about the rain. It is such a valuable source. Especially since the local dams have collectively been hovering around the 50% mark for the past year or so. Only in the last month have they crept over. Today they reached 80%.

My point is, while the rain is great for our general well-being, it would be nice to have some sun back. I was just getting to enjoy it. 

*Due to my technological failings, I've been unable to load the widget :( So for now I will just make links :)

Yes, I have a new layout, it's purrty. Poem 2

This poem is an interpretation of my lecturer's dislike of the use of exclamation marks and angels in poetry. I get his point, there are times and places for these things, and never because the poet or writer is lacking the suitable word or metaphor. So, enjoy my little parody of what a poem shouldn't be:

Poem Two

Angels! Glistening
like turgid jelly
on the moss. Overpowering
with their poetic
grace. Look!
I say
they are angels!


In other news Astrid may actually be homeless in a couple of weeks... More on this later if the events I'm hinting at actually take place.

More other news: I've joined Blog Action Day 2010. This year's focus is Water.
Taking a gander at my profile, you'll see that I'm a swim teacher. More to the point, I'm an Instructor of Swimming and Water Safety, but just say I'm a swim teacher.
I also live in Australia, a country where there is almost always water restrictions in some part of the country at any given time.
My point to all this, is that Water is a simple concept that many people take for granted in terms of safety and as a commodity. So on October 15, I'm going to do a post about my passion for these two aspects of Water.
I encourage anyone reading this who has a blog, to join in. If you're doing NaBloWriMo, it will be a great thing to post about.

That's it from me until tomorrow, where I will return to the serious (but not too serious) with my poems :D