Tag Archives: attitude

Keeping It In Perspective

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For most of the past 18 Christmases, the special day was celebrated at my sister’s house.  Although not so much the biggest fans of dinner parties, my sister and brother-in-law would host the Christmas Day lunch as they had the biggest house to accommodate both sides of the family.  Lunch was traditionally the good ole Aussie BBQ with a touch of side salads and variety of cold meats and the like – the usual fare that would leave you thankful for wearing pants or skirts with elastic waistbands.  Cleaning up was always the “fun” part and that was another good reason to have the luncheon at my sister’s since they have a dishwasher (I, on the other hand, AM the dishwasher).  My sister has two pieces of household machinery that she swears she cannot live without: the washing machine and the dishwasher (I suppose you could say the refrigerator is pretty important too but if the fridge dies you could just eat out).  So it came as no surprise that she went into hyper-crazed mode when her dishwasher died just before Christmas a few years ago.

That year, I spent Christmas Eve at my sister’s and she suddenly proclaimed: “My God! My God! Why have you abandoned me?”  Now, I have to point out that I am from a pretty spiritual and religious family, so for her to say that was pretty serious (for the non-Christians who may not be familiar with this phrase, these were the words uttered by Jesus Christ at his Crucifixion)!  So I stopped and reminded her that there were people in the world who were homeless or had no family to celebrate Christmas with and that a broken-down dishwasher would be the least of their worries!

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Expectations

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Do you remember the last time you were disappointed by something or someone? Do you remember who/what it was and why?  Well, I can remember it as if it happened yesterday…wait…it was yesterday!

After nearly 2 months of anticipation, the night had finally arrived for my friend and I to go and see the legendary John Malkovich’s performance at the Sydney Opera House as Giacomo Casanova in the Sydney Festival 2011 highlight piece Giacomo Variations, a chamber opera play based on the life and times of the infamous playboy of the 18th Century. I even had to miss out on an evening of White Collar for this!  But it was a rare opportunity to see Malkovich in action doing live theatre and singing a little opera.  And tickets had been sold out almost as quickly as they had been released so what could possibly go wrong?

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It’s All In Your Head

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I am sure at some point in your life, someone has said to you “It’s all in your head!” It doesn’t matter what “it” may be, chances are that person is right.  What am I talking about?  Attitude.  Perspective. The Power of Positive Thinking.  Whatever it is that separates successful people from the rest of the pack.  I am not a psychologist but I’ve watched enough Oprah to know there is some truth to this.

When I started this blog, it felt like it was a long time coming.  I had loved reading and writing when I was in high school and always wished I could be a writer.  I was never that good – as my mother loved to remind me, many of my stories ended with the main character waking up from a dream because I had no idea how to wrap it up (but if you have ever seen the Keanu Reeves/Al Pacino movie Devil’s Advocate or the TV series Dallas, you will realise there are Hollywood writers who suffer the same ailment so I no longer beat myself up about it).  The final kick in the butt for me to start blogging came from my then 7-yr-old nephew who started his own blog (Kids’ Movie Guide).  And even more recently, friends of mine encouraged me to try my hand at fanfiction, and oh boy, once I started typing, I could not stop.  For a week, I spent every night writing for hours working on my story till I finally got it out…over 8500 words!

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