"You're two years behind me" - this was the statement made to me last week while speaking to an old friend I don't keep in touch with much these days.
The context was that she was explaining that she had progressed further along the road to recovery from the influence of growing up associated with the Jehovah's Witnesses.
While it's true that she left the Witnesses many years ago and me only coming up to almost 3 years now, I totally beg to differ.
Why do I believe this not to be the case? She clings to the concept of a loving family in family members who would disown and berate her for not living the lifestyle they themselves maintain yet she gave up. When they (mother and brother) come to visit, she'll even hide her boyfriend, coming up with a story for them so that they don't find out she's having premarital sex. I'm glad she's starting to question the validity of their affection over the years since they've never accepted her as she was but even that highlights that she still cares about what these people think. She shouldn't.
I think if you can't be yourself, and be happy in your skin around particular people, in the knowledge that they won't judge you, whether they are family or not, you need to cut those people from your life.
I'm happy in my skin. I wouldn't hesitate to successfully confront those blind, misled people who used to call themselves my friends but didn't hesitate to stop contacting me once I stopped going to church. Almost three years ago I stopped and without even explaining it to them... Are they true friends if you can disappear for three years or more and they don't attempt contact? Of course not. They are strangers, always were. Unlike my friend, I'm glad they have no influence on me anymore.
I believe religion to be the most destructive influence on my life to date. My only regret is not getting away from it sooner. I have no intention of ever letting it have an influence on my life ever again. Before I broke away, I was associated with them in Canberra for 10 years. Breaking away meant giving up all my friendships at the time. It was difficult but it was the right thing to do. I was extremely unhappy prior to leaving, I was suicidal. No person, organization or religion will ever have that control over me again.
I'm sorry to my friend but I'm not two years behind, I'm many years ahead in this respect.
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Monday, October 4, 2010
Friday, October 1, 2010
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Samsung Galaxy S i9000
Also switched to Optus (from Three).
Finally I'll be off that cursed Windows mobile and be financially better off on a new plan.
Gay Teen Suicides
It seems every other day my google feed has another story of gay teen who has taken their life, predominantly over bullying from peers. See here: "National LGBT community reeling from 4th teen suicide in a month". I don't believe this is anything new, but I'm grateful that this issue is getting the coverage it needs.
It's so sad. I don't know what else to say really.
Watch Ellen Calls for End to Bullying, Suicide. I cried.
Here's a copy embedded from Youtube:
It's so sad. I don't know what else to say really.
Watch Ellen Calls for End to Bullying, Suicide. I cried.
Here's a copy embedded from Youtube:
Thursday, September 9, 2010
New Zealand Earthquake Pics @AcidCow
Here I was last weekend and my partner told me about the earthquake in Christchurch... It wasn't on any of the news sites yet (which isn't surprising these days)... a Facebook friend of his visiting New Zealand was describing it on his profile. Amazing how news travels so fast these days via social networking spaces. I was making that comment the other day about how most celebrity news comes from Twitter these days. In any case, this post on AcidCow has some nice pics. These are my favourites:
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Inside A Cruise Ship During Rough Seas
This reminds me when I was on the Ferry going from the North to the South Island on my New Zealand holiday a few years ago... I felt so sick and I'd look out the back and see sky-sea-sky-sea-sky-sea... It was horrible.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
How do stupid people get power? eg. Jan Brewer & Parody
So, I'll show you the original video for context:
What caught my attention was this guy's parody of her on-air stuff-up:
What caught my attention was this guy's parody of her on-air stuff-up:
Political Stuff: Lies around invading Iraq
I'm not a political person, especially American politics, but I found this an interesting watch... the constantly changing lies presented to the public are amazing when they are highlighted this way. Check out this video from Rachel Maddow...
Free Running by 'Kings of Parkour'
Free Running by Kings of Parkour
How these guys jump up sides of buildings... you've gotta have complete trust and big balls. Amazing how they can jump and hold on with only their finger tips!
Can you imagine if everyone could just naturally do this? Footpaths, steps and balconies would be optional and nowhere near the ideal way of getting from A to B.
See "My Morning Run" on YouTube.
How these guys jump up sides of buildings... you've gotta have complete trust and big balls. Amazing how they can jump and hold on with only their finger tips!
Can you imagine if everyone could just naturally do this? Footpaths, steps and balconies would be optional and nowhere near the ideal way of getting from A to B.
See "My Morning Run" on YouTube.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Str8 playin
I found this story... I can't help but laugh but poor guy.
It's worth the read, essentially he came out even though he's straight... read it in his words.
Str8 playin'
It's worth the read, essentially he came out even though he's straight... read it in his words.
Str8 playin'
Sunday, August 15, 2010
The real Avatar: body transfer turns men into girls - life - 13 May 2010 - New Scientist
I more-or-less stumbled upon this article.
Essentially, the study says that if you're transported in a virtual world, into the avatar of a woman than you will identify with that body. How odd.
The gaming world has been promising virtual reality for a very long time... I've yet to see it deliver even remotely in the modern lounge room.
The real Avatar: body transfer turns men into girls - life - 13 May 2010 - New Scientist
Essentially, the study says that if you're transported in a virtual world, into the avatar of a woman than you will identify with that body. How odd.
The gaming world has been promising virtual reality for a very long time... I've yet to see it deliver even remotely in the modern lounge room.
The real Avatar: body transfer turns men into girls - life - 13 May 2010 - New Scientist
Friday, August 6, 2010
Same-sex Australian marriages even blocked overseas!?
So, one of the blogs I follow is called The Gay Marriage Blog. They posted an article today entitled "MARRIAGES ABROAD THWARTED"
It brought to my attention an issue I was completely unaware of. I always thought that while my country didn't support same-sex marriage, or recognise those performed overseas, that I always had the option of marrying overseas in a more progressive country... it seems I was wrong.
It was a while ago that I wrote my letter to the government in support of the Marriage Equality Amendment Bill 2009 (supporting the marriage definition changing to include same-sex couples) but it seems that while over 11,000 submissions supported the bill, it was rejected:
I guess no surprises there but when you read "Marriage Equality Report" in full, you find that the reasons were primarily religious-based. On the bright side, one of the recommendations out of this report was that Certificates of Non-Impediment be granted to same-sex couples as with opposite sex couples. It turns out a Certificate of Non-Impediment needs to be granted by your home country to allow a marriage to occur overseas and since around 2005, the government has refused to supply the certificates on the basis that same-sex marriage is not legal in Australia! The report recommends this practice be stopped.
On a side note, you can see a story back in January 2006 where such a couple was impacted here --> "Gays hit in overseas nuptial bid" where the couple were informed that "Following the advice of the Australian Attorney-General's Department we herewith certify that Australian law does not allow the issue of a Certificate of No Impediment to Marriage to persons wishing to enter into a same-sex marriage."
So, in a story posted three days ago entitled "Overseas gay weddings will remain blocked to Australians", rather than support this recommendation, the Labor "Government informed marriage equality advocates that it has decided not to remove the ban ... on issuing Australians in same-sex relationships with the documents they need to marry overseas, called Certificates of Non-Impediment to Marriage or CNIs."
Will we ever see the day where we'll be able to legitimately marry? :(
It brought to my attention an issue I was completely unaware of. I always thought that while my country didn't support same-sex marriage, or recognise those performed overseas, that I always had the option of marrying overseas in a more progressive country... it seems I was wrong.
It was a while ago that I wrote my letter to the government in support of the Marriage Equality Amendment Bill 2009 (supporting the marriage definition changing to include same-sex couples) but it seems that while over 11,000 submissions supported the bill, it was rejected:
"While the committee agrees that the current definition of 'marriage' ... is appropriate, other types of relationships play an important part in Australian society and deserve recognition. For this reason, the committee’s recommendation not to alter the definition of marriage should not be taken as a lack of support for same-sex couples. However, the committee considers that the current definition is a clear and well-recognised legal term which should be preserved. The committee recommends that the Bill not be passed."
I guess no surprises there but when you read "Marriage Equality Report" in full, you find that the reasons were primarily religious-based. On the bright side, one of the recommendations out of this report was that Certificates of Non-Impediment be granted to same-sex couples as with opposite sex couples. It turns out a Certificate of Non-Impediment needs to be granted by your home country to allow a marriage to occur overseas and since around 2005, the government has refused to supply the certificates on the basis that same-sex marriage is not legal in Australia! The report recommends this practice be stopped.
On a side note, you can see a story back in January 2006 where such a couple was impacted here --> "Gays hit in overseas nuptial bid" where the couple were informed that "Following the advice of the Australian Attorney-General's Department we herewith certify that Australian law does not allow the issue of a Certificate of No Impediment to Marriage to persons wishing to enter into a same-sex marriage."
So, in a story posted three days ago entitled "Overseas gay weddings will remain blocked to Australians", rather than support this recommendation, the Labor "Government informed marriage equality advocates that it has decided not to remove the ban ... on issuing Australians in same-sex relationships with the documents they need to marry overseas, called Certificates of Non-Impediment to Marriage or CNIs."
Will we ever see the day where we'll be able to legitimately marry? :(
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
5 Ways around the filter in 2 minutes
I definitely do not support an internet filter for Australia.
I saw the Family First party the other day spouting how great it was going to be. Lets face it, only ignorant people believe such a filter will achieve anything productive. The representative clearly didn't know what she was talking about in regard to a whole range of topics though but that's not surprising.
So, if anything, this video shows just how ridiculous the filtering efforts are:
See the related article here:
http://openinternet.com.au/2010/08/04/5-ways-around-the-filter-in-2-minutes-video/
I think that if they can legitimately, and that's the key word, find sites that need to be blocked then that should be taken up with the service providers hosting such sites but I'd like to see what the criteria is for such banning.
You can check out the leaked blacklist here -->
http://file.wikileaks.org/file/acma-secret-blacklist-aug-2008.txt You'll see that there are a lot of perfectly legitimate sites being blacklisted here.
I must admit, it's an interesting list and apparently only a portion of those sites proposed.
It's all very very bad.
I saw the Family First party the other day spouting how great it was going to be. Lets face it, only ignorant people believe such a filter will achieve anything productive. The representative clearly didn't know what she was talking about in regard to a whole range of topics though but that's not surprising.
So, if anything, this video shows just how ridiculous the filtering efforts are:
See the related article here:
http://openinternet.com.au/2010/08/04/5-ways-around-the-filter-in-2-minutes-video/
I think that if they can legitimately, and that's the key word, find sites that need to be blocked then that should be taken up with the service providers hosting such sites but I'd like to see what the criteria is for such banning.
You can check out the leaked blacklist here -->
http://file.wikileaks.org/file/acma-secret-blacklist-aug-2008.txt You'll see that there are a lot of perfectly legitimate sites being blacklisted here.
I must admit, it's an interesting list and apparently only a portion of those sites proposed.
It's all very very bad.
Monday, July 26, 2010
"Kevin Alejandro Played Gay So Many Times, We Had no Choice but to Interview Him"
Kevin Alejandro AfterElton Interview
http://www.afterelton.com/people/2010/06/kevin-alejandro
Lafayette's love interest in True Blood season 3.
http://www.afterelton.com/people/2010/06/kevin-alejandro
Lafayette's love interest in True Blood season 3.
Invincible Apple: 10 Lessons From the Coolest Company Anywhere
Invincible Apple: 10 Lessons From the Coolest Company Anywhere
- Go into your cave.
- It's OK to be King.
- Transcend Orthodoxy.
- Just Say No.
- Serve Your Customer, no really.
- Everything is Marketing.
- Kill The Past.
- Turn Feedback into Inspiration.
- Don't Invent, Reinvent.
- Play By Your Own Clock.
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