There's only one not-so-good thing about last weekend... I caught this cold off Aidan! I keep coughing and blowing my poor nose, not so great. I'm having to take a couple of days off work. Oh well. By the time I see him again, in a couple of weeks, hopefully we'll both be all well!

I have returned! I'm sure you've all awaited this moment with baited breath. Or not. We had a very lovely anniversary weekend, thank you all again for your kind wishes. Lots of walking, the National Gallery, and dinner in a beautiful Spanish restaurant.

Aidan is looking really well and healthy, he's shaved his head again to try to look macho! But I know better :) He's getting even fitter than he was before - I know it's hard to believe, how can somebody who habitually cycled 50km every day get any fitter?! But it's true. We're hoping that in a couple of weeks time he'll be able to come home for a weekend, which will be a great change from me going up there! I miss him already and we only parted company five hours ago...

I'm going to Canberra again tomorrow for the weekend. It's our first wedding anniversary on Sunday! It's also the election on Saturday, but I already voted. So, come next week, I'll have two reasons to celebrate! The honeymoon will be officially over, and Kevin Rudd will be our Prime Minister. Our actual wedding date, 25th Nov 2006, was an election day too - state, not federal. Politics hound our special occasions!

I'm really really hungry, I think it's spacing my head out a bit. I'm going to eat. See you on Monday, have a nice weekend folks!

Well, I've joined the Dark Side and created a Facebook profile. I'm sorry. It's so cliched and popular, and all the things I'm not. It was peer pressure that got me in the end. Thanks, Emily. Oh well. Anyway, the whole thing seems an awful lot of trouble to do very little... although I did stumble over a few people from my Old Life that I don't mind catching up with. (Plus a few more I'd love to torture for a few days before letting them die of starvation and/or blood loss, but they're not on my "Friends" list.) It's a little weird being told "Emily is now your friend", when I could have sworn she'd been my friend for about ten years. Who else isn't really my friend until our profiles are linked on Facebook?!

I'm going to see Richard III tonight. A bit of Shakespeare to brighten up this weary, rainy day. I only vaguely know the story, and for some reason every time I try to read it I end up getting distracted. I tried a couple of days ago, but ended up reading Bret Easton Ellis' "Lunar Park" instead. I'm sure I'll pick it up... it's pretty much Richard killing everybody, isn't it?

I need to find some shoes, always difficult although I have a cupboard full - my previously waterproof hiking boots are a little old, and my right foot got very wet today. I've got some spray-on stuff, I can fix them up, but not tonight. Too lazy.

There have been possums living in my walls and ceiling for several weeks now. I assume they're possums, they might be pixies for all I know. They keep me awake at night. I've gotten to a point where I don't really get tired - well, not at night. I get tired at work, then I come home and wake up. I think my body just knows there's no point trying to sleep with all the scratching and banging and screeching from the wall behind the computer. Going to bed has become habit, for sleep is rarely forthcoming. Of all the houses to live in, I would have thought mine would be the least desirable - or do possums like punk rock?

In the leadup to the election, I am once again contemplating the creation of my own micronation. I can't help but feel, no matter who wins this one, very little is going to change or improve. Surely the path to happiness lies is owning your own country? Imagine making all the rules - or not making any rules, as the case may be. Wouldn't it be nice to feel pride in the country you live in, rather than shame?

Where does one start, in the creation of a country? I imagine I would need to own land first. That could present a problem, since I don't own land and can't afford to right now. So hypothetically, if I owned land, would next? A letter to the present Prime Minister, I suppose, announcing my intention to seceed. At some point I'd have to create a proper policy statement and maybe some laws, citizenship requirements and so forth. I don't know if I'd bother with stamps and my own currency, not unless the micronation really took off and they appeared necessary. Maybe I should try contacting Prince Leonard of Hutt River Province to ask for advice.

Here's a few raw unprocessed ideas for policies, laws, ideas, social structures... bear in mind this is all off the top of my head:

Putting the environment before the economy as much as is practical, preferably at all times
Gay rights including marriage and adoption
Acceptance of refugees and asylum seekers, and providing them assistance in training and job-seeking
No religion will be recognised by the state, but citizens have the right to pursue all their beliefs and customs provided these are with peaceful intent
Every permanent resident will be expected to spend one hour a week doing community service or assisting the government (this extends to visiting citizens who are residents elsewhere) - mainly because I don't really have plans for a public service, so somebody has to get things done! I might even pay them for it.

Well, who wants to join my potential micronation? Should I begin accepting applications for citizenship?!

I'm such a slacker. Look at me, I haven't blogged for, like, five days. I've been ill, I've got this cold. I'm ok now, mostly better, but have had to restrain myself from getting on here and having a nice old whinge! It's a funny thing, but I feel like very little is happening in my life right now... and yet, my "social calendar" is about the busiest it's ever been - so much to do with so many people! So little time before Christmas!

Now is probably a good time to have my annual anti-Christmas rant. There are so many reasons to dislike, discourage, not celebrate, and generally complain about Christmas. I don't know where to start.

1 - Historical Innacuracy. It's generally acknowledged that Jesus Christ was not born on Christmas day. He wasn't even born in the right year. Some say the date was hijacked from a Pagan festival pre-dating Christianity, which seems likely.

2 - Lack Of Meaning. Even if it was Jesus's birthdate, why does that matter to me when I'm not a Christian or religious at all?

3 - Marketing-driven Myths. I object to the premise that Christmas is a time for giving and loving and family. Surely these things should happen all the time. We shouldn't need to be told to set aside this one particular day in the year to see our families and to give presents (as if money ever bought love anyway, pfft) and to extend the hand of friendship to every man and his dog.

4 - Consumer Driven Buying Frenzies. Everybody has swallowed the marketing hype put out by retailers (or anybody who wants you to spend your money on their products), so a simple trip to the supermarket becomes a battle past every other shop overflowing with people wanting to buy their relatives' affection.

5 - Religious Intolerance. Yes folks, Christmas is all about intolerance. If you don't celebrate Christmas, you're weird. Try telling somebody you don't believe in Christmas, see if you can count the miliseconds before they say "That's weird," or "Why not?" or "Dude, that's so screwed up, you won't get any presents".

The only reason I've done Christmas at all since I got old enough to choose is to keep my family happy. They're not religious, but they're traditionalists. Christmas is a time for family. It's other people's expectations that keeps me perpetuating a ritual I feel no association with. I wonder how many others out there feel the same? We should start an anti-Christmas society, banding together so as not to disappoint each other by not buying each other gifts or sending cards.

Sadly it's too late to start boycotting Christmas this year. I've already bought several people's gifts. But next year... oh boy, bring on next year.

So much for my picnic. I've spent my day pretending to be a hardcore rocker, dancing around and singing to artists including but not limited to: Bad Religion, The Who, Free, Judas Priest, Black Sabbath, Frenzal Rhomb, Green Day, and Deep Purple. I also watched School Of Rock, which always seems to make me wish I was a punk rocker (without flowers in my hair). I think I missed my calling, I should have learnt to play the bass. Is it too late?!

I went to see Bad Religion last night. It was so good! I'm not such a fan that I own all their albums and know all their songs, so a lot of it was new to me but I think I suddenly want to own more albums and know more songs. I was debating going, since Aidan obviously couldn't go with me, but I did and I'm glad I did.

In other news: I have no other news. I have no plans for this weekend, and nothing is really suggesting itself. I can't just spend another whole two days inside reading, not when the weather is so gorgeous. Perhaps I should pack myself a picnic lunch and walk down to the beach... with both my cameras: dad's old Minolta, and my new digital Canon. That could be nice. Ginger beer, cheese and crackers, fruit salad... hmmm this sounds promising. Lunch or dinner? Dinner would mean I could watch the sunset. But lunch would mean I could start organising it right now. Both?! Maybe. I am pretty lazy, it might never happen. But the idea is good.

I should definately do some housework first. I'll have a shower, put some washing in the machine, put on my Bad Religion CD and wash some dishes. Cool.

I've been very lazy with my posts these past few days. And lazy I continue. I have some pictures I was going to upload here, but do you know how much work that is?! Here I am, tired from work and with a headache, and you want me to upload pictures?! Well!

With my impending move to Canberra and complete change of life, I am also tossing up career changes. One of the many which keep returning to my mind is nursing. I'd love to feel that I was helping people in a real and tangible way; I can handle blood and stuff; I can keep calm in an emergency unless there is also a spider present in which case I panic until somebody else kills it. No other career path seems quite as rewarding and challening to me. Also the opportunities of travel, working with aid agencies and so forth, beckon to me. The concept of charity work in third world countries also greatly appeals, but you don't get paid for that, so if I could nurse my way there instead that would be amazing.

Look at all my pipe dreams. Who am I kidding? I have no doubt I'll end up in a boring office wearing a suit and saying "yes, sir" to some fat sleazy bastard who makes a trillion dollars a day whle paying me a pittance.

I got home last night. I'm so tired, you have no idea. It was a lovely trip though. Five whole days away, it was a mini-holiday! So wonderful to see Aidan again. Although, with our seperate hotel rooms, it was kind of like dating again - "Your place or mine?"

Due to a lack of food and the fact that I forgot to go shopping last night, I'm having rice for breakfast. I haven't had rice for breakfast since our honeymoon in Singapore. It's a little odd, but nice enough.

I'm so very tired. I wish I didn't have to go to work today. But I do. Turns out the poison in the roof hasn't gotten rid of the possums, they're still scrabbling and screaming in the walls and ceiling all night.

Anyway, I'll write in more detail later. Yawn.