The moment of victory!

Sometimes good times arrive in the darkest moments that you feel giving up! I experience this and this is very true. Let me excream inside! Let me celebrate my victory after long times of pressure and stress!

I am currently reading!

I want to be away of any superficial and ordinary thoughts. Now I am getting myself involved into deep thoughts...

The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins


currently

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Welcoming Silence

It will arrive eventually...the moment of freedom and relief...the moment that I can leave all stress days behind and start days with silence...

Like a knife

I have a Persian note on my desk at office that says: " There are times in life that you realize that you should not continue the hurt and the suffer. Like a knife that cuts things, you ought to move on from some people and let them be vanished forever from your life"

I used to remind this to myself everyday. One month, only one month I neglected this fact and now I feel I got back to the same place in last year...

However, at the same time, I feel I have finished a chapter in my life finally. I finally get to the point that our story is over forever...like for real....It hurts of course but it also shows that I have passed a big phase with valuable lessons.

No anger, no sadness, no regret is here with me now...nothing. I am free to think about the bright future.

Think twice

The moment that we think others could heal us in bad times, we lost the self-dependence. Just before you lose your strength, think twice of your strength that we had gathered for a long time ...think twice before you lost it.

No word

Sometimes there is no word that can describe your feeling after another failure when you did whatever you could to pass this

endless stage of being examined...

24/7

I am a 24/7 emotional girl.

That is your opinion to tell me in a fine day when we have a nice coffee and you just brought me a box of chocolate from your last trip.
Apart from all the shocking news that I got from you in that visit, you idea about my endless kindness and forgiveness..hurt me most.
I am confused and disappointed by your mood changing time to time...

and you point out my problem...yes, I am a 24/7 emotional girl!! Give the man a break!

Happy Now!

Sometimes life shows the bright side and all good news and feelings arrive at the same time.
I just feel happy these days, although I am very worry deep down about  the test result...only three days to go...
I take every moment to pray and think positively that it will be over forever this time...but I can see that life shows its kind face to me in other aspects...

Your uncertainty

I do not see. I do not see that passion and love in your eyes...It was only that moment that you cared and now you do not have it...you do not have this feeling...that is why I am so scared.  I am scared of this uncertainty in your eyes and your feeling...


Two days after this post, I met you and I saw something else in your eyes...you are sad, also tired. I could feel your uncertainty is because of your own situation...things that are going on your life at the moment and you need to time to deal with them. Your uncertainty is not a bad sign it is an honest sign that reflexes your situation...Just hang in there, the right moment will arrive.

Feeling empty inside...

I did my exam...and I am empty now. I feel completely empty inside. The only thing that I know is that I did my best...I was in my best place, the reality has thought me that my best attempts is not necessarily meet the real world expectation...that is why I have this emptyness feeling that I put myself out there and I do not know what would be the outcome...

Light at the end of tunnel

I went swimming today after a long time. I went swimming to find my strength back because I need it tomorrow most. whenever I swim, I get the confident that I can do everything. I make a race with myself to swim the free style from one side of the lane to another side of it, when at the last minute I have difficulty to breath, I tell myself that keep it going, just another moment...just another attempt and finally I am there!...this practice simulates the experience for me that success in life is all about bearing the last moments when you are tired most...the golden rule in life that says: "Never give up"...

I also remember a word from a friend "there is a light at the end of the tunnel"...and this is always true whenever we think that we cannot go further but we must remember that there is a light that will welcome our attempts and hardworking...

I made it...

I made it to be strong and stayed focus when everything fall apart...again, I made it. But I am not sure how much longer I am able to hang there...how much longer for you to see me and my continuous effort...

why wait?

Tell me one thing... Why are you waiting for?
The longer you hesitate, the more I become disappointed...

I am thinking...

I am thinking how simple I am and how difficult you are...
I am thinking how positive and forgivable I am and how negative and ungenerous you are...
I am thinking how mature I am and how childish you are...
You call my way of thinking "over analyzing" but you know yourself that I am right here.
Soon there will be one day that I will be acting instead of thinking...and that would be very late, very late for you to realize how much I want to be there for you...

Take me to that silence

"I feel like an Olympic athlete who has lost his final game, although he has tried with all his power to win it...
After the failure, He now wants to be alone in an ultimate silence...
He wants to escape form anyone who claims to understand him, admires him, cares about him...
The athlete realizes that there is only one sad fact that is losing in the game and nothing else is matter,...and that is why he wants to be left alone with this most bitter moment in his life at that endless silence...
"
That was my feeling almost one year ago. Today, I realize a true fact that life has a funny and weird way to take us back to the places where we were before. Or maybe it is our fault to do the same mistakes again and again that cause we ending up to the similar results..I am here now again. Here, in that position that I feel the sadness of another failure...I want to escape to the silence. I want to escape from myself. Myself as a person who trusts her emotions again, let them to control her, let them to interfere her strength...
For one year I have worked on myself to be self dependent when difficulties at any type arrives. For one year I have tried to find solutions to my mild depression that causes me insomnia. For one year I have confronted stresses and pressures but I managed to deal with them by myself. For one year I have thought to myself that I would learn from my mistakes and asif any similar situation is given ton me, I would behave based on my experience...
At the end of this long long year, I see how I made the same mistakes...even worse...I see how I have lost my strength of self dependency by trusting someone else. How I let emotions controls me. how I made the same mistakes that other people would comfort me. would hold my hands while I am scared, how they would comfort me when I am stressed...NO! There is no such extreme understandings in this world any more. Sadly but truely there is no real care anymore except the unconditional love and support that we get from our families....
I want to go back to that silence again. I want to escape from my bad failure that even tastes bitter than the first time...
I might found my strength back again one day in the silence, this is the only hope that I have now, the only thing that let me still try...So, dear world please take me to that silence again...

Let the fear go

I am scared...I am so scared to confront tomorrow. I know tomorrow will come and I have to face it... there is no backward and I need to have faith and go forward only...but I myself know how scared I am to see the tomorrow!

I still need to be patient

I still need to be patient. I still need to wait until the right moment comes. The right moment that we need to reveal the hurt, the emptyness, the sadness...this is not the right time for that helpful conversation. I did not know that last night. I did not know that. I was about 7 min only 7 min to blow up the chance that could help us to recover of the past year...only 7 min...thanks to a friend who be there and warned me not to take actions based on emotions, warned me not to close the window, not to make you running away... just to let you know that your messages made me happy.

Talk to me

Please talk to me. I need you to talk to me now. This moment, not an hour later, not tonight not tomorrow but right now. I have waited so long for this conversation. I have waited so long...for this moment, I have gone through a long long way. I deserved to know the answers. If you don't talk to me, if you don't come to me, there will be words unsaid between us and we will have to carry these heavy feelings inside for the rest of our lives. My window is open to you. Don't disappoint me. Let me believe that it is worth to give everyone a second chance. So, don't hesitate. Come and talk to me...Let us feel being mature to be able to have that difficult conversation that has made us apart for a long long year now...Don't blow that open window up ...Don't disappoint me...Talk to me.

A year has passed...

This picture was taken one year ago, the first morning that I woke up in my new apartment ...Today, while looking at this photo, I remembered the exact feeling that I had that morning. I saw the city in front of me in which I used to live fully but that morning I felt completely empty inside, so damaged...A year after that morning, I look at the city from the same window and I feel that I still want to live fully. This is one of the reason that I love photography. It is a true record of the moments, of us

Let it go

A perfect day can start after a good rest. A perfect day can start after having a good breakfast, even by yourself. It does not really matter if you are with someone or alone, this is your own motivation to cease the day. I feel it. When I bake my chocolate cake, when I water my plants, when I color my hair, when I read a new article related to my research, when I cut unnecessary friends, by doing these I see myself in a new place of my life. I have got to believe that my grief is finally over. The grief of a big loss, the grief of being lied to, the grief of being left behind.... These are not really important to me anymore. I have lost my interest to find a answer to that big question that has been in my head for a year now. The best answer is "let it go"...At the end of the day, I let all the pains, hurts, suffers and hates go... The victory is mine as the moment I have accepted to close the dead chapter, I start a new chapter in my life. Yes. I now enjoy myself with a fine breakfast and a good plan to cease a sunny Sunday ahead.

Bring the happiness to my heart

Whenever I feel down for different reasons in life, I start to dance. If I can attend my dance classes or I would dance alone in my room. Dance is like a magic. It replaces negative feelings with charming thoughts. When I dance, my body moves insane and my mind becomes white of whatever makes me fear, worry or upset. Every lyric of the song gives me the bravery to dream. thinks of my success instead of my failures and gives me enough strength to fight with the problems. It is true that we deserve to live like a princess and in dance this fairy tale can happen. Bring the

A great loss

It was a sunny and beautiful Sunday. This is one of the rare times in my life that I did not have any motivation to go out and enjoy the sunshine. I do not feel to get up from my bed and start my day. I knew the reason behind this non-begin motivated to anything. I have suffered from a great loss in my family over the past two weeks. My dear grandmother has passed away after a period of suffering of cancer. I could not see her before her death and when I got the news, she was gone forever. Confronting this grief all alone here was the most difficult experience I have had during my life in Australia. Like my family back in my country, first I was shocked from the news. But they had each other and they went to rituals and ceremonies in which many relatives and friends came along and showed their sympathy. Only here, I realized that how much this atmosphere helps the remainders to cope with the sadness of a big loss. I touched the deepest moment of sadness. That big emptiness could not filled with anything here... Although I survived the first week, I still feel the sorrow on my heart at the end of the second week. Thankfully, I have some caring friends here who are for me in need. I went to my friends' place in Dandenong, we had a lovely afternoon walk in the garden next to their house. And I had dinner with her husband and her. The joy of being with a couple who truely loved each other, declined my sorrow. I was able to pass the hard day behind finally. Now, I am ready to start the week fresh... I listen to this song and wish my grandmother rest in peace... Mama

self-realization

"Men can starve from a lack of self-realization as much as they can from a lack of bread." -Richard Wright I am working on this...

A light at the end of the tunnel

Over time that you work on different tasks, you learn more things about yourself. When things go wrong, when things are not happened in the same way that we have planned, when external problems interfere with our internal schedule...People react in different ways at these situations. Some get sensitive and put the blame on others. Some are hard on themselves and go extreamly criticizing their work. The last group who are rare in the number try to be reasonable and see the real problems that cause they perform less efficiently.

I used to be like the first group for a long time. Like a nagging person who believes the whole world is against her!!! But the life actually teaches me that this attitude will not work for most situations. As I get involved with more serious tasks such as writing a thesis in English, taking difficult English exams, presenting my work to broad rang of people, more importantly working with people who are precise and punctuate, I realize that I need a change. A big change! Fortunately, once I am convinced to do a change, my personality does not resist to the change anymore. I easily throw away previous thoughts and adapt to the new situation. However, convincing me is not that simple!!!

Given this introduction, I am trying to join the third group. I am working on myself to be more rational and reasonable. I am doing a PhD in computer science, not many people do this in particular, women do not go for such difficult tasks. I have a dare to start it, although there are times that I become overwhelm with the pressure. In particular, the times that I compare my life with other friends, girls! They seem so happier and relax than I. But in fact, they are not doing anything with their life. We often neglect the undeniable truth that once we get used to ordinary life and we pass thirty, years of life go fast. So, being more different has the advantages of getting more benefits.

The thing is I am trying to be less sensitive but more focus on anything in life. It is difficult when most people around you do not really care about the quality of the personality.
I am the one who cares and I sometimes feel sad of going through this practice...It is because I feel tired time to time but I know that there is a light at the end of this tunnel!

Australia congrats Cadel!

'Feeling good, going fast' said Cadel Evans, the first Australian winner of 2011 Tour de France.
The top world cyclist return home on Thursday, Aug 11 and rode with 20 children as his team from St. Kilda to Federation square in Melbourne on Friday. The massive crowd who wore yellow color with cheerful flags welcomed him impressively.

I was one of the participant in this event for two reasons: First, I love cycling. He is my hero in that sense. Secondly, I wanted to be part of this national's celebration. In the interview at Federation square, when he was asked; " What were the steps over twenty years that led you here today?" He answered: "First, I hoped, Next I worked. I was then convinced and I believed in myself and finally I could prove it!"

Yell for Cadel! Yell for Cadel for his greatest attempt within twenty years for bringing such event for Australia and himself!

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

I watched this movie last night: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. A different work by Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet.


A physiological journey into human emotions. The movie was about a couple who went through the sour time of their relationship that its pain is far beyond their capacity. So, they each decided to erase each other from their memories by a special mind processing technique. But through the process of loss, they discovered what they had to begin with.

I wish, there was such possibilities in reality that could erase our memories of the one who gave the most hurt and joy to us. I wish one day we could go to the doctor and say:" Please relieve me from all the signs and memories from this person" and the day after, we would not even recognize that person in the street. He/She becomes like a total stranger. This way, none of us would get affected by the fact that there is an end to everything. I bet, by doing this, We then would be much happier people who can carry on life without hate and anger.

But in reality, we have to go a time period of attempts and attempts of forgetting people. Some make this easier for themselves by hating people, blaming them, ignoring them. They change everything, work place, friends, even the city or country to be able to forget. However, stronger people stay. They know that escaping is the easiest solution but not the best. I belong to the second group. I do not erase people. I try to change my judgement towards them but I cannot treat the ones who have had a role in my life like a total stranger. I have this character from my parents. I have grown up in a loving environment that the first principle was all people have good things and bad. We should respect them for their good.

Sadly, my beliefs do not match the reality. In real life, we have to throw a stone back to the person who starts this immature and childish game. This is against my ideas but I have to follow it to be justified in the adult definition!

That is why I wish, I could go to the doctor tomorrow and say: Please erase my memory from this person. I want to have a normal life without hate, anger, sadness. I want to have it all now as life is short and it does not worth to spend time and time to forget someone.

The most moving scene in that movie was the moment that the last memory was erasing and the couple were begging to have the good last one. He said: "Do not leave me. Stay". She said back: " I cannot...I have to go. but come back and say a proper good bye to me" ...

Yes. A proper good bye is the last thing that each of us deserve to hear for the sake of time being together. But selfishness, ego, wrong judgement and even an attempt to erase everything ruins that moment...and we all know that the emptiness inside will never be erased or forgotten.

Cheers for dance

I have started Zumba and Salsa dance for a few months now. What I like about dance in particular, is that it keeps the harmony of the body. It is often said that in dance your body get the control of your mind. Since there is no time for mind to get occupied with rationalism, emotions or thoughts, the mind becomes "white" in expression. Similar process happens during the exercises, but the excitement factor of music and movements that are involved in dance increase the chances to experience the pure moments of happiness and joy.

When I look in the mirror at my body that moves smoothly with other people in the room, I start to loving that pretty girl with the perfect body. She jumps, she turns, she laughs and she let herself is carried with the sound and lyric of the music... I specifically experience this feeling in Zumba dancing. I become a small girl that nothing in world can break her dreams and good heart! Cheers for dance!

Getting out of the illusion

I was rushing to get to my Yoga class this evening after a long day of research and teaching.
I suddenly faced a reality on the street that I has denied to see for a year now.

As we go older, we learn how to react in such situations. I went to my class but I could not get inside. Instead I took a walk on familiar streets which was my dream one day...

The thing that I have been an honest person who never gives up in believing good things in people. A person who forgives other's bad. A person who does not treat in the same ugly way that she might be treated. Because I have dignity inside. Because I have a faith that good things never die. But, today at the end of a very busy day, I saw whatever I have hoped for and have believed in, has got lost. It was the glorious moment of sadness in my life.

But I managed to confront the emotions and was able to accept the reality. Doubt became clear and shadows faded away. The truth is I felt being betrayed, ignored and left behind without an explanation. The truth is so bitter, I know. But I like it because it is as honest as I am. Then a deep down happiness came to me. I am lucky and God blessed to see the real fact that will help me to come out of my fairy tale illusion. The illusion that misunderstandings would be solved, the illusion that time passing would make people to realize their mistakes, their bads...no. If a person develops hostility feelings towards the people whom care about him, not only time cannot helps but also hate becomes more complicated...the other side of my illusion was the love and care that I have spent three years of my life, would not go away...one day, they will be appreciated...that was wrong...good things can be forgotton easily...

I have been feeling so closed to the end recently. To the end of this wait, hope, whatever it is...what makes me so sad at this moment is that I hoped and believed in that my story would be different from common heart broken stories...but it is not. I cannot change it. I cannot clear the ugly fact from my life painting. It is there and I cannot deny it anymore...perhaps this reason is killing me...

I am glad that I could write down my emotions, a combination of anger, hate, sadness and ...I am also glad that no one whom knows me in real life, can read this blog. I am so glad that I have a secret friend, my blog here, that listens to me, helps me to cry out and relieve myself of all the ugly facts around...

Relax into the Valley

We live in an up-and-down, ebb-and-flow universe, yet we would much rather flow than ebb. It took me almost a year to accept the fact that when we are struggling in the down sides, we are actually in the troughs between the peaks of life. Surviving life's low points is a kind of a skill. Recently I read an article that suggests how to gain this skill.

We all have experienced vertiginous and unsupported feeling of everything going wrong at once. Apart from our exaggeration of the whole situation, there is a true fact behind it. Ruined plans and unfulfilled expectations remind us that we have little control over most situations. Here is the place that we resist every downturn - from a demotion to a breakup as if it were death itself - In fact we are either at denial stage to pretend things won't go wrong or we clutch at straws.

But the moment that we accept that what is happening is happening, we actually have passed the first step of life crisis successfully. A good simulation of the situation is thinking of a going into a valley. Do what you did like a small kid on the big shiny playground slide:

Let go and ride it down!

Source: From the September 2010 issue of O, The Oprah Magazine

Love's myth

I read an old article (2005) from O Magazine conducted by a famous private love consultant, Diana de Vegh. She believes that the idea of there is one and only one love for each of us is not only beneficial but also harmful. The phrases such as our better half, our shining knight is the start point that women get lost. Because of the myth of love scarcity, our relationship become fear-based.

"Love is the ideological bone women have been thrown" she says. It can be interpreted that men get the real power in our society and women are fed the false promises of "magic candy" that someone special will shower us with attention, give us our identity, read our mind and intuit our needs.
But when this dream comes true, there would be a day that the romance goes south and we end up feeling like a child who is been abandoned and it lost.

I fully agree with her opinion that letting men determine who we are would result in negative
outcomes such as, turning desires into vulnerability, changing our bodies from sites of pleasure to sites of betrayal, and transforms solitude into loneliness. I hate if someone does the last thing to me...but we may allow people to go that beyond if we fell in love with them blindly.
In an adult partnership, we do not declare that I do not like my own company, because we then are the victims of whoever passes by.

De vegh suggests her "Salad theory" that subscribes just as a salad needs some lettuce, a little tomato, cucumber, this and that, a full life involves friends, work, arts and community. The man can not play all those roles for our salad. This is the place where women go wrong. But if we feel filled up with self-respect, self-dependent and the ability to engage in the world, we would not be such victims.

Religions teach people that faith enters through a wound. A perfect analogy to human communications is that wisdom comes through our wounds, and that wounds have to turn into our blessings. "They make us soft and aware so we can say, 'Oh, yes, I learned that.' If it turns out that you and your partner have a different view of reality, that's good to know. You can honor that, and find someone who shares your view. If you're losing yourself in a relationship and he has all the power, it's important to take the self-respecting action of leaving and learning from the experience." she says. We have to give up the longing to be the child in the relationship.
The good news is that once we do, we're free to find love that's genuinely pleasure based.


"We each have a potential song in us," de Vegh says—one that can find its unique expression after we drop the sour chord of scarcity, dependency, and fear.

Work-out a sign of caring about yourself

"The idea of a gym is very intimidating for people who have never been into physical fitness" according to an article in O magazine. I am one of those people! I thought I can never convince myself to get a gym membership and work out regularly. It is because I do not enjoy exercising under the closed space. I love swimming jogging and cyclying. To me, those activity are enough to keep me in shape and healthy. But they are limited to weather condition. In fact, last month my new bike was stolen from the back yard of our university, although it was locked and it was the semester break, less people at university! The tragedy made me angry, sad and shocked! So, I needed to do something with my time over the long days at work...

According to this article, the motivating factor is the main trigger that people start doing exercises. The reasons that are matter to them such as fighting diseases, losing weight and keeping it off, looking good and fitted, being more energetic during days and getting better sleep over nights and slowing the effects of aging. Yes. regular exercises result in above outcomes but not all at the same time. For example, exercise reduce the risk of a number of conditions, such as cancer, cardiocascular and osteoporosis and diabetes diseases. It also firms the body, improve postures and give the skin a glow. Women usually think of this! I personally like the fact that one session of exercise put us in a better mood for three to four hours, at least. It also well-documented that exercise helps combat depression. Another motivating factor for me is that although exercise is energizing, it also wears us out! As we eventually feel more vibrant during the day and sleep better at night! There are other reasons that motivate people to work out including reducing the pain of arthritis, back pains and being an example for the rest of the family. The important point here is individuals should find the most important reasons that they care about!

I found mine! Firstly, I love Yoga and zumba. Most gyms have fitness classes that include those. It is more economic for me to pay the gym membership and attend the fitness classes instead of going to each session separately. Secondly, I am a PhD student and that requires a sedentary lifestyle including sitting at computers, reading papers and books and writing notes for long hours. Although I love research but it can become very boring if you do it as a job. So, I needed a escape from my work, the university environment. I found gym atmosphere and fitness classes very encouraging in a sense to focus better at work and enjoy more in doing exercise!

So, here is my own experience after a month of regular work out. We often think of many excuses that stand in our way: no passion, no time, no money, suffered from injury...but once you institute a zero-tolerance policy for excuses, you will be able to move forward and get around almost any obstacle. Yet hordes of people - even those with busy schedules and chronic pain - manage to exercise!
Let's do it then!!!!!!!!

How to Deal with Insomnia

This is another night that I get up around 3 am and cannot go back to sleep for the next three hours. It is going on in my life for almost 15 months. It is probably insomnia at the mild level as it seems I have experience difficulty sleeping or staying asleep. This has started since the break-up with my first love...the most difficult experience in my life...I am not ready yet to write about that!

The strategies that I have used so far to fight insomnia are: watching TV series, Yoga in the middle of the night, listening to light music and writing my diary until my mind finally gets tired and I go back to sleep around 5 or 6. But this is not how the story ends really...there are times when my mind keep thinking of many many things and the fear of a long day ahead makes me heartthrob. I had bad experience that I was awake the whole night until I went to university (my work and study place).I was angry, impatient and unable to deal with problems.

Although, I experience this time to time, there are some weeks when I sleep very well or the nights after a severe sleeping disorder I have no problem with sleeping. There is also another scenario, if I have the day at peace, occupied by different things related to myself and my work, I can have a perfect sleep at night.

Tonight, I woke up at 3 am. Remembering my conversation with my dad, my friends and got upset of confronting sad facts in life. Then I turn on my laptop, let it download the movie "Leon", I wanted to watch if for so long, and started reading "O magazine" edited by Oprah Winfery's organization. I looked for an article related to my problem and luckily me to find a good one with the same title as this post. It was such a relief to know the below facts:

1. More than half women ages 30 to 60, have trouble sleeping through the night, according to a National Sleep Foundation survey.

2. Most insomniacs worsen their condition by worrying about it. Then again, it's hard not to The 11th commandment in this culture might as well be "Thou must have eight hours of sleep"—we fear anything less means not being as fresh, alert, or productive as our well-rested colleagues.

3. Certain people are predisposed to developing insomnia, according to Oneil Bains, MD, director of the insomnia program at Seattle's Virginia Mason Medical Center, and some of the reasons are beyond our control—a woman's genetically determined "sleep drive", for example, and her personality. Life changes can also trigger insomnia, and we can't do much about those, either. But the third element in the slumber trifecta is the way we think about sleep, and that's where free will comes into play.

4. Letting go of that 11th commandment is the first step toward relief. "Most people with insomnia don't need eight hours," Bains says. When they stop fighting with themselves and settle for less, they feel better.

Yes! If I do not worry about the activities in coming day, I can focus how to use this unwanted gift of time. I must accept my body condition and do not fight with it anymore.

Here is what I decide. To write about my thoughts, experiences and beliefs on my blog with reading relevant topics from magazines and watching videos while confronting insomnia. This process draws me a path of becoming a blog writer in English that has been my passion since I got Australia but I could never find time for it!

I actually feel asleep now!

PhD, a lonely experience

Doing PhD is a lonely experience. PhD students are like aliens living on the isolated planets of different domains, science, art, medical.... They have not reached the point of understanding the beauty of doing research and that is why most of the time they do not seem to enjoy doing research. There are so many twists to learn such as time management, overcoming the learning curve of new things, discovering themselves to when and where they are more productive, getting used to attending other talks and feeling of knowing nothing...

Banning Junk food ads for children

Advertisers' self-regulatory codes have aimed at reducing children's junk-food marketing
but junk food advertisings during the popular shows for children such as Junior MasterChef seem to be more effective than this. There is a debate between media and health groups that junk food advertising must be banned.

Many campaigners believe that unhealthy food advertising is a major factor in rising childhood obesity rates. They argue that federal government should adopt tougher measures restricting those ads from popular media such as TV. A national blueprint have been proposed recently by the Obesity Policy Coalition to regulate this of advertising. The proposal has taken years to draft and is the first comprehensive report to be endorsed by so many health groups in Australia.

Under the plan, junk food advertising would be banned on free-to-air TV at some specific time during day time when children tend to watch more television.

The proposal also suggests that the restriction of unhealthy food advertising on website aimed at the children and through email, SMS, magazines, G and PG-rated movies for children, sponsorship of children's sports in and outside of schools and unhealthy fund-raising drives used for schools and children's sports. The blueprint also suggests stopping advertisers from using toys and competitions as promotions for fast-food meals, such as McDonald's Happy Meal toys.


The age- May9 - Proposal for junk food ad ban takes shape

Religious Curriculum needs to be reviewed at Australian schools

I read an article on The Age this morning. It has reflected a priest's idea from InterAction, a multi-faith youth network that includes most religious, atheists and agnostics as well, about a review of current religious curriculum at Australian schools.


His first point is that at schools religious education should be broader than instruction in one belief system. He argues that there ought to be general religious curriculum that introduce children to the ideas, motivations and rituals of the ethos of all religious. The current approach to religious study is that primary students at government schools must attend special religious instruction classes which run by volunteers for half-an-hour a week. Although other religions including Judaism, Islam, Baha'i are also accredited to run courses, the majority of courses, almost 96 per cent, is provided by Christian education provider. That is one side of the argument that Catholic priest Father Bob has pointed out.

Further more, Father Bob also has emphasized religious instructors should lead open-ended discussions that drew no conclusions. He believes that parents can help children to find it instead. The problem with proselytizers is that they try to convince students to believe in God. Given an example of an army chaplain during the Vietnam War, he said the importance of teaching soldiers about honesty and truthfulness, without infusing religion into character training, had been impressed on all chaplains. Overall, Father Bob suggets that a "jolly good idea" for Australia to have community schools rather than denomination specific schools.

To summary, Australian religious eduction requires to be reviewed to teach the ethos of all the religions in its curriculum and avoid giving students a clear opinion that they must believe in one. I agree with this view. In my opinion, that is a general rule in life that can also apply for this controversial topic. It states that you have to get to learn about one another before you can live with one another.

Australia's systems of teacher appraisal

Today I am going to summary the feature article, published on The Age newspaper in April, 18th on "Push for teacher testing changes".

The recent survey of lower-secondary teachers conducted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has found the old system of teacher appraisal had a little impact on teachers' methods. More than 90 percent of Australian teachers believe that the most effective teachers did not receive the greatest recognition and teachers with sustained poor performance are still working.

Grattan Institute recently has released a report of new changes on Australia's systems of teacher appraisal and claims that the changes would increase teacher effectiveness by 20-30 per cent and as a result it will boost economic growth by about 0.4 per cent a year.

The report examines eight methods of assessing teaching quality, including student test scores, peer observation and student surveys. It suggests schools should use student test scores and three other methods to produce a "balanced scorecard" of a teacher performance. It also argues for a decentralised approach with individuals schools given the power to define effective teaching and how it should be measured. Using this approach, schools would need to be given greater autonomy over teach pay to reward the most effective teachers, says Dr. Jensen.


Finally, Australian Education Union federal president acknowledged the report that professional development was bureaucratic and managerial was counterproductive. In my view, Australia should be positive about the new strategy and awaits to see promising results in the education system in the future.

To honor a memory: ANZAC Day

Today was Anzac day. Unfortunately, I missed the morning's Anzac Day dawn service due to sickness and cold weather. But I attended the marches from CBD to the Shrine of Remembrance.


It was such an event. The media was boardcasted surprisingly up to 42,000 attendances, although the lingering mist was a barrier early in the morning. The large public crowd in Melbourne was beyond the expectations of servicing and ex-service men and women "while those gathered in Canberra heard that services this year were to remember the ordinary person" the Age reported.

To me this event carries Australian pure history that can not be touched by its multicultural
cultures living here. I, as a non-Australian, was impressed by the respect that they have for those who scarified their lives 96 years ago at the down of the anniversary day.

Which type of writer I am?

Today, I read four pieces of text written by University students about their styles of writing.It made me thought which type I am? The judge this, I probably need to analyze each method and look at the similarities and differences with my style.

1. The architect writer: This student first writes down some notes about the given topic. The activity also includes focusing on important content and possible headings that can be added to the column on one side to note. He uses a whole page to leave some space blank. While he tries to develop an argument, some notes are related and some are irrelevant. He also benefit from visual diagrams for the planning.

2. The grand plan writer: This student has difficulty to make a plan for writing. He starts to write heaps of writing before knowing where it is going. So, he had to cut a lot and redraft the writing. He approaches the task eventually and might complete it in the middle of other tasks, such as assignments! The overall plan is to build up the whole thing slowly.

3. The patchwork writer: The other student first writes down some headings related to the question. Although he is uncertain about the argument, he writes under each heading. The next step is joining different parts together. He plays with the material here, remove some, replace the others. The patching continues until the idea gets clear and he is satisfied.

4. The driver writer: The last student believe in totally different approach. "No writing until you are ready" is his opinion. So he develop the topic in his mind by reading related materials and eventually he sits and writes out in longhand. He also adds the introduction onces he finishes. That would be his final draft then without planning and rewriting.


Interestingly, I found myself not be categorized exactly under any of them, I have my own mix of methods. However my style is more like to the architecture one. I am not a driver writer for sure! But I needs to read a lot before sitting and writing...that can be the only common thing between me and a driver writer!

That was an interesting analysis! Which type of writer are you? :-)

Replay

I must restart writing. I have stopped this for almost three years...and this is the time for me to replay my melody!

Two things drew my attention today:

1. I heard a nice comment today while attending a workshop on time management for PhD.

"Getting things done is not about making more time, it is about how to use the time more effectively".

When I think about this, it is actually true for everything in life that has time constrain.

2. Another point is if we look at things from other side, we may feel different about them. For example, my conversation with a friend kept a part of my mind busy and I thought I should not said those things. But when I rechecked our chat tonight, it was a very normal conversation. Those thoughts were from the way of my thinking not the real identity of things.

Endless silence

I feel like an Olympic athlete who lost his final game, although he tried to death to win it...
He now wants to be alone in an ultimate silence...
He wants to escape form anyone who claims to understand him...

The athlete realizes the only one sad fact, losing in a game,...and he wants to be left alone with this most bitter moment in endless silence...