Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in almighty_patsy's LiveJournal:

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Thursday, February 4th, 2010
1:07 am	The latest on the ever-ongoing "my father's political beliefs are different to mine, help!": A while ago I mentioned the gay marriage thing again to my father. He compared gay marriage to some other past social change (can't remember which, now), then said: "People just need time to adjust." Maybe I imagined the telling smile on his face, but it seems obvious to me that he was also trying to explain his stance. (Comment on this)
Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010
6:07 pm	White-water rafting fun with koalas! A much simpler explanation for their presence in Australia than, "There was never a global flood featuring every single land-dwelling fauna jumping on a boat." ... Righto. (Comment on this)
Friday, January 29th, 2010
11:48 pm	I just spoke to someone who was upset about her situation. "It's gay! Gay gay gay," she said. I paused for a moment, not sure if I should just leave it. She apologised before I decided. Which was kind of nice. (Comment on this)
Tuesday, January 26th, 2010
7:40 pm	Happy White Guilt Day! (Comment on this)
Friday, January 8th, 2010
2:18 pm	I signed a petition a while ago about abortion law reform. In Australia, abortion laws and protocols vary by state and territory. In my state, abortion is illegal, and is described and controlled under a CRIMINAL, not MEDICAL, framework. Back in the 70s the shit came down and many doctors were nearly prosecuted, and since then people have assumed that the laws are only there as a de facto type thing, and that abortion is only 'technically illegal'. A Cairns couple are facing prosecution for attempting to procure an abortion, and last I heard, both of the two doctors performing abortions in Cairns refuse to practice because they don't know if they are protected. Abortion doctors south, in the capital, will not give out medical abortions, only surgical ones. Abortion is already impossible to access for most women in the state, and to my knowledge, there is still literally only one place in the whole state you can legally go to. (So if you want an abortion, you just need two doctors in your hometown [which may only have two doctors, both of whom are rabidly conservative and personally know your family] sign the paperwork, then travel about ten hours to get the procedure done, get it done, stay for recovery, travel back ten hours, and find an excuse to get away for that long without stirring anyone's suspicions, particularly if you are living with an abusive family, and also get all this done when you have never travelled so far away in your entire life for any reason. Also raise money for exorbitant travel fees [even public transport in the city is shit] and medical costs, even though you are probably poor.) The premier, Anna Bligh, has repeatedly stated that she is pro-choice, but doesn't think any attempt to change the laws would be successful, or, she is pro-choice, but she doesn't think it's the responsibility of the government to govern (...) Anyway, this petition was basically "This bullshit, please decriminalise", Response given out a few days ago: 'We've made a few ammendments to make doctors feel more protected, and otherwise don't give a shit. Basically the only reason we'd consider trying to decriminalise abortion would be if there was enough support for it. Um lol I guess you did show there's support for it... um, we're still too gutless to try anyway.' (Comment on this)
Friday, January 1st, 2010
12:13 am	HAPPY NEW THING! (Comment on this)
Thursday, December 17th, 2009
4:31 pm	Sometimes I worry my parents have come to realise just how much I shudder from the words "I'm proud of you", and are secretly using it as a weapon of psychological warfare to punish me every time I fuck up. In other news, summer is the devil. (Comment on this)
Monday, December 7th, 2009
4:45 pm	And yet still nobody gives a shit about your dreams Last night I had a dream my mother-in-law was staying over, interfering and pushing herself into every available space, in that sort of way where you can't accuse a person of being aggressive or inappropriate, because they are so outwardly, ostensibly, well-intentioned. I was hiding from her in my room and she pushed her way in, grabbing at my arms. When I tried to push her away she pulled my hands into her mouth and started doing things a little too reminiscent of certain unpleasant childhood experiences. I woke up and cried - 'She's such a bitch! Interfering --' before I remembered I don't have a mother-in-law. I laughed about it with my sister but didn't mention the part about my hands. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, November 11th, 2009
4:22 pm	it is still the case that nobody gives a shit about your dreams I dreamed a family member was discussing her abortion as we sat to dinner. We were all vaguely supportive until she explained that she wasn't speaking in hypotheticals; she was actually pregnant and needed to go in for one. I knew she felt sad about this, even though nobody else would, and I rested my head on her shoulder and she lay her cheek to rest on my forehead. In the morning, I remembered that my grandmother is in her 70s and has not had a uterus since 1956. (Comment on this)
Monday, November 9th, 2009
10:55 am	When I realise I'm in a discussion with a pro-life, or pro-life-minded, person, one thing I sometimes try to do is to explain my views by talking about how different people live in different circumstances. "If I found out the foetus had Down Syndrome, I would have it!" I explained last night. "Maybe I would like some time to prepare for getting through the kid's heart surgery, though," (discussion had come up re: amnio tests) "But I think I would have it. My sister, however, is disabled [sister would never use those words but hey, reality], and she has told me she doesn't think she would. She couldn't do long-term care for a child needing it if she was physically infirm, or dead, and she doesn't want anyone she loves to ever go into any sort of care facility. [actually I hope she does know I'd take her kids if she couldn't care for them...] So you see how different people with different circumstances but similar ideals might come to different decisions? (And how you shouldn't be such a judgmental fucktard when you're not the one making those moral decisions?)" "Does your sister wish your parents aborted her?" ...OH WOW MAN YOU TOTALLY JUST BLEW MY MIND!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Comment on this)
Saturday, November 7th, 2009
1:04 pm	(And of course, my father will still rant about gay characters being unnecessary, because shouldn't gay people be able to identify with straight characters just fine, and shut up and behave already? Once he was ranting about this, and my sister tried to explain, saying, "Well, maybe you just don't know what it feels like. I mean, you don't identify with any oppressed minority, do--" "--Left-handed!" ... He still didn't get it.) (Comment on this)
1:02 pm	When I was younger, the lol-gay! gags in TV shows were some of the only stuff I really had to get by with. I knew that the explicit idea of those two men flirting was that it was so wacky, everyone should laugh! But I assumed that, like me, everyone else was just pretending to find it amusing, but secretly, cloistering away that tiny moment in the sea of non-representation. I don't really know why I assumed this, because I didn't assume everyone else was queer, but then, I didn't really assume I was queer. It never really occurred to me that there could be actual, realistic representations of actual homosexuality to 'get by with' instead, so I always felt privately defensive of gay gags when someone in my family would get irritated about it. Of course, these days, when the fight for wider representation is front-and-centre, it's still an opportunity for giggles amongst the ultra-aware folk. "And now, men making out to the Benny Hill theme tune!" (Comment on this)
Thursday, November 5th, 2009
8:17 pm	Looking up left-handed fiddler crabs, learning about "the" placebo effect, reading emails from the family, buggering about with the computer and pausing to listen to a whopper of a storm come in. Feeling pretty fanshmabulous. (Comment on this)
Sunday, October 25th, 2009
10:56 pm	Sometimes I am surprised at how incredibly awesome my family is. (Comment on this)
Monday, October 5th, 2009
11:14 am	You know what curtains? I put up with your bull most of the time. Do most people freak out and throw things around the room on breezy days? No. I try to take all the rap for your misbehaviour, restraining you with strings and window frames when you are bad. But it is a month until exams. If you knock my water bottle over my notes again, I will fire you, curtain. You think another employer will put up with your bull? (Comment on this)
Saturday, October 3rd, 2009
4:48 pm	I accepted and understood people saying, "There's nothing really wrong with homosexuality, but I still felt disappointed when my daughter told me she was a lesbian", but now I can empathise. My brother is straight. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Monday, September 21st, 2009
8:23 pm	1 - Australian summer 2 - Assessment due I have introduced the two, but they still refuse to make friends. (Comment on this)
Sunday, September 20th, 2009
5:11 pm	When the last ten letters you've written have been Amnesty letters, certain formatting standards will settle in. That's understandable. All the same, it's probably not the best idea to sign a letter to your grandmother with your full name. (Comment on this)
Monday, September 7th, 2009
10:31 pm	When I was four years old, I realised that characters in books I read always had a running, first-person monologue as their internal thoughts. I didn't think in words but realised this was what everyone else did, so I made myself think in words. Apparently this is a necessary part of cognitive development that all children have to go through in order to be capable of advancing to more abstract thinking, and occurs at around two or three years of age, so, um, I guess I'm a mutant? And I also guess it would have ended up happening anyway; nonetheless by the age of ten I really regretted having forced myself to think in words rather than the way I had before. Thinking about an overly optimistic person - one who was capable of expressing these thoughts without being a self-righteous sort of Pollyanna - I accidentally ended up forcing myself into this overtly optimistic mindset six months ago, and now, I just can't stop finding the positives (in my own life, at least). Oddly enough, I don't really mind it. I ended up with the sort of menstrual cramping that makes your head swim and your face feel hot and empty (not to mention the pain that makes you think you can't sit, or kneel, or hunch, or stand) over dinner. Over dinner. How the fuck can I complain when it happened during my dinner, which I get every single night? (Comment on this)
Sunday, August 16th, 2009
8:55 pm	I've been reading up on the cochlear implant controversy, mostly from the perspective of the Deaf communities of a few different countries. Anyway, it's all very complicated, and very removed from my own life and perspective, so all the little judgments I make as I read about it are as an outsider. I've also been trying to struggle through a new, mathetmatical-ish way of representation for a particular subject at university, which is always a bit annoying because you have to put an amount of time into KNOWING the system rather than just BEING AWARE OF IT (and being capable to recall it - after a moment's hemming and ha-ing.) Add to that my brain hurting, reading about immunology. What's really fun is when you have an opinion, and then someone else expresses it perfectly for you, so you just need to say, "What they said." Anyway, this video describes my position on a number of issues, very well. (Comment on this)