The Return of Sparkling Adventures - Merge

[miffy]

It sounds like she saw two male emus sizing each other up.

[ladyaudley]

I couldn't agree more. She has come a long way. I think the difference in the births is particularly illustrative.

However, I have more than a little sympathy. I would not want everyone traipsing in before I could at least rest a bit shower and look at my newborn with my husband, alone. He came accross terribly selfish in that post.

Oh, I agree. Her reaction back then was perfectly sensible and David came off as a total arse (as did his family). What struck me the most about Elijah's birthing video is how quickly she pulled her skirt back down over herself; it's the first thing she does. I think that shows that inside she's still very much the same she used

To be, but desperately tries to go the alternative way.

[adidas]

She's in Melbourne now though.

I think that we generally agree and are arguing essentially the same point from different sides - which is ludicrous.

I have downloaded the latest Downton series, but have yet to covert it to a format my iPad will accept. You've reminded me to get Partner to set it to converting before bed, thank you.

I agree, I think we're on the same page.

I didn't even know that Lauren was in Melbourne, I knew she was in Tasmania but it's a while since I read her blog. Obviously :D

Have you tried H.264 or MPEG4 video for Downton? I think Handbrake can convert most formats.

[August]

SML, I'd probably be the one with the cupcakes. But it would also be clear I'd made them because I enjoy that shit, and my kids think they're cool. If I realised someone had bought a new stroller or cupcakes or whatever just to show off I'd ignore it just to spite them.

Few things make me want to hang out with Lauren less than this sentence:

And I'm sure you will all be relieved to know that Lauren considers the didge festival's vibe "authentic."

I'm sure the participants will be more relieved, unlike that poor town whose residents are still awaiting their verdict.

[MMS]

Well I don't live there now but I assure you it's not an uncommon sentiment. But theoretically if someone brought cupcakes like that along I would say "Hey, nice cupcakes!", one-upmanship or not. On the other hand, the cupcakes wouldn't make me want to be someone's friend, as she seemed to think it would. I thought it was quite sad she said she expecting someone to be her friend because of the cupcakes. Conversely they wouldn't make me not want to be someone's friend as that is rather harsh. I mean, people are allowed to make cool cupcakes if they want to.

Agreed. I would also compliment her on the cupcakes and perhaps even offer to pay her to make them for my child's bday party or something if I was that impressed. I enjoy finding out talents of other women that I may be lacking . For example, one of my daughter's friends mother is a wonderful seamstress. I often ask her to make a skirt or something for my daughter if I find a cool fabric I like at the craft store. I pay her for her time obviously. It doesn't make me want to be her friend more or less (in my case, the lady is very kind and generous, so I like being her friend), but I can certainly appreciate her talent and time and compliment her accordingly. If the ladies in Lauren's group could not even offer a kind word over the cupcakes, no matter how intricate the treat, I find that rude.

[salex]

Not being involved in playgroups of any kind, if a friend brought home made decorated cupcakes to some event, we'd all say how nice they were and, as someone else said, some might ask if she'd do it for hire for parties. That said, they would have to be a lot fancier than what I saw posted on her blog to get people interested in placing an order.

But the sad part was her thinking cupcakes, nicely presented, would make people want to be her friend.

Can anyone tell me-- was she living in one place at the time or was she passing through? She mentioned taking cupcakes to bible study and seeing if she could get a friend that way, so it sounds less nomadic than today.

Is she mentally ill?

[August]

Yes, she definitely has depression and OCD.

It was when she was living in their house in Brisbane. My personal theory is that it's why she likes being nomadic. They have their circuit, and when you only see people to live with them for a few days every couple of months it keeps things in that intense but superficial initial stage of getting to know someone. You never get to the stage of (not) collecting a group of people to go to a park or (not) having someone you call for coffee at 9:05 on the first day of school. Like romance that's in the dating stage but you haven't spent the whole night together yet and don't know they snore like a train or sleep with a teddy bear. If anyone's ever moved cities you'll know the stage I mean - the first couple of months everyone is a potential friend, but by six months they're sorted into people you leave the room to avoid, people you can be polite to for half an hour about the state of the schools and how much snow we had this year, people you think are interesting but who don't reciprocate, and hopefully a friend or two.

Disclaimer: I wear a handknit scarf as a secret sign to other crafty people.

[Guest Anonymous]

I actually think that she wrote the cupcake article partly tongue in cheek, and was admitting to her bloggy audience that she is lonely and desperate for friendship and that she got it so wrong on that occasion. I think the blog article itself was a bigger cry out for people to be her friends than the cake making probably ever was. The major lack of awareness on Lauren's part, I think, is with the business of keeping friends, by learning how to negotiate difficulties, and to give as well as take, over the long term.

[rward]

calling herself gypsy anything is hella racist. the people known as "gypsies" are a seriously oppressed and disenfranchised group treated like garbage throughout europe (and history) and appropriating what is often a racial slur against them is appalling.

not that i expect anything less of the sparkly one.

[August]

Rward, I was about to speculate on whether she knows any Roma.

[rward]

Rward, I was about to speculate on whether she knows any Roma.

I'm going with no, she just thinks "gypsies" are cool and free spirited and they travel like she does! And they wear floofy skirts and have long hair! And they're possibly magical! The fact that they travel because, historically, sitting in one place too long worked out for the Roma as well as it worked out for the Jews, isn't very sparkly. (The Magyars were entirely wiped out during the Holocaust, along with a large number of Roma.)

[lilith]

I'm going with no, she just thinks "gypsies" are cool and free spirited and they travel like she does! And they wear floofy skirts and have long hair! And they're possibly magical! The fact that they travel because, historically, sitting in one place too long worked out for the Roma as well as it worked out for the Jews, isn't very sparkly. (The Magyars were entirely wiped out during the Holocaust, along with a large number of Roma.)

While the Internet says we do have people of Roma extraction and culture in Australia (you do learn something new every day) they are not a visible or vocal subculture - I very much doubt Lauren has met any, although she may have met a few hippies who claim Roma extraction and pick and choose the cultural aspects that they like

[So Many Lies]

She needs to find a new fake name asap. There is nothing authentic about the one she has chosen!

[lilith]

She needs to find a new fake name asap. There is nothing authentic about the one she has chosen!

But she already has the personalised number plate.

[Mango]

I can't believe I'm going to defend Lauren, but 'gypsy' has very much been co-opted by a lot of the RV/travelling retiree subculture. It's appropriation, and it's not cool, but it MAY well have been done innocently.

[August]

She needs to find a new fake name asap. There is nothing authentic about the one she has chosen!

You've forgotten the Dreads of Authenticity. She could firewalk in a kimono and war bonnet while spinning poi at a pow wow and she'd be utterly kosher because of them.

[kunoichi66]

You've forgotten the Dreads of Authenticity. She could firewalk in a kimono and war bonnet while spinning poi at a pow wow and she'd be utterly kosher because of them.

That's quite an image :shock:

[lilith]

I can't believe I'm going to defend Lauren, but 'gypsy' has very much been co-opted by a lot of the RV/travelling retiree subculture. It's appropriation, and it's not cool, but it MAY well have been done innocently.

I'm sure it was done in innocence and ignorance. Kind of makes her "enlightened world citizen" routine even more ridiculous though.

[SiameseIfYouPlease]

A MAN charged with the river-plunge murder of his baby son will remain in custody for another three months.

David Paul Fisher, 39, was last year charged with killing his seven-month-old child after the pair plunged into the Logan River at Beenleigh, south of Brisbane.

At the time, police said Fisher had pushed baby Elijah in a stroller to the river on the night of June 23.

Fisher fell from a pedestrian bridge at the Logan River Parklands with Elijah in his arms. The father swam to shore but his son was lost.

The infant's body was recovered the next morning on the scrubby banks of the river, about 1.5 kilometres downstream from the bridge.

Fisher, who is being held in a high security mental health unit, was to have appeared in Beenleigh Magistrates Court by video link on Tuesday.

However the court was told he was unable to appear.

His committal hearing was adjourned for mention on June 4.

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/na ... z2McjKb0JE

[already hungover]

A MAN charged with the river-plunge murder of his baby son will remain in custody for another three months.

David Paul Fisher, 39, was last year charged with killing his seven-month-old child after the pair plunged into the Logan River at Beenleigh, south of Brisbane.

At the time, police said Fisher had pushed baby Elijah in a stroller to the river on the night of June 23.

Fisher fell from a pedestrian bridge at the Logan River Parklands with Elijah in his arms. The father swam to shore but his son was lost.

The infant's body was recovered the next morning on the scrubby banks of the river, about 1.5 kilometres downstream from the bridge.

Fisher, who is being held in a high security mental health unit, was to have appeared in Beenleigh Magistrates Court by video link on Tuesday.

However the court was told he was unable to appear.

His committal hearing was adjourned for mention on June 4.

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/na ... z2McjKb0JE

I wonder if David is ill. That would explain the hasty trip back to Brisbane, the visit with David, and his inability to appear in court.

It's hard for me not to feel bad for David. I imagine he was in a bad place when he jumped from that bridge.

[lilith]

I think they went up to meet with lawyers and psychiatrists in preparation for yesterday's court date, then returned home when it became obvious it would be adjourned.

If the committal has been delayed this long I'm starting to think he's had a full psychiatric breakdown, not just an ongoing condition. Trials are often delayed over and over again, committal hearings not so much, especially with the accused in custody.

[August]

Did we ever doubt he'd had a psychotic break and that he's still very sick? Firstly he murdered his child, and secondly he's been in a closed psychiatric ward for nine months. He would be in a prison if he were sane (or stable, you know what I mean).

[lilith]

Did we ever doubt he'd had a psychotic break and that he's still very sick? Firstly he murdered his child, and secondly he's been in a closed psychiatric ward for nine months. He would be in a prison if he were sane (or stable, you know what I mean).

I never doubted he had a mental illness. I would imagine that, untreated, would lead to some sort of crisis and would lead to him being incarcerated in a psychiatric facility while he was medicated and stabilised.

To still, at this point, not be stabilised enough to either stand trial, be found unfit, or to plead with a defense of insanity, is unusual and implies more than a treatable mental illness.

[snarkelle]

It's hard for me not to feel bad for David. I imagine he was in a bad place when he jumped from that bridge.

I'm sure he was, but the person I feel bad for is the baby who didn't stand a chance. Most people who are in a bad place don't kill children.

[Dysfundamental]

I'm going with no, she just thinks "gypsies" are cool and free spirited and they travel like she does! And they wear floofy skirts and have long hair! And they're possibly magical! The fact that they travel because, historically, sitting in one place too long worked out for the Roma as well as it worked out for the Jews, isn't very sparkly. (The Magyars were entirely wiped out during the Holocaust, along with a large number of Roma.)

Magyars are ethnic Hungarians.

Are you thinking of the Lallerli? Or the Manusch/Manouche? They were the two hardest hit of the "gypsy" ethnic groups.

Agree entirely that Lauren's sparkly cultural appropriation is outrageous and callous.