What is going on behind those eyes, Mickey?
It truly is a small world. Who would have thought tonight I’d walk into the executive lounge at the Melbourne Marriott and get into a discussion about the Big 12 football conference with 4 other people from the US? One lady’s daughter graduated from TCU’s School of Nursing, and the conversation was all about the new stadium and whether Gary Patterson (the TCU football coach) was susceptible to being spirited away from Fort Worth by another college. Unthinkable! Anyway, just when you think you’re a million miles from home, something like this happens and you’re back there again, if only for a few minutes…
Article from the Sydney Morning Herald, 27-April-2012. Photos by yours truly from the Australia Zoo this month.
MBW and MBD actually held one at the zoo. Your intrepid photographer was content to snap pics from a distance!
KOALAS are expected to be listed as a threatened species across parts of Australia from Monday, and some environment groups claim the government has excluded the marsupial from protection in certain areas due to mining interests.
Research conducted near Gunnedah, which is promoted as the ”koala capital of the world”, show numbers for the animal there have declined by 75 per cent since 1993, yet koalas in the area are not expected to be granted extra protection. The Environment Minister, Tony Burke, said his decisions about the animal’s status were based on advice from the national Threatened Species Scientific Committee. A decision originally slated for mid-February was deferred until April 30.
The new ruling will be published next week but, based on current data, is likely to list koalas in south-east Queensland as ”endangered”, and animals east of the Great Dividing Range in NSW as ”vulnerable”. In practical terms, the listings would mean the federal government could potentially impose conditions on plans for new mines, housing developments and logging operations to stop them from interfering with koalas and their habitat.
The national icon is dwindling because of the combined pressures of development in its habitat, drought, climate change and from the disease chlamydia.
Its numbers in Victoria and South Australia are relatively healthy and so the animals are unlikely to attract the protective classifications in those states.
Woke up 4:30am, couldn’t sleep so am doing work in my home office. Now it’s almost 6am and even though it’s dark outside the sounds of birds are the darndest thing you ever heard. Their crows sound nothing like the ones in the USA. They’ve been moaning for an hour now, interrupted briefly by kookaburras making an ungodly racket with their jungle-like calls. MBW and MBD are fast asleep through it all. Guess that’s why they use their Sound Machines to produce white noise while they sleep!
Ugh. Food prices are just silly here. A “good deal” today is $32 for 48 cans of Diet Coke. Jeez, I could fill an entire refrigerator with $32 worth of Coke back home!
As May approaches, the warm weather is tapering off down here. It was 59 degrees this morning at 8:00AM (about 15 degrees C). I must confess that living in a warm sub-tropical climate has made me a cold wimp. MBW and I went to Garfish for dinner with another couple last Tuesday evening and I had to wear my leather jacket for the first time this year. No need for the aircon now; open the windows and let the cool breeze flow through! Heck, I was wearing my flannel shirt this morning when I went downstairs!
Today is a national holiday in Australia. Similar to our Memorial Day, Anzac Day commemorates World War 1 veterans from both Australia and New Zealand. They had what proved to be an unsuccessful campaign at Gallipoli, trying to capture Constantinople (now “Istanbul”). It was regarded as a major victory for the Turks, and a disaster for the Allies.
MBD and I are commemorating the event by eating Anzac cookies! Yummy! Anyone want the recipe?
They’ve gotta get into everything. Knocked MBW’s Rolex on the floor and it landed face down on the stone tile. Cracked the crystal. Shit.
No, we’re ok financially. It’s learning to adjust to the cost of living here. At least things might be going in our favor. The American dollar is finally holding its own against the Australian dollar. The only familiar breakfast cereal available that MBD likes at our grocer is Fruit Loops. I should say the only familiar and edible in her opinion. It comes in one size: Large. At under 18 oz/box, it costs $7.79 AUD. The Australian produce is even expensive. I bought a normal size seedless watermelon the other day and it cost $25 AUD. The price broke down to 7.2 kg @ $3.48/kg AUD. A case of diet coke in cans costs $27 AUD. And please, don’t get me started on ironing boards. Pictures don’t lie. (Click the picture to enlarge)
No, you do not need glasses. Or at least I hope you don’t and can make out the prices in the picture: $92.96, $106 and $108. There is not a single thing different in these boards than those at your local WalMart. Oh and if you’re trying to be smart, the iron is NOT included! Ironically the boards in the picture were available from the Big W here in Manly which is the equivalent of the US Walmart. Go figure….
The kittens are now 6 months old and the loves of our lives! Hard to believe. They are the most lovable and affectionate animals I have come in contact with in my life. They also piss me off and sometimes barely make it through to see the light of the next day. They play in forgotten water cups spilling the contents on whatever is underneath. The last fiasco was tipping over the cat litter bag and peeing half in the bag and half on the floor. Thanks so much for that, Thumper. Here are some updated pictures. Mickie is the black one and Thumper is truly asleep on my chest – his favorite place to take a nap 10 times a day
Well, I hope all is well with everyone. I have an appointment with the ADHD specialist on Monday at 17:30. I’ll let you know how it goes.
It’s a long one but then again I haven’t posted in a LONG time!
Well, it HAS been a long while since I posted on the blog. Its been a rough first quarter of 2012 for me. My last true post was on 6 January. I don’t think this quarter would have been this hard had I been prepared for the Australian Government’s control of some types of prescription medication. I’m going to get personal but it’s helpful to me to explain and maybe someone else can be helped by me explaining. At the age of 40, I was diagnosed with Adult ADHD. To some of you this may not be much of a surprise; to me it was life shattering and life-giving, I guess you could say. The diagnosis rocked my life’s foundation and devastated me. So much I had lost, so much I had missed, so much I had dreamt of and so many lies I had lived with.
When I was around 10 or 11, I knew deep down in my heart that I wanted to be a vet and I wanted to live in Australia. I shared it with anyone who would listen. My parents even enrolled me in private school beginning in the first grade. I don’t think this had much to do with my dream more than they were able at the time to afford private school for 1 out of 4 kids. Why not start with the one just beginning to go to school? In my mind, I limped by in school. I was more in trouble for being noisy than I was getting commendations for my academic prowess. It took me twice as long to learn things because every time I got to the end of a paragraph, I had no clue what I had just read. Literally I couldn’t tell you whether I had just read about an English lesson or a History lesson because while I was reading, there were thousands of other thoughts going through my mind. Those thoughts raced and raced and collided and magnified. I felt stupid. What was wrong with me? I was average but I felt a very lost average. When I went to a private college preparatory high school, I felt way out of my league. I just had to work harder, care less or find another way to pass my courses. I am inventive in that way.
I was in high school with kids who aced their SAT’s and ACT’s. Me? I hated those tests because my brain always used those racing thoughts to fake me out. It would tell me, “Hurry, hurry, there is going to be something in here you don’t know. Hurry, rush through the test. Find that one question that is going to ruin the whole thing. Look at everyone else. They’re doing just fine!” By the time I rushed through, I had no clue what had happened, which question was answered correctly, which one I was supposed to come back to, etc. Studying was difficult and I didn’t sit still for long. I also contended with the racing thoughts. I didn’t know that was what they were. I thought everyone had them. Mine tended to be negative observations about myself physically and always did a number on me emotionally. I was overwhelming in relationships; as though my life depended on you being my friend. I still hear the hundreds of comments, “Jeez Susan, you are so hyper. Calm down!” If my perception was you didn’t like me, that gave me license to try harder. It was always something wrong with me. I compared my insides to your outsides and I never measured up.
I graduated high school and was accepted to Texas A&M into their Pre-Veterinarian Program. So many things happened that first year of college that beat me to a pulp. I was cut during sorority rush which seemed to confirm the negative racing thoughts in my head. I gained 24 pounds that first year, same confirmation. I was lost in a math class of 600 students after spending the last 12 years in classes no larger than 25. The one thing I had been feeling in high school that was becoming clearer to me in college was that I was definitely not smart enough to be there nor to become a vet. After 3 semesters I transferred to TCU and got a business degree with which I have never done a thing with…why? Because it isn’t what I wanted to do with my life. In my mind I personally haven’t accomplished much. I am a wife and I mother but I have always felt a sense of loss since I transferred from A&M.
Back in the 70’s to early 80’s, there wasn’t much information on learning disorders, especially ADD or ADHD. I have a brother who was diagnosed with Dyslexia in high school in the very early 80’s but very little was known about it either. He struggled; I watched him struggle. The reason he got help (from my perspective) and my learning disability wasn’t diagnosed was that he was failing some classes and no one could figure out why. Hell, ADHD was not even a recognized disorder until 1980 and it was more common in boys. I think so much of my ADHD was internalized and being a female, the hyperactivity wasn’t an issue. I graduated high school in 1986. Go figure…
When a dear friend mentioned ADHD to me under the assumption I knew I had it, I was dumbfounded. HUH? Why would she think I have the disorder? She mentioned a few symptoms…ones that even I knew were a part of my makeup. I looked at her and asked, “Is this why I can read a paragraph and have no idea what I have read?” As she slowly nodded, I broke down in the most gut wrenching sobs I have experienced. It hurt. It hurt deeply. So many years of feeling like a failure from not being a vet to not being able to keep a clean house. So many racing thoughts had pounded my heart and soul for 40 years, I wasn’t sure I would recover.
So in 2007 when I was diagnosed, I had a great psychologist to help me with the ADHD and a psychiatrist to prescribe the necessary medication to get it under control. My life changed that year. I went from unorganized chaos to organized chaos – HA! I gave myself a break because the racing thoughts had stopped. I could focus on what was in front of me. Some of the most simple things in life can waylay an ADHD’er for days trying to figure out how to start the process. Once they start it, what are the necessary steps to finish it? AND God forbid something looks colorful or interesting along the way that catches their eye and their attention. All of this cleared up for me and I had felt more successful in the last 4 years than I have in my lifetime.
The problem here in Oz stems from a group of mothers in the 1980’s who decided to sell their children’s Ritalin to make extra money. The government got involved and pulled all ADHD medication “in-house.” I have been working the process since before Christmas and I am still not on the correct levels of medications. I know this because I feel like I did before 2007. I have thoughts like I did before 2007. But most of all, I don’t like how I fell and think because I know I can be better. Patience was never one of my virtues but I am quickly learning.
The process goes like this: I first saw a General Practitioner. God love that man. He worked his rear end off trying to get me the medication I needed or at least to a doctor who could prescribe me what I needed. He even sent me to the hospital emergency room thinking the doctors there had the pull to prescribe the medication to tide me over until I saw a psychiatrist. Nope. He referred me to a Psychiatrist. It took a month to get an appointment with him. I have worked with this doctor for almost 2 months with 3 different kinds of medications each to the max level that he is allowed by the government to prescribe. These are low levels. He has now determined that he wants to refer me to the ADHD Psychiatric Specialist who will also evaluate me just as the previous doctor has done. This new doctor will then petition the Australian government with his findings and recommendations for the restricted medication and the dose he wants to prescribe. The government then decides whether I should have it, grants the doctor the approval and the doctor prescribes the ADHD medication for me. Sadly, this must happen every time a new prescription is needed. So I am waiting to hear back from the specialist to schedule an appointment. We are out almost $2,000 and I’ve dealt with some pretty bad lows in the last few months.
I feel on the upswing though but it will take time. I’m very involved in MBD’s school volunteering in the school’s canteen. It gets me out of the house and around other people. The laid back no worries attitude of this culture has helped with the racing negative thoughts. I feel off kilter and not quite “me.” In the end, I DO know it will all work out.
Thank you to my wonderful husband for all he has endured and to MBD for all she has survived. 🙂 They have both stuck by me on this roller coaster. Thank you to MWH for keeping in touch with all of you. I promise to keep writing. There is so much I want to share with you about this wonderful country – there are some definite quirks here! To all who have or have not noticed, the new banner photo at the top of the page is the incredibly talented work of MWH! Hugs and kisses to you all!
The Smiths in Oz 