Great Southern Land

Just went to an exciting presentation: Cyber Safety & Digital Citizenship.
And guess what? It's not all doom & gloom. In fact, very little of it IS doom & gloom (although there are some sobering implications).
We learnt a few interesting facts about the lives of young people, which will be old news to young people, of course. A survey of 18,000 youngsters found they have an average of 94 numbers stored in their phones! The online world & the offline world are seamlessly joined for many people - the "digital natives".
I found it unsettling to consider this.
Does anyone remember Woody Allen's film The Purple Rose of Cairo? Mia Farrow, in the Great Depression, goes to the movies to escape her awful life, and fantasy & reality are confused when the movie character comes off the screen.
The online world is much more grounded in reality, but is far more pervasive than 2 hours at the pictures. It truly is 24/7/365. Where will we go with this?
But more encouraging at the talk was evidence that internet residents are much more sensible than the tabloids think. Risky behaviour is rare rather than the norm, & is done by people who are vulnerable & risky in real life. Stranger Danger is a myth online as it is in the real world - your most likely abusers are your classmates or older siblings (sadly).
There are concerns: ethical questions (downloads, plagiarism, etc.), legal issues (take a sexy picture of yourself & legally - if you're underage - you're a child pornographer), time management, etc. But mostly, it's good!
Young people are enhancing their written skills with the vast amount of writing they're doing. They are becoming media creators. They are adept & adaptable with new equipment & ideas. They are more open in certain ways. The online world is a huge fertile place to discover yourself & try new things.

They have something to say, they're saying it their way, & us wrinklies had better listen!

I'm in shock. & awe. Py has made a movie. Just like that. Well, nearly just like that.
I mentioned camping for 3 days to help Py video his racing team. And he & sister Ar had time off school.
I lent him my Mac Powerbook lappy, with the native iLife suite: iMovie to load & edit the movie, iPhoto looks after photos, Garageband lets you add a soundtrack, iDVD puts the whole thing onto a DVD with groovy animated menus. He might have done a bit of P2P with Limewire, but we might skate past that! The Mac software works together so well, it's unbelieveable. Yes, I'm raving, but you will when you try it.
He put together a stunning production, about 15 mins from 2 1/2 hours of tape (about 37 Gb, BTW), in just a day.
Then a minor disaster: the external hard disc was disconnected, and the project file was corrupted. So he re-assembled the whole thing again.
Py is such an artist, & such an engineer; with equipment that works well, he's startling.

Some things about these times are just great. Easy to use creative equipment, & here I am writing to you in other countries through a Norwegian web site... let's keep the good bits

This is a bit of a grump. Please put up with it.
I've been tired for ages, & I'm sick of it. H has finaly finished her horror project, but for weeks now it has consumed us. We (mostly she) have been working crazy hours at all sorts of times. My own work is there too, & three gorgeous but energetic children, impromptu guests, dance concerts, hayfever, work trips... it's getting to me I think.
And tomorrow I set off to a nearby town for 3 days, because I'm helping Py video his racing team. I should be asleep, not writing this.
Not quite true. I'm finding this quite relaxing; a bit of "me" time, so I'll stay up a bit longer. Read a few people's blogs.
I'm still a bit puzzled by the blog thing. I enjoy meeting people in person. In cyberspace, are people even real? And the relationships are very different; a bit detached? Intimate in a sort of anonymous way. It reminds me of backpacking in Europe. Friendly strangers, who shared such details, then moved on. I like the range of nationalities in Opera (& I have fond memories of Norway - hello Stamsund!), I like the connections - the people are real, by the way! And I like the way ideas float in & out of my head & end up on the screen for me to see later. And for you to see, I hope!
It's got this strange pull, this blog thing. Thanks for reading this.

I'm back, & what a day it's been! This has been one of the most emotional days of my life. I'll try & describe them all. I'm going to include after midnight last night, since that's when it started.

I got a very special email, from a dear friend who hadn't been in touch for many years. I'd written our story out (NSFW) & she had said some lovely heartwarming things in reply, & added shots of her recent wedding. What odd, pleasant feelings mixed together: joy for her, nostalgia, happy, sharp memories, a sense of time passing over us...

At work it rained. All day. In a drought this brings up a well of cheerfulness. The Australian bush has a unique eucalyptus-y smell, and the land semed to say, ahhh that feels good...

The rain wrecked our internet connection. I attemted four projects unsuccessfully. And the backup system failed us. Bloody frustrating.

I was still enjoying the email (thankfully exempt from strife), when I discovered a swag of replies to some blog postings. That makes you feel great, let me tell you. Give a blogger a 20 second comment, & they're your friend. Try it! Also, they were good worthwhile posts, if I say so myself.

Friday afternoon. Say no more.

Home. Risotto, half-prepared in my head. Chicken, celery, lots of garlic, no ginger this time. The children are excited about tomorrow's dance show. Ar has a solo!

A quick peek at the computer. The work system hates Opera for some reason, so I'll just check for messages/comments. And Quirky68 has written something.

I'd been encouraging her to have a go at writing, and boy can she write! A mother's loss A heart-wrenching story, of such raw sorrow and vivid description; I wept openly. Do not read this lightly. Not in a public place, like a library. Preferably with someone very dear close by. I mean that. Quirky, you are such a brave person; thanks for sharing that.

I made the risotto in a state of shock. The rain still fell on the steel roof. The family tumbled in & wolfed down dinner. We admired Py's ingenious birthday card he'd made. Ap had a basketball game, & was told not to give himself any injuries before the dance. I enjoyed the laughs, & the compliments (I'd slightly burnt the rice, which gave it a delicious nutty taste). I looked around at my dear family, and held back the tears.