Being Normal – My Christmas ramblings and wish to you!

As we drove home from my brother’s on Christmas Eve, after eating the yummiest sponge cake (with real cream) to celebrate Alannah’s 4th birthday, the kids and I contemplated “normal”.

Are we a “normal” family? What does “normal” mean and what does it look like? Am I a “normal” parent? Are your friends “normal”? Are their families “normal”?

Once I “knew” what normal meant, or so I thought. Well the Brady Bunch set the bar, didn’t they? Highly reasonable, tolerant parents – who appeared to have suffered no ill effects from their previous relationships (?btw, how did those relationships end??). Awesomely talented, popular & beautiful children – whose banal transgressions were amusing and non-threatening to life or society. And happily & predictably, after half an hour, everything would work out just fine. I soooo loved the happy ending.

The pervasiveness of television on my early reality and personal values only hit home as an adult. How was “normalcy” determined prior to government sanctioned rhetoric beamed directly into your home? As a child of the tv era, I can never know or understand how life was before tv. TV told us how we should live, what we should aspire to, and indeed what we should consume. ‘Keeping up with the Joneses’ expanded way beyond aspiring to what the folk next door had – the folk who could afford to live near you because of their similar socioeconomic background. Television opened our eyes to enormous possibilities and created wants beyond our status and birth rights. Dare we dream of these things? Can a girl be educated? Can I have a career? Can I play the game too?? Damn straight!

Consumerism really came alive in the tv era. As we wondered whether it was ok to change our lifestyle and were supported by the stories and messages transmitted into our homes. It’s ok to:

•   eat fast food;
•   take big-pharma pills to cure our ails;
•   shop in centres and avoid the little guy – even though he passionately knew his stuff;
•   use swear words & be rude to our elders;

all this, we were assured, was “normal”. The facilities to enable consumerism to thrive were quickly provided too. I remember my parents getting their first credit card. A bankcard. bbb. Now we could have stuff we couldn’t afford. Hooray!! As a society, our naivety resembled that of my kids. “Mum just use your credit card!! Dah!”, they tell me. You don’t pay – it’s “free stuff”. Instant gratification.

I recall the Christian camp I attended as a teenager. Their attempt at brainwashing was fairly good – we had so much fun, who wouldn’t want to be part of their community. Brady Bunch values – wholesome good fun activities. Unfortunately, they received me as a horny teenager – thirsting for attention from boys and a blossoming body of hormones … so it just wouldn’t stick. But the one message I received from the camp – which stuck to me like gluggy porridge I just couldn’t flick off my fingers – was that credit was the devil. The sign of the devil 666 was remarkably like bbb, they pointed out, and you know what… I think there is some truth in it!!

My children have grown up with computers, the internet and cable tv replacing “normal” broadcast tv . Myles mastered the mouse at 2 years of age, and the little tykes behind him expect to transact on the screen without a mouse, and Myles is only 11!!! In his lifetime technology will change so dramatically we can barely conceive of the possibilities. I attended a Creative Innovation conference in November where Tan Le demonstrated her research in computer mind control – fucking awesome! Awesome possibilities for the disabled – yet scary in the “wrong” hands.

To see such dramatic changes in technology within a generation is previously unheard of, and expectations are the rate of change will increase not decrease. Will society implode due to lagging ethics unable to keep pace with technology?? I know we can’t go back, and sometimes it’s difficult to see forward. (Using ‘and’ instead of ‘but’, Susie )

Communication has shifted from TV’s one to many, to the internet enabled many to many. From broadcast, back to person to person. Advertising is so omnipresent I tend to ignore it in favour of trusted testimonial and I don’ think I’m alone. Online forums like Whirlpool, personal networks like facebook, and respected reviewers on Youtube are more likely to persuade a purchase than the enormously expensive TV ad. Who’s word do you trust?? I watch my tech savvy daughter Izzie – who always surprises me with the contents of her Christmas and birthday lists – to see the trends of the young. Where does her inspiration come from ?? YouTube mostly!!  These days YouTube is “normal”, but not for long.

There’s that word again.                         Normal.

Listening to the wisdom proffered by Robert Anton Wilson – “normal” and “average” are calculations. And as for all mathematics, they are total abstractions. No one is ‘the average’ anything. We are like snowflakes – completely unique. And that is the way it should be.

My life is not an abstraction. Nothing I do is normal.

As you try to fit in and be “normal”, remember there is no such thing.  As I stare down the barrel of 50, I realise I am not normal and can never be so. And this is truly liberating.

So to You the snowflakes in my life- I send my purest love. To my enormously weird, wonderfully unique, amazingly heroic, heart-warmingly funny, ferociously challenging, fundamentally creative, and truly beloved family & treasured friends, – my Christmas wish to you – don’t be normal.

Be You.

Much love Kylie xxxx

Can you Vote for my Blog?

Allergies and genetics

Ever wondered if food allergies ran in families. I do.

I don’t have any food allergies – although I am allergic to various penicillins – and Pete is not allergic to any food – although he does react terribly to anti-persperants.

Today I received word that my niece was rushed off to hospital after a nasty reaction to peanuts. She had shown sensitivity to say and milk when younger, and my sister-in-law vigalently avoided those products for a few years.

This was her first major reaction at 5!

Genetics or environment? It’s not conclusive – but it would seem the family link is strong.

Environment

Whether you believe global warming is due to natural cycles or man (or both), this looks like an interesting movie – with benefits to the people involved – not just the planet.

I must watch it some time. Anyone seen it?

No impact man. http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi685572633/

 

I’ve created a family photo book in mix book  - and you can play it here.

Mum, Dad, Bronny & Dunx – this is for you guys.

Kylie

Play the album

 

My Mixbook

This is a test to see how the album works.

Mum, Dad & Bronny – this is for you.

K

<object width=’380′ height=’380′><param name=’movie’ value=’http://www.mixbook.com/flash/mixbook_albums.swf?b=5791460&k=oYzYUnbWsn&mode=production&pid=5791460&autoplay=true’ /><param name=’wmode’ value=’transparent’ /><param name=’FlashVars’ value=’b=5791460&k=oYzYUnbWsn&mode=production&pid=5791460&autoplay=true’ /><embed src=’http://www.mixbook.com/flash/mixbook_albums.swf?b=5791460&k=oYzYUnbWsn&mode=production&pid=5791460&autoplay=true’ FlashVars=’b=5791460&k=oYzYUnbWsn&mode=production&pid=5791460&autoplay=true’ type=’application/x-shockwave-flash’ wmode=’transparent’ width=’380′ height=’380′></embed></object><div style=’text-align:left; font-size:11px;  font-family:tahoma,arial; height:26px; padding:2px;’><a href=’http://www.mixbook.com’><img src=’http://mixbook.s3.amazonaws.com/images/mixbook_player/logo_embed.png’ [^] style=’border:0px none;margin-bottom:-3px’ alt=’Mixbook – Create Beautiful Photo Books and Scrapbooks!’/></a> | View Sample <a style=’text-decoration:underline;’ href=’http://www.mixbook.com/gallery’>Photo Books</a> | Create your own <a style=’text-decoration:underline;’ href=’http://www.mixbook.com/photo-books’>Photo Book</a></div>

Old Photos

Several years ago (maybe 12-15?) I purchased a couple of old photo albums at the Camberwell Trash and Treasure market.

I was fascinated by them, particularly one which contained photos from Jerusalem, which I knew (and know) little about. Over the years, I’ve spent quite some time looking through the images and wondering what on earth I would ever do with them.

I felt a little uncomfortable in some respects – viewing the pictures belonging to someone I didn’t even know. But more-so, I felt saddened to think the families of the photographers didn’t choose to keep the albums for their own history. Or were these photographers simply the last twig on the end of their family tree? Or had they lost touch or cut ties with their relatives? However they ended up with me I felt both honoured and responsible. Honoured to be the recipient. Responsible for ensuring these images were available for others who may be interested.

In the past week I’ve referred to the photos twice. Firstly, a colleague showed me the photos he took of his recent visit to Israel, which reminded me I has the album tucked away in a cupboard somewhere. Then I retrieved the album to show a musician friend who was recording with Pete. She was talking about her Israeli partner and caused me to retrieve the photos from their hidy-hole. She was fascinated by the photos too – and suggested posting them on the web. This is something I’ve considered before, so with the rash of activity drawing me to this conclusion – I spent some time last week scanning the album and uploading the files to flickr.

I’ve now scanned the photos and uploaded them onto flickr – so you can view the whole collection here.

I’d love to hear what you think of them……..

My favorites….

Old Photos - People in Jerusalem

Isabella’s Pancakes – Egg Free

Isabella has outgrown her dairy allergy, and can tolerate a small amount of egg, but she still LOVES these pancakes….. however we now use milk in place of water.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Plain Flour
• 1/2 teaspoon B-Carb Soda (Baking Soda)
• 2 teaspoons Baking Powder
• 1/4 teaspoon Salt
• 2 Tablespoons Sugar
• 1 cup Milk (or water or soy milk for those with dairy allergy)
• 1.5 Tablespoons Vegetable Oil
• 1/2 teaspoon Vanilla Essence

Method:

Sift flour and baking soda/powder and salt.

Add sugar. (Whisk these together is you don’t have a sifter.)

Add Vanilla and Oil and half the soy milk. Whisk together.

Gradually add the rest of the milk until thick pouring consistency.

Heat Frying pan – needs to be reasonably hot. We now use butter – but you could use spray. Oil/spray for each pancake – they do stick otherwise. I found with this recipe the pancakes worked best if they were on the small side. If the were too big they were difficult to turn.

Can be eaten hot or cold. Our favorite toppings are Maple Syrup; lemon and sugar; and butter (milk free) and jam on the cold ones.

Happy eating!

2010 in review

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow.

Crunchy numbers

The average container ship can carry about 4,500 containers. This blog was viewed about 22,000 times in 2010. If each view were a shipping container, your blog would have filled about 5 fully loaded ships.

In 2010, there was 1 new post, growing the total archive of this blog to 84 posts.

The busiest day of the year was February 16th with 299 views. The most popular post that day was Egg Free Dairy Free Pancakes.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were mustfollowrecipes.blogspot.com, flickr.com, organizedwisdom.com, and search.aol.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for egg free pancakes, food allergies, egg replacer, puffy eyes, and barbie cake.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

1

Egg Free Dairy Free Pancakes March 2006
28 comments

2

Food Allergies February 2006
50 comments

3

Food Allergy Recipes February 2006
23 comments

4

Shopping for Dairy and Egg Free Food September 2006
4 comments

5

Egg Free Dairy Free Doughnuts (Donuts) May 2006
10 comments

Survey Results Update

It’s been just over a year since the survey was put online and I’ve had 70 responses to date.

Responses are from:

Australia           16

Canada               4

England              6

Germany            1

Ireland                1

Israel                    1

New Zealand      3

Singapore          1

UK                      4

USA                 33

……………………..

Male           53%

Female      47%

…………………..

14 respondents had no sibblings

Of those with sibblings approx 1/3 also have allergies

65% of respondents observed symptoms before the child was 6 months old.

38% of respondents were not diagnosed with  food allergies when symptoms first presented.

No great surprises in the main allergens….

Food	first diagnosed	subsequently diagnosed	allergic to now
Cashew nut	14	8	16
Chicken	1	0	1
Cinnamon	3	1	2
Egg	42	18	37
Fish (e.g. cod or salmon)	8	8	13
Hazelnut	10	8	13
Lamb	1	2	0
Milk	43	8	28
Peanut	24	19	26
Rye	4	2	3
Sesame	8	5	7
Shell Fish (e.g. prawn or lobster)	7	6	8
Soy	7	9	10
Wheat	14	6	8
Other	15	15	18

21% of respondents noted their child has been victimised due to their allergies!

Opinions were split on whether child-care schools had appropriate training – however 82% of respondents felt the general community (including restaurants etc.) were ill informed about the dangers of food allergies. This response was consistent across all countries.

Most answers to other questions were roughly in proportion with responses you would expect from the general population – i.e. nothing particularly significant. If there is specific information you would like to see, please drop me a comment – I’m more than happy to share.

Thank you all for your comments. There are too many heart breaking stories and far too much frustration amongst this community. I’ll keep providing updates as more surveys are completed.