Random Observations of Life

A little Nigerian take on love

Posted by Robyn Dunphy on February 11, 2015 in Mrs O, Our New Life

There are some really great Nigerian writers and speakers. One I have found recently is Elnathan John who writes over on that “other” platform on the interwebz that doesn’t have a re-blog button to automatically share. This is my attempt at a manual approximation.

HOW TO SHOW NIGERIAN LOVE

To quote D’Banj, “love is a beautiful thing”.

I have not met the man, but I know he meant Nigerian love, which is a species totally different from the heresy practised by oyibo people in the name of love. Our love is not of short-lived flowers and long meaningless walks in the park. As a person dedicated to your hustle, I have undertaken to provide wisdom that will protect you from falling into such heresies.

This is how to show Nigerian love.

Nigerian love is pragmatic. Words are a waste of time. Every true Nigerian knows how little the words ‘I love you’ mean. Except of course you are in Europe and need to quickly marry someone to get residency. Nigerian love is a very material concept. When you hear rich couples attend events and say those nebulous words, ‘I love you’ to each other, what they do not tell you is how they really say it. God will judge them for trying to mislead new couples.

View Original to read the complete article

Tags: Elnathan John, humour, love, Nigeria, satire Permalink

Quick health update (following on from Friday)

Posted by Robyn Dunphy on February 10, 2015 in Mrs O, Our New Life

On Friday I wrote about being in pain again. I’m sharing these little ups and downs so others on this journey can see what may happen, even after diagnosis! Today is Tuesday and I have just got back from the GP. I got home from work walking stooped over. Everything from my waist down is painful – lower back, hips, knees, ankles. I lay on the bed with NO energy at all. Enough was enough and I headed to the doctor. This lovely image is my spine. Certainly not a bad case of scoliosis at all, but enough to be just an added complication given my other conditions!

My Spine

I spoke to my endocrinologist yesterday about could the reduction in my thyroid medication be the cause of this flare-up. He believes not. I think I should have stressed this pain more when I saw my rheumatologist on Friday, but I got carried away in the discussion of the relationship between thyroid and rheumatoid arthritis and probably didn’t emphasise I was IN PAIN! It also got worse later in the day, I have to say.

Tags: health, hyperthyroidism, Medicine, Pain, rheumatoid arthritis Permalink

4 Comments

So Abbott survived – for the moment

Posted by Robyn Dunphy on February 9, 2015 in Politics

To battle we go! #libspill pic.twitter.com/mYe6oUtyfA

— john shakespeare (@johnshakespeare) February 8, 2015

Interesting day. The spill motion was put and was defeated. 61 against and 39 for the motion. That’s 39% of the sitting members would like a new leader. That means just twelve people between Abbott as Prime Minister and bye-bye Abbott.

https://twitter.com/marcfennell/status/564602910751735808

Interesting Tweet, really. 71 -13 seems like a much better margin to me, but what would I know?

https://twitter.com/MarionGroves/status/564599917629284352

Tags: Abbott, Australia, leadership spill, news, spill motion Permalink

17 Comments

A Prime Minister has to be a team player

Posted by Robyn Dunphy on February 8, 2015 in Politics

Tony Abbott makes far too many Captains’ Calls. Knights and dames, the $20 Medicare rebate reduction, Prince Philip’s knighthood and now the call to move the leadership spill discussion/meeting/vote to Monday at 9 am. Make no mistake: this is a strategic move with personal motivation. It is not true leadership style.

Chief Whip Philip Ruddock statement on the date change for the #libspill motion pic.twitter.com/LxIoB5goCQ

— Karen Barlow (@KJBar) February 7, 2015

Abbott seems to be under the illusion he is a president, not a prime minister. The Australian system is the party that wins a majority in the lower house forms government and chooses the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister MUST be a team player, otherwise democracy is undermined. Despite the number of Abbott supporters wailing they voted for Abbott as Prime Minister, they didn’t. That is impossible in the Australian system, irrespective of what any individual might like to believe.

https://twitter.com/TeamOyeniyi/status/564189513627361281

Tags: Australia, news, Tony Abbott Permalink

10 Comments

Manicures and glitter nail polish

Posted by Robyn Dunphy on February 7, 2015 in Mrs O, Our New Life

Now for something COMPLETELY different! A break from politics and health matters. I’ve always like manicured nails, but used to do them myself. When I was unwell last year, I broke a couple of nails and went to get a couple of tips put on. Don’t ask me how, but I ended up with some gel or other nail product. Oh, yes, they look good, but these drill things they use these days totally wreck your nails (in my opinion).

Drills used to remove nail products

Miss O 1 and my nails

Tags: manicure, manicured nails, Nail polish, nails Permalink

11 Comments

I am in pain again

Posted by Robyn Dunphy on February 6, 2015 in Mrs O, Our New Life

Friday night. Day seven of the reduced dose of Carbimazol. Yesterday I started to feel sore in my hips and back again, stiff getting out of bed or out of the car after driving. I’d almost forgotten what this pain felt like – how did I put up with it? I also seem to have lost strength, I could hardly carry a shopping basket with a few items in it. OK, one item was a three litre milk container, and there were two medium tubs of ice-cream plus some grapes, but I was struggling.

This is not good. On the phone to my endocrinologist in the morning to see if he thinks perhaps the dosage reduction was too soon. So I’m stretched out on my bed, with my tootsies on pillows. Again. Back to staring at my toes.

Tags: Carbimazol, endocrinologist, health, hyperthyroidism, Medicine, Pain Permalink

3 Comments

Why Dysfunction?

Posted by Robyn Dunphy on February 4, 2015 in Politics

I rather like this quote: “In politics stupidity is not a handicap.” ~ Napoleon Bonaparte.

Seems to fit the Australian political scene as well at the moment.

Lew looks at the shift to the political right in the USA and there are some parallels to our current Australian experience. Makes for interesting reading, so click through to read the full article!

Lew Bornmann's Blog

It seems to me…

“In politics stupidity is not a handicap.” ~ Napoleon Bonaparte.

Our political parties have fundamentally different visions of what kind of country we should have and neither is feeling sufficiently politically weak to agree to the other side’s vision; there remains essentially no room for independent thinking within the conservative movement.

There has been a move to the right in U.S. political leadership where measures frequently are discussed or proposed that would have been anathema to conservatives under the Eisenhower or even the Reagan administration. This shift to the extreme right cannot be characterized in any way other than as a development of a radical political movement that threatens the very stability and character of the U.S. as we have known it. Isn’t it time for common sense and reason to return to political discourse? The radical right attempts to label the Democratic Party…

View original post 598 more words

Tags: right wing, USA Permalink

8 Comments

Wives and partners? WTF?

Posted by Robyn Dunphy on February 4, 2015 in General, Politics

First let me say I personally have no problem with the words “husband” or “wife”. *Ducks missiles flying in from some of the feminist fraternity* In my view these words are merely relationship descriptors, no different than son, daughter, mother, father, sister or brother. Compared to some languages, English has very few relationship descriptors: some cultures have words to describe the specific blood relationship, such as mother’s brother’s daughter, father’s brother’s son and so on.

I recognise that the history of patriarchal societies has meant the word “wife” still, for some, carries a connotation of ownership. In my view language changes as society changes and to me the connotation is no longer there – depending on USAGE and CONTEXT.

Tags: Australia, Margie Abbott, news, patriarchy, politics, sex strike, sexism, The Age of Women Permalink

5 little-known reasons why pharmacists should not be playing doctor

Posted by Robyn Dunphy on February 4, 2015 in General

Very sound reasons not to turn pharmacists into “low cost” doctors.

Tags: medical, Medicare, PBS, pharmacists, politics Permalink

11 Comments

Knives, wounds, terminal – harsh words for Abbott

Posted by Robyn Dunphy on February 2, 2015 in General, Politics

Today has been interesting to say the least. The tabloid Herald Sun, usually considered more right wing, is using the harshest words. The used-to-be-a-broadsheet-but-isn’t-any-more The Age is taking a much softer approach to reporting the Abbott leadership “genie out of the bottle”. I think the genie has done a bunk, to be honest, but that is yet to play out.

Above is the headline I received in my morning notification email. Below is the headline actually displayed on the Herald Sun website for the article (I clicked directly through). We’ve gone from “knives” to “slipping”. A much gentler approach, don’t you think?