Miss Mandie

Its almost been two weeks since I set foot back into Australia and I have been enjoying the immediate change of season from a Northern Hemisphere winter to an Aussie summer. Even better was last weekend finding myself in a piece of paradise known as Port Stephens in New South Wales. I was blown away by how beautiful it was there.

Now I admit,  having lived in Queensland on and off for the past ten years, I have become a bit of a “northern snob” in terms of the beaches we enjoy up there – crystal clear waters, fine white sands…but as  you can see by the pictures, its not only Queenslanders that get to enjoy such idyllic settings for their beach excursions. The bay was sheltered away from the winds that had picked up that day, so we didn’t have to contend with any huge waves that are so typically in beaches “down under”. Nothing but eternal sunshine and the good company of my friend Rae and her family to while away our Sunday. Ahhh, bliss

It seems to be a common conversation amongst my friends these day – just how much has changed in such a short amount time in terms of how we communicate with one another. It was only the other day that I got an email that was joking about the “under-30 crowd” never having to endure such slow communication processes as writing a letter by hand, having to post it and waiting a week or so for it to be delivered to the recipient. Let’s face it, even email is now seeming a rather redundant communication form when we have Facebook and Twitter status updates, all from the convenience of your mobile phone to let all and sundry know of your latest movements.

So you can imagine how much I laughed when I stumbled across a particular newspaper article as I was rifling through some old boxes at mums today. This goes back to a time where using the internet was such an extraordinarily modern act that my mother and I made it into the local newspaper when I used the internet for a school assignment. Now admittedly, we did live in a town of only 1500 residents, so news might have been a bit slow to come by but when you read the article, it is apparent just how “new age” this whole internet was back then. Furthermore, reference is made to using the fax machine to get in contact with someone in England because we didn’t have access to email. Can you imagine that this was also only 12 years ago!!

Hope you enjoy the giggle from this sign of the times as much as I did (to read in full size, just click on the image below):

I have held the belief for a quite some time now that the bombardment of bad news we receive on a daily basis is not healthy for us or our society. As a consequence of not watching the news or reading newspapers, I think I am a happier person and I believe its easier for me to see the good that exists in the world. Yes, I’ve had moments where things have taken me by surprise as I wasn’t aware of them from the media, such as my Army husband-at-the-time having to inform me directly about the start of the Iraq war or realising the Australian economy had taken a nose dive by noticing the sudden decline in my bank balance while travelling through the US recently. But overall I think the benefits to not having to endure the wave of negative images contained in news reports far outweighs any benefit I would get from always being “in the know”.

However, as I was sitting through my usual routine of getting updated on my friend’s lives through facebook over my coffee this morning, I felt the desire to have additional information in my morning about what had occurred in the world while I slept. So I googled “good news” and was delighted to find The Good News Network as the top result.

This is a website that has been functioning for 11 years now and they make it their mission to report on positive, good news stories on topics that range from business to health to sport to people and so much more. From a quick browse, it appears that being based from the US, that a lot of the stories are local reports but they do seem to be making the effort to have reports on other regions in the world as well. And while you have to pay for this news after a free 30-day trial, they have a reasonable tiered payment structure that is based on you deciding how much you can afford to pay.

So I have signed up for my free trial and I look forward to being bombarded each day with news that reconfirms my faith in humanity and gives me plenty of reasons to smile as I start each day!

Photos – actual candy sold that reflect some of the political perceptions in the nation.

Given I had the unique vantage point of being in the States during the latest historical election, I thought I should spend a few minutes recounting my experience for those that may be interested (yes, yet again, I am aware of how behind I am on this!). Having missed the last two elections in Australia, I was looking forward to watching this election unfold. As much as we may not like to admit it, America and its political system does have an influence on our lives beyond their country border, so its little surprise that this election had most of the world holding their breath.

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