Christmas Cheer

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Let me tell you the tale of the website that stole christmas...

'Twas the weekend before christmas and all through the place
Could be heard a sad little girl, with tears down her face
She'd tried so hard to make a perfect day
But the stupid website threw her plans away

Yes folks, the little girl is me :(
I planned everything and I tried SO hard to make this christmas perfect for the man I love, but all my plans have been torn to shit, all because of ONE website....

The love of my life has, like me, had many below average christmasses... family feuds, money woes, and other factors have come together to wage war against his christmas spirit. He was well and truly into BAH HUMBUG mode this year at the first sight of anything vaguely christmas like.
Even though I confess to having some of the same feelings myself this year, to have my love being anything less than gleefully leaping about the house with excitement over the upcoming holiday, is simply unacceptable! So I vowed to do everything I possibly could to make this christmas the best EVER and bring even a little of that child-like christmas wonderment back for him and, in the process, hopefully a little would rub off on me too.

My first thought was to make basic home life as carefree and happy as possible...
That went out the window with the arrival of the mad ice princess sister! Throwing our whole world into turmoil and upheaving everything, she proceeded to take over the house and make us feel like outsiders in our own home. Why she wasn't kicked out is another story altogether, but for now let's just say, she's here and we're stuck with the housemate from HELL. That said, I decided, since there was nothing to be done about it, the only plan of action was to use a combination of ignoring her and trying to make the best of the situation.
All was looking well until...
Three and a half weeks to go and I still hadn't managed to find my angel the perfect present! I was beginning to panic when I stumbled across a website. (I can't tell you the name of the site just yet. I don't wanna ruin the surprise! lol) This site seemed to be screaming, "THIS IS IT! YOU'VE FOUND IT!" and it was true. I found the PERFECT gift for the man of my dreams and I was completely confident he'd love it!! There was one concern however... the item had to be shipped from Japan.
At first I was a little cocerned but, after checking the shipping options, I found out that as long as I paid an unimaginable amount for shipping, the perfect present would arrive in time. It was just over 3 weeks til christmas, I was paying with credit card so that wasn't a delay, and the shipping option I choose said "7-10 days" so I was confident that, even if it took an extra few days, or even a WEEK longer because of the holidays, it'd still be here in time (although possibly cutting it fine...)
The first sign of trouble was 2 days after I placed the order I got an email saying the order was ready and that they would soon be charging my credit card. I was a little worried that it had taken them this long just to tell me they were going to charge my card, but I let it go coz I'd never used this site before so I thought maybe there was some registration process to go through for new customers. So ok, I was fine with that. I was still quietly confident that my love would have a beaming smile on his face christmas morning and that order would be restored, his christmas spirit would once again be in full force!!
Then on the 10th of December I got another email from the company, this time telling me that they had JUST billed my card! I couldn't believe it! It had taken them this long jsut to bill me, nevermind posting the item! I was starting to get nervous now, but the email said that since payment had cleared, my order would be posted within 1-2 days. So I thought that, even at the worst case, I would definately get the package by Monday, the 24th, and thus, I would have the perfect gift to present to my sweetheart on the most wonderful day of the year and he would FINALLY have the perfect christmas I had strived so hard to give him.
On the 20th of December I received an email from the website I ordered the wonder-gift from. They happily informed me that they had posted my order THAT DAY!!

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ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!

3 postage days before christmas, almost 3 weeks after I placed the order, they have only just now gotten around to posting my order!! The order I paid a BUTTLOAD for, to have it sent out in 7-10 days, rather than the standard 6-8 WEEKS. I did the math...
Postage option: 7-10 days
Working days til christmas: 3 days
............
The love of my life will not receive his perfect christmas present until approximately the 10th of January!
No gift, no peace on christmas day, no smile on his face, and don't forget the oppresive heat of an Australian christmas... All my plans to give my darling the perfect christmas day are ruined!! There were so many things working against me already in my quest to revive his christmas spirit, but as long as I had the perfect gift, maybe I had a chance.
Now I know it's all gone to hell and all the hard work I put in, the effort, the thought, the best intentions, they're all for nought!

As I said, I can't tell you the name of the site until the present I worked so hard for finally DOES arrive because I want it to at least stay a surprise, if not a timely one.
But rest assured, as soon as I'm able I WILL tell you all the name of the site and I'll even include a copy of the complaint email I sent to EVERY department of the website's offices (just to make sure they all knew what their inaction and inefficiency had done to ruin my family's christmas!)

I've just made up my mind.... I'm not gonna let a shitty website (that doesn' even know the meaning of christmas) get my spirits down!! I WILL give him the best christmas EVER and I'll do it all on my own!! F*** that site!! The best memories anyone ever has of christmas have little or nothing to do with the gifts. You remember the people you were with, right? So this year, I'm going to do my best to find, or even MAKE, a very special gift for my angel, not because of the gift itself, but so that he knows I thought about him. And other than that, I'm going to just GO WITH IT! Whatever happens on christmas day, NOTHING will bring me down! I'm seeing my baby sister in the morning, my love's father is coming over, and then it's a big family christmas lunch! And I will NOT let myself get down because one stupid site TRIED to steal my christmas away form me!

Here's hoping you all have the kind of christmas that makes you forget what presents you got coz there's just too many good memories and no room left in your head for trivialities such as the crappy pair of socks or the lumps in the gravy!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!!!!

It's not a disease, it's normal!!

I wanted to share with you a video I made. Since it's been up on YouTube it's had almost 10,000 views, has been commented on more times than any other video of mine, and has been linked to 5 times from outside sites. I've received messages from people all over the world (who were too worried about leaving a comment) that my video has let them know that they're not alone, that there's nothing wrong with the way they feel or what they want, and that there IS support out there for them.
I even had a message from a 23 year old man in Wales who told me that he'd known he was gay since he was a child, but he was alway too scared to tell anyone about it, he felt he had to hide who he truly was, even to his family. He said that seeing my video had inspired him to think long and hard about his situation an, after much soul-searching, he finally came out to his family and friends! (P.S. Overall, they were much more supportive and understanding about it than he'd assumed they would be. So, YAY for him!)
So anyway, here's the video....
Since Blogger won't let me add it in here, I'll give you the link
I Wanna Be In Love

I just thought, for anyone out there who might be struggling with this, or anyone who knows someone who is gay, lesbian or bisexual, that this post might help you out in some way. I've added some links to websites and support groups that I know do really good work.

TSSG - Teenage Sexuality Support Group
TSSG on MySpace
This group was started by a good friend of mine and has really hit the ground running! Jay, who co-founded the site, is a gay man himself and, having only recently left "teenager-dom" knows first hand what it's like to be a gay teenager in today's environment. A lot of you may think that the old prejudices and hatred towards same-sex relationships is a thing of the past now, but I tell IT'S NOT!! Many teenagers struggle with their true identity and the feeling that you will automatically be hated because of who you are is enough to drive a lot of teenagers to destructive behaviour such as alcoholism, drug abuse, self harm, even suicide. The people at this site are they to make sure that doesn't happen! You can go to them for support and understanding, to share your story to inspire others, or even if you're straight you can shopw your support for the cause! Anyone is welcome at TSSG!

Reach Out
This site offers advice and support also. Specifically the page I've linked to has some great advice, in a straight forward manner, about 'coming out' and even has some great fact sheets geared towards understanding. For those who think they might be gay, there are un-biased fact sheets to help you make up your own mind based on facts. For those who know someone who is gay, there is information to help you better understand your friend/family member and their lifestyle. It's all about promoting tolerance through knowledge. As I've said before, people hate what they fear and fear what they don't understand. Knowledge is the first step to breaking down the hatred that surrounds gay, lesbian and bisexual people and those who love them.

The Speak Project
Another great resource for you. This is a myspace page, but it's full of really useful information, as well as a bunch of priceless links to websites that are specifically GLBT oriented. These are just a FEW of the sites you'll find at The Speak Project.

Human Rights Campaign
Where you can find out all about the progress of the fight for equality and join the cause.
Million For Marriage
It takes just a minute to sign the petition to help change discriminatory laws and make the marriage right equal for ALL people, regardless of sex, orientation or race!

Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation
Pretty self explanitory really.

And this is my personal favourite....
QComedy.com
Queer Comedy!! Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender comedians and queer oriented comedy. Because you can't be serious ALL the time!!

Also, anyone reading this can feel free to contact me at any time. Leave me a comment, or look me up on my MySpace page

And here's a few images with some words of wisdom for you...

To boldly go where everyone else is already waiting

Ok, first thing's first... I'm a total noob with the whole blogging thing. I admit it, I'm outdated. And shamefully so considering I'm supposed to be a part of the great technology generation! Seriously, how many 25 year olds do you know that don't have a blog?
Yeah, me neither!
I suppose I thought that there was no point in starting a blog as I rarely ever have anything of any importance to say. However after reading countless blogs filled to the brim with useless crap I never needed to know, I can safely say that I'm not alone in that regard. If you know me then you might be interested in knowing what's going on in my life. If you don't know me personally, then I guess I can at least hope for a little vouyeristic tendency, plus I've been told I can be quite amusing at times, so I have that going for me too.

So let's see, where to begin?
I'm 25 years old. I live in Perth, Western Australia with my boyfriend, Steve. I hate that, "boyfriend". Every time I say it makes me feel like a little ditz in high school. I don't know why, but it does, so I avoid it. Usually I go with "partner" instead, but that makes me sound like a lesbian, so I'm not rapt with that option either. Not that there's anything wrong with being a lesbian, I just don't want people to think I AM one... shit, apparently my foot in mouth disease is playing up again. It does that from time to time.
Moving on... On the subject of all things sexuality, I'll get it out of the way now. Although I'm not a lesbian, I AM bisexual, so you'll see a lot of gay rights and gay law reform support on this page. If you have a problem with that... BYE! I've heard people criticize bisexuals, both straight people AND gay folks! I understand the straight people being all pissy about it, people hate what they fear and they fear what they don't understand. But I really can't get my head around gay people objecting to my bisexuality. I mean, I don't even know where to begin arguing that point, but I'll give it a shot anyway...
No. I am NOT confused! I know who I am and what I want.
No. I am NOT greedy. I don't want more than one partner at a time, it just happens to be that I'm sexually and romantically attracted to men and women in equal amounts.
No. I am NOT a slut or promiscuous in any way! Some people have this idea that if you're bisexual, espescially a bisexual woman, that you must be a slut. That in relationships, you can and will sleep around with other people, just because you're bi. This is SO not true! Being bisexual doesn't give you a right to cheat on your partner or sleep around. I can't speak for all bisexuals, but I have never in my life ever cheated on any boyfriend OR girlfriend I've ever had, and I never will! To all the people that say things like, "But it's not cheating if it's with the same sex..." I say BULLSHIT! If you leave your partner at home to go out and have sex with another person, ANY other person, then you're cheating! People like that give the rest of us a bad name.
My number one HATE is intollerance. I figure there's enough REAL problems to worry about in this world without people running their mouths off with their unsolicited opinions about the way I, or anyone else, run's their lives. If you want to protest something, find something WORTH protesting! Protest the slaughter of innocent woman and children through war. Protest the prohibition of a completely harmless and much misunderstood drug. Protest and work to fight against the child slave trade that goes on everyday right under our noses. But don't hassle some innocent bystander jsut because his/her bedroom habits are different to yours!

Wow, this harmless blog quickly turned into a rant. Sorry about that. I promise I'm not usually a ranter. There are just a few subjects that really get under my skin, and that happens to be one of them.

Ok, moving on... more about me.
I'm a smoker, yet another controversial facet of me. I'm not saying it's a good thing, but I hate when people feel justified in looking down their nose at me, or anyone else, just because I smoke. I hate that fake cough thing people do! It's SO annoying!! Once I sat down at a bus stop and was sitting for five minutes alone, and since no one was around I sparked up a cigarette. In less than a minute, some woman came and sat down next to me and was all *cough, cough* and looking at me with that look like I was beneath her. I was offended on different levels! Firstly, how dare you judge me for my choices! I'm not looking down my nose at you for that miniskirt that allows all the guys across the road to see what you had for breakfast! Secondly, I was sitting here by myself minding my own business, you CHOSE to sit next to me! If it bothers you so much, why the HELL did you sit here, knowing I was smoking?!

Ok, I think that's enough of the introductions for now... for someone who doesn't have a lot to say I sure have run my mouth off here!