A Lovely Surprise March 29, 2009

One of the best things to come out of moving back to Australia, and I guess I have Facebook to thank for it, is reconnecting with some old high school girlfriends.

When I left for the States 13 years ago, I basically lost touch with everyone except for two friends. Now with the internet and facebook, its so easy to find people you used to know and reconnect.

Last night six of us went out for dinner and drinks, and had a great time talking about life, weddings, babies and making fun of all the 18 year olds with skirts that barely covered their parts.

It actually made me grateful to be older and I realise now that I wouldn’t want to be 18 again for ANYTHING. I think life definitely gets better as we get older and while I don’t have any intention of going out every weekend, it is nice to go out once-in-a-while and realise how much more full and rich (?) life is now that I’m older and settled down. I don’t miss clubbing, or partying on weekends until all hours of the morning and being sick the next day. But I have missed having girlfriends to hang out with and I’m really glad I’ve found some old familiar faces and friends again!

Surrogacy March 23, 2009

I was watching a news show last night that did a story on the sudden burst of surrogacy numbers in India. An Australia couple has reportedly paid $70,000 to have an Indian woman carry their twins. This woman will make in “9 months” what her husband makes in 4 years.

Why did this couple chose India for surrogacy? Because commercial surrogacy is illegal in Australia.

They seemed to come at this story from an angle of it being immoral, exploitation of “poor” women in India who will do anything for cash. The couple preferred to see it as a win-win situation. And I think that is how I see it, too. This Indian woman has the chance to contribute to her family, to make their life a little better, and by doing so, she helps a couple who otherwise would most likely not have children. Where is the exploitation?

For the record, I don’t consider the baby of a surrogate to belong to that surrogate, or to be a part of her at all. I’m sure MANY people would argue with me on that one, but that’s what I believe. The embryo comes from the couple and is implanted in this woman. It is not a part of her, or of her husband. When I was pregnant, knowing that I was carrying a human life that my husband and I had created together made the experience what it was.

I believe in surrogacy, and it makes me sad that it is illegal in Australia. It is very difficult to adopt in Australia, so if you are infertile, your options are extremely limited. I think surrogacy is a legitimiate option, and I think the woman should be compensated for putting her body through the pregnancy/birth. That takes a lot of toll on a woman’s body, but why shouldn’t she have the option of doing it? I would do it. I think its one of the greatest gifts you could give someone, next to an organ.

I don’t doubt that with surrogacy, comes several moral issues. I believe in the States, there is a lot of screening for women who intend to be surrogates. The story last night mentioned that these women never even SEE the babies, let alone touch them, etc. Apparently its been proven that it is easier for them, mentally, to do it this way.

At the end of the story, the couple had just found out that the husband didn’t want his wife to carry twins (“Two big western babies” is what he said, I believe) and they are considering termination of one of the babies. Which brings up another moral and ethical question, whose decision is it to do that?

Maybe if a “western woman” were allowed to be a surrogate, they wouldn’t have to deal with that.

I think if people can go to fertility clinics and CHOOSE what sex their baby is, then it should be legal for a woman to loan her body out, “rent-a-womb” as they said last night, and help another couple to become parents.

Random Crap March 22, 2009

A dozen Chinese tourists on the beach today wanted their pic taken with me, Nicklas and Kate…it was fun to watch locals try to figure out who we were and why these tourists wanted their pics taken with us.

Mike doesn’t like the name “Jacob” for a boy – thinks its too “biblical”. Tonight he says to me, “What do you think of Eden for a girl?”

We’re not pregnant, just always talking about names for “the next one”.

I really hate our new neighbours…after being woken up by an unhappy, teething baby a few times last night, I was finally asleep only to be awoken at 4 am by them (loudly) coming home.

Nicklas has been “teething” for 5 months now. This time, I think they are actually there, they’re just taking WEEKS to come through. The poor kid is miserable.

Two days after we get back from our month-long trip to the States, my husband is going to Sydney for work. Yeeeah, he’ll learn a lot between jet lag naps.

Its Sunday night…I hate Sunday nights. Because what comes after Sunday night? Monday morning. And its the start of another long week.

Totally random fact about me: I HAVE to have a swig of milk, if not a glass of it, after eating ice cream.

John Anderson must be feeling a whole lot better about his job after coaching the Thrashers to a 7-3-0  record in their last 10 (9-4-0 in their last 13), with a winning month in February and looking like another winning month in March. I’m excited about next year.

State Vote March 20, 2009

Tomorrow is our day for voting for our state Premier. Its the first time I’ve ever had a vote for anything, seeing as I left here at 18 and wasn’t on the electoral roll, and then couldn’t vote in the US because I wasn’t a citizen.

I’ve been cramming today…studying the parties’ websites, trying to get any valuable information that will help me make an informed decision. If I thought it would be worth it, I’d vote Green. The two majority parties are making me sick with their negative campaigning tactics, and it overshadows the real issues. Why can’t more politicians take a page out of Obama’s book?

Obviously the issues that are important to me have changed somewhat over the last year. Healthcare and education would be at the top of my list, and for those reasons I believe I’m voting Labour.

There are a few things that turn me off the LNP, but one of the major ones is a commercial claiming Anna Bligh’s response to the state healthcare crisis is to build a football stadium (the Bligh govt is trying to bring the AFL to the Gold Coast by promising a new stadium). Well, Mr. Springborg and Co., I’ve seen where the land is cleared for the building of the new University Hospital. You don’t mention THAT in your campaign now, do you?

I’ve seen video of Springborg giving a speech, in which he says he has been asked where the money will come from to deliver his promises. He says, “I simply respond, where has the money GONE?”, referring to the Bligh government’s spending. Do you know what that says to me? You’re a typical politician who dodges questions and skirts the issues.

You’ve already failed twice at taking over the job of Premier of QLD, Mr Springborg. And I hope tomorrow it will be a 3rd failure.

Movies March 14, 2009

Just a light-hearted post because honestly its way past my bed time (yes, thank you, I realise its only 9 pm), and while there are many things that are going on that I feel quite strongly about, I’m just too tired and too brain dead right now to string too many coherent sentences together. SO, I’m going to tell you about a couple of movies I’ve seen lately.

We hardly EVER went to the movies in the States. And by hardly ever I mean we meant MAYBE once a year. Why would you go to a 2 hour movie when you could go to a 3 hour Thrashers game!? But since moving here, I’ve seen more movies in the last 16 months than I think I saw during all my 7 years in Atlanta.

PS I Love You and 27 Dresses are the first couple of movies I saw when we moved here and I loved both. But most recently, Mike and I have seen Valkyrie, Bride Wars, Gran Torino and today I saw New In Town. And with the exception of Valkyrie, I would go see them all again!

Gran Torino is a movie that makes you laugh, then question whether you should have laughed or not. It is about a stereotypical, old, racist, white man (played by Clint Eastwood, who is funnier than I thought he would be) living in the home he and his wife (whose funeral opens the movie) have shared for years. But it is in the Detroit ghetto. He is surrounded by Hmong people and gangs, but refuses to leave the neighbourhood. He befriends the young Hmong girl next door, and her family, and proceeds to use all kinds of racial slurs … to their face! But he also protects them and defends them, and isn’t afraid of anyone not even the gangs. It is funny, somewhat heart-warming, and sad. The best, but perhaps saddest line in the movie, “I have more in common with these strangers than I do my own family.” Defnitely a two-thumbs up from me.

New In Town stars Renee Zellwegger and Harry Connick Jr. I can’t say RZ is one of my favourite actresses, but I have never been disappointed by one of her movies. She has great comedic timing and just plays each character so well. Its not necessarily a new storyline, and it is quite predictable, but there are more than a few laughs in this romantic comedy. At one point I wasn’t sure what everyone was laughing at – the movie, or my mum laughing (if you know her, you’ve most likely heard her very distinctive laugh at some point in time). The basic gist of the movie is that Lucy (Zellwegger) is a big-wig corporate player who is sent to Minnesoooota to shut down a factory. Of course, she winds up falling in love, making friends, and developing a loyalty to this plant she is supposed to shut down. If you can get through all the Minnesooootan accents dooont you knooow, you’ll love it! Two more thumbs up from me!

Ok, I am going to bed. Nicklas hasn’t slept more than 4 hours at a time in weeks and I am so tired, I don’t know what way is up. Hopefully next post I’ll have something with a little more substance for you.

A New Blog March 10, 2009

Actually its not a new blog, just a new location, same old boring crap!

There hasn’t been a whole lot going on lately, so not much to write about. My web hosting expires in a day or two, and instead of renewing, I figured I’d just find a new place to host my blog, since I don’t really use arohawezner.com for anything else.

We are starting to count down to our big trip to the US. I’m going to have to start making lists. Its one thing to organize a picnic at the park when you have a kid, its a whole other thing to organize a trip to the other side of the world. I guess I shouldn’t stress TOO much seeing as if we forget anything we can just get it there, but after doing some shopping online, its not much cheaper (if cheaper at all) after you do the currency conversion.

Soooo, yea. Mike goes to work, comes home, we eat dinner, we put the baby to bed, I go to slee, Mike watches TV, and we get a few hours of interrupted sleep, then we get up and do it all over again. I’ve been applying for jobs, but I am pretty sure about 10,000 other people are applying for the same ones, and I don’t even get a call for an interview.

I’d blabber on about the other non-events going on in our lives, but I have an 8 1/2 month old cranky bum trying to crawl up my leg and into my lap.