The magic of one…

It’s taken me a few days to be able to put the words together about how I feel about this… the passing of Olivia Newton John. I like many others are heart broken by her passing.

As a Gen X, I grew up listening to her music and watching her movies and I now feel as though I have lost a close friend, even though she didn’t even know me.

Australia and the world lost a beautiful woman who had the heart and soul to match her outward beauty. She was a woman who gave greatly with her talent but also with her time and her money towards the things she cared deeply about.

Olivia Newton John was a genuine person and she will be greatly missed in this world. She has left behind her legacy with the people she touched, her music, her movies, the projects she supported but not only that but with her family and her friends she left behind.

For me and for many others, I think in years to come, we will remember what we were doing when we heard the news of Olivia Newton John’s passing. A friend told me that she had died in a text message, so I got onto Facebook after that and reading people’s posts and comments on the news pages I have on my Facebook, the tears started flowing.

During the day, I saw many Facebook, Instagram and Tiktok posts with people paying their own respects in their way to Olivia. They too had me shedding quite a few tears.

She may have been born in the UK but Australia adopted her as one of our own quickly. She loved Australia as much as Australia loved her.

On the night of 8 August 2022, one of the TV stations here in Australia played the movie Grease in honour of the passing of Olivia Newton John. I watched the movie, I’ve seen it many times as it’s a firm favourite, then there were moments I cried during the film that featured heavily Olivia, the end of the film had me in tears too as the car took flight into the clouds.

Thank you Olivia for the music and the movies for they will live on in our hearts. Thank you for being the person you were. Earth has lost an angel but she has grown her wings and is with the angels in heaven.

Until next time

Kaye

Moving with the times…

As a Generation X, I grew up not having a mobile (cell) phone as they didn’t exist then.

Our social networking was sending hand written letters and cards in the mail, or using a manual type writer to type a letter to someone. We actually went over to a friend’s house or called them on a landline rotary or push button phone to talk to them. We bumped into people we knew while out shopping or in the street and we stopped and talked with them.

As the late 1980’s came, so did mobile phones, which weren’t what we have now… these phones had huge handsets and the battery for the phone was carried separately in its own shoulder bag.

Not everyone had a mobile phone then either, only the YUPPIES (Young Urban Professionals), business executives or trades people had them.

Computers too only came into main use in the late 1980’s… remember the big monitors and hard drives? The floppy disks were huge as well. The printers would use a style of their own, dot matrix.

Time has definitely changed things with technology. Same with social media.

I love how technology has changed. Anyone who knows me knows that I enjoy looking at the new technology available and what is possible for the future. I also enjoy social media as well.

I know there’s a lot of social media platforms available and I use several of them – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and Tiktok in particular.

I’ve only just got onto Tiktok as I thought it was just for teenagers who want to show of new dance moves in videos that have gone viral but I’ve realised that it’s more than that.

What I love about Twitter and Tiktok is the learning about other countries and the connection with other people from around the world, especially during the lives on Tiktok.

I have made some good friends on Twitter who are now my friends on Facebook and I’m making friends on Tiktok as well. I love how social media makes a world seem like a smaller place to live. I also enjoy how you can chat online with people around the world in real time and it can be morning, afternoon, evening or night time.

During the covid-19 pandemic that swept the world, with people having to isolate or be in quarantine, technology played a bigger part in our lives, as did social media.

With offices and buildings closing or reducing staff numbers in an effort to stop the spread of the covid-19 virus, we learned how to work from home. Education, normally done in the classroom was done online. Church services started going online too for many churches, there was more online buying, cash wasn’t being accepted by most places and became cashless as long as you had a plastic card from your bank or credit union to use.

Meetings were done by Zoom, Skype, Microsoft Teams during the covid-19 pandemic. Friends socialised on the social media platforms because of the restrictions for how many people were allowed in the home.

As far back as 2019, before we had even heard the word coronavirus or covid-19, there were those who would be saying that technology and social media were keeping people isolated from others and how bad technology and social media is.

With the covid-19 pandemic, it was technology and social media that was keeping people in contact with each other, so we learned that yes, technology and social media can be our friend and can keep people together, talking to each other, keeping people connected.

I’m excited to see how technology changes for the future and what social media platforms will become the next big thing.

For me, my Facebook is for people who know me in real life and for those I’ve gotten to know over time through talking with them through social media.

For Twitter, Instagram and Tiktok, you can find me by my username kayezee71.

Until next time

Kaye

Back to normal life…?

I’m excited, I’m so excited that you wouldn’t believe just how excited I am! Want to why I’m excited? I’ll tell you whether you want to know or not… I’m excited because cruise ships and cruising have finally come back to Australia! Now, hand up who’s now excited with that news!

That’s some exciting news right? Well it’s exciting if you’re addicted to cruising and you’ve missed being on a cruise ship or seeing them docked in a port near you.

Living in Adelaide, South Australia, I live under a 30 minute drive to the cruise ship terminal here. I love seeing the different cruise ships in port for the day. I hope that the passengers who are on various shore excursions or doing their own thing in seeing what Adelaide has to offer, they are enjoying their day here as well.

We have shopping, fabulous restaurants, the Malls Balls in Rundle Mall, beautiful beaches, the Adelaide Hills, chocolate makers, wineries, art galleries, museums, in fact there’s something here for everyone. The weather is pretty good as well.

Currently here in Australia, we have 2 cruise ships based here, P&O have the Pacific Explorer, based in Sydney, New South Wales and doing cruises and Princess Cruises have the Coral Princess, based in Brisbane and doing cruises.

After not having cruise ships in Australian waters for 2 years due to the coronavirus pandemic which caused cruise ships to stop cruising, I’m glad to see them coming back.

If anyone has read previous posts in this blog, you would have seen that I have a cruise booked for December 2023 on the Grand Princess and just between you and me, I’m a little bit excited by that too.

The last cruise I was on was in November 2019 around the South Pacific Islands and Fiji, just before the world learned about the coronavirus and the world had to stop.

Life and the world is slowly returning to normal, or a new normal, with this virus still around but it’s a good feeling to feel as though it is returning and I’m still excited.

Until next time

Kaye

Wake up America…

America, it is time to change your gun laws. Everything political is run by the gun lobbies and the gun lobbies have way to much money and power. It’s obvious that the gun lobbies are in charge over there and not the politicians who should be running the country.

It’s time to stand up to the gun lobbies. It’s time to stand up against all the gun loving people who believe it is their right to protect themselves and bear arms because the second amendment of the US Constitution tells them they can own a gun.

I’m over turning on the news and hearing on repeat almost daily of a shooting happening in schools, day care centres, churches, shopping malls, out in the streets, parents who don’t store their guns properly where kids can find them, kids using guns on other kids…

I thought that after the Sandy Hook elementary school shootings, where 26 children and teachers lost their lives in 2012 would bring the changes to gun laws but no, the shootings continue. It seems as though the gun loving population of America has more rights and protection of their rights than what innocent children do. This pisses me off to no end.

I’m saddened by the thought for the parents who said goodbye to these 19 children as they went to school in Texas at the start of their day today, thinking that it was going to be a regular day but it turned out to be the worst day of these parents lives as they will never see their children again. My heart breaks for them. I also feel sad for the 2 teachers and their families who lost their lives today as well.

I’m saddened by the children who have to do shooter drills in school’s to prepare for the possibility of a shooter coming into the school. How about letting them be innocent children because that’s what they should be? They shouldn’t be thinking, is this the day I may die.

I’m angry at the US government who continually allow shootings to continue resulting in the loss of many innocent lives.

America, it’s time to get your shit together and change your gun laws now and get over your love affair with your guns. That was all well and good when there were no military forces or police to protect communities and individuals, where people had to defend themselves and their property.

America, just wake up and change your gun laws before even more people are senselessly and needlessly killed.

Here in Australia, there was a mass shooting in 1996 at a popular tourist destination in Port Arthur, Tasmania. 35 people were killed and a further 23 people were injured by a lone shooter who possessed high powered weapons. All it took was for that tragic event to happen and the gun laws in Australia were quickly changed and tightened. We haven’t had another massacre since and I thank the government for their quick actions in the protection of human lives.

America, it’s time to grow a pair and make your country safe for all… change your gun laws. Change them now. Yours is the only country in the world where almost daily, there’s a report of a mass shooting somewhere. That is something I wouldn’t be proud of believe me if I were an American citizen. Your lack of gun control does not make me want to visit your country, seriously.

Until next time

Kaye

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Feeding my cruise addiction….

The latest news is that cruising will be resuming here in Australia again shortly in April 2022, after 2 years of no cruise ships in Australian waters. I’m excited!

Back in January 2022, I booked a cruise from Adelaide, South Australia to New Zealand and return. The Australian borders were still closed, the New Zealand borders are still closed and cruising hasn’t resumed but I booked the cruise.

I wanted some normality back in my life. I wanted something to look forward to. I wanted something from life as it was before we had even heard about the Covid-19 pandemic that swept the world and put everything on hold for the next 2 years. So, I booked a cruise.

I’m a member of several Princess Cruises Facebook groups and it’s been interesting to see how the Americans have returned to cruising.

I’m fully vaxxed, I have no issues wearing a face mask, I carry my own hand sanitiser and use it regularly. I wash my hands as necessary.

I’m definitely looking forward to just being on a ship again as the last ship I was on, back in 2019, I just missed the start of people beginning to be infected by the coronavirus. Happy to have dodged that bullet.

By December 2023, we will have gotten used to living our new normal because I don’t see this virus or its variants disappearing any time soon. This will be something that we are just going to be living with. This is our new normal.

Safe sailing to all who are currently on a cruise ship, are thinking of booking a cruise, have booked a cruise.

For those who have booked their first cruise, or are currently on their first cruise, welcome to your newest addiction. Cruising is very addictive! It’s an addiction I am happy to pay for though, as a cruise ship is my Happy Place.

For those who have booked cruises and have had them cancelled, I hope you are able to successfully have a cruise in the not too distant future.

Until next time

Kaye

Living in the 80’s

Hands up who remembers the 1980’s? I certainly do! I was a teenager at the time and living through the 80’s, it felt like a decade that was special as we were experiencing life during this period and that people would be talking about how good this decade was when they were looking back at it. For those who missed life through the 80’s but love the music and hearing about life during the 80’s, this is a list of what you missed and so here are the things I remember of what the 1980’s were about:

Big hair
Rubik’s cubes
Shoulder pads
Slouch socks
Hyper colour t-shirts
Rollerskates
Rollerskating rinks
Walkmans
Boomboxes/Ghetto blasters
Break dancing
Flouro t-shirts
Tracksuits made out of parachute material
Huge mobile (cell phones) phones and you had to carry the battery in a battery case on your shoulder
Atari
Commodore 64
Pacman
Asteroids
Space Invaders
Frogger
Pong
Video game arcades
Amusement arcades
Elastics
Uno
Denim shirts/jackets/skirts
Computers with green screens
Floppy disks
Records
Cassette tapes
No pay tv, just Channels 2, 7, 9 and 10
Betamax and VHS VCR’s
Rotary telephones
No internet
No mobile/cell phones
No social media – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, Tik Tok etc
No Google – we had to go to the library to look things up or look it up in an Encyclopaedia Britannica
Red Rover
Brandy – the game, not the alcohol
Spokey Dokey’s – Putting cards from cereal boxes in the spokes of your bicycle to make some cool noises
Stirrup pants
Jelly bracelets
Clogs
Rats Tails
Mullets
Holes in your jeans – sorry people who wear that fashion today, people in the 80’s bet you to it! Lol
Stone wash jeans
Acid wash jeans
t-shirts 4 sizes too big
Legwarmers
Wearing your collar up, even on polo shirts
Simon says
Hopscotch
Cabbage Patch Kids
Tonka Trucks
Banana seat bicycles
Nerf balls
Hoola Hoops
Swatch watches
Koosh balls
Kazoos
Etch-A-Sketch
Slinkies
Matchbox Cars
Lego blocks
Yo yo’s
Smelly pens and markers
80’s music
Candy cigarettes
West Coast or St Tropez wine cooler – for people who were over 18
PEZ
Bubble tape
Choose your Own Adventure Books
BMX bikes
The Big Mac song, “Two all beef patties, special sauce…” could you say the whole thing in under 10 seconds to win yourself a free Big Mac?
Crimping irons
Putting the empty plastic potato chip bags in the oven to shrink them
Care Bears
Synthesizers
Soda Stream soft drink makers
Carrying the pack of cigarettes in the rolled up sleeve of your t-shirt

These are some of the memories I have of the 1980’s, what are things you remember?

Anyone who was born after the 1980’s really did miss an incredible decade. I’m glad that I got to experience it first hand, I wouldn’t have missed it for the world!

Here’s to all of us who lived and survived through the 1980’s!

I’m glad you took this walk down memory lane with me, hope you enjoyed it.

Until next time

Kaye

Life lessons…

Here’s a few things that I have learnt about life, so listen up the younger generation.

Kids, time may go slowly for you as you have to wait forever for your next birthday, or Christmas, or for some event you are eagerly awaiting but as you get older, time flies by, days just roll into one at times. I actually enjoy those days that simply drag.

Enjoy your childhood as you are only a child for such a very short time and you miss those years as an adult. I do love it when I get the chance to be a big kid though, being an adult isn’t always about being “grown up”, there is having some fun. Even when you are an adult, keep the “big kid” side of you. Just because you are an adult, doesn’t mean you have to always act like one.

Respect your elders and when the opportunity arises, ask them about their life, nothing better than a real life history lesson.

Life doesn’t revolve around those gadgets you have either. You can actually live without them. You can also live without Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Tik Tok or whatever other social media platform you use too, trust me, I grew up in a time before those things and I did okay. You can actually miss things that are actually going on around you when you are constantly looking at a screen. I definitely precede the technology you enjoy today, and I live to talk about it. Going without my smartphone is for me liberating as no one can reach me… I enjoy going off the grid and not allowing my smartphone to rule my life so when I do back to my smartphone, the messages and whatever I’ve missed will be there ready for me to see it when I’m ready to see it…

Ah, yes, if you think you know everything, believe me, you don’t. We adults may be older but we do happen to know a lot more than you. We have experience, life lessons and a vast amount of knowledge. There are some things you can teach us but we can teach you more.

Another thing, if you want to try and pull a fast one on your parents to get something, forget it. Your parents are onto you already and they have probably tried the same things on their parents growing up but I will give you points for giving it a good try though 😉

Enjoy life as a kid because those times you will never get back.

Until next time…

Kaye

Just do it because the world depends on it…

We are certainly living in uncertain times due to the Covid-19 pandemic upon us. In fact, I feel as though we are in the midst of 2 pandemics – one which is called Covid and the other one is called Stupidity.

When the world began hearing about Covid-19, back in January 2020, people were generally encouraged by the health authorities and the government’s around the world to practice social distancing, wash your hands frequently or use hand sanitiser if you are unable to wash your hands, to sneeze and cough into your elbow and isolate if you feel unwell. We were encouraged to not gather in big groups of people, to use technology as a form of being together with our loved ones and our friends in order to stop the spread of this virus. By being apart from one another, it was to enable us to be back together sooner rather than later. So what happened?

Now we are at almost August 2021 and this virus is still prevalent in it’s presence here in the world and that’s mainly due to the stupidity of certain people who refuse to do what they are told because they feel as though by doing what they are supposed to be doing to help eradicate this virus, that their rights or civil liberties are being taken away from them, where they are unable to do what they want to do, when they want to do it. These people think their freedoms are being taken away or that the leaders or the government of the country are turning that country into a dictatorship by telling these people what to do and these people do not want any part of it.

What the selfish, entitled, ignorant covidiots who organise and participate in “Freedom” demonstrations don’t realise is this… they are not fighting for their “Freedom” to do what they want and when they want to do it. Their “Freedom” was, or has, been already fought for them by those who served in a country’s military forces and fought during war times, enabling all free countries to be free and not be ruled over by another country who were hell bent on removing freedoms and turning another country into a dictatorship by overpowering their governmen. These covidiots really have no clue over this reality and that makes me angry over their attitudes in regard to this virus, which is definitely not just a “little cold” or just a “little flu” or “nothing to be worried about”. This is a virus, especially the Delta strain from India as that is a more highly infectious strain, it simply does not care who it infects.

Right from the first diagnosed case of the coronavirus, before it was renamed as Covid-19, this coronavirus has always been a real thing. From the very beginning, the way it affects people varies. It can go from a person who has no symptoms but has tested positive to having the virus to someone who has ended up on a ventilator finding it impossible to get air into their lungs and struggling for breath and then death. Then there is the incubation period of the virus, just because you don’t have any of the symptoms at present, it doesn’t mean that you don’t have the virus. This is a unpredictable virus as it can take days before you have symptoms from the time someone infected you with it, how many people have you interacted with in that time? This is how this thing spreads.

I choose to live my life as though I have the virus and have been doing this since the beginning of the pandemic. I’ve been social distancing as best as I can do when in places where social distancing is not guaranteed, I have been washing my hands or using hand sanitiser, I  can count on one hand the number of people I have hugged in the last 18 months and for a hugger, that’s been really hard and I miss the physical contact, I wear a face mask when required,  I have been following the advice from the health authorities because I want to keep not only myself safe, I want to keep others around me safe as well and that is why I do this.

Covidiots just don’t care because they are entitled, selfish, ignorant and stupid in their thinking. They have no respect for other people but they also have no respect for themselves either because they are willing to risk the health and physical well being not only for other people but for themselves as well.

Covidiots believe that those of us who are doing the right thing are “living in fear” of the virus. Wrong! We care about others well being and we care about ourselves and that’s why we follow the directions from the health authorities and the government.

If the covidiots would now learn to follow the directions and start doing the things we have been instructed to do, then this virus would quickly be eradicated and the sooner we can go back to life the way it was before the pandemic took over.

I think the covidiots are the ones who are indeed afraid and living in fear and that is why they refuse to do what they are instructed to do. These are the people who want to make this pandemic all about them but it’s not because it is about every single one of us. We are all in this together, not just individually but all of us. We need to follow the instructions and be guided by the scientists and medical professionals who have put in the research and studying the actual facts in relation to covid-19 and not the armchair scientists who listen and follow all the misinformation on Google or certain so called medical experts who have no medical background. We need to put trust in our medical authorities and our government health officials just so that we can go back to living life the way it was before the pandemic and not hinder or continuing to delay it by refusing to follow the guidelines and directions put in place by those who have the authority to keep us safe.

Just as the covididiots are over the pandemic and Covid, so am I but I will continue to follow whatever the current restrictions are as they can change rapidly. I will continue to gather my information from reliable sources. I will get vaccinated against covid-19 as well, when it is my time to go and be vaccinated. I want to go back to living life as we were before the pandemic. So I will do what I must do, not only for me but for those around me.

Until next time

Kaye

The way of life…

Today I was scrolling through Facebook as I do and as I was scrolling, a friend’s post caught my eye and I read it. Her post was her coming out as a lesbian to the world as she decided to out herself before someone else did. So she swallowed her fear and trepidation in writing her post and put it out there for everyone in her friends list to see.

I felt saddened and angry at the same time that this person felt the need to have to come out regarding her sexuality before she was outed by someone but also by the fact that in her post, she had to “justify” on who she is and identifies as. It should be a natural process as it is for heterosexual people.

As a straight person, we have no need to come out of the closest and tell people that we are straight but for everyone else who identifies as something else, there is much bigger process they have to go through for many, just because they identify as non straight people.

I don’t care how a person identifies themselves because as long as people are good people, I will give them my time but if they are an asshole, then, I’m not going to have anything to do with those people, simple as that.

When Australia had a vote on whether or not to accept same sex marriage a few years ago, I voted yes on my form that was sent as a postal vote to everyone on the electoral roll in Australia. The reasons I voted yes is because I don’t think that a person’s sexuality is a choice, I didn’t choose to be straight, that’s how I was made. I believe that love is love and people should be happy being with the one they love. For parents who think their children failed them because their children are not heterosexual, it’s the parents who have failed because they are not loving their children unconditionally as a parent should. I voted yes because it was the right thing to do and it felt good to be able to have my say.

As a Christian, the Bible I read is about God’s love for every single person, not just certain people. Everyone is loved by my God.

I hope my friend now can finally be who God made her to be and be able find happiness and a Miss Right to share her life with.

Until next time

Kaye

Memory Lane…

On Thursday, March 18, I will be celebrating my 50th birthday. 50 years?! Yes, 50 years! Who would have thunk it, me 50? I am unable to act 50 as I’m still haven’t left my first childhood yet because if there are toys around in a department store with buttons to press, you bet I’m going to be pressing those buttons and making a lot of noise in the process, trust me on this!

In those 50 years, I have also seen a lot of history and changes in technology as well.

Last year I went to the Birdwood Motor Museum in Birdwood, South Australia, where I’m from. There were cars from old vintage cars to the last Australian made Holden car which rolled off the Holden Factory production line in Elizabeth, South Australia in 2017 when Holden’s ceased car manufacturing at the Plant and Holden’s closed their doors.

There was a 1981 Toyota Landcruiser 4 Wheel Drive there and me, being older than that 4 wheel drive, it made me realise that the museum could put me on a platform and I could become an exhibit and talk about the technology changes and history I’ve lived through and used.

I’ve lived life before mobile phones (cell phones), computers, atms, cassette tapes, DVDs, CD’s, smart TV’s, smart phones, digital radio, digital cameras, smart watches, Facebook and other social media platforms, streaming services, credit cards and many other things.

Atari play stations, pay phones, rotary phones, Commodore 64, bank books, Beta and VHS video recorders, black and white TV, video arcade games, pinball machines,  roller skating rinks, Walkman’s, Gameboy… if you remember these, you must be as old as me… lol

I’ve witnessed history with the coming down of the Berlin Wall, the Cold War ending between the US and Russia, 9/11, the death of Princess Diana, Challenger Space Shuttle disaster, just to name a few events.

Remember being the remote control and being the one to physically change the channels on the TV?

Taking photos was fun as well when you had no idea of what you were taking on the camera as you only had a view finder to look through and if it was a blurry photo, you couldn’t delete it. The roll of film would be taken to the chemist shop (pharmacy or drug store) and you would have to wait several days for the photos to be developed and then go to back to the chemist to pick them up and get your first look at what you had photographed… a foot? Half a head? Some other random thing you had no idea you took a photo of? Yep, looking at the photos once you’ve collected could be an interesting experience.

I was in the generation who downloaded music from the radio and recorded the songs on a cassette tape making the original mix tapes.

We all will experience changes in technology in our lives and see history in the making, or be a part of it, in witnessing it.

To the younger generation, when you look back on your life and see the changes in technology or the history that’s taken place, remember that you are in an unique place because you got to be a part of it and that is special. You get to be a teller of history to the next generation who follow you.

Until next time

Kaye