Crazy Cyclone

Ok, I know it's been a week since I posted, but I have a good reason for it. Last Wednesday night (Feb 2nd) we lost power. This was due to Category 5 Cyclone Yasi, which hit in the early hours of Thursday morning.

So all week, we've been suffering the after-effects of the cyclone. It took us 2 days of solid hard work to clean up the yard, cutting down all the trees that fell over and dragging it all to the curb (90% of all the trees on our acre block), all the while, watching out for green ants, and wasps. Now, while we were all bitten several times by green ants, which are nothing more than painful and itchy, no one was stung by a wasp. We are all very lucky to have survived with the minimal damage we had. A house just around the corner from us, had (and possibly still HAS) a tree leaning on their roof. However, this is the only structural damage we saw here in Kelso. All the damage was done to trees and fences. But don't take this lightly. We were without power for 7 days!

Below are a couple of images of the amount of debris we piled up on the curb. Note that one pile is as tall as my cousin, Tayla, who is roughly just under 6 foot tall.

Above is pile 1 of the debris (one side of the driveway).

And this is pile 2 (other side of the driveway).

(The trolley is to give you a bit more perspective of the height of the pile.)

Being A Better Person

Ok, so it has come to my attention recently that some people need lessons in how to treat people. So, I'm gonna give them some tips.

TIP #1 - OWNERSHIP

You do NOT take people's laptops from under their fingers. Literally. In fact, you don't take things that don't belong to you without the owners permission. If the owner says 'no', you respect their decision.

TIP #2 - RESPECT

When you're in someone's bedroom, you respect them and their decisions. Actually, you should ALWAYS respect people's decisions, whether you agree with them or not. You don't tell them what to do in their room, it's their domain, they decide what's gonna happen and what's not. If you don't like what they're doing, or what music they're playing, leave. Simple as that.

TIP #3 - KNOW THE LIMITS

If someone asks you to stop, stop. Don't push it. Know the other persons limits, and DON'T PUSH THEM. That is the worst thing you could possibly do. If you say something, they ask you to stop, and you don't, it could all blow up in your face, and you could lose something really great.

So they are my few tips on how to be a better person & treat people right.

You Don't Joke About Some Things.

There are things that you just don't EVER joke about.

One of these is serious illnesses.

Some illnesses are very serious. They tear families apart. They ruin lives. Some diseases leave victims wanting to die. So we should be raising awareness for these illnesses rather than joking about them!!

To the people joking about serious illnesses, how would YOU feel if someone you know and love was suffering from a serious illness and people were making jokes about it?! You wouldn't like it. So DON'T make jokes about serious illnesses, especially mental illnesses.

Mental illness is a crippling condition, not something that should be taken lightly and made fun of. I have a very close friend who suffers from a mental illness, and I'm sure she would agree with me that this is nothing to joke about.

I'm sorry if this post offends you, but I am sick of listening to people make jokes about things that are serious! What happened tonight really pissed me off and made me mad. If you don't like what I have to say, I DON'T CARE!! I have the right to say what I want and when. And you have NO right to judge me!!!