Thursday, January 4

T.A.T.T.S

I watched an item on TV about TATTS. This was said to be Tired All The Time Syndrome.

It asked the questions, Why so many of us seem to be suffering from it, & what could we do about it?

It was suggested it is partially caused by the stress of daily lives.
Other causes could be attributed to noise, light, and factors such as snoring.

As with most of these short items used as 'fillers' for the after news evening programmes it actually told us nothing about how to deal with it.

There was a person who suggested meditation. I was actually left wondering if it was actually an advertisement for meditation, in the guise of 'news'?

I am constantly disappointed with these so called news items of interest. They are just bloody frustrating teasers that offer nothing. Mostly I suspect they are ads for things, or people.

Some do stir the 'redneck element' - which can then be heard bleating & ranting on talkback radio next day. I dont listen to the radio, but GOM does- & yes, he sometimes listens to Bleatback.

BFJ gave me a callendar with delightful NZ scenes and each month has a Thought. This month's is, "If you dont like something change it. If you cant change it, change the way you think about it."

What good advice.

I loathe talkback, so dont listen. I loathe these evening 'news' shows- or 'current affairs', so I am going to stop watching those too.

A question I would like answered is;
Where do all the teaspoons go?

I know that there is a 'sock heaven' somewhere & all the odds sneak off to it.
Do you think there is a 'teaspoon heaven' too?

I thought once my 'kids' left home, I wouldnt have to keep buying teaspoons.

I have stopped having to go on mad ranting searches for scissors, since the almost adult granddaughter has stopped spending much time here.

And I thought once she had left school, I would have all the teaspoons, but they still seem to just disappear.

I know SG doesnt take them- he is a big boy now, & uses big cutlery!

Does anyone else have the mystery of the disappearing teaspoons- or any other items.

When things go missing in our family we tend to say the 'Others' have borrowed them, & when they are ready they usually return them!

Today's best music, k d lang, singing Songs of the 49th Parallel. I do prefer Joni Mitchells version of A Case of You, but it has been a long time favourite.

11 comments:

nutmeg said...

I have stopped watching the nightly news and current affairs for probably a year now. I see the headlines on the SMH website and investigate further if I feel that way inclined. At least the coverage is more "in depth" in a written story. I did a day of work experience in the channel 9 news room and they used the newspapers, in general, to find their stories. Therefore, they were just cutting down their stories into small, useless sound bites.

When my parents stay they just have to watch the news, nothing can interfere and after its over their just angry. At one point my father shouted at the girls to stop being silly as he couldn't hear the news. What's that? What's/Who's more important?

That book I just finished, How To Be Free, has a good chapter that includes the author's thoughts on watching the news and reading newspapers (which he likes to keep down to one a week). He says something like (and I'm severely paraphrasing here!) "...why should I subject myself to 10 bad news stories/beatups, that have been on rotation since the beginning of time, which I can personally do nothing about...I can only look to my own behaviour and life and make that better...if we all did this, well, the world would be a better place..."

As you see, a subject that rubs a raw nerve in me :-)

Aunty Evil said...

When I saw your TATTs heading, I thought you had won some money! (not that we have Tatts here in NSW). I was beginning to regret not coming to your place for Christmas after all! :)

Anyway, I do agree with you about the current affairs programs. They always have the so called "battlers" on there, usually waging war with their neighbours/council/children etc and when you actually listen to the story, you think "bugger off you old sponge, get a job and get your backside moving".

As for Bleatback, I am sick of druggies and drunks talking on behalf of "us battlers, who jus' wanna fare go mate"....oh bugger off and get a job and get your backside moving.

You've really revved me up this time Meggie! :)

meggie said...

Interesting to see you both agree about the news.
It is all carefully engineered to make us think it IS news!

I will have to read that book Nutmeg.
And yes Aunty, I always call those stories 'begging stories'.

No tips on the teaspoons? I had thought they might all be congregating in the bottom of the dishwasher but there is no trace there!

Joyce said...

I always lose teaspoons and one sock of a pair. No idea where they congregate. My kids learned early on that my sewing scissors were sacred and I never had trouble keeping track of them. Some of their friends were puzzled that they wanted to cut paper and there was a perfectly good pair of scissors right there but they had to spend time looking for "paper" scissors. I'm with you on the news and talk back programs. DH used to watch CNN for hours at a time. THank goodness he weaned himself from that. Maybe cancelling that channel on the satelite had something to do with it. Lol.

Bec said...

Speaking from an industry point of view? Those programs barely rate as 'media' any more. They both use the same set of about a dozen stories which are, as you spotted, largely about advertising the businesses of friends of the Executive Producer!

Oh, and how about the ones where the promo makes it look like a Sydney or national issue but it turns out that the whole thing is based around some stupid planning law in Tasmania or south Australia? I love those ones...

(and yes, I'm back and thanks for checking up on me!)

Anonymous said...

Meggie
A dear friend of mine ( Roddie )got so infuriated by the one sock syndrome that he deliberately started wearing mis matched socks --- He said to his utter disbelief pairs appeared again from nowhere !!
As to the ' news' I agree that most appears to be very carefully selected and edited .
Bleatback probably keeps some people from doing other things that they shouldn't be doing & also seems to fill a gap in other lonely peoples lives too ?.I confess I haven't listened in years .
Having just visited us you will be very aware that the contents of our cutlery drawers are made up of sad remmnants of once complete and reasonable sets-- knives , forks & dessert spoons go missing along with the teaspoons !! Teaspoon buying is a regular exercise here too . The " Others " must now have far more than they need .

Alice said...

I loved all the previous comments as much as your posting, Meggie.

Sensational 'stories' on Current Affairs shows rarely achieve anything positive and seem to put viewers in a depressed or negative frame of mind.

I loathe talkback radio, even on subjects in which I'm interesed. It's just the whole thing that annoys me.

As for the teaspoons - they are on permanent holiday somewhere in the world with - guess what? My teaspoons! There must be enough of them there by now to start their own government!

Now, wire coathangers are a different story altogether. They congregate in my wardrobes and procreate in the dark. Never a shortage there.

My float said...

Your teaspoons are obviously holidaying somewhere with all my pens and my hair elastics. I can't find either when I most need them!

I have watched the news once or twice since the child was born...almost three years ago!

My parents are addicted to news. One of my earliest memories is the news tunes for ABC Radio and 2UE. At one point they were:
listening to the radio news in the morning and throughout the day
watching the Greek news in the morning, then the 5pm news, 6pm news, 6.30pm news on SBS and 7pm news. (Oh, by the way, I became a journalist :) )

When I take the child to see my parents, I always insist that the news is turned off. My dad once tried to tell me that he had to learn sometime...which is true except the child was TWO and I figured there was plenty of time to "learn".

Unknown said...

Oh Meggie your post and all the comments made me laugh so much - I have a theory that manufacturers make one sock in every pair they sell water-biodegradable after the tenth wash - how else could you explain their perpetual disappearance or for that matter how else could the sock manufacturers drum up continual repeat business - after all they can't possibly wear out or else how can you explain that revolting pair of everlasting socks bought for DH one Christmas by his Great Aunt Nellie which stridently refuse to wear out! - as for your comment on my blog - the design is not copyright, anything but, so if you want to go ahead and make a similar scrappy star quilt feel free - after all imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. As for the teaspoon quandary - can't help, mine seem to have a taste for home which is more than can be said for my good eyebrow tweezers which go on holiday for days on end without a bye your leave :o) Fortunately so far they do come back each time eventually!

LBA said...

teaspoons dwindle here endlessly.

I think I lost a lot of things when my son discovered 'the bin'. Oh how he loves to throw things in the bin.

i lost a coffee cup once like this.

meggie said...

Wow, we have all been having fun with this havent we?

Henri, I remember the story of Roddie's socks. Even if I go on holiday I seem to lose a sock here or there... very curious.

Anne, I pulled out too many eyebrows when I was young, & now they dont grow any more, & so I dont need tweezers!(but I do still have some eyebrows, luckily!) I have tried to warn my granddaughter when her pretty face resembles a bald old man, after she has pulled too many! Luckily they still grow back.