2007: The year of misoppourtunity

It is the the 31st of December 2007 and Tomorrow will be the 1st of January 2008.

Where has the year gone eh? Well normally the appropriate answer to that is to say "God I don't know" However, in this instance I will not be using that response. Instead I will say, well 2007 has fucked me over as well as a number of others in this world so badly that I cannot wait until 2008 and a the season of new starts begins.

So where to begin. Well 2007 begun in the Lodge. Never a good start to any night but it was amongst friends and that is all that matters. 2007 also began with a medical scare, not helped by reactions and advise from certain persons within that particular organisation. Thankfully that got resolved and my health was improved. However whilst in the middle of that my entire medical history got broadcast loud and clear by a very vindictive person, whom has left my life and I hope never to have to deal with again.

A disagreement with people also graced the middle part of 2007, which has resulted in a more independent mindset. I regret that particular friendship is lost to me now because there was some very happy times involved and for that, if you are reading I do thank you.

6/7/2007. my brothers Bday party. 7/7/2007. Head on collision with a VW Golf around a very sharp bend on a narrow road. Two fire-brigades, Two ambulances & a Garda Car later, I emerged from the hospital on crutches, a bruised ego and a new found love of life-though that could have been the Diffene. Two months later a bill for €808 from the fire service arrived just when I was about to start in UCD. Thank god for AXA insurance extra benefits.

Work in 2007 was up and down like a roller-coaster. One minute I was one thing, the next minute I was another. and whilst I loved every minute I worked for the company, especially all my mates from there, there were times when it was severely tested to the max. Whilst I may be unemployed at the moment, it is good because I can focus more.

The Weather: Need I say anymore about the wettest summer on record!?!?!?!?!

We won't even go into the topic of relationships. The Summation Mantra still holds firm in this regard, as well as everything else in my life.

So there has to be some good points about 2007 right. Ok well yes there is a few. I got involved in Rainbow Support Services in limerick and in both their Youth group and briefly the Switch board. I helped with the running of Queerbash IV and it was a success, I think. I got introduced and hooked to Dr. Who. I became reacquainted with an old friend and rekindled our friendship, which I thought had become too distant to recover. I made new friends and thickened old friendships further. I took part in Cork Pride events and helped Out in UL build the only float for Limerick's first Gay Pride Parade. I got accepted to my masters course in UCD and I am loving it. I am so far keeping my promise to not be as involved in Organizations this year because of the masters alive, we shall see how the new year pans out. And latterly I have learned that sometimes it is better to build a bridge and get over it than to dwell on things too much-thanks for that kick up the arse! Overall perhaps the Good has out-weighed the bad of 2007. However I still cannot wait to see the back of it. Roll on 2008 because you are more than welcome into my life.

Elderly couple paid $300,000 for 'free' health care

A family lawyer says he was surprised and concerned when his elderly clients told him they had paid their doctor and his partner more than $300,000, in return for "free" medical care.

Auckland GP Dr Donald Ian McDonald has admitted he accepted $260,000 from the elderly couple, who have name suppression, but is denying he failed to appropriately manage the couple's health care.

A Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal hearing in Auckland today heard how the couple paid Dr McDonald in instalments between January 1998 and November 2004.

McDonald's former de facto partner Aruna Williams was paid $60,000.

After proceedings in the High Court, Ms Williams has been ordered to pay back the money.

The elderly man died in December last year, his wife is in a rest home and suffers from dementia.

Dr McDonald had known the couple since he had been administering them with acupuncture in the 1970s but had not become their GP until 1998.

Dr McDonald has described the couple as his "second parents".

The couple's lawyer Stephen Gully told the hearing today he had drawn up the wills for the couple and the woman named the doctor as one of the beneficiaries.

The husband later contacted him to say he wanted to make changes without his wife knowing, he said.

However, the elderly man told Mr Gully he did not agree with his wife's wishes to favour Dr McDonald in the will, preferring instead his nephew, the tribunal was told.

Mr Gully said he learnt sometime in 2003 during discussions about the wills that Dr McDonald had accepted the payment and of the large amount involved, with "surprise and consternation".

The couple were vague about the payments but did say they expected free medical treatment for the rest of their lives, in exchange, he said.

In 2005 Mr Gully received a phone call from a medical professional at a geriatric hospital in the North Shore who was concerned about the couple's relationship with the doctor and the payment he had received.

Dr McDonald was not at the hearing today.

The hearing has been set down for four days.

- NZPA

Source: Stuff.co.nz

Hairspray release on DVD

So As you will see below, 'Hairspray' is out on DVD this weekend. If anybody *HINT* at all *HINT* is seriously struggling to find me an *MAS pressie, well this would be a very good place to start. However can you please work it out among yourselves, so I dont end up with a gazillion copies of the bloody thing, have to sell 3/4 of them on Ebay, while holding the other quarter, as an "insurance policy" in case somebody scratches the disk!
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Review: "Hairspray"
by Marc Breindel (Planetout.com)

"Welcome to the '60s!" a big, bright musical number from the new "Hairspray" invites us. Welcome to a time when Americans dreamed big, sang big and wore their hair very, very big. All the numbers in "Hairspray" are as big as the beehive bouffants the dancers wear, and as much fun as a tiki luau at Rock Hudson's swimming pool, circa 1962. Summer movies don't come any sunnier.

"Hairspray" the movie musical revives the 1988 camp classic by gay film god John Waters. A Broadway version of "Hairspray" won the Tony Award for Best Musical in 2003. Now it's back on the big screen with the original John Waters story, the Tony-winning Broadway score by gay partners Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman (they famously kissed on national TV when they accepted their prize) and a shiny new cast of Hollywood stars. Unlike last year's disapointing "The Producers," this new creation not only stands up to its predecessors, in some ways it surpasses them.

For those who just came out of the closet, "Hairspray" is the fairy-tale story of Tracy Turnblad, an endearingly perky John F. Kennedy-era teeny-bopper whose love of Baltimore and early '60s dance changes the lives of everyone around her. Tracy overcomes racism, sexism, conformity and even McCarthyism to open her neighbors' eyes to a groovy Technicolor world of social liberation and style.

Tracy (played by irrestible newcomer Nikki Blonsky) doesn't fit the conventional "leading lady" image of 1962 (nor of 2007, for that matter). She's too short, too heavy and too lower-middle-class. On the outside, that is. Inside she has the grace of Audrey Hepburn, the spunkiness of Gidget and the fierce dancing rhythm of soul godfather James Brown. Best of all, Tracy is congenitally oblivious to a chorus of family, friends and foes alike who warn her not to dream so big lest she make a laughingstock of herself. Guess who gets the last laugh.

Tracy shares the screen happily with an absolutely fabulous ensemble cast. There's harried homemaker Edna Turnblad, a character invented by legendary drag queen Divine and played very differently here -- charmingly so -- by John Travolta (more on him later). Tweener heartthrob Zac Efron of Disney Channel's "High School Musical" makes girls swoon again as crooner Link Larkin. Fellow dream teen Elijah Kelly brings even more charisma to his role as Seaweed, the sweet young dancing machine who catches the eye of Tracy's adorable best friend, Penny Pingleton (Amanda Bynes).

Penny's Bible-thumper mother, Prudy Pingleton, is a hilarious cartoon in the hands of the always-sublime Allison Janney. Queen Latifah is welcome as ever, here combining civil-rights-earth-mother with raucous Motown DJ Motormouth Maybelle. Michelle Pfeiffer steals her every scene as Velma Von Tussle, a suburban sexpot in '60s glamour gowns that would make Ginger from "Gilligan's Island" jealous, and who'll stop at nothing to see her daughter Amber (Brittany Snow, cleverly borrowed from NBC's similar "American Dreams") named Miss Teenage Hairspray in a snowy TV wonderland of pastel-tinted Eisenhower-era segregation that is the Von Tussles' personal domain.

The real action takes place on a local "American Bandstand"-style TV show, Tracy's whole reason for living until she learns that life is about more than just dancing a great Mashed Potato. James Marsden (of "X-Men") plays the slick but good-hearted host in the shiny green-and-blue cocktail jackets, singing and dancing sensationally. "The Corny Collins Show" has just one "Negro Day" a month, hosted by Motormouth Maybelle, and otherwise blacks are banned from the airwaves. Velma likes it that way, and she's the station manager. Just about everyone else wants to integrate, for reasons that become obvious whenever the African-American characters appear on screen. They're the hottest dancers and have the most charming personalities, let alone the basic issue of equality.

Soucre & contd: Planetout.com

EQUAL-L: 16 Days of Action Against Violence Against Women

School of Social Justice, University College Dublin

Women's Education Research and Resource Centre (WERRC)

16 Days of Action Against Violence Against Women

As part of the International Sixteen Days Against Violence Against Women, WERRC, School of Social Justice UCD, will host a seminar with:

• Welcome and Chair - Ursula Barry, WERRC, School of Justice UCD

* Opening remarks - Mutale Kampuni , Women’s Aid

* Paula Fagan who will present findings of recent research on "The Experiences of domestic violence service providers providing services to migrant women in Ireland"

* Discussion

Date: Wednesday 28th November at 6.30pm

Venue: Hill Seminar Room, Humanities Institute UCD. The Humanities Institute is located beside Hannah Sheehy Skeffington Building where WERRC is located at the back of car-park five, Belfield, UCD.

Light refreshments will be served after the discussion

RSVP: Ursula.Barry@ucd.ie

Myspace : My Age?

We've all been around long enough to know that we all want to conceal our age as much as possible. Well sometimes white lies gets out of control. Most of us, it doesnt really matter, the problem is though, when you have people who are involved in youth lying about their age when problems arise. "tom" from Myspace fame, should have known better. Perhaps he wasnt to know how it was going to pan out, however Myspace has been online now since before 2004, when it ballooned in the states and in 2005 in Europe, It is now Oct 2007, and nearly 4 years later it arises he lied about his age, not even by his own admission, rather by creative investigative journalism . Well i'm sorry, its just not good enough.
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MySpace co-founder busted for faking age
By ASHER MOSES and STEPHEN HUTCHEON - SMH | Wednesday, 31 October 2007

The thirtysomething millionaire who co-founded the popular social networking site MySpace has been outed as an age-faker.

Newsweek magazine reports that Tom Anderson was lying about his age since launching the site in 2003.

Anderson's MySpace profile lists his age as 32. But according to Newsweek, he will in fact turn 37 next week.

And that would have made him a 32-year-old when the site launched, not a 27-year-old wunderkind.

The magazine obtained driving licence information, voter registration and telephone service applications which showed Anderson's birthday as November 8, 1970.

Anderson and co-founder Chris Dewolfe sold MySpace to Rupert Murdoch for $US580 million ($630 million) in 2005 and the pair continue to work for News Corporation. Earlier this month they were reported to have signed a new two-year deal that would see them each earn $US15 million.

[contd: http://www.stuff.co.nz/4256702a28.html]