Nimavenl - Nicole's Random Ramblings

So I haven't written a blog post in a couple of days. Mostly as I've been spending all my spare time watching Battlestar Galactica online. I finished the series on Friday. Started on Caprica yesterday and am liking and enjoying it just as much as I liked and enjoyed BSG. The Taurons are portrayed like Italian mobsters from the 30s with their hats, suits, crime syndicate and especially "Little Tauron". Interesting to see that, coupled with futuristic-ish equipment and environments, yet the combination somehow still feels right.  Hilarious to see dogs, cats, cars and refrigerators on Caprica that look *exactly* the same as they do in our world. Sure, humans having pets and keeping their food in a place where it won't spoil - logical for sure, however I'd expect things to look just a bit different, really. Star Trek's pet sehlats and targs seem more realistic, somehow. But then, the BSG-verse story is that the remnants of the human race settled on our...

Jennifer Aniston is destructive to society? Oh come ON! Seriously?! Apparently she is, according to Fox News Commentator Bill O'Reilly. I've never heard of the guy, however reading this article about what he said on iVillage.com , I'm curious to see what else he comes up with! According to the article, Mr O'Reilly had a problem with remarks Aniston made while promoting her new comedy The Switch, in which she plays a single mother who gets pregnant through artificial insemination. What Jennifer said? Here goes... Earlier this week at an L.A. press conference, Aniston, 41, reportedly said, "Women are realizing it more and more, knowing that they don't have to settle with a man just to have that child....Times have changed....What is amazing is that we do have so many options these days, as opposed to our parents' days when you can't have children because you have waited too long." The Emmy-winning actress added, "The point of the movie ...

Very, very quick post after reading a news story about Lady Gaga... Apparently some narrow-minded people were protesting outside one of Lady Gaga's concerts about how she is very outspoken about gay rights, and LG sent a huge long message to her fans through Twitter basically saying to ignore the protesters and be glad to love instead of hate. "Don't waste your words, or feelings, no matter what you hear or see...   I wanted to make my fans aware of my views on how to approach, or rather not approach, these kinds of hate activists...   Be inspired to ignore their ignorant message, and feel gratitude in your heart that you are not burdened or addicted to hate, as they are..." (Source: Lady Gaga's Twitter page   ) Awesome to read a message like that - not a self-promotion or anything like that, simply a message saying "this is what I think, and this is how I think my fans should handle these people." By loving instead of hating. Awesome message. M...

Went for a walk with a friend's daughter before the game on Sunday. We were gone for maybe an hour, taking photos of everything orange in the neighbourhood, of flowers and traffic signs, and of all the people dressed in orange. We were dressed in orange as well, singing football-related songs and running around happy as anything. It's been a long time since I spent time with my nephew, and haven't had much to do with children since then. My nephew's only 3, and while my friend's daughter is 9, she's as exuberant and joyful as my nephew is. It's easy to forget how much fun it is to spend time with children and how carefree it makes you. For a change, it doesn't matter what people think of you, it doesn't matter if you're running around acting silly and pulling faces - there's no pressure to behave a certain way or conform to social standards. It makes me wonder why we can't always feel that carefree and be that confident in...

While checking some information online that had been going through my head for most of the morning, I came across a reference to the TV programme "The Big Bang Theory". I'd seen a few episodes of it now and then, however never really got into watching it regularly. I'd been thinking about a friend of a friend of a friend who has a child with hearing problems. I'd never met the child and only ever met his mother twice, however we talked about the hearing problems when we met due to my background in (studying) Early Childhood Education. We talked about possible causes both physical and psychological and she then went on with her life and I with mine. It's a while ago by now, however something I read recently reminded me of this woman and her child. Not knowing much about either the mother or the son and having no idea as to whether the hearing problems were physical or psychological, we only discussed general options. I decided that to satisfy my curiosi...

I'm interested in what makes people tick. What moves people to do what they do, why they act a certain way, what the reasons are behind certain behaviours. I study and learn about things like sociology, anthropology, psychology, psychiatry, counselling and religions to help me further my understanding and learn more about these topics. This is organised study, going out to learn about a specific topic at a certain time - deciding to go out and learn about something that interests me. Last night I ended up watching a program on TV about teenage girls who are anorexic, so thin that their bodies can become permanently damaged. While in no way something I aspire to, it was very interesting to watch and fits right in with many other things that I find interesting and enjoy learning about. The program featured girls as young as fourteen or even eleven with a personal target weight of under 30 kilos wearing clothes suited for children much younger than they are. Girls whose periods ha...