Marriage Equality

We had it, and now it's gone. I'm from Australia and for a brief few days we had marriage equality, it was to the point of same sex couples actually getting married. Everything seemed to be going great, perhaps the new government wasn't as bad as everyone was making it out to be. Turns out the public was right about the new government. For reasons I can't full comprehend they Federal Government decided to take the new Marriage Equality Act (which was a state law for the Australian Capital Territory) that had already been passed, and bring it to the High Court and challenge it.

I just don't see why they needed to challenge the act, it had passed and was doing absolutely no harm to anyone. In fact it made Australia a better place to be in, but for whatever reason the government had they challenged it. They believed it went against the current marriage laws and that meant it was illegal and had to be stopped. 

Now this wouldn't of been a problem if the High Court could see that the government was only having a bit of a tantrum because someone found a loop hole in their law. But the High Court didn't see it this way. Instead they decided to rule in favour of the Federal Government and remove the Marriage Equality Act. Now keep in mind that people had been getting married since Saturday and the High Court didn't make a decision until Thursday. This mean we have had almost a week of same sex couples getting married and literally nothing changed. Except nearly 30 couples were able to take a further step in their relationship and decide that they love a certain person enough to get married and commit themselves to each other for the rest of their lives. 

So for a brief 6 days Australia (well the ACT) had taken a step forward into becoming an accepting and open country where people can feel safe and secure and most importantly, feel like they belong no matter what. 

Now thanks to the Federal Government and it's leader Tony Abbott (who's sister is a lesbian I might add) our country has slipped back even further than when we started. 

Same sex marriage is about equality amongst the human race, how can Australia claim to be accepting of all people if we won't even let people of the same gender get married! (And don't get me started on how the Australian government treats refugees)

Where Did You Come From?

So starting my what will soon be triumphant return to blogging I decided to look at my audience page. It's a little section I can click on that tells me how many of you have read my blog and from where you come from. I was blown away. Not only have I reached over 2,000 total views but I have audience members from all over the world! I live in Australia and was born in Canada so it was obvious I would have some audience from those 2 countries as well as a small audience in the USA thanks to my aunt and uncle. However I was never prepared for the range that this blog as reached. I would like to give a small shout out here to all the people in the countries that have read my blog. So here we go: Australia, United States, Russia, Germany, Ukraine, South Korea, Canada, Indonesia, Angola, and the United Kingdom. Thank you all so much for the support you have given me, it really means a lot. I hope you all stick with me for the next exciting part of Smart Yet Casual.

Content, Tired or Lazy?

As I haven't written anything in quite a while I believe one of two things have happened. I am either so content with the things happening in my life that I have no need to vent to you all, or I have been so over worked and busy that I have had no time to write. However, considering that there are still quite a few things that annoy me in my day to day life, it must be option number two. I have been worked to the bone, past the point of exhaustion, to the stage where all I want to do in my spare time is sleep.
I could bore you with the details of my busy life, but lets face facts no-one wants that. Instead I shall make a small post about my return to the blog-o-sphere.
I am returning, so be prepared.
Expect at least weekly posts for the next month or so as life dies down and my writing picks up. I may even share with you portions of a novel I am currently writing (if you're good that is). So stay tuned and get ready for the writing storm that is Darcy.

Beating Boring Bands

I got a chance to interview Effects of Boredom a while back, thought you might all enjoy my report from it!!

Local Brisbane band Effects of Boredom recently played two shows over the weekend of the 4th and 5th of May.

The band comprises of three members, Joe Rickard on guitar and vocals, Brendan Byrne on bass and vocals, and Jade Dujmovic on the drums.

The band found it hard to conform to one genre of music.

“We are a genre-confused punk band” Mr. Rickard said

The local Brisbane band has been together for over a year and a half and has played roughly 12 shows in the last 6 months.

Most recently the group graced the stage of Sn@p Wynnum and Ric’s Bar in Fortitude Valley.

“This is a milestone for the band.

“When we first started we had always wanted to play Ric’s” Mr. Rickard said.

They hope to release an EP at the end of the year to follow up their demo that was released last November.

The band aims to have between 5 and 7 songs for the EP which is planned to be released late November or early December.

Each song on the album is a collaborative song from the three members, each person adding in a different component.

“Joe and I come up with the ideas, melodies and riffs, but Jade ultimately decides what goes on the album.” Mr Byrne said.

In early years the group found it difficult to get gigs because they lacked the experience and fan base needed.

As time progressed gigs started to come more frequently, yet they are still turned down on occasion due to the number of Facebook fans they have.

This is because they band feels that they need to work for Facebook ‘Likes’ rather than just asking people to ‘Like’ the page with no reason too.

“We don’t want to be that band that promotes themselves constantly.

“We want to earn and work for our fans to like us.” Mr Rickard said.

Effects of Boredom plan to be playing at Snitch or Thriller within the near future. 

So Sorry

So I would like to say sorry for my lack of posting on this page. While I'm going to do my best to upload as often as I can, sometimes life gets in the way. For those of you who don't know, I have had a lot of exciting this going on in life. For example I've just gotten a job with a radio station and am the Assistant Music Director for a local Brisbane play. However the thing that is slowly taking over from my blog is my transition into the world of YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/forgottenintention Feel free to join me here for my vlogs, and keep interested here as I promise I will upload more eventually (when life slows down a little bit.)
And I just wanted to say a quick thank you for sticking with me for as long as you have.

Writers block

As many of you may have noticed there has been a severe lack of updates recently; for this I am terribly sorry. Yet I still can't find a topic that I feel is really worth writing about, so I shall write about having noting to write about.

Writers block: the fear of all writers. That mental brick wall that dams the flow of creative ideas. You think you've over come it and have written a few lines after hours and hours of sitting down and thinking only to find that those lines were the last of a weak trickle of creativity that had escaped the wall only to stop as suddenly has they began. The writers block can last for different lengths of time for each writer. Some cases it may only be a few hours or a few days, for some weeks or months may be taken over by writers block, and in some extreme cases writers block lasts years until finally the writer gives up and becomes a banker or an accountant where you have to deal with numbers, not words. 

Is there a cure for writers block? No one knows for sure. There are plenty of home remedies that writers have discovered for themselves, like listening to music, meditation, reading, stepping away. Yet none of these are guaranteed to remove writers block completely, and it almost always returns, lurking in the shadows waiting for you to get on a creative streak before stopping you dead in your tracks. 

For those of you with writers block I wish you luck, and for those of you with friends you have writers block I wish you luck too for you will have to deal with the nonsensical ramblings of a writer with no ideas. 

A Helping Hand

The human race likes to view itself as one of grace, compassion, and love. While these traits are very present in our lives there are still moments when these traits are completely forgotten. Now I'm not talking about wars or even the violence that is found in so many of our planets' streets. No, I'm simply talking about helping another individual in a time of need.

I'm sure everyone out there has helped someone in their time of need. But I am willing to bet that this person has been a friend, family member or even just an acquaintance. It is very rare to see someone stop to help a complete stranger in a time of need. Yes there will be cases when a big natural disaster occurs and the community rallies together to help each other. However apart from these times, how often do we see one-on-one help?

I have 3 cases where help was desperately needed yet none came. One case happened to a friend of mine. One I found while reading a blog and the third, I regretfully admit, I was a bystander in.

The first case happened to a very good friend of mine. She was extremely sick at uni and decided to go home, yet as she reached the bus station she became violently ill. She was able to make it to a rubbish bin but no further. She was just sitting there too sick to move, almost crying she was in so much pain. Yet not one person stopped to help or to ask if she was ok, they merely continued walking past occasionally giving a sympathetic look. I find this just shocking that not one person would stop to help a young girl who was obviously distraught. Eventually she gathered enough strength to call her father who was able to pick her up. 

The second case comes from a blog I was reading. In this blog the woman tells a story of how she brought her 2 year old son shopping with her. Now anyone who has had a 2 year old will know the difficulty that and outing might entail. Yet she was able to keep her son happy by letting him wear a head band of hers. When they reached the shopping centre many old women and young girls made comments on how cute the young boy was. The boy was loving the attention until a man dressed in a short sleeve camo short and cargo pants walked over from the hunting section (it was an American blog and this occurred in an American store). The man strolled over and asked if the child was a boy or a girl. The mother informed him the child was a boy to which the man laughed and replied that's a boy?? The mother was shocked. This was when the man reached toward the child removed the headband and giving him a tap across the head saying you'll thank me one day. The mother was furious, not only had this man laid a hand on her son he was now telling him how to dress. A small argument followed which ended with the man leaving the store saying your son's a fa***t and I hope he gets shot. To hear this about her own son was too much for the poor woman to take and she broke down. She started to cry and yet no one came to comfort her or to ask if she needed help. I'm still shocked that this could happen and no one would do anything.

My third story is an incident that I witness and still regret not stepping in. I was just finishing work (around 9pm) at my local shops when I heard a small argument from outside of the shop. Poking my head out I saw a very very large man screaming at his very small son and then proceeded to lift him by the arm while striking him. I wasn't the only person to witness this as the screaming was so loud many other people stuck their heads out of shop doors to see what the problem was. It wasn't until afterwards did we realise we should of stepped in and said something to this monster of a man. At the time I think everyone was frozen to the spot in fear, too scared of the man to intervene.

We say we are a species of love and compassion so lets show it. Next time you're out and you see someone who might need help stop for a moment to check on them and make sure they are alright. Who knows, maybe one day you might be in the same position.