Self-confidence: apply daily and allow to absorb

Two things. One: I hate APS (Australian Public Service) job applications. Naturally they require a lot of time and thorough attention to detail to fill out, as well as a great deal of shameless self-promotion and bragging, and so qualify as pains in the butt. Necessary pains in the butt, but pains in the butt nonetheless. Applying to one APS bureau in particular requires the kind of information that creeps me out to have to give in such detail, and actually makes me kind of paranoid (I won't say which one, but it's probably pretty clear which one I'm talking about. Hopefully I've covered my tracks enough that admitting this doesn't jeopardise my application if it ever got to the 'checking up' stage!). Anyway, whenever I have the time, that's what I'll be doing for a while from now until I come home, and also regular non-APS job applications a bit closer to the time I'm actually back in the country. If you hear of anything good, let me know!

Second thing: the "why Barbie screws us all up" thing has been done to death so I won't go into it as everyone should have realised by now without someone else telling them that she's a terrible role model. But as a nod to real women everywhere, I do like the Dove "Real Beauty" campaign and especially their "Evolution" video. I don't know why I started thinking about this video today but I did so sorry if you've already seen it.

I know Unilever (the company that produces Dove and also that great portrayer of women as thinking human beings, Lynx) has some questionable marketing and ethics about resources, and also that the campaign is of course still essentially marketing their product, but I still like the idea of the campaign anyway :) You should also watch "Onslaught" if you want to be slightly scared about the saturation of unrealistic beauty standards we are inundated with every day. The second video is a comparison of the Dove ads and Lynx/Axe's ads for mens' deodorant.

Today's message? ... Jumping jackrabbits that sounds sanctimonious.... Anyway, todays message? Embrace the person you are, because someone somewhere loves you exactly the way you are and you shouldn't have to change to be loved. Not to say that some changes aren't good, but you shouldn't have to be asked to change by someone else to do it. All the people who are judgemental of you without ever being supportive can take a flying leap. Again, I have no idea where this has come from, so sorry if it's too preachy for your tastes!