Hi all, sorry I didn’t write a thing the past couples of months. I was a bit stressed out at work and I had some troubles in friendships as well. Not really a happy period. And then I traveled to my beloved Australia. Again I felt that special feeling: warmth, love and kindness. One way or the other, I like Australia. That’s why I’ll keep on writing this blog. So, See ya!

The music site Sellaband gives a platform to bands from all over the world. They can show off their music. But there’s more. Listeners (believers) can buy shares in a band and if it’s successful they will receive a part of the returns. Fans and bands are tying together to promote the music.

The most popular Australian bands on Sellaband are vegas_dragons, Mandyleigh and Luna Assassins. Success!

Australia beat England in ‘The Ashes’ with 5-0. The superteam was too strong for a England, a team that was tipped as winners. A farewell to Shane Warne. To Glenn McGrath. To Justin Langer.

Cecily Dynes writes in The Age an interesting article about names. She is the author of ‘Baby Names for Australia & New Zealand’ and ‘Best Baby Names for Australia & New Zealand’, both published by HarperCollins. She gives in her text an overview of the history of namegiving.

“Yes, a name is a label, but we realise more and more that it is vital to strive for the right label, which will be carried for many years, one of the many facets of being human.”

Ouch, a German boy, Tobias (21), travelled from Berlin to Sidney in the United States. He thought he had bought a ticket to Sydney, that marvelous place in Australia (but Melbourne is better . But that was not the case. German newspaper Bild can’t believe his adventure and is really amused that it can cover this story.

In the end, the boy reached his destination -and his girlfriend Laura (19). I hope he liked traveling by plane, ’cause Australia is a long trip, but this is mad.

The Courrier Mail sells a calendar with marvelous pictures from Queensland. This picture is my personal favorite. It’s an image taken by Peter Wallis and shows trawler skipper Lex Mackay “at work in his office”, the Bindi, on Moreton Bay.

You can order the calendar through a PDF-order form.

67,853 people left Australia. There were 131,593 arrivals (one day, I hope to be one of them…).

“What it is, is an international market for labour. People will take advantage of opportunities they can’t get in Australia, and people will come to Australia for opportunities they can’t get elsewhere. There would be concern if we were getting information that said they’re leaving because Australia can’t compete (with other countries), But we haven’t seen any compelling evidence that there’s a brain drain happening, a la New Zealand.”

This post will spur extra clicks… Paris Hilton, the famous party girl, will celebrate New Years Eve in Sydney. Next day, on New Years Day, she’ll be working, as she has to choose the next bikini babe that will be the face of a beer.

News.com.au: “Mr Singleton secured her services for an undisclosed fee”.