In the world of celebrity divorces, Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise reached a divorce settlement in a blink of an eye. While settling a divorce that quickly in Hollywood -- or anywhere for that matter -- would normally be a "mission impossible," Holmes and Cruise did it in record time. Could skipping the drama and signing the papers be the new trend?
It's much less stressful to end a relationship with a minimum amount of dissension. But why do so many take the long, drawn-out divorce settlement route? While a TomKat-style quick settlement is rare, it can happen. When couples make the decision to divorce, they should aim for a quick, amicable settlement. Here are seven benefits to settling quickly and efficiently:
You'll have more money: A less drawn-out divorce process will minimize the attorney fees, which means more money for you, your ex and, most important, your children. Heading into your new life with as many resources as possible will be beneficial to your family.
It helps to rip off the breakup Band-Aid quickly: While it might hurt, it's better in the long run to cut ties to your ex quickly as possible. It's much more positive in life to rip off the Band-Aid than to have a period of long, drawn-out pain and anguish. Living the life you want to live will happen sooner if you start today. Ending your marriage will make you cross the finish line.
You have a greater ability to find love: You will be able to tell new suitors that you are actually divorced and not currently separated. Even if someone knows that you are heading for divorce, you are not divorced yet. They may feel that you could reconcile. Sealing the deal will make them and you feel better about taking your current relationship to the next level.
It's better for the kids: A quicker divorce settlement is always easier on the children. They don't want mom and dad battling it out. As much as you will try to hide it from your kids, you are bound to show some pain or stress if it's a long divorce process.
Your new life will begin quicker: There's something about those three words -- you new life -- that seems quite inviting, doesn't it? You can get to your new life right away with a quick divorce settlement. On the flipside, being single again might be a difficult adjustment for you, so why not get started sooner than later because you will flourish once you get there.
You'll have less stress: I am not the first to say this, but stress is a killer. Ending a breakup or divorce in the easiest way possible will afford you the opportunity to avoid additional drama and stress. Sure, you might feel pressure starting a new life as a single parent, but arguing is a whole different kind of stress you don't need on top of all you're already dealing with.
It's time to party: You can throw your divorce party that much more quickly. I know it might sound strange -- celebrating your divorce -- but you'll want to when it's over. Invite all of the people who lent an ear, hand or shoulder to cry on. Coming together to celebrate will help all of you because your friends and family just want to see you happy.
For divorce party ideas, pick up Lois Tarter's new book The Divorce Ritual by clicking here.
Source: www.huffingtonpost.com
London 2012: Shiny, happy Olympic village people - The Independent
With little more than a week to go until the opening ceremony, around 1,300 of the 18,000 athletes and officials that will stay in London's Olympic and Paralympic Athletes' village over the coming month have already arrived and, thanks to Twitter, we have already seen more of it than at any previous Games.
Diver Tom Daley and swimmer Rebecca Adlington are among many who have posted pictures of their rooms – in Adlington's case to apologise for its already unkempt state: "Only been here a few hours and my room is a mess!!!"
Daley, on the other hand, spent some time putting up Olympic bunting and posters. "My room in the Olympic village all decorated :) heading back to Southend now for our pre-camp...back on the 25th :D" he wrote to his 250,000 followers.
In a year's time, when the Qatari government puts East Village – as it will be known under its ownership – on the market, it will look like just another apartment complex. Two, three and four bedroom homes, in tasteful little concrete cuboids, set around little green lawns. But it will forever be infused with the chapter in London's history now rapidly writing itself.
The Australians were the first to mark out their territory. The word A-U-S-T-R-A-L-I-A is now spelt out nine storeys high in green and gold flags, amid southern crosses and boxing kangaroos. Across two sides of one thoroughfare one set of towels proclaims "Ozzie! Ozzie! Ozzie!" and another answers "Oi! Oi! Oi!"
The Czechs, South Koreans, Cubans, Mexicans and Slovenians have all followed suit, as have the Swiss and the Danish, next door to one another, a little inconveniently, given the similarity of their national banners. At some point Roger Federer is expected to check in to one of these rooms. Ryan Giggs, Craig Bellamy and the rest of the TeamGB football squad stayed the night on Monday, but yesterday headed off to Middlesbrough for a friendly against Brazil.
The Swiss delegation is probably the easiest to assign a space for. In all, 203 countries have teams staying in the village, many of whom's animosity towards one another extends far beyond the synchronised swimming pool.
Israel and Iran are housed at opposite ends of the village; TeamGB are suitably far away from their Argentine counterparts; and the German contingent have been placed a good distance from the Greeks.
But they needn't worry. Olympic athletes tend to make love not war. The Sydney village ran out of its 70,000 condoms and had to call in 20,000 more. Athens went for 180,000 – too many – but things were very different then. Beijing provided 100,000 but, typically, have never divulged if there were any left over. Durex are providing "tens of thousands" this time round but, as they are not an official sponsor, they will be in unbranded packets.
Among those treated to a sneak peak of the casa del Daley was one of his followers, US diving counterpart Kassidy Cook, the subject of suggestions that something might be in the air up there on the 10 metre platform. Even TeamGB Deputy Chef de Mission Sir Clive Woodward admitted to The Independent while walking through the entrance gates: "I've just been checking the beach volleyballers in. Someone's got to do it."
Daley's friend, 10 metre synchronised diver Tonia Couch, was among the first to use the free athletes hair and beauty salon. It is the most popular facility in the village and is one of the few areas of the park staffed not by volunteers but by highly trained staff.
Every set of Olympic rings you see shaved into the back of someone's hair this summer, every set of nails painted in national colours, every strategically shaved eyebrow will have been done in this one little room.
"The Globe" bar and social area has already become a hub. Among its amenities are a music studio complete with baseball bats, squash rackets and ping pong paddles, to be used as percussive instruments in the recording of one's own track.
There are pool tables, computer games and movie nights but – with the small matter of gold medals to be won – the bar serves only the produce of its leading soft drinks manufacturer sponsor. Some have their own rooms, but others will have to share. Some have panoramic views of the sporting theatres, others look over "Victory Park" and its contemporary artwork.
All have the same duvet covers, with a tiled pattern of the 26 Olympic sports. These are for the athletes to keep, and cannot be bought.
The most sought-after rooms are the ones nearest to the 5,000-seater dining room, a neon strip-lit Serengeti with bench after bench of plastic primary school seats.
"Room for 880 double-decker buses," according to Janet Matthews, who is in charge of catering for the entire Olympics, not just the athletes, which involves 27,000 staff and many many millions of meals, 1.2 million of which will be served in her sprawling canteen.
Asian, Best of British, Halal and Caribbean all have their own stands, next to cavernous fridges of the official soft beverage.
"Eating at the Olympic Village. Love the variety of food choices," hurdler Clemont tweeted, perhaps by way of tacit apology for his bus complaint that led evening news bulletins across the world.
Fellow US 400m runner Tony McQuay tweeted repeatedly about the "beautiful village", adding: "OMG this place just got even better with the food...I'm in heaven. I wish I could bring this village back to the US."
The Best of Britain section looms large in the dining room, which Olympic law dictates must have below it its official translation – "Specialites de Grande-Bretagne," printed on a huge canvas banner.
Matthews's previous job was feeding British soldiers in Germany, quite a few of whom have now followed her here due to the G4S security debacle. "An army matches on its stomach," she explained. "And that's true for athletes as well."
She added: "When I arrived, I was all, oooh, what can we do here, fancy this and that. I found out that athletes just care about carbohydrate and protein. It's chicken, pasta, rice, toast, porridge."
Above every seemingly inoffensive carton of cucumber at the buffet is a very precise indication of fat, carbohydrate and calorific content. They're fussy eaters, the Olympians, but that's probably fair enough.
At one end, inevitably, is a sizeable McDonalds, at which queues are expected to grow as the Games progress. Karen Pickering, the former Olympic swimmer, was involved in deciding who would get the catering contract. "I just spent three days eating," she said. "Like a big wedding."
A lot like a university in its exam-filled summer term, Ms Pickering says the mood in the athletes' village slowly changes as more and more competitors finish.
"The social areas get busier, the queues in the shops get longer. And people stampede towards the McDonalds." God help us. Everyone's far too excited already.
Olympic villages: A Brief history
At the Paris Chariots of Fire Games in 1924, a number of cabins were built near the stadium to house visiting athletes, but as with so much Olympic symbolism, it was Hitler at the Berlin Games of 1936 that ratcheted up the significance of the Athletes' Village.
The Nazis constructed 145 one and two-storey apartment buildings, with a theatre, hospital and other amenities. Only ruins remain now, although Jesse Owens' house has been restored.
Warring nations regularly share Olympic villages, and it is now customary for each country to sign a "truce wall", on taking residency – one has been built in London this year.
The massacre of nine Israeli athletes in the Munich village in 1972 at the hands of Palestinian terrorists is the Olympic movement's darkest moment.
But the words of the Czech gold medal-winning middle distance runner Emil Zatopek, who came to London in 1948, are also worth remembering:
"After all those dark days of the war, the bombing, the killing, the starvation, the revival of the Olympics was as if the sun had come out... I went into the Olympic Village and suddenly there were no more frontiers, no more barriers. Just the people meeting together. It was wonderfully warm. Men and women who had just lost five years of life were back again."
Olympic shorts...
No horsing around for Romney
It is news that is unlikely to burnish his "man of the people" qualifications: Mitt Romney's Olympic 'ballet-dancing" horse has arrived in Britain in time to prepare for its role representing the US in the Dressage competition in the Games.
Rafalca is a 15-year-old German-born horse purchased by the Romney family and friends in 2006 for around $100,000 (£64,000).
The horse has now been flown into London on a FedEx chartered jet from Gladstone, New Jersey, home of the US Equestrian Team.
Mr Romney will arrive in London on Thursday and is holding Republican fundraisers and meeting David Cameron before leaving Saturday after the Opening Ceremonies.
Britons to follow Games at work
Many workers plan to watch or listen to the Olympics during office hours, according to the broadcasting regulator Ofcom.
Ofcom found that at least 38 million British adults plan to tune in, with 25 per cent planning to do so at work.
More than 2,500 hours of live Olympic coverage will be shown over the 17 days of the Games, starting on 27 July.
A soundtrack for cycling
The Chemical Brothers are releasing a cycling-inspired song for the Games.
They have composed "Theme For Velodrome", which will be the soundtrack to the track-cycling events. They were inspired by Kraftwerks' 1983 hit "Tour de France".
Source: www.independent.co.uk
London bus workers win Olympic bonus - Daily Telegraph
However in the case of tube drivers this reflected the change in shift patterns which will come into force during the Games with services running later into the night.
The decision to offer bonuses to all bus drivers, irrespective of whether the Games will have any impact on their working day was condemned by Priti Patel, Tory MP for Witham.
“It is quite extraordinary,” said “It sends out the wrong signal in an age of austerity to be handing out cash payments to people who are doing nothing other than their day job.”
The union had justified its claim saying that bus drivers faced a bigger workload because of the additional passengers who will use the network during the Olympics.
"After almost a year long campaign, bus workers finally have a fair deal which recognises their contribution to keeping London moving over the Olympics,” said Peter Kavanagh, Unite’s general secretary for London.
"Major disruption to London's transport network and international embarrassment in the run-up to the Olympics could have been avoided if TfL and the employers did the right thing when Unite first approached them almost a year ago.
“Instead bus workers had to fight tooth and nail to get recognition.”
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
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