Avecmatilda: Busier than a one-armed Melbourne cab driver with crabs.

Back at Blogging

2008-12-20T00:22:00.001+11:00

Its been almost a year since my last blog here and everything has changed and not much as changed. Time passes so quickly and so much happens and yet as I look through my photos of the last five years, I can remember each of the events so clearly that its hard to believe it happened so long ago.

Twitter

2008-01-04T22:30:00.000+11:00

its been way too long and i forgot that there was a big photo at the top of my website, so i thought it time that i get back on here and post something. i have recently become enthralled with Twitter, much like the rest of the world, but i was surprised to find that not a single person in my gmail contact list was using it. so as a result i have gone out and started searching for new twitter friends. so far it is pretty cool, and i can see the possibilities are quite great as twitter becomes more popular, in Australia in particular. there is the ability to find out things from people as they are happening, like natural disasters, election results, etc. because people write a quick, one-line message about them as they happen and it appears on my twitter page. also people twitter about things that interest them, interesting news articles, websites and the like. Finally, there is the opportunity to ask a question as a twitter and have any one of the people following your twitter to respond with their opinion or their useful answer. it is quite extraordinary and exciting.

Movember Yes! Exams Done!

2007-11-20T00:03:00.000+11:00

Its Movember and I've donated my face, specifically the space between my nose and my mouth, to raise money for research into prostate cancer and male depression. To find out more click here, or to sponsor my Mo please go to http://www.movember.com/au/donate, enter my registration number which is 179488 and your credit card details. Or you can sponsor me by cheque made payable to the "Movember Foundation" clearly marking the donation as being for my Registration Number: 179488. Please mail cheques to: PO Box 292, Prahran VIC 3181. All donations over $2 are tax deductible.

The money raised by Movember is donated to the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia and beyondblue - the national depression initiative, which will use the funds to create awareness, fund research and increase support networks for those men who suffer from prostate cancer and male depression.

In other news, I have completed all of my exams for the year and I am relatively happy with how it all went. My first and last were ok, but marketing in the middle was supposed to be my best but i think i mucked it up. We'll soon see. At this stage there is nothing I can do except enjoy my holidays and try and get some stuff done. These holidays I'm doing three weeks of work experience at three different companies, holidaying in Mollymook, and have a conference in Perth (as well as time for fun). I can't wait. In the mean time I'm working on a number of little projects and catching up with friends I've been meaning to see for ages.

I love summer.

Its been a long time

2007-11-10T10:32:00.000+11:00

Hey. I'm back. Its been a while since I have posted and I have no excuse except for the fact that i'm blog lazy. I've been trying to avoid blogging of late so as to concentrate on studying, but I feel I have to leave a quick post. I lost my domain name this week which has resulted in avecmatilda.com leaving my hands. If you are reading this post you have visited it at avecmatilda.blogspot.com . All this is a big pain in the ass, co sit has meant me having to redirect all emails and links to non-avecmatilda.com addresses and it couldn't have come at a worse time. I'm not sure if i'll be able to get it back. i have emailed the registration company but i dont know what will come of it. it really pisses me off. i never once got a warning or anything and i have had the domain for 4 years. damn it.

in other news, i have three exams this semester, and they are all next week - mon, wed, fri. and I am very much looking forward to getting them done so i can relax and do some other more constructive stuff. its a beautiful day today, i love the sun. i'm gonna head into uni and do some study. wooo.

My AIESEC Experience Thus Far

2007-08-13T21:38:00.000+10:00

It feels like a lifetime ago that I went searching for a student organization that would allow me to stay in touch with my love for travel, but it is not that long ago. Last year I lived and worked in Paris and met many people from around the world. On returning to Australia at the start of the year I knew that I needed to do something more than just study and went looking for a student club that I could join, which would enable me to maybe do some more travel and have some other adventures overseas before I finish my degree at the end of next year. However, what I found was so much more than that.

I joined a handful of student organizations at the start of the year because I didn’t really know what each one was, and what each one did, so I figured, like most things, trial and error was the best way to find out which one was suitable for me. The first days of AIESEC were interesting, but it took me a while to get even the slightest grasp of what the group was. I took a leap of faith and went to the State Conference over a weekend in April, to a little site in Flinders somewhere with 80 plus new people I had never met. I, like many other new members, didn’t know a single other person, so it was a strange experience, heading out to the countryside, to who-knows-where, with total strangers, to find out more about an organization I knew nothing about. I remember my fear that AIESEC might be some fundamentalist Christian group or that there would be a no-alcohol policy at the camp. However, I soon found out that, although AIESEC is a force unto itself, it is not fundamentalist, and it certainly doesn’t have a no-alcohol policy.

After State Conference I had a better idea of what the organization was. It wasn’t just about exchange, although that’s the main purpose for the group. I discovered that there was much more to it, all centered around the people of AIESEC. Essentially, the organization works to enable people to go on exchange from Australia to other countries, and for people from other countries to come on exchange to Australia. However, it also enables new friendships of people who would have otherwise never met, to foster understanding between different cultures, to improve individual’s management and organizing abilities, to challenge people and push them from their comfort zone, and to expand people’s belief in themselves and help them discover that they are only limited by their own perception of their world.

I soon realized after State Conference that AIESEC was probably going to dominate my life as I discovered that everything the organization believed in and stood for essentially aligned with my own beliefs and goals. I had found an opportunity to challenge and improve myself, while meeting new people and discovering new cultures, and to top it all off it opened up a world of exchange to me. Exchange possibilities such as going to a development conference in Africa, helping set-up committees in countries like Yemen or Bahrain, working for a non-profit organization in Veitnam or China, teaching English in Romania, or working in a business management firm in Brazil, or Russia, or South Africa, or South Korea, or Canada, or anywhere… The possibilities are truly endless.

My world is simply limited by me and what I believe I can do. You discover in AIESEC, through real experiences, that you can truly do anything that you believe you can do. You realize that in the past, the only reason you didn’t try something is because you thought you couldn’t do it, and looking back you discover that it was YOU who stopped you from achieving and nothing else. Everyone has the amazing ability to do wonderful things, if you just try and do it, succeed or fail, try, and try again and before you know it, that event or goal that you thought could never be done, will be accomplished and you will be looking for the next great challenge to conquer.

After National Conference in July this year, AIESEC Melbourne came back to university with a renewed vigour and true understanding of this limitless potential. We are now striving to pass on this opportunity to as many people as we can and have them living and working their dreams overseas or in Melbourne. All members of the organization in Melbourne work so hard for AIESEC to enable themselves, other members, and new recruits terrific opportunities in Melbourne and around the world. We go to uni and attend classes, but after learning about event management or human resources, we don’t just go home and open a book and do some more study, we attend meetings with Melbourne businesses, organize our own events, strategise new possibilities for the future, and develop our members in the direction they want to go. In AIESEC you aren’t just studying at uni and meeting friends, you are developing an aspect of yourself which other people won’t develop for many years in their life, or may never develop. As an AIESECer you are leagues ahead of the rest of the pack, but it doesn’t matter because you are achieving amazing things with wonderful people and having a great time doing it.

Holidays?

2007-07-02T22:28:00.000+10:00

Exams are over. Woo hoo. I've been on holidays now for a week and its been a welcome change from studying all hours. For the last week I have been planning for Global Village, helping my parents with their business, and working hard at the coffee shop. Its been a nice break, but it is soon to be over. I've managed to do somethings that I wanted to achieve these holidays. But there is still tonnes I would like to do. So far I've managed to get a haircut, the shortest in the last 3 years, and today I went to the dentist. It was very worrying because I was visiting a new dentist (because my old dentist was a butcher) however it wasn't a big deal. I had a really big hole, which he filled, and he found another small one, which I'm getting fixed up tomorrow. My teeth are not in good condition and I blame all the sugar I ate while travelling in the US, and the fact I didn't brush enough while I was travelling.

So Sunday July 8 is the day of the Global Village, a big cultural celebration being hosted by AIESEC Victoria at the University of Melbourne. And its FREE. It starts at 10am with morning tea and an introduction of the day. Then you can chose to attend a forum on 'Media’ s representation of race and culture' or an 'Oaktree foundation leadership workshop' or a 'Story of migrants workshop'. A free lunch then follows, where there will be stalls with representatives from various NPOs and AIESEC Local Committees, music from Jungal and the Ghana Association, and cultural trade stalls. Following lunch, you can then attend another choice of a forum or one of the workshops: a forum on the 'Impact of immigration policies on Australian society', or a workshop on 'Love and Friendship across cultures', or a workshop on 'Interpreting and translation'. Then at 2:45 there is the closing ceremony and the day ends at 3pm. It should be a fun and exciting day, and I am looking forward to meeting some new and interesting people.

Then on Monday the AIESEC National Conference begins where representatives from the 14 AIESEC committees around Australia meet at Melbourne University to discuss the issues we see as important in the world at the moment, strategies for tackling these issues, and skills to enable us to better live and lead in the future. We'll also be doing lots of fun stuff too, and partying every night. It should be a blast.

Exams Goddamit.

2007-06-04T23:01:00.000+10:00

Exams are coming up hard and fast and I am studying like a ferret chasing a rabbit through a bamboo garden with a water feature. Its getting tiring and I haven't even had my first exam yet. Its in two days and its Operations Management and its a headache. But my exams and assignments are reasonably well spread out so its not that bad. I have roughly a week following this exam to finish a Classical Athens essay, then I have another week til my HRM exam, then another week until my Viking assignment is due. So its pretty good. However, I am still stressed and I cannot wait for it to all be over.

Today, on the tram into uni, an old man sat opposite me. He looked a little down on his luck, with a torn cardigan, a hole in his shoe and an old gym bag, but I was busy studying so I tried to concentrate on my reading. However, this was difficult as he was attempting to fix his watch. When the tram made jerky movement he kept almost dropping the watch and I could see he was battling. Then, inevitably, he dropped the little metal pin that was causing all his grief. The pin that holds the arm to the watch. He leaned over, head virtually in my lap, and tried for the next 5 minutes to pick up the minute piece. However, his old eyes and shaky hands prevented this and he eventually gave up. I offered my assistance and, thanks to the fact that I haven't cut my nails in too long a time, I had no trouble in picking up the tiny piece. He pushed the watch into my personal space and said in a slightly desperate tone, "you fix?" I told him that I doubted I could but that I would give it a shot. He said, "oh, thank you, thank you." I told him to hold onto his thank yous until we saw how I went at it. Unfortunately, I had no luck and I apoligised, handed it back to him and suggested that he kept it safe and take it to a watchmaker. He said ok and proceeded to continue to try and fix it himself. He dropped the tiny metal piece again, but lost it that time. He then lifted his left foot, lifted his right foot, I lifted my feet. He looked all around, in the folds of his jeans, in his cardigan pocket, under his bag, then finally he stood up and it was there, underneath him. He then droped the watch.

I picked it up and asked if I could have the little metal part again. I carefully examed it and realised that one end of it was springy, so for the next ten minutes I fiddled and fiddled, and finally, thanks to my femininishly long nails, managed to click the little pin back in, and thereby fix the watch. He said, "oh thank you, thank you" again and I told him that it was no problem. He got off the tram at the next stop and thanked me again before departing. I then returned to my study, comfortable in the knowledge that if these exams don't go as I hope, I can always fall back to my other skills such as watch fixing.

You have got to watch this. It is seriously cool.

2007-06-04T22:35:00.000+10:00

Check out this awesome video of Lions vs. Buffalo vs. Crocodiles vs. Lions vs. Buffalo again. Its a real battle that took place in Africa.

President Giuliani 2008

2007-05-27T15:30:00.001+10:00

I think I'm gonna be sick.

Wanna learn more bout Copywright Law?

2007-05-20T12:13:00.000+10:00

Have a look at this great disney parody on Copyright Law.

Shapez

2007-05-18T03:16:00.000+10:00

Schapelle Corby having a laugh with the Indonesian Justice Minister and a jail guard. Looks like they've been enjoying the contents of her boogie-board bag.

Argentina commuters riot over train delays

2007-05-17T10:35:00.000+10:00

From the SMH 16/5/07

May 16, 2007 - 12:35PM

Commuters enraged by delays in evening train services in Argentina have set fire to parts of a railway station, looted nearby shops and clashed with riot police.

Police fired rubber bullets and tear gas as rioters pelted them with rocks. The fighting at Buenos Aires' Constitucion station spilled into a nearby street as demonstrators shattered windows, set fire to a ticket sales area, looted shops and ripped pay phones from walls.

Hundreds of passengers fled the fighting inside the train station, one of the largest in South America with an estimated 300,000 users daily.

Twelve police officers were injured by flying rocks, mostly with cuts and bruises to the head and chest, and nine people were also treated at the scene for smoke inhalation, said Alberto Crescenti, a spokesman for emergency medical workers.

Police Commissioner Ricardo Falana reported 16 arrests, including two minors.

He said about 100 police were needed to quell the rioters, who he said threw a "hail of rocks" at officers.

During the disturbances, a motorcycle was set ablaze and angry youths used metal poles to try to break down tall wooden doors to a security office in the station.

Firefighters quickly put out small fires in garbage cans and the ticket area. Shattered glass, bricks and sticks littered the hall afterward.

The fighting threw the evening rush hour into chaos, forcing the cancellation of all train services.

Fernando Jantus, a spokesman for the Metropolitano train service, said disruptions occurred during the evening rush hour today after a train broke down on a key track just outside the station, blocking other trains from leaving the station.

"The problem happened at the worst moment," he said, noting the rioting began in the peak evening rush around 6.30pm.

Passengers have long complained about poor commuter rail service on lines leading from Constitucion station in downtown Buenos Aires to poor southern suburbs of the Argentine capital.

Today's riot was the second major outbreak of violence at the station since passengers angry over cancellation of train service one day last September set three train cars ablaze and police made seven arrests.

Buenos Aires area commuter rail lines were privatised in the 1990s under then-president Carlos Menem but passengers for years have complained about the failure of new operators to provide timely service on often crowded routes.

Connex and the Victorian Government are lucky that we don't deal with unhappiness with riots in Melbourne.

Blackout on the Trains

2007-05-09T18:12:00.000+10:00

As the tram slowly chugged along Swanston St from Melbourne Uni this afternoon at 4:30pm I had a difficult decision to make. Would I stay on this tram and ride it home or take the train from Melbourne Central? The tram is easier, I'm already sitting on it, and I can read the paper, but it will take at least 40 minutes to travel home, however I won't have to walk once I get there. The train on the other hand will be faster, about 15 mins, but I will have to stand and then walk when I get home, adding another 15 mins. I tell myself I need the exercise so I jump off the tram and head down to the pit that is Melbourne Central Station.

As I step off the escalator deep inside the underworld of the neglected Melbourne Central Station I see the train sitting there and I think, "Yes! Good decision." However as I walk closer to the train I realise the people inside look pissed and there are no lights on in nearly any of the carriages. Its just darkness and many crammed-in uncomfortable people. I decide that this train is here, who knows when the next one will be, so I squeeze my way in. But things don't improve. The lights stay off and we head through the loop in pitch black darknesses. Only seeing each other's faces in a flicker of light from inside the tunnel, in a "Willy Wonka - side of face flashing" kind of way. You know, a "There's no earthly way of knowing / Which direction we are going / There's no knowing where we're rowing / Or which way the river's flowing / Is it raining? / Is it snowing? / Is a hurricane a-blowing? / Not a speck of light is showing / So the danger must be growing / Are the fires of hell a-glowing? / Is the grisly reaper mowing? / Yes, the danger must be growing / 'Cause the rowers keep on rowing / And they're certainly not showing / Any signs that they are slowing" kinda way.

WARNING: Its boring and loud ( I think people talk louder when its dark because it makes them feel safer).

Then the train stops at Parliament. It is already packed. But there are obviously more people waiting here, compounded because this train is late. So people cram in. Then the train just sits there. Lights off. Doors open. After about five minutes the driver announces the train is going to be delayed for another five minutes. So we wait. This guy that was standing near me was obsessed with getting a good grip on the nearby pole. He kept trying to reach around this guy who was leaning against it. He's move his hand to the left of the guy's head, but his arm didn't bend that way. Then he'd try the right. Then he tried reaching around the guy's waist. Nothing was working for him. When he finally did get around he placed his hand exactly on mine. Why don't the trains have handles of bars for people to hold when they are standing in no-man's land? Of all the trains I have been in Europe and the States, Melbourne's are the worst for giving people a place to hold on to when standing. And these trains need it the most because they all have faulty breaks.

The train stopped a few more times and went express and I managed to get home about 15 minutes later than the tram would have taken me. That is, as long as the tram didn't break down.

Tristan's 2006-07 Euromerican Invasion

2007-05-06T22:54:00.000+10:00

I realised the archive of my blog for my trip wasn't working so I quickly fixed it up and made it easier to navigate. So if you like nostalgia and want to read about my thoughts and experiences from my overseas trip of 2006 you can now view my old site here. After exams it is my aim to reorganise all my photos and get a proper journal of my trip together, but this will do for now.

University and Sport

2007-05-03T22:40:00.000+10:00

Its been a busy week for me this week and I think next week will be very similar. I'm playing a little catchup at study after I realised this week that exams are in a month and I feel far from prepared. I'm also doing quite a bit of work with AIESEC at uni, including major preparations for the Global Village we are having at the University on the 8th of July. Don't miss it. I'll let you know more soon. JULY 8.

With regards to sport, all that I have done in the past few days is watch the following video. Enjoy.

The Great Melbourne Public Transport Debacle

2007-05-01T21:28:00.000+10:00

This is my final rant on the subject. Today my train was delayed by 10 minutes and I am not content to just accept that its fine. Even though people say that bad public transport is a fact of life, I don't think it should be, especially if its privately owned and run. Its acceptable that the government can screw it up, but when they sell off the system, they don't have such luxuries. Of the last 10 trains I've taken in to or out of the city, two have been on time, one delayed by 5 minutes, six by about 8-10 minutes, one stopped at the a station and everyone had to get off, and one was cancelled and never actually arrived. If I had that kind of timing and organisation at my job I would have been fired a long time ago, as would anyone in any job. But to make up for a month of delays I get a single daily ticket. Well enough is enough. The responsibility rests with the government and Connex to get it together and act and stop making excuses.

This is just the month of April:

11 April, 2007 - Victoria's Transport Minister, Lynne Kosky, sends email to parliamentary colleagues telling them that she doesn't want to be bothered with commuters' complaints.

12 April, 2007 - Trains get disrupted on Hurstbridge line and replacement emergency buses never arrive, or are already full and don't stop for stranded commuters.

14 April, 2007 - Connex is forced to compensate ticket holders with a daily Metcard as the number of late and cancelled trains continues to rise. 10 per cent of all trains were late and 460 services were cancelled in March. The third month in a row that Connex has had to pay compensation for poor service.

17 April, 2007 – The Age reveals that the number of trains running late on Melbourne's suburban rail system in February was the highest in eight years.

23 April, 2007 - Victoria's Transport Minister, Lynne Kosky, admits that the government bought back second-hand trains (at 700 per cent of what they $old them) after selling them off to a collector. These trains were first introduced in 1972.

27 April, 2007 – Trains delayed for hours on all lines after an elderly man was fatally struck by a train after ducking under lowered boom gates. Its tragic that this man died, but it affected the whole system for the whole day. This kind of terrible thing happens and they should be prepared for this.

Yesterday - Commuters were forced to walk to the next train after a derailed tram blocked trains on the Frankston line early yesterday.

Other Articles:
The Age - Customers left standing on platforms
- Scrap-heap trains an 'embarrassment'

Other Disappointed Travellers:
Connex Whinger

Connex, we’ve had enough!

VLine Whinger

Coalition for People’s Transport

Lynne Kosky

Victoria's Transport Minister

Appointed to the job against her wishes five months ago, Ms Kosky earns $226,790 a year in salary and allowances, has a full-time driver and ministerial car available to her, as well as a taxpayer-funded vehicle that can be used by the minister, her staff and her family.

Website: http://www.lynnekosky.com

Email: lynne.kosky@parliament.vic.gov.au

Ministerial Address: Level 26, 80 Collins Street, Melbourne 3000

Ministerial Ph. (03) 9655 3300 Fax: (03) 9655 3313

Electorate Postal Address: PO Box 1047, Altona Meadows VIC 3028

Electorate Ph. (03) 9360 7500 Fax. (03) 9360 7654

Peter Batchelor

Victoria’s Infrustructure Minister

Post: PO Box 219, Thomastown 3074.

Email him using this form from Envict.com.au

It seems that Steve Bracks was on to something when the slogan our number plates changed from ‘Victoria – On The Move’ to ‘Victoria – The Place to Be’.

LATEST NEWS - Victorian commuters will reap the benefits of an $872 million injection into public transport, Transport Minister Lynne Kosky said today. So by the beginning of 2010 we should get a reasonable train service. Well done Ministers!!! We'll just make do with 30 year old trains, no air-conditioning, and waiting for trains that may not show up for the next three years.

I think my ipod is hot for will smith

2007-04-27T11:53:00.000+10:00

This is bloody annoying. Every time I listen to my ipod and I put it on shuffle, "Gettin' Jiggy wid it" is in the first ten songs that play. It has seriously happened the last three times I have used the feature. I have over 6,000 songs on my ipod and somehow it finds the one Will Smith song I have on the damn thing. So now I am afraid of using shuffle. I going to have to make heaps of non-Jiggy playlists.

The Trams

2007-04-26T15:01:00.000+10:00

Talk about boring topics on which I am posting but I feel I have to say it. This morning another train I was taking was delayed again, this time not as bad, only 5 minutes. But then when I got to the tram stop at Melbourne Central, swanston st, there was not a tram for at least 10 minutes. The trams along this major thoroughfare should be up each other's arses, but as I looked over the horizon down the street there was none. By the time one finally arrived the tram stop was packed with people and as a result the tram was chockers. Luckily I maneuvered my way to the front and got a seat, but after two stops, the tram stopped and couldn't get its back doors to shut. FAULTY TRAM. The driver tried over and over again to close them, but they wouldn't. So he got out of his cockpit, walked to the back and pushed them, then hit them, then opened the little hatch above them and fiddled around. He then hit them some more. At this stage I had missed the start of my lecture. They then magically shut and we started off again. At the next stop the doors opened and the driver said, "Last Stop!" We all got out grumbling. So I walked. Yay.

There is a great punishment for the train and tram service in Melbourne. If they are late a certain amount of times then the public gets subsidised. Well sort've. If the trains and trams are late an incredible amount of times. More times than any sane person would consider acceptable. Then those people with a monthly or a yearly ticket get a single daily ticket as compensation. If you have a daily or a weekly you don't get shit. It makes sense I guess. Although I'd prefer that they take all the money from these stupid fines and invest in new trams and trains. Then they should sack the minister for transport, sack the director of Connex in Melbourne, and replace them with competent and intelligent individuals.

The Trains

2007-04-24T17:26:00.000+10:00

Jeez, I'm getting pretty fed up with Melbourne's train system. Whoever is running them is mediocre at best. Its so frustrating. It seems these days that every train I want to take I have to wait for. They are always delayed. Today I took one train into Uni and one train home. The train into uni stopped at my station and i got on and grabbed a seat. It was a backwards seat, but I don't care cos riding backwards doesn't make me sick. Then the train just sat there. It sat there and sat there. Other people ran down the ramp to the train and pressed the door button and got on, looking please with themselves, and still the train just sat there. After about 7 minutes, and after another train had been and gone on another platform, people started to get off. I was unsure of what to do, but as I was not in a terrible rush, I decided to sit tight, hope for the best, and read my paper. Then after 12 minutes of sitting there with no information as to what was happening, the train driver announced that the train was faulty and everyone would have to get off. Seeya!!! He sounded like he was drunk and there was not even a hint of an apology. I thought that at the very least they could have given us a little bit of info of what was happening 5 minutes after we had stopped. 12 minutes is unacceptable. Do they teach no customer relations at CONNEX? Either way, what the hell is going on with the trains? The train I then took in the afternoon to get home was delayed by 9 minutes due to a "faulty train". So, today, both of the CONNEX trains I took were faulty and delayed.

In happier news I was incredibly hungry this afternoon on the walk home and I felt like some meat. I didn't know what I should get. I went to a bakery and I was going to get a sausage roll, but they only had pies for $4. I thought that was too much for a crappy pie, so I entertained the idea of going to Grill'd and getting a burger, but $10 for a burger, even though they are good, was also a little out of my price range, so I settled on going to the supermarket and getting my money's worth. I walked down the meat aisle and found some nice tender juicy beef cutlets and grabbed them, $7. I would cook them when I got home. But then as I was walked to the registers I saw hot roasted chicken. There was a small one for $6.50 and I couldn't resist. So I swapped the beef for the chicken and ate the whole thing on the walk home. It was gone by the time I had reached my door and my fingers were all sticky. Finger lick'n good. Yum T-Rex!

Australian Flag

2007-04-03T20:41:00.000+10:00

I love Australia and I respect the country's history but I think that it is crazy in this day and age to have the British Union Jack in the corner of our flag. It is time to choose a new flag which is more appropriate for the country we are today. I created this image to highlight how stupid it is to have a Union Jack in the corner of our flag.

Sick in the Stomach

2007-04-01T00:33:00.000+10:00

There are so many terribly disgusting aspects to this whole Guantanamo Bay situation that it makes me angry and sick at the same time. This man is probably not a bad man, but made poor decisions and deserves to do his time. But he highlights every problem with the Guantanamo Bay jail and the fact that it symbolises everything the great country of the United States should be fighting against. The USA was created in response to terrible mistreatments of people's rights and now it is possibly one of the worst examples of these mistreatments and abuse of power.

Imagine being arrested tomorrow, men storm your room, put a black bag over your head, carry you out, drive you somewhere. After a day of travelling they remove the bag and you are in a small cell with no light. Then the room is flooded with light. You get tortured everyday, and you have 1 hour of sunlight outside your cell. This is your life for 5-years before you have been charged, stood trial, or found guilty. This would be a reason Australians and Americans would band together and go and fight in another country, maybe a country like Iraq.

Or imagine this. You commit a crime and go to jail. They torture you and do all kinds of ghastly and inhumane things to you. They then tell you that they will release you early only if you never tell anyone about these things. They have the perfect setup. What is this United States of America? What do they think they are doing to their tremendous history and reputation around the world? What happened to the beacon of light and the example for all? And what is Australia doing letting this happen? These events symbolise everything that Australia and Australians stand against. It is because of these things that brave young Australians have died fighting for all around the World. And now it is happening in our team and we're turning a bling eye. It makes me sad and disgusted.

Elderly Woman vs. Tram. Who wins?

2007-03-29T21:30:00.000+10:00

Answer: The Tram.

Today on the tram on my way from uni to the train station it was dinging along nicely, then suddenly... Bang! The tram hit an elderly lady who was crossing the road. It was quite a thud and the driver slammed on the brakes. He jumped out and ran down the side of the tram to the woman. She was conscious but didn't look too good. Everyone got off the tram and I walked to the train station. Two cop cars and the paramedics hooned past me as I walked.

I have 3 days until next week starts, and I have 3 days of work. Yay! No weekend. Partytime! So, after basically no sleep last night working on an assignment, I am going to get a good nights sleep tonight so I am prepared for 3 three closes. Also, I posted myself a package from the east coast of america when I was there in January, and after 8 weeks of waiting I had come to the conclusion that it was lost, or some guy had it in his house. I thought that this guy was wearing my beautiful parisian coat that I had worn all through winter. So anyway, since I had sent it i'd sent another from the west coast, returned to Australia, posted something to the US that had already arrived. Then finally today my package arrived. About 10 weeks after I sent it. It turns out it was in quarantine for a week in Australia and they forgot to tell me. I think it must of got stuck somewhere else as well. So today I was able to give my sister her 21st present and my dad his birthday present, and the notes that I'd written them saying that I was looking forward to seeing them in a month. Yay. T44

Explosions

2007-03-24T01:12:00.000+11:00

I left home early for work today in order to arrive with enough time to relax with a coffee, read the paper, and change for work, but it didn't go as planned. I walked to the train station and my timing was perfect. I would arrive 4 minutes before the express Train, so there were only 3 stops til I arrived at work, instead of 7. But as I got closer to the station I saw many people standing around in groups, then I saw some firemen, then I saw the police. There was this pungent smell in the air but I didn't take any notice of it because the visuals were more important to my brain. I walked to the train station but there was police tape everywhere. The policewoman standing there told me it was closed and there were no trains or trams for the next 2 hours. I asked her what had happened and she replied, "can't you smell it?" It was the unmistakable smell of Natural Gas.

"The crash began when a truck suffered a tyre blow-out and pulled into the tunnel's left-hand lane. The tunnel does not have an emergency lane.
Two cars caught behind the truck tried to merge right. They were struck from behind by a semi-trailer, throwing one against the wall and one into the back of the stationary truck.

A third car was hit from the side by the same semi-trailer, then struck by a third truck."

"Explosions rocked the tunnel, motorists told of a huge wall of flames and temperatures soared above 1000 degrees. Police Assistant Commissioner Noel Ashby said some of the crash vehicles had turned into "balls of molten metal". Investigators had still not identified the make of some of the cars."

The crash happened in the Burnley tunnel which is about 7 kilometres from my station, so the amount of gas must have been immense to travel all that distance from the crash site.

However, it turns out that what I smelt was just a regular gas leak, and had nothing to do with the incident in the Burnley Tunnel. The gas leak just brought trains to a standstill and screwed up the public transport network during peak hour. A bit of a busy day for emergency services.

In other news, at 9:53pm this evening, as I crossed Victoria Parade and headed down Nicholson St, after a long 8.5 hour shift, some ripped guy in a tight white bonds top punched me in my left shoulder. I was walking along eating a wrap and feeling tired and the guy who was walking to the left of me, coming in my direction, just turned and smacked me in the arm. I turned and said, "what the...", then he turned and with huge fierce eyes, raised his arm to hit me again. I told him I'd just finished work and I just wanted to go home. I then turned and started walking, and thankfully he didn't do anything then continued to walk in the opposite direction. It was a bit strange, but the muggy windy weather does that to some people. They go crazy.

My New Site! L.A.N.T.E.D.

2007-03-20T00:50:00.000+11:00

I'm just getting my new site going, please go and check it out. I always find myself looking up facts and interests each day on random things, so I figured I should chuck what I learn on a website in a quick, easy, readable fashion. And here it is: 'Learn A New Thing Every Day' - LANTED. So far I have written about Thor's Magical Goats, the Hawaiian Flag, Bananas, Leprechauns, Ferrari's Prancing Horse, and Lake Eyre. Please go check it out and sign up for the daily feed.

Summer

2007-03-14T15:57:00.000+11:00

Its been a long time between drinks for these posts lately so i apologise to those who regularly make the effort to check if I've added any new posts. I haven't been posting recently because I was thinking that there wasn't really anything to say but I have been thinking this afternoon and plenty has been happening in my life. I'm not sure if any of it is interesting but there is still stuff to say.

Saturday was my sister's 21st birthday party. It was a fun night and I think she classified it a success. There were plenty of her friends there and non of them got too drunk or started fights or anything. It was a masquerade formal dress party. I went in a tux with a bat mask. The bat mask was chosen as an homage to my favourite super hero - Batman. It was not a regular bat mask, but slightly nicer quality. I also blacked around my eyes under the mask to add to the effect. If you watch all the Batman movies closely, Batman has his eye-lids etc painted black. Some of the interesting aspects of the party was the marketing of my sister. She is a modest girl with lots of friends but with a certain creative flair, particularly with pandering her name and face around. At the party she gave out free badges with her face on them and everyone was wearing them. But the pièce de résistance was the cake. Instead of a big ice-cream cake, she made 120 small 50 cent sized cakes, all from ice-cream with a thin, edible rice-paper photo of her on the top of each one. To make it even more special each of the photos was unique, not one of them was repeated.

Summer officially ended at the end of February but thankfully the weather is still very much stuck in Summer. It is pleasant every day. I love it. I hope it doesn't change for a while cos I am enjoying wearing shorts and flip-flops and feeling the sun warm my face as I walk to the train station. The other day I was at Fed Square and there was a public performance, I believe, advertising the Swimming Championships. It was a crowd sitting in a part of a stadium all watching something, but it was just a trick. They were simply watching us. Then everyone looks at them, then turns to see what they are looking at.

I went to the Melbourne Motor Show the other day, which is always pretty interesting and fun. Its a little dry and family friendly for my liking, but somewhat entertaining. They could do with some cars actually running. The sound of an actual motor could be quite a nice touch.

At the moment I am concentrating on managing my studies and fit in some exercise somewhere. I think the trick is a regular sleeping pattern. If I go to bed at a good time I will better use my time in the day and then be able to make time for some exercise. It is also difficult cos I have uni everyday then i am working on both days of the weekend.

Another 365 days...

2007-03-02T14:15:00.000+11:00

Happy Birthday Tristan! Thanks. Time is a crazy thing. The last year feels like it has gone in a flash but simultaneously feels like it took forever and I have done so much. This time last year I had deferred my studies and was preparing for a year away. This time this year, I am preparing my studies and looking forward to a productive two years of university. In the last year I have celebrated my birthday and going away, travelled to Bangkok, London, Brighton, Paris, Le Havre, Normandy, Munich, Dresden, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Bratislava, Krakow, Warsaw, Stockholm, Vasteras, Uppsala, New York, Boston, Durham, Washington DC, Chicago, Denver, Reno, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Honolulu and back to Melbourne. I have covered 54,291 kilometres. I have experienced Christmas time in Sweden, New Years in Paris, had salmonella poisoning in Krakow, drank at Oktoberfest, danced at Love Parade, been stuck on a Train in the Nevada desert, been hit on by Hooters girls in Boston, been punched in the face and mugged in Paris, worked in a hostel, lived in two beautiful Parisian neighbourhoods. I've met heaps of people and made some wonderful friendships which will last my lifetime. I've spoken French and Australian, and tried my hand and learnt a few words in Swedish, German, Spanish, Italian, American, Canadian, Japanese, Polish, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Portuguese, and Hungarian. But after all this it is my friends that I am thankful for the most. My friends have been both the best thing and the hardest thing about this trip. And forever I will never be truly happy because now I live in this never ending Catch22 situation. To return to my friends in Melbourne, I had to say goodbye to my friends in Paris and America, and to return to my friends there, I must leave my friends in Melbourne. From this time forward I will forever have two homes and it can be really hard. However, I wouldn't swap it 'for the world' because that is what I have and I love it.

Anthesteria & Vikings

2007-03-01T18:51:00.000+11:00

I'm doing two history subjects this semester and I am very excited about each of them. The first is Classical Athens and obviously deals with Ancient Greece and particular the nation-state of Athens. In the first lecture I learnt about one of the festivals that would be taking place now, that is, at this time of the year in Ancient Greece. The Ancient Athens calendar was related to the lunar calendar, and this particular festival goes for three days and started yesterday on February 28. The festival is called Anthesteria and is related to Dionysus, the god of drinking and merriment. Its basically a wine festival and a 'respect the dead' festival and each day has a special theme. Day One, Pithoigia, literally the 'opening of the casks', was a day when everyone, including slaves and children, drank the wine which had been fermenting for a year. Day Two, Choës, the feast of the beakers, was another day of merrimaking, when people would dress up and meet with friends and drink more. Drinking clubs met to organize drink-off matches, the winner being he who drained his cup most rapidly. And the wife of the archon basileus (like the Mayor) went through a ceremony of marriage to the wine god, in which she was assisted by fourteen Athenian matrons, called geraerae, chosen by the basileus and sworn to secrecy. Day Three, Chytroi, was a festival of the dead, when cooked pulse was offered to Hermes Chthonios, Hermes in his capacity of a god of the lower world, and to the souls of the dead, who were then bidden to depart. Funky. So today we are on Day Two and I'm having a glass of wine to celebrate. The stories about some of the Ancient Greek gods is even more interesting.

The other history subject is called Viking Studies and deals with the people of Scandinavia roughly around the Middle Ages. This is a really interesting subject because a major component of the studies is studying the old language of Old Norse. In class yesterday we studied a nursery rhyme in Old Norse, the first line of which is reproduced here. Litla, gula hænan fann fræ, þat var hveitifræ. I'm pretty excited and I think its pretty cool, although somewhat useless. But there are plenty of other things I know and do which could be considered just as useless, so its silly to think like that. Some interesting things to note about Vikings:
1. They didn't have horns on their helmets.
2. The term 'viking' at the time only referred to those who went off pillaging.
3. They could roll their longboats across land in order to travel between rivers.
4. They were well kept and not barbarians like many people believe.
5. There are no written contemporary sources (except for runestones) so our knowledge of Vikings is very much shaped by the opinions of those they attacked.

Back to School

2007-02-26T20:19:00.000+11:00

Back to Uni today. I had my first class today and it was super cool. I took some photos of the Uni because I have come to appreciate it more now that I have travelled. It was packed with people everywhere: working out their classes, buying books, sitting. It was good to be back and I am excited about my classes.

Britney

2007-02-24T16:04:00.000+11:00

Has the world gone insane. I really didn't want to write about this but it has been troubling me all day. What the hell is going on with Britney Spears? Where are her friends and family? She's gone nuts. I don't understand where this has come from. I don't know if I was asleep at the start of this downward spiral but I still find it hard to believe. What is making her do all of this? I'm probably wrong but it feels like just a year or two ago she was fine or close to fine. Now, she's been married twice, and divorced, has two kids, two new tattoos, a shaved bald head, and a pill and drug addiction. If you can handle any more detail about this peruse the Time line of Britney's days before her head shaving and maybe you can work out the reasons behind all of this if there are any.

Shepherd's Delight

2007-02-24T13:48:00.000+11:00

Last night there was a brilliant pink sky sunset in Melbourne. I met some friends on the banks of the Yarra and drank Woodstock and coke and watched the sun set through the gum trees and the skyscrapers.

Religion vs. Ethics?

2007-02-23T13:43:00.000+11:00

Its an age old question and one that has come up again in Canada in the form of sextuplets. Today The Times reported on a story about two parents and their babies, and the right the parents have over the children's lives when it comes to religion. The problem goes like this:

Mother is soon to have 6 babies but there is a chance some will die because they will be too small and there will be overcrowding in the womb. The doctor offers a “selective reduction”, whereby some of the foetuses will be removed to improve the chances of the others. The parents decline. So the six babies are born and two die. The babies then need a blood transfusion, and this is where it gets difficult because the parents are Jehovah's witnesses, and therefore do not believe in blood transfusions due to their interpretation of the bible.

So, the question is, do the parents have the right to choose the religion of their children? Do they have the right to choose the religion of their children if it might stop them from living? It is their right to choose their religion, and a baby does not yet have the ability to choose, so it is therefore up to the parent. But can a parent choose a path separate from life for a newborn child?

The doctors at the hospital and consequently the local courts decided that the parents don't have that right and took the surviving babies into protective custody and did the blood transfusion. The courts then later returned custody to the parents. Should the government step in and stop a parent from exercising their right to religion and the rights of their children? My opinion is that a government shouldn't involve itself in the religion and its choices of a person. But if it is the religious rights of an individual who does not have the conscious ability to choose, then the government can definitely step in and protect the human life with all methods at its disposal. What do you think?

Bioloid has the Moves. Watch out Ladies.

2007-02-22T21:58:00.000+11:00

This is one cool little robot. I don't really know how to make anything, let alone a robot, but robotics has always interested me. The robotics that some people are getting into is really exciting because the emphasis seems to be on fluid human movement and it looks cool. I don't care if a robot can solve a rubics cube in 30 seconds, I want a robot with the moves. If you wanna get your hands on one you can, just US$900 at ThinkGeek. Check out all their other cool stuff too.

Social Etiquette: Standing in the Train doorway

2007-02-22T21:29:00.000+11:00

Today while standing on the train I discovered a great way to piss people off but it wasn't through my own actions. Rather it was a simple matter of watching a middle-aged man in a pin-stripe suit irritate the people trying to get into the train. The train carriage was not completely full and on stepping into the train he decided that his little "place" on the train would be that section just inside where the doors shut. He had a choice of almost anywhere else in that section of the train, but he chose that particular spot. The problem was that his decision was premature as there were still people getting on the train. I was his mirror self. I stood directly opposite, in a very similar position in the carriage to where he was standing, however with a great difference. I was not where the doors were still open. So the first person after him was a little asian lady. She had to physically push him out of the way with both her hands while saying excuse me and with an exasperated look on her face. He barely moved and was either clueless or rude. The second person, a larger guy, was a fair bit bigger and of a similar build to the door-blocking man and as the doors were preparing to close he threw himself into the train and knocked the guy to the side. He said, "What the hell are you doing? Get out of the way of the door. Jeez. People are trying to get on and you are just standing there in the door. What are you an idiot?" To which the vague man replied, "I was standing there". The angry man continued to yell at the guy and the guy continued to claim that he was simply standing there and neither ever got to a point where they understood the other person. So, as a lesson in social etiquette for everyone: it is polite to not stand in the doorway of trains while people are still boarding and for that matter any doorway while people need to walk through it.

The New Blog

2007-02-22T11:17:00.000+11:00

Its quickly coming together. I am using more of the template just to make the blog easier and faster to manage. I would like to make a new site from scratch but I don't have the time, and although I could make the time, I know that my uni grades would suffer. This new site represents the fact that I have returned to Melbourne and I am bunking down for my final years of University. I'm not sure what direction this blog will take but I think that it will be more for my thoughts and less about the things I see.

At 55 min.

2007-02-21T11:32:00.000+11:00

At 55 minutes optusnet picked up and helped me out. It took them 1 min and 5 seconds on the line with me. Its a screwie system and I don't like it.

Optusnet

2007-02-21T11:28:00.000+11:00

Since I have been away for so long I have forgotten my optusnet password and I have been putting off calling them to find it out, hoping that I will remember it. Finally I have bit the bullet and I called them this morning. I am still on hold trying to talk to a human just so I can find out my password to log in to my account and check my usage. As of right now I have been on the phone for 53 minutes and 43 seconds. I think I am caught in a phone vortex somewhere at optus. They have received my call but the computers are just sending it around to each other like pass-the-parcel and it will never get to a human. I'm gonna wait for an hour then give up.