I'm Just Selfish This Way

So it's that time of year again.

No, not Christmas time.

Well, actually that is partly the problem; Christmas time means everyone is out shopping at the same time.

Still, this really shouldn't be a problem. It's just everyone seems to take leave of their senses for some reason. I really don't know why; it's the one time of year that people should keep a tight grip on their senses.

But then, who am I to complain about people losing their senses? I'm guilty of this, too. I'm also quite selfish when out shopping;

For a start, I hold the unreasonable expectation of being able to use the door to go in and out of shops. I know, crazy and selfish, right? Especially since I know that the middle of the doorway is the perfect place to stand and have a conversation. But it get's worse. Much worse. Instead of trying to find another way in or out, or simply just politely waiting for the conversation to end before I can use the door as I want to use it, I'll simply barge through. And not just trying to creep around you. I mean right through the middle of the conversation. Since this is something I struggle with year round, I am actually quite proud to say that I am really good at making sure that my elbow will make contact with your ribs. There might also be a shoulder as well if there's enough of you trying to talk in the doorway. I'm not gentle either. I aim to make you remember me rudely barging through your conversation.

But you know what? I know it's inconsiderate of me interrupting your conversation in the doorway. If you give me a dirty enough look or make a comment about my rudeness I'll apologise for wanting to use the door for something other than just chatting ... although I haven't yet managed to make it sound sincere.Too absorbed in my own little world, I guess.

Secondly, and this could be even worse than interrupting conversations in doorways, I expect to be able to walk up and down the aisles without groups of two or more people standing in the middle of the aisle staring at the shelves. I get that someone has to stand right in front of whatever you're looking at while everyone else stands on the opposite side of the aisle with your trolley in the middle of the aisle. It is the only way to make an informed decision about what you're about to buy. I also understand that the middle of the aisle with your trolley pushed to one side is another ideal place to have a conversation. But, well, you see I usually shop alone, that's how I roll, and I just don't want to be reminded of this fact. That and I have this crazy notion of not farting around and getting what I need and then leaving. Still, I know that's no real excuse for me to try and push past. It would be so much politer if I just turned around and reached the end of the aisle by doubling back and finding an unoccupied aisle to walk down. But, well, I'm also lazy as well as selfish. It's just so much easier and quicker for me to push past you. Rude, I know. Especially when you see me coming and briefly make eye contact before turning your full attention back to your conversation. I really should take the hint; you're in the middle of a conversation or just looking really intently at something. I should find another way to get to the end of the aisle.

All that being said, some of you do seem to possess eyes in the back of your head and see me coming. I know that you're only trying to help me so that I will stop barging through people's conversations in the middle of doorways and aisles. But yeah, I'm a bit of a speed demon in the shops. Walking at a snail's pace at top speed just isn't going to do it for me. The lesson in patience will be lost on me because I'll be too focused on how slowly we are walking. Still, good on you for not giving up! The way you swerve with me when I try to speed up and get past you is truly remarkable. As is the way you'll stop directly in front of me to stare at how much aisle you have left until you reach the end. Maybe if I wasn't so determined to ruin interrupt conversations in doorways, I would realise the error of my way for knowing exactly what I went in to buy and wanting to get out as fast as possible. I know that's wrong of me. I know I should wander idly around the shop in a daze, stopping randomly in the middle of aisles, talking in the doorway. I know that's what I should be doing instead, and I am working on it. But well, you know, old habits and all.

But until I manage to master all these skills when out shopping, I'm afraid you're just going to have to deal with the fact that I want to use the doorway to enter and exit the shop even if there is a lively conversation being held there, I'm going to want to take the short route to the end of the aisle even if it means I have to push past you, your friends and/or family and trolley, and your attempts to teach me patience by walking impossibly slow will go unnoticed and will try to get past you, even if you are swerving all over the aisle.

Yes, I know I'm selfish and that my expectations are unrealistic, but I can't be alone in this, can I?

Another Political Post

Yeah, so I'm getting all political (again). Sorry about that (I'm not really).

But I'm sick of all the media coverage only on the Labour and Liberal parties this election. Let's face it, neither of those two parties are a good choice: with Labour we can't be sure that the person leading them will still be doing so in a year let alone by next election, and they're rapidly sending the country into debt (a massive debt). And have I mentioned all of the in fighting and back stabbing yet? With the Liberals there's a lot of emphasis on getting our budget back into surplus, which is a good thing. But then take a look at their policies so far: there's a whole lot of big spending and no accounting for where the money is coming from. 

I don't know about you, but I don't want either of those parties in charge of Australia's budget. Neither of them are exactly showing themselves to be good with money. It's all spend, spend, spend!

But that's how elections go, isn't it? Big promises that will be broken once a party is voted in. No body seems to remember this little fact, they're just surprised after each election when it happens all over again. 

So pretty bleak choices for the people of Australia to choose from. Labour and Liberal are just as bad as each other. They're both toxic and extremely out of touch with the real world (I've said it before and I'm going to say it again, I really need to become a politician for the cushy life being one brings). 

But if you look beyond the mainstream media this election, you'll be in for a pleasant surprise: there's actually more than just the two Labour and Liberal parties!

Yeah, I know. Shocking, right. 

And what's even more shocking is that some of them, not all of them, aren't crazy crackpot parties, an actually have some really good policies that are far more in touch with the average Australian than the two main stream parties. They're worth looking into before going into the polling booth this election year. I mean, even the Greens are preferencing their votes to a party that isn't Labour or Liberal. There's actually a real chance that there'll be more than just two parties and a couple of independents sitting in parliament after 7 September. 

So think about it, and vote for somebody different. It's time there was a change in the way that this country is run, and (as horribly cliched as this is) you have the power to make this change happen. This election year, there is actually a very real possibility for real and significant change. 

Just a Thought

Ok, so this has been on my mind for a couple of days now. But I keep on wondering what civilisation 4000 years from now will think of us (apart from being extremely bigoted about everything). Or, more specifically, about our popular culture and the stories we're going to leave behind for them. 

I mean, we have myths from the bible and the ancients about things that supposedly happened. What if they were merely just tales of fiction told to pass the time and set up morals for the youth of the time? And the myths we know today are just the most popular and pervasive of those stories?

What if in 4000 years they look back at our popular culture and view them as myths that we think happened in the distant or near past? What will they take from it? What will our myths be to those people?

That we looked to an alien who could move faster than bullet to save the world? That ordinary the rich donned masks and capes to fight crime and also save the world? That there were mutants among us and that some of them were less than friendly? That teenage girls were called upon to fight against the supernatural? That an archeologist played a key part in defeating the Nazis in WWII? That young children wandered around unsupervised and fought against each other with monsters that could be stored in balls? That young witches and wizards travelled to boarding school in trains?

And what if contact with aliens hasn't been made yet in 4000 years time? What will they make of Star Wars and Star Trek? That they're proof that in ancient times aliens had visited Earth and even taken humans into space with them?

Actually, even if contact has been made by then (and it probably will have by that point) the myths spawned from Star Wars and Trek would still be pretty interesting. 

How will those people 4000 years from now see us and what will they think our myths are?

And then there's our fairy tales. Will they make it into our mythology, and if so, which tales will be woven into the myths? Any of them that have been watered down into a Disney movie are sure to survive the 4000 years. But the rest? Will they be forgotten like so many other of our stories, or will they, over time, meld together and form a completely different story that people 4000 years from now will believe we told to each other?

Will those myths 4000 years in the future even be recognisable as stories from now?  

The Job Seekers Journal #1

Yesterday I finally had my phone interview with Centrelink. It went well enough. Even if she couldn't book me in with my employment agent thingy. 

One thing that couldn't be met. Not my fault though so it was overlooked with a passing comment that I may want to ask about that at the face to face interview ... quite frankly, I found that shocking. I thought even computer glitches were the fault of Centrelink customers (if I did have that kind of power, I doubt I'd be worrying about getting welfare payments). 

But at least I was able to book a face to face appointment. Based on the phone interview waiting list, I was very concerned that there'd be another three weeks before the first available slot. I was wrong (thankfully). The first available was today (even the woman conducting yesterday's interview seemed surprised). 

Naturally I snagged the latest available time today, so then I had time to gather everything I'd need to bring with me, while still getting the whole damn thing done and over with. 

Went in to the interview today with everything I was told that I had to bring with me. Spent all morning getting it together, too. Well, ok. Maybe not all morning. But it was still a good couple of hours spent getting everything. 

It was a complete waste of time. 

When I went in, a door wench greeted me and asked for my customer reference number, which I recited and then I was talking to someone, going over everything that was discussed on the phone yesterday and signing off on it. We also reset my online services password because I had some doubt about remembering it. FYI, that also required my customer reference number which I was again able to give off the top of my head. 

That was it. 

Apparently knowing my reference number off by heart is enough to prove that I am who I say I am, that I have been looking for work since being made redundant and that I am indeed poor and need welfare money (which is really depressing). All that time I spent getting everything together this morning was wasted! I could've been doing something far more productive or just sleeping in and enjoying being all warm in bed. 

I was reminded that I have to report next week and that I have the employment agency appointment and sent on my merry way. There was nothing about a job seeker diary or about how many jobs I should be applying for (if I even have to at all). It's like I'm receiving free welfare money without any of the obligations, and job hunting is just for my own benefit ... even if after a month of looking I'm a little down on the whole process. 

Oh, and there was also a moment of pure terror in the office: halfway through the interview she excused herself and disappeared for several minutes. When I say disappeared, I mean I could see her across the room talking. Then I watched her and someone else go into a conference room and talk. It was a heart stopping moment and I expected her to return and tell me to go away, there was nothing Centrelink was going to do for me today. 

Massive sigh of relief when that never happened. 

And now I'm just looking for work for my own entertainment, and also so that, you know, I have real money again and can afford to buy things I want. But at least I don't have to apply for so many jobs a week or even keep track of them (which is the worst part of the Newstart Allowance). No obligations, YEAH! 

It's an Election Year, So I Thought I'd Get On the Political Bandwagon With This Little Rant

I think I'm going to have to pay more attention to politics this election year. I'm sickened by the stunt that the Gillard government pulled excising the mainland from the migration zone. 

The act itself hasn't got me too upset ... I mean, it's a very despot government move, and is itself sickening. But Australia is a desert nation. We really can't afford to let too many people in. Otherwise we're going to be facing some serious water shortages (even more serious than it is now) in the near future. And then nobody but the ridiculously rich will win. 

It's how the government went around excising the mainland that's really gotten to me. They've been desperate to stop the boats for years now, but they couldn't just excise the mainland without massive public outrage and a drop in the polls (and in an election year, that could be disastrous). So instead they let a boatful of refugees make it all the way to the mainland. 

The navy has been doing too good a job of stopping the boats before they reach the mainland these last few years. That boat was allowed so that everyone could get all outraged that the refugees were allowed to remain here and enjoy some sembelance of basic rights instead of being shipped off to a processing centre (again, how very despot government like do the processing centres sound?). 

It created the perfect opportunity for the government to excise the mainland, and effectively stop the boats (because we all know the refugees will remain in the processing centres for years before being shipped back to their home countries), and there's very little public outrage (or a whole lot less than there could've been), because the memory of that boat landing on the mainland is still fresh in everyone's memory. 

The government used those refugees to strip away any basic rights of future refugees, and I just don't think that I can bring myself to vote for a government willing to steep so low. So I'm going to have to pay close attention this year, and see which party the local candidates are giving their votes to. 

But the problem is, it's a two party system at the end of the day, and neither party is looking particularly good. 

Things that Trouble Me When I Should be Sleeping

How did the town in north Central Victoria known as Yea get its name?

It's obviously a town that sprung up out of necessity to the farmers and possibly miners (I don't know much about the history of the area). But did it reach a point when those in charge were like, "Right, this place is no longer a place for passing travellers to spend the night. It's a town now, and we need to give it a name, yea or nay?"

A chorus of "Yea!" from everyone.

"Right, what should we call it then?"

No response.

"Right, well, tomorrow we'll come up with a name for the new town, yea or nay?"

"Yea!"

And because no one could come up with a name someone decided to just name the town Yea in honour of the fact that they always said "Yea!" to naming the town "tomorrow" ... which, if that's the case Victoria could've had a town called Tomorrow instead of Yea.

Either that, or they were smoking something funky and thought that naming a town Yea would be extremely hilarious and made it official before they sobered up.

War pt 2

The young woman pressed her back against the wall and watched the procession of soldiers march by. The last four of whom were carrying two extremely bloodied and mangled bodies. All of them kep glancing over their shoulders at something behind them. Wishing it was night instead of mid afternoon, she slipped away from the street, looking for somewhere to hide. The siren with the robotic voice announcing that a code red curfew was no in place was still sounding over the speakers throughout the town. She didn't have long to find somewhere to hide before the streets were filled with watchful soldiers. It would be very bad if she was caught breaking curfew. The soldiers were already extremely annoyed with her because of her views about the Faeries. They were looking for there chance to send her off to the front lines.

With no other options, she climbed up a nearby tree. From there she was able to pull herself onto a garage roof. Hopefully the soldiers on patrol would only have dogs trained to pick up the scent of Faeries and not people. She also hoped that no one had seen her climbing the tree. If they had, they would be sure to inform the soldiers about her. She was certain that there wouldn't be any aircraft flying around: the few that were still serviceable were on the front lines. But she still felt exposed on the roof of the garage, and decided that it would be better if she kept moving towards the edge of town through the backyards.

She crept over to the far edge of the roof, taking care to keep as low as possible and then froze. Over the nearby hills was a massive black cloud, almost completely covering the whole horizon sky. As she stared at it, trying figure out what it could be and what it meant, a loud buzzing sound suddenly filled the air. It took her a second to realise that the code red siren had stopped, and had most likely been covering the buzzing sound until that point. She still didn't know what could be making the sound, although she was fairly certain that it was coming from the cloud.

Apparently the soldiers patrolling the street had no idea where it was coming from. She could hear them shouting to each other has they looked for the source of the buzzing. Starting to feel uneasy about breaking curfew and what she planned on doing, she considered telling them about the cloud. But that would mean revealing herself to them, which would undoubtedly end with her being sent to the front lines. She'd heard stories from some of the front line veterans: the front lines were filled with constant fear and horror, and it was unheard of for someone to leave them uninjured or killed. Only serious injuries that left a person completely unable to fight anymore meant leaving the front lines ... unless of course, that person was killed instead of just injured.

The front lines were a place to avoid. And that wasn't done by revealing to soldiers that you're breaking curfew.

She lay down flat on her stomach, her eyes never leaving the large buzzing cloud. She absent mindedly swatted away a couple of flies. A moment later, she stifled a scream and quickly rolled onto her back frantically brushing away a large spider, sending it flying through the air. More flies settled on her and half a dozen wasps hovered menacingly nearby. She sat up and looked around and saw the air was thick with insects.

It suddenly dawned on her what the cloud consisted of and why it was buzzing.
She wondered what kind of damage a massive swarm of insects could inflict. They can drive a person insane, she reflected humourlessly as she constantly swatted away the insects, some of which bit or stung. She could hear the frustrated shouts from the soldiers as they were also attacked by the insects. Not wanting to find out first hand just what kind of damage a massive swarm if insects could cause to a person, she darted across the garage roof and jumped down onto the bin against the fence.

Still batting away the insects, and feeling lumps rising where she'd been bitten or stung, she darted out onto the street, and saw the soldiers weren't fairing much better than her. A couple of the sniffer dogs with them were straining at their leashes and pawing at the faces, already being driven mad by the insect swarm. One of the soldiers looked up and saw her. He shouted out in surprise and annoyance.

"There's even more of them coming! There's a massive swarm!" She shouted. She spotted a house with a bright yellow sign a little bit further down the street and immediately started to run towards it. She didn't bother to see if the soldiers followed her or not. She really didn't care either way. Although things would probably be easier for her if they didn't.

She skidded to a halt at the front door of the house. The air was now so thick with insects, it was impossible to see more than a few meters in any direction. The ground was starting to crawl with the flightless bugs. She kicked them off her feet and tried opening the door, and cried out in desperation when she discovered that it was locked. Who locked their door these doors? No one bothered locking their doors ever since the army set up the training base in town. There just wasn't any need. Plus if there was an air raid, people needed to be able to get into the houses with the bunkers.

She was suddenly hauled backwards and thrown into the hands of a waiting soldier. He gripped both her arms tightly, while they both squinted through the insects as another kicked open the heavy door. Over the sound of the insects, she heard a dog whimpering.

The door burst open, and everyone rushed inside. The door was slammed shut behind them. There was about ten of them as well as two sniffer dogs. The soldier who had held her outside still kept a tight grip on her arm inside. Everyone was covered in lumps from the insect bites and stings. There was a frenzy of movement as everyone frantically shook off any insects on them, and then stamped on them to make sure the bugs were dead.

"This door won't keep'em out for long, sir." A soldier observed, looking closely at the door. Everyone else took a closer look at the door and saw that it had been damaged when it had been kicked open. There was a long crack running down it, and a couple of insects were already starting to slip through it.

"We should be safe in the bunker.
Simpson, you, Walters, Avery and Greene take the girl and the dogs to the bunker. The rest of you search the house for anyone else."

There was a chorus of "Yes, Sir!", and she was ushered to the back of the house where there was a steel trap door in the floor. This was opened and Simpson and another soldier climbed down the steel ladder, before she was sent down after them. The dogs were lowered down afterwards, followed by a middle aged man who looked like he was a new recruit. The fourth soldier perched on the top rung of the ladder and kept a lookout for the others.

She slouched over and sat in a corner with her back against the wall, staring sullenly at the soldiers in the bunker with her. Everyone crept scratching at their bites and stings, while the two dogs whimpered in another corner. There was suddenly a scream followed by a heavy thud.

"Avery?" Simpson called out to the soldier keeping lookout.

"Don't know." Avery climbed back out of the door and disappeared from everyone's view. Simpson slowly climbed the ladder and peered around. There was another scream and Simpson dropped back into the bunker with a shout. A second later, Avery scrambled down the ladder, only pausing to close the door after her. Both she and Simpson looked terrified.

"What is it?"

There was a metallic clang as something struck the steel trap door repeatedly. The dogs howled and everyone backed as far away as they could from the ladder. The soldiers nervously drew their guns and aimed at the door.

The metallic clanging continued followed by the sound of metal being torn apart, the sound caused everyone to wince and cover their ears. A deep growl came through what remained of the steel door, causing the dogs to howl even louder.

With a final wrench, the door was town away from the floor and a massive pair of glowing red eyes glared down at them.