Just Stuff

I don’t apologise for it. Recently, when I’m not sleeping, I’m earning money, and working turns you into a doer, not a thinker. That’s probably the whole point, so you never seriously ponder how much you’re taking home per dollar after taxes once you creep above the paltry tax-free threshold, or how the public education and health system is a shot duck. I’m even starting to hate whiny, know-all university students, even though technically I’m still one. Oh well. A-working I will go…

(and no, this entry will be no exception)

I felt I needed to point out a relatively minor matter. It’s in regard to the post two entries down, regarding the Egyptian lawyer who is planning to sue Israel over a passage in the Bible. Kimber posted some comments which I certainly agree with in principle, but I get the feeling she missed the point of why I posted that story. Now, bear in mind that I don’t for a second think that she diverges from my views, as she is obviously an intelligent and open-minded person (despite the satan worshipping and baby sacrifices… kidding! =D), but I felt the distinction needed to be made. Plus, I bit my tongue like a good boy throughout the whole ten commandments debacle, so I need to vent. And no, I’m not actually treating the matter with seriousness it doesn’t deserve (ie. any), but I don’t have anything else to write about…

I was at a medical ethics lecture at University this morning, ethics being a philosophical subject which I’m quite passionate about, and afterwards while I was driving home, I developed this long, introspective, psuedo-stream of consciousness, pseudo-Kantian line of reasoning regarding my own views on the matter. I told myself to scribble it all down as soon as I got home, and now I can’t remember any of it. I hate when that happens. Although I can quite easily put it down to the fact that I’ve been up since 5am, ie *checks clock* for 20 1/2 hours. No wonder I’m rabbiting on about bullshit. *falls off chair*

Must mean that daylight savings is finally over. And all is right with the world again. Mostly.

I was flicking around late night tv yesterday and found that this was on. *heart* Sure, some of the acting is fairly ordinary, and a few of the lines are pretty trite, but put it in perspective. This movie was made 70 years ago. 70 years ago. And yet I still find the claymation-esque monkey/snake fight more exciting and absorbing than any stupid fucking CGI bombing of Pearl Harbour.

The WWW comes in for some serious flack around these parts, but I suspect I speak for quite a few WWW-phobes when I say that, whatever flaws it may have as a disseminator of ideas, it is still, on occasion, capable of producing some seriously first-class websites. One of these, currently near the end of its latest series of brilliant insights into modern warfare is the web drama Spooked-online (catchphrase: “Thingy tells us more about wotsit than it does about widget”).

Spooked-online is a slick piece of work, sharply written and argued, and sits well with the errorism preoccupations of the 9/11 world. Contrarian extremists, post-Marxist nutballs, anti-imperialism militants, pro-nothingers - I expect the site will only be canned when they run out of things to say no to.

From http://news.bbc.co.uk/

A County Fermanagh businessman has paid more than £50,000 for a car registration plate.

The plate, WIL 1, reached the Northern Ireland record price of £40,000 at an auction near Belfast on Wednesday.

The man also paid an extra £12,000 in VAT and other fees on top at the Cherished Registration Auction at Wilsons Auctions in Mallusk.

OIL 1 was the previous most expensive plate bought in Northern Ireland, going for £25,000.

Bidding was estimated to go over £20,000, as BIL 1 had reached £22,000 at a recent sale, but auctioneer Ian Wilson was still surprised at the final price.

…

An essay on The Importance of Patient/Doctor Communication. I believe the subject was first broached by that great Roman philosopher Tedius Maximus. I mean, I’d hate to blow my own horn, but I really have to applaud and appreciate my own genes/education/upbringing for my talent of being able to make bullshit sound like Hamlet. It was only 500 words, but it was basically the sentence “Patient/doctor communication is integral to the optimisation of health care efficiency” repeated over and over again using various synonyms and grammatical variations. Full marks.

Huzzah for the English language.

1. Poetry or prose? Prose, by and large, but not exclusively.
2. Funky modern art or the older, “classic” variety? What a quaintly reductionist question.
3. Sculptures or paintings? Definitely paintings. They require talent. I can make a sculpture but I can hardly draw a straight line.
4. Theatre: exuberant musical or serious drama? Drama. Most musicals strike me as wankish escapism.
5. Ballet or modern dance? I’m not a dance fan, but I’d have to say ballet if I had to pick between the two.
6. Movies: major studio or indie? Depends on the quality of the movie, rather than any loose genre. There are some great Hollywood movies, and there are some completely shite independant films.
7. Authors: Shakespeare or Dr. Seuss? Shakespeare, although there’s no doubting the role Zeuss has had on 20th century literature. “Green Eggs and Ham” and “Hop on Pop” remain modern classics.
8. TV: PBS or A&E? I see…
9. Music: Beethoven or Beatles? Beatles, even though their early stuff was pretty childish, the White Album is untouchable. Beethoven has nothing on Bach.
10. Thought-provoking question of the week: You are a contributing member of your favorite art museum, and visit on a regular basis. They announce a new, temporary special exhibit by an artist surrounded by controversy…this person’s work and/or political views offend you. Do you stop supporting the museum, or just stay away during the time the exhibit is there? I wouldn’t be offended in the first place, so the rest of the question is moot. People can believe whatever they want, and expressing themselves and their motivations through art isn’t necessarily going to have an effect on me. I like to see both sides of every issue, so I’d probably go and see the exhibit anyway, whether I agreed with it’s principles or not, and I think that if more people had such an attitude then there’d be a lot less bigotry and bullshit in the world. *shrug* I may be wrong.

Shock & Awe

No, I’m not talking about Baghdad or cruise missiles or anything along those lines. I’m talking about something important. The way in which Australia completely and utterly blew India off the park at the World Cup Cricket final in Johannesburg. I mean, seriously, at the risk of sounding narcissistic, how fucking good is Australia at sport? In case you’re not really familiar with cricket, it is by no means an international one-horse race. It’s not like rugby league where Australia is so untouchable that the other team might as well not show up. And to go through the tournament undefeated (that’s 12 games, not including the 5 games previous to that, making for a grand total of 17-straight wins and counting, the record by 6), go into the final and get 359 runs in the first innings (for the uninitiated, that’s a LOT, the highest ever in a World Cup final) against the team who, apart from their defeat at our hands in the first round by 9 wickets, were also undefeated in the tournament, is an amazing feat. Oh, and in case you’re not familiar with how fanatically cricket is followed in India, I think this will give you some idea. All I can do is chuckle.

There must be a dust storm moving through. I was wondering why it was so damn glary when I went outside this morning. I can almost close my eyes and pretend I’m living in LA, except that dust is far more preferable to smog. Hopefully the forecast rain this afternoon will get rid of it quickly.

Nope, nothing to rant about today. I think it all speaks for itself, and it’s far too easy to become morose. Oh, and if someone can help me out regarding smilies on this site, I’d appreciate it.

1. first grade teacher - Mrs Newbery
2. last word you said - “Crisitunity!” (The Simpsons is on)
3. last song you sang - Umm, you know that “If I Had Words” song from Babe? Shut up, it’s cool
4. last person you hugged - Probably my mother
5. last thing you laughed at - See 2
6. last time you said ‘I love you’ - Last week. I was drunk at the time, however. That’s my official position anyway
7. last time you cried - My mother was using “Deep Heat” last night, which can irritate my eyes. Does that count?
8. what’s in your CD player - Probably Dark Side Of The Moon
9. what colour of socks are you wearing - Blue football socks
10. what’s under your bed - No space under there
11. what time did you wake up today - 8 or 9
12. current taste - Water
13. current hair - Thick and scruffy
14. current clothes - Man Utd shirt, board shorts, football socks and soccer boots (soccer practice). Should take the boots off, actually…
15. current annoyance - People who can’t tackle properly
16. current longing - A brand spanking new notebook computer I’m planning on receiving for my birthday
17. current desktop picture - I switched back to boring old Windows 98 “Circles” just today. Boring, no?
18. current worry - This stupid, pointless Uni essay due next week
19. current hate - Hate? Posh. I love all of God’s creatures
20. story behind your domain - The other one “Electric Ladyland” is a reference to Hendrix’ best album, of course. This one is fairly self-explanatory, I feel
21. current favourite article of clothing - I just wear whatever falls out of the wardrobe in the morning
22. favourite physical feature of the opposite sex - Eyes, hair
22. favourite physical feature of the same sex - I honestly don’t look that closely
23. last CD that you bought - Hmm, can’t remember. It’s been too long
24. favourite place to be - Bed
25. least favourite place - Probably walking to Uni
26. time you wake up in the morning - weekdays 6-9, weekends 9-16
27. if you could play an instrument, what would it be - Piano
28. favourite color - Blue or red
29. do you believe in an afterlife - Nup. Any grand visions of immortality exists solely in the form of genetic information passed onto our offspring
30. how tall are you - Not sure. 6′1, 6′2?
31. current favourite word/saying - I’m not that predictable. Although I do call people “son” a lot
32. favourite book - Can’t choose just one
33. favourite season - Winter
34. one person from your past you wish you could go back and talk to - I’d like to talk to myself as a 5 year old and slap some sense into me. Apart from that, no-one. The past is gone. We’re living in the present
35. where do you want to go - To have a shower and then to bed would be nice…
36. what is your career going to be like - Rich and successful
37. what kind of car will you have - Aston Martin V8 Vantage Le Mans. Not street legal in the US due to noise regulations \m/
38. type a line you remember from any book - “Twelve voices were shouting in anger, and they were all alike. No question, now, what had happened to the faces of the pigs. The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again: but already it was impossible to say which was which.” Animal Farm - George Orwell
39. a random lyric: “…the…” some song - some band
40. identify some things surrounding your computer - Printer, water bottle, CD player, jar of pens, some textbooks. Nothing groin-grabbingly fascinating

I apologise to the 2 people who view my blog (including myself), but just bear with me while I settle back into the Uni schedule and I’ll be back with more of my witty, cynical, yet inane banter. Deal? Up at 6am tomorrow for my 8am start. At least I’ve decided to catch the train instead of driving everyday, contemplating the traffic made it depressing to even get up in the morning.

Train = Good.