Sunday, July 20, 2003
Well this is just to let you know that my Blog is ending so you can delete me from your little list if I was on it and this will float out into cyberspace somewhere.
It didn't last very long, but hey - I don't care. There's no way I would keep it up. So this is Matt signing out.
Cheers.
It didn't last very long, but hey - I don't care. There's no way I would keep it up. So this is Matt signing out.
Cheers.
Thursday, July 17, 2003
Well, another rivetting day. I could tell you about my day but there's not really a whole lot to tell. I did reconcile the St George Account - for the last time. I leave next Friday. Everything's up to date and done and now I'm just counting down the minutes until I go home. When I get home I'm going to have dinner and then I'll probably flop down in front of the television.
Tomorrow I have the day off because I'm going away tomorrow night. The Blue Mountains - that'll be good. I'll probably go down to the library for a bit, and I have a few phone calls to make. In general, I'll just bum around because I do that very well. I'm kind of perfecting the art...
Tomorrow I have the day off because I'm going away tomorrow night. The Blue Mountains - that'll be good. I'll probably go down to the library for a bit, and I have a few phone calls to make. In general, I'll just bum around because I do that very well. I'm kind of perfecting the art...
I strongly dislike mobile phones.
Call me old fashioned. Say I'm behind the times. I don't care. I don't like em.
I don't have one myself. I'm pretty much the only person I know without one, but I'm surviving just fine thank you very much. I don't feel the need to spend the money until I have to and peer pressure will not work on me this time (unlike the now infamous blog scenario). I'm standing my ground.
I also hate ringing mobiles. I just don't like it. Now I'm not a big fan of the telephone anyway. I'd rather email or talk to someone in person. I just don't do the phone thing very well. But when you call someone on a mobile you never really know what you're interrupting. I was in the bathroom the other day and the guy next to me got a phone call. I don't want to ring someone while their obeying the call of nature, and as long as they're on a mobile, I have no idea what they're doing.
You know when you're in a meeting and someone's mobile goes off and everyone looks and the meeting stops and the person fumbles around to turn the thing off before they draw even more attention to themselves. I don't want to be responsible for that person's humiliation. I don't want to call someone and have them answer in a whisper and a hurry. If I ring them at home then I either get them, if they're free, or I get the machine (another pet hate, but we won't go there). At least then, I'm not interrupting anything.
Phew....glad I got that out of my system. Really, I don't see why anyone would care, but that's all right:
My Blog. My Choice.
Call me old fashioned. Say I'm behind the times. I don't care. I don't like em.
I don't have one myself. I'm pretty much the only person I know without one, but I'm surviving just fine thank you very much. I don't feel the need to spend the money until I have to and peer pressure will not work on me this time (unlike the now infamous blog scenario). I'm standing my ground.
I also hate ringing mobiles. I just don't like it. Now I'm not a big fan of the telephone anyway. I'd rather email or talk to someone in person. I just don't do the phone thing very well. But when you call someone on a mobile you never really know what you're interrupting. I was in the bathroom the other day and the guy next to me got a phone call. I don't want to ring someone while their obeying the call of nature, and as long as they're on a mobile, I have no idea what they're doing.
You know when you're in a meeting and someone's mobile goes off and everyone looks and the meeting stops and the person fumbles around to turn the thing off before they draw even more attention to themselves. I don't want to be responsible for that person's humiliation. I don't want to call someone and have them answer in a whisper and a hurry. If I ring them at home then I either get them, if they're free, or I get the machine (another pet hate, but we won't go there). At least then, I'm not interrupting anything.
Phew....glad I got that out of my system. Really, I don't see why anyone would care, but that's all right:
My Blog. My Choice.
I think Howie and my alarm clocks are related....only at 6:05am I think mine has a bit more attitude.....I'm going to take a baseball bat to it one day....
Wednesday, July 16, 2003
Today I've attempted to reconcile the St George account but to no avail - it has to be done by tommorrow, so fingers crossed. I've also written the second last episode of "Morris the Duck" which is all very exciting - it just needs a once over and then I can send it out tomorrow. But the biggest news of the day? 3 people have read my blog!!! That's incredible, it's only been up less than twenty-four hours. I've also had a mention on Tom and Howie's blog, so that's also pretty exciting stuff. I'm finding my place on the internet.
But now? I'm going to go home, I'm going to grab a beer and watch the Origin. Then I'll probably fall asleep on the lounge cause I'm buggered. Just thought you'd like to know, all three of you...
But now? I'm going to go home, I'm going to grab a beer and watch the Origin. Then I'll probably fall asleep on the lounge cause I'm buggered. Just thought you'd like to know, all three of you...
Well I've just spent my entire lunch break trying to figure this HTML thing out. I thought I was incredibly smart there for a while, in danger of actually understanding it - but I then I pretty much stuffed the entire thing and had to start the template stuff all over again. So don't worry....I haven't the foggiest how this stuff works. And perhaps thats not a bad thing.
American-born historian Dr David Mosler thinks that Australia should (and will) become the 51st state of the USA (. )
Dr David Mosler is an idiot.
He's also an arrogant American who needs to go home. He did say that Australians generally do not have a strong sense of national identity, and I'm inclined to agree with him. We live in a multi-cultural society which has its advantages, but also its disadvantages. We are flooded with media from more developed nations and in the globalised world that we live in, we find it hard to discover an identity of our own. I think that's a bad thing. However, Mosler's solution to this problem is as crazy as it is grating. He says, we have a weak sense of nationhood, so let's ditch whatever nationalism we have and be swallowed by another nation! How about talking about ways to increase a sense of pride in our country rather than reducing ourselves to someone else's state.
It's attitudes like that that make me start to doubt the positives of alligning ourselves with the States. And I do think there are positives, hopefully from a security standpoint, but when Americans start to think of us as a "51st state" I begin to wonder whether, on principle, this is a good nation to be alligning ourselves with. I don't have a problem with Americans, but I won't be reduced to one of their tributries.
And it really makes me worry when Dr Mosler says that one of the major advantages to joining the United States is the opportunity to field teams in the US Basketball, Baseball and Gridiron leagues. I think this man has issues.
Dr David Mosler is an idiot.
He's also an arrogant American who needs to go home. He did say that Australians generally do not have a strong sense of national identity, and I'm inclined to agree with him. We live in a multi-cultural society which has its advantages, but also its disadvantages. We are flooded with media from more developed nations and in the globalised world that we live in, we find it hard to discover an identity of our own. I think that's a bad thing. However, Mosler's solution to this problem is as crazy as it is grating. He says, we have a weak sense of nationhood, so let's ditch whatever nationalism we have and be swallowed by another nation! How about talking about ways to increase a sense of pride in our country rather than reducing ourselves to someone else's state.
It's attitudes like that that make me start to doubt the positives of alligning ourselves with the States. And I do think there are positives, hopefully from a security standpoint, but when Americans start to think of us as a "51st state" I begin to wonder whether, on principle, this is a good nation to be alligning ourselves with. I don't have a problem with Americans, but I won't be reduced to one of their tributries.
And it really makes me worry when Dr Mosler says that one of the major advantages to joining the United States is the opportunity to field teams in the US Basketball, Baseball and Gridiron leagues. I think this man has issues.
I was walking to work this morning and there's this violin student and her teacher and they conduct their lesson in this little park off York St - right in the middle of the city. It makes me wonder who they are. Does any one else ever do that? Wonder about people's stories. Why are they having violin lessons in the middle of the city? Maybe one of them works in here and this is the only place they can find. Maybe there's a relaxing thing about playing the violin in an inner-city park. Of course there's the whole juxtaposition aspect of it which is kinda cool. I don't object to it though - it's quite good getting off the bus and hearing classical violin in the streets. I wrote a short script about him once, the violin player in the park. It wasn't that bad either, needed a bit of work though.
Maybe I should revisit the man in the park....
Maybe I should revisit the man in the park....
I think it's time for bed.....actually, I think it was time for bed quite a while ago. I really should sleep more....
Well, just in case any one was having any doubts as to the persuasive powers of peer pressure, I've arrived to prove that it works....
It is 11:30pm on Tuesday night and I now have a blog.
Will it stand the test of time? Will I be able to keep this up? Will aliens invade the earth and take us all to their home planet of Zork before I get the chance to make another post? Who knows? I guess we'll just have to wait and see - me and the many millions of people out there who I am sure are eagerly waiting to read my blog.
Perhaps a little backstory: Tom has been telling me to get a blog for yonks and at first I was doubtful. I've tried journals before and they never seem to last more than a week. However, perhaps this is different? I guess we'll see. Jo also told me to get a blog. And then yesterday I met Chris and found that he too was a blogger. I was getting the feeling that I was unknowlingly part of some sick intervention. They took me to their leader, Howie the blogger-evangelist, who told me the time had come.....I was being called......I had to have a blog.
And so today, while sitting at work punching numbers into an adding machine and sorting bank statements into neat little piles, I decided that perhaps I should give this a try. The girl next to me was adding up Weight Watches points so that she could calculate her lunch. The guy in the workbay nearby was soaking his pupils with an eye dropper to get rid of that "hangover look". Someone else was running around trying to organise a pub crawl. But I sat at my desk and tried to make a blog. Alas, I had no luck - it just wasn't happening. I'm not the most technically minded of individuals, but there you go.
I went to small group tonight, came home, helped Dad work out some stuff for his work and then decided to do this - the blog had begun....
So I don't really know how this rates in regard to a typical "first post". I don't know quite what this blog will turn out to be. I can tell you it's NOT going to be an insight into my soul or an outpouring of the day's emotion. I like to think of it more like a column in a newspaper. Somewhere to vent thoughts and ideas and maybe somewhere, someone might have a laugh or be entertained or become excrutiatingly bored and go and read a book instead of my little blog - and that's probably a good idea (books are much more educational). Maybe no one will ever read it, I can understand that. No condemnation. I'm also not making any promises. This is my corner of the Internet.....and I'll cry if I want to, I'll cry if I want to (sorry, pls excuse pathetic song lyric that just came into my head). You'll get used to that - I tend to write as I think, which can get very annoying I'm sure - I guess you'll just have to get over it, move on, go and get a hobby...
Well, I don't think I should read over that because I might be tempted to change it. And I don't want to do that. It's my first installment, I'm still at seedling stage, still finding my internet voice.......we'll just have to see where it takes us....
It is 11:30pm on Tuesday night and I now have a blog.
Will it stand the test of time? Will I be able to keep this up? Will aliens invade the earth and take us all to their home planet of Zork before I get the chance to make another post? Who knows? I guess we'll just have to wait and see - me and the many millions of people out there who I am sure are eagerly waiting to read my blog.
Perhaps a little backstory: Tom has been telling me to get a blog for yonks and at first I was doubtful. I've tried journals before and they never seem to last more than a week. However, perhaps this is different? I guess we'll see. Jo also told me to get a blog. And then yesterday I met Chris and found that he too was a blogger. I was getting the feeling that I was unknowlingly part of some sick intervention. They took me to their leader, Howie the blogger-evangelist, who told me the time had come.....I was being called......I had to have a blog.
And so today, while sitting at work punching numbers into an adding machine and sorting bank statements into neat little piles, I decided that perhaps I should give this a try. The girl next to me was adding up Weight Watches points so that she could calculate her lunch. The guy in the workbay nearby was soaking his pupils with an eye dropper to get rid of that "hangover look". Someone else was running around trying to organise a pub crawl. But I sat at my desk and tried to make a blog. Alas, I had no luck - it just wasn't happening. I'm not the most technically minded of individuals, but there you go.
I went to small group tonight, came home, helped Dad work out some stuff for his work and then decided to do this - the blog had begun....
So I don't really know how this rates in regard to a typical "first post". I don't know quite what this blog will turn out to be. I can tell you it's NOT going to be an insight into my soul or an outpouring of the day's emotion. I like to think of it more like a column in a newspaper. Somewhere to vent thoughts and ideas and maybe somewhere, someone might have a laugh or be entertained or become excrutiatingly bored and go and read a book instead of my little blog - and that's probably a good idea (books are much more educational). Maybe no one will ever read it, I can understand that. No condemnation. I'm also not making any promises. This is my corner of the Internet.....and I'll cry if I want to, I'll cry if I want to (sorry, pls excuse pathetic song lyric that just came into my head). You'll get used to that - I tend to write as I think, which can get very annoying I'm sure - I guess you'll just have to get over it, move on, go and get a hobby...
Well, I don't think I should read over that because I might be tempted to change it. And I don't want to do that. It's my first installment, I'm still at seedling stage, still finding my internet voice.......we'll just have to see where it takes us....
