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Thursday, February 28, 2002

Another great comic has passed on. As I went into work late today I was lucky enough to catch a bit of old news audio on the AM program that the ABC archivists had dug up, which featured Spike Milligan throwing his name into every news story and eventually causing the newsreader to lose it (audio here).

Another productive day administering, liaising and producing...

I organised counselling today; I start next week.

Came home at lunch to let the carpet cleaning guy in & go over what I wanted done & then went & paid rent, bought the paper & wasted away an hour & a half eating and reading in Sizzle Bento.

I'll admit I became quite annoyed at the stain of indeterminable origin that'd had a half-hearted clean-up attempted on it, but then had been covered up by a mat, and the yellow marks in the empty room, but I again cast my mind back to The Consolations of Philosophy (the book I'm currently reading) and pondered the teachings of Seneca on Frustration.

Seneca once wrote to his friend (who was anxious about something) and basically told him "If you wish to put off all worry, assume that what you fear may happen is certainly going to happen". The lesson I took from this was: When you consider the absolute worst case and prepare yourself for it, whatever does happen won't seem so bad.

So I've considered the worst that could happen (me forking out for replacement of the affected carpet) and am calm. I think I shall take a leaf out of Epicurus' book and go and be with my friends in our backyard tonight and engage in our regular discussions of life, the universe and everything...

Wednesday

Quite a productive day at work, but very busy. Ran off at 16:00 to sign papers with Ange (the new housemate - she moves in this weekend) at the Real Estate Agency over at Dickson, then raced back home to move all the furniture out of the lounge so that the carpets could be cleaned on Thursday.

Then myself, along with T-bone, K-bunny, Lou & Cin, went over to Olivia's place for a joy roast complemented by a joy pavlova, lots of wine for all (except for me) and sparkling conversation. Quote of the evening went to Cin for "So what's the weirdest place you've had sex ... uh, sorry, what's your name again? "...

Many thanks to Olivia for a fantastic roast!

Tuesday, February 26, 2002

Today I worked my ass off and got a lot of work done in the morning, which was good because mid-afternoon I had a pretty bad flashback & couldn't concentrate for the rest of the day. I went for a walk around the building, came back to my desk with some lollies and sipped tea but still felt very out of it. I called to try & arrange my counselling straight away, but was thwarted by an answering machine.

I continued with the database & reading monthly performance reports until 5, when I went to the gym. Tell you what, sweating it out on the treadmill doing a 'rolling hills' program (variable incline up to 15%) at 6.5km/h for 45 minutes really does help make you feel better.

So does going down to the Brighton for dinner with Ms A (champion!), Ms S & Lou. Cheers all!

Monday

Not much to say really - went to work, came home, cleaned up the place a bit, had Ms S over to watch Secret Life of Us & that was about it.

Sunday

I went to Tropfest on Sunday night, so did a lot of other people. I thought that the films were pretty good as a whole, but would've put the more serious ones at the start or finish as they really didn't gel with the comedies.

Wilfred (the dog) won best actor, I bet the guy in the Match outfit running around Perth must've been annoyed.

I liked the use of animation, but can't see how the basic flash 3 terrorist piece got in to the finalists.

Don't get me started on the awards presentations - I'm just going to get angry with John Poulson. Melbourne Melbourne Melbourne - enough already! And all that talking to the crowd with the "oh there's strange shit happening here..." so what, the rest of the country couldn't see it & didn't give a toss.

On a more personal note, both Ms S and Olivia got quite excited during the awards; Ms S went to school with the director of The Bank and so clapped & screamed when he was presenting, and Olivia went to school with the girl who made Lamb (the winner) and also got quite vocal.

One last thing to say; whoever hired the support entertainment for the Canberra show should be shot alongside the band.

Desktravaganza - the Desk Gallery

See Mum, I still have a messy desk:


(following Row)

Sunday, February 24, 2002

Dare!
Double dare!
Ideological challenge!

For all the photographers reading

The Radio National sunday morning arts show "Sunday Morning" is talking photography today and just aired an interview with Joel Meyerowitz, who was the only photograher to get official access to the World Trade Centre site. He produced an archive of images and donated them to public insititutions in New York as a historical record of the aftermath.

Labels: Look

Friday Pentapartite Inquiry

1. Hey, baby, what's your sign? Do you think it fits you pretty well?
Gemini and yes; what Dee said.

2. What's the worst birthday gift you've ever received?
I don't remember bad presents, but I remember that my first birthday away from home in 2000 was a bit wierd, but this was mitigated by my great new Canberra friends.

3. What's the best birthday gift you've ever received?
I don't think you can top being born (cheers Mum). If you want a materialistic answer, ok, the tv I got at 20, and the stereo and diary I got at 21 have all served me well and continue to (knock on wood).

4. What's the best way you've celebrated your birthday thus far?
See q.3 part 1.

5. What are your plans for this weekend?
I don't think I'll answer this one anymore due to the fact that I rarely do this on a Friday. If I do it later it merely becomes a goal/achievement checklist:
- Drinks at In Blue = check (K-bunny & I have decided to not go back for a while)
- Oliver's BBQ = failed
- Lisa's party = failed
- Fi's party = failed
- Purchase clothes rack = check
- Washing = check
- Auctions for video camera = failed
- Buy clothes/undergarments = pending
- Acquire tape of Wile E Coyote cartoons = pending
- Tropfest = pending

Just another Saturday night at the pub

I ended up going to the pub at around 10. Caught up with Kat (aka Rita) and Chris (aka Cliff), Olivia, Lou & Richard and Emma. Talked computer games, Fame auditions (Emma & Olivia, not me) and housemate hunting. When Tyson showed up it was time for more Tales from the Golden Fleece and then the hits of the 70's and 80's in pig-vietnamese (ala pig latin). Again the group laughed to the point of tears.

On the pub (for Lou)

This is our backyard. We live in apartments; this is our backyard. We don't play backyard sports, we come here and play urban mind-games, we judge others on how they act and what they say. We're the regulars; we come here to be with our urban family & share triumphs and frustrations. We take the piss within and without. They know what I don't want to talk about or how to push my buttons for a laugh. This is our place; this is our backyard.

RIP Mr Jones

Chuck Jones, creator of one of my most favourite cartoon characters - Wile E Coyote - has passed away.

Saturday, February 23, 2002

Right, where to start...

Friday

Work went in the blink of an eye; I got a whole bunch of database work done & had a meeting with an information provider & that went well, even if he was a bit too eager.

We all held off lunch until 1.30 as we were all to head over to Nelsons (part of The Durham) in Kingston for Simons farewell; he's leaving our department to go to the oversight section of one of the central agencies, so he'll be back, but as 'the enemy'. Lunch went really well, but the Barramundi evidently didnt agree with me cos I started feeling a bit queezy later in the night.

(Bargain Alert: I normally take my camera to farewell lunches & the sort, but as the camera was in the bag that was stolen I've had to resort to using those one-use cameras at $25 a pop plus development. On Friday I went into the local photo place with the intention of getting another one-use camera, but instead found the KB18, which is a really basic 35mm camera but takes normal 35mm film & is reusable, and is only $10 more than the flash-enabled one-use camera.)

The K-bunny & I then headed into town for the In Blue office party. We sat around for an hour & a half or so while people came, chatted & went, then went ourselves down to Cafe Macchi's & had a birthday drink with Crazy Fi, then around to the Thai place around the corner for dinner. During dinner, I talked Olivia into camping out overnight for tickets (here's why: Matt / SMH) to the "Treasures of the World's Great Libraries" exhibit with me.

After dinner Olivia & I went up to Belco to pick up Tyson, then down to Garran for her stuff, then to my place to prepare and stage our camp-out for tickets. Our plan for hot chocolate supplies came a little unstuck when we realised that none of us had thermos', but this was taken care of with a quick visit to the all-hours Coles at Manuka.

With all that in order, we arrived at the National Library and set up camp in the line (we were about opposite the door, so things weren't too bad) at 1.10am. We had camping rolls, sleeping bags, hot mocha in our newly acquired thermos', a radio, books, trivia, pillows and lots of snack food. While Olivia dashed home to get her Lilo, Tyson got abused by someone who'd been reading but had a go at Tyson talking on the phone because "people wanted to get some sleep". We eventually fell asleep after deleriously laughing over our new 'special' character Daryl.

Woke up the first time, only one hour had passed.

Woke up the second time another hour later, official-looking people were coming along the line talking to people. This roused my interest...

3.10am "We have some space, do you want to go in?" Me: "Hell yeah, wake up you two, we're going in".

So only two hours after we'd initially lined up we were going in! We packed up all our stuff really quickly and raced down to the car, dumped it all & go inside quick smart. Despite our tiredness we were clear-headed enough to realise that once we were in we weren't coming out for a couple of hours, so decided on the preemptive bathroom stop before going in.

(Open Question: Why is there a condom vending machine in the bathroom at the National Library? I heard about people gettin' it on on the roof of my library back at uni, but never expected it at the National Library.)

So we waited for about five minutes in the entrance foyer to the exhibit waiting for some audio tour headsets to come back and then we were in.

Hmm, how to describe it. Awe-inspiring and breathtaking are the words that come to mind first (they were the words I wrote in the guestbook upon departing). I was struck speechless standing there reading the Ten Commandments on one of the Dead Sea Scrolls and then looking at the Ancient Egyptian Prayer Picture at the beginning of the exhibit. To contrast, I laughed out loud at Groucho Marx's letter to The New Yorker (his reply to the editors offer of a regular column) at the end.

I feel very privileged to have seen all of these things, and I'm very sorry if you missed it 'cos you probably will never have the opportunity to see them all in the one place ever again.

We came home just after 5am and crashed.

Saturday

Got up just before lunch, sat around watching old SNL episodes on tape with coffee then decided to make some use of what we had left of the day, so showered, dressed and headed back to Olivias place so she could shower & change & headed down to Woden for a clothes rack and duster (for me), a rake (for Olivia) and a t-shirt (for Tyson). We hooked up with K-bunny & Cinthia over a late lunch, then Tyson & I sat & tried to not use funny accents while waiting for the three girls to finish clothes shopping.

I'm quite tired now. I've put together the clothes rack (granted, not very taxing) and done a few loads of washing. I was invited to three parties today/night, but I think I might just go down to the pub later after a nap to meet Lou's new man Richard then come home. I know it's being rude, but right now I'm in a sleep-deprived place & can only see myself seeing people & regurgitating the same conversations I've been having for the last two weeks ("Hi", "Yeah I'm fine", "Yeah the hand's feeling much better thanks", "Oh you wanna see the scar, ok", "Yeah movement's coming back but there're still wierd nerve sensations", "No, haven't started counselling or legal action yet", "No thanks I'm fine; not drinking at the moment") and frankly sleep is the better option. I like all of the hosts & the people likely to be there, I just dont want to bring the mood down by being a bad guest as I probably would be.

Thursday, February 21, 2002

Hmm, how to describe today...

The most newsworthy thing that happened was I went & put a note on the windshield of the car that keeps parking in our spot & keeps doing burnouts up the complex driveway. If he doesn't comply, I'll just pass the licence plate details on to the body corporate manager - that's what he's paid to deal with anyway.

Otherwise a very average day at work:

Got to work. Sent a fax to my property manager about new housemate. Organised carpet cleaning for next week. Talked on the phone with a mate who's travelled up to Brisbane on the govt dollar & wanted to know where to go once the meetings were done. Did some database work. Lunch. More database stuff. More phone calls. More reading. Went home.

The highlight of today was lunch; I went & sat in the courtyard of my building & continued reading "The Consolations of Philosophy" by Alain De Botton (it's also a series being shown on the ABC as part of Compass on Sunday nights). (Hey - the ABC Shop is selling this for $22, but you can get it at Academic Remainders for $15) I had my book, my Ham, Cheese & Seeded Mustard on Turkish bread sandwich, and I had a warm day with a light breeze - joy.

I've never read any books on philosophy, but was attracted to how this one looks at timeless problems & how various philosophers would've approached them.

At the moment I'm reading the chapter regarding 'Seneca on Frustration', but I won't comment on it as I haven't finished it yet. My favourite thus far has been 'Epicurus on Not Having Enough Money'. Epicurus seemed to have his priorities in order; he said that all you really need to be happy is 1. Friendship, 2. Freedom and 3. Thought. Sure, you can have a huge house and fast car & all that crap, but if you're alone at the end of the day, or forced to work in a job you hate just to make the repayments, how happy are you, really?

I've had a look around the web & this book seems to get a bit of a slam for being a sort of "dummies guide", but I doubt the reviewers have even read the book. As for me, this will probably lead to more reading on the area - I'm starting to become quite interested. If only there was 'Socrates on Being Mugged & Stabbed by Junkies'...

Wednesday, February 20, 2002

I was a big fan of The X Files, so was quite happy when an academic view of the series was published as "Deny All Knowledge: Reading the X-Files". Likewise, if you wanted to put some thought into your weekly worship of the Slayer, you might want to visit "Slayage".

... and so the era of Throbber ends ...

Dave (aka Throbber) departed Canberra to pursue a teaching degree at approximately 4pm today. He was farewelled at Harem Turkish Restaurant last night by a group of six friends and one tag-along.

The last time I saw him was when he dropped Kat & I off at work after our "discussion" over final rent payments, his part of the phone bill and other issues (he tried to take a desk chair from under me last night before dinner - I told him that Kat could have it on the weekend pending me getting a new chair - I was given no notice regarding removal of the only available chair in my apartment for desk use...).

Boldly Go, Watch

Enterprise starts on aussie tv tonight at 1030pm. While not a trekkie, I will watch ST: Voyager, mostly for the cool, detached, forthright Seven of Nine. While I was taking time off work, some friends were good enough to provide me with some avi files of the new series, but I've only watched the pilot episode so far. If you're a trekkie well of course you're going to watch. For anyone else I think the 1030pm timeslot will be enough of a deterrent - sorry Chuckie, I don't think T'Pol beats Seven of Nine.

Ooooh, time for new Simpsons!

Housemate Follies



Well, it looks like the hunt for a new housemate is over! (Well, as long as the property manager approves of course)

More details to come.

Tuesday, February 19, 2002

Tonight sees Dave's farewell dinner and a visit from my mate Ben (whom I
tried to visit two weeks ago in Sydney).

I still haven't got a new housemate; everyone I've interviewed hasn't been
suitable or won't sign a long lease or thinks the room is too small. The
one person I'm waiting on a fax from still hasn't sent it!

The hand is regaining flexibility and grip, tho slowly and painfully. I
still haven't heard back from the Victims Services people re counselling
either.

So, looking back...

Saturday

Interview Day

#1: M: Nice, but very uptight - when she found out I haven't travelled much
she actually said "hmm, pity...".
#2: D: Large, sweaty and smelly - I didn't want to have to clean up after
him.
#3: L: 18, wants to move out of home - I don't want to be there to teach her
how to grow up or how to house train her.

In between interviews, Lou, Tyson & I talked over our ideas for Jaffle
shops. I was going to have "Jaffles Ahoy", Tyson "Jaffles Jaffles
Jaffles" and Lou "Jafflorama". We had ideas for mascots, menus,
promo's & everything. Imagine the look on our faces when we found out last
night that in Perth there really is a place called "Jester's
Jaffles"! Jill is going to send us stuff from there when she goes back
to Perth - joy!

Tyson & I spent the afternoon at Filthys. We'd intended to go down to Woden
to buy some domestic things (Dave took the kettle, the phone and the shower
shampoo holder thingy), but we missed the bus by 2 minutes, so turned around
with the intention of only staying an hour. However, when we got to the pub
& continued our plans for world Jaffle domination, we started talking to the
girl behind the bar who's into girls but is going into self-imposed celibacy
for a month (it's amazing what people will tell you if you just ask them).

After about four hours at the pub, the group all reconvened at Lou's &
headed into Carnivale. We were having a good time until the storm hit. We
then travelled around from King O'Malleys to Mombassa, to Aree Bar, to In
Blue, and then of course, back to Filthys. I went home just before
midnight, but the others partied on kareoke-style at Graphix until dawn.

Sunday

N came to look at the room in the morning, but muttered a lot & left saying
"I'll think about it" which really means "I can't say no to your face". She
called Monday morning.

Had breakfast with Ms S at home, and then a second breakfast with Tyson,
Olivia, Lou, Ms S, Kat & Chris. By breakfast, I mean breakfast food at
lunchtime.

The afternoon was spent in front of the box with the gang watching The
Ladies Man, Crimson Rivers and 100 Girls. We only got
part way through 100 Girls and had to turn it off - so crappy. The
Ladies Man was so funny - we were crying most of the time (ah, the song
& dance number...) and Crimson Rivers was visually nice if somewhat
predictable.

I should've been at Dave's farewell BBQ, but I felt crook & didn't want to
eat another thing after breakfast. We did all go down to Filthys for a
while tho.

The evening was spent at Lou's eating curry and making up a radio play.
It's called "The Golden Fleece"; I'll post episode scripts here in
good time.

Monday

So busy at work, was glad to come home & interview people. Had to do it
quickly as TJ was meant to be coming around for dinner. Then Lou came up,
then her friend Jill & we ended up going down to Lou's place for leftover
curry - joy! (Lou is the best curry cook)

Interviewed two people: Peter who works at an accounting firm and Erica the
opera singer.

Erica seemed nice. She showed up with a male friend, they looked at the
room and she seemed very keen, but had to race off someplac, so I gave her
my card and the form and asked her to fax it to me today - still haven't got
it (it's 3pm Tuesday). She asked if it would be a problem if she practiced
her singing once or twice a week - considering the other people I've met I
think that'd be nice. If only she'd fax the damn form...

Peter didn't do himself any favours when he kept calling me Ben. He seemed
like a nice guy until I found out he was living with his aunt, and before
that at college, so would need to be housetrained. He also didn't want to
sign a lease as he wanted to "be free to pursue opportunities in Sydney".
Pity, he was the most normal of all of them thus far.

After Peter left TJ and I went down to Lou's for some dinner, then we all
went up to Filthys. I stayed till midnight cos we were having fun, even tho
I'm not drinking, which explains why I'm so damn tired today.

Saturday, February 16, 2002

So today is the two week anniversary. Here's the index of all the stabbing-related posts.

Ok, time for the Friday Five:

1. What was the first thing you ever cooked?
I'm not sure; it could be Eggs on Toast with Dad one time, or it could be the pancakes Tim (friend in primary school) & I made for breakfast one time in grade 5 after my birthday sleep-over.

2. What's your signature dish?
Probably my pasta-bakes. I also do a mean stir-fry.

3. Ever had a cooking disaster? (tasted like crap, didn't work, etc.) Describe.
The wagon-wheels pasta. This won't mean much to anyone but my family.

When I was in grade 11 or 12, my parents got into this domestic training thing saying 'well, you have to move out one day & damn it we're going to teach you to be self-sufficient'. The lessons were informal and were mostly me watching or doing something while mum or dad explained the how but more importantly the why of the lesson. It wasn't just me, my sisters were involved too.

Anyways, most of the lessons were on cooking. After a couple, we were allocated nights & had to prepare the family dinner. If you weren't cooking, you had to set/clear the table or had to do the washing up. One of my earliest solo attempts was a sort of tuna morney with pasta and a salad, only I buggered up the timing (timing being one of the more important parts of successful cooking I was to realise very quickly) and was rushed into serving the meal with only half-cooked pasta that looked like little wagon-wheels (about the sizze of an AU 20c coin). While the rest of the meal was edible, one of my sisters had to clean up a whole lot of uneaten pasta.

4. If skill and money were no object, what would make for your dream meal?
Oooh, I like these questions that make me think. I think I'd go to that restaurant in Sydney where you put $100 on the table and your own chef comes out & chats to you about what sort of food you like or not, the tastes and textures etc, then goes out the back and comes up with a meal of completely original dishes based on your likes & dislikes. Oh yeah, and if money were no object I'd take all of my friends with me.

5. What are you doing this weekend?

Housemate interviews today, followed by Carnivale tonight in Civic. No plans for Sunday yet.

Time for a bit of a retrospective

Thursday Night

The Valentines Day singles dinner at Ms S's place was a huge success. It was a meeting of groups; Cinthia, Kylie and Tyson from my work, Louise from my complex, her friend Olivia and Ms S's friend from work Leanna. Wine flowed and pasta and salads were served out, then things really fired up when it came out that Cinthia, Tyson and Louise all came from South Australia and that Cinthia, Olivia and Tyson all spoke spanish. Conversation was criss-crossing the table at a million miles an hour and I don't remember laughing so hard or so much for ages. And of course, we concluded the night at the pub.

Friday

Again I refrained from killing the graduate. I went to the chiropractor at lunch & that helped quite a bit. The re-org has begun to be implemented, so we spent the last part of the day sitting talking about roles & responsibilities, division of tasks, recruiting and learning opportunities for the graduate.

Became quite concerned at the end of the day when the grad asked how to shut down his PC, so I now suspect he's had it up & running and unlocked for the last three days & is very lucky that security didn't leave a nice pink Security Breach notice on his desk.

Became annoyed by a chain of emails querying something that was dealt with last week while I was away and were in a very accusatory tone. I don't care who you work to; a PA is still only a PA and I will not be talked down to by one, so a few 'bugger off this was done last week' messages are going out Monday morning. I don't need that shit last thing on a Friday arvo.

Met Ms S on the bus home & we headed down to Woden for a bit of shopping & quick Subway dinner. She got all arts'n'crafty with felt-tip pens, cardboard, glitter etc. I wandered around looking at home phones (Dave took his cordless away, along with the kettle I've just discovered) and clothes and shoes I can't afford but really want.

Came home & cleaned up a bit (prospective new housemates coming today), then, inevitably, went to the pub. I had a good time with a few lemon, lime & bitters, music, people watching and chatting with friends. My newest friend Olly came along too & everyone was very pleased to meet him. Oliver was the only guy who came to my aid when I called out on the the Sydney train; it's a freaky small world thing that he works where I work & lives in Kingston too!

On memes

Are you viral? Do you host & perpetuate memes? Take the test and find out which ones have gotten you.

Friday, February 15, 2002

These are the people in your neighbourhood

I went to the florist on my way home from work yesterday. When I took the pot of flowers up to the counter the girl there looked at me strangly, looked from the book I was carrying to the sling and back again & said "You're the guy who got stabbed aren't you?" "Um, yeah. How did you know?". Turns out that she actually works in the bookstore next door, but was helping out on the register as there is higher demand for flowers than books on Feb 14, and that she was told by a workmate who'd overheard me telling a friend why I was buying the book for the second time.

Thursday, February 14, 2002

"I used to rock all night and party ev-er-y day, then it was every other day, now I'm lucky if I can find half an hour a week in which to get funky."

Where're Dieter & Helmut when you need 'em?

The Oscar nominees are out!

Touch the monkey! Love him!

Don't forget the game...

Attn: Canberra 'bloggers

I don't have room for this guy at my place, but what say we take him out for dinner?

Happy Hallmark Day

As I'm single it was a really nice surprise to get to work and find a card standing up on my keyboard today, even if it was only friendly-like.

Heading to a dinner tonight so that should be nice - Dave's gone (but was nice enough to leave me a sink full of dishes and festy water) so this place is very quiet at the moment. People are coming on Saturday to look at the room and meet me, so I should have a new housemate early next week!

Hope you're all having a good day - I did get some good sleep so I'm not going to do anything bad to the graduate today.

Wednesday, February 13, 2002

Oh I've been a very angry boy over the last few days...

Things were really getting to me, and I've realised now I've probably gone a bit far with it all. I'd like to thank y'all for letting me vent - especially Ms S, Lou, Kat & Chris, and my workmates Cathy, Kylie, James & Libby.

I'm going to try sleeping without painkillers tonight to try and get some quality sleep. If I don't the new graduate who started today may witness, or be victim of, something very ugly very soon.

Hand Update

Dragged myself out of bed & managed to get to the Doctor by 8am. The first six stitches came out really easily and painless; the last two, however, were in the very sensitive part of the hand (closest to the palm) and they really hurt.

The good news is I no longer have to put a plastic bag on my hand to shower. When I got to work I went directly to the bathroom and washed my hand good, because frankly it was beginning to smell.

The bad news is I have to use the sling for at least another week, so if any of you come to In Blue to meet up next friday after work, look for me with the white sling.

Link news

Marc has now joined the side bar, and Matt has moved. This is the funkiest clock I've ever seen - someone emailed to me at work today and I just had to show y'all.

Tuesday, February 12, 2002

I'm having a bad day, it was also bad in parts yesterday, so we could be trending for a bad week. My hand hurts a lot and I haven't been sleeping well (only with painkiller assistance), so I'm getting very tired and emotional at the moment.

The good, the bad and the cubicle dwellers

Yesterday was my first day back at work after the stabbing and everyone was very nice to me & were all concerned. We had a morning tea, the branch head announced that I've been made permanent in the position I've been getting Higher Duties money for the last few months, and the team gave me a gift certificate to replace the CDs that were stolen. Things were looking good there for a while, I have a great work team.

Then Justin (aka The Pretender - so named as no matter what someone's done or had done to them, he's done it before and bigger, better or longer) had the gall to come up and tried to spin me a story about taking a stanley knife in the stomach. When pressed for details he said the scars all healed up and that he "was in the wrong place at the wrong time". I wasn't going to let him trivialise my experience with a bullshit story, and I told him so; you just don't forget details when something like this happens, you remember where, when and why. He made me so angry.

Share house woes

Came home to find my house a complete mess. Dave moves out tomorrow or the next day, and while he's found the time to neatly pack all of his things, he can't find the time to clean up the kitchen that he's used to cook for his gf in for the last four or five nights and there's only so much cleaning I can do one handed. To top that off he hasn't done one damn thing to help me find his replacement (which is his legal responsibility seeing as he's the one moving out) and even tho he'll be driving an empty van back from Brisbane on the weekend, he can't find the time to pick up some bookcases my mother is buying me at Ikea up there. One thing, I ask for one thing and he won't do it. I had to get out last night otherwise I would've lost it. I went to the pub even tho I'm not drinking. I 'spose I should be glad I have a place.

Last night I removed the bandages and the now-unconstricted hand swelled up even more. I'd show you a picture but I can't get my scanner working via the parallel port!

Today the hand was hurting even more. I couldn't think straight at work and my fuse is getting shorter and shorter.

When it rains, it pours...

Tonight I'm going down to a special dinner at L's place. As I'd committed to this first, I'm missing a farewell night for Bron in town and a quick visit from Tamara who moved to Melbourne recently & whom I miss a lot. And despite having all of these things on I know things aren't right in my head at the moment as I read about the place that there's another dinner, but that I wasn't invited (I seem to have made my social worthiness null and void when I declined an earlier invite in the days of early blogs) and it makes me feel like I've done something horrible and wrong.

Keep on keepin' on

I'm sorry to have rambled on, I guess I just needed to vent.

I got an email from In Blue today at work; they're putting on another "office party". They need me to fax them a list of names to put on the door, so please e-mail me if you'd like to come meet me & the gang you read about here, if you wanna come check out the scar or if you just like cheap drinks on a friday after work (Friday Feb 22 from 5pm). I'd like to meet y'all.

Time for dinner...

Monday, February 11, 2002

Some of my mates have written me a song:

I will survive - Gloria Gaynor (Dean's Robber Remix)

At first I was afraid,
I was petrified.
Kept thinkin' how I should've had my skateboard by my side
But then I'd spent so many nights,
Practicing ollies on the floor.
And I was crap, but it would have made me look hard-core.

So as the train,
Picked up its pace
I just sat down,
and found you here with that angry look upon your face.
I could have whacked you in the crotch
I could have got you with my knee
If I'd known for just one second you were gonna be robbin' meeeeeee

So now you've gone, gone out the door
My hand is bleeding,
and there is blood all over the floor
I was just lucky that there was a train conductor guy
He caught me as I stumbled then I just started to cry

Oh no, not I.
I will survive.
As long as I know how to skate I know I'll stay alive;
I don't need my hand to skate,
I don't need my hand to rave I'll survive, I will survive. Hey hey.

It took all the strength I had
to get me through the shock
Kept trying hard not lose it talkin' to the cops
And I spent one lonely night
In the Sydney Hospital.
I used to cry
But now the drugs are makin me high

And now you see, somebody new
Well not the whole person really, but the finger's pretty new
They've reattached it to my hand
With some stiches and some glue
And it's working well enough to for me to flip the bird to you

Oh no, not I.
I will survive.
As long as I know how to skate I know I'll stay alive;
I don't need my hand to skate,
I don't need my hand to rave?I'll survive, I will survive. Hey hey (Hey, Hey HEY!! Come back here with my backpack!!!).

Sunday, February 10, 2002

Went out to an auction today & came home with a $5 tape measure and a $15 Epson Scanner, so I'll soon be able to show you all my scar, oh yeah, and my friends & family of course.

Kat picked up a whole lot of cooking things and a small tv for the bedroom for $15 as well as a scanner, Dave got some crockery and a $15 Erikson mobile phone. We also picked up a Sony VCR for Ms S for $40.

Saturday, February 09, 2002

Just woke up to find Martin Sheen on Babylon 5 as some mega-craniumed alien; must've been desperate for work back then...

Friday Night

First stop - North for AWD (after work drinks) organised by Tyson. North used to be Iridium. It was good to catch up with the gang, and it was good to see the K-man on his return from Canada. They all had a few beers, I had a few Lemon, Lime & Bitters. I left the group when they moved on into Civic for dinner and I moved on to a different dinner.

Second stop - Lachlan's birthday dinner at Rasa Somethingorother (a Malaysian place a few doors down from Zephereli's at Dickson). It was pretty good food, and get this, I even managed to use chop-sticks left handed! Afterward we went around the corner to Trinity Bar where everyone continued drinking, and I continued not drinking.

After a while there, five of us jumped into Micks car. We dropped three guys off at The Holy Shazza in Civic and continued on to Kingston. We met up with Lou, Kat, Rach & Ms S at Filthies. Mick left after a light beer, but I stayed on talking to L and wandered home at around 2am.

Saturday

Even though I was incredibly tired, I forced myself out of bed at about 9.15am. I had things to do. Once dressed I took the one-use camera to the shop to get developed and then met up with L.

We walked up to the print shop at Manuka where I had printed some fliers for the vacant room. We then walked down to serviced-apartment complex where this years graduates were supposed to be staying. After buzzing in to get to reception (damn good security), we were told that I couldn't put up a flier as there were no notice boards in the whole place, but if I wanted to have 70 copies made they'd slip them under the door overnight. I told the front desk woman (plastic faced; looked like she'd put her makeup on with a trowel) I'd just get in touch with them via work.

So it looks like I may have to cover a weeks rent cos I don't think I can get anyone in quick enough. I had one person get in touch via Flatmates.com.au, but when I called him he was very rude and sounded very young and answered the phone with "Yeah?". I said "Is this ...? It's Dean calling about the room". "Yeah. I'm driving, call me back in ten minutes." and he just hung up. I'm not going to call him back; if he's interested enough he's got my number now.

I also had brunch with L, Kat & Chris, and then went home as Greg called & said he was coming around to visit. I hadn't seen Greg in a while so it was really good to catch up with him.

Unfortunately the visit was cut short when my stomach started doing backflips. Dave & Kat think it could be the stomach bug they've had, and I think that it could be that coupled with the disturbance that painkillers give your stomach. Whatever it is, it's the reason I'm in tonight writing this up rather than being at the farewell dinner for Bron, and also missing Adams birthday drinks. I really wanted to see everyone tonight too...

Hand Update

I think the swelling around the digital nerve in my thumb is starting to dissipate. Normally this would be a good thing, but it means that I'm now getting shock-like pains in my thumb with increasing frequency! Like three a minute! Big shocks! My thumb is tingling after each shock! Time for a couple of Panadeine Forte and bed - Oww...

Friday, February 08, 2002

Good news!

The doctor said the wound looks good from an infection standpoint. From a visual standpoint it looks not unlike Robert Deniro in Frankenstein. It's a lot more gross than even I had imagined. There are about 10 stitches. My right hand is still quite swollen too.

Was picked up afterward by Detective Bob (Kat's line was "Can we catch them?" - ha!) and taken to Queenbeyan police station to view the photo line ups. I can't say whether I picked them or not, sorry. I'm not allowed in case I jeapodise (sic) the prosecution.

Memories ...light the corners of my mind... Misty water-colored memories...

Like a lot of other Canberrans, I'm not from around here. I was born & bred in Brisbane and moved here for work. While I'm not planning on returning home to work for a long time, I like to keep in touch with what's going on there, which is why I've got all those Brisbane 'blog links over there in the right-hand bar.

I've just come across The Brisbane Pan Project; it's got my old uni, the hospital just down the road from where I grew up, where I did many many hours of research throughout high school and uni, and where the family has had many many BBQ's. Cool.

Just got an email from L^B; I love her honesty:

> BTW, I know you've got the police coming today, I hope that that's OK. My
> work number is xxxxxx if you want to have a chat, I can promise minimal
> pity, and a whole lot of smart arse comments.

Helen Razer is talking to Julie McCrossin on Life Matters at the moment on the topic of weblogs and 'blogging. Follow the link tomorrow (maybe even later today - I don't know their update schedule) & there should be a transcript.

Red Right Hand Update

Thursday was a not-so-good day; the hand was hurting like crazy and I was pretty upset too. I spent the day trying to clean up the place a bit so I could show any interested people the room on Saturday. I also watched Magnolia.

I once said to someone "if you want to feel better about yourself, go rent a Woody Allen movie". Magnolia is another movie that is sure to make almost anyone feel better about their own lives.

Running at just over three hours, it's a highly emotional film about the events and the coincidences that link the lives of the group it features. As with weblogs, it was interesting to watch the same events being experienced differently, but in the end it was incredibly depressing. I just ended up feeling sorry for all of them, and very angry at some of them. If you want a film to make you feel something, and more likely than not something unpleasant, block out a rainy afternoon on a weekend in your diary and give this one a go.

On the technical side, it looked really good, and the ensemble cast was good, but the sound design had me turning on the subtitles to follow the dialogue over the music (I knew I was in for soemthing interesting when the film opened with 'One is the lonliest number').

I also went to the shops to put a film in for development (really must get a scanner so I can share my images - I take a good photo you know), and picked up a package at the Post Office (aren't those little red slips always exciting - what will I get, what will I get...); a couple of mates had sent me some CD's to keep me entertained - thanks guys, Futurama is funny, but on painkillers it's bloody hilarious!

In the evening, my mate Adam came around & we went down to Woden & saw Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. If you liked the other works of Kevin Smith (Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy and Dogma), you have to see this one, but wait for video. It's two hours of in-jokes, which I liked, but realise you won't if you haven't seen the other films. Oh yeah, and if you do see it, stay until the credits are over for something extra.

Thursday, February 07, 2002

I'm not dead! I'm getting better!

Thankyou all for the messages of support; it doesn't matter how many I get they're all touching.

Was having a hard time with some flashbacks yesterday, so was thankful to be able to spend a few hours with Ms S, L^B and her houseguest at the pub. I like hanging out with L^B 'cos she's not afraid to tell it like it is & so at the pub it's not all about me, which is nice at the moment.

People keep asking if there's anything they can do:
- if you're a rich American and enjoy reading this site, you could throw some money at getting rid of the ad banner or subscribing me to BloggerPro, cos the Aussie exchange rate ain't so good at the moment.
- everyone else can just act normal, cheers.

Wednesday, February 06, 2002

It's weblog entries like this one by Matt that got me reading blogs; I wanted to see familiar places from other perspectives. I hope The City Stories Project takes off down here.

Tuesday, February 05, 2002

The Weblog Review has reviewed this site!

I agree with Wendy's observation that the visual design needs to be improved - I was actually thinking about this on the train up to Sydney on Saturday morning. Now I guess I have a bit of time to work on it.

Thankyou to everyone for all of your messages of support, visits and care packages. I am so grateful; it's such a good example of the inherent goodness of people.

I was feeling very angry on Saturday, but you've all showed me that not everybody are scumbags, and for that I thank you.

The GP

Went down to my local GP this morning to see how my treatment would continue.

We had a chat about what happened, the importance of counselling, continuing the immunisation shots and the implications of blood tests. Despite the astronomically low chances of having caught anything, the Doc said I have to consider the worst case scenarios and consider what I'd do. Needless to say those thoughts are upsetting.

I got a referral and headed across the street to the pathology lab, got blood taken for testing & had a chat to the paramedic who has to deal with the in-treatment junkies from Fraser Court; she's quite level-headed about risks I've got to say.

So I have to go back to the GP on Friday for wound redressing (anyone got an instant or digital camera so I can get pics?), then Tuesday to get the stitches out, then in another month for more immunisation shots, then another three for follow-up blood tests. After that I'll consider all of this over & plan to throw a party.

Monday, February 04, 2002

I am very glad to be able to write this today. If things had gone a little differently on the weekend I might not have been so lucky.

I have become a victim of violent crime. I hate that word victim; it makes me feel weak, vulnerable. So lets try that again; I am a survivor of violent crime.

The short version:

I was mugged and stabbed and have spent the weekend in ER, then Ward 2 West of Sydney Hospital. I underwent surgery on Saturday night and returned to Canberra last night. The nightmares and flashbacks continue.

The long version:

This will read a little differently to my normal style; it's almost word for word the statement I gave to Detectives yesterday - the dialogue is verbatim. I fell back into my QPS/Uni mode for this and the D's were really pleased to have a coherent and cooperative person to talk to - Redfern LAC is a pretty rough area & they have to deal with shitbags 24/7.

On Saturday morning I got an Explorer train from Canberra to Sydney. The train got into Sydney Central at about 10:50am. I called my mate Ben, had a chat & bought a ticket to Kogerah and headed to platform 25 as he'd suggested.

At about 11.02am I stopped for about 30 seconds to check the timetable at the information screens in the tunnel. I remember the time as the screens displayed "Next train on the Sutherland Line departs at 11.11am" and "Next train in 9 minutes" in a big pink font. I began to walk down toward platform 25. About 2 metres from the screens I turned & noticed a thin pale girl harassing an Asian woman for money. I heard the girl say "C'mon haven't you got anything? You must have some cash". I felt sorry for her (the Asian woman), but kept walking. I stopped at the small newsstand, picked up The Weekend Australian and went down the stairs, through the ticket gates and down the escalators to platform 25.

At the bottom of the escalators, I turned to my left and walked down to the end of the platform from which the train would be arriving. I still had just over five minutes to wait, so I opened up the magazine insert & flipped to the horoscopes for a chuckle. Sitting there flicking through the magazine, I looked up a couple of times to people watch the others on the platform. This would become advantageous.

Tip 1: Keep your eyes open, notice things

To my right, standing next to the escalators about 10 metres away I noticed a well-built man of aboriginal extraction talking to someone. I couldn't see who he was talking to, but they had a white top on. He then walked along the platform in front of me & stood facing the approach-tunnel close to the yellow line. He had a large black vine-like tattoo that wound up around his left leg between his ankle and knee. I went back to reading the paper, and heard a female voice behind me (moving from my right to my left) say something (I don't recall what) to the guy that got his attention. It was the same girl who I'd noticed harassing the Asian woman upstairs in the tunnel, and her tone was more agitated, more restless than before.

Tip 2: Always sit near somebody else

The train came into Sydney Central. I folded up my paper, put it under my arm, put my grey backpack on my right shoulder and picked up my brown weekend bag with my left. I got onto the last or second-last carriage and went down the stairs (Sydney trains have an upstairs and downstairs compartments). Big mistake; the only other people on the carriage were getting off. I sat down on the second three-person seat from the front (on the platform side). I had my backpack on my right and my brown weekend bag on my left.

I looked out of the window (to my right) & saw legs in black pants. Her feet were at my eye level. The girl then bent over and looked at me through the window. Same girl again. She came on to the train, down the stairs and stood next to my seat in the aisle. "You got any money?". I replied "No, I've just used the last of my cash to buy this train ticket". She said "Well what's in the bags then?" and grabbed my brown weekend bag and started to lift it up. I grabbed it with my left hand & told her "Just clothes, there's only clothes in here.". She took a step in front of me and lent over the brown bag and myself and with her left hand attempted to grab hold of my backpack by one of the shoulders straps, turned towards me and spat "Just fucking gimme something!". She stood back up as I said "I don't have anything for you, I'm sorry, I just don't have anything for you.". During this conversation the train started to depart Central station.

She turned and walked down the aisle behind me approximately four rows. I turned to my left to watch her and it was then that I noticed the man I'd seen earlier on the platform (with the tattoo) was standing four rows back in the aisle facing me. He said to the girl "Don't worry" and then mumbled something else. Then I distinctively heard him say "Next station". This was the last time I saw the girl. I turned back, put my backpack down between my feet on the ground and continued reading the paper.

In every other encounter of the junkie kind I've ever had in Brisbane or Canberra, when you tell 'em you're not giving them anything they give up & move on; not these two.

Tip 3: Always keep $5 in your pocket to give to them to distract them from the actual valuables

As we came into Redfern station and the train started to slow down the guy came at me from behind and blitzed me from my rear-left. "Give me you stuff or I'm gonna fucking kill you". I swivelled to my left whilst still seated and slid back until my back was pressed against the window. I did this because he was jabbing at my abdomen and I thought he had a syringe. With his left hand he grabbed the top handle of my backpack (still on the ground). As he lifted it up I grabbed the top handle of the backpack with my right hand (instinctively - I wasn't thinking "Oh gee, I'd better grab that"). As I did this he swung down with his right hand toward my right hand. He slashed my right hand between my thumb knuckle and wrist. Needless to say it was extremely painful. I immediately released the backpack (another instinctual response, not wanting to see where he'd slash next); he grabbed it and ran off the train at Redfern Station. I didn't see where he went, I was too busy looking down at the wound which by now was oozing shitloads of blood. The wound was about 6 or 7 cm long and 2cm wide at its' widest point. Deep? I could see the bones in my hand.

I immediately put pressure on it with my left hand and slid down the seat into the aisle & called to another passenger who'd been sitting in the middle-level entrance/exit of the carriage "Call security!". He looked at me with the "what?" look so I yelled "For gods sake call security I'm bleeding out here!". He then called out to a conductor & came down to help me (for which I will be forever grateful). He got into my weekend back after asking for something to stop the bleeding with; I'd told him to get my blue towel - he wrapped that around my hand, kept pressure on it & kept it elevated. An Indian man also came to help me; he got a tshirt & some shorts & put them under my head so I could lay back. The conductor with the white flag then returned with some railway officials who were on their two-way radios. One asked me to move off the train as the Police and Ambulance people were en route.

They all helped me to a seat on the platform, and someone had grabbed my bag for me. I initially spoke to a uniform constable and gave him a description of the couple, the sequence of events and a list of items stolen. They looked surprised, probably because as soon as they were taking out their notebooks I was giving them detailed descriptions faster than they could write - I was afraid I was going to pass out and I wanted to get all the details to them before I did (too much time around cops I guess - I've worked at Qld Police Service HQ and almost all my uni colleagues are now state or federal cops, so I knew what they needed). I guess they were expecting an incoherent hysterical person blubbering "It all happened so fast" or something like that.

Thank god for the Ambulance Services

When the Ambo's arrived they wrapped up the wound and helped me upstairs to the ambulance, told me they were taking me to Sydney Hospital as it was the best place in town for matters requiring hand microsurgery. They also whacked a drip-line thingy in my left hand so that the hospital could connect bags of saline or antibiotic if need be. Then Tracey (the ambo in the back with me) gave me a funky green whistle-looking thing which turned out to be an oral anaesthetic that gave me one hell of a headspin. Tracey asked me how I felt & I replied "This must be what Mr Mackey feels like".

The ER

I spent most of the day in the emergency area of Sydney Hospital. I gave more details to some uniform officers who came to visit & just basically laid around talking to the nurses and the very cute Doctor Romy (Romey?), but promised not to make any High School Reunion jokes, for which she thanked me. This was when I began to come out of the numb shock and fight-or-flight adrenaline-run response and into the retrospective mode. It all came back. I started hyperventilating and shaking. You see, during the time I was pulled off the train, into the ambulance and my first few hours at ER I hadn't remembered all the details. Now I was having vivid flashbacks and remembered the guy saying "I'm going to kill you". There was hyperventilating, there was shaking, there were tears. I talked to one of the nurses about how she'd been attacked & how she'd worked through it & calmed down with some more painkillers.

I had to wait a couple of hours for the hand registrar (?) & realised that I no-one would know where I was. The cops had called home in Brisbane, but Ben was still waiting for me to call to meet at Kogarah station. I couldn't use my phone in the room so I went outside (there weren't any monitors, there was just no reception). I checked my voicemail & laughed when Ben's two messages were "Has the train derailed?" and "There are bodies all over the tracks!", so I called him up & told him, had a chat & said I'd call back when I'd talked to the specialist to see if I'd have to stay in overnight & have surgery. I then talked to Dad at home & then Ms S who was in town & sent a message to Bob in Canberra who'd cut out when he called about some sms messages from our night out the previous night - I told them all the same things - basically fine except for the hand wound, in shock, may have to stay in overnight for surgery, will call back later. Had a good long chat to Mick, Ms A, and Kelly who were really good & kept me distracted for a while.

Sometime mid-afternoon I was doped up on more painkillers an a tetanus shot (ouch!) & managed to have a short sleep. Woke up after more flashbacks. Thankfully then the Registrar showed up. He undressed the wound and had a look. Pain? Oh yes please, please give me some more. Did I have a neon sign on my forehead? No. The specialist had to actually open the wound up to have a look inside. I looked and was almost sick - lots of blood, lots of bone. I was writhing around - it really really hurt.


Aside 1

I'd slept through my alarm that morning and in my rush to get dressed the thought "Hey what's the big deal with clean underwear anyway?" popped into my head as I ferreted around in my clean laundry basket. (I did wear clean underwear incidentally) I didn't remember this until I was bent over getting Hepatitis shots in the butt, & it amused me in a funny-coincidence-combined-with-drugs sort of way as I realised that this was why people worried about clean underwear everyday.

Nurse Sarah then redressed my wound & I was given a hospital gown to change into; all my blood-soaked clothes were put in a big pink plastic bag & kept with my other bag. The specialist said I had to have surgery and that the theatre roster was pretty full, so I'd either have surgery late Saturday night or Sunday morning. The thought of going under general anaesthetic was a bit scary to be honest. They gave me a couple of pethidine injections in the butt (right side this time), and wheeled me up to the ward.

Ward 2 West

I was met in the ward by Nurse Sue. Sue was very friendly. I chatted to the other guys in the room with me for a while. One guy had his wife visiting - it was good to talk to them; he'd sliced off the top of his middle finger (can't remember which hand tho) in a concrete mixer accident. I'd told people not to come in earlier as I didn't want anyone to go to any trouble in the assumption that I'd be stitched up and released from the ER. By the time I was in the ward things were starting to happen so fast I didn't have a chance to call anyone in before I was doped up & being prepared for surgery. I don't remember much from Saturday night.

The Block

As part of my prep for theatre, I was wheeled into a room to talk to an anesthesiologist. The ran me through my two options:
1 - go under general and have a breathing tube forced down into my voicebox;
2 - the 'block' - an injection under my arm would stop me feeling anything in my whole right arm. I would stay awake but would have other relaxant drugs administered. No tube down the throat, no chance of me spewing up & possibly choking.

I went with option 2.

Surgery

I remember being wheeled into the theatre. I remember having the oxygen mask and a hairnet put on me. I remember asking the Doctor if oxygen masks in planes were really used to just sedate people rather than the cabin-pressure-loss-and-inability-to-breathe reason. I remember him giving me the cabin pressure story again. I don't remember getting any more injections.

The next thing I remember is being wheeled back to the ward.

Overnight

Woke up. Don't remember what time, but Sue had gone & the night nurse was there. I don't remember her name. I managed to reach for the remote button pad, hit the call button and turned the tv on. The nurse came & poured me some water & propped the bed up a bit so I could see the tv. She also put me glasses on me; I didn't want to sleep any more - the nightmare was the only thing on in my head & it was on repeat. Rage was playing the hottest 100 & I watched that & fell back into some short spells of deep dreamless sleep. I even managed some bed-dancing to Little L when it came on.

Sunday

The nurses had turned the phones off between 10pm and 8am. This was so we could rest. This also caused almost everyone else to freak out, as people were trying to call & the nurses wouldn't release any details. I got a whole lot of really nice messages of support when I woke up though - thanks everyone!

I talked to Mum in Brisbane for a while. She offered to fly me home if I wanted a short break. I declined, I just want everything to get back to normal as soon as possible. As always, it was good to talk to her & the chat made me feel better.

Bri came and visited with her other half Steve for a while which was also nice. They left when the Doc came in mid-morning with my post-op report.

...and the winner is...

The good news is that while the slice was deep, it missed the nerves and tendons; the numbness I have is most likely the result of swelling around the digital nerve in my thumb. The stitches come out in 10 to 14 days if all goes to plan. I haven't seen the wound since Saturday arvo - I don't know how many stitches I have in there.

The nurses had given me some pamphlets on victims support services - the psychological effects would take longer than 10 to 14 days.

Redfern Police Station

While Doctor Joe and Nurse Lucy prepared my discharge paperwork I was able to have some lunch and talk to Detective Phil on the phone. As it turned on, my initial descriptions really helped; the couple were picked up by Bondi police as they were stealing from people on the beach and were in custody.

Once I was discharged I called Detective Phil and he came and picked me up from the hospital. We talked shop in the car & I spent a couple of hours at the station giving a full and detailed statement and a DNA sample as they'd found the knife and would be able to match my sample to my blood on the knife.

Homeward bound

Ben came & picked me up from the police station, took me to a chemist to fill my panadine forte prescription, then back to his place to hang out & watch the cricket to kill time. We joked around for a while then headed into Central Station where I was to meet Ms S for the train ride back. I found my seat and Ms S, stowed my bag and farewelled Ben. Hopefully he'll come down to Canberra in the next couple of weeks. The D's also said they'd visit as they'd need to bring down a photo-line-up for me to identify Mr Scumbag and Miss White-trash junkie bitch.

I'm tired now, it's taken me all afternoon to type this with only my left hand. If you have found any typos, I don't care right now. If you have any questions, send 'em in. I'm hungry, time to click 'Post'.

Friday, February 01, 2002

Are you politically active?

This just appeared in my inbox care of some work friends - it may interest some of you:

>From: "Refugee Action Committee"
>Subject: Rally Parliament 12 Feb
>Date: Wed, 30 Jan 2002 15:45:16 +1100
>
>
>Hi everyone
>
>For those who couldn't make it, last night's public meeting on "What is happening to refugees in detention" was extraordinary: 400 plus people packed in to the Labor Club (including at least 200 sitting on the floor and standing around the sides and back of the room); an incredibly moving and informative speech by psychiatric researcher Zachary Steel which made us all upset and angry at what is going on. We raised nearly $2000 for the campaign, which is magnificent. There is an extraordinary response in the community to the government's brutality and the opposition's silence. Thousands of people are offering to take asylum seekers into their homes.

Last night there was also a determination to create a huge protest when Parliament resumes on Tuesday February 12th. People are coming from all over Australia to tell the politicians to FREE THE REFUGEES; buses are being booked etc, so it has the potential to really challenge the government if it is big enough. Are we up to the challenge?

There will be a Freedom Embassy all day from 8am; and a mass rally 12.30 to 1.30. Speakers at the rally include ACTU President Sharan Burrow; Carmen Lawrence; Sen Bob Brown; Margaret Reynolds (President, United Nations Association); Andrew Bartlett (Democrats); Tanya Plibersek (MP and Labor4refugees); Rural Australians for Refugees; plus refugees, activists, church and community leaders. Greg Barns, the sacked Liberal candidate has also been invited. It is going to be sensational.

We all need to work hard to build that rally. We need workers to organise long lunch-hours and get their colleagues and workmates along as well.

Most of all we need to get the word out. We need you to email your networks. We need people to put up posters, to help leaflet the major shopping centres and the ten senior colleges in the next fortnight. We also need people to volunteer to help organise these things; to set the publicity/petitioning stalls up, etc.

We will also need a lot of volunteers on the day, from before 8am.

And we need people to help billet people coming from outside Canberra. If you can help, please email Virginia Perkins at perkins_virginia@hotmail.com or ring her at home on 6248 0366.

If you can help with any of this, please contact us urgently.

All the best

Phil Griffiths
Refugee Action Committee (Canberra)
tel 0415 752 012
LPO Box A287 ANU ACT 2601
www.refugeeaction.org

************************************************
This message comes from Racial Respect, Inc. For further information about the list, please contact the List Maintainer, David McDonald, by email to mail@racialrespect.org.au.

A few things before I disappear for the weekend


Ooo, will you give me, something, Oooo, will you give me...


I'm starting to think that the Jamiroquai song "You give me something" is
actually about STD's...

"I had nobody, on you I would lean. 'Cos you got these little things that I,
I know I've never seen"

"You, you give me something, something that nobody else has got.
And this love, that I've been wanting, Oh baby, turning out to be too fast
to stop"

Disturbing.

...Survey says...

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