Christmas?

This is literally my fourth attempt trying to post something. Every time I open the browser and go to the Blogger dashboard page some matter of interest arises, dragging me to attend to more urgent issues at hand.

First and foremost (as clichéd and untrue as it is due to the line above) I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas or to be more politically correct/considerate Happy Holidays. It should, according to the Greenwhich Mean Time website, be Christmas for people in most part of the world. Despite it's original symbolic value, it had now become an overly commercialized holiday to bring in sales - to be an excuse to introduce discounts after prices have been intentionally increased and to create items which 'must' be purchased for the holiday season. The more fightening aspect of this commercialization is that whilst I might be criticizing this now, it is very likely that I will be subsumed by this reckless purchasing culture and grab some discounts during the Boxing Day sale. This profiteering (I use this word very loosely) attitude by stores is further evident from this pre-Boxing Day sales. Since they foresee a decline in consumer confidence, methods are introduced to increase purchase to ensure they earn 'adequate' revenue.

That aside I am glad that celebrating the origins of Christnas have not completely diminished. As I previously mentioned the spirit of giving regardless of how skewed it is, is very much alive. Whilst exchanging gifts are a nice gesture and by all means do, one cannot help but ponder whether exchanging gifts to satisfy our own desires outweigh that of altruist donations. (Undoubtedly some will unfortunately say yes). Moreover the carols which are sang at various events similarly echo the spirit of Christmas - recounting the birth of Christ as in 'Born in a Manger' and 'Joy to the World.' Hopefully these remnants will be enough to overcome the distorted modern celebration of Christmas.

Now I have completely ruined your mood, I will compensate by uploading some pictures of food that I made for Christmas.

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Conformity

Since everyone has made a post regarding the results floating above our heads tomorrow, I shall, in the spirit of the season make a post too. Jeremy said that "tonight will be a nightmare" and Chelle is trying not to worry. Even though I can say here that I do not care, the fact is who is not worrying, scared and nervous about their HSC results?

Whilst before and immediately after the test we criticise its quality - how the HSC is a rote-learning exercise and the annual incorrect questions such as the Biology multiple choice question this year, when the results are near we simply become involved in what we, as individual, receive. Even if a person vehemently opposes the HSC test structure and the HSC syllabus in general, if that person does well it is most likely that he or she will no longer be concern with this matter. More likely than not he or she will be celebrating their achievement and be congratulated on the hard work and effort which they have put in. 

It is unreasonable to assume that every individual will do well, so there will be a few that continue or start to oppose the system due their lack of a desire result. Whilst I am not saying that the system is perfect and any failures in result is simply derived from one's own fault, however it has become evident that each person will slowly come to realise that their argument is futile and will be unlikely to evoke any change.

From a democratic point of view the absence of change despite intense student and other professionals' lobbying may seem abysmal for a country such as Australia, however this is just one of the flaws with all government systems - appealing to everyone or even continuously pleasing the majority no long becomes feasible or practical. 

Having said that, I do wish that I can acquire a good mark and continue to judge the currently education without bias (or do so even with a bad mark). As superficial as it may be I think the emphasis in the last sentence was getting a good mark, cause after all our unbiased nature will unlikely to have any immediately bearing on our university admission. 

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On time ( when I started)

For once good has sprouted from my boredom - I am writing this not at some ridiculous hour in the morning on a mobile device but typing away in-front of a computer in the evening . However I'm presuming that this will be a stream of consciousness post. [edit: if you want proper discussions go to paragraph 4, if not skip to end]

Today was comprised of sitting in front of a computer and trying to figure out how to make picture thumbnails and going to the Chinese Visa Service Centre. Apparently there are too many people applying for Chinese visas that a separate office had to be created just to deal with visa applications, what a surprise! As I hypothesised, one receives better customer service if you speak English, oh Chinese bureaucracy how fair you are.

Before I discuss political faux pas I must say why are visa applications so expensive? $130 for an application is ridiculous, keeping in mind that my visit to China means that I will be spending money on tourism and accommodation. There really is no need to butcher us again by making it so expensive. On another note I feel that I require some Chelle or Bo light-heartedness, help?


On to the more serious section (you must be wondering how it can get more serious after that, well wonder no more). As I frequented the Sydney Morning Herald an article entitled "Go @%! yourself: O'Farrell's whip lashes out on Twitter"caught me and undoubtedly every intelligentsia's attention. Politics being buffeted by the winds of comedy, a rare occurrence. The Liberal Senator Peter Phelps twitted during the coal seam gas inquiry that

‘‘Rhonda V at committee ...complaining we were ‘‘too tough’’ on female witnesses. HTFU [harden the fuck up]". 

This caused Twitter user  @Nyx2701 supposedly a lawyer passionate in human rights to tweet that

 "Dr Phelps "needs a good punch in the head". 

And what did this LC member with a PhD from the University of Sydney do? Did he do the sensible thing of talking and  discussing with @Nyx2701 in a calm and sensible manner and ignoring her violent remarks? Of course not, or else I would not be discussing it here. Instead Dr Phelps LMC told the user to 

 "go fuck yourself, commie! And you can't complain because I put in smiley ;-)"

As far as the Twitter community and I am concerned, the smiley does not rectify the possibly defamatory nature of the statement. If I were to post  libellous comments it would mean that I will be held accountable for my actions, resulting in a civil law suit and there are no laws in any jurisdiction which states that a smiley face negates defamation claims. Whilst I know Dr Phelps did not put in as much thought when posting that comment as I have here, I cannot fathom how that tweet came across to a LCM as witty and rational. For now I shall (reluctantly) have some journalistic integrity by giving him the benefit of the doubt that he was aggravated and it was written in the spur of the moment.

Nevertheless it is an alarm, causing us to question our representative despite the relatively trivial nature of this incident. More importantly it highlights how the employment and integration of technology into politics has influenced its ability to result in some entertainment (about time). I truly wonder how he can explain this when asked by the media, I can imagine the "um"s and the stuttering now. I'm glad that I am not in his situation. 

Lastly on to a disproportionate mention. Rick Perry's ( for those who do not know is a US presidential candidate) ad 'Strong' is just in my opinion disgusting and in a way funny. Disgusting because it addresses a very sensitive issue in a discriminatory manner. Funny seeing how he continues to try after garnering 400 000 dislikes on a single video with 2.2 million views and only 9 000 likes. Whilst that is still a long way to go from Justin Bieber's Baby having 2 million dislikes, but that insignificant considering it has 672 million views. 

Hopefully the next post will include more ARGHHHHHs and NOOOOOs and other words with repeated letters for emphasis to make this impulsive blog a tad a lot less formal. Or I might need to separate rants aiding my release of anger from news critique .

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An effort continued

Surprised by my ability to remember the name of the blog without having to add a bookmark on my computer has caused me to doubt my initial instincts that this is just a phase. It had even made me think that Colin was right that it enables one to develop organisational skills, though currently it has only caused me to develop a habit of posting in the early hours of the morning (a euphemism to hide the fact that I should be asleep now).

Today I learned to label cologne/perfume samples and to keep each sample away from another to avoid feelings of embarrassment when you ask the sales assistant to spray you a sample which they gave you a minute ago. Nevertheless I did make a purchase in the end so I don't feel that bad. Also a mechanical error in Westfield happened today which means your purchases aren't recorded if you use a Westfield gift card...but then who knows what will happen if you take advantage of it. Additionally applying for a Chinese VISA requires too much paperwork.

All in all aside from fiddling with this blog to find a more attractive design it has been an enjoyable day. Without photoshop I would never get a good background picture that has the weird dimension of 1800 x 1600.

I hope tomorrow's post will be more exciting and more on time.

So far I hoped I have not breached the pretentious diction clause of Orwell, though that was more of a dramatic truism concerning the incomprehensible URLs comprised of convoluted Latinised phrases. Never knew I would ever refer to Why I Write in real life.

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