Ever wondered where your happy ever after is? Maybe in the back room of some Hollywood studio somewhere? Or maybe thrown aside because the story wasn't good enough for whoever it is that decides those stories to tell as opposed to those that aren't...
I have.
I've asked where my fairytale happiness is and wondered why I can never find it when I think that I need it the most. Perhaps it's because they're all a lie.
It's hard. It's really hard to try and comfort people when life deals them crap. It sucks. And it's not fair. Why is it always the case that the best of people are the ones that always seem to have some of the worst crap to deal with? But perhaps worst of all, why is it ok for Hollywood, Disney and any other massive media producer to say that happy ever afters are the norm? What gives them the right to trick us into thinking that that's what is most likely to happen to us?
If only it was all straightforward all laid out before we start - a roadmap for life... Oh but wait - that would make it all easy..... Where's the fun in that!?!?!?
Kazzi
Monday, August 29, 2011
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Procrastination
So for once I really don't have anything to say. I'm really just trying to waste time in order to avoid doing more thesis work - which I know is bad but seeing as they've stuffed me around I figure what the heck, might as well play along...
Tonight has been interesting though. Working on the elab counter is always an experience - you just never know what it is that is going to happen on any one shift but tonight has been even more unique than usual! I started my shift at 4:30 and walked in to see the daytime staff all huddled together behind the desk which in itself really isn't all that unusual - nerds tend to huddle occasionally :p but it became very interesting very fast.
Now before I actually relate the story let me just emphasise here that ECU's official values are those of:
Now in the elab students aren't necessarily required to be quiet - in fact, in my opinion it shouldn't be emphasised... if you want quiet go through the double doors and into the library! But we had an African student come to the desk to say that the girl sitting next to him and his mate had asked them to quieten down. Most African students (particularly males) are really quite softly spoken so this in itself surprised us. He then went on to tell us that this girl had also told him:
'You're in Australia so speak English! I'm from Australia so I don't have to leave, you should leave, or speak our language'
This charming young lady was removed from the elab by security (you don't mess with Janet!) and on her way out decided to share some parting words with me. Something along the lines of, "he was harrassing me! And he had the nerve to go and call security! I've had enough, I'm not crazy! I've had the best psychiatric care in all of someplace (didn't catch it) and I know I'm not crazy! I'm from Australia, I was born in Australia I shouldn't have to give up things for VISITORS like them to Australia! I've earned it, it in my blood!" But the best bit was the final parting remark... "He'll probably flunk out anyway!!!"
With absolutely no knowledge of who he was, what he was completing at ECU, whether or not he was an Australian citizen - she was able to make this claim. Pretty good hey!
The most amusing part is that I'd just spent all day talking with my students about how tolerant Australian's are and as a general rule we are quite good with people from other religions and races..... Maybe she's the exception to the rule?
Anyway..... I'm all for having an opinion but there's a point where you can take it too far. That is, when its shared with half of the elab - who by the way represent that diversity of ECU - around about 20% are international. Maybe not the best forum.........
The thesis work calls :(
Kazzi
Tonight has been interesting though. Working on the elab counter is always an experience - you just never know what it is that is going to happen on any one shift but tonight has been even more unique than usual! I started my shift at 4:30 and walked in to see the daytime staff all huddled together behind the desk which in itself really isn't all that unusual - nerds tend to huddle occasionally :p but it became very interesting very fast.
Now before I actually relate the story let me just emphasise here that ECU's official values are those of:
- respect
- integrity
- rational enquiry
- personal excellence
Now in the elab students aren't necessarily required to be quiet - in fact, in my opinion it shouldn't be emphasised... if you want quiet go through the double doors and into the library! But we had an African student come to the desk to say that the girl sitting next to him and his mate had asked them to quieten down. Most African students (particularly males) are really quite softly spoken so this in itself surprised us. He then went on to tell us that this girl had also told him:
'You're in Australia so speak English! I'm from Australia so I don't have to leave, you should leave, or speak our language'
This charming young lady was removed from the elab by security (you don't mess with Janet!) and on her way out decided to share some parting words with me. Something along the lines of, "he was harrassing me! And he had the nerve to go and call security! I've had enough, I'm not crazy! I've had the best psychiatric care in all of someplace (didn't catch it) and I know I'm not crazy! I'm from Australia, I was born in Australia I shouldn't have to give up things for VISITORS like them to Australia! I've earned it, it in my blood!" But the best bit was the final parting remark... "He'll probably flunk out anyway!!!"
With absolutely no knowledge of who he was, what he was completing at ECU, whether or not he was an Australian citizen - she was able to make this claim. Pretty good hey!
The most amusing part is that I'd just spent all day talking with my students about how tolerant Australian's are and as a general rule we are quite good with people from other religions and races..... Maybe she's the exception to the rule?
Anyway..... I'm all for having an opinion but there's a point where you can take it too far. That is, when its shared with half of the elab - who by the way represent that diversity of ECU - around about 20% are international. Maybe not the best forum.........
The thesis work calls :(
Kazzi
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Running around in circles
I'm currently sitting watching my puppy chase her tail. Besides realising that she is indeed a complete and utter spastic, it's reminding me of many aspects of my current situation...At the moment I'm (theoretically) writing a thesis in order to complete my Hons in maths. For anyone that has no idea what that means, its hell. I have never tried to do anything quite so difficult in my entire life. I never imagined it would be this hard! The worst thing about it though is that I have been given a supervisor that has never had an honors student before. This in itself isn't a problem, but his refusal to ask anyone else questions and just giving me whatever answer he thinks sounds good to my questions.... THAT'S a problem!
I spent a good couple of hours today with another maths lecturer telling her how close to quitting I was. Although, for now, she has convinced me to keep going with it, theres no telling how soon she's going to find me in her office again. I realise that this isn't necessarily a bad thing, but why should I need to speak to someone completely unrelated to the entire problem? Why should I be the one that has to chase things up when I've already answered the questions multiple times? It's not my job to ask the questions, he gets PAID to take on this role and isn't asking the questions when he needs to, if I were to do that in my job, I wouldn't keep it for very long!!!
Sorry to be a whinger one and all, needed to vent....
Kazzi
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Lessons...
Recently I've found myself just a little addicted to StumbleUpon, for those of you who have no idea what the heck I'm talking about its a web site where you provide some idea as to what you are interested in, and are then able to stumble your way through various web sites that you may find interesting. The range is massive, from single photos to full websites to videos through to blogs.
I found myself at a blog where I read one line. I nodded thought it was a really good point and then moved on without really giving it much more thought. The line is really simple and unfortunately I cannot reference the owner of the thought as I don't have their name anymore;
"We are born to love, but we are taught to hate"
I don't think there is a single line of wisdom that has seemed more true! When a child is born, there is nothing in the world but the air they breathe and the love of the parents that it is born too. Over time however, that child is exposed to the world.
The world. What a place that is.
We comment a lot about how children these days are taught incredible violence and terror through video games and tv shows. My question is have you seen the news recently? Take today for instance, headlines include "Tourist charged with Subiaco murder", "Man critical after suspected drug lab explosion", "Several injusred in Perth night of violence", "Police cars ablaze in London riot" and thats just 4. How can we possibly expect anyone to be completely void of any form of hatred in their life.
Whether it is some form of hatred toward terrorists, something that we are definately encouraged towards in this day and age...
Hatred towards someone who has done the wrong thing...
It really isn't that far of a stretch to get to hatred towards someone that doesn't necessarily share our opinion.
The question is, how much do we encourage others towards this kind of hatred? How much do we encoursge this kind of hatred in our own interaction with society at large? Are we living as we were born to? Or taught to?
Perhaps every now and again we just need to be reminded that we are indeed born to love, and only taught to hate.
Kazzi
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Quotes
I love quotes. Short ones, long ones, funny ones, silly ones, even ones that I don't understand. Someone somewhere has said something that someone else thought was good enough and important enough to write down so that still other people could learn from their words of wisdom.
For those who don't know who Milton is - which included myself - he was an American actor and comedian who passed away in 2002. But in all seriousness - what does it matter. When you can give one liner pearls of wisdom like the one above who you are and what you did really makes no difference whatsoever.
I've been doing a lot of searching recently trying to work out what I'm going to do after I actually finish uni... which I guess will be the end of this year but for those of you that know me well enough you'll know that's no real guarantee... The problem I'm facing is that nothing available in "the real world" measures up to what I'm doing right now. My job is fun. I actually want to go to work. I know a lot of people that definitely wouldn't say that and I like that I'm different, that I actually like getting out of bed in the morning. What's better is that I'm good at what I do - really good, and I don't mean that in a boasting way...
I guess the challenge now is to find somewhere that wants me full time, doing what I'm doing now. Hey ECU, anyone retiring? Or maybe, going back to Milton, I should start trying to convince someone (in particular) to retire, leaving me his job.... =P
Kazzi
If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door. - Milton Bearle
For those who don't know who Milton is - which included myself - he was an American actor and comedian who passed away in 2002. But in all seriousness - what does it matter. When you can give one liner pearls of wisdom like the one above who you are and what you did really makes no difference whatsoever.
I've been doing a lot of searching recently trying to work out what I'm going to do after I actually finish uni... which I guess will be the end of this year but for those of you that know me well enough you'll know that's no real guarantee... The problem I'm facing is that nothing available in "the real world" measures up to what I'm doing right now. My job is fun. I actually want to go to work. I know a lot of people that definitely wouldn't say that and I like that I'm different, that I actually like getting out of bed in the morning. What's better is that I'm good at what I do - really good, and I don't mean that in a boasting way...
I guess the challenge now is to find somewhere that wants me full time, doing what I'm doing now. Hey ECU, anyone retiring? Or maybe, going back to Milton, I should start trying to convince someone (in particular) to retire, leaving me his job.... =P
Kazzi
Monday, August 1, 2011
Language
After realising that I haven't written anything here for well what would seem like forever, I've decided to try doing this whole thing over again.
Semester has started again.... finally! After what seems like a rediculously long break I get my students - aka my babies back! Although this semester is a wee bit different to most. Instead of maths - which of course is my version of normality - my main focus for my tutorials will be humanities - covering everything from language and culture to religion, the arts and indigenous culture. An eventful week one has me really looking forward to the rest of the semester...
The focus for week one is culture, language and identity - how interesting is how much the language we use defines us not just as a culture or society but as an individual. As Aussies we definately have a LOT of slang.... mate, g'day, bluey, drongo, grog, grouse and thats just six! One of my students suggested this morning that this leads to the idea that we're quite a lazy culture - "half assed" I think were his exact words :P something that is emphasised by the language we use.
The conversation was then directed along the lines of how a lack of understanding of language can lead to problems with cross cultural communication and understanding. How very true... Such a lack of understanding is evident everywhere we look. An example used was classroom based. How often do you hear a teacher say to a student, "look me in the eye when I'm talking to you"? From my own experience it happens way too often...
We were talking about indiginous students and how their culture teaches them not to look authority figures in the eye and yet the teacher sees them looking away as a lack of respect when in fact it is the exact opposite. How can we get through this barrier? No one I know goes out telling people about the differences between indigenous culture and our own. Surely we all speak a language similar enough to be able to communicate this most basic of cultural differences!
If we can't communicate differences between cultures that speak the same language how can we expect to be able to communicate cultural nuances between cultures that dont share our language!?
Kazzi
Semester has started again.... finally! After what seems like a rediculously long break I get my students - aka my babies back! Although this semester is a wee bit different to most. Instead of maths - which of course is my version of normality - my main focus for my tutorials will be humanities - covering everything from language and culture to religion, the arts and indigenous culture. An eventful week one has me really looking forward to the rest of the semester...
The focus for week one is culture, language and identity - how interesting is how much the language we use defines us not just as a culture or society but as an individual. As Aussies we definately have a LOT of slang.... mate, g'day, bluey, drongo, grog, grouse and thats just six! One of my students suggested this morning that this leads to the idea that we're quite a lazy culture - "half assed" I think were his exact words :P something that is emphasised by the language we use.
The conversation was then directed along the lines of how a lack of understanding of language can lead to problems with cross cultural communication and understanding. How very true... Such a lack of understanding is evident everywhere we look. An example used was classroom based. How often do you hear a teacher say to a student, "look me in the eye when I'm talking to you"? From my own experience it happens way too often...
We were talking about indiginous students and how their culture teaches them not to look authority figures in the eye and yet the teacher sees them looking away as a lack of respect when in fact it is the exact opposite. How can we get through this barrier? No one I know goes out telling people about the differences between indigenous culture and our own. Surely we all speak a language similar enough to be able to communicate this most basic of cultural differences!
If we can't communicate differences between cultures that speak the same language how can we expect to be able to communicate cultural nuances between cultures that dont share our language!?
Kazzi
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