Boredom

So i looked at my blog today and realised that i hadn't made a post since last year, so i thought i'd get off my ass and write a new one. Which is kind of a problem because it's summer and noooooothing of actual interest or excitment really happens during the summer period. Nothing to study as i'm not at uni over the summer and if your on holiday from work and the television is crap during the midday.

Which reminds me of a Pink Floyd lyric from one of my favourite songs called Nobody Home from The Walls album aka one of the most depressing albums in all of existance (did i spell that right?) anyway the line is:
"13 channels of s*** on the tv to choose from."
Which is a similar experience i have with the tv, except in higher volume and with different degrees of s***.
First there are only 21 channels i would consider watchable (including the sports and childrens channels)
But at the time of day when i frequently sit and watch some television there is jack all on. (I mean Jane and the freaking dragon for goodness sake, i mean females could not be knights, horrible concept)

So anyway i hope my lack of enlightenment and activity (apart from the gym but only to get away from boredom) um i usually have a little gag or something at the end of my blogs (do i still do that?) so um.
Patient: doctor doctor
Docter: what is it and why do people keep refering to me that way, i have a name you know!
Patient: I'm sorry doctor......
*Reads name tag* (do doctors have name tags?)
Patient: Doctor Weinstien, hey, i thought u were an accountant
Doctor: Oi way to make it racist you shmuck
Patient: That's disgusting i'm leaving
*Patients feet fall off*
Patient: Well this is embarressing

The moral of the story is, boredom is a dangerous thing

The times they are a changing

Bob Dylan one of my favourite songwriters sang about change, about the opinions of the people of the world with the new youth culture and folk movement, i'd like to say alot has changed. But the American government is still controlled by multinationals and big oil (damn i said i wasn't gonna complain about those) America is still controlled by over religious right wing gun nuts. But this blog wasn't meant to be me complaining about my qualms about the global economy and politics, coz i'm sure the 4 or 5 readers would not be interested in that (i'd end up using all these techinical terms) but change is an interesting topic, it happens to all of us, whether we're signing a mortgage or your a shopaholic deciding what clothers your going to buy and leave at the back of your closet without wearing it once!

So i'm sitting on the couch with a glass of whiskey with comedy central in the background writing about change (without using the words Barack Obama in the first paragraph) and this isn't about Barack Obama i mean yeah the first black president is a pretty major change but today when i was thinking about change his name was the last to come to mind.

So i guess to get this into context i guess i'd better talk about my day. Basically i got up late for uni (not really a change i've done that a dozen times before) and luckily my bus wasn't too full and i got two seats to myself which during the bus lockout is a freakin luxury (i say lockout cause i'm a demand side economic, yeah i know more big words this'll be over soon, and will side with the employee over the capitalist pig trying to opress the bus workers) and there we already have a substantial change! Industrial action, it's what you want in a change, juicy consequences (not getting a seat in a goddamn bus!) a bit of drama if you watch the news (which if you're an average New Zealander you don't) and traffic that pissed the hell out of me! Oh! On a side note, i'm sorry i have to vent. But who decided to merge the lanes right after a busy off ramp! Seriously! I sat through traffic which a freakin third lane would fix! The cheap cost cutting moronic son of a freakin (crap i forgot i wasn't swearing on this thing)! I want to find you and cut off a third of your house, because that my friends is justice served bulldozer!

But we're getting beyond ourselves, coz at this point i was still in town (and not in traffic!) Nothing of interest there really. Minor changes like a change of breezes, recieving a grades and it starting to freakin rain! Oh i've skipped something, yeah the Burger King set on fire (yawn not really big news, seriously there was no smoke, cept from the usual smokers on Queen Street, the point is i didn't get my red bull and that annoyed me also) So anyway i bought some shirts (calm down i know it's not more important than a fire, merely a plot decide to keep this story moving) now this is a change in itself as i know have more shirts, but i also saw a another kind of change, a change that has happened and is continuing to happen. I saw a drag queen, now that in itself isn't a major change, but perception and freedom has. Which would work for anything and yes i admit is a bit of a stretch. Now i used to consider myself a liberal, don't get me wrong i believe in equality based on race, religion and creed (as long as you're a man) but liberal, that people have the freedom to do anything with no government regulation! (and once again i'm venting) now with the rise of liberalism you can effectively within the bounds of the law (with a couple of grey areas) do anything you want, and though people don't like it and i makes some uncomfortable they have to respect your freedom to do anything you want.

Now i think i've blagged on long enough about change and my second glass of whiskey looks neglected, i'm sure i had a point but now it's escaped. So to once again quote the great Bob Dylan "Goodbyes too good a word babe, so i just say farelewell."

Breasts/the AUT computer lab

Hello my pretties, the people that read my blog that expect more regular posts but Rome wasn't build in a day and i'm a bad mix of lazy and very VERY busy. I also have an ego to boost, so i imply that i am some kind of talented writer when i say, i am lowering myself to toilet humor, a very mild form of toilet humour, no this came out of that and the like. But i have pondered in my head this question in my head for a while. Now to put this into some kind of context it is well known that it is considered rude, perverted and sexist to look at a girls breasts, however i pose this question. Why if this is the case to t shirt makers put all the action around the cleavage area? I saw a girl walking down queen street with a monkey and writing around the area in question. (Don't ask me what was written. A monkey and breasts, come on!) I am a 19 year old guy with the attention span and imagination of a 7 year old! A monkey and breasts! My eyes aren't going anywhere else!

Now i've only filled a paragraph with that topic, sooooo here begins my regular shameless complaining about the computer labs at AUT. Now to list, only 10 computers have the computer software that i need for one of my papers, only some computers with excel have data analysis which i need for one of my papers and more recently and more temporarily the printers weren't working one day(not to bad i know i just needed filler) that i need for my course (hmm we're seeing a pattern here)

So in one foul swoop i have killed the integrity of my (cough cough) ethical writing, and for a change i didn't complain about conservitism, liberalism or multinationals. I feel fulfilled!

Exams/top 10

I know i haven't updated my blog since May I've been busy. So i thought i'd copy David Letterman and do a top 10 list and as it's around exam time i might as well do it about that.

Top 10 Exam Nightmares

1)You get nervous and vomit over the examiner
2)It's the middle of the exam and you're in your underwear
3)You studied for the wrong exam
4)You break your wrist while writing
5)Your pens explode
6)Your phone goes of in your pocket
7)Your wallet starts ringing
8)Terrorists take over the exam room and take you and the other students hostage
9)You have a brain haemorrage
10)You forget how to write

Peace out!

Logic

In my habit of blogging about obscure concepts i come now too logic, or more like lack of logic. I like to watch television, i consider it a past time, along with sleeping and not being at work it's one of my favourite things to do. If you are thinking that's sad well this is coming from the guy writing a blog about logic, if you followed that thought pattern then well done. That's logic!

Lately i have seen statements on tv that lack logic. Like for example that ad for a program on living (i think it was living) I think he was a Geordie bloke so that might describe the lack off logic. He says that because of the declining property market (i think it's implied that this is because of the recession) that it's a good time to renovate your homes. He fails to consider however another effect of the recession, which is of course the fact that people have less disposable income (either lost from investment or the fact that the value of it has decreased due to inflation) so this statement lacks logic.

I guess a Geordie hosting a program on living could be excused, i'm not going to disregard the skill in being a host of one of these programs and the work they most likely do put in. But you'd expect more from a current events program, giving us an informative look at the events around the globe. So when watching an ad for one of these programs (60 minutes i think it was) and see them say "the reason why Chickens aren't going extinct is because we're eating them. Now i'm not a farmer, but surely when you eat something from a species, there is now one less of that species. Now if everyone around the world is doing this then there would be a declining amount for the number of chickens. Now i didn't watch this program, but i will logically assume that this was a well researched article creating good points for the statement. And i'm sure it would be balanced, balanced for a tv company owned by a multi-national. Like for example chickens aren't dying out because we're breeding them to eat them, i would feel i was being logical in saying that.

As i ease into the end of this blog i will take the logical step in finishing with something appropriate, something Spock would be proud of, i'd ultimately like Spock to read this blog and say, that is very logical Oliver, do you have any vulcan in you and i'll of course say no Spock, not at all and i'll let you make up your own punchline, although i hope the punchline is obvious enough, otherwise it'd be just damn illogical.

BK/pointing

I was at two minds about what i was going to write my blob about. As some may notice i spread my blogs far apart as i wait for topics to present themselves. But these topics are different from usually. One is because i had an experience at BK, i use the word loosely as it wasn't significant at all, heck if i didn't for some strange reason find it appropriate for a blob i wouldn't even remember it. It wasn't really an experience with BK itself, but BK was a platform for how i think and my personality.

I went to Burger King last night. That's the experience. Like i said nothing special, but that's merely describing what the experience was and not going into further detail. So i'll continue. I went to Burger King last night, as i was walking down i was thinking about Globalisation (i.e developed economies beating the crap out of economies that are developing) and multi-national corperations, i was thinking about why people willingly ingest things that are bad for them and pay for it, heck there are lawyers in America that it's the fast food companies personal right to sell this unhealthy food, that it represents some kind of liberty, and this liberty and freedom protects their economy (which is anything but liberal and free). Then i thought that anything can kill you, the sun can kill you! But then in my own personal debate i then reasoned that the sun only kills you if you don't take precautions, and the same applies with fast food, it's only significantly negative if you eat to excess instead of taking the precaution of eating in moderation and having it as an occaisional treat, now i could start a whole new debate about this, i.e considering the intention of advertising, the more healthy menus of these fast food resteraunts and the desire of business's to maximise profit.

Now this was before i even entered the door of Burger King. Now when i entered and nothing really interesting happens i ordered a double whopper combo, not particuarly interesting, just mere details that move my little tale along, i then recieved my cup for me to put my drink into, i put Fanta in (again minor detail, but detail none the less. Then i waited. I then continued to wait do you know what i did after that? You're right i waited. And that didn't bother me. My logical mind made me think that there was also a rational explanation. Rationality, that's an interesting word, rational decision usually involves maximising your own satisfation. Along with a dozen other criteria (one model even implicitly states that it is almost impossible to make a rational decision. Where was i? I've actually lost my place, oh yeah waiting for my meal. Oh yeah rationality! The employees made a rational decision to maximise their job security by performing their task adequatly. Sooo not worth the tangent. Any way while i was waiting i made the rational decision to drink my drink (as customers are entitled to free refills) This maximise my satisfaction, but this does not mean the total satisfaction that could have been derived from that situation was not fulfilled. Most economics students will know there are three resources; time, money and skills. (money is property before you say i've missed anything out, anything of some kind of value) Now time is scarcer than money so only by fully utilsing my time will my satisfation be totally fulfilled, but i accept that external forces also affect my satisfaction.

Anyway i finally got my meal. now perhaps to help maximise my satisfaction i could have voiced my displeasure, maybe with complaint or by acting annoyed. But that's not the kind of person i am. I smiled and i said a sincere thank you. I don't really get frustrated that often because i usually expect that the worst thing is a possibility and am realistic about it. I was aware that my chips may have been sitting in a carton for a while as i walked home. And alas when i got home my chips were cold.

Now a friend of mine told me to write a blog about another incident that happened last week, on a wednesday if my memory serves me best. I went to see a comedian called Ed Byrne, i am a fairly big fan, i own one of his dvds and watch alot of his clips on youtube, one of these bits i saw at his show, always the sign of a fanboy.

Now one of the friends i went with (Sean Flannery) had to use the bathroom so he went in and i waited for him. And amazingly enough i saw Ed Byrne! In the flesh! By the lifts. I became star struck, i could not think of a thing to say to him. But when you see a celebrity you don't do nothing do you! So i pointed. Now i know he saw me pointing, but i was also pulling back from pointing when he turned round. Now he lifted his head in acknolwedgment and i bowed my head to acknowledge him. So at least i was acknowledged by Ed Byrne!

Now one of the funny things about this is that in his show he talked about thinking of the best thing to say after the event actually happens. I was walking down Tristram Ave and i thought of a million things i could have said. The obvious one was "hi, i'm oliver. i'm a big fan."

Peace out!

Forced Holiday

As some people may know, i have worked for Wendys for quite a long time, 3 years to be exact. Now during this time i have accumulated alot of paid leave. As a result i have been forced to take a 2 week holiday. Now don't get me wrong i hate multi-national corperations so any excuse to complain about them, the so called "free market." (there is no free market) but that isn't the intention of this blog and spouting my left wing perspective is for another day. But i was thinking, one day i will have to leave Wendys. (sadface..... Not!) due to going onto better things (touch wood). So i thought i'd hook up the webcam express that in interpretive dance! You may see by the lack of media that's not the case, i've misplaced my leapard skin leotard and my room does not provide ample room for me to dance with unpredictable movements and joking aside badly. So i thought i'd use another medium which i am less inadiquate at, through verse;

If i should leave think of me
In the corner of some foriegn grill
To be forever Wendys

Yes that was a shameless parody of Rupurt Brooke (6th form English ftw!)
Now for the real poem

Wendys oh Wendys
I've known you so long
People have left
And people have gone
Memories good and memories bad
And some sources of stress
That i've never had

But i have have been thinking
Of things i will miss
I'd think the things that i won't
Would be a longer list
The Blues however i'll feel i'm sure
When i finally leave
But i think i can cure

The people of course
Friendships i hold dear
Without whose presence
My shifts i would fear
There is also a list however short
Of those i dislike
In tact, i won't report

But it's sad to think
That's all i will miss
Because friendship are fickle and people leave
Leaving me to reminiss
I wonder when long is too long
And i often sit and think
And does that make it wrong

Because i hate when customers are stupid or short
Or when managers are pestering
For us to work faster, or longer or stronger
And the noise from machines make my ears ring
And the kitchens are too hot in the summer
But in the winter at the window it's cold
Which can be a bit of a bummer

So in this hypothetical leaving
Which will happen in some time
And it's also kinda shameless
That i picked an easy ryhme
Ending on a joke, will leave me on a high
How i'd like to leave my job
As well as a sincere and heartfelt goodbye.

Thank you and stay cool!