Annoying Things People do at Melbourne University Open Days

So last week you may recall I wrote a very similar post about some of the annoying things people do at University Open Days. That was all from my experiences at the RMIT University Open Days and I thought that there was no way that people could top some of the annoying things people did that day. However, today I went to the Melbourne University Open Day and my view of how annoying people can be changed. I am sad to say that I lost some of my faith in the future generations as well as their parents. For those of you who do not know, Melbourne University is the leading University in Victoria and has just being named Australia's number one University for 2013 so congratulations to them. Basically, it is like Melbourne's version of Oxford and due to its ranking and reputation it had a very busy Open Day with thousands of students (and their parents) trying to find the right course for them. This large volume of people also lead to a few annoying (and sometimes selfish) things that people did.

Source: http://www.unimelb.edu.au/

Before I go on I am just going to reiterate one of the points I made last Sunday about people stopping in the middle of busy pathways. This happened so many times today and it was even more annoying as it was a lot busier than the RMIT Open Day so it caused more blockages. Most of the time it was just teenage girls fan-girling (if you could call it that) over meeting new people. It was just so annoying. Other times it was just people arguing over where they were and where they should go next. Guys, just think about others around you when you do this. The second annoying thing I found today occurred during the Bachelor of Science information session. This session was so packed that they had to stop letting people in and the first time we tried to get in it was too full (and this was us arriving fifteen minutes before it started). So basically you either came very early (like we did the second time) or tried your luck at coming a little bit later. So imagine my annoyance when I saw people not even paying attention to what was going on and instead texting or playing on their phones. It was just so disrespectful and rude to both the lecturer and the voluminous amount of people who could not make it in. Some people would miss out while others got the opportunity but did not do anything or even pay attention. It really set me off the deep end (in my mind, I am not that kind of person [ or am I? {Seriously though, I am not}]). Then there were the parents who did not care about anyone but themselves and so when Dad and I arrived around forty minutes early for the next session (we had to otherwise we would never get in) there were already people waiting so we waited behind them in the corner so we did not block the exits for people coming out when this eventually did occur. However, around 20 minutes before it is about to start a few parents come storming down and push their way towards the front of the crowd. Then they give everyone who is shooting them daggers death stares. Seriously, if looks could kill there would have been a massacre at the Sidney Myer Asia Centre. It was just incredibly rude, selfish and disrespectful of them to expect to get ahead of people who had been waiting upwards of half-an-hour. One lady was actually told to leave because of doing this and believe me, I wish I could have cheered (but that would have woken up Dad who kept falling asleep on me [not literally on me but you get the point]). So that was my annoying University Open Day experience I had to get out of my way. Seriously though guys, the rest of the day was exceptionally wonderful (despite the bad weather) and Melbourne University is a great place to learn.

Do not let the annoying things ruin your day, see you tomorrow!

What our Parents Taught Us

We may not realise it at the time but our Parents teach us a lot. Our Parents teach us things we may not glean from School. Some of what we learn may come into use later in our lives while most will not. However, it can be better to know more than you need to in case you do need it later in life. Although, most of the stuff our Parents teach us we just really want to forget right away. Most of what our Parents teach us is inadvertent and not what they want us to know.  Now I just want to say that what I am about to talk about DOES NOT all come from my Parents. A few of them maybe but I am not writing this about my Parents but about all Parents in general. Sorry in advance if I offend anyone.

Image Source: http://paperhoon.blogspot.com.au/2010/10/embarrassing-my-kids.html

The first thing that your Parents will teach you is that their word is law. Heaven forbid you ever break their laws. They brought you into this world and sure as hell can take you out of it. Later in life you realise that your Parents were wrong about many things and that not following their orders may have been the better option in some cases. However, when you are young you do not think about these things and think that all adults are always correct. Oh, to be a child... We also learn from an early age to always strive to "do your best". For some parents this can be as simple as just trying your best but for others trying your best means having to be at the top of the class. Second-best is not good enough for some Parents and I feel sorry for their children. How must they cope sometimes? Our Parents also taught us that we can be whatever we want. Well, except for a few jobs but we will not go there. Sometimes I think our Parents are setting us up to be rich so they can retire in comfort. That is actually a pretty good plan, must remember it in the future. So the lesson we can learn here from our Parents is have kids and retire happy, among other things of course.

Image Source: http://asianetindia.com/life-lessons-kid/

Among other things our Parents also seem like very big religious advisers. Always going on about praying about one thing or another. Whether it be a stain coming out of the rug or a mark off the wall. Always we are reminded to pray or may "God help us". Religion must really be essential in raising families. Logic is also a big issue in our World and our Parents show us from an early age what logic is correct logic. We must always remember to do something because someone said so. That is all the logic we will ever need in our lives. We are also taught to empathise and be able to read someone's feelings. If we are not able to read feelings we may get on the nerves of certain people at certain times of the month. The ability to read feelings is always important when growing up as it allows us to know which rooms are safe to enter and which to avoid like the plague.

Image Source: http://www.modernmom.com/article/life-lessons-to-teach-your-kids

A major source of our Vocabulary is our Parents. Without our fathers we would not know what to say when we drop something on our toes. Where would we be if our mothers had not taught us what to say when we burn something? Then there are the words we say when we get a fright. Where would we be if our Parents had not taught us them? Persuasive Techniques are also learnt through our Parents so we already have a head start for English before we even reach High School. We learn especially about exaggeration and appeals to emotions as children as our Parents make us feel guilty about choosing something or whether they exaggerate how many times they have told us things. They are also experts at personifying and thank the heavens inanimate objects can not bite or I would be covered in marks for every time I forgot where something was. Put simply, our Parents teach us many things and for this we are eternally grateful.

May the odds be ever in your favour, see you tomorrow!

Vandalism

What do we really stand to gain through vandalism? What could possible justify the thoughtless destruction that vandals cause every day? When was the last time you went on a train and looked through a window with no marks on it whatsoever? When was the last time you went into the city and did not see any graffiti? Vandalism costs millions to the government every year and whose money does the Government use to pay for this? The taxpayers' of course! Imagine how much more money could be spent on education and health if vandalism was not a factor. Imagine the better resources our great country could have. It is the selfish minority that ruin it for the innocent majority, as it usually is.

Image Source: http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/metro%20trains?before=21

Vandalism comes in many different forms all of which destroy the natural beauty of the resources around us. Imagine a red-brick wall, just a plain one. Imagine all the possibilities. It could become a mural, a public noticeboard or even something displaying community spirit. Now imagine this plain brick wall tarnished with the filth that is graffiti. Imagine all the possibilities now lost due to one selfish act of vandalism. Now imagine a simple playground for children. A playground always full of families out for a fun time of swings, slides and climbing. Imagine the social skills the children would develop when playing with other children their age. Now imagine during the night such a community hub was violated with the impurity of foul language an infant should never know, or the lick of flames burning away the innocence of the children who once enjoyed this place. Vandalism is diverse but has the same affect, it is violating and repugnant. It steals the innocence of youth and destroys the spirit of a community. Vandalism is really one selfish, disgusting act.

Image Source: http://www.niagarathisweek.com/print/187411

Vandalism tears communities apart and can have devastating affects on everyone in it. Imagine all the trains put out of service due to vandalism. Imagine all the playgrounds ruined by the selfish acts of the few. Imagine the innocence of millions of children been ripped away from them as they are forced to face the harsh realities of life too soon. Imagine members of the community turning against each other and priceless community gems lost in fires or covered in graffiti. Imagine a world where one could walk down one city block without seeing any graffiti. It's hard to imagine such a world isn't it? It shouldn't be so hard but it is because of the vandalism in the community. So next time you think of vandalism also think of who really feels the full affect of such an act. Vandalism is perverse and should never occur.

Image Source: 

http://local.stv.tv/coatbridge/news/204013-signalling-problem-due-to-vandalism-disrupts-train-services/

May the odds be ever in your favour, see you tomorrow!

Relay for Life

So, as I mentioned in Yesterday's post, tomorrow I will be doing Relay for Life although I will not be doing the full 24 hours (as I did last year) but instead will be going on the Thursday and then coming home that night because my Dad has to work the next day and Mum won't be able to pick me and my eldest brother, who has his licence, is unreliable so it should be fun.

Relay For Life is a 24-hour relay where you go in teams of up to 10 and for 24 hours someone on your team must be on the track at all times carrying a baton for your team (this can be any item (appropriate!) that your team chooses). Each team raises money and all the funds raised (as well as registration costs) goes straight to  the Cancer Council. Last year I did it with my school and before that I had done it with the local CFA (Country Fire Authority). This year my school isn't participating because they didn't want to 'detract' from The World's Greatest Shave which was a big fundraiser at our school (well, we fundraised for it at our school). This year I will be competing with the Werribee CFA and it should be fun.

I will probably be able to blog tomorrow night because I won't be staying at the track for the full 24 hours but I might not be able to post tomorrow depending on the time I return. This is just a quick warning about the possibility of me missing tomorrow's post. So yeah, Relay for Life should be a lot of fun and I can't wait!

May the odds be ever in your favour, see you tomorrow!

Friends and Family

So we all know how important friends and family are but I don't think we actually realise how important they are in many factors of our lives. They help us in many ways, and we need both friends and family because there are some things you would only confide in friends rather than family and vice versa. They create a stable support network that we need to be our best.

Our friends are important to us as they give us a respite from the monotonous life of home. They provide us with a connection to the outside world and an understanding of how others act and react. They are our life line to a world outside our own where people live different lives. They are also fun to muck around with and just enjoy life with. There are things you do with friends which you would not even think of doing with family. I mean, who talks about daily life with family? Who talks to their family about the latest gossip around school or even school work itself? There are also things you talk to friends about, like troubles you are having, that may not seem appropriate to discuss with family, such as feelings and crushes and other usual stuff going through a post-pubescent teenager. Even older people have friends to turn to with stories of relationships and friendships that are inappropriate to divulge to parents who may not see the funny side. Therefore friends are very important in the wellbeing of individuals.

Our friends are important to our wellbeing but so is family. Family is there for you when you need them and will support you in your endeavours and have been there for you since birth. They mould you into the adult you will become and, as I have said in a previous post, irresponsible parents lead to irresponsible children and the opposite can also be said. Responsible parents heighten the chance of them producing a responsible child as they have been brought up learning from example. They have also been taught about consequences and the results of their actions. They are also important to us as they are the ones who put up with all of our annoying habits and at the end of the day still love us. Plus they listen to our problems and help us resolve them. They are always there when we need them and though we don't like admitting it, we love them. Plus, our older siblings make mistakes before us so we know not to make them. SCORE for the younger siblings!

So in the end it is clear that Family and Friends is very important to us. Also, I want to apologise because I know it is technically the 12th of April (even though blogger will say it is still the 11th) but I started writing this on the 11th so there will be another post tonight for the 12th April.

May the odds be ever in your favour, see you tomorrow!

Irresponsible Parents and Annoying Children

So there are many irresponsible parents out there who have exceedingly annoying children because they don't take care of their children and don't care what they do or because they have no control. Needless to say these kids become little terrors and take little care of those around them. We all have had at least one experience with kids like these where the parents couldn't care any less.

One such incident occurred to me once in a Library where I was having a Maths Methods tutor session and there was this group of kids (who couldn't have been older than 7) who were just running around making a lot of noise. They were playing hide and seek in the LIBRARY! Where were their parents? Who knows, in the end one of the Library Staff told them to stop or they would have to leave with their parents. Did the kids care? Of course not, why should they? They can do what they want because they're having fun and be damned with everyone else. In the end the Library Staff called security (I was surprised, I mean, who has security in a Library?) and they found the parents and escorted them all out, hooray! Finally I could study for the SAC. I felt like clapping.

Another incident that occurs quite often is annoying, loud, children at the movies who spoil such a great work. I mean, I was watching Johnny English: Reborn (I know, very sophisticated) and these kids started screaming because their drink didn't have enough ice (First World Problems) and their parents didn't buy them any popcorn. I felt sorry for the mother who was there because she was getting some deadly stares. If looks could kill. Eventually someone complained and a steward (or whatever they call them) came and escorted them out of the cinema, this actually got a clap. This is annoying and happens so often.

So I guess there are some really annoying children out there with parents who try to maintain control but cannot. Then there are the parents, as in the Library incident, who couldn't care less about what their children do. There are many other places where children throw tantrums all the time with either parents who don't care or parents who have no control. If you want you could share your stories below.

May the odds be ever in your favour, see you tomorrow.