Holidays Are Here!

Yes, what has seemed to me as the shortest term ever (when really it was just a regularly sized one) the holidays are here! This means many things including catching up on sleep, finishing homework and just relaxing and recovering from a busy term. For me however, these holidays hold an even deeper meaning as they are the holidays when I finally go on my long-awaited (and nerve-racking) trip to Kokoda! I am yet to start writing the posts that will appear when I am away but as I have finished all my homework (after several days of consistently long hours of work) I have time now to do that sort of thing. These holidays also mean for me to get back into the swing of things with this blog. Sure I may have been super busy but there were days when I was not and I just put off writing these posts. Now I am getting back into the swing of things and it is great! Anyway, on with the week that was.

Source: http://www.giantsacademy.com.au/details.php?p_id=1221

I feel like it has been ages since I have written one of these segments (probably because it has been) but anyway, it feels great to be back into the swing of things again! My holidays started on the Friday night with me getting my final vaccinations for Kokoda. For those of you who want to know what they are you will have to wait until one of the posts that is scheduled to be released when I am away in Kokoda. It then continued with an ordinary Saturday (music, shopping etc etc) followed by a Sunday where I managed to start some of my Methods. I say some as I did not really get much work done until I started doing a lot of work on Tuesday. Monday was a good day though when I went to see Captain America : the Winter Soldier with my friends which was awesome by the way! It was a lot better than the first Captain America movie and now I can not wait for Avengers 2 when it comes out! It was also great to catch up with some friends, many of who I probably will not see until I leave for Kokoda though I am going out with some of them the day before I leave but anyway. I finally got a lot of my Methods done on Tuesday where I finished all my Methods work including some extra work so that when I came back I had time to recover after Kokoda instead of having to catch up on what I missed. Wednesday was another really fun day where I went with Mum to visit my grandmother (on Mum's side) and also see my cousin where we went to see the Lego Movie. In a sentence: everything is AWESOME!! I posted a review of that yesterday if you want to scroll down and check that out after this post. When I got back though I continued on with my Legal Studies assignment which is due when I return. I spent a lot of time on that on Wednesday night before spending the same amount of time on that yesterday (Thursday) before finishing it. I then did my Physics and was finished by 4pm which was great because then we went to visit my grandmother again and we had a family dinner at her place. Now it feels great as I have all my homework done and I have 6 more relaxing sleeps to look forward to before Kokoda. It feels great not to have anything holding you back now which is why I really want to get the Kokoda posts written soon so I am aiming to get a few done today and then finish the rest over the next few days. Wow, it really has been an interesting week.

I hope I can keep these consecutive posts going! See you tomorrow.

Americanisation

It has come to that time of year again where people get dressed up in 'scary' costumes and go "Trick or Treating" for Halloween. It is at times like this that you realise how much Americanisation has affected countries that we live in (that is not, obviously, America). Halloween is a typically American holiday which is celebrated more over there than it really is down under. However, in previous years Halloween has gone up in popularity around Australia and everyone is getting involved. It is a sure sign of Americanisation in our modern world. Such an occurrence would normally be termed Globalisation but due to the sheer amount of American influences we see every day I think it is a safe thing for me to further categorise it. Americanisation is definitely a growing problem.

Source: http://blog.antonemdin.com/2012/02/americanisation-of-australian-politics/

We can see Americanisation in Australia in more places than just Halloween. For instance, you have the American companies who have come into Australia and already seem to be part of the fixture. These are companies like McDonalds  and KFC. Even Hungry Jacks, known in America as Burger King, is an American company along with Subway and many other things. In recent years we have also seen the introduction of giant bulk-buying stores like Costco which is yet another American company settling in Australia. However, for some companies the settlement is not so easy. Starbucks for instance. Though they are insanely popular in America they have struggled in Australia with the competition from Gloria Jeans. You do not see many Starbucks stores outside of the Melbourne CBD. Another such instance is with the American doughnut company, Krispy Kreme. Though originally very popular they since went out of style. Now there are only a few stores where there used to be many and it is only in recent years that they have started crawling back into the Australian market through chains such as 7-Eleven. Americanisation, however, is not always such a bad thing. There are many great things we have in Australia that have been influenced or is directly from America. For instance we have all the great (and not so great) movies that come out of Hollywood. We have our very own little Broadway in Collins Street as well as numerous American fashion chains and companies with stores all across the country. Americanisation, like most things, comes with its benefits and its deficits. Sometimes, we just have to weigh the good up against the bad.

Americanisation, is it such a bad thing? See you tomorrow.

Annoying Junk Emails

My inbox at the moment is so annoying at the moment because it is so full of junk mail that somehow made it past the filters (I guess Outlook really wants me to check out those latest deals and how to increase the size of my "manhood"). Seriously though, those emails are so annoying sometimes that I just want to spam them with endless bloody emails and see how they like it. I have never once shown any interest in any of the topics that they keep sending to me. The worst part is that when there is an important email I need to activate something that is when the filters kick in and send it to the junk folder. Outlook, get your damn act together! All I am saying is be prepared for a rant.

Source: http://www.ubergizmo.com/2013/05/hotmail-to-outlook-com-transfer-geeks-out-at-150-petabytes/

The emails themselves are just stupid and obviously fake. Forgive me for not jumping with joy when I find out that I have won a billion pounds in a lottery in the UK that I never even entered, let alone heard of. Who offers a billion pound reward anyway? If the lottery gave away that much money they would go broke, what do you take me for, an idiot? Do not answer that question. Then you get those 'official' emails from the supermarkets. I seriously received one that said the sender was IGA and yet the topic was Woolworths Vouchers. The worst part is that people must fall for it because they keep sending them out. If you are going to run a scam like that at least check that it makes sense. Now, onto those stupid emails about improving my "intimate life". Before I begin, I would like to clear up any doubt that males do not have the same genitals as our female counterparts. I know that most of us learn that pretty early on but apparently some scams are not as knowledgeable about these organs. I have seriously seen so many emails clearly tailored to men yet referencing enlargement of "our" (it specifically used this pronoun) breasts. Like, seriously, come on. If it is not bad enough that you bombard me with stupid emails, it is even worse that you do not even get your anatomy correct! Then there are the emails that are clearly meant to be coded such that the email will read your address and use the first part as your name. As my email starts with "manl97" I get several interesting emails regarding using manl97 as if it is my name. I must have forgotten to change it to Luke before I came out of the Womb. Woops, my mistake. Then I get those emails trying to set me up with "Local Sluts" or to get me on to the adult version of Facebook (they are so creative, they replaced Face with the F word). I mean, I know some  people see me as a player but I am only sixteen and the use of such sites is, technically, illegal. So next time you stupid scammers want to send me a stupid email, check to make sure it makes bloody sense before you fill up my inbox. Thank you.

Do you guys get as annoying junk mail as this? See you tomorrow!

Random Thought Friday

So you know how you get those random bouts of inspiration during the day but they are only small? Well that is the issue for me most days as I come across a variety of topics I could write about however I struggle to write a whole post on that same topic. So that means that a lot of my inspiration gets stored away and just goes to waste because I can not pair it with anything without making a crap post. Then I decided to make a Random Post Friday where I can just write little bits on some of my random thoughts throughout the week that I wanted to write a post about but never had enough to write. So now, every Friday is Random Thought Friday. Who knows, maybe these themed days will become a thing. Actually, that sounds pretty cool. I might actually look into that. Anyway, onto some more random thoughts.

Source: http://blogs.agilefaqs.com/category/random-thoughts/

Have you ever realised how stubborn some drivers can be. I know I have written previously about bad drivers but stubborn drivers are just as bad. They are so annoying when they are in the right lane (the fastest lane) yet are going slower than those in the left lane (slowest lane [meant to be without these stubborn drivers]). Then they get tooted and abused and they do not care, it really does annoy me a lot. Then you have the inconsiderate people in shopping centres who just move really slowly and there are people behind them trying to get around but they can not because these idiots are blocking the whole area. Does that ever happen to anyone else other than me? Seriously, you are in a rush and suddenly you are stuck behind these two people who just could not care less about anyone but themselves. Seriously, think of others for a change. What about the people who pretend to know everything about everything and then continually ask you all the questions. I mean, they say you are better at the complicated stuff but when it comes to the simple stuff they are better. Come on! If I am better than you at the harder stuff does that not trump the simple stuff and mean I am better than you overall. Wow, that sounded really conceited but I just had to get that out there before I burst. I know! That could be another day, ranting. I would not know what day but it could possibly be a Wednesday or something just to break up the week. I am not setting anything in stone and when I do I will slowly introduce it I think. I will still leave some days open to anything but you may have some theme on Fridays, Saturdays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays (as an example). So there is still room for randomness and spontaneity but you also know what to expect the topic to be around on that day. I reckon it would make it easier for both the reader and the writer (why am I talking about myself in third person). Anyway, see how much I needed a random post? I guess, judging from what I talked about, that I also need a ranting day somewhere.

Random thoughts are just as important as other ones, see you tomorrow!

Technology: My Reliance

I never realised until I came back from the toilet how much I have relied on technology over the past few days and where I would be without it. Do not ask me why it was after the toilet I realised this, I have been asking myself the same question since I started writing this post. This happens a lot more often than you would think, do not judge me. Just before I had to look up the television guide. Since it is the holidays I was feeling a little lazy so instead of getting up and finding the paper television guide I sort-of, kinda searched it up on the internet. Lucky I did though otherwise I would have missed the Season 5 premiere of Glee. It's actually pretty good except for the fact that it is making this quick post take a long time to write. I am a professional procrastinator after-all.

Source: http://blog.laimoon.com/2013/09/technology-careers-update-for-the-middle-east/

Yesterday I was in the city with Mum while we were waiting for something. Getting in there from where we were was no big problem with Mum just hopping on the first tram she saw. Later Mum revealed she was under the delusion that any tram will just continue in that direction and so any place you want to go in that direction you will get there. Luckily, we made it to the Queen Victoria Market and Melbourne Central without any trouble. I finally caught on to what Mum was doing when she kept pushing a certain road and a tram stop we could take. Luckily I had my phone with access to the internet so I could look it up on the Public Transport Victoria Website. Then, since we had to wait some more I also looked up movie sessions on my phone while we were getting a drink. Without that we would not have seen White House Down (Grown Ups 2 was not playing at the time we needed) and probably would have walked around the city aimlessly with Mum continuing to stress me out by pushing certain routes. I would also get incredibly bored without Facebook, Twitter and Blogger by my side. So, as you can see, I have a heavy reliance on technology and without it I would be lost. I would miss the majority of my television shows (not such a bad thing), get lost a lot (especially in the city) and be incredibly bored (well, more than normal).

Try not to become as reliant on technology as I am, see you tomorrow!

Emergency Fail

I am going to start this post with a bit of a story, an anecdote to be exact. The anecdote begins, and ends, at Werribee Plaza last night (Friday 14th June 2013) around 7:30 pm. I was doing some shopping with my brother. We had just finished our shopping and had brought a Boost Juice (a drink, not the whole company) when, all of a sudden, the fire alarm goes off. So there are big whopping sounds occasionally interrupted by an automated message that was unintelligible throughout most of the Plaza. At first everyone looks around like "what's going on?" and people did not know what to do. The worst part was the alarm and the unintelligible message just kept relaying on a continuous loop and it was becoming annoying. No one had any clue what to do, there were people working in the shops looking around like they were lost. Some shops closed while the majority just remained open with staff not knowing anything. Then my brother and I decided to leave because we were on our way out anyway and what else would you do when a fire alarm goes off?On our way out we passed two security guards who had absolutely no idea what was going on and were literally shouting over the noise so everyone could hear how little they knew. I hate to say it but in an emergency when the authority has no clue what is going on, I think it may cause a bit of panic. It was a little after this that we managed to find a place where the roof was closer to the ground and we could make out the message relaying. The automated message was literally: "An automated fire alarm has being set off, stay calm and await further instructions". Ten minutes later the sounds finally stopped and things went back to normal. At no point was there ever a new announcement telling people what to do, even after it stopped. The only consolation was that the CFA had received an automatic alert about the alarm and Werribee, Hoppers Crossing and a few other brigades had already shown up. That was probably the one good thing about the whole night that if there had of been an actual fire (which there was not, this time) at least there were fire trucks ready. That was our excitement for the night and we drank our drinks and then left.

Image Source: 

http://wyndham-leader.whereilive.com.au/news/story/have-your-say-werribee-plaza-plans-questioned/

This simply is not good enough. It was a total and utter fiasco. There were staff not knowing what to do, security who were clearly out of their depth and an unintelligible alarm system. If there had of being a real fire lives could quite possibly have being lost. The alarm system in itself is a major flaw. In the busiest parts of the Plaza it was literally unintelligible aside from the whooping sounds it makes. The only place we could hear the words was in the most empty space in the Plaza with the lowest roof. Even then it was a struggle to make out what it was saying. If there had of being a real emergency no one would have known. Even as the alarm was going off we did not know it was a fire alarm until after it had all finished and we saw the fire trucks leaving. That is disgraceful! Werribee Plaza is always busy and even at 7:45 on a Friday night it was busy. All those lives were at danger as they had no idea what was going on. The security staff were not helping as even they had no idea what was going on. The worst part is that they did not even try and hide this from the people doing their shopping. How are people meant to remain calm when the people in authority have absolutely no idea what is going on? In a real emergency people would be lost both figuratively and, possibly, literally. At no point that whole night (we were still there 15 minutes after the alarm stopped) was there any other message than the automatic one. There was no explanation and this is Werribee Plaza, anything could have happened. Then there were the staff at all the shops around us. There are over 200 stores in Werribee Plaza and it would be lucky if, at most, 20 were closed. Most of the staff were standing dumbfounded out the front of their stores while others just continued working and serving customers. They had no idea what to do and how to handle the situation. This is a major flaw in the system and one that could be costly to many lives. This is a shocking wake up call at how ineffective the alarm system at Werribee Plaza is. This is deplorable and should never be occurring in 2013. The management at Werribee Plaza urgently need to update their alarm protocols and make sure they work as they should. I should never have experienced what I did last night, it was shocking.

Take a good hard look at yourself Werribee Plaza management, see you tomorrow.

Do people think anymore?

I have to ask, do people think any more? Obviously they do from time to time but when it comes to some simple things people really make me think that they don't actually think (how many times can I use think in one sentence? Think think think...). People can make some stupid decisions (I myself have made many) that are obviously either incorrect or incredibly simple yet still confuse some people. The greatest example of this that everyone has done at least 10 times in their lifetime is pushing a door that says "Pull". I mean, how many times have people done that. The worst part is that that is not the worst decision I have seen some people make.

There are many other stupid decisions that people make everyday that really make me question the future of humanity. One of these decisions is driving down a road that clearly has an arrow pointing in the OPPOSITE direction. I have seen this happen so many times in the Woolworths car park when we go shopping. In fact, there were three people I saw today doing this, all within the space of 5 minutes and 24 seconds (I was timing how long it would take my father to get the newspaper). It is really stupid because at the entrance to the road they were coming down was a large sign saying "No Entrance" and then on the road was a big white arrow pointing out, not in to the road. Seriously, it really made me worry for these people. As we were pulling out of the car park even there was a stand off of two cars going down the same one-way road (so one of them was going the wrong way) and it was like a stand off you see on an old Western Film (You know, the films with actors like John Wayne) and they were still just staring at each other as we drove off (and Dad was in no hurry by the way). Some people these days; entertaining but stupid.

Another instance of people not thinking straight is when people slow down to drive past speed cameras (the ones with the police-people [trying not to be sexually vilifying] in the cars) but continue to use their phones while driving past. Sometimes I don't think people actually know the road rules regarding phones. The amount of people who drive past these types of speed cameras texting or using their phone is ridiculous and they know the speed camera is there because they slow down. I mean, come on! Leave me with some faith in the future of our world please! What is the point of slowing down if the people behind the camera are going to pull you over anyway for using your phone? Use common sense people! Don't ask me why I used this photo, I just thought it was funny and was related in a way.

So there are many things that people do that make me wonder whether they actually think. Sometimes I wonder how long humanity will last before we begin de-evolving (hey, I can make up words too) or just die out because we gradually use our minds less and less. Why not comment down below on the stupid things you see people do?

May the odds be ever in your favour, goodbye!