The Greedy Grasshopper

The trouble with getting paid monthly is that, when you think about it, you only have 12 days in the year to look forward to.

I am experiencing major frustration with the guy I am working with.  It's been 5 months now...just me and him, day in day out and I don't think I can stand it anymore.  Maybe it's my mood today but I'm just so angry at him.

Every morning he greets me with the same, "Good morning Esther, how are you today?" Those exact words, every freakin' day.  Every day he'll ask me what I'm having for lunch, every day after lunch he'll ask me how it was, every day he'll ask me what I did the night before, every Monday he'll ask me how my weekend was and I know he's just trying to make conversation but I hate the small talk.  I don't want to tell you about my weekend, I don't want to hear about some "interesting" article you read...just leave me the fuck alone. 

I know a bit of small talk is necessary, it makes the world go round, but being stuck in this project with just one other person and having to put up with this inane, repetitive drivel is driving me insane. 

I'm going to Morocco!  Yes, that's right, for real!  To be more specific, we are going to Morocco, Spain, France and London next year but Morocco is the place I'm most excited about.  My friend and I have been talking about this trip for years but it was sort of one of those things we'd talk about and say, "Yeah, we'll go after high school" or "Yeah, we'll go after uni" and honestly I didn't believe we would do it, but we are! 

Ait Benhaddou

So here's the plan, we are going to do this tour in Morocco, because apparently it isn't safe for two women to wander around the streets of Morocco unless they're with a tour group, then spend about a week in Spain, a week in France, a few nights in London and then stopping over a couple of nights in Dubai before heading back.  The tour in Morocco is going to be so awesome...you get to spend one night camping out in the Sahara and riding camels.  We'll get to visit the old city of Aït Benhaddou and see the Djemaa el Fna, which is the huge open air market place in Marrakech. 

Djemma el Fna

I'm just so excited that this is actually going ahead.  We paid off our tickets on the weekend and now we just got to pay off the tour and book some accommodation and other stuff and we'll be set.

Let the Moroccan Odyssey begin!

Cam just bought me a new DS and I'm feeling slightly too materialistic.  Now I have a Wii, DS and PSP and what keeps popping into my head is all those people homeless and desolate after Cyclone Nargis in Burma and now the earthquake in China.  It's a bit of bad luck for Burma that the earthquake happened so soon after, because now the world will be focused on China and it will probably be lost as "last week's" tragedy especially since China is hosting the Olympic Games and all.  But the DS is very cool!  And now I can train my brain...

On another note, has anyone been watching Life in Cold Blood with David Attenborough?  That guy is awesome and some of the shots he gets are just incredible.  In one episode the camera is following a lizard running through the water and then the lizard stops, and the camera pans out and you see David Attenborough sitting on a rock just meters from where the lizard stopped talking about the lizard, and you just think, how did they set up that scene?!  I mean, how did they know the lizard was going to stop there?  Was David just sitting there for hours waiting for a lizard?  How did they do that?  There's nothing like a good documentary.  I think The Life Collection is going on the wishlist.

Oh, oh, oh and look up 'anacondas' on YouTube.  There is awesome footage of anacondas eating things.  

An article from The Age about the protesting taxi drivers caught my eye...

Drivers strip  

Around 300 taxi drivers sat at the intersection of Flinders and Swanston streets, many stripped of their shirts, holding up placards and protesting against violence and abuse of taxi drivers.

The protest started yesterday evening and continued overnight. One of the organisers, Indian-born taxi driver Jazz Randyboy, said the protest had been peaceful.

"Everyone is calm and still, we are not being angry," he said. "We will stay here until the matter is sorted, we will be here all day and even overnight again if we need to."

That's right Jazz Randyboy.  It's also funny when they refer to him as Mr. Randyboy.  Lol.

I know when people come here from overseas they sometimes give themselves a more pronounceable name but Jazz Randyboy? Maybe he was outside a gay stripclub at the time.

I wonder if Gordon Ramsay ever just goes, "Fuck it, I want KFC."

This is going to sound a bit weird but what's the big deal about incest? Why is it illegal?  I understand why it's taboo and that there are greater risks with having children with someone you're related to, but should that make it illegal?

Take for example, the case of John and Jenny Deaves that everyone is talking about.  They are two consenting adults and it wasn't like the father had manipulated his daughter when she was younger because they met later on in life when she was 31.

It just seems to me that these 2 people should be able to do what they want.

Call me ignorant, but I did not realise this was going on.  Apparently it's not a hoax either but you never know with these things.   I'd like to think I'm a pretty open-minded person but male pregnancy...that's just not natural.  It's just not how nature intended it to be.  I can see how it's a big scientific breakthrough but sometimes I worry that we meddle too much.

Recently I've been subjected to two quite major incidents which have made me wonder how it is that things don't fall apart. 

Incident 1: I bought tickets for a flight online for my dad and sister a few months back.  After a few weeks I was getting a bit worried because they hadn't charged by credit card so I gave them a call.  They said everything was confirmed and paid for but still nothing had come in on my credit card.  So the next week I gave them another call, same answer.  So the week after I gave them another call and confessed that I was worried because I hadn't actually been charged yet.  After a few minutes on hold, they come back with a, "Oh yeah, looks like there was a glitch in the system and your payment details haven't actually gone through".

Incident 2:  I moved out about 5 months back.  Before we moved in, I signed up to electricity and gas online.  Fast forward 5 months later, we get our first gas bill which is good but no electricity bill yet.  So I give them a call.  After about half an hour on hold, they come back with a, "Oh yeah, your electricity details were on the old system and we've now migrated to the new system.  We'll need to get someone out there to get your reading before we can send you your bill."

Which all makes me wonder, if I hadn't had called them up would I have gotten these things for free?  Would I have lived in my place for a year, two years, three years without having to pay electricity at all?  We rely on technology so much but it doesn't always get it right.  Programs are created by people like me and I've seen first hand some of the crap that gets put in.  It just makes me wonder how anything works at all.

Actually, it wasn't much of a geekfest.  There weren't as many people dressed up as elves as I thought there would be.  However for the few that did make an effort, I found it a bit strange that random strangers would come up to them and ask to take their photo with them.  I mean, it's just some girl dressed as a turtle.  A blue turtle.

Ok, I won't lie.  The main reason we were there was to meet the celebrities!  It was a bit of a rip off though...$20 to get in then $30 for each autograph you wanted.  So my sister, Cam and I chose a different person each.  Here are the photos!

James Kyson Lee is the coolest. Here he is posing with my sister.

James Kyson Lee

Jewel wouldn't take a photo with me because, and I quote, "We're not supposed to do that", which is fair enough but would it have hurt to just turn her head and smile?  I do look a bit overly excited there, but come on, this is the closest I've been to a celebrity ever!

Jewel Staite

And here is Cam with The Professor.  A bit older and greyer but he was so nice.  He had mini-conversations with each of his fans. 

John Rhys-Davies

Did anyone watch that interview they had with Armin Meiwes on 60 Minutes the other night?  To cut the story short, Armin killed and ate a man he met online however his victim, Bernd Brandes, volunteered to be eaten.  In fact, Bernd had fantasies about being eaten alive and Armin had fantasies about eating someone.  In a weird, twisted way, it is incredible that these two people with such extreme but complementary fantasies found each other. 

Initially Armin was charged with manslaughter and sentenced to 8 and a half years in prison but that has since been appealed by prosecutors and now he's been charged murder with life in jail.  It brings up an interesting question though, since Bernd did willingly give himself to Armin, but I suppose it relates to issues of euthanasia and people's rights.  We have a right to live, but not a right to die.

To hear Armin explain himself, you can almost feel sorry for him.  He said he wanted to eat someone so that a part of them would stay with him forever and that whomever he ate would have to voluntarily sacrifice themselves.  It would have to be a gift, not something he could take forcefully.  It almost sounds romantic, like something you could understand...wanting to keep someone with you forever.

Continuing with the topic of cannibalism, we watched Hannibal Rising the other day.  Not a particularly good movie, I wouldn't recommend it, but I did get something out of it.  Apparently the best part of an animal to eat is their cheeks.