MSG FX

NYC

2010-10-01T06:31:00.001-07:00

Sent from my mobile. Enjoy.
_____________________________________________________________

NYC is one of the unique cities that somehow seems dirtier every time it rains.

I saw a cabby cleaning his hands and face in a street puddle yesterday.

MSG: Memoirs From China

2009-06-15T17:34:00.002-07:00

Available at Create Space or Amazon.com.

How Long Americans Stay in Canada

2009-02-27T10:21:00.001-08:00

China’s Andy Rooney Has Some Funny Opinions About How Great The Chinese Government Is

2008-12-02T09:49:00.001-08:00

Chinaâ��s Andy Rooney Has Some Funny Opinions About How Great The Chinese Government Is

snoring...

2008-09-09T21:01:00.001-07:00

too many people

2008-05-15T18:59:00.001-07:00

published

2008-05-02T19:45:00.000-07:00

My picture is in the "Astor Theatre" section!

2008-04-13T21:57:00.000-07:00

A good article about Chinese youth:

China’s Loyal Youth

As a reminder

2008-03-05T10:34:00.001-08:00

Yes, MSG, the Secret Behind the Savor

Still being acknowledged. I'd like some more, please.

only it's snowing right now...

2008-02-06T16:05:00.000-08:00

cultural recycling

2008-01-04T11:10:00.000-08:00

Are there universal rules governing cultural recycling? Is there a fixed amount of time that needs to pass before one can appropriate a style? Or is it possible, like a perverted Dr Frankenstein, to revive something that is still alive? If so, what will happen when the appropriation of the past creeps closer and closer to the present? What happens when last week’s trends become this week’s trends, yesterday’s music becomes today’s music? What happens if our cultural recycling begins to overtake us and starts reviving events that have not even taken place yet? Will this finally be innovation, or will we simply be stealing from the future?

paranoia

2008-01-03T13:10:00.000-08:00

Welcome to 2008.

When I started this blog about 3 years ago, I was in a cold, gray, small town with a boring job, but interesting surroundings.

Today I'm sill in a cold, gray small city with a boring job but my surroundings aren't nearly as interesting.

Vancouver, BC. I've been here since September and been working this job since November. I only have a day and a half left in this office. Because I'm always actively job seeking, I'm always paranoid that someone will stumble upon this blog and get the wrong impression. So I won't disclose the company details as of yet. I also have a sick feeling that this day and a half might actually extend to the rest of my life.

Anyway, bring on 2008.

I'm going to go back to drawing in blue and black ink on post-it notes.

Santa's best location

2007-12-07T11:40:00.000-08:00

Efficiency:

Santa Claus should leave the North Pole and relocate to Kyrgyzstan to optimise the delivery of Christmas presents.

ok

2007-11-14T08:58:00.000-08:00

Flushed with success

Free Rice

2007-11-11T12:13:00.000-08:00

Procrastinate and feed someone:

My Hero

2007-10-31T18:42:00.001-07:00

dirty water

2007-10-26T14:31:00.001-07:00

I've now been in Vancouver for a litte over a month. It feels like 5 years. I'm still doing fuck-all.

A couple of weeks ago I was a train going to look at home furnishings, mostly thinking fight club type thoughts along the way.

Anyway, this big white guy was sitting behind me talking to an older Asian woman. I'm not sure if they knew each other before they got on the train. I would go quote by quote on their conversation, but I'm not sure if I fully remember it.

The general gist of the conversation was the white guy was telling the woman about the best heroin he had ever had being in Asia. Not surprising. However, he said that one has to be careful when they shoot up in Asia because the water is dirty, so you have to make sure to use bottled water when you fry your smack.

So here is my advice to you. Make sure that when you're in a developing country, you use bottled water (make sure the seal hasn't been broken) to add to your heroin when you fry it so you don't get sick when you shoot up.

She said she had missed her stop and got off at the next stop. So did he.

I continued on to buy home furnishings.

Notcot.org

2007-10-03T17:22:00.000-07:00

This is a great site:

http://www.notcot.org/

Hawaii

2007-10-03T11:00:00.001-07:00

This is me on my short vacation in Hawaii

Canada

2007-09-29T23:42:00.001-07:00

Canada Visa
Originally uploaded by knicole7.

I am now living in Vancouver, BC. It wasn't really cancelled.

empire

2007-08-28T05:03:00.000-07:00

Just like the British Empire.

truthism

2007-07-30T00:00:00.000-07:00

So, in the same breath that you say, "Oh my gosh, I went to this one stupid website and the guy said that aliens rule the world," you should also say, "Oh my gosh, I believe that humans rule the world, even though I have absolutely no proof for my belief." As you can see, one cannot just posit that humans rule the world. Where's the proof???

Church

2007-07-29T06:34:00.001-07:00

Horny
Originally uploaded by knicole7.

The best advice I've ever received from a church.

snow

2007-07-27T21:57:00.001-07:00

Odd picnic spot
Originally uploaded by knicole7.

So I decided to explore this Aussie snow a week ago, but am only writing about it now.

Yeah, it was alright. Crunchy. There was a decent amount of it. We went cross country skiing. I remember why I don't like cross country skiing now. It's all about downhill or snowboarding.

These people in the picture are picnicing in the parking lot. They're not sitting in the mud, they have a blanket. They also have a small stove and are making noodles. I sat there watching them for about 10 minutes while the other people in my party got ready to go. I have no idea why you would eat there when there are tables pretty close by. And just, why would you eat in a parking lot with all the exhaust and stuff? Strange.

Let see, what else. Stopped my boring job last week. Now I'm doing mostly nothing. Probably moving to Canada at the end of August. Not warm. But i'll probably go via some warm stuff. Really, I'm not entirely sure what I'm doing. I've even considered going back to China for a bit - well HK or Taiwan, but we'll see.

Anyway, yeah.

sunburnt country

2007-07-17T21:18:00.000-07:00

As most people should know, it is winter in Australia right now. Although if you were able to come here from January in the northern hemisphere, you probably wouldn't notice. I must say, Australia can't handle the cold for the life of them.

The surge in demand is largely caused by consumers using gas appliances to keep themselves warm as the temperature outside dipped close to freezing.

Close to freezing. We're not quite there yet.

Don't get me wrong, I'm the first to complain about the cold but that's mostly because central heating doesn't exist here, like in China. They just use their air conditioners as heaters. Not a good option.

I used to laugh at how the east coast in the US dealt with a little snow. If an Australian city were ever to get snow, the entire country would have to shut down (the picture above is from up in the mountains near the ski resorts, not in Melbourne.) Although I do hear that Melbourne did get snow once. It lasted for an hour.

VH1

2007-07-05T02:58:00.000-07:00

I get a large chunk of my american news from VH1 Best Week Ever podcast. I think it's probably just as good as CNN.

over it

2007-07-04T17:12:00.000-07:00

My new, fun work activity is rolling up a broken rubber band and then letting it go and watching the pattern it unrolls to. I'm thinking of making a movie of it.

The internet at my work is the slowest in the world. I was going to post an article like an hour ago but the flash gets all messed up, and the webpage never loads properly and then...

I can't remember what I was just writing about, someone came through with some candy and I had to pretend to be happy so I'd get a piece.

Anyway, i can't remember the article I was going to post. Something about how nobody cares about where you travel, actually, I'll try to find it since I'm not working anyway...

Why backpackers are so boring

Probably not that interesting, but I'm bored.

I might be going to East Timor (or 'Timor-Leste' as we like to call it in the 'in'), but I probably shouldn't say that because it's very iffy and if it doesn't happen, which it really might not, then people will say, 'so what happened with east timor?' and I'll have to invent a story.

It was independence day yesterday in the US of A, or today since it's still the 4th there. I celebrated by going to Chinatown for Chinese and going to see the musical Miss Saigon.

The American Dream.... (jazz hands!)

Work Space

2007-06-28T06:33:00.001-07:00

Work Space
Originally uploaded by knicole7.

My work after three weeks. I wish the post-it notes were clearer. Maybe I'll bring a better camera in next time.

Care package

2007-06-22T06:33:00.001-07:00

Care package
Originally uploaded by knicole7.

Because my mommy loves me...

argh

2007-06-21T06:31:00.000-07:00

Uncyclopedia me.

my credit card number

2007-06-16T06:18:00.000-07:00

Google Blasted Over Privacy

Google, the popular search engine, is under fire for having the worst privacy practices on the web. What do you think?

"Chinese exhibits"

2007-06-13T05:54:00.000-07:00

Dear God, why didn't I think of this?

Artist makes 1,001 Chinese his German art show entry

sleepy

2007-06-13T05:37:00.000-07:00

I'm tired. There's a bunch of things I should be doing right now, but I'm not doing them. Instead I'm a-bloggin.

For the first time in about 4 months I've had to wake up before 10am two days in a row. I would write about where I'm working, but if I do that then some people call me up from half way around the world and ask me why I don't have a real job and when I'm going to get with it and move back to the Western Hemisphere (you know who you are and it isn't my mother.) So anyway, maybe after I've been doing it for a while I'll clue you in. But I did sign a confidentiality agreement, so maybe I won't.

Alright, now that whoever is reading this is convinced that I'm a paranoid schizophrenic, I'll tell you a new story.

So I was at a wedding the other day. You can catch footage of it here, I'm too lazy to embed it. Anyway, there was the usual 'tossing of the bouquet deal'. I stood up because I was drunk and wanted to continue socializing with other people who had stood up to catch it (the other single girls I imagine.) Anyway, it was a trick bouquet that broke apart into five pieces and as I was sitting there chatting, one of the pieces fell into my hands. I was a bit surprised, as catching the bouquet was never my intention, so I tossed it to the girl next to me who immediately burst into tears of joy.

I really did not want that bouquet though.

So rest assured, this blogger isn't tying the knot any time soon.

saturday

2007-06-10T20:05:00.000-07:00

I don't know why my google videos only play in the corner of the screen, but it's annoying.

Anyway, that was Saturday night. I've finished my Master's degree (well hopefully) and we went out and partied it up as most of the people in my course are leaving the country soon.

Am I?

I don't know.

It was good times. There was laughter, tears, shots, passing out, curling up, dancing and so on.

messing around

2007-06-05T21:22:00.001-07:00

Anyway, clearly I've been messing around with the layout of my blog, since it's completely new now (yet again).

Here's another webpage I was working on for the past 4 months as part of a school project: Monash Uni Community Development.

funny drinks

2007-06-05T19:44:00.000-07:00

After eating lunch yesterday, I was thirsty, so I went to buy a drink.

Fortunately there was an Asian food shop nearby. I'm not sure how they do it, but everything in there is somehow under a dollar and yet all imported - even with Australia's tough quarantine laws.

Anyway, I bought the Nostalgia Drink:

The Korean kids I used to teach in Shanghai drank this. I think it tasted better then. Although the picture may look like a nice rice pudding, it's more like pure sugar water with bits of old cardboard at the bottom.

Anyway, about a year ago when I was working I came across the Sars brand:

Enough said.

And of course, there was McSars:

I definitely need a job...

mao drag

2007-05-28T19:24:00.000-07:00

a-mer-i-ca

2007-05-28T02:48:00.000-07:00

Pretty interesting article about the ol' USA:

http://www.theage.com.au/news/opinion/the-more-you-know-a-place-the-harder-it-is-to-judge/2007/05/27/1180205073484.html

Some particularly wise person once said that if you are going to write about America, you should do so after a short stay, maybe a few weeks, before you are overwhelmed by its diversity and the sheer size of the place, with all its contradictions, excesses and complexities.

I feel like I may have said something like that about China, or at least read it somewhere and didn't share it. I read that passage out to Adam and he said, "Well isn't it true?"

"I have no idea," I said. "It's always just been there for me. I might even call it 'normal'."

iGasm

2007-05-23T21:01:00.000-07:00

how fast do you go?

2007-05-17T06:16:00.000-07:00

the other one

2007-05-17T02:26:00.001-07:00

blog by association

2007-05-16T23:53:00.000-07:00

The other one wanted me to put this up on my blog because, "Nobody will see it" on his blog. Well maybe he should start trying to blog. I am happy that someone thinks people read my blog - a fine selection of family, occassional friends and shocked onlookers. Although I don't think I've written anything exceedingly 'shocking' recently.

Anyway here's the stuff:

Article here.

I can't be bothered to proof read this entry.

Amen

2007-05-15T06:32:00.000-07:00

We have long been in the habit of seeing in the Constitution whatever it is we want to see. Because liberals want a society that is neat and orderly, they tell themselves that this is what the Constitution “wants” as well. This is a little like a nineteenth-century country vicar arguing that the Bible stands for moderation, reform, and other such Victorian virtues when in fact, as anyone who actually reads the text can see, it is filled with murder, mayhem, and the arbitrary vengeance of a savage god. By the same token, the increasingly sophisticated scholarship surrounding the Second Amendment has led to renewed respect for the constitutional text as it is rather than as we would like it to be. The Constitution, it turns out, is not neat and orderly but messy and unruly. It is not modern but pre-modern. It is not the product of a time very much like our own but reflects the unresolved contradictions of a time very different from our own.

page of lies

2007-05-10T00:41:00.001-07:00

http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/lies

reading the palm

2007-05-07T02:11:00.000-07:00

I was at a dinner last night and got to talking to a friend I haven't seen in 4 months. He's been travelling and living in monasteries around Thailand, Myanmar and Cambodia. Anyway, he's a bit of a spiritual chap and was reading people's palms.

Apparantly I have no career line. I find this particularly disturbing as I'm in the process of looking for a career. Of course, I don't actually believe in palm reading, but you know, not such a good thing to hear. Also, my life line is shorter than most.

He went on to tell me that the palm changes every six months, but still...

still going in circles...

2007-04-18T17:27:00.000-07:00

Get This Widget!Great Turtle Race

sad

2007-04-17T18:35:00.000-07:00

Holocaust Survivor Killed in Va Shooting

Amazing life, only to end in a bloody American shooting. That's is probably indicative of something.

pink turtle

2007-04-17T05:09:00.000-07:00

http://www.greatturtlerace.com/

I, for one, am going for pink, but she seems to be a bit stagnant. So yellow also works for me.

sailin

2007-04-15T18:36:00.000-07:00

When I was living in China, I had a post about sailing.

“There are three tiers of teams in the Cup,” said Wang Chao Yong, the Chinese financier who leads China Team. “Now we are in the third tier, the bottom tier. By the next Cup, I would hope we’d be in the second tier, and then the next Cup after that, tier one.”

That is the sort of rapid progress that Chinese businessmen have come to expect in this go-go era. Like many Chinese entrepreneurs, Wang is using a joint venture to accelerate the process of becoming globally competitive.

There was an ad that used to be in the London Tube:

A black man is the best golfer,
Swiss are the best sailors,
It's time for England to make wine.

That kind of reminds me of this China America Cup deal.

If China wins the America's cup... well, quite frankly, it's all over.

panda abortion

2007-04-13T00:41:00.001-07:00

Panda Demands Abortion

Bouncy

2007-04-12T01:39:00.001-07:00


Classes are back in session, and I have more of a reason to procrastinate...

And so on

2007-04-10T20:48:00.001-07:00

And so on
Originally uploaded by knicole7.

We actually bought these dumplings about a month ago and they've been sitting in our fridge. We saw the ingredients at the time, but I lied to Adam and said it didn't have MSG, which, if you remember previous posts from about 2 years ago and the lessons I taught, you should clearly be able to see that that is made clear in the Chinese ingredients.

I'm not sure how they got away with putting 'Flour, Cabbage, Sugar, Salt, and so on' on the English ingredients. Why have any label at all?

Anyway, they're good and providing me with my regular doses of MSG. Mmmmmm.

lines

2007-03-20T04:16:00.000-07:00

I've spent the past 45 minutesish trying to change the layout of my blog, thinking that something a bit more interesting would persuade me to blog more often, and now I've decided I've just been procrastinating from actually blogging.

I think a lot of stuff is going on, but most of it is pretty boring to write about. Back in classes, finished some work experiences, agro over other work experiences, agro over my university, painfully looking for a career, etc, etc. Nothing too exciting. But I think I should tell a story, so let me try to come up with something...

Seriously, I don't think I can come up with anything. I can bitch about my university billing me for a refund they were supposed to give me, solar cars and alternative technologies, transmission lines, trams, politics of event planning, people who work in insurance, funny things on the beach or frisbees but they're all kind of boring individual stories. So I'll just pick one at random and write about it anyway since I'm procrastinating and feel like I should have something of mild substance.

I'm in a class called Community Development, I believe I'm design a webpage for it as my final project, but that's not the story I'm going to tell, just an aside.

Anyway, I had a work experience as the company who runs all the electricity transmission and distribution lines and gas distribution lines in the state of Victoria. I was helping the evaluate a way to measure their ecological footprint. It was a bit challenging, but also quite interesting. Anyway, as I had little knowledge of the transmission and distribution biz, one day I was taken on a field trip to drive out to the country and see all the transmission centers and distribution centers. It was pretty neat. I got to pass into the fence that says 'Do not enter' and even walk into the little houses. They buzz (everything in the fence), and you can feel the electricity run through you. It's quite powerful. The little house was neat. Just thousands and thousands of switches all controlling the energy grid, or would be, but it's a 20 year system that has been upgraded and changed, so now all the grids are controlled from computers in an office in the inner city. But one could feel powerful being able to switch off at random energy sources for unknown parts of the state.

Here we have our wireless connections, high speed computers, stereos, phones, lights - all this stuff depended on something most people know nothing about and give little thought to until the bill comes in or you do something like move house and have to activate it, but most of the little gadgets in our life are entirely dependent on it. And the system is totally antiquated. A significant amount of electricity is lost in the transmission and distribution before it even reaches the end user. This is like having a car with a leaking tank. If that were the case, we'd fix that pretty quickly, but like a leaking tank, the dated power lines we see in our every day life lose copious amounts of electricity as they zip around the energy. While we've managed to upgrade everything else electrical in our lives, we've given little regard to what makes them work to begin with.

Anyway, next time you see an electrical pole, just look at it for a second and think how out of place it actually is. Everything else is all sleek and new looking except this old pole that is exactly the same as when we were all kids.

There was nothing funny in that story. I apologize for that. I did get to wear a hard hat though as I was touring around.

Blessed

2007-03-19T16:28:00.000-07:00

Finally, a sign from God. And I thought one with Chinese girls in Shanghai was good enough...

CFCs

2007-02-22T17:11:00.000-08:00

“If it were something so bad,” Mr. Bothelo said, “they would not legally sell it.”

Well, we've all been waiting for the environmental rant on the blog, seeing as I'm an 'environmentalist', but not yet, not quite yet...

let's stereotype

2007-02-06T21:07:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! A little over a month late, but the Chinese New Year is coming (or may be now, I only know when it's close) so I'm not that far off.

Speaking of Chinese, and the reason why I got on to blog to begin with, I came across an article today:

Sold on a Stereotype

It's true. The Chinese do worship the Jewish people. You here the aw in their voice every time you bring it up. I may have blogged about it in 2005, I'm not sure. Anyway, I wonder if they realize that the rest of the world, when stereotyping, tend to group the Chinese along with the Jewish when it comes to business. Oh wait, maybe that's just me.

Anyway, I'm no longer temping, I'm an environmental consultant for 2 companies. This means, that when I'm not working at work, I'm losing money because I'm not being paid hourly, I'm being paid by the job. Which works out to about 20 cents/hour. Much much less than I was making temping. But much better work. And it may lead to something other than more temp opportunities.

Also, as you can tell by my flickr pictures, I was in New Zealand for two and a half weeks. Good times. Lovely country. A little under populated and isolated, but it is beautiful. Apparently I get sea sick when I kayak. Not that much fun.

Anyway, back to 'work' - clearly that's what I was doing reading the Washington Post.

hu's on first

2006-12-23T01:04:00.000-08:00

George: Condi! Nice to see you. What's happening?
Condi: Sir, I have the report here about the new leader of China.
George: Great. Lay it on me.
Condi: Hu is the new leader of China.
George: That's what I want to know.
Condi: That's what I'm telling you.
George: That's what I'm asking you. Who is the new leader of China?
Condi: Yes.
George: I mean the fellow's name.
Condi: Hu.
George: The new leader of China.
Condi: Hu.
George: The Chinaman!
Condi: Hu is leading China.
George: Now what are you asking me for?
Condi: I'm telling you, Hu is leading China.
George: Well, I'm asking you. Who is leading China?
Condi: That's the man's name.
George: That's whose name?
Condi: Yes.
George: Will you or will you not tell me the name of the new leader of China?
Condi: Yes, sir.
George: Yassir? Yassir Arafat is in China? I thought he was in the Middle East.
Condi: That's correct.
George: Then who is in China?
Condi: Yes, sir.
George: Yassir is in China?
Condi: No, sir.
George: Then who is?
Condi: Yes, sir.
George: Yassir?
Condi: No, sir.
George: Look, Condi. I need to know the name of the new leader of China. Get me the Secretary General of the U.N. on the phone.
Condi: Kofi?
George: No, thanks.
Condi: You want Kofi?
George: No.
Condi: You don't want Kofi.
George: No. But now that you mention it, I could use a glass of milk. And then get me the U.N.
Condi: Yes, sir.
George: Not Yassir! The guy at the U.N.
Condi: Kofi?
George: Milk! Will you please make the call?
Condi: And call who?
George: Who is the guy at the U.N?
Condi: Hu is the guy in China.
George: Will you stay out of China?!
Condi: Yes, sir.
George: And stay out of the Middle East! Just get me the guy at the U.N.
Condi: Kofi.
George: All right! With cream and two sugars. Now get on the phone.
(Condi picks up the phone.)
Condi: Rice, here.
George: Rice? Good idea. And a couple of egg rolls, too. Maybe we should send some to the guy in China. And the Middle East. Can you get Chinese food in the Middle East?

2006-12-19T19:56:00.000-08:00

This is the building I work in:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200612/s1815072.htm

Did I mention in my blog yesterday that I got a raise after coming back to work from calling in sick for 4 day?

Well, I did.

Only 2 days left...

temporary

2006-12-19T00:23:00.000-08:00

I am a temp.

“Yeah, big deal Nicole. Nobody cares.”

I know. Lots of people temp. Lots of people temp regularly. I didn’t want to be that person, but it appears that without trying I have been a temp on and off for the past 7 years of my life. That actually adds up to having temping be something I’ve done more than anything else. Depressing really.

So how did I get drawn in. I need money. Everyone knows that finding a job is hell. The temp agencies take care of everything. The pay, the interview, arranging a time. Too easy. Right?

Let me take you through a typical day.

I get in to the ‘office’ (a computer lab at RMIT that is closed while we’re there) at about 9:05ish. I then check my email and read Google News. At around 9:15/20ish I go up and get my work for the first part of the day. I then come back to my desk, read some more news, see if anyone interesting is online and briefly search for jobs. After I’ve done this for another 5-10 minutes, I get up and make a cup of tea. I then wait for the tea bag to infuse and wonder around for another 5 minutes or so blowing on my tea trying to cool it down.

I begin doing actual work at about 9:45ish. I enroll students for their courses. It’s amazingly boring and right now they don’t have enough work for all the temps they hired, so the longer I take to add the students, the longer I get to stay at work and be paid.

Anyway, between checking my email, reading the news, wondering around making tea and going to the bathroom, I probably only do real work for about an hour a day.

What you may be saying to yourself right now is something along the lines of, “Well Nicole, that’s why you’re a temp.” But really it’s not my fault. If they had work for me to do, I’d be happy to do it quickly and efficiently. If it’s a job I enjoy doing, no worries. I love doing work that is interesting. Or where I feel I’m actually accomplishing something.

This doesn’t really happen in temp jobs. So, if any potential employers are reading this, don’t worry, I work hard. Look at my resume, I have to. Unless you plan on giving me mindless data entry work to do, then I might not work so hard. And, I wouldn’t have applied to you through anything but a temp agency at that point anyway.

Whatever, this assignment was supposed to be four weeks long. We had four days of training the first week. The second week I missed four day because I had a conference in Canberra I got a scholarship for (so really I can’t complain much since they let me come back to work after calling in sick for 4 days.) This past week was boring, and I already finished off Monday and Tuesday. They told most of the people not to come in tomorrow, but I stuck around long enough so they found something for me to do tomorrow and the rest of the week. And we have a half-day of work on Friday. So really, I only have two and a half days left.

I can live with that.

*Christ, I was just reading this over and realized that if a potential employer ever came across this blog, I should be worried about a lot more than this post. Oh well. Laugh employer, laugh. You know you want to. Not at me, dear god not at me, but at life.

Melbourne Sun

2006-12-17T02:39:00.000-08:00

martian dawn
Originally uploaded by mugley.

There have been many bushfires around Melbourne lately. We had a really dry winter and now we're paying. I'm not sure many people in the world realise this, but Australia burns down every year. This year is particularly bad, but nonetheless, it's not a surprise. This isn't my picture - mine aren't as good, but this is what it looked like for days. The city was so smokey it was unbelievable. Almost like I was back in China. Almost.

I haven't been blogging much. This is probably due to a number of reasons, namely, I'm lazy. However, as you can see from my previous post, I am still making my short films.

I've been forced to do what I said I'd never do again. No, I'm not teaching in China, I'm temping for a couple weeks. During the day I'm entering the data of thousands of entering students into the Royal Melbourne Institue of Technology (RMIT - the other/royal MIT).

Anyway, that's not bad. Just mindless motion and brain cells being sucked away by the hourly pay. However, on Wednesday I received a call from another temp agency asking if I was available that night. There was an election here a couple weeks ago and they needed a recount of ballots. Apparently the US isn't the only one who fucks up.

Anyway, I need the cash so I decided to go. I arrived at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre. A building so awesome in it's sheer mass you are surprised the meer humans could have built it; however, given the lack of intricate design and aesthetic quality, it doesn't seem that difficult to conceive.

So I arrived at this massive building and followed the stream of temps down to the last and final "room" of the exhibition centre. I quote 'room' because it was the size of an airplane hanger. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Before we entered the room we were all forced to sit outside and wait until 6 o'clock. At 6 a woman from the Victoria Election Committee came out and asked all the data entry temps to line up. That wasn't me. They lined up and were taken into the massive 'room'.

We waited another 5 minutes or so and then the same woman came out and asked the rest of us to line up. The guy in front of me was drunk.

We filed into the hanger, signed our names on a piece of paper and then were shuffled through to some tables and told to find a seat if there was one available, otherwise, they'd find something else for us to do.

I found a seat.

There was an Irish girl who was already sitting when we arrived and looked up from her book when we sat down.

"Do you know what you're in for?" she asked.

Before we could reply she continued, "We've been sitting here for an hour and a half. We were counting for a bit then told to go on break, and now we've just been sitting here."

I didn't know what we were in for. I didn't know what counting votes entails. I just always took it for granted.

Anyway, they asked the temps who'd been sitting there for an hour to switch to a different table or go on break. Most of them just switched tables and the Irish girl was replaced by an Australian family.

Mother, father, daughter, daughter, son all sat across from me. Until that moment I wasn't aware that families registered together at temp agencies. And what a family. I could probably write a book on them, but I'll just keep it at this: They were a bit 'bogan'. If you don't know what that means, look it up.

Anyway, after a good 45 minutes (paid, thank god), the woman, I'll call her God, came up and gave us instructions for counting votes. We were to be handed a stack of 50 votes. We were first supposed to count to make sure there were 50 pieces of paper, and then go through to see that a 1, or check, or x was placed in the correct box. If not, they would take the ballot and replace it with one that was and so we'd have a stack of 50 votes for one party.

We were all given rubber thimbles and began. Sounds easy, right?

Well, it was, except for the scrutineers. What, you may ask, is a Scrutineer? Well, I'll tell you. They are volunteers for the various parties that walk around and have their say on whether the votes are being counted properly. They'd been there since 6 this morning and were not happy and were not getting paid hourly. I hate them. I understand thier function - fairness and all - but they're just annoying.

I got in a fight with one. The voter had clearly marked a one in the box and she was disputing it. She called over 4 different officers, we all argued over it, and then it was withdrawn to be further discussed.

Anyway, I was there until midnight. I took off at that point, I think others stayed until 4 in the morning, but I just wasn't committed to Australia's democracy on that level. Plus, I had to waste more brain cells at my other data entry job in the morning.

The moral of the story is that somewhere between the drunk guy and the scrutineer, I lost the little faith I had in democracy.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Democracy simply doesn't work.

on a walk

2006-12-17T01:47:00.000-08:00

Free Willy

2006-12-01T03:51:00.000-08:00

The whales are fighting back.

And really, I'm surprised it hasn't happened sooner. You take them out of the lovely oceans, although they are becoming ever increasingly polluted, which are much nicer than the fishbowl they stick them in at sea world. All those noisy children with their sweet snacks, crying, laughing, pointing...

At least in the ocean, all you have to put up with is Greenpeace. I'm not sure, what's worse? Greenpeace or some fat kid hovering and staring with his ice cream?

I guess we all live in some kind of fishbowl.

I had some Chinese food earlier. It may or may not have contained msg.

By the way, I don't like Greenpeace, but I don't think I'll get into why in this blog.

Horny America

2006-11-12T16:55:00.000-08:00

Much of what we know about Benjamin Franklin (child out of wedlock), Alexander Hamilton (extra-marital affair), Thomas Jefferson (relationship and child with slave Sally Hemings), and Aaron Burr (multiple extra-marital conquests and relationships) comes down to us from that same early American media. For political manhood, it seems, the model of monogamy has changed little.

the worst part is he didn't get the photo

2006-11-08T23:56:00.000-08:00

I realize there was an election, and the Democrats finally have control of the house and most likely senate, and Rumsfeld has resigned - all of this I'm absolutely ecstatic about but,

how funny is this?

nicole folds a crane

2006-11-05T23:07:00.000-08:00

Panda Sneezes

2006-11-05T03:57:00.000-08:00

What?

2006-11-02T16:50:00.000-08:00

Just...

What?

Sex? Dolphins? Fate?

2006-11-01T16:35:00.000-08:00

Two Things -

1.)

Do you see the dolphins in this? Because it took me awhile.

2.)Fate

freedom of sp**ch

2006-10-30T16:30:00.000-08:00

"Call to Bloggers" to stand up for freedom ahead of world meeting on future of Internet

Come back Jon!

2006-10-30T02:48:00.000-08:00

Well, it's a sad day for me today.

YouTube is no longer going to allow copyrighted material. Which is a shame. Where am I going to get my Daily Show from now? Although I hear you can get it from the Comedy Central webpage. But it's so funny. I can't wait until it's legally put up on the internet.

I think intellectual property should be free for all. Unless it's mine. Then you better pay up you stealing bastards.

Deep Fried Coke

2006-10-26T18:35:00.000-07:00

Overweight? What?

What's your number?

2006-10-16T23:28:00.000-07:00

Number 300 Million: Latino newborn Los Angeles boy

I wonder what number I was. Of course number 200,000,000 went to Harvard. He had the perfect entrance essay. I wonder if 300,000,000 will be as successful? Maybe he'll move back to Mexico and change his citizenship. Ahh, the future. (and yes, I'm assuming 'Latino' means Mexican. Proove me wrong 300,000,000, prove me wrong. I hope that's what his parents named him.)

300,000,000 is a lot of people. Australia got excited when it hit 20,000,000 a couple years ago. That's less than tenth of my motherland and barely a fraction of China's 1,600,000,000. This may be the most amount of zeros I've blogged.

So the question is, if you take 300,000,000 and divide that by 1,600,000,000 and then divide 20,000,000 by the result, what do you get?

The Soa-Cah-Toa of my golden triangle.

Sticky Date Pudding Blog

2006-10-15T20:05:00.000-07:00

Since I keep this one so up to date, Adam and I have started another blog:

http://sticky-date-pudding.blogspot.com/

Because the desert is so yummy and sticky. I love it and it's not even chocolate. Or cheese.

Clap Your Hands and Say Yeah

2006-10-11T04:04:00.000-07:00

Seriously though, this is pretty cool -

A chinese chick has beat Oprah and it's for doing something environmentally sound.

I am impressed.

sweet dreams

2006-10-05T03:41:00.000-07:00

Dreaming permits each and every one of us to be quietly and safely insane every night of our lives.
- William Dement

I should have gone to Thailand

2006-09-27T22:58:00.001-07:00

"People should differentiate between entertainment and seriousness. A coup is not entertaining,"

I should have gone to Thailand

2006-09-27T22:58:00.000-07:00

"People should differentiate between entertainment and seriousness. A coup is not entertaining,"

puppetry of the penis

2006-09-27T06:05:00.000-07:00

I normally try to avoid posting China stuff, but I just couldn't resist this one:

"...And does it have any particular potency? "No. People just like to order tiger to show off how much money they have."
Welcome to the People's Republic of China - tigers beware...

..."Oh yes," she adds, "the same group also ate an aborted reindeer foetus..."

But really though, if I still were in China, I'd be blocked from reading this BBC article.

(Also, I would like to not-so-subtly point out my tie in with Australia via my title.)

My Summer Exercise

2006-09-23T23:51:00.000-07:00


So I've decided jogging is overrated and I urban acrobatics looks much more fun. I hope the music is playing the entire time I'm doing it. Do you think I should take a lesson first?

Blast from the past

2006-09-20T06:50:00.000-07:00

Pajama-Rama in Shanghai

honor bound

2006-09-19T06:21:00.000-07:00

A couple years ago, my rant de jour was that if America banned gay marriage in the constitution I would change my citizenship. Which is still true. But now that extends to the new interpretation of torture. Making someone feel as if they are almost drowing or freezing to death is so fucked up, that I shouldn't even have to write about how wrong it is. But yes, if that is allowed or continued to be allowed, I'm out.

Also, in semi-related news, I went to see the performance "Honour Bound" this past weekend. Absolutely stunning. If it leaves Australia, or if you're in the area, I highly recommend seeing it. It will never get to America though.

I don't take these quizes until I get the answer I want

2006-09-14T08:07:00.000-07:00

You Belong in San Francisco

You crave an eclectic, urban environment. You're half California, half NYC.

You're open minded, tolerant, and secretly think you're the best.

People may dismiss you as a hippie, but you're also progressive, interesting, and rich!

Where Does Your Inner Californian Belong?

Soy Chai Latte

2006-09-10T05:15:00.000-07:00

Is there anything better in terms of warm beverages? I don't think so. Maybe hot chocolate sometimes. Tea is good as a base, but it doesn't normally make me happy in a way chai or hot chocolate can. I don't drink coffee. I'm having a soy chai latte as I type this. And I'm reasonably happy.

Reasonably?

Well it is Sunday night and I have class and a meeting with my supervisor and I was just doing some assignments, etc. Which is all fine and good. I don't even know what I'm blogging anymore.

I hate when people blog about their actual boring lives. Like the fact that chai makes them happy and they're giving you an up-to-date account of what they're drinking at the moment. Fucking annoying.

I learned how to fold cranes. There will be a new release soon concerning that. If I get around to it. And I have another project I'm working on. But that one is taking a bit of time. Not much effort, but definitely a fair chunk of time. It may be released before the crane. It depends on if I get around to charging my batteries for my camera or not.

So anyway, other than that (just had another sip of chai, fyi) yeah class, etc. Planning a road trip at the end of the month. Not like I've been keeping this blog up to date (no -'s this time) or anything. So by reading this, all it looks like I'm doing is surfing youtube and torturing birds.

Pretty much.

I bet it would make you happy if you drank that.

Why did the man cross the road?

2006-09-04T03:32:00.000-07:00

He heard the chicken was a slut.

skinny

2006-08-25T03:41:00.000-07:00

only 40%

2006-08-20T05:15:00.000-07:00

of Americans accept evolution.

Unbelievable.

baby

2006-08-18T01:33:00.000-07:00

nicole's bird

2006-08-13T04:02:00.000-07:00

troika

2006-07-24T22:18:00.000-07:00

troika
Originally uploaded by awgreen.

this is a good bar in Melbourne.

I recommend it.

sugar lips

2006-07-24T06:23:00.000-07:00

These aren't mine btw.

stemcell, etc.

2006-07-20T21:50:00.000-07:00

happy

2006-07-16T18:35:00.000-07:00

Reflecting

2006-07-12T23:20:00.000-07:00

Reflection
Originally uploaded by knicole7.

I was goign to try and make another short flick today called nicole walks through federation sqare to catch a tram but my camera ran out of batteries. Next time.

I believe I wrote a blog over a year ago about the powers of 10 movie. Well, in fed square today there was an exhibition on it. Which is a bit of a coincidence because I was talking about it the other day.

Sorry, that was a boring thing to write.

I'll come up with something more amusing:

Computer games don't affect kids. If Pacman would have affected us as children, we would now run around in darkened rooms, munching pills and listening to repetetive music.

I'm scared of ghosts too. And I think fruit gives me points and power.

Nicole's Snack

2006-07-11T00:53:00.000-07:00

Chinese Sustainablity

2006-07-10T22:48:00.000-07:00

I had something today - maybe not an epiphany, but something. Maybe a realization.

Anyway, I received an invitation to apply for the Asia-Pacific Leadership Program on Environment and Sustainable Development in Shanghai today. After seeing the cost as $2000 excluding airfare, I'm probably not going to apply.

But that wasn't my something. So I was reading the material wondering how China can portray itself as the leader of Environment and Sustainability in the Asia Pacific without any hint of flawed reasoning (I don't think that's the expression I want either.)

Anyway, the something I had was that this must be how people feel about America when we hold similar conferences. Pretty much, "God you're full of shit."

baa

2006-07-04T03:15:00.000-07:00

What do you call a sheep with no legs?

A cloud!

trash

2006-06-16T10:22:00.000-07:00

wherever i am in the world, i wake up to the sound of trash collectors...

the devoted few

2006-06-15T23:19:00.000-07:00

hooty hoo hoo!!! i'm in america. vicky is blogging so i am too. i had a bit to drink tonight. i'm at josh's. i want to spell it joshes.

this makes no sense. fuckigna . boring.

i had a point to this. i don't remember what. something about life and what not.

saw an inconvenient truth. not bad.

we're all going to hell.

wait, i don't really believe it. ashes to asheas, dust to dust.

I fixed the title!

2006-05-29T00:45:00.000-07:00

and there's not always a squiggly A thingy...!

2006-05-29T00:43:00.000-07:00

Okay, so the widget works, but 2 annoying things. There appears to be some wierd A squiggle thing after paragraphs, and I can't put on a title. Is it worth it? Possibly.

As you can see by my flickr photos, I've done some stuff. I went and saw some animals 2 weekends ago. Australian animals. Cool.

I went to a ball because I was peer pressured into it. For the Master's course I'm doing here, an MA in International Development and Environmental Analysis - MIDEA. That's what the ball was for. My dress was too big and kept slipping down. That's why I had the scarf on all night, to protect my boobies.

We went and saw my friend Steve spin at a cool bar afterwards. I had a drink called absinthe minded - guess what's in that. I was pretty drunk. Adam wasn't very drunk. So we left reasonable early, but Steve had stopped spinning anyway.

I didn't do much this past weekend. I went and ate Jamaican food on Friday. It was good. Goat and curry. And sticky date pudding, which is actually Australian, not Jamaican.

I just realized another annoying thing, this editor doesn't let you write much.

I also drew on my bed this weekend. In pencil. I'm not sure if I like it enough to ink it over.

Oh right, and my assignments...