A year ago today

A year ago today, I don't know maybe, half the people I associate/socialise with now. A year ago today I was 17, a year ago today I was... obsessed with McFly, and I still am.

A year ago today, I posted a blog on MySpace (I used MySpace back then), a year ago I posted a blog titled... "And so I screamed". Janelle probably remember this particular blog, I talked about the content for days, I talked about the object involved in the entry for days, I still talk about them like they are my babies. In fact, they ARE my babies, I treasure them with all my heart, my soul, my life. So, exactly what are they I hear you ask. Well good, you asked, the objects I blogged about today a year ago, the objects I'm blogging about now, are two CDs. Two, brilliant CDs. Two CDs by 4 of the sexiest males in Britian, 4 very talented males, 4 very childish however mature at time, males.

Okay I'll say the M word, they're McFly. A day ago today, I managed to buy, TWO McFly CDs.

Here's an extract from the said blog entry a year ago today:
And by chance I see an HMV store, right?

And so I walked in and asked the guy, whether there's any McFly CDs in (to try my luck) right?

And he said yes (and at this point, my knees are going weak and I'm making victorious squeals and hand gestures and stuff) right?

Oh no I didn't scream on the way to the shelf... and yes it was on a shelf, and yes I saw quite a collection of McFly CDs (and after hard searches throughout HK, I am finally seeing for my own eyes, actual McFly CDs).

The other guy showed us there, and when I saw them, I couched down to have a close look (and yep there they were, a few McFly CDs and some DVDs), I screamed.

Yes ladies and gentlemen, I screamed.

The guy was like "Miss, calm down! Calm down! Are you okay? Do you need oxygen? Are you sure? Do you want some water?" and Ki's standing there laughing her head off.


Yes, that happened exactly a year ago today, it was that day, my life changed.

Okay I'm just being cheesy now. But see, before that day, it was "Before McFly", after that day, it's "After McFly", bit like BC and AD. Before Christ and After Christ.

Anyway, I just realised today is that day. That, amazing, brilliant, fantastic day. And I just want to have a toast to myself, "here's to owning and keeping those CDs in pristine conditions for an entire year, bravo Tiffi, bravo". And my stomach's jumping up and down because of the fact that I remembered, today, is the CDs and my anniversary, our union. Okay that was wayy too lame. But yeh. Sorry to you Maree if you're reading this, I know I yelled about it via MSN the moment I realised, but I want to blog about it as I did a year ago today.

Also, since I'm reflecting about last year, a year ago today I was in winter, now I'm in summer, a year ago today my life was jolly and good and well, now half my family hates me. Also, a year ago today, I was pretty damn ignorant about what the heck is going on around me, now I'm wiser, less ignorant and extremely depressed, excellent, I'm now old and wise, like Dumbledore.

'Photojournalism'

Philippines I 141

A fly on my grandma's grave

   Philippines II - 10 Dec 08 064

Intramuros; literally 'In the walls'. Old Manila where once Jose Rizal -- the Filipino National Hero whose stories were rote learned way back when -- fought and was held captive and eventually sent to his execution. Sort of.

Philippines II - 10 Dec 08 089

It's the loch ness monster -- tech-Asianified!

Philippines II - 10 Dec 08 108--

Because the statue is more hardcore than us. It's also the most human looking. I bet you can't tell which one is me now! (cough)

Philippines II - 10 Dec 08 125

Before you say anything: go put on your yellow hat.

A Pictorial Update






In no particular order:

Cooking Adventures

While I can't say cooking is anywhere near as exciting as exploding Thermite in Topher's backyard, I will say it has its moments. Anyone who knows me knows I can't cook for shit (although I can make scrambled eggs and 2 minute noodles), and I've recently taken it upon myself to learn. The other night I attempted to make spaghetti bolognaise.

I ended up with soggy spaghetti and a sauce that had way too much tomato in it. Johanna, who's had experience cooking, consoled me over my loss.

"Yeah, when I made spaghetti the [first time] ... I screwed up was the sauce. Then mum fixed it for me. It doesn't matter though, Ate Janelle; even if someone dies [eating it], mum can fix it when she gets home."

I love her dearly.

And yes, Maree, that is a direct copy and paste. But shh. :P


Anyhow, I'm off to a distant land. Look after Monkey Socks for me.

Thermite

According to Merriam-Webster, Thermite is "a mixture of aluminum powder and a metal oxide (as iron oxide) that when ignited evolves a great deal of heat and is used in welding and in incendiary bombs."

It's not really something you see kids playing with -- but lo and behold, the engg gang are a sure exception.

We burned a hole right through a piece of what Topher thought was either steel or aluminium. And we have evidence.



















How long can you hold on for?


Tonight we were watching some tennis, one of our members really needed to go to the toilet when she came across this sign. Let's hope they improve this before they open the State Tennis Centre I do feel that disembowel would have been a better threat.

Here is a artistic render once it has been completed, no not the toilets, the tennis centre.

Getting on the Bandwagon

Appears to me that everyone's avoiding study to a degree.

I'm gonna be honest, I haven't studied in two days. Just can't concentrate y'know? So what have I done? I've watched Sex and the City reruns, Janice Dickenson shows, Supernatural, whatever. I've been watching TV.

But most of all, I've been tweaking my desktop.
Print screen time?
Window Vista and Mac Leopard had a baby, and the said baby is obsessed with McFly.

Oh how bored I am

My Captivity, Day 2:
I would like to note, first up, that never have I opened up this blogging website so much, and discovered pretty much a new post everyday from those of us failing to study. Clearly, I am not alone. I would also like to note that WOW Janelle you can type a very long post.

Warning to all who read: This day was made up of immensely girly activities and the only reason I am posting this nonsense is because I am bored and people say I don't blog enough. Anyway, to continue on with my story:
Well, as you may have noticed, yesterday I posted a video. Today, to avoid study, I did some maintenance to the good old body. First I went for a walk/run around the house [the outside of the house that is]. Yes, I could have gone off down the street with Aggie on the lead but 1) I dont like going out alone on the streets in case any of the neighbours dogs are out [I don't think I could take on that savage Border Collie up the road on my own and I don't think Aggie would be much use in the protection department] and 2) to go out up the street would require locking Lily and Boo away and then taking Aggie out. Why go to all that effort when I could just run around the house with 3 dogs in tow?
Afterwards, I had a shower, shampooing twice and conditioning (I only shampooed twice because the cheap stuff failed to create the smooth affect I was after). I then plucked my eyebrows (although I finished that quickly cos I'm not one for pain) and then moved on to scrubbing my feet with some stuff I bought from the body shop earlier in the year. This involved getting a bucket from the laundry and sitting in the middle of the lounge room with a towel under my feet. I then moisturised as I have noticed I've been suffering from dry skin lately. I discovered I was really desperate to avoid study when I noticed I was actually using a moisturiser that smelt like mandarins that I got in my christmas stocking last year and haven't actually used because I hate the smell. I used a fair decent amount of the stuff too. I also painted my freshly cut nails. I would like to note the advantages of clear nail polish - people won't notice if it gets a chip in it AND if you go over the "lines". It also creates a nice shiney affect.
Have I bored you yet?
Expect one of these again on Friday [study will not be happening tomorrow as I am out visiting].
To those that I can not be social with: I miss you all.
Signing out,
The Captive

That's a problem

(Funny, because I know this is the wrong genre for Monkey Socks and far too long.)

If you let your environment take control, you begin paying a lot less attention. That’s the difficulty of integration; ignorance allows you to lose track of your destination. Microsoft Word 2007 was a major change for me but I never bothered to study it. Who needs instruction manuals? I worked it out mostly, but Word 2007 is far more complex than Word 2003 – it needs to take into account compatibilities with older versions. You can convert documents into XPS and PDF. The Equation Editor has had a facelift – is far prettier – but won't allow 100% customization; in Word 2003, you could specify fonts regardless of notational convention. Now, Cambria Math is requisite.

Word 2007 follows a new organisational system. It is ironically the programmer’s role to think logically about users’ intuition (however oxymoronic);

Would they rather a ribbon or a drop-down menu? We invented the drop-down menu!

We sadly live in a society that expects everything at the push of a button and skim-reads anything longer than 200 words. Each of us is playing catch-up with technology.

Hey, I can use tabs! Oh crap, which tab is which? Let's try add-ons! Now ColourfulTabs is updating and so is PDFDownload. DownItAll's not compatible with Firefox 3.0! Let's make an add-on!

We're forever creating and changing ourselves to fit in. My Maths lecturer nearly broke down discussing Course Evaluation Forms last month.

'Guys, guys, it's great that you tell us what you find wrong with the course,' she said, 'but could you please tell us what we're doing right?

‘We can't go on changing everything because then we don't know what we're doing right – and then we're back at square one!'

Call me an old fart, but the problem with society is that kids are too 'smart'. They know what's happening but don't care enough to do anything about it. We know what we're 'wrong'. We know that swearing is disrespectful. We know that sitting all day in front of our computers isn't healthy. We know that alcohol is bad for us. We know that cigarettes cause lung cancer and that music is more influential than it should be. We know that 'the media' is full of ‘shit’ (yet love being spoon-fed) and we know that magazines are a form of expensive advertising. We poke fun at the Courier Mail and yet read Crikey! (which is more outlandish and biasing in its language choices) religiously. We know that not having boyfriends/girlfriends won't kill us and argue that in other societies twelve-year-olds are getting married; we also say 'it's just for fun' and are aware that divorce rates are incredibly high in Australia. We also know that education is incredibly important but don't know how to prioritise for the future; emotions override repeatedly.

We live in a world of now, now, now, because we have everything and obsess over customization. We have families that look after us and present-day society is babied by adults, despite there being more elderly people in nursing homes than children – and that’s just Australia. The United Nations introduced the Declaration of the Rights of the Child in 1959. In 1977 George Benson released Greatest Love of All, proclaiming that 'children are the future' and no longer 'seen and not heard'. Kids (in Western Society) don't desire to grow up; they fear aging and becoming wrinkly. Who needs responsibility? In the end, people only care about themselves and over-engineer everything. What we consider ‘difficult’ today, like learning how to operate Word 2007, will be required reading for Year 2 students of 2009 while they learn about environmental sustainability.

In the end, we can argue ourselves into and out of everything – we’ve heard these arguments before; we’re like parrots, talking without thinking – but do not know how to look after ourselves. Psychology students understand that ‘remaining on red alert takes its toll, making the organism especially vulnerable to illness; overworked university students in the resistance stage, for example, are susceptible to influenza, mononucleosis, and whatever garden-variety colds happen to make the rounds’ (Westen et al 2006) – but we push ourselves regardless of common sense because demand is plentiful.

Maybe it’s just us. Bill Bryson in Down Under says ‘there is nothing in Australian life more complicated and bewildering to the outsider than its politics. ... [E]ven when you are there and dutifully trying to follow it, you find yourself mired in a density of argument, a complexity of fine points, a skein of tangled relationships and enmities, that thwarts all understanding. Give Australians an issue and they will argue it so passionately and in such detail, from so many angles, with the introduction of so many loosely connected side issues, that it soon becomes impenetrable to the outsider.’ (2000, p. 135 - 148)

‘I don’t mean to suggest that these are not important issues, of course. But it is an exhausting process to witness, and you do rather come away with two interlinked impressions – that Australians love to argue for argument’s sake and that basically they would rather leave everything as it is.’ (Ibid, p. 148)

In that case, it’s not just the kids; we're a generation – a country, even – critical of critical thinking.

Hell, maybe it's just me.

The sad thing is, "being critical of society makes it so much harder to participate in it." (M Faith, 2008)

Tell me about it.



List of References:
  1. Bryson, B 2001, Down Under, Black Swan, London.
  2. Westen, D., Burton, L., & Kowalski, R. (2006). Psychology: Australian and New Zealand edition. Milton: John Wiley & Sons Australia Ltd

I got bored.

I made this video today.



Clearly, I hate studying.

Of cats and dogs.

My cat is arrogant. You can see it in the way he sniffs your hand before deciding if he'd let you pet him. I have the rotten feeling, however, that he has an affair with the dog next door. Neither the dog, nor her owner, are aware of this steamy relationship. All the evidence is in the strong odour of cat in the dog's flea ridden bed and the black dots of cat-tamed dead things shaken off where he sleeps. Its only a feeling, but he always comes home with a nasty twinkle in his eye.

Crazy People


There is something about Crazy People that I can't help but be drawn to...
  1. The motor attached to an average bicycle
  2. The wires loosely hanging
  3. The unaltered breaks on a bike capable of 60km/hr
  4. The prospect of selling these to other people

Recycled Post: Yet another reason to love kids.

2E Letters to Mr Giant, The Big Castle In The Clouds.
Dear Giant,
My name is Natalie. Why did you kill Jack's dad? Why did you steal Jack's money and why do you have to steal everything? I will get a knife and chop you up and chop off your ears.

From Natalie N
-- in my brother's 2007 Year Book.

I kissed a girl

No not really.
The song is just in my head.
And the title is made to grab your attention.
Yes, your attention, your dedication, your desire to read more...

Hello, welcome to another amusing entry by yours truly.

I don't know what I want to say except that...
"Us girls we are so magical, soft skin..."
Yes you know the rest.
We're pretty damn awesome.
I'm pretty damn awesome.
My cousin just asked me to do his maths assignment or something.
I just told him that I can't do maths to save my own life so...
He stopped talking to me.

Hey this song's cool, Smashing Kelly by Matt Willis..
Yes Matt Willis is an ex-Busted member.
So shoot me, I miss them.

Did you know that Jonathan Brown is engaged?
Gr, missed my chance.

Simple Plan concert tomorrow.
Jealous?

I managed to get the correct T-score first try today in my Psyc1040 tut.
I'm so proud of myself.

This has been a post bought to you by me,
The fabulous, utterly brilliant, terrifically awesome, me.
Yours truly,
Tiffi.

p.s. I rock, your socks. I actually do rock them, I throw rocks at them.

The New Norm

I’m not an overly sane person. Nor am I insane. I think I’m sitting quiet comfortably between the two. Better still I have even set up house. No that sounds lame. I’m just learning that life has too many labels strapped to it. I mean how do we know that the definition of sane is actually the correct definition of the bloody word? Who gets to decide what blue is? Why can’t black be blue? Why are we so insistent and heavily dependent on labels? By slapping the label “Try Hard”, “Wanna Be”, “S***”, B**** and so forth on people do we make ourselves more at ease? Or are we just labelling people into roles and stereotypes to make ourselves feel better about ourselves?

I don’t know about you but I don’t call many people beautiful or fantastic, or successful, unless in turn it makes me sound better. After all having a successful sister sounds hundred times better than say having a dole bludger as a sister. These labels either increase our status and consequently society’s opinion of us or they decrease it.

It’s another form of power playing. Another way to make us seem more advanced, more prefect or damn right better than the average Joe blog. Why do we do this though? Who cares what people think? I say I don’t. And honestly most days I don’t care what people think I am up to or who the hell I am. Then there are those days where my hair just won’t sit right, where I swear I look like I’ve been in a fight, where everything on makes me look ten years old and twenty kilos fatter. Those are the days when I am so overly critical that I can confidently say I believe everyone in the world is thinking the same dark negative thoughts in relation to me. And that’s when I care. I do care when people think I’m a bitch. I don’t care if I say I am. It doesn’t make me feel crash hot to have someone I have never really connected with slap the label on me. It gets my back up and makes me feel downright shitty.

Is this why we have to put people down? You can lie all you like but everyone is snide about some trait someone else has. You may not hear it but I’ll bet every cent I have in my bank account, which consequently is nothing at present, that every person you know, be it friend or foe has at some point in time stuck a label on you. And trust me just because we say you look beautiful so does not mean we like that you do. When you look trashy we feel like a million bucks. We like that people stuck that negative label on you because when we go out looking like a million bucks and people think that, happily or not, we feel more accomplished, more successful. We feel damn right better than you because our label is made out of gold and it trumps your colleague design.

Is this the purpose of labels? It is another way to define people into social classes? Are we just replacing an old norm with a new one? Are labels the new social status rigging?

Risky Writing

The Unit Outlines for creative writing subjects make me laugh. They all have this tacked on the end;

8. Risk Management

There are no out of the ordinary risks associated with this unit other than those usually faced in the gaining of new knowledge (eg: identity crises, artistic integrity crises, existential angst, etc)

I was sat on a bus the other day. Hilarity ensued.

Crazy kids Part II.

'Yeah, there are four bases. Have you been to first? What's it like, anyway?'
'It's pretty cool. Weird though. Like having a worm in your mouth.'
'Oh, yeah, that would be cool!'
'Ha, yeah, worse if the other person knows what they're doing and you didn't.'
'Yeah, like, ... what if you licked her nose off?'

Ah, twelve year olds make me laugh.

(Disclaimer: they may actually have been sixteen but they had high pitched and squeaky voices.)

Browsing the Weird Stuff section of News.com.au

As some of you may know, when I'm bored, I browse the internet, do mini researches and conduct experiments with my memory.

Browsing the weird stuff section of news.com.au is utterly brilliant. I found out that the world's heaviest man is getting married, the world's gonna end because of an experiment that will be conducted in 3 days... many more weird things.

Two very intriguing articles I came across in the past hour of boredom browsing are as follows:
(Do click the links to read the articles yourself)
"Jailed for farting on cop"
"Public Enemy Number One"

I showed these articles to both Toni and Jelly, here are their respective comments on the farting guy story:
"._______. I feel sorry for the man, he might have a genuine issue"
"that's hilarious, how that made the news i will never know."

I can only agree with comments made by Jelly, it supports my analyse of media (handed in today) that the media made the public sphere trivial.

The second article however, I'll post the opening paragraph, you'll have to open the article yourself to read it. I shalt not ruin the fun!

BUBBLY 20-year-old Heidi Dalibor was handcuffed, thrown into a police van and had her musghot taken when arrested recently. Want to know her crime?

(News:2008)

xoxo
TT

Car Accident

Ok, so as you may have heard Wade and I were in a car accident. Ran off the road into one of those massive light poles (first hitting a bus stop sign on the way). Dragged the light pole around 10 meters before stopping. This was outside CSIRO Moggill Rd. The pole was still there the last time we went past if you want to check it out. Wade's car is now undriveable as it destroyed the radiator. Thanks to Wade's awesome Toyota Corolla we are both perfectly fine. No air bags or crumple zone just an extremely strong car. Anyway, I told Chris I would show him some piccies so here they are.

Hyper Blogger

Jelly and I are the only ones blogging. Shall I crease my blog entries?

Blah, my friend Kathleen sent me this pic, and it just made me laugh, so, so hard.



Another humorous blog entry bought to you by Tiffany & Co.

I just had the most hilarious conversation with an old friend.

I'd just gotten home, shown my brother a few magic tricks (Quantum tricks with straws) and had signed onto MSN. Tran here is a friend who does Radiology with my cousin.

Tran: hey man
Tran: saw u on bus today and i was like janelle! and u jst kept walking LOL
Janelle: omg, are you serious
Tran: i dont think i said ur name loudly enough tho, but I was like "janelle" ahaha
Janelle: i don't like looking at people on buses because I feel like they'll think I'm weird
Tran: yeahhh i know, neither
Tran: oh well thats ok, you probably didnt recognise me or soemthing. i got off at PA in blu shirt uniform
Janelle: OMFG. LOL. THAT WAS YOU!

Tran: surprising, u actually saw me and b like yep some hospital chick. in fact i think i saw u twice. i saw u yesterday morn too but wasnt sure if it was u coz i was lookin down and only just like u jst sit down, so not sure

Janelle, you're an idiot.

A ghost lives here

I cleaned my room yesterday, now it's a mess again.

I am suspecting a ghost.

Or, it can be just me, dumping all the shopping bags and my book bags all over the floor and not cleaning it up.

Fine I admit it, I'm a pig, no, I'm a clean pig. I cleaned it yesterday.

I'm actually insulting myself by calling myself a pig, hmm.

Maybe I should tattoo Pig, it'll be a whole lot cheaper.

Okay what's wrong with me? I announce to the world that I'm a feral animal who leaves her mess all over the place, and then I think about laminating the fact that I'm a feral animal permanently on my body?

A ghost is possessing me, I swear to god!

I just typed a full stop after the exclamation mark, then I backspaced it, again, something is wrong with me, I blame the ghost.

I don't like my lab report, it felt so weird not referencing anything or citing stuff... it's just a block of words, no reference list, no in-text, no quotes. Apparently my tutor wouldn't care if I got my shit off wiki, because she won't be able to tell. Another thing about my tutor is that she mentioned Matlab today, the first thing that came to mind was one of Toni's birthday cards.

Matlab pictures look pretty, the ones I've seen anyway.

They're all colourful and curvy and... yehh.

I don't like maths.

Statistic and Probabilities suck.

The end.

xx
Tiffy.

aka. The posessed one.


Ps. I just realised I sound out of it in my post, excuse me but it's 2:12 and I'm sleepy.

I love Google.

For those of you in the know, I have a fondness for the phrase "go dig a hole":
Your assignment's not due til Friday! GO DIG A HOLE!

Stop being taller than me! GO DIG A HOLE!

How did you do that? GO DIG A HOLE!

Nish used it the other day and I went, 'hey, that's my phrase. Go dig a hole!'

I did a Google search for it earlier today, and I'm telling you - some of the things you find on Google are hilarious.

Google results for "Go dig a hole"
  1. Planning and Digging your Pond
    "Go dig a hole! That is if you are planning to put in an in-ground pond,..."

  2. GoNintendo >> Blog Archive >>
    "18 Sept 2008 ... Wow go dig a hole and then hit yourself with the shovel while being mauled by rabid parakeets."

  3. Who wants to help me dig a hole? - Yahoo! Answers

  4. Is the Bible Sexist? - Page 3 - Literature Network Forums
    "Do you feel the urge to go dig a hole and cover it when you defecate? No."

    (What that has to do with Bibles and sexism I'll never know.)

  5. WoW Forums -> Funniest Leave Raid Excuses You've Heard"
    Had a shaman say "AFK: I have to go dig a hole.""

    (He was helping his mum in the garden, apparently.)
This next one is for Tiffany.
    Silence is a Scary Sound LYRICS
    "I agree with Meagan, whoever made Dougie feel this way should go dig a hole ... and die in it."
While conducting this Google search I found myself distracted by the WoW Forums -> Funniest Leave Raid Excuses.

I'd have to say, these ones take the cake.
"My cat just yanked out the cord to my keyboard and now it's broken"

"How are you still typing?"

"I'm not."

/logout
and
"brb, my cat is on fire."

Tiffany's right when she says, "LOL. Ahh, people are weird."
"afk guys the fridge just fell on my mom"
I agree.

The humour returnth

My psych book is finally making me laugh.

I read through about 10 pages (not your average A4 pages either, it's like... A3 sized pages... talk about a big book), and finally, a joke.

Well, it's not really a joke, it was just a line that was suppose to be amusing, and since I am extremely bored, anything remotely amusing sounding will make me laugh.

A la, the line is as follow:

When sound is reflected off an object, it produces an echo (Tiffi's note: DUH); When it is absorbed by an object, such as carpet, it is muffled. Everyone sounds like the great Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti in the shower (or like Jimmy Barnes if they have a sore throat) because tile absorbs so little sound, creating echoes and resonance that give fullness to even a medicre voice.


Yes it's not very funny, but it made me laugh anyway.

Anyway back to study...

Fun fun.

Better go before thy brain doth protest again!

Tiffi

A Quick Limerick

These engg1010 questions are hard and my potatoes are taking way too long to cook.

Green Ninja

I thought they were meant to be secretive, and never be seen. Today I saw three of them, they were on scooters so I assume the other mode of transport has been cut back, you know with the green house emissions, credit crisis and interest rate rises the previous years.

Still, whatever they are doing at least they are carbon neutral. I assume they have some kinda carbon credit system for the uniforms to be manufactured, along with the helmets remember.. safety first.

You might need to click on the photos and open them full screen to be able to see them properly. They are quick and agile (like a cat), lucky the iPhone is also quick and agile and I could capture them. Like I mentioned last time, el Señor Jobs (steve jobs, CEO of Apple) needs this kind of equipment to catch the defectors.

Snap.

Found in the Dorothy Hill Library, 4th Floor. Study cubicles.



I sometimes think engineers are morbid characters come exam time.





I’m not crying, it’s just been raining on my face

So first off, how many of you read this when it was in draft hoping to get a sneak peak?
“The last time I was going to write something it saved a draft here, I thought I would just write this so people think they are getting a sneak peak at what I am going to post. oh if only I could see their face when they realise this is all this is going to say until the entire post comes at once.”
and how many of you will actually admit to that? I know of at least one person. I did lie however, since it came in two stages rather than a gradual journey like story. It’s quite long and probably pointless, but those who have a close relationship with something might be able to relate.

As most of you are well aware I have an iPhone (aka iFonzo) and it is my pride and joy, for my birthday these lovely people got me an Invisible Shield. For those not in the know it is basically a protective cover, which prevents scratches and still lets you (and others around you) see the beauty of the iPhone. Most covers which offer this kind of protection are chunky, and quite ugly. Here is a sample of what it is meant to do http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmpFOUZoUX0 skip forward to about 2:40.

I don't consider myself being shallow, and physical aspects are not often high on my list of importance, but to remove even a shred of its beauty would be sacrilege, you would be condemned to a life of ugly non fruity gadgets. That’s right! You heard me I am talking about you with that iPod! el Señor Jobs [sticking with the Spanish theme that has been set to the layout] shall come, or send some of his mercenario's (or mercenarioria, not to be sexist) to reclaim the apple of their eye. [Groan]

Now that you realise why I wanted one, and I have established how protective I am of my iPhone there are some people who might find this eccentric, others will understand and have the same connection with an item such as an iPods, DS's, Bags, Shoes, Pacers, Pens ( perhaps specifically UQ Pens), Steel Rulers (thin not thick), Calculators, Laptops, Cameras, DVD's, Books or TV's. There are some instructions that you need to follow to install the Invisible Shield properly, check them out here but the main steps are;

• Spraying your fingers with their special "ShieldSprayTM", I am fairly positive it is just soap and water but that deconstruction of marketing and business products will be saved for another blog post, but perhaps it could be what gives it shield like properties.
• Applying more spray to the shield, and perhaps to your device
• Use the squeegee and push the moisture to the edges


Before committing to applying the Shield I looked up a few other ways to get the best finish, the vast majority of them said just apply as much as you can, don’t be shy. This is exactly what I did; it was a tense moment spraying liquid onto iFonzos' luscious face but I had to subdue my fear of iFonzo being overcome by paralysis. I am sure if this did happen, it would live a happy life and would be an absolute stunner at the Paralympics, but as they are currently on another four years is too long to wait.

After having put the front shield on, and removing all of the excess soapy-water “ShieldSprayTM” I turned it on and I was relieved that it worked and I left it sit for a moment or seven while I mentally prepared myself to put the back piece on.
I went to turn the iPhone off, and if you are familiar with an iPhone you will realise that to do several of the important commands it requires you to drag a bar across the screen. This is so it does not accidentally answer phones calls while it is sitting in your pocket, or turn off. So I went to drag the bar across the screen, and ... nothing happened. I tried again thinking it was my own fault for being retarded but my heart skipped a beat, well quite a few beats when I realised that it was not responding at all to my sensual touch.

I felt heartbroken after the months of pleasure I gave iFonzo how could it reject me like this, it was like being physically pushed away from someone that you love. After wiping my tears away with a tissue I begged with it to work. I cried
“iAlphonso Arthur Herbert Fonzarelli (I used its full name so it knew I was serious/desperate) please! I beg of you! With your boastfulness abilities do not fail me now!”
I really didn’t want to use desperate measures such as percussive maintenance, as it might be considered domestic violence. Then with all of my desperation and neediness getting to me I tried again. It worked, but only barely - it was temperamental so while I still could, I turned it off to think. It is hard to think clearly when you it is turned on and nearby, it’s quite a distraction.

This had scared the bejeezus out of me, and I was left thinking that the excess soapy-water may have seeped inside, and melted its heart. I was hopefully that the situation wasn’t at that stage yet, since I hadn’t seen any blue smoke, obviously the most critical component to any electrical item. Once you let the blue smoke out of any electrical device it will never work again. I rushed to its aid taking off the Invisible Shield, like a doctor ripping off patients’ clothes to defibrillate. Since the only way to prove if the problem was the Shield, the iPhone or my fleshly touch was to take it off and try again.

After letting it recover for about an hour I turned it on to see if the touch screen would work, and luckily for both of us it worked and responded like a needy guy/girl who has had no physical attention for a while. (Perhaps that was more to do with an application I installed which moan -- iJoke!) After cleaning my hands with a tissue (to remove dust, lint etc.) I attempted the distressing task of applying it once more, since I had established that it was not undergoing sensory deprivation.

After about 30 minutes I had applied the front, the back, and the other bits and pieces but I refused to turn it on until I had totally finished. I think I was frightened of the rejection if it wouldn’t work again. Luckily true love was in full bloom that day, and it did work after my careful manipulation of its bits and pieces.

Once I had it back to normal and had established that it wasn’t breaking up with me I had time to think about what had happened. I should have just carried on with the job in the first place rather than being a pussy and running away. I decided that the reason why it wasn’t working was the “ShieldSpray^TM”, but not from oozing inside but because I had it on my fingers. As I must of had a layer of it all over my fingers it would have stopped the screen from responding the way I expected. I had over-reacted majorly and I felt like such an idiot. We can all learn a lesson from this, if you want to protect your beloved from things do not apply lubricant and expect your touch to feel the same, until you wash your hands – whhaatt? Yeah I have no idea either it just sounded like it was going somewhere humorous– it wasn’t.

In other news; for those who missed it this is what Monkey Socks looks like when it has be iPhonified, despite what some might think I did not have anything to do this.

Message:

Is everyone okay with this new layout? If not, it's easily fixed.

I kind of wish the amplitude of the waves was a little less pronounced, but... I'm working on finding something. Or... Actually, I'll find a few (eventually) and get a vote or something going on. I don't know.

And this is why she's my sister.

My sister caught my bus the other day.  We got off together and as we were walking home from our stop, an old school bus drove past us.  

Janelle:  "Hey, that's my kindy bus!  Back when I was a dinosaur!"
Johanna:  "Back when you were a dinosaur?  You still are a dinosaur!"

Our conversations usually go nowhere, but they always amuse me.

3G Support Fails


(*Eee pc strikes again*) Janelle is not impressed by this recent outage

New Phone Carrier Supports 3G Mobile Devices


(* image courtsey of Eee pc*) :), shows the thrilled community

What happens in Mexico stays in Mexico, but apparently the same cannot be said about Psyc1040 tuts

Do any of you remember a blog entry about 'clicky pencil' a few weeks ago posted up on our beloved Monkey Socks? Of course you don't, most of you insane engg students are too busy doing your matlabs and engg assignments to even recall amusing incidents to blog about on Monkey Socks.

However us Psych students have a better memory (we did have a lecture on the cognitive processes in retaining information and what not). So, I'm here today, to blog about something amusing, that incidentally, occurred in the said psyc1040 tut mentioned few weeks ago.

So to set the scene and tell you some background information about my psyc1040 tut, there's about 20 of us, only 10 of us ever actually turn up to our tuts. Our tutor is a very interesting fellow name Steven/Steve/Stephen (can't really remember how to spell it I'm sorry), and he's into Batman, he wanted to give us marks based on what we rated the most recent Batman movie, in which the villain is featured on my wall.

Anyway, your's truly sits at the back row with friend Jas, acquaintance Brandon and (a girl whose name escapes my mind). In the row before us sits Edward and Libby, the row before them sits the weird guy with the weird beard with the weird mumbling and the weird tendency to leave the class every 15 minutes to go outside and smoke/pee/whatever.

Today, as every Thursday, he left our class to do his business, he left the door open, and as it was raining today, the water was trickling down the roof down to the ground (my class is on ground level). A few seconds after he left the room, we hear said water trickling.... insert class silence, exchange glares and shock expressions. We appeared to have a shared thought (anyone want to guess?). Our lovely tutor said: We're all thinking about the same thing aren't we?

Our entire class started cracking up laughing, as he tried to continue on with the materials he was suppose to cover in the said class, he couldn't control his voice and laughed again, this further amuse the class with what we suspected as the said weird dude peeing outside.

A few moments later, we hear the said trickling again, and again, we laughed, this time Libby and I cannot control our laughter and we literally smacked our head on our desk laughing.

When he came back into the room, we all giggled and tried to pay attention again. I guess it is obvious that the rest of the class did nothing to improve my already poor knowledge of statistics, I only remember the amusement the weird dude caused for the day.

Oh I also heard Jelly and Toni say they were in the lake, I am still curious about what exactly happened. So if anyone would like to enlighten me, I would be gladly enlightened.

Some people amuse me.

"Aaaaaaaaaaah!  I'm a retard!"

"Alright, I'll talk to you when I get home.  Love you too.  Wait, why did I just say 'love you too', when you didn't even say 'I love you'?  WTF!'


There was something else really, really hilarious, but I can't remember it now.  It happened somewhere between Jaz's posters/UQ Lakes (Pond!  God that was hilarious.) and "Aaaaaaaah!  I'm a retard!"  

What was it?  I was sooo close to quoting it until she said "Aaaaaah!  I'm a retard!"  DAMN YOU, WIFFALO!

Ferry Thoughts

How do you know society has finally hit rock bottom with the use of technology?

When you ride on the ferry and on the advertisments off 4UTV (it's so sad that the City Cat has its own TV channel) and there's a link that starts with the following link pre-flex: www.myspace.com.

It's sad how our society is so dependant on networking websites like Myspace, Facebook and Bebo. You cannot get pass a day without someone mentioning: DID YOU SEE WHAT ____ POSTED UP ON BULLETINS? Or hear one of my many psychology lecturers go on about some guy who look like a dinosaur added him on facebook, who he turned down many times, who so happen to be one of his dear colleagues from some psychological conference.

Honestly I had one psyc1030 lecture based around Facebook last semester.

What's even sadder is that whenever you go on UQ blackboard, you see a community in which your faculty belongs to, and they all urge you to join their Facebook. Even UQ itself has a Facebook.

There's a UQ IS SO AWESOME Facebook, and there's a WE ARE THE UQ HATERS Facebook. How do I know? In one of mny many boredom attacks, I surfed the net, with random keywords like Hate, Love, UQ, prestigious. No, I'm kidding, the I HATE UQ Facebook was actually posted on Myspace bulletins by this guy I know, and I decided to check it out. Then he linked it to the Facebook that apparently 'provoked' him to make an I HATE UQ Facebook, which was an UQ IS SO AWESOME Facebook. I know that block of garbage didn't really make sense, but if you reread it sometimes in the near future... no it doesn't make sense, not even to me, who I typed this junk on the ferry, now transferring to Blogger at UQ. I also can't be fucked backspacing because I'm cool and lazy like that.

This bunch of nonsese mind rambling is bought to you by the forever awesome, tiara wearing, owner of a pair of FCUK Geeky glasses, pwnin & winn ing... you get my point, I'm more awesome than you.

Princess Geek... aka Tiffilo

The horrors of birthday cards

My friend JJ gave me a birthday card yesterday. From the front it look like a normal card, with a self-drawn picture on the front (he drew the words MCFLY in bubble letters).

It's purple with pink, green and white words. It says: Recipe for a perfect birthday celebration: Friends + Food + MCFLY without a shirt on, just standing around looking pretty, (it said David Beckham under the taped over McFly word), anywayyy.

When you open it, it ROARS and start singing James Brown's I FEEL GOOD.

As a lover of blu-tac and the wonders it can do, I stuck all my cards from last night onto my wall before I went to bed. I put a little dab of blu-tac inside the cards so they won't flap open. The wind was pretty strong this morning I guess, it blew on JJ's card and flapped it open... since I went to bed at about 2am yesterday, I was sleeping soundly when the card flapped open. And as soon as it roared, I bounced up and almost fell off my bed, scared shitless.

I was all: WTFFF!!! WHO THE HELL PLAYS JAMES BROWN THIS EARLY IN THE MORNING? (It was actually about 11am)... Needless to say, my brother ran into my room and thought I went psycho... as an naive little child, he thought if you drink too much, you turn mental. Not really, he just wanted to know whether I was okay.


Anyway, that concludes it, my weird encounter with a singing card.

Tiffi

It's official. I did it.

I lost my clubbing cherry. Within four minutes of walking into the Met I had encountered two females making out, felt the thud thud of loud music pulsating through the room and noted the crowds lined up waiting for bags and IDs to be checked before entrance. It was meant to be scary, something I could never see myself doing, but, in the same way we get through each day it doesn't really matter how crazy the rest of the world is if you've your own comfortable circle of friends. It's surprising how easy it is to block out noise when you're sitting by a fish tank having cozy conversation in the dim light.

Yesterday was awesome, beginning with walks through South Bank dressed in Semi-Formal gear and ending with a ride home with some of my best friends.

Tiff, Happy Birthday. Thank you - for being you.


On a slightly random note, I realised last night that sometimes the things that make the most sense to you are the hardest to explain. While that's not an issue at all, it makes me glad that I can say I know where I came from - even if I'm still filling in the blanks. It just makes it everyone else's viewpoints very, very interesting.

Life's greatest question: Chicken or the Egg?

What comes first, the chicken or the egg?

Different people answers this question different ways, some people, like Danny Jones, just points at the camera and yell: THE EGG (McFly Interview).

Other would yell THE CHICKEN!

Chicken Run (2000) addressed this question as they closed the film:
“If you don't have a chicken, where are you going to get the egg?”
“From the chicken that comes from the egg.”
“Yeah, but you have to have an egg to have a chicken.”
“Yeah, but you've got to get the chicken first to get the egg, and then you get the egg... to get the chicken out of... ”
“Hang on, let's go over this again?”

You can see they failed to answer the question adequately.

It's one of those questions you eternally pounder on if you're uneducated or extremely religious (GOD CREATED CHICKENS, THEY CAME FROM NO EGGS! NO BELLYBUTTONS!).

An educated evolutionist (or a high school graduate who did biology) would tell you:
Chickens evolved from a tiny life form which then slowly adapted to life on land. Due to protection of the young... blah blah blah blah.

You get my point.


So this conclude my close examination of the chicken and the egg.

I shall now finish food and then get ready to go out!

Still poundering,
Tiff.

First Blog

So apparently I am supposed to contribute to this blog. I have nothing interesting to say currently, but I am bored out of my mind studying Math1051 so I thought I would write something. Janelle just logged onto msn I wonder if Math1051 is driving her nuts too.

I've noticed Mitch has a lot of time on his hands if he manages to carry out an experiment at work. I must say I don't have that sort of time at work. I'm not allowed to stop working. I'll tell you of my observations at work. There is this one couple, who come in one a week, guaranteed. *Note* Apparently Janelle hasn't started studying yet. Anyway back to work. So this couple come in, and the woman always orders a Margarita. No joke. Every single time. I pretty much don't need to ask them what they would like to drink. Except I can never remember what type of beer that man orders. I always reckon I could write a story about my time at work. Maybe some rules that customers should follow, ie. don't be rude to the waitress, we do have the ability to spit in your food o_O not that we would. I have never done that. I wouldn't even have to eat the food to be repulsed by the fact that there is spit in it.

There are some really dishonest people out there. I'm not sure if its just Ipswich people but seriously, there are. This one guy called up and basically claimed last time he had ordered takeaway, one of the Beef and Black Bean's had been cold. He had ordered two Beef & B/B. How the flip could ONE of them be cold when they are cooked at the exact same time in the same wok. He then asked for delivery because apparently we had delivered to him before so it wouldn't be any trouble for us to delivery again. He's an idiot - we have a GPS system which records all previous addresses entered. His wasn't in there. Tosser.

Have you ever just walked down the street and observed the people passing? I did this at uni the other day. This really short kid walked past, I reckon he looked about 10, but he gave the impression that he was supposed to be at uni. So either he was just really short and young looking, or he is frickin smart! Pretty sure Aggie just burped... Anyway, you then get the people at uni who are dressed in suits. We discussed this the other day and concluded that maybe they are businessman and have to go to work after uni. Or, and this is my conclusion, maybe they just want to feel above the rest of us delinquent children.

Well, Math1051 calls me. Not really. It bores me. Riverfire tonight. Maybe I should blog about that when I get home.

Tales From The Pool Boy



Here i sit on at least a 15 year old office chair which periodically lurches up and down due to a malfunctioning gas piston. I ponder about the inner workings of a pool, pumps, filter baskets, which product is the best for removing iron/copper stains and general sanitiser levels when it dawns on me. For year i have seen people scanning items in stores with one of those red barcode readers and on movies like "Employee Of The Month" i have seen that they behave as a laser and can scan items from long distances >20m. I feel it is my duty as a pool service man to find out the truth behind the scanning devices, and as such have devised an experiment.


Observations
The round bottle compared to the square bottle seemed to have little effect in the ability to scan the barcode in that the algaecide and Pool Perfect both failed to scan at 30cm. A greater impact seemed to be the roughness of the surface being scanned. The BP200 was packaged in a sachet and did not provide a smooth surface when scanned with the barcode reader. This appeared to have reduced the distance of positive scanning by approimately 5cm. The size of the barcode itself appeared to not have a an impact on positive scanning as the BP200 had the largest of all barcodes and was unable to scan the same distance as the other two products tested.

In comparision to the movie "Employee Of The Month" and the scene where the cash register employee is able to scan a barcode from approimately 20m this at first glace seems not likely. The barcode scanner used in the above experiment appeared to not behaved as a laser (monochromic, low divergence source of light) and more so a diverging source. As such increasing the distance attempted to be scanned from meant a reduction in the intensity of light hitting the barcode surface. Though even using a laser barcode reader would still possibly not yield improved performance. A barcode scanner, despite the name, actually reads the barcode. As such the light emitted from the scanner hits the barcode surface, the black line regions absord the light and the non black regions bounce the light back to the scanner where it is assumed, a sensor detects the light waves and determines from them the original scanned barcode. With an increase in distance the reflection angle would become more apparent and more likely than not the reflected light would not hit the sensor surface of the barcode reader. For increased performance as seen in the movie, major modifications would need to be completed in order to get 20m distances. A laser light source would need to be used in the barcode scanner. The sensor mehcanism would need to be improved to allow for a greater area for reflected light to be gathered and finally the barcode would need to be placed get best scanability, directly infront. It is unlikely a common business would use a device with such modifications and the cashier in the movie is a lying bastard scanning an item with an ankle mounted scanner below the counter while appearing to be scanning the real item at a distance.

Please if you have any information regarding this topic, the scanners used in your store or general engineering knowledge of barcode readers post back :P

Bus conversations are amusing.

Sometimes it's nice thinking that, in this crazy world, it's okay to be crazy. Although some people exploit that a little too much, like these bogan school kids having 'philosophical' discussions about good, evil and Harry Potter.

Kid 1: "Yeah, they spread rumours about her being dog ugly."
Kid 2: "How do you spread rumours about someone being ugly? Like, if they're not?

I sat there in the fourth row from the back, trying hard not to crack up. Two minutes later I overheard a girl in red speaking on the phone two rows ahead of me and to the left. She was waving her hands around excitedly, really getting into the conversation.

"I know! It's amazing!" she said. "I've been trying to be more organised!"

She spoke of her attempts and successes for a minute or two, and I tuned out. Five minutes later she was at it again.

"Wait. This is on the SIXTH?" Uh-oh.

Her chirpy 'OMG! Lyk!' voice changed tone instantly.

"SHIT!" she said. "I have a wedding! I'm a BRIDESMAID! I thought it was the first!"


Soon after that, the kids in the back were continuing their deep and meaningful on life, love and sexuality.

Kid1: "So you were joking about asking her out, and now you're going out? But you don't even like her! That's sad!"
Kid2: "I couldn't decide!"

For a while I was under the impression Kid1 had at least a little bit of sense. Anyway, in the next part of their discussion I realised there was a girl sitting quietly with them, occasionally joining in. This is where Harry Potter makes his appearance and, somehow, at least in their minds, becomes mildly pornographic (because rumours, dating, Harry Potter - it's all logical conversation here).

Kid1: "Dumbledore dies in that one, hey? No, he can't, he dies in the Deathly Hollows."
Kid2: "I don't know. I don't really read them. I read the last page."
Kid3: "Yeah, everyone only reads the last page."
Kid2: "Yeah. Harry Potter has sex with a student. That's sad! Who sleeps with his best mate's sister?"
Kid1: "How do you know that?"
Kid2: "Because they had kids!"

Just when I thought it couldn't get more ridiculous, and that maybe Kid1 was at least more sane than Kid2, I was greatly disappointed. I'd began drifting off when conversation peaked once again. This time, it was about their theories of good and evil, and that you can't have good without evil because lions eat deer and cows eat grass and trees eat apple juice -- or something equally ridiculous about 'the chain of life'.

Kid1: "Spirits, they can't hurt you. They can only scare the fucking shit out of you!"
Kid2: "They can't hurt you unless you let them!"

Sigh. Thirteen year olds make me laugh.

How logical.

I lost my password for one of my old Hotmail accounts. I couldn't remember the answer to my Secret Question and was given a second option.


The address scribbled out in blue was of the account I'd forgotten the password for.


I'm going to hope that's only because I didn't provide an alternative address.

I like being talked about.

(10:41 PM) Janelle. The pe: it's like when maree used to say she like...
(10:41 PM) Janelle. The pe: imagined what would happen
(10:42 PM) Janelle. The pe: if on the day of graduation
(10:42 PM) Janelle. The pe: she was so excited, ran about throwing her hat in the air
(10:42 PM) Janelle. The pe: and ended up running into the road and being squashed flat, still in uniform.
(10:42 PM) Janelle. The pe: because yeah the hat would fly down Chester Rd and she'd chase after it and go SPLAT.
(10:42 PM) Janelle. The pe: that wuld be ironic.
(10:42 PM) `wiғғiɴe: HAHAHA

...


(10:43 PM) `wiғғiɴe: you should have said
(10:43 PM) `wiғғiɴe: because yeah the hat would fly down Chester Rd and she'd chase after it and go SPRATT.

A Human Approach to Engineering.

As seen in my Physics and Engineering of Materials lecture slides.

I think my brother just found the real-life embodiment of Mr Eggman there. A container of Parmesan Cheese.

It's all a game of Peek-a-Boo


Port Hedland was a backwards town.


I found my bus stop of four years on Google Street View today, and the coincidences never fail to amaze me. Band Camp from Port Hedland to Perth started on the 18th of August 2004. It's been four years and tonight 4 Corners screened The Money Pit - "the hidden, human costs of the minerals boom." My dad worked for Boodarie Iron when it closed in '04 and it spoke of pressing issues that don't come to mind when you think "Port Hedland". I've always said something was up with the education system, bored kids, employment and way of life - but it's not something most people can relate to.

Maybe the odd person will recognise it as the place with all the cyclones (where the inhabitants actually, generally, don't care that much - even when the local high school's roof tore off my friends told me how they 'slept through it'), but most won't know much more than "it's a mining town." No one I know goes there for holidays.

That bus stop was painted and flipped around as an attempt to shield bus riders from the sun -- especially during the summer when temperatures soared (it got to 51 degrees once) -- and hide the graffiti. Over a period of just three weeks the writing returned with common slogans and your typical 'david waz 'ere 03' in the coloured circles. It looked neater and confined, but look closer at the rusty frame and you can't escape it.

Kids used to hide behind it and that would be there excuse for wagging.

"I missed the bus."

I think they did.


Images © Google Street View.
Four Corners - The Money Pit (ABC Website and 4 Corners Website)
Through careful observation i have noticed that the parents of only children seem to be more careful, (protective) of their offspring than parents with two or more. Now this makes sense from a evolutionary perspective (common sense), but if you stop to think about it you realise just how terible that is!

Hanging out at Borders

It amuses me what kind of things I find in the non-fiction area.

Old friends are the best...

...because you can say plenty of mean and inflammatory things to one another without the fear of repercussions.

Peter: I like your cardigan.
Maree: my Mum made it.
Peter: It looks so professional. I bet she made your jeans and your Converse as well.
Maree: Yeah! she made everything. She even made me.
Maylene: How come you're not as good quality as everything else?

It's good having someone there to cut you down.

This guy is the coolest.



Plunger Dad to the rescue, vanquishing the most evil and prevalent of foes: boredom begone! Complete with powers of invisibility. Kids, don't try this at home!

(Maree, please edit this. I cannot do it justice. It is awesome. Also: I HOLD YOU FULLY RESPONSIBLE!)

Socy student vs. Scene kids

Before you go any further, read this.

Now, as a sociology student and self-proclaimed fashionista (ha), I found an alarmingly high number of faults with the article.

Lets start with the lite

“We hate Supre and Jay Jays because it's all mass-produced stuff, because everyone ends up with the same stuff, which is pretty lame." The girl on the right is wearing a shirt from Jay Jays, I remember because I myself have a skele-animal (featured on her shirt), for my birthday last year, and on the same day, Toni dear bought a skele-animal shirt (similar to the one the girl's wearing)... both from Jay Jays.

"She spends $50 a week on clothes" Wow 50 dollars is a lot. Before I locked my account, I usually spend 100 bucks a week on clothes and shoes, my dress for my birthday alone cost me $130.. wow $50 is a lot.

"It takes them two hours to get ready for a day at the shopping centre or skate park." I don't get it, teasing hair takes 5 minutes max, makeup... 10 minutes? Putting on clothes and finding a fugly tiara... umm... I say 3. That sure adds up to 2 hours

Now onto the sociology aspects of this riduculous article (WHICH WAS PUBLISHED IN THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD NO LESS, If they publish shit like that, I think I should be the person who write all the front page stories).

Back to the "We hate Supre and Jay Jays because it's all mass-produced stuff, because everyone ends up with the same stuff, which is pretty lame." quote, mass-produced, as Jelly pointed out, everything now is mass produced, hair, skin cells, everything. Unless you make your own clothes, everything will be mass produced (or if you spend about 1000 bucks on a unique shirt by some designer... but hold on, they can only afford to spend 50 dollars a week!). Not even making your own clothes now I think about it, fabic is mass-produced as well!

" People just wanted to "look different"", oh okay... I'm sorry but it's impossible to look different. Identity is also mass produced. I'm gonna quote back on my socy assignment from last sem:

How individualised a person can be is limited by what they can consume, some of these restrictions that limits the consumer are such as what is available on the market, the consumer’s financial status, and what a society considers as acceptable – the social norm.

-Skip Skip-

While there seem to be many choices on the market that the consumer can choose from, through a critical view, real choices regarding consumer objects are actually quite limited. In examples given by David Pearson (1993), while there seem to be many different car companies from which the consumer can choose when buying an automobile, the consumer will immediately think of buying a car. This is because of what is available on the market and what the society deems to be appropriate for the city’s roads. The way today’s society is constructed, it is expected that what the consumer buy can be accepted by social norms, such as what kind of automobile a person drives, what that person wears and what kind of estate the person lives in.

It can also be argued that media teaches people how to present themselves in society (Marjoribanks 2007). Social norms are often set by what is presented in the media through TV programs and movies. Such examples are the desirable fashion trends and the stylish-yet-environmental cars celebrities own. Interestingly what is considered desirable is often costly, and in a Marxist point of view, media is encouraging people to commodify themselves, and hence increasing the incomes for the companies which produce these desirable goods.

Media is often considered to be a site where identity construction occurs because it is the centre of a person’s life, both socially and individually (Marjoribanks 2007). Media provides a portrayal of what is the social norm for relationships between people through TV dramas like The O.C. and Dawson’s Creek because these shows mainly focus on the relationships between characters and their emotional experiences (Marjoribanks 2007). Not only the consumer’s identity is shaped by what they consume, their relationship and what they perceive as a society’s social norms are shaped by what a person consume

And to bring it back home to the original point:

Granted there are changes in class identity and local culture, the fact that what one can afford still underpin how much freedom one has in creating their identity. The social group to which a person belongs can also determine what the identity a person creates through his/her consumption. For example, if a person’s peers are part of the punk-rock music scene, the clothing choices, hairstyles and attitude is likely to reflect on what it is acceptable in that particular sub-culture. Having said that, it can be concluded that while people have the freedom to choose their identity through what they consume, it’s what is available for a person to consume on the market and what is deemed appropriate for a consumer to consume that restrict how individualised a person can be.

I don't know if any of that made any sense, but what I'm trying to say is... People who label themselves are retards who need to take sociology and become wise like me... HAA no. I'm saying Scenes, Emos, Goths, Preps, Skaters, Cyber-punks, whatever, they're all labels, and labels are for soup cans. They all say they want to be their own person, but how can they when we live in a society like ours? We're in post-modern, where globalisation made us all into clones.

And with that, I will now go change for work

Tiffi