Sunday, May 15, 2011
Thursday, March 24, 2011
The Controversial Religion Blog, Pt 1
Straight out of the gate, I don't believe in religion, I don't believe in God, not Heaven, not Hell, not Creationism or the like. I'm not sure how many religious friends I have, because frankly I don't care if you believe in god or not, but please understand you are wrong. Here I'm going to go write why religion is wrong, why god is wrong, and how so many stories are dumb and wrong!
First off, apparently when writing the word god, G has to be a capital (Like what I did in the first line), however the word god is going to mentioned quite a bit and I'm not wasting my time having to hold down the shift key while pressing G just to satisfy some fictional character. If it was Senoire Butterpants or McRaiseDaRoof, I would be more than happy to properly use capital letters.
So where to begin? Basically this whole topic is very 'tread lightly', because people are very passionate about their beliefs, whichever way it is. I think I read somewhere (Can't source it because I think was aimlessly browsing one day) the percentage of religious people around the world, and in Australia it is like 20% believe in god, and in America it is over 50%. So as a country, god isn't sitting too high up, however a few decades ago I think it would have been much higher.
Ever since I was about 7 or 8, I have asked this one question, "If god created everything, who created god?" To which the answer was, "God created himself" or "God was always here" I'm not a physicist (Although I have watched every Big Bang Theory episode up to date 10x over, so I should be pretty smart by now) so I'm not sure exactly how the Big Bang occurred. What I retain from high school is there was a big bang out of gases which created the Universe. Now, this is where it gets tricky, religious people argue saying 'Oh the big bang theory is flawed because how can a explosion happen from nothing....' Hmm sounds familiar religious people? How can an all-powerful being just create himself, then go on to create everything else?
So there was a big bang, that spilled out gases which then formed planets and moons, stars and suns and black holes and all that astro-space-Universe stuff. I think I need another marathon of BBT to brush up on my science, but anyways....
Religious people (Just so you know, when I say religious people, it means comments, articles, discussions and that on the topic, so a lot of the time (99.99%) I don't know these religious, I just read what they write) say sometimes that how could us as humans just magically be able to live on Earth with it's oxygen, atmospheric pressure and that, god must of made us like that'
If anything that type of statement helps support evolution, because basically they are helping us carve in stone that we are here through thousands-upon-thousands of years of trial-and-error I guess. I don't know the exact amount of years, but the Earth is somewhere around 2 billion years old? Give or take 2-3 years. Dinosaurs died out 65 million years, and we arrived a long time after them, which is helpful. I could just Google this information but I want to keep this raw information presented here.
Charles Darwin noticed evolution in the islands and it had to do with bird's and their beaks. Again, with no Google aid, I can remember he noticed the same general type of bird but had different shape beaks to obtain their source of food. Over time the birds (Most likely over thousands of years, millions perhaps) that these changes occurred, and I think the term is called 'Natural Selection'
Back onto god and the stuff he does.....
God created everything, god has a reason for every single thing that happen and when we touch ourselves at night it makes Jesus cry, okay!
Let's address the second point, and let's use some events in the last 5 years shall we? So this god fella controls everything in this world, and he has a reason for everything he does. Although this occurred more than 5 years ago, this event made me question the existence of god so much more, and pretty much cemented me into believing their was no god. I want to know what was god's reason in taking my mum away? Why on Earth would a 'god' take away the most devoted, loving, caring, amazing mother away from her 6 children, 3 of which were <18 of years, one being not even a teenager at the time? This just doesn't happen to our family, but families everywhere. You hear on the news about a mother and father dying, and their 2 kids being basically orphans, which is always sad to hear. You say something like 'Yep no god' and suddenly religious people ark up and say 'It is all apart of god's plan' What plan? What is this plan of his you always talk about and seem to use as an excuse for every bad thing he does? So it's his plan to have a 7 year old and 10 year old without their loving parents?
When I think of some major disasters in the last few years, I think of the Black Saturday bush fires, Queensland Flooding, the disaster in New Zealand and of course the major disaster in Japan. Japan's earthquake has claimed 10,000 odd lives, well that includes missing, I haven't been keeping up to date with this. So what's god's plan there taking the lives of 10,000 people in one of the worst natural disasters in recent times? Not only has 10,000 has had their life taken away, but I presume millions have had their life adversely affected, whether it's their home being destroyed, their business' going under (Excuse the pun), cars/boats being swept away, the emotional distress caused by it and so on.
Black Saturday, a few hundred (If I remember correctly, good chance I don't) lost their lives, and many more lost their homes. What kind of god would allow a human being to be taken away in a major bushfire? Yes you don't actually die from the fire, but from the lack of oxygen in the area, but that is still a bad way to go. What kind of plan is that? I'm glad the plans I work on are of buildings, because least I can justify my plans.
We think back to 2001, and what is the first thing you usually think of? 9/11, New York, Twin Towers, Plane Crashes. I won't go too far into this because of conspiracy theories like how it was the US government, or no no it was Muslim terrorist, etc etc. I don't know why exactly Muslim's attacked America, but the Muslim people are very, VERY, religious people. I don't exactly know their religion, for obvious reasons, but I think if they perform attacks like 9/11, they will be awarded by their god (Remember every religion has their own god, but again that's a whole new blog). So it is very much possible that the 9/11 attacks was caused by religious disputes, and this can be upsetting that thousands of people died because of religious belief. I heard/read somewhere that many wars throughout history (Not just the World Wars, but many before them) were started because of different religious beliefs.
Now let's question a story in the bible....
I haven't read the bible, nor do I plan on doing so, ever, so what I'm going off is what I've heard, watched on TV or on YouTube. If anyone has seen Jim Jefferies, this is going to sound very familiar because basically this man has summed up all my religious beliefs and made it funny. In fact I will provide a link at the end of his YouTube clip of his stand up...
Noah and the Ark. So apparently this guy built an ark because the world was going to flood, and he had two of every animal. Okay, let's start from the start and work our way along this, uhh, story. He built the ark in the Middle East somewhere, yeah? Okay, now if I know my geography, not every Continent is connected to the one with the Middle East, so that would mean animals such as those native to Australia like kangaroos, kolas and so on, plus other exotic foreign animals would had to have swam to the Middle East to board this ark. Now I could be wrong but I think kangaroos would struggle to swim from Australia to the Middle East, unless what happened was every single kangaroo headed for the Middle East and as the swim progressed, some died and the remaining used them to construct some kind of weird kangaroo boat and floated to the Middle East (Despite having no sense of direction) then once they got their, Noah picked a girl and a boy to board, and gave the rest to the lions for food.
Okay, so animals swam there, flew, walked, hopped, blah blah. From what I can gather, the Middle East is a pretty hot, dry climate, which suits many animals, but what about polar bears and cold blooded animals? How would Noah, remembering this is thousands of years ago, kept these cold, but also keep the warm blooded animals warm at the same time?
What about the food? Lions eat tonnes of meat a year, and zebra, gazelles and buffalo seem to be their choice of food. So only having two of every animal, how would he satisfy the carnivore's diet with jeopardising his overall objective? Hmm so many questions to ponder.
Well in the title I put Pt 1 (Meaning Part 1) for a reason, because the religion topic can't be discussed in one blog, I wouldn't be surprised if this topic goes for 6 parts. Now because I live in Australia, I am entitled to my opinion, and I'm 100% there will be at least 2 people out there that do not agree with what I have said so far, but this is what I believe and I am allowed to express my beliefs. Yes you may call me an idiot, yes you may say I will be punished by the lord, say what you will about me, that is perfectly fair, because so far I have given the religious group a bit of flack.
I will continue at a later date on the controversial topic of religion, and will end up proving this god fella is just like Seniore Butterpants....
B t w, here is Jim Jefferies.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZJ-_OTvsqo [WARNING: High levels of swear words]
From The One They Call Anthony, This Is The Life & Times
First off, apparently when writing the word god, G has to be a capital (Like what I did in the first line), however the word god is going to mentioned quite a bit and I'm not wasting my time having to hold down the shift key while pressing G just to satisfy some fictional character. If it was Senoire Butterpants or McRaiseDaRoof, I would be more than happy to properly use capital letters.
So where to begin? Basically this whole topic is very 'tread lightly', because people are very passionate about their beliefs, whichever way it is. I think I read somewhere (Can't source it because I think was aimlessly browsing one day) the percentage of religious people around the world, and in Australia it is like 20% believe in god, and in America it is over 50%. So as a country, god isn't sitting too high up, however a few decades ago I think it would have been much higher.
Ever since I was about 7 or 8, I have asked this one question, "If god created everything, who created god?" To which the answer was, "God created himself" or "God was always here" I'm not a physicist (Although I have watched every Big Bang Theory episode up to date 10x over, so I should be pretty smart by now) so I'm not sure exactly how the Big Bang occurred. What I retain from high school is there was a big bang out of gases which created the Universe. Now, this is where it gets tricky, religious people argue saying 'Oh the big bang theory is flawed because how can a explosion happen from nothing....' Hmm sounds familiar religious people? How can an all-powerful being just create himself, then go on to create everything else?
So there was a big bang, that spilled out gases which then formed planets and moons, stars and suns and black holes and all that astro-space-Universe stuff. I think I need another marathon of BBT to brush up on my science, but anyways....
Religious people (Just so you know, when I say religious people, it means comments, articles, discussions and that on the topic, so a lot of the time (99.99%) I don't know these religious, I just read what they write) say sometimes that how could us as humans just magically be able to live on Earth with it's oxygen, atmospheric pressure and that, god must of made us like that'
If anything that type of statement helps support evolution, because basically they are helping us carve in stone that we are here through thousands-upon-thousands of years of trial-and-error I guess. I don't know the exact amount of years, but the Earth is somewhere around 2 billion years old? Give or take 2-3 years. Dinosaurs died out 65 million years, and we arrived a long time after them, which is helpful. I could just Google this information but I want to keep this raw information presented here.
Charles Darwin noticed evolution in the islands and it had to do with bird's and their beaks. Again, with no Google aid, I can remember he noticed the same general type of bird but had different shape beaks to obtain their source of food. Over time the birds (Most likely over thousands of years, millions perhaps) that these changes occurred, and I think the term is called 'Natural Selection'
Back onto god and the stuff he does.....
God created everything, god has a reason for every single thing that happen and when we touch ourselves at night it makes Jesus cry, okay!
Let's address the second point, and let's use some events in the last 5 years shall we? So this god fella controls everything in this world, and he has a reason for everything he does. Although this occurred more than 5 years ago, this event made me question the existence of god so much more, and pretty much cemented me into believing their was no god. I want to know what was god's reason in taking my mum away? Why on Earth would a 'god' take away the most devoted, loving, caring, amazing mother away from her 6 children, 3 of which were <18 of years, one being not even a teenager at the time? This just doesn't happen to our family, but families everywhere. You hear on the news about a mother and father dying, and their 2 kids being basically orphans, which is always sad to hear. You say something like 'Yep no god' and suddenly religious people ark up and say 'It is all apart of god's plan' What plan? What is this plan of his you always talk about and seem to use as an excuse for every bad thing he does? So it's his plan to have a 7 year old and 10 year old without their loving parents?
When I think of some major disasters in the last few years, I think of the Black Saturday bush fires, Queensland Flooding, the disaster in New Zealand and of course the major disaster in Japan. Japan's earthquake has claimed 10,000 odd lives, well that includes missing, I haven't been keeping up to date with this. So what's god's plan there taking the lives of 10,000 people in one of the worst natural disasters in recent times? Not only has 10,000 has had their life taken away, but I presume millions have had their life adversely affected, whether it's their home being destroyed, their business' going under (Excuse the pun), cars/boats being swept away, the emotional distress caused by it and so on.
Black Saturday, a few hundred (If I remember correctly, good chance I don't) lost their lives, and many more lost their homes. What kind of god would allow a human being to be taken away in a major bushfire? Yes you don't actually die from the fire, but from the lack of oxygen in the area, but that is still a bad way to go. What kind of plan is that? I'm glad the plans I work on are of buildings, because least I can justify my plans.
We think back to 2001, and what is the first thing you usually think of? 9/11, New York, Twin Towers, Plane Crashes. I won't go too far into this because of conspiracy theories like how it was the US government, or no no it was Muslim terrorist, etc etc. I don't know why exactly Muslim's attacked America, but the Muslim people are very, VERY, religious people. I don't exactly know their religion, for obvious reasons, but I think if they perform attacks like 9/11, they will be awarded by their god (Remember every religion has their own god, but again that's a whole new blog). So it is very much possible that the 9/11 attacks was caused by religious disputes, and this can be upsetting that thousands of people died because of religious belief. I heard/read somewhere that many wars throughout history (Not just the World Wars, but many before them) were started because of different religious beliefs.
Now let's question a story in the bible....
I haven't read the bible, nor do I plan on doing so, ever, so what I'm going off is what I've heard, watched on TV or on YouTube. If anyone has seen Jim Jefferies, this is going to sound very familiar because basically this man has summed up all my religious beliefs and made it funny. In fact I will provide a link at the end of his YouTube clip of his stand up...
Noah and the Ark. So apparently this guy built an ark because the world was going to flood, and he had two of every animal. Okay, let's start from the start and work our way along this, uhh, story. He built the ark in the Middle East somewhere, yeah? Okay, now if I know my geography, not every Continent is connected to the one with the Middle East, so that would mean animals such as those native to Australia like kangaroos, kolas and so on, plus other exotic foreign animals would had to have swam to the Middle East to board this ark. Now I could be wrong but I think kangaroos would struggle to swim from Australia to the Middle East, unless what happened was every single kangaroo headed for the Middle East and as the swim progressed, some died and the remaining used them to construct some kind of weird kangaroo boat and floated to the Middle East (Despite having no sense of direction) then once they got their, Noah picked a girl and a boy to board, and gave the rest to the lions for food.
Okay, so animals swam there, flew, walked, hopped, blah blah. From what I can gather, the Middle East is a pretty hot, dry climate, which suits many animals, but what about polar bears and cold blooded animals? How would Noah, remembering this is thousands of years ago, kept these cold, but also keep the warm blooded animals warm at the same time?
What about the food? Lions eat tonnes of meat a year, and zebra, gazelles and buffalo seem to be their choice of food. So only having two of every animal, how would he satisfy the carnivore's diet with jeopardising his overall objective? Hmm so many questions to ponder.
Well in the title I put Pt 1 (Meaning Part 1) for a reason, because the religion topic can't be discussed in one blog, I wouldn't be surprised if this topic goes for 6 parts. Now because I live in Australia, I am entitled to my opinion, and I'm 100% there will be at least 2 people out there that do not agree with what I have said so far, but this is what I believe and I am allowed to express my beliefs. Yes you may call me an idiot, yes you may say I will be punished by the lord, say what you will about me, that is perfectly fair, because so far I have given the religious group a bit of flack.
I will continue at a later date on the controversial topic of religion, and will end up proving this god fella is just like Seniore Butterpants....
B t w, here is Jim Jefferies.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZJ-_OTvsqo [WARNING: High levels of swear words]
From The One They Call Anthony, This Is The Life & Times
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
My Last Trip To The Docs
So on Thursday I have to head down to Melbourne for my annual checkup on the ol' ticker. I have been doing these trips for nearly 23 years, and the younger I was, the more frequent the trip. The earliest I can remember is doing two trips a year with mum and dad. Now it's once a year, and the journey I undertake by myself. This blog will tell the tale of last year's trip, which was quite draining.
So my appointment schedule was pretty much standard, 9:15am for an echo, followed by a 10am meeting with my doctor. I think that was it, so when you see that it doesn't seem much of a big deal, well.....
I have experienced Melbourne during peak-hour, and the last thing I wanted was to be late for appointment, face possible cancellation and a waste of petrol, so I left fairly early. How early you ask? Well I awoke at 3:30am to start the trip, and travelling from home it takes 3.5-4hrs, going into the city. So I left around 4:30, getting some nice brekky and a wake-me-up-shower into me.
For some strange reason I don't mind waking up early and travelling. There is something about being on the freeway in darkness, by yourself except when passing the odd truck, then slowly without really even noticing dark becomes light, night turns into day, moon replaced by sun. I did my typical stop halfwayish for a serving of Macca's brekky, as I was craving sausage and egg McMuffin, and stocked up on Redbull.
What's a bit ironic is I love Redbull, I mean I can drink that stuff all day! The irony is that I go to Melbourne to have my heart checked out, and apparently people have made up rumours Redbull is bad for your heart. From memory, I think I bought two 436mL or whatever cans, the big ones, but only drank one on the trip down.
So I arrived around 8-8:30, and did not mind being early. So I just grab a few Women's Weekly and just chilled in the waiting room until it was my turn. Everything was standard, I nearly fell asleep during the echo which isn't uncommon for me, and afterwards talked to my doc.
During that time period I recently moved from Melbourne to home again, and it was about 2-3 months since I saw my friends from Melbourne. So I ended up catching up with one and we went to a DFO, walked around and all that jazz. We then eventually met up with two other friends at the train station, in which one was greeted with a bear hug and the other a casual 'wassup' man hug.
Oh almost forgot, because this gets very important later on. I had the worst cough I have ever had, and it made me feel crook as. I don't know what exactly I was sick with, but it was strong. And we're back in...
Not sure what we did in the afternoon, I think we just went to an arcade and walked around, but then we went to a restaurant (I think it was this trip) where I ordered the biggest parmy in my life, in anyone's life! The meals there was so big, there was four of us, we only ordered 2 meals.
So we spent some time there trying to munch through our meals, and then at like 9:30ish there was craving for pancakes. I was thrown in the backseat to conserve energy while I was coughing my guts up, and we went to that pancake franchise, can't think of the name, in Doncaster.
We were there for a while, until it got late and my friends remembered I had a 4hr trip home. Before I was allowed to leave we had to get some supplies at my old Safeway. I bought some cough lollies, two bags I think, water, some orange juice, Redbull and butter menthol's. This was to last me on the trip back.
After saying byes to everyone, I made my journey back home, leaving Melbourne around 11:30pm. About 30minutes into the trip I noticed I already consumed my orange juice and butter menthol's, and well into the lollies. Knowing these are meant to last me a little longer than 1hr, I started to ration them.
Half-way down the freeway I noticed I was yawning, nodding my head and kind of veering on the road, so I thought it would be best to park the car for a nap. Found a little truck stop, set my alarm to allow a half-hour nap, and I fell asleep in a heartbeat.
Upon waking up I took a wee-wee outside, and consumed some Redbull and lollies and I was on my way again. On the road between Mulwala and Oaklands at about 3:30am (24 hours since I've been awake, if you don't count that nap of course) I may have spaced out and nearly crashed. Well, kangaroos hopped out on the road and I suffered some delayed response. Needless to say, I was safe, and so were the roos, so relax people.
I think I got home around quarter to 4 in the morning, and I crashed onto my bed, not even worrying about changing.
I slept for half-an-hour in a 24 hour period, and it was one of my longest days. To that date, it was the longest I have ever been awake, but that record was shattered later (But that's a whole new blog). What makes that feat impressive was I had peaks of Redbull energy followed by crashes, I most likely overdosed on cough lollies and I received death-threats of my friends if they were to get sick. Quickly with the Redbull consumption, I would have easily consumed over 1.2L of Redbull, so that wasn't exactly healthy of me.
What made the experience worst was I had an assessment due on the day of the trip, but got it extended to the next day, and me being me I may have left it 'til that day. I awoke around 9am to travel into TAFE to work on the assessment and hand it in, and when I returned home that evening, I had more than enough.
At the moment the trip on Thursday may follow similar characteristics of the trip of last year. I will need to awake quite early to avoid peak hour and make my early appointment, however I may not get the chance to really spend time with my friends due to their work commitments, so I don't think I will be leaving around 11 at night. Another positive about the upcoming trip is that I'm not crook as a dog, and not coughing my guts up every 3 minutes. Hang on, going to knock on some wood.......
From The One They Anthony, This Is The Life & Times
So my appointment schedule was pretty much standard, 9:15am for an echo, followed by a 10am meeting with my doctor. I think that was it, so when you see that it doesn't seem much of a big deal, well.....
I have experienced Melbourne during peak-hour, and the last thing I wanted was to be late for appointment, face possible cancellation and a waste of petrol, so I left fairly early. How early you ask? Well I awoke at 3:30am to start the trip, and travelling from home it takes 3.5-4hrs, going into the city. So I left around 4:30, getting some nice brekky and a wake-me-up-shower into me.
For some strange reason I don't mind waking up early and travelling. There is something about being on the freeway in darkness, by yourself except when passing the odd truck, then slowly without really even noticing dark becomes light, night turns into day, moon replaced by sun. I did my typical stop halfwayish for a serving of Macca's brekky, as I was craving sausage and egg McMuffin, and stocked up on Redbull.
What's a bit ironic is I love Redbull, I mean I can drink that stuff all day! The irony is that I go to Melbourne to have my heart checked out, and apparently people have made up rumours Redbull is bad for your heart. From memory, I think I bought two 436mL or whatever cans, the big ones, but only drank one on the trip down.
So I arrived around 8-8:30, and did not mind being early. So I just grab a few Women's Weekly and just chilled in the waiting room until it was my turn. Everything was standard, I nearly fell asleep during the echo which isn't uncommon for me, and afterwards talked to my doc.
During that time period I recently moved from Melbourne to home again, and it was about 2-3 months since I saw my friends from Melbourne. So I ended up catching up with one and we went to a DFO, walked around and all that jazz. We then eventually met up with two other friends at the train station, in which one was greeted with a bear hug and the other a casual 'wassup' man hug.
Oh almost forgot, because this gets very important later on. I had the worst cough I have ever had, and it made me feel crook as. I don't know what exactly I was sick with, but it was strong. And we're back in...
Not sure what we did in the afternoon, I think we just went to an arcade and walked around, but then we went to a restaurant (I think it was this trip) where I ordered the biggest parmy in my life, in anyone's life! The meals there was so big, there was four of us, we only ordered 2 meals.
So we spent some time there trying to munch through our meals, and then at like 9:30ish there was craving for pancakes. I was thrown in the backseat to conserve energy while I was coughing my guts up, and we went to that pancake franchise, can't think of the name, in Doncaster.
We were there for a while, until it got late and my friends remembered I had a 4hr trip home. Before I was allowed to leave we had to get some supplies at my old Safeway. I bought some cough lollies, two bags I think, water, some orange juice, Redbull and butter menthol's. This was to last me on the trip back.
After saying byes to everyone, I made my journey back home, leaving Melbourne around 11:30pm. About 30minutes into the trip I noticed I already consumed my orange juice and butter menthol's, and well into the lollies. Knowing these are meant to last me a little longer than 1hr, I started to ration them.
Half-way down the freeway I noticed I was yawning, nodding my head and kind of veering on the road, so I thought it would be best to park the car for a nap. Found a little truck stop, set my alarm to allow a half-hour nap, and I fell asleep in a heartbeat.
Upon waking up I took a wee-wee outside, and consumed some Redbull and lollies and I was on my way again. On the road between Mulwala and Oaklands at about 3:30am (24 hours since I've been awake, if you don't count that nap of course) I may have spaced out and nearly crashed. Well, kangaroos hopped out on the road and I suffered some delayed response. Needless to say, I was safe, and so were the roos, so relax people.
I think I got home around quarter to 4 in the morning, and I crashed onto my bed, not even worrying about changing.
I slept for half-an-hour in a 24 hour period, and it was one of my longest days. To that date, it was the longest I have ever been awake, but that record was shattered later (But that's a whole new blog). What makes that feat impressive was I had peaks of Redbull energy followed by crashes, I most likely overdosed on cough lollies and I received death-threats of my friends if they were to get sick. Quickly with the Redbull consumption, I would have easily consumed over 1.2L of Redbull, so that wasn't exactly healthy of me.
What made the experience worst was I had an assessment due on the day of the trip, but got it extended to the next day, and me being me I may have left it 'til that day. I awoke around 9am to travel into TAFE to work on the assessment and hand it in, and when I returned home that evening, I had more than enough.
At the moment the trip on Thursday may follow similar characteristics of the trip of last year. I will need to awake quite early to avoid peak hour and make my early appointment, however I may not get the chance to really spend time with my friends due to their work commitments, so I don't think I will be leaving around 11 at night. Another positive about the upcoming trip is that I'm not crook as a dog, and not coughing my guts up every 3 minutes. Hang on, going to knock on some wood.......
From The One They Anthony, This Is The Life & Times
Friday, March 4, 2011
Home On Wheels
I am currently in a pretty annoying sleep pattern, which has resulted in a 3:20am blog. Last year was a very big year for me, it saw me leave Melbourne, moved back home, re-enter the education system, land the one job I told myself I would never do, forged new friendships, work two jobs at the same time, sleep in my car for the better part of two months, fail at house-searching, pretty much lose two jobs and found the cheapest rent paying place ever (Aside from home).
I could write a big blog about my house searching experience, which was very different to Melbourne's, but this blog is to pretty much blog about my experience living out of my car. Just to clear up, I'm sure when you read this you think "Cool, you have a van?" or "Every night for two months?" Firstly, no it was a van, it was a sedan, and secondly, it wasn't every night, but on average 3-4 nights a week.
Without going back through facebook status' to find record of the first night spent, it was in July when I spent the first night in my car. Now we all know what July is famous for.... Being the middle of winter, and it was a spur of the moment, after work/tafe next day thing.
For the last couple weeks beforehand, I was couch hopping while looking for a house, however there came a time when everything bottled up inside me just broke and I gave the world a big "SCREW YOU" I had the pressure of working late, TAFE, house hunting (which is a whole new blog) and what was the worst was trying to repair a friendship I wrecked earlier.
So after work I originally planned on driving home, which takes a bit over an hour, then drive back in the morning for TAFE. Now I finished work usually around 1-2am, so it would have been a waste of time, energy and petrol driving home that late and back again. Towards the end of my shift I realised it, and just went 'F it', knocked off, and drove to the TAFE.
I don't know the policy or whatever about sleeping in your car, but the car park was deserted, and seemed the safest place to pull up shop. I park as far away from the street as possible, I think this was to avoid any police. I always carry my laptop with me, as I just don't know when I might need it, so for a half-hour or so I was using the TAFE wireless, in my car, just passing the time and trying to forget what exactly I was doing.
Now I didn't really plan ahead, so I kind of only had a shirt, jumper and trackies, and when you are in a car in the middle of winter, it kind of isn't enough. I spent the better-half of the night unable to sleep due to intense shivering, and I eventually fell asleep.
I woke up a bit before 9, and realised where I was. My car was surrounded by other cars, and first thing I thought of is what people thought if they looked in to see my curled up in a ball sleeping. I went to class and acted like I had a normal nights rest, and went home that night. Not going to lie, the bed was a much better sleeping arrangement.
Now hating my life at this time, I continued this trend of sleeping in my car, and as time went on, I learnt from mistakes.
Mistake #01 - Lack of clothing
Solution - Pack clothes
My first experience taught me I had a lack of clothes, which made the sleep cold, uncomfortable and un-bearing. Me being ever-so-clever, I thought "What if I just pack some heavy duty winter clothes and stack the layers on". So for some time I would go to work, come back, change from my work clothes to the following....
2 x Pairs of socks
1 x Leggings (This took a couple nights to realise I should pack them)
1 x Trackies
2-3 x T-shirts
2 x Jumpers (One hooded to keep my head warm. At one stage was wearing three jumpers)
So I had some clothes on, some nights I was warm, and some other nights it wasn't enough. I remember waking up one morning, and unable to see out the window because of the frost, and I was curled up shivering and thinking "Wow, I'm so cranking this heater"
So if I had a heater in my car, why didn't I use it? Uhh simple, the car would have ran out of battery and petrol, and that was the reason why I was sleeping in the car. However, after work, while driving to my sleep destination, I would crank the heater up to full speed in hopes of warming the car enough to sustain me at least 15 minutes.
Mistake #02 - Sleeping in the car park when an event on campus was going on
Solution - Find a new spot
One night there was an event on campus, and it could have been my eyes playing a trick on me but I kept seeing figures out in the distance. Of course it was dark, and I was sleep deprived, but this was enough to scare me into finding somewhere else.
I needed to find a place which was quiet, away from prying eyes and somewhere close to TAFE. When I would drive into TAFE I noticed a little parking area, most likely for trucks, just off the freeway on McKoy St, so I thought to make this my spot.
My night would usually go something like, work, drive to TAFE and use the wireless internet until my battery was low, or I'd watch shows on my laptop. I then would drive to my spot, pull the seat back and the rest I don't need to go on.
Mistake #03 - Still got freaking cold
Solution - Pack my doona
I can't believe it took me a while to figure this out! I do feel rather stupid, as I spent a few good weeks shivering myself to sleep. I thought of the brilliant idea of packing a pillow and my doona, and turned out to be the smartest thing I thought of all year. Combing the doona with my layers of clothing, the harsh cold winter temperature became quite bearable and actually tolerable.
No longer was I shivering, I was quite warm under the doona, and the pillow made it feel like sleeping in a bed. I was no longer dreading the cold nights ahead, and the nights became somewhat manageable.
Mistake #04 - Chilling in my car on a public road at 1am
Solution - Don't do it anymore
For a brief period, instead of entering the TAFE car park for internet, I'd just sit out on McKoy St, which still gave me access. One night I was watching Family Guy and a light shined into my car, I got out and realised it was a policeman. He questioned what I was doing, and not knowing if it was illegal or not, I bended the truth slightly. I showed him I.D, and saw my old address of Heidelberg Heights and was surprised when I answered that I never been involved with crime. I explained I grew up in a small town and not in the 'burbs, and once he left, I hit a bump on where I was sleeping. I told the officer I was waiting for a friend to finish work so I could sleep at his, so I couldn't sleep in my normal spot in case he patrolled that area, saw my car and busted my lying ass.
That night I went over to Albury and found a spot at Nourial Park (Or however you spell it), and then after that night, I just went back into the car park to use the internet.
Mistake #05 - Sleeping in a car
Solution - Find a house
I eventually found a house to live in, and gone were the days of sleeping in my car. A couple weeks leading up to moving in, I started to swallow my pride and allowed mates to "look after" me. He offered a bed whenever I needed it, so I took him up on that offer and had comfortable, cozy bed than the backseat of a car. I think I stayed there a couple nights for two weeks, than it was moving day into my new place, and this is a personal reminder to buy him some beer for his hospitiality.
You are all probably wondering, "Why didn't you just stay at his place for all the time you were sleeping in the car?" Well, I often felt like a burden to the friends I was staying at. I think I would have crashed on at least 5 different people's couches/spare beds I slept on, and every time I stayed I felt like I was a hassle. I didn't want to make people feel obligated to say yes to me staying at theirs, so I stopped asking and took life into my own hands.
It was a true eye-opening experience, and I still slept in a bed a few nights a week. Just remember, while my story may seem silly to some, there are people of all ages out there living on the streets. Some don't have the luxury I had of having an enclosure to protect me from the elements and other people. There are people sleeping on benches, under bridges/overpasses, alleyways and basically anywhere they can and they do this every night. Some might have blankets and warm clothes, others might not. I look back and I find it hard to feel sorry for myself when there was people in way worse conditions than me.
So that is my story, yes okay, sleeping in my car a few nights a week for a few months sucked, and something I don't want to do again, but I could have been worst off.....
From The One They Anthony, This Is The Life & Times
I could write a big blog about my house searching experience, which was very different to Melbourne's, but this blog is to pretty much blog about my experience living out of my car. Just to clear up, I'm sure when you read this you think "Cool, you have a van?" or "Every night for two months?" Firstly, no it was a van, it was a sedan, and secondly, it wasn't every night, but on average 3-4 nights a week.
Without going back through facebook status' to find record of the first night spent, it was in July when I spent the first night in my car. Now we all know what July is famous for.... Being the middle of winter, and it was a spur of the moment, after work/tafe next day thing.
For the last couple weeks beforehand, I was couch hopping while looking for a house, however there came a time when everything bottled up inside me just broke and I gave the world a big "SCREW YOU" I had the pressure of working late, TAFE, house hunting (which is a whole new blog) and what was the worst was trying to repair a friendship I wrecked earlier.
So after work I originally planned on driving home, which takes a bit over an hour, then drive back in the morning for TAFE. Now I finished work usually around 1-2am, so it would have been a waste of time, energy and petrol driving home that late and back again. Towards the end of my shift I realised it, and just went 'F it', knocked off, and drove to the TAFE.
I don't know the policy or whatever about sleeping in your car, but the car park was deserted, and seemed the safest place to pull up shop. I park as far away from the street as possible, I think this was to avoid any police. I always carry my laptop with me, as I just don't know when I might need it, so for a half-hour or so I was using the TAFE wireless, in my car, just passing the time and trying to forget what exactly I was doing.
Now I didn't really plan ahead, so I kind of only had a shirt, jumper and trackies, and when you are in a car in the middle of winter, it kind of isn't enough. I spent the better-half of the night unable to sleep due to intense shivering, and I eventually fell asleep.
I woke up a bit before 9, and realised where I was. My car was surrounded by other cars, and first thing I thought of is what people thought if they looked in to see my curled up in a ball sleeping. I went to class and acted like I had a normal nights rest, and went home that night. Not going to lie, the bed was a much better sleeping arrangement.
Now hating my life at this time, I continued this trend of sleeping in my car, and as time went on, I learnt from mistakes.
Mistake #01 - Lack of clothing
Solution - Pack clothes
My first experience taught me I had a lack of clothes, which made the sleep cold, uncomfortable and un-bearing. Me being ever-so-clever, I thought "What if I just pack some heavy duty winter clothes and stack the layers on". So for some time I would go to work, come back, change from my work clothes to the following....
2 x Pairs of socks
1 x Leggings (This took a couple nights to realise I should pack them)
1 x Trackies
2-3 x T-shirts
2 x Jumpers (One hooded to keep my head warm. At one stage was wearing three jumpers)
So I had some clothes on, some nights I was warm, and some other nights it wasn't enough. I remember waking up one morning, and unable to see out the window because of the frost, and I was curled up shivering and thinking "Wow, I'm so cranking this heater"
So if I had a heater in my car, why didn't I use it? Uhh simple, the car would have ran out of battery and petrol, and that was the reason why I was sleeping in the car. However, after work, while driving to my sleep destination, I would crank the heater up to full speed in hopes of warming the car enough to sustain me at least 15 minutes.
Mistake #02 - Sleeping in the car park when an event on campus was going on
Solution - Find a new spot
One night there was an event on campus, and it could have been my eyes playing a trick on me but I kept seeing figures out in the distance. Of course it was dark, and I was sleep deprived, but this was enough to scare me into finding somewhere else.
I needed to find a place which was quiet, away from prying eyes and somewhere close to TAFE. When I would drive into TAFE I noticed a little parking area, most likely for trucks, just off the freeway on McKoy St, so I thought to make this my spot.
My night would usually go something like, work, drive to TAFE and use the wireless internet until my battery was low, or I'd watch shows on my laptop. I then would drive to my spot, pull the seat back and the rest I don't need to go on.
Mistake #03 - Still got freaking cold
Solution - Pack my doona
I can't believe it took me a while to figure this out! I do feel rather stupid, as I spent a few good weeks shivering myself to sleep. I thought of the brilliant idea of packing a pillow and my doona, and turned out to be the smartest thing I thought of all year. Combing the doona with my layers of clothing, the harsh cold winter temperature became quite bearable and actually tolerable.
No longer was I shivering, I was quite warm under the doona, and the pillow made it feel like sleeping in a bed. I was no longer dreading the cold nights ahead, and the nights became somewhat manageable.
Mistake #04 - Chilling in my car on a public road at 1am
Solution - Don't do it anymore
For a brief period, instead of entering the TAFE car park for internet, I'd just sit out on McKoy St, which still gave me access. One night I was watching Family Guy and a light shined into my car, I got out and realised it was a policeman. He questioned what I was doing, and not knowing if it was illegal or not, I bended the truth slightly. I showed him I.D, and saw my old address of Heidelberg Heights and was surprised when I answered that I never been involved with crime. I explained I grew up in a small town and not in the 'burbs, and once he left, I hit a bump on where I was sleeping. I told the officer I was waiting for a friend to finish work so I could sleep at his, so I couldn't sleep in my normal spot in case he patrolled that area, saw my car and busted my lying ass.
That night I went over to Albury and found a spot at Nourial Park (Or however you spell it), and then after that night, I just went back into the car park to use the internet.
Mistake #05 - Sleeping in a car
Solution - Find a house
I eventually found a house to live in, and gone were the days of sleeping in my car. A couple weeks leading up to moving in, I started to swallow my pride and allowed mates to "look after" me. He offered a bed whenever I needed it, so I took him up on that offer and had comfortable, cozy bed than the backseat of a car. I think I stayed there a couple nights for two weeks, than it was moving day into my new place, and this is a personal reminder to buy him some beer for his hospitiality.
You are all probably wondering, "Why didn't you just stay at his place for all the time you were sleeping in the car?" Well, I often felt like a burden to the friends I was staying at. I think I would have crashed on at least 5 different people's couches/spare beds I slept on, and every time I stayed I felt like I was a hassle. I didn't want to make people feel obligated to say yes to me staying at theirs, so I stopped asking and took life into my own hands.
It was a true eye-opening experience, and I still slept in a bed a few nights a week. Just remember, while my story may seem silly to some, there are people of all ages out there living on the streets. Some don't have the luxury I had of having an enclosure to protect me from the elements and other people. There are people sleeping on benches, under bridges/overpasses, alleyways and basically anywhere they can and they do this every night. Some might have blankets and warm clothes, others might not. I look back and I find it hard to feel sorry for myself when there was people in way worse conditions than me.
So that is my story, yes okay, sleeping in my car a few nights a week for a few months sucked, and something I don't want to do again, but I could have been worst off.....
From The One They Anthony, This Is The Life & Times
Friday, February 18, 2011
Remember That Time I Turned Down A Prostitute?
I have only been to Sydney a handful of times, mostly for my brother's wedding stuff. This included the engagement party, the bucks night, and naturally, the wedding. I have heard news reports and heard stories of the infamous Kings Cross, and have experienced it twice. The first time was on the bucks night, however, battling a shocking cold made the experience un-enjoyable, with no help from shady strip clubs and creepy guys. However, when Round 2 rolled around, it was a whole new ball-game....
I won't bore you tonight with the wedding trip details, I will just jump straight into the main event. It was the fall of 2010, and having been suited-up all day at the wedding, I wasn't going to slip up at the reception, or afterwards, so I kept the suit on, which is probably the best reason of what happened at "The Cross"
We attended some dingy nightclub which prohibited photos, and I nearly got bashed in the men's toilet by a big fat guy for no reason, yes the club was on Kings Cross. After eventually leaving, we were ready to leave, but one friend was not, so we stood outside the club and waited while he talked to some girl.
While waiting, a person in our group noticed a girl just had her tit hanging out of her top, for quite some time, and she has been forever remembered at "Nipple In The Gutter". Ahh Cross, you have done it again.
Now for the story you have been waiting for, the prostitute....
We were walking to a taxi rink I believe, when a girl outside a building asked "Hey, wanna have sex" to which I replied with "Yes, but not with you" Then 2 seconds later, she asked some other guys, and they stood there talking to her, yuck! What annoyed about this hooker was her tone of voice. Her tone was sort of like, she had a quota to ask that night and asked me in such a way that she wasn't interested, but just making one less person to ask. She did not have very good people skills at all, and is something she needs to work on.
After walking away, proud of my efforts of totally destroying the hooker's confidence, I noticed police officers down the street, and thought I should inform them on the dirty hooker lady. I told them about her, and to my surprised, discovered prostitution isn't illegal in Australia. It is only illegal if you are having sex in a public viewing area, but if she takes them into a private room, it is allowed. Shattered that I couldn't completely destroy the hooker's life by getting her flat ass thrown in jail, we proceeded to head back to the motel.
That is the story of the time I turned down a prostitute, it's been my first turn-down, and my first ever seeing one in the flesh. I have been out in Melbourne on occasion, and not once have I seen hookers walking the street, but Kings Cross, there was an abundance of them, the street was littered with them.......
From The One They Call Anthony, This Is The Life & Times
I won't bore you tonight with the wedding trip details, I will just jump straight into the main event. It was the fall of 2010, and having been suited-up all day at the wedding, I wasn't going to slip up at the reception, or afterwards, so I kept the suit on, which is probably the best reason of what happened at "The Cross"
We attended some dingy nightclub which prohibited photos, and I nearly got bashed in the men's toilet by a big fat guy for no reason, yes the club was on Kings Cross. After eventually leaving, we were ready to leave, but one friend was not, so we stood outside the club and waited while he talked to some girl.
While waiting, a person in our group noticed a girl just had her tit hanging out of her top, for quite some time, and she has been forever remembered at "Nipple In The Gutter". Ahh Cross, you have done it again.
Now for the story you have been waiting for, the prostitute....
We were walking to a taxi rink I believe, when a girl outside a building asked "Hey, wanna have sex" to which I replied with "Yes, but not with you" Then 2 seconds later, she asked some other guys, and they stood there talking to her, yuck! What annoyed about this hooker was her tone of voice. Her tone was sort of like, she had a quota to ask that night and asked me in such a way that she wasn't interested, but just making one less person to ask. She did not have very good people skills at all, and is something she needs to work on.
After walking away, proud of my efforts of totally destroying the hooker's confidence, I noticed police officers down the street, and thought I should inform them on the dirty hooker lady. I told them about her, and to my surprised, discovered prostitution isn't illegal in Australia. It is only illegal if you are having sex in a public viewing area, but if she takes them into a private room, it is allowed. Shattered that I couldn't completely destroy the hooker's life by getting her flat ass thrown in jail, we proceeded to head back to the motel.
That is the story of the time I turned down a prostitute, it's been my first turn-down, and my first ever seeing one in the flesh. I have been out in Melbourne on occasion, and not once have I seen hookers walking the street, but Kings Cross, there was an abundance of them, the street was littered with them.......
From The One They Call Anthony, This Is The Life & Times
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
'You've Just Been Scammed!'
No, not a new TV show like Punk'd, this blog tells the time where I was scammed by a Nigerian through eBay. We have all got them emails, in fact give me 2minutes and I'll check my junk mail for one.....
Okay I couldn't find one, which is annoy, why is it when you are looking for something you can never find, but when you aren't looking, it is always there?!?!?! Ahhh! That's a whole new blog, anyway basically the emails I sometimes find in my junk says crap like 'You have inherited $1,000,000, please reply with your bank details' or something along those lines.
These types of scams are called Advanced-fee Fraud, where people are usually talked into paying sums of money in hopes of getting larger outcomes. Such as, you pay them $1,000 to 'process forms and legal fees' and you end up with $530,000. Basically it is all a bunch of lies, and as the scam progress', you are persuaded into handing more money over to hopefully end up with much more.
Now, here is my tale of my 419 Scam....
Back in 2008, I was making some good decent money working where I was, so I thought I'd look into buying a new phone outright, off eBay. I found a nice phone, so I placed a bid, won it, and had the phone on my doorstep a few days later. It turned out the phone didn't work in Oaklands, because Oaklands is a isolated village, so I decided to just sell it back on eBay to hopefully recover the money I spent. Oh boy, I did not know what was just around the corner.
So I had someone who bought it straight away, which was good because it meant I was getting my money back. Turned out this person's address was in Nigeria, South Africa, and back then I was unaware of the scams and frauds occurring from this part of the world. I actually dug up the emails from everyone involved in the scam, so I will be pasting snippets, and keep in mind, I was 19 and never left the big world of Oaklands.
The buyer, "Emily Nelson" wanted me post the phone off first, before she paid me, because she didn't want to be scammed. Ha! If I only read eBay's terms and conditions harder, I could of told her money is needed before a buyer had to send the product, but I sent it off before I had any sort of money, and this is where it all turned to poo.
"what is happening?did you post the parcel?I will be reporting you to the police"
Now reading a email like that is enough to get you scared, but got even more scary was the email that appeared next in my inbox.
I got a email from the "Australian Federal Police" with the email being australianfederalpolice911@rocketmail.com (turned out was not the real Federal Police, duh) who said I could be facing loss of job, money or jail time because apparently I didn't give a tracking number, although I did. At the end of the email, there was a bit that said 'if you believe you were set-up for fraud, please reply and mention'
Them scammers must of been confident, because A) They were pretending to be the Australian Federal Police, and B) They mentioned about stopping fraud, which was exactly what they were doing.
Before you question, 'Wait, surely you knew that was a fake email' I did get that suspicion, so I looked up the Australian Federal Police, and none of the emails matched. So I replied back questioning why their emails weren't the same as the website, and they replied back saying how the server was down or some crap. I also told them that I was a victim of fraud, and in the response, the "AFP" said "We want you to know that you are not a victim of fraud, as the investigation is still in progress"
A few emails were exchanged between me and "Emily" questioning why she got the police involved, and then why I told the police she was scamming me. We ended up reaching an agreement of not involving the police anymore.
I later received an email from the "Nigerian Customs" saying my parcel was pretty much held hostage. In order for it to reach it's final destination, I had to pay $150 to have it cleared, or $250 to have it sent back, or if I didn't pay it in 3 days, it would be destroy. Keep in mind, at this point of the story, I still had no idea I was being scammed. The money had to be sent using Western Union, which all the scammers use to get money.
After some hesitation, questioning and the like, I got an email from "Emily" asking for me not to betray her, and pay the money so the phone can be released. I finally caved and paid $125, then an emailed popped up saying I owed $100 more for the phone to be released, oh golly!
I got an email from Emily begging me to pay the $100 and she would pay me back when she got paid from work, and being the nice guy, I decided to do so. What came next was a bit of shock....
An email from the same Nigerian Customs email, stating I was a victim of fraud, and that Emily was a scam artist. I was told she (who was a he) was arrested and was going to be on trial. I was informed that the phone would be returned, and my case would be held in court. Apparently, if the case won, I could be compsentated between $7,000-$80,000, and a resperesentive from Nigeria was going to plead my case for me.
Now I was planning on moving in a couple months, so to see an email to say I could potential have $7,000+ got me a wee-bit excited. Even at this point, I didn't suspect this part was a scam.
Just reading what happened next, I can't help but laugh that I actually believed it. I got an email from my 'lawyer' who said we won the court case, and I was going to be awarded $9,000 compensation. All we had to do was pay $900 for documents to be processed, and since he was my lawyer, he had to pay half, so I had to pay $450 to receive $9,000.
Notice how this scam is starting to sound a lot similar to what I talked about at the start?
I didn't have $450 laying around, so I talked to a friend, told her my situation, and she said to go see the police first, and if it ended up legit, she would lend me the money. So I visited the local police, and he did some background checking on the emails, characters, addresses and that.
Being a cop, I was expecting databases and that, but nup, simple Google. We googled names, business', emails, and tried matching pictures. Nothing was adding up, and when told about the Australian Federal Police, right then he knew it was a scam.
While I didn't end up sending the $450, there is still a little bit more left to tell of the story.
The policeman said not to reply to anymore emails from the lawyer, and I got a couple saying "Where is the money, I need it for you to get the $9,000" But I ignored them. I got a email from "Emily" asking where her money was (thinking I owed her) and saying she was going to sue me and the Nigerian Customs. What was funny about this was she said she sent me money, which she clearly didn't. The previous email I sent her, I must of been angry because I said "I paid the Customs $100 to get that phone to you, now you pay me the $500 you owe me!!"
The email which I sent to her after she said she I owed her money and she was sueing me, I got real angry. What's annoying about this blog is the lack of copy and paste, but I will type out my reply because it was a real beaut.
"your money? what money do i owe you? NOTHING! I PAID ALL THE MONEY THE "CUSTOMS" TO HAVE IT "RELEASED" DICKHEAD! YOU OWE ME $500!
What about your son's court case? About fraud? Oh wait, because there was no real customs, you made that up. Also, went and saw the local police, the emails from the Australian Police Federation you made up as well because they don't operate under that email.
So don't bullshit me, you are the scam artist. I didn't owe you any money either, mainly because you bidded on my item in ebay, which means you were under contract to pay me. But don't worry, if I don't receive the money soon, I will track you down and have you arrested by the real police, not the fake ones you made up."
Her reply was,
"What? you did not pay any money to the Nigeria Custom they asked me to stop contacting you that you are a scam... they also stated that they have contacted PayPal service about the money that you have received your money. Now they charge me the sum of $3000 us dolls to Pay which I have Paid $2,400 from the money I was told i will be compensated that you have scammed me....Now what are you telling me..Let me know something if there will be anything for us to do about this. Now I have Lost $2,400 and i don't have any ideal of what is goin on."
After that, I gave up, I was in Melbourne, and didn't want to deal with scams anymore, or waste energy tracking her down. I never heard from her again.....
There is my story, the end loss was $100, and a phone worth about $500, so $600 total. Could have been a lot worse if I didn't speak up and see someone about it. I have read stories about people losing not only thousands, but hundred's of thousands. Even read a story where a man was kidnapped and killed as part of a 419 Scam.
Looking back, I kind of shake my head, for being so stupid, and for the scammers being pretty stupid. While I will never see that money, it has given me the ability to spot scams a hundred-mile away. If you do get any emails that promise big money from just a small payment, delete it, or report the email address to the police.
These scammer pretend to be high officials, like the Australian Federal Police, Nigerian Customs, Federal Court, lawyers and the like, to either scare us into transferring the money, or giving us faith and believing them. I have thought about contacting "Emily" and see what response I will get, but I am guessing none, but hey, may as well give it a try, could make for an interesting blog in the future. I'll just leave you with one final piece of advice, if something sounds too good to be true, 99.99% of the time, it is fake....
From The One They Call Anthony, This Is The Life & Times
Okay I couldn't find one, which is annoy, why is it when you are looking for something you can never find, but when you aren't looking, it is always there?!?!?! Ahhh! That's a whole new blog, anyway basically the emails I sometimes find in my junk says crap like 'You have inherited $1,000,000, please reply with your bank details' or something along those lines.
These types of scams are called Advanced-fee Fraud, where people are usually talked into paying sums of money in hopes of getting larger outcomes. Such as, you pay them $1,000 to 'process forms and legal fees' and you end up with $530,000. Basically it is all a bunch of lies, and as the scam progress', you are persuaded into handing more money over to hopefully end up with much more.
Now, here is my tale of my 419 Scam....
Back in 2008, I was making some good decent money working where I was, so I thought I'd look into buying a new phone outright, off eBay. I found a nice phone, so I placed a bid, won it, and had the phone on my doorstep a few days later. It turned out the phone didn't work in Oaklands, because Oaklands is a isolated village, so I decided to just sell it back on eBay to hopefully recover the money I spent. Oh boy, I did not know what was just around the corner.
So I had someone who bought it straight away, which was good because it meant I was getting my money back. Turned out this person's address was in Nigeria, South Africa, and back then I was unaware of the scams and frauds occurring from this part of the world. I actually dug up the emails from everyone involved in the scam, so I will be pasting snippets, and keep in mind, I was 19 and never left the big world of Oaklands.
The buyer, "Emily Nelson" wanted me post the phone off first, before she paid me, because she didn't want to be scammed. Ha! If I only read eBay's terms and conditions harder, I could of told her money is needed before a buyer had to send the product, but I sent it off before I had any sort of money, and this is where it all turned to poo.
"what is happening?did you post the parcel?I will be reporting you to the police"
Now reading a email like that is enough to get you scared, but got even more scary was the email that appeared next in my inbox.
I got a email from the "Australian Federal Police" with the email being australianfederalpolice911@rocketmail.com (turned out was not the real Federal Police, duh) who said I could be facing loss of job, money or jail time because apparently I didn't give a tracking number, although I did. At the end of the email, there was a bit that said 'if you believe you were set-up for fraud, please reply and mention'
Them scammers must of been confident, because A) They were pretending to be the Australian Federal Police, and B) They mentioned about stopping fraud, which was exactly what they were doing.
Before you question, 'Wait, surely you knew that was a fake email' I did get that suspicion, so I looked up the Australian Federal Police, and none of the emails matched. So I replied back questioning why their emails weren't the same as the website, and they replied back saying how the server was down or some crap. I also told them that I was a victim of fraud, and in the response, the "AFP" said "We want you to know that you are not a victim of fraud, as the investigation is still in progress"
A few emails were exchanged between me and "Emily" questioning why she got the police involved, and then why I told the police she was scamming me. We ended up reaching an agreement of not involving the police anymore.
I later received an email from the "Nigerian Customs" saying my parcel was pretty much held hostage. In order for it to reach it's final destination, I had to pay $150 to have it cleared, or $250 to have it sent back, or if I didn't pay it in 3 days, it would be destroy. Keep in mind, at this point of the story, I still had no idea I was being scammed. The money had to be sent using Western Union, which all the scammers use to get money.
After some hesitation, questioning and the like, I got an email from "Emily" asking for me not to betray her, and pay the money so the phone can be released. I finally caved and paid $125, then an emailed popped up saying I owed $100 more for the phone to be released, oh golly!
I got an email from Emily begging me to pay the $100 and she would pay me back when she got paid from work, and being the nice guy, I decided to do so. What came next was a bit of shock....
An email from the same Nigerian Customs email, stating I was a victim of fraud, and that Emily was a scam artist. I was told she (who was a he) was arrested and was going to be on trial. I was informed that the phone would be returned, and my case would be held in court. Apparently, if the case won, I could be compsentated between $7,000-$80,000, and a resperesentive from Nigeria was going to plead my case for me.
Now I was planning on moving in a couple months, so to see an email to say I could potential have $7,000+ got me a wee-bit excited. Even at this point, I didn't suspect this part was a scam.
Just reading what happened next, I can't help but laugh that I actually believed it. I got an email from my 'lawyer' who said we won the court case, and I was going to be awarded $9,000 compensation. All we had to do was pay $900 for documents to be processed, and since he was my lawyer, he had to pay half, so I had to pay $450 to receive $9,000.
Notice how this scam is starting to sound a lot similar to what I talked about at the start?
I didn't have $450 laying around, so I talked to a friend, told her my situation, and she said to go see the police first, and if it ended up legit, she would lend me the money. So I visited the local police, and he did some background checking on the emails, characters, addresses and that.
Being a cop, I was expecting databases and that, but nup, simple Google. We googled names, business', emails, and tried matching pictures. Nothing was adding up, and when told about the Australian Federal Police, right then he knew it was a scam.
While I didn't end up sending the $450, there is still a little bit more left to tell of the story.
The policeman said not to reply to anymore emails from the lawyer, and I got a couple saying "Where is the money, I need it for you to get the $9,000" But I ignored them. I got a email from "Emily" asking where her money was (thinking I owed her) and saying she was going to sue me and the Nigerian Customs. What was funny about this was she said she sent me money, which she clearly didn't. The previous email I sent her, I must of been angry because I said "I paid the Customs $100 to get that phone to you, now you pay me the $500 you owe me!!"
The email which I sent to her after she said she I owed her money and she was sueing me, I got real angry. What's annoying about this blog is the lack of copy and paste, but I will type out my reply because it was a real beaut.
"your money? what money do i owe you? NOTHING! I PAID ALL THE MONEY THE "CUSTOMS" TO HAVE IT "RELEASED" DICKHEAD! YOU OWE ME $500!
What about your son's court case? About fraud? Oh wait, because there was no real customs, you made that up. Also, went and saw the local police, the emails from the Australian Police Federation you made up as well because they don't operate under that email.
So don't bullshit me, you are the scam artist. I didn't owe you any money either, mainly because you bidded on my item in ebay, which means you were under contract to pay me. But don't worry, if I don't receive the money soon, I will track you down and have you arrested by the real police, not the fake ones you made up."
Her reply was,
"What? you did not pay any money to the Nigeria Custom they asked me to stop contacting you that you are a scam... they also stated that they have contacted PayPal service about the money that you have received your money. Now they charge me the sum of $3000 us dolls to Pay which I have Paid $2,400 from the money I was told i will be compensated that you have scammed me....Now what are you telling me..Let me know something if there will be anything for us to do about this. Now I have Lost $2,400 and i don't have any ideal of what is goin on."
After that, I gave up, I was in Melbourne, and didn't want to deal with scams anymore, or waste energy tracking her down. I never heard from her again.....
There is my story, the end loss was $100, and a phone worth about $500, so $600 total. Could have been a lot worse if I didn't speak up and see someone about it. I have read stories about people losing not only thousands, but hundred's of thousands. Even read a story where a man was kidnapped and killed as part of a 419 Scam.
Looking back, I kind of shake my head, for being so stupid, and for the scammers being pretty stupid. While I will never see that money, it has given me the ability to spot scams a hundred-mile away. If you do get any emails that promise big money from just a small payment, delete it, or report the email address to the police.
These scammer pretend to be high officials, like the Australian Federal Police, Nigerian Customs, Federal Court, lawyers and the like, to either scare us into transferring the money, or giving us faith and believing them. I have thought about contacting "Emily" and see what response I will get, but I am guessing none, but hey, may as well give it a try, could make for an interesting blog in the future. I'll just leave you with one final piece of advice, if something sounds too good to be true, 99.99% of the time, it is fake....
From The One They Call Anthony, This Is The Life & Times
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Hoon Drivers.....
Of course hoon drivers are everywhere, every minute of every day, but what brought this blog on was a couple days ago. Thursday afternoon I was driving back home, and in a 60km/hr zone I'm happily plotting along at said speed. I notice in my rear-view a car approaching quite quickly, I ignored my mirror, focused on the road ahead, looked up again and the car was not in the mirror. Half a second later the car flies by the side of me, doing at least 90km/hr, and speeding off into the distance until he was out of sight. It got me thinking, I was I was an undercover cop so I could slap on my siren on the top of my car, pull him over and take his license away.
Why did he have to be speeding in a 60km/hr zone? What was so important that he could risk people's lives? This doesn't go out to just him, this goes out to all the hoon drivers out there.
If you had to travel 40km to your place of work, and you stuck to the speed limit of 100km/hr, it will take you 24mins to get there. However, speed at 130km/hr and it takes you 18mins, only 6minutes quicker. So what's the point, it is only 6minutes? Why risk your life for 6minutes? Here is a tip, wake up 6minutes earlier so you can leave on time to arrive while travelling at the proper speed limit. Either that, or just arrive late, better arriving late than in a body bag.
I got a bit of a eye-opener early last month where me and two of my family members came across a car crash early Sunday morning. What I saw next would certainly stick in my mind, and that was a man, lying motionless on the side of the road, dead. To make matters worse, I knew him and he was a good man, aged 40ish. He was in a head on collision with another car, carrying a mother and her 12 year old daughter, with the mother sustaining pretty severe injuries, the daughter not as bad. Both vehicles would have been only travelling around 60-70km/hr, 80km/hr at most, and there was big devastation.
Imagine now if you were travelling at 130km/hr, and hit a car head-on travelling at 100km/hr, there would be nothing left of both of you.
This doesn't just concern speeding drivers, not wearing a seat-belt (Not exactly a hoon problem) is pretty stupid. A friend of mine always seems to put her seat-belt when on the road travelling, which I find troubling. I always put my seat-belt on as soon as I get in the car, because you could pull out and maybe a car on the other side of the road loses controls and hits you, I don't know but you never know what can happen. All it takes is a split-second for an accident happen, so it is always best to wear a seat-belt.
Doing burn-outs is another thing. Sure, when I first got my license I went out and did a couple "burn-outs" on a dirt road, away from anything and everyone, and then after I did 2 or 3, I was over it. However, when people are doing burn-outs in residential streets, main streets and doing doughnuts where possible, it not only damages the road and leaves unimpressive marks, you risk losing control and doing damage. There has been stories in the newspaper of drivers doing burn-outs, losing control and slamming into people's houses. Imagine, you are watching TV, eating dinner, and suddenly you hear people doing burn-outs, you shake your head, and all of a sudden a car is in your living room....
Drink-driving is another thing I just don't get. Yes, I have driven after consuming a couple drinks, but only 1 or 2, I think 3 was my most, but these were consumed over a 5 hour period with quite some time since consuming my last and driving off. So why do people who are clearly drunk, and know they are drunk, get behind the wheel? A car can weigh over a tonne, and you get behind a lethal weapon while intoxicated, you are asking for trouble.
There has been way too many accidents caused by drink-drivers, many with sad endings. Sometimes the driver survives, but the people in the other car, or passengers, do not. How could you bare to live with that guilt of being responsible for one's death? I know I could not do it.
So why do people drink-and-drive? Because they have no other means of getting home? I think it is safe to assume over 95% of people with a license has a mobile phone, so in that case, ring somebody to come get you! I'm sure they will much rather wake up at 3am, and make sure you get home alive, then to wake up that morning and see an article about a car crash and recognise your car. Don't have a mate because you are a loner? Well, go to a taxi rink, or ring one, and get home that way. Can't afford a taxi? Do a runner at the end, or, walk! Me and a mate walked over 10km one night to get home, it took us a couple hours, and by the end we were just about sober, but we didn't want to pay a taxi, our mates were not in reachable distance, and we actually didn't even have a car to drive home.
I don't understand why people continue to risk their lives in these deadly machines. People must think they are in a car, they are safe. Or they might think 'I'm young, I'll be right, Grandpa is 93 years old, I'm only 18, I got heaps of living to do' thinking they are invincible. Wake up to yourself, you aren't, and keep doing what you are doing and your Grandpa will be attending your funeral, when usually the grandson attends the grandfathers funeral.
So I've ranted, I've questioned and I've told some stories, but haven't given my opinion on how to stop this. The answer is simple, get tougher laws in-place. I don't care if a law comes in where a cop can crush your car right there on the spot, because I know I won't be doing anything to risk that. The people who complain about new laws and complain when they get tickets are the hoons themselves. Get tougher, harsher fines, take licenses away, take cars away, do anything to rid these idiots of their weapon. Advertisements can also help, but make the ads more gruesome! Yes that's right, screw 'protecting the minds' and show what can really happen if you speed, or don't wear a seat-belt, or drink-and-drive, and people might second guess next time.
That is all for now, I'm sure I will be re-visiting this topic in the future, as there is so much to write about, but before I go, I shall leave you with one thing...... It's only 6minutes, it's not worth it, don't be a bloody idiot....
From The One They Call Anthony, This Is The Life & Times
Why did he have to be speeding in a 60km/hr zone? What was so important that he could risk people's lives? This doesn't go out to just him, this goes out to all the hoon drivers out there.
If you had to travel 40km to your place of work, and you stuck to the speed limit of 100km/hr, it will take you 24mins to get there. However, speed at 130km/hr and it takes you 18mins, only 6minutes quicker. So what's the point, it is only 6minutes? Why risk your life for 6minutes? Here is a tip, wake up 6minutes earlier so you can leave on time to arrive while travelling at the proper speed limit. Either that, or just arrive late, better arriving late than in a body bag.
I got a bit of a eye-opener early last month where me and two of my family members came across a car crash early Sunday morning. What I saw next would certainly stick in my mind, and that was a man, lying motionless on the side of the road, dead. To make matters worse, I knew him and he was a good man, aged 40ish. He was in a head on collision with another car, carrying a mother and her 12 year old daughter, with the mother sustaining pretty severe injuries, the daughter not as bad. Both vehicles would have been only travelling around 60-70km/hr, 80km/hr at most, and there was big devastation.
Imagine now if you were travelling at 130km/hr, and hit a car head-on travelling at 100km/hr, there would be nothing left of both of you.
This doesn't just concern speeding drivers, not wearing a seat-belt (Not exactly a hoon problem) is pretty stupid. A friend of mine always seems to put her seat-belt when on the road travelling, which I find troubling. I always put my seat-belt on as soon as I get in the car, because you could pull out and maybe a car on the other side of the road loses controls and hits you, I don't know but you never know what can happen. All it takes is a split-second for an accident happen, so it is always best to wear a seat-belt.
Doing burn-outs is another thing. Sure, when I first got my license I went out and did a couple "burn-outs" on a dirt road, away from anything and everyone, and then after I did 2 or 3, I was over it. However, when people are doing burn-outs in residential streets, main streets and doing doughnuts where possible, it not only damages the road and leaves unimpressive marks, you risk losing control and doing damage. There has been stories in the newspaper of drivers doing burn-outs, losing control and slamming into people's houses. Imagine, you are watching TV, eating dinner, and suddenly you hear people doing burn-outs, you shake your head, and all of a sudden a car is in your living room....
Drink-driving is another thing I just don't get. Yes, I have driven after consuming a couple drinks, but only 1 or 2, I think 3 was my most, but these were consumed over a 5 hour period with quite some time since consuming my last and driving off. So why do people who are clearly drunk, and know they are drunk, get behind the wheel? A car can weigh over a tonne, and you get behind a lethal weapon while intoxicated, you are asking for trouble.
There has been way too many accidents caused by drink-drivers, many with sad endings. Sometimes the driver survives, but the people in the other car, or passengers, do not. How could you bare to live with that guilt of being responsible for one's death? I know I could not do it.
So why do people drink-and-drive? Because they have no other means of getting home? I think it is safe to assume over 95% of people with a license has a mobile phone, so in that case, ring somebody to come get you! I'm sure they will much rather wake up at 3am, and make sure you get home alive, then to wake up that morning and see an article about a car crash and recognise your car. Don't have a mate because you are a loner? Well, go to a taxi rink, or ring one, and get home that way. Can't afford a taxi? Do a runner at the end, or, walk! Me and a mate walked over 10km one night to get home, it took us a couple hours, and by the end we were just about sober, but we didn't want to pay a taxi, our mates were not in reachable distance, and we actually didn't even have a car to drive home.
I don't understand why people continue to risk their lives in these deadly machines. People must think they are in a car, they are safe. Or they might think 'I'm young, I'll be right, Grandpa is 93 years old, I'm only 18, I got heaps of living to do' thinking they are invincible. Wake up to yourself, you aren't, and keep doing what you are doing and your Grandpa will be attending your funeral, when usually the grandson attends the grandfathers funeral.
So I've ranted, I've questioned and I've told some stories, but haven't given my opinion on how to stop this. The answer is simple, get tougher laws in-place. I don't care if a law comes in where a cop can crush your car right there on the spot, because I know I won't be doing anything to risk that. The people who complain about new laws and complain when they get tickets are the hoons themselves. Get tougher, harsher fines, take licenses away, take cars away, do anything to rid these idiots of their weapon. Advertisements can also help, but make the ads more gruesome! Yes that's right, screw 'protecting the minds' and show what can really happen if you speed, or don't wear a seat-belt, or drink-and-drive, and people might second guess next time.
That is all for now, I'm sure I will be re-visiting this topic in the future, as there is so much to write about, but before I go, I shall leave you with one thing...... It's only 6minutes, it's not worth it, don't be a bloody idiot....
From The One They Call Anthony, This Is The Life & Times
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