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
Monday, January 31, 2011
I Pose The Question.....
When will people realise climate change is a real thing?
Over the last 3-4 years, Australia has seen several natural disasters, one being the Black Saturday bush fires, with the aid of high winds and intense heat, and the recent flooding of Queensland and Victoria. Heck, even the local area has experienced some sort of flooding late last year. I find it strange that around this time a couple years ago bush fires were the main threat, today it is flooding.
What really stood out was a comment made on the afternoon news during a weather segment. They said something along the lines of Melbourne has experienced it's Summer Weather and there will be no more heat-waves for the season. This was made after a miss-prediction, where they predicted the weather to be "another scorcher" but ended up with a cool change.
At the time of writing this sentence, I am 13 minutes away from February, so there is still another month of official summer weather. However, everybody knows it takes a few weeks into March before the intense heat just goes away. With that in mind, I find it troubling that some people believe climate change is a "myth" or something along those lines.
I'm not going to throw up all these stats from websites, article quotes and all that jazz, because a) I don't want to bore you, b) they get confusing, and c) to be honest, I can't be bothered looking them up.
The last couple days have been predicted around the area to reach tops of 38 degrees, 39 degrees, and tomorrow is forecast to be 40 degrees. Then I saw a Facebook status where the person said they checked the thermometer on the veranda, and it read 44 degrees. A couple factors could affect this, such as the design of the veranda, however most verandas are cool spots and block out a lot of the heat, so to have 44 degrees in the shade, could mean the direct sunlight temperature could have been 2-3 degree hotter.
So are things heating up? Well it is usually hot around this time of year, so it isn't unusual for 40 degree days, last summer we experienced a few of them. What I find troubling is the rainfall lately, especially during the spring. We do get some summer rainfall, and again, without pulling up stats, I think we have had a lot more rainfall this summer than recent years.
As for stopping climate change, I don't have the answer. We all know about recycling, careful use of water, water your car on the lawn, water the garden after 6pm and all that jazz. Then we have tips like turning appliances off at the power point, install solar panels, drive hybrid cars and everything like that. Would these factors affect (effect? Not sure) the climate? I've been told there may be some truths to it, well truth be told, I think we better start evolving fast to adapt to the new climate. Something with wings, or maybe gills, that would be adventurous.
The point about this blog is, it's 11:57pm, and I am walking outside.......... Damn, not what I was expecting. I was expecting disgusting humid warmth, but it was actually kind of nice outside. Now with that ruined, let me back track, it was 9pm, and I was sitting right where I am now, however only earlier I was dripping with sweat, from just sitting. Today I went outside, and it was quite warm, and visited a ice-cream shop and to my dismay, it was probably hotter inside the shop! What kind of ice-cream shop is hot, it should be like a freezer! However, it didn't help with the hot girl (well actually she was more cute than hot, but hot works better in this analogy) working behind the counter heating things up. Just to summarise, it's bloody hot, and it needs to cool down! In about 6 months I will most likely be blogging about how cold it is.......
From The One They Call Anthony, This Is The Life & Times
Over the last 3-4 years, Australia has seen several natural disasters, one being the Black Saturday bush fires, with the aid of high winds and intense heat, and the recent flooding of Queensland and Victoria. Heck, even the local area has experienced some sort of flooding late last year. I find it strange that around this time a couple years ago bush fires were the main threat, today it is flooding.
What really stood out was a comment made on the afternoon news during a weather segment. They said something along the lines of Melbourne has experienced it's Summer Weather and there will be no more heat-waves for the season. This was made after a miss-prediction, where they predicted the weather to be "another scorcher" but ended up with a cool change.
At the time of writing this sentence, I am 13 minutes away from February, so there is still another month of official summer weather. However, everybody knows it takes a few weeks into March before the intense heat just goes away. With that in mind, I find it troubling that some people believe climate change is a "myth" or something along those lines.
I'm not going to throw up all these stats from websites, article quotes and all that jazz, because a) I don't want to bore you, b) they get confusing, and c) to be honest, I can't be bothered looking them up.
The last couple days have been predicted around the area to reach tops of 38 degrees, 39 degrees, and tomorrow is forecast to be 40 degrees. Then I saw a Facebook status where the person said they checked the thermometer on the veranda, and it read 44 degrees. A couple factors could affect this, such as the design of the veranda, however most verandas are cool spots and block out a lot of the heat, so to have 44 degrees in the shade, could mean the direct sunlight temperature could have been 2-3 degree hotter.
So are things heating up? Well it is usually hot around this time of year, so it isn't unusual for 40 degree days, last summer we experienced a few of them. What I find troubling is the rainfall lately, especially during the spring. We do get some summer rainfall, and again, without pulling up stats, I think we have had a lot more rainfall this summer than recent years.
As for stopping climate change, I don't have the answer. We all know about recycling, careful use of water, water your car on the lawn, water the garden after 6pm and all that jazz. Then we have tips like turning appliances off at the power point, install solar panels, drive hybrid cars and everything like that. Would these factors affect (effect? Not sure) the climate? I've been told there may be some truths to it, well truth be told, I think we better start evolving fast to adapt to the new climate. Something with wings, or maybe gills, that would be adventurous.
The point about this blog is, it's 11:57pm, and I am walking outside.......... Damn, not what I was expecting. I was expecting disgusting humid warmth, but it was actually kind of nice outside. Now with that ruined, let me back track, it was 9pm, and I was sitting right where I am now, however only earlier I was dripping with sweat, from just sitting. Today I went outside, and it was quite warm, and visited a ice-cream shop and to my dismay, it was probably hotter inside the shop! What kind of ice-cream shop is hot, it should be like a freezer! However, it didn't help with the hot girl (well actually she was more cute than hot, but hot works better in this analogy) working behind the counter heating things up. Just to summarise, it's bloody hot, and it needs to cool down! In about 6 months I will most likely be blogging about how cold it is.......
From The One They Call Anthony, This Is The Life & Times
Friday, January 28, 2011
Where Do You See Yourself In 5 Years?
Ahh, the dreaded question, mostly asked during an interview, where you should answer with "Sitting in your chair with your a$$ out on the street!" Okay, maybe not the best answer to give, but still, if it's a job with McDonalds and they ask that, what are you meant to say? Like, what kind of answer do they expect? Surely no one wants to be working at McDonalds for longer than 5 years!! Okay, you might bull it up a bit and say be a supervisor, or assistant manager, but I'd hope you would say "Not working at McDonalds!"
This question, which I posed to myself has got me thinking, where do I see myself in 5 years? The short version is, graduated from university with my Masters Degree in Architecture, and own a house, wife, kids, two dogs and a mini-van.... Okay, I got a bit ahead of myself, the first one was true, as for the others, errr not really. In 5 years I will be, umm, 27 years old, so yes, having graduated uni is a big one. As for a house, it would be very hard to enter the property market while studying at uni, unless I somehow got a big lump of cash inserted into my bank account. If I happen to meet the girl of my dreams and we get married within the 5 years, it's not like I'd be sad, but as for kids, I'm in no rush for that. Owning a dog would be cool, could use him to find the future Mrs Richardson, since my sister-in-law doesn't like the idea of me using her newly born daughter to do so. Maybe replace the mini-van with just any sort of car, jeep wrangler would be nice.
Location wise, I'd like to be living in Melbourne or Geelong, right now my university options are either Deakin in Geelong, Melbourne University in Melbourne (Believe it or not) and RMIT, again in Melbourne. In a few weeks I could have the urge to maybe head north with my studies to Sydney or Brisbane, or head west, but if I'm down south, I'd not be complaining.
What do I hope to do within these 5 years? Well I should be composing some sort of a bucket list, but I know for sure what I am doing before I ring in 2012. For a couple years I have toyed with the idea of jumping out of a plane, well this year, I, Anthony Richardson, will jump out of a plane, with a parachute! I have wanted to experience that feeling, and by golly I'm going to.
Other ambitons...
* I would like to study abroad for a year, experience a new country, and perhaps go on a holiday to Hawaii, maybe Vegas, do the whole 'marry a stripper but don't remember it' thing.
* Learn to surf is on the list, which I will be doing if I move to Geelong.
* I also would like to swim with sharks. Ideally I would be in a shark-proof cage, but if they don't have any, I'd risk it, no biggie, I'm brave like that.... Over the internet.
* Be a cool guitarist, since I've recently started self-teaching myself the guitar, in 5 years I hope I'm decent enough nobody cringes when I go near a guitar.
With life being so un-certain, trying to know where you will be in 5 years time is a bit silly. When I was 15, I didn't see myself as a 20 year old living at home and working where I was working, yet, I was. I just hope in them 5 years I just enjoy life, embrace all the challenges that decide to enter my everyday life and forge life-time friendships with great people.
From The One They Anthony, This Is The Life & Times
This question, which I posed to myself has got me thinking, where do I see myself in 5 years? The short version is, graduated from university with my Masters Degree in Architecture, and own a house, wife, kids, two dogs and a mini-van.... Okay, I got a bit ahead of myself, the first one was true, as for the others, errr not really. In 5 years I will be, umm, 27 years old, so yes, having graduated uni is a big one. As for a house, it would be very hard to enter the property market while studying at uni, unless I somehow got a big lump of cash inserted into my bank account. If I happen to meet the girl of my dreams and we get married within the 5 years, it's not like I'd be sad, but as for kids, I'm in no rush for that. Owning a dog would be cool, could use him to find the future Mrs Richardson, since my sister-in-law doesn't like the idea of me using her newly born daughter to do so. Maybe replace the mini-van with just any sort of car, jeep wrangler would be nice.
Location wise, I'd like to be living in Melbourne or Geelong, right now my university options are either Deakin in Geelong, Melbourne University in Melbourne (Believe it or not) and RMIT, again in Melbourne. In a few weeks I could have the urge to maybe head north with my studies to Sydney or Brisbane, or head west, but if I'm down south, I'd not be complaining.
What do I hope to do within these 5 years? Well I should be composing some sort of a bucket list, but I know for sure what I am doing before I ring in 2012. For a couple years I have toyed with the idea of jumping out of a plane, well this year, I, Anthony Richardson, will jump out of a plane, with a parachute! I have wanted to experience that feeling, and by golly I'm going to.
Other ambitons...
* I would like to study abroad for a year, experience a new country, and perhaps go on a holiday to Hawaii, maybe Vegas, do the whole 'marry a stripper but don't remember it' thing.
* Learn to surf is on the list, which I will be doing if I move to Geelong.
* I also would like to swim with sharks. Ideally I would be in a shark-proof cage, but if they don't have any, I'd risk it, no biggie, I'm brave like that.... Over the internet.
* Be a cool guitarist, since I've recently started self-teaching myself the guitar, in 5 years I hope I'm decent enough nobody cringes when I go near a guitar.
With life being so un-certain, trying to know where you will be in 5 years time is a bit silly. When I was 15, I didn't see myself as a 20 year old living at home and working where I was working, yet, I was. I just hope in them 5 years I just enjoy life, embrace all the challenges that decide to enter my everyday life and forge life-time friendships with great people.
From The One They Anthony, This Is The Life & Times
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Rich Inc
That is the title of my potential corporation, or maybe Richardson Inc, or maybe Poo Inc, Bear Poo Inc, there is just so many names that could fit right into the role. The other year I decided I wanted to be really rich, that way my kids would not have to face any hardships I have faced in the last couple years. I thought to myself, what's a good way to earn millions, upon millions of dollars? Then I composed a list...
1/ Win the lottery
2/ Being a stripper for celebrities
3/ Start my own big company like corporation like thingy
4/ Invent something
5/ Design a really big building that would give me heaps of commission
I proceeded to sift through the list, and noticed winning the lottery wasn't exactly earning, and was based purely on luck. The stripper thing was very plausible but most likely involved working nights and weekends, and to be honest, I don't want to work Saturday nights! Inventing something could be fun, I did have some nifty products, but nah. I could design a really big building, but it would have to be monster, and would take half my life to just design, let alone document and build. So I was left with one thing, starting my own giant company......
I immediately Googled Donald Trump and got ideas on what sectors of my company I should have. So here is a list of some definite sectors....
1/ Architecture - Naturally of course, this would include designers/architects, drafters, engineers, personal builders and maybe hire a photographer or two, graphic designer and the like.
2/ Golf Course - I would own one, or maybe two golf courses, 18 holes, beautiful club rooms, with the usual suspects such as a bar, pokies, restaurant, you know that stuff.
3/ Hotels - Building a couple hotels on very popular beach fronts could bring in millions of dollars of revenue in it's first year of operation, so why not take it up?
4/ Gyms - Maybe just not gym, but have a health/fitness sector of the company. So while a chain of gyms is on the card, maybe have a personal training company, gymwear/equipment, or something along those lines.
5/ Travel - This includes owning a couple airplanes, but also offer travel guides, hotels (Of course they would be staying at my hotels) and basically make money of people wanting to travel.
6/ Music - I'd probably own a record label, discover the next Beiber, make a cool million of him and throw his arse out and find someone else to make some millions.
7/ Books - Children books mainly, but also would write and sell a couple of my own books. They would be mostly biography's, but come on, who doesn't enjoy reading about me?
8/ Mining - If I want to be richer than a Texan, I'd need a mining sector. This does include oil rigging in the ocean, but also mines in quarry's, I'm not fussed which type of mining it is exactly.
9/ Investing - My couple would be on both sides of the market, having investments in other companies, but also have people invest in my company.
10 / Bars/Nightclubs - I'd probably dabble in this and have the perfect bar and nightclub.
So there is 10 sectors there, even if I make $2.5 million profit a year, I'm looking at a $25 million dollar profit each year. That equates to about $480,769.07 a week, which is a little bit more than I'm earning right now.
I am aiming to have this up-and-running by 2017, which gives me 6 years, so it could be a realistic goal. If anyone reading my blog would like to apply for a future job, let me know. Just state what job you are after, and I'd see if I would be offering it. If for some chance I can't offer you a job right away, give me a day and I'd invent a company that could allow you to undertake your job.
The first thing I'm going to buy with my first million dollars is going to be a puppy, so he can be my friend and mascot of the company. Then I might share some of my millions around the family, maybe buy Dad a new car, ute and send him on a holiday. Probably pay off my brother's mortgages, and maybe do the same for my younger brother if he has a mortgage. Of course I'd donate some of my money, maybe $5 million a year, definitely to a cancer charity, then maybe spread out $2 million between a few other charities.
Of course I'd own a huge house with butlers who are British and talk in a real high-posh voice. Own a couple cool cars, and maybe a personal jet, but will be owning my own boat. I'm not sure where base-camp would be set up, but I will have holiday houses all over the universe!! Screw being a millionaire, or even a billionaire, life is going to be sweet when I'm a trillionaire!
From The One They Anthony, This Is The Life & Times
1/ Win the lottery
2/ Being a stripper for celebrities
3/ Start my own big company like corporation like thingy
4/ Invent something
5/ Design a really big building that would give me heaps of commission
I proceeded to sift through the list, and noticed winning the lottery wasn't exactly earning, and was based purely on luck. The stripper thing was very plausible but most likely involved working nights and weekends, and to be honest, I don't want to work Saturday nights! Inventing something could be fun, I did have some nifty products, but nah. I could design a really big building, but it would have to be monster, and would take half my life to just design, let alone document and build. So I was left with one thing, starting my own giant company......
I immediately Googled Donald Trump and got ideas on what sectors of my company I should have. So here is a list of some definite sectors....
1/ Architecture - Naturally of course, this would include designers/architects, drafters, engineers, personal builders and maybe hire a photographer or two, graphic designer and the like.
2/ Golf Course - I would own one, or maybe two golf courses, 18 holes, beautiful club rooms, with the usual suspects such as a bar, pokies, restaurant, you know that stuff.
3/ Hotels - Building a couple hotels on very popular beach fronts could bring in millions of dollars of revenue in it's first year of operation, so why not take it up?
4/ Gyms - Maybe just not gym, but have a health/fitness sector of the company. So while a chain of gyms is on the card, maybe have a personal training company, gymwear/equipment, or something along those lines.
5/ Travel - This includes owning a couple airplanes, but also offer travel guides, hotels (Of course they would be staying at my hotels) and basically make money of people wanting to travel.
6/ Music - I'd probably own a record label, discover the next Beiber, make a cool million of him and throw his arse out and find someone else to make some millions.
7/ Books - Children books mainly, but also would write and sell a couple of my own books. They would be mostly biography's, but come on, who doesn't enjoy reading about me?
8/ Mining - If I want to be richer than a Texan, I'd need a mining sector. This does include oil rigging in the ocean, but also mines in quarry's, I'm not fussed which type of mining it is exactly.
9/ Investing - My couple would be on both sides of the market, having investments in other companies, but also have people invest in my company.
10 / Bars/Nightclubs - I'd probably dabble in this and have the perfect bar and nightclub.
So there is 10 sectors there, even if I make $2.5 million profit a year, I'm looking at a $25 million dollar profit each year. That equates to about $480,769.07 a week, which is a little bit more than I'm earning right now.
I am aiming to have this up-and-running by 2017, which gives me 6 years, so it could be a realistic goal. If anyone reading my blog would like to apply for a future job, let me know. Just state what job you are after, and I'd see if I would be offering it. If for some chance I can't offer you a job right away, give me a day and I'd invent a company that could allow you to undertake your job.
The first thing I'm going to buy with my first million dollars is going to be a puppy, so he can be my friend and mascot of the company. Then I might share some of my millions around the family, maybe buy Dad a new car, ute and send him on a holiday. Probably pay off my brother's mortgages, and maybe do the same for my younger brother if he has a mortgage. Of course I'd donate some of my money, maybe $5 million a year, definitely to a cancer charity, then maybe spread out $2 million between a few other charities.
Of course I'd own a huge house with butlers who are British and talk in a real high-posh voice. Own a couple cool cars, and maybe a personal jet, but will be owning my own boat. I'm not sure where base-camp would be set up, but I will have holiday houses all over the universe!! Screw being a millionaire, or even a billionaire, life is going to be sweet when I'm a trillionaire!
From The One They Anthony, This Is The Life & Times
21/12/2012, A.K.A 2012, A.K.A When we are screwed
Since the dawn of man, only man because women weren't invented for another 245 years, he has gazed up at the sky, that is of course when he wasn't being chased by T-Rex. The very moment he looked up and saw the stars, he started thinking about when all the beauty around him was going to end. His first prediction came after hiding in a small cave for 32 days to avoid the Dinosaurs eating him, he knew that the end was near. Then 246 years later the world was going to come to a end when women were introduced and basically used up all of the world's resources for shoes, make-up and Justin Timberlake cds.
Throughout time there has been so much prediction of the world ending, in fact, by my calculations the world should have died at least 4,572,756,932 times, true story. But lately there has been some buzz around town about a new prediction, apparently this prediction uses "science" and "calculations" and a "calender" to know when everything is going to be dead. I am of course talking about the 2012 prediction.
If I have done my maths correct, the world would be ending next year!
So how is the world going to end next year? Floods? Fires? Pfft, Australia has suffered two of these in the last 3 years, and we are still alive, so how is it going to kill off the entire world! Maybe a volcano? That would be cool, except a few places around the world don't have any active volcano's. Tornado's? Many places don't have the right atmospheric pressure to create these. Hurricanes? Possibly, but much like the last couple, not everywhere suffers from them, plus everyone would just move in-land, problem solved.
Is a natural disaster going to end us? Based on my research, countless hours in a lab (I can only count up to 4) doing tests, my prediction is that, no, they won't.
"Wait, excuse me The One, but if natural disaster won't kill us, what will?" Good question random-person-I-pretended-to-be-apart-of-my-blog-to-give-a-nice-discussion-feel, and I will tell you in one word, and that word is..... Aliens!
Think about it guys, and gals, there has been very proven sightings of UFO's, in fact I swear I read in a scientific journal that Einstein sold his knowledge of the aliens.
Aliens are going to come swoop in, mine our Earth of all it's resources, steal a couple cars, eat some chocolate then leave, and as they are leaving, they blow us up. Jerks!
Good news, I do have some theories on how to stop the invasion, and thus saving the world. The aliens know they can't invade until the Mayan calender runs out, which occurs on the 21st of December, 2012. If they invade us before then, they are breaking the rules and then they are disqualified and therefore can't blow us up. So with that in mind, we need to lure them here to invade before 21/12/2012 (wow, just noticed that there is a lot of 1s and 2s, which is just pee's and poo's) and then we will be saved. One way is to maybe put pieces of candy in outer space, leading from Earth to where they camping out, then they will follow the trail of candy.
Another idea is to simply buy a new Mayan calender! It's so simple, I even thought of it! The aliens are due to invade when the current calender runs out? Well, invent a new calender which runs off the current one, and then it doesn't run out, problem solved, I get rewarded a medal and a supermodel.
Now that I have saved us from destruction, there is a fairly serious point that relates to this topic. We all know the 2012 theory is just hokum, and there is no merit to support the ending of the world. I was correct in saying above that the world has been predicted to end since man had a grasp on the surrounding environment. However, I do think the world will end one day, but not by natural disaster, global warming or aliens. There is a much serious threat to our existence, and sadly not much can be done about it, I am talking of course about ourselves.
We live in a fairly technological war, we have advanced so much since our cave-and-club days, and even in the last 100 years the advancements made in all aspects of life is nothing short of amazing. With that point in mind, all it will take is one group of people to do a repeat of September 11, and then World War III could start up again. There was a serious threat a few months back involving North and South Korea, and it seems they do not like each other. China is allied with North Korea, USA and Australia with South Korea, so if North and South kept up their bickering, it could have triggered a serious event.
Nuclear ware fare was used in WWII on the Japanese, and I have seen footage of the bombs being dropped, and the after effects placed on the sites. I am not 100% about it but I think there is some law about using nuclear weapons? Well when all the chips are down and all you got left is 4 big nuclear bombs, I think that law would be thrown out the window. There is also technology used for missiles, where very powerful missiles can be launched from Russia and blow up something in America, if you ask me, that is pretty damn scary.
So how can avoid killing each other off? As much as I hate smelly hippys, they seem to be on the money this time, world peace! We need to find a way to find peace between all races, religion and beliefs. If it was up to me, I'd abolish religion, but that is a whole new blog, but in short, religion seems to be the main driving force for the hatred in the world......
From The One They Call Anthony, This Is The Life & Times
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Wax On, Wax Off.....
Paint the fence, Daniel-son! Up, down, breathe in, breathe out.........
Classic Mr Miyagi right there, and a totally awesome movie. Can't say I enjoyed the sequels, and I haven't watched the new Karate Kid either. I'm happy sticking with tried-and-true, and that is the real Karate Kid movie.
There is more to this blog than just saying how awesome Karate Kid is, (BONZAI!) this blog is actually about my first experience learning karate, at around 14 or 15, can't remember exactly. It's been over 7 years alright, give me a break guys....
Not sure how everything started, but one would assume a flyer was around town, and being a wimpy small kid, (now I'm a wimpy small adult) I figured learning some karate would be very useful. Naturally Mum was worried about me hurting myself, but I don't know why, I mean I'd get kicked, punched and thrown in class, but could defend myself in public. Anywho, boring part of the story, let's skip forward.
I started in kids class, which was quite full. After a week or two, the Sensei asked me if I wanted to advance to the adult class, which I jumped at. I arrived the next week a little later to start my first adult class, and to my surprise, the class consisted of a couple other kids my age. However, it was cooler because we were learning cooler moves and Ki's (I'm not sure if that's right, basically they were patterns of movement)
According to my sensei, I was a naturally, and after a couple weeks it wasn't long until I trying to get my yellow tips. Then after that, the coolest thing happened, weapon class was introduced and the coolest thing about weapons class is that you practiced weapons! Our first weapon was the Bo, basically a long broom handle, then some other wooden thing, but no nun-chucks which was upsetting. Another cool thing about weapons class was the Gi, while the traditional karate had a white gi, weapons had a black gi. My dear sweet mum bought me both, so I'd train in weapons in my black gi, then change quickly for regular karate.
Not long after, I was invited to go to Howlong to attend an seminar and hopefully achieve my yellow belt. This was on AFL Grand Final day, and by the end of the day I was going home with a cool new belt. Then, a couple weeks later, the unthinkable happened, the Sensei was closing down the Oaklands Dojo due to lack of support. The only other option was to attend Urana or Howlong, and Mum was paying enough in membership and class, petrol was the last thing she wanted.
Good news was, a couple of us from Oakie managed a car pool, and we went over to Urana, and we pretty much carved it up. Then, same thing happened in Urana, it was closed down, and my dream of being a kick-arse black belt died.
Then a couple years ago I got a message from a old fellow karate person, in which she asked if the man in the news paper article was our old Sensei. I checked the picture out before reading, and to my amazement, it was him. First thing that popped in my mind was that he must of won a championship or something like that, then I read the title that said something like "Con Man Captured"
It turns out, our old "Sensei" was a notorious con-man. Without digging up the articles, it seemed he conned his way into a exclusive party, and claimed to be the agent of Johnny Depp, was owner of several high profile nightclubs and some other things.
I actually recieved a message on facebook from a Joshua Hitchcock, which turned out to be our Sensei, Sensei Brenton Jarrett. It seems Mr Jarrett changed his name, hmm I wonder why? So I am left wondering, did we really learn karate, or was it a big scam? If you want, just plug Brenton Jarrett into a Google search and you will get plenty on him....
From The One They Call Anthony, This Is The Life & Times
Classic Mr Miyagi right there, and a totally awesome movie. Can't say I enjoyed the sequels, and I haven't watched the new Karate Kid either. I'm happy sticking with tried-and-true, and that is the real Karate Kid movie.
There is more to this blog than just saying how awesome Karate Kid is, (BONZAI!) this blog is actually about my first experience learning karate, at around 14 or 15, can't remember exactly. It's been over 7 years alright, give me a break guys....
Not sure how everything started, but one would assume a flyer was around town, and being a wimpy small kid, (now I'm a wimpy small adult) I figured learning some karate would be very useful. Naturally Mum was worried about me hurting myself, but I don't know why, I mean I'd get kicked, punched and thrown in class, but could defend myself in public. Anywho, boring part of the story, let's skip forward.
I started in kids class, which was quite full. After a week or two, the Sensei asked me if I wanted to advance to the adult class, which I jumped at. I arrived the next week a little later to start my first adult class, and to my surprise, the class consisted of a couple other kids my age. However, it was cooler because we were learning cooler moves and Ki's (I'm not sure if that's right, basically they were patterns of movement)
According to my sensei, I was a naturally, and after a couple weeks it wasn't long until I trying to get my yellow tips. Then after that, the coolest thing happened, weapon class was introduced and the coolest thing about weapons class is that you practiced weapons! Our first weapon was the Bo, basically a long broom handle, then some other wooden thing, but no nun-chucks which was upsetting. Another cool thing about weapons class was the Gi, while the traditional karate had a white gi, weapons had a black gi. My dear sweet mum bought me both, so I'd train in weapons in my black gi, then change quickly for regular karate.
Not long after, I was invited to go to Howlong to attend an seminar and hopefully achieve my yellow belt. This was on AFL Grand Final day, and by the end of the day I was going home with a cool new belt. Then, a couple weeks later, the unthinkable happened, the Sensei was closing down the Oaklands Dojo due to lack of support. The only other option was to attend Urana or Howlong, and Mum was paying enough in membership and class, petrol was the last thing she wanted.
Good news was, a couple of us from Oakie managed a car pool, and we went over to Urana, and we pretty much carved it up. Then, same thing happened in Urana, it was closed down, and my dream of being a kick-arse black belt died.
Then a couple years ago I got a message from a old fellow karate person, in which she asked if the man in the news paper article was our old Sensei. I checked the picture out before reading, and to my amazement, it was him. First thing that popped in my mind was that he must of won a championship or something like that, then I read the title that said something like "Con Man Captured"
It turns out, our old "Sensei" was a notorious con-man. Without digging up the articles, it seemed he conned his way into a exclusive party, and claimed to be the agent of Johnny Depp, was owner of several high profile nightclubs and some other things.
I actually recieved a message on facebook from a Joshua Hitchcock, which turned out to be our Sensei, Sensei Brenton Jarrett. It seems Mr Jarrett changed his name, hmm I wonder why? So I am left wondering, did we really learn karate, or was it a big scam? If you want, just plug Brenton Jarrett into a Google search and you will get plenty on him....
From The One They Call Anthony, This Is The Life & Times
Sunday, January 23, 2011
A Night I Will Never Remember
This night has become infamous in one of my group of friends, and for a very good reason, it was the drunkest I have ever been in my life, and will be a hard effort to top. We rewind to 08/01/2010, and the lease to the house was to run out on the 10th. We had the house all packed up, all my possessions in the boot, backseat and front seat of my car, and since I was leaving Melbourne, there was only thing to do, go out with bang! And oh boy did I do that....
The day was fairly easy going, just doing some packing, cleaning and listening to music, then 5pm rolled around and I was bored, so what does a normal person do when they are bored? They drive to a bottle'o and buy some booze to drink. After purchasing a four pack of Smirnoff, I parked my butt on the bench, and drank away, listened to music and naturally facebooked. Finally a couple guests arrived and it was as sad drinking while having some company, and we walked to the bus stop, 'cos we were cool kids who took the bus.
After waiting at the bus stop for some time, we finally boarded and made our way into the city. By this time I was happy-tipsy, and couldn't wait to get my party on. First stop was the very talked-about club, CQ....
I felt so VIP when we hopped in an important line, and my friend said we had a list, and got let right in. Things at this stage was good, and I proceeded to have a couple drinks with my friends. Noticing a cool promotion, I decided to jump at it and try and win myself a hat, in which after 3 failed attempts, I asked the bartender if I could just have the hat, he said come back later and if there is any left I can have it. This made my night, because I ended up walking out with the hat, and yet, somehow still have the hat even though a few hours later everything would go wrong....
With the club being loud and crowded, I just wanted to chill and chat with my mate, so we headed to a different section of the club, which it was just us, and a female bartender, and at this stage of the night, I was drunk. My mate pretty much dared me to hit on her, but truth be told, I didn't need daring. Naturally I failed, but not without talking crap about a pony to her, then left with my tail between my legs.
After meeting back up with the group, we headed upstairs to get our dance on. Now I was digging a bit of Justin Timberlake at the time, and proceeded to try and scream to my friend to go request it, but I still don't think she heard me. When you are unable to communicate verbally in a club, texting is the next best option. I whipped out my phone, and tried typing what I was trying to say, but I think it looked something like this... "jshft tisjgkalek fjsia gjdje" So I gave up and accepted the fact I would not hear some JT at the club, which left me heartbroken. A friend suggested Crown, and at this stage I jumped at the idea... Although, a better idea at the time would have been to just.... go.... home........
Paying for the taxi ride there, we jumped out and jumped into the big world of Crown Casino. This is where everything started to go, I remember sitting at a table drinking a big glass of something, then next thing I remember is hearing voicemail on my phone with my friends being quite upset. Turns out I went missing for about 2-3 hours, and it was about 4am when we caught a taxi out of the city.
By this stage I was gone, and the taxi was kind enough to pull over so I could spew, which didn't improve my condition. Next thing I know I'm being let into my old housies new house, and crashing on her couch.
This is important this piece of information, my housie had work at 9am Saturday morning, so we planned before I went out that she would drive me back to the old house at 9am because I needed to hand the keys into the real estate, and we are back into the story....
So 9am rolls around, and I roll off the couch and into the car. She drives me back to the house I was leaving, and at this time of the morning, after the night I had, there was no doubt in my mind, I was still drunk. After stumbling back into the place, I thought I'd have a quick nap upstairs on the carpet, but only made it half way and passed out on the staircase.
The real estate was in Carlton, and closed at midday, so what came next was a miracle. My other house mate texted me, which prompted me to spring out of sleep, hungover as all heck, and check the message at 11am, asking if I've handed the keys in. Not a good thing to read when you are probably still a bit drunk on a staircase, and all I have to say is thank you to the hand-rail makers for saving me.
I made the drive out to Carlton, took care of everything, and then there was only 1 more thing to take care of, the apologies....
I texted one mate, as he wasn't working that day, and he seemed to accept it easy enough. The second person, I visited her at work, where I bought some redbull, orange juice and water, which is exactly what I needed. We talked for about 10mins, and she accepted my apology, which I found to be odd. We hugged, I cried on the inside and kept a manly face on the exterior, and then went to apologise to the third and final victim.
I went to see her at home, but she wasn't there, and I actually had a 'cya later' gift for her, which I left on her doorstep. I then accepted it, and made the drive back to Oaklands, a good three and-a-half hour drive ahead of me in the state I was in was not something to be enjoyed. I got about 20-30km out of Melbourne, then realised I couldn't leave my friend in the way we were, so I turned back around and went to see her at work. I tried apologising, but sadly, she wasn't as accepting as the others, and to be honest, I didn't blame her. I then said another farewell to the second friend, then made the trip back home.
The next few days were spent apologising and getting her to accept it, in which she eventually did. That night has become a strong-point in jokes with the friends, and we have now come to laugh about it. It was clearly the drunkest I have ever been, and what is scary is that I don't remember a solid 3hours of the night. Well I will leave you with one memory I will never forget about that night, it's that it will be a night I will never fully remember....
From The One They Call Anthony, This Is The Life & Times
The day was fairly easy going, just doing some packing, cleaning and listening to music, then 5pm rolled around and I was bored, so what does a normal person do when they are bored? They drive to a bottle'o and buy some booze to drink. After purchasing a four pack of Smirnoff, I parked my butt on the bench, and drank away, listened to music and naturally facebooked. Finally a couple guests arrived and it was as sad drinking while having some company, and we walked to the bus stop, 'cos we were cool kids who took the bus.
After waiting at the bus stop for some time, we finally boarded and made our way into the city. By this time I was happy-tipsy, and couldn't wait to get my party on. First stop was the very talked-about club, CQ....
I felt so VIP when we hopped in an important line, and my friend said we had a list, and got let right in. Things at this stage was good, and I proceeded to have a couple drinks with my friends. Noticing a cool promotion, I decided to jump at it and try and win myself a hat, in which after 3 failed attempts, I asked the bartender if I could just have the hat, he said come back later and if there is any left I can have it. This made my night, because I ended up walking out with the hat, and yet, somehow still have the hat even though a few hours later everything would go wrong....
With the club being loud and crowded, I just wanted to chill and chat with my mate, so we headed to a different section of the club, which it was just us, and a female bartender, and at this stage of the night, I was drunk. My mate pretty much dared me to hit on her, but truth be told, I didn't need daring. Naturally I failed, but not without talking crap about a pony to her, then left with my tail between my legs.
After meeting back up with the group, we headed upstairs to get our dance on. Now I was digging a bit of Justin Timberlake at the time, and proceeded to try and scream to my friend to go request it, but I still don't think she heard me. When you are unable to communicate verbally in a club, texting is the next best option. I whipped out my phone, and tried typing what I was trying to say, but I think it looked something like this... "jshft tisjgkalek fjsia gjdje" So I gave up and accepted the fact I would not hear some JT at the club, which left me heartbroken. A friend suggested Crown, and at this stage I jumped at the idea... Although, a better idea at the time would have been to just.... go.... home........
Paying for the taxi ride there, we jumped out and jumped into the big world of Crown Casino. This is where everything started to go, I remember sitting at a table drinking a big glass of something, then next thing I remember is hearing voicemail on my phone with my friends being quite upset. Turns out I went missing for about 2-3 hours, and it was about 4am when we caught a taxi out of the city.
By this stage I was gone, and the taxi was kind enough to pull over so I could spew, which didn't improve my condition. Next thing I know I'm being let into my old housies new house, and crashing on her couch.
This is important this piece of information, my housie had work at 9am Saturday morning, so we planned before I went out that she would drive me back to the old house at 9am because I needed to hand the keys into the real estate, and we are back into the story....
So 9am rolls around, and I roll off the couch and into the car. She drives me back to the house I was leaving, and at this time of the morning, after the night I had, there was no doubt in my mind, I was still drunk. After stumbling back into the place, I thought I'd have a quick nap upstairs on the carpet, but only made it half way and passed out on the staircase.
The real estate was in Carlton, and closed at midday, so what came next was a miracle. My other house mate texted me, which prompted me to spring out of sleep, hungover as all heck, and check the message at 11am, asking if I've handed the keys in. Not a good thing to read when you are probably still a bit drunk on a staircase, and all I have to say is thank you to the hand-rail makers for saving me.
I made the drive out to Carlton, took care of everything, and then there was only 1 more thing to take care of, the apologies....
I texted one mate, as he wasn't working that day, and he seemed to accept it easy enough. The second person, I visited her at work, where I bought some redbull, orange juice and water, which is exactly what I needed. We talked for about 10mins, and she accepted my apology, which I found to be odd. We hugged, I cried on the inside and kept a manly face on the exterior, and then went to apologise to the third and final victim.
I went to see her at home, but she wasn't there, and I actually had a 'cya later' gift for her, which I left on her doorstep. I then accepted it, and made the drive back to Oaklands, a good three and-a-half hour drive ahead of me in the state I was in was not something to be enjoyed. I got about 20-30km out of Melbourne, then realised I couldn't leave my friend in the way we were, so I turned back around and went to see her at work. I tried apologising, but sadly, she wasn't as accepting as the others, and to be honest, I didn't blame her. I then said another farewell to the second friend, then made the trip back home.
The next few days were spent apologising and getting her to accept it, in which she eventually did. That night has become a strong-point in jokes with the friends, and we have now come to laugh about it. It was clearly the drunkest I have ever been, and what is scary is that I don't remember a solid 3hours of the night. Well I will leave you with one memory I will never forget about that night, it's that it will be a night I will never fully remember....
From The One They Call Anthony, This Is The Life & Times
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Eagle Bar
As I lay here at 2:11am, praying my brain would switch off and allow me to sleep, I decided to reboot the compute (Yes I did just rhyme that on purpose) and blog about my favourite watering hole, The Eagle Bar.
The Eagle Bar is located at LaTrobe University in Bundoora, and in 2009 (was about to say last year, but nope, stupid 2011) was where I got my groove on, and enjoyed some good nights, with much help from best mate. First week I lived in Melbourne, that Thursday I attended my first Eagle Bar, which happened to be O-Week. I don't think many stories came from that night, except sitting on the door drinking with my mate, for free.
Stories started to unfold a little later, like the time a mate and I talked up some girls, only to have them find me months later, or when a group of mates from Oaklands came up, we watched the Richmond vs Carlton game and went to Eagle Bar later, which turned out to be a good night. After Eagle Bar closing, a mate (Everyone is called "mate" as I try not to disclose names, for privacy reasons) took us around campus, when me and a (yep you guessed it) mate decided to get some food and head home. I tried stealing a bin lid from campus, don't ask me why, only to have my mate tell campus security, but they were cool about it because I gave it to them and had a chat.
While nights are memorable, not many are blog worthy, except maybe the night of the Air Guitar competition. Games like lip syncing, rock-paper-scissors (or paper-scissors-rock, or however you say it), air guitar and the like were legit competitions held at the bar. These had serious prizes such as trips to Queensland for the national championship, and I wanted a bar of this. Losing in the Semi-Finals of Rock-Paper-Scissors, I decided to try the next week at Air Guitar. And this is where our story begins....
Uni Night was held on a Thursday night, and I think, not 100% sure, but the previous Saturday may have been the day where I cracked my elbow in while playing Football, and was in a sling and ice for 4 days, until I had some small movement. This made me quite sad, because large crazy movements could not be performed, and that is what I was about. Now thinking about it, it may have been a week or so after, anywho, not importantish.
Always tagging along with my mate on the door, I developed a first-name basis with the bouncers, and with a couple other people who work there and know my mate. So arriving early, we learnt of a professional who had a costume and everything, so we decided I needed a 'thing'
The three of us on the door were developing a strategy, and we came up with a plan. I was to get the crowd involved with clapping, then take my t-shirt off and guitar away topless. I did this to my song of choice, 'Joker and the Thief' Wolf Mother, and got a magnificent response. This was just Round 1, and it was a 2 Round comp, so we needed to step it up if I was to go to Queensland...
There was only one thing we could think off to 'up it' from first round, and that was to strip down to my underwear. When it was my turn , I told the announcer I be back in a jiffy, keep the song playing, which was 'Sweet Home Alabama' and I ducked behind the boards, and proceeded to undress. It was rather difficult as my elbow limited movement, and took me longer than suspected, which I think got the announcer angry, but the crowd excited. Now for my first round, there was a fairly low crowd, due to the time of the night, however, Round 2 was performed later in the night in which the crowd grew larger. Finally down to my socks and jocks, I stepped out in front of a bar full of judgemental uni students, to a large roar and cheers and proceeded to air guitar, and even mooning the crowd at a point.
After everything was done, and the awards were given, I was heart broken to find out I did not place in the Top 3, and did not even win a hat. Distraught and upset, I decided to drink my problems away, for free, which helped. However, my antics were not over, with my mates talking to the bouncers to see if it was okay for me to walk around the bar pants down without getting in trouble. At the edge of the stage, ready for pants to come down, waiting for the green light, in the end it wouldn't be allowed in case the owner viewed the tapes and saw it. The bouncers were all for it, and was keen for it to happen, but did not want to risk their jobs. Throughout the night I had handshakes, high-fives and comments and being asked if I was the naked guitarist,
Those who follow this blog via my facebook, the video is on my profile for viewing, check it out if you dare. Anyone who follows and don't know me, I might upload the video later in the future when I can get my hands on the footage.
Eagle Bar has been good to me, and I good to it. It has saw me be a pleb and get slapped in the face, seated, repeated, and saw me decked out in a full green costume. I styled it up at the Sensation party and handled the glow sticks (which I later got in trouble for my performance), and also snagging a free 6-pack of UDL's just for staying back and helped clean up. I longed for LaTrobe Uni in Wodonga to have a Eagle Bar, but all they can produce is The Hanger, and they don't even have a weekly uni night! Oh Eagle Bar, you have set the 'bar' high for the rest of uni bars, and I think I will never find a place just like you, oh how I miss thee.
From The One They Call Anthony, This Is The Life & Times
The Eagle Bar is located at LaTrobe University in Bundoora, and in 2009 (was about to say last year, but nope, stupid 2011) was where I got my groove on, and enjoyed some good nights, with much help from best mate. First week I lived in Melbourne, that Thursday I attended my first Eagle Bar, which happened to be O-Week. I don't think many stories came from that night, except sitting on the door drinking with my mate, for free.
Stories started to unfold a little later, like the time a mate and I talked up some girls, only to have them find me months later, or when a group of mates from Oaklands came up, we watched the Richmond vs Carlton game and went to Eagle Bar later, which turned out to be a good night. After Eagle Bar closing, a mate (Everyone is called "mate" as I try not to disclose names, for privacy reasons) took us around campus, when me and a (yep you guessed it) mate decided to get some food and head home. I tried stealing a bin lid from campus, don't ask me why, only to have my mate tell campus security, but they were cool about it because I gave it to them and had a chat.
While nights are memorable, not many are blog worthy, except maybe the night of the Air Guitar competition. Games like lip syncing, rock-paper-scissors (or paper-scissors-rock, or however you say it), air guitar and the like were legit competitions held at the bar. These had serious prizes such as trips to Queensland for the national championship, and I wanted a bar of this. Losing in the Semi-Finals of Rock-Paper-Scissors, I decided to try the next week at Air Guitar. And this is where our story begins....
Uni Night was held on a Thursday night, and I think, not 100% sure, but the previous Saturday may have been the day where I cracked my elbow in while playing Football, and was in a sling and ice for 4 days, until I had some small movement. This made me quite sad, because large crazy movements could not be performed, and that is what I was about. Now thinking about it, it may have been a week or so after, anywho, not importantish.
Always tagging along with my mate on the door, I developed a first-name basis with the bouncers, and with a couple other people who work there and know my mate. So arriving early, we learnt of a professional who had a costume and everything, so we decided I needed a 'thing'
The three of us on the door were developing a strategy, and we came up with a plan. I was to get the crowd involved with clapping, then take my t-shirt off and guitar away topless. I did this to my song of choice, 'Joker and the Thief' Wolf Mother, and got a magnificent response. This was just Round 1, and it was a 2 Round comp, so we needed to step it up if I was to go to Queensland...
There was only one thing we could think off to 'up it' from first round, and that was to strip down to my underwear. When it was my turn , I told the announcer I be back in a jiffy, keep the song playing, which was 'Sweet Home Alabama' and I ducked behind the boards, and proceeded to undress. It was rather difficult as my elbow limited movement, and took me longer than suspected, which I think got the announcer angry, but the crowd excited. Now for my first round, there was a fairly low crowd, due to the time of the night, however, Round 2 was performed later in the night in which the crowd grew larger. Finally down to my socks and jocks, I stepped out in front of a bar full of judgemental uni students, to a large roar and cheers and proceeded to air guitar, and even mooning the crowd at a point.
After everything was done, and the awards were given, I was heart broken to find out I did not place in the Top 3, and did not even win a hat. Distraught and upset, I decided to drink my problems away, for free, which helped. However, my antics were not over, with my mates talking to the bouncers to see if it was okay for me to walk around the bar pants down without getting in trouble. At the edge of the stage, ready for pants to come down, waiting for the green light, in the end it wouldn't be allowed in case the owner viewed the tapes and saw it. The bouncers were all for it, and was keen for it to happen, but did not want to risk their jobs. Throughout the night I had handshakes, high-fives and comments and being asked if I was the naked guitarist,
Those who follow this blog via my facebook, the video is on my profile for viewing, check it out if you dare. Anyone who follows and don't know me, I might upload the video later in the future when I can get my hands on the footage.
Eagle Bar has been good to me, and I good to it. It has saw me be a pleb and get slapped in the face, seated, repeated, and saw me decked out in a full green costume. I styled it up at the Sensation party and handled the glow sticks (which I later got in trouble for my performance), and also snagging a free 6-pack of UDL's just for staying back and helped clean up. I longed for LaTrobe Uni in Wodonga to have a Eagle Bar, but all they can produce is The Hanger, and they don't even have a weekly uni night! Oh Eagle Bar, you have set the 'bar' high for the rest of uni bars, and I think I will never find a place just like you, oh how I miss thee.
From The One They Call Anthony, This Is The Life & Times
Monday, January 3, 2011
Traditional VS Modern : The Show Down
A typical Modern house. 
An Art-Deco house
A Late-Victorian house sketch
Last blog we just learnt a little bit about the three styles, Late-Victorian, Art-Deco and Modern. Now this blog we find out which style I would choose to do a unit development in, and why. However, there is much more than just personal preference, in fact, taste in a certain should be the last thing that crosses your mind when deciding upon a style. Items such as streetscape, clients, your market and such play a much bigger factor than what you like.
Clients - If someone came to you asking for you to design them 3 units, well what they want is very important. They could be a fan of a certain style, or maybe they want to create a certain atmosphere of the development. However, if it your development, you have all the say, but there is still a couple more things to consider.
Market - This is big, as your target market will differ from different demographics. If you wanted to create a somewhat "retiree" development, where the older market will settle, then Art-Deco or Late-Victorian may be the choice. Let's be honest, old people have a lot of old, uhh i mean antique, stuff which would suit the style of Late-Victorian or Art-Deco. Maybe you're appealing to mid-age families, in which Modern may be the way to go as it will allow larger, more open living spaces, and the families could be looking to upgrade. First-time buyers may not be able to afford a brand new Modern home, so they may want an Art-Deco. Do your research, decide what market you want to appeal to, then move on to the next item of business.
Streetscape - Streetscape I believe should be the biggest influence on deciding a style, as it can affect your overall appearance of the development. This should be a no-brainer but if you bought a block of land and around you are beautiful Victorian homes, some looked-after bungalows, and just the older styles, it would be stupid to do a Modern development, or even Art-Deco. Reason being, you are taking away the charm of the street by slapping these buildings in. One may argue it is about progress and the future, but you should be complimenting the area by building Late-Victorian homes. Flip it around and if you are in a new estate where all modern houses are being built, for the same reason as before you wouldn't build a Late-Victorian or Art-Deco, as you should be helping the streetscape. So what if the street is filled with old, worn, horrible homes in which no particular style is evident? This is where you, as the designer, step in and make your mark on the future of the street. You want to pave the way for future development, so where the street is full of worn houses, the overall community may be old-timing so you might want to say 'Let's restore this street, so let's build Late-Victorians and let others follow' Or the community could be a mixture, in that case, do as you please. You may want the street to have some history, character and a look of modern, so you decide upon Art-Deco. Perhaps you just want a very modern street in the future, so you design the units in the Modern style.
I believe them three key items are the main factor in choosing the style, and streetscape is something that is probably the most important. If a developer bought a giant block of land, subdivide the land, and he ends up with two streets with about 20 blocks of land ok. He then goes out and builds a mixture of styles, so one block he has Mid-Victorian, then a couple Modern houses, some Late-Victorians with a bunglow in the middle, a couple Moderns, a few Art-Deco and so on, the streets would have no appeal, no character and just look like Frankenstein. Towards the end of the last term of TAFE, I finally realised how important streetscape is. At times I have driven around the areas, then I see an empty block of land and I look around the street and have a think about what would fit in the area.
Now I better give an actual answer to the question, what style would I do the development in? If there was no evidence of a particular style, and I did not factor in the market, and basically I had free control over the whole design, I would choose......... Drum roll please........... [insert drum roll noise here] Modern! If I had a blank canvas, I wouldn't be going back into the past, I would be thinking about the future. I would be wanting to make my mark in architecture, and very rarely you can do that by designing a house in a style that was popular over a hundred years ago.
From The One They Call Anthony, This Is The Life & Times
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Traditional VS Modern
For as long as I can remember, I have always been a fan of modern houses, with the skillion roof designs, large windows and different materials. Only until I did an assessment on the history of architecture in Australia that I have warmed the idea of Late-Victorian, or Art Deco. Would I buy one of these houses? Better yet, would I design one of the traditional styling to live in? Short answer is, no. Would I design a late-Victorian home if a client requested? Of course I would, don't be dumb.
But here is something that I ponder, if I bought a block of land, 1,000m2 and local council approved of a unit development of three units, what would I design? This is what this blog is all about....
Features of this era of architecture was very ornamental, from the brickwork colouring around the window frames and doors, to the actual doors, the lattice on the verandas, tall parapets with moulded ornaments and the symmetrical appearance are some of the features that can be seen when walking up to the property.
Once inside you are usually met with ornaments, extravagant wall-paper and strong colour schemes. The character of the era is usually achieved by furniture and decoration in the interior.
So overall, the late-Victorian era is not a bad example of architecture, but what if we go a little in the future to art deco architecture? Would this be better suited for a unit development?
If late-Victorian is the start, and modern is the finish, art deco would be the middle. Having spent a term on actually designing a unit development in this style, I have come to love this style of architecture. Strong features of the era (which was around 1914-1940) was curves, a lot of buildings had curves which some were subtle and small, while others were grand. The main colour scheme of the exterior was a whiteish, creamish look, with rendered brick being the popular material. Parapet walls hide the roof, giving it a "box-y" appearance, while decoration on the exterior was big with wall sweeps, and moulds being popular. This architecture was a very modernist movement, which proud architects did not approve and often disregarded the design.
In my own opinion, art-deco architecture can re-invent a street scape or community with it's curves, boxes, material usage and the character it represented.
At the end of the spectrum, "modern" architecture has always fascinated me. With the box appearance, the roof designs with sometimes having parapets which I'm fast becoming a fan of, the use of 2 or more different materials, large glass and the landscape. For our third project we had to design a new home in a modern style, looking back on it, I could have done a much better job. So I thought I'd ask a couple friends to act as clients so I can design a couple houses, turns out they wanted a Victorian beach house, and a home which draws several style influences but not having that "modern" appearance. When I drive around Wodonga, especially going down Lawerence St, there are some amazing examples of this type of style, which showcase a three-storey home and several other two-storey places. The cost of building a house in this style can be expensive, and some people feel that this style will be outdated and won't have that 'timeless' appearance, to which I disagree.
Next blog we find out what style I choose to design the unit development. Stay tuned
(Sadly I am unable to upload photos at this time for some reason, but next blog there will be hopefully pictures)
From The One They Call Anthony, This Is The Life & Times
But here is something that I ponder, if I bought a block of land, 1,000m2 and local council approved of a unit development of three units, what would I design? This is what this blog is all about....
Features of this era of architecture was very ornamental, from the brickwork colouring around the window frames and doors, to the actual doors, the lattice on the verandas, tall parapets with moulded ornaments and the symmetrical appearance are some of the features that can be seen when walking up to the property.
Once inside you are usually met with ornaments, extravagant wall-paper and strong colour schemes. The character of the era is usually achieved by furniture and decoration in the interior.
So overall, the late-Victorian era is not a bad example of architecture, but what if we go a little in the future to art deco architecture? Would this be better suited for a unit development?
If late-Victorian is the start, and modern is the finish, art deco would be the middle. Having spent a term on actually designing a unit development in this style, I have come to love this style of architecture. Strong features of the era (which was around 1914-1940) was curves, a lot of buildings had curves which some were subtle and small, while others were grand. The main colour scheme of the exterior was a whiteish, creamish look, with rendered brick being the popular material. Parapet walls hide the roof, giving it a "box-y" appearance, while decoration on the exterior was big with wall sweeps, and moulds being popular. This architecture was a very modernist movement, which proud architects did not approve and often disregarded the design.
In my own opinion, art-deco architecture can re-invent a street scape or community with it's curves, boxes, material usage and the character it represented.
At the end of the spectrum, "modern" architecture has always fascinated me. With the box appearance, the roof designs with sometimes having parapets which I'm fast becoming a fan of, the use of 2 or more different materials, large glass and the landscape. For our third project we had to design a new home in a modern style, looking back on it, I could have done a much better job. So I thought I'd ask a couple friends to act as clients so I can design a couple houses, turns out they wanted a Victorian beach house, and a home which draws several style influences but not having that "modern" appearance. When I drive around Wodonga, especially going down Lawerence St, there are some amazing examples of this type of style, which showcase a three-storey home and several other two-storey places. The cost of building a house in this style can be expensive, and some people feel that this style will be outdated and won't have that 'timeless' appearance, to which I disagree.
Next blog we find out what style I choose to design the unit development. Stay tuned
(Sadly I am unable to upload photos at this time for some reason, but next blog there will be hopefully pictures)
From The One They Call Anthony, This Is The Life & Times
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