Tonight began with a visit to a rally supporting refugees, as the election is near and the government feel compelled to act tough on asylum seekers to win the votes from those I call "the xenophobic majority". The main purpose was to see a guy whom I've known for almost six years from an online forum but never met in person, we were hugely amused, and "hehe'd" at eachother in a Beavis and Butt-head like fashion for five minutes.

During the rally, a Chinese woman who had limited grasp of English came and asked me what the rally was about, and the conversation turned to the international students, whom the government has recently introduced policies to prevent from staying in Australia after their graduation. It turned out that the woman owns a few properties in downtown Sydney that she rent to Chinese international students, and she asked me whether I am single. Apparently, she thought that it would be a good idea to find partners with Australian citizenship for her "young and attractive" tennants to help them stay in Australia. And I was like

After the rally, I went to a cafe with the internet forum guy and a friend of his to cafe, where I had a tajine that for some reason contained no meat, then I noticed that none of the other dishes in that cafe contained any meat. When we parted our ways, the guy commented that my voice is a lot deeper than he anticipated, and I was like .

Then, I met up with Mr Doyle, he brought his sister along, it was meant to be a womanising trip through the night venues in the city of Sydney. We went to a bar for something to eat first, in the toilet, a drunk guy wearing a pair of pyjama pants under his jeans complimented me on my outfit, and claimed that I looked better than Cameron Diaz, a very strange comparison...

After the meal, we walked around and found a night club that contained a large number of women in very short dresses (or are they long shirts?) We walked in, as Mr Doyle and I was going to approach the women in the club, it became apparent that the loud music, the lighting, and the overall atmosphere was making Mr Doyle's sister hugely uncomfortable and she was depressed. So I decided to leave the place after one drink, I don't really enjoy those venues anyway, nor do I find the women there appealing, it's just that the idea that I should go to pubs and clubs to socialise and get my dick wet has been implanted into my head. Her discomfort really gave me the imperative to walk out.

I ended up taking them to Hyde Park, which was very quite at that time of the night. Mr Doyle decided to sit down and have a rest. So I went for a walk with his sister, we walked and talked, about walking and talking, it seem to have cheered her up a bit. Then we headed back to the station. On our way, we encountered a pretty big pacific islander getting really angry at a small white guy, who provoked him. I am amused by how some people think that it is a good idea to pick on someone twice their own size. Mr Doyle, a few passerby, and I managed to calm the big guy down, and he walked away without causing further trouble.

When we reached the station, I hopped on a train and headed home.

I wrote a coverletter for my job application yesterday, in the experience section, I wrote:

When I was at RailCorp, I scheduled construction activities, converted design data into construction information, and compiled and managed project documentations (such as project scope, manning lists, contractor information, and paperworks regarding to OHS, environmental, and social issues associated with the projects) during the planning phased of various overhead wiring upgrade projects, then provided technical support and quality assurance during the construction phases. My work contributed to the safe and timely completion of those projects, which ultimately improved the efficiency of the rail network in the greater Sydney region.

At Gosford City Council I designed fabricated metal components, wet wells, and associated pipeworks, specified and priced machinery and equipments, participated in the investigation, pricing, and reporting on the proposed sewerage pump station upgrade projects, and was heavily involved in the compilation of the specifications of those projects which were sent to the contractors. In the end, my work enabled the commencement of Gosford City Council’s sewerage pumping station upgrade project, which will increase the capacity and reliability of the sewerage system in Gosford and surrounding areas in the near future.

Loads of bullshit really, as the rail system in Sydney and the sewerage system in Gosford are still very shit, and my works have not brought any discernable improvements. Prospective employers will know that my claims are bullshit, but when applying for jobs, I am expected to lie, to make myself look good.

Apart from the two series I posted in my journal on OkC, here are a few that I thought are interesting.

The camera automatically increase exposure time in poor light, and it became possible to capture extended movements with photos, producing sometimes ghostly images:



And there are also things associated with my past:

Where I had my high school formal, I still remember, I asked five women, none of the was willing to be my date, and the fish was dry and tasteless.



My old job, in wall painting form. And whenever I walk pass them with someone else, I would boast "When I was in 'The Corp'..."

And just something weird:

The Karaoke Bus

There has been some pretty serious factory-floor-politics going on at my mother's work, there is a senior supervisor and a scheduler, each leads his own clique, and there is a junior supervisor, who has little power over anyone belonging to either clique.

Meanwhile, the factory introduced a system of rotation for one particularly post that involves large amount of heavy lifting, so that no worker will perform that work for an extended period, thus reduce the chances of injuries, and the junior supervisor would be the one maintaining the roster.

But, the senior supervisor and the scheduler were able to exercise their influences and prevented the members of their respective cliques from being rotated on to that post. Since my mother does not belong to any of the cliques, she was assigned to that post for an extended period, and the heavy lifting hugely aggravated the shoulder injury she sustained earlier in the year. Now, the doctor has told her not to any lifting at all, and an MRI session has been booked to examine the exact extent of the injury.

Because my mother doesn't speak very good English, and is fearful of white people for some reason, I had to speak to the return to work coordinator and the evil HR manager on her behalf. Since as an outsider, it is inappropriate for me to comment on the factory floor politics, I had to make the whole incident appear to be entirely the fault of the junior supervisor, and it will probably end very badly for him.

I went to university today to work on a report, when I was there, I realised that I forgot to bring my keys. I wasn't too concerned because I assumed that my parents would be home by the time I got back. But when I did get back, I discovered that no one was home. It was 8:30pm, at this time of the day there is only one place where they can possibly be at. I jumped on a train and headed straight for the city, to the casino.

And they were there, on the blackjack table, it appears that they were on a losing streak, and my mother had became obsessive, I urged them to stop, and give me a lift home, but my mother claimed that she would not leave until she has won back the money she lost, and it was apparent that whatever I was saying had no effect on her.

I've already explained to them innumerous times that the rules for all the games in a casino are set up to give a small advantage to the casino, so that in the long term, when the number of times each game is played approaches infinity, this small advantage, which is barely noticeable in the short term, translates into certain profit for the casino. So by continuously playing in the casino, losing money is the only possible long term outcome.

But it seems that they are incapable of rationally comprehend that concept, and they just keep on going. Of course, they are no where near the stage where their gambling habits have a significant impact on their lives, but that's exactly what the casino wants: "sensible" gamblers who steadily contribute a small part of their income over long periods of time, as a gambler who loses everything in a short amount of time wouldn't be much of use to the casino.

So today, I just took the keys, grabbed the remaining chips out of my mother's hand, cashed them, and headed home.

I went to the green grocer today to buy some vegetables, and I received this voucher:



Apparently, the offer will be valid for the next 99 years. Since I don't eat much meat, and 2 kg beef mince will be a bitch to store, I think I will leave the voucher to my children.

I have to give this a try.