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Below are the 9 most recent journal entries recorded in
arielladrake's LiveJournal:
| Saturday, December 15th, 2007 | |
| 6:55 pm | News So, after deciding not to do Honours because I didn't really feel comfortable for various reasons, I've just finished my application for the Master of Arts (Professional and Applied Ethics) at ANU. I spoke to the Course Convenor yesterday who said that despite the website saying that I need Hons or a Grad Dip to qualify for entry, I should be fine to get in, given my undergraduate major and the fact that I can argue a case relating work to the degree. Given she's the one who decides who gets into the program, I'm feeling vaguely confident. Now I just have to hope that same argument works as far as the company is concerned and I manage to convince them to sponsor my study, otherwise budgets will be tight for a while. Still - hi academy, I'm back. It's actually quite exciting, and I really like the sound of the program. I'll be going in part time, which is about four years, coursework, plus a sub-thesis. The conversation I had with the Convenor yesterday was pretty cool, actually, in terms of tying work-stuff into my studies and intersections between bioethics/public health/business ethics that work stuff kinda bleeds around. In other news, I'll be in Brisbane from this time next week, until about the 6th of January. If you want to catch up, let me know. Don't wait for me to call you, because it's highly likely I don't have your number. Also, what are Brisbane people doing for NYE? |
| Friday, November 23rd, 2007 | |
| 10:17 pm | Yes. It's True. I spent last night slashing celebrity poker. Sersiously though. Matthew Perry was talking about making sweet love to Christopher Meloni, and wouldn't shutup about how handsome Michael Vartan is. It was hotness in triplicate, how could I not? Just so we're clear, it was sufficiently slashy and awesome that I was able to mostly block out Sarah Silverman. And I have mountains of hate for Sarah "It's okay to make fun of Asians because they're not big and scary and might kill you like black people" Silverman. |
| Saturday, November 3rd, 2007 | |
| 9:45 pm | Oh hai. So, I really am going to get back to blogging soon. In the meantime, have a summary of my life over the last month or so. Work: Is going well. I still maintain that I can only do this job for at most three years at a time, because any longer is likely to make me just loathe people. Not just dodgy claimants, but their stupid-ass employers who fail to understand that denying claims is a sure-fire way to make them cost a bucket-load of money. Still, my current portfolio actually isn't too bad, and I must admit, there have been some majorly positive changes to the way this company runs in comparison to my experience with them back in 2001-2003. Of course, four years after I left, they're STILL talking about how the dodgy-ass computer system is being replaced "soon", but the interim patch-jobs are vastly improved at this stage, and there's some other shiny stuff being rolled out in the next year. In amusing news, a fair chunk of my current colleagues are relatively well-acquainted with my former team leader (the one who contributed largely to my exit from the company back in 2003), and the general consensus is that she's an utterly noxious individual, which makes me feel strangely validated. Also, the annual Insurance Ball is next Friday, which I know doesn't sound like much fun, but Insurance folk are suprisingly hilarious when you ply them with alcohol. Also, this town does a lot more client schmoozing, or, rather, I'm a lot more involved in client schmoozing down here because we have such a small office. Home: Is great. $ and I have discovered the farmers' market, which is shiny and awesome and full of win. It does require getting up rather too early for a Saturday, but seriously, the food is worth it, and it means I get a surprising amount of stuff done over the weekends now. Foxtel has been installed, which was particularly useful when I was off sick for a week and a half. I started with a cold and an ear infection in both ears, which then developed into mild bronchitis, which was highly unpleasant. Foxtel assisted largely in maintaining my sanity whilst stuck at home. We've been going to the gym semi-regularly, which is quite rewarding at this stage (also, just so we're clear at this point, I have no idea if I've lost weight, and don't much care - the gym is just fun, and getting my strength back up is rather awesome), and I'll be able to start swimming again in a couple of weeks (can't swim for a month because of the ear infections), which will be yay. Also, as I just recently mentioned to ebe(LJ), they've torn down one of the coffee shops at my local shopping centre and are building a Krispy Kreme. Okay, so Woden (where the current Krispy Kreme is) isn't really that far away (I mean seriously, it's Canberra. Everything is about 25mins drive away. Further than that is New South Fricking Wales), but dude. Krispy Kreme within walking distance from my house. :D Seasonal Holidays: We're off to buy our Xmas Tree tomorrow, and I have to work on my giftlist for the in-laws. We will be in Brisbane from 22/12/07 - 06/01/08, so, Brisbanefolk, let me know of Holiday season goings-on that are afoot. Media and Geekery: I'm generally about a week or two behind on most of my tv shows at any given time, at the moment. Despite my lack of existence on LJ, I'm spending quite a bit of time on the internets, and have expanded my blogreading almost exponentially. I'm hoping to get linkblogging back up and running in the next week or so, also. I'm reading a helluva lot more, these days, which I'm quite pleased about. I'm slowly working through the enormous pile of books I've bought over the last few years and haven't gotten around to reading. Also, comics. I has found a replacement comics store; Impact Comics. It has no polrua(LJ), but the staff do not look at me like I possess some kind of cooties, are good with standing orders and are friendly, even. It makes me yay. Social Life: Largely non-existent. Dear Brisbane folk, I miss yoooou. Love, me. That said, rhianwren(LJ)'s birthday was fun, and, um ... there have been numerous work drinks? Yeah, my social life kinda fails down here, but honestly, I'm not too fussed about that. I'm kinda happy being fairly homely at the moment, and doing most of my socialising-type-stuff in Brisbane. Though hopefully there will be a trip or two to Sydney next year, lest my parents complain a lot, and there are folks I should catch up with. Speaking of my parents, Dad finally retired (well, technically he's on long service leave first, then he's retiring. They left for overseas last month, first to China (Dad's never been before, which should be intereating), and then Dad's going to Scotland for a couple of weeks. I never did check when they get back. Ah well, I'm sure they'll call me. Also, Daylight Savings is still fail. I can haz proper tiem now plz? |
| Saturday, September 29th, 2007 | |
| 12:34 pm | Oh Hai. So, yeah. Not dead, just distracted. Summary. Brisbane was great - twas good to catch up with the people I did see, others I'm sorry I missed you, but I should be up again around Christmas, so hopefully more catch-ups will be in order. Graduation was long. In what I think is ultimately a good thing all round, neither the Vice-Chancellor or the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic), who were largely responsible for shafting my degree, were at graduation, so I couldn't punch either of them. The Chancellor got very long-winded about how much the university supported us, and it too every inch of my self-restrain to not burst into bitter cackling onstage whilst he was talking. I don't think the eleventy-million health graduates would've got it. Meanwhile, a friend of mine, Scott, was student rep, and managed to get a lovely polite-but-well-placed barb about the importance of humanities in his speech, which made me smile. I'll have photos of me in silly hat later. The meeting-of-the-in-laws went off without a hitch. Mother was on her best behaviour, which is what I expected. The only problem with mother being on her best behaviour is that I then have to listen to people babble on about how damn lovely she is and how much she obviously cares about me blahblahblah, to which the only coherent response I can ever think of is "That's great, doesn't excuse her being a violent neglecting harmful person. Please STFU and stop pretending like you know my family because you had dinner with them once." But, well, yelling at my mother-in-law is never a good idea, and I can do coherent or quiet, bit not both, when it comes to that. Tori was glorious, and the difference between a just-Tori gig and a Tori+band gig is phenomenal. I like both, and the stuff off the new album is fucking awesome live, as is, y'know, everything. Work is good, busy but not horrible; I've got all of my portfolio now, which is still weird because they had a much bigger standard portfolio size when I was last working here, so it feels rather small. It's good though. Review Meeting with one of the national clients next week, which should be interesting, but the files are all fairly well on track at this stage, and we're far enough away from renewal that they shouldn't get too snarky about estimates. Home is good; honestly, part of my internet-abscence has to do with the fact that by the time I get home from work, curling up in bed with the Foxtel remote seems like a much more comfortable idea. Still, much of the good US TV started up this week, so I'll be spending at least some regular time on the tubes from now on. Plus, we've been training at the gym two nights a week, so honestly my internets-time is significantly reduced. I forgot how much full-time work cuts into tubes-time. I'll probably do a quick skim of the f-list, but if there's anything major I should know, put it in the comments. :) |
| Tuesday, September 11th, 2007 | |
| 9:55 pm | Oh Hai. Also - Brisbane Folks - DRINKING. Hi, internets. This full-time job thing really eats up my time. I'd totally forgotten about how that works. Once I get back from Graduation and Tori, I shall endeavour to actually work out stuff so I don't abandon you. Still, things are going well. It's fracking cold, but I'm taking comfort in the fact that I'll be in Brisbane next week. In light of this: Drinks. Friday 21st September. Evening. Why? Well, I'll have a piece of paper that says I can put letters after my name, and will have (hopefully) survived not only a visit from my parents, but the first meeting of all the in-laws (eep). Um. I'll take suggestions on where's good for drinking. Maybe Fat Louie's in town? Who's in? Also, I may need somewhere to crash that night. Am staying with the in-laws whilst I'm up, and don't really want to be blundering in there stonkered at all hours of the morning. Speaking of graduation, please take this short sentance as a long and cranky rant about the fact that after all the crap that's gone on at QUT, I have to PAY to have people-who-aren't-me at my bleedin' graduation ceremony. If my parents' flights weren't already booked, I'd be telling QUT to take their ticket price and shove it up the Vice-Chancellor's arse. I may still write them an angry e-mail. Although, I suspect my Australian Graduate Survey response will consist of a large chunk of "my course was awesome. it's a shame no one else gets to do it. Also, my VC and DVC(A) are noxious fuckwits. Can they plz explode? Kthnxbai." In other news, we has Foxtel, which means we has the Food channel. Hurrah! |
| Friday, September 7th, 2007 | |
| 8:18 am | This week's feminist-bashing comes from Reuters, via news.com Shorter Rita Panahi: The problem with feminists is that they don't shame and lecture women enough. Look. I've not looked too much into the science on breastfeeding. That's largely to do with the whole 'not planning on breeding' thing. But really, even as a smoker, I have to say her comparison of bottle-feeding to smoking is just a little absurd. And actually, yes, it is paternalistic to lecture women about smoking whilst pregant. Even if you're a woman's treating doctor, there are better strategies than a lecture, and if you're randomly lecturing women in the street (which I've seen on multiple occasions), then you're an arrogant jackass. I don't see what's so bad about bottle-feeding, as long as parents are paying attention to what's in the forumlas they're using. I was - my mother simply wasn't producing sufficient milk. But, even if I take a leap and assume that yes, breastfeeding is best for everyone and bottlefeeding is comparatively terrible and akin to smoking, I'm still not seeing how yet more lecturing and shaming of women for 'doing it wrong' in regards to raising their children will actually solve the problem. Note - I'm not going to have a bottlefeeding v. breastfeeding argument here. The not-having-children thing means I don't care. Seriously. There's a million other places on the internet you can have that argument. But I'm a horrid feminist who hates children, so what would I know? *eyeroll* |
| Sunday, September 2nd, 2007 | |
| 9:58 pm | It's film discussion hour. Bourne Ultimatum = AWESOME. Ratatouille next week - eee! Getting out to the carpark to discover the car had been broken into = really not awesome. Thankfully, there was nothing in the car worth stealing, and the car was undamaged. We've figured out how they managed to do it, and the vulnerability shall be addressed. But yeah, not cool. Still, Bourne was awesome. And Joey Asnah was awesomely kickass. I must say, though. I really wish we could get back to actually being able to watch action sequences rather than having directors try and 'immerse' us in them. It's getting a bit stupid. But aside from that ongoing Hollywood trend, it was win. What wasn't win was the trailer for Rush Hour 3. I swear there was a racism Bingo in there, possibly two. Thus, an open letter. Dear Jackie Chan, Also, my danger-senses are tingling about The Kingdom after seeing the trailer (clue: it's set in Saudi Arabia), but really, it's Jennifer Garner as a kick-ass government operative type character, which really scratches my OMGALIAS itch. |
| Saturday, September 1st, 2007 | |
| 10:17 pm | New Beginnings So. After the LiveJournal/SixApart shenanigans of the past few months, I'm taking the opportunity of moving to a new city to move to a new internet-town, as well. Of course, one of the joys of the internet is that I can live in multiple places at once. My journalfen will be more fandom-oriented, whilst my insanejournal will be more general-life oriented. I've not decided yet where the bulk of the academic stuff will end up living. Really, it depends how academically-oriented I end up being over the next couple of years whilst I take my break from formal academia and focus on not being quite so broke. As per the userinfo, ground rules are the same as they were over at livejournal. Feel free to wave and say hi. If you've got me friended on both accounts, I suspect there'll be quite a bit of post-mirroring going on as I transition, and probably a bit of mirroring with livejournal as well. So I apologise for that, and thank you for bearing with me. |
| Monday, January 1st, 2007 | |
| 12:00 am | Info Post: 'Friending' and Comments Policy. Yes, this is the internet. However, this is my little corner of the internet. And I have some ground rules. Also, if we know eachother outside of teh internets, and you think our friendship means that you'll get away with something? You obviously don't know me well enough. Because there's pretty much only one person who's likely to get away with stuff in practicality, and he knows me well enough to know not to do it. 'Friending' Policy 1. My friendslist is as much, or more of, a reading list as it is to be considered some line delineating who I consider friends and not-friends. I tend to assume there's no drama when someone defriends me unless I'm alerted to the drama by other means, and would appreciate others doing the same. 1a. Incidentally, I don't expect to see *ist (racist/sexist/classist/etc) speech/imagery/behaviour from the people on my friendslist. What you do with your journal is your business, and if I know you reasonably well I'm likely to call on it because I'd like to think you care about whether or not you're doing something that might come across as offensive. If not, I'm not obligated to witness it. If you take that to mean I think you're a horrible person who should die, that's up to you, but really, it's not. It's about what I want to see. 2. I don't mind who friends me. I do like for you to say a quick 'hi' if you friend me, particularly if you'd like for me to friend you back. I don't automatically add back, and if you've commented and I haven't added you back within a couple of weeks, I'm not likely to do so. If I don't, it's up to you to keep me on your friendslist or not. See previous point. 3. I tend not to post friends-only very often. Anything locked is either locked for security reasons (sensitive information, etc), or because I'm being wangsty. 4. If your journal generally consists of constant streams of un-lj-cut images, you probably won't make the friendslist, or, if your images are of interest to me and/or I want you to have access to friends-only/filtered entries, you'll be shifted to one of my non-default filters. These filters do get read, it just means that if I'm somewhere not amenable to the loading of an image-heavy friendspage, I can still read other friendspage entries, and I'll get to the more image-heavy stuff when it's more appropriate. 5. Uncut imagery that annoys me will result in a temporary defriending, until enough time has passed that it's off the first few pages of my friendslist. Complaining about the above will probably result in your defriending being permanent rather than temporary. Comments Policy 1. Trolling will invariably result in a kickban, though if I'm in a particular mood, I may bat your ideas around like a ball of yarn for my own and others' amusement. 2. Anonymous comments are automatically screened. For those who tend to forget to log in on occasion, your comments will be unscreened if it's obvious who it is and you haven't already deleted and reposted the comment. 3. Respect for persons is required (possible exceptions for obvious trolls). Generally, though, I expect you to show a certain level of respect towards me and anyone else in the comment threads. This includes: a) Refraining from name-calling. There are certain exceptions to this rule, since a few of you know each other quite well, and will make jokes that involve name-calling. This is fine. However, if the person your name-calling is directed at takes offense, and says so, acknowledge that and apologise for it, and think about that in terms of your future discussions. Don't be an asshat and dismiss their offense. This includes me, by the way. If you're upset by something I say, tell me. b) Refraining from discriminatory language. If I pick up on this, I'll bring your attention to it. Usually, I'll acknowledge that you didn't intend to be discriminatory or offensive (unless it's obvious you did, in which case I'll probably tell you to stop trolling), but that doesn't make it okay. Don't do it again. Again, if you see me doing this, call me on it. We all slip, now and then, and I expect people to call me on questionable language use when I fall into the trap of using it. We all have those sorts of habits to break. c) Respectful debating tactics. Attacking arguments not people, all of that stuff. d) Being aware of tone. Tone is difficult on the internet; I think we're all aware of that. The best way to combat this is through word choice and language use, and being aware of how people react to what you say. If people indicate that they feel you're being condescending, dismissive or whatever, listen to them. I'm not saying they're always 100% right, but don't assume they're 100% wrong, either. If your jokes are often misconstrued, it might be a good idea to avoid them, because it may well be that your delivery is flawed. Accusing other people of having no sense of humour won't change that; it just makes you look like an asshat. 4. If I make a post about behaviour that pisses me off? Don't engage in that behaviour in the comments. That's pretty much a one way ticket to having your ass kicked. 5. For those coming here from other blogs I guest-post or comment on, leave shit from other places at those other places. If I've disengaged from discussion with you there, or if you're just being a cranky-three-year-old because you're being comment-modded, there's probably a reason, but if you really have some compulsion to talk at me some more, e-mail me. Don't randomly comment here and expect me to behave in a respectful manner. I'm not going to be some draconian crazy, but obviously displayed non-compliance with the comments policy will result in no cookies for you. And probably a kickban. At the end of the day, I expect people to think about what they're saying in my journal. Because this is, ultimately, my space. And I don't think it's unreasonable for me to make that space friendly for all of the people who interact within it. For everyone else, there are cookies. Last updated 1 September, 2007 |