So, about a fortnight ago I said I'd be gone for about a week. Things took a little longer than I'd anticipated. At least I got back in time to vote.
... Just.
The first thing I had to do when I arrived on site was run cables along some brick walls. The plan was to then cover everything with timber studs, fibro sheeting, and a bit of plaster to make it all look pretty. The hitch was that the walls were covered in tiles, which had to come off before I could get started. Now, there was a miniature jack-hammer and air-compressor on hand for me to use, so that shouldn't have been a problem, right? Well, as it turned out, I may as well have stuck the jack-hammer hose up my arse for all the good the bloody compressor did. I ended up spending the first day chiseling off tiles by fucking hand. Come the morning of the second day, I was peeling the bedclothes off said hand, along with the majority of the skin, and had to spend each evening thereafter stuffing around with disinfectant and bandages.
... That slowed things down considerably.
... Things are healing nicely, by the way.
Australia Day kind of took me by surprise. I knew it was coming up in January, I just kinda lost track of what part of January it actually was. I ended up getting invited to a BBQ full of tradesmen and labourers. There were many small plastic flags to look at and much '70s, '80s, & '90s Aussie pop/rock to listen to. I spent most of the evening chatting to a foreign worker. She had this to say:
| “ |
I have to get out of this fucking job before it kills me. Seriously, I've never seen a lazier, more incompetent bunch of useless pricks in my life. I swear a couple of them are medically retarded. Seriously, they're incapable of retaining new information or following simple directions. You can't have people like that operating machinery. It's fucking dangerous. Seriously. Most of them don't even have the qualifications they need to do the jobs they're doing. And it doesn't help that I'm the only woman in the company and most of them, seriously, they're like fucking school children. I swear they've never had a fucking girlfriend in their lives. Look at this. See all these calls and messages. Hundreds of them. And fucking read some of them. Go on. Seriously.
But leaving's not so easy, y'know. I need to have a sponsor if I wanna stay in the country. And it takes 9 months to get all the paperwork done and get approval. So finding somebody to go through that isn't so easy, right? Like, who can be bothered, y'know? Also, I can't get any of my foreign qualifications recognised over here. They said I could come in for an assessment, but I'd have to pay the full cost of the course. That's, like, 20 grand. Seriously, 20 grand just to acknowledge a qualification I've already paid for and earned in a field I've worked in for years. I just hope I can sort something out before something comes to a head with this mob I'm with now, y'know? I mean, the last thing I'd wanna do is have to go home. I just, I just love it here too much, y'know? Seriously. | „ |
... I'd say that, all things considered, that's high praise indeed. Seriously.
And of course, I couldn't talk about Australia Day, without mentioning our Tony's knighting of Prince Whats-His-Face, and the shit-storm that that's created.
They had a whole segment on The 7:30 Report about how this could be the final nail in the PM's credibility, and even Liberal groupie Andrew Bolt has described it as a possibly-career-ending gaff. On the election coverage tonight, they're even talking about it as a reason for The LNP losing government in QLD.
You know, I remember a few years ago, reading a number of columns and articles written about Julia Gillard. About the level of scrutiny she was getting, and about how every little thing was enough to send the social-media-commentariate ape-shit; and about how all of it was because she was a woman, and like, y'know, sexism and shit. At the time, I said I thought that assessment rather smelled like a load of bullshit; that yes, sexism was playing its part, but that the lion's share of it had to do with the changing nature of the news-media and the culture that was developing online; and that I didn't expect things to be that much easier for the next male Prime Minister.
Was I right? Fucked if I know. I did see that some people were calling for Abbott's female chief-of-staff Peta Credlin to be sacked over all this. I'd like to hear other people's thoughts on the matter.
And speaking of the election up here, I got a call from cousin Tanya today:
| “ | Hey Alex, you follow politics pretty closely, how d'ya reckon I should vote? | „ |
| “ | I can tell you how I voted. Worked backwards. LNP last, ALP second last, then the rest, working up to #1. I see you've got a pretty decent looking independent in your electorate. Might be worth a go. | „ |
| “ | Yeah, sounds good, I'll do that then. Cheers mate. | „ |
Watching the ABC election coverage at the moment, and it seems the results are generally reflecting the sentiments I heard from most people during my travels:
| “ | Fuck Labor! Fuck Peter Beattie and fuck Anna Bligh! They absolutely fucked this state! And fuck that Palaszczuk bitch, she was right there with 'em. But at this point, I'd be willing to vote for anyone to get rid of Campbell fucking Newman. | „ |
I see that in many seats, the number of people who voted for independents and minor parties was well over 20%. It looks like Pauline Hanson might have got a quarter of the vote in the seat where she ran.
... Other things that are becoming apparent to me as I watch this coverage:
1) Jessica Van Vonderen and Matt Wordsworth are both adorable.
2) Wayne Swann's a bit of a wanker.
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