I'm back, what did I miss?

I’m actually back at work again, and look like making it through the whole day. I quite like the idea of having several days off work then going in on Friday, just in time to have the weekend off. Of course, it would only really be fun if I wasn't sick.

Given that I am still feeling a little scattered today, I bring you a random collection of things I noticed today.

POP CULTURE:
A Fox network affiliate in America has pulled the reality television show Married by America after only one airing, stating that the show "did not reflect prevailing standards of good taste" and was "clearly demeaning to the institution of marriage."

For those of you who don’t know, Married by America features five singles who are given a selection of potential partners by the show. Family, friends and (naturally) the viewing public, pick their perfect mate, and supposedly, the happy couple then commits to marriage.

What disturbs me is that the station actually needed to air the pilot show before it figured out that it was not in good taste.

QUIZ FOR THE DAY: What Revolution Are you?


What revolution are You?
Made by altern_active

LOCAL STORY:
The Canberra Legislative Assembly has voted to remove discriminatory language against gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and intersex people from ACT Legislation. The Bill amends 37 Acts so they recognise same-sex relationships, and cover things such as domestic violence, property law, medical treatment, and guardianship of the ageing or mentally infirm. A second stage of law reform will involve issues such as civil unions and parenting.

Who says Canberra is just full of useless, pot-smoking, porn-obsessed public servant wankers?

OK, don't answer that question.

The Cult of Productivity

So I'm sitting here on yet another sick day away from work. I tried going back to the office yesterday, but this proved to be a bad move and I came home at lunch time. I really shouldn't have gone to work, and I am forced to conclude that the only reason I did was that I am really, really bored. I've slept, watched crappy TV, played solitaire, rearranged photo albums, burnt some CDs and minidisks . . . I was even starting to get this guilt/anxiety feeling about not being at work, and that is REALLY sick. Oh god, I've been brainwashed by the work cult. Being at work for the morning yesterday was long enough to prove that there was really nothing so urgent happening that I needed to be there. Apparantly I just have this need to be a useful and productive member of society. Who would have thought it?

One more day of this and I'll be sitting in an upstairs room, spying on the neighbours with a telescope. Not that we have one. A telescope I mean. We have neighbours.

Meanwhile other people are doing useful things like working, shopping, and protesting outside Howard's "Why we need to go to war" speech. I would have watched it on TV, but I'm sick enough already - I don't need that shit. I've had this idea that every household should have a supply of soft foam projectiles, like nerf, in the TV room. Then when you got really pissed off at whoever is on TV you could throw stuff at them without damaging the TV.

Oh, and I have an addition to the truly amazing computing questions I've been asked. I'm sitting at home yesterday, the phone rings, and the follwing conversation takes place:
Me: Hello?
X: Hi Marissa, it's X. Sorry to call you at home when you're sick.
Me: That's OK, what's up?
X: I need to scan something, so I need you to walk me through some easy step-by-step instructions.
Me: OK, see the piece of paper I stuck to the wall above the scanner, labelled 'Using the Scanner'?
X: Hang on . . . Oh, OK that's great. I'll follow that then and just call you if I have any problems.
Me: No worries.
Hang up. Less than 2 minutes later the phone rings again.
Me: Hello?
X: Hi, it's me again. Sorry, but I really think I need the complete dummies instructions.
Me: [Thinking I was sure those were the complete dummies instructions] OK.
X: So it says I need to start by pressing the big green button, but it doesn't seem to be responding.
Me: That's strange [about to suggest checking that all the cables are properly plugged in]
X: Oh wait, I forgot to ask, do I have to turn on the computer first?
Me: [Following long pause] Yes. Yes you do.

I mean, I understand not everybody is familiar with this stuff straight away, but surely logic should come in to play. It's a scanner - it looks like a big flat tupperware container with three buttons on it. If you didn't turn on the computer, how would the scanner know what to do? Hmmm, I, scanner, sense that you wish to scan this photograph at high resolution, make it a jpg file, name it workphoto1.jpg and save it on the C drive under 'My Photos'.

I don't understand people.

Fully sick mate

A long pause in the blogging process for the last few days as I am currently at home sick :-( So you need to imagine this entry in a suitably pathetic, croaky sort of a voice. As my housemate kindly pointed out, it sounds as if my voice is breaking at last. At 26 I am obviously just a late developer (one day my child you will cease to be a girl, and become a man).

Anyway, I have now taken as much sick leave in the past two days as I took in the previous two years. This sounds virtuous of me, until you realise that in the previous two years I took about 13 weeks annual leave instead. Ah, nothing like paid vacation time in Europe - to be wandering along the banks of the Seine, getting paid as if you are at work. Never did understand why people want to stay at university forever. Being paid is fun. Being paid for doing nothing is even better.

This is the first time in quite a while that I have been sick in the way that totally makes you regress to childhood. I mean that in the ‘build me a fort of blankets and look after me’ sort of way, not the fevered delirium sort of way. I want to curl up in a little ball and cuddle something soft. Pathetic? Yes, but I don’t care. My housemate made me scrambled eggs for breakfast today. She rocks.

Being ill also gave me some very bizarre dreams last night. The central point of all my dreams eludes me, but it involved the establishment of a very noisy veterinary school at the ANU, me and some friends moving into a tree-house (I’m fairly sure you were there, Lyn), and a pet miniature Tasmanian Tiger. It started out as a fairly normal Tasmanian Tiger (I mean, ignoring the fact that they are extinct and were not small enough to pick up with one hand and tuck under your arm), but by the end of the dream it had turned into a Tasmanian Tiger wearing a kilt and riding a motorbike. A very small motorbike.

I swear the only things I have taken are vitamin C, throat gargle, and (insert name of painkiller containing paracetamol and codeine).

And the latest in the ‘why New Zealand is a funky-ass place’ news? A fabulous aricle about a NZ$200 000 dispute between two New Zealand companies that was resolved in an out-of-court settlement - a best-of-three arm-wrestling match.

The match took place between the respective chief executives, which I think is healthy. It shows a willingness to take responsibility, and to do some real grunt work. The defeated CEO stated that losing didn’t hurt nearly as much as the lawyers’ bills would have. Could only have been better if it were mud wrestling.

And a great big hooray me because I have tickets to see Ben Harper and Jack Johnson in Sydney (insert happy dance here).