Thursday, July 10, 2008

The Router and The Damage Done

Did you know Pamela Anderson is sleeping in the Versace Hotel instead of the Big Brother House - con!

My computer was down last night, which was annoying, I think my router was just completely mangled or something for about 24 hours, and all it did was make me think about power cuts, electrical failures, community failures, the impending doom of the world - yes, when the lights go out, as opposed to what 5ive might have you believe, there's just more time to think. Plus it was really really cold, so being unable to blog really exacerbated how darn cold it is lately. Down here in Tasmania, the Internet service is amusingly rubbish to begin with. We're not exactly moving at the speed of sound down here and when little Wendy wants to download a pornographic movie or little Billy wants to download the new Coldplay album, there's a hell of a wait. You have to sit through an entire episode of On The Couch with Mike Sheahan just to get to Track 5 off your average picture disc. No one seems to know how to fix the problem, so we just have to put up with it. I guess that's life on an island. Someone should get Hermes Endakis on the case.

The first power cut I can ever remember was when I was about 6 - it was actually a really good experience, I remember it was the first time I ever got all the football cards in a set to make the big picture (something to do with the Sydney Swans - lousy national competition, I should have smelled a conspiracy theory even then) and I sat in the hall quietly assembling the big picture, without a fuss, and Penguin wasn't really the kind of place where you needed to be loaded up with electrical gadgets and it was 1984 anyway. All you really needed was a radio and the two channel TV, with a luxury item like a kettle. I have this really vague memory of a prolonged power cut once, say, two days, where they ended up putting people up in the local Masonic hall and giving them soup - I'd have been outraged by that these days now I'm an old grump, the idea of being on an adjoining property to homeless people, but then I thought it was what communities did, I think it's a bit sad in some ways that I don't feel like that. I think my neighbour is a complete tosser, I hate and despise my boss, and the only other person in my whole street I know is the guy across the road who answered the door to my Mum and Dad naked when they tried to deliver a package (matron) that came to our house. My street is Scotland is still quite close, but cliquey - everyone knows everyone, but 1/2 of them hate each other, especially the nosey fat lady who uses charity drives to try and get into peoples houses for a gossip. Frankly, I don't know which alternative is worse.

As much as I'd quite like to do more for my community, I think that a lot of times the fate of the world and my community and whether the economy is sinking under K-Rudd doesn't matter these days if your boss is a dickhead. We live in really small circles, and no one is a good neighbour, especially me. When my Internet went down last night, I kept thinking about how annoyed I was, and kicking the screen and trying to fix the router. Which of course should be a jumping off point for to realise that I should get a real sense of perspective and kids are dying in the world and what's one night without the Internet? Well, it's an annoyance - the kind that we end up with these days. There's no wars, no famines, no plagues and not usually any really dangerous jobs out there for us to worry about here in Tassie - all our concerns are financial, or gadget based, or mild inconveniences or disturbances at worst. This is what I've worried about this week - The form or otherwise of Dale Thomas (in particular, his media work), the fact Josh Fraser was a #1 draft pick in the same draft as Pavlich, Nathan Buckley being our coach in 2 years, Pamela Anderson sleeping at the Versace hotel and not actually in the Big Brother house, trying to get tickets for Peter Combe, getting woken up by a knock that was much too loud, my boss being evil, the repetition of Take A Bow being played on the radio, my inability to watch a video on Youtube, the impending fear that Jana Pittman is going to "run through the pain" and Lindsay Lohan going out with someone who looks like Shane Woewodin. It's not a giant list of concerns, and yet my Internet goes down and I think it's the end of the world - a sign of madness or a maddening sign? I'm really not sure, but it's made me think and try and get a grip on my life - and not go to bed in a disgusted sulk every time I can't get AUSTAR. I'm going to make an Alisa Camplin style effort to be more positive, and try and relax and lighten up.

Mind you, the fact that Leilani Kais website is no longer active, well, that's a real concern...

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