The Devil Wears

Two things of note happened last week. I was almost cleaned up in front of my place of employ by a stupid cunt in a 4-wheel drive. He made an illegal U-turn across the bollards that straddle the tram tracks without bothering to look-out for someone on a bicycle. Some might say that it was lucky I was near a world class A & E but I say lucky the morgue was near because that would have been more appropriate had the 4WD and I made an interface. The second event was that a close family member of a work colleague was killed by a logging truck whilst they were cycling. Concomitantly the media is making a stellar effort to rouse public anti-bicycle sentiment. So 16 year old girls on bikes are  fined ridiculous amounts of money for not fully stopping for trams in Swanston St, yet  it is OK for pedestrians to stand on the road before the tram even reaches the stop or to cross wherever the fuck they want. Don’t even get me started on motorists. They own the motherfucking road dontcha know. The call to arms regarding fines for errant cyclists coming from drivers and pedestrians methinks is quite hypocritical given the number of drivers and pedestrians I see on a daily basis transgressing the road laws. I have been cycling as a means of transport for 10 years at least and now I am seriously reconsidering that choice. It’s becoming all too hard and too dangerous. Most of all, it’s unpleasant. I am so annoyed.

I love this photo of ‘girls with balloons that won’t fly’. The girls are wax figurines made by Ash, a most talented individual. I was immediately captured by these girls as they look so forlorn waiting for something to happen. Life feels like those balloons at the moment, all leaden and not going anywhere. I think it’s due to winter. Winter is rubbish.

I do not take information as read. I want to know how the information was obtained, what data it is gleaned from and the manner in which the data was collected. What I don’t need to know is some fucker’s uninformed opinion, which astonishingly a lot of people are more prepared to believe than the opinion of a learned expert. For me, this lunacy is exemplified by the belief that natural therapies, homeopathies, alternative remedies, Chinese herbs and the like are as effective, if not better than medicine.  While I don’t doubt the bio-activity of plant derived drugs, you can’t deny the potency of morphine, THC and penicillin, I do object to claims about efficacy when there is no scientific evidence that the stuff works. I think of naturopaths and their brethren as charlatans, shy-locks and shysters, ripping people off with false declarations of their ability to heal. What annoys me is that people are willing to pay hand over fist for this shit and yet baulk at doctors fees.  What alarms me is that people will compromise their health by using this crap at the expense of proven, gold standard treatments. I refer you to evidence-based medicine. Of course not all evidence is equal but a well-designed, double-blind randomised, controlled trial to demonstrate the efficacy of a treatment usually does the trick.

This clip from the most excellent creators of The Peep Show sums up the ridiculousness of  ‘alternative therapies’ nicely.

M & W homoeopathic A & E

Turns out I graduated last week in absentia. Of course I had no fucking intention of attending the dull, traditional ceremony which requires dressing in most unflattering garb, but I totally over looked the date. This arrived in the mail today! I haz a PhD! That is all.

Although my style is classic with a twist, I am still partial to trends and always on the look out for an alternative to jeans. I want options. So I was rather intrigued by the new J Brand Cargo pant although somewhat  trepidacious given the pockets that sit right on the problem thigh area. Turns out my misgivings were correct. Check the photos of celebs wearing them. These gals are all hot with awesome bodies but jesus wept, look at what the pants do to their thighs. Super unflattering and definitely undesirable.

Apparently in the US the J Brand cargo is selling out by the thousands and J Brand cannot keep up with the demand. I so don’t get it.

In times of adversity, especially when one is at the coalface, one can slip on one’s headphones and cheer oneself up by listening to one of the greatest metal albums of all time, Ride The Lightning! It makes me feel like a misunderstood, adolescent metal head. I can relate to all the lyrics. I am full of angst. I am 14 again. That’s it bitches, ride the mother fucking lightning! I am uplifted!

ride the lightning

I have been rather uninspired of late. The routine minutia of working life has eroded me to a most non-reflective, lacking in lustre being. I shouldn’t be surprised by this turn of events given my distaste for working full-time compounded by my abhorrence of winter. I can’t fight it but people please stop trying to convince me it’s not that bad. Stop trying to make fetch happen!

Welcome to the first day of May. May Day is International Worker’s Day. I saw a political demonstration on May Day in Austria in 1991. It reminded me of my grandfather. He was a socialist. Unbeknownst to me at the time, he had passed away and I was yet to be informed. I used to hang with him when I was a little girl. He would take me to the local pub where he would talk shit with his mates while I sat on the bar stool, swinging my legs, drinking a shandy and listening. He was iconoclastic and despised a lot of stuff about which he was quite vocal. There were three things that he really fucking hated; Greeks, Liberal voters and Catholics. I won’t explain why. He would ventilate upon these topics often and was instrumental in having me removed from religious instruction at primary school. A big win for me as I got to go the library instead and READ! He loved to drink and argue. Apparently I resemble him personality wise.Make of that what you will.

This is he as a young man, on the left. He was cool.