Woah, Life , The universe and shit

So, i was in a big of a transcendental mood last night. Dont know exactly how to describe it but its the feeling you get when you start thinking about life and big issues and shit and realise that what you think is important really does not amount to much. Watched a film based in WWII London and finished my book on the 20th century history of the Middle East. The movie was a comedy of sorts but it was one of those that just follows the life of a theatre over a few years as characters come and go and die and get old and stuff. Those ones always get me, a League f Their own is one of the most depressing movies i have ever seen. It made me wonder what we are going to be doing in five or ten years time? Who is goingt o be married, parents, dead? Since i moved away from home, six months this weekend, I kind of just see the broad brush-strokes of what is going on back home; who is seeing/not seeing who, who is getting/leaving a job, moving, studying, self-destructing. If these things can happen in just 6 months that what will a decade bring? It does not really depress me per se, but it does make me think

If there is one that college, the year after, and this trip away has taught me is that friendships are made, fade and sometimes, if you are lucky, grow back. I have met and befriended so many people on this trip that i have taken to writing down their names in a wee book just so i can remember them all. Its odd who makes it and who does not. The Irish guy spent two months with in Dunedin does not as we have not stayed in touch at all. The two Scottish girls that i met and spent an entire night just talking to in the sitting room have made it. I have not seen them in three months, only knew them for two days and one of them is back in Scotland and the other is in Oz but we still text or bebo a few times a week. I was just saying to Amanda the other day, through the wonders of bebo, that i think we have done a good job of staying in touch even though we only knew each other for 4 months and have only met once in the 3 years since then. Through this old blog thing and texts i have been talking to Danielle and Pa more than i have since i left college and that is pretty sweet. When i left college i was worried that i would lose touch with a lot of people but i think that when you get older you just get more used to people drifting away but then once you meet them again everything just goes back to normal, meeting Anna in Queenstown was a case in point, it had been over a year since we had seen each other but nothing was really different, bar her being a Muslim.

What exactly is 'Selling Out'?

So today was a good day. Had a nice lie-in til half eight then read my Wheel of Time book. Yes i am startign from the very beginning again, its been a few years since i last read them. Went down to the saturday market, went online and then to the library. On the way home i caled intot he local bakery to get the loaf of triple grain wholemeal bread that i get every day when, shock horror, they had all been sold. Lukily i call in there so often they know to expect me and had put one away from me, which was pretty nice. So then back to the hostel to go for a swim in the pool and sun-bath/read for the afternoon. All in all, pretty nice.

Have been on to Liam a bit and he has decided to sell out and become a corporate suit, and one that specialises in luring in other inocent victims to the corporate web. I was wondering how long i would hold out for when i got home. Thinking i would rather not work behind a desk, in a suit, day in and day out. Perhaps i will just keep travelling around, i thought. But then i realised that i did not really want to keep travelling around. I am enjoying my trip and everything but i hae no way been bitten by the globe-trotting bug and want to keep wondering arond the world, i will be perfectly happy when i get home. So then i was thinking that all this travelling is a form of materialism in itself, but instead of collecting money and material things you compete as to who can see the most, who can have the most unique experience. I have noticed there is a lot of snobbery involved in travelling. the people with a car look down on those who take bus tours, those who hitch claim to have a better holiday than those in a camper van etc. It is naff to visit certain places as they are too 'touristy' and people are always trying to show they have had the most puritan experience.

'I went to South east Asia for four weeks'
"SE Asia?, in 4 weeks? I spent 5 months there, got off the tourist trail"
"everywhere is a tourist trail in Asia, i worked with orphans in India"
"India, pah. i lived with beggers in South America?"
"well i contracted AIDS in Africa"

I am guilty of it as well to some degree. Think some people dont see have the country and are just here to get drunk and party. But then who am i to tell them what to do, some would see me as having a very superficial holiday as i am mostly in town and am actually, shock-horror, working. After debating all this in my mind for a while, i came to the conclusion that i do not have a clue what i want to do when i get home

Nelson is odd

Nelson is a very odd town in some respects. Not really sure if its because of religion or what but every shop seems to close at 5:15 on a weekday, they are only open from 10-2 on a saturday and a lot dont open on Sunday at all. Quite irritating, its everything, bakery's, pharmacies, web cafe's, book shops, all my favorite places really. Except the library, that open from 1-4 for some reason, i have decided i am going to splash out and spend $15 on a months membership. I think i will be here in Nelson for a while yet so i think i will make use of it. Although now that Liam is probably not coming i may move on, that just occurred to me right now, I may head Wellington and see if i can get a job there, just so i will not be stuck in the same place for too long.

Here is an interesting thing i found on the BBc page, makes a good point

"Obesity, the authors concluded, was an inevitable consequence of a society in which energy-dense and cheap foods, labour-saving devices, motorised transport and sedentary work were rife.

Dr Susan Jebb of the Medical Research Council said that in this environment, it was surprising that anyone was able to remain thin, and so the notion of obesity simply being a product of personal over-indulgence had to be abandoned for good"

They do have a point, as loath as i am to admit it. In this day and age being slim does not come naturally, you actually have to work at it, which was not the case even thirty years ago.

Here's a link to the full article
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7047244.stm

Bleeding Hearts 4 d Win?

Have you ever noticed that the day goes by so much faster when you are actually enjoying yourself? The last three days i have been working in the NZ equivalent of Atlantic Home care moving around rows and stock and stuff, pretty mindless work, frustrating at times but nothing too strenuous, except for the fucker i was working with. He was this local kiwi fello in his forties i think and had to be the most disagreeable shite i have ever worked with. Within 2 hours of meeting him he was giving out and swearing under his breath whenever i might put something in the wrong place, or a few times, when he was in the wrong but blamed me instead. I mean, i had barely even met he guy. Anyhow, the first two days when pretty slowly and tempers got frayed a few times, thankfully yesterday he came down with AIDs or something and had to go early. He did not come in at all today and instead this other kiwi fella was working, he was pure sound, lived in Ireland for a year and was well easy going, the day went so much faster when you can actually have a bit of a laugh.

With all my time to be thinking stuff during the day i often come up with things that i say "Oh, i'll put that in my blog" but then i often forget. One thing that i did remember was something i thought of after i heard that Liam's car had been wrecked again by knackers, by 14 year olds this time. I was just wondering what can you possibly do to stop this kind of shit. One side says pump them in prison or even just shoot them. Would this have any long term benefit though, if put in prison they will just come out an even more hardened criminal, probably a drug addict as well, and shooting them will probably not have that much of an effect, just look at the States and the Death penalty. The other side says that you should try and rehabilitate them, to look for the deeper causes and address them. I kind-of fall into this camp, you dont get the instant satisfaction of retribution or revenge but thinking in the long term it might turn out better. The problem with that one is that so many people would just take advantage of it and its next to impossible to see the results. It is also hard to turn around and try to actually help the little shite that ruined your motor and cost you so much.

Woah, looks like i had some angry Kiwi upset about my post on the All Blacks, hope it was not Amanda, very uncouth of her otherwise. Apparently the All Blacks just play because they love the game and and not to just win, unlike the Irish team. Funny that there were reports on the front pages of the papers calling for 'heads to roll' and investigations and committees being set up to investigate the World Cup Performance, apparently the team were not seen to be loving the game enough, not because they did not win or anything.

Do you ever feel like their is just not enough time in the world

So was reading the paper over here today, no offense Amanda but the papers over here are shite, they make the Irish Independent look like a first-class publication. Anyhow there were some good articles in it that they had lifted from other papers around the world about the U.S. and Terrorism, global warming and some Kiwi stuff. Afterwards though i just started thinking that there is so much stuff that i want to know about but learning about it will just take too long. I would love to be able to fully understand the theories for and against global warming and also those about Intelligent Design and Evolution cuz i think that most of the time people are just bullshitting when they try to argue them.

History is another big thing i want ot know about, how are you supposed to argue something when you do not know the full back-story, the Arab-Israeli thing is a case in point. I also have to admit that my grasp of Irish History is pretty woeful, i have no idea of the Chronology of the Civil War/Fight for Independence and the antics in the North are a complete mystery to me. Its a bit embarrassing when you are asked about things like that ove here or meet a foreigner who knows more about it than you.

On a completely different topic, expect to see less spelling mistakes, turns out this thing has a very easy to use spell-checker.

Also, congratulations to conal on finishing his exams.

What if...

So New Zealand are out of the World Cup ehh, humble pie all round i think.

What do you call 14 guys sitting around watching a rugby game? The All Blacks

A man was found dead in Auckland Harbour wearing nothing but high heels, and All Black jersey and fishnet stocking. Police removed the All Blacks jersey to prevent embarrassment to the family.

I started work in a new job today, on another construction site, removing a scaffolding, hopefully it will last another day or two. It does give a lot of time to think thogh, like the last job. What i was pondering today was; what if tomorrow, you woke up at home in your 16 year old body with all the memories of what happened between now and then. What would you do? WOulod you do the same subjects at school, hang around with the same people, do the same course in college? Then theres the big stuff, do you remember enough stuff over the last 8 years to be able to bet on it to make money, would you try and warn people about atuff, i mean how would you anonymously let the US Government know that Sept 11th was going to happen. Stuff like that. kept me occupied for at least 2 hours.

Two News Stories that i thought were pretty cool

http://www.wired.com/entertainment/hollywood/magazine/15-10/st_scream

and then this one from the BreakingNews.ie site

Gardaí in Dublin are seeking the public's assistance in establishing the identity of a woman who presented herself at Store Street Station last Sunday morning.

The woman, who is apparently suffering a loss of memory, was not carrying any documentation.

Gardaí say she speaks with an American or Canadian accent and is fluent in French.

She was also carrying a chihuahua dog (what the hell????) and has three tattoos, two of an Arabic-style writing on her left upper arm and the back or her neck and a Celtic-type design on the back of one of her legs.

The woman is in her mid-30s, five foot, nine inches tall, of slim build, with brown, collar-length hair and hazel eyes.

Paul: Arms of Steel, Heart of Gold

So i arrived in Nelson a few days ago. Its a big enough city, little smaller than Limerick, but all nice and sunny and on the beach so that is good. Will stick around here for a few weeks, not more than 4 i hope.....take note Liam, and then head up to the North island and work my way around up there

So just back form a few hours work wheeling barrows of cement and moving blocks. It was just a one-day job for a guy who was doing some DIY in his back garden. After i finished dumping around 30 loads of cement down the back of his house he asked me to level and smooth off one end while he worked from the other. Now brute labour i can do but jobs that require refinement and skill i am not the best at. I think i did well enough, he did offer to 'finish up' for me while i went and lifted some blocks but i think hollows and ridges just add character to footpath.

Now i got the job through a job agency and was pretty lucky to get one so soon. Walked in the day after i arrived and they had a job for me today. The job today was also cash in hand so that was all nice. Got on well with yerman who i was working for and he took my number and said he has more work to do, including some down on their beach-house in Marlborough Sounds and that next time he would pay me direct cuz this time he had to pay through the agency and they took a slice. I was talking away to his wife and while i was having lunch i was playing away with his little 3 year old kid. The child pheromones were working again and we got on like a house on fire. The mother was actually saying that i should try and join up with some of the after-school camp things they have in some places. Its just time to do homework and activities with the kids for 2 or 3 hours everyday after school , money is supposed to be pretty good and she said that often they are glad to get male applicants. Something to think about.

You know what really grinds my gears?

Inheritance tax. Perhaps it makes sense with just money but if you inherit property, you should not have to sell it in order to pay the tax. Defeats the purpose of it really.

In which Paul talks politics

For the last few months i have been slowly chomping my way through Robert Fisk's book, 'The Conquest of the Middle East'. i was slow going at first, the book is around 1400 pages long but once i got to the bit about the Israeli/Palistine bit i started getting interesting and i have read around 300 pages in the last week alone. I think i would like to do a Masters on Middle Eastern studies or politics when i get home, just a thought.

The book itself is pretty good, i did not like Fisk whenever i heard him on the radio or read his articles, thought he was too shrill but some of the stories in his book are class, real foreign correspondance journalist adventures. I disagree with him a lot in the book but it does get me thinking, sometimes i have to stop and spend around 15 minutes thinking why exactly i think he is wrong or misguided and work out the argument in my head, something that not many books do.

One thing about the book though, is that it makes me incredibly angry at shit, but you know there is nothing you can do about it. I always though that Fisk was very anti-American, i did not like him cuz i thought he went too far in that direction and was too biased. From reading the book though he really seems to be able to back up a lot of his arguments with facts and actual proper sources and stories. Its not just america though, he is only bitching about them the whole time because they are the ones involved in major stuff these days. He really riled against the turks and kurds during the armenian holocaust, the french during the Algerian uprising, as well as the isaraelis and the arabs. In fact it seems that he is not just anti-american, but just anti-establishment. Reading about the real-politik deals that are made between countries that ends up with massacres and genocides and how these are just ignored or covered up really makes you lose faith in big countries. In the end you realise that every country is just trying to look out for its own interest, and not even the interest of the people, but those in charge.

One question that got me thinking though, was If you were in power and elections were forth-coming, but your opposition looked like they would win, would you cancel elections if you were certain that your opponents would get rid of democracy in the country. This happened in Algeria in the 90's when it looked like the Islamic opposition looked like they were going to win and had stated that they would establish Islamic law if they won. The same kind of this happened in Palestine when the Islamic Hamas party won the elections. What Fisk did, and which annoyed me, was to moan about the existing government 'destroying democracy in order to save it" and how it was just a corrupt way to retain power. He admitted though that the opposition getting into power would be a bad thing though, but did not give any solution to the problem, just wailing and moaning about it.

The problem with rainforests..........

..........is that it rains a lot, and throw in the fact that the West Coast of NZ is known to be incredibly rainy anyway and you have a receipy for a very wet day. Myself and Prisca, the swiss girl i have been travelling around with for the last few days, arrived today in Karamea, the complete arse-hole of nowhere, but which still seems pretty nice. Its way way up the West Coast, at the end of a 100km cul de sac and i think we will be staying here for around 2 nights. Its a complete hippy place we are staying at the minute, called Rongos and really laid back, the internet, laundry, tea, eggs, coffee are all on donation basis, the water is mostly recycled rainwater and the heating is solar powered. Instead of a comment book you just write on the walls in the hall, pretty class. Also out back there is the local radio station in the shed and i have spent most of the night out there drinking amd randomly picking songs. There is not much to do around here at night so a lot of the locals and most of the hostel just head out there and drink, which is fun. Unfortunately i did not know this and have no drink but they all seem sound enough. Also i did not realise that there is no bank machine way out here so i now have 2 dollars to my name til we get back to some resemblance of civilization, good times.

EDIT: soon after i wrote that post we decided to take an impromtu visit down to the beach. 6 of us in the back of a pick-up, one on the bonnet and a crazy drunken local driving us over sand-dunes and through in a 4-wheel drive. very good times