Yr City's a Sucker...

Sometimes I wonder how much of colossal mistake it was to move to Christchurch; I mean sure, I got a free trip to Brisbane thanks to it, but otherwise I am often plagued by the decisions I have made whilst living in Christchurch that completely go against the personal and moral principles that I have developed over the last 29 years.

And Cantabrians are fucking stupid.

You see, at least the temporary abandonment of my socialist/anti-establishment attitudes that resulted in me trying to conform to bullshit propaganda that I hold so dearly in contempt has helped reinforce my original beliefs - and given me new reasons to laugh at right-wing religious nuts. That I can live with, and I am sure I will forgive myself in time. But the people of Canterbury... goddammit, sometimes they just make me weep for their future as a society. And nothing sums it up better than all the drama surrounding the new recycling system.

So let's take it from the top: last year the council announced the current rubbish bags/green recycling bin system was to be replaced with 3 different large wheelie bins. I didn't care at first, but upon closer investigation I saw the benefits - New Zealand is light years behind other parts of the world when it comes to recycling and it is about time we stepped up our game. But how did the general population of Christchurch react? Why, with complete disgust of course! For the last 6 months, The Press has been filled with articles regarding the system and constant letters complaining about various aspects - people have nowhere to put these bins and the majority find the whole thing confusing. Because, you know, 3 different coloured bins for your 3 different types of waste is a pretty radical concept!

Now as much as I bitch about how corrupt the Christchurch City Council are - and they most surely are - I think they have gone about the changes to the waste management very well; they sent out a large pamphlet with all the information on the bins and what type of waste goes in which, the sort of things you can recycle, and a calendar for collections . They even got the new recycling bins out months before the changeover and taped over the lids with a great big sticker that read "DO NOT USE UNTIL THE WEEK BEGINNING 2nd FEBRUARY 2009". So not only is it clear you start using it in February, but you also had a good couple of months to find out if your collection day had changed. And I can't count how many times the council advertised that the little green bins would no longer be collected once collection had started with the new bins (you know - 2nd February).

The week beginning 2nd February was of course last week. And what happened? People got confused and put out their green bins. And complained when they weren't collected. Most of the people in my area actually put their new yellow bins out on Monday - even though our collection is and has always been Wednesday. And my laughter at the public's inability to comprehend any form of change led to a rather telling conversation with a very lazy/snobbish Cantabrian (and for the record, we are talking someone approaching 40 here):

Me: "It's a great new system"
Fool: "Oh no it isn't - it's really confusing! Why give me a bin if I'm not supposed to use it? And how am I supposed to know when to use it?"
Me: "It says on the top that it started this week"
Fool: "Yes, but why won't they collect the green bins now? And there's all these new rules about your recycling..."
Me: "Like what?"
Fool: "Well, now you're supposed to rinse your recycling before you put it in the bin"
Me: "You should have been doing that all along, actually..."
Fool: "Well I'm not going to wash things - why should I have to wash out my cans? I'm just going to put them in the rubbish bin from now on - save the hassle"
Me: "How is that a hassle? Just run them under a tap and clean them out a bit-"
Fool: "Why should I have to wash the cans for my cat food? They're so smelly and yuk!"
Me: "!?!?!?!?"

The conversation did actually go on further, where we discussed why she was happy to have a bin for her rubbish because she refuses to handle dirty smelly rubbish bags. But to make this even funnier, this was someone who had just moved to a very posh area that isn't actually a part of the Christchurch City Council and therefore their rubbish WON'T EVEN BE COLLECTED BY THEM!!!


You wacky Cantabrians and your wacky logic - who needs common sense, eh?


To quote James Murphy, "Yr city's a sucker, my city's a creep"

If You TRULY Believe This

Pastor blames abortions for bushfires

Then you, sir, are a complete jackass and obviously did not lose anyone or anything in those fires. Any god that chooses to destroy the lives and cause incredible suffering for hundreds of creatures - humans and animals - most certainly won't be getting any praise and worship from me.

Who in the Dark Blue Hell is Jeremy Clarkson?

And why does he have to be on every single book and DVD I see???

The man should at least get a decent hairstyle if he plans on having so much public exposure...

Finally!!!

So it has only taken 4 or 5 years since I first decided they are one of my favourite bands, but The Killers have finally announced a NZ tour!!! And even better, one of the shows is in Christchurch, which almost gaurantees me going.

Trying not to get my hopes up too much after the bitter disappointments of Christina Aguilera, Duran Duran, Ryan Adams and Kanye West, but this does fit in with my theme of the last few years (the whole 'see one awesome gig at the start of the year and miss out on every other good one after that' theme that has plagued my existence since moving to Christchurch)

All We Are Saying...

During my recent John Lennon Marathon (where I listened to all my 40 hours of John Lennon music during work hours for a full week. Also referred to as my 'Lennonthon') I felt a pang of inspiration while listening to Amsterdam:

"...what we're really doing is sending out a message to the world, mainly to the
youth, especially the youth or anybody really that's interested in protesting
for peace, or protesting against any form of violence and we say everybody's
getting a bit heavy or bit intellectual about it. Everybody's talking about
peace, but nobody's doing anything about it, except for a few people, and the
things are - the Grosvenor Square marches in London - the end product of it was
just newspaper stories about riots and fightings. And we did the bed event in
Amsterdam and the bag piece in Vienna just to give people an idea, that there's
many ways of protest and this is one of them. And anybody could grow their hair
for peace or give up a week of their holiday for peace or sit in a bag for
peace, protest for peace any way, but peacefully cause we think that peace is
only got by peaceful methods and that to fight the establishment with their own
weapons is no good, because they always win and they'd been winning for
thousands of years. They know how to play the game violence and it's easier for
them when they can recognise you and shoot you. They don't know how to handle
humour, peaceful humour, and that's our message really."

Anyways, one line of that really stood out while I was listening to it: "anybody could grow their hair for peace"

And I figure that with all the violence in the Middle East right now, and the constant reminders of racism in this country - all this bullshit in the world - I am doing my part and growing my hair for peace. Luckily, I was going to get it cut on New Year's Eve (I haven't had it cut for around 2 months already - maybe I was subconsciously beginning my peaceful protest...) but didn't end up getting it done, so it will be interesting to see how long I get it.

Also, I think my flatmate may be starting a 'Grow Your Hair for Peace' group on Facebook (I would, but I am allergic to Facebook)

Happy New Year

And so here is my first post of 2009 - don't get used to it. The next month or two will be awfully busy for me, and I have nothing to say these days so I can't imagine I will be posting on here often.

But anyways, 2008 is now long gone. I can't remember much of it; just one of those years you look back and go 'Gosh, I really didn't do anything in the last 12 months' so here's hoping I actually do achieve a little more this year.

On to the point of today's blog:

In the mail today arrived some mail for the Human Resource Manager (we don't have one, so I decided that was me) and it was an ad for a seminar. A seminar on 'Dealing Effectively with Unacceptable Employee Behaviour'.

Now you may be saying "But that is a good idea!". You may also be saying "I have a bag of cashews" in which case I am saying to you "Give me some!"

But what makes this advertisement so fun is the following info:

If you supervise one or more of these employees, you need to take action NOW!

Antagonist:
Is rude and unpleasant to co-workers,
suppliers and
customers
Blameless Bob: Always has an excuse for
everything
Whiner: Complains no matter what he or she
is asked to do
Thumb-Twiddler: Lacks motivation and
initiative
Insubordinate Subordinate: Challenges you in
front of
other workers and managers
Tortoise: Shows up
late or not at all
Amy Attitude: Has negative attitude that
brings everybody
down
Hand-Holder: Needs constant
supervision
Early-Retiree: Has been around awhile and is
beginning to
practise at-work retirement
Worrywart: Has
personal problems that infringe on the
working
day
Clock-Watcher: Refuses to work weekends or even a minute
beyond "quitting time" - even during deadline crunches

While I would consider myself a strong candidate for Early-Retiree, the name Amy Attitude just cracked me up. And if you have an "Insubordinate Subordinate", then it probably means you make stupid decisions and someone is just smart/brave enough to call you on it. Also, if your contract states you work Monday to Friday 8am to 5pm, I don't really see that refusing to work weekends makes you a difficult employee. I work extra hours when I need to (always is my own decision to do so, and they are completely unpaid) but I do it so I too do not have to work weekends. I also used to work with a girl who left 5 minutes early everyday no matter what, and my boss thought she was the greatest employee she had!

OK I need to stop being a Thumb-Twiddler and do some work...

Logan vs The Computer v3.2

Long time no blog

How are we all? Good? Bored? Not even here???

So where has Logan been?
Working. Yes the place that pays my salary actually began requiring actual effort from me. Lots of effort, in fact. And people should know by now that I basically refuse to blog at home due to the painfully slow slow behaviour of my PC (it's only real use is copying DVDs and downloading wrestling. It's not even that particularly talented at playing music. And no, I don't take my Mac online because it is far too busy doing other things). So yes, mix the work with a completely uninspired and grumpy Logan and what do you get?

2 months of nothing

So why blog today? Well, for starters, a certain afro-sporting Luchadore returned and that inspired me to revive the blog. Like the 28th anniversary of the murder of John Lennon inspired me to listen to his music non-stop at work this week (it felt weird playing songs that weren't his today, but I can't really remember many of his songs except Instant Karma! and a couple of old Beatles numbers that people don't know/like). But yeah, I figure if Rogan Rodriguez can blog about how a ninja stole his laptop, then I can blog about something...

Can I?

The only thing worth blogging about today is my readings on Expelled, but that thing is so old that I would feel even more behind the times than I actually am (but not - I think that it actually is a fair representation of just how far behind in things I am).

You know what? I think I am just going to blame me not blogging on the emotional trauma of Hulk Hogan's divorce. Not to mention those recordings of him talking to his son in jail - that was awesome heelish Hollywood Hogan at his best.

What? That wasn't a promo? He really is scum bag with no regard for human life?
Fair enough. But not like he gave the guy a legdrop or anything.
Get over it