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Suck it up Tommy boy!

I hate being sick almost as much as I hate going to the doctors. In fact besides heading out on horrendously horribly embarrassing trips to get tested, I can’t remember the last time I’ve been to the doctors. When I awoke this morning at 6am after a little under three hours sleep I was relieved to find there wasn’t a pitch fork sticking out of my left ear but less than relieved to discover the all too familiar pain of an ear infection; a common thorn in my side when I was a younger boy. Along side unnecessary doctor visits I also refuse to call in sick to work; ever. I guess that’s a result of my chronic school refusing antics from way back when I could get away with it.

This morning I found myself jumping on my phone to do both. I found a website where you can book docs online and then begun the process of trying to get my shift at work covered. I was now completely deaf and swollen on one side of my head and was considering waking up Briggs to get her to drop me at the hospital on her way to work.

Suck it up. I sent two half assed messages then got up threw on some trackies and my oversized hobo Cheap Monday jacket and off I went. All class in Armadale. After filling out the forms I discovered that my Medicare card had not coped with lack of being used, disintegrating in my wallet. ‘There goes 70+ bucks’ I thought. Medicare claims are third on Tommy’s List of …Fuck That.

I didn’t wait long and my doctor was awesome. I started rambling about my ear straight away and he cut me off to introduce himself. It felt nice being treated like a person by someone with a degree for a change. After not being able to see inside my ear due to the swelling he simply put it down to an infection and then asked if everything else was ok and if there was anything else bothering me. ‘Where do I begin!?!?’ I was tempted to say. I left it and made a move for the door issuing my trademark parting line ‘hopefully won’t be seeing you again, haha!’

It wasn’t until I had coughed up the money and checked the time that I came to the realisation that I’d been in there for 8 minutes in total. With my ear starting to throb I felt a little ripped off. I guess he wasn’t to know that I only go to the doctors if I think the world is ending but for $9 a minute he could’ve been a bit more dramatic.

After having a win at the pharmacy in the pain killer department, stoping off for a coffee on the way home I’ve made the decision suck it up and go to work. Sure I may be doped up on pseudo ephedrine but I’m feeling good about life and I like a challenge. It’s easy to haul your ass to work when your hungover because you know deep down that you should. It’s a lot harder to push yourself to get on with it when your feeling entitled to stay in bed all day.

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New Work Cover Ads; are they still effective?

I must preface this post  with a story about  my personal experience for two reasons. Firstly to demonstrate the reason behind my emotional reaction towards the ads and secondly to prove my awareness of the seriousness of the underlying issue. I’m not simply putting my head in the sand and stomping my feet because I’ve seen something I find to be unpleasant.

In primary school a friends father was killed at work. We played basketball together so  our families were not what you would call close yet did spend a bit of time together. The fact that our Dads worked together made it more distressing for me but it wasn’t until a few months later, when snooping through Dads car, I found something I was never meant to read, that I really got shaken up by the whole experience. I can still remember the day pretty clearly. I was sitting in the backseat of Dad’s patrol waiting for him to come out of the house as we were going down the street. Not expecting him to be taking so long, I got bored quickly, no car keys, no radio. I began searching through the car to keep myself occupied, probably not looking for anything just being a snoop. I’d noticed a white envelope sitting under his seat. ‘Weird, Dad keeps his mail in the glove box’ I remember thinking.

I’d seen ‘private and confidential’ on letter before but ‘FOR YOUR EYES ONLY’ was something new to me and sounded like something out of James Bond. Naturally I opened it as it had already been opened so my chance of getting caught were slim.
Out of respect, I won’t be going into the details of what I read, but I felt sick. Not only because of the graphic information that was so unemotionally printed in black and white in front of me but also because I’d found out my Dad was there. Proximity to the accident and all the other details meant nothing to me, I stuffed the paper back in it’s envelope and returned it to where I’d found it but the seed had been planted. It could’ve been my Dad.

We first starting seeing these ads around 2 years ago from what I’ve found online. They are brilliantly made and thought out. I find  they are far more effective than some from overseas (particularly the US) where they’ve chosen a more graphic style of getting their point across, almost Tarantino-esq. If you were to look at the campaign, in a completely objective way and totally disregarded the anxiety, that I’m sure these ads cause people who have been closely affected by an incident at work, then one could argue that they are probably one of the most effective piece of advertising seen on television. You only have to look at the comments on the YouTube videos from people in the health and safety industry, who are strong supporters of them. It forces everybody in the work force to be aware of the safety issues they come across day-to-day and perhaps don’t give enough respect to, but for how long? I was unable to find any statistics on the internet to give evidence of a drop in work place accidents, but I would be hugely interested to: Workcover and the increase in occupational health and safety officers etc.

I sat in a management meeting at an old workplace around 18 months ago where the OH&S officer explained that the money the business would save by cutting the amount of workplace incidents in half was equivalent to a whole years revenue at one of their restaurants which brings me to my final opinion on the matter.

The general public has all been shocked now and I’m sure three years on there are a lot of people who are simply flicking the channel when these ads come on. Or like myself getting angry and feeling slightly emotionally attacked. Are they going to remember them the following day at work or simply block them out? Yes, the reason for being safe at work is NOT at work at all. I think by following that rule we can also jump to the conclusion that being negatively forced into thinking about work safety at home, won’t necessarily eventuate to a change of behaviour, the next day at work. More often than not  we would find that because of the negative imagery the ads place in people’s brains, they aren’t going to carry the information around with them, especially when you factor in all the distractions they will experience before they set foot at work the next day. Whereas someone who is reliving their own experience when viewing, will remember them probably for more than a day and I can tell you right now that they are most likely already pretty cautious  at work.

Show these ads at work where they have some relevance and where people aren’t becoming immune to them. At least that way you can guarantee that the point will get across in a way that relates directly to the industry people are working in.

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The Rules of Snapchat

The Rules of Snapchat.

It was Tuesday night and our TV was not cooperating. My two housemates and I were forced to
entertain ourselves the old-fashioned way….conversation.

After the three of us tired of our usual topic of conversation(boys), Briggs brought up a
interesting point about the app some of us, including myself, have spent far too much time on these past few months :Snapchat. When I first began using it, it was all about sending unflattering images of myself; hung over mainly, to my nearest and dearest. It was perfect.
I got to fulfil my urge to take photos of myself(selfies) and they got a laugh, for three to six seconds depending on the horror of the content.

As the app grew in popularity and the ‘nearest and dearest’ I spoke of earlier turned
into a less exclusive list (Basically anybody I knew with a sense of humor) it evolved into
something more. After receiving a Chris Lilley inspired dictation shot from a friend
of my housemate, Erin, I found myself giving what I like to call ‘snapgobbys’ on almost a
daily basis. inappropriate. Childish. Funny.

Rule Number One: Don’t snapchat your acquaintances.
Not only is it awkward for them to find out what a freak you are, but its awkward for you, when they’ve been ‘too busy’ to reply to your texts, but have plenty of time to laugh at you. 

Now I honestly don’t know if it’s a case of me having a sick sense of humour, or if nobody can come up with anything quite as funny, but in the past couple of weeks my snapchat inbox has been filled to the brim with what I’d now like to call snapcrap. I feel like I’m going through emails after somebody has subscribed me to a hundred newsletters, I don’t have any interest in. Sure I think your kids are adorable, gee that pasta you just cooked looks amazing and well done with your progress at the gym, but I have to be in a very particular mood to find any of that worth looking at and when I do;

Rule Number Two: Keep your dogs, children and lunch where they belong…
On instagram. You can’t sit there and whinge about the content of what somebody is posting that way….you CHOOSE to follow people on the gram. 

Much like facebook is all about ‘keeping in contact with friends & family’ aka Stalking your ex.

“I was just stalking my primary school boyfriend and accidentally liked one of his photos from like 2 years ago. god dammit! Now he’ll know!”*

and that cute guy you met Friday night….

“sometimes I’m looking at one persons profile and from there I click onto someone else and then someone else and then half an hour later I’m like ‘WTF why am I stalking this person? How did I even get here?”* 

I use snapchat when I only have a very short amount of time to communicate my current mood/situation with my friends and thoroughly appreciate the 5 seconds amusement I get when receiving a hideous reply. The disappointment, when I’m after a quick pick-me-up at the expense of someone other than myself and I get a picture of your lunch is soul shattering.
There are plenty of other ways to feed our need to broadcast ourselves so lets keep this one as lighthearted and immature as we possibly can, which brings me to

Rule Number 3 Fellas…keep your dacks on!
That’s what grindr/blendr is for. The only penis I want to see on snapchat is the one, poorly drawn on my friends face.

Please note; video messages which are completely ridiculous but hilarious are also acceptable.

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Handy Man: 1 Tommy: 0

Ill be the first to admit that I’m pretty useless around the house and I’m fully aware that I don’t know my way around a toolbox. My own father laughed at me when I requested a Bunnings Warehouse voucher for my birthday this year.

Our kitchen window wouldn’t shut and hasn’t since we’d moved in. Briggs, being the most organised of the house, has been on the real estates back about getting it fixed and last night she informs me that the handymen or whatever they would like to call themselves will be here in the morning. After a gentle knock on the door to remind me, I drag myself out of bed and relocate to the couch where I know I’ll hear the door knock and fall back asleep, it may be Wednesday for everybody else but for me…it’s Sunday. I doze in and out of sleep and about an hour later I have the pleasure of meeting the handy man and his friend Winston. They’re in their 60s. They’re from the UK. They love to talk.

I retreat to my bedroom which is located just behind the kitchen and of course I can’t get back to sleep, it sounds like there’s a British sitcom being filmed in the next room sans applause from a live audience. It’s all very cute…until this innocent homo becomes the topic of their old man gripe session!

‘I wish they’d bloody told us what was wrong with the window before we got here Winston’ they begin with. Fair enough I think, maybe would’ve helped them out a bit but my sympathy quickly wears off after I’m then described as useless and lazy as they question my employment status and the reasoning to why I was napping on the couch when they arrived. Winston begins a long winded speech about how I am a typical example of what is wrong with my generation as they work on the window. They look outside to see my empty bottles of beer sitting in the courtyard and make a comment about how I probably don’t do anything around the house and make poor ‘Kirsty’ clean up after me.

I’m furious. I begin texting Briggs telling her that I’m going to give them a piece of my mind when they’re done, before I’m interrupted by the old men screaming down our large hall way at me. Obviously they were unaware that I was lying in the next room listening to them describe me in such a delightful way.

With a slight look of guilt on his face the nicer of the two informs me that they need to go get a ‘part’ and they’ll be back shorty. Apparently I have nothing better to do all day then sit around and wait for these old timers.

I guess they caught me on a good day. As much as I’m not cool with people coming into my house and voicing assumptions about me, I decide to take the high road…with a twist. I climb out of bed and immediately do a clean up of the whole 3 beer bottles sitting in the courtyard. They’re back sooner then I think and I get a short lived satisfaction when Winston points out the now clean table outside. That shuts them up.

Silence. Amazing how fast they can work when they want to get out. However out of pure embarrassment or just the stubborn and defiant nature of THEIR generation, I was not to win the last battle. The pair of them BURST through my bedroom door where I’m caught in a vulnerable state lying on my bed.

“The window is fixed, your Lordship!’ They announce with a bow and a cheeky look on their face before stomping back down the hall and out of the house.

Handy Man: 1 Tommy: 0

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Bitten.

The most exciting part about travelling has been the realisation I just came to.

Around two hours ago I was sitting in
a cafe with my three friends with whom I’d spent the last week with in Bali discussing our highs and lows. Our dinners on the beach, massages in the hills, the big night out in Kuta and bar hops around Sanur. Having a giant monkey throw a piece of corn at my head and drinking cups of chicken shit…(traditional Balinese method of making coffee). A week is such a short time but I felt like we had ticked so many boxes plus spent copious hours lounging by the private pool in our villa. Getting amongst the locals and learning basic phrases that you would never bother to remember had you read in a book but now came out so easy in the final days. Wayan our driver for the week laughed at Bridget with she said we’d seen a lot of Bali and this morning when I looked at the map and what we had seen then compared the size of Bali to the rest of Indonisia, I understood his amusement.

I didn’t feel even one ounce of sadness when Bridge and Shaneo jumped in their taxi shortly after lunch. I’ve said goodbye to the pair of them that many times over the last twelve months that I’ve lost count. There is no uncertainty in seeing them again it’s just a matter of when and what stories they’ll have to tell after their adventure. A short time after I stood at the gate of our villa and watch KatePOW depart in the taxi. Sometimes you don’t appreciate how beautiful your friends really are until you stand back and look as an outsider. I smiled as she drove off as the image of her attempt at Balinese dancing last night flash through my head.
‘See you in Melbourne in a few months!’ Lookout boys!

Whilst I had the option of kicking back by myself for the next 5 hours, I’m just not that good at keeping myself busy and the place just felt far too empty without my three hombres in it, so I packed and threw my bag over my shoulder, took one last look at the place and stepped out into the sweltering heat of the day. It was probably thirty minutes down the road when it came to me. I’d ventured out by myself to a whole other half of Sanur that we hadn’t even seen. Dripping with sweat, my bag getting heavier and heavier I just couldn’t stop walking around and taking it all in.

We hadn’t even scratched the surface.
I haven’t even scratched the surface….Not by a long shot and I can tell you right now it feels AMAZING. My whole body is pulsing right now. It’s not about ticking boxes at all. It’s about the excitement in realising all the boxes you haven’t ticked. There is so much out there and I can’t wait. I’ve officially been bitten by the elusive travel bug….what a rush.

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Hot Air Balloon

Woke up at the crack of dawn today. Stayed at Lisa’s and she leaves for work at 630am. Although the offer was there to continue napping I felt like getting up to make up for yesterday’s poor effort! It definitely helped that I was in the company of a morning person but it was great being up early. The sun was coming up just as we got to fed square and there were 4 or 5 hot air balloons floating across the city.

I managed to accomplish a few things as a result of my early start;
1. Got passport application forms.
2. Organised a bed for the new place.
3. Lunch time nap.

Not a bad start to the week! Monday come at me!!!!

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Dinner at Brother Fox

The rain this morning was almost like a consolation prize for me this morning. I’d stayed up too late last night reading and texting Perth boy so instead of getting up early and heading to St Kilda beach as planned I’ve slept in.

Two hours later I find myself sitting in a cafe in Armadale with my new house mate and old best friend briggs, enjoying a recovery coffee after our intense experience with the real estate agent. We’d signed the lease and hopfully we have the keys by Friday, although I won’t be moving in until next week Monday or Tuesday, when work permitts!

After parting ways with Briggs, I jumped on a train and headed out to Surry Hills to meet up with Lisa, where we spent the afternoon slothing on the couch and attempting to sort out her quarter life crisis(Ok maybe I was snapchatting Perth boy, at the same time but hey who says boys can’t multitask?). One very entertaining phone call and a work email later I felt like she was definitely making a lot of head way. Even if she doesn’t see it that way I feel like she soon will. ”The world is her oyster” her Dad proclaimed accross the kitchen at the pair of sloths sitting on the couch, hanging off his every word.

Our friend Steve arrived at around 7pm and we verntured into Hawthorne for dinner at a small Cafe ‘Brother Fox’ as it was close and the three of us are definitely on a budget. $16 Parmy and beer, yes please.

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Jupiter and the Moon.

Woke up this morning to around one thousand missed called and messages.
After wiping the sleep out of my eyes, the drool off my face and rolling over I found the reasoning behind it all. We had a house. Not long after coming to terms with the fact that my dream bacholor pad in Richmond was out of reach at this stage in my life, we checked out a house in Armadale which we all agreed on. Better still the girls decided that since I was compromising on the location, I got to have to master bedroom with my own bathroom and courtyard; winning!

I spent the rest of the day off doing washing and sitting in the sun, pondering all the changes that have undergone in the past couple of months….I couldn’t be happier. After one of the best summers I’ve had in a very long time; New city, new job, new house.

After speaking to Mum on the phone today I’m shocked that for once she didn’t point out the fact that you can see Jupiter to the right of the moon tonight being that she is the most astrological savvy person I know. I don’t know what this symbolises in Astrology terms but I’ve decided to make it a sign that I’m doing exactly what I should be, where I want to be and giving it 100%

Lisa and myself are catching up with an old friend tomorrow before he heads back to Hamilton Island tomorrow, that is after I sign the contract on our new house and get my passport application forms. Did I mention I’m going to Bali in 4 weeks and don’t have a passport?