My Manifesto: The Incoherent Ramblings of a Madman

My new life in Brisbane has begun.

Brisbane is a strange city - it's sort of split up into sectors which are based on the university campuses more than anything else. There's all of the slum areas which are being refurbished. There's all of the new yuppie areas - which all have big brand new buildings that are devoid of people. Then there's the rest of the suburbs which are no more than a self sufficient country town that people never need leave - and they usually don't.

The work ethic here is slack at best. I'm meant to be working a 45 hr week, and yet, most people seem to turn up half an hour to an hour late, and leave half an hour to an hour early. The half hour lunch breaks seem to either stretch for almost an hour and in between eating, leaving early, and getting in late - there's the million trips to the cappuccino machine. I can understand allowing coffee or cigarette breaks - but when it's a cappuccino machine and each person takes about 5 or so minutes merely to make the beverage it's taking it a bit far.

I'm in an Alliance which has never happened before. The design, construction, maintenance, and asset owners have all combined forces. No one knows who anyone is, or what they do, it is the type of organisation someone could get lost in and look busy for years with no one being the wiser. With the poor work ethic, the lack of knowledge of the organisations, and the lack of skills - it explains why nothing much is happening. The calm before the storm? I think so.

It's still winter - but people are already complaining about the heat and saying how they're not getting much done due to it. When summer comes around they'll be complaining more about the heat. Heat? HEAT? We're sitting in an airconditioned office that has a thermostat set at 19 degrees Celsius - I sit there almost shivering, face and lips blue, and with goose bumps over my entire upper body.

The past two weeks I've been living in a motel now here I find myself in an apartment building overlooking one of the main train station/bus terminals - Roma Street.

Roma Street Parklands is such an odd setup. It is the huge big apartment complex in the middle of the city, which faces onto a constructed park land, one can only assume this parkland either used to be a toxic waste dump, or a graveyard prior to being a park land. Inside the parklands area it is like utopia: children playing; birds singing; silence or faint music wafting through the trees; smiles on everyone's faces; perfection; with not a care in the world. Outside the parklands area is: the urban decay of Brisbane; train lines; traffic noise; backpacker accommodations; the obligatory homeless person shelter; and random urban filth. It is the yin and the yang. It reminds me of some futuristic world - like Gattica, or the tower city in the fourth installment in George A. Romero's series where the zombies start to think, or even the White tower in the lord of the rings (if I could actually remember whether there was a white tower in the lord of the rings or whether it was some other movie).

The only issues I really have are that: the water tastes like it's come out of a pool; the coffee and food tastes terrible; I cannot find things open when I want them open; I cannot find any decent fruit, vegetables, or meat; and for some reason or another the poached eggs always taste like vinegar - maybe they use a different type of vinegar here than Sydney? I don't know.

Thus far everything here has been crazy - but I like it so far.

Crazy - Gnarls Barkley (ok I have no idea why this is cited as having been written by Gnarls Barkley considering there is no Gnarls Barkley but I'll run with it none the less)

I remember when, I remember, I remember when I lost my mind
There was something so pleasant about that phase.
Even your emotions had an echo
In so much space

And when you're out there
Without care,
Yeah, I was out of touch
But it wasn't because I didn't know enough
I just knew too much

Does that make me crazy
Does that make me crazy
Does that make me crazy
Probably

And I hope that you are having the time of your life
But think twice, that's my only advice
Come on now, who do you, who do you, who do you, who do you think you are,
Ha ha ha bless your soul
You really think you're in control

Well, I think you're crazy
I think you're crazy
I think you're crazy
Just like me

My heroes had the heart to lose their lives out on a limb
And all I remember is thinking, I want to be like them
Ever since I was little, ever since I was little it looked like fun
And it's no coincidence I've come
And I can die when I'm done

Maybe I'm crazy
Maybe you're crazy
Maybe we're crazy
Probably