Jayeless

Yesterday, Australia celebrated its national holiday: Australia Day. This has provoked a flurry of protest from various corners of our society, all championed by The Age newspaper. These people say that January 26, as the anniversary of the day the first white settlers arrived in 1788, is a terrible day to have a national holiday. After all, when the white settlers arrived, indigenous people were forced to get off their land, and it’s so inconsiderate of us to celebrate that event. It must be moved!

The Age is now calling on Australians to have a “national conversation” on the matter, and if we must, then here is my contribution. Read More »

Today in The Australian, there was an article I found horrifying. Apparently, the Young Liberals strongly believe that it is in young Australians’ best interest to complete nine months’ national service, whether they want to or not.

The article says that service would not be restricted to the military. That is, Australians would be able to serve their state in a number of ways other than risking death in its name — in nursing homes, hospitals, homeless shelters, trades, the Red Cross, or even Médicins Sans Frontières. Within Australia or overseas. And you’d only be there nine months. What’s nine months? Read More »

When you write a new blog entry, how do you decide what to write? And how do you decide how to write it?

I’m sure everyone does this differently, and it’d be interesting to hear some answers. As for myself, I usually write when I’m feeling inspired. I can write without feeling inspired, but it’s much harder for me. Firstly, it’s not fun. Secondly, words are hard to come by — I can spend an eternity perfecting the second paragraph. And lastly, even if I manage to finish the entry (and I often don’t), I often hold off on posting it. If I don’t really like it, why would someone else?

Unless I’m really sleepy or really upset, I do read my entries before posting them. I read them to ensure they meet my not-very-stringent criteria for published entries. Firstly, the entry must be entertaining. Secondly, it must be as concise as possible. Thirdly, it has to be as self-contained as possible.

All of these requirements can be, and have been, waived in some circumstances. For instance, important updates aren’t required to be entertaining (although if they are, it’s a bonus). Entries aren’t required to be concise if I’d have to edit out the interesting parts, or render the entry meaningless, to make it so. Entries aren’t required to be self-contained if they’re a follow-up to another entry. I’m also more likely to waive requirements if I haven’t written anything in a while.

Really, the hard part of blogging for me is motivating myself to write. Inspiration doesn’t strike that often, or at least not at times I’m actually at a computer. I have no shortage of things to write about (including this, I have eight drafts!), but I don’t feel like writing about any of them. Not even this, but I decided it looked like the easiest draft to tackle. Hmm.

Anyway, that’s the convoluted manner in which I compose my blog entries. How do you write yours?

I have spent half my holidays, by my admittedly exaggerated estimate, being bossed around by my bossy grandmother. If you have a really good memory, you might recall that several weeks ago, I said I would rather learn to sew than go clothes shopping ever again. I said this in places besides my blog, and of course, my grandmother found out.

I understand that my grandma is simply really excited that I am expressing an interest in her favourite hobby. (Well, one of them.) What she doesn’t seem to understand is that there’s no deadline. Read More »

In an interview yesterday, Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni said something that I thought warranted repeating. She said this, of Hamas: In order to fire a rocket at Israel, they need the ability and the motivation to do so.

This warrants repeating because it’s so true. Israeli leaders just don’t seem to grasp this (or perhaps, the Israelis whose votes the leaders need don’t). Ms Livni herself is no exception, seeing as she followed up on her nugget of wisdom by saying that the assault on Gaza will take away the motivation. This is a lot less wise, and consequently not worthy of a quote. Read More »