The wonderful thing about suddenly finding your strings cut is the ability to do whatever the hell you want. No need to dance to someone else's tune any longer, I can just kick the loudspeaker till it cuts out. Anyway, enough wanky metaphors, after a whirlwind day or two of phoning, booking, planning and packing I have arrived in Tasmania to spend the remaining 3 weeks of my holiday climbing.
Tasmania feels almost like Scotland in many ways and as such, arriving here felt almost like going home (but it took about 19 hours less flying time!). The weather in Tasmania is cool, the clouds feel wet and scottish, not plastic and fake, the greenery is really green, not muted brown and yellow and maybe even the feeling of suddenly having hills all over the place and being in a small city, not a mental metropolis brings me calm. It also feels positively fun to be back in the middle of student town at my ripe old age, for I have been generously given free run of Johns flat here right by the university.
Before I stop typing, I should say that if you want to people watch, the front steps of Flinders Street station in Melbourne is a superb location. In around an hour of waiting to meet a friend I listened to a band play better music than on most radio stations, I watched cops come out and try to arrest twelve year old kids who were drinking beer and smashing the bottles directly in front of the "this area is monitored 24/7 by police via CCTV" sign, I smiled a the hare krishnas who arrived as a brightly coloured group and danced and chanted and were eventually joined by groups of girls in green t-shirts and boys in red t-shirts signifying who-knows-what while the whole thing was decorated on the fringes by the comings and goings of a great number of pretty girls wearing almost nothing. Those stairs are also the first time I have seen Muslims recruiting by flyer.
Sunday, 27 February 2011
Tuesday, 22 February 2011
And everything was looking so good
Wow, 48 hours of complete shittiness, first day on the job is probably the most depressing experience I've had in a while and when I come home and drown my sorrows in a bottle of wine I find out my parents could have been caught in an earthquake and my girlfriend dumps me.
I'm going to tell you dear reader, whether you like it or not, how awful and despicable fundraising for charity really is. From the fundraisers point of view, it is like the very worst possible sales position because you are attempting to persuade your clients to buy something which is of no benefit to them what-so-ever and that they are not in the least interested in purchasing and on top of this, every single client will do their level best to pretend you don't exist or just lie to you constantly. Now, clearly charity work is important and charities need funds, so it's a noble cause, right? Wrong; when a client signs on to pay a small donation each week or month, approximately the first 8 MONTHS of the donation a person signs up to give pays for nothing more than the wages of the fundraiser (2 months) and, and this is the despicable part, propping up the pyramid scheme* that is a fundraising company (6 months). The worst part is, that any fundraising company will certainly tell you that the system works, the charities would not be getting their donations at all if they didn't employ fundraisers and it is just a necessary evil in making the world a better place, what a sorry state of affairs. Finally, to the public who sign up to donate to charity. Who ends up donating? The generous and well meaning people, the people who do the most at grass roots level to promote a fair and just society also end up donating the most of their earnings to charity, the people who are nice enough to stop and say what a good job you are doing by supporting the charity are those who end up being socially engineered into signing up for yet another charity. On the other hand, those who have much disposable income but are tight-fisted and mean have no trouble in ignoring fundraisers. And I'd bet a dime to a dollar that no single member of Joe public speaking to us knows how much of their donation will actually end up with the charity and how much will be squandered on the rampant profiteering of the fundraising company involved.
Naturally I'm slightly bitter at being fired but frankly I am also quite relieved. I think trying to force well meaning and often old and kind people into doing something they don't want to do is a pretty horrendous vocation and I hope that on some level, being bad at coercing people makes me a better individual. I did hear one piece of information that helped give me a better conceit of myself, apparently those who already give regularly to charity and are elderly are targeted by those who try to persuade them to put write charities into their will. I already have a pretty low opinion of society as a whole and shit like this just makes me want to stand outside of it completely.
I will probably commit suicide sometime later today to get away from this cruel and twisted world. I will make sure to prove a point however by climbing over the suicide barriers on the West Gate bridge and throwing myself off only after the cockroaches with cameras have taken plenty of pictures.
*Ok, if we are going to get technical, it is probably multi-level marketing but apparently most people consider the latter to be an example of the former anyway.
I'm going to tell you dear reader, whether you like it or not, how awful and despicable fundraising for charity really is. From the fundraisers point of view, it is like the very worst possible sales position because you are attempting to persuade your clients to buy something which is of no benefit to them what-so-ever and that they are not in the least interested in purchasing and on top of this, every single client will do their level best to pretend you don't exist or just lie to you constantly. Now, clearly charity work is important and charities need funds, so it's a noble cause, right? Wrong; when a client signs on to pay a small donation each week or month, approximately the first 8 MONTHS of the donation a person signs up to give pays for nothing more than the wages of the fundraiser (2 months) and, and this is the despicable part, propping up the pyramid scheme* that is a fundraising company (6 months). The worst part is, that any fundraising company will certainly tell you that the system works, the charities would not be getting their donations at all if they didn't employ fundraisers and it is just a necessary evil in making the world a better place, what a sorry state of affairs. Finally, to the public who sign up to donate to charity. Who ends up donating? The generous and well meaning people, the people who do the most at grass roots level to promote a fair and just society also end up donating the most of their earnings to charity, the people who are nice enough to stop and say what a good job you are doing by supporting the charity are those who end up being socially engineered into signing up for yet another charity. On the other hand, those who have much disposable income but are tight-fisted and mean have no trouble in ignoring fundraisers. And I'd bet a dime to a dollar that no single member of Joe public speaking to us knows how much of their donation will actually end up with the charity and how much will be squandered on the rampant profiteering of the fundraising company involved.
Naturally I'm slightly bitter at being fired but frankly I am also quite relieved. I think trying to force well meaning and often old and kind people into doing something they don't want to do is a pretty horrendous vocation and I hope that on some level, being bad at coercing people makes me a better individual. I did hear one piece of information that helped give me a better conceit of myself, apparently those who already give regularly to charity and are elderly are targeted by those who try to persuade them to put write charities into their will. I already have a pretty low opinion of society as a whole and shit like this just makes me want to stand outside of it completely.
I will probably commit suicide sometime later today to get away from this cruel and twisted world. I will make sure to prove a point however by climbing over the suicide barriers on the West Gate bridge and throwing myself off only after the cockroaches with cameras have taken plenty of pictures.
*Ok, if we are going to get technical, it is probably multi-level marketing but apparently most people consider the latter to be an example of the former anyway.
Saturday, 19 February 2011
Work!
...At last! I am now officially employed as a fundraiser, aka street pest. First time working in a position even remotely related to sales/charity donations so it will be interesting to see how good/bad I am at it. Initial signs from the training session on Friday are fairly positive, I talk fairly confidently about the charity in question and don't get as self conscious or tongue tied as some of the other new recruits. Time will tell whether or not I am capable of bullying, ahem, persuading people that signing up to donate to charity every month is a good idea.
Well, I have climbed at four different Melbourne climbing centres in the last couple of months and they are quite a mixed bag. The first, and worst, was Hard Rock (CBD venue) where the routes are repetitive, unimaginative and generally unpleasant, new route setting is non-existent and almost all the walls are at, or very close to, vertical angle. The second location was the Lactic Factory bouldering wall which is quite reasonable if you are into that sort of thing, but bouldering and I tend to studiously ignore one another which is probably mutually beneficial. Lactic could also do with some longer problems, some that traverse a bit perhaps and a few more volumes to add some angles and variation. Next up is the Cliff Hangar which benefits from twenty metre high walls so a climb feels like a proper undertaking and quite satisfying to finish off. There are a good, no, wait, excellent range of angles at Cliffhangar with some good route setting and really friendly and laid back staff, the entry price is also superb at just ten bucks (I know that might not sound good but in Australia, it's revolutionary). My favourite centre however is Bayside, which has good route setting, wonderfully rough wall surface and beautiful holds that were all designed and made in house _and_ air conditioning, the place just doesn't stop giving. Bayside also has a superb variety of wall angles including a lead wall I am just itching to get onto (retard rule: You must pass a leading test in every centre individually before you are allowed to lead there and half ropes are verboten) which sort of resembles a massive prow overhang into a horizontal roof into a very steep wall. And the very best thing of all about indoor climbing in Melbourne? The ease of travel to each centre is inversely proportional to how good it is. Thus Hard Rock is actually in the middle of downtown while Bayside is about ninety minutes drive away :(
Right, enough about indoor shenanigans, the weather has been more than cool enough (seriously at odds with the seasonal expectations) for some proper climbing out at Arapiles and I have had the good fortune to climb a fair few trad lines and redpoint Station to Station (25) and Ergonomics (26) sport routes. I have had a brief play on the superb continuation of Station which is Final Departure (27) but after doing ergonomics the same day I failed pathetically and only just managed to pull myself to the top with the aid of the rope, ho hum, will have to return with a shunt and a good block of time.
No post would be complete without a rant about something so today's rant will be directed at Melbourne City council, or whichever part thereof is responsible for the 10 foot high barricades being affixed to the sides of the West Gate bridge. The justification apparently being that it should stop people throwing themselves or other people off said bridge....
WHAT
THE
FUCK??
Hands up everyone who thinks its possible to fence off every single high place a person can walk or scramble up to? What, no hands? Ok, now we have that established, assuming one actually wants to reduce suicides, can anyone give me a single reason why the money for said barrier should not have been put into counselling services for the suicidally possessed? No again? Final question, if I can figure this out through idle musing in about 5 minutes, why can't a large group of people whose job it is figure it out? Well done Melbourne city council.
Well, I have climbed at four different Melbourne climbing centres in the last couple of months and they are quite a mixed bag. The first, and worst, was Hard Rock (CBD venue) where the routes are repetitive, unimaginative and generally unpleasant, new route setting is non-existent and almost all the walls are at, or very close to, vertical angle. The second location was the Lactic Factory bouldering wall which is quite reasonable if you are into that sort of thing, but bouldering and I tend to studiously ignore one another which is probably mutually beneficial. Lactic could also do with some longer problems, some that traverse a bit perhaps and a few more volumes to add some angles and variation. Next up is the Cliff Hangar which benefits from twenty metre high walls so a climb feels like a proper undertaking and quite satisfying to finish off. There are a good, no, wait, excellent range of angles at Cliffhangar with some good route setting and really friendly and laid back staff, the entry price is also superb at just ten bucks (I know that might not sound good but in Australia, it's revolutionary). My favourite centre however is Bayside, which has good route setting, wonderfully rough wall surface and beautiful holds that were all designed and made in house _and_ air conditioning, the place just doesn't stop giving. Bayside also has a superb variety of wall angles including a lead wall I am just itching to get onto (retard rule: You must pass a leading test in every centre individually before you are allowed to lead there and half ropes are verboten) which sort of resembles a massive prow overhang into a horizontal roof into a very steep wall. And the very best thing of all about indoor climbing in Melbourne? The ease of travel to each centre is inversely proportional to how good it is. Thus Hard Rock is actually in the middle of downtown while Bayside is about ninety minutes drive away :(
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| Me on Ergonomics (26) |
No post would be complete without a rant about something so today's rant will be directed at Melbourne City council, or whichever part thereof is responsible for the 10 foot high barricades being affixed to the sides of the West Gate bridge. The justification apparently being that it should stop people throwing themselves or other people off said bridge....
WHAT
THE
FUCK??
Hands up everyone who thinks its possible to fence off every single high place a person can walk or scramble up to? What, no hands? Ok, now we have that established, assuming one actually wants to reduce suicides, can anyone give me a single reason why the money for said barrier should not have been put into counselling services for the suicidally possessed? No again? Final question, if I can figure this out through idle musing in about 5 minutes, why can't a large group of people whose job it is figure it out? Well done Melbourne city council.
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| Couldn't resist :) |
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