User Profile

Born in 1969. The year they landed on the Moon. [And don't give me any crap about it not happening.]

I grew up in the 1970's. Yes, Australia was a safe place then. It was just like that 70's show. It was a Golden Era.

The 1980's weren't bad, except for the fashion sense. In the 80's you could still leave your front door open and no one would come in uninvited. All the best movies and TV shows were made in the 80's.

In the late 1980's I went to Murdoch University. I got a bachelor's degree in Biological Sciences. About as useful as an Arts Degree. Everyone wants you to have either a TAFE certificate in Laboratory Practices or Honours and a PhD. I had neither. There were no courses at University on "how to get a clue" nor were there any on useful things like "how to find out what you really want to do with your life" or "how to plan a career" or "emotional intelligence" or "financial intelligence" (Note I did not say Financial Management - that's for making do with less).

At least the Social Life was good at University. :)

I also learnt to drink beer, to go camping in National Forests and to Roleplay.

My degree got me a job in the Commonwealth Bank. I passed it over after about 7 months and went back to University. I had a serious thing for Anime at that point and Japanese seemed like such a cool language.

So, in the early 1990's I did a degree in Asian Studies. I learnt Japanese. Most of my Japanese teachers were neat. I offended some of them by having the audacity to seek a review of my grades for my stay in Japan. What's worse was I won. In fact, I won for a group of us - so we all got higher grades.

What can I say? Never ask a Japanese teacher who you've caused to lose face to recommend you for a job. ;-)

If there's one thing you should learn at University, its how to learn. I never learnt how to learn until some years after finishing my last degree. Rote learning is not a useful way to learn. It did me well all the way through High School but it was a crutch when I was going to University that stunted the entire course of my studies.

When learning language - word substitution is the way to go. I so should have listened to my Japanese teachers on that one! Pity though that they didn't realise that creative writing was a pretty good tool too. :(

Having finished my degree in Japanese, I found myself fresh faced and looking forward to getting a jop in translating or maybe even in Tourism. Fate, however, intervened.

(Fate is what you get when you don't know how to create choice.)

The DSS pounced and told me that unless I was retrained (because, like, I had been unemployed for 18 months and therefore must be terminally stupid) they would cut off my dole money. Having never been even vaguely financially independent (and still lacking a clue), I naturally sacrificed my freedom and my future for the guarantee of Government money. My arguments about having *just* finished a Tertiary Qualification fell on deaf ears. I was threatened with poverty.

[I should have taken poverty. Poverty is the best incentive to get a job as I would learn several years later. I also should have demanded to talk to the person's supervisor because like myself, they obviously didn't have a clue either. If they had, they would have given me some incentive - like a 1 month period to get a job or some training in how to do interviews - oh wait, they didn't offer that training did they?].

They tried unsuccessfully to place me at Sizzlers. Then they placed me on the very last WorkSkills course to take place. I learnt to be a Materials Testing Technician.

This led to 2 1/2 years working as a Concrete Tester for Boral Concrete. Not too bad a time but certainly boring. I recall several co-workers telling me to buy a house but I was too "old school" to see that kind of wise investment as anything but a ball and chain to way me down. Yeah right.

During this time, my brother had given up Hospitality as a career and gone through some lean, hard times learning Real Estate. He started to prosper. I started to take notice.

I drifted through a few jobs after Boral Concrete and then got another no-skills job working in Security in 2000. 6 months later in I began to build my first house in Warnbro.

In 2002 I was involved in a security mess. I was scapegoated and fired. I never went on the dole and consequently I had two or three jobs on my doorstep within a few weeks. The Universe is like that when you have faith. However, after some Union involvement and an impartial review of my case, I got my job back within 6 weeks. However, being casual, I was never compensated for lost earnings.

In 2003 I bought my second house, a duplex. I also changed firms in that year. Now I am a Permanent officer. Whew! My stress factor went down by at least 20%.

In 2006 I bought my third house in Gosnells.

2007 saw me discover the infamous online "game" called Second Life. Subsequently, I lost some small portions of my First Life. :)

2008 dawned with Interest Rate hell. I couldn't afford to live in my own house. So I moved out to flat with feardearg074 - but alas, as I write this, even that halcyon time is coming to an end as well. In a month or two I will be moving in with two old mates of mine Dave and Heath in Bateman - which is much cheaper rent, close to my Parents, close to Bastion (the SCA household to which I belong) and only a few minutes further from work than I already am.

Now, still working in Security, having just been made a Knight in the SCA, I plan the next phase of my life.

It was to be Small Business...

http://www.historicarmouries.com.au

But now, I'm not so sure.

Something is coming and I'm not sure what it is. But I can feel it, oh lordy yes! Like some glitch or ghost seen briefly out of the corner of the eye and only half believed.... (Updated June 23rd 2008).

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