Fair dinkum uncertainty

Election time has come around again, and I have come to my realization that I actually know nothing¹ about current politics and affairs. I also know fuck all about our political history, but that’s not the point. My knowledge extends to knowing Labour MP Stephen Conroy is trying to censor our Internet, Julia Gillard is our awfully monotone Prime Minister, and Tony Abbott says “Fair dinkum” too often in a vain attempt to come across as a ‘true Aussie’.

I know barely anything about the policies of either of the main parties or even those of the minor parties. In fact, beyond the names of the leaders and those who occasionally end up being newsworthy, I don’t even know what the party is.

I would read the newspapers, but they only pick what would be newsworthy and don’t actually detail everything Not to mention that papers like The Advertiser are either bias or don’t tell the whole story; either way I just don’t feel such a traditional medium would cut it. Everyone in my family is incredibly bias, and with half the news I get coming from blogs, I can be sure that what I read there won’t be everything either. While there are bound to be sources that state the straight facts, I don’t see myself having the mental drive to read through it all.

It’s difficult to get the whole picture easily without following everything religiously, and I just don’t care enough to. At the same time though, I want to make the ‘right’ decision for myself, and without knowing the facts I can’t. It’s a bit of a downward spiral². It’s probably the wrong mentality to take when I spend multiple paragraphs complaining, but that’s how I work.

I don’t know who I’ll vote for, and I can see myself potentially just flipping a coin when I get to the booth. Despite the fact that I’ll attempt to read up on everything, I know that I’ll get distracted by a game of Alien Swarm which I’m going to be honest, is just way more fun and satisfying.

1. Shocking!
2. And now I want to listen to Nine Inch Nails.

NYR

There’s a quote of the week board at work, and this week’s is pretty relevant to the topic of this post:

A New Years Resolution goes in one year and out the other.

The quote is listed as being by “Unknown Author” who it seems has made quite a few memorable quotes. Anyway, on topic.

I’m not making a new years resolution of any sort this year. Why? Well, lets look at last years resolutions:

• Get my Ls
• Lose 5 kilograms
• Finish this year’s NaNoWriMo
• No eating fast food
• Move out
• Get an orbital piercing
• Watch 26 movies in the cinema
• Buy an acoustic guitar
• Buy a top hat
• Stick with the video making thing, no matter how crap they are.
• Learn a language

Now, lets list the ones I actually managed to do:

• Get my Ls

Ok. So I’ve sort of kept with the video making, but I did stop doing it for a major period of time so I cannot count it. So, I can’t keep all those relatively simple resolutions, and I feel pretty shit for it. So I decided this year, I have skipped the whole affair, and therefore skip disappointment. See what I’ve done?

Is anyone else skipping the resolutions thing in favour of just enjoying the start of the decade?

2010

Well, I’m a day late, but happy new year! So much has happened this past decade, and here’s a recap of the things that matter:

• 2000: I turned 11 years old
• 2001: Terrorists blew up America. I turned 12 years old.
• 2002: The stars align, and Mozilla Firefox is born in its first version. I turn 13 years old; there is much rejoicing.
• 2003: The Iraqi war begins, but that doesn’t matter because I turn 14.
• 2004: The only thing that comes even close to the splendour of me turning 15, is the terrible terrible tragedy, of Goatse.cx being shut down.
• 2005: The Xbox 360 is released. This is ALMOST as important as my 16th birthday, but not quite.
• 2006: Saddam Hussein is executed for crimes against facial hair. Also, guess who turned 17 this year? ProTip: Me.
• 2007: Nothing of particular note happened, except I turned 18 and could now drink alcohol legally. All want for the drink vanished.
• 2008: Google Chrome is released, and the first ever black presidential candidate is voted into office, proving movies such as The Fifth Element, to be an accurate prediction of our future. We’re going to die via super intelligent massive destructive force from the edge of the universe. However, I turn 19 years old, so no one cares about our impending destruction.
• 2009: The economic downfall was super fun, and made my 20th birthday all the more enjoyable.

Here’s looking forward to 2010! So far we know that Stephen Conroy plans to block the Internet in Australia, much like Montgomery Burns blocked out the sun in that one episode of The Simpsons. We can only hope this plays out like that show, and someone shoots him.

Also, my 21st birthday happens this year. Hell of YEAH.