Geelong

Sigh, I keep receiving fines lately... I received one for parking at my Uni without a parking ticket ($72) which I am still meaning to contest, I received the one I explain about below from my local council ($72), and just the other day I received a fine for not returning a book back to my Uni library in time ($110)... that is a lot of money for doing nothing ha.

Anyways, I am attempting to contest them all, starting with the one from my council. Basically a few weeks ago I received an official warning to remove my car from the nature strip, as I usually laeve it parked there which apparently is not allowed.  I then moved my car off the nature strip and onto the road... however I was lazy and parked on the road facing the opposite direction of the flow of traffic... thus receiving a $72 fine for that...

Here is what I wrote to them, I am quite proud of it actually and thought you readers might get a laugh out of it ha ha.

"On the 21/09/2010 I received an 'Official Warning' to remove my car from the nature strip of my house.  I wasn't aware that that was a law here in Geelong, so with no intentions to receive further fines nor disobey the law I promptly moved my car from the nature strip onto the road by simply reversing off the nature strip then onto the road.  My car then sat there idle as I went away for a conference. 

A few days later I then receive another infringement (the infringement in question) upon returning home!  I just think it is a little ridiculous that I was happy to obey the first infringement (once I was aware that I was disobeying the law) but then get slapped with a whopping $72 fine for an equally innocent offense. 

I am a Uni student, I try and drive my car as little as possible (opting to take the bus) as I struggle to work part time, pay rent and support myself financially.  To put simply I can't pay this fine easily.  On top of that, I fail to see how councils are to falsify their public image of 'revenue mongers' when they opt to charge their citizens with any fee they can.

Surely there are more pressing matters the council can concern themselves with.
http://www.geelongadvertiser.com.au/article/2010/10/19/219691_news.html
http://www.geelongadvertiser.com.au/article/2010/10/18/219571_news.html
http://www.geelongadvertiser.com.au/article/2010/10/18/219531_news.html"

The links are articles from our local newspaper, linking to problems in our area that the council could instead be spending more time on ha ha! I thought it was a nice touch if I say so myself =)

Hopefully it gets me off the hook!

Cave dweller

It is an awesome sunny day today!  Sun is out, not too hot but not too cold, the gentlest of breezes, you couldn't ask for anything better on a Sunday, sweet!

Shame that I am stuck inside all day ha...

Surprisingly I have disciplined myself enough today to sit down and do some work on my Honours thesis... at the sacrifice of having to sit inside while the best day taunts me from my window.  I haven't achieved much to be honest, it is currently 4.16pm and thus far since waking up at 11.30am I have played 2 hours of Call of Duty, had breakfast, listened to music on YouTube for an hour, watched half a movie, and only managed to so far write 200 words.  Ha!

But, I am not annoyed nor disappointed with myself, because that is 200 words less to do, written on a day that I could of easily done other things.  As I blogged a few days ago I have changed my mentality in regards to writing my thesis, instead breaking it down into little daily 'word goals' to try to achieve. 

Today's goal was 400 words, I am confident that can be done =)

I have my first rough draft due November 2nd, that is only one week away.  After that my final copy is due November 29th... a little under 5 weeks.  That when you think about it is a very short amount of time... but I remain confident if I can continue to work on it constantly and consistently.

It pains me to see a nice day such as today drift by... but one month of suffering will be worth it in the long run I know.

Simple words

SMS received 8.50pm from Sophie: "How's the literature review going? ;). Good work on sorting your thesis structure out I look forward to reading it. Really do."

SMS sent 9.05pm from me: "hey hey, going good I reached my 1000 word goal, just left Uni then lol.  thanks so much for encouragement, means a lot to me =)"

SMS received 9.13pm from Sophie: "Good work! Yay. Well I believe you can be a published author with this work ;). Keep it up."

Simple words, completely out of the blue, can mean the world to someone.

And these words certainly did.