Walking through the shops in my suburb sometimes, and even walking past residential places on the way home, I sometimes wonder what goes on behind the closed doors or shuttered windows of properties. What’s with those shops that are always open, but always empty? How can they afford to stay open? Are they renting, or do they own it? If they own it, then sure, they won’t have to pay rent – but they’ll need to pay land tax, council rates, water and electricity bills as well as commercial certificates and stock to prepare food with.

Recently, one of these shops that I wonder about had a renovation. It changed from its semi-opaque green windows into a semi-opaque windows of alternative colour. It now boasts a new name and sign to boot; but I don’t think this has really had much of a positive impact on its patronage. Every time I walk past, I still see it sitting empty – devoid of both customers and staff. Though, I suppose, I don’t think you really need staff if you never get any customers – the owner could just run the business themselves. Unless, of course, they were busy working in a separate job so that they could earn money to actually pay for their restaurant with given it clearly earns nothing. Ultimately, there’s still no visible source of income for them, which leaves me wondering. How do they stay open? What are they hiding? It’s become a running joke in my family that the shop is actually just a drug front, and they’re the local distributors of all sorts of unpleasantries.

Meanwhile, other restaurants in the area, particularly those on one particular site, seem to have no end of bad luck. Constantly closing down, being leased\auctioned\sold off to another owner, opened into another restaurant\shop… only to close down again a short time later and repeat the process. From what I remember, the one site I’ve been thinking of has been a bank, a restaurant, a carpet reseller, another restaurant, probably another restaurant, and they’ve just closed down recently and the new occupiers are redesigning the shop to become… yet another restaurant. The suburb I live in has a thousand restaurants already. How many more do we need? Sure, we might be a ‘food capital’ or a great place to go out and eat something… but seriously? There’s only so many people within suitable distance that can have dinner in an evening, and they certainly aren’t going to eat it at more than one shop.

In related circumstances, when I used to walk home from work I’d always take the same route getting there and the same route getting back. The route getting there was the same for the reason that it was pretty much as efficient (in terms of distance to travel) as you could get – which was useful, given I was nearly always underestimating the amount of time it would take to get there. The way back was always the same because it was along the lighted main road, which is good when it’s cold and dark in the evenings. Every time I walked past a particular property, it’d set me off thinking about them. High fences, electronic security keypad, (pet) dog guarding the property, a second security gate to get into the back yard, electronic gate to get the car off the street… It all seemed kinda suspicious. The one time I ever saw anyone entering, leaving, or even within the grounds of the house was when there was some man just inside the gate talking to the (presumed) owner of the house, standing on his balcony. I heard the dog barking, too, so it must have been there. A standard suburban home doesn’t have a need for this level of security, nor would the average person be willing to go to such lengths and such expense to acquire the objects to enforce such a system. It just makes me think: are they hiding something?

Then again, to be fair, we all have things we’re hiding. Proverbial ‘skeletons in our closet’ or otherwise, there’s always things better left unsaid. And sometimes, it’s saddening that this has to be the way.

So it turns out the domain I was on before (junkyardofcode.net) expired and my friend, who has control over it, doesn’t have control over it. He’s sent off an email to the registrar so hopefully we can work it out soon, in the meantime this domain exists as a replacement.

There’ll hopefully an update of more relevance and interest to you all tomorrow, though by phrasing it thus implies I have an idea for a post. I don’t.

On Friday of last week, the prefects were voted for by the members of my grade. This occurred at the school which shall not be named because it significantly dislikes being associated with students. The procedure for voting and events following were as follows:

• Thursday Morning: If we don’t want to be eligible to be a prefect we must opt-out of the form by recess.
• Friday Morning: It is revealed that, effective immediately, participation in SRC and Prefecture are mutually exclusive, except for those two potentially exclusive mutually (who are later no longer ‘potential’ and instead are).
• Friday Period 6:
  • Electoral rolls come around.
  • Rolls are distributed.
  • Significant concentration on ‘picking the best candidates for the job’ begins.
    • This may or may not involve preprepared selection sheets being brought out.
  • Candidates are selected from the:
    • 120-odd boys in the list on one side of the page
    • 80-odd girls in the list on the other side of the page
• Monday Morning: We’re informed that the prefect selection is “nearly complete” and that once the final few votes have been tallied we’ll be informed of the result.
• Monday Recess:
  • Everyone gathers in the Tender Loving CareTiered Learning Centre
  • … waits with bated breath…
  • … anxiously sit through the names being called, waiting for their name to come up\not (depending on the outcome they’re hoping for)
  • … listen to their friends being called up, clapping loudly for encouragement
  • then, sigh in relief\disappointment\anger\other emotion as the total twenty-four are read out and the other 176 are not.
• Immediately after Monday Recess:
  • Everyone
    • gets into a rage for no apparent reason
    • complains about the system
      • because it’s a ‘popularity contest’
    • complains about the school
    • complains about the other members of their grade
  • Meanwhile, the prefects
    • get talked to about captain\vice-captain\sports-captain selections
• Then, in the following hours
  • the quality of the prefects is debated
  • the quality of the prefects is debated in no uncertain terms
  • the quality of the prefects is debated in no uncertain terms particularly unpleasantly
  • friendships are jeopardised
  • friendships are broken
  • tears are shed
  • anger is ubiquitous
• The next day…
  • friendships are reformed
  • apologies are given
  • rage continues unabated
  • captains are selected
  • rage continues unabated
  • →∞
• →∞

Guys. We’re not ten years old anymore. We should be able to resolve differences without purportedly resorting to bitching about people behind their back or reducing people to tears through our snide comments.

In an alternate, far happier, timeline, the ideal prefect voting would run parallel to the following list. For the record, that’s nigh-every school except our own.

• The concept, roles and responsibilities of prefects are introduced to students early on in high school
• The idea that prefects should be aiming to stand out from the crowd is encouraged
• Information on prefect elections is given out with far more than notice of one day
• Students wishing to have the opportunity to become a prefect collect and fill in an application form.
• This form consists of questions regarding academic history, some job-application-esque questions, and anything else deemed relevant
• It’s returned to the coordinating staff member.
• From these forms returned, candidates are selected. These candidates will go on to stage two. Anyone who hasn’t made it to this stage should have been more organised.
• Interviews are held. These will give the principal and coordinating teacher a better opinion of the potential prefects.
• Those who are deemed suitable are then collated into a list for the student and teacher bodies to elect.
• Years 10-12 and teachers should all vote. Year 11, as it is their grade. Year 10, as they will be entering the senior school, and year 12 as they are already seniors and should have a greater degree of knowledge. Teacher voting is, of course, necessary – presumably teachers will have better character-analysis skills and less bias than students and therefore be able to make a more informed, impartial decision.
• Votes are collated. Results are gazetted.
• Everyone is happy\ier
• System develops and evolves organically.
• →∞

There are potential criticisms of this system though. Wouldn’t it become autocratic? Wouldn’t the principal or coordinator be able to assume command of everyone? No. They pick the students they believe are capable of the role. The choice is still ultimately left to the student body. Wouldn’t it still be a popularity contest? It could well, if the students don’t care about the significance of the process. However, regardless of whether it does or does not, the only candidates on the form are those that are worthy of being on the form. Other complaints. Other questions? Work it out yourself, you should be intelligent enough to do so.

And to sum up, on a somewhat lighter note: given we’ve now all had our fantastic Study Skills day yesterday, you should all be able to correctly identify my use of an indented bullet point list during the process of making this entry. I’m tired of editing this post.

Tonight at work, I was, among other things, paid to:

• Talk to “tech support” for half an hour, while ultimately they knew less about anything than I did
• Play with my Boss’ broken laptop for a while
• Eat pizza
• Drink coke (it was expired! 6th May if I remember correctly. Someone in our staff kept putting new drinks at the front, which is not what you are supposed to do.)
• Eat some of my boss’ dinner
• Annoy my manager (Louis, you’re great)
• Talk to my friend
• Hide out the back and avoid doing any real work (in my defence I was fixing my boss’ computer)

I’d suggest you all ask me questions over here, too.

Start at the very beginning, what’s your name?
Stuart Johnston
Do you own a pair of skinny jeans?
Only two pairs of ‘regular’ jeans.
If you were invisible for a day, what would you do?
I’d work it out on the day, depends on where I was :)
Does the person you like, like you back?
Yes :D
What did you do last night?
Sunday night? Sat around, listened to music, talked on MSN and wasted time. The usual.
Has anybody ever given you butterflies?
If you mean the feeling, yeah. If you mean blowing on your stomach, I don’t remember so probably not.
Are you your mom’s favorite child?
My mother doesn’t pick favourites.
Are you happy with the way things are going?
Life? Yes. School? Not quite so much.
Did you wake up in the middle of the night last night?
I went to bed at 1:30, so that’s already being awake.
Sleep on your back or stomach
On my back, I can’t breathe if I’m on my stomach.
What were you doing before this survey?
“Homework”.
Do you tend to rip the paper off water bottles?
No.
How long does it take for you to fall asleep at night?
Far too long, though it depends on how tired I am, what time I’m going to bed and what I’m doing the next day.
It’s Thursday night, where are you usually?
At home, doing nothing.
Your Christmas list consists of?
Nothing. Same as my birthday present list – I don’t want anything I don’t already have.
What movie is in your DVD player?
Nothing, though the last thing that was in there was probably Carnivale (which my dad was watching).
If you could move away, no questions asked, where would you move?
Why would I want to do a thing like that?
What’s the greatest thing that happened to you today?
I can’t think of any particular ‘greatest’ moment. Probably just the knowledge that I get to go to school tomorrow and see all my friends, then get to go to work tomorrow night and spend four hours laughing with my friends :)
Have you ever felt like you weren’t good enough?
Yes.
What’s going on tomorrow night?
Work! I love my job.
Do you know a lot of people with the same phone as you?
K-Dawg.
Is your hair curly or straight right now?
Straight, with the usual bit of hair that sticks up and looks stupid and never cooperates with anything I try and do with it.
What do you really think of Starbucks Coffee?
I don’t like coffee, and Starbucks has a general lack of any other nice food so it doesn’t rate too highly in my books.
Does anyone like you?
Yes.
Want to be taller or shorter?
I like being tall, except when it involves walking through some doorways.
What are you listening to?
Absurd Minds – I’m Dying Alone. I’d like to think otherwise, though.
When was the last time you really laughed?
Yesterday, at Ihita’s park party thing.
Do you listen to music every day?
What kind of day would it be if I didn’t have music?
Last song you heard?
Absurd Minds – The Promise
Is the last person that you had a conversation with a male or a female?
Female.
What’s the last thing you said out loud?
Something to my mother on the phone, probably “bye” or “cya” or equivalent.
How was your day?
Completely uneventful.
Describe how you feel right now in three words:
Missing my friends.
If someone asked you what you wanted, what would you say?
Nothing. Or, failing that, a hug :)
Has a boy sat on your bed before?
Yeah. Me, myself and I, of course, though probably friends too. I don’t know which specific ones.
Plans for Saturday?
Work.
What was your dream about last night?
I don’t recall – I think I was probably dreaming about going to school. That’s just conjecture though, I don’t remember what I was dreaming about.
Do you have a reason to smile right now?
No, but that doesn’t stop me being happy :)
Where were you at 9 am this morning?
Probably trying to fall asleep after being woken up.
Everything happens for a reason?
Everything happens.
Are you too forgiving?
I’m not really capable of holding grudges, so this is probably a big yes.
Do you think people talk about you?
Yes.
What do you carry with you at all time?
My phone, my wallet, and tissues. Luckily my nose doesn’t seem to get so blocked in Winter – yet another reason why I love Winter more than Summer.
Do you and your parents get along?
Yes, for the most part.
This time last year, were you single?
Yes.
Have you ever been searched by the cops?
Not searched, but I pulled over for a random-breath test once when I went out driving on my Ls and my mother thought it would be a ‘fun experience’ to see what it was like. It wasn’t that exciting, you just count to ten and then the thing beeps and says you haven’t had any booze.
Do you always wear your seat belt?
Absolutely. Not only is not wearing it unintelligent, but one of the cars I drive has no airbags and is generally a deathtrap so it’d be very unwise to drive without it on. Furthermore, if I or any of my passengers weren’t wearing their seatbelt, I lose my license. And I only got my Ps six days ago!
Have you ever liked someone who all your friends hate?
Probably.
Ever sang a whole song without missing any lyrics?
Yes, though whether having a lyric sheet in front of you counts as cheating or not is debatable. Otherwise, I’d have sung the words to the best of my ability though probably have mumbled over some words where the singer is completely incoherent.
Has someone close to you ever told you they were going to commit suicide because of you?
No, thankfully.
Do you think you’ve changed over the past year?
Yes.
Do you care if people talk badly about you?
I try not to care what most people think.
Do you believe everyone deserves a second chance?
Depends on what it was that ruined their first chance. That having been said, the answer will be yes in nearly all circumstances.
Where were you at 10:17 pm last night and what were you doing?
Sitting in front of my computer, listening to music, and talking on MSN. The same answer for the last two times you’ve asked me what I’ve been doing at any particular time.
Other than this, what are you doing?
Listening to music. Once this is done maybe I’ll end up doing some of that homework I was intending to do all day.
Were you happy when you woke up today?
Absolutely :) Being woken up at the horrible hour of 7:39 might not be the greatest feeling, but when it leads to a bunch of texts it’s well worth the momentary inconvenience.
Who did you last get into a big argument with?
I don’t remember.
Last thing you ate?
Toasted fruit-loaf.
Are you looking forward to the next three months?
Absolutely.
Are you a morning person or a night person?
A night person – I like it when it’s dark. It doesn’t work out so well though, because then I go to bed and have difficulty sleeping because there’ll be too much light for when I’m trying to sleep. I’d like to go to bed earlier and wake up earlier though, sunlight is nice.
Has anyone sang to you?
Yes, if you count going to a Duran Duran concert and having Simon Le Bon singing to me.
How often do you lose your voice?
Never.
Honestly, has anyone seen you in your under wear in the past 3 months?
Yes.
Be honest, do you like people in general?
Yes.
Does anybody hate you?
Possibly, though if they do they’re really not worth my time and I can’t think of anyone who’d have sufficient reason (in my eyes) to do so anyway.
Is there something you’re looking forward to next month?
My calendar remains bare. If you asked me this in two months time, my answer would be the Paramore concert though :)
Does it bother you when people get drunk?
Only if they go too far, or they can’t handle it but do so anyway.
Are you mad at someone right now?
No.
How often do you hold back from saying what you are thinking?
Not as much as I should. I tend to say first and think later when it’s meaningless crap, but I’ll tend to overthink some other things when I should just say them. On the most part, I probably don’t adequately think before speaking, no.
Will tomorrow be a good day?
Yes, it’d be inconceivable to think otherwise :)
Do you like hugs and kisses?
Depends on who they’re from, though, for the large part, yes :)
What’s on your bed?
Mattress, under-sheet, fitted sheet, (empty space where I sleep, ) sheet, blanket, blanket, blanket.
Last person on your bed?
Myself.
Is there one person in your life that can always make you happy?
Yes.

I hope you all found this insightful. If any of my answers were unacceptably vague you can always get onto me via email, MSN, facebook, or over here.

So, I may or may not end up fixing this theme. As you can see comments are currently an impossibility because the theme has no support for them…

I was playing with my wallet today, and realised it’s really pretty chunky. What did I have in it? Let’s investigate!

• One current and one expired STA bus pass
• One current and one expired CityRail train pass
• One current and two expired Hillsbus bus passes
• One current and one expired Concession Card
• An expired International Student Identity Card
• My brand new Driver’s License (I passed my Ps test today! Yay!)
• Two old Driver’s Licenses (First one was when I got my car Ls, then the second was for when I had Car + Motorbike Ls)
• My old school ID card
• My new school ID card
• My Blood Donor card
• Two house keys
• Three old train tickets (2xOld style, 1xmytrain)
• Four movie ticket stubs (2 each for Legion and The A-Team)
• Paintball ‘receipt’ (It’s in three days! Can’t wait)
• … and twelve other receipts
• Some note my mother wrote me because she wanted me to borrow some books for her from the school library
• Some pamphlet advertising my new phone I picked up to research it
• Two “Buy-one-get-one-free” pizza coupons for the place I work at
• Thirteen VIP cards for the place I work at
• Five $2 Scratchies (of which four are duds and one has a $4 prize)
• Two Gloria Jeans “Frequent Sipper” cards (Of which one has a free regular drink ready to be used)
• My Three-Sim-Card-Card (the card the simcard comes in)
• And, lastly, $90 in notes and $10.10 in coins

I really ought to clean out my wallet more often, I think.

Damn it, wordpress! I selected the “HTML” editor! Not the “I write HTML then you bastardise it” editor! If I type in <br /> I expect a line break! Not it to get stripped out and for you to replace my nice markup with your crappy paragraph tags!

So now I’m forced into using non-breaking spaces in a separate paragraph. Man, all blog systems suck.

This is the body of the post.

There can be fancy formatting here.

Twisting, turning, freezing, burning, tearing, infusing, lucid, confusing, post-war injection, hope and reception, dreaming and waking, the process is taking too long.

(I disagree with the lyrics here)

Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!