Monthly Archives: September 2012

A Public Announcement Regarding Internet Shopping

Posted in Life by

While I was on placement I witnessed… well overheard, a conversation about how someone had just lost a lot of money shopping on the internet.  No, they didn’t just unleash the credit card on ASOS, or start collecting expensive things from ebay… they had become another ‘victim’ of a ‘Nigerian Internet Scam’.  Here is the thing… this is the type of story that I have watched on the news (ok… maybe more like a current affair) and thought to myself… how dumb can you be… money is NEVER free.  In fact, I had put it in the box of things that don’t really happen, but it turns out this does… it really does… real life people actually fall for this… seriously they do…  let me tell you the story…

In this case, the person in the story had attempted to sell a computer on eBay, the buyer… in Canada… (why you wouldn’t select Australia only I don’t know… but there are a number of issues with this whole thing so let’s move on)… asked her to wire some cash to them so that they new the deal was legit before they sent her the cash for the computer.  Now as if that wasn’t dodgy enough… the buyer asked her to deposit money… lots of money into an account that was from an ‘international’ bank as well as a fee for customs as the computer needed to go through ‘Nigeria’.  Anyway, despite the fact that this should have sent alarm bells, she did all of this and then was shocked when she had suddenly lost the money and couldn’t get it back.  Now we aren’t just talking a couple of hundred dollars (which would still be annoying and very inconvenient), no this person lost $4500… So because it clearly isn’t already clear enough, these are a few tips for buying and selling things on the internet…

If you are buying or selling things on the internet…

DO NOT offer to send large expensive things overseas… it’s just not worth it.  Especially electronic goods… seriously think about it, how will you package it and send it without getting broken, how many adapters is the person going to need, and if you don’t get your money it’s much harder to chase.

DO NOT send them money as well… seriously they are buying from you, the either want it or they don’t, you should be able to call the shots, if they don’t trust you they can go somewhere else… seriously why would you ever give a stranger money so that they can give you some back… it’s not only a waste of time but just a little bit stupid.

DO NOT continue if there is anything that says ‘Nigerian Customs’.  Now don’t get me wrong I don’t have anything against Nigeria, but common sense would say that on the internet they don’t have a great reputation.  Firstly go back to the first suggestion…. but if you must… just have a think about what you are being asked to do… why would you need to pay Nigerian Customs for Canada… If you are actually sending something to Nigeria… maybe… but Canada… or any other country for that matter… no.

Internet shopping is fun… please use your brain… or you too will lose a lot of money!

Here endith another community announcement.

Another placement over

Posted in Life, Study by

Once again I have been on placement and just like last placement my blog has been neglected while I was there, and a little bit after too while I get my life sorted out… but here are some things I have learnt this time around:

  1. I actually know more chemistry than I thought I did, I just need to not question myself
  2. I still suck at physics… it really isn’t a strong point
  3. I am definitely a structured person… I like the bell, I like lesson times, I like break times… I like organisation and know what will happen… I love the timetable!
  4. I think it’s all going to be ok, if I can survive study and full time work and the lack of holidays that it causes… I can do anything… seriously anything.
  5. Even if you have officially finished placement, you can still take home a pile of marking!
  6. Real people actually fall for online ‘Nigerian customs’ scams and lose a lot of money… please see public announcement to follow in the days ahead.

So there you go… that’s my wrap up from the second placement for 2012… no more placement until 2013…

200 blogs later…

Posted in Life by

This is my 200th blog… well actually it’s my 203rd blog, because being the silly duffer that I am I forgot to post some Wordless Wednesdays and now I have moved this one down the list… anyway, it’s still a pretty massive milestone really, well I think so anyway… It’s taken me just over a year to get here and while it might still be only for me, I hope that others have found at least some of it, informative if not entertaining. I know recently my blogs have been a little disjointed and have had very little words, but they have still managed to do what I originally intended… record my life so that when I look back I can see what I have done and how far I have come…

In fact when I have a look at how far I have come from my very first blog I am actually amazed… and because I love a good stat… check this out:

It all started back in 2006, (on the 17th of June to be exact) with my first blog… which, unfortunately was self titled… but now I refer to it as ‘the original’… and there I posted 125 posts and had 1033 page views… some of my most hilarious work… and my original list of 100 things to do.

In 2009 after a little break there was ‘22 adventures’ which documented my journey to Castlemaine as a 22 year old… this was a particularly challenging chapter of my life and while perhaps not all of it made it to the blog I am so thankful that it is there for me to have as a reminder of how much I grew and the things I accomplished. Oh and on that blog even though it was only a year I posted 213 blogs 1147 page views

While I was posting my life away on 22 adventures I decided that I could also get a little bit of spiritual accountability from the blogosphere… enter ‘immeasurably more’… 50 posts and 276 page views

Once I turned 23 I wasn’t ready to quit… although I did not long after… but I moved on to ‘Just add one scoop of randomness’ which despite the fact that it lasted less than a year still allowed me to share 65 blogs of wisdom… and have 762 page views… and while I was blogging here I also started my very first project365… which had a blog of it’s own containing 117posts and 364 page views…

And now I am here… 203posts later and 5569 page views… and still going strong… well strongish and because I am sick of moving blogs… I am here to stay…

So if you do the math… that actually makes this my 800th blog… and 9151 page views… which… if you are a negative Nancy… or a Pessimistic Paul… is a lot of wasted time and words… but I am not so I don’t mind…

For me that is 800 moments of my life, good, bad, ugly, perfect and everything in between… there have been serious blogs, honest blogs, silly blogs and a whole lot of catching up. Even now it still isn’t quite where I want it to be, but I think it’s getting closer… maybe… I still wish I was more honest and felt comfortable blogging about the things that really burdened my heart, but I am not quite there yet. Sometimes I get super confident and put it out there, but most of the time I end up giving a tamer, more politically correct version of my thoughts, because just because I think them doesn’t mean they need to be, or should be shared… and most of the time it is actually better when my brain filter engages.

I don’t think there have been any life changing moments and I am pretty sure I have written about three of these blogs questioning the purpose of my blogging as well as promising to be more honest… in fact recently I have even been questioning whether I want all this stuff out there on the internet… but I think its too late for that now. Maybe one day in years to come they will dig up this website and I will become one of those anonymous women of history who people try to trace back and find the long lost family of… that would be cool… unlikely, but cool. I guess when I look back I have tried new things, had some fun adventures, and hopefully matured a little as I have gone… but when I look really close I am still the same Curious George I started as… just documenting life so that I can reminisce whenever I want to…

The Curse of the Timbrel

Posted in Faith, Family, Life by

I have discovered something truly terrifying… My timbrel hands have crossed over to Zumba… don’t know what I am talking about? Well hold on your hats…

This is a timbrel:

Well a timbrel with a CD in it… you may recognise these from the Salvation Army… or the time those two old ladies played the timbrel on Britain’s got talent and argued with Simon about the difference between timbrels and tambourines… which if you happened to watch that, you will now know that timbrels have two rows of small cymbals and Tambourines have one… but I digress (but if you would like to continue this tangent here is the link…).

The timbrel is used kind of like rhythmic gymnastics… it’s a little weird and sometimes uncomfortable to watch, but if you do it right it can look very impressive.  As a younger girl in the Salvation Army I was in the timbrel brigade… that is the timbrel performance group, where we played rhythms on the timbrel with timed choreography to mostly brass band music, but occasionally something that was a little more out there… like worship music.

Now, even though I haven’t really given it much credit so far… I loved playing the timbrel, and I still do, although now I only really play at Christmas time to the Mariah Carey version of Joy to the world… again I digress… When learning to play the timbrel one of the most important things… as any timbrel leader (or sergeant, depends how army you want to be) will tell you (myself included) is that when playing the timbrel your must tuck the thumbs of your non-timbrel hand in otherwise it looks sloppy.  I will admit I learnt this the hard way, by having my uncontrollable thumbs bandaid’ed in place by my leader (who was also my aunty).  But since then as soon as I pick up a timbrel my left thumb automatically tucks.

I thought that this automatic tucking was specific to the timbrel but this is where I made my terrifying discovery.  At Zumba we did a dance… routine… fitness extravaganza… strange semi-co-ordinated movements, which required us to put our hands in the air and then back down… if I was a stick figure… I would look something like this:

It was during this that I made my terrifying discovery, unlike everyone else who just puts their open hand in the air… mine tucked…

And I looked like an idiot… the worst bit is I can’t do it the other way… with just an open hand it feels wrong… and it wasn’t just my non-timbrel hand that tucked… but both… yes both…

I am not really sure what I am going to do about this, but it appears for the time being I am stuck with timbrel hands… even at Zumba… no bandaids required anymore.

P.S  I just discovered that if you feel like you have missed the boat and you too really want timbrel hands… well you are in luck, there are some instructional videos… so you can learn in the comfort of your own home…just click here… seriously check them out… you know you want to.