I know my argument is weak. I’d be the first one to rip it to shreds. For one, I’m mixing at least three issues:

1. The relative merits of Labor and Liberal policies.
   
2. The selfishness of people, which leads them to vote based on their hip pocket.
   
3. The purpose of a national economy.

There really is no coherency to the argument. In a debate, I’d be shot down. For example, if we were arguing issue 2:

Joan 1:	“That’s the point of democracy, Joan. If a policy is important to enough people, it will be weighted accordingly. If it benefits enough people, it will be voted in. By being selfish, the majority of people will be better off.”
Joan 2:	“But people are ignorant and short-sighted. You can’t rely on them to develop policy that benefits the country as a whole for the long term.”
Joan 1:	“Well, what alternative do you propose? An all-knowing benevolent dictator who will force us to accept what’s best for us?”
Joan 2:	Sigh. “No. I just wish people would think about other people and the future, that’s all.”

I could easily have similar arguments with myself about the other issues.

Well, I’m voting for Labor tomorrow. My reasons, in order of priority, are:

1. Labor will ratify the Kyoto Protocol.
   
2. It seems like Labor cares about education.
   
3. If we return the Coalition to power, John Howard will take it to mean his previous transgressions have been forgiven. Refugee detention, war in Iraq, the Energy White Paper… He will get away with it all.

I have talked to quite a few people (including my parents) about their voting intentions and overwhelmingly, people are voting with their own interests in mind. It seems very, very strange to me. People are more concerned with their own mortgage, their own tax payments, their own health benefits. “Oh, the HECS rises don’t worry me because I’m graduating this year.”

It’s awful. We’re selfish. I personally will be better off under the Coalition; their private health insurance subsidy and superannuation co-contributions will give me thousands of dollars. But the future of our country is more important than a strong economy (and my personal wealth)! A letter to the editor in today’s Herald Sun reminded us that a strong economy is not an ends in itself. What’s the point of having a good economy if our quality of life is low? What good is a strong economy without a good health system, education system, environment?

If we really are as selfish as this voting behaviour suggests, then the environment is doomed. By the time the environment has degraded to the point that we personally suffer the effects in a dramatic (media-worthy) way, it will be too late.

Kate was feeling down today. She received some bad news last night. So I did what any decent girl friend would do and propelled her towards the lolly shop. She bought 30 cents worth of raspberry twists. I splurged and bought a 60 cent peanut cluster.

A peanut cluster is a disc of chocolate studded with peanuts. Mine was about 8 cm in diameter, 50 mm thick. I’ve eaten two before but I wasn’t ready for the way this one would hit me.

Halfway through the disc, I became woozy. “Ooooh… chocolate sick… (groan).” I didn’t understand it. Now, I love chocolate but normally don’t handle it very well. For example, I can’t finish a normal-sized Mars Bar. But this was ridiculous. It was less than 20 grams and most of it was peanut too.

I nibbled at it slowly through Policy class. I think the chocolate went to my head because during class discussion I started making comments… to Kate and Fran beside me, to the lecturer, to the class in general. Oh, they were all very pertinent and useful remarks but somehow, I was hilarious. People laughed at all my jokes! I was brilliant! I was droll! The Peanut Cluster had imbued me with Comedic Powers!

In the break, someone suggested we have a Kit Kat but just thinking about it made me sick.

Last night, I dreamed I was at a MUMS seminar (not that I’ve ever been to one). John Howard was there and I had a nice chat with him while we studied a maths poster. He was very relaxed, personable, quite humorous. Later, he made a presentation to everyone and answered our questions frankly and thoughtfully.

Nice trick, Mr Howard. I don’t know how you managed to get advertising into my dreams but it didn’t work. I’m still voting for the other guy.

Sunny! It’s so sunny!

She walks with a spring in her step

Her pants are baggy so that she can run

Her t-shirt declares that she dances

A deep red apple in her hand reveals pale yellow gouges

And she munches.

She is walking to class

She is walking to a report that will change a small corner of the world

A text message, another one

From friends, on business

On a sunny day her wraparounds are the epitome of cool.

She is training to be a young professional

Her Palm is ready to take up the challenge

She woke up at 6 this morn

With a fresh mind to productively write

She values her eight hours.

Surely she is Superlifekarma Girl

She has the answers

Right

Surely she knows what she wants

How to get it?

She is not Superlifekarma Girl

She does not have all the answers

And when she does

She has no authority to give them

Because

Her lack of discipline

Foresight

Prudence

Selflessness

Dismays her.

She is no

Superlifekarma Girl

With all the answers.

I felt restless today. At about 2:30 PM, I decided to go rollerblading at the local skating rink. So I grabbed my luggage and off I went.

You might think it’s a bit strange to go to a general skating session by yourself but I used to do this every week for about a year. Every Sunday afternoon, I would hop onto the rink and bop to some good and bad music. I haven’t skated for about ten months but was pleased that I was able to get back into the rhythm after a few minutes.

I learned how to ski this year so for the first time, I was able to do some basic slalom turns on blades. Learning to parallel ski removed the mental block I had about parallel turns in blading.

I started off grooving subtly with the music, a little bit of hand action here, a foot lift there… After a while, though, I didn’t care and my arms were flailing all over the place, I was singing and jumping. Someone came up to me and asked if I was a break dancer! I was so happy. I stuck my arms out and pretended I was flying.

There were some figure skaters on the floor doing jumping spins, backwards skating and partner skating. It was very cool. During the fask skating song, though, I was able to zoom past those fancy figure skaters using my limited training in speed skating (I trained for about eight months about three years ago). The little kids stuck their hands over the barrier and I gave them high fives as I flew by.

Afterward, I talked to the figure skaters. They were nice and encouraging. “We haven’t seen you here before! Come back again!” they said.

I fell over once. I should have worn the elbow pads in addition to my wrist guards.

I had forgotten how fun skating is. Why did I stop? I got busy, I suppose — and got friends! I guess it’s nice to have a hobby that you can enjoy without devoting huge chunks of your life to it.

“Joan, do we still have two doorbells?”

“Yes. But one of them fell off this morning.”