Thursday, October 07, 2004
Stupid rain. It was raining really hard but I had to leave the house. Umbrellas are totally useless in a situation of pouring rain - they are only ever any use in light rain. And I'm really irritated that I forgot my own rule of not wearing pants in the rain and wearing a skirt instead, because your legs always get wet and bare legs will dry quicker. So now my entire back half is soaking wet. At least I preserved my blowdried-straight hair.
I wasn't in a good mood before, because I got a letter from the Australian Electoral Commission explaining that I will not be able to vote on Saturday because they only received my change of enrolment details after the deadline. Stupid, stupid fax machine! This only cements my hatred of that dumb, unreliable technology. Then I called up and asked if I could still vote under my old address, and it seems that in a strange burst of efficiency, they have erased me from the electoral roll entirely because a letter they sent to the old address was returned to sender.
The woman on the phone explained that I could do a "provisional" vote which is what they tell people who think they ought to be on the electoral roll. I said tersely, "That's basically a placebo vote, isn't it?"
She said "Yes, I'm afraid it is."
I wanted to scream at her but after all, it's not her fault.
And then I made myself a cup of tea and put on Nelly singing about some chick with an apple bottom in jeans. And I was just about to cry, which made me even angrier because it's not as though my vote counts for anything anyway. That fucking arsehole John Howard is going to get back in regardless of what I vote.
And I'm worried because now it's the last week of my show, all those pressing issues that I pushed back saying "I'll deal with this after the show" are all jostling forward again. Like:
* RACV membership needing renewal
* Final notice on mobile phone bill
* Can't pay 'em as have exhausted my funds paying for the show out of my own pocket
* Need to reconnect home phone and find some way out of Optus bill/account name nightmare
* Can't make any calls from home as home phone disconnected
* Need to find two new housemates but prospective ones can't call as home phone disconnected
* Don't have computer monitor or internet access at home. Uni department sent round pointed email saying "only currently enrolled students can use computers"
* Can't get 'em as have no credit card. Credit card application refused because I don't earn enough/have bad credit rating
* Need to persuade department to let me be some kind of "honorary research associate" so I can continue to use their facilities and keep my institutional affiliation
* They would never give me such a position because my MA results were so poor, even though I have shitloads of publications
* Plus I need to use a computer to prepare my CV
* Need to do tax return
* Need to get more freelancing work
* Again, need to use a computer to do those. Whose computer?
I wasn't in a good mood before, because I got a letter from the Australian Electoral Commission explaining that I will not be able to vote on Saturday because they only received my change of enrolment details after the deadline. Stupid, stupid fax machine! This only cements my hatred of that dumb, unreliable technology. Then I called up and asked if I could still vote under my old address, and it seems that in a strange burst of efficiency, they have erased me from the electoral roll entirely because a letter they sent to the old address was returned to sender.
The woman on the phone explained that I could do a "provisional" vote which is what they tell people who think they ought to be on the electoral roll. I said tersely, "That's basically a placebo vote, isn't it?"
She said "Yes, I'm afraid it is."
I wanted to scream at her but after all, it's not her fault.
And then I made myself a cup of tea and put on Nelly singing about some chick with an apple bottom in jeans. And I was just about to cry, which made me even angrier because it's not as though my vote counts for anything anyway. That fucking arsehole John Howard is going to get back in regardless of what I vote.
And I'm worried because now it's the last week of my show, all those pressing issues that I pushed back saying "I'll deal with this after the show" are all jostling forward again. Like:
* RACV membership needing renewal
* Final notice on mobile phone bill
* Can't pay 'em as have exhausted my funds paying for the show out of my own pocket
* Need to reconnect home phone and find some way out of Optus bill/account name nightmare
* Can't make any calls from home as home phone disconnected
* Need to find two new housemates but prospective ones can't call as home phone disconnected
* Don't have computer monitor or internet access at home. Uni department sent round pointed email saying "only currently enrolled students can use computers"
* Can't get 'em as have no credit card. Credit card application refused because I don't earn enough/have bad credit rating
* Need to persuade department to let me be some kind of "honorary research associate" so I can continue to use their facilities and keep my institutional affiliation
* They would never give me such a position because my MA results were so poor, even though I have shitloads of publications
* Plus I need to use a computer to prepare my CV
* Need to do tax return
* Need to get more freelancing work
* Again, need to use a computer to do those. Whose computer?
