Herald Sun Shmerald Sun.

Allow me a moment to be outraged at a Herald Sun headline again.

BONUS HUMBLE PIE

the headline cleverly screams. See how the first letter of each word make up the word BHP?

First issue with this: a CEO forgoing $7 million in profit has nothing to do with being humble.

I'm not going to look in the dictionary, but to me, humble means being understated, not going around telling people you have loads of money or whatever just because you do.

Second issue: if we take the phrase as a whole - that is, 'humble pie' as it's supposed to be used in context - it still makes no sense.

Is not the phrase 'eating humble pie' used when somebody makes an error, and is forced to apologise or atone for such an error? To me, the headline implies that Marius Kloppers has made a grave error in judgement, and is now atoning for it.

They further somehow make the link from his salary and bonus - which is a minute amount, when compared to the profits of BHP - to super funds taking a hit. What.

If anything, the man should be lauded, rather than made out to be in the wrong for making so much money.

I'm not sure whether the Herald Sun is supposed to be left wing or right wing, and it never really struck me as being particularly left or right (not that I ever bothered to really look into it), but I think it's fairly obvious that even if it's not left wing, it's definitely anti-right. Most of their stuff can be summarised as reading:

"How dare he make so much money when so many of us don't? Why don't all of us make millions of dollars? What did he ever do to deserve higher pay than us? It's not like he does anything anyway. Where's our free money?"

I don't really know what my point is, but it just really annoys me.

Word of the Day: Humble

It was a jolly good show, wot.

The Opening Ceremony for the London 2012 Olympic Games was fairly amazing.

Yes, I realise it was almost a week ago. What of it?

It was just an epic bombardment of English cultcha. Which I love.

English music, English people, English history, English literature, English language, James Bond and David Beckham (yeah, that's right, separate category for them). Love it all. And most of it was there. Except for the medievalness and stuff.

The pyrotechnics were also pretty amazing. The Olympic Rings dripping gold, the genius of the cauldron lighting, the fireworks spray. The lighting of the cauldron was a bit anti-climatic, however. I kind of didn't realise it was happening until the cauldron caught on fire.

Dripping fiah.

The only part that was really bad was the absence of any reference to Oasis. Like, what. At least they atoned by putting Paul McCartney and Arctic Monkeys in.

I also did really like the literary references though. Dickens, J. M. Barry, J. K. Rowling.

Conclusion: did not feel like a drag, creative, fresh, and full of stuff that I love. Good stuff.

So what of the Olympics themselves?

I'm kind of in the non-caring boat, uncaring away. I've taken a morbid curiosity in the controversies - you know, the alleged drug taking by Chinese swimmer, badminton game throwing - but apart from that, not much interest.

The whole Chinese swimmer thing is a farce. I think she's taken drug tests, etc. There's no need for all this slander and accusation. The Americans and the British should never have started it, the Chinese should never have responded in the way that they did.

The badminton involves the Chinese as well. This time, deservedly so. If you're going to throw the game, at least make it subtle. The manner in which they did it just smacks of sheer arrogance.

Not only do they want to throw the game, but they want to throw it in such a way that everybody knows that they're not trying. So they want the practical advantages of throwing a game, without losing any face. That's not the way it works. People pay and give up time to watch these games.

It's also arrogant because of the fact that they assume that both Chinese teams are a shoe-in for the final.

In sum, it's disrespectful to everyone. The paying public, the game, the Olympic spirit (not that I'm a big believer in that anyway).

So what am I actually going to watch? Maybe the football final. Not predictable at all, me.

Word of the Day: Jolly.

Surprise Song Sunday: Don't Look Back In Anger - Oasis.

To make up for the lack of Oasis at the Opening Ceremony. 60 years of English music history, and no Oasis. I ask you.

Word of the Day: English

These could be the best days of our liiiiives.

The more astute of you would have realised that I have been back home for a while now. Up until now, I haven't really found the effort to write about it. But here I am, backstory and all explaining why I've taken so long to do what I'm about to do.

Right into it then.

Hong Kong was fun. Saw some relos, which is always a good experience, given that I see them about once every half a century. Or something. I also bought far, far more than I should have, mostly because stuff is so cheap there, but also mostly because stuff is a lot more cooler over there.

By stuff, I mean clothes and stuff. Hey, I never claimed to be a wordsmith.

The trip as a whole was absolutely amazing. Yes, there were difficult moments. Yes, it was a long time to be away from home. Yes, it did cost me a fair bit. But you know, it was all in the name of learning and having fun. And all of the experiences I had, all the stuff I learnt, all the places I visited, all the sights I saw, all the fantastic people I met, all the tan I got, made all the minute difficulties worth it.

I am, however, glad to be home. There's nothing quite like going overseas to strange countries (I'm looking at you, Poland and Lithuania) to make you realise how great Australia really is. I also got a bit sick of living in hotel rooms, not driving myself around, and just generally being semi-beholden to what fate/mischance had in store for me.

I also missed people back home. Friends, family, etc.

And Melbourne water. That stuff is heavenly. They should export that stuff. Especially to Poland, where the water is acidic and filled with mercury. Or something.

Coming back home, however, means dealing with all the homie stuff. You know, assessments, thesis, losing my tan, readjusting to actually having to do work, remembering to not start speaking Polish to people (I'm pretty much fluent in Polish now, it's kind of like my mother tongue, except my mother isn't from Poland), readjusting to the fact that people aren't surprised at the fact that I speak English, and reverting back to not enunciating clearly when speaking with strangers. Not all of that is necessarily bad, but I'll let you sort out which is which.

Thesis is killing me a little bit. I'm still trying to figure out which direction I'm going to take it in. Urgh.

And because I didn't get enough of England (or lack of sleepness) on my trip, I'm going to do a pre-dawn wake-up to watch the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games, which, for my friends who dwell under rocks, is in England this time around. I'll see you online tomorrow morning then.

Word of the Day: Back

Surprise Song Sunday: Coming Home - John Legend

It feels like I've been everywhere,

But someday I'll be coming home.

In case you didn't know, I'm back! 

More on that later.

Word of the Day: Home

Hong Storm.

This place is contriving to give me zero sleep today.

I try to go to bed at 1:30, but I think a combination of the heat and anticipation of being home kept me up for about an hour.

Then, around half an hour ago, I awoke to the sound of thunder clapping and the pitter patter of rain. Actually, more PITTER PATTER. And THUNDERRRRR CLAPPING. The sound more like canon shots. I'm not even kidding.

So now I can't sleep. Won't stop me from popping on The Beatles and trying though.

There were birds

In the sky

But I never

Saw them winging

No, I never saw them winging

Til there was you.

Word of the Day: Pitter

Honky Town + more substantial summary/reflections on the tour.

Good morning from Hong Kong. I've only spent a night here, but I've already managed to have dinner with my aunty and most of her family, which was full of happy times. 

So what's there to look forward to in this place? Mostly shopping and eating, I imagine. Wooooo.

That's enough about the future. On to the past. Namely reflections on the tour.

The tour was amazing. I particularly liked the mix of mostly depressing days, and almost always fun nights. I don't know about everyone else, but the mix kept me from being overwhelmed by all the death and destruction that we were reliving in the death camps and mass graves. 

These fun nights only came about because of the people on the tour though. And most of these people were absolutely amazing. For the most part, kind-hearted, generous, fun, and funny, and I'm glad to have met them. I'm already starting to miss them, and I think I'm getting withdrawal symptoms because of it. The symptoms manifest themselves in things like thinking that Scarlett and Sarah were shouting for me from the back of the plane I was on, hearing what I thought was Flick being outraged at something, thinking Sam was shouting 'oi' at me at the airport, and thinking that I heard Louise laugh on the plane. It's not happening anymore, so don't call a doctor or anything. 

A substantial part of the goodness of the tour was due to the people on it, and it wouldn't have been half as awesome without them. Thanks guys. 

My favourite part of the tour is a toss-up between Chopin in the park and the random jam session in Sejny. Chopin in the park because Chopin's music is beautiful, the setting was beautiful, and it contrasted wonderfully with what we'd been seeing and visiting on the tour up until that point. Chopin played again while we watched The Pianist on the bus on the last day of the tour, and I thought it was a coincidentally amazing conclusion because of that. Both Chopin in the park and The Pianist almost made me cry. The jam session because of the awesome randomness of it all, and the mad clarinet solo. 

My least favourite part was probably the (mostly self-inflicted) chronic lack of sleep. Most days were something like 2 o' clock sleep, 7 o' clock wake up. But yeah, even this was a consequence of having fun most of the time, so really, it's not a complaint. 

I think that my actual least favourite part was leaving everyone, and having to adjust to being without the mob. Oh, and Louise getting hospitalised. That was kind of a worrying episode.  

Most random/fun thing was probably going clubbing in Lithuania. What. 

Or the random gay guy in said club who was hitting on Sam and telling him that his drink was spiked, while he was drinking from said drink. Or the ensuing talk about life and stuff that Sam and I had in my hotel room bathroom. 

Or having about five run-ins with the police. Street cred level 100 right here. Don't mess with me, cos I'm a real G. 

Or that time we broke into a concentration camp. Irony level 100. 

Or raving to 'Call Me Maybe' on an open-air minibus to and from dinner in Krakow. 

Or going on random H&M raids in various countries. 

Or going for a highly impulsive and unnecessary walk in a thunderstorm in Warsaw with Sam, Sarah, and Jamie.

Or finding that amazing rooftop bar in Berlin.

The random moments were numerous, and probably the most fun. 

Despite all the amazingly fun times had, I did manage to get a bit of learning and reflection in regarding the Holocaust. I still don't understand how people could have done such a thing, and I've kind of learned that there is no explanation. The entire Second World War was a horrible aberration that can't be explained. The destruction, the death, the Holocaust, the horrors in Asia, the atomic bomb. I did find it incredible that Germany seemed to have confronted and more or less dealt with its role in the War, whereas Poland has more or less not. 

A warmer part of the education was found in learning more about Jewish culture, which I did not have much of an idea about before the trip. Very interesting stuff.

Anyway, that's enough about the past now. Time to engage my brain again and start doing actual stuff soon. 

But man, they were fun times.

These could be the best days of our lives.

Word of the Day: Fun