The Rant Post

Rant 1: World Youth Day
I fully support the idea of a festival all about love and brotherhood and that warm fuzzy feeling. What I don't support is a festival that is all about love and brotherhood and that warm fuzzy feeling for a select few. Regardless of what the organisers of this event claim, this is not an event for all youths, it's an event for Christian youths. And let's face it, Christianity isn't exactly the most embracing religion when it comes to the beliefs of others. Gays and Muslims are a prime target for Christian damnation.

And as if to rub salt into the wound, the event is costing NSW taxpayers in excess of $86 million and will inevitably result in the closing of busy city roads. Surely, an event that is run for a minority should be paid for by that minority. I'm not saying that we shouldn't help minority groups (like indigenous Australians) with necessities for survival, but I see a great problem with supporting a minority group celebrate what is a discriminatory religion. And before anybody raises the point that we were more than happy to shell out for the 2000 Olympic Games, let me remind you that the Olympic Games was not a secular event and really did act in the spirit of creating that warm fuzzy feeling.

And in future, I wish people would stop referring to these Christian events as simply "youth festivals" as the name is both misleading and derogatory towards those of us who don't share the belief that the universe was created by a single being and that anyone who doesn't subscribe to the same belief needs to be saved.

Rant 2: Slow walkers
I'm willing to concede to the fact that some people are just naturally slow walkers because of disabilities, pregnancy or old age. And as far as I'm concerned, these people can be somewhat irritating to walk behind but I have no resentment towards them. Hell, I don't even mind people who are perfectly capable of walking at a normal speed who insist on meandering along as if strolling through a country estate. Most of them are kind enough and sensible enough to stick to the side of the footpath so that the rest of us can walk around them. What really gives me the shits is when these idiots decide it'd be a great idea to walk triple file, thus slowing down everyone, make it impossible to get around them without being hit by a car, causing massive pedestrian congestion, and making people miss their trains by mere seconds. You people know who you are. You deserve to be shot. Repeatedly.

Rant 3: People who have their music on loudspeaker
I hate it when people on the train have their phones on loudspeaker because they were just too damn lazy/cheap/dumb to bring headphones along and just couldn't survive a train trip without their music. I can live with it when people have it on loudspeaker but at least keep it at a volume so that only they and the people in their immediate vicinity can hear it. What I can't stand are people who insist on putting the music on full volume as if they're trying to recreate the doof-doof they get from the million watt speakers in their car so that everyone in their carriage as well as the adjoining carriages can hear it, despite their best efforts to drown it out with the music from their headphones.

And I seem to notice that every single person who has their music on full blast on public transport seems to listen to meaningless rnb dribble. I suspect that there is some correlation between stupid behaviour and bad taste in music (afterall, when was the last time somebody on a train had Tchaikovsky's violin concerto on loudspeaker?) but still have no proof to back this notion other than anecdotal evidence.

Switch your bloody speakers off. The train rides are painful enough already without you broadcasting the fact that your taste in music is bad (let's face it, it's effectively non-existent) to everyone else on the train.

Rant 4: Big Brother
An entertaining bunch of new housemates that are representative of the Australian population? I don't think so! Not unless all Australians are sex-starved idiots.

Rant 5: Peak hour trains
Why the hell does cityrail deem it a good idea to run all the 6 carriage trains during peak hour and run the 8 carriage trains the rest of the day? This wouldn't be a problem if there were more trains during peak hour. "Ooops!", says shittyrail, "I knew we forgot something..."

Rant 6: New assignment submission protocol
The psychology office has decided to change their perfectly functioning assignment submission protocol this year to one which they believe will be more efficient (or at least one that means staff don't have to do a damn thing). What this new system entails is dropping the assignments off into a box. How revolutionary of them!

When asked how we would prove that we handed it in should the office lose it, the reply was "When we receive your assignment, we'll put the date of receipt on your webCT page". Errr... that doesn't prove that we handed it in, you dumbasses, only that you actually got it. And given that the psychology office are infamous for misplacing assignments, I foresee a spectacular disaster in the near future.

Rant 7: Timbaland
The man has absolutely no musical talent whatsoever. The fact that 'Apologise' (which isn't a particularly brilliant song to begin with) is labeled as being 'Timbaland featuring One Republic' is a bloody insult to One Republic considering all Timbaland does is moan and groan in the background during the chorus. If I wanted to hear moaning and groaning, I'd go rent a porno.