Slightly Unsettled . . .
I saw something a little unsettling on the tram on the way home tonight, and it’s left me feeling a little unsure of myself. The tram was packed sardine-style (as usual) and I was crammed in like everyone else. Soon after we left the stop, some guy pushes past me, as if trying to get to the door for the next stop. He pauses in front of me, grabs his mobile phone, and holds it up to his face. Ok, nothing unusual about that, that’s pretty much what happens when you try to check your messages on a busy tram . . . except he put it to camera mode and took a photo of a guy sitting on the seats by the window. At first I wasn’t sure if I saw what I thought I just saw, but sure enough, he’d taken a photo then moved on past me closer to the door, shoving past everyone. By the next stop he’d gone.
This guy was tall, skinny, maybe in his fifties, wearing glasses, a baseball cap and a polo shirt with the collar up and what looked like “HIZZ” or “HI33″ in red print on the back. He seemed kind of nervous and tense, and was fiddling with the two newspapers he had rolled up in the back pockets of his jeans. The guy he took a photo of looked perhaps Lebanese, sort of vaguely Middle Eastern or possibly even from the subcontinent. He was short, young, kinda stout in a business suit, styled hair and trendy stubble, and looking pretty tired slumped in his seat.
My first thought was maybe this guy taking the photo was some kind of white-power extremist type, documenting and targeting darker-skinned people. My next thought was maybe he was from ASIO or something, which some might argue isn’t much different. Or maybe he had some kind of fetish for young, Arabic-looking guys, like how people surreptitiously take photos up women’s skirts or of girls at swimming pools. Either way, it creeped me out and the people chatting next to me seemed to notice it too as they pulled faces in his direction as he shoved past us and sounded like they were discussing what just happened (from what I could hear over my music anyway).
Yet, by the time he’d gone (and he was gone within two stops), I had this overwhelming feeling that I should have reacted or done something. I should’ve, at the time, made a point of asking him why he was taking photos of other passengers. Or maybe I should’ve told the guy sitting by the window that someone had just photographed him. I should have acted, but the situation was just so odd and a little disturbing that I felt kinda frightened that I’d do the wrong thing or I’d just imagined it or something. And now? Now I just feel this bubbling sense of unease, the kind where you just know something ain’t right . . .
Ninjas: They’re everywhere
‘Ninja’ kangaroo terrorises family in bed | The Sydney Morning Herald | smh.com.au.
So a kangaroo busted into someone’s house in Canberra the other morning, resulting in not only a gratuitous amount of references to Bonds underwear (wait, aren’t they the bad guys at the moment?) but what may be the best quote in the news this year to date:
“My initial thought when I was half awake was: it’s a lunatic ninja coming through the window,” Mr Ettlin told The Associated Press.
Yup. Lunatic ninjas. They’re a real problem in Canberra, believe me . . .
He's on his way to bust through a window right now
Thinking about the Future (or why I’ve felt so mopey this weekend)
I don’t usually discuss what I do to earn my wage here, but it’s not that glamourous, it’s something I’ve been doing for a long time now, and it’s starting to feel like much too long. Sure, I’ve had grand schemes and plans for the future, but nothing I can actually envision myself actually doing: going to acting school, going back to uni to study anything from anthropology to zoology (don’t laugh, it was a serious thought at one stage), as well as trying to get into intelligence analysis through work and being knocked back time and time again. But at the end of the day, all I really am is a glorified, underpaid data entry girl with lots of real-world experience and no formal qualifications. Not a great recipe for career advancement or satisfaction, no matter how many more interesting activities I fill my free hours with.
Cut to this Friday, and I’m out drinking with people from work (god, I really should have eaten dinner, but hey, I didn’t really need to be functional on Saturday). During that drunken rambling point of the night, one of my coworkers was encouraging me to look at other opportunities outside of the organisation I’m currently working for, mentioned other organisations where I’d get paid more, get more interesting things to do and possibly and overseas posting. I check up on it and meh, nothing going, and on a whim I decided to look at jobs at the UN . . . and there are lots of jobs for people like me. Especially in the UN missions abroad.
And now I’m kinda excited. I could be doing what I’ve been doing for the past six years somewhere overseas, sure, probably heartbreaking, difficult and dangerous but interesting and amazing at the same time, and I’m a roll-up-your-sleeves practical kind of girl with a solid head on me (despite what my relatives might think). And although the effectiveness of the UN can be debated these days, it’s gotta be a damn-sight better than what I’m doing now.
So my plan is to put some of my government hand-out I should be getting soon and the money I earn on the side from making jewellery (if I see another crimp or clasp right now I’m going to scream – been making stock all weekend, well, the parts of the weekend I wasn’t hung-over) into a French course and hopefully by the middle of the year be in a position to start putting some applications together. Looking at the website tonight, seeing the opportunities out there, I just wanted to apply right away but this is going to take some patience and planning. But still, it’s achievable and I’m excited . . .
But if anyone out there has any experience or tips on working for the UN, please let me know. I’ve had colleagues quit their jobs to work for them and colleagues who’ve worked in PNG and the Solomons through other deployments but I don’t know of anyone who’s done admin-type work in these situations. I know it’s not glamourous or 100% excitement or any of the bullshit hollywood would have you believe, but any practical tips or experiences would be appreciated.
