Surrender? Don't be bloody silly, we're Australian…

The other day I received conduct records regarding my father’s service in the Australian Army. He was a career soldier – starting as a Nasho (National Serviceman) and then going through peace keeping in Korea, the Malay Emergency and later in Vietnam working with US Special Forces and then with the Army on home soil. He would always tell of the time a US Colonel came up to him after a particularly hard battle in Vietnam and declared that my father would be awarded a US medal for his part in it. My father told the Colonel to piss off. Like most Aussie soldiers they didn’t do the job for medals and they sure as hell didn’t care for clean skinned, never-out-in-the-field officers pouncing about. Nah, he didn’t get the medal and he never regretted his words

Anyway, I requested the records from the Army due to accusations I consider slander. As expected the records didn’t indicate much at all in his 30 year history. In fact it was only between 1954 and 1957 that any charges were filed against him. Not so bad for a kid from the slums who had been smacked around by the local cops who told him to go into the Army or else. He went – naturally. What were the charges for? Things like not wearing the right hat or uniform or turning up late. I think of the man he would have been back then – 21 years of age, fresh from the slums of Sydney, a fighter, a survivor and someone who would turn out better than anyone expected.

As for the slander? Greed, jealousy based and un-Australian and I will not countenance it.       

Surrender? Don't be bloody silly, we're Australian…

I cannot surrender. I am in command of Australians who would cut my throat if I did.

http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-asstd/quote.htm

Not lip service, nor obsequious homage to superiors, nor servile observance of forms and customs...the Australian army is proof that individualism is the best and not the worst foundation upon which to build up collective discipline - General Monash.

**Photo is my father outside the Nee Soon Barracks in Singapore 1958 (serving with 3RAR) 

Honour beats greed...

“Know yourself and you will win all battles”
― Sun Tzu

So, I’ve been placed in a fight not of my choosing. But I will fight it because the words and the reputation of a good man demand it. I will fight to the end. I expect nothing to be left. That’s okay with me. I don’t do this for me. I do it because honour beats greed any day.

"Victory is always possible for the person who refuses to stop fighting."- Napoleon Hill 

Karma...

I’ve been thinking a lot about greed and the rampant sense of entitlement people have when someone passes away. There are those who immediately approach you with their hand out for what they believe is their share. They hound, badger and demand what they believe is their due even though they never did a damn thing for the person in life other than to ask them for money. Then there are those who stand beside you, in sad remembrance, who offer their hand to help, not expecting anything and are stunned when they’re given a gift. They often think it’s a mistake but it never is because good people give without thinking of benefit and are rewarded in kind.

It all comes down to karma doesn’t it? What you think you’re due karma will hand you, often in spades.

Authors...

….who call their 5,000, 10,000 or 15,000 word piece of writing a book are essentially playing with themselves and the public. It’s a short story, lovie. I wrote 10k essays when I was at Uni. I didn’t hand one in and say here is my book on the Linguistic vagaries of urban, tattoo Pigmies living in non-monogamous relationships who ride scooters in socio-economically challenged areas of the Simpson Desert. By the way…pretty much no one lives in the Simpson Desert. It’s hot and dry and there’s nothing for miles…but I digress…it’s not a book. It’s a short story. Writers don’t want to hear that. Why? Well a butt load of them are churning out fast stories to make a quick buck. I get that. I really do. Money makes the world go round and every writer, myself included, has done it. But don’t call a hastily written 5 men and one woman fuck-fest a book. I’m not doubting it sells but calling it a book gives readers expectations of more. It also – and this really annoys me – allows publishers to put inflated, ridiculous prices on short stories. $3.99 for a 15,000 word story that is written once, is formatted into different versions in the blink of an eye – and don’t let anyone try and tell you there’s a lot of work in formatting because that’s crap. There are programs that do that with very little thought from a human. $3.99 for 10-15k of words. Seriously? I can go to Kmart and get books on sale that are bigger and a better price. I can go to a junk shop and fill a bag with cheap books.

Yes, yes, yes…you have an e-reader. It’s the way of the future. I just wonder how many readers actually considered how expensive the future of stories and proper books was going to be. The greed of authors, publishers and giant corporations is bleeding readers dry. No, I haven’t been sucked into an ereader yet. And no, I do not ever plan to charge $3.99 for a short story. Why? Because readers deserve more.   

 Dicking Around…$1.16…

The Perils of Paula…$1.16

Strip for Me….$1.16

If Nor For You….$1.16

Hush…$1.16

Eat Me Up…$1.16

Bad Girl….$1.16

etc…etc…etc…

Don’t talk to me about expensive overheads. That’s bullshit. Treat the reader fairly.   

   

www.amarindajones.com

I have to laugh...

....the internet....the saga continues...lots of drama today – it still does not work properly and I am on this interim system– translation= crap dial up service - but the clincher was they have somehow wiped my email address from their system. They put it back on but changed the spelling of my surname from Jones to Jons. I said that’s not my name. Am I sure they asked. Why yes I am. Hmmm...they said – that’s very strange...yes it is. After much discussion they fixed it to the correct spelling. I am now at that punchy stage where I am laughing hysterically every time they do some other stupid thing...anyway, off those wankers until the next episode tomorrow.

Once a month at my job, the Acme Dance Shoe Company, (code for the place I must go to in order to get paid) has a lunch for factory and office staff. It’s nothing fancy but it’s part of a reward and recognition thing. Now, having worked at a few jobs (29 or 30) I have seen a few of these and they never change despite the company. First up the staff always, without fail, bitch about the food for lunch…I didn’t want chicken…I don’t like this salad…pizza
again…and yet they eat it and whine all the same. Pardon the French, but for fuck sake don’t eat it if you don’t want it. I annoys the hell out of me that just because food is ‘free’ people become gluttons and yet still whine about what’s on offer. Maybe I was raised strangely but just because something is free I don’t feel compelled to eat or take it if it does not appeal to me. I hate greed like this. The other thing – the reward and recognition – people, without fail, will bitch about the person or people that get said reward or recognition. Really who cares? I know it won’t be me – I do only have I have to at work in order to get paid (surprise) - and I don’t covet the laminated certificate. So why would people care? I guess it’s because being at work 8 hours a day is like being trapped within a small country with warring factions who have nothing else in their lives but food and certification. What do I do during these lunches? Why I do what I do everyday - I go for a walk and cross the border and see what life is outside. I don’t need the drama. I am dramatic enough without it.

For a while best friend Ethel was going through this phase where she kept telling me how ‘happy’ she was at work. I was very sceptical about this. Now, I don’t see Ethel often. She lives on the south side and I live north. People in Briz are either one or the other and rarely cross sides. When we meet we meet in the middle. In saying this, we talk all day on email, text each other and talk via phone – and no, despite some opinion, Ethel is not imaginary, though I suspect she would like to be sometimes due to the dramas in her life. And no, she will never comment on the blog as she just won’t. She’s quite shy despite the façade of bravado – but then aren’t we all? Anyway – back to being ‘happy’ at work. I, being the sceptical person that I am, knew this ‘happiness’ phase could not last long with Ethel. Why? Because we both have a long checkered history of jobs. So last night I got home and there was this email about work ‘sucking’ due to a new manager – translation = Ethel can no longer rort (exploit) the system. Being rorters of long standing, this pisses people like Ethel and I off and naturally we start thinking of other jobs. No, not me for the moment – but I will be expecting some reference check calls about Ethel soon. That’s okay – I haven’t lied outrageously for a while, okay a couple of hours, so I look forward to it. See? Happiness is just a passing phase and cannot be counted on.

I went and tried to buy a clock radio. Now while I have this annoying internal body clock that wakes me up at 3am, on the odd occasion it does not kick in and I may sleep to some crazy hour like 6am – wild stuff. So, I still set an alarm so I can get up and haul my arse to work without running around like a mad thing…okay, I still run around but there is less swearing. Yes, I swear. I feel fucking terrible about it. Anyway when did clock radios become so involved? They seem to do everything but tap into Mars television. Where is the clock the makes a sound to make you up without making coffee and paying your bills?

Tibet and the Olympics…shall I have my two cents? Yes, I think I will. I absolutely believe Tibet should be free and independent however is screwing with the Olympics really going to achieve anything? No, sport means absolutely nothing to me - but frightening average people who are running with the Olympic flame sucks. I respect people’s rights to protest but remember that ordinary people, kids, get caught up in it as well. I’m a great believer in manning barricades – show me one and I’ll defend it. By all means be passionate but be reasonable as well.

I had a man open a series of doors for me today. Chivalry is not dead. Yes, I am perfectly capable of opening a door myself but every so often it nice for a gentleman to come forward and do it. And yes, I am all for equality but I appreciate good manners from a man as well. It’s nice to know real men exist who are still men but are polite and thoughtful. Manners take nothing.

Just saw something on the TV about vandals smashing up headstones at a cemetery. Wow – that takes real guts to do that doesn’t it? To me, these people are losers. Grow up or get off the planet...it’s pretty simple.

Filed all day today (trying to clean up a mess the last person left)...I have no idea what the alphabet is any more. LMNOP is really hard to concentrate on when you add vowels to it and you have been doing it for 8 hours. I just know it’s all stuffed up but thankfully I don’t have a strong work ethic so I don’t have to worry about a guilty conscience. Apparently, some of the good people are working Saturday – see, it pays to be bad

I haven’t heard from Anny and Kelly in a while but I expect they are doing RT stuff so I guess they will be blogging on that…or not

www.freewebs.com/amarindajones/
Go ahead: Live with abandon. Be outrageous at any age. What are you saving your best self for?