The Cassandra Complex

I haven't updated for a while again, I know. I was going to post a rant about Guantanamo Bay inmates supposedly being fat happy Harry Potter readers after I heard a story on AM where a senator said just that, but Mikey did it for me (and far better than I ever could) after I mentioned it to him.

You can see his journal about it here: Gitmo is Great

In other news, I am quite chuffed, because the picture I posted at my previous entry was featured in a QC Prints Feature on deviantART (QC = Quality Control). It's nowhere near as good an exposure as getting a Daily Deviation would be, but it's good enough for me.

Now if only people would go out and by my prints! :P

Haven't done anything on Photoshop since then, though. I have spent all of my computer time on World of Warcraft - sad but true. I am going to go back and touch up at least one of my previously submitted bits of art, I decided last night, because since I got the Wacom tablet I can just do so much better work. Looking at the old stuff annoys me a bit now!

As far as WoW goes, I've started raiding in he past couple of weeks - that's when you get together as part of a group of 20 (or 40) like minded players to do the high end instances in the game. Because I am playing a restoration specced druid, I am one of the healers.

I'm also looking at leveling some or all of my other characters to give me some choices that actually inflict hurt on others; my choices are a warlock (Rhapsodie), a hunter (Evelyne) or a warrior (Cynamonn). I'll probably do all three on rotation to get the most out of rest bonuses... I just rolled up the hunter and she is a lot of fun to play. With M's help I got her the Rake, a rare spawn lion from one of the Horde starting areas, which is the fastest cat you can get for a pet till you get to the jungles of Stranglethorn Vale at level thirty-something.

Bemused yet? :P

As far as work goes, I went and did the higher paying temp position for the six weeks and am now back in my normal job. As far as the transfer at level to the new area goes, my boss has said that she'll consider it for the end of July, after the financial year crap is over. In the meantime, they are advertising my job as an expected vacancy, and I get to be on the interview panel! That's gonna be weird...

More Photoshop stuff. :)

(It wasn't me that called him that, it was Rupert Murdoch!)

I got a bit outraged with a sound bite from John Howard this morning apologising profusely for the latest "bungle" (I hate that word) by the ebil Department of Defence in losing the CD that contained a draft report relating to the lost body of a dead soldier.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding was that Johnny was refusing to apologise for the stolen generation because he didn't actually do it personally, so it wasn't his fault.

Does that meant that he personally left that CD in the airport lounge's computer?

Just wondering...

My last Photoshop effort, from about a week ago. It does look better in a bigger size image - if I've done it right you should be able to click on the piccy to see a bigger one.

I have a couple of other ideas I am tossing around and will get to soon. I am going to try and do at least one of them over the weekend. :)

PS In the original pic her eyes were open. Can you tell?

I didn't listen to the budget reply speech last night (or even the original budget), on account of World of Warcraft commitments. ;)

But I did hear a sound bite on AM this morning that made me laugh:

KIM BEAZLEY: This Treasurer's like a poker machine: you put in, you pull the arm... nothing; you put in again, another pull... nothing. Time after time... nothing.

(sound of applause)

SPEAKER: Order.

KIM BEAZLEY: And then, at last, the lights flash, the bells ring, crowds gather round. "Jackpot!" the Treasurer crows. ... Ten bucks. That's the drop. Ten bucks!

Beautiful!

So, John Howard and his sidekick Peter Costello have released next year's budget, coming (as expected) with a slew of tax cuts. I haven't looked at it in detail, but my reading of the news this morning is that I can expect an extra $10-15 a week... which may even be enough to cover the increased cost of the mortgage interest rates hike. Maybe. It won't cover the increased petrol prices as well though.

But the idea of taking the money leaves a bad taste in my mouth.* I can't get past the fact that I feel like John Howard has simply been lucky that he's in power during the commodities boom, and that he's using that good luck to bribe people into forgetting all of the horrific changes he's made since he got control of the Senate. Which is of course what he's doing.

I'd be happier if, instead of tax cuts, the money had been spent on more useful stuff to the community, like hospitals or child care. Even though I don't have children. But I guess that's what makes me a Labor voter instead of a Liberal voter - the fact that I think the government could do things that are good for the community with the money rather than slashing everything and giving money back to the taxpayer with a "well, now you can pay for the stuff we just took off you" mentality.

A demonstration of said mentality, from ABC News: "One of the best ways to help people with high petrol prices is to put money in their pockets," [John Howard] said. "Fiddling around with the excise or some sort of subsidy scheme on the commodity itself is not the answer. The answer is to put more money into people's pockets."

But perol subsidies would've helped, right? Instead of fiddling around with tax cuts?

Anyway... I heard Kim Beazley on the radio this morning saying he thought the Australian voter was smart enough to see through all the tax cut bribery and remember the crap this government has pulled since the last election (and before that). Wish I had his confidence; I didn't think they'd get elected last time.

It's all very depressing.

* And before someone comes out with a smarmy "well if you don't want to take the tax cut then don't" comment, that's not possible, is it? The system doesn't allow for that sort of contribution. I suppose I could run a few red lights over the course of the year and pay the money back to the government that way. Or, hey, buy petrol for my car and pay them in subsidies.

Yesterday evening at about 5.30pm my Night Elf Druid in World of Warcraft, Swiftspring, hit level 60.

I went internally berserk! :)

Edit: Here's a picture of her, taken a few days later:


For those non-WoW players amongst my gentle readers (lol), blue hair and glowy eyes are normal for Night Elves. The little dragon is a pet, an emerald whelpling I found on the body of a dragon whelp I killed one time. :)

The cape and the shoulders are additions from after I got to 60.