I'm much better at starting things, than continuing them - and I pretty much never finish anything - so this could be perfect or it could fall completely on its arse and this could be the first and last post. I don't know. We'll see. I rant a lot, so if it does continue, I expect it would mostly be whinges about stuff, although there may be the odd profound observations. We'll see.
I guess this should also start with who I am and all about me. Or perhaps maybe it shouldn't. Until I have built up a good solid backlog of witty observations, anyone who stumbles upon this is unlikely to care. Therefore I'm probably the only person who will read this and I already know about me. But in case anyone needs some details to provide a context to what I may or may not continue writing, here they are:
Name: Abe - short for Abraham. According to my mum, I was called Abraham at the suggestion of one of the nurses in the hospital (Middlesex County Hospital, Middletown, Connecticut) - she said that Abraham was a good Jewish name and with a good Jewish name I would do well in New York. This hasn't quite come to pass because shortly after I was born, we moved to Australia. I don't mind it as a name though, its pretty rare here so I don't usually need to add my surname when calling someone or introducing myself - which I like for some reason (maybe laziness).
Age: 35 - for some reason I always have to think about this and I'm never sure whether it is correct. Is this where the term 'thirty-something' came from?
Occupation: Environmental Scientist. Actually I'm not sure of the title as that has yet to be assigned to me by the big company which has recently bought the middle sized company that I used to work for before it ceased to exist. The best definition of science I have heard was from Jamie Kirkpatrick, a lecturer at Tas Uni, which went 'Science is a subdiscipline of philosophy concerned with the refutation of testable hypotheses' - I don't spend a lot of my time refuting hypotheses, so perhaps 'Environmental Consultant' might be a better term - though most people think a consultant is who they eventually get to talk to after waiting for about half an hour trying to get through to a company which is better at selling you something than fixing what they've sold you after it breaks. But it probably gets a better response than from people who aren't an environmental consultant but knows what one is: someone who is paid far too much to sit behind a computer and churn out reports to support a client who is often more interested in getting permission to destroy a part of the environment than finding out much about it. Schmoozing said clients and potential clients is part of the job description. A bit like a lawyer I suppose, but we seem to have to work far harder and we don't generally drive as flashy cars - so perhaps we could still get paid more. I recently tried to resign from this company due to too much work and too much stress, and instead they offered me part time and I only have to work for one client (A government department who actually wants to manage their land rather than destroy it to build something else). I've been doing this a while, so at my level this is pretty lucky - so here I still am - but I only work three days a week and get to spend the rest of my time with my wonderful boy. Well, thats the theory anyway - but its working pretty well so far.
Family Yes - Cheryl, girlfriend of 13 years and Arthur, 19 month old boy. Won't go into a lot of details here but they are lights of my life. Cheryl is an engineer, also part time. Immediate family widely dispersed (Tassie, NSW, San Francisco and potentially London). Geographically separated but very close - possibly because we are geographically separated.
Home Town Darwin, Northern Territory. A town with a frontier mentality and truly multicultural. Australia's gateway to the rest of the world. On the road, you are as likely to see a 4WD ute with spotlights and pig dog cage, as a Porche Cayenne or an import rice-burner with an exhaust they could stick their fist up (and probably do). What you are most likely to see though are Toyota Landcruiser Troop Carriers, driven by anyone with anything to do with remote indigenous communities, or late model HSV Holden Commodores driven by AJs (Army Jerks). I've lived in a few places in my life - Rozelle in inner city Sydney for the first 11 years of my life, then Cygnet in rural small town Tasmania until old enough to escape to Hobart. Cheryl and I bought a kombi about 1o years ago and drove it across the Nullarbor to Fremantle WA in search of paid employment (rare in Tasmania) where we lived for 5 years. Then to Alice Springs for a year and half before (logically) moving to Darwin. One day we will probably move back to Tasmania, but we're avoiding it because that would probably be for forever because Tassie is home.
Well, that was long winded. If any more posts follow, they will probably be just as long winded. Oh well, so sad too bad. I'll be interested to see how far this gets (or, indeed if it gets any farther).
