I had your last post open in a tab for ages, meaning to make a comment! I was on welfare when my son was young and I also worked for a while with Centrelink (the govt agency here that deals with welfare). Single mums get a lot of bad mouthing but I reckon 90% of the single mums I dealt with wanted to get off welfare and do the best for their kids. If they rang to say they'd got a job and didn't need assistance any more, you could hear the happiness and pride in their voices. But, of course, like your mum, that has a whole other set of problems with child care. I was lucky, I had a really close friend who helped me out esp when I was working full time and studying. I dunno what I would've done without him.

I think if you grow up poor or have been poor, you are far less forgiving than if you come from a middle class background. In Australia, the welfare system is v different to the US. Pretty much everyone can get welfare - it's needs based not contribution based. So if I see a beggar, I know it's because they are pissing their money up the wall whereas my co-workers are a lot more "compassionate". I esp hate junkie mums who use their kids (needing food/nappies) to beg for money... which will get used for smack more likely anyway.

It's really cheap to buy good food here. I remember only having a few dollars until payday and going to the fruit shop, getting bags of reduced price vegies to make enough soup for a few days. If anyone in Aus says it's cheaper to eat junk food, I get very angry! Even now, we dont' have a car so we catch PT transport to the market with our shopping jeep.

It's been discussed a fair bit here if junk food should be taxed to make it more expensive. The counter argument is that it'd disadvantage the poor! WTF. Even so, it costs a lot more for Maccas etc here because the minimum wage is much higher. You couldn't buy a meal for a family at Maccas for under $20 and you could buy enough vegetables for a week with that money, plus a bit of meat!

It's just a massage, right. If I had a significant other, I wouldn't even think to ask them because I'd considered it the same as getting a hair cut or something. Actually I need a massage at the moment!

It's one of those books I've picked up a few times but never actually read. Might give it a go after reading this.
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God, if that's the shit that people have caught on video, imagine how much else there is. I don't get that video - why was the guy arrested in the first place? He wasn't even doing anything. And the poor dog, of course it's going to react like that. It's just being protective.
My recent post Tentative Schedule

I've seen those cards and had the same rant. A lot of ppl pay to level up in phone games now too. I wanna get on that gravy train (the supply not the demand)!

Btw checkered cake looks amazing.

I'm actually working at the Education Department at the moment and the whole issue of kids being praised for everything is a big one atm. Apparently, it doesn't work... der!

I got some of the Sally Hansen nail stickers - same concept. They are quite expensive though, should check if Avon does them here.

It wouldn't fly in Australia and I'll tell you why - the little fuckers would delibrately do badly on their homework because some other kid would be wearing it not them. And the parents would probably be getting stuck into the kid that had made their kid get a sucky mark.
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When I went to school here, we had a system where you were put into a class levels 1-3 then graded within that level. They got rid of it because the kids in level 1 (the lowest level) might have self esteem issues, blah blah blah... I thought it worked great, you had classes with kids with the same ability so much easier for teachers and no kids goofing off because the work was too hard/easy.

Also they said it disciminated against kids in the low levels when they went for jobs but I reckon for a job in sales or trades etc, a kid with high grades at level 1 looked like a hard worker who always tries hard while a low level 2 kid probably just cruises through. If you put them together and they both got a C or something then the employer doesn't see that.

That dude, why didn't he just use an interpreter/translator instead of making a huge dick of himself?

I just saw the call out for the Japanese speech contest here the other day and was thinking what a huge wank it was. Plus they said you win "great prizes". I don't do shit for unspecified "great prizes" - that can mean anything from a stupid certificate to an all expenses paid holiday.
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