Commentary on Nick Perkins Archive

Hands off our super? But no one is putting their hands on our super.

Sun, 10 Feb 2013 17:43:21 +1000

ETA: Below I mention that interest is paid. To clarify, the ATO pays the account holder interest when an unclaimed amount is claimed.

This week I received an email from a family member asking me to sign a petition about superannuation. It isn’t a subject matter that I would normally be asked to look at but I thought that if they were convinced there was an issues that I should look into it. I’m not one to go and randomly sign petitions so I thought I should at least go and look into this a bit further.

Thoughts on School

Wed, 30 Jan 2013 11:33:26 +1000

I initially posted this on Facebook the other day but felt it was important enough to share here.

I look back on school as being some great times, although I did suffer at the hands of bullies. And then I think about how I never knew any LGBTIQ people at school, and how unlikely it is that out of all the people I went to school with no one wasn’t LGBTIQ.

Bullying – It’s also for adults

Wed, 18 Jul 2012 19:04:18 +1000

In March 2011 I wrote a guest piece for DISCOURSE. I discussed how I was bullied as a child. It had a big effect on my life and there are still times where this bullying causes me to react in strange ways. One example is, even after being together for more than seven years, if Natalie puts a hand up towards me quickly I will flinch and cower, waiting to be hit. Even if the movement isn’t even the slightest bit like a punch. It’s just a split second, but long enough to be noticed.

People shouldn’t have to die to get here

Fri, 22 Jun 2012 10:34:06 +1000

I’m feeling a little conflicted. I firstly want to state that I’m not an expert on the question of refugees, asylum seekers or ‘boat people’. If I get something wrong, please point it out to me.

I hate the fact that people risk their lives to travel in boats that are rarely seaworthy, are overcrowded, with little food or water and a shambles of a crew to come to Australia to apply for asylum or refugee status. More often than not, people die trying to get here.

Unborn Again: How do you fill your “God-shaped hole”?

Mon, 02 Jan 2012 16:57:31 +1000

_18/07/2012 – Six months later and I feel a whole lot different about this these days. No, I didn’t crawl back to Jesus or anything. I identified that was just feeling a bit shit. Therefore comments are now closed and no further discussion will be entered into. I would pull it down, but I don’t believe in removing the past as it helps create your future. – Nick
_

You can understand the peace and comfort that comes from being religious. The idea that at the end of the life on this planet that you can then go on and live an eternal life of peace and happiness is so inviting. I was a born-again Christian for many years from around the age of 8 or 9, and not because my parents were religious or church people. I attended church because I wanted to, and I thought that what they said sounded good and true.

On bodies and such

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 23:33:50 +1000

I originallyposted this on Tumblr. But I thought it might be a bit tl;dr for over there.

I am a cis-gendered hetro man. I have been known to see a lady in passing and notice that they have fantastic eyes, or great hair, or a nice body. I’ve been known to think to myself “mmm, nice x”. X could be hair, eyes, butt, smile, boobs, or something else.

I like to think of myself as a “progressive man of the world”, whatever that means. I would like to think that I’m a feminist, at least in training. And yet I’m still out there noticing women and going “mmm, nice x”.

BMI is crap. Let it go already.

Mon, 05 Sep 2011 11:58:07 +1000

Trigger Warning: Discussion of eating disorders and a mention of Alex Perry.

Fashion is not my thing. I’m no where near being a fashionista. However something caught my eye in the paper today.

There is an article today on the Courier-Mail Online about how Alex Perry is being a douche bag again. Since most of us know this already, I’m going to skip over it and talk about the last part of the article.

Census 2011 – Let’s use religion to scare the Christmas carols off you

Tue, 09 Aug 2011 11:39:56 +1000

I’ve seen this on Facebook a few times and it really gets my goat.

AUSTRALIA WILL BE HOLDING A CENSUS IN AUGUST
DO NOT LEAVE THE “RELIGION” SECTION BLANK. BE SURE TO AT LEAST TICK CHRISTIAN (OR YOUR OWN FAITH).
1,000,000 MUSLIMS WILL TICK THEIR BOX.
10,000,000 AUSTRALIANS WILL LEAVE IT BLANK THEN WONDER WHY CHRISTMAS CAROLS ARE BEING BANNED IN SCHOOLS!
PASS THIS ON TO ALL YOUR FRIENDS.
IT’S NOT ABOUT RELIGION, IT’S ABOUT KEEPING OUR WAY OF LIFE .

Freedom and challenges – working from home

Tue, 19 Jul 2011 15:41:55 +1000

March last year saw a big change in my life. I went from being a public servant to working in the private sector. I went from being a leader of a team of around 13 people to working from home by myself, with my boss working from his home and their boss working as part of a larger team in another state. I went from having structure to having freedom. It’s been great and it’s had its challenges.

Law and Order: SVU taught me something last night…

Fri, 15 Jul 2011 08:22:37 +1000

Trigger warning: talk of rape and violence against women

I watched an episode of Law and Order: SVU last night that dealt with some really tough issues. Actually I was working and went out to the lounge for a smoke break and ended up watching the last 15 minutes because I couldn’t look away.

The story was of a young lady who was raped by a knife wielding bandit. The story went that a lady had come across the scene and fought off the attacker and then slipped away into the world to hide. She was an illegal immigrant who had come to the US from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Human Software Testing

Thu, 14 Jul 2011 10:09:14 +1000

The last few weeks of my life have been full of tests. Not medical or life changing ones. Software tests. If you aren’t aware by now, I’m a computer programmer by trade. Well I’m called a “Business Analyst/Developer” by my company, but that really just means I look at problems and solve them with code.

I’ve been working on a major project for quite a while now and we are at the point of running through testing scripts to see if there are any major issues with it. I’ve come to love and hate testing since I entered the full time world of software development. On the one hand, there is great satisfaction in running through all the tests to find that there are no errors and that something I created does exactly what it is meant to do. On the other hand, there are the times where I just feel like there is no end to the issues I am finding.

Wherein a man talks about his medical problems – wait, what!?

Thu, 10 Mar 2011 10:00:28 +1000

This subject matter is very personal. I’ve taken a bit of time to sit back and think about whether I really want to open up about this on my blog but I think it is important that I do.

As I wrote in one of my previous posts I’ve been a bit unwell recently. At the time I figured that everything that was going on was due to my mental health issues. The symptoms seemed to fit the bill and my doctor was sure that was it. Don’t get me wrong here – I still have a mental illness and the symptoms still relate to that in some way. It’s just that things changed recently.

Quickie: Opinions, feel free to feel entitled

Sun, 28 Nov 2010 02:48:34 +1000

A bit of a quickie tonight as I sit up and wait for the after hours doctor to come visit. Yes, everything is fine.

Now that I’m living a little more enlightened, it has become clear to me that people very much hold their opinions close to their hearts. It doesn’t matter how many times you hear the quote “Opinions are like arseholes – everyone has one”, it seems that opinions carry a very big emotional value to the person to has it. I know that this is true for me, but it has taken a while to recognise this.

The idea of being sociable seems so foreign to me

Fri, 26 Nov 2010 16:50:44 +1000

I’ve never been big on making friends. It’s not that I don’t want to, I’m just really inept at it. When I’m in a social situation it is quite normal for me to sit quietly in a corner somewhere as everything else revolves around me. Occasionally I will pluck up the courage to talk, but quite often I will peer into my phone and pretend I’m doing something important. This implies that I’m not available and you don’t have to worry about me. Yet I’d love you to worry about me.

Friendship has so many different meanings

Mon, 15 Nov 2010 00:00:00 +1000

November 21, 2010

I was talking to Natalie the other night about friendship. Everyone has their own view on what friendship is. I’m no different and I think it is interesting to see the different forms of friendship that exist in the world. I thought I should explore this further, even if it is just for my own benefit.

What is friendship to me? I think there are different levels of friendship depending on how long I’ve known someone, how I became friends and there are different reasons why I am friends with them. That doesn’t mean the friendship is any less important but it does mean that what I might expect from them is different.

Angry Birds Cake by Lauren Lee

Mon, 08 Nov 2010 22:29:50 +1000

Click to see the full size image

Yo shorty, it’s ma birthday. We’re gonna party like it’s ma birthday. Well it is on Friday. Tonight I went and picked up what I can only describe as a very generous pre-birthday present from good friend Lauren from Cakes by Lauren Lee. It’s an ANGRY BIRDS CAKE!

Mental Illness – it can’t go on being hidden

Mon, 01 Nov 2010 13:07:53 +1000

A blog is a personal space but it can be very hard to allow the deepest parts of yourself to be on show. I talk a lot about fat acceptance issues on this blog because it is something that is important to me and that affects me daily. There are other things that affect me daily that I never talk about on this blog, since they feel too raw to share with the world in general. One of those issues will be getting an airing today.

Hung like a parliament

Sat, 04 Sep 2010 11:18:23 +1000

Two weeks after the election and we still don’t know who will be the next Prime Minister of Australia. We’ve had the Green’s Adam Bandt and independent Andrew Wilkie side with Labor, giving them a 74-73 lead in the race for power. However there are three independents left to make up their minds. So what happens if they split and we end up with 75-75?

I can see a few things that could happen. The first thing that happens in a new parliament is that the speaker is elected. The independents would have agreed to vote with the government on supply and confidence votes, but they could still go against them when voting for the speaker. If a speaker is elected, then the side where the speaker comes from will be down one person, as the speaker only votes in the case of a tie. If there is a tie when voting for the speaker, there is no casting vote so they would have to try another candidate. This is the point that we may find that no speaker can be elected, and therefore parliament is borked and new elections required.

Stand up for your rights on Polling Day

Fri, 20 Aug 2010 00:10:00 +1000

It’s one day before the Federal Election here in Australia. I’d forgotten what that means until I saw a tweet just a second ago.

Tweet by @ben_hr

Whilst most politicians have been spending the last five weeks worrying about hitting a snag throughout the campaign, it’s Saturday when the focus is really on the snags. And the onions and tomato sauce. Don’t forget the lamingtons, other baked treats and even perhaps some jams or drinks. Polling day is a big money spinner for school Parents and Citizens (P&C) Associations across this big land of ours.

Marriage – why do I have the right, but not gay people?

Sun, 15 Aug 2010 01:25:54 +1000

There was an equal love/gay marriage march held in Brisbane today. Sadly I didn’t make it due to other plans, but from what I understand it received an excellent turnout. I’m not going to talk about the march, since I wasn’t there. However I do want to cover the topic of gay marriage.

The Marriage Act in Australia specifies that marriage is between a man and a woman. This clarification was added to the act by the Howard Government, which isn’t surprising really. I think it was in their last term in office as well. When the Rudd Labor Government came to power, much was done to bring many rights for gay people into line with those for straight people. This includes recognising gay couples as being the same as ‘de facto’ couples and therefore receiving basically the same rights as any heterosexual couple. The right to get married was not included in this though.

Not-crying and the art of self-awareness

Sun, 15 Aug 2010 00:00:00 +1000

August 27, 2010

I am always on a journey of self-development. It’s only been in the last few years that I have become more self-aware. I am learning to listen to my body and to heed it when it tells me that I need to rest, or that I’m feeling flat. I am aware now that when I’m feeling blue that it is a state of mind and something that I can work though. Well, sometimes I am aware of this. Sometimes I fall into a heap and not-cry.

Sometimes it is okay to cancel on your friends

Sun, 15 Aug 2010 00:00:00 +1000

August 14, 2010

I’ve done it a few times, and I’m sure that many others have done it too. I get invited to something by a friend and check my calendar, find that I’m free and tell them I’ll come along. I even put it in my calendar so I won’t forget. When the day rocks up, I’m feeling particularly anti-social or I’ve had a really bad day and I just can’t face the world. So I make up some excuse as to why I can’t go and said friend is probably a little miffed but accepts my reasons.