overcoming

"Man is something that must be overcome."

“To those human beings who are of any concern to me I wish suffering, desolation, sickness, ill-treatment, indignities - I wish that they should not remain unfamiliar with profound self-contempt, the torture of self-mistrust, the wretchedness of the vanquished: I have no pity for them, because I wish them the only thing that can prove today whether one is worth anything or not - that one endures."

I had a great time on the weekend in Sydney with Azita and Javid. Javid arrived, he can stay, there is nothing more to overcome. Azita has to overcome, she needs to stay, she doesn't ever want to go back. I am afraid I am too comfortable now ... I definitely need something to overcome. I wish I had been born in Iran, then I would have had to "overcome" all my life and I would certainly be a much greater person than I am now. The only way to overcome is to set myself obstacles. Perhaps I am slowly coming to the realisation that I should be in the US? But that is hardly a difficult goal for me... it would be too easy to get a job there. I am cursed to have had too comfortable a life! It is good that I understand both east and west though...

Oh yeah, dating non-Australian women has been more fun, there is more to overcome and so it is more rewarding in the end. Perhaps I should find someone really beautiful who is a moody bitch as well -- even more to overcome!!

Patrick White

He is a great Australian writer, perhaps our greatest, but I have not read any of his novels yet. I have been buying them at the Lifeline and UQ Alumni book fairs. Now I have:

The Living and the Dead (1941)
The Aunt's Story (1948)
The Tree of Man (1956)
Voss (1957)
Riders in the Chariot (1961)
The Solid Mandala (1966)
The Eye of the Storm (1973)
A Fringe of Leaves (1976)

The Burnt Ones (1964)
The Cockatoos (1974)
The Night The Prowler (1978)
Three Uneasy Pieces (1987)

Flaws in the Glass (1981)






I will make some time to read these.

westpac, citibank

It seems that one of the best ways institutions have of forcing me to make financial decisions is to annoy me in some way. I opened my Westpac account in 1988 when I won $30 in Grade 7, in the Australian Mathematics Competition. I remember when they actually used to pay decent amounts of interest... maybe that corresponded with high reserve bank cash rates?

In September 2004, I decided to move as much money as possible into Citibank, which was offering 5.4% with their Online Cash Manager account. This was in comparison with Westpac, which was offering nothing. In March 2005, they increased the rate to 5.5%. But then in April, Citibank dropped their rate to 4% for balances under $100,000. So I looked around again and this time I found Raboplus, offering 6.6% in an internet account. I can't understand how Westpac's share price has done so well when they seemingly offer so little. Today I changed my "Classic" account to an "eChoice" one and I will be striving to keep my balance as low as possible there from now on.