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You may be gone, but the ideas that you shone light on
will forever shine, turning the quiet of every night
into a loud sound, a ringing in my ears
that blocks the silence I had taken comfort in for so long

Sigh.

This is an essay I wrote last year. Names and scenarios are fictional.

Dear Julie,

Thank you for your letter of 1 May 2012 in which you requested advice on Internet regulation laws in relation to your planned publications. Your questions, our answer to those questions and the reasons for our answers is set out below.

Questions and answers

Q1: Is Australian government in the position to use Internet regulation laws in order to deny you access to the Internet from your home or smartphone?

A: Most likely no. Depending on the state/territory in which you reside, police may have the authority to seize your computing equipment that allow you to connect to your Internet Service Provider (e.g. modem, router).

Q2: Is Australian government in position to use Internet regulation laws in order to deny public access to your offshore and/or local websites?

A: For local websites, the government can order a hosting provider to remove your content, after it is classified under Refused Classification. For offshore websites, it has only been shown so far that the government may be able to order the host in question to block access to Australian residents only.

Q3: Is Australian government in position to use Internet regulation laws in order to deny you or the public, access to your Facebook or Twitter pages, or the entire Internet?

A: Although a court may find otherwise, it is very unlikely that the government may be able to force Facebook, Twitter or any US based social network company to censor certain pages. Also in our opinion, certain sections of the Australian Constitution have implications that prevent the government from cutting the nation’s entire access to the Internet.

Q4: Are there laws protecting your publishing activities and whether certain type of content would be more or less protected?

A: There is an implied freedom of political communications which provides a very limited defense for authors of political publications.

It is rather soon now
to talk about my share of thoughts
lie beneath the blanket of white
I want to tell you something right

I could turn but you held me back
I hushed but you shouted loud
I fought but you threw you arms up
I cried but in my face, you laughed

And when will it be your turn?
My pocket is empty, my hands filled with greed
Leapt through rivers, my sense of self
Crimes of your time are written, they sit on the shelf

Begging mattered when wanting needed rest
My take on this will survive the past
Pale illusions of give and take
Now has us both under a calm arrest

Victimize the parts you took from me
Leave me the heart you took at first
Weep not for the gears that grinded our faults
Laugh at the lie “in you I trust”

Hey bossy pants
Let’s dance

Five rolling aces
Loads of glitter and roses

Five “I love you”s
Run of the mill blues

Falling chimneys by the dozen
Fire, fire, fire closer

Shopping at the mall with a cruiser
Bye bye to all of you losers

Sunday, my day, Coca Cola, hooray
Night time, bed time, a song, with rhymes

What if there were no rules?
Would you walk on that rug with your muddy shoes?
Would you set fire to the ugliness around you?
Would you walk away without calling the firemen?
Would you tell the firemen they deserved it?

Would you sleep tonight like a baby?
Would you wake up late tomorrow and not call your boss?
Would you tell him to go to hell when he calls you up?

Would you sit all day and think of me?
Would you pick up a paper and write me a note?
Would you dress up as the postman and deliver it to my door?
Would you blow me a kiss as you hand it to me?

oh shit, oh fuck
all I got is bad luck
always stuck under a rock
it’s no shock that i suck
at making a buck
what am I, a schmuck
that no one would even mock?

Prior to the play, I wandered around the bay
Sky was blue as usual, which made me very suspicious
So I grabbed a wet brush and splashed it all fresh

The orange sheeps of the village were angry at me for it
They wanted it to rain green for everything to look legit
The fuck do I know what the hell they’re on about, fucking creeps
I made a meal out of them, and I’m drinking after it

Thirty one and can’t ride a bicycle? If you can read and follow what you read, then I got you covered:

• Find a park that hires out bicycles your size.
• Find out what gears they have (they must have helmets at the least). If you want, buy knee and elbow pads. They’re not required but can add to your confidence and stop you from holding back.
• Plan a day when you have two hours to ride that bike in that park.

Get the above done. Get it done good, making sure you can’t get out of it. Then pick up a pencil and some paper and write these down, sing it in your head, these need to stick, make them do:

• My bike has a brake, it has a brake and I will use it to avoid ending up dead in a lake (and I have no choice but to ride near a lake).
• Your bike has a brake, so for Goodness sake, use it when you’re about to run over a snake.
• Pedal, pedal, pedal, don’t stop pedaling, just when you think you’ve pedaled enough, pedal some more.
• Do NOT stop pedaling.
• Look where you want to go. Don’t look at anything else. Don’t look at trees. Don’t look at the hot chick walking her puppy down the street (or the hot guy riding a horse up the hill!). Don’t look at anything but where you’re going at the level of horizon. Don’t look at the front wheel, the handlebar and certainly not your shaking arms.

I can be anyone, be anyone
I often am, I often do
take on the world
say what’s on my mind
fearing not what may come ahead
to cast a shadow on my pride

…

When my astonishment gave way to a train of thought that was to run for a long time, my narcissist side was the first to take the stage. I had landed on a gold mine, supply of which was infinite. I had gained a power with which I could potentially change the world from the comfort of my own home. I had found a gateway between my mind and those of others. I felt divine, high and above others. The feeling alone was so powerful, it made me forget about the past hour. But on a second thought, Hitler must have had the same feeling knowing he had the power to decide who lived and who didn’t. This was the flip side of the coin.