Short Story – The Message

On By Joel AgiusIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Note: Originally Published on June 13th 2017

The Message

It had started out as just another regular day. I had become accustomed to a sort of, routine, that I would carry out without fault every single day. I had woken up to the sound of some birds chirping at the window of my room inside the cozy single-storey house that I lived in. The dog was once again barking at them, just as per usual. I got up out of my warm bed & got changed into one of my usual outfits. I proceeded down the hallway & made myself some breakfast, then walked into the lounge room & sat on the plush sofa. I decided to watch a bit of television before my morning walk, something I usually wouldn’t do, but hey, it was past time for a slight variation to my morning routine. And so I turned on the television, intending to watch something interesting, maybe just something fun, something that would humour me slightly. Maybe just watch the news or something, although there were always without fail distressing & depressing stories aired on the news, with some feel-good ones scattered between them. It was probably a waste of time really. So I went on to the TV guide built into the television, & scrolled through the various channels featured until I came across a sci-fi television show that I’d seen once before, but hey, it was entertaining, so why not? And so I clicked the remote, fully intending to witness some supernatural stuff. And boy, was I in for something else.

When I hit select on the remote, the television changed channels to show me the sci-fi show I wished to view. And yeah, the show did play & was good entertainment, for about ten minutes at least. Ten minutes in, just as the action was getting good & the tension was building up, I witnessed something that was absolutely astounding. The show stopped midway, the screen went black, & then there was a flicker & some words appeared on the screen that seemed out of this world. It was a message, one that read ‘Hello, you have been in a coma for eighteen years. We have managed to develop a new technique using newly created technology, capable of delivering messages such as this to comatose individuals who have shown no sign of awaking any time soon. We don’t know where this will appear in your dream, or even if it will actually appear. But if it does, & if you are reading this, PLEASE WAKE UP.’

I couldn’t believe what I had just read. What was this? Was it true? Was I really comatose? Was this ‘reality’ that I had been living in just a dream? Was it all inside my head? And if it was true, how would I wake up? It was all so confusing. I could barely get my head around it. So I decided that it wasn’t worth pursuing. It wasn’t worth a throbbing headache. And so I decided to just switch off the television & get to my morning walk. So I grabbed the dog’s collar & lead & fastened them around his neck. He was a good little pup. He jumped up & down as soon as he saw me grab the lead, & so he was bounding & ready to go when we walked outside. I locked up & off we went on our daily walk through the streets of the little town we lived in. Trance hopped along in front of me, sniffing out all those familiar smells he’d identified each day we took our walk. I decided after about fifteen minutes of walking that I’d grab a coffee from the local café, & so that’s where we arrived about five minutes later. And as fate would have it, it was there that I bore witness to more strangeties.

I had ordered a cappuccino, & as I sat there waiting for my order number to be called, I quickly flicked through today’s paper. Everything was pretty much just same old, same old. But then something caught my eye. As I was rustling through the pages, I came across an article titled ‘Man In Coma For Eighteen Years, Doctors Attempt Wake Up Using New Technique’. I was astounded. Twice in one day. And yet it wasn’t over, because just as I had decided to ignore the article & throw the paper in the trash, I heard something on the café’s radio. Someone was talking about motorcycling accidents, how they were becoming all too common, & how some were resulting in comas. I thought nothing of it until they just happened to mention a man who had been involved in one such accident who had been in one of the longest comas that medical professionals had ever witnessed. Eighteen years. That’s when I began to freak out. What was happening? Just as I had gone into a flurrying state of nervousness, my order number was called out; number eighteen. I went over to grab my cappuccino, & saw that the workers here had apparently employed one of those coffee artists. There was a little drawing that had been done on my cappuccino. It appeared to be an image of a motorcycle driving along a road which had the number eighteen in a sign at its end. Ok, that was it, now I was in full blown panic, chaos, whatever you want to call it.

I ran out of the café, leaving my cappuccino behind, & quickly taking the lead of little Trance. Wait a minute. The dog’s name. Trance. Did I name him that? I don’t remember calling him that? Wait isn’t trance another word for a sleep. Oh great. As if I needed addition to the panic that was already bubbling over inside me. I ran, with the dog of course, even if he wasn’t real he was still cute & I wasn’t just gonna leave him behind. I made it back to my home in ten minutes flat. It was then I noticed something I’d never thought about before today. My house number was 18, 18 Fantasia Drive. Well this was just great. What was I supposed to do now?

At this point, I almost fully believed what was being conveyed to me through these messages, these little hints scattered everywhere, all over this world which seemed real, but was potentially just a fantasy, a hallucination, an image that my extraordinary mind, my avid imagination had conjured up after the accident. Even though I believed all of this now, & I had discovered the truth, I came to a very sudden & scary realization; I didn’t know how to get out of here. If this ‘reality’ was all just a dream, how was I supposed to wake up?

What’s Going On? – Politics

On By Joel AgiusIn Politics & SocietyLeave a comment

Note: Originally Published on June 13th 2017

Currently the world over, we are seeing a wide spanning range of political differences and instability. Now, each country that is dealing with these instabilities of sorts each have their own reasons for how it has come to be this way, but there seems to be some commonalities between countries in which changes are occurring. The most prominent of these is the increase in the number of individuals, in particular younger individuals, who have decided to undertake that occasional task that is voting. Each country is obviously different in some way in how they go about the process of voting and all that follows, however, each and every one of them (well, bar the dictatorships) is the same in that a leader is elected by the vote of the people. And in recent years, moreover recent months, we have see a surge in the amount of young people who have turned out to polling booths all over their respective countries to vote, and their votes have somewhat changed the leadership environment of the country in which they inhabit.

Two countries in particular have caught the world’s eye more recently; that is the U.K. and of course the United States of America (or divided states to some). The UK has more recently had their vote, only last week, and yes, there was a significant increase in the amount of people who turned out to the polls, particularly the younger individuals. Now the two major parties are those of the Conservatives, led by Prime Minister Theresa May, and the Labor Party, led by Jeremy Corbyn. Now, in May’s idealisation, she thought that calling an election three years early with an extended campaign was a good idea, primarily because she thought it would bring some stability to the government of the United Kingdom. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? She sounds like someone else a bit closer to home, right? Maybe even someone who has the same initials as herself, just switched around. TM the opposite way around is MT. That’s right, you guessed it! Malcolm Turnbull. Mr Turnbull, similarly, decided to call a double dissolution, also with an extensive, three month campaign, for the basic purpose of cementing his place and gaining some increase in stability. And they each faced a very similar outcome; a severe loss of seats in parliament and an increase in instability. And a fun fact; each of their respective campaigns were managed by the same individual. My advice: I would not go hiring that guy if you want to keep your government in tact. Right now, the Labor parties on both countries are waiting for their chance to seize power, and it may not be all that long for some.

Meanwhile, over in the US, we’ve seen some months of increasing uncertainties, since the election of Mr Billionaire Businessman, Donald Trump. Trump has, in some senses, created some division between individuals in the US, and even in other countries. This has come about stemming from a variety of purposes, such as his unique policies. For example, the immigration restrictions on those who come from Muslim nations, of which the policies, or the movements of which have been created for them, have been barred by judges at least twice. What this has created is somewhat of a prejudice within the so called ‘United’ States of America, which has become more of a divided nation. Not to say that this prejudice hasn’t been around for a greater period of time, it has just become even greater more recently. The current issue with the US, however, is that Trump, who has become overly used to firing people in the past, has now taken it to a whole new level, firing the Director, or former Director, of the FBI, James Comey. The reason behind this was never stated, but now it appears, through Comey’s testimony and statements, that there was something else going on that Trump wanted hidden from the world. And coupled with his tweets, he’s really not doing himself any favours. I think some would agree that he himself didn’t realise how much harder this job would be than he realised. And does anyone know what ‘covefefe’ means yet? All I’ve managed to come up with is that he’s coding something, or this may in fact be the nuclear codes. Anyway, Trump still has some work to do, and, doubtful though it may seem, impeachment is something on many minds. It’s not entirely impossible, but highly unlikely due to the majority of all levels of government in the US comprising of Republicans over Democrats. However, it could still happen, although with some major work in persuasion from the Democrats. Who knows what’ll happen in America these days?

So there you go, a bit of a commentary on the politics of the world at the moment. Hope you got something out of it, and if there’s any suggestions for future articles/commentaries or even ideas on what ‘covefefe’ means, let me know in the comments. Thanks for reading!

JJ

World Of Sport – Football

On By Joel AgiusIn Uncategorized2 Comments

Note: Originally Published on June 14th 2017

Football – commonly referred to as the beautiful game. A game of skill, possession, and tactics. There are many a talented footballer out there from countries such as Spain, England, France, Argentina, and the list goes on. All of these international footballers have prospective talent, and many show great skill in what they do and how they play. There are some players who just amaze and leave in awe anyone who watches them play. For example, the masterful likes of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Coaches/Managers in a range of different countries also show great tactical precision, alike to those of coaches such as the renowned former coach of English Premier League side Manchester United, Sir Alex Ferguson. There are also former players who have turned to coaching after their initial retirement from playing football. The likes of former FC Barcelona coach Luis Enrique and current Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane have both played and coached for their respective clubs. So international football summed up in one word, brilliant.

And then there’s Australian football. Now of course the Aussies aren’t all that bad, but they do have a lot of work to do in order to get things right. The Aussies just aren’t as skilful as many of their counterparts the world over. Now that’s not to say that all the players that Australia produces are terrible. No, there are actually a few decent players in the mix. We have a recently turned English Premier League star in Aaron Mooy, who has previously played with teams like the Western Sydney Wanderers

and Melbourne City, and the well known Tim Cahill, who has played for teams like Chelsea and Everton in the Premier League before doing a stint in China and then returning home to play for Melbourne City in the A-league. The problem: Tim Cahill is getting to an age where his football career may be coming to an end. And the question really is: who is going to take his spot in the Socceroos?

And so Australia needs an answer to the question of who will play for us in a side that actually has a chance in the coveted FIFA World Cup. The Socceroos have played in the regions of Oceania, too easy a feat for them, and then Asia, in which they have won the Asian Cup, but are now somewhat struggling to get through the World Cup Qualifiers. And Australia needs to produce home-grown top-quality footballers in order to outperform other international sides. We were very much subject to this lesson last night, in which the Socceroos suffered a 4-0 loss to the spectacular Brazilian international side, who put one in the back of our net after playing for only 12 seconds. They showed great skill, and Australian football should aspire to become like that of other great international sides, such as the Spanish and the Argentinians. These countries produce the highest quality players, who go on to be highly sought after by clubs in league-based competitions the world over. And our Australians need to keep up.

The Australian Football League, known as the A-League, is not particularly one of the greatest the world has seen. It consists of ten teams, nine of which are from around Australia, consisting of 2 teams from Sydney, 2 from Melbourne, as well as 1 from Newcastle, the Central Coast, Brisbane, Adelaide, and Perth, as well as a New Zealand based team in the Wellington Phoenix. The League basically goes like this: 10 teams, 24 rounds, Finals Series, top 2 teams as well as a third will go to play in the Asian Champions League, happy days, right? Wrong. It’s really not good enough. The A-League is one of, if not THE only League in the world football to have a salary cap. Why? Because of one man: David Gallop. Gallop may sound familiar because he was once the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National Rugby League (NRL). He possessed this job for 10 years or thereabouts, from 2002-2012, before taking up the position of CEO for the Football Federation of Australia (FFA). Yes, the FFA. Probably what could be considered one of the worst, if not THE worst run football federations in the world (Although FIFA did a pretty good job of being horrendously run there for a while with the corruption that took place). The FFA practically run the A-League, and in saying that, in simple terms, David Gallop and his co-authoritarian and fellow dictator Steven Lowy basically run the A-League and get the final say on anything and everything to do with it. This ruins the League. The A-League should be like all leagues around the world, united and together, democratic, and fair, with absolutely no salary caps. If this was the case, we would see a major improvement in the A-League, the players who are involved, and the quality of football that results from it.

At the current time, A-League teams sign players who have previously played for either their own club, or another club within the league. And if current A-League players get an overseas offer, most of which come from China or another Asian country, they will more than likely jump at the chance and take it. Why? Money. Players in the A-League earn a significant amount less than that of players in overseas leagues, inclusive of leagues in Asia. And naturally, players want to earn a high amount of money, so displaying the incentive for international transfers. But we have to ask ourselves, why can’t they be offered enough to stay in Australia? And so we come back to that detested idea that is the salary cap. Every year, at the end of another season in the A-League, teams must, somewhat regretfully, offload some highly respected players in order to make room for new players, or simply because they cannot afford these players anymore. Teams then purchase players who are at a skill level decreased from what has been lost, inevitably resulting in an occurrence of the skill level in the League decreasing. This is the exact reason for which the salary cap must be eradicated, and an expansion should be on the cards, so that talent already formed can be kept, and high quality players can be brought in from overseas. Sure, the marquee and visa spots each team has allows for international players to join up, but it’s not enough. Then there’s the guest player position that was created more recently, most likely an excuse for the FFA to bring Tim Cahill into the A-League, proven through the way in which the FFA have rejected requests from the Western Sydney Wanderers to bring in Bulgarian former Manchester United striker Dimitar Berbatov. The reason given by the FFA: He wouldn’t draw a big enough crowd to the A-League. This really does display how incoherent and ineffective the organisation known as the FFA is. The guest player spot is now therefore classified by some as the Tim Cahill spot.

Expansion also needs to occur in order to bring in new players and grow new talent in Australian football. Expansion has been on the cards for the FFA, with many teams from around the country putting in their applications for joining should there be an expansion. The FFA has previously promised expansion, but have inevitably and not at all surprisingly delayed this necessity, again showing how unnecessary this football organisation is. In fact, current clubs have considered breaking away from the FFA should the need arise in the future. That is, if an intervention from the reformed FIFA organisation doesn’t step in first. The addition of more teams to the A-League, as well as a second division, accompanied of course by the concepts of promotion and relegation, would be promising for Australian football, and for the future of the international team in terms of stability and growth. So it should prove a definite for the future of Australian football.

On another note, the A-League has some very passionate supporter bases, with active support groups such as the Western Sydney Wanderers’ prominent (or infamous) Red and Black Block, and Sydney FC’s The Cove. These groups cheer and chant, powerful and strong in number, but sometimes there are members who get out of hand, and so need to be kept in check. Derbies, particularly the Sydney and Melbourne varieties, pull a strong crowd, with tensions being high every time. It’s great to see the world of football growing in Australia, becoming one of, if not the, biggest sport in the country.

So that’s it from me on football for now. Make sure to check in later for more stories, and I hope you enjoyed this somewhat thorough and detailed analysis. Let me know any suggestions or ideas in the comments and thanks for reading!

JJ

What’s Going On? – Refugees And Asylum Seekers

On By Joel AgiusIn Politics & SocietyLeave a comment

Note: Originally Published On June 15th 2017

In the modern world, the one thing that all countries hope to someday achieve is peace. Peace is something that eludes so many individuals and so many nations these days. It appears to be constantly out of reach. And it appears this is to continue for a while yet. The issue is, if peace cannot come to the world, then inevitably, we are going to be subject to a force which may be unstoppable: chaos. And if chaos is allowed to reign over one nation, it will spread like wildfire, like a disease, until it infects the entire globe. And so it must be stopped before this occurs, because how would the world go on attempting to achieve peace when chaos is knocking on their doors?

One of the major issues in our world is that of refugees and asylum seekers transporting themselves from country to country, attempting to seek out a place of safety, away from the wars that are occurring within their respective home nations. For example, those who are seeking asylum from countries such as Syria and Iraq, mainly Middle Eastern countries where war has broken out over the years. Currently, a war is being fought in Syria on a range of fronts. Put simply, the war started out as a civil war between the State and a group of Rebels, who were extremely dissatisfied with Syrian President Bashaar Al-Assad’s regime, and simple protests quickly escalated into riots and broke out into an all out civil war. However, the civil war became something much bigger when, somewhat inevitably, a third party decided to use the war as a means of undertaking their own plots; the terrorist organisation known by many a name, but quite commonly as Islamic State. This terrorist group has since launched and carried out terror plots in nations worldwide, such as in France, and more recently, Manchester and London. They aim to invoke terror in all people who are in areas that are attacked. And in order to combat this, people must unite together, stand together as one, and display courage and strength, both in number and as individuals. In doing this, terror can be eradicated, in fact it may actually happen sooner than later.

And now, back to the topic of refugees and asylum seekers. These individuals are travelling, most often by boat, to countries where they hope to find peace and live a quiet, easier life than they have in the war torn nations which they have recently escaped from. They just want peace for pity’s sake. And the majority of them aren’t getting it. Why? Because of the governments. Take a look at Australia for example. So many individuals flee their respective countries to come to a somewhat peaceful nation that is Australia every year. And what happens when they arrive? Well, to put it simply, they are sent to live even more miserable lives. They are denied entry into the country, and then sent off to detention centres, basically prisons, to live out their lives indefinitely, unless of course they are eventually released at an undefined point in time because the government finally found some generosity in their heart. But you know, we can’t blame the government entirely. I mean, they’re only trying to keep the country safe from terrorists. And rightly so, because who knows whether or not a terrorist is hiding amongst asylum seekers, attempting to disguise themselves so that they can gain entry to a country in which they aim to wreak havoc. It is quite true that this could happen. But why should these other people, these other terrified human beings, have to be punished? Why should they have to endure a very similar life to the one they only just escaped from? Sometimes, one individual has to ruin it for everyone else. Sometimes it’s because one person has done damage to the country previously and the government simply cannot allow for that to occur again. And we wouldn’t even have this problem relating to asylum seekers entering the country the wrong way if those individuals who’s responsibility it is at the embassies actually did their jobs and processed requests for migration to other nations from individuals living in the real-life nightmares that are war torn countries like Syria. It’s not a question of whether asylum seekers and refugees are doing things the right way, it’s a question of why they have to resort to going this way rather than taking the legal options. Some food for thought there.

And there we are, another analysis of another issue held in place by the world. I sincerely hope you found this an interesting and intriguing read. As always, make sure to leave any suggestions or ideas in the comments, and thanks for reading!

JJ

Thought Bubble: Science Fiction

On By Joel AgiusIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Note: Originally Published June 15th 2017

Science fiction, commonly known by many as, quite simply, sci-fi. A genre of immense and expansive proportions. And quite a fun one at that. It’s quite interesting in some regards, as some of the obscure, dreamy ideas of sorts that come from the realm of science fiction, are being looked into and could in some sense become a reality at some point in the future. I personally am a big fan of the genre, and become enthralled in the many concepts that are presented in science fiction texts, television shows and films on a regular basis. I actually find it quite fun to just imagine the wide range of possibilities that could be within this small world of ours, how much more there is to see out there, beyond our own planet.

I often sit back and wonder what the future may be like. All the possibilities, however extensive, are displayed within science fiction based texts, TV shows and films, and they occasionally will show some promise of actually being a premise for a reality of some form within the future, whether it be distant or maybe even at a point quite close in proximity to the time of now. Many recurring themes and ideas present themselves in the world of science fiction. For example, the prospect of time travel and teleportation is a recurrent, as well as the never-ending, ever-changing idea of superhuman, or supernatural abnormalities (put simply, ‘superpowers’ and note: that’s going to sound somewhat amusing coming from me seeing as I may endeavour in this area at some point in the future😁).

It would be brilliant to see some of these well-known ideas become a reality at some point in the future. Wouldn’t it be brilliant to be able to just travel anywhere at will, even if it is with the aid of an ever-powerful machine? Wouldn’t you love to be able to travel through time and space to any point across the universe at any point in time? Wouldn’t it be great to have the capability to jump into a range of other dimensions and parallel universes? I’m sure that occasionally some individuals will wonder what’s really out there, and what humanity is capable of achieving in terms of technological advances in the future. Some may even give thought to whether or not there may be other various versions of their own selves living out there in parallel universes/dimensions. The universe really is a wonder.

Of all the things that we’ve seen in shows like Doctor Who, Star Trek and for those who know of it, The Twilight Zone, as well as films like the Star Wars franchise, The Matrix, the Marvel cinematic franchise (The Avengers, Guardians Of The Galaxy, Thor, Ant-Man, etc.), and the Back To The Future series, and science fiction novels like the Skulduggery Pleasant series, the ever-popular Harry Potter series, and The Hunger Games series, we have basically seen next to none of these things become a reality. Although, there is one thing. Hoverboards. Although the hoverboards we were promised in Back To The Future Part II had less wheels and more hover. And I don’t believe they exploded either. We’ve also had a breakthrough in that the Nike self lacing shoes have become a reality, however an expensive one. And so we still wait on a reality of time travel, teleportation, and spectacular superhuman powers. And no matter how long it takes for these prospects to become a reality, we will still wait in anticipation, and in the meantime be entertained by the endless possibilities of the science fiction realm.

Hope you all enjoyed this one. A bit of a change from the detailed analysis of the world and everything, but a bit of a fun imaginative idea. As usual, any suggestions or ideas you might have are welcome in the comments, and thanks for reading!

JJ