293 - the bus isn't *that* bad 🚌👍👎
it ain't that good either though
Hey there, !
Since we're at newsletter 293, I remembered that I used to take the 293 bus from Shoppingtown to Box HIll for like 5-7 years in high school and university, and I feel like buses are MUCH maligned, though very validly, so here's some reflections on buses.
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Buses aren't limited to rail lines, which means that you can't get STUCK between two different train stations and be like 'okay when is this train gonna GET TO THE STATION'. Even if a bus breaks down they can let you out at least, to get on another bus. Or you flag down a taxi or something. EASY.
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There are SO MANY buses and bus lines, so you can probably find one that gets closer to where you wanna go, especially in the suburbs. For inner city stuff, fine, trains are good. But buses are what you want to get out into the 'burbs.
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They don't give a shit about myki...usually. I've just never seen them give two rats ass about their machines not working or your swipe not happening or whatever. IDK if the bus drivers aren't paid enough or what, but everyone just walks on regardless.
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Sleeping on a bus is elite as some of my previous colleagues can attest to (the phohtos of sleeping Vince are out there). I think it's because of the motion of the bus just being so comforting? I think I've only ever missed my bus stop twice in my whole life due to sleeping - every other time I wake up in the exact place I should, or just beforehand. Your body just knows.
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When it's your only way to actually PT yourself out of your area...well, I guess you just have to get used to it :P
I guess most of this is some weird public transport version of Stockholm Syndrome. On the other hand...
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Trains are faster than buses.
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I've never had tampons chucked at me / stuck on to my scarf on a train causing me to get off the train early because I was being bullied by some uni students for some reason for being a high school kid. I don't think they were being malicious they were just havin' fun but I didn't know how to respond. How do you respond to that?!??
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They shut down the Park and Ride bus stop near me for THREE YEARS which is absolutely bonkers. So now I just drive.
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Late night bus commuters are worse than late night train commuters because the lighting is bad and people just wanna fuck shit up on buses. I think I got talked to by a druggie who was trying to sell me drones or something. Phew at least we survived that.
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But at least we can call agree that myki readers suck so there's that :D
Yup, that's the content these days <3 You gotta do what you gotta do.
Chat soon :)
(P.S. If you've got any feedback for the newsletter, just hit the reply button!)
📋Today's Story
Look, the survey system is a bit effed up at the moment, but since they haven't fixed it fully yet, I'm just gonna do a dealer's choice:
What do you do?: Try to shoot the figure flying back towards the ship
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Crouching down, you take aim down the sights of your rifle and BAM! you fire at the flying figure. Unfortunately, the shot doesn't connect.
"CAP!" you hear a scream, and whip around as Sayla descends upon the one who's taken a heavy fall.
Shit, you think, Jimmy'll have to wait.
You dart over, branches whipping at your face - Sayla's heavy grunts audible from a distance as you close in.
"Keep 'em alive!" you call, panting. Sayla's activity subsides as you join her, kneeling over the black figure lying on the forest floor.
"Too late," Sayla spits. "Broke his neck on the way down."
You look down at the pooling blood, leaves and soil staining black in the shadowy night. You hear a bang from somewhere far off.
"Let's get what we can and double time to Jimmy."
Efficiently, you and Sayla carefully extract a radio, a wrist control panel of some sort, and a comms panel. You tinker a little with the radio just enough to hear the dull sizzle of static on all channels. The comms panel stays similarly dark. Damage? Or is it an authorisation issue?
Sayla peels off the uniform and reveals a young-ish looking man with Korean features. His skin is mottled across his body, making it look like he has boils up and down his arms and legs, and his physique looks...wonky?
Maybe due to the fall, you belatedly realise.
What's more interesting is the chip embedded in his chest blinking red and blue. It looks like a cybernetic implant of some sort - highly advanced past what you've seen, and highly illegal after these were banned across your galaxy. You start to investigate the implant a bit closer, when Sayla pipes up.
"Cap. Priorities. Jimmy's in trouble - do you want to use the jetpack and get there first? Or should we just stash this for now?" she holds up the bulky uniform in one hand. "There's only one, so we can either run over there together, or you can speed over there right now and see if you can help Jimmy out.
"We can come back for him later," Sayla kicks the body roughly. The implants lights blink mockingly at you in the dark.
✔️Real Life Recommendations
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Bakmi Lim Noodle Project - it's in the QV food court area downstairs which has had a GLOW UP. I saw a whole bunch of great asian food stores there - and this one had the best value / food ratio from what I could see. Inspired by Indonesian flavours and recipes, the noodles fit real well with my taste and I think the chicken noodles or whatever I had was like $17 so ntb (everywhere else was around the $20 mark).
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KFC $8 boxes - don't say I didn't tell you; $8 for 8 wicked wings, or 5 original recipe (also tenders or nugs but who cares about those) until 8th September. GET IT WHILE YOU CAN.
🚌 Adventures on the Information Super-Highway
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Project Hyperion - this project hosted a competiton for the best design of a generational ship for interstellar travel - one where the voyage will be SO LONG (>400 years) that there will be people who are born and will die on the ship. The designs are super interesting and scratched my engineering + sci-fi + psychology brain in so many lovely ways. Here's the Canva presentation for the winning entry!
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What Happened When I Tried to Replace Myself with ChatGPT in My English Classroom - I think the kids are going to be okay.
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DrawAFish - it's a big fish tank. Like the TeamLabs one, if you've ever been to that one! You can feed the fish too :D