more anonymous chat

note: these are actual chats between two people who met randomly. they were aware that someone else could see what they were saying, and anyone can end the conversation at any time. the words 'Tori' and 'Uke' are from Aikido - they're not names. any identifiable details have been removed/edited

Question to discuss:
will you tell me a true story?

Tori: Sure.

Uke: I was in class one day
Uke: and the teacher had a heart attack
Uke: so I didn't have class for a semester
Uke: the end

Tori: Damn
Tori: I once went to Beijing

Uke: I had to make up for the classes

Tori: All my friends told me it was going to be shit, I needed to watch my wallet, I was crazy going alone, don't get stabbed etc
Tori: It was so awesome it made my life back home depressing.
Tori: People just aren't as nice here.

Uke: being rich in Beijing?
Uke: Where are you from?

Tori: I was in a pretty poor area, I didn't stay in the tourist districts
Tori: Australia

Uke: Same here
Uke: Melbourne

Tori: Nice

Uke: I went to the USA once.
Uke: Crazy place

Tori: What's it like?

Uke: the first five minutes of being out of my hotel in L.A I witnessed a car accident.
Uke: Well, in the grocery stores, they encourage you to get fat.....
Uke: it's an incentive

Tori: What?

Uke: they sell 2 kg bags of M&M's

Tori: Holy shit

Uke: Yeah.....
Uke: A pack of Oreos had 72 cookies in it
Uke: There was also a 2 kg bucket of twizzlers
Uke: what else....
Uke: what else....
Uke: In the frozen food section.
Uke: There was a box of pizza
Uke: that comes with cookies
Uke: in the same box.....

Tori: Wooow
Tori: What else did you see?

Uke: In L.A I went to Disneyland and Universal studios.
Uke: After that I went to New York City
Uke: Have you played the Grand Theft Auto games?
Uke: They catch the vibes of these cities perfectly

Tori: Damn. It's really as bad as that?

Uke: Bad?

Tori: Lol, unless we have majorly different perceptions of quality of life

Uke: Was talking about the environments in the game

Tori: Oh, I get you

Uke: They look so simialr to their real life counterpart
Uke: I felt like I already went to NY, because of GTA IV. lol

Tori: Haha
Tori: What are people like there?

Uke: People in New York are usually in a rush.
Uke: But the people I met in Times Square were very nice
Uke: Times square is epic
Uke: You should go to the US just for that alone....
Uke: People in L.A seem relaxed
Uke: In NY there is a left and right lane on the footpath....
Uke: If I lived there, I would use a bike as transportation.

Tori: Sounds cool. What's the quality of life like? Aside from supersized lollies?

Uke: New York would be the equivalent.
Uke: L.A is good if you're very rich.
Uke: But it doesn't seem to be as high of a standard of living as Australia.

Tori: Really?

Uke: Yeah, really.
Uke: So many homeless and poor people in L.A

Tori: Shit. That's such a shame.

Uke: Some of them are crazy.....
Uke: I saw one of them yelling at his suitcase.

Tori: Damn. That's the case here too isn't it, most homeless people are mentally ill, but usually living on the street because the state has nowhere to put them

Uke: I don't see many homeless in Melbourne
Uke: Beleive me, we are doing alot better than the US in terms of homelessness

Tori: Thank God.

Uke: It's a cool place to visit, but I wouldn't live there though.

Tori: I don't know what's going on with their system. They try to introduce some sort of social security, and right wing interest groups shut the government down.

Uke: Over a money dispute
Uke: They are in debt.....
Uke: They just make up the money
Uke: It's imaginary money
Uke: Why don't they just give their employees more imaginary money?

Tori: Yeah. I feel for them.
Tori: If we weren't such a backwater, we'd be in exactly the same position.

Uke: The only reason our economy is so good is because of the mining industry.....

Tori: From an international perspective, the only thing of interest we have are mineral resources. Notice what happens as soon as anyone tries to mess with them?

Uke: When that's gone we're fucked.....

Tori: I think if we were as important a player on the world stage, we'd be dealing with similar issues. More vested interest, you know?

Uke: We have the most coal in the world.....
Uke: We supply it to China
Uke: But we pay so much for it
Uke: We should all be rich.
Uke: Like in Saudi.
Uke: They have the most oil, so it's cheap for them
Uke: we have the most coal, but it's cheaper for the chinese.
Uke: In a recent discovery, we now have more oil than Saudi Arabia.
Uke: So, when the minerals are gone, that's next

Tori: Yeah. I wish we'd take a cue from scandinavia and try to translate that mineral wealth into a socialist paradise
Tori: You know, huge, pervasive social assistance, paid for by the country's resources.

Uke: You know what really annoys me? The average house price is $600,000.....
Uke: Which is a 1:7 ratio
Uke: of wages to house price
Uke: What the hell is that?
Uke: It's the most expensive in the English speaking countries

Tori: I know. Negative gearing is a crock of shit.

Uke: I won't be buying a house.

Tori: The government encourages this shit, the old getting rich at the expense of the young

Uke: To get the same ratio my parents did, I would need to earn $150,0000
Uke: *$150,000
Uke: Tax free

Tori: Yeah. I'll either rent, or if I can, just move overseas. I can dream at least.

Uke: L.A is cheap

Tori: Buying property in this bubble is a sucker's game

Uke: Well, L.A suburbs are cheap
Uke: You can buy a house near disneyland for 50k.

Tori: Holy hell

Uke: Yeah....

Tori: You didn't leave out a zero did you?

Uke: That's just for the basic three bedroom house.
Uke: Nope
Uke: This is in the suburbs.
Uke: 1.5 hours from L.A, 10 mins from Disneyland.
Uke: 50k
Uke: Even England is cheaper than us.
Uke: 150,000 pounds is the average house price

Uke has disconnected