Contributors
Contents
Yvette Coulon
Cover:
Jessica Day
Placement tips
7
David Matters
Tax time!
4
Serena Irene
Hong Kong and beyond
10
Recipe
4
Headspace: Sexuality
5
Support Keenan!
6
Out of the shadows
6
Photos
8
Anime review
9
Colour me in!
11
Thomas Lake
Want to submit something to Synapses? It could be a picture, a story, an article about relevant-to-student-life topic (money, studying, food, sleep, drinking too much, food)… whatever you want to read about and see published! Email your contributions to csusynapses@gmail.com
Deadlines for September issue: 21 August
Disclaimer Synapses is a Port Macquarie Writers Guild student magazine and the opinions expressed within are not necessarily those of the editor, staff or student members. Association by person or companies with “Synapses” does not necessarily reflect the religious, political, sexual, or racial beliefs of those parties. The Writers Guild and Synapses members do not accept responsibility for any omission, errors, misconceptions or the views and opinions contained in any article accepted for publication. The right to edit or reject any articles submitted remains with the editing body.
Well hello! And welcome to another exciting issue of synapses. This months monthly mantra comes to you from Orange is the new black, because I have been binge watching it instead of doing my uni work. I know you can all relate. I just got back from my first placement and what fun I had. Not deterred, haven’t ran away screaming in the opposite direction. I’ve included some tips from myself and fellow more experienced classmates about placement. I can see you have all been partying hard in my absence, stealing furniture. You rat bags. Don’t forget if you ever feel the need to express yourself in print you can email submissions to csusynapses@gmail.com.
Yes we do, we do. But see quote below.
Advertise yourself– even if you have nothing to offer. Send us your stories, pictures, funny photos. This is your magazine and it does not discriminate. Me? I am going to concentrate hard this semester. Pedal to the metal, knuckles to the floor or something like that. After I finish watching orange is the new black… and then I wanted to watch upper middle class bogan, because that stuff looks funny as… and my beloved wanted me to watch some show about people coming back from the dead… It’s no wonder I am so far behind with all these commitments.
Monthly Mantra Everything comes to an end, even prison. Chapman– OITNB.
You can think of prison as uni.
Till next month.
http://www.eventbrite.com/e/theglobal-run-2015-team-new-south-wales -tickets-16049201594?aff=erellivorg Donate your run this weekend to support girls education in Kenya
Do you need to lodge for Tax?? – short n sweet Do I need to do a tax return?? If you worked and your employer has paid taxes then you should do a tax return, get your money e.g. if you received a PAYG slip from your employer. If you are only on Austudy and do not voluntarily pay tax, you do not need to do a tax return.
HONEY & LEMON STIR FRY Stir fries are easy and if you make them from scratch without pre-made bottled sauces they are very cheap. Ingredients– Anything can go in a stir fry, these are some suggestions.
How should I do my tax return?? There is several ways to do your tax return, ATO have also set up free ways to do it. If you earn money, receive rental income, have shares and live the good life then you need a tax accountant, personally refrain from ITP and HR Block. If you are just receiving
Honey to taste
Lemon juice to taste
Favourite meat (chicken, beef)
Any vegetables you like (carrot, bok choy, capsicum, green beans)
Rice or noodles
an income, then Google myTax, this is a free automatic service in lodging tax by the ATO (Australian Tax Office). MyTax is how I
Method:
did my tax return, my income was automatically lodged and so
1.
Chop your meat and veg
was Austudy voluntary tax inputs. This step by step thorough
2.
Brown meat in fry pan
process took me a whole 15 minutes, but you need to of set up
3.
Add veges
you’re my.gov.au account, such a nightmare in the beginning, but
4.
Add honey and lemon to taste
becoming very beneficial now.
5.
Simmer
6.
Cook noodles or rice at the same time.
7.
Sprinkle sesame seeds on top if you want to feel fancy.
Any tips?? Yes, I am a hopeless saver, so I voluntarily nominate some of my Austudy payments to tax, so every month I pay a bit over $50, this builds up automatically till tax time, now I will be receiving over $1500 purely because of the voluntary payments. I have no plans on where to spend it yet, but JB Hi-Fi is close by, if only the Oculus Rift was out now, may pre-order it, see what happens. Bye.
CA$HMAN
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If lemon is not to your taste add soy sauce instead!
OUT OF THE SHADOWS The 10th of September is World Suicide Prevention Day. This event is designed to raise awareness of mental illness, reduce stigma, support those who suffer from depression and suicidal thoughts, and remember those who have passed because of them. To honour this, Lifeline will be hosting an event called “Suicide Walk: Out of the Shadows and Into the Light.” It is aimed at creating a feeling of solidarity and support amongst the community, and from preventing more suffering and tragic deaths from happening. The event will occur at 5:30am at the Town Green. Participants will be invited to place a wreath on the war memorial. If you’re interested in participating, you can join the Facebook event, and register your walk at:
http://www.outoftheshadows.org.au/ 6 - Synapses August 2015
Suicide is one of the leading causes of death amongst young Australians. At least five Australians attempt suicide each day. By joining the walk, you can help to prevent this from happening, and show those who are suffering that someone cares and that they are not alone.
You can make a difference. If you know someone who you think may be suffering from depression, or if you yourself are, please contact Lifeline.
Number: 13 11 14.
www.lifeline.org.au/gethelp
If you have a story, am adventure, or an amazing work of fiction guised as a real life experienceshare it! Send your submission to: csusynapses@gmail.com 7 - Synapses August 2015
Foundation day
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of be fluid, be as water going to be any help either. Nope it seems that putting on the charm and smiles is the way to go. Win the heart of these ladies and seal their destructive powers and the world breathes safely…stuff it up with some sleazy line or move and everyone in the nearby vicinity ends up being spaghettified at worst, suffering various broken limbs and mental trauma at best. Dating has never been this intense…
DATE A LIVE SEASON ONE
Which leaves you with the question as you watch the action just where on earth do these girls come from? We see early on in the show that there is something behind their sudden manifestations, almost as if they were being deliberately sent to our world but completely unaware as to the consequences their ‘manifestation’ can cause when it occurs.
You are a handsome young guy, still in high school with a certain ‘boyish’ charm who it just so happens has to date various Then of course there are the competing organisations, Rataotherworldly girls in order to SAVE THE WORLD. Sometimes toskr and the Japanese Ground Self Defence Force’s Antiyou might even have to date two or three of them at the Spirit Team (AST) and over the course of the series it certainly SAME TIME. Sounds like a fantasy come true… seems as if the two are operating at cross purposes. What makes it worse for Shido and his dating efforts is the fact that DATE A LIVE is an anime that one would suspect is a dream Tobiichi Origami, a class mate and famous student is also an come true for a lot of guys but in reality could end up going active member of the AST. Naturally she has a very good idea horribly horribly wrong. This an anime that takes the whole of who some of the girls hanging around Shido are, though dating game shtick, which is a popular trope in anime, and she doesn’t seem to be aware of the existence of Ratatoskr gives it that unique twist. As mentioned previously the date concept is serious, the very fate of the world is at stake…get it and it airship HQ Fraxinus – though time will tell. wrong and death and destruction for a minimum of several Certainly the drama in this series, whilst a tad bit off the wall, kilometres is likely to be the outcome. In real life it’s not so has all the hallmarks of setting things up for future episodes. bad…other than possibly thousands of people on Facebook And although it could quite easily be considered a romantic seeing your faux pas. comedy with a twist there is a darker and tragic aspect to the So we have Shido, a fairly average Japanese male high school whole affair. Shido the protagonist within the series sees into student who finds himself plucked out of his everyday life and the ‘hearts’ of the spirits and realises that they are filled with dropped literally right into it. You see Shido’s world is threat- sadness…though why he can’t tell. And there is one spirit who does seem to go against the grain. ened by catastrophic occurrences known as spatial quakes… turns out though that these spatial quakes occur when cute If you like off the wall anime rom coms whose romantic outgirls aka spirits suddenly manifest. Of course though they comes hold the very fabric of reality in balance then this could might be cute these girls are often badass with a capital B… be right up your alley. And should you enjoy this particular What is an ordinary guy to do? Well busting out some kind of season you can now stream season 2 free at AnimeLab weapon is not an option…nor is following Bruce Lee’s maxim (www.animelab.com).
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Serena’s epic placement adventure Part One: Tourism
to call “Graham walks” – taking the most complicated route to get somewhere, even if it meant walking a kilometre or so in the wrong direction.
We visited the Peak, a lookout and tourist centre with a stunning view of the city. We explored Stanley Markets, which The trip began with the announcement that CSU Global were were full of life and colour, and situated by the ocean. Then a offering a subject overseas. It was PSY219: Cross Cultural bus tour through the city, with the never-ending skyscrapers Psychology. Very few of us in the class had even heard of Ma- that made Centre Point Tower look small, and that people just cau. Those of us who had only knew it as “that little island near casually lived in. Along the way our friendships grew, and we Hong Kong, where James Packer has a casino.” became more and more comfortable and confident in what we were doing. No cliques or little groups formed; the ten of us (and the ever-dauntless Graham) stuck together through all the challenges that the confusing streets brought us. Then it was a trip to the Hong Kong Museum, and Science Centre; and then to more markets that crowded the streets at dusk. We ate at a little restaurant that featured items such as “boiled large bloody clams” and “boiled east wind snails”, and afterwards walked to the Avenue of Stars and watched the light show. It filled the sky with lasers and spotlights, and the skyscrapers lit up in synchronisation. Someone’s fitbit later estimated we’d walked 20km over the course of the day, and by the time we returned to the hotel, it At the end, ten of us from the different campuses successfully felt like it! The second day went by the same way, and finally, applied for the trip. We met at Sydney International Airport with the tourism bug settled down, we left Hong Kong on the and checked our baggage in. The lecturer who would be travelthird day and departed via ferry to Macau. There we would stay ling with us, Graham, gave us shiny little “Charles Sturt Uniat the University of Macau, meet the other students, attend Psyversity” tags for all of our bags. After an hour or so struggling chology lectures, and explore the city and the perspectives it through Australian Customs, we were finally seated upon the offered on the differences between Eastern and Western culplane. ture. Halfway through the flight, we hit stormy weather. Some wild To be continued. turbulence left the Airbus A380 in free fall for several heartstopping moments. There were lurches and bumps after that, but none so shocking as that feeling of falling when you’re 30,000 feet in the air. We arrived at Hong Kong at seven o’clock that evening. The city was beautiful; the neon lights lit up against the clouds and reflected on the water of the river. The taxis were red, blue and green; traffic wove around the trolleys and trams that cut straight lines through the streets. Baskets of green bushes and flowers hung from the walkways, and the gardens were on every corner and filled with trees. That night we stayed at the Metro Park Hotel. Certain individuals discovered that the local 7/11 sold alcohol for ridiculously cheap, and had an interesting night. Somewhat hungover, the next day began with a tour of Hong Kong, and what we came
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