For all the Minnie the Moochers of the world, there's few things more satisfying than receiving that first government paycheck.

First there's the unadulturated glee as you jump about the house, content in the knowledge that you are now, officially living off the fat of land.

Then comes that delightful sense of schadenfreude as you remember how crap hospitality and bar work is, and you think maliciously to all the poor suckers stuck in the grind.

And finally (usually after a few weeks) comes annoyance, as you realise you might have to go back to that job because that $445 a fortnight goes like the clappers when you live in Sydney.

Still though, living with ingenuity, battling to survive on a pittance and scoring freebies is so uplifiting that I can recommend living la dolecheque vita to as many people as is possible (who don't reduce my payments).

There is a popular belief amongst today's youth that universities are the only repository of knowledge and the only way to achieve most career aspirations- something I'd very much dispute after two years of International Studies. 

One thing I've learnt at University is that students are more interesting and do better when they have something else to focus on- for example homepageDAILY. 

That something else that students do, which is separate from University gives them a different base of experience to bring to discussion, and a new filter through which new information is dissected. 

It's my belief then that university should be the place where you think, consider and criticise- not the place where you gain your most transformative and life-defining experiences. 

Seconds afterwards I sat up, in a daze, surrounded by metal, glass and petrol.

I should have been dead, but miraculously I walked away, only suffering a slightly sprained ankle.

The mental affect though has been a little more dramatic.

I keep replaying the images of the crash over and over again.

I keep seeing the look on my dad's face when I first saw him afterwards; I keep hearing my mum's voice when I talked to her, and I keep hearing the smashing screeching sounds of metal hitting metal.

All this has led to me to realise that the idea that my life, is my life alone, is ridiculous.

My life is part-owned by everybody that loves me- my family and friends, meaning that they all have a stake in it, and they all would be affected if I threw it away on something as stupid as riding a motorbike.

For most people this won't be revelatory.

But for me this crash has been life-changing.

It's shown me that the worst can happen to me,  that my shield of invincibility is breakable and that if I don't think about those around me before I act, I mightn't get to see them again.  

Jessica Watson, the 16 year old sailor attempting to sail around the world solo arrived in Sydney a couple of days ago but very nearly didn’t. Large breaks just out of the Gold Coast caused her arrival to be delayed and again many are raising concerns about her ability to circumnavigate the globe single handed. While not being old enough to drive a car without supervision her friends and family are eagerly encouraging her to grab the wheel of a different vessel then take it for a spin, for around 10 months and unlike roads, the sea contains sharks and really large fish.

The question that seems to be asked all too frequently is whether Jessica is capable of such an adventure at this young age?

 I am not qualified but it seemed appropriate to ask someone who was. Daniel James Hamilton is an experienced sailor who has competed and lived on boats since he was tied to the mast as an infant to ensure he did not go for any unsupervised swims. Having been in Jessica’s place as a young adventurous soul captivated by the sea, he understands the drive but now as an (arguably) mature young man he see’s huge flaws in her plan:

 “She’s not psychologically stable enough to endure such a challenge, when it’s just you and the sea there will come a point and she will break”. It appears though, that the physical requirements should not be the main concern “with the technology available today, there is no argument that a decent sailor could make it (around the world)”.

Daniel’s comments surprised me somewhat, it is not the physical challenge that shall confront her, rather it is the psychological ordeal. Personally this allays some fears but at the same time brings up others. It was not the physical challenge that destroyed Christopher McCandless (of into the wild fame) it was his own inner conflicts. In the same way that McCandless’ story stirred our sense of adventure, there is something archaic and beautiful about Jessica’s own efforts; a rejection of societal norms and forage into the unknown.

Since there is no point in attempting to deter this girl’s adventurous spirit, we can only wish her the best of luck and pass on a book of crosswords should the isolation prove too much. Here’s to hoping she proves the sceptics wrong and pays greater attention to cargo ships.

Kevin Rudd, eternally the modern man; announced yesterday that he will start a blog project to 'continue the conversation with the youth of Australia'. For aspiring writers the topic is:

What would you do if you were prime-minister for a day?

Now the cynic in me thinks that like the 20-20 summit all this will do is make the Australian public (and more importantly Australian youth) think there is someone listening. But, the optimist in me thinks this could be a really interesting way to chart how the youth of Australia thinks.

So I really hope that instead of PR cherry picking all the submissions are put online, however trivial, so that it really could be considered an all-open-no-holds-barred-forum. And lastly it would be great if it was a mandatory school exercise so it's not just dweeby politics students that write in.

Fingers crossed for an interesting debate.

The death of Michael Jackson reinforces this, not since John Lennon has such an important entertainment figure died. So much fanfare and grief has poured out, that Peter Hartcher the last great journalist from the Sydney Morning Herald, wrote a 900 word piece on how Michael Jackson reflected a new growth in US soft power.

In 50 years we'll be putting this down as an anachronism. The last page in the history of truly global and truly uniting musical forces. From here on in there will be international musical celebrities, but not musicians that can claim a generation as their own.

For instance, could anyone imagine a band like the Beatles coming out, starting a movement like Beatlemania, and turning their records from consumer durables to household staples? Could anyone imagine a record like Thriller selling untold millions and becoming a soundtrack for multiple generations?   

Where's our spokesperson? Where's our musical genius?