There are several scary events, mostly scholastic, that coincide with the season of All Hallows Eve. Halloween has always been one of my favourite celebrations because of the free candy and somehow it's never quite what you imagine or remember. Generally nothing scary happens, even though we trick ourselves into thinking it does (just think of the Halloween series of horror movies), and we all get together to dress up and share a good laugh. Mostly, though, it's about getting the sweet stuff at a stranger's expense. At what other time would you be able to walk up to another person's home while masked and disturb them in the middle of the night and not have the police called on you? Despite Halloween being associated with evil, the word "hallow" actually means "holy" and is the precursor to All Saints Day (Nov. 1) and All Souls Day (Nov. 2). If anything, Halloween should be about angels, not demons. Do you see what I did there? How witty.
Australians don't celebrate Halloween in any meaningful sense and I think the country is much impoverished culturally because of it. For one thing, Halloween serves as a convenient break in the holidays leading up to Christmas. In major department stores Christmas decorations are already in place which I think is quite affronting. People in North American complain when Christmas decorations go up in mid-November but here they go up at the beginning or middle of October. The reason? There are no major holidays between September and Christmas, with the possible exception of the Melbourne Cup but there are no decorations for that. If Australia got Halloween then the Christmas decorations wouldn't go up until November at least. Or Australians could do something for the Melbourne Cup. Whatever the case, I think we can all agree that any time before November is far too early for Christmas decorations.
In the scary news, the school year has just ended with my official class on Thursday; I have a review class for Advanced International Law this Wednesday. While you may think this would be celebratory in nature, it is quite the reverse. As Bart Simpson once pointed out in a Halloween Special, "After all, what's scarier than having to go to school?" After the teaching comes the scariest part of all --- the exams! Even if you prepare fully, you never quite shake the feeling that you won't be able to cope once the exam begins. Luckily I only have 2 exams this semester but Commonwealth Constitutional Law is a difficult subject and no matter how much I prepare, I don't think I'll be calm going in.
At trivia on Tuesday, I had a rather good run of luck. Every 10 questions there is something called a spot question wherein a question is asked and the first person to run up with the correct answer written down wins a free jug of whatever drink they choose. The first spot question was "Place-Ville-Marie is an important landmark in which city?" I was writing down the answer (Montreal) even before the question was finished. Today someone remarked how difficult that question would be if you're not from Canada to which I would agree. Nevertheless, I had won a free jug for my team and out of respect for me, they allowed me to get some soft drink. The next spot question asked who had a number of hits in various decades since the 1960s. I wasn't the first person up but I was the first person up with the correct answer, which was Cher. This time, out of respect for my teammates, I got a jug of Heineken. I was riding on a high the rest of the game; we finished 3rd which doesn't even get us a prize.
Yesterday, Tony, a friend of mine, convinced me to go see a movie with him and 2 lady-friends of his. He had free movie passes to Greater Union, a cinema company like Cineplex Odeon, that were expiring on the 31st. There's only 1 Greater Union in Canberra so our selection was quite limited. More or less by default, the choice was Couples Retreat, a romantic comedy that turned out much funnier than I expected. It's about a couple who need couple's therapy at a resort and convince 3 other couples to join them to get a group rate; hilarity ensues. Afterwards we had a spirited discussion on accents. Tony claimed that he spoke Chinese without an accent which I replied was a fundamental impossibility; as long as there are 2 people speaking a language there are accents. In a fundamental way, there are as many accents to a language as there are speakers because intonation, pronunciation and vocabulary are unique to all of us and how we recognize each others' voices. According to Tony, he speaks a form of Chinese called Standard Chinese which is an artificial way of speaking because the intonations and pronunciations have been dictated by a central body rather than by linguistic evolution. I felt constrained to point out that because it is a different way of speaking to another way, it is an accent. Anyway, the matter was not resolved but I still think I'm right.
I read an interesting statistic on the CBC website that said there are 2.8 million Canadian citizens abroad for the long-term (greater than 1 year). That's nearly 10% of the population of Canada and it's a group to which I proudly belong. Going by the list, Australia is the 4th largest home for Canadians outside Canada but I haven't met many here. I'm just glad to be part of such a large minority. I wonder if we qualify as visible?
Lastly, some of you pointed out that in my previous post I used "desert" when I should have used "dessert". I will wriggle out of this one by saying that I was using "desert" in its archaic form which means "something which is deserved", a sense preserved in the saying "just deserts". The "t" ending is also present in other words such as "impost" (something imposed) and "receipt" (something received).
Mwa ha, ha, ha! Boo!
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Another Awards Night
With the year rapidly drawing to a close, there are many events planned to celebrate achievements, both serious and not so serious. This year, just like last year, I've been awarded both, though I'm not sure I entirely deserve one of the awards this year. But first, some other news.
I have found a new venue for trivia. Every Tuesday at University House on campus, there is a trivia night. I was told by a friend of mine, James Schofield, that I should attend as he is part of a team. I figured that as I'm not doing anything on Tuesdays anyway, I might as well join. So far, I've been having lots of fun and learning interesting things like the record for most consecutive one-handed chin-ups is 22 and Belgium has 3 official languages, French, Flemish and German, event though German is spoken by about 1% of the population. The team has done well taking 2nd place on a tie-break question 2 weeks ago and 1st place last week. The prizes are drink money at the bar of the café where the trivia is held. I think I might as well keep going.
Irritatingly, my new crown on my tooth has chipped. A rather sizable chunk disintegrated as I was eating some french fries. I looked in the mirror and it doesn't seem as bad as I first thought but I will have to go to get the crown rounded out. In your mouth, everything feels magnified 100-fold so even small chips feel very large. I can't believe something so new would break so quickly and I haven't eaten anything really hard at all, the hardest being some spare ribs. I have a feeling there may have been a structural weakness in the crown that only became manifest after it caused the small front portion to come apart.
In more bad news, my watch band came apart which necessitated me buying a new watch. I'm happy with my new watch, though.
The awards night I'm speaking of was the annual ACTAFL Umpires' Association Dinner where achievements, both remarkable and notorious are celebrated. This year it was held at the Canberra Southern Cross Club in Woden at a very nice function room. There aren't that many of us, maybe 50, but a few partners were brought along so we ended up with about 70 guests. The presentation was expertly put together by Glen Swan, nicknamed G-Bus. The night was free, actually we pay for it at the beginning of the year with an Umpires' Association fee, but it did consist of a very good buffet dinner and desert. For technical reasons, the dinner was held about a month later than last year.
The dinner and desert were interspersed between the awards portions. The awards included number of games officiated, officiating Grand Finals, a few joke awards, the Bachelor of the Year and the Least Outstanding Performance Awards (also a gag). I'm sorry to say that this year I didn't win the Bachelor of the Year, so I guess I'll just have to wait until next year. However, for the second year in a row, I took a Least Outstanding Performance award. I'm not sure I deserved it this year, though, since the incident, which involved me hugging an umpire, was reported as taking place at a ground I didn't even officiate at this year! I accepted the award anyway with the gentle good humour with which it is intended. I did, however, win a serious award, in this case, the Dedication to Training Award for Goal Umpires. This is because I bike most Tuesdays and Thursdays from my place to Manuka Oval, which takes about 30 minutes, whereas most people drive. I go to training to get fit and because I like the people there and it's absolutely no chore. The award itself is a trophy out of which I took a few sips of Coke. After the awards, the party broke up and we all went home anxious for another year which begins in February.
Before I leave you with some photos from the night, I'd like to plant an idea. Recently I found a trivia question in a magazine that asked, "Which country is officially called Myanmar?" The answer given was Burma (which is correct) but I though to myself, "Couldn't the answer also be Myanmar? If a country is officially called something can't that also be a correct answer?" What do you think?
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Insert Witty Title Here
I can't think of an appropriately witty title for this post, so I've decided not to give it one. Or, to be more specific, I'll let you, the reader, insert whatever title you wish.
This week has been one big readjustment as university classes returned. We only have 3 more weeks until exams begin and it's a real process trying to finish off the school year in a few weeks after a 2-week break. Luckily, I don't have many assignments due and the two that are due are spaced well apart. This will give me enough time to consolidate what I've learned in preparation for my 2 exams. Thankfully, this isn't too onerous a load and I'll be happy once everything's done.
A while back, ACTTAB changed its policy regarding cancelling tickets. It used to be that we could cancel a ticket up to the point that a race concluded if we called the control centre. Now we can only cancel up to 30 seconds after the race has started; this effectively negates our ability to cancel a ticket if a customer feels they made a mistake and goodness knows what the justification is. Last Saturday a customer attempted to put a bet on with me and tried to pay with a winning ticket. Unfortunately the dividends hadn't come through yet, officially, so the ticket isn't worth anything. He then asked my manager to "hold" the ticket, that is hang on to it until the official dividends come through. This is not only a violation of ACTTAB policy but also the law as it counts as betting on credit. The man then told me to cancel the ticket just as the race started so I was unable to do so. The customer became very irate when I explained this to him and after a quiet heated discussion with my manager stormed out of the outlet saying he'd never be back. To which I reply, good. If you can't follow the rules (knowing the tickets can't be held), then go bet someplace else. Actually, he'd been giving us problems before and now I look forward to never having to see him again if I can help it.
On a somewhat better tone, I went back to the doctor with the results of my ultrasound. the doctor's advice was to leave my little fluid pouch alone. It's completely benign and poses no threat whatsoever. If it were causing me discomfort, as I would explain to my mother, then I should have it drained but as it's not, there's no utility. I may one day get it drained, but only after I finish uni I think; it's not worth the hassle.
Some other news out of Australia is the story of a girl named Jessica and her boat, the Pink Lady. Jessica, at 16, is trying to become the world's youngest person to circumnavigate the world. Her trip has caused media interest not only because of her age but also because of a close call. In the first few days, Jessica had to abandon her trip after she collided with a larger vessel. For some reason, her GPS and collision avoidance system were not working. There was a brief report on the incident and after making a few modifications to her schedule and equipment, Jessica is back on course. She's just left Australian waters and is somewhere in the Pacific. I wish her luck and she'll join great adventurers like Sir Francis Drake, Henry the Black (possibly the first person to go around the world), Juan Sebastian Elcano (the first person to go around the world in one trip), William Dampier (the first Englishman to visit Australia) and James Cook.
I'll explain my list. First of all, Ferdinand Magellan never made it around the world as he was killed in the Philippines. It was his first mate, Elcano, who completed the circumnavigation with 18 survivors on the only ship of the expedition, the Victoria, to make it back to Spain. Elcano was given a crest by the King of Spain that showed the globe with the motto "You circumnavigated me". Harry the Black, who almost no Westerner has ever heard of, is regarded as a hero in the Philippines, and it wasn't, in case you're wondering, because he killed Magellan, which he didn't, although he may have had cause to. Not much is known about Henry except that he may have been a native of Sumatra, Malacca or Cebu and was acquired as a slave by Magellan in the Malacca, Malaysia on one of his earlier voyages there. Magelland then brought him back to Spain and when he set out on his grand expedition, he brought Henry with him. The remnants of the fleet eventually made it Cebu in the Philippines after crossing the Atlantic and the Pacific, thus, possibly, making Henry the Black the first person to go around the world. Since so little is known of him, there's no conclusive evidence one way or the other.
And finally, on a lighter note, I'll just mention a case I've come across in my constitutional law studies, and one that is an example of the Commonwealth's constitutional defence power in time of war. The case is Andrews v Howell and the legislation involved has the rather pleasingly unexpected name of the National Security (Apple and Pear Acquisition) Regulations. The case involves a person surreptitiously selling apples that had been acquired by the Commonwealth to prevent a surplus during war. It's pretty serious but has a funny bit of legislation behind it. I guess even the driest law subjects have their moments.
This week has been one big readjustment as university classes returned. We only have 3 more weeks until exams begin and it's a real process trying to finish off the school year in a few weeks after a 2-week break. Luckily, I don't have many assignments due and the two that are due are spaced well apart. This will give me enough time to consolidate what I've learned in preparation for my 2 exams. Thankfully, this isn't too onerous a load and I'll be happy once everything's done.
A while back, ACTTAB changed its policy regarding cancelling tickets. It used to be that we could cancel a ticket up to the point that a race concluded if we called the control centre. Now we can only cancel up to 30 seconds after the race has started; this effectively negates our ability to cancel a ticket if a customer feels they made a mistake and goodness knows what the justification is. Last Saturday a customer attempted to put a bet on with me and tried to pay with a winning ticket. Unfortunately the dividends hadn't come through yet, officially, so the ticket isn't worth anything. He then asked my manager to "hold" the ticket, that is hang on to it until the official dividends come through. This is not only a violation of ACTTAB policy but also the law as it counts as betting on credit. The man then told me to cancel the ticket just as the race started so I was unable to do so. The customer became very irate when I explained this to him and after a quiet heated discussion with my manager stormed out of the outlet saying he'd never be back. To which I reply, good. If you can't follow the rules (knowing the tickets can't be held), then go bet someplace else. Actually, he'd been giving us problems before and now I look forward to never having to see him again if I can help it.
On a somewhat better tone, I went back to the doctor with the results of my ultrasound. the doctor's advice was to leave my little fluid pouch alone. It's completely benign and poses no threat whatsoever. If it were causing me discomfort, as I would explain to my mother, then I should have it drained but as it's not, there's no utility. I may one day get it drained, but only after I finish uni I think; it's not worth the hassle.
Some other news out of Australia is the story of a girl named Jessica and her boat, the Pink Lady. Jessica, at 16, is trying to become the world's youngest person to circumnavigate the world. Her trip has caused media interest not only because of her age but also because of a close call. In the first few days, Jessica had to abandon her trip after she collided with a larger vessel. For some reason, her GPS and collision avoidance system were not working. There was a brief report on the incident and after making a few modifications to her schedule and equipment, Jessica is back on course. She's just left Australian waters and is somewhere in the Pacific. I wish her luck and she'll join great adventurers like Sir Francis Drake, Henry the Black (possibly the first person to go around the world), Juan Sebastian Elcano (the first person to go around the world in one trip), William Dampier (the first Englishman to visit Australia) and James Cook.
I'll explain my list. First of all, Ferdinand Magellan never made it around the world as he was killed in the Philippines. It was his first mate, Elcano, who completed the circumnavigation with 18 survivors on the only ship of the expedition, the Victoria, to make it back to Spain. Elcano was given a crest by the King of Spain that showed the globe with the motto "You circumnavigated me". Harry the Black, who almost no Westerner has ever heard of, is regarded as a hero in the Philippines, and it wasn't, in case you're wondering, because he killed Magellan, which he didn't, although he may have had cause to. Not much is known about Henry except that he may have been a native of Sumatra, Malacca or Cebu and was acquired as a slave by Magellan in the Malacca, Malaysia on one of his earlier voyages there. Magelland then brought him back to Spain and when he set out on his grand expedition, he brought Henry with him. The remnants of the fleet eventually made it Cebu in the Philippines after crossing the Atlantic and the Pacific, thus, possibly, making Henry the Black the first person to go around the world. Since so little is known of him, there's no conclusive evidence one way or the other.
And finally, on a lighter note, I'll just mention a case I've come across in my constitutional law studies, and one that is an example of the Commonwealth's constitutional defence power in time of war. The case is Andrews v Howell and the legislation involved has the rather pleasingly unexpected name of the National Security (Apple and Pear Acquisition) Regulations. The case involves a person surreptitiously selling apples that had been acquired by the Commonwealth to prevent a surplus during war. It's pretty serious but has a funny bit of legislation behind it. I guess even the driest law subjects have their moments.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Not Bad for a Week Off
Although I've had this week "off", there's no shortage of news from Australia. Maybe it's because I'm not in class so I pay more attention. The news this week ranges from the serious to the downright bizarre and I shall endeavour to convey it as best I can.
Firstly, some news leftover from previous weeks. While in Newcastle I watched the AFL Grand Final where a new product was launched. Kraft, which produces vegemite, had come up with a new product which was a mix of cream cheese and vegemite and had asked for submissions from the public as to this product's new name. During the Grand Final they announced it --- iSnack 2.0. The reaction from the public was near-universal and guttural revulsion and ridicule. The first thing I thought when I saw the name was "That's just stupid." It seems virtually all of Australia agreed. The name was suggested by a 27-year old web developer from Western Australia who I can only assume wishes to remain anonymous to prevent attempts on his life. A committee from Kraft then decided on the name which they said reflected modern life but boy did the ponce this one up! The favoured name from people I talked to was Cheesymite. Recently, the embattled Kraft Company announced that the product's new new name will be Cheesybite, which isn't too bad.
While I was in Melbourne I saw a piece on the morning news about guinea pig or gerbil (I can't remember which exactly) racing in Grenfell, NSW. It's exactly what it sounds like. The poor rodents are placed in a small straight track and then released to race. Australia is the Earth's premier racing country and the horse Spring Racing Carnival has just begun. It seems Australians will race anything. I'm not sure what exactly is more astonishing, that rodents are raced, that it's been going on in Grenfell for 30 years (that's years) or that I'd never heard of this before.
The day arrived back in Canberra from Melbourne was the National Rugby League (NRL) Grand Final between the Parramatta Eels and the Melbourne Storm. The Storm were a strong team appearing in their 4th consecutive Grand Final and the Eels were the underdogs but were dark horses as they had won 10 of their previous 11 games in order to get to the final. In the unending rivalry between Melbourne and Sydney, it was up to Parramatta to carry the flag for Sydney. I only managed to catch the last few minutes and although the Eels put up a stout fight, they lost to the Storm by 8 points, but it was pretty close for a while. I was hoping the Eels would win, but like the Saints in the AFL, they just couldn't get a break when they needed one.
Monday last was Labour Day, a public holiday. Not much to say about that since I was already on break. Although around this day it was announced that Australia had just received its 22 millionth person, possibly a birth or an immigrant. This is an increase of about 4 million people in the last 10 years, which is pretty substantial. It is caused by a high birth rate, low death rate and high immigration. The population is supposed to double to 44 million by 2050. I think that would deprive Australia of some of its mystique. Australia will no longer be a far-flung, sparsely populated country with a vast Outback. Although the Outback will still exist, I have no doubt, something about Australia having so many people makes me sad.
In an odd twist, it turns out Kevin Rudd, the Prime Minister, has been declared a Ukrainian. On a BBC quiz show contestants were shown G-20 leaders and were told to guess which country they represented. When Kevin Rudd came up the contestant guessed Ukraine. This is a little odd since Ukraine isn't even a member of the G-20, Australia is a favourite destination of the Brits, Australia sees Britain as the "mother country" in some ways and Australia is the most important economic power in the south Pacific. Anyway, as a Ukrainian, I think Ukrainians should embrace Kevin Rudd as a fellow countryman. We can use all the help we can get.
I was also very excited to read about the launch of Google Street View in Canada. The first thing I did was look at my house in Ottawa. I was very impressed because, somehow, Google managed to find a sunny day in Ottawa during spring! Some people are concerned about privacy and so faces are blurred of people on the street and the same for car licence plates. I really don't see how this could possibly be an invasions of privacy. You're already in a public place where hundreds of people can see what you're doing. By definition what you do in public cannot possibly be private; we already have laws that regulate what you can and cannot do in a public space. I hope someone can explain this to me; privacy is about what happens behind closed doors not open windows.
Also, over the last week I went in for an ultrasound, not because I though I was pregnant, but because a while ago I had noticed a lump on my leg. On the ultrasound the lump looked like a big black blob. It appears to be a "bubble" of fluid between the muscle and skin. It may be related to something called a Baker's cyst, a collection of fluid behind the knee, that I may have received as a result of some sort of injury during soccer or something. It's not bothering me nor is it in any way dangerous. In order to remove it, I just have to get the fluid removed by syringe, but I can ignore it for now. I'm now anxiously waiting the inevitable phone call/e-mail, probably from my mother, wanting to know all about this. I wonder if by writing this, I've made it evitable? The only tedious thing was filling out an online insurance claim. I once heard that the first life insurance policy was taken out in the 1860s by a man named Gibbons for the sum of about £360 for 1 year; I don't know that was the premium or the sum to be paid upon death. Anyway, Gibbons died 4 weeks short of the 1 year mark but the underwriters got together and in order to avoid paying out they said that according to their reckoning a year was 12 x 4 weeks, so Gibbons had outlived his policy. All I can say, is thank God the insurance companies have changed since then and now they can't wait to give you your money and to hell with the small print. I think Chris Rock put it best. Insurance should be called "In Case [Something] Happens" and if [something] doesn't happen you should get your money back.
On our floor, the fridge I was using had an unusual smell for some days. By "the fridge I use" I mean the fridge that I share with half the floor. After putting up with it I decided to find out what was the cause. I got our floor SR, James, to help me out as I felt I needed his permission in order to throw anything out. In the bottom drawer we found some 3-week old chicken fillets and some spinach that had also gone off. James made the mistake of taking a deep breath of the chicken which made him gag and almost made his eyes water. He described the smell as "from the bowels of Satan". As an aside, "pumpernickel" means to "give Satan gas", the "nick" being the same name as "Old Nick" a nickname of Satan. In any event, as any chemist will tell you, anyone who breathes in directly is absolutely barking; you should wave your hand over the substance and waft the smell over. Moreover, humans are especially attuned to rotting meat for evolutionary reasons. Humans can detect the hydrogen sulfides in rotting meat because it was a way for us to prevent getting sick; if you smelled the meat and it was bad, you knew not to eat it. Also, I think, it helped us with predators in that if you saw a predator lying in the grass but it didn't smell, it might not be dead. By the way, skunks also produce hydrogen sulfides in their stink. Anyway, James cleaned out both fridges and everything's just rosy now.
As of right now, I'm writing this absurdly long application for an otherwise interesting opportunity at Finance Canada. In addition to the standard CV and references, the application asks you to explain your ranking of your preferred policy branches, an essay on policy issues and, a question I absolutely loathe, how teamwork helped you in the past. I hate questions like that, along with those like "What is your worst fault?" and "Can you give an example of how you resolved a conflict with a co-worker?" I haven't had really any conflicts with co-workers and what do they care what my faults are? I really think it should be confined to questions relating more specifically to the job, although I'm willing to grant a little leeway on the co-worker conflict thing. Anyway, I have to get back to this dreaded application. I think I'm in with a shot, though, if I get this right with my mom's help.
Firstly, some news leftover from previous weeks. While in Newcastle I watched the AFL Grand Final where a new product was launched. Kraft, which produces vegemite, had come up with a new product which was a mix of cream cheese and vegemite and had asked for submissions from the public as to this product's new name. During the Grand Final they announced it --- iSnack 2.0. The reaction from the public was near-universal and guttural revulsion and ridicule. The first thing I thought when I saw the name was "That's just stupid." It seems virtually all of Australia agreed. The name was suggested by a 27-year old web developer from Western Australia who I can only assume wishes to remain anonymous to prevent attempts on his life. A committee from Kraft then decided on the name which they said reflected modern life but boy did the ponce this one up! The favoured name from people I talked to was Cheesymite. Recently, the embattled Kraft Company announced that the product's new new name will be Cheesybite, which isn't too bad.
While I was in Melbourne I saw a piece on the morning news about guinea pig or gerbil (I can't remember which exactly) racing in Grenfell, NSW. It's exactly what it sounds like. The poor rodents are placed in a small straight track and then released to race. Australia is the Earth's premier racing country and the horse Spring Racing Carnival has just begun. It seems Australians will race anything. I'm not sure what exactly is more astonishing, that rodents are raced, that it's been going on in Grenfell for 30 years (that's years) or that I'd never heard of this before.
The day arrived back in Canberra from Melbourne was the National Rugby League (NRL) Grand Final between the Parramatta Eels and the Melbourne Storm. The Storm were a strong team appearing in their 4th consecutive Grand Final and the Eels were the underdogs but were dark horses as they had won 10 of their previous 11 games in order to get to the final. In the unending rivalry between Melbourne and Sydney, it was up to Parramatta to carry the flag for Sydney. I only managed to catch the last few minutes and although the Eels put up a stout fight, they lost to the Storm by 8 points, but it was pretty close for a while. I was hoping the Eels would win, but like the Saints in the AFL, they just couldn't get a break when they needed one.
Monday last was Labour Day, a public holiday. Not much to say about that since I was already on break. Although around this day it was announced that Australia had just received its 22 millionth person, possibly a birth or an immigrant. This is an increase of about 4 million people in the last 10 years, which is pretty substantial. It is caused by a high birth rate, low death rate and high immigration. The population is supposed to double to 44 million by 2050. I think that would deprive Australia of some of its mystique. Australia will no longer be a far-flung, sparsely populated country with a vast Outback. Although the Outback will still exist, I have no doubt, something about Australia having so many people makes me sad.
In an odd twist, it turns out Kevin Rudd, the Prime Minister, has been declared a Ukrainian. On a BBC quiz show contestants were shown G-20 leaders and were told to guess which country they represented. When Kevin Rudd came up the contestant guessed Ukraine. This is a little odd since Ukraine isn't even a member of the G-20, Australia is a favourite destination of the Brits, Australia sees Britain as the "mother country" in some ways and Australia is the most important economic power in the south Pacific. Anyway, as a Ukrainian, I think Ukrainians should embrace Kevin Rudd as a fellow countryman. We can use all the help we can get.
I was also very excited to read about the launch of Google Street View in Canada. The first thing I did was look at my house in Ottawa. I was very impressed because, somehow, Google managed to find a sunny day in Ottawa during spring! Some people are concerned about privacy and so faces are blurred of people on the street and the same for car licence plates. I really don't see how this could possibly be an invasions of privacy. You're already in a public place where hundreds of people can see what you're doing. By definition what you do in public cannot possibly be private; we already have laws that regulate what you can and cannot do in a public space. I hope someone can explain this to me; privacy is about what happens behind closed doors not open windows.
Also, over the last week I went in for an ultrasound, not because I though I was pregnant, but because a while ago I had noticed a lump on my leg. On the ultrasound the lump looked like a big black blob. It appears to be a "bubble" of fluid between the muscle and skin. It may be related to something called a Baker's cyst, a collection of fluid behind the knee, that I may have received as a result of some sort of injury during soccer or something. It's not bothering me nor is it in any way dangerous. In order to remove it, I just have to get the fluid removed by syringe, but I can ignore it for now. I'm now anxiously waiting the inevitable phone call/e-mail, probably from my mother, wanting to know all about this. I wonder if by writing this, I've made it evitable? The only tedious thing was filling out an online insurance claim. I once heard that the first life insurance policy was taken out in the 1860s by a man named Gibbons for the sum of about £360 for 1 year; I don't know that was the premium or the sum to be paid upon death. Anyway, Gibbons died 4 weeks short of the 1 year mark but the underwriters got together and in order to avoid paying out they said that according to their reckoning a year was 12 x 4 weeks, so Gibbons had outlived his policy. All I can say, is thank God the insurance companies have changed since then and now they can't wait to give you your money and to hell with the small print. I think Chris Rock put it best. Insurance should be called "In Case [Something] Happens" and if [something] doesn't happen you should get your money back.
On our floor, the fridge I was using had an unusual smell for some days. By "the fridge I use" I mean the fridge that I share with half the floor. After putting up with it I decided to find out what was the cause. I got our floor SR, James, to help me out as I felt I needed his permission in order to throw anything out. In the bottom drawer we found some 3-week old chicken fillets and some spinach that had also gone off. James made the mistake of taking a deep breath of the chicken which made him gag and almost made his eyes water. He described the smell as "from the bowels of Satan". As an aside, "pumpernickel" means to "give Satan gas", the "nick" being the same name as "Old Nick" a nickname of Satan. In any event, as any chemist will tell you, anyone who breathes in directly is absolutely barking; you should wave your hand over the substance and waft the smell over. Moreover, humans are especially attuned to rotting meat for evolutionary reasons. Humans can detect the hydrogen sulfides in rotting meat because it was a way for us to prevent getting sick; if you smelled the meat and it was bad, you knew not to eat it. Also, I think, it helped us with predators in that if you saw a predator lying in the grass but it didn't smell, it might not be dead. By the way, skunks also produce hydrogen sulfides in their stink. Anyway, James cleaned out both fridges and everything's just rosy now.
As of right now, I'm writing this absurdly long application for an otherwise interesting opportunity at Finance Canada. In addition to the standard CV and references, the application asks you to explain your ranking of your preferred policy branches, an essay on policy issues and, a question I absolutely loathe, how teamwork helped you in the past. I hate questions like that, along with those like "What is your worst fault?" and "Can you give an example of how you resolved a conflict with a co-worker?" I haven't had really any conflicts with co-workers and what do they care what my faults are? I really think it should be confined to questions relating more specifically to the job, although I'm willing to grant a little leeway on the co-worker conflict thing. Anyway, I have to get back to this dreaded application. I think I'm in with a shot, though, if I get this right with my mom's help.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
My Melbourne Trip
I suppose I am a little late in updating what happened in Melbourne. I was originally going to update this week and my Melbourne trip in one post but so much has happened over the week, that I might as well do the Melbourne trip update now and my weekly summary as usual this Saturday.
I left Canberra just before 22:00 last Wednesday, only 2 days after getting back from Newcastle. I wanted to get as much of Melbourne in as I could while still giving me enough time to catch up on some readings for law school. I also chose such a late time because it was far cheaper than anytime else. The flight was short, less than 1 hour, and even though we left late, we arrived a little early. I waited for a while and was picked up by Maria and her daughter Katia, the people with whom I would be spending my time in Melbourne. They're both very generous and I have stayed with them before on other trips to Melbourne. This time around, because I got in so late, around 23:00, we just drove home and after some introductions went to sleep.
The next day I used to explore the inner city of Melbourne, but particularly St. Kilda. I had been told by the Motykas in Newcastle that Acland Street in St. Kilda contained several cake shops with lovely cakes in their front windows. Getting off the train at Flinders Street Station, after some walking about I took the tram (Melbourne boasts the world's most extensive tram network) down to St. Kilda, passed a Salvador Dali exhibit and the famous clown's head entrance of Luna Park, a small theme park. I walked along Acland Street and then happened upon the stores I had been told about. The cakes were made and decorated with such care, it was almost a shame that they'd be eaten. All along the street each cake shop's inventions seemed more daring and inviting than the last. Eventually, I got up the courage to try out a marvellous looking chocolate torte and it was fantastic.
I stayed a good long while in that cake shop, taking in the atmosphere and reading the newspaper, but then I took a long walk along St. Kilda's shoreline, out along St. Kilda pier with its old pavilion that has been welcoming important guests for over 100 years; actually, it's a reconstruction, the original having been destroyed in a 2003 fire. Although I didn't see any, there is a colony of little Blue Penguins along the breakwater.
Before returning to Maria and Katia's I spent some time in Federation Square, the beating heart of Melbourne. It's right across from Flinders Street Station and sits where there were once rather unimpressive buildings. Now, on the large screen, you can see various visual artworks. That day it was a slightly disturbing animated film of various bicycling accidents the director and her friends had had over the years. After watching it for a little while, I was approached to partake in a survey about Fed Square, which I agreed to. The survey was conducted by a rather friendly man and after the survey we talked about the history of the square, its layout and its various components. While heading to the train station, I found an interactive display of "musical" bouncing balls that I just had to try out and record. It was very amusing.
The day after my little city exploration, Katia, Maria and I decided to drive down to the Mornington Peninsula, a strip of land to the south of the city, rather in manner like Cape Cod, or so I'm told. Our destination was Portsea, the town on the Mornington's edge and from there we could walk to Cheviot Beach where an Australian Prime Minister, Harold Holt, drowned in 1967 I believe; his body was never recovered. Portsea is only about 100km from Melbourne so I figured it would only take about 1.5 hours to get to; how wrong I turned out to be.
It turns out that there is no good direct way to get to the Mornington Peninsula as the "highways" are all city roads. We drove through the CBD, then through St. Kilda and through a myriad other suburbs and it was about an hour before we reached Frankston, a suburb only about 40 km from Melbourne's center. However, after Frankston, the driving became much easier as the road became a coastal highway. We passed through many picturesque towns but it soon became readily apparent that Portsea was slightly too far for us on this trip. The being so, we decided that it might be best to stop in Dromana, a small town on the southern edge of Port Phillip Bay, and after about 2.5 hours driving. Dromana is reasonably picturesque, nestled between bay and mountain, and in the distant cloudy haze, you could even make out Melbourne's skyscrapers. Anyway, the 3 of us got out and walked the town to see what there was, which wasn't much. I expect the town really only thrives on the summer tourism industry from Melbourne as the beach was lined with several multi-coloured huts. After a fairly brief jaunt around Dromana, we returned to Melbourne agreeing that next time we would make this into a 2-day trip.
The day wasn't quite over as Katia invited me out with some of her friends. We first went to the aptly named Noise Bar where a friend's friend's band was playing. The music wasn't bad but the volume was dreadful. After a suitably discreet interval we went to Provincial Bar where we talked and laughed until closing.
On Saturday, the 3 of us went to the Turkish Festival being held not far from Maria and Katia's house; Katia's nephew, Josh, joined us a little later. The Turkish Festival was exactly what it sounds like, lots of stalls selling jewelry, kebabs, music and there were even some carnival rides. That night, Katia and I again went out with her friends, although this time, the night got considerably more wild. The place we went was a converted Chinese restaurant now called Deluxe Bar. It is separated to 2 floors, the bottom being a sort of cocktail lounge and the upper a dance club. After some time, one of our party, Josh (not Katia's nephew) was asked to vacate the premises as, in the opinion of the bouncers, he'd had a little too much alcohol. He wasn't causing any trouble or anything but he was was slurring his words. He strenuously objected but other than the use of some colourful metaphors, didn't cause any problems.
While waiting for Katia on the sidewalk outside Deluxe, I suddenly noticed the door bouncer rush back into the club and I immediately had a sense of foreboding. Within a short span of time, a young man emerged, very livid and combative, at what I can only assume was his objection to being asked to leave. His friends tried to hold him back but his verbal tirades continued and even some physical ones. The young man and his friends crossed the street but the bouncers followed in a group. I was worried what was going to happen so I followed at a respectable distance. However, I became worried that this might come to blows so I called the police, who were there very quickly, in fact I was still on the phone with the 000 operator. That seemed to calm the situation but the young man was arrested. Although a little scary, it was still exciting and capped off a rather fun evening. Maria picked Katia and myself up and I had to get some sleep as I was getting on a plane in less than 12 hours.
Sunday was rather interesting as daylight savings kicked in; I had to be sure to remember this so I wouldn't miss my plane. Before I left, though, we went to visit Tania and Nadia Stasyshyn at the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. They are distantly related to me by marriage but have always been kind and I stayed with them the first time I visited Melbourne in 2005. It turned out the church society was having its AGM that day and we stayed for a little bit, though I later learned that it was good we left when we did because the meeting dissolved into petty factional squabbling afterwards; this seems to be characteristic of Ukrainian communities unfortunately. It was quite soon after we left the AGM that I had to be on my way back to Canberra. Maria and Katia dropped me off at the airport and I thanked them for their warmth and hospitality; I had given them a 2010 calendar as a thank you gift the night before. I look forward to another journey to the cultural mecca of Australia again as soon as I can. Hopefully, this time in in warmer weather.
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