Double Demerit - Backstreet Fail

Police Patrol

Early this morning at the end of my lovely overnight shift I decided to make my way home via mostly the back routes, to mostly avoid firstly having to think about speed cameras but also police patrols and red traffic lights. The plan worked wonderfully the day before, as it allowed me to freely and liberally get home without need to “think”. Don’t worry I am mostly always alert when I drive, but the stakes were higher as it’s “Double-Demerit” points in NSW over this long weekend.

Anyway, this morning in an attempt to miss “Carlingford Road” where a few years ago, I got caught speeding and subsequently had my licence suspended for three months, I took “Ray Road” and what were the cops doing? Those delightful smart-arses were patrolling in their shmancy police car (as seen in the picture).  I was lucky that I was able to see through the heavy rain, but also thankful for the RTA, in their near perfect placement of a speed bump, because it definitely saved me my licence and lots of money.

Graveyard Shift

Graveyard

One thing I have learnt about myself since after turning a quarter of a century old is that I am no longer cut out for all-nighters.

Saturday night was the first night I’d done an ‘overnight shift’ since finishing university and working full-time during the day and I’ve realised after one rather uneventful night that I’m NOT cut out for that stuff anymore.  I used to do crazily long shifts over the weekend.  With a pattern that resembled something like….

• Friday evening go out after uni til early hours of Saturday morning, sleep in car at work carpark.
• Saturday 4am to 4pm work at Woolworths
• Saturday after work - nap
• Saturday evening get up and go out from 6pm til 10pm
• Saturday night 11pm to 7am (Sunday) work at RIDBC Respite Service
• Sunday sleep til 12:30pm - Get up and have lunch
• Sunday afternoon 2pm til 2am (Monday) work at Woolworths
• Monday morning get up at 10am to be in time for 11am lectures

I somehow managed to cram 32hours of work (30 hours of paid work) into the space of weekend.  Oh and the rewards were enormous, especially since I have no HECS debt, a sound attitude toward hard work, where nothing is below or beyond me.

Again back to my original reason for posting, my first overnight shift was somewhat painful with a complete lack of stimulation and by that I mean entertainment.

• My work computer login account hadn’t been setup which meant NO internet
• Foxtel was DOWN which meant NO TV not even free-to-air
• All the DVDs in the house were children’s movies which I’d already seen because I’d been working with these kids for so long
• The radio reception in the house was pathetic with a lot of static.
• The internet I was trying to leech had a “poor” signal which meant in dropped out every 2seconds and thus created more frustration than relief.

I finished my ‘duties’ after a couple of hours and then managed to watch MILK which I’ll write up about later.

Perhaps what caused the most pain was the fact that I was the only one on, where as in the past there were two staff on allowing each person the luxury of 45minutes rest in between each check. With just me and no one to share those half-hourly checks, I couldn’t really take a nap.

I’m going to give myself a couple of months, where as in this past I would say that I’m doing it because I really care about the kids, I’m going to be frank and say that I’m doing this so I can finally reach my goal and travel the world!

The Kite Runner

The Kite Runner

Don’t you just hate it when a movie ruins a book?

I made the mistake of watching The Kite Runner at the movies a couple of years ago. I say ‘mistake’ only in that I should have read the book first.  Whenever I read a book, I build up images in my head, I pretty much form a movie in my head. I’m going to admit that I’m a slow reader, mostly because I allow myself the time to take into the book, think about it, process it and play it in “pictures” in my head.  The Kite Runner (the book) by Khaled Hosseini is wonderfully discriptive and is poetic in its imagery, particularly in the way in describes the Afgan landscape.

I should mention that the book is fiction, which I don’t typically tend to read a lot of.  Reading this book may just be the catalyst I need to read Harry Potter. Yes that’s right I HAVEN’T read Harry Potter.

I’m sidetracking from my point here (if ever I really had one), but watching movies first before I read the book tends to make me ‘remember’ the movie and takes away the creativeness and ‘fun’ in reading a book.  By watching a movie first my mind is filled and corrupted with someone elses thoughts and images and eventhough I gave myself two years before touching the book, much of the pleasure of reading the book was taken away. This may be a problem as I’ve watched the majority of the Harry Potter movies and yet to read a single word. *sigh* I should never have caved into watching those movies!

For those who haven’t come across The Kite Runner, the book is set in Afganistan during the time of the Soviet Invasion of the country. I won’t get into the politics of it all but for those who’d like a bit of a history lesson, it’s pretty much around the time when the Taliban start to grow, courtesy of US government (the benefits of hindsight).

The beginning of the book evolves around two boys Amir (the rich kid) and Hazara (the servant’s boy) and their childhood.  Their friendship and each of the boy’s personalities are developed through their involvement in “Kite Fighting” (not as violent as it sounds).

As the story moves on so does the war and eventually the story moves on to California, USA.  There the book follows the life of Amir who endures the pains of all things ‘cultural’ when falling in love with a fellow Afgani refugee, whilst working for his father at the flea markets.

You’d think that the book would end happily there with Amir falling in love, but there’s a twist which leads to Amir returning to Kabul, Afganistan during a time when the Taliban pretty much ruled the place.  The last part of the book gets pretty emotional and I guarantee that once you get to the last third of the book you won’t be putting it down.  I have to say that I was extremely touched by the ending and despite already knowing the ending from having seen the movie it still left an impact on my thoughts and moods for a few days.

Running with Scissors

Running with Scissors

Running with Scissors is a book by Augusten Burroughs which unbeknonst to be at the time of buying the book was made into a movie in 2006 about 4 years after it had been published.  I came across this book as a direct result of reading “Look Me In The Eye” by Augusten Burrough’s brother John Elder Robinson who has Aspergers.

Before reading on I’d have to say that I have an obvious bias towards reading biographies and non-fiction, but I have even more of a bias for reading memoirs about people with disabilities.  As a direct result of the work that I do, it gives me what I consider to be a brief but enlightening insight to what it is like for the children I work with as they grow up.

I will preface my summary of the book by also saying that although Burroughs doesn’t have a “disability” in that it’s neither physical nor intellectual he does suffer psychologically, but as I’ve written above, my interest was sparked by my own curiosities after having read “Look Me In The Eye”

The book looks into the “dark” side of Burrough’s adolescent life, although ‘twisted’ and ‘black’ it’s written in a such a candid way that you can’t help but go through the emotions of being shocked and then smile to yourself at the humour of the situation which I think is a credit to the way in which Burrough’s writes the book. It could have easily turned into a book filled with ravenous anger and hatred for his upbringing and his situation but there’s very little of the absolute hate you might expect from someone that has experienced such a twisted up bringing.

The early stages of the book centres around the marriage breakdown of Augusten’s parents and then it quickly moves on to his mother’s (Margaret Robinson) dellusions of gradeur and psychiatric/psychological problems which ultimately leads to Augusten been “given away” at approximately the age of 13 to his mother’s shrink “Dr. Finch” which for a shrink is in today’s youthful vernacular would be considered to be “pretty fucked up”.

The messed up nature of Dr. Finch’s unorthodox approaches itself make this book a worthwhile read, but there’s just so much that goes on in the book that you won’t want to put it down.

After reading the book I acquired a copy of the movie and was pleasantly surprised at how well the book transferred into a movie, which may possibly be why it was nominated for several awards the year in came out. As with all books that are made into a movie, things are left out and I’d recommend reading the book first.  There’s nothing like reading a book first.

Running on Empty

Lately I’ve been feeling…? down? I’m not sure that it’s so much down as it is just unmotivated or perhaps uninspired with a touch of longing.

I can’t really describe it, perhaps the closest explanation is that I feel as though I’m the water in a two week old rock-pool with the remains of organisms floating about and the next HIGH tide nowhere in sight.

I’ve tried to narrow it to a few things, most of it has to do with the fact that I’m hoping to travel long-term and thus I don’t feel like I can commit to anything, whether it be study, sport, long-term projects at work or relationships. I feel at the moment that I’m stagnant and all of sudden everyone on the open highway is over-taking me and I’m having to merge into the slow lane.

Aside from the fact that I know that I’ll be travelling, I seem to know little else. In short, for the first time in my life I feel rather directionless.

I can’t help but think that what I thought would be beneficial (working full-time in the one position) is actually stifling me and has created to 9-5 monotony that I’ve avoided for much of my young working life.  Don’t get me wrong, I love my job, I have enormous job satisfaction but there’s a distinct lack of social stimulation and atmosphere at work, whereby past 2:30pm on most days at work I’m the single employee left at the office. This you might think would normally lend itself to mischief, but unfortunately when you’re working in health and education being mischievous can have some pretty bad consequences.

Hopefully things will take a turn for the better and I suspect when I don’t have to deliver 2.5hour long presentations on Tuesday nights I will stress and worry less.

Melbourne

Melbourne Skyline

As with any trip, its just never quite long enough. Our days in Melbourne were always going to be limited but it was a much needed ‘holiday’ where not much really happened. I probably learnt after drinking a Coffee, Ice Chocolate and then a Mint Hot Chocolate from Max Brenna that I was at the very least mildly-lactose intolerant.

The most important thing about the trip was the opportunity to reflect on the last 6months which have absolutely flown. It seemed like only yesterday that I was planning and organising my trip with Tim and Kieran. Its now July again and I’m looking towards what might be of 2010.

Many of us have chopped and changed our plans for next year, many of us have decided that next year will be the year that travels is on the agenda, its no different for me I guess. I’m still seriously considering what I want to do with Africa and The Middle East and whatever else that might occur afterward, but back to Melbourne…

The very first night we were there we ate at Oriental Tea House, they happened to be having a “Duck Month”. It was pretty good and for 10 entree sized dishes it wasn’t priced too badly, our only criticism would probably surround the often ambiguous description of the dishes, but I guess if you compare it to most Chinese restaurants it was pretty darn good.

Whilst on this trip I managed to visit the Old Melbourne Gaol for some good old colonial and Australian history, the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) twice, once for the supposed “Jane Austen” exhbition with Amanda and her blog-buddy Carmen and the second time for the Salvador Dali exhibition which was absolutely amazing and recommended to anyone visiting Victoria.

Probably the most exiciting news on the trip was Kieran’s win in the Vivid Student category for Best Student Product in Vivid’s Awards for Excellence in Design. I have to say that I gave him only a very slim chance of winning, so slim that I didn’t even bother turning up to the presentation at the Furnitex show. A great show of support from his trusty friend no-less.

Lots of drinking, eating and being merry took place and may eventually be documented, but for now we’ll have to live with this very short summary of the trip.

One job, One employer and One team

This probably sounds more like the ‘One Country, One people, two system’ slogan from the reunification of Hong Kong, but in the 7~8 years of my working life. I’ve always had multiple jobs at one point I remember having up to 4 con-current paid jobs. If you counted voluntary work I would have almost always had 4 jobs and at its peak probably 6 jobs at any one time. In terms of paid employment this year has been the year where I’ve started to cut down the number of jobs, not all by choice.

In April, the Respite and Recreation Service for which I continued to work for long after finishing university finally closed down and although I went through the interviewed process and offered a casual position at the new Respite Service, I ultimately declined the opportunity to work in care again.

Finally at the end of May I was offered the opportunity to work full-time at Lifestart which I have worked for since I graduated. Incidentally, I’ve had an association with Lifestart for a number of year now, as I used to volunteer there as a student.

From the start of this month and hence for the last two weeks I have been working at the one place.  It was a hard decision to make in leaving The Spastic Centre, but now after having endured a month of wrapping-up and wondering what it would be like, I have to say I’m feeling the benefits in terms of stress and overall happiness in the work place. The Spastic Centre is undergoing a number of changes and on top of that, my own frustrations with the limited resources for my caseload was getting to me a bit. There wasn’t one reason that contributed to my decision to leave, but for those who decide to make decisions based purely on finances I urge you to read on.

I would have been significantly better off in the long-term had I remained at The Spastic Centre, but happiness and the reduction of my stress levels far out weigh the benefits. I guess my point there is that unless you’ve got some exuberantly large debt and you can do without some of the materialistic ways in which we live, choose the option where you know is going to be ‘health’ wise better for you. I guarantee that you’ll be a happier person.

Updates Galore!

Okay, I’ve got a whole lot of catching up to do on this blog, I haven’t been lazy so much as lacked the motivation because everytime I looked at my blog it reminded of how much it desperately needed a bit of a makeover. It’s by no means finished, but it’s at least closer to where I want it to be.

I’ll be heading down to Melbourne soon, which I have to say I’m a little in different about, which makes me wonder why I’m actually going.  Most times when I plan for holidays I get excited about them a week or so before I go on them, could it be… that I’ve been to Melbourne one toooooooo many times? I have to say that everytime I go down, I love the bloody place. *shrugs* who knows, it may actually have something to do with the way I’m feeling right now, which is tired and a little in different, a contrast to the excitement in my belly the last couple of weeks.

Canberra and surrounds

Canberra

A few weeks ago now, Kieran and I went on a day trip to Canberra, just because we could.  It was a beautiful day to start with and it only started to rain as we were having dinner.  We worked out that with the exception of our trip to India, it has rained on every FINAL day of our trips together… is it a sign? or sheer coincidence?

Given that Kieran isn’t a morning person I took the reigns for the drive down to Canberra, stopping only at Goulburn for some breakfast at the Rose’s Cafe (Montague Street - Next to Courthouse), it was a hearty breakfast, a nice warm cup of hot chocolate went down beautifully with my Bacon and Eggs.

We continued on our merry way to the National Gallery of Australia where currently until mid-July they have a Soft Sculpture exhibition.  The soft sculptures were actually very interesting and I like the idea of creating sculptures using a variety of mediums.  I have to confess I don’t know much about art, but I appreciate the thought and design processes that go behind them. I always take a moment to think about it and similar to when I read books, it often conjures up other memories and ideas.

After looking at some of the other exhibitions including the ‘Sculpture Gardens’ which I have to say is a bit ‘fail’ in that there aren’t many sculptures and there didn’t seem to be many new additions.  I’m not expecting a massive ’sculpture park’ it is afterall a ‘garden’, but there didn’t seem to be in my humble opinion much perspective given to the relative size and positioning of some of the scupltures.

We decided to head into the Civic to find something to eat, not that we were particularly hungry.  In a stroke of genius (mind the hyperbole) we decided to head into Borders to check out the Canberra Good Food Guide (GFG). There were either not enough restaurants for Canberra to have its own Good Food Guide or that it’s just such a hole that it didn’t warrant it’s own edition of the Good Good Guide like the many of the other major cities seem to have.

Regardless we managed to find one whole page filled with places to eat in Canberra.  So for lunch we decided to head to Silo Bakery where I ordered Toulouse Sausage and Oysters, which was amazing in that the pepper and spices in the sausage balanced the fresh Oyster with fresh lemon taste. There was a simple olive-oil dressed salad in between which blended in beautifully with both the oyster and the sausage.  I’ve not had something at it, but my decision to choose something from the menu that was ‘different’ was rewarded.

Our next stop after lunch was Questacon, which in all honesty hadn’t really changed much since I was last there, still it was lots of fun and relatively interesting. Kieran was extraordinarily proud of himself when he managed to get closest to 15 seconds on a stop watch like gizmo, what he won’t tell you is that he cheated.

Petrol and dinner were the last things on our agenda and although the thought of sniffing petrol crossed my mind we ended up after a failed first attempt to get into a restaurant mentioned in the GFG to dine at Ottoman Cuisine in Barton. The food there was that good that I’d want to drive down to Canberra just to experience it all over again. I had for entree the ‘ enginar ‘ artichoke hearts filled with goat’s fetta & pine-nuts; served crisp with a light yoghurt sauce; and for mains ‘Sis Balik‘ - skewered Hiramasa king fish pieces marinated in lemon & bay leaves, char-grilled served with leeks braised with local extra virgin olive oil.

Whilst the entree and main was simply delectable the dessert was in a world of its own.  The ‘kazandibi” sounded enticing on the menu, when it arrived it looked alluring and it tasted simply sensational. All it was, was baked custard with mastica extract served with morello cherries in syrup and pomegranate ice-cream.

It was a pleasurable way to end the school holidays. Good food in the company of a good friend.

Danny Bhoy - At the Enmore Theatre

Danny Bhoy

I last saw Danny Bhoy about three years ago and although there are some comedians I wouldn’t go back to see due to what I’d consider to be ‘recycled’ material, Danny Bhoy didn’t have this problem. To my knowledge he didn’t re-use any of his old material and although he used the same formula to his show (which all comedians do even greats such as Robbin Williams and Jerry Seinfield do) none of it seemed familiar.

This time round he talked and of course joked about his long tour of Australia and was never at any stage really controversial but that’s his style, he’s a very good ’story teller’ who consistently finishes with awesome punchlines.

It’s particular hard for me to articulate, but in a way and with respect to William Shakespeare and other playrights Bhoy’s structure reminded of a classic Shakespearean play. He had one constant theme from start to finish, but had little subplots all the way through and right at the end when closing, managed to tie everything up beautifully.

It’s hard comparing comedians just like its hard making comparisons between musicians, as everyone has their own style.  Danny Bhoy does however remind me a little of Ross Noble in that as the show goes on, he cleverly builds on presuppopositonal information in order to create a laugh, in a sense it makes him quite witty.