Adventures, Musings, Commentary, and Associated Fun

Melbourne Cup

Australians are extremely fond of their sport, particularly when there is wagering to be done on it.  (There's a frequently recited saying that if a pair of Australians noticed two flys on the wall, they would have odds set on which one would leave first before either fly did.)  The Melbourne Cup, commonly known as the "race that stops the nation", was held yesterday.  The Cup is the biggest race (by far) in Australia, is cause for a public holiday in Victoria, attracts over 100,000 spectators (and several million watching on television), is worth over $5 million to the winner, and probably has more sporting, cultural, and historical significance to Victorians than the Kentucky Derby does to a Kentuckian (Mark Twain's 1895 description of the Cup is regularly rolled out in the pre-Cup festivities: "Nowhere in the world have I encountered a festival of people that has such a magnificent appeal to the whole nation.  The Cup astonishes me.")

It's difficult to describe the craziness and the atmosphere of the Cup, which has been somewhat subdued this year due to a nasty October outbreak of equine flu.  As part of the Spring Racing Carnival, I'll be heading to the racetrack tomorrow for Oaks Day.  Apparently it was originally supposed to be "Ladies Day" at the track, but over time the prospect on many fine looking women has enough boys filtering in for the day to be colloquially as "Blokes Day".  It doesn't have the prestige of Cup Day, but as a result the clientèle is more..."democratic" (read: younger, more likely to get silly drunk and do regrettable things - though things do get pretty debaucherous on other days throughout the Racing Carnival too.) :)  There's also a classier side to the Carnival as well.

And in other news, further evidence of the spectacular rise in Australian wine...Australia can now claim to have the world's best winemaker.  Not bad, eh?

Update

Unfortunately, life has been a few degrees busier than I would like over the past 6 weeks or so.  Since I came back from my brief jaunt around SE Asia (and Sydney/Brisbane), life has been been full-on and hasn't offered much in terms of a rest.  In no particular order, the main culprits have frisbee, thesis, teaching, and random assorted things I've managed to get myself involved in.  In my experience, taking on a few too many responsibilities has less to do with the inability or unwillingness to say "no" when asked to do something, and more to do with a genuine, repeated underestimation of the amount of time required by such things.  Of course, that also plays a role in why I seem to be constitutionally prone to lateness.  Oh well.

New toy!  I just picked up this beauty of a 20" LCD monitor from LG.   In addition to getting a good price, I figured that the amount of time that I spend staring at a computer screen allows for such indulgences.  I set it up the other day, and so far it's pretty sweet.  At the moment I have my MacBook open, allowing for 2 screens - just drag the mouse off to the far left of one screen and it pops up on the far right of the other one.  Pretty cool, really. :)

Melbourne University is officially on break at the moment, with this past Friday marking the beginning of a 2 week holiday.  I will be marking essays for most of this upcoming week - something I am less than enthused about, needless to say - before heading to the Gold Coast in Southern Queensland for 2007 Australian University Games.  I've heard the GC referred to as the "South Florida" of Australia on a few occasion, and I believe we're staying in Surfers Paradise.  It's not exactly shaping up to be an idyllic, bucolic, Thorovean retreat...but that's OK too.  Think of a (slightly) classier, more built up, and newer version of South Myrtle Beach with bigger waves and higher buildings, and you have my rough preconception.

Frisbee has been going well, but has been quite busy over the past 2 months.  Similarly to last year, Chilly (i.e. my Melbourne-based club team) has been playing at the same time as the Melbourne University team.  The Chilly season began in mid-January, so all in all it's been quite a long season - with the exception of a week off here or there, I've been playing at least 3 times a week since then, with 4 trainings per week the routine over the past 2 months.  Once Uni Games and the National Championships for the Mixed Division (Oct. 5-7 in Sydney) are over, I'll be able to enjoy a break of a few weeks.  I'm actually looking quite forward to it, as my body is starting to remind me that it needs a rest, and I can feel the initial warnings of "frisbee burnout" starting to appear.  We had a tournament here in Melbourne last weekend that was a large part of the selection process for the National Team.  The first cuts will be announced in a few weeks, and while nothing can be guaranteed, I feel pretty good about my chances of making it to the next stage of the process.  The final team that will go the World Championships in Vancouver next year (the equivalent of the Ultimate World Cup) will be announced in late Jan/early Feb.  Here's the main document detailing the timing of the process.

Apologies for the long delay in posting - hopefully this week of non-teaching will allow for a few belated updates.

Yea!

Funnily enough, that's actually the name of a town.  I'm heading there in a few hours with a couple of mates.  The rough plan is to have a few beers tonight, then stick around for another friend's (Steve Wealands, a fellow Chilly player that I've mentioned before on the blog) birthday BBQ tomorrow afternoon.  It's about 2 hours outside of Melbourne in country Victoria, so it should make for a reasonable if somewhat bite-sized road trip.  The plan is to be gone about 24 hours in total.

More to come, including overdue pictures and wrap-up from my Asia trip, to come very soon.  In the meantime, an interesting article about Indonesia's success in fighting terrorism...

to Brizzie...

I'm slowly getting used to the colder weather.  It's amazing how quickly your body can acclimate to summer heat and humidity.  The first two days I was back in Australia were brutally cold...or so it seemed, as my body wondered what had happened to wonderfully warm (and very humid) weather of Singapore.

NTC (National Training Camp), the reason that I cut short (to a measly 24 hours) my time in Bali was really successful.  Typically, the only time we get together as an entire frisbee community is at tournaments based around club play, such as Nationals.  This weekend, the first step in the process for selecting the Australian National Team, was quite different.  Saturday was devoted mostly to drills and exercises, while Sunday involved 8 different games (each about 30 minutes) with players mixed up and swapped around for each game.  The result was a chance to play with a bunch of different people, most of whom I've only played against before.  It was also a great chance to chat and socialize outside of the normal club-based structure, which can be limiting.  I'm surprised at how sore my legs are from the weekend, but then again we all were running very hard...and I'm not very good about taking a sub, so over the weekend I probably played more points than most.  Oops.  My thighs are grumbling at me as a result. 

In 3 weeks, we'll be in Sydney again for a weekend of "real" games (i.e. based around our club teams), followed 4 weeks later by the same in Melbourne.  After this, the Australian "squad" team will be announced, and it's from this group of players that the "Dingoes" (men's team) and "Barrimundis" (mixed team, also a type of Australian fish) will be chosen.  (I'm not sure what the ladies' team is called, but safe to say it's probably some sort of exotic Australian wildlife.)

Off to Brisbane tonight for a tournament on the weekend, then back home to Melbourne late Sunday night.  It will be good to be back home and into a routine again, though I'm less than excited about having my first classes to teach within 12 hours of touching down.  Photos and more commentary about my Asia trip once I get back.

change of plans...again!

Have to keep this one short as there are a number of errands I'm trying to complete before heading to Bali later this evening.  Due to a change of plans - the US friend I was hoping to meet up with in Bali, Eileen, won't be able to make the trip - I'll only be in Bali for about 24 hours instead of the week I had initially hoped for.  While this is of course regrettable (and means I won't be able to do my Open Water SCUBA diving course), it means that I'll be able to get to Sydney for the National Training Camp, which is the first step in the selection process for the Australian Ultimate Frisbee National Team.  I think it's the right decision, even though I do feel the inevitable regret of not being able to do both.

My time in Singapore has been productive and useful, even though I haven't done as much writing as I had originally hoped to.  I've managed to meet several interesting folks at the National University of Singapore (where I'm staying with my friend Angus) and hopefully can build upon that when I come back in Jan/Feb for my official research trip.  Jakarta is also in the cards for that trip, and while visiting the National Mosque of Singapore I even managed to randomly meet an Indonesian academic who seemed quite excited when I told him that my thesis concerned US Foreign Policy towards Indonesia, and even mentioned the possibility of me giving a seminar once I get there.

For a trip that has mercilessly mocked my initial plans, it's still been very interesting and productive.  It's a bit crazy to think I've only been away for about 10 days total as it feels like it has been much longer.  The side trip to Malaysia last week remains one of the big highlights, but having a base in Singapore has been extremely valuable as well.  It's also gotten me thinking about whether I might want to call Singapore home for at least a little bit somewhere down the line...but that's another conversation for another time.  Off to plan my accomodations in Bali!

Update from SE Asia

The short version of the story is that Southeast Asia is very warm (and humid), and I'm enjoying it a great deal.  Networking and chatting with folks here, which were the two main goals of my trip, have been quite successful.  And there's a superb offer to come to Australia via Travelzoo, even if it ports in that "other city" in New South Wales instead of Melbourne.  (The Melbourne/Sydney rivalry is quite an interesting side-discussion for another time.)

This won't be the main post detailing my adventures in SE Asia, but rather a (short-term) update on my life so far.   Missing my flight to Jakarta doesn't require too much further recap.  Not feeling all that great about 9 days in Singapore while SE Asia beckoned, I managed to plan - more like stumble through - a 3 day trip to Melaka and Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia.  Once again, the short version of the story is that it was appealing, interesting, and perhaps more than anything *real* in a way that Singapore is not.  Singapore, for all of its comfortability and easiness, has a very different feel to KL.  Singapore would certainly never be mistaken for a European, Australian, or American city, but it still feels "easy" when it comes to a visit.  KL, and Malaysia more generally, actually feels like travelling in a way that Singapore doesn't.  It's my intention to give the full run-down once I get a bit more time; give me grief if I don't.

pre-trip chaos

I've been running around like crazy trying to get everything sorted before my trip to Singapore, Jakarta, and Bali.  No real surprise there...Looking at the 48 hours between now and departure time, I really have no idea how it everything is going to get done.  Yikes.

As Indonesia is heavy on the mind these days (most days, in fact, given that it's a main part of my thesis!), here's an interesting NYT article about the growing religiosity amongst Indonesians, as opposed toan increase in support for political Islam or radicalism.   Unfortunately, the picture often gets muddled by conflating the terms and using them interchangeably.  The article fits with my understanding and reading of trends within Indo.

As of July 1, Melbourne's pubs became smoke free.  Finally, you can go out for a couple of drinks without feeling like you're licked a couple of ash-trays in the morning due to the second hand smoke.  While there were a few protests from the likely suspects, it's been very well-received overall.  Remember a few years ago when the thought of banning smoke from bars was considered controversial?  Perhaps those with longer memories can remember a similar debate when the ban on smoking on airplanes was introduced.  I know Mom (a flight attendant who flies heaps to Europe) was very excited about it...

We had a frisbee tournament here in Melbourne on Monday and Tuesday; I won't go into much detail about why it was called the "Boycott City Challenge", but the short version of the story is that Melbourne University finished 2nd, losing the final to Monash University (our main rival).  It would have been nice to win it, but overall I don't think we can really complain too much about the result.  Next thing up for the University team is the Australian University Championships (to be held in late September on the Gold Coast in Queensland - described to me as the "Florida of Australia").  In between, we'll be beginning the selection process for the Australian National team for the World Championships in Vancouver next year.  Unlike last year, only one team from each country gets into this tourney, so competition for slots is very intense.  No doubt you'll be hearing about how it's going for me along the way.  I haven't really had a break from frisbee for a couple of months now, and while I'm obviously geared up and excited to make a run at the Aussie team, the prospect of 2-3 weeks of rest while I'm traveling makes my legs and feet happy.

busy busy...

It's been a very busy couple of weeks, with lots of deadlines and more than a few balls that require juggling and constant attention.  Quite rude, actually.

Last weekend, His Holiness the Dalai Lama stopped by for a chat with me and a few (approximately 20,000) friends.  The talk itself was interesting if relatively predictable, thought the political backflips that PM John Howard and Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd pulled off about the visit were pretty incredible.  I suppose that it's an election year here only magnifies it, though the relationship with China is also a major motivating factor.  "A busy schedule" seems to be the preferred excuse.  John So, the mayor of Melbourne (and a generally lovable if whimsical character) and of Chinese background, joined the fun and got himself in a big fix over the visit - apparently he met the Dalai Lama twice in the '90s, and therefore has no plans to hang out this time.  Oh well - he's only a major worldwide religious figure, and once you've small-talked over coffee a couple of times, what's the point?  It's been fascinating, and more than a bit ridiculous, to watch.  At least political spinelessness is a global phenomenon.

While I made a self-promise somewhere along the line to NOT make this an online diary - how indulgent and horrendously self-absorbed! - this weekend I went out for drinks on Friday for my (alleged) birthday a few weeks back (pictures on Facebook, I'm sad to report), as well as taking part in a wonderful trivia night on Saturday with a bunch of frisbee folks at the pub that is sponsoring my team for Mixed Nationals in October.  Great fun, and I'm not just saying that because my team won and I managed to win two jugs (i.e. pitchers) of beer over the evening.  Honestly.  We won by one point...to win the game, could YOU recognize this country with the game on the line? :)

Weekend before last, I attended a coaching clinic here in Melbourne that, once I finish the appropriate paperwork, will result in me being a certified Level 1 Ultimate Frisbee coach.  It was great fun, and though we already have a coach for the Melbourne University team (Steve Wealands, a fellow Chilly guy and a damn good photographer), I'm already putting the training to good use by hosting a "Frisbee 101" class for Melbourne Uni players; we had 10 for the first week, which I was pretty happy with given that we were still in the middle of the final exams.  Then again, maybe that's why we had people show up.

At the moment, I'm listening to "The Reminder" by Feist. Bruce Springsteen's The Seeger Sessions and Live in Dublin, The Hold Steady "Boys and Girls in America" (cheers Ben for the rec; wow's it catchy), Beirut  "Gulag Orkestar" (listen to Postcards from Italy, then listen again straight away), and The Killer's Sam Town (amazingly good for a heavily hyped "follow-up" album).  The aggregate effect has been to make me think, wistfully and fondly, of home.  More on that later, perhaps.

*If you're interested, Angola is the country in question.  (My answer had NOTHING to do with vague recollections of country profiles during last year's World Cup, I swear.)  We got a $50 gift certificate at a French restaurant for winning...admittedly, a somewhat trivial prize once split between 5 people, but there was plenty of tension in the last round when we knew it was close...we're pretty excited. :)

that day again

Apparently the earth has completed another rotation around the sun since last May 29, marking another birthday.  I wish I could say that I had something fun and exciting planned to celebrate, but unfortunately after I finish teaching tonight I will be working on the chapter that is due to my supervisor by the end of the week.  I was actually reminded by a friend that today was my birthday...a pretty bad sign, I think.  Hopefully next week will allow for some proper celebratory hype.  Besides, when was the last time I did something on time? :)

While I find birthdays a far more useful time to reflect and make resolutions than New Years, that will have to wait until I finish my thesis chapter.  Nonetheless, as always, I eagerly await the adventures, excitement, and experiences of the upcoming year - if they are anything at all like those of the past 12 months, they will involve laughs, reflection, wonderful memories, and lots of personal growth.  Cheers to that!

Back from Tasmania...

Feeling the onset of a few habits coming back (i.e. horribly infrequent postings), I will try to head them off at the pass and put up a few thoughts.  Now that the semester has gotten going, I have settled down into a bit more of a routine.  Unfortunately, it doesn't mean I'm any less busy - just that I'm consistently busy now, rather than inconsistently as before.  Only a few more months and the (winter) holidays will be here...

This weekend I went to Tasmania for the ultimate Regional Championships, which served as qualifications for the National Championships to be held in Melbourne.  There wasn't much doubt about qualifying - Chilly will be going for our 3rd straight National Championship - but we still came out and played really well, which was a great feeling (it was also great to play in a competitive game for the first time since Worlds in November.)  We were missing quite a few of our key guys and big players, which made the high quality of play that much more satisfying.  Personally, I thought I played reasonably well, though of course there are things I can still improve upon.  I also took more of a leadership role given the dynamics of the team, which was nice.

I flew over a day early to drive around Tasmania and see a few things that I missed when I was there 2 months ago with my parents.  We stopped at the Bay of Fires, which is listed as one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. (Hard to believe, but with Wineglass Bay as well, Tas has two beaches that usually come near the top of such rankings.)  To say that it was beautiful is, of course, a tremendous understatement; I'll post a few pictures once I take them off my camera.  We stayed at a friend's father's house on Friday night, and shortly after we arrived at  his house he had us out on his boat fishing.  While the hope had been to catch dinner, we had to settle for a (small) appetizer!  But you should have seen the one that got away... :)

In other news, I should (finally!) be moving into Trinity College tomorrow, which will bring my itinerant living to an end.  I'm excited, not least at the prospect of finally having a place to call home for at least the next 10 months.  Living out of a suitcase can get tiring.  I'm also planning a trip to New Zealand for next month to catch up with Aaron Columbus, who will be heading to NZ for a friend's wedding.  I can't wait, both to catch up with him and to finally see a bit of NZ...other international travel plans involve a prospective trip to Indonesia/Singapore in June/July and a potential skiing trip to NZ around the same time (during our winter holidays), assuming that I can get my financial house in order and save a few bucks between now and then...