No Resolutions, Thanks

It's that time of year again... the time of year where everyone is writing their New Year's resolutions. I don't really like resolutions. They're kind of a joke. Everyone says that they're going to work out more and eat better, and do this or that better. They work really hard for about two weeks, and then all the excuses that they usually have not to do those things take back over. Very occasionally, I have seen some people be successful on a longer-term basis with their resolutions, which is a feat to be proud of. 

On the one hand, I suppose the purpose of writing resolutions is self-reflection, which is a good thing. My issue is that self-reflection shouldn't be something that you only do once a year. And if you really want to make real changes in your life, they should be sustainable and realistic changes.

Our 2015 was pretty awesome, despite the negative news headlines 99% of the time. I'm thankful for everyone and everything we have. I am thankful that every year I get to go new places and have new experiences. I hope 2016 is just as great, if not greater. Don't we all hope that? 

Fun in the Sun and Under the Stars

We had a nice picnic and with friends and then watched Spectre at Moonlight Cinemas. I'm not the biggest James Bond fan, although I have seen several of the movies. I think they just pick a few fancy locations where they want to film, a few fancy cars and product placements, and then build a loose storyline around them. In this particular film, I think they did a poorer than average job of making it clear why Bond was doing what, when and where. It's always a pleasant experience to see an outdoor movie, nonetheless.

We also recently spent two days up in Palm Beach, which is the very northern part of the northern beaches of Sydney. Even though the weather was cooler than usual, and on-and-off rainy for one of the days, we had a good time hanging out with friends, hiking, swimming in the pool and in the ocean, and the boys even did some surfing. 

Orphan Christmas

A traditional Christmas for us back in states would include one family meal after another, and maybe another one with some friends. Last year we spent the holiday in Chiang Mai having a touristy Christmas. 

This year we had our first true Aussie Christmas. We started Christmas Eve festivities by visiting the beginning of a 12 Pubs of Christmas crawl, an Irish tradition. We met up with our Irish frisbee friend and Aussie his cousins and had a drink with them. We weren't even going to try to keep up, so we then went to Coogee Beach to have a beach BBQ with Michael's coworker and some of his friends. It was lovely and relaxing during sunset until I simultaneously got a bad headache and something I ate didn't agree with me, so we called it a night early. 

Sleep cures all ills and there was much facetiming with family, watching some movies, and opening gifts on Christmas morning. Michael had already received his big Christmas gift (a new GoPro, after the old one got partially broken a few weeks ago), but he also received a GoPro filter and some other stocking stuffers. His favorite gift, however, was Zen Magnets, from a friend. He literally played with them all day long, as we watched movies and as we were hanging out with friends. I got a patterned Modcloth dress and some fun Nikes. 

For all the latter half of the day, we celebrated "Friendsmaskuh" at our friend, Alanna's house. She had already celebrated an early holiday with her parents and chose not to travel with them to see extended family, so she hosted a few of us where she was house-sitting. Three other frisbee friends joined us, as well as Alfie the dog. Alfie is a resident at the group house two of our friends used to live at, and since all the current house residents had Christmas plans, we took Alfie so he could also enjoy some holiday festivities. He was a pretty adorable addition to the bunch, running around on his stubby little legs and doing tricks for food scraps. The weather was gorgeous - perhaps in the 70's all day. The house had a lovely back patio where we ate and spent most of the day, some grass Alfie could run around on, and even a chicken coop and nice vegetable and herb garden. There was some kind of minor oven disaster that made the chicken take four hours to cook, but luckily we had brought ample cheese and crackers to tide us over while we played some low-key party games. 

It has been a fun few days, and the relaxation continues with Boxing Day festivities. Ordinarily Boxing Day is the day after Christmas, but since that's a Saturday this year, it's celebrated on Monday, so it's kind of Boxing Long Weekend. Happy Boxing Long Weekend, everybody!

Busy Bee

Since it's school break, I've had some free time on my hands. I've used it quite productively: working out, cleaning, running errands, making more home-cooked meals, crafting, Christmas shopping, going to the dentist, etc. 

I suppose I always say this, I'll continue to say it: the weather doesn't match the season around here, at least not how we're used to it. When you can an enjoy a sunny day at the beach, it doesn't feel right singing, "Oh, the weather outside is frightful...". Anyway, it'll be our first true Aussie Christmas since we were travelling in Thailand this time last year. We have some plans with friends and I'm sure we'll make some long distance facetime calls too.
Should be fun!

The Longest Day

Yesterday we played in The Longest Day, a one-day beach ultimate tournament in Narrabeen. It is appropriately named for the Summer solstice. We played on a team with some friends, and ended up doing better than we thought we would. We only lost one game out of seven, to one of the top ranked teams. It was hot, but we managed to jump into the ocean between games for maximum refreshment.

One thing that set this tournament apart from all the others: all of the beautiful, endless fruit. It's common for there to be some apples and bananas available for each team at just about any tournament, but for some reason at this tournament they go all out. There were boxes of cherries and lychees, mangoes, peaches, plums, bananas, and sliced watermelon, honeydew, pineapple, and canteloupe (aka rockmelon). I think we each ate our tournament fees' worth of fruit. 

We finished our day in the sun with a team Thai meal for dinner.

'Tis the Season

'Tis the season for holiday parties, three days in a row. From frisbee league white elephant gift exchanges to work parties, it has been a busy week with more events to come. 

This week we also had time to see the new Star Wars movie with some friends. We really got lucky that tickets were still available. We had to sit at the very front of the theater and we left with stiff necks, but I suppose that's what we get for waiting until the last minute. I won't go into great detail about the movie, since I'm sure there is an overabundance of info already on the internet about it, but it was an enjoyable experience. 

Escapism

Last week we did our favorite room escape yet, Mission Sydney's "Dr. M". We went with a group of eight friends total, many of whom had not done a room escape experience before. 

This past weekend we made a super short trip down to Melbourne for the annual Melbourne Hat Tournament. We played frisbee with and against some new friends and some old, and the weather was gorgeous. This year nobody on my team set their hand on fire, so I guess that's a win by itself. The party was Rubik's Cube themed, which means everyone had to go wearing articles of clothing or accessories that were white, blue, green, orange, red, and yellow. You had to trade with other people to end up with all of the same color by the end of the night. Mission accomplished. I now own reflective orange safety vest that I'm not sure what I'm going to do with now. 

Last night was trivia as usual, and then we checked out Frankie's, which was quite unique. It's not the typical night hangout place we would go to, but it was highly recommended by a friend. The pizza was divine and the music was loud. 

And so the week continues.

A Day at the Hawkesbury

This past weekend we tried waterskiing for the first time. Michael was a complete natural, got up right away, and was turning and going over the wake. He was even able to get up on one ski too. For me, it felt like someone was trying to rip my limbs off while simultaneously spraying me in the face with a firehose for as long as I could stand. I got very close to standing up, but alas, it was not meant to be this time. 

Regardless of our abilities, it was fun to spend a day on a boat with some friends. 

Weekend Butterflies

The first 24 hours of this weekend has been very social. I had a happy hour with some teachers at Coogee Beach, then Michael and I had a low-key but fun evening with some frisbee friends in Newtown. This morning I helped out a friend of mine with her yard sale in Surry Hills and was able to get rid of a few small things of ours too. I only made $7.50, but it's $7.50 more than I had yesterday. It was also just a gorgeous day out to sit on the stoop anyway. Then we went to a nice BBQ in Prince Albert Park with more frisbee people. 

Good times!

Uluru and Kata Tjuta - aka Life on Mars

Michael and I spent a few days in the real outback. It was about 100 degrees fahrenheit every day we were there, and it's not even the height of summer yet. Luckily the mornings and evenings were comfortable, though. We biked completely around Uluru and did the Valley of the Winds hike through/around Kata Tjuta. There was very little wildlife and very little water; we mostly saw red soil and brown plants. Desert sunrise, sunset, and rainbows can be spectacular. Michael was able to test out his time-lapse photography skills and hopefully some videos will be coming in the near future. 

It was interesting to be in the desert for a few days, but I am happy to be back in Sydney's climate once again. The town of Yulara, where we stayed, did not have very many food options, so I'm happy to be back in the land of cafes too. 

Another Thanksgiving has come and gone in our absence. As many do these days, I find the origin of the holiday ironic, but I still enjoy the simple idea of being thankful and spending time with friends and family - so I hope everyone had an enjoyable time! I'm hoping and planning that this is the last Thanksgiving we'll miss due to being overseas.

A Cautionary Tale

Growing up, just about every teacher I had told us to never tip in our chairs or else we would fall and bust your head open. Yesterday in my classroom, that actually happened!

A boy was obviously tipping forward in his chair (even he claims he wasn't), slid off the front of his chair, and gashed his nose on the corner of his desk. He definitely needed stitches, and I'm not sure if his nose was broken or if he even had a mild concussion. He was a little shaken up, but the whole affair was relatively calm, all things considered. It was the end of the day anyway, so I sent him to the office holding half a box of tissues over his nose with two of his buddies.

So there you have it. Vicarious lesson learned. 

Wattamolla Rocks!

After a sweltering end to last week, we had a relatively cool weekend. The first half we spent catching up with friends. I discovered a new brunch place I love, Henley's Wholefoods. Everything was really delicious and healthy. t's also kind of hidden on a back street at Bondi Junction, so one feels special for being in the know about it. 

Sunday we went to Wattamolla, a hidden gem we'd stumbled upon during the Royal National Park Coastal Track hike. This time we got a big car share van and brought along five our friends. 

View looking at the rocks.

View looking out from on top of the rocks

Despite the cool breeze, we spent some time in the water and several people in our group jumped off the rocks. Lots of GoPro footage was taken; hopefully it will get edited in the not-too-distant future so I can post some. We also had a nice picnic and played our favorite party game, Telestrations. We finished off the fun day with Thai dinner at Bangkok Bites in Newtown. 

Another delightful weekend has come and gone. It doesn't feel like it should almost be Thanksgiving.

From Bust to Jackpot

As usual, I was in polar opposite classroom settings this week. The week began with me working at a special needs school. My class was composed of teenage boys who could barely read and write, one whose alter ego was Inspector Clousseau, and two of whom could not communicate verbally. One of the boys literally sat on the floor and chewed his socks for an hour. One had to be taken out several times by the aide to jump on a trampoline so he would stop yelling and hitting other students. I got through the day fine, but didn't feel like I had particularly accomplished much with the kids, and my fingers are crossed that I never have to go back. I have the patience to deal with that kind of environment on occasion, but I don't know how some people do it every day. 

Yesterday I subbed in a new school, and I felt like I had hit the jackpot of all classes. It was a year one and two class of children who were specifically picked for that class because they were motivated and independent learners. Before I even met the kids, the other teachers were telling me, "Oh, they're just lovely". And they were! They were brighter than many kids I have taught in years four, five, and six. They were relaxed and easy going even though there were quite a few changes in plan throughout the day, they had had good senses of humor, they could actually follow instructions, and they were actually helpful to me and to each other (as opposed to all the kids who try to pull the wool over my eyes and muck up). The worst thing a kid tried to do was take extra worksheets when he thought I wasn't looking. Kid, if you want to keep yourself occupied for hours on end, I will not stop you. The most disciplining I had to do all day was say, "Please sit down". 

Because these kids were so well-behaved, I was able to be really productive with them. I could actually help the kids that were trying really hard and still needed guidance. And, when they finished their work they already had books to read and projects to keep working on that they actually seemed to enjoy. 

The icing on the cake was the air conditioning. Not every class in this school had air conditioning, some (or even most, I'm not sure) had fans. There wasn't even AC in the teachers' lounge. This just also seemed like an added unfairness to the other teachers - not only do they not get to teach the class of angels all day, they also have to feel more uncomfortable on hot days. And it was in the 90's yesterday. 

I left the school with mountains of energy left, instead of running on fumes like I can sometimes feel towards the end of a normal work week. 

The odds are low that I will end up with that class again before the end of the year, but you never know. I suppose it's just nice to be in a class that is really thriving, and not just holding it together to finish out the year, like most. 

And so ends another week of subbing. Along the way we got third place at trivia, I won a frisbee game, and I lost a frisbee game. I suppose it all evens out in the end.

The Owl and Billy Carts

It was our first weekend in the Sydney area in three weeks, and of course we spent it all over town.

One highlight was spotting the barn owl in Centennial Park, with help. We had heard it had been seen, but finding it is another thing altogether.

Also in the park, Red Bull was holding their annual billy cart race. It was a silly affair that really just tries to get everyone hyped up to buy their drinks. Our favorite entry into the race was the Spaceballs themed one.

We ended the weekend with a small dinner party at a friend's place. Good times.

Oz Travels Photo Dump

Here are some more pics from our travels around Oz with my family...

Signed print from PAX AUS

Hanging out with cockatoos and rosellas in the Dandenong Ranges

A very low-visibility visit to Echo Point

Fun at the Whitsundays and Great Barrier Reef

2 Weeks, 3 States

Victoria

The last two weeks have been very busy. We went to PAX AUS in Melbourne. Also in Melbourne, we met up with my family and celebrated my mom's birthday with my cousins who live there. We also discovered our favorite Australian restaurant, Chin Chin. 

New South Wales

We came back to Sydney to work for a few days. My parents and brother spent a few soggy days wandering the city, and we took a fun day trip to the Blue Mountains. We hit the usual favorite spots despite very foggy/slightly drizzly weather: The Yellow Deli, Echo Point, upper Leura Cascades, and The Treasured Teapot. 

Queensland

Next stop: Airlie Beach and the Whitsunday Islands. We had two great day trips that included snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef. There were no unusual sealife sightings, just lots of pretty, colorful fish of all sizes. The largest one we saw was a grouper that was about three meters long (from the boat, not while we were in the water)! The last day while my family relaxed, Michael and I went on a jetski tour. He tried his hardest manoeuvring (is that really how that's spelled, spellcheck?) to throw me off, to no avail.

We spent my family's last night eating at another one of our favorite restaurants back in Sydney, Pony. Now they are en route back to the US and we are chilling out. 

Boo!

Since my family will be visiting and we will be travelling some around Australia, my posts will probably wane for the next two weeks or so. Happy Halloween, everyone!

Sculpture by the Sea #2

We went to our second annual Sculpture by the Sea. It was fun and we couldn't have had more perfect weather. Below are a few pictures from the walk. 

We like to call this Lincoln log style art

(Carved on the inside of a burned tree)

Don't remember what this was called, but I think it should have been called 

"Sugar Cube Revolt"

A volunteer/staff actually came over and watered this flower statue. I'm not sure if this it was part of the art or a joke or what.

Interactive sculpture is fun.

Not pictured: two humpback whales we saw - mostly their tales and we saw one breach!

Shhh... It's the weekend.

It has been a pretty quiet weekend so far. We've mostly played boardgames, watched some TV, and run some errands - the usual stuff. I'm totally happy with some down time since the next few two weekends will be pretty busy.

Even though we just saw my family a month ago back in the states, at the end of the week we will see them again on Australian soil. My parents visited last year, but it will be my brother's first time here. For them it will be a vacation, but we will still be trying to work a few days in-between the fun plans.

Pins and Needles

We ended the week/started the week (depending on if you consider Sunday the end of beginning of the week - I usually consider it the beginning but in Australia it's the end) with a dinner picnic at Bondi and tossing the frisbee around. Just before sunset is definitely my favorite time to be at the beach - the weather's cooling off and it's not crowded. We had some yummy Messina for dessert - I had one of the special flavours which was strawberry gelato with strawberry fudge and strawberry glazed donuts mixed in - very decadent. Michael took a break from his usual pistachio and tried red velvet.

And now for something completely different. I tend to get a stiff neck very often; this week I tried acupuncture for the first time. My verdict? Inconclusive. It kind of works some, but it's no miracle cure. I am waiting to see if it has any longer term effects on the muscles than just getting a massage. If nothing else, I'm glad I tried something different than the usual.

Last but not least, last night we got 2nd place at trivia. This week has gotten off to a decent start.

Stepping Stones and Milestones

This weekend started off with a craft project. We made some jerseys for the Tight and Bright frisbee tournament on Saturday. I was going to upload a video by I'm having problems with it, so if I remember later I'll try again.

Unusually, the tournament started in the afternoon and then went until nighttime, with smaller than usual teams and fields. After having a predictably delicious lunch at the Pie Tin, we went with a small team of friends and had a good time, winning four games and losing just one.

Sunday has been quite a bit lazier. The only eventful thing so far was that on the way home from the grocery store I saw an large (about a foot long, including its tale) injured blue tongue lizard on the sidewalk. Here is a picture of one, but not the particular one we found, since it's big cut was kind of gross...

Anyway, it had a large deep cut in the area of its tale and hind legs. It was bad enough that it would be hard for it to heal on its own in the wild. I called the ranger who we know at Centennial Park (who also does volunteer animal rescue) and she came to pick up the lizard and bring it to the vet to get stitches. She said these lizards tend to be quite resilient, though, so it would probably be okay. Hopefully at some point we'll run into the ranger and we'll find out how our little friend fared. 

In other news, apparently this weekend was my 10 year college reunion. I have officially missed every reunion held by my high school and university; every single time I think I have been out of the country. One of these days I'll make it to one of those events and cherish some memories, or make some better ones.

Not my circus, not my monkeys

Today I gave a little kindergartner a hard time when he threw his sandwich away at lunch and immediately wanted to go by an ice pop. Ultimately, I gave him a talking to about how he shouldn't just throw his food away; he could get an ice pop this time, but next time he needed to save his sandwich so his parents could at least see that he didn't eat it. The rest of the day progressed as normal, but when his mom came to pick him up he started crying to her and acted like he was some kind of victim. Here is the paraphrased conversation I had with the mother:

(I explained what happened and that I what I had told him)
The mom: I don't care if he eats his sandwich. Maybe he doesn't want to eat it.

Me: Well usually I tell kids to save the food they don't eat so their parents can see what they didn't eat.

The mom: Well, I don't care about that.

Me: Okay. I know that the teacher has set the precedent that kids eat their healthy food before they eat junk food.

The mom: My son doesn't eat junk food.

Me: He wanted to buy an ice pop.

The mom: Oh, that's just an ice pop!

Me: Well, the issue was resolved and he did get his ice pop; (to the child) have a nice weekend, buddy!

How I wanted to end the conversation instead...

Me (smiling the entire time, of course): Now I understand why your son is the most obese one in his grade! Growing boys really do thrive when they ingest only sugar. Although I'm so glad we had this conversation so I can understand how different our expectations are for children, your child does not deserve different rules than the other children. Bye!

Lady, if you don't care if your son eats healthy or not, fine. He can grow up with you continuing to overfeed him unhealthy things and it will not affect me for the most part. I have just honestly never had a parent react like that when it comes to their kid and their eating habits; usually it's the polar opposite reaction. 

All I can say is, I'm glad it's the weekend!

Nationals in Adelaide

This past weekend, Michael and I travelled to Adelaide to play in the Australian National Ultimate Frisbee Championships. Our team didn't place as high as it did last year, but we had a good time and Michael celebrated his birthday. We added a few plays to the blooper reel for sure. I was most impressed with Friskee, the winning team, not because they won the tournament, but because they truly won the party. They all dressed up, pretty much in bright 80's clothes, even though there was no party theme. They brought a long jump rope to the party and were running, jumping, and weaving through it, getting people from lots of other teams in too. At one point they were seeing how many people could jump in and keep jumping at the same time; I think six. I'm really amazed we that didn't get shutdown at the bar, and also that nobody got hurt. It was a much more fun jump rope experience than my last one (see my previous post about Jump Rope for Heart). Our team also held a fantastic kangaroo court, as is the tradition.

After watching the finals of the tournament on Sunday, we found out that the Port Festival was happening, so we stopped by. It was a bigger event than we had thought it would be, with lots of art and craft tents, a big flea market, live music and entertainment, food trucks, etc. It was a nice way to end the weekend with a few teammates who were flying back at the same time. 

Now we are back in the middle of a busy work week, still playing catch-up on chores. I haven't been attacked by my bird nemesis this week, so that's good. Last week it attacked me twice on my way to work. It literally singles me out and dive-bombs me and not other people walking through the park at the same time. 

Also, The Walking Dead is back! Hooray! October's alright so far. 

Daily Grind

No time was wasted getting back to work subbing the first day or the new term. It was 100 degrees (no exaggeration - unusual for this time of year) and the AC was broken. Then, when it was time to take the class to the library to seek refuge, the library was inexplicably closed. This is the fourth or fifth time I've been supposed to take a class to the library at this school and it was suddenly cancelled; only once have I ever successfully taken a class there. Half the time the librarian's on leave, and when he's actually there it's not unusual for him to suddenly close the library for the day without explanation. If you're a school librarian, your job is mostly working with the kids and partially organization of materials. If you're "organizing" the library more than people are using it, you're doing something wrong. 

Anyway, as I mentioned, it has been unseasonably, unreasonably warm. When we left for the states a few weeks ago, on average the high temp of the day was in the low 70's. All of a sudden it's about 100 three days in a row. I'm not a fan... no pun intended. It's supposed to go back to normal soon, thank goodness. Hopefully day two back will run a little more smoothly. 

Time After Time

Michael came back yesterday and it has been a pretty quiet weekend. Not only have we been jet-lagged, but daylight savings was yesterday. It is only one hour, but I've had to get adjusted to new times several times lately, that my internal clock just continues to be off. It's close to normal at this point, but I'll randomly get really tired or hungry during odd times of the day. Luckily, today is Labour Day so it's an extra day off.

These are the run-downs on movies I've seen recently:

The Martian - predictable but enjoyable
The D Train - kind of funny and interesting
The Visit - suspenseful and disturbing at times (which is good for the genre), but then the ending was of lame
The Age of Adaline - very much enjoyed

It will be a short work week and then we'll be off to Adelaide for Ultimate Frisbee Nationals next weekend in Adelaide. 

Early Morning Progress

The big benefit of jetlag? Being super productive before 5:30AM. I couldn't sleep so I did our Aussie tax returns. I'm sure I will be dragging in the afternoon, but I might as well get some things accomplished while I'm at an unusual energy peak.

The cats are very confused because they think they should be fed when I wake up, and not necessarily when it's the right time. They are in agony because they still have to wait an hour and a half. 

There and Back Again

Longest trip back ever - my flight over the Pacific got cancelled, so I ended up getting in a day late. Luckily, I was somewhat compensated by the airline and I didn't have anything I needed to get urgently back for.

It was a fantastic trip back to the states: a big whirlwind of hellos and goodbyes in the DC area (complete with seeing as many friends and family as we could,  meeting our new nephew, playing some trampoline dodgeball, and attending Renn Faire). Then it was off to Yosemite, which was incredible. Talk about places that make you feel so small, literally and in geologic time. Then we were at a wedding with friends in Tahoe. Now I'm back here and it's all over, my body is confused about what time it is, and there's nothing good to eat in the cat-hair-filled apartment. The cats are super happy to see me, though. By that I mean that Eve won't let me out of her sight and Ninja gave me slight acknowledgment. 

I'm lucky I have a few days to get everything back in order before the next school term starts up again. Michael ended up going back to the DC area for work and will return over the weekend. 

I'm sure I will have more reflections in the coming days about my trip home, when I don't feel as discombobulated. 

See ya

Since we are gearing up to travel for the next few weeks, the blog posts are going to probably wane. See you when I see you! 

PS. We won trivia this week again and it was grand.

Madam Secretary

I have officially been elected as the secretary for our ultimate frisbee club. I wasn't planning on doing it, but a friend said he would nominate me based on the regular informative emails I was sending out to Michael's and my team. Michael will also be helping work on the website, since that is one of his specialties. Several of our other friends were elected and appointed into positions as well, so we will have a fun group to work with in coming year. 

Other than that, it was a pretty normal and fun weekend seeing friends and doing many of our hobbies. We had dinner at our friends' house at Bondi; having cheese and wine on their balcony overlooking the ocean at night was pretty fantastic. I also had my dream dessert that I never even knew existed: rhubarb and strawberries with cardamom cream. Absolutely delicious. 

It's only four work days before we get on a plane and time travel (we arrive in the US on the same date, before the time we left here in Australia). 

Swooping Season

It's officially swooping season. I have been officially attacked by the same bird twice (a noisy miner) while walking to the train station. The first time, its plump little body just chest-bumped my forehead. The second time it actually got its puny claws in my hair; I don't know what it was trying to accomplish. I was also on playground duty at a school recently and saw another noisy miner swooping at a small group of boys, who kind of deserved it. They continued to provoke the bird and it continued to swoop on them until they left the area. Stupid boys. 

In any case, be safe out there people.

All the Things

So many things.

Our ultimate frisbee team qualified for the upcoming Nationals tournament in October. We had already bought plane tickets, knowing we would probably go and there were limited flights at good times. It was a relief that we didn't waste our money, not to mention we had fun playing the tournament with our friends. It was unusually played at a showground field, and on the Sunday we were privileged to share the grounds with a guinea pig show. It was like a dog or a cat show, where different breeds are judged on their coats and such. The people were preening their guinea pigs by literally plucking their stray buttocks hairs and carefully brushing their faces with human toothbrushes. During the judgment they were placed on little velvet-covered pedestals, and a man in a lab coat inspected them and instructed the owners about perfect breeding practices. This was all immensely entertaining to me, but probably not at all for the poor guinea pigs. 

Sunday was also a big day because we finally saw Matilda: the Musical. I bought tickets to this show forever ago, and it was a lot of fun. There were lots of clever visuals and choreography that helped us appreciate the music we already liked even more. It was a high-energy show that I'd recommend to any age - lots of kids were at the show, but it's more than a kids' play. 

Tonight, for the first time since we have been going to the trivia down the street, we came in FIRST PLACE. This is quite an achievement, and mostly thanks to the fact that in the last two weeks a frisbee friend has come and brought his other two friends. They knew our trivia host from a previous location, but had to stop coming for various grown-up reasons. They've "gotten the band back together" as a hybrid with our team, and it has proven a success. We'll see how long it can last (we are not assuming it will become a regular thing), but are happy while the ride lasts. 

Consider yourself sufficiently updated. Goodnight.

Jump Rope for Narrowly Avoiding Disaster

Ahh... Jump Rope for Heart, the annual fundraiser and awareness campaign for heart health, when children are encouraged to jump rope as much as they can for as long as they can on a special day. I remember taking part in the fun when I was in elementary school, and the kids still do it today, even in Australia. 

When I was at a school on Wednesday, though, I had different thoughts. There are way too any kids in a small space whipping ropes around carelessly; whatever happens, avoid getting hit in the face. Secondly, try to make all the kids more aware that they aren't near anybody when they start trying to skip rope, so they can avoid hitting anyone else in the face. 

I was astonished nobody got hurt. I suppose that's the true win today.

No Rest for the Weekend

It's a been a full weekend. We got up bright and early Saturday to go explore a new park: Wianamatta. It's kind of like some land that they haven't turned into a park yet, but you can walk and bike around it and look for wild animals. There are a few old abandoned buildings on the property and some old paved roads that have not been maintained. No benches or ranger station, or anything that makes the land look nice and not abandoned. It kind of felt like walking around somewhere post-apocalyptic that nature is reclaiming. We saw quite a few kangaroos, but unfortunately did not get to see the elusive emu we were trying to track. We did find some footprints though, which look exactly like dinosaur footprints. 

We spent the rest of Saturday at a going away/engagement/beach party at Bronte. This morning we ran in the Color Run 5K at Centennial Park with a friend and some of his friends/acquaintances. The afternoon was reserved for ultimate frisbee training, and then most of the team went to the nearby pub to grab dinner together. 

And just like that, the weekend is almost gone. 

Yeah, Science! Update

Supposedly, we did it. Although this info conflicts with what I found about the previous record holder. They say the previous record holder was 640, but the number I found (2,753) was higher than what we got (1,869 people). This is unsatisfying. Did we make it or did we not? Who has the wrong info? Alas, there was no fancy special guest either. It was still a nice Friday evening, but I'm labelling it inconclusive until further notice.

Bruce

Michael and I are getting psyched to see Matilda the Musical in a few weeks. We listened to the music on Spotify and decided we both love this song. For those unfamiliar for the story, the song is from a part in the story where the mean headmistress is forcing a child to eat an entire chocolate cake, and the other kids are rallying be behind him. The lyrics are pretty genius, for example, "fantastically enthusiastic gastric juice". And we just love the escalation of the mood of the song. It's a tough scene to watch in the movie (as tough as a kids' movie scene could be, anyway), so I can't imagine how they're going to pull it off on stage. I hope they don't really make a child actor eat a whole chocolate cake on stage every night. I don't think they'd do that because it would be horrible. Hopefully he's not a method actor. 

As someone who works with kids, part of the reason I want to see this play is that it boggles my mind how talented the young actors must be to pull it off. I barely think I could memorize a play and perform it well at my age, much less at the age of 10. 

Yeah, Science!

I was very productive this evening, making more upcoming travel reservations. It's nice to check three things off the list. 

It's been a pretty regular work week. We had trivia on Monday and won our frisbee game on Wednesday night. 

Tomorrow we are going to the World Record Stargazing Event at Centennial Parklands. The thing I find funny is that the event is sold out. Why would you have a finite number of people who can attend an event when you're trying to get as many people to attend as you can possibly get?! This particular event will have special science-y guests (supposedly one by the initials of NdGT, but that is yet to be confirmed) and we will apparently walk away with little telescopes. So, that's why. But, maybe they could have the first X number of people sign up get that stuff, and then let other people sign up to still stargaze in the park so they can be counted as part of the tally? All the US has to do is try to have one night where they do the same thing and they can just blast Australia out of the water for most star-gazers in different locations in the same country at one time (simply bested on the fact that the US population is higher). Hint, hint. 

Wouldn't it be disappointing if Australia didn't beat Mexico's Record (Also, why is that article on AOL Real Estate? That's a thing?)? That would be pretty funny, actually. "Thanks for coming out guys; sorry, we failed. Here's a telescope to remind you of your failure". 

I'll let you know how it goes.

Be an Informed Consumer

Three different people on my facebook feed have been posting more stuff about Shakeology and Beachbody than I care to see, so I decided to look up other info about it online to see why they they are pushing it so hard on social media. They also really seem to play up this "I love my life!" idea all of a sudden, which is why I'm so skeptical. I love my life too, but I don't need to tell everyone about it all the time. These are people who seemed like normal people before they found this company - they had their ups and their downs. Now they've found a product that makes them happy all the time? What a red flag. It's classic bandwagon advertising I learned about in elementary school . There is nothing wrong with wanting to coach and inspire other people, but there are lots of ways to do that that don't have to be attached to a brand. 

I think it's great people want to make good healthy life choices concerning exercise and nutrition. From reading this and this, it sounds like there's no question that the Beachbody and Shakeology products can help somewhat get fit. There's just obviously something fishy going on with pricing and making people buy into the idea that they are earning a discount by recruiting or pushing the product, though.

In any case, I haven't used their products and don't intend to. To be clear, I am not saying anything negative about the company either, as I have had no experience with them whatsoever other than seeing their advertisements disguised as my friends' status updates. I just hope that everyone is making informed decisions. 

Ace and Holly

This guy trains his dogs in the park where we play frisbee, and they are always distracting us with their awesomeness.

Micro-update

We spent most of our weekend outdoors and with friends. We have also been eating a lot of French toast lately. I can't complain. 

Inspiration

This is a completely random thing, but I was recently listening to a podcast where Ben Folds talks about how the movie About Time (which is fantastic, by the way) was based on his song (one of my favorites of all time), "The Luckiest". I love when two things I find out two things I love are somehow related! It just makes sense, since great minds think alike, and inspire each other. 

Assembly Critique

Some days, like the first three days this week, subbing elementary school is chaotic and I just feel like I just get out alive. Other days, like today, I feel like a master of puppets. 

I've seen enough mediocre school assemblies, especially ones where kids get accolades for doing things they should just be doing anyway without receiving buckets of praise, or they just basically stand and wag their fingers and shake their heads while a song plays in the background for three minutes. Now more than ever, I really appreciate when a school can put on a good show. Today, I got to see a synchronized dance assembly where these kids wore beautiful homemade bird costumes, each dance with a group of kids dressed like a different bird. To transition at the end of each segment, the children would run into a circle and then the next group of different colored birds would join the circle as the previous group exited seamlessly and took a different spot on stage. It ended with all of the kids doing something similar to the hora, in that they were set up in large two counter-rotating circles, dancing to Ben Lee's "We're All in This Together". It was pretty awesome, and I think even a group of adults could not pull it off any better than these kids did. 

I always have a better feeling at the end of the day leaving a school that clearly cares about fostering the arts in their students. It seems like a no-brainer to me that the students' behavior is more positively affected at all times throughout the day, compared to schools that have more of a focus on discipline (positive and negative) or academics.

It's probably no coincidence that I have had such a positive experience with the kids at this school the two times I've been there. Some places just have their stuff together, and a good environment produces happy and smart kids, without having to pressure them too much.

Pour one for my homie

Today would have been my Grandma's birthday. She would been 99 today, had she not passed away a few years ago. She was funny and kind, but didn't take crap from anyone. My family likes to have a nice little birthday meal in her memory, which I can only attend in spirit right now. Happy Birthday, Grandma! Hope you're enjoying a "Crab O'Donnell".