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.