Civic Duty

Since it is school holidays and I'm off for the week, I had a field day yesterday watching the US presidential debate (which I watched at 11AM online) and reading at all the online news coverage and tweets. I suppose my only regret is that I watched coverage that was not split-screen, so next when viewing the next debate I'll look for that. Immediately after, I walked down to the post office and popped our absentee ballots in the mail. I deserve a democracy sausage.

9 Degrees

This weekend, we went to the new 9 Degrees bouldering gym for the first time with some friends. We are not in particularly good climbing shape because we haven't been in a long time, but it was still a fun way to spend a rainy afternoon. I'm sure we'll go back again at some point.

These two..

Time Management

Since living abroad I've come to realize how hard it is to prioritize seeing people during our visits back to the states. You want to see as may people as you can, and if you're coming back around a wedding or other special event (or two), you don't always have free times at the times you want. In order to meet up with one person or group, you always feel like you're letting down another. 

Other expats I know (either Americans in Australia or friends who live in America who are from elsewhere) have expressed similar feelings. Many don't announce when they're going back to their hometown because of the risk that they will let some family or friends or groups down. 

Most Americans think, surely, if someone is somewhere for two weeks that is a lot of time. To an American, that is a lot of vacation time. Many Americans never take that many days off of their job in a row. But, when you break down the number of days you're expected to be places already, there aren't that many left unless you want to meet up at 11AM on a random weekday and don't have to work then. 

I say all this just to say, I always wish there was more time.

Knope 2016

Parks and Recreation still holds up, and will for years to come. Sometimes there's just so much truth in fiction.

Survey says... ?

Supposedly, teachers make approximately 1,500 decisions during their work day. Although this is something that is impossible to measure completely accurately, I imagine (from experience) that it's true. It's not an exaggeration.

This thought has prompted me to decide that it's time for my brain to sleep. Goodnight.

Cork and Chroma

Last night Michael and I went to Cork and Chroma (it was his first time and my second time). My original painting was of an alien, so we went back to do astronaut paintings to go along with it. If you look carefully, you can see the reflection of the alien in their visors. We obviously have different styles; mine is on the left and Michael's is on the right. His is more realistic; mine is more experimental with color. Also, I was trying to make mine look somehow feminine, which is really hard with a space suit, short of of just putting a ridiculous bow on top of her.

As we were painting at our seats right in front of the window (but facing away from it), the woman opposite us told us we had some fans. We turned around and our friend, Sara, who lives in the neighborhood, waving and smiling at us. Lately, Sydney has felt like a small town.

The Best Teacher in the World

You other guys can go home now and stop trying; it's official, according to Rehan. I think he's the one with spikes coming out of his head and I have two antennae.

I've been told I should make copies and attach them to my resume in the future.

The Soda Factory

Last night we went to The Soda Factory for the first time. I think it's the kind of place a lot of people like but it wasn't my scene; it has this weird hot dog cafe facade so you feel like you're going into a speakeasy (see the pic below; the entrance is the door that looks like a fridge on the right). I feel like this is a really common thing for bars in Sydney these days, which can be charming, but it can also seem like they're trying a little hard to produce an atmosphere. Perhaps I would have liked the place more if I had been able to get there earlier when there was more of a happy hour vibe, but by the time I got there after dinner with a friend it just felt like a noisy club. It just made me feel old and like I wanted to yell at all the dancing youngsters to get off my lawn. I stayed just long enough to feel adequately social, and then we called it a night. 

Springtime in Sydney

We've survived another work week in the paradise that is Sydney in spring. Weirdly, I was working at the same school all week. Our trivia friend had her baby boy, and both are doing well. Both Michael's and my parents have been travelling, so it feels like it's been ages since we talked to anyone at home. And that's all about all there is worth noting. Bring on the weekend!

Weekends are for Parks

One of our weekend highlights was almost hitting a galah with a our car. It had a death wish. I think the windshield grazed it's butt feathers before Michael slammed on the breaks and it swerved upwards. 

We were on our way up to Cattai National Park for a short, late afternoon hike.  While we were a the park we did had a wild wallaby sighting. They are so good at blending in with the natural surroundings, I don't know why they move at all when they see or hear humans. Every once in a while they freak out and start hopping around and only then do you notice them. 

We also had a delicious yum cha experience at Marigold with some friends on Sunday. We tried chicken feet and beef tendons for the first time. I don't really plan on eating either again, but I've had worse exotic things. 

We worked off the extra calories by playing some Kan Jam in the Prince Alfred Park. We happened to set up near some people who were playing Quidditch. I'm not sure which game looked more unusual to onlookers. 

One good thing about music...

It's been a typical week of work and socializing. Tuesday we went out for birthday drinks for a friend. Coincidentally, at the bar there was music trivia the same night. Our very diverse group of 20 or so friends kind of took over the place (which I'm guessing is ordinarily quite quiet on a Tuesday), and there was lots of (good-natured) loud singing and cheering and silliness. I think we might have amused the trivia host more than he amused us. 

I leave you with my two songs of the day...

One of my favorite yoga instructors plays this song a lot during class. It's relaxing and mellow and I love it...

... And then there's this fun throwback too...

Happy Thursday, folks!

The Circuit

I think you truly feel like you "live" somewhere when you start randomly running into familiar faces around town. It's not a new thing that I've run into people I know, but I've run into an unusual number of people I know this weekend, especially considering that probably half the people I usually hangout with have been out of town at the frisbee tournament. 

Today, after yoga and a pretty good lunch at Ruby's Diner, I ran into another familiar face in Centennial Park today as I was biking around. I heard another bike coming up behind me to pass, and when I glanced over my shoulder, a frisbee friend was smiling there. We did a circuit and chit-chatted and then he was off again. 

I enjoyed an obscured sunset view from our balcony for the second day in a row, and now I'm listening to music and cooking (burning) some steak and veggies. Michael will return from the tourney in a few hours. It has been a completely unspectacular weekend, and it has been wonderful. 

To Market, To Market

I've had a pleasant Saturday out and about while Michael is away in Dubbo for the regionals tournament. I ran into a friend of mine at Bondi Junction, so after my workout we took an impromptu trip to the beach for lunch. I enjoyed feeding my leftovers to a bully seagull who was blind in one eye. I kind of felt bad for the other seagulls it was scaring away in overcompensation, but I was also thinking, "This dude's got one eye; props to it for holding its own". 

I was able to hit three markets in one day, a personal record (not that it's something I've ever tried to do before, or will likely ever try to do again): Bondi Farmers Market, Paddington Market, and the Spring Night Market. Each one has its own feel. Bondi is super crunchy and is over by early afternoon. Paddington is the one I go to most, since it's close and every Saturday, so there was the usual familiar stuff. The Spring Night Market had good local food and drinks to taste, but wasn't very pleasant due to it being overwhelmingly crowded and there being too much smoke in the air from the grills. 

In other completely unimportant news, I've finally beaten 2048. I had kind of forgotten about the game until I had students this week who introduced me to the cupcake and Pokemon versions of the same game. They are not as good, in my humble opinion.

Happy Saturday!

PSA: Pesticides Bad, Bees Good.

Hearing about pesticides killing honeybees breaks my heart. Pesticides often cause more harm than good, and there have to be other ways people can help prevent the spread of Zika. 

First, prevent standing water as much as you can, so the mosquitoes can't breed near where you live in the first place. Second, predatory insects like spiders and praying mantids eat them, as well as birds, frogs, etc.. So, don't kill spiders, and if you see any in your house, release them into the wild. You can buy praying mantid egg sacs at some garden centers. There are ways to attract bug-eating birds. You can use citronella and other more natural bug repellants if you're going to be outside for a while. 

Why should you care? If you eat anything grown in your own garden, you should obviously care because if you use pesticides you are literally ingesting poison. Small amounts could add up. 

Bees don't just pollinate your garden, they help pollinate all of the produce we eat. Bees are already fighting a big battle as it is, with colony collapse disorder on the rise, and they have enough predators to contend with. Don't add to the problems they already have. Also, pesticides can go directly from the pollen into your honey, and then you ingest more poison.

Some people don't like to have bees around because they think they'll get stung. Bees are around potentially everywhere all the time during the warm months of the year. Unless you are provoking them, they are very unlikely to sting. I've been stung once in a my life, and it wasn't the day I went beekeeping. I understand people with allergies not wanting to be stung, but they can take precautions as necessary, since they have to anyway. 

One childcare center, where I worked here briefly, talked a lot of talk about having "natural environments" for the kids, which were actually full of astroturf. When we suggested having the kids learn about nature by having real fruit trees and plants around, the admin said they didn't want to attract bees in case a kid was allergic. Let's just stop teaching kids about everything that might be even dangerous to 1/100 of them then (even though it would benefit them all immensely throughout their lives) I guess. Needless to say, I disagreed with lots of their ideas about what was actually good and not good for kids, and I was happy to find somewhere else to work.

I've been teaching and working with kids for over 15 years now. You know how many life-threatening allergic reactions I've had to deal with? None. Know how many kids I've had to deal with that have problems that have arisen from them being overprotected? More than I can count. But I am digressing...

Back to the bees. Give them some love!

...Stepping off my soapbox now.

The Hunt for the Wilderpeople

Last weekend, Michael and I saw The Hunt for the Wilderpeople, which, as expected, I loved. It was funny and heartwarming, and a little bit of what like is like in the remote southern hemisphere. 

We saw the movie at Govinda's, which is always a good time.