Kangaroo? check. Surfing? check. Aussie Rules? check. Gigs? check.Tractor? check

Hey folks,
it has been a while since my last post and a lot has been accomplished. I have a list of things to do while I am here complete with a wildlife section and I have managed to check some of things off. I need to be more diligent with my posts I think because I run the risk of overlooking something.

For the purpose of covering all my bases I'm going to go with a point-form style.

- I have seen two gigs and have tickets to a third. I can't stress enough how sick the music scene is here. I saw a band called Yves Klein Blue who were opened by Cloud Control and then I saw Edward Sharpe and Magnetic Zeroes earlier on this week. Both were great shows. ES played the entire album pretty much start to finish and for their second encore came out, invited a bunch of people up on stage and sat everyone down in the venue on the floor because it was "story time". They played a ballad to us with just guitar and the lead singer. I managed to clamber up on stage and grab a spot right by them sitting on an amp. It was a fantastic show.

- I went home for the weekend with my friend Richie to his farm in Leongatha. I stayed at his farmhouse and got toured around all of their dairy farms. I fed the cows, drove the tractor and tested out their ATV four-wheeler. It was good to have some home cooked meals and check out the locals only beaches. We went and checked out some caves at a local spot as well as the swells were coming in. One beach we went to is known as a squeaky beach. Basically the sand is so fine that as you walk in it you can here it squeak as your feet push the grains against each other.
I managed to try out surfing but the conditions weren't great and we were using a really short board, something that you usually move up to once you have mastered using a long board. I didn't manage to catch any waves but it was sick to just be out there.

- While I was at Richie's place he took me to one of their paddocks at about 8 as the sun was just going down. We opened the gate and crept along in their truck with lights off. When Richie suddenly flicked on the high beams, about 10 kangaroos all turned and stared at the truck before all taking off in unison. Richie gunned it after them and we chased them all over the paddock, hanging out the windows. It was unreal! Something that most people wouldn't get to do while here that's for sure.

-Last night I was taken to an AFL Aussie Rules Footie game at the Melbourne Cricket Ground by my friend Josh and his Dad. The stadium holds 100 thousand and was almost full. It was the opening game of the season between Richmond Tigers and Carlton Blues. It was great as we had seats right behind the posts in the members area and were right amongst the die-hard fans of both teams.

As far as classes go, things are picking up. I have an Easter break coming up next week with assignments due the next week. I am thinking about going to Tasmania for the break as flights go pretty cheap. I heard earlier on in the week that I was chosen as the recipient of a scholarship to Carleton called the Carl Gillis Memorial Scholarship for leadership and community involvement at Carleton while maintaining good academic standing. I was pretty pleased to be given the nod and it will definitely help out with the finances come fourth year in September. On the flip-side, I didn't get the position of Head Facil for frosh week as I had hoped. I am pretty disappointed in the decision and maybe a little baffled that I didn't get the position. From the sounds of things it confused a lot of people so I have been getting a lot of people from home saying they were surprised I didn't get the position. But alas, this is life. You are going to come up against people and situations that don't go your way whether you can help it or not. There is not a lot I can do about it now as an assistant head except express that I feel I was overlooked and have the credentials to be a great head facilitator because I love frosh week.

Right, well, I'm going to take off now since I have to pack for my surf trip to Phillip Island. Check out my pics on my facebook profile of all my shenanigans in the past couple of weeks. Hope everyone is safe and well and give me a buzz sometime to catch up.

Love,
D

Best of Sexy and the Little Things in Life

Hey guys,

if you haven't heard, Melbourne has been having some bizarre weather in the past week. As summer turns to Autumn, there were a few areas hit by hail storms. I did some research and found out that hail happens when a strong updraft causes the water droplets to get pushed above the clouds and the freezing level, when the drops get heavy enough, they start to fall. So, while it wasn't below zero on the ground, Melbourne was pelted with golf-ball sized hailstones. Craziness.
While I didn't get to see any of the hail, I did experience a pretty wild couple of days over the weekend with really high winds and torrential rain. I hadn't seen rain like this in a long time. Our courtyard at res flooded and people were out in their shorts swimming and throwing mud at each other which was funny to watch.

Since my last post, classes have gotten underway and I am getting into the groove of things. I attended Jarrad's funeral last Thursday which was a moving but good experience. It was a really nice service with family and friends packed into the hall. It was a real credit to Waitsy and the man he was. His friends all got up and told stories of their times together and it reminded me a lot of my highschool days back at Kings. The College bussed us down to his home town which was about 4 hours away, a place called Lakes Entrance. It was a gorgeous little town on the water and looked like a great place to grow up. I don't know what it is, but for some reason whenever I am at funerals I always think what my own funeral is going to be like, who would show up, what people would say. I know it sounds morbid and maybe a bit selfish so I hope I'm not the only one with those thoughts in my head. If anything, the service reminded me that I have to make the most of the time we are given, and to enjoy the little things in life. For example, I saw quite possibly the most immaculate mullet today on my way to the lecture hall. It was the definition of perfection. All other mullets were modeled after this one. Like I said, enjoy the little things.

Another thing that I love is reading the inscriptions on t-shirts from Asia. They have a pretty skewed impression of the English language so some of the inspirational quotes and blurbs they come up with are pretty hilarious.
Some of the gems that I have come across since I've been here:
-A sweater with "Rainbows is Destiny" stitched across the front
-a shirt with "I stole this shirt from a homeless man. Why he was wearing a shirt with this written on it I will never know " written on it. Where do they come up with this stuff?
- and a denim jacket, collar popped, with a big star on the back and the words "Best of Sexy" written in glitter.

I have started playing for the LaTrobe Soccer Club. We train twice a week and it is really intense. Luckily I have been running since I got here since the weather is so nice so I was able to keep up. We had our first game on the weekend against Monash University and we won 5-0. Don't ask me how but I managed to score two of the best goals of my career somehow while playing at left defense. I shocked myself. Trouble is, the coaches and my teammates might come to expect that kind of thing on a regular basis. I told them not to get used to it!

I also applied to be a Head Facilitator Carleton Frosh Week for September. My idea for the theme of the week was Carleton U: A healthy part of a complete breakfast with teams such as the Captain Crunches, Toucan Sams, Sugar Bears, Honey Bees, Lucky Leprechauns, Tony the Tigers, Special K's (although they would get ripped apart in cheer-offs), Vectors, Snap Krackle Pops, Count Choculas and so on! The ideas for cheers are rifling through my head. It will be interesting to see who gets chosen for the positions. I just hope whoever makes the decisions does so with as little predisposition and opinion and awards the candidates based on merit rather than social ties as can be the case with these kinds of things. Alea Jacta Est.

Well, I better wrap it up about there. Hopefully by my next post I will have a job to start earning some pocket money so that I will hopefully be able to do all of the ambitious things on my list by the time I leave this country. Donations are welcome. Wish me luck!

Love,
D