Daylight Savings; Armageddon for Perthians

Aussie word of the day: whinge = complain, "Everyone is whinging about Daylight Savings."

Daylight Savings time is causing upheaval in Perth. The radio dj's are taking a phone poll on how people feel about it and many of them aren't having it. It's the second year in a three year trial for daylight savings here in Perth and I think the people most against it are the ones who simply don't like change. In March 2009, Perthians will get to vote on whether or not to keep daylight savings ongoing or not.

When I first visited Perth in December 2004 the sun came up at a ridiculously early hour - somewhere around 5 a.m. on Christmas Day! I remember thinking, "What the hell is going on?" Yeah, it was summer, but the sun should NOT, I repeat NOT, be up before 6 a.m. if you ask me. By the way Perthians are reacting to daylight savings, you would think someone told them they could never eat Vegimite again - which I don't think is such a bad idea!

It's raining today for the first time in over a month - yay! Last weekend was low-key, I just enjoyed a bit of jazz and opera with some friends at WAPAA in the Park on Saturday night. It was a concert put on by the Western Australia Performing Arts Acadamy which is part of ECU's campus and features some very talented young musicians and singers. WAPAA is also known for it's broadcast journalism, dance and drama departments. Former WAPAA drama students include Hugh Jackman and the late Heath Ledger.

My weeks are getting busier and busier with uni assignments, but relief is in sight. Mid-semester break is right around the corner and I'm looking forward to it like never before! I'm considering taking a surfing course over the break. I just hope the weather holds out for a few more weeks before getting too cold to enjoy a little surfing. Hope you are all reading and enjoying 3rd Degree!

Giving You the 3rd Degree!

As if you didn't already have something better to do but sit around reading my weekly musings about life in Oz, but now I'm going to throw another bit o' online literature at you that will scintillate and stimulate and supplement your burgeoning online reading addiction. It will show you how I spend my time during those long hours spent away from the blogosphere and is the result of this fabulous education I am getting. It is called 3rd Degree. It's the online magazine written and produced by yours truly along with 30 or so other aspiring journalists in my Print 2 journalism class. It's the love of my life and bane of my existence all rolled into one happy package.

I love writing for 3rd Degree. It makes me feel like my education and thousands of hard earned dollars spent (and mounting student debt) is all worthwhile. It makes me feel like a professional journalist and reaffirms my desire to pursue this degree in the first place. The best part isn't even the writing. The best part is that I get to edit. I have the power to inspect and improve the stories of other people. To cut and paste and perfect! I just want to hold my sword in the air and call myself She-ra, Princess of Power!!! But it is also a very serious role of which I take VERY seriously... sword and all. The 3rd Degree site went live today. Subscribe - it's FREE! Just click on the Hyperlink above (where it says 3rd Degree in orange) or this link http://3degree.ecu.edu.au/volumes/2008/01/01/and be among the first to view the new edition. I hope you all have a look and enjoy my stories and those of my classmates... ahem, fellow journalists.

St. Patty's Day reprieve; Easter

Aussie words of the day: Oy! = Hey!, "Oy, what are you doing?"; Hey = What? "Hey?" or used at the end of a sentence like 'eh?' "You don't see that around here much, hey?"


Um, what cosmic force pushed St. Pat's and Easter so close together this year? Whatever the reason is that they are back to back holidays this year, I am thankful for. I've just barely recovered from my St. Pat's Day celebrating when Easter comes around the corner with a long weekend in store to help out with a post-St. Pat's Day pick-me-up. That's right. I was out celebrating good ole St. Patty's Day with the local Irishmen/ women and some Aussie's that were just looking for a good time.



My friends and I went to an Irish pub in Northbridge called Rosie O'Grady's. The smells of traditional Irish fare of potatoes, cabbage, and sausages wafted down from the restaurant upstairs as we jigged the evening away Irish style - donned in green and swigging pints of Guinness and Kilkenny Irish beer while listening to a live Irish band. Half the pub must've been Irish as a chorus of voices rose up from the crowd singing along to some of the traditional Irish tunes the band played. It was really touching and raucous all at the same time.



Prior to St. Pat's, I had a pretty 'raucous' time at the wedding I worked at on the weekend. It was a beautiful country affair set on a farm in a town four hours north of Perth. The lawns were neatly manicured for the special occasion and glass jars with candles swung from the tree branches adding to the rustic feel of the event. After the wedding had died down and the tables were cleared, the catering staff was invited by the bride to party with the guests into the wee hours of the morning. Let's just say we paid for the fun we had that night on the long ride home the next day.




Yesterday was Good Friday. A strange hush fell over the city of Perth like none before. It can be a dull city on the best of days, but yesterday was extraordinarily quiet. Barely a car drove by on the street, nor was there the usual subtle hustle and bustle of activity. Not a single shop was open, except for the video store. I couldn't believe such a non-religious country would so religiously observe this odd pre-Easter holiday that even in America's own Bible Belt slips by without hardly a sideways glance. I devoutly ate my Good Friday dinner of seafood pasta at Gail's - both of us being good Catholic girls, you know - as we kicked back and watched a few DVD's to celebrate this quiet day in our own quiet way.




Today I am working yet another wedding at the beautiful Cottesloe Civic Center and tomorrow I'm enjoying what Australian's call a Sunday Session which entails drinking off Saturday's hangover - also referred to as Hair of the Dog. (Only in Australia would they be drinking at the pub on Easter.) Although, my Sunday Session will come without Hair of the Dog as I won't be drinking tonight... good news I'm sure, to all of you who might be thinking, at this point, that I'm headed straight for rehab. I swear I don't drink as much as my blogs portray, I just don't tell you about all the serious sober times when I'm studying because they are not as interesting.


This leads me to my next topic: What exactly am I doing in the hours between working and having all this fun? The answer is and should be... STUDYING!... and writing my ass off. This is where I will sign off and enter Post N0. 2 for today... Giving You the 3rd Degree!






I am closing with a few photos of my favorite sculptures from this week's beach sculpture exhibit at Cottesloe Beach. This swirly one is interesting because it looks different from every angle.









This monster/ clown face is cool because the lines of the sculpture perfectly frame my friend, Anne, in the background.








This steel one looks like the skeleton of a boat washed up on the shore.









These disks are meant to look like saw blades slicing through the sand like something out of a horror flick, but from another angle look like shark fins.

Happy Easter everyone!!!

Addendum

Just a note on yesterday's dating discussion and to any men reading the blog of which I am sure there are VERY few, in fact I am pretty sure my brother doesn't even read it. In his recent Glamour post, Men vs. Boys, author and blogger, Brian Alexander says "this is what it means to be a man with a woman: Be a gentleman. Be honest. Give as much as you get." That's all! It's a really simple philosophy. It is one men should live by and women should set their standards by - I am!

The trials and tribulations of dating and work

Aussie word of the day: dag, daggy = junkie, crappy, bad, "I drive a daggy car."

The week has flown since the last blog and I didn't realize how long it's been. Obviously, it has been a busy one for me, full of work and uni and a little fun on the side. That's Charlie the crab peeking out from his spot among the edibles in my mini fridge. I picked him up on the weekend at the Mandurah Crab Festival and made a delicious little chicken and crab marsala out of him. Yum-O!

I've had a few reality checks over the last week that caused me to pause, breath deeply, reflect, and get some feedback from a few friends. For one thing, I worked in a fairly autonomous position for five years before coming back to school. I hadn't given much thought as to how I would adjust to working in a non-office job with condescending supervisors... that are also younger than me. It hadn't occurred to me how I would handle getting reprimanded by said supervisors.

Last weekend was my first experience being reprimanded, which I handled in the best way I knew how - passively and subordinately. Having been a manager/ supervisor myself not so long ago, this seemed like the respectful thing to do. But upon reflection of the situation and the choice of words used by my supervisor, I started to feel quite dejected and angry that the supervisor spoke to me that way and that I didn't say anything. I had my share of degrading verbal lashings at my last job (the one in the States) and don't want to have to put up with it anymore. But the question I ended up asking myself and that I now ask YOU, my faithful readers, is at what point do you speak up and say something to the supervisor? Do you just suck it up, bend over, and say, "thank you sir, may I have another?" Where do you draw the line between biting the hand that feeds you and standing up for yourself? I have to admit, it seems like a pretty gray area.

On a more upbeat and slightly humorous note, the trials of dating are much more entertaining, but equally frustrating. I don't usually comment on my dating status/ somewhat non-existant love life, but the sudden and tragic removal of a favorite dating blogger of mine from Glamour magazine's blog site has brought the dating writer out of me. I've dated a few guys since being in Australia and my hopeful heart is always on the lookout, but kissing frogs is getting old fast for this princess.

I broke my rule this week of not dating guys I meet at bars... and reaffirmed the reason I don't. I met a guy last Friday night at a favorite hang-out of mine, gave him my number, and by Tuesday had a date for that night. He met up with me at the bar we met at on Friday night for a trivia competition and drinks with some of my friends. The trivia competition was fun, the drinks tasty, but his company left much to be desired. I could hardly distract him from kissing my shoulder. He wouldn't stop! By the end of the evening, he was even making jokes about making a date with my shoulder. Maybe I should have worn a shirt with sleeves.

I decided to re-think my philosophy on dating, which currently seems to be falling just short of desperate. I try not to judge a book by it's cover, I keep an open mind and don't neglect any possibilities, despite where I may meet them, but my filtering system is badly in need of repair. I can't seem to pick the good guys from the weird, the insecure, or the rebounding ones. What happened to my red flag radar? Maybe I never had one. My sister-n-law says I'm naive about guys, I used to tell her I was only playing dumb, but I'm beginning to think that was an understatement.

I'm away on the weekend for work, road tripping with the catering team. We are getting shipped 4 hours north of Perth for a wedding. It should be a good one... I'm posting a few pics of last weekend's wedding at one of our regular wedding venues, the Cottesloe Civic Center.

Love being single - no worries, mate!

Diss dating, but I don't want to end up a lonely, miserable and sexless old hag.

Amazing, amusing and Ow! My sore feet

Aussie phrase of the day: Muckin' around = messing around/ joking around, "I'm just muckin around, mate!"

In Australian news: two men survived a ship wreck off the eastern seaboard, one of which swam 10 hours to shore; a fugitive Chinese man from Australia was captured by some Chinese students in Atlanta, Georgia by pulling his pants down around his ankles and tying his arms behind his back with his own belt; teachers protested for a wage increase in Perth last Thursday leaving many kids without school to flock to the beaches and pools; and housing prices and the cost of living continues to soar. This is a crazy place I live in - a teacher's protest!?! Whoever heard of such a thing? Only in Australia! These are just a few of the more amazing and amusing pieces of news in last weeks newpapers.

In my world, my feet are throbbing and semi-swollen from working two weddings on the weekend. One wedding was sheer chaos - bridezilla, sloppy drunks and all, while the other wedding was gorgeously appointed, the people respectful (even when drunk), the speeches were a perfect combination of touching and humorous, the MC was hilarious, and everything ran as smooth as silk pie. My feet on the other hand didn't know the difference and begged to be rubbed on Sunday night when I rolled into bed at half past 2 in the morning. I forget what it's like working in hospitality, but I am learning some new drink recipes - fancy a Lychee Martini anyone? I'm not allowed to drink on the job, but they smelled and looked delish! I'll post some pics from the job next time. In the meantime, stay warm and well and have a great week!

This weeks Loves and Disses:

Love Thai sweet chilli sauce - it's the new ketchup!

Diss standing and walking around a function room for 9 hours straight! My poor tootsies :(