now a thirtysomething from Brisbane
The last couple of days we have had rain hanging around which has been quite nice. The rain has not been drought breaking but has been filling our water tank nicely. The rain hasn’t however been particularly dam filling :(. The rain has however been nice for taking photos 🙂
I went to Rics last night to see Emma Dean in what was the most delightful intimate show. Rics is a pretty tiny venue and it was packed out the door so it really felt that we were all sitting/standing in her lounge room whilst she was practising. Rather cool.
It was mainly a night to play some new stuff and as could have been expected the new stuff was fantastic, my favourite song from the new stuff would have to be Cocaine and I am very much looking forward to hearing it more often in the future. For the very last song (chew love), Emma had assembled a group of friends who were titled the Brisbane All Stars Choir and they were just as much a treat as anything else, there was some amazing voices in that choir. It was very much a a special night and I only regret not getting there earlier enough to catch Dane’s entire set. Dane is Emma’s guitarist and last night he did is first solo gig and I know I liked what I caught. Emma dropped the band last night and just had Dane accompany her with a backing vocalist occasionally. Looking forward to next time
Yesterday was my day at the board, and I wasn’t recommended for the two jobs I was after. I am able to return to the board 12 months and apply for those jobs again if I wish. After I was told by the board president that they weren’t recommending me, mainly due to lack of experience, I had a chat with a recruiter as to some other jobs that I might be suitable for and have come home with a few jobs to have a look at both general and officer entry.
The board was a great experience and I was a lot more collected in my emotions and knowledge than I was on my assessment day which I was proud of. Other than myself there was three men attending the board on the same day I was and it was great to chat to them about what they have done in their lives so far (I was the youngest by three years).
I am taking a few days to step back and really think about what it is I want to do with my life and how I best go about achieving those goals. Also taking some time to recharge myself after the last week where I had been running at 120% in preparing for the board. Last night I was in bed by 8 and woke up at 7 this morning, I was so buggered. The world goes on though and it is not the end of the world that I didn’t get the recommend, I am happy that I made it as far as the board in the first place.
This weekend on Triple J is the Impossible Music Festival, 55hrs of great live music recorded by Triple J over the last 30 odd years. It always proves to be a great weekend of music (previous line-ups).
I have my computer set up with a scheduler so I can record all the concerts I want to be able to listen to again or that I missed because I will be at work or sleeping or studying. I missed The Police yesterday which I think would have been great to hear.
My planned recording list is currently as follows, though I can see myself adding a few more as time progresses.
The Herd
Warumpi Band
Martha Wainwright
Missy Higgins
The Cat Empire
Billy Bragg
AC/DC
Moby
Bernard Fanning
Midnight Oil
TheBens
Hope onto the Triple J website and have a look at the line-up. You never know what you might discover.
The day that will have the biggest impact on my life so far is almost here. In three days time I will be at the board presenting myself as best I can. The last couple of days I have been busily going over my notes, talking to people, writing new notes, reading reports and more. My desk seriously looks worse now then it ever did when I was at uni.
We picked Mum up from the airport this arvo. It will be a bit of a change having her home again after three weeks away. We have fallen into a system since she has been away and as of tonight that will all be out the window and it will be back to how it was before she went away. In saying that though it very nice to have her home again and to hear all her stories about the sights she has seen out west.
There was an excellent piece of news tucked away in the Higher Education supplement of The Australian yesterday about Asian Studies or more precisely titled the return to Asian Studies not only in universities across Australia but in the school systems as well if Labor wins the upcoming election. I let out a little cheer in the tearoom at work where I was reading the paper and then proceeded to send messages out to various friends either current or former Asian Studies students telling them of the story. In particular it made me think of one of my dear friends Sam who I met in my first year Indonesian class and in a couple of weeks will complete her degree to be a secondary Indonesian teacher and the fact that if Labor wins (as they very well should) her future looks much brighter if a greater focus is made on putting Asian languages and in particular Indonesian into more schools across the country. Kevin Rudd is an Asian Studies man, he did his degree though at ANU and had first class honours to go with it. The electorate that he represents though is Griffith, the very electorate that holds the university that I went to, Griffith University and when Griffith Uni was opened in 1975, one of the four subject areas it offered was Asian Studies. It all seems quite linked together when you look at it. Here though is to the future of Asian Studies not only in Australian universities but Australian schools.
I have donned my glad rags and I am off to the Redcliffe Cultural Centre tonight to drink OJ out of champagne flutes and to eat assorted nibbleys whilst looking at the entrants in this years Queensland Quilters Challenge. The challenge fabric this year was a doozy and I can’t wait to see what people have done with it. I can’t find a photo of Mum’s quilt at the moment but will put one up later tonight.
And a photo of me from today. I think this is the most me self portrait I have ever taken. I love it.
