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Strange Days
May. 29th, 2023 09:10 amThe past week and for the week coming I've been quite hermit-like, dedicating almost all my time to work and study. Of course, with the end-of-trimester looming for the latter, it is not surprising; final exams, major essays, and the like are the norm for any student even at my age and level this is no different. Current plans in the coming days include a presentation for carbon pricing on the "Scandinavian Carbon Taxes with the European ETS" which I must say is showing positive results, and a major essay for political economy on the cheery subject of the Anthropocene Extinction Event. In addition to these extra-vocational activities and on the other side of the lectern, over the next two days I"ll be running training workshops for "Regular Expressions with Linux" and "High Performance and Parallel Python" with the suggestion that this is not entirely a contradiction in terms.
I haven't entirely been hermit-like however, and did venture out into the great world of social connection on Saturday with the Isocracy Annual General Meeting which was held both in-person and remote attendees. The topic of discussion was Australia's rental crisis, along with the matters of demographic changes, land tax, interest rates, inflation, mortgage stress, rent-caps, and the Housing Australia Future Fund with a handy video presentation from the Grattan Institute spurring discussion. To be honest, there are no simple solutions to this, and whoever says there is hasn't thought it all through. Later that day I ventured out to a green-wedge outer suburb for a celebratory (and superbly catered!) gathering at Alison B.'s. I was in a rather exuberant mood, having saved up several days of the spirit and found myself engaging in all manner of quality conversations whilst downing two bottles of sparkling until settling into a nice game of chess at 2.30am and somehow managed to rise before noon the following day without feeling much worse for it: "My only regret is that I have not drunk more champagne in my life."
I haven't entirely been hermit-like however, and did venture out into the great world of social connection on Saturday with the Isocracy Annual General Meeting which was held both in-person and remote attendees. The topic of discussion was Australia's rental crisis, along with the matters of demographic changes, land tax, interest rates, inflation, mortgage stress, rent-caps, and the Housing Australia Future Fund with a handy video presentation from the Grattan Institute spurring discussion. To be honest, there are no simple solutions to this, and whoever says there is hasn't thought it all through. Later that day I ventured out to a green-wedge outer suburb for a celebratory (and superbly catered!) gathering at Alison B.'s. I was in a rather exuberant mood, having saved up several days of the spirit and found myself engaging in all manner of quality conversations whilst downing two bottles of sparkling until settling into a nice game of chess at 2.30am and somehow managed to rise before noon the following day without feeling much worse for it: "My only regret is that I have not drunk more champagne in my life."
