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As the EoY approaches I have found myself entertained with pretty much a week of pre-Xmas feasts. Starting last Wednesday was an EoY event for the Business Services Division at The Timber Yard, with several hundred people in attendance. I don't particularly like the venue at all, and the food was equivalent fare. It included the worst gnocchi I've had in my life, and this is from someone who rates that as a favourite dish. That Friday, Liana F., visited and I responded with "Filipino Night", which included a sweet potato and rice flour gnocchi in response, and a rather delicious chocolate biko. The following night I was taken out by Alison B. to Renee H.'s annual Midsummer Eve party, where there were some sixty people, many from the old Melbourne goth crowd. A special highlight was the individual expression of gratitude and wishes for the coming year. The day after that I had James N, Liana F., and Erica H., over for dinner after getting my hair shortened by James; all of us from the Perth goth scene of the later 1980s and all of us having haircuts from James (including his own). The day after that it was a visit to Anthony L., and Robin M., for more plotting for the great South Pacific venture of early next year.
Liana F., and I have also managed to sneak away for a couple of days to Phillip Island, staying at the perfectly reasonable Amaroo Park in Cowes. It was a pretty relaxing couple of days and included a beachside picnic, a bit of a dip in the ocean, a visit to the string of opportunity shops nearby (I picked up a small collection of Tintin books), a visit to the koala conservation reserve, and visits to Nobbies Point and Cape Woolamai. Apart from the aforementioned koalas, we spent some time in the company of some swamp wallabies, the famous Cape Barren geese, and a multitude of other birdlife. With the parade sold out, the only penguin we chanced upon was a youngster who had come out of its breeding box at Nobbies Point and had promptly learned an evolutionary lesson about coming out whilst the seagulls were still awake; "nature, red in tooth and claw", as Tennyson observed.
Officially I am on leave for the rest of the year, and I have done well so far not to even glance at the system or my work emails. However, I do have one more activity for tomorrow, to chair a delayed tech-talk and do a write-up of the activities of the Cultural Working Group which I have chaired for the past couple of years. Of course, when I am not working my nose is buried in research and as a result, I have made quite a reasonable start to my master's research project on "Climate Change Impacts, Adaption, and Finances for Developing Pacific Island Countries". The bulk of the findings will be conducted, of course, after the trip in the Pacific itself. But I have made a pretty good start on the aims, geography, demographics, methodology, and methods. I optimistically assigned myself the possibility of completing a draft by the end of the year. More realistically, I will complete more than half the content. But that is more than good enough.
Liana F., and I have also managed to sneak away for a couple of days to Phillip Island, staying at the perfectly reasonable Amaroo Park in Cowes. It was a pretty relaxing couple of days and included a beachside picnic, a bit of a dip in the ocean, a visit to the string of opportunity shops nearby (I picked up a small collection of Tintin books), a visit to the koala conservation reserve, and visits to Nobbies Point and Cape Woolamai. Apart from the aforementioned koalas, we spent some time in the company of some swamp wallabies, the famous Cape Barren geese, and a multitude of other birdlife. With the parade sold out, the only penguin we chanced upon was a youngster who had come out of its breeding box at Nobbies Point and had promptly learned an evolutionary lesson about coming out whilst the seagulls were still awake; "nature, red in tooth and claw", as Tennyson observed.
Officially I am on leave for the rest of the year, and I have done well so far not to even glance at the system or my work emails. However, I do have one more activity for tomorrow, to chair a delayed tech-talk and do a write-up of the activities of the Cultural Working Group which I have chaired for the past couple of years. Of course, when I am not working my nose is buried in research and as a result, I have made quite a reasonable start to my master's research project on "Climate Change Impacts, Adaption, and Finances for Developing Pacific Island Countries". The bulk of the findings will be conducted, of course, after the trip in the Pacific itself. But I have made a pretty good start on the aims, geography, demographics, methodology, and methods. I optimistically assigned myself the possibility of completing a draft by the end of the year. More realistically, I will complete more than half the content. But that is more than good enough.
