Well today was productive!
Its very nice having some time to relax, unwind, and enjoy the summer, but its also nice to get something done, too. I do pity the poor people who have to be at work this week.
I renewed my pilots licence today for another two years. Doing it in New Zealand made it a little more interesting, plus I get to add a ZK registration to my logbook. I've had the NZ validation on my licence for a couple of years now, so its nice to finally use it!
Nick and I are going to take the plane and head somewhere around the country in a few days, so its very nice to now be aware of certain aspects of aviating around this, the Long White Cloud, such as Volcanic Hazard Zones, which we simply don't have back home. Good to avoid, too.

Masterton Aerodrome reminds me of West Sale - grass and asphalt runways, friendly atmosphere, flat ground, but over here the mountains in the background are really mountains!

Going to spend a couple of days in Wellington tomorrow until New Years, and theres a chance I'll get some work Saturday night.
If I dont return until after then, have a happy new year everyone!

Merry Christmas!


... i think i ate too much...

Its Christmas time again, and this wombat is once more in the Land of the Long White Kiwi.
It feels like i've been on the road so much in the last couple of weeks, with two trips to Melbourne a week apart, then barely a week after THAT trip, packing up my little nest and driving to Sale, then to Melbourne and across the ditch again. Its been two years since I was here last - which has been a while, I know. My poor passport hasn't had a workout in a very long time; every time it sits unused for more than a year is a crying shame. At least Australian Immigration were kind enough to stamp it as I left - NZ Customs don't and can't stamp Australian passports. Oh well... to get all the pages used in this little blue book I'll have to find somewhere else to do it!
Thursday was a brilliant summers day well befitting Christmas, although waking up early wouldnt have been my first choice (especially given that the time difference made it worse!), but Wellington in the morning was very picturesque, and it didn't take long to get up over the Rimutakas and to Masterton.
After a short (and somewhat unexpected) nap, Nick and I delivered a trailerload of the wrong mulch and spent an hour or so spreading it on the garden - but close enough was good enough!

Friday started out hot and summery enough, but just before I headed out to the local airport, things turned considerably for the worse and we endured a brief hailstorm, a fair bit of rain, and strong stormy winds which lasted until sometime Saturday afternoon. Friday was also the day I drove around Masterton looking for the post office, notable for two reasons. Firstly, the car was manual, and it had been about 12 months since the last time I drove a manual car, and secondly for this was the first time I'd ever actually driven a vehicle in New Zealand.
Finally finding a parking space in the busy main street of Masterton I set off on my quest for stamps.
You see, I'd left my Nengajo a little too late this year, so instead of being able to post them before I left, they had to be sent from here. So.. Australian ones, which were supposed to be pretty quick, now have to travel overseas too...
Anyway, the're done now, but the post box I dropped them into had already been cleared for the day, so there will be a slight delay in them actually being sent... oh well.

Christmas Day tomorrow, so Merry Christmas to all!

卒業しました!




Today was one of those days that simply ran to perfection. One of those days that seemed to go on forever, so much happening, so amazing.
Even as the sun came up it was already a perfect December day, hot and dry, and soon the sun was blazing down across the city.
Dressed in academic robes complete with blue and terracotta sashes we collected tickets and milled around at the back of the hall, listened to people give us instructions, then took our seats and waited as the hall filled with guests, and the ceremony began.
Ikeda sensei, somehow, was part of the official party with the University Chancellor, the crowd sitting on the stage, all sombre and official. It was nice to see though, as the procession walked past us, the graduands, sitting at the front of the hall, Ikeda turned to us, smiled, winked and waved, then returned to being very formal to go up on stage.

Then it was our turn.
One after another the Dean of the Faculty read out our names and to applause from the auditorium, one by one we walked across the stage, shook hands with the Chancellor and recieved our testamurs.
The ceremony moved swiftly - except for the sheer number of people crossing the stage. Its no wonder they break it up into five seperate ceremonies or we'd be waiting all day. I'm so very pleased we were able to walk across the stage. That makes it so much more a personal moment - even though its only for a moment, for that one brief period, the entire university acknowledges you, and only you, and your achievements.
An irrelevant speech by some honourable academic, and then we're done. The music you can play at the top of this page is the Recessional used, and they were spot on. This day will last for all time!

Outside the hall once again, and now we can relax! Now it was time to find each other and get as many photos taken as we could with everyone possible, drink champagne, and take more photos. Shun Ikeda made a point of catching up with every single student graduating whom he had taught or otherwise knew and expressing his congratulations to us individually - which was quite an effort, and really meant a lot.
Surprising me also was Duck Lee and Shun Ishihara, neither of whom liked me - Duck Lee was threatening to fail me through the subject I did with him, and we had quite a personality clash; Ishihara got his nose very severely out of joint because I pulled the pin on Year In Japan last year, and he did his best to make it as difficult as possible for me early in the year to enrol in the classes which I needed to take. However both of them came over after the ceremony, and both came up to me to congratulate me. Especially from these two, this also meant a lot.

Then into the next building for some professional photographs in my gown and sash - this time with my tassel dangling from the right hand side of my mortar board!
Photos in front of the ANU sign, in the Japanese Garden, the front of BPB and in the tatami room went down well, but soon came time to get changed and head off to lunch.

Lunch was a family affair - us and Lauren's family, and Vic and a couple of others, sitting on the verandah at the Hyatt, outside but sheltered from the now scorching sun. High tea - now that is an experience! Starting out with a glass of champagne and moving on to all the nicest, yummiest nibblies, savouries and sweets from the buffet, tea and coffee, and Lauren's boss from work sent over a(nother) bottle of champagne with his compliments. We all managed to eat almost constantly for three hours, a feat which surprised me as I had felt oh-so-very full last night after Julia's dinner, so come the end of lunch it was more a matter of rolling out of the chairs than simply standing up.

I'd planned to have a nap next, but instead went out for a coffee with a few new graduates that ended up turning into dinner with Nia's family. Food wasn't something I was really able to handle more of after such a large lunch, but the evening was magical.

Even up til late this week, I couldn't comprehend what graduation was all about. Yeah, you get your testamurs, dress up, isnt that it? Only going through it did I really understand it.

Thank you to everyone who helped make this truly a day which will last forever. To everyone who graduated alongside me, Lauren, Julia, Nia, Lavender, Onnicha, Yumi, Mark, Lyndal, Kate - we made it!; to the people who were there on the day for support, Elli, Mum and Dad, Victoria, Thomas, Aya, Camilla, and to the people who sent messages of congratulations from overseas, Izumi, Shiori, Mei, Nick, Ruth - thank you- it meant so much to me; to my lecturers over the years, Cindy Allen, Kent Anderson, Avery Andrews, Peter Hendriks, Shun Ikeda, Shun Ishihara, Louise Jansen, Duck-Young Lee, Narangoa Li, Phil Rose, Gi-Hyun Shin, Zhengdao Ye - thank you; to everyone else who couldn't be here, Fergus, Jackie, Emma, Yusuke, Matt, Nathan, Lauren K -you were here in spirit!
You have all made my life what it is today, what it has been, and it wouldn't be the same without every single one of you! Thank you for everything. I can't possibly hope to convey in words everything I owe you all. Thank you.

The bigger they are, the harder they fall...

Some people call it Karma, some people call it 'just desserts', but whatever you call it, this particular news item certainly made me smile..
Jackie heard it first, on the radio, and she rang to tell me, in somewhat of a state of disbelief.

Australian Arrested in Mauritius

Yes, this is the one and the same Sue-beast from Hikarigaoka... the one who had a desk always piled to the ceiling with stuff, smelled like fresh dog's droppings, drank coffee and smoked like no tomorrow, the one who had an unhealthy hatred of anything male, and an unfailing belief that anything female was inherently better. Sue's very big (no pun intended) on defending people she sees as the victim, she's very aware of her rights, but not particularly au fait with responsibilities. We never really got on well with her at Hikari, tolerated her yes, and occasionally had a laugh, but more often than not at her expense! Like the time Joanne and I both put on her coat at the same time - we both fit inside it together without so much as stretching the material. Katie was keeping watch for us, but we didn't realise until afterwards that the door wasn't locked after all!
Sue always wanted to make a name for herself, but I doubt this was the idea she had in mind.
Sue was arrested last weekend for attempting to smuggle 3.5 kilograms of heroin into Mauritius! Obviously not content with glaring at men in Japan, she apparently moved to Kenya sometime after 2002. This was the last time I saw her, when I visited Hikarigaoka and she smelled that I was there and rushed in to abuse me about something. Jackie ran into her in Melbourne some time last year (though she has recovered) but since then, she's been long gone.
Until now, when she attempted to conceal heroin worth US $1.3million at the bottom of her suitcase.
Oh, what I would have given to have been a fly on the wall, watching as she tried to talk her way out of, first, having her bag searched, and the out of being arrested... anyone who knows her will have a great mental image of her penchant for belittling anyone she dislikes, and particularly in telling someone off, or when she's cornered.


On the left, her mugshot from the Mauritius police, and on the right, a photo I had of her from my Hikari days...


Couldn't have happened to a more deserving person!

UPDATE: Latest news has Sue claiming that she was framed... somehow, I think that's unlikely, but I can very easily see her proclaiming her innocence to the world.
The Australian claims she's a divorcee with no children... Divorcee? Well, there was that little man she kept at home, in the dark, like a mushroom, telling no one of his existence (well, it wouldnt do for her to admit there was a significant man in her life, would it? ) but they weren't married, and they didnt divorce... he actually died a couple of years ago.
Oh well...

(and Sue, if you're reading this (which you won't be, in prison), remember, its not libel when its true!)

I knew in theory it would work, but it was nice to see it actually happen.

Canberra airport is lit at night by pilot activated lighting, so once the control tower closes and they go home, the runway lights et cetera all switch off.

So, up on the top of Mount Ainslie after 11.30, looking over at the airport lights leaving a big black void on the ground, it was time to see if this worked.

Pilot activated lighting works over the radio, so I brought along a handheld radio, and from the lookout clicked the radio and uttered the magic words three times, and lo, the entire runway complex lights sprang into view.

Magic!

If you've got time to spare, go by air!

I was supposed to take Thomas to Albury yesterday, which seemed to be a simple enough undertaking.
The Aero Club's aircraft was supposed to be in for a service, so I booked another one through the flying school... and all was well until they decided that since I hadn't flown that particular aircraft for over 60 days, they wouldn't hire it to me.
OK, its their sandpit. The Aero Club's plane was already out of the workshop, so I decided to take that one instead. Its cheaper, too, so thats a bonus.

Rain has started falling by this stage, so we crammed all the luggage inside, and taxiied down onto the hardstand in the rain to get more fuel.
Here the problems really started - first I coulnd't get through to Shell on the phone, so I had to get out of the plane, run through the rain across the tarmac to their office and ask in person....

"Sorry, we cant sell avgas today... our truck is broken..."

Yup, the single truck on the field that refuels aircraft with avgas is broken, and cant start its own engine, which means it cannot pump fuel either.......

40 litres of fuel on board wasnt going to be anywhere near enough for a trip to Albury, so we settled for a couple of circuits instead...
At least my landings are pretty good.

What was going to be an early night before a 6.30 shift at work didn't quite work out as planned, with an afternoon stretching to evening to night, culminating in driving down the freeway at 1 in the morning playing Dragostea Din Tei over Aya's car stereo... much to the surprise of anyone passing...

OK- its been a while since Ive posted on here - many apologies, and I promise I wont be writing in German again for a very long time.

Life's just been so busy these days, and with such lovely warm weather its already feeling like Christmas. Since exams finished last Friday I've been busier than I thought I would be, but then so has everyone else, so thats pretty well normal around here.

Ahh... life is good :)

Diese ist es!
Morgen ist meine Schlußprufung auf Deutsch, und meine Überschlußprufung auf meine Universitaetzeit.
Vier Jahre hat passiert - vier spaße Jahre, aber die Studentinleben ist nicht für mir. Am das Enden ist ich eine bisschen traurig - der Uni hat meine Leben für diese Zeit sein, aber darf ich nicht Hausaufgabe antragen!
Morgen habe ich die Prufung - kann ich alles die Wortschatz erinnern? Werde ich bestehen?
Ich werde weitermachen! Diese ist schön! Ich kann sehr gut Deutsch verstehen!

"Jangan mati dulu!"

Two down, three to go.
That's two subjects completely finished this semester, and three single pieces of assessment to go until I'm finished everything! Not that I'm counting, but in five days, I'll be done!
(unless I fail something...)

Another weekend approaches!
Had a win with CASA today. I had my aviation medical certificate renewed last September, and the temporary one is due to expire tomorrow. Two months is supposed to be sufficient time for them to process and post the replacement certificate, but even after two phone calls it still didn't even appear to have been posted.
What else was I to do than front up in their head office today and not leave until they printed it off for me and I had it in my hot little hand? Without this certificate I can't fly, which means while Saturday is OK, I wouldn't be legal on Sunday - not a good situation.
Thankfully, the oompa-loompas were in a reasonable mood today (perhaps being a lovely warm afternoon, and a Friday to boot helped) and I was able to leave happy, and even before my parking meter expired!

Halloween is supposed to be scary, isn't it?
Although its not normally a festival celebrated in Australia, but Elli was keen to do at least something, and even though its right in the middle of final assessments, why not indeed? But we had to at least do something actually scary, instead of the disneyesque carved pumpkins and shakespearean witches, broomsticks and black cats.
So after dinner we hired a couple of movies; naturally they needed to be scary movies, so avoiding Hollywood's comparitively tame efforts we ended up with one Korean and one Japanese dark flick, brought along some refreshments and popcorn, and headed off to...
the faculty building at uni, no less.
As some of you would know, there is a fully decked out traditional Japanese tatami room in that building, complete with sliding paper doors, tatami flooring, and all the trappings of your traditional 'washitsu'. And there's a TV, so we could watch the movies.
Of course, watching those films isn't ever the best way to relax, and the Japanese take on horror movies - shared by the Korean - scares you slowly rather than with loud noises and violin shrieks. Slowly, but scares you rather more effectively. We were in particular scared by hearing the door to the tatami room, a heavy sliding door, slide closed while we were one floor above making popcorn in the microwave. Sure enough the door had closed in the time we were out of the room between movies - though we couldn't find anyone else in the building at the time - about 1.30 am.
We locked ourselves in after that.

Simply being in that room in the middle of the night was eerie enough - enough light filtered through the paper walls from city lights outside that the room was visible, but dark and shadowy. The sensory juxtaposition of seeing this room which is so very very Japanese, smells and feels like any number of places all over Japan, with the knowledge that it is in fact the middle of Canberra, something wasn't quite right about that.
Normally the room feels right - in daylight hours at least, and definitely without having watched those couple of movies beforehand. Yet at the darkest hour of the night, there was something eerie.
Halloween is supposed to be scary, isnt it?

However the night was excellent. I've had sleeping in the tatami room on the list for quite a while now, and finally able to tick that off - cutting it fine, with a matter of weeks left before graduation! Though, no, we didn't get a great amount of actual sleep, of course.

About 2,160 days after finishing my last class of high school, I finished my last class of university - and the two days could not have been more different.
Specialist Maths with Gordon, integrating functions to the bitter end, contrasted with Law with Kent, sitting around eating lunch, everyone telling their favourite Japan anecdotes - worlds apart.

The end of school was surreal - from memory an overcast Thursday afternoon - and it was gearing up to be a rainy day this time around too, but Friday turned on the best day you can imagine, with not a cloud in the sky. It hasn't quite sunk in yet, and likely won't until assessment is done and out of the way, but I'm another stage finished!

Kampai!

Its rather scary a prospect, being done with class at the end of this week. Not just being done for another term, or another semester, but actually being DONE!
My list of remaining assessment items is looking less scary as each day passes, as yet another one or two items get crossed off each day.

Why are so many people around me getting sick all at the same time? Its not a good time of year to spend a couple of days in bed, theres far too much to do each day. Still, I've so far managed to avoid most health problems and am somehow still soldiering on.

Ten hours of class remain this semester.
Ten hours of class remain for my university degree.
Thats a little scary.

It's been a very productive year, so from here on in there's three weeks to get this little pile of assessment out of the way.

For six years I've been thinking about the JET programme, sometimes looking forward to it, other times just assuming that I'd end up on it one day. Application forms are out now, and I'm actually eligible to apply. I went along to the information session the other night where people from various angles tried to sell the programme as the best thing in the world. I'd been having serious doubts over the last few months as to whether or not I'd apply, so this information session was, although the presenters didn't know it, their last chance to convince me that it'd be a good idea.
Watching videos of gaijins prancing around classrooms being the stereotypical monkey wasn't really the most inspiring, and I came away from the session feeling rather anticlimactic. For the last six years I'd been thinking about the JET programme, and now that I'm actually eligible to apply, I'm not going to.
JET would be a return to six years ago when I did indeed work as an ALT in Japan. That was a fantastic experience, but enough's enough. I'd rather leave that as a positive experience than try and hold on to something that's best left in the past.
Plus, the biggest fun I'd have had on JET would have been letting people assume I was a newbie in the country, that I couldn't speak Japanese, and seeing how long I could get away with this charade.

Not really worth spending a year on the ground again for.

きょうはＡＳＳＳの忘年会（？）があって、会長の家でバーベーキューをし、珍しくソーセージがなかった。ま、チキンでも食べ過ぎたから帰って寝るつもりこのうぉんばっと。
これを読んで右側の翻訳ボタンを押す人が多い筈で、特にある合衆国人がある大学の図書室で働いていて、十分時間が作れるのでどうやって読めるようにすればか気づくと思う。読めたらカキコをよろしく！

Its that time of year again - the fluff has begun to fall around campus.
No one's precisely sure what it is, nor where it comes from, but the saying is that when the fluff begins to fall, its time to start studying for final exams. A few days ago I thought I caught a glimpse of the fluff wafting through the air, but I couldn't be sure, until Friday afternoon when small tufts of it were clearly visible on the ground.

The Go-Nichi Challenge softball tournament was today, and unfortunately ANU was unable to retain the shield. We did put in a great effort, but the winners of the day was once again the Embassy team.

Busy though it is, Kabuki week is one of the best weeks of the year.
Yes, there's a lot of late nights, but its well and truly worth it, for the fun we have. Dress rehearsal is over, and opening night is now a matter of hours away! Despite the misgivings I had earlier about the production staff, they've done a superb job bringing it all together at the last minute, and we're going to have quite a show to put on this year. Technical problems are pretty much worked out, most people remember most of their lines, and though the theatre staff don't appear to like us being there, we're not exactly amateurs!

And the dubious award for the first Christmas display seen this year goes to Coles Manuka.
Last Friday evening I was stunned to see the first Christmas packaging of the year - a novelty stocking from Mars, filled with Mars bars, Snickers, MnMs and the like.
While this was surprising enough, I called in again today to be met with an entire wall display of Christmas choccies, tinsel, plastic Santas and the like.

Oh well, I guess its gotta start somewhere.

And here, once again, begins it.
Its that time of year again, Kabuki week. Here begins a week of staying at uni past midnight every night, going over lines, getting costumes right, swordfighting, going over more lines, running through entire acts, forgetting lines, ordering eight pizzas at a time to the faculty building, and going over lines.
Time too to put the rest of the world to one side for a week, every waking moment we will live and breathe Kabuki, for attendance at other classes to drop off, for homework to be done while sitting in the aisles of the theatre, and to sleep an entire night in either the faculty building or the theatre. (The faculty would be more comfortable.)

The performances of "Shinjyuu Ten no Amijima" are next Friday and Saturday night at the ANU Arts Centre. If you're in the area, come along and watch!

"Time's fun when you're having flies"
-Kermit

In any case, its been a full year since my return to Australia, and what a full and busy year it's been! I had it pointed out to me today my student visa to Japan is still valid - I've got another four months to go on that, but I doubt I'll be using it. Study is all very well, but enough is enough, and eight weeks will see me done studying for a while.

Mainly for the fun of it than anything, I've put up an experimental translation engine up. Using Altavista's Babelfish, you can now read the diary of this wombat in eight other languages in addition to the English I usually write in.
The German translation seems quite OK, of course machine translation is never going to be as good as humans, but for the most part the message comes across.
The Japanese on the other hand, should be taken with many grains of salt, as it claimed not once but twice when translating the below post about being locked out that I live in Ohio, in America. Either its got a fantastic memory (though last time I was locked out was in Bloomington, anyway), or it's simply making things up as it goes along.
I do that myself sometimes, granted, but if the Babelfish does it, it makes me wonder just how accurate other translators and interpreters are...
Maybe thats a good career path for me ;-)

Mind you, my German isnt anywhere near up to speed, so I'm more guessing the intricacies of that particular translation. I cant understand any of the other languages it throws up, but if you can, go for it!

They say 'If it only happens once a year, it's a good year'

... or something like that.
I locked myself out of my apartment today. Heading out the door to go into uni, for some reason I didn't stop to make sure I had my keys before closing the door. Once out the door I reached for my car keys, and they weren't in my hand or pocket...
Lunging for the door, I wasn't quick enough, and it clicked shut a moment before I reached it.
Oh well... there's not a lot I could do about it there and then, and anyway I had an appointment with the rest of my team from Japanese Law. Retrieving my spare car key from its secret hideaway (why oh why don't I have a spare door key hidden too?) I was at least able to drive in to uni.

Fast forward to on the way home, I phoned the real estate agent who acts as my landlord. Aha, being Sunday, the office is closed. Not to worry, I waited for the answering machine to kick in and give me the after hours emergency number.... which never came. The phone simply rang out. Must have rung for well over a minute.
At this point I'm having visions of sleeping in the car again, until tomorrow morning when I can get to Woden and find an oompa loompa to let me back into my nest.
I hit upon an idea.
Surely one of my neighbours would be home. After a quick survey of the building from the outside, I decided which side would be easier to climb to (and also that if no one was home, I could probably manage scaling the side of the building to reach my balcony.
Knocking next door, I found someone home - though evidently not expecting visitors she peered timidly through the door like a little mouse. I introduced myself, fully aware that just because I claimed to live next door was no guarantee I actually do. Nevertheless she went and examined the balcony for herself, then consented to let me through to commence my climb.

Once out on the balcony it was simple to clamber around the pillar in complete safety, jump down to my balcony, and simply walk through the unlocked back door. I'd never thought anyone would try to gain entry from the balcony, so hadn't bothered to lock it. This turned out to be rather a good thing, but now that I know how easy it is, I'll be locking both doors from now on!

Oh, yes, and I have my spare key secreted in a secret, safe place where no one but me knows!

Tom, from my Saitama days, was sitting in front of the TV in Los Angeles the other night with a digital camera handy when the following caption flashed up on screen.

As one does on a Sunday afternoon, I was eating lunch when I got a call from Amber, inviting me to church with her this evening.
Not normally being the sort of wombat who goes to church, and Amber's church being somewhat reminiscent of the On Fire Christian Centre, but in a high school gymnasium, I was more than a little surprised at the invite, and wondered for a while what the occasion was.
Despite my initial misgivings, it actually turned out to be a worthwhile outing. They decided to put most of the preaching on hold for the evening and we listened to a performance by the Watako Childrens Choir from Uganda. Funnily enough, it was a christian choir, but they sang half in English and half in Kiswahili, which made things entertaining.
An hour or so of music interspersed with children giving speeches about how wonderful Jesus was for giving them new hope, and sure enough, the hats start getting passed around. Should have guessed.
But in any case it was good music, and if the speeches did sound a little rehearsed, thats probably to be expected. Yes, it was worth going to, but I'm not too sure about coming back next week...

Open Day at all the universities in the ACT today, which meant I was once again roped into volunteered to dress up in costumes from Kabuki and wander the campus, talking to prospective new students about the Asian Studies Faculty, the Japan Centre, and Year in Japan.
I wonder if they realised that asking Tom and myself to espouse the benefits of the above was a little on the ironic side... Tom managed to get out of this committment, and I behaved myself like a good little wombat and focussed on the positives...
There was plenty of free food going around though, barbeques at most faculties, and once I was finished I headed over to the Halls and Colleges to get some more lunch, which ended up being chocolate/raspberry cake and coffee at Ursula. Most people just assumed I was a prospective new student, which was rather amusing, and the four people at college whom I still know were a little amused themselves too. Oh well.

From snowing to spring in a week!
Last Wednesday enough snow fell to be stil hanging around in some places on Thursday morning.
This week, for the first time in months, sitting outside in short sleeves I was still too hot!
Ive been on morning shifts at work this week, from 6am to 9am (eek), and given that sunrise here isnt until about 7am, there's no sunlight to melt the ice off my car before I drive to work. Yet today, while not quite no ice, there was a small enough amount that the wipers took care of it.
Hope this weather stays around - I havent seen a cloud since Monday, and I'm going flying on the weekend, down to Sale.
Went night flying last night, smooth, cool air, moonlight night, very pleasant up in the sky.

Amidst the snow falling over Canberra, and in some places piling up until morning, I have at last been able to post photos from the Asian Studies Ball last Friday.
ASSS Ball, or from the right of the page as normal.
If you havent your own Imagestation account, use japanwombat as both the username and password.

I knew it was cold today, but snow??? Yes, there have been smatterings of snow falling on and off all afternoon. Unfortunately none of it was piling on the ground, but it is still a rare afternoon when we get snow here in Canberra.

Photos from the Ball and Vic's 21st are in development... Imagestation is giving me headaches this week, so I'll let you know when I've either solved the problem or put them somewhere else.

The other faculties at ANU have elaborate parties and balls at this time of year, though the Asian Studies faculty never has. So a group of students decided to do something about it, and the end result was last Friday night, the inaugural Oriental Ball.
Never one to simply let things happen, I somehow found myself at first selling tickets, and as the date got closer and closer found myself helping to write questions for the couple of rounds of Trivia. Tom and I ended up staying in the library until closing time more than once, coming up with such stumping questions as, Which member of the faculty teaching staff is a former KGB agent, and which Asian countries print the logos of Coca Cola cans in their local language (instead of English)...

Then the School of Chemistry building blew up, and the cloud of potentially toxic smoke led to the evacuation of the entire campus, so everyone went home after lunch on Friday.

The Ball was a great success, and naturally I managed to take a photo or two, which will be up on the photo pages in a couple of days.

Perhaps I'm just being cynical, but part of me sees a direct correlation between me getting two payrises at work at the same time, and suddenly being rostered with fewer and fewer shifts.
Firstly I've been there over six months, so at the start of this month I was moved up to the standard wage instead of the training wage where I've been up until now. Also, national industrial relations reform also increased the standard minimum wage in the restaurant industry sector (though I still find it odd that Maccas is classed as a restaurant) meant another pay rise at the same time.
On paper this all looks fantastic - a decent rate an hour plus the uniform allowance, but when I suddenly go from four or five shifts a week to one, or even none, it doesnt particularly help me a lot.
Still, lots of squeezing of the managers and Ive scrounged a few more shifts here and there... though it reminds me a little of being in Japan, squeezing oompa loompas to get anything done!

Driving up to Canberra again from Sale yesterday, I was surprised to see a light snow covering the sides of the highway. Having been 18 months since I'd been in the snow, I stopped and took a photo.

Being back in Canberra is strange.. going in to work to check the roster it seems nothing has changed - walking around the ANU campus, likewise nothing has changed, but its a different world to that in which I've been for the last month.

All my theory subjects are done, a very good use of the uni break.
Melbourne was lots of fun, living there for three weeks, exploring the local area and flying! I wasnt actually right in the city, but down near Monash, which is far enough out of the city to be not quite so crowded, but close enough in to be near everything too.
Ive completed my Commercial theory, but unfortunately the weather precluded me finishing my Night rating at the same time, so that will be something I'll have to finish when I get back to Canberra.

Another semester finished, and wow, does time fly!
It didnt quite sink in on Friday that I had finished for the semester, finishing my German exam and then handing in my final Law essay... it wasnt until I woke up Saturday morning that I really felt like the semester was over.
The disadvantage to finishing so early is of course that no one else has finished quite yet, so there's no one to celebrate with properly, but that's easily fixed.
But, theres no time to sit around relaxing - a break from uni is just that, not a holiday, so into the car I climb and off to Melbourne. Spending Saturday and Sunday night in Sale helped break the trip quite nicely and it was good to spend Sunday in particular at home, with it raining outside and rather cold, spending the afternoon on the couch in front of the open fire...
This week I'm down in Melbourne at Moorabbin airport doing structured ground school classes to finish off the CPL exams I didnt get through over summer. The fellow running these classes has an excellent reputation around the country and indeed abroad, with a fellow from Japan winning the award for most distance travelled to be here.
Its a different environment being in a classroom with nine other people studying the same thing than sitting at a desk by myself with a textbook trying to learn it all, I should have done this course months ago. The things that tripped me up last time through were rather oblique in the textbook, and simply having someone else's perspective on the same thing helps enormously, let along having a real live human to ask questions and clarifications of, rather than simply reading the textbook makes things so much easier.

Melbourne winters being Melbourne winters, its rather rainy down here, though thankfully it stays dry during the daytime. The local weather seems to have a fondness for clouds and rain at night, usually starting not long after dark, which is unfortunate given that I'm trying to get my Night rating while down here, so I can fly around in the dark as well as during the day. The plan at this stage is to start the course Friday afternoon, for hopefully there won't be quite the cloud around by then. Flying into cloud isn't a good idea during visual flight at the best of times, but at night you can't see the clouds ahead of you (they don't have lights on them), so you can fly into them unexpectedly if the weather is poor. So, wait I shall, and fingers crossed Friday I can get back into this, training I actually started this time last year with John May in Bloomington.

Having spent a lot of time talking to Rob in Canberra about helicopters, his enthusiasm is rubbing off on me and I figure that once I finish the last of my CPL exams a nice reward for myself could be a half hour introductory flight in a helicopter. There are plenty of flying schools here at Moorabbin so I popped in to a couple of the heli schools to see what they had to say, find out a little about helicopter training and most importantly to find out what it would cost.
I must admit I was a little surprised at what I found.
All the flying schools I've been to in the past have been extremely helpful when just walking in off the street, happy to talk to you about what they offer and not putting pressure on you, but both these helicopter schools, as soon as I mentioned something vaguely along the lines of an introductory flight they had the booking sheets out, quick as a flash, and were trying to book me in, within minutes of me walking into the building and before they mentioned their own names, their prices, or even anything about a helicopter! The first place I ventured into calmed down a little and answered my questions, but the second place had a very superior attitude, almost to the point of not wanting to spend any time talking to me unless I was committing to give them money. They gave me a brochure and disappeared.
I might put this helicopter idea on hold for a while until I can find a helicopter school that is a little more relaxed, like most other flying schools. Reading through the 'information brochure' I was given, it was quite over the top in its tone, big noting their own instructors and the school - the sort of talk that gives pilots the reputation of being full of their own importance - an image that I and every other pilot I know takes great effort to attempt to dispel.
Helicopters are expensive to fly, and I'm certainly not going to put any money into a company unless I'm completely comfortable with them, and both of these schools gave the distinct impression that they were out to get as much money from students as they could, as soon as they could, and students were not particularly high on their priority list.

I'm not sure how long it will be before I can post this ... there is no internet connection in the little burrow I'm staying in - though one can't expect too much, there isnt even a stove! I'll find some way soon of getting online to post, and of course to check my email which I havent done since Sunday night!

Rain!!

Its been three months since any rain has fallen, but yesterday it rained all day! About time too..

Photos are up.

TIme flies when you're having fun, or, as Kermit would say, time's fun when you're having flies.
The uni year is almost half done, classes finished last Friday and its simply a matter of getting the exams out of the way and the semester is finished! And that's next Friday - almost there!
On this day last year, says my logbook, was the first time I flew in America, from Bloomington Airport, in a lovely new Cessna, with John May. Since that day I've increased my total flying hours by sixty percent, and am well on track to getting my commercial license by the end of the year.
I wonder how things are in Bloomington these days.

And only one hour of class remains for this semester.

Having had not much time to even stop and eat smell the roses over the last month or two, perhaps taking three days off last week to go and fly a charter around the back of New South Wales might not have been the most wise decision in terms of uni work, but it was certainly fun and worth while in real terms!
The local BP petroleum distributor's regional HSE manager needed to visit a large amount of regional depots personally, over a distance which in the car would have taken him over six days, so to do it all in a little under three days was greatly appealing, so we flew.
Thirteen airports in three days, starting at first light every day to enable us to get through every day's stops and on to a final destination by sunset (which, being winter over here, is about 5.30 pm) kept us both busy, but the flying was certainly fun and there were plenty of new experiences. Such as landing the plane from the right-hand seat. Rather like swapping to drive the car from the other seat, it still works just as well but the difference in perspective is a little disconcerting at first. Landing on everything from a farmer's paddock to gravel runways, deserted airports to Canberra International, and flying along at heights from 500 feet to 10,000, the scenery never stops changing!
Possibly the best part of the whole trip was it cost me not a cent- BP paid for everything!!

So back to uni, and the list of assessment I still need to hand in is dwindling, though by no means finished. There's a weekend coming up over which I intend to knock over most things, and then it will be only exams to go! Four and counting, and waiting for 12.30 pm on the 17th of June...

The strangest thing happened yesterday afternoon.
I had been expecting to spend an hour and a half going over Kabuki administrative stuff between class and a meeting, but everything we needed to get done was finished in about half an hour, so I had a full hour of time in which I had nothing planned. As the realisation dawned on me it didnt seem quite real, quite surreal actually.

I cant believe how quickly this term has raced on. I'm so snowed under with everything these days I have barely enough spare time to sleep.
So of course I've gone and become involved in Kabuki again.
The show is going to be a bit later than normal this year but all should be good - that means more time so less pressure!
Work have me doing more and more shifts, which is good not only for the extra money but it means they like me (and are therefore more likely to give me a good reference when AsA and the other people I'm applying to ask them)! Mondays are now becoming rather busy, with opening the shop in the morning, going to uni, then coming back to close at night. Being around cheeseburgers that much does quite kill one's appetite. The downside of course is time spent in front of the grill is time I can't spend doing the piles of uni work I need to be doing.
Doing five subjects instead of the normal four is all very well, but I can see now why people raised their eyebrows when I said I would be doing this all year. Its not so much the actually doing five subjects that is the killer, but when fitting in outside work as well as the more fun aspects of uni (Kabuki) that the difference between four and five subjects pops up.
Linguistics seemed like so much fun in first and second year, but the two classes I'm taking this semester through the School of Language Studies are doing a fantastic job of putting me off. Knowing where I want to go in life makes it quite difficult to summon enthusiasm to learn about ergative, absolutive and ablative case in sentence structure... though I'm not alone in the class in thinking there is absolutely no real-world point to any of this information.
My other linguistics course in the Japan Centre is far more ... well, bearable, being a lot more concrete. (I still need to speak japanese in class which is becoming more and more difficult - hopefully Kabuki will help with that!)
At least my two elective classes, Japanese Law and German are entertaining. Sure, not a whole lot of practical value to learning about the Japanese court system, but its interesting, and has a follow on course next semester which sounds like fun too. I'm rather pleased it's not marked as stringently as a 'real' law course.
Still, only three weeks of class left after this week, and my exam timetable is now finalised - for the first time in my uni career I will finish ALL my exams before my birthday. Up until now its been the other way around - I usually started exams then, so this makes things a little more hectic beforehand but gives me that little bit extra mid year break.
Ive got a few more photos from the trip I did a couple of weeks ago to the Temora Airshow, so will endeavour to post them at some stage soon.
I think thats enough procrastination for now - I need to go and learn what on earth A, S, and O mean in sentences and then figure out how it works in a particular (but unspecified) language from the Torres Strait.
See what I mean about relevance?
Oh well.

That term absolutely flew by! Its now the holidays - two weeks of no uni work where I can get right back into flying stuff.
I'm going to be in Sale for a few days this week so hopefully will be able to take the Airtourer up a couple of times!

New Photos! are up from Saturday night's party...

Photo Album

Erm... yes... well the post below was supposed to be in Japanese, but it seems I am experiencing some technical difficulties.

Easter was great - went home for the weekend, caught up with family and bizzarely, half of my Year 12 class! Only a week of classes to go until the mid semester break - two weeks where I can hopefully relax from university work and get back into flying theory. There is only so much I can take in Semantics lectures - yes, I realise words have meanings AND different words have different meanings too. They feel the need to run a thirteen week course pointing this fact out?
Oh well...

Have a great weekend!

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ãéîNÇÃÉCÅ[ÉXÉ^Å[ÇÕêÂë‰Ç…ǢǃÅAê·Ç™ç~ÇËë±ÇØǃǢÇΩÅBÉZÅ[ÉãÇ…ÇÕÉCÅ[ÉXÉ^Å[ÇÕÇŸÇ∆ÇÒÇ«îNÇÃç≈èâígòFÇæÇ©ÇÁì~ÇÃèIÇÌÇÁǻǢêÂë‰Ç…ãhã¡Ç≥ÇπÇÁÇÍÇΩÅB
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I should really post more on here... things have been crazily busy at uni doing five subjects on top of working and flying...
Its been nice having a long weekend this weekend, and Easter next weekend will be very well timed.

Shall write more soon, if anyone still reads here!

Classes start tomorrow!
Its been a very long time - fifteen months actually - since I have had classes here at ANU, and its high time to get back into them again. O Week this week means everyone is back in town now, and I've caught up with many people again which is great!
The 'Out The Window' photo album is still being updated though I havent put anything into any of the other albums for quite a while.

Happy Australia Day!

Went along last night to the Australia Day concert on the lawn in front of Parliament House. Free concerts are a very good thing, and what a setting for it too! There were about 30,000 people sitting and standing on the grassy area, and a stage had been set up between there and the front of the House.
More spectacularly, as it became dark, a light show was projected on the white front of Parliament House - I put a few of the photos up in the Scenery album. Most photos didnt turn out though, due to my not being able to hold the camera perfectly still. Oh well.

But to the show - and sitting on the grass watching Icehouse, Lano and Woodley, plenty of people I had never heard of, Scared Weird Little Guys, and more people I had never heard of was highly entertaining. The so-called stars of Australian Idol were there too unfortunately and proceeded to perform the worst ever version of 'We Are One' that I had ever heard!

In the midst of 30,000 people I really wasn't expecting to run into anyone I knew, but to my surprise as I was maneuvering for a better view I heard my name called out from behind me, and there are three friends from Ursula, none of whom knew I was even back in Australia yet. (Not entirely my fault - I did get the christmas card I sent returned to sender...) So that was very exciting.

Now I guess its back to studying - and I have my first shift at work tomorrow so I am looking forward to that too!

Yay! Another one down!
This time I wasn't feeling nervous before the exam - so everything was going well, but they hit about half way through.
Deep breaths, a drink of water or two, and I passed! Such a relief, and best of all I'm now OVER half way through all these exams!
Next one is two weeks from today.

In other news, there was another tram collision in Melbourne today. This happens far more often than I would have expected. I thought the point of having them on rails was to keep them apart from each other...

Which direction to muslims who live in Mecca face when they pray?

Another exam coming up tomorrow - so hopefully all the study over the last couple of weeks has paid off. I'll let you know how things go!

Yet another productive few days - and the week's only half over!
Monday I had my orientation session at work, collected my uniform and filled out all the paperwork needed, as well as watching a training video - but I had to do that at home because their video player wasn't working.
Since the roster is put up seven days in advance, I don't actually start working until next week, but that's all good. The first week is just in a training role - so I will be doing things but nothing unsupervised until I catch on and can start doing things normally. It actually works out well that I don't go in this week - that way I can spend as much time as possible on study for the next exam - and this exam is quite a big one. Not that the material is harder than the others, but there is considerably more of it in this one. So, with plenty to learn in the next week its probably a good thing that I dont start work just yet. The exam is Tuesday, Wednesday is Australia Day, and I start working on Thursday.
It's exciting - though it remains to be seen just how exciting the work ends up being. Although, this job isnt supposed to be for stimulation of the mind - thats what study and uni are for.
Today was my training session at uni for the SIGN program - being a point of contact for new first-years who have questions and don't understand the uni system, or where things are, or who to contact in various situations. I get assigned a group of about five first-years and hopefully help them transition into uni life. The session was fun and exciting enough - and they even provided free lunch!

Another exam down, only four to go now!
I started to get rather nervous before going in to this one, which is rare for me. It probably had something to do with knowing I failed the last one, and I didn't want a repeat performance. It was Meteorology, basically talking about winds and clouds, so I shouldnt have been worried, but.. it was such a relief to finish and see 'Pass' come up on the screen.

Looks like quite a mess in America too with the Ohio river flooding. Its far enough away from Sarah (just), but I hope it hasn't adversely affected anyone else, especially in Louisville.

A wombat's-eye view of 2004

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Happy New Year.