27 April 2005

Postcard from the wheat belt

That isn't a stylish belt made of dried wheat strung together (but it sounds attractive, doesn't it?!)

Life slows down out here, even when you're having important meetings with people who ultimately have a say on whether you get money.

The land is flat, floodplain land, and the sun doesn't get blocked by hills as it rises and sets. No clouds this time of year, coming off what is normally a wet season, and either end of the day is accompanied by diffuse sunlight and loooooong shadows. Streets are wide, and houses raised to avoid all but the "1 in 100 year" floods. People's livelihoods are at the mercy of the elements.

Talk gravitates to bore irrigation quotas, rainfall, world agricultural markets, and wheat classifications. Memories are long, thinking gaps are inserted between sentences, and fortunately at this meeting, some heartfelt praise is being sent our way for the job we're doing (whew!).

Most refreshingly, talk is straight when you need it to be.

Tonight, I dine with 9 other people who are all male, and mostly farmers, in a ghastly homestead-themed RSL. If we're even lucky, we'll be able to hear the music from next-doors' line dancing class (...G'day G'day... How ya doin?...) as we chew through our vegetarian unfriendly menu. My voice will probably automatically take on a slightly more occer accent to fit in, as this is their world, not mine.

19 April 2005

Highlights of the week ending 17/4/05

Started off the week at the conference of a certain horticultural industry. In my conference bag, I received a slightly sexist stubby holder (remind me to show you when you next come over for a beer). The conference had a partners program, and the conference organizer struggled over which language to use (politically correct vs pre-women’s lib) when advertising it’s itinerary to the group at the opening of the conference – ended up being a mish mash of “we’re glad to have the ladies, I mean “partners” along and we have a really great program for them” (read: the lovely ladies will not want anything to do with this nasty science, tractors and chemical stuff, so we’ve provided a girly, fluffy side-program so that the men can focus on the farming stuff and have a big blokely pow-wow instead of adding to the program material relevant to the part of the business that the females usually provide).

Someone made the point of coming up to me just to tell me they think I am doing a good job (this is after a senior staff meeting were I’d received a grilling of questions). This was a pleasant surprise/relief.

Had my quarterly hair cut, and everyone commented on it.

Cooked a mean minestrone.


This could happen to you/hard luck story

A friend of mine recently received a call in the middle of the day from her land-lord’s solicitor saying they were standing in their lounge room, and was there anything they might like to collect before they changed the locks?

And yes - they had paid rent on time, and had not done anything wrong. How did this happen?

It seems Landlord had gotten behind on their mortgage payments, and property had been claimed by lending institution. According to Land Agent, all they are legally obliged to do is:

1. send out notice of eviction by mail 7 days prior (with no obligation to ensure it actually reached tenant)
2. stick notice on door 7 days prior (again, with no obligation to ensure that it doesn’t fall off or actually reaches the tenant)

Obviously, neither of these notices reached my friend or her partner before the eviction date. Their life has been turned upside down, they have access to their belongings only by prior appointment with unsympathetic Land Agent, and are forced to find a new residence within 2 weeks. All this, and the Land Agent is getting narky with them for being upset (which is only understandable), and a solicitor is making things difficult for them re: giving them access to their stuff which they haven't had a chance to move out, because they didn't get any notice of their eviction. But when it comes down to it, it's their word agains the land agent's.

12 April 2005

Housemate meme

meme n : a cultural unit (an idea or value or pattern of behavior) that is passed from one generation to another by nongenetic means (as by imitation);

I’ve never done a meme on my blog, but this one is at the suggestion of BSharp (see April, 2005). Whether or not it's interesting to anyone is another matter (this is your cue to comment at end of this entry, especially if you read this from time to time and have never commented!!)

My first ever share house started out as a dream of cooperation and happiness, full of likeminded Post Grad students who didn’t want house matters to be a hassle. We pooled grocery shopping resources, and took it in turns to shop and cook. I realized later that no sharehouse would ever be so good. I had a reunion with 1) and 2) in Italy whilst traveling there in ’98, and am still in touch with 1) who is still with girlfriend plus gorgeous baby.

Sharehouse 1.1: Parkside Vunderhaus!!

1) Manfred: der lovesik (sic) Deutschlander!
Manfred was (is) adorable. Big, sturdy frame, gentle manner, and a round expressive face that I suspect made up for his sometimes lacking English. In an accident of visa applications, his long-term girlfriend Doris was not able to join him in Australia, and to make up for this, Manfred worked darn hard, so he could take a long holidays to Germany in the Australian winter, and Doris would stay here for a long visit over the German winter. In between, he cleaned the house, went on regular trips to Adelaide’s surrounding wine regions, worked late on his PhD (grapevines), held wine appreciation evenings, and cooked. Oh – the cooking… pizza, sourdough bread…(mmm) apple cake…(mm mmmm) cinnamonny scroll things called Scheckenudeln (mmmmmmmmmmmm!). He taught me everything I know about yeast cookery!

2) Sandra: the not so lovesick Italiano
Sandra’s long distance relationship with Luca in Italy whilst in Australia for a year was not so happy… many expressive and colourful conversations in Italian were overheard while she talked to him on the phone in the hallway. As well as being a good film and theatre buddy, Sandra taught me everything I know about making risotto, tortellini, minestrone, and the importance of using genuine Parmesan. Most impressive exploit was an after-hours lab-experiment with sparkling alcoholic tomato “wine”!

3) Nick, from The Mount
Nick was a regular, decent bloke from Mt Gambier, who liked footy, and was the only Australian resident I ever lived with in this house. He preferred meat and three veg, especially when cooked by his mum, and once his entire family came to visit from The Mount (Mum, Dad, and 2 brothers), which was an experience…

Sharehouse 1.2: Exit Italiano, enter the Quebecois

4) Karine was a proud, French-speaking Canadian, in Australia for a year of study. Her cooking exploits were less impressive than the other foreign housemates' (e.g. “special Canadian pie” which was basically Shepherd’s Pie but with added carrot), however, her Toblerone fondue was notable! Sadly the victim of a late night drunken pantsdown visit from Tim (see below).

Sharehouse 1.3: Exit Manfred, enter the Scot

5) Keith the Scot was always going to have a hard time living up to Manfred’s champion housemate standards. With Keith came a shift in household dynamic. Keith agreed to everything we said we wanted in the house, then promptly ignored it. Keith raised the level of household slobbishness, and brought into our lives such pleasures as: late night pissing outside my window after the pub had shut (unfortunately, I was in bed trying to sleep on the inside of the window); devouring a BBQ chicken late at night and throwing the bones around the kitchen for us to find in the morning; drunk friends who slept if off on the couch; whisky appreciation (the latter I’m actually grateful for). In the end, Keith revealed himself to be a nasty bully and I ended up having a big argument with him and moving out.

Sharehouse 1.4 Exit Karine, Enter Tim, Keith’s Uni Mate.

[I went overseas on a trip to Europe, and expressly asked that Nick and Keith find another female to move in when Karine went back to Quebec, and that I didn’t want Keith’s mate Tim to move in. Despite this, got back to find Tim had moved in… Keith’s explanation for the dark brown tide marks in the shower was that “we thought you were getting back tomorrow” and that I shouldn’t be so uptight about a bit of mess. However, my main reason for being “uptight” about my new living arrangements had more to do with this episode, a few months earlier…]

6) I woke up early one morning (5am), and got up to investigate a strange hiccupping noise. Karine’s door was wide open and slamming in the breeze… she wasn’t there but Tim (who didn’t live there) was, muttering “Where’s Keith? I can’t find Keith”. Keith was nowhere to be seen. Tim obviously wasn’t sober/straight. I went downstairs and found a very angry and upset Karine huddled on the couch. Tim (6 ft 4) had burst into her room when she was asleep. He’d knocked things over in the dark, and refused to leave her room then, to Karine’s horror, he took off his shoes and dropped his dacks, then flopped on her bean bag. She fled downstairs & feared for her safety all night, while I slept on with earplugs (had put them in earlier in night to block out drunk person noise).
Months later, Tim asked me what had happened that night - he'd had a convenient memory lapse. I refreshed his memory and he seemed appropriately horrified. Only actually lived with Tim for 2 weeks.

Sharehouse 2 – Grly house in Adelaide’s inner west
7) Moved in with a friend of a friend. She was a separatist-feminist, lesbian, vegan, catholic, far-leftist (SFLVCFL). She told me once that she reckoned she’d chosen a difficult life for herself. Had many interesting chats in the kitchen and back yard. Yeah – we were different on many levels, and things got a bit tense at times, but I learned a lot.

Sharehouse 3 – love nest(s)
8) Sooner after meeting than our grandparents would have approved, C-chan and I moved in together. No more house-mate “issues”. Hoorah! Then C-chan moved to Sidonee to get a job…

9) …for a while to be the charmingly attributed the name “Cupboard Boy” (see B-Sharp), while I stayed with my folks…

10) …then we moved into a damp, wobbly, expensive (by Adelaide standards) little town house backing onto a restaurant strip in Newtown (nb – never do this… higher than normal cockroach levels, bottle-collection noise, restaurant noise and smells, break-and-enters, and worst off all – regular visits from the putrid-smelling, gag-inducing grease collection truck). How did we last almost 3 years there? I attribute living there to my body developing a hypersensitivity to common allergens and food chemicals (seems to be subsiding a bit now, thank goodness).

11) Which brings us to our current place. Clean (except for our mess), well ventilated, and sans restaurant noise.

06 April 2005

Revenge of the geeks

When I was a kid it was kind of geeky to take piano lessons and be interested in science. I guess that makes me a geek!

Boosting science enrolments - check out this article, if you sympathise with issues surrounding science. If you want my opinion (and if you don't, click off!), it has a lot to do with high school science teachers like my yr9 teacher - Mr Pavlowsky, who seriously wore socks, sandles and shorts, and whose lips didn't move beyond a circle shape when he talked in his monotone. Rote learing is probably a bit of a fizzer also, instead of fostering curiosity.

Now, onto piano... lately have seen 2 concerts that have rocketed up into my "top 5 concerts".

1) Ben Folds @ the Enmore Theatre (Sat night)
This was a seriously fun concert. Consisted of him + piano, bassist and drummer. Raced straight into a version of "in between days" which was a suprise. Played tracks from his new album which are growers. Had amusing anecdotes about what inspired the songs ("This really happened, I promise..."), jammed at the end of songs, and somehow incorporated a few minutes of "popcorn" into one of them. This guy seems to be able to do anything with 10 fingers and a keyboard.
The most fun was had with songs from his first album and from his former band (Ben Folds Five). In some of the songs (such as "Army"), he taught the crowd 2 or 3 part harmonies to make up for a lacking horn or vocal section. The musical talent in the audience was such that it worked well! He did a version of "Bitches ain't shit" (written by Dr Dre) - the lyrics of which are awful, but came across as just hilariously lame when played with a 3 piece band instead of rapping.
What got me was that he is a REALLY talented piano player, and that I have never had so much fun at a concert. GO SEE HIM WHEN HE TOURS HERE NEXT.

2) Rufus Wainright @ the Basement in Sydney (a few months back)
Played his (slightly dramatic) songs in a one-man show, either on his piana or guitar. This son of 2 prominent 60's folk artists belted his voice out to perfect pitch, improvised, and charmed the audience with his camp, witty humour. Had a little story to tell about many of the pieces he played. (ie no "1.2.3.4 waaa"). You left the concert wanting to become his best friend. Better to see live than to listen to on CD (his pieces are a bit distracting on the home stereo, due to very dramatic phrases that interrupt your thoughts/discussion etc). A mesmerising show in intimate settings (shame we didn't have a seat, though).

01 April 2005

Omigod what day is it again?

I have had my head down & buns up, submersed in the structure, funding, strengths and failures of Uni-dom for the past week.

Review, review, review. [For heavens' sake move on - HECS was introduced in the early nineties, and it's time to make the Faculties act like businesses they've been told to be, leave the managing to Managers (maybe even without a Dr in front of their name!), and let the research geeks get on with what they are good at, instead of forcing them to fill out forms and come up to speed on good HR policy/financial management practice overnight without training....]

On the up side, I have come across some sensible management speak within the ivory towers in the past couple of weeks, which has been very refreshing. For once, people are talking of supporting important areas and talented people instead of routinely cutting back due to no dollars. Whether or not we can make this message stick at the right time to the right people is the challenge...

Can't wait for the weekend :-)

Going to see this guy (modern day piano hero, father of 2) on Saturday night...

Also planning to have my regular Sunday morning dip in Drummoyne pool, read, and get out in the open air (bearing in mind that Sydney air is nowhere near as nice as air in other places... such as the Blue Mountains where we went last weekend). I might even tackle my most procrastinated (is that a word?) task ever - organising the wedding photo album!! I just have to convince myself it's more creative and exciting than it really is!!