![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hnpccI've been fairly quiet so far this year. What have I been doing? Not a huge amount. New Year's was at a BBQ at a friend's place, with added playstation. I proved that it is possible to be coming last at Buzz the entire way through and then win by sucking least during the final fast money round - twice. (It also helps if you can remember which ones were the Sith and which ones were the Jedi at short notice, heh.)
Since then I've been working, and weeding. The gardening got a bit behind when Dean managed to leave the wrong recycling bin out for collection, meaning that we had two full recycling bins for a week. Fortunately we should be able to get our green waste bin emptied this week so we can re-fill it this weekend with all the clippings that are currently lying in the middle of the driveway. Admittedly I did ask Dean to cut the geraniums back, I just wasn't expecting quite the level of slash and burn enthusiasm he mustered up. Apparently he doesn't like geraniums very much. I, on the other hand, am over the dandelions which decided to sprout all over the place after we had some rain. It's a large pile in the middle of the driveway. With a Christmas tree on top, God alone knows what we're supposed to do with it. I should check the council website and find out.
I've also rejoined the gym in an attempt not to lose too much fitness before training starts again. I also coerced Dean into joining, so we've been going three times a week. This would be the third university gym I've been a member of - all I need is RMIT and I think I have the full major Victorian university set. Part of the reason for joining this particular gym is it's the only one in our area with a pool attached, and it's summer and I like pools. Naturally it promptly closed for a week for maintenance, heh.
Dean gave me a bike for Christmas - or will have when I finally manage to choose one and we buy it. In the interim I've borrowed his bike and discovered how to get onto the Plenty River and Yarra trails from our place. The Plenty River trail is beautiful - and surprisingly quiet. The entire time I was riding along it I saw a total of 9 people - 8 walking dogs and 1 cyclist. This was in sharp contrast to the Yarra trail, where I was suddenly being passed by cyclists every couple of minutes and avoiding dogs and small children everywhere. I wish both trails were marked a bit better though, particularly the Yarra trail which kept landing me at forks with no indications of which way was the actual trail and which was a diversion. Fortunately the last diversion turned out to be the one I wanted in order to get home again, but even so, could we have a sign or two? Please? It probably says more about me that I spent a large part of the ride home coming up with trail symbols and easy signage ideas.
I've also been attempting to enroll in this MPH. The online enrollment system has re-opened, which is a good start. I've also been given credit on two subjects, which is helpful. Now I just have to remember which subjects I originally said I wanted to enroll in, and see what else I can squeeze in this year. Which will involve me taking the book home again and doing some reading to see what's do-able. And then checking with the student person upstairs that it is actually do-able.
The last thing I've been doing is watching season 3 of Veronica Mars. Not as good as season 1, but better than season 2 (IMHO anyway.) One of the things that has kept me both entertained and curious is the difference between US and Australian universities, at least at the undergraduate level. I don't think I'd realised that there were so many differences, but I certainly never sat spot tests or did presentations in undergraduate lectures. I don't think I did that many presentations/tests in undergraduate pracs or tutorials either, come to that. You could argue that that's because I did Science rather than Arts (which is partly true) but then again, one character was doing Mech Eng and was still doing spot tests in lectures. Bizarre.
Then you have the whole shared dorm room things, which seriously makes me giggle - it's so obviously designed to attempt to limit sexual encounters and it also so obviously doesn't work. And drinking - there's an entire episode where the B plot revolves around under-age (i.e. under 21) drinking. You know there's a reason why the drinking age is 18 in Australia - trying to police university students who are 17 for the first half of the year is nightmare enough without adding almost the entire student body into the equation.
And then you have the fraternities/sororities, which I honestly can not think of an Australian equivalent to. Footy clubs are sort of close in the boof-head sense (at least for the fraternities), but don't really have the same connotations, nor are they a life-long proposition (well, not for most people anyway). I guess you could argue that the Old School and/or University Alumni networks are close in the exclusive networking sense, but don't usually fit in with the drinking and living together thing. Well, not with the drinking once everyone's finished going to everyone else's 21sts, anyway. It's truly bizarre. You could argue that some of the college initiation ceremonies border on the hazing rituals - but they do seem to be a lot tamer. Even the ones involving goats.
Anyway, it's been making me think as I'm preparing to start off with study again. At least I don't need to move anywhere, drink stupid amounts of beer (all alcohol tolerance I had is pretty much gone) or kidnap a goat. Thank God.
Since then I've been working, and weeding. The gardening got a bit behind when Dean managed to leave the wrong recycling bin out for collection, meaning that we had two full recycling bins for a week. Fortunately we should be able to get our green waste bin emptied this week so we can re-fill it this weekend with all the clippings that are currently lying in the middle of the driveway. Admittedly I did ask Dean to cut the geraniums back, I just wasn't expecting quite the level of slash and burn enthusiasm he mustered up. Apparently he doesn't like geraniums very much. I, on the other hand, am over the dandelions which decided to sprout all over the place after we had some rain. It's a large pile in the middle of the driveway. With a Christmas tree on top, God alone knows what we're supposed to do with it. I should check the council website and find out.
I've also rejoined the gym in an attempt not to lose too much fitness before training starts again. I also coerced Dean into joining, so we've been going three times a week. This would be the third university gym I've been a member of - all I need is RMIT and I think I have the full major Victorian university set. Part of the reason for joining this particular gym is it's the only one in our area with a pool attached, and it's summer and I like pools. Naturally it promptly closed for a week for maintenance, heh.
Dean gave me a bike for Christmas - or will have when I finally manage to choose one and we buy it. In the interim I've borrowed his bike and discovered how to get onto the Plenty River and Yarra trails from our place. The Plenty River trail is beautiful - and surprisingly quiet. The entire time I was riding along it I saw a total of 9 people - 8 walking dogs and 1 cyclist. This was in sharp contrast to the Yarra trail, where I was suddenly being passed by cyclists every couple of minutes and avoiding dogs and small children everywhere. I wish both trails were marked a bit better though, particularly the Yarra trail which kept landing me at forks with no indications of which way was the actual trail and which was a diversion. Fortunately the last diversion turned out to be the one I wanted in order to get home again, but even so, could we have a sign or two? Please? It probably says more about me that I spent a large part of the ride home coming up with trail symbols and easy signage ideas.
I've also been attempting to enroll in this MPH. The online enrollment system has re-opened, which is a good start. I've also been given credit on two subjects, which is helpful. Now I just have to remember which subjects I originally said I wanted to enroll in, and see what else I can squeeze in this year. Which will involve me taking the book home again and doing some reading to see what's do-able. And then checking with the student person upstairs that it is actually do-able.
The last thing I've been doing is watching season 3 of Veronica Mars. Not as good as season 1, but better than season 2 (IMHO anyway.) One of the things that has kept me both entertained and curious is the difference between US and Australian universities, at least at the undergraduate level. I don't think I'd realised that there were so many differences, but I certainly never sat spot tests or did presentations in undergraduate lectures. I don't think I did that many presentations/tests in undergraduate pracs or tutorials either, come to that. You could argue that that's because I did Science rather than Arts (which is partly true) but then again, one character was doing Mech Eng and was still doing spot tests in lectures. Bizarre.
Then you have the whole shared dorm room things, which seriously makes me giggle - it's so obviously designed to attempt to limit sexual encounters and it also so obviously doesn't work. And drinking - there's an entire episode where the B plot revolves around under-age (i.e. under 21) drinking. You know there's a reason why the drinking age is 18 in Australia - trying to police university students who are 17 for the first half of the year is nightmare enough without adding almost the entire student body into the equation.
And then you have the fraternities/sororities, which I honestly can not think of an Australian equivalent to. Footy clubs are sort of close in the boof-head sense (at least for the fraternities), but don't really have the same connotations, nor are they a life-long proposition (well, not for most people anyway). I guess you could argue that the Old School and/or University Alumni networks are close in the exclusive networking sense, but don't usually fit in with the drinking and living together thing. Well, not with the drinking once everyone's finished going to everyone else's 21sts, anyway. It's truly bizarre. You could argue that some of the college initiation ceremonies border on the hazing rituals - but they do seem to be a lot tamer. Even the ones involving goats.
Anyway, it's been making me think as I'm preparing to start off with study again. At least I don't need to move anywhere, drink stupid amounts of beer (all alcohol tolerance I had is pretty much gone) or kidnap a goat. Thank God.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-01-12 07:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-13 09:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-12 08:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-13 09:34 pm (UTC)37oC yesterday, pool's re-opened. I come home, discover the house is 32oC (still cooler than outside!), decide to get motivated and go for a swim/gym session. Find my bathers, foof around getting ready, head over with about 40 minutes of swimming time available.
And discover that they've had to close the entire sports centre due to power blackouts.
I was so disappointed!
no subject
Date: 2009-01-12 12:41 pm (UTC)The year is only twelve days old -- there's plenty of time yet to start doing something substantive!