Stick a fork in me, I'm DONE!

I am officially two-thirds done with my degree and by this time tomorrow, Dhu and Boo will be sipping cocktails on the beach and getting massages in Thailand. Hell yeah! After six months of intense work, we're going to treat ourselves to a nice long holiday. We have a whopping seven weeks off before our third (and last) semester so we're going to live it up in South East Asia for the first half and the rest of Australia in the second half.

Travel Itinerary:
Dec 8 - 12: Phuket
Dec 13 - 14: Sea kayaking
Dec 15 - 19: Bangkok
Dec 20 - 23: Trekking in Chiang Mai
Dec 24 - 30: Kuala Lumpur (and Melaka)
Dec 31 - Jan 3: Singapore

We'll be meeting up with some of my friends from DC (Henry, Giles, Rob, Caryn) in Thailand and Ian (Big Easy) is going to meet up with us in Phuket. Indhu is going to head off to KL after Bangkok to spend more time with her grandparents while I'll be trekking in Chiang Mai. Then I'm going to meet up with Indhu and a couple of other friends (Lin and Hani) in Malaysia. Hani is an old friend from high school whom I haven't seen in over five years; she lives in KL and just got married this past July. I can't wait to see her! Lin, whiptail alum extraordinaire, has been globetrotting for a couple of months already. She, Indhu, and I will be taking the train to Singapore for New Year's. Hopefully Lin will still want to do Oz in January after Dhu and I fly back to Adelaide.

No firm plans for January yet, but I'm eager to visit Sydney if nothing else. Also on my list: Brisbane, Cairns, either Sunshine Coast or Gold Coast, Fraser Island, Darwin, and Alice Springs. The Great Barrier Reef is a must see before I leave Australia. Time and budgetary constraints (and sanity) will prevent me from doing it all in January, so I think I will just pick a couple of destinations and take my time at each.

If any of you have some vacation time to burn in January, it's not too late to accompany me on my travels! I could use a travel partner or two and Australia is totally kick ass.

It has been one hairy semester. I can't wait to get out of here. 8 hours and counting before we leave for the airport! I don't know if I'll have a chance to post while I'm gone; if not, happy holidays everyone! Send me your address if you want a postcard!

Peace out.

Welcome to the Heinz School

A taste of what group work is like at Heinz (and Coro):

And if you really must know, I'm "Carol."

Worlds Recap

So Worlds was fun, though much of it was in a "please god let me get through this point without dropping dead" sort of way. Running continuously in 90+ degree weather without cloud cover for upwards of seven hours each day for four days was inarguably not an ideal way to ease back into playing Ultimate. Still, the soreness and exhaustion felt good at times - just not while I was conscious.

One of the few photos I took of us playing.

Despite concerted efforts, my team wasn't very good at winning games. I found out after I got there that 7 Express didn't make it to Regionals this past club season. And they're playing at Worlds?! Given that fact, I guess it's not terribly surprising that we went 0-6 while I was there and 2-8 overall. In short, we stunk. I had a difficult time gelling with 18 strangers and three people with whom I hadn't played in over three years. Although I liked getting to know the players, some of them drove me (and each other) insane on the field. While seemingly well-adjusted individuals off the field, a few inexplicably turned psychotic during our games.

I will share just one example. One teammate, when he wasn't playing, would sit in his chair with his arms crossed and bark out such helpful tips as, "C'mon, catch that shit!", "Fucking run harder!", and "Throw better throws!" Yet one time when I made a cut for him after he caught the disc, he looked me off and later made the excuse that he didn't have confidence in his "long" throws (it would barely have been a half field length throw if he actually threw it). However, his inability to throw a disc clearly could not have been the only problem resulting from that failed play so he had to criticize my cutting as well. Amazingly, this guy managed to pick a fight with everyone on our team during every game.

Apart from those less than inspiring moments, it was awesome to play teams from all over the world. We played against teams from the UK, Italy, Germany, Australia, and throughout SE Asia. I also learned a new cheering game and it goes a little something like this:

Players from both teams begin by "mingling" in a small circle for an unspecified period of time. The "referee" would then call out an instruction randomly that can be one of three options:

1. "Tandem!" -- Each player has to find a partner. One has to lie on his/her stomach on the ground while the other has to balance on top of him/her with arms outstretched.

7 Express and the Italian team, Gert Johnny's Band

2. "Pole!" -- Each player has to find two partners. One player has to stretch his/her arms high above his/her head and press his/her palms together to form a human "pole." Then the other two players have to pole dance on either side of the "pole."

[I was too caught up in watching to take a photo of this.]

3. "Princess!" -- Each player has to find a partner. One player must carry the other in his/her arms.

Anyone who is left without a partner in any round is out of the game. Mingling occurs between rounds. And the game ends when only two or three players remain in the circle. Watching this game beats seeing a land shark parade any day. I especially enjoyed the pole dancing bits!

Another highlight from the trip was running into Brynne who, by the way if you haven't heard, is the co-captain of Mischief! I didn't get the opportunity to watch her team play, but I'm glad I saw her.

Like almost all frisbee tournaments, I didn't see much else other than fields and my hotel room while I was there, so I can't say much about what Perth (or Fremantle where we had team dinner) is all about.

I made it back to Adelaide by Friday night - just in time for an early morning group meeting the next day and a twelve-page paper to write. Taking off from school for five days felt like a big risk at the time but the timing turned out to be fantastic because I didn't have any work due that week. After chasing plastic for so many days, I was eager to return to my mundane grad school life.

View of Perth on my flight back to Adelaide.

Overall, I had a good time. More importantly, I now can add Worlds to my list of Ultimate Frisbee accomplishments -- woohoo!

This is how flat most of Australia is.

Bonus Features
Video 1 (the Americans):


Video 2 (the Italians):

Hello, Worlds!

I'm flying out to Perth for Worlds '06 on Monday!

Before I continue, I must first express my gratitude to Russ Bogin for making this trip possible. I had originally decided not to go because it was so incredibly expensive but Russ persisted and offered to "sponsor" me. So I changed my mind at the last minute and bought my plane tickets earlier this week.

I'll be picking up with 7 Express, a mixed team from New York. I'm psyched to be at Worlds, but I'm also dreading playing. 7 Express does not yet realize the dud of a player they're getting. I'm totally going to get spanked on the field! I've been exercising frantically these past two weeks to at least look like I do more than just sit on the couch and eat ding dongs all day, but I'm still no where near the fitness level appropriate for Worlds.

Oh, and speaking of potential humiliation, did I tell you what my jersey number is? #69. Whoever ordered that extra women's jersey on 7 Express sure has a sense of humor. Well, if I'm going to play like a dumbass, I might as well provide some extra comic relief while I'm at it.

After I paid my player fee, I had to call one of the Worlds' organizers to provide my "details." When I did, I got grilled on my date of birth, current address, allergies, injuries, years of playing experience, current medications, country of citizenship, emergency contact, shoe size, and of course, my jersey number. And then I had to e-mail my head shot to be put on my player pass. The whole experience was like walking into a doctor's office expecting a quick check up but getting a full body cavity search instead.

And on that lovely note, I should start packing!

Let the Duck Hunt Begin

Our quack head president is officially a lame duck! Hooray!

The Republican Revolution is dead. The Dems are in control of Congress. Maybe there is some hope for America after all. And I might even want to go home now!

Props to:
- Nancy Pelosi, first woman speaker of the House
- Keith Ellison, first Muslim elected to the House
- Deval Patrick, second African American governor
- Voters that voted Dem in Montana, Virginia, Missouri, and Ohio
- Voters in South Dakota that rejected the ban on all abortions
- Voters in Missouri who voted for stem cell research

Big losers for good reason:
- Katherine Harris
- Rick Santorum
- Donald Rumsfeld
- Voters in the seven states who rejected same-sex marriage
- Voters in California who rejected funds for alternative energy

Anyone else want to add to this list?

Christmas... in November?

November 4, 2006:

Last Saturday was the Adelaide Credit Union's Christmas Pageant. Yes, you read correctly - Christmas Pageant. In the first week of November. I don't know how people can get so excited about the birth of Christ this early in the game - or even at all. But I'm an old Scrooge so don't mind me.

The locals really hyped up this event by claiming that it rivals the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and that most people show up three hours early to save a good spot. Sitting on the sidewalk at 7 am on a Saturday morning and waiting three hours to watch a parade? You couldn't get me to do that even if Jesus himself was going to be break dancing on one of those floats.

Still, I was eager to see what all the fuss was about. I showed up half way through as the floats were parading through the center of town. All I can say is, this pageant is probably the biggest freak show in Adelaide. And I enjoyed every second of it. I even made Indhu stand with me for an extra fifteen minutes despite her complaints of dehydration just so I could take more pictures.

My favorite float - a fire breathing dragon!

A Lesson in Style

Today at the park:

Hey Dhu, show us your awesome frisbee moves!



The "prancing crane" throwing style you see in the video is definitely a Dhu trademark, and I bear no responsibility for it.

So I've realized that this blog is becoming less about Australia than it is about poking (good-natured) fun at my roommate who is less amused with each new post. I guess it's what happens when I only blog what I know, and the fact that my entire social network in Australia consists of one person doesn't really help.

Could you please post a comment to commend Indhu of what a great sport she is? If you don't, I may not live to post another entry. Thanks!

Joystick Challenged

If you are not a YouTube fanatic, you probably haven't come across this, but it is one of the funniest video clips I've seen yet. In terms of entertainment value, it even rivals watching Indhu bowl, which means it's gotta be pretty damn funny.

Ode to Limpy

An Ode to Limpy the Lettuce

by Indhu S. Sekar

You sit on my balcony, with the view of the city
Hoping to grow, to look so pretty
But as your caretaker, I see no good
to water you, as you'll be eaten as food.

So, instead of hoping to grow so high
to stretch your leaves out and touch the sky,
You will remain in the pot, looking pale green and impy,
But no worries, you're still my mate, Limpy!


The end.

[Begin polite applause here]

Indhu's many talents as showcased on this blog. Stay tuned for more!

Kangaroo Island

A few weeks ago, a small group of Heinz folks went on a full-on day-tour of Kangaroo Island, which is Australia's third largest island after Tasmania and Melville Island. Among the rich diversity of wildlife that exist on the island were colonies of sea lions and fur seals lounging on the beach, oblivious to the hordes of human papparazzi passing through. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, I'll leave it to my set of photos to speak about the experience.

Link to my photos:

Kangaroo Island

Quarter of a Century

I'm 25 today.

And guess what I'd rather be doing?

Bowl-o-rama

A couple of weeks ago some of us went bowling. We thought it would be funny to capture on camera each of our own unique style of rolling a ball across a waxed lane.

Andy, red-faced from effort.

One word: bad-ass.

Indhu, who looks like she's in mid-sprint down the lane.

'Impeccable' form: arm flappage post-release.

Did I mention that alcohol was present at this alley?

Part Deux (Finally)

You're looking at the blog of one sick, miserable puppy. I've been battling a nasty flu for the past week and I'm just barely winning (I hope that I am). I've managed to write up the second part of my spring break trip, but it doesn't quite have the same gusto as the first. Maybe the pictures will make up for it.


After teetering on the brink of disaster, Dhu and I made it back to Adelaide without additional drama, although in our haste to get rid of the car, we failed to remember to return it with a full tank of gas. You'd think after the last episode, we'd be more mindful of such things.

Within 16 hours of being back in Adelaide, we set off for another roadtrip - this time to Melbourne with our friend Brad. He picked us up in his mom's pimpin' '92 sea blue Mitsubishi Executive loaded with a bumpin' cassette stereo system and classy velour seats. The only thing missing was a license plate that says "SXY MF" accented by neon pink pimp lights -- cuz we were that stylin'.

Right. So...

Our first stop was a volcanic crater with a lake in the center.

And then a cave.

Then we got hungry, picked up some Asian-licious noodles, and being the vagabonds we were, ate them by the water.

After lunch, we officially turned onto the Great Ocean Road, but for the first couple of hours, we continued to see the same roadsidescape we had all morning, which looked something like this:


By afternoon, I started getting suspicious.

Me: "Uh, so Brad... where's the ocean on this so-called Great Ocean Road?"
Indhu: "Yeah, Brad. What's so great about this road?"
Brad: "Are you two poo-pooing this trip already?" (I don't think Brad actually used the term "poo poo" but I wanted to keep a consistent theme from the last post.)
Indhu: "I think it's a misnomer. It should really be called the So-So Ocean Road."

And as Indhu and I were exchanging verbal high fives over that last comment, we turned a corner and suddenly came upon a breathtaking view that would render any obnoxious American speechless.


I had written this post up to this point before falling ill, so the rest of this is just a summary of the highlights of the trip.

We stayed in Apollo Bay for two nights. During the day we hiked through a nearby rainforest, did a treetop walk, and admired some gorgeous waterfalls.

We made it into Melbourne by Friday afternoon. Later that evening, Brad took us to an Aussie Rules quarterfinals footy match at the MCG. Unsurprisingly, Australians are loud and crazy about their footy. It was like being in Pittsburgh during the Superbowl all over again (but without cars getting overturned and furniture dragged out into the streets and set on fire).

The next day, Saturday, we went to the National Gallery of Victoria to see Picasso: Love & War 1935-1945 and then ate lunch at Queen Victoria Market. And for our last night in Melbourne, we ventured out to St. Kilda's beach on the tram for dinner. We left early next morning and made it back to Adelaide by late afternoon, less than twelve hours before our first class of the new semester.

In conclusion: Melbourne is a kick ass city, full of life and energy.


Bonus Features--

1. A Few Memorable Quotes:

Indhu: "Aww, look at the cute baby cows!"
Brad: "Indhu, those are alpacas."

Brad: "You two look like paraplegic teletubbies on speed."

Indhu: "I would jump out of a cake."
Me: "Really?"
Indhu: "Yeah, why not?"
Me: "I don't know. The mental image I have of you doing that is a little traumatic."
Indhu: "What? Why?"
Me: "You know... you popping out of a cake wearing nothing but pasties."
Indhu: "That wasn't what I had in mind when I said I would jump out of a cake."
Brad: "What are pasties?"
(Let's just say that I hope I never have to explain what pasties are ever again.)

2. A short story about nothing:

While having dinner one night in Apollo Bay, Brad says, "So-and-so is really nice but I wish she could just stop talking so much... blah..blah... like a rooba or something."

I sat there thinking, What the hell is a rooba? Perplexed, I shot a glance at Indhu for help but she was looking at Brad like he had an extra head growing out of his left nostril. I leaned across the table and asked, "Rhubarb?"

He stared at me blankly, leaned closer toward me, and said, "Rooba, you know, like a booba?"

A boo-ba? Was he being dirty?

"Boo-ba," I repeated slowly.

"A bool?" suggested Brad.

I shook my head.

But Brad was persistent. "You know, bools... the animal. And a ba... the thing on the front of cahs."

And then it clicked.

"A bar?"

"Yes, a barrr." (Brad's American accent has a southern twang to it)

"A bull-bar? And a... 'roo-bar?"

"Yes, that's it."

"Oh. We don't have those in the States."

So what was Brad's point about the bull bar and 'roo bar? I still have no idea.

3. Link to my web album (click on photo):

A Dingo Ate My Baby! (Part I)

...and other spring break adventures with Boo, Dhu, and Lefty the donkey!
During our one week off from school, Indhu and I embarked on an action-packed roadtrip to Flinders Ranges and Coober Pedy for hiking and camping and then to Melbourne via the Great Ocean Road with our Aussie friend Brad. Seeing more of Australia was only half of the excitement. Driving, as it turned out, was the other half.

Indhu bravely took the first shift of driving our rental car out of the city as I didn't want to be one responsible for getting us killed before we had the opportunity to see anything cool. As we got into our compact Toyota Yaris in the Budget parking lot in the middle of a busy part of town, I said to Indhu, "Just act like you know what you're doing and no one at Budget will think it was a mistake to rent to us." She nodded, turned the car on, hit her right hand on the window when she instinctively went to change gears, and then turned on the windshield wipers instead of the turn signal as she pulled out into the busy intersection.

Shit, we both thought silently, we are going to die on this trip.

Once we got out of the city, however, we pretty much had the highway to ourselves. Still, it took me all of the four days on the road to learn to not turn on the wipers when signaling a turn. Nothing makes a driver look more like an asshole -- or an idiot -- than passing without a turn signal, with the wipers scraping furiously back and forth across a dry windshield when it's a perfectly clear day out.

We drove five hours and spent the night at a campsite in Wilpena Pound in the Flinders Ranges National Park. We arrived at dusk, pitched our tent, and having nothing else to do for the rest of the evening, proceeded to gorge ourselves on the two cooler bags of food we brought. We removed every item from the bags -- ciabatta bread, brie, apple slices, strawberries, chocolate, and nuts -- placed them onto the wooden table and then feasted - for hours.

The next morning, we packed up our sleeping bags and tent and re-created the gourmet buffet from the previous night for breakfast, before setting out on a short hike into Wilpena Pound. To be honest, the scenery from within the Pound wasn't as amazing as I had hoped it would be, but I really needed the exercise. I hadn't had to exert this much physical effort since I carried my luggage up three flights of stairs into our apartment three months earlier.

The brochure we picked up from the visitor's center claimed a 3-hour return trip time but Indhu and I completed the entire hike in about half the time, which led me to believe that the estimation was based on the walking speed of a family of one-legged cripples. We had enough time for another hike but I was already sore and lacking motivation, so we got back into the car and set off for Quorn (pronounced "corn") where we had booked a reservation at a hostel.

We made it into town right before dusk, but despite Quorn being the largest and most populated town within a 200km radius of Flinders Ranges, there was nothing to do there except sit and pick at one's toes. None of the stores were open and we barely managed to buy some food from the grocery store before it closed. Luckily, Indhu and I weren't the only ones staying at the hostel. We befriended three girls from Adelaide who had skipped out on a couple of days of school to roadtrip up to Flinders for the weekend. The hostel owner made a bonfire out in the backyard for us and the five of us spent the evening sitting around the fire and chatting while one of the girls strummed her guitar.

The gals

The next day, Indhu and I drove nearly six hours from Quorn up north to Coober Pedy (an aboriginal name for "white man in a hole" -- how awesome is that), a small, bizarre, dodgy opal mining town in the middle of nowhere. We got there exhausted, and when we saw the town, all I could say was, "That's it? This is what we drove all this way for?" There was nothing around except for huge mounds of dug up dirt everywhere and wandering packs of dogs. You can easily drive through the entire town in less than a minute. The cool thing about Coober Pedy though is that because it gets so hot during the summer months, a lot of buildings are underground including houses, restaurants, churches, and shops. We spent about an hour and a half checking out different underground sights before we exhausted most of the free stuff.

Underground church

For Indhu, the novelty of underground buildings wore out pretty quickly. I think it might have dissipated even before we arrived. So we checked Coober Pedy off our to-do list, got back into the car, and drove back down south and made it to the town of Glendambo before it got dark. Apparently, "town" was just another word for "gas station." Adjacent to the BP, the rest of this town consisted of a caravan park and pub. Oh, and a windmill and public telephone.

Indhu and I paid $15 to stay at the caravan park only to end up sleeping in the car because the ground was too hard for the tent stakes and I was convinced that sleeping in the car would be more comfortable. (I was wrong.)

Again, we didn't have much with which to entertain ourselves after it got dark, so we turned the car into a photo studio and what came of it should not be made public.

The next morning we set out for our drive back to Adelaide. And here is where the real fun began.

Indhu: "Should we get gas before we leave?"
Me: "How much gas is in the tank?"
Indhu: "Right below the half way mark."
Me: "We can make it to the next gas station before we need to fill again."
Indhu: "Okay."

Indhu drove for about an hour when we came across the first gas station. We didn't stop and a short while later, Indhu suddenly says, "Shit. We have a quarter tank of gas left." I pulled out a map and checked where we were. My heart skipped a beat. There were no gas stations for another 170km until Port Augusta. When I broke the news to Indhu, she looked like she was going to throw up all over the dashboard.

Indhu: Fuck.
Me: Should we turn around and go back to Pimba?
Indhu: I don't know.

We kept driving. After a few minutes, I asked Indhu if she was okay. She removed her hand from her mouth and after a brief moment of silence croaked, "Oh god, I need to poop."

Me:(While suppressing a fit of laughter) There's no time for pooping right now.
Indhu: I get like this every time I'm nervous.
Me: Pull yourself together!
Indhu: Oh gawwwd.

(Indhu, if you ever read this, I'm sorry. It was too funny to not share.)

I rechecked the map and then we started to try to convert liters into gallons and kilometers into miles because neither of us could think in a different metric system and gauge whether we could make it to Port Augusta before the tank went empty.

Me: We have a 41-lite tank. So we have to go 170km on about 10 liters of gas.
Indhu: I know that there are 32 ounces in a liter!
Me: Hmm.... Okay. So how is that going to help us exactly?
Indhu: I don't know.
Me: Right.

We had already passed the point of no return, so we slowed down to a crawl to conserve gas and sat in nervous silence. I was still peppy enough to take some photos from the car. There wasn't much else we could do so I might as well have used the opportunity to get some good pictures of the Outback. Afterall, what was the worse that could happen right? (Er, Wolf Creek, anyone? I heard about this "true story" after we got back to Adelaide.)

After an hour, the empty light came on. Road signs indicated that we were still over half an hour away from our destination. My palms started to sweat and Indhu basically looked like she had stopped breathing. When we finally rolled into the first gas station in Port Augusta, we cheered. I got out to fill the tank and when the handle of the nozzle clicked off, the meter clocked in at 40.56 liters. With less than half a liter of gas left in the tank, we had just barely made it. Pretty exciting, no?

Fill 'er up!

Trip summary:
Kilometers traveled: 1085
Hours drove: 20+
Live lizards encountered on the road: 7
Lizards that did not survive the encounter: 3
Other roadkill seen: 12+
Nights spent not sleeping in a bed: 2
Hikes: 1
Candy bars eaten: too many

She Lives!

In case you were wondering, I am indeed alive. Due to a stressful week of finals and a trip out of town for my semester break, I have neglected to post any entries on this blog. I'm sure you have noticed. And yet you keep coming back. I appreciate your devotion to Boo's adventures in Oz.

I suspect that by now you are bored of watching OK Go music videos and revisiting old posts about ho fun and mouth magic -- although I can't imagine how anyone could have enough of that. That stuff can keep me entertained for days on end.

But I can only expect so much before you begin to contemplate the thought of removing my blog as a bookmark in your web browser. So how about I try to entice you with promises of titillating posts in the very near future. And plenty of captivating eye candy too. Sounds good, doesn't it. Oh it will be.

Stay tuned...

I Heart OK Go!

I love this song and the dance moves are hysterical!

"A Million Ways" by OK Go



Because one just isn't enough:

"Here It Goes Again" by OK Go

Wet or dry, it's all good fun

I don't know about you, but I like 'em both wet and dry, but wet is probably a little more fun.

(Another gem from the Chinatown Food Plaza)

Li's Mouth Magic

Every so often, I'm overcome by a rousing hunger that burns so deep within my belly that I'm left with no choice but to turn to Li whose mouth magic can satiate appetites of epic proportions.

(Li's Mouth Magic can be found in the Chinatown Food Plaza)

Well, judging by the above composition, it doesn't appear that I have a promising future in penning any titillating Harlequin novels. I'm not too disheartened by this relevation though; how interesting could it possibly be to write a book in which the most frequent word after "the" is "engorged" anyway?

Wine tasting at McLaren Vale

Penny's Hill Winery, August 6, 2006:
Wine tasting (i.e. chugging as much wine as humanly possible), entertaining company (i.e. loud, uninhibited drunks), and a gourmet meal (i.e. something other than ramen, crackers, and the standard poor grad student fare) -- courtesy of the Heinz Social Committee.

This activity should occur every Sunday.

Are you a Picasso or a Cézanne?

I just read an interesting article in the July issue of Wired magazine about an economist named David Galenson who has proposed an unified theory of creativity that groups creativity into two distinct forms -- "quick and dramatic" or "slow and quiet" -- which are expressed by two types of people.

The first character type - the "conceptual innovator" - is someone who does breakthrough work early in life. Conceptual innovators make "bold, dramatic leaps in their disciplines" and know exactly what they want and know when they've achieved it. Examples of such innovators include Edvard Munch, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Pablo Picasso, Wolfgang Mozart, and Orson Welles.

The second character type - the "experimental innovator" - is someone who labors and plods along through a lifetime of trial and error, and thus, peaks later in life. Experimentalists never know when their work is finished. Examples of this type of innovator include Mark Twain, Paul Cézanne, Alfred Hitchcock, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Ludwig van Beethoven.

Seurat was 25 when he painted Sunday on La Grande Jatte. Picasso painted Les Demoiselles d'Avignon at the tender age of 26. Makes you wonder what you've accomplished lately, doesn't it?

Call me ambitious, but if I can just learn to look to my right before I cross the street here in Australia and not get myself killed, that would be a pretty big accomplishment for me these days. For me, great achievement comes in baby steps.

So, What Kind of Genius Are You?

Side note: A great majority of creative geniuses described in the article are white males. Sylvia Plath and Maya Lin were the only women and person of color mentioned. What's up with that? Wired needs to get a clue that geeky white men are the not only people who read their magazine. For reals.

Whale watching at Victor Harbor

Last Sunday, a group of us went whale watching at Victor Harbor. It was the first time we left the confines of the Heinz school in weeks, and we couldn't have picked a more gorgeous day to go.

I picked out some photos and uploaded them on Flickr for your viewing pleasure.

My current desktop wallpaper:

Happy Birthday, Ella!

<-- This is my adorable munchkin of a niece. She turns four years old today. She has been watching Animal Kingdom's Australia DVD and knows more about kangaroos, koalas and other Aussie wildlife than the rest of us put together. And she's so excited about coming to visit. I can't wait!

What's a Coro Fellow?

The question I most dreaded while I was in the Coro program was--

So what do you do?
Me: (internal sigh) I'm doing a fellowship in public affairs.

Oh, at what school?
Me: I'm not in school.

So this is an internship?
Me: No, it's professional work experience. Coro is an experiential learning and leadership training program.

Do you get paid?
Me: Um... no.

Oh. And where are you again? Philly?
Me: No, I'm in Pittsburgh.

Oh. (awkward silence) So why Pittsburgh of all places?
Me: (What is this, Larry King Live?) Uh...cuz that's where the fellowship is?

Ha! Right! ... So how do you like Philly?
Me: Pittsburgh, Larry. I'm in Pittsburgh. And I like it fine. Thanks for asking.

[end]

So what did I actually *do* for nine months? A lot of things for one, but much of which I either don't want to explain or would rather forget. It was a very good learning experience, I wouldn't be in Australia if it weren't for Coro, yadda, yadda, yadda, but the truth of it is that it's exhausting to describe the program. Some people would just leave it alone at that, but for those who are dying to know more, I'll try to paint a picture of what it was like being a Coro Fellow.

First - if you ever see a large herd of 15 twenty-somethings dressed in business suits running after buses or roaming downtown with backpacks, computer cases, and notepads in hand, those are Coro Fellows. If you ever see a 1950s newsboy selling "Community Threads" magazines on a street corner, that's also a Coro Fellow. And if you see one Fellow, the other 14 are not far behind.

That person dropping off a yard sign by your front door a week before local elections? Coro Fellow. That young person shaking Mayor Bob O'Connor's hand and posing with Governor Ed Rendell for a photo op? Coro Fellow. The person on the phone asking for an interview with your executive director? Coro Fellow. That person wearing an "I heart Pgh" t-shirt whom you pay the cover charge to enter a club? Coro Fellow. Those people you swore you didn't invite to your fundraising party and are drinking your wine and eating your cheese? Take a guess. Coro Fellows. We were fuckin' everywhere.

We interviewed community leaders. Schmoozed with politicans. Worked on group and individual consulting projects. Planned events. Fundraised money for a trip to DC. We spent many consecutive hours in a windowless "board room" where we dissected, debated, disengaged, collaborated, and struggled to find meaning in what we did and learn from each other. We were given management tools and Coro-isms -- OARRs, DKDK, LDWpF, 4WH, WIGO, DiSC, Ryan's BITS. That wasn't enough for us so we created our own -- MVOU, PINO, ITO, WTFIGO.

And that was just group activities on Tuesday nights, Fridays, and weekends. I also had short-term individual placements during the week where I:

• Fit-tested some fire equipment at the City Emergency and Homeland Security Agency;
• Delivered yard signs and doorknocked for a judicial campaign;
• Created a marketing plan for Attack Theatre, a dance company;
• Developed a framework for a community dialogue event for the Sprout Fund;
• Conducted benchmarking research on sustainable tourism initiatives at the PA Environmental Council;
• Researched local, state, and federal biodiesel and renewable energy legislation for Steel City Biofuels.
  

And that was how I spent nine months of my life before grad school. (It's really not as glamorous as I may have somehow mistakenly made it seem.) Now can you see why I don't talk about Coro? No? I guess you just had to be there.

It's funny that when people here in Australia ask me what I did before coming to Heinz, I say I did a fellowship in public affairs in Pittsburgh, to which they just nod and move on. No one knows what a "fellowship in public affairs" actually means and no one cares. It's kind of nice.

Skype On The Go

Just a few days ago, Indhu and I were lauding the wonderful technology of Skype and we agreed that if we didn't have to be physically attached to our laptops to make calls, we'd be in VoIP chat heaven.

Well, lo and behold, I came across this while reading Wired magazine -- A Wi-Fi Netgear mobile phone that allows you to place Skype calls from any wireless network. The coverage areas are limited but the rates are much cheaper so you can save some $$$ on calls (that is, if you don't count the cost of the phone, which is currently selling at $250 retail).

My Acting Debut

Last Saturday, Indhu and I starred in a short film project in which we acted out a scene from American Beauty to help some CMU entertainment technology students with their assignment.

I was cast in the role of "Jane" who is an insecure, angsty, goth teen who is intrigued by "Ricky", her new next door neighbor. In the scene, I'm standing with "Angela" (played by Indhu) at school, smoking a cigarette, and looking moody when I'm approached by the creepy-sexy, enigmatic Ricky. I didn't get a chance to watch the scene before filming (it had been years since I saw the movie), so I had only my own unremarkable high school memories from which to draw inspiration for my character.

When I was told that Jane should appear uncomfortable and awkward, I thought, Wow, I don't even need to act! But dressing for the part was a whole other story. Since I happened to have left my entire goth wardrobe back in the States, I had to make do with what I had here in Australia. The end product was an outfit consisting of jeans, a purple Hillary Clinton t-shirt, and a brown track jacket. Yeah. Needless to say, I was more than a little misguided at understanding goth fashion.

I haven't received the film clip, so unfortunately, I can't share my Oscar worthy performance with you all, but I included the script for the scene we did. I had such a great time that now I'm thinking acting can be a fallback option just in case my career in public policy doesn't work out. (No, not really.)

Script from Asian, er, American Beauty:

ANGELA and JANE talk at school.

ANGELA: Cunt!
[to Jane] I am so sick of people taking their insecurities out on me.

JANE: Oh my god. That's the pervert who filmed me last night.

ANGELA: Him? Jane, no way! He's a total lunatic.

JANE: You know him?

ANGELA: Yeah. We were on the same lunch shift when I was in the ninth grade and he would always say the most random weird things. And then one day, he was just like gone. And then, Connie Corduello told me that his parents had to put him in a mental institution.

JANE: Why? What did he do?

ANGELA: What do you mean?

JANE: Well, they can't put you away just for saying weird things.

ANGELA: You total slut. You've got a crush on him!

JANE: What? Please.

ANGELA: You are defending him! You love him! You wanna have like 10,000 of his babies!

JANE: Shut up.

RICKY walks up to them.

RICKY: Hi. My name is Ricky. I just moved next door to you.

JANE: I know. I kinda remember this really creepy incident where you were filming me last night.

RICKY: I didn't mean to scare you. I just think you're interesting.

JANE: Thanks. But I really don't need to have some psycho obsessing about me right now.

RICKY: I'm not obsessing. I'm just curious.

JANE stares at RICKY who maintains eye contact until she uncomfortably looks away. RICKY leaves.

ANGELA: What a freak! And why does he dress like a Bible salesman?

JANE: He's like so confident. It can't be real.

ANGELA: I don't believe him. I mean, he didn't even like look at me once!

The Heart of Adelaide

I've been completely swept away into the sea of exams, papers, and homework assignments these last two weeks. But that doesn't mean I've forgotten about posting! In order to breathe some life back into this sad blog, I've included some more eye candy of Adelaide.

Victoria Square -- the center of the city:

More to come soon...

Emus and Wombats and 'Roos, Oh My!

After nearly a month of living here, I finally saw some Aussie wildlife. Not only did I see these animals with my very own eyes, I got to feed several kangaroos and pet a koala (a lovely one named Nola). Yesterday, a few of us took the day off from school work to explore Mount Lofty and Cleland Wildlife Park, about thirty minutes outside of the city. We didn't take much time at Mt Lofty; we spent ten minutes in the morning admiring the view and snapped a few photos before hopping back on the bus.

The rest of the day was spent at Cleland Wildlife Park roaming the park grounds and befriending the fauna. We encountered several emus, pelicans, koalas, wombats; numerous kangaroos, wallabies, birds, reptiles, bilbies and bettongs (rodents on steroids); and one Tasmanian devil and one dingo. Most of the aforementioned animals were allowed to roam free in their designated areas.

For $2 AUD you can buy a package of animal feed (small pellets that look like hamster food) to feed the kangaroos and wallabies. We tried to share our pellets with the emus as well but they didn't appreciate the gesture so much.

I was shocked by how tame the kangaroos were. Upon entering the park, a couple of them hopped over to us with expectant faces and even nuzzled at our hands. I had learned that kangaroos are capable of kicking the living shit out of you if threatened, so you could imagine the panic I felt when I saw that there were no barriers between the marsupials and us. My initial expectation of "feeding" was to throw the pellets over a fence and watch the pellet consumption from afar. I clearly had the wrong idea. Much to my surprise, the roos in the park were curious and friendly, and had no qualms about eating directly from your hand (see below).

(Above is my first encounter with a real live kangaroo. Notice my look of delight.)

(A hungry 'roo.)

(A 'roo close-up.)

For $12 AUD you can have your picture taken cuddling a fuzzy koala. You have to pay that amount to hold the koala even if you don't want your picture taken with one. I opted for the second best alternative, which was to stroke a koala's derriere (apparently, koalas don't like it if you touch them anywhere else on their body) and capture that precious moment with a self-supplied camera for free.

(That's Nola. You see my hand on her rump? That's the way she likes it.)

Koalas usually live up to 15 years and eat about 10 percent of their body weight in eculyptus leaves (between 1,000 and 1,500 leaves) a day.

I have a ton of photos from the park (videos too!). E-mail me if you'd like to see more.

Tasty Gnocchi Recipe

Last weekend, Indhu and I invited the other full-time students over to our place for a potluck. We spent the entire day cooking and cleaning and barely got everything ready before the guests arrived in the late afternoon. We made Vietnamese spring rolls and potato gnocchi from scratch. Both turned out really well.

Below is the gnocchi recipe we used from The Adelaide Review, May 19-June 1, 2006 issue.

Recipe for potato gnocchi with pumpkin, sage, pine nuts, and caramelized onions:

The gnocchi:

• 750g Bintje or Desiree (i.e. red) potatoes
• 150g plain flour, sifted
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• Salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 50g Parmesan, fresh and grated (plus additional to serve)
• Pinch of nutmeg (optional)

To serve:

• 500g butternut pumpkin diced and roasted
• 100g pine nuts, toasted
• Half a small bunch of sage leaves
• 2 brown onions, sliced
• A little parmesan
• Extra virgin olive oil

Method

1. To make the gnocchi, roast the potatoes in the oven set at 190C (375 Fahrenheit) for 50-60 minutes. [Alternative method -- microwave the potatoes to save time and energy]
2. Remove from oven, slice in half and scoop out the potato flesh and mash/grate them while they are still warm.
3. Add the flour, egg, parmesan, and seasoning, working together to form a smooth dough. Be careful not to overwork it or the gnocchi will be tough.
4. Place the dough onto a floured work bench and roll it into long ropes about 2.5 cm in diameter. Best to work with small chunks of dough.
5. Cut the gnocchi into pieces 2.5cm in length.
6. Cook the gnocchi in boiling lightly salted water until they float (approx. 5 minutes). The gnocchi should be cooked in the center and not gluey.
7. Cook them in batches, remove, and place in ice water to cool.
8. Drain thoroughly and toss lightly with some olive oil to prevent sticking.
9. Dice the pumpkin into 2-3cm square pieces, toss with olive oil and roast in 190C oven for 45-50 minutes. Make sure the pumpkin doesn't get too dark. Cover the pumpkin with aluminum foil if it starts to color.
10. Slice the onions and saute with olive oil until nicely caramelized.
11. Add the pumpkin, fresh sage, and black pepper. Then add the gnocchi.
12. Top off the whole thing with toasted pine nuts and grated parmesan.

Dish serves 4.

Bring out the beach chairs!

My current desktop wallpaper. Taken at Glenelg, about a 30-min tram ride from downtown Adelaide, the third day after my arrival:

I'm Upside Down!

The past year of my life has been a continuous flurry of activity. May, in particular, was a complete whirlwind. The minute I was handed my diploma for completing Coro FPPA on May 12, I ran out the door and high-tailed it to the airport to catch my flight to Boston for MillyFest. I played some Ultimate, caught up with some friends, admired the new Wang campus center, and then flew back to Pittsburgh to finish packing up for my move across oceans and continents.

Within two days I was back on the airplane, and after 22 hours of bad airplane food and sleeping sitting upright, I landed here. I was in Australia. A place where people drive on the left side of the road, the moon is upside down, and the water swishes counter-clockwise down the drain. I saw constellations in the sky that I had never seen before such as the Southern Cross. And the days are short now because it's winter - in May!

In the first few days, especially with the jet lag, I felt like I was living in the twilight zone, and that I was six years old again. Indhu and I would struggle to stay up past 8pm and we'd be awake at 5am. During those early morning hours, I'd lie in bed and wonder how the heck I got here. If a year ago today you had told me that I was going to move to Pittsburgh, I would have laughed in your face. And if six months ago you told me that I was going to move to Australia, I would have called you crazy. So now, anyone can tell me anything and I wouldn't know what to think except maybe, "Sure, why not?"

Anything can happen.

Why the Blog, Boo?

I thought I'd be the last person to start a blog. When blogs exploded on the internet, I didn't really see what the fuss was all about. I didn't want to put my opinions on public display (who knows who will read them?), and besides, I was pretty sure I wouldn't write anything interesting anyway. And reading other people's blogs? I scoffed at the idea. "I have better things to do with my time than to read about other people's lives!" I declared (to no one in particular).

Then a few friends started journaling online. And then I got cut off from FirstClass. Maybe I didn't realize how much I missed the FC resume, the precursor to the blog and admittedly, a fun procrastination activity, so I turned to blogs as a substitute. And some months ago, Lesley told me that the only way I could read the "private" entries in her online blog was by signing up for my own account. Intrigued, I created an account but didn't post any entries on my own page. I was in the middle of doing my fellowship at the time and I figured that even if I did post anything about my Coro experience, no one except the other Fellows would understand what I was talking about anyway.

Being in Coro was like living in a blackhole, and I easily fell out of touch. Every once in a while, however, I'd resurface from the depths of Pittsburgh and make a surprise appearance in people's e-mail boxes with a long, impersonal mass e-mail update on my whereabouts and doings. But you can only do that for so long before you start to feel guilty, and that's when I decided to blog. And really, it's just more convenient for me to post a tidbit every so often than to compose some lengthy, rambling letters with a beginning, middle, and end. And what better time to start than when I'm half way across the world?

I see a problem with this method of keeping people "in touch," however. Friends and family can know what I'm up to (assuming I post entries regularly), but how do I keep current with everyone else's lives if some don't blog? Additionally, blogging reduces actual communication between others and me, so I've decided that my blog won't include everything, especially the really juicy stuff. :) That means people would still need to get in touch for the whole "scoop" of my oh-so-exciting life. And for those who don't want to bother with my blog, I'll also continue to send e-mail updates every once in a while.

So I'm finally caught up with the 21st century (for now). I still think that no matter how much technology evolves, nothing can beat the feeling of being loved more than getting old fashioned snail mail and phone calls. However, given the fast pace of life these days, that might just be wishful thinking. So on that note, welcome to my blog!