OUT ON THE LINKS

rynsa — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 00:11:42 +0000

Towards the beginning of the year I was all optimism and energy. Sometimes that translated into various social experiences with my academic colleagues, including one particularly soggy adventure out onto one of Melbourne’s many public golf courses. It rained off and on all day, but we were in good spirits and we enjoyed the exercise. I came in last, naturally.

I can’t watch this video without a slight tinge of sadness. Unfortunately, I haven’t spoken to any of these individuals for a long, long time. There are reasons for that, of course, but it’s probably not worth repeating. I just hope our collective game has improved.

BICYCLE LOVE

rynsa — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 09:23:30 +0000

Very, very rarely we find ourselves too far from home… so we hop a train. I’ve come to cherish the time I spend sitting next to Yan on long-distance travels.

FIRST LIVE MUSIC

rynsa — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 02:52:38 +0000

Not too long ago Paul’s band was invited to perform at a friend’s birthday party, and in turn Yan and I were invited to come along. It was our first outing with live music in Australia, and I have to say that it’s not all that different from the dank clubs/bars I used to visit back when I cared about that sort of thing much more than I do now. It’s not that I dislike live music, I’ve just grown tired with the environment. The smoke may have been pushed outside by over-zealous and litigious health nuts in the Western world, but the din of inane conversations yelled back and forth between party-goers is still readily available. For me, perhaps, it’s a more annoying form of pollution.

We did have a good time, actually. The beer was too expensive so Yan sipped on mine, and we just sort of mulled about taking in the spectacle of young/middle-aged Melbournians catching up, flirting, planning future get-togethers, letting slip drunken secrets, and generally enjoying the small community to which they belong. I envied their familiarity. Despite the many flaws of collective engagement it is still nice to be a part of something bigger than yourself, in this case old friendship. It’s even better with a rhythm!