Chapter 33 - The Cardboard Gallery

In which our hero goes to the art show without deviating from her normal routine in the slightest ....

OK.  First of all, I'm not going to make any apologies for having been absent for like three weeks.  I told you ages ago not to get too attached, because when school started I'd be focusing on important school things.  Now things are winding down and wrapping up and so forth.  Last week I had like five things due and a maths test.  Due on Thursday was my maths assignment, Friday was the MATLAB assignment, the power electronics lab report, the power electronics tutorial questions, and I had a math test.  Then on Sunday my electromagnetics lab report and assignment were both due.  The lab report went in on Monday.  The tutorial questions went in on Tuesday morning.  I really hate handing things in late, but I figured I'd suffer the late marks for the sake of my sanity and sleep.

So yes.  I've been a bit busy.  I'm also out of the habit, so when I have a minute I don't think of this as a thing to do.

I've learned something recently that's an interesting language thing.  Apparently it's weird here to refer to uni as 'school'.  If a person says they're going to school, it means elementary or high school.  And so it's extra confusing for youngish looking people such as myself because we might possibly pass for high school.  Meaning it's extra confusing to an Aussie that doesn't know me if I say that I have to go to school the next day or something.  I don't even know what the term is they use for like mature students who are "going back to school", as we'd say, meaning they're taking up post secondary education, usually, after having already had ten or fifteen years of a career of some sort.  When I find out I'll let you know.

So anyway.  Back to the point.  No, wait! First, my Kamoala has been disappeared! Maybe it was just a limited time installation or something.  I though it was going to be up forever.  It's quite disappointing.  If mine's gone, too, then that means probably they're all gone, and I only got to see like three of them.  I know there was more because I picked up a flyer thingy about them, and it had all the locations.  Or maybe they've just moved the one at uni because of nearby construction.  Who knows.

OK. So now actually the point.  I think the exact day after the last thing I wrote about, being the beach and the blues show, I was walking to a class, along my usual route from the bus stop, when I was greeted by this:

Random little cardboard cube people.  What's going on?  Then it developed into this ....

Naturally I was drawn to it because it was a great big box with gears all over it.  There's a little explanation by it, and it says what class it's from, but I can't remember.  It's someone's final project, no doubt.  It has something to do with having a collection of unique people, then putting them through 'the system', I guess, and they come out as bored and all the same.  Here's the cast of characters before the contraption ...

Lying down this guy looks like a hobo.

I think this is a gangsta with bling.  (Spell check just underlined 'bling', but not 'gangsta'.)

A little bird on the window sill.

An angry punk fellow.

Monopoly Man.

Lovely pyramid girl.

Hart shaped girl in the machine.

Sad cube halfway through the machine ...

Standing up he just looks like a NED.  (That's non-educated delinquent.)

And then here's the poor chaps after the 'system' ...

Then on my way out to the bus stop that afternoon I discovered this one:

The rope is made of masking tape, as are the bits of waves around the crates.  The crates say things on them like 'environment' and 'research'.

In the next days and weeks I discovered more.  Sometimes they'd disappear and be replaced by something else.  Observe....

This one has various logos of educational institutions being chopped by a guillotine.

 

The chopped things in the basket.

I have no idea what this one is about.  There's a giant snake going in and out of buildings.

Another view of the snake one.

This one is at the entrance to G09, where some of the engineering labs and offices are.  It says "Save Surfer's - Preserve our Paradise".  I guess it has something to do with something happening to Surfer's Paradise?

A shovel associated with the Surfer's one.

This one replaced the box of gears.  It says "The Worries of Aus", and it's got puppets that resemble Wizard of Oz characters.

This one replaced the guillotine.  The arm of the digging machine says Coles, which is a major supermarket chain, and in the scoop are little things like 'Sally's Fish Market' and other small retailers that are getting destroyed by the big chains.  I think.

This one has to do with Schrodinger's Cat (that's it coming out of the box in the centre) and quantum computing, and how it can be explained that things can be in two states at once.  (The cat experiment is supposed to explain, sort of.)  (In theory).

I believe that is all, my friends.  I need to go to bed.  Tomorrow is the last day of my first semester at uni.  Then there's a study week, then it's exams.  Don't expect too much excitement during that time.  I'll see what I can do over the next  couple days though, re. blog writing.  On Saturday we're planning to go to the Outback Spectacular, which is like, I imagine, Medieval Times, except with an outback horse show instead of knights and things.  It'll surely be something to report, I shouldn't wonder.

Chapter 32 - Time Well Wasted

In which our hero goes to the beach and a concert instead of studying... as one does when at uni in Oz ...

So I had this lab report, right.  It wasn't co-operating.  Our lecturer had made a point, when the topic was covered in class, to say that this particular bit of theory applies to this particular lab, and so for those who haven't done the lab yet it should be super easy without any banging of heads against walls and swearing at computers and last minute emails to him to figure out what's going wrong.

So naturally I left it till the day before it was due, which was Saturday.  The thing I was supposed to calculate involved a square root, and I was getting negative numbers for the bit under the square root.  That's not allowed.  It means your answer is imaginary.  Which makes no sense in real life.  So there I was banging my head against a wall, and swearing at my computer, and sending desperate last minute emails to Hugo (the lecturer) to see if he could spot the problem.  I was frustrated with this stupid thing for like all afternoon on Saturday, and a lot of the time Sunday as well.

Then I gave up on it and went to the beach with Sarah and her friend.  Why? Because I figured I might as well enjoy myself, if I wasn't going to get anything done anyway.  There was other things I could have been doing, but I didn't.  If I'd stayed home I would have continued to be frustrated with the same stupid lab report.

It was a good day.  This is what it looked like as we approached the beach.

Then, this is what it looked like on the beach.

Looking North.

Looking South.  That's Surfer's Paradise down there.  One of those buildings is the tallest residential building in the world, or something.  That's also where the Tigoala is, if you'll recall.

There was also some lovely natural features, such as the waves on a sort of sand bar area, and the sun just going down behind the dunes.  Observe.

After the beach the plan was to go to Fisho's nearby (that's Fisherman's Wharf Tavern, if you don't speak the local lingo) to see a band that Sarah had seen at Bluesfest.  Except this one was for free.  The were called The Mason Rack Band, and did like rocky bluesy stuff.  Good stuff.  At one point the main fella came out and started drumming on the tables.  Then all three guys were drumming on a drum and two beer kegs.  Then, they moved their drums into a triangle, and started playing and tossing their drumsticks to each other.  It was really cool.  Later on they all switched instruments for a couple of songs.

The band.

Playing on the furniture.

Two kegs and a drum.

Whaaaaaaaaaaat??? It's hard to see with the glare of the evening sun, but if you look closely you might catch a blur of drumstick in the air.

Seriously, it was really great.  The only problem was that we'd planned to be home for 6:30, so Sarah could watch The Voice, and then I could watch Doctor Who at 7:30.  But Sarah's friend wanted to stay later, so we didn't end up leaving till like 8:00.  So I missed Doctor Who.  And I didn't catch the repeat on Monday night because I was working on that stupid lab report all evening.

I showed my calculations to Hugo after Monday's lecture, and he basically got the same results as me, so I just carried on and graphed the graph and pretended the imaginary answers were zeros.  I didn't like it, but I submitted it on Tuesday morning, like two days late.  I hate submitting things late.

I really do think this was time well wasted, though.  It's good to get out of the house rather than staying in all the time.  And its not like I was skipping class or something.  It was my time to waste, and I spent it wisely.

Lastly, here's a lovely picture of palm trees with the sun behind them.  While most of you, gentle reader, are heading into spring time and summer, we're heading toward winter.  The days are getting shorter, the sun is setting around 5-ish, and when I wake up at 6 a.m. for an 8 a.m. start to classes I have to turn the lights on in my room because outside is just dawn greyness.  When I first got here it was sunshine at that time.  We don't bother with that Daylight Savings nonsense here in QLD either, so there's no confusion as to when the sun's up or down or how it compares to three months ago.

Anyway, after a seemingly over-long explanation, my point is that it's autumn (not fall, because the leaves don't fall off the trees here .. . not like they do at home at least) and that's why this picture I took from the beach parking lot looking toward Fisho's across the street at like 3:30 or 4:00 p.m. has the sun at such a low angle.

From the beach parking lot, looking west toward Marina Mirage and Fisho's.  I believe we were near Main Beach, and Sea World, if you feel like looking it up on a map.

Chapter 31 - ANZAC Biscuits

In which our hero makes a sheepish return to the blogosphere, having been gone for rather a longish time ...

When last we spoke it was the weekend before ANZAC Day, which is the 25th of April.  This year it landed on a Thursday, which meant I got the busiest and longest day of the week off.  Before I go on about that, though, I'll get to the bit of the week before.

On the weekend of April 20 there was something on called Supanova.  (Say it with an Australian accent, so it sounds like 'supernova').  It's essentially ComicCon, but in Australia, and more than once a year, because it travels to different cities.  In April it was in Gold Coast.  In September it'll be in Brisbane.  It was only like $30 for a day pass.  I didn't go.  I can't remember why.  I was disappointed with myself for not going.  I really really should have, because Alex Kingston was there, and so was Sylvester McCoy, and they were doing a panel discussion about fifty years of Doctor Who.  I really really should have gone.  Bah.

Anyway, on the Wednesday of that week, having finished my lab in a reasonable time, and feeling like my sense of adventure was sort of stagnating, I decided to take the bus in the opposite direction and go to the Australia Fair shopping centre.  I was on a mission to find an A4 paper carrier.  One of my lab partners had got one from K-Mart, but I'd looked at the K-Mart near my house and found nothing.  I knew there was another K-Mart at Australia Fair, so off I went.  They didn't have one either.  But I did find this interesting games shop that sold a plethora of chess sets.  Like, some really very exciting chess sets.  An outside observer would probably think I'm some kind of chess nut, but really I just like the creative chess sets.  See the pictures below.

Look at them all!

Star Wars (Baddies).

Battle of Waterloo.

Australiana.  There's echidnas as pawns, and the Sydney Opera House as a castle.

Robin Hood Baddies.

Robin Hood Goodies.

Sherlock Holmes Goodies.  The baddies side has Moriarty as the king, but the picture was kind of dark.

Isle of Lewis.

Alice In Wonderland.

I also found a toy store that had this game, which I would love to play.  I'm not normally a fan of board games, but this one looks quite excellent.

As I was leaving the shopping centre I spotted a store called Japan Dollar Shop.  I remembered a while ago that Wen Ying told me I could get cheap lunch containers at a Japanese shop in Southport, so I went in to see if that was it.  I think probably it was.  I didn't buy any lunch boxes, but I did get my A4 paper carrier.  (A4 is like an equivalent to the 8.5" x 11" paper that we so commonly use, except it's slightly longer and slightly narrower.  It's the standard sort of binder/notebook/printer paper that the whole world uses, except for North America.  Letter. That's what it's called.  A4 is the rest of the world's Letter.)  (And an A4 paper carrier is the Japanese name for a sort of plastic hinged thin box thing.  I don't know what the rest of the world calls them.  Therese brought us a couple from Japan, though, so that's what I know them as.)  I also found these things in the Japan Dollar Shop. 

"Private Room - Because it wants to relax..." (Toilet seat cover).

"The Relax Room - A colorful waffle design enables the coordination of I liking."  Also a toilet seat cover.

By that point it was getting a bit late, so I figured I should make my way home.  I managed to find a bus stop, despite never having been there before, and the whole area being under construction for the light rail system, so everything's all madness and chaos and there's no real way to know what buses stop where.  But it worked out.  One came along.  I got home.  I spent the evening vegging out in front of the telly with the kids, because the next day was a holiday and I figured I'd do my homework then.

The next day was ANZAC Day.  It's basically like Remembrance Day, except that unlike at home it's a public holiday, so everyone can go out to the parades and ceremonies.  ANZAC stands for Australia and New Zealand Army Corps, and it's on April 25th to commemorate the Australian and New Zealand soldiers landing at Gallipoli in WWI.  ANZAC biscuits, if you've heard of them, are essentially oatmeal cookies made with no eggs or milk or anything that can go off, and they were made by the wives and mothers and sweethearts at home to send to their boys overseas in care packages.  So now they sell them in shops around ANZAC day, or people make them.  They're really quite good.  You should try them.  They make good breakfast cookies.

Anyway.  So we'd received this thing in the mail from our local MP or something informing us of all of the local ceremonies and things, so we'd made a kind of plan to go to see the parade nearby in Upper Coomera, then the ceremony, then stay for the BBQ after.  When we arrived the road was blocked off, so we had to park and walk for about ten minutes.  As we approached we could hear a band playing, and by the time we got to the cenotaph the parade had just ended and everyone was organizing themselves for the ceremony.  It was very hot and sunny, and we were melting just standing there and doing nothing.  And yes, I was wearing sunscreen.  It was a very nice ceremony.  At one point a poem about the flag was read, and what it represents, and about the country, and it was quite emotional.  And of course, who doesn't get chills when the Last Post is played?

The ANZAC Day ceremony at the Upper Coomera Cenotaph.

Kangaroo crossing sign!

By the time the ceremony was over we were all very hot, and the munchkins were getting restless, so we decided to just leave instead of stick around for the BBQ.  Because we were so hot and melty we thought it might be a good idea to swoop by McDonald's for a 30 cent ice cream cone.  Then we went home, and I spent the afternoon doing homework. 

Around 3:00 I left to go to my lab partner's house for our fortnightly late night lab report session.  By the time we finished it was approximately midnight, which seems to be the norm.  Although this time we started earlier than the previous time, we had also done less work beforehand.  So it took just as long.  Or longer, I suppose, since we started earlier and finished at the same time.  It got done, and this past Friday, when we got it back, Professor Lu said he though it was so good that he wanted to borrow it the next time a delegation from Engineers Australia came by so he could show them what kind of skills the Griffith students have.  How awesome is that?  I attribute most of the credit to Josh, who is used to the style of reports that Professor Lu likes.  They're a little more involved than I'm used to, but luckily we can submit a team report, so we can each bring our own strengths to it.

The next day, Friday, my only class was Maths from 3:00-5:00.  Afterward I'd made a plan to go out to my friend Rachel's house for an Aussie themed night of dinner and movies.  The dinner was lamb roast, which was seriously the best lamb I'd ever eaten.  I'm not normally a big fan of lamb.  There was also Lemon Lime Bitters, which is sort of the go-to stand-by designated driver's drink, made with lime cordial, lemonade (sparkling lemonade), and a wee bit of angostura bitters, which on its own tastes very much of cloves.  (I spilled some on my finger, that's how I know, because I then licked it off).  There was also mint sauce on the lamb, which I've never had, and which was quite good.  As snacks there was a bunch of Hallowe'en sized chocolate bars that are particular to Australia, like Cherry Ripe, Caremello Koala, and Picnic.  I think I've already explained about Cherry Ripe.  It's coconut and cherry in the middle, and chocolate on the outside.  Caremello Koala is a little chocolate shaped like a cartoon koala and filled with caramel.  Picnic is like Mr. Big.

We put on the first movie during dinner, which was "The Man From Snowy River".  I highly recommend it.  Like, really highly.  Like, really really.  You should watch it.  It was great.  It's based on a long story-poem type thing. 

After the first movie we made our dessert, which was pavlovas.  These were way different than the ones I'd had here at home several weeks ago (see the post titled "Pavs!" for a reminder.)  Those ones were in hard meringue nests.  These ones were on soft meringue cakes almost, and we covered them with cream, then bits of kiwi and strawberry and a couple spoons of passion fruit pulp, and they tasted like awesome.  There was another meringue thingy left, and Rachel said I could go for it, so I did.  It also tasted like awesome.  You should try it.  Apparently Kiwis will try to tell me that they invented pavlovas, and they know how to do them right, but I'm not to believe their crazy talk.  (I apologize to any Kiwis reading this, if there is any.  I'm very easily influenced by the people around me.  I'll no doubt change my tune when I get to New Zealand).

First pavlova, half eaten.

Second one, that I decorated myself. There was crazy amounts of cream on it. (Whipped cream essentially, but not sweet.  Just thick.)

After dessert we put on "The Man From Snowy River II", which was also good, but not as good as the first one.  I recommended again that Rachel look up Five Mile Creek, as it takes place in a similar point in Australian history.  Also, it's really good.

Lastly, at some point, possibly the next day, I spotted this on the wall on the way to the bathroom.  It's inside.  It was surprising, but not at all scary like a spider or a snake.  I don't know what kind of ungodly place would have snakes on the walls, though.  That would almost be doubly startling.

House gecko! (I captured it and put it out in the garden.)