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.