Giedre tyttö Ozista

Glorious Autumn

Ok, it looks like Sydney autumn is not too terrible. We still enjoy sun and temperatures above 20C during the day, although nights and mornings are pretty crisp. Some trees changed colour and dropped the leaves, while others look as green as ever... We're counting days till winter solstice (about a month and a half to go!). Darkness comes too early and evenings are too long and too dark... :(

My work is going great, I just finished one major project last Friday and it all went quite well. I got a few pats on the back and it looks like I'm finally settling in at work, as well as at our substandard home. I can't bring myself to cook in our house though! Sydney is so full of restaurants, heaps of places even deliver food to your doorstep... Too easy to make eating out a habit!

We still go surfing every weekend. Last weekend I managed to mess up my wrist when pulling back the surfboard leash. My arm is of an interesting deformed shape now , but it didn't prevent me from getting back into water today though!!! (that is a bit of a bummer otherwise, I was hoping to start my aikido training next week...). We saw a school of big(gish) fish swimming around in the waves followed by dolphins (!!) while we were sitting on our boards. It was incredible to see those huge creatures jumping out of the water just a hundred of meters (or so) away from us! It generated a bit uncomfortable chain of thought in my head: fish -> food -> dolphins found it -> what else might be interested in it? Yeah, you're right, whenever there's fish around, sharks may be interested in dropping by closer to the beach too. Most of shark attacks occur in this way: they come after fish and get tempted by something juicier. There was a story of yet another shark attack in South Australia today - a guy swimming with fish and dolphins, got nibbled by a 5m white pointer shark... argh... its best not to think of these things while you're out there....

In any case, sore wrist didn't prevent me from starting singing last week and I'm contemplating the idea of joining a mass volunteer choir (450+ people) that Sydney Philharmonia Choir recruits every year to sing Handel's Messiah at Christmas. It is a pretty cool idea and in general these choirs are quite inclusive, there are heaps of pathways for you to go and join all kinds of singing (I'm still pondering on the idea of singing Carmina Burana in June). Their website also answers questions such as "What should I wear to concert?", "When should I clap?", "What about other noises - coughing, cell phones, pagers?", it aligns nicely with the Australian ways - not snobbish or elitist at all (= lack of culture and sophistication?)!!! Love it!

I was telling Kaj that after a long(ish) time I don't feel stuck. Opportunities abound!