Day 91: Hmm, it's 'strickly' a sign...

Day 91 (6 Mar) It is Wednesday, another work day, another rainy day. Showers, showers, showers. I know, there will come a time when we will want rain, just not now.

Time for the bonsai, at 6.12am

Continuing from yesterday, we're settling into the usual rhythms of the new semester without too many hitches. I've managed to end up with most of my teaching in the late afternoon or evening. So that means long days on campus. Maybe I shouldn't be getting up before 6.12am but there is this project to oversee. I was out watering the bonsai, sounds strange yes, with all the rain. But it is slightly protected so isn't getting a lot of the rain. Its leaves are starting to turn too (they are supposed to do that). 

Wednesday evenings for the next three months will be interesting. I have a tute from 6-7.00, following a two-hour lecture. Most shots on this day then will be from 'inside the tute room' at 6.12pm; could be interesting.  

Tute 'about Japan', at 6.12pm

My sign for today though must be the newly erected one across the road  from the University. You see, we've just introduced paid parking on campus. Students and others, ever inventive, opted to park on a vacant block across the road last week. This sign (below), which really speaks for itself, went up this week. *Sigh*

Interesting machinations in politics in Australia today. The day starts with news that the Katter Party in Queensland was going to take on the volunteered services of some 40 people who are to become the 'shadow ministers'...outside parliament...you'd like to say this was odd but we must recall that present Premier Campbell Newman 'led' the Liberal National Party from outside the parliament, before becoming the member for Ashgrove. You set precedents...you take on consequences. 

Just when we thought that would preoccupy netizens for the day, by evening, Victoria was up for a new premier. Our politics is a bit of a mess at the moment. 

Caption not required...

By day's end also we learnt that Hugo Chavez, President of Venezuela, had finally succumbed to cancer. We're unlikely to see another leader of his type for some time.

Certainly, signs of things to come, today. 

Day 90: We're chugging along

The campus, at 6.12pm

Day 90 (5 Mar) Return to Sippy Downs campus today...more rain...some sun. It is the second week of the new semester so one is still aiming to get the morning routine just right. 

Making lunch, at 6.12am

There is a difference in timing between heading into the city and heading up the Bruce (the Bruce highway for those outside Queensland). I'm yet to make my lunch to take to the city campus, though I do generally make it to take to Sippy Downs. That's what I was doing at 6.12am by the way. I guess so far with the city campus, there's more variety and I also basically carry my own office in my case given I am just a 'bibo' (the bus-riding version of the fly-in-fly-out academic)  so no room really to carry a lunchbox as well. 

I have a couple of meetings and a few administrative tasks to attend to today but no teaching as such. I will head to the 6pm politics class to meet the students, I'm due to take over the teaching there mid-semester. Still, there is class preparation and plenty of follow-up tasks to pursue. I'll be on campus for about 11 hours today and probably 12 tomorrow. 

The emoticon stamp, my
job is done.

During the course of the day I discovered a new gadget, one that might do away with my point and purpose on twitter...according to some. I came across a stamp which can create thousands of emoticons, the little punctuation marks that become faces that we all like to use on twitter. I favour the Japanese style ones. This stamp, looking just like the date stamps of old, creates all sorts of facial expressions. I might be tempted. 

I didn't venture far from the office today with so many things to be done. I was however, returning from the lecture theatre at 6.12pm. It was, in fact, the first time I'd been outside since going into the office at 9.00am. We're lucky, we have a rather pleasant campus, with real live kangaroos and some spectacular shape buildings, architecturally-speaking. The light at 6.12pm too, not quite sunset and working its way through the clouds. I still had another two hours ahead in the office at this stage but it was quite nice to be outside. 

The rain isn't going away for a while yet. But everyone is settling into classes and patterns for the next 14 weeks will be set soon. Before long we will, as we always do, be chugging along.  

Day 89: Here comes the sun...almost

Day 89 (4 Mar) Awoke to the possibility that we might be able to see the International Space Station flying overhead this morning, but for the clouds...but wait, was there a break in the grey and drizzle?

Blue sky rarity, at 6.12am

Well, although the clouds hung around during the ISS flyover, I'm pleased to say that by 6.12am, we'd managed to see some blue sky at last albeit briefly. Yes, I was outside at that point, kettle on the boil, just to see the light as it were. 

The sun had just risen and was peeking over the trees. Never mind that just a couple of hours later I needed my umbrella to dash between the buildings at work. Oh well, a brief but nice reminder. 

Queenslanders are talking a lot about the weather at the moment. We've had a lot of rain of late, but there is more to come. 

Today though was the second Monday of my new semester at South Bank, in Brisbane and so I was looking forward to a 'typical' commuter experience, catching the bus to work, door-to-door in 30 minutes (yes, it all worked) and teaching a great group of students. What more could there be to like about the day, blue sky or rain. 

Compact paper on a compact beach.
A break around 11.12am

OK, the technology didn't quite fire as one might have hoped, but we got around that again, I think. Today was probably the most challenging lecture in the series of thirteen...make our Constitution live and breathe and have meaning...we read parts of the Constitution, we talk about how two words, 'external affairs', determined over century ago had ramifications 80 years later for Tasmanian wilderness. We talk about 1975, part of my history, but something  from the pages of history for the students. In the classroom, in full flight and away from bureaucratic strictures is, as I mentioned to a colleague this evening, when I feel most at home. It's a shame 'education' is losing that joy...still, that's the subject of another post. 

One advantage of working in Brisbane's centre is that a coffee break can be a walk across the road and into an entirely different vista. OK, my campus on the SunCoast has kangaroos, but I'm a water baby and even the glistening pool (yep, more sun!) even at South Bank can bring a sense of 'relax'. It even made the 'compact' edition of the Sydney Morning Herald more palatable. Big day of course, for the media. Much of the media was in fact about the decision of Fairfax to kill off the broadsheet and replace it with the tabloid size. SMH has been doing this for ages on the weekend anyway so really, no big deal. But, the media-tragic that I am, I had to have a copy in hand...

The busway, a regular commuter,
at 6.12pm

The change in the ABC homepage...well, that snuck under the radar and I'm still adjusting...but I noticed.

I enjoyed the class, we have the advantage of being a small group and that allows a lot of interaction and I sense we will develop a good sense of shared learning. I will look forward to the next three months. I do also like the fact that I'm just a regular commuter, so at 6.12pm at the bus stop on the busway on the way home, seemed quite right. It was like the sun shining again, almost. 

Day 88: The grass is greener...

Day 88 (3 Mar) Sunday...and just for something completely different...it is still raining. 

The lorikeet rain gauge reached eight today.
*The gauge where the number of perched loris is in inverse proportion
to the amount of rainfall in a day. 

It's a bit of a challenge to judge whether or not doing the washing will be possible or just stupid on a day like this (I don't own a dryer, so it depends on the weather). But, Sunday being Sunday, I thought I'd give it a go. 

It is also the day that serious weekly review of lectures begins now that classes have resumed. The new material collected, read and pondered over the non-teaching time (never 'the holidays') must now be incorporated into the courses I teach. Given the currency of teaching politics or current issues on Japan, what I draft out today inevitably undergoes further tweaking between now and the class. I've even had events unfold in the walk from the office to the lecture theatre at times. I'm not sure whether the internet is a blessing or a curse in that regard. 

It's a shade of green I've not seen before,
at 6.12am

So at 6.12am I was outside judging the likelihood of rain and whether or not that would prevent me from washing or mowing the lawn. Washing got done but the grass will have to wait. Actually, what I have noticed about the grass at present, both here and along the highway, is a brilliant green colour. It almost hurts the eyes. Yes, the grass is long but it is an undeniably luscious green. It's a metaphor for life at the moment too as I also ponder what might be around the corner...should I stay or should I go? Is the grass greener on the other side, or just a whiter shade of pale? It is something I'll be thinking about for the rest of the year. 

Having set about fixing the morning chores, it's been a day at the desk reading and writing. Twitter runs alongside my notes as I keep an eye on events of the day, lest they have relevance for what I will talk about this week. It also means keeping track of key politics shows on through the morning, and that for me is via radio. That usually starts with NewsRadio and is followed up by Radio National and then back to NewsRadio for a broadcast of the TV program 'Insiders'. People keep reminding me I can watch a replay on iView; yes, I know, I keep forgetting. 

Today the dialogue has swung between the interview this morning with shadow minister for immigration Scott Morrison and the speech given by Prime Minister Julia Gillard in 'Western Sydney'. I generally begin classes with a bit of a discussion about what's in the news. I've been teaching Australian politics for nearly 15 years now and the issue of asylum seekers and refugees has always been close to the top of the list. I once cancelled a tute and asked the students to return next week having looked up the word 'compassion' before we continued our discussion. It was perhaps one of the more valuable teaching/learning moments for all concerned. The students, to their credit, returned with definitions and a willingness to discuss and engage with each others viewpoints with a greater degree of civility. 

The same cannot be said of our political leaders I'm afraid as we continue to discuss the issue publicly 15 years on. I always anticipate passionate views in class on this topic. 

Still damp, at 6.12pm

I will also need to be on top of the Prime Minister's speech by tomorrow...the views, the analysis, the fallout. How will it be read? How was the Prime Minister's every word, every expression, every gesture, played out for our political consumption? Tonight's work. 

Meanwhile, at 6.12pm, time to check the washing. Bad call, it's all still damp. I guess I expected that. There does seem to be a break in the clouds though and a few Brissie tweeps were rejoicing the break in the rain and a slightly visible blue sky. Maybe that is just as metaphorical as my greener grass...maybe it will just take a break in the clouds and all will be well. Maybe. 

In Japan today, it is Hina Matsuri, or 'Girls' Day'. I know, it's tradition.

Day 87: The rain remains

Day 87 (2 Mar) And another rainy Saturday. Actually, it has hardly stopped all day. I have given away any pretence of carrying an umbrella and unapologetically returned to the Queensland weather of my childhood and just run through the rain to get from point A to point B. 

Not moving, at 6.12am

The rain was around at 6.12am when I hadn't quite made the leap out of bed. The radio was on and I was listening to the news. Today is my clarinet choir rehearsal day (every second Saturday) so I shouldn't really be sleeping in. There's is music to prepare and make sure everything is working properly, including me, so that's a double strength coffee for breakfast. It's never fun carrying the equipment around in the rain. 

It's just rain, at 6.12, at 2.12, at 5.12, at 9.12

There were still chores to do after rehearsal which meant heading to the shops as well. We need to take extra care in the rain. It is really quite amazing the number of drivers who fail to drive to the conditions. The view out of the car window today at lunchtime just spoke volumes about the state of play weather-wise. 

Home and the rest of the day was catching up on the week's news and having a bit of a relax, the week starts again tomorrow. The news seems to be about whether or not we are in campaign mode and questioning the wisdom of the prime minister's decision to nominate 14 September as the election date. 

If Prime Minister Gillard announced it in order to minimise the focus on an unofficial campaign then I'm afraid hanging out in Western Sydney in quasi-campaign mode does belie the intention of nominating the date. And it seemed like quite a good idea at the time. I suppose election campaigns can be like the rain in Queensland at the moment...never-ending. 

Vale 'Peter Harvey, Canberra', at 6.12pm
(via SMH digital site)

At 6.12pm I found myself reading the obituary of one of Australia's finest political journalists, Peter Harvey. I guess it speaks volume for his influence in that although I haven't owned a TV for years, his voice and his gravitas have left a great imprint on me as a politics watcher. Certainly he was one of the giants of political journalism in Australia. Vale Peter Harvey. 

Peter Harvey was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer four months ago. It's an insidious cancer and one of my best mates is tackling its ugliness at the moment. He's stuck around for a good while so far since diagnosis, but I hate watching it take a little bit more of the nation's most outstanding orchestral flautists each day. 

I know it's a cliche to say that we should live each day as if it were our last, but really, some days that's just what we should do. 

Never take your mates for granted. That is all. 

Day 86: On the March

Day 86 (1 Mar) Here we are, March already. Clearly we live in a time dimension that is making things go faster. Today was not a trip to the SunCoast* but across town to a work-related meeting. 

[*In a twitter exchange yesterday with @Corinne_Salmon and @marygarden, I learnt that the Sunshine Coast now carries the nickname Unshine Coast. Most appropriate.]

Overnight sensation, at 6.12am

Now, most people are aware that my daily commute is about 100km and 70mins each way. By car. Would love to use public transport, but it just doesn't work, given my hours. Thus, when I'm in Brisbane, I like to use public transport. Now, just for your information, today's commute by bus (x2) via the city, out to Taringa, about 15 km...took me about 80 mins, door-to-door. Look, it was early, peak hour etc, but still, not a great ad for public transport. Would have taken about 20 mins by car. 

So not quite the same rush out the morning door, a little more time to spend on those morning things I like to do. At 6.12am I went to feed the loris, who had returned after the rain. Glad to see them but also the bromeliad which made its appearance overnight. I think if I had more time, then bromeliads are the plants I think I would most like to cultivate, at least, of the ones I reckon I might be able to do. Well, after orchids and roses (which I know I can't do ). 

Feed time at last, at 6.12am

The meeting today was a day-long meeting, or two meetings consecutively really. They concern my work with my industry union. These are always days one ends up really querying work, career, purpose and related matters. Time to move on? Time to be 'on the March'. Perhaps that time is coming. There are days when the joy of teaching gets overwhelmed by so many other things...but that's a discussion for another day. 

Home in the setting light of day, at 6.12pm

Just as Mondays for the next few months will be based in the city, then so it was returning home tonight, through the city. I do like it, and could get used to it again sooner rather than later. 

I think returning home while there is still light in the sky has something quite refreshing about it. And, coincidentally perhaps, just as the car park shadows on the leaves yesterday (Day 85) caught my eye, then so tonight the light as the sun set through the front gate. 

That's where I was, in the front gate, opening the door, after a day thinking about and discussing the state of my profession...and thinking, maybe there's more to 'March' than I anticipated. 

Day 85: The last day of summer

In the shadow of autumn

Day 85 (28 Feb) The last day of what has been a very wet summer. Indeed, it is still raining. And there is more forecast for the weekend. 

The first teaching week takes a bit of adjusting to time-wise. The new timetable needs to be remembered for us as well as the students. You could say I've got the full range this semester. The early start on Monday, through to a 9pm finish on Thursday nights. Wednesdays will finish around 7.00 and when I take over from a colleague going on leave later in the semester it will be a late finish Tuesdays (9pm) and early start Wednesdays. The question then is what is the best time to leave. Creature of habit that I am (as I think this blog is beginning to show) I'll stay with getting up early and getting onto campus. Parking is a problem otherwise. 

Today's emoticon, at 6.12am

So at 6.12am I was up to my usual coffee, papers and today I happened to be sending out today's emoticon. It's a small twitter contribution I've come to make each weekday. It started off as a bit of fun among some tweepsters, but it has, as they say, grown like topsy. I have some Japanese emoticons (made of punctuation marks) on my Japanese keyboard. I send them out in various combinations, usually around 6am. I soon know about it if they don't get out there. But I know people enjoy them. 

By 6.12pm, I had just returned from a class and was preparing for the next one at 8pm. The class was the second year Japanese class and we begin early on with reading materials from Japanese magazines. AERA is one I have read since its inaugural publication over twenty years ago. It is a weekly news magazine with a lot of current affairs, contemporary culture and similar things. It is not unlike our old magazine The Bulletin, a bit of everything. 

AERA and my class, at 6.12pm

I've never feared the 'kanji' or Chinese characters we need to know to read Japanese. Indeed, they've been one of the key reasons I've stuck with the language, I find the aesthetic and what a small pictogram can say, intriguing. I try very hard to convey that to my students in the face a strong resistance to learn such 'foreign' things. 

There are days in the classroom you wish you could wave a magic wand and give the students the automatic access to the language. I know they'll get there, but sometimes it must feel like it will take a little time. 

I was thinking about those classes on the way to the car tonight. Looking down and thinking, I saw the pattern of light and shadow on the leaves in the car park, above. It was worth a shot, even if it was 10.12pm, four hours past our time. 

In more Queensland news, following on from yesterday's proposal for privatisation of the QHealth system, today we heard of a proposal from the same government to 'privatise' the building of new state schools. 'Public-private partnerships' they call them, and they always work well <sarcastic font>. 

The Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, was on 612ABC this morning too, an interview with mornings presenter Steve Austin. It seems to have received some good reviews on twitter during the day. It was interesting, it was a little bit off the main news story game, and showed a reasonably relaxed prime minister. I'll probably get the politics students to listen to it next week. 

It was the last day of summer when I started this, we've tipped over to autumn now. It's into the teaching and learning period now, no more excuses. Enjoy it everyone.