Day 71: My (un)funny Valentine

My funny valentine, at 6.12pm

Day 71 (14 Feb) The anniversary of Australia's conversion to decimal currency. Oh, OK, and Valentine's Day, if you must. I sort of forgot, until now so yes, no cheesy valentine 6.12 moments for me today. Because, curmudgeonly. It wasn't always thus, but there you go. 

I suppose living in Japan for a number of years has curtailed the joy. On 14 February Japanese women are expected to buy chocolate for all the blokes around them...co-workers, bosses,  partners, boyfriends, husbands etc, etc. Some of this chocolate was called 'giri choco', obligation chocolate. Then, a month later, 14 March, the men can, if they wish, return the favour to women...no obligation, no giri. Pfft.

Still life with coffee,
at 6.12am

Anyway, that's Valentine's. I'm much more grateful for decimal currency.

None of which I was thinking about this morning at 6.12am. Once again, catching up on yesterday's paper over breakfast. But actually, at that moment each day at present, I'm becoming a little intrigued by the light...this photo is a bit like yesterday's as far as the light goes. There is a certain sort of 'Still life with coffee' feel about this, except it is never a still life at 6.12 in the morning. 

My colleague and I are taking full advantage of leaving a bit later than normally required in a teaching semester though it is amazing the difference leaving 30 minutes later can make to the traffic on the road. It adds a further 20 mins to the trip sometimes. Still, next week, it all changes. 

From the other side, at 6.12pm

Typically, the day's plans were partially fulfilled, ever-surprising and new stuff emerging. It never feels the same, but maybe it is. I have become conscious the last few days that my days are so full I'm actually not keeping track of the day's issues. That is in spite of twitter or news websites up and running all day. I must pay more attention. 

At 6.12pm, I was in the office, still, doing some of the work I hadn't completed during the day. I had, however, migrated from behind the desk to my table where I have other bits of work to do. It gave me the chance to look at the office from the 'other' perspective, the view visitors have when they come into my room and remark on the books. I forget I have quite a few, in fact 30 years of academia have resulted in quite a lot I suppose. Looking at them from the perspective of students who visit, I sort of understand their surprise. I really must...cull, consolidate, tidy up...I keep promising the cleaner that I'll get to it soon. 

Books, perhaps the way to get to my heart...no obligation. 

Day 70: Retreat from the Retreat

Day 70 (13 Feb) What a difference 24 hours makes. If measuring time and motion is one of the aims of this blog then yesterday and today are representative of the stark contrast an academic's life can throw up in a relatively short time. 

Yesterday was something of the ideal day...a focus on research, reading and thinking, a presentation of one's work to an appreciative audience, all the things one would want to do. Today was a retreat from that, literally. 

The 'Retreat'. Who even invented that? It does seem, in theory, that bringing colleagues together for a day in a large room away from the daily distractions of the office--email, phone calls, unexpected callers, twitter (no, not really)--is a good idea. Funny how managerialist practice can spoil that. 

A darker shadow approacheth, at 6.12am

I think I can claim my first retreat happened back in about 1994. It was a departmental research retreat, off-campus, and its purpose was to present and share research in its various states. It actually worked, after a fashion. Nothing sharpens the mind and focus of an academic like sharing research and ideas. That's largely why we choose to do what we do. 

Some time later, senior admin staff determined that what was good for academics would be good for them, only without research to present they conflabbed about...hmm, admin. The rot, thenceforth, set in. At subsequent retreats, managers started inviting themselves to a 'session' of the academics' retreat. We would hear something new about, something. 

Retreats have gone from being days of the joy of thinking to thinking about escape. Too many I've been to now simply detract from the day one could otherwise be doing work of interest and relevance. But enough of that. These retreats are no doubt here to stay. 

These were the thoughts at 6.12am today when the sunlight on the cupboard suddenly came into view. We usually early risers have been noticing that the sun is rising much later now (as it is wont to do) and the light in the room just said to me summer is as good as over. 

In the office, surprise!
at 6.12pm

Not surprisingly, at the other end of the day at 6.12pm, I was in my office (again), on the phone (again) and attending to emails (again). There is still much to do before classes officially start on 25 February and there is a grant deadline to meet by 10.00am next Monday...that's an application I didn't get to finish today because I was at a retreat, telling me how important it was to be writing grant applications, prepare classes for a superior student experience and related matters. Either, irony is lost on the managerialists, or they are just so skilled at managing the irony is now lost on me. 

Whatever it might be, it is time to beat a retreat from the retreat and reclaim our research and intellectual life. Society will be the poorer without it. The managerialists will lament the passing of the retreat...but  I won't.  

Day 69: It's all about 1893

Day 69 (12 Feb) and finally this day I agreed to months ago, on a whim, has arrived. The day centres on adding the finishing touches to the presentation tonight, although the project is an ongoing one. Tonight, I want to just focus on the Queensland aspect of these Japanese 19th century adventurers and whether or not there is something of a Queensland legacy in the 1890s political milieu of Japan. 

Reading about Thursday Island,
at 6.12am

There is a bit of a sense of 'luxury' about the day, although once upon a time it was pretty much part of the everyday part of the job of an academic. At 6.12am I was marshalling the materials for further reading. Although I am by now pretty much settled on what I want to present tonight, I do just enjoy the reading around the main topic. So with the coffee on the go and breakfast done, I was about to settle in to read up on Japanese pearlers on Thursday Island. 

Somewhere in between I also had to get the car down for a service. The opportunities are few and far between. 

The Australian Institute of International Affairs is a rather august body with quite a long history in Australian think tank/policy history. I've been a member since about 1996. I was also assistant editor in the early 2000s of the institute's journal. I've since published a few articles in the journal (long after I gave up editing it) but this is actually the first time I've presented to the members. 

Waiting

I don't know whether I'm a good/efficient researcher or a bad/thorough one. There is always that tension between reading too much and not reading enough...I erred on the side of reading up today, I was still confident with the material for the presentation. 

By the time the evening came around, I decided to catch the bus to the city. I arrived a bit early so did wander just a little around the George St precinct. Unbelievably, I was also due to attend a committee meeting for another group in Parliament House tonight at the same time. It never rains...etc. I used to enjoy working in the city, I particularly like the urban landscape opportunities. As a bit of a pre-talk relax, I just sat down in a courtyard and looked at the surroundings. There was a touch of the 'jeffrey smart' about the landscape.  

Getting ready to present, at 6.12pm

By 6.00pm I was in the rooms setting up. I dodged the Citizens' Electoral Council spruikers outside, but not well enough it seems. Someone brought some material to me saying they had said it was to be given to me, by name. Oh my. 

It was quite a good turnout, very generous of people to come to a presentation in the city right on dinner time. By 6.12pm, the screen was up, the slides working and I was just making the final soundcheck. It is a bit of a 'selfie' which was topic of discussion on the radio this morning. I don't think I broke the rules, I've limited my appearance to just my shoulder...

It really is a privilege to have people listen to you talk about your hobby. I have found so many things of interest so far in this research that I'm getting carried away with the detail. I had some lovely news articles to read, including quite a lengthy exchange between the star of my show, Watanabe, and the Northern Miner journalist. The Northern Miner was a newspaper in Charters Towers at the time. Lovely turn of phrase. The audience was very generous. Off to dinner afterwards, before home.

Much of the news today continued to discuss the resignation of the Pope. I read early this morning of the death of Hatoyama Yasuko, mother of former prime minister Hatoyama Yukio and heiress to the Bridgestone Tyre Company. Her influence ran deep in Japanese politics, stretching back to her husband Ichiro, a former foreign minster, Yukio and his brother, also a parliamentarian. Not surprisingly, given her enormous wealth, the family is sometimes referred to as Japan's 'Kennedy family'.

But today at least, it was all about 1893.

Day 68: One day closer to retirement

Day 68 (11 Feb) Monday, and it's off to work. The new semester starts soon and there does still seem to be so much to do. No time to sleep in. 

The birds, at 6.12am

At 6.12am, it was a range of outdoor chores while the kettle boiled and the bread toasted itself. The birds were out and about and being quite tame. As a person of a certain age, many of us have childhood summer holiday memories of feeding the lorikeets at Currumbin Bird Sanctuary on the Gold Coast. I know mum has some black and white photos of us tucked away somewhere, difficult to see under the blanket of loris and bread and honey. It really is quite lovely to have them coming and going from the backyards. They fly between the neighbourhood seed trays, picking and choosing the profferings. I can watch them all day...but there is work to do so it's feed and run. 

There is a whole lot of work to do between now and Friday but commitments elsewhere will minimise time in the office this week. Tomorrow is the presentation in Brisbane, Wednesday is one of those all-day work gatherings...a day to plan for the year (when all one wants to do is to retreat to the office to get on with more pressing matters; I may tweet my way through it). 

The office, again, at 6.12pm

Not surprisingly then, 6.12pm saw me in the office (again), though I have tried hard to offer a variation on the angle. OK, it's still at the desk, at the computer, answering emails or doing some level of admin, perhaps on the phone again. The writing I want to do has to wait until I get home...I'm really going to become quite self-conscious about this 6.12pm shot. 

It started raining again as I left the office around 9.40 tonight, not welcome for that run down the highway. Even less welcome, the five semi-trailers playing tag team racing just south of Caloundra. 

The Pope has resigned, that's today's big news. Six hundred years since the last pope resigned, as opposed to die in office, the news has dominated the airwaves and twitterverse the last hour or so. He's 85. I'd like to retire I think, to write...before I go up in a puff of smoke.

I guess I'm one day closer to retirement than I was yesterday...

Day 67: Some days, research rocks.

Day 67 (10 Feb) Despite best efforts to sleep in, it rarely works when the sun works its way through the window. Still, that's OK. I'm determined to get through some reading, writing and research today (the 3Rs of an academic's life?). 

Reading, at 6.12am

I have a basket of books by the bedside that command my attention. The 'pile' became too unwieldy some time ago, hence the basket. It usually has a combination of books I might use in class (and so I am in the process of reviewing them), books in which I have an intrinsic interest in, and then there are my novels I'm reading at present. I'm never reading just one book at any one time, there are several on the go--multiskilling in a pre-techie age.  So, at 6.12am, it was put the book back and up to get the day started. 

The sun's George Harrison moment,
during breakfast

During breakfast (on the deck, because it wasn't raining), the sun just made an incredible impression in the sky and there was just a magnificent light and warmth to go with it. It was snappable I think. So it is here. 

So much of the day was spent working away on the paper interspersed with household chores and grocery errands. Gotta get out sometimes I suppose. 

Research in the arts and humanities can be a funny thing. Unlike our friends in the natural sciences, sometimes our 'breakthroughs' occur after months of sifting through archives, many pre-digital. Sometimes serendipity steps in and pieces of the puzzle put themselves together. 

It is one of the key reasons I became an academic. I thought quite a bit of the job would involve just that sort of thing. In reality, I do much of my research 'in my spare time' and given my work on Australia-Japan relations doesn't sit within priority frameworks at present, it doesn't receive a lot of institutional support either. It's relegated to 'hobby' status. Nonetheless, I keep doing it, for moments like today. 

I have a presentation to make on Tuesday, on this Japanese fellow I've been working on a little recently; spent three months getting acquainted with conditions in the Northern Territory and Queensland and filed a lengthy 200 page report to the Japanese foreign minister--in 1893-4. Regular readers will be familiar with that story. 

Anyway, I've not yet found an image of him anywhere. Searched in Tokyo recently and although I found some additional biographical information on him, his was one of just a few entries in the dictionary which didn't include a photo. In the midst of reading some newspaper articles--I came across a portrait of him, taken by well-regarded Brisbane photographer, PC Poulsen, based in Queen Street. Crikey! Just one of those moments where you know, some times research just rocks. 

Putting the pieces together,
at 6.12pm in my 612 prize t-shirt...

I'm continuing to work away on the paper, both Tuesday night's presentation and the forthcoming one in Chicago. Thus at 6.12pm with discovery under my belt, I was working away on some more materials. I'm also seeking to wrap Watanabe's story in the Queensland context. Looks like I'll be doing a bit of work on the pronouncements of Samuel Griffith, premier at that time, namesake of my undergraduate university, name of the federal seat in which I live, represented by the man who was once prime minister and who does, himself, exhibits a penchant for Asian Studies. 

Some days, the circle of research does more than rock, it astounds. 

Day 66: The macha is always greener in another's cup

Day 66 (9 Feb) The weekend arrives though sleeping in doesn't. Not that I don't try but habits set in and I find myself getting up at the usual time. No clarinet rehearsal today but there is a plan to catch up with a colleague in town I haven't seen since the time of our postgrad studies a decade or so ago. 

The birds, at 6.12am

Thus at 6.12am 'life as normal' proceeds--feeding the lorikeets, coffee, breakfast and catching up on the week's papers. As a resident of the federal electorate of Griffith, I've been invited by a friend to contribute some occasional pieces on views from Ruddland, 'the constituents' view' as much as one can. I'm looking forward to that.

The catch up with the colleague was interesting. The opportunity to sit and chat about security and foreign policy issues is always welcome. I have largely stayed in academia, she has moved fluidly between the academy and the public service; she wants to return to the academy, I want to move on. Perhaps it is a case that the macha is always greener in another's cup. (You may have to refer to yesterday's post to grasp that reference.)

Waiting, at 6.12pm

Later in the afternoon there was a rather impromptu decision to go to a movie with another friend. 'Lincoln' is a movie that has been on the list for a few weeks, planned during the weekend of X-TC Oswald, we decided tonight was the time to go. It became an adventure in itself. 

Our preferred cinema is in the city, usually accessible by train but the spontaneity of the decision limited the public transport options. Easy, drive; problem: the football at Lang Park; car park too full to land the car and see the movie. Continuing therefore with the 'come what may' theme, within a few minutes we found ourselves heading towards a suburban cineplex. At 6.12pm then, we were about to hit the freeway to get to the cinema for a 6.20 or 6.25 start. Luckily suburban cinemas have a long enough run of ads and shorts that a 6.20 start, we calculated, would give us time to get in to buy tickets. 

We made it, we felt like it was a bit of an action movie sequence to get down the freeway in time, wait in line for the tickets and find our way into the cinema. Our guesstimate of time to get there without missing the start was right: 20 mins of ads meant we had plenty of time. 

The movie? It was good. I like to see movies as movies, not accurate historical reconstructions. Some have been critical of its accuracy. The negotiations that went on between the Republicans and the Democrats over the slavery amendment may or may not have been accurate; however, they certainly conveyed the feel of what goes on in the context of political argy-bargy. Back to politics...back to the other blog...back to watching the politics of today. 

Leisure or work...it always comes back to politics in one form or another for me. 

Get me my macha...

Day 65: I probably can't give up coffee, because 'macha latte'

Day 65 (8 Feb) Today, more sprinkles of rain as we woke up...seems it's never going to quite go away. That's good and bad I guess. Another day to head up the highway to continue preparations for the new academic year. 

It starts here, at 6.12am

The sports doping news continued to take up much of the airtime on the radio. We touched on it briefly in last night's program and I reflected on that at 6.12am when making my coffee. The caffeine in coffee can apparently be addictive...I don't believe I'm addicted to coffee but in the midst of the drug allegations and my on-air confession last night that perhaps, just perhaps, I'd find coffee really hard to give up...well, maybe. 

A coffee substitute (?)

I do enjoy my coffee, perhaps half a dozen cups a day, give or take three or four, and so I wouldn't give it up. But sometimes I try to alternate with teas. A colleague returned from Japan with a lovely gift of macha (green tea) latte sticks. Regular readers may recall I did try one of these in Japan back in December. And look, at lunchtime, it made a nice change...albeit it temporary. It was a talking point in the tearoom at least. I shall continue to seek to whittle down the coffee consumption. 

I probably spent a total of five out of nine hours on campus today in meetings or refining handbooks or further admin. 

Sippy Downs, at 6.12pm

I was heading towards another 6.12pm shot from the bat cave until exhorted by twitter friends to depart...besides it was my turn to order the pizza and that had to happen at the end of a 75 minute drive down the highway. We quite often see lovely sunsets around the campus but not tonight. A cloudy sky instead. Actually, from a photographers pov, clouds make fascinating subjects. 

Perhaps next week's macha latte could be imagined as a green cloud... 

The first draft of Tuesday's presentation is almost done. The weekend ahead is full of 19th century Japanese reportage on Queensland...there is still much to do.