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Monday, November 23rd, 2009
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8:33 pm - Melbourne Cup report
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As the title suggest, I was lucky enough to attend the 2009 Melbourne Cup.
Trip Report:
* Monday 2 November - This day got off to a late start due to the fact that we arrived in Melbourne at 3am. By the time we did finally get up it was midday and Bec and I headed out for brunch and a trip to the Melbourne Aquarium. Following that we went for a general ramble around Melbourne and did some shopping.
Despite being tired, I was still keen to meet up with Fish and Malland at the Waterfront hotel that evening. Yowie and a few other mates of Malland joined us and it ended up being a rather busy night with trips to the East Brunswick club (for some indy rock), a nightclub and the Spearmint Rhino.
* Tuesday 3 November - This was the day of the Melbourne cup and Bec woke up early to begin getting ready.
By the time we arrived at Flemington it was about 11am and the first race was just being run. From there it turned into a fairly hectic day as I repeatedly braved the crowds to place bets, buy drinks and otherwise have a walk around the racetrack. Although I cant honestly say it was something that I would do again as a lowly general admission spectator, I did end up having a lucky day and won more than $700 net.
Following the races Bec, Fish, Yowie, Malland and myself went to the Crown casino complex for dinner.
* Wednesday 4 November - After the races, we felt like a sleep in and this was another day with a pretty late start. After brunch we then went for a walk around the CBD shops, river foreshore and did a tour of the MCG. For dinner, we went to Lygon street and had a very nice meal at Tiamo's.
* Thursday 5 November - After some stuffing around, I managed to pick up our hire car (a very snazzy red Astra convertible) and Bec and I set off for our tour down the Great Ocean Road. We had lunch at a lighthouse just before Lorne and then continued on through Lorne and Apollo Bay to our hotel at Port Campbell. The scenery was truly beautiful (enhanced by having a convertible in my opinion) and both Bec and I had a fantastic time.
* Friday 6 November - Our last day in Victoria started at Port Campbell. After leaving town we completed the Great Ocean Road before cutting back to Melbourne on the inland route. We somewhat sadly dropped off the car at Melbourne airport and after an unimpressed wait in the Tiger terminal flew back to Perth.
Other stuff:
Since our return from Melbourne, other notable events have included;
* Sunday 7 November - Went to Botanica for a sunday session.
* Saturday 12 November - Despite good intentions, I ended up having a big night at the Red Sea (my first in a while).
*Thursday 19 November (Law Society Xmas drinks) - Unusually I ended up attending this event and against all expectations ended up having a big night (got home at 11.30pm). Very drunk night in the end and I can only hope that I didn't make too much of a fool of myself =P.
* Friday 20 - Sunday 22 November (Army High- Risk Search weekend) - Although well planned (we got to work with the Police bomb squad and search Victoria Dam and a mock 747 at Pearce airbase), I think the training and preparation leading up to this weekend was a little lacking. I also suffered from being very tired (sleep deficit from the week before) and ended up losing my temper at "Goldfish".
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| Tuesday, October 27th, 2009
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11:27 am - Spring cleaning
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It seems to be getting harder and harder to find the time to update Facebook, but hopefully my next update wont take as long as this one (nearly 4 months).
It is truly amazing how fast this year seems to be spinning by and I can't believe that we are already at the end of October. The long working weeks and short, busy weekends are making the months whiz by.
It would be impossible for me to try and recount everything I have done in the last few months so I will just focus on the highlights.
*Saturday 25 July (Waterloo Dinner): This years Waterloo dinner was both significantly later and less well attended than normal, but proved to be a good night none the less. Held at a function centre on the Swan River adjacent to Burswood, the night saw us all head to the Casino following the end of the formal dinner. Ended up staying there drinking and gambling until about 5am.
*Sunday 2 August (Botanica): This sunday saw Fish, Malland, Griffo, Caz, Byron, Jimbo (fresh off his Carta course) and I head to Botanica. After hearing how popular it was, we decided to get there early, with myself being the first to arrive at 1.30pm. The early start didnt lead us to practice moderation however and many, many drinks, shots and glasses of port followed. By 9.30pm Fish, Griffi and Malland had all been seperately kicked out. A very memorable night.
*Sunday 30 August (City to Surf): City to Surf is starting to become a bit of a tradition in my family and I was eager to compete again. Although my time was disappointingly slower than 2008, I still felt fitter for the exercise and was satisfied to find out that I was the first over the line for Marks & Sands.
Following lunch at the Wembley hotel, I then headed to the Windsor for some drinks with Malland & Ors.
*Friday 18 September - Sunday 20 September (Demolitions weekend): An interesting weekend (as all demolitions tasks are), but confirmed that my basic engineering skills are very rusty!
* Saturday 27 September (AFL Grand Final): As usual, I headed to the boozer to watch the game. In a change from previous years however, I decided to kick on afterwards and most of us headed to Subiaco. After starting at Paddy Macguires (good fun) we then headed to the Red Sea where most of us (unsurprisingly) got very drunk. Another very good night.
*Saturday 3 October (Oktoberfest): Awesome as usual, this Oktoberfest followed the general course of drinks at the boozer, bus to Northbridge and bar hopping until the early hours. I did get noticeably more smashed than last year however (really need to avoid Eurobar).
*Saturday 10 October (Spring in the Valley): I was very keen to go to Spring in the Valley this year as I had never been before. After a somewhat slow start to organising it, we ended up getting a group together on saturday morning and catching the train from the barracks to Midland. From Midland we then caught the bus to Elmar's Brewery where we spent most of the day, before trekking to MASH arounf 2.00pm. The general consensus was that Elmars was far better and that MASH sucked (the rain didnt help the vibe).
Saturday 17 October (Maintenance day): Having decided that this year's CATA wasnt for me (a good decision it seems after hearing about the gastro outbreak and subsequent quarantine), I only attended this one day for some AIRN admin and "non-teching". Although it was good to go for a run and do some shooting, I ended up seriously lacking the motivation to do much "non-teching".
Apart from that, I have continued to work long hours at Marks & Sands. The last month in particular has been notable for the variety of legal work that I have undertaken and I am starting to feel like I almost have an idea what is going on legally in my files. My office relations are still a little rocky and morale remains generally low - but (for a change) sometimes I begin to feel an almost buddhist calm and sense of detachment in my deaings with the different office personalities.
I am very much looking forward to having a week long holiday in Melbourne next week!
current mood:  contemplative
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| Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009
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1:43 pm - June 2009
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The months continue to fly by and we are now in June 2009. This year is going by so fast that its not funny.
Since my last post a lot of things have happened:
* Army Weekend (Fri 17 April - Sun 19 April): This weekend was an engineering skills weekend and involved us building a culvert at Bindoon. A hard but useful task, it was good to practice basic field engineering skills again. The only downside was the heavy rain that we experienced from Friday night to Saturday night (at one point in the afternoon it was positively torrential). To avoid the wetness we built a "taj ma hoochie" on saturday night that would probably have to rank amongst the best that the unit has ever constructed.
* ANZAC Day (Saturday 25 April): Despite not getting paid for ANZAC Day this year (due to budget cuts), we still had a fantastic day. As normal, things started early with the dawn ceremony, continued with the march through town (which we stayed in step for this year) and finished back at the boozer where we started drinking around 11am. The drinking continued throughout the day, with the Shed, Mustang (which was pretty lame due to swing dancing), the Aberdeen and finally the Paramount all featuring as pit stops. I ended up going home around 3am, so all in all it was a very big day. We need to organise our choice of pubs a bit better next year though, to avoid the issues we had at the Shed.
* Shane Newtons Birthday (Saturday 2 May): This night started at Paddy Hannans (the Casino) for Newies birthday and continued onto the Hip-E club were we lined up for ages, before getting in and having a few more drinks.
* Murdoch Law Students Ball (Friday 8 May): I got dragged along to this by Bec and despite knowing very few people I had a pretty good time. It was held at the Novotel langley and we had arranged a room to stay in afterwards. A good night, but was marred by an argument between us at the end of the night.
* My Birthday (Thursday 14 May): As usual I didnt do a huge amount for this and ended up just having Indian food at home with the family.
* FLAPA conference (Saturday 16 May): Instead of going on the army weekend I ended up going to the FLAPA conference (for work) and spent my Saturday at the university club listening to a range of speakers talk about family law.
* Birthday drinks (Friday 22 May): Despite it being a really crappy night to go out (very wet and stormy) I was lucky enough to still get a good attendance at my birthday drinks with easily 20+ people showing up for my birthday drinks at the Vic Hotel in Subiaco. Drinks started at the Vic around 8.30pm and continued on until about 11.30pm when we shifted to the Red Sea. All in all, it was arguably my best birthday drinks ever.
* Last week (Monday 25 - Friday 29 May): Last week was notable for the sheer amount of work I got done and the number of court appearances. In this one week alone, I did a Family Court directions hearing, FCWA ex parte application, a district court appearance and a VRO mention hearings at AMC. Amazingly enough i was successful in all of them and ended the week feeling pretty good about myself. Its definitely noticable how much i am learning at the moment.
* Long weekend (Friday 29 May - Monday 1 June): The activity continued on the long weekend, with Friday night spent with Bec ( and some hours at Drews new flat in Cott), Saturday at Paddy McGuires, the Shed, Hip-E club with some of the boys and Sunday spent at Drews housewarming. Another busy weekend.
Other notable events include the fact that Jennifer has headed off to the USA for a few months (left on Sunday 24 May) and the parents left on Saturday (30 May) for their month long trip through central australia. This thursday also marks the six month anniversary for Bec and I.
I could also really do with a substantial holiday.
current mood:  lazy
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| Monday, April 13th, 2009
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11:59 pm - Easter 2009
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April is upon us already and I have now been working at Marks & Sands for 5 weeks.
So far things seem to be going ok and I feel like I am learning new things every day. Nothing beats practical experience and so far I have been thrown head first into new areas of the law. However, I have decided to opt out of the firm sports events as my lack of sporting prowess is too embarassing.
A few of the others things that have occured in the last month include:
*Bec's Birthday party(Sat March 21) - Bec held her birthday at the Leederville hotel and despite some early concerns that noone would show up, it ended up being quite a good night. The birthday girl did have a little bit too much to drink though and ended up being very sick at the end of the night.
*Saturday 28 March - Bec's friends had a gathering at Karris's house to watch the Brisbane vs West Coast game and I was invited along. A reasonably enjoyable night, only remarkable because it gave me a chance to meet her family and friends.
*Rolfes Housewarming (Friday 3 April) - Following work drinks I started this night at Legal Aid where the new AC's were having their first social club party. Not a bad event, though I probably had a little bit too much to drink and it was a little weird being at a former workplace.
Following LAWA, we then headed via my house and Bec gave me a lift to Jeff and Rolfes house in Mullaloo. Once there I had a lot more to drink and ended up very smashed. Needless to say the next day was a write off.
*V-fest (Sun 5 April) - Held at Claremont showgrounds this year, V-fest was a great day. Tagging along with Luke, Jimbo and Malland we got there around 3pm and proceded to tuck into the drinks. Highlights of the day were - Duffy,Kaiser Chiefs, Snow Patrol and the Killers. Towards the end we were joined in the moshpit by Mitto, Beaz and Woody. A really great day all up.
*Easter Long weekend (Thurs 9 - Mon 13) - The long weekend started on Thursday night with me taking Bec to the Witches Cauldron for dinner. Not a bad night, though I possibly could have done with less wine!
Friday was a subsequently easy day, leading up to a massive saturday where I went on a pub crawl through Perth with Jimbo (it was his old girlfriend Janet Morgans birthday). Ran into Alex Sare there as well which was interesting. Very, very drunk by the end and SHOULD NOT have gone to the Red Sea afterwards.
Yesterday and today have subsequently been pretty quiet. Wish I had more time off work!!
current mood:  embarrassed
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| Monday, March 2nd, 2009
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11:01 pm - New Beginnings
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My days at Legal Aid have finally finished and I will be starting work in private practice from tomorrow morning (at Marks & Sands). I dont know how it is going to work out and I am a bit apphrehensive about what sort of pay and conditions I will find there, but I am hoping that it will a good stepping stone to a great future.
I have to remind myself to knuckle down, keep a low profile and be enthusiastic for any task they throw my way. A little luck would be nice as well.
In the last month I have continued to keep busy. Some of the highlights include:
*Army Induction weekend (Sat 7 - Sun 8 February): Held at Karrakatta as per usual this weekend was pretty much the same as the other six I have attended. BFA, WTTS shoot and a heap of lectures the only thing different was that we all went out to the Swanbourne SLC "Swannie Blue" party on saturday night and got trashed - A very good night. Unfortunately however it didnt make up for the sad cicumstances in which the unit lost Rolfe.
*CPD conference (Thurs 12 & Fri 13 February): I'm still not entirely sure how CPD applies to me at the moment, but I decided to attend this event either way. Thursday (Family Law) was quite educational followed by a similarly useful Friday (criminal law) which was topped off by a great ethics hypothetical. Was amusing to see some of the older lawyers get completely blotto at the end of the night.
*Valentines Day (Sat 14 February): I went all out to impress this year and sent flowers to Bec, followed by dinner at the Sicilian resturant and a night at the Perth Hyatt. A great night though at the price I apid, I would have hoped so. Finished off the next morning with a relaxing early start and a great brunch in Subiaco.
* Last day at LAWA (Fri 20 February): After several weeks spent doing very little it was a relief to finally finish up at Legal Aid and leave behind increasingly bad vibes. Although my final days task (heading to Casuarina) wasnt ideal I managed to get through things pretty quickly and after saying a few farewells I had farewell drinks at Emporium. Although the crowd wasnt as large as I would have hoped (it was mainly infoliners) it was good to see a few people for the first time in ages.
* Malland & Griffo's Birthday (Sat 21 February): This night started at Mallands place before a bunch of us headed to the Wembley for Griffo's birthday. Following the Wembley, Griffo, Fish and myself got a lift from Cristie and went to the Mustang bar. Ran into Jennifer and her friends there and had a pretty good time. All in all it was a good night.
* Antigone (Fri 27 February): Bec's Valentines gift to me was tickets to Sophocles tragic play "Antigone". Held at the Subiaco arts centre it was a well staged and performed production. Preceded by a good dinner at Chutney Mary's.
*Byrons B-day (Sat 28 February): Held at the Newport in Fremantle this was a pretty small event with only Ross, Popey, Fish and myself in attendance - later to be joined by a few of his bouncer mates. Headed to Metro Freo after the Newport closed.
* Wiltshire's going away drinks ( Sun 29 February): Held at the Sail and Anchor in Fremantle this was a much better attended event and featured most of the older blokes from the unit. After a good but somewhat eventful (Leb's date had a fainting spell) evening at the pub, we then went to "the Clink" for some crazy dancing and drinking. A very memorable night.
All in all its been a very good, but very expensive start to the year. With the added pressures of a new job, I may have to try and scale back my going out.
current mood:  satisfied
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| Thursday, February 5th, 2009
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8:10 pm - The New Year
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We are already into the second month of 2009 and things have been going very well so far. Things got of to a very good start on NYE/New Years Day and have generally continued going well since then. Some of the recent highlights include:
* NYE - Home alone, Luke and I decided to celebrate at the Red Sea and started walking down around 8.30pm. Upon arriving we discovered that we had to pay the full $100 ticket price (bad) and that the ticket included unlimited drinks until close (good). Needless to say we all got completely trashed.
* Perth Cup (1 Jan 2009) - At Bec's suggestion we went along to the Perth Cup this year. After very groggily pulling myself out of bed, things soon got a lot better when we headed to the racetrack and met up with Malland, Jimbo, Cheyne and their respective friends. In the end we spent most of our day sitting in the grandstand with Cheyne, Brett, Drew, Sarah etc and had a very satisfying day drinking and gambling. Despite being a complete novice to racing I managed to get two first places out of four wagers and walked away with more money than i came with.
Following the end of the races, we then kicked on by first heading to the Casino before moving on to Eurobar. By this stage I was well and truly exhausted and we headed home around 9pm.
*Boys Night Out (Friday 9 January) - Organised by Malland, this night started with drinking games at his house, followed by a trip to the Westminster and a pretty epic crawl through Northbridge. Finished up around 5.30am.
*Australia Day (26 January) - As usual we headed around to Pippins traditional BBQ and had an awesome time. Jimbo and I ended up drinking ridiculous amounts of Red Bull however and I still had the shakes the next morning.
*Rolfes BBQ/TOGA (Saturday 31 Jan) - This day started at Rolfes BBQ in mullaloo, before getting a lot wilder at the Cottesloe SLC TOGA party that night. As with all good TOGA parties, it ended in chaos with a lot of skinny dipping.
*Big Day Out (Sunday 1 February) - Although the lineup was no where near as good as previous years we still ended up having a very good time at the 2009 BDO. Highlights of the day were probably the Birds of Tokyo, TV on the Radio and Neil Young (who really impressed me). All in all a good , relaxed day despite the brutal heat.
*Admission to the roll of practitioners (Tuesday 3 February) - A very long time in the coming, this day saw us all head down to the Supreme Court at 9.30am. Once there we nervously milled around outside before heading inside for the ceremony. Although I wasnt expecting much, the ceremony was surprisingly moving and it was extra special for having Dad there.
Following the formalities - Wendy, Michelle, Kathy, Mel and myself (plus respective family and friends) headed to Coco's at south perth for a celebratory lunch. All in all a very good day.
In other general news, things are still going well with Bec and I have been offered a job with Marks and Sands (due to start 2 March 2009).
current mood: satisfied
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| Tuesday, December 30th, 2008
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8:55 pm - Summer Fun
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2009 is rapidly drawing to a close and I have to say that life is going pretty well at the moment.
Since my last post I have had a very busy two months. Some of the events worth mentioning include:
*Indigenous War Graves Cataflaque party (Sun 9 November) - To try and earn some extra money I volunteered for this Cataflaque party at Karrakatta cemetary. The whole event was in commemoration of an indigenous war veteran who had not recieved due recognition whilst he was alive.
*Army Live (Sat 22 November) - Instead of going on the scheduled watermanship weekend up at Lancelin I volunteered to work at Army Live. Unfortunately this one was very similiar to the last few Army Live events that I have been to and was a bit of a waste of time.
*Young Lawyers Commitee drinks (Thursday 28 Nov) - This event was held at the platform bar under the Woodside building and represented a good opportunity to mingle with my fellow young lawyers and do some networking. Following a couple of hours at the YLC event I then got in a taxi around 9pm and headed to the Raffles hotel for drinks with the infoliners (one girl was having a birthday party there). Very drunk by the time I got home, but all in all a great night.
*End of Year Parade (Tuesday 2 Dec) - This whole of brigade event saw us dress up in polys, carry rifles and parade around the 11/28 parade ground for two hours. Like most parades it was a fairly boring event, but it was nice to see everyone dressed up.
*End of Year Unit Weekend (Sat 6 - Sun 7 December) - The final unit weekend of the year was all in all a very cruisy event. Saturday was spent predominantly doing shooting practices at the WTTS followed by some scenarios in the afternoon. Saturday night was then spent at the boozer (learning some old drinking games) after which we headed out to the Mustang bar for a night out. All in all a very good night.
Unsurprisingly, Sunday was a considerably slower day with a morning clean up and volleyball followed by a lunch time BBQ and early knockoff.
* LAWA Christmas Party (12 December) - Held at the Forrest Centre, this event went off surprisingly well. Everyone seemed to have fun, there were no fights or tears and I persoanlly had quite a good night. Following the end of the function most of us continued drinking downstairs, before a few of us decided to head to Carnegies and Ambar.
* Housesitting in Cottesloe (Sat 13- Monday 22 December) - I was lucky enough to house sit for the Wilcoxes again and made the most of the opportunity. On the first sunday I headed to the Cott for a sunday session with Jimbo and his mates and ended up having a really good night that finished up at Clubba.
During the next week I then had a variety of people come and stay with me (such as Bec, Jonno and Davo). I also tried to organise a big Sunday session for the 21st but in the end only about 5 of the army guys ended up coming along (which was a little disappointing).
*CCGS 10 year reunion (Sat 21 December) - This event was held at the Freshwater bay yacht club and went surprisingly well. Prior to going I had been quite nervous about what the atmosphere would be like, but in the end everyone (there were approx 40 old boys there) was friendly and no one seemed interested in carrying on any of the old feuds from school.
*Christmas & Boxing Day(25 & 26 December) - Both of these days were very quiet, family orientated events with the whole family at home for another years Christmas.
In other news, things have come to a head with the boss of the country lawyers program (Jane S) and following a rather emotional meeting on the day of the Crime section Christmas party (Friday 5 December)I have decided that I do not intend to continue on with the country lawyers program following my admission and that I may be better off seeking a job somewhere else. Obviously, looking for a new job is a pretty nerve wracking experience and I am also regretful about leaving Legal Aid because I have really enjoyed my time there. However, I have been there for nearly four years now and it is probably time that I looked for fresh pastures and new opportunities.
Apart from that Simon is back in Perth from Brisbane and I am still seeing a lot of Bec from Legal Aid (things are going pretty well so far).
current mood: content
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| Thursday, October 9th, 2008
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11:23 pm - A magnet for trouble...
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The year is whizzing by and the weather is starting to get noticeably warmer as we move towards summer. In general the last weeks have been the same old continuation of work and heavy drinking, but a few noteworthy events have taken place.
*September army weekend (19 Sep - 21 Sep): Another lead up training weekend - this one took place at Bindoon and involved establishing a perimeter and operating a VCP over a 24 hour period. Unsurprisingly, the engineers ended up pretty much running the whole VCP setup and doing most of the tasks that needed doing. This weekend was also surprising for the sheer number of ticks we saw - at one tick nest we found, you could literally see the ground crawling with them.
*Housesitting (Monday 22nd - Tuesday 30th Sep): During the week leading up to the long weekend I housesat a house in Cottesloe for my mums friends, the Wilcoxes. Awesome house overlooking the ocean. Hopefully I'll get another chance to housesit there this summer! For most of the time Jonno stayed with me, which was good for the company.
*Long Weekend Sunday (28th Sep): This sunday was generally disasterous. First off the cars radiator sprang a leak and overheated, then a chair collapsed underneath me at Rolfes BBQ and finally after much lining up, I ended up in a scuffle at the OBH. Rarely has one day been so unlucky.
*Oktoberfest (Sat 4th Oct): After having a massive night at the Red Sea on friday, I was well warmed up for 2008 Oktoberfest and it didnt disappoint. Huge 1 litre steins, good german beer, great band and an awesome mix of people all made our time at the boozer very memorable. Following a rowdy bus trip into town we then headed to the eurobar, before heading to Mustang and Blackbettys. The only blot on an other wise awesome night was that i got kinghit at Blackbettys less than a minute after entering the club and suffered some pretty painful injuries to my lips, teeth and nose.
Tomorrow night I start Exercise Swift eagle which will see us spend two weeks in North QLD carrying out mock RASO and Evac operations. Its definitely not the most relaxing way to spend two weeks of annual leave, but hopefully its interesting and I'm looking forward to making/saving a fair bit of money while I'm away.
current mood:  tired
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| Wednesday, September 10th, 2008
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10:34 pm - Springy September
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Winter has gone away and spring is here. 2008 is flying by far too quickly and I'm almost 8 months into my Articles - with 2009 still very unclear.
The last two months since my last post have been pretty much more of the same, with work, work, work and a fair bit of heavy drinking keeping me busy. Some things worth mentioning include;
*July Army weekend (18 - 20 July): This was a CBRND weekend run jointly with the grunts and I finally got to experience the joys of CS gas. A good, productive weekend though.
*August Army weekend (15-17 August): Another weekend run jointly with the grunts, this Screaming eagle lead up training exercise saw us head up to Lancelin for a very painful two days of IMT. In my opinion, Lancelin has to be worst possible place in WA to do IMT and I still have scars on me from this weekend.
*Paintballing (Sat 23rd August): Made the trek up to Clackline for some paintballing with Lebs, his uni mates and some of the army boys. I'd never been paintballing before and it was a pretty good experience.
*Opeth concert (2nd September): Went to see the Swedish heavy metal band Opeth at Metro city with Rolfe and his mates. I wasnt overly impressed with the music, but it was an interesting night none the less.
*ATP property course (3-5 September): The last component of my ATP training. I have the exam next monday.
*Commerce Graduation (Tuesday 9 September):Last night was my commerce graduation and I have now officially graduated in all my degrees. Although I have already sat through it all twice before, I actually rather enjoyed last night and it was good to catch up with a few people that i hadnt seen in a long time (Naim, James Stuart and Dave G in particular). Now all I need to do is sort out my photos and get my degree certificates framed.
In between all that, there have also been a fair few birthday parties and other crazy nights out on the piss. I'm not sure what the next few months will bring, but I'm hoping that they will continue to be fun =).
current mood:  hopeful
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| Monday, July 7th, 2008
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11:14 pm - Start of the New Financial Year
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2008/2009 is upon us and I am anxiously awaiting my tax return. So far this year, despite earning far more than ever before I have been quite ironically stuck deep in a credit card rut. Hopefully I'll get enough money this month to sort that out.
The last month and a half has been quite a busy one, full of work and social events. Some of the more notable are:
*LAWA social club 70's night (Fri 23rd May): Although a successful event this night was also noticeable for the high degree of tension amongst many of us. Went out to AMBAR afterwards and had a reasonably good time.
*End of ATP drinks (Friday 30th May): We all celebrated the end of ATP with a nice lunch at Sienna's resturant followed by drinks at the Queens and Flying Scotsman.
* (Saturday 14th June): Attended Will's housewarming and went to watch Jimbo's band play in Fremantle. Went to the Clink nightclub afterwards.
*LAWA social club EOFY party(Friday 27th June): Another social club party, which was notable for the low attendance. Went to Lara W's B-day drinks at the Llama bar afterwards.
*Central wheatbelt circuit (Monday 30th June - Wed 2nd July): Followed Jack Trainor around the wheatbelt, visiting Northam, Southern Cross and Merredin. Good fun and notable for my first real court appearances.
*Leb's and Wilt's going away party( Wed 2nd July): Went to the Newport in Freo for a few drinks with the boys.
*Pippin & Peters going away (Thursday 3rd July): A memorable night at Cap S to farewell two top blokes and great mates.
* Jen Cass's leaving drinks (Friday 4th July): Although initially intended to be a short night, I ended up drinking in the city and Subi/Red Sea until 4am.
*Waterloo dinner (5th July): A much smaller and shorter event than last year. Somehow ended up with memory loss at the end of the night.
In other news, I have also started a new rotation in the Family/Civil law section and an starting to plan my future travels again. There have also been a few somewhat memorable nights at Carnegies and Tiger Lils in there.
current mood:  optimistic
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| Monday, May 19th, 2008
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11:05 pm - Birthday bachelor
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Another birthday has come and gone and I'm now 26 (well into my mid 20's I guess). Despite the usual birthday blues last wednesday though, things are actually not too bad at the moment. The last month in particular has been a very busy and educational period.
A few of the things that have taken place include;
*ANZAC Day (Friday 25th April) - as usual this was another awesome day. Spent the night at the barracks before heading down to Pinjarra early on friday morning for the ceremony down there. Following that it was back up to Perth, the Devils inn and a bus ride to the Shed where we spent the rest of the night.
*ATP (from Monday 5 May) - My last two weeks have been spent at ATP and I have another two weeks or so left. Despite the last group of AC's hating it, I have actually found ATP pretty good so far. Admittedly it is a little like uni (with all the assessments and homework etc), but in the main most of the exercises have been very useful and practically orientated. Its a good opportunity to do a bit of social networking too!
* Birthday (Wednesday 14 May) - Although I started the day feeling pretty crappy, things got better throughout the day and I ended up having a big night out at Cap S and the Hip-E club. Fair few people turned up, which was good to see. =)
*Birthday weekend (Fri 16 - Sun 18 May) - Friday night started at the Flying Scotsman with the ATP crew and then ended up with me heading out with Langers & Greg to the Westminster and Northbridge. Quite a ego boosting night in the end. Saturday was a slightly earlier night that started at Rangas farewell party at the subi hotel and ended at the Red sea, where Griffo proved far, far too drunk to stay out (very disappointing!). Sunday was lovely though, with a great meal at the Subiaco hotel.
Apart from that, I've also been out on a number of other occasions, especially to the Hip-E club on weekends and the Mighty Quinn on Sunday arvos.
current mood: hopeful
current music: Led Zeppelin - Immigrant song
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| Monday, April 21st, 2008
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10:25 pm - Lifestyle of a poor lawyer
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Well the seasons are changing and the weather is getting discernibly colder as we move into the middle of autumm. I just saw that my last entry was dated the 10th of March and I honestly cant believe how quickly time has flown by. Its been almost three months now, since I got back from overseas and even scarier is the fact that my 26th birthday is just over 3 weeks away. I'm already well past the point where you change from looking forward to your birthday - to wishing it would never come around again.
The last month and a half has been heavily dominated by working 8.30am to 4.40pm monday to friday, but a few interesting things have happened.
*St Patricks Day (17th March)- Although very inconveniently on a monday this year, I still managed to head out for some fun at the Mighty Quinn irish pub in Tuart hill with the army boys. Although I did indeed live to regret it, I partied hard (drinking, dancing & singing)until closing time at midnight.
*That same week (17th - 20th March) I also did a rotation at Childrens Court Protection services.
* Easter (21st - 24th March): Had a very quiet Easter and dont remember doing very much for it (went to Peters house for a BBQ on Friday arvo).
*Bought a new queen size bed the following weekend (29th March)
*V Festival (Sunday 6th April): A relatively new addition to the Perth festival lineup, we went along for the first time this year and had a great time. The great bands we saw included Cut copy, The Jesus & Mary chain, Modest Mouse, Queens of the Stone Age, Duran Duran and the Smashing Pumpkins. In general the lineup was awesome, though The Smashing Pumpkins were a little disappointing (played a lacklustre set full of jamming on stage and songs that nobody knew).
*ANZAC day preparation (Sat 12th March): This day of ANZAC day preperations has ended up being the only weekend activity for April (apart from ANZAC day itself) and was a pretty cruisy day taken up primarily of drill practice.
*LAW Graduation (Monday 14th April): I guess this was supposed to be a momentous occasion, but in the end it was a pretty ordinary night. Sickness, combined with mondayitis and mum feeling bad, made it a fairly tiring evening. I do hope that Grandma enjoyed seeing me graduate though (she had come over for the last two weeks).
* Pantomime (Thursday 17th April): Went to this semesters pantomime at UWA. A little lame as usual, but still funny.
Apart from that I spent most of the weekend trying to get over the bad cold thingy I had last week - though i did also find the time to go out Saturday (Leederville) and Sunday night (Mighty Quinn with Rolfe, Fish and Langers).
This week I am seconded to the ALS and looking forward to the ANZAC weekend!
current mood: thoughtful
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| Monday, March 10th, 2008
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10:31 pm - The lawyering life
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I'm not sure if "lawyering" is a proper word but it pretty much sums up the fact that the last month has been overwhelmingly dominated by the demands of my new job as an Articled Clerk at Legal Aid WA.
I started work on the 4th of feb and was immediately plunged into 3 weeks of induction training, following which we all headed off to our respective sections. My first rotation is Client services and after two weeks of sitting in and being sat in with, I am now apparently trusted enough to start taking appointments on my own.
Other notable events include.
*Unit induction weekend 15th-17th February.
*Saw Interpol again on sunday 17th Feb (awesome band with awesome songs!)
*Went to wednesday night drinks at carnegies with the infoliners a few times.
*Particapated in a non-continuous Lucas Mill course (Sat 1st -Mon 3rd & 8th-9th march) that the unit has been running. I guess its a very important and useful skill to have - but I've never felt so unmotivated about a course in my life!
*Helped man the Legal Aid stall at the Tri-law fair tonight. Not sure how much help I was, but from a networking point it was a pretty good night (saw a heap of people I went to uni with). In general I think I still have a lot to learn about playing the part of a mature, young professional.
current mood: thoughtful
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| Monday, February 4th, 2008
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12:10 am - Life in Perth
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I have now been back home in Perth for a full week and things are already completely back to normal (ie/ the same as when I left). Unfortunately for me however, I am still quite dissatisfied with the Perth status quo and have firmly resolved to spend most of the next few years as far away from Perth as I can manage. In the meantime though I start my new job and legal career tomorrow morning which promises to be interesting.
In other news I;
* Had a great time as usual at Pippins Australia Day BBQ. After flying into Perth at 9am or so on saturday morning I did a quick dash home before heading straight to Pippins. Although not a massive BBQ, I really enjoyed the chance to catch up with everyone and relax telling stories about my trip.
*Took Sunday and Monday very easy. Generally relaxed and umpacked.
*Had a shave, haircut and bought a new phone on Tuesday.
*Rode the new trainline down to Mandurah on Wednesday and had a bit of a look around the town.
*Had a very, very lame Friday night with Jonno and his housemates. I've put him on notice he needs to lift his game generally.
*Went to the Kwinana Motorplex with Dad on Saturday night to watch some drag racing. Although predicatably full of bogans, I actually quite enjoyed watching the drag races (especially the top fuelers - there is something primal about the way they rumble and roar).
*Went to the 2008 Big Day Out today. Another great day in which we saw the bands Krill, Operator Please, Anti-Flag, Faker, Midnight Juggernauts, Battles, Billy Bragg, Arcade Fire, Silverchair (fronted by a very strange Daniel Johns), Bjork and finally Rage Against the Machine (who headlined). All of the bands put on very solid performances and I personally feel that this was the best BDO for a few years.
current mood: tired
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| Thursday, January 24th, 2008
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7:30 pm - Fun in the sun (Bangkok)
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(This is a copy of my last group email for the trip)
Hello everyone,
its been a month since I sent my last email and in that time I've been all around Thailand and spent a week in Laos.
After leaving Siem Reap I took a very rough bus ride to Bangkok(hard seats, unpaved road, no air conditioning and enough dust coming in the windows to make me look like some sort of bedouin by the end =P). From Bangkok I then caught a flight down to Ko samui and spent the next 11 days or so drinking way too much and partying hard on the islands of Ko pha ngan and Ko tao. Christmas Eve this year was the night of the full moon party on Ko pha ngan and I gotta say that it definitely lives up to its reputation as the biggest beach party in the world. According to the locals there were about 30,000 tourists on the island for the event and the beach was full of ravers from at least 10pm (when we arrived) until 6am or so when the sun came up (when we finally decided to stumble home at 8.30am the beach was covered with the unconscious).
After a few days on Ko pha ngan we all then headed to Ko tao which I actually enjoyed more than Ko pha ngan (so much more relaxed, with a cheaper standard of living to boot). I was lucky enough to be there for New Years and although Ko Pha Ngan may have the biggest beach parties in the world - I would argue that Ko tao has the best. Its hard to explain in words what it was like, but it was far, far better than any of the atrocious NYE's that Cottesloe puts on.
Despite being badly hungover and missing a lot of sleep I still managed to get on a ferry the following afternoon and following a really disgusting ferry ride (rough weather and huge waves meant that almost half of the passengers of the boat were sea sick) and a connecting night bus I manged to make it back to Bangkok early on the 2nd of Jan. From Bangkok I then spent the next two weeks touring through central and northern Thailand. Highlights include;
*Kanchunaburi - site of the Burma/Thai death railway, bridge over the river kwai and hellfire pass etc
*Ayuthaya - the old ruined capital of Thailand. Although destroyed over 250 years ago, little rebuilding has taken place and much of the old city has been made into a UNESCO world heritage site.
*Sukkothai - another ruined former capital of Thailand (yes - I am a bit of a ruins/archaeology junkie).
*Chiang Mai - a very pretty, chilled out town in the mountains of northern thailand.
*Chiang Rai - another rustic, chilled out mountain town. From here I also made a day trip over the border into Myanmar (Burma) which is like stepping into a different world. Burma is almost completely undeveloped by world standards with very few paved roads, few cars and little in the way of industry that I can see. From the little that I saw I could definitely agree with the old travellers cliche that visiting Burma is "like stepping back in time".
From Chiang Rai I then crossed the border and travelled into Laos. Laos is probably not a place you've heard much about, but trust me when I say that it is completely awesome! Everywhere on my travels other backpackers were raving about Laos and it didnt disappoint (apparently it is the flavour of the month in travelling circles). The real charm of Laos is that it is so little developed that much of its natural beauty remains unspoilt and the people still remain friendly and uncorrupted by tourism. The bus ride through northern Laos was another occasion when i felt like I was stepping back in time, with the stunning vista of the jungle cloaked mountains only occasionally interrupted by rustic villages that probably look the same as they did 200 years ago (wooden stilt houses, women in traditional dress, pigs and chickens running around everywhere etc).
The old royal capital of Luang Prabang is another amazing place with the old city designated a world heritage zone by UNESCO. Perched on a scenic bend of the Mekong, the city is probably the closest your ever going to get to the late 1800's in Asia.
Not everything in Laos is about scenery though, with Vang Vieng the undisputated backpackers party capital of Asia. Although surrounded by beautiful scenery too, the nature of the activities here (caving, climbing and tubing) mean that it is never likely to be overun by package tourists. If your wondering what tubing is, it basically involves flowing down a reasonaably fast flowing river on an inner tube past a few rapids. The awesome bit however comes from the fact that the eneterprising locals have constructed a series of 7 bars (each of them with a massive platform to swing or jump into the river from) along the banks of the river - which allows you to get unbelievably drunk on whisky buckets as you float along the river. I'll try and put some photos up on facebook to give you an idea, but Vang Vieng is a place that could never exist if Laos had tort lawyers (water, rapids, high places, rocks and heaps and heaps of alcohol make it the most dangerous place in Laos for tourists). I've already spent a paragraph talking about Vang Vieng and I could spend another three raving about it. Just trust me when I say that its absolutely awesome and a must do in SE Asia!
After two days, three nights tubing and partying in Vang Vieng my body was completely battered & bruised and it was kind of a relief to head down to Vientiane and from there to Bangkok. I have two days here before i arrive home in Perth on saturday and I'm already feeling sad that my trip has to come to an end. On the bright side though, I am looking forward to seeing most of you again soon and starting work at the beginning of February.
Cheers
Mark
current mood: contemplative
current music: People talking on Skype
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| Friday, December 21st, 2007
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8:50 pm - Holiday in Cambodia
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*Extract from my last group email*
Things have improved a lot in Cambodia since the Dead Kennedy's wrote their ode to the khmer rouge in the early 80's and it is now definitely on the well trodden tourist track. At the moment I am in Siem Reap and have spent the last two days wandering around the temple complex of Angkor marvelling at the size and grandeur of the old temples.
It is hard to explain them without pictures, but if you can imagine huge man made mountains of stone rising out of the jungle that is a start. One thing most people fail to realise about Angkor is that Angkor wat is merely one temple complex amongst many (albeit the most spectacular and famous) and that there are many other, less known temples here, that are also spectacular. I'm sure you could spend weeks traipsing around the Siem Reap area and only manage to see half of the old Khmer ruins here. Another thing that surprises me is comparatively how recent the ruins are (most were finally abandoned only 500 or so years ago) and how quickly the jungle has moved in to reclaim the land. In Australia we constantly talk about how much damage we're doing to the enevironment and I think we sometimes underestimate the power and resiliance of mother nature.
Since my last email I've also visited;
*Hoi An - where I went on a shopping spree at the tailor shop and somehow managed to spend over $450 US dollars on new clothes (two suits, three shirts, trousers and shorts) - plus another $80 US sending it all home.
*Nha Trang - Vietnam's version of the Gold Coast (complete with tacky theme park).
*Dalat - An old French hillstation that has so much French style architecture left, you almost feel like your in the French Alps.
* Ho Chi Minh City - The old Saigon. Loaded with history and possessing some awesome nightlife.
* Mekong delta - Very Hot, very humid and more brown water than I ever want to see again.
* Phnom Penh - An interesting city that still bears the scars of its abandonment during the Khmer Rouge's time in power. Tuol sleng prison and the killing fields are two of the most sombre and confronting places I have ever been too (in some ways they are much less sanitised than the old concentration camps in Europe).
Apart from all the usual tourist attractions in those places, I've also continued drinking heavily and am still having an awesome time partying my way through SE Asia. One of the biggest highlights of backpacking is definitely all the cool, crazy and really interesting people that you meet travelling. I could probably spend another two pages trying to recount all the crazy times I've had on the booze, but its easier if you just look at some of the photos on facebook.
current mood:  curious
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| Monday, December 17th, 2007
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10:57 am - Good night Vietnam, Good morning Cambodia
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My month in Vietnam has come to an end and i am now in Phnom Penh (Cambodia). I would honestly say that my time in Vietnam was one of the best months of my life. The scenary, activities, interesting culture/history and most of all - some great travelling companions all made Vietnam an awesome place to travel.
Highlights for me would probably be; Hanoi, Halong bay,Hue, Hoi An and Saigon - all of which had a brilliant combination of sights and party nights!
The linear nature of Vietnam (ie/ you can only really go North - south or south- north) is a huge social asset, with the same people constantly reappearing in my travels. In saigon some nights it almost seemed like I knew half the bar.
At the moment I'm having a bit of an easy day in Phnom Penh as I'm not quite sure what i intend to do ( I really want to get some clothes tailored). This afternoon I think I'll see the city sights, before visiting the killing fields tomorrow. From there its onwards to Siem Reap and from there I fly to Laos on Saturday for three weeks or so. Hopefully I'll be able to meet some more cool people to travel with in cambodia and laos.
current mood: contemplative
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| Saturday, December 1st, 2007
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9:11 pm - Vietnam (Hue)
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(This is a copy of my last group letter)
There comes a time in every man's life when he realises that he has limits. For me personally, the last week has brought the realisation that I'm just not cut out to be a hardcore alcoholic. A bingedrinker maybe, but an alco no. =P
After arriving in Hanoi late on saturday night (still hungover from Peters party the night before), I had approximately 16 hours of sobriety before meeting the rest of 'Team Tiger' (a collection of Irish, Australians, Poms and a completely crazy Canadian) at the Hostels rooftop bar . From there on things become a bit hazy as we drank and partied our way through 6 days in Hanoi, Halong bay and Sapa. Probably the highpoint/lowpoint was our trip to Halong bay where amongst other things;
*We each bought a slab of Tiger beer prior to the voyage and smuggled the beer onboard in our packs, making room for the booze by putting our clothes in plastic bags ( which earnt us funny looks from the crew).
*Tried to dispose of the now empty beer cans mentioned above, by hiding them rather comically under plastic chairs.
* Went for a hike up a mountain on Cat ba island only wearing thongs and carrying beer (instead of hiking shoes and water). Initially the guide had promised us it would be an easy stroll, but it ended up being a near vertical scramble over rocks at the end (something which isnt that much fun when your dont like heights and are already slightly drunk).
* Partied until 3AM everynight.
*Started drinking at 9AM the next morning.
*Had several people jump off the top of the moving cruise boat on the way back to shore.
It was at the last two points that I realised that I'm just not as crazy anymore as I used to be. I dont care how many times people tell you that the best way to overcome a hangover is to keep drinking, I just dont want to smell - let alone drink beer at 9AM after only 6 hours of sleep. Jumping of a moving cruise boat in Vietnam, where the crew dont speak enough English to understand what "man overboard' means also didnt really appeal to me. Serious hangovers/liver damage meant that Teams tigers trip to Sapa was a little more restrained, but by the end of it I was kinda happy to move on away from them and get my sobriety/sanity back.
On a more serious note though, I've had an awesome time in Vietnam so far. Hanoi is a fascinating city (with all its throwbacks to the Vietnam war era such as the 'hanoi hilton' prison and the war museum), while Halong bay, Sapa and Ninh Binh are all blessed with amazing scenery. At the moment I'm in the old imperial capital of Hue and plan to be here for a few days before heading down to Hoi An on monday night where I'm hoping to get some suits tailored for me.
current mood: thoughtful
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| Friday, November 16th, 2007
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12:18 am - Leaving song..
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Exams have come and gone for another year and *fingers crossed* my days as an undergraduate student are all done. None of them was particularly fantastic, but I'd like to think that I passed them all. My exams this semester were
*Procedure (Sat 3rd November): This was the exam I had been dreading all year and while I wouldnt go as far as to say it was easy, it wasnt as hard as I feared it would be. I'm not sure if I'll be getting a good mark for it, but I am very hopeful that I passed.
*Strategic marketing (Fri 9th November): My last commerce unit. As an extension of my view that this unit was a joke, I didnt end up doing much study prior to this exam and will be happy with a pass.
* Succession (Sat 10th November): Another unit that I'm pretty sure I passed. Would have been nice if I could finish all the questions off and had covered the questions better.
*Commercial Practice (Mon 12th November): This was a Pass/fail unit that I was pretty sure I had already passed through my coursework. Consequently I didnt end up doing much study for it and walked out pretty early (some people left after just half an hour).
In other news I've;
*Had some pretty good wednesday nights at the Leederville/Hipp-E club lately (we finally got tired of Paddy Macguires). I probably shouldnt have gone out at all during the study break, but they ended up being good nights
*Saw Muse last saturday (10th Nov) at the Supreme Court gardens. A great band and a good venue and as an added bonus we ran into Bezza, Liz and his dad.
*Got a Tattoo last tuesday (6th Nov)
*Had my interview for the History honours program. Despite my less than brilliant marks and questionable amount of time next year, my application was approved. Now I just need to have a think about whether I really want to do it (and more importantly - have the time).
*Been working heaps at LAWA (tomorrow is my last day).
* And last but not least I had a bit of a farewell gathering down at the Captain Stirling hotel last night which turned out really well. Tim, Tom, Paul, Pip, Luke, Peter, Ronan, Maddy, Davo, Pope and Yao all came down especially for it - in addition to which i also ran into heaps if other people from Uni. A very good night, though I probably should have given the Hipp-E club a miss afterwards.
Apart from the stress of exams, life has generally been pretty tolerable and I'm looking forward to going to Peters end of semester party at the Red Sea tomorrow and flying out for Vietnam on saturday!
current mood: thoughtful
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| Saturday, October 27th, 2007
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11:16 am - End of semester
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Second semester is all but over and apart from a few exams I'm very close to finally finishing off my undergraduate studies. Procrastination is still proving a problem, but hopefully I can find it in myself to just put in the final hard yards and finish my exams on a high note.
Other notable events over the last few weeks include:
* The October Army weekend(October 19th - 21st) which involved simulated reserve demolitions and obstacle breaching tasks. Not the greatest weekend, but some worthwhile tasks none the less.
*End of semester shenanighans yesterday. In what turned out to be a very long day, I worked in the morning, caught up with Tristan over lunch, did some shopping, went to the Legal Aid social club Halloween function and finished up at the Blackstone law courtyard show. A very busy,social day
and despite not doing anything too bad (that I can remember)it would have been nicer if I had known more people (its a bit flat not being with a group of friends).
Apart from that I've finally finished off my Strategic marketing assignments, worked heaps at Legal Aid, contacted a few people I havent seen in years, been to the UWA medical centre and generally tried to be as positive and confident as possible.
So far, so good... All I need now is to successfully finish my exams and safely start my travels!
current mood: pensive
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