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Friday 25 May 2012

Exams

This afternoon I get my criminal law exam online. It is due on Monday. Then next week is SWOTVAC, then one week of exams. Then more blogging. Eventually.

This time last year I went to Europe the day I finished my last exam. Oh how I wish I was flying away next week. But no, alas I am doing the winter subject Evidence and Proof over the break. Hopefully this course planning will allow me to go on Exchange of the U S of A next year, fingers crossed.




Good times.

Have a lovely weekend all, for those in Melbourne stay warm and dry.
Actually, go for a walk in the rain, it's pretty great if you have a brolly and some gumboots.

Monday 21 May 2012

The Weekend

This weekend we went to the beach so Lach could do a half marathon along the Great Ocean Road (it really is called that). I spent most of the weekend studying but it was just so nice to get out of the city. I was so impressed at the number people doing the full marathon (3000) while I walked to the shop to get a coffee and the paper. There is nothing quite like walking alongside a marathon with a latte in hand to make you feel somewhat inadequate! Hope everybody had a lovely weekend.








Thursday 17 May 2012

Not clinging, so much as slipping

Tonight I went to a fancy event called Meet the Profession. I wore panty hose and everything! Felt like a cross between Kate Middleton and a middle aged banker.

And then on the way home, I slipped. In front of many people. In my corporate attire. So much for fancy future lawyer.


Wednesday 16 May 2012

Baby Animals!

Today there was a launch of a student run magazine at Uni. To get people excited they had baby animals to play with. What else is there to say really.








Tuesday 15 May 2012

Not insignificant other

Sometimes, after tutes on Tuesday night I drive home past the bottleshop where this guy works. Sometimes he lets me sit at his stool in front of a mini heater while he serves customers. It's ok, I want to say to them when they look at me- we've been together for years so I'm allowed to sit here. He doesn't like being mentioned on the WWW and doesn't like his picture being taken, but he IS just the funnest part of my life so I think this once he'll be ok it with.

Positive things

I have done enough whinging of late. When really I am very lucky to be able to be doing this law degree of mine, in a city I love, with teachers and subjects that really are not so bad (other than admin).

This morning I did the PILCH (public interest clearing house) Walk for Justice which involved traipsing through the city in 5 degree weather in support of public interest legal work.

It's pretty easy to get caught up in the Big Firm dream working on corporate deals in fancy Collins Street offices, but maybe thats a bit like doing plastic surgery with a medical degree. Good for some in some worthy circumstances, but generally there are other ways that skills could be used.

In Melbourne there are many people who need legal assistance for housing, migration, criminal or family matters. Probably they need it more than those who need a multi-billion dollar trust sorted out. Or a merger and acquisition. Although they are valid in their own market I guess.

One thing I have noticed about doing law is that everything I think or write or say becomes objective and reasoned. Each time I make a proposition I immediately feel the need to acknowledge the other side of the argument. With everything. X is the better option, although I do understand why you may choose B in these circumstances. Super boring I am beginning to realise as I blog more, but hopefully a good legal skill.

It's a bit unnerving how objective legal thinking permeates my writing. I did an Arts degree and am somewhat ashamed of this development. Anyway. The walk- I did it. It was cold but worth it.


This is President Maxwell of the Court of Appeal.
He's a semi-celebrity in legal circles.
What a go-getter.





Monday 14 May 2012

Monday night mind

Yes this is mum and me and Kate again, just can't get enough of that late 80's bob!


On the drive back from Ballarat my sister Kate and I were talking about people we went to school with and what they were doing with their lives. As you do.

Kate went to an all girls catholic school and a huge proportion of the girls in her year level (who are now 25) are married with babies. Most stayed in Ballarat and did teaching or nursing. Many have had the same boyfriend-now husband since primary school.

I went to an anglican co-ed school on the other side of the lake and we were commonly perceived to be the snobs of Ballarat (completely unwarranted). I am two years younger than Kate but I can only think of one or two kids in my year level who have been married. As far as I know there is only one baby among us all. Sure we're a few years behind but I think this marks a strange trend to the other side of the lake. Many of my school friends are living in Melbourne and are on to their second degree. Some are in long term relationships, some not.

Kate would say she is the odd one out in her year level; working in Melbourne and living by herself, but in my year level she would be the norm.

I need you to understand that I am not saying either trend married/mating or learning/dating is better than the other. In some ways I feel a lot younger than I am, as a student in my fifth year of uni and my second degree. In some ways it may have been better to be on the other side of the lake with a baby and a mortgage, at least that would have been something tangible to show for 6 years. Something to contribute (probably tall reddish haired children),

Am 23 (actually I'm not for another three weeks) but there is only so much share house living, uni going, study allowance getting before another 6 years have gone by. In 6 years I have met Lachie, studied, slept, drank, travelled, studied and have been to yoga. I ask you- what else is there?!?

Am getting (am at) the point of finding uni unfulfilling. It's not useless but I don't feel useful being a law student. I feel a bit like I'm stuck at in high school ROTE learning for exams over and over and over. I know that this too will pass but finding something meaningful in the day to day is harder closer to exams and in this shitty weather. Stuck in a funk.

No one is supposed to study for this long. But then, I guess being in the workforce is pretty much forever and having a bambino is certainly forever. First world problems yes, but problems that feel real to me.





Sunday 13 May 2012

Sharon Louise

Happy Mother's day Sharon Louise,

we look pretty good together you and I

Things about Shazbang and I:

1. We share the same middle name
2. We have the same size feet
3. We have both struggled with having "strawberry blonde" locks
4. We both fell in love with young doctors who run in their spare time (ran applies to Mr Moss)
5. We know all the words to Les Mis
6. We both love the cheapness of The Kindle while maintaining we are booky people who "still support the industry"
7. We both call new clothes "this old thing i've had for years"
8. We despise loud chewers
9. We think sarcasm is a valid form of wit
10. Between us we have one million freckles.

I think I get more like Mum every day and this is both concerning and amazing. The inevitability of this happening no longer scares me as Sharon Louise is a pretty good person to morph into.

Thursday 10 May 2012

Reflections

'Reflections' from Bliss and Eso.

Well I've been down this road before
It's been one hell of a ride
The challenge is to balance on that fine line
Between the earth and sky
And I will wait for the morning sun till the way is clear as day
Well ok hallelujah
Now watch me take the stage

Wednesday 9 May 2012

The Children's Bach

At night, when they had put the children to bed, Dexter and Athena walked. They were ruthless about going.


They kept pace easily, not touching. They covered miles each night in the dark, sometimes heading east along the creek across the parklands to where it joined the Yarra River, sometimes north-east as far as the huge upturned saucer of Royal Park where the wild dogs in the zoo howled at the moon and monkeys gibbered behind the wall.


Dexter wanted to live gloriously, and on the nights they walked he did.








The Children's Bach by Helen Garner is one of my very favourite books. I studied it in year twelve and I never quite appreciated its quiet skill. I am re-reading it and it is so much better now that I am living in Melbourne and running around Royal Park past the zoo in the evenings. I get it now. Read it. Especially if you live in Melbourne and like Garner's writing. Even if you don't. It's just right.

If you can, walk around that area. It's right in the middle of the city but you would have no idea. Get onto Flemington Road and keep going through the park towards Princes Park in Parkville. You can twist and turn along little tracks for hours in there. It's quite and smells like calm.

Tuesday 8 May 2012

Pinkus Met Gala




Dear SJP
I'm just not a fan. Expected so much more.
In previous years you've killed it.

Did a pretty nifty summary of MET Gala gowns in the last few years

but this remains my SJP fav

there are no words.

Purple Fantastic! Met Gala

Diane Kruger looks like a dream