Back in the Game

Well hello.

I know it's been awhile.  I'm embarrassed.  I've also been bogged down and busy, and the inertia of non-communication set in.  Let's not dwell on the past.

A quick update:  I've transferred to a new University: The University of South Australia, where I'm continuing on towards a Masters in Marketing focused on Wine.  I've started playing basketball for the school team, my aim being to improve dramatically between now and the end of the season.  I'm at a new job, a new winery, new people, nice wines.  Future career planning has begun in earnest, I've published a couple little pieces, and I'm open to all suggestions.  Life moves fast.


Last night my basketball team won its first game of the season against my former university... very satisfying victory, personally as well as for the team.  My South African buddy was kind enough to come along as the support section, and he's become pleasantly intrigued by the nuances of the sport.  He didn't realize there was so much strategy!  Next time an NBA game is aired here, we'll have to get some popcorn and analyze.

When my game was over, I sat in on the first few minutes of the men's game... also being played against my newfound rival school.  In short order, one of our guys went for an aggressive rebound and accidentally came down with his elbow on the face of an opponent, breaking his nose.  Blood everywhere.

When I was about 14, an identical accident befell me in a high school game, so I felt for the guy.  He didn't have a car and his teammates were obviously busy with the game, so I volunteered to take him to the hospital and sort him out.  Turns out the guy is an American from New York, so we had something to chat about on the way to the Royal Adelaide Hospital where I turned him over to the good care of an emergency room nurse.

Feeling chuffed with my "good turn," I was making my way out of the hospital into the drizzly cold night when I passed a young man who, from a distance, looked as if he was bundled uncomfortably in a white sweater.  As I got closer, I saw both his arms were in full casts and his face was deeply lacerated, stitches around his eyes.  "Hey if you can catch that old man I just talked to," he said, "tell him North Terrace is the other way.  I thought he wanted the North Wing and I sent him in the wrong direction."

I very nearly blurted out, "What happened to you?" but was able simply to agree and jog off down the sidewalk to catch the old man.  From behind I noticed he was carrying an IV back attached to him by a tube and he was still wearing hospital slippers and a gown beneath a ratty red robe.  Again, the night was chilly and wet; the man was entirely disoriented.  When he turned toward me, I saw the whole right half of his face was red and stretched as if he had been terribly burned.  I stammered out the directions, trying to look at him directly without staring at his bulging, unnatural eye.  He mumbled thanks and shuffled around to change course.

It was hard to feel pleased at all with myself for this good deed.  Well to be reminded of how lucky--and fragile--we are.

An Update, for You

In recent months, I have had the joy of stumbling across and spending time with a superb individual, one of those types I knew at hello would be worth keeping in my life forever. Such a rare and precious gem is a true friend: someone who makes the day bright with their presence, and--as the cocktail-hour line quips--knows me and likes me anyway.

I am flattered and heartened that this friend emailed tonight to remind I must update my blog. He knows, perhaps better than I, that there are other equally wonderful people in my life who are interested in my comings and goings, and I'm blessed to have a community that cares about me, however far-flung we all may be. Thanks for the love and the emails... let me offer up a slice of the current life Down Under.

I've felt happily busy here in the springtime of Australia, awakening as it were from a strange several-year-long slumber of directionless curiosity for life. Perhaps that was the post-college slump the books warned me about. Thank heavens I made such a picturesque adventure out of it, or else the time might have been maddeningly sad. I feel now as if I'm really getting my head around a path and purpose, and I'm invigorated for the next steps.

Are you in the mood for music? Check out Stornoway. I can't get this song out of my head.





As for the updating...
Today was spent in the glistening sunshine of a spring day, serving wine to people at a croquet "match" (if you could consider it that organized) at a beautiful spot in the Adelaide Hills. This is my new job. Or a component of it, rather. I'm working at the cellar door/tasting room for a winery, and my responsibilities range from pouring tastes and selling wine on gorgeous sunny days in a warehouse full of (filled) wine barrels... to fixing broken, leaking, hot-water spewing dishwashers during a 120-person charity dinner. On any given day, there are hundreds of 40 lb boxes to move here and there and back again, thousands of glasses to polish, sales quota to be met, wedding seatings to set up, crowds to control, cash drawers to reconcile, port wine to siphon out of the big barrels into the little one, the winery dog to tame, company politics to interpret, over-exuberant drinkers to calm, flower arrangements to maintain, dishes to wash, group events to oversee, complaints to field, driving directions to explain, local attractions to recommend, bathrooms to keep tidy, recycling to take out, bread to bake, cheese platters to make, small children to entertain, olive pits to clean up from the floor, inventory to track... all (preferably) in a skirt... though today I wore a flouncy white dress to fit the croquet theme. Yes, I enjoyed the flouncing.

The bulletpoints on a resume never really do justice to the nuances of a position held. Let it be said that the best hire must be able to maintain good humor and think on her feet. And be on her feet from now until whenever. It's a little like being a mom, maybe!

(Thank you, Mom)

I actually love the job. The work is exhausting in all the right ways, and days pass amidst the splendor of nature. There is no shortage of ways to make other people happy, whether with wine, a smile, or a reference to the pretty sky outside. What a blessed way to earn some money and fill a day.

When I'm not making money, I'm working. School this semester has felt like a grind, not nearly as thought-provoking as it could be, and demanding a lot of grunt work to get the grades. To what end? For the degree... for the job... for the resume... yadda yadda... I look at these academic pursuits as a means to a very agreeable end. I've also started attending lectures outside of my major, which have added a fantastic dimension to my little world, both in terms of people met and knowledge acquired. Truly I would implore my current professors (on the really really off-chance that they're reading up on my blog!) to step up their game and invest some dynamic thought in their curriculum. Perhaps I've been spoiled by a lifetime of dedicated educators. Thank you, Mom and Dad, for your investment in my schooling. Logic doesn't have to strain itself far to see the value of a high-quality education versus simply "going to school."

What else? I'm afraid I'm maybe rambling. School, work, life, the weather. Covered the basic bases. Events? Spent last weekend at a beach house with my group of mates. Revelry was had. Sport? It's been a rather focused couple of months. Things to come? Major assignments due in the coming weeks. Should call home more often.

Really the update is the usual, but in a blissful way. I have some fantastic individuals to credit for all the happiness with the "mundane" things. It's a good time in Adelaide. Thank God for friends.

Adelaide at Last

I give up on Vietnam. I've been out of there for a couple weeks now, I've been to Australia and New Zealand and back to Australia again. Customs officials don't know what to make of me. Let's not try to relive the past, but instead move forward with gusto.

Adelaide is a lovely city. Steamy hot this time of year and roaring good fun with lots of artsy things. The Fringe festival going on at the moment rivals Edinburgh for size and scope, so there's lots of good theatre, comedy, music, and the like. I myself am partial to the "Garden of Unearthly Delights," a nightly carnival that takes place in a dusty, enclosed park-cum-fairground that is generally filled to the brim with young irresponsible types getting drunk and checking out buskers. The trees are all strung with big colored lights that make the place feel like something out of the 1930s. On Friday night I had the good fortune to dance for hours in the otherworldly space while Ben Walsh (famous in musical circles... I was only there out of sheer luck) beat his mind out on a drum set.

I've found a house, plus four housemates to share the places. It's an older Victorian style place with thick sandstone walls that help take the edge off the summer days. Really quite beautiful. There's even a rose garden and claw foot bathtub.

Wine courses start in a week or so. Oh right, the wine glasses... I mean classes... That promise in a short year and a half to turn my casual wine snob self into a full blown, fully employable wine geek. I anticipate much suffering. But at least I'm enrolled in "Managerial and Financial Accounting" to keep my sanity.