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.

Home Soon

Last week I completed a 100-page report on the state of the U.S. on-premise wine market. Yesterday I handed in 15 pages worth of philosophizing on the economic morality of tort law. The day after tomorrow, I have a three hour accounting exam, which I pray to pass. Twenty hours after that, I sit for an exam covering the global wine industries. By conservative estimate, I have produced roughly 200 pages of academic writing since March. My grades are looking okay, but I wonder what all those hours in front of my computer really add up to. The degree is the goal.

The truth is, I've been using the stress of academics as an excuse not to take care of more important things. It's been a long time since I called home. I haven't spoken to my brother in a month. Facebook, that glorious stalker's tool, offers a daily news feed about old friends and schoolmates who are getting married, getting pets, getting coffee with one another.

It's not so exciting on this side of the world. Winter is upon us and the house has no central heating. The hot water bottle and I have become quite close. I look forward to being in the States in 10 short days... I can't spend the 4th of July abroad. And I think it will feel very good, very balancing, just to be a little nearer to the people I think of so often, across the span of time and ocean and latitude.

ANZAC Gambling

All of Australia held a moment of silence Sunday morning for ANZAC Day, which honors the country's veterans and fallen soldiers. There was a beautiful dawn service at the war memorial downtown, and most Aussies celebrated the day with commemorative brunches and copious booze. In true Down Under fashion, the national holiday extends through the Monday workday, allowing everyone to take full advantage of ANZAC Day barbecues and bar specials.

I spent Sunday night with some new friends playing that traditional Aussie game, Texas Hold 'Em. Winner takes all, and I won! I credit a year and a half of sailing with card sharks whose nightly entertainment consisted of Whist, gin rummy, and cribbage. I must also thank dumb luck and a fortuitous pair of 10s at 2:30 in the morning. Regardless, I walked away with the money to pay off the damnable quarantine officers who stand between me and my personal belongings when and if the boxes ever arrive. Word from the freight shippers is my stuff will be in Adelaide tomorrow noon. I am far too beleaguered by the long wait to hope this forecast is true.

In other news, I have found potentially useful inroads to the Adelaide mafia network. There's this phenomenally wealthy regular at the restaurant where I work; we'll call him Blaine. He drives around in a 7-series BMW and, according to gossip, paid cash for a Mercedes to placate his wife when she found out about one of the mistresses. Blaine keeps separate houses for wife and mistresses. He has also run up a several-thousand dollar tab at the restaurant, and my boss is pretty irritated with the situation. I wondered at first why we keep serving Blaine, tolerating his smarmy requests for lap dances and endless need for whiskey and cokes. I didn't appreciate how he gets away with bringing his weekly girlfriends to our cozy neighborhood establishment. I sat down for a cocktail with Blaine on Friday night, out of boredom and amusement. Now the world is just a little less hazy.

Blaine makes all his money betting on horse races. He is -I'm told- Australia's wealthiest "punter," possibly in every non-football sense of the word. No surprise that he has access to some serious muscle, specifically in the form of a big guy named "Johnny." And of course he's familiar with the regional criminal hierarchy. He can, off the cuff, name the leaders of the "families" in Adelaide's suburbs, and I'll wager he's got special friends, lady and otherwise, in every major town on the continent. He wears a heavy gold ring with a massive diamond horseshoe and a horse head where the Superbowl insignia ought to be. I can think of a couple locals who would look good with that logo imprinted in their foreheads.

Not that I would wish for that sort of thing.