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Sunday, September 26, 2004 ...and everyone's got the Golden Ticket! I feel like I have much to blog about, which is always a really really good feeling.Sunday, the 19th of September saw loved ones, and several close friends celebrate my 22nd birthday with me at the beautiful Albert Park Lake. It was a really fun day, with much hijinx resulting, including catching up with Markio D after his trip around the world and Sim kicking Luke's soccer ball into the lake, only to drive around (in perfect timing, might I add!) to collect it on the other side, after an impressive drift. Sim's mud- and carrot-cakes were extremely well received. Thanks, mate. You're the best.It was a very special birthday and thanks to everyone for celebrating it with me. The following day, my birthday proper, saw the festivities continue with my colleagues at work buying a Kringle and sharing it up in the tea room. A preceding email, which announced the event of the Kringle and invited the Faculty Office (funnily enough and careful of your vowels when saying aloud) is abbreviated to the Fac. Off., told everyone to celebrate me "turning the grand old age of 22!!". I am officially the baby of the ...Fac. Off and much discussion while eating the Kringle focused on ages of the ...Fac. Off and how I'm practically in a league of my own. It was very very funny and I feel very welcome there. A lovely environment to be working in. On Thursday night, Sim came with me to RMIT's Story Hall to the Annual Awards Night 2004. Several weeks earlier, I was very very very surprised to receive a letter saying I would be one of the award recipients and I was to receive the International Studies Scholarship and Innovation Award. It was excellent to catch up with some people I hadn't seen since Graduation in December as well as some of those I went to China on the UMAP Tour with in late 2001-early 2002.Prior to entering Story Hall, we decided to explore the {new} (in my eyes it's new...) QV Shopping Precinct on the corner of Swanston and Lonsdale Streets. It was fantastic! Architecturally, I thought it was really cool, blurring the lines between indoor and outdoor shopping. It had the feel of being an arcade, and yet also being a shopping centre. It was cool. I might just take a moment here to note a sign I see almost every day I walk to work at the Corner of La Trobe and Swanston Streets. There are two signs about the QV district, both featuring the love heart symbol, as in the "I {love} NY" slogan we're all so used to.One of the signs is "I {love} QV" and the second is "Home is where the {heart} is". For the past week, I've been reading them like this: "I {love} QV" and the second is "Home is where the {love} is", because of the order in which I read them! Which is wrong, I think because of the cliche Home is where the HEART is...My question to you is 'can one symbol such as the love heart mean two distinct thoughts, such as love AND heart...'? Anyway...One of the shops at QV we noticed while wandering around was called Max Brenner's - Chocolate by the bald man. It was wondrous! I have never seen anything like it!! Sim and I were standing there gobsmacked, watching the staff delicately prepare these delicious chocolate treats right before our very eyes. I must note that we were standing right the window, and almost had our noses touching the glass trying to get to the awesome chocolate. Everywhere you looked there was another pot full with melted chocolate which the staff would use to cascade onto their creations. All of the dishes looked to be inspired by Japanese culture and they were ornately laid out with tealight candles under canisters of milk, prepared on crisp white tea trays. It was really something. It was like Melbourne's very own Willy Wonka Chocolate Factory and everyone's got the Golden Ticket! Thereafter, we proceeded to Story Hall, where we continued our beautiful and hilarious evening. Let me set the scene: the Guest Speaker was named Dina who was the Greek Consul for Education Affairs. She was the guest speaker, as RMIT's Greek Centre and the Greek Government share some sort of relationship... Anyway, the MC of the night was welcoming Dina and was reading through his list of credentials and many accomplishments. I noticed that the MC mispronounced Dina's surname and/or it was misspelled in the Program Guide. I didn't think much of it and thought he might have inadvertently mispronounced the surname. Dina's credentials included being a member of the Multicultural Writing Society (Victorian Branch) and was a member of many other splendid organisations... When it was time for Dina to come and say her keynote speech, it was revealed that the MC was indeed speaking about an entirely different Dina. At this point, I felt my face flush to its fullest crimson and was sooooo embarrassed for the MC, for Dina, for me too. He (The MC) then revealed you could not trust Google to come up with the goods on all occasions and in this case, I guess it didn't even come close! Both Dina and the MC handled it extremely well, but Sim and I were sitting toward the back of the seminar room, quietly killing ourselves in bouts of uncontrollable laughter. It was hilarious. I saw the brand new episode of Enterprise, the latest Trek incarnation, tonight and I thought it was excellent.... Anyway, I'm now quite tired and have just listened to Shane and Lib recounting the weekend trip to Syd-a-ney. Hailing Frequencies Closed. posted by AJ | 9:00 PM | | ||
