Bicycle, Bicycle, Bicycle, don’t want to ride my…
In this multicultural and unique country in which we live, it is a little disconcerting to think how prevalent stereotypes actually are. They exist in all shapes and forms and almost all of us are guilty of following or believing a stereotype to some extent. A thought occurred to me, that the actuarial profession is virtually founded on applying science to prejudice. Maybe that should be the new motto of the institute of actuaries. The premiums that you are charged, be they for life or general insurance, are based on several factors that have been statistically proven to affect your risk level. In fact, insurance is perhaps the only industry that is legally allowed to discriminate based on age and gender provided there is sufficient evidence to show distinct differences; provided science can back the stereotype.

Perhaps the reason my mind drifted to these thoughts, is due to the fact that it is multi-cultural week at college. Each night in the dining room, a different continent is represented in the food, the decorations and in performances. Last night happened to be ‘European night’ and the dish that was used to capture the essence of the glorious culture and the entire history of Europe was, yup you guessed it, Spaghetti Bolognese. As with many stereotypes, it was not even justified; Spaghetti Bolognese is actually an American creation, not an Italian one. On the whole though, the week has been very enjoyable and one of my friends, Vijey, has been rushed of his feet trying to organise the whole thing. He has done a capital job and should be commended for it.

I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned this before, but the file sharing network at college is a thing of beauty. It almost makes living at college worthwhile. Movies, still being shown to popcorn scoffing masses in theatres, are available at the click of the button; fast and free. Thanks to this network, the other day I was able to watch ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ free and in the comfort of my own room. If you haven’t seen it yet, I strongly recommend it. Even if you’re a 4WD driver, bush bashing, high impact lover of emitting CO2 (in other words an American), by the end of the film, your environmental benevolence will be cranked up a few notches. Of course, there are plenty of insipid and self-indulgent rambles by the presenter, Al Gore, but on the whole, the movie leaves a lasting impression and I was happy to see one of the data sets I’ve dealt with before being used in the movie. As Australians, we should all feel obliged to see it. We are the country with the highest level of CO2 emissions per capita and, along with America, are one of the only two developed countries that haven’t ratified the Kyoto protocol, in other words we are an absolute disgrace. This certainly is one of the many many things we should not be following America in.

I’ve been fairly busy with uni work and also training for the upcoming charity bike ride. I’ve notched up over 150 kilometres over the past few weeks and hopefully will be all set for the ride, which starts on Saturday. The training ride last Sunday was hellish. Sunday, the day we’d dedicated to the ‘long’ training ride, turned out to be a horrible one for riding. I was pedalling madly whilst being belted every which way by hail laced strong winds. I was only wearing my short shorts and a t-shirt, so I found the conditions abysmal. At the end of it, I was so sick of riding and wanted to just give up on the ride, and the worse thing was that I had to do another ride at 7am the very next morning.

The last training was on Wednesday morning and I’m feeling a little better about the whole thing now. I’ve raised a fair amount of money for charity, so I hope it all helps. Tomorrow I set off for Orange, and will ride about 300km over three days back to Canberra. I’ll be sure to write an entry about it when I get back, so stay tuned!

Until next time,

Take care.

Spring ‘Non –teaching period’
I always go into mid-semester breaks with the loftiest of intentions. I always tell myself that each day I’ll wake up early, go for a swim then study all day, stopping only to go to the gym or for a bike ride. In fact, in the last few weeks before the break if something doesn’t get done, it is fine: the mid-semester break is coming up; I’ll get all my work done then. But then, as sure as the sun rises in the east, the break comes and goes without me having even come close to doing everything I wanted to get done.

This break though, I’m rather happy with how I’ve spent my time. Sure, I didn’t wake up early each morning and swim (actually my toes didn’t even come close to dipping in anything close to resembling a pool), but I enjoyed myself, I did a lot of exercise and I got the majority of my work done bar one assignment. Right now, as the sun sets to mark the end of a beautiful spring’s day, the only thing remaining before travelling north is to say goodbye to Sherly and say goodbye to my family.

During the break, Sherly was suffering from tendonitis in her fingers, no doubt due to overworking on her computer science projects, and she was in a considerable amount of pain. I tried my best to be there for her as much as I could to support her and make things just that bit easier for her. I was terribly concerned for her; she had to miss several exams that she had been studying hard for. It wasn’t all doom and gloom though, we shared many good times together and I’ll cherish them for a long time.

On Wednesday I had a corporate lunch at AXA, which was organised as a ‘meet and greet’ and ‘congratulations’ event. I dressed in my finest suit and caught the train in, but foolishly didn’t take my umbrella and got drenched by the pouring rain. At the lunch, I was hoping my cologne was overpowering the smell of my saturated suit. I felt foolish asking one man “So what area do you work in?” only to later find out that he was the CFO of AXA for the whole Asia Pacific region. Overall it went relatively well and my yearning to start work was rekindled anew.

One evening, I decided to go to church with Sherly. For quite a while I’d been putting it off, as I feel that religion and church is not some pet show or shopping centre that you go to with your partner just to make them happy, it is a house of God and you shouldn’t be there unless it is your own personal will to be there. I’m not a very religious man at all, but finally I felt that it was right, that I should go; so I went.

Years of bible bashing tends to make people instinctively tune out when others talk about religion or church, and that’s why I guess I was so shocked when I arrived at the church despite Sherly telling me several times exactly how it would be. The service was held in a large auditorium at the Freemasons hospital on Victoria St, and I gasped as I walked in. The room was dark with flashing laser lights with hundreds of people gathered around the stage, singing along and dancing to the sizable rock band that was strumming upbeat tunes. It could have been a rock concert for all I knew. I turned to Sherly and asked in disbelief, “Are you sure this is church?” She just laughed at my shocked expression and grabbed my hand and led me down to the ‘holy mosh pit’. I was hesitant and stiff when dancing and generally felt awkward and uncool, which was definitely something I wasn’t counting on feeling in a church. But as the time passed, I relaxed and looked around and realised it was just a diverse group of individuals expressing their devotion to their religion in the way that came most naturally to them.

The entire service was rather surreal; it was like religion had formed a partnership with M-TV. The sermon was delivered by a charismatic man in a funky suit and included props and pastors who looked like models. All in all it was an interesting experience and I’m glad I could share it with Sherly.

On Thursday I thought I’d spend the whole day with Sherly and take her to see St. Kilda, Acland St and Chapel St. So, I arrived at 11am, just as a said I would and greeted Sherly, still in her pyjamas. After much prodding and coaxing she finally got ready and we boarded a crowded tram and rattled our way to St. Kilda. By the time we’d reached the esplanade, it had turned into a beautiful day, and I looked like a fool carrying an umbrella in my hand. We disembarked and walked along Acland St, deciding to have lunch before tasting one of the many delectable cakes that adorned the windows of several small bakeries. We strolled along the beach and found a nice bench to reflect and absorb the surrounds. There is something about the salty smell of the thick sea breeze, the squawk of gulls and the gentleness of the sun’s rays bouncing off golden sand that makes for such a relaxing environment.

Despite being allergic to alcohol, and despite me pleading with her not to pick a cake with liquor, she did and was itching all the way to Chapel St, turning red in the process. “I told you now, didn’t I?”, “Yes…” She murmured in the same tone as a child would after disobeying advice from a parent and then suffering for it.

Despite my deeply embedded hatred of shopping stemming from many days of my childhood school holidays stuck in clothing stores waiting for my Mum, I had decided to take her shopping. I knew she would enjoy it and that would be enough for me. So, we wandered up the street, zig-zagging from one side of the road to the other while Sherly entered almost every clothing store. I don’t how women can derive such joy from trying on countless clothing items while buying only a very small percentage, but I could see Sherly was, so that made me happy enough. The day eventually drew to a close and we ate a simple dinner back at her place.

I met up with Chris and Derek the following night. Over Thai food, we caught up on all the things that had been happening in my absence and I enjoyed seeing them again. There was somewhat of a sombre mood to the evening though, but that didn’t stop us all having a good time together. On a burst of spontaneity, we decided to wander the city in random directions and see where we ended up, but the problem with having city streets designed in a grid, is that it is not very easy to lose yourself; you’re only ever metres away from a main road, which was something that Chris was quick to point out.

Tired of the fruitlessness of our pursuits, we walked back to Melbourne Central in response to the call of warmth and Japanese crepe ice-creams. Only Chris ended up getting one in the end and we sat with him whilst he ate. After being shooed away from that area, we made our way down to the train station, where Derek made a statement about the probability of train arrival times. I was running through my head whether or not I should correct him, and like magic, a distraction presented itself in the form of 10 women dressed in traditional national dress costumes, and I thought I’d let it slide. Derek’s train arrived and then mine a little while later and the three of us parted company once more.

I’m not over the moon about heading back, but it is the home straight now; only 6 weeks of classes to go. I’m kind of looking forward to finishing, though at the same time a little reluctant to enter the ‘real world’.

Until next time,

Take care.

Canberra in the
the springtime

Of all the seasons, none arrives with such exuberance as spring does. In Canberra, the seasons are perhaps more pronounced and distinctive than any other city in Australia, and so it is the perfect place to observe the arrival of spring. Strolling around the lake or around campus, you can see the delicate blossoms of hundreds of cherry blossom trees, and smell long forgotten scents that linger in the air. You can see the changes in the people as well – in their clothes and in their moods. Thick coats and jumpers, in dull shades of black and grey, have been shed and cast to the back of cupboards, where they will lie dormant for nine months. There is nothing like those first few days of spring, where the sky is clear and the suns rays give a soft gentle warmth and everything seems perfect; the kind of day where you want to do all your tasks out in the sun.

The last two weeks were quite hectic ones and so passed relatively quickly. Last Tuesday I delivered another one of those lucrative lectures, this time for a 1st year compulsory stats course. Hearing about my lecture last semester, one of the stats lecturers decided that it would be helpful, for her students, to incorporate my ‘Dealing with Stats’ lecture for semester two, into one of her lecture slots. So after a few meetings and several hours tweaking my slides it came time to deliver a lecture to the ‘STAT1008’ class at ANU.

The lecture was held in the largest lecture theatre on campus, MCCT1, and at least 50 people had shown up. I’d decided to dress up a little, and thought it would be a good time to debut the ‘twin polo shirts’ outfit. I’ve seen it a fair bit in Melbourne, but I’ve yet to see someone in Canberra wearing two polo shirts at once. It sounds kind of a silly outfit now that I think of it. My heart was palpitating wildly in anticipation as I stood in front of the lectern looking out into a sea of sceptical faces. I could imagine that they were thinking: What does this guy know, and why is he trying to teach us these things?

After Bronwen (the lecturer for the course) introduced me, I got underway, rather shakily actually. The problem with the lecture this time compared to last time, was the motivations of the audience. Last time I was preaching to people who had actively made a decision to come along, but this time I was preaching to an audience that probably didn’t want to be there and probably had much better things to do, such as study for mid-semester exams. This is the reason I was so nervous to begin with.

After a while I settled down and got into the swing of things and began to engage and captivate the audience, I could see it in some of their faces. A few walked out, but that was to be expected. I know when I was in first year, if someone tried to teach me study strategies I would have walked straight out. I guess that is symptomatic of human behaviour though: people are quite resistant to advice and tend to only appreciate it in hindsight, when they’ve made the mistake for themselves. So who knows, maybe at the end of the year a few students will think, Hmm what that guy, who looked like Mr. Bean, said really makes sense now, if only I’d listened to him then.

But it made it all worthwhile seeing the faces of the students who I was clearly getting through to; I know that perhaps I’d helped them somehow. At one stage in the lecture I almost burst into laughter. My neighbour, the one who calls me Tee-Rav or Travisty depending on his mood, walked into the theatre late and saw me lecturing. The look of bewilderment on his face was priceless. He hurriedly turned around to leave, but then turned around once more to make sure he wasn’t seeing things. He was spinning in circles, like a dog chasing its tail.

I was in a cheerful mood when I finished my last mid-semester exam on Thursday morning, as it was my last piece of assessment before the break and I knew that it wouldn’t be long before I could go back to Melbourne.

On Friday I spent the day finishing off all my errands, packed and then went along to an end of term barbeque organised by some of my actuarial classmates. They’d told me to meet them at a certain barbeque area by the lake, but the problem is, there is a multitude of barbeque areas around the lake, in fact perhaps the stretch of road by the lake has probably one of the highest rates of barbeques per kilometre in the world, or at least the country. I found myself at a rowing club, in the middle of a wedding and in an obscure carpark, before finally finding them.

It was a perfect spot really: The barbeques sat nestled between a lovely pagoda and a bank of pink vibrant cherry blossom trees in full bloom, with the sun setting against the reflective calm lake in the background. But with all my troubles finding the place, I knew it was not meant to be a perfect evening. For one thing, the lovely bank of cherry blossom trees I mentioned, had a sleeping vagrant underneath them, who I woke up as I walked past. He spent the whole time mumbling, cursing and rambling loudly, slowly getting closer and closer before asking us for a cigarette. After the sun set, there was very little light and it became cold rather quickly. I was in charge of bringing drinks and bread, but confusion between our roles resulted in yet another problem. You see, I neglected to bring a corkscrew, as I classified that as a barbeque utensil, which was Robert’s job to bring. Robert classified a corkscrew under the same category as drinks. So in the end, we had wine but nothing to open it with. It didn’t bother me; I wasn’t going to drink it anyway.

Chris, a nice guy in a batman t-shirt that I’d just met, said he’d heard that if you wrap a towel around the bottle and bang it against a tree, the cork will pop out. We all failed to comprehend the physics behind why it would work and I couldn’t recall a ‘Mythbusters’ episode where that had covered it, but these guys looked in need of a drink; their eyes were flicking side to side in desperation. So I volunteered to be the fool who would bang the bottle against the tree. Thwack, thwack, thwack… Nothing. The cork didn’t pop out, but truthfully I was just glad that I wasn’t covered in wine, with shards of glass lodged in my hands.

The next brilliant idea was to push the cork into the bottle. That failed. When it came to combining the two ideas and smashing the bottle against the tree after half pushing the cork in, I felt it was time to leave. I said goodbye, used my phone as a torch, and walked back to my car. All in all, it was an amusing evening and probably was more enjoyable than if everything had gone smoothly.

I’d decided to surprise Sherly by showing up a day earlier than I’d said I would, so I drove through the night after leaving the barbeque and ended up outside her door with ‘Krispy Kreme’ doughnuts in hand. By the big smirk on her face, I could tell she was happy to see me, or maybe just the doughnuts!

The next night I took my Dad to watch an A-league football match for his birthday. We were part of the record breaking fervent crowd at the Telstra dome that saw Melbourne Victory beat Sydney FC 3-2. It was quite a fun evening actually and Dad seemed to enjoy himself.

It is great to be back again and I’m looking forward to spending the next two weeks down here, even if I will have to do several assignments.

Until next time,

Take care.