So much has happened in the last five weeks since my last blog entry! I suppose I'll start there...
I "went travelling" for four weeks around South East Asia - or as others put it - I went "on holiday" although, as enjoyable as it was, there were definitely times when I felt far more exhausted than relaxed.
Anyway, five weeks ago, I boarded my AirAsia flight, and endured the eight-hour flight to Kuala Lumpur, where I spent the weekend taking part in SEA Jam - a weekend of swing dance workshops during the day with some of the best teachers in the world, followed by social dancing late into the night. It was definitely the sweatiest dance weekend I've been to - I was running out of clean dry clothes by Saturday evening - but I learned plenty of new moves, and met a whole new scene of awesome dancers from Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, plus a substantial number of expats from Australia, USA, Canada, New Zealand and Sweden!
On the Monday, I headed on to the island of Phuket, Thailand, where I was to meet up with a group of Swedish dancers for a few days of beach-going, banana-pancake-munching, exploring and - of course - dancing. After having adjusted to the humid bustle of Malaysia, Thailand was definitely something else. Stepping out at the airport, I was immediately accosted by a number of enthusiastic taxi drivers, who I had the common sense to ignore. Unfortunately, these cabbies have definitely collaborated in finding a consistent rate for fleecing bewildered tourists, and the standard government rate which was publicly listed on the billboard next to the cab rank held no authority, as the drivers insisted on a substantially inflated price. I instead moved across to the "Taxi-Meter" rank, hoping to get a taxi that would put me on the meter. Clearly, I was naive in this approach. Eventually, I found a mini-van that would take me to Karon at a price substantially less than the taxis - though, admittedly they took twice as long to get me there! Welcome to Thailand.
Karon was an interesting place - down the road from the infamous party town of Patong, this was much more family-friendly, and the preferred destination for middle-aged Russians and Swedes. Wandering around, there were times where it seemed like there were more fair-haired tattooed westerners than locals. The days were hot and sunny, and I cursed my negligence in packing sunscreen - and then cursed the local price for sunscreen. Afternoons were spent in the pool, and in the evening I joined my fellow travellers for some social dancing, as we took over the floor of a local Korean restaurant, and then revelled late into the night at the nearby Reggae bar. Clearly we were getting into the local culture.
After a few days of tuk-tuk travelling, reading, swimming, and unsuccessful haggling at the market, it was time to return to the airport and fly to my next destination - Bangkok!
So, some time last year (I forget exactly) I saw somewhere on my social networks (again, I can't recall) that Australian Capital Tourism were running a project called the 500 Humans - in which they would take 500 humans and give them an all-expenses-paid weekend trip to Canberra, to experience all that our nation's capital had to offer. The catch? These 500 humans would need to record their experiences, be it through tweeting, instagramming, video'ing or blogging, and broadcast it through social networks so that everybody could be jealous of them, and presumably re-think their attitudes about Canberra being a less-than-thrilling choice for a holiday. Ultimately, by creating online content and sharing it with our networks, we would be "Human Brochures". Marketing genius, right? 'Cos everybody wins.
So, as I do with many competitions, I took the 5 minutes or so to enter. It was the usual questions of "Why do you want to participate?" as well as some information on one's social media usage. I submitted my entry, and then promptly forgot about it.
That is, until the beginning of October, whereby I was informed that I had been successful in gaining a place in the Arts & Culture stream on the February trip.
Flash-forward to February 15th, and there we were...
Video: Day 1
So, we were flown to Canberra, picked up at the airport, and taken to our very-classy hotel, and left to our own devices until it was time for the evening reception at the Australian War Memorial. We chose to hire the free bikes that the hotel offered, and rode around the lake. By "around" I actually mean we cheated and used the bridges. The evening was somewhat reminiscent of school excursions, where we were keen to get to the wine and finger-food, but first we had to go on the tour and look at dioramas of battle scenes. Still, the big planes were cool. When we returned to the hotel, ready to sleep, we were pleasantly surprised to find a couple of complementary beroccas waiting for us, to aid us in the next morning.
The next morning, we were keen to get to the restaurant for our buffet continental breakfast. Unfortunately, we were anticipating the buffet, not realising that "continental" basically means toast, cereal and juice. Still, some of the bread looked pretty fancy, and when you've got an all-expenses paid trip for the weekend, there's no sense in complaining about such things.
And so we headed off. We went to Parliament House, which I thought would be boring, as I'd already been there, but it turned out to be quite interesting, and we visited the PM's office (I hadn't already been there).
Video: Day Two
Then we were taken to lunch at Two Before Ten, if for no other reason, so that Canberra could show us Melburnians (there were quite a few in our group) that they could roast, blend and brew some decent coffee. And decent it was - sure, it was no St Ali or Seven Seeds, but it was still pleasant. After a break, we went to the Toulouse-Lautrec exhibition, where Margaret, our awesome tour guide, told us many interesting things about French society during the Bohemian Revolution. After a few glasses of bubbly in the sculpture garden, it was off to Mezzalira Ristorante for a five-course degustation, which was pretty awesome. A few of us kicked on to Honkytonks, and then we remembered that there had been surprise bottles of wine in our hotel rooms, so we headed back to enjoy them...
On Sunday, a few of us were a little worse for wear, but we headed to the Museum of Australian Democracy (aka Old Parliament House) for brunch and tours. Here, we were reunited with the other streams (Adventure, Food & Wine, Families) who had been staying at other hotels. After some cringe-worthy political entertainment, we headed off to the Kingston Markets.
Video: Day Three
As a pleasant surprise, the Jumptown Swing crew were doing a swing-dancing demonstration, so we jumped in for a bit of a social dance and a shim-sham. Then, it was time to head to the Glassworks for a tour and a crafty session, where we created a glass tile. Once that was done, it was time to part ways with our newfound friends - although many were actually flying back to Melbourne anyway.
All in all, it was a positive experience. It gave new perspectives on places that I'd already visited, and highlighted a few things that I possibly hadn't considered or been aware of. It also reminded me that Canberra is definitely close enough to go away for a weekend, and have an enjoyable time. If it had been a week, then the experience might be something different. But personally, I would certainly consider a weekend trip to Canberra, if it were to coincide with a touring exhibition, for example. And with the city's celebrating its centenary this year, there would be many reasons to pop up for a couple of days.
Of course, it was by no means the perfect trip. Personally, considering that we were guests on an free holiday, I never felt any need to complain, nor did I feel that my time was being wasted at all. However, there were definitely a few participants who felt entitled to their every need, desire and expectation being met, and when they weren't the grumbling ensued.
Furthermore, the trip exposed us to a few things that we might not experience on an average holiday to Canberra. I don't imagine I'll be able to afford a weekend at a 4.5 Star hotel any time soon. Nor will I be treating myself to a fine dining degustation meal in the near future. And I don't think I'll be sitting in Julia Gillard's chair ever again. In these respects, we were real VIPs, which takes the experience far beyond the average vacation.
Still, I'm glad I went. We had an awesome time. It was great to tune out (mostly) before heading to Adelaide for the Fringe, and take a much-needed vacation.
Well, it's a busy time at the moment. Last weekend, I went to Canberra to participate as a Human Brochure, which was a lovely experience - definitely highlights all of the things I like about Canberra, along with a few hidden gems (that I might not necessarily be able to afford, as a tourist...). However, I haven't had time to blog about that, because...
I'm in Adelaide! For one week only at the Adelaide Fringe. I'm performing a show, called "Songs from the End of the World"...
It's basically a solo cabaret show, and I'm performing it at La Boheme, which is a beautiful little cabaret cocktail bar on Grote St. There's already been a review published, which you can read... I tend to avoid reviews until after the show is over, as they make me a little neurotic, but I believe that it is on the positive side!
So, if you're in Adelaide, I'd love it if you came and saw the show. I'd say it's definitely my best show so far - it keeps a lot of the quirkiness of my previous stuff, but I like to think it's also matured a little, like fine cheese.
Recently, I had a friend visit Melbourne from overseas, and the question was posed "What should I do in or around Melbourne?"
My initial response was along the lines of, "Well, there's always some festival around town. Or you could go and see a film at the Rooftop or Moonlight cinemas, or go have coffee in St Kilda or Fitzroy. Or go op-shopping, or go to the cricket or the tennis, or go find some obscure alleyway bar in the city."
Then I realised - these are the kinds of things that I associate with being in Melbourne - because it's my home town. They're not necessarily things that a tourist visiting Melbourne would necessarily want to do - probably because these are the kinds of things that tourists would do in *their* home town.
Instead, folks go on bus tours to the Great Ocean Road, or head up to Ballarat and wander about Sovereign Hill, or down to Phillip Island to see the Penguins. Or, closer to home, they'll go to the Melbourne Aquarium or the Melbourne Observation Deck - two things that I can't say I've really gotten around to doing, despite the fact that I live here.
Anyway, a couple of weeks ago, S & I bought tickets to go see Sharon Jones perform at the Summer of Soul festival in Mossvale Park, near Leongatha. As it was on a Sunday, we decided to make a weekend of it, and head off to Wilson's Promontory on Saturday. Here's what ensued:
All in all, a very pleasant weekend. At Wilson's Prom, we crossed paths with a wide range of local beach-goers and bushwalkers, as well as plenty of overseas visitors. The scenery was beautiful, and it only cost us the expense of driving a car there and back.
However, last weekend, we were in Adelaide, and decided to head down to Kangaroo Island (or as the locals call it, "K.I.") for the first time. We were astonished at the cost of catching a 45 minute ferry across to the island (about $90 return), but figured that it'd be worthwhile once we got there. However, once we got there, we discovered that it was pretty much impossible to get around the island unless we'd booked a guided tour with the bus touring company. We also had the option of getting an expensive hire car, which only included 100km before we'd have to pay extra. The island is over 150km long.
Fortunately, we were able to get some mildly expensive standby tickets for the tour, and saw everything there was to see on the island. It was nice, especially seeing some of the wildlife, and I'm glad that we went, but at the same time it was definitely a tourist trap - quite literally - as we were stranded in a situation where we had to spend lots of money to make it worth the expense we'd already paid to get there!
But it also opened my eyes a little more on what many others might experience when they come visiting Australia. My backpacker travel instincts have generally been along the lines of "show up, check in, and then have a look around and see what's worth doing". It's always worked out for me in the past, travelling around Asia.
So, as you can guess by the absence of writing on this blog, I've been busy. It's now six months and two weeks since I've returned to Australia, and last week saw the final day of a role that I've been working in for the last six months:
As I mentioned, it's been an odd feeling working in the Camberwell Library. During high school, I was heavily involved in house music competitions, which could be described as a cross between Glee sectionals and the tri-wizard cup. My specialty was making a capella arrangements of pop tunes, somewhat resembling the Dalton Warblers. And we'd perform on the stage in the Civic Centre. The stage, which, strangely enough, is where the library's reference desk is now. Similarly, I recently organised an event in the Parkview Room for the Boroondara Literary Awards. The last time I was in that room, it was the Camberwell Theatre, and I was on the stage as the Pirate King. How times have changed.
I'm definitely feeling the wanderlust again, so it's somewhat fortunate that my work commitments have eased, and I've made plans to travel for a month in south-east asia in March - most because it's close, I haven't been to Thailand, Vietnam or Cambodia before, and it's all that I can afford at this stage. My newfound extra time has also afforded me with opportunities to go to a week-long dance camp in Adelaide in January, and also perform a show at the Adelaide Fringe in February.
So, yes, I can honestly I'm living the dream at the moment - even if it's only for the next three months - devoting time to writing, performing, dancing, and travelling. It feels good.
Since arriving back in Melbourne three months ago, I've definitely been blessed when it comes to work. However, when it rains, it pours. In the past fortnight, I have been worked off my feet. This morning, my housemate was shocked to see me, as I'd always been out first thing in the morning, and home late in the evening. I've been pushed to the point of being abrupt to colleagues at times, and stressing out over seemingly-impossible deadlines that I could only meet by working very long hours.
This is the working life. This is what I missed by being overseas and travelling.
However, I wouldn't change a thing. I'm currently doing all the things I want to be doing - it's just a case of it all falling in my lap at once and, because of my perpetual FOMO, I always say "Yes, I'll do that!"
One of those things was doing a book talk at the library, talking to an audience about a few books that I've read recently. One of these books was "The Art of Travel" by Alain de Botton. At one point, I talked a bit about the experience of returning from travel, and coming back to a familiar place, falling into familiar patterns, and before you know it, that "life-changing experience" of travel is seemingly irrelevant. which can be discouraging. Afterwards, during afternoon tea, a lady from the audience came up to me, and told me that she agreed with my comments about returning from travel, but she also felt that she should remind me that returning is also a wonderful experience, because it's only then when you can truly appreciate the joys and comfort of being home.
This left me a little perplexed, to be honest. I've moved home every couple of years, to the point that I don't associate home with being a particular place. To use a cliche, it's always been where I've hung my hat, and thus has always been a transitory space. This other idea of home - one of an ownership of space, of permanent settlement, is still one that I've yet to embrace, let alone experience. I'm not so sure that I ever will, really.
I figure that, for now, the city of Melbourne and its diversity that I love, will be close enough to this idea of home for me.
When I was just a lad, I spent a number of years singing in the choir at St Paul's Cathedral. On the wall in the choir-room, there was a giant board with everybody's name listed on it. At the top, was the head chorister, and at the bottom were the newbies. Each week, choristers would get a score on their performance. If they'd sung well, improved their singing, helped others out in the choir, they'd get a pass, credit, distinction or - the paragon of excellence - a double-distinction. These would correspond to a score, that affected their ranking. If somebody made too many mistakes in a given week, and just weren't trying enough, they'd get a "fail", and often drop down in the rankings. The choir even had its elite - the "Top Sixteen" who would perform at special events and functions.
Bear in mind that this was a choir - a musical ensemble - of 10 to 14 year old boys. It brought certain elements of stress and emotional trauma to what should have been a joyful, musical venture. However, there was also the expectation that the choir would provide quality performances on a daily basis - we sang in the cathedral for services six times a week. By rewarding excellence and punishing poor performance, it created a culture where we strove for improvement and perfection, which was reflected in our ranking within the mini-community that was the choir.
Moving on to high school - particularly, its final years - I was in an education system where our final mark that decided our future was not an empirical score based on how well we went, but rather a ranking - the Tertiary Entrance Rank - which told us where we stood in society in relation to every other graduate from that year. This embedded in us a culture where many aspects of life are a competition, and we need to learn how to be a contender.
Which brings me to my main point:
One of life's lessons seems to be that, in order to be successful, you need to be winning. I've been recently in a situation where I've been job hunting, and thus engaged in that competitive process. In this competition, there is literally no prize for second place. You get the job, you win. There are situations where the competition is limited, and I've easily become a contender. There are ways to bend the rules of the competition to your advantage - i.e. networking, getting your foot in the door through casual / temp work at the organisation. And then there is plain "cheating" - i.e. get your dad to hire you. It's still one of my career goals to gain a highly-sought-after position through a fair merit-based recruitment process, and unless I do that, I'm not winning. But to get to that point, I need to work hard. I need to build my range of skills, and establish a strong track record of quality and success in my professional work. Because it's not enough just to enjoy the work as it comes, and cruise along whilst the going's good. Or is it? I'll come back to that point.
Last night, I entered a swing dancing competition - the Australian Jitterbug Championships. I've been dancing lindy hop for a bit over two years now. I took classes quite intensively for the first year or so, and at least year's championships, I did moderately well in the beginner / midstream categories. This year was a completely different situation, though. I only recently started taking classes again, after a nine month hiatus overseas. Furthermore, I entered the Open Jack and Jill competition - one that I was unlikely to win because, frankly, I'm still very much a beginner in the scheme of things. I danced with three amazingly awesome dancers - all of whom made it to the finals - and for that experience I was grateful. However, the feeling of competing, and doing my best, and not making the cut, has still left me with a feeling of disappointment. I'm at a point where competition is pretty much the only reason to work hard at improving my dancing, and unless I win - or even make the finals - how can I ever truly know if I've improved? It's all well and good to rock the social dance floor, but it's exactly that - social. You're there to be pleasant to each other, and enjoy each other's dance for what it is - not what it should be. It's only in competition where people are truly judged for how good - or lacking - their skills are. Without that, where's the motivation to technically and aesthetically improve one's dancing? Or, again, is it enough just to enjoy it for what it is?
So, there seems to be three options in life. One is to work hard, improve, compete, keep working hard, keep improving, compete, and repeat with winning as the ultimate goal. The other is to not compete at all; take on a job / dance / craft and enjoy it for what it is, with no aspiration to perfect it, but simply have as a moderately-skilled feather in one's cap that you can pull out for social engagements. Or the third option is to move onto something else. I definitely feel like I'm at a crossroads here - I'm doing okay with my current life choices, but I'm not winning. I don't feel that working harder is getting me any closer - I know a number of people who work much harder than me in these areas, and only end up more frustrated.
So, I think it's time to start enjoying these things for what they are, and focus my serious energy in finding new battles to compete in.
