Cheater cheater

So I had a backlog of posts I'd written on my Word document where I've been composing entries.  So instead of being 4 months of nothing and then a handful of posts all at once ... I back-dated a handful of entries.

So sue me.

-EP

Arms Giving and more

So the other day, Ruthie and I had the opportunity to attend an “Arms Giving” [although I believe he meant Alms Giving] ceremony at a Sri Lankan Buddhist temple.  In our journey to branch out and try new things, I’m rather glad we went.  I truly had no idea what was going on for most of the time [chants were in Sanskrit and the majority of the service was in another language – I’m guessing Tamil?], but it was still very pleasant.  Fortunately, the monk gave the “homily” in English, which was nice to have it explained at my level – even if it was obvious that the kids and maybe an adult or two weren’t so excited at the ELI5 break down.

The drive back from the temple sparked an interesting conversation for Ruthie and me about what to do with respect to our progeny and exposing them to religion.  Both of us were raised Catholic; Ruthie due to a private Catholic education being better than public schools in her area, and me due to a Catholic family.  However, neither one of us is always so fond of mass religion.  Without going into too many details here, it’s safe to say that on a personal level, the act of attending church is what got me to stop going. 

Now, switching religions isn’t necessarily the answer, as attending a service is still participating in an organised religion.  But, going back to the college days, I was rather intrigued by Buddhism and Taoism, which still have their group ceremonies, but aren’t quite as rigid about the best way to practice.

Fast forward to now, and the ceremony we attended was one in remembrance of a co-worker’s father, who passed away five years ago.  While I liked the notion of it, I think Ruthie got a bit more out of the purpose of the ceremony than I did.  Sure there are candles and you can have dedications requested at mass, but it’s different than the Buddhist ceremony we observed. 

So this raised the question of Why not look into it a bit more while we’re here?  After some internetting, we learned that there is way more to it than simply attending a Buddhist mass [picking a tradition alone is a daunting notion].  But even still, there’s a bunch more exposure here than there is in America, so why not?  So perhaps we’ll continue our explorations and try and attend a few more ceremonies/masses/gatherings/meditations and see what happens.

-EP

2012 in Oz - A calendar year down under

Wow, it’s been far too long.  As always, I’ve been meaning to update this several times since I last did, but I had been writing entries up during down times at work [it sounds lame, but I prefer composing at a proper keyboard as opposed to my laptop] and I’ve actually been fairly busy. 

Now I’m at work in the quiet period between New Year’s and when people actually get back from their holidays.  So let’s see if I can’t crank out a few things worth posting.

I suppose the easiest thing to do at this point is try to some sort of 2012 recollection post.  The problem with this is I have a crappy memory.  And I’d look through my photos on FB, except, oh wait, I’m six months behind on them, too.

Instead, let’s start with something more acute: Christmas.  I know this is our second Christmas down under, and I can’t entirely recollect my thoughts on how Christmas felt last year … but I really had a hard time getting my head around the fact that it was Christmas this year.  Sure, Ruthie put up a decorative tinsel tree, and we exchanged a few presents [pressies], but I still struggled. 

Contrary to last year, though, I did run next to the beach on Christmas morning.  This year we spent the 24^th-27^th at Apollo Bay with some friend at a quartet of villas [we only stayed in one villa, of course] called Chocolate Gannets.  If nothing else, it was pretty breath taking.  The main room overlooked the beach and the ocean, a mere 100m away.  Even though it was a bit chilly most of the time we were there, it was still worth it to have the windows open, listening to the water. 

Christmas also brought a new board game, Ticket to Ride, into our lives courtesy of Ruthie.  It got played a handful of times while we were there, and is a big success. 

Also, thanks to the restrictions being lifted on lithium ion batteries being shipped in the mail, Ruthie got me a Kindle.  I’ve already read one short story on it, Mile 81, but then received some Halo books in the mail, so I’ve moved back to proper paper for the time being.

Anyways, continuing with the warm holiday weather, Ruthie and I went for a day-long ride out to Hepburn Springs on the motorcycle.  We broke it up well, so it wasn’t an all-at-once ride, starting with a stop off in Hoppers Crossing for some brunch and stretch of the legs.  But it was really quite an enjoyable ride [despite some really crappy road conditions – you notice that there are some roads in serious states of disrepair when you’re in the car … but it’s rather amplified when you’re on two wheels], and so I hope we can get a few more good rides in this summer.

NYE displayed yet another fantastic showing of fireworks across the city skyline.  These Aussies really do love their fireworks.  They show footage of the Sydney fireworks, and the do them over the harbour, including some launched from/on the bridge.  Melbourne uses the skyline, launching synchronised fireworks from rooftops.  It’s pretty cool.  I think I read somewhere that it was close to $2M for the fireworks this NYE.

And just like last year, we’re in the middle of a heatwave and its 40 degrees today.  Yay, heat!  Truly, it’s almost a year to the date that we hit 40 – I think it was the 2^nd last year instead of the 4^th. 

Ruthie and I have decided we’ve gone to the other end of the spectrum as far as understanding accents is concerned.  I feel like I’ve been there for a while, but Ruthie only recently has reached this conclusion: instead of having difficulty understanding the accent [although at times, it’s still a bit rough], it’s actually more difficult noticing the differences between American and Aussie accents.  It seems a bit silly when I put it in text, but I reckon our brains have just blended them all together, and so it actually takes a moment to process that we’re hearing a fellow American.  Meanwhile, while I’ve still got no hope in identifying a Queenslander vs a Victorian, I feel like I’ve made progress distinguishing a Kiwi from an Aussie based on their intonations.  Perhaps this is because I’ve now grown accustomed to the Aussie patterns so much that other accents actually sound foreign. 

Because derby continues to be a major part of our lives, it’s worth noting that I’ve continued my role as Head Coach of WestSide Derby Dollz.  And, we had our deb’ut [get it, debut bout] the day after my birthday.  And we won!  I don't have much more to offer other than it's been a great, yet sometimes stressful experience.  When we went back in October, I actually had a minute or two where I actually missed them.  

And on that note I'm out of things to say.  Generally, I think it's pretty awesome that we can say we spent a full calendar year in a different country [if you don't count October, that is].

-EP