The past week I have just been alternating between bouts of energy and enthusiasm, and verging on collapse from exhaustion. On Friday night I just stayed in all night, and ended up on the phone with a Perth friend. We were talking about how it's important to experience living away from home and being independent of people you have always relied on... I have definitely found that being here I have been pushed to extend myself in some ways and not always do the comfortable/easy thing. I definitely have made some choices here that I wouldn't have made back in Perth, because in Perth I would have taken the safe option. I think you miss out on stuff when you do that all the time.
On a different note, on Saturday morning a few of us went to the National Gallery to see ‘Crescent Moon’, the Islamic art exhibition. They had weavings, weapons, items of jewellery, dining ware from Indonesia, Malaysia and India. It was really interesting to learn about the history behind the items and the influences of the time period on the different items. We ended up at Gus’ for an extremely late breakfast at 1pm (!!) and then Mirren and I wandered through the city looking at shops.
Last night we went out to Trinity Bar to celebrate Rithy and Maria’s birthday. The place is classy – filled with candles and red colour tones, and with a HUGE cocktail menu that is really quite delectable. They have a cocktail degustation menu – for $30 you get 5 cocktails in half-measures. Later we ended up clubbing in the city – it was lots of fun being out with everyone.
Tonight we’re having a visitor – Justin has come all the way from Cambodia (but originally from good old Perth) to Canberra for training and it’s going to be a dinner party at our place.
Sunday, May 28, 2006
Friday, May 19, 2006
Photo Time - Reminiscing
I'm feeling sooooooo unwell. I think I have been out a bit too much and sleeping far too little lately. Anyway, being holed up at home, I thought I would post up some photos that have been floating around ... be prepared, you might make an appearance!
Law girls @UWA Graduation ceremony in April this year - me, Sasha, Jess and Dinah. Still smiling after 5 1/2 years.
With Mum
Dinner with church and family friends during the April trip back to Perth
Michael's graduation dinner last year
At Cottoesloe beach in January - enjoying my last views of Perth beaches (or any beaches!)
Post-university trip with Contiki gang - with Sophie in Switzerland, and Michael, John and Tess in Paris
Law girls @UWA Graduation ceremony in April this year - me, Sasha, Jess and Dinah. Still smiling after 5 1/2 years.
With Mum
Dinner with church and family friends during the April trip back to Perth
Michael's graduation dinner last year
At Cottoesloe beach in January - enjoying my last views of Perth beaches (or any beaches!)
Post-university trip with Contiki gang - with Sophie in Switzerland, and Michael, John and Tess in Paris
Monday, May 15, 2006
Catchup Post!
It’s been awhile since my last post! Last weekend was the usual dinners and drinks – I’m really enjoying our Friday night drinks at Old Parliament House – it’s such a great hangout spot, day or night, for drinks, dinner, breakfast or lunch… During the day it’s very pretty too and I’m determined that we must have breakfast there sometime!
Fun-run
On Sunday morning I dragged myself out at 8.30 am for a fun-run with some other Treasury grads. Most of us only did the 4km option, and surprisingly it wasn’t very hard at all – the gym membership must be paying off! There was a big age range – from kids around 12 to people over 50 – I was really impressed!
Team Treasury
Budget LOCKUP
On Tuesday night, as you probably heard, the Federal Budget was released so our whole grad group got to help supervise the Budget Lockup. Basically the press, opposition parties etc get to go to Parliament on the day the Budget is to be released and read the Budget statements and so forth before they are actually made public.
For 7 hours they’re locked up in Parliament under extremely tight security and are allowed to read through all the Budget documents and prepare their analysis/feature article/reply speech, as the case may be. I was allocated to the Fairfax room which housed the Financial Review, the Sydney Morning Herald, Illawarra Mercury and Newcastle Herald. It was great to see the journos at work (especially the hardcore reporters at the Fin Review). The Treasurer came to each room and answered questions from the journalists, and seemed to know them quite well.
We got to go to the Treasurer’s press conference where he went through the Budget highlights and then fielded questions from the media. There were the usual jibes about whether this was his last budget, but I think it’s all getting pretty old by now.
Budget BINGE
After it’s all over, everyone heads off to the Budget Binge, where there’s apparently a keg of free beer (which apparently only lasted for 15 minutes) and food… but it’s really a chance for everyone who worked on the Budget to relax and reward themselves after some hard weeks/months at the office. For me and quite a few of the grads, it was just an excuse to go out after the Lockup, and just be part of the whole Budget environment that involves Treasury and Finance at this time of year. A lot of people in Budget group had been working until past midnight so they really deserved a good break.
Note Tai's headwear...
Budget QUESTION TIME
The next day we were back at Parliament for Budget Question Time – but it wasn’t really Budget Question Time because, as pointed out by Downer, it was the first time in 11 years that the Opposition ran out of questions on the Budget after just 6 or 7 questions. I don’t know whether this says more about the strength of this year’s budget or the weakness of the opposition party…
Anyway, it was awesome to be there seeing the Ministers we work for in the flesh and watching their antics. There are some true comedians, great debaters, skilled strategists and plain rowdy characters in the House of Reps, and it was great to be there to watch the show.
The weekend gone by…
This Friday we went to see Bell Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet at the Canberra Theatre. Saturday we went to see the Constable Exhibition at the National Gallery, and at night we went out for dinner and drinks/dancing. Sorry no photos this time!
Fun-run
On Sunday morning I dragged myself out at 8.30 am for a fun-run with some other Treasury grads. Most of us only did the 4km option, and surprisingly it wasn’t very hard at all – the gym membership must be paying off! There was a big age range – from kids around 12 to people over 50 – I was really impressed!
Team Treasury
Budget LOCKUP
On Tuesday night, as you probably heard, the Federal Budget was released so our whole grad group got to help supervise the Budget Lockup. Basically the press, opposition parties etc get to go to Parliament on the day the Budget is to be released and read the Budget statements and so forth before they are actually made public.
For 7 hours they’re locked up in Parliament under extremely tight security and are allowed to read through all the Budget documents and prepare their analysis/feature article/reply speech, as the case may be. I was allocated to the Fairfax room which housed the Financial Review, the Sydney Morning Herald, Illawarra Mercury and Newcastle Herald. It was great to see the journos at work (especially the hardcore reporters at the Fin Review). The Treasurer came to each room and answered questions from the journalists, and seemed to know them quite well.
We got to go to the Treasurer’s press conference where he went through the Budget highlights and then fielded questions from the media. There were the usual jibes about whether this was his last budget, but I think it’s all getting pretty old by now.
Budget BINGE
After it’s all over, everyone heads off to the Budget Binge, where there’s apparently a keg of free beer (which apparently only lasted for 15 minutes) and food… but it’s really a chance for everyone who worked on the Budget to relax and reward themselves after some hard weeks/months at the office. For me and quite a few of the grads, it was just an excuse to go out after the Lockup, and just be part of the whole Budget environment that involves Treasury and Finance at this time of year. A lot of people in Budget group had been working until past midnight so they really deserved a good break.
Note Tai's headwear...
Budget QUESTION TIME
The next day we were back at Parliament for Budget Question Time – but it wasn’t really Budget Question Time because, as pointed out by Downer, it was the first time in 11 years that the Opposition ran out of questions on the Budget after just 6 or 7 questions. I don’t know whether this says more about the strength of this year’s budget or the weakness of the opposition party…
Anyway, it was awesome to be there seeing the Ministers we work for in the flesh and watching their antics. There are some true comedians, great debaters, skilled strategists and plain rowdy characters in the House of Reps, and it was great to be there to watch the show.
The weekend gone by…
This Friday we went to see Bell Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet at the Canberra Theatre. Saturday we went to see the Constable Exhibition at the National Gallery, and at night we went out for dinner and drinks/dancing. Sorry no photos this time!
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
Weekend adventures
Uniform Housewarming Party
On Saturday night we went to yet another grad housewarming. The theme was, wear a uniform of some description. There were some interesting creations - a few SES members, nuns, doctors, marching band members, a curling team, and 'school uniforms' for those of us who were lazy. 
Craig & Dave - 2 members of the 'Ijong St Curlers'
Me with Rithy
Tree Planting
On Sunday we went tree planting at Cotter Dam - about half an hour out from the city. It's a bit of a regular event for Greening Australia, and part of an effort to replant some of the plant life burned down in the ACT bush fires. It was definitely something different, being out in the bush, digging holes in the ground and putting little plants in, hoping that they will somehow grow into big trees to cover the hills again.
Yes, it really is the bush out here!!
Nicole and Mel watering a newly planted tree
Working at Treasury
I haven't said much about work yet, but everyone has been asking. I can honestly say I love my job, as much as it is possible for one to love working! I actually look forward to walking into the building every morning, and to seeing my colleagues, and being in discussions about issues that are so interesting and affect so many people. None of the concerns I had about the perils of working life have really arisen here - there is no office politics in my section, everyone is supportive and helpful, people are appreciative of each other and give credit where credit is due, the whole work/life balance thing actually exists rather than just being an ideal, there's a good balance of policy work, academic content and interaction, and there are regular dramas to keep us entertained and brainstorming, either from the Treasurer's office, something said or done by the Opposition, or in the media.
That's all for now .. post a comment if you're reading, I'd love to hear from you!
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