It’s been a long time between drinks for me. Work’s been busy but so has my social life and that’s the thing about summer and autumn – the weather makes it much more conducive to catching up with friends and family, which is what I’ve been busy doing until the months get colder.
I used to do boot camp before switching to training at Cinch PT in Macleod and for those who’ve done it – it’s pretty full on. While I miss the boxing and being outdoors, I don’t miss doing endless rounds of burpees and squats! I attended boot camp of a different kind last weekend – a one day digital marketing bootcamp course at General Assembly in the city. If you’re interested in skilling up in coding, design or digital marketing – they run some great short courses and as someone who works at a University, these micro-credential courses are on the rise.
A nice value add was the communal lunch and afternoon popcorn in the kitchen that’s included in the price of the course, which allowed us to get to know our fellow course members socially as many of us had come solo. It was also nice not to be the oldest person in the room! Being the small world that it is, I bumped into a course member who had attended one of my Bold Thinking Series lectures as she was ex-SBS radio and part of the media contingent at the Kevin Rudd event last year. Melbourne is like that in many ways, six degrees and less…
It was a lot to take in, in one day but highly worthwhile and recommended if you have the time and money – my course was part of my professional development and a work expense paid for by La Trobe. Speaking of which, my first lecture on Disability at State Library Experimedia on Wednesday 28 March is now online if you’re from the sector or interested in the subject. It was also inspiring to meet La Trobe’s female equivalent of Dylan Alcott in Paralympian Lisa Chaffey – a champion basketball player and occupational therapist who is on the panel. Details will shortly be up for my food lecture and I’ll share that with you soon as I’m anticipating that it may be one of the bigger events I do this first half year, particularly given the interest in food in Melbourne and calibre of people on my panel.
The Brunswick Music Festival Sydney Road Street Party is on tomorrow and celebrating 30 years! It seems like a long time ago now that I ever lived in the area. Closer to home, the St John’s Parish and Primary School Fete is on in Heidelberg from 11 am and 4pm tomorrow while the Melbourne Ukelele Festival is taking place this weekend at The Thornbury Theatre and I have long loved the haunting Hawaiian version of Somewhere over the rainbow/What a wonderful world performed by Israel Kamakawiwo’Ole, which includes possibly my two favourite songs ever.
I caught the bus from Macleod station to Clifton Hill last weekend where I then caught the train to the city to my course. This whole part of Melbourne seems to feel like a construction zone at the moment and I know it’s pretty hellish out there if you’re commuting by car to the city (or anywhere else for that matter!). I hope what it does mean is jobs for those who work in the building industry and better infrastructure for all of us in the long term.
The highlight of the day was going for an evening swim with my family and looking up into the pink sky to see a kookaburra in the enormous tree next door – a highlight only surpassed by seeing a koala (with a gum leaf stuck to its nose) on the road near the Korumburra general store on Australia Day a number of years ago while driving with Mr Rosanna on a regional road trip. There seems to be an influx of Australian animals at the moment as one of the best sights this summer break was Mr Rosanna and my eldest son seeing a large grey kangaroo hopping down Lower Plenty Road while picking up takeaway pizza from 
Miss Rosanna 
