A rollercoaster of emotion: 24 hours

[jawnbc]

03 July 2003

11h00 depart home for Blacktown, in Western Sydney for a project meeting
11h50 arrive @ Blacktown Station; make a beeline to the McDo Express--they have double cheeseburgers!
12h20 arrive NGO in Blacktown for 12h30 meeting
12h40 no one else has shown up, except me and Tirrania (our host)
12h45 some others start to trickle in
13h00 start meeting, with 4 people still MIA
13h15 last stragglers arrive. We have to try and cover a 120 minute agenda in 75 minutes. We do pretty well

14h45 Start evaluation meeting with some from the first meeting. Scheduled time: 60 minutes
17h00 Meeting finally ends
18h15 Arrive Town Hall Station (Sydney city centre). Call querrelle back to find out how his important day's gone
18h30 Arrive at ACON (the AIDS organization here in Sydney), to attend an <26s men's drop in
20h45 Depart ACON, with names of 2 more guys for my research on young gay men--woo hoo!
20h55 Pop into to Burger King to get a chicken sandwich (heavy mayo and onion), and to write up my notes from the ACON meeting
21h10 Arrive home, where querrelle awaits me, on my bed. A lovely sight to behold...and to hold
23h40 Max begins to doze off; I start to configure my computer to watch the Olympic announcement live. With headphones, so I can cuddle querrelle and listen

01h10 Find a live feed of CBC Newsworld (gawd I miss CBC news) and start watching. Shocked to find out that Salzburg's been elminated on the first ballot (not the elimination so much is the early announcement)
01h30 The announcement starts...nauseated. Watching the SLC and Vancouver videos starts the sniffles
01h42 Vancouver gets it! Burst into tears as phone rings. toneyvr--my best mate and my rival for most chauvinistically nationalistic Canadian-by-choice ever. Rather than loudly sobbing and scaring poor querrelle, only chat briefly with toneyvr.
01h55 Try to get to sleep

Wazzitallabout?: My day was daunting from the start. My project meeting in Blacktown was the first one after my not getting the job at UTS. I was unsure what my role would be, and also suspected I'd be meeting the guy who got the gig. I did, he's a good bloke, no problem there. During the second meeting we discussed the evaluation strategies for this project at length. Prior to this meeting I was to write a position paper about alcohol and other drug programmes in Western Sydney--not terribly interesting for me. But my input during the meeting led my boss to ask if I wouldn't mind dropping that project, and help design the evaluation strategies for the overall project. As Milhous sez, "would I???

The ACON meeting was a chance to recruit some more guys for my study--a task I've found quite challenging as of late. I enjoyed the meeting AND got a couple of interviews booked for next week.

As for the Olympics, I've been mesmerized by them since age 8. In 1992 I wrote an op-ed in the Vancouver Province newspaper, entitled "Vancouver Should Go for the Gold"...suggesting a joint Vancouver/Whistler Winter Olympics bid. Many of the venue suggestions were reflected in the final bid book--but they were mostly common sensical, not that my ideas were wholly unique. But seeing it coming to pass, knowing that the world will be treated to a fortnight of Vancouver and Whistler's best...well the very idea still brings tears to my eyes.

One complaint: why Bryan Adams doing the promo song--why not Sarah McLachlan?

Comments

[nutmeggie.livejournal.com]

One complaint: why Bryan Adams doing the promo song--why not Sarah McLachlan?

Or why not one of the many artists from B.C.?

[jawnbc]

true!

[zhenzhi.livejournal.com]

in my australian ignorance, i've heard of bryan adams, but not sarah mclachlan...maybe there's a hint about why they chose bryan? more commercial appeal perhaps?
hmmmm....gazing into my crystal ball....i forsee jawnbc in canada, vancouver, winter olympics. perhaps even involved as a volunteer?

[jawnbc]

I like what's in your crystal ball...more! more!

[ruralrob.livejournal.com]

Congrats!

[jawnbc]

thanks!

[quirkstreet.livejournal.com]

That was quite a whirlwind. One meeting much shorter than planned, one much longer, travel, shifts in job expectations, cheeseburgers, sexy man waiting at home for you. And then the Vancouver announcement.

"most chauvinistically nationalistic Canadian-by-choice ever"

:) Yes, perhaps, but ... your enthusiasm for Canada is terribly interesting. Like many people, I've not visited some of the things one's supposed to "do" in Boston. Natives tend to take their home for granted. You don't take Canada for granted at all. You show it off well, in a complementary AND complimentary way.

Glad you got through the day.

[jawnbc]

Thanks pete!

[jawnbc]

the Scottish restaurant...that's a new one!

[bearchow.livejournal.com]

McDo and Burger King the same day? I think you didn't only have an emotional day, I am also worry about your physical health ... *HUGS*

[jawnbc]

d'oh!

[art-thirst.livejournal.com]

So, what sports do you have a most particular liking for? I don't recall you speaking about any specific ones... :-) You know mine, although the rugby guys are awesome with those big legs exposed for viewing. Tour de France starts Friday! http://www.letour.fr (they have 5 languages on their site) I listen live on Eurosport.com and they also have a live video feed. :-))

sport

[jawnbc]

To participate, I enjoy both downhill/alpine and cross-country/nordic skiing. Also ice skating, but with hockey skates not figure skates--cause I'm way butch, eh? But during the games I follow most of it, with particular interests in curling (the physics of it is fascinating), short track speed skating (roller derby on blades, of a sort), long track speed skating (for the thighs on the men, woof!), and hockey, skiing, skeleton...most really.

And enjoy Le Tour...isn't the web awesome in times of cultural blackout? I was able to watch the 2010 announcement live via the web--it wasn't covered in Oz.

Re: sport

[art-thirst.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the web is great. I watched Atlanta on my computer but the Oz games were a total blackout. Stupid US tv networks playing games looked like OLD re-runs. We interested parties already knew the outcome. Why would anyone get excited about old news? I like to watch different winter sports but I haven't lived in snow since 1956 probably. You know damn well I don't remember much about it. Snow has been something I drive to, have fun, drive home. :-)

Grad school 10 days per semester in Vermont was awesome though. My graduation semester the guys in town (bike shop, and drug store mgr. who rides mtn bikes) asked me about going riding in the snow. I didn't take the clothing because I needed to wear a suit and I had to take extra stuff because we did our final exhibition. My last snow, Feb., 2000.

Yeah, I'm stupid but...

[otterpup.livejournal.com]

Are you like, moving to Austrailia, Jawn?

And how do *I* become a Canadian? ;) heh heh

Re: Yeah, I'm stupid but...

[jawnbc]

I'm living in Australia for the time being (post-doc), but won't be staying. Nice, but not Canada.

To become Canajun:

-drink Blue (aka Labatts)
-partner with a Canuck
-apply. check out Citizenship and Immigration Canada (http://www.cic.gc.ca/). Perhaps they need science teachers?

Re: Yeah, I'm stupid but...

[otterpup.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. I only scored 68 out of 100 pts for emmigration to Canada :( WHAAAA. You need 75.

Well, perhaps I'll have to do teh PhD at UBC route ;)

Re: Yeah, I'm stupid but...

[toneyvr.livejournal.com]

If you're serious, the sure fire way to become a Canuck is to get yourself a nice long term Canadian boyfriend (how long is that John? 2 years?). So do the UBC thing and I'm sure that will happen PDQ ;-)