States and SoS - July 7-13, 2007

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This blog entry was lost in the recent failure, and all the pictures went with it. It's quite time-consuming to upload pictures so I won't be re-uploading all of them.

States
On July 7-9 we had the State Championships at skating. All the best in the west came out to gain a spot at Nationals next month. We skated our short programme on Sunday and our long on Monday. Both went well, no falls and a solid effort by all. And I got to bring home a shiny gold medal for our uncontested victory (there are literally no other teams). A judge from the east came to judge and gave us some feedback on our programmes. With no more competitions until Nationals, we're hard at work to show the country what we've got!

SoS
July 9-13 I attended Students of Sustainability (SoS) which was being held at Murdoch University. People (mostly students) came from all over the country (mostly New South Wales) to attend various lectures, workshops, etc about different sustainability issues. Every day I biked to campus which was rich with that hippy smell. I felt over-dressed most of the time but unfortunately, most of my clothing was purchased new and is not made of hemp. SoS brought new life to an often apathetic Murdoch and I for one learned lots and had some fun. I also discovered thatvegan food, if made well, can be delicious. And the tea they had was AMAZING!!

The week ended with a smoking ceremony by some of the Aboriginal elders which had been invited to the conference. The entire event ran with the support of the Nyoongar people, the Aboriginal group situated in the Perth area.

After the ceremony, the SoS crew was heading into the city to partake in some rallies. I decided instead to head into the city to pick up my now fixed and good-as-new digital camera! There was a free 'Rock Against Racism' concert on Friday night, and I figured if I could find the place it was being held at I would take it as a sign to attend. If I never found the concert, I would head home. After taking some cool shots of Perth at night, I headed home.

I spent my last night as a 20-year-old watching "Friday Night Live" and "America's Next Top Model" with Gloria. It was trashy TV, but I'd just spent a whole week discussing the grim state that is the world we live in. I thought I deserved a break.

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