I think I need a new blog. This one feels outdated. But considering how busy I am at the moment with organising my life here in Sydney and setting up the courses at Sydney Uni for the new semester which starts on 3 March, I don’t think I’ll have time to set up a new blog anyway.

Just a general update: I finally finished my PhD last November (after some hard weeks of writing and no sleep) and started this great position as a lecturer in Digital Media at Sydney University only a few weeks ago. So back into the summer now. More news soon to come.

Ich bin zurück! =)

Sorry to everyone for the silence, both on this weblog and in terms of e-mails. I’m basically living at uni now to finish my projects. My final presentation is next Wednesday and I still have heaps to do until then.

Is this for real? (Just encountered that on my Mac OS dashboard.) And I recently realised that May here would be like November in Vienna. Luckily the weather isn’t like that. (At least for now)

… looks different to the world map as we use it in Europe. Which makes sense, but looks a bit strange at first sight. Mainly because Europe is all by the sudden not the center of the world =)

Not much happening here currently, except that it was raining a whole lot – almost two weeks – followed by a sunny and warm weekend (beach, finally again!) and again followed by cold temperature with sunshine.

Whoever told me before my departure it wouldn’t be could in Sydney, was apparently wrong. Or, well, it’s not as cold as in Europe (especially northern parts of Europe), but it probably just feels as cold since the houses are not isolated.

Happy first of May to everybody! Enjoy the day off. It’s not a holiday in Australia, so I had to go to work today. Whatever, I’m increasingly realizing that there’s not much time left until my return and I still have so many things to finish here. So no time for holidays anyway.

However, I did get to see some local bands recently (balance is important!), and if you’re interested, here are the better ones (and all from very different genres too).

Cloud Control
Folk, prepared in a very indie-fashion-like style
http://www.myspace.com/cloudcontrol

Yves Klein Blue
Brag magazine described them as a mix of Libertines and The Strokes
http://www.myspace.com/yveskleinbluemusic

Cassette Kids
“summoning the likes of Bjork, The Klaxons and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs into a mixtape akin to a well dressed Berlin Wall coming down in a New York Basement”
http://www.myspace.com/cassettekids

Grafton Primary
“Drawing on a wealth of musical knowledge from classical to new romance, synth-wave and electro, Grafton Primary craft tunes that are designed to score well on the test of time.”
http://www.myspace.com/graftonprimary

Since the incident with the deadly flower stuck to the outside of an envelope, I must be on Australian quarantine office’s blacklist: every parcel that I receive from overseas is decorated with a sticker saying “Opened by Australia Post for Inspection by Quarantine”…

Last week I finally got the official letter from the university, which allows me to work as a research fellow and tutor (for which I even get paid) and to get access to the library etc. Before that I only had a temporary access. The other week I received my trainee visa, which I had to apply for, since my tourist visa wasn’t sufficient.

It only took 3 months to get all this paperwork done…

Btw, I think I haven’t told everybody yet: I finally extended my stay and will be back to Vienna end of June!

Today I received a letter from my gf, which I had to pick up from the post office. It had been opened by the Australian quarantine office and contained a letter stating the following (excerpt):

Item(s) in quarantine: Other foliage
Further Details: Live plant material stuck on outside of envelope
Action: Destruction

Sounds like that little flower attached to the outside of the envelope was a real threat to the Australian ecosystem. At least it was according to “the Quarantine Act 1908″ :)

So, just that you know: you’re not allowed to mail any items containing plants, soil, meat, nuts or fruits to Australia. Oh, and don’t try to send me spiders or snakes either. According to the attached info folder they will be removed as well.