Planners are Artists Too

After the Amazing Race event earlier today and then to Subiaco, I attended an opening function at one of the tallest buildings in Perth and met up with a planner (from Adelaide), Mabel, I was introduced to earlier in the day. After the drinks (we were there for about 1 hour), Mabel and I went to the Perth Town Hall to view an art exhibition by Perth planners and there were some beautiful works. Some of my favourite works are shown above.

"Amazing Race"

I ventured around Perth on my own this morning, going to Myer, and some smaller malls. I found one small cafe and had my cappuccino and it was yum! My mood lifted and I was happy to be in Perth!

Then it was a quick trip to my hotel to freshen up before the "Amazing Race" event held at 12.30pm at Victoria Gardens in East Perth organised by the Young Planners.

These are some pics of the adventure my team got up to during the event and we ran pretty much the whole way which was tiring.....pant, pant! My stamina is so bad!

Above: my team members were Mike, Nadia and Nivia, all of them from Perth and they were a fun bunch!

We may have been first but we noticed one team cheated when they didn't cover one station when we were pretty much on their tail most of the way then they suddenly disappeared 3 stations before the end.

I thought East Perth was beautiful!!! The houses there were apparently really expensive though, at least $1 million and they were so compactly packed together - not fun!

After East Perth, we had to travel to Subiaco to hand in our task sheets (some of the photos taken were some of the tasks we had to do) and we went to the Subiaco Hotel there for some drinks. I love one of the lights at the pub there (it looked like an art piece in itself) and I thought how nice it'll look hanging in my house but I'll have to have a 3 metre high ceiling to make that light look good. I didn't take any pic because I didn't want the hotel staff to think I was a terrorist but I regret not doing it...

Arriving in Perth

This is the hotel I stayed in Perth, Sullivans Hotel, and I arrived this afternoon for the Young Planners Conference (30 April - 1 May) and PIA (Planning Institute of Australia) Conference (2-4 May). When I arrived and saw the room, I was abit depressed. It felt more like a hostel room rather than a hotel room (i sound spoilt! =P). And having just bid farewell to Phill several hours ago, I was still questioning my decision to attend this conference (what with the lack of support from my superiors to attend but after winning the PIA prize, I was determined to attend). I had dinner at the hotel and then watched tv til I was really sleepy...

Marriage

Recently, a group of acquaintances got together and over drinks and dinner spoke about marriages and their state of marriage. One of them who married a really good-looking spouse did not look like he was enjoying his marriage (which is a shame). He said marriage is such a risk and his wife and kids are really demanding of him and his time. Another acquaintance also has a good-looking spouse but I remembered him saying to me when I said she was gorgeous that "more importantly, she's got a good personality too", which is so true.

This sparked a thought in my head about how many men and women who choose to marry good-looking other halves with not that great personalities or heart to match. I realise how blessed I am too to have Phill and we're still enjoying our marriage. Of course there are times when we disagree and I get frustrated (altho sometimes it's just me being quick to anger when it can be talked through calmly) but thankfully, they are few and far between.

People change in a marriage too so how do we know if he/ she is the one? I remember the answer a former work colleague of mine (Elsie, that's you!) gave me when I asked her how she knew her husband was THE ONE. She said to take note of what you say to him and see if he takes it in and that what you say matter and he's willing to improve himself for you. I find that in Phill cos when there's something that irritates me about him, I tell him that and he slowly tries and improve. Ditto with me.

Thank God for Phill!

Wonderful Play!

I watched an American written play, "Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks" with Phill and my parents in law this evening. The play was beautifully performed by Australian actors Todd McKenney and Nancye Hayes.

It was a wonderful play that moved me to tears. It briefly chronicled the friendship between an older, lonely woman and a male gay instructor she engaged to teach her dancing (even though she was a fine dancer herself). Even though there were very little of the dances such as Argentinian tango (oooh lala!), cha-cha, salsa, I love the play for what it is and watching how the friendship evolved from disagreements, petty quarrels and sarcastic fights. I just love watching plays!

My mum in law thought it was good but said it was abit close to home as she is close in age to the female character who ends up being really sick.

Closing Night

With Joan one of the extras in the production.

With Ros who played one of the wealthier ladies in the production.

It was the closing night of our production, Oscar Wilde's Lady Windermere's Fan, tonight. I enjoyed the company of all the actors and had a good time laughing with them when they retold limericks and jokes they had heard while waiting around for rehearsals to start (twice, rehearsals only started 2.5 hours after the stated time). The commitment for this production for the bit part actor I was (I only had 4 lines in Act 4 and had a non-speaking role on Act 2) was so much higher than I expected. As I ranted previously, I couldn't take time off for one rehearsal but realised later that one other actor did get some time off from rehearsal cos she was the director's friend. I felt like favouritism was exercised. I'm so glad this is now over....back to my studies!

The feeling of being protected - Thank God!

I heard from my manager yesterday, after I told him I won the competition, that he is supportive of my attending the conference but he said my supervisor did raise the possibility that I should take leave if I want to go. I had offered to pay my own way to attend the conference and claim it on tax afterwards but now I'm supposed to take leave too? I was quite upset and felt rather unsupported.

I informed my supervisor today that I had won the competition and she said while laughing if I won because I was the only entrant. I laughed too but thought that was really harsh and she didn't share the joy of my win. Anyway, she then congratulated me and said "well done" and mentioned I may have to take leave to go but she'll investigate. At that stage, I had already cried since yesterday about being unsupported that when she said it, it didn't have much of an impact on me and I just said "yes".

My other colleagues felt for me and was really angry that the idea of me taking leave was even raised. They said I shouldn't have to take leave and told me not to. But upset as I was, I felt I had to follow what my supervisor said. Otherwise, won't it be considered insubordination?

Anyway, I was still upset today but before I left for the day, I received a call from a gentleman from the Planning Institute of Australia (PIA) to ask if my company was paying for me to attend the conference and I said it was still being worked out but I was willing to pay for it myself. He continued to say that because of my reply, he had been instructed by the institute's president to write to one of the head honcho of my company to ask that my company support me to go. I felt so good and happy that they would go so far as to care if I was being supported. And since finding out I won on Wednesday, I really felt the full extent of the joy of winning. I am impressed with the level of support and the extent of care they have given me. I left home today feeling happy and walking on air!

Thank God for watching over me!

Shovelling Sand for Water Tanks

I took time in lieu (time off) and woke up really early today to help my in laws shovel sand before their 2 water tanks were delivered today. The sand forms the base for the tanks. There is alot of preparation in order such as getting their electricity supply connected and excavating the ground for the granny flat my in laws have bought to be sited on. The granny flat is a portable house so it's currently being built off-site and scheduled to be completed in 2 months' time. Phill didn't have to take time-off cos he was on his school holidays.

The arrival of the 2 water tanks....in a huge trailer.

Shovelling Sand - boy, that was tough! I shovelled for about 45 mins.

My father-in-law and Phill (pictured) did so well shovelling sand. They were so fast. My mum-in-law and I were not as fast. But we were so early shovelling sand at 8am (my in laws were shovelling for 30 mins when Phill and I arrived) but the tanks didn't arrive until 4pm! Well, at least we were quite prepared when they arrived.

I Won!

I had entered a competition to win a $1000 travellers cheque that will pay part of the cost of a planning conference in Perth to be held on 30 April-4 May. I sent off my entry and didn't think too much of it when I received a call to say I won!!! Yipppeeeee!

The competition required entrants to say in 50 words or less why we wanted to attend the conference.

My entry referred to how I wanted to gain insights into other regional (Perth) and state (Western Australian) issues and into international perspectives which will help my research role in my job and that "being new to planning, I need all the help I can get".

I didn't think my entry was flash or anything but it was genuine and true. I even thought that perhaps I should have made my entry into a poem so that it's more catchy. But I didn't have to worry cos I won!!!!

Now, to get the okay from my supervisor and manager to attend the conference. I actually spoke to them last week to get their okay but haven't received a decision from them yet.