Sunday, February 15, 2009

Week Six / Day One

On Tuesday Morning, in Perth, I was awakened by the brightest of full moons, flooding my room with light so bright it seemed supernatural.  From the balcony, the shimmering reflection of the lunar orb lay a diamond-like pathway across the Swan River to the sparse lights of the slumbering city on the far bank.  I was compelled to rise and attempt to capture an image; though, it cannot communicate the breathtaking clarity of the cloudless, starless, light-filled, glowing darkness and the hushed peacefulness of the early morning...not a hint of sun.

I spent the week in Perth, being introduced to and becoming initially familiar with both the home town of my employer and the wealth of clients our company enjoys in that city.  It is truly the base for the national and global expansion we intend to manifest, starting about now...

One long-time client is Curtin University, with campuses in Perth, Singapore, Hong Kong and beyond.  Twice a year, they do several, successive evening ceremonies in order to graduate the 2,000+ students in each cycle.  As one can see from the photos, above, the campus has a distinctly Stanford-esque feel to it; it's quite expansive and beautiful, with widely disparate, international student body.

This company has been running their graduation ceremonies for about ten years, and I think there is definitely room for upgrading what takes place, therein.  Our relationship is strong, there, and I'd like to present some concepts for gently smoothing out and making these more ceremonial and compelling.  One thing they do, though, that I've never seen at a graduation, before, is fireworks at the end: love that! Those who know my history will know that pyro resonates with me, from the very roots of my Creative Production Being and Soul.  Gotta get my hands on this ceremony!

Meanwhile, I was kind of touched and honored to learn, and see, that the film shown at the beginning of each ceremony used as model the film and storytelling techniques I used in the creation of my films for Stanford University in 2002.  It was great to see evidence that these techniques might be applied to the telling of any institution's story, anywhere...  I was quietly honored to see this work!

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The people of Australia are suffering, tremendously, at the effect of these Bush Fires. I'm not alone in assessing this as akin to our Katrina, the Tsunami, or even 9/11 in the profound affect this disaster is having on the emotions and psyche of most every Aussie individual.  It's awful, really.  One of the fires is nearly 100 kilometres across. Inconceivable.

One of my associates, here in Melbourne, is a Volunteer Fireman.  He was one of the first men into one of the central, most devastated areas; with the job of sifting through wreckage to assess damage, thus to find any number of charred remains in places and positions that spoke volumes as to the last moments of these victims of the thundering inferno.  He has come into work, but is visibly shaken by the experience.  

The country and the world have been quick to rally and support; and the amount of monies raised pretty spectacular.  That being said, I believe it will be quite a while before this is all cleaned up, and lifetimes before many families will have recovered from the damage.  The effects will likely never completely fade.

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Strine of the Week:

chinwag - "getting together for a chinwag" = meaty chat.

toweled up = drunk

hold fire = stand by

NQR = Not Quite Right (this may be universal, I hadn't heard that acronym, before)

A note on Aussie egalitarianism...

This perspective on all beings being equal, irrespective of position in life, here in Oz. While a person is respected for position - policeman, minister, government official, et cetera - there exists a refreshing (and sometimes fierce) absence of hierarchy in day-to-day life, out of the workplace.  Manifest most obviously in grabbing a taxi: if one is solo, one sits in the front, with the driver, moving to the back seat only as the party grows to two or more...  No one is "better" than anyone else, here, as a practice and cultural POV.

A note on natural resources...

There has been a longtime, multi-year drought in most of Australia... I find it curious that the parched cities of the South have not been able to avail themselves of the overabundance of water in the North, year-after-year.  Piped water has done so much (and, in some cases, too much) for some of the desert areas, at home.  I wonder why this isn't done, here.

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Last weekend was the St. Kilda Festival - the final weekend of Melbourne's Midsumma. It seems the entire city takes part in these festivities; and it was a blast.  Mostly street fair and beach fest, with four performance stages, it was rockin' even with the threat of rain.  Interestingly, all outdoor activities are an alcohol-free zone; making for a pretty darn considerate and friendly crowd.  I took the opportunity to wander around with two friends of mine from San Francisco (one Aussie, one San Franciscan), catch up with them and get a Cultural Tour and Temporarty ExPat Orientation.

The final photo, above, was taken during the festival; Luna Park is an iconic Themed Amusement Park, right on the water.  I like the entrance: a little surreal, even a little scary, depending on how one feels about Clowns....

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I am in a calmer place with the distance that the Keeper of My Heart lives from me.  We continue to get to know one another on more philosophical, intellectual and other oblique levels as we speak with one another by way of iChat, each week.  He is a bit of an anchor for me as I negotiate some of the finer points of the business, here; with a point of view borne of years of successfully navigating the corporate morass.  His advice is good, and has proven useful...

The periodic texts that appear from him, the weekly episodes of "Battlestar Galactica," and these face-to-face conversations act as both reminders that he loves and cares for me and as relief valves that ease my own periodic insecurities.  I am learning to accept the disparities in our styles of communication - being an overcommunicator, myself - and becoming comfortable with What Is rather than seeking to have things be some "ideal" way.  What is, is Ideal, actually.  

He's there; and I am in his heart as he is in mine.  As I pull the covers over my shoulder, each night, I say "goodnight..." to him and close my eyes.  It's enough for me....for now.