On Tuesday back at home, Mum's car was seemingly headed for the scrapheap after breaking down on the way to Edinburgh. After some research, it turns out that the particular model had been subject to a customer recall due to engine issues - the exact same issue which had now caused her car to cut out on the motorway. At the moment, Toyota are trying to avoid responsibility for fixing the fault, however we shall see how things go. Meanwhile, I was off to Criminology in the morning, followed by another interesting Evidence class in the afternoon, where we watched a film called 'Shadow of Doubt' about a woman who was convicted of the murder of her husband. Whilst his body had never been found, no weapon ever discovered and numerous other inconsistencies in the evidence which was submitted, her conviction was upheld and she is currently in prison. It was really very interesting and thought provoking - was there a miscarriage of justice? I guess we'll probably never really know.
I had another day of classes on Wednesday, starting with Intellectual Property. It tends to always be a reasonably interesting class, but we spent some time looking at a case involving Creation Records and the album cover for the third Oasis album called 'Be Here Now'. Of course, that drew my full attention and I was a little bit taken aback when the lecturer described the band as, "really quite big when this album came out." Really quite big? Biggest band in the world! I avoided the temptation to say anything. Thursday meant classes again, bringing about the start of my weekend since I have no classes on a Friday. In other news, I received an unwelcome text from home, as Kerry told Mum that if I were buying her headphones for her birthday, then she wanted them to be Beats by Dre, they should be white and that she wanted to try them out before deciding on a pair. Personally, I don't like birthday presents which people choose for themselves, or even know about beforehand, though in this case there was a bigger issue, since I had already bought her headphones - and they weren't Beats. Oh dear. Luckily enough, I had been quite particular in researching and trying out some different sets for myself and had settled on an awesome pair of Bose over-ear headphones, which I knew would be better than any pair of Beats. Fingers crossed she buys into that reasoning!
With a free day on Friday, I had a long lie before getting up and having some breakfast and a shower. After a chilled day, not doing very much at all, I went to play football in Victoria Park at 3pm with the guys in the Soccer Society. After Jessica had finished class, I met her in the park before we headed home, made dinner and lazed around for much of the night. Some of the people from Iglu were planning on heading out, but since we were going to the horse races at Randwick the next mooring, we decided not to join them. Jessica headed home and within an hour, I had been convinced to go out. We had a few drinks and then went out to the Palace Hotel, where we enjoyed a Guinness, before moving on to Star Bar. I didn't have too much to drink and I was home by around 3am, however I was suffering on Saturday morning. I got up and headed over to McDonalds to get a milkshake and I was feeling alright; Jessica arrived shortly after and we got dressed up ready for the races. We met everyone in the common area in Iglu and got ready to leave.
A quick group photo before we left. Alex was running late, so unfortunately he's not in this one.
We walked to Railway Square and caught the bus which goes by the racecourse on its way to Coogee. After initially feeling quite alright, although quite tired, my hangover hit me like a brick wall on the bus. The journey was a struggle to say the least. After we arrived at Royal Randwick Racecourse, we bought our tickets and headed towards the main grandstand.
The back of the grandstand at the racecourse - quite comfortably the most impressive course I have ever been to or seen. It's the definition of luxury and prestige.
The 'Theatre of the Horse' where the horses were walked around before each race.
Since most people were hungry, we headed inside the stand and found ourselves some food. We also went and bought race books and some pens, safe in the knowledge that Chloe's dad - a bit of a punter himself - would be on the phone in an effort to give us some solid tips for the days races. Shortly before the start of the first race, I placed $5 on the favourite to win, on the recommendation of those more in-the-know than myself. Typically, it came in close to last in a six-horse field. Not the start we had hoped for by any means. After the race, we headed outside and met Alex who had caught a later bus. We met up with the group again, placed our bets for the second race and headed back to the track to cheer on our horses.
Our track-side view, just as the horses were making their way out on the course for a race.
Once again, the second race was unsuccessful as my horse failed to make any real challenge against the leaders. This patter of under-achievement and lost bets continued for the entire day and we all eventually decided to call it quits and head home early. Rather tired, we caught the bus back to Central and then walked home through the tunnel, which felt like miles. After arriving home, I collapsed onto my bed, completely shattered. It turned out that our timing had been rather good, since the clouds soon rolled over and the skies opened with pounding rain. With the rain on for the day, the rest of the evening was spent eating Thai food, whilst Jessica and I started watching 'Gavin & Stacey'. I also enjoyed a FaceTime call from Jason, Fraser and Joanne back home, who had been out to City that night.
On Sunday morning, we picked up watching 'Gavin & Stacey again before Jessica headed home and I watched some of the Australian Grand Prix at Melbourne. As it was the first race of the new season and Hamilton had shown some fantastic pace in pre-season testing, I was hopeful of a good opener for him; however I was soon disappointed as he retired in the early stages of the race. After dinner, I chilled out for some time before it was finally time for kick off in the United v Liverpool game around midnight. Unfortunately, our season just continues to get worse and worse, as our bitter rivals battered us 3-0 at home. It was an awful performance and we never looked like winning the game; I got off to sleep after the game, in a crap mood.
Monday morning meant I was back to class, still feeling pretty bad about the football the previous night. Classes dragged by a bit and I was glad to get home and chill out for a while. I played some FIFA with Jack, on the Playstation downstairs and watched the latest Top Gear episode before having dinner and heading to bed. On Tuesday, I had another day of classes, after which I played football in Victoria Park again. Again, we played FIFA afterwards before I headed to bed. At home, Tuesday meant the return of Champions League football - Chelsea and Real Madrid were the latest teams to book their place in the quarter finals. After class on Wednesday, I headed home and made dinner before getting an early night in eager anticipation of the football the next morning. I was up early, around 6.30am, ready in time for kick off. United needed a 3-0 win to overturn the deficit from the first leg against Olympiakos and progress to the next round. After a penalty and a free kick late in the half, we went in at the break leading 2-0, before Robin van Persie scored his third goal - completing his hat-trick - early in the second period. The remainder of the game was particularly nerve-wracking, but the team managed to see out the result and we were through! Thursday at uni was rather more enjoyable after that great start to the day!
I don't usually post any other pictures in this blog, other than ones which I take myself, but I feel that this one is well deserved. It could be the highlight of our season, so it's warranted. Ooohhh Robin van Persie!
On Friday, I had a chilled morning before getting some uni work done in the afternoon. Later on I headed off to Victoria Park for football and met Jessica afterwards. We walked home via Woolworths to get something for dinner, then I chatted to Kerry at home on FaceTime since it was her birthday. Gladly, she was happy with her headphones and was buzzing on her first driving lesson later that night! The other interesting news of the day was that I got an email inviting me along to an Apple Retail interview; I replied to the invite and was allocated a time slot at 3pm the next Thursday. After having applied some time ago, it was great to finally be asked along to the next stage and I'm really hopeful that I'll bag myself another job! After dinner, we headed out to meet Alex and his girlfriend for a drink; we headed to the Palace Hotel where Alex managed to twice order the wrong drink for his girlfriend. Very smooth! Haha!
On Saturday, Jessica and I headed to Bondi for a day spent trying to get a tan before winter returns. Once we had spent a few hours spent on the beach, we headed to Bucket List for the routine steak sandwich and chips, after which we returned to the beach for a while longer. Soon after, the clouds rolled over and it looked like it was about to rain, so we gathered up our things and caught the bus back to Central. I ate dinner and then it was time for an early night, since I was back up at 4.30am to watch United away to West Ham in the late Saturday kick off. Luckily, it was well worth the alarm call, since Wayne Rooney scored one of the best goals of the season - actually, one of the best goals of the decade - as he smashed in a full volley from near the halfway line. Immense talent and supreme execution. What a goal.
Sunday was spent relaxing before getting the bulk of the work done for the presentation in my Criminology class for Tuesday. I was looking at the American sociologist Robert Merton and his theory of strain and it's relation to deviance and crime, as well as how his general theory has been developed and built upon by Robert Agnew. As I'm sure you can tell, it was riveting stuff. Later that night, it was time to FaceTime home again since it was now Dad's birthday. We got him the London Grammar album, a book about the 1998 yacht disaster in the Sydney to Hobart race, some chocolate and finally got him a sim-card for his iPad. I got off to bed at a reasonable time, since I needed to get up at a decent time the next day to finish my presentation for Criminology. We had a reading week in IP, so I only had my Private International class in the afternoon; however, the weather intervened and I decided not to go to class since the rain was bouncing off the pavements. Instead, I got some more of my work done for class the following day. My presentation went quite well on Tuesday, but as ever, I was glad to have it over and done with; for the next again Tuesday, I now have a 1200 word essay due, on the same subject as my presentation, so that'll be the focus of my attention over the coming days.
On Tuesday night after uni, I played football in Victoria Park again, before the run cut things short. After Jessica had finished classes, she came to mines and we made fajitas, which were excellent, it has to be said. The next morning, I was up bright and early to watch the Manchester derby - what a shambles that turned out to be. We conceded the first goal inside the first minute and that was followed by two others in a comfortable 3-0 victory for City, which was never threatened by United. Another awful performance to add to a season of woes. My class that afternoon dragged in and I was glad to be home and spent the evening playing FIFA with Jack once again. Today, I got up and headed in for my Criminology class before returning home and getting ready for my Apple Retail interview. I was due to be at the interview location, on King Street, near the Apple store itself, by around 3pm and waited to be collected by an Apple representative. The interview was a group format, which isn't my preference, but it went quite well I think and I managed to make a few points and contribute to the discussions which were had. Fingers crossed that I'll hear some positive news back soon! This evening was again spent relaxing in front of the television playing FIFA. It's a hard life. It's almost 2am now and I am shattered - bed time I think!
Until next time,
Jamie
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