Tag: 1984

So this chick walks into a university…

So this chick walks into a university…

So I enrolled at university yesterday. As a result, I’m feeling hip and cool enough to start all my sentences with “so”.

So I walk in to Winthrop Hall at the University of Western Australia and I want to say I was transported back to my first year of university in the mid-1980s but in fact I felt like someone’s mum (well I guess I am; my oldest is freaking the fuck out at the prospect of possibly sharing a campus with me next year and to be honest I don’t blame her).

So there’s me and all the other (extremely young) students-to-be, sitting in chairs waiting to be taken through Step One (of eight!) of enrollment  playing with our iPads. I was cruising the ‘Net, checking out the holiday snaps of someone I barely know on Facebook as you do but the young people were getting frustrated; couldn’t get online with the free UWA wi-fi link. One guy asked me “So how did you get into the free wi-fi?” “What? Oh, I’ve got 3G…sorry”, I replied. Poor darlings: No working wi-fi, no 3G. They had to just sit there like something out of 1985.

So there I was: Old….but rich. Rich enough to have an iPad with 3G. I was living the dream.

So I get to the front of the queue. By this stage I am in about Stage Three or Four of enrollment.  Each stage took us to a different part of the campus. I even got to see inside the Maths Building. A flushed-with-the-beauty-of-youth girl rushed up to me with handfuls of flyers, handing me each one with a little spiel. At one point she started to hand one to me and then hesitated, looking confused/embarrassed. “Are you a mature-aged student?” she asked. It was like asking someone if they are pregnant as you watch the head crown out of the mother’s body. “Ahh yes, I think I might be!” I said brightly.

[I’m over the So. So is so ten minutes ago.]

A little later, perhaps it was around Stage Six of the enrollment process – they are all blurred now – a handsome young fellow thrust a flyer at me and asked me if I was familiar with the Uni Guild, “you know,” he said, “sundowners and stuff?” From [alcohol-damaged] memory, that was the part of uni back in the day that involved an enormous amount of drinking and staying up late. The sweet chap had obviously been instructed to offer this social opportunity to everyone so I tried to make his day a little easier saying “Yeah I was familiar with it about 30 years ago” Did I want the flyer? “Ahh no that’s okay.” Really? Really.

Stage Seven saw me handing over my now-renewed student card for ID to the computer girl and I got this reaction:

“WHOA! Your student number starts with a ONE! Ohmygod, I have seriously never seen that before. A one…wow! When were you here? Woah!”

But I am saving the best for last and possibly only other Western Australians will truly appreciate this.

Exhausted and nearly brain-dead after going through all those stages of enrollment, I stopped by the university cafe for caffeine. Friends, I paid $1.90 for a coffee. Granted it was a little dampened by the fact I had to show ID (for the opposite reason one usually breaks out ID), but I grinned all the way to the car with my ONE DOLLAR AND NINETY CENT coffee. Best coffee I have ever tasted. I’ll try to sneak a few of you in, maybe we can get some fake ID’s made up…

psychology text book

Balls, Peaches and Rock Stars

Balls, Peaches and Rock Stars

Late Saturday night nostalgia completely overtook me on the way to pick up my daughter and her friends from the Year 12 School Ball. The whole thing was also expensive, so nostalgia was followed closely by relief that we may be able to afford to eat again next week. I had spent the evening at Mrs Browns with the very girls I shared that night with almost thirty years ago at my own school ball. It was the year of dropped-waist dresses, silk taffeta, Molly Ringwald, INXS, Mondo Rock, Footloose, Bachelor Party…1984.

Oh I could write reams on this glory year, but ancient history needs to stay where it belongs, in the past.

This is her, the one who makes my heart skip a beat every time I see her image. I study her for clues to myself and am constantly bewildered by just how much she is her own woman, not mine.

Who would have guessed the song they danced hardest to would be Dexys Midnight Runners’ Come On Eileen? Hello again old friend The Eighties.

Year 12 School Ball "Befores" 2013
Year 12 School Ball “Befores” 2013

Sunday lunch was spent with my parents and our favourite priest Canon Frank Sheehan. I took a dessert I found while lying in bed in the morning instead of going for a run, letting the Internet take me carelessly from blog to blog. This one comes from The Londoner. I love her “anti diet” – a good one for mums to give their older teens who are worrying about weight, needlessly or otherwise.

The recipe’s been adjusted but if you follow the link you’ll get to the original:

Roasted Peaches

  • Some peaches (I had about 7)
  • butter
  • honey
  • black strap molasses (optional)
  • ground cardamom
  • mascarpone/creme fraiche

Halve and de-stone peaches. Put a knob of butter on each one on a baking tray. Drizzle honey and molasses (it’s a superfood you know), sprinkle cardamom and roast in a moderate oven for 20 to 30 minutes.

Reserve the melted sweet butter after cooking. Serve with a big dollop of  mascarpone and a good few tablespoons of the decadent sauce.

IMG_1036
prepared peaches

 

roasted peach with mascarpone
roasted peach with mascarpone

 

Finally a music recommend: Friday night my groovster live band buddy (Rob) and I went to see Father John Misty at the Chevron Festival Gardens and they were completely fabulous.

Josh Tillman of Father John Misty
Josh Tillman of Father John Misty

We went on the back of only having heard a single song of theirs and loved loved loved the whole set.

Slow Burn 1980’s Nostalgia followed up with brightly coloured loud Up To The Minute Cool: Perfect weekend.

 

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