I just noticed that it's been almost three weeks since my last entry into this thing so I suppose I better update those of you eager follower(s) (thanks Andy) as to the exciting happenings and goings on (or is it going ons? thanks Mr. Pinker, please let me know if you are reading this) in my new Victorian life.

The major issue at the moment is that I am still looking for work. This has a lot to do with why I haven't updated the blog as I'd imagined that the next entry would include good news in that respect. Unfortunately not. In fact, the job seen has been remarkably slow, with only two interviews in seven weeks. I did have an interview on Friday for a job that sounds quite interesting, mainly due to the fact that the project is based in the SE Asian city in which I once lived for almost a year (I think the project's a secret or summink so that's about as much as I can divulge). I also like the idea of working on a project that is based outside of Australia as it might give me more of a chance to ease into working as an architect here, particularly considering I am not fully up to speed on stuff like Planning law in Victoria/Melbourne. Although I guess having worked on projects in a number of countries by this stage, things like that shouldn't really worry me I spoze. Anyway, I find out about that job on Wednesday - when they will or won't call me for a second interview.

So in the mean time, I'll keep bugging recruitment agents, calling up architectural offices and sending out emails.

I have been spending a fair bit of time in the Victorian State Library in the city, which has a large reading/study area and free wifi internet access. Plus the cafe next door is not bad. Most days the library reading area is filled with international backpackers, a lot of whom seem to be applying for fruit picking or temp jobs, often talking very loudly on their mobile phones whilst sitting under the big sign with a crossed-out silhouette of a mobile phone on it. Noticeably significant numbers of French speaking people frequent this place and on a number of occasions, I've had a group of French people sitting next to me trying to work out the proper English for job application cover letters with varied success. Then half an hour later, they are replaced by a group of Victorian high school students trying to work out sentence structures for their French homework. I don't know if it's to do with the fact I've been reading Richard Branson's autobiography, but I can't help but thinking there's a business opportunity there somewhere. Surely high school students should be able to adequately proof read cover letters for job applications to work at Starbucks and most French backpackers should have a decent grasp of Grade 10 level French grammar? It reminds me of a presentation I once saw on new ideas in Education whereby French kids were learning English by talking to English speaking kids on Skype and vice versa.

Hanging out in the library was meant to help me focus on applying for work but it does have a tendency to distract as it's a great people watching place. For example, last week a group of four gansta chinese kids with piercings, tattoos, baseball caps, and lots of rap lingo who looked like they'd turned up to cause some kind of mini-triad-like trouble but as it turned out had arrived for their maths tutoring and were soon discussing trigonometry problems within some kind of discussion group lead by their tutor.

Also that day, I sat near another kid who was get getting tutored by someone who didn't seem much older than her. Both were apparently of Korean decent as they were talking about other Koreans they knew and bitching about them in a Californian 'valley girl' kind of parlance with lots of 'lol'ing and giggling. In between that conversation however, they were discussing the difference between gas and column type chromotography. Madness.

To get away from listening in on other people's conversations, I've been spending time out the back in the newspaper reading room. However I am finding that equally distracting as people turn up there to read newspapers from all over the planet including a guy who got upset as the library had three Vietnamese dailies but not the one he was looking for. Meanwhile, I sit in the corner reading the latest headline grabbing news in The Mercury or the delayed copies of the Guardian - I like to get my news from varied sources.

Another highlight of the past couple of weeks was my crucial role in the assembly of a shed at the backyard of my cousin Luke and his partner Caroline. Importantly, I purchased a $4 blue singlet from KMart and whilst I was missing the faded Blundstone boots and Stubby shorts, I felt that the navy blue vest (or 'wifebeater' as it is colloquially known) did help me with a task as Australian as erecting a shed. Luckily Luke had a white version of a similar garment and it has to be said that the quality of workmanship and efficiency of construction programme was significantly improved by our attire...

While I'm on the topic of happy snaps from the past week or so, here's a photo of an Australian-Irish citizen standing outside the Australian Irish Welfare Bureau in Northcote, taken during a bike ride that Alex and myself did on Saturday....



... I was surprised not to find a queue of Irish people out the door considering now must be a busy time for this organisation!