Observant little ...

I don't understand the answer, but I may have some ideas on the question...




A comment about comments


I'm sort of copying Di here, but sort of not. Hers was commenting on comments on her blog, mine is on comments I've made on other people's blogs.

I've commented on a few people's blogs that I don't socialise with other lawyers. This post of Rufus' is partially why. I hate schmoozing - I can do small talk (as I commented on this post of SwissToni's), I'm friendly when approached (I just don't do the approaching), and am usually interested enough in a person to get past an introduction and an awkward silence.

But, as I've commented all over the place, I don't play well with other lawyers. I only have one lawyer friend, and she's a friend from uni that I don't really have that much in common with anymore. I do have a couple of law student friends, but I guess time will tell whether we stay friends once they're in the work force. I don't socialise with the lawyers from work outside of work. I'm friendly with other lawyers from work functions (like CLE), but I don't tend to become really friendly with them.

The problem is that I'm just not your normal lawyer - maybe it comes from being in government. I have friends of friends who are lawyers, and the lawyers I come into contact with for work, and in comparison to them, I'm just, well, different. I don't see income or assets as being a measure of success. I'm a lot less conservative. I hate the lawyer pubs - actually, I tend to avoid the city scene full stop and am very much a Valley girl (in the pre-GPO etc sense). I rarely wear make-up. I get a hair-cut about once a year and never get it dyed, permed or otherwise chemically treated. Outside of work (where I wear suits), I dress in a very 90's-style hippy way and never wear high heels. I wear no jewellery other than a watch, necklace and earings. I have a racially significant tattoo which I hide for work as it would not be considered appropriate in my conservative workplace.

I also commented on The Ultimate Olympian's blog in response to a comment from SwissToni asking "how do (I) explain the fact that Australians are so good at so many sports?". It's on an old post, so I'll reproduce my response here in full:

Well, having spent some time in both London and Dublin, I can honestly say that it's because we do more of them. I was your average neighbourhood kid - I played soccer, netball, cricket, tennis, tag, and catch & kiss. I also swam a lot, and ran "fun runs" from the age of 9, and did gymnastics and ballet. There are very few Olympic sports that I can think of that I have not tried at some stage of my life - shooting, boxing, wrestling and weight lifting are the only ones that come to mind. Ask me about any other obscure sports and I'll let you know.

But the notable thing here is that I really was your average Aussie kid. Nothing really extraordinary about the amount of sport I did.

None of the kids I came across in either London or Dublin did this much physical activity. A couple of my friends from Europe that I talked to about this have put it down to weather - it doesn't seem to rain as often here, that's for sure, and it doesn't get as cold - it does get a lot hotter though, and that prevents running around outside more effectively than the cold does you'd think.

But maybe in the end it just comes down to places like the Qld Institute of Sport and the Australian Institute of Sport - we find the talent and nurture it. The Americans do the same thing and they also seem to be very good at sport (though they also have a much bigger population to select from). I don't know if the UK does this also?

A semi-serious answer to a probably-not-serious question. ;o)

- OLS


But then I started later thinking about this again. Maybe it was just the neighbourhoods I lived in where the kids would get together and play cricket? Or just the schools I went to where there was an afternoon of sport once a week? Did every kid have to participate in at least one event at everyone else's sporting carnivals?

I found this list of Olympic events on Yahoo:

Archery - home (we used to have a target set up on a block of land we owned)
Badminton - home (we used to have a net set up in the backyard)
Baseball - primary school (learnt it with softball)
Basketball - high school (I was hopeless - too many years playing netball)
Beach Volleyball - home (we played on the beach during holidays)
Boxing - not done
Canoe - primary school and home
Kayak - primary school and home (though I was more into surf skis)
Cycling - home
Equestrian - home (I did pony club from age 11 to 13)
Fencing - home (learnt from the friend who used to do pentathlons)
Field Hockey - high school
Gymnastics - primary school & high school
Judo - high school (also did karate)
Modern Pentathlon - never done shooting, done the other 4 (a friend of ours used to compete)
Mountain Biking - home (I'm from the era of BMX bikes - those babies went everywhere!)
Rowing - uni
Sailing - home and high school (I learnt the basics from my Dad but only learnt the rules of competitive sailing when I was on the school team in high school)
Shooting - not done
Soccer - home (my brother was on the local team - he taught me)
Softball - primary school
Swimming - home (used to compete in primary school)
Diving - high school (since I was good at swimming and could chuck somersaults on a trampoline, this sort of followed naturally)
Sychronized Swimming - high school (once again, since I was good at swimming and gymnastics...)
Table Tennis - home (we had a table in the rumpus room)
Tae Kwon-Do - not done
Team Handball - primary school (though I'm not sure we played to the same rules)
Tennis - home (the only sport my parents play)
Track & Field - primary school & high school
Triathlon - home (actually used to compete in local competitions throughout high school)
Volleyball - high school
Water Polo - high school (since I was good at swimming and netball...)
Weightlifting - not done
Wrestling - not done

Those I've listed as "primary school" and "high school" I learnt through the school. The "home" ones were sports I learnt through some method other than school - whether it was the neighbourhood kids, a friend, or my parents that taught me.

Of those that I've not done, I had the opportunity to try boxing and shooting, but was never interested. I think Tae Kwon-Do just wasn't that popular in Australia when I was a kid (I know lots of kids did Judo or Karate).

For the track and field events, I've taken the following list:

* Track - 100 meters, 200 meters, 400 meters, 800 meters, 1,500 meters, 5,000 meters, 10,000 meters, 100 meter hurdles, 400 meter hurdles, 4 x 100 meter relay, 4 x 400 meter relay

I've done all of these. Hurdles I only learnt in high school. Every kid in school had to run the 100 metres in both primary and high school unless they had a medical disability.

* Jumping - high jump, pole vault, long jump and triple jump

I learnt high jump and long jump in primary school, the pole vault from a friend, and triple jump in high school

* Throwing - shot put, discus, hammer and javelin

I learnt shot put in primary school, discuss, hammer and javelin in high school

* Heptathlon and Road Events - marathon and 20-kilometer road walk

I started doing marathons when I was in primary school, but it was really because I had friend in Road Runners, which was a local marathon group. I'm not sure I've actually walked 20km, but I learnt the how to do "the walk" in high school. One of my mates from high school competed in it up to national level.

Anyway, that will probably do me for today. I might comment on my comments some further another time.

Update: Look at all this nice rain the eastern coast of Australia is getting at the moment -



Though I doubt the Gold Coast is thinking it's as wonderful as I am, since they've been experiencing flash flooding.

Listening to: The Meadows - We could be somebody else


2 Comments:

Blogger Amanda said...

Your post about what type of lawyer and got me to the point where I can now reluctantly admit that I was a bit shocked about my results for the what social status are you test. I came in as Upper Middle Class - I always thought I would be alternative. I guess having kids changes your perspective. I have always been different from my other lawyer friends - for one I didn't marry a lawyer I married a waiter who turned into a computer animation geek. I didn't work in law many years and I have alot of friends outside the law.

I don't even wear suits I have always dressed in a way that suits me (I hope) I don't have a tattoo but one of my good work friends (a planner not a lawyer) has several and is married to a guy that owns a tattoo business. This is so different from my law friends they only have social lives within their burbs (i.e. Clayfield/Ascot) and the law.

I thought it was the having the house and it making statement (but then I think all houses make statements) and maybe being concerned about finances from a security point of view because of the kids, that may have changed my social status perspective. Not that I am taking that quiz as the gospel or anything just a bit of a surprise result for me that's all.

7:04 pm  
Blogger OLS said...

Urban Fox - I actually found private practise quite rewarding because I was a 1st year solicitor doing a senior associate's job, so was working with interesting files and coming across new challenges every day. The only problem was that it was also exhausting doing a job far too challenging for my level of experience, and I ended up with no social life - hence the move to government. And the work here is challenging too - well, not in my current temp position, but it is in my substantive position.

As for racially significant tattoo - in my case, it's a design which is relevant to my racial heritage. I can't be too specific as it is very distinctive and would reveal my "secret identity". ;o)

- OLS

8:45 am  

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