~ Curious Charlie ~

On the Waterfront - Yarra's Edge @ Sunday, April 29, 2012

Is it strange to love the sound of your name? At some point in the afternoon today I realized that I think I love the sound of my name. O.o A name that you've had for 20-something years? No. I'm one of those people who a use a different name wherever they go. This name I've only had on and off for about a year, it's Latin. We were at the station opposite the church there was some people I knew (who probably don't exactly like me...) but I went to say hi anyway. Passively I was hoping to see Hector, though didn't. As I was walking past the door though Hector, in a brown suit (the reason I couldn't find him :P, as he always wears grey) said hi as he walked past. And a few minutes later, on the tram to work I realized I love the sound of my name, ~~or maybe just especially when certain people say it.~~

Taken a few months ago, on a nice, warm, sunny day.

"A rose by any other name would smell as sweet." - Shakespeare. Would it really? Studies have shown a name can make or break you. People with shorter names like Smith, are more likely to be successful because people actually remember their name. Also most names come with a picture of the person, e.g. perhaps the first James you knew was that jerk who threw spitballs at you in 8th grade, and now you have a negative view on any guy called James. Another thing with names, is last names, they can often say where you come from and give an image of you. My last name is 'Brown', simple, boring but you probably can guess just by my name that I'm Caucasian. Discrimination happens all the time, for better and worse. Being Indian or Asian will definitely help you get a job in accounting & IT, but perhaps not so much in PR. Or the name can totally be a disadvantage and make people got O.o like with Obama.

This week's event: Marysville to Melbourne Multisport Challenge. Starts at 6am. Starting location hopes to increase tourism to that area, as in Feb 2009 the town became famous for the bushfire, where 45/500 people died and 90% of the town was burnt to the ground. Soon afterwards the entire town was declared a crime scene, while they identified the bodies of those who were trapped inside their houses or cars. At first they believed the cause of the fire was arson, but now they say it was caused by the most severe heatwave for a century, low humidity and strong winds. Anyway, so Marysville was chosen as the starting line to hopefully increase tourism there again.

The event is to fundraise for 'The Difference' which helps all disadvantaged people (e.g. aboriginals, the homeless, poor people). My role wasn't labeled and so I just did stuff they needed help with. At the fruit stall, I help cut up bananas (the easiest), oranges, mandarins and learnt how to cut up a cantaloupe. Also filled up cups of water and lined them up perfectly. I was meant to finish at 8.30pm (according to the sheet) but since they didn't need anything, it was getting dark and freezing, on the waterfront I left a few hours early.

The lighting has been altered. It was grey and cold.

That's not sunlight, it's photoshop.

While there I met the guy who runs the events volunteer site that ms events was talking about, he was very nice, and not as shiny in person XD. The site pretty much helps kids in events get volunteer work. It doesn't say that you'll be blacklisted if you sign up but don't turn up, but practically implied it and so I have never actually used it. :P Plus when you go through events they have been involved in they say like "8 volunteers placed" and it makes you think you have to apply and then be selected to be involved, and that makes it less appealing - that or not many people sign up... I prefer to sign up by myself and have had no problems with getting three events in May.

Yarra's Edge was the finish line for the event, lovely view if you're inside a restaurant, but other than that, I think this is the coldest event I've been to. The event was associated with the Red Onion Café, a new $$$ cafe so everyone was encouraged to get a coffee there. The $$$ is accredited to the price of hot chips, the type of you get at a carnival in a bucket, normally $3 with tomato sauce. But due to possible the location they're $6 here, for average hot chips.