Early Christmas Present
21 December 2011
As the weather has become warmer I have been able to take Mum to the beach or park when I have time off work. The early part of Summer has been quite sunny and warm, unlike last year.
In October Jay and I went to the IFBB Victorian bodybuilding championships as there were several guys we knew from the gym who were competing. Kai Greene was the guest poser this year and did a great job with a very striking costume.
I have been attending the American Society of Anesthesiologists Annual Meeting every second year as part of the continuing education I complete for my California
Medical License renewal. This year it was in Chicago, a city I hadn't visited before. Jay stayed in Melbourne as he hadn't exactly accumulated a lot of leave yet.
The meeting was excellent, significantly better than the last one I went to in New Orleans. Chicago was also a more pleasant city to walk around with very bold architecture. I saw many colleagues from San Francisco and also a few from Australia. I had only a little free time away from the meeting; enough for a short visit to Boystown, seeing the Millennium Park and an afternoon at the Art Institute to see their impressionist collection.
I flew on Qantas for this trip and was lucky enough to be on a flight where our friend Brad was working in the cabin for only the second time. As a result I was very well looked-after and the passengers beside me must have wondered why I was getting espresso coffee and introductions to all the crew. I returned the favour by photographing Brad at his first powerlifting competition a few weeks later. He won his weight division.
The Saturday after US Thanksgiving we had a Thanksgiving-style dinner for eight only one of whom was American. The others were Argentinian, Canadian, Iranian and Australian so it was not the most authentic of Thanksgivings, but a good excuse for a dinner party.
Soon after I arrived back from Chicago we had received the final request for paperwork from the Department of Immigration and Citizenship for Jay's Australian residency. This required more photos of us together over the past two years, more copies of the mortgage and one more round of favours from friends vouching for the genuine nature of our relationship. In the course of collecting the paperwork, we visited Jen and Mark in Woodend and saw the progress they had made with their garden.
The processing at DIC was surprisingly quick and Jay received his permanent visa to remain in Australia at the end of November. This is similar to the end of the "Green Card" process in the US. We had started work on it in at the beginning of 2008, so we will need to find a new project. Despite the nearness of a beach holiday, we had a glass of champagne with dinner to celebrate. In one year he will be eligible for citizenship. It was an excellent early Christmas present.
My cousin Philip married his fiancée Sam in November. The ceremony and reception were held at Quat Quatta in Rippon Lea. The civil celebrant was clearly uncomfortable with the government requirement to specify that marriage is between a man and a woman especially as the groom's sister and her girlfriend had come all the way from New York to help run the function. Marriage equality has been a hot issue here for much of the year, but I don't think we will be seeing any change for some time.
In December we finally agreed a day when everyone who wanted to be present was available to come and scatter my grandfather's ashes. He had died in June, and requested that his ashes be scattered at Sorrento, 90 minutes drive from Melbourne, where he had enjoyed so much time at the beach house he built there in the mid-70s. It was a perfect day, with bright sun and a breeze in the right direction.
Now we are preparing to host my family for Christmas lunch. Jay’s work has been very busy, with the studio launching The Sims Freeplay for iOS in time for Christmas and a couple of other major titles coming up. We will get some relief with a week off after Christmas and maybe some time at the beach while the weather is warm.
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In October Jay and I went to the IFBB Victorian bodybuilding championships as there were several guys we knew from the gym who were competing. Kai Greene was the guest poser this year and did a great job with a very striking costume.
I have been attending the American Society of Anesthesiologists Annual Meeting every second year as part of the continuing education I complete for my California
Medical License renewal. This year it was in Chicago, a city I hadn't visited before. Jay stayed in Melbourne as he hadn't exactly accumulated a lot of leave yet.
The meeting was excellent, significantly better than the last one I went to in New Orleans. Chicago was also a more pleasant city to walk around with very bold architecture. I saw many colleagues from San Francisco and also a few from Australia. I had only a little free time away from the meeting; enough for a short visit to Boystown, seeing the Millennium Park and an afternoon at the Art Institute to see their impressionist collection.
I flew on Qantas for this trip and was lucky enough to be on a flight where our friend Brad was working in the cabin for only the second time. As a result I was very well looked-after and the passengers beside me must have wondered why I was getting espresso coffee and introductions to all the crew. I returned the favour by photographing Brad at his first powerlifting competition a few weeks later. He won his weight division.
The Saturday after US Thanksgiving we had a Thanksgiving-style dinner for eight only one of whom was American. The others were Argentinian, Canadian, Iranian and Australian so it was not the most authentic of Thanksgivings, but a good excuse for a dinner party.
Soon after I arrived back from Chicago we had received the final request for paperwork from the Department of Immigration and Citizenship for Jay's Australian residency. This required more photos of us together over the past two years, more copies of the mortgage and one more round of favours from friends vouching for the genuine nature of our relationship. In the course of collecting the paperwork, we visited Jen and Mark in Woodend and saw the progress they had made with their garden.
The processing at DIC was surprisingly quick and Jay received his permanent visa to remain in Australia at the end of November. This is similar to the end of the "Green Card" process in the US. We had started work on it in at the beginning of 2008, so we will need to find a new project. Despite the nearness of a beach holiday, we had a glass of champagne with dinner to celebrate. In one year he will be eligible for citizenship. It was an excellent early Christmas present.
My cousin Philip married his fiancée Sam in November. The ceremony and reception were held at Quat Quatta in Rippon Lea. The civil celebrant was clearly uncomfortable with the government requirement to specify that marriage is between a man and a woman especially as the groom's sister and her girlfriend had come all the way from New York to help run the function. Marriage equality has been a hot issue here for much of the year, but I don't think we will be seeing any change for some time.
In December we finally agreed a day when everyone who wanted to be present was available to come and scatter my grandfather's ashes. He had died in June, and requested that his ashes be scattered at Sorrento, 90 minutes drive from Melbourne, where he had enjoyed so much time at the beach house he built there in the mid-70s. It was a perfect day, with bright sun and a breeze in the right direction.
Now we are preparing to host my family for Christmas lunch. Jay’s work has been very busy, with the studio launching The Sims Freeplay for iOS in time for Christmas and a couple of other major titles coming up. We will get some relief with a week off after Christmas and maybe some time at the beach while the weather is warm.
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