Back to the Grind

A week ago I returned to Canberra to resume actuary at ANU. For the three weeks previous, I was in Perth for one of my most enjoyable holiday periods to date. The weird thing was, there wasn't any particular stand-out outing I went to, bar one which most people may find a little edgy. Basically I was hanging out with friends at Garden City or else at home playing with my dog Oscar or watching Foxtel. Yet it's amazing how the simple things in life are so pleasurable.

The one stand-out aforementioned was the Ignite Young Adults Conference 2006. This event was put on by my church for the first time, and looks set to become an annual event to look forward to. Given this was the first time the event has been held, it attracted over 300 full-time delegates and nearly 500 for the night rallies. Pretty awesome no? With special guest speakers Jurgen Matthesius and Crishan Jayawardene (pretty sure I mispelled that one), the conference was an absolute blast, invigorating and refreshing. Even though next year I might go to Hillsong conference as well, Ignite will be more personal.

But now I'm back in Canberra resuming my studies. I have 13 contact hours a week, with one unit in each of the main areas of commerce (International Business), economics (Macroecomonics), finance (Financial Instruments and Risk Management) and the big "doozy", statistics (Survival Models). However the fact that I only have one statistics unit should equate to an easier time than last semester.

And to counter my extreme sleeping problems, I've got two classic novels to while me to sleep every night. Magician by Raymond E. Feist was written by a young man not much older than myself back in 1981, and I'm hooked even though I'm only a quarter of the way through it. Next on the agenda is "The Great DUNE Trilogy" written by the late and great Frank Herbert, apparently the greatest science-fiction novel ever penned. It's even longer than Magician, which is quite a feat considering the former is nearly 700 pages long.

So this is back to the grind.