DAY 7: STATE OF BOREDOM AND STATE OF ORIGIN

Macquarie University and myself have very different ideas of fun. If you read my previous post you know that my bosses referred to their office as “Fun City”. It’s a misleading name because when they say fun they actually mean not fun. Unless of course, your idea of fun is excel spread sheets, making copies, reading manuals and filing. If this is your idea of fun it is very very fun.

Here’s how my day went (I’ll keep it quick). Showed up at 9:30 after a two hour commute. Read three manuals. Filed tons of paperwork. Put same paperwork into an excel spreadsheet, made copies and filed some more. My cubical is in a corner – I think I had two interactions with human beings the entire day. It was exciting. It was as much fun as defending goal against this kid (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCUUC0S4lo0 – I love that video more than anything). What made things worse was the fact that the entire day I was looking forward to State of Origin. Needless to say after doing mundane tasks for about 8 hours I was ready to kick back with some friends, enjoy a beer and watch goliath-sized men beat the crap out of each other.

The game was quite an experience. I have been fortunate enough to have been to 2 Superbowls, an AFC Championship Game, a Final Four and National Championship game, an NBA Finals Series, the last game at the Metrodome (a playoff game against the Yanks), several Indy 500s, several Brickyard 400s and 2 night races at Bristol (something all sport fans must do before they die). Oh, and countless games at Mackey – an experience that still gives me the goosebumps. As you can see, I have been extremely fortunate to experience all of these things – thanks mostly to my Dad. I must say that this atmosphere ranked up there with an NFL playoff game. It was not quite as crazy as I was imagining but the fans are passionate and the stadium was incredible. You can tell it was built for a grand event (hosting the 2000 Olympics). We were fortunate (read poor) enough to purchase nosebleeds, which meant we were far away from the field but under the cover of the roof – joke’s on the people who spent $200 per ticket and had to sit in the monsoon like weather.

Personally, I just don’t understand rugby. It seems like a very basic, primitive game. They go back and forth clocking each other until someone makes a mistake and the offense scores. Beyond that, I didn’t see much to it. I don’t mean to offend those that do love rugby. I’m sure an Aussie who watched baseball would have the same feelings (also, the game didn’t have peanuts! What kind of athletic event doesn’t sell peanuts. I had to settle for gummy worms with my beer). It’s just an opinion. I think it is crazy how sports fans on the opposite side of the world are equally as passionate about sports but the sports are completely different. It was an experience I will never forget and I am very glad I chose to take advantage of the opportunity. Next on my sports list is an Aussie Rules Football game.


The opposite end of the stadium


It was raining hard but not in the cheap seats!

Cheers