Got back from a holiday down in Bunker Bay near Dunsborough, Cam's work's annual "Christmas" weekend. The beach-and-bush setting and resort (whose name seems to change every year, it's currently "Pullman") was lovely as always, but I was really impressed by the extra effort the chefs went to in catering to my food intolerances, they didn't just help me pick and choose from the given menu (which is the best I can usually hope for) they actually created entirely new dishes just for me! Mostly "subtract what I can't eat, add a suitable replacement" (like steamed rice with poppyseeds instead of spicy fried rice) but I got this amazing cashew-and-herb salad as an entree at the company dinner which I intend on trying to replicate. Afaict it was cashews browned in some flavoured oil then mixed with coriander, a few types of bean sprouts, mint (which i had to pick out, but never mind) shredded carrot, and LOTS of basil. Mmmm. And the mini pavlova I got for dessert was apparently nicer than the meringue-and-mousse roll everyone else got :D
I am currently enrolled in THREE Coursera courses oh god. Luckily the two that I've seen videos for are pretty light and fluffy, I have been getting 100% on all the Game Theory tests without taking any notes, while the first week of Astrobiology has all been stuff I already know. Both are nerdily fun, Game Theory is a little more dense but is also computational mathematics/logic aka my favourite type of science. The Social Context of Mental Health and Illness is presumably going to be much less fun and easy for me, I think the odds of me lasting more than the first week are low but hey it's free. If I really like them all I can even try NOT CARING ABOUT PASSING OMG and just treat them as documentary series.
The one downside of the trip was all the WALKING, urgh. We got an accessible room near the main building/restaurant, burt it was still further than I like to have to trek for meals plus there was all the luggage etc. So now my arms and legs are super sore. I've been talking to
hl about the mountain climbing she's been doing lately and sitting on a conveniently placed decorative rock amused myself by imagining myself as a brave mountaineer resting on a boulder after walking FIFTY METRES up a SLIGHT INCLINE omg.
Also it turns out I missed the first weekend of the Fringe festival, which had lots of free events, oh well. Poking at the website to see what's still on I've decided I like the look of
this exhibition, will have to see if it's wheelchair accessible.