An exam, those chickens and other stuff.

Hello! Here we are again. It's been a little while. There's lots going on and I've neglected this space just a little. Right now it's a beautifully breezy day in Alice Springs and after a week of stinking hot days, it's nice to have the windows and doors open and the air circulating.

The Exam.
I had an end of semester exam this week and whilst it's good to have the feeling of completion, the last couple of weeks I've also had that feeling of 'should-be-studying-but-brain-too-full'. The exam was horrid but it still would have been that way had I more motivation to put in more of an effort to study more. It was open book, as most (all?) law exams are but the questions were a bit unexpected in comparison to the last semester of course material and learning. I guess that's the nature of these things. I stuck to the time plan and answered each question (terribly!) so hopefully I pass. I'm undecided as to what subject I take over the summer semester (if any) but one option might be Indonesian law, which could be interesting.

Speckles, who should be on the other side of the fence.

The Chickens.
As you might remember, two of our three little hand-raised chooks ended up being hens that crowed. This was problematic for two reasons: 1. Roosters and suburbia don't really mix; and 2. Roosters don't lay eggs. The decision for action was made on a Sunday morning at 5.30am when old mate was trying really hard to perfect his crowing. "Those roosters have got to go!" were the exact words, as I recall. So we put them in a big cardboard box and drove them back to the poultry guy we got them from. He very generously agreed to swap them, either for two more (correctly sexed!) day olds, or two laying hens. We chose the latter and returned home with a white hen and a brown speckled hen. Back at home, our little red hen was fretting for her brothers but now, a couple of weeks down the track, she is happy to follow her new big sisters around. The new gals are laying an egg a day each and have been since the first day they've been here. They are also more adventurous than little red hen, and jump the fence into the veggie garden on a daily basis. This hasn't been such a good thing for our newly planted corn or flourishing silverbeet. One day they even ended up in the main section of the yard, much to the curiosity of the two kelpies, who ended up helping Peter herd them back into the yard.

Toby, always eager to help.

Other stuff.
I was following a debate on Twitter following this article being published on Mamamia (groan). The article went along the lines that for girls (women?), being drunk puts you at greater risk of being sexually assaulted. Um, no. The non-absence of a perpetrator puts you at greater risk of sexual assault, whether you are sober and in your own home, or a little tipsy in a nightclub. The debate needs to shift from placing the responsibility on the victim to protect themselves to placing the onus on the perpetrator not to assault. I realise this is a much bigger topic than this short paragraph explores but, yes. It got me a little riled and MF's advice is not something I will be taking. Another perspective to this issue can be read here. Did you read these articles and follow the conversation on Twitter that followed? What are your thoughts on this?

Speaking of Twitter, what are your top accounts to follow? I always enjoy reading perspectives from these accounts, in no particular order:

:: @CJaustory
:: @IndigenousX
:: @clementine_ford
:: @utopiana
:: @croakeyblog
:: @WomensAgenda


And, oh! Almost forgot the linky. Joining with Em.