Australians all, let us rejoice!
So, Amy and Rob are citizens of Australia now! Actually they’re dual American-Australians, which is what I hope to be in about eighteen months. Their ceremony was held in Mosman and I went along to celebrate with them. They basically just had to pledge allegiance and then they got a certificate and a native plant. Pretty sweet! There was a sour edge to the evening for me, though, in the form of a famous visitor in the midst: Tony Abbott! (He’s the Leader of the House and the Federal Minister for Health and Aging. He’s also a raging conservative asshole.) Didn’t he just get out of the hospital for kidney stones yesterday? And here he was, four days before a national election, spending the evening in front of a group of people who weren’t even eligible to vote for him! His speech afterwards was polished but uninspiring, I have to say. (When he started talking about Australia’s “freedom” I half-expected him to congratulate the new citizens on becoming part of the Coalition of the Willing.) You’ll be proud to note that after a short internal battle, I managed to resist the urge to question him about the Pauline Hanson slush fund and kick him in the nuts. Man, I’ll never have another chance like that again…

And I just realized that I spelled his name wrong on the photo, but I don’t really care.