Let’s see… the month started with the Verge Arts Festival at uni. It was very heavily advertised. There were models posing on Eastern Avenue and people handing out balloons. Luckily enough for me, they weren’t too much of an obstacle course. I actually took a balloon. Helium balloons are great for deterring tailgaters.

There was the EWB trivia night. Michael was there with me, but we needed two more people for a team, so we ended up forming a team with two random people whose names I’ve forgotten by the end of the trivia night. xD

Our team was named “Credit Agricole” after the team in Le Tour de France. (Michael’s idea, not mine.) That wasn’t really such a good idea because the people announcing the scores always pronounced the t in “Credit” and so it sounded kind of odd. We came third at the end.

On the next day, there were people performing taekwondo on the Wentworth Lawns.

There was the Wine and Cheese Night too.

A photo of Courtney taking a photo of people cutting up cheese! (I like taking photos of people taking photos. xD)

I wish I had my huge mouse with me that day. All that cheese… I liked the music too.

Of course, one of the main highlights of the month was the ChocSoc birthday party! It’s finally my turn to sit down with the other birthday people.

I got to see what it’s like when everyone else stands around to sing “happy birthday”.

I had a chance to cut the cake too.

Of course, I’m nowhere near as good at cutting the cake as Barton, our professional cake cutter.

As per tradition, the other execs bought me a present. Since I brought a mouse instead of a bear to the Teddy Bears’ Picnic, here’s a teddy bear for me to bring next time. (Well, not really. It’s more because they couldn’t find a mouse.) They also gave me a “bike love” photo frame. I’ll find a photo of my bike to put in it. Yay bike love!

Another highlight of the month was the twilight ride. Look who’s got a bright light in this group!

Twilight riders get to see the best scenery.

Oops, the pub at the end of our trip didn’t have a bike rack, so we’ll just have to share this one pole.

Come to think of it, on the day of the twilight ride, I found a really bad piece of chalking near the engineering buildings. Things that people write…

In the same week, there was also the zine fair of the Verge Arts Festival.

Look, it’s Miss Helen!

Some other interesting stalls:

I like rainbow colours!

Being involved with two stalls must’ve kept Harrison very busy. xD How convenient that they were next to each other.

This isn’t related to anything else, but this label is kind of silly. “Pet thing”? Yes, it’s a pet “thing”, but what kind of thing?

As well as the twilight ride, I also went to the full moon ride. Centennial Park is a nice place to watch the full moon. It’s also the day after Mid-Autumn Festival (well, Chinese holidays don’t match the seasons in Australia, but who cares), so I brought moon cakes to share.

Look at the bright moon!

We always stop near the lake for our picnic.

That’s me posing in the dark. xD

We can see the light of the city from the park too.

SUWIE had a cake stall on the day after the full moon ride. When I arrived, there weren’t so many people near it. I rode past it on my bike, and I bought a cake without getting off my bike. It’s not drive-thru, but “ride-thru”! xD

The SRC elections were on that week. There were tables for people to fill out their ballot papers, but they were crowded, so I just used my own… well, it’s not a table, but it’ll do.

Of course, election time means… flyer spam time! xD When I arrived at uni in the morning, someone actually tried to stop me to give me a flyer. Well, way to be silly. While I did slow down to almost walking-pace by the time I get up the steep University Avenue and was therefore easy to stop, both my panniers were full (because I put my whole backpack in there when I ride) and I needed to hold the handlebars so both of my hands were full too, so it’s not like I had anywhere to put the flyer.

It’s a competitive environment.

This has to be the most impressive advertising:

The week following the elections was the Enviro Week. There was a bike workshop. Yay, bikes!

The forums were interesting too. It would’ve been nice if more people turned up though. Of course, the bike scavenger hunt was fun. One of the items that we needed to collect was a balloon. I actually took one of the balloons that were tied to a fence on Eastern Avenue. xD Riding up the Shepherd St carpark to get to the checkpoint at the top was fun. Never mind that I was riding the wrong way half the time. xD I ended up winning a bar of fair trade chocolate. Couldn’t be a more appropriate prize for me. Actually, come to think of it, there was chocolate at the picnic afterwards too. If I knew that I would’ve invited ChocSoc.

Actually, I’ve seen some interesting bikes around uni lately. Look at this pretty pink one with flowers on the basket!

This one says “syntax”. I wonder who rides this bike. A syntactician, maybe?

Another major event of the week was the Battle of ChocSocs.

 I like the ribbon in Avari’s hair.

Here are the presidents of the two ChocSocs.

Ooh, a chocolate cake! (Well, this is a ChocSoc event. Of course we have cake.)

Avari plays pool…

The cue also makes a good weapon. xD

Prize giving time… once again, my team was named “Credit Agricole” (which again was mispronounced, but that was expected), and this time we came equal third with another team, which is part of the reason why there are so many people in this photo.

This is the team that came second… but I’m sure it had more people in it. xD

Uhh, did the winning team really have this many people in it? Well, it’s obvious that people were just crowding the photo anyway.

The Friday of this week was the last one of the month, so of course it was Critical Mass time. This month’s mass was again chaotic because of the route we took. Oops. I invited the mass to VegeSoc’s party at Hermann’s Bar. While there are bike racks in the area, they’re all quite far away, so we’ll just have to crowd around a lamppost instead. xD

Hmm, pizza…

And finally, it’s the last day of September… my birthday! (I’m 19 now. I think this actually surprised some people, although I think most people know by now anyway.) I’m so lucky that ChocSoc is having a party at Lindt Cafe on this day.

I’ve never been to the Lindt Cafe before. I didn’t know where it was, and I thought it would be a good idea to follow this Lindt Cafe train. xD The passengers smiled at me. I think someone even took a photo of me. Someone suggested holding onto the train. I tried, but I think if I kept holding on like that I’d tip over. I move faster myself anyway.

Aditi gave me flowers.

Donna bought me a slice of opera cake.

These delices are for us to share.

This chocolate cheese cake was yummy too.

Of course, I just have to take a photo of Aditi mixing chocolate with milk. Looks delicious.

We got a good turnout. As usual, I’m the one who invited people who don’t even go to USyd, but it’s more the merrier anyway. (Of course, since both my guests are cyclists, it’s the usual “chocolate-powered transport” situation! xD)