Kevin Rudd is coming to UWA!

It seems the teaching method does work and I had nothing to fear about my exam. It was the second easiest one I've ever taken; the first being a legal writing exam which was just 30 multiple choice questions about grammar. We had all finished after about 15 minutes and had to sit around waiting for the half hour mark so we could leave. Hello, HD. But that's not what I came here to write about...

Kevin Rudd will be giving an address at UWA on Friday afternoon. I received an email invitation several hours ago and was instantly excited. I have very mixed feelings about the man. On one hand, I bitched about so many things he did as Prime Minister. I hated his attitude, I hated his smug smile, and I hated how he often acted like a complete diva. But on the other hand, I've actually developed quite a soft spot for him now that he's no longer running the show. He did do a lot of fantastic things as PM, like apologising to the stolen generation and getting us safely through the GFC. And, of course, the way he was stabbed in the back by Julia Gillard was enough to elicit some sympathy from even the most conservative of Australians. I find him a lot more endearing now that I know we aren't all in his possible somewhat psychotic hands. Foreign Affairs is what he's suited to and I'd be very interested to hear what he has to say.

Unfortunately though, I have an exam that afternoon. The address is at 12.30 and my exam isn't until 2, but I'm really going to need all the time I can get to study. So I'm very torn as to whether or not I should go. I have until 5pm tomorrow to RSVP but if I do go, I don't want to leave it too late because seats are limited. I don't know. When am I going to have another chance to be that close to a former Prime Minister? I think I should probably sleep on it.

That said though, it was announced earlier tonight that Rudd has pulled out of the APEC meeting later this week due to a respiratory illness. But that news was released at about the same time as I received the email, so I'm not sure whether he's even still coming here. If you're too sick to travel, then you're too sick to travel, right? It's not going to look good for him if he skips one event and attends another, is it? My right-wing acquaintances are already jumping on it, claiming he's shirking his responsibilities and will be seen as snubbing Japan (where he's quite unpopular) again. So I'm hoping that the talk will have to be postponed. At least then I'll be able to attend guilt-free.