Fascinating post, Grant. I lived in Australia for 22 years and have been in the Sydney Opera House many times. It's a miracle it turned out so well, and there was a lot of bad blood created by the poorly conceived process, which you described so well.
Thanks Chris! I’d love to go there myself one day. I was wondering how many Australians knew the story of its construction, as I don’t think Americans do.
Australians are very aware of the story of its construction, the fact that Utzon left Australia full of bitterness and refused to ever return, which means he never saw the completed Sydney Opera House. Crazy.
The budget over-runs meant that much of the finishing touches were quite pedestrian, and for years it felt like a bus station inside in many places. Also the acoustics were terrible and had to be corrected with advanced engineering.
Nevertheless, it's one of the greatest buildings in the world and I'm glad you wrote about it--I can assure you Aussies are very aware of the story of its tortured origins, which in a way is distinctly Australian.
Awesome deep dive on the topic, and glad you have found redemption and have continued consistently ever since!
One thing I've noticed also is that once you achieve consistency for a while, it stays there even if you break the streak, as long as you return to it the next period-ish. I had a 2 year streak doing a workout called The Happy Body, every.single.day... and after that period I started missing 2-3 days a month but get back to it, and continue ever since, it's now been like 4 years.
Like developing the muscle and then it won't atrophy immediatly.
Fascinating post, Grant. I lived in Australia for 22 years and have been in the Sydney Opera House many times. It's a miracle it turned out so well, and there was a lot of bad blood created by the poorly conceived process, which you described so well.
Thanks Chris! I’d love to go there myself one day. I was wondering how many Australians knew the story of its construction, as I don’t think Americans do.
Australians are very aware of the story of its construction, the fact that Utzon left Australia full of bitterness and refused to ever return, which means he never saw the completed Sydney Opera House. Crazy.
The budget over-runs meant that much of the finishing touches were quite pedestrian, and for years it felt like a bus station inside in many places. Also the acoustics were terrible and had to be corrected with advanced engineering.
Nevertheless, it's one of the greatest buildings in the world and I'm glad you wrote about it--I can assure you Aussies are very aware of the story of its tortured origins, which in a way is distinctly Australian.
Awesome deep dive on the topic, and glad you have found redemption and have continued consistently ever since!
One thing I've noticed also is that once you achieve consistency for a while, it stays there even if you break the streak, as long as you return to it the next period-ish. I had a 2 year streak doing a workout called The Happy Body, every.single.day... and after that period I started missing 2-3 days a month but get back to it, and continue ever since, it's now been like 4 years.
Like developing the muscle and then it won't atrophy immediatly.