August Sander

In between hacking up a lung or two (see my previous post) I've been watching DVDs, knitting,and making nice with the internet. In my travels on the information superhighway (remember that?) I stumbled across some photographs by the German portrait and documentary photographer August Sander (b 1876 - d 1964). It has to be said that his subjects are a pretty dour lot, but there's something about that direct and fearless gaze into the lens that has always intrigued me.








C'mon, say "cheese".

Chesty

Looks like the cold that had started brewing when I went to Melbourne has become a full on chesty bit of nastiness. Ugh, I'm going to pop out and grab a coffee from the cafe near my house but then it's back to the bed/sofa for me. (My new flatmate has brought with him an extensive collection of DVDs, so I suspect the sofa is where I'll stay.) Laters!

Melbourne

My little day trip to Melbourne was fun, but exhausting. My cab to the airport arrived a little early, so I left home at around 5.30am and was at the airport about a quarter to 6. IN THE MORNING. I'm an early riser but that's ridiculous.

Naturalmente my first stop was the little coffee bar in the departures lounge (where I got myself a surprisingly good cup of morning joe). I spotted my co-worker disappearing through the departures gate so I gave her a quick call and confirmed that she'd already checked me in at the electronic ticket kiosk thingy. Truly, I miss some of the glamour of pre-deregulation air travel in Oz but being able to do so much of the process online and being able to check-in ahead are pretty convenient improvements. Aussies, remember when we had to ring up the day before and confirm the flight?

Mind you, at times I would kill for a bit of proper in-flight service. Cutlery. Glassware. Hot food. Hotter flight attendants.

We got into Melbourne before the shop opened, and the shop manager was stuck on a delayed train and so her plans of opening up early for us were dashed. So we headed off to Degraves Street nearby for breakfast. Fortified by a truly fantastic cup of coffee and a delicious BLT baguette we headed back to the shop and worked solidly until 5pm.

I installed windows, I drew up plans, I measured, I discussed options and at one point I even got the iron out and ironed a banner that we later hung in the window. The shop looked pretty good, just in need of a bit of tweaking, some layout adjustments and making some of the displays look a little stronger.

We flew back on mega-cheap Tiger Airways. From the hastily built demountable terminal, to the long Av Gas scented walk across the tarmac, to the worn fabrics on the seat, travel with Tiger was an experience. A couple of the cabin crew were very friendly but they all seemed very young and some quite inept. Especially the chief flight attendant (no 'purser' here) who kept stuffing up the safety drill announcement, making some of the other crew giggle. Still, a shortish flight and a $6 beer later we arrived back at Sydney airport about 8pm.

Completely knackered.

Somewhere along the line I also picked up a cold, so I'm going to head into the office late this morning. I just wish I could get another of those BLT baguettes before I do so.

A Little Piece

Nomotta yarns were right, a little piece of you does go into everything you knit!

Here's a pic of something that a lot of me went into, the 'Logan' oversized neckwarmer that I designed and sample knitted for the Autumn fashion windows at the store I work at:



It's not overly complicated, essentially just a huge tube of 2x2 rib, but I wanted it to be something that was dramatic and a real statement piece. (This is not a child's mannequin I shot this on, but a full sized adult one. This thing is BIG.)

I was inspired by some of the chunky knits that have made their way down catwalks recently, and by some of the early works of Sandra Backlund, so I worked this in 2 strands of 8ply (aka 'double knit') held double on chunky circular needles. Even with the chunky needles it soaked up the yarn like a sponge (12 balls in total) and took me quite a while to knit. Knitting to a deadline is not as much fun as knitting for pleasure, and as the deadline for the window display approached I spent much of my free time knitting this behemoth.

I was originally going to make it a bit smaller, but our in house designer suggested I really go for it dimensions wise. I was worried that it wouldn't work after I cast it off as being rib it stretches out to a HUGE size when you hold it up, but I always imagined it as something that could be twisted up dramatically like this, or pulled up as a hood. Combined with the other 4 garments in the window (all variations on this tubular neckwarmer/cowl idea or big textured wraps) it makes a really dramatic statement and is probably one of the more high fashion windows we've tried. I've noticed lots of younger women stopping to look at them, and we've already had offers to buy the samples outright (including one woman who wanted all of them).

We've had a whole second set of samples made for our Melbourne store in different colours (their "Logan" is a warm French grey), which thankfully I didn't have to knit. Tomorrow I'm catching the red eye to Melbourne to do a store visit, look at how we can improve their visual merchandising in general, and help install their version of the windows. Fun!

Except for the bit where I have to be at the airport at 6.10am...

Archie

I had a really broken night's sleep last night, finally culminating in me losing my patience with tossing and turning and getting up not long after 5am. Sadly (sometimes) I'm one of those people that wakes up easily and is fully awake in a finger snap, so the only thing for it is to get up, or maybe read, but do anything other than lie in bed and wait for tiredness to return. My regular working week is Tuesday to Saturday these days, so I wasn't stressed about having to get up early for work this morning.

So I pottered around a bit, then came back to bed and watched youtube clips of the earlier seasons (not shown in Australia) of my beloved tv show QI. [Official website and QI on youtube.] I could not love Stephen Fry more! It's true. About 7am I started to get drowsy, so I rolled over and went back to sleep until just before 9am.

I hadn't been up long when my friend Judy rang about 9.30 and suggested we head on in to the Art Gallery of NSW to see the portrait competition The Archibald Prize. Judy doesn't work any more and so she and I often use my Mondays off to catch up and do fun stuff. Today also dawned a glorious mild day, so it was lovely to get out and about in it.

It also saved me from my one big 'plan' for the day. Housework.

One thing I love about urban Australians is just how much we appreciate and use our galleries. The Archibald has been going strong since 1921 and is so heavily patronised that they have to have crowd control. Winners, and the inevitable controversies, make the prime time news. There's a people's choice selection, and a 'packers prize' for the favourite of the storeroom packers. Even on a Monday morning the line for the exhibition snaked around into another gallery space.

These days a ticket into the Archibald also gets you into its 2 sister competitions, the Wynne Prize (landscape paining or figurative sculpture) and the Sulman Prize (subject, genre or mural painting). For only the third time since 1921, this year the Wynne and Archibald were won by the same artist, Sam Leach. I had a shortlist of favourite's in both exhibitions, but was completely entranced by Leach's 2 small jewel like paintings (especially his landscape), so I had no quibble with the outcome.

The first thing I spotted when we walked into the Archibald was a huge portrait of a musical favourite of mine CW Stoneking.

"CW Stoneking" by Cara Fletcher

I only discovered Stoneking recently but I'm swept away by his unique pre-war jazz and blues style. To quote his website his work swings from "lonesome field holler blues, to hokum blues duets, to full blown jungle epics". His songs make me think of prohibition gin, mixed race bayou bars and rolled down stocking tops. Amazingly for someone so steeped in blues traditions, although he was born to American parents Stoneking is an Aussie and lives in Melbourne.

"Jungle Blues" by CW Stoneking

After a truly fab ramble through the gallery, some lunch, and a walk through the park, we ended up where else but at Tiffany's. (I don't ever think I've stood as straight.) We strolled further, fondled some cashmere at House of Cashmere, bought comestibles at the David Jones foodhall, browsed for books, and had tea in The Strand Arcade before heading for home late in the afternoon.

Housework be damned.

Shopping For Inspiration

Andy Warhol, 1965.

5 Life Lessons I Have Learned By Teaching Knitting*

• No matter how hard you try, some people will just NOT GET IT. Not even if you beseech them.
  
• One (ie: me) needs to acknowledge this fact and move on, without throwing one's arms around their legs and screeching How have I failed you!?!
  
• Others will really, really get it. Bzzzzzzzzzp! Ok, I've knitted 20 rows, now what?!
  
• Either position can turn perfectly functional adults into being a kid again. Dejection or pride, pretty much 2 sides of the same coin.
  
• I always start the class by teaching a simple slip knot. This is functional, but also highlights the Will Gets v the Will Probably Not Gets. From this I have learned that maybe I should start giving all potential suitors some sort of test. (Not the same one though because then I might only get guys into S&M.)
  

*A beginners' class at work, for 3 hours every second Saturday afternoon.

In Living Colour

Well, well. There was a time when writing this blog was (amongst many other things) a kind of therapy. Putting it all down in the edit dialogue box was a semi-structured way of working through how I thought about stuff. I'm not sure where I forgot about that along the way, but I really should have kept it in mind. I've had stuff to work through you see, but didn't use this blog to help me figure my way through it.

In short, the first quarter of 2010 pretty much sucked ass (and not in a good way). I broke up with the guy I thought I was dating (Or is it that I thought I broke up with him? Given that... never mind.) on New Year's Eve, at a party, from which I walked home, leaving behind my favourite hooded jacket. Portents? Omens? You know, one of the reasons I often don't celebrate New Year is exactly because people seem superstitious that only a good New Year can equal a good year ahead.

Poppycock, clearly.

So, flashing forward and trying to be brief, Sometime up until a few weeks ago I got profoundly depressed. Not dramatically depressed, no renting or wearing of ashes, because so long as you weren't inside my head I gave most of the signs of actually keeping it together. But somewhere along the way I lost me it felt like. Despair must be terrible, but numbness is in the race as well. At least Dorothy Gale got to see Munchkinland turn into colour, which is a lot more fun than the reverse lemmetellyou.

No I didn't seek professional help, other than mumbling something to my doctor and then agreeing that yes it was probably something to do with my old sleep problems and no the strong drugs I used to be on were not a road I wanted to take again. I got up and went to work, sometimes went out with friends but became a bit flaky about turning up for things, basically stopped doing any housework, and on days off quite often remained unwashed and in my robe until I couldn't any more.

The weird thing about being depressed is it's not like your limb is hanging off and people can see that yes indeed, you are a tad poorly. Unlike an only semi-attached appendage sometimes it isn't so bad, and sometimes it seems much better. I had some good times over the past 3 months, and I had some quite average times when I tried to fake it until I could make it... and thought mostly about being home in my robe not doing any housework.

A few weeks back I decided that in line with my parents' Northern English upbringing, all I needed was to pull myself up by the bootstraps. Symptom or cause I don't know, but things miraculously made a turn for the better. Step 1, I needed to lessen my stress about the work/money situation, so I contacted my previous temp agency, and a previous employer, to see if they had any work going. One temp work offer was made, but I decided I also should approach my boss at the yarn store and put my cards on the table. Explain what I wanted to do, what I know I'm good at, why I would rather stay working for them than go elsewhere, and how much I thought I would need to live on to be able to do so.

Essentially they agreed. I'm now on a less modest income (though still not immodest by any stretch), and am in charge of visual merchandising for the 2 (soon to be 3) stores as well as keeping the website updated. The VM stuff is my baby, and because we are a yarn store designing windows means having garments to put into said windows, and to differentiate ourselves it also means designing and product development of said garments. I'm loving it. I put our new windows in a few days ago with 5 garments that I workshopped with our in house designer, and one I designed and knitted outright, and the customers are lapping it up.

About the time I received my promotion I also got a flatmate. The stress of breaking the housework embargo almost broke me as well, and it's true that much of the contents of the junk room front bedroom that couldn't go to Goodwill are now stacked in teetering piles in my bedroom. Awaiting being dealt with. In baby steps. But my friend Steve is all moved in and is paying his rent, and is working out just fine.

Having someone else in the house is a good thing I've decided. Someone to make you reflect on the fact that maybe you don't really want someone to see you welded to the sofa, in your bathrobe, at 3 in the afternoon, and that maybe it was time you brushed your teeth at least. I want to be alone has its uses, but it's time for a little less Garbo just now.

I'm a bit less poor. I have a bit more money in my pocket, and am not looking at a single digit bank balance while waiting for pay day. I've started to not only service my debt, but have started to put a bit away for a trip to Italy next year. I've been doing some stuff around the house. My creativity has been fizzing away, planning things for work and jotting down things I want to make for myself.

So much of my situation was stress related, I can see now. Wow, I do not handle stress well. Shut down all non-essential services, and just leave a pilot light running on some of them. Best of all I feel more like me than I have almost all year. The colour is back, cue the munchkin!

Next Thing You Know It'll Be House Keys In The Refrigerator

And walking the streets with a fried egg on my head, having just eaten my hat.

My entire house smells like burnt coffee, with a hint of rubber. I put the stove top coffee maker on a short while ago, somewhat distractedly, apparently without any actual water in it. I passed it a few times thinking huh, that's taking a while to gurgle.

Well, aside from the melted rubber washer the thing is okay. No house fire. No billowing smoke.

I guess it's time for a walk to the nearest cafe for a coffee. Safer too.

Craft Show Shenanigans

Those of you who warned me that Thursday was going to be a long day, no matter how much planning we put into it, were right! (See my previous post.) It wasn't helped by the fact that my boss arrived a half hour early. He was supposed to pick me up at 6.30am, but when my alarm went off at 6 I noticed there was a message flashing on my phone from 5.52am. Sorry I'm late, I'll be there in 5 minutes.

What. The. Fuh?

He had gotten himself all confused, half remembered a conversation where I suggested quarter to 7 was early enough and at quarter to 6 thought he was running late. A minute later he rang as he was a little lost, while I'm throwing on clothes unshowered and uncaffeinated and cursing like a truckstop hooker.

The rest of the day went pretty well, the 2 hour drive was uneventful and I didn't get us lost, and the stall set up was smooth but long. I was the only one with a real handle on how the thing went together, so even though I gave the others plans of how it was to be merchandised of course I ended up doing most of it while the other 2 chatted, futzed, stopped me with lots of questions or got distracted. I was so tired and over it by afternoon I even snapped at my boss that he might like to unfold his arms and put some of the emptied tubs back on the transport pallet.

Ooops. Note to self, watch that acid tongue.

Thankfully he is a cool guy and later apologised for not having done all that much, and thanked me for a great job. Okay then.

We finally left at 4 in the afternoon for a 2 hour drive home, making it a 6 to 6 day. He bought me a quick dinner near my place and by 8 I was falling asleep on the couch. The show stand looked good, we learnt a few lessons about how we could improve it for next time, and had a quick look at other stands to get more ideas. A tiring but productive day.

Road Trip!

Ugh, I should have gone to bed already! Tomorrow morning I have to be up at sparrow's twit because my boss is picking me at 6.30 AM for a 2 hour road trip. We are Newcastle bound, to set up an exhibitor booth at a large craft fair. This time around the yarn store where I work decided to try something a little different, and we have created a whole new layout and merchandise for the company's stand.

At only 3m x 2m the booth is small, but we wanted to try and maximise its potential. My bosses gave me almost free reign to source fixtures, plan the layout and create packaging for a new set of kits we'll be trialling. The store has a collection of their own yarns that they have released in the past year, as well as exclusive patterns. So I've worked hard to create attractive kit packaging, and we now have a bunch of pretty cool kits of pattern + yarn in all sorts of price points. Most of which feature their own yarns, with a few that feature other popular yarns.

The fair doesn't start until Friday, but tomorrow is set-up day and we have a woman who subcontracts with us to run the booth who so far hasn't seen any of the radical revamp we've done on it. So in the morning my boss and I are heading to the location to work with her to set up the booth and lay out all the merchandise. I've packaged it, planned it to within an inch of its life, drawn planograms, packed the tubs with stock even... and now I'm pretty confident it should all come together.

Unless I navigate as badly as I did last week when my boss and I went to look at shop fixtures, and ended up about an hour out of our way and on the road to Canberra. Oops.

Steamy, With A Chance Of Thunderstorms

It has been so unbelieveably hot and humid in Sydney these past few weeks, with little respite. Even on the days when the temperature hasn't been that bad, the humidity has been so high that it feels like the tropics. In the past few weeks I've had poor wilted tourists visiting the yarn store where I work, not having realised just how tropical Sydney can be. We've also had lots of rain, heavy, drenching evening rains especially, that haven't done much to relieve the situation.

The aftermath. It was raining when I set out to pay a visit to my doctor this morning, and the footpath in front of the doctor's office was awash in Frangipani flowers that had come down in the heavy summer rain squalls.

My neighbours have a Mango tree in their backyard, and one heavily laden branch is growing over the fence and is drooping down just outside my back door. This rather small mango seems to be the first to start to ripen. It's just a shame I hate the taste of them...

The rain we had this morning left beautiful silvery droplets on the other, larger fruit hanging from the tree.

Yesterday I had headed into the Art Gallery of New South Wales for an hour or so, before being due to meet up with friends at Sunday arvo drinks. On the way I passed the steps of one of the older a buildings in the area (I think it's some sort of courthouse building) and spotted this Frangipani flower. I liked the contrast of the soft, crisp form against the dark stone of the column and the column's base.

I had a nice little wander around the gallery, visited a bunch of my favourites, but realised as I walked in that I was just catching the end of a free talk given by artists Gilbert & George. Bugger, I would have liked to have seen the whole thing. I capped the rest of the afternoon off with drinks with friends, before heading to another venue to keep on drinking and watch a few drag shows. I'm currently working Tuesday to Saturday, so Sunday and Monday are my weekend.

Which now brings me full circle to my Monday off, a day of rain showers in the morning (and steamy, bright sunshine in the afternoon), a slightly hungover doctor visit (me, not her), the rest of the day hanging out and shopping with my friend Judy, and an afternoon movie. ("It's Complicated", which while not actually being a terribly complicated movie was a real good laugh, and enriched by the performances of Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin and John Krasinski.) Not a bad weekend indeed.

Falling In Love With Love

Happy Valentine's Day!

Pleasure/Payne

Meet one of my new obsessions, handsome vintage actor John Payne.

Born in 1912, Payne started life as a wrestler and Vaudeville singer before starting out in B-grade movies for Sam Goldwyn. His early career included quite a few musicals, before he moved into dramas and westerns. His best known film is "Miracle on 34th Street" with Maureen O'Hara and Natalie Wood. Payne's career ground to a halt after a serious car accident in 1959, and he passed away in 1989, aged 77.

1930s promo shot.


With Betty Furness in "Fair Warning", 1937.


Payne in "Kid Nightingale", 1939.


1930s beefcake shot, check out that swimsuit!


On the beach, 1930s.

I haven't seen many of his films, I'm not to proud to admit that my interest in Payne is largely physical. So handsome!

You can read more about Payne at Brian's Drive-in Theatre.

Allow Me To (Re)Introduce Myself

Hey. 'Ssup you guys?

Well, sorry about that unplanned hiatus. It was only supposed to last for a few days over Christmas and New Year, but one thing leads to another... and another. And here we are at another festive occasion (Valentine's Day) already. The middle of February, almost!

So, catching up time. The end of 2009 and the start of 2010 have been a bit of a rollercoaster so far, and I'm only just starting to feel like the ride has come to a complete stop (and some hunky, possibly even tattooed, carny has reached in and released the safety bar).

Christmas this year was a period of high stress mostly, juggling the search for more work (ahem, more on that later), poverty, the anxiety of not being able to buy anyone gifts this year, and the resultant mini-meltdown that ensued. Maybe meltdown is a little OVER DRAMATIC!!! but I basically hid under the covers as much as I could whilst still giving the outward impression of someone moderately functional. My sisters both came through with the gift of an airline ticket to visit them for Christmas, and so despite my cheeks burning with shame at not being able to afford to buy any gifts other than for my two nephews, I actually had a nice Christmas with them.

New Years sucked and was a very important lesson. If you are feeling confused by how into you someone you are seeing is, whether in fact a relationship might be on the cards or might not be, or it's just casual sex, the answer is... well, we all know the answer to that one. They've moved on and so now must you. Always trust your instincts.

So you don't think it's all negative, just one upside in the past month or so has been 3 of the best one-night-stands I've had in a long time! I'm not normally one for the one-night-stand as an oeuvre... but seriously, sex that could is not to be sniffed at.

Work has been problematic. Christmas and New Year saw temp work dry up completely, but in the meantime I have been able to pick up extra work at my other retail job in the yarn store. It just doesn't pay very well though, despite the fact that I really enjoy it! The promised ongoing position with the other mob I was temping for has not yet materialised, so I assume they are still negotiating their next big contract. We shall see.

So, a litany of stress and anxiety so far, with a few sparkling shags in between. Not quite an accurate picture, but not too far off the mark. Being strapped for cash most weeks has meant not doing as much as I would like to socially, but that's probably saving my liver as much as anything. I did see a couple of movies over the break, "Sherlock Holmes" (not bad, loved the costumes and Jude Law in equal measure), "Avatar" (I'm not too proud to admit I was totally blown away by it) and "Nine" (ugh, at one point I thought please kill me now). Now that things are settling down a bit my goal for the next few weeks is to get a bit of stability back in my life, spend a bit more time reconnecting with people I have been neglecting and perhaps bag another fantastic shag.

Perhaps.

'Tis The Season

Sorry for the lack of posting lately, I've had a really rough past couple of weeks and although I'm not shy about talking about the good and the bad, I've been really flat and unmotivated. Thankfully, thankfully, things are on the improve. I'm still under-employed and not actually earning enough to even pay my rent at present (oops), but I'm about to head off for a few days to visit my sisters in Ballarat and I'm making a concerted effort not to think about the stressful stuff for the next few days.

Avoidance I can manage. Easily. In fact I've kind of been avoiding the whole Christmas thing this year. There are few stresses like feeling you have obligations or the desire to do things, and just not having the cash to do it. So I have basically avoided all social events over the past few weeks. If you are a 'real world' friend of mine, consider this an open apology if I didn't show up to something recently.

My sisters clubbed together and bought me a ticket to go and see them for Christmas, so I'm off tomorrow until the evening of the 28th. Now that we have agreed that I'm only buying gifts for my two nephews (even though that sucks because I love buying gifts, and even better wrapping them!) the stress has at least been eased somewhat. So tomorrow's plan is to try and get a bit of Christmas cheer happening.

I hope you all have a great Christmas/Holidays season, and I'll catch you sometime around the 28th!

It's A Sign Of The Times

Martha Stewart "Weddings" magazine covers their first gay wedding. No fanfare, just the same sort of coverage they give to any other wedding.

The two boys have put up their own wedding album here, and there are some really sweet pics. Awww. I need to find me a husband.

Sigh

Is it just me, or does a waxed moustache just make any cute boy even cuter?

Boozy In The Afternoon

Up until about 2 or 3 weeks ago I was working 2 part-time jobs, for a grand total of 6 days a week. Unfortunately the better paying 4 day a week job ended when the company I was working for finished the big project they were doing with one of the major banks. I've had trouble getting another job to replace that one, so I've been trying to subsist on the 2 days a week I am getting at the yarn store. Not very successfully, it has to be said.

When the project with the bank ended, the subcontracted company I was working for said some lovely things about how well I had done and sent me an invitation to attend the staff Christmas party. So earlier today, a postcard perfect Summer day here in Sydney, I headed out to join them for their Christmas lunch.

The Sydney Opera House from this morning's ferry ride.

The invite said that lunch was at a restaurant called "Sails" at McMahon's Point, on the norther side of the harbour. As it was such a beautiful day I was glad that it seemed that the easiest way to get there was going to be by harbour ferry. So once dolled up for what I assumed would be a fairly posh, yet waterside relaxed, restaurant (in what I hoped was a casual with an edge outfit of 501 jeans, slim fit blue military style shirt and skinny leather tie) I grabbed my camera and set off. With the intention to have an enjoyable afternoon and not think about the stressful stuff.

Wave to all the people doing the Bridge Climb everyone!
[Click to enbiggen it, they are the row of tiny figures along the top of the bridge]

As someone who was primarily working on site in bank branches for the company, I had spoken to many of the staff and management but had not actually ever met them, so it was great to put faces to names and voices. The restaurant was nice, a fairly small affair right on the edge of the water and our table butted right up against the window which we were able to open to let in the breeze off the harbour. The food was pretty good, but it was the rivers of alcohol that were memorable. Lordy. I think I had the equivalent of about 3 glasses of Champagne before the food arrived, and by the time we rolled out of there at 4.30pm I had added plenty of lovely Sauvignon Blanc (and one strong coffee) to the mix.

Luna Park, the restaurant was in the little bay just behind.

I kind of hoped it would be an opportunity to network with the management of the company, and thankfully it was. I've been a bit down about the work and finances situation lately, so to have a nice swish lunch at someone else's expense was a nice respite from that stress, but best of all I got some genuine, heartfelt and effusive praise and gratitude from them for the work I put into the project.

They are keen to get me back, and have some large new projects in the works. On the way to the restaurant I had a very disappointing call from my temp agency telling me that a job I was due to start next week has fallen through, and that they were struggling to get other work in. So the praise and the talk of possible new work starting after the Christmas break gave me a boost I needed. Three separate members of the management team all told me independently that they wanted me for this new project.

So boozed and schmoozed, clutching my Christmas gift of luxury chocolates and free movie passes from the company, I caught the ferry back across the water. Feeling a bit happier and more optimistic.

The Obsession Continues

I understand I'm one of a very small number of Mari Wilson obsessives (Hi Thom!) so bear with me. I had to share a couple of clips I hadn't seen before, firstly a film clip to accompany her biggest single release "Just What I Always Wanted", and secondly a live version of the same song from over 20 years later.

I don't remember seeing this at the time, I guess I must have though because this song did quite well in the Aussie charts and would no doubt have been played on the music video shows here. Unless there were several different versions floating around. Most of the clips of Mari that pop up on youtube are live performances at concerts or on variety tv shows.

The audio and video quality are not the best in this 2008 clip, but she's still got it. Gone are the huge band and the numerous back up singers but her voice is still pretty great I think. Sure those really high notes were always a challenge, but wow it's great to see her doing so well with it over 20 years later. She had some health problems for a number of years, and didn't really perform, so it makes me happy to see her performing again.

Ka-Ching!

I always thought Eric Mabius from "Ugly Betty" was kind of cute, in a shiny pretty sort of way, but then I hadn't seen any of the more recent episodes of the show.



Whoa. Eric Mabius + beard = a new level of hottness.

Diary Of A Shut-In

I had a really lazy day yesterday. Pleasant, free of angst or any other such carry on, but inactive.

I'd like to justify the fact that I did nothing at all by saying that I was conserving my precious financial resources/the environment/shoe leather/carbon emissions or something, so it sounds noble but actually I was just LAZY. I surfed the internet, I watched some teev, I even knitted a bit. At one point I ate pizza (although, in my defence I did have a healthy salad and fruit earlier in the day).

The kicker, when I woke up this morning I realised I didn't even shower yesterday. Thus begins the slippery slope people.

Esther Williams, Eat Your Heart Out

Yesterday morning I was kind of futzing around the house, pottering, messing around on the computer and generally being a slacker, when my friend Judy rang and suggested we put the day to good use and go for a drive. So, after collecting me about eleven, we headed up to the Blue Mountains to the lovely little town of Leura, about an hour and a bit drive from Sydney. Yesterday was hot, so the secondary plan was to escape the heat (although, in hindsight I don't think it was any cooler).

I really enjoy Leura, it's kind of touristy but also a bit chi chi and quaint. The main street through town has a fabulous collection of shops, with a heavy emphasis on upscale wine and food, homewares, and the sort of fabulously engaging (but thoroughly non-essential) shops that always win me over. Moontree candle shop and gallery, Elizabeth Rosa fine stationery and Ikou natural products being three that had me before I'd even stepped over their airconditioned thresholds.

After a lovely lunch at the bakehouse cafe, I window shopped like I could do it competitively for Australia, while Judy plonked down some true cash money and was given goods in return! (I love how that works.) It was a little depressing being in Retail Heaven whilst being skint, but helping someone else spend their money is definitely the next best thing.

Safely back in Sydney, I grabbed my swimming gear and headed over to my friend Mike's house for our new weekly swimming regimen. Mike has a very nice, and generally underused, swimming pool in his apartment complex, and a couple of weeks ago started inviting a small group of us over to swim laps. I'm technically a pretty good swimmer if not a strong one, so the pool is a good size for me (about 20m long we estimated). The plan is to get together once a week for lap swimming, with a goal to increase our personal baselines by at least 2 laps each session.

Synchronised naiads! Hot jazz trumpet! Colour coded handmaidens! This bitch knows how to make an entrance...

Not exactly an intensive training regime, but every little bit helps, and it's nice to do it in a friendly and supportive atmosphere. I love the water and have since I was a little nipper, and it's so nice to slip into the pool after a hot day. My natural inclination has always been to slide straight under the water, ever since I was a kid I just about spent more time swimming along the bottom of the pool than anything. However it's nice to break out the old freestyle, side stroke and backstroke. Certainly more taxing physically!

Of course it's then off to the pub for a meal and some beers, but then every elite swimming squad needs a team building exercise now and then.

The First Lady of Cameroon

I suspect Chantal Biya, first lady of Cameroon, may be a little insane in the membrane.

"Who is the old man with the little white cap?"

"He calls that a Jesus hat? THIS is a Jesus hat!"

"Yes, yes, riveting. Where did the little Jewish man go?"

Suits You, Sir

Photo by David Siljper for the NYTimes.

Photo by David Siljper for the NYTimes.

Photo by David Siljper for the NYTimes.

Moschino, F/W '09-'10

5 Good Things About Being An Un(der)employed Slacker After Dropping From 2 Part-time Jobs To 1

• Only having to put on big boy pants and polished shoes 2 days of the week.
  
• Breakfast at 10.30, am or pm
  
• Bandwidth maximization! For once that 2am to 12noon "off peak" bonus my isp gives me is getting a workout. When the pennies are tight it's all about value for money, people.
  
• Do you even know how much self pleasuring one can do in an 8 hour day? [High five!] Frankly. even I'm shocked.
  
• Um, be right back!

Very Nice Selection!

Whenever I see these kinds of vintage pictures, my first reaction is to go along the line and... well... kind of like this:

Wait a minute! YES!!!!

The Big Gay Bush Dance, Devonshire Tea and Angst.

Last weekend I headed down to Canberra for the annual gay Bush Dance. The last time I went to the Bush Dance was 2 years ago, and I had an absolute blast. This year I drove down with my friends David and Robert on Saturday morning, to meet up other friends Colin, John and Derek who had arrived on Friday night.

I loved this Goulburn Evening Penny Post building.

It's around a 3 hour trip from Sydney to Canberra, and David, Robert and I decided to break the journey late morning for a stop over in historic Goulburn. First impressions of Goulburn were just how neat and clean it was (including the public lavs, which after a few hours in the car were most welcome), but also just how dry it seemed. The public gardens were still in pretty good shape, if not a bit wilted in the heat. Goulburn has actually run out of water at times and had to truck water in. Pretty amazing considering it's a fairly large regional centre.

Nom nom.

As it was late morning and travelling is hungry, thirsty work, we stopped off at a cafe for some morning tea. I'm a sucker for a scone with jam and cream, so once I spotted the 'Devonshire Tea' all else faded from view. It was a most pleasant little interlude. At one point I noticed a sign over the station where they had bottles of water for the table and glassware encouraging patrons to only take what they need, as water is a 'precious resource'. Further evidence of Goulburn's situation.

Derek and I. OMG, so handsome. (Derek's not bad either!)

Once we arrived I checked into the hotel with Derek, John and Colin, and David and Robert headed off to stay with friends. The rest of the afternoon was spent on a little shopping spree (2 pairs of new work trousers for $40!, thank you Target sale), some napping and then pre-dance nibbles and beers.

The bush dance was lots of fun, although I had a few low spots during the evening. Don't ask me why, but sometimes I think way too much. One of Derek's friends is wont to make casual cracks about short people, which normally slide right off me as my height has never been an issue that bothers me. Maybe it was that one too many that broke the camel's back, but at one point during the evening I got really annoyed.

Derek and I have been seeing each other for a little while, and although we haven't even discussed what it means and if we consider each other boyfriend material, I guess I'm at that point where the approval of his friends matters to me. Plus I just think it's really rude to make remarks like that in the presence of someone that might take offense, even though it's possible that he doesn't do it to be intentionally hurtfull. Derek and his friends do have a lot of back and forwards banter, so maybe on one level I should read it as a sign of acceptance? Anyway. like I said, way too much of the thinking.

All in all though a good weekend but I came home to find the crushing news that my temp agency isn't likely to have any work for me until the 18th of December at the earliest, and that there are currently no additional shifts available at my 2 day a week job at the yarn store. I love the yarn store job but it pays poorly, so in the lead up to Christmas I'm staring down the barrell of not being able to even make my rent for the next 2-3 weeks. Christmas travel plans have been shelved and I've spoken to my family about basically ignoring Christmas this year. I'll send gifts over for my 2 nephews, but unless something suddenly appears on the work front that will be it.

I'm so mad at myself for landing myself in this situation. I saw the possibility of it looming as my other temp assignment drew to a close, and I knew that being committed 2 days a week at the yarn store would make other temp work hard to find. Frankly I love the job at the yarn store too much to give it up, but it's killing my chances of other on-going temp assignments. The yarn store is opening a new store in my neighbourhood, so there are potential improved job prospects there, but that might just squeak in by year's end rather than in the next week or so.

So, not the cheeriest of blog posts but I feel like it's best to be honest about what's going on my life right now. I've held off writing about this because I knew it would turn into a downer, but there you have it. Uncertainty and small crises of confidence seem to be the order of the day. Cue a desire to take to bed and pull the covers over my head, but I'm determined not to give in to this natural inclination.

The Neasdon Queen of Soul - LIVE!

A couple of years ago I wrote a short post about my 20+ year long obsession with the original Voice of the Beehive herself Mari Wilson. Aside from the campery and retro glamour that she affected in the 80s, I've always loved her genuine warmth and that voice! Her version of "Cry Me A River" still gives me goosebumps.

Earlier today I was cruising youtube, as one does, and I happened across the channel of Julia Fordham, one of Mari's original back-up singers The Marionettes. Julia has posted a half dozen clips of Mari (and her, natch) performing live on various tv shows and in concert. Fabulous! Many of my favourites are on here like "Beware Boyfriend", "The End of the Affair", "Just What I Always Wanted", "One Day is a Lifetime"... etc.

Bows to present... Miss... Mari... Wilson!

With Julia Fordham on backing vocals!

Don't Ever Say Never

So. I'm back!

When I said that I might return I wasn't expecting to come back so quickly, if ever, truly. I suspected I would miss blogging though, but I underestimated just how much I would miss it over these past 2 months.

Aside from missing connecting with you all, from a functional point of view it's hard to suddenly stop doing something you've done pretty much daily for around five and a half years. Cold turkey is a bitch! Almost every day I find myself stumbling on something that I think "oh, I must blog about this... crap!"

So I return, cap in hand, having cried "wolf!" only once.