Dralion
Wednesday, 23 July, 2008
Monday 14/7/08
I went in to work around 9:30/10 am feeling very tired. I dealt with my email and Sola Panel things and my children of divorce article (I hammered out an outline). I had lunch at the Tea Inn with Elsie (BBQ pork and won ton noodles, with an almond milk tea with coconut fruit) as I hadn't brought any lunch. We didn't end up reading the Bible and praying, but we talked a lot about stuff—the theology of wealth and possessions, and how that squares with the temptations of the world. In the afternoon, I had my 15 minutes of fame with Tony and mentioned the whole home loan thing to him. It's good to know that other people also freak out slightly about borrowing enormous sums of money.
In the late afternoon, I kept working away at my children of divorce article, and then drove home around 6. Ben made a vegie stir fry for dinner. We watched taped Law & Order SVU and then Sir David Attenborough's The Life of Mammals (just think! In three weeks he'll be talking about giant pandas!) and The Farmer Wants a Wife. I did the laundry, folded and put away the clothes from the previous week (it's always so depressing when the previous wash cycle catches up with the next one) and did the dishes. Then we watched Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Then I realised that Once was due back at the video store, so I went out and dropped it off (this was at 11 o'clock at night).
Tuesday 15/7/08
I got up at 8, had a shower, read my Bible over breakfast and prayed, and then we set off for the Customs House Library. There were lots of pilgrims on the train and around Circular Quay for World Youth Day. We went up to the third floor and sat on the white barstools near the windows overlooking the foyer. I tried to work on my children of divorce article but had huge troubles with the introduction (I think I was in the “Everything I write is rubbish and why would anyone want to read this?” stage. We went to have lunch at Wagamama (chicken ramen this time:
Yum!) and then came back, but it was no use. I knitted an Urchin hat instead. At 3, I bid Ben goodbye and walked towards Pitt St. I stopped off at the City Recital Hall at Angel Place and picked up tickets for the night's performance, then continued on to Greater Union on George St to see Get Smart which I wanted to see (and also I had to use up these movie vouchers my brother had given us for Christmas which expire in August). I wanted to get popcorn but a small is definitely not small; one person can't eat that much on their own (nor should they). So I didn't get anything, and munched on my Asian crackers and sipped my water.
The movie was fun but nothing special. I liked that Anne Hathaway was playing someone grown up for a change, instead of someone on the verge of adulthood. Afterwards, I ran into Liwen and Ramya in the foyer (they were on their way to see Mama Mia) and then on to the GPO at Martin Place. I went downstairs to the food court, found myself a table with enough light, and scribbled until Bec showed up, looking spiffing. We ordered food from Woodfired Pizza—a Caprese salad
and a prosciutto and funghi pizza:
Yum yum! And Bec looked over my children of divorce outline, and we compared notes on what the divorce experience was like for us (which made us both feel sad). I was feeling down about my article but then Bec said, “Well, I want to read it,” so that made me think I had to finish it, if only for her.
At 7:45 we headed over to the City Recital Hall for The Red Tree. I bought a program and Bec bought a copy of Shaun Tan's The Red Tree. The first half was the Australian Chamber Orchestra playing Shostakovitch with images from The Arrival projected onto the big screen. (Read Bec's account. I pretty much agree with what she said, with the only addition that I started falling asleep towards the end of it, and no wonder because every movement was adagio!)
We went out to stretch our legs during intermission. Bec flipped through the program and I flipped through The Red Tree.
Then it was back inside for the performance with music composed by Michael Yezersk.
Unlike the first half, the pictures matched the music more closely and it was beautiful—uplifting and sad, yet so very beautiful (though they left out the illustration of the girl drawing herself on the wall which was a shame). I hope they record it; I'd love to hear that music again.
Afterwards, we walked back towards Pitt St and parted ways—me to the station to catch the train home, and Bec to the buses.
Wednesday 16/7/08
Day off. Yet not so, given how little I accomplished the day before. I got up, had a shower, read my Bible over breakfast and prayed, and then got stuck into work—dealing with Sola Panel things, Faithful Writer things, work email things, different bits and pieces (like panicking because I realised I hadn't blocked the Henry scarf for my father, and going out and doing it) and blogging. Oh, and chatting to Bec on IM (Guan was away at MYC).
I was a bit out of it but nevertheless we were ready on time to drive down to Sylvania, and we even got to the restaurant (Masa) before my dad and Helena (a first!) Despite this being the third time in the space of about a week that I got to have Japanese food, I was not sick of it. (And it was delicious too! The sashimi was fresh and it practically melted in your mouth.) We talked property with them (because they're the ones who are urging us to think about buying). We also exchanged presents. The meal was finished off with green tea ice cream.
Then Ben and I drove home, and went to bed.
Thursday 17/7/08
I got up, had a shower, read my Bible over breakfast and prayed. Ben and I got into work at around 9:30, and I dealt with my email, Sola Panel things (I neglected to mention I was looking after comments while Gordo was on leave), Briefing things, Interchange, and so on. It was staff lunch day: since I had picked the song, Warren picked the lunch. We had Ben's Thai (I had sukiyaki) and then the staff tried to sing “Happy Birthday” to “Night and Day” by Cole Porter (Jess was the most successful at it!) We ate cheesecake topped with passionfruit puree.
In the afternoon, I went down to see Bec, and then went out to buy some vegetables for dinner. I really got stuck into my children of divorce article. I conquered the introduction and made some progress on the body (the logic was the trouble). We left at around 6:30, came home and I made rogan josh chicken with steamed broccoli and mushrooms. We watched taped The Simpsons, then both Law & Orders, then cleaned up and went to bed.
Friday 18/7/08
With all the road closures taking place for World Youth Day, I wasn't quite sure what the parking situation would be like around work. In any case, Ben needed the car to go to counselling, so it was easier to just work from home. I woke at around 8, had a shower, read my Bible over breakfast and prayed, and then got stuck into it (after dealing with Sola Panel things, positions vacant, email etc.) Slowly and painfully over the course of the day I managed to make significant progress on my children of divorce article. We had leftovers for lunch and then Ben left for counselling. I kept going with it, and by the time he came back, I had 1,200 words.
As soon as he got back, we left for the Moore Park Entertainment Quarter. According to their instructions, there was still a way to get in there, despite the road closures (which, when we got there, we could not see any evidence of there being any). We went across the Anzac Bridge and through the Cross City Tunnel, then down Ocean St and Queen St through Woollahra, across Oxford St, down Moore Park Road and Driver Avenue and then into the Entertainment Quarter. There was no traffic, and it was a breeze to get there so I don't know why I stressed about it.
We went into the Love Sac shop and sat on the love sacs because I wanted to. Then we went to Cine for dinner (pizza and salad) before going off to see Cirque du Soleil's Dralion. My brother had originally bought the tickets for my mum for her birthday. But when she realised that the dates coincided with World Youth Day week, she wanted to change. I think he couldn't be bothered changing the date so he asked if we wanted them (yes! yes!) So that's how we got to see Dralion (and how I managed to celebrate my birthday all week!).
And they were totally awesome seats too—fifth row from the front on the right hand side of the stage. We splurged on popcorn and fairy floss and a program (I love getting programs for things like this), and when we entered our row to find our seats, we discovered two people already sitting there. The guy showed me his ticket and it had the same seat number, row and section on it, so I went to talk to the usher. Then the guy realised that his tickets were for the following Friday night. His date didn't look too impressed. We were given the seats, but I felt sorry for the couple—I hope they weren't on their first date or anything, and that they managed to find good seats elsewhere.
During intermission, we went outside to stretch our legs. It was cold outside but very warm under the big top. Then we went in for the rest of the show. Highlights included: the trampolinists, the Chinese ballet dancers who did pointe on lightbulbs (who thinks of these things????), the aerial pas de deux, the aerial hoop, the juggler, the dralions (giant balls that acrobats would stand on and make them roll, and then do somersaults on them), and the skipping ropes at the end where the acrobats would form a pyramid and yet still jump rope. Overall, I didn't find it as spectacular as Varekai (I loved the Flight of Icarus and the Russian Swings) but I still thought it was wonderful and beautiful (the costumes were more beautiful) and vastly entertaining.
Afterwards we headed back to Cine for dessert (lemon meringue pie and chocolate cake with ice cream) and then drove home through no road blocks.
Saturday 19/7/08
The alarm went off at 8:30 but I couldn't make myself get up 'til 9. I had a shower, read my Bible over breakfast and prayed, then jumped on the computer and dealt with email, Facebook, Dr Horrible's Sing-Along Blog and blogging. Ben went and got us fish and chips for lunch (yum!) and then did the vacuuming. I spent the day on the computer, catching up with blogging.
In the evening, Ben had leftovers for dinner and I made myself noodles. We watched taped TV, then went to bed.
Sunday 20/7/08
I set my alarm for 8:30 but didn't get up until 9. I had a shower, then ate breakfast, read my Bible and prayed. Then I jumped on the computer and dealt with email and Facebook, and got stuck into writing my children of divorce article. It was hard going. I wrote all day, only stopping to make lunch (grilled salmon with boiled vegetables). After lunch, I kept going. I finished just in time to leave for church. I printed four copies and, at church, gave one to Bec, one to George, one to Guy and one to Kurt. Rod preached on divisions and it was a really interesting sermon. I must admit, I wasn't following too well in the question time afterwards.
Supper was buy your own takeaway, bring it back and eat it together. George, Bec and I walked up to Yum Yum Thai to get ours, all the while George telling us about her new job and the difficulties she was encountering. It was sprinkling with rain which was kind of annoying as only one of us an umbrella (me). We brought our food back to the hall to eat and were one of the first ones there. Eventually the others trickled in and ate with us. I started compiling a list of books to lend to George for her to read on the bus (she has an enviable ability to be able to read while on buses and in cars; I get motion sickness). Then Bec had to go and George had to go. I stayed around for a little while, chatting to Lesley and James, and finished another scarf/shawl.
Then I went home, put away the clean dishes, prepared for Monday, washed and changed the sheets, and did a whole heap of computer things—sent out my article to a bunch of people asking for feedback, sending out reminders to register for The Faithful Writer conference, and so on. Bec came online—she couldn't sleep. I was worried I had made her sad with my article. She had read it pretty much straight away, and gave me feedback on it via IM. We talked for a while. I ended up going to bed around 11:30.
Blinks:
A way of funding writing in the future: pitch and idea and get people to support it.
Place where you can hire play equipment for parties, etc.
How to recalibrate the home button on your iPhone.
Unsolicited manuscripts accepted by Pan Macmillan with certain conditions.
Thought Balloon is a group blog in which the writers tackle a new theme every week? month? with one-page scripts. This URL is for their Phonogram ones.
How to sew a zipper on a knitted garment.
Issues organised by tale.
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I saw The Red Tree here on Monday night and thought pretty much the same thing - and that I now want to go read the book with a magnifying glass because those close-ups on the huge screen were amazing.