/karen/

Every time we lose our voices

Monday, 19 May, 2008

Monday 28/4/08

After our lovely Kosciuszko weekend, it was back to work. I drove my mum's car and got in around 8 am. I was determined not to be sick but I still sniffled my way through a tissue box throughout the day as I edited the June Briefing (smaller articles first). This was also the day we launched The Sola Panel blog so I also had my hands full editing posts and managing some of the hiccups.

I ended up leaving work around 6 (long day; I decided grocery shopping could wait for one day), then came home, ate leftovers and probably watched TV.

Tuesday 29/4/08

Back at work, there was more Briefing stuff and Sola Panel stuff. Ben and I went back and forth throughout the day trying to deal with the problems. I left at 4 and went and did the grocery shopping, then came home to cook dinner. I can't remember what I did in the evening.

Wednesday 30/4/08

Instead of having a day off, I worked this Wednesday to make up for the previous week when I had an extra day at the camp. There was Briefing stuff to do but it was all stuff to do with the May issue: adding links to the e-Briefing, putting the issue in the online store, putting it on the website, adding articles to the library, compiling and sending e-news, etc.

Elsie and I met up to read the Bible and pray together. I left half an hour early from work because I got sick of my stupid work computer, and did some of the work at home.

In the evening, I finished my Percy/Lace Ribbon prototype bag and blocked it:

Thursday 1/5/08

Back at work, it was Briefing, Briefing, Briefing. And Sola Panel stuff (which was starting to get annoying). I got into work at 9:30 and we had a Briefing meeting pretty much immediately. I scrambled to prepare for that but then the things I prepared for weren't agenda items so we didn't deal with them.

I worked until 6 and then went straight to Anna's. She'd invited all the girls from work over to watch Northanger Abbey (DVD provided by Jess G). Anna made us poached ginger chicken (according to Francis's recipe!) She brushed aside offers of help so Jess and I chilled out on the couch, watching Veronica Mars Season 2 (my DVDs are doing the rounds of the office). Then Caro and finally Em turned up, we ate our dinner and settled back to enjoy Northanger. It was a little racy in sections but it was certainly done well (Andrew Davies, who did Pride & Prejudice, wrote the script, and the divine JJ Feild, who will appear in the live action adaptation of the anime Blood: The Last Vampire is just perfect as Mr Tilney). We hung around chatting for a bit afterwards, and then I thought I should really leave as it would take me half an hour to get home.

Friday 2/5/08

I was in at 8 again (I never made it in by 7:30 at all this week, which is saying something). According to Bec's Bookface update, she was back in the country safe and sound and jetlagged (hurray!) Ben came in with me to work. And boy, was my head not up for it. We were sharing the office and he had to put up with all my whinging and whinging and editorial complaints. But I ploughed on and I edited the entire Pastor's brief while writing an email to Guan and Bec.

At 3:00 pm, we left to go to counselling. I think I fell asleep in the car. It was a productive session, if not a little sad. We went home, finished packing and then went to Gourmet Pizza Kitchen Miranda to have dinner. We didn't get there until about 8 and service was really slow because they were so busy. But we split a Morrocan (which was quite nice) and had one of their dessert pizzas, then continued on our way to Jamberoo, getting in at about 10 or 10:30 pm.

Saturday 3/5/08

Free Comic Book Day, but I was not in Sydney and could not celebrate. As Peter and my mum were overseas, Peter had asked us to go down to Jamberoo one weekend to check on how things were going at his house. So even though a million things were happening on that day—Free Comic Book Day, Hive Mind Writing Day, school friend's hen's night—I remained committed to Jamberoo because I said I would go and I don't like being one of those people who just changes plans willy nilly because something better comes along. Limiting your choices is good sometimes.

We slept in a bit but I woke relatively early (for me on a weekend), showered and walked into Jamberoo village to get supplies. We'd arranged to have morning tea with Tim, Liz and their little girls who were coming up from Nowra. It ended up being more like brunch for us. We had croissants, toast, muffins, fruit, hot chocolate and I even remembered how to do filtered coffee for Liz (the only one among us who drinks coffee). Then we had a walk around outside and played with the leaves before we had to say goodbye to them.

It was a beautiful sunny day so Ben and I took a drive up to the Jamberoo lookout. Peter always keeps telling us about it but we had never been. I wasn't quite sure where it was on the roadmap either so we played it by ear. Then Ben said we were running out of petrol and I started to worry whether we'd make it back down the escarpment. But it was okay—we got to the lookout and enjoyed the lovely view.

We also felt like a bit of exercise (being such sedentary people, or maybe it was carryover from Kosciuszko). I had noticed a little bushwalking trail a bit further up the road, so we stopped there and took a walk. It was supposed to take half an hour and it was one of those ones where they have little plaques along the way to tell you what the plants were. The trail was also fairly muddy but we navigated it fine and emerged out the other side unscathed by nature.

Back at the house, Ben got to work (busy job, being a freelancer) while I curled up on the couch with my lap quilt and read Dragonhaven, Robin McKinley's latest. (I ordered it from Amazon because it was significantly cheaper than if I'd bought it from a bookstore in Australia. [Yes, that's just nutty!])

Later in the afternoon, I got sick of reading so put on another one of George's DVDs: The Perfect Catch (it's called Fever Pitch overseas to make it inline with Hornby's book, but of course Hornby was writing about football, and they just changed the setting to the US and made it baseball). I had very low expectations but it was actually done quite well and I enjoyed it. I watched the special features, then realised it was getting late and that I'd better start dinner. I made grilled ling on bok choy with crispy onions, garlic and ginger. Oh, with noodles.

We spent the evening watching The Sopranos Season 1 (which we're still not sure if we like) and then, surprisingly, The Holiday (which Ben agreed to see because of Jack Black). My expectations of that movie were pretty low as well, and it was certainly very pretty, and Kate Winslet elevated it a little so it wasn't purely trash, but I got to the end and thought, “That's it?”

Sunday 4/5/08

We slept in a little, packed up and cleaned the house, then drove to Wollongong and had breakfast at Mudcat. (We were keen on Diggies but Diggies is always really popular and we knew we'd have to wait ages for a table.) It was still a very nice breakfast. Unfortunately Ben was not feeling well. So I took the wheel and drove us back to Sydney, and he played me recent acquisitions on his iPod (which included Thao).

At home, I got the laundry started and jumped on the computer to deal with the ever-present influx of email and more Sola Panel madness. I dreaded church and really didn't want to go. Ben said he wasn't going; he was working instead. I went on instant messenger with Guan and Bec and gave them my options:

• Force myself to go to PEC;
• Go to Wild St instead;
• Stay home and listen to Paul Grimmond on CD.

They thought I should get out of the house. Guan also invited me to go to his church (he was leading that night) but in the end I decided on Wild St, so jumped in the car and went. George and Bec arrived not long after I did, so I got to sit with them. Bec gave me presents from her trip, which included a 204-piece Hello Kitty puzzle (thus answering the puzzling question of how much Hello Kitty weighs), a tiny Hello Kitty sticker book, and a pack of two Moleskine blank volant notebooks. (The following day, she also left me postcards from Blackwells on my desk!)

Rod preached a very excellent sermon on Acts and mission which left me feeling like I'd really been fed from the word of God. I hung around a bit afterwards to talk to people. They were going out for Thai for dinner. I would have liked to join them but I had to go home and cook dinner for Ben. Then I stayed up too late.

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