/karen/

My time goes on and on

Saturday, 02 February, 2008

Sunday 20/1/08

I sleep in. Ben gets up and goes to church with Fish somewhere. I get up around 11 or 12, then start doing laundry—changing the sheets, washing the towels, doing the washing up, etc. I also pop down to Borsellino's and buy some fruit and vegetables because we have none, finish unpacking and putting away, and then hop on the computer and start sorting through my photographs.

Ben has the mother of all headaches that evening and decides it would be best not to go to church, so I stay home with him and make him grilled salmon with salad for dinner.

Monday 21/1/08

National Let's *Poke!* Guan Day. It's Guan's first day back at MM, and to celebrate the occasion, I've organised the event on Facebook and instructed all participants in 12 different ways to *poke!* Guan. (Emma is proud that she manages to do most of them just after midnight, and then accomplishes the in person *poke!* once in the office, chasing G up and down the hall). Unfortunately a mole has leaked the information to G so the surprise element has gone (grrr ...)

It's Briefing thinking day so I spend the day doing an awful lot of Briefing-related administrivia. The number of things I need to get finished starts looking overwhelming so I start mentally shoving a number of them out of my head. And Guan, Elsie, Bec and I have lunch together in the boardroom.

Tuesday 22/1/08

Work is dominated by the ever-ravenous beast that is The Briefing. However, later in the afternoon I actually get onto YOU—cleaning and formatting.

Summer fellowship is on at church but I'm not quite ready for it so I stay home. Ben goes to see The Arcade Fire at the Enmore Theatre with Duncan.

Wednesday 23/1/08

Day off. I know it's my first week back at work and I have a lot to do, but I am so thankful for my day off. I decide it's finally time to go get a haircut so, black lace parasol in hand, I go walking to find a hairdresser. There's one at the end of our street but from previous enquiries, a haircut there will set me back $60. I walk to Newtown and find one called Hair Tales, run by a lady named Poppy who has been doing this for over 20 years. She has a customer coming but she agrees to start on me, and then when he shows up, I flip through magazines and eavesdrop on their conversation. She returns to me once she's done with the gentleman, and we make small talk. Interestingly she shuts up when I mention I work for a Christian publishing house; perhaps she's had Christians before who have tried to tell her the gospel. I don't mind.

She does a good job, and my hair feels lighter now than 20 cm has been chopped from it. I take my parasol and walk home. Ben and I have leftovers for lunch and I spent the afternoon blogging.

In the evening, he went to see The National at City Recital Hall (here are Guan and Bec's reviews) while I stayed home and watched Serenity.

Thursday 24/1/08

Back at work, I was due to start Briefing editing. We were also having a Briefing meeting in the afternoon and I wanted to be prepared.

Someone had left the mail on my desk from the day before, and it turned out to be my very own copy of Dragonhaven and American Born Chinese by Gene Yang. Both cost around $50 in hardcover if you buy them in Australia. Amazon charged me just over half that much—including shipping.

Ben showed up not long before our meeting finished. I shut down my computer, packed my bag and then we drove through peak hour traffic to Hans and Cathy's for dinner. After dinner, I showed them some holiday snaps from Victoria on their television, and then discovered that if you re-orient the photos and then copy them onto your camera again, they won't display at all. How irritating.

Friday 25/1/08

At work, I am not feeling the best but I push through and manage to edit a fair amount of Briefing material for the current issue. I leave at 3 and go to counselling, then drive home through peak hour traffic.

At home, I think I have plenty of time but the outfit I had planned to wear to see Joanna Newsom didn't quite work so I found myself changing and discarding, changing and discarding. In the end, I had to run to make the train.

I met Rosey at Circular Quay and she told me she looked nice. I have to say she always looks nice. We made our way up to the Opera House. As I said before, Newsom was enchanting (even if our seats were crappy).

Afterwards, we went to Starbucks and sat outside under the stars talking about music while I sipped my chai latte. And then I caught the train home.

Saturday 26/1/08

Australia Day. Little Rachel's birthday. (I had bought her a Tachikoma stuffed toy at Supanova. Tachikomas are those robots in Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex—a series that both Little and I love. I gave Little the box at the Big Read and told her she couldn't open it until her birthday [yes, I'm mean like that]. Then Ben happened to see her while he was in Wollongong on the Friday, and she gave him a lift back to Sydney. She said that since he was there, she could open it—even though it wasn't her birthday. He later reported to me how much she liked it.)

I had been toying with the idea of going to The Rocks because a lot of free bands were playing (including Katie Noonan, Kate Miller-Heidke and The Hampdens). But I wasn't up to facing the crowds. Instead, George and I made plans. I drove to her house around 12 and she made me lunch (steak sandwich!) and we went to see 27 Dresses together. Aline Brosh McKenna wrote the script (she also did The Devil Wears Prada) so it was a little less inane than your average rom com. Even so, there were points when I thought it was a little over the top—that things were turned a little too much to make us feel sorry for Jane. And of course it's quite ridiculous that she was a bridesmaid 27 times; no one I know is good friends with that many people! But despite these things, George and I really enjoyed the movie; it certainly hit the spot for the kind of mood we were in!

We went back to George's place and sat around in her lounge room with her flatmate, doing craft and half-watching the cricket. I left around 7, taking with me a fair chunk of George's DVD collection on loan, to consume leftovers for dinner and blog about Victoria.

Sunday 27/1/08

I was up fairly early trying to get the laundry done. We had more leftovers for lunch, and then headed out to Matt and Cathy's for their farwell party as they're moving to St Andrew's Hall in Melbourne. We only ended up staying for an hour because I had agreed to meet Malcolm in the afternoon. We drove to Malcolm's place, then headed across the road to chat in the park. The conversation did not go well—I ended up in tears—and Ben took me home. I decided not to go to church, but instead spent the evening at home listening to Paul Grimmond preach on worship from Mid Year Conference 2004. (I figured it was my third week having not gone to church and what I really needed was to sit under the word of God.) Somewhat ironically the sermon was on sin and judgement.

Monday 28/1/08

Australia Day public holiday. We had been invited to Matt and Larissa's engagement party and we had intended to leave around 10:30 to get there (the invitation said a come whenever leave whenever) but I was feeling absolutely rotten. I IM-ed with Bec and Guan for a bit then felt a bit better. We ended up leaving around 11:30 which meant we got there around 12:00.

I keep forgetting that Matt now moves in much the same circles that I do. There were a lot of people from St Michael's Wollongong there, plus some people I hadn't seen in ages. Duncan and Fiona were there. So were Little and Seamus. And Pakman and Stacie.

Amazingly, so was Karen A who gave me a full review of Sweeney Todd. (I was also able to give her the Pirates of the Caribbean poster I had picked up for her at Supanova.) I wore the black and white dress I bought from the Queen Victoria Markets in Melbourne and brought my black lace parasol (which was actually a very sensible move given the glaring sunshine that day). Parasols should come back into fashion: they're pretty and they don't give you hat hair.

We left soon after the speeches and drove to Guan's for our listening party. Bec recorded the playlist since I didn't feel like doing it, and we took turns picking songs. I was extremely disappointed that my MP3 had played itself flat behind my back so I couldn't subject them to any Cowboy Bebop or Trigun. (And, just quietly, Little, I am realising in increasing frequency how much Yoko Kanno rocks!)

(These are some gothic cupcakes that Bec made.)

Guan made us a very yummy dinner:

We were pretty listened-out by that stage, so the rest of the evening was spent talking about the website I want to build (I just registered the domain this evening—woohoo!). I was also able to sneak onto Guan's computer and change his Facebook status in order to get more people to poke him. (He did that to me last week!) And then we caught Mary on our way out and were able to say hi to her.

Tuesday 29/1/08

Back at work, I was feeling pretty down but I had a good chat with Tony in the morning which was very helpful. And Ysabel, Guy Gavriel Kay's latest book, arrived in the post.

Briefing editing continued at an excruciating pace. I realised that I had left the house without wishing my lovely husband a happy eighth anniversary, so I did it by SMS (he might have still been asleep, you see). And Bec, Guan and I ended up eating lunch together.

After work, I drove home and Ben gave me an anniversary present (Raising Sand by Robert Plant and Alison Krauss). He didn't need to do that; we had agreed months ago that our tickets to St Jerome's Laneways Festival were going to be both our anniversary and Valentine's Day present because they were a bit expensive. I hadn't gotten him anything. But it was awfully sweet of him to do so.

Here's the anniversary photo I took of us:

We went out to dinner at Hikaru in Newtown. If we had a favourite Japanese restaurant, I think this would be it. It was stinking hot so I had cold soba noodles and sashimi (yum!) Then we went to see Juno which I enjoyed very much (I particularly thought the music suited the film, even though it's not the kind of thing I'd normally listen to and would probably find annoying out of context.)

Wednesday 30/1/08

Day off but I was working at home. I rose late and it was hard to get started. Bec was on IM so we chatted for a bit. I managed to do about three hours' worth of work (mostly February Briefing stuff) before leaving for counselling. (I swapped appointments with Ben because I had a meeting on Friday.)

Counselling was okay. We talked about Sunday and what I should do from here. It was helpful that she reiterated the distinction which I knew in my head but need to continually apply—that it's one thing to feel grieved at someone when they hurt you, and it's another thing to act on it in revenge, in anger, in spite, etc. What were the words she used? Oh, I need to “work through it”.

I drove home listening to St Vincent (my current music obsession; my favourites are “All My Stars Aligned” and “Landmines”. She has a kind of Ella Fitzgerald/Billie Holiday quality about her voice. You can hear it best in “What Me Worry?”).

At home, I made dinner, and Ben and I watched some of Extras: Season 2. Then I returned to work. I didn't end up finishing until about 1 in the morning because the document I was working on had about 40 footnotes.

Thursday 31/1/08

Back at work, I thought I would knock over most of the February Briefing stuff in the morning but then the online store wasn't working which made certain aspects of what I had to do (like enews) harder. Plus I had several new products that needed to be added to the store and that couldn't be done until the store was working. So the entire day was spent doing website-related stuff which was quite frustrating.

Ben was in, and Gordo was also in but he offered to swap offices with Ben so we could share. So Ben and I spent the day working side by side, and it was nice to be able to go him every time I needed a hug because I was feeling rather down. I was feeling so down, in fact, I completely forgot I was having lunch with Elsie until she showed up.

We didn't end up leaving work until 6 pm. Fish said he would pick us up at 6:30 but we were running a bit late. We paused at home just long enough for me to spray myself with bug spray and pick up some stuff. Then we drove out to the bay area around Drummoyne/Balmain. The sky wasn't looking very pleasant and, as we started the walk (which Fish says he does in about an hour), the heavens came bucketing down with droplets the volume of small water bombs. Okay, nature is against this exercise thing; we're obviously not meant to do it! I was the only one with an umbrella. We persevered for a little bit, then Fish said, “Okay, this is just silly,” and turned back. He and Ben ran for shelter under a restaurant by the bay and I joined them at a leisurely pace, laughing. Poor joggers and walkers who were probably halfway around and a long distance away from their cars went past completely saturated. Fish took my umbrella and went back to the car, then came and picked us up and dropped us home. We ate leftovers for dinner and watched more of Extras: Season 2.

Friday 1/2/08

At work, in preparation for the meeting I was having that afternoon concerning The Faithful Writer conference, I cobbled together all the ideas for the website I want to build. I also got my head stuck into serious March Briefing editing. I'm worried it won't get done in time; I've still got two things to edit and one of them hasn't come in yet. And the other is the Bible Brief.

It was Friday Thai Day, and we had the most people we'd ever had along to share in the goodness. I'm sure it's going to sound like Bec, Guan, Elsie and I each lunch together every day but honestly, it's not every day!

In the afternoon, Tony and I walked down to New College and met with Trevor, and talked about the 2008 conference. That was very productive and exciting; I want to go to all the seminars but unfortunately (or fortunately!) I'm running one of them. More details later.

Tony and I walked back to the office talking about what university was like for each of us and how deficient the university curricula was. Bec came bearing gifts: home-grown tomatoes, parsley and basil in a little egg carton. I was laughing at an email I just received which began like this:

Dear Sir or Madam,

We are given to understand that you are potential buyers of human hair products ...

I later discovered that Emma had induced Guan to sneak into my office and change my Facebook status (grr ...)

We left MM and went to Bec's car, then drove along Crown St through Surry Hills (which I must explore one day). Bec knew the area well because she had gone to high school around there, and she kept pointing out places that she liked. We found the Hope Street Markets easily but it was harder to find a parking spot. We went around and around in circles for a bit, but then our luck kicked in and we were able to park in a loading zone which became free at 6 pm.

I heard about the Hope Street Markets through MadeIt.com.au, and joined their newsletter. I wasn't quite sure what to expect: Marinka said she had enjoyed the one she went to last year, but Di said that it was crowded and expensive. It was a lot smaller than I expected it to be. The venue was this very trendy looking building at 182 Campbell St.

Inside, there was a “chandelier” made of twigs with lots of tables around the room selling pretty things and interesting things—

like this interactive jewellery by Oh Fiddlesticks:

and these divine bags and painted Moleskine notebooks by Tamptation (I ended up buying a bag and a Moleskine to give as gifts). Ellenade hats (which Elsie took a shine to online) were there, and Bec ended up buying one.

We wandered upstairs and discovered this very cool lounge and bar area with a black chandelier:

I bought a canvas bag with the Hope Street Markets girl on it, and Bec bought a “Hope” stencil from one stall where all the proceeds would go to charity. I also saw this beautiful top by Imoko-Tactile Curiosities but it would have cost $112.

We decided to get a drink. While we were at the bar, I spotted Marinka and Rosey and went over to say hi to them. I came back and Bec and I sat there for a while, enjoying the atmosphere.

We decided to go get some dinner then, and Bec took me to Betty's Soup Kitchen on Oxford Street, another one of her old haunts. It was good cheap food—pasta, bread, soups, etc. Afterwards, we headed back to the car and drove to Glebe, sort of intending to go to San Churro for chili hot chocolate but not really thinking straight. There was a lot of roadworks along Glebe Point Road anyway, and no place to park, so we headed back to my place.

Unfortunately Sydney Water had decided to rip up the road on my block so we had to park around the back and slip through the gate. I made us tea and showed Bec some of Sondheim's Assassins (one of his least successful shows), and played her the demented duet between John Hinkley and Lynette Fromme (“Unworthy of Your Love Song”).

Then we settled in the lounge chairs for some DVD-watching. Having tried to describe the Extras: Season 2 episode with Ian McKellen to Guan and Bec earlier that day and failed because of the giggles (and they were laughing more at me than at what I was trying to tell them), I had to play the relevant snippet for her, as well as the ones involving Orlando Bloom. Then we watched Howl's Moving Castle (with the English dub so we could enjoy Christian Bale as Howl). *Sigh!* It's one of those movies that, whenever I watch it, I enjoy all over again—as if watching it for the first time. And I was gratified to find that Bec enjoyed it as much as I did, giggling at the dog who couldn't get up the stairs.

Bec took her leave at around 11 pm and I jumped on the computer and finally updated my Current blog for the last four months.

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