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I still haven't worked out how to set up the cron job so it means I have to keep hitting this one URL manually to import the entries, but so far it hasn't been a big deal.

I was up at 6:45, I ate breakfast, read my Bible and prayed, had a shower, and then Ben dropped me off at work around 8:30. I still felt like I was on holidays. It was cuts and fills day for the November Briefing but I hadn't heard from Joy. I rang her, then chased commissions, dealt with email and Sola Panel and made a To Do list.

I caught the 400 bus at 12:15 with my mum's luggage to the top of High St, then walked to my mum's new office (complete with an original Sidney Nolan on the wall and an Aboriginal sculpture). It was stinking hot outside, so we sat in her office and ate a very yummy lunch of salad consisting of rocket, roasted capscium, mushrooms, chicken, bocconcini, cucumber, tomato, hard-boiled egg and something else, with a honey and lime dressing.

Then I walked back to MM in about 20 minutes. I did cuts and fills for the November Briefing and had it ready for proofreading by the end of the day. Unfortunately one of the printers was playing up, and the toner cartridge that was in it appeared to be leaking, so I had to print the proofreading copy in the warehouse.

Ben came back and we worked until 6:15. We picked up Guan and then drove to Em's place. Bec was already there. We made friends with Em's cat Trinity, glimpsed Em's other cat Neo, offered to help Em in the kitchen, and conducted conversations with her from the kitchen while she made our dinner. She showed us her book on cats so we could see what kind of cat Trinity was. Ben was freaked out by the cat owners. He and Guan played a game together (I forget what it's called), and then Ben put on a Sting CD to play that game of how many Sting songs you can listen to before folding (he got through the whole album; Guan was protesting long before then).

Dinner was extremely yummy—chicken and Asian greens, plus salad. We met Em's flatmate who ate with us, and we polished off all the salad. We had a short break, and then dessert: chocolate muffin with ice cream (also delicious). Then we said goodbye to Em, drove home and went to bed.

Tuesday 14/10/08

Day off! I was supposed to get up at 8 but couldn't get up 'til 10:30. I did laundry and fought foo: it took ages for me to get to blogging—probably because I spent a heap of time joining Flickr and working out how to use it. Ben made dinner (rogan joshchicken, then we watched The Simpsons and NCIS and went to bed late.

Wednesday 15/10/08

Ben's birthday. I was up at 6:15, I ate breakfast, read my Bible and prayed, and then was in at work by 7:30. I dealt with email and The Sola Panel. The Briefing came back from proofreading, but I needed to talk to Tony about some things and he wasn't in.

I decided to take the plunge and join Twitter—mostly because I wanted to read Ben's Twitter updates. Lots of people welcomed me and immediately started following me. Then I worked out how to sync Twitter with Facebook so that the former would update the latter automatically. So began my foray into the world of microblogging ...

I spent most of the day chasing commissions. I went to counselling at 2 (nearly forgot). I had a smooth run. When I got there, the normal spots were filled so I parked in an authorised spot. I sat in the car and scribbled stuff about motherhood and art and Rachel Powers until it was time for my appointment.

Counselling was a little frustrating; I felt like we were going in circles. Afterwards, I drove straight home, arriving around 4:45. Ben was in Newtown meeting Rosey. I did some stuff on the computer, then caught the train into the city, meeting Ben at Macdonaldtown. We went to the Night Noodle Markets in Hyde Park, which were on as part of The Sydney Morning Herald's Good Food Month.

There were lots of people there already—mums with prams meeting their husbands after work, gatherings of work colleagues, friends out for a good time. Fortunately it was not raining, though the sky threatened to come pouring down. We did a full circuit of all the stalls, looking to see what was available to eat.

I ended up getting my dinner from Yai (at Surry Hills). It was just noodle soup with BBQ pork (and it came in a surprisingly liquid-proof takeaway container! I don't know why but somehow it just felt wrong not to get noodles at a night noodle market):

And I also got black sticky rice for dessert:

Ben helped me set up the picnic rug on a spare patch of grass a little way away from all the tables and the screen reeling re-runs of the badly dubbed Monkey King series and the lion dance procession (with annoying clanging cymbals and banging drums). Then he went off to get his dinner. His took forever, so I started eating, and I was finished by the time he came back. He had ordered a Japanese pancake but for some reason they took a long time to make it!

We split the black sticky rice and then Ben went to get some Danish pancakes with cream (very un-noodlish!)

We were pretty tired, plus the cymbals and drums were getting irritating. So we packed up and caught the train home and went to bed early.

Thursday 16/10/08

I got up at 6:15 and was in at work by 7:30. I needed to get The Briefing ready for the printers. I caught up with Tony before he had to go to a meeting, and we talked covers. I did changes with Joy who said she would send the issue back when the ads were done. I worked on chasing commissions, Sola Panel and other foo-ish things. I discovered I had accidentally deleted the minutes to the last Briefing minutes (oops!) and attempted a reconstruction. I also had lunch with Bec and Guan (can't remember where). Then we had prayer meeting and a production development meeting.

Afterwards, I checked where The Briefing was up to and the ads still weren't done due to various setbacks. It was quite late in the day when they finally got off to Joy, and I stayed back to wait for the issue to come back so I could check changes and go over them with her. We went back and forth a couple of times before I could put my seal of approval on the issue and allow Joy to send it off to print.

I drove home fairly quickly as I was running late and I was worried we would miss the train. But we had a bit of leeway. Ben and I walked down to the station and caught the train to Circular Quay, and walked up to The Basement where we had reservations for dinner. It had changed since the last time we had been there: there was a new entrance and a whole new area you came through before you reached the tables. We had a nice, cosy table for two—something The Basement doesn't normally do but I had pleaded with the girl over the phone, saying it was my husband's birthday and could we not share with anyone else?

We ordered and ate a yummy dinner—salmon wrap for entree,

steak for main course,

Matt Walters came on and did the support act. (I thought he was very Pete Murray; Ben looked at me as if I was nuts.) Ben didn't think he was that good. I liked what I heard initially but then got bored when it was more of the same.

Dessert was chocolate mousse, strawberry and cream, and apple crumble and ice cream.

After dessert, the staff cleared away the table and we waited and waited for the main act to come on stage. We got thirsty and asked for water. Finally Lisa Mitchell (Australian Idol Season 4: same season as Bobby Flynn. In my humble opinion, those two were the best things about that season) came on stage with her band.

I really enjoyed listening to her play. She had this sort of daffy/vague stage presence which worked because of who she is. Her backing band was a lot of fun and very talented. They did a 45-minute set, plus one encore. I was really glad she did some of the songs from Said One to the Other—including “Slow” and “Alice in Wonderland”. I also enjoyed her new stuff.

At the end of it all, we paid our bill, then caught the train home, arriving around midnight.

Friday 17/10/08

I forgot Ben didn't need to come with me to work because he didn't need the car because he didn't have counselling because our counsellor was on holidays. I went in at the normal Friday time, though, and arrived around 9:30. I started compiling The Daily Reading Bible (Volume 18) and finished off Faithful Writer minutes. I didn't meet with Elsie because she had to move house that week.

I kept going with stuff in the afternoon and then got really sick of it. I left around 6 and went home, did some stuff on the computer, and then we caught a train (for the third day in a row) into the city. We got off at St James and went to the International Nippon Australia New Zealand Club where we met my dad and Helena. We ate Japanese but they had a limited range of stuff (no soft shell crab!) We talked property stuff, then parted ways around 9 or 9:30.

Ben and I caught the train home, then I did some computer things and went to bed later than I should have.

Saturday 18/10/08

I was up fairly early. I had a shower and then we went food shopping. It took a lot longer than I thought it would, and it was frustrating because it took so long and I couldn't find what I wanted in a clothes rack/airer. I couldn't even find one of those racks you put over the door to hang things on.

We finally came home and unloaded the car. Dave and Kellie cancelled our lunch date, which was probably a good thing as it gave us more time to clean up before guests arrived.

After lunch, we were back on our respective computers. While searching RealEstate.com.au, Ben found a flat in Naomi and Simon's building. The inspection was right then, so we hopped in the car and went over to have a look. It was a two bedroom unit on the top floor with lots of sun, and it overlooked a park. We both quite liked what we saw (Ben was keener than I though) and asked the estate agent for a contract.

Back at home, I got back on the computer and was doing various things until Dave and Kellie showed up with Ethan. He was just waking up from his afternoon nap, so we got to see him when he was docile and being rather content. We even both got to hold him.

Dave had a go at Wii Fit as he and Kellie were thinking of buying one. Then Francis and Erin SMS-ed to say they were here but were waiting for Calvin to wake up. Ben M arrived just as Dave, Kel and Ethan were leaving, and then it was time to set up properly for Ben's birthday party. We carried a bunch of nibblies and things outside onto the grass, and then I put eyeliner on Ben (as he had told everyone else to come with eyeliner for some reason. I said to him, “I thought you didn't like it when I wear it,” and he replied, “That's because you're crap at it.”) I went back upstairs and put eyeliner on myself and finished just as Guan, Mary and Bec arrived. They helped me chop up stuff and prepare the salads, while Francis helped Ben on the barbecue. Then we transported all the food down, commandeering the picnic table to put it all on. It was rather nice eating outside in the garden, even with the light fading (Mel brought a fake skeleton along—she had dressed as a witch—and Bec posed him on the bench for some rather spooky but funny photos.

After dinner, with the light well and truly gone and the outdoor lights being odd, I ordered everyone around and we carried everything back upstairs. I started doing the washing up, and Guan, Ben M and Bec helped me by drying and putthing things away. I was glad it was all done.

Then George arrived, feeling very down. I was glad she came because it meant I could give her her present. (And it was also gratifying to see how much she liked it!) We sat in the study—Bec too—and talked, and I showed them photos of when I was a kid.

Guan and Mary had to leave at this point, and Bec went with them. George and I continued hanging out and talking in the study, and every now and then, someone would pop their head in and say goodbye to me. Then eventually George decided to go, and I saw her out, carrying a box of books I had been meaning to give her.

When I came back, I found the others in the garden still. Some said goodbye and went home, but there were still a few upstairs—Luke, Nancy, Rosey and Fiona. We played some very loud music (having pre-warned the neighbours) but there wasn't much dancing as opinion was divided over what we should be dancing to. Ben connected his laptop to the television and we watched some YouTube videos (including the one of Robert Muraine, the popper who auditioned for this year's So You Think You Can Dance? USA [and he's now in an IKEA commercial]). We ended up staying up until 2:30 am, at which point I started doing some tidying in preparation for going to bed. The others said goodbye around then, and then Ben and I continued the clean up, and went to bed around 3 am.

Sunday 19/10/08

We slept in until 11 or so. Ben was already up, and he came in to tell me he was going to the beach with friends, and was taking the car. He wasn't going to be back in time to get me for band practice though. I tried to get a lift with Kester, but Kester was already over there and wasn't coming back this way. So I said I'd take public transport—a move I later regretted.

Ben left to go to the beach. I got up and started doing some computer things (like trying to fix the errors that Windows Service Pack 3 inflicted on my start-up [no joy there ...]). I should have slept some more but I didn't. I packed myself a pasta salad lunch, then caught the train to St James, eating my lunch on the train (leftovers from last night). I got a bus from there to Maroubra.

While I was on the bus, Ben rang to say that he had drowned the car immobiliser in the sea, and therefore couldn't drive the car. He said he would come get my keys and immobiliser off me at church. I said I was nearly at Maroubra and perhaps we could meet there instead. I said I'd call him when I reached there, which was only three minutes later. I went to the intersection of Anazac Parade and Maroubra Road and waited for him, knitting and sitting on a bench. Eventually he turned up, and I gave him my keys and immobiliser, then walked the rest of the way to church with my parasol to keep off the sun.

I was late, but Bec, Kester and Kurt had just finished their music meeting. We had band rehearsal, then church. Kurt preached on what he calls “the reals”: this week, it was “Real with God”. It was good stuff.

At the end of the service, I couldn't find Ben, but it turned out he was feeling really tired so had gone back to the car and was having a snooze in the front seat. Since we were both exhausted, we decided to go, and I got my stuff and we drove home. We had salad, rolls and leftover meat for dinner, then watched Law & Order and The Simpsons, and went to bed early (for once).

After many hours and much agonising and to-and-fro-ing and hard work by my fabulous collaborators, here is the finished product (click for bigger images):

(Posted with Fish and Paul's permission.)

This was my first experience of collaboration and I really enjoyed it. I particularly loved discovering what the others brought to the table ...

Now I'd better stop neglecting my poor invalid husband and make him some dinner ...

But I thought that the size of the topic should not be an obstacle to me blogging about it, and certainly one of the beautiful aspects of the blogging genre is that it's an ongoing conversation in which you add a bit more every time. So to start, I thought I would post a few thoughts, and then keep returning to the series at my leisure (!).

I've started thinking about it again recently because I started reading The Divided Heart by Rachel Power (which I picked up in Brisbane when I went to visit Kathleen). It's a collection of interviews that Powers did with women who were both artists and mothers. I've only read three chapters, but so far, it is making me cranky (and I'm not even a mother!) I think it's partly because Powers is mired in her own feminist worldview, and because she cannot progress beyond feminism's basic tenet of equality (in every sense) between men and women, she keeps moving in circles. Perhaps it's unfair for me to say that; I've only read three chapters. But in those three chapters, her frustration is almost palpable and, certainly in my case, it gets passed on to the reader.

One of the difficulties those chapters raised for me was precisely this topic—the role and purpose of art. This is something that Powers seems to take for granted: from memory, she speaks of her writing as something that she has to do—something she's compelled to do—as if she has no choice in the matter. That sort of idea has never sat well with me. I guess I don't like the thought of a lack of volitional control, even though I am somewhat sympathetic to her view (i.e. I also feel the compulsion to some extent, and I also get cranky when I haven't had the time to do anything artistic).

But how do you think about this Christianly? What is the biblical perspective? Do we create because we are made in the image of the Creator, as Tolkien (and, from what I've been told, Professor Trevor Hart in this year's New College lectures [still need to listen to those ...]) would say?

I don't know why I have such difficulties with Tolkien's idea. I think because it implies too much license. But perhaps I'm reading too much into it; not everything requires qualification. And certainly it's true: God has created us to be creative beings (and certainly procreative beings!) Our inventiveness is a great blessing; the problem is, because we are sinners, we pervert the means for evil ends. We learned how to paint the human body, but we also invented pornography; we invented the automobile, but we also created the armoured tank, and we used that tank to destroy our fellow humans.

Anyway (and remember this is just a snippet of my thoughts, not my thoughts in their entirety), I was marking up Peter Hastie's interview with Professor Michael Horton, and stumbled across this rather interesting bit:

Michael, many Christians today believe that we can only justify art, science, music or entertainment in terms of their spiritual value or evangelistic usefulness. Are the arts only valuable because they can be used in evangelism, or do these fields of knowledge exist in their own right?

Yes, I think these fields of knowledge and endeavour exist in their own right. We see this in the earliest history of the human race where culture undergoes some significant development in the line of Cain. Cain, as you know, built the city of Enoch. This happened after he murdered his brother. The Bible writer tells us that God gave him protection so that he could build the city, thereby giving it its own distinctive culture (Gen 4:15). In the genealogy listed in 4:18-22, we discover that some of Cain's descendants were responsible for developing the fields of metallurgy, engineering, music and animal husbandry. All of these are significant cultural achievements. The interesting thing is that God allows these developments to occur through his common grace, even though they originated in a city renowned for its violence and wickedness. If God had dealt with Cain on the basis of strict justice by punishing him with death, then it's possible that these cultural developments may never have taken place. It seems that they occurred because of God's common grace.

But how do you answer Christians who say that these cultural developments came from the ungodly line of Cain? They point to the line of Seth, which was distinguished by its worship, and say that we ought to be devoted to church-related activities rather than general cultural pursuits.

Well, I would remind them that Christians are always citizens of two cities. God's providence often has Christians in different circumstances, so our responses to situations will vary depending on where the Lord has placed us. For instance, think of Daniel and how God used him in extraordinary ways in Babylon: God located him in the court of Nebuchadnezzar.

What interests me here is that Daniel's spiritual influence with the king is not lessened because of his secular education and training. He was a leading scholar in the Babylonian academy, just as Joseph had been in Pharaoh's court. In both Daniel and Joseph, we have examples of believers being faithful to the Lord and yet also being able to participate in the common culture of the nation. When Daniel refused to surrender to the culture of Babylon, he only did so in the area of religion. He refused to surrender his faith in Yahweh, or compromise that faith through the cultic idolatry in which he was expected to participate. I think that Daniel is a great example for us here. Being a Christian doesn't mean that we have to renounce every aspect of popular culture and learning. It just means that if we are involved in secular education (whether the arts or sciences), we should think about our new-found knowledge from a Christian viewpoint.

Obviously the examples of Joseph and Daniel are influential guides on this issue, but is there any theological justification for thinking that Christians can embrace the arts and sciences?

It's interesting that when John Calvin criticized the radical Anabaptists (who, by and large, rejected secular culture), he said that all of the gifts we find in secular culture are given by the Holy Spirit. It really is a remarkable statement. When we normally think of the Holy Spirit's work, we usually confine it to the sphere of the church. Yet Calvin (and, I think, with good exegetical support) regarded the Spirit as being at work in creation, providence and redemption. In other words, the Holy Spirit's work in the world extends well beyond the work of salvation.

This means that when science comes upon a great discovery that alleviates a particular disease, we should send up our praises to God. We need to recognize that the Holy Spirit is active in the creation, and still upholds everything through Christ's providence. Once we realize that, we are no longer required to have a Bible verse to justify every great work of art. Nor do films have to include a compulsory conversion scene to validate them in the eyes of Christians. In fact, God doesn't have to be mentioned explicitly anywhere to make a work of art or science legitimate. For instance, while the book of Esther contains no explicit reference to God, his presence is assumed everywhere throughout it. Nor does the Song of Solomon have to be allegorized as a love story about Christ and his church. It's possible that it's just a celebration of human life. Our problem is that we want to elevate creation above creation. We automatically think that there's something that's wrong with creation; we've got to ‘Christianize’ it in some way. Actually, the problem is in our thinking. The Bible says that the creation itself is fine; the real problem is that, as a result of our sin, creation has been subjected to bondage and death. So creation, as a sphere, is not sinful or evil; it's just that what is good is a perpetual victim of human sin and distortion.

And Christians are part of that too. We often think that Christians must be always right and good. Well, I've got some news for people who think like that: have they forgotten that it was a very pious and devout Christian like Kaiser Wilhelm who developed Germany's war policy of ‘Deutschland uber Alles’? Again, Otto von Bismarck is another example: he went to church and was supposedly an evangelical pietist. Well, thanks for two World Wars. We'll send you the bill! Christians often have this mistaken view that if only Christians were in charge, things would be going well. Well, it's just not so. Christians can make a mess of things. There have been a lot of times when Christians were in charge, and it hasn't gone well. I'm firmly with Luther on this one: I'd rather be governed by a wise Turk than a stupid Christian!

Calvin also made another interesting point: he said that God has given special gifts and insights to people. He poses the question, “Are we going to say that the investigations of the astronomers are the ravings of mad men? Are we going to say that those who invented medicine for our use aren't profitable because they're not converted? Are we going to say that those who wrote great literature are utterly devoid of anything beautiful and sound in their thinking?” Here both Calvin and Luther offer a helpful distinction. They remind us that we need to keep in mind the difference between things earthly and heavenly.

Obviously, when it comes to heavenly things, non-Christians are devoid of understanding. As Paul says, “no one seeks after God, no not even one” (Rom 3:11). Nor do they understand the things of the Spirit of God (1 Cor 2:14). However, in things earthly, they can still get a lot done. And when you're looking for a good architect for a building, you might want to make sure that you find the best architect, not just the most devout one. I remember that my dad, who was a very devout Christian, often said that he never used the Christian Yellow Pages. He said he had been burned so many times by people with a fish on their business card that the ‘Christian Yellow Pages’ was basically a guide to people you shouldn't do business with. I know he was exaggerating, but there was enough truth in what he said to make us all have a chuckle. I think everyone understands what he was talking about.

Unfortunately, there's an idea in some Christian circles in America that it's all right to do a sloppy job for another Christian. Business often circulates among members of the church, and you normally feel duty-bound to hire a plumber who says he's a Christian. Personally, I have found it wonderfully liberating to say, “You know, the Bible says that God has called us to be good plumbers, not just to have a Christian plumbing business”. Someone once asked Luther, “What will happen if you throw all the monks out of the monastery and make them work for a living? How will their work be Christian?” And Luther said, “Well, maybe they can make a good shoe and sell it at a fair price!”

Here Luther gives us the foundation of a good work ethic: it's based on the theology of vocation. The problem with so many evangelicals today is that they don't feel that they are ‘called’ to anything unless they are engaged in full-time church ministry. However, the Bible says that everyone has a ‘calling’. Our trouble in the church today is that we have gone back to a Roman Catholic understanding of vocation and calling. We think that ‘calling’ or ‘vocation’ only refers to ‘full or part-time ministry’ in a church or para-church context. But that's completely wrong and contrary to the teaching of the Reformation. I am surprised that evangelicals have bought it.

(Oops. This post is getting longer than I intended!)

In among all the good stuff that Horton is saying in this section, he made me realise that I also need to think of human creativity under the realm of God's sovereignty—that God works in and through what I make and do for his good purposes (even if my sinful nature tries to distort that). I'm not sure that completely answers my question about the role and purpose of art, but it certainly helps to remember this biblical framework, and that the rest of theology doesn't get thrown out the window once you zero in one particular area of life.

As I really didn't know what I was doing, I read Kazu Kibuishi's account of what he does to produce “Copper” rather closely. Unfortunately, I don't think I own a blue pencil. (And now I understand why artists use them.) The result was this:

(Click for a bigger image.)

I sent it off to Dean who liked it (!). He encouraged me to finish it for Pulp Crucifiction #3 and even offered to put in the grey tones for me (provided I cleaned up the pencil lines! Must go buy a blue pencil ...)

It's an interesting exercise trying to think visually and how to tell the story in interesting ways. My admiration for artists who do this sort of work is much greater now ...

I finished it not long after getting back from Brisbane, then blocked it on the following Wednesday. Being wider than previous incarnations, it took up more floorspace which meant I had less wiggle room for my chair. And I gave up on the spray bottle and instead wet the entire thing and pressed out the water with a towel. Amazingly it dried within the day—probably because the weather was warm:

I think I do like it wider.

It was mailed off to Kathleen the following day and it reached her by the weekend. Needless to say, she liked it!

I meant to get up at 7:30 but was up at 8. I felt so tired. I ate breakfast, read my Bible and prayed, and then we left the house around 9 when I'd finished packing. We were in at work by 9:45. I worked on the Sola Panel, email and e-news. For morning tea, we had cake for both Ben, Wendy and Ali P senior. I ended up talking to Guan about property and other stuff, and how to think about it, and the role of wisdom in all house-buying decisions. I spent the rest of the morning doing Faithful Writer masterclass acceptance letters.

Lunch was noodles and stuff with Bec, Guan and Ben at Red Hat (for a change). Then we had staff meetings and I was rubbing my forehead during prayer, and ended up with two angry red marks on my skin. Post-meeting, I finished the draft of e-news for Ian and gave it to him to proof. I finished the letters and the Bookface pages, fixed e-news with Ian's edits, and then we left at 6. Ben drove me to the domestic terminal, and we ended up parking by accident. Then, as we walked over from the parking lot, we realised we were at the wrong terminal. I was running out of time, so I said goodbye to him, and then walked over to Terminal 3 which was probably good exercise for me.

I had completed online check-in and I had my boarding pass, but I still had to check in my luggage (well, my mum's luggage that I was using) because I had brought sharp things like scissors and knitting needles which I couldn't take into the cabin). I asked the lady at the desk whether I could bring on board my 15 mm bamboo knitting needles which are not metal and not sharp. She actually tried to convince me that they were “dangerous”! Lady, what universe do you live in??? 15 mm bamboo knitting needles aren't dangerous. The worst you could do is beat someone up with them, and I could have done that with the boots I was wearing, so why does Qantas let me take my boots on the plane? I had a bit of a disagreement with her about the whole thing—not heated, and I did give in and pack my needles into the front of my luggage—but I was really tempted to tell her off: it's one thing to obey airline policy, but it's another thing to try and convince me of something which plainly isn't true.

I went through security and then wandered up to my gates, stopping to browse in the shops on the way (there was a rather nice bookstore where I spotted Melina Marchetta's new book, Finnikin of the Rock). I finally made it to my gate, and I sat there, scribbling and watching the planes.

Finally it was time to board. I was in the row second last from the back, and there was no-one else with me, so I pretty much got the whole row to myself. I watched the baggage handlers loading the luggage into the plane, and one of them waved to me. I waved back and tried to spot my luggage. Even after the bulk of them had arrived, more kept coming at the last minute—I guess from all those who were late checking in. Nevertheless, we took off five minutes early. After take off, a guy from across the aisle came and sat in the aisle seat of my aisle because his row had three people in it.

Dinner was rogan josh (it was okay), a bread roll and chocolate. The news was on the TV with subtitles, so I ended up watching TV without wanting to. I continued scribbling away, missing my knitting needles. Luckily the flight was just an hour and a half. I also daydreamed about a line of knitting needles which doubled as pens: they would have caps with points that screwed on at the ends so that the ink wouldn't leak onto the yarn. They would start at 5 mm in thickness and go up from there, and they would come with ink re-fills so you could keep using them. If you took them on a plane, when questioned, you could show them it's a pen, but you could knit with it too. You could practically do that with some pens anyway.

We landed five minutes early. I set my watch and mobile to local time, and went to get my luggage. I was glad I took a leaf from Liwen's book and tied a bright purple ribbon around the handle as everyone's luggage is black and the same shape. Mine came out fairly quickly. Kathleen came to pick me up. I was glad because it turned out that cab fare would have been $40 to her place.

In the car, I tried to orient myself (we were heading south). Kathleen asked me if I was tired and suggested going to the Three Monkeys for coffee. I was certainly up for that, and besides, I had gained another hour because Queensland don't do Daylight Saving.

We parked, headed inside and ordered. Three Monkeys is a funky little café in South Brisbane: dark and cosy with monkey things everywhere. We ordered cake, coffee and chai, and found a table just out of the way to sit and chat. I'm sure my photos don't do it justice but anyway:

I hit a wall around 10 or 11 (I forget what it was Brisbane time). So we headed back to Kathleen's place. She lives in Brisbane's equivalent of the Inner West. I started to understand her description of Queensland architecture: all the houses are timber/weatherboard, and look like they've been built on stilts. She said it was to improve air circulation and keep things cool in the summer. I quite liked them.

Kathleen's flatmates were home and either asleep or going to bed. She had a little room with a door that opened out onto part of the porch which had been closed in. She called it the “annex” (I kept thinking Narnia “Spare 'oom”, and certainly Kathleen's wardrobe looked a bit Narnia-ish) and that was where I slept.

I slept really well too.

Friday 10/10/08

After about eight hours of sleep, I woke up fairly early. It felt like it was later—a trick of Daylight Saving. I got up and Kathleen was already up. She suggested we go out for breakfast, so we drove to Paddington and went to Sassafras for breakfast. I splurged and had the Big brekkie plus chai tea (how much chai can I drink in one weekend???)

I showed Kathleen my four-page comic and tried to persuade her to work on it with me. Very sensibly she said she'd think about it. We had a good chat over breakfast and then went for a wander around Paddington. To me, it seemed rather odd that here was this strip of eclectic and funky shops along a main road plonked down seemingly in the middle of the suburbs. Many of the shops operated out of converted houses.

We went up to the KILN gallery but it wasn't open yet so we kept going.

We browsed the shops down one side of the road and then came back up the other. I enjoyed looking around in Presents of Mind, Green Tangerine and ici et la which had this gorgeous chair:

It was overcast and it did start to drizzle lightly, but it wasn't too bad.

We looked at the guitars through the window of the guitar shop but didn't go in.

At Vinnie's, we found this beautiful chest with a cornflower blue and white fabric on top. I told Kathleen she should buy it and she was very taken by it. In the end, she decided to get it, and promised to come back for it at the end of the day.

We continued back up the street, stopping in some of the galleries on the way back. There was one with paintings of cows and horses on black backgrounds, as well as horse sculptures of bronze and other materials. On the back balcony, there were these ceramic eggs and a wonderful view of a jacaranda tree in full bloom.

We also crossed back over the road and went to the KILN gallery. I could see why Kathleen likes it: it's hugely cool.

There was a girl in the corner making jewellery. She would make these pieces of lace through tatting, dip them in wax and then get them cast in metal (like these rings). When fired, the cotton melts away. They were very beautiful pieces of jewellery.

The gallery was having an exhibition of illustrators' work. I particularly loved the work of Shaun Campbell, Terry Whidborne and Tamsin Ainslie. (This one is cute. And it has Death in it.) Upstairs, there was a table with postcards and things for sale, as well as advertisements for Pendragon shoes (some gorgeous boots there!). I bought some badges for Bec and then we headed out again.

We were feeling hungry but decided to walk a bit further. We ended up near the antique emporium at the Jave Lounge Cafe. We got smoothies and fairy bread but, after that, weren't heaps hungry.

I did some knitting while we chatted, then we both did some writing. We thought about lunch around 2 but the kitchen was already closing so all we could get was tea. Then we packed up (because the cafe was closing) and continued our browsing. We had a peek in the antique emporium which, Kathleen told me, existed in an old theatre. You can still see the stage behind all the racks and shelves.

We wandered into Mary Ryan (only the first of the many bookstores we visited over the weekend) and Kathleen found me The Divided Heart which I'd read about on Loobylu.com a couple of months before. I decided to buy it. I don't have kids now but I figured it was a good investment, plus I'd been thinking through similar sorts of questions about the life/work/art balance.

In the thrift shop, I found Chrysalis by my old mentor, Libby Hathorn, and The Black Cauldron by Lloyd Alexander. (Yes, I know need to start reading those books! I've managed to get practically all of them from Bookmooch; now where did I stash them?) Kathleen found Holes by Louis Sachar which is one of my comfort reads (I tend to return to it every couple of years because it's such a good story. The movie isn't bad either: the screenplay was also by Sachar, the direction, script and casting are generally good, and the only things I would criticise is the fact that they didn't put Shia LaBeouf in a fat suit [because they thought the weight thing was too hard to pull off, but then he just looked too cool and too good-looking for the dork that Stanley Yelnats is supposed to be] and what his character says to the Warden right at the very end [it was too petty and above Stanley Yelnats]).

At the end of the shops we were both tired and ready for home. So we drove back to Vinnie's to pick up the chest, and then returned to Kathleen's place where we carried it up the stairs and made room for it in the annex. It fit in rather well!

We decided to sit for a bit. I knitted while Kathleen read me the first few chapters of Holes and I remembered how much I liked the book. Then we decided to do something about dinner: we decided to cook instead of getting takeaway, and we walked to the local IGA for supplies. There's something good about chatting while walking—I'm not sure why but it's like the conversation rambles along with you. We bought fruit, vegetables, snacks and other things, and carted it all home, and then made pasta with chicken and tomato sauce, while the rest of Kathleen's housemates came by and said hello. I forgot it was Friday night and that people usually relax and unwind on a Friday night.

We sat down to eat and started watching My Neighbour Totoro as I had brought practically the entire Studio Ghibli collection with me to show Kathleen. Then I had a shower while Kathleen cleaned up and made us fruit salad with yoghurt, and then we went on to my favourite Studio Ghibli film Whisper of the Heart. (I was so glad Kathleen liked it!) Then we called it a night and went to sleep.

Saturday 11/10/08

I meant to wake up at 8, and I kept dreaming that Kathleen woke me up. I finally got up—later than intended but it was raining. Kathleen suggested getting breakfast at Southbank, so we drove there and parked. Brisbane started reminding me of parts of Melbourne; they both have rivers running through them and bridges spanning the rivers, but perhaps the resemblance ends there.

Along the shore, there was this really cool walkway with Shaun Tan tentacle-like things sticking up out of the ground. Bouganvillea was running rampant all over it:

The markets weren't open yet so we went to find some breakfast. It amused me that there was a beach named after Streets Ice cream; Kathleen said they were the ones who made it. It looked like something out of a hotel resort:

I couldn't decide what I wanted for breakfast. I was vaguely thinking waffles but I also gravitate towards savoury as well. In the end, we went to a small kiosk. I got grene tea and a ham and cheese croissant, and we sat outside.

By the time we finished breakfast, the markets were open, so we went and had a wander around them.

There was this awesome booth with Venetian masks:

And this really cool one which did leatherwork.

Here begins a photo series I like to call “Things I didn't buy people (but would have liked to, but maybe that's a silly idea)”. This is what I didn't buy for Mary:

It's a leather napsack in the shape of an owl.

Above us was one of the remnants from World Expo '88 (which was the last time I was in Brisbane, I think):

I bought some fudge for Ben (chocolate and caramel), a fragipani hair tie—

—a silver (and rather Goth looking) armband,

and a leather bracelet for someone as a Christmas present. We also indulged ourselves by getting churros.

When we were done with the markets, we made our way towards the State Library of Queensland. One of the tentacles reached up towards the ferris wheel but could not touch it.

Greenfest was on so there were stalls and displays all the way up that strip—stuff to do with sustainability, clothing made from hemp, composting, etc. (I tried to find some hemp yarn; apparently it comes mixed with wool and it's $10/ball for only 185m.) We went up to have a look at the Vegan stall, and then realised that was probably hugely offensive, given that we were both wearing leather (oops!).

We reached the State Library, and discovered that it was cheaper to park there all day then it was where we were. Oh well.

I thought the State Library building was really cool: I like how they didn't really differentiate between the inside and outside spaces too much.

Inside, we checked in our bags and were given silver tokens on rubber bands to put around our wrists:

Unfortunately this Chinese numerological good fortune was completely wasted on me.

Then we went upstairs to see Freestyle Books: Artists' books from the collection—an exhibition right up both of our alleys, and we both loved it. It was interesting to see the range of things different artists did—from collaborating with printers and binders, to altering existing books, to reinventing the book form, to changing the medium (e.g. the artist who told the story of his ethnicity/relationship between Australia and China through a passport), to playing with narrative.

This one was called “Tower of Babel” and it's actually a rolled up scroll with various recognisable buildings around the outside (e.g. the Opera House and Empire State Building) and writing on the reverse side.

We even stayed to watch the whole film of some of the artists talking about their books:

This picture is just for Ben's benefit because he likes to make jokes about visiting the Greek poet Amenities:

Glass pattern on exhibition door:

Downstairs, we retrieved our bags and visited the shop at Kathleen's suggestion. Here is something I did not buy Jess G:

It comes with a removable quill.

We headed out and then found the entrance to the gallery next door which was showcasing a lot of Aboriginal art to raise money for research into Aboriginal health (specifically cardiovascular disease). Some of the art was very beautiful but of course neither of us could really afford to purchase any of it.

Next door was the Queensland Art Gallery Gallery of Modern Art. We didn't really have time to go inside but we took a peek inside the store. Here are some things I didn't buy Bec: portable cushion (in the shape of plush monster [I kind of regret not buying that one because I can't find it online]):

Crackpot 2009 illustration calendar:

(You really need to check out some of the illustrations to see why I wanted to buy it for Bec.)

Kathleen ended up buying the Taschen book on illustration which was rather big and heavy. Good thing we didn't have to carry it too far!

We walked back to the car via the Queensland Art Gallery. It was raining and it was easier to walk through it to get to where we were going.

We kept getting distracted by the art though: it's not every day you get to admire a genuine Sidney Long/Grace Cossington Smith/Margaret Preston/Charles Condor/Charles Blackman!

Finally we made it back to the car, and we drove across the bridge and parked at Kathleen's work place (very shiny and intimidating corporate monolith!) We walked to the CBD and then began a bookstore crawl. (I keep wondering whether it's possible to do a bookstore crawl like that in Sydney but perhaps all the awesome bookstores are spaced just a little too far apart.)

First up was Folio Books:

I had to agree with Kathleen: it was pretty awesome. And I didn't buy this for Bec:

I did, however, splurge on three little hardcovers in the CRW Collector's Library series: Sense and Sensibility, Persuasion (because The Collected Works of Jane Austen is rather heavy to read in bed), and Oscar Wilde's fairy tales.

It was getting close to 2-2:30 pm by this stage so we decided to go for lunch. We passed a Japanese sushi train/noodle bar, and because Kathleen had never had ramen or udon before, we stopped in.

Gyoza with ramen: yum! And green tea.

We bypassed Borders because we were keen to get to Pulp Fiction. I did get distracted by Egg Records where I found a number of things I would have liked to get, but they were a bit too pricey for secondhand. I did, however, manage to pick up a couple of things for Ben.

We continued on to Pulp Fiction, passing through a mall with a rather nice tree in it:

It was right near the store.

We were fortunate to have arrived when we did; 10 minutes later and the store would have been closed. Here is something else I did not buy Bec:

Now, when you travel, it's generally not a good idea to buy a lot of books—especially if your luggage is of the size that they normally let you take on board. Remember I had just purchased three books. And also remember that I had purchased four the day before. There: now you can grasp the depth of my folly when I tell you that I not only found Angela Carter's Book of Fairy Tales in hardcover (with illustrations by Corinna Sargood and an Afterword by Marina Warner), I also bought it.

Err, yes, I went to Brisbane, and when I came back, my luggage was 80% full of books.

We walked back the way we came and went to our last stop on the bookstore crawl, Archive Books:

Archive Books specialises in secondhand, but their secondhand prices almost match firsthand prices. Kathleen found some Georgette Heyer and pronounced herself done.

(I know I ought to read some Georgette Heyer. After all, Robin McKinley loves her.) I wandered around for a bit but did not unearth any treasures.

Anyway, we were both rather tired by this stage, so we went to find a café where we could rest our feet. Pane e Vino was just around the corner, so we ordered hot chocolate and latte, and I knitted, and Kathleen taught me how to draw people from above.

We ended up staying so long, the dinner rush began while we were there. We both got vanilla milkshakes, then decided to head home.

We walked back to the car and called ahead to My Thai to order dinner. Back at the house, we dumped our stuff, then went to pick up the food. We enjoyed our dinner while watching Kiki's Delivery Service. I'd forgotten how cute it was, and how some of the themes it dealt with dovetailed with some of the things we'd been talking about that day—creativity, perseverance, artistic endeavour, etc.

I went off to have a shower, and then after that we talked, I read her story and gave her feedback (and edits), I knitted, and we looked up cheesy romance novel covers on the internet. I showed Kathleen Peter Bradshaw's Guardian review of The Hulk (possibly the best movie review ever) and “Cookie monster searches deep within himself and asks: Is me really monster?”.

We went to bed at around 12:30. I spent a little while texting Ben who was an hour ahead of me but still awake. Isn't it wonderful that technology means you can have a conversation with your loved ones even when you're so far apart ...

Sunday 12/10/08

I woke with the light but then went back to sleep. The next thing I knew, Kathleen was tapping on the door to let me know it was 10:30. She'd already been up baking damper with beer, and it tasted marvellous:

We ated it with butter, avocado and cheese. I amused myself by taking pictures of the critters on her kitchen window:

Then we had some fruit and washed up.

We read for about an hour (Kathleen: Georgette Heyer [she had long finished Holes] and me Rapunzel's Revenge by Shannon Hale, Dean Hale and Nathan Hale [no relation]). I also used Kathleen's computer to do the online check-in with Qantas, and noticed Ben's Bookface status:

Ben is performing operation clean-up-after-party-and-before-Karen-returns-from-Brisbane. This could take a while.

We didn't particularly want to go out since we'd been out two or three days in a row. Kathleen suggested teaching me bookbinding and I leapt at the opportunity because I've always wanted to learn. So she got me to choose some paper and then guided me through the process, while sitting on her new chest and working on her Illustration Friday illustration on scratchboard (which turned out beautifully).

An A6 journal was probably best (especially given the amount of room in my luggage!) Under Kathleen's tutelage, I pasted the cover papers to the board, cut around the edges and folded them over:

Then I cut out endpapers to match and pasted them to the boards.

Then, using Kathleen's guillotine, I made some signatures by cutting some blank A4 paper in half and then folding them in half again:

She got me to use her bone folder to press on the creases:

I made eight signatures. Then I marked with a pencil where the holes should go—both on the cover (about a centimetre out from the spine) and on the signatures. I used an awl to punch the holes:

Obviously, on the cover, you punch from the outside in so that the rough bit is on the inside.

Then came the stitching: using a tailor's needle (which was disturbingly curved) and some embroidery floss, I started stitching the signatures to the cover, and then the signatures to each other:

The method I used is Coptic binding and I used these instructions (or rather Kathleen taught me using those instructions).

At around 3:15, we had some lunch (leftovers). Then I kept going with the binding. I was most of the way through doing the stitching when it was time to leave. I made sure I was all packed and then we loaded the car and went off to Kathleen's church.

I recognised the logo when I got there: they had placed a Positions Vacant ad and I had put it online for them. Kathleen introduced me to various people, including the minister, and then we took a seat in one of the pews up near the back. I kept going on the binding and Kathleen taught me how to do the back cover. Here's the finished book:

I should never have to buy another journal again!

The church was small—perhaps a little smaller than Wild Street—and it was mostly families. I knew most of the songs but there were a few hymns I didn't. The preacher preached a very excellent sermon in John 1:14 and I liked how he linked that one verse into the rest of John's gospel as he went through the verse bit by bit.

We had to leave straight after if I was going to make my flight, so we bid everyone a hasty goodbye, went to pick up some petrol, and then Kathleen drove me to the airport. I checked in my bag and didn't even argue with the lady about the knitting needles. As we made our way to security, we ran into Peter who had just arrived for a conference and was on his way to his hotel.

Kathleen thought we might have time for a hot chocolate before I had to go. We passed through security—Kathleen had to remove her shoes (but I didn't) and I got swept for explosives (probably because I look so explosive!) and Kathleen went to get the hot chocolate while I went to the ladies'. She walked me to the gate, and I took the opportunity to get a picture of us together, since I hadn't taken one that entire trip.

They had started boarding my flight so I said goodbye and thank you to her. But then I was told I had to finish my hot chocolate first. I sculled it down (fortunately it wasn't piping hot) and then said goodbye a second time. And then I boarded the plane and found my seat (window again!)

It was pretty full this time, and I shared my aisle with a young couple (I gave them my chocolate because I wasn't particularly feeling like chocolate and he didn't get one, and they were horrified because it was Lindt). Dinner was chicken, mashed potato and beans. I scribbled notes about the weekend until we landed.

It didn't take long to retrieve my baggage, and then to catch a taxi (Ben was seeing The New Pornographers that night, otherwise he would have come to get me). There was a $1.50 surcharge from being picked up from the airport but the cab was fast.

At home, I unpacked and got ready for the following day. Ben returned from his gig and I gave him fudge, and his eyes lit up. And then we went to bed.

I was up at 8:30. I ate breakfast, read my Bible and prayed, then played with Wii Fit. I had a shower and then packed up the Wii. Our neighbour rang and said she was having a barbecue and could we move the car? I told her we were just about to leave, but we ended up leaving a bit later than that. It was really hard to get out because the other neighbour was parked in the turning space which meant there was very little room to manoeuvre out of there, short of reversing straight up the driveway. Jenny messaged to say she was running late and I passed the message onto my mum.

We drove to my mum and Peter's place. Ben had never been there before. We parked in the visitor's spot and, because I had keys, I took us straight upstairs. My mum wasn't happy with the current configuration of the lounge room, so we helped her turn it around 90 degrees. I set up Wii Fit and got her to try some of the games as she was thinking of buying one. Jenny arrived around then.

Peter made us lunch (antipasto, plus two courses of pasta). Then we had a break where it was back to Wii Fit. Ben demonstrated the soccer ball heading game (he's very good at it) and then Jenny and Ben got their presents.

My mum was sleepy then so had a nap. Peter gave us the grand tour before we headed off. He got my mum's luggage with wheels out of their storage area for me so I could take it to Brisbane. Then we drove home, dropping Jenny off at the station on the way.

At home, I got through the last lot of newsletters from The New York Times and actually felt up-to-date for once. Ben went to see Yeasayer at the Oxford Art Factory with his friends. They were supposed to go on Tuesday night but the Oxford Art Factory changed the date of the gig at the last minute. They claimed they emailed everyone, but neither Ben nor any of his friends received anything from them, and were rather annoyed at the date change. Fortunately they were all able to make it.

I had leftovers for dinner and started working at moving Bec's blog from Blogger to Expression Engine. I was trying to follow these instructions (instruction one being watch this video) but then realised that they were several years old and that Blogger had changed their templates since then. So I tried to reconstruct it, based on my Movable Type archives and the current Blogger template tags. This is what I used:

<Blogger>
AUTHOR: <$BlogItemAuthor$>
TITLE: <$BlogItemTitle$>
STATUS: Publish
ALLOW COMMENTS: 0
CONVERT BREAKS: xhtml
ALLOW PINGS: 0

DATE: <$BlogItemDateTime$>
-----
BODY:
<$BlogItemBody$>
-----
EXTENDED BODY:

-----
EXCERPT:

-----
KEYWORDS:

<BlogItemCommentsEnabled>
<BlogItemComments>
-----
COMMENT:
AUTHOR: <$BlogCommentAuthor$>
EMAIL:
IP:
URL:
DATE: <$BlogCommentDateTime$>
<$BlogCommentBody$>
</BlogItemComments>
</BlogItemCommentsEnabled>
--------
</Blogger>

First time around, I did the export and then import, and then realised I got the tag wrong for the post titles. I re-exported, re-imported and got it all working, though, because Blogger inserts all this stupid code around, the commenter's names, it means that none of them show up. (I am not working up the energy to do the import again, but I think what I'll do this time is cut and paste all of Bec's archive into one file by year instead of importing them month by month because silly Blogger doesn't do year archives.)

The whole process left me rather annoyed at Blogger. As a content management system, even though it's easy to use, it's not very flexible, and, to me, it seems rather tyrannical (for want of a better word) to set things up so that it's hard for users to opt out and take their content with them if they want to. (That said, I've heard WordPress is much the same in that respect.)

Anyway, despite Bec and I declaring very IM that “Sleep is for the weak!”, I ended up going to bed around midnight and felt terrible the next day.

Tuesday 7/10/08

I woke at 6:45, then was in the office by 7:30. I was working today because I was having Friday off. I brought breakfast with me and pretty much started work straight away. I sent The Briefing off to Joy (minus only one article!) and spent the rest of the day doing Sola Panel things, dealing with email and occasionally tinkering with Bec's blog (as Bec did some tinkering of her own).

Bec and I had lunch together and talked blog things (which I must set aside some time to do or they will never happen). In the afternoon, I started on Faithful Writer acceptance letters and realised I didn't have all the bits I needed.

I left around 4:15 and went home via the variety discount store in Enmore. I was trying to find one of those empty bottles that you can fill with water and use to spray water on clothes when you're ironing (I'm not sure what they're called; spray bottles?) Supermarkets don't sell them, and the only other place I've ever seen them is in variety discount stores. They had some, so I bought one, as well as a few mini shelves for the cupboard.

Ben was asleep in the lounge when I got home. I played with Wii Fit for an hour, had a shower, did three loads of laundry and handwashed the clothes that needed handwashing. Ben made coconut chili basil chicken for dinner. We watched The Simpsons and NCIS, then more Simpsons. I knitted furiously, trying to finish George's shawl. I went to bed at 12:30 which was far too late, and I still wasn't done.

Wednesday 8/10/08

I was up at 7:30. I did some work at home (Sola Panel stuff) and then went into work, arriving at 10. I dealt with email, fiddled with Briefing RSS feeds, installed the ShareThis widget on all relevant pages and created some Bookface pages for The Briefing and Matthias Media. I kept having to call Ben about the RSS feeds and it was really frustrating, but I learned a bit more about Expression Engine and conditional global variables.

Elsie came, and we ate lunch and prayed. We talked about moving and property and so on. Then in the afternoon I pushed on, doing Positions Vacant things and fiddling with Photoshop. My computer was being really really slow and annoying.

At 6:50 I left for Bible study, which was later than I should have left. I was 10 minutes late. We ate a nice dinner at Tom and Jenny's, then did a study on engaging pop culture. George was away so I was able to knit while we discussed Harry Potter, Stephenie Meyer (author of those vampire books—Twilight, Breaking Dawn, etc. The movie of Twilight will be out later this year) and so on. It was an interesting discussion, and raised for me all sorts of other questions to do with how I relate to culture—stuff to do with property, weight and health, and babies, and so on.

I drove home, had a shower and packed. I tried to do stuff online—like check in, look up the weather in Brisbane and do the redirect on Bec's blog (I failed at that one; I can't master .htaccess either). I went to bed at 12:30 once again.

I woke at 6:15, ate breakfast, read my Bible and prayed, then was in at work by 7:30. I worked on Sola Panel things (including comment moderation as Gordon was away). I dealt with my email and then tried to get stuck into the November Briefing. I started with the Epilogue and quickly got stuck because I wasn't sure how to cut out 200 words. So I went to Tony for help, and his solution was a brand new Epilogue.

Over lunch, we all watched Black Books again (episode #2). After lunch, I continued with November editing. I got the go-ahead on the Pastor's brief, so I sent off the Epilogue and started working on the Pastor's brief. I was nervous about the how the issue was going because so much of it was in other people's hands this time.

Around 3, I met with Tony, and we talked about The Briefing, Sola Panel and other bits and pieces. I left a little early to get petrol and then drove home. I played with Wii Fit, had a shower, did some computer things and then we caught the train to Town Hall. We went to Sakura for dinner and ate soft shell crab rolls, sashimi (sooo good!) and miso soup (and I had green tea). We sat there until 8, then went to the Metro.

Once inside, we found that all the seats had been taken (all 12 of them!). There were lots of people there. We sat up the back on the cushioned benches and waited. I liked being able to hang out with Ben for an extended period of time; I felt like I hadn't been able to see him much. The support act did their thing but we couldn't see them, and all the music sounded the same to me. Then Ladytron took the stage and the crowd roared. We stood up behind the people on the chairs and got quite a good view for the entire show (though the entire band was mostly backlit—something which angered one of the fans who yelled at the guys on the sound and lighting desk because he wanted to see the two girls who were the lead singers. One wore a little black dress; the other wore a cape.).

Ladytron aren't my kind of music (I was only there because no one else wanted to come with Ben, and he had been given free tickets courtesy of Luke who couldn't make it and was hugely disappointed about it); they are dance electronica and rather repetitive (very loud and same-ish, in my amateur opinion). But I was impressed by the number of teenage boys and twenty-something young men who were really into it—dancing and moshing throughout the entire set. Ladytron came back on for an encore and then it was over.

We caught the train home and then went to bed around midnight.

Tuesday 30/9/08

I slept in until 9:30. I wanted to get up at 8 but I couldn't. I ate breakfast, read my Bible and prayed, and started the laundry. I did computer things—more Sola Panel editing and comment moderation, dealing with emails and Bookface—and then found I was having trouble concentrating because the problem of infringing copyright in selling things in Bec's Etsy store cropped up and I got distracted by reading up on copyright and trying to sort out the mess.

I took a break for lunch and watched some television (which ended up being a fair bit of television because I could not motivate myself to move: NCIS [only I missed an episode of the new season], 90210 [which had the last five minutes cut off—nooooo!], etc.). Ben went to the movies by himself to see In Bruges. At 5, I played with Wii Fit, then had a shower. Ben went to Bible study because it was a farewell dinner for Bron; I had to try and make myself do some work so I stayed home.

I worked on the Pastor's brief, got it done and chopped it to the right length. I sent it off, then had dinner at 9 pm. I watched NCIS, then went to bed.

Wednesday 1/10/08

Ben didn't come in until 4 am (he stayed up talking to friends). I was up at 6:15, I ate breakfast, read my Bible and prayed, and I was in work by 7:30. I dealt with Sola Panel and email, I edited the Bookshelf piece and cut it to size, then rearranged the issue layout and updated the table of contents. I also subedited Up front once Paul was done with it.

Over lunch, I chatted to Paul and Jess, and then left for counselling. I went to Target in Macquarie Centre and it took ages to get through the checkout. I also went to MBF to get more cheap movie tickets, then bought myself a cotton nightgown.

Counselling was okay but it made me feel sad. We talked about recognising people for what they are, and the sad fact that some people out there will always be jerks who mistreat you, and you can't expect any different.

I drove back to work, getting in at 4:45. I started editing the Bible brief and it was slow-going. I quit around 6:30 and did a bit of blogging, then went to Bible study. We spent the evening discussing Generation Y and how to reach them with the gospel which was very interesting but it meant we didn't look at the Bible at all. I drove home and managed to get stopped by every single red light in the area. At home, I had a shower, then planned my next knitting project, and went to bed.

Thursday 2/10/08

I was up at 6:30, I left home and drove to work and ate breakfast there. I worked on the Bible brief. I really didn't feel like working, but I pushed on and got it done. Then I started editing the main feature article.

Neither Bec nor Guan were around for lunch. In the afternoon, I kept going on the main feature article and tidied up a bunch of other stuff (including all the mess on my desk). I did some Sola Panel comment moderation, then left at 3:45 so I could go to the shops for fruit, vegetables, Chinese peanuts and stuff for a pasta salad for church dinner on Sunday. I also went to Officeworks to get some DVD-Rs and then got confused at the number of brands on offer and the number of different kinds of DVD-Rs.

At home, Ben was not feeling very well and wanted to stay home. I took in the laundry and got my stuff together, and then went to a housing inspection for some very nice two bedroom flats in a converted abbey. Their asking price was way out of our league ($800,000) but I was glad I went because it helped me to have a bit more of an idea of what you get for your money.

I still had some time to kill, so I went home home again and double-checked session times. The Greater Union website was stuffing up and I was a bit nervous about whether I'd told Toby and Sarah the right time. I SMS-ed them to let them know we might have to forego our movie, and then caught the train to Town Hall. I went to Tapestry Craft to find some yarn. There was a knitting class in full swing there. I found some lovely Anny Blatt wool/mohair and bought five balls of the stuff (51% pure wool; 49% kid mohair, 255m/50g ball):

The guy who served me at the counter was the owner (but, curiously, not a knitter). He took great pride in the fact that he ordered all the yarns to enable all the knitters who came in, and I thanked him and told him I appreciated it.

I walked up to Greater Union George St and was relieved to find that the session times were what I thought they were. I queued and got tickets, then met Sarah just outside the candy bar. Toby joined us a bit later, and we got popcorn and went in. Our seats were allocated for the very back row in the middle (I need to communicate better with the box office staff; I don't normally like that far back). But it was fine. I loved the Pixar short about the magician and the rabbit, and Wall-E was fabulous: beautiful, whimsical, amazing how they can portray so much with so little. I loved how Eve says “Wall-E!” with so much metallic exasperation. I thought it somewhat ironic that the movie was a critique of modern consumer culture, and yet it contributes to it. And I wondered how many other people would have picked up on the fact that we were seeing ourselves on screen—lounging in those floating oversized chairs, eating junk food and sucking on soda pop, getting carried away by the latest trend and not looking beyond the screens in front of our eyes.

Afterwards, we decided to grab some dinner but we weren't sure where. Sarah suggested World Square and I had a brainwave and suggested Din Tai Fung (I've wanted to go there ever since Bec emailed around a review in The Sydney Morning Herald. Plus we're all slightly crazy about dumplings.) Toby and Sarah were amenable to that idea, and we queued at the door behind some other people. We were one of the last to be seated and we didn't have to wait long. We even got the table near the windows overlooking the kitchens where they make the dumplings:

We ordered dumplings (of course!—these were pork), mince and beans, and crispy pork strips with noodle soup. Oh, and Chinese tea. They were all delicious:

Toby and Sarah were amused at me taking photos of everything but graciously put up with it.