This body will never be safe from harm
Wednesday, 14 May, 2008
Wednesday 16/4/08
I rose ... when? Late, I think. It was a much-needed day off. I dealt with the accounts, cleaned up my desk and put things away, and was generally quite productive at home.
In the afternoon, Ben and I caught the train into the city to see U23D at the IMAX. We aren't U2 fans but my mum likes them (well, their old stuff anyway) and she wanted to see it. So we went with her and treated her because it was her birthday.
We grabbed dinner from Subway, picked up the tickets and started queueing and eating (since, with the IMAX, you always have to queue early to get a good seat). My mum joined us a bit later, having been accosted by a stranger on the stairs with a bad U2 joke (“What are you going here to see?” “U23D.” “U2?” *Sigh*. Obviously a dad.) She went and got herself some sushi for dinner. The line started moving and we were inside, and we managed to get in the very back row right smack bang in the middle.
As for the movie, I thought it was done very well: it certainly made you feel like you were there, except you got to sit, you weren't getting your ears blown off and you didn't have to put up with some sweaty person singing off-key next to you. Oh, and you weren't craning your neck for a glimpse of the band because the camera went right up close. The roar of the crowd was just amazing and it gave the whole thing such atmosphere. Like I said, I'm not really into U2 (though I'm familiar with their more popular songs—I didn't “study” up on their back catalogue before coming) but I still enjoyed it. I never noticed how upbeat their songs are (yet so conventional, says Guan) and yet so politically charged.
Afterwards, we accompanied my mum back to her car in the Darling Harbour carpark, and she dropped us home. Then I got on the computer and to bed ... you guessed it: way too late.
Thursday 17/4/08
Back at work. I worked on You. We had staff lunch (make it yourself sandwiches, I think), and then I spent the afternoon refining The Briefing database and doing Sola Panel stuff. We were also told the exciting news that Paul Grimmond is coming on board.
I worked a long day to make up for Monday, and asked Ben to cook so I'd have dinner when I got home. (There's nothing more deflating than walking through the door after you've worked late and realising that you still have to cook your evening meal.) I came home, we ate together and watched TV, then I had a shower and went to bed. Early.
Friday 18/4/08
Ben came to work with me and we got in around 8. Tony was in early too, trying to get stuff done before he went away. I dealt with my email, did Sola Panel things, finished the changes to You to send to Michael, did Briefing thinking day reports for Tony (since he wasn't going to be here for thinking day), ate a very rushed lunch and then we went to counselling (which was okay).
We drove home again and had a rest in the evening. I wondered if I was getting sick (Ben had been sick that week). We had a relaxing evening: knitting and watching three episodes of The Sopranos Season 1 (which we're still not sure if we like).
Saturday 19/4/08
I deliberately left this weekend free so that we'd get a bit of a break. I slept for 12 hours which did wonders for getting over the I-think-I'm-getting-sick-ness. I spent the day resting; Ben spent the day working. But I also did the laundry and did some computer things (like blogging!). We watched the rest of the week's TV and ate leftovers for dinner, then went to bed.
Sunday 20/4/08
Another 12 hours of sleep. I meant to wake earlier but couldn't. The internet wasn't working so I couldn't get the address I needed. No matter; I knew approximately where it was, so I jumped in the car and drove to Allawah, forgetting I couldn't turn right at that major intersection which meant I had to double back via Carss Park.
I arrived at Little Italy just in time. Melinda was already there and I followed Ynping in, and Belinda, who I don't think I've seen since her 18th birthday party, showed up. We reconnected via Facebook, and since she was in the country, she suggested we do lunch. So we talked for ages and annoyed the staff at how long we were taking.
After we said goodbye, Melinda gave me all the gossip regarding the So You Think You Can Dance? contestants as we walked to our cars. Then I drove to Spotlight in Rockdale to see if I could find yarn suitable for a bag (I want it to be something like this but modified so that it has the lace ribbon pattern). I wasn't quite sure what I was looking for—some sort of mercurized cotton or something—but I couldn't find anything. I need a new bag because the $8 black one I've had since 2005 finally died the other day (though I suppose I could repair the zipper). It was a faithful little thing: I kept repairing the strap and repairing the strap, and repairing tears in the lining, and it certainly copped a lot of abuse from me, but now no more. So I thought I'd make something more suitable for my needs—a little bigger (i.e. with room for an A6 notebook) with a little more reinforcement. But as I'm making up thte pattern myself (based on a cross between Percy and Lace Ribbon), I thought I'd make a prototype first out of the cheap, white acrylic yarn that Mary gave me. (People are always giving me yarn. The problem is, I then need to find a pattern to match the amount I've been given. It's hard because often the amount of yarn I get given isn't much—like, one ball's worth—and it's a little tricky finding one ball projects. Usually it's the other way 'round: you pick your pattern first and then you buy your yarn—enough to complete it. Oh well.)
In the afternoon, I had band rehearsal and then church. And then we came home and packed for going away. We went to bed but I couldn't sleep.
Monday 21/4/08
Despite not being able to sleep, I was up and in to work by 7:30. Michael had replied about You so I fixed it up and pronounced it ready to go to layout. He also said that Bec had arrived in England with the coffee I got him (Campos of course!) It was Bec's birthday so I went on Instant Messenger and she happened to be online (it was around midnight in England) so I was able to wish her a Happy Birthday. Then she signed off to go to sleep and I got stuck into work.
The chief task was to transcribe the interview that Tony did with Peter Bolt the Friday before so I did that and it was really interesting (you'll read about it in the June Briefing). I also rang Tony (who was on holidays) about You bits and pieces, and then I left at 11:30 and went home.
I went and had a shower. Ben made us some lunch. Then we dealt with last minute stuff and finished packing, and left the house half an hour later than intended (oh well). We drove to Crusaders at Galston Gorge, and the afternoon and evening was spent catching up with people from Ben's year in college. (Technically it's also my year too.) Yes, Ben has graduated, but usually college year groups try to catch up once a year during and after college to encourage each other in ministry. I'm not sure if other college do it but the students at Moore are certainly encouraged to do so. So when we were in first year, the first one was organised by the first year committee and senior students, and the subsequent years were organised by people in our year. I don't know what to call it; college year “reunion” doesn't seem right (since some of the people who were there are still studying—they're doing their fourth year—while others have graduated). They have taken to calling it KTTA: Keeping the Team Alive.
It was nice to see people again. A lot of the wives were there, along with their children. Many of the wives I had studied with were pregnant again—onto their second or third child, and all around me kids were growing up.
For once Ben and I were able to share a room together, so we went to bed around 11 and I slept really well (though I woke up to the sound of the rain on the roof).
Tuesday 22/4/08
The alarm went off but we turned it off and then slept some more. We missed breakfast (so did the only other couple in Ben's year who were there and who don't have kids). We still managed to snag ourselves a hash brown each. Ben Underwood from St Mark's Darling Point spoke to us, giving three of his talks on the seven deadly sins. So we were treated to greed, envy and sloth over the course of the two days, the second sermon coming after morning tea.
Then came lunch, and then free time, which involved lots of sitting around and talking to people and knitting (I was working on the prototype Percy/Lace ribbon bag). In the late afternoon, there was a time for wives with Michelle, Ben's wife, and she spoke about belonging (which I've blogged about elsewhere).
Dinner followed, and then mass exodus of parents going off to bathe and prepare their kids for bed. We helped out with the cleaning up, then went and sat by the fire with some of the others. The parents soon returned, and there was more hanging out and socialising before bed.
Wednesday 23/4/08
I woke up but Ben wanted to sleep, so I went to breakfast by myself. I helped with the cleaning up, and then went back to the room to do the packing. At the least the sun came out after all that rain! I woke Ben and we packed, and then put our bags on the luggage trolley to take back to the car park. Then I went to the third talk (which was on sloth and it was really good), we had morning tea and then lunch. I talked to some people about my children of divorce article and how to pitch it. Then we said goodbye to people and drove home.
At home, I did the laundry, dealt with my email and did some work stuff. I felt really irritated but wasn't sure why. I then realised I was out of time, so I started dinner while Ben finished it off. I had a shower and then ate very fast, then caught the train to St. James and walked to the Art Gallery of NSW. Liwen and Ramya met me there promptly at 7; the other women that comprise church women's fellowship were a little slower to turn up. We waited in the foyer for about 15 minutes, then one of them rang the others and found out that they were going to be about half an hour late and that we should go in to the exhibition. So we did.
We were there to see the Archibald Prize, one of the most important Australian art prizes for portraiture. It was a little hard going as a group with the tour groups around us, but Liwen, Ramya and I wandered around together looking at everything, and then at the Wynne (prize for lanscape painting) and the Sulman (prize subject painting, genre painting or mural painting). We were told to meet in the café at 8 because it shuts at 8:30, so we hurried through and emerged promptly at 8. I looked around the café and couldn't see anybody I knew (i.e. no one else from women's fellowship), so we found a table and sat down, and then Ramya and Liwen went up to order. While they were waiting in the queue, I saw the rest of the women from women's fellowship trickle out and snag some tables near the escalators. They hadn't seen us, of course. So I sighed and cursed the tardiness of people in my church and thought, “Well, there's nothing I can do about this” for Ramya and Liwen were returning, bearing food and drinks.
We had a lovely time talking—well, yelling, because the jazz band was rather loud. We talked about cultural difference and belonging, and whether anything good can come out of Australia. Then we were were told the café was closing and so rose to leave. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed church people leaving too and they went on ahead of us—so far ahead there was really no point in trying to catch up with them because they had clearly forgotten about us. So I walked with Liwen and Ramya under our umbrellas to St. James, and I caught the train home feeling rather angry.
Blinks:
A way of funding writing in the future: pitch and idea and get people to support it.
Place where you can hire play equipment for parties, etc.
How to recalibrate the home button on your iPhone.
Unsolicited manuscripts accepted by Pan Macmillan with certain conditions.
Thought Balloon is a group blog in which the writers tackle a new theme every week? month? with one-page scripts. This URL is for their Phonogram ones.
How to sew a zipper on a knitted garment.
Issues organised by tale.
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