Ahhhh…. Wednesday

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It’s 11am and I am still in bed. I got up to do some housework, and made my breakfast coffee, but it was cold out, and I have stuff to do on the computer. Apparently I am now officially “Permanent Part-Time”, so Wednesday is my day to go to Medicare, the dentist, do some gardening, play with bunnies, knit, and ponder my future.

I am considering going back to some sort of formal study, but I am still at a complete loss as to what to study. Here are some ideas, and pros and cons.

1. Journalism.

Pros: I like writing, and used be be better than average at it. I can spell, and punctuate, and though my grammar could use a little lift, I don’t embarrass myself often with how I express myself. I embarass myself with WHAT I say quite often, but I say it well. Also, it doesn’t have to be a 9-5 job. I am not good at the 9-5 thing. I don’t mind working crazy hours (as evidenced by my 12 years in the film industry), and I don’t mind uncertain income, not knowing wether you’ll eat from one day to the next. I don’t mind having to chase work, and I quite like the idea of writing for multiple publications and stretching my mind a little.

Cons: Years of study. What if I hate it ? If I hate the study, I will be crap at it. I am really, utterly, disastrously bad at staying focussed on things that bore me. I could stare at a crack in the wall for four days solid if it interested me, but couldn’t watch a single hour of cricket. If you paid me. And supplied endless vodka martinis.

2. Photography

Pros: I like the pictures I take, and I love creating beautiful things. I can work alone, follow my heart, and spread joy with my work. I can tell stories, document life changing events, and have an excuse to keep up my gadget habit.

Cons: Every idiot with a camera thinks they can be a professional. My grandfather was a professional photographer, and a man who praised sparingly. In the year that I studied photography at school, he praised exactly one of my photographs. One. It’s not like me to be discouraged easily, but his opinion meant a lot to me, and I was discouraged. So discouraged that I didn’t pick up the camera again until after he died. So I really have no idea if I am any good. Mum and Dad have been wonderfully encouraging, and so has Mark, but I need to show my pictures around, and be open to the idea that *I* think my pictures are great, and my family supports me, but no-one else needs to see them. That’s totally OK, but I need to expose myself a little, and I am working up to that point.

3. Graphic Design

Pros: I have the equipment, I have a strong visual sense, and I love design.

Cons: Again, it’s a very competitive market, and even once I have the skills, I’ll have to find clients and make money. I don’t know that I have the passion to make it work

I have always been moderately good at things. Not a superstar in one particular field, but better than adequate at most things I try (excepting sport and music – let’s not go there). Every few years I find a new interest – first it was bunnies, then gardening, then knitting, and now photography. I’m still interested in all these things, but knowing about my short attention span is probably a vital thing to consider in any change of career. I know I could learn almost any profession on the job, but academic study would be hard for me to stick to unless every day held a new challenge, and reward. Or, perhaps I should go back to the BA I was doing externally at UNE – at least I could take a different subject every semester, and maintain interest that way. Unfortunately, that would take forever, and qualify me for exactly what I am doing now – pondering my future.

The Big Questions

They’ve invented a toothpaste with glitter in it. Toothpaste. With GLITTER.

All well and good. Of course I’ll be racing off to the supermarket to by glittery paste to slather on my pearly whites.

Except – they probably force feed it to rabbits to find out how much glitter kills 50% of a test group.

It’s called an LD50 test. Sounds innocuous, but it stands for “Lethal Dose – 50%”.

Which is horrible, and pointless, and very, very common. If the package doesn’t say “no animal testing”, it’s safe to assume there is some nasty things being done to furry people in the name of product research.

So, do I go for the glitter, and let the furbags fend for themselves ? I know, you’re probably thinking that I wouldn’t dream of compromising my principles for toothpaste – but I’m not quite that deep.

Toothpaste…. With glitter. It fair does my head in.

The Happy Couple

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Mark and I are thinking of Vietnam for our holiday. Mum and Dad have been to an island resort on Whale Island, so we might have a week of adventuring, and a week of vegetating on the island. If you’ve been to Vietnam, please lob in with a comment and let me know what you liked and didn’t like about the country, the people, the availability of vegetarian food, whatever…

P.S. Have you noticed that the judge that passed sentence on Saddam Hussein looks a lot like Ben Kingsley?

Awesome

A great idea for a postcard series. Write a novel on the back, and each card goes together with the next to tell the other 1000 words of the story.

How to make a postcard mosaic.

I had some bad news on the weekend. My fairy knitmother is moving to another state. I’m sure it’s not personal, and she’s going to have a wonderful time, it’s a great job, there are sheep, blah, blah, blah. But what if I fuck up my lace ? Or need to modify a pattern? Who’s going to hold my hand when everything goes wrong? Who’s going to put my eleventy three dropped stitches back on the needles ? Who is going to enable my stash enhancement? OK, I can handle that without her, but you get the idea.

Our little knitting group is going to be seriously compromised. There will definitely be more men than women now! (Men are great. Men that knit are wonderful – but they do attract unwanted attention when they knit in public).

Speaking of blokes, have you listened to David’s podcast yet ? It’s bloody good. Really. I’m not just saying that because he knows my mobile number. He’s smart, and warm, and witty, and Australian – so the content is local and fresh, but there’s no cultural cringe. I don’t want to be mean (that comes naturally), but there was another Aussie podcast (which seems to have gone under), which makes David look like Sir Lawrence Olivier.

Come to think of it, there may be a slight resemblance.

And the picture? Just a pretty sunset, taken from the verandah at Hamish & Heather’s place up north.

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Congratulations to the happy couple

Blueberry and Monkey are now cohabiting, and we have our kitchen back ! Hooray!

And of course, they have a buddy to hang with. Life must be pretty boring for a solitary bun in a tiny backyard hutch. B&M aren’t exactly best friends yet, but there hasn’t been any nastyness (just a bit of humping), and I have high hopes for their future together.

McMahon Not Guilty

Because he’s insane.

Apparently the court belived that his mental state was a trifle “hows your father” before he had a massive ice habit. And we won’t mention the pot. Apparently all you need for an insanity defence this week is to claim that your brother suffers from bi-polar disorder.

I wasn’t at the hearing, so I don’t know what evidence was tabled, but I have detailed notes from the original trial, and I wasn’t convinced that the psychotic state would have been triggered without drugs. We’re talking a big hairy dark grey legal issue here people, and at the root, it’s an issue that is open to interpretation.

I truly hope that McMahon keeps talking his meds, and that the pet shop bunnies of Sydney are safe from him forevermore. And ultimately, I can’t see that gaol is going to help much. He’ll either get better, or he won’t. And if he re-offends, hopefully his face is well known enough that he’ll be caught before he takes another life.

In the meantime, we need to make sure the law is updated (contact me if you want details), and that he’s on the mend.

And focus on this positive. At the NSW Local Government Association meeting last week, NSW Councils voted for mandatory desexing of cats. This is a huge step, and if adopted, could save thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands of lives a year.

The parents rock !

Mum and Dad are giving Mark and I a honeymoon. I’m in tears typing this. I feel like I should say no, that it’s too generous – but we need need need a holiday so much. I could barely speak when mum told me this afternoon, and am still having a hard time believing it’s true.

Tomorrow we’ll start talking when, and where, and how long, and how much spending money we’ll need, but for now, all I can thing is I’M GOING SOMEWHERE WITH MARK, ON A PROPER HOLIDAY!!!!!!!!!!!

(Celia – if you’re reading this, I need to know where your beach with internet access is)

And in other important news, David (one of the Courthouse knitters) has just started a knitting podcast. Download it here or subscribe through iTunes. And if you are an iTunes account holder – write him a review.