tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-135061512024-03-08T06:07:23.377+11:00World. Oyster. Stage.The bits and pieces, pain and joy that we call Life. And books. Lots of books. And movies. And this chair. That's all I need. Oh, I need this desk lamp.
Melbahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02257719342445833725noreply@blogger.comBlogger764125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13506151.post-7065535771625598602017-01-30T23:09:00.000+11:002017-01-30T23:09:10.386+11:00Happy New YearWell January is almost over, and it's 2017. I haven't posted since June 2016, so that's me, averaging out at about two posts a year.<br />
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Pathetic.<br />
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I am overwhelmed, overloaded, and over it.<br />
We are moving house. And as well as moving house our landlord and real estate agent are insisting on an inspection while we are packing up! What idiots. The new house is cheap but so far away from here, the kids are all unhappy and I am just doing it for Clokes. Also means we can save money and think about buying again. But really. SO FAR.<br />
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And Tr*mp. God. What the fuck is happening there? You can't turn on twitter without feeling all is lost. Facebook is better for that sort of stuff but a haven for narcissists. I am hating both at the moment.<br />
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I can't keep up with my blog here, obviously. And I struggle to keep up my author page, though do better there.<br />
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Good things:<br />
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- health. No more bottom issues, no more reflux. Am on an eating plan and it is going so well. I have energy, am losing weight. And it's sustainable.<br />
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- we have a cat and he is the joy of our lives. So strange. And poor Gigi - a bit neglected, although we are walking 20 minutes after dinner (part of the eating plan - it's 'walk back to camp' so we are taking her. It's about all she can manage.<br />
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- my second novel is being published. Big relief.<br />
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- the family is all well <br />
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- the kids are all good<br />
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- my walking is going well. Doing an hour most days a week.<br />
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- the business is going well. We doubled our invoices last year from two years before. We have taken on a new educator so that's less teaching for me I hope.<br />
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- some things in the pipeline with the writing world, ie some festival appearances etc. Am happy about that.<br />
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- I've started writing a diary again most nights. It's helpful for writing stuff down but also helpful for working things out (writing things). Maybe one day I'll get back here. I reckon if I wasn't on twitter and wasn't on facebook - both HUGE timewasters - I'd be able to post here once a week easily. And read a fuck load more books. And keep a tidier house. And do more writing.<br />
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One thing I wanted to do this year was read up on totalitarianism and all that. I bought a stack of books, so I will get to them. Want to devote a few months to informing myself. I also want to stand up and call out stuff - however and wherever. It is so wrong what's happening in the world, and my instinct is to draw in tight, and I get that's what a lot of people will do, but it's so inspiring to see people making a difference.<br />
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Are other people struggling with all this stuff? It feels like a first for me. A first time that I've been really worried about the world. Maybe my denial is wearing thing.<br />
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*<br />
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How are all of you?<br />
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<br />Melbahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02257719342445833725noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13506151.post-37118034612067021082016-06-23T00:09:00.000+10:002016-06-23T00:10:29.322+10:00It's all things Game of Thrones in our houseWE are even doing a podcast. I will let you know when it's up on youtube. We are having loads of fun doing it. This season is great, I'm really enjoying it, but some characters, eg Tyrion, have stalled. It's like Mereen is the place for stalled characters.<br />
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Here is a guy we found Ozzy Man who does great catch ups:<br />
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAnfoYmdkYU" target="_blank">Recent one for S6 Ep 9.</a><br />
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I'm also reading the following recaps:<br />
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<a href="http://cheeseburgergothic.com/show/6628" target="_blank">Raven (hosted at Gothic Cheeseburger) does I think the best recaps, or the most consistently good</a><br />
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<a href="http://junkee.com/game-of-thrones-recap-how-loyal-are-your-beasts/81156" target="_blank">Mel Campbell does a recap for Junkee</a><br />
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<a href="https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/game-thrones-season-6-battles-bastards/" target="_blank">I also sometimes read these two at LA Review, though I don't agree usually with everything they say</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.ew.com/article/2016/06/19/game-thrones-battle-director" target="_blank">This was also a good article, interesting about how the fight sequence was planned and shot.</a> The same guy who directed Episode 9 is directing next week's (which runs for 69 minutes. Is that an extra nine minutes? I am so excited.)<br />
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And finally, the guy who played Rickon apparently tweeted, saying #shouldhavezigzagged<br />
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<img alt="game-of-thrones.jpg" src="http://www.independent.co.uk/s3/files/styles/article_small/public/thumbnails/image/2016/06/21/09/got.jpg" height="225" width="400" />Melbahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02257719342445833725noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13506151.post-85838935722829778902016-04-05T21:09:00.000+10:002016-04-05T21:09:51.678+10:00Well hello helloJust had a minor freak out because I couldn't seem to find my dashboard to create a new post. I thought everything had changed and been locked down. But here we are. Turns out I hadn't signed in properly.<br />
<br />I swear, sometimes it all seems a little too hard.<br />
<br />I'm feeling the pressure of not keeping up with the blogs I want to, and I KNOW I owe Alex reading and comments.<br />
<br />SIGH<br />
<br />Things are otherwise good, apart from this online stuff. I look at facebook too often, and twitter as well. Things have changed a lot in terms of those compulsions and I'm not sure what to think about that, or what to do about that, if anything.<br />
<br />SIGH<br />
<br />Just came back from dinner with a good buddy but the poor thing, I feel whenever we are together I just dump a whole lot of negative shit on to her. Much like I'm doing here.<br />
<br />SIGH<br />
<br />The seasons have turned here in Melbourne. The weather is still gorgeous but once daylight savings ends there an instant change in vibe.<br />
<br />SIGH<br />
<br />I've decided to try to go to Russia and elsewhere north of the world in 2017, probably December, January, February, maybe March if I can swing it workwise (teaching that is). I want to hunker down somewhere cheap (!!) for a couple of months and write in there, as well as seeing northern lights, snow stuff and all things Russian. Whether this happens or not, we shall see.<br />
<br />SIGH<br />
<br />I'm feeling very sigh'y tonight. I think perhaps it's best I go to bed and read. That always makes things good, not that they aren't goo. They're just sigh'y.<br />
<br />SIGH<br />
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Oh but Game of Thrones is coming this month. Also the new GIRLS has started, and I love it. And I'm [trying] to read more Indian literature and non-fiction this year and it started badly because Salman Rushdie almost killed me with his masterpiece Midnight's Children. It's amazing but boy is it hard.<br />
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I think that's it for now. I really want to try and get on here a little more often, but clearly I am off to a shithouse start with that.<br />
<br />
Am heading to Alex's now, to check in... Still want to read her Hilary post.<br />
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<br />Melbahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02257719342445833725noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13506151.post-10469107060619596772016-01-20T12:24:00.001+11:002016-01-20T12:24:39.834+11:00Happy New YearI have had a very quiet slow start to 2016 in terms of not teaching, and being socially in my cave. But my writing is going great guns. I'm getting my next thing ready to go to the publisher, as well as starting a brand new thing, which actually has been rattling around my brain (parts thereof, and characters) for about thirty years.<br />
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We didn't go away, but we've been doing driving lessons (P is 19 now and has just cracked 20 hours. We are pathetic.) We've been walking, an hour or more, at a fast pace, and this is good. Except the weather has been too hot recently to do anything but night walks and by the time the sun goes down I'm usually too tired, or not in the zone, to walk.<br />
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Clokes is back at work - he had two weeks off - the kids are in and out of the house. P's book shop job seems to have faltered. She went away and he said to get in touch when she got back and she did, and he said it's the quiet time but that he'll get in touch if he needs her. Sounds like a fob off to me. She said he was a difficult boss, was hyper critical and she's not used to feeling incompetent, and that his scrutiny and picking up tiny little things, while not seeing the larger successes she achieved, started to make her second-guess everything she was doing, and not enjoy it. It's interesting. I said that she will come across people who aren't smooth - for whatever reason - in life. I told her I was glad the difficulty with him was of this type, rather than him being an outright bully (but it did sound to me it could have devolved to that) or a sexual harasser. She was learning processes and it was a steep learning curve, she felt he didn't see the good and only saw the bad, of which there was little. Any mistakes she made were either small, or rectified, and were not numerous. This is life.<br />
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She's also gone off in a bit of a tangent regarding her uni studies. Started talking about wanting to do medicine towards the end of last year. Because of the challenge, but also because she would be interested in the work. Medicine! This is the first time she's EVER talked about it, so I was wary but didn't appear to be so. Was encouraging, but pragmatic. So she's decided - after trying to see whether she can get the subjects needed (ie prerequisites to apply for medicine) within her Arts course (crazy) and she could have if she'd realised this last year, but now she's going into second year, it's not possible, without serious overloading and serious cost, that isn't covered by HECS. So yesterday she decided to do a chemistry subject and see how it feels/goes. It will be out of her comfort zone for sure. (She did biology and maths last year, in her IB course, but hasn't done chemistry since probably early secondary school, and never as a subject on its own but just as a part of Science.) So. Interesting. I told her that if she finishes Arts and then finds she still is thinking about Medicine, then to consider having a break, working somewhere, then if she still wants to, do a Science degree. But I do really think she will just stick to the Arts. Who knows... I remember also not knowing at that age.<br />
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Haven't played chess for quite a while. We have watched some stuff on television, including The Quest (loved it! Yes, it's cheesy, and a weird kind of format but once you get used to it, the payoff in the last episode is magnificent!)<br />
<br />
Just had a phone call from Channel Nine about a documentary on sex ed later in the year. We had a preliminary chat and I said YES to the suggestion we appear on the program. She emphasised it's not a crappy Today Tonight program, which was going to be one of my questions. LOL. So that would be great exposure.<br />
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I think that's it. Have to get onto some sex ed work now... we are writing an article for an education magazine and I've been putting off looking at what my partner has drafted. Also we are developing our programs for a new school this year that will run sessions from Prep to Year 6 (Not sure if I've mentioned this.) So I have to put my primary school teacher hat on, and think of activities for little ones. Will be fun. Pin the vulva on the donkey? Hahaha. Oh. That's given me an idea for how to use the outlines you did for us Alex. Awesome.<br />
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Bye for now. What's your news? What are you reading? Suze, you did ask about my book but I don't have your email. If you want to email me at worldoysterstage@gmail.com and I'll give you the info!Melbahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02257719342445833725noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13506151.post-18694724710354102572015-12-24T22:33:00.001+11:002015-12-24T22:33:38.961+11:00Merry ChristmasJust a quickie to say I hope everyone has a good one, and a safe, happy, healthy new year and 2016.<br />Things have been so busy, and I am neglecting this blog. I suppose it's because I've got other outlets.<br />
But I still love this space, and love knowing it's here.<br />
So, here's to you, and to blogs. Long may they reign.<br />
M XXX<br />
<br />
PS What are you doing for Christmas, New Year? I will report back shortly.Melbahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02257719342445833725noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13506151.post-21176473085405545162015-11-12T16:03:00.001+11:002015-12-01T21:09:27.432+11:00Well, hello my pretties<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I went fishing but couldn't blog about it cause I was signed out of this account, and was away with only my phone and my phone is terrible for trying to access my internetty things. But so much happened. I got stuck in Bali because of the volcanic ash. I fell in the pool and it is now the most embarrassing thing that's ever happened to me and that's saying something. I bought some art. One painting for $45 and another for $25 so not so risky. My rescheduled Garuda flight was one of the first out after the airport closed but I didn't go because I was nervous and because Virgin and Jetstar weren't flying. It would have been fine. The plane left and flew and landed on time in Melbourne, but I didn't know that at the time of course.<br />
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I had a lot of massages, frozen margaritas and made some new friends, one who is a radio person with RN and won an award for a documentary while she was still stuck (Tues night; I flew home Monday night got back Tues morning.) I taught yesterday and that was hard cause it was an 8.45am start and I was still on Bali time, three hours behind. But it was ok, got it done without too much drama.<br />
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Also while away we had to submit a proposal for a whole-school sex ed program, running from Prep to Year 6, for a primary school that we taught at four years ago but who didn't book us afterwards. We (my partner and I) noticed the kids were especially uptight, and didn't relax much at all. This is unusual, even when the kids are uncomfortable or nervous, it only takes half an hour for them to relax. But this didn't happen and it was unique as the only school we've experienced that with. There is one other school that we go to where each year, at the beginning of the program, the kids are really skittish. I found out that a few years ago, maybe 8, maybe 10, two kids were sexually assaulted by a man who'd come into the school and waited in the toilets. So maybe this has become part of the school-yard mythology (but it's real) and makes the kids really weird about sex ed, I don't know.<br />
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Anyway, back to the proposal. I think it came up while I was away, so I was trying to read and edit documents, and send back to my partner, who was essentially writing new curriculum for Prep and Year 1/2 program. We got it submitted and the school is REALLY happy. It's great because they specifically want us to go beyond the usual, and talk to the kids in more detail than we usually do about diversity of sexuality and gender issues, also we can introduce a protective behaviours stream which will be really really good. And once one school does it, maybe we can use this experience to get other schools on-board.<br />
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The painting I have above, the big one is a girl playing a flute, and she has her eyes shut. To me she looks like she belongs on the east coast of Australia.<br />
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I did a workshop with Chigozie Obioma, Nigerian writer whose book <i>The Fishermen</i> was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. I had to leave during the break because my own book launch was happening. When I explained that, he was interested, and asked about the book. He said he'd get it at the festival bookshop and read it and I think I may have curtseyed with pleasure and gratitude, but if I didn't really it happened on the inside. And when he signed my copy of <i>The Fishermen</i>, that I'd taken across, he said 'good luck for TSS' and it was really great.<br />
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A poodle came to my launch, in the company of Steve, an expat living in Ubud. A woman from Albury, who runs the Dymocks there, came up to me and said she'd been reading my book on the plane on the way over, and was loving it, and could she get in touch to organise an 'author event' up at a winery sometime and I said OH MY GOD I WOULD LOVE TO, HERE'S MY EMAIL ADDRESS AND MY PHONE NUMBER AND YES YES and when I told my publicist she said 'you can just direct those queries to me, you know.' So, still learning.<br />
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The book has been getting good reviews, but a couple of shit ones, can't remember if I put that here. But more good than bad, and some of the good ones are really good, so I'm happy. It's had three mentions/reviews in NZ papers. Three in Aus papers including a really long really positive review in The Australian. It was mentioned by a Melbourne academic in <i>his </i>radio interview on Radio National, in the same breath as Peter Carey's book about Ned Kelly. Mentioned twice in fact, including my name, and it all is making me giddy. I've been asked to do author q&a on one website, who'd given it a great review, and also just recently I submitted a piece for '5 influential books including one from childhood' to go up on another booky website. The book was seen by people at the Bali Airport and one person tweeted me that it was there, in a small selection of Aus Lit (not including, I suspect, her own novel) and another sent me a pic. of it at the airport so really, I couldn't be happier.<br />
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Tonight I go for drinks with my publisher who is down from Sydney, and has organised a catch up with all her Melbourne authors. This group includes a big name author, so I'm hoping I get to meet him, and I'm hoping I won't be a suck and go on about how much I loved one of his books<i>. </i>I will report back. He might not even be there.<br />
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Have to go now for a big walk. Hope you are all well. Let me know. Sorry I've been neglecting this blog. Sorry I haven't been commenting on yours Alex. Life is busy, and I'm intending to go into lockdown from 1 December, for writing over the summer. But I will be doing limited ablutions. Staying off facebook and twitter, and putting more work into my blog here (more regular updates) and my author website, regular posts there as well.<br />
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Happy days all.<br />
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<br />Melbahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02257719342445833725noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13506151.post-528214401446296002015-09-26T17:22:00.000+10:002015-09-26T17:22:01.236+10:00Deleted postHey guys, deleted previous post. But I read all your comments, thanks.<br />
<br />All good, just didn't want stuff up about my complaining. Thanks squib that you said you want to buy my book, you don't have to. Melbourne's weather is so beautiful today - we just came back from a REALLY long and lovely walk. Also my lavender out the back, in a pot, is flowering and it's divine. First time lavender (or any plant, really) has worked for me. Am happy. Tonight we eat spaghetti marinara, yum, and probably watch Parks & Rec. Has anybody else seen it? FUNNY. And funny is what I want at the moment. Another week of holidays which is good and then back to work, which is ok. But we took on a new person and their first invoice, they have done all sorts of stuff that is inexplicable and outside what we agreed on. So I emailed her expressing my confusion, and... nothing back. I can't stand passive-aggressive shit (if that's what it is) makes me rage. But I'm keeping calm as possible, maybe she's away on school holidays. Maybe she'll just be embarrassed that she mucked up. I can't bear conflict and it'd be me having to deal with it, not my partner cause she can't really do confrontation.<br />
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Anyway, just wanted to check in. Hope you all well and fine wherever you are in the country/world.Melbahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02257719342445833725noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13506151.post-85373829851113220822015-08-27T23:16:00.001+10:002015-08-27T23:16:39.184+10:00Blow into microphone*coughs*Melbahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02257719342445833725noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13506151.post-89302403292638455022015-06-22T17:59:00.000+10:002015-06-22T17:59:22.034+10:00Long time no postFuck it's cold. I have been really busy with writing stuff and teaching stuff and life stuff. Haven't been able to keep up with blogging here or on my other one really. Things are MUCH better healthwise, I can't remember how much detail I went in to, but I think I mentioned 'toilet issues'? Of the constipation variety? Anyway it got worse worse worse, and I was in a lot of discomfort for like weeks, and then I caught myself thinking 'Stop the cycle' it would seem to improve then I'd slide back. Not good. Anyway I decided I was going to let my body heal, do what I could to help it. Also stopped stressing about making a decision about whether to persist with creams or to have a procedure. No hurry to decide. As it turned out, healing is happening/has happened, and I think I can avoid surgery. So that's good.<br />
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Everything else is cruising. We watched Game of Thrones. Bit disappointed with the season. Now we are watching Community and recapping old OITNB before watching the new ones. I have one more day of teaching - tomorrow - then am off for two weeks. Have lunch with my publisher on Wednesday - yay - and am deep back into my first manuscript, working on it, revising, and making it better.<br />
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So, what's your news?Melbahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02257719342445833725noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13506151.post-80522470769727915152015-05-19T17:43:00.001+10:002015-05-19T17:43:55.560+10:00Prague 2<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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1. view from our apartment in Prague</div>
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2. view from the castle hill</div>
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3. statue near castle, behind the walls where there were all sorts of interesting 'like Sovereign Hill but not' original houses, and a prison, and this statue. With obviously fondled penis.</div>
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4. St Vitus Cathedral (near Prague Castle complex.) SO BEAUTIFUL from the outside. Inside was ok.</div>
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5. View over Prague from castle.</div>
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6. Old Jewish Cemetery behind Pinkas Synagogue. Amazing experience. Being inside the synagogue, it's a very modest building, and you see there is all this writing on the walls, in gold paint. You look closer and they are names, and dates, of people who died. You go upstairs and there are displays that once I realised what they were, I couldn't stay there. Not grotesque, not explicit, but so so sad I couldn't take it. Don't want to explain, explaining diminishes it.</div>
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7. Kafka statue</div>
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8. best ice cream sundaes ever</div>
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9. Communist Museum.</div>
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10. ditto</div>
<br />Melbahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02257719342445833725noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13506151.post-43912545749178679822015-05-03T15:28:00.001+10:002015-05-03T15:35:09.908+10:00Prague 1We caught the train Vienna to Prague, and saw snow on the way. I have a friend who lives in Prague. She's Slovakian, and married to a Turk. We met in the early-mid nineties at a Turkish-language school in Istanbul. She and I and another woman, all married to Turkish men, met and bonded big time. J had never met Princess, and M (the other woman) hadn't seen P since she (P) was 3, and we were in Montreal, visiting them.<br />
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Some photos:<br />
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1. View from our window, Prague. You can see Prague Castle up the top in the distance.</div>
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2. On the train from Vienna. Snow.</div>
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3. First dinner, Prague. This was lard spread on bread, topped with chopped crackling. Rich.</div>
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4. View of Prague proper from the castle complex.</div>
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5. The church in the castle complex. Cannot remember its name. It was beautiful. </div>
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6. The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prague_Metronome" target="_blank">metronome clock</a>. Every hour it does a show. Reminded me of the scene in Shrek 2 I think it was.</div>
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7. We went to a medieval-themed dinner with my friend and her son. This was the belly dancing with snake act. There were pirate fights, Hodor-like waiters (clothes-wise, not speech-wise), a band, ale and platters of meat. Also these belly dancers who worked with veils, swords and snakes. Top night. </div>
<br />Melbahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02257719342445833725noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13506151.post-42605285868723326432015-04-08T11:36:00.001+10:002015-04-08T11:44:26.592+10:00Ultravox landOK I couldn't find the original Ultravox Vienna film clip, that wasn't extended, remixed, a series of still cover shots and other pics, or with Spanish text scrolling over the whole fucking thing.<br />
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Anyway, here are some more Vienna pics. Vienna was cold, also, but cold in an unwelcoming way. The people were ok, civil, but somehow the streets and buildings were just on such a massive scale that cosiness was nowhere to be found. In restaurants, people smoked, and in one there was a dog that got installed under a table, brought a bowl of water. All well and good until a man walked in about 10 minutes later and the dog barked at him, territorial and fierce.<br />
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The art was good, the treasuries good. The food was ok but this was the beginning, when all things schnitzel und potato were deemed fine. I had a really good soup here, and also bought some fantastic boots. We stayed in a funny little place that I found after reading a John Irving fan page that mentioned the existence of a real hotel, one that provided him with inspiration for the Viennese hotel the family stays in and helps to run in his book <i>Hotel New Hampshire. </i>As a massive John Irving fan (his older stuff is better than his newer stuff, of course) I had to stay there. So we found ourselves installed in a room with the smallest bathroom ever*, and me on the bed reading out the bits from the book that talked about the street outside, the delivery trucks mentioned in the early '60s (also happening right then outside out hotel in 2015); pointing out to P the winding staircase, also mentioned in the book. How close we were to the Staatsoper, which was the bombing target of the anarchists in the hotel, and which was no target of ours on this trip. Opera would have to wait until Prague. It was just fantastic. We had breakfast in a little dining room that was overwhelmingly pastel pink, with plastic flowers on the tables and a mini buffet with cold meats, cheeses and bread, pastries as well as cereals. Yoghurt. Tired fruit in a fruit bowl. No toast. I'm a real toast person.<br />
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We saw some Schiele (quite a lot, loved it) and a little bit of Klimt (bit disappointed. Most must have been elsewhere. Stolen during the war? I dunno.) The palace above is Schonbrunn, the cakes are from all over. We needed the cakes to keep going, kind of like a reward for cramming as much as possible into our days. One thing from Irving's <i>HNH</i> was that they'd order coffee or chocolate <i>mit Schlagobers</i>, which was whipped cream, but when I tried it on, the wait-staff looked at me a bit weird. Maybe Irving had made a word play and it meant <i>with semen</i> or something. Fuck. Just thought of that.<br />
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The hat and coat hanger are Freud's, we went to his office/apartment. Freud also appears in <i>HNH</i>, but not 'that Freud' another one, goes the joke. He is a funny little Viennese with uncertain history, who has a bear in Maine, which he bequeaths to the parents of the family. Later, when they get to Vienna, Freud is ineffectively running The Gasthaus Freud (our hotel!) with the help of Susie, a psychologically-damaged human who always wears a bear suit. One the third floor are the prostitutes, and on the fourth are the revolutionaries. The family takes up residence on the second floor, or something like that. It's a wonderful book.<br />
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* First award of the trip: SBEMelbahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02257719342445833725noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13506151.post-64519672884262694932015-04-02T17:11:00.001+11:002015-04-02T17:11:23.456+11:00Going fishing.This time it's a family wedding, up your way Alex, or where I think your way is. Who the fuck has a wedding on Easter weekend? And the weather looks to be shit, so no lounging at the pool drinking and reading to be had, I don't think. Back Sunday. Happy Easter all.<br />
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<br />Melbahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02257719342445833725noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13506151.post-3958058800074290502015-03-26T15:22:00.003+11:002015-04-08T11:45:44.860+10:00Budpapest and Vienna<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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So the above photos. Number 1 is one of the outdoor thermal spas in Budapest. We went out there in our bathers, it was snowing, it was amazing. 2. Is the lift in the building we were staying in. We had an apartment that was so cheap. It was like 29 euros a night, for the two of us. Kitchen, bathroom and bedroom. Great location, so cheap. 3. Vienna, the Hofburg complex (I'm going on memory). There were lots of museums here, all in an old palace. 4. I'm saying it's King Neptune, but who knows. Vienna also. 5. This was the parliament building I think. Vienna. 6. Some little treasures somewhere in Vienna. We went to a tonne of museums and galleries. Vienna kind of broke us, so much walking, so much cold (though not as bad as Berlin a bit later). Our second night there saw us both in tears at dinner, vowing we would set ourselves a kinder pace. No more tears.</div>
<br />Melbahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02257719342445833725noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13506151.post-78057958177937664832015-03-10T22:59:00.001+11:002015-04-08T11:46:12.840+10:00London 1.0<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_yTOwDblW6NITJCSHTGkFZtP8j779CJvlwkPp7wdYvHNGT88Z7dMWjPXfN3oFPk-Pn2dkSuttOeBRgTfjyg6-8MqJMVSVa0QAFQ7oqwqe-sI6ubGh47M3HTwWzd875X3dUntyCQ/s1600/WP_20150122_09_26_03_Pro.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_yTOwDblW6NITJCSHTGkFZtP8j779CJvlwkPp7wdYvHNGT88Z7dMWjPXfN3oFPk-Pn2dkSuttOeBRgTfjyg6-8MqJMVSVa0QAFQ7oqwqe-sI6ubGh47M3HTwWzd875X3dUntyCQ/s1600/WP_20150122_09_26_03_Pro.jpg" height="360" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Diana - always in our hearts<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">A painting I liked at The Tate<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">A Turner, at the Tate. I think.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">For sale at the Globe Theatre.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Dickens's healthy ego, at his house.<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">London was cold but mostly sunny. I walked and I walked. I lived</span><span style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">there for a few months back in 1990 but never really explored. While </span><span style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">it's not a place I love, city-wise, it is a place that feels familiar. I wasn't</span><span style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">that impressed with the Tates, the old or new. Actually I walked into the </span><span style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">modern and then walked out again after looking at the program. Nothing </span><span style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">there for me. Everything was really expensive too, which makes it a tough </span><span style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">place to enjoy in a way. But it was good to walk and learn the city a little.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">Fuck this formatting. I just can't drive this fucking blog any more.</span></td></tr>
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<br />Melbahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02257719342445833725noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13506151.post-52545046445500732602015-02-28T17:06:00.001+11:002015-02-28T17:12:20.900+11:00the Cotswolds and surrounds<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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From top to bottom:<br />
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1. Gloucester Cathedral<br />
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2. The cathedral's vaulted interior of the cloisters, where Harry Potter scenes were shot<br />
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3. Flour mills on Avon River in Tewkesbury (I think)<br />
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4. Norman church with stocks in the garden, outside Tewkesbury<br />
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5. Milly Molly Mandy-style house in Prestbury, the village of Cheltenham where I was staying with my friend and her parents. Long story. I only found out on almost the last day about it being <a href="http://www.haunted-britain.com/prestbury.htm" target="_blank">the most haunted village in England</a>. I insisted we take the dogs for a ghost walk, hoping they would pick up on the weird feelings. Nothing happened.Melbahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02257719342445833725noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13506151.post-48007735719464378672015-02-17T17:04:00.002+11:002015-02-17T17:04:31.071+11:00Hey, I am backGot back Sunday night, and promptly starting sneezing as soon as off the plane (swine flu? bird flu? Ebola? hayfever?) and then got my period the next day, so I'm in a fine old state. Jet lagged and bleeding and sniffling and sneezing but apart from all that, everything is very good.<br />
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The trip was amazing. We saw lots of art, lots of wonderful buildings, ate lots of cake in Vienna especially (but Cake of the Trip was in Berlin), caught some trains, walked and walked and walked, bought some stuff, walked some more.<br />
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The trip home was endless though it was a Qantas 380 and boy, what a sweet ride. I have turned into a plane nerd. I was watching the satellite thingy, and the plane-cam thingy as we were coming in to land in Melbourne. I could see lightning - forked - on the horizon beyond the airport, and it was like a movie being able to see the runway all lit up. Some people might think it would feed the anxiety (I have become a more anxious flyer as I've gotten older) but for me it helps.<br />
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I'll organise to get some photos up near but not too many I promise, cause that's fucking boring, seeing someone's travel shots. Just a small selection, promise.<br />
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So, how are you all? What's new? Tell me EVERYTHING.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cake of the Trip<br />The waiter told me it had gooseberries and something to do <br />with egg so I googled it, and it's gooseberry sponge <br />with meringue cream. It was so so beautiful. <br />I am going to perfect the cooking of it and make it mine.</td></tr>
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<br />Melbahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02257719342445833725noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13506151.post-75808113483603932052015-01-12T13:12:00.003+11:002015-04-08T11:47:17.285+10:00Going fishing<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Leaving Friday, back mid-Feb but thought I'd close down the blog now. Lots to do this week. Am excited. P is in London having a ball, of course. So I'll see you when I get back. Take care everyone.</div>
<br />Melbahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02257719342445833725noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13506151.post-35562478781479365492015-01-10T11:57:00.001+11:002015-01-10T11:57:53.540+11:00Trip part 1Well, she's in the air. Arriving Dubai in a couple of hours, and after leaving her at the airport last night, I got home to Clokes watching the news, telling me there were two sieges in Paris and that Melb Airport had a security thing (a domestic situation, I think). So we sat up, unable to leave the tv. Me explaining my take on the Paris thing, and him disagreeing with me, and explaining what he thought. And me disagreeing. Finally went to bed, just before four, and had weird dreams.<br />
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I have a recurring type of dream, where I am separated from people I want to be with (P, Clokes etc) and can't get in touch. In last night's dream, I managed to incorporate a whole lot of anxiety images: I was naked on a tram, and had to deal with the ire of the passengers (but one lady, as she stepped off at her stop, said she 'understood what I was trying to do' which was very nice of her, but strange as I didn't understand what I was trying to do. I had some clothes some where so managed to pull them on, and the phone I had was a really old one and I couldn't work it (predictive text was on, I never have that on, so I couldn't type what I wanted no matter how carefully I tried).<br />
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I worked out which corner I was at and tried to text it to Clokes. One street had a 3 in it and the other had Lady or something. EVENTUALLY he found me, but not before someone was going to kill me and I bartered for my life with the phone ('just let me get my message through and you can have this!) That baddie turned out to be reasonable and an okay chap, so he kept his end of the deal, only to be shot by another baddie as soon as I handed the phone over<br />
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When I found Clokes, his son was with him, sobbing and really upset. I told him to pull himself together. I think Princess was there too.<br />
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So I've woken up exhausted, and now am trying to find P's plane on flightradar24 and I can't. And things are going to shit in Paris and P and her friend are training there from London on the 14th. It's all a bit tricky but the government website haven't upgraded their security ratings for any of the places we're going to. We had chats about how to keep safe, be smart. Even before all this the friend's family were worried about the girls being alone in Budapest so P's friend's brother is joining them on the last night in Paris to go with them to Budapest. Not sure how I feel about that (ok, I do know: I'm relieved but also annoyed) but anyway, P likes him and it will make it easier for them to be there. But now with this terrorist shit I won't be surprised if he turns up in Paris earlier, or even in London to escort them. Nothing I can do.<br />
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So I have to go and read the papers and have breakfast. I'm hoping P will be able to get onto the wifi at Dubai and send me a message. Hope her flight was good and that she is okay and not too tired. That's the longest leg, then it's about 8 hours to London, but then at London she has to go through all the controls and then find her friend's arrival terminal to wait for her there (different flights from Melbourne. Some families have so many points and blah blah. Would have been nice for them to fly together but, again. WHATEVER.)<br />
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I leave in a week. Excited. Do love travel. We were joking yesterday with my mother how it feels like a Grand Tour, a bit like Room With a View but without Italy. I'll play the lemon-sucking pursed lipped Maggie Smith character (alert, disapproving), and P will be the Helena Bonham-Carter character (fresh, young debutante, eyes flashing, boys hovering).Melbahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02257719342445833725noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13506151.post-12135911103963822722015-01-06T11:40:00.001+11:002015-01-06T11:40:49.608+11:00PreparationsI'm reading in preparation for the trip. Re-reading John Irving books (he has Vienna in many of them; at the moment I'm reading a little-known one of his - and possibly my favourite - called <i>The Water-Method Man</i>. It's about a man and his relationships, and how he fucks them all up. The title refers to a urological problem he has. His urethra is a 'narrow, winding road' as described by his urologist. One of the options of management is to drink lots of water and pee after sex. Another option is to stop having sex. A third is to treat with antibiotics when the problem arises, and the fourth is to have surgery. The main character tries the water method but then, later on, when it doesn't really work, he opts for surgery.)<br />
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John Irving was the first writer I read, in my late teens/early twenties, who I just fell in love with. It was total, absolute adoration. I think reading <i>The World According to Garp</i> was the first time I realised what a novel could be. It wasn't my first love. My first adult novel love was <i>Wuthering Heights</i>, but Garp was different. Garp was funny AND sad, and had a central character who was very human, hurtful to others, but so loveable. The other thing was Irving's secondary and even tertiary characters: he populates his novels with people who are startlingly original and so entertaining. Much later I learned that Irving is a big Dickens fan, and this made sense to me. I haven't read more than a couple of Dickens novels, but both writers have these characters that become like people you have really known in real life.<br />
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I plan to take with me Anna Funder's Stasiland, which is non-fiction, and which will cover Budapest and Prague, and Berlin too. I'm not bothering with an in-situ London read. I think I'll be too busy, but I might take another Irving novel with me. It should really be <i>Setting Free the Bears</i>, his first book, which is about the liberation of all the animals in Vienna's zoo, but it's really not as enchanting as his second (<i>Water-Method</i>) or other early ones.<br />
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So, that's reading. All accommodation is booked, and train travel and so on. I fly London to Budapest to meet P, and from there we train to our other cities. It's going to be cold so we are packing all sorts of thick winter clothing, which means less room in the cases for shopping. I don't want to shop much but perhaps some boots/shoes in Vienna (we've been told about an amazing boot/shoe shop) and maybe a woollen jacket in London. I bought new runners to walk in. My feet need to be happy.<br />
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*<br />
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In London (or outside of it, in Cheltenham, near the Cotswolds) I'm staying with an OLD friend, an English woman I met here in Melbourne years ago, when we were early twenties. We met while both working at a restaurant, the Island Trader, on Warrigal Road Ashwood (or was it Burwood?) I know this place features in my Bad '80s Diaries. We had to wear sarongs and fake flower clipped into our hair. Also a lei (fake) which allowed skeezy male customers to make their skeezy jokes. I am the only person in my family who worked there (3 of us siblings) who didn't get fired. And who spent time in all the possible work roles (apart from management): waitress, bar, food prep. I'm not sure why I'm even proud of this. Anyway, I'll catch up with E, and that will be great. I'd thought about a side-trip to Haworth (Bronte country, see above) to make it even more of a literary pilgrimage, but it's pretty far and it's going to be bad cold weather. Squib went there recently and seeing her photos on facebook made me very wistful. I shall just have to make sure the next time I'm there is summer/autumn so I can do those sorts of things.<br />
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In Prague will be the Great Reunion with M and J. We were all learning Turkish together in Istanbul in 1994. All married to Turkish men, we bonded big time. M is from Montreal and J originally from Slovakia, but now living in Prague. I haven't seen M since I took P there when she was 3 or 4 (we did a side trip from Istanbul where we were living 1999/2000) and J I haven't seen since those times, in 1994. It will be fantastic to see them. We're planning to go to the opera here as well. I don't like opera but P does, so, you know. Self-sacrifice and all that. I can cope.<br />
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*<br />
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Berlin is the place I think I'm most excited about. I've found 'unter-welten' tours where you can go into bunkers etc. P is very interested in all the war stuff, the history, as well as art. And the food as well. We can't wait for the different local food.<br />
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*<br />
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We have two days in London before we fly back out. We plan to do a couple of galleries/museums that she won't have managed to get to in her week there before we meet up, and I won't either. And we'll have a 'nice meal' somewhere on the last night. Suggestions welcome. Even though I lived in London way back, I din't like it and didn't explore it at all. What an idiot but I suppose I had no money. Also I was only there for four months.<br />
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*<br />
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When we get back it's action stations. P will have hopefully enrolled in uni while away. She got her score on Sunday and did very very well. Her IB score translates to an ATAR of 96.35 so that's more than enough for her to get into the course she wants (Arts) at her preferred uni. So she'll be doing uni stuff, maybe moving into college, buying books etc etc.<br />
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In my first week back, I have a meeting with my publisher (I think that's the first time I've written that) - our first meeting - and she is giving me editorial notes. I have until end of March to get the ms back to her. I'm really interested to see what her suggestions are. Like really interested. I know there'll be a bit of work to do, even though the ms is in a very clean state. And then that all happens. They are saying it will be September next year. Originally it was June, but has been pushed back. I learned this is common, for things to get moved around, and it doesn't mean anything. I'm glad it's later otherwise I'd be panicking about now, would have had to get the notes by now and wouldn't be able to do anything about them but would be wanting to do something about them. I wouldn't be sleeping and as relaxed as I am now.<br />
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Last year I didn't write much in the way of new words but I do somehow have a third manuscript I need to get finished (I'm 2K away from a finished first draft. 'How can you know how many words you have to write? How can you be so exact?' a friend asked me recently. 'Because I have set myself a challenge, to make the finished ms exactly 49,000 words. Exactly.' 'Oh,' he said.<br />
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So that'll be the next one I show to my agent. It's different to my other two and I hope she thinks it's a goer.<br />
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*<br />
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Other plans for the year involve continuing yoga, continuing walks, continuing moderate eating along with 'fast days' (they aren't really fast days, just low-cal days) in an effort to continue to manage my reflux, indigestion. Also the teaching business, which is well-booked for March and beyond, so that's great. We may get a casual teacher or two in to help out, because I'd rather teach a bit less, especially as the writing thing is happening a bit more. <br />
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It's going to be a big year (as my publisher emailed) and a good one, on lots of counts. Clokes turns 50 this year, in March, so we'll be celebrating that. His boy starts Year 11, so again, pretty busy. My mother's health continues, my health issues have settled (I put all that down to my digestive system, I'm realising it's SO important to keep it ticking over as smoothly as possible), I didn't fall into the cycle of ailments that happened this time last year.<br />
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TV to look forward to: Game of Thrones (CAN'T WAIT); GIRLS* (ditto); OITNB (though the last season didn't impress me as much I don't think. And the reason I think this is because I can't remember what happened); Orphan Black (yes, can't wait for this one either); Walking Dead (it's on a season break at the moment, I think I'm getting a little over it); more Gogglebox; True Detective second series (not sure if that's coming this year or next. Probs next.); not sure if they are doing more Sherlock Holmes, but I liked it; and the latest discovery (via P) was Shameless (the US version) - this was probably my late-2014 TV fixation. I've probably forgotten stuff.<br />
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Well this has been a bit of a spew of stuff. But I realised that this is the place I can do it. It's where I used to do it, go on and on, in diary fashion.<br />
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Do you keep a diary or spill all your 'spew stuff' to someone? How do you get it out? Do you have spew-stuff? We all do, don't we??<br />
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* This last week I watched Lena Dunham's movie called <i>Tiny Furniture</i>. She made is before she did GIRLS. And it's terrific. I'm so impressed with her.Melbahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02257719342445833725noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13506151.post-36775575123044272512015-01-01T01:34:00.003+11:002015-01-01T01:34:33.601+11:00HNYWell, it ended up being a really quiet one here. Watched some movies, going to bed now. Not a lot more to say other than I hope 2015 is good to everyone.<br />
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xMelbahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02257719342445833725noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13506151.post-18977423167110028552014-12-24T12:28:00.001+11:002014-12-24T12:28:37.039+11:00Christmas Eve funeralWell it was the last thing I expected. Got a facebook message yesterday from Patrick. For long-time readers, with a good memory, they will know 'Patrick' was my first boyfriend and featured heavily in my Bad '80s Diaries, which I have since publishing here, put back into drafts so they aren't public anymore. At least I fucken hope not.<br />
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Patrick and I aren't facebook friends but somehow he can message me. I'm not sure how that works, as it didn't come with a friend request. Who the fuck knows. Anyway, he said his mum died and the funeral was this morning. Gave the address and time and I messaged back thanking him for letting me know. And said I'd be there.<br />
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So. I went. It was hard, not just because his mum was a lady I loved and a special person and so there were lots of tears, including Patrick struggling with his eulogy. And his daughter standing beside him, in tears. It was harrowing.<br />
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It was hard for all these reasons, but also because:<br />
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1. when I hugged Patrick I smeared my invisible zinc all over his pristine white shirt. Invisible zinc is not fucking invisible. So there was that.<br />
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2. When I said hello, by tapping on the shoulder, to P's sister's husband (who I think in the past sent me a bunch of flowers and anonymous romance card) I said hello and called him by the wrong name. His wife's name.<br />
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3. When I was leaving, after service, after car had driven away, but before light refreshments, I was doing my sunglasses-spectacle changeover, like a fuss-pot granny and dropped my specs on the ground and had to stop and get them, bum in air, in the middle of grieving friends and relatives.<br />
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So I'm home, after stopping at Danny Murphy's on the way. We are now stocked up with wine, vodka, champagne, apple cider and beer. I have to go and cook three chooks (and do stuffing) and make a trifle and cook rice for rice salad. And get tables and chairs out of garage and set up. And go down street one more time to get those things forgotten.<br />
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So to everyone, Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, Wonderful Everything.<br />
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Take it easy, take care. I'll be around.Melbahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02257719342445833725noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13506151.post-15395667791908110172014-12-16T16:32:00.003+11:002014-12-16T23:47:02.591+11:00Contract is through<b>PLEASE DON'T MENTION THIS ON SOCIAL MEDIA ANYWHERE, IF YOU KNOW ME IRL. NEED TO KEEP THIS QUIET FOR A WHILE LONGER AS IT ISN'T PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE YET.</b><br />
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<b>THANKS.</b><br />
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*<br />
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After five weeks of waiting, negotiations, and a bit of to'ing and fro'ing, the hard copies of book contract arrived in mail today.<br />
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So tonight we drink a leetle champagne (it's the season, after all. Last night we had sparkling, because we were setting up the Christmas tree!) But tonight, it's real Champagne, for the signing of the contract. It's been a hardish longish road, though when I think about it, it was only 2008 when I got a bit more serious about my writing, and 2009 when got really serious and did the year-long course with the aim of producing a completed first draft of a novel by the end of it. So, what's that. Six years. and it's been hard work, I have really worked hard, and it's been fun and wonderful, and I've waited a lot too. But I am lucky because my persistence has had results.<br />
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I know people who aren't trying to do this (that is, publish a novel, in this country, with a conventional publisher) probably don't have any idea how hard it is, how it's not just a matter of good work being rewarded, or hard work being rewarded. There are so many other factors involved, that I had no idea about before. Until I learned about them. Things like thick-skins, patience, determination (read sheer bloody mindedness), luck, resilience, stamina. And people who don't know about publishing wouldn't realise how SLOWLY things move, even when going well.<br />
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They say it's always been hard to get published, and they say too that it's never been harder than now. Also what I'm writing - literary fiction - is the hardest genre of all. Publishers balk at it, it doesn't sell much.<br />
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But this is the best Christmas present I've ever had. Better even than my new purple Malvern Star when I was about ten. Better than the Totem Tennis. Better than the game I got when I was about nine, where there were a bunch of marbles and you set up this plastic channelling thing and a mechanism drew up the marbles and then pummelled them down onto three or four drum things that bounced them in a pattern. Better than the Crystal Cylinder two-tone windcheater; the brown bikinis with palm tree design, the board shorts. The skiffle board that got lost on its first outing at Waratah Bay. How do you lose a skiffle board? You leave it by the water's edge and run back to the towel to eat a sandwich or have a drink or dig in the sand. And then when you go back, it's just gone. Buried.<br />
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Today I floated in the bay for a while, with a friend, and we each had blow-up rings. She gave me the orange one, her favourite she said, but it kept deflating. When we walked back to the car there was a tumble weed rolling along the footpath.<br />
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<img src="http://ih1.redbubble.net/image.5222341.1987/flat,550x550,075,f.jpg" /><br />
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It felt like it came to meet us, to find her. It had travelled from the country and was rolling along. I told her she needed to take it, and think about it. That it had a message for her.<br />
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Sometimes I get very hippy when I am with her. We met at teacher's college years ago, and travelled together for five weeks in Indonesia in 1986 I think it was, not knowing each other that well. We don't see each other often but when we do it's great. She's having a hard time, with her kids, her husband, the rest of her family, including siblings and mother. We talked about our lives and shared our pain and good stuff and it made me realise, again, how much I have to be grateful about. When I talk about my family shit, at least my sister and I are talking and affectionate most of the time. We push through our negative stuff. <br />
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I'm not sure whether I'll post again before Christmas or over New Year (though I do fancy a bit of a New Year's Eve here on the blog, if I don't go out. Haven't had a party since the election that time.) So, what are you hoping for, in your wildest dreams? For yourself or for someone else. I'd love to hear it.<br />
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<br />Melbahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02257719342445833725noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13506151.post-68069886370939428352014-12-05T09:55:00.000+11:002014-12-05T09:55:10.284+11:00What is it about families?<br />
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<br />Melbahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02257719342445833725noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13506151.post-23176130214060023832014-12-01T12:31:00.001+11:002014-12-01T12:31:41.656+11:00Sick, and tiredIt is that fucking time of the year. I have a head cold. I don't know if you remember but last year, at this time, I fell in a heap. Had laryngitis, couldn't teach my final sessions for the year, and it then moved into my chest, then up to the sinuses. I am hoping this head cold just stays in the head then fucks off without spreading anywhere else.<br />
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I'm trying to rest as much as possible.<br />
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P came back from her beach sojourn yesterday, she had a ball. At one stage there were 19 of them all in a house, having fun cooking together, chatting, playing games, swimming. I remember being young and in a big group and how much fun it was.<br />
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On Friday P has laser surgery on her eyes. She's worn glasses since she was about 5 or 6 and contacts since about 11 or so. She is so over them, so on Friday her eyes will be lasered and hopefully she will have good eyesight, at least for a number of years before they start to deteriorate again.<br />
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Today is Clokes's daughter's bd, she is 19. Tomorrow is my birthday. I will be older than that. December is filled with family and friends birthdays, it's kind of annoying. But anyway.<br />
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I've got the contract from the publisher, have worked my way through making notes. Will talk to agent this week. Things have been slowed of course: for two weeks agent and pub were each expecting the other to send it through. Hah. And then it's just been the Thanksgiving weekend in the US so nothing has happened from that end.<br />
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So many delays. I can't imagine how non-patient people cope. I have a friend who also writes, she's a bit behind me in the process. She is so impatient. She is already talking about self-publishing and she hasn't even submitted it to publishers; and has submitted it to maybe two agents and gotten good feedback but ultimate knock backs. She is going to drive herself mental if she can't find some patience and the ability to sit with ambiguity, be still with uncertainty. Also it astounds me how people don't realise that to get published you have to submit, and submit to a shitload of places, and often over a long period of time. We all have stars in our eyes that we will be the one who snaps it in a single go. I'd like to know how often that happens, out of all the traditionally-published authors, how many approached one agent, say, and they took them on. Or one publisher and they said yes. Because if the amount of published novelists (traditionally) sits at 1 in a thousand manuscripts (I've seen publishers say they think that's way too high) then of that amount, what percentage have had a 'smooth run' ie 1 for 1 in terms of pitches.<br />
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So my head is hot and I'm going back to bed. My final teaching is tomorrow, two hours in the middle of the day. My voice is holding up so far, I think I'll be okay. And then I'm off for the summer, yay.<br />
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Oh, and I wrote 3,000 new words last week, which is pretty good considering I hadn't worked on that project for months. So I'm about 3K off my target for completed first draft. Also need to go back to the first one, and rewrite, but that will be a big project. So want to get this shorter one done first so it's ready to show pub when the time comes. Then if I have two in the pipeline it buys me time to get the third one how I want it.<br />
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What are people's plans for the summer? Anyone doing a big Christmas? A small Christmas? A no Christmas?<br />
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<br />Melbahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02257719342445833725noreply@blogger.com15