Festival Fina closed on Sunday with some delightful weather and crowds after a wet and windy start. Definite favourites for the festival were (in no particular order) Quidams - Herbert's Dream, Group F, Guo Yue, ERTH Dinosaur Petting Zoo, Ulik and Le Snob and the memorable installation of Méchanique Vivante's Song of the Sirens. It was great to see all the performances run smoothly and even better to see people showing up in the Melbourne weather. Yay for Nick and Nomi coming to say hi!
I must say that's one thing I love about Melbourne. Weather is no barrier for the arts/festival loving people. They just bring their umbrellas, jackets and rugs and huddle together to enjoy the show. It's great and very much appreciated when you're totally soaked to the skin and still have at least 8 hours of your shift to go.
After a swift load-out of the bulk of the festival life's been slipping back to craft heaven for me. Mingled of course with large doses of Final Fantasy XII and season 1 of Buffy.
This Sunday we'll be getting ready to farewell Naomi with a lovely picnic and what was going to be some blues dancing that I was very much looking forward to...
Sadly I slipped down the bottom half of the stairs yesterday and landed (well but painfully) on my knee and ankle. It all happened a bit quickly and involved the dog stepping on the back of my pants causing the fall as I was holding my laptop... Laptop is in tact but my leg is still a little sore when I put weight on it. I may have to take a rain check on the dancing for a bit.
So I've decided to spend my restful time making scarves to bring to the picnic on Sunday in the hopes that they might find a good home. I'm slowly making my way through my stash of pretty yarns that have been hoarded over the years. It's good for me :)
I've also almost completed Gene's socks which he's happy about... Just having some troubles with the heel (namely I misread the pattern when I made the first one and now have to decide what to do with the second one). Yeah, post-festival life is complicated.
I'm sure I'll live though.
Friday, March 30, 2007
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Here comes the rain again
The last week or so has been wonderfully busy. Finally back to work (until Tuesday I think) working on Festival FINA we opened last night.
For the last week we've been getting Birrarung Marr ready for the festival (attaching sculptures to a hill, building roads, chasing flags, etc). So when we got the much needed rain last night we were still a little sad that the night was rained out. In the end only the performances at BMW Edge (known during the festival as "The Deep End") with it's free cabaret and the amazing Group F and Mechanic Vivante performed.
I do have pictures but the cable's upstairs and I'm lazy. They'll have to wait until tomorrow.
Everyone should come down and check out the festival for many reasons. Firstly there are some amazing acts from around the world. There's circus, live music, a dinosaur petting zoo... just to name a few things. Secondly it's all free. Yep. All of it. Bargain any day I say! Finally (before I get ready to sprint for the train) if people continue to go to these free cultural events, maybe if we start to have more cultural events...
Yesterday as we were battening the hatches and catching falling flags in the heavy rain I couldn't help but be reminded of Doha and every other outdoor event that I've done... it has to rain at least once and rather heavily. It's tradition :)
It's meant to rain again tonight but I think we'll be fine. We still got a great crowd for the river shows despite the rain
falling on my head like a memory
For the last week we've been getting Birrarung Marr ready for the festival (attaching sculptures to a hill, building roads, chasing flags, etc). So when we got the much needed rain last night we were still a little sad that the night was rained out. In the end only the performances at BMW Edge (known during the festival as "The Deep End") with it's free cabaret and the amazing Group F and Mechanic Vivante performed.
I do have pictures but the cable's upstairs and I'm lazy. They'll have to wait until tomorrow.
Everyone should come down and check out the festival for many reasons. Firstly there are some amazing acts from around the world. There's circus, live music, a dinosaur petting zoo... just to name a few things. Secondly it's all free. Yep. All of it. Bargain any day I say! Finally (before I get ready to sprint for the train) if people continue to go to these free cultural events, maybe if we start to have more cultural events...
Yesterday as we were battening the hatches and catching falling flags in the heavy rain I couldn't help but be reminded of Doha and every other outdoor event that I've done... it has to rain at least once and rather heavily. It's tradition :)
It's meant to rain again tonight but I think we'll be fine. We still got a great crowd for the river shows despite the rain
falling on my head like a memory
Monday, March 12, 2007
Travel Bug
Today is an Autumn cleaning day. We've got family coming to stay with us on Wednesday night for the rather big weekend that Melbourne is set to have. I believe that the Grand Prix is what's caught their attention.
So it's looking to be a day of sorting through clothes, doing laundry (potential secret to happiness?) and working out how to store our clothes temporarily. That is one thing that I miss about having a house. Admittedly we tended to store things on the floor but we did try sometimes!
Last night we caught up with Paul, Deb who we hadn't seen since we left for Doha which was great. Love their new place (which when I think about it isn't that new) and it made me think two things. Firstly - Gee it'd be nice to have a place again and secondly It is kind of nice not having a place in some ways too... The latter is due to my urge to travel again.
I definitely have a bad case of the travel bug! You'd think that two months traveling around Europe would have cured that. When I think about it though, it's not so much the traveling that I want to do (I could live without spending quite that much time in train stations on a daily basis) but more the being somewhere else. I think I really do want to move somewhere else for a while. Currently "somewhere" is the UK (which isn't a particularly original destination for an Aussie) because I really liked the small taste I got while I was there. In any case there's still a lot that I want to see over there.
While I've been trying to work out how I can get back there I discovered that I can also do a working holiday type thing in Ireland for a year. That covers me for being over there for three years if I add it to the other one... By which stage I'll probably have moved on anyhow because I don't ever seem to be in the same place (physically or mentally) for particularly long. Commitment you say? I like my freedom in most things.
Okay I really should get stuck into the cleaning if only so that we can get back to our DVD/Final Fantasy XII routine before we start work tomorrow!
So it's looking to be a day of sorting through clothes, doing laundry (potential secret to happiness?) and working out how to store our clothes temporarily. That is one thing that I miss about having a house. Admittedly we tended to store things on the floor but we did try sometimes!
Last night we caught up with Paul, Deb who we hadn't seen since we left for Doha which was great. Love their new place (which when I think about it isn't that new) and it made me think two things. Firstly - Gee it'd be nice to have a place again and secondly It is kind of nice not having a place in some ways too... The latter is due to my urge to travel again.
I definitely have a bad case of the travel bug! You'd think that two months traveling around Europe would have cured that. When I think about it though, it's not so much the traveling that I want to do (I could live without spending quite that much time in train stations on a daily basis) but more the being somewhere else. I think I really do want to move somewhere else for a while. Currently "somewhere" is the UK (which isn't a particularly original destination for an Aussie) because I really liked the small taste I got while I was there. In any case there's still a lot that I want to see over there.
While I've been trying to work out how I can get back there I discovered that I can also do a working holiday type thing in Ireland for a year. That covers me for being over there for three years if I add it to the other one... By which stage I'll probably have moved on anyhow because I don't ever seem to be in the same place (physically or mentally) for particularly long. Commitment you say? I like my freedom in most things.
Okay I really should get stuck into the cleaning if only so that we can get back to our DVD/Final Fantasy XII routine before we start work tomorrow!
Saturday, March 10, 2007
Efficiency
It would seem that Gene and I have been rather efficient over the last few days. Since my last post we've:
- watched all of season 1 of Love My Way which we both really enjoyed and even got Mum interested in. After we watched the first episode we watched the remaining nine the next day.
- headed to our first day of work where we proceeded to finished two days of work in just under one
Okay so that's not the greatest list of achievements in the world but it makes me think that we've at least done something!
I've also finished one of my socks and have started the second sock. After this I've promised myself that I'll start on Lisa's socks again which I started on while I was in Doha (complete with tailored design) then proceeded to lose the pattern traipsing around Europe. Typical! Anyhow, I've found a prettier variegated cotton yarn to make them from instead of the angora/cotton/wool blend which would have been bulky.
In terms of my location for the near future I have no set plans still. At this stage I'm not heading to Darwin (didn't get the job and due to poor timing on my part realised that it was good job but not what I wanted to do. Worked out well for both parties I think!) Still really keen to head overseas though. Shall have to look into this a bit more I think.
Well I'm off for a girly day of haircuts and manicures, just have to go and wake Mum up first...
- watched all of season 1 of Love My Way which we both really enjoyed and even got Mum interested in. After we watched the first episode we watched the remaining nine the next day.
- headed to our first day of work where we proceeded to finished two days of work in just under one
Okay so that's not the greatest list of achievements in the world but it makes me think that we've at least done something!
I've also finished one of my socks and have started the second sock. After this I've promised myself that I'll start on Lisa's socks again which I started on while I was in Doha (complete with tailored design) then proceeded to lose the pattern traipsing around Europe. Typical! Anyhow, I've found a prettier variegated cotton yarn to make them from instead of the angora/cotton/wool blend which would have been bulky.
In terms of my location for the near future I have no set plans still. At this stage I'm not heading to Darwin (didn't get the job and due to poor timing on my part realised that it was good job but not what I wanted to do. Worked out well for both parties I think!) Still really keen to head overseas though. Shall have to look into this a bit more I think.
Well I'm off for a girly day of haircuts and manicures, just have to go and wake Mum up first...
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Breakfast Post
I've been meaning to post something again for the last few days but to be honest I haven't had much to say because I haven't really done much! If only they had a patch for blogging... or procrastination.
Anyhoo... since rehearsal last week I've been to two dance lessons, one blues and one swing, gotten a quarter of the way through the pair of socks that I started a while ago and had a job interview. (Incidentally, I'm still about four rows off finishing Gene's Norwegian scarf... *sigh* Figured I'll hold out until closer to Winter because it's too warm for him to wear now)
It would seem that we've caught the swing bug again. Last Tuesday I went to my first swing class in about eight months with Naomi which was an open class (combined levels) and it was a fabulous way to get back into it. So having been totally hooked after one class back we decided to try some blues dancing as there was going to be a class on Sunday.
Blues dancing was awesome. I think if I keep it up my following might even get better. My inner(?) control freak gets in the way of my dancing if I'm not careful but because I had no idea what was happening I was more likely to just do as I was led. Great music and it seems more free too.
Still last night's intro to lindy hop was really good. We'd done a bit of lindy hop and it's a bit like learning to ride a bicycle. The rhythm stays with you and the more we seem to learn of the basic steps the more we have to learn. I did find that the harder I thought about what my feet were doing (they get a bit sneaky) the harder it got. I think I needed to relax more.
After we got home and dined on a fine dinner of greasy chicken (so much for the healthy eating kick), Gene and I watched an episode of CSI with Mum, the first episode of season 1 Love My Way then the first episode of season 3 of Deadwood. I think we did well with the pacing of the actual shows but lost in our timing as it was fairly late when we stopped. Not a problem today when we don't have much planned except for swing again tonight.
Tomorrow however we need to be out in Tullamarine for work by 09:00. Oh yeah bring on that early morning rush hour traffic. It'll be good to be back at work though. Miss work. So I'm up "early" today. Woke up at 05:30 and lay in bed watching the sun creep over the Dandenongs until about 06:30. I do like watching the sun rise and set.
Breakfast calls (well my stomach does).
Anyhoo... since rehearsal last week I've been to two dance lessons, one blues and one swing, gotten a quarter of the way through the pair of socks that I started a while ago and had a job interview. (Incidentally, I'm still about four rows off finishing Gene's Norwegian scarf... *sigh* Figured I'll hold out until closer to Winter because it's too warm for him to wear now)
It would seem that we've caught the swing bug again. Last Tuesday I went to my first swing class in about eight months with Naomi which was an open class (combined levels) and it was a fabulous way to get back into it. So having been totally hooked after one class back we decided to try some blues dancing as there was going to be a class on Sunday.
Blues dancing was awesome. I think if I keep it up my following might even get better. My inner(?) control freak gets in the way of my dancing if I'm not careful but because I had no idea what was happening I was more likely to just do as I was led. Great music and it seems more free too.
Still last night's intro to lindy hop was really good. We'd done a bit of lindy hop and it's a bit like learning to ride a bicycle. The rhythm stays with you and the more we seem to learn of the basic steps the more we have to learn. I did find that the harder I thought about what my feet were doing (they get a bit sneaky) the harder it got. I think I needed to relax more.
After we got home and dined on a fine dinner of greasy chicken (so much for the healthy eating kick), Gene and I watched an episode of CSI with Mum, the first episode of season 1 Love My Way then the first episode of season 3 of Deadwood. I think we did well with the pacing of the actual shows but lost in our timing as it was fairly late when we stopped. Not a problem today when we don't have much planned except for swing again tonight.
Tomorrow however we need to be out in Tullamarine for work by 09:00. Oh yeah bring on that early morning rush hour traffic. It'll be good to be back at work though. Miss work. So I'm up "early" today. Woke up at 05:30 and lay in bed watching the sun creep over the Dandenongs until about 06:30. I do like watching the sun rise and set.
Breakfast calls (well my stomach does).
Thursday, March 01, 2007
Distractions
Well it's back into the rehearsal room again tonight for the "Scottish Play" Rock Opera. It's my last rehearsal with the group I think as I'm only filling in for a couple of days this week. It's been good to be back in a rehearsal room although odd filling in for someone you don't know. Anyhow I've learned a bit about Sibellius so that's been good.
I noticed that I fell off the face of the blogging planet again but I've been distracted by no only the joy of having an oven again or my knitting (sock has been stalled at row 49) but my shiny new laptop.
It's a bit of a tradition to name your laptop/computer at my place so I thought long nd hard about it. After all my iPod is Deep Thought. I had many suggestions for more Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy names but as my first reaction to the laptop was "shiny!" Gene suggested that it would be better named Serenity.
That pretty much sums up what has been entertaining me for the last couple of days. Synchronising information across the laptops and setting it up just the way I like it. Important things like desktop pictures and backing up music. I love it. It's just like setting up an office but with less physical effort. Perfect for a lazy summer's day. :)
Yesterday I was happily distracted by Sim City 4 Rush Hour. Yes, I'm a control freak at heart but I love these simulation games. My city's doing quite well thank you for asking!
Today I've promised myself that I have to achieve some of my to-do list before I can continue to build my thriving metropolis.
I'm doing okay so far. Aside from procrastinating while writing my blog. I just need to get to the bank so I can change my date of birth. According to them I'm born in September. News to me... Mum & Dad might be surprised too...
The only other thing I really should do is get around to baking the banana cake that I bought buttermilk for yesterday... The bananas are, to quote Mum, a bit on the nose. Might make some more sweet potato and green bean salad too. It was my favourite dish from dinner on Sunday which involved AU$80 roast pumpkin soup (that's Dad's story to tell so you'll have to wait until he tells it then I'll make the link), a simple roast garlic, tomato and mushroom pasta and the aforementioned and below salad. Tasty :)
I think it must be dinner party time. Anyone for dinner?
I noticed that I fell off the face of the blogging planet again but I've been distracted by no only the joy of having an oven again or my knitting (sock has been stalled at row 49) but my shiny new laptop.
It's a bit of a tradition to name your laptop/computer at my place so I thought long nd hard about it. After all my iPod is Deep Thought. I had many suggestions for more Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy names but as my first reaction to the laptop was "shiny!" Gene suggested that it would be better named Serenity.
That pretty much sums up what has been entertaining me for the last couple of days. Synchronising information across the laptops and setting it up just the way I like it. Important things like desktop pictures and backing up music. I love it. It's just like setting up an office but with less physical effort. Perfect for a lazy summer's day. :)
Yesterday I was happily distracted by Sim City 4 Rush Hour. Yes, I'm a control freak at heart but I love these simulation games. My city's doing quite well thank you for asking!
Today I've promised myself that I have to achieve some of my to-do list before I can continue to build my thriving metropolis.
I'm doing okay so far. Aside from procrastinating while writing my blog. I just need to get to the bank so I can change my date of birth. According to them I'm born in September. News to me... Mum & Dad might be surprised too...
The only other thing I really should do is get around to baking the banana cake that I bought buttermilk for yesterday... The bananas are, to quote Mum, a bit on the nose. Might make some more sweet potato and green bean salad too. It was my favourite dish from dinner on Sunday which involved AU$80 roast pumpkin soup (that's Dad's story to tell so you'll have to wait until he tells it then I'll make the link), a simple roast garlic, tomato and mushroom pasta and the aforementioned and below salad. Tasty :)
I think it must be dinner party time. Anyone for dinner?
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