39 Questions on 2008

1. What did you do in 2008 that you'd never done before?
Flew a helicopter. Watched the Melbourne NYE fireworks live in the city. A few work related things. A couple of things that I shall keep to myself.

2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
Still haven't achieved the juggling. Admittedly haven't really tried for a couple of years. Resolutions for 2009? Take better care of myself.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
My cousins and one of my work friends.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
Mum lost her battle with pancreatic cancer in December. My grandma (Mum's Mum) lost her battle with cervical cancer in November. Interesting to note there is not previous history of cancer on Mum's side of the family.

5. What countries did you visit?
Singapore.

6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
More travel.

7. What date from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
15th December - a day filled with coloured cranes and my nearest & dearest.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Saying no to work.

9. What was your biggest failure?
Unfinished projects largely knitting & crochet.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Not really. The had the flu, and an ear infection that's it.

11. What was the best thing you bought in 2008?
Three lego kits. A train, a crane and a forklift/car.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
My parents again but this time for their inspiring final 18 days & nights together. Anyone who can find romance in the face of death and in a hospital is truly amazing.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
I'd rather not say.

14. Did you go to any weddings?
No

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Mum being in remission at the start of the year. I said it was "great" when I got the call and then an hour later was crying on the tram home.

16. What song will always remind you of 2008?
Look Mummy, No Hands by Dillie Keane

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
---happier or sadder? same same
---thinner or heavier? thinner :(
---richer or poorer? same same

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Lived a little and travel

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
(over)think

20. How did you spend Christmas?
Eve was spent watching Carols By Candlelight with Matt. Day was spent with family.

21. Did you fall in love in 2008?
Perhaps

22. Were you rejected by anyone?
No?

23. What was your favorite TV program?
Mad Men for a new show. Got a little suckered into Grey's Anatomy & Private Practice too... oh and House

24. Do you dislike anyone now that you didn't dislike this time last year?
Yes.

25. What was the best book you read?
The Name of the Wind closely followed by The Widow Clicquot and possibly Growing Up Asian in Australia

26. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Death Cab For Cutie & Gotye

27. What did you want and get?
More time to get to know Mum. An iPhone & the most amazing wool from Germany.

28. What did you want and did not get?
Overseas travel.

29. What was your favorite film of this year?
Madagascar 2 - I like to move it move it....

30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I went to the supermarket. Did some laundry and French homework. Still 25.

31. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
More challenging work. Or more helicopter flying.

32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?
More colourful than most years. More feminine in Brisbane because it was warm and I was in an office for 3 months.

33. What kept you sane?
Large quantities of tea. Nick.

34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Samuel Barnett. Always have a soft spot for Johnny Depp & Clive Owen though.

35. What political issue stirred you the most?
Couldn't say.

36. Who did you miss?
I miss my Lisa who's in Paris and Tamsin who's about to leave for the UK.

37. Who was the best new person you met?
Natalie, she's like a long lost sister :)

38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008.
Don't be afraid of living. There's always time for the little things and romance is not dead.

39. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:

Wrench yourself from your demons
For far too long you’ve believed them
When they told you you were weak
Take a step in the tunnel
With the light ’round the bend
In the end
You can start to make amends
Who knows where you’ll go, baby
So much you could do!
Haven’t you heard, baby?
All will be well
If you want it to

Mid-Festival Update

It's been just over a month since I last wrote and things are settling down a little. Which is perfectly normal given that I'll be temporarily relocating to Adelaide in less than a month for work. We're well in the swing of things for Melbourne Fringe and I'm back in the rhythm of sleep deprivation and general festivity.

Mum's been in and out of hospital with an infection but we think we may have it under control now. As I walked past their bedroom door, I caught her reflection in the mirror which is the only way I knew that she was home. Just shows how much I've been home in the last day...

I'm off to see Wicked this afternoon which I'm excited about but also sad given Rob Guest's passing. Then it's off to the theatre to get ready for another night of circus at the Fringe.

I do love my festivals :)
Great people, great times.
Sleep can come later

A Disjointed Catch Up

I can't help but notice that my lack of blogging seems to stem from just after Gene & I broke up last year. It's almost as if when we broke up I couldn't find any words to write. No way of really saying what I thought and I really didn't feel a need to share how I felt as frankly that would have been boring.

So almost a year on I guess I'm still trying to find myself. Not so much remember what it's like to be single, but discover my independence and learn to enjoy it.

Okay, random burst of self-reflection over (phew!).

Let's just say that there wasn't a great deal of reading in May & June... Combined reading list for those months include:
1. The Dragon Queen
2. Pardon My French
3. Growing Up Asian in Australia

If only event management plans counted in the list... but as thick as some of them were, they're not quite books.

June consisted of many weekend trips from Brisbane to Melbourne & Sydney. Visiting family, farewelling friends and celebrating a birthday. It's a good thing I don't mind flying really. After the last weekend away the Festival really started to ramp up production. Defintely my favourite part that's not the actual Festival.

July saw the start of the Festival. We worked hard, we played hard. There were many opening nights and closing nights celebrated. It was good. Was lucky enough to see some shows which was rather novel. It was all over in a haze of beer, gin & wine and before we knew it we were bare-foot bowling on a beautiful sunny August day.

It would be hard to believe that only a fortnight ago I was sitting in the sun watching people bowl... except that I landed back in Melbourne on Saturday. It was not sunny. Luckily it wasn't too cold either. I keep telling myself that it's "the same temperature as Brisbane at night... but brighter".

Right now I'm in Sydney enjoying the sunshine and 20˚C days... well I was, it's supposed to storm tomorrow. Still trying to work out what I'll do tomorrow... am thinking it could be a good day for a museum or possibly the aquarium. I may yet fit an antique fair in.

I must admit I'm in a bit of a strange mood tonight. It's been a bit of a odd day. I woke up with a migraine and feeling a bit out of sorts. Did a bit of shopping. Had a nap. Woke up when my phone rang. It was Dad. My grandma in Singapore has stage 4 cancer. I pondered the fact that my Mum's family has had and excellent health history until now when both my Mum & Grandma have cancer. I'm starting to think that my random (morbid) thought that I'll die in the water is possibly incorrect and that it's more likely to be cancer. Strangely I'd rather the water but I'm trying not to dwell on that as I don't particularly want to die at this point in time. When I get bad news that I can't do anything about I turn to depressing music to soothe my woes. So after a good hour of depressing tunes I headed out to have cocktails with a few friends. Dinner followed the cocktails (although perhaps it should have been the other way around) and I must say I'm in a much better mood having gone out.

So to summarise... I had a fabulous time in Brisbane and miss the lifestyle up there although it's still not really my city. Am restless, reflective and honestly I think I'm a little angry with myself. Akrasia, what can I say? Do better. Rocks. Anyhow, no point dwelling on that, just have to keep moving forward. Right?

Less disjointed post next time, I promise.

Two months in a nutshell

As seems to be the case far more often than I'd like it to be, I've had good intentions of writing but failed to put those intentions in to practice.

April in Brisbane passed fairly quickly and uneventfully after I worked out how to ring the bell on the bus.

My "silver jubilee" was pleasantly quiet and spent doing grocery shopping, laundry and studying French. Just what I wanted really. A normal day catching up on things that I wouldn't otherwise get done during the week.

I've read far less in the last few weeks than I had when I initially arrived. Big crocheting projects like blankets and jumpers saw me spending much more time in front of the television. I'm still very much in chick flick viewing mode but I am hoping to move into arthouse again some time during the week.

A few weeks ago I was in Melbourne visiting Mum & Dad and it was sooooo good to see them. There was much excitement in the house. I've never seen the dogs run around quite like that when there isn't food involved! It was a short visit as I had to head back to work but I'm glad I went down to see them anyhow.

There's a bit of traveling about coming up next month with hi-jinx in Sydney, and another trip to see my folks before the crazy festival life takes over till mid-August.

I had planned to write more but I'm going to save that for another day when there's more to tell.

April Reading List

April started strong with plenty of reading done in the first few days. Then three and a half seasons of Grey's Anatomy coupled with some serious knitting & crochet proved to be formidable distractions.

1. The Wolf of Wall Street by Jordan Belfort
2. Call Me Elizabeeth by Dawn Annandale
3. Brilliance of the Moon by Lian Hearn
4. The Ages of Lulu by Almudena Grandes
5. The Encyclopedia of Crochet Techniques by Jan Eaton

Not sure how May's going to go... I still have several books I'm catching up on or finishing off but there are already other books catching my fancy and I'm hoping to finish knitting my jumper in the next week or so... Not to mention the French homework & reading I have to add to the list...

Numerical Update

611 days ago I left Brisbane and just 4 days ago I returned.
3 of those 4 days were spent with a fever averaging 38˚C. Yesterday I drank 1.25L of water and 1.15L of flavoured still mineral water. I also slept for 12 hours. I'm feeling much better and the fever is almost gone :)

It took me 1.75 bus rides to work out how to get the bus to stop without actually having to call out to the bus driver (or in the case of my first bus ride, continuing for an extra three stops). Apparently I managed to get the really old buses twice on my first day. All other buses have had the red stop button I'm used to.

I've only been working at the Brisbane Festival for 3 days and today marks 100 days till the festival opens.

While I've been up here I have read one book, gotten lost once and been to the doctor once. I've made an appointment to go back to get my third and final (yay!) Gardasil vaccination.

Since arriving in Brisbane I have received 22 text messages from people I know, one text message from someone I don't know, 12 messages via facebook and many emails of which 2 were personally addressed to me.

I have to be back in the office in 10.5 hours and given that I need at least 45 minutes to wake up, 10-15 minutes to get to the bus stop (which is not that far away but the traffic lights, and the traffic, are a little kooky) and another 20 minutes to get to work, I should probably go to bed now.

For those interested it took me 34 minutes to write all this because I kept getting distracted by a Skype conversation regarding donuts.

March Reading List

Far less falling apart this month, much more normal levels of crazy in my head. Sadly this hasn't translated to the number of books read.

1. A Child's True History of Crime by Chloe Hooper
2. Small Gods by Terry Pratchett (re-read)
3. Interesting Times by Terry Pratchett (partial re-read, started but hadn't previously finished it)
4. Moving Pictures by Terry Pratchett (partial re-read, as above)
5. Odd & The Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman
6. The Lonely Planet Guide to Experimental Travel

So who guessed that I'd just finished unpacking my Pratchett collection this month?
I'm interested to note that I've consistently read six books per month for the first quarter of the year. It's not a conscious goal but seems to be my average for times when I'm not spending weeks on end being a book hermit.

Update
Knew I should have kept a running list as I read... I actually made it to 7 books (ten if you want to be accurate but I'm counting Lost Girls by Alan Moore & Melinda Gebbie as one book broken into three volumes.

iLove my new phone

It's shiny, pretty and as womderfully fun to use as I anticipated and then some. Need I say more?

This post was brought to you and typed on my new phone.

Shiny :)