In the spirit of Orwell, Pepys and Twitter, a journal of daily minutiae recorded for posterity. Until I get bored with it.
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Fri 22 Jan: The digital libraries conference organisers announced an extension for submission of refereed papers, so Donna and I can keep writing until next week. Spent the day on web stuff instead, intranet with Sally and public site with Caroline. Pasta bol for lunch (with cheese this time!) and watched (on ABC iView) Pamela Stephenson interview Carrie Fisher. In general I’m not enamored of such confessional television but a long-held fondness for Carrie was too much to resist. Choice quote: “If my life wasn’t funny then it would just be real – and that’s unacceptable.” Say it a few times to yourself, you can hear the rhythm of those three phrases. She’s one of my favorite wordsmiths.
Sat 23 Jan: Quiet day of reading, catching up on newsfeeds, a few household chores. Lovely weather, sunny and mid-20s. Opened a grow-yer-own package of catmint — it comes with propagating soil mix, a growing tray with clear plastic lid, and seeds. I’ve had a few tries at growing catmint before and lost the battle against snails, over-eager cats and weathery elements in general. The kit is now planted and watered, sitting on the sill in the window beside the front door.
Sun 24 Jan: Long chat with Helen, mainly about Emma and David’s wedding preparations. They’re being careful to make sure I feel included, which is kind but unnecessary. Helen thought Dad sounded tired, not able to have a conversation with her today. He perked up a bit by the time I arrived (late) for dinner, but faded quickly after dessert and was in bed by 9.00 pm. Dinner was chicken mignon with peas and roasted carrots and potatoes. Started re-knitting basque of cable throw.
Mon 25 Jan: My second 48/52 day off and Robert Burns Day, which I celebrated in a most un-Scots way by going shopping. Started with three goals: bras, shoes, spend gift vouchers on a Sunbeam Mixmaster. Went to David Jones (city) for Oroton bras. Several nice colors and styles, none of which were stocked in a size above 14. The larger sizes (16 and 18 only) were available in black, white or beige. Settled for a black 18D; would have taken a white one as well, but they were hung a few inches from the ceiling, out of reach for mere mortals. (And the sales assistants were even shorter than me.) Found four shoes that I liked: saleslasses were unable to produce matching pairs for two styles, found style 3 in right size but wrong color, and style 4 didn’t suit my foot shape. Gave up and took my $500 next door to Myer where stock control appears to be more organised: I left with three pairs of everyday black shoes – one flat court, one patent medium-heel court and a suede medium-heel court. Was so dispirited by this time, I forgot to check whether DJ’s had any Mixmasters. I did, however, remember to visit the ABC Shop for Torchwood season 3 and Dr Who season 1 boxed-set DVDs and an autobiography about a NSW police detective who turned whistleblower. Picked up some groceries on the way home. Nice checkout lad with an Indian nametag asked how I would be celebrating Australia Day. “In the traditional Australian fashion,” I replied cheerfully, “By doing nothing at all.” Geelong’s bayside fireworks at 9.30 pm were particularly loud.
Tue 26 Jan: Australia Day. Up at 5.30 am to let the cats out and listen to “I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue” on Radio National. Did a couple of indoor chores while listening, and found myself wide awake at 6.00 am – despite having turned out the light at around 2.30 am. Did an hour’s weeding in front garden, filled the green bin to capacity. Put recycling and rubbish bins out. All before sunrise. During the day, did a couple of loads of laundry (knickers, bath towels), drafted a couple of blog posts, read newsfeeds, listened to commentaries on Dr Who season 1. Josephine brought home a dead sparrow. Couple of sinksful of dishwashing, made a batch of lamb rogan josh and packaged it for school lunches. So much for doing nothing at all!
Wed 27 Jan: Love my new shoes :-) Rogan josh for lunch, tuna-rice salad for dinner. Blogged a long annotated list of my favorite web comics. Booze bus on La Trobe Terrace, outside Captain Snooze.
Thu 28 Jan: A day of meetings that demanded concentration and participation. Higher cognitive functions completely absent by about 3.45 pm. En route home, combatted white-line fever by turning off at Werribee South and following the back-roads home via Little River and Lara. Almost no traffic out there amongst the farms, and the variation in route kept me wide awake and alert all the way. This route takes an extra 15 minutes or so compared with the highway. I’d go the back way more often, but I’m worried it too will become familiar enough to be dangerously hypnotically soporific (which is what the highway does to me these days. I often have to take a 15-minute break on the way to or from work, just to maintain concentration).
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