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 1 Jan: Neighborhood noticeably quiet after last night’s back-yard fireworks. Curious absence of screaming kids, lawn mowers, power tools etc. Huntsman spider on ceiling above dining table, presumably hiding from electrical storms outside. Weather rapidly cooling after yesterday’s 39 degrees; south-westerly zephyrs catching the curtains. Laundry (jersey dress lengths in black, red, pink).
Sat 2 Jan: Baked a cake (chocolate simplicity). Laundry (work clothes). Opened new packet of laundry powder – first in three (?four) years, not because I wear dirty clothes but because the front-loading machine uses so very little per load. Researched and drafted a blog post on butler’s pantries. Had intended to do some sewing, but huntsman still lurking on ceiling above relevant table. Coolish day, low 20s, stiff southerly breeze. Washing-up (crockery and cutlery). Vacuumed dining area.
Sun 3 Jan: Emma’s birthday. Washing-up (pots and pans). Huntsman moved to curtain rail. Laid out and cut a red jersey cardigan and dress using Vogue 8138. First use of new Elna overlocker; finished cardigan in less than 1 hour (plus layout and cutting). Overcast, chilly morning. Nine yellow-tailed black cockatoos spotted brunching in neighbor’s trees, photographed from afar. Laundry (cat towels). Dinner with parents, stewed mince and veg with rice. Dad doing well, though easily tired; Mum found a new skin cancer on arch of right foot. Completed first iteration of 24-row pattern for Aran-style knitted throw; 1 full pattern plus garter-stitch basque and 2-3 extra rows = 2 x 50 gram balls of alpaca wool.
Mon 4 Jan: Up at 5.00 am, back into the workday routine. Drove to work without needing to stop for breakfast or a nap, as had become habitual last year. Shall try to maintain this non-stop habit, unless safety considerations interfere. Traffic light, trip time 1.25 hours door to door. Wore new red jersey cardigan to work with long black frock underneath. Sally and Anna organised a team lunch: pasta at University Cafe in Lygon Street — lovely. We talked ambitiously of developing capability as a ‘thought leader’ and professional education centre for information management, particularly research management. Some good ideas about how to get there. Only about 300 new emails to deal with; should be able to clear the backlog by end of week. Home by six, made lamb rogan josh with white rice, enough for a few school lunches. Laundry (non-work clothes and a couple of garments destined for the op shop). Drafted a blog post about the Vogue 8138 pattern.
Tue 5 Jan: Kitchen smells like curry – I transferred the rogan josh from pot to dish last night but forgot to actually put it into the fridge with the rice. Bugger. Lunch with Donna, again at University Cafe, and we continued yesterday’s conversation about Big Ideas for the information management program. No housework today; muscle spasm in lower back (old skating injury) so giving it a rest. Stopped at Safeway for some stockings and cat food; a slightly depressing experience because of the changes they’ve made to physical environment and facilities, and because they still prefer not to open extra checkouts when busy. Also they had no brown stockings – only black, which is not an ideal choice for summer. Oddly, I saw at least half a dozen Safeway employees doing their own shopping there – must have been a staff discount day, or something – because at least two of them had arrived from elsewhere by car. Sunny, low 20s.
Wed 6 Jan: Mild case of food poisoning overnight; perhaps the pork ragu on yesterday’s lunch pasta wasn’t quite cooked through… Result = slept in for a couple of hours and listened to the first hour of the cricket while driving to work after the rush hour – rather pleasant, particularly as Michael Hussey made his 100 just as I turned into Grattan Street. He and Peter Siddel came in yesterday afternoon and formed a desperately-hanging-on ninth-wicket 123-run partnership that lasted until just after lunch today. The rest of the team were disappointing; looks like Pakistan will have a test win in Australia for the first time in 14 years. Sunny and low 20s again today.
Thu 7 Jan: Takeaway lunch from RMH cafeteria: lamb korma with veg and rice. Cats being naughty, staying out late in the evening. They prefer to be outdoors on summer nights; feels a bit cooler on the fur, I suppose. Pakistan managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of certain victory; very disappointing. Ricky Ponting takes this as vindication of his decision to bat first on a wicket that was obviously going to favor the bowlers; in fact, his (berloody stupid) decision was not vindicated at all. Pakistan lost because they are unable to apply pressure to the Australians, eg by smart field placements and assertive bowling, and because their young team’s inexperience means they are wobbly on the field and almost entirely lacking in strategic thinking about the game. Harrumph. Ponting needs to get over himself.
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