Welcome, all

Happy New Year everyone and welcome to my new blog. I thought it was time to purge some of the dregs (no reference at all to vodka-induced NYE illness, no...) and get rid of my Diaryland and Yahoo! IDs to forego banner ads and persistent commercialism - by the way, does anyone want to buy my zine? Some secondhand CDs?

I've had a pretty good run of it so far - 2006, that is. I think it's funny that I place so much importance on the change of a new year when the weather knows nothing at all. The weather tracker on my laptop dashboard says it's 15C today, down 30C from new year's day's 45C where all Stuart and I could do was loll about in front of his very small fan with icy bottles of water. Among other activities. Hmm, my Galileo thermometer says 18C. Anyway, rain has interrupted play at the SCG so they've taken an early lunch and I've decided that I can't possibly waste the day watching a test match even though I've finished my business travel article with the Jan 9 deadline and it's no use pitching any more ideas until next week because hardly anyone is back from holidays.

I'll put my enthusiasm for New Year down to my rampant penchance for renaissance where refreshment brings more of the same in a different format. Will I ever learn to truly break free of past shackles? Thankfully I'm not stuck in a rut or denying my age, though dating a 19yo (his birthday was on the 1st) certainly has its highs. I guess I'm feeling a certain level of optimism. I'm not looking to do any substantial travel this year, rather I hope to consolidate myself as a professional writer, whether through journalism, which has been my bread and butter for a few years, or creative writing, which I guess would be the sprinkles. Also looking to do some more study, though this will more likely be via correspondence rather than an out and out campus-based degree. Just a subbing course would be nice.

Well, after being shot by Stuart's friends at laser tag on his birthday (though I only came last once out of three games) I finally made it home via Jade's end of town, where we had lunch and talked plans for this year, hers being to get a date with a cute English guy she's had her eye on, work and then travel/work. Have applied for a job as an assistant content producer for an online publication, which is a contract position for $20/hr but everything else looks too terrible to contemplate. It's still early days, though, and the best positions are still to come, I'd wager. Plus, I'm doing 13 shifts as a volunteer for the Sydney Festival so I'm not seriously contending for full-time work until after Australia Day. Though most of my shifts are in the evening and/or on weekends (I'm doing heaps of VIP events like the opening night party), so I won't say no to starting a new job.

Sireesha and I went to see Broken Flowers on cheapo Tuesday. Interesting movie and *very* Jim Jarmusch with a lot of poetic portraits and an acute focus on the interactions between characters. Nothing else showing that seems worth the time/money until The Producers comes out on the 12th. 'Til then I'm keeping busy with Sydney Festival stuff, starting with the Blue Invasion dress rehearsal at Hyde Park tonight. I get to sell spoof religious paraphenalia as part of The Cult of the Blue Invasion (basically merchandise for the installation).

In between, the agenda is still to finish resizing my Northern Exposure photos (I've finally reached America) in prep for publishing my trip diary online and also to make a special zine (nice paper etc) to send to travel editors and convince them that I'm am witty and perceptive enough to earn money off their publication. And chase some of my debtors next week. Am owed quite a bit - a couple of $Ks in total, actually. I'm not desperate yet but it's money I could definitely do with right now.

Lastly, I am going to move out this year! I will! I will! As soon as I get a decent-paying job. All right, catch ya round.