Domestic

I'm not sure I like this new Blogger posting window. Of course you, dear reader, don't really know what I'm talking about because you see this blog from the outside. All I'll say is it used to be a friendly orange and navy colour scheme and now it's all blindingly white. As if I don't have enough trouble dealing with blank pages as it is.

So the Singapore/Malaysia trip turned out mostly all right. We did squabble our way through Malaysia a bit, but that was mostly because dad's driving was atrocious—Malaysian standard, even—and my mother was a worry wart about everything from us being pickpocketed to the hygiene of the cooks/food/beverages/toilet/table/cutlery/...etc.

I did manage a bit of R&R at Club Med Cherating where I probably should have done more sporting activities and less international buffet consumption. I did read a helluva lotta books, too: Kathryn Stockwell's The Help (good book, actually, but disinclined to watch the movie now) and Suzanne Collins' 'The Hunger Games' trilogy.

In which I go off on a tangent about movie casting
Speaking of movies, The Hunger Games (first book of the trilogy) is in production at the moment, due out March 2012. I read that there was massive competition to play the main character, Katniss, with action girls Chloe Moretz (Hit Girl in Kick Ass), Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit), Saoirse Ronan (Hanna) and Emily Browning (Sucker Punch) plus Abigail Breslin (best known for Little Miss Sunshine—not sure what her action credits are) all vying for the role, which eventually went to Jennifer Lawrence (Mystique in X Men: First Class).

For my two cents, I think Browning and Lawrence and Breslin are too cute to play Katniss. The character in my mind has more fire in her, more steel. Lawrence is also quite a bit older looking than I imagine Katniss to be (Katniss is 15 in the book), although I know actresses usually play characters a few years younger than themselves. Ronan is a bit... wispy? Not hard enough, certainly. Only Moretz and Steinfeld have shown what it takes for this role thus far.

But who knows, maybe Lawrence put in a terrific audition. I await the results. Okay, okay, I have a lot of doubt (she did, by way of explanation, play a cheerleader valedectorian in The Beaver recently and she was craphouse at showing emotional vulnerability as Mystique when the role required it) but I am trying hard to keep an open mind.

Relatives
Relatives should be seen and not heard. These are the things I should not hear:

• "Wah, so BIG!" (I am generally about a head taller than most of my 'tall' relatives and at least 20kgs heavier)
• "So when are you going to get married?"
• "You're thirty? Isn't it about time you had kids?"

Since
Since then it has been the usual roundabout of work-freelancing-gigs. Boff came back from Africa relatively healthy (ie not infected with malaria or dengue) but two weeks later is still suffering from general fatigue and has had his eczema flare up. Neither of these can be definiteively attributed to his stay in Africa.

There have been a few changes at work, a bit of a revolving door. Ilana (sales for my website and a custom mag we have) left, much to Jen and Colin's relief because she just wasn't putting in any effort and we had a new girl, Farah, started this week.

Jennifer (started as a grad, now a custom mag editor and staff writer) has also resigned to pursue her dream in the news field with a role reporting on property for Cumberland papers. Jen has had some good interviews and has shortlisted three, who will be notified shortly of second interviews once Colin is back from WA.

Colin went to WA because, according to the story I heard, his mother had a fall and suffered a stroke and ended up with some brain damage. The doctors were going to operate but then decided against it and now she's in palliative care. Apparently he managed to see her while she was conscious but it's only a matter of time. He's back on Wednesday but may need to fly back for the funeral.

Am motoring along freelance-wise. Helped out with the PR of a couple of big clients recently—Catch of the Day and 99designs—and seem to have secured a 'Sydney correspondent' post with Australian Security Magazine off a recommendation from Jen. Thus far it has been lots of attending lunches with IT security trend briefings thrown in. It doesn't pay too well but I managed to negotiate up so instead of $75 per 500-word article (yup! that's all folks!) I'm looking at $40/hour, which is my PR copy rate.

Have been going to a lot of gigs lately. Many are shows from the Sydney Fringe Festival, largely comedy this year, but I also celebrated Leonard Cohen's 77th birthday at The Factory Theatre with Monsieur Camembert and joined the Sydney Opera House Insiders, which was $110 but entitles one to discounted tickets and no booking fees on anything. I've already saved about $70.

Before Boff came back I did four days of vollie work for the Sydney Underground Film Festival as a favour to my friend Steph. Since then I've been to Vinnies once (had to staff a stall at the Import Export Show on one of the days) and have not at all done anything on my pitch re: a book about volunteering. Shame.

While I was away Boff finally moved in. Since he came back we have become domesticated. I cook and he washes up. He moves furniture and I do the laundry. He spends long periods online punctuated by short bursts of productivity and I tease him about the 'progress' he's making on unpacking. We need more space and less stuff, that's for sure. I'll be interested to see what transpires in terms of how we configure the house.

The only other interesting thing that has happened is taiko class. I signed up for an introductory class with Taikoz and went on Saturday. Despite my unco-ness—at times losing the rhythm, at times losing the bachi (drumsticks)—I quite enjoyed it and would like to see how I go at regular classes. I can't do anything this term due to some travel I have planned, but hope to be able to request a Christmas gift to sign up to classes early next year.

Coming up is a lot of domestic travel. I go to Newcastle for my annual This Is Not Art festival jaunt on the weekend, then the week after that head to Brisbane for the IPMA World Congress (for which I finally scored a media pass) and then a couple of weeks after that go to Canberra for the Government 2.0 conference. Fun, fun, fun.