Is pain, is good

What with the recent dance and yoga classes I've been taking, my body hasn't moved this much in quite a few months, and I'm feeling it too. Painful, but good. Bodies were definitely built to move, to be active, and when I'm not engaged in some kind of sweat inducing activity at least once a week I really notice it. Unfortunately it hasn't appeared to help me develop any grace at all, rather the opposite - last weekend I fell of a ladder after I attempted some crazy body supporting leg maneuver trying to take down a picture, and yesterday at IKEA I managed to drop a 100kg piece of unidentified packaged furniture on my big toe. No, I will not sue the bastards for expecting the general public to lift extremely heavy objects despite having no OHS training. That would be ridiculous. No, I will merely blame my recently exercised stiff and uncoordinated body. Perhaps I should sue my dance and yoga teachers? I mean it's all their fault, isn't it, making me move muscles I didn't know I had. The bastards.

Confession Friday

Confession #1: I've already started a dress up box for my future children, and I'm not even pregnant (or likely to be anytime soon).

Confession #2: When I was five years old, me and my best friend Sally stole those colorful squishy bath soaps from David Jones. We got busted when we started squirting them at each other in the back of the car. I got a very serious talking to from my parents and had to pay back the 20 cents for them, but I still didn't learn my lesson. My life of occassional petty crime continued until a few years ago when I got busted stealing a bottle of beer (Asahi to be exact) from my work, and was subsequently fired. It was was one of the most mortifying experiences of my life, but boy did I learn my lesson!

Living in the 70's

This blog thing seems to be falling way down on my list of things to do. It shouldn't even be on my list of things to do, cos if it feels like a chore then what's the point, right? And because I hate it when people have blogs and never actually update them, I start feeling guilty if I don't post regularly. It's not a good cycle to get into. Blogging should be fun or therapeutic or both.

On that note I'm going to post (yes, a real post!) about family history, because it's something I've been thinking about since my birthday, when I was going to write about what my parents were doing when they were my age. Then I realised that I didn't even know! My natural instinct was to research them on the net - like I could somehow look up their biography on Wikipedia or something (technically I could put them on Wikipedia, though there may be a slight problem with citation of supporting material).

Anyway that kinda shocked me, I mean where's our sense of family history? Family stories play such a big part in shaping identity, helping us feel connected to family and culture. It made me realise how little I really know about the story of my parents. In fact I probably couldn't write more than a vague biography about their lives thus far.

So one of my goals this year is to learn more about my parent's past, as a way to learn more about them and about me, I guess. It is hard to see them as people and not just parents. To get past all the family baggage that has accumulated from years of bad habits (hang on, I think I've posted about this before.) So perhaps this will help.

At least now I know what my parents were doing when they were my age.

When she was 28 my mum was living in Yogyakarta with her family. It was 1971. She had finished her economics degree and was working in an office, which she loved. She had a boyfriend (not my father) which was kind of serious (I think). She liked making her own clothes.


Here she is (far right) having a picnic with friends.

At her desk in the office - typewriting!


When my dad was 28 he was living in Indonesia, researching and writing about Indonesian politics and history for his PhD from ANU (I think!) It was 1974, and he was living with a local homestay family, completely emmersing himself in the language and culture. He didn't have a girlfriend, but not long after that he met my mum (they married in 1976). He had a big red beard, and wore batik shirts and flares.


Researching (with man standing to attention in background).



My dad's homestay family (photo taken by him.)

Degrassi Fever

Life of late has been spent writing funding applications and watching back to back episodes of one of my all time favourite shows Degrassi Junior High.
Borrowed from a friend who has the complete box set, it looks like I'll be in alternating states of Degrassi heaven and funding application hell for the next week or so.

Degrassi heaven - filled with glorious 80's fashion, a mixed bag of acting, and kids with nicknames like Wheels, Snake and Spike who deal with the 'tough' issues. And my favourite character - Stephanie the School Sleaze.
Ah, it takes me back to the good old days when life was all about your first bra, the boy you liked, the teacher you hated, and big earrings.

My only Friend, The End

Things learnt from taking two 9 hour car trips in a matter of days:


The above dust (yes dust, not fog) should eliminate any doubts you may have that this country is currently experiencing a drought.

An unlimited supply and variety of snacks is compulsory. A choice between nuts and fuitcake doesn't cut it.

An unlimited supply and variety of music cassettes is also compulsory. This should include a best-of The Doors tape. It should not include bad 80's mixes from the $1 op-shop bin.

Travelling with a hyper-active stress-head is not recommended.

Lower back pain from driving and feelings of being overwhelmed by the hustle and bustle of Melbourne means you are probably getting old.

Just Say No: Oath to a Celebrity-free World

For a while now I've been very aware of how much useless space celebrity news and gossip takes up in my brain. Since I kicked the Big Brother habit (and this year Idol too) it's not as bad as it used to be, but honestly I think about celebrity lives way more than is necessary.

Do I need to wonder about how Angelina Jolie is going with her newly adopted Vietnamese baby? No. Do I need to know that Britney Spears is running around town flashing parts of her body? No. Do I need to be outraged that Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes named their baby the very name I had chosen for my future daughter (Suri)? Okay maybe yes to that one. Do I need to know that Cameron Diaz and Justin Timberlake broke up, and wonder who broke up with whom? No.
I don't need to be thinking about any celebrity's personal life, ever, really, I mean who cares? How is that relevant to my life, to the world?

I've been meaning to enforce this for ages, so here goes.

I, Tea-cosy, vow to not read any words or look at any images related to celebrity gossip, both in print magazines, on the television, or on the internet, from this day forward. No browsing through Who Weekly at the doctor/dentists office or at the supermarket, no browsing through 'entertainment' articles on the Sydney Morning Herald site or shameless gossip on Perez Hilton.com. Absolutely no personal celebrity news shall enter into my brain at all, if I can help it.

Amen to that.

First single from Bjince out soon

How did I not know that Prince released a new album last year? Did anyone else not know that, or is it just me?
Anyway, I'm deeply excited about this discovery, as I am about the discovery that Arundhati Roy is finally writing a new book! Hurrah! I'm also excited (I think) about Bjork's upcoming Hip-Hop album.
If Bjork's really trying to find her funk, then she and Prince should do an album together. How awesome would that be? They could simply call it 'Bjince' (cause Prork just sounds like some gross type of tinned sausage.)

Moments

of glorious sky


and soft fur asleep.

Oh God. So. Hungover.

Blegh. Post conference partying last night led to way too much white wine, lots of silly dancing, and much gossip and intrigue. But it was a good chance to cement a few of the new contacts/friends I've made there.
Networking and being inspired by some of the best doco makers in the world, learning about other people's projects (this too!) and the ways they funded them, were definitely the best things about the past few days.
The worst: too little sleep, too tired and too busy to exercise, eat properly, or do anything around the house. But it was completely worth it, cause I got to meet and talk to one of my professional idols. This guy's films are amazing, his photography is gorgeous, and he's half Javanese! I'm trying to help him get a distributor for his films here in Australia, so people here can actually see them outside of festivals (his latest doco is playing at the Adelaide film festival tonight.)
Ah, so many fantastic docos to see, so little time. Can't wait for Thin Ice this Sunday either.

Despite the deep exhaustion and dire seediness of today, I'm inspired, motivated, full of new ideas, wiser, and more determined to achieve my goals.
I'm also missing winter for some very strange reason. Today feels like it should be cold and rainy, just to snuggle up in a big woolly scarf and drink lots of tea.