ah, so all is good. i have worked out what i am going to say on monday night, which is not saying i think it'll work or anything - there's only one way to get that question answered. it's a bit different from stuff i've done before - at least i think it is, but i'm not sure anyone else will agree with me on that - it's still about being different because i'm indian, but now it's starting to cross over to the darker side. here's hoping someone finds it amusing.
nelly sent me a short email from frankfurt airport - i gave her a copy of my manuscript to read on the flight over. it's funny, the whole email apart from the greeting is in caps cause she was struggling with the german keyboard. she says she loves my novel, which is nice. as a matter of fact, it's put me in a great mood even though today is technically the monday of my working week. i know it sounds weak, but waking up is hard to do even if you're doing the spiritually fulfilling but financially challenging four-day-fortnight.
i don't know if i've already said this, but i hit fifty thousand (good) words on monday. yay!
i think the tram i catch to uni is a great motivator.
i get to see penguin head office three times a week now.

excellent weekend was had by all. went to nelly's farewell/early birthday/together with doc lach's celebration on friday night and had an absolute ball. i was supposed to go somewhere else afterward (elli if youre reading this, i'm sorry i'm a slackarse! i love you, i have always loved you, i will always love you. hope you had a great b'day party) and, obviously, didn't make it. nelly's off to edinburgh 4pm today. she's going to have a ball, performing every night for 26 nights, plus entering 'so you think you're funny' (raw equivalent there), and whatever other gigs and appearances they manage to book her too. and it's summer there. i'm not sure i'd be able to cope with it all as well as she will. she'll be staying in a three bedroom flat with ten other comedians. sounds like they've taken the 'how many clowns in a mini' thing a bit far... though it also sounds like a pretty good description of hell, albeit an upper, less harsh layer (did i say that?).
ah, must come up with something for looming routine. yes. must must. but what? something about the karma sutra and sexual repression? something about how english breakfast tea got it's name? something about my name? something about clowns in a mini?
*aaaaargh!*
ps email extract from cardigan press re anthology 2003 -
'Your piece made it through to a second round of review and narrowly missed out on being in the final anthology... We were impressed by your submission and hope you’ll submit again in the future.'
aw, that's nice!
pps i have gotten another short piece accepted for an online publication called work in progress.

got a bit of a jump start with the old novel, which is good, so it seems i'm back in the saddle again. i just want to get another draft out and read as soon as possible. it's been sitting there doing nothing for way too long now.
started uni yesterday, and apart from the hour and a bit spent on public transport to get there, it's looking good. there were only five students all up, though there were apparently meant to be seven. i spied on the course outline that there's an excursion that involves nick earls as a guest speaker. needless to say, i'm keeping this unit.
speaking trumpet went well, i have a spot there again on august the 14th. i think i'll talk a little bit about tea.
what the hell am i going to do when i run out of ideas??

got a call from speaking trumpet today, and what do you know? i'm on this week. thursday. as in the day after tomorrow.
well, that helps me fill in the one month so far that i didn't have a gig in.
excellent, no?
yes, of course!
see you there.

i really should stop having the tv on in the background as i write.
today, i'd written three pages for my aug 4 spot at the local, and absentmindedly saved an old version over the new version. i'm just so used to hitting 'yes' when mr windows asks me if i'm sure, and the second i did, i knew i'd made the wrong decision. i hate that. i'll have to sit down tomorrow and start again. hopefully it'll come out better the second time.
went to retro cafe for speaking trumpet on thursday night, and that was excellent - i met a lot of interesting people. made some contacts and it didn't even feel like networking. pain-free and fun to boot!
start uni in a week... i am looking forward to it. house crisis may be solved- my physio/chiro/massuer man offered us his house in kensington! we had a look at it on the weekend... and though it lacks both the things i really wanted in a house (ducted heating and a dishwasher), it has loads and loads of character, three fireplaces which we'd be welcome to use, four bedrooms, pre-fitted fairy lights in the lounge room, *and* he said we would be free to paint it if we wanted, whatever colours we wanted, and city views from the back balcony. and a garage. and a long-long lease term.
i think our housing problem may be solved. and even mark likes it!
*grrr* what's wrong with blogger? it's giving me the shits!

hump day and i'm feeling kinda blah. yesterday i was quite excited just to exist, life was full of possibility and my future held countless wonderous surprises.
today i'm just blah.
which is a relief actually, 'cause up-beat is exhausting.
went to vibe last night and that was good, talking poofy was fun. i've decided i like the local better as a room, it has a more open feeling to it. and yes, don't worry - i know it's on the tip of your tongue, i can feel the concern creasing your forehead - i taped the 90210 ten year reunion... (cue sexy sax).
weekend past was excellent. for the first time ever, i actually went out for a drink and a boogie with both my brothers, even if it was just to a bar round the corner. they both crashed at our house on saturday night and it was just awesome.
going to see a play tonight. running out of steam and it's not even midday. oh well. may as well use this abundance of creative energy on some software testing.
hoo roo.
ps vespertine rocks, in the most mellow, gentle and sexy way possible.
just thought i'd share that with you.

something happened at the office today and i have to write down.
i work in one of those 'land that time forgot' offices where the grey suits of yore reign supreme. you can count the women that work here on one hand, whereas it would take you at least four to count all the men (yes, that's four as in 'down on all fours', said the actress to the bishop, while you're down there love, nudge nudge wink wink say no more say no more)
can you tell i'm a little crapped off?
anyway, getting back to the point.
i have perfected this vacant stare that i fall in to every time i sense a grey suit on the approach, specifically if they are about to ask me to make cups of coffee for their clients. today, i felt my 'vacant stare' kick in even before i sensed the threat approaching, and there he was, the leader of the grey suit tribe. i stared and smiled in a 'may i help you' way, but he seemed to change his mind and go in search of another member of the skirt tribe to order around.
so. he found one of the others and said to them (in a way we can't decide he thought was either funny or flattering), 'i need someone goodlooking like you to make coffee for me'.
while i am happy that he has finally learned that my function here is not to prepare warm beverages for him and his mates, i am left with one lingering thought - am i not pretty enough?

gosh darnit. i didn't write much yesterday. i started getting that 'what if this is going nowhere?' feeling, and instead of whacking it on the head with a barrage of words and a mental 'ah-HA!", i fulfilled my own weak-ass prophecy by getting distracted and watching daytime television.
oh boy...
i can't wait till uni starts.