this week i've not written anything new. i've surfed the web a lot. this morning i made a huge pot of chicken curry for my lunch and dinner. i'm reading a book by meera syal called 'life isn't all ha ha hee hee', and it's good.
and... it's been a week since i posted the second draft of my ms off to penguin. i'm currently trying to fill my head with other thoughts, without much success. my novel is all i can think about, even though i know that it's going to be a few months at least before i hear anything back. they liked it the last time they read it. i've worked in changes and i really like the way it reads. now the whole thing's pushing seventy thousand words. and for the moment, all that's left to do is wait. waitwaitwaitwait. oh well. at least i know i won't be able to think of anything at all tomorrow - i have a mind numbing day of document re-formatting ahead of me.
but then - oh! - we're finally going to see the cat empire play live. after missing all their melbourne dates and then actually being in byron bay the night they played there but not finding out about it until the day after. so at least there's that to look forward to!

welcome to the inner workings of the mind of shalini akhil aged thirty and one quarter, writer and master procrastinator.
1) have had all locks changed and can now sleep at night without thinking that every noise i hear is some stranger letting themselves into house with the keys they just stole from me.
- obvious downside to this development is that i will now have to find something else to obsess about.
2) have read my own novel ms. so many times that i am getting bored with it.
- obvious downside to this development is that i am now convinced that most of it is crap.
- obvious upside to former development is realisation that i am probably over reacting.
- obvious solution - i will have to find something else to obsess about.
3) i have yet again updated this blog at a time where it is clear that i have nothing vaguely interesting to say.
- obvious upside to this development is the realisation that i am dawdling, and must get off the net and finish reading novel ms.
- obvious downside to above is now, all illusion of purpose in current excercise has disappeared due to admission of procastinatory-type behaviour.
- obvious upside - i will make myself a cup of tea and finish editing my novel ms.
- really, i will.

first off, let me say that it may not have reached 41 degrees on saturday, but what a stinker! i spent the hottest part of the day wandering around the zoo, dressed in my 'uniform' of navy blue zoo polo and navy cargo pants. talk about heat-absorbing. i was on 'ape patrol', so i got to wander around and around the tropical rainforest for a couple of hours, talking to people and saying hi to the monkeys. there werealso a few moments spent staring longingly at the seals as they swam round and round their private pool... when i finally got home, i was greeted by the best valentines day present ever - a husband knee deep in domestic duties. chocolates and champagne are way over-rated, people - do my laundry and hoovering and i'll love you forever.
saturday night was spent at my brother's place, and thus began a perfect evening. stopped off at dan murphy's on the way and picked up a sixpack of 'old speckled hen' (my new favourite ale, and it was the last one on the shelf). after having glasses of red, a bottle of hen, champagne and chardonnay, ate a lovely dinner then stumbled to the local jazz bar. danced up a storm, then walked to mentone beach. went swimming at two in the morning - the water was bliss... i've always wanted to go night swimming!
apart from the fact that some fucker nicked my bag while we were in the water, had the bestest day ever.

new batch of search key words -
leggy girls. nice short stories india. india nude (bad visual imagery there). scooter secret agent. bjork. free nude wife (here's a hint - get married!). handmade paper melbourne. nude girls melbourne australia. sophie cunningham (one of my idols). things india.com. kabhi khushi kabhi gham clip. shalini tits -free (in your dreams, buddy). hope well indans (there's always hope..). hi india.com (hello!). sexy india.com (yeah, good luck with that search! haha!).
ps i just wrote a whole chunk of new stuff into my novel, and i quite like it. here's a little extract for you!
*******
Anu hesitated into the lounge room and stepped into the space cleared by the extravagant sweep of Ash’s hands.
“Ta-dahh!”
Kesh gaped. Thanks to Ash, Anu had been transformed from indecisive Indian to sleek, cross-cultural vixen. On their own, her jeans and black top would have been pretty stock standard. But now, iced with selected bits from Anu’s Indian jewellery collection, they made a totally different cake. A chunky silver choker lined with tiny bells nestled coolly at the nape of Anu’s neck, peeking through the folds of her sheer top where Ash had coaxed her to ease a couple of buttons open. A silver belly chain edged with matching mini bells wound around Anu’s waist and looped in a lazy knot resting on her right hip bone. The ends dripped seductively down Anu’s right leg, signposting a perfect foot packaged in strappy, diamante studded, vaguely familiar black spike heels.
“Aren't they my shoes?”
*******

i'll admit (yet again), i love my trashy television, but paradise island? i mean, what the hell is going on? who's in charge of programming these shows? all i can say is thank god for the fab five. queer eye rocks.
tonight is a veritable feast of shit shows - i wish i had two vcrs. australian idol the concert (i've heard that paulini is the only one out of the final 12 who still doesn't have a recording contract - can anyone confirm this?), survivor all stars... here's the bit where i finally start questioning my taste in programming... extreme makeover beverly hills style (you mean there are *other* styles? they all come out looking like pamela anderson anyway!), and yeah i know, i know - the diana conspiracy.
hey! i never said i was a classy chick! at least not on a tuesday night in my trackie daks in my lounge in front of my telly.
but you know, even i'll draw the line at the hilton sisters - not such a simple life. oh, boo hoo. seriously, come on. who gives a shit.
*****
oh, lost in translation. saw that on the weekend. what an amazing film. i had to stay in the cinema for a while after it finished just so i could ease away the massive lump in my throat. the only downside to the whole experience was the sudden overwhelming urge i had to go see love actually again, but thankfully i fought it. in retrospect maybe that wouldn't have been such a good idea. all that romantic/platonic angst would have been enough for me to end it all by o.d-ing at the pancake parlour a-la the fat guy in 'the meaning of life'.

i've finished reading born confused and i quite enjoyed it. it was bizarre - when i first started i was kinda threatened by her, as i was subconsciously comparing her writing style to mine. she has a beautiful way with words, and some of the situations she refers to are similar to my novel. but i read on and realised that everyone has a story to tell, and everyone's story is unique. her protagonist, dimple lala, is this arty, spunky seventeen year old, and mine, kesh singh, is this confused, slightly introverted twenty-something. but you know, i think if they ever met in real life, they'd get along like a house on fire :o)
i've finished pass one on the second draft, which is weird and exciting at the same time. i want to read it from start to end once again, possibly get a couple of other sets of totally fresh eyes do the same thing. at this point i want to make sure my enhancements don't interrupt the flow of the novel as a whole. i still feel like one character is a tad under developed, but i'm not sure i want to flesh him out too much. though he's a very strong character, he is a sideline. it's almost as if i'm afraid to develop him too much lest he takes the whole thing over.
maybe he'll get his own book eventually.
**news just in - it's official, people... melbourne rocks!

though i thought my skipping, little-lunch eating, calico-bag toting days were waay over, i joined the local library not long ago. at my thrifty, eco-friendly husband's bidding, before we went away - probably due to the several unread books on my shelves at home that i bought because of their pretty covers, or because of some perceived urgent need at the time (cases in point - a few self help books, 'fire with fire', fiona horne's 'witch', and a copy of 'real beautiful'. i'm glad i didn't jump on the 'celestine prophecies' bandwagon). after having returned a couple of trashy novels, i thought i'd look for one i had yet to see in shops. so i did a detached search in the catalog for 'born confused' by tanuja desai hidier. and then it happened.
results popped up. one copy. on shelves. flemington.
i nearly wet myself.
hardcover. new book smell. no dog ears. all alone. waiting for me.
this book is genius. i'm not even half way through and already i'm worried about what i'll do with myself once it's finished. i'm divvy-ing my time between reading it and writing my own. not far to go now!