television has surprisingly taken a back seat in my life right now. courtesy of my brother (who's living with us at the moment), i have been watching a lot more abc and sbs, and a lot less commercial crap. as shared previously on this blog, the o.c. is a thing of the past for me now, and though i occasionally feel a twang of regret at having let desperate housewives go, i feel it'd all just be too hard to try and re-aquaint myself with the delusions and dramas of wisteria lane. neighbours i haven't tuned in to for a while - i think when izzy 'got away with it' yet again (darcy coming out of his coma and not remembering who she is or what she did, how bloody weak and convenient is that?) - i thought, 'no, i'll start watching you again when your storyline gets a spine'. my casual fascination with big brother died the moment i heard the words 'more intruders'. seriously. do we really need even more bogans letting their opinions and clothing fly freely on prime time television? i think not. it's too much for my tired brain to cope with at the moment. now that i've watched all of my sex and the city dvds, i have this empty feeling inside... is there nothing left? what will i get excited about now?
i have been (as always) enjoying enough rope with andrew denton, and black books (when i remember to watch it, which unfortunately was not last night). i am hoping against hope that something sufficiently trashy comes along and infects my brain once again. soon.
what else is news? the reading that i did at monash uni on tuesday night went really well. i picked a different bit of the novel to read, as i'd gotteen kinda sick reading the same old one that i did at hello kitty and another few readings besides. i have decided that this section will be my new reading of choice, though i will probably have to set it up better, and remember to carry the' voices' and accents of the dialogue the whole way through. after the readings we all went to the pub for a bit and a catch-up, which was a perfect end to a very nice evening.
you will be pleased to know that i should be getting advance copies of my novel in the next couple of weeks (no, i won't be showing you! you'll all just have to wait), and that i have been invited to participate in the 2005 melbourne writers festival. woohoo!

monumental developments. mon-u-ment-al. it seems that this girl has not only gone off the o.c. - it seems that missing two weeks of desperate housewives was enough to remove the urge to watch that, too. it might have something to do with a recent dvd purchase - satc season six. i now own the complete series, and i really don't care that all the dvd cases don't match. i will admit though, when i heard that the box set was coming out in a shoe box, i was nearly reduced to tears. at that stage i owned series two, three and five (they were on special, okay?), and there was no way i was going to spend upwards of a hundred and fifty dollars to own three duplicates (god, i'm sounding like a real indian now, aren't i? shoebox? what shoebox! i have one of those at home!). anyway, so i ended up collecting one and four (yes, on special), and finally last week i added six to the mismatched (but happy) family. and every free second i get, i've been re-acquainting myself with the final series of sex and the city. last night i finished with the ep where smith shaves his head in support of samantha. but tonight - no dvds. a quick look at the tv guide forecasted the return of big train. brilliant!

i think i want a new mobile, but i can't justify the expense of buying one outright. it all started when my current phone blinked at me a couple of times when it shouldn't have (unless it was trying to communicate with me, in which case i totally misinterpreted its attempts as malfunctions - how ironic). i thought 'hmm, might be time to upgrade to hardware with three hundred functions i will never use'. which brings me to another reason why i can't be bothered upgrading - too many bells and whistles. all i want my mobile to be able to do is send& receive sms, make and receive calls, allow me to set and send myself reminders off a caendar, and maybe take photos. all the other shit can just piss right off. why doesn't someone out there start making customisable mobiles? now that would be nice. anyway, i went into an optusworld shop this arvo and asked the guy behind the counter for some info on a particular nokia, and as i was turning to leave, the weirdest thing happened. a woman leaned in very close to me and mumbled 'i've heard really bad things about that phone'. i couldn't see her face so i assumed it was someone i knew just having a lend, so i smiled and turned to look at her and then realised that she was a complete stranger. so i got a little confused and said 'huh?'. and so she proceeds to tell me, quite loudly, that the phone is crap and that i should not buy it. i started backing away, hoping that the strange lady would stop talking to me, but the further i got from her the louder she talked. i kept going to turn around and walk out the door, but she just wouldn't stop talking. it went a little like this:
her - i heard that the flip on that thing doesn't work too well.
me - oh, okay. thanks.
her - a friend of mine at work has one and he hates it.
me (backing away) - oh, okay. thanks.
her (louder) - yeah. anyway, he said when you open it, it takes a long time for it to come to life. like, fully fifteen seconds.
me (nearing the door) - right, okay. thanks.
her (a little louder)- and fifteen seconds is a long time.
me - ...
her (louder still) - especially when you're getting a call.
me - [outta there]
hmm. yes indeed. fifteen seconds is a hella long time, especially when someone who doesn't know you offers you free advice on a phone you were probably not going to buy in the first place. is it too much to ask to be left alone sometimes?
on a slightly chirpier note, i have decided i want to purchase myself an mp3 player (not an ipod). i found one that has extra capabilities i actually can use for a change - file storage, radio tuner, and voice recorder. and headphones which are not white. and a battery that recharges. and everything which is not an ipod.
nice.

it's been a while since my last post. what we need... is a recap. so i hereby present to you a list of 'some exciting things that have happened in the world of shalini in the not so distant past'. enjoy.
1) saw star wars ep 3 and loved it.
2) saw the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy and nearly fell asleep.
3) went to a rockin' birthday party, got home at three in the morning, slept in till twelve, then found an unexplainable injury later that afternoon. i worked out that i would have to have been pantsless at time of injury. cannot remember any pantsless activity at said party.
5) cleared out the spare bedroom and made it fit for habitation - only a year and half after moving into this place. impressive, no?
6) disturbingly, two weeks after rockin' party, i still have no idea how i got injured.
7) had amazingly mind-bending meeting in which the words 'film rights' were thrown around. often.
8) played table tennis against an (alleged) atlanta olympic games veteran. i lost, obviously.
9) collected my first allocation of free beer from new job with brewing company. sweet.
10) finally finally finally finished the book. it is 312 pages long. it goes to the printers tomorrow.