so, what else is new and exciting? i've been witnessing a lot of creativity over the last week, and it's been great. last weekend was full of love. saturday held in store two wedding celebrations - a friend i used to work with got married at lunch time, and a pair of other dear friends (one of whom took my photos for the book cover) had their marriage celebration in the evening. talk about warm-fuzzies... i was floating on a cloud of hope and happiness all weekend (still am, actually - ain't love grand?) i would never have left the party on saturday night if it wasn't for my other half herding me back to the car close to midnight - but he had good reason. i had an early morning interview scheduled for sunday at abc 774 (hey, 10am is early for me on a sunday, okay?). i got to respond to talkback callers, which was fun - the topic, of course, was bollywood - and the first caller was a crack-up. she talked at a million miles an hour in her thick scottish accent, carrying on and on about her first 'bollywood' experience, gurinder chadha's bride and prejudice. which isn't pure bollywood, we know, but still... anyway, she was carrying on about the gorgeous women, the music, the colour, the gorgeous women... and the presenter interjected with something like 'yes, it was a bollywood version of pride and prejudice'. and caller says 'no, no, it was bride and prejudice i watched, bride i tell you.' so the presenter calmly responds 'yes, it was based on pride and prejudice... you know, jane austen?' and our scottish lass goes 'what? what are you talking about? no, i don't know what you're talking about, i haven't seen that one, i saw bride and prejudice...' i had to turn away to make sure i didn't laugh directly into the microphone.
then some indian guy calls and heckles me from a distance! he didn't even stay on to talk on-air - he just left a 'comment' which was read out by the presenter. his message was that 'bollywood is not representative of all india and its culture' or something along those lines. 'what do you think, shalini?', i was asked. i said bollywood was about as representative of the collective indian culture as hollywood is of american culture... anyhoo. it was fun. after that i met the crew at a pub in brunswick where a friend was shooting a short film she hopes to get in to tropfest. i can't wait to see it (not because i'm curious to see if i get into any of the shots... okay, not just for that reason!) because it has a great storyline and it'll be excellent to see it all come together. so all in all, a great weekend was had by all!
last night went down to the espy to watch the taping of a couple of episodes of rockwiz. (too many 'of's' in that last sentence, but i'm off grammar duty at the moment). jimmy barnes' daughter mahalia sure can sing... and even though i'm not a huge fan, i felt like i was in on a secret when jimmy barnes burst through the curtains and the crowd went bananas. he sang 'khe san', and i looked around the room - a lot of people were singing along, and all the men were grinning broadly, faces aglow. memories of being forced into a shuffling headlock-queue whenever that song played flashed in my head. i couldn't stand the song back then because if the people and situations i associated it with. i wouldn't exactly say it's a favourite now, but it was nice to be there last night and watch jimmy sing it.

it's been a while since i posted here - i've been a tad distracted (for obvious reasons). so here i am popping in to say hello, and update you on what's been happening lately.
the writers' festival went very well; it was quite a buzz to be able to participate at all, so i think i can be forgiven for coming across somewhat starry-eyed and 'i'm not worthy' a few times on stage. but i regret nothing, as i knew from the beginning that actually being in the writers' festival is not necessarily something one can prepare ones' self for... and here is where i will stop with the queen's english. i went in to the festival with the attitude that i would not be nervous, and would just enjoy it all, and i did. so i'm quite happy with the way things turned out.
before and during the festival i did some media stuff, mainly for print and radio. that was an interesting experience. i enjoyed the radio stuff more, especially the interviews that took me inside the abc southbank offices (*drool*), but the ones i did over the phone from home were good, too - it helps to be comfortable. print interviews are somewhat different - it's amazing how easy it is to get carried away when chatting with someone who wants to know all about *you* before you remember that they've stuck a running tape recorder on the table. i almost felt like asking for copies of the tapes. but, like a wise man once told me, these people are not out to get me, because what would be the use of making a first-time-author sound stupid? it's not like it'd be some grand scoop or anything... they have no reason to. anyway, one of the print interviews i did has been released already, and you can have a look at a pdf copy of it on the clippings page. over the next few whenevers, i will be putting scans of other media mentions on the clippings page, so keep an eye on it (actually, i can safely say they'll be up there after the weekend, as we are going to purchase a scanner on saturday).
i have taken a break from uni for this semester and am seriously considering moving to a different uni (again). i want to do a masters via coursework, and it seems odd that i live so close to the city yet go to uni in burwood. i know it should be more about quality than proximity, but the hour and a half on a tram each way is killing me. i'll think about it more, do some more research, and see what i decide come semester one, 2006.
and to top it all off rather sweetly, join me in welcoming the newest member of the extended clan - my tiny niece charlotte jemima, born on september 2nd. welcome to the family!