comedy festival update - i have been to only four shows so far, which, while i will admit is a weak effort in itself, is better than last year's, in which i saw nothing. so, here is a wrap of what i have seen so far (all of wich i would highly recommend, needless to say), and what i intend to see in the near future.

geraldine hickey's 'one week in paradise' (at melb town hall): excellent show. geraldine is a great performer, with a style that is laid-back and comfortable. coupled with the intimate venue, the show takes on the feel of a confessional. a bittersweet show which is funny, with flashes of brilliance - keep an ear out for the 'skipping rope' analogy.
tanya losanno's 'risotto sans frontiers' (at melb town hall): tanya has amazing energy on stage, and her show has a great pace to it. the night i went she had a small audience, but she still gave it her all. a show with a conscience that asks a lot of quetions, making you think while it makes you laugh.
ben payne's 'duopoly of one (at trades hall): telling the story of his and his wife's struggle to have children, and their eventual success in through the ivf program - they end up with three kids, two of which are twins. personal stuff, but also very funny - i had the luck of sitting next to his mum in the audience. ben is great on stage, and his show is very engaging.
andrew mclelland's 'mixed tape' (at duckboard house): sing-along-licious - what a hoot! i must admit i am a huge andy mclelland fan, so i knew i would enjoy this show. feel-good, hilarious, this is the show you should go to with a group of mates to re-live memories of school crushes and dancefloor shenanigans. andy engages the audience well, morphs between characters, and displays some world-class flouncing. this show is well-planned and well put together. sells out fast, so make sure you get in early!

on the cards for the near future - comedy zone, call girls, renegades of folk, kathy smith goes to maths camp, the festival club. more as they happen!

first day of the easter long weekend, and here i am sitting behind a computer screen - where i will most likely remain for the rest of the day. i have an assignment for uni which is overdue (i got an extension till monday) that i really want to knock over today. maybe i'll dangle a carrot for myself - i still haven't seen 'walk the line', and it's on at our local multiplex at 6.30 tonight... i also have monday off work which is a stroke of luck, i had to apply for it a month in advance. we never get mondays off, it's the busiest day of the week and they rarely approve leave on official public holidays. i work for a brewery, selling beer - more accurately, taking orders for alcoholic beverages over the phone. the post-weekend re-stocking rush makes monday *the* day to have all hands on deck.

this weekend will be full of family; we're spending some time with mark's mum, then going off to my brother's house for a family get together, which i'm really looking forward to. i come from a large family, and have many cousins, some of whom are in melbourne. even then i don't get to see them that often, but on sunday night we're all gathering at my brother's house for a bbq. i'm making sangria - white wine sangria with fresh fruit and mint leaves. i made it once before, and it's sunshine in a glass. hope the real sunshine holds out!

speaking of my large family, there are plans afoot to have a massive reunion in melbourne over christmas this year. if it happens, it would be a sight to behold - there would be people coming down from all over the world, some of whom have not seen each other for many years. mark and i will be unable to attend, however, as we're planning to head off on an overseas jaunt of our own. i'm sort of stuck between excitement and apprehension - i'm looking forward to seeing the world (finally!) but i'm also worried about language barriers and having enough money. if any of you blog readers out there have a couch we could crash on late this year, let us know! i'll cook you a curry, make you wine sangria, boil up a real masala chai and regale you with stories about my large family. or, if you'd rather, i'll shut up, leave you alone, keep your room tidy and leave some money on the nightstand on my way out. either way, i would love to see europe in particular with the assistance of locals - so if you think you might be able to help, drop me a line and we'll work out details!

in the meantime, we are off to fiji in june. we have almost decided that this time, we will catch busses instead of hiring cars. a lot has changed in fiji since i was there, and if i continue to cloister myself away in the comfort of a private rental car, it's almost certain i will not see those changes. the last time i went back to fiji was the first time i was doing so as an independant adult away from my parents, but i don't think i gave that realisation the room to fully sink in. this time i think i need to put myself out there more, to get out there and talk with people and hang with them (and take notes). basically, get out of the confines of the life i know there, and immerse myself in other realitites, other ways of being. i'm calling it 'reasearch' for my next project. the release of 'the bollywood beauty' has attracted some attention there, and i am going to be meeting with a lot of people to discuss it in various forms of media, and from various angles, while i am there. it's going to be a challenge, but i'm really looking forward to it.

i have to go to the dentist in approximately thirty-two minutes, and i am not ashamed to say i am crapping myself. this visit has been sceduled because last night, whilst nibbling at the seed of a chinese lolly (preserved plum things that are dried and red and salty and delicious), i managed somehow to chip my right lateral incisor. a bit of background - i happen to have recurring nightmares that all my teeth crumble and fall out, and they scare me silly. so when i felt a tiny piece of one of my teeth crumble and fall out, i (understandably) had a mini-meltdown. i am a total fraidy-cat when it comes to dentists. i am also hoping that i won't be a whole lot poorer as a result of this visit (which is now twenty-eight minutes away).
send me happy vibes, people. happy, no-hurty, let-this-not-be-too-expensive vibes. this little indian needs all the help she can get.
update: it's five-thirty-ish and i'm back from the dentist. i am apprently a grinder, which is what caused my tooth to weaken and chip. i have many more years of chipping to look forward to. i got a filling and was told by the dentist before leaving her surgery not to eat anything for the next half hour, but i'm going with an hour just to play it safe.

where does all the time go? i've been a little all over the place lately, not getting things done when i should and just floating around generally. i'm thinking its the start of the cold weather, putting a ice in my gears and slowing them up a bit, that might have something to do with it.
tomorrow afternoon we're going to a friend's wedding, and that should be nice. i love a wedding. should also be an opportunity to catch up with some people i haven't seen in a while. then sunday is the emerging writers festival, for which i have yet to order my thoughts. must get to that now*. will chat more when there is more to say... have a good weeknd y'all!

*oh, just before i go, allow me a little rant about tv ads that are shitting me at the moment.
1 - the 'gotta gotta gotta have soul' ads featuring oldies rockin' out. no one needs to see that, do they? they have all the charm of a drunk uncle/aunty 'going off' after a couple of shandies at your twenty-first. seriously, if your ads make me cringe, it's highly unlikely i'm going to be queuing up for your product. and i don't care if that guy in the suit really is a pastor, it helps if the people that star in your ads look at least a little interested to be there. seriously.
2 - the ad for that yellow credit card from some bank or the other. you know, the one where the guy doesn't want to go tool shopping or stereo shopping, but the minute the card arrives in the mail, rushes his wife off to a shoe sale. are we supposed to believe that all this is solely because the card is yellow? come on! the only credit card i can think of that a man would want to spend money on would have to be like those kitschy tip-me pens with the picture of a lady on it, where the more you spend, the more her clothes fall off. either that, or the man has a stiletto fetish.
3 - it's not a tv ad, but a billboard on king's way advertising feathers boutique. its a badly drawn cartoon of two women, supposedly mother and daughter, and the daughter is saying to the mother 'no, of course i don't mind mum, these clothes are more my style than yours anyway'. WHAT THE FUCK DOES THAT MEAN. it makes no sesne whatsoever. i can't think what the scenario was, what the conversation between them might have been, what context that comment was made in. maybe that's why the badly-drawn mum has a look of utter confusion on her badly-drawn face.

who are the people that make these ads, and how much are they getting paid for it? i could do better with a sharpie and some butchers paper. i mean, honestly.