Speed blogging

I have decided I would like to have Louis Theroux over for dinner. And a drink or seven. He seems like a charming individual, although I fear that Ben and I are a little less interesting than the weirdos he usually finds himself hanging out with.

As work descends into absolute chaos again, I am finding the gap widening between things I have to say and the time allocated to saying them. Here’s a brief rundown:

- Ben and I went to the south coast for our 1st wedding anniversary. We saw whales, completely by accident. It was awesome.
- I got another postcard. It’s dangerous.
- I went to my second gospel choir practice. It sounded pretty.
- I have not been riding my bike, because I suck. Must get back on tomorrow.
- I finished reading The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. … I can’t even think of what to say about this.

I have many more things to say on all of the above subjects but for now this will have to do. Come to the Sly Fox tomorrow night if you want to talk to me about them in person. Dusker are onstage at 9.30pm.

Lonely hearts in Georgia

All is not right in the world of John Singer. Mick’s little brother accidentally shot Baby in the head, and now the family has to pay for her medical costs and can barely afford to live any more; Willie, the doctor’s son, had horrific things done to him in jail, and now Copeland is losing faith in the world; Mick has moved from puberty into a heartbreakingly sad little exploration with the opposite sex; and Singer still misses the only person he considers to be a true friend, Spiros. I have a feeling this can’t end well.

My heart, it swells!

I’ve finished Part One of The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, and am now emotionally committed to it. John Singer, the main protagonist, is a deaf-mute living alone after his best friend Spiros (also a deaf-mute) is put in an asylum. He seems content, big-hearted, steady. The locals take a shine to his quiet charm and soon he is confidante to a diverse group of townspeople – Mick, the daydreaming adolescent girl who hears music in places where there is none (I like her); Dr Copeland, the negro doctor whose intelligence and ambition has estranged him from his family (he means well but ultimately comes off like a bit of a jerk); Biff, the all-work no-play bar owner who no longer loves his wife; and Jake, the tragic drunkard. The heartbreaking part is that Singer sits in his dignified silence, reading the lips of these characters who can’t find solace anywhere else, and never offers anything back to them of himself. Instead, he leaves without warning to visit his committed friend, takes him gifts, and finally releases all his pent-up thoughts and feelings… and Spiros clearly couldn’t care less. It tore me up, man! What a bitch!

Anyway. I’m onto Part 2 and Mick is currently having a great epiphany about her large awkward father and about to throw a party so she can make friends at high school. She’s wearing a dress and that’s weird. I’m nervous for her.

Our Sydney to Gong ride gear arrived yesterday, which is very exciting. Ben is in the first group and has to leave at 6.30am (sucks to be you in the green bib) but I don’t set off until 8am (yay for white bibs). Ben will probably make it to Wollongong before I even get a chance to contemplate the first steep hill; this puts him in good stead to catch me as I stumble over the finish line in a melee of limbs. I had a photo taken with my number and my shirt on, but I look tragic and remarkably pregnant in it, so instead I will put up this photo of me and Husbandito to celebrate the fact we’ve hit 3 years together today. Let’s hear it, folks: awwwwww.

Scatterbrained

Hmm, what to write about today. Forefront of my mind just now is the urgency of this Amazing Race application, which Jaimi is coming over to finalise tonight, and it is going to be kick-ass. Also, I have another driving lesson at 9am on Saturday morning – what was I thinking when I booked that? It compromises my Friday night somewhat. No matter, it will force me to actually be awake at a reasonable hour. I bought a $5 book on scrapbooking from the Bargain Basement store yesterday, because it occurred to me that I wasn’t really sure what scrapbooking was. It’s great! I’m actually looking forward to putting my scrapbook together now. It’s nice to have a craft-related challenge. It’ll be like Kindergarten all over again. I’m getting into ‘The Heart is a Lonely Hunter’ and finding myself drawn to the little girl Mick. She’s brilliant. I see myself in her a bit, except without the masses of siblings.

I’d also like to use this cheeky opportunity to cross-promote:

Upcoming Dusker gigs:
Thurs 16th September @ The Wall, Leichhardt
Sun 26th September @ Sly Fox, Enmore

Do the clicky to the website for more details. Sorry this blog was a bit dull but you can’t win ‘em all I guess.

Human

21 postcards in. I'm pleasantly surprised at who has come through with the goods. I often wonder what our postman must think.

Due to what has been a high-stress, high-emotion and high-activity week, we decided against doing the Manly walk today (which turned out to be a good move because there was some rain earlier too). Instead we slept in, treated ourselves to a big breakfast, and rented a Wii game that we are pretty appalling at so far. I'm starting to feel human again.

I went and bought a copy of "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter", apparently a modern classic, by Carson McCullers. I'm assuming this is the book Tim challenged me to read, as Cormac McCarthy didn't have one of the same name. There is something wonderful about a new book, particularly one that has been recommended to you. A fresh paperback, waiting to be devoured. At the moment I'm struggling to read "The Pillars of Hercules" by Paul Theroux - not because it isn't interesting or well-written, on the contrary, but I'm just not engaging so far. Travel books aren't really my usual bag. So it will be nice to have a crunchy novel to bite into again.

I'm pleased to say that we've done what feels like a lot of cycling the last 2 days, and it has been very rewarding. I'm becoming more familiar with Woodstock's movements and quirks, and feeling the bond grow between bike and owner. I'm still not confident of taking the journey to work - mostly due to a combination of a couple of steep points and peak hour traffic - but I"m considering maybe doing a partial ride (catching the train the remainder of the way).

I realised last night that somewhere this week, I stopped meditating. Whoops. I'm pretty sure the last time I did it was Tuesday. Must put together a game plan for making this one stick, because I think if I can get into a routine, this will be really good for me. My brain is unrelenting for most of the time, so being able to train it to eat a chill cake would be nice.

Ben is in the kitchen making cookies, so I think I'm going to go and write a song for Bart's challenge now. The idea for Song 1 has been floating about in my head the last few days and I think I can knock it out relatively quickly (she says, with naive overconfidence).