Procrastination

In November I began a focused effort of telling everybody who would listen that I was going to finish my novel this summer. Why? Because I was ultimately trying to shame myself into actually putting more time into it, knowing that I frequently set goals and fail to deliver on them. To be fair, this is generally because my goals are unrealistic and unachievable - I aim far too high, and typically end up giving up entirely.

This time though it really really ISN'T my fault. I swear. Hehehe.

The first day of my vacation my laptop broke, hard-drive failure apparently. Everybody knows that you can't write a novel without a laptop, right? Wrong. I switched to pen-and-paper and typing on the desktop computer. This sort-of-kind-of worked, and then two days before I went back to work a full OS reinstall returned my laptop to my tender arms.

Still, I've made very little progress towards my goal. Sure, I'm writing semi-regularly, but not enough to actually finish in the timeframe I've specified. In February I start back at university so will need to devote some of my spare time to procrastinating/avoiding study, so it will be interesting to see what happens then. I've already started back at work fulltime as of this week, and am now procrastinating from work by updating my blogs. In a way, it's a good thing that I overcommit myself, because the more I have to do the more I actually get done (although, that also means there are more things that I don't finish at all...).

The problem with my novel is that I've almost planned it out too much. There are too many segments written, and it is hard to just sit down and write because I bump into something I've sort of done and then have to fit it in. That is not a good way to write a novel! It means I'm kind of editing at the same time... still, I love the concept and love the characters and I think it's a fun story. So I just have to get typing and fill in the blanks, then edit the crap out of it.

Watch this space. I'm sure I'll update when I'm trying to avoid doing something else.

Bring on 2011!

No posts recently, simply because I haven't seen anything lately. The Christmas holidays aren't exactly primetime for shows or events, and lack of $$ is also a contributing factor.

However, there's a few things coming up in 2011 that I'm excited about!

There's a few Blast from the Past acts coming through Sydney, including Neil Diamond in March and Barry Manilow in April.

Don McLean will be here on 15th Feb, and I'm looking forward to seeing how the old guy is holding up. Thrilled at the chance to hear "Castles in the Air" and "American Pie" live, and of course my absolute favourite, "Vincent". The event should have a great vibe as it will bring out the true fans and everybody will know all the songs. Of course the same can be said for both Neil and Barry, although as they're performing at larger venues (Syd Football Stadium / Acer Arena) it will lack the intimacy of the Don McLean performance which is at the Enmore.

Michael Buble is also around at the same time, but sadly I don't like my chances of scoring tickets to his show. Never mind - I expect he'll be around for many years to come!


On the musicals side, I'm still keen to get to Jersey Boys, plus check out Mary Poppins when it finally makes it's way to Sydney after an extended Melbourne run.

So that, plus plenty more to see in 2011!

Do It! But do it my way....

I was amused by the news story about Dick Smith and the Christmas grinches, which was plastered across all Australian news stations this week. In a nutshell, Dick sent letters to the bosses of four major Australian banks demanding that they donate 20% of their income to charity. Most ignored this clearly crackpot request, while one politely acknowledged by responding with a letter explaining that he donates privately to charity and won't be meeting the request.


Apparently being a billionaire makes you powerful - who knew? Unfortunately, Dick Smith appears to be under the impression that it makes you so powerful that you get to tell all of the millionaires how to spend their money. Sorry Dick, it just doesn't work like that.


This really made me think about power and philanthropy. I know so many wonderful people in this world who are goodhearted and have powerful visions for how the world should be. The problem occurs when they take their vision so far as to demand that others live their lives according to their determined idealism.


The scary thing is that we're not just talking about religious zealots here. In all walks of life you find people so passionate about what they believe in that they are convinced it should be mandatory. For example, I have a friend who cares so much for the environment that she believes a one child legal policy is the only way forward.


Of course, logic dictates that the problem with any kind of forced compliance is that it's always the will of one group over that of another. Somebody is being oppressed or forced to live their life incompatibly with their own personal beliefs. Which is why the only logical way is either to convince everybody honestly of the "right" way of thinking (good luck with that!) or to accept a society where differences are accepted, and we all get on with living our own lives the best way that we can. Exceptions being crime or other activity that infringes on the lives of others.


So Dick, while your intentions are good, and while we all love to hate the greedy fat cats, STFU. Seriously. It's really none of your business how they spend their money. Complain about it if you want, but trying to force people to comply with your own personal standard is unfair, and also very holier than thou.

Naked Ironing People

I work in the city, on Level 29 of a high-rise. Most of the time it's fairly easy to forget the view as we remain glued to our computer screens, every so often startled when a window cleaner abseils against the glass. However the city is not only offices, directly opposite the side of the building where my team sits there is a fancy apartment building. These apartments have full wall floor-to-ceiling windows, so the views from the higher floors must be spectacular. Yet the glass is definitely not tinted, and we can see everything. It's kind of like looking at a dolls house, all the different little tables and chairs, and layout of the various rooms.

Enter the Naked Ironing Couple. It doesn't take much for us to see them - in fact, it would be hard not to see them, because they choose to do their morning ironing right up against the window of their apartment, facing outwards. We never see them together, it's always one or the other.

Naked Ironing Lady likes to iron on the floor. She puts the ironing board on the ground with the legs down and kneels down on the floor in front of it. The fascinating aspect is that she'll spend literally 30minutes ironing one item of clothing. She seems very relaxed and peaceful, as if she's performing a beloved morning ritual.

Naked Ironing Man is more of your traditional Aussie male. He irons standing up with the board in upright position, butt naked and using just one hand on the iron. Several of my coworkers have expressed concern re the obvious proximity of man-bits to hot iron. We've considered filing a health & safety notice with their building. Somebody should really do something about that.

The other morning Naked Ironing Lady was at it again. It's worth noting that my company provides all breakfast and lunch food for staff each day, and the area that I work in is near the staff kitchen. I was standing near the window with a coworker because we'd noticed a window cleaner on the wall of the apartment building and were discussing what might happen once they reached Naked Ironing Lady's window. Would they see her? Would she see them? What reactions would there be? As people came through the office from the kitchen they came over and joined in the conversation/observation. So before long we have our Sales Director standing there eating his cornflakes, a couple of guys from the Finance department with their toast, and various other people all in our cubicle staring out the window.

Suddenly I was struck by the absurdity and inappropriateness of what we were doing. Because it's one thing to have them doing it right in front of us and notice, but I can't see them from my own desk, and that's where I should be! So I got back to work, noting that we really were all quite perverted. The crowd dispersed.

The debate rages as to whether Naked Ironing Couple have any idea that we can see them. One of the Executive Assistants insists that they must know, and that it's deliberate voyeurism. But if that were the case I suspect they would glance up from time to time, curious as to whether they'd attracted an audience. They appear absorbed in their ironing, completely unaware of the world around them. I assume that our windows are tinted on the outside, so they can't see us even though we're very close by.

Oh, and FTR, she finished ironing and packed up before the window cleaners reached her level. So I guess we'll never know what might have happened....

There is a really cool view from our main office.

I don't *hate* Tuesdays

I have explained to my coworkers on many occasions that I don't have a problem with Monday. As stressful as it can be to get myself together on Sunday in preparation for the working week, there is an element of excitement in returning after a 2 day break and starting our working life anew. Seeing my coworkers and sharing stories of our weekends. Seeing what interesting new emails and dramas have entered my inbox since Friday*. (*due to my new resolution of never checking work email over the weekend. It makes it a very exciting experience on Monday to turn on my computer and see where the latest drama has arisen). There's things to do, people to talk to, plans to make for the week.

It's Tuesday that it really hits home. The weekend is now but a memory. The week still looms before us. Those plans that I made yesterday must now be actioned, and there's simply not enough time. The emails are starting to pile up, and my boss has just added 10 new items to my To-Do-List.

This, this is the day!!

There's no doubt about it. Tuesday makes every other day of the week look like paradise. Wednesday is at least hump day, there's a light at the end of the tunnel, we feel that we're about to hit a goal of sorts. And then Thursday arrives, with all of it's promise of late night shopping or perhaps a night out. Either way, it leads us to Friday, at which point we may as well be not working, given the fun we have. Yep, comparatively speaking, Tuesday is the devil.

So I googled "I hate Tuesdays" and promptly found numerous blog posts discussing this very point. Now I feel compelled to clarify: I most certainly do NOT hate Tuesdays. To commit to hating 14% of my life seems shortsighted and extremely drastic. I merely put forward that Tuesday is, in fact, the most stressful day of the week. There's a reason why it has long been the day that Shane cooks dinner while I take a nice bubblebath complete with iPod, magazine and glass of wine.

Tuesday is that little thing in life that gives us something to look forward to.... it says "hey, I'm your downer, but remember how good things can get?" ... it's highly necessary. And with that, I rest my case.

Ben Hur - Stadium SPECTACULAR (not)

So last night we took the special train to Olympic Park for the biggest theatrical event ever staged in Australia, the only event that makes the phrase bigger than Ben Hur pointless, Ben Hur. It was a fun night and I'm glad I went. I even managed to write most of the below review during the show without missing a single thing. (You'll see why shortly).

First let me get one thing off my chest: I'm sorry Australia, but "she'll be right mate" just doesn't cut it when you're playing a roman legionary. We expect precision and synchronization. Yes, I get that it's hard in such a large stadium, and often you're running not marching so that you can cover the space quickly enough, but you simply must rehearse it over and over until you get it right. From the stands we can see if you're spaced out at weird intervals and your heads are facing different directions, when you're supposedly in an orderly formation. Not good enough. It's not that hard to get something like that right, it's all about practice and caring about it.

The advantage of being in a stadium rather than a theatre is that it's noisy and fun. So we could freely mock some of the sillier or poorly executed aspects of the performance. Unfortunately a stadium is big. Very big. So there were looooooong waits while they walked out across the stadium and started speaking. The whole production was very disjointed. Russell Crowe would deliver a monotonous introduction to the scene, completely destroying any sense of excitement or anticipation with his toneless presentation. Then we'd wait while the performers made their way out across the stadium while music played. By the time they started to speak we'd have practically forgotten what was happening. Then they'd play a scene, often stopping for more bland narration in the middle, before sllooowwwlllly exiting and then the whole rotation would begin again.

Messala's script apparently had a full-stop after each word, because every line was over-enunciated and came out as a disjointed sentence. If that wasn't amusing enough, he accompanied this dialogue with very over the top hand gestures - I'm sorry, I should say arm gestures - to the point that he appeared to be a comical robot. I'm fairly certain the show is pre-recorded and lip synched, although Shane thought it wasn't and was just a delay. But that would explain to me how they got so carried away with over acting along to the soundtrack. Nobody else stood out particularly as being any good. They just weren't as obviously bad.

The chariot race was clearly the highlight. Each chariot was driven by four horses, and they looked spectacular. Shane pointed out the blocks on Ben Hur's chariot, and explained that these would drop to make the chariot jump - a key scene in the movie, and one we'd seen previewed in the "making of". Sadly, when the blocks came out it didn't work and there wasn't even a lame bunny hop. That was a major disappointment. One thing they did get very right was the bad guy's chariot falling apart. Messala was dragged around the stadium behind his horses so effectively that many of us did start to wonder if it was a genuine accident, not a carefully performed stunt. It looked painful!

We took off at the end as they processed out for the cast presentation and legged it to the station. It just wasn't good enough that we were willing to wait behind 10,000 people to catch a train. I'm very comfortable with that decision, as we caught a train quickly and were home within the hour.



Highlights:
The horses did a splendid job.
The atmosphere! The crowd was great fun and I chatted to a lot of people before the show.
The fighting was fun. The different sides of the stadium had been given different coloured scarfs to wave - red or yellow - which matched the tunics worn by the gladiators. We had to cheer for our colours and wave them on. It was quite spectacular seeing a massive wall of colour cheering and screaming. Like a rugby game basically! And the gladiators would rip each other's tunics off - some of them had nice abs, yay! But yeah, not exactly high class theatre.

Lowlights:
The long, boring periods of nothing during which we forgot what was happening.
Russell Crowe.



What: Ben Hur
Where: ANZ Stadium, Sydney Olympic Park