Monday, April 11, 2011

I am not dead.


This is a post to say that I am still alive and kicking...just not regularly posting...that doesn't mean I haven't got 400 draft posts tucked away...life just got busy...this blog didn't. So my major news is that I am now based in London...living the life of a Londoner working for the BBC. Will I return to blogging? Not sure...but I do miss you all.

Monday, August 2, 2010

The end of Pollyanna...



So I'm very much past my six week trial of being "glad", aka my own personal Pollyanna project. To catch you all up I challenege myself over a six week period to the task of noting things as part of an ordinary day in my life that I was glad about, that made my heart sing or my brain stop for just a moment or so - see the original post here. Then I blogged them - see the posts under the Pollyana Project.

All the budding researchers among you are awaiting my chapter on analysis and results I know, so here it is plain and simple. What makes me glad? (Or should I phrase that what are the moments of bliss in amongst the daily grind? Sorry Pollyana doesn't live here any more!) Well....

  • rainboots...and rain, and weather in general, storms, sunshine, the changing of the seasons and everything in between including spending time on the high seas!
  • professional people I admire, aka my professional heroes - getting to meet and work with them is an added bonus!
  • pets - other peoples, ones on the street, native wildlife. If I can pat it, I like it.
  • friends - that mostly love to eat (and yes have the odd tipple), and then there are their friends - the joy of meeting people that know your friends (social networks! gah!) are always a new possibility
  • time to myself - and learning to make that time
  • Phwoar and Swoon - men worthy of cravats and breeches (and cycling lyrca).
  • random acts of song/music - it is something about voices raised together (BYO daggy 80's hits) or music that floats into the street (BYO violinist and soprano)
  • armchair sport spectatorship - I've yelled and booed at the World Cup and the wondrous Le tour de France, perhaps lawns bowls spectatorship next?
  • art in everyday life - off to galleries and performances, being reminded of art works I love...
  • sleep - lots of it, preferably a nice daily dose.
  • giggling - to take a leaf out of Elizabeth Bennet's book 'Follies and nonsense, whims and inconsistencies do divert me, I own, and I laugh at them whenever I can' closely followed by instigating said giggling
  • achieving something - and having it immortalised on a plaque or planting the seeds of bigger achievements
So basically I'm glad if I get to sleep, eat, drink and giggle (preferably with other people), pat animals, hang out in the weather and watch other people play sport, make art and performance, and/or wear cravats. That is all.


Sunday, July 25, 2010

The Sketchbook Project

Sketchbook

Again found via the lovely Vicki...what an awesome idea of user generated content not in a digital context! Makes me wish I could draw.

The Sketchbook Project

Each artist is sent the same blank Moleskine sketchbook. We've only got two rules: first, the book must be used in some way - no sending us back an empty book or a completely different book! Second, the sketchbook must stay within its original dimensions (because we don't want to have to provide an extra suitcase just for your book while we're touring the country).

Each book will be given a barcode so we can easily catalog it into The Brooklyn Art Library system. Once we catalog it, artists will be able to track where on the tour their book is viewed and how many times someone pulled it from the shelf - we want to make sure you can stay connected with your sketchbook!

The availability of sketchbooks vary each day, so sign up quickly to reserve the one you want! You have the option to choose the kind of Moleskine and the color of the cover when you add the project to your cart over to the right.



thunderbolt and lightning... very, very frightening!



....I love storms, particularly ones that light up your whole house with that flash of silvery light before the boom, the crash....the opera? I'll stop with the musical references, but nothing quite thrills like the smell (yes smell!) and sound of ozone in action. Makes me think of all those long forgotten geography lessons on evaporation and precipitation, about the far too many documentaries on the weather I have watched....and Muffins the dog I had growing up who, if he was still with us, would be up on my lap the minute the first crash rang out!
SUNDAY
Glad moment: *flash*....Boom!

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Aren't you glad I'm back?

If you think the posts below magically appeared perhaps while you were napping...(I mean carefully watching Le Tour de France...) then the answer is yes. Things got busy. This blog didn't! But I'm back....I think I've lost some days in here somewhere...but I try my best to be the bearer of glad tidings.

TUESDAY
My bed! Finally my bed!
Glad moment: it made it up the stairs...now who wants to come over and try it out?

This is what I waste my money on...

WEDNESDAY
Office pranks. If you think I'm kidding when I say I'll send you the bill in the internal mail, I wasn't. One perfectly delivered faux-invoice. A day to wait for the response.
Glad moment: the smugness that only delayed gratification can bring.

THURSDAY
Quick wit delivered by return internal snail mail. How I do love a sense of humour.
Glad moment: keeping pedants in business.

FRIDAY > SUNDAY
Lost somewhere in France.

MONDAY
Rest night at Le Tour de France...
Glad moment: finally a night in bed early!

TUESDAY
see Friday > Sunday.

WEDNESDAY
Old friends, old art...Abstraction at The Art Gallery of NSW followed by the perfect antidote, Victorian Visions. Don't get me wrong my bower-bird eyes lit up at the works in the Abstraction exhibition. The Mondrian and Braque works especially feel like old friends and I comprehend the momentous shift this exhibition tracks...but there is just something so lush and seductive about voluptuous figures and the quality of heavy oil work of the Pre-Raphaelites and their other Victorian-era friends that stirs something deep, or should I say much deeper.
Glad moment: 'other' art making my heart sing.

THURSDAY
Thinking about escape (I mean er, travel) plans!
Glad moment: The more I say it, the more it forms as a tangible alternative.

FRIDAY
Yep...I'm king of the mountains! Wearing polka dots did it today.
Glad moment: Yes, the lack of sleep does effect my wardrobe choice.

maillot à pois rouge podium girl chic

SATURDAY
Rollin with my homies...and eggs for breakfast.
Glad moment: Eggs taste better in the company of beloved girlfriends.





Friday, July 16, 2010

How I am feeling right now...

Isn't it great when you hear a song and it fits you exact mood?

Sunday, July 4, 2010

My annual holiday


It's started! Is there anything more grand than Tour de France...ok possibly being at Tour de France could top merely enjoying it from my armchair perspective but I'm glad today to be looking forward to 21 days of French summer time fun (although we are in The Netherlands at the moment!), Mike Tomalaris, daily Gabriel Gate recipes, helicopters flying over châteaux...oh and a cycling race. Day 1 bodes well for Saxo Bank...(go Cancellara!) and make sure you check out this lovely website http://tdf.sbs.com.au/tdf2010/

Glad moment: Fabian Cancellara's thighs.

Why you should quit your job and travel around the world...

Found via @vickiah on a site called The Art of Non-conformity, so who's up for it?
What is dangerous, however, is when delayed gratification becomes an excuse for not living the life you want.

How many people do you know that actually do the things they say they are going to when they reach arbitrary ages of leaving the jobs they have given their lives to? Far more common is the downsizing of dreams along the way.

If you want to play golf all day and take your medication at regular intervals, the 40-year career track plan should work well for you. If you have other ideas or ambitions, though, don’t kill yourself as a slave for the future. Instead, go and figure out where you want to travel and do something about it.

Saturday, July 3, 2010

Cheers, it's cold...


THURSDAY
Other people's leaving drinks. Any excuse to stop work at 4.30pm and have a glass (filled and re-filled for you) and some chatter.
Glad moment: never having to refill your own glass.

FRIDAY
New bed! (finally...the fact half of it hasn't made it up the stairs ain't great, but hey a good shove and it should make it fine....
Glad moment: lounging on a new bed even if it's just the mattress and it is still in plastic is a wondrous feeling.

SATURDAY
If it's cold, if it's July....it must be time for le Tour! (getting up at 2am tomorrow for the prelude is probably not the best way to make me glad but nonetheless!)
Glad moment: 21 days to go!

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Ah yes, where was I?

Ok....

SUNDAY
Cycle chic...see the post here, was a lovely (though hilly ride!) to and from Bondi Beach and a lovely afternoon in the company of other like-minded lovely people.
Glad moment: Chic is a serious business, lucky I had a gold dress in the wardrobe to match the Golden Mongoose.

MONDAY
I'm passing again. If you can find something glad about Mondays...good on you.

TUESDAY
Another Tuesday, another 'Insights Night'! Learning about the artform you promote is never dull.
Glad moment: feeling that a tiny part of what you do has a big impact on other people.

WEDNESDAY
Also known as 'plaque day'. No, not a trip to the dentist! Rather a time when I can actually sing along to this....

>

This is end, my beautiful friend...the end! And here's my plaque to prove it!

The End

Glad moment: Everything looks better on a plaque.


THURSDAY
Um, er....pass again.

FRIDAY
Spontaneous invites by email....the subject line of this one was...'Would you like to go sailing on Sunday?'...now ask yourself, what else would I want to do on a Sunday.
Glad moment: a return to the high seas

SATURDAY
Menu planning for said sail trip...this is where the 'part-domestic goddess' persona kicks in...rushing about, attempting to work out just what encapsulates a winner picnic for a Sunday sailing trip. I am usually so much better at spring/summer catering but nonetheless not daunted...if only I could take my nounce for picnic catering into other areas of my life.
Glad moment: gluttony can extend onto the high seas

SUNDAY
Sailing!
Glad moment: Realising that I love to be out on the water and I'm not altogether useless crew! A gold moon on the horizon as I drove home to a warm shower.

MONDAY
Um, er...

TUESDAY
Ditto.

WEDNESDAY
Glad moment: Mulled wine and being only slight tiddled...