From A First Floor Window

20-10-2009
BW - "I'm a person, and if you don't find someone else I'm pretty fun"

CI - "Don't look at me like that, I'm drunk"

CI: I can sing
FA: Ben was in a musical
AT: I was Jesus

FA to BW - "My blue dress or your blue dress?"

26-10-2009
VS: Oh no, there's nature in the beer!

VS: I'm pretty much 99% ovaries, the rest is just...skin

BW: I love my masculinity

CI: Am I a weird person?
LW: Exhibit A -------------->



RW: They don't smell. I've smelled dreds. I spent most of Dragon Dreaming smelling dreds.

CA to VS: I'm glad you turned out ok, coz I always worried about people with weird names.

CI: I'm so fucking mellow.

8-11-2009
FA: Oh.... I'm pissed.

FA & CI: Bura! Vinaka...

Just about this time last year I was tripping off over for a 7 week sojourn in the States. I was lucky to be with family for the first 10 days and with friends for the last 5, but in the middle went through the standard on-the-other-side-of-the-world-desperately-missing-my-loved-ones days, despite the fact that I was having a rad time, meeting cool people and doing good work... This year as luck would have it, a goodly portion of my closest crew (and half my family) have disappeared into Departures for prolonged or permanent visits overseas or interstate. I am still in Braddon and - not wishing to take anything away from the awesomeness and beauty of my friends who are still here (or for that matter the remaining half of my family) - it sucks. I miss my people and I'm antsy and frustrated at "still" being in Canberra. So much so that this week I'm applying for a job in Dublin (where, obviously, I know no one... hmm). This time of year, little as I care for the commerciareligious holidays, certainly amplifies the missing. Partly cos it's summer here and we're all driven to sit outside in lovely settings and drink beer/gin/sav blanc with our friends, but also because (to quote Love Actually cos, as I might have mentioned, I'm mopey right now) "Christmas is the time to be with the people you love". So when the people you love are absent, it's balls... I know a good many of y'all have experienced something like this in one direction or the other of recent times (or are right now), and I'm wondering what you think... - is it worse to be the one leaving, all on your own, or to be the one left behind? Discuss.

 - when all the favourite sheets and quilt cover are clean at the same time
 - sleeping with the window open
 - days that get to 27 degrees
 - bottles of FREE birthday champagne from TWO different proprietors on campus
 - art, especially when made for me by my friends
 - brand spanky new Peter Alexander pajamas
 - awesome synchronicities
 - when really fabulous people get married
 - thong tan-lines. yes, i do.
 - Avenue Q coming
 - Cragganmore Speyside Single Malt
 - orange flavoured chocolate. Orange flavoured just about anything.
 - sneaky Lizey living with us for 2 weeks before she moves to Melbourne
- going to Fiji anticipation...
 - Friday morning epiphanies
- knowing your Friday morning epiphanies will make sense to someone
 - owning the 2009 grand final on dvd so i can watch it over and over and over...
 - Rocky and Sylvia aka Adrian and the Goat: they fill me with joy every morning
 - Glee.

If and when I finally do move to Melbourne I'm probably going to think it sucks because every time I go there for a couple of days I have such an amazingly wonderful beautiful time that there's no way that any city could live up to such pleasure on a permanent basis.

Left at sparrow's fart on Wednesday cos (I still don't understand quite why) we were driving down and I wanted to miss peak hour upon our arrival. Stupendously easy drive interrupted only by a spot of crafty antiquing at Tarcutta (I got presents, yay) and "lunch" at the Wangaratta rest stop where we also found scary energy shot things obviously aimed at truck drivers which contain 95gm of caffeine, gurana and a bunch of other stuff not recommended for pregnant women... They've bypassed Albury-Wodonga - does everyone realise this?

Got to Northcote (thanks to the navigational stylings of TomTom whom I shall always respect above iPhone maps) about 3, wandered up High Street in search of coffee, had been there about 35 mins when I ran into the first person I knew from Canberra. Bless. Quick op shop where I picked up a splendid thai silk skirt for $15 - lucky as it's the only shopping I managed to do in 5 days. To the social club for beers where Miles met us, we grabbed delicious pizza and trotted back down to Westgarth St to eat and change before The Lucksmiths.

Late-ish to the gig, missed the support which was not disappointing. The Corner Hotel has some inconvenient load bearing poles which make strategic positioning advisable. We opted for up the back, which was fine except for the constant stream of toilet traffic. Really, I hate people. I should remember this. For such delightful boys whom you would think would not attract that many douchebags as fans, there were a surprising number of douchebags. Stop yelling out the names of songs they clearly can't remember how to play any more. Stop singing along, we paid to hear the band, not your atonal homage and EVERYONE HERE knows all the words - you're not special. Rants aside, it was a great great gig. Some things I'd never heard them play before (Weatherboard - wow), all the standards and some things I was really really happy to hear again. Stupidly stupidly tired and back seizing up due to tense sleep and 7 hour drive by the time we got home - crawled onto the futon, didn't move for 8 hours.

A 'walk some of the way, tram some of the way' plan went awry on Thursday morning & we ended up walking all the way into the city, which was actually lovely & meant I could point out Brunswick St highlights on the way. Dumplings & Tsingtao for lunch with Danger. Yum. Down to the NGV for the Dali: Liquid Desire exhibit. Fark me. Brilliant. I learned heaps, loved many things, was captivated by the "Daphne and Apollo" gold pendant and the photographs and so many others.

Fish and chips and 500 and gin made my heart sing on Thursday night.

Danger took Friday off. We sat at Mixed Business for about 4 hours in the sunshine eating delicious brunch, drinking delicious coffee and playing cards. Over to Lygon St for antipasto and more coffee. To the new premises of Book Affair where I found Robert Lowell and Tennyson and a book of poetry by Barbara Giles who was my great aunt. Bless. Sunny North Fitzroy beer garden with beer. Home to change and then tram into the city for Chicago. Got ripped off by a silly restaurant choice. Show was amazing. Caroline O'Connor was brilliant but still didn't eclipse Sharon Millerchip. Turns out Gina Riley can really sing. Tram back to Northcote. We were going to check out the Wesley Anne, but ended up stepping inside a bar on High Street which turned out to be the best decision of the weekend. Courtyard with a blooming jasmine bush, a cast iron chiminea and Glenmorangie and Martells VSOP and meandering conversation. If only one thing made me want to move to Northcote over the weekend it would have been that; though I think I would have been happy drinking VB next to a dumpster in the snow.

Rainy Saturday in Melbourne led to the decision to drive to Geelong rather than get the train. This decision was a good one. Resounding win, beer-soaked chips, luke-warm pies and explaining AFL to a Kiwi at a sunny Kardinia park for the last home game of the season= warm cockles. Quick Northcote nap then up to Terminus for an unexpectedly brilliant 2 course meal before cruising back to the Corner Hotel for the Lucksmiths' Final Ever Show. My best boys with my best boy and his best boy and his best girl. Sometimes life is so very good.

Redefined theatre on the drive home on Monday. Twice discussed turning around and driving back to Melbourne. I wish we had.

10am on a Thursday is a weird time to go to the theatre. It's a particularly weird time to go to a Beckett.  There was something almost obscenely incongruous about sitting on a sunny park bench looking over Lake Tugg in the interval of a play like Happy Days. Being the youngest people in the audience by about 50 years added to the sense that something was amiss, as did the fact that within 10 minutes our laughter had caused another audience member to move to the other side of the auditorium....

But oh, mercy it was worth the weird sense of displacement.

Micki Beckett managed to make being buried up to the waist in dirt look glamourous. Her timing and gentle delivery made Winnie (who, let's face it, could be really annoying) delightful, pitiable and even lovable. The performance is a tour-de-force which should be seen and wondered at by anyone who has ever delivered lines on a stage. At the same time, she reminded me what I so often forget: how much fun Beckett is when done well.

Ian Croker's set was a revelation. It looked like a ball gown. It looked like a rock. I can't explain how it did that, being made out of calico, but it was bloody amazing.

If Canberrans were the kind of theatre-going public I wish they were, this show would be sold out every performance and extended for a month.

"The New York Times is running a photo retrospective of the year 1969 and included amongst events like the Beatle's last concert and the moon landing is a correction the paper printed on July 17 of that year. The reason?The Times publicly recanted a story from January 13, 1920 that said spaceflight was impossible. Now that's accountability."

6. Where Were We - The Lucksmiths
This started with a concert. My friend said 'hey, this girl I'm trying to sleep with really likes this band, can you come along & see them with me and her so it's not so blindingly obvious that I'm trying to sleep with her...' I went, and from start to finish had this enormous, joyous, goofy smile on my face. I bought Where Were We after the concert. Within 3 months I'd ordered their entire back catalogue. The Lucksmiths are the sound of warmth and happiness and bittersweet melancholy. They've given me a huge appreciation for drummers who sing. Seeing the First Frost tour with my boys was one of my favourite nights of last year  And when the day comes that I finally meet a man who writes songs for me, I want them to sound like The Great Dividing Range.

7. Little Plastic Castle - Ani DiFranco
Bronwyn Woods' car during a break in rehearsals for Guys & Dolls in 1999. One of those leaning over the stereo going 'What is this??' moments. Yeah, she's angry chick music, but I was 18 and in a twisted, dysfunctional romantic mess which was basically an exercise in having my heart truly and magnificently broken for the first time in my adult life over the course of 3 years. Being angry all the time felt much better than being sad all the time. Also, in addition to being an angry chick Ani's also a truly fine, inventive, versatile musician and a peerless lyricist. This is still one of my favourite albums ever.

8. Greatest Hits - Bruce Springsteen
I hate that I'm putting a greatest hits compilation on this list, cos generally I disagree with them... but this album is part of my skin, and was not so much mind-blowing as life-blowing. Also, it's a really, really well put together Best Of. Like most, Bruce has been part of my consciousness since I was wee, but this was the first of his actual cds I owned... I bought it at a second hand store in about 1999, mainly cos I loved The River and needed to own it, but I really didn't listen to the whole cd properly til 2004. Then I actually didn't listen to anything else in my car for the whole first half of the year. I was directing Fool For Love and I just couldn't bring myself to listen to anyone except Springsteen. This has become something of a pattern when I'm directing Sam - Shepard and Bruce are still inextricably linked in my mind. 12 months later it was listening to this cd in my car (and bursting into tears hearing Thunder Road) that made me realise I had to quit my horrible job at Finance. I would marry Bruce Springsteen if he asked me.

9. Boxer - The National
I didn't think this could happen anymore. 3rd of January 2009. Apartment 719, 110-114 Horatio St New York. I was getting out of the shower, the last minute of Slow Show was playing in the next room and I knew, without a doubt, that I had discovered my new favourite band.

10. Once Soundtrack - Glen Hansard & Marta Irglova
Really this was a) the CD Dyl made me for my birthday in 2007, and b) actually watching Once, but still... This is pretty much the soundtrack to Closer & SPIC in my head. I defy any music lover or anyone who has ever loved to watch Once and not have some kind of holy experience.

11. Songs For Swinging Lovers - Frank Sinatra
My best friend when I was 19 wanted us to have a relationship like George & Martha's from Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolfe. Given the aforementioned emotional disaster I was careening through at this time, my friendship with Dan probably wasn't all that good for my psychological wellbeing. But he did give me what has become an enduring appreciation for Woody Allen, 50s Hollywood and Frank Sinatra. Did you know this is pretty much the first ever concept album?

12. Les Miserables - Complete Symphonic (International Cast) Recording
Every Les Mis fan has their recording. Usually it's the one you grew up with. I have argued the various merits of Colm Wilkinson vs Gary Morris and Philip Quast vs Roger Allam (which is a total no brainer) many times with many people. But to me, this recording is perfect. Michael Ball at his best in his early 20s when it's still ok to be in love with him, Anthony Warlow at his belting, ripping, stirring best, I love Debbie Byrne, I know Kaho Shimada isn't Lea Salonga but she learned English to do this soundtrack, and Philip Quast, Philip Quast, Philip Quast... All you have to do is listen to One Day More to know that this recording is close to perfect. PLUS it's the only one that gives you the whole show, so....

13. Gold - Ryan Adams
Na bought me this for my birthday in ummm... 2005? cos she'd heard that he was awesome and kinda like early Springsteen. He's both of those things and many many more. This album very sharply reminds me of a pretty shitty time when at least I had great music to listen to. I heart you Ryan.

More anon... I'm going to watch the football...

So Na and Luke have both tagged me in this & I can't resist it, despite the fact that this may reveal things about me I'd rather not have known... also, I'm shamelessly procrastinating from writing a) a lecture and b) a phd thesis because I'm in too good a mood.

1. Wow - Bananarama
This is the first 'album' I ever owned. My father bought it for me (on vinyl of course) one morning when I was about 8 after I'd been standing on the side of a soccer field watching my brother play for several hours freezing my pre-pubescent tits off. I loved it. I'd put it on in the loungeroom and dance myself silly from start to finish. The cover had naked men's backs on it. It was the beginning of my love affair with naked men's backs. I understood about 40% of what they were singing about (I'm pretty sure I thought that Nathan Jones might be David Jones' brother), but Once In A Lifetime probably shaped my romantic outlook for all time. And even now you can't go past the awesomeness of Love in the First Degree, I Heard A Rumour and I Want You Back.

2. Repeat Offender - Richard Marx
Another first. This was the first CD I ever owned. Again, purchased for me by my father at Abels in Manuka, my own selection. I remember it cost like $34. In 1989 that was a whole lot of money. The meteoric success of Right Here Waiting was the reason why most people bought this album. It was the reason I bought it too. Freaking hell I loved that song. I made my grandmother buy me the sheet music so I could learn to play it on the piano. I fell in love with a boy who did play it on the piano at a primary school talent contest (possibly the same year that me and my best friend did our Love In The First Degree dance). But what you don't know about Richard Marx is that he's so much more than sappy love songs. He also busts out awesome synthed rock songs (Satisfied, Nothin' You Can Do About It). And swelling, choral backed numbers about homeless kids (Children Of The Night). There are levels. There are depths. And the women in all his songs are awesome, femme fatale chicks who break your heart, take your money and leave you ("When you woke up this morning on your front lawn you had a smile on your lips and your wallet was gone") I seriously wanted to change my name to Angelia. Or Lulu.

3. The Premiere Collection - Andrew Lloyd Webber
I actually remember writing a diary entry about my discovery of this CD. After I'd heard it once I decided that I was going to become a singer/dancer. I couldn't sing or dance, but my loungeroom didn't tell me that. I was so freaking graceful and moving belting along to Memory and Tell Me On A Sunday while pirouetting around in my socks. I was flashy and amusing in my interpretation of The Magical Mr Mistoffeles. There was not a dry eye in the house after I was done with Another Suitcase In Another Hall. This CD was the beginning of my enduring love affair with musical theatre. And I still hate Starlight Express.

4. Slippery When Wet - Bon Jovi
Ok, this has got to be the definitive hair metal/soft rock album of the 80s. It may even be the definitive album of the 80s for me. Mixed by the genius Bob Rock (who went on to produce seminal albums from Motley Crue and The Cult as well as most of Metallica's ouvre) and containing a near-perfect mix of "hard" rock songs and ballads, Slippery opened my eyes up to rock music (if you think that's sad, remember that before this I was listening to Bananarama, Kylie and Richard Marx...) It was also the start of a love affair with hair metal that took me through years of black jeans, desert boots and flannelette shirts with Guns n Roses, Cinderella, Motley Crue, Telsa, Warrant and KISS on my walkman. And Slippery When Wet will still cheer me up when even Musical Theatre fails.

5. The Soft Parade - The Doors
In the Summer of 94-95, when I was 14 I went down the coast with my friend, her family, her older sister's boyfriend (who also happened to be my brother) and 3 of their friends. Late one night after maybe 4 West Coast Coolers, lying under a ping pong table, I got chatting to my brother's best mate Dave. He started playing me The Doors. I had never, ever, ever heard anything like it.. By the end of Touch Me, I was in love with both Jim Morrison and, predictably, with Dave. My relationship with Dave lasted about 2 months; my relationship with Jim continues. The Soft Parade is by no means my favourite Doors album anymore, but nothing will ever erase the memory of hearing it with the sound of Bawley Beach in the background, drunk on wine coolers with my man of colours.

To be continued, obviously....

SEVEN THINGS YOU WILL FIND IN YOUR ROOM:

1. wine

2. a bajillion pairs of boots

3. a 1910 edition of Les Miserables

4. the 9 other books I'm currently reading

5. too much furniture

6. 2 stereos

7. presents I have yet to deliver


SEVEN RELATIONSHIP QUESTIONS:

1. Are you in a relationship? of sorts

2. Do you like someone? yeahp

3. Does someone like you? I believe so

4. Who was your last crush? I recently fell in love with Sam Worthington

6. Have you ever been cheated on? not that I know of

7. Do you wanna get married? not today


SEVEN THINGS ON YOUR MIND:

1. how can Love My Way be so brilliant and so painful at the same time?

2. roast duck

3. will anywhere be open for a drink on Good Friday?

4. Blood Wedding

5. Sylvia Plath

6. cleaning the bathroom makes your hands really dry

7. love


SEVEN OTHER THINGS - DO YOU:

1. Believe in God? no

2. Had a dream come true? if you don't have a dream how're you gonna have a dream come true?

3. Read the newspaper? online mostly. and the crossword

4. Sing in the shower? when no one is home

5. Have a best friend? yes

6. Have you had braces? yes

7. Wish on stars? not lately



SEVEN HAVE YOU EVERS:

1. Fallen in love? yes

2. Kissed someone of the same sex? yes

4. Been to a bonfire? yeah

5. Ran away from home? yes, once for about 5 hours. No one noticed.

6. Licked a metal pole in winter? well that would be silly, wouldn't it?

7. Pulled an all nighter? yeah



SEVEN THINGS IN THE LAST 48 HOURS HAVE YOU:

1. Cried? yes.

2. Had fun? yes

3. Been kissed? yeahp

4. Felt stupid? oh mercy yes

5. Talked to an ex? ahm... yeah...

6. Bought anything? breakfast

7. Used chapstick? what?? no. Paw Paw cream, yes.

Sigh, ok.

Once you've been tagged, fill this out. At the end, tag 25 more actors including me. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you.

LAST SHOW ADDED TO YOUR RESUME:
"Perfect Cowboys in Action" for moonlight. Currently producing Bernarda Alba and directing A Lie of the Mind

LAST SHOW YOU AUDITIONED FOR:
ummm... "Bed"

DID YOU GET IT:
I did yes.

LAST SONG YOU USED AT AN AUDITION:
I would never do such a thing

FAVORITE MUSICAL(s):
Les Miserables, Avenue Q, Evita.

FAVORITE PLAY(s):
Lord, EXCLUDING Shepard, Blood Wedding, Romeo & Juliet, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolfe?, Glengarry Glen Ross

The FAVORITE ROLE YOU'VE PLAYED, AND FROM WHAT SHOW?:
"A" in Mamet's A Perfect Mermaid. Hardest fucking thing I've ever done - like swing dancing on a highwire with another person - still so proud that we never fell.

FAVORITE ROLE OVERALL THAT I WOULD LOVE TO PLAY:
Wow, there are WAY too many to list... Kim in Miss Saigon but as that is NEVER going to happen, not the least because I'm caucasian and I can't sing.... Martha in Virginia Woolfe. I've got time.

YOUR GOAL IN SHOW BUSINESS:
If someone would pay me enough so that I can eat to direct modern American plays I'd be overjoyed.

FAVORITE DIRECTOR YOU HAVE EVER WORKED WITH:
I have to say George because I wouldn't be doing this if it wasn't for him

WHAT WAS YOUR VERY FIRST SHOW?:
Year 9 Are Animals in, unsurprisingly, Year 9. I corpsed in my first performance.

HAVE YOU EVER HAD A DANCE SOLO?:
Only if you count the unplanned choreography of me nearly falling off the stage in Guys and Dolls in 1999.

HAVE YOU EVER HAD A SINGING SOLO?:
Audiences everywhere are relieved that I can say no.

HAVE YOU EVER BEEN THE LAST PERSON TO TAKE A BOW?:
yes.

HAVE YOU BEEN TO NEW YORK?:
Yes

HAVE YOU BEEN TO LA?
Yes

WHAT'S THE SCARIEST PART OF AN AUDITION?
From my perspective often the 'shit this person is about to massacre that monologue'.  Like all performances I think it's the bit just before you start.

WHAT'S THE BEST PART OF AN AUDITION?:
When you get your zen calm.

NAME A SHOW YOU WOULD NEVER DO AGAIN:
Pavlov: 2 Seconds before the crime.

WHAT ARE YOU AUDITIONING FOR NEXT?
Alice

DO YOU KEEP IN TOUCH WITH PAST CAST MEMBERS?:
How odd, of course. You never know when you might need them again.

ON A SCALE OF 1-10, HOW IMPORTANT IS GETTING PAID?
I'll do it anyway, but it'd be much much better if I was being paid... I guess that means, 5?

SOMETHING EMBARRASSING OR UNEXPECTED THAT HAPPENED TO YOU WHILE ON-STAGE?:
Having St Edmunds students in the audience leaning over to look up my skirt during The Removalists was interesting

WHO IS THE MOST DIFFICULT PERSON (ON STAGE OR OFF) THAT YOU HAVE EVER WORKED WITH?:
a chick with OCD who stopped taking her meds during rehearsals for a really intense play. That was cool.

EVER BEEN NAKED ONSTAGE?:
Yes. Equus 2001

HAVE YOU EVER BEEN KILLED?:
Yah - Lady Macduff

BEEN DRUNK?:
Yes. Yes.

PLAYED SOMEONE HALF YOUR AGE?:
Not that I can think of

PLAYED SOMEONE TWICE YOUR AGE?:
Yes - Mom in True West, Flo in Bed among others

CRIED?:
Yeahp. Lotsa times. Bed & Romeo & Juliet spring to mind as particularly weepy shows.

FIRED A GUN?
No.

BEEN DRENCHED?
No.

BEEN IN A DREAM SEQUENCE?
The whole of Gnat's Nightmare was a dream sequence

BEEN KISSED ON STAGE?
Yes, resoundingly

 25 random things

Tagged on Facebook by Cara.

Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If you find yourself reading this and I didn't tag you and you feel inspired to write about yourself consider yourself tagged....

(To do this, go to "notes" under tabs on your home page, paste these instructions in the body of the note, type your 25 random things, tag 25 people [in the right hand corner of the app] then click publish.)

Since it's Valentines Day, and I'm feeling rather loved up, I've decided to theme my 25 things accordingly...

1. I love that I have a scar on my forehead from 7 stitches I got after pulling a wood vice down onto my head in a hardware store when I was 3.

2. I love Les Miserables. I've read it at least 15 times in 4 different translations since I was 14.

3. I love in equal measures the idea of moving to Melbourne, New York, Dublin and Depot Beach when I finish my PhD.

4. I recently had my sense of hope in the limitless possibilities of all areas of my life renewed by discovering and falling in love with a band I'd never heard before.

5. I love election day. Sausage sizzles and polling booths in primary schools and the idea of change and hope fill me with joy.

6. I consider myself a dog person, but having a cat curl up purring on my lap or chest makes my insides go all melty.

7. Until I was 24 I swore that I would never never never get married.

8. I love my sisters. I have only one biological one, but there are four other women in my life who I apply that term to.

9. I love to sing, though I am terrible at it. If I could even slightly hold a tune I think I'd want to be a singer.

10. I cry all the time when reading, in art galleries, when watching tv, theatre, movies or even commercials. But I very very rarely do it in real life.

11. I've been in love seven times, but only twice since I turned 21. 

12. I love football, cricket, hair metal and beer. I am such a boy.

13. I also love romantic comedies, flowers, shoes and makeup. I am such a girl.

14. I have only ever received a Valentine's gift from one man.

15. I love white wine (but not chardonnay) and red wine (but not merlot).

16. I love Bruce Springsteen, The Lucksmiths, Ani Difranco and Damien Rice.

17. I love my loud, ranty, opinionated, cocky friends.

18. I love men in uniforms, suits and tuxedos.

19. I love riding in trains and on subways. I dislike buses and planes.

20. I love my job. I wish I could do it forever.

21. I love perfume and I can't stop buying different ones.  But I've always loved the idea of having a signature scent.

22. I love hosting parties but I don't think I'm a very good hostess.

23. I love my apartment, particularly the balconies.

24. I love that I live, work 2 jobs, party and make art with Na and I still never get sick of her.

25. I love afternoon naps. I think I'm going to go and have one.

I don't think this needs words, which is good because I wouldn't even know where to start:

How To Make A Fifi

How could I not share this with the world?

There are bulidings and there are bridges and there are libraries, but it's the people... oh, it's the people that make it something... A sample:

The Sailor I met in Sydney airport during the delay from hell. He was wearing a white uniform. He watched my beer for me. We talked of Whitman and Poe.

Ian the Irish car salesman who took charming to a level beyond anything I've seen. He picked me up when I fell over in the ice. He bought me tequila. He made a snow angel for me. He said 'I'm roasting' when he was really hot, and agreed that it was ok that I said 'awesome' because I didn't say it like an American.

Dustin from South-East Missouri who came out with such gems as 'why does everybody like Obama so much', 'well we have massacres and our Government doesn't make us give the guns back', and 'taking the piss, is that like the hockey player who peed on his girlfriend?'

The Englishman, The Dane, The Kiwi and The Scot who'd all met in San Antonio and had decided to go to South America together.

Hope from Chicago who was moving to San Francisco and was just awesome. We ate at the Steps of Rome and negotiated overzealous Danes together.

Ernesto from Portland, Oregon who had cycled around Australia (for 9 months) & took me on a walk around Lincoln Park and to SF MoMA and made me watch Big Sur.

Fay who worked at the Tortoise who was delightful and affectionate beyond imagining and whose boyfriend wouldn't let her in the house if she hadn't had a pedicure.

Jack, a Hawks fan from Perth who was indescribably gracious about the Grand Final and guilted me into going on the Tortoise Pub Crawl.

Mark, KellieAnn, Sarah and Craig who all stopped crawling on the pub crawl with me and Jack at the 3rd bar and who (for varying reasons) made me laugh more than I'd laughed in weeks.

Mark who ran the Berkeley hostel who was on a 'spiritual path' but had no idea what he believed in & tried to tell me that there was nothing intellectual about Da Vinci. For all his 'spirituality' he had no qualms in trying to force beer upon a Tibetan Buddhist girl who had made a committment to Buddha never to drink...

all the random Americans who chatted to me in stores, on sidewalks, on public transport, in hostels, in bus stations, in bars and in libraries. They thought I was Irish, they told me their prison stories, they couldn't fathom the difference between theatre and film, they asked me if I'd embraced Jesus today, they thought Sharon Stone was Australian, they thought New Zealand was Australian, and they were almost universally certain that I would be the next Baz Luhrmann.

Up ridiculously early on Saturday morning to walk up to the San Marcos Greyhound to be there (as requested) an hour before my 6.05am bus. Turns out the Greyhound station doesn’t actually open until 6.30am, so stood in the dark and cold out the back of the station for an hour chatting to a Texan guy who had been similarly misled. Plane to Dallas. Saw an iPod vending machine in the airport, nearly bought some 80% off WASP bling. Plane to San Fran. Couldn’t find the shuttles so had to get a taxi to The Green Tortoise hostel. Was there long enough to dump my bags on my bay window seat-cum-bed before being picked up by Seth, Marian and Jacob and taken out to Marin County for some solid host-family catch up. Delightfully stunned by 12 years passage affecting friendship and love not at all. Ended up staying for dinner and wine and chats and sleepover (which perplexed the children somewhat).

Back over the bridge to SF Sunday morning, met my roommates, Loren (South Africa via New Zealand) & Hope (Chicago) & went off for a day’s sightseeing with Loren. Wandered around Fisherman’s Wharf & ate some overpriced seafood. Walked up to Fort Mason. Bus down to Golden Gate Park, observed Hippy Hill in all its drum-jam glory. Back to the hostel for free live music in the ballroom. Hope & I got chatting & beering with Michael & Jantle (Denmark). Took a late night walk down to the pier. 4am arrived at some point.

Took our day of rest on Monday with neighbourhood pizza & a walk through Chinatown. Free dinner, bless the Tortoise.

Up early on Tuesday to watch the inauguration. Much cheer in the ballroom. Go Obama. Down to Union Square for some aimless shopping and then out to dinner at the Steps of Rome Café in Little Italy with Hope. Free Obama keg of beer in the ballroom, bless the Tortoise. Cheer and chat and cards and curly fries with Hope, Faye (Tortoise), Joel (Georgia), Ernesto (Portland, Oregon), Chris, Kate (UK) and others.

Chinatown again (scarily authentic food – even more scarily authentic fish in barrels and battery hens) and movies on Wednesday.

Intended to hit Golden Gate Park again on Thursday, got as far as Ocean Beach and ended up walking around the cliffs on the Coastal Trail through Lincoln Park to China Beach. So unbelievably beautiful. Hit half-price SF MoMA that evening. Some neat Matisses, a happiness-inducing Rothko & interesting modern & interactive art but generally not a patch on Boston or NY. Sated a 3-day craving with Jumbo Prawn Pad Thai. More happy ballroom chats back at the Tortoise.

Was planning to check out Friday, but an email from the Bancroft Library folks over at Berkeley suggested that I would be better off spending my weekend in San Francisco. Went back down to Union Square – still thoroughly confused by American sizing but managed to come away with some gems, including a muchly reduced Steve Madden jacket which I adore… The plan for an early Friday night (after free dinner, bless the Tortoise) was thwarted by Aussie Jack insinuating that it would be lame for me not to go on the Tortoise run pub crawl. All bars in North Beach look the same. Discounted beer is discounted. Pool balls in America ARE bigger than pool balls in Australia. Frivolity with American (Sarah), Scottish (Craig), Irish (Mark and KellieAnn) and Jack. Back at the hostel one of the pro skateboarders, Glenco got me to play some weird dice game at which I surprisingly excelled...

Woke up Saturday morning with about $15 in quarters in my pockets. Another, er, lazy day… Out for tea in the afternoon with Adrian and Shannon. Chinese New Year celebrations and the fact that there’s a nightclub underneath the hostel made sleep an effort. At about 3am there was a chinese dragon band playing beneath our window… Bless the Tortoise.

I’m in a stark, low rent motel room on the edge of a highway. The Econo Lodge Marcos is located literally on the ‘wrong’ side of the tracks – 2 sets of them actually – which makes the walk back here at the end of the day rather interesting (think a large number of auto parts shops, derelict gas stations, the occasional clapboard cottage with the screen door hanging off its hinges and one rather suspect looking saloon) and venturing out after dark seemingly unwise. Nevertheless I’m delighted to be in a room with a queen bed, my own bathroom and a tv.

San Marcos, once you cross the tracks and get into the town proper, is quite lovely. The ‘town’ consists pretty much of four streets surrounding the country courthouse. Highlights thus far are Sean Patrick’s Irish Pub (which further proved my sense that Irish Pubs are exactly the same everywhere you go, with the possible exception of Ireland) and The Coffee Pot Espresso Bar where I had the best coffee I’ve had since leaving New York and is the only place I’ve found in Texas where they serve things with vegetables in them. On the west side of town is the San Marcos River which is absolutely beautiful and is apparently fed by 200 million gallons of spring water every day… (I’m not sure how this happens; potentially it’s a prop to the US Bottled Water Industry…)

I’m researching at Texas State University which takes up the whole north end of the town. Very pretty university. Awesome research, especially because they don’t seem to be obeying their own rules and are letting me photocopy just about anything and view material that’s supposed to be restricted… However, every day that I spend in a library that isn’t at the University of Virginia makes me more convinced that that’s the one archive that I really needed to go to…

When I first got here I had this uncomfortable feeling that people were looking at me funny when I was walking down the street… It took me a while to realise that this isn’t because I stand out as a tourist or they’re planning to jump me – it’s because I’m walking. Specifically, I’m walking from somewhere to somewhere, as opposed from the door of my massive 4-wheel-drive to Jack-in-the-Box. Actually, they don’t even do that here cos everywhere has drive-thru. Fast food, liquor, electronics… People don’t walk in Texas. This may be due to the fact that it’s bigger than France.

This state is messing with my mind, particularly in a sartorial sense. Today I nearly bought a grey marle zip up men’s hoodie with ‘Texas State’ emblazoned across the front. How can I explain this? I don’t own a single item of clothing that could be described as a sweatshirt. I would never wear such a thing, even while slumming on the couch in front of Grey’s Anatomy. But the Texans all look so cute in their college sweats. And their pony tails. And their high-waisted jeans… I am clinging tight to the memory of my Brunswick St/Wicked/‘lizard’ coat to remind myself what I wear in winter when I’m not living out of a bag the size of a pillowcase.

Due to a confluence of circumstances too detailed to go into here (MLK weekend in the main) I’m leaving Texas earlier than anticipated – bus back to Austin on Saturday morning & then onto a plane to San Francisco. Going to be catching up with friends of mine from 12 years ago and my host mum. Whee!.

Right now I’m watching Will & Grace, drinking a bottle of Nobilo that I had to open with my house key, a pen & a keyring cos a) wine bottles in Texas no have screw caps and b) Econo Lodge no fancy enough to have a corkscrew anywhere in the establishment. Missing my girls somewhat…

Tuesday – 6th Jan
Called the Center early morning & managed to convince them to let me come in that day. The work, once I got there, was great. So many notebooks and amazingness. Highlights: the annotated playscript from the 2002 NY prod of True West with changes by Sam; finding a goodly number of the 13 original ‘versions’ of TW; discovering that in heaps of them the version of the Austin character is called Frankie; lots of general proof that I’m right about stuff; “In the poison air East of L.A.. In the high heat of the valley. In between tennis clinics & violent marriage. This story takes place”.

Went with the Hostel group to a comedy night on Boylston St. Once very funny nerdy looking 19 year old kid, one very funny and very attractive guy recently sans wisdom teeth, many very ordinary comedians, one extremely annoying host.

Wednesday – 7th Jan
Possibly the best day of the trip so far. Butted in on a conversation at breakfast with something along the lines of ‘yes, well obviously you think that because you’re from Sydney, douchebag’ and ended up meeting a bunch of hostel randoms, viz: Mike from Sheffield, studying at U of Illinois; Ian from Dublin via Iraq; Chris from Dublin; and Pieter from the Netherlands. Decided we’d hit up MIT and explore the Museum that the Irish boys had heard existed there. Tramped out into an exceedingly miserable Boston day – rain, rain and so much rain. Got lost. Found the T. Found MIT. Got lost. Got lunch. Found the museum. Lots of engineering coolness, wicked holograms, nifty art-meets-science machine sculpture things (esp a moving violin with ostrich feather thing which delighted me and baffled the lads), awesome photography bit on the work of Harold Edgerton (whose stuff I saw later at the MFA), really bad video of MIT students doing The Winter’s Tale. Back to the hostel for about 20 minutes before Mike & I joined a group of girls from Perth going to the Museum of Fine Art while Chris, Ian & Pieter went to the Celtics game.

The museum was up there on the best bits of my trip. I ditched the others (such a good plan) and went off exploring on my own. Got through about a quarter of the collection cos the place is fricken huge and so full of unbelievable artworks of spectacular beauty. There are Pollocks hung casually in the corridors. Special exhibition of photography by Yousuf Karsh who is my new fave portrait photographer, surprise packet in a room of Winslow Homer paintings, an oh-my-freaking-God room of European Old Masters in which I was breathless & a little teary & an Impressionists room in which I actually sat down and had a little weep.

Back to the hostel where we were hailed by two girls from Wollongong – Rachel and Mel - who’d been told to look out for us to join the beer plans for the evening. We also gained Nathan from Melbourne and Sebastian from Chile. A quick but treacherous (drizzle falling and freezing on the pavement, danger of slipping and falling on your arse extremely high) walk up Boylston St took us to McGreevy’s  - a thoroughly Americanized “Irish” “Pub” (read: Sports Bar with a picture of a bearded guy and a couple of shamrocks on the wall). Beer. I am forcing myself to be adventurous with my ordering and not just drinking Corona and Stella everywhere (which would be very easy). It’s having mixed results. Winter Ale is not very good. Boston Ale was ok. But even the good beers are still flat. The authenticity of the pub went up a few notches when the Irish & Dutch boys arrived. More beer. Video game golf at which I was actually surprisingly brilliant. Tequila. Beer. Bars in Boston close at 2am and they are not kidding about that. It’s a ‘we don’t care, finish your drinks and get out of here’ mentality. Got about 4 meters down the street before I slipped and fell on my arse. Thankfully the tequila made this amusing and my coat made it not wet. Back to the hostel where we met a German duo, Thomas and Gerald (no, really) who gave us contraband beer. Chris, Ian and I taught Gerry to play Shithead. I lost. About 3 it started snowing so, natch, Ian and I decided it was time for a walk. Found a beautiful old church. Found a park (which I now cannot re-find). Slide (wet, very slippery), swings (nauseating – see tequila above), reeds (sinky – may have actually been on the pond under 3 feet of snow), snow angels (wet, cold). Hostel, shower, thoroughly pissed off everyone else in my room by crashing into my top bunk in rm205 at 630am.

Thursday 8th Jan
Woken at 9.30 by roommates getting me back for the previous evening. Dragged myself downstairs to snaffle a bagel before breakfast finished. Spent the day reading Perlman, snoozing in rm304, watching snow fall out the window of our room, eating delicious Thai curry, trying to remember the name of the Flux Capacitor, watching Back to the Future (I and half of II) before more bed and the most delicious night’s sleep I’ve had in the US thus far.

Friday 9th Jan
Sad end to previous night’s bliss. Hit Newbury St with Mike & bought a much-needed Hoodie at American Apparel. Tom Yum-my lunch. Farewelled the Irish & the Germans who were braving the drive to the Canadian side of Niagara. Met some new girls (Kate & Steph) from (surprise, surprise) Sydney and a guy from “South-East Missouri” (oh, so exactly what you’d expect). Went out with them, Mike & Nathan for ‘home cooking’ at the Boston Market and then beer at the Pour House. Back to the hostel for much chinwagging (& meeting a guy from Gisborne who lives in Dublin & Henry from Florida) before pissing off my (new) roommates in rm206 by crashing into bed at 2.

Saturday 10th Jan
Aborted start to the day by leaving & then realising I was wearing the wrong shoes & having to go back to the hostel. Took the train over to Cambridge & wandered through Harvard. Snowy, delightfully beautiful, lots of smart people. Got thoroughly lost. Saw some interesting industrial downtown parts of Cambridge. Found the Harvard Art Museum (some cool Rubens’ and van Gogh’s Three Pairs of Shoes).

Stolen from Na.

1.What did you do in 2008 that you'd never done before?
Lived in an apartment, went to New York,

2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions and will you make more for next year?
I don’t make resolutions.

3. Did anyone you know give birth?
Yes

4. Did anyone you know die?
Yes

5. What countries did you visit?
US

6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
Full houses.

7. What date from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
5 March – Zoe’s 21st birthday & the night I left my dignity in an alley behind the Phoenix
16 May – the day & night of moving into Braddon
20 September – a spectacularly bad end to a very good night
1 Nov – Greatest Wedding Ever
30 Nov – Scrabble, 500, Tiger & Tanq in Paradise with the card crew, 3 of my favourite people

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
I was proud of my plays.

9. What was your biggest failure?
Not moving on.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Nothing from which I did not recover.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
My green leather coat from Brunswick St.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Lots of people. Honourable mentions to Na, Hew, Cara & Lize’s dad.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Appalled – Sunrise, specifically their ‘hot topic of the day’ guests; mine at times.
Depressed – again, mine at times.

14. Where did most of your money go?
Rent. Gin. My green leather coat from Brunswick St.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Avenue Q on Broadway, the US presidential election, Depot, manuscripts & stuff in Shepard's hand.

16. What song will always remind you of 2008?
Josh Pyke’s Staring Down the Sun; The Smiths’ Cemetery Gates

17. Compared to this time last year, are you: happier or sadder, thinner or fatter, richer or poorer?
Happier, thinner, poorer. I’m walking proof that money doesn’t buy happiness but if I had it it would buy food.

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Work.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
a) drinking; b) sitting on the couch or absquatulating in coffee shops as a direct result of a).

20. How will you be spending Christmas?
I spent it in Bronxville with family and family’s distant relations

21. Did you fall in love in 2008?
Fall? No.

23. How many one-night stands?
1 ½. Or maybe 1 ¾, depends how you count. 

24. What was your favourite TV program?
How I Met Your Mother; Battlestar Galactica

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
Only people I didn’t know (or know about) this time last year.

26. What was the best book you read?
I assume this means read for the first time… Tie between The Golden Gate by Vikram Seth and The Brooklyn Follies by Paul Auster

27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
The Smiths; Rufus Wainwright

28. What did you want and get?
An apartment

29. What did you want and not get?
A settlement.

30. What was your favourite film of this year?
I think I only saw one or two ‘of’ this year… I enjoyed Control. ooh, and The Dark Knight.

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
An endless stream of food & drink related activities – morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea, gin, wine, dinner, wine at Gods’, Vivaldi, Vivaldi, Uni Pub, Braddon, Edgars and Braddon. I turned 28.

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Sam, or his agent, or his lawyer or anyone getting back to me about the Virginia collection.

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?
Dresses. Boots. Coats.

34. What kept you sane?
Who. Na, Cara, Lize & Sar.

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Hot Teacher had me going pretty strong for the 3 or so weeks he was around. Other than him it’s still Jude.

36. What political issue stirred you the most?
The apology.

37. Who did you miss?
My sister and brother. Latterly, Danger.

38. Who was the best new person you met?
Zoe. With special mentions to Cara, Sam & Charlie who I met in 07, but didn’t know until 08.

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008:
Travel.

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
You gotta go after the things you want while you're still in your prime
There’s a fine, fine line between love and a waste of time.