Monday, January 28, 2008

Okay on a needs basis...

This is nothing cerebral. Not celestial. No excessive gray matter needed here. But when I was little my sister's bedspread was always smoother. I figured even though they looked the same her b/s must have been a bit more expensive. I offered to swap, she took it up because I bribed her with an offer she couldn't refuse, but that so and so must have swapped it back while I wasn't looking because the new one never worked!

So this brings me to the main puzzle of my life.

Um...

Is it only my clothes - the ones that come home in my shopping bag to live with me until they die - that have

DO NOT TUMBLE DRY

????

Yes. I'm out there at the clothes line matching the socks, hanging the sheets, and the shirts. The t-shirts in their relationship to the color chart, and making sure that no item has a mismatched color peggery. Yet mine's the only clothesline on the block. Nobody else uses one. So? Does that mean? Every one else uses black magic - or - the - tumble - dryer?

Friday, January 25, 2008

I should have known. It should have occurred to me...

You would think that...
Having posted on Wednesday, that I'd notice that the next day was...
That I had to start thinking about...
That there was something missing out of my brain...

The rather fast around the week approaching was the 'but I only did it yesterday'...

THE BIG T
THIRTEEN OF THE BEST

THURSDAY THIRTEEN. But then why am I shouting?

So it's two days late. Sue me.

1. Because I should be writing.
2. Because I have to brush the dog.
3. Because I have to research my Regency novel.
4. Because I didn't have the car on Tuesday.
5. Because I had to tidy the study to find something.
6. Because I was paralysed without the internet.
7. Because It was raining
8. Because I only had one sock (the dog stole the other one)
9. Because I had a short story for my critique group.
10. Because I had to pay some bills (that time of the month).
11. Because I have too many Indians ringing me to offer me fantastic deals on phone calls.
12. Because I had 400 emails this week.
13. Because I had to drive my husband to work.

There.

Pardon?

Oh!

Um...

"Why I didn't iron this week."

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Yeah yeah


You are The Star


Hope, expectation, Bright promises.


The Star is one of the great cards of faith, dreams realised


The Star is a card that looks to the future. It does not predict any immediate or powerful change, but it does predict hope and healing. This card suggests clarity of vision, spiritual insight. And, most importantly, that unexpected help will be coming, with water to quench your thirst, with a guiding light to the future. They might say you're a dreamer, but you're not the only one.


What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.




This comes amazingly close to me, moi, myself.
Baby is learning to become a lap dog. I am learning about how hard it is to internet and write with a lap dog. Given that she is still a baby I'm glad she's not a Great Dane. I'd be in serious difficulties...

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

aaaaarrrrrrrrggggggghhhhhh

Yes. It's a scream from the hell of madness.

The modem broke. It took three days to work that out. Three days without the internet. Three days of madness.

No googling.
No interacting with the world I have come to know here on this internet community.

I was alone. ALONE! Cut off from information sources.
Cut off from everything comfortable. Emails.
Okay so the internet may creep in insipidly, take over my heart and mind, but since it is here:

AAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHH!

Saturday, January 19, 2008

Research

Drop everything!
Warning lights are flashing over the front door like the ON AIR outside a radio studio.
My lights say:

RESEARCH IN PROGRESS

This means a variety of things.

Piles of books accumulate. (I have books on a wide variety of subjects.)
Days are spent Goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooogle-ing
I walk around talking to myself.
Dinner is late.
Ironing never gets off the ground.
New characters are in my head demanding fresh fodder.
And if someone in India rings me up from a call centre, I am not a nice person.

You'd never know how much I enjoy it. You'd never suspect it'd be hard work.

Just don't disturb me.

I'm having too much fun.

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

T13 Just because

Just because this is here, and so am I and because I can...

1. I say actually a lot. Actually this, and actually that. HewhoWouldLovetobeObeyed wants to censor my actually. But actually, I actually don't give a stuff. I will say actually as many times as I want, actually.

2. I hate people who want to wash my windscreen. NO. NO. I DO NOT WANT YOU TO TOUCH MY CAR. You intimidate me. Invade my space. Go earn your dole check by helping little old ladies across the road. Your dole check comes out of my taxes and for that to be paid I get out of bed, catch a bus and go EARN it. Not beg for five cent sneaky undeclarable income.

3. Yes I'm a grump. Why? Because I can.

4. Today I feel flat, therefore I iron.

5. Yesterday my keyboard died. This one is a new one. Before it was given a burial in the garbade I tried the batteries. New ones. When I lifted it back to test I notice there was a decided history of dropped items into it's keys. Sesame seeds, breadcrumbs, pencil rubbings, paperclips (exaggeration but it's a because I ccan list right?)

6. I can also wave a you. Hello you. If you are here you deserve a wave. If I am still here waving at you in a few hours time that means (a) I have not written a word of novel. (b) my flat mood has not translated into a day of ironing. or (c) you have to have a c when you have an a and a b - but I don't have anything to put in it.

7. Today's lunch is definitely going to be a vegemite sandwich. If you don't know what that is, then don't ask. They used it once in an advertising campaign for Kraft which now owns it. "If you can sell this you can sell anything." was the slogan and it was sent to corporations. If you know then, hang five!

8. It's raining. I love rain. I adore rain. Have I ever told you how much I like rain?

9. If you have made it up to here on my T13 list I do have a bit of advice for you.
Get a life!

10. Zee's new challenge is excellent. I chose a picture and the sentence: He knew he would regret... I will probably post it here in a couple of week's time after the critiquing has been done by all the participants of my critique group.
11. There are names in links on this site for whom 2008 will be their brilliant year. Many of them have new publications coming out this year.

12. My second anthology story has been started. It's set in Regency times. I am enjoying the research and can rattle on quite a decent dialogue in Regency speak. "You are well suited to your pursuit of pleasure, Sir. I shall not hesitate to tell you this minute that in this, you definitely do not display laziness." Which is one way a heroine could complain about his use of the remote control whilst watching the sport's channels on television.

13. Around this time, there is something I love. It's the Military Tattoo in Edinburgh. I cannot tell you why, but it is very stirring. Perhaps all those drums and bagpipes tap the source of the inner ancient me.

And all that is left is to wave at you again.

Thursday, January 10, 2008

T13 - trying the fathoms...

80,000 fathoms beneath the sea is a creature called:

Man Reasoning.

A woman needs a submarine to fathom them and even then ????

1. WHY is it okay when he tells you to park here? If I tell him, it's nagging. He tells me and it's supposed to be a gentle nudge of logic.

2. WHY don't men ask directions? Need I say more?

3. WHAT'S wrong with the lights? Red means stop, green means go. WHY drive 60 kilometres the other way to avoid the lights. Especially when it was man that invented the damn things.

4. WHY do men think it's strange to rinse the dishes before they go into the diswasher? It's not an insinkerator. And the stuff'll smell if you don't start the machine for a couple of days.

5. WHY, when I tell him he needs something new, I mean half a dozen, yet he'll go all the way to the shop and buy one?

6. WHY, when he does the dishes, is there always 'something' he's missed washing or putting away?

7. WHY do I bother ironing his t-shirts? I put them into very satisfyingly neat little piles and the following week, when my next little pile goes in, the previous one needs ironing again? (This question is really Why am I so stupid?)

8. WHY do I have to tell him that mowing the lawn is dangerous in thongs? Am I the Goddess of Safety? Why would goggles when cutting wood be such a good idea. Is it just me and the one who invented them that can see the potential accident waiting for your husband to happen?

9. WHY are the singlets and tee shirts always inside out? ... ??? ...

10. WHY does he hate going to the supermarket with me? We only go for two or three things, but honestly, can I help it if I see fifty other things I needed. Lightbulbs? Matches? Candles for the next blackout?

11. WHY does he think pockets are for putting things in? No they aren't. Women have it right. They keep the stuff in their bags. No, not him. Still, I guess he thinks it's fun finding the biro in the bottom of the washing machine, or the business card from his shirt pocket? It used to be fun. I did fund some jewellery with washed coins I'd save from them into high numbers from this little caper, but he discovered my secret and bought a coin pouch. Since then it's been a desert of biros and business cards all the way.

12. WHY doesn't he think that hanging his jacket evenly on the coathanger might stop it from getting odd little bumps in it?

13. WHY is this creature so sort after by we women? Some of us marry them in job lots, up to three and four repeat times? Some of us write romances based on this strange creature. What is it about women that they'd punish themselves like this? I mean, all it gets us is a strange creature who does all of the above. Gives us a few babies, some of which might be carbon copies and turn into 13 year olds. Do I need to hang onto one of these strange creatures because they can tune the television?/open bottle tops?/hold an awful kishke-jarring thing called a lawn mower?/change car tyres?/unflatten flat batteries?/carry suitcases?/reads my m/s without complaint?/likes my cooking?/is my best friend?/oh heck... I'd hate to see his T13 on me up on cloud 9.

I do love that Hewhowouldlovetobeobeyed.

Saturday, January 5, 2008

The Heavens are Hungry

Yes. Heaven is watering our garden today. The waves on the beaches are thrashing the shore. Huge, very dramatic four meter waves pound the sand clawing back the sand beyond the thrashing whitewash edge of the Tasman Sea, which is what it is where I live in Sydney.

Slightly inland, where I live it is simply raining.

When I am writing these days in Coward's Castle there is a lovely spot outside where I set up my laptop and listen to the birds. One of the birds is Qantas since we are ever so slightly affected with traffic coming into land from far flung places. I love aeroplanes. I have since I was a kid. For me they spell exotique. They can take me places where I join my imagination.

Places I'd love to go:

1. New York. The big apple. Things happen here. People happen. I get a buzz. I think it's an either hate or love place - you do or you don't. I'm a do.

2. London. Was there twice in 07. Love to do a duo again. My son lives there. He loves it. Jump on a train over the canal and you can get to:

3. Paris. Different. Walkable. Eye Candy. Daughter loved NY, then London, then decided she'd do a Liza Doolittle there, open a corner bloom shop and live a dream. Me? I'd rather New York. But then there's...

4. Switzerland. We went there often in aroundabout the seventies, when I lived in Nigeria. Yes I did live in Nigeria. What was it like? It was strictly love/hate. I hated the robbers. They were scary. I loved drives in the country where we met the people. They are gorgeous. I want to go back but I don't. I don't want to spoil my memories of what I had back in those days because I suspect they are long gone. Not the lovely people in the country, they will never change. It's the cities that change. The cities which drag the innocent in to lose their innocence. Where the robbers get hungry for the spoils of theft. But at the moment it's Switzerland I talk of. That place where on-time means just that. Where the whiteness of mountains full of pines, where - oh just go there if you can. It's picture postcard. Which reminds me that I often went to:

5. Italy. I love Italy. The scooters hooting and tooting their way through the paved streets. I love the chaos that it is. So if you meet a long lost cousin in the street in your cars, you stop, have a chat. Horns toot, other Italians who don't know how long it is since you met cannot get through but Hay! Mama Mia! I haven't seen Gianni in two weeks! Wait! Wait! Mama Mia! Just for your screaming and tooting and the time I'm wasting telling you crazies to waste I have to spend longer cos you're interrupting me... hay hay...

6. Hong Kong. We lived here for a year. Well Hewhoshouldbeobeyed Lord Muck lived here for a year. I wafted in and out like Lady Muck backing and forthing between here and Sydney, while my children created havoc on their own at home 'alone'. There is a magic about Hong Kong. Indefinable. We lived in Mosque Street, near the escalators on the mainland. Not too far away from the Governor General's house and near where one took the cable train to the lookout. There was a bird in the tree across the road that I called the whoopee bird. I have no idea what it was but it was annoying. It did something like...

Whoop -> higher Whoop -> Higher WHOOP -> Even HIGHER WHOOP and then it'd wait. Or you'd wait, wait, wait, wait, come on you darn bird do it! Do it! Come on bird go go go <- <- <- <- <- then the whistle would go down the scales like a Nazi bomb just buzzing over wartime London.

7. Los Angeles. You are probably wondering why I've included this when I could go for places such as Amsterdam, or Antwerp. Wait. Los Angeles. I just like it. I can't explain. And also:

8. San Francisco. Ahhhhh. The Presidio. For some reason I have latched onto this treasure. It sings to me. Right under the armpit of the wonderful red bridge is this old army barracks/base. I can hear the beat of the music of that place of soldiers living their days, of the big bands of the era with the likes of Frank Sinatras singing big band songs, of those lives lived and lost at infancy of later teenagehood and early twenties...

9. Amsterdam. Only been there once but it was great. We did a bike trip. I discoverd that my bottom had feelings and that feeling it at the end of a day-trip through those streets out into the country kept me standing for at least two days afterwards.

10. New York. Did I say that already... Mmmm well... New Orleans. Oh my God is it hot in New Orleans. WE were there before the big storm. I loved it and I am sad for it. I'm not sure I want to see it in case it's lost some of that magic that was it. Day time, night time... fun time. Boy but was it hot there.

11. Solomon Islands. Now I have a memory of this place. A certain little island there that we stayed on by default. A no room at the Inn situation. The owner gave us the hut on the island owned by him a mile away by speed boat. We'd spent the day with people who reminisced about the Japanese soldiers left behind - never to surrender - after WWII and the battles of the Guada Canal. I was fascinated by the stories of how they'd put up speakers about the various islands and try to entice the soldiers out, telling them that the war was over. That was until the generator's one hour supply stopped and we were alone in the hut on our own island in the Pacific, just the two of us and oh no! How many Japanese soldiers?????? My husband reassured me. "Never mind we just shove our camera out the window and scream 'Mitzubishi, Toyota, Samsung, Canon!' We woke up in one piece in the morning and walked the silver shores completely alone in the world the next morning, at early dawn. Magic, absolute magic.

12. Israel. Jerusalem. Tel Aviv. Haifa. It's one of those places, which, like Switzerland lives up to your wildest imagination.

13. Here I am at thirteen and only starting. Two days ago I went on a trip to the Hunter Valley, the wine growing area. On the bus were people from all over the world and one couple from the US base in Okinawa. So I thought I must include Japan. It is wonder. Again I've only been there once and that was a long time ago. The people were so lovely. Welcoming and friendly.

And I will stop here because I'm making this my Thursday 13, late as usual.

I need to do a wash. It's not raining at the moment. It hasn't all morning. I just know if I hang a wash out it's going to open up the Heavens and make them hungry all over again.

Or I will write.

That's one of the reasons why it's nice to be an author. You always always always have an excuse.