Reading my book (Currently Louis de Bernieres A Partisan's Daughter)
Exercising (But I have been for an hour's walk today.
Completing this month's Furious Fiction
Completing the online flat inspection that I really think is unnecessary
What am I doing?
Catching up on Grey's Anatomy.
Grey's Anatomy is one of those crack shows. It's fluff. It's long running. It's been around for nearly two decades, and like other long running shows, you can pick it back up after years and still know most of the characters.
It's easy to watch. Okay, there is the occasional bit of gore, but basically, it's fluff. And it beats watching the news. And it's fun to watch fake dramas, not real ones for a change.
And they all wear masks, so it's like their in Melbourne at the moment.
So that is what I'm doing. Procrastinating by getting absorbed in Grey's Anatomy.
I suppose there could be worse things to be doing.
I know I should change my breakfast television viewing, but it's hard to change long standing habits. Besides, where will I find my daily dose of mildly offensive right-wing outrage, wrapped up in cotton wool and served with a pile of shit if I don't watch Karl Stefanivic and the even more annoying Allison Langdon (who is only marginally more palatable than Deb Knight, and nowhere near as classy as Lisa Wilkinson - who used to be the reason I watched it to begin with).
Okay, I confess, one of the reasons I do tune into the Today show. There is entertainment value when you throw things at the telly on Friday mornings when Peter Dutton comes on (Chicken wire has been installed to protect it). And Pauline Hanson, though thankfully they've kicked her off for being a moronic racist. Jacqui Lambie shows up sometimes - I will give her five minutes as she's less inclined to sell herself out. (sometimes).
I also watch the Today Show for the entertainment section. Movies and music get discussed daily and it helps keep me up on a few of the trends. I've got a lot of time for Brooke Boney, who has a decent head on her shoulder.
So this morning, during the 7.45 slot, they celebrated the album, (What's The Story) Morning Glory's 25th birthday.
There are very few albums which can transport me back to a place like this one.
It's an album I can sing from end to end, quite happily. It came out in my annus horribilus, 1997, but it came out after the worst of the dust has settled.
You only have to play Wonderwall and I'm transported back to London, normally down the the Red Lion pub after drama class, with a pint in one hand and a plate of jalepeno poppers in the other. There were nights when we'd go out after. I remember one night going clubbing with the group, holding the hand of the bloke I was singing (what was his name?) singing Champagne Supernova as we made our way towards Soho.
Of course, the album was on repeat at the downstairs neighbour's place - an Aussie/Kiwi flat, full of people I'm still in touch with. You Gotta Roll with It, Hello, and Don't Look Back in Anger are songs that would roll out of their kitchen window, or get played at the every regular back yard get togethers we used to have.
This is an album that became part of the zeitgeist - one that can date me as much as Alanis Morrissette's Jagged Little Pill. But this one lingers with a different beat. Where as Jagged Little Pill reminds me of people, this reminds me of specific times, specific moments.
Any my favourite song off the album? Cast No Shadow. It's the one ballad on the album that never did that well, but I think it shows Oasis at it's best.
I've been in a bit of a reflective mode today. How can that have been 25 years?
We've been locked down under Level Four restrictions for sixty days now.
It's become the new normal.
While the rest of the country can do stuff - go to the gym, eat at restaurants, go to the movies, have people over, travel - we in Melbourne, cannot. We can't go out of a five kilometre radius from home, with very few exceptions. Cinemas, bars, restaurants, gyms and bars are closed. Most shops are closed. You can go to the supermarket, the chemist, buy petrol and order crap online. If you're single, you can visit a friend, on their own. You're allowed out of the house for two hours a day. Finally, we can train in the park again. We can't get our hair cut (though dog groomers are back in business). Dentists are back to work. I might see if I can schedule into the podiatrist, just to get some human touch. Cuddles are banned. Handshakes are poison. You wear a mask everywhere outside. I won't complain about the masks. I'm used to them now.
The borders are still locked down. Melbournites aren't allowed out of Melbourne.
These measures are working. But it's hard.
But it's a new normal for the moment.
I don't like to think about the things I've missed over the last six months, let along sixty days.
Just a few of those things:
My uncle's funeral
My mother's 80th birthday
The MTC productions for the whole of the year
The Pixies concert - that was one of the first concerts to get cancelled.
The Alanis Morrissette concert - hopefully postponed til next year.
My love life
Breakfast with friends
Dinner with friends
Birthdays at restaurants
Cuddles with Blarney's kittens
There's lots more stuff. I'm not going to dwell on these things.
I just look at the day count. Sixty days in Stage Four lock down.
It's been a long work day. They happen, they're frustrating and make for a long day - bit it's nothing that a session in the park hauling weights does't partly fix.
So, it's monthly check in day. I'm not going to mess around tonight. Too tired.
My September goals were:
Walk 100 kilometres over the month.
Though not perfectly attained, exercise was maintained over the month. I'm good with this. Still exercising 4-6 times a week.
Read fifty pages a day
This was done - no perfectly, but I read four books over September. I read:
Below Deck by Sophie Hardcastle
City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert
Black Rock, White City by AS Patric
Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeild
Write three chapters of the novel
This got done. Wish I'd done more. Unfortunately a lot of this will need to be scrapped. Ah well.
Clean out the spare room
Yeah, didn't happen. Mind you, I have a virtual flat inspection that needs to be done by the end of next week - oh what fun. So some cleaning will be done this weekend.
Take a black and white photo a day
Did this. Loved this. I really enjoy taking photos. What made this harder was not being able to go out of a 5 km radius. I've posted the photos every day, It's been fun.
And get the mason's books done
Yeah - still haven't finished these, but they are on the way. Again, not being able to go out of a 5 km radius means I can't get the books to where they need to go. On the good side of things, I had my tax done today - this is a big win.
And my goals for October:
Continue reading 50 pages a day.
This is good for me. I like this challenge.
Exercise for an hour a day.
Again, this one keeps me sane. And doable. One day a week can be a stretch class / Pilates or something along those lines.
Get the mason's books done.
This is getting a bit silly. It just needs to be done.
Write 500 words of the novel each day
I have to get serious with this novel. The Faber Course is over and I really, really want this.
Keep discretionary spending down to an absolute minimum.
Time to get saving. So let's see what can be done. I know I have a big bill in November, so I need to save some cash.
Get a hug from somebody who isn't a cat
I get my cuddles from cats at the moment. I want a hug from a human. Hoping after 19 October, or sometime this month I can get a surrepticious hug of somebody. What Dan don't know don't hurt him.
Today marked the last day of the Faber Writing a Novel course.
And I'm sad. Really sad.
We had to say goodbye to our wonderful teachers and our weekly classes. Gone are the weekly story tellings, the camaraderie, the listening to what everybody is reading.
And the class are all amazing writers - stunning writers, with wonderful stories to tell.
We now have a month to get our submissions for the Faber Anthology ready - I think there will be some workshopping done over that, but it's over, and it's been wonderful.
And we were all suitably emotional about leaving this behind.
Mood: Better now I know what this bloody song is about.
Black and White Photo Challenge: Day Twenty-Eight
'I'm a prima donna...'
I love a good malapropism and this one takes the cake.
I've had today's song of the day in my head most of the weekend. For the life of me, yesterday afternoon I could not give you the name of the song, let along the name of the band. I really only thought I knew the first line of the song, which I've always sung as "I'm a prima donna..."
I love the saxaphone in this. I rather like reggae - not all reggae all the time, but a little bit of it goes down well. But the mix of the sax and the bass and the drums and the strange lyrics make it great.
So last night, earworm throbbing, I went online. What was this mysterious song? Who sings it. Will it make my seventies inspired song of the day listing?
Well, not quite. It was released in February 1980. I was 12 when then happened. But as it's two months out I'll let it through.
Into google goes the first line.... 'I'm a prima donna...".
And the first thing to come up - UB40's Lost and Found.
The song I've had stuck in my head for the last three days. It's a sax riff I've loved since I first heard it as a teenager, back before I loved the Pixies - indeed before the Pixies even existed.
I just love that everybody else appears to have been singing the first line incorrectly. It isn't 'I'm a prima donna, diving in the dust", it's 'Ivory Madonna dying in the dust."
I really don't care. As earworms go, this is a good one.
Curfew. 9 p.m (And they're lifting the curfew from tomorrow morning - YAY!)
Mood: Calm and Fine - waiting to see what restrictions are loosening
Black and White Photo Challenge: Day Twenty-Seven
It's been eight weeks. We've been locked down for eight long weeks - unable to travel outside of a 5 kilometre (3 mile) bubble, with a curfew, able to leave home for only limited reasons. Today we find out what they're going to let us do - which still won't be much - but it's something. I'm hoping I can start working out with my trainer in the park. Maybe a few more shops will be open. I'm not betting that the gym will be open or I can go to the cinema just yet. But we're doing well. Numbers are down into the teens (that's the new cases). It is what it is. I'm over the political bickering and the angsty teenage media.
Like everything, this too shall pass.
Right I had better get these questions done as I'm going for a walk at 2 pm.
1. Something someone told you about yourself that you never forgot
I had a wonderful therapist who gave me my current mantra. I am stronger than I think I am and smart enough to do anything I want. Good words to live by.
2. What are your 3 top pet peeves
In no order:
Rude people
Whingers, whiners and complainers
Ignorance in all forms.
Unfortunately, this COVID crisis is bringing out all of these people n droves.
3. List five places you want to visit
At the moment I'm not allowed 5 km away from my front door, so anywhere would be nice. But here are some places I'd love to go at the moment:
I want to go back to Ubud in Bali
I'd love to do the Camino do Compostela de Santiago in Spain
I'd love to go back to the Northern Territory and explore
I want to go to Japan
And I'd love to spend a month in New York.
But if you ask me where I really want to go to now, here is my list:
The gym
The cinema
To visit Jonella down at her place at the beach
The Art Gallery
A cafe, where I can sit down with friends and have a meal
4. Share something you struggle with
My weight. Always have struggled with this.
I also struggle with people's selfishness and lack of compassion.
5. Post words of wisdom that speak to you.
Gandhi said it. "Be the change you want to see." Words to live by.
6. Something you always think “what if....?” about
Oh, I always ask myself what would have happened if Lachlan and I got together back in England. It didn't happen. It's not worth dwelling on, but it's something that crosses my mind every so often.
7. Five blessings in your life.
My health
My friends
My brain
My sense of humour
My cat
8. Something that you miss.
I miss a lot at the moment, especially as we are locked down, but I miss getting on a plane. I miss travelling. I miss seeing my friends. I miss going to the shops for more than food shopping. I miss having my book group at a cafe... I rather miss my old life, pre-COVID.
9. Post about your zodiac sign and whether or not it fits you.
I'm a Leo/Virgo - which basically means I'm a loyal, slightly loud, occasionally fierce, who is a bit of a cuddler who makes lists.
10. Think of a word. Search for it on Google images. Write something inspired by the 11th image.
The word is neophyte.:
I like it. (this wasn't the eleventh image, but some MMA fighter is known as neophyte and that wasn't what I was going for. It's a fabulous painting. I love the trepidation and hope in the neophyte's eyes.
11. Write about an area of your life that you’d like to improve.
My love life. COVID has taken mine away, I would like it back thank you very much. Though maybe have it occur in Melbourne and not Sydney, that might be nice.
12. What made you laugh out loud today.
Lucifer was doing zoomies around the house at 7 am. He's really cute when he does zoomies. He's just a funny beast.
13. What are your goals for the next 30 days.
They're quite simple. Loose 2 kgs (5 lbs) in weight, keep active and don't go mad. Oh and get my tax done and submit my piece for the Faber anthology. That will do.
14. Your highs and lows for the month
Highs: The Faber Academy, lots of lovely walks along the river, catching up with friends - even if it is on Zoom. I saw Raj in the park last weekend and it was lovely.
Lows: Listening to whining people and indeed our corrupt Federal Government. The loss of Ruth Bader Ginsberg was gutting too.
15. Favorite movies that you never get tired of watching.
In no apparent order:
The Princess Bride
Bull Durham
Three Colours: Blue
Logan Lucky
V is for Vendetta
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri
Henry V (1988)
Deadpool
Most of the Marvel Movies
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
There are lots that could be added to this list. Love movies.
16. Books you have read more than once.
Captain Corelli's Mandolin
The Narrow Road to the Deep North
The Handmaid's Tale
The Signature of All Things
Most of Shakespeare
All of the Harry Potter books
All of the Lemony Snicket Books
And I appear to read most of our book group books twice as I've often read them in the months before and I want to refresh my memory before the night.
17. Something about which you feel strongly.
Rupert Murdoch's news empire is evil and probably half the reason the world is in such a state.
18. Five things that make you really happy.
Ice cream
The smell of dogs paws in the morning
Swimming
Walking in the sunshine
Cuddles
19. What are you excited about?
I'm going around to see Blarney and her cats this afternoon. I'm also going for a walk with a friend in a bit. Looking forward to that too.
20. Three celebrity crushes
Oh, really.
Clive Owen has been my celebrity squeeze for years. He's awesome.
I've got a think for Tom Ellis, as soon on Lucifer. The big brown eyes and the melifluous voice is just wonderful. He's also got a lovely bum - Lucifer is testament to this.
I've also had a big soft spot for Cary Grant. He's been dead for decades, but he's just glorious.
