august 30, 2004
all i want for my birthday is...
Mark Latham as Prime Minister ♥.
The Australian Federal Election has been set for the day after my birthday, Saturday October 9. Please go vote in a manner which will help get the Coalition out of power.
♥ Actually presents would be lovely too, but a change of government is most important. For everybody.
pipstar @ 01:04 PM | link | Comments: *******
august 30, 2004
pippa... striving for excellence with every day.
I have been sitting and reading Shiver , The Buddha of Suburbia and A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. I listen to The Shins, Joanna Newsom, Grant Lee Buffalo and The Decembrists.
I picked camellias and freesias at my grandma's house while my clothes were being washed. My room is now so scented that I have to shutter the bowl of freesias away on my window sill while I sleep.
I'm worried that now that I've decided that I want to write, I'll be too self-conscious to type or write anything apart from daily descriptions and glorified shopping lists. Or else I'll be hyper-self-aware and frame my lifestyle with popular culture references. Not that there's anything wrong with that...
Actually, there probably is something terribly wrong with this, something wanting to be honest but which comes out horribly contrived, but I'll go ahead anyway...
I have a pair of green, pointed, flat yet girly (nay, ladylike) shoes on layby. They are an excellent, almost perfect green and will make me most happy when I finally have them in my posession. And I've commited to the purchase of cutlery - also on layby - as I realised that we only have 1 fork in the house.
Buying cutlery which doesn't have a plastic handle and hangs from a rack? To buy it myself feels like an admission of singleness... In my mind the first major cutlery outlay should be provided as a gift when a couple moves in together or gets married.
I emphasise "couple" as I find that I am paying far too much heed to the fact that I am single and not in any way in a relationship. I blame the popular press because I feel that I may be behaving a little too much like some kind of neurotic Bridget Jones clone, though thankfully minus the smoking, drinking and food related guilt issues. Though I do need to start doing yoga again. I've definitely put on weight.
If I do yoga I will be able to fit into my bathing suits and look super good in them. And I will be strong and calm. Wearing fashionable swimwear.
I should be thinking of my life in more of an I'm Carrie Bradshaw, I live in the city, aren't I fabulous, oh, you like my fabulous outfit and soon to be yoga-toned body? kind of way. Except I would be an amalgam of all four Sex and the City characters♥ and most importantly I would still be Pippa.
Hold that thought.
I am Pippa.
And I really do appreciate that I'm not in a relationship, because at the moment I'm obviously not meant to be. I look wistfully at my happy partnered friends and know that they are with someone who most definitely suits them.
Ultimately anyone who is suited to me is busy doing other stuff like saving the world, writing, studying, living in a different country, playing harmonica or sleeping.
I'm busy too. I'm striving for excellence in a number of areas...
Definitely committed yoga practice and maybe regular swimming.
A better sleep pattern with early rising for yoga.
Letters and packages written to friends interstate and overseas.
Trying to write stuff for writing's sake and not just for this blog.
Learning to play more than three chords on guitar.
A rational approach to computer programming would be good, I have emotional responses to logical errors and it gets me nowhere very, very slowly.
I snap at people, and feel that I often behave in a manner disrespectful of many people.
I have not started my tax-return even though I have the required documents filed neatly together.
Because it is good for a young lady to be busy.
:::...
See, I told you it would be horribly contrived.
♥ (dressed like Carrie, neurotic about my lack of perfect partner like Charlotte, red-haird and smart like Miranda, sexually confident like Samantha)
pipstar @ 12:32 AM | link | Comments: *******
august 24, 2004
mirror, mirror
i've doubled up and posted some of these mirror shots in my lomohome, but my three most recent mirror project submissions are:
it feels like i've spent an eternity here
the rundle mall balls
the mirror outside work
:::...
If you're in Adelaide you may want to visit my friend Brian's photographic exhibition (launching this Wednesday evening).
frames and sequences
downtown
223 waymouth st
Adelaide
opening 25th 6pm - 8pm
26th August - 4th sept, Thurs - sat 1-5pm
email: downtownadelaide@yahoo.com.au for more info
pipstar @ 11:07 AM | link | Comments: *
august 22, 2004
out and about
I tidied my room on Saturday morning and when I was at home between 97th birthday parties, the Central Markets and a night of too much beer, I had a scary feeling of boredom.
I had nothing to procrastinate.
Though if I'd thought hard enough I could have started working on my tax return, or actually sat down and mapped out the story which is floating around in my head.
Instead, I read more of The Buddha of Suburbia by Hanif Kureishi♥, ate baked goods kindly donated by Ellie and thought about boys. I also watched Firefly, the post-Buffy series by Joss Whedon, artfully arranged a bunch of poppies in a vase and remembered why I like Grant Lee Buffalo.
I neglected to do the dishes sitting in the sink and I did no yoga.
I did go for A Walk today. Ostensibly the walk was fuelled with the intention of "exercise" and buying vacuum cleaner bags and lightbulbs. I couldn't find any vacuum bags immediately, so I got dispirited and put excellent green shoes on layby, bought two cds secondhand (Demolition by Ryan Adams and Mighty Joe Moon by Grant Lee Buffalo) and excellent super-bargain earrings by Palas for myself and the mythical Present Box♥♥.
But the most exciting thing that you should know is that I finally scanned in selected shots from my two most recent lomo films.
and they are here (go look in the out and about album)
♥ I was really happy to hear that I girl I went to school with is writing her PhD thesis on Salman Rushdie and Hanif Kureishi. What an excellent excuse to read all day.
I still idolise the life of a PhD student. Apparently all they do is read, photocopy zines, fight over posters of communist leaders and shop on Ebay. If this full-time job thing doesn't work out I may very well apply to do honours so that one day I too can pass three years in such an excellent manner.
♥♥ I have a box which I keep little last-minute presents in. It's a good excuse to buy lovely things in multiple "One for me, one for the present box". There isn't enough stuff for boys though. Any suggestions?
pipstar @ 11:56 PM | link | Comments: **
august 17, 2004
weakly weeklyish?
You'll have to forgive me for not writing for a while. I worked 8 very long days last week which is the main reason why I haven't written anything.
I know that there aren't normally 8 days in a week, but at work we have the technology to travel through time, thereby giving us an 8 day week. There are a lot of geeks in the games industry and where there are geeks there are Doctor Who fans.
I work with some very clever Doctor Who fans who have replicated the Tardis and placed our office inside the Tardis. This has not only allowed us to travel through time, thereby allowing us to work an 8 day week, but it has also given us a lot of extra room♥.
We've returned to reasonable working hours for a while, though I'm expecting that as the next deadline comes up we'll probably be doing late nights and weekends once more. (Which reminds me, I should take to wearing my very long scarf with pockets so that I can fit in with the other wannabe Time Lords).
:::...
I've been getting things organised in my house, eating Chinese food at Cafe Kowloon, BBQ City and Ky Chow and reading more books. From these experiences I can highly recommend the following: getting someone to assist you in the construction of a flat-pack wardrobe (I managed slowly by myself); braised mushrooms with bamboo shoots, pan-fried vegetarian dumplings and string beans peking-style (with pork mince); The Impressionist by Hari Kunzru and the His Dark Materials trilogy by Phillip Pullman.
I remembered that I once said that when I had a full-time job I'd buy a bunch of flowers for myself every week. Yesterday whilst having lunch with a friend, I remembered that wish and bought myself some orchids. I figured that I'd hardly see the flowers at home, so I have them arranged rather shabbily in a mug on my desk at work.
And I'm trying to draw pictures whilst sitting at my desk. Hopefully I will soon have a lovely collection of illustrated post-it notes to scan and upload. I drew my orchids and I'm trying to use a different handbag each day and to draw it as well.
I was asked at my housewarming party how many handbags I own. I think that the total is greater than 10. Soon I will post pictures of all of them. I'm not counting baskets or reusable shopping bags because it might be months before I scan anything in.
Housewarming party you say? Indeed.
I wouldn't rank the housewarming party anywhere near the pinnacles of party success that were my birthday and farewell parties on the lawns at my grandma's (there was only one variety of homebaked biscuit, and that was burnt), but the decision by Fiona and I to host the majority of the party at our local pub was quite inspired. Though it did mean that I wasn't at home to kick the sorry arses of the discontented youths who flung a bottle of some alcoholic lolly-water at my bedroom window. Thankfully the bottle was empty, but the stickiness meant that tiny shards of glass got stuck to everything on my window sill.
Oh. The perils of living in the city.
I ramble and wish to go home to continue reading Northern Lights...
I am delighted by this and am thinking hard of what to rasterbate...
and this is quite cute.
:::...
♥ You were wondering how we fit the magical games room into the building? Well, this extra space has allowed us to do just that.
There are downsides to all this extra room. On a number of times I've gone to the bathroom but ended up losing my way amongst the infinite passages inside the workplace. I haven't seen a Dalek on my wanderings yet, but I heard that they once tried to attack some of the games testers late at night. Luckily the testing team are very skilled at fighting in a virtual world, so they were able to put their mad sword skills to good use.
pipstar @ 03:01 PM | link | Comments: **
august 03, 2004
we are in cockroach latitudes.
I've been avidly reading The Stolen Lake since I picked it up on Saturday, and once again I am completely infatuated by Joan Aiken's writing style.
I was introduced to the Wolves of Willoughby Chase series in year 7, and have managed to read and re-read almost every book in the series as well as assorted short stories and other novels.
I wriggle with excitement when I get to a good bit, and this morning I tried to read whilst I walked to work, although I had to give up for fear of stumbling into traffic.
A while ago I mentioned my desire to write. Alongside Susan Cooper (author of The Dark is Rising series), Joan Aiken would have to be one of the authors who I am completely in awe of. The authors I would most like to draw on in my own writing.
Cooper and Aiken wrote extensively for both adults and children and I think that the knowledge about writing for both audiences is what makes their novels so incredibly exciting for me 12 years since I first read anything by them.
As is the habit when I am obsessed with something I google to get more information... Only to find out that Joan Aiken passed away at the start of the year. (Obituary from the Guardian).
From The Stolen Lake:
Presently the door opened softly, and Dido felt the blanket twitched off her feet.
"Hey," she muttered, "you're tickling!" Then she was suddenly wide awake, bolt upright. "Murder, is it one o' them spiders? . . . Oh, it's you, Mr. Holy! What the blazes are you doing to my toes?"
"We are in cockroach latitudes," replied Mr. Holystone, who held a little bottle of dark green liquid and a paintbrush. "They swim out from land. So you must paint your toes every night, and your fingers, with this cactus oil. I thought I might do it without waking you." He passed her the bottle.
"What if you don't?" inquired Dido, industriously painting away at her toes.
"Cockroaches come into bed and nibble; you wake up next day with half a dozen toes missing."
"Oh."
© 2002 - 2007 Pippa Buchanan