secret: creative brain fry, or, the fine art of pottering

i don't know about you folks, but when i have a lot of things on my plate (not literally, although i do love a good full plate of thanksgiving dinner) my creative will to live just disappears out the window.

when i finally do have a night off, and i have to say i haven't had one in a while, i need some decompression time, in the form of pottering. i thought i'd share the sorts of things that happen during a pottering session in my lovely (chaotic) space.

music debrief:

i've had a few "must listens" floating about lately on my ever-expanding list of things to listen to. thanks to a music-loving friend with whom i share many great favourites, i was reminded that a certain amount of time has passed since i'd listened to some of my all-time bestest favourites, namely Radiohead and Elliott Smith. I'm really digging this particular track from Elliott:



and OK Computer reminiscence (let's face it: Radiohead in general) lead me right to this beautiful thing that i once was able to play on piano, harder than you'd imagine.



i also have quite a lot of live footage to watch from my all time favourite thing i've found on YouTube so far, tiny desk concerts via NPR. crazy into The National at the moment, and so this show has pretty much given me the feeling where the world opens up and you fall in love, right down to your little toe.



apologies for the music-heavy sharing, but i just can't get enough of this at the moment. so of course, it's time to make my november Maude the Mazda Mix (they are famous, but only in very tight circles of maybe 2 people, one of which is me... the other is one of my brothers, whichever one is handy).

YouTube giggles

my YouTube dirty pleasure is interviews on ellen, mostly when it's ryan gosling. i recommend you look that up, the one in onesies in particular.

besides this, i also like to watch standup comedy from such greats as dylan moran and louis ck.





Pretty things

i am a bowerbird when it comes to pretty things. sometimes, when i'm pottering, i like to arrange my pretty stuff that i own into aesthetically pleasing combinations.

all of the favourites, but of particular note is the sweet 'hello' necklace from the awesome anna at The Eclective, the sweet and special 'imaginary lovers' zine from deerface, and my granny's old copy of Alice in Wonderland

sometimes, i like to just sit in my chair and rifle through books i haven't actually read yet, looking forward to having time to read them. 

this weekend just passed i had a great score from a book stall at the local steiner school's spring fair, and the illustrations are so much lovelier than disney characters. don't get me wrong, i love the disney classics, i'm just a bit bored of what disney thinks people look like.

Writing notes and letters, and finding old things I wrote once

i found this recently. a thing i scrawled into the back of a notebook long ago, when i still lived in melbourne and longed to escape whatever it was at that point that held me there:

i have a fantasy about swimming in an open air pool at night time in summer. this fantasy is so tangible to me that i wonder if it may in fact have happened once, a dormant memory of sliding into a pool the temperature of my warm arms, the weightlessness of my previously cumbersome body, sounds echoing off the water.
surely it has happened, at one time, to somebody; how else could we know how it feels to swim at night? the cocoon of water closing over and into my ears, the smell, or imagined smell, of warm jasmine blowing overhead all through Brunswick.
i can hear my own gasping breath as i pull to the surface each 4th stroke, and i feel my heart hammering. why must my words end here? for suddenly, the warm summer night is lost to the absence that is you my dear, and all i remember is floating, face down, with night city noises filtering through the pool water.

i write postcards and letters to the friends of far away that i am missing lots lately, perhaps because i get to see them again soon.


these are the things i do o a quiet quiet Monday night. and find new artists to fall in love with, again on YouTube (such a magical place).

i leave you with a beautiful tattooed man whom i shall perhaps one day meet and marry.

treasure: the fine art of “winning at Melbourne”

Taken on arrival in Parkville, on the way to the uni. Effects added for, well, effect.

The thing about Armidale is, I didn’t always live there. My first 5-odd years of adulthood were passed in Melbourne, as a broke Arts student. In amongst the drama, angst and excitement of it all, I made my place in the city.

So when I go back, not only does it mean that I already know how to brace myself if I’m standing on a moving tram, but (more importantly) I have all these wonderful people to see, hug and giggle with while consuming inordinate amounts of coffee and having the conversations of our lives.

The way these folk love and care for me is always a beautiful surprise; sometimes I feel very out of the way from things in little Armidale, so it is nice to be met with such happiness. I've visited 3 times already this year, and I’ve realised it’s about quality time. Less stress is key.

I arrived Tuesday afternoon. People watching/admiring at University of Melbourne turned into talking about growing into my own personal feminism with Bethany. As well as feasting on African deliciousness, we took in a midweek Alt J show, shortly followed by a lot of 'I'm an old bastard' complaining about our legs and backs from being on our feet so long. Uber-hip, us kids is.

Come Wednesday morning, I snuck off to breakkie at Pope Joan in Brunswick, and awkwardly held Mat and Tash’s newest Louis- btw Tash, “just hold him like a football” is not the best advice for someone that’s never held a football. I lunched and talked love life with the very handsome Dave Barry and pretty-face Bethany on-campus (feeling like a quasi-student), got to see Dave's office building with the moving doors (things are so fancy in Melbourne), laughed, love and got gifted the bestest happy socks ever in the city with Thea (plus heard about her new dentist!) and moved along to Fitzroy-side to sample Bourbons while solving some commonly-held problems of the world with lovely lovely Laila. I also got a sneak-peak at what she looks like when she’s inside a doona case, and not everyone has that privledge. Let me just say it was funny, but also important.

ALL of the bourbons ... Bookers is best, by the way.

 Thursday brought Green Refectory breakkie and opshop gold with Mr Michael Hanley; a Canadian film for Melbourne International Film festival with McGregor, followed by tasty beers and tomfoolery at the bar with Yanni, and beef pho at 9:30pm with Beth, not a little full of beer.

Friday the weather turned windy and wet; perfect for breakfast with the lovely Sarah, an advanced screening of The Bling Ring at Cinema Nova and a late lunch with Vaughan Circus (the name my brain files him under) at A Minor Place, home of cute bespecled waiters and tasty, tasty haloumi-eggplant combinations.

Happily, the hot waiter vibe continued at our spectacular Friday night dinner on Smith Street with Aaron, Ned, Bethany and lovely friends; sadly, Hot Italian Waiter’s preference for men limited our chances to run away together, but he did recommend a delicious wine and provide witty, Italian-accented banter in a most adept fashion.

Bethany and I left the boys to pop into Bar Etiquette for more of that Yanni-tainment and a few drinks, passing a little more time with Mr McG before falling into bed. Saturday brought a rather late breakfast with Sylvia, a Vietnamese coffee dragging me into a state of articulation necessary for covering feminism, blind dates, Tina Fey, the romantic failings of our various men, curling and the beard of Sylvia’s new favourite economics reporter. Bethany and I window-shopped me into the conclusion that I would have to check some luggage on the flight home. I hit it big at opshops and bookshops this visit; a whole bag full, and I’m not even sorry.

My final night in Melbournetown was spent with Mat, Tash, Iggy and Louis. There was Kake di Hatti (my favourite Indian takeaway request)- garlic naan worthy of breaking my stance on gluten, and spicy tasty curry combinations. Also featured: cheeky pots at Atticus Finch and organic Tasmanian cider. I got to hold Louis again and look more casual about it. He even cracked a smile for me the next morning!

The thing is, all the chats and giggles that filled the visit were real ones, heartfelt and happy. The one-on-ones gave us all a chance to remember why we loved each other, and a sense of where we’re all at. The roughness of the past 6 months had diminished into the background, and so I got to think about someone other than myself a bit and I tell you, I love the lot of ya.

Until next time, Melbournetown.

I heart Green Refectory coffee

treasure: tash, mat, iggy and a baby

it's my experience that through life, friends come and go. i learned long ago that it doesn't do to dwell on the friends you've lost contact with. everyone i've had the honour of calling a friend knows, i trust, that they pop into my head at times and i smile and send some love their way. things happen, in life - you move, you grow up, you change your approach to the world, you re-prioritise. i am one that loves making new friends, but am best at maintaining friendships with people i see often.

i was lucky enough to get to know mat and tash around the time of my 21st birthday. i will be 28 in october, which means i have been friends with these two folk for 7 years (that's maths, right mat?). these are friends that i have never lost touch with. they're a rarity. they're awesome, and i'll tell you why.

i have an extremely hard time allowing people to help me out, because i worry about what it means that i need help, yet every time i visit melbourne, these two share and help in every way they can. when i first got back to australia, more than a little lost, they actually organised to get me down to visit melbourne. penniless and sheepish, i accepted their offer- the visit filled me with enough certainty and purpose to march through the next 3 months til life settled down again.

i refer to these two as my 'adult friends' - simply meaning they've made commitments to things that i hope to one day have in my reach too. they have a house in a great spot, and plenty of plans for it. they have a gorgeous iggy, and a lovely sweet new baby who was just born this week.

i don't have much in the way of means, but i'd do anything in my power to help them out if they ever needed me. because they've offered me the same thing. post break-up i had a gorgeous text from tash offering to help me move to melbourne, or at least get me down there for some distraction. holy shit i am a lucky motherfucker to have friends like these.

in my opinion, the ways in which they're awesome: they have a 3 door merc that i'm allowed to borrow when i visit. they always feed me fancy whiskey from tasmania when i visit. they're both bloody hilarious. they are extremely cool parents. tash gives me hints on awesome bands i should listen to. mat made a point of reading my blog last week (tash may have told him to, but that's another point in the awesome column as far as i'm concerned). i just recently figured out that mat is actually quite clever by reading a blog (his) that i found to be in another language (a higher, more intelligent language than the ones i know)- so now i'm intimidated by him. another hugely favourite thing is tash's ability to drop the c-bomb in a reasonably classy way. she has earned my respect.

i don't know exactly how i convinced them i was ok- they met me because i was dating an old friend of theirs. i abandoned him and the whole relationship for canada, and yet, here i am years later proudly claiming them as good and close friends. i must have made some good jokes at the right time.

the only thing that sucks about these two is that i don't live in the same city as them anymore. everything else is good.

mat and tash, this week, with a new one in your lovely family, i just want you to know about how much i love you all and that i can't wait to meet the new one. i'm certain he'll be as gorgeous as the rest of you. you all deserve all the happiness and good things in the world.

love, me.

treasure: melbourne

in 2004, the year after i finished my HSC, i got the hell out of armidale and moved to melbourne. melbourne held the promise of adulthood, change and challenge, the glamour of artists and poets and philosophers.

i was there 5 and a half years. there's plenty to reflect upon, but i found it very telling the past few times around, visiting after having left 3.5 years ago, how i felt about the beloved city and the people in it that i saw.

perhaps it's just that i've distilled my friendship group into the Very Best of Melbourne. perhaps it's that the buzz of city has finally become exciting again; full of promised inspiration and movement and sparkle. it's nice to visit a city and already know your way around; your favourite bar; your favourite dish at tom phat; the ways of the trams.

i had a beautiful time. during my 'just-home' tour of july 2012, i hung out at beth's house and we sat on the upstairs balcony and enjoyed winter sunshine and the ambient sounds of deconstruction, as the old Royal Children's got unceremoniously trashed by a wrecking crew. i drank at Bar Etiqette, hung about at the bar and giggled happily at yanni and mikey's antics, marvelled at the crowds and the hipster population. i met friends and missed friends, filled with generosity of people who'd only had facebook as a means of following about what i'm certain seemed like a very silly and decadent life of snow and drinking. they bought me drinks, they let me stay, they asked good questions (some people, none of whom i am good friends with, have nothing in the way of curiosity or comment about your recently different lifestyle. they have nothing to say and nothing to ask and it's all very awkward and boring).

aaron and i have recently returned from the 'everyone meet my boyfriend' tour of early 2013 and yup, i still love melbourne. despite the heat i drank plenty of coffee, cottoning onto the concept of iced coffee on saturday morning for a win. i took him on a tour of what i think of as my Melbourne, with a bit of shopping, a few bookstores, some very good eating and this time round i could afford $18 cocktails, so we had some of those too. we hung out with iggy, the coolest kid i know, we feasted on indian and thai with mat and tash, i drank ciders at bar etiquette with beth, sylvia and laura, which turned into a bottle of wine each at Gurkha's Nepalese next door to the bar.

there was a lovely picnic in carlton gardens and some attempted frisbee by joe and laila, picnic rug fun with thea (and amazing gluten free passionfruit melting moments), wine, cheese, smoked salmon and olive tapenade from the Queen Vic Markets.

 
there was a 44 degree day where we stayed inside, windowshopping our way up the 4 levels of Melbourne Central where i bought 4 dresses for $140 (what a bargain!). we perused fed square's NGV bookstore longingly, scoffed a big pile of dumplings at Shanghai Dumpling House in Chinatown, saw some great graffiti and biggest bonus of all, got to drive mat & tash's mercedes benz about the place, feeling like a pretty big deal as we cruised around with a breeze blowing through our hair and a devil-may-care attitude.

it is The Life, Melbourne, and i hope one day i will have the chance to live there again- i feel as though all the things that pushed me away from it and into the arms of a willing whistler are manageable, and that perhaps there is more for me there that i have no yet discovered. perhaps i'll  do a phd at University of Melbourne one day, perhaps i'll only ever visit for holidays from now on...

it might be far away but it's never forgotten.