Since we don’t live by politix alone (I sincerely hope), what did people get up to this weekend? Join in, share some tales, regulars and lurkers all!
Life, Culture and Politics from BrisVegas
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Even though it was a sunny day today, it sure did seem to be rather chilly.
In Brisbane, that is.
Went to South Bank for the craft markets on Sunday with my fiancee and a good friend; fiancee bought some pants and earrings. Then it was off to West End to buy some books and have dinner before heading back to South Bank for the Comedy Fix (which was a blast).
Rode most of the way up Mount Macedon three times on Saturday, the last serious prep for the big ride (the front side of Macedon is actually steeper than anything I’ll tackle over the next few days). Piece of cake compared to dealing with Qantas yseterday
Bunnings on Sunday. Ikea on Monday. Broke on Tuesday.
Congratulations, Geoffrey Rush, on completing the Academy Award, Golden Globe & Tony trifecta. And in an Australian production. I did like the part of his acceptance speech tat was broadcast. AAArrrrrrgh!
Intended to do many things, but ended up doing nowt.
Worked through the Saturday and Sunday: managed to get through the weekend without any of my trains breaking down; possibly because my beautiful Japanese teacher didn’t send me any text messages.
Caroline, you’ll have to make a script revision as the lessons are leaving the Irish Club and heading mallwards…
On the one hand, I’m from WA, so we had the long weekend LAST weekend, on the other I’m at home most of the time either way. Anyway: I spent my long weekend at a lovely wedding. I spent yours doing nothing in particular
(Wow, I’m glad I delurked, this automatic preview thing is awesome. *types a few things and then deletes them just to see*)
I made a new blog, (another one) but I think I’ve lost a frog somewhere along the line. I’d really appreciate if someone could duck over and tell me if they can see a frog. Its green.
Terangeree that’s fine. Too much diddley makes you feel nauseous if you’re not used to it–a mall’s good, I’ve got just the one in mind.
On Saturday night we went to the Queensland Musical Theatre’s production of The Merry Widow. My sister-in-law was in the chorus. Very enjoyable indeed. Singing, acting, staging, and the dancing more than adequate.
On Sunday we trekked down to Brighton and had a long lazy lunch in a place on the strand, the Full Moon at Sandgate. Very nice.
Its the iridescent overly-photoshopped green wet frog in the agapanthus. In the banner. Or was. There was a banner.
That’s a very wintry, blue, sky Mark. Nicely composed shot. Pity all the buildings are in the way.
Tried unsuccessfully to celebrate with friends and get over whatever flu/bacterial infection I have, at the same time. I thought alcohol killed germs…?
Nothing on the big swing to the Cultural Right in LP.
Would that be “Hear No Evil…” or “Head in the Sand”?
Cooked a big pot of goulash using (with some modifications) the recipe in the Sydney Morning Herald’s Good Weekend section. Watched the AFL matches. Marked lots of essays. Ate lots of goulash. Continued re-reading Crime and Punishment.
RVPERTVS # 1/2,
Yesterday and today in Brisbane saw a kind of Brisbane winter’s day which I personally quite enjoy – fine and clear, virtually cloudless sky, brisk but refreshingly free of the infernal Brisbane humidity, and excellent for washing clothes and drying them on the Holls Hoist.
Jack #13, wrong thread!
Have begun writing prologue to my book on the First Fleet and the American Revolution – writing, typing it up. Doing a little research on New York in 1777 for Prologue. Had hoped to keep it to 2000 words but might go to 3000 – I don’t like that. Bit of commenting on LP. Dipping into various books for research. Also reading a biography of Bonnie Prince Charlie. Forgot it was a holiday weekend. Am also glad SBS 2 has started up. Back rto good movies on SBS though I didn’t watch last night’s offering. Love French crime drama Spireal on Sunday night, but will have to get DVD I think.Clashes too much with ABC on Sunday night.
Saturday: BBQ lunch at friends’ place. Enjoyed Black Chook Shiraz Viognier (hubby couldn’t go past the name). Then enjoyed some Vin d’Essence, which I had never tried before, and which I suspect should be served in much smaller glasses. Recommended… along with a long walk before driving anywhere.
Sunday: Church. Small party for our four-year-old — rellies and godparents and a pavlova. Watched Horton Hears a Who in evening. Yes, it was a gift. Should come with cheesy ’80s song warning.
Monday: Bike riding with kids at Sydney Olympic Park. Lovely day for it, and a lot less strenuous than Mark’s planned ride. Bible study group in evening.
OK. Everyone relax. I found the frog.
Paul @ 17. If you’re used to 3,000 worders (?there was another length in the 60s & 70s?; you think in 3,000 worders!
Give it the old “work backwards, one sentence at a time” (even phrase at a time), so you lose track of the ‘plot’/ ‘narrative’ and concentrate on the language. (One of those ‘best advice I ever had about ….’ tricks). 3,000w draft is a 2,000 worder in need of fine-tuning.
Give yourself an incentive – something you discipline yourself not to buy, watch, do, eat, drink etc. When it’s 2,000 words, without losing any content, just the way you expressed it, reward yourself.
Bonnie Prince Charlie, eh? And the Bonnie (idiot) Earl of Murray? And the “How to pi## off your English supporters by reminding the Old Guard what cost your grandfather the Battle of the Boyne” (aka The Derby Muster)?
DeeCee @ 20,
Thanks for that tip about reading backwards. Will definitely use it. Do think I might make 2000 words after all. Tomorrow, am ordering a book on American Loyalists in New York, Generous Enemies, which I need anyway, but I don’t think Matra went back to America after his 6 months stay in NY in 1777. No mention of it in Frost’s excellent biography cum primary source collection.
Bonnie Prince Charlie by Frank McLynn is okay. McLynn is not one of my favourite historians. Unfortunately the first book I read by him was an absolutely dreadful pot boiler on crime in 18c England, so it put me off him a bit.(And before that I had been reading the classics in the field of 18th C. history pf crime- Beattie, Peter King, Linebaugh, Innes, Hay, Thompson, Lucy Moore,etc plus the best of the Australian writers on convicts, so McLynn’s dreary effort was a bit of a shock.) But I did enjoy his 1759 which was a much better book – of the ones I’ve read so far, his best.
With a bit of luck will be able to post a version of the prologue on my blog next weekend – but time flies so it might be a bit later.
Again, thanks for that tip.
Paul, happy to pass it on!
BTW: How are you coping with the date confusion of the UK & Colonies Julian Calendar to Gregorian Calendar change-over (Sept 1752) qv Wiki Gregorian calendar “Wednesday, 2 September 1752 was followed by Thursday, 14 September 1752 to account for 29 February”; meaning that every date changed; every date in print; every date in one’s life, even one’s birthday, wedding anniversary (perfect excuse) In N American documents it’s made worse because Dutch provinces went Gregorian 1582/3 and some determinedly NA Dutch settlers had stuck with the Gregorian after the (still Julian) British take-over.
I found documentary confusion (and not only by contemporaries) pervasive until 14 July 1789 & later events burned new dates into even Old Gaffers’ minds. Pseudo historians of the type that find two documents and assume they’re experts (early Eng Industrial Rev history, esp in ceramics, is rife with them!) don’t know about it, are fond of pointing out that x can’t be right because, on that date, participants were doing different things in different places … Drives me to loud expletive-riddled slurs on their intelligence & “scholarly” ethics!
(Not nearly as bad, tho, as one head of a UK – now USA – museum dept who married off an indebted son of an impoverished potter to one of England’s richest heiresses (never mind his mother must have ben rolling); tho other evidence has them married in a church, with banns, bonds & all the typical C1775 Big Fashionable Wedding hooha (& no, she wasn’t pregnant)! Not even in Barbara Cartland, … [expletives deleted]. There’s a collection of Brit Lib staff essays on the Enlightenment as seen through BL collections (esp George III’s) celebrating the BL’s move to premises in the middle of the BM’s (former) central courtyard. Either many authors have no historical background in C18, or weren’t paying attention. Jaw-droppers of the WTFHFF!! type … A smart-a##ed caption under a pic of a C18 coal mine in a rural setting, indicating the author thinks the rural setting is odd artistic licence … Something like “Though George III was no scholar”, despite doing (from scratch) the astronomical & mathematical replications (under supervision) for John Harrison’s “marine timepieces” (for the Longitude Prize); and the “great urger” of the agrarian rev etc etc( tho he sure listened to the wrong adviser re N American colonies). IMO GIII was a much better scholar that the person who wrote that.
PS: I’m “stuck” over a 60+ page of essential info that needs to be 10p max; have been for months. Meanwhile, I’ve managed to edit another 20,000+ words out of a long Ms.
DeeCee,
Don’t have too many problems with Old/New Style dates mostly as the period I’m writing about is from c.1763-1783. Come across it a little doing bios etc, but usually its not too much of a problem. And if things look a bit odd chronologically its one of the first things I consider after I check to make sure I’ve got my note right in the first place.
Cutting is a hassle. I had to cut the original of my masters to 70 thou from 100 thou. I just got ruthless. If it looks remotely, stress remotely, immaterial, I cut it, (after I’ve re-arranged the sentences, cut individual words, etc.)and am still left with too many. Already up to over 1400 on current piece, but I’m not sure if the word count counts the footnotes.
Me and my fully sick Leb boys would like to thank youse for closing down that thread apologising to the curry munchers.
We will never give in to you. We will never bow down saying ‘there is only one god and his name is allah, and mohammad in his prophet’ no matter how many of us you bash and steal from.
Geez, I take a brake from them blogs and nuthun changed other than that Fielding feller went further of his rocker. I reckon somebuddy should fake him up a calling so he goes runnin to preacher school – will keep ‘im out of trubble fer a while.
Me nerd flatmate made me watch Star Trek – the sixties version. Yer can get the worlds slowest drinkin’ game going if you take a drink ever time Kirky rips his shirt, makes a sleazy come on to some space chick or sez “but, my ship!!”. Fair dinkum they ran out of idears towards the end of the first season an’ when they think up a good ‘un, they waste it with farty special effects like that Lazarus dude fightin’ hisself fer eternity. Bit like old Fielding I suppose – ship him a couple er them dilithium crystals then lock him up somewhere.
Me nerd flatmate ain’t allowd to comment here no more cos his work sez it’s bad, but I’m sneakin’ on ever now and agin I reckon while the poo hits the fan over them carbon emissions. It oughta be a riot with them libertards going fer denialism (wot a surprize).
Was woken from a sound sleep at 5.30am Saturday, with the news that the daughter had been mugged, later downgraded to bag snatch. Hysterical and pissed daughter had arrived at son’s gaff where I was staying, courtesy of a very decent cabbie.
Drove to her place to make sure the miscreant/s weren’t cleaning it out. All clear, then did $220 shop for broke son and girlfriend. Checked daughter’s place before heading back to son’s with Macca’s breaky; phone call en route from Wakefield Street police informing me her bag had been handed in intact by a good Samaritan. Now hungover daughter ate a few mouth fulls and then sank into deep slumber.
Took other 2 hangers-on to city and Marion, before returning to son’s to collect daughter so she could liberate handbag from police custody, collect her car and go home. Both unable to sleep, so did the rounds of Freedom, Ikea and other retail therapy outlets before collecting the 2 spootwads from their designated hunting grounds. Slung out of son’s place so they could have a party in the room we’d been inhabiting, necessitating decamping to daughter’s place.
Arrived at daughter’s, went to OG pub for dinner, sans her. Returned with take-away from pub and collapsed onto couch for some well-earned zzzzs. Too tired to go to the footy, so missed Port beating Freo, which along with delivery of a surplus cupboard to daughter, was the prime reason for the trek to town.
Sunday, another feverish round of shopping without buying after the boys cantered back home with car laden with one chap’s crap, but succumbed to the lure of a new sofabed for daughter to replace heap of ancient back-breaking crap she currently possesses, while en route to shops for ingredients for dinner.
Stayed Monday with the teary one and lobbed back home last night with flat pack pantry to be assembled tomorrow with applied swearing.
Informed by husband that the mother of one of son’s school friends had died of a massive heart attack on the weekend. Fortunately, all of her children are grown, so although it’s awful, at least they have had their mum until adulthood. I feel sad that all she’s ever done is work at at least 2 crap jobs at a time to bring up her kids after she slung out her druggie husband. Some reward for being a very decent person!
Am hoping for a very uneventful existence for some time to come, vast Xlotto winnings excepted.
‘Tis a bit late, but I’m putting some of the scenes from Caroline’s movie up on Flickr this morning.