197 Days of Drabbles - a shameless plug

Remember last year when I spent 4 weeks on secondment with the Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts as part of my degree (jog your memory here & here!)


Well, it is now Sam's turn - creating a project to span the entirety of her final year of university studies.
A creative, innovative & well, theoretical* project to culminate her studies & ulitise her skills - whilst interacting with a wider audience (You can even get invoved! YAY!)

I urge you, pop on over to197 Days of Drabbles, check out her project, plus...this is where you can help out, submit a prompt**- be it a word, sentence or more - to be creativly interpreted & published as a drabble or short story.
In October, Sam will be selecting her favourite written piece to be developed further, & performed as a live theatrical showpiece at the culmination of her third year studies! Amazing, right?! She's a talented one!

So, help a girl out! xx



*yaknow, because univerisity isn't all about getting up to mischief!
**it's easy-peesy - just sign in using your Facebook account, submit a prompt anonymously...& then forget about it!

Star Struck

Today involved gushing like a girl in love and employing every good brain cell to refrain from asking for autographs*.

Today, I met Carol Burns.

You may be asking "who?" or (hopefully) feeling envious of me!

If you're an Aussie and watched T.V in the 70's/80's (or like myself, watch it on cable now) you may know of the great Aussie soap opera Prisoner (also known as :Cell Block H in the UK and USA, and Caged Women in Canada), if not, Google it , watch it on You Tube, or better even GO OUT AND RENT IT NOW! It is iconic! Many of Australia's most well known female actors (and a few males) have walked the corridors of Wentworth Prison; Maggie Kirkpatrick (currently performing throughout Oz in Wicked), Judith McGrath (also well known as Von in All Saints), and Colette Man (currently on Neighbours as Sheila Canning) to name just a few.**

So, back to Carol Burns. She is a founding member of the Queensland Theatre Company, played the iconic 'lesbian enforcer' Frankie Doyle in Prisoner, which won her a Logie for Best Lead Actress in a Series, has performed both on stage and in front of the camera in numerous award winning productions, has received several acting nominations and awards, and is currently here, on the Mountain, directing The Female of the Species (written by Joanna Murray-Smith) at the Empire Theatre. Now, in her 60's, she is still performing, regularly with the Queensland Theatre Company, directing, presents acting workshops, throughout Australia, and internationally. 

She is truly inspiring, and one of the most generous performers I have had the pleasure of meeting. 

Today, my day was made!

* Autographs might have pushed us into 'scary groupie' status, but we couldn't pass up a photo op! ;) 
** The series employed over 200 (207, to be exact) actors over its 8 seasons! Oh, to be an aspiring actress back then!

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I have another couple of 'star struck' posts in the works; including, sitting within spitting distance of Geoffrey Rush, and the incredibly queer performance artist 'Stelarc', so check back soon!

Lazy Sunday

We slept in, snuggled under warm covers, every so often, snoozing the alarm.
We ventured out into bright sunshine and soft breezes, teasing of spring to come.

Sam sang, and I reveled in her voice.

 There was a petting zoo, photo booth and freebies galore.

Photos: Sam's phone.

We walked the dog, and enjoyed organic coffee and spelt pizza.

And as the sun set, all five of us crawled into bed, with lasagne and Greys Anatomy.

~ I love lazy Sunday's.

On My Mind: Losing Confidence

I'm having one of those days where things have not turned out how I'd expected and as a result have left me with that sick/heavy feeling in my gut. I hate this feeling. I want to cry and yell (and probably swear a bit) but I know it's not worth getting so upset over. Although the fault does not fall solely on me, a lot of it does. I should have seen this coming and tried to make things right before now.  I want to go back and change it all...but I can't. It's done. All I can do now is move forward and try to rectify it all. The next few days are going to be taxing. I'm going to need all the confidence I can muster to front up and deal with the consequences. Part of me believes this will make me stronger and more resilient, another part wants it to teach me that I need to be more responsible for my path, yet I can't help feeling that this may just have been the thing that knocks me down for good and I am too burnt out to get back up. I want to succeed yet I believe I am unworthy of it. I want to make it to the end, to see all this hard work though. I can't help feeling, I'm losing faith in myself.

Dr Marilyn Meier Kapavale

// http://www.marilynmeier.com/gallery.htm

You are a bright spark in a dark night. You have touched my life, and many, many others with your passion for music. Thank you for all the memories. You will be sorely missed, beautiful one.

TGIF

IT'S HERE! FINALLY! For the first time in a while I have a weekend free! This weekend is sweeter than most...and it's only Friday! 

So far today I have slept in, and rolled out of bed around 10am; just to get a glass of water and let the dog out for a run (It's been 6am starts for the last couple of weeks, having changed my work schedules; more hours and longer days = exciting but also draining.) then spent a little while catching up on reading some blogs and replying to emails, and now I'm writing here! Tonight we're having drinks with friends to celebrate the end of yet another trying semester of studies, and the weekend leaves possibilities for a little travelling* or even just spending time at home doing whatever we please. 

In the meantime, I'm preparing for tonight by popping open a bottle of student-wallet-friendly McWilliams Inheritance Fruitwood (which tastes surprisingly better than it's $5 price tag) and eagerly looking forward to celebrating the winter break with my friends! I'm so excited for the mischief we could get up to!

 

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

* We received a paid-for trip to Byron Bay, on the NSW coast, as a birthday gift from Sam's mother, however leaving the pets at home and the costs of driving down there makes it a little bitter-sweet. I guess we'll figure it out over the weekend...I few days away would be nice. 

Procrastination Nation Population: Me.

Why is it that as soon as end of semester exams roll around I can find a-hundred-and-one things to distract me from study? I'm always suddenly hungry, for anything that's not in the cupboard,  I seem to find house cleaning  imperative, even working out is tempting!

This weekend's procrastinating ended in Sam and I travelling across town to buy not one, not two, but 9 new sprouts for our kitchen windowsill. I spent the rest of Saturday afternoon and a couple hours this morning painting terracotta pots and planting herbs. We bought a little punnet of the basic Italian herbs - thyme, parsley, chives and oregano and some mint. Sam picked out some tea herbs - lemon balm, pineapple sage, chamomile, peppermint - all of which smell amazing! I also picked up some pet grass (which looks much like the un-mown grass in our yard) and Quinn has already made herself at home munching away at it. 

* I'm feeling peckish all of sudden, and I think pancakes with chocolate sauce & fresh strawberries is the only thing to fix it.