Australia has it's first female prime minister!!!!

protection...

Every good librarian knows that books are a precious commodity, and therefor should be treated with the up most respect (except for maybe those pesky Mills & Boons, the bane of a book lovers life!).

It was my friend JA who introduced me to the idea of the book-bag, kind of like a condom for your books when on the go (And one of my rules in life is that you must carry a book with you everywhere you go, because I always get stuck waiting for people!) So I recently knitted myself one;

Its easy, you just knit until your up to the desired width... then keep on knitting till you get to the desired length, then sew up the sides!

I was trying out knitting purple and pink wools at once just to see what would happen, then I felted it because I love felting, and whala! a book bag!

And speaking of Care of books, I've been working in the stacks lately and came across this Gem circa 60's Williamstown. Not such a bad idea to have a little reminder in all of our books the state they sometimes come back in, but the "Notice shall be given to the librarian... if books have been exposed to infection" bit is a bit of a worry!

Hello cruel world...

The thing I cant stand about self help books is that they are usually so fucking hard to read... I mean your picking the thing up because there's something not quite right going on in there, then they are usually so pretentious and full of big words, and just well, overwhelming to read!

My friend JA has told me a few times what an important book she thinks this one is (and I figure on such matters she should know!) and trawling though the introduction, which I'm sorry but really does go on a bit and is kind of a bit all over the place, and at times even a little melodramatic (You don't need to be on the edge of suicide to pick up this book, maybe more 'a little bit down' or a case of the 'mean reds' might be more of an appropriate time to read it!). I was beginning to think this was just another one of those afore mentioned pretentious reads, but then I got to this paragraph;

And what about anger? I think Anger is a whole lot more positive a feeling than depression. I feel a lot healthier when I'm angry than when I'm paralyzed in a deep funk. Other people around me might prefer it when I'm not flying off the handle, but most folks who know me now appreciate that my anger is a step up my own personal ladder to feeling better.

Wow, that really blew me away after the way I had been feeling lately! (not to mention my ranting blog posts!)

The Intro might be a bit of a hard slog, but you don't really need to stress about it too much, the 101 alternatives are kind of cute and endearing (mind you I'm only up to #20, They might get a lot more hot and heavy from here on in!), and some of them might seem deceptively simple but when your in that deep funk it can the little things that get you through. It's kind of like giving yourself permission to be kind to yourself and do what YOU need to do for YOU!

And the good thing about this book in comparison to those other heavy reading self help books is that I reckon in the middle of that deep funk you could just pick up this book and look at 2 or 3 of the "alternatives" and find yourself something that might just make that tiny little difference at that time in your life.

Just one little thing, this book is kind of aimed at Teens (Freaks and other outlaws!) but I'm pretty sure I would have found a lot of it pretty overwhelming at that time in my life, especially a lot of the sexual stuff, not the stuff about Kate herself (I say 'her' only because it says 'her' in the biographical info about her, she describes 'herself' as fluidly sexual, transgressivly sexual or a 'Traveler') But the stuff in part one about desire. But that might be just me! and mind you, its 15-20 years ago that I was a teenager (Scary huh!?)

The other book that made me really happy lately was reading Neon Angel by Cherrie Currie of the Runaways. (When is the film going to be released in Australia!!??) Funny that it made me feel happy, it's actually quite depressing all the bad shit that happened to her, makes me just want to give her, and all the Runaways a big hug and say I'm sorry you were treated like such crap! They were some totally hot chicks, totally exploited but totally Hot!

Cant stay at home cant stay... at work?

Sorry, been listening to a bit of The Runaways lately!

It's tough being a working mum, but I cant handle being a stay at home mum either! I'm doing a temp role at 3 full days a week, it's way too much what with traffic to contend with not to mention two sick kids! How the hell do others do it full time? And you cant win no matter what you do either. I guess all you can do is the best you can for yourself and your family hey! And be careful not to judge others for the choices (and sometimes lack of choices!) they make!

P.S. Feeling a lot better, think a couple of drinks and a lot of laughs last night might have done me the world of good!

I'd like to take a moment to apologise for the last tyraid of, well anger, that flowed from my keyboard earlier today. Not quite sure whats got into me at the moment... but it did actually feel really good to get it out there!

I just feel so discontented with my life at the moment, I feel like I'm stuck in a deep, deep rut and although I can see ways out, it's all a waiting game and I just wish something would hurry up and goddamn happen!!!

And maybe 35 is the new 30, or maybe I'm just 5 years behind the eight ball which wouldn't surprise me, I used to have a pretty good handle on what was going on in the world but feel like it's all passing me by, everything interesting has been and gone and revitalised again before I catch on these days! What I'm trying to say is maybe its the mid-life (third-life?) existential crisis I was supposed to have 5 years ago finally catching up with me.

Or maybe I'm just over the repetitiveness of life as the prefect housewife of the prefect nuclear family in the fucking suburbs!!! I thought I was going to be someone great, someone really special. I thought I'd end up with a guy who worshiped me. I thought I would be someone people admired and looked up too. Now I just feel like the most boring person in the world!

Now all I want is to move back to the country and be a hippie! I want to grow veggies and have chooks, pigs and goats. I want some space and privacy. I don't want to be able to hear my neighbors fighting or hoons screeching round the corner at all hours... I want some peace and quiet!

Problem being that these days we've got all these responsibilities we have to think about. Kids, Mortgages, half finished fucking bathrooms... seems like getting back to the simple life ain't gonna be so simple!

Angry!

I have to say it out loud... I have to say what I'm feeling even if I'm not supposed to... I'm ANGRY and I don't know why!

I don't have anything in my life to be angry about, I have a nice enough home, I'm healthy, my kids are healthy, everyone around me is healthy, I have a great job where I'm treated fairly and with respect, where I get paid an equitable amount. I have great Friends who I love even if I don't get to see as much of them as I'd like. Ive done a lot with my life and haven't ever really wanted for anything. So what the hell have I got to be so angry about.... I wish I knew!

Fucking Hormones!!! I wish I could just get over myself sometimes!

brief encounters with the rich and famous

I once stood behind Geoffrey Rush in the queue for the staff cafeteria at the Arts Centre. I thought to myself, 'only in this country would a best actor Oscar winner at the peak of his career have to queue in the staff cafeteria for this shitty food!'

When I was working at the NGVA shop, I was bending down doing something or other under the counter and when I stood up my colleague said "you just missed Viggo Moretson, I just served him." Pissed off or what, he could have given me a little kick!

Apparently Steven Sylvani was starring at my Butt when I was shelving books but I didn't notice.

I recognised the name "Adam Gilchrist" when serving him, but thought to myself 'that sounds familiar, is he a footballer or something' until all my giggly colleagues set me straight. Cricket huh!? means nothing to me! But I did notice he was a little put out when I asked for his name!

Saw Goldie at Camden markets in London in 1997, my boyfriend at the time pointed him out to me, and I said (a little too loudly) "Who's Goldie?" which was of course overheard by the man himself. we then played a little paparazzi with him and I have a great photo of him just laughing at us. Mind you I still have no idea who Goldie actually is!

I was working as an assistant for a photographer for TV Week for a while which meant a lot of encounters with the cast of Neighbours (Funny coz the first time I went to Britain, upon finding out I was Aussie, everyone would ask "have you been to Ramsay st and have you met anyone from Neighbours" and I would say "Nuh" in a rather patronising tone, second time I went to Britain I had been to Ramsay St and I had met several cast members but never got asked once!!!!) Anyways, the one that stands out for me was walking past Lou Carpenter in the hallway and going to say hi as you do when you see a familiar face but realising I didn't actually know him tried to suppress it and just looked like an idiot. He then made a point of saying hi as I slunk of Red faced.

It happens like that sometimes, you see a familiar face and think you must know then but cant figure out why, like serving a big fat sweaty politician and wondering if he's one of your friends dads who you've only met once or something until he hands over his credit card and you realise he's the deputy prime minister!

But my favourite on was when we had Eric burden from the Animals come to a signing at the Bookshop which shall not be named. I decided to get a copy for my Mum and put a sticky note with "Carol" on the front as is sometimes the done thing at such signings... lets just say he was a little out of it! (see picture above!)

The other Mr. Freud...

The best book I've read of late has been James Freud's I am the voice left from drinking (which I immediately followed up with i am the voice left from Rehab.) It'd been on my list for a little while but it was my friend J's facebook review that finally got me to pick it up. Lets see what J had to say:

"Freud comes off as a charming bastard, like so many junkies, but his tale of mishaps and hits during the eighties is a great story, both touching and hilarious."

The title of course comes from a lyric in Models (Note: not The Models) best song Barbados, (not that stupidly overplayed Out of mind, Out of Sight) and serves as a bit of a prophecy.

He has a lot to say about the lack of support from radio for Australian artists, and he asks the question, why, with triple J being a government funded radio station, why cant it be fully Australian content. It got me thinking, now that would be a radio station I would be loyal too, especially considering I don't have a favourite at the moment. And really, with such a great range of Aussie music going right back JO'K it could be a hit! Now if only I had enough money to start a radio station...

Sexy librarian...

Sexy Librarian