The land of the free!

I have a clear and empty horizon! I feel like i have been very busy and productive for quite a while, and last night I had a moment of realisation that everything is done! After the second wedding I had the bride's car for a week, which I made the most of, taking the sewing machine and overlocker to be serviced, and taking my broken camera charger back to the shop, and visiting Maitland with a few things to do and buy. It was useful, but I'm rather glad the car is gone now. Life is simple again. I prefer walking to work really, because I don't have to think as hard about which lane, where to turn right across traffic, parking in the one way street etc. Walkers can just walk any old how. So anyway, I am sweetly satisfied about all the things I ticked off my long list and my brain is free of anticipation of future duties. I have nothing to do for a while except plan when I should start swimming again, and what to get people for Christmas. Only easy nice things.

Here is some excitement you may have missed last week: the Friday before last I made a comment on a topic on Facebook for 702 ABC (strange domestic quirks) and it was read out on air by James Valentine! I was so happy, I made it to radio without having to make a dreaded phone call. I have rung up twice and it's very nervous. Facebook is safer. This is James Valentine reading off Facebook on the radio, perhaps looking at my very comment. Elsie said research (ie stalking) is a sign of obsession, but I just visited the webcam for the purpose of illustrating this post, there's nothing weird about that, haha!




If that wasn't enough… On the Monday, my comment was turned into an entire new topic for discussion (Your Life of Minor Crime)! This is a dream come true, even though I was represented as a sugar sachet thief. A dream, a happy dream, like going to a ball in a pumpkin coach or winning an ipad.

Mindfulness.

I've been thinking about mindfulness from a lot of angles recently. I think the gist is, like in Matthew 6, not being anxious about tomorrow.

Here is a relevant tweet from CSLewisDaily:

Be found at one's post, living each day as though it were our last, but planning as though our world might last 100 years.

No-one will notice I'm wearing braces if I hide them subtly like this.

Saturday was a looong day, but everything went well. C and myself were beautiful and poised, I got through the church part fine and my reception speech went well too. I recommend sincerity, rather than trying to be funny. That is the best man's job, humour. Maids of honour are safer being sweet and sincere, and if anyone laughs that's a bonus. I DID A SPEECH AT A WEDDING. I DID IT GOOD. The relief is still sinking in.

I wanted to go to a 30th birthday afterwards but when I got home at 8pm (it was a day wedding) my eyes were peppery tired from the make-up and my toes were numb from the shoes. My left toes are still slightly numb today. I watched Poirot instead and rang my parents to vent the day.

I woke up at 6am on Sunday. WHYYY??? So I went to Coles early and did shopping for cooking a beef satay for church dinner. I finished cooking by 10am so I watched the Yes Men dvds from the library, cooked lunch, had a long chat on the phone with my sister in Killarney, then had a nap. My bridesmaid hair was so nice and comfy all day. In fact it stayed so comfortable and awesome that I didn't wash my hair until Monday night, and now it looks worse... half the hairspray must still be in it.

Down down down…

...at least tomorrow is the weekend and I'm allowed to eat chocolate.

Review: Contagian.

http://www.youtube.com/embed/LppK4ZtsDdM?rel=0

Some beautiful and creative typography.

It's an enjoyable movie, considering everything is horrible. It's not as dark and despairing as these movies can be. I think because it tries to keep it in the real world, and doesn't go for all-out apocalypse and everyone turns into a monster, but rather, this could happen and this might be an interesting scenario if it did. Someone mentions at one point the Spanish Flu, which actually sticks in your head and grounds the events even more, because you realise that there have been plenty of times when this has happened before… just not in our living memory anymore. There are some uplifting examples of human courage and sacrifice, and surprisingly the movie was mainly pro- the way the authorities handled it. And it was pretty believable as well the level at which society itself gets sick (ooh this is meta) and rubbish piles up in the streets. It was not believable at all, the way Jude Law seemed to have an Australian accent 70% of the time. I kept whispering to the girl next to me "is that accent Australian?" and she kept saying "no" so it took me a while to figure out, while I was distracted by his weird tooth. We agreed that "he's good at playing slimy", and the tooth helped I think.

So it's a very interesting course of events, the spread of a very contagious disease with a high mortality rate. That's basically it, if you're interested in the premise you'll enjoy the movie. I recommend shutting your eyes in the brain autopsy scene, that was the only gross bit.