A kind of late assessment
I am (almost) freed from the tyranny of Latin, which is a huge relief. I am enrolled for the sequel subject for next semester, but at this point I've had about as much Latin as I can take, and surely as much as I could ever need, so I hope to be able to get out of it. I mean, it was self-inflicted to begin with, but I was just pre-empting the inevitable. I need it for my work but I think I've now got a good enough grounding in the language that I can teach myself anything more difficult.
With the end of semester also comes the end of most of my extra-curriculars and I can settle down to my real work, which is what I have been trying to do this afternoon, on the first day of sunshine and clear skies that Sydney has had for a very long time. I walked out in it this morning, to buy groceries and meet a friend for 10,000 calories of juice (although said friend swears there's not as much sugar in fruit as I think), and I've got the shades up on our big window and have been facing the outside all afternoon, so that will have to do. The sun's setting now, which upsets me. I do not enjoy the early darkness in Sydney any more than I did in England.
I've had several domestic goddess successes since my last disaster, and am really enjoying the new flat and its upkeep. I have bought a bed, too, which used up all my government bonus funds, and hasn't yet arrived, but I am choosing to see the purchase of a bed as proof that I am a real grown-up. A grown-up who eats brownies for dinner, but a grown-up nonetheless.
I really enjoyed Liane Moriarty's What Alice Forgot, despite the copyediting mistakes that persisted all the way through to the final sentence. It's a really interesting novel about the way people change (or don't change) over time, and the difficulties of making a relationship work, and really working for that and working with each other. There's also a subplot in which one of the characters keeps a blog, and the blog posts are reproduced along with the comments. These posts didn't feel too contrived, and the comments were a hilariously accurate reflection of the variety you usually get: well-meaning but misunderstanding, irritating one-track minds, unnecessary criticism, warm support, spam, etc.
As a post-exam treat I am rereading The Mists of Avalon. It may take me a while as I have to force myself to make time for leisurely reading these days, especially as one cannot (to my dismay) read and knit at the same time. The knitting is going well, I am making endless scarves for practice and dreaming of projects for when I have more skills and money.
Ballet Shoes is on television tomorrow night. I loved that book as a child (when I desperately wanted to be on the stage myself) and I watched the movie when it premiered in England on Boxing Day 2007, but I don't think it's aired here before. I was talking with an English expat recently about the curious time delay of so many television programs here, caused by odd scheduling choices and the ABC buying content that they sit on for inordinately long periods of time. I have been back in Australia for nearly a year but I'm still not up to speed with some of the shows here -- I didn't realise that Thank God You're Here had changed channels, or that The Gruen Transfer was in its second season and not a new show ths year. The episodes of Kath & Kim on at the moment are repeats, but I hadn't seen them. Etc. This makes me seem like I watch too much television, and while at the moment I do watch more than I used to, I just find it odd that I still feel out of touch with the airwaves.
I saw Chicago the other night, with Caroline O'Connor as Velma, whom I've long wanted to see in the role. What can I say? The show was amazing. It always is and will be. I love it. So slick, smart, and well-designed, with the most fabulous choreography. My resolution for between-semesters is to see more theatre, and to see more of Sydney. I'm not making the most of living here.
With the end of semester also comes the end of most of my extra-curriculars and I can settle down to my real work, which is what I have been trying to do this afternoon, on the first day of sunshine and clear skies that Sydney has had for a very long time. I walked out in it this morning, to buy groceries and meet a friend for 10,000 calories of juice (although said friend swears there's not as much sugar in fruit as I think), and I've got the shades up on our big window and have been facing the outside all afternoon, so that will have to do. The sun's setting now, which upsets me. I do not enjoy the early darkness in Sydney any more than I did in England.
I've had several domestic goddess successes since my last disaster, and am really enjoying the new flat and its upkeep. I have bought a bed, too, which used up all my government bonus funds, and hasn't yet arrived, but I am choosing to see the purchase of a bed as proof that I am a real grown-up. A grown-up who eats brownies for dinner, but a grown-up nonetheless.
I really enjoyed Liane Moriarty's What Alice Forgot, despite the copyediting mistakes that persisted all the way through to the final sentence. It's a really interesting novel about the way people change (or don't change) over time, and the difficulties of making a relationship work, and really working for that and working with each other. There's also a subplot in which one of the characters keeps a blog, and the blog posts are reproduced along with the comments. These posts didn't feel too contrived, and the comments were a hilariously accurate reflection of the variety you usually get: well-meaning but misunderstanding, irritating one-track minds, unnecessary criticism, warm support, spam, etc.
As a post-exam treat I am rereading The Mists of Avalon. It may take me a while as I have to force myself to make time for leisurely reading these days, especially as one cannot (to my dismay) read and knit at the same time. The knitting is going well, I am making endless scarves for practice and dreaming of projects for when I have more skills and money.
Ballet Shoes is on television tomorrow night. I loved that book as a child (when I desperately wanted to be on the stage myself) and I watched the movie when it premiered in England on Boxing Day 2007, but I don't think it's aired here before. I was talking with an English expat recently about the curious time delay of so many television programs here, caused by odd scheduling choices and the ABC buying content that they sit on for inordinately long periods of time. I have been back in Australia for nearly a year but I'm still not up to speed with some of the shows here -- I didn't realise that Thank God You're Here had changed channels, or that The Gruen Transfer was in its second season and not a new show ths year. The episodes of Kath & Kim on at the moment are repeats, but I hadn't seen them. Etc. This makes me seem like I watch too much television, and while at the moment I do watch more than I used to, I just find it odd that I still feel out of touch with the airwaves.
I saw Chicago the other night, with Caroline O'Connor as Velma, whom I've long wanted to see in the role. What can I say? The show was amazing. It always is and will be. I love it. So slick, smart, and well-designed, with the most fabulous choreography. My resolution for between-semesters is to see more theatre, and to see more of Sydney. I'm not making the most of living here.