Day 365- August 21, 2010

And so this is it. Three hundred and sixty five days. Three hundred and sixty five blog posts and three hundred and sixty five “Photos of the Day” (a sizable amount of which were desperately taken at about 1am on the days that I had not taken any photos of the actual events of the day).

I started this blog a year ago as a way of motivating me to keep up my photography (even of the most mundane subjects!), as a way to practise writing and as a way of looking back on the year. Now that it’s finished, I’m kind of relieved: no more trying to write about days in which nothing happened, no more taking photos of ridiculous things and then trying to justify their relevance to the blog, no more getting home late and trying to write coherently. But it’s been good as well. I’ll have something that I can always look back on (well, until the zombie apocalypse rolls round and internet access becomes a bit more tricky).

And it’s been an interesting year. James and I started a long tradition of Enjoying Our Life (Day 25). I revisited the sites of some important childhood memories (Day 35). I “starred” in a (quite) short film (Day 75). I participated in Movember, giving up not-looking-like-a-pedophile for a month for charity (Day 102). I did photoshoots for a friend’s family (Day 112) and for an ARIA award-winning band (Day 161). I went to the Big Day Out (Day 158) and to the St Kilda Festival (Day 177). I participated in a rally protesting against liquor licensing laws affecting local live music (Day 186). I played piano for a production of Jesus Christ Superstar (Day 217). I participated in a vodka-based sleep experiment (Day 276). I dressed up like a European for Eurovision (Day 282). I revisited another childhood memory site and posed with creepy mannequins (Day 321). I went to a lecture by controversial photographer Bill Henson (Day 346). I voted legally for the first time (Day 350). And here we are at the last day.

And with this last post, I’d like to thank some people: Josiah for shamelessly promoting my blog and ensuring that throughout the course of the year I met people who knew all about my life even before we met; Sarah for reading every day and commenting and occasionally writing posts for me when I couldn’t be bothered; Mum for promoting my blog to people all over the world in her global Twitter empire. And of course, Vishnu (Steph thinks that he is somehow relevant).

Today’s photo is, of course, of my birthday cake, ready to take to my birthday dinner. This blog started with cake and ends with cake. How appropriate (I was tossing up between that and: “It ends, not with a bang, but with cake”).

Day 364- August 20, 2010

Being stuck in traffic is an inconvenience. It’s annoying. But unless you really have to go somewhere, like the toilet, it’s no more than that (especially if you have music playing in the car). On the other hand, being stuck in traffic with your destination in sight is a tad cruel. For example, the 12-storey Psych building which I could see for every painstakingly slow metre of the last half hour or so of the drive in. Standing there, taunting me with its ugly brick exterior. What a bitch.

Feeling better today than yesterday, and being faced with the spectre of having to catch up on five hours of tutes had I done otherwise, I opted to go to uni today. And I couldn’t be bothered with all this train nonsense. So I exchanged sitting on a stationary “express” train stuck between two stations for sitting in a stationary car on the Eastern Freeway during the last part of the morning peak. I’m glad I don’t have to commute like that. Not just yet, anyway.

And so I was late to class. Big whoop. So I missed out on some “discussion questions”. At least I came in time to participate in an activity modelled on that silly “Cmabrigde Emial”. All related to language. And then a Terrorism tute. And then Russian. And then Broadway. And then a fruitless hour or so in the music section of the Baillieu library attempting to find books for an assignment.

And then, as always, home. The drive back was just as slow. No matter. At least the evening was productive. Quite productive, considering I’m Sick (that is a blanket excuse for all sorts of misdeeds– for example Family First’s Wendy Francis’ “I’m not a homophobe… I’m just woozy from giving blood”). I finished my music thing. I read all of my Terrorism stuff. I did my Russian. And I bought a camera off Ebay.

Not too bad. Not too bad at all. As for the photo: what does it mean? What do you mean what does it mean? It is a photo of my dining room. I’ve been doing this blog for 364 days now and every day I have to find a photo of something that means something?

In all truth, I wanted to find something awesome, something brilliant for the penultimate blog post (yay, I got to use the word penultimate!), but sadly, life is not always awesome and brilliant. And sometimes the things that are awesome and brilliant cannot be photographed. And perhaps something awesome and/or brilliant did happen today. But I didn’t take a photo of it.

So, in lieu of that, and throwing this terribly passe concept we call “meaning” out the window, enjoy this photo of my dining room. And stay tuned for my last blog post tomorrow.

Day 363- August 19, 2010

So. Only three days left. It seems like only yesterday that I was starting this blog with a post about my gargantuan and structurally unsound birthday cake. Well, perhaps not “only yesterday”, but, a year? Really?

As for today, I woke up with a mystery earache, not enough sleep and a doctor’s appointment. Of course, when people say “doctor’s appointment”, they mean sitting in a room room for the better part of an hour watching Ellen followed by a brief chat to a doctor. I was told that I had a possible ruptured eardrum but that there was no way to know for certain as there was too much wax in the ear. Of course, the wax couldn’t be flushed out because of the possibility of me having a ruptured eardrum. So now I’m on antibiotics and apparently everything will be ok.

I returned home for lunch and some roasted nuts (pictured… how exciting!). And then the rest of the day consisted of, well, not very much at all. Very unproductive.

On the upside, all the organisation for getting tickets to the upcoming Arts Students Society Ball worked out. I was supposed to collect money from the people on our table who hadn’t paid yet and take it to the Arts Society office, but my absence necessitated a change of plans. About a dozen text messages later, everything was worked out. Now to figure out what to wear…

Day 362- August 18, 2010

I would like to preface this post by informing you that I have Seven Swans by Sufjan Stevens in my head. This is kind of annoying because it is in fact the last bit of the song that is in my head. The bit that repeats “Seven Swans” ad infinitum. On the other hand, it’s kind of good for my indie cred, which has been a low lately, what with me not being dangerously underweight nor buying $500+ clothes that look like they belong in an op shop.

And indie cred is good because it gives you the right to call anything ironic, without the need to justify why said thing is ironic, why irony is even relevant and whether or not you even know what the word “irony” means. Which you don’t. And that is ironic. Which is, itself, ironic. How recursive.

So, for example, I could say that Today’s Photo of my hand is ironic. Totally. I don’t know why, but apparently contemporary convention states that I can get away with such a ridiculous and unfounded statement.

But now to change the topic (before people think too much about what I have said and how little it makes sense). I woke to an email from an English teacher from my high school, asking whether I would be interested in taking on a student she could no longer tutor. Long story short, a new student. Win.

But before that, I went into uni for an entire hour, driving as I could not be bothered with public transport given my level of coughing all the time. And then after that (tutoring) that is, I watched the last Gruen Nation and Yes We Canberra. Sniff. The election has come so quickly…

Day 361- August 17, 2010

Getting quite close to the end now. And it’s no small relief. I mean, come on. A picture of cups. That is relevant to today… I guess (what with the amounts of tea I have been drinking). And it can’t always be interesting. Because life isn’t always interesting. But dammit I am sick of taking pictures of things like cups. Argh.

A moderately productive day. I managed not to forget to hang out the washing. I cleaned up a mess the dog made (hooray). I got a start on an assignment for my music subject. I tutored. All Very Admirable Activities. And I used up about half a box of tissues blowing my nose, but I’m not sure whether that’s quite on the same level. Argh colds.

Day 360- August 16, 2010

Woke up, didn’t really feel like getting out of bed. Damn cold. Still, I was productive. I managed to go over the lecture slides for a Psych lecture I missed last week and make a timeline of when all my assignments for the semester are due so that they don’t sneak up on me before deciding to get up for a shower and some food around 1pm.

Food was definitely a good idea, seeing as I was pretty hungry at the time. Roast lamb and potatoes, om nom nom. After Skypecasting Blue Velvet with Steph (she really should come back to Australia– it’s really hard to keep two movies synchronised when you’re watching different cuts), I meant to take a nap (being a-weary) but instead got up and did some Vaguely Useful Things which woke me up a bit and prevented me from falling asleep. How inconvenient.

Stoically, I soldiered on (crap, do I need to pay royalties for that phrase?) and even managed to play some 90s pop ballads on the piano before dinner. Also, Mum returned from the chemist with a bunch of things for me to swallow: the blue Strepsils that numb your mouth, vitamin C pills for me to overdose on and some particularly foul green mouthwash designed to get rid of sore throats (pictured).

And now I am watching Tony Abbott on Q&A. This should be interesting.

Day 359- August 15, 2010

Argh at being sick (still!). But hooray at getting to sleep in. It’s all very yin/yang. Except I’ve probably just massively and inappropriately simplified a complex and significant cultural concept. On the other hand, who cares.

By the time I woke up, had a cup of tea with honey (pictured) to soothe my throat, and helped Maxim with a psychology assignment, it was about 1pm, which is about as late as you can respectably put off showering and dressing without a note from your mother.

After watching Let The Right One In over Skype with Steph, I headed over to the Zaruckys’ place. Even though I only caught the last 20% or so of an afternoon of eating, I nonetheless managed to become incredibly full. Also, apparently I missed out on a session of recounting childhood stories. Next time, I guess.

Day 358- August 14, 2010

Work. Worky work. Charlotte likes to think that that’s her phrase, but she’s horribly wrong. It is obviously mine. Also, she is from Queensland, so you cannot trust her.

So after seven hours teaching English, I headed down to the Peacock Hotel in Northcote for my cousin Anna’s birthday. The place was pretty nice and the chips were even better (possibly the best I’ve ever had!). After going home briefly for dinner, I went out again to Matt’s place for a party/gathering/soirée/wine-and-cheese-(and-scotch)-do.

I was a bit unsure about what to bring, not being confident in my choice of either wine or cheese. Also, bringing a packet of crackers would look a bit cheap and silly and would be worse than bringing nothing at all. Hence, I arrived with a large jar of pickles, as they go excellently with cheese. Pic related: it’s me holding a jar of pickles.

Day 357- August 13, 2010

Not too bad a day. Not bad at all. Mainly because it’s all tutes on Fridays, and they’re quite a bit more engaging than lectures. I was particularly thankful for my Terrorism tute, in which a plethora of psychoanalytic concepts were explained to me in language I could actually understand (and so now I can bandy about terms like “the symbolic order” and “point de capiton“, even if I can’t pronounce the last one).

Russian wasn’t too bad either, as we learned some quite hilarious proverbs. My favourite was “кто не согласен с маршрутом, тот может сойти”, which pretty much means “if you don’t like it, you can get lost”. Very useful.

And, finally, Broadway, in which I gave a “presentation” (quite informal, really) on issues raised by this week’s readings, which mainly pertained to the adaption of literary texts into musical theatre and the extent to which these texts were changed and also to the history of operettas in 1910-1920s America. This then spilled over into a discussion of the various interpretations that can be made of musical films such as Mary Poppins and the Wizard of Oz. Some people objected to political and sexual interpretations of Mary Poppins ruining their childhood memories, but I thought it was all very good fun. Also, I’m glad I’m not the only one who thought that Glinda (the “good witch” from Wizard of Oz) was a complete bitch.

Home and readings and dinner and playing Bowie on guitar (pictured) and being glad that I wasn’t on Lygon St when two people were shot dead.

Day 356- August 12, 2010

No photo? No problem. Today’s options consisted of “Chicken Drumettes On Brown Rice”, “Things On My Bedroom Floor” and “Out-Of-Focus Photo Passed Off As ‘Abstract’”. I eschewed the photographic medium today and made one of those Obama-type pictures, but it still totally counts because I used a photo to make it.

Not that much to report. A generally bleak day when it came to the weather, which doesn’t make things that fun. I mean, it does when you’re having coffee in a cobblestoned laneway or on a tram, listening to music and pretending to be in a European movie like on SBS except there’s not as much softcore nudity in real life. Otherwise, it’s just a bit, well… bleak.

And then when the weather’s like that and you’re feeling a bit tired, you really are not in the mood for annoying things, which of course are drawn like metaphorical ironic magnets to you in that situation. Take, for example, a very common annoyance on public transport: the person situated anywhere between one and a dozen metres from you with earphones in their ears and their music somehow managing to be heard over said distance. This person is almost inevitably listening to terrible music (with the single exception of an incident about a year ago in which I was treated, instead, to The Who).

Secondly, I simply cannot understand why people insist on sitting in the seats closest to the aisle rather than just moving up one when they know you’re going to sit next to them. I mean, really. It’s not like they have a surfboard/harp/kendo stick/other bulky item which would require the use of an aisle seat. If they did, I would understand. BUT THEY DON’T. (Sadly, because a harp on a train would be quite a sight). Is it that they enjoy that awkward moment where I have to squeeze past their knees, trying very hard not to fall over or knock them out with my bag? Seriously.

And, finally, possibly one of the most annoying things in the world: annoying readings set by lecturers who I suspect are trying to push the limits of what we’ll actually attempt to read. Today’s treat (apart from an excerpt from Hobbes’ Leviathan which was printed in the original Ye Olde English with choice phrases such as “Civill Warre” and “spoyle and robbe” which caused me to read the entire thing in Bill Bailley’s voice and hence be distracted) was something about man-wolves and man-gods and god-men and god-wolves and wolf-men and wolf-gods and wolf-becoming-man and something like that. No, it wasn’t to do with Twilight and was in fact supposed to be related to terrorism. It was extra fun to read as it was translated from French and was riddled with wordplay which had to be explained by a combination of italicised word in square brackets and footnotes referring to things I’ve never read but apparently should have.

So, yes. Did not take any photos of any of that. But at least I finished reading, even if I’m not sure what I just read.