Truth in Genre

An Appropriate Response

It’s deeply freaky for me to think that anyone at any stage thought this would be a reasonable precaution against an atomic blast…

Une autre année qui se termine…

I won’t lie; 2009 basically sucked. Most of it was taken up with unrequited longing, and heartbreak. It seemed like my depression got worse[1].

On the good side, I journeyed back to Cambodia in July/August and did some amazing things as well as met some great people, and in November I wrote a decent portion of a novel’s rough draft.

I’ve learned a lot about myself as well, which has been both great and painful.

All in all, though, 2009 was not one of my best years

Until very recently (like, about September) I used to look forward to New Year’s Eve moreso than any other traditional night of celebration. All the promise of possibility as to what the next 12 months might bring. But I’m a little cynical now, a little jaded. I don’t want to wallow here (this ain’t LiveJournal and I ain’t 17), but while I obviously hope that this year will bring about all manner of wonderful things, I’m glad to see the end of 2009.

I hope everyone is having fun, staying safe, spending time with those important to them. All the best for 2010.

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[1] – In fact, I suspect/hope that it feels worse because the changes I’ve been going through are becoming more solid, more real, turning into actions rather than just ideas, and my stagnant comfortable subconscious is rebelling. Oh, and good news, I’m still not on medication. That’s a result IMHO.

Summer in the City

It’s been a hell of a long time since I took my camera for a stroll through the city.

Merry Christmas

Been a while since I put any photos up online. Here’s one I snapped in October.

Flat As A Tack

Ain’t blogged in a while. In fact, I’ve not written a lot since NaNoWriMo came to a close. I ended up with 54 thousand and a bit words which I managed to slam out in something like 27 days. Hence, I’m knackered.

And there’s been a little more than the usual weirdness in my head and heart, stuff not blogworthy really. Well, maybe it is, but it’s quite personal. So… I’ll STFU.

On a brighter note, one of the good things to come out of NaNoWriMo (other than having gotten most of a rough draft out of my head and into a Pages document) is that I met a group of writers. It seems like we’re gonna be meeting up on a semi-regular basis and bouncing ideas and plans and schemes off each other hopefully try to ignite some kind of creative spark that will let us set the literary world ablaze with our awesomeitude. Or something. That’s the rough plan, anyhow. Such are the ideas that are concocted in a pub in the middle of Newtown after a few beers on a Saturday afternoon.

Oh, and there’s some kind of religious holiday thing coming up soon, I can’t remember. Streets are awash with people frantically rushing about to buy things, stores are flooded with songs about (or even somehow vaguely connected to) the festive season. Most people are gearing up for a colossal pissup or twenty, thus celebrating in true Australian style.

I personally am looking forward to a few days of comparitive R&R, hopefully recharge my creative batteries and get back into at least one of the novels I have on the go right now.

NaNoWriMo Victory!!

“Yatta!”

50,369 words in 25 days, with a fulltime (37½ hrs/week) job and around 3½ hour per day commute to and from. And insomnia. I now have a cool official certificate to prove I done it, a fairly hefty chunk of the beginnings of a rough draft that I hope to actually get out there into the wild someday, and the knowledge that I can actually do it.

A great and inspiring experience. Any aspiring writers should definitely give it a crack next year. Check out the NaNoWriMo website for more info.

More Bizarre Marketing

I have to admit that I’ve not read A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, but I somehow doubt that the well-known classic tale included a scene where Ebenezer Scrooge humped a giant flying chess piece…

“30 Days & Nights Of Literary Abandon”

Only 6 hours until NaNoWriMo kicks off.

I’ve built a workstation…

Follow my progress here.

[breaking news] – ZOMG!!!!1! Women Have Boobs!

A startling revelation is rocking the United States. Something that has been known for millenia throughout most of the world is only now becoming apparent to certain people in the US.

Women have breasts.

(It’s true. They do.)

Meghan McCain, daughter of Senator John McCain (R – AZ), posted a photo of herself on her Twitter account the other day. A photo which left little doubt that she was indeed equipped with boobs.

And going by the reaction of some of her Twitter followers, breast size is an indicator of sexual promiscuity.

News to me.

Hey, she’s blonde and beautiful and into pop art too. And she has a column in The Daily Beast, and is the daughter of a Republican senator who ran for president of the US last year. Going by some of her articles on the Beast and at her own personal blog, she seems to have interesting opinions on politics and womens’ issues and is pretty good at expressing them even if I don’t necessarily agree with her political views.

But no, let’s all just concentrate on her tits.

Welcome back to 1956.

If, say, Daisy Turnbull (the daughter of the current Opposition leader in Australia) posted a similar pic of herself on her Twitter account, I doubt that there’d be a backlash like this. She wouldn’t be labelled a “slut” as Meghan McCain has been, but there’d be a sexism of a different type. The “phwoooaaaar, check out the rack on that!” type, which is just as degrading.

For all the talk we do about how far we’ve come re. gender relations, it seems that we still have a long way to go.