My Talon

I've been growing this fingernail for a few weeks now. I call it my talon. It's the longest fingernail I've ever had. I tried growing some of the others, but they either broke, or I needed them short to put my contacts in or play the guitar. Thought I should take a picture of it to prove it truly once existed if I happen to lose it. So there you have it. My talon.

Defining My World

Workend: A weekend on which you have to work.

I think all my weekends are workends because even if I'm not 'working' so to speak, I'm always going somewhere to network or doing something that's helpful to my career. I suppose this industry is fairly weekend oriented.

Encourageable (should be a word): In The Sound of Music, I always thought Kurt said he was 'encourageable', when really he was saying 'incorrigible'!

Mushroom Growers

As I was eating a mushroom this afternoon (as I sometimes do because mushrooms are nice), I was thinking about all the different jobs people do. Like, I mean, somebody grows mushrooms. That's what they're interested in. That's their job. Me, I'm an entertainer. I entertain people, that's what I'm interested in, that's my job. So then I was thinking, people who grow mushrooms like to be entertained, and people who entertain like to eat mushrooms. So I, by eating mushrooms, am supporting the mushroom growing industry, and the mushroom grower, by seeing a show, is supporting the entertainment industry. They're such different occupations, but both are, in an odd way, linked, and, in an odd way, support each other. I suppose it all comes down to what people need. I suppose there are some mushroom growers who don't need much entertainment (because they are very busy keeping an eye on their mushrooms), and I'm sure there are a lot of entertainers who don't eat mushrooms (because some strange people think mushrooms are yuckky).

It's kind of sad that if a mushroom grower came to see a show I was in, he would clap for me as I bowed, to thank me for my service to him. Where is my chance to clap for the mushroom grower to thank him for his service to me?

I think, when I next take a bow on stage, I will spare a thought for the mushroom grower who deserves just as much applause for his job as I do.

Kudos to mushroom growers.

Daylight Savings

Well, daylight savings is over! (Finally.) Now we can all go back to knowing the real time instead of having to, at six o'clock, say, "it's actually only five". We can now once again go to sleep in the dark and wake up in the light, having actually had enough sleep.

There's a Counting Crows song I keep thinking of called Daylight Fading, but I change the words to Daylight Savings. With my words, it goes:

"Daylight savings, come and waste another year / all the anger and the eloquence are bleeding into fear / Moonlight creeping round the corners of our lawn / When we see the early signs of daylight savings / we leave just before it's gone."

It's not really funny or anything, it's just what I think of, so I thought I'd throw it out there into the 'sphere.

Filling in the gaps

I really wanted to do this blog thing regularly but I have had zero time for it in the last few weeks! So much has happened that I want to blog! Where would I begin? Let me try point form:

- Two weeks ago tomorrow, I had an accident in Steve's car and rolled the trailer. Could have been a lot worse. Steve and I walked away unscathed and insurance covered the damage. No damage to our equipment meant we could do the show the following day. The accident was scary, but hasn't left any psychological damage because Steve handled it so well. He didn't get angry or upset with me or anything like that. In fact, he was chuckling as the trailer was lifted on to the tow-truck, and he said he was grateful that he could now fix the things that bothered him about the trailer!

- I saw a play performed by 3rd year acting students at WAAPA last Saturday called The Country Wife. It was pretty funny. The staging was great. The chick who played the title role in Eugenie Sandler PI, Xaris Miller, was in it!

- On Thursday I went to Elenora (an old people's home for want of the correct term) and performed some poetry and songs for them. They were a very appreciative audience.

- Eisteddfod entries are due Wednesday. I know exactly what I and my students will be doing. All that remains is to dig up a backing track I've lost, confirm my accompaniest and finish filling out the entry forms.

There's so much more to tell but I'm too tired right now.

Filming singers

I went down to BREC yesterday after work because the Australian Idol auditions were on and I thought it would be funny to film some of people who were waiting to audition. After a few interviews and songs on the steps, I went inside and met some more people. I ended up hanging out there until quite late, talking to Nola, the mother of a girl called Stacey who was auditioning. She was so lovely and obviously very supportive of her daughter, so I kept her company. I think about 6 or 7 people at the Bunbury auditions got through to the next round in Perth. One of them was Talynt and another was Ross Burden, Sara's brother. (I met Sara at PEAC in year 6 and we were penpals for a little while.)

Some people asked me why I wasn't auditioning. Where do I begin? These aren't in any particular order:

- I wouldn't get past the first audition (it takes a certain 'star quality' that I'm happy to admit I don't have!)
- I'm not a pop singer
- Commercial television just isn't my type of machine
- I dislike mainstream 'youth culture', especially commerical TV's portrayal of it
- I have a lot of committments here that I'm not about to walk out on
- I don't want to be famous
- Music isn't my life

So there's just a few reasons. If they had an acting one, maybe I'd go for it.