creepy

Today I took myself on an excursion to the Old Melbourne Gaol. Have to do some actual work tomorrow so thought I'd better get myself on track and go and do something interesting in this here fair city. Besides, they service the room on Monday and it was a bit embarrasing last time when the guy came in while i was getting out of the shower....
I really enjoyed the museum - although to tell you the truth the whole place absolutely gave me the creeps. I loved looking at the death masks - I always find it so facinating to be confronted with a 3D image of a person who died over 100 years ago. I mean, I know we have photographs dating from around then, but its the scale of a face, the little asymmetries, that make it interesting. And the fact you can see their eyelashes and stuff.
I loved reading all the stories. Since i've been writing, I've been finding story sparks everywhere i go. Just wish I could catch the spark and turn it into something more.
As with all historical buildings it was facinating to look at what life must have been like. I could touch both walls of the ground floor cells when i held my hands outstretched. The stone showed through under layers of paint. It smelt slightly damp and even though the day was relatively mild, I felt cold. And then the claustrophobia started to kick in. i am not usually someone who gets that worried about it - i mean, I managed underneath the great pyramid at Giza in 40 degree heat bent over at the waist - but something about the place, perhaps just knowing it had been a prison, set my mind pounding around my scull. The gallows, with the floral wreaths wilting above the trap door was the kind of eerie i can't even describe.
I am getting so into Australian history these days. The second half of the 19th Century in this country seems such a brutal and facinating place. Its interesting that after a 25 year love affair with all kinds of European and American history, I am finally finding a facination with this place that I have always felt like such an interloper in. Maybe its my own alienation that helps me understand the alienation that europeans and early Australians must have felt when confronted with this incredibly different and distant place....

Ten things I am loving about November in Melbourne.....

1. Hanging in a cosy hotel room with my man.
2. Having time to myself and having a little explore of Melbourne when i want to.
3. Not having to get up in the morning if I don't feel like it.
4. South Melbourne markets - 2 x cheeses for $5, octopus for T.
5. Looking at the Arts Centre at night out my window - all the pretty lights.
6. Walking along the Yarra in the late afternoon eating gelato.
7. Catching up with the lovely people who i miss who are in Melbourne - gorgeous K from the national institute, D from the theatre wardrobe, Jess who loves my buddy AB, crazy cats from work down for the melbourne season, Tara from Devon - woohoo!
8. Having a casual swim in the afternoon on the roof.
9. Amusing nights out with crazy mechanists.
10. Writing my expenses off to tax because I will be working for a few hours down here - movies and theatre are a legitimate business expense for those in my profession...

Third time lucky....

AAGGHHHH! Security compromise. I have never had anyone maliciously hunt me down on the internet before. I was a bit frustrated how easy it was for someone who wanted to know about me to find me and work out lots of things about me from the little snippets of life I post. And I thought i was being pretty circumspect. I guess not. It was a good lesson tho. If someone has a grudge its pretty easy in the internet age to become a freakweasily stalker.
I was feeling put off by blogging altogether, but having a bit of time off, I am finding that I miss having a little outlet every now and then. Hopefully this time the blog is anonymous enough.
I am going to be ultra careful.
So there here we go. Brand shiny new blog, a bit like the old one, but hopefully more anonymous.