/karen/

Post-math

Thursday, 02 August, 2007

It's the week after the conference and I am quite exhausted. It's not as bad as it was on Monday but it's bad enough to distract me from the mountain of Briefing editing I'm supposed to be doing this week. I can't remember where I'm up to so I'm going to backtrack a couple of weeks until I can pick up the thread again.

Tuesday 17th July

Ben was in the hospital having surgery and then recovering. I stayed with him all day and then when I came home, Judith brought me dinner.

Wednesday 18th July

I spent the day with Ben in the hospital getting him to walk around (very painful) and rest (because he had had a terrible night with very little sleep).

Thursday 19th July

Ben came home, and Hans, Cathy and Lizz came over to help him up the stairs and have a cup of tea. I went into the city to spend my birthday money on books and to buy Ben some tracksuit pants (easier to put on than normal pants and more comfortable when you've just had hernia surgery!) I finally bought a copy of Neil Gaiman's Smoke and Mirrors (which you just can't mooch—people like to hold onto their copies), the last Diana Wynne Jones book I do not own (Wild Robert—actually, that's not strictly true; I don't own some of her books for very young readers but then I suspect they may be out of print), Shaun Tan's The Arrival, a present for Guan, a present for Fish (which, according to Facebook, he won't get until February) and the complete Bone (mostly because people whose opinions I respect say it's awesome). I also remembered the drawbacks of having too many books: they're really heavy!!!

Friday 20th July

We stayed home and did nothing but I went to counselling in the afternoon.

Saturday 21st July

More pottering around the house. I think I spent the day getting through the pile of stuff on my desk and watching television with Ben.

Sunday 22nd July

Hans, Cathy, Lizz, Tim and Ros came over for lunch to celebrate Ros' and my birthdays. I made poached ginger chicken and Ros brought crispy noodle salad. Everyone enjoyed it. Lizz brought photos from her trip to Europe but we didn't see them all.

The afternoon was spent doing computer things but then we had a blackout so I lit all these candles and Ben and I sat in the lounge room and watched the light outside fade. I got a text message from Cameron asking us to bring candles to church. Ben wasn't going to make it to church so I went alone. They had set up chairs at the very front in front of the table and the organ but facing the musicians, and there were lots of lit candles. And Francis preached one of the best sermons on materialism from Luke 16 that I've heard in a long time. Must start a blogging series about that sort of thing ...

Monday 23rd July

My holiday was over so I went back to work. And it was Briefing thinking day. So I touched base with Tony, went through all the emails that had come in, read and logged the articles, printed reports and was out of there by 11:30. I went home to feed Ben but he seemed to be doing pretty well on his own—he could walk around the flat, sit at the computer, watch television, dress himself, etc. I tried to do work in the afternoon but Faithful Writer conference stuff kept taking over. Tony said that was okay so I just did that.

Tuesday 24th July

CASE day. I worked from 8:30 to 6:30 with a half hour lunch break but I managed to get the 52 registrations that had come in while I was away processed, the conference booklets printed (with some last-minute changes) and a lot of other logistical stuff organised. Then and I went home to find Malcolm and Dave in our lounge room. Dave had brought Hot Fuzz. We fed him leftover risoni plus steamed pork buns, made him take out the garbage and dry the dishes, and then we watched the movie and laughed ourselves silly.

Wednesday 25th July

I did a full day at Matthias Media because Ben said he was okay to be by himself. It was mostly spent cleaning up Briefing stuff and organising more Faithful Writer stuff. The time just went and I didn't know what had happened to it. I know I came home, cooked dinner, washed up and did some more stuff for the conference before going to bed.

Thursday 26th July

I stayed home for most of the morning with Ben, then came into work after lunch. We were supposed to have a Briefing meeting but it got cancelled. I went home, then caught the train into the city. I stopped by Kinokuniya and spent more birthday money on Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (still haven't started reading it yet so don't spoil it for me!) and Black Orchid (early Neil Gaiman comic). Elsie had messaged me to tell me that Myer was having an underwear sale (which is important when you know the ridiculous cost of women's bras). This made me late to meet Matt but it was okay because the food court he was thinking of was shut so we met in the Myer food court anyway and had Chinese for dinner. We wandered up to the Theatre Royal to meet Malcolm who was running late but he managed to make it before the doors were closed off and we took our A Reserve seats for Company—one of the few Sondheim musicals I have never seen but know the all the music to. (I decided to splurge because I haven't been to the theatre in ages and Sondheim—especially unseen Sondheim—is worth it.) The set had a black backdrop with little pinpoints of light like stars all over it, and the four corners of the black and white checkerboard stage were overshadowed by the outline of a giant red neon light present, complete with a bow at the top. With all the controversy surrounding the production, I wasn't sure what to expect. But it was a very enjoyable performance with plenty of great acting and singing. I loved the costumes—how everyone was dressed in black for most of it, each character bearing a particular shape in their dress and style, and then for their other scenes, their costumes would just change colours but not styles. “You Could Drive a Person Crazy” could have been snappier and more energetic to my ears but Malcolm was raving about it during intermission. And David Campbell's performance of “Being Alive”—surely one of the most over-sung songs of Sondheim's repertoire—was sensitive and profound in the context of the story.

Afterwards we went to McDonald's for hot chocolate, chai lattes (which Malcolm had never had before) and soft drink. It was getting late so Malcolm and I caught the train home after that.

Friday 27th July

I had forgotten it was Friday Thai Day. Once again, I wasn't getting much Briefing work done but plenty of other work done (probably for the conference but I just don't remember). Some of the Campus Bible Study staff joined us for Friday Thai Day and then I went to meet Elsie at the Tea Inn. We read the Bible and prayed together, then I went off to New College to do more conference stuff, then home again, determined to spend the evening resting so that I would be ready for the conference the following day.

Ben and I watched Hoodwinked which I thought was too silly and totally beneath Anne Hathaway, but we were interrupted several times by phone calls and a visitor. Kathleen turned up at about 11 and we welcomed her in, then said goodnight immediately.

Saturday 28th July

The day of the conference, I was up at 7, having breakfast, reading Bible, praying about the day and rousing everyone else. Ben decided he probably couldn't last the day (even though he wanted to) so he didn't come with us. Kathleen and I drove to Newtown to pick up Ben May, then onto Kensington where I parked at the back door of New College and called the Dean of Students to let us in. In the end, some trusting student let us in, but the Dean emerged not long after to let me into the office so I could get materials. And then from there the day went very fast, with Kathleen, Ben May and Maheesha helping me set up the bookstall, the CASE table and the registration table, people coming early to register, people turning up late to register, me missing Tony's opening address because I was outside waiting for latecomers, me handing my mobile phone over to Maheesha so he could let people in the door if they arrived after morning tea, the Writing for Ministry panel with Gordon and Mark Hadley of Sydney Anglicans.net, then me sitting on the panel for “Writing and the Internet” with Mark Hadley and Byron (and I think I had some intelligent things to say because people were nodding their heads!), the lunch, then the writing exercise (during which I tried to write down some sensible things to say for the Christians and Fiction panel), the writing exercise debrief (where we read out some of the writing exercises on “tuna” and both Guan's and Maheesha's were selected to be read out which should tell you something about their writing skills), the Christians and Fiction panel (and you can read Bec's address if you missed it)—I really felt like I waffled during that panel—then the Writing for Impact panel with the fascinating Matt Andrews (along with Gordon, and Malcolm who got to retell the story of what happened with the Jesus Loves Osama poster), and finally Greg's lovely closing address which I must listen to again now that I've got the conference audio.

Then it was pack up, say goodbye to people and thank them for coming (especially the lovely people who came up to tell me personally what a good job I had done with the conference), take down signs, lock everything in the offices again, Ben May brought my car around to the back again and we loaded it up, then drove to my house where a small gathering of Word by Word-ers assembled—Kathleen, George, Ben May, Shannon, Laurian, and Ben and myself. We listened to Ben's relatively small collection of hip hop and then things started getting very silly. Everyone left at around 11 (except Kathleen who was staying with us), and she and I talked about books until I decided I was beyond overtired—I really needed to go to bed—so I said goodnight and did just that.

(FYI, SydneyAnglicans have an article about the conference. Kathleen has written up her notes here and here, Haydn has also put down his thoughts here but they've sparked a massive debate which has continued on Michael's blog. I haven't read it but Tony tells me it's a really interesting exchange. And it was nice that Greg said during the conference that he liked my long posts—even if they are just about my life—and was actually disappointed if he came to my blog and found it was a short one.)

Sunday 29th July

It was a lovely day so Kathleen and I decided to walk to Newtown. Ben wasn't interested in coming too so it was just us (not that I was expecting him to walk to Newtown; we definitely would have driven if he had wanted to come!). We went through Newtown so I could show her the Amazing Paper shop (which was shut) and the goth shops I'm too scared to enter (she said she'd go with me but they were shut too). Tree of Life, however, was open and, better yet, was on sale with a further 20% off already reduced items. We gleefully tried on all sorts of clothes and in the end, Kathleen walked away with a beautiful gold princess dress, and I got myself an $8 black corduroy skirt, a pair of black ballet-type shoes (always wanted a pair of those and they fit!), a dusky red dress coat like Kere's (except hers is dark red [I think] and Laura Ashley ... I've always wanted one of those too) and a dark red velvet coat which looks more like a dressing gown (Kathleen said it was very Chrestomanci and if someone should say my name three times, I'd appear to them). I ummed and ahhed over that last one but then finally gave in because it was real silk velvet and I love real silk velvet.

We wandered up King Street, stopping at one of the best bookstores I have ever visited (Better Read than Dead—in which I spotted Signal to a Noise and purchased it which was a bit naughty), then had herb bread, cake and chai tea at Urban Bites. This was finished off with a lovely walk back through Newtown home again, spaghetti bolognaise for lunch, a lot more talking, the watching of an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and then church (though Kathleen couldn't stay for the whole thing and so left just after the break to catch her plane home. I'm pleased to report she got back safely).

Monday 30th July

I didn't realise how exhausted I was until I came into work on Monday, tried to get stuck into Briefing editing and couldn't. I don't remember what I did—it was all work-related—but it wasn't all Briefing. (Oh yes, I wrote a CHN.) At 3 I cut my losses and went to pick up Ben from Burwood where he was visiting the surgeon. Then I came home and we spent the evening watching television.

Tuesday 31st July

My last day at CASE. Sort of. I still have a heap of audio things to do online for the website but those I need to do at home. I tidied up the last of The Faithful Writer stuff, processed magazine subscriptions, tried to clean everything up, had a last meeting with Trevor, and was out of there by 3. I went to return The West Wing Season 7 to Duncan, then went home, thought about doing CASE work but decided to watch taped Grey's Anatomy instead. More TV followed in the evening.

Wednesday 1st August

Back at Matthias Media with another attempt at Briefing stuff. I managed to edit two pieces that day—including one that started out as a sermon (that one was relatively easy though). I left at 3 to go to counselling and it was a bit of a frustrating session and not just because I was tired but because I realised I really needed replenishing emotionally and had no way of getting that. My counsellor told me to go home and go to bed early but instead I ended up doing lots of CASE work (trying to figure out where all the different audio files were) for about three hours, then realising it was really late and I hadn't made Ben dinner, then washing up and going to bed. (So it wasn't restful but it was productive. Tonight has been set aside for rest.)

Thursday 2nd August

Ben still wasn't up to walking so I got up later than usual (I needed the sleep anyway) and dropped him (along with two of our neighbours who were running late) at college. At work I managed to get halfway through one Briefing article today but in my defence, it's currently at 5,000 words, it needs to be chopped down to about 4,000 and I'm trying to convert it from a seminar into an article. We had staff meeting (Bible and prayer) at 2 (Tony got us to look at John 8), then Briefing meeting at 3 (very productive). I had to leave before it finished because I had to pick up Ben from college. We came home and I've been on the internet ever since, catching up with my life.

Oh bother. I also meant to do a week and a half's worth of laundry this evening. Better get cracking on that ...

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