/karen/

Story: 3/11/08-9/11/08

Sunday, 07 December, 2008

Monday 3/11/08

The hospital said that they would most like discharge Ben, however I had already booked and paid for a ticket to the Varuna, the Writers' House Pathways to Publication forum, and I had planned to drive up to the Blue Mountains with Guan and Bec. Fortunately Hans and Cathy, being retired, said they were free to pick Ben up and take him home, and help him up the stairs.

I woke really early and had a shower. Bec and Guan came for me, and we listened to the Bare Naked Ladies' children's album as we drove west. I fell asleep in the back seat so wasn't much of a conversationalist, and woke just before we arrived. We parked out the back of the Carrington Hotel, not quite sure whether we were in the right spot.

We were a little early, which meant we had a bit of time to collect our showbag of goodies (there were around $130 worth of books and journals in there, plus other bits and pieces of paper, and a lovely Varuna bag—here's an obligatory photo of the pile I ended up with:

And of course I haven't started reading any of them and have no idea when I will. But it was certainly well worth the registration fee for the forum!), get a cup of tea and find a good spot to sit. There were a lot of people there—mostly women, interestingly enough. Juliana was also there (I realised I'd forgotten to tell her that I was coming, nor had I bothered to find out if she was. Well, I had a lot going on ...) I invited her to come sit with us, which was a bit of a relief to her, I think, as she didn't know anyone else there (and neither did we, really!)

It was quite a long day, with back-to-back panels on everything from submitting manuscripts to publishers to working with agents to why you should send stuff to literary journals, and how to sustain the writing life in the face of rejection.

The jam-packed programme was broken up by meals (of course)—morning tea, afternoon tea and lunch (which we decided to have outside because it was such a lovely day).

Guan, Bec and I also went for a bit of a wander at the end of lunch to Angus's coffee kiosk, but unfortunately Angus wasn't there so we couldn't say hi to him (not that the other two know who he is, but anyway ...) It was good to stretch our legs and be out in the sunshine for a bit before heading back.

I also checked in with Ben to see how he was doing, and he said he had made it home and that he still had the temporary cast on and would need to go back to get a proper cast a week later.

But back to the forum. Like the others, my head was exploding with ideas and thoughts afterwards, and all I wanted to do was go away and write things. I really appreciated all the panellists—the agents, the writers, the editors, and so on—and their positive but realistic view of the publishing industry and why people do it. It was plain to see how much they love books and how they wanted to encourage people to keep writing and submitting, even though, as everyone says, there is very little money in publishing. Varuna does a great service to writers in this fashion; usually at things like this, everyone is so negative.

(Here's Bec's take on the day.)

Afterwards, we went to Terrafirma pizza in Leura and got dinner.

We talked writing and creativity (all our heads were exploding with possibilities, I think). And then we hopped in the car and drove back to Sydney, Bec and I singing through Into the Woods (London cast) in its entirety all the way home, much to Guan's amusement.

When dropping me off, Bec and Guan came upstairs to say hi to Ben who was home from hospital. Then I helped Ben take a shower (because his cast was plaster, you had to wrap it in a towel and then a plastic bag), and then we went to bed.

Tuesday 4/11/08

Briefing To Layout day. I was worried about how Ben would feed himself, given that getting around on crutches is not very convenient, and you certainly can't carry things. So I was in at work by 7 am, I sent of the December Briefing to layout, then left at 9. Ben told me that the lever for the fuel tank was broken again, so I spent a bit of time trying to work out how to open it (you go through the interior light in the boot and fiddle with something, and then you can open it), and then I drove home and was there by 10.

I found Ben up, and he'd managed to get his own breakfast. He was wheeling himself around from room to room on an office chair. This made him heaps more mobile than I thought he would be, which was great! I turned on the computer and tried to work for a bit more, doing various bits and pieces (obligatory Sola Panel editing, adding new web ads, etc.), but then I hit a wall and felt so tired, I went and had a sleep for about an hour. Ben got his own lunch. When I woke up, I did too, and then I worked on Briefing Library things. Unfortunately early Briefing articles just exist as PDF images, which means you can't copy and paste the text. So I was trying all sorts of things to get it to scan through OCR (optical character recognition) and it took a lot longer than it normally does.

Tony called in the afternoon so I could update him on the situation and what my work pattern would be for the next little while. Thank God I work for such an understanding organization! I stayed on the computer doing work things, then made dinner (stir fried mince) and went to bed late.

Wednesday 5/11/08

I decided I needed a really good rest so I slept for eight hours and made it in the office by 9:45 after filling up with petrol and buying milk for work. I chased commissions and did lots of Briefing admin—updating the database, looking at the January issue, compiling material, etc. I had a half hour lunch because I was determined to leave at 4.

It ended up being 4:15. At home, I did the laundry, wrapped Karen and Jon's wedding present, paid some bills and tried to do four-page comic things. I also started doing my Christmas shopping (mostly over the internet) and then got distracted by the Sydney Festival (St Vincent! Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova! Indie band heaven!!!)

We had leftovers for dinner and then I washed up, tried to finish the Christmas shopping and went to bed late.

Thursday 6/11/08

I was in at work by 7:30 (I think I ate breakfast there and cleaned the entire kitchenette because it was a mess.) I commissioned some Bible briefs, worked on the minutes from the last Briefing meeting, read letters to the editor, re-jigged the layout for the December issue because the last article to go to layout was longer than originally thought, then thought about starting work on The Daily Reading Bible (Volume 18).

I was bored and tired, and Guan wasn't in to complain to. During staff meeting, I was on phones, but fortunately hardly anyone called. In the afternoon, I pressed on with The Daily Reading Bible (Volume 18), and then left at around 4 pm for home.

Rosey was there visiting Ben. I said hi to her briefly before heading out to get a bit of exercise: I thought I'd walk to Leichhardt to get Elsie Katie Noonan's Blackbird for her birthday. I also rang Ben and told him to give her one of the hats I didn't sell at the How Sweet the Sound markets because it had been her birthday several weeks ago and I knew she liked hats. She called me to thank me, but then my mobile battery died. When I got home, she had already left.

I made dinner, we watched some TV, I did the dishes, I tried to do more Christmas shopping online, and then we went to bed.

Friday 7/11/08

I was in at work by 7:30 and I had breakfast there. Tony sent through the final article for the December Briefing. I edited it and sent it off, and then re-did the table of contents and edited the “In this issue”. In between, I kept trying to work on The Daily Reading Bible (Volume 18) but Briefing demands kept interrupting me (grr). I also did a bunch of web things too, which was a further distraction from what I felt I should have been doing. (Fortunately Luke was on Twitter because Ben was still asleep and I needed the help of an Expression Engine expert.)

Elsie came in at 12 and we met for half an hour before Friday Thai Day (Bec's last). I was tired and a bit over people. I kept plugging away at The Daily Reading Bible (Volume 18) in the afternoon, plus various Briefing things. However, by the end of the day, I had only reached Reading 10 of 60, which was rather depressing.

I left at around 4. At home, Ben was watching The Man with the Golden Gun (very old James Bond movie with Christopher Lee as the villain). When he had finished, we watched The Simpsons and Life and The Sopranos, and ate grilled dory for dinner. I was so tired that I went to bed relatively early (11 pm).

Saturday 8/11/08

I was up at around 8. I had a shower, I ate breakfast, read the Bible and prayed, then went to check on Ben. He wasn't feeling too well so decided to bail on Karen and Jon's wedding. I turned on my computer to print directions, check the weather and write up my prayer. And then I got ready and drove out to Parramatta by myself.

The signage in the park was terrible—so unclear—and I ended up driving around the entire park going at 30 km/hr (that was the speed limit). I finally arrived just in time. Karen's mother greeted me and sorted things out, given that Ben wasn't going to be there to read the Bible (I had been prepared to read the Bible passage, but Julie, Karen's godmother read it instead). The wedding was lovely: Karen wore a white cotton dress she had made herself and a white shawl. It was nice to meet Jon for the first time too. My prayer offended nearly everyone there (well, all the non-Christians, anyway, because I prayed along the lines of Ephesians 5 and 1 Peter 3), but at least the bride was happy with it.

Afterwards, we went to congratulate the happy couple, and then it started to rain, so we moved to the marquee for shelter. (I had brought both a parasol and an umbrella so I was pretty sorted.)

I got to catch up with Matt and Larissa, and other people who were Karen's friends whom I hadn't met before (or perhaps I had but forgot). I also met friends of Karen's parents (Henry and Ursula) and Karen's godparents (Julie and Graham). I was on a table with Julie, Graham, Richard and Jen, Sim (?) and Brianna. We ate a very yummy lunch:

At one point, I went over to talk to Matt and Larissa who told me I looked really tired. (I felt really tired!) There were speeches from various family members and members of the bridal party. I checked in with Ben and he seemed to be doing okay with Ben.

At around 3:30, people started leaving. It was a bit unclear whether we ought to be sticking around until the couple left. I had to go at 3:45, though, otherwise I would be late. So I said my goodbyes and drove home through good traffic.

At home, I helped Ben take a shower, then fed him dinner. We watched a bit of X-Men 3: The Last Stand, and then went to Lizz's graduating recital in Balmain (leaving extra time for Ben to get down the stairs as it was the first time he had to do it). Fortunately I got a parking spot right outside the door of the church so Ben didn't have to go very far.

We set Ben up right up the back so he could put up his leg. Various people came by to say hi and ask the obligatory question, “What happened to you?”

Lizz was awesome. She sang Mozart, Handel and a bunch of other coloratura stuff, plus “Green Finch and Linnet Bird” (from Sweeney Todd), “Glitter and Be Gay” (from Candide) and the hilarious “I Want to Be a Prima Donna!”. She interspersed all her songs with patter with her accompanist, and complained about there being “Too many notes!” (a reference to Mozart; go watch Amadeus if you don't get it).

There was supper in the hall afterwards, but that would have been a bit too hard logistically. So we said our goodbyes, headed home and finished watching X-Men 3. Then I watched The Da Vinci Code (so bad!) and did what I wanted to do all week: sit on the couch with Ben (while he did work), watch TV and knit. We went to bed at 1.

Sunday 9/11/08

I slept in and woke at around 10:30, then went back to sleep again. I woke at 11:45, ate breakfast, read my Bible and prayed. I got on the computer and dealt with email, Facebook, Twitter, LibraryThing, Bookmooch, my blog, I made a CD of “Going home” for Dean, ate lunch (corn thins with pesto, sundried tomatoes and mushrooms), then I fiddled with the captchas on Bec's blog (and failed to get them to work). I left at around 3:30 and went to Lincraft in Alexandria where I spent my $10 voucher on curved needles (they're called mattress needles) for bookbinding, embroidery cotton (also for bookbinding), mercurized cotton (not sure what I'm going to do with this) and some cards. I thought about getting some yarn, but most Lincraft yarn is made out of artificial fibers—nylon, polyester, acrylic and the like. I think I'm becoming a yarn snob: after knitting so long with cheap yarns, I've decided I want to make things out of nicer stuff—wool, mohair, cotton, even silk (though silk is way expensive!)

Then I went to OfficeWorks, bought more packing tape (in preparation for packing), a guillotine (for bookbinding. I've always wanted a guillotine!) and a box cutter. I went to church after that, and sat with Bec. Kurt preached on Esther and it was great.

I hung around for a bit after and then went home and made risoni for dinner. After dinner, I got on the computer and read newsletters, responded to email, sorted out things for the Sydney Festival, IM-ed with Bec and Ben, tried to finish my Christmas shopping (and failed) and went to bed.

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