Political — For Once In Her Life (Part 1)

There was a report on the news last month about the upcoming release of Mark Latham’s controversial book — Loner .

I got the impression that the book was essentially a back-stabbing fest with a side dish of politics and so it grabbed my interest. I thought if politics was ever going to get interesting enough for me – it was now – and it would be in that very book. I made up my mind to get it – in fact, I was hungry for it – and the day after it was distributed to Borders bookstore in the city, I got a copy.

Let it be known that I’d never read a book on politics, in fact I have previously claimed that politics bored me immensely. Though it was the promise of juicy political gossip (and I never thought that politics could contain such juice) that led me to buy the book, I’m very glad that it came into my possession because it contained enough drama to keep me hooked all the way through (who’d have thought I’d find the pre-release stage of the Labour Vs Liberal Tasmanian forest policy suspenseful?) and I received a free political education at the same time.

And I needed the education badly. The author – Bernard Lagan – taught me a little about the voting system, party structure and the way the campaigns are run; and it was, oddly enough, rather enticing.

Someone described the book as a political thriller and this I agree with.

So, thanks to Mark Latham, I am proud to say that my brain no longer switches off when the topic turns political; I’ll actually listen, and with interest, maybe I’ll even comment, and this never would have occurred if I wasn’t excited at the thought of a great political intrigue: the gory details of Mark Latham’s rise and fall.

It did annoy me when a couple of people saw what I was reading and assumed I was a Latham supporter but I guess I can’t blame them for thinking so. A work colleague even mentioned to me that years down the track I may regret (or may even be ashamed to admit) that the book exists in my collection and that I should think twice about the purchase. I did think twice, but got all excited again as soon as I entered Borders (actually I get excited just thinking about that store); besides I know that a glance at the book in years to come will always be a reminder of how my first official brush with politics came to be.

The Two Truths

After a heavy friday night, my mind was thrown out of whack and it took me the entire weekend to recover. After some quiet Jen time I discovered…

The first truth:
Time is not running out. I do have time to do everything I want to. But, do one thing at a time. Focus on that one thing, enjoy it while it lasts, be satisfied with how I have done it and then be ready to focus on whatever is next. There is time for everything. The key to this is prioritising.

The second truth:
I am not going to have control over other people — what they do, what they say and what they think. Just let things be. Let things happen naturally. The key to this is learning how to relax and to do my own thing until there is an outcome.

Then I realised that the two truths are related. I peeled the top layer and got the first truth. I peeled the next layer and got the deeper truth.

The Poet And The Seamstress

“When we fall in love, we hear Puccini in our ears.”

Now I understand that quote. My second opera experience was excellent.

It was certainly helped by our magnificent seats in the second row. Of course, I have already organised to get La Boheme on CD (my mother tells me she has the Baz Luhrmann version) and I’d like to get my hands on any other operas too – particularly works by Mozart.

I’ll listen to anything by Mozart.

I remember my mother had an LP that featured Luciano Pavarotti on the cover in a white clownish outfit, standing next to a large drum. As a young girl, I thought it was a scary-looking cover — his smile was eerie and consequently I never wanted to find out what was on that record exactly.

Today however, if someone were to give me a Pavarotti CD – I will listen to it. Though I don’t dispute that he is probably the finest tenor around today, I haven’t yet reached the stage where I’ll actually pay money for one of his CDs. I’m sure the day will come soon.

Hello From Cape Keraudren

My dear friend Linda has been travelling around Australia with her boyfriend Dale during the last 6 months or so. They seem to be having the time of their lives and I am so happy for them.

The other day I received a letter from her and it gave me the biggest smile: she’s totally outback and I am totally urban and our lives could not be more different at the moment. Having said that, I read her letter in such awe and I swear I was beaming as I pictured her and Dale living it up in places that I have never heard of like Cape Keraudren. I just have to quote part of her letter:

“Dale has caught so much fish that we’ve stocked our freezer and are now giving away what we can’t eat.

The first day here we caught five mud crabs and so we pigged out on them. Now we have to make do with picking fresh oysters off the rocks at low tide. They are delicious on the campfire. Yesterday was very windy so we just cooked and ate – I even made a damper – ha!”

(For those who don’t know, Damper is basically Aussie bush bread and is usually cooked over a campfire. I even made it as part of an exercise in primary school once. No, it’s not a usual thing for me to eat).

Back to Linda’s letter! I am amazed. ‘Cause there she is, wrestling crabs and oysters, and here I am with my headset at work solely existing to solve government clients’ technical problems. I think it’s disheartening and amusing at the same time; I haven’t stopped thinking about her letter since.

‘What If… If Only… I Wonder…’

“You get ideas from daydreaming. You get ideas from being bored. You get ideas all the time. The only difference between writers and other people is we notice when we’re doing it.”

Neil Gaiman

I like that. It’s cute and true to an extent.

Writer’s Laziness

My mother sent me this link today: Hack your way out of writer’s block.

I wondered if she had gotten inside my head lately. I wouldn’t say that I have ‘writer’s block’, but rather that I have serious motivation issues.

There are some great tips in the linked article, and I will especially benefit from the following:

• Unplug the router – … Turn off the Interweb and close every application you don’t need. Consider creating a new user account on your computer with none of your familiar apps or configurations.
• Write crap – Accept that your first draft will suck, and just go with it. Finish something.

Well then, thank God that it is OK to “write crap” sometimes.