FCT #4: extra holidays

Tomorrow is Canberra Day and that lovely long weekend feeling is all around. As far as I can tell, Canberra Day has been bestowed upon Canberrans so that they can celebrate living in a town which has been bestowed upon with extra holidays. And hey, who's complaining? Definitely not me, now that I'm here to enjoy the bestowment.

And there's so much to enjoy...

Pasta and vino rosso with my new friend AZ on Friday night. I love the way different friendships open up different sides of ourselves. With AZ it's poetry, philosophy, spirituality, music. Stuff that doesn't often find its way into conversation. Special treat stuff.

Yesterday Slim and K and I dipped into You Are Here, a local arts festival that has just kicked off and is running for the next week or so. Slim's mate Rob has created a cool project called Art-Is-An Bread where punters swap stuff for bread. Delicious sourdough bread. Delicious sourdough bread which we slathered with other (edible) stuff and thoroughly enjoyed. But before eating bread we chucked some ideas at Sexy New Urban Design Team Canberra. Their fun, interactive concept sees the city centre - or at least its crafty likeness - reconfigured and reimagined by punters. Our dreams were turned into cardboard+pipecleaner reality right before our very eyes. My dream involved improved equity for the elephants at the zoo. I may dream some new dreams before the week is through... and I will definitely be back for more bread.

Yesternight a suitor and I double-dipped into You Are Here with a not-quite-successful experimental theatre piece and a delicious dinner at a fancy-pants restaurant. You know those dishes that look too pretty to eat? A swirl of puy lentils here, a gem of potatoey goodness there, a fan of baby artichoke, a dollop of something garlicky, a perfect lamb cutlet. Pretty yumminess. It was a good night filled with more special treat conversation. I've already met some smart people here and that makes me feel lucky!

In other news...

--I started learning to play the guitar last Monday. Smoke on the Water. Yeah.

--I earned me some brownie points by re-oiling ma's back deck. I had forgotten how satisfying DIY can be. No... not that kind of DIY. Gawd you have a dirty mind.

--A family of king parrots have taken up residence in the tree outside my bedroom window. They hang out for most of the day, chattering and cracking into seedpods. They make great company and they're beautiful!

--I broke my buying-da-music-ban for Alex Ebert's solo debut, Alexander. I've missed the whole Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros phenomenon but from what I can tell Ebert is the love-child of Dylan and Devendra Banhart. Y'all know how much I dig freak folk and I've definitely fallen in love with Ebert's single. How could I not? It's got whistling.

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the truth is that I haven't shook my shadow
and everyday it's tryin to trick me into doing battle
calling out 'faker' wanna get me rattled
wanna put me back behind the fence with the cattle
building your lenses digging your trenches
put me on the front line leave me with a dumb mind with no defences
but your defence is 'if you can't stand to feel the pain then you are senseless'
since this I've grown up some different kinda fighter
and when the darkness comes let it INSIDE YOU

and your darkness is shining
my darkness is shining
have faith in ourselves
TRUTH

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