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December 3, 2007

west brunswick toodle-oo

So November is over. It was ok.

I had a birthday (that was ok)
I liked all the moustaches (I don't think there's enough facial hair in the world, and it made dance partners extra interesting)
we did mlx and it went well (biggest ever, zillions of interstaters and internationals, the usual reluctance on the part of Melbournites to play nice with guests)
we had galaxy plus a round of dancers stay with us (and that was very nice)
I did all my marking and got it in with plenty of time to spare
I got a job interview for a postdoc (argh! next week!)
I got a small grant to get me to the CSAA conference this week (double argh! paper not written! flights not booked! accommodation not sorted!)
I've had a few punters ringing me offering DJing gigs (I am resolute about only taking paying gigs - I've done enough freebies to know I never want to do one again, unless it's for a real charity)
Galaxy and I met up with Mz Tartan pre-GG and the Austenauts (dang, I'm sorry I missed that! blogged with excellence here) and she was surprisingly cool, calm and collected

...and now I'm desperately trying to get my sleep pattern back to normal for the conference this week. I managed to have a relatively stress-free MLX (in fact, incredibly so), and slept at least 8 hours every night. From 8am til 4pm most days, but still, 8 fat hours of solid, dreamless sleep. Unheard of.

I've also met another dancer doing a phd on dance stuff, but she lives in Perth, so we're squeezing in a natter-fest tomorrow before she flies out. She's into sociology and anthropology and I'm not sure she's up there with the hardcore sister action. But we'll see. It'll be neat just to sit and have a nice, nerdy chat.

I'm planning to meet up with the Adelaidean dancers during the conference visit this week (Wednesday). So I'll be able to say I've danced in every scene in Australia. Except Launceston. That should be nice.

My paper is pretty much done - just some tidying up to do. It's a combination of bits from these three posts, but obviously with far less detail, seeing as how I only get 20 minutes. 20 minutes kills me, especially when I want to play some music and clips of dancers to actually make clear what I'm talking about. It's ridiculous to talk about dancing without showing any, particularly when you're talking about gender performance in dance. In fact, it's so ridiculous I should just show 6 clips and provide an exercise sheet to stimulate group discussion, a la tutorials past.

I've also noted I'm in kind of a dud session, parallel with papers I'd really like to see, and which everyone else would really like to see as well. Not a big deal, really, and just desserts for someone who fucked the programming around at the last minute (I'd missed out on another grant and cancelled on the organisers, then been offered one by someone else, so squeezed back into the program - people who pull that shit deserve to get dud sessions). But it's parallel with an old buddy's paper and in a session of licorice allsorts, so we'll have trouble asking each other questions. It is in the last session of a day, but this time it's not the last session of the last day, so I guess it's ok.
I don't mean this to sound like a big old bitch - I really am very lucky to be going at all, and I don't want you to think otherwise. But the part of me that's trying to get a job keeps saying 'how will you pimp your fine self out if there's no one in the audience?' But really, it only takes one. And there'll be plenty of afternoon teas for me to pimp myself about. I'm cringing, writing that stuff. I hate the thought of such aggressive self aggrandising, but at the end of the day, in such a competitive job market, I have to be a bit pushy.
So I'm going to experiment with performing pushiness, and pretend like I'm one of those blokes who, obliviously, introduces himself to all the Names at conferences. It's the sort of thing chicks tend to be reluctant to do. And as a consequence, those pushy blokes get remembered, simply because the chicks have been to shy to step up.
But I'm going to focus on Names that mean something to me - you know, the Old Girls network. The ladies who do. The sorts of women academics who I admire and want to work with and be like. They're the ladies who'll call me on bullshit pushiness and demand some sort of fer real talk. No bullshit (unless it's a story about my career as a stunt woman and there are Tasmanians in the room), all kick arse Sister. No pathetic arse-kissing. No sycophancy.... like I'd have the patience for that. And for sure I'd forget that it's not cool to swear in polite company. Must remember that for the job interview, actually. Swearing = not cool.
But we'll see. No doubt I'll forget all these plans and end up talking shit and eating all the chocolate biscuits with the homies from UQ. Awesome.

Galaxy asked me the other day if I'd written a 'why dance is important to cultural studies' paper, and I haven't. I'm not sure I really, hugely care - if you don't dance you don't understand why it's important. Words won't help convince you - you have to feel it to understand why it's good stuff. But I do have a short list of reasons which include things like 'class' and 'not needing literacy' and 'ethnicity' and 'faster than words' and 'freakin' great fun!' I'll have a think, though. Perhaps it'll be a paper I write when I actually have a job or a book or more than half a dozen papers. Right now I think I'd get more from a paper called 'Why cultural studies needs dogpossum' which is so effective it gets me lots of jobs. But I'll work on it.

"west brunswick toodle-oo" was posted by dogpossum on December 3, 2007 11:18 AM in the category conferences and djing and lindy hop & other dances i have known and travel | Comments (1)

March 2, 2007

Hullabaloo 2007

I don't know if I've mentioned it or not, but we're going to Hullabaloo soon. Next month, I think it is.
This is the forth annual Hullabaloo - and Hullabaloo is kind of the Perth equivalent to MLX. It's not an all-social exchange (there are only two of those in this country - MLX and Canberrang), mostly because it's very difficult to make an all-social event sustainable, unless you live in a giant local scene (like us here in Melbourne), have quite a few years of successful events under your belt to serve as promotion (like us here in Melbourne), live in a very tourist-attracting city (like us here in Melbourne) or just couldn't give a shit, and want to have a party (like the kids in Canberra).

So we go and just don't do any workshops - we pretend it's an all social event, and sleep in late every day, go to cafes, wander around like the cheery holidaying tourists we are. The very best bit of going to someone else's exchange isn't that you don't have to run anything or work on anything (you always end up doing something at some point to help out - it's an instinct you can't fight when you're used to running events), it's that you're on holiday with a hundred or so other people. And they all want to wander around like tourists, visit cafes and breweries, eat nice meals, talk a whole lot of shit and then dance like crazy fools all night.

Hullabaloo is The Squeeze's favourite exchange. We get hosted by dear friends (who we host when they come to us), with dear friends (who we see regularly when we host an exchange - it's a real exchange and it's wonderful), we don't do anything particularly difficult, The Squeeze is very popular with the Perth ladies (not just because he's cute - also because he's naughty and inclined to pranks, drinking games and stunts) and I like to dance like a fool. Unfortunately I haven't been to an exchange yet where I haven't gotten really ill. I think it's because my body tends to think 'ok, we're on holiday, let's relax'. So I have to spend far too much time sitting about being tired and pathetic. Which sucks arse because I love de late night dancing.

I love Hullabaloo because you can feel every step a Perth lead takes, they bounce and they play good music. They are a bit anal and weird about vintage costume, but The Squeeze sets a good example and just completely ignores any dress standards rubbish. He simply doesn't bother reading that part of the events guide and doesn't bother his pretty little head about it. And he never gets in trouble for it.

So yeah, we're going there next month.

They're also planning a lindy battle thing as well. Trev will no doubt chime in with a comment on that, seeing as how he's organising it (Trev is a Perth person). My buddy Dan (who has a blog, but I can't remember the url) has decided we're goint to enter the battle. And I think it's a good idea. So we've started hassling all our friends to put together a team, including people like Kara. I'm not going to read any rules, because these sorts of things are always much more fun if you don't plan anything too seriously.
There's been a flurry of emails this ~~morning~~ afternoon (I got up LATE - DJed the second set at CBD last night and didn't get home til 1am. Now I'm really tired) with all sorts of exciting ideas for the team. Mostly involving tshirts and how cool we are. Not much talk of actual dancing. Trev, I hope you're not reading this, because I want to talk about it... ok, well, this is the internet, so I won't talk about it til later.

Anyway, I've also put my name in for DJing at Hullabaloo, which will be way fun, but also way pressure - I've DJed interstate before (SLX), but no DJing for a hardcore lindy hopping crowd out of my home town. I DJed at MLX, and I've DJed local big events, but it's different when you travel to a new town. There's new equipment to learn. The fear of forgetting essential cords. Not knowing what a local crowd will like/not like. And so on. I'm excited, but a bit scared. I don't doubt I'll do a decent job, but I will need to work on learning my music a bit better and do some serious practicing. But I have faith.

[all photos are by The Squeeze from Hullabaloo 2005]

"Hullabaloo 2007" was posted by dogpossum on March 2, 2007 4:59 PM in the category djing and lindy hop & other dances i have known and music and travel | Comments (5)

December 12, 2006

crazed and manic jubilation

I just found out that my thesis was passed WITHOUT CORRECTIONS!!

I have done the crazy happy dance about 10 times already (lots of high kicks up into the air, a few twirly spin-arounds, some random jiggling).

If I hurry I can do the graduation thing in March/April.

So I am now Dr dogpossum (mostly)! Hoorah!

...remind me to write about the dance conference, will you? I met some lovely (and awe-inspiring) young dancers who work with companies like Bangarra (and how did I introduce myself? "You guys rock!" - I am all about cool. But they did - their mini-performance blew me away!), networked like a crazy person, discovered someone who has Graybags for a supes (and knows Galaxy), told some inappropriate jokes, shared Frida and the Whitey's Lindy Hoppers with a bunch of doods who understood what I've been trying to say about them and ate some of the best conference food EVER.

[and hoorah for the markers - the thesis was sent to them at the end of September, and they had the marks to me by today - that's under 3 months turnaround time]

"crazed and manic jubilation" was posted by dogpossum on December 12, 2006 2:11 PM in the category academia and conferences and lindy hop & other dances i have known and thesis and travel | Comments (10)

August 4, 2006

tell me place and geography aren't important here

There's been a bit of talk about Helen Garner around the traps recently:

Mz Tartan mentions her talk at the Mildura writers' festival
and writes in greater detail on the topic here on Sarsaparilla
ampersand duck wrote Garner a love letter here, which I must admit, I'd probably copy and post to Helen myself
and there's been a bit of chat here on LP

I wrote this comment in the latter:

(dogpossum on 3 August 2006 at 1:29 pm)
Nice post, Weathergirl.

I remember reading all Garner’s work when I was an undergrad - I fell in love with her style. In those pre-GST days I had enough cash to splurge on books whenever I liked.
TFS almost lost me for her, but I changed my mind… no, wait, I think I was just distracted by other authors (C.J.Cherryh, most probably - nothing like a little hardcore SF by a woman writer to get things in perspective)…
When I first moved to Melbourne I’d pretend I was recognising places from Monkey Grip (though I was finding it easier to recognise places in Brisbane in the Nick Earls books I was reading, probably because I was busy enjoying be Away From Brisbane at the time). And Garner’s pieces in the Age about ordinary Melbourne stuff helped me feel at home in my new city (what can I say - I’m a stooge).

I don’t find it difficult to enjoy the way Garner puts words together, and yet also have some trouble with the ideas behind the words. Frankly, a nicely written bit of opinion is far more likely to convince me to consider a topic than something difficult or clunky… I like the line about energy, and the thought that nasty bits of writing can inspire us to do great thinking and writing and talking ourselves. I mean, that seems to define feminsim for me: being inspired to think and write and talk and act by nasty bits of writing and ideology-in-action.

As for Garner herself… I met her once at a party, and knew her daughter through Uni, but that’s all I can say. I wouldn’t pretend to know her through her writing - just as I wouldn’t expect to know a blogger through their blog, or a singer through their songs. But I might admit to vague feelings or unsubstantiated impressions.

And had this response:

(weathergirl on 3 August 2006 at 1:33 pm)
Dogpossum, thanks for contributing! I read a tiny bit of Alice Garner’s PhD thesis (something about holiday imagery on French beaches), which I think she then published as a book. She inherited her mother’s writing talent.

But please don’t mention Nick Earls on my beat. I like to think this is about interesting literature.

I did start writing a response to the response, but I ended up feeling like an idiot. Some things are best written on your own blog (especially when they stray into true blogging territory: long and boring). So here it is:

I feel like I'm dragging the discussion off into irrelevent territory, but one of the things I liked about Garner (and Nick Earls, John Birmingham and Shane Maloney*, actually), is/was the way they write about cities and construct/represent ideas of community and place. I choose those three because of their accessibility, their popularity. I choose those three in particular because I was reading them before, during and after my move from Brisbane to Melbourne, in book and newspaper-column form (the latter is a reference to Garner's spots in The Age). I think that in that period of moving to a city where I knew perhaps 3 people, away from family and friends, I was busy making new social and professional networks - making this new city home (I want to reference the space/place thing, but I don't have the brain right now).

I was interested in the way these authors use lots of specific references to local landmarks and people to create a feeling of 'knowing the city', or more usefully, 'knowing the community' in which their stories are based. It's an interesting idea, especially when you take into account things like Garner's decidedly middle (or upper?) class experiences in Melbourne today, compared to the Monkey Grip days, Earls' Brisbane of the 80s, Birmingham's Brisbane of the late 80s and early 90s. These are quite definitely experiences of a city inflected by class, gender, sex(uality), education, market forces, etc etc etc. Yet they are all represented as 'common sense' or 'normal' or 'familiar', particularly in the case of Garner's work (which seems to rest so firmly on the strength of 'common sense' or 'diary-esque' writing as a tool to convince. I, for one, am a little sceptical of Garner's (occasionaly quite irritating) use of 'oh, this is just what I think, and I'm probably wrong, but...' arguments. Can you spell passive aggressive?).

But I'm interested in the way, while reading these people at that time, I could say 'hey, I know that place', or more scarily (esp in the case of Birmingham), 'I know those people!', and found that so comforting.
This is the sort of thing that comes up all the time in discussions about Garner's work (and in this thread above) - the idea of 'journal-diaryistic' writing and 'journalism': levels of 'real' and 'true' and so on. I think it's worth my pointing out, at this point, that I take Earls and Maloney as writing with as 'diary-esque' a style as Garner, largely in response to the incredible detail about 'real' places in their work. While Garner writes using her 'real' (and autobiogaphical) emotions as a bit of a blunt object in the 'reality' stakes, Earls and Maloney use 'reality of place' in much the same way.

That I could point to a building or street in Melbourne and say "that's where Helen went swimming or rode her bike or saw a band" or think "I remember that shopping centre in the Queen Street Mall", was kind of comforting for a person alone in a new city. It certainly shaped the way I thought about my place within my current and past home-cities. Nothing new for 'the media': kind of the point, really, constructing consensual notions of place and community**.
But I do think that it's a key part of Garner's work, and there have been quite a few comments already [in the LP thread] about the way she uses phrases like "Any woman who has left home for university could fill in the gaps": inviting us, explicitly to identify with Garner (or her characters), as if it was a natural and inevitable thing.

Isn't that interesting, that the language of domesticity (and Garner is all about domestic spaces) and 'home cities' and 'the familiar' is such a useful tool for convincing us that the author's point is 'just common sense'? That an 'emotional honesty' in writing is somehow more relevant or convincing than an objective account?

You can see why, at this point, I hesitated to post this comment on LP.

But my attention was caught by the way Weather Girl dismissed Nick Earls as 'uninteresting' work. Sure, he's no great literary talent, but some time was spent in that LP thread making similar observations about Garner - she's no great literary talent. But many of the commenters in that thread (and most of whom were women - perhaps just an indication of LP's reader/commenter -ship) declared an affinity or affection for Garner based on her use of the personal and the invitingness of her lovely prose.
I'd argue that Earls has similar appeal - the use of the personal, and an inviting style (in his case, though, the invitation was to share the joke, rather than marvel at a lovely turn of phrase). With Maloney, the appeal lay in the minutiae of everyday life in Brunswick/Coburg/Melbourne (my new home suburb), and of local politics (which fascinated a girl who'd just completed an MA on women in Qld politics). In addition, I'd argue that they're very Australian writers (though from different age/social groups), and I like to read in the vernacular.

Though we must keep in mind the fact that Garner's books have stuck around, while Earls feels a bit stuck in that 'grunge fiction' moment - do people still read him, or is it just me? Maloney, on the other hand, has made his mark on the pop culture landscape, especially with the television programs based on his work.

I know that I'm a little biased, but isn't this bias kind of the point? I was attracted by the invitation to share the everyday lives and everyday experiences of these authors' lives, and that made me feel 'at home' in a new city. I certainly wasn't 'sucked in' to believing that this was in any way a 'true' story I was being told. But that was part of the appeal: I was reading one person's interpretation and experience of a city, and that very subjectivity was part of it's appeal. It invited comparison with my own experience, and a dialogue with the text.

I should note: I was so interested by The First Stone when it came out that I did a pgrad essay project on the topic, exploring the newspaper responses to the book, and to their representations of 'feminism'. This was a sort of test-run for my eventual MA project.

...and all of this has strayed quite a bit from the love/hate/niggle-fest that began in the original articles on Garner and her writing, but, well, like I said: blog.

*It's worth checking out the 'official' Shane Maloney site and noting the background image of the site: Melway maps of Brunswick.
Tell me place and geography aren't important here?

**I'm paraphrasing old school Stuart Hall there

--EDIT: fixed the dodgy link up there at the top - sorry everyone--

"tell me place and geography aren't important here" was posted by dogpossum on August 4, 2006 10:41 AM in the category books and brisbane and brunswick and melbourne and travel | Comments (12)

July 15, 2006

Ham takes Mt Wellington (2005)

Wearing two jumpers, thermals and still freezing, I look down the zig zag track on Mt Wellington. I'd LOVE to do that walk!

Yes, I do actually dress like my site pics. Truly.

"Ham takes Mt Wellington (2005)" was posted by dogpossum on July 15, 2006 9:08 PM in the category travel

July 4, 2006

fate consipres against me. again.

So you guys all know that I'm in the middle of some serious last-round thesis editing, right?
The supes is back in about two weeks, I have a conclusion to (re)write, an introduction to (re)write, etc etc?

Well, this weekend past, we decided to pop down to Tasmania to see my ps and coincide with a visit from my nieces to my parents. That was all cool. Except for the bit where I do as normal and get sick. We did no walking, I sat on the sidelines like a nanna at a dance in Tasmania, I piked on a bunch of social engagements, and the only parts of the beautiful Hobart I saw after Saturday was through the parent's lounge room windows (which is actually quite a lot, really).

RIght now I'm trying desperately to understand the written word (and to produce it too), and it's not really working. I've been full of goob since Friday, though at least I've not napped all day today (as I did yesterday and the day before - hell, I even fell asleep during Angel the day before).
I thought I might do some work.

But I'm finding it really difficult to hold thoughts together. Reading is easy - it's the comprehension that's getting me. And I don't think it's such a great idea to try to edit/rewrite in this state.
Yeah, so that sucks, seeing as how I have the rest of this week (today, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday) plus next week to do these little jobs, but we have this big dance thing on this weekend, which I think I'll actually skip. I'm not particularly interested in the Evil Empire's third (or is it fourth?) 'national competition' weekend. Particularly not when they can't seem to run even one social dancing weekend. But we will have a lovely houseguest, which will be nice, possibly two. Then my parents will be down next week.
So yeah, thesis work?
Why is it that on the one fortnight when I really want to work my guts out, before the semester begins and teaching with it, when I really want to get this motherfucking* thesis out of the way, fate consipres against me?

Should I panic? Perhaps. But I can't really manage to work up the energy. Plus it's hard to breathe, and it's not worth panicking if you're not going to wail while you're gnashing your teeth. Well, I could manage some wheezing (what with the lovely congested chest/sinus thing**) and a bit of moaning...

Yeah, so, ok, I think I'm going back to bed. Pick up some veggies and milk for our empty fridge on your way home, will you?

*sorry about that cuss.
**packed sinuses and blocked ears on a plane: interesting. Not as painful as I'd thought. But to feel the pressure inside my head shifting and popping and oozing was kind of unsettling.

"fate consipres against me. again." was posted by dogpossum on July 4, 2006 1:40 PM in the category domesticity and thesis and travel

June 18, 2006

last cab off the rank...

...because I always seem to come the best memes long after they're cool.

create your own visited countries map
or vertaling Duits Nederlands

These are all the countries I've visited (with the exception of some places in Europe when I was a small child which I can't remember.
Please note all those tiny red dots down there in the South Pacific.
...well, you will note them when I make this increasingly-irritatingly small column wider.

"last cab off the rank..." was posted by dogpossum on June 18, 2006 5:35 PM in the category travel

May 21, 2006

the Squeeze declares

The Squeeze has declared that there shall be no:

tutting

shuffling

hand wringing

shouting

screaming

huffing

subvocalising about Jesus, Young People, National Pride or Noise

on the tram. I'm not sure how he plans to enforce this, though I'm sure mimi smartypants could offer suggestions as a fellow PT stooge.
I, on the other hand, never seem to notice these PT crazy people, mostly because I read a book so I can tune out and not hear anything or anyone on the bus (which is why I don't see the point of ipods - a book is far more interesting and effective a crazy-person deterrant). Or else I ride my bike.

"the Squeeze declares" was posted by dogpossum on May 21, 2006 7:14 PM in the category travel

April 6, 2006

nice things about the bus

- you can wear impractical shoes and the hugest trousers ever to uni.
- you can sit and read or sit and stare out the window at things going by at speeds greater than 30 k an hour!
- you can overhear conversations about immigration and bringing out beloved brothers between a stunningly beautiful blonde Ukranian girl and one of your favourite crinkly Italian bus drivers (the one who beeps the horn as he approaches the corner shop/deli in Nth Fitzroy so the shopkeeper can get his coffee to him, but then shares the accompanying free cake)
- you can arrive at your destination not covered in (admittedly euphoric) sweat
- you can run into students of Tutorials Past, who hail you at the front of the bus with a bellowed "Yo Sam!" from the back and then engage you in a round of catch up, much the interest of the intermediary students on the bus.
- you can discover said students* are half way through a CREATIVE WRITING HONOURS THESIS (!!!!!!)** and then share a wicked moment when he smirks "because I can't write".***
- you get to share a few blocks with school kids from the local middle school who an old friend would have described as 'liquorice allsorts' - all sorts of colours and shapes and seriously sweet, including a Japanese kid and a couple of North African Kids yelling out "good bye! good bye!" out the window to each other with great delight and that sort of after-a-goody-day merriment that makes passers-by grin
- you can fart as you leave a crowded bus full of high school students and smirk.

*The ones whose high school teachers (who, if you ever find them, will be totally bashed up) told them 'couldn't write' and 'never would be able to', and who so impressed you with their insightful take on a fairly prosaic second assignment you were moved to a perhaps-overly-empassioned shredding of past high school teachers and comments such as 'this is the type of work that we look for in postgraduate research - interesting, unique and well-researched takes on ordinary stuff'.
**I was so thrilled I would have squeezed this giant boy then and there, if it weren't for half a bus and a dozen students between us. So I settled for much "I'm so HAPPY" and other mothery/aunty/nanna talk.
*** and at this point you realise why you teach, why it's wonderful to meet students long after you've both moved on from the dullest subjects and are doing new things (whether that involves hitting on undergrads or reading good books**** on the bus), and why you catch the bus
****yeah right - like I'm going to pass up a good book on a warm bus on a chilly Autumn afternoon to chat up chundergrads? Psft.

"nice things about the bus" was posted by dogpossum on April 6, 2006 5:22 PM in the category travel

August 2, 2004

flying home

There’s something strange about being the only person in a block of apartments after spending two weeks in the constant company of at least 200 people. Especially when those 200 people are almost always in constant physical contact with each other.

The second camp – Camp Savoy – is over, and I’m taking an extra night in the student housing to recover before I fly out of Heathrow tomorrow night. The weather has been utterly wonderful: very warm, very sunny. This could be a university campus anywhere in Australia. Though the food marks it as singularly British. Otherwise, there are very few English accents about – this being a university campus and all – and I’m really quite enjoying doodling about on my own.
Could do with a bit of company, but still how could I complain about such a long, glorious evening with such wonderful warmth and cooling breeze? And after all this sitting about on the hilly lawn under the student accommodation, reading The Guardian (which I’ve missed) and beginning to think again, I’ve a lovely clean, dry bed with sheets and no early morning missions ahead of me.

The last two weeks have been incredibly intense. Herrang was the perfect exercise in indoctrination: intensely, physically demanding days with round the clock dancing, where doing a beginners class in aerials at 12midnight (midday Herrang time) seemed perfectly logical and plain black tea was a precious commodity to be traded illicitly and only between friends. I have surely joined a cult, and am in dire need of deprogramming.

Living with constant physical exhaustion, sleep deficiency and irregular meals have taken their toll and my health has once again dropped. The Herrang bug has been hanging about in my sinuses since late last week, and pushed me into naps every afternoon. Expensive classes with world-class lindy hop egos be-damned. There’s rest and recuperation to be done. My lungs are beginning to fill and the Horrid Cough has returned. I predict much wailing and gnashing of teeth when the plane takes off.

Flying with feet as sore and mangled and swollen as mine were last week resulted in a pain so spectacular I would have bawled like a baby if I’d not been so tired I fell immediately into a sleep that defied even take off. While the effects of constant dancing haven’t quite worn off – there are some disturbingly numb spots on my toes and recurring bouts of pins and needles – I’m hoping these couple of days of rest will make flying a bit more comfortable. I’ve regained some higher brain function and have managed to stay awake all day, though I’ll probably find myself all awake and twitchy at about 1am, looking for some dance floor action. But for now, it’s 8:34pm and I’ve not napped today. I must be getting better. There’s also been no dancing, and I’m not sure I’m ready for that. Over two weeks of dancing every day for at least eight hours is kind of addictive. I’m in endorphin withdrawal, I’m sure. How will I cope with Melbourne’s dark and horrible winter?

Pft. It’s such a lovely, warm evening, it’s hard to imagine Melbourne’s crap weather. For now, while I’ve borrowed from Lionel Hampton, I think Miles Davis is the only possible musical alternative for this evening.

"flying home" was posted by dogpossum on August 2, 2004 2:55 PM in the category herrang and lindy hop & other dances i have known and travel

laundry report

My backpack full of clean laundry, care of Eva’s washing machine and a night break between camps, is now more a mixed bag. I am down to the non-dancing underwear (where the dancing underwear seems to have largely disappeared: I’m sure I’ve lost knickers in the Herrang laundry. Despite Grace’s best efforts) and once again wishing I’d brought some thai fisherman’s pants with me. But who’d have thought loose, cotton nappy-inspired trousers would be the perfect garment for a dance camp in Europe? Note to self for future reference, I guess.
The wedding clothes proved just as irritating as I’d thought: sure, I could have dressed up for the blues nights at Herrang (one can never be over dressed for blues night), but then I’d not have felt as comfortable as I did. Ah well.
I’m going to have to hunt for something clean for flying in. Something I can bear to wear for 24 hours straight
Future Herrang visits: more trousers. More loose, comfy cotton trousers. More thai fisherman pants. Ten tshirts is enough. Bring bike pants to manage inevitable Chafing Issues. Never too many pairs of underwear or socks. Bring only machine-washable, quick-drying clothes. Care not for crinkles. Swimming costume an essential for shy-bies (not that I had the opportunity to see if I was shy). Sheets. Say yes to a sheet. Hat. Sarong – another essential.

How will I manage Melbourne’s winter weather and fashion requirements? Especially now I’m at least a size smaller than I was before I left. Goddamn this super-responsive metabolism. It adores exercise. And dancing truly is the best exercise there is.

"laundry report" was posted by dogpossum on August 2, 2004 2:51 PM in the category england and herrang and lindy hop & other dances i have known and travel

July 26, 2004

doris

here is a pretty picture of doris in herrang. that's my arm there next to her, but i looked crappy so i took me out.

"doris" was posted by dogpossum on July 26, 2004 5:39 AM in the category herrang and lindy hop & other dances i have known and people i know and travel

eating in herrang

here we are lining up for breakfast. things are moving slow.... note the cheese. cheese is big with the swedes. we eat a lot of crackers as well. the food is bloody good.

and here we are eating in the tent.
the tents are important features on the herrang landscape. we eat in them, we learn in them, we practice in them. meals are my favourite thing - good food and lots of good company.

"eating in herrang" was posted by dogpossum on July 26, 2004 5:15 AM in the category herrang and lindy hop & other dances i have known and travel and travel

eating in herrang

here we are lining up for breakfast. things are moving slow.... note the cheese. cheese is big with the swedes. we eat a lot of crackers as well. the food is bloody good.

"eating in herrang" was posted by dogpossum on July 26, 2004 5:15 AM in the category herrang and lindy hop & other dances i have known and travel and travel

still in herrang

but now i have a cold. everyone's got it. and now i do too. poop.
didn't stop me staying up til 7am dancing. the thing that's really giving me trouble are my feet - the joints in my toes are really really hurting. i worry that i've done something nasty to myself... oh well.

the dancing is good. my dancing is now better than it has been in a million years. the dancers are also good - good company, good fun, good music, good dancing. it's like being on holiday with a couple of hundred totally excellent people who love to dance and do interesting things. ...which i guess is actually the situation. i'm still very tired, but now that i'm nocturnal, it's not so much of a problem. the sun is only down for about 6 hours at night, so it's not so hard to stay up. i'm super fit again, and have dropped so much weight i have to safety pin my pants on. last week i was doing classes, so that was 4 and a half hours of dance classes during the day, with one or two casual classes and a bit of practice as well. then hours on end of social dancing. all we do here is eat, dance, talk and muck about. and people sleep whenever and wherever they can. in the cafe between songs. in hammocks, in the gym on mattresses, on the grass between classes.
the cutest thing i've seen so far has been two swedish girls squashed into a hammock sidebyside, battling with a mosquito net. they were giggling and tired and hidden away under a tree. very sweet.

"still in herrang" was posted by dogpossum on July 26, 2004 2:43 AM in the category herrang and herrang and lindy hop & other dances i have known and travel

July 16, 2004

it's 9:21pm

the sun has just about gone down. i'm in today. i had a walk round cricklewood (and surrounding bits) and i've decided i love it. otherwise, i stayed in and fell asleep on the couch again. i've really tired myself out this week. still feel, even though i've been to a lot of places and met a lot of people, that i've missed out on london. it's just too damn big. i do love this city. i have one full day left, then i'm off to herrang. i'm almost ready to finish off this holiday. the family stuff was very tiring. and staying with strangers is also a bit tiring. most excellent, though. i'd rather stay with people than in boring, impersonal hotels. this way you meet lots of people, get the goss on where to go, etc. but i'm still tired. i really can't be bothered doing herrang, which is a shame, as that's the point of this trip.
workwise, this trip has been useful. comparing the london and melbourne/australian scenes has really helped me figure out how the melbourne scene works in more complex ways. i can make more informed comments about things like class, demographics, etc. i am wondering if i will be able to hack the just under two weeks of herrang, and then camp savoy. someone asked me last night why i was leaving herrang early for camp savoy, and i really had to think... i do think it's the best idea. especially from a work perspective. the herrang dancing will be better, i think, but the camp savoy stuff will be interesting.
i've met so many lovely dancers since i've been here. and i've chatted with so many really nice strangers during the day. despite themselves, london is being aggressive-friendlied. soon they will all thank bus drivers as they de-bus. and smile and make eye contact...
this has been a damn good trip. even if i did take a stack on the dance floor night before last. haven't fallen over in ages. not since dave lamb tipped me on my arse at mayfields one night. but the other night david and i were dancing, and OO-pah! i was on my clack. i thought it was just a matter of overtired girl stacking it in a fast song. but david said it was all his fault: he pushed me then stuck his leg out and down i went. i was a bit surprised and i bruised and grazed my knee, but i didn't cry. he was embarassed, but i wasn't. it reminded me that it's important not to take this dancing thing seriously. luckily i've not got the whole serious thing going on these days, but it was still an important reminder. it's meant to be fun. laugh when you fall down. laugh when you stuff up. say thankyou for dances, introduce yourself, learn people's names properly and tell people when you enjoy the dance. dance with beginners whenever and as frequently as you can: they enjoy danc ing more than anyone and get the greatest pleasure from the simplest moves. these are things it's important to remember.

"it's 9:21pm" was posted by dogpossum on July 16, 2004 7:56 AM in the category england and herrang and travel and travel

it's 9:21pm

"it's 9:21pm" was posted by dogpossum on July 16, 2004 7:56 AM in the category england and herrang and travel and travel

July 2, 2004

itineray

until the 4th i'll be here in wales. then i'm down to england to visit english family.
then i go to london on the 11th, where i'll hassle london swingers.
then i'm out to herrang on the 17th.
back to england on the 29th for camp savoy, then i fly out on the 3rd of august, to arrive on the 4th.
all done.

"itineray" was posted by dogpossum on July 2, 2004 2:54 AM in the category travel and wales