Because I have, in my grubby little paws, two tickets to go see the Cure in August. I wasn’t expecting the line outside the shop, and it was bloody cold but hey, people have endured worse to get tickets so I figure I lucked out. I almost didn’t get floor tickets but some poor sods lost their hold on a pair and the nice ticket-seller-man pounced before anyone else could. Good reflexes, he has.

Now I just need to find a place to put them that’s safe enough for them to not get lost but not so obscure that I forget where I put them. It’s a problem I have. For now though I’ll just leave them out and glance at them lovingly from time to time.

Can you tell I’m grinning the biggest, goofiest grin?

I’m a little late with this, but another of Ilhan’s articles appeared in Dawn over the weekend. It focuses on “one cause and one effect” of the “crisis of the state of Pakistan” and basically tries to explain what it is about Pakistan’s ‘leaders’ that prevent them from acutally doing anything worthwhile with the country.

So my thesis is due yesterday and I’m busy reading and writing and editing. But all with dopey grin on my face because THE CURE IS COMING TO MELBOURNE. August 12 at the Rod Laver Arena. Tickets go on sale this Friday. I am beyond elated.

After all that schlepping from country to country, you’d think I’d have covered more ground. This can only mean one thing. Must Travel More.

Being gorgeous

Talking about Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, and Vincent Price

And laughing at people’s misfortunes

And a bit on language that my Writing the Unconscious classmates will probably appreciate

And this from the older, wiser me. Oh dear.

Five hundred years of women in art. Images morphing into one another. And they’re quite similar until the last few.

Lo! ‘Tis done! My last assignment has been handed in and I am free to dip my aching fingertips in some warm, salty water. Seriously, they’re getting all funny looking from all the typing I’ve been doing. Or maybe I’m just getting old. Which I am, really. Next week, in fact, I’ll be a whole year older. Yay me.

But for now, I am still last year’s me and I have handed in my assignment and I feel good. I don’t know how I managed to turn that damn short story into a play, but I did and I justified it too. Seriously though, no more Freudian-Jungian-anythingian analysis for me any more. It’s exhausting and ultimately just pisses me off, but I shall wax indignant on that at a later date. Right now I need to sleep.

Oh this is exciting. Dawn interviewed my baby brother author Ilhan Niaz for its weekly ‘Books and Authors’  supplement. Read the interview here.

Ilhan’s description of the book:

“The first chapters of the book deal with the subcontinent and describe the major empires that ruled the region. I started with the Harappan civilisation, moving on to the Guptas, Mauryas and Mughal period; this is what we call ‘macro history’. The following chapters go on to explain India and Pakistan and their common culture of power that has evolved in the 60 years of independence. The culture of the ruling elite is essentially the same — subsequently any consequent inadequacies in both states are also basically the same.”

When the interviewer suggests that it might be the heat that predisposes the people of the subcontinent to emotion and egotism (the comparison being, as always, with the ‘cool’ British), Ilhan responds:

“We can observe that since 1066 AD, there has been no invasion of England, whereas the region we are now sitting in has endured 70 major invasions between 1000 AD and 1800 AD. It could be this atmosphere of heightened insecurity and instability that contributes in making a nation more spiritually and emotionally charged.”

And of course this post wouldn’t be complete without a plug for An Inquiry into the Culture of Power of the Subcontinent. I’m more than halfway through it and have put it on hold only because I have deadlines I can’t extend. It’s a great read.

I’m going to voluteer to be tagged by Penni. So answers to the follwing questions:

1. Four of my favourite jobs
2. Four of my favourite local places
3. Four of my favourite foods
4. Four of my favourite international places
5. Four names of people I am tagging

Favourite jobs

• Teaching/tutoring, particularly the creative writing tutoring I got to do this semester. I love that moment when you see the light flick on in a student’s eyes. 
• Editing – I spent five years as a technical editor at an energy and environment consultancy firm and can’t say I didn’t enjoy it. It helped that people were willing to let me resort to violence on occasion. I also learnt how easy it is to collapse into hysterical giggles when you’re five hours from an 8am deadline.
• Content writing, when you’re working with sensible people who actually give you the information you need to do your job. The opposite has also happened and that can turn it into a nightmare.
• Cat sitting. Getting paid to take care of a cuddly, purry cat? Yes please. Poop-scooping is not fun though and is probably why I remain very firmly a dog person, but it was nice to get to know a cat properly.

Favourite local places

• It’s pretty big, but Sydney Road pretty much from Brunswick Road to Bell Street. I don’t know how many times I’ve walked from Coburg to Parkville and back, but it serves up something new each time.  
• Coburg Lake Reserve for picnics or for days when you want to lie out in the sun and read a book next to a lake.
• The CBD for me. Although it doesn’t have nearly as much of a vibe as other cities, it combines some of their speed with a sense of safety I find almost odd at times. Great for when you want to dance your ass off too.
• Ashi and Nuz’s apartment. It’s the comfiest, coziest, homiest place I know in Melbourne.

Favourite food

• Croissants and baguettes fresh out of the oven. Also bagels. Also fresh naan. I am an Atkins aficionado’s worst nightmare.
• Chop suey, which I used to hate until a few years ago.
• Pakistani food of pretty much any description. It is quite possibly the most delicious kind of food on the planet. And no, it is not the same as what you get in Indian restaurants. The spices are different, as are the cuts and kinds of meat. So there.
• The burgers at Munchies’ in Islamabad.

 Favourite international places

• Kathmandu, Nepal. The approach is one of the most spectacular in the world (if you can still look out the window once you realize what you’re looking at is rock, not cloud). The place is small but extremely friendly and, with the right company, is full simply fantastic.
• Still in Nepal, the Annapurna Circuit. I only did part of it, which meant ten days of trekking and camping including a stopover in the village of Ghorepani and a dip in the Tatopani hot springs, as well as dodging rock falls and goats and one very nasty mountain buffalo.
• New York City. It is the most amazing, electric, alive place I have ever been. Living 28 stories above the East River didn’t hurt either. I still squeal when I see ‘my’ building in shots of NYC in movies. (Look left of the UN building. That building that looks like a stack of cigars? That’s it.)
• Hunza in Pakistan, nestled in the Karakorams. Where the Himalayas give the impression of softness, the Karakorams are naked rock. Terrifying and beautiful. In fact, here are some pictures of our trip there in 2006.

Four people I’m tagging

Let me take a leaf from Penni’s book here and say, consider yourselves tagged.