Happy House

After many months of painting, sanding, oiling, cleaning, sugar soap, mineral turps, cuss words, strained muscles, pots of coffee and the odd nervous breakdown the HOUSE HAS BEEN SOLD, SETTLED, VACATED. We said goodbye and thankyou to it yesterday, tenderly mopping the hallway and sweeping down the porch, picking the last of the ripe lemons and grabbing handfuls of fresh rosemary. It was sweet and sad, and today I feel a little lost, but still a feeling that all is right in the world too.

A friend said yesterday that her years have themes (2009 being Beauty). I'm thinking mine is Completion and Closure- project one, Monster's house, is done and dusted. The second major project to get through is my thesis, and that is mostly under control I think/hope.

There's something satisfyingly proper about the way the Monster and I are going about this all, it feels like the way 'we' should begin. A sorting out of the past and honouring where we come from and what we bring to the whole affair, a period of transition and consolidation. Sifting through boxes of books and trinkets, evaluating habits and scenes and ways of being, working out what to keep and what needs to be passed on, what benefits and what stifles.

And so soon to Sydney, but not in a way I have been there before.

International Journal of Gender, Science and Technology

Found this on a list...

The International Journal of Gender, Science and Technology is an
independent, peer reviewed, open access journal that welcomes
contributions from practitioners, researchers and policy makers
concerned with gender issues in and of science and technology. The
phrase gender, science and technology intends to encompass a wide
definition of these disciplines both in terms of methodological enquiry
as well as subjects of research.

Our aim is to help foster and provide a focus for constructive debate
and interchange of ideas between key players and experts in this field.
We are interested in sharing knowledge and new understandings in
relation to policy development, analysis of challenges and responses in
education and employment, critical insights from companies,
professional societies and other organisations about the impact of
gender equality strategies, as well as perspectives from science and
technology studies - and other related issues. We welcome contributions
from a variety of disciplines and interdisciplinary perspectives and
drawing on a wide range of theoretical frameworks.

We are currently inviting submissions in the form of
· Full empirical research and theoretical papers
· Practitioner case studies and reports
· Opinions and perspectives from policy-makers and industry
For further information, including details of the submission process:
http://genderandset.open.ac.uk
Any enquiries please contact Dr Jenni Carr - IJGST Project Officer
(j.g.carr@open.ac.uk)
The first issue will be published online in July 2009 (latest
submission for this issue is April 30th)
Further issues will appear every 4 months. We look forward to hearing
from you!

This journal is being produced by the Open University UK in partnership
with the UK Resource Centre for Women in SET

---------------------------------
The Open University is incorporated by Royal Charter (RC 000391), an
exempt charity in England & Wales and a charity registered in Scotland
(SC 038302).

Bloodhound

'When you start bleeding, you talk all night... Here's the place where the scent got lost'*

On Friday I went along to my local bloodbank to donate some red water. 16gauge, into vein with barely a pinch, bag filled up quickly, and volunteered to give some plasma when I get back to Sydney. Afterwards the nice ladies gave me some cheese and bikkies, and I realised as I spoke to my waiting-room buddy that I was WIRED. Totally hyped and talking at a zillion words a minute. Out on the street, walking to work at great speed, had to call dear Necrotitties to return to some state of semi-calm before I reached the office. Had forgotten the adrenalin rush-- its been a while!

Late in the evening the flood came, the painters arrived, Aunt Flo came to call. Considerably less fun, more painful in a bad way, and less productive (though more cathartic really, being the tears of my unfulfilled womb and all). Maybe I should feed it to the plants, or make art out of it?


*H&C, Dog

Moving Right Along...

Movin' right along in search of good times and good news,
With good friends you can't lose,
This could become a habit!
Opportunity knocks once let's reach out and grab it (yeah!),
Together we'll nab it,
We'll hitchhike, bus or yellow cab it!
(Cab it?)

Movin' right along.
Footloose and fancy-free.
Getting there is half the fun; come share it with me.
Moving right along (doog-a-doon doog-a-doon).
We'll learn to share the load.
We don't need a map to keep this show on the road...

Movin' right along.
We're truly birds of a feather,
We're in this together and we know where we're going.
Movie stars with flashy cars and life with the top down.
We're storming the big town,
(Yeah, Storm is right should it be snowing?)
(Uh, no I don't think so...)

Movin' right along...

-- The Muppets

Cannot decide whether the Monster is Fozzie and me Kermit, or the other way around. Either way, despite the various disasters and dramas of renovating, packing up and getting out, I'm awfully glad we are moving right along together. Syn City, here we come!

Sucker City

your city's a sucker
your city's a sucker
your city's a sucker
your city's a sucker
my city's a creep

want we want is what you want
want we want is what you want
is free tv
want you want is what we want
want you want is what we want
is a case of the ha ha ha ha's...


your city's a sucker
your city's a sucker
your city is stoned
your city is stoned
my city's in heat

what we want
sex with movie stars
what you want
a career in the
ha ha ha ha

--lcd soundsystem

beautiful time at zoo club last night (perth), for the launch of SPUNK magazine... genderfukbel and i did a really silly messy dirty gender-mashing show to placebo's 'new morning', with cream 'girl juice' and possum fur pasties and bike boots and facepaint and some other folk made a HOT impromptu bondage demo on stage and dj needlenurse was a drag king ripping out his heart and... bj photoshoots in the back alley and free champagne and innuendo and flirtation and bears and jock straps and so many people i barely recognised coming up to me 'you're leaving?? no! we'll miss you!' and...

i'll miss them too.

GO TO THIS *SYDNEY*

Rumour has it I may be featured in this issue *blush*...

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ISSUE 14 Weird Science
yesss its finally hear ! and its an amazing...!!! profiles, fiction, photos, its an awsume issue! Come help us launch the newest member of the Slit Mag family!

A Weird Science Affair to celebrate.
Get your nerd/geek on and get down to see sexy scientists Anna Westbrook, Molly & the Pony, Roborotic, MoJo Ju Ju , with science nerds to predict your sexual future and MC Zoe and with Bocky from Press Eject's playlisting some tunes in between!!


ITS a HUGE Weird Science Affair
Sunday 15th March 4pm-8pm
Red Rattler Theatre
6 Faversham St
Marrickville
Slit Mags $10

with merch from other great indi publishers so if you don't have your trannie trucker cards yet or the new issue of spunk mag bring some extra dosh !!

The Space Behind My Eyes: Tired

And then in the midst of it all I stumbled upon this. Thankyou Smurphe!

The Space Behind My Eyes: Tired

Clicking My Heels

And so I have missed Mardi Gras for the first time in a long time. The photos are slowly creeping onto Facebook-- the Femme Guild, the leather crew, the dancing queens, the hoop stars, the glitter and sparkles and costumes and hugs. The ENERGY, the smiles, the sheer utter joy and celebration of it. Marshalling time, all camera flashes and 'I LOVE YOUR OUTFIT!' and catching up with folk you haven't seen since the last Queer Christmas. Swapping eyelash glue and stick on rhinestones, last minute cable ties and beers.

Tonight in Perth I was meant to be going to Zoo club, the one night of the week when the freaks (such as there are here) come out to play. Monster is unwell, and all of my friends have piked for one reason or another. In Sydney this wouldn't matter, I'd be on a bus doing my eyeliner on the back seat, walking up Oxford Street to Phoenix or some other scene of filth and wonder. Even on a Sunday, any Sunday, the laneways and gutters are alive. Here it is GLBT, no Q. Monster has a shirt someone printed years ago. It reads Queer As F&^K, some spiky haired androgyne next to the text, a pair of interlocked + rings alongside a pair of -> rings. Two boys OR two girls, sealed same sex couples, the ultimate in West Aus queer seems to be when the dykes mix with the queens. Nothing is fluid here, not gender or sexuality or politics or passions, and I am still surprised when I smell sweat on the dancefloor. If there are queers in this city beyond my immediate circle, I don't know where they hide.

My hair is spiked and my fishnets ready, all dressed up for another night on the couch. Mostly I am used to it now, I have my routine of lesbian drinks nights and women's reading groups and hanging with my new crew to get me through.

Tonight though, I'm conjuring the smell of amyl across the Nullabor as I settle down on the couch with DVDs and the Monster. Ah, the Monster. Somehow she makes even this okay.

Vegan Recipes...

Friend recommended this site, FatFreeVegan.

AND I just received my copies of Garden of Vegan, and How It All Vegan in the mail.

Cooking frenzy on the horizon...