Sweet Pea

Heading to work one morning last week. Small child sitting next to me on the super-crowded bus, maybe two or three (who knows? it could sit up and talk). Its mother sits opposite, its dad on the seat across the aisle. The two young and funky parents are explaining all about the bus and what is going on. This was my favourite exchange:

Child: Dad, you hair stinks!
Dad: Does it smell bad, like dirty?
Child: No, its smells pretty like perfume.
Dad: That is the lady sitting next to you.

Blush. I'm a lady, and pretty-smelling one at that!

Ghetto Grotto Update

As I type our Perth belongings are being delivered by the somewhat gruff moving men. Exactly two weeks after they was supposed to get here. Hmmm, am alternately still very miffed about the shoddy service and jumping about with glee at having it all here at long last. So far it all seems to be present and accounted for, double bonus... Our fridge! Our cookware! Shelves! The second conjugal bed! Chairs! Dining table! Coffee table! Artworks! Oh, its like living in a real house again!

So much unpacking and reassembling to do, on so many levels...

Speaking of which, Monster is planning little trips away all over the place whilst I am stuck here in Thesis Town (Melbourne, Perth). Which made me a little jealous until I realised that a) I am very much desiring to stay in one spot at the moment, to the point of hardly wanting to leave the house (nerd attack of a major fashion), b) I get more Uni work done when she is not here to distract me so a few days here and there on my own will be quite handy and c) I will be in Brisbane in July, Newcastle in October, possibly Perth in October and Melbourne late November. This is probably enough travel for one little Monster for this year, no?

Random Acts Of Sydney

Our furniture and other belongings have still not been delivered to us by the company who is moving them from Perth (due one week ago today). Strange, and annoying somewhat. When Monster came home on Sunday afternoon she was greeted with a new doormat, which neither of us had purchased or placed there-- no note or indication of who had either! The mat has flowers adorning it, and is very pretty. Odd. The weather is all over the place-- sunshine one minute and hard showers the next. And on Saturday night we went to Rockin' the Random at a nearby warehouse. Bands, suspension show, and a wild collection of wastrels I hadn't encountered in a long time (one of them now wearning a truly delicious Poirot moustache). It was magnificently trashy, in all sorts of unexpected ways...

Sydney always delivers on the randomness, that's for sure. And I love her for it.

Ghetto Grotto

Apologies for not updating y'all on my whys and wherefores of late-- has been a busy old time! We head back East this coming Sunday, and have found ourselves the lovely Grotto in the Ghetto. 'Tis nice and central, affordable, we move in next Tuesday with the Tempest (the kitty we be keeping) and should have stuff out of storage shortly thereafter. Fingers crossed it all keeps going so smoothly...

It will be good to be back 'home' for the most part. Miss my family a lot, and my close mates, and my supervisor and my library. And the harbour, my fave dumplings, queer clubs and culture, markets (not very many over here), that kind of thing. I miss sitting in Varga Bar talking Kristeva and performance, I miss wandering through the Gardens after a trip to the gallery, I miss my strange menagerie of artists, activists, poets, writers, perverts and dress-up partners. I need to be back in a world of salons and theatre and magic and wonder! Perth is ever-so pragmatic and I miss the mysteries of my hometown-mistress, its the whitewashed anglican antithesis to my decadent catholic tastes...

Having some hard thinking time about some Sydney-ness though. Being away from the 'scene' has given me space to ponder what I value and what is actually really damaging to me, and reassess the communities and habits I have just fallen into because they seemed to be what fitted best (even though they are often quite unhealthy). Sod that. Have an inkling the secret may be in quality over quantity, but its such a tricky balance I expect. Hmm.

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.

House Hunting

We are looking for a house to rent in Sydney, from Early April/Easter. In the spirit of 'putting it out there' here is a brief description of what we are looking for. If you notice anything interesting please do let us know! We have good references, are quite clean and tidy, and can pay as substantial amount up front.

We will need:
2 bedrooms, minimum
To be in general Newtown ghetto precinct e.g. Erskineville, Enmore, Stanmore, Camperdown, maybe as far as Marrickville
Reasonable rent (ie under $450 pw, pref a bit less)
Security features, deadlocks and window locks and preferably bars on accessible windows

We would like:
Gas cooking-- rather important to me
Pet friendly so we can bring Tempy over with us- rather important to the Monster
Courtyard or backyard for entertaining/growing of foodstuffs
Close to transport and shops

BTW, THE HOUSE IS ON THE MARKET!

You can look it up on REIWA... or contact me for details! Woooooohooooooooooo! First home open on Sunday 8th, but can organise viewings at other times.

Trip Pix- The Beginnings

Lots more pix to be seen of FB in the very near future!

Happy 2009 From ZooFi

This being our last happy snap of 2008. Thanks to Morgan Carpenter/Same Same for the shot.

Camp, Camp

Does anyone, preferably on the east coast, have a small tent that Monster and I can use for a week or so over new years? And any sort of mattresses, camp lights etc? Would be MOST grateful!

You're Delightful, You're Deluxe-y...

GayInWA provided this lovely pic of the Monster and I at Christmas Deluxe. Thankyou Sweeties! You know I love my paparazzi! And you can even see my light-up tutu in this shot...

Ginseng Baths

Has anyone been to the old Korean bathhouse in the Cross since it was revamped? Comments? Want to go with the Monster, but not if they have totally destroyed it!

Three Moments of Joy

Christmas Deluxe, Friday: Luxe bar, Highgate. Black tutu strung with star lights inbetween the layers of fabric, silver singlet, fishnets, diamantes on face, black and silver eyelashes, red lipstick, shaved head. Dancing, posing, flirting, schmoozing and general acts of complete fabulousness with Monster!

Christ! Mass Drinks!, Saturday: Our manger. Boardies, lei, red grass skirt, swimsuit, rubber thongs. Festively shaped pretzels, strawberries dipped in chocolate, ricotta and berry hotcakes with fresh whipped cream, chips and dip and cheese and delicious rosemary flatbread and oil and dukkah and... Yummy! Started late arvo, flopping about drinking and chatting with a small but somehow perfect group of pals, hours in the spa being cheeky, more chatting and flirting and in bed with Monster-cuddles by midnight.

Markets, Sunday: Fremantle. Big black skirt, sandals, black singlet. Xmas art market, plus regular markets. Didn't buy a scrap for anyone else, but came back with an oil burner, lots of oils, Tinderbox face scrub, clay and soap from Corynne's for myself (and kitties and DVDs we collected in Lawley), plus the glow you get from wandering around a beachside town hand in hand with your fabulous Monster in the sunshine and feeling that life is just about perfect.

Kooky Fans

Necrotitties and I at Kooky on the 22ns. Courtesy of SSO/Morgan Carpenter. Mwah!

Spunky Monk-ies

This coming weekend be the time Monster and I get to the Pinnacles. And we plan to stop at New Norcia on the way there. Check it out here: roadhouse, ale and all!

Drained, But Not In A BAD Way...

Yesterday brought me Pride float shopping and planning, making up a wonderful new performance/art piece and sorting out people and things to make it happen, a discussion with a mate who is in a crappy DV situation (and remembering past hostile domestic situations I have been in), hanging out with a Bear talking about gender-fluidity and monstrosity, finalising and sending my PhD annual review form, and attending a paper on the speaker's experience of and response to childhood rape. Thankfully Monster gave me a nice massage, and generally 'took care of me', when we got home...

Festing Season

Virgin must love me- booked MORE tix yesterday, this time for our festing jaunt. I get to Sydney on the 17th December, Monster on the 23rd. And we both fly back on the 7th of January (I think)... So, plenty of time for kith and kin, markets, pub food, bbqs, beers, dancing, camping, Trop Fruits, opening pressies, coogee, icecream etc. Means I will be back here just in time to start organising my Birthday Show at Zoo!

November Spawned A Zoo Tour

Zoo will be in Sydney from early Wednesday Nov 19th to late-ish Thursday Nov 27th. Find me somehow, and show me pretty things...

Field Trip???

'Cos, like, there's nothing to do it Perth...

Oh, and speaking of stuff to do, check out the Artrage festival! Silent Disco! A giant inflatable igloo! So much art and theatre and dance! And a festival day in Northbridge! I am volunteering for some of it, so let me know when you'll be around!

Now, my latest adventure:

The Western Australian (WA) Medical Museum is a historical museum displaying items of memorabilia from the State's past in the health-care field, including:

* inside an operating room
* dentist's workshop
* a working iron lung
* hands on displays
* doctor sawbones and all the instruments used
* World War medical kits
* turn of the century hospitals
* discovery of X-Rays
* Aboriginal medicine display
* hands on electronic equipment - watch your heart beating
* and much, much more

OPENING HOURS
Wednesday 10am - 4pm
Sunday 2pm - 4pm

Harvey House
King Edward Memorial Hospital for Women
Barker Road
Subiaco Perth WA

ADMISSION COST
Adults $2.00
Children 50c

Perf-ect!

Have been a busy little monster and not updating this with much of note, so here is a bullet-pointed selection of GREAT things to happen to me lately:

* Went to Albany last week. The Gap, Misery Beach, Dog Rock, easting noodles and drinking beer and watching cable with the Monster in the hotel room, dinner at semi-swanky restaurant with Monster's workbuddies, catching the bus there and back and seeing some countryside and doing some reading and stopping at roadside diners for coffee and toasties, collecting seashells and walking the boardwalk and eating mini-pancakes from the mall. Bliss!

* Artrage festival is coming up soon, so I have volunteered my services as box office bitch, usher, artist wrangler etc. Should be fun, muchly. And all cultural and shit too.

* Pride Parade coming up at end of October. And my first Pride Afterparty with Monster! Perth ain't gonna know what's hit it!


* Royal Perth Show tomorrow. MUCH excited.

* Looks like I will have the cover article of next month's Cherrie.

* Fair Day on Sunday was MAGIC, and sunny, and we sat and ate cheese and drank beer on a blankie, and I was all dressed up and wandering with Monster so met sooooo many new people and then handed out flyers for Zoo, so met heaps more folk... Then home, shower, into leather skirt and harness and off to Zoo. Danced, drank champagne, shmoozed, and then got naked and had Jason paint me in fluro paint under a blacklight. And StrykerMeyer did an AMAZING show to Red Right Hand-- have never seen him perform before and I was STUNNED. Then danced more, perved at Monster in facial hair and pinstripes *shiver* and somehow ended up with a whole pile of naked furry boys in a spa, telling tall tales and true and flirting and getting foot massages until the birds started to sing. Woof!