And I'm off gallivanting around the world.

I've been keeping the excitement tightly bottled up so I can focus at work - training a new receptionist how to do my job plus her job in the space of a week and a bit needs all the concentration I can muster, especially as she only works part time.

However, tomorrow, I walk out of there at noon regardless. I walk back in at 8.30am on July 27.

For those of you who want to follow me around the world, I've set up a travel blog at www.travelswithmytardis.blogspot.com

And this morning the confusion that has been reigning in my mind about liquids, aerosols and gels and how much/what/where you can pack them got solved, beautifully. The mind is clear. It was totally confused by the gobbledegook on the CASA safe travel site, all the other various govt sites that tell you about what you can and can't take on the plane.

All they have to do is say: pack the bulk of your toiletries in your suitcase; however if you want to take anything like toothpaste, shampoo, deodorant or perfume in your carry-on baggage in the unlikely event your suitcase gets lost or you are on a long flight and want to freshen up prior to arrival, you can only take 100ml or less of each product up to a limit of 1 litre in your carry-on baggage.

Now that makes sense to me. All the other blah blah blah these sites spout got me so confused I rushed around buying little 100ml (actually they're 75ml) containers to put my shampoo and stuff in, when I didn't need to!!!!!

AAGGHH!!

And don't get me started on trying to find a 1 litre capacity resealable plastic bag!

I'm so glad I'm going on a break - I think I need it!

See you all in July!

Well, actually no, I'm not going to do a Susan Boyle.

What I'm rabbiting on about is what the 'rules' are with regard to quoting song lyrics in a story - is it allowed if you give credit to the songwriter on the copyright page? Is it allowed at all? Is it allowed if you get permission from the songwriter (or whoever owns the rights to the song) and give credit on the copyright page?

Advice would be much appreciated. Especially advice on a good place to find all this kind of stuff out.

Absolutely! A little cami top and short shorts, winter or summer, with NO bra! Although, if it is in the depths of winter it'll be track pants rather than shorts. 20C is on the edge of cold where I live.

You Are Modest and Nurturing

When You Are Comfortable: You are a shy, quiet person. Underneath your shell, you are compassionate and giving. People find you to be friendly and welcoming. Your home is a place of comfort to them. When You Are At Your Best: You are ambitious, and hard-working. Adversity allows you to shine. You resourceful and able to make due. People see you as honest to the point of bluntness. But they always know that you'll be fair. You have the good intentions. When You Are in a Social Setting: You are a powerful, competitive person. While you want to succeed, you are also able to find balance in your life. People see you as self-sufficient. They are impressed by how much you are able to do on your own.

Hmm, shy and quiet. Well yes, when I'm in a situation with new people I don't quite know yet I tend to sit back and watch and listen. I love challenges and usually manage to deal with them well and yes, I can be honest to the point of bluntness. Gawd knows the pain my tongue is in from biting it so hard in the last couple of weeks with the Tropical Writers committee members.

So all in all, quite an accurate portrayal of moi.

Imagine you are surfing the net for calls for submissions and you come across this gem:

"Well-respected writer/editor Fred Nerk is putting together an anthology of original pieces to be published next year. Submissions are sought from interested parties - short stories (3000 word max) and poetry especially welcome - open genre, no theme. Please submit your story/poem along with submission fee of $5 per item to cover administrative costs to........."

Okay, what would your reaction be to this? eneit - even though we have already discussed this please do put your thoughts in here.

What would you think of Fred Nerk?

Would you submit anything to him?

Would you submit anything to him in the future even if future calls for submissions did not require a fee?

Would you spread the word that Fred Nerk is a [insert appropriate epithet here]?

Be as brutal as you like. Be honest. Tell me what you think of this call for submissions.

My back-fence neighbour has a shrub on her side of our mutual fence which is known as Yesterday-Today-Tomorrow (the shrub, not the fence *g*) and it has the most gorgeously scented flowers which start as deep mauve, fade through lilac to white, hence the name.

Around 18 months ago (I think - I'm sure it's been more than a year) I broke three pieces off that were drooping over the fence and stuck them in a little pot of water which I then put on my kitchen windowsill.

Every so often over the time it's been there it has been knocked into the sink and I've refilled it and put the pieces back in, and I noticed that roots were growing.

A few days ago I saw what I thought could be a flower bud.

It is. I just went to make a cup of coffee and noticed one of the pieces is flowering.

So I really must get my act together and pot these pieces up properly so I can grow them on and actually plant them in the garden.

But it just shows how determined a plant can be to survive!

I finished off two projects last week, one large (62K words) the other small (300 words), and sent them off to their respective authors.

The writer of the short story had to pay me the old-fashioned way cos her internet connection is currently offline, and enclosed a note thanking me for my kind words, and saying she would be sending me another story to edit.

The other client sent me an email today saying she's very happy with all the changes, appreciates all the time and effort I put into it, including additional (uninvoiced) advice. She also said, and this is the bit that gave me the warm and fuzzies:

"I don't think I could have found someone better for the editing. I really feel that you got it and you felt it ..."

She plans on sending me more work too.

In an instance of sheer coincidence, both these ladies have the same first name!

Today makes me feel being an editor is A Good Thing.

(In case you're wondering, I have experienced the bad side, but not so bad as has been mentioned recently - I send him hugs of encouragement!)

My local writers group had its AGM today. Being as how I got elected to the committee last year I happily stood down with all the others and waited while we did the election of new committee.

The Treasurer stayed the same, simply because there are systems being put in place at the moment that only she can understand. Next year she'll be able to explain it to someone else and she can take a break from treasuring.

Next up were nominations for President. There was only one, from the outgoing President, and she nominated me.

No, I'm not Pres - I thanked her for her confidence in me but I'm a wheel, not a driver. So I declined, and promptly got elected as the Secretary!!!

I get to do the monthly newsletter, the anthology layout (I will be putting my hand up for that) and maybe do some playing around with a potential website for the group (yay!)

So now my schedule has the first two Saturdays of each month set aside for writers group stuff - this is going to be a busy year!

Roll on 2009!

I know this may sound ridiculous given my age (not telling, but those who know me know) but yesterday I cooked my first turkey, successfully.

Plus I got all the timings right for putting in the roast vegies and the extra stuffing (I made up the whole packet but could only cram half of it inside said turkey, so I put the rest in a pie dish to cook for eating with the leftovers, of which there is LOTS!) and it all turned out beautifully. (A warning for those in Australia - do NOT take any notice of the cooking calculator on the Inghams website for cooking turkey - it was at least an hour and 20 mins TOO SHORT! Thank goodness I took notice of the wrapping on the Steggles turkey we had or dinner would have been a disaster!)

So guess who forgot to take a photo of said delicious turkey!

However, when Mr DM and I decide to eat again (maybe today, sometime) I shall take a photo of what was left (ie more than half the turkey) from a judicious angle so it looks like a complete turkey so you can see my efforts.

Plus the cat hasn't had her share yet, so we might get a few scraps (she LURVES her turkey).

The whole day went well - we played on the Wii and the cat played with her wrapping paper and frowned at the toy we'd bought her (two mice on elastic hanging from a stick). Mr DM had bought me a Sudoku board along with two Sudoku mugs (why he got two I shall never understand) which have a stern warning not to try doing the puzzles while the mug is full (well.... d'uh!)

Now I can relax and get to some writing..... and eating lots of leftover turkey *g*

Went to the movies yesterday arvo - we had to!

I had organised a bloke to come in and clean the carpets (and he did an incredibly good job too - we know who we'll use in future!) so of course once he'd done the carpets in all rooms and the sofabed and chair and they needed time to dry, there was nowhere for us to sit (well, I had sprawled out on the only couch available which meant Mr DM had dining chairs or bar stools to sprawl on - not a comfortable option) so we went out.

Mr DM, having seen the transformation of the carpet under his desk/chair decided he would buy a rug to fit the area (he hates the plastic chair mat I've got) to reduce the wear and tear on the carpet. We found a gorgeous dark blue with a small beige and light blue pattern in the middle, then toddled over to the shopping centre to do some browsing before the movie.

We saw Australia.

Now, I had read several reviews, some glowing, some not so glowing, and some downright scathing, so I was interested to see what my reaction would be. I turned off "writer/editor" mode and sat and watched and was engrossed. The scenery is majestic, stunning, "I could taste the dust in my mouth" overwhelming.

The romance of the story didn't strike me as much as the moment Nullah faced off the stampeding herd. I was holding my breath and when it all came good, nearly burst into tears of relief just like he did.

Yes, he does steal every scene he's in, but then the movie is as much his story as it is The Drover's and Lady Sarah's story. Actually, I think it's more his story than theirs.

I came out of the movie suitably impressed with the skill with which the story had been told, and let myself digest it overnight.

Now, in the tropical light of day (I was going to say cold light of day but it sure ain't that up here in Cairns!) I can look back and see that while the bombing of Darwin was spectacular, they could have found some other way to demonstrate that the three main characters all loved each other and should be together. It was used merely as a plot device to tear the three apart, make them realise what they had (apparently) lost, then in a burst of emotional overkill (yes, I shed more tears here too), bring the three back together.

I'm sure they could have found some other way to do this without bringing the war into it - and made the movie a whole lot shorter!

While I was setting up the Wii earlier this evening I decided that rather than drive myself insane and possibly give myself heat stroke or just generally exhaust myself over the christmas break by trying to do all the repainting I had originally planned to do, I will focus on some of the other projects that have been lurking around the house waiting for me to find the time.

What prompted this decision was moving some blank DVDs out of the way - blank DVDs set aside to be used to transfer all the video tapes that my Dad had converted from film many years ago.

I will do some work on the redecorating, such as the window sills just to give me a break from writing/copying family movies, but no major painting will be done until the wet season is past and the weather is cooler.

Well, maybe I'll do the feature wall in my bedroom.

Maybe.

I has Wii!

The after-effects of seeing in the New Year last year (or the beginning of this year if you want to be really pedantic and nit-picky) playing ten-pin bowling with eneit on the Wii have obviously lasted a very long time, because today I picked up my Wii console and what was supposed to be the sports pack but because they had sold out they gave me the Ultimate Starter Kit for the same price (yay!)

Hubby has bought me the Wii Fit for christmas - I agreed to buy the console because he couldn't afford the whole thing - you should have seen his face when he asked me what I wanted in place of the external hard drive he'd already bought me that I didn't want because I've already got two! I said I wanted a Wii and he exploded that he didn't have that kind of money. He was confusing the Wii with the Playstation 3 console which is a ridiculous price.

When I explained about how the Wii got you up and moving to play the games instead of sitting on your backside he relented and agreed to buy the Fit kit.

I set it up as soon as I got home, had one game of ten pin bowls (and got multiple strikes!) and did some tennis training and I can already feel my muscles complaining.

Watch out for a fitter me (or should that be Mii?) next year - no more boring exercise DVDs doing the same routine day after day after day!

Because I can .....

A certain well-known maker of breakfast cereal has a new flavour of a particular product out and they have an ad on tv that makes me want to throw things at them.

Both hubby and I have become so pi**ed off at this ad that this evening I went to said breakfast cereal maker's website and told them in no uncertain terms what I thought about the ad.

When I described the ad to eneit she agreed that the ad would put her off buying the product.

Here's the deal for those who haven't seen it:

Picture a busy shopping mall with a demonstration table in the centre with video displays, bowls of product and a young lass dressed in very unprepossessing colours, walking around carrying a bowl of this cereal asking people if they want to try it. Before they have a chance to say yes, she walks away with a very dismissive air and tone of voice. She even pushes her way through a crowd around the table and turns off the video presentation. You then see her hunched down behind the video screen scoffing a bowl of the product. Then, at the end, a young child picks up a bowl of cereal and is about to eat it when the lass snatches it out of her hands and walks away saying "That's not for you!"

All you see at the end is a totally baffled kid.

Now this is from a company that promotes itself as providing good nutritional breakfast food for kids (whether that is true or not).

I think they need to pick a new advertising agency.

Got this from eneit, in varying versions.

Dragon-master produced my favourite:

My Indian name is She-who-dances-in-the-stars.
Take English Native American Name Generator today!
Created with Rum and Monkey's Name Generator Generator.

Tropical Dragon came up with She who is playful ....... yep, that's me!

My real name came out as Panther passing across..... but what is it passing across and will it reach up and bite me?

In my previous post I mentioned the character development workshop I attended a couple of weeks before Conflux and how different it was to karenmiller's workshop.

( Characters and Conflux..... )

Oh, and my copy of Illuminations was the only one that gillpolack signed :D

I've just given my new laser printer a good workout - a 155 page ms, duplexed (double-sided for the uninitiated) and it didn't take long to print at all! Much better than the somewhere in the region of 12-yr old laser printer I had before that would only duplex if I fed the pages through for the second side!

Now I have a nice fast printer I can print out mss to work on in front of the telly while the V8s are on (GO BATHURST!) which I will be doing on Sunday.

Don't expect to get any sense out of me on Sunday until at least 6pm - hubby and I will be glued to the box cheering on our mates Craig and Jamie for their third straight win.

Now to sate gillpolack and with something other than food....... *looks quizical*

*winces from strength of nudge*

Yeah, okay, so I'm a very random poster *pouts* I've been busy!!!!!

Let's see, what has happened in the last nine weeks...... *scratches head, goes to make cup of coffee, wanders back in and sees computer is on*

Ah well, I have been wildly busy at work. Not having a receptionist full time is driving me crazy but on Monday the boss and I will be having Big Discussions about the situation and sticking an ad in the paper. I wouldn't mind so much if we knew what our receptionist's plans are (she's off on maternity leave and we have had ZERO contact from her - she hasn't even brought the baby in for us to go ga-ga over). We don't know if she wants to come back full time, part time, never.......... incredibly frustrating.

In the meantime we've had a temp in 2 days a week who is leaving for NZ at the end of the month. She's been a great help, even working extra days when needed, but one of the big bug-bears is that she doesn't have a drivers licence. Anyhow, the whole situation is being thrashed out and Things Will Change.

On the writing front..... not much. I've got a short story in the next Tropical Writers anthology (maybe even 2, not sure yet) which comes out next month, called Raining on the Sun. I've done a couple of short stories for one of the Moody Blues discussion boards I'm a member of - Survivor-type stories based on their albums where each round a song is eliminated from the particular album. Much fun with that!

But the biggie, the one that still has my head spinning and me breaking out in inane grins at odd moments, was last weekend.

CONFLUX 5!!!

Wahoo, what a blast. My brain was totally fried by Tuesday morning, myriad ideas about how to make my characters better (thanks karenmiller), hysterical giggles about the trivia night (What is an aglet? A Little Ag. I did know the correct answer but I was in such a silly mood by the time that question came up I put down the first thing that came to mind, and still got a point for it because I made the other team laugh!), meeting up with friends familiar and new *waves to nyssa and kesalemma* and generally having a bloody good time.

Then I got brought back to earth with a thump on Tuesday morning when it was only 2 degrees outside! A very good reminder of why I moved to Cairns!

There's more, but I have to go to work now...... :(