Monday Night is Conundrum Night

Hello dear friends,

I thought I'd actually test out how many people still read this rarely-updated sanctuary of mine by presenting you with a conundrum I have, and then requesting your opinion on the matter.

I had two plans for the beginning of 2011. The first was to spend the month of January in Europe with Roman, the second to (apply for, at least) to direct the Sydney University O-Week Festival.

Both are incredibly good things that I want to do more than anything. Problem being that O-Week director is an incredibly all-consuming commitment that commences half way through 2010 and continues until the last week of February 2011, pretty much precluding me from spending January outside the office.

If I chose to commit to applying for O-Week director, there is a high likelihood that I wouldn't get it (it's a very competitive position, and whilst I am good at that sort of thing there are definitely people in the world who are better at it) and by that stage I may not be able to commit to Europe in lieu of it. On the other hand, if I say "I probably wouldn't get it" and then do, I will have invested in Europe planning for nothing, and Roman will most likely be very upset with me.

So, I now present to you my pros and cons list for both eventualities, and ask you to decide on which course of action I should take:

FOR EUROPE:

• It would be my first real holiday in two and a half years;
• I would get to return to the UK, to spend at least a week in London as well as visiting throughout the country, meeting up with family (Roman's) and friends (mine);
• I would get to go to Scotland for the first time, and to see my dear friends Minna and Hannah;
• I would be able to spend a naughty weekend in Paris with Roman... and Minna!;
• I would get to go to Berlin and see the Brandenburg Gate (something I really need to do for myself);
• I would get to go vintage shopping in London;
• It's much more certain/definite than O-Week;
• I would be travelling with my love.

FOR O-WEEK:

• It would be an incredible adventure;
• I would be learning skills that will help me for the rest of my life;
• I would be performing a duty to the system that has given me so much over the past few years;
• I think I would be good at it;
• I think it would help me to grow up and perhaps to even help me find a place in the event industry (which is perhaps where I'll end up);
• It would make me freaking awesome;
• I would get paid for it, rather than saving for a whole year for Europe.

I know that list makes Europe sound like a way better option, but I'm still very torn. Quick, lend me your opinions!

Tales from the Sickbed

Hello dear chickens and roosters (a special nod to my dear uncle Loz right there... pity your team sucks), I am most pleased to inform you that my rate of posting will be increasing due to (I am less pleased to inform you) another bout of Caitlin's Mystery Illness Adventures.

Seriously, if life were a lucky dip I would be picking up all the packages filled with pathogens, and not even the interesting ones.

I know it's not that bad, I mean it's just a case of letting myself get run down - flu followed by meningitis followed by whooping cough followed by whatever I have now (nausea, dehydration and crazy low blood pressure) is not terminal cancer, and for that I am very grateful, but HONESTLY. I am bored of being sick.

Do you remember when you were a kid and taking a day off school for being sick somehow made you a bit special or something? You got to watch tv and read and the next day when you came back everyone would ask after you and make sure you were okay. That seems so far removed from what I've been repeatedly experiencing over the last couple of months, which is being exhausted, missing out on all sorts of work, social, and most importantly musical commitments, watching awful mind-numbingly boring television and trying to find a good book to read.

But it's a learning experience, isn't it? That which does not kill us makes us stronger... or whatever.

THINGS I HAVE LEARNED FROM BEING SICK:

• Orange Gatorade sucks. Full effing stop. I shall never drink it again as long as I live, I don't care how it replenishes my electrolytes.
• Electrolytes have less to do with the Large Hadron Collider and more to do with fluid retention than I thought. Disappointing.
• Trying to perform a week long run of a musical with Whooping Cough is pretty much the opposite of a good time.
• Don't watch the news right before going to sleep when you're not sleeping well. You'll wake up at 4am and not be able to get back to sleep for thinking about escaped double murderers (Sydneysiders know what I mean...)
• Having a boyfriend with the immune system of the Winged Victory is really very good. My Roman has never been immunised against anything, and has not got one of the diseases I've had despite being perfectly happy to sleep beside me whilst I'm coughing/feverish/vomiting. What a trooper.
• My family are wonderful. That includes Roman, but also extends to my Mum and Dad, and Andrew and Lilly. Special mention goes to Lil for getting me a sick-bowl. Champion.

I've been very seriously contemplating how things got this way - how I've managed to make myself sick five weeks out of the last six - and I realise that I need a serious lifestyle re-arrangement. Details of said lifestyle rearrangement will no doubt follow, as soon as I've figured them out...

I Also Like Lists

So I'm kind of busy and stressed. Doing production design for a really wonderful play called Eurydice (by Sarah Ruhl) for the Verge Arts Festival at Sydney Uni. Unfortunately I'm kind of rubbish at set/props/costume construction and thus, here I am, 9 days out from opening night, with pretty much everything still left to do.

"Fucking fuck" is the most appropriate phrase, I find.

So, inspired by that colourful phrase and by my dear Rebecca over at the charming if inconsistent blog Feff's Flights of Fancy (look for it in my side bar, something strange is happening with linking at the moment), here is a brief run-down of what needs doing tomorrow:

• Buy fabric to make six cloaks, one skirt, six music-stand ornaments, 5m x 9m of "waterfall" set element.
• Scrounge around op-shops for and alter some ten items of clothing, including finding a grey morning jacket and tie-dying it.
• Learn to tie-dye.
• Read a couple of 20-page articles and write a 400 word analysis of a particular school of performance theory and how it relates to modern ceremonies.
• Cook dinner for five people.
• Prepare myself to be yelled at by a many and varied collection of people for not getting enough done.

Want to see the set plan? It's pretty cool, despite the fact that Roman and I haven't quite mastered textures on SketchUp, the program we've been using to make dimensionally sound set plans.

So there you have it. If you want to help me dye fabric of a Sunday, let me know, you're very welcome.

Happy weekend, my lovely friends.