Georgiezine

I'm on my laptop at the desk of one of the siblings of the bass player in my son's teenage rock pop band. There are kids in the kitchen, and the lounge is set up with a variety of toys, board games, nurturing routines, one of the siblings (I can't tell them apart) has written a letter in pencil handwriting, all code. The Mum has baked brownies, iced them, there's snacks aplenty.  The older kids started band practice after one of the younger siblings finished rehearsing with a five piece, boys and girls in the band, a school performance in two weeks, very nervous, but sound great to me. A musical household and a family home, nice.  I'd been so exhausted, too exhausted, and checked into an Airbnb for 2 night's sleep by the beachside in an art deco apartment, followed by 3 nights this week in a cool one-bedroom artists retreat, both different but welcome experiences, each with a bath. The latter had an outdoor bath, and I think that's my future goal, if I can t...

Invited myself over to visit a friend whose partner is an architect, they live in a heritage cottage with a laneway rear extension, grand total of 120sqm. I liked it a lot (without knowing if that's a lot or a little); reminded me of A Tiny Apartment (my fave blog, whose partner is an architect too!), as it had upstairs loft study space, downstairs kitchen/dining/living space, corridor of art/bookshelves and smaller bedrooms. A kid came home from school, presumably on his bicycle or dropped off by neighbour, politely nodded and ignored me as they grabbed food from the pantry.   We chit chatted, sipping from mugs I admired, it was like being in South Hobart, complete with a friendly neighbourhood lady who dropped off spare football boots. I asked partner if being an architect is being good at problem solving and he said yeah, defining the problem, that matters, and my friend and I expanded: spatial problem solving, small spaces, knowing complicated like physics and angles, warm...

 Went to see Split Enz last night, from arriving at the train station en route, my heart sank about how drab and badly dressed matured aged audiences are, in Adelaide, I do remember getting shirty with my Mum for pointing this out, but it's true. Everyone dresses like they've left prison or they were forced to shop for their wardrobe at Millers or Lowes (and maybe they were). By the time we arrived at Entertainment Centre, there were a few glimmers of hope, a guy who had an actual Split Enz t-shirt, looked like a New Zealander. Then, as the band came on, there was relief. Paul and Tim had white hair big and boofy, sharp plaid suits, Neil in Blue and Tim in orange, they shared a retrospective of all the amazing outfits that Noel had made for them over the years, and I was in heaven. Noel is a talent, I believe he did the sets for Play School and/or Rockwiz, and he's good at sewing, screen printing, patchworking but also that higher level of conceptual design. Makes Jenny Kee...

  I've been reading Real Estate by Deborah Levy, the sequel to Cost of Living (or is it Cost of Loving?). Remains a great title in my mind, either way. Meanwhile I've requested and borrowed out everything she's written, and it's a lot. I recommended her to my friend and new book club of two and she's reading her too, I'm impressed.  Last night I dropped off the eldest at orchestra practice and parked behind Schultz in a 15 minute zone, so I could collect a book reservation-Hilary McPhee, Other People's Lives, which includes her setting up McPhee Gribble and publishing Monkey Grip. The youngest was so delighted by the library, that we returned to the car and grabbed his book so he, too, could enjoy the delight of a reading room. I deliberately tested spatial awareness by setting a small challenge of finding the library a second time, without me, and they did, walking past the observatory building and the small child care, which had a nice vibe, and where iden...

Tonight I signalled I wanted to catch the 5:00 train, did exit things to enable this, except left my bike helmet at the desk, by the time I made it to the train platform on my ebike, all gone.  I waited for the next train, with my study partner, all good as I caught the train home via the inner west, which terminates at now gentrified beach destination, OMG, another level of fashion forwardness. Think men in linen jackets, paisley shirts, trousers, lace up oxfords, carry bags, silver fox (male, female) with wrap around wool wear, confidence, knowing/connecting looks, cool handbags by a bespoke bag maker.  My pick of the night was a couple, she/they short hair, tweed wool coat, wrap around scarf, leaning into/resting against him/they in pink shirt, doom scrolling phones. She/they wore pants, lace up oxfords and as she/they exited, I noted: nose ring, lip ring, that latest craze of skinny pendant descending into cleavage territory, semi unbuttoned linen shirt, thin not wiry, in ...

From a fashion first aid perspective, I need intervention, wore tracky pants, in public, to avoid unflattering effect of jeans. Lifestyle has caught up and have to do something, something, something.  Umm, what else. I had an amusing experience when I realised a frenemy-someone I get along with, from an intellectual and cultural and even ethical perspective-suffers not only from smugness, but social insecurity. I had no idea they need to be cool, given they're well educated and attained tenure in a competitive field, by pursuing something that yielded external validation of a kind they take for granted, which funds renovations and holidays. Sounds enough to me, but they also want to be cool.  I suspect the source of their difficulties is they've been with the same partner since a teenager, lack of comparison in the bedroom (even a sample of two is useful), kissing action hasn't diversified since they were a geek. That's the real tragedy. Funny how much passion is involv...