late night dogs

Well Charlie woke me up completely rearranging the living room (ripping up a cardboard box as it transpired). I put her outside and she ran amok out there for a while (2.30 am). Then barked to be allowed back in. This woke Millie up who has decided she has some serious fidgetty shit to accomplish. Now Charlie is asleep again and Millie is going. It's only me that's awake. I am dreaming I am blogging, which is almost embarrassing.

I checked sitemeter again, always a relevation. Recent success stories here have been the stuff on Knockout from a few months back alongside the old hits of 'what relation is your cousin's child to you' and '1001 songs you must hear before you die'. I actually wrote some entries for the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, eg the entries on Godd's A Wizard, a True Star; ZZ Top's Tres Hombres; and the Bee Gees' Trafalgar. It took a real sublimation of the instincts to work for that book (though the editor was great to work with, a pro, and there were no lies told) because of course everyone has their favourite 1001 albums - why stop at 1001 - and I was railing all the way against non-inclusion of so many things I thought were so much better than so many other things, but luckily it wasn't my call. I would have produced a book without Sgt Pepper (that would have been in the book 1001 cultural artifacts you must avoid until you die, along with 2 1/2 Men, Macleod's Daughters, Star Wars, The Joshua Tree and London). I did feel privileged to write on Pere Ubu's Dub Housing which is in my opinion one of the top ten best albums ever made. There was nowhere near enough Australian stuff in there of course, probably Back in Friggin' Black and that's about it. Back in Black is such a chronically awful record - look, I know - its broad appeal, like that of internet porn, makes me despair for almost anyone.

I went to the doctor's tonight because I was worried I might have swine flu. Headaches, cough, fever. He said if I had had it, which I might have, it was mild and it has more or less passed. When I say I was worried, I was only worried I might be a carrier and/or that it was the beginning of something huge and horrid. So I felt fine. The headaches are the only really bothersome bit and can be managed. I did have to watch 2 1/2 Men in the waiting room. The upside of today aka yesterday: a student sent me an email saying of a course I taught this semester: 'Everything was fantastic. By far my favourite subject so far in my tertiary education' - god that's nice to hear! - and the redoubtable Clarkey, a woman much on my mind lately as I have been tramping the wilds of her former planet, Templestowe the last couple of weeks, texted me to say she was at a service station in Joondalup and saw someone wearing those silly converse I drew, and fell into a converse-ation with him, and he told her he loves them and so does everyone else he's ever met. OK, I'm being flippant. But I now know of 4 satisfied owners out of 4. So since the dogs are now asleep and power snoring, I am going back to bed. Night.

PS (I'm not writing this, I'm dreaming I'm writing it) actually a book called 1001 Cultural Artifacts You Must Avoid Until You Die would be a fantastic idea - the new Stuff White People Like I reckon - everyone would get enjoyably up in arms about the stuff that was dissed in there because they'd all know it - classic. If you decide to run with this idea, cut me some royalties please OK? OK.

it rained today

You would not believe the rain today. I was up late last night writing a lecture and so I didn't get to work until 11:30. On the way in (I was driving the Honda, which leaks - or at least it hasn't leaked for years, because it hasn't been in the rain for years) a thunderstorm hit. I guess I have said this more and more lately because we have had a bit of precipitation, but it's still true - people still don't remember how to behave in rain! So when I got to campus people were running hither and thither with genuine fear and confusion on their faces; I heard one girl say 'my shoes!' Personally once again I had cause to appreciate the value of sloth; I had left a raincoat in the back of the car about a year ago. My feet still got wet though ('my shoes!') because of course the drains are all backed up with old leaves and so on so the roads become rivers. Anyway, it was all pretty nice. Didn't seem to do much for the water tank mind. But it's supposed to rain all week, on and off.

you know you're stressed when...

you absolutely totally wake up at 1:45 with a minor issue from work the day before suddenly amplified in your head, and you know you're not going back to sleep for some time to come. I am drinking some green tea now, in the belief that possibly this relaxes one, but it probably doesn't. I feel like I am drinking hot water infused with some old paper paste, you know. Yesterday I saw a young man wearing those shoes I drew for converse. I had to speak to him, which I know is not very cool but the whole thing is so bizarre I feel somewhat detached from it anyway. His pair were very worn. I said, 'excuse me, I know this is the kind of thing an insane person would say, but I designed those shoes'. We had a chat about them. Obviously he liked them, and he said people sometimes stopped him in the street and talked to him about them. It's all so bizarre. The only other real discussion I had seen of them away from myself was people on an online chatty thing discussing how they were too ugly to wear. Fair enough. (NB These are James Earthenware's pair not the man I talked to). I feel like saying 'I'm still not sure how all that converse thing happened'. But that's not true, I know how it happened. Bono and the Pope sent a letter to the Cannanes and asked them to assist in the fight against AIDS. 'You're the indiest band in the world,' they said, 'help us battle a deadly disease.' I suppose it's lame to stop someone at the coffee shop and tell them you drew their shoes, but I am still surprised when I see them around and this was the first pair I had seen that were not owned by someone previously known to me. Still, yeah, ok it was lame. I know, I'll wake up at 3:45 and stress about that. (Later: that was a good idea but I was still awake at 3:45)

stranger things have (apparently) happened

I designed a converse.