all about (me)me

LynS has invited people to tag themselves for this meme, and while I usually stay away from these (blogging is self-promoting enough, no?), I was inspired by Lyn’s thoughtful answers.

What is your current obsession?
I am obsessed with keeping warm, because I live in the coldest house in Canberra.  I am also currently obsessed with thoughts about mortality and faith.  Someone I know was recently diagnosed with an aggressive cancer, and this has pulled me up suddenly, rather like having to swerve and brake unexpectedly while driving on an empty flat road.  All of a sudden the thoughts about how to live, what to do, how to be with other people, what it means to be involved with other people, what it means to be alive, out they all come.  Probably they will not be resolved.  But there they are.

What are you wearing today?

I’m wearing a straight black skirt, a charcoal grey top, black tights, shiny black flat shoes, a round silver pendant on a long chain, an asymmetric silver bangle, and a mustard yellow cardigan.  This last belonged to my great-aunt Bessie, who bought it in 1948.  She passed it to my aunt in 1962, who gave it to my mother in 1973, who gave it to me in 1995.

What’s for dinner?
I’m going to a trivia night tonight, so dinner will be whatever is available at the venue.  My expectations are not high, but if the options are truly dire I will eat the leftover vegetable massaman curry that’s in the fridge

What did you eat for your last meal?
Breakfast: porridge topped with some rhubard stewed with ginger and a blob of cream (yeah, indulgent, but it’s in the fridge and needs using up)

What’s the last thing you bought?
Vegetables for the massaman curry mentioned above.

What are you listening to right now?
Other people typing, me typing, a sudden burst of laughter from down the corridor.

If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go?
Only for an hour?  I’d go to see my grandmother – we’d have morning tea in her garden and chat, and afterwards I would be sad that it was only an hour.

Which language do you want to learn?
French, because it sounds so lovely, and Japanese because I am so curious about Japan.  Like Lyn, I want to magically have the language without the pain of learning it.

What do you love most about where you currently live?
I am still learning to love where I live, and I am still comparing all the time to where I used to live.  Owning a bike and being able to ride it without being killed is probably what I love most.

What is your favorite colour?
Charcoalscarletmustardchocolatepeacocknavywhitegrassoliveocean.

What is your favorite piece of clothing in your own wardrobe?
As it’s winter, a thick charcoal grey jumper, which is quite fitted with an exaggerated poloneck (I’m wearing it in this photo).  It is warm, flattering and versatile and has served me well for nearly 10 years.  If it were summer, I would say the red and blue spotted dress that I made at the last minute in 1997 to wear to a party.  It was only meant to last one night, but still makes me happy every time I put it on.

What were you doing ten years ago?
I was in London, it was summer and quite a warm summer too, I was living in a house with a multitude of nationalities and we were bonding over the World Cup, I was learning to cook properly and I went to see Coldplay play in a pub because they weren’t famous then.

Describe your personal style?
For what I wear, I aspire to this manifesto.  But there is always a gap between aspiration and reality, because reality is messy, comfortable, and never perfect.  I prefer it if my clothes and shoes aren’t reminding me of their presence all the time. For my house and surroundings, I like things to be real, I like to know how they were made and by who, and I like there to be plenty of space between things.

If you had $300 now, what would you spend it on?
Probably nothing.  If you threatened me, a red coat that’s on sale at the moment.

What are you going to do after this?
Meet Bells and others for lunchtime knitting and kaffeeklatsch.

What countries would you like to visit?

All of them.

What inspires you?
People who are good at something and passionate about it. People who make an effort to live well.  Remembering just how amazing it is that the bunch of grey wiggly proteins in the bony box behind your face can come up with things like love and ingenuity and music and dancing and machines that go ping and paintings and telescopes.

Whose work/designs are you inspired by?
My father, who’s built so many things with his hands and his head.  Jorn Utzon’s opera house.  The Case Study Houses.  Florence Broadhurst‘s fabrics.  Olive Cotton‘s and Alison Brookbanks‘ photography.  Margaret Preston‘s prints.

Your favourite books?
These change all the time, but right now today they are: South of the Border, West of the Sun, by Haruki Murakami; Les Miserables by Victor Hugo;Something Fishy by Shane Maloney; The Flounder by Gunter Grass; Eucalyptus by Murray Bail.

What’s one thing in your life that you could fix right now, but haven’t?
I could get my violin bow rehaired.  It’s been going bald for over a year, and I just haven’t gotten round to it.  Should I do something about it right now?

What makes you follow a blog?
Personality, good writing, humour and nice pictures.

What was the most enjoyable thing you did today?
I drank a glass of cool water when I was dehydrated and over-caffeinated.  It was seriously the best thing I’ve ever tasted.

What’s one thing you dream of doing?
Going to Japan.

I’m not going to tag anyone, but feel free to tag yourself.  These are the rules:
1. Respond and rework; answer the questions on your blog, replace one question that you dislike with a question of your invention, add one more question of your own. 2. Tag eight other people.

(The question I took out was ‘Do you collect anything’, and replaced it with ‘What’s one thing in your life that you could fix right now, but haven’t')

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