School holidays. Rest and recharge, or pack it full?

The first school holiday fornight of the year is upon us, along with the enduring question: what will we do?

Thinking back, I can remember school holidays that were so full of activities we were exhausted by the end of them.

Outings mainly, to the movies, the zoo, the museum, play-dates, picnics, camping trips and driving holidays.

I've been doing the school holiday thing for so long now, my body marks its approach. Exhaustion floods me and I get cranky. It's harder for the kids to get out of bed in the morning, and we grumble at each other.

To fill our much needed break with as much fun as we can stand seems such a waste of what could be a period of rest. Rest from getting up early, making lunches and rushing to catch trains.

Each time the holidays have rolled around, we've scheduled less and less. This school holidays, we scheduled nothing at all.

It's been bliss.

For so much of the year we're fleeting visitors to our home, spending much more time away from it that in it. And when we are here, we're either cooking, eating, cleaning or sleeping. It has been nice to spend uninterrupted days pottering around our base.

The other thing that's been different about these holidays is the absence of electronic games. The playstation, the DS and the Wii are banned from use, and the computer is off-limits to children. We've always had limits on the use of these playthings, so the kids have had to find other ways to amuse themselves when game-time was up. Meaning going without this time wasn't such a stretch.

So far they've read books, played outside heaps, and spent time with their dogs and their old toys. They've watched some tv, but haven't been glued to it. Both of my children are writing autobiographies as school projects, so we've been looking at old photos and telling family stories. It's been lovely.

And because we've had no plans we turned all of the alarms off and have slept for at least ten hours a night, and we've had time to cook good meals.

We've had a real rest, before throwing ourselves back in to the world. And boy, did we need it.

What's everybody else doing?

Music for nerds

One of my projects on this week off work is to broadcast as many songs from the NBC television program Chuck as I can find on Blip.fm. As you do.

At our place, we're mad for Chuck. It's a good quality program with a fantastic cast, and an interesting and well executed premise. And it's perfect viewing for everyone in our family.

Although there are romantic threads and sexual tension in the Chuck story arc, along with plenty of violence and intrigue, the material is delivered without gratuitous gore, nudity or immoderate language. Not that there's anything wrong with such things, they're just not prime viewing choices for children.

It's a relief to find television that is thoroughly entertaining and appealing to all age groups and still appropriate for children to watch.

Chuck manages to be all this, and has a rockin' soundtrack to boot. FTW.

The first thing I noticed about the Chuck soundtrack was lack of recognition. Many were songs I'd never heard. But gee they were good. Interesting. A whole lot of music waiting to be discovered. The thought of such exploration is delicious.

So for the last 2 days I've been Blipping songs from Chuck, sequentially. I've managed to find most of them on the Blip.fm database - only a couple were too obscure. The singer Daniel May remains unknown to me, and the rest of the Blipverse.

I did Blip the two Air Supply songs that featured on a couple of episodes, but I drew the line and refused to Blip Huey Lewis and The News. What does that say about me?

There's probably another day and a half of Blipping ahead of me, around other things I'm doing on my week off. There are plenty of artists and bands I want to hear more of as a result of this lazy little indulgence, like the New Pornographers, Matt Pond PA, Band of Horses, Local Natives, Love Grenades, Frightened Rabbit and Starflyer 59.

I tried to find a widget that would display my Blips on this blog. Until I find one, you can hear my playlist at: http://blip.fm/LeanneS

And if you haven't seen the show, check it out: http://www.nbc.com/chuck/

Definition of bliss

Monday morning. Still at home. Sporting pj's and bed hair. Lounging around with my children. Avoiding this:

From Nina Karnikowski's Sunday Age article, 15 simple steps to happiness:

"Really notice what you are seeing, smelling, hearing, so you can appreciate where you are right now and be happier in the present." Limor Babai, meditation teacher.

Seven Days of Awesomeness - WhatWhenWhereWhy?

What?

I have previously listed all of the people I spent time with during the Seven Days of Awesomeness. In this list of what I did over the week I have named who I travelled with and who I specifically went to meet. Meaningful contact with other people occurred, either as part of the the activities listed or in the run of the mill workings of the other bits of my life.

I haven't listed the individual performers or musicians whose shows I enjoyed, but have listed the acts and the venues.

Not everything in this list falls into the category "awesome". But everything on here was significant.

When, Where

Start: 5:45 am Friday 19th March, 2010
Finish: 2:10 am Thursday 25th March, 2010

Friday

Rostered Day Off
Interschool athletics carnival
Farewelled my children for a week
Coffee and a long overdue catch up with Sonia
Anytime Place with Sonia and Chris, to see Die Roten Punkte, Toy Death and an excellent collaboration by three one-man bands.

Saturday

Moomba Park Netball Club U/11's game
Coffee in Fairfield with Lachie, Darcy and Jason
Australian Girls Choir demonstration class
Afternoon drinks fundraiser at the Peacock Hotel with Lindy and Cathy
Evening drinks, dinner and general hilarity in Clifton Hill with Jackie, John, Catherine, Casey and Sol.

Sunday

Sleep in until 9am
Visit from Amanda, bearing True Blood dvds and tales of her exploits
The House of Bernada Alba at Northcote Town Hall with Anna
In bed by 9pm

Monday

Work
Booked tix for The Swell Season at Sydney Opera House
Parent-Teacher interviews
Re-elected School Council President in absentia
Pixies at Festival Hall with Andrea

Tuesday

Work
5 hour meeting at ACTU
Unexpected houseguest
Go-Go class X 2 with Richard at the Bendigo Hotel

Wednesday

Work
7am meeting in St Kilda Rd
Go-Go class at Bella Union

Thursday

Work
Payday
Booked art class at Brett Whiteley studio
Lunch with Andrew and Judy at Tokyo Garden
The Swell Season at the Palais
Casey Bennetto and The Half Arsed Three with special guests at Bella Union
In bed 2.10 am. And thankfully, life didn't stop being awesome at midnight.

Why record this week?

Even though in a typical fortnight I will often have a week with lots of evening commitments, it's not that often that I have something on every night. My evening commitments were all bound to be entertaining, pleasurable and noteworthy. The schedule would take me to locations I don't get to very often, but immensely enjoy visiting, like St Kilda and Clifton Hill. It was lovely to approach my city Melbourne from the south for a change. The view is awesome.

Seven Days of Awesomeness - Who?

Sleep. Blessed sleep. I am restored, to an extent. Although I seem to have picked up an uncomfortable stomach bug, and spot of seasonal malaise. It's Autumn. A time to drop our leaves and shut down before the approaching Winter beats down our door. And I have had a big week.

As I said yesterday, I'm done. Seven Days of Awesomeness is complete. I hurried off a list yesterday, between meetings at work. And yeah, it's pretty basic, and not all that deep.

I'm pleased I saw it through. I wondered about the wisdom of announcing my plans, rather than just reporting on my activities after the fact. I ran the risk of failing, and looking like a bit of a dick.

It feels good to have stuck to my word, persisting even when I didn't feel like it. Having pre-arranged, ticketed things to do was certainly a help. It's not so easy to duck out of those things, as it's a waste if you do.

There were a few days when I felt uninspired and weary, and not the slightest bit creative.

It felt important to finish what I had started, so I pushed myself to look around, see the world, find the beauty or something of interest to record.

Is that commitment? Because I don't do so well with commitment. If it is, then it's nice to know I can do it. Committing to something that only lasts a week isn't such a huge commitment though. I really should aim for something bigger, or longer, before I can tick that one off.

Sharing my plans before starting encouraged my friends and colleagues to talk about the project, and hopefully they felt like they were part of it. I deliberately did not photograph any of the people I spent time with, well not their faces anyway. If I had, I would have needed to ask people to pose, which would have been too contrived for the project and may have made people feel uncomfortable, or take candid snaps, which again can cause discomfort and feels a little rude. I didn't want to observe or study people, I wanted to spend time with them and enjoy their company.

So even though you won't see many people in my project photos, the people in my life were a huge part of Seven Days. The best part of it actually.

I kept a list of everyone I had meaningful contact with over the week. Many of these people had repeat appearances, and with some of them, especially those far, far away from me, our contact was not in person, but online.

So, here's a list of everyone I would like to thank for being part of the project, being part of my professional life, being part of my personal life, and being part of my family.

In order of appearance during Seven Days of Awesomeness:

Lachie, Darcy, Bronson, Mikaela, Elena, Jane, Alison, Tony, Jason, Sonia, Chris, Dan, Clare, Megan, Juan, Isobel, Jack, Emily, Miss Gidley, the Saturday Avanti class of the Australian Girls Choir, Lindy, Cathy, John, Jacky, Casey, Catherine, Sol, Vince, Vince's Dad, Amanda, Anna, Sam, Tracey, Erin, Minnie, Mandy, Matt, Bec, Paul, Ilaria, Liu, Rana, Ange, Jackie, Rod, Jamey, Anaya, Stuart, Peter, Andrea, Simon, Dan, Wendy, Julian, Sam, Andrew, Brigid, Leon, Richard, Georgie, Kev, hand-slapping go-go partner, James, Susan, Roger, Louise, Michelle, Sarah, Adrian, Jacob, Dave, Katherine, Andrew, Judy, Vanessa, the man I sat next to at the gig, Mike, Enio.

All awesomed-out

Well, I made it. My little Seven Days of Awesomeness project is over. And I’m a little bit weary, but it was a whole lot of fun.

I saw some beautiful and crazy performances, spent time with wonderful people, and learned a little bit about myself, and my surroundings.

I have a stack of photos to sort through, and I can already tell you that some will never see the light of day.

You can expect a few blogs in the post-awesomeness space as I think through the entire experience, but off the top of my sleep-deprived head, here are some of the things I learned about myself:

- I like taking photos, but I am not a photographer
- I drink a lot
- I spend a lot of time in my car
- I spend a lot of time in traffic
- I really enjoy night. Being out in the night especially
- I revel in solitude, but I also enjoy company
- I’m lucky to be surrounded by so many good people
- I have a lot of music, joy and love in my life.

Gotta fly now. More soon.

Seven Days of Awesomeness

On Thursday I realised that I was fortunate enough to have something fun planned for each of the next seven days.

I was looking forward the mix of activities on the menu, and cheekily proclaimed it Seven Days of Awesomeness.

When some of my plans for the first day fell through, and were quickly replaced with fabulous unplanned alternatives, I rejoiced.

And because I ended up in a place that was strange and wonderful, I wanted to record the evening in some way. I started to photograph things around me, partly so I could share the things I was seeing, hearing and doing, with others.

So Seven Days of Awesomeness morphed from being a celebration of a spell of sustained partying, to a process of noticing and appreciating the things going on around me. Some of them are the sort of things that you see every day, and most of the time, barely register. There were also the sort of things you don't expect to see, but are there nonetheless, if only we look for them, or are lucky enough to encounter them.

I also realised that if I collect images, analyse them, consider ways to capture them and present them, I am actually engaged in an art project. Quite accidentally. Or maybe I'm engaged in huge wank? You be the judge. It's only Day Two. Maybe it will become something else entirely by Day Seven. Or maybe I'll become bored with it. Or maybe disaster will strike, and it will become Seven Days of Shite. But let's not go down that road.

As twee as this sounds, I reckon that by firmly deciding to enjoy a week of awesomeness, I feel like I have opened my eyes to awesomeness that is around me all of the time. I just needed to choose to see it.

Seduction by the stars

Just to prove horoscopes are crap, here’s mine from a few days ago:

You are a very sensual woman, and you have a very strong emotional force. Today, Leanne, that energy will increase and will express itself vigorously. The people you encounter will probably be astonished by your power, and you could easily seduce the entire world. Try to keep all this energy under your control. You could easily be thrown off balance, right into a situation you might later regret.

Amazingly, on the day in question I did manage to keep all of that ferocious sexual energy under control, and didn’t find myself in a situation I might later regret. Phew!

But seriously, what a crock.

At some time in the past, and probably under the influence of alcohol, I signed up for horoscopes sent direct to my email inbox.

As a result, on every occasion that I choose to read these emails before deleting them, I am assailed with absurd propositions such as “you could easily seduce the entire world”. Talk about skewing your perspective. Never mind that on the day I received this I was sleep deprived, stressed and feeling about as seductive as a bucket of sick. Apparently I could conquer the world with a toss of my locks and a come-hither look.

Sadly, it did not come to pass, and all of that vigorous energy was devoted to productive pursuits, like child-raising, earning a living, and go-go dancing.

What troubles me is the false hopes these charlatans create, and I worry that the lonely and despairing may be willing to hold on to these pronouncements as though they are rock solid guarantees.

I know I’ve had moments of darkness when I would gladly grab on to the promise of fulfilment and happiness, with scant regard for the legitimacy of the source, and I doubt I am alone on this score.

Some might argue this kind of speculative fiction is harmless, and can actually make people feel good about themselves. I think it has the potential to damage fragile individuals when the repeated pronouncements of positive contact with other people don’t eventuate. Ever.

Now I’d best go brush my hair and apply lippy. Apparently I’ll be meeting “The One” today. Again. I’m also expecting a payrise and increased travel opportunities: I better be ready.

Rainy day music

One drizzling Melbourne morning, the delightful Anna, mistress of a go-go academy, asked Facebook friends to nominate their favourite rain songs. A list of tracks like It's Raining Men and Raining in Baltimore, soon peppered Anna's wall. It's easy to associate songs with weather, from the title alone.

But what about albums?

When yesterday's rain had softened enough to hear music above the sound of it hitting the tin roof, I had an urge to listen to Iron and Wine's Around the Well.
Sam Beam and band's double cd collection of rarities and rejects is the perfect soundtrack to a rainy afternoon. It's even better when the weather is cold. Listening to it makes you think about snuggling and campfires. Around the Well is chilled, unobtrusive, very laid back, and fun to sing along to; softly.

There are a few covers in the mix, the best are Peng 33 (Stereolab), Waiting for Superman (Flaming Lips), Love Vigilantes (New Order) and Such Great Heights (The Postal Service). But truthfully, there's not a bad track on this album.

The last track, Trapeze Swinger, held me obsessed for weeks last winter. Over 9 minutes it manages to weave a lot of instruments and sounds in and out, so the ears are listening out for the next thing and not being distracted by the monotonous undertones. It's a triumph, that is beautifully executed.

So, over to you. What are your favourite rainy day albums?

Here comes the rain again Melbourne. Take cover!

Storm rolls over northern Melbourne

Celebrate Labour Day by doing absolutely nothing

Today we wake up anticipating the delights the next few days will offer. It's Friday. We're anticipating a couple of days of rest and recreation as we head into the weekend.

Even more delicious is the prospect of a three day weekend. In Victoria, there's a public holiday on Monday that we call Labour Day. But if you asked most people they'd probably tell you they either didn't know what it is called, or what it is for, and some might say it's a holiday for Melbourne's street festival Moomba.

The origins of the holiday belong to the stonemasons working on major Melbourne construction sites in 1856. Sites like the University of Melbourne and Parliament House.

With leaders fresh from industrial battles in England, and encouraged by successful eight hour day campaigns on building sites in New South Wales and New Zealand, the Melbourne stonemasons fought for and won an enduring eight hour day. It endured in two ways that the earlier successes didn't. The eight hour day won by these men was cemented by legislation passed in the Victorian Parliament, and the entitlement flowed on to men and women working in industries other than construction.

One of the chief complaints of the 1856 stonemasons was that lugging and cutting large stones in the Australian sun for ten to twelve hours a day was hot work. The health and safety concerns were genuine, and should have been enough to warrant the granting of the eight hour day. But it was also about more than that. These men took the fight up because they believed workers should enjoy a balance of work, rest and recreation in equal measure. Eight hours work. Eight hours rest. Eight hours play. It was also about workers exercising a degree of control over the hours they worked.

To mark the achievement of the stonemasons for all workers, the Victorian Government declared an Eight Hours Day public holiday. It was originally celebrated in April each year, and the streets of Melbourne would fill with workers and their families, who would cheer on a parade of unionists marching with hand painted banners or riding vehicles or floats decorated with exquisite detail, portraying the work of a particular industy or group of workers.

In the mid-nineteenth century, the celebration changed.

The date of the annual march was moved from April to the second Monday in March, and workers who had previously marched under union banners or with union floats, began participating in displays by the fast growing companies of the times. Arnotts. Redhead Matches and Myer. When sponsorship of the parade became available, the annual parade was for a long time known as the Myer Moomba Parade.

Just as the Eight Hour Day holiday changed over time, so have our working lives.

Who among us can say that we work for only eight hours each day. Can you think of anyone who manages eight hours of play or pure recreation each day?

And even when we're not physically at work, a whole bunch of us are thinking about work. Whether we are small business operators, company directors, or employees.

The line between our lives outside of work, and our working lives has never been more blurry. For a lot of people, technology has blurred the line completely.

And what of our working hours? Is an Eight Hour Day a reality? And is 9 to 5 everyone's reality? Not if you're a shift worker. Not if you're on call. Not if you're part time or casual. Not if you run your own business. Not if you play in a band. Or perform theatre. Or work in hospitality. Or retail. Or health care. And you're definitely not a 9 to 5 worker if you're a parent or a carer.

Our world of work has changed so much. But should that mean the ideals of the Victorian stonemasons 154 years ago are dead? I don't think so. I know we can't turn back the clock, and that a purely prescriptive approach to one part of our lives doesn't work for everyone. But I do think we all need to get some kind of equitable division of work, rest and play for our continued wellbeing and enjoyment of life.

So on this second Monday of March, our Labour Day, I'm going to celebrate by doing absolutely nothing. I'm not going to do any work of any description (especially unpaid housework), and I'm not going to think about work. Anything that feels even vaguely like a chore is just not going to get done. In fact, there's a remote possibility that I won't even get out of bed on that day. On this long weekend, I'll be taking my share of rest in one big chunk!

Happy Labour Day.

More info: www.8hourday.org.au