Ten Places I Would Rather be Than at Work Being Yelled at.

1. Walking LEJOG—regardless of how many hills I had to go down.
2. Comatosedly relaxing on a sun lounge by a pool in Port Douglas.
3. Road tripping in a convertible on the Lost Highway—the convertible is a bit of an added luxury.
4. Walking the steep steps of the Great Wall of China.
5. The dentist. Only kidding—that one is too hard to call.
6. In bed with a PJ romper suit with booties, hot chocolate and biscuits.
7. Canoeing around and through the waterways of New Zealand.
8. Having an International Airport Experience prior to an outbound flight. This is the experience that includes, arriving, checking in, getting coffee or food, changing money, going through security, browsing Duty Free etc, etc.
9. Waiting to be the third last person to present at the Honours Symposium where tension is escalating and boredom is growing.
10. Anywhere really. You name it.

Under Construction ...

Ten of My Strangest Dreams.

1. I dreamed that I sewed something into Lolly's tummy, microwaved her and then starting eating slices close to the sewing. I was distracted at the time by a triple zero call where a female was trying to say there was violence when there wasn't and by frantically trying to pack a suitcase. Lolly woke up. I thought she was dead. I was rather concerned that microwaving her had not been a good thing. She seemed to be okay and so I wanted to just give her a panadol and let her sleep. I let it be because what I had sewn into her tummy had pills in it. Hmmm?
2. I dreamed that I was dying. Someone had ensured it by putting a sword through from one ear to the other. There was no pain and not a lot of fear. I just knew that if I went to sleep that would be it. There was a sort of clarity to it, a sort of relief. The only thing I needed to do was find the place to sleep.
3. I dreamed that I was taking Bodhi for a walk around the block. I looked up and noticed that in fact he was driving my Toyota Land Cruiser in a very reckless manner. Suddenly he crashed it and turned it over, setting a fire hydrant spurting water into the air. He was comically characterised like a person so when he realised what he had done he came back onto the lead and acted like a proper dog again.
4. I was part of a Race-Around-The World type expedition that was on a boat skirting the coast. We couldn’t stop at any of the beaches because there were giant waves and the cliffs and beaches looked like melting chocolate. One of the other participants was being interviewed for the program. He was a property developer. He had a huge project he was working on—a risky project to help him through the economic downturn, one in which he had to invest a lot of his own money. The development was on a piece of reclaimed ground—reclaimed from the water in a bay that looked Hawaiian. He was building four housing commission flats. I—in whatever form I manifested in the dream, seemingly an omniscient sort of viewpoint—was concerned, due to the prevailing weather on the boat, that the development was too close to sea level. In order to alleviate my fears he got me to do a trace of the plans. There was a black and white drawing of the plans (although of course they didn’t look like plans—more like the coastline the ship was following) and it was gridded. I had to do one of those drawings where you draw by following what happens in each grid square …
5. I was flying business class. The difference between business and first (beside the former being blue and the latter gold) was that the full reclining bed in business was in the row of three and to leave you had to climb over others who were sleeping. In first class they had double beds with the ability to get out either side. There were long windows and little booths that had a chair and table and were shared between ever four seats, where people could sit and chat. We were travelling to Singapore. B—— was there, along with lots of people from her work. In first class there were an inordinate number of people in the army. Suddenly we were there—before we had even been fed. The plane landed on the highway. We hadn’t even had to put on seat belt or put the bed up. It taxied to the gate on the highway too. At one intersection they were fixing the lights. The workmen had to take down the ladders and I watched the wings moving to avoid the light. It was close. We had to stay overnight in Singapore. We went to the hotel—called the Hotel Sunshine. It was so difficult to find. At reception they gave B—— and I our room, which turned out to be a closet with bunks and a shared bathroom—not in keeping with our business class tickets. We did get robes. I stared at them while I waited for B—— to get out of the way so I could climb into bed, have something to eat and fall asleep …

Ten Things I would Like to be When I Grow Up.

1. A shoe designer. I am so going to do this one—just as soon as I finish, or maybe start, my PhD. There'll be time, I'm sure. How great would it be? I don't think I need to explain my passion or interest or fascination with the humble shoe—let alone the ostentatious one!
2. Song Lyricist. I need to be able to go to my grave knowing I have penned some pithy lines. Songs seem the best forum for this. Poetry is too obscure and too proper—I'd like something almost a bit cheesier.
3. A Dream ——(?). I have not worked this role out yet. Or how I will make a living. Not analyst. Not internet psychic. It's the content of the dreams that fascinates me, but I don't really want to actually get inside people's noggins. Not psychoanalysis. Research of some sort. Creativity of some sort. I am working on a definition.
4. Architect. When I had to go to the careers counselor in high school I would always read up on what I thought I might like to be one day. Being a systematic type of person, (annoyingly, due to my high number of planets in Virgo), I would start reading the job guide at the beginning, becoming rapidly bored by 'b'. Architect always stood out in the 'a' section. I do love buildings, interesting, beautiful, quirky buildings. It would be a noble thing to be: an architect.
5. Bear Grylls; Kevin McCloud; Alain de Botton. Why are they all men? I would love to have the kind of jobs these men have. They travel the world doing quirky things that I love to do: perservere; architecture; wax lyrical. I am not sure I would want to be on TV, but the rest is envy producing.
6. Writer. Possibly, it could be considered, maybe, sometimes, I am already one. 'Being' one when you grow up though would entail being able to confidently call yourself one. It would also be more career-like if you could get paid to do it.
7. Neckwear Artist. I would so love to tell you the name of the company I will have when I am a neckwear artist—but it's the old 'I'll have to kill you' thing because I haven't registered it yet and I don't want anyone to pinch it. Neckwear will include knitting, sewing, body jewellery, corsetry, socks and other things that may come close to your neck. What? P—— at work can put her leg around her neck, if she is wearing a sock—neckwear! It's a no-brainer.
8. Mythbusters Scientist. This is the answer to a long debated question. Ooh, no, I'll put the question on the question list. You have to find that to know what it was. Mythbuster scientist is the answer.
9. Covert Operative. I wait everyday to be headhunted into this career. The problem is I don’t want to work for ASIO. I would rather be a KGB spy or a French Foreign Legion spy. This is probably a dangerous thing to say in the current climate. I don’t want to be on a side, but that is a little hard in the spy game, and my sense of loyalty precludes being a double agent.
10. Book store owner. Forgot that I ever wanted to do this and that great plans and schemes—one silver, bullet shaped one of which I still harbour as a great possibility and a great amount of fun. Can’t say more, but look out for it in a street near you if we ever get off our bots and do it.