i've got the world on a string...

Dear blog, i'm sorry I've neglected you. Oh god, where do I start? i think i'm just gonna gush in rapid spitfire mode....

First of all - I love my apartment, which looks out over Darling Harbor and the Sydney Tower. And I love my roommate, who COOKS twice a day for me without my asking her. So I come home from work at the end of the day and there's a table set with a 3-course meal totally ready, wine glasses out, napkins folded into cute little shapes. I feel like storming through the door when I get off the train and yelling, "Honey, I'm Home!" Basically, her husband is going to be a lucky, lucky man - seriously, I'm taking notes...I'm so easy to please with food that I'll just cook the same thing over and over again without getting tired of it and slop it on any old plate, but for her, it's all about the presentation. All the fruit is meticulously arranged in little stars or flowers (she's in graphic design, so...naturally), the toast is perfectly positioned on the plate, the spoon is always next to the knife. I'm learning.

So as for my work!!! Right now I'm typing this blog from my desk in the Sydney fucking Opera House (pardon my french). a week and a half into my job and I feel like I've been here for a year. I absolutely love it here. there's nothing cooler than being around good people who love art and helping to promote the most amazing world-class performances (and getting to see artists at work for free!!) Having this job has made me so aware of all the different kinds of "concerts" out there, which i'm continually amazed at. i'm already getting ideas for shows in the fall, so don't be surprised if you come to a show and my bandmates and i throw down our instruments and bust out in a coordinated backstreet boys-esque danced sequence mid-song, elbow thrusts and all....but anyway....

the cool thing about working here is that it's totally not an archetypal stuffy "opera house" - the performances range anywhere from opera to comedy, magic, pop singers, symphony orchestras, dance, and everything in between - so far i've seen a 1920s style cabaret show with mimes and on thursday i'm seeing a marlene dietrich tribute show. The next week I'm seeing My Fair Lady, the next a contemporary version of Hamlet. It's a dream to just be around good people and music and helping promote ART! and the performing arts. and after this job i know that no matter what I do, I always want to be around art of any kind, whether i'm doing it myself or helping others do it. It's made me think a lot about the importance of art in general in society and life and has raised a lot of questions for me about the purpose of art, why people do it if it's nearly impossible to make a living for it (film, visual arts, music, acting, or anything). ultimately i think there's some nobility in the idea that doing it for love is what keeps people doing it, not money or anything else. The office is as colorful as the people are, and maybe more so than the performances, what's blown me away me most about this place are my colleagues - everyone is genuinely excited to be here and to be working on the shows. they're all amazing people - they've got no walls, they have no ulterior motives (as far as i can tell), nobody's condescending in the slightest towards the little American intern, and i can detect none of the manipulative power hungry one-upping one another bullshit i've observed in american offices. They're just honest, easygoing, enthusiastic, generous, joie de vivre kind of people. and that's what I'm talking about.

On the weekends we've been wakling around the city, going to the aquarium, eating at lots of Irish pubs and going to the beaches. And I've been reading - I'm chipping away at Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (Safran-Foer) and next in line is Me Talk Pretty One Day (Sedaris). I'm having a ball and this trip was just what i needed to get away from it all and have a much-needed period of meditation and regrowth after being in the wilderness for the past few months. already i feel better, healthier and more confident than i have in ages.

one downside...because there's no internet in my apartment and TIME magazine costs $17.00 (no joke) at the magazine kiosk...i have been completely disconnected with american life and news and politics. I have no idea what's going on with the election or whether Britney's still in rehab or how much will have changed when I come back. Australia is blissfully removed from the rest of the world's problems, it seems...makes me totally identify w/that ben folds song 'adelaide' (another city in australia) - "here you know the world could turn / and crash and burn / and you would never know it / going where the air is clear / there's better beer / in adelaide."

one last thing - can I just mention that my coworkers ACTUALLY say "G'day, mate!" when talking on the phone?!?! my life is complete.