|
|
|
nywf&me
what i did in the first week of october, by shalini akhil
|
|
| |
Thursday, October 09, 2003
what a week! i'm back home now and i've had an absolute ball.
the nywf was excellent, a lot different to what i was expecting it to be like, and it's a definite that i'm going again next year. gunna take mark with me too this time. and we'll stay at a backpackers, or somewhere with a communal kitchen - or maybe not, if we want to get any sleep at all! hehe. but who needs sleep when there are so many people to meet, so much silliness to be shared, so many beers to drink? this festival i found myself focussed on what i was scheduled to do, and the rest of the time was spent just talking to people, taking disco naps, drinking beer, sitting in the park, wandering around going 'woah', and occasionally eating something. next year i'd still ike to be a participant, involved in events and such, but i'd also like to actually go to some of the other sessions that i'd marked out with highlighter on the train trip up there.
i think it's funny how i went all the way to newcastle to make friends with a bunch of people from melbourne. what a hoot! i now have a whole extended family - literally, we're all sham-wives in the same sham-marriage - in melbourne.
next year, i wanna come back with a zine for the fair. maybe i'll call it sham-wife.
5:18 PM
Saturday, October 04, 2003
i know, i know. i've been here since the first of oct, and this is the first you hear from me. fat lot of good i'm doing as a festy blogger, aren't i?
first, the important stuff - the weather. i am sitting inside at octapod typing away on the one day that the sun has decided to come out so far. not to say that the weather has been dismal or anything - it's been pleasantly cool here. ideal weather for all the walking. newcastle is a pretty place, and everyone here has been really friendly.
now, the festival.
i can now say that a) i've hosted a panel, b) i've hosted a reading, and c) i did a reading. the latter two happened yesterday, which was a little full-on for me, but it was excellent. i finally read my yarra jelly story out loud, though i wish i were a little less nervous at the time. the standout performance of the whole festival so far for me was ray kelly jr., who also did a reading at salar on thursday afternoon. his poetry was moving, his rap was clever, and when he played his didgereedoo, he brought the house down.
the panel i participated in on comedy and ethnicity was on thursday, and it went really well. i was a bit nervous to start with, but once we got up there and got talking, the discussion took off. the crowd asked some excellent questions, and the panel lasted for about an hour and a half. then mandy and i got interviewed by alchemy radio in a live crossover! that was a surprise.
another surprise was re-connecting with christie after that one tute we did together at monash six years ago. to top it all off, she wrote the play 'call me komachi' which i really wanted to see but couldn't because it was sold out.
am collecting zines, badges, stories and stickers with people from everywhere.
lovin' it!
12:50 PM
Monday, September 29, 2003
i leave for for the nywf around this time on wednesday. i'm a bit nervous, and that's probably because i haven't made a plan of action yet. also probably because i am fully expecting to be carted off (without struggle, mind) after being exposed for the fraud that i am. even though i know it is not true, i feel like i will be the most unworthy person at the festival. even though right now, i am the most out-there person i have ever been, i still i feel like an imposter.
what was it that someone said about artists and torture?
... but then again i may meet some people who feel like i do, and together we will convince each other that we aren't as insignificant as we think we are.
excuse my ranting. there is a man in the house today polisihing floorboards, and the stuff he's using has some crazy fumes. i blame it all on him.
11:34 AM
Thursday, September 25, 2003
a week to the nywf!
i just moved house and all my stuff is still in boxes... arrrgh! it'll be good to get away from the bombsite that, at the moment, is my loungeroom...
i've never been to nywf before. i've never been to newcastle before. though i could have been a local - back when i was a chicken, i got offered a spot at newcastle uni but decided to stay in melbourne instead. and look where that got me - a mere eight years after starting i had an arts degree on the wall and not a suit in the closet... though i immersed myself in suit-wearing, corporate jargon spouting blandness somewhere around 1996, i'm glad to report it was just a phase.
i feel like i need to write more.
why is it, that out of seven days of the week, i most want to write stuff on the two days that i have to come to work?
10:05 AM
Tuesday, September 02, 2003
to read about my experiences on nywf 03, watch this space
3:44 PM
|
|
| |
|
|
|
