Korean air

I think Wed 31st March actually got lost into the time difference vortex but here's 3 good things about the rest of my flight back to Melbourne:

1. I missed the end of 'Whip It' on the first leg but it was the film screened on the shared monitors in the second leg (Seoul to Melbourne) so I got to see the ending.

2. Bi Bim Bop. This yummy Korean dish is one of the best things about flying with Korean Air.

3. Patti Smith's new book 'Just Kids'. I was the only passenger awake on the flight and I knew I should be trying to get some sleep too, but this memoir of her relationship with Mapplethorpe had me hooked for hours.

Since I'm back in Melbourne there will be a month-long hiatus in 3 Good Things. Check back in May for my return to the UK and my trip to Prague!

Chops and swaps

1. My favourite chef made me an amazing breakfast. Doesn't this photo just make you drool?

2. Personal library swaps with Ej. I loaned him my new Hammer book (finished it myself in a day and it was so amazing and inspiring) and got some Edgar Allan Poe short stories and Kathy Acker's 'Kathy Goes to Haiti' for my holiday reading.

3. Smooth flying with Korean Air and an all you can watch movie buffet.

Stage 1B

1. Leaving the Arbury house for the last time, all packed for my trip to Australia!

2. Made it through the tedious day of compulsory research training (6 hours and I learnt nothing new). Best thing about these training days is that I get to catch up with fellow PhDs I don't get to see very often. I'll miss my uni mates while I'm in Australia.

3. A wonderful evening in Brighton - an delicious dinner at the pub with Ej, a few more drinks with more friends at another pub.

Riverside pubs

1. Sunday lunch at the pub by the River Cam with Ellie, Rob, partners and housemates. So much gravy, so much laughter, so nice to hang out with Cambridge friends for Sunday lunch before heading off tomorrow night.

2. Drinks with my landlord at our local (another pub on the river). We've been meaning to for ages and finally squeezed it in on my last night.

3. Tonight's the last night sleeping on my uncomfortable single bed in this cramped and grimy Arbury house.

LLGFF

1. A 7 pound bus ticket to London which took me direct to Southbank. Off to the big smoke for a second Saturday in a row!

2. Experimental films at the London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival. Firstly 'Style Wars', a session which had some amazing films by AIDS and trans activists, and then Barbara Hammer's films in her screening / performance / book launch.

3. Meeting Barbara Hammer and getting my copy of her book signed. She has such amazing energy and creativity and has been an inspiration to me for a long time. Her films, and now her book, are so precious. I'm still gushing. :)

Antichrist

1. I got all my schoolwork in order for my trip and returned my last 10 library books.

2. The Prologue of 'Antichrist' (well aesthetically, ideologically it's problematic) and I managed to get through the rest of the film, though I didn't think much of it.

3. My old housemate dumped lots of clothes and jewelery when he moved out and I picked through it. I got some earrings and rings.

Notes and stories

1. The satisfying feeling of returning 12 items to the library after a note-taking blitz.

2. Miri doesn't have concussion or any problems with her vision after fainting and getting a huge black eye. Looking forward to seeing her soon!

3. Elijah sent me a story in return and it was brilliant. So many twists and emotions and tears in just one page. I could learn a thing or two about economical language from him.

Bus stop

1. Conversation with a stranger/neighbour at the bus stop in Arbury this morning. It made me nostalgic for public transport (although I do really prefer riding my bike everywhere).

2. Practicing my conference paper in front of my supervisor - a fruitful exercise.

3. Dinner with Ellie at CB2.

Swimming

1. The first reader of my novel draft says he's fallen in love with my character JD. He said the last story I sent was 'Amazing! Sooo delicious..... Subtle, suggestive, sexy and intriguing....my favourite.'

2. Swimming for the first time in 6 months. I've missed it and I'm looking forward to going swimming in 50m outdoor pools when I go back to Australia.

3. Finding out that Barbara Hammer has a performance/screening at the London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival this weekend. I'll be going to London again this Saturday for sure.

Vegemite toast

1. Leaving school early and having a cup of tea and Vegemite toast for afternoon tea when I got home.

2. 'Ae Fond Kiss'. Enjoyed the film and will show my students a clip this week for our class on realism.

3. Phone call from Ej.

Alexandra Palace

1. Lying in a warm comfortable bed the morning after the party in Crouch End, sleeping in and reading the newspaper before getting up.

2. Lying on a cricket pitch in the park below Alexandra Palace, sunbaking would you believe!

3. Lying on the couch at Ali's mum's house watching Doctor Who with Rob, Ali, and Allan before a delicious Sunday roast.

Crouch End

1. Road trip to London with Rob.

2. House party in Crouch End with Rob's lovely friends.

3. Valentina's intensely chocolatey birthday cake.

An Education

1. I got my conference paper draft finished and emailed off.

2. 'An Education'.

3. Painkillers.

Lamington Stonehenge

1. Budgens (my local supermarket) was open at 8am and amazingly it had all the ingredients I needed for lamingtons.

2. Andrea found me in the library (DVD section) and we went for coffee. I'm glad I'm so easy to find (so predictable that I would be in the DVD section if not in my office) and that we got to have a nice catch up. We might hang out in London on Sunday too.

3. Rob liked his Stonehenge lamington birthday cake and we had a nice evening celebrating with uni friends at the pub.

Falling persons

1. Spending the day at Cambridge Uni library researching 9/11 and finding lots of interesting ideas for my next chapter.

2. A pretty sunset on my ride home (and that it was after 6pm).

3. How problematic 'Fatal Attraction' is - it'll be easy for my students to analyse in our class on ideology tomorrow.

Regarding the pain of others

1. A chocolate muffin from Rob, a gift to cheer me up after having to empty my bank account to pay uni fees.

2. Susan Sontag's 'Regarding the pain of others'.

3. Watching 'Notting Hill'. An irritating romantic comedy was a good distraction from my personal financial crisis and reflections on war photography.

On Photography

1. Posting off the penultimate installment of my novel.

2. An email from Ochre.

3. Susan Sontag's 'On Photography'.

Hidden ending

1. Talking to Miri for almost two hours.

2. Staying in bed until 2pm talking on Skype, watching 'Skins' and Haneke's 'Hidden'. I couldn't remember what happened at the end of 'Hidden' so I thought I'd watch it again - turns out the reason I couldn't remember it is that there is no ending!

3. Resisting the temptation to buy Patti Smith's 'Just Kids' while browsing in FOPP. I'm dying to read it but hoping I can find a copy for less than 16 pounds.

Milton Country Park

1. A decadent weekend breakfast while watching the end of the epic 'Lust Caution'.

2. A long ride on the cycle path by the River Cam, fantasizing about living on a narrowboat. The wind picked up so I tried to take a shortcut home and came across...

2. Milton Country Park. A pretty park with dogwalkers and lakes with beautiful ducks and swans. I had a hot chocolate at the visitors' centre, sitting on the balcony overlooking the lake.

Spring

1. Watching a little bird flutter around in the back garden while eating my breakfast. I don't think I've even been so excited by the first signs of spring before.

2. Cinema Journal vol. 43 iss. 2. The reflections on teaching 9/11 sparked new ideas for my next chapter.

3. A junk food binge.

Idiots

1. Getting to school bright and early and talking to Elise over breakfast.

2. Another class taught, just 3 to go for this semester. My supervisor has offered me Masters teaching this time next year!

3. A interesting discussion of a not very interesting film ('The Idiots') in MA class.

Chirping birds

1. Being woken up by chirping birds rather than the sound of rain. It must be spring! I wish they weren't such early risers though - 5:45am! I watched some bits of DVDs then fell back to sleep until midday.

2. Getting my flat tyre fixed at the bike shop for just 3 quid.

3. 2-for-1 deal on baked beans at my local supermarket.

Candy bar

1. Another good meeting with my supervisor. The best part being that we set my next deadline at the nice distant date of 1st July.

2. Ticking all the boxes at my annual monitoring meeting. Hopefully no more boring uni bureaucracy for a while.

3. 'Alice in Wonderland'. I wasn't a big fan and I'm not going to bother with 3D films for a while, but it was a nice change from the films I usually watch.

Sex is Comedy

1. A hug. They're few and far between in Cambridge.

2. Salsa class. I'm really into it now but sadly tonight's was the last beginners class. Apparently now I've graduated to intermediate. :)

3. 'Sex is Comedy'. A bit too close to real life, it almost wasn't funny. :)

Swings

1. Playing on the swings at the council estates on my way to buy the newspaper.

2. Wi-fi at the Picturehouse bar. Sat there for hours doing research and talking to Mum, Dad, and Georg on Skype.

3. Juliette Lewis in 'Strange Days'.

Strawberries

1. Staying in bed all morning watching movies: 'A Scanner Darkly' and 'Hard Candy'.

2. Strawberries on my cereal.

3. A big bruise, love from from my bike. It's going to come up pretty colours.

69,255 to go

1. Talking to Romana on Skype finally! Somewhat awkward because I was in a shared office (couldn't get the gossip I've been dying to hear!), and because being seen but not seeing the person I'm talking to makes me self-conscious. :) But so so happy to hear your voice and to hear you had such a wonderful time in New York. Was actually overwhelmed and had a little cry when we hung up.

2. Got my motherhood chapter finished and sent off to my supervisor in time to go to the pub at 5pm. 10,745 words down, 69,255 to go.

3. Celebrating a fellow KETTLE scholar handing in her PhD with pizza and cookies at the pub.

Meringue donut

1. Sleeping in until 9am.

2. I wrote 100 words. Not much but better than nothing.

3. With our combined charm (or Rob's charm and my Australian accent) Rob and I scored a free donut from the cafe at uni.

Page Turner

1. The IT guy at uni getting me hooked back up to the internet. You can Skype me now.

2. Food shopping with Rob - we got all the 2-for-1 deals. A random but cheap shop.

3. 'The Page Turner', an interesting revenge film, will probably get at least a mention in my thesis. Good find from the BFI - thanks Dad!

Slate

1. All skipping school and going for a bike ride. We were going to go punting but the river was flooded.

2. Lunch at a pub in Grantchester. My food was served on a slate.

3. Teaching 'Pan's Labyrinth' to another tutor's class. I liked the students, especially how talkative they are.

A happy story

1. Blue skies! Sunshine! All day!

2. Managing to write a (relatively) happy story for Elijah and posting installment #3. So happy to get a message from Elijah and to hear that he's enjoying it so far.

3. Dinner with Rob, Ellie, and her lovely friend Natalie at CB2. We've practically moved in to that café.