2009: the year i strapped a porn soundtrack to a toilet.

i know that we're already a week into the new year, but it would be remiss of me to not at least expand on that crazy title.

when asked to sum up the year in one word, i decided that 2009 was crazy. it was like a joyride in a fast car: 0-100 in 2.3 seconds and a hot case of whiplash to boot.

rather than table all of the highlights for you (i did that in my own soul-searching time, thanks very much), i thought i would tell you about some of the wacky things i found myself having done. what's a blog for, if not for a little self-flagellation between friends.

in 2009 i can't believe i:

strapped a porn soundtrack on a CD walkman to a public toilet

walked around newcastle with a piece of mobile architecture on my back

posed for a photo with a news ltd newspaper

stood in the same spot on a CBD intersection for 8 hours

started an argument in st kilda with a colourful local, who threatened to smash my (borrowed) camera on the same night as i was abused on chapel street for being a 'fucking carpet-muncher' by a local gay boy.

didn't move house or change jobs (nutty, huh!)

watched snow fall from the sky and made a snowball. for the first time.

developed some ridiculous crushes on the most unlikely lads

got myself locked in a lift shaft. in a white dust coat.

got myself called a slut whilst wearing said dust coat, looking like a gleaner - carrying on my back a pile of cardboard and felt twice my size.

spent my birthday in paris, dancing to burning electro.

spent my birthday that way whilst hundreds died in crazy bushfires

went to the opening night of the michael jackson movie: this is it

went to the football, the opera, the ballet and a rock gig all in the same week

dressed up as tank girl, a hot 50s madam and a ghastly concoction of all-pink nastiness for the sake of it.

received a bottle of chaos. joy!

found out that i'm gonna be an aunty

was being pelted by wind and sharp rain, in a bright yellow uniform and ugly plastic poncho as the clocks ticked over into the new year. fitting methinks.


here's to 2010 being a little less kooky.

nu-year. kinda like nu-metal, but way cooler.

god i love a new year. i especially love that 2008 is over and done with. it was a difficult year - incredibly uplifting and challenging and exciting and devastating and somewhat resembling a dog's breakfast.

so, lessons learned and with new resolve gained from a few days of doing sweet fuck all, i'm ready for a year that is going to be solid - new challenges faced with a sense of happy calm strength, as opposed to maniacal laughter.

and while i've made a list of things i'd like to focus on this year, it's kinda personal, so i won't be sharing the whole lot. but here are a couple of things that you may notice will change around the she sees red camp:

top 5 for oh-nein.

new website. finally! i got iweb to talk to my server and my dns hosting to figure out its redirection and voilà - new site! thankfully it's easy to keep updating, so there will be regular changes, updates and documentation of projects, hopefully in a timely fashion.

drawing as a way to support an experimental arts practice. inspired by a workshop at allan's walk, a discussion with nathan gray about it and after the schamozzle of trying to figure out how the hell to make money whilst spending time on an arts practice, i've decided to push myself to find a drawing-based element to my work. i've always done schematics or sketches and this year i'll be working towards something more prolific and sustainable.

swimming. i swim 3 times a week and while it's probably of no consequence to you guys, i've decided to continue swimming this year. when i'm ploughing those laps (ahem, 10 laps of backstroke is hardly ploughing - ed) i often find solutions to all kinds of problems and unexpected inspiration. and when i'm sitting in the sauna afterwards, i always read my art magazines - it's so great (although my artworld subscription ends up in a state of disrepair).

overseas action. i've got a quick reconnaissance trip to london/paris/hamburg planned soon- for both pleasure and lovely catch-ups, as well as a bit of a scoping trip. and this year i'd like to have another exhibition over there and/or start some study in germany. i know that it's a cliche to always be looking elsewhere for cultural validity, but hey, in the words of ms poly styrene, i'm a cliché, i'm a cliché, i'm a cliché

back to reading the newspaper. last year, i got most of my news updates via twitter. sad, i know, but as i mentioned in the comments of this amazing post about the nature of reading the news, it prompted me to seek more info via the bbc, or the age site, in a way that scanning the story in the paper never did. the only problem with that is that i only found out the big stuff, the international stuff. not the general day-to-day workings of my state and country. i feel a bit out of the loop, and so i'm going to cultivate my daily read again.

so, welcome back to this navel-gazing blog again and i hope this year has good things in store for you all.