November 12, 2002 - 2:12 p.m.

my evil plan worked. i've been commissioned to write a story about strike for melbourne magazine. 350 words now and pictures later. how cool is that? i know it's not a job, but i'd be very happy even to free-lance for the mag. especially if i get that government web editor job and can free-lance on the side.

loyal readers will be happy to know that the thanksgiving cutlery crisis has been solved. mom has opted to send us the set of our choice ("non stop" from gourmet settings) for christmas instead of cash. it works out about the same and is still cheaper than if we bought something here. the only thing that strikes me as odd is that each place setting comes with two forks, one knife and two spoons. a relatively similar set i saw here at country road comes with one spoon, one fork and two knives. (you buy teaspoons and soup spoons, etc. separately.) will someone please explain this to me? i know there has to be some weird cultural or historical explanation, surely not a logical one. maybe that extra one is supposed to be a butter knife. it sure looked big, though.

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yesterday afternoon (which was really night, but the days are getting so much longer here that i'm getting a bit confused), i decided to meet simon near his work and drive home with him. we ended up visiting his parents, who were very surprised and happy, thinking they would never see us again. his brother is coming over for a haircut tonight. his mum made me promise not to give him a mohawk, even grabbing my arm for effect. i just made a funny face and said nothing. i hadn't planned on it, but if that's what the boy wants, that's what he'll get.

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back to thanksgiving: i haven't solved the lack-of-chair crisis, so i'm thinking of having everyone sit on the floor. i went to a dinner party in missouri once, and all the guests sat on the floor and ate off a door-turned-table. it was propped up on bricks on one end and a wagon filled with books on the other. no one seemed to mind then, but do you think they'd mind at a more formal sort of dinner? i was thinking of making 11 matching cushions with a huge batch of charcoal grey fabric i found at the thrift store a couple of months back. maybe i'll even do grey on one side and a different pattern on the other side of each pillow. so here's a pop quiz: if you were invited to someone's house for a holiday dinner party, would you be offended if you had to sit on a floor cushion? please send in your votes.