March 24, 2003 - 10:20 a.m.

i've got the day off today. i made myself some oatmeal/porridge, read a bit of the paper and walked to the post office to pick up a package that was too big to be delivered to my mailbox. the illustration provided by my mail carrier made it look like the starship enterprise, but it was really three poster tubes from barb, bundled up together. "maybe it's a rocket launcher," the counter clerk suggested. i love this city.

i knew she'd been holding some of my old posters for me, as well as an amazing panoramic picture from one of the best days ever (the block party of july 4, 2001 when the lucksmiths played on our front lawn). i didn't know, however, that she'd added get fuzzy comics, girly bath products and a giant "happy aussie anniversary" proclamation - last week being my one-year anniversary of having arrived back in australia. and i thought simon and i were the only ones keeping track. sniff, sniff. thanks, little mate.

so i owe you quite a back catalog of events, don't i? well, i went for the interview last friday and thought it didn�t go very well at all. the first words they said to me were, "so... you don�t have very much news experience." I felt like I answered all of their questions the best I could, but I didn�t feel like I had an opportunity to wow them.

the main aspect of the job, they said, is being able to "add value" to stories online, e.g. photo galleries, pertinent links, sound bytes, etc. I explained that I had no problem with this whatsoever. it wasn�t until I walked out of the place that I realized I should have talked about my blogging experience. after all, it shows that I�m web savvy and am used to updating and searching for links on a regular basis. I was feeling rather brave, so I called the main interviewer and added the bit of info. he asked what the URL was, and I told him that I would rather keep it private because some of the material is of a personal nature. however, I still wanted him to know that I did have the experience.

"great," he said. "can you come in tomorrow at 9?"

so I was at the newspaper office all day tuesday and wednesday, on a trial basis. I�m heading back tomorrow and the next day, which could possibly stretch out to four weeks of two-days-per-week, before they even figure out if they want to give me the job. i'm not sure if they're trialling someone else on thursdays and fridays, or if they have some other master plan. i don't ask questions.

there hasn't been a whole lot of feedback, so it's difficult for me to judge if i've been performing to their expectations or not. it will be interesting to see how stressful things are now that - thanks to the war - the site needs to be updated every five minutes. yikes.

i've decided to look at this trial as a good thing. if i don't get the job, it's just as well because i don't want to work somewhere i feel i constantly need to prove myself just to get by.

the weekend was very relaxed. i went shopping with missjenjen and superange on saturday, in search of the perfect party top, but we found nothing. not a thing, unless you count a place to eat breakfast as something to find.

i am normally quite proud of my shopping skills and feel like - should the opportunity arise - i would make quite the stellar personal shopper. however, there's something about melbourne that makes life difficult for me when it comes to clothes shopping. i don't know if it's the overall quality or just my price range, but there seems to be something standing in my way. oh well, missjenjen looked fabulous at the party anyway, and a good time seemed to be had by all.

yesterday, simon and i headed to a garage sale that the ladies and i had previously visited (cashless, naturally) during our shopping pursuits. we got two huge shelving units, made out of galvanized metal (very cool), two wooden stools for our planned breakfast nook, and a heap of frames and some artwork, all for $40. now we can get rid of that highly unattractive "entertainment unit" in the living room and live in postmodern style.

we visited good morning captain (a new-ish cafe) on the way home. simon said it reminded him of ragtag, and i could see why. great atmosphere, very low-key, and they serve scrambled tofu for $7. they will be seeing much more of us in the future.

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i'll be watching the oscars tonight, probably in my pajamas. anyone in town who's planning to do the same but doesn't want to go it alone, give me a holler. i'll make extra popcorn.