Day 230: ...one seminar at a time
Politics is my day job. Actually, given the nature of it, it also tends to be my night-time job, weekend job, holiday job...it's a pretty full-time occupation really. I watch it, read it, teach it, research it, think it, speak it, write it. More recently, I've been known to tweet it and blog it.
(*For those who didn't realise, my twitter handle 'psephy' is short for psephologist, one who analyses elections, and has come to mean politics more broadly. It was my students who named me on the day my twitter account was created before their very eyes.)
Tonight, unusually, I gave up a rehearsal night to attend a symposium on gender and international relations in town, hosted by one of my professional affiliations, the Australian Institute of International Affairs. The symposium was conceived and run by the current group of interns. I also think it is important to support their endeavours.
I opted to work at home for the day, continue the writing and thinking. I also got in touch with a couple of publishers, with some promising outcomes (stay tuned, dear reader). Things are starting to come together.
The symposium was due for 5.30 to start at 6.00pm. That meant a trip to the city late in the day, on the bus (more of which shortly). A trip to the city also means pics that aren't from the backyard, you'll be relieved no doubt, dear reader. If I had been a little earlier, I might have spent a little more time but this evening's pics were spontaneous and under time pressure. I was struck by this structure coming out of the building on the corner of Mary and George Street and I also liked the way it captured the mood of the weather--a cold and very windy evening.
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| George and Mary |
The other, on the way (home, I thought) to the bus stop, the lights of the casino on George and Elizabeth...a shot any way, any time really.
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| George and Elizabeth |
Along the way, I was privileged to hear, among others, Brisbane feminist leaders, Prof Carole Ferrier and Zoe Rathus, amongst others. They have been inspirational to my feminist understandings over, well more than, two decades now.
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| Carole Ferrier (first on left) and Zoe Rathus (second from left) |
On the way home...the bus...was late. It was worthy of a micro-novel (while conducting a twitter convo on herbal teas...). You've gotta love Twitter's quirkiness.
[Camera : iPhone 4S, 5.34pm, 8.38pm, 6.26pm]
I might do a few of these commuter micro-twitnovels, as I heretofore name them. Here's your first in the series...as tweeted from 9.00pm until I got home.
Lost in bus--a commuter micro-twitnovel
It started with a simple tweet at 9.03pm
#1 'Takes a special bus service to have buses running over 15mins late at this time of night. Here's looking at you Brisbane.'
#2 'Perhaps the driver is lost in the underground labyrinth that is the Myer Centre. #newdriver ('^_^')'
#3 'Buses keep going past, round and around, not able to stop. Lines of passengers snake around the confined platform space... #waiting'
#4 'I'm going to compose the twitter micro novel 'lost in bus' while waiting... #staytuned
#5 'Tensions begin to rise amongst frustrated passengers who didn't expect to be out in the cold for quite so long.'
#6 'Meanwhile, I could have been at rehearsal but the pursuit of right, justice, gender and International Relations took precedence.'
#7 'One moment please; I am going to join the queue otherwise I may have to stand ALL THE WAY HOME!'
#8 'Oh, the bus!'
#9 'So yes, the bus arrived. I believe we have missed two expected buses. By my estimates anyway. There were no apologies, no concerns...
#10 'I imagine there are two buses looping around the Myer Centre looking for Platform C. It is the most perplexing platform for buses and...
#11 '...passengers alike. The stairs only take you to the platform. You can't go anywhere else. Lost people often come down the stairs, looking >>
#12 '>>for the way out. One day, a few of us waiting diligently for our bus, when asked by an unsuspecting visitor to our world, 'how do I get >
#13 'out of here?', the collective answered 'we don't know, we've been stuck here ourselves for three weeks... (^o^) ...
#14 '...well, that was probably a bit rude, he looked...frightened but returned to the real world. But now, this bus seems to be on track so...
#15 '...I shall end our story here. Thanking you for following.
One question: would *you* have done something if our bus never came? (^o^)/
#16 (as epilogue) 'Quelle surprise...an almost empty bus just went past...on time. <end of story, I think>
And finished at 9.58pm.
So, it might become a thing...
