“Today is Thursday, the 29th of January and the weather is sunny and breezy”.

Every morning in Year 2 we used to file into the school Assembly Hall for morning Assembly. The only thing I can remember about this is that we used to all chant the above statement. Well not exactly that statement, but similar, with the appropriate date, and for some reason, a description of the weather. It was here that through one of the aged Year 2 teachers (who should have long since retired given that she was still dealing out corporal punishment) that I came across the word “muggy”.

So remembering this, and in the absence of anything more interesting to post about I thought I would provide a update of my fascinating Thursday. The weather was indeed sunny and breezy. Although I didn’t spend much time out in it. Rather I chose to go to work this morning and be cossetted by the air conditioning. The minute I got there the phone started ringing and I spent the next four hours answering inquiries from prospective students, interviewing applicants and returning other phone calls. At the same time I managed my way through the usual swag of pointless emails (i.e. white car in carpark outside building 32 has left its lights on. never mind that we don’t have a building 37 in bundaberg and that this email is only appropriate for staff at the rockhampton campus. that’s the kind of entertaining communications that fill up our inboxes). Thanks to the zillion dollars the university is currently spending on marketing its bridging programs we are getting so many calls we can barely get through them. It’s a pity that money can’t also be spent on staff and programs. Ooops…almost got a little bit politically critical there. 😉

Post lunch was work at home time. Finally I began what I hope is the final read through of my manuscript. Very small changes now and I am doing them as I go. After two hours of solid reading I was starting to drift and skim. So I stopped. Which was also convenient because it was time for the haircut. I like the hairdresser. It’s cool and calm. They bring you iced water if you ask for it. I never want tea or coffee. They wash your hair and give you a head massage. And you can read trashy fashion magazines. Today I skimmed Madison and Harper’s Bazaar. Apparently, Madison tells me, you should completely clean your fridge out once a fortnight. Who knew? And according to Harper’s Bazaar it seems Angelina is still who we should be aspiring to be. I think she looks like an alien, but who am I to judge? Perhaps the look for 2009 is alien chic (like heroin chic but from outer space). Still, it’s a nice place to go to and switch your brain off from the world of commas, grammar, paragraphing, formatting, double vs single quotation marks and the like.

Then I came home and had a cup of tea and a gingernut biscuit. Now, that is momentous I’m sure you’ll agree. And then I went for a walk with my Mum. It was cool and the sun was setting, so the sky was a beautiful light orange, almost apricot.

So in summary, today was Thursday. I talked a lot on the phone, did a lot of reading (academic and otherwise) and made the decision to take a brave stand against becoming an alienista.

Oh…and always remember, gingernut biscuits and tea are good.
And muggy weather is bad.
Some things never change.