First 200 words of my short story for Creative Writing: The Short Story. Currently untitled.

Peggy does her washing in the small, three-walled room behind the house. The machine whirs into action somewhere between 9.02 and 9.13AM every three days, excepting when that day falls on a Wednesday. She works early on Wednesdays and can't wash her clothes until the afternoon. Every six days she washes her bed linen and every 9 days she spends a little longer by the machine – hand-washing her most delicate items in a white plastic basin balanced on the edge of the trough.

When I sit on my bed my window looks onto the back-yard. And the laundry. I flick ash from my cigarette out the window and watch her broad shoulders move as she swirls something in her basin. When she turns she has slightly androgynous features. I like that but I duck my head back inside my room. I wonder if she saw me; I wonder if she waved. I hear the soft hiss of the hose waking up and smell the sun-warmed chlorine. Today is Thursday so she's tending to the garden.

I had a pot-plant once, a fern. It died. I stub my cigarette out in the empty pot and slide off the bed.

A few things have been happening lately:
- I've started a new semester of Uni and am feeling quite positive about my subjects. (Narrative in Creative Industries, Creative Writing: The Short Story, Ozlit and Writing for Film and TV).
- I'm finally back to reading a lot - two novels in the past week and a half. Both were for Ozlit.
- I enjoy talking to my mother on the phone. This is because we see each other so infrequently; it's true that absence makes the heart grow fonder.
- Dylan failed his first semester of Exercise Science and is going back to Gladstone to pursue an electrical fitting apprenticeship.

I guess the last point is the one that is affecting me the most. Settling into my new home has been a fairly painless operation because I had him with me. I've gotten very used to having him around so much. It was bad enough when we were three hours apart last year. Gladstone is a long way away.

Yesterday I finished reading Sushi Central by Alasdair Duncan. It was quite good. In some places I really liked it, in others not quite so much. I met the author briefly at a reading, he's a masters student at my uni. Last week I read 1988 by Andrew McGahan. I really liked it and I recommend you all go out and find it and devour it.
It's the Bicentennial year and for Gordon - failed writer and bottleshop boy - it seems his life is going nowhere. It's time to escape. From his overcrowded house, from Brisbane, from Expo 88, from everything. He stumbles into Wayne who has connections in Darwin and the promise of work. So the two of them head north toward swamps and crocodiles, in search of inspiration, and of their rightful place in the culture of Australia.

I have to get to work on my twenty-five minute script for Writing for Film and TV so this is where I'll leave you.

numerical. x.

...make him the cutest that I've ever seen.

Yesterday, whilst rather busy, was not particularly productive. By productive I'm referring to me make any in-roads into the assignments I have due tomorrow:
+ A 10 minute short film script. (10 Pages) - Media Writing.
+ A folio of my work from this semester and my edited short story. - Intro to Creative Writing.
+ A City Council response to creative project proposal. (2000 words) - Creative Industries (the core-unit from hell).

Yesterday morning I awoke bright and early to catch a bus into the city, I had a 9.30am appointment to have a style-cut by student hairdressers. The cut looks good (I have what esckey always used to refer to as my "Emily the Strange" haircut - this was just his way of saying that I had a fringe) however I wasn't able to leave until almost 1pm. The student - Rachel - had to have the cut checked by the instructor every step of the way and the whole thing had to start with a pop quiz as to what type of hair I had. I've had about 20cm cut of it, it feels nice.

Dylan stayed at home in bed when I left but he was up when I came home. He was playing his best character on World of Warcraft. If you haven't already played this MMPORPG (Massive Multi-player Online Role Playing Game) you really should avoid it - it's highly addictive and can waste away entire days and nights. It is an especially bad idea if you're trying to say do a course at university. You have been warned.

In the evening I dragged Dylan out to the first ever public reading of Vox Barbara - the student guild affiliated creative writing collective of which I am a member. Our special guests were John Birmingham and Alistair Duncan. The majority of the readers were really good and after a slow start Dylan managed to enjoy himself even though it wasn't really his scene. The reading was at the Good Knight Bar, downstairs from the International House of Pancakes; Dylan and I ordered Nachos. Dylan and I waited for Nachos. Some time later Dylan and I ate cold Nachos.

This morning my first ever package from e-bay arrived. Its a really nice red shirt, I'm expecting more tomorrow and on Monday. I like how this shirt feels against my skin, so very soft, it has pin-tucking and white lace trim on the yoke.

Dylan will be leaving soon, I will be writing assignments. It is set to be quite a flat day and I can not imagine much at all happening.

Numerical. x.

maybe_supernova has brought this to my attention in her LJ: Let's Sexy English! please go forth and appreciate it in all its Asian glory.