Dave Callan at The Portland Hotel

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Last Thursday, I headed to the Portland Hotel in Melbourne for a comedy gig. Dave Callan headlined with Bart Freebairn, Nick Sun and Karl Woodberry as support, and special surprise guests Dave Hughes and Lawrence Mooney. There may have been more but I was backstage doing interviews so I unfortunately cannot say …

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The Little Mermaid

When I was young I fell in love with the story of a vibrant and rebellious young mermaid whose free spirit and trusting nature led her to find her true love and her happy ever after (with a lot of help from her loyal and resourceful friends Sebastian, Flounder and Scuttle).

Now that I am older I recently re-watched The Little Mermaid and found the childhood love I had felt and my sense of wonder and belief had been replaced. Where once I had unwavering acceptance of the storyline and encouragement for Ariel and her plight to be free I now had nagging questions about the plot and a running commentary in my head about random little details I had never cared about before.

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Why Working In Retail Is The Worst Idea For A Minimalist

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A couple of years ago, I needed some extra cash for a holiday I had coming up. It was around Christmas time so the easiest job to was as a Christmas Casual at a shoe store.

Shittiest. Idea. Ever. Working in retail has to be the worst idea for a former-hoarder/wannabe minimalist. During training you are told that you must try and sell customers extra shit they don’t need so you can make a few extra bucks to your daily sales record – “it’ll be fun,” they said. Also, if the shoes don’t fit, you have to convince customers to buy extra shit to make them fit. “Try this jelly shoe insert. It’s super comfortable and sure to do the trick!”, you say choking on your own lies.

They say the worst thing about working in retail is dealing with the customers, but on a whole, I actually found that to be the more enjoyable part of my day (more interaction = less sales) – well, except the “too cool for school” teens (they won’t give you the time of day) who came in looking like cheap hookers. Where’s self-respect gone these days?

The hardest times were the people would say they don’t need a new pair of shoes or that the current pair they were trying on was just like a pair they already own. AND you still had to sell to these people! With forced smile and through gritted teeth, all I wanted to do was tell them to do something more worthwhile with their money – because there is no better job satisfaction than someone going bankrupt because they bought too many pairs of shoes. Bah humbug.

Strictly Ballroom The Musical

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Thanks to Nuffnang, I was able to go see Strictly Ballroom the Musical last Tuesday. I was not too familiar with the story. I own the Red Carpet Trilogy Boxset DVD (comes with Moulin Rouge and Romeo & Juliet) but I’d only watched Strictly Ballroom once, and it was a long time ago at best. Not that that mattered too much – I usually like going into a musical with little idea of where it’s going or what is to happen next.

Some minor spoilers under the cut – but mainly just my own thoughts and feelings.

31/1: I just re-watched the movie and have added some revisions down the bottom.

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