in the rock, scissors, paper of love...

career beats romance, yet again...

Daniel Johns and Natalie Imbruglia ~ my favourite entertainment couple ~ have announced that their four-year marriage is over. I can't say I'm all that surprised: when you live most the time on the other side of the world to your spouse, you're kind of asking to grow apart, no? But I still remember Johns telling Juice magazine:

"I can't believe how scary it was to have found your soulmate at 21."

And I loved them together, and I wanted them to last forever. I guess so did they.

"This mutual decision has not been taken lightly or quickly," the pair said in a joint statement.
"However, our career demands and our lives in different parts of the world have brought us to the point where unfortunately this difficult decision was necessary for both of us.
"We have simply grown apart through not being able to spend enough time together."

Here's a little video I found on Youtube. The song is Natalie's "Only You".



If anyone hears any bad news about Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgewick, just keep it to yourself. I'm already in mourning.

some things are so hard to let go of

There are about five indies rock bands I used to follow when I lived in Japan. When I went back on holiday I always tried to see their shows, but it's been over three years since I've seen any of them live. One band, Sclatch, broke up a while back. Of the other four, two are far more precious to me than the others: KING & Plastic. Over the last year I have listened to their music less, because it makes me feel sad how much time has passed since I've been there. You have to understand, I supported these bands. I wished fervently for their success. I translated their lyrics. They mean as much to me as my Japanese friends, as much as the few students I still keep in touch with, as much as the city I lived in. Their music is wonderful, but it also has a lot of meaning for me beyond the words and tunes. I still know the crowd moves (a little Japanese phenomenon) that go with each song.





















Last year I made a plan to go to Japan this July. Somewhere around March I knew it wasn't going to happen. Then, a few days ago, I found out about a sale that would allow me to fly return to Japan for AUD$750. But I had to book for later in the year, because I needed time to save for accommodation and spending money. The dates can't be changed.

And today I confirmed that Plastic are breaking up on July 15.

So now half of me is so happy to be going to Japan again, and the other half is grieving for the missed opportunity to see Plastic on stage one more time. :( The worst thing is that no matter what they go on to do, all that wonderful music gets left behind. I thought it was sad when Hibiki left and they went from five members to four. But this is way beyond.

I realise that there are only about four people who read this blog who are really going to get what this means to me. For everyone else I'm going to come back tomorrow and tell you about the trip to Melbourne, which is a much happier story.

*sigh*

Good gracious, it's been 12 days since I posted. Time is moving too fast for me lately.

Everywhere I turn at the moment there is something to be disappointed about. My supervisor at working is only acting at her level, and last week she found out she didn't get the ongoing position. She's pretty mad, too, because she has over four years experience in the area, knowledge of the relevant legislation, and has been acting successfully in the job for months. Also, the feedback given really doesn't properly explain why she wasn't chosen. There seems to be a general trend in our organisation at the moment to hire from outside rather than promoting people internally. I don't want to believe that's deliberate but it's happening again and again, and last year the situation was quite opposite. I'm disappointed she didn't get it and I'm concerned that we will lose her as a result.

In much more depressing news, yesterday a kid I know was found out for breaking into someone's house and stealing something. He was lucky in that the person sorted it out privately rather than going to the police, but that isn't the point. I feel gutted. Amazing how scary, how upsetting it is, to watch a teenager do something so obviously wrong and realise that you don't really know them at all and that worst of all you really don't have any control over whether they do something like that again. And it's not like he stole something he needed ~ just a worthless 'want'. I try to never assume that anyone is flawless ~ humans are human ~ but I have to honestly say that if someone had asked me if this kid would do this I would have said, 'of course not, no way'. I also just feel so angry. Because the way he is with me is obviously not the way he is otherwise, I feel like he's played me. I love the guy, but I now can't trust him, and my respect for him is draining away. And I hate feeling like that.