Here we are at the end of the week again. I’m just trying to figure out if anything interesting happened to me by looking back through my actual, physical, paper diary. I suppose you could call this thing you’re reading the virtual diary, if you go in for all that virtual this and virtual that junk. How about the Virtual CyberDiary? Revolting, isn’t it.

Anyhow, I keep my diaries separate, mostly because carrying around web browser software and whatever hardware you need to run it on is not yet as convenient as putting a paper diary in your pocket. Oh, and because this online diary is primarily for the amusement of the viewing populace (that’s you). It wouldn’t be quite so amusing if it were as deadly dull as my paper one.

On Monday I paid some bills. That was exciting. Oh, did I say exciting, I meant mind-numbingly boring. Perhaps the rationalisation and corporatisation and privatisation and whateverelse-isation of all the various government owned industries that they’re going bezerk on at the moment will lead to bill payments being more exciting? Like the next month free for every 10th customer? Or maybe for a lucky account number drawn from a barrel? A random customer gets to be CEO for a week! Everyone billed this week with a second name beginning with F gets a free pen! Ah, the possibilities!

Saturday found us wandering around Flemington Racecourse, though due to various family illnesses we could just as well call it Phlegmington.

We were trying to find where on earth in the complex my friend Stewart’s kids’ band Jump 2 It would be making their first public appearance. Luckily we eventually found them (or to be completely accurate, they found us).

What can I say about the performance? It rocked. It will go down in kids’ music as a truly legendary concert. Anyone who was there will remember it forever, and look back upon it as a truly a defining moment in modern music. Future generations will watch bootleg copies of the shaky video footage that I shot, and marvel at the inventiveness of the music, the boldness of the lyrics, and most of all the stunning closing guitar solo by Daisy The Dairy Cow.

No, seriously, it was great.

I’m in an astoundingly good mood today. My week started off really crappily. You know the saga… boring job doing literally nothing… contracted until 21/11… can’t escape early. But no matter, ‘cos I got the most brilliant news last night.

For the first time in the universe’s recorded history, somebody is going to pay me for something I’ve written! No, I don’t mean boring corporate computer programs, I mean a bunch of words arranged together in an apparently witty and amusing combination. Writing.

Yes, bits of mine have been published before… the uni newspaper Naked Wasp (with their shocking page layouts and refusal to have articles delivered electronically), the inaugural Monash Comedy Revue (with it’s terrible "rip the script to shreds, then perform it in such a way that it gets zero laughs" production), and even, would you believe, a needlecraft shop newsletter in Palmerston, NZ!

But for the first time I’m making actual dosh out of it (unless you count the amount of writing I’ve done sitting at work being paid to do nothing.)

It seems like they’ll be paying me a reasonable amount for 830 words.
Heck, it only took a couple of hours! Those 830 words will appear in the January issue of a slightly nerdy rag called "Portable Computing Direct Shopper", or something like that. They found me via something I’d written on the Web site. And they want more!

So, while it’s not quite "give up my day job" time, today nothing can get me down. I’m happy, happy, happy.

PS. No you can’t read the article here yet. But look out for the magazine.