Life in the Day of a Country Journo

Country Music Is Here

2006-01-20T22:52:00.000+11:00

Well, it's the time of the year that I look forward to most every day of the year. It's country music time in Tamworth and I'm loving it, although I feel like sleeping for a very long time.

It's only the first day and things are already so amazingly busy I can't believe I have to survive the next week as well.

Worked a 14 hour day today and I'm now ready for bed, but I will enlighten you on some aspects of my day.

My column and first update/wrap around on the paper debuted today. For those who don't know it's called The Naked Truth and there is an appropriate photo running with it- email me if you must see it, but don't say I didn't warn you.

Today consisted of interviews with artists in order: Tania Kernaghan, Samantha McClymont, Tracy Coster, Adam Harvey and the I finished up with the CMAA Australian College of Country Music Graduation Concert. I also did an Army story in there with their hats- although they wouldn't line dance for me... oh well.

I just hope I can do a decent job of reporting on a range of aspects of the Festival and not miss too many things out.

Anyway, it's off to bed now, I have more to add but that will wait til tomorrow.

Party hard!

Shock, Horror... yes, I'm back

2005-12-03T09:52:00.000+11:00

After a reformat of my beautiful silicon beast, I'm back and much has happened.

We're into full country music mode- my favourite time of the year, during which people with half a brain or more open their eyes and ears and the rest of the people with less than half a brain and barely a brain stem close their eyes and ears and hopefully leave town and leave those of us who want to party, alone.

And so, I have begun putting together the beast that is the country music guide for the paper- must be on my mind as I even had a nightmare about it last night. But so far, so good.

I also want to announce the winner of nicest man in country music. No, not Keith Urban as some of you may expect- gone off him and not just because he's traded me in for a multimillionaire actress aka Nicole Kidman, but this year's award (and every other year's award no doubt) goes to Troy Cassar-Daley. He is without doubt the nicest man in Australian country music. I spoke with him Thursday- he rang me:) And he's coming to town Monday... yes, I love my job!!!!

His touring partner on many occasions, Sara Storer, is in with a good chance at nicest female in country music, but there are a few in the running, but Sara could get it this year- will announce the winner when the Festival is over.

This blog will also be running the exclusive goss of the festival- guess who, don't sue-;)

All for now...
Bec

And I return... for those who didn't

2005-11-05T14:34:00.000+11:00

It's been a few weeks of remembrance here. In my last post (how appropriate) I mentioned the light horse. Well, the memorial to the Australian Light Horse has now been unveiled- a beautiful bronze sculpture it is, too. It now sits in quiet remembrance to those horses who never returned after bravely helping Australia during the Boer War and World War I and were shot in return for their service as Australian quarantine laws did not allow them to return.

I find it ironic that these laws allowed one horse to return- Sandy, that of a General. The General, however, died two days offshore after leaving Gallipoli from wounds suffered in battle there. Sandy lived out his days in the remount yards in Sydney while his equine friends lay dead overseas.

This memorial remembers them.

During my time researching and writing about the memorial over the past weeks and months I have discovered that this group- The Australian Light Horse Association- are just a bunch of people who want to keep the memory of the light horse alive. Intriguing. It was a great sight to see them all lined up at the memorial- 47 of them with horses behaving the best they can when surrounded by thousands of people and having a pipe band play in their ears close by.

So, that's the light horses' life and death in my days..

I will be posting a photo of the memorial in coming weeks.

Riding into the Sunset

2005-10-27T05:40:00.000+10:00

I'm going to be updating this once a week at least- I promise, after being told to keep it updated... I will:)

Since the farewell night, newsroom morale has been going downhill at my beloved newspaper, but you have to go down before you can get back up, so here's hoping the uphill climb starts really soon.

In the last couple of weeks I have also met some interesting people who will take up the next few posts. These include a Buddhist monk who travelled across the Himalayas and has since helped a family who lost a daughter and a sister and they are now helping him and on the same day I spent a while in front of a computer wanting to cry for the loss of life during the Charge of Beersheba and other battles involving the brave lighthorse, other war horses and the men who were their companions.

It's been an interesting time to say the least. I've also now driven down the main street in an armoured personnel carrier- very cool and the high point of my week so far.

Uni work does call, however, for another week and I'm heading off on some outback travels to Lightning Ridge, through outback SE Queensland and into Brisbane and back home, so shall update when I return.

Til then keep seeking...

What I've Learned...

2005-10-17T16:06:00.000+10:00

Well, I was just typing away at a uni assignment and thought 'why not post to my blog'. I know I haven't been here for a while, so I may as well update everyone.

There have been many upheavals at my beloved newspaper, I just hope we come out better on the other side of them- and that's all I will say on that over-debated topic at work at present.

The other night I was sitting at a local pub farewelling our last senior full-time writing journalist as he has retired and was listening to many of his mates get up and give speeches and one speech really made me think of this blog. One bloke who shall remain nameless got up and gave the most amazing speech on how journalists must stay true to their calling and how management must let journalists' characters come through and not just think of them as machines to churn out copy everyday. He also made some really great points about life in general- judge your friends by the characters in the Wizard of Oz. He said most people have courage and brains but no heart, others have a heart and courage but no brains or they have brains and a heart but no courage. He said the ones who are our true friends are those who have the heart, the courage and the brains.

This bloke not only gave a bloody wonderful speech, but has led a most interesting life and is a really nice bloke to boot. He has been a major in the Army, he's been in the Navy, been a journalist and he's now flying his own plane. He's done a million other things too, but too numerous to mention here.

So, that's 'Hyphen's' life in my day. If you haven't learned anything from that- get off my blog:) If you have- I welcome you and ask you to stay.

Softly-Spoken Songwriters

2005-09-04T22:16:00.000+10:00

In keeping with the music theme of the previous post, I bring you my foray into Pete Murray's life in one of my days last week.

I had the privilege of interviewing the singer-songwriter last week and it went great... a very short interview, but I got everything I wanted and I hope he enjoyed the experience too.

He is very softly spoken (and I had fellow journos yelling across the newsroom at the same time as I was talking with him) and just a really friendly bloke. His music seems to portray him quite well. It's understated and he admits he is certainly not arrogant, believing that if you think you'll be too successful you only fall harder when you fail- some good advice here methinks. He grew up in Chinchilla and said he just wasn't brought up to be over-confident in his work.

He's certainly not some 'rock star'. His last album- Feeler went six times platinum... SIX TIMES... that's amazing in itself and particularly from an artists who writes his own stuff and actually cares about what the lyrics say not just the clanging electric guitars taking over the songs. His latest single- released today- is already the number one song added to radio playlists across the country and his album will be released September 25. It is pretty certain to match the amazing things his debut offering did.

He's hitting town on October 25 and I reckon I might just head on down to catch him:)

Summer's In The Air and I Smell The Sweet Scents of Country Music...

2005-09-03T22:11:00.000+10:00

Well... it's September, why do I smell country music?

It's nearly time for the Country Music Festival... well, okay, it's not until January, but it's time to start getting organised.

I jumped (well, crawled) out of bed every morning this week feeling summer in the air. We've had a long, cold winter it seems- although we didn't have too many minus temperatures this year- and I just love feeling warmth in the air. So, we entered spring this week and our ornamental plums along the street are sprouting lavender-coloured flowers and people in the street are beginning to smile again- I love it!!

Anyway, I digress. This year it would appear I am doing most of the country music writing for the festival in January. Okay, having said that I've pretty much given up my anonymity- but anything I've written here is purely personal observation and opinion and bears no resemblance to any living newspaper publication:)

I am currently watching a very interesting series on Country Music's roots away from the Nashville scene that seems to have been trying to constrict country music ever since it came around... but I am not going to rave on about that.

My point with tonight's post is to highlight the FACT (yes, fact) that major touring country music artists DO NOT visit this town to perform in the months from February-December. IN January they HAVE to be here to pick up their awards, do a few shows, get paid and they ride of into the sunset never to set foot on a stage in this town until the next January. This is only a phenomenon of the past few years it appears.

However, Sara Storer and Peter Denahy decided to go against the grain and they were more than rewarded for it. They sold out here last Wednesday night as they played to an appreciative crowd. This crowd voted with their feet (and wallets) and demonstrated to country artists that they were more than willing to get out and reward them for paying them a visit in non-Country Music Festival times.

I had been told by a very cynical person that "20 people will turn up" to the gig, so I was more than delighted when the concert sold out 5 days before the show. And you couldn't meet many nicer country artists than these two. They are having a ball on the tour and I really hope they enjoyed their concert and will return soon.

I also really hope they spread the word to other country music artists that there are actually people here in town from February-December. The town lives on during the other 11 months of the year when it's not country music festival time.

When more major touring country music artists realise this, we will truly be the country music capital.

Rant over...:)

I can't wait for January!!

Sudanese Blokes...

2005-08-27T18:22:00.000+10:00

Well, now to get back into the purpose of this blog- to allow you to meet the people I meet in my work as a journalist.

A couple of months ago I interviewed and met a number of Sudanese refugees who have made their home in our town. These blokes couldn't be older than 30 I'd say and they haven't seen their parents and most of their families for 19 years since civil war broke out in Southern Sudan.

For more info, Foreign Correspondent has a great write-up on the situation:
http://www.abc.net.au/foreign/stories/s727998.htm

From a very personal view: http://www.ncca.org.au/cws/rdp/refugee_and_migrant_sunday/refugee_stories/fleeing_southern_sudan

These 15 blokes are living in 2 houses in our town and working at a local abattoir and the little they earn they are sending back to their families that they have in Ugandan refugee camps.

One bloke I interviewed told me of his nephews who had to stay at home in a Ugandan refugee camp because they couldn't afford the school fees. He is sending any money he can back to them to pay for their education.

I saw a documentary a few weeks back on Afghani refugees in the town of Young. They were also working at the abattoir but appeared to be vilified in the town by many of the locals. Here these Sudanese refugees seem to have been welcomed by the locals and many people say hello to them in the street- you can't miss them, they're the really tall, very very black skinned blokes with the really big white smiles!!:)

There's not much else I can really tell you about them, except no one can even imagine what they have been through, yet they still have friendly smiles when you see them and they are now trying to get their long-lost families into Australia on refugee visas and hope they will live here also as they enjoy it here so much.

That's about it for the Sudanese lives in my day...

SPAM

2005-08-23T20:02:00.000+10:00

Argh...

I hate spam.

I am now getting spam via my blog?? What is with THAT?

Okay... I'm done now:)

Thank you for listening.

What Awaits Us...

2005-07-18T19:25:00.000+10:00

It's Monday and I'm already wishing for the end of the week... why? Because journalists in our newsroom like to be bitchy, well, just one does anyway... and decided to dig in to me today, but that's okay.. there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

As it's Monday, I like to think of it as a brand new fresh week... however, some people got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.

1. Abused by a motorist as I was waiting for the green pedestrian light after crossing to the middle of the road. I had pressed the button and had walked to the middle of the road against the light, but was not disrupting any traffic as they had a red light. The bloke who abused me has the green light and I was not disrupting him at all... just standing there. More his problem than anyone else's.

2. Had a job with the cranky photographer who wasn't too happy about getting a photo for me... why would he be? He's a photographer, afterall.. his job is to take lovely photos. But then he found his happy place and was nice to me for the rest of the day and even stuck up for me when the bitchy journalist was having a go.

I think everyone else was nice to me... and seemed happy through the day.

I wrote some exciting stories today... well, I don't know if exciting is the right word- interesting, though, definitely.

I followed-up on a phone box that had been vandalised a few weeks ago that I noticed had been removed yesterday when I drove past, and found it is going to be replaced this week. I also did a story on the smoking bans in pubs and clubs- focussing on clubs. And, I covered a tidy community awards launch. Not that exciting, but it's good to get out and see the outside world, rather than the inside of the office all day.

Tomorrow promises me a whole heap of baby notices to put into the system and an Army Reserve story to finish off and a heap of entertainment stories to write.

Shall continue with the Sudanese lives in my day...

The Weak That Was...

2005-07-14T22:58:00.000+10:00

Before all you wannabe subs email me... the 'weak' is intended... leaves me weak thinking about the past 4 days and still one more working day to go, not that I particularly mind.

Monday brought with it all the dramas of any Monday without a Deputy Editor, although our Chief of Staff is doing very well and the Editor has returned from his week away.

This week I have written stories all the way through from a wrap up of country music events to Army Cadets and Sudanese refugees... and that is certainly another story/entry on its own. These blokes have arrived here having not seen their family for 19 years. Can you imagine that?? Not seeing your family for 19 years!!! That's HUGE... all because of rebel fighting and war in Southern Sudan.

If you want to help out, visit the Australian Red Cross website and find out more information. The blokes are all so lovely, but more on them another day.

I went and harassed 12 innocent shoppers on the main street again today- it wasn't too bad, though, as I went with my mate the photographer and we usually have fun down the street with it all no matter how many rejections we get.

I also spoke with three country artists today and next week I shall bring to you Sara Storer's life in my day...

Anyway, stay tuned for updates... brain is asleep for the day (how unusual)

London...

2005-07-08T09:49:00.000+10:00

Well.. what can I say that probably hasn't already been said (I don't know because I don't hear everything that is said...)

Paul and I had settled down for a night in front of Getaway (the only way we can afford to travel) and I was enjoying David Reyne's religious pilgrimage and then BANG.. newsflash... terrorist attacks on London...

World turns upside down for a while as I think of our two very close friends Jess and Adam in London right now.. where are they? Are they okay? So we get on the phones.. can't get through. I check Adam's blog in hope of a quick update to say he's okay, but no update... so Paul rings Adam's mum and we get through and they've been in contact and are still in Ireland!!! Oh yeah... after an hour of frantic worry it's over. Had they been in London they could very well have been affected as they use Kings Cross Station everyday... God works in mysterious ways- many of which we may never understand- but it doesn't account for why all those innocent had to die.

It does make me wonder how many other Australians went through the same worry last night, and today still do not know the fate of their loved ones.

Another thing God blessed me with today is that our English, sensationalist, editor is in NZ on holidays so we may not have to go door knocking to find some stories of people who have loved ones missing as we did when the Tsunami hit...

Our thoughts are with you...

My life in my day...

2005-06-30T21:01:00.000+10:00

I guess this would be my life in the day of.. well... me... egotistical? well.. maybe.. but for those of you who have stumbled across these ramblings and do not know me at all or very well... this post is for you, I guess.

For starters, I'm not really the chick in the photo on my profile- groundbreaking revelation, I know.

I live here in a town (inland city) of around 50,000 people and work at the daily paper... with 50,000 people around you, there are certainly many opportunities to look into a number of people's lives in my day. I'm engaged to a radio copywriter, so it's the media family really, and we have two furry children by the names of Millie and Sooty.

This stressed creature is Millie... I have no decent photos of Sooty at the moment.

What else is there to know about me? I don't make friends easily and find it hard to accept change in anything- life, habits, jobs, etc... but when I do make friends I seem to be able to keep them. I am still very close to school friends and some friends I made at uni. I have also made some very close friends through work and am officially a member of the 'out' group as opposed to the 'in' group:) But I like that.

I love living in the country, but hate being able to see my neighbours' doors/windows/walls as soon as I walk outside or look out the window- I'd like to be able to look out and see paddocks or trees only or something like that.

I also have a strange dream and I intend to fulfill it- I want to build a lighthouse. I have the rough plans so far, but plan to bring it to fruition in the next 5-10 years. I know, it's strange... but that's me- a little left of centre.

A little left of centre is how I like to approach life and journalism, really. I like to do stories that are a little different- look at famous goats and giant vegetables if you need any proof of this.

I guess there is only one other thing you need to know- how and why I got into journalism in the first place and why I recommend it as the dream career?

One of my earliest memories is trying to interview mum and dad at the water tap at the back of our house about their day. I'd decided I was going to produce a family newspaper. They had nothing to tell, so I grew frustrated and gave up, but I knew what I wanted to do from then. I don't know why I got the idea of doing journalism, or where from, but I always wanted to write... it just happened:)

How I got to be a journalist... not too exciting a story, but since you didn't ask I'll tell you. I went to uni straight from school to study communications, stayed there for 5 years doing half my honours year and then was desserted by my thesis supervisor so I transferred to my Masters, which I loved and finished in about 1.5 years as I worked full-time during some of it.

I used to teach a computer subject at the uni, which I loved... was the best job, well, the best apart from my current job. I then got a job doing media monitoring and reporting on that. was the worst job, well, apart from mushroom picking which rates right down the bottom of my employment experiences. Media monitoring involved ripping myself out of bed at 4am every morning to sit at a desk for 8 hours listening to Sydney talkback radio stations and reporting on what the psycho announcers said. Oh... how fun... you couldn't talk to anyone, because that would put you behind schedule as well as the person you talked to. Our movements were timed to the minute, so we couldn't waste a second.

My fiance and I decided to share rent then and I was commuting more than an hour each way, so I sent my resumes out to a few local newspapers and one replied. I started working there 2 weeks later reporting on council. Was so fun, I worked from home casually whilst teaching a communications subject at uni to keep the income up.

After four months of that my fiance got a job here and we moved up. I was out of work for a couple of months just working once a week teaching at the uni near here and I kept sending my resume in to the paper I work at now. After I think the 3rd or 4th resume, they called me in and gave me casual work... the rest is history. I also wrote for the national monthly country music magazine at times during this time, but now have full-time work and continue to mark assignments for the uni.

My resume in a nutshell I guess.

Why I love journalism could go for many pages, but you just get to meet such interesting people and people let you ask them questions that they may not let others ask them... and you get to do cool stuff like... gliding, heading out live firing with the Army and camping out with them... and heaps of other stuff...

My life in your day... I'll stop boring you now.

Sweet Potato Record...

2005-06-30T08:09:00.000+10:00

I can imagine many of you have been in suspense to find out what the largest sweet potato ever was.

I just know the right people who would know this piece of useFUL information. My nephew collects Guinness World Records books and has 21 I'm told. So, who better to look up the sweet potato record!!

He tells me the biggest one was 22kg! Can you imagine that?? That's a bloody big vegetable!!

Anyway, now that I've saved you all from sleepless nights wondering, I'll be off to work....:)

Street scene

2005-06-29T18:21:00.000+10:00

As a journo I'm meant to observe life fairly carefully.

When heading down the street for the occasional vox pop, because they're only occasional now that I told the Deputy Editor what I thought of them (refer: Cadets and other Senior Journalists), I often see amusing things happen on the street that the non-observant passer-by may miss.

For instance, a bloke yesterday walked quickly past this couple heading opposite directions... the bloke on his own yells enthusiastically at the bloke walking with the woman, "Hey John, how are ya going?!!" The receiver of this heartfelt greeting paused for a second and I could nearly hear him thinking, "Who is that bloke?" before turning around and yelling over-enthusiastically, "Hi, Good matey!!" and walking on. I could lay my life on the fact he had no idea what the bloke's name was, but recognised him from somewhere...:) Was amusing to the onlooker anyway.

The other amusing thing that happened whilst down the street, proving that coincidences are just funny and things can happen with just perfect timing.

I was down the street with one of the photographers who is a good mate of mine and he was ringing his wife who works up at the hospital, and I was nagging him, telling him to get off the phone and concentrate on taking photos... anyway, he turns to me and says I sound just like his wife, nagging all the time (although I know she doesn't) and then says "I should have married you instead."

At that same time, we were standing about... 2 metres away from his father-in-law (I didn't know this at the time as I'd never met him)... it was so funny. The photographer was like, "oh, yeah, hi John, how are you going?"

We laughed about it later and he answered our question, so we achieved our aim...

More street scenes to come...

The Weak Journalist within me...

2005-06-27T20:43:00.000+10:00

Ookkkay, I'm weak, and I've now recovered from my ONE night in the bush with the Army cadets. Yes, that's right, I went for ONE night, everyone else was there for two or three and around 50 of those other people were between the ages of 12-17... They probably recovered from it quicker than me and they did a whole lot more than me!!!

So, I shall start from the beginning. I have a mate who's in the Army and runs various things like the cadet camp from last weekend. I was asked to go on it on Monday to do a story, but I knew the editor would rather eat rat bait than pay myself and a photographer to do that, so I said no. Anyway, by Thursday I was tempted and he emailed me until I relented and thought why not.. when opportunities to do something a little different present themselves to me, I'll, more often than not, take them and run with them.

So, Friday night saw me driving down the highway to meet them all at the campsite feeling more than a little trepidation as I thought everyone else may not want me there and see me as some intruder. But, I was assured everything was fine and when I arrived there were child slaves waiting to carry my gear for me!! How good is that??!

Anyway, we spent a lot of time around the fire (cause it was bloody cold) and also watched over the cadets doing a lantern stalk and I sat in on the talks my mate gave the cadets in teaching them about tactics. They can't teach the cadets anything to do with combat stuff, but sometimes it's a little hard to explain things without using a military example, so that was all pretty interesting.

We also had a moonlit night which made the bush just unbelievable and it was clear (thank you weather channel for being right) so the stars were amazing... it was just great overall.

I got to try out a night vision sight which was great (Once my mate removed the lens cap for me... I'm pretty stupid sometimes). Everything was so clear just with a green tinge to it and we could spy on all the kids who kinda didn't realise we could see them... anyway, overall it was very cool.

The camping was great... we sat around the fire a lot and drank some special "coffee" (a special Irish drink) after the cadets had gone to bed. We camped out under a piece of canvas and I discovered at 1am Saturday that my brother doesn't keep his sleeping bag inside his swag... ahhh... but I had a blanket and some coats and stuff... I was pretty cold, but it was my own fault for not checking beforehand.

The next morning the fire was still burning well and the cadets were briefed on their activities for the day... I headed off around 11am to sleep for a couple of hours- I don't how the others do it... maybe I'm just weak.

Anyway, I had a great time and it gave me an excellent insight into what the cadets do and how well-organised the whole thing is. They seem to run the camp themselves with the adults there to make sure nothing untoward happens and everything runs fairly smoothly. I don't think I could ever be so disciplined, but they all seem to really love it. I wouldn't have missed it for the world and am very grateful I was talked into it.

A few lives in another day...:)

Boot Camp

2005-06-25T23:00:00.000+10:00

Well.. the title is misleading- but I have just returned from a night camping out bush with the local Army cadets and instructors from the host barracks...

More on that later... watch this space:)

I'm off to sleep for a couple of days... I wish

Bum Dancing to Country Music

2005-06-25T22:41:00.000+10:00

Well... it's been a while, I know, but I have returned from the wilds of Coffs Harbour to the job I love (I'm so sick in the head), but I've found my calling in life, so why not enjoy it?:)

Last Wednesday I was privileged to interview the one and only Sara-Marie Fedele, bum dancing extraordinaire from the first season of Big Brother here in Australia. I admit I was not looking forward to speaking with her, but she came here for a Drug Action Week Trivia Night, so I thought it would be useful to speak to her... so bit the bullet and organised the interview.

She was nothing like the person I thought she would be... I worry about interviewing famous people due to perception about them, but Sara-Marie was lovely. And she began the conversation by telling me she loves Keith Urban!!! Well... I was a fan straight up after that comment. As my mates know, I am the world's biggest KU fan (well, one of them) and his pics- from now and 15 years ago- decorate my work computer.

Anyway, she is now using her 'fame' (which came about by spending 3 months in a house filled with cameras and strangers) to teach teenagers and other young people about the dangers of drugs. This is a great cause, and I hope she's successful in achieving something with this. My cousin runs a methadone clinic so I've seen the results of drug addiction.

With Sara-Marie being a big country music fan, how can I not like her? And she had some very intelligent things to say and was not up herself at all.. well, she didn't come across like that. She's very into what she does and is involved in a lot of good causes and all that. She's also very easy to talk to and was pretty much an interviewer's dream.

It is kinda interesting to look at Sara-Marie's life pre and post-Big Brother. She was apparently a manager of an 'adult entertainment club' read: stripclub, but has had somewhat of a transformation since her time in the BB household. Over the past six months, Sara-Mariehas been the face of a national advertising campaign for Nicabate after giving up smoking, has shed 20kg on the Betalife program, now has long dark wavy hair and works in child care in Sydney. She has also been a dancer on Dancing With The Stars quite successfully, released a bum dancing album and a single since leaving the house.

She tells me she would live in 'the house' every year if they would let her and she'd love Keith Urban to be the intruder... who wouldn't?? She's also finding the current BB season the most addictive so far, but thinks they need to stop arguing and just enjoy it all.

Sara-Marie's life in my day...

Outback House characters...

2005-06-13T20:01:00.000+10:00

I’ve begun watching the first episode of Outback House. I have just interviewed the Senior Shepherd for the paper, so I’ve got an interesting insight into the show already.

My impressions now, though, are that I can’t stand the overseer. I believe he left 3 weeks after the show began thank goodness, though. I usually live by the motto of if I can’t say anything good, don’t say anything at all, but this bloke really just gets me going. He wants to kill everything in sight- if it doesn’t fit with his little world (and his world is obviously small) he wants to get rid of it. First it was the rooster that tried to attack him- so he kicked it and injured it. Then a lamb had lost its mother so he tells the Senior Shepherd, Bernie, to cut its neck and then says he isn’t thinking of either of these animals he is wanting to kill. Therefore, he doesn’t really care about anything but himself.

Good thing is, Bernie goes against him and tried to save the lamb. However, the lamb died during the night- at least he wasn’t killed. Such is life on a sheep station… whether it be 1861 or 2005.

And well.. some of these people I think are idiots. So far I like Bernie, not just because I interviewed him, but because he obviously does care for the animals he is looking after. Dan is also good- he wanted to give up, but he wants to prove he can do it and looks like he is beginning to settle in.

Next week is looking to be interesting.

http://www.abc.net.au/outbackhouse for more information.

Egos and other media personalities

2005-06-09T18:56:00.000+10:00

Urgh... if there is one thing I hate about my job, it's egos. I know, I know... I'm in the media, the natural habitat of ego-rich people and I should just live with it. I reckon I would be leading all you readers astray if I were to just mention the good parts of being a journalist.

So, it is today I teach you about egos. If I have learnt one thing this week it is to shut up and just observe. If someone tells you something, do not mention it again. If someone mentions this same thing to you- pretend you know nothing about it and somehow change the subject, otherwise this is known as gossiping it would seem... even if it is fact. Hmm, how this works I have no idea, but it seems it is the thinking of newspapers and their employees.

Lesson number 2: If two people go to lunch together, it will be to bitch about every other single person in the newsroom. If you are invited, you know you will be expected to join in the bitching. If you are not invited again, you didn't bitch right and you will now be bitched about for somehow being friends with the wrong people or just being not good enough. Well... there's me:) I'm not really into the cool thing... but there you go and I really don't care what people think of me, that's why I'm writing about it.. ha ha ha...

No, seriously. As a newsroom we are supposed to be a team- we all work for the same newspaper, we all want the same thing (I thought)- to produce a good newspaper, but no, this thing comes in called an ego and people must talk about others to make themselves feel better.

Ahh... if only the people of the world just thought of each other as being equal we would all live happily ever after...

Anyway... must be off to hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil....

That's life.

People Power

2005-06-04T21:30:00.000+10:00

It helps to know people in the right places. Well, I don't... so I find just telling people what I think straight up works well. I hate nothing more than people who pretend to like someone when they're around, but they're secretly dying for them to leave the room so they can start bitching about them. In the media I'm surrounded by these people.

I take the opposite approach- if I don't like someone they know.

So, anyway, I digress. I told the Deputy Editor just what I thought of being sent out to harass innocent people on the streets and how the cadet hadn't done this forever, and voila, the next day the cadet is out pounding the pavement collecting people's thoughts on meaningless topics.

On the topic of large vegetables- the couple came to collect their large (5kg!!) sweet potato and had their photo taken with it. I have searched and searched and rung numerous show societies but I'm yet to find any record of a large sweet potato- our local show has never really even had a sweet potato entered.

So, if anyone can assist me and knows of a sweet potato/swede/yam record I would appreciate knowing:)

My other news is that I have finally finished uni for this semester at last!! It has been a semester from hell and I am to blame equally with tutors who don't seem to care about external students.

Stay tuned...

Large... vegetables. Hmm....

2005-06-04T02:52:00.000+10:00

My career hit an all-time high yesterday and memories of last year came flooding back to me.

Allow me to set the scene for you. I answered the deputy editor's phone while he was at lunch and it was a girl from downstairs saying there was a couple who had a large sweet potato to show me. Now... if this was a one-off occurrence it wouldn't have rated too highly on my list of things that happened yesterday. The thing is, as soon as she mentioned large vegetables... and a root vegetable at that- memories of a carrot with umm... three 'legs' came to mind. Now, let's just say this carrot was well developed with two long 'legs' on each side and a smaller 'leg' in the middle- it was male. Get the picture?

So, I trudge downstairs just knowing it has to be the same couple who brought me this masterpiece of a carrot last year and surprise, surprise it's them!!

They open up the esky.. and I'm hoping "please don't let this one be rude too..." anyway, there it is. A HUGE - the biggest I have EVER seen- sweet potato. Apparently weighing in at around 6kg!!

They tell me it's the biggest the bloke who gave them the cutting they grew it from has ever seen and he grows them commercially!

Anyway, watch for updates as my career just goes up and up. I am speaking with them today as there was no photographer available yesterday...

Stay tuned for BIG veges...

Cadets.. and other senior journalists

2005-06-01T03:06:00.000+10:00

Just a quick post today to update everyone on the scene of the food chain at my newspaper.

I'm the plankton. No, this doesn't mean I'm the lowest on the rank of seniority in the newsroom, but in the eyes of my editor (and Deputy Editor it seems) I am waaaay down the bottom. I rate lower than our 3rd year cadet and our casual journalist- who, by the way, had absolutely NO journalism experience when she arrived on our doorstep looking for a job, but she had the looks, so she was in.

If you want to see what I look like, check out the chick in leather on my profile :o)

My reason for the whinge? Well, everyday we run these bloody vox pop/street opinion polls. This involves heading down the main street (of my undisclosed location) and harassing innocent shoppers or wanderers and asking for their opinion on usually meaningless topics. Yesterday's was Schapelle Corby. This at least has some relevance in the whole scheme of things.

You may ask, what's the point of doing this? Well, the editor wants 'faces in the paper' and 'we need to think local, local, local' apparently.

Of course, if you're wandering down the street you don't want a bloody journo harassing you with a question you don't want to answer, and you DEFINITELY don't want your photo in the paper- all because you happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Why am I telling you all of this?

I am ALWAYS the journo who has to go and do these bloody useless things. I usually head down there with one of our great photographers, but sometimes I get one of the grumpy snappers. This, it would seem to me, is a job for a very junior journo. I am not senior by any stretch of the imagination, but I am certainly more so than our cadet who thinks so very highly of himself,a and so does the editor, so we can't have the dear cadet heading down the street, lowering himself to asking vox pop questions can we? Definitely NOT!

Therefore, I am the plankton and cadets are senior journalists... just ask the editor.

Look... no engine...

2005-05-26T13:51:00.000+10:00

I sometimes have days that start like any normal day, but by the end of it I've been part of something amazing or done something I've never done before... last Tuesday (May 17) was one of these days.

I headed off to work- in a rush like always- to get there and get some of the entertainment section done before the day began. I was kinda working away when one of the photographers asked the Deputy Ed who was going out to the gliding with him... Dep. Ed said to take me. I didn't really know where we were going as I was on the phone at the time of the conversation, so I hung up, grabbed my notebook and pen and headed out the door.

Turns out we were heading out to a local lake to the gliding club. The photographer was saying they might take us up, but I thought that highly unlikely.

Anyway, we arrived and I chatted with the three blokes, making notes like a good journalist should... ha ha ha... then they started discussing how they were gonna get the photos- I was going up apparently.

Left with no choice, I climbed on in and looked around and climbed out again- anyone who's been in a glider will know how much room there is in the little capsule- not much!

The photographer went in the plane (with the engine) and one look at the plane, I decided I had the better deal here.

So, we took off with the plane towing us with photographer and camera safely stowed on board. It was a very strange feeling being taken into the sky by another plane, but the bloke driving (well.. piloting) the glider assured me everything was fine. My stomach moved to my head a couple dozen times as we were dragged through turbulence but all my food was staying safely where it was thank goodness.

When we released from the plane, we glided around taking a look at the great scenery- the drought didn't seem to look so bad up there, except our water source-where we were- is very, very low. Everything looked tiny and we were up with the clouds- was amazing.

I had a go at steering... they're very responsive to only a light touch, it was just an amazing experience. Unfortunately we had to land as I was supposed to be back at work.

So, we eventually pulled ourselves from the sky and headed back to earth with a very controlled (but worrying, for me) landing.

As gliders land (keeping in mind I was in the front seat) they are pointed pretty much to the ground, which was a little nerve wracking for me on my first flight, but Trevor, the pilot, assured me he would level out just before we touched down... and I'm here alive, so it proves he did just that!! :o)

I returned to work with people saying I was brave... hmm.. brave??? I think not- it was smoother than the flight I took from Sydney to Broken Hill a few years ago... and I'd recommend it to anyone. I can't wait to go again!

Now, just to write the story and do the experience justice... this is the challenge:)

Join the Army... sung to Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture (remember those Army ads from many years ago???)

2005-05-26T09:43:00.000+10:00

Okay... I have returned with no gunshot wounds or shrapnel to be found (or so the x-rays said) in my body.

The day didn't go exactly as planned- but when does anything go strictly to plan? I was just ready for anything- and lucky...

The day started at 5am when the fearless photographer picked me up and we headed off. Arrived three hours later with a phone call in between to say the bloke who we organised everything with wouldn't be meeting us, someone else would, I go with the flow, so... whatever... We caught up with him later and he was busy as so it was probably better we weren't hanging around in the way.

We arrived at the range gates and I thought I'd been sent to a war zone. On either side of the road were Army trucks and troops... was a fairly frightening thing to drive through, but we made it unscathed to range control. There the security blokes were scarier than the Army blokes.

Anyway, the Army bloke finally met us 3/4 hour after planned so we sat around and discussed our chances of making it home alive until he came. We set off with a short tour courtesy of the Army bloke either midreading his map (ahh... we are so safe with these people our second line of defence) or the road changing- I don't know which... anyway, it gave us a chance to look around the target area.

After meeting up with two older Army blokes and jumping in their 4WD we made it to a 'hide' where the troops from one squadron had their Armoured Personnel Carriers set up under camo (camouflage) nets... they were preparing for a battle.

Before any battle the plan must be outlined, so the commander or head bloke came back from his reconnaissance mission and outlined the plan. In any good plan there must be a way of hiding things from the enemy, so he made up nicknames for various positions. I'm standing there trying to be all round professional journalist and he comes up with nicknames including 'bearded clam', (I just kept it together for this), then battered stick (I lost it) and then 'black knob' finished me off... one bloke had to walk away to compose himself as he was laughing so much. I attempted a straight face but no doubt failed miserably.

Anyway, the battle was on and we were off to get some good pics. Well... let's just say it was lucky they were using blanks for ammunition because at one time we were between the warring sides and one Army bloke turned to me from the front seat of the 4WD and said "I think we're dead". I agreed... and I lived to tell the tale.

The enemy were eventually 'captured' and we headed off to range control and then lunch via a number of tracks that finally got us to our destination.

The lunch menu consisted of... well, I don't know but it tasted ok, so I asked no questions for fear of the answers and just ate it. Ahh... Army rations.

After lunch it was off to the live firing exercise and the excitement. Met a few blokes from the local regiment which was good... and kinda the point of the day, but anyway... around 3pm we headed off in the Armoured Personnel Carrier to watch villagers being rescued while the APCs took on the enemy. The enemy would have won as we went out in the safety vehicle and the blokes firing took forever to eventually hit the targets... by then the enemy would have surrendered. They were the most junior crew so I won't judge too harshly, but it was great fun and made me realise what guns really can do to people. They bullets were just shearing tops off trees and branches were falling all over the place- it was great.

For this exercise, we had to wear 8kg of body armour and a helmet. I felt like I was flying when I took it off.

It was then time to head off home.

Now, I don't know how the Army blokes do it cause I arrived home and slept for 11.5 hours for pretty much the next two nights following. They were down there for 9 days!! I met up with the bloke I know from the local regiment yesterday morning and he was bright and chirpy... I would have been dead- and not from bullets, purely exhaustion.

It's now time to write the stories to justify my existence and make them sound so good that the editor lets me do another story on them in a couple of weeks as I've been asked to do another story :o)

Last week was a very interesting one in the life of this journo- I also went gliding for a story. More on that in the next post, which will be very soon.

(Wo)Men In Uniform (Skyhooks song)

2005-05-03T15:09:00.000+10:00

Well... no, it's not actually about women in uniform. Men in uniform is what I wish to discuss with you, my loyal readers... ha, yeah well, I can dream.

Back to journalism... Lately I've been covering my fair share of local Army activities- we have a barracks in town where they train Army Reserves in various things, focussing around the Armoured Personnel Carriers.

My stories on the Army started with a request by the Deputy Editor that I didn't really want to fulfill. It's 104 years of the Army in Australia this year and he wanted me to ring the local barracks and see what their plans were for the remainder of this year.

I really didn't want to do it, so I put it off for a couple of days and then it didn't go away, so I steeled myself to speak with some mean, cranky old sergeant at the barracks and made the call...

Instead of this mean person I imagined, I got a lovely sergeant who was more than happy to do the story... I nearly fell off my seat... so I quickly booked the pic in before he could change his mind and it was done.

We went and did the story and I realised then that I'd met this sergeant a year earlier at our local show, where he took myself and my fiance for a drive in one of the APCs... a great experience if you ever get the chance to do it.

So, we did the story, got some pics and swapped business cards and said let me know if anything else comes up we can cover for you and off we headed into the sunset.

I think not much more of it, but work on the story when I can... (get it finished after 4 weeks) and out of the blue I get a message to ring the sergeant... I have visions that it's because I haven't finished the story yet and he's asking when it's gonna be in....

So, I ring him back and he just wants to tell us about two more leads for stories as they were training the reserves....

So, to cut a long story short we watched them do mine training and run around in gas masks which was pretty cool- although they looked like aliens or something...

Anyway, he's now invited us to spend a day with them further south of here on a live firing exercise which is just going to be excellent and I can't wait. But he did also invite us for an overnight stay with them and two days, which of course started more than one rumour around the newsroom... but anyway. We're not allowed to do the overnight thing because the editor said no... typical. He actually just doesn't like me much, so I have to deal with that, but hopefully we can do it one day.

So, I've now heard what it's really like to be stuck in the middle of a minefield from one of the blokes I spoke to at the mine training who was just there observing, but he told me he was in a field in Somalia... pretty scary stuff. I have even learnt aht Australia signed a non-proliferation Act but the Americans still set mines... and we use anti-tank mines but not anti-personnel mines... ah it's all so confusing.

But it has definitely an interesting insight into the lives of these braves blokes and girls who head off to defend us or go on peacekeeping duties...'

Story will be continued when I return from my day in the APC:)

....

Logies... need I say more...

2005-05-03T14:02:00.000+10:00

Okay, this is not anything to do with journalism...
End of disclaimer...

The Logies... our 'great' television awards in Australia. All I can say, is if that is as good as we can do, then we are in big big trouble.

It scares me how stupid some people on tv really are. The speeches were... well, let's just say I'm never going to get back the first 5 minutes of the first speech by the first winner. It was a whole load of rubbish as far as I can see... and now I've just lsot more of my life writing about it here..:) Oh well, you get that.

Best dressed- Keith Urban
Best talent- Keith Urban
Hottest- Keith Urban.

Need I say more?? I watched until Keith was on and then switched off and headed to bed.

Hmm... question for the year (until next year's Logies) what could they do to make the Logies more exciting? Discuss.

My answer: Just not hold them....

'Nuff said....

2005-04-24T04:50:00.001+10:00

This would be me, the biker chick.:)

Interview with a Super Goat

2005-04-24T04:50:00.000+10:00

Okay... so I understand we live in the country, and some strange things can happen from time to time, but this one threw me...

Phones often ring in the newsroom for reporters who aren't there- as happens in every office- so it was lunchtime and I was the only one there, so I answered the editorial phone (on the Deputy Editor's desk). The woman on the other end could hardly speak for her laughter. By this stage I was thinking- another looney who has rung us, it happens all the time. She finally calmed down enough for me to work out her goat had been used on the set of an international movie that has recently been filmed in the local area.

By now, I could envisage the story I could get out of this and she was a lovely lady, so I booked the pic in and the next day a photographer and I headed out to meet Igor, the famous goat.

Igor's human father was there to greet us and we were told some high up executive in Sydney had called the film crew to tell them to get a goat as that's what the movie needed (?) as it already had a dog and chickens and it really needed a goat to complete the farmyard feel. The crew were a little perplexed as to where on earth they were going to get a goat from at such short notice, but when having drinks at a local hotel the next night, they realised they'd overlooked the calibre of the local talent. There was Igor waiting for his chance at stardom, quietly acting as a lawnmower at the time.

It was no time before Igor's parents saw stardom for their lawnmower and had him packed up and delivered to the set.

To cut a long story short, Igor became more famous and better loved on set than the movie's human stars and returned home a month later a whole lot rounder than he'd left. The movie involved a large corn field, of which Igor consumed more than his fair share, thanks to the generosity of the crew. The crew also made him a 'Best Supporting Actor in the Role of a Goat' award and presented him with a bucket of his beloved corn to keep his strength up.

Now Igor is back to work as the family lawnmower but remembers his film days fondly. His parents did confess to me they are worried about Igor, as many actors turn to drugs and alcohol when their stardom comes to a close. His father is also worried the paparazzi may come to get pics of Igor in compromising positions or perhaps comment too much on his weight, leading to a number of eating disorders.

But Igor.. he's just interested in whether he'll be invited to walk the red carpet when the film premieres next year in Sydney, and whether he'll receive more offers when the film's released.

And that's Igor's life in my day....

The blog where you can leave your hat on...

2005-04-17T14:39:00.000+10:00

As you can see, this is my first Blog posting.

I just want everyone to be able to see what interesting characters you can meet on any given day in the world of journalism. These postings will cover everything from a famous goat (yes, a goat) to a day in the life of those brave blokes and girls in the Army.

Each day my work brings a life or many lives to my day, which I am privileged to get involved in and the chance to ask some very personal questions about.

So.. welcome to a life in the day of a country journalist.......