b r a v e c r e a t u r e s

Hi there,

Not much in the way of news this time around, but I thought it was about time for a hi and how are ya.

There is not a lot in this newsletter, but I have finished reworking the Brave Creatures site and there is a bunch of other stuff to look at if you are interested.

Its been a quiet couple of months. I have been wrapping up school and getting ready for next year. The biggest thing on at the moment is job hunting, which is going slowly.

Right away I am looking for something back in IT. Well paid is really the primary criteria since I need to get some income in and pay off some dept. It will be nice to be able to do some shopping soon. I haven't bought myself anything that isn't absolutely necessary since about March this year.

The IT market in Australia is a little flat at the moment, unless you have a lot of financial services experience, so its been a little slow going. truth be told I think the 18 month gap on my CV isn't helping.

Since I don't want to talk about the course I have been doing with prospective IT employers its been a little hard to cover. My CV has also suffered a little I suspect from being moved from Australian to US formats and back. I was lucky enough however to find a recruiter who gave me some good feedback and I have suddenly started getting interviews, so hopefully in the next few weeks there will be a job.

Meantime, I have gotten myself working at a call centre. Its easy work and while the money isn't great, it will help make ends meet. This is a phone pic of the call centre.

Literally tonight I finished my last assignment for school - a marketing and distribution plan for one of my films, so now I am officially done. We have the industry screenings for the films in a week or so, but meantime the eight producers have gone their separate ways.

Its been a really good year and the group of students I was with are really great. I am glad I have done it and hopefully I will be able to translate it into a new career.

I had hoped to keep studying next year so I applied for the Masters Program for Producing, which is fantastic. The extra good news is that I got a government supported place so it s not going to send me further into debt.

Fortunately I can pretty much work full time for most of the year while I do the Masters, so it seemed worthwhile for some of the doors it will be able to open for me.

Summer has well and truly arrived here in Melbourne with a LOT of really sunny days. I have had a bit of spare time, so I have been enjoying the sun and getting a bit of a tan.

I have been hanging out a lot at the Prahran Pool - locally known as the Pansy patch for its strip of grass and wealth of gay boys. Strangely enough, even though the weather has been wonderful, it hasn't been too populated - which is FABULOUS by me. I have enjoyed the peace and quiet.

Saxon (looking a little shaggy here) remains a big part of life. Because I am on a no budget lifestyle, he is still living with Marie, but that is just around the corner so I see him most days.

He is pretty much full grown now and we just need to loose some of his puppy fat (like father like son).

Marie adores him and the two of them just spent a great week down at the beach house in Sorrento.

While he is well trained he is a big dog for her to handle so the two of them have headed back to puppy school. He actually loves obedience work and it looks like Marie will enjoy it as well.

It was interesting getting my marks back and I was surprised to find out I had done well in my writing classes. I promised myself that I would start writing more consistently, so to help that out I have started a blog.

I cant say that I am Carrie Bradshaw, Dan Savage or even Gus Maddox just yet, but I am working on it - and strangely enough I am enjoying it. If you are interested have a look and please feel free to comment.

So that's it for the time being. Hopefully the summer will have some more adventures to report, but in the meantime I would love to hear from you so please do write back when/if you have time.

For now take care,

R