One batch of chili mango muffins later, Sue Lee can say she has landed a monty!
I won my first 'big job' today and I'm stoked!! And just had to post this, because now business is up and running after 4 weeks of marketing, wondering, doubting,committing, recommitting, applying for night-fill at Coles, I have landed a retainer job for 6 months which means I can basically pay for my mortgage and eat. Woo-hoo!
The week has progressed nicely. One feels as though the proverbial 'rollercoater' has been workshopped, oiled, wiped down and set back on track to resume her hurly burly way, with full-bellied passengers ready and up for the ride.
Last weekend, to sooth doubting business nerves, I channelled Martha Stewart and baked my little fingers off. When I realised I had more cake in my house than I can actually eat, I packed up chili muffins with the idea of feeding the entire staff at the Whyalla Regional Economic Development Board on our first date. I drove 104 kilometres on a warm spring morning to deliver them with my own special brand. Chili mango muffins = marketing 101: "People do business with people they like". Major suck-up? You bet.
But, in the rush to get out of my car on time I chickened out. I had a great meeting anyway, discussing sheep, workshop ideas and failing supermarkets in Wilmington...and drove to my next meeting happily eating warmed-in-the-car muffins, all 70 kilometres back to Port Augusta. This, took me past the delightfully named Iron Knob turnoff (I think I know him, he was a steely bastard.... tee-hee) that just gives so much childish pleasure for new locals.... plus the rather speccie twin tank graffiti exhibition documenting the winning local footy teams over the past decade. Its like Melbourne's Laneways graffiti meets footy bogan culture on a grand public scale.
With childish pleasure I wonder at the small but endlessly amusing things that human beings do for entertainment in regional Australia.
Re-entry in to a regional town is a pretty nice thing if you haven't burned any bridges. As a past resident in Port Augusta, I have less nerves and more comfort about where I am and who I'm talking to than I did 3 years ago - the difference to me is massive. People say after the first introduction at the squash club.... "So...why are you back? " Coming back is unusual and locals are quite shocked I've actually returned. The toughness new people face coming to town is the years of stamina locals build to being left over and over again, the waves washing over the glass that breaks down to sand, eventually.
I'm a bit in awe of locals because underneath is really the softest, warmest and most accepting side of people who are willing to do it tough and looking for a different quality out of life than sheer modern facades, doorbells that chime Australian Idol Hitz and 'look at me I'm 24 and in love with nothing' attitude.
Picture Port Augusta Squash Club - fans whirring the air above, heat rising off the sweating players, balls slamming and scores being yelled out over the noise. People leaning over the railings, clustered around the action.
"So, Sue, are you around for awhile?"
"Yes! I have no plans to be anywhere else, really..."
"That's the best way to be!"
Smiles all round. Simple pleasures. I'm back on the squash team, just like that, a regular spot. Two games of squash won 3-0. Sue Lee is back on track.
I'm being treated like a local, except I've forgotten street names, the cousin of so-and-so, or that you are actually a grandmother not the aunt. Jeez - where's a chili mango muffin when you need it?
I won my first 'big job' today and I'm stoked!! And just had to post this, because now business is up and running after 4 weeks of marketing, wondering, doubting,committing, recommitting, applying for night-fill at Coles, I have landed a retainer job for 6 months which means I can basically pay for my mortgage and eat. Woo-hoo!
The week has progressed nicely. One feels as though the proverbial 'rollercoater' has been workshopped, oiled, wiped down and set back on track to resume her hurly burly way, with full-bellied passengers ready and up for the ride.
Last weekend, to sooth doubting business nerves, I channelled Martha Stewart and baked my little fingers off. When I realised I had more cake in my house than I can actually eat, I packed up chili muffins with the idea of feeding the entire staff at the Whyalla Regional Economic Development Board on our first date. I drove 104 kilometres on a warm spring morning to deliver them with my own special brand. Chili mango muffins = marketing 101: "People do business with people they like". Major suck-up? You bet.
 |
| Turn these over and you get chilli mango syrup on the bottom, mmm...they're the business! |
But, in the rush to get out of my car on time I chickened out. I had a great meeting anyway, discussing sheep, workshop ideas and failing supermarkets in Wilmington...and drove to my next meeting happily eating warmed-in-the-car muffins, all 70 kilometres back to Port Augusta. This, took me past the delightfully named Iron Knob turnoff (I think I know him, he was a steely bastard.... tee-hee) that just gives so much childish pleasure for new locals.... plus the rather speccie twin tank graffiti exhibition documenting the winning local footy teams over the past decade. Its like Melbourne's Laneways graffiti meets footy bogan culture on a grand public scale.
With childish pleasure I wonder at the small but endlessly amusing things that human beings do for entertainment in regional Australia.
Re-entry in to a regional town is a pretty nice thing if you haven't burned any bridges. As a past resident in Port Augusta, I have less nerves and more comfort about where I am and who I'm talking to than I did 3 years ago - the difference to me is massive. People say after the first introduction at the squash club.... "So...why are you back? " Coming back is unusual and locals are quite shocked I've actually returned. The toughness new people face coming to town is the years of stamina locals build to being left over and over again, the waves washing over the glass that breaks down to sand, eventually.
I'm a bit in awe of locals because underneath is really the softest, warmest and most accepting side of people who are willing to do it tough and looking for a different quality out of life than sheer modern facades, doorbells that chime Australian Idol Hitz and 'look at me I'm 24 and in love with nothing' attitude.
Picture Port Augusta Squash Club - fans whirring the air above, heat rising off the sweating players, balls slamming and scores being yelled out over the noise. People leaning over the railings, clustered around the action.
"So, Sue, are you around for awhile?"
"Yes! I have no plans to be anywhere else, really..."
"That's the best way to be!"
Smiles all round. Simple pleasures. I'm back on the squash team, just like that, a regular spot. Two games of squash won 3-0. Sue Lee is back on track.
I'm being treated like a local, except I've forgotten street names, the cousin of so-and-so, or that you are actually a grandmother not the aunt. Jeez - where's a chili mango muffin when you need it?
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