I love channel 9 because I got to do a video school and learn production and on camera and writing…read moreetc and had a tour of the place. I felt intimidated every god dam single time I went I was nervous and I never told them how nervous I was. I look back and think it so funny now. I shouldn't because I suffered badly from a panic attack disorder that completely ruled my life and it was painful and lonely. But I was nervous of literally everywhere like university, on the train, walking alone etc in my 20s. I wish they would have a reunion or meet up. I loved that so much. I grew up loving tv stations so much as a child. I would recommend the video school for anyone but back then there was not half as much connections to join groups who wanted to make a production. I think I wanted to work on a shopping channel or be Australia's Oprah (as a laugh and I think not likely LOL) or be the make up artist for the beautiful weather girls as a child I just loved them so much as a child and the beauty pageants and telethons. I really wanted to work in tv ads and we made a student ad that was my script. I loved all the old aussie tv ads on youtube and video clips for music. If life were like a kaleidoscope of ads and video clips what would I be ? a razzamatazz ad or something fun from the 70s , 80s or 90s with a lot of colour. I think when I did the first channel 9 course I did not know what I wanted other then experience and making a tv commercial for a chocolate bar with my script. but by 1999 I did the next one on camera and my icons then were shopping channel Cecilia Yates and Deborah Hutton.

The most magical time of the year is not DECEMBER it is in…read morefact JANUARY (the month of glorious, smelly old books!) Lifeline book fest is akin to Christmas, Hanukkah and my Birthday, In fact every year I come in armed with a trolley bag and steely determination to nab every good book I find. But you ain't got to be no square to enjoy books, from Tolstoy, Dancing Cat's and Bird Watching almanacs to Snoop Doggy Doggs ABC, Bookfest has got you covered. I like to start off in the RARE EXPENSIVE section and gradually wheeze my way to the children's books. (Don't tell me you don't want Roald Dahls BFG on your bookcase.) Bookfest is likely to steal away your whole day so really do try and come prepared. It's best to come on the first couple of days before the best books are nabbed, also PLEASE do account for food stuffs otherwise you'll wind up shaking, confused and clutching the sport biography of Michael Clark (Asiya circa 2010)

It's the night before Lifeline Bookfest and I'm acting like a five year old does on Christmas Eve…read more I'm making wishlists, setting my alarm, and trying to drink as much warm milk as I can manage because I JUST CAN'T SLEEP. I'm too excited. Lifeline Bookfest is held at the Brisbane Convention Centre bi-annually. It's a Save The Date kind of affair. Basically, an entire libraries worth of books is dumped and strewn throughout an exhibition hall and put on sale for dirt cheap prices. There are literally MOUNTAINS of books to sift through. It's not all chaos though, the books are categorised by genre. You'll be able to navigate through the aisles easily enough if you can manage to move amid the crowd. Favourites among the crowd are the HQ (High Quality) section, and the games section. Looking for a backgammon board or a game of Cluedo? You'll find it here. Several of them. You'd do well to get in early. There are hoardes of people that travel all across Brisbane for this event. People use trollies instead of book bags. It is an all out frenzy. You'll only be able to move an inch at a time through the aisles because you'll be immersed in a thick soup of crazed book worms getting high on stale book smell. The best part is listening to the public announcements while you're browsing. There's always calls for missing people and lost children. The guy who does the call outs is sardonic and funny as hell. He alone is worth coming down for.