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Taxing
It’s the end of the financial year here in Australia. Elsewhere, tax time comes in April. Unlike most people, I don’t find filling out my tax return forms boring or tough. Except maybe for depreciation which I am sure no mere mortal is capable of understanding anyway. I won’t lie. Money matters do stress me out in much the same way that they do affect other people. So it’s not that I am not stressed about money or that I have a lot of money (I don’t).
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All those lovely bubbles…
I would like to start this piece by stating quite firmly two things: I drink beer. I am a woman. Now lest you think I am an alcoholic, let me put you straight: my average is about one drink per month. Per month. Something like that anyway. You see, we find ourselves at yet another minuscule cultural divergence here – one of those dashed things about living in a foreign country that don’t really matter in the same way the question of war or nuclear power would but nevertheless bugs you relentlessly. In Sri Lanka, depending on whom I am mixing socially with, preferring a beer to a cocktail or soft drink…
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Cricket fever pitching rather feverishly low
It’s not quite the same thing. “Only 0.2% of Australians are watching.”  – Australian cricket fan on Twitter. Mind you, this was prior to the India/Australia match. And I have no idea if the figure is right. But it struck me as odd. Those of you who know me have no doubt been giggling over the status updates I have been making over the past few days relating to cricket. Tidbits of information like the fact that the West Indies have won the Cricket World Cup twice. That it started off in 1979. That sort of thing. It’s not that the Australians don’t like cricket, they do. But for some reason,…
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Perth Diary is back!
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Perth Diary is back!
Most of you are probably scratching your heads and going “Say what now?” or quite possibly “What is this mad woman up to now?” Hopefully, some of you are cheering. Or at least are pleasantly surprised. For the uninitiated, Perth Diary was a column I wrote for The Sunday Leader from 2005 to 2009 (there is a link to the archives here). In 2009, I stopped writing because I wasn’t hearing anything from anyone at the paper – presumably because this was also around the time the entire website for the newspaper was revamped. The revamped site didn’t have any position for Perth Diary and I assumed that this plus…
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Cricket fever pitching rather feverishly low
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You get to decide the future of Perth Diary
If you haven’t noticed, the Sunday Leader has got a brand spanking new website. I went exploring. Turns out that in the review section they are printing blog posts from the Kottu feed. Turns out there is no Perth Diary anywhere in the pages online or in print. Turns out that they have cancelled Perth Diary and have forgotten or decided not to inform me of the fact. I have emailed my editor because I wanted to know what was happening. I am fine with them cancelling it, but I don’t understand why they could not be polite enough to tell me. They still haven’t replied to my email so…
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16 Things I Learnt From Being A Columnist
I’ve been writing the Perth Diary column for four years now. Four years is a long time. So I thought I’d share what I have learnt while writing the dashed thing. When in doubt, especially if your column covers a beat that isn’t politics, sports or finance specific, write about your cat or dog. People seem to love your pet’s idiosyncrasies, primarily because one thing people love hearing about is how something makes trouble for someone else but not for them. You can only pull this off if you are willing to be sarcastic about yourself though, along the lines of “Yes, I know I am Muggins but I love…
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Perth Diary: 11/10/2009
Marisa Wikramanayake writes about what it means to be a member of the Media Entertaininment and Arts Alliance (the union for the media and publishing industries in Australia) for the 11th October 2009 edition of her weekly column Perth Diary. Perth Diary is published once a week in the Sri Lankan newspaper The Sunday Leader and is reproduced online in full for free at The Sunday Leader's website and Marisa's website at http://www.marisa.com.au where you can find her other work as a freelance writer, journalist and editor.
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Perth Diary for 6th Sept 2009 is online
Marisa Wikramanayake's latest installment of the Perth Diary column has been published in the Sunday Leader. This week she discusses the problem of writing for a living and supporting oneself while doing so.
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Regarding The Perth Diary Column
Hi, I figured I should let people know what’s happening. I have not written any Perth Diary articles/columns for a month now. What happened? Well, creatively speaking – I am burnt out. But also, I am slightly fed up. It is not easy to write a weekly column without any editorial guidance as to word length or content. My emails to my contact at the paper regarding this, never get answered. Given that I only need one email stating all this from them not constant weekly communication – I don’t think this is much to ask for. So after scraping the bottom of the barrel – hey, I have done…
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07/06/2009 Perth Diary Is Online!
Marisa Wikramanayake writes the Perth Diary column for the weekly Sunday Leader newspaper in Sri Lanka. This week's column is about the onset of winter in Western Australia and the importance of rain. Marisa is a freelance writer and editor based in Fremantle, Western Australia.
