should a punch as part of good wife-ly correction be a criminal offence?*

I was feeling horrible after The Chaser last night. I was so sick of seeing brutality against women. I mean, that's not what the film was about, but it was a theme that was there, and that really bothered me and seemed to be appearing everywhere. I saw Firaaq earlier in the week and I was trying to understand how wartime atrocities always involved a sort of default of rape and what Jane Campion said about how women gave birth to the whole world, and what hope any civilisation has that treats women this way.

I was suddenly so grateful for Stephen, and this society where I could expect nothing less than an equal relationship - no, maybe not even equal, because I feel cherished, and loved. I feel like a queen, and I have no reason to believe that every woman in this society can't enjoy the same thing. I will never again take for granted this time and place where men who change nappies are simply normal, where I can say and feel and think what I want, where my husband is my best friend, and to have that relationship with him be so expected that it's boring to even talk about it.

And the reason I'm feeling so loved up right now is because I just saw Adventureland in the best seat (middle, back row all to myself) at the Civic, and even though it's a fairly predictable romantic comedy, it was perfectly rendered, and totally what I needed. I walked out in a simpery haze, I even gave the busker another dollar (I'd given him a dollar on the way in) and smiled at strangers. It seemed good and right for the film festival to fix the funk that the film festival had caused - and thus, balance was restored.

breakfast: no breakfast, just lunch at the new cafe under Stephen's office. The chicken and mushroom pie tasted great, though I attribute a lot of that to the company.

*the referendum is stupid, yes. Stephen's take on the ridiculousness of it all...