Lacklustre

Oh hey. I can't believe it has been a week since I was sick. I feel 100%, so the illness is like a distant memory, but I still have remnants of a cough. Does it ever worry you that when you think back to about two weeks ago, the period feels long and short at the same time? (Does it happen to anyone else or just me?) I just find that a lot of stuff has happened and it has been the longest time without pay that I've endured (only because I paid off a hefty credit card bill and my rent in the same week) but it was just yesterday that we were celebrating Sireesha's birthday. Sigh. This is a sign that I'm getting old, isn't it?



Anyway, I had a great weekend. On Saturday, Sir went to the aquarium so I hiked around the neighbourhood with my camera. I was actually trying to find Ball's Head Reserve, which is the parkland that Waverton is famous for but I got lost too often and started finding other places instead (Ball's Head, it turns out, is dead easy to find - I just didn't have a map). The above picture is the little beach I found, I think it is called Berry Cove.

To the left is this massive estate full of what looks like palatial apartments (there are about 12 separate blocks and the ones nearest to the water are seriously sprawling). The estate, Wondakiah, also has its own gym and indoor pool, a set of tennis courts, two outdoor pools, a cafe and a number of cascading water features. I was torn between loathing the overt opulence of it all and wanting to live there forever. It was like seeing yourself in a resort brochure.

Later on I found the entrance to Ball's Head but I didn't go in because I knew I'd have to hike out again so I just plonked myself on a bench and read ('1984' - brilliant but scary). When I returned to Rapallo (my building, which does not have its own website) Sir was already home and she'd indulged herself by buying a telescope and a star map. She also had DOOM in her (a different DOOM) so she crashed out after a while, though we managed to set up the tele-ma-scope and spy on our neighbours for half an hour.

On Sunday I went to the Marrickville Festival with a handkerchief of loose change, $18.50 to be exact (why are 50c pieces so damn big?). I didn't even end up spending all of it, just money for a train ticket, a drink and some food. I spent about three hours there wandering up and down the strip of stalls and hanging around for a music gig (Kaya) and the capoeira demo. I think I may even have gotten a tan of some description - I can see the faint line of my sandal on my foot.

Skippy rocked into town on Sunday so I went out to dinner with her and a few of her friends - Ernest (who I once had a crush on and now has a boyfriend), Di (who is about to get married to a glam wrestler) and Siv (who is cooking a three-course meal for ten people on Saturday) on Monday. Skips had been volunteering at the Brisbane Writers' Fest so she'd bought me Lionel Shriver's 'We Need To Talk About Kevin' and got it signed. It was funny because Borders had a 3 for 2 sale and I was going to get 'Kevin' for myself as part of my 3 for 2 but instead I decided to buy her Markus Zusak's 'The Book Thief', which I've already told you is a great book. Just goes to show that karma really does work.

Anyway, she stayed the night and we talked until 2am and then I had to go to work the next morning, although I felt quite all right. Last night Sir and I saw 'Friends With Money' at the Mandarin Centre Hoyts. Wasn't a great film, a bit lacklustre. It had a really good premise and some solid performances and a number of 'moments' but it just didn't seem to generate a lot of emotion from me. I was kind of supposed to go home and have a home-cooked meal with my family because my brother is in town but it's getting to the point where I just don't feel like it. Especially because I know it takes me ages to get out there and then back.

It has been a pretty full week already, too. Penny, my boss' PA, is leaving on Friday and we've been trying to organise a surprise party for her but there has been too much to-ing and fro-ing with management so instead of a lunch, as we'd initially planned, it'll be a small ceremony at work in the afternoon and then off to the pub as usual, followed by karaoke. V1 and I are also in charge of buying her a gift on behalf of the staff, which means we were also in charge of collecting the money for the gift and you have no idea how hard that is when you sit in front of the person for whom you're collecting the money. I'll miss her. A lot. Although the new PA being trained up this week, Sarah, seems quite sparky, which is encouraging.

I've been put on a poetry unit for Year 7 & 8 because Paul said that they had my 'Macbeth' unit checked out and "it was found to be concise, accurate and well-written, hence you are volunteered for more English units". Unfortunately at that stage (Year 7/8) there is no specific poet to study, it's just an overview on how to appreciate and analyse poetry, and some of the different forms of poetry students may encounter. Boring. Still, I can't think of what else I'd want to do. After that I get to do the same for creative writing, which I've always wanted to dictate.

Soccer today, eight-a-side, which was a good turn out for such a hot afternoon. Let a goal through but had a pretty good run of tackles and ball-stealing when I played up. Reds won, 6-4. Ian was spectacular and for some reason Dougal (Green) was having an unusual shocker of a game. Reds take the lead in the championship for the first time!

Later: Penny's farewell + karaoke, Naomi's hen's night on Saturday, picnic at Hyde Park on Sunday, I really have to do my tax and Young Writers Festival next week. The time is near.