Inspired in a cage

There, I told me so. I knew I'd have a good time at This is Not Art. Shock horror, I even met people I'd never met before. (And met Ianto Ware, who I've known for a while but who has never officially met me. Whenever he's around Lee Tran I seem to be interrupting so I sort of slink off without formally introducing myself).

I didn't go to any bad panels this year, the Festival Club gig on Saturday night was pretty good and both nights I stayed out late enough to pretend I was still 'with it'. Saturday night/Sunday morning consisted of a zine launch at The Obelisk, which was where I met Ianto and Sunday night/Monday morning was a long walk up to the lighthouse (Nobbys Head) followed by a furious writing session in the YHA lounge room surrounded by the soundtrack of Pirates of the Caribbean 2 and Resident Evil on the TV.

The only bad experience I had was breakfast this morning. As it was a public holiday, plenty of shops and cafes were closed so my Plan A for breakfast had to be scrapped. Instead, I made the mistake of having a bacon and egg roll and coffee from Subway, partly because it was just $3.95. I don't know if you've ever had that combination before but I can tell you, 'don't bother'. The bacon and egg are MICROWAVED before being inserted in the roll, and the coffee is from a Nescafe machine. I don't mind Nescafe coffee sometimes but honestly, this just tasted like bad water.

After that, it poured and poured with rain. Needing penance with a bowl of fruit and an infinitely better cup of coffee, I decided to try Darby St (which is Newcastle's 'eat street') except because half the cafes were closed, the ones that were open were full. Eventually I found a place and shelled out $9 for a fruit, muesli and yoghurt combo. And a coffee. I only really drink coffee maybe once a fortnight but I just had to wipe the horrible Nescafe taste from my mouth.

So this evening I've come back rather inspired; I did a fair bit of novel-writing on the train which I will now have to type up for writers group review and I also want to write a zine about Newcastle. But I've also come back to those piles of 'things to do' (including TAX, which I swear I will do next weekend. The worst thing is that I'm not really actually doing my own tax, just compiling all the details for an accountant and I can't even do that in a timely manner). And I'm still a fair bit behind at work so I'm not looking forward to going back tomorrow. And don't get me started on my TAFE assignment.