Happy ---

In case you're wondering why I'm suddenly posting in the middle of the day, it's the Australia Day long weekend so I am attempting to finish the first draft of my novel, which always seems to dredge up 101 other things to do. The best part is that real estate agents take today off as well so there will be no inane phone calls.

Happy Australia Day!

It is also Chinese New Year so I have just tried to call my parents - who have just given me $150K towards my house - to greet them but they are both out. How rude.

Gong xi fa cai!

Well, I spent the last week furiously finishing two publications, which was about 100 pages' worth of subbing, prepping for design, proofing and approving. A very arduous process that saw me on some nights go to a pre-arranged gig (or Japanese lesson), come home, grab a bite to eat and then work until midnight or 1am only to get into the office early the next morning. At 11am on Friday morning, I finished my part. Which means I have just enjoyed the first work-free weekend of the year!

Apart from the hellish deadlines, I do have some highlights from the week. All Tomorrow's Parties (review here) was brilliant. I've never experienced such good music having taken a random $150 punt on a festival where I get stranded on an island for the best part of a day. I'm currently in the process of buying 5 albums off iTunes from artists I saw at the festival. The other thing was the festival-goers were so incredibly well-behaved and the sunny day had a nice breeze floating through it and I didn't get sunburnt, that it was just pleasant all round.

As I wrote earlier, real estate agents kept hassling me all week so I actually turned my phone off for three days, missing calls from my mortgage broker and my masseuse in the process. Anyway, I got the conditional loan approval, I now have a solicitor and she now has the sales advice from the vendor's solicitor and I've ordered a building inspection and it's all going a bit too fast for my brain.

The vendor is being a right royal pain by telling the real estate agent to tell me to match the prices she is now being offered (about $3,000 more) but I have absolutely no room to move on the price, I'm already maxed out (never mind that my parents have just given me an extra $50K than they originally said they would). Besides which, on principal I think it is bad form to accept a price and then ask the person to up it, even if the acceptance is not yet binding. I've already put down a $1,000 holding deposit as a sign of good faith.

Anyway, I will see my solicitor tomorrow to get up to date on the reports and the contract type stuff. My broker has already put things in motion on the loan side. He's good. I like people who make my life easier. Until the contracts are exchanged, however, I'm not going to celebrate my property purchase because it ain't bought til it's signed.

I'm not sure if I mentioned, either, but there are two musicians currently renting the place. My mum talked to them during the inspection (my mum is just like that). One of them plays the piano (the living room fits a grand piano and a couch) and the other the cello. They are conservatorium-trained and play together and with an ensemble. They also teach, which is why they like the house - they can make more noise than if it were an apartment.

At the moment they are currently paying slightly more than my calculated mortgage repayments so I want to keep them in as long as possible. But I need to move in within 12 months of settlement to get the First Home Owner Grant ($14K) and the stamp duty exemption (a saving of $15K). My broker says I can move in 11 months and 3 weeks later, because that is still within 12 months, so suggests I lock the tenants into an almost 12-month lease then move in at the end. So I think that's what I will do. But it won't feel like 'my' house until I move in. (If I am the eventual buyer considering how this whole contract thing is going).

I had a massage on Thursday evening and it was good, even if I came home and had to do work.

I took half a day off on Friday to go to the Australia vs South Africa cricket match at the SCG, which was also good despite the fact that we lost and it was REALLY hot and our seats were in full sun until 8pm.

On Saturday it was boiling and I didn't do anything other than try and sleep in the morning and prep for Symphony in the Domain in the afternoon. Sir and I got to The Domain at around 5:30pm and it was still searing but we found a good spot in the shade and settled in. Then the temperature dropped and the wind picked up and a whole sea of people who had been sitting in the blistering afternoon sun suddenly decided that their picnic rugs doubled as a shawl. It was COLD.

Yesterday Ass, Sir and I went to see 'The Wrestler' at Hoyts. When I got home (Sir went to her parents' place and took Ass to the Hills with her) I thought about pending novel and instead proceeded to do a slew of little things like clear my inbox and pen a request to dry laundry on my balcony.

Today I am just as undisciplined so I'd better end it here. I have piano recital Double Dream at Angel Place this evening, the last event on my Sydney Festival calendar, Japanese tomorrow (oh shit, I have homework...) and then two nights in a row of Leonard Cohen before I near another weekend. I love short weeks.