Travesty

Had my last Japanese class last Tuesday. With my knowledge from the class and what I will pick up in the phrasebook I should be fine to communicate. If only my listening skills were up to scratch. They've always been pretty bad, even in English. I once missed out on a job at the Caption Centre because I kept mishearing things while captioning TV shows.

Working pretty hard in the past week as usual, but had a work-free weekend.

It started on Friday when Ass and I went to see Tom Stoppard's 'Travesties' at the Opera House (well, the Drama Theatre at the Opera House). It was pretty mediocre, a lot of spouting words rather than acting or presenting jokes. A couple of laughs but I wouldn't recommend it.

We then made a bet that each of use would find a partner for the other first, then started creating ads a la 'They Call me Naughty Lola'. Anyone know someone male, 30s, likes The Simpsons, laughing at and with intellectuals with a passion for something (anything) who would appreciate a sharp, feisty female, 28, with an unusual sense of humour (it's a cross between parody and something else that's undefinable). She's smart and wants someone who is arrogant enough to be able to stand up to her. Apply within.

On Saturday I gave blood, then wandered around the shops because I had to buy a couple of things for my trip (including some gifts and some cold weather clothes) and get my hair cut. It was about 4pm when I got back home, quite tired, but I spent a couple of hours watching the Tropfest DVD. Thought that was quite mediocre as well. Have my standards risen or has art just fallen away in the past few years?

Headed out to Jackson's on George for a meal with Sir and her friends Lina and Anne before we went to see Pillow Talk (Tim Freedman, Pinky Beecroft, Dave McCormack and Perry Keyes sing and tell anecdotes about their fractured love lives) at The Basement. No one but Lina wanted a drink when I offered so I bought us both a glass of muscat (donating blood + long waiting period sitting on barstools = slow drinking) but then Sir got jealous and bought a bottle, which I ended up having half of because Lina is a self-confessed lightweight, Sir was already tipsy and Anne switched to coffee.

The gig was pretty good. Pinky Beecroft impressed me the most. I just didn't know he was that mature, and yet he still had a certain boyish cheekiness about him. Dave McCormack was a nightmare. At first he was fun, prancing around the stage with a tambourine and maracas, but then his antics just got a bit tedious with him trying to be more outrageous with each turn on the mic. And I was never a big fan of Custard or any of his other bands anyhow.

On Sunday, Alg and I went to the Women's Cricket World Cup at North Sydney Oval. England played New Zealand (Australia had lost the playoff for 3rd place to India the night before) and definitely dominated. Also saw Wasim Akram and Kamahl, which was exciting (more the Wasim Akram... Kamahl appears in the local paper so he's always around) (And I've always thought of Akram as kind of hot).

The night was spent actually sitting down and researching and booking all my accommodation for Japan and figuring out which trains to catch between cities. I've been told more than once that there are very few internet cafes in Japan because they are so advanced that everyone has internet on their phone so I wanted to compose a complete itinerary that I can rely on in case I can't find a timetable (or read one if I find one). This came in handy because my brother rang today asking what I was going to do while I was there.

Today was pretty boring. Did get a bit done, though. Air-con conked out for a couple of hours in the afternoon so everyone lost productivity.

I'm currently looking at a mountain of stuff I've put in my suitcase wondering whether I should look through it now or wait until I've done my laundry to make sure I have everything...

Wait until I've done my laundry.