Crazy right now

As you may have surmised I had an... unexpected week.

I'll start from last Saturday since I was too tired to relay my weekend last Monday. Sir came and picked me up at 8am on Sunday and conveyed me to her parents' place where we were then picked up by Assie who drove us up to the Blue Mountains for Beq's 30th birthday.

We were way early so I persuaded her to stop in at Bygone Beautys, that cool tea emporium in Leura I mentioned in February and we also went to the Blue Mountains chocolate shop to buy fudge before heading to The Carrington where Beq hosted high tea in The Billiards Room (la-di-dah). It was really nice to chat to various people - established acquaintances as well as new faces - and play a bit of pool while drinking tea.

Unfortunately I had to leave at about 3pm to be back in Sydney for the 7pm dinner with Ness and 'her' boys (Russell, Scott, Simon and Andrew), which was in Bronte. It's a semi-secret restaurant run out of a chef's back room. Basically he cooks whatever is in season and you get a six-course meal out of it. Scott played sommelier and I must have consumed something like a bottle and a half of wine over the course of the night (which made me sleepy on the bus and train ride home). He wouldn't take any money for it either.

On Sunday I decided to go to the Aroma Festival, which turned out to be a pretty good idea. I found Teadrop (a Melbourne brand) and bought some honeydew tea and also did a fair bit of sampling, ending with a coffee in the Latin Quarter. There were camel rides in The Oasis (Middle East section) and everything.

I was supposed to have a card game with Boff and John (he came to the first one) but the schedules didn't match up so I called it off and popped into the markets to get some vegies and went home.

On Monday I hauled arse to the city to go to an Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce lunch to talk about the new direction of Australia Post. I'm never going to hesitate to ask for a media place again because the turnout was HUGE and they had a whole table for media. Had to stop by work to print some things for my designer.

Tuesday had an editorial meeting to introduce Gillian. I was annoyed because she turned up late due to forgetting to print the agenda (she went to an internet cafe to do so and then got lost en route) even after I reminded her to print one for me when I reminded her the meeting was on. Anyway, the magazine is now her problem, I feel a bit more free.

Saw 'Inception' with Sir on Tuesday. I do love a good mindfuck. This one was both well conceived and well executed - a rare feat.

And you already know what happened on Wednesday. I forgot to mention that Boff, after asking me out, actually also said "you can say no". I think it was too late by that point. I mean, if I had said 'no' any further hanging out (which, I have mentioned previously, I would've enjoyed platonically) would have been awkward at best. I'm not entirely sure whether he'd been thinking about it for a while or whether he had at that point just kind of blurted it out because we'd had such a good night (something to ask him later, I supppose - I AM curious).

Had a busy end of week just reacting to things I had to do. Went to the Women Management Work Conference (or parts thereof!), which was in turn interrupted by a couple of interviews I had to do. Managed to get most major things done. Just have to do the final checks of my client publication on Monday and write a few articles this week. No pwoblem! (she says)

The conference finished at 3pm so I hung around the city for a while to kill time before my first official date with Boff. I spent most of it drinking tea at The Tea Centre and reading Hugo Award entries, then had to go bra shopping (I HATE bra shopping but tis a necessary evil). Myer had a sale on but nothing good in my size so I ended up at The Naked Truth spending less than the sale price of the big brands. Must remember that.

Inopportunely, Boff called while I was half-naked in the change room to confirm a meeting spot so we met at Town Hall and went to buy tickets to 'Inception' (he hadn't seen it and I wanted to see it again). We then went up to Ichiban Boshi for Japanese and then spent about half an hour at Elizabeth's Bookshop before heading back to the cinema for the movie.

It was a very comfortable evening, except for the last part when we parted at the station. I hugged him; I wasn't sure how he felt about public displays of affection but he was okay with that. Also he seems quite shy about initiating any physical contact but this puts me in an interesting dilemma: is it because he's slightly uncomfortable about doing so, or because he wants me to?

Saturday involved getting up late, Sam getting a puppy, Ella (yes, she's cute), and me cooking dinner and then hosting a card night that consisted of Boff, Assie, Sam and I. Boff taught them 500 and then we played a few rounds, which by the end of the night turned out to be quite a contest. Anyway, Assie had to go at midnight so took her leave and Boff decided to go too and this time when we hugged I kissed him on the cheek and he held me tighter and it was really sweet.

Today I went to a barbecue hosted by Sydney Writers' Festival vollie coordinator Grant who put on a lunch for the vollie supervisors. It was like the perfect party - just the right amount of food, well presented, enough wine and great conversations with everyone catching up and so forth. SWF general manager Ben Strout and director Chip Rolley were also there (I *still* have quite a crush on Chip, it seems) which was great because we got to talk about next year's festival and give them ideas. I tried my writers' salon idea and writer-in-residence idea on Chip - I hope one of them sticks.

This week is going to be a little crazy work-wise for the first few days but will hopefully calm down towards the end before a full weekend. My mum's birthday is on the 9th so my sis is coming up from Canberra and we're doing family stuff. Also, Kristen is coming from China with her boyfriend this weekend, and Manfred is visitng from China too so it'll be very social.

As for 'the guy I'm seeing' (the term you use when you're not yet partners), we have Tuesday night at GreenUps (enviro group drinks) and will probably be seeing the Charles Darwin movie 'Creation' on Friday. I'll let you know when we lock lips. Yes, that's right, I *do* kiss and tell.