Off with the fairies

Spending way more money than I'm comfortable with (just got a strata bill for $2,000+! Apparently I forgot to pay last quarter?) but am hoping I'll claw some of it back when I get my tax return. I'm crossing my fingers that my accountant gets it into the ATO before everyone goes on holiday but it doesn't look like I'll get a return until 2011.

Went to see Moth last Tuesday night, a sound art/instrumental/soft electro band led by Timothy Constable (director of Synergy Percussion). Now, Tim is not a handsome guy, but he is talented and there is something about him that always makes me want to learn the xylophone whenever I see him play.

On Thursday night I attended the Sydney Festival volunteer briefing at Sydney Uni and saw Gil there. Haven't seen him since my housewarming but I should have known as much that he'd put his hand up for SydFest. I have made myself available for a crapload of shifts so I hope I get to do some interesting stuff. The best part was the post-briefing drinks where they gave me a pint of cider and as many sandwiches as I could carry (because they were going to have to throw them out). This worked in my favour as a pov vollie, student-esque given the venue.

Friday morning consisted of a coffee odyssey to Single Origin in Surry Hills to get Dave, my workmate, a Kris Kringle gift voucher for a 'coffee adventure' (he loves coffee) then Vinnies as usual, then the 'Alice in Wonderland' pantomime directed by an acquaintance and also featuring another acquaintance in an ensemble role.

Boff and I tried Mamak in Chatswood afterwards. He said it was average whereas I found it to be quite good (and good value for money, which is important). Didn't have enough room for dessert but would like to try their ais kacanag and roti tisu next time.

Went hiking on Saturday, Gordon to Chatswood, which was a dead easy walk, semi-scenic but mostly a good day outdoors. Good to meet different people to (this is a different Meetup group to The Sydney Walking & Social Meetup Group, one that's more serious about walking). Finished with a mango beer at the Bavarian Bier Cafe and then had to get home and have a shower so I could meet Boff in the city for a Sibelius/Tchaikovsky concert. I have to admit I microsleeped through the last movement before the interval, but I was surprisingly okay after that.

Yesterday Boff and I went and saw NSW play one-day cricket against SA at North Sydney Oval. They have this new format which is 45 overs, split into two innings of 20 and 25 overs for each team (confused the HELL outta me - as if cricket isn't already complicated). NSW did well and SA started badly so we thought it'd be a walkover but then the visitors staged a fightback and it ended up being a close game. I finally saw a NSW victory at the oval! Thought I was cursed as every other time I've watched a match there, the home side has lost.

Boff came over for a bit and taught me how to play Go. Bit too strategic for me, but nice to know all the same. We then played Lost Cities and he won by three points after six rounds, even though I was flogging him in the first couple of games.

Today I was just about ready to kill Ella for whining and howling all morning, TWO HOURS before I was due to wake up (turns out she had her first period - fortunately Sam had already scheduled her desexing surgery for this weekend). Did laundry, ran some errands and got a haircut before going to Crash Test Drama in Newtown with Boff.

We've been seeing a lot of each other lately but not all of it has been perfect. For example, we have stupid arguments about things like fairies (I said the popular view of fairies were that they were small winged humanoid creatures; he said they were like elves but he was talking from an SFF point of view) and there are also some etiquette differences (possibly due to cultural differences) we need to iron out.

Tomorrow am interviewing Marcus Westbury on Renew Newcastle in Newcastle so I have a fairly early start. Am looking forward to it. Am also looking forward to the 5-hour round trip (honestly) as I hope to get some reading done on the train.