The Housework Queen

I have a hallway again... and lots of clear floor in the living room and a clear path to the kitchen too.

I'm all out of steam though and happily awaiting Matt's arrival for an evening of Howl's Moving Castle and good company.

Can't wait till Gene gets back from Geelong. He'll have a pleasant surprise. Just three more rooms to clean and all will be good.

Yay for clean floors!

Cheers!

So much for a quiet early night...

I must admit I'm having a little trouble typing this post. It seems my fingers are doing whatever they please. I guess that's what happens when you have a few drinks... I sense my liver may come out of this job worse for the wear.

Satay was good tonight with the record of 25 satays from one of my work mates. I made it to 15 and was well satisfied with that number.

I thought I was doing well with the wine and being well behaved until I discovered that my glass had been surrepticiously been topped up when I wasn't looking. As a result I have no idea how much I've had to drink. Suffice to say I've finished my night with vodka which I simply do not do.

Why am I blogging right now? Well, why not I say! Possibly because sleep's a better idea...

Blogging's what happens when Gene's away. Apparently getting sloshed with my work mates is what happens too... Thankfully he'll be back to share the liver killing tradition on Friday...

Blog-o-matic

It's depressing how tired I feel when I really haven't achieved much today. Went in to a very empty office today. Checked my email. Replied and forwarded as appropriate. Got the name of the place I'm meant to be at for dinner tonight and then headed into town on a retail therapy recon trip. Ended up bumping into my boss (busted much) but he was in town shopping too so it worked out well.

So here I am back at home having avoided spending any money and I'm just exhausted! My eyes are feeling dry and I can't seem to drink enough water lately. I think I'll just spend the afternoon stretching and enjoying the nice day.

Might even do some gardening.

Definitely no running. In fact, I think I'll look into pilates courses... and glucosamine because I keep getting recommended it by different people - medical or otherwise. Anything to help keep my knees in good health and less pained.

I can't believe how much I've blogged today... can you tell I'm still trying to work out what to do with my time?

Oh hang on, I did achieve something today. I may have another job lined up. Just have to make sure I can get some time off from my current job for a couple of days. More details when I've confirmed the job.

Busy bee

Morning after the Wrap Party (number 2... or is it 3?) and I'm amazed that I've seen the morning to be honest! Didn't drink that much. Only had a couple of cosmopolitans, a glass of white wine and a glass of champagne but having not drunk very much recently, it doesn't take a great deal. That and I'm little! Ended up getting a lift home with a guy who I'd been introduced to at he party who had ummm, I'm not sure how he was involved. I think his company did something. Yeah, anyway we had a great chat on the drive about how funny the industry is and also how great Melbourne is. He's just moved down from Sydney and is loving it so yay!

Yesterday was my first ever visit to an osteopath and oh my god he rocked my world! Yes bits of it were a little uncomfortable and a little painful (stupid tense muscles) but he managed to realign the lower part of my back and pelvis a fair bit. Apparently my muscles were so tense that they weren't letting my bones move back into place, so a bit of massage and stretching then a couple of oh-so-relieving back cracks and I felt so much taller after he did that! Friday sees me back again for shoulders, neck and further lower back treatment. I felt like such a clutz while trying to remember all the terrible things I'd done to my body (netball, kayaking, desk work, heavy lifting, falling of rostra, falling flat on my back mid-show, spraining my ankle, bad cartilage in my knees). The only "good" thing that I'd done in the past was swimming. He suggested that was a good idea for the next couple of weeks. Then in two weeks time I should be looking into a pilates program to help strengthen my abs to help support my lower back. So any one want to join me? *hopeful look* Some gentle cycling is also allowable but no running (gee damn).

Well, I'd best get going. There's a shower and a job interview awaiting before I get to work today. Gene's off to Geelong tonight so I think it'll be a quiet night in front of the TV. Or probably back in front of the computer blogging...

Proud Family Moment

My Dad's on the Age Website! Not sure how long the picture's going to be up though...

How well do you know me?

How well do you know me? For instance, did you
know...

Four jobs I have had in my life that most wouldn't know about:

1. Selling teddy bear & cloth doll making supplies (and accessories!)
2. Load out & general hand at antique fairs (first encounter with gaffa tape... did you know you can get double sided gaffa tape? Awesome :)
3. Stage hand/SM/Dresser for Les Girls (educational)
4. Tutoring biology, maths (ha!), english to kids (supposedly educational for someone)

Four movies I would watch over and over:

1. City of Lost Children
2. Spirited Away
3. Amelie
4. Ground Hog Day (try watching it on shuffle)


Four places I have lived:

1. Singapore (first three years of life)
2. Vermont (always my family home - also known as Vermin to my folks, not sure why)
3. Ballarat (excellent proximity to drinking holes, vague recollections of uni...)
4. Footscray (oh the days of CPC (can't park chick), homeless shelters and of course, Highpoint).


Four TV shows I love to watch:

1. House
2. Coupling
3. Lost (although I'm so far behind it's not funny...)
4. Scrubs


Four places I have been on vacation:

1. New Zealand (highly recommend going to Queenstown)
2. Tassie (mini golf yeah!)
3. China (an eye opener)
4. Malaysia (Played a lot of Scabble)


Four websites I visit almost daily:

1. Blogger (easier to access than My Space - you can find me at Je Ne Sais Quois
2. Neil Gaiman's Blog (still no-so-quietly obsessed)
3. The Age
4. Google

Four of my favorite foods:

1. Beef tataki - and all things Japanese
2. Roast Beef with mashed potato & beans (mushroom or red wine sauce optional)
3. Sticky date pudding
4. Belgian waffles

Four places I would rather be right now:

1. In a park with friends
2. In a park with Gene
3. On a beach with all of the above
4. Bar Nothing (Somewhere with cheap cocktails and good friends)

White rabbit

This time tomorrow it'll be over. We'll be into our load out and much of what we are currently putting in will be gone. I just can't believe it!

I think I'm actually a little stressed about the whole thing. Not that I have anything to be stressed about. I'll be tackling paperwork when I get back into the office in 8 hours time but I'm still a little nervous about the show. Nervous and excited. I've never really had the sensation of butterflies in my stomach, but right now I feel like I've got butterflies with steel-tipped wings fluttering about in my abdomen. Not the most comfortable of sensations, but not too unpleasant an image.

I must say that I'm looking forward to having my own time again. Although I have been making the most of my spare time lately. I should really keep that up when I get weekends again. There's something really satisifying and relaxing about achieving things during the day. I fear I'm starting to lose the ability to do nothing. Relaxing's such a difficult thing! So much to do, so much to see, hear, feel, learn and savour.

So much indeed.

Hey nah, hey naaah....

My boyfriend's back!

Picked him up safe and sound from Tullamarine last night. Admittedly if he hadn't scooped me up into a big hug I would have walked straight past him... but in my defense his plane wasn't meant to have arrived according to the screens and having come straight from work it took me 10 minutes to get through airport security because of my steel caps.

Spent much of yesterday pacing about the office and generally trying to keep busy. I had the best night's sleep knowing he'd be home soon. Also found myself distracted by the unsettled stomach caused by the mango yoghurt that I had enjoyed so much the night before...

The Tale of the Mango Yoghurt
Upon opening the tub of yoghurt from the variety pack that I'd bought only a couple of days earlier, I noticed that the yoghurt had settle a bit. Nothing unsual about that... it happens sometimes. I ate the yoghurt and it tasted like mango and peaches (as per the pack) but something wasn't quite right. I looked more carefully at the packet and noted the use-by date. 12/02/06

Part of me felt a little bit ill right there and then. The other part of me decided the best thing to do would be to ride to the nearest supermarket and try and rectify this by spending more money on a fresh batch of yoghurt in the hopes that the new batch of "good bacteria" would combat anything less-good that I had just ingested.

I was a little fragile on the way home having rediscovered the still tender muscles in my left (twisted) leg on top of the slightly queasy stomach. I managed to convince myself that the queasiness was all in head for the better part of the night but have only just returned to normality. How do I know this? My appetite's back!

Okay. Must get back to work have procrastinted enough now and I want to go home to my sexy man while we're both still able to stay awake.

Hey nah, hey naah...

Jubilation

Thumbs up for the mango and peach yoghurt I just finished! Very tasty and hopefully nutritious too. More so than the biltong I'm munching on. My eating desires are a little quirky at present. Despite the small improvements in diet I seem to have lost weight which was not the aim of the game. I guess I've just burnt off more calories in the extended hours than I've managed to injest.

With just five days to the next ceremony things are starting to get busy again. I think it's almost tougher getting ready for closing because everyone's been working the crazy hours for so long now. The end is nigh but I think it makes it almost harder. It's been such a different experience for this ceremony because I've been to even less rehearsals than I had for the Opening. Too many places to be at and not enough Sarahs to get around. I'm currently hoping for a uber cool show role, but I'll keep you posted on that. (Well, I'll note my excitement if it happens and then fill in details post-show)

Gene's back tomorrow night. *doing a dance of jubilation* I pick him up at the airport at 20:00 and happily will not be surfacing at work until 10:00 the next day. Sleep is for the weak I say.

Howl's Moving Castle arrived yesterday in my mail box making me very happy. I was going to post my excitement but chose to pass out on the bed next to the laptop until 05:39 instead. It seems I'm still a tad tired from the last couple of weeks... who'd a thunk it?

Hmm.. it's 22:02 now... I think I might run off and watch my new DVD tonight... or should I read my book... ARGH! Decisions... Any how I only have two hours before bedtime so I'm off to grab another tub of yoghurt and make my decision.

G'night!

Not Monday

Apparently I don't mind Mondays. I've spent much of the day believing it was Monday, only to discover that it is in fact Sunday. This is not helped by the fact that I feel like I've had two days today - one was quite pleasant and the other I have chosen to block out for now. It's probably largely to do with having had yesterday off. Then again, I've also been staunchly under the impression that the Closing Ceremony's on Saturday when in actual fact it's on Sunday. You'd think I was in some kind of hurry or something!

I've had the most wonderful weekend though. Finishing early on Friday and then having the luxury of Saturday off, all topped off with a stroll in the gardens tonight with Nick, Matt & Anneke. Lovely!

The city had such a marvellous atmosphere tonight. It'll be sad to see the Festival go next week. It'll be sad when the Ceremony's over too.

Time's just flown by, I still vividly remember the 100 days to go celebration. I still remember going into the office and seeing the countdown in it's 300 days to go and yet in a weeks time it will all be over. Crazy.

To be honest I am looking forward to a holiday. After that I'm looking forward to getting myself into as good a shape as possible for apply for more of this kind of work, both physically and skill-wise.

2006 is shaping up to be a better year for all so far!

No biscuit

Bad Sarah. No biscuit.

Certainly no more books! Not for a while anyway.

a while adv until all six books and one graphic novel have been read in their entirity and possibly re-read.

The day was never destined to follow any rules. It started innocently as an inexpensive trip to the Melbourne Museum to check out the Spirit of the Games exhibit. It was going to cost $12 for my parents and I to get in - Dad gets free entry - and it was going to be a day spent walking happily through all the exhibitions and learning new things. Unfortunately I didn't realise that the exhibition was opening at 15:00 today so we only got to see the Spring Roll (a.k.a. flying W-Classd Tram from the Ceremony). Needless to say there were proud photos being taken by my parents and we decided to take a raincheck and explore the Food & Wine festival just outside.

Of all the ways to pass a morning off, knocking back small samples of dessert wine with my Mum was not what I would have guessed. The wine was lovely though and we each bought two bottles. I got a bottle of feijoa wine and a bottle of blood plum rosé. Very yummy. We also experienced our first taste of fresh pistachio nuts. I honestly held the belief that the lurid pink and green colours must have been part of the salting process of these nuts, but have been pleasantly surprised to discover that they actually are that colour. We decided they were quite addictive and bought four bags ($5/bag) as a result.

With our snacks for the day taken care of we trundled off to the Vic Markets to pick up some souvenirs for Dad to take to the Closing Ceremony for the teams he walks with. While at the market I found this snazzy-oh-so-fashionable black military (?) style jacket that I had to have. It was a bargain at $35 and we all know how I feel about jackets. While browsing the Market we also discovered that for $10 we could have bought a kilo of fresh pistachios as opposed to the kilo that we bought for $20. We're taking that as a learning experience though.

After quick lunch break, a fast shop for nuts for Herman (man that rat gets spoilt) and a short walk to the car I was on my way home. Not for long though. I dropped my stuff and headed straight to Chapel Street to meet up with Matt for an afternoon of shopping. (This is the part where it starts to go a little wrong)

I was quite proud at how little I'd spent so far in the day and wasn't planning on buying much, but then we got talking and Neil Gaiman came up and I became fixated on buying a copy of Death, the high cost of living so we went to Borders. Despite them not having a copy of the comic, I walked out of the shop with no less than three Robert Asprin books. You see Borders were having a "buy two get the third book free" deal on all sci-fi & fantasy books. Bargain! We wandered down Chapel Street, Matt got a great pair of jeans and funky t-shirt while I apparently flirted with the guy in the shop. A cup of hot chocolate and a debrief of the ceremony and I was back on a tram on my homeward journey.

Over cups of hot chocolate we debriefed the ceremony a bit, discussed work and life and the all important question of "what's for dinner"? This caused me to remember that I'm almost out of yoghurt. I figured that I'd just stop by Lygon Court and pick some up on the way home. As some of you may know, Lygon Court has a Borders in it... it's just to your right as you enter from Lygon Street while you innocently try and walk past to the supermarket...

As I walked past the bookstore I thought to myself that I should go and see if they had a copy of the aforementioned comic. Happily they did. They also had the book that I'd read an excerpt of on the tram, on the way to Lygon Court, in one of those free sampler books that I was given after buying the Robert Asprin books in the other bookshop. Naturally having picked up one book I had to search for a second reasonably priced book so that I could get my bargain third book free. An hour later I exited the shop $88 poorer but guiltily happy in the knowledge that I now own, Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire, The Earthsea Quartet by Ursula Le Guin, Shadowfall by James Glemens and of course Death, the high cost of living by Neil Gaiman.

Oh and in case you're wondering, I did remember to get the yoghurt too.

So now I'm at home with plenty to read and a fair bit of guilt over the book spree. I should never be allowed in a bookshop unsupervised. Retail therapy and a good nights sleep have done me wonders though. I'm in good spirits again and ready to tackle a big day of paperwork and preparations for the Closing Ceremony (which is just a week away!)

Relatively Early Night

I was sad today when I arrived at work and saw that most of the stage that was there just 12 hours before was gone. Post show blues haven't fully kicked in yet. I'm still far too excited about how well it went and still can't believe that I was a part of it.

I have my flashing star ball thing that the audience got last night, my gold security sticker and plenty of memories to last me a lifetime.

Today I was back to the reality of work sifting through invoices and preparing them for accounts. It was good to be busy again but I've been spoilt by weeks of interesting rehearsals so it was a bit of work getting stuck back into the old routine.

Joe very kindly let me go home early tonight and it was such a wonderful feeling going home in daylight. It was also wonderful to know that I had time to go and get things I'd been meaning to get for weeks at the shops.

Naturally when you run out of laundry detergent you go down to the local shops and instantly go into K-Mart and buy a tub of hair mask, some hair clips, socks and a pair of jeans. Of course when you finally make it to the supermarket you simply must go and browse all the aisles and pick up such items as a bird seed log (for Herman), yoghurt and a set of rechargable batteries. On the bright side I managed to come home with some actual laundry detergent. Two types actually. One's the usual sensitive skin one and the other is a theatre tech's dream. Specially formulated laundry detergent for blacks. I've heard it's good so here goes...

My early night is turning into a bit of a housework night. I've tackled part of the kitchen and gotten stuck into the laundry again.

Like Nomes, I'm feeling kinda restless and I'm still really keen on this moving to China thing because I want in on the next big gig and I want to do everything I can to make sure I'm a good candidate. I also want to be able to have Gene on the next gig because that would be a dream come true and so far the big move is looking like the most efficient way to sait all my desires (travel, improve my Chinese, new life challenge, learning) for now. Money is a slight concern, but I can make enough to go I'm sure of it. If there's a will there's a way right?

On a less enthusiastic or even important note... what is it about cheese flavoured snacks that make them so damn tasty? I had corn chips cravings today and I didn't even get to indulge those because we'd run out at work. Sad panda.

Anyway, having gotten my gripe about corn chips out of the way, I think it's time to focus on enjoying my night off in ways other than sitting in front of my laptop all night.

Wonderfully Surreal

Tonight was surreal. Sitting in the main control room at the MCG watching the Opening Ceremony unfold was wonderfully surreal. Usually I'd be sitting on a couch at home, surrounded by family or friends, but tonight I was on a bean bag (care of the TD) next to another production assistant with a perfect view of what was happening and the commentary I heard was the show call. I spent much of the night on the edge of my seat playing anxiously with silly putty while the show progressed smoothly. It was nice to know that I was in fine company with the silly putty as three of the Heads of Departments were playing with it during the show. I think it had calming effects on us all tonight. Something to channel the fidgeting/fiddling out of us and help us concentrate.

A big thank you to all my friends who wished us well tonight, the messages were much appreciated by all involved and especially me.

It's all going to be gone in the next couple of days. The usual bump out blues as you watch your carefully constructed set come to pieces kicked in as less than an hour after the show came down bits of stage were being deconstructed. These stages have been like home for the last couple of weeks, possibly even three weeks.

It's going to be a very different work place tomorrow but I look forward to the next show as always.

Wow!

20 hours to go

This time tomorrow night we'll be loading out the show. It's hard to believe that the briefing I received has now been visualised into a tangible show - albeit with some differences. I have no doubt at all that it will be nothing short of spectacular and I know I'll be proud of all the work that everyone's done to make this show the best they can.

We're all looking forward to a time when we can rediscover weekends and our friends, but for now I think we're just enjoying the ride!

Thanks to all who came to the dress rehearsal. It was wonderful to see you all, even if it was briefly. You brightened my somewhat lacking day yesterday.

I've got a new phone which I'm loving. It's the first flip phone I've ever had. It's a Motorola V3X and it has perhaps got a few too many buttons and the space bar is a different position, but it's been good fun to play with! It's also nice to have a phone that's a "normal" size for making calls from.

Well tomorrow's a big day so I'm off to catch some Zs... or at least try to :)

Five days till show!

Wow. Fucking wow. I could have left work at 23:00 tonight but I am so glad I stayed. Got to watch part of a rehearsal for the ceremony and well... wow.

As I can't say any more on the matter at present, I'm going to leave it at that.

My head hurts unbelievably at present and no amount of ibuprofen is making it go away. The migrastick worked for a while but it's back again. I have a feeling I might be a little anxious about the show despite there being not much I can do!

Brunton Avenue is closed in the city now for a while so I'm expecting us to cop a fair bit of flack about traffic. In our defence though it's been pretty slow going on that road for ages anyway. It's funny but people don't really realise that the traffic congestion and PT overload affects us too. We're also people trying to get to work. Often at weird hours one way but we're right there with you all!

It's all getting very exciting at work. With the show less than a week away and our first dress rehearsal tomorrow it's probably going to be a very long day tomorrow.

Happily I'm getting pampered on Saturday which will make up for it. I'm meeting up with my Mum (who's kindly offered to help me with my laundry so I can have clean clothes again). We're getting our hair cut and manicures (although I'm sure mine won't last a day with work and all) and then I'm hoping we can go check out the fish because they are very pretty! Hopefully I won't be embarrassing and fall asleep at the hairdresser's again. I wasn't feeling well a few visits ago and fell asleep while waiting for my foils to be done.

Thank you for any comments on/to my posts - I'm glad to be of service with the sanity preservation Nomes! It's just really great to hear from the outside world.

Gene called today which made my day. His return date is getting closer but it's making me miss him even more just because I know we're on the home stretch. He's getting to see some shows and isn't having too bad a time which is good. I really hope we get to travel together on a gig this year. That'd be just peachy. We're hoping to do so with Brisbane Festival but we really need to apply for that soon.

As always I didn't mean to write such a long post, maybe one day I'll truncate and be more succinct.

I'll let you in on a secret Nomes, my blogs aren't necessarily mirrored 100%. There are more posts in this blog than the MySpace blog because I started this one first and also because I chose to censor the language in my other blog. Not sure why.

Good night all!

Addicted

Well I wasn't going to post today but I'm marking the special occasion of having made it home before midnight tonight. That and I'm fairly addicted to this whole blogging thing at the moment.

I had a good day today. Even though I was busy all day I still wonder where my day went and what I achieved. Tomorrow's looking to be equally busy and so is Friday but happily Saturday and half of Sunday will be restful.

According to the media the next generation of kids will be singing Baa baa rainbow or green sheep and other such classics as Humpty Dumpty had a great fall and got up ten seconds later. Immediate classics I say. I appreciate the desire to preserve the joy of innocence in children but I don't believe we should be sheltering them completely from any and everything "negative" in the world. I simply don't think it's healthy. It certainly doesn't seem like good preparation for adulthood and the "real world". I also understand the need to not offend people, it's something that I aspire to, but honestly I have never seen a rainbow or green coloured sheep in my life. Considering there is a disturbingly high number of kids nowadays who believe milk grows in cartons (like eggs do)... Well, good luck to you all. For a good laugh check out this article.

Tidbits

I've had enough "me time" now and I'd like to have my boyfriend back please. (Hush now Nick, that's not a retraction of the whole needing "you time" in relationships, I'm just feeling ready to go back to "us time")

While this does predominantly seem to be a night thing, I have managed to successfully multitasking my way through my work day (09:00-00:13) and miss Gene, generally while walking around the stadium.

Moving on though, as I'm sure that no one's interested in my continual going on about how much I miss my man, over the last couple of nights in my attempt to bring restful sleep I have been browsing such wonderfully strange suggestions at Half Bakery as peristaltic socks and my latest favourite m-Escher-ing time. I'd buy it!

The weather's been quite pleasant over the last day or so. I'm hoping that it doesn't heat up too much in the coming few days. I'm really hoping we get good weather for show night. I sense many unhappy people if it's not.

Still no luck on following up the dog. Didn't manage to get hold of the kennel but I'll try tomorrow morning as I have a late-ish start.

Herman's happy with the fairly regular supply of nuts at present. It's so gorgeous watching him pick which nut he wants. Some days seem easier than others. I guess we're all a bit like that.

Sleep is almost upon me so I'm going to go with the flow and try and get up early to do some laundry. I'm not holding my breath.

Blog me a blog

I am fully aware that I am posting far too frequently for a person working between 12 and 14 hour shifts but it's not like I'd be sleeping anyway.

Things are getting pretty exciting right now as we've hit the single figures in the countdown to the Games. Channel 9 did a fly over the G and tacked the shots onto the end of a story about the medal designs. There are a lot of people working really hard and really long hours in the lead up to March 15th and it's great to be a part of the team. The atmosphere is sensational and I can only imagine what it will be like during the actual show. Being the sentimental girl that I often wish I wasn't, there may be a pair of glistening eyes as I watch the show as is often the case with opening nights for me.

I spent most of my day walking around with large trays of coffee as it was rather cool in the stands today. There are a few run down and sniffly people who I'm desperately hoping I didn't make sick. The doc did say I wasn't contagious... *sigh*

My night rounded off with the creation of a new spreadsheet (I'm becoming an rather big over-user of excel on this job) and being surrounded by my beloved papers.

I still found myself angry this morning about the incident with the dog. She's more than likely still in the hospital and when I called to check in was advised that 31 "stray" dogs had been hit by cars on Sunday and taken to the Lort Smith Animal Hospital. That made me more sad than anything else. I can only hope that some of the drivers stopped for the dogs.

Nothing much else to report really. I'm missing Gene bucket loads right now. It's funny how even though I had a fairly full day I still found time to miss Gene and feel lonely. I even found myself singing quietly while walking through the stadium. It's sad I know :)

I am eternally grateful to Matt for returning my VAST cd as I have been missing it over recent times. Music for the soul that first CD. I'm still trying to develop a taste for the second CD but it needs more time.

While I would usually sign off with a comment about bed, there is a pressing need for some food right now. My stomach says so.

People suck sometimes

Fuck it pisses me off when people don't stop for injured animals or animals in danger it really does.

Nick, Matt and I were having a lovely picnic in the gardens across from the Arts Centre when we saw a dog roaming the park. Naturally as we had food there we were hoping the dog would not be coming to make friends with us just yet and just ignored it and carried on with our conversation. Moments later we hear a loud bang and turn to see the blue heeler ricocheting off the bonnet of a silver car with a yelp as it was pushed to the centre of the busy road. The car sped off while the cars behind attempted to brake and miss the dog. A few onlookers jumped up and one of the girls and I made it to the road. She picked up the dog (who was yelping in pain and struggling to stand) moved her to the side of the road in the shade. I called the animal hospital who then put me on to the Lost Dogs Home ambulance who came as soon as they could. It just really pissed me off that the person driving the car didn't even come back. It shits me that someone could leave another living creature for dead in the middle of the busy road. Sure it's traumatic being the driver and knowing you've hit someone but how the fuck can you live with yourself knowing that you didn't stop to render assistance? Even the lady in the car in front of the car that hit the dog came back to check on the dog as she'd seen it all in her rearview mirror. It just makes me angry. There wasn't much in the way of external injury. A little bleeding from the front right dew claw and a little where the abdomen meets the hind legs. Nothing was visibly broken but I'm fairly sure that the hind legs took a fair brunt of the force of the car. It was amazing that she was still alive really. I'm getting all angry thinking about this again. We (Nick, a somewhat goth couple of girls and I) sat with her until the ambulance came (flashing lights and all) and then slid her onto the makeshift gurney and carried her to the car. The poor thing was not impressed with the move as it obviously pained her. She was in shock and I think the last thing that she wanted to see was another dog but there was a dog in another section of the station wagon/ambulance. In true fighting style she picked herself up as much as she could and dragged herself to the other end of the car and tried to sit up but ended up just curling up into a ball. I hope she's okay and I hope she has a home to go to. It's silly I know, but I'm going to call tomorrow and just see how she is. I guess it's closure for me.

Besides, Gene and my family can testify that I'm always the first to get someone to pull over in a car and help get dogs or cows off the road. If reincarnation exists I hope that someone will help me if I'm a scared creature that somehow found myself in the midst of loud fast scary big things. Grr people.

The whole affair put a dampener on things but Nick was wonderful and came back with hot drinks which were nice and soothing. We ended up lazing in the park watching a little girl play with a bubble gun and later a family strolling through the gardens with bright parasols. It was just what I needed after the late night last night. A little sunshine and (relatively) fresh air is good for the soul really.

We headed back to Matt's where we finished the night talking about theatre and shows we've seen/worked on/want to do. Then we watched Matt's version of Gypsy complete with director's commentary and fast-forwarding. It was great although I really wish I'd gotten to see it live.

It never ceases to amaze me what Matt can do with a show. It's always a challenge and always a fantastic learning experience working with him. Admittedly I've only worked with him once but he brings out the best in people and his craftsmanship in storytelling... I just don't know how to describe it but it feels right. I look forward to working with him again.

I keep thinking about what I'm going to do when my contract with the Games finishes and the thought of not having something to move onto is stressing me somewhat but I guess I need to work out what I want to do and chase that. There are just so many things that I want to do. I need to focus.

Every year I want to build on my skills and well I hope I can actually do it this year. I want to understand better how theatre is put together. In a similar way to writers looking at the forms of writing and various structures involved in writing, I want to get a better understanding of the elements that go together to put on a good show and how they work. I don't need to be a master of all trades, I just want to understand and try. It's a challenge but I think it'll make me better at what I do. I think everyone should get out there and challenge themselves to do something that they wouldn't normally do every now and then. It's refreshing!

I guess even though I didn't really do much other than relax all day it feels like it's been a long day. The whole incident with the dog really took it out of me. I think I was feeling stressed because I felt helpless. I couldn't do much to help the dog who was obviously distressed and in pain. She couldn't tell me what bits hurt and how she felt. She could just lie there. I felt helpless because I couldn't help her and I was angry that the person who had caused the pain didn't stop. I was angry because they had placed this creature in this position, even though it wasn't intentional, and hadn't even given a damn what happened to it. It made me very angry.

Tomorrow is a new day and I will still probably be angry but I'm not going to let it take over my life. I will continue to stop and help where I can because frankly that's just the kind of person I am. I guess I am a little idealistic and seem to think that most people would act the same way. Silly me.

People suck sometimes.

18.5 hours = 12182

You know it's been a long day when you come home and upon waking your computer up immediately check to see if the date/time settings are correct because it simply can't be sunday already. Well, apparently it can.

Apparently walked 6.091km. Not very far really but it sure has been a long day.

Stayed the night at my parent's house last night. Had the tables turned on me as I waited for Dad to finish rehearsal for the first time ever. Usually he's the one wondering how to pass a couple of hours! As it was an impromptu visit and I had to be at work the next day, he kindly took me to the 24 hour Kmart to get some clothes to change into before we headed back to the house. The dogs were a little confused but Clio took it in her stride while Zeus proceeded to be slightly stressed until he found Dad in the kitchen. He's a somewhat anxious dog. I apparently should never be allowed to pick male pets. They've all got a history of being insecure/anxious. Not sure what that says about me but it probably doesn't say much at all really.

Had trouble sleeping, largely because it was one of those warm/cool nights and I was acutely aware of the late hour (02:00) and the time I had to be up (07:45 at the latest).

Arrived at work at 09:00 on the dot and discovered that the new reports that I'd been waiting for had arrived at my desk. My reaction was mixed. I was excited because it was looking like making life easier but at the same time I was not excited as I had been looking forward to a day on the field instead of underground at my desk. Happily I got some time on the field sweeping our rather large stage (read either the Herald Sun or the Age for actual size). Somewhere in between reports and going batty at my desk looking at figures I decided it would be a good idea to get everyone some juice/smoothies from one of the local fruit juice bars. You wouldn't think it would take that long to get 27 juices... but apparently it does. A couple of hours passed without any notice and before I knew it it was dark again. 13 A3 pages of tiny figures later and I looked at my watch and giggled immediately. Most people would have noticed that it was 01:00... Happily my boss isn't most people and we happily caught up on our day before someone pointed out that we should all go home. Rightfully so!

Shared a cab with the Technical Director and now I'm tucked up in bed wondering why I'm still awake.

If they're offering vitamin B12 shots again tomorrow I may very well take them up on the offer. Could do with a bit of a boost! Not a fan of injections though...

Okay. Definitely time for bed. The park, picnic and friends await me tomorrow afternoon. So much to do!

Miracle Mould

Today I lost a friend in penicillin. The Miracle Mould and I are no longer on speaking terms. In fact we shall never meet again if the doctors have anything to do with it.

Having started my second course of antibiotics today after trying, unsuccessfully, to cough up a lung I ended up heading to the nearest doctor in the mid afternoon with a burning rash that had appeared out of nowhere. For a moment I entertained the idea that this was a reaction to the rather tasty lunch I'd just consumed from the cafe but having only just consumed it I thought it was unlikely. The good news from the doc is that my bronchitis seems to have cleared up a treat and I'll be left with a mere residual cough for a week or so. The bad news is that I need to remember not to take penicillin again as the rash will be worse/faster next time, or I'll possibly (although stats suggest I've only got a 0.01% chance of this) go into anaphylactic shock. Haven't done much research into this, but this article made for interesting reading. From what I can gather I may not be allergic to it, but it's better to avoid it if there are other courses of treatment. If not then we go and test for a definite allergic reaction. Seems fair to me!

So I'm home early with a whole new swag of things to make me better. A cream to fix the allergy. Some antihistamines to do the same and some tablets to clear my nose up. Stupid respitory system...

Tomorrow I get to catch up with my other doctor and check that the allergic reaction has totally gone away. I swear it feels like I'm just throwing money away now.

Work is going well though and I'm enjoying the couple of bits of rehearsal that I've seen. Tomorrow will be a long day so I'm going to curl up and play yahtzee on my pda for a bit before sleeping in to a luxurious 8am.

Awake

It's 12:41am and I should be well into my daily journey through the dream world. As you can possibly tell, I am not. You see it's the funny thing about getting home at this time of day and being the night owl that I am, my body has decided (with no consultation with me whatsoever) to revert to nocturnal mode. This would be fine in say a couple of weeks when it's show time... however I need to be fully functioning in about 7 hours time.

So why am I not trying harder at the sleeping thing? Well, I just haven't unwound yet. I think that might be why my sleep's been a little erratic as of late. The dreams of mounds upon mounds of paperwork were the giveaway :)

Strange how half an hour ago as I was packing up at the office to leave for the night I was tired but now that I'm home and tucked up in bed I can't sleep. Someone has a cruel sense of humour.