Fog? Rain? Winter Magic?

Sometimes things don't quite go the right way... and sometimes they do. Well, take for example the weekend. All together, it was relatively quiet and fairly uneventful. However, in snippets it might have seemed to be inordinately busy.

Here's (part of) the scoop...

Friday was the day before payday (which means very little cash on hand to do anything, but then again... the pay I get is currently catching up with bills from the recent no-pay weeks, so I get almost nothing after payday [at the moment]).

Anyway, at the beginning of the (Friday) evening, money wasn't too much of an issue, seeing as I had an audition in the CBD right after work. That finished fairly on schedule, and I must admit that I was kind of happy with the way it went. We'll see how it pans out. However, afterwards, Barbs and I made the decision to head on out to Hellfire as we hadn't been able to make it for the past couple of outings and felt the need to turn up to help keep an eye on things (so to speak). Not that that has to happen, as it's generally one of the better club nights around (as most of you know). No trouble, and a great eclectic (yet similar) crowd. Of course, walking in and seeing the regulars is always a nice feeling and it was (regardless of the impending weather) a big night. I was pleasantly surprised at being hit on by a young woman who was on a working visa from the UK, and Barbs was a little amused by that (for reasons which may be obvious to a few readers). I did get the chance to chat a little to the redoubtable Nat who needs to pop in more often methinks. Also, caught up with a few other regulars and saw a show which was... er... 'magically' eclectic. Of course having someone there who was having a birthday, also meant that the 'extra' show of the night was that they get to wrestle in an inflatable pool filled with a slimy jelly-mixture... (Hey Nikki! Does that remind you of anything/one? ;)) Interesting point: The number of police who walked through Hellfire in the short 3 hours we were there. I think it must have been a probies training night.

Still, because of the following day's activities, we also decided that it would be an early night.

So, we headed off home and crashing early meant that Barbs was up and out of the house at about 10am to get on a train to get to Katoomba for Winter Magic (I was to follow). The ride up was to be full of people like Aitken, Michelle, Drew, and a few others. Me? I had an audition in the city at 2:20pm and so I was stuck in Sydney until after that point. For some reason there was little mobile signal coming out of Katoomba, and a few attempts were made to contact those already up there, to let them know the revised itinerary, to no avail. That three-tone signal unavailable is annoying.

So, I headed into the audition, which was a good audition, too, but don't really know how I went. (It's always a worry when people say "You look different to your headshot"... it's the hair-length, but it's getting cut if details of another role aren't forthcoming soon.) Can't say anything about the potential role, or storyline, but the Casting/Director both seem good and professional, some names are associated with it, and the word Cannes was mentioned. (This also means nothing until the fee's paid and the finished product arrives on the desk of the curator of the Festival, but I digress).

Apart from traffic-hell (45mins from Leichhardt to the City???), and a moderately successful audition, it was leaping onto a train to get to Katoomba to catch up with the people I had promised to meet there. 2 hours later I get there... 5pm-ish. It's foggy, dark (read: night), and everything is closed up, being dismantled. Perhaps I'm a little spolied by Fairs/Festivals such as Glebe/Leichhardt/Mardi Gras where stalls go up at 6am, and come down at 6pm-7pm. So, Finding Barbs and her associated "Bunch'o'Goths"[TM] (I was SURE I saw Damien and Gina there somewhere amongst the black ;)) I grabbed a coffee, walked the main street, saw people going into the pre-pay-for-event places (honestly, it's not worth going to these unless you are staying somewhere local for the evening, IMO) and we all hopped the train back to the City. Now, people may think that that was a waste of time, but I did promise I'd be there, and I did find out some amazingly interesting facts about some recent social interactions (yeah cryptic I know... but leave it with me for a bit, OK?). Train trip back to Sydney with Chris, Kate, Barbs, Aitkin (+ his requisite Transformers and Punisher scarf), Mich (can we say too much sun=tomato complexion?), Shavae (with her "TouchItTouchItTouchItTouchIT!!" story), Smackie, and WAY too much laughing.

Of course getting back home meant exhaustion and (along with too little money) this meant that (unfortunately) Love & Hatred didn't happen (for us) though from all accounts (and I am very envious) it happened for everyone else. I am very happy that L&H had a mega-night... just wish I'd been there. I did get a couple of messages from people asking if I was going, and when I noted to them that it was a bit expensive for the budget they didn't quite get it... (I generally make this calculation for going out: Taxi in and back=$15/$20 each way + Door + up to 5 drinks). If I can spare the money for all that then I can go - remember I am paying for two, here (not a complaint, just an observation) so Door cost and Drinks are doubled, yes? ANYWAY... a sleep in on Sunday, a shopping trip to Coles, dinner and some electronic file-housekeeping, some more fascinating revelations about group dynamics and the wheres and whys of some people's schoolyard politics (which is actually starting to burn my fuse)... Couple that with an awesome company, equally awesome Sunday dinner, The Tudors (Season 2), Merlin and Masterchef, and it was time to go unconcious and get ready for the working week (dammit).

Tonight? maybe a recap of Transformers (before the sequel is released later this week), Tomorrow is Dr Sketchy's, Wednesday is the premiere night of Transformers 2 (with Beck, Aaron and Barbs), Thursday is seeing Deb in the Grand Final at The Oxford Tavern Miss Amateur Pole Dance competition... yes, THAT DEb :) Come along!! - The weekend to come is something I'll mention a bit later.

Right now.. it's back to the grind - oooh look - we've recovered from 2 power-outages! Excellent!