It's 3am, I must be lonely...

At Home. Working like a maniac, however resigned with the nursing agency so I have people to look after and my pathological desire to be needed is being catered for, the sleep desire thing on the other hand...

I have to leave for another night shift soon. I like night work, it means you have an excuse to be in bed in the morning *grin*. Also means you can really think about stuff and usually have a chance to catch up on some reading or writing or whatever. Not that I write much these days. Natalie, a girl I worked with in Melbourne, commented that when you work nights you get to really know yourself and have a chance to think about who you are. It's different than pulling an all nighter for study or because you've been at a party all night or hanging out drinking with friends & hey what do you know it's now 5am. It's difficult to describe unless you've been there on a regular basis. Reaching the quiet point in the night where you know it's not long to go but, oh hell, clocking off seems so long away (which is 3am generally for me) and using your mind to get through the psychological barrier (and having to do this every shift) is difficult to describe but for some reason makes you go all internal and is an interesting experience. Morning sounds are lovely, watching the city wake up. Seeing dawn break like I have the past two mornings was kinda comforting, knowing ye olde planet is still spinning and we aren't going to fall off.

Yet.

Perhaps I've been thinking too much. Thinking about some things too much can take the magic away. Rationalising stuff that can be enjoyed without breaking it down and should *not* be done all the time. Someone remind me of this every so often, okay?

Please?

For one month only...

(Note: this was written on Sunday, 27th June 2004)

Am back in Perth, for one month only, before I leave not to return until next March.

A few more details about the rest of the trip...

Continuum
Was great, I had a lovely time. A large Perth contingent made things interesting and I had the opportunity to see/talk to people I normally wouldn't. I also got to meet some lovely hippy-geeks from Sydney/Canberra. Panels were great with a nice mix of topics and there was a good turn out to the "Danny & Lisa Rant About Work" one (though it was on at 11pm and we weren't up against anything). The guests were great also(Eddie Campbell is a funny man). Congrats to the committee for a well done job.

Vegetarian Orgasm
I rant about this restaurant so very much but it is totally divine. Managed to drag Sharon, Danny, Tiki, Mel, Jason, Rob and Simon out the night before we left, funnily enough there wasn't a single person who ate a "normal" diet. I had a really lovely night eating good food with people I really care about, so thank you for sharing it with me. Also managed to get there for breakfast on two occasions. Blueberry & Blackberry Crepes. This is especially important as a five year old "Pancakes" was my favorite restaurant. Therefore vegan pancakes with icecream that I don't have to cook has a special soft spot in my tummy. Or rather have caused an especially soft spot on my tummy. Am afraid to get on the scales to see how much I've put on...

My Friend The Chocolate Cake
I have a confession to make. I have only been to two concerts for bands/groups/artists that are not related to school or family in my life. Seeing My Friend The Chocolate Cake on Wednesday night was the second event (the first was seeing They Might Be Giants on my 21st birthday)...

Oh. My. God. MFTCC are totally and utterly brilliant live! David Bridie is really rather amusing (he devoted Your Ship Has Gone to "any number of Liberal front benchers") and they played to the audience (one person yelled out "Play The Gossip" so they did). They were fantastic with the music sounding insanely better live then it ever has on my CD player. Vandorlo (a piece that I was never really fussed on) was wonderful with so much energy and life and sound being thrown around the room. I quiet possibly fell in love with both Helen and Hope for that piece alone. *happy grin* Afterwards Hope was also kind & wonderful enough to sign my Parade Songbook too. I have had MFTCC tunes running through my head since Wednesday night. This is not a bad thing. Wow, squee and other happy noises!

Canberra
Australia is often stereotyped as being a large hot dry land. So who the hell put the capital in a place that only has summer 2 weeks a year? Canberra is a rather pretty, well designed town (despite the lack of trams) which is located in around some rather lovely hills. It is however freezing with the temperatures not reaching more then about 10C for the entire time we were there. Walking outside made my ears and face hurt due to the cold. On the upside there are some lovely people there. Simon and I managed to catch up with Patrick on Wednesday night & he took us for a drive around town, we went out to dinner with Peter, Marcia and Rick (who is just as lovely as Marcia has lead us to belive) on Thursday and saw Lily, Greg and John on Friday. Questacon is great fun (a whole room devoted to natural disasters!) as was Parliment House (& Question time... politicians behaving like 3 year olds up close & personal!). We also walked to the museum on Saturday morning via the lake which was really lovely.

That's all for now, probably be having a going away thing at some point. Should write about other stuff later but that's mostly it...

You mean people read this stuff?

This is a quick one is for Maelkann and Jason who both has whinged/commented that I hadn't updated my blog to me today. So in no particular order...

Continuum was great (lots of Perthies)
Simon is here (cute boys)
No more work here (yay!)
Asthma is playing up (found a nice doctor who confirmed my own diagnosis)
Vegetarian Orgasm dinner with 7 people I love dearly (really I do)
Canberra in 2 days (town planning!)
MFTCC in two days!!!

Details to follow... I'm off to a home cooked meal & bed :)

A Five Minute Update

Weather!
It has been picking up it's only moderately cold rather than bitterly freezing :) Otherwise been having alot of fun in between the large amounts of work, I've only had one day off since I've been here (self imposed due to illness) and often have double shifts making me a tired little moonbug...

Food!
Off to dinner with Jason tonight most probably to the White Lotus which is a Asian Vegetarian place. Jason (bless his little heart) has printed off the list of Melbourne vegetarian places and is slowly working his way through it. During my stay I have been helping him complete the task of trying the masses of vegie food Melbourne has to offer (the things I do for friends *sigh*). We went to Soul Mama at the St Kilda Baths for Sunday lunch which had wonderful mains (very, very filling... the Miso Eggplant was fab!) and most importantly vegan desserts. I had mango kiwi sago which was sweet but refreshing. The view was great & then we went for a walk along St Kilda Beach as the weather was nice and later explored bookshops. So many books, so little baggage space.

Boys!
Well, one boy, Simon shall be here and be inflicted with vegetarian food on Friday :) He mentioned he didn't really eat dessert because of the no dairy thing. I will most likely be a very bad influence. Continuum should be very fun however.

*hugs to all of you who deserve it*

One is the loneliest number... (a bit of a whinge)

It's cold and cloudy. Yes I know it's Melbourne and therefore going out without ten layers of clothing will get you frost bitten in summer, but the weather today is rather shite. Not raining, yet, which is some consolation. On top of that work is slow and I'm awfully lonely due to most of my Melburnian friends having jobs and lives and meetings today.

So why don't I do anything touristy? Because I've either already done it (like how many times can you go to Old Melbourne Gaol without being able to recite the life history of Ned Kelly?) or I'm waiting for Simon to come over (10 more days) so we can do stuff together. Hmmm Scienceworks, Museum, National Gallery, Vegetarian Orgasm... *grin* (for the ignorant the last one is the place that does yummy vegan desserty things, not a comment on my sex life). Also just realised that Simon and I seem to have managed to be together for 3 months now, without killing each other, quite impressive for me...

And there's all that study I should be doing at some point too :P See I even procrastinate about study I want to do by choice. If only I could have a Bablefish so I wouldn't need to learn Spanish and Portuguese...