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2006-11-07 - 12:14 a.m.

So I'm 2/3 of the way through this cycle at work, but let's go back to the beginning of the last cycle. That started on Wednesday 25/10, and you may recall that as of Tuesday 24/10 I was up-to-date. Though I'd be worried if you did recall that.

Anyway, I don't think I did anything significant on my first two mornings, but I was very energetic and went on the standard walk with Nathan on all 3 mornings. Then I had an alcohol free changeover, so everything was looking good in terms of cutting down on drinking, but as I previously mentioned that went completely out the windown last Wednesday, and while you could say the same for the previous Saturday, that was more warranted.

The alcohol free changeover involved going to the Taste Out of Africa eatery with Nathan and Steve (sometime after previously mentioned walk) and then watching a couple of DVDs. Well, we hired a couple- "Happy Endings" which featured Lisa Kudrow, Maggie Gylenhaal and Tom Arnold, and "V for Vendetta", but I was so tired by the middle of "V for Vendetta" that I had to go to bed and watch the rest the next morning.

Saturday (28/10) was my first afternoon shift, and that night Mark was having drinks at the Townie under the flimsy guise of a sendoff before he went to the US for 3 weeks. The plan was always to drive there and see how I felt- could I happily have a couple, say hi to people and drive home or would I need to leave the car? The fact that I was originally going to be having lunch the next day with Francis was another reason for not staying late. After Francis rainchecked and I had a crap day at work, I was pretty sure I was going for option #2.

So I got to the Townie at about 12.30am and everyone was in high spirits. Everyone it seemed except for Annie, who was there and was having issues- but once I found out that they had nothing to do with me I was fine. The irony was that Annie was having issues with Ruth, whose constant and entirely expected name-dropping was stirring up unpleasant memories for Annie, but in Ruth's defence, she was probably acting entirely as Annie might have 4 years ago, and that's what was so upsetting for her.

Annie and I were fine from the word go pretty much, which must be a first in recent times. More than fine really- she was volunteering real information about real life almost more readily than she was when we were close friends (granted back then she was absorbed in her surreal self destructive tendencies). So she has some not-so-fun things to deal with at the moment (nothing to do with anything I've been talking about), but deep down she seems happier than I've seen her in ages- and that includes back when I actually did see her. She has a completely ordinary boyfriend, and instead of blurring lines that are generally better not blurred in the world of fandom, she is doing proper nerdy fan things like paying stupid amounts of money to go to a Buffy convention.

Also at the Townie were Phoebe (naturally), Marty (the recent groom), Glen and Amanda and others. Meegs and Yas were downstairs as well, so when I decided I was definitely leaving my car and not really attempting to regulate my alcohol intake, I felt there was a good, social reason. And I'm pretty sure we actually left before the Townie closed, and I'm pretty sure I went straight home to bed. It was a good night all round.

Sunday I had an adequate sleep in, and just before work I was dragged down the street for Pho, because Nathan decided that since he was trying to quit smoking, and in order to do that was not drinking for 3 weeks, that he may as well go all the way and do a 15 day detox- so he wanted a last bowl of Pho before 15 days of carrots and lentils. I don't think I did anything apart from work on Monday, but work-wise Sunday and Monday were much better than Saturday night was, so the cycle ended on a good note.

Tuesday was my first day off, and I figured I'd have a sensible 3 days- go to Trivia on Tuesday night, maybe have a couple of beers then, have a couple with Kellee on Wednesday afternoon, and that would pretty much be it. I even considered driving to trivia, but in the end I walked there and back which health wise must surely have more than made up for the few extra drinks I was afforded in that time by not driving. No amount of drinks or exercise was going to make up for the shame of changing our final gamble-all-your-points answer from the right one to the wrong one at the last minute and losing after topping the points table for the second week in a row. ON A BEATLES QUESTION!!! Gah. I'm still not over it. It was misleading dammit. My answer was right...mostly.

Wednesday I did the groceries, and at about 4.30pm met Kellee at the Royal Exchange (that's the name of the pub down the road by the way). Had about 3 drinks, and at some point Nathan joined us for a glass of water. Was feeling like staying longer but I wanted to keep up my good cooking-at-home habits so I invited Kellee and Nathan back for dinner (even making Nathan something different to Kellee and I which met the requirement of his detox). Had wine while cooking and eating dinner, and then when Nathan went home Kellee and I decided to go to the Townie.

I thought about my whole trying to moderate thing, but also figured I was going pretty good, and I hadn't hung out with Kellee for a while, and there'd be other people I knew at the Townie and dammit it was the equivalent of my Saturday night. Plus I wanted to take Kellee to the Sly Fox on a Wednesday night. So at the Townie as expected I saw Rowan, Chris and Claire who had just finished trivia, and we sat and talked and drank with them for a while, before moving on to the Sly Fox with Rowan, Claire and their flatmate in tow. It was fun, and once again was a social thing, even though I had a lot to drink. Now as I said in my last entry- when a pub closes at 2 or 3am on a Wednesday night it is most probably time to go home. Okay, if you're really keen and a pub down the road is open later then by all means go there, but a $20 cab ride to Kings Cross (plus the same to get back) and all the expenses associated with staying out for another couple of hours IS JUST NOT NECESSARY.

I felt like crap for most of the next day as well. I had Erin around for some piano playing and singing, cooked myself dinner and went to see Pinky Beecroft and the White Russians (supported by Cameron Bruce's new band), but all the while I was thinking how much I wished I'd gone home when the Sly Fox closed.
The White Russians and Bruce (the eponymous name of the support band) were both good, and all I had to drink all night was one Coke.

Friday (3/11) it was back to work, and afterwards a longer than usual walk with Nathan, followed by homemade dinner and then bed by 9.30pm. Definitely what I needed. Saturday after work I went to Kim and Marty's in Parramatta for a cocktail party, where I drove and had one cocktail, a mocktail and lots of Coke (I'm just going to assume you realise I mean the drink or I'd be making a bigger deal out of it), and was home at about 12.30am. It doesn't matter how sensible you are, 4 hours sleep just isn't fun.

So then last night, after my 9 hours of work after 4 hours sleep, I went over to Francis' place for dinner. Francis is a close friend of Jo's from work over here, and we went to her wedding last December. It was a nice, casual evening which basically consisted of me sitting in on their usual Sunday night activities. We watched 20 to 1 Unscripted and Unplanned (because those things are addictive, but anyone who believes either Britney and Madonna pashing at the MTV awards or Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction" were unplanned is naive at best), Australian Idol because Francis watches it every week, and then "School of Rock". I had two glasses of wine all night, was home and in bed before 12.30am, but still managed to sleep in until after midday. I guess I needed it.

And that once again brings me up to date. All the day-to-day stuff as well as my concerns about overindulgence and my optimism about Annie. All I need to do now is rattle on about work politics and all my insecurities about making the move over to the US, and that's my life in a nutshell.

No, this is me in a nutshell...

ANUTSHMEELL

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