2007-06-20 - 12:40 a.m.

It's 12.40am after my first afternoon shift and apparently it's lucky I didn't have to stay back because cyclonic winds are going to lash the NSW coast, peaking at about 2-3am. Everything is calm so far, although the rain is icy. Yesterday was my changeover day, and after watching 3 episodes of "Grey's Anatomy" (which took me up to about 7pm) I didn't feel like doing anything for the rest of the night, was probably in bed by 11pm and still didn't get up until 11.30am today. So I figure I'll write in here now- regardless of whether I go to bed now or at 3am, I'm still bound to oversleep tomorrow. It'll be cold and windy and aside from Lucy leaving for work there won't be anything waking me up at a decent hour. That's one of the good things about working afternoon shifts on weekends really- movement in my apartment eases me out of my sleep by about 10am usually. The other good thing is convincing people to come to Yum Cha.

So I just spent $500 on tickets for myself and my Mum and Dad to see Burt Bacharach and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra at the Opera House. If Dad doesn't think that's a good 60th present then, well, he's very hard to please. Not that I'll tell him the price. I was just surfing the net last night for ideas and I stumbled across it- he was supposed to play during the Sydney Festival in January but it was postponed- I remember reading about it back then and seriously considering it. Finding out it hadn't happened yet, it wasn't sold out and I was desperately trying to think of a good birthday present for my Dad it was all too perfect. Last night I could have got 3 tickets together for about $100 each, but I hesitated and asked my Mum what she thought, and now the only tickets left that aren't "single seats only" are the premium ones. Very similar to what happened with the Leonard Cohen night really. Okay, so it's more expensive but the seats are good. And Bacharach is just below Lennon/McCartney and Dylan and probably above even Brian Wilson and Paul Simon when it comes to 60's Pop Royalty- and Lennon's dead, McCartney has become a sad old man who will probably never make it back to Australia and Dylan has been murdering his songs live for 40 years now, so I have no desire to see him again. Bacharach himself isn't really a performer though, but him on piano with his choice of vocalists and a Symphony Orchestra should be awesome.

Plus not having to think of a birthday present for either of my parents (their birthdays are a week apart) is two less things to think about between now and New York. There's Jo's birthday to worry about- do I give her something in New York because I won't see her again until after her birthday? Do I find something that I can get delivered for her birthday (naturally even if I opt for the July or September options for actually giving her a present I'll get her flowers delivered on her birthday).

I probably should give Regina Spektor a miss seeing as that's the day after Burt Bacharach- but then again... I think I've been saving money on pub visits since Nathan's been gone.

So what have I been up to since I last wrote? Lucy got Season 2 of Grey's Anatomy for her birthday, and I watched the first four episodes with her on Thursday night, 12 (!!) during the course of a lazy Friday at home by myself (I think that tops the number of Buffy's I watched in one day) and had finished all 27 episodes by last night (so 5 days all up). That virtually covers what I did on my days off :) Wednesday I slept in, can't recall doing much else before I headed up to Trivia where we came a respectable third, Thursday I did my grocery shopping and Friday about the only constructive thing I did was pay my monthly bills. The morning shifts just gone were strictly work, making dinner and watching DVDs. About the only thing of note in my previous afternoons (ie immediately after I last wrote) was Yum Cha on the Queen's Birthday Monday with Tara, Birch and Frantz (from the Uni kids and partners circle).

And that's pretty much it for now.

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