I was soooo nervous when I went to Darwin for work last year - new place, first face-to-face meeting, the unknown etc made it all very tiring. once that meeting finished my boss and i crossed the road to the pub and downed two beers in quick succession. This is different. I'm in Melbourne - a city I've ventured to so often I've called it my second city for years and they've sent me off ahead of everyone else to set up and to ensure everything will go smoothly. i have made countless road trips to Melbourne for fun, to visit family, to support a friend who was auditioning for Aussie Idol, and for concerts when I used to be a dancer. I've driven in this city, I was here 18 months ago for my grandfather's funeral. I have friends in this city, and yet I'm still nervous. To the point of anxiety. Almost to the point of uncontrolled anxiety but not quite spiraling into a full blown panic attack. Whats the deal? Don't I have faith in myself? Don't I believe in myself? Am I in danger? All I have to do is set up a table for a meeting, sit there and take minutes then pack it up. Big deal. What if I was travelling for one of my books? What if I was doing a meet and greet and media interviews and people were coming out to see me? Would I cope? It's 3.20 pm and I'm finally eating some lunch - a napolitana pizza, which is onion, garlic, anchovy and herbs. Divine.
It's now 3.30 pm. This time tomorrow our meeting will have finalised. I feel better about it already.
By the way, the hotel I'm staying in, the Hotel Windsor, is strongly imprinted by history. I would even say haunted. On my floor walking to my room there was a man in a black suit and top hat walking toward me on my right side looking smart in an evening jacket as though he were on his way to dinner. He had brown hair with a mustache and beard. Just as quickly as I saw him, he was gone. I didn't have the guts to ask the concierge if the hotel was haunted but it was so old, I'm sure it probably had more then one ghost wandering around.
The front view of my hotel:
What the hotel looked like back in the day. I can imagine the guy I saw came from this kind of era..
I'm writing this 'off the cuff' because I have been dying to come back here, I just haven't given myself the time so instead of drafting an entry I thought I'd throw myself straight into it, so apologies from the outset...
A short round up..
1. That fitness thing - what was I thinking?
Moving on
This year has been mightily productive - working full time, back to uni (gasp!). I taught myself a little bit of Greek, I taught myself a little bit of French, I decided to keep up with the Greek as I now have a tutor in a great friend at work. She has taught me the grand phrases of 'kernas esi' (your shout) and 'yia mas' (cheers!). Really, how much more is there to learn? I'm now equally fluent in Greek and Ukrainian (I am Ukrainian) and ready to take on the world!
I'm trying to get back to my writing but the readings and assessments for uni are taking up most of my time. So 'Sugar', although intended as 1 of 4, is still a stand-alone short story. I am determined to get to the point in at least the next edition if not the next 3.
It has been an interesting week
The water hoses burst in our kitchen. At first we had too much water, and then for nearly a week we didn't have enough. I couldn't make my breakfast and resorted to hot cakes at McDonalds too often then I'd like to admit. The good news story is that it gave me time to read the book I've been trying to sneak in between the dry uni texts - Doreen Virtue's 'The Angel Therapy Handbook'. If this lovely lady knows what she is on about (I like to thinks she does) then by her definition I'm quite the psychic. Oh yes. I'll elaborate on this further in a later entry.
Remember I mentioned uni readings? Well, they are still staring at me from over there in this room so best I hop to it and get back to 'cracking books' as I've been resorted to calling it.
Before I go I'll try and post a link to the haunting music of Erik Satie from Youtube. It took me almost 5 years to rediscover his music. It took me almost 5 years to realise the French spell Eric with a 'k'. See? Not a natural French-lady at all, I'll stick with the Greek.
And a little bit of someone sexy to watch - Bruno Mars - before I go (no I'm not procrasinating at all...)
It was a stifling 35 degree afternoon yesterday by the time I made it out of work. I tossed around in my head the idea of going for a run in the heat or heading to the beach, where it would be cooler, for my usual 7km walk. In the end I told myself to stop being a wuss and drove to the oval where I like to run. Unfortunately there were some shady types loitering around the park. I sized up the situation and in the end decided not to get out of the car. The fact that I couldn’t feel safe running by myself at my local oval pee’d me off a bit. Instead I drove to my folks place for dinner and then walked up their monstrous hill. I figured it was better than nothing, and congratulated myself on at least keeping on track with doing something every second day.
Buuut…
My measurements around my tummy haven’t budged yet… It hasn’t been quite a week though, so that is probably an unrealistic expectation… And I ate a bag of cheezels the other day which probably didn’t help… But they are sooo delicious :)
