/karen/

Blow, Gabriel, blow!

Saturday, 19 July, 2008

Monday 7/7/08

I was in at work at 7:30 but realised that Tony had been in on the weekend and had already seen my prank so I missed his initial reaction. Oh well! Work was more fighting foo: email, Sola Panel (you wouldn't think one little blog would be so much work, would you!) and Faithful Writer things. I was going to have lunch with Bec as Elsie was away but then Tony sprang on us a surprise GAFCON report plus slideshow so I had to cut my lunch with Bec short.

In the afternoon we had a long overdue Briefing meeting and then it was pretty much time for me to go home. So I went home and worked on more Sola Panel things (made the comments feed live and edited the template so the 10 most recent comments appear on the side). We had leftovers for dinner and watched TV: Sir David Attenborough's The Life of Mammals (Episode 2 on insect hunters) and The Farmer Wants a Wife (Ben likes it). I spent the rest of evening fixing things on the computer, then went to bed.

Tuesday 8/7/08

Writing day—and I get to do it for work! I woke later than intended, then said goodbye to Ben who was driving to Canberra to visit Steve. I caught the train to Circular Quay and went to the Customs House Library, getting in around 11. I worked for about an hour and a half, reading Surviving the Breakup and scribbling bits and pieces on my article outline. Then I walked to Pitt St (trying to get some exercise) and went to The Tea Centre to have lunch (toasted sandwich with sundried tomato, rocket, bacon and bonconcini, plus a large pot of chai tea). I finished reading Surviving the Breakup along with writing my notes, then walked to Dirt Cheap CDs, then Kinokuniya where I splurged and bought some books: The Game by Diana Wynne Jones, Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi (which came out in a format which doesn't cost $50!) and a little hardcover version of Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey (because it's only after you possess the complete works of Jane Austen in one volume that you realise it's really difficult to read; the print is too small, the margins too narrow and the book way too heavy. Plus I've always been a sucker for little hardcovers; you should see my little collection of Bloomsbury Classics).

I caught the train to Newtown then and went to the Dendy to see The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (watch an English dub trailer). Bec was keen to see this with me but we couldn't find a time that suited us and the Reel Anime film schedule. So I went by myself. The movie was made by a number of people who worked on Studio Ghibli films (including Grave of the Fireflies) and it certainly had a kind of Studio Ghibli feel. The animation was just breathtaking with enormous attention paid to light and shade and colour. It had the sort of look about it that made me think of Whisper of the Heart (my favourite Studio Ghibli film)—deep blue skies filled with billowing white clouds, sunshine, cicadas chirping in the trees, young boys and girls/men and women running along enjoying friendship and high school. The script was funny and clever (I loved the remark that her aunt made about how she used to leap through time: “You ever have one of those Sundays when you wake up and before you know it, the day's over?”), and it took you through the lows and highs of emotion, the characters were well done, and my only gripe was the ending (quite unsatisfactory!) and the fact that Mokoto looked rather comical when she cried.

Afterwards, I caught the train home and ate leftovers for dinner while watching Bend It Like Beckham. Then I went to bed. But at 3 am I still couldn't sleep (maybe because Ben wasn't there beside me) so I turned on the light and read some more, and finally dropped off around 6.

Wednesday 9/7/08

I got up at 9 and went to the city—went to Kings Comics to see if I could find the Coraline graphic novel illustrated by P. Craig Russell. They didn't have it yet, but I was able to score a free double pass to a preview screening of The Forbidden Kingdom (the first movie featuring both Jet Li and Jackie Chan). I SMS-ed Elsie and she agreed to come with me, provided she's free.

Then I walked to see if I could find the library near Town Hall, only to discover that that library was what the Customs House Library is now. (The Town Hall office buildings still have a scale model of the city of Sydney though.) I went to Kinokuniya and sat in the window seat of the children's section, reading Divorce by Frank Retief and scribbling notes. After a while, my legs started getting pins and needles, so I went to the café and ordered a hot chocolate (mental note: their hot chocolates aren't that good). I sat there and finished off Frank Retief's book, then went home on the train.

At home, I rearranged the study so that my desk is now near the door and the bookshelves are now near the window (this gives Ben more room near his desk). I did the laundry and ate leftovers while watching bits of Sliding Doors on my computer. I made fish for dinner. Then Ben came home while I was in the shower. He'd brought me a present. We talked and then went to bed.

Thursday 10/7/08

Back at work without Ben, I felt really tired and I forget what I did (Sola Panel? Briefing assessing? Web things? Whatever it was, I swear it was work! Oh yeah, it was Briefing meeting minutes!) I had fish for lunch and really enjoyed it.

Back at home, Ben made the mince dish for dinner. We watched TV together (Law & Order: Criminal Intent and SVU) and stayed up later than intended. After midnight, Ben sang me happy birthday and we went to sleep.

Friday 11/7/08

Karen turns 30. (Or 29 if you're counting in Pirates of Penzance years; lost the 6th birthday over the International Dateline.)

I woke up and had breakfast and Ben gave me presents: The Swimming Hour (by Andrew Bird's Bowl of Fire), Bottoms of Barrels (by Tilly and the Wall—the band who have a tap dancer instead of a drummer) and The Believer Book of Writers Talking to Writers.

We drove to work (in at 9:30) and I received lots of SMSs, emails, Facebook wall posts and face-to-face greetings from people wishing me happy birthday. I was touched they had all remembered! (Facebook helps!) Bec showed up later that morning bearing her present (which included this panda made of FIMO).

At 11, Ben and I went off to our appointment at the bank, thus making it our first foray into the world of home loans and other such things. I don't think I followed much of what we talked about during the meeting (“Mortgage insurance? Wha ...?”) so it was a good thing Ben was on the ball. In a way, the meeting was a bit depressing: it's amazing how much it costs to own your own place if you want to live in Sydney, and it's even more disturbing how much you have to repay each week to the bank. How do people do it and still manage to give to Christian ministry and charity and the like??? Why isn't it as simple as when Jane and her father go house hunting on Prince Edward Island in Jane of Lantern Hill and buy the Jimmy John's place by the gulf for a mere $400 (including furniture)? (Yes, I know, life is not like the books ...)

For lunch, Bec, Guan (who wrote me a birthday card on a blog post), Elsie and Ben had arranged for all of us to go to lunch. So we went to the Kingsford dumpling house and filled up on dumplings (of course!), honey chicken, noodles and other yummy things. Elsie gave me Persepolis for my birthday because she had read about it on my blog. It turned out we had bought our copies just a day apart from the very same place! I said I would exchange the one I bought.

In the afternoon, I finished off the Briefing meeting minutes and sent them around. Em very generously broke out the chocolate Tony had brought back from the UK for Friday Worker's Club, and we all partook. Ben came to pick me up around 6 and we drove to Newtown and went to our favourite Japanese restaurant in Newtown (Hikaru, but unfortunately the food isn't as good now that it's changed hands). Someone was in our usual table so we got one close by. We both splurged and got the banquet, and ate 'til we were stuffed. “There are so many things I love about Japanese food,” I told Ben happily. “Sushi, sashimi, soft-shell crab, California rolls [okay, those aren't strictly Japanese], edamame, tempura, udon, eel ... miso soup ...” He laughed at me, then explained the whole home loan thing to me because I asked him to.

Then we drove to the video store and borrowed out Once and watched it in the study on the big screen, then went to bed.

Saturday 12/7/08

We were up early, and we caught the train into the city to go watch Lizz at her eisteddfodd. She was competing in the 17-25 female vocal event, which was being held in St Stephen's Uniting Church on Macquarie Street. The place was freezing and I felt so sorry for the poor girls in ball gowns who huddled in their duffle coats until it came time to sing, when they would take them off and perform in front of the sole adjudicator. They did two songs each. There were 25 girls in this division (according to the program) but the schedule had only allowed for an hour for the division (way too optimistic ...) The first girl was absolutely amazing—gorgeous tone, flawless performance, completely demoralising for everyone else (I wonder if she won). I sat there thinking how lucky I was to listen to opera on a Saturday morning (and some of those girls were brilliant! However, one poor girl had to perform while there was another soprano practising scales just outside. The audience started getting indignant and fidgety then ...) Then it started getting tedious, and I knitted away silently at another Urchin hat and waited 'til Lizz was up.

She did a lovely performance, and her theatrics were amusing and well-suited to the song. After the division was over, we said goodbye to her and walked to Pitt St. Ben went to Dirt Cheap CDs and I went to Kinokuniya to exchange the book. He met me there. I ended up getting the Coraline graphic novel (which means I now own it in hardcover, softcover, audio and graphic novel ... yes, Guan, I know I'm slightly crazy!) We went to Max Brenner under David Jones for hot chocolate and queued for ages, but then were lucky enough to get a seat. (They so need a bigger premises ...) Then we went home, had leftovers for lunch and watched taped TV—The Simpsons, Law & Order and so on. Ben fell asleep so I switched to Peacemaker that Elsie had passed on from her sister while ironing shirts.

Then it was time to get ready, so I donned my black velvet dress, pinned back my hair, put on makeup and then we went to catch the train to the city once more. We met Catherine H who was on her way to a hen's night, and chaperoned her almost to her destination as she was headed in the same direction as us.

We made it to Azuma a bit late and discovered we were the last ones there. We had a private room because there was nine of us, and it was a very lovely room. The ordering mostly fell to me which slightly exasperated me because I was sick of making decisions. But I ordered for us and then worried I hadn't gotten enough. Then it came, and it worked out that there was enough because everyone was full by the end. And, my goodness, wasn't it delicious! We had sashimi,

air dried and butterflied Pacific saury (yummier than expected!),

deep-fried New Zealand flounder fillets served with Ponzu dipping sauce,

grilled fresh duck breast served with Azuma's original Teriyaki sauce,

hot soba,

eel, tempura, hand rolls, Chawan-mushi (steamed savoury egg custard with Prawn, Scallop, Shiitake), and so on.

There was some debate about what we should do afterwards. We had been thinking of going to see a movie but then we wouldn't have been able to talk to each other, plus Pitt St was a bit of a hike away. I was sort of keen on karaoke (having never done it before in the city) but only a few of us were up for that. We decided to see if we could find dessert somewhere nearby. We walked down towards the Quay and passed the Customs House which, to my surprise, was still open. I led them all inside to show them the foyer floor (the lights are more visible at night):

And then Liwen mentioned the restaurant at the top of it—Cafe Sydney. It seemed perfect: we piled into the lift and went up, and because there were no tables, were seated in the lounge area on the funny chairs and low tables that looked like white pillboxes. There, we ordered dessert, tea and cocktails. They had T2 tea, and it came with milk and a whole pot full of honey!

Ben had trifle.

I had cheesecake (vanilla, pear and ginger cheesecake with brandy snap—yum!)

We also wandered out front to check out the view:

Finally, around 11 pm we called it a night and parted ways—Ben and I catching the train home.

Sunday 13/7/08

We slept in a bit, then I got up and made a list of things I wanted/needed to do on the computer. I got through most of them before I had to get ready for the wedding. I wore my blue bridesmaid's dress from Becky and Phil's wedding and wore the lace thing from Victoria over the top. We caught the train to Circular Quay and saw one of the wedding guests on our way around The Rocks to The Watersedge.

There we found Leigh rehearsing with his guitar, and Elwin setting up sound (I couldn't believe he was setting up the sound for his own wedding!!!) Ben was on MC duties, so I found myself a table and sat down, and scribbled. Then other started showing up so I put that away and was social.

More and more guests showed up, and we gathered around the area with the chairs, and the wedding began. The family and bridal party came from further up the pier—from the Sebel. Felicity looked amazing.

After the wedding while the bridal party were having photos done, we went next door to the Sebel and had drinks in the foyer. (I had hot chocolate and snapped photos.)

Then around 6 we went back to The Watersedge for the reception where we were served canapes and ushered to our tables:

It was a lovely reception with Ben being a very relaxed and friendly MC, introducing some of the best speeches I've ever heard at a reception (they were so funny!). I wish the pillar hadn't been blocking my view of the PowerPoint slideshow Felicity's mum did. There were also performances from various people singing songs. After that, there was dessert and dancing:

I wasn't going to dance but then got urged into it by Crystal. Anyway, it was easier to watch Ben dancing from the dance floor than from the table.

The evening went on with more dancing. When we were sick of the dancing and the thumping, inappropriate music (who plays gangsta rap at a wedding???) Ben and I went outside. Various guests left before the end because, after all, it was a Sunday night and the majority had work the next day. But we stayed right to the very end—when everyone made an arch with their hands and the newlyweds ran outside and out to their limo.

Ben and I walked back to Circular Quay and caught the train home. We alighted at Stanmore and walked home.

“Whales,” said Ben.

“What about them?” I said.

“They're mammals.”

“That they are.”

“I wonder why they decided to go back to the sea.”

“Maybe because on land you can't walk around with your mouth open and have food just end up in your mouth.” (Karen then does her best whale-scooping-up-krill impression complete with Muppet Animal noises. Ben then laughs at Karen, and they go home.)

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