/karen/

The straw that broke the camel’s back

Saturday, 22 December, 2007

It is over.

I am now officially on holidays.

Is it overly dramatic to say that I could cry?

I don't particularly feel like crying. I do feel like being dramatic, though!

Anyway, it's been a rough fortnight ...

Thursday 6/12/07

Ben came in to work with me and we got in around 9:30. Emma was relieved to learn that I'd showered, given our problems with the water the day before. I got stuck into The Daily Reading Bible (Volume 14) and I don't remember what else. Ben left for counselling around 3 but came back at 6 to get me. I can't remember what we did for dinner.

Friday 7/12/07

Still in a slump, as was Bec who, I remember, commiserated with me about slumpiness. The Daily Reading Bible (Volume 14) started to drive me mental; I spent about two or three hours on the one study while complaining to Guan about it on IM. Unfortunately, as it was Friday, there were no theologically trained people in the office I could ask. I was able to get it sorted when Tony finally came in, but I only got through half the studies I'd intended for the day, and left for counselling in a rather annoyed mood.

Counselling reaffirmed how exhausted I was. “You do a lot,” said my counsellor. “Yes, I do,” I said. Or something to that effect. I drove straight home because Ben didn't come to work with me, and then spent a very quiet evening watching Buffy Season 4 and knitting.

Saturday 8/12/07

Had a very glorious sleep in, then we got up and drove to Bec's place (though initially we ended up on the wrong side of Anzac Parade). Guan and Mary were already there, and we all walked down to the yum cha place to celebrate the end of Sam the Pirate month (stopping at Bec's space-age DVD place on the way. And Ben took the rainbow slinky with him. And also I should mention that Guan won). Ben M joined us at the restaurant, having completely missed my SMS that said, “Are you coming?”.

It was hard not to feel like we were in the middle of Guan's story, what with the ruckus and yum cha-ish stuff that was happening around us. But I felt really comfortable because it was like we were all in the same boat—well, Guan, Bec and me, in terms of the Chinese-ness that none of us don't feel 100% comfortable with (and for Mary, Ben and Ben M, it didn't matter because they don't look Chinese and no-one would expect them to know how to say “pork bun” in Cantonese). I said, “It's great; no-one can make fun of us for not really knowing how to use chopsticks,” and proceeded to stab a dumpling with mine. (They all laughed at me. Don't worry, it was good laughing.)

Anyway, to celebrate the end of Sam the Pirate month, I presented the participants with these awesome Pirate Benders (bought at the National Gallery in Canberra!). Bec got Bones and Guan got Patch, and I think they liked them very much!

After gorging ourselves on yummy Chinese food, we went back to Bec's place and helped decorate her tree. I can't remember the last time I decorated a tree! We also decorated Ben:

Then we listened to music and played Simpsons Pictionary (Guan, Ben M and I lost spectacularly). I got a little obsessed with the bowl of cherries on the table (I think Cezanne bells just went off in my brain):

We also had jelly for dessert (takeaway from yum cha):

(Bec has more pictures on her blog.)

We had to leave around 4:30 so that Ben and I could drive home and pick up Guan's birthday present (which I had forgotten to bring with me along with the other stack of stuff that I had to return to him/lend to him), so the plan to go with Guan and Mary to Quaker's Hill didn't quite work out. We all ended up leaving around the same time (and Guan ended up giving Bec a Moleskine, even though it was supposed to be the other way 'round!)

Ben and I drove home, then I dashed upstairs to wrap Guan's present and grab a card. We took the M4 out west, but, as usual, getting to the M4 took forever. We reached Quaker's Hill Anglican without misshap (and without running out of petrol like last time) and ended up more or less on time. There was a clutch of CBS students who were the mission team at the church handling all the rego, and one of them looked at me puzzled (I think he'd forgotten that he'd walked with me and Elsie to the National Convention Centre at NTE). Guan, Mary and the Un parents were already there, plus (of course) Haoran and Sarah—and even Claire, who I hadn't seen in five years.

It's always interesting to see how other ministries run their supporters' events. Craig Blacket started with a presentation about the TAFE ministry which I don't think I 100% understood but I sort of got the gist of it. (For non-Australian readers, TAFE is the tertiary alternative to university [TAFE stands for Technical and Further Education]. The courses are more vocational in nature, and they usually lead to advanced diploma degrees, not bachelors. Craig has been working in ministry to TAFE for a long long time, and is hoping the State government will approve and, perhaps, fund chaplains for TAFE.)

After Craig's presentation, we split up into three groups: one with Craig and two with his MTS-ers. We went to Haoran's group for the first session and heard Haoran talk a bit about how he'd been going with MTS and what he had learnt throughout the year. Then we went to Craig's group and heard him talk about TAFE chaplaincy. Then, to my surprise, there was singing—congregational singing—followed by dinner, an address from the minister of Quaker's Hill Anglican, more singing and then dessert. While the CBS team were cleaning up, we got to catch up a little with Haoran and Sarah before we had to leave.

I took the wheel on the way home because Ben was pretty tired (and I had had a bit of a nap in the car on the way there). He wasn't quite sure where we were so I followed my instincts, waiting for him to find where we were on the street directory, and then got us lost. We headed back towards the M7 and then got on it, then followed it to the M2 and went over the harbour bridge to get back home. To me, it seemed like we went the long way 'round, but at 110 km/hr, it really took the same amount of time.

Sunday 9/12/07

I had a long sleep in and spent most of the afternoon watching Buffy. I hadn't thought I was on music but Ben looked at the roster and told me I was. So that made me cranky because I was counting on being able to not have to do anything at church that evening which sounds awful but every now and then you need weeks like that. I'd just had one of the busiest months of my life (three hen's nights, three weddings, one wedding speech, two talks, driving to Canberra and back, editing The Briefing and The Daily Reading Bible [Volume 13], finishing the web extras on the Briefing website, while, at the same time, Ben was suffering through seven third-year Moore College exams and then, post-exams, the worst depressive episode of the year—comparable, even, to first year MTS) so I hope you can understand why I wanted so much to not do anything at church that night.

But there it was. I was rostered on singing. So we drove to church and I complained to Ben that I didn't want to be there, and felt despairing because I didn't see any way of getting out it. I went over the road to Borsellino's to get supplies for supper (because, of course, our Bible study group was rostered on that too), then came back for rehearsal. I needed to talk to Emma about the music roster because it was wrong for January. It confused me because we had all been asked to email Malcolm, as well as Sarah (who puts the rosters together) our availability for December and January, and I had done so and flagged that I would probably be absent for at least two Sundays in January because I'm going on a road trip to Victoria with school friends. So it was rather puzzling to me that, when the roster came out, for the two weeks that I had said that I was unavailable, I'd been rostered on band. And so I knew I needed to talk to Emma about it because she's the music coordinator and does the rosters for music. (Or so I thought. Because the last time the roster came out—which was two months ago—I had talked to Sarah about it and she said that she had put just down what Emma had given her, but then when I asked Emma about it, she said that I needed to talk to Sarah about it ... okay, you can understand why I was a little frustrated about the whole thing.)

My problem was, my timing. I was, you remember, already cranky, and I'm not very good at hiding what's going on inside from my outsides. So the conversation with Emma got off on the wrong foot and then escalated. I really should have chosen a better time to do it but I wanted to deal with the problem as soon as possible. But it escalated. And I ended up walking out of band rehearsal and going home in tears. I SMS-ed Elsie, unsure if she was back or in evening church or on the road from the Central Coast (NTE mission). I also SMS-ed George, unsure if she was back from New Zealand. And I called Malcolm who came over before church and explained the situation to him, and he said it sounded like some sort of miscommunication had taken place, and encouraged me to reconcile with Emma as soon as possible. I don't think he quite understood why I was so upset—why this was the straw that broke the camel's back on top of everything else (I mean, I'm not Superwoman; you can't expect me to keep on keeping on forever!)—but then he doesn't live my life so that's quite understandable.

Still, one of the things that made feel quite angry with the world in general (not with Malcolm in particular) was this unspoken attitude that I should have taken better care of myself in order to avoid things escalating like they did—in order to avoid the situation where the “stress cup” has been filled to the brim so that one more drop just pushes me over the edge. But hello? November? Three hen's nights, three weddings, one wedding speech, two talks, NTE, Ben doing exams, Ben feeling sad ... few of these things were under my control. If your friends or relatives get married, then of course you're going to be there for them, and if one of your friends asks you to give a speech at her wedding (which is a lovely thing for her to do given that I wasn't part of her bridal party), then of course you're going to say yes. And the talks? Well, I had agreed to do them months ago—months before I knew that November would be filled with three weddings and three hen's nights. And Ben? He can't choose when to feel sad; if he could, he would choose not to feel sad at all! So with so many areas of my life completely stressing me out, is it too much to ask to have just one area of my life stress-free, even if the amount of stress that area generates is comparatively and significantly smaller than the rest of the areas of my life? It's all it takes; one drop, and the cup overflows.

So I spent a quiet evening at home, eating leftovers for dinner, and feeling quite wretched and horrible—so wretched and horrible that both Bec and Guan, having been tipped off by my Facebook status, both started IM conversations with me and did the very kind thing of listening (well, the kind of “listening” you do through IM) to me explain the whole situation to them through the keyboard.

Then Ben came home and we had a massive fight (and I mean a massive fight; we don't fight that often) that was interrupted by Judith returning my call to thank her for substituting for me on singing (when she also had to do supper as well because Julia had to go to the hospital ... well, long story). So Sunday evening I was in tears on the phone to Judith for a while, before making up with Ben, getting an SMS from Emma apologising and asking if we could get together for coffee, and going to sleep really really late.

Monday 10/12/07

The late night meant that I was late for work the following day. I spent it wrestling with The Daily Reading Bible (Volume 14). Various people called/SMS-ed/IM-ed/emailed to check up on me: Fish, Elsie, George, Guan, Bec, and Sarah called to apologise about the roster problem (except she had thought that the problem was that I was on singing, so I had to explain to her about January and my confusion, and then learned that Sarah had very recently taken over doing the rosters for everything, and that, for some reason, she had stuffed up in putting me down for those two weeks when I'm going to be away), and I arranged with Emma via SMS to meet with her on Tuesday afternoon for coffee and a chat. Oh, and Ben tried to vacuum the bedroom and the vacuum cleaner caught fire.

I left work at around 6. The flat smelled a bit smokey and all the windows were open when I got home. I cooked dinner (Ben bought some vegetables for me so I didn't have to go the shops, I think) and watching the rest of Buffy Season 4. George also called to find out how I was doing because I said I'd email her about what happened on Sunday but then I ran out of time and didn't. It was good talking to her; George is someone who both understands and who gives good advice. And it was good to catch up with her because she had just returned from New Zealand.

Ben had gone out to dinner with Duncan F. They popped in to say hi later in the evening before Ben dropped Duncan home.

Tuesday 11/12/07

More editing of The Daily Reading Bible (Volume 14) and I even finished it. I left work at 4 and drove to Leichhardt, parking in the underground parking station of one of the malls. I had a bit of time to kill before I had to meet Emma, so I went to the $2 shop and bought Christmas wrapping paper and permanent markers, then went to the supermarket to buy supplies for church supper for the rest of the month (Bible study groups get rostered on church supper for the entire month).

Emma met me in Shearers and we got hot chocolates. It was a productive conversation, and I felt like I'd been heard. We had a good chat, then drove to church for the final church Bible study dinner of the year. Dinner was Lebanese, followed by Pictionary in teams (with extra points for using five different colours on your work; this is a church run by a visual arts ministry, after all!) Our team came second last (we lost a lot of time because I couldn't work out how to depict “sherbet” graphically).

Wednesday 12/12/07

Day off, praise the Lord! I think I spent half of it asleep. Ben and I were supposed to do grocery shopping but it took me forever to get organised. We finally set off for Marrickville Metro around 12, and went into Kmart to see if we could find a new vacuum cleaner. The choice and price range were mind-boggling, and we spent a good 10-15 minutes standing in front of the shelves trying to decide: with/without bags, with/without a detachable dust buster, with/without cyclonic action, with/without an air filter, is that one too expensive ... In the end, we decided to go somewhere else to see if we could get a good vacuum cleaner for cheaper. Then Ben said, “Don't you need a new iron?” which is true because we got our iron from my mother who had it for years, and recently it's taken to burning the clothes so I hate it. So we had the same problem with the iron. (What is so good about having an iron with teflon? Teflon on frying pans eventually wears off, so would teflon on an iron eventually come off on your clothes?) In the end, I just chose a Sunbeam and we got out of there (with a new bin for the bathroom and The Devil Wears Prada on DVD), then Ben went to put stuff in the car while I went into Woolworths to do the grocery shopping. He joined me later, and we lugged everything home and up the stairs.

By this time, I was starving. I made myself something for lunch, then proceeded to re-watch some Buffy episodes. Ben went to Hurstville to visit the Apple store and came back with a new Macbook (white and shiny!).

(I should explain as we don't just buy computers willy-nilly. Ben's computer had been dying for ages. He'd use it for a while and then an alarm would go off saying that the computer was overheating. It wasn't; he usually kept the case off and had a fan blowing into it all the time, but nevertheless the alarm persisted. It was four years' old; it was getting Alzheimer's. When we were in Hong Kong, my dad very generously offered to by us a laptop as a Christmas present. We decided to get a Mac, but it took some time because Apple released a new operating system and there was talk of a new range of laptops. Plus we discovered that it would be cheaper if it was done through salary sacrifice at MM. Up until the point where Ben was able to get the Mac, he kept using my machine which was a little irritating a times.)

We had to leave around 5 to catch a train into the city (Fish had wanted to take us on the Balmain ferry but he got called into work even though it was his day off so that plan was canned). Judith was supposed to meet us on the platform. Two trains slowed down like they were going to stop and she still hadn't arrived. But she was there in time for the next train, and Fish met us in the carriage. We walked over to the IMAX and rang Matt to see if he was near, and if Dave was with him. They were on their way, so Ben, Fish and Judith went inside to get their tickets and queue. I was thirsty so went and got a coconut gelato milkshake from Gelatissimo. Upstairs, the others were almost at the counter to get their tickets. We wandered over to the other side to queue for the film, counting ourselves lucky that we were one of the early ones. As the clock ticked by, more and more people joined the queue so that it started snaking across the foyer. Eventually Matt and Dave turned up and joined us, the doors opened, we were handed our 3D glasses, and we headed into the theatre.

I think the last time I went to the IMAX it was to see Cirque du Soleil's Journey of Man (because I thought I would never ever get to see Cirque du Soleil live). I'd forgotten how big the screen was. There was a seat missing in our row so instead of sitting next to Judith, we had to move one seat over which was kind of weird, so everyone shuffled along for us. I wasn't sure when to put on the 3D glasses, but the trailers started and the one for U2 3D concert was definitely in 3D so the glasses went on. And then Beowulf (screenplay by Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary, directed by Robert Zemeckis, and shot entire in motion capture) began.

This is what I wrote about it to Em the following day:

It's definitely worth seeing in 3D, but I think the IMAX will stop showing it after this week. I enjoyed the story but then I was familiar with the poem; Ben wasn't and he didn't enjoy it at all (he wanted there to be some sort of middle because the plot takes place in two acts). (Oh, and another thing that was cool was that there was one point where the poem was recited in its original dialect/language.) The CG is quite well done—definitely a step up from the lifeless humans in Toy Story, not quite of the calibre of the people who did Final Flight of the Osiris in The Animatrix (which was done by the people who did Final Fantasy): the characters look way too well-scrubbed—as if there was such thing as plumbing and showers in the 6th century! I found Grendel hugely scary and grotesque, the way monsters should be. The CG almost fooled you into thinking that you were seeing the real actors on screen because the resemblance was so close (though I know Anthony Hopkins doesn't resemble a fat happy Buddha in real life, and Angelina Jolie isn't gold-plated with a tail made out of her braid). The CG also made it possible for the cinematography to move beyond the realms of the physical; there were some pretty crazy camera angles and shots which just aren't possible in real life, and I thought they added to the feel of the story.

But it's very much a tale of heroes and demons, and the testosterone is painfully obvious in a lot of places. Even though the bits about Grendel's mother were largely made up by Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary, I liked that the whole thing was really about a man and his mistakes, and the consequences they have on those around him. In addition, it wasn't just about that; it was also about how heroes are remembered and legends are made—how a story becomes a story, even if the version everyone knows is not quite the truth. So I liked it more than I thought I would. I can't guarantee that you will, though!

(I should add that someone told me that it was made for 3D which makes me wonder what it's like in 2D.)

Afterwards we were hungry and keen to get some dinner. Someone made an executive decision to go to Chinta Ria so we wandered up there. Matt had to leave at this point because there was some place else he had to be, but the rest of us went in and got a nice table outside, then split four yummy dishes between us with rice.

Dave had to stick around afterwards to take his sister home from the formal so we said our goodbyes and headed home on the train.

Thursday 13/12/07

Ben came to work with me to work on his article—with his new Macbook. I was supposed to get stuck into February Briefing editing—compiling and cleaning and nagging Tony (yes, the deadlines never cease!) but ended up spending the morning writing a CHN about sex, pets and robots (and running it past Bec, Guan and Tony. Even still, I now expect to get lots of letters from pet lovers telling me off). I also helped Ben quite significantly with his article, giving feedback via IM. Elsie couldn't meet me on Friday so she came on Thursday and we prayed together in the staff room because Gordo was in.

We had staff meeting (Bible reading and prayer) and then a production development meeting in the afternoon. We left at 6 and took the M5 out west, then the M7 north a bit 'til it felt like we were right on the edge of Sydney (Horsley Park, anyway). It was Elwin's birthday and he was celebrating it at a restaurant called Il Piatto with a bunch of friends. Marto was there, as was Leigh, and I talked music with them and told Marto how much I love his song “Once Free Hands”. Elwin asked me, “What was the best book you read recently?” and I reflected ruefully that I hadn't read that many books lately. I also met some of Elwin's church friends—one of whom remembered me from Elwin's 25th (which was the evening of the day we moved back to Sydney). When she found out I work at MM, she was, like, “Oh, you must be very Anglican!” which I thought was hugely funny, and it also made me wonder if she was thinking of the Hillsong issue as the church she goes to is Pentecostal. I also got into conversation with a guy who told me that the Hillsong conference was awesome and that I should go.

We left at around 11 pm and didn't get home until around midnight.

Friday 14/12/07

Back at work again (I think we made it in by 7:30 but I could be wrong on that point). I did more Briefing editing, finishing off Mark Thompson's article. I left at 3 and went to counselling, then came straight home. Ben was having issues with his article. I tried to work on it in the evening but I was seriously stuffed and couldn't do anything, so gave up.

Fish called and asked if we wanted to go out, so we went out to Glebe and found the Spanish chocolate shop (Chocolateria San Churro). Unfortunately the place was packed—there was nowhere to sit, so we ordered takeaway. Ben had those pastry things you dip in chocolate sauce (churros), and I had a very odd chai hot chocolate (don't think it worked that well). Fish came back to our place and we watched The Muppets Take Manhattan which was very cheesy and oh so Muppetish.

Saturday 15/12/07

I had asked Elsie if she wanted to go to IKEA but she and her family had other plans. So I got up reasonably early without disturbing Ben and headed off to Rhodes. It took about half an hour to get there because traffic was a bit busy. I had been a bit nervous about going there—I don't like driving strange places by myself— but it turned out to be fairly easy. Rhodes was a big shopping centre, but not as big as Bondi or Macquarie Centre. IKEA occupied one end of it. I had fun wandering around the showroom, looking at things and occasionally adding something to my bag of stuff. I ended up getting curtains for our study (finally!!!), this cool side table which has a base which slides easily under my armchair (so I can bring it up close), this thing which hangs over the arm of the sofa where we can store our remotes (very handy!), these metal things that fit over the top of your wardrobe door but don't interfere with them opening and closing and also give you a nice hook to hang stuff on, lots of Christmas lights, cards, wrapping paper, ribbon, some kitchen utensils (like a scrubbing brush with a suction cup on the end so you can stick it to your sink!), some lanterns for tea lights and a CD case. Then I went back to my car and drove home.

I made something for lunch for us and spent the rest of the day knitting and doing computer things (I think). In the evening, while Ben kept working on his article, I watched a couple of movies: Finding Neverland (which was beautiful and enchanting, even if it took liberties with history) and Suddenly 30 (plus extra features) and read Civil War: Frontline.

Sunday 16/12/07

Sunday was more of the same: knitting and watching TV (Buffy episodes again!), and then Judith came over to test to see if the data projector would work with Ben's Macbook. (It did, which meant that Judith could relax and go out for coffee before band practice.) She asked me what the songs were. I said I thought Emma was choosing them (given my conversation with her on Tuesday). She said Emma was away, so I went off and chose some songs and assembled the PowerPoint for them. Then Judith went off to have coffee and I continued my knitting/Buffy-watching until it was time for band practice.

We got through practice fairly quickly, and then had church. Baz preached a great sermon on relationships and the Trinity (a subject which I think should form the basis of a Guidebook for Life one day). Question time was interesting afterwards, but also frustrating because the answers didn't quite help. We hung around for supper afterwards (yummy quiches!) and I helped Liz wash up in the kitchen.

As we were closing up and going to our cars, Yvonne and Cameron invited us over for coffee, and we accepted. I'd never been to their place and it was cool to see where they lived. They served us Heaven hot chocolates. We ended up hanging out with them for several hours until Cameron pointed out the time.

Monday 17/12/07

Ben came into work with me (we got there at around 9:30 or so). Liza was in and using the desk he normally uses, so he came and shared the office with me (since Gordo isn't in on Mondays) and we listened to indie music all day. I kept working on Briefing stuff. Ben finally finished his article and started on the Bible Brief. We left at 4:30, then Ben went off to have dinner with school friends and Gymea Anglican friends. I stayed home and watched TV and knitted and moaned about our total lack of internet which wasn't working ... again.

Tuesday 18/12/07

Ben came into work with me again. I made him come in early—like, 7:30 or 8 am sort of early. I ran out of things to edit because Tony's article wasn't finished and Ben was still going on the Bible Brief. So I started on January Briefing stuff. Paul came in at around 12 and we all went to lunch together (he lives in Switzerland normally, but comes back around once a year for Christmas). It was good to catch up with him and to find out how he was going. I kept working away all afternoon and we didn't end up leaving until something ridiculous—like 7 pm—because I was determined to finish the e-Briefing before then.

We were supposed to be having dinner with Tho and Sarah but that fell through. So instead we came home and I made some sort of mince stir fry thing with what was left in the fridge: onions, carrots, champignons, corn cuts, and then spent the evening doing all the accounts (because our internet was still not working). I ended up finishing the accounts at around 1 in the morning because I was on a roll, and Ben finished his Bible Brief so he wouldn't have to come in on Wednesday.

Wednesday 19/12/07

Unfortunately, because we had no internet at home, it made more sense for me to go into work, even though it was my day off. I had so much to do and it was all January Briefing stuff—putting articles online like

• Justification by faith: Did Paul get it right? (Peter Hastie)
• Comparing the Bible and the Qur'an (Samuel Green)
• No justification!
• Martin Luther and the justification of God (Robert Doyle)
• Getting in and staying in: The ‘New Perspective’ on justification (Rob Smith)
• Wright up close (Rob Smith)
• The New Perspective in action (Rob Smith)

while chatting to Guan (who was celebrating his birthday) and Bec on IM.

Ben SMSed to say that he was going to have dinner with Tho and Sarah and did I want to come? I was exhausted and said no. I came home, and he arrived with Tho a little bit after I walked in the door, bearing a new router/modem and explaining that the reason why we couldn't get internet was because lightning during that storm on the weekend had fried our router. He went out to have dinner, and I stayed in and ate dinner and watched TV. He came home early, installed the router and got it working on both our computers, then showed me the new case for his old hard drive and helped me connect it to my computer so I could copy all his music goodness over to my machine.

Thursday 20/12/07

Ben dropped me at work and I spent the day editing his Bible Brief and doing more January Briefing things. Teresa and Daniel popped in and I went out the front to say hi (don't think I've seen them in almost two years!) Ben came and picked me up at around 4:30 after counselling. He wanted to have dinner with school friends, so he dropped me home and I cooked risoni for dinner, then spent the evening watching TV and knitting (flicked through scenes from The Devil Wears Prada, plus the special features). Then I got onto my computer, thinking, “I'll just finish the Briefing e-news and edit some CHNs” but, of course, it took longer than expected and I didn't get to bed until 2.

Friday 21/12/07

If you go to bed at 2, the earliest you ought to get up is 9:30. So I did and drove off to work, getting in by 10. It was only one more day until holidays but I was going slightly crazy. Tony had finished his feature article and had emailed it from home. The rest of the bits and pieces we needed for the issue came together, with me giving them a final last-minute once-over. Elsie came and met me for lunch, and we talked and prayed and finally arranged to do breakfast. Bec and I arranged a date to go into the city and write, and wander around cool bookstores. 3 o'clock loomed and I was still rushing to get The Briefing done and feeling rather abandoned because the rest of the editorial staff had gone (though Emma did come back later with the food).

Finally it was done and we were out of there. We helped Em carry stuff to her car, then gave Jess a lift down to South Coogee Bowling Club where we spent a very lovely afternoon playing barefoot lawn bowls (me with my black lace parasol which got a lot of use!), eating dinner and hanging out. Tony gave the annual Matthias Media awards (which had been reduced to just seven with chocolates for all the nominees because he was extremely short on time). I got nominated for the grit and perseverance award for my work on By God's Word (reading through five years' worth of From the Dean, editing 72 readings [which were eventually culled to 60] and running everything past Phillip), and the michief award (for conspiring with Emma to throw a “Welcome back!” party for Tony's coffee machine ... oh, I didn't blog about that. We put up streamers across the office and scattered balloons all over the floor, and Emma made a big banner that said “Welcome back, coffee machine!”, and Tony laughed when he saw it, and kept the balloons and streamers for many months). But I didn't win any awards.

Afterwards we had a group photo, and I got into conversation with Fi, Gordo's wife. Then all of a sudden everyone was saying goodbye and leaving, and packing up. So we found ourselves heading home at quarter to nine.

I spent the rest of the evening blogging.

I'm so glad I'm now on holidays.

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