So Thursday, as noted above, as a good day. You remember how I was preparing for an application in the Magistrates Court? Well, it was on for 9:30am Thursday. So I went down to appear and make the application. To be honest, without a lot of enthusiasm: My strike rate with applications lately has been pretty poor. Indeed, to be honest I think I've lost 5 or 6 on the trot. This, though, went well: I just took the Magistrate through the key bits of what we were seeking and otherwise let my affidavit speak for itself. My opponent then attempted to put his case and, well, got thoroughly beaten up from the Bench with the court thoroughly dismissing the plaintiff's response. Was this a milestone for my skills as an advocate? Not especially. But it was a hands down win based on solid lawyering and I was very pleased about it. Honestly, I really really needed a win - really just because I wanted to be reassured I still had "it". And, when I put this on facebook I got a bunch of likes from friends and that was really pleasing. Including one from Joni, which made me smile more than anything else!
Friday was spent doing office things and settling a bunch of letters before my boss gets back on Monday. I went to the farewell lunch for one of the office IT technicians who's off to sty her luck in England. The lunch was at the Mail Exchange Hotel (photo herewith, partly for illustration and also because I rather like postal motifs as a design feature). The food was good, but the seating very cramped and service terribly slow (about 3 dishes came out every five minutes - for a group of about 30). After work drinks went late - till after 10pm! Myself and two others went for a kebab before dispersing for our dwellings, which was fun. When I got back to the sharehouse I flicked on the TV and watched the end of "Red Dragon" - nowhere near as gory as I'd expected a Hannibal Lecter film to be (I haven't seen "Hannibal" or "Silence of the Lambs"). Also somehow not as suspenseful as I'd expected either, although it was snappily written and had a stylish feel to it.
This morning I had breakfast and came into the city to buy birthday presents for Grace and Rachel, as well as a suitably big mailing box to send that plus various other items to Joni (costco bags, things we weren't able to pack or that didn't make it into the shipping container, etc). I walked into town from Brunswick and went through Chinatown (photos herewith of both Chinatown and also of the Church I mentioned last Sunday which I passed). It was just full of memories - past Her Majesty's theatre where Joni and I went to see "Spamalot" and "Chicago", and past Ants Bistro and Chine on Paramount where we had some great meals, and it made me miss her a lot. After procuring presents I also got a haircut and came to the office. I can't say I've worked especially efficiently; it's been easy to get distracted I'm afraid (although the view from my office this afternoon was pretty - I tried to capture a sunburst but I'm not sure it worked - see photo). Facebook tells me that Joni and the girls had a big day in town with Aunty Paula, who put some photos of the girls up showing them at Chilis, with Grace coverred in tomato sauce and looking terribly pleased with herself. That made me smile hugely, and I'm so glad the girls are getting so much love.
It's getting late, so I should head back to the sharehouse. The Saints-49ers game is tomorrow morning so I'll be glued to the TV (also doing laundry). Not sure about rest of day; may come in here but perhaps not. We'll see.
One more thing: In one of my moments of distraction this afternoon I was looking at the Age's book review section, which led to some googling and then to an article in the Sydney Morning Herald from a few years back lamenting the state of Australian book publishing. This then triggered one of my internal monologues along the lines of "Australian novels might sell better if they weren't so uniformly depressing etc etc". I was shocked to hear my voice - even if only the voice inside my head. It sounded so negative, so dried out and bitter and acidic. The sort of voice you'd imagine coming from a talking skull. Ugh - that's not the voice I want to be, or to sound like. Not anymore. Life is too beautiful to be so cynical and mean-minded.
See you tomorrow.
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