Flames and Bones

Hi everyone,

Hope all is well with you.

It's been a fairly subdued day in my world.  That is, most of the day in my office preparing for a conference in a matter this afternoon, and then attending the said conference.  Nothing too thrilling to report, I'm afraid.  I did get a text from a friend advising me that she's found herself a job, which is great!  She'd found herself unexpectedly out of work too.  There's hope for us all!

After work I went to the Ash Wednesday Mass at St Francis.  I settled on a real challenge: I'm going to try and give up swearing for Lent.  I know, I know - I may wind up sounding like this song -

but what's life without a challenge?

The evening was the best bit of the day.  After Mass I headed up to Chinatown to catch up with some friends from the old job.

 

We'd arranged to go to Ginza Teppanyaki - they do that thing (hibachi?) where they cook the food at your table and periodically you find bits of egg and plates flying in your direction.  It was a barrel of fun, and great to catch up with the crew.  They were awesome folks to work with and it was a job I was rather sad to leave.

And was there flame?  Yes, there was flame - 

There was lots of flame!

After dinner, we went a little way off of Little Bourke Street to a very cool but very macabre Mexicana bar that one of our number knew of.  When I say Mexicana, there wasn't a sombrero or cactus in sight: it had the sort of decor that you'd get if you put Victor Frankenstein, Salavdor Dali and Our Lady of Guadalupe in a room together, added peyote and left them to it.  So, there were photos from movies with neon lights protruding from the eyes, a lot of "Day of the Dead" themed makeup on statues, and lots of bones.  This light fitting should give you the general idea -

When drinks finished I walked back to Brunswick, partly for the exercise but mostly to help digest the massive feast of protein I'd had.  I have a very happy stomach right now!

Tomorrow is appointment free, save for an hour and a half team meeting at lunch.  It's all a little academic for me.  Still, there's a free lunch involved.  And a plasma donation in the evening, which I'm looking forward too.  I have no idea why this is one of the highlights of any given fortnight, but there you have it.  I'd go each week if they let me!

OK, I guess that's enough for now.  More tomorrow.  Hope all is well with yourselves!