tuesday : 28 nov 2006
News in Brief. The trip to Brisbane for my 20th high school reunion has been and gone. It was a very casual affair, with a couple of people commenting that I had changed a bit and "come out of my shell". That was a nice bonus from the evening, which wound up with eight of us going to the (smoke free) Normanby Hotel after the reunion finished at 12:30am. There's already talk of doing a 25th gathering. I'll be doing the website.
I'll be in Melbourne for a few weeks, followed by two weeks back in Queensland for Christmas. It was stinking hot on the weekend. Late December will be hotter still...
thursday : 23 nov 2006
I'm up in Queensland for a few days to attend my high school reunion on Saturday night. That should be pretty bizarre...in a good way, I hope. Ciao!
wednesday : 15 nov 2006
No time! No time! No time! Einstein famously said, "Time is like a river". For me the drought must have dried it up, because I just don't got none. Last night I was up till 1:45am watching an overnight rental of Pirates of the Caribbean II after spending all night on the phone calling various friends and relatives back. Tonight I had a coffee date with SDP1, which was memorable (the poor girl managed to sweep a full, tall glass of Chai tea off the table, smashing it all over the cement floor, ha-ha-ha) then I rushed home (alone) to watch a screening of Dr. No, which was borrowed from Lou at work (I promised to return it the next day after hearing a story of his son mistreating lent DVDs). There are no plans tomorrow night, but on Friday the end of week social madness begins in earnest with a comedy show courtesy of Marylu. Now, is it too early to invite SPD1? It should be OK, as long as I declare a No Chai Zone around her... How does it go, Marylu? "Haw haw haw, I come laugh!"
friday : 10 nov 2006
7:18am. Just a quick update. I went to Oaks Day at Flemington Racecourse yesterday with a bunch of lads, some of whom I knew and others that I met during breakfast at Melbourne Central. The weather was absolutely perfect: 22 degrees and not a cloud in the sky, unless you count the sky writer who wrote "Jesus Lives" and then "Jhdfgb Kfhjshd" a few minutes later when the wind picked up. Looked like arial font to me. Ahem. Anyway, ten of us chipped in $50.00 to Dave the puntmeister and he took care of business while we drank steadily and mixed with the attendees. Because I try not to get involved in shouts, and didn't on this occasion either, I just drank for ten hours straight at my own steady pace. The female talent on show was amazing, too. Plenty of stimulation for the mind, heart and other places. I have no idea how many people I spoke to. Afterwards we ended up in the Las Vegas basement bar underneath Crown Casino, but that wasn't really working for me, plus I needed solid food (literally ate nothing all day), so I bailed at 9:00pm when the band was crooning its first ballad, hence no hangover at all as I write this. A bloody great day..highly recommended.
thursday : 2 nov 2006
Last Saturday night is when it happened, my first speed dating experience. To start with, I was feeling under the weather due to catching a flu or cold or malaria on Friday night bar hoping with a friend. It was freezing cold, with Siberian wind gusts blowing razor blades of ice through our clothing. Because the evening finished before midnight (as planned), there was no hangover to negotiate on Saturday. But as things turned out, I should have been in bed slurping home-made chicken soup, rather than downing bad Champagne and spruiking my precious chromosomes to 13 single women.
Upon arriving with my friend, who had done speed dating with this organisation before, it was time to spend 45 minutes mingling with the romantic hopefuls as they trickled in to the venue. Several glasses of white and red wine (was 2006 a good year?) later we were seated at long tables in our age groups. Unfortunately, mine was 37 to 41, which is not the age range I normally investigate, but the die was cast and I had to make the most of it. Luckily I'd already introduced myself to most of the younger women during the meet and greet phase, heh heh.
With 13 women and eight minutes of talk per candidate and a 20 minute timeout midway through, a fair amount of time lapsed during the whole session. I never had the same conversation twice, and it was quite easy to have a dialogue with a new stranger every eight minutes. I suppose when both of you are geared up and focused on doing exactly that, conversation is always going to flow. The women I met in my group were all right, with a couple of standouts and a few instant rejects mixed in – the same could be said of all the groups, really. The next day I had two confirmed matches, meaning that of the four girls I ticked, two also ticked me. The best thing about an organised event like this is that, unlike meeting people in a bar or the supermarket, in speed dating you have the other peron's undivided attention for at least eight minutes. You don't need to spend time distracting them from their own little world or 'frame of reality' and bring them into yours.
Speed dating is recommended, if for nothing else than the fun aspect of it, but try to take or go with a single friend the first time. Go into it with no expectations and just be yourself.