Sydney

It has been a busy week with my birthday amongst other things.

On Wednesday I was a freelance page turner (paid!) for the cast recording of a new Australian musical. This followed by my usual job (unpaid) as co-producer of Byte Into IT, the computer nerd show on RRR.

On Thursday I had to take Chester to the vet to see how the new medication is going and get more supplies. The good news is one of the tablets is definitely doing its job and his blood pressure has improved markedly. The bad news is his cough is still pretty bad so there is still some swelling around the heart obstructing his airway. There is another drug that might help this, but it only comes in a dosage for larger animals. It is in a capsule because it tastes foul, which means it's not as simple as breaking it in half like I do with his other medication (bear in mind he's only 2.5kg). There are a few alternatives but they all involve extra effort and expense. Of course I will do what it takes to alleviate his discomfort, but this is getting to be a pain in the butt. For someone to look after him for a few days, they will need to put half of one tablet and a quarter of another into his food and watch that he eats them, and either a capsule which he won't want to eat and will have to be shoved down his throat, or a syringe of paste into his mouth. Plus I will have to go to a special chemist place to get the capsules or paste made up.

Anyway, at least he's improving.

So the rest of Thursday was spent preparing for our gig in Sydney the next day, and my holiday in Brisbane following that. I had to pack (including clothes for the gig plus 5 days in Brisbane, as well as instruments, merch & other gig related stuff), make phone calls organising all sorts of things, pick up my reflux medication from the pharmacy, learn 2 more songs for my gig next week with Rebecca, pack Chester's things and drop him off at Rebecca's house to be looked after (she took such a shining to him right from the beginning), check out some shoes at Sportsgirl a friend had on yesterday that are awesome and would be perfect for the Sydney gig outfit, put some music on my new birthday ipod shuffle to listen to on the plane and by the pool in Brisbane.

When I was dropping off Chester, Rebecca told me she had had a vision, and asked me to learn another song - You Am I's "Heavy Heart". It is a beautiful song, I agreed readily but then wondered how I am going to nail all these songs since I will be in Brisbane without a piano for the majority of the week. I decided to take the little tiny synth we have borrowed for the gig (my vintage analogue synth is too delicate for the road) up to Brisbane so at least I could practice the chord progressions. It wasn't until later that Ric told me his friend was picking up the synth on Monday so it would have to come back to Melbourne with him. Shit, how would I learn these songs???? I begged him to call her and ask if we could keep it longer. He did so, without disclosing the fact that it would be travelling to Brisbane and back, and she consented. Thank God!

That night by about 9pm I was almost packed. That is, I had everything I needed laid out on my bed. I got the suitcases down from on top of the wardrobe. I had two small wheelies that I figured everything would fit into, and with any luck I could even send the one with all the musical gear in it back to Melbourne with the others rather than lugging it to Brisbane. I neatly packed everything into the cases and then retrieved the little synth from the next room. It was an inch too long for the biggest case. SHIT!!!!

There was another suitcase on top of the wardrobe, a humungous wheelie I didn't really want to use. Looks like I had no choice. I repacked everything into the huge case and zipped it up, hurrying as I had to catch a bus. Oh yeah I haven't explained this part of the plan. We were leaving on the first flight out the next morning: 6:15am. I was the only one who lived on this side of town and I didn't want to cop a $50 cab ride on my own. So I would make my way to the other side of the city and crash on Tom & Ric's couch for the night. Only problem is, there are major parking restrictions around their house and they don't have a visitor's permit, so I would have to catch the bus. This was fine, it was from the end of my street to the end of theirs. Not a huge deal. I dragged my suitcase to the front door with great difficulty. It was heavy thanks to all the musical gear. But it shouldn't be this hard! I looked at the base of the suitcase, sure enough, one wheel was broken. I remembered now, we had broken it moving Adam's stuff back from Sydney last year. There was no way I'd be able to wheel it to the bus stop by myself. Shit.

I called Ric, knowing he'd be on his way home from work. Good timing - he was just leaving and reluctantly said he'd come by. Reluctantly because it's SO not on the way. Oh well. Then I called Paris to explain my luggage crisis. I thought she might have a decent suitcase and since she was only going for one night and doesn't need an instrument, she might be able to lend me something. She answered the phone from work. At the bar. She told me that she was supposed to work till 4:30am. We had to leave for the airport at 5am. Uh-oh.

She did have a suitable suitcase, plus she offered for me to stay at her place where there was ample parking. She was going to find someone to replace her shift at work, and would be home soon. Perfect solution! I called Ric just in time to say don't bother coming, and to make sure the taxi stopped to pick us up at Paris' house on the way to the airport. Then I unpacked again and put everything back into the small suitcases. Much easier for me to transport and then Paris could use one of the small cases for an overnighter.

By the time I got to Paris' place I thought she'd be well and truly home but she was not. She arrived about 15 minutes later, apologising, saying it was tough to find someone to replace her. She'd had to offer $50 cash to get someone in. By now it was midnight.

At around one thirty I'd had enough of watching her check her emails and eating rice cakes with cheese and announced I'd be cranky as hell if I didn't go to bed soon. She laughed, remembering how tired & grumpy I'd been the day after my birthday party. "Go right ahead," she said, indicating the direction of her room. I got changed and took myself off to bed, hauling the piles of clothes off the unmade futon before setting the alarm on my phone for 4:45am and climbing in.

I didn't sleep too well and vaguely heard Paris climb in beside me much later. It seemed like a minute later and her phone was buzzing wildly on the chest of drawers. I picked up my phone. Four thirty. I looked over at Paris. Dead to the world. I curled up and waited till my phone went off fifteen minutes later before reluctantly heading off to the loo. I felt like I hadn't slept at all.

Suddenly the toilet erupted in shrill ringing. My phone. Was ringing. Loudly. At 4:45am. While I was peeing. With Paris' housemate asleep in the next room. Whoops.

I grabbed the phone, trying to mute the shrieking, finished peeing and answered a groggy "Hello?". Tom's voice was on the other end. "The taxi's at our place now. We'll be there soon."

That was an understatement. They lived less than two minutes away.

I immediately went and woke up Paris.
"The taxi's there. They're on their way!"
"What...? Shit, I haven't even packed yet."

I had tried so hard to get her sorted last night but eventually figured she was a grown up, a manager no less, and it wasn't my responsibility. Now, it was.

I rapidly dressed and took the small wheelie down to her room where she chucked some clothes off the floor into the case. I left her to it and went to brush my teeth. There was no time to put in contacts, I would have to wear my glasses. I never wear my glasses.

I got Tom to carry Paris' fairly large suitcase filled with my gear out to the maxicab, where the boys all made snide remarks about girls and clothes and was this a joint suitcase for everyone?

I sat in the cab for a while waiting for Paris, as the meter went up and up. Eventually I said, "I'm going in."

I went in to find her picking up various clothes off the floor and putting them down again.

"Are you ready?" I asked unecessarily.
"I can't find my jacket..."
"Which jacket?" I asked, scanning the room.
"My only jacket. It's black."
I left her searching the room and emerged a minute later from the living room. "This jacket?"
"Yes!! Where did you find it?"
"It was on the clothes horse. Now let's go!"

I was a bit frustrated that she, the manager, was holding up proceedings. But also a little bit pleased that it wasn't me. It usually is.

Ok it's getting late and I need sleep so I'm going to attempt to summarise from hereon in. Summary is not my strong poing! Attention to detail, that's what my resume boasts.

We made the flight even with the hassle of checking in guitars etc. Our friend and fellow musician Renny picked us up from the airport in his station wagon, a huge favour. He also lent me his 88 key digital piano - a lifesaver.

Paris didn't like the scungy cheap hotel in Kings Cross I had booked us into and refused to stay there. So we found another scungy even cheaper hotel with less old men hanging round it. This was more to her satisfaction, despite the rooms being like prison cells.

Ric borrowed his cousin's car and proceeded to almost kill us and several locals throughout the day. I don't blame him, Sydney's roads are horrendous.

Rehearsal that day was, interesting... the rented amps were atrocious, but I got a feel for the borrowed keyboards I would be using and also managed to see some semi-famous Sydney musos hanging round the rehearsal studios, and get a few minutes of shuteye waiting for the first lot of gear to be ferried to the venue (the borrowed car was not a station wagon).

Dinner was great, we had "The Best Thai" (yes the restaurant was really called that) and some wine to get the good vibes flowing. It worked, by the end of dinner we were in high spirits. Paris had spent the day meeting important people so was still buzzing from that.

The 3 boys leaving Sydney at 6am the next morning shared one prison cell and Paris, Tom and I shared the other. This caused Tom to OD on oestrogen and have to leave suddenly. I understood.

The venue, Candy's Apartment, was fantastic. The perfect size for us, nicely decked out with cute little private nooks and a big dance floor with about 50 mirror balls hanging above it. That was my favourite part. I've always loved mirror balls. Ahhh....

The show went surprisingly well. Considering half our gear was borrowed, we had all been up since 4am, and we were completely unknown in this city, we punched out a killer set and rather impressed the audience. Being on first, the venue was virtually empty for our first song. But by the last it had filled up to a respectable number. My cousin Matt and his two mates were there, and seemed to really enjoy it. Matt couldn't believe that this was the same band he saw up here 18 months ago. "You guys were SO much better than last time!" he kept saying.

Straight after the set we each downed two tequila slammers to get the party started and took lots of stupid photos on my camera. The other bands were really good, particularly Miyagi. Very post rock, more so than us, and very good at it. Dawn Collective were a very different band live to on record. Much better I think.

It was a fun night, I felt great in my new dress and enjoyed floating between various groups lapping up praise and discussing music, Sydney and random shit. This is what it's all about!!

For me the night probably should have ended when the bands finished and the DJ started playing bad techno (i thought that went out at least 5 years ago...?) but against better judgement agreed to go out with Paris. After the Unmentionable Taxi Incident (if you really want to know i'll email it to you, it's not something I want to blog), we met up with a friend of hers and went to some places that really weren't my scene. Eventually I disappointed her and took myself home. I had really only come with her so she wouldn't be alone, and now she was with people who would take care of her so I didn't feel too bad. I could feel my voice going and I needed sleep badly. I had been up for almost 24 hours.

I crashed out on the bottom bunk amid the smell of stale cigarette smoke, sweat and foot odour, satisfied that the night had been a success.

Enough for now!