Getting Chilly

It’s Saturday afternoon and it’s a bit chilly in Perth. Although the thermometer tells me it’s about 17 degrees, I think it’s colder. Imagine if you would a grown man with a knitted shawl over his knees listening to the Agnetha Faltskog CD, “My Colouring Book”. Do you really want to read any further?

It’s been a reasonably interesting week both for work and social pursuits.

Last Sunday morning provided me with a curious mix of cultural influences: going to Mass and then attending Buddha’s Birthday. No, I didn’t know Buddha had a birthday either, but I guess it stands to reason that he does. Although it was a wet day, it was a reasonably enjoyable celebration to go along to, since the food was yummy and there was lots to see, including a band called Tangled Reel who played Irish folk music.

When I arrived at work on Monday, I discovered that I’d made “Letters To The Editor” in The Australian for the brief note I wrote about the Danish Royal Wedding in which I commented that I hadn’t remembered getting teary watching the marriage of either Charles/Diana or Andrew/Fergie. One of my colleagues at work said, “I still can’t work out if you’re a Royalist or not by that comment”. I said, “I know”. I also made the local paper in Perth later this week in which I was asked to comment on the recent radio ratings.

It was also confirmed this week that my internet friend, David Delcroix will be visiting Australia soon which will be good fun. Thankfully it co-incides with my trip to Sydney in early June.

I’ve been doing a little bit of internet shopping this week, having purchased the CD, “Wild, Cool and Swingin'” by the amazing Mrs Miller who performs pop classics in an odd operatic-style of voice. Has to be heard to be believed.

The website also features a CD called Judy Garland Speaks. This “interim” volume in the infamous Celebrities series consists entirely of ultra-rare home voice tapes of “America’s Sweetheart” ranting and raving near the end of her troubled life. Super-agent Irving “Swifty” Lazar gave her a tape recorder and told her to dictate the autobiography which she never lived to write. At this phase of her career Judy has just been ripped off for the television show she never wanted to do, and plagued with ex-husband Sid Luft’s gambling debts and his trying to get custody of her children — and boy, is she PISSED! I actually thought it was pretty sad.

I also bought a little gadget called a Belkin Tunecast II Mobile FM Transceiver which allows me to listen to music from my computer in the lounge room, almost anywhere in the house. Now you can use your iPod, PDA,MP3, CD, cassette player, PC, or laptop to listen to your favorite tunes through any FM stereo receiver. The Belkin TuneCast II Mobile FM Transmitter connects portable music players to your car or home stereo quickly and easily using FM radio waves. Just plug the TuneCast II into the headphone jack of your iPod, PDA,MP3, CD, or cassette player; or connect it to your PC or laptop computer. Tune your car stereo or receiver to any clear FM frequency, and enjoy your iPod music experience with more sound and fewer wires.

On Wednesday night I went along to “Fruits In Suits”, which I call “Gay Rotary”. It was good fun since I knew a few people there from work and so we had lots of fun chatting and drinking. A couple of people gave me their business cards, telling me, “This is a great way to network” which is a concept I’m not entirely happy with since I’d like to think meeting people is not a means of furthering business interests. But anyway.

On Thursday night, a bloke from work asked me if I’d like to join him for a beer at the pub and so I did that which was good fun. Three or four pints later and it was off home to bed… but not before picking up some yummy pork takeaway on the way!

And then the last twenty four hours have been reasonably quiet. Nothing to report aside from the chilly weather!