“Though I sometimes feel a bit “old”, I can still hang out with the cool kids at a bar in Paddington, drinking a Japanese beer”, I proudly proclaimed to friends on Facebook last night.

I was seated at the bar of “The Paddington”, a Justin Hemmes-owned restaurant and bar. I was the oldest person there, with most aged in their 30s. They were all very good-looking and fashionably dressed, the kind of people you might see on the social pages of the weekend newspapers.

A similarly aged friend and I were due to meet there for an early dinner (6.15pm). We might still be able to hang out with the hip and happening crowd, but we also both like to be in our pyjamas, and in bed by 9 o’clock at the latest. I like to get up for early morning walks, and she likes to go ocean swimming. It’s a stark contrast to our earlier days when it was not unusual for us to go out for dinner and drinks, and then a bit of all-night clubbing.

“I’m meeting a friend I’ve known for about 25 years”, I told the taxi driver on my way there. “Oh that’s so funny”, he replied, “I’m only 24 years old”, he added. “Piss off”, I said under my breath.

As I drank my beer, I sat and waited for my friend. I didn’t worry at first, as she is often a few minutes late. But after waiting for about 20 minutes, I started to get worried. We didn’t have a restaurant booking, I found out. Maybe I had the wrong venue? I texted and rang her. No answer. I went back through our message exchange, finally realising I was 24-hours early. D’oh. She got back to me eventually, noting the missed call and messages. LOL. I’ll be back there tonight, which I’m very much looking forward to.

It was the second time this week, I had a “bar problem”. I caught up with some colleagues earlier in the week for after-work Christmas Drinks. I was so excited to see them that I missed the uneven floor, and came to a very public crumbling fall. “I haven’t even had a drink yet”, I joked, noting that I might have fallen and hurt my ankle, but hardly lost a drop from the beer in my hand :)

It’s been a fortnight for catch-ups, including meeting Rod from Geelong, who often comments on this blog, which was lovely. He was in Sydney for a holiday week, which included visits to the new sections of the Art Gallery of NSW. I haven’t been there yet, and so it was good to hear his observations about what to look out for. It was also lovely to connect with Rod’s face and voice, so when I see his comments in the future, I’ll have more of a sense of the person behind the words.

I’m going to squeeze in a visit to the Art Gallery today, before heading up to Lismore for Christmas.

While some people “slow down” in the lead-up to Christmas, it’s always quite a busy time for me work-wise. While others take time off, I generally work through it. I’ve learned so much about combining work from the office and work from home, a have found a pretty good equilibrium. I’ll be able to do my job from home in Lismore, seeing my family, but also getting on with the job.

I had a moment this week, however, when I realised the downside of working from home when I briefly fell asleep on the couch while doing a “deep listen” on some audio I needed to preview. You lie down, you close your eyes, and as you really concentrate on the words, you generally can pick up things in the edit you might not otherwise notice sitting at your desk. I’ve been doing it for years! But this time I nodded off!!

“What were you listening to?”, a colleague asked. “Something I recorded for summer…”, I told him :) “Not a good sign”, we laughed!

But the edit is much better now, so this might be a good future workflow.