In need of a good laugh...

Tonight was a very good night to be off to a comedy club. Usually I wouldn't be too thrilled about heading into town on a weeknight, but my lovely friend Jennifer got us great cheap tickets to see the comedian Jimeoin, and he was only on one night. But despite being in a rush after getting caught late at work, it was very good timing.

I came home stressed, in a major way. Planning the reporting structure for the new education project I am currently working on has proved problematic, and the deadline is getting closer and closer. I came home with a tension headache, a rare occurrence, and generally in a pretty filthy mood. Stress will do that to you.

So, the timing of my midweek outing seemed fortuitous after all. We headed off to the Comic's Lounge in North Melbourne. Unfortunately, dinner was a little disappointing, so we weren't off to a great start. The support lineup for the evening wasn't inspiring confidence either, as I had heard one of the comedians before, and his humour wasn't to my taste. Filthy language, with no high quality humour to redeem the routine. Luckily, tonight he seemed to raise the bar, and had me laughing aloud.

Aussie's seem to have a huge soft spot for the Irish. And somehow we seem to attract a lot of Irish comedians. I have only seen live comedy a handful of times, and almost every time, I would find an Irish comedian on the bill. Tonight we had 2, the headliner, and another comedian who was a more recent arrival to our fair shores. He was the MC for the evening, and despite being a little stilted occasionally, was good value in the laughs department. The final support act, a young Indonesian guy, made me uncomfortable much more than he made me laugh. He seemed to be under the impression that because he was Asian, it was acceptable to make any number of very non-PC, racist jokes about Asians.

Jimeoin was on last, naturally, and his set was worth the wait. he had me in hysterics on several occasions, and after a week off sick with a cough, amongst other things, I was soon regretting having forgotten my asthma inhaler. It was a great night and just what I need to release the tensions I had acquired during the day. I think we all need to periodically let loose with some genuine belly laughs - it's good for the soul! :)

I'll leave you with a snippit of Jimeoin thanks to the magic of youtube. Laugh it up!

Back in the Land of the Living...almost.

I feel like I fell off the planet for awhile last week. It's been a very long time since I let illness knock me for a six like that. Basically my throat felt a bit tight on Monday night, and then it was all suddenly very downhill from there. I had the rest of the week off, and my impression of a vegetable continued throughout most of the weekend, although I did finally find some time to torch. I literally only left the house to go to the Dr's on Wednesday night, so heading out to work today felt quite weird. I was worried about the freezing cold I've heard about all week, so I rugged up, even dragging a scarf out for the first time this winter. And I sweltered all day - what the heck is it with Melbourne's weather? Not that I'm complaining, as at least I didn't freeze on yard duty at recess and lunchtime.

Hopefully I will have some new bead pics up later in the week. Now my kiln is back up and working, I'm trying to build up some new stock to have in my new online store (to be unveiled shortly!) when the magazine profile comes out.

Approaching normal...

Another show is under my belt now, and life is starting to return to normal. Jason is home (yay!) and I am looking forward to some relaxing evenings spent at home this week. Not yet though - tonight is open night at school, so we are talking about a 14 hour day or there-abouts. I am just having a dinner break before the hordes arrive. I am the official photographer this evening, so I get to flit about and see what everyone is up to. :)

Hopefully my kiln will be fixed tomorrow. I haven't had time to drive to Clayton to pick up the digital controller, but Jason is going to get it tomorrow, so hopefully I'll be up and running by wed. I really need to torch - it's been weeks and weeks. And the magazine release date is getting closer - I'd like to have some new stock ready by then. In my new online shop - yep, that's coming soon too, I'll post a link when it's done ( a big thanks to my DB for helping with the shop in a big way!).

I'm also looking forward to my tennis lesson this week. I have only had one group lesson since before the holidays, and the competition starts in July, so I really need some practice. I'd post a pic of me with my new racket, but I don't want to blind you. It's fleuro orange. I kid you not, I swear it glows in the dark. Maybe it will give me an unfair advantage, as my opponents are temporarily stunned by the intensity of my racket? Hmm, unlikely, but one can always hope....

As promised...

Here is a pic of my masquerade mask...

It was lots of fun playing with my facepaints and glitter again. I wish I had more excuses to use them. Actually, I really wish I had an excuse to buy the palette of pearl colours that Grimas has available. *swoon* They look like fun!! Actually they are cheaper than I remembered..maybe I will treat myself.

Anyway, life is still down to work and rehearsals at the moment. Hopefully next week Ill get some torching done and have some glassy goodness to share.

Carry on a conversation

Life has been hectic again lately. Maybe it's just as well - I'm too busy at the moment to lament the fact that I am home alone and my kiln is still not working. But, some good news on that front at least - my digital controller has been fixed, I just need to find time to pick it up, then get it reinstalled. I foolishly got the electrician to show Jase how to put it back together, instead of me. So now I have to wait a week. It's a moot point anyway - there is now way I will have time to torch this week.

Tonight I am off to a Masquerade party - Happy Birthday Nyree!, and instead of making my mask, as I had planned, I've decided to play with my lovely theatre face paints and paint it on. I'll post some pics next week. Maybe :) .

Then basically its rehearsals every day this week till we open on Thursday, and then all the performances of course. So, no free time for this little black duck. Poor Merlin wont know what has hit him this week, with no one home during the day, or at night.

On top of all that, I am trying to get back into both my blog writing and reading - especially in the education blogosphere. As a timely aid to that end, there is a 31 day commenting challenge on at the moment. It was started for edubloggers, but has sort of spilled out into the wider community, so feel free to participate if you are interested in becoming a better blogging citizen.