OCTOBER ROUND UP

Well to say I was uber busy during October would be an understatement!!

I had everything going on and I think it's a tribute to how well I am doing with my mental health that I can sit here calmly and write all about it all.

Firstly work was crazy busy, I had a lot of Social Media one on one lessons scheduled as a follow up to last month's overview. And we embarked on Rocktober, a month of music in the library. It was a lot of work and mostly things were successful. Unfortunately the Open Mic Nights we wanted to run were a failure. The people who had promised to assist just didn't deliver and as much as we tried without their help the nights just didn't work. This was extremely upsetting and annoying, but not everything in life goes according to plan and not everyone in life is trustworthy. This was to become a theme of my month! However we did schedule a lot of School Musical Showcases and they were extremely successful with fun performances within the library that were very well attended. And at the last minute I came across a worthy collaborator for future musical endeavours, so not down and out, we shall try something different in the new year. This was on top of regular work, meetings, starting to organise two separate staffing recruits and the awful news that it looks likely we will amalgamate with Newcastle Council resulting in about 130 lost jobs.

In the middle of all of this I decided that my dwindling field of possibilities romantically needed to be broadened! Well actually that decision was made last month, it was this month that saw things get moving. I guess I don't talk much about all of this, there are some things you gotta keep to yourself. I do date but yet to meet, you know, the one. Or at least the one who feels mutually about that, lol! But in between these dates can be what I call dry periods. Anyway, I love my life and for the most part don't actually get too down about being single, it would just be nice to share those special moments with someone that is all. At my age there is no hurry, no ticking clock, and I know what I want, so it's kind of refreshing really. Having said that I do have moments of despair and longing...cause you know, I'm human! 

So the broadening of my net so to speak unleashed, well, a range of situations that I initially struggled to navigate. Far out, it's a nightmare out there, I thought I knew that, but I had no idea really. It's a wonder the world continues to populate itself with so many idiots out there I can tell you. I have had some very awful experiences this month, one in particular that still has me scratching my head, but I do think I dodged a bullet by getting out of that fairly early, but not without great upset. You would think by the time we get to my age, we'd be grown up and done with games but apparently not. Anyway, I have had good experiences that more than made up for the bad, and the amusement of observing some of the dreadful behaviour is sadly entertaining and given me MUCH material to write about, lol! No, I haven't found the one yet, but it's been interesting and kind of fun. And as I write I feel less anxious than I did at the beginning of the month. Huge shout out to my lovely close circle of friends who look after my wellbeing and love me, in particular C and J, who are my constants and sounding boards.

And if all of that was not enough, boy I got some socialising in!!!

The month started in Sydney for a Music Librarians Conference I was thrilled to take part in. I felt like a rockstar Librarian as I entered the APRA HQ where the conference was held. I mingled with proper Music Librarians, and other interesting related people like The Brandenburg Orchestra, ABC etc. Afterwards I finally checked out the Gehry at the UTS which I absolutely loved of course.

The October long weekend is the This Is Not Art (TINA) and National Young Writers Festival and we had a long day listening to loads of interesting people talk about a range of subject matter. We also checked out the premiere of a local filmmaker's movie, filmed in Newcastle and Transylvania at The Towers. 

There was a crazy night in Newcastle where A, L, & I double booked ourselves (purposely) to see Magda Szubanski and Barry Morgan on the same night. Squeezing in Bookclub and a meal prior we were on fire!

Magda was here to be interviewed by the wonderful Rosemarie Milsom about her memoir. It was an hour of sheer delight, we got to see Magda and what a beautiful soul she is. She spoke mostly about her upbringing, her father who was a sniper during the war, and her struggles with her weight and sexuality. She was intelligent, well spoken, and just a fascinating person. Yes she dipped into her comedy and told a few fab stories, but it was the other that had me - and I suspect the entire audience - in the palm of her hands. I could have listened to her all night. I've always thought of her as a national treasure, but now more so.

As soon as that finished we hightailed it to the Carrington Bowlo for Barry Morgan. We'd only missed a small amount of his show which was hilarious and camp, as you would expect. If you don't know who Barry is, google him, he's another national treasure. I've loved his shtick since I first saw him on Spicks and Specks years ago. He entertained the very full audience, with songs, tales, double entendres, and divine organ playing. Gosh we loved Barry's organ. It was one of those nights of laughing until your cheeks hurt.

I also saw two plays this month, one an amateur production of a hospital farce at St Matthews Hall at Georgetown with H, featuring some of her family and with superb catering by the talented J. The other at The Playhouse with A, after a lovely meal at The Clarendon, called Between Two Waves, about a climate scientist whose life is falling apart around him. Clever staging encompassing relationships, climate change, politics, and mental health. I enjoyed both plays.

L and I were also privileged to be part of a small group of people who were lucky enough to see The Doubleclicks, a cool duo from Portland, who sing geeky songs about Dinosaurs, Cats, being an introvert, and sci-fi amongst other very cool things. Huge thanks to S for pulling this together. Definitely a fan now!

Here is them singing Oh, Mr Darcy.

My personal favourite, Will they or won't they?

And The Doctor Who Theme as you've never heard it before.

I also managed to head to a small Tweet Up at The Lass, attend an ALIA meeting at The Press Book House Cafe, check out Newcastle Gallery, do a lot of second hand book and clothes shopping, celebrate my nephew's 13th birthday at Foghorn, and catch up with D at Qs.

But the highlight of my month, and possibly my year was seeing Fleetwood Mac with C and E in Sydney. They were absolutely brilliant and you can read all about our experience here.

Here are my few reviews from October too, didn't have much time left to read or watch many DVDs.

And as always some random photos: