A Tale of Two Cities

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.
A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens

Considering what didn't kill me on the weekend, I must certainly be a lot stronger. And check out the build of my character!

Things I lost during my weekend in Auckland:

1. My camera. Stolen from my bag at Eden's. Including an entire film of photos from gigs, and since I can't remember past last week, who knows what else?
2. A demo CD. Stolen from my bag at Eden's. What may come of this?!
3. A piece of paper containing email addresses of people who liked Hot Swiss Mistress. If you read this, do email...
4. My illusions, and quite possibly the respect of my friends. Thanks Ben, you are a great Driver. Can anyone remember what actually happened?

I ought really to balance this out with a list of the good things that happened. There are quite a few.

1. Scored an interview on Flipside (will be on sometime this week). Thanks Damian.
2. Scored an interview on bFM. Thanks Jason and thanks Mikhal.
3. Got to play a gig with Chris Knox. Chris Knox is cool, inspiring, an entertainer, and a nice bloke.
4. Got to play gigs with the Demi-Whores and the Shallows. Auckland is lucky to have you.
5. Experienced the kindness of Edward Gains. Thanks Ed, you're great.
6. After losing Rhys' bass guitar, we found it again.
7. Bought three really cheap slave-laboured tops (same style, different colours) from a shop in Newmarket. Thanks Ru for the tip-off.
8. Met some cool people. Got re-acquainted with others.
9. Due to my Extreme Hangover, the boys let me have shotgun from Auckland all the way to Bulls!! How kind.

It's hard not to say that Auckland is weird. It's just not Wellington, that's all... Stuff is all miles away, and there's this motorway buzz that tantalises because you just know it could be so much quicker to get from A to B if only you knew how to use it. Anyway, thanks heaps to Hayden, Kyle and Damon for putting us up - and to Rowan and Mazzy for putting up with us. Thanks to Kyle for the PA, to Edward Gains for helping with our tech issues, and thanks Damian, Jason, Oliver, Mikhal, Reuben, Andrew and everyone else - forgive my addled brain!

I'm learning that people are strange. And when I try to fit my image of a person onto the reality of that person from an objective perspective there are parts that don't fit and parts that I could never have imagined. That's about all I've got from today. It's been a day of Catatonic Low Productivity. I seem to have spent more time pissing around on friendster (try this for a laugh) and KoL than on work... I will pay for it tomorrow but at least my brain may be in attendance by then.

Are you out there? Do you read this?? How could I know?!