Is this the new busy? Taxes are sitting waiting to be done and I just got emailed the proofs of Legends. Meanwhile (yes, Cheryl, I can’t write!), rain storms seem to be lashing some other part of the city (I’m getting reports from friends). In the meantime, it’s still warm enough we’re running air conditioning to cool the house while I’m cooking a roast chicken dinner.  We need to eat early because Marianne and I are off to see Lyle Lovett and his Large Band at the Perth Concert Hall in a few hours. I confess, I bought the tickets back at Christmas as a present for Marianne because I thought it would be fun.  For various reasons, I find myself not in the mood and wanting to stay home. I think this is mostly due to the virus that is affecting my right ear, which also seems to just make me feel a bit tired and unwell. I am endeavouring to buck up, though, and hope we’ll have fun.

Oh, and Marianne put up some zoo trip photos which are nice.

Back at the day job desk after a  mixed weekend.  Friday seems a lifetime ago.  I got home from the office expecting a quiet hour or two before the arrival of the Horde, but plans had changed (they were headed for a friend’s house for a play date) and they were in the door just as I was sitting down to relax.  Given the gathering storm, I opted to head over to JB HiFi and do a little unnecessary shopping. I came away with the new Angus and Julia Stone cd and an old Bill Withers one.

I then sat down to read for a bit, looking for something to follow the novel-that-can’t-be-named. I’m in the mood for some SF and haven’t been able to settle on anything since. In the end I found myself re-reading an old favorite, C.J. Cherryh’s Downbelow Station.  It has the tough-edged space opera feel that I’m in the mood for, annd seemed to hit the spot. I may abandon it if pressures to read other things grow, but for now it’s just the right thing. 

The evening was whiled away with Cherryh, the new cds, and some cricket from India.  Saturday, though, was different. Last weekend I’d promised Sophie that if we skipped going to the park then we could go to the zoo this weekend.  Well, promises are made to be kept.  We opted not to tell Jessica, who is afraid of animals, our destination, and that proved a wise choice.  She wasn’t thrilled when we got there, but in the end had a good time she wouldn’t otherwise have let herself have. The weather was perfect, and we wandered idly around seeing ghost bats, lions, lemurs, kangaroos, and penguins(!).  Sophie rode the Carousel, we had lunch, and walked a lot. It was fine day.

We got home late, collapsed for a while, then grabbed pizza before Family Movie Night. The film was typically execrable, but didn’t change what had been a good day.  Sunday was Tax Day.  In amongst meals, I basically spent six hours sorting papers so that I’m now ready to start the 2008/2009 taxes.  We’re going out tonight to see Lyle Lovett, so I’ll probably do them in dribs and drabs over Wednesday and Thursday evening. Yay.  The main thing, though, is that April Holidays Approacheth, so I want taxes done and everything else up to date by then. 

And just to repeat: come April 2 I’m on holidays for a month.  For the first time ever this means I’m not just on holidays from the day job, I’m on holidays from EVERYTHING. I shan’t be editing, reviewing or anything.  Emails shall go unanswered (unchecked!), and the days shall be spent relaxing and not worrying about such things.  I’ll check in again on around April 20, but between the beginning of the month and then I shall be absent.  We’re spending a week away on a family holiday (while my mum’s at our house), then time back in Perth with the kids, and then I even get a week or so when the kids are back at school and  I’m just whiling away time.  It should be glorious.

The only thing, apart from taxes, that is harshing my mellow right now is my right ear. It’s been blocked for nearly three weeks. I saw a doctor last Wednesday, after I spent some time throwing up, but things haven’t improved much.  I have tinnitus and can’t hear well. It feels blocked, though there’s no wax there. It’s almost certainly an inner ear infection. Gack.  I want to get it cleared up as soon as I can, so if it doesn’t improve tomorrow, then back to the doctors.