How did I break my finger yesterday?

Choose your own adventure:

• tasty kippers


• cuddly cats with muddy paws


• smoothie bottles with mini-beanies, and


• passing out for several hours with a fever.

• Went to go see the English National Opera's performance of Puccini's Turandot the night before last with myriadofsins. The ENO perform out of the London Coliseum which is in the Covent Garden area, just down from Leicester Square.


• I've not been to the venue before and was surprised a little at its interior, opulent bordering on the tasteless but we didn't go there for the decor :) Our seats were pretty good in the upper circle that afforded us a clear view of the whole stage and a peek into the orchestra. The acoustics were pristine as one would hope, especially good for the times when there was off-stage chorus singing. On to the music..


• If I was surprised about the decor I was even more when I discovered it was an English translated version of the opera. Turandot is traditionally sung in Italian, and you could forgive me for not picking up on the fact it was 'dubbed' from their title page. Much like watching anime when it has been dubbed as opposed to subtitled, the libretto (whist an excellent translation) didn't always fit the phrasing of the music. It was a little off-putting, especially the world-famous aria Nessum Dorma as my mind was expecting those wonderful liquid Italian rolling r's to pull at the heart-strings in the way that only someone who was actually already dead could fail to experience.


• Nevertheless, the chorus and soloists were just wonderful. I had two favourite soloist: The lady who played Liù, whose sweet soprano voice whilst not as powerful as Turandot's was more controlled in the upper registers; also the baritone singing Ping as he was an interesting and colourful character to listen to.


• Where this otherwise excellent performance fell down a bit was the production. Turandot is a dark, bloody tale of infatuation and death set in China. To modernise it, the company have set it in a Chinese restaurant. This would have worked quite well if they'd kept things fairly traditional I think; the blood-spattered meat chefs, pig-headed dancers and ghoulish hanging dolls and body parts all added up to quite a good take on the dark nature of the story.


• Unfortunately the chorus were dressed in a mish-mash of costumes like something from a Vegas card-hall - clowns, tennis players, Elvis impersonators, punks, businessmen.. it didn't quite fit in my mind. It did sort of grow on me though as the opera proceeded and some of it worked quite well - portraying the Emperor as a passing drunk in a party hat was just inspired. There was also a couple of non-speaking characters that were ever-present throughout the opera but I didn't quite get the symbolism of what they were trying to achieve.


• I won't criticize any more - it was an amazing performance, the orchestra was top-notch and the whole thing left me feeling wonderfully happy and full of culture once more :)

• Huzzah, White Mischief's Halloween is just around the corner!


• Equally that's also 'Argh its just around the corner and I haven't sorted out what I'm wearing yet' but then at least I didn't start on this train of thought the day before.


• Free next Friday and want a guaranteed awesome night -please come along! Tickets are very nearly sold out - go to www.whitemischief.info for details.

• Went ice skating at Queensway, it was nice. Took me back straight to my high school days when I was lucky enough to pick skating as a sport on Wednesday afternoons.. quite a nice relief on hot summer's days. Bad 80's music and disco lights and video games and dodgy food and whisking around waging my own personal war against gravity oh yeah.


• Archway station is changing its posters. It's amazing examining the strata of advertising when the posters have only been half removed, looking back in time to films and albums long past. Confusing too when you see an ad for something that came out an age ago.. make me think it's not so good that so much of what we learn about new things comes from train station advertising.


• emmavescence is awesome because she lent me both a comprehensive book on RSI and a small Wacom graphics tablet to use as an alternative mouse. Need to gather some evidence and an ideal setup for my too-tall self to throw at my day job's manager in the way of OH&S requirements (as opposed to requests).


• Tired from skating, praying for sleep.

• So, I turned thirty last Sunday. 2204 Saturday night Sydney-time (i think!), which made it about lunchtime over here in Londinium. Spent the day faffing around the house with a bit of a hangover from the previous night's parties and finished up with an absolutely lovely quiet evening at one of my local pubs.


• I love my London family - I can throw out an invite at the last minute and 20 awesome people turn up on a Sunday night for cider, cake and roast beef with Yorkshire puddings.


• A common question at times like these is 'do you feel any different?'. Well, yes and no. I've certainly been thinking a lot more about the next 5 to 10 years of my life and how I plan to spend them. Coming back to visit Australia over December will lead to much introspection along these lines as well.


• On the other hand, Sunday was much the same as Saturday and I haven't suddenly become someone different. I'm still tall and thin, I'm still a geek and an Aussie though people tell me I dress better :o) My work-life balance remains appalling however I'm finally taking steps to arrest that as my body is starting to tell me 'no more'. There's a few more grey hairs, but hey we're all getting them together aren't we :)


• My going-out habits are much the same as they were 5 years ago however I do feel I'm slowing down a bit. All-night dance events are becoming rarer in lieu of more performance-based things like vaudeville, cabaret, cheesy 80's pop or just hanging out at a nice pub with friends (dressed in black). Much a feature of the location though, I am fully aware I am incredibly spoiled in London when it comes to finding things to do in the evenings.


• So here's to the next decade, I look forward to some more significant life changes and all the wonder and excitement that they bring along the way.