Rossi and the Time Machine...

Yesterday was my day up at Corryong Court, and believe me, it was like stepping back in time, walking into the building. I had the feeling I should be wearing a bonnet and long skirts and looking severe. The building itself is small, built sometime around 1905. It's never been a permanent court, only circuits, so it's not very big and there's no office to speak of, just a room with a large wooden table, and another room for the magistrate. The court room itself is a bit like a church hall - wooden benches for the public gallery, a big old wooden table for the prosecutor and defence lawyer, then the magistrate's bench looming over all. The bench clerk (me) has this teeny tiny little desk just below the magistrate, and I found I kept banging my knee on the underside - I pity anyone taller than me who has to sit there!

I had a moment of utter disloction when I woke up yesterday morning in the hotel room. For a minute I had absolutely no idea where I was - not even which country - and it scared me. To be expected, I suppose, after spending so much time in other people's houses. But now I'm back in my own, I'm looking for ways to get out. I aplied for a secondment to Mildura Court yesterday - four weeks only, starting September 10. It's full-time, and my expenses - accomodation and travel up there - would be paid for. So it could be quite lucrative - I'll find out on Monday, I guess. It does mean I won't be heading down to Melbourne for my training just yet, but that can wait another month. And if things go as I plan, I might be back in Melbourne next year any way.

See, being away has given me a chance to reassess things. My job. My living situation. My life. And I'm not particularly happy or satisfied with where things have been going for the past year. Moving up to Wodonga... in all honesty, I did it for BRM, and now I'm finding it was very much as mistake on my part. I don't have the social resources I had in Melbourne, and I have way too much free time on my hands with working part time. And I'm finding the money situation restrictive.

Basically, I'm not happy here.

But, not much to be done about it before next year. I don't want to leave my brother in the lurch tenant-wise, and I'll have to find a job in Melbourne, plus a flat and get some furniture to put in it since BRM owns most of the stuff here. Which needs money, which means me putting my head down and not spending anything for the next few months (except for AussieCon, that is). And there's other plans, which I won't mention much now, as they're still in the embryonic stage and I don't want to build up my hopes. I find that whenever I really wish for something, I'm always disappointed - nothing ever turns out the way I daydream.


Enough, I'm angsting again. I'll write another Dexcon post later.

More from the swiss-cheese memory...

Let's see how much more I remember this time...

Kielle: See, I'd pretty much resigned myself to not meeting Kielle, short of getting to SubCon. Which isn't that likely with the state my finances are in, and continue to be in since I go to Dexcon every year. So when Dex told me who the "Mystery Guest" was a few days before the con started, I believe I did the happy dance. For real.

Kielle-Associations - Cel begging me to tell her who the Guest was, adn me telling her with a perfectly straight face - which is something of a feat for me, who has never been that great a poker player - it wasn't Ki. The discussion that began in the washrooms of Caseys with Ki and Elena and... Cel, I think and continued at the tables, with Ki being distracted and trying to listen to two peopel at once. And of course, the Key, my Key, the one Ki got engraved with "THOSD" for me, which I promptly showed to every person in the B&B, whether they wanted me to or not. *happydances some more* It's hanging up off my desk light as we speak.

My desk is turning into a fanficcer meeting shrine. ;)

Ashlan: The thing about Ash is that she has this huge amount of talent - she draws amazingly, and writes well too - but doesn't realise it. *baps Ashling* Silly, isn't she? ;) Ash adn I really got on well last Dexcon, and it was great to see her again. Lessee, Ash-Associations... Our shared disappointment that the table from the Breakfast Nook of Doom at the hostel (the scene of much plotting and fanfic talk last year) had been removed. The Room From Hell - literally, you practically combusted in there when the sun hit it in the morning. Many, many cuddles. :)

Paradoqz: Doqz is one of those people who always has a surprise in store. He seems so quiet and unassuming, but he has this incredible dry wit, and he has this incredibly strategic mind - his grasp of the political thriller is amazing. And he does a good home boy look in my Matrix sunglasses. ;) Although he's a coward when it comes to Scrabble - your turn will come, matey! Oh, and read his Dexcon reports in his journal. They're a hoot.

Curly Jo: She of the most amazing long red hair. The sort you can't help playing with. ;) I remember very clearly talking to her at the B&B on the last or second last night, about how sometimes it was good to take a break, even from all the wonderfuol people at the Con. Sensible thing, too - you learn a lot from people by just sitting back adn watching them.

WonderGoddessSarah: *chuckles* The expression on her face as she said her nick out loud for me so I knew who she was at the lobby. She also had Tarot cards with her at the B&B and gave me a reading. I also dragged someone - Ashlan, I think it was - over for their turn. Another quiet one, who will remember me solely for the reason that I engineered her death in the last Halloween Massacre. ;)

Seraph: My Raphie-Sis. *grins* Lunging across Matt's back in the booth at the B&B to help her in Scrabble. The instigator of the "AUSSIE! AUSSIE! AUSSIE! OI! OI! OI!" chant in the basement during the first night. Also the one responsible for the pixie wings. Yes, all her fault. ;) I probably neglected her a bit, in favour of peopel I don't see as much (and remember, AussieCon is coming up!), but it doesn't mean I don't love her any the less.

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That'll do for now. More later.