Rainy Whitlams afternoon

A day off (almost) - what a luxury. And it's raining. Of course.

I am performing the play tonight, with Richard (hoping his arthritis isn't playing up too much tonight!), but no tours for me today, which left me thinking that I'd run down to Ocean Beach and explore - until I woke up to bad dreams and the pitter patter of rain on the roof. So have spent the day 'internet adminning'. Now listening to the Whitlams' "No Aphrodisiac" and thinking of D-boy, running around keeping a green-screen clean somewhere in Melbourne.

Am missing Melbourne at the moment - the convenience of being able to go out and explore so easily; the cafe culture; and friends of course. Strahan is a friendly little town, the kind of place where you can walk down the street and have a conversation to several people you know on the way (in fact, it's rude not to!); but I have yet to really find a connection with someone to the 'hanging out' level. I miss the company on days off.

Am very much looking forward to the potential of a visit from D-boy with a car; and a couple of days off to explore the area with him - in only two weeks now! I realised the other day that this is only the second job I've had which requires such a routine; and probably the most unvaried daily kind of routine I've had since highschool. I also realised that the unfamiliar change is taking it's toll. Friday was an incredibly hard day - I was exhausted, and distinctly depressed.

Saturday, in contrast, I felt on a high; the light as we were going out on the boat was gorgeous, glittering on the water, and the groups on the boat were small and friendly. It's times like that that I feel incredibly lucky to have this opportunity. But I am dying to explore the surrounding area!! I have another full day off on Tuesday, and if it's good weather I'll definitely get down to Ocean Beach; afternoon tours also start soon, and Richard's promised to eventually take me out to Halliday's Island and Grummet Rock to explore them in Maggie K, in the break between morning and afternoon tours. I'm also hoping to go out with the boats up the river, and have a look up that way again.

But life feels a little mundane at the moment, in general - I'm struggling to really settle into the play, and now have the challenge of learning the main part, Porter, as well in the next 3 weeks. I feel like I've got a bit of brain-freeze; am having trouble keeping motivated due to the lack of variety. And yet am reluctant to really start too many other projects till I'm more comfortable with the script for the play.

I certainly appreciate the days off that I get. I can understand how this job gets really draining! Well, I knew it would be a challenge - I'm now feeling it, and I just have to find the thing that will motivate me to rise to that challenge. I do feel the need to start setting and keeping to daily and weekly goals with both the play and the tours. My goal over the next week is to perform Porter down pat - by Sat 28th, when I am performing again with Nigel. So I'd better get to it - my mini-goal for this arvo is to do a complete lines run, here goes!