Well I'm officially finished with Mosman Council.

My last work day was Tuesday. Wednesday morning I headed south for a couple of days at the weekender. Kangaroos in the twilight, chasings from an insane possum, bunnies frolicking - just bliss.

Wrote a bit, read a bit, napped a bit. Standard south coast operating procedure.

Last night, back in Sydney, met up with some peoples from Mosman Council for drinks. Actually paced myself with regular glasses of mineral water. See I'm an adult - I can drink responsibly!

This morning have circled half a dozen flats to go look at and am about to venture forth on my quest for a better place to live. Quiet night planned tonight. Might try and put some more words on paper.

Back in Sydney having spent the weekend in Canberra attending Conflux (a spec fiction writers and fan convention).

All sorts of shenaningans on checking in. Someone else with EXACTLY the same name as me had checked in earlier in the day and seems to have been given my booking!

On the Friday night I caught up with a girlfriend from school days whom I haven't seen for about four years. We had a wonderful catch up - and I met her new(ish) man. Actually he's a slightly older model but seems to be recycling well!

We had dinner out and then a few drinks before playing all those hits of the 80's that we used to listen to back in school and dancing around her living room like idiots. I got back to the hotel around 11pm or so. On wandering into the lobby I discovered that the Clarion 05 gang were amassed on a large lounge so bounced over and immersed myself in further catch ups.

I managed to stagger out for a jog the next morning and still make it to a 9am session. In fact did a few sessions before being enticed out with Mark, Tess, Rju and Deb to the Gorman House Markets. Being a long weekend the markets weren't as good as I recall them. Far less stalls. Still I bought a pashmina thing to replace the one I lost earlier in the year.

Back to the con and a couple of afternoon sessions. Attended a panel on what makes good fantasy vs what makes bad fantasy. It was a large panel and as a result I didn't think it really came to grips with the topic. Too many speakers each with not enough time.

I did, however, enjoy the genre panel. Interesting that how your book is classified eg Fantasy, Young Adult, Science Fiction, will effect publishers expectations and also how people view your book. Margaret Atwood is considered mainstream, not fantasy - which ups both her earnings and people's view of her as a 'literary' writer. Interesting.

I kind of did panel and session burn out after that - though I did catch some 'Fan' films. Amazing stuff!

Spent a lot of time just catching up with friends and making a couple of new ones. I was sharing a room with Zara - and it was pretty cool getting to know her better - even if we did tend to live very different hours - the perfect time share really.

The only hassle was - the more people you have in one group - the harder it is to get a decision AND the more time it takes to get the critical mass you require for movement!

Oh.... and lots and lots of bodice type tops at the dance Sunday night. I'm not sure when I last saw so much quivering bosom!