Australian Open 2008 - Day 10

2 hours and 45 minutes of sleep.  I think that says it all.  Because I have agreed to do rotation every day with Brian on shift work I had to work a night day after the latest finish in Grand Slam history.  That meant, tennis ended at 4:45 AM and I had to be back at 9AM for the start of juniors play!  Amazingly, there were still a ton of fans at the venue, so we walked as opposed to waiting at the packed taxi rank for a cab.  That meant I didn't actually get to bed until 5:20 AM.  The alarm fired early for me to be able to walk to the venue.  Still I did make it out the door and into work by 9:10 AM.  Take that!

Sarah from IBM Australia was nice enough to buy me a very large coffee and I settled in.  As the only one in the room that had done the circle back, I thought it was very sympathetic of her to my plight.  I did feel like poop.  My eyes were red and sore, so I used a quick blast of drops to try to clear some redness.  Once the coffee kicked in, I was in better shape.

Left the venue about an hour early and back to the hotel.  I almost literally collapsed into the bed for a good 2 hour nap.  It was quite nice.  Of course, I set the alarm.  We were supposed to be having drinks at a bar in the hotel at 9 to 9:30 and I needed to be back up in time to shower and look presentable.  I took the opportunity to have Nando's for dinner again.  I can't get enough of that stuff.

If is an interesting bar.  I can honestly say that in the three times I have been here, I have been in it fewer than three times.  Short chairs, few with backs, and very odd pictures of locals that I never see in the place.  At least it wasn't as expensive as it could have been.  Still, it was comical.  Despite our attempt to have them keep the bar open, we didn't arrive early enough for their taste (for Australians, 9:30 really means 9:45 so I sat there alone for a bit as 9:30 for me means 9:25) and they let us know just as folks were starting to arrive that they'd be closing around us.  One of the people from IDS volunteered to move the party to their apartment and off we went.

Now, of course, that meant I had no access to anything to drink.  I hadn't been to a bottle shop in town yet, and didn't have high hopes for finding one open after 10 PM on a Sunday night.  Oddly, one of the Australians did know of a shop that was open.  Firmly telling myself that I would NOT switch alcohols tonight I was pleased to find that they did have James Boag and Son's premium lager.  Of course, then it became the sticker shock of 40 Dollars Australian for two six packs of beer!  I learned that the government in Australia has massive Sin Tax and that most of that cost is actually just taxation.  Still that works out to 3 dollars per beer for no good reason.  I didn't need 12, but the guys from my team at the venue were on their way (due to the retirement of the player in the last match) and I knew they wouldn't have any alcohol.  That's just how I roll!

Got to the room and it was significantly loud.  More than a dozen people in the room was likely too high and sure enough, someone from the hotel was rapping at the door indicating that we had generated a complaint and that we'd have to quiet down.  Of course, alcohol make people deaf and they were almost immediately back to talking loudly.  Sure enough, the desk manager came again and this time threatened to call the police.  So we decided to break up the party.

Now, some people wanted to go to another room and start over again.  I decided that at 40, I had no business attending a gathering that even had the threat of police visitation.  Also, I was really tired, and I knew that it being just after midnight I could call home and talk to Colleen.  I left 2 or 3 beers in the fridge (I think the guys had 4 between them, and I had 2 for sure) taking three with me and considering it fair trade.  I pressed the button for my floor and to the jeers of an elevator full of drunk people ignored the chiding and got into the room.

Got into the room and Battlefield Earth was on the TV.  Movies on TV here are typically uncut, so I thought I'd watch for a bit.  It is still lame, even after not having seen it for a few years.

Colleen was out walking the dogs when I called and I was dead on my feet.  I left a message and drifted off to sleep.  At least I didn't make a drunk ass of myself this time!

Cheers!