Australian Open 2008 - Day 16

Woke up this morning early, as play starts early.  They want all of the matches done in time to allow people to attend the Australian Open Ball.  I deliberately chose to make today an off day from a workout standpoint, mostly because I didn't want to be sore or nursing an injury in the tux.  I spoke to Colleen early and told her that I'd probably not be able to call her tonight because I'd be at the ball.

The weather is HOT!  It was in the high 80s to low 90s with the projected high supposed to hit 33C it was sure to be warm.  That means I am back to sweating full time walking to and from work.  Still, the 2 kilometers I walk back and forth is decent exercise.

Walking in today, something flew into my right eye.  I don't know if it was dust, or a bug, but it made my eye irritated quite a bit.  At one point, there was evident swelling and I was worried I had pink eye.  I tried to not rub it if it was, as I didn't want it to spread to both eyes if it really was pink eye.  I knew I wouldn't make it through the day without something that could impact my experience at the ball. :-(

I left early for those of us in the room.  Most of the IBM Australia team was gone well before I left so it wasn't exactly early.  I stopped off at the bottle shop to pick up two six packs of Coopers Sparkling Ale and of course pay $39 AUD in the process.  Oh well, I wanted a couple before the ball and to have some left for the last night in town.  It made the walk back a bit more tiring, but at least the bottle shop is right down the street.  I still can't forgive myself for making Colleen and Leah walk all that distance with a case of bottles 3 years ago!

I think I chose well for the tuxedo this year.  I think it came together very well.  Of course, with my thinning hair and two bum front teeth, I still don't think I look very good, but that's subjective anyway.  I was glad of the chance to shower, brush my teeth (though beer and Crest are a horrible combination) and basically relax before the ball.  In the end, I chose to wait for BJ and Mike so we could share a cab.

The ball itself is a bit pretentious. It is mostly corporate sponsors, media, and former tennis stars.  Still, it is nice to get dressed up, get free food and drink and dance the night away.  I had my fair share of all of those this time around.  I was drinking red wine and the servers never let my glass look empty once I'd started drinking.  That was likely a very bad sign of things to come.  Wine drunks for me are typically rowdy in that I have high swinging emotions and I wasn't sure which one would rear its ugly head this time around.  I got lucky, and it wound up being quantum particle Derek at the ball.  For those of you that might remember, when I live in Little Rock, I got dubbed the bouncing ball because I would move from place to place in a party.  A quantum particle is a particle that cannot be placed in either time or space, so it is basically an updated (or more geeky) naming I was given during my first French Open Soiree.  I thought it funny that old habits really never die.  I was happy, and flitting about the ball like there was no tomorrow.

I got lucky, because at some point, I lost track of anything that was going on.  I don't remember getting back to the room, and I don't remember passing out.  I woke up I was even still in my tuxedo shirt.  Instead of a tie, it had a decorative button.  I apparently was unable to navigate the button and drunk enough to not care.  At least I was asleep on the bed.  Tomorrow will be hell, I'm sure!

Cheers!