It's going on 5am and Kristen and I just got home from Gavin's. He was such a sweetie and drove us home after a fun night out at Club 77 featuring Rumanastone and ESN. Okay the sun is going to be coming up soon and I must lay my head on the pillow before it does or I will feel like a vampire ;) More soon!

Just got home from the office Christmas party at around 3.30am. It's 4am and I'm just checking out the pics from the office Xmas party. They're hilarious. Will post them tomorrow! :) Thanks to my family for the Christmas/belated birthday package!!!

Love,
Lori :)

I've had insomnia for like a week now. Slept a bit last night - but that's a lot more sleep than I've gotten lately. Part of it is my darn allergy pills that keep me up all night, definitely, and the other part is that I just have a lot on my mind. Tomorrow is my office Christmas party, and here's hoping it all goes well. I just got the instructions for what's needed this afternoon, so I'm keeping my fingers and my toes crossed that I get it all done in time, with no hitches! The best part is, we have no idea how many people are coming! Like 150 were invited, and maybe 30 RSVPd. Should be exciting ;)

Last night Kristen and I watched an Oprah prime time special with Tom Cruise. Only Oprah and Tom Cruise could get on prime time these days. It's really interesting to see how many Australians hate Tom Cruise now because of "what he did to our Nic!" :) Newscasters only interview angry Australians who are offended that Tom dumped their little darling, so it's hard to gauge how many people are actually upset at Tommy boy. But I was watching the news the other night and lots of people were saying they'd boycott Vanilla Sky because Tom Cruise was in it---and he dissed Nic. I feel bad for celebrities sometimes. Yeah, sure they've got tons of money, but they've got no sense of privacy. Whatever they do, wherever they go, the whole world is watching. Whatever happened between Kidman and Cruise is nobody's businesss. It takes two to tango and marriage is a dance that few people can understand from the outside. Hell, sometimes it's impossible to understand from the inside! But more about my aversion to marriage later on... ;)

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Goddesses and all

Didn't leave the apartment until 3pm, got up at noon, though I kept waking up this morning etc. Went to go see Nick Hanlon & the Goddesses at The Basement. The sets were excellent. It was a moving, exciting, and relaxing experience. I took lots of notes, so hopefully my review will be ready within the next day or so. It was great to just be there and be in the moment and just concentrate on the music, but every now and then my mind wandered a lot. A whole lot. I started daydreaming about some of the most random and important things. I wrote some of my own song lyrics and got some ideas for writing pieces etc, which I'll discuss tomorrow probably. For now I'm just putting up some photos and I'll have my corny "deep thoughts" comments tomorrow ;)

So here they are, the ever exciting Xmas party pics! Up top, Kristen, Ruth, me and Jo's lovely friend whose name escapes me! Ooops! On the couch, me, Ruth, and Kristen, of course. I've got more pics of Jo and Ruth, but I'll post those later on. I've also posted some new funny pics from Homebake down below. Scroll down to December 8th to see 'em.

Typical Lori story: After the gig tonight, I walked to the bus stop on Geore St. @ Circular Quay and rang Kristen to let her know I was on my way home. Then I proceeded to daydream. Really hard. I vaguely spotted a Glebe Point Road bus in the next batch of approaching buses coming down the street. And went back to daydreaming. So the buses arrive and I hop on and everything is a-ok until we get to the QVB and the bus suddenly starts to veer to the right. It's turning right instead of going straight like it's supposed. I look behind me wildly to see the Glebe Point Road bus behind us. Doh! I ask the guy next to me where this bus is going. Five Dock, via Pyrmont. Hey, hey! Stupid Lori has gotten on the wrong bus. I live in such a little dreamworld, I'm surprised I haven't done it before, actually. So, the next thing I know, we're on the freeway and I am trying to figure out where the next stop will be so I can get off. I got off in Pyrmont and was too stubborn to get a cab and ended up walking home. It only took about 35 minutes and it was still light out, and frankly, I needed the exercise. I thought I knew where I was, and got more confident as I went, and I got home fine with no problems. My friend Lonny will enjoy this story (if he's reading!) because we'll never forget the time he tried to get my attention in the halls of Boston University's College of Communications and had to yell out my name 10 times and I didn't notice him until he was 1 inch from my face. Daydreamer, that's me...

Dancing queens
Big thanks to Jo and Steve for inviting us to their amazing apartment (wow is it classier than the 1-star motel! ;) I took Kristen and Ruth along and we had a great time. All of Steve and Jo's friends are so nice and very friendly and cool. We ate, we danced, we drank, we ate, we danced, and we drank some more. They had a mexican xmas thing going, so tacos, salsa, guacamole, plus some kangaroo and sausages etc. Funny dance music too. Jo is quite the dancer, I had no idea. She and I realised that we should have started going clubbing together ages ago. Some people told me I should have been a dancer and asked if I ever took dance classes. I have taken that one modern dance class and my dance teacher said I had perfect foot arches and had a long neck/body etc, but alas, I am a klutz. I'm sorry, but once you pop out your knee cap twice for no good reason either time, you just have to realise the klutz factor is going to catch up with you at some point. So, my "professional dancing" days will only be at various clubs/parties around Sydney for now ;)

Anyway, we had a ton of fun, some great conversations etc. We also played truth or dare jenga. Once I answered my first green piece so ever truthfully, everyone wanted me to keep getting green pieces. Sorry, I cannot repeat my answers in this family forum :) As for the dare portion, I told a silly joke, did my best Austin Powers impression and rubbed noses with someone. Quite the rebel, I am!

We took some cute pictures at the party, including those of Kristen and I in our matching Santa hats, so I'll probably post those tomorrow. Tonight was an excellent distraction from a stressful week. So glad I went - just what the doctor ordered! And for the record, Kristen and I kept our hats on for just about the entire party. I had to keep mine on so as avoid the "bangs plastered to my forehead" syndrome.

It's after 3am here now, so by the time I get up tomorrow it'll probably be time to head down to The Basement for Nick Hanlon and the Goddesses. I've got two complimentary passes, so I'll likely write a review. They were excellent last time, so looking forward to it.

Sweet dreams!

p.s. I was wowed by my "lucky" sense of direction. Where Jo and Steve live - well, it's an area that's brand new. It doesn't exist on any map. Can't find their street on any map. No cab drivers have ever heard of it. But I wrote down some directions from Jo and would you believe we found it in two minutes? No dramas. No weirdness. Easy as pie. Amazing :)