Through the Eyes of a Wombat

Grr.. half a post written when the computer died.

Thomas rang last night from Canberra - rather out of the blue. Great to hear from him - havent actually seen him since that night last year when I thought he was in Japan and he wandered into my room at Ursies. Reminisced for a while about ANU, Kabuki, and Mr Shimada, the funny little bloke with bad breath from RAY English Club in Saitama.

This evening I went to the civic auditorium for the Magic Festival in Sendai... or, Majikku Fesuchibaru inu Sendai. I'd seen plenty of posters around the city for a couple of weeks advertising this, so off I went. It was a fantastic show! Amateur, yes, but they were all very GOOD amateurs.
Juggling played a part, of course, and some fellow who was very good with those spinning things on the string, I'm not sure what theyre called, but he was good. There was a very good routine of the Chinese Rings, mainly done with three rings. The times I did it I always used the full set of seven - an abbreviated routine worked very well.
The fellow who started the show did the disappearing/appearing balls routine, and though he did very well you could see his hands shaking with nervousness. Not surprising, given that he was performing to over three hundred people. Im glad I got there in plenty of time, otherwise it would have been difficult to get a seat. Only $5 to get in, so that was good.
Photos and even some short movies are on their way up in the photo gallery, but the computer is misbehaving today so I'll get them up later.

I've discovered this week the joys of the ABC's Radio Australia. Listening to Australian accents and familiar noises from home is very comforting, and I no longer stop and say 'wow' at the ABC news music. Sunday I listened to Australia All Over - the whole program, which I dont think Ive ever done, by never being up in time, but thanks to the joys of the internet and radio-on-demand I was able to have a dose of Macca on a Sunday.... Arvo?. Right now Ive got Tony Delroy's The Challenge quiz on, and I'm doing rather well, even if I do say so myself.
If youve got a fast internet connection, have a listen at www.abc.net.au/ra.