Friday July 25. It’s Barker Swings night, and the choir will be performing.

Tonight felt special, not because I was wearing the red and black for the last time, but because it was the last time we were performing from our ‘battle’ repertoire. JAllington, our conductor, called it “the ridiculous”, but we all loved it. That night started at 5pm, the rehearsal.

Nostalgia filled the room, as we were all moving to the music that we sung, what felt like, many months ago. Then, the choreography was changed to fit the longer version of “Say a Little Prayer”. For an hour, we went through moves with O’Brien, but in the end it was what she described “three songs mashed up into one”. We all felt good, now it would be up to the performance.

Five hours later, we were just about to enter the hall for our part of Swings. Everyone was hyped; it couldn’t get better than this. The Big Band started to play; we ran on, the crowd loved us. About five minutes later, it was over. Our last performance as the ‘battle’ choir was done. As we left the stage, I felt happy and slightly sad. Battle of the Choirs had been a great experience for all of us. Now, it was back to our normal repertoire and schedule.

Working for TV is very different to what many people think it is. On our filming days, there were many rehearsals to get the best camera positions, basically to get everything right. Filming 40 minutes of footage took about three hours! I can’t stress how unique and fulfilling this experience was.

Last night was the formal. I thought it was going to be a great night. Unfortunately for me, it  mostly wasn’t.

To put it simply, the formal was a great idea at first, but it quickly loses its panache as the night progresses.

We started off with a three course dinner. Entrée was a green salad, then the main course was a steak. The steak was done really well. The atmosphere was very positive (as it usually is). Once dinner was over, things went from good to bad.

I was asked to nominate someone to ‘cut the cake’ symbolically and to say thanks. That was slightly surprising to the special someone, but the speech was terrible. (Almost) everyone cheered their head off every few seconds and I felt the spotlight taken away from me. Then came the dance.

In my opinion, the DJ really didn’t satisfy anyone. The music was this new stuff, I couldn’t tell. It did get better towards the end, then it was the end of the night.

I was beginning to question whether the night was worth it, but I didn’t let that get in the way. It is a problem of being under-recognised when you do so much for everyone.

On a lighter note, if you are reading this via Facebook, don’t feel offended. I thank you very much for all your support! In my opinion, the best form of recognition in this situation is a thanks, and a nice hug.

Link to photoset on flickr.

Everyone and the mascots

Originally uploaded by hohohob

Last Sunday, I had my birthday party. There were five of us to begin with at Luna Park. There, we had fun for a while, before Simon left and the rest of us took a ferry. It went to Circular Quay, and after getting off, we walked to Wagamama, one of my favourite restaurants. Dinner was had, before Georgina left us. The rest of us took the train home.

That’s it in a nutshell.

You know, the party went better than expected even though the other five I invited were away or sick. It was right after a week long camp some people went to, and it rained every single day. Just a small group of people, having a good time.

Now to get on with life.

Flickr photoset

On Wednesday, I went to Sydney Observatory’s “Jazz Under the Quarter Moon Cloudy Skies”. The clouds rolled in very quickly in the afternoon, so there was nothing to see. There were a couple of demos and shows in place of the moon viewing, but the jazz music was amazing.

A trio called “Music with Panache” played for the night. It was made up of saxaphone, bass and guitar. They were improvising many popular tunes and standards.

Tom and his sister and my Dad were also there. We enjoyed the night really much.

I’ve posted photos on my flickr of the event. Tom also took some pics too. I will post a link when he uploads them.