So... the plan was, this: come home, recover from the wedding and the shopping in Melbourne, write a few chapters of The Chaos Crystal and then toddle off to Supanova in Sydney in October, followed by a leisurely few weeks making like a database administrator while I fill in for someone on leave, and of course, coming home each night to knock out another chapter of my soon-to-be-overdue manuscript.

Scratch that plan...

Turns out October starts tomorrow and Supanova is in 2 weeks time. And the temporary "I think it starts at the end of October for a couple of weeks" real-live-job gig  starts on Monday. And it doesn't just go for "a couple of weeks", either. It's 6 weeks of actual, real live work! What was I thinking, saying yes to that???

Oh, and the builders rang to say they'd be back on Monday to start work on the rest of the renovations...

There's no way I'm missing Supanova. Sam Jones (you know... Flash!...Ahaaa!, Saviour of the Universe!) and Nicholas Brendan from Buffy will be there, among others, not to mention it'll be a great chance to catch up with Sonny Whitelaw, Marianne De Pierres, Marv Wolfman (we all bonded at Supanova in Brisbane earlier this year like high-school kids... hehehe). And I get to sign books on the Borders stand for two days and do some panels, too, which are great at Supanova because they're often filled with game designers rather than normal fantasy/sci-fi readers (is "normal fantasy/sci-fi readers an oxymoron?), and we get asked some really fascinating questions:) Which isn't to say we don't get asked fascinating questions by fantasy/sci-fi readers, but I have been asked if I understood the existential implications of Rocky III at a con once, so I think it's not unreasonable that I get a little worried....

Anyway, if you live in Sydney had don't have your tickets yet... get cracking, kids! It'll be a blast:) You can get them from Ticketek now.

So, I had to bite the bullet and ring the department Friday and tell them I'd be on the job for less than 6 days before I wanted 5 days off to visit Sydney. (I said it was for a conference. Which it is. Sort of) 

Now I have to get organised. I have to get the builders started. I have to organise the electrician and the cable guy to cable the wall before it's plastered. I have to finish the Palace of Impossible Dreams line edit and send it back. I have to finish the Wolfblade UK proof-read. And I'm up to having to write 2353 words a day in order to get The Chaos Crystal in on time. And I have to remember how to use Access, which I haven't even opened since the last time I temped in this job.

And for the next few days I am going to lie away at night wondering if anybody in the Department remembers that memo I sent on my final day when I was temping there the last time, telling them their big project was a complete waste of time and money, because I thought I'd never be back... *gulp*