One week after touching down, I'm still feeling the effects of my recent sojourn to Australia. The body clock is still a tad off (flying back to Toronto for two days of intense meetings sure didn't help), and I'm still not done organizing my mail, both e and tangible.
On another level, looking at my pictures as they're transferred from my camera and iPhone to desktop, I realize that the trip--two weeks of Just For Laughs work at the Sydney Opera House (that's me and it above) appended by three days of attempted vacation in Cairns--also marked the turning of a page.
At both stops on the trip, I kept hearing a certain phrase being repeated, albeit for different purposes, to justify a certain action being carried out. Whether it was to climb the Sydney Harbour Bridge, or to scuba dive off the Great Barrier Reef, or simply to walk along Bondi Beach, the rationalization seemed to be:
"When are we ever
going to do this again?"
Now, despite John Cleese's brilliant line that "There are planets--planets!--closer to London than Australia," the trip there really isn't all that bad; in fact, the flight down gave me a chance to finish a book, watch two movies, and about a dozen episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm and The Larry Sanders Show, as well as sleep a good eight hours...albeit broken up in segments. While not cheap, it's certainly way less expensive than flying Virgin Galactic, and most major airlines always offer up a seat sale Down Under every year. In other words, it may be far, but it's closer than ever.
Earlier on in my travels--many moons ago when I was in Edinburgh, Japan, Russia and even Australia--I also heard the above sentence uttered, but with the additional prefixed caveat of "Who knows."
While just two words, the difference between "Who knows when we're ever going to do this again?" and "When are we ever going to do this again?" is monumental.
This week's lesson then is indeed a short, yet profound one.
At one point in life, you realize that you're closer to the end than to the beginning. That you've turned a very big page. That your day-to-day is becoming a Seals and Crofts song.
That's a big lesson.
And now that I've learned it, I'm going out to do something fun. A lot of things fun.
Because, well...who knows?
In the meantime, here are a few more pix from Aussieland.
Me and a real live Koala. My dogs Shaydee and Rawqui are jealous as hell.
The Just For Laughs crew at Sydney Opera House. Top row L ro R is Dimitri Martin, Russell Howard, John Cleese (actually in both rows!), Wil Anderson, my partner Gilbert Rozon and our Australian promoting partner Adrian Bohm. Bottom row is JFL's Robbie Praw, Margaret Cho, yours truly, John again, Martin Short and JFL's COO Bruce Hills.
This is where I rehearsed with John Cleese every day. The Utzon Room (named after the designer of the Sydney Opera House), resplendant with majestic mural tapestry of his making.