An unusual state of being

Apologies for the lack of posting recently, I've been in an unusual state. For the first time in a long time, I've actually been quite unwell. Its August, and in Queensland that means its time for both the last real effort of winter to make everyone miserable and sick as well as the Royal Queensland Show, the only decent agricultural festival Queensland has to offer.

The Ekka in all its glory

Whilst not quite on the same scale as the Easter show down south in NSW, it does have a lot of fond memories for most QLDers. Depending on where you live in Brisbane, your school had a particular show holiday, so places like Ipswich, Logan, the Gold Coast, Redlands and so forth all had their particular day. This was probably to ensure that there was always a steady flow of customers to the Ekka and not to slam any one day with a billion school children. For my area we were just on the outskirts of Brisbane, so we got both the Brisbane show holiday and our district's show holiday. Most likely the only benefit, of going to school where I went. Unfortunately if you actually went to school IN Brisbane, such as All Hallows, Brisbane State, Somerville House, you didn't get a second holiday hahaha.

Ha ha! You live in Brisbane and only get one holiday!

Growing up, for me it meant pouring over the Courier Mail's show bag guide, armfuls of show bags, swapping stuff I didn't want from my show bags with other kids in my street/friends/relatives, free pens and toys from the stalls, walking through Sideshow Alley with friends when we waited to play in our school band, checking out the pig racing and log throwing, trying to decide what to eat at the International Food pavilion, the iconic food and scamming food samples from the Woolies Pavilion. Also our yearly fight with that one clown on stilts. That bastard.

Not the aforementioned clown. I would know him if I saw him.

The other thing that the Ekka is well know for, is making everyone sick. Every few years there's a giant flu epidemic that hits Brisbane with the last one being in about 2007 with the swine flu scare and 2011 being just terrible flu season. I remember cause my cousins got sick and those guys are never sick. It was terrible. Unfortunately I didn't even go to the Ekka and I was sick.

I was at work when I suddenly got a tickle in my throat, by the end of the day it had gotten worse and I called in sick for the next two days. Sore throat, achy body, heavily congested, lethargic and with a potent weight loss of 9kg. This was despite my constant eating knowing that whenever I do get sick, I drop weight like its intentional and cool. Unfortunately like a Biggest Loser contestant, I pile it back on as soon as I recover.

Get really sick and start sneezing on everything. Lose 9kg in 3 days!

Unlike some of my friends at work, I rarely get sick. I attest this to my good immune system, sensible clothing choice, lack of exposure to at risk activities and love of big black coats, a terrible love since I have a husky that sheds white fur.

Basically another entire dogs' worth of hair.

In addition this this, there is a second factor in my usual mood. I'm actually moderately happy for once because my interest in someone has been mutually reciprocated and its been a long time since that's happened. I don't think I'm normally in a low mood or depressed, but its been a bit of a rough year for me.

One of my friends at work, Mr M for Megababe told me he hates the part that I love the most. The indecisive, heart fluttering initial outset where you're not sure if they like you. The hesitant waiting for their calls, their texts, their comments and likes in this day and age. The elation of a glad response. The coy inquiries into each others' lives. The wistful daydreams and long conversations into the night. I enjoy this part the most when getting to know someone new.

"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars." - Oscar Wilde.