And on a brighter note...

I walked in the door on Tuesday, having left Ash and Leon to majestically hold the kiddly-winkled fort while I set forth on my promotional assault (otherwise known as photocopying bios, columns and the like in readiness to send them out to agents, producers and other random peeps) - only to have Ash say those magical words: "*** from ***** rang and wants you to call her back about a tour."

Woo-bloody-hoo. And no, I'm not being sarcastic.

And so my lovely pals, I am suitably chuffed to report that come mid-Feb, I'll be setting off on a brief but nonetheless exciting Canadian tour (it is my first, after all) for exactly four nights in British Columbia. If anybody hears an echo through the Rockies at this point, fear not - it's just my excitement.

After being introduced to the film Hedwig and the Angry Inch, a very well made little flick that shows - amongst other things - the gritty reality of life on the road, I'm prepared for anything. Who am I kidding? I can't freakin WAIT!

Positive news. Rock.

RIP Heath

I'm quite surprised by how upset I was by this news.

I'm not the most massive Heath Ledger fan in the world (not that I'm the least either, just that I'd hardly consider myself 'dedicated' to his work) yet I've actually felt rather shite-like since hearing of his very premature demise today.

Maybe it's just cos death has been a major theme of the past week. Maybe it's just cos I find myself thinking of his own little pint-sized tike. Or maybe it's just cos I'm an Aussie in a foreign land.

Either way, I'm shocked both by the news itself and my reaction to it.

Cos it is of course...all about me.

Isn't it?

I think the moral of this story - and I'm sure there are many which will come to light in the coming days - is that it's not all about anybody.

(And that fame is fickle. Blah blah blah. Cos we didn't know that already).

Anyhoo, rest in peace buddy. Geez Louise, what a week.

Riding the rollercoaster

It's been a crazy week. From mammoth highs - like having the joyous visit of two of my favourite people in the world Ash and Leon, to doing tons of snowboarding, to heaps of awesome kiddly-wink time, to a particularly rocking gig at Yuk Yuk's on Tuesday, to having some amazing career opportunities beginning to show their heads - to a crashingly horrible low.

My sister-in-law Lizzie - who is hands-down one of my best mates and most beautiful people on this planet - got the horrible news that her darling Dad (also one of the most gorgeous people I've ever had the good fortune of knowing) suddenly died. It's been so shocking and sad for everybody who knew him, my heart's just been crunched up with sadness for Lizzie and her family as they're dealing with all the emotional and logistical fall-out.

I'm not going to write anything more than that, just cos it's not really my news to be delving into, but suffice to say that it's times like this it makes you really appreciate the people in your life and just life in general.

And how far away we are from the rest of our family.

Just sad.

You have the best day. The BEST. One of those it-can't-get-any-better days. And you are grateful for how awesome life can be.

Then...the bad news. (Not mine).

And suddenly nothing matters anymore.

The good, the bad and the rest.

Our first visitors!!!!! Ash and Leon, our darling mates from Oz are here for a wee (please don't stop reading there...I do hate things being taken out of context) stopover en route back to Oz, after having spent the past couple of years doing the UK thang.

WOOT!

Tonight had a really tough corporate gig - on the downside, the crowd of 700+ young ski-season workers were rather over-hyped and WAY too far in party mode to want to pay attention to some weird Aussie lady strutting onstage (the entire ball-room and I kid you not, basically continued to buzz through my entire set), while on the upside I took comfort in my dear mate Fiona McGary's thoughts on corporates ("If you even get a couple of laughs out of it you're doing great. They suck, that's why they pay so well.") and didn't take it personally.

Plus I survived the incredibly snowy drive home.

Rock.

Tomorrow: missions include hair-cuts for the kiddlies and Ash, then snowboarding, then heading to Calgary to do a gig at Yuk Yuk's.

Huzzah!

Tina Fey - Improv in Real Life

Really cool read here.