12:45am Tuesday 17th October
Well gosh, don't I have a lot to report today, I think my last diary entry was about the 4th of November, so I really have to catch up. Anyway, I guess the biggest highlight of the past two weeks was of course the Sydney Ball on Saturday the 14th. Szusza got word from Christine who had organized the Canberra Glitter Ball, that it was on and would we like tickets. I agreed to go, and I headed up on the Friday on the bus so that I could recover from the trip and also look for a new dress. I left Canberra, had a relatively boring trip up to Sydney and arrived there at about 4:45pm. I booked into the CB Hotel and went up into the city. I knew that Gerry Shaw had some really nice evening wear, so I decided to check there first. I new it wouldn't be cheap, so I got $400 out of the bank. It only took me one trip past to get the courage, and I just walked in and started having a look around. One of the staffers asked if they could help me, and I said I was looking for something in black and about a size 14. She asked if it was for me and I said yes. I had a bit more of a look around and with a bit of help from the girl, I tried on two similar dresses. The second was supposedly a size 10, so I didn't think it would possibly fit, but when I tried it on, it was perfect. So I bought that, (a bargain at only $310) and asked whether they sold gloves. They said they didn't anymore, but that there was a glove shop just downstairs. I walked in there and asked if they had long, stretchy, black gloves and they did. The shop assistant asked if I wanted to try them on. I did and they were a good length. I bought those for $25 and walked out happy as could be. I'd only been in town for less than an hour and I had everything I needed.
Went back to the hotel, and crashed out. Picked up a pizza for dinner, and after that tried on my new purchases. I didn't use any makeup, but in my humble opinion I looked "mighty fine". Around 11:30pm I got undressed and went and saw the Rocky Horror Picture Show at Hoyts. It was really funny, they had a live cast acting out the roles and lots of shouting at the screen and throwing stuff. It was great (and rather ironic too). ;)
The next day, I got up about 11:00pm and checked out, had breakfast at Alexander's and bummed around the city for a while. Went to the War Memorial, and lay in the park for a while. At about 3:00pm I went and rang the hotel to see whether Szusza had arrived, and was greeted on the phone by Ariel. They had apparently been there for ½ an hour, so I caught a taxi over to the hotel. When I got there, Ariel was "trimming" herself. Apparently what had happened, all the tickets had been sold, and she wasn't able to come. Then Sharon and here two lesbian friends had a big cat-fight on the Thursday night and cancelled on the Friday morning. Thus Ariel was able to pick up one of the last tickets. It made it a bit harder to get things done, especially since Ariel had not shaved at all and took a very long time to get ready. I rested till about 5:00pm, when we found out that there was no bus and would have to catch a taxi instead. I did my makeup and then got dressed, and that took about 1 and a ½ hours, so I timed it quite well. I have to admit that I was so happy with how I had turned out, the gloves and the dress matched perfectly, and my wig was sitting the best I've ever seen it. Also my makeup skills were still working well. Finally after many false starts, we caught the elevator down to the lobby after calling for a taxi. Our taxi hadn't arrived, but there was one there waiting. The driver was surprised to say the least, but didn't say anything. We got to the Sydney Uni. Refectory after a few false starts and walked up to the reception area.