Flyin' away on a Jet Plane

Yay, off to the sunny Gold Coast today, though can't complain about Melbourne, we are having one of those glorious clear winter days today. My flight is at 14:35, mummy is picking me up at 12 and dropping me at Spencer St where I will catch the Skybus. The original plan was to strap on the backpack, walk to station etc etc, which I don't have a problem with, but I wasn't going to say no to a ride to the city. Today is my rest day, the "not quite a cold" is still lingering but I am generally feeling fine. I have my race day gear in my carry on luggage, wrapped around my post race bottle of Domaine Chandon! I am wearing my Polar and the footpod and HRM strap are also in carry on. My trusty Zoom Elites are strapped to my feet, feels a bit funny wearing them again, they have not been on since Williamstown. I was instructed to pack them away and not train in them so they felt nice and light on race day compared to my training shoes. But I am not taking any chances and will just wear them up today so I know they are safe, paranoid I know. I am getting the odd nervous rush now, but that is all part of the excitement, this is why I choose to race. I am looking forward to catching up on some reading, I have accumulated quite a few new books lately, but have been so tired at night from training that I fall alseep after 2 pages. From my big pile I have selected these two to make the journey - The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks A scottish writer and one of my faves (though not keen on his sci fi stuff) I have read most of his now. This was his first novel, this one is supposed to be pretty graphic (read: violent) but you have to take him with a grain of salt The Helmet of Horror by Victor Pelevin Never heard of this author, this is one of those "picked it up, looked interesting" books. This is a summary from the sleeve note - "In this radical reinvention of the ancient story, the labyrinth exists in the endless maze of the Internet. Strangers in chatrooms, sitting trapped and alone before their screens, are assigned obscure aliases and commanded by the Helmet of Horror, the Minotaur himself. The only path through the alienated landscape lies in the threads they trail." Hmm, considering the amount of time I spend in forumland and blogland I was naturally intrigued. Anyone interested in this topic should pick up Snow Crash by Neil Stephenson. Published over 10 years ago now when the Internet was more fledgling it is brilliantly prophetic and bloody funny, one of those books I keep re-reading. While I am plugging authors I love I also recommend China Meiville, Perdido Street Station and The Scar in particular, not quite Sci Fi, not quite Fantasy, set in a total Other World, brilliant stories. I also have a Graham Greene, Camus and some Satre sitting in waiting. Though the Satre and Camus are more flick though and read in parts than sit down and read cover to cover sort of books. Now just in case you are thinking I am totally nerdy and earnest, I also love the odd totally frivolous Chick Lit book as well. In fact my brothers fiance has the new Marian Keyes which I will devour and I am going to buy the latest Candace Bushnell (Sex and the City author) at the airport so we can do a swap. Hey, the brain needs the odd feed of junk food as well :-) I am not afraid to confess that I have also read Bridget Jones' Diary way too many times.

*Edit*

Because I am strange I just put my backpack on and weighed myself. All up I weighed in at 2 Kgs heavier than I was at my heaviest!!! I can't believe I used to carry that extra weight around, it was quite a shock.