One week gone...

Well, as predicted, I fell behind in my blogging over the past week, which featured two big things - a four-day trip to Adelaide and finishing up in my job.

Adelaide

It had been three years since I was last in Adelaide - also for the Cabaret Festival. But it was a very different vibe. Last time was a very interesting time, and felt a bit like the world's biggest party before going back into lockdown in 2021.

This time, felt more like returning back to 'normal life' - or at least, the normal life for an 'artsy' city like Adelaide. I felt a sense of nostalgia for the cabaret scene in Melbourne, 10-15 years ago when I lived there. It was amazing just to go out and see a few shows a night, featuring world-class performers in an intimate setting. From the ridiculous to the sublime, this is definitely one of my favourite arts festivals, where any show that you pick from the programme is going to be a winner. And Saturday night - the final night - was the place to be in Adelaide, where the late-night show exuded with love and appreciation for the performers and programmers who had made the festival what it was.

It also made me realise that Adelaide is definitely a city that I would consider living in. Between the Fringe, WOMAD and the Cabaret Festival, there's not a lot more that I'd want from my non-work life.

We didn't stay up too late on the Saturday, because we also learnt that on Sunday was the inaugural Adelaide Wine Festival at the central markets. So, we were in bed by midnight, and by 10am the next day arrived at the farmer's market at the Adelaide Showgrounds for all kinds of tasty brunch food, and made it to the wine festival by lunch time.

Turns out, Adelaide has a lot of delicious wine. Who knew?

Monday was our final day, which was our last chance to explore. We made our way down to the Earl of Leicester for their famous schnitty, but sadly they had a power outage, so we ended up Unley for our obligatory pub meal. Since we were in the area, we visited the Haigh's factory, and then explored the gardens on the Southside, discovering an amazing Japanese garden. Then, back to the hotel, to the airport, and home to Canberra.

Finishing up

Returning to work on Tuesday, I had four days to finish up what I could, prepare handover notes, and say my goodbyes. It's always an odd feeling to leave a job, but this time felt especially so. Most times that I've left a job, it's because I've wanted (or needed) to seek out a better opportunity, whether in terms of pay, responsibility or upskilling - or all of the above. This time, it's more of a sideways step to another government agency, which is an exciting opportunity. But there's a part of me that feels like I'm leaving too early, and that if I had held out a little longer (even just the two months left in my contract) that I could have finished up with more of a sense of completion. 

Then I remember that I'm working in web content, which is never really going to be complete. There's always content that could be improved, built on, enhanced, etc. The nature of the work being operational and ongoing, there's always going to be a sense of unfinished business.

I really am looking forward to my new job. I get to work with some former colleagues from my library days. I'll be library-adjacent again, which means that I'll be drawing on a lot of my fundamental skills and knowledge, but it doesn't feel like I'm taking a step backwards. More like building and combining my broad set of experience. Plenty of people have also told me that it will be a good organisation to find new opportunities over the next couple of years, so I'm also looking forward to exploring what else is out there, and figuring out what my next move will eventually be.