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Writing to gain stability.
2002-07-09 22:38:08
I just moved out of my room in Swinnerton and into the apartment that Wally's moved into. It's a huge mess.... there are three people in transition - one is moving out (the girl who is leaving her room to Wally), Wally's moving in, and I am moving in temporarily. The hall is a HUGE mess, because its full of our boxes and personal effects.
I haven't got internet access on my computer, so I am using Wally's Mac and 56 kbps modem in the meantime. The meantime being the one ENTIRE month until I return to Singapore.
Wally's Mac (not yet upgraded) and 56 kbps modem combine to provide a connection that is so... infernally.... slow... I can feel my hair turning gray while waiting for my webmail's inbox page to load up.
I am so spoilt. <whine>I want my cable modem...</whine>
The rats have been very excited by the move. The walls are red-brick, so they've been attempting to scale up. Now they only get about two feet up the walls, but I'm sure that in a week I'm going to be spending a lot of time catching rats falling off the ceiling.
I bathed my rats the other day. I was hoping that some residue of their sewer rat genes would help their bathing experience be a pleasant one, but no such luck. They hated the water as much as cats do, and gave me some really nasty scratches while trying to claw their way up my arm away from the water.
Hopefully I'll finish my last essay today so I can go off on my road trip to Sorranto tomorrow, where we'll get to pick strawberries and ride the cable car. I've actually been there already, and I'm not particularly keen in going back to the same place. But Eelin and Stephanie will be going, so that should be fun, if nothing else is.
Anyway, this essay I'm doing now is the Family Sex and Gender one. The topic I've chosen to do an essay on is the one on war and masculinity. It's tremedously interesting... it's really make me rethink my stance on how women in Singapore should serve in compulsory national service. I've been very passionate on that issue, but I don't think I was very informed before now.
Hm, I don't think I should go into that topic now... I don't want to get over-excited and write too much here when I should be applying myself to the essay.
The weather in Melbourne has been getting really cold and windy. Just the other night, Melbourne experienced some really strong winds that knocked over some trees and downed power lines. Eelin and myself were walking home from the library, and we were literally being pushed back by the force of the air. It was so cold that my hands were going numb and tingly 5 minutes into the walk home. After practically wading through the freezing wind for about 20 meters, our resolve crumbled and we bolted for the shelter of a doorway. It was so quiet and warm in there we couldn't believe it. We just stood and shivered there, steeling our resolve to get back out again. We did manage to get home in the end, but not without alot of whimpering and shivering and crying that we wanted to go home. Especially at the tarffic stops where we had to stand still to wait for the lights to change. Come to think of it, I was the only one doing all the sissy crying.
I hate the cold, but I think I have adapted to it quite a bit since coming to Australia. Hopefully this training will stand me in good stead if I go to Mexico at the end of the year. My usual way of dealing with the cold is staying huddled under the quilts as long as I can. And when I get out of bed it's only swaddled in quilts and blankets. I run for a sunny spot in the house and lie there like a giant shivering slug, only rolling to follow the sunny spot across the floor as the sun moves across the sky.
Gah, look at the time. Back to my essay. - 2002-07-05 21:09:53 I am suddenly terrified.
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The beautiful, white light is just the bug zapper. ~ from Deadletter.com
2002-07-04 18:48:47
I've finally found out why my MD battery charger is not working... my rats chewed through the power cable! They also stripped off a section of insulator from my TV's cable (the one I used for video editing), and have almost gone through the wire for my mobile phone charger!
All those times they hid under the table so quiet-like... I should have suspected something! Those cables were plugged into the power socket when the rats chewed on it. I wonder if they ever got buzzed? Maybe that's why they like doing it so much.
"Hey, check this out! If you put your teeth to this shiny bit, your skull rattles! Like this - BBZZZZTTZZKKSZ - WHEee! Makes your tongue tingle and and your whiskers go all fritzy!"
The smoke alarm in my neighbour's room went off for the second time this morning. This is the 4th time it's happened in about as many days. And it always happens early in the morning, about 7am. The technician has been by to look at it, but his back's thrown out, so he can't climb the ladder to replace the offending alarm.
It doesn't really wake me up because I've been getting up at 6 am these days, but it makes it really hard to concentrate when I want to do my essay. The very effort of trying to shut out the beeping scrunches my shoulders and scalp into knots. I didn't think I'd be so physically affected by noise, but I am. If it makes me feel so lousy, it must be so much worse for the guy who stays in that room. But lucky for him he goes to school almost everyday in the mornings, so he doesn't have to put up with it all day long.
Anyway, yesterday the tech taught us how to turn off the alarm when it goes off. It doesn't fix the problem, but at least I can simply turn it off instead of putting up with it over hours and hours and HOURS while waiting for the technician to come deal with it.
I finally took a couple of hours off from my essay yesterday to pack up my room a bit. I'm no longer tripping over overdue library books and picking up bits of (chewed) plastics from the carpet with my socks. For the first time in weeks, my back is not crawling in irritation because things look so awful. And Wally got me a new bulb for my lamp just last weekend, which makes my room feel less like a dingy, airless cell. My room is suddenly wonderful again, but I'm moving out already! Aargh!
Ah well. No matter. There's always the room back in Singapore. I want to re-arrange the furniture and paint the walls, sell the futon that takes up too much space, and find a way to make my room cooler. It faces the setting sun that warms the walls for hours, and my room is really crowded with pine furniture which traps heat. The effect is like sitting in a kiln, even after the sun sets. Fans don't help at all.
I think I may buy an air cooler... I used to feel guilty because getting an air cooler for my room just feels so extravagant, especially since none of the other rooms have air conditioning. But now I think of it, my room is the only room that gets so warm. The rest of the house is fine, so the contrast in temperature is even more pronounced. Stepping into my room is like stepping into warm jello - the rest of the house feels practically air-conditioned. -
I wish I had superpowers.
2002-07-03 10:06:34
Ami: *Various mutating sound effects* AaarghaarGHRAA!
Terrified guy #2: Oh no! She's turning into a were-wombat again! -
songs of a lonely tissue box
2002-07-03 09:18:40
Wally rented a van today to get his stuff moved to his new place, so I asked him if he could swing by and pick some of mine too. I'm going to be staying in the same apartment with him and a couple of friends for the next month before I return to Singapore.
Poor Christopher (Steph's brother) was peering hopefully into my room while I moved some of my stuff out into the corridor just now. I think he's already envisioning where to put up his Spiderman poster. But I'm not moving for at least the next two days because I'm still not finished with my essays. He's been REALLY nice about letting me stay in his room. I feel quite bad about staying so long... I think I shall get him a nice present when I move out and leave it in the cabinet for him to find. I'm already giving him my desk lamp, but I don't think it's good enough to express my thanks.
Anyway, while I was at the new place, it started to rain. Because I wasn't dressed for the cold, he had to lend me a jacket and his Nike cap so I could walk home.
Wally: Heh, you look like a boy.
Ami: A girly boy?
Wally: A pretty boy.
Ami: Hey, I'm bishonen!
Wally: A what?
Ami: I'm bishy! We can be a gay couple!
Wally: Err... let's not hold hands.
Wally's sister arrives tomorrow. I'm really looking forward to her coming... she's one of the very few close female friends I have. Most of the people I get along with happen to be of the opposite sex. I've always found it hard to find girls I can get close to. Most of them find me way too raucous and weird to get along with anyway.
Sometimes I wonder if the 'bridesmaids' at my wedding (which is but a tiny, wavering dot in the FAR FAR distance) will all have to dress in drag... oh my, that just brings up such WRONG images. Wrong but entertaining, heh.
Anyway, with my essays (hopefully) done by the end of the week, I can make good on my promise to Steph to go shopping. And there are so many people to catch up with before I leave... Mm, there is much enjoyment of life to be had ahead... after these two brain-sucking essays.
Talking about essays, Steph, her brother and myself engaged in an impromptu little skit in her room this afternoon. Envision this: Me standing over Stephanie flogging her with a t-shirt while her brother and I mock-kick her about the floor; Steph rolling around, crying, "Stop Ami, stop! I'm not your essay, I'm not your essay!!"
Kyburg: Sounds like you're having a pretty awful week. Hope the Rock Bottom you're referring to is a PLACE and not a state of being.
JOURNAL: Amizadai (Lee Amizadai )
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