Marvellicious Monday
Day.
Beach.
Read.
Evening.
Zoo.
Picnic.
Good.
10:19:00 PM

 
blargh. just read an article on GOLF just cos it had "beer" in the headline. and all beer had to do with it was as a sponsor. must get back to work.
10:18:00 PM

 
Somnambulastic Sunday
Yeah, the doof was in a proper park, in the middle of a rather rundown industrial area. The lawn was lovely, and there was a large marquee-like covered area with picnic tables which was perfect for the decks and chai stall and assorted equipment. They had those tube lights strung all over the awning, and a few other coloured lights around. There were only around 15-20 people dancing in front of the marquee when I got there (sometime past midnight...), but there would've been another 40-50 people sitting on rugs and cushions on the lawns or at the picnic tables. I'd just gotten onto the dancefloor when The Sprinkler's Came On! It was very exciting. Lots of people got slightly wet, lots of running around, some laughing and exclamation, don't remember any squealing. Many quick and ingenious ways of covering the sprinklers were worked out. Mugs from the chai stall were inverted and weighed down, buckets appeared from cars. The bottoms were cut out of plastic drink bottles. Fortunately the speakers and lights didn't short out! and we were all soon hopping again. Met some of Mish and Darius's friends (Darren, Steve, Mason, Dan), but didn't talk to anyone much, just danced till the sun came up. Was invited into the town centre for brekky by D+S+M at Gino's (which was really nice since I don't know them!) but the kitchen wasn't open yet, so we had juice and shakes and hot chocolates. We sat at our table on the sidewalk and watched the many different flocks of numerous and brightly plumaged cyclists congregating and chattering and drinking cappucinos and then wheeling away. We talked a bit of Beckett and street cleaners and Hippieburb madness and tank-theft and bike accidents and people-who-just-snap and The Sandwichmaker Mayor who was across the road. Made it home just past 8am I think, and was in bed by 9 (after proper food and a hot shower).

Dozed a bit, and was up at 11 to organize picnic foods for a party on the river foreshore in Poshburb. Had a bit of hummus left, quickly chopped some carrots, sliced some turkish bread, found a jar of roast peppers and half a block of fetta. Stuck it all in a backpack and ended up reading some Marge Piercy (thanks Buttercup) while waiting till 1:30pm for the exhousemate to come by and pick me up.

Found the park, there was a game of cricket and a game of boules, but no one we recognized, we finally spotted the decks set up under a tree on the far side of the cricket game. The dj was someone I've seen around uni a fair bit. We said hi to Moet who was one of the organizers and set up our picnic rug. Moo arrived soon after (her new housemate knew some of Moet's friends) and then Kim and Mindy who we know through raving (Kim dj'd a bit later). Drank a fair amount (had found some Boag's Strong Arm Bitter on special down the road from me). Listened to some good tunes.

About 5ish, we went off to Hird's birthday gathering at Cec's shiny new apartment just north of town. Sat outside in the Tuscan courtyard. Drank more. Ordered 10 gourmet pizzas. Stuffed ourselves. Listened to the fireworks (okay - *may* have climbed a wall to see some of them). Home, wanted to go by Butter/Mac/Stlk's place, but needed sleep...
9:33:00 PM

 
Fabulific Friday...
Went for a pub lunch for the first time in ages. Got back to the office and Misha turned up, so I had to go to the pub with her too!

In the evening, had a great spa and a massive gourmet feed in a porn star mansionette slash bachelor pad. Like wow. Um - someone let me know if I shouldn't put so much detail in here, but... Underground stone tunnels leading to a Mirrored Make-out Alcove. Minibars in every room. Beer On Tap! With a glass washer! Zebra pattern seating and pool table, pinball machine, and jukebox in the games room. Display motorcycles hanging on wall (with licence plate ending "XTC"). Set up decks and dancefloor dungeon (with lights and mirror ball and one fully mirrored wall). And like - 80's photos of the happy bachelor with famous people (Kylie! Michael Hutchence! Bon Jovi! Billy Joel! and other vaguely familiar looking people!).

Ate way way too much (again). The food was so good. Stlkrgrl made an excellent bread torus stuffed with all sorts of veggie goodies. Buttercup made some sweet juicy bbq'd corn with lush chilly butter. Callas made a whole heap of stuff, including some elaborate stuffed aubergines (rice and pine nuts and herbs and who know what else?) - yummmmm... I'm afraid I piked out before Scoobicat's gourmet pizza with all kinds of extravagant toppings :( The spa was close to boiling - you had to take it in ten minute doses - when you got in it was just way way too hot and you had to grit your teeth stoicly for a couple of minutes while you acclimatized, and then after a few more minutes you just couldn't stand it any more and had to get out for a breather. Was very very good. Excellent massaging jet action. Think back which has been a bit twingey for a couple of days definitely benefited.

Afterward, made it for a quick drink with Moo and Dam, in Moo's new house quite near me. Has some crazy cute little atticky rooms.

Sunsational Saturday
S's birthday is on Oz day (Sunday - with a couple of other friends too!), and he had a party on Saturday. We went out to his parents place near the beach. He had lots of rellies around too, brother and sisters and their friends, nieces, Parents, Uncles, defacto-in-Laws, etc. I also got my little sis L (do you have a preferred pseudonym L?), who arrived on this coast Friday night, to come hang with me all arvo. Maynard was on the decks soon after we got there... It was a beautiful sunny day, and the house had a great ocean view. Hopped in the pool momentarily. Talked a lot, got fed nibbles all afternoon, and then they had a proper dinner too! A great almost-raw vegetarian pesto-ey lasagna, really yum, a lamb curry with rice, sushi, salads, all good. The birthday cake was rich and chocolatey. We gave him a group present (organized by his gf Leila) of a minidisc player, which he was most impressed with.

Afterward I went home to try and rest for an hour, before going to check out a doof in the industrial area to the south of (increasingly upmarket) Hippieburb, which Misha had told me about on Friday. Little sis and EX-Housemate (she moved the last of her stuff out on Friday!) piked on me, and I just went by myself. But this was good as I ended up dancing till 7am, and the exHousemate would totally have been pestering me to take her home before then. Managed to find the place via a hand-drawn map care of Misha and met up with her and Darius soon after I arrived. The venue was actually a park in the middle of some bush, near a derelict power station...

[...to be continued...]
12:05:00 AM

 
Afro Celt Sound System
...were excellent. They played the most mesmerizing music for almost two hours, which just flew by. Couldn't believe more than an hour had gone by when they took a break (or when they pretended to finish and get off the stage before submitting to extended calls for an encore). Really wanted to have a group to do a highland reel with. Am very tempted to go again on Saturday, despite having other plans.

Hee...
Pills stamped with Harry Potter's image were smuggled to the US and aimed at children as young as 12, police reckon. Yes. As we know, only children are interested in HP, and his image makes them buy. Its like a drug.

Photos
That black and white film I had? The developers messed it up. Most of them have black blotches on them. Get next two developments free. Must get more film.
6:44:00 PM

 
Yay! Going to see Afro Celt Sound System tonight :)
1:22:00 AM

 
Oh my god! Ultracool! A 4-winged dinosaur!"Scientists in China have found the fossils of a feathered creature [...]With two sets of wings, one on the forelimbs and the other on its legs". I think they're reading way too much into it, to postulate it as a dino-bird intermediate, but it's still mondomojo femtofab - take a look at the second graphic! (Also see New Scientist).

...and...
heh - the earliest blog I know of: Samuel Pepys, "...the renowned 17th century diarist who lived in London, England...".
1:18:00 AM

 
Pre-move prep

If I didn't say earlier, CT scan and arachnoid cyst are doing fine. Appears quite contented with no ambitions for taking over rest of brain;

Had my first dentists appointment in six years yesterday! My dentist is great, he's so nice. And apparently my teeth are groovy - as in they naturally have some quite deep grooves which could be problematic if I obviously didn't take such good care of my teeth (*beam*);

Auto is currently undergoing thorough checkup;

Really need to start boxing clothes and books, and thinking about moving stuff to Dad's for storage.

9:51:00 PM

 
Moving...
Is quite nice to be able to blog about normal stuff again. All that apres-death stuff was getting unwieldy. Anyway, finally got the paperwork for the new job last Friday. Am glad I asked for a few more weeks - they originally wanted me to start on the Monday! Wish I'd asked for a few more weeks, because they're of absolutely no help in the relocation (which of course I left till I had the actual paperwork in hand). Firstly they're only budgeting me $1000 in total for relocating! $240 of that goes to my plane ticket. Quotes for moving all the stuff I'd like to take over (including Auto) are another like $2000! (on first quote). And they're not even putting me up somewhere till I find accomodation! Should really have guessed they might be somewhat miserly since they gave me a phone interview rather than flying me over...

Anyway, am getting quotes from another 10 or so companies, and may have to start looking at separate vehicle transportation services. Various people have been saying I should be able to do it for less than $400 as a lot of trucks which come over here go back empty, but have yet to get quote for less than $470, and they wanted a totally empty car. the same people have also been saying you can fill your car with boxes of stuff you also want to move. Blargh.

And should start thinking about Going Away Thing. Have plane ticket organized for Saturday Feb 8th. Was originally thinking the weekend (Friday) before for drinks, but *maybe* I could do it Friday Feb 7th? Is that cutting it too fine? And what exactly to do? Aren't going to have any furniture in house soon - go to pub instead? Empty house ok? Need more time...
9:42:00 PM

 
Weekend after
The Saturday was actually a friend's birthday, which I really should've been organized and gotten a prez and sent over (to Nineveh!) the week before. Will have to bring a cool one with me when I go over. However, I was made pretty happy by finding a good present for the visiting Aunty - made the rounds of the markets, etc. looking for a good local craft type something she could take home, but didn't find anything till like 5 mins before the shops closed, at a gift store just round the corner from me. It was a beautiful mallee-root-burl which had been turned into a bowl. The inside was all smooth and polished with a fantastic grain to it, but the exterior was left natural (although also polished) and had the most amazing spiky texture. It just looked really interesting. The nice lady wrapped it safely in lots of bubblewrap, plus silver paper and blue ribbon.

In the evening we had a dinner with some family friends before the visiting Aunt left for home.

Afterward I went to a cool mellow housewarming which had more delish food (mini quiches, curry puffs, fudge, profiteroles! and lots more), and I kept eating and eating even though I'd just had dinner. Will be blimp soon. Met a cool guy who puts on parties and who looked vaguely familiar, maybe I've seen him at some of the hippy-doofs. The unit was quite shiny and new, and she lives there by herself - would I consider getting own place in Nineveh? nah... Which reminds me - still owe stlkrgrl for getting housewarming prez.
9:27:00 PM

 
Wake me up before you go go...
Just kidding, The Wake was actually quite interesting. We used to gather with many of these family friends for an extended family-n-friends Christmas dinner at the very same house until the Aunt and Uncle got divorced yea these many years ago (when exactly? must be more than 8-10yrs...). Some of the adults were looking a bit older, some were looking exactly as I remember them. The weirdest part was seeing the little kids who were younger than me, practically toddlers, who are now all grown up and doctors and lawyers and accountants. One was even married! Ha! Felt quite alternative in that crowd.

There was lots of food of course (as always if my Dad or Aunt are involved). Some quite substantial and with a good variety of savoury and sweet finger foods. Had a good chat with quite a few people and caught up and got fussed over by some of the grown-ups and laughed with some of the other young 'uns how the same everything was there.

Eventually everyone left and me and Dad did too. Went back to his place to try and ring the Sisters, but no one seemed to be around.

Relax...
The Housemate had actually organized a spa party at her parent's place up the road from my Dad's that night, so I got to go along to that after all the family stuff and totally relax. Lots of friends there, and proper dinner food too! Sushi starters, lemon chicken couscous, lime and lentil pumpkin, a couple of delish noodle dishes. Got quite trashed, had a good paddle in the spa (heater broken! somehow everyone keeps picking the coolest nights for all these aquatic shenanigans), got a lift home. Next morning, not hungover, but discovered I'd pulled a lat moving a wardrobe down the street. Yes, generally don't find hangovers a problem, but constant drunken injuries can make me think about giving up the drink (slip'n'slide abrasions, general knicks, bruised shins....).
9:11:00 PM

 
Aside
Meant to write about this myself - but thanks to Andrew Masterson and The Age, I don't have to: "Yep, the same stuff that fuelled [...] hysterical tales of lawless drug-crazed youth gangs, has been keeping the US war machine aloft for half a century."

hee: "...which puts a peculiarly ironic gloss on the rhetoric about the War on Drugs. Every US military engagement since Pearl Harbour, it seems, has been a war on drugs. The sight of a fully loaded F-16 might be reassuring to some people. The thought that the F-16 might well be in the hands of a man sleepless for days, itchy and paranoid in the grip of amphetamine psychosis, might well produce other reactions."
8:21:00 PM

 
The actual funeral...
So Friday arvo was quite warm, very clear and sunny, but fortunately a little cooler than the previous 30+癈 days (supposed to be 29癈 I think). I went home and got dressed just past 2pm and went to Papa's place. We got picked up by a black limousine at 3pm. We stopped outside the funeral parlor and went in and met the Aunts. My cousin finally arrived at a quarter-to, just in time to help us seal the coffin (screwed the lid on with 6 large silver screws) and carry it out to the hearse. We all got in the limo and followed the hearse to the cemetery (just around the corner from where I live actually). It was interesting to see some people on the street cross themselves as the hearse passed, had never noticed that before.

Everyone else (ie. everyone not a blood-relative) was waiting just inside the main entrance, and followed the hearse and limo into the depths of the glaringly light, starkly well manicured green gardens of the cemetery. The roadway was a neatly bricked geometric pale sandy beige with terracotta red highlights, surrounded by expanses of sunny lawn, and lush beds of bushy roses and other flowers. We arrived at the crematorium in the middle of the cemetary, and got out of the limo and waited by the hearse while everyone else filed into the building. The crematorium building was quite chapel-like, modern and made of more sandy brickwork with terracotta finishing, tall and angular roofing and bright and quite airy.

Me and Dad and The Cuz and one of the funeral directors acted as pallbearers, and carried the casket from the hearse into the building and placed it on the black surface of a low marble-tiled cream-coloured bier, in front of several (I guess maybe 7 or 8?) double rows of pews comfortably upholstered in padded ivory leather. Again, there was lots of light, many windows, lots of open space and a vaulting ceiling. The room was surprisingly full (it turns out the funeral directors got them to fill out attendance cards, so we know there were about 60 people). The Venerable Brahma, one of the most senior Buddhists in Oerth was at the lectern, dressed in saffron robes, with one protege also in saffron sat up the front facing us, while another all in white was hanging around behind somewhere. I thought there were traditionally supposed to be four of them, but I may have missed one. Sitting up the front, etc. and not mingling beforehand I might've missed seeing various things. The VenBra then lit two white candles, and got The Father to light some incense.

VenBra then gave a not too long speech about Buddhist beliefs, reincarnation, etc., along with some uplifting personal anecdotes about encounters with death. It was all quite personal and practical and sensible and Papa and the Aunts were quite impressed with him despite their Catholicism. There was a little chanting. My Godfather then went up to say a few more personal words. The VenBra thanked him and said a few more words and told us what to expect next, which was the casket sinking into the bier and going down to the crematorium.

My Dad got up to invite everyone to The Wake at my Aunt's place, and then the VenBra directed everyone into the adjoining lounge style room to mingle and give/receive condolences, and hand out the sweets tied with red thread which are meant to sweeten the occasion (possibly everyone else got theirs before the ceremony). Spoke to many many people I hadn't seen in years, family friends who we just don't see any more since there aren't any really big family do's nowadays with both my Aunt and my Dad divorced. Had a hard time remembering many of the names, but I think it was often mutual.

In all, from arrival to seeing everyone off again took about an hour. As we saw them off we exhorted everyone to come to The Wake, to get there by following so-and-so, or to get a lift with this or that friend. Took the limo back to Dad's, then drove to The Wake.
1:19:00 AM

 
...really continued this time...
So a primary thought loop has been "how did they know Grandmere was about to die? - that's so amazing - how could they tell she was so close?". Apparently it happens all the time though - people sometimes just seem to know (unavoidable flippant thoughts: "being too gullible? anecdotal evidence only? selective memory? any double-blind studies?"). Another thing which has since been mentioned to me is the way people often seem to perk up a couple of days before they actually die, just as Grandmere did on the weekend! It often fools people into thinking "oh, they're so much better, they're in the clear, they've recovered". I'd never heard about this before, it seems like something people should know, even if I don't know if they should change their behaviour by knowing.

Anyway, after Dad told me the news and went off, I had a quick visit to Mom (who was still in hospital, but feeling much better). Mentioned it to her of course. Then home to catch Dad and Aunty C and then to the hospital for another rosary and some liturgical type readings over the body. Yes, the body looked asleep and still very much like Grandmere, but unmoving. She was cold, but not yet stiff. Home by midnightish I think.

Dad and the Aunts were at the funeral director's most of the next morning (Thursday). In the afternoon, apparently there was some paperwork delays at the hospital, and the funeral home didn't get the body till 4pm, which was cutting it a little fine for the Buddhist pre-funeral ceremony which was arranged for 7:30pm. That afternoon I was looking up Buddhist death traditions on the net, and getting confused by the great number of conflicting traditions depending on where in the world you're from and which temple you went to.

None of the pages I found seemed to match entirely with the little I'd heard from Dad and Mum and the Aunties, and none seemed very comprehensive. Wear black? White for Buddhism? Black for some Buddhists? White for daughters only? White headbands? Dark blue for Grandson? Dark blue for eldest son of eldest son only? For eldest grandson present? Only on the patrilineal side? Armbands? Black? Blue? White? Gifts for the monks? No gifts? No gifts till the next day? Food as offerings? Fruit only? Candles? Incense? Return gifts to those who give gifts to us (the family)? Flowers? No roses? No red? Yellow and white only? Fortunately I think Buddhism is pretty pragmatic, and many of the pages noted the flexibility allowed. Much more fortunately, Dad and his sisters and the temple Grandmere went to had things in hand. I wore black and white, which turned out to be the right tradition (had change of clothes in case).

I went early to the funeral home in Yuppieburb with Dad and the Aunts. The body was looking rather more unlike Grandmere after the morticians and the things they do (see _Six Feet Under_), her face and her body posture looked very stiff and a bit cramped in the white silk and lace-lined rosewood coffin. I was initially kind of annoyed at the morticians about the unlikeness and unnaturalness, but I decided to assume they didn't actually have a photo to work from (proven correct later, although Aunty Y managed to get a good photo enlarged and framed in time for the ceremony), and possibly it was a good reminder that it wasn't Grandmere anyway. The body was dressed in a black robe, but mostly covered with a large yellow cloth with buddhist writings on it in red. In each hand was a roll of coins in red cloth (to be distributed later to everyone there or at the funeral I think).

Many people came. Fourteen monks from the temple arrived. They rearranged the room, making space around the coffin, moving tables, setting up offerings (a plate of oranges, a bowl of rice, a plate of plums I think, and vases of flowers) on a table at the foot of the coffin and putting up the photo and some candles. They put on long black robes and got her children and grandchildren (me and Aunty Y's son who is also here) to light three incense sticks each from the candles and put them in a stand on the offering table. Then with everyone else we stood at the back of the room.

In a line at the foot of the coffin, facing it, one with a metal bell-like instrument, one with a little wooden percussion instrument. Much chanting, bowing, ringing and "tock"ing (on the wooden ball drum thing) ensued. Processional circling of the coffin a great many times (probably a multiple of three). Stopping for more chanting, more circling, and bowing. Incense relighting. I think it went for about 70+ minutes. Afterward, everyone else could go up to light more incense sticks and pay their respects. In a room to the rear, we had tea and coffee and biscuits and mingled and received condolences and talked and thanked those involved.

Couldn't sleep after that. Ended up thinking about rituals and religion. Bookclubs and reading selection processes. Rellies and coping. Food. Uni. Work. Parties. Got up at 4am and read a bit and checked out bad tv. It started getting light outside. Tried to sleep again, and instead thought about people and thought processes and loops. Got out of bed again and went to the gym from 6-7:20am. Shins too sore to do a circuit afterward. Home for breakfast. Housemate still not up. Cooked some proper food (pesto pasta with spring onion and shrooms). Went to uni to see if I could find out any more about what to expect at the funeral at 4pm. Couldn't find anything definitive. Checked with Mum. Just wear black or black and white. Don't do an armband unless Dad does. Went shopping for a black shirt. Checked it didn't clash too badly with slightly different black of pants. Back to uni (entry actually added on Friday). Then home at 2pm to get dressed for the funeral.
1:27:00 AM

 
Other quotes (from Housewarming on Saturday):
Buttercup: "My first time was with Scotty". [much much much laughter - sorry Scotty]
a while later...
Buttercup: "Oh yeah, my first time was with [stlkrgrl]".
I guess that every time is different, and maybe for Buttercup every time *is* like the first time.
12:34:00 AM

 
d'oh! I'm such a doofus. Thanks to stlkrgrl for photos from slip'n'slide party (relevant quote from Buttercup: "I don't need to suck - I have other methods") - but a couple were too dark to see anything, so I turned up the contrast and brightness of my screen, and all the colours and stuff have changed on my pages and it looks like *some* of the stoopid little illustrations have really dodge colour! Bloody frog - used to quite like you! Why didn't I realize this?! D'OH!
12:28:00 AM

 
...continued from our last dramatic episode!
d'oh! or not - just spent 40 mins writing a big email to the sisters... more soon.
2:10:00 AM

 
Okay...
Everything is going to sound much too glib and flippant. Apologies to The Dear Sisters (and my condolences [urgh - that sounds so cliche] on not being able to be here), or any relatives or family friends who may happen across this one day. And reassurances to The Friends - the apparent glibness is not some sign of delusional denial dysfunction or a poor-coping psychosis. Am perfectly sane (test me!). Just want some matter-of--fact recounting of this rather turbulent family time and my somewhat runaway mental processes. You should also feel free to blame any insensitivity on lack of sleep (totally insomniate last night, thought processes gone circus-like - wonder if there's a word for that?). Conversely - no-one should worry that what they say to me will sound glib or can't be said with enough gravitas - am quite used to everything sounding that way at the moment.

Grandmere was ailing rather badly last Thursday, and Papa (we actually used to call him this when we were little - sounds so French - don't know why we changed to "Dad") thought she may not have long to live. Aunty C flew in from the home country on Friday, and stayed at Grandmere's bedside constantly - sleeping in the hospital room on this rather uncomfortable chair. As a result Grandmere actually perked up a little on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, and ate and was lucid. She only roused momentarily when I visited on Saturday, but she recognized me and said my name before falling back asleep. I didn't visit her again until Tuesday - I wish I'd went on Sunday and Monday. Aunty C and Aunty Y and Papa were working like a well-oiled machine though and things were well in hand - there was always someone with Grandmere, trying to get her to eat, talking to her, etc. Tuesday night, after dinner and visiting Mom, Dad came by my place and said Grandmere was quite bad and hadn't responded to stimuli all day, and they didn't think she'd last the night. As far as I could see, Grandmere appeared to be sleeping normally, her breathing was no worse than normal, but yeah, there was no response when anyone tried to talk to her. We met my Aunts there and we said a group rosary over her - amazing how the rituals are lodged in there somewhere and come back after so long. I'm actually quite glad that Dad and the Aunts have religion and ritual to comfort them (as well as each other of course). Grandmere is actually Buddhist of course, and there was a little player with Buddhist chants going on in the background.

After saying the rosary, I wondered whether I should stay, but Papa and the Aunts were all staying and said I should go. On Wednesday I thought about dropping by the hospital all day - before uni, for lunch, after lunch, during the dinner hour - but instead I went about my mundane routine. When I got home about 7pm, Papa dropped by soon after and quickly said that Grandmere had died that afternoon at 3:45pm. He and my Aunts had been at the hospital all night and all day. He was going home for some dinner and a shower and change, and then they were going back to say prayers over the body.

-sigh-
Seems so flippant to be thinking "cliffhanger" at this point (but that's just what popped into my head - maybe I should be editing for a more noir flavour - but really, just because I'm sad is no reason to act it) - but I'm afraid I'm not going to manage to finish this right now. I have a funeral to go get ready for.
1:28:00 AM

 
Just went and put film in for developing. Also picked up a roll of black and white film - exciting! Haven't taken B&W photo's before! Any suggestions anyone? (technique? subjects? settings?) Dropped by the bookshop to get _Stupid White Men_ pour Maman, but they'd sold out! There was a whole stack just last week! Now have urge not to be on bandwagon and not get it or read it. Maybe contrariness subroutine needs recalibration - will get it checked out.

Looked in pop sci section for an alternative for her to read, but didn't find anything I could decide on. There was one medical ethics book which she *might* be interested in, but it looked kinda heavy, and I was really looking for something light. The 'humour' section was pretty sad. Ooh - I should go to the library this evening and get her a stack of possible things...

D'OH! Forgot to pay overdue phonebill *again*!

Hm - will I do a circuit this evening? C'mon! It's not that hot!
1:33:00 AM

 
Mom
Warning: Any sista's should check their email before reading this entry which will probably be overdramatized for the sake of the viewing public. Minor worry yesterday - got home from uni, and there was a message from Maman that she hadn't been feeling well lately and was getting a family friend to take her to hospital! Went and visited her - the hospital she's at is actually just up the road from her unit (like 2 blocks). She's actually just getting some tests done there as she'd had a fever she couldn't shake, plus elevated blood sugar, and had just had a colleague with a septicaemia/undiagnosed-diabetes combo with a subsequent and rather major complicating brain infection. Anyway, she's getting good care there (private), and she's doing it all properly and not self-diagnosing or anything, getting proper tests and all. I guess I can't take her chocolate if her blood sugar is up - may have to settle for flowers and a good book (_Stupid White Men_ maybe? have been looking for someone to get that for).

I was also momentarily worried that she was just making sure she doesn't impose on me by paying for a hospital bed rather than just getting me to come round and take care of her! But I also find it great that she *can* be that independent. Self-sufficiency is very admirable. Had a really good chat with her about Grandmere (who is The Father's Mother, and since Mom and Dad don't really talk, there's always bits she needs to catch up on, despite their mutual friends), and life philosophy, and things.

Momo
Housemate's little bro and gf made dinner for us (and the other brother) last night. They made momos - little tibetan dumpling type deals (HM's-bro's-gf just went to Tibet), even making the pasta-like skin they were wrapped in. They were very yummy, but everyone seemed a little overly impressed with their novelty, considering they were essentially steamed wontons, which I'm sure they've all had before. Had a lovely dinner, was very cute to see the sibling interaction. Brought a Hardy's Hathaway unwooded chardonnay 2001 which was pretty nice (the Penfolds Rawson's Retreat semillion chardonnay 2001 was pretty dodge).

Mo' bike stuff
Speaking of bike maintenance: Yes - yet more bike drama. Have been blading or walking to uni lately (occasionally driving - but only if I'm doing a lot of back and forth to the hospital and my Dad's place in the middle of a hot day). Replacing the puncture proof tyres with the new tubes, etc., I noticed how absolutely shocking my rims are. They're gouged, like totally! All the way round there are nicks and pits and rough edges! Some bits are quite pointy. Have been trying to sand them back before I put the tubes on. Don't really know if this is legit - fingers crossed. Suspect the gouging may come from riding my solid rubber puncture proofs way down (they gradually wear away), such that cornering and such may have introduced my relatively soft alloy rims to the hard rough ground. Am quite embarrassed - what would they say if I took them to a bike shop?!
8:43:00 PM

 
Random unorganized stuff

Grandmere better last couple of days - lucid and eating! yay! (although still weak and bedridden).

Last night had a casually morbid moment. A friend dropped around to pick something up, his Dad is very sick with cancer, so The Housemate inquired how things were going - essentially all that can be done is pain management; The Housemate replied with the progress on her Grandfather's cancer, at the prelim chemo stage; anyway - yeah, ended up with a big weirdly casual chat about cancer. Not wanting to bring the conversation down, I decided to not contribute anything about Grandmere's multiple myeloma.

Had Japanese at Banzai last night with other friends of The Housemate from The East - ordered sukiyaki sushi but they gave me some kind of suki udon (which was very nice anyway).

Housemate also just sprang a dinner *tonight* on me - am sure she hasn't mentioned it before (although she's sure she has) - her little brother is cooking for us!

Just had a lovely swim - thanks Scoobicat (despite her lapping me a gazillion times). Now, can I be bothered going to the gym this evening?

Good article on pro-war mythology by Scott Burchill at Deakin:
"You've got to admire Prime Minister Howard and the pro-war lobby for pretending not to understand the lesson that Iraq-North Korea are now teaching the world: If you want to deter the war addicts in Washington, you'd better have weapons of mass destruction and resources of terror. Nothing else will work."
[...]
"It is true that Saddam Hussein has used these weapons before, against those who couldn't respond in kind - Iranian soldiers and perhaps most infamously on 17 March 1988 against his own people" in the Kurdish city of Halabja. Within half an hour of this attack over 5000 men, women and children were dead from chemical weapons containing a range of pathogens which were dropped on them.

If Washington and London are genuinely concerned about Iraq's WMD, why did they continue to supply him with the means to acquire them for 18 months after the attack on Halabja?"
[...]
"In February 1989, eleven months after Halabja, John Kelly, US Assistant Secretary of State, flew to Baghdad to tell Saddam Hussein that "you are a source for moderation in the region, and the United States wants to broaden her relationship with Iraq"."
[...]
"Significantly, there is currently only one country which could seriously consider exercising a right to anticipatory self-defence [read pre-emptive strike] under existing international law - Iraq. It has been directly threatened with attack by both the US and UK. There has been no reciprocal threat from Iraq."
[...]
"...Prime Minister [Howard] asks if Iraq has "nothing to hide and nothing to conceal from the world community, why has it repeatedly refused to comply with the resolutions of the United Nations Security Council"?
Perhaps it's for the same reason that he restricts the UN from entering Australia's refugee detention centres?"

Is that too many quotes?

9:38:00 PM

 
Slip'n'slide roolz!
Saturday night was cool. The coolest night of the summer I think! Yes, Buttercup, stlkrgrl and Veronica chose the coolest night of the summer for their Slip'n'Slide Pool Party. I can only imagine their dismay, when at the nominated party-starting-time, it actually began to rain! Fortunately, their combined brainpower megawattage brilliantly conceived of filling the pool with steamy hot water (from the kitchen tap), so those of us game enough had a toasty soak. If more people had been dressed for the occasion, I may have used my water pistol to more effect, but I felt rather reticent about super-soaking all the sensibly dressed and relatively sober revellers. The pool toys were stylin' - a bee, a hippo and a frog. Oh yeah, and I got to wear my pig-goggles!

The slip'n'slide was also a gas, but they really need to make an adult version, bigger, longer, and with a rather more substantial impact cushion (hope I didn't break it). I assume this was also where these scratches down my front came from. Can't believe more people didn't go on this!

I also can't believe we managed to persuade (ie. peer-pressure) girlie into joining us in the pool - the power!

Oh! other things to note: icy-poles! yum! watermelon and vodka! and apple and strawberry (and vodka?)! they were very good. PLUS green and pink agar shots (quite strong). Yes. Drank rather a lot also (Coopers Pale Ale and a bit'o'homebrew - thanks stlkgrl!).

Noos

Nike shenanigans - A Mr Kasky is suing Nike for false advertising:
"The case arose from allegations of physical and verbal abuse, sexual harassment and unsafe working conditions made against Nike during the early to mid-'90s [...] The company repeatedly denied the allegations, despite a leaked internal audit of a Vietnamese factory by the accountancy firm Ernst and Young, which contradicted Nike's public statements of denial." And the California Supreme Court has found that Nike has a case to answer, since their statements about the sweatshop allegations were "for the purpose of promoting sales of its products". Cool.

Headache remedies cause headaches! "Recent studies, for example, suggest that a constant intake of analgesics lowers the brain's level of serotonin, a neurotransmitter that inhibits pain-conducting cells. Another study showed that even a two-week course of Tylenol causes a drop in serotonin-receptor density in rat brains".

7:00:00 PM

 
Had (that is, went to) fabbo dinner party last night, ate way too much delish food - and yay! was so very veggie! Have been eating way way way too much flesh lately. Am cutting back. And was very healthful on the alcohol too (2 glasses of wine). Possibly shouldn't have had two servings of dessert (yummo mars bar cheese cake PLUS lush choc cake). Nah, should have.

Was possibly overdressed - am sure the invite said "dress formal"! However, ridiculously inflated self-esteem made me feel more guilty about making t-shirted guys feel underdressed than I felt embarrassed about being overdressed.

Had a really good time. Congrats to girlie and helpers on a smashing night.
(Just realized this "Must have more dinner parties at my place before I leave! Will I have time?" all read like the dinner party was at MY place! The dangers of autophobia - or maybe just ambiguous expression.)

Finally got my bike wheels back from silly bike guy who thought he had puncture proof tyres left but didn't. Apparently he's the only guy in the country who imports them (from UK). He's ordered some, but I doubt they'll be here before I leave. Have had to get "puncture-resistant" tubes. Have doubts as to their efficacy - especially relative to the tyres which were solid rubber and so actually puncture-proof. Also got some proper brake shoes. Should go fix all that up now.
2:07:00 AM

 
Spent most of yesterday arvo sitting with Grandmere. I didn't manage to get her to eat anything. Got her to have a pretty good lunch on Wednesday though. She was very phlegmy. And semi-lucid, occasionally she would look directly at me and smile, or say something, and even laugh, but most of the time she drowsed, or roused to speak to someone in an empty corner of the room (I wonder who she saw?). Apparently, just after she went into that room, she saw my big sister (currently in London) washing the windows. She slept through lunch today, but I hung out for a bit anyway.
11:45:00 PM

 
*urgh* - have started looking at share accommodation in Nineveh (crap! look at the time!). Think I've worked out all the closest suburbs to my workplace, etc. And approx rent-rates (not too bad in these outerish areas!). Haven't looked at rail-lines yet.
11:17:00 PM

 
Had sad bye-bye-bbq for the M-half of D&M last night. Back to Brisvegas today (about now actually). D off on Sunday. Hopefully will see them some on the east coast...
6:04:00 PM

 
Enjoyed _The Amber Spyglass_. Pullman seemed a bit stridently atheistic in parts (but being somewhat atheist, found this ok). Is particularly anti-Catholic-Church, am surprised They haven't denounced these rather harder.
7:03:00 PM

 
Lynx today

From The Age: "Jesus was almost certainly a proponent of the medicinal properties of cannabis, according to a study of scriptural texts [...] "There can be little doubt about a role for cannabis in Judaic religion," said Carl Ruck, professor of classical mythology at Boston University."

From the NY Times: "It sounds like a plan for drawing hordes of screaming lawyers to your door: create compilation CD's with sampled music ... include as many songs as possible that have already sparked legal battles; do it all without getting permission from the copyright owners; and distribute the CD's at a nationally touring art exhibition. Oh yeah, and give the music away online for the millions of people around the globe who can't make it to the show." Anyone with personal downloading facilities, go here.

6:55:00 PM

 
Do you think the lack-of-paperwork could be a final test? Are future-employers seeing how long I actually wait before I start pestering them? Am I being paranoid? Well, if it is a test, too bad future-employers! I'm a busy guy, I have other things to worry about. Am putting it out of my mind now.
10:05:00 PM

 
nb. had CT brain scan this morning, was very easy (after annoying 1/2 hour wait) - practically boring, although trying to lie really really still meant I could feel my heart trying to thump it's way out of my chest. Also, am sure that for the last scan they injected me with radioactive material. Haven't actually compared to the old pics yet, was in a rush to get some lunch pour Grandmere. But am sure arachnoid cyst (nee "spider infestation", thanks K) is happily healthy in head.
10:02:00 PM

 
Other weekend stuff

_Bowling for Columbine_ on Friday AND _Spirited Away_ on Sunday! Am on a major moofie spree! Enjoyed both, but former had some annoying use of statistics, so blatantly selective and non-comparable as to be the opposite of convincing. Latter had slightly disneyfied ending, but without unlikely absolute closure. I also remember it much more fondly if I hold in mind how much slime and vomiting were involved.

Sat morning, yum-cha in town for extra-Clare's birthday - her crowd are such regulars (particularly at this specific restaurant), and know exactly what they want. Tried beef tendons. Um.... very collagen rich. Sat in a beergarden and relaxed momentarily after, but then had to go do stuff;

Pizza Sat night for Fiona's housewarming, and was supposed to see Maynard DJ and have a boogie after - but bad-club shenanigans;

Beach on Sunday and started Pullman's third book _The Amber Spyglass_ (Calla, this copy from my local lib if you're still looking);

Ling Ling has learned to use a computer!
--
Date: Sun, 05 Jan 2003 20:53:47 +0800
From: lingling
To: tez@***.***.edu.au
Subject:
=?gb2312?q?=C7=E9=C8=A4=D0=C2=BB=A8=D1=F9--=B1=F0=BC=B1=A3=AC=C2=ED=C9=CF=BE
=CD=D2=BB=C0=C0=CE=DE=D3=E0?=
--
Does anyone speak Panda?

4:14:00 PM

 
Rare seriousness...
Guess I might make this entry the serious one which has been waiting in the wings a while.

On Christmas Eve, back in my birthland, my Uncle got up from watching TV, had a heart attack, and died. I didn't know him very well, he's only visited here a couple of times, and I think I also met him when I visited there back in grade 7 or so. However, this is the same Uncle who was visiting just a few months ago). He was always really nice, and this last visit I actually got to have a few proper mature conversations with him. We got along fine, and he invited me to visit him and his family whenever I wanted, and maybe even get shown around the country by him since he had lots of free time now that he was retired. I felt some closeness with him seeing his interaction with my Dad and Aunt, seeing similarities in their manner and behaviour, and seeing how their growing up together affected their mutual development into the people they are today. Still, his death seems very distant, and I didn't know him. The most poignant part for me is when I consider how painful it must be for those I know better, his younger brother and sisters - my Dad and my two Aunts.

Anyway, Dad was somewhat distracted on Christmas Day. On boxing day, along with the local Aunt, he flew back to the birthland for the funeral on Friday (day after boxing day, Dec 27). They didn't - and still haven't! - broken the news to my Grandmother. In the first instance I find it understandable: she is much too frail to travel, and telling her about the death and then having both my Dad and the local Aunt immediately fly off to the funeral and family, and leaving her alone here (albeit with me and my sister), would be, I think a dangerous shock to someone with a weak heart, myeloma, and at least a couple of other diagnosed conditions, not to mention someone apparently quite depressed about her weakness and physical dependence. I guess it might be a bit hard at the moment, with her also quite weak, having just had various tests, including one quite invasive procedure. But the longer it's left, the harder it's going to be to tell her... -sigh-

I imagine some of my current melancholia is also due to the fact that I just visited my Grandmother in hospital (she's been there 5 days now), and she was ssooo sad. She's been quite sad generally about her physical dependence on my Dad and Aunt, and the carers, but this afternoon was the first time she's had to let her grandson help her go to the toilet and clean up afterward, and she was just - not embarrassed for herself, but I guess, mortified (not quite the right word) for me somehow. She kept saying "sorry, sorry", and with us having so little language in common, there was just no way for me to communicate to her more than "it's okay" - there were just so many concepts I wanted to make sure she was thinking of: that I'm more than mature enough to handle such occurrences, that I love her, that any of her grandkids would be fine with helping if they happened to live here, that I'm sure my grandkids will have to do the same for me one day, that it's all a part of life, and that she shouldn't worry about depending on me or my dad or my aunt or my sisters if they're visiting or the nurses or our good family friends or anyone else.

I had my _Lonely Planet Travel Phrasebook_ with me, but somehow this stuff just wasn't covered.
1:58:00 AM

 
Pool closed today. Would *definitely* (maybe) have gone for swim if it had been open.
Should try for circuit at 4pm.
But could also go try and invent something easy to eat and not too alien for Grandmama. Hm, could give her the juk I did for dinner last night, but she also had it for lunch today :-P Other option was lumps of mystery meat in very salty gravy with pureed everything else - white puree (potatoes I guess), pale yellow stuff (cauliflower? corn?), and green stuff (peas? broccoli?)... guess a bit of variety is in order...
10:58:00 PM

 
Gee, guestd must've heard my complaint - thanks guestd!
--
Date: Fri, 3 Jan 2003 13:29:59 +0800
From: guestd
Subject: [GB2312] 给您一个成功的起点

您好！感谢您看我的文章。首先强调这是我真实的故事！

我是一名充满激情的热血青年，心里装着无数的梦想，也有远大的志向。一个偶然的
机会让我碰到了“普光系统”，乍看之下， 我只知道它是一个能够赚钱的网络系统。
尽管那篇介绍写得天花乱坠，但是网络毕竟太过虚幻，我还是不敢相信，但是也许是
我太想成功.不愿放弃任何一个机会；也许是如事后我周围的人所说的“想钱想疯了”
--
Can anyone translate?

9:30:00 PM

 
Don't you hate it when you actually get out from your desk for lunch and you come back and there's no email waiting for you?
9:07:00 PM

 
is quite warm - why didn't i wear shorts today?
Yesterday

Made it in here, as did three of the officemates!

Then made dinner for the Grandmother - she's currently in hospital getting some tests done, and the food the previous day was atrocious - pineapple and ricotta sandwiches? ew! It doesn't help that she has so little appetite at the moment, I can see how you wouldn't bother with eating something that unfamiliar and unappealing if you had no appetite anyway. She's had so many needles, drips, et al., both her arms are masses of bruising, along with big red patches of blood under the skin all up and down. So had dinner with her and hung out a bit. One of the great carers who's been helping The Father, Aunt and moi also came by - she's so good and really regards The Grandmother as a friend.

Home, and Bex and Darrell and ridiculously cool Ninevehian Simon were waiting out front. Housemate arrived soon after, and we went for a couple of brews at the local. As I mentioned, Simon is ridiculously cool, and was name-dropping like crazy (although in a very inoffensive unpretentious and natural way). He's in the music industry (poss works for Roland?!) and has had contact with Sanchez, the Prodigy, Goldie (after we'd made a pathetic attempt at namedropping him first), various high street-cred LA DJ's, and just about any other international act that came up in conversation... bastard. Then home for some more shooting the breeze and hanging out and serendipitously-back-of-the-fridge Coopers.

7:49:00 PM

 
nb - gym open again! phew!
11:02:00 PM

 
NYD

NYD was the kicker - very very lovely (although that may just be the exercise endorphins);

Slept in (how unusual - not!);

Up and finished _The girl on the boat_ over breakfast (don't think I mentioned I read _Idoru_ (W Gibson) a couple of weeks ago, am *sure* I've read it before, like about when it came out, but totally didn't remember most of it);

Packed for our Day Trip to Sunshine People (just like I did for Breakfest, and for the Chrissy Kings Park picnic, and for everything else, which of course I shopped for the day before, don't know what The Housemate is going to do without me - learn to think ahead hopefully);

Mobblyed the friends there to see where they were at, and eventually made it down to the (Matilda Bay nee Mounts Bay Rd) Yacht Club;

Lots of people - rather bigger than we expected - wonder if larger than organizers expected also - may be why they moved venues... managed to find Lou and Cam and friends (including the one from "Search for a Supermodel");

Had a good warm up dance in the drum'n'bass room on the upper floor of the clubhouse, which had a great breeze blowing through it - was nicely jarring to be inside dancing with a jungle crowd, but with heaps of daylight - spotted Laurie out by the Techno Tent downstairs.

Hung out in the shade on the balcony out the front of the clubhouse to watch the main arena and the lovely crazy bastards actually dancing in the pounding sun;

Out back to find Laurie and have a good boogie in the open marquee set up in the carpark - fortunately they had an area with floorboards toward the back of the tent - much better for dancing, not so close to speakers (forgot my earplugs), and less crowded;

Space DJz were excellent - had a really really really good boogie, and they were on for a good three hours - bumped into Raurie, a cool funky guy I used to bump into raves at all the time. He's now based in Sydney, back for the hols, et al. Also bumped into Andrew (the ex. Dee one), who last time I bumped into him was teaching English in Mexico, but is now based in London.

Eventually (as it cooled a bit) hit the main arena and found A&A and friends (Maurice - back from a year-long round the world trip, now off to work in Amsterdam for a couple of years), met Cam's cuz Jeff and totally off-his-head Phil;

Had a relaxing sit to Rhibosome for half an hour with the sunset;

Ended with a really good hard last dance to Freq Nasty (while most people mainstreaming to Sanchez, who wasn't bad, but very housey, caught a couple of his good bits, but mostly got into Freq Nasty's breaks), who ended with the lovely Wink.

Home for a shower and some dinner, and went to the after party for just a little after-boogie, Lou had free tix somehow, so was nice and easy, then home again for some good deep sleep.

10:59:00 PM

 
man - seem to be getting too lazy for proper blog updates :P
NYE

Everyone seemed to be having nice little houseparties, so did a bit of a partyhop;

Quick visit to girlie's Pre-Boat-Cruise BBQ (had three salt and vinegar crisps);

Then went and picked up Lauren and BJ and Sabinne and made it to Cec's Dinner Party only half an hour late (had tzatziki, brie, hummous, crackers, lasagna, asparagus and mushroom risotto, spinach and ricotta quiche, potato salad, mini pizzas, strawberry cheesecake, chardonnay, blush and G&T's);

After dinner, up the road to a Superhero Pool Party - our host was Bubbles from Powerpuff Girls, Buttercup was also in residence, didn't see the third one..., plus the (original) Scooby Gang, the Iron Chef, Danger Mouse, um... and some unthemed people (like us - although as a concession, we brought Astroboy) - had a chocolate cupcake and lemonade, there was very cool and varied superhero (loosely interpreted) theme music;

Drinks at midnight with half the rave crew - we were mobile connected with the other half of rave crew at another houseparty (had glass of champagne and a watermelon chuppa-chup - think it's the first entire chup I've managed to finish in like at least two years);

And a last stop at alter-ravecrew aftermath of a dinner party;

Only saw one cop car the entire night of driving quite extensively;

Didn't make bed by 1:30, but think I was home by 2:30.

10:17:00 PM