Wasn't *too* insomniate last night. Ate too much sushi. Introduced the german housemate to it (and wasabi) also.
5:08:00 PM

 
A friend (Tef - who I met at that Greens dinner) just dropped by to see if I wanted to go have coffee. I told him "I'll go for a drink, but I'll have to get something uncaffeinated, or I'll be up all night", then I had a latte. D'oh!
12:54:00 AM

 
Oh yeah - and one of the girls I met at the first aid course works in a related area to mine, and invited me for her Friday arvo beer club when I was whinging about not having one at the moment. Her workplace is kind of on opposite side of the city though, so probably won't make it very regularly :(
9:30:00 PM

 
Also just learnt that on the four day field trip next week we won't be camping :) *phew*. My new sleeping bag is only really rated to like 7°C or something (but it scrunches so nice and small!), and it's getting a bit chilly.
9:28:00 PM

 
Monday and Tuesday of this week I went for my level 2 first aid training course. Was quite fun. No exam - used "ongoing assessment" instead, where the trainer goes around as you're learning and makes sure you're getting the idea. Was feasible due to the small size of the class (twelve of us). Met a couple of nice people, hopefully we'll stay in touch. The trainer was a bit of a character - used to be quite high up in the organization, then retired, but couldn't tear himself away, so takes these training courses. Acts cantankerous, but isn't, think he'd *like* to be eccentric, but isn't really. Had lots of gory anecdotes about first aid situations for us.
9:25:00 PM

 
Got a little work done on Sunday.

Went by E&M's for dinner (delish and simple pan fried groper and steamed veggies with a bit of lime).

Have seen relatively little of the new housemates. Have yet to cook there. Went for a massive shop last night (relatively massive - as much as was convenient to carry home), made up of all the staples I'm used to having in the pantry/fridge - pasta, rice, bread, vegemite, cheese, chickpeas, capsicum, juice, muesli, soy milk, tuna, canola oil, honey, bananas - but still didn't manage to build up the critical mass required to actually be able to make anything interesting. Am glad I'm so close to a Safeway (and Coles too) - and that they're both open 24 hours a day :) My arms have obviously wasted away from being so long absent from the gym - they were quite tired by the time I got home. Will have to go every day for a while, to build up my stores (and muscles). Maybe I'll cook tonight (found my sushi mat - I *did* bring it!)
9:21:00 PM

 
So, like, four carloads later, am all moved in! It wasn't too annoying, but was the most exercise I've had for a while. Was pleasantly surprised to find the long struts of my futon fit quite easily into the little Toyota. In fact, I could fit my entire bed in plus extra stuff.

Did some major cleaning. Does no one know how to empty a vacuum cleaner? Had this problem with two of the three exhousemates also - it works so much better when it's not already packed with dust... Still need to squidgee my window (outside of which is a wonderfully mesozoic tree fern).

Room mostly set up, but may have to rearrange (bah! I'm *such* a procrastinator - am supposed to be here to work, but have urge to draw floor plan of room for furniture placement advice from all of you, and now am starting to think about a floorplan for entire house...). The wardrobe in there is actually quite a reasonable size. Def have to start looking for a funky old bookcase.

Got invited to a dinner party that new housemate Kestrel was having for her friends, but had already said I'd have a last (kind of) dinner with E&M. Kes is really nice. Am looking forward to going raving with her and her friends. So went with E to meet M and Quill and Barmy at a funky nouveau-retro-50s-diner-style bar which looks like it's the closest bar to the new place they're moving into (next weekend! Have I mentioned E&M are moving in with Q&B - should be interesting...). Then went for noodles at a very cheap nice noodle bar down the street. Then went to another bar in north-bohoburb for a birthday of a friend of E's. There was some guy from _Secret Life of Us_ there, and when we were leaving, I let a certain _Music Jamboree_ host brush past me.

Had a really good sleep in my new room.

My interesting discovery of this morning: I have an extra housemate! Heh. I *knew* that extra door must go to another bedroom! Only three people interviewed me and I knew they'd wanted everyone there to meet the prospective housemates, so I'd assumed that's all there were. But no, there will be five of us living there, plus various ex-inhabitants and friends and visitors! [To clarify: she'd been interstate for the previous few weeks visiting family/friends, going to weddings, etc., she wasn't being hidden by the other housemates for grotesque and unappetising or unhousematerly conduct and habits...]
8:26:00 PM

 
Novels:
_Wildside_ (Steven Gould): good young-adultish SF, a little nostalgia-inducing for me.
_The amazing adventures of Kavalier and Clay_ (Michael Chabon): occasionally slow-going, but pretty good.
_Earth made of glass_ (uh... {blanking-Steven?} Barnes): booorrrring. Supposedly a sequel to _A million open doors_ which I don't recall anything substantive about, but thought was okay and was surprised to learn others hated it.
hmmm... and have I really not mentioned reading
_The wasp factory_ (Iain Banks of course): very very good, as good as people say. Am happy to find that one of the other researchers here is also totally into Banks (both his SF and lit), has a couple of his latest latest which I haven't heard anything about, and is happy to lend them to me :) and
_Ash: A secret history_ (Mary Gentle) which was also excellent.

Pop Sci:
_The fifth miracle_ (Paul Davies): a very nice one on the (possible) origins of life! way kewl!
_Hen's teeth and horse's toes_ (Stephen J Gould): Very good. Was sure I'd read all his essay collections, but didn't recall the content of this one at all. May have to reread them all.

Let's hear it for train reading time!
8:42:00 PM

 
Okay - so this is like the first time I've ever been here at work when NO ONE else is. The last couple of days were a little sparse, but today there's absolutely no one in this wing.
7:14:00 PM

 
What is wrong with my elbow? This is not a rhetorical question.
6:30:00 PM

 
We had an impromptu dinner party last night. E invited Quill and Barmy over for dinner. I was already making caramelized tempeh and grilled miso aubergine, and M decided to make his saffron risotto stuffed squid. I was worried the kitchen might be a little crowded, but we cooked together fine. I made way too much basmati. Also drank way too much for a week night (we had 4 bottles of wine and a bottle of champagne between the 5 of us, heavily biased toward the residents who didn't have to get home afterward). Think we finally finished off the last of those dozen bottles which seem to have been around forever :)

Pre-dinner, whilst looking for white miso paste and resisting thoughts of a new jacket, I stumbled upon the new Oxfam shop which will soon be just around the corner from me. It opened on Tuesday, and I'd already planned to have a visit. Woohoo! They had string grocery bags! I've been meaning to get one for E, since she loves mine so much, but I hadn't seen any around since I got mine (back in the land of the setting sun). Also, speaking of coffee, I also noticed they had instant (the FairTrade kind), so I splurged on that too. Had thought they only did the proper kind (and I have no coffee apparatus except my bialetti which is a little fiddly for my liking). I might have some right now.
5:22:00 PM

 
-sigh-
Just saw off C&J to the airport. Spent all day shopping with them (well, okay, had a couple of breaks for coffee and beer with J, while C went hard in the factory outlets). May not see them for a couple of years as they're off to the Land of Moosehead and Sasquatch in a couple of months. Can't believe we didn't get to go for a boogie. And with K&A neither! Everyone's gone :( Am all alone :( Practically :)

Shopping two weekends in a row with outtatown visitors threatens to start my long delayed spending splurge. Am currently eyeing off at least three different jackets (make that five - or six) - I will need (at least) one come winter! Luckily the really nice pair of rave pants I saw weren't in my size and aren't being made anymore. New house will also probably require some pleasant expenditure (will need indoor plant/s, old bookcase, maybe kitchen stuff depending how well they're set up).

So weekend was good. Ate much chocolate. Made a hot cross loaf. Tried several new restuarants. Drank too much. Slept in lots. Didn't get hungover.
12:09:00 AM

 
Happy Chocoliday Everybody!
11:41:00 PM

 
Long field trip day yesterday. Somehow, it took only slightly shorter than last week, even though we'd all that practice. I guess we were doing some additional samples which required filtering...

Also just got roped into a mega-4-day-field-trip in a few weeks for a different project (which I'm not officially involved in). Spent all day organizing first-aid and 4-wheel-driving courses (as well as unix access which no one in this department seems to use, and which has nothing to do with the field trip).

Have realised I wasn't feeling very settled at E&M's, despite being a rent-paying official 1/3rd of household. Half my room was still filled with their stuff, which didn't annoy me (and they offered to move it of course), but I suppose restricted what I did with the space. Am looking forward to setting up my new room properly. Will have to get some plants. Should I think about painting even? May need a new wardrobe. There's one in the room currently which I can have, but it seemed kind of small (I didn't really have a good look). But then there's money and furniture moving issues. Miss my $20 wardrobe. Hm. And I guess there are material accumulation issues also. Will hold off on thinking about a new wardrobe I think. Am sure I can get used to the current one. Ooh - could start looking for an old bookcase though!

J arrived from the west yesterday. C has been over for work this week. Will get to hang out with them both tonight. Yay :)

Got an early night last night and while asleep I was assigned to make dinner for tonight. Am thinking sushi. Am pretty sure I brought my mat - wonder where I packed it? Hm... although, they're like not expensive, maybe I was ruthless and gave it away...

nb. Did I mention my Burnt Silken Lime Tart from the weekend? Turned out very deliciously.
11:32:00 PM

 
So skived just a bit this morning, having a last brekky with K&A. Made it in to work for the middle of the day, but headed off again and just got back from a 2.5 hr trek to send them to the airport - *ick*. Traffic was pretty bad, and it's just really far away. Also, I don't think the drivers here are very good - by which I mean they're probably as good as anywhere else (ie. very inefficient and not very good at thinking ahead).
12:01:00 AM

 
"...spot-light, gang-tight,
every-night, new-sights,
who-would-ever think
life could be so nice,
everythings love,
till you find about the price..."
9:52:00 PM

 
"...sexy lover smokin' with passion..."
"...sexy lover smokin' with passion..."
[underbeat] "...hu-na-na-na-na-na-nah..."
"...sexy lover smokin' with passion..."
[underbeat] "...hu-na-na-na-na-na-nah..."
"...sexy lover smokin' with passion..."
9:52:00 PM

 
oh wow - totally getting a workout craving. must go join gym properly. maybe tomorrow.
8:35:00 PM

 
-ah- (satisfied sigh)
new place to live.
new people.
new people to go to raves with.
8:12:00 PM

 
Sunday night, also tried a pretty good Thai restaurant and a funky cocktail bar.
Which was a bit bad for (another) 7:30 meeting this morning.
7:31:00 PM

 
Before K&A arrived though, I spent a tiring day sharehouse-hunting. Spurred by the fact that E&M were accepted for a new apartment closer to E's work on Friday and gave notice for current place on same day, I was deciding whether or not to get stressed by the idea of living in some gutter if I didn't find somewhere in the next couple of weeks.

In the morning I met an older guy recently divorced (and apparently a little bitter) with kids who although they lived in England "occasionally" came and visited and stayed over, as well as with white leather couches of which he seemed rather protective. There were also some 18-19 year olds who seemed nice but played deathmetal too loudly to hear the doorbell. There was a nice lady with a cat to which I was somewhat allergic. But after a long day of running around and getting interviewed and trying to call people trying to arrange times to see places in the same area at similar times or being told the room had been taken or to come by on Sunday instead, I went out and had fun with K&A (picked 'em up from the airport which is a bit of a trek, especially if you avoid the tollways which I haven't quite worked out and haven't gotten an e-tag for yet).

On Sunday I saw a couple more places, in between trying to take K&A around shopping and things. One was a nice studenty place, but the girl interviewing me was actually interviewing for her replacement, and the other housemates weren't home, and the house was also a little far from any useful train station. Another place was in posh-burb and at rather upper end of my rent scale (meant to pay like less than 25-30% of salary yeah? although I still did a totally low estimate of that, not sure if you're meant to take tax out first or what), and the potential housemates seemed a bit uptight (and they had very white expensive carpets - not that I want to intimate anything about any impurity in my relationships with white furniture, but my prejudice is that it just seems to indicate impractical living). The last place for the weekend I *just* managed to make at the appointed time (4:30pm) in between touristing/shopping/rainstorms and trying to get back from north Boho-burb (yes, this is a total hippy city) via public transport. It was another studenty type place. They (2 girls and a guy) seemed the most organized thus far, having organized timeslots and having decided to make the decision that weekend. They also actually had a few additional questions to ask me apart from "can you really pay your rent? (do you have a job?)". We had a good chat about raves and recycling and thesis writing and things. They were also rather nicely placed - very central, near a useful train station, near a nice (possibly a bit too yuppie) cafe and shopping and clubbing strip, on relatively quiet side street, as well as being one of the cheaper places I'd looked at. It was the best I'd seen, and after leaving them with my contact details, I tried to avoid thinking about how I'd quite like to live there, while I went for a last shop with K&A. But when I got home, there was a rather short message saying ring them, scribbled by M which also came with some teasing from him about how he'd told them what a terrible person to live with I was, but I rang 'em and it turns out they liked me and I have a place to live! Woohoo!
7:17:00 PM

 
Weekend good. But was supposed to go to two events on Saturday night - one which both supported a human rights organization and which also featured electrofunk and breakbeat and the other an inaugural club night which was being put on by a friend of a friend. Inertia and alcohol and rain derailed my plans, however. Inertia coming from the people I was trying to drag along with me. Alcohol coming from everywhere. And rain coming from the sky. Ex-ex-housemate K with A arrived from the wild west on Saturday, so we went out to dinner and drinks and they provided half the inertia for not going out later. Current and ex-ex-ex-housemate E and M provided the other half of the inertia, plus much of the alcohol (tooheys, merlot, shiraz, martinis, carribeans, chocolate truffotinis, cherry contrarys, gin and tonics, um...).

Had a really nice dinner though in south Boho-burb at "Lentil as Anything" - yes, a hippy restaurant. With the twist "pay what you think the food was worth" - how hippy is that? K&A tried to blame it on me (and E&M have been helping by trying to paint me in everyone's eyes as having gone treehuggin'-stoner-commie-feral since the enviro camp a few weeks ago), but E actually chose it. A very good Sri Lankan pumpkin curry, plus a variety of other stuff.
6:59:00 PM

 

Ankles still wet, but sky has cleared and sun is back.

May do another field trip next week to check out the effects of this rain.

Yay! Is weekend! Again!

11:32:00 PM

 
Is almost weekend. Have two sets of visitors from the west coming tomorrow and next week. Must try to find stuff to do with them.
9:57:00 PM

 
So dinner last night was good. Went a little early and helped out with chopping vegies for the pasta and the curry. Suspect the turnout was lower than hoped for - had around 40 people I think. Had a couple of good speakers from The Greens on Baxter and mandatory detention and the ridiculous conditions there which you don't hear about (poor medical care, outbreaks of Dengue fever, media stonewalling, food poisoning, solitary, run-of-the-mill sleep deprivation, strip searches (sometimes underage), moving people out in the middle of the night so concerned citizens can't keep track of them, deliberate delays in sending those who've given up back overseas, etc., ick...). The food was healthily delectable (all vegie - dips, mains, and then caramelized bananas and dates in crepes for dessert) and the Coopers was relatively cheap, and the company was fun. Caught the last bus/train combo home.
9:56:00 PM

 
Warm glow of helpingness and new friend battling with dank soppiness of rained-on drenchihood. "Rain" here so far has been of a very drizzly light sort which hardly seems to dampen you before evaporating - until this morning, when we got a proper hefty-droplet type of downpour (which is still going on). Also thought I was late for train this morn, so ran for it (usually a 10 min walk), which was not conducive to puddle avoidance. Cuffs and shoes and socks and feet quite saturated. Bargain NY duffle coat kept rest of me dry. Bumped into a guy I met at the Greens dinner last night on the train. Had a good chat, and helped guide him from the stop to Uni and to the student food co-op-restaurant (quicker than using his stick - I hesitated about offering, but he jumped into the breach and asked me). Taking the flattest and least complex route meant leaving out a few of my usual shortcuts however, meaning more time in the rain. But all arrived safely under cover and without embarrassing self by walking him into a pole or anything.

Have taken off shoes and socks but have left pants on, so am experiencing very cold and drippy ankles right now. May have to keep change of clothes here at office during coming winter.
4:22:00 PM

 
Back alive from field trip, despite threat of field assistant possibly being psycho-serial-killer. Long day of much driving. Despite excessive speed, still took 2.5 hours to get up to rendezvous point, then more driving from site to site, before the drive home. Weather was perfect - totally clear and sunny! Instruments behaved almost perfectly.
9:22:00 PM

 
Today was a mad rush getting ready for last min field trip tomorrow. Up at 6 tomorrow for 6:30 start. Hopeful last min change in weather forecast from "showers" to "mostly fine". Had to do crazy risk assessment procedure (likelihood of drowning/lightning/attack-by-cows/etc.). Fingers crossed I don't get lost!
12:51:00 AM

 
n.b. Had a good weekend. Had going away drinks for one of E's friends at a nice funky pub in mini-beach-Burb on Friday night. Had another good dance Sat night (and (*smug*) two girls and three guys tried to pick me up). Got home at 7 (had really really meant to leave before 4), so had a big sleep till 15:30 on Sunday. Didn't get much constructive stuff done. Am still 2 presents behind in birthday stakes, and still need to find lightish jacket to cope with the rather inconstant weather here. But car blinker has been fixed (by little sis, however, rather than moi), and also managed the huge grocery shop (all by myself). Also started sharehouse-hunting, but haven't gone very hardcore. Saw maybe 4 places on the weekend. Said I was interested in one, but didn't sell myself for it, so am doubtful of acceptance, which'll be a bit of a blow to my fortunately robust self-esteem. Will try much harder this weekend!
9:49:00 PM

 
Article on the genesis of "baby-raising experts" and the whole child-rearing obsession in the US in The New York Times:
"Scientific education got further impetus after World War I, when army recruits were given I.Q. tests for the first time... Half were graded at below-normal intelligence, causing an uproar that America was raising half-wits"

heh.
9:27:00 PM

 
Oop - don't know how I got away - just had a meeting where everyone was supposed to have a question - I didn't know this, and I hadn't even read the paper under review, but somehow, immediate boss (IB hereafter) who seemed to take charge of ensuring this, never got around to asking me... :( Could've come up with something if put on the spot I think. But kept quiet instead. have done that a lot in my FIVE meetings today.

Sheesh - thought last Thursday was going to be an unusual event. But today was worse. Started off with a 7:30am (had to get up before 6am!) TWO HOUR meeting. Then an 11am meeting (ostensibly morning tea, but with advance notice that we had to discuss some issues), then meetings at 1pm, 2pm and 3pm. Sheesh. And had to totally run across campus (a 12 minute walk) to get to the 2pm meet. Weekend now. phew.

Hope E has left a message at home about where I'm supposed to meet for drinks! Need one!
10:31:00 PM

 
Hm - nothing to write today. Meant to go to a _Trade and the Environment_ forum last night, but didn't make it :( Also didn't have Thai Tempeh last night as it needed marinating overnight.. Might go try and help build shelves for the food co-op now...

11:16:00 PM

 
Darn - missed update yesterday - had meetings PLUS New Computer arrived. Is very nice. All black and graphite and streamlined. Spent all arvo setting it up just so. Not quite used to the curvaceous keyboard yet.

Have checked out two apartments in last two days. Nice enough, but like, how do I decide? One was a bit far from the train station, but the other was right on top of it, and the guys seemed nice enough - but how can you choose housemates on like a five minute conversation? Must look at more. Am glad I have a couple of months to search.

Speaking of which I also need to get down to the mobbly search. If only there was an actual right answer, I'm sure I could find it, but I just don't know how I'll change my phone habits before I actually get one. Thought about getting an old one on ebay and prepaying for a couple of months to check my patterns, but doubt I'll actually do this. I really dislike the idea of being locked into a contract :P

Should I go for another big dance this weekend? Oakenfold is playing, and although he may be a little past it, he's still pretty fun. But don't know if anyone I know is going or wants to go, and can't be bothered trying to organize people, especially since all the groovers I know here who *might* be interested just went to PvD with me last weekend, and we're going out again the weekend after this one. Could just go by self and meet new people there.

Departmental morning tea now - wonder if I'll try and meet new people there or just go all cliquey with the group I know...
4:31:00 PM