Part of my discomfort with this reporter is that she uses multiple question marks, doesn't capitalize, and doesn't appear to reread her emails before sending - it seems rather unprofessional considering it's so work-related (for both of us), and considering the emails are to a stranger. The other source of discomfort is probably the way she fires off question after question, without lead in, and how her questions don't exhibit much of an interest in the actual topic, but more in how the MA may have messed up - she's totally coming across as really gossipy.
9:23:00 PM

 
Current weirdness
A newspaper reporter (I can't recall if it's the same woman who interviewed me last year) is kind of hounding me for info about a certain enviro problem back in the west. Her questions are all rather unsubtly directed at trying to make me say something incriminating the management authority for not doing enough to prevent the problem. It would be so easy to become infamous (at least within the small field back west) by saying something inflammatory. Am very glad our exchange is over email rather than phone, giving me the leeway to frame supremely tactful replies.
7:06:00 PM

 
Currentness
-sigh- how can it be the weekend again?
6:57:00 PM

 
Current cooking
Didn't do the tart last night, made a vegetable and brown rice gratin instead. Was quite yummy. Should've brought in the leftovers for lunch today.
6:57:00 PM

 
This article: _Chlorine-asthma link_ makes me squirm - one of the most recommended things to do for kids with asthma is to get them swimming as it's meant to help them regulate the way they breathe :( who'd want to be a parent?!
5:12:00 PM

 
Oh yeah, the _Chicken, Avocado and Spring Onion Soup_ was rather nice - and sooo simple to make! The housemates all quite liked it too. Am looking forward to trying the _Red Onion, Mushroom and Goat's Cheese Tart_, and the _Citrus Cake_ (yeah, suspect it actually has a more imaginative name than that - it takes TWELVE eggs!). And housemate P has that annoying PukkHead Jamie's cookbook, which also has some nice looking recipes I'll have to try... (stlkrgrl: What's the deal with pudding basins for steaming? Can I just use a pyrex bowl?)
5:08:00 PM

 
Who knew cleaning a fridge could be so fun!?

Last night, everyone was actually home (!), so I suggested we rearrange the rather packed fridge, since I, and, I knew, a couple of the housemates, were having trouble identifying who's red capsicum was whose. Everyone was amenable, so we did the hugest clearout, chucking many mysterious and occasionally malodorous foil wrapped and plastic bagged packages. There was a little screaming at some of the more terrifying discoveries. We also found: five packets of grated cheese to which no one laid claim, four extra jars of strawberry jam (in addition to the three jars I (HM I, not me) hadn't realised she'd had), food J recalled belonging to previous housemates, and a general assortment of food (eg. jars of ginger, bottles of oyster sauce, tubs of hydrogenated vegetable oil) that no one could recall owning. Everything was taken out, we scrubbed and wiped and vinegared the nooks and crannies, and were rather pleased with ourselves at the gleaming whiteness and expanses of extra space at the end. It took a surprisingly substantial amount of time, despite everyone working together like a well oiled machine. It was a very bonding experience. We're saving the freezer for another night. We don't want to have all our fun at once.
5:02:00 PM

 
*phew* - email's back.
12:06:00 AM

 
Should stay late tonight and do some writing. Instead am going to go home and make the very first recipe in my new cookbook from L. Had vaguely considered going through and making every single dish in there in the order in which it appears. But then I'd have to wait much too long to try a dessert.
11:34:00 PM

 
Scary. Have had trouble accessing my alma mater email account today. Finally managed to access it just then, and my usually messy and full inbox is completely empty. Fingers crossed it's temporary, but hope I wasn't keeping anything important in there...
11:15:00 PM

 
oops - slept in till 8:45 this morning.
Had a last dinner with Misha and Darius last night, in north Hippie-burb. Then tried new funky bar, and hung out in a cosy under-stair nook. Was good.
6:12:00 PM

 
Darn, totally meant to go see this production of Hamlet, before there were good reviews about it, and it got ridiculously sold out... I guess I can still check seat availability, and will console self with thought that it would probably have been pretty popular anyway...
6:28:00 PM

 
Have had some nice fog, last couple of days. And is getting rather chilly too - time to break into final box with winter clothes (scarves, thermals, etc.). Could even justify shopping for new winter gear!
6:26:00 PM

 
Ooh! Creepy! When I open a drawer in my filing cabinet - cold air flows out (and keeps flowing out!).
12:23:00 AM

 
-sigh-
Another weekend done...
Vendredi
Went and had dinner in Chinatown (with Diane and Tully from work, and Kip, Tully's partner) and then went and saw a band for first time in aaages. They were called _Gus and Frank_, and played very pop-py, lightweight stuff. They've been getting a fair amount of airplay recently, and my officemate at work has guitar lessons with the bass player. She got quite a work posse along (16 people!). I recognized their airplay song. Was quite glad one of the postdocs was as amused as me by their inanity and not noticeably conspicuous talent - we were unattractively (but quietly) sarcastic to each other all night long. They had a huge turn-out however, the (rather large) venue was packed. Aftwerward, Misha, who had been bar hopping during this time, took me to her discovery for the night, and it turned out to be the one cool bar in town which I'd also been to. And now I know how to actually find it again! Love those little alleyways :)

Samedi
Saturday morning I slept in, while Misha had to get up for a hair appointment. At midday, she had booked us in for a virtual reality experience, assembled by a team which had also been at the conference she'd been attending. We had to rush a bit after her Two Hour (!) haircut. Got there a little late, but they were running late too. There were four of us booked in at the same time. We put on head sets and stood in the front of a curved 180 degree screen and were trasnported to a 3D abstract landscape full of mists and colours and elaborate space stations and structures and constructs textured with interesting surfaces, sometimes incorporating text and equations. There was also a nicely bloopy and electronic soundscape with some depth and layering. I found a blobby, pelagic, leech-like avatar which was responding to my head movements, and it turned out that by co-operating with the other interactors we could control where in the space we moved and what structures we explored. It was quite fun. Afterward, we met housemate P for yum-cha, and then went beer-tasting! (Free!) A very good PR exercise for the pub involved. Am definitely going to have to take friends, and even stay to buy beer afterward! It's only advertised by word of mouth, and lots of Ninevehians don't realize it's on, but it's well attended by a mix of tourists and locals. Home to let Misha rest and for me to do a ring around and organize my evening. Went and picked up Darius from the airport, then dropped dance party tickets off to friends in Fitzroy, then picked up friends in Abbotsford to go to a housewarming down in Clayton, where I met two houses full of bushwalkers. From Clayton, I was supposed to go back to Fitzroy and birthday drinks of a friend-of-a-friend, but it was already past 10, and I went home instead for a bite to eat and to get ready to go out. Made it to the rave by 11:25 or so, with a primo parking spot in a little back-alley. Went in, managed to meet up with E&M&P&A, and the dancing crew, and Misha and Darius. Had some nice chats to a few people. Danced till 8:30am to some great (and some not-so-good) old skool. Was a good night.

Dimanche
Slept. HM P cooked me dinner (chickpea curry and basmati and raita). Then went and hung with E&M&P&A and watched Shadow of the Vampire. Got fed again (carrot and artichoke soup). Didn't go to Eurovision party. Back to bed (and let myself sleep in for an extra half hour this morning!).
7:20:00 PM

 
Yesterday was a bit funny - little sis called to wish me a "happy b" while I was in a workshop, and that's how my officemate and thus the rest of the office found out. They sang to me. Bastards.

Then home, cards and packages waiting. Was a little discreet with them, but then Misha got home and gave me flowers and card and garishly wrapped present, so it was kind of obvious to the two housemates that were home what was up :P I didn't think we'd reached the stage where it was necessary for them to know. But they pretended to be offended I hadn't told them, and we all went out to a Polish bar for Vodka. We tried several varieties. I wonder if I can remember which? One kind with rowan berries picked after the first frost of winter (real name started with a "jank..." i think), goldwasser (the one with real gold flecks), one from the Eastern Carpathian Mountains (really long name with too many consonants, started "dzw..." or something), one from wild bee honey, plus a honey one with lemon (very nice), a nicely peppery bloody mary style shot (called a "Baby Jesus"), a port vodka (!) with Guinness (!!!), um...a couple more, plus vodka martinis (Finnish and Polish). P was up for more (despite having to be up at 5am this morning!), but I called it a night.
5:28:00 PM

 
Cool! Just had call and good chat with stlkrgrl in the sunny north! So nice and normal to chat! Has def put a pleasant tint to the evening. Home now!
12:31:00 AM

 
Um. Tuesday night: went to performance art put on by people from this international digi-art'n'culture con which Misha is attending (and presenting at today). Was at a pub in the city. Had very vague instructions as to venue, but managed to find it. Packed really full of arty people (spilling onto street). Met a couple of them. Had a beer. Listened to some spoken word with projected props. Misha not impressed. Vibe good though - lots of international networking going on. Am apparently booked into some VR thingo on Sunday.
Last (Wed) night: made dinner (udon noodles, stir fried pak choy, carrot, tofu and shrooms in oyster sauce) and baked cookies with HM P and Misha. Both P and I had to bring baked goods in to work this week. then I went and saw The Matrix Reloaded with M. Enjoyed it. Pretty much as expected. Great action. Some clunky CG (some of which they'd included in the trailers for some unfathomable reason). Not unenjoyably predictable, not-much plot.
12:29:00 AM

 
Can't wait till this weekend :)
7:44:00 PM

 
Sunday arvo, went to HM P's friend's vaguely housewarming ping pong party thingo. Met more new people, who seemed nice (retro muso hippy arty types), but I don't imagine I'll have much of a chance to hang with them - they live on the other side of the city and don't know if the HM sees them very much. And this was kind of halfway to the airport which was convenient, as I'd said I'd pick up Misha (over for a conference this week) that evening. Made it there pretty easily and on time. Met Misha at the luggage carousel. On the way home though, I missed a couple of turnoffs, and ended up taking a totally roundabout route home. Picked up some takeaway on the way. Hung out at home, intro'd the HM's, watched bad TV (the first part of Daniel Deronda was rather disappointing, but guess I might still try some Eliot). Then to bed relatively early for more good sleep :)
7:43:00 PM

 
Saturday - managed to get home by middayish. Saw the sister back home to MetropolOz for her excellent new job (ooh - which started yesterday!). Semi-went shopping, but was foiled by deregulated hours and certain stores which were closed :P Managed to do some grocery shopping, and find some Benedictine (expensive!) and vodka (cheap!) for E&M's housewarming cocktail party. Had a really quick and yum dinner of really thinly sliced caramelized carrot with oyster sauce, and fresh nutty stirfried pak choy. Then had to turn the house over looking for the housewarming card I'd found for E&M (and P&A) a couple of weeks ago - a photo from like the 1930's (found in some retro arty store with a box of old photo's and postcards) of two old fashioned couples dressed up with the menfolk sitting on chairs and the womenfolk standing by the men's shoulders, in front of an old brick house. Couldn't find it. Wonder where it is?

Made it over to E&M's place (almost got lost). A few people there already. Got a tour of the mostly set up three levels of townhouse. Then got put to work cutting up pineapple for cocktail garnishes. Made a very pretty tower of pineapple wedges (which looked very nice next to bowls of garnishes of strawberrys and kiwi fruit). Met a few new people. Poured half the bottle of vodka into the punch and drank that while we waited for critical cocktail mass to be reached (we were missing bacardi and champagne I think). There was masses of food - a HUGE plate of four kinds of sushi, frijomole (hummous with a few additions), guacamole, etc. Mingled, got trashed, made cocktails, etc. High point could very well have been the guy with the bagpipes - he was very good! Some nice people, hope I see them again. A preponderance of expats from The West. Too tired to go out afterward (apparently a good Saturday drum and bass night just around the corner). Walked home from there, a nice 1/2 hour stroll over the river. Had a nice hot shower and really really nice sleep.
5:28:00 PM

 
Weekend good. Friday night I went to dinner with the LS and her boy (LSB?) at the cafe/restaurant nearest my new place on Yuppie St. I pass it all the time (on my way grocery shopping, etc.) and it always looks pretty busy and funky and cool. The ambience was pretty good, but the food was a little average. Nothing very interesting on the menu (mainly pizzas and pastas) - am very over Italian-style food, is too easy to make at home. Then we strolled down the road and into some backstreets for some drinking with the new HM's. I think they may regard it as our local! It was in a rather out of the way spot I wouldn't have thought of looking for a pub. It was pretty non-Yuppie-St. Then to a more funky pub in the city to meet dancing crew friends, one of whom was celebrating a birthday. Had a few drinks and caught up with a visitor from The West who was here for a few days. Then we all wandered over to a club with a breakbeat night - was pretty empty (apparently their big night is Thursday hip-hop!), but the music was pretty good and we had a good boogie. I got pretty trashed with the birthday boy (BB) while the others were a little more restrained. After a few hours there we moved on to a discrete but quite imposing blonde-wood door-in-the-wall with no signs or anything. Behind it were stairs leading up to a large, long, very crowded room, carpeted in plush red, and furnished with antiques - velvet divans, leather armchairs, maple coffee tables, darkwood benches and dining sets. There was a huge circular window at the street end with a view of a cathedral down a leafy well-lit avenue. A waitress gave us a red ring-binder with a page of nibbles, a page of non-alcoholic drinks, and about 50 pages of wines, sorted by region, up to a $2000 cab-sav. We didn't get that one. Crashed on BB's very comfy couch in minimalist very central city apartment.
4:58:00 PM

 
Oh yeah - the fog this morning was pretty nice :)
10:28:00 PM

 
Hm... might be a 3 coffee day today.
9:00:00 PM

 
So last night I went to Jana's (German-HM's) friend's Dutch exchange studenty Queen's Birthday party. there were a lot of German and Dutch exchange students. Funny that.
4:28:00 PM

 
oh my - did someone really bring their screaming kid to work today? or is it just a really good soundsystem on someone's PC?

oh - i recognize the voices in the current email they're playing...
4:22:00 PM

 
Little sis leaves on Sat - will I get time to hang out before that? Seems unlikely :( I really should've made more of an effort these last couple of months...
7:13:00 PM

 
coffee?... breakfast?... coffee... or breakfast?
4:22:00 PM

 
This morning is the first time since I've been over here that I've had to drag myself out of bed. Wonder why? Didn't get to bed particularly late, wasn't insomniac, don't have anything particularly onerous today...
4:05:00 PM

 
Exhousemates parents ok.
4:03:00 PM

 
ooh scary - exhousemate's parents are in some housing compound in Riyadh!
3:13:00 AM

 
Dammit - what've I done with that figure? Am sure I archived it in one of these folders... surely I at least have the associated data file somewhere? grrr... WHERE?!
11:48:00 PM

 
Ooh - and just checked on-campus online library catalogue about another book I've been eyeing in bookshops (_The years of rice and salt_, KS Robinson), and they have it! (although naturally it's currently on loan).
10:58:00 PM

 
Reading has lagged. Am taking ages over Dinosaur in a haystack (SJ Gould), which I read ages ago, and which I don't like as much as his older essays - did he become a bit more pompous in his old age? more trivia obsessed? less inspired? Quite enjoyed Darwin's Radio (Greg Bear), which I've been meaning to read for some time. Although not good enough to make me think "I should've bought it when it came out". Have finally gotten around to check out the on-campus fiction library, and it looks okay. PLUS new-new local library card has arrived also - could go check it out this weekend! So many possibilities!
10:53:00 PM

 
And slept all Sunday (got up to do some cleaning, but then back to bed). Then out to see _The Animatrix_ (8 _Matrix_ related animated short films) with E&M at the cinema like 3 or 4 blocks from me. The CG was pretty amazing in the last one (_Flight of Osiris_?), but think I liked the feel of the haunted house one better. Then finally managed to get around to calling me Mum (phone rather busy all day). Didn't manage to send anything off to her :( Am so totally behind on cards/presents still! Have like 6 coming up in the next 2 weeks (that time of year) and am still behind from April! Need some shopping time. And some inspiration.
10:47:00 PM

 
Dum-de-de-dum.
Bored.
Almost stressed.
Writing.
May have to start staying late.
Although last bus is at 10pm - so not too late.
(phew)
10:38:00 PM

 
Writing
Arrrrgh - I could SCREAM!
11:21:00 PM

 
Housewarming: Not complete disaster, host reports.
After minor anxiety at the start of the night, housewarming host Mr. T reported a late surge saving him from complete ignominy. "I invited like 45 people, and when by 8:30pm only 5 of my housemate's friends and my sister had turned up, I was ready to resign myself to a quiet and practically solitary trashing. Fortunately, a surge of visitors from around 9pm took our party count over the 40-mark, with almost half consisting of people I actually knew!".

Although initially disappointed that there was only one work-place attendee, despite a substantial email list being provided with an invite, Mr. T finally decided "This may have been just as well, considering my state by the end of the night".

Another concern was the weather, with rain predicted. However, the skies remained clear, and although the night was cold, the bbq was used quite successfully. In addition to an adequate volume and variety of liquid volubility, housemate P added, "The dancing Germans provided a reasonable amount of entertainment for us also". A relieved Mr. T summed up, "All in all, not a complete disaster".
6:57:00 PM

 
uh-oh - a bit too late, but oh so funny-yet-depressing (what's the word for that?): "Get your war on".
5:00:00 PM

 
4WD driving was cool. Not as much mud as I expected. Thought they'd make us drive into a huge pit of mud and dig/winch it out. Did a bit of driving across mud patches, but the winching was just simulated on dry and not very sloped ground. Mostly it was driving up and down on really quite angled slopes, up to 45 degrees (about the max you can do I think), a bit of across slope stuff, through "rivers" (creeks really), in ruts and over bumpy diagonals. Was quite a long day.
4:40:00 PM

 
Have just been helping make a table for the new food co-op which is just being set up here. Is quite exciting. Might go back and see if anyone's still working...
12:16:00 AM

 
Back safe from 4-day field trip in the far north. OK, not that far, only 900km or so. But it's a fair drive. I got to practice my 4-wheel-driving a fair bit too, before my actual 4WD training course tomorrow. Hope they don't try and test me on the theory, for which there was a session on Wednesday night... Spent a good 5 hours driving on sandy, clayey, gravelly and very rocky tracks. The clay was pretty easy (but apparently a bugger when wet), although possibly shouldn't have been going 110 km/hr on it as it tended to alternate abrubtly to rocks or sand.

All went relatively smoothly however - at least until on our trip home, about 2 hours from the city, when we were swapping driving, and I locked the keys in the car. d'oh.
12:07:00 AM

 
Hooray for the weekend.
And hooray for my first overbooked night here.
Although main overbooking is a departmental cocktail party where I'm only certain of having one friend, but I was looking forward to going and meeting new people. Am going to house dinner instead - our first. Last night we had 4/5 of the household around, the highest proportion all week. Will be nice to hang out with them a bit tonight. And then greenie friend party in hippy-burb. Would probably have tried for all three if cocktail party had been a little more central (rather than out here).
11:58:00 PM

 
No really, it is unlikely to go smoothly. Am having it with the German exchange housemate who only moved in a couple of months ago. We're planning a BBQ, but the weather has really hit the wet here. It's *so* going to rain. Should try and organize a tarp or something. Should also organize a heap of other stuff - salads, condiments, beer, yada, lighting, music, etc., but have no time.

Field trip all next week (well, 4 days, and then my 4-wheel-driving course all Saturday! And I've kind of told half the people 6pm, and if I'm lucky I'll just be getting home then (it's pretty far out of town), so I'm going to get home and people will have come and left cos I'm not there and *blargh* just feeling a bit rushed about it...

But too late now - am committed. Wish me luck.
11:43:00 PM

 
Housewarming next Sat, May 10. All welcome. Real invite to come. Will be a disaster.
11:34:00 PM