(no subject)
OK, some quick notes, since I've neglected this. Mum and Alan have been visiting since Monday, and it has been really lovely to see them. Especially Mum. She looks a bit healthier than I expected, actually, except for her arm that's shockingly bruised - her dehydration meant that when a nurse tried to draw blood, it was hard to find a vein and Mum's arm got seriously messed up. We've had a few nice days, just doing stuff around the city. Today - well, yesterday now - we went to the Melbourne Zoo. My tram route goes past it, so I've seen it very frequently for the year and a bit that I've lived here, but never actually gone in! I hadn't been to a zoo in years, and I must say, the blue penguins, meerkats, red pandas, and elephants are made of all kinds of SuperWin. I took a disturbingly large amount of photos, and I'll share some of the best ones in the coming days. Though I was a bit bothered by how some of the animals appeared a little bored, or that they needed larger enclosures.
In completely unrelated and I suppose somewhat weird-sounding news, I had an interesting experience on Tuesday. I was waiting outside uni on Swanston Street for Mum and Alan, just photographing trams. Now, it's no secret that I'm an albino - but I have never actually met another human albino. I've owned an albino cat and encountered plenty of other albino animals, but not another person. So there I am, excitedly photographing a tram of the Z1 class because I didn't previously have any photos of Z1s in my collection, when what do I see but this albino woman walk right past me. I had to look twice and I just about said something! Now, I think it's pretty sweet to be an albino, but I'm sure not everyone feels the same way, and I just don't like to bother people or intrude in the first place, so I didn't say anything. But wow. For 21 years, in my own little slice of existence, I've been the only one. Now I'm not. It's one thing to know as a sheer matter of fact that you're not the only one, but quite another thing entirely to actually encounter somebody else and see that fact manifested before your very eyes. And then just to cap off my day, one of only three Z2 trams still in operation rocked up and I went back into photography mode.
And since it's now very late and I need to be up in some seven hours, I shall end here and disappear for sleep. I hope you're all well. My apologies for being considerably absent lately.
In completely unrelated and I suppose somewhat weird-sounding news, I had an interesting experience on Tuesday. I was waiting outside uni on Swanston Street for Mum and Alan, just photographing trams. Now, it's no secret that I'm an albino - but I have never actually met another human albino. I've owned an albino cat and encountered plenty of other albino animals, but not another person. So there I am, excitedly photographing a tram of the Z1 class because I didn't previously have any photos of Z1s in my collection, when what do I see but this albino woman walk right past me. I had to look twice and I just about said something! Now, I think it's pretty sweet to be an albino, but I'm sure not everyone feels the same way, and I just don't like to bother people or intrude in the first place, so I didn't say anything. But wow. For 21 years, in my own little slice of existence, I've been the only one. Now I'm not. It's one thing to know as a sheer matter of fact that you're not the only one, but quite another thing entirely to actually encounter somebody else and see that fact manifested before your very eyes. And then just to cap off my day, one of only three Z2 trams still in operation rocked up and I went back into photography mode.
And since it's now very late and I need to be up in some seven hours, I shall end here and disappear for sleep. I hope you're all well. My apologies for being considerably absent lately.