And I love being young and I love growing old
This is a "restore from saved draft" that popped up when I logged in. Last Wednesday:
So today I flew away again out of a city still covered in snow. Snow right down to the beaches! Snow in the gravelly bits between branches of the Waimak! Snow everywhere!
It was very pretty. Then we hit some turbulence and I grabbed onto the man beside me. It was pretty bad. The turbulence, not the man. Although I think I crossed a line when I accidentally (honest) dropped a plane lolly into his crotch.
He picked it out and handed it to me. I took it. I haven't eaten it.
In other news (this is me today in the present times) I had another encounter with a big bearded man. This time I was shelving in the children's section, piles half sorted on the trolley, when he popped up out of nowhere and picked up a book on energy.
"What's this?" he says. There's a tinge of the ginge in his beard.
"It's a book explaining energy to kids," I say, reading off the cover "Explaining energy for kids!"
"That's good, that's good. My daughter started taking an interest in science when she was nine and now she has a doctorate in bio-chemisty."
"Good for her," I say, trying to sort through my books so I can shelve this trolley before closing. It's about ten minutes till we do close and the message about it has just sounded over the intercom. But people can't take hints.
"Another boy I knew was interested in science when he was a kid and now he runs the Singapore Science Corporation."
I nod. Sort the 398.2 from the 398.8s.
Somehow (he's mumbling so I don't follow completely) he starts talking about teaching kids bomb making because then they'll know how to do it properly. Something about casing and fuses and why gunmetal was better than regular metal and the difference between his grandfather's explosives recipe and the recipes of today (making this the weirdest "In my day" speech I have ever heard)
"If a defensive grenade went off at the other end of the library our ears would be ringing!" he exclaims.
I didn't even know there was such a thing as a 'defensive' grenade. Now I do.
Seriously I did not know how to make him stop. I couldn't get a word in edgewise, he just kept going. I think he did tell me how to make a bomb, but I didn't take it in. In any case, when he left, he nodded at me conspiratorialy, like we'd been sharing valuable info.
The general public are strange.
And I don't mind people coming up to me to ask questions. I like that because then I get to track down an answer and it feels like I've won at a quiz and also because I'm paid to do it. But to talk to me about bombs? Or ramble on about anything non-work related for ages, when we're closing, when I'm obviously busy, and when you're an old man and I'm a young woman.
Because your right to talk to me about what is on your mind does not override my right to be allowed to get on with my job.
And your right to approach me at sunset at a bus stop in a fairly deserted industrial area does not override my right to be left alone to text my friends and listen to my iPod and to feel safe.
And your right to exclaim "I'd hit that" as I walk down the aisle of a bus past you does not override my right not to have my body commented upon, you vodka-reeking, alarming looking man.
It seems like over the last couple of weeks I keep having it pointed out that I'm a woman and it's my place to stand there and listen to these men or not say anything.
And yeah I could have said something all of those times, technically. But the first time - I was at work and you don't be rude to customers. There's protocol and stuff if they're threatening or offensive but he wasn't really and we were five minutes from closing.
The second time was the guy in Palmerston North. He was taller than me. The only people nearby were in cars. Unfamiliar city. The only building I knew, the library, was half a block away and locked already. It was safer to be polite and buy time till the bus came. I didn't know if he was going to turn out to be a psycho.
And the third guy, the drunk one on the bus - do you want to start a confrontation with a big drunk guy on a bus?
So yeah, just... sometimes I wish people would leave me alone.
BUT on a lighter note, I had a birthday! I went out with the fam and the bro-SO and the flatmates to Filedelfios on Sunday and we ate pizza with bananas on it and I had a mango daquari and totally snuck in and paid before Dad could "You are just like your grandfather" he said, which made me so happy. It was kind of weird not getting a phone call from Granddad this year, I mean, I know it's been a few years but still...
Cath and Jen called and we plotted the weekend and kidnappings and pies. It'll be grand.
Then Monday which was my actual birthday I had to go to a work meeting. I'd been gearing myself up to talk about PN and the changes we could make to our library and to voice some ideas before all the decisions were made for us - and our team leader was still on holiday! After giving every impression that she would be there and also promising me cake. But Kathy bought truffles so all was not wasted.
Afterward me and Leah and Lara and Ness went to DREXELS for lunch and it was SO GOOD. Oh french toast you can have me. So delicious. I said "toptop" to the waitress and even now I don't know what I meant.
There was unlimited coffee. Then I bought GREEN SHEETS for $35 and MACADAMIA body butter and tickets to Captain America. And I have no shame in admitting that my sheets STILL excite me. They are SO GREEN. Ninja turtle green. They will go/clash BEAUTIFULLY with my otherwise purple bed.
For dinner we had brinner, the tradition LFoD fry up. Over the top having brunch AND brinner in the same day, you ask? Never, says I!
I went over to Ma and Pa's to have some tea after dinner and do some relationship counselling. It is a trying time in every marriage: packing for oversees.
Especially when your mother wants to take five pairs of shoes for eleven days and is trying to narrow it down to four, and your father wants to take photos of the cat sitting in the suitcase. I also succefully solved the "should I take the bigger case? Oh I probably don't need it. But I think I might need the bigger case, Mike? What do you think?" dilemma by pointing out that the bigger case has wheels too and she had eleven days to shop in Kuala Lumpar and fill up any space she couldn't fill up now.
Dad looked at me darkly. "You encourage her."
"You're both as bad as each other!" Mum said, still a bit annoyed about us putting Simba in the suitcase for a photoshoot instead of ironing.
When Mum started noisily brushing cave dirt off one of Dad's backpacks I thought it was time to intervene properly and quickly made some tea.
They gave me 3/4 of a pumpkin for my troubles, and a parsnip. I almost got a bag of old brussel sprouts too ("I'm sure there's some green in them somewhere, if you peel off the outer leaves") but said I thought I probably wouldn't use them...
I went home and watched Womb with Leah. It's a screwed up movie about a woman who gives birth to the clone of her dead lover. I loved it.
That night I had a dream me and Alina were Ron and Hermione, teaching Harry - who was actually Peter, how to dance, so he could infiltrate Voldemort's castle. Peter makes a very amusing dancing Harry.
And now, now, I have to go to bed. The only problem is I have nothing to go with - I finished my book D: I also feel like I've watched everything we have, and I can't just go to bed and sleep. That's ridiculous!
So today I flew away again out of a city still covered in snow. Snow right down to the beaches! Snow in the gravelly bits between branches of the Waimak! Snow everywhere!
It was very pretty. Then we hit some turbulence and I grabbed onto the man beside me. It was pretty bad. The turbulence, not the man. Although I think I crossed a line when I accidentally (honest) dropped a plane lolly into his crotch.
He picked it out and handed it to me. I took it. I haven't eaten it.
In other news (this is me today in the present times) I had another encounter with a big bearded man. This time I was shelving in the children's section, piles half sorted on the trolley, when he popped up out of nowhere and picked up a book on energy.
"What's this?" he says. There's a tinge of the ginge in his beard.
"It's a book explaining energy to kids," I say, reading off the cover "Explaining energy for kids!"
"That's good, that's good. My daughter started taking an interest in science when she was nine and now she has a doctorate in bio-chemisty."
"Good for her," I say, trying to sort through my books so I can shelve this trolley before closing. It's about ten minutes till we do close and the message about it has just sounded over the intercom. But people can't take hints.
"Another boy I knew was interested in science when he was a kid and now he runs the Singapore Science Corporation."
I nod. Sort the 398.2 from the 398.8s.
Somehow (he's mumbling so I don't follow completely) he starts talking about teaching kids bomb making because then they'll know how to do it properly. Something about casing and fuses and why gunmetal was better than regular metal and the difference between his grandfather's explosives recipe and the recipes of today (making this the weirdest "In my day" speech I have ever heard)
"If a defensive grenade went off at the other end of the library our ears would be ringing!" he exclaims.
I didn't even know there was such a thing as a 'defensive' grenade. Now I do.
Seriously I did not know how to make him stop. I couldn't get a word in edgewise, he just kept going. I think he did tell me how to make a bomb, but I didn't take it in. In any case, when he left, he nodded at me conspiratorialy, like we'd been sharing valuable info.
The general public are strange.
And I don't mind people coming up to me to ask questions. I like that because then I get to track down an answer and it feels like I've won at a quiz and also because I'm paid to do it. But to talk to me about bombs? Or ramble on about anything non-work related for ages, when we're closing, when I'm obviously busy, and when you're an old man and I'm a young woman.
Because your right to talk to me about what is on your mind does not override my right to be allowed to get on with my job.
And your right to approach me at sunset at a bus stop in a fairly deserted industrial area does not override my right to be left alone to text my friends and listen to my iPod and to feel safe.
And your right to exclaim "I'd hit that" as I walk down the aisle of a bus past you does not override my right not to have my body commented upon, you vodka-reeking, alarming looking man.
It seems like over the last couple of weeks I keep having it pointed out that I'm a woman and it's my place to stand there and listen to these men or not say anything.
And yeah I could have said something all of those times, technically. But the first time - I was at work and you don't be rude to customers. There's protocol and stuff if they're threatening or offensive but he wasn't really and we were five minutes from closing.
The second time was the guy in Palmerston North. He was taller than me. The only people nearby were in cars. Unfamiliar city. The only building I knew, the library, was half a block away and locked already. It was safer to be polite and buy time till the bus came. I didn't know if he was going to turn out to be a psycho.
And the third guy, the drunk one on the bus - do you want to start a confrontation with a big drunk guy on a bus?
So yeah, just... sometimes I wish people would leave me alone.
BUT on a lighter note, I had a birthday! I went out with the fam and the bro-SO and the flatmates to Filedelfios on Sunday and we ate pizza with bananas on it and I had a mango daquari and totally snuck in and paid before Dad could "You are just like your grandfather" he said, which made me so happy. It was kind of weird not getting a phone call from Granddad this year, I mean, I know it's been a few years but still...
Cath and Jen called and we plotted the weekend and kidnappings and pies. It'll be grand.
Then Monday which was my actual birthday I had to go to a work meeting. I'd been gearing myself up to talk about PN and the changes we could make to our library and to voice some ideas before all the decisions were made for us - and our team leader was still on holiday! After giving every impression that she would be there and also promising me cake. But Kathy bought truffles so all was not wasted.
Afterward me and Leah and Lara and Ness went to DREXELS for lunch and it was SO GOOD. Oh french toast you can have me. So delicious. I said "toptop" to the waitress and even now I don't know what I meant.
There was unlimited coffee. Then I bought GREEN SHEETS for $35 and MACADAMIA body butter and tickets to Captain America. And I have no shame in admitting that my sheets STILL excite me. They are SO GREEN. Ninja turtle green. They will go/clash BEAUTIFULLY with my otherwise purple bed.
For dinner we had brinner, the tradition LFoD fry up. Over the top having brunch AND brinner in the same day, you ask? Never, says I!
I went over to Ma and Pa's to have some tea after dinner and do some relationship counselling. It is a trying time in every marriage: packing for oversees.
Especially when your mother wants to take five pairs of shoes for eleven days and is trying to narrow it down to four, and your father wants to take photos of the cat sitting in the suitcase. I also succefully solved the "should I take the bigger case? Oh I probably don't need it. But I think I might need the bigger case, Mike? What do you think?" dilemma by pointing out that the bigger case has wheels too and she had eleven days to shop in Kuala Lumpar and fill up any space she couldn't fill up now.
Dad looked at me darkly. "You encourage her."
"You're both as bad as each other!" Mum said, still a bit annoyed about us putting Simba in the suitcase for a photoshoot instead of ironing.
When Mum started noisily brushing cave dirt off one of Dad's backpacks I thought it was time to intervene properly and quickly made some tea.
They gave me 3/4 of a pumpkin for my troubles, and a parsnip. I almost got a bag of old brussel sprouts too ("I'm sure there's some green in them somewhere, if you peel off the outer leaves") but said I thought I probably wouldn't use them...
I went home and watched Womb with Leah. It's a screwed up movie about a woman who gives birth to the clone of her dead lover. I loved it.
That night I had a dream me and Alina were Ron and Hermione, teaching Harry - who was actually Peter, how to dance, so he could infiltrate Voldemort's castle. Peter makes a very amusing dancing Harry.
And now, now, I have to go to bed. The only problem is I have nothing to go with - I finished my book D: I also feel like I've watched everything we have, and I can't just go to bed and sleep. That's ridiculous!