Bit of Everything
1
There is a smokey haze here. Last time that happened was during the Canberra bushfires a few years ago, and I remember being amazed then at how big the fires must have been for the smoke to travel 350kms. We're around seven hundred Ks from where the fires are now, and the smoke is so thick you can't even see the back paddock properly and the sky is completely white. I can't even imagine how bad it must be this time.
It's strange, hearing about a disaster happening far off and then waking to see the evidence all around you. Normally, this area seems completely immune to the rest of the world.
2
Mum and I went flat hunting over the weekend. Mostly in Glebe as there was nothing really suitable in Newtown, unfortunately.
We had a really nice time together, we always do on our Sydney trips. Saw a movie, went out to tea both nights, made elaborate plans trying to figure out how we could be at three flat inspections at once. Rushed about and flagged taxis and bitched about one of the agents. Wandered about Glebe on Friday night trying to find all the flats we were planning to see properly the next day, ended up at Blackwattle Bay looking over the water at eleven o'clock at night - people were out walking their dogs and babies even then. I was thwarted twice in my pursuit for a nice cold apple juice after flat hunting, and Mum was driven to sarcasm while trying to deal with the annoying agent. We hobbled around together with sore feet the next day when a mix up over movies (we sat in the cinema for half an hour, thinking our movie was late because of a blackout that had interrupted the ending of the film before it, before we realised we had been sold the wrong tickets and our movie had started twenty minutes ago) meant we had to wander around King Street. It was a nice trip.
On the flat search, I've been offered one fairly nice but very small place already, which is the backup in case we miss out on the absolutely amazing two story, two or three bedroom, old fashioned, well-lit, near the Point, catacomb-y and enormous flat above a shop that I really really want. The waiting to hear is going to kill me.
3
Speaking of killing me, worst air-sickness ever on Friday. Oh god, never going near a plane without medication during a heatwave again. Why oh why can't I be one of those lucky bastards who gets to spew when they feel crook? The world is a much better place after a good vomit.
For the way back we bought some medicated travel sickness stuff, which I've not had for a very long time, preferring instead to take ginger pills (despite the taste of ginger making me want to spew just as much and the sickness) so I could stay awake.
Dude. I had forgotten what it was like to be that stoned.
4
I have like a dozen things I want finish writing and post.
5
Was meant to ring Uni today. Bugger. Must do that tomorrow.
Which reminds me - rant time:
Why the hell is it so hard to get on to the Arts department? You ring up, only for an insanely slow-talking recording to tell you you have been placed in a queue, and that your call will be answered by the next available operator, and that you can email the department (really? I never would have guessed! What with the email address being right there on the webpage where I got the phone number from!) on an address read out at a speed that suggests someone thinks the callers must be a new breed of primitive glacier people.
Then, recording asks you to press one if you're an undergrad. When you do, you are warned that you may be placed in a queue. OH REALLY? WASN'T I ALREADY IN A QUEUE? OH YES, TELL ME THE EMAIL ADDRESS AGAIN, THIS TIME SPELLING OUT THE WORD ARTS, THAT'LL HELP.
So you sit there, simmering and impatient, waiting for the chance to actually talk to someone, and, just before the recording finally ends and you're going to be allowed to wait to the sound of hideous but infinitely preferable waiting music or ringing, it tells you to please have your student card ready.
Now, I know my details, so don't need my card, but as a matter of principle I do feel obligated to inquire as to why THIS COULDN'T HAVE BEEN MENTIONED EARLIER??
Then, if you're lucky, someone will pick up the phone and you can either ask your question or ask them to hang on a tick while you rush to your wallet to find your student card. This has not happened to me for a long time.
Instead, the phone rings twice, and horrible recording man comes back. He tells me once again that I have reached the faculty of arts, but that no one can answer at the moment. Would I please leave my name and number so they can call me back.
WHAT HAPPENED TO THE QUEUE? I WANTED TO WAIT IN THE QUEUE! IF I WAS IN A QUEUE THERE WAS A CHANCE, THERE WAS HOPE, THAT EVENTUALLY SOMEONE WOULD ANSWER THE FRIGGING PHONE. BUT NO, I HAVE TO LEAVE A MESSAGE, AND YOU NEVER BLOODY RING ME BACK DO YOU. OR, YOU DO, BUT IT'S ALWAYS WHEN I'M NOT NEAR THE PHONE. ALWAYS. YOU TOOL.
AND THEN THE WHOLE HIDEOUS CYCLE BEGINS AGAIN.
It is a busy time of year, I understand that. You know what might help? HIRE MORE STAFF, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD. You are always busy, and going there in person means waiting for like and hour, half the time just to get the cranky old lady who seems to loathe every student on principle and completely misunderstand what you're asking.
And I have to go through this every semester because my major is made up entirely of crosslisted units. IT SHOULD NOT BE THIS DIFFICULT! *sobs*
6
This post has a bit of a whiny, possibly self-centred tone because my back really hurts today. :(
And one of my wisdom teeth is really hurting.
And my knee hurts where it got all cut up after my motorbike gave up on me half way up the dam bank, rolled all the way back down, and then fell over on me.
Sympathy is encouraged and will be hoarded away gratefully so that I can look at it lovingly as I wallow in self pity.
7
Dexter's back on tonight! And GNW! And Media watch! And there's a Stephen Fry thing about his bipolar disorder! And the second series of Underbelly, which I never really cared about before but this one is set in the seventies and involves Matthew Newton! Matthew Newton! And it's South Park night!
And they're all on at the exact same time!
Welcome back, ratings season?
There is a smokey haze here. Last time that happened was during the Canberra bushfires a few years ago, and I remember being amazed then at how big the fires must have been for the smoke to travel 350kms. We're around seven hundred Ks from where the fires are now, and the smoke is so thick you can't even see the back paddock properly and the sky is completely white. I can't even imagine how bad it must be this time.
It's strange, hearing about a disaster happening far off and then waking to see the evidence all around you. Normally, this area seems completely immune to the rest of the world.
2
Mum and I went flat hunting over the weekend. Mostly in Glebe as there was nothing really suitable in Newtown, unfortunately.
We had a really nice time together, we always do on our Sydney trips. Saw a movie, went out to tea both nights, made elaborate plans trying to figure out how we could be at three flat inspections at once. Rushed about and flagged taxis and bitched about one of the agents. Wandered about Glebe on Friday night trying to find all the flats we were planning to see properly the next day, ended up at Blackwattle Bay looking over the water at eleven o'clock at night - people were out walking their dogs and babies even then. I was thwarted twice in my pursuit for a nice cold apple juice after flat hunting, and Mum was driven to sarcasm while trying to deal with the annoying agent. We hobbled around together with sore feet the next day when a mix up over movies (we sat in the cinema for half an hour, thinking our movie was late because of a blackout that had interrupted the ending of the film before it, before we realised we had been sold the wrong tickets and our movie had started twenty minutes ago) meant we had to wander around King Street. It was a nice trip.
On the flat search, I've been offered one fairly nice but very small place already, which is the backup in case we miss out on the absolutely amazing two story, two or three bedroom, old fashioned, well-lit, near the Point, catacomb-y and enormous flat above a shop that I really really want. The waiting to hear is going to kill me.
3
Speaking of killing me, worst air-sickness ever on Friday. Oh god, never going near a plane without medication during a heatwave again. Why oh why can't I be one of those lucky bastards who gets to spew when they feel crook? The world is a much better place after a good vomit.
For the way back we bought some medicated travel sickness stuff, which I've not had for a very long time, preferring instead to take ginger pills (despite the taste of ginger making me want to spew just as much and the sickness) so I could stay awake.
Dude. I had forgotten what it was like to be that stoned.
4
I have like a dozen things I want finish writing and post.
5
Was meant to ring Uni today. Bugger. Must do that tomorrow.
Which reminds me - rant time:
Why the hell is it so hard to get on to the Arts department? You ring up, only for an insanely slow-talking recording to tell you you have been placed in a queue, and that your call will be answered by the next available operator, and that you can email the department (really? I never would have guessed! What with the email address being right there on the webpage where I got the phone number from!) on an address read out at a speed that suggests someone thinks the callers must be a new breed of primitive glacier people.
Then, recording asks you to press one if you're an undergrad. When you do, you are warned that you may be placed in a queue. OH REALLY? WASN'T I ALREADY IN A QUEUE? OH YES, TELL ME THE EMAIL ADDRESS AGAIN, THIS TIME SPELLING OUT THE WORD ARTS, THAT'LL HELP.
So you sit there, simmering and impatient, waiting for the chance to actually talk to someone, and, just before the recording finally ends and you're going to be allowed to wait to the sound of hideous but infinitely preferable waiting music or ringing, it tells you to please have your student card ready.
Now, I know my details, so don't need my card, but as a matter of principle I do feel obligated to inquire as to why THIS COULDN'T HAVE BEEN MENTIONED EARLIER??
Then, if you're lucky, someone will pick up the phone and you can either ask your question or ask them to hang on a tick while you rush to your wallet to find your student card. This has not happened to me for a long time.
Instead, the phone rings twice, and horrible recording man comes back. He tells me once again that I have reached the faculty of arts, but that no one can answer at the moment. Would I please leave my name and number so they can call me back.
WHAT HAPPENED TO THE QUEUE? I WANTED TO WAIT IN THE QUEUE! IF I WAS IN A QUEUE THERE WAS A CHANCE, THERE WAS HOPE, THAT EVENTUALLY SOMEONE WOULD ANSWER THE FRIGGING PHONE. BUT NO, I HAVE TO LEAVE A MESSAGE, AND YOU NEVER BLOODY RING ME BACK DO YOU. OR, YOU DO, BUT IT'S ALWAYS WHEN I'M NOT NEAR THE PHONE. ALWAYS. YOU TOOL.
AND THEN THE WHOLE HIDEOUS CYCLE BEGINS AGAIN.
It is a busy time of year, I understand that. You know what might help? HIRE MORE STAFF, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD. You are always busy, and going there in person means waiting for like and hour, half the time just to get the cranky old lady who seems to loathe every student on principle and completely misunderstand what you're asking.
And I have to go through this every semester because my major is made up entirely of crosslisted units. IT SHOULD NOT BE THIS DIFFICULT! *sobs*
6
This post has a bit of a whiny, possibly self-centred tone because my back really hurts today. :(
And one of my wisdom teeth is really hurting.
And my knee hurts where it got all cut up after my motorbike gave up on me half way up the dam bank, rolled all the way back down, and then fell over on me.
Sympathy is encouraged and will be hoarded away gratefully so that I can look at it lovingly as I wallow in self pity.
7
Dexter's back on tonight! And GNW! And Media watch! And there's a Stephen Fry thing about his bipolar disorder! And the second series of Underbelly, which I never really cared about before but this one is set in the seventies and involves Matthew Newton! Matthew Newton! And it's South Park night!
And they're all on at the exact same time!
Welcome back, ratings season?