Let’s Get Into It

We were up early, 6.40am, I’m not exactly sure why. It was a crisp, cool morning. Balloons floated overhead as I smoked my first cigarette. Stupid me, still haven’t given up, I plan to give up tonight. The distraction from the real work by the artificial world may just be my window to give up. If I am going to be feeling an altered state anyway, then I may not notice that other altered state of nicotine withdrawal. Giving up is so ridiculous now, as I know it only really takes me twenty four hours now a days, maybe even only a morning. It is just that initial wrench that is hard to deal with.

Sam left at 7.25am.

It was a day of enormous pressure to get everything done. Kerin said she hated working under that pressure as she had no time to check anything. That is one of the problems that they have normally, they don’t really check everything. Kirin has taught Kerin that checking isn’t needed, if not directly, by example. I tried to tell Kerin check twice, consider it done once, but I am pretty sure she didn’t really take it in. She is now too stressed out to really listen. 

The day dragged. Hour by hour. The afternoon was slow. I had my usual response thought to the hours dragging, “and soon it will be Sunday, I thought, and it will all be over.” I’m not sure if I find that comforting, or simply necessary to the time dragging. 

Kirin left at 4pm. Kerin said not long after that I might as well go. I didn’t want to race out the door the moment it was suggested to me,  (not really sure why now? Perhaps it some sort of weird off shoot of manners? Nyr? Shrug?) so I waited for her to say it a second time. Then I waited a few moments longer and then said,

“If there is nothing I can do?” 

Then I left. Also, not exactly sure why, as I’m not answerable to Kerin. 

I got home at 4.15pm. I put washing on straight away. I figured that Sam wouldn’t be home until 5pm. He was meeting our mate Charlie at 4.30pm. Charlie would only have to be fifteen minutes late, not so unimaginable trying to leave work early. I may even have time for the whole load to finish, then I wouldn’t have to worry about it again. It’s a distraction to take my mind off the time going slow. I also wondered if I wanted to possibly wear my new black work shirt on Tuesday to Jeff’s bbq, so I really wanted that washed more than getting the washing over and done with.

I got the towels and carried them up to the bedroom. I covered the bed in one of the flat sheets we never use. I rapped the remote controls in Glad Wrap.

Sam got home at 4.45pm with the terabyte of new gay porn from our mate Charlie.

Got to go, the fun is starting. Its 4.55pm.

Not long after, we had our first pipes. The buzz of it sparkling in the glass pipe. The crystal smoke in my lungs. Oh the taste, that ‘dry ice’ of smoke sucked down. Lighting it again. Lighting it again. Lighting it again. I like it.

I ran downstairs and hung out the wet washing. All that nervous energy pumping through my veins, and now there was something else. 

The new hard drive didn’t look like it was going to run, but Sam seemed to get it working in no time.

I could feel the tingle almost straight away, which was a good sign, after the shit we’d had the last few times. I think we had three pipes to start with.

Then it went kind of whoosh and away we went.

I remember it being 10pm. I remember it being light outside again. I remember the morning rolling in.

The drugs were good, they worked and I lost track of the world around me. I didn’t quite achieve that filthy, out of it mind experience, but I got half way there. I got glimpses of it. 

One More Sleep

A seemingly nice, older female let me up this morning at work, I’d never seen her before. She introduced herself as Tina and told me what she did, after she asked me what I did. She is the policy writer, or something like that. (I'd never seen her before)

During the morning, I told Sam I was getting excited about tomorrow night. I was getting excited, that familiar buzz in my stomach at the feeling I was going to soon feel. He told me not to get too excited just yet, as the deal hadn’t come through yet.

Sometime around lunch time he text me, The Eagle Has Landed.

At lunch time, Sam told me that our mate Charlie had 3 terabyte of porn, guaranteed to make us cum in minutes. Sam told me amused. I thought, that isn’t exactly the goal in a twenty four hour ice induced masturbation session.

We worked away all day, as our deadline end of month bullshit is now tomorrow instead of next Tuesday, due to the public holiday Cup Day. I’m nervous about making mistakes, after the bad rap that the previous contractors have got. The one mistake both of my predecessors have made, I nearly made myself. I can see why they made it, the paperwork we have to work from is in very small print and really unclear. I checked all of mine and then I checked them again. 

Kirin and Kerin don’t really check stuff very thoroughly, which is another problem. Everyone makes mistake, I make mistakes and I have to check everything I do to ensure they don’t happen, not something Kirin or Kerin really do.

I hope I have got it all right. Doing everything once is the best way to work.

I went straight after work and did TattsLotto for Thursday, Saturday and Tuesday, might as well get it out of the way for an out of it weekend session.

When Sam came home, we headed off to Manhaus to get requisites  lube, amyl, and then to Woolies to get more supplies, energy drinks, snacks. It was hot in the afternoon as we headed home with supplies.

We ate fried rice for dinner.

I stayed up and watched Big brother. Sam went to bed. I went to be just after 11pm.

Winter, Spring, Summer, or, um, er, Autumn

I goggled, er, no, although I do like the image (goggling Adam), um, googled Adam’s house in Mitcham (the boy whose only discernible skill is typing fast on a big calculator) and was pleasantly surprised at how pretty it was. You know, being in Mitcham I was expecting a brown brick veneer, but it was a very pretty Californian bungalow. Although, I was a little surprised, in one sense, as it looked exactly the same type of house Adam grew up in Balwyn, which he always hated, was kind of (I want to say ashamed, but that is probably a little strong) ashamed of it, in a display of, what could only be called, reverse snobbery.

Why was I googling his house? Yes, why indeed. Oh you know, I am as much of a sticky beak as the next person, but mostly it was because Rachel told me she had been invited to a BBQ at Adam’s house. 

My initial reaction was, Adam always messages me on my birthday, without fail, but never invites me to anything like a BBQ at his house, not that I am dying to go, you understand. But, what is the point of the birthday text without fail every year, if there is nothing else? That is what I thought. What is it that he is hanging on to? I mean, there is nothing else, not since our spectacular financial falling when we were in our twenties? What kind of friendship does he think we have? We don’t have a friendship. I tried not responding to his birthday text messages there for a while? I stopped sending him a (contractually obligational on him messaging me, if you like)  birthday text message for a few years, but he still text me on my birthday without fail, even if more recently, I have sent him birthday messages on his birthday, again, with the thought that it costs me nothing to be nice. But, really, what is the fucken point? 

I text Rachel and told her I thought it was quite a pretty house. She misunderstood me, she thought I was being sarcastic, and she told me to be nice.

I ate lasagne for lunch. Kirin asked what I had for lunch. When I told her, she asked if I cooked it. When I said yes, she asked if I cooked for one.

“No, I live with my partner,” I replied.

“Oh”, Kirin and Kerin both said.

“Who is a better cook,” asked Kerin.

“My partner,” I said.

It was the first time I told them I had a partner. 

When they asked me what he did, I told them he was a computer programmer.

I don’t try to hide it, or sugar coat it, I just answer questions about my relationship status and sexual orientation (oh, I know, it makes it sound like I am talking about a house extension) with straight answers. You know, for want of a better expression, without shame or hesitation, like it is just the most natural thing in life, no matter to whom I am talking. I have never, knowingly, had a problem with it. 

I had a haircut after work. It was quite sunny as I rushed home up my street. I brought in the bins, changed my clothes and rushed down to Smith Street. Fat Boy said there was no rush as closing time was 6pm. I’m pretty sure he has a ‘thing’ for me. I have never had a hairdresser be so attentive in and out of the chair. I have never had a hairdresser caress me like he does with his stubby fingers. I’ve never had one rub up against me in quite the gentle, sensuous way that he does. I kind of like it, nose twitch, the big solid Turkish boof that he is. 

I wanted to get my hair cut for next Tuesday’s BBQ at Jeff’s place. It was looking messy and by next Tuesday it would be worse. That way I could also get five days’ worth of, you know, settling growth. Not that I have any desires on Jeff – well, not many, nose twitch – but I still want to look good for him, so he can ponder what he is missing out on? (Ha ha, probably only in my mind, he probably won’t even notice, you know what guys are like?) 

We ate stir fried veggies with the leftover roast chicken and the remains of the mince left over from the lasagne and tacos.

It was a lovely evening.

Sam stayed up and watched Big Brother with me again. Nice. I held his hand. Well? Nose twitch. That is the feeling sitting up with Sam engenders.

He went to bed just before 11pm.

I went outside and had a cigarette and watered a garden. A big bird flew silently onto one of the branches of the gum tree and appeared to watch me in the dark. Then it flew off just as silently as it came. Birds, at night, I thought? Is that a thing? I didn’t think it was. Am I ignorant of bird’s nocturnal habits, I thought, as I blew cigarette smoke into the still night air.

Waiting, Waiting, Waiting

I got to work early this morning. Sam had to get to work early for an 8.30am meeting. I had to post some paperwork back to the solicitor for mum’s stuff, so I headed down to Smith Street. From there I walked up Smith Street to Victoria Parade and was sitting on my step outside the office at 8.09am.

I waited for cutie pants Ian to turn up, but he didn’t. I called Kirin, because she is always in before now, but she didn’t answer. She didn’t answer the second time. She didn’t answer the third time. Then my parent’s gorgeous good friend Barbara’s uncanny look alike turned up and let me up to the 6th floor,  because, I still don’t have a pass to get into the building, thank you very much. Neither Kirin or Kerin was there. They didn’t turn up for some time later.

I wondered if they’d both called in sick not realising the other one did too. I wondered when I went out for another fag once the front door was unlocked at 8.30am. It’s possible. I wondered if they’d had two fatal accidents, the two of them on the road somewhere. Not sure where Kerin comes from, but Kirin comes from a house literally adjoining the Mulgrave Freeway at Dandy. Maybe she went under the back of a stationary truck on the freeway, as she was distracted lighting her morning fag? Maybe, Kerin dissolved into a pool of her own low self confidence like the tigers out of Little Black Sambo? Well, she spins in circles some days. Most days. Oh, I chuckled away on my step, sitting there in the morning sunshine. Not that I want anything to happen to either of them, because I don’t. It’s just a way of me entertaining myself to pass the time. Make up stories to see the morning disappear. If that had happened, you know crash & splat, how long would it take for someone from both parties to call? Shrug.

I got on with work, I didn’t read the news online, or anything like that. Nyr. Just got to it.

Eventually, they both turned up. Kirin claimed bad traffic on the Monash. Kerin mumbled something, or other, but since she got in before Kirin I didn’t really press her for a reason beyond her initial fub. She was kind of surprised, and I reckon, genuinely pleased that Kirin wasn’t in. 

It was cold and hot again today.

Work was standard issue, the stuff that I am used to doing wherever I work. Same shit, different office. Wherever I go, I seem to be liked. They seem to believe that I know what I am doing. I haven’t been found out yet. Ha ha.

I went out during the morning to have two cigarettes, one time I masked it with the purchase of a lemon muffin. Do you think they realise? Do you think manager Kirin? I don’t think it matters if newbie Kerin noticed.

I’ve got to stop smoking.

I was at home by 16.30.

Sam and I and Buddy walked to the supermarket. We saw the real estate agent out the front of my old neighbour Gordon’s house, a few doors away, after his rental open house. He says they are asking $750 a week rent. He says they have spent 200K renovating Gordon’s house. Buddy and I walked to the vet to get pooh bags. Buddy was very uncooperative, and we had problems half way. The vet nurses were very happy to see Buddy, when we eventually got there. One of the vet nurses has a Frenchie.

Sam told me on the way to the shops that he has organised stuff for the long weekend, 3 points for $75 a point. 

Goodo, I think. Bring it on. (my boyfriend the arranger)

We ate roast chicken for dinner. It was kind of cold. The evening, not the chicken. And roast potatoes, of course. Roast chicken and roast potatoes is a perfect mix. 

Sam sat up until 11pm watching Big Brother with me, not going to bed until Marina’s eviction happened. I told him he was hooked. He said it was rubbish as he disappeared into the darkness of the rest of the house heading to bed.

Lot's of Rain

There was a huge storm over night. I slept through all of it. 

Sam eventually woke me and said, “There is a thunder storm.”

I said, “Melbourne.” I thought I was being kind of funny in my half awake state. 

“Melbourne what?” said Sam.

“Melbourne Storm,” I said.

Apparently, Sam wasn’t up for the rugby refence, I could see in the blank face that met my joke.

Apparently, the lighting was fierce, lighting up the room, and the thunder was loud.

Sam said he was going to get Buddy. That was the only thing I remembered.

I remember I replied, “If you want to.”

So, Buddy slept with us from about 2am. It’s always lovely when Bud sleeps with us, that is if you don’t try and move him in the night, as he will growl at you in the dark for being moved, which is always disconcerting.

It was pouring with rain at 7am. It was pelting down.

I had trouble crossing Victoria Parade as it was a ten foot river (wide, not deep, you understand) running down the road down the hill to Abbottsford. I had no choice but to tip toe through the running water wetting my shoes and socks. It was a little disconcerting as the road was so universally covered with water that you couldn’t really see it until you stepped into it and it dammed up around your shoes. Great way to start a Monday, yeah, sure.

I had waited until 8.30am to head to the office so I wouldn’t be standing out in the rain waiting for someone to let me in.

I wasn’t anticipating sitting there with Kerin peeling my shoes and socks off because they were wet. I never anticipated taking any of my clothes off in front of Kirin and Kerin, weirdly, that is how it made me feel, kind of exposed.

Kirin said there was a pair of socks in the lost and found, not really sure why she knew that, so I went and fished them out and put them on. They were black and it was at least less noticeable than bare feet. 

Kerin told me she thought I had nice feet, which I wasn’t expecting either. I’m not sure about the beauty of feet exactly, and it made me think of all those boys with foot fetishes. Some boys really get off on them, the messages I have received about showing my feet. Sheesh! It's like a secret I haven't been let in on.

It rained, and the sun shone, and it rained, and the sun shone. It was hot when the sun was out and it was cold when it rained. It was crazy kind of weather.

I left at 4.30pm, fortunately, we were in non rain cycle, and as I had so little distance to go, I made it home without getting wet. My shoes had more, or less, dried out by then. There was very little squelching. 

We ate tacos for dinner. The fatty mince we bought from the Preston Market proved to be exactly that. After we cooked it up for the tacos, I poured the excess oil off it into the dirty lasagne dish, and a huge pool of orange fat joined the pool of solidified orange fat already in the lasagne dish from the lasagne.

I was drifting off to sleep on the couch as we watched The Big Bang Theory so, of course, Sam declared it was time to head to bed to watch Q&A in bed.

I messaged Jeff to say that we were 90% sure that we’d go to his BBQ on Cup Day. Weirdly, I pictured him in a Melbourne Storm outfit, as I text him. His muscular legs and his beefy arse in those dark blue shorts cooking sausages in his back yard. My mind wanders back to the times I’d 'cooked his sausage.' I shake my head at the thought. 

I laughed to myself about that time after Mardi Gras, or Sleaze, at Tom’s place in Darlinghurst when I found myself alone in the lounge room tripping with the rugby playing and I was thinking these men are absolute gods. OMG! Why have I never noticed before! Ha ha, good times.

Antony Comes To Visit

I was awake at 7.30am. It was a cool morning, overcast and still. Buddy was tucked away at the back of his kennel and didn’t stir a muscle when I called his name.

I’m trying to quit the fags this morning, as I have been trying to do every morning since the week of pot a few weeks ago. I’ve got to try and take it seriously, I’ve got to try and pull it off, as it is not making me feel good, it is only making me feel bad and what is the sense of paying twenty dollars a day to make myself feel crap and to give myself a head ache.

The birds call outside.

I make myself coffee. I clean up the kitchen and the touch of milk flows into my cup. I get distracted as I put the plates in the dishwasher and I get a latte instead of a macchiato. It tastes like milk and not coffee when I sip it, so I add another shot. Then the water needs filling as do the beans and the whole coffee process seems interminable.

I decide to massage David.

I just had a thought, is it toilet rolls for tampons when you are face down under the blue blanket barking like a baby harp seal about to be clubbed to death.

Some sort of baby pacifier, when baby isn’t feeling altogether too chipper

I’m sure you’d have strange rituals that you do in private that none of us know about. 

David:

You are too funny. Rituals? Wouldn’t you like to know.

I chatted to Loli on Facebook. She posted a picture of iced buns. No, not the eighteen year old twink with (cum) glazed butt cheeks, but the baked goods type with white icing with walnuts.

Then (my long estranged mate) Esther messaged me

good morning Chriso Greece has a new small party called river the head of the party was in kalamata I went to hear what he had to say Im on the front page of all the kalamata newspapers then in the afternoon i went to an event on Cuba an art gallery exhibition and an event about the beginning of cinema. how was your Saturday – Esther

I messaged Esther

I washed my dog's paws with medicated shampoo, as he gets growths between his toes. He's good though, very laid back and he doesn't complain. I ate shanghai noodles and beef skewers in Thornbury and then shopped at the Preston Market for meat fruit and veg followed by a quiet night at home – Christian

(Oh, er, when I read that back that is the most boring message, isn’t it. I’d not be surprised if she’d glazed over before she got to the end of it) 

I wonder if I bore people to death and I just don’t know it? That’s what comes to mind when I read that back. I mean, how do you know? It’s not as if people are really going to tell you, now is it? 

Sometime around 10.30am, I remembered that Antony was coming over. Stupid me when I was awake so early. I was making a chocolate cake that had to be iced, so it had to be made so it could cool and get iced. So, it was off to the supermarket.

Anyway, it was good that I remembered when I did. So, I put some music on and got cooking. A bit tricky with lasagne and cake to cook at the same time.

I made the chocolate cake and the lasagne.

Antony arrived after 3.30pm. Actually, a bit late for him, he’s normally bang on. He arrived at the door and wanted to park out the back, of course. Of course? I’m not sure why this annoys me so much? How many people have to provide parking to people when they come to visit? I ask you? Okay, I know it is difficult to park in Fitzroy, but, how come, there are certain people who never have trouble and never complain, and then there is the same people over and over again who can never find a car park? To be fair, Antony isn’t usually one of them.

Antony arrived with a cool bag of booze, of course he did. 

I was just icing the cake, so we chatted while I did that.

We smoked up a pot storm, of course, between the lasagne and chocolate cake courses. 

We laughed, of course. Antony and I always laugh. We have the same sense of humour, black as they come. We laugh at the misfortune of others, naturally. We laugh at the same stupid things. I don’t think anyone gets me so instantly as Antony does.

Antony is the greatest source of gossip that I know. He always knows what’s going on in our friendship circle. I’m still not exactly sure how he knows the stuff he knows.

“How do you know all this?” I ask.

“I have my sources,” he always replies rather secretly. 

By the end of the day, Antony is chain smoking cigarettes and drinking never ending cups of tea. 

Antony left after midnight. It was a calm clear cool night. I had to back his car out from the back of my place for him, as poor old nan can’t back a car now in her advanced years. I parked it in the street and he left not long after.

Bogong Moths

I was awake at 7.30am. It looked like it had snowed outside, such were the seeds dropping from the gum tree. They were covering everything.

Buddy was snuggled down at the back of his kennel, just big brown eyes looking back at me, with the attitude that he wasn’t moving for anyone.

I was cold sitting in the lounge room in my t-shirt.

I wanted to get stuck right into my journal, but I needed a huge shit and I had to tear myself away from my computer for that.

I messaged David

I think you will have to admit to your excessive toilet paper usage if you get a house mate – Christian

How very dare you!!!!!! – David

A roll a day is hard for anyone to understand – Christian

I cannot believe you even thought that or remembered!! How very dare you !!! – David

We washed Buddy’s paws with the medicated shampoo because of the growths between his paws. He is a good by is Buddy. He walks into the bathroom himself, he even walks into the shower himself. Sam scrubs each paw with the medicated shampoo. Buddy just stands there with a sad bulldoggie look on his face. Then we have to wait 10 minutes before we rinse his paws off again. He stood there patiently.

We went to High Street and bought Buddy’s chow and red meat. The cute pet shop boy was there, looking bigger and more buff than ever before. I thought he was getting fat, but when he turned his back on us at the cash register his shoulders were wide and his torso was slim. He really is so lovely. He smiles when he sees us and he smiles freely and chats easily. He joked about working hard and losing his customer. He has the cutest smile.

We drove to the Preston Market to shop. We misjudged just slightly and parked quite a few blocks away. Oops. It can be so frustrating to park at the actual market, by the time you wait and out smart and bluff and push in, it just seems easier to park a little way away and walk the last few hundred metres.

We ate at Noodle Kingdom. Shanghai noodles, beef skewers and a spring onion pancake. Some chick at the next table talked incessantly. She never really stopped. I rolled my eyes and said, “Oh great,” and Sam reprimanded me. He then spent most of the rest of the meal commenting on how loud and chatty she was.

We shopped at the big general produce shop. I bought a yellow 1955 Chevy Nomad, mothballs and a pond net for the fish.

We bought food at the market.

Brian (Sam’s ex) messaged and asked if we could pick up more of Sam’s stuff from his place, so we headed over there after shopping.

We got home by 4pm.

The sun shone brightly in the late afternoon, even if it wasn’t all that warm.

5:37:32 Christian: Is there a moth season? The back yard here is infested with moths? Why would that be? Any ideas?

5:42:06 Mark: Oh the whole seasonal thing is completely fucked up due to global warming, the unseasonably warm weather has them all emerging at the same time....everything is all ascew....

5:43:17 Mark: But it,s all a big lie according to our illustrious leader..

5:43:26 Christian: oh

5:43:52 Christian: They are every where. When I water the garden they almost swarm at me

5:46:21 Mark: Poor confused lil things....have pity chriso, they are the harbingers of things to come, fire, pestilence, and floods.....we are doomed...

5:47:48 Christian: I don't hurt them. I'm not concerned about them. I just don't think I have ever seen them in such numbers before.

5:59:55 Mark: BUt here....this might be edifying for chriso...

FLAPPITY flappity flappity flappity flap. Eeeeeek!

That's a pretty accurate summary of the scene in our office this week, as certain staff members react a little hysterically to the invasion of moths.

If you're not on the east coast of Australia and are missing all the fun, there is currently a bit of a plague of moths. Big moths. Big flappy Bogong moths which annoy the hell out of some people but which are in fact some of the gutsiest little creatures on the face of the earth.

We needed to know more so we looked up Mothbusters in the White Pages. Unfortunately, there is no such organisation, so instead we called the CSIRO, and in rather urgent tones demanded to speak to their top moth operative.

Immediately we were patched through to senior moth guy Ted Edwards. Ted co-wrote A Guide to Australian Moths. Yes, that's a real book. On this subject, he is unflappable.

Ted told us that Bogong moths make an epic journey, flying more than 1000km from Queensland and northern NSW to flee the worst of the summer heat and dance their mothy dance underneath the cool granite boulders atop the highest peaks of the NSW Snowy Mountains. Like outlaws, they travel at night, navigating by means which nobody understands. Much remains mysterious about moths even to mothmeisters like Ted. For example, you'd think science would have answered years ago why moths love lights. But no, nobody knows.

What we do know is that lights interrupt the navigation of Bogongs. Plays havoc with their migration. But the biggest problem for these adorable furry, brown guys with their tiny 4cm wingspan is strong westerly winds like we've had on the east coast this week.

The westerlies blow Bogongs off course, and that's when they end up in your lift wells and on your window panes and generally just flappity-flapping around in the bowl of Weet-Bix you're trying to eat at work.

In the past, the Bogongs have come so thick and fast that they've been a major nuisance. When the new Parliament House opened in 1988, the building was besieged. The Bogongs came so thick and fast, the place stank for weeks and mesh had to be installed over the air-conditioning vents.

But sometimes, moths are man's best friend. Aborigines used to gather them from large boulders in the Snowies in summer and would make one of two recipes. Either they roasted their wings and legs off and ate them straight, or they squooshed them together and made moth cakes.

Loads of animals in the Snowy Mountains also depend on the moths. Ravens and foxes love them and the rare mountain pygmy possum can't get enough of them.

6:00:34 Christian: Oh, so there really is a plague of moths

6:00:51 Mark: Seems so...

6:01:40 Christian: well, there you go

6:04:02 Christian: they are every where

6:04:20 Mark: Dinner.....

6:05:24 Christian: mmmmm

6:09:26 Mark sent a file to this group:

IMG_20141025_141053.jpg

6:09:32 Mark: Feeling a it blue today....

6:10:29 Christian: The photo was cancelled

6:10:37 Christian: send again

6:10:42 Mark: Really

6:12:09 Mark sent a file to this group:

Mark sent a photo of him and Luke, which seemed to have a heavy blue filter across it.

6:16:52 Mark: Missing Ronny baaad...he,s been out of contact for 3 days....no wifi in his parents town...

6:18:49 Mark: He,s such a little lovable, affectionate, joy in our lives, and it,s hard not having him around....

6:25:19 Christian: nice

6:25:43 Christian: why so blue?

6:28:22 Mark: Just miss him....and won,t see him for another month....makes me sad... ;(

6:32:01 Christian: why is the photo so blue

6:32:43 Mark: Because that is how I feel, so I maked it that way

We ate Japanese curry for dinner.

We watched Lois Theroux in a Nevada Brother. We watched some crap Aussie show called it’s a date with Shaun Micaleff and Rove McManus, we turned it off before the end. We watched Australian Story with Karise Eden.

We went to bed at 11.30pm.

Friday At The Salt mines

12:34am Mark: Having a lovely time with the peepull, the peepull....but getting bored, and wanna come home to my jardin and my veggies and the beach, and the clean air and trees....and my cweek....

12:36am Mark: And missing ronny.....

4:56pm Christian: It is 30 degrees here today and hot. Summer is here. I'm drinking irsed vater.

I waited for cute Ian, or the old chick to arrive to let me up the lift, but they hadn’t arrived by 8.30am, so I called Kirin and Kerin came down and got me with a take away coffee in her hand.

I saw cute Ian and the old chick arrive at 8.40am. (you know, it has crossed my mind. Yes mummy. Please mummy. Thank you mummy) Ian is tall and athletic and handsome and looks sexy in his suit, but on casual clothes Friday in his jeans he has an amazing arse. He has the perfect arse, I could barely stop looking at it all day.

Kirin asked me if I could stay longer than next week. She didn’t know how long, was I happy to stay on that basis.

“Sure, I am, that is fine with me.”

Friday afternoon, it is always good to get out of the salt mines, I don’t care who you are. 

As I left work it was very hot, 30 degrees. As I crossed Victoria Parade into George Street, there was a humungous woman dressed all in black, pants, shirt, jacket, standing sideways in the shadow of a light pole, or a tree, shading herself from the blazing sun. Now there is something you don’t see every day, I thought. She looked so ridiculous that I just had to say something.

“Hot, isn’t it.”

“Bloody hot,” she replied.

I came home and called Jack and told him about staying longer. He said if I wanted to it was fine.

Mark had messaged back from last night. I sent him a new message. And then he called. He is good, having the last work done on his teeth. He’s a bit bored, missing Ronny Sam and wanting to come home to his garden. They are considering leasing a boat down at Ha Long Bay.

Antony called me while I was talking to Mark.

We walked to the supermarket in the heat. Sam went shopping, as normal and Buddy and I went for a walk. Buddy, at one stage, lay down on the footpath rolling completely over onto his side panting, with two paws in the air in front of two people walking in our direction. They both looked alarmed and asked me if he was okay.

I called Antony back when we got home from the supermarket. He is coming over on Sunday. He will be requiring afternoon tea and dinner.

David has been calling me for the last few days while I am at work. I keep my phone on silent at work, and more often than not it is still in my bag still on silent when I get home, so I have been missing his calls. So, I jokingly sent him a text saying he just didn’t seem to understand that I wasn’t talking to him. So, he arrived at the door in person, you know, just to make sure.

He told us how a week ago he put out into the universe his thoughts on a house mate. He decided that the appropriate person would be a male, someone like an air steward, who would be away some of the time, as David is away some of the time. The very next day his mate Joe called him up and said that a friend Daniel Van Dewen had broken up with his boyfriend and was looking for somewhere to stay.

“What does Daniel do?” asked David.

“He does long haul flights for Qantas.”

David felt the chill of his own spookiness.

So, he and Daniel met up. They got on fine, they seemed to match, it seemed like a good idea. They decided to think about it for a week. A week later they decided that they wouldn’t perhaps make good housemates. David said it was because it wasn’t prepared for Daniel to troll grindr/scruff getting his post 13 year relationship rocks off. He wasn’t sure if he was ready for Daniel’s, possible, revolving bedroom door just up the landing from his. 

I think it had much more to do with the fact that Daniel was born 01st May, same year, born one day apart from his ex Mike (Shubert) Oh yes, we are a complicated bunch.

The cool change arrived sometime in the early evening, while David was visiting. He noticed the cool wind blowing in the back door, as he is most susceptible to the cold weather.

“Did you bring a rap, Carol-Anne?” I asked.

“No, I did not,” he replied.

We ate chicken, asparagus and corn for dinner

We watched the movie Cats and Dogs, the revenge of Pussy Galore, during which I was battling to stay awake as I lay on the couch.

We went to bed straight afterwards at 11.30pm.

Cute Ian & the Old Girl

I got to work at 8.20am, just in time for a cigarette sitting on the front platform out the front of the building. Cute Ian and the old chick arrived around the same time, yet again, and headed upstairs while I finished my smoke. Do you reckon he’s… I flick my tongue. It’s not a criticism, good for them, in fact, if I think anything about it at all, I think it is kind of nice for young men to do that for older women. Why not, if they both want to. 

Pity, if only they had arrived five minutes earlier they could have let me up to the office. 

Was this ground hog day? 

Nyr. I got upstairs soon enough, for a day of delightful company from the bossy Kirin and the chatty Kerin. 

Kerin and I got stuck into what we had to do and worked away all day.

I mention Ian and the old girl to Kirin. She smiled a filthy smile, she’s a dirty minded one, I knew she would raise her eyebrows and enjoy the connotations, which she did.

I left at 4.30pm. 

Oh, it’s the dreaded Body Corporate meeting tonight at 5.30pm, for Sam’s house, which is not only boring, but we had to get there ridiculously early. Really? 5.30pm.

My car was in a state, looking like a lamington thanks to it being under the next door neighbour’s over hanging gum tree in my back yard during seed shedding season. It also seemed to be infested with moths not really sure why. The whole back garden seems to be infested with moths, at the moment. When I have been watering the garden over the last few days there are moths flying out from everywhere.

So, yeah, I had to clean the car first, and waved all the flying beasties away, even with the short time frame we had. It had to be done. Tick, tick, tick. 

We had to get to the Melville library in the heat. I wore shorts and crocks. Sam thought I wasn’t suitably dressed for the meeting. Give me a break, I’m only the piano player, as they say. 

The room in which we all were, actually, meeting was hard to find. All the library doors were locked and the place seemed to be deserted. Sam called. I wanted to cross the road and buy a TattsLotto ticket, but Sam wasn’t very pleased with that idea.

The managing agent appeared from a side door, which we had overlooked, eventually and invited us in. The new managing agent is quite cute. [I positioned myself where I could gaze at him freely, since I wasn’t, actually, there to participate in the discussion] We weren’t the last to arrive, despite being late. The usual suspects were there. 

We got the usual story about how the old mother, of the now owners of number 3 townhouse, used to keep the garden spotlessly. Oh god every meeting, Blah, blah, blah, the same story. Sam and I nudge each other under the table each time the saintly mother is mentioned.

The cute new managing agent got quite fidgety when he noticed me checking out his charms. His eyes kept darting back to me. He lost his place a couple of times. It makes me laugh when I do that to straight boys. Nyr. I was only the driver, so I was free to check him out. He got it too. Makes me buzz. Nose twitch.

I don't want anything from you, mate, other than a little amusement.

We bought baked potatoes on the way home in Brunswick Street. I guess, at least, if we start the meeting early, we get home early. There is that.

I messaged Mark before I went to bed. I haven’t spoken to him for some time, not since the last message that made me groan at him. He would, no doubt, say in a short time to come that I never contact him. Blah, blah, blah, so I thought I’d better send him a message before he does. It was late, so I sent the message and headed off to bed.

(Mark) Are you having a good time in Hanoi. Having a nice time with all your Hanoi people? – Christian

Hump Day At The Salt Mines

Nathan Cirillo

I got to work at 8.20am, just in time for a cigarette sitting on the front platform out the front of the building. It is nice to sit in the fresh air and luxuriate in the fresh breeze and watch the people go by. It’s almost my favourite thing to do, the only thing that would improve it would be a big, fat doobie. 

Cute Ian and the old chick arrived around the same time and headed upstairs. I watch the sliding glass front door close again behind them. And I am still on the outside. Again. Well, it was sunny, and warm on my morning skin. I had the rest of my cigarette to smoke. I know, I know, a peculiar habit for a non-smoker to have. Sure. I take a big puff on it. 

Kirin was inside when I finally got inside. She’s always inside when I get inside. Sometimes, I think she lives at her desk. Does she really do all that driving she claims to do? Does she really endure the traffic on the Mulgrave freeway every morning, as she says she does? Does she? Should I check for a sleeping bag and pillow under her desk? That would imply that I care, which I don’t. That’s what went through my head as we said good morning. I had to suppress the smirk it engendered, as Kirin is not the type to, shall we say, appreciate random smirks.

I was tired at work after 2 late nights. Not 21 anymore. Sad but true. Boo hoo. 

I sign on to my computer and we don’t really speak for the rest of the morning. 

Kerin is in soon enough. Often with a tale of inadequacy to match her tardiness. (You know, it is the reason Kirin claims to be the only one in the place who knows what she is doing. I suspect, I may just be the only other person Kirin thinks the same of. Nyr? I could be wrong.)

I had fried rice for lunch, in my lunchbox. The two of them still, if I said marvel, it would be overstating it, marvel at Sam packing my lunch for me every day.

Roz sent me the Vendors Statement to sign for the sale of some of mum’s assets. It looks like we have missed the peak of the house prices and now they are cooling. Bugger!

I left at 4.30pm. Out the door I go. A quick exit before Kirin asks me to do some stupid thing that she doesn’t know how to do.

We ate cream pasta for dinner.

A gunman shot and killed (the handsome) Canadian Forces corporal Nathan Cirillo at the National War Memorial before moving into the Canadian Parliament buildings where he was shot dead.

Rescue operations continued after an unseasonal blizzard and avalanches in the Annapurna and Dhaulagiri regions of Nepal (14-15 Oct) killed at least 41 trekkers and climbers.

The Swedish military continued a high-profile, six-day intelligence-gathering search for a suspected foreign (Russian) submarine in its territorial waters near Stockholm. The fucken Russians. Don’t we all hate the Russians? (Okay, not the Russian people, obviously)

Comet C/2013 A1 (Siding Spring) made an extremely close flyby of Mars, passing just 140,000 kilometers from the planet and safely observed by orbiting spacecraft and surface rovers.

Tributes poured across Australia following the death of former Prime Minister Gough Whitlam at age 98, which had been announced the day prior.

All goes to show, if the home grown loonies don’t get us, climate change will, or the end will come from below, or above. And can we all expect to live to near 100 years old? Can we?

Tuesday (bread) Blues

We worked all day barely stopping for me to eat my cauliflower soup for lunch, which Sam prepares for me, but I did. I can’t let work get in the way of lunch. I have joked with Sam in the past about being able to toast my soup bread at work. The work kitchen doesn’t have a toaster, or margarine to use. (I guess I am used to wealthy accounting firms and Law firms) So, at 3pm I dunked my raw bread into my soup in the ten minute break I took to eat it. It had erectile disfunction when I pull it out again, of course. 

Yes, it was all go, go, go today with Kirin cracking the whip. (I wondered if she’d been balled out again by Paddington Bear?) (Oh, that image always makes me smile)

I was home by 4.40pm, I know I have said it before, but I will say it again, you have to love that.

We ate fried rice for dinner.

I stayed up late to watch the recording of Big Brother. I didn’t get to bed until 12.30am. 

Gough Whitlam, the 21st Prime Minister, and architect of the contemporary Labor Party, dies, 21 October 2014, aged 98 years, Elizabeth Bay. 

(Mr Cutie pants) Oscar Pistorius (although, quite possibly not a nice person) was sentenced to five years in prison for the culpable homicide of Reeva Steenkamp. 

Banning The Burqa and Finding Our Lost Boys

Handsome missing guy Sevak Simonian

It was a lovely sunny day.

I went to the post office first up to pay my credit card. Grimace, it had to be done. I'm getting rid of it just as soon as I can, I'm not paying the banks a yearly fee for the privilege of using it against everything they ever said about people who pay their credit cards off on time.

I have been working at the finance Co at the end of the street for a week, and I still don’t have a security pass to enter the building, as the lift needs a pass to get up to the sixth floor before 8.30am in the mornings. The problem being, I want to get there earlier than 8.30am. So, I have to call Kirin or Kerin when I get to the foyer, if I get there before 8.30am, which I do. So, nyr, grrr! I think Kirin is supposed to have organised a pass for me, but she hasn’t yet. So, that is a little, you know, ‘how do you do’. 

It was the big deadline day, my first with them. And despite not being able to get at it before 8.30am, I think I did okay. I’ve got instruction from Kirin and I’m supposed to get instruction from Kerin and while I have to a point, despite her having to consult with Kirin for most answers, even after this short time, I am starting to instruct her on a job that I have been doing for a week.

They are nice, I guess, Kirin & Kerin you know, nice enough to work with. 

So, one week down, six months less a week to go. It should be good, remembering it is a 3 minute walk from my house to the office. 

I left at 4.30pm. 

Jill called to chat. She is good. She’ll be back in Melbourne in a few weeks from Queensland. She has a thing for Queensland. I think it is from her girlish childhood memories of holidays, more so than any considered opinion of adulthood. Ah Queensland, it has never really done it for me. Of course, that is a too broad a statement for it to be really true, if I was honest, but true of the bits I have visited. 

We ate cauliflower soup for dinner. We ate Ciabatta bread with our soup, yum yum.  Sam cooks the soup. (Soup Slag) I cook the toast. (I’m toast Bitch) Sam always says that I cook too much toast – 3 pieces each – with too much butter. You know, you can never have too much butter. It is an ‘utter’ nonsense. 

I stayed up late to watch the recording of Big Brother. I didn’t get to bed until 12.30am. 

(handsome) 21-year-old keen bushwalker Sevak Simonian went missing from his home in Belrose, New South Wales. His car was later discovered at the Kanangra-Boyd National Park. Despite massive search operations, his disappearance remains one of the state's prominent unsolved missing persons cases.

Following widespread public backlash over the Burqua ban issued on October 2, 2014, by (that old conservative, Liberal Party War Horse) Speaker Of The House Bronwyn Bishop and Senate Leader Liberal Tasmanian senator Stephn Parry, and an intervention by Prime Minister Tony Abbott, Bishop and Parry overturned the policy less than three weeks later replacing it with a brief identity check at the building's entrance.

Rearranging Furniture

I was up at 7am. Yeah, even on a Sunday. Sad face. I just wake up early now, and on the balance, I’m quite happy waking up early.

Brian, Sam’s ex, & Mark, the new boyfriend, arrived with the couch, Sam’s black couch, which we put in our study. Finally, after threatening to for some time to bring it over. The couch was heavy, and bulky, and difficult to get around our slight dog leg of a front hallway, but we got it done in the end, of course we did, but it wasn’t easy. 

We ate rice paper rolls for lunch. Sam’s rice paper rolls, which are always nice. 

We rearranged the house, finishing it off after the new carpet was laid last week. Sam is very bossy and definite about where things should now go.

It was cleaning day, of course, being a Sunday. I did the washing. Sam vacuumed.

We walked Buddy to the supermarket in the afternoon. Sam shopped. Buddy and I went for a bit of a walk, well, as much as a stubborn bulldog will walk without his entire pack being present. 

We ate sausages and salad for dinner. I’d prefer sausages and mash but, as you know, you can’t always get what you want. Ha ha. 

And that was Sunday, just how Sundays should be, maybe minus the ex’s arriving with sundry furniture, but even with that, the day was a Sunday.

Gas Price Shock Warnings: A major report released by the Grattan Institute warned Australian households and manufacturing industries of an imminent gas price shock. It projected that household bills would increase by up to $300 a year due to the unfolding liquefied natural gas (LNG) export boom

Meghan Trainor's hit single "All About That Bass" held the #1 spot on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart.

Heading Over the Westgate to Roller Skating in Laverton for Matt's Birthday

We were awake at 8.30am.

Buddy was already sun bathing up the back yard by the roller door when we got up. 

We cleaned up the back yard. We chopped up the big dead tree fern and managed to get some of it into our extra bin. It has been a dead corpse in the prominent position in the garden for too long. 

We washed Buddy. He is funny, he gets into the shower himself, no problem. He’s good like that.

We headed down to Victoria Street, eating lunch on the way, at one of those first few eateries in Victoria Street the couple of shops as soon as you cross Hoddle Street. We like the Thai place. 

I came home and slept on the couch for the rest of the afternoon. 

We were due at roller skating at 6pm. LouLou was going to go if we did, apparently she is a good skater, but I think our late decision to go stopped her from going.

We ate rice paper rolls at 6.30pm, when we were due in Laverton for Matt’s Freaks Roller Skating 30th birthday.

We headed to Laverton around 7pm.

Con Zukas was there, as were Sebastian and Nick. Con had seen Lauri, who, apparently, is in Melbourne. He’d had chemo though while he was here and wasn’t feeling up to seeing everyone. Apparently, he is struggling with it all. I guess I should call him. Isn’t that what you do when ex-boyfriends are sick?

Sam and I tried in-line skates. We were pretty hopeless but we had fun. [2014] But being pretty hopeless, it wasn’t encouraging us. We kind of stayed by the sides of the rink, where we chatted to whomever came by. 

We left at 11.30pm. It’s a hike back from Laverton. Shrug. 

We were in bed at midnight with Buddy, as he was lovely and clean after his shower, but he wouldn’t settle down so he had to go back out to his house before we really fell asleep.

Approximately 12,000 cyclists took part in Australia's largest one-day cycling event, Around the Bay. The annual ride stretched around Melbourne and Port Phillip Bay, raising money for the children's charity, The Smith Family

Thousands of Jehovah's Witnesses gathered at Melbourne's Etihad Stadium (now Marvel Stadium) for a large-scale Mass Baptism in Melbourne. (Could you imagine the loons who attended that)

I Think I Can Work With Her

I always feel that I know nothing and that I am sent into these places as an expert and it is just a matter of time before I am exposed as a fraud. Ha Ha, that’s just my first day anxiety. It’s first day at a new job for me all the time. 

Having said that, I think I’ve impressed Kirin already by solving a couple of long running issues that she had. It’s all in the brochure, you know, is a part of the service, as ‘they’ say.

She has also had a number of contractors before me who were useless, according to her, so I am a bit scared of making any mistakes. Well, you know, kind of. I know what I am doing, it’s just that she is a bit ‘knee-jerk’ in her reactions, in as much, if she can’t get the satisfaction she wants, er, if she can’t take the credit, I suspect, then those who are helping are deemed to be useless, from what I can glean from my interactions with her so far. I’m not sure that she knows, exactly what is wrong and what is needed to fix it. If I am successful, I believe she will say it is her work, if I am not, then I am shit. Do you know the type? I believe I do? I could be wrong, but maybe I am not. 

So, I got some issues sorted for her, and by the time I left at 4.30pm, she was a happy girl, I believe. Not sure she shows happiness in the same way you and I might. But, maybe, that is just some more of my gay humour. I reckon it should be okay, yeah sure I do. I think I can deal with an old war horse like Kirin. 

We took Buddy for a walk when we got home. It was a mild kind of day, kind of nice for a walk, kind of nice for walking a dog. Time to contemplate how life is going as we cover the back streets of our suburb. Not the great existential question of where my life is headed, no, just the recent changes and the new job and how I think it is going. Good time for that, and you know what ‘they’ say, you need to be quiet and contemplative and not distracted by stuff. We almost have to be bored to come to realisations about ourselves.

Later in the evening, after we'd eaten and we were sitting at the coffee table on our laptops with Buddy sitting next to us, he barked at us, as though he wanted to play. He did want to play, though, so we took him for an evening walk. Yeah, two walks, he even seemed keen. It’s kind of nice walking in the cool of the night, as Buddy sniffed about. 

Port Blockade: Pacific Climate Warriors and Australian supporters used traditional canoes and kayaks to block coal ships and halt operations at the Port of Newcastle.

Latrobe Valley Earthquake: A sharp 3.2-magnitude earthquake hit southeastern Victoria with an epicentre just south of Moe, though no major damage was reported.

Child Abuse Royal Commission: The Australian Christian Churches case study concluded its Sydney hearings, with leadership promising better child protection policies amidst testimonies from victims.

Tigerair Acquisition: Virgin Australia Holdings announced an agreement to buy out the remaining 40% stake in Tigerair Australia for $1.

His Mother Did A Good Job On Him

Mark 12:15:15  Mark: hehe......your kidding yourself if you think you look anything like Christian Bale anymore....but Sam, on the other hand…

...sitting here in the fog in Sapa.....bugger.....back to hanoi tonight on the clackety clackety.....then Ronnie leaves early saturday morning.....not happy....Dungar has had a lovely time, he's had us in Hysterics.....he know says Gaaaarn get fucked....like a real bogun...

I read the first line of that message and sighed, deflated. That old chestnut. I guess, I’m a bit sick of Mark and his fat put downs. I don’t even think that he thinks he is helping, (you know, by bringing it up constantly somehow might help me) because he’s not thinking, he is just repeating the mantra that he learnt from his weight-fascist mother.

You know if I didn’t love him dearly, I’d just think it was cruel and unkind, what amounts to a unwarranted put down. 

I’ve got to listen to him repeat-cycling his dysfunctional relationship with Luke and pretend to be interested. Oh, I don’t mean that, but his complaints/concerns/trouble with Luke haven’t changed an iota in 10 years. And yet, the weight fascist in him can’t help but mention the fact that I have put on a couple of kilos since we were together. (and he hasn’t?) It is kind of disheartening, you know, just makes me feel, oh, in a kind of deflated way.  Good thing I no longer need to rely on him for my self-esteem. 

Funny, all the girls, I know, pretty much reply when I say I have gained weight. “Oh Christian, are you just fishing for a compliment? I wish I had put on weight like you. Where? Seriously.” 

The queens? You know, if they can divert their interest from themselves for a moment, they might comment in a bitchy way, but only if they can stop thinking about what they look like themselves.

In fact, it is really only Mark who says this. 

I decided not to message him back. 

We watched The Project. We ate fried rice for dinner.

I sat in the lounge after dinner and tried to think of lovely men. There are lots of women that have the loveliness about them. Judi Dench, Joanna Lumley, Helen Mirren, Julie Walters, Meryl Streep, Randy Crawford. It was harder than you think of guys.

Kevin McLeod – he was on The Project tonight.

David Attenborough

Brian Cox

Sam Pang

You could probably add Michael Parkinson to that list. But it is hard to come up with many, harder than you think.

Finally, We Get Laid

Lino came at 8am and laid the carpet. We got to see his and his young tradies arse cracks for most of the morning) 

Sam thought he was such a smarty pants, after my three failed attempts to get the carpet laid. I personally don’t think it was my fault, I think it was the fault of the tradies, however. Sam called the closest carpet layer to us out of the yellow pages and he came in two days. I can’t deny it. 

We had the roll of carpet lying in our atrium for I don’t know how long now, after the carpet was laid in the lounge room. Funny how those things seem interminable and annoying while they are continuing, but as soon as the massive roll has been moved out of the atrium and laid in the two front rooms, the length of time that that massive roll was lying there suddenly seems like no time at all. Do you think it has anything to do with our built in mechanism to get over trauma? What do you reckon? Just a bit? You know, around the edges? Kind of?

I got to work by midday, just before, actually. Kirin and Kerin only managed to ask cursory questions about the carpet. I was ready to give them the carpet story in depth, but they seemed to look away after the first question, leaving me standing there primed, but with nowhere to go with it. Oh, you know, just kind of. Oh, er, I thought. 

Anyway, it made the day seem awfully short, and we love that. 

We ate thick noodles with a rich Chinese sausage sauce for dinner.

(Mark) I wish I knew where those blue tights (which we could cut off as underpants) and red jacket were from the time we did goblins fancy dress? Then all I need is black framed glasses and Sam and I could go to Matt's birthday as Batman and Robin Ono – Christian

The Drivers and the Non-Drivers

It was the annual visit to North Melbourne to see Sam’s accountant for him to get his tax done. I have to drive him as, you know, he doesn’t drive. The great unsung heroes of the non-drivers, the drivers. I seriously don’t think the non-drivers give the drivers the credit they deserve. We had to be there by 7pm, but she is always late. She was only ten minutes late today, so she was practically on time.

Buddy and I went for a walk, as per usual, while Sam consults. We walked down Queensberry Street to the end, to Munster Terrace and beyond. It’s a nice walk, you know, if you have to hang around waiting for your boyfriend, that is. We walked around the fine old buildings and I took photos of the lovely architecture as the sun set. They didn’t come out as well as I’d hopped, I should have used a longer shutter speed.

We met a timid poodle with its owners. If I said the owners were kind of timid, I’m guessing you’d question how I could tell with such a brief meeting, but I felt that’s where the dog got it from. 

We met a cute father with his toddler. He said it was nice to meet us, Buddy and me. I thought the same thing, possibly for different reasons to him. 

Buddy lay down in the middle of the road and wouldn’t move on the way back to the office of course he did, he is famous for that. 

And we walked back to the office door. We stood around and waited, before we headed off in the other direction. Queensberry Street turned into a ghost town, with just Buddy and I treading the footpath. It was relaxing, despite my mild complaining earlier. It’s nice just to slow down and for it just to be you, and your dog, out in the elements – oh, yeah, such tricky elements, I grant you – just the fresh night air, and some interesting urban architecture, and nothing much else to think about other than putting one foot in front of the other, for a time. It’s kind of exhilarating, just you and nothing much else about which to be concerned. 

We walked back. 

Waiting, waiting, we waited around some more. We twiddled our fingers and our paws, as the wait started to feel perhaps longer than the catharsis it was providing. 

Eventually, Sam reappeared. We jumped in the car and headed off to buy dinner on our way home. Something delicious. Sushi in Errol Street. 

We even managed to catch the North Melbourn IGA for some groceries. Sam was pleased about that. He’s always pleased to get groceries out of the way. You know, back to the non-driving issue, so when I am driving him home, he wants to utilise the car to its fullest extent. 

We were home before 10pm, just enough time to eat our take away. 

The Oscar Pistorius Trial entered its sentencing phase. Defence witnesses testified that sending the double-amputee athlete to prison would "break" him and that traditional correctional facilities were unsuited for his physical and psychological needs following his culpable homicide conviction. He is too handsome to go jail. He may get house detention for his crimes. 

A tragic blizzard and avalanche sequence struck the Annapurna region of the Nepalese Himalayas, killing 43 people

Author Richard Flanagan won the Man Booker Prize for The Narrow Road to the Deep North. 

The UK Parliament held a symbolic vote recognizing Palestine as a state. 

The World Health Organization reported that the Ebola virus death toll had surpassed 4,400 during the West African epidemic.

Off To Work

I started a new assignment today for 3 weeks, so it's back to work, back to the grind. Yay. But, still only 3 weeks, it should go fast.

Fortunately, it is just a short walk from home, which is the reason I took it. Well, I took it because it was offered to me, lets not be under any illusions, but it is the reason why I was pleased to accept it, the short walk from home. If you think I have any control over the assignments I get, then I have misled you. I shouldn't get too bored though, hopefully.

You know what I hate, the suit and shirt thing, the corporate noose and collar, fortunately nobody cares too much about ties any longer. Let's hope this new place doesn't care so much about the suit thing either. I mean really, what the hell does it matter what we wear to work. I hear people say it is easier, but please, people are stupid. It is easier to be told what to wear? It is only a short step to it is easier to be told what to think, it is easier to be told how to act. People, people, people, please.

I was reading about William S Burroughs, Jo Orton, and those guys and their escapades in Tangiers, last night. I didn't want to leave them. I was also reading about the inhabitants of Mulholland Drive.  Who lives where and next to who. Did you know that Marlon Brando and jack Nicholson were neighbours? How exciting it all sounded. How exciting their lives must have been. How did I end up doing an office job? How did I settle for that? I guess it is too late now to become someone interesting.

Hey ho, back to the office for me.

Eating & Shopping On Sunday

We walked to Victoria Street to eat lunch and do shopping. 

We ate at Jinta. The great big barn of a Thai place. Always busy. Always noisy. A bit mum, dad & the kids. The food is good, though. Nice. I had a wet noodle dish, Sam had the dry noodle version. 

We did grocery shopping, at The Hive, naturally. I get bored really easily if I am the plus 1 of the shopping expedition, if I just have to traipse around after Sam as he looks, and considers and contemplates. The only way I enjoy food shopping is if I have a list and I get in and get out as quickly as possible, no pissing around. 

I was really tired and just wanted to lie down, you know, which didn’t help at all. It took me all my energy not to announce “BORED NOW!” and wondering off to find an unused seat to sit on. 

I came home and slept on the couch for the rest of the afternoon, pretty much. Lovely. it is what Sundays are all about, after all. 

It was hot today, 28 degrees. The afternoon was glorious.

You know, I thought about the carpet man who didn't turn up? I thought about the carpet man when looking at my house with the entire downstairs disturbed and when I tried to find mum’s bills to pay and you know what, I thought, I hope the cunt dies. Oh, you know, figuratively, not literally. I’m not wishing anyone dead here, no matter what I write. If I do wish someone dead, you know it is just my dark humour, and disregard for the stupid amongst us who can’t differentiate, who think I am serious. If I wish someone dead, you just know I am hoping their tomato crop fails, or their dog gets sick, (not fatally, of course) or their daughter starts screwing the most inappropriate guy she can find. Oh, fuck it, their son starts taking it up the arse from a bikie, you know, that sort of thing. Not actual death. Never actual death. 

Roberta William’s is entitled to 750K in victim of crimes compensation. You know, I’d rather Roberta gets her 750K than Rupert Murdoch receives the $850 million dollars that he did from the Abbott Liberal Govt. I think, quite possibly, that Roberta is more honest and more Australian than Putrid Rupert is.

I paid all the bills. Oh yes, my very favourite thing to do. 

I threw the phone at the wall. Sam was unimpressed. Truthfully, I can’t remember doing this, or why I would have done this, but let me guess… having to wait on hold for an inordinate amount of time while a recorded voice incessantly yaps on about the options, or the company, or the benefits, or everything all at once, never stopping to take breath, with me ultimately getting cut off just as the real person answers. You know, to actually throw the phone, I reckon the before mentioned happened twice, or possibly three times. That could produce a phone throw. It’s possible, not really like me, but possible. 

We ate rice paper rolls for dinner. Sam made them, they were nice.

Sam went to bed at 10pm. I went to bed at 1am, after watching a doco on Roger Corman.