May 2013
29 posts
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This evening my grandmother told me she liked me better when I was little. She said I was cute then, and always had a drop of drool on my chin.
I told her that I was still cute and that I could still drool if that would help.
Well, she said, I mean you used to be sweet.
But being sweet doesn’t get you anywhere, I replied sweetly.
Really? She asked me. Is that true?
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My essay has turned into a reason why the fundamental assumptions of the question are problematic. I’m not a very good student.
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Derailing my 2500 word European Studies essay with a discussion of semantics and etymology because who isn’t concerned about the significance of the “Middle Ages” as a retrospective designation?
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Yesterday on the bus, a girl from my French class turned to me and told me, in her slightly affected Hong Kong English, that she liked my personality. She said that she didn’t trust many people now that she lived in a new country, but that she knew she could trust me.
I told her that she could.
Today my housemate told me that her girlfriend had broken up with her and that she...
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My mum shouts from down the hall:
“Oliver, I just met Colonel Sanders”
(she’s reading Kafka on the Shore)
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So I’m moving out (yet again) which is pretty exciting. This time I’m moving into my sister’s house into a bigger room with much lower rent and super close to my new job. Speaking of which I did my first tutoring session today and Amy was really lovely and her English is actually really good despite the fact that she hates it and really prefers maths and science (and it’s...
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Can we actually just talk about how much I love Laura? I mean I really love her. She uses a course which could be hideously monotonous as a vehicle to actually attempt to educate people about important social issues whilst also covering the course content and being super inspiring and interesting. She’s really down to earth and great and she has a British accent and is actually pretty funny...
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Today we had a really great IR lecture on gender theory and rejecting norms and discourses and Laura is my favourite lecturer ever I actually love her. In other news my French test was pretty rotten but I don’t care too much because I know I’ll pass at the very least and I have more pressing concerns like whether I should have spaghetti on toast or make a real meal.
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Too emotionally fragile for Lilo and Stitch.
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A little survival plan
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Survive until the end of the semester.
Find another job.
Move in with my sister (perhaps) and save lots of money.
Relax thoroughly in my break. Go to Melbourne with my sister and the Blue Mountains with Grace and stay with El in Paddington.
Survive until September.
Fly to New Zealand with my family.
Survive until the end of the semester.
Travel to Germany...
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Today El said that I look like Link and that might just be because I was wearing green and have silly ears but it still made me smile because I’ve always wanted to be Link. I saw Thuy for the first time in far too long and we had pizza and wedges and hot chocolate. I ran out of energy some time after 5 and have no idea what happened in French class but I’m home now and I have...
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So my interview went well and I’m now one trial tutoring session away from an income (hurrah!) and I ended up going to my sister’s gig in some pub with the lead singer from the Hard-Ons where they served a really nice schnitzel and Sean bullied me into getting snapchat and then bullied me via snapchat (so you all should snapchat me now ok) and I’m just going to pretend I...
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I’m back home and I think I can actually ascribe some meaning to that term now, because it actually feels really nice to be back here in Sydney in my little room with Angela giggling next door and no milk left in the fridge. Perhaps it’s just the weather, but I think I’m allowed to have two homes and two cities, at least until I find a third. I’m off to go to my job...
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“No matter how far you travel, you can never get away from yourself.”
– Haruki Murakami - After the Quake
I’m not a morning person, especially since given my choice I would sleep at least until noon, and I’m not an evening person because the end of the day makes me feel acutely miserable and useless. So maybe I’m a mid-afternoon person?
I really like bonfires because they’re warm and nice and then when you leave them you have this lingering smell of woodsmoke and it’s just really lovely.
(I finally have a job interview. As an English tutor. Perfect or perfect?)
April 2013
27 posts
7 tags
The sunburnt walls peel every time I move, but the one small window doesn’t let in enough light to chase away the midday shadows. It’s particularly bad along the flue that waits in breathless anticipation for the smoke and the flames of the long dead fireplace below. When I taped up an old letter from a friend, a patch the size of a baby’s palm curled from the wall in protest. There are only so...
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I didn’t do all of the things I had intended to do today, but I also did a bunch of things that I hadn’t intended to do so that’s okay right?
I rearranged and cleaned my room and did approximately half the study I should have done and swept the kitchen and did the washing and listened to the Great Gatsby soundtrack so many times that if my housemates were ever home they might...
“If you have ever peeled an onion, then you know that the first thin, papery...”
– Lemony Snicket (via venebelle)
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I was feeling a bit shitty but then I had coffee with Sally and Grace called me and I just feel so much better and happier and I love these two girls more than anything ever because they always just have so much time for me.
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Important life update again[[MORE]]
But not really that important. More important than doing my assignments at any rate.
So I’ve decided to change from International Studies/Law to Arts/Law which will save me from an extra year of paying tuition and generally being at uni. I’ll drop French because it’s really demanding and badly taught and pick up English or Literature or...
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I knew I wasn’t going to study today, but at least I gave our courtyard some much needed attention. Apparently as well as tomatoes, chillies strawberries and a variety of herbs, we also grow 5 cent pieces. I found about a dozen in the soil. I burnt myself cooking French toast but we had Jalapenos in the fridge so it was pretty alright. The bath taps now work properly and our clothes line is...
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Anonymous asked: tell me what you think about love my friend
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Applying for a job as a legal clerk because it has good pay and didn’t require any previous experience and also may be semi relevant to an actual career??
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Some observations:
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I really actually genuinely enjoy statutory interpretation
French is less scary than I thought and more fun
Living alone in a new city is almost as much fun as it is hard work
I can be independent and mature if I need to be
I can probably manage a job and a combined law degree and still survive
There are lots of fun and nice people and they outnumber the awful...
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So my evening turned out to be really lovely. Amina, Joanna and I ate at Darling Harbour and Amina shouted us all despite our protests. It was probably the nicest steak ever. Also we had lychee and coconut ice cream and went to the casino where Amina won $200 and split it amongst us. Her family seem to be really wealthy, based upon, if nothing else, the new apartment they bought her in Darling...
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So tomorrow I’m going to have dinner at a Brazilian restaurant with a Lebanese woman and a girl from Hong Kong both of whom I met in French class. If there’s one thing Sydney has taught me it’s that lots of people are really great but also really lonely and sometimes having nothing in common is a really good starting point.
