A Letter

Dear housemate,

I understand that you have previously led a sheltered life in which you apparently were under no requirement to take care of yourself in any way. I understand that this is a new country and perhaps you are still disoriented. I understand that some things which seem obvious to the rest of us may be utterly incomprehensible to you. Nevertheless, when I examine the household recycling bin, which I had taken the precaution to label on its lid in a large font exactly what is permitted to be entered into it and what is not, and when I find within this same bin the following items:

• Used tissue
• Teabags
• Instant noodle wrappers
• Cheese wrappers
• Eggshells
• Egg yolk
• Parcel packaging indicating your full name and address
• Bank letters indicating your full name, address and account number

When I find these same items within a bin reserved for recycling, I am forced to conclude that you are severely lacking in common sense, and are perhaps illiterate as well. I would argue that you are also deficient in a sense of responsibility, a postulate reinforced by the mess left on the toilet floor as a result of your faulty aim, and which you apparently do not feel the necessity to clean up. I would propose to hold a grudge against you for such behaviour, or plan some form of humiliating revenge, except that it is clear to me that your carelessness will bring you much grief at some point in the future when you should reside amongst less tolerant and honest persons. Therefore I will continue to delve into the recycling bin, tear up your sensitive mail and scrub the floor with Dettol, knowing that there is no greater punishment than what your own stupidity will eventually inflict upon you.

I remain, with regards,
Your housemate.

Music

Long ago, people would ask me what songs I liked. Some of these people were teachers. I hated that, because that meant I had to come up with a correct answer. And as someone who was raised on wordless music, there was no correct answer. So I'd just pick a decent-looking piece and claim to be desperately in love with it.

Even now, a great deal of the music I listen to is wordless. Much of it is background music from video games and movies. I think there is something about background music, which is manipulative and uninterrupting at once.

That not make sense? Good. Stop asking about my favourites. I like many things.

On another note, what is the proper thing to say if someone asks how you are? I usually alternate between a vague non-committal reply, and accurately describing my current situation.

Ants

About a million of them, to be precise, cutting a thick path from under the front door all the way to the dustbin, where apparently some banana peel interested them. Eradication involved large amounts of water and soap, complete rinsing of the dustbin and removal of the offending trash to the garbage centre.

It seems that the hot weather is driving the ants to seek food indoors (yet another reason why I can't wait for winter). I might probably have to draw lines of baby powder, coffee, vinegar or peppermint oil, and see what keeps them out. Worse come to worst, I could always keep the dustbin standing in a basin of water. I hate having to kill them. Besides having to commit mass-murder, the corpses are annoying to clean up.

Now spiders I can live with. Come to my house, spiders. I have some ants for you.

And Away We Go!

Here today, Australia tomorrow.

Catch you on the flip side!

P.S.: The plush bacteria are coming with me.

Update XXIII: Anniversary

Because I feel that I ought to write a few words every now and then, if only for the silent lurkers who surprise me months later by quoting, verbatim, fragments of my blog posts.

It's been about two weeks since this blog turned two years old. (And still without any customised graphics. I ought to fix that some time.) I find myself with a degree completed, on the verge of heading back overseas to boost it with an Honours title. It's going to be a different year certainly, but seeing as I've survived this far, I can guess that the schoolwork won't be what kills me.

A big difference is that I will now be a senior student, with the responsibility of the new RP students to take care of. I'll try to keep them from making the same mistakes as we did, but it will be an uphill battle. I suppose there is no way they'll believe us until they've gone and suffered though it all over again.

On the drawing front, I've made leaps and bounds. Roughly three years ago PowerPoint surprised me with its almost PhotoShop-like capabilities. Now MSPaint has surprised me with its ease of use as a sketching tool, even under the control of a mouse. While paper drawing still has its advantages, I'll probably focus on improving my digital art skills. At the moment they are still limited (by time, especially), but given how far I've come, I think there is still much further I can go.

I've also surprised myself with how much better I've got at gaming. I successfully completed Red Alert 2 at a higher skill level, pulling new strategies which I never tried before and completing missions much faster than I used to. Generals seemed almost insulting in how simple it was to win. While gaming in itself is not an inherently useful occupation, the skills required to be any good at it are valuable. I like to think I am better at strategy now. (Perhaps I should try playing chess again.)

All in all, I can see I've grown as a person, and perhaps am more ready to handle the world than I used to be. While last year I was a nervous wreck, this year I aim to approach it head-on, with a generous helping of confidence.

Now for the real important question: should I take my little helicobacters with me, or leave them at home?

Meme: Gift Thingy

Got this off Eud:

The first five people to respond to this post will get something from me. It will be about or tailored to those five lucky "victims". The catch? Oh, the catch is that you have to put this in your journal as well, if you expect me to do something for you! (or facebook, or something.)

This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I give you!

2. What I create will be just for you.

3. It'll be done this year.

4. You have no clue what it's going to be. It may be fic. It may be poetry. I may draw or paint something. I may bake you something and mail it to you. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure!

5. I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

Now post away! We love making presents, yes we do...

Retrospective: 2008

January 1st this time, and the new year has once again safely arrived. Reading the words I typed one year ago, I've decided that 2008 was the Year of Growing Up for me. I've changed as a person, one of the most important changes being that I've accepted my oncoming responsibilities as an adult. No more wishing that I could remain a child forever - that's all past and irrelevant now. No more being afraid of what will come.

That is not, however, to say that I will stop collecting plushies or Bionicle sets. I reject the notion that one needs to be a child to do those things. I'm also going to continue playing with PowerPoint as a digital art tool, because I've found that its limits can be pushed extremely far.

As for serious business, I'm going back to Australia for further studies at the end of the month. I have no idea what will happen, but I'm sure I'll discuss it as the year passes.

To the new year!