I know the 30-days-of-text thing didn’t work out so well this year – I’ve been busy and struck down with severe exhaustion I’m hoping to alleviate with iron tablets and looking after myself a little better. That said, given my failure, I’m pledging to be a little more on track with things again: keeping up to date with my correspondences, my housework, and other obligations (this blog included). And while a lot of things have been happening for me lately, one big piece of news has really hit me today.
As many may have heard, a devastating tsunami was generated in Samoa today after a massive earthquake struck this morning. After visiting Fiji last year, I was struck by a mural on the side of a school building in Nadi: displayed prominently were all the flags of the Pacific nations, including the Australian flag. How many of us think of ourselves as Pacific citizens? When we think of our neighbours we think of New Zealand, and maybe Papua New Guinea or East Timor or Indonesia. But it really struck me how much we dismiss our smaller neighbours as just a pretty place to have a cheap holiday or a wedding when the people welcomed us, included us and even randomly hugged us (ask my sister!) with nothing but sincerity.
That is why, on my return, I wanted to get a little more involved in helping where there was need. One of the ways that I’ve already mentioned on this blog is Kiva, and I made a promise to have at least a quarter of my loans going to Samoa (or other Pacific nations should they be added). After checking in on the location of the five Samoan women I have deep concerns for two: Vaoa Fuga and Grace Malama, both from villages in the south of the main island, Upolu. According to this map, there is a good chance they were right in the wave’s path and I really hope both are safe along with their families and their villages.
(For further info and to lend support, see The Red Cross; consider supporting Save the Children, an organisation that works in the Pacific region, or consider lending to Samoan Kiva entrepreneurs in the future when the current situation settles down and more information is available. Not only have resorts – a valuable source of income – been levelled, but many plantations and villages too, leaving many to rebuild their livelihoods.)
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I’ve been meaning to post all week, but it’s been one of those Murphy’s Law weeks. You know, the kind where nothing goes right. It probably started on Monday when the light in my kitchen blew, and just got worse from there: waking up late, missing buses, knocking the budgies’ cage over, things going wrong at work, direct debits bouncing, not enough time to get anything done etc, etc. Nothing major, just a load of really niggling things going wrong and making me miserable and melodramatic and the kitchen thing went from simply a light blowing to a big deal: all the wiring’s shot so now I have to wait for the real estate agent to send the electrician. ’til then, I can’t cook or wash dishes at night; I mean, I can sorta see in there but it’s really dark and I can barely see the sink at all. I’ve got nowhere to put candles and I don’t have a lamp so dinners this week have been pizzas or two minute noodles. Not really all that healthy, and nowhere near substantial enough now I’m back at bellydancing five hours a week. I did get my hair cut tonight, so that was a nice treat. I can’t remember the last time I had my hair cut!
So in the pursuit of a decent, cheap meal tonight, I moseyed on down to Lentil as Anything tonight with what change I had and got myself a nice bowl of soup. On the way home I bumped into my neighbour from the milk bar next door, Maria. She is the loveliest neighbour you could hope for – a tiny little old Cypriot-Greek woman, forever smiling, blessing you, hugging you and laughing, and she is forever inviting me for a cup of tea. Usually I find an excuse to say no, for reasons I’m not even sure of; tonight, I thought, fuck it, I’m going to take her up on her offer. She gave me home-made rice pudding and a cup of tea and we watched the football together for a bit. She’s a mad Collingwood supporter and although I know nothing about football and her English is sketchy, we had a good laugh and chat. I’m really glad I went and now I regret not visiting her more often. I just get so used to being on my own that my social skills get rusty. It sounds silly, but it’s true – spend too much time away from other people, and I forget how to deal with them properly. I think that’s starting to change, though. I’m getting better at this interaction stuff.
Anyway, I’ve put two new stories up today. One’s an old one, Stiletto, I wrote as a quick exercise from a list of words my old housemate gave me last year. I used to get friends to give me lists of words of phrases and take a week or fortnight to write a story, usually sketches or vingettes, and this is one of them. Nothing flash, just a quick exercise. I might have something in planning to continue this exercise, so stay tuned for that!
The Debt is a bit meatier, as it was an experiment in form. It was written for the recent “Alone” contest on Worth and got, well, mixed reviews. Some people loved it, others didn’t care so much for it and others had absolutely no clue what it was about. It only ranked 16/22, which I found quite disappointing as I thought it was one of my best stories I’d entered so far, so I’d be interested to hear what you people out there think. Do you “get” it? Too confusing? Too wanky? Or does it actually make sense to you?
Anyway, here they are:
Stiletto
The Debt
And just for fun, I came across this bizarre French game today. From what I can tell, you make a little dude or dudette, challenge someone, press go and they fight. They just seem to fight automatically, but as you gain experience you get more stuff. My little dudette’s already got herself an attack dog! Check it out and come fight me here.
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