not today

/ Pistachios / 8 Comments

This week has been exhausting on so many levels. I spent most of today sleeping or lying down or sitting. The only productive thing I did was sweep and mop the floors, and go out to buy snacks for a party I’m going to tomorrow.

Getting out of bed this morning was a struggle, and not just because I was out late last night.

Eventually, I got out of bed, went to the bathroom, brushed my teeth, got ready for the day ahead …and then went back to bed (for 30 mins? 45? maybe an hour?) to contemplate if I really did need to eat breakfast.

Of course, the answer was “yes”; I always eat breakfast. Plus, I had a vague craving for cheese on toast, and not because I was hungover, but because I needed comfort food. (I was not hungover.)

The only other significant thing I did today was start writing a letter to my friend who’s going to start driving down to Canberra tomorrow morning.

It’s been a long time since I felt this… ordinary (to put it lightly).

I will see her again in about three weeks.

It’s funny how the first 3.5 months of this year have gone by so quickly, but three weeks seems like a dreadfully long time.

And we’ve known each other for only about 3.5 years. “Only”. Because 3.5 years is not a long time, is it? Feels like we’ve known each other three times as long.

a measure of absurdity

/ Pistachios / 2 Comments

Just a thought that occurred to me the other day:

There are people willing to travel interstate or fly across the country to attend concerts, sporting matches and other live events. They might only stay for one day or one night before returning home, but, as far as I know, this is not generally considered a very absurd thing to do.

Essentially what these people do is pay a lot of money to go a long distance to see one person (or a small group of people) for whom they are but one in a crowd of thousands. Chances are they will not interact directly nor meet face-to-face. Yet, people still do this.

So is anyone then going to tell me that it is absurd for me to fly interstate just so that I can visit a friend for one day, one night or one hour?

Is it much different to attending a live event? Well, apart from being a more balanced ratio (one to one)

Yes, with technology, you can make video calls, send photos and whatever; but you can also watch sporting events from anywhere, and there’s bound to be concert footage on the internet somewhere. Still, it’s not the same, is it?

It’s not the same as being there in the flesh.

A very close friend of mine is preparing to move to Canberra in just over a week’s time. I have lost sleep thinking about how much I’m going to miss her. Just about the only thing making this easier is my confidence that we will keep in touch (we have already started making plans for visiting each other).

I think this will be both one of the hardest and easiest good-byes.

And if it is absurd, then I don’t care.

another obscure review: Complete Persian

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A couple of weeks ago, I happened to be in Geelong to visit family. While there, my sister took me to the local library, which is quite modern, like it was recently renovated. I was rather impressed, but, as I wandered over to the language section, I still didn’t have high hopes of finding anything in Persian. Amazingly, though, they did have one!

The book in question was Teach Yourself: Complete Persian (Modern Persian/Farsi) by Narguess Farzad. I’m calling this an obscure review because it is unlikely to have any relevance/interest to anyone I know, but I’m writing this anyway because I feel compelled to, and, who knows, maybe there’s someone out there looking for reviews of Persian textbooks… Continue reading →

obscure reviews: Hydralyte

/ Pistachios / 6 Comments

I remember back in my first year of uni (which feels like many years ago), one of the tutors told us they once knew a student who liked to go and try out over-the-counter (OTC) medications so that they would be better able to counsel patients about these. But, of course, it would be irresponsible and going against the “Quality Use of Medicines” principles to use a medication if you didn’t have the condition being treated, so they had to somehow have/get the specific ailments first.

Now, I’m not sure if they went out of their way to get cold sores, diarrhoea, common cold symptoms, heartburn and other conditions treatable with OTC medicines, but they supposedly worked their way through a fair few products (I’m not sure which — I just chose some random examples here).

Anyway… I never took this approach to my learning, but I suppose there are some things that are useful to try in order to make better recommendations to others. I discovered this in this last week when I got food poisoning and became very dehydrated. I’ll spare you the details, but I was quite unwell for several days, and wasn’t eating or drinking much in case it made me throw up. Continue reading →

cleaning up

/ Pistachios / 3 Comments

Several years ago, I wrote a post about chores I don’t mind doing. Top of this list was ironing, which is possibly my chore of choice. I also realised that I don’t tend to like chores that involve water, and if you look at the other things on that list, apart from sweeping, I also seem to prefer chores that aren’t related to actual cleaning.

Maintenance, tidying, creating – those are things I’m ok with. Washing and cleaning and having to deal with mess and dirt? No, thanks. Doing the dishes is my least favourite chore. Getting a dishwasher might be a good solution, but even doing laundry – just putting everything in the washing machine – is a chore I’ll put off or avoid if I can, so I’m not sure a dishwasher will help much. Continue reading →

forests and jungles

/ Pistachios / 8 Comments

A few weeks ago, I was at a friend’s place with a few other friends. After lunch, it was somehow decided that we should watch a horror movie. I think the rationale was that it was broad daylight, and we were in good company, so any horror film was likely to be more tolerable (compared to watching one in other circumstances). A particular friend in the group also seems quite interested in this genre (JS!) Continue reading →