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I saw the worst thing today.
I went to visit the parentals and happened to catch the same bus at the Mother. As we were walking from the bus stop to the house, I noticed some rather large birds waddling in the dark in front of us. It was quite dark but I thought it was strange that birds were out so late at night - and they were definitely waddling, which is uncommon in normal, everyday street birds.
"I think they're ducks," I said.
"They're not ducks. It's too dark to see. Why would there be ducks here?"
Not only were they ducks - a pair, to be exact, walking together like a mates - but they were the "special" kind: dark and glossy with a shimmery green head and white collar. This kind:
So we were watching them with curiosity, wondering what they were doing there. Then the pair of them walked out onto the road - and STOPPED. We were still walking but still watching at the same time and you know how when there's a pigeon or something on the road and you hope it's not going to get hit, then you see the car and you're like, "Oh no!" and start to move to chase it away, but then at the last second, the pigeon flies away? Well that happened - except the ducks didn't fly away at the last second.
I watched as a car mowed down these poor, clueless birds. To be fair, it was very, very dark, BUT the car was already speeding so when they were in the headlights, even though the driver braked, it didn't do much good. And also, unforgivably, after the driver hit them, he just sped up and kept going!! Didn't even stop!
I could barely believe what had just happened. I stared at the birds. I had watched them flip over, wings beating, feathers splayed as they slid under those merciless tyres and now they were sitting calmly in the middle of the road. Sitting upright, still. I didn't know if they were dead but even if they were, I wasn't just going to leave them on the road like that to get flattened twenty million more times. I couldn't.
Probably stupidly, I walked out to the road and waved at the next oncoming car. I just kinda frantically flapped my arms towards the left and stood so that they would be able to look past me and see the animals on the road. The next couple of drivers were very good, saw me, slowed down and went around the ducks. Luckily there were no cars coming the other way.
After the road cleared, I thought, "What do I do??" I couldn't spend the rest of my night redirecting traffic, nor could I just leave the rest of the homecoming traffic to splatter the birds further. I knew I had to move them but there is something very unappealing about peeling roadkill off the road. There was nothing else to do, though.
Fortunately one of them seemed to be fine. It had risen to its feet and was teetering around along the road. The other one was still sitting. I picked this one up and put it far from the road on the grass. It was alive too and there was no blood or anything that I could see. I told the Mother to watch the sitting duck while I went to chase the other one off the road. I managed this successfully but when I tried to grab it to check if it was okay, it got startled and flew away heading into the distance towards a fenced-off home. Figuring there was nothing more I could do for it, I headed back to the other one. It too had gotten back onto its legs and was waddling around, disoriented. I felt a pang of guilt that I had scared the other one away because I'm pretty sure by the way they were walking together before the accident that they were mates.
Anyway, the Mother was telling me, "Get a box from home and bring it back out so we can take this one back inside without hurting it any more." This seemed like a more sane course of action so I grabbed my keys and made a mad dash for the house. It took me a while to find an empty box but finally I returned - only to find the Mother standing alone in the dark.
"Where's the duck?" I asked, hysteria edging my words.
"It ran away. It was too fast for me."
"Mum! How the hell can an injured duck outrun a human?"
After a short time of searching, I found that it had wandered into the school we were standing in front of. I approached it slowly so as not to scare it, but I guess the poor bird was too freaked out. A moment ago it had been fine with me picking it up, but this time, as soon as I crouched down to reach for it, it took to the air. It didn't seem to have anything wrong with its wings and it flew quite a far distance (into someone's backyard) so it didn't seem injured. But I had witnessed the hit and fear that the sitting bird, if not both ducks, may be suffering from internal bleeding.
However there was nothing more I could do. I couldn't really climb the fence onto someone's property. I went home, blinked back the delayed tears of distress and shot off an email to the RSPCA in case anyone had reported missing pet ducks.
I have no idea what they were doing out there but I really hope they're okay now and that they managed to find each other again.
Var
sent a postcard on 7/31/2008
Haven't been properly smashed for a loooooong time. After certain...*ahem* MISTAKES, I swore off drinking. I went cold turkey for 4 months (which is a decent effort after drinking practically every weekend since I was 15), but then slowly reintroduced the liquor. *hehe* So now I'm down to "social drinker" status and rarely even get tipsy.
HOWEVER
I now feel...it is time...for gettin' a-wasted.
YES.
Var
sent a postcard on 7/28/2008
I wonder how easy I am to forget.
Var
sent a postcard on 7/26/2008
Yay! Three exams done. All three were pretty bad in that at least 30% of my answers was guess-work, but they weren't as bad as I thought in that about 70% of the questions were at least vaguely familiar. My sleep schedule is completely fubar but I have managed to squeeze in enough sleep somehow (mostly when I should've been studying!). Now I've just got one more 1500 essay to go, which actually I completely forgot about until yesterday. ^_^;; Due tomorrow! So off I trot to go fine-tune my bullshitting skills...
Var
sent a postcard on 7/24/2008
Fwee! I just saw Matthew Bourne's Edward Scissorhands. I actually purchased the tickets three months ago so I almost forgot that I was even going. Luckily I was going with Rina and she messaged me to remind me about it in time. *lol*
I had seen ads on tv for it and it looked good, but I was a bit skeptical. Ballet has always seemed kinda boring to me (probably just cos I haven't had much exposure to it). Either way, though, I'm always one for atmosphere and the ads definitely sold it on that front.
And phwoar! Atmosphere I wanted? Atmosphere I certainly did get!
A beautiful sombre mood set by lighting in shades of blue contrasted sharply against the bright, vivid colours introduced later on when Edward goes down into the town. Simple costumes suited to the 50s setting which somehow managed to look stunning in every single act. AMAZING music - I can't stress this enough. I think listening to the soundtrack alone would be able to bring a tear to my eye, regardless of the visuals. And the most brilliant thing of all - the story was told completely void of dialogue. Now, those of you who are ballet fanatics are probably thinking, "Var, you're an idiot. That's very common." But I have never seen it! I have never seen a two-hour long story told without a single spoken word and I am utterly awed by how comprehensive it was. Amazing how costume can describe personality, body language can explain intent and music can determine mood.
Now, I was aware of the basic premise for the story, but had never actually seen the movie before. I think when I was a kid, I was secretly a bit scared of the pasty, blade-digited main character, even though I knew that Edward Scissorhands wasn't a horror movie. But with the magic of YouTube in 11-parts and the courage that comes with age, I have solved that, and now realise that the storyline is slightly different. In the first half hour of the movie, I thought I preferred the storyline of the ballet, but having seen all of it, I now can't decide. They're both good!
Anyway, that was a $100 very, very well-spent. I recommend anyone who has the chance (provided the tickets haven't already all sold out) to go and see it now!
(P.S. They added a special touch at the end which surprised and delighted the whole audience! I won't tell you so as not to spoil it, but it really built on the magic!)
Var
sent a postcard on 7/23/2008
First exam today, so last night I tried to pull an all-nighter with no success. Ended up falling asleep in bed, but knowing that I shouldn't, it was a kind of fitful sleep where I kept waking up and then going under again. Whenever I sleep like this, I always have the weirdest dreams. This time, I had a dream that Melbourne was under attack by Germans.
The most curious thing, though, was that this new scenario incorporated scenes which I had already dreamt before, as if in the past, I had been fed little tidbits and now I was able to see the bigger whole to which they belonged.
What are dreams anyway? I mean, biologically. I wiki-ed it and they said "the contents and biological purposes of dreams are not fully understood". There are various theories but nothing that is concrete. The reason why I am intrigued by this is because I want to know where recurring dreams fit in.
There was also a recurring theme: helplessness. I often have dreams where I'm some kick-ass fighter with this awesome knowledge of hand-to-hand combat and use of various weapons. But when it comes to actually dealing the blow, it's as if I'm stuck in slow-motion so even though I'm pulling a sweet move, it has been slowed down enough in the process that when it actually makes impact, it has little force behind it. In this dream last night, I had a gun which I was using to cover myself as I tried to escape from the Germans holding us hostage in a dorm - but I had no ammo. Every time I moved to use the gun, the hammer would just click uselessly.
Anyway, the exam? Instant fail. Oh yeah.
Var
sent a postcard on 7/22/2008
Why have my posts suddenly increased exponentially here?
One word: PROCRASTINATION.
You would be amazed at the lengths I go to to procrastinate. And the justification that I back it up with.
Today this is what I did and how I justified it:
- Met up with Zan. (Haven't seen her in ages and she will probably be busy with her last semester once uni's back up again.)
- Went to wushu. (My shrink told me to.)
- Went out to dinner. (I haven't spent time with me wushu buddies for AGES.)
- Went to C.S.'s place. (I was curious to see if he was a slummer and also cos I really couldn't peg where he lived.)
- Went to Mary's place. (Was also curious to see her place - maybe it's the 'Lodger in me scoping the competition or maybe I'm just a nosy bastard.)
- Played cards till past midnight. (The crew wanted to play cards and I was the only one carrying a deck.)
And now I'm about to justify going to bed because I figure that if I study now, my exhaustion will override my concentration and in the end it will just be a waste of good sleeping time. Also, the fact that it's 2am adds extra leverage. =D
In the succint words of Zan, someone make me study omfg.
Var
sent a postcard on 7/19/2008
Okay, with my rediscovered archives, I found some old checklists. I had a look at how much I had achieved over the years - and decided I would share my depression with you.
Checklist from 23/06/07...
Academic objectives:
- complete my uni degree at Melbourne Uni NOT DONE
- complete my uni degree well NOT DONE
- complete my uni degree without being miserable and half-assed about the content of my studies NOT DONE
- ie. do something related to writing PARTIALLY DONE
- ie. transfer out of Bachelor of Arts & Sciences and transfer into straight Arts FAIL
- use my uni degree to get into Professional Writing & Editing at RMIT so as to gain some industry experience and hopefully land some connections and/or a job NOT DONE
Personal objectives:
- stop moping NOT DONE
- for fuck's sake stop moping [see above]
- get away from Melbourne and everyone KINDA DONE ON ANNUAL BASIS (Byron Bay)
- ie. go to America/Canada NOT DONE
- be financially stable from now on KINDA DONE...HAVE NOT HAD ANY TROUBLE
- ie. have a well-paying job with decent hours which do not clash with studies KINDA DONE
- to not waste my money NOT DONE
- to publish something NOT DONE
Checklist from 30/01/08....
Things to do:
- WRITE DONE SOME
- DRAW NOT DONE
- work out wtf to do about uni cos so far the situation is super-farked RESIGNED TO GRIM FATE
- learn to budget NOT DONE
- call up The Singing Teacher NOT DONE
- get back to martial arts (NEED) DONE
- use up the dance class credits DONE
- reconnect with self NOT DONE
- after reconnection, try harder not to neglect friends and reverse the hermitism which you have become so used to FAIL
If you ever needed more evidence that I was a slacker, I think your wish has been amply fulfilled.
Var
sent a postcard on 7/18/2008
Blogger I PWN you!
...well, not really. I probably have less Blogger knowledge than most 12 year-olds in this day and age, but I finally worked a way past the whole stupid archive template thing which for SOME reason Blogger decided to remove, inconveniencing all the people who originally had their blogs on that system.
So yes, now I have my blog archives back and they're posting and updating correctly and it's allll good. (My kingdom for a sunglasses emoticon right now..)
Var
sent a postcard on 7/17/2008
Okay. So those who know me well or even those who know me just a little know that I am far from religious and definitely not Christian/Catholic. However, I still find it frown-worthy when every radio station is constantly making jokes about the Pope's visit to Sydney. Maybe one ha-ha to accompany a passing comment upon his trip here would be okay, but seriously, it seems as if radio stations have nothing better to make their shows on. What's so funny about the Pope anyway?? He's probably the most sobering political/religious figure I could think of (except for that one time he was featured on Family Guy - that was pretty funny).
I couldn't care less about the reasons for his visit but it makes me feel kinda annoyed that when someone of importance comes to Australia the first thing everyone does is slag them off. And there are heaps of Australians out there who are Catholic, too. How does excessively dissing their religious leader support our image of being an accepting nation?
C'mon guys...make your country seem less like it's full of hicks? Please?
Var
sent a postcard on 7/17/2008
Wow...scary. I think in self-proclaiming myself a recluse I have slowly allowed my social skills to deteriorate. Talking at work and talking to friends comes with way more difficulty than it used to. I feel as if my head works faster than my mouth can move and sometimes I run two words together or say a word that I was planning to say at the end of the sentence too soon. The result? Garbled conversations which make me feel part-fob, part-mentally challenged.
It's not good. =(
Var
sent a postcard on 7/14/2008
Rest in peace, YeYe.
Rest in peace, Djet.
...my blog is becoming an obituary.
Var
sent a postcard on 7/07/2008
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