Hey there. I’m sitting here at work, listening to Metric, Franz Ferdinand and Camera Obscura. I’ve had a morning of work, then an Italian A/V class, and then Old Icelandic. I’m at work till 6 and then I’m meeting a friend at the Aro Street Cafe at about 6:30. I was off work yesterday with the worst allergies I’ve had in a long time - I looked in the mirror at one point and the whites of my eyes were completely red. I just lay around at home (well…I lie, I went to a lecture), sleeping and doing Old Icelandic translation. Ate leftover Chicken Rendang for dinner. Played some Elder Scrolls III, which is a new purchase. A new time-waster. But it’s a good way to unwind from staring at text and flicking back and forth through a glossary all day.
Oh, and on Friday night we celebrated James’s birthday, down at the Brewery (of course). I had a few after work drinks, and then went home, had dinner, etc., then went back into town at around 9:30. Alan and James were fairly twisted by that stage - Lisa carted Alan off home shortly after that, and James lasted only until about midnight, when he started taking his clothes off and doing his Mick Jagger impersonation, after which John (one of the regulars) bundled him up into his car and drove him home. I stuck around talking with some people I had never met before - really the first time I’ve ever sat around in a bar after all my friends have gone home. It was actually quite nice. You just find yourself rattling on about nothing in particular, not really caring what the other person thinks. Kind of like writing an online diary — just just prattle for the sake of hearing your own voice. Terribly, terribly self-centred. At least you have a chance of scoring when you’re in a pub.
Egad. I’ve been thinking about that lately (scoring). Not in a particularly fixated way, but more as an abstract concept. I’m going out with Aart, right? Well, it’s such a strange thing, I really don’t feel ‘attached’, even though we are basically a couple. I feel quite single. I’ve hardly been out, scouring the pubs for a different lover every night, it’s just that I don’t feel attached in the sense that I feel…single. I realise I’m repeating myself. I don’t feel part of a relationship. We send each other emails and things but that’s really not a relationship. It’s just so weird. I don’t know if it is going to work out or not. I know that’s hardly positive thinking, considering he is yet to even place a toe over here, but at the same time it seems like a difficult thing to switch off and on again. It just seems so abstract, so theoretical. There’s no practice to the concept. We are ‘a couple’ in name only, really. It’s more than a little bizarre. Probably not a good idea thinking about it too much.
Things are quiet at work, too - the new person has started, who will be taking over my role. She’s trained to the point where she’s doing most of the work and I’m twiddling my thumbs. I will be taking over some other work for other people, but they’re either busy or not around. It’s quite strange.
Jeez, look at the time already - 4:15. Less than 2 more hours to go. My, but the day has flown. Actually starting to feel quite sleepy right now. Oh yes, I nearly forgot, I have a new strategy for coping with the upstairs neighbors. I don’t know if I’ve written about this but there is zero soundproofing between my flat and the one upstairs. I hear every creak and groan in the floor - it is highly annoying. Everything sounds so loud too, BANG - you know? Voices aren’t so bad, because they are usually so faint, and during the day I’m moving around and making noise of my own. But when you lie down to sleep, you really hear every little thing. It’s been making falling asleep quite difficult. Even with earplugs. Each sound just stands out in contrast to the silence that you tend to dwell on it anyway. And the more you try to ignore it, of course, the more you wind up listening out for the next one. So last night I put my stereo on its ’sleep function’, where it plays for an hour and then turns itself off, playing really quietly, but just loud enough to hear through the earplugs. It worked like a dream. Sure I didn’t fall asleep straight away - I wasn’t really relaxed enough, I kept thinking “is this going to work?”, but I think I slept better than I have in quite a while. It also means that I won’t feel so ill-disposed towards the neighbors.
Perhaps harping on about sleeping patterns isn’t an interesting writing topic, I don’t know; but missing out on sleep, being tired all the time and not able to catch up on it can completely affect your reality. You get cranky, ill, feel lethargic…so I guess it is a major ‘thing’ for me at the moment, getting enough sleep.
It’s nearly daylight savings soon, rather, the end of it. I think we go back an hour this weekend. The nights are getting longer. When I woke up this morning I couldn’t make out the face of my watch; I’m going to have to start using my cellphone in the mornings to figure out what time it is.
It looks like it’s going to rain. Heavy dark cloud outside, with strangely illuminated white buildings across the road.
