Nay, Tis Not Death.

Oh, boy: Life is so still.

Regardless, recently:

• The closest thing I have had to a friendship group of late has effectively exploded in a blinding flash, and littered the surrounding countryside with splinters of flesh. Resultingly, I foresee many nights of housebound solo fun. From my little bright box in suburbia I plan to, over the coming weeks, watch the entire back catalogue of Spike Lee, drink much Passiona and read Vollmann until my brain buckles.
  
• With the kids at work I am making an Afterschool Care version of Monopoly, which will involve buying such things as "the toilet", "the tree house", "the trampoline" and "the computer room", on which you may, if wily enough, build cubbys on to attract more money from other players. In Jail will be "Wash The Dishes" and the utilities will be the leaf blower and the toasted sandwich maker. Chance cards will involve different afternoon tea scenarios. My main co-creators are the brother and sister duo Radomir (Asturius Cobryn-Koletti) and Jadviga (Asturia Hepatia Cobryn-Koletti) who have this way of referring to their favourite play leaders which is to call them their "local". I am (hopefully still) Radomir's local playleader, but Jadviga only allows female playleaders into her circle of locals. Both of them have tubby red cheeks and awesome glints in their eyes.
• I have been reading the Robert Fisk book and would like to declare Israel's policy of helping supply Iran with arms during the Iran-Iraq war to be one of the most unbelieveably strange concepts I've come across in a while, one which I am completely struggling to get my head around.
  
• I visited Keith and Lottie and bought a shirt with the owl and the pussycat on it, along with some strange ghosty men playing horn instruments. It's my new favourite thing to wear except for my kefiyah, which is my really real favourite thing to wear.
• There are about six people at the moment that I like spending time around specifically because I find them attractive and hope they feel the same, or similar, about me. I have no desire, on the other hand, to engage in serious relations with any of them. It's a strange feeling, making me feel filled with wonderful strength, but also sort of hopelessly pointless.
• I'm still mostly listening to the Hold Steady every time I drive, except for when I listen to a Spanish phrase-learning cd which has great music between the lessons that sounds like the most awesome parts of Calexico. I'm up to "Lesson Three - Still at the Hotel".
• Events at Rottnest island last weekend: (1) someone stole our crayfish, from right outta the pots, (2) The covers band at the pub played Khe Sahn and the night was so windless we could hear it right over the other side of Thompson's Bay while we played Carcassonne on the back table and out the front the green was swarmed with the black silhouettes of quokkas, collecting their like a ghostly militia, (3) we bumped into jazz guitarist Pat Methany on a secluded beach.
• I am thinking I may need to change a couple of things about my life as soon as is possible.

Oh and for the information of all non-Australians, a pictoral glossary:

QUOKKA


PASSIONA

CUBBY

CARCASSONNE
(this has nothing to do with Australia)

CRAYFISH

KHE SAHN