Katherine's Diary

Old Ladies

2009-10-16T21:49:00.000-07:00

I have just been marveling on how old ladies can be so similar yet different. I volunteer at a book exchange which has occasionally brought me into the path of embittered old ladies (both volunteers and customers) who shake their heads and mutter at the state of Katherine Town: the litter, the graffiti, the antisocial behaviour. (More often than not, these comments develop a racial bent which prompts me to change the topic or flee)

Today I got chatting with an old aboriginal lady who hangs out under a tree near the book shop. As our conversation progressed, she shook her head and began to mutter about the state of Katherine Town: the litter, the graffiti, the antisocial behaviour. I thought to myself how in agreement all these ladies are. How dissatisfied with the youth of today, how disapproving. How in harmony their opinions.

Where is the big shady tree under which we can all sit to air and compare our grievances?

Show us your prefix!

2009-03-24T18:12:00.001-07:00

Have just returned from the wonderful nerd-up that was the Australian Languages Workshop 2009 held at the beautiful Kioloa - ANU's coastal Campus. To any budding linguist (whose cunning is yet to be discovered) it was real-life immersion in one's undergrad bibliography - and they say immersion is a great way to learn!

Topics and issues were from the fun and finicky (getting down and dirty with the nitty gritty of various grammatical, phonological, semantic question marks of particular languages) to the political hot potatoes (the bilingual debate, language ownership vs. linguistic thievery, and various other Governmental and just plain mental decisions which are wreaking havoc on the world's most endangered languages).

Of course, there were puns aplenty and jocular (but jovial) slinging matches between the longstanding linguistic heavy weights of Australian Linguistics. A section of the lingo-blogosphere was also present: Jangari, Sophie, Jane, Bulanjdjan (and any I have forgotten) it was great to see you in the flesh.

Well, word to the nerd! Hope to do it all again next year.

Ma.

stuff (and nonsense?)

2009-02-28T04:08:00.000-08:00

I hope I didn't offend my (myriad!) of fans with the title of my (unfortunately over two months ago :S) post. Anyone who clicked on the link would have found a book with the same title as my blog, but whose subtitle imitated (in the negative) the title of the previous post.

(I'm not sure whether I should apologise for all the brackets - it must be the mood I'm in, hopfully my ranting is still somewhat legible through all these curved wossnames)

Felt like I should write, as I haven't in ages, but not sure what about. But that hasn't stopped me before, so perhaps I should just plow on? I know at least one munanga (moo-nang-ah: Eastside Kriol for 'whitefella') who shares my pain of literary blockage.

I've recently had two amphibian visitors, photos of whom I won't post here because they can be found here.

I s'pose, in the grand scheme, many things have been afoot in the last two months. Many or you may know that I have changed jobs. I have just spent my first week at the new one, still getting a handle on things. I've also managed to contract Ross River Fever - which, apart from being an exotic tropical disease - hasn't got much going for it. Oh well, lots of rest, DVDs and mooching is on the cards for me. I'm already Bollywooded out.

Our (in)famous Taj household is also in a state of newness and change at the moment. On beloved friend, former colleague and most valued compadre, has left us for the humid climes of the Darwinian big smoke; while another soon-to-be-beloved friend, not-likely-ever-colleague, and all round great gal, will be moving in at the end of the week. The King and I plow through these changes in a festive and party-like manner -rekindling my love of rope-lights at every opportunity:

Well, I'm all posted out for now. Hope you guys are still kicken on in good fashion. Catch you soon. xxx

Bobo.

(Rembarrnga language for 'that's all')

Not the story of a transexual

2008-12-02T03:26:00.000-08:00

So I came across this in a bookshop today.

In other news I'll be in Melbourne next week. Apart from that, not much to report to you guys at this point. Only that I'm looking forward to catching you Melbourne crew when I'm down under in a couple of days' time (please not my fully sic apostrophe); I'm in one piece and intend to remain so for the foreseeable future; I'm enjoying being surrounded by geeks/nerds (never really could distinguish a meaningful difference, c'mon guys, help me out in the comments) this week.

Marntaj.

Hottober

2008-10-11T00:04:00.000-07:00

A month of increasing humidity and high thirties temperatures. We've had a few sporadic patches of rain, interspersed with sporadic parental visits: Mother and her man have been trekking through the desert. They graced us at the Taj with their presence before kidnapping me for a several day sight see of Litchfield before depositing me in Darwin for a weekend out on the town. They endured the sticky top end capital for a while, but ventured back down to drier (though still fairly sweltering) Katherine and have now embarked on the homeward stretch to the cooler climes of Southern Oz via Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park.

I, meanwhile, who have been slogging away at work, have somehow accumulated the busiest schedule in the history of the world for the hottest season of the year. My timetable as of the coming week includes: A week at Jilkminggan, three days in Batchelor to tutor, another week at Jilkminggan, a week in town (or possibly Ngukurr), a week in Jilkminggan, another three days in Batchelor, another week in Jilkminggan. Thankfully all this will be topped off with a visit to Sydney for Summerfest2008, and then on to Mtown for a brill xmas with family and friends.

Hope Mtown is keeping all you groovers satisfied with its bookshops, cafés, and whatnot.

Mayawa,

(Mangarrayi: that's all)

Waist Management

2008-09-02T00:09:00.000-07:00

So it turns out at the weather gets hotter I start craving sugar, chocolate bars and ice cold milk shakes. What makes this a particularly bad recipe is that as it gets hotter, I feel more and more slothful, only able to muster enough energy to sigh about how hot it's getting. Ok, well that's a slight exaggeration. But not for long; soon the buildup will be in full swing (it has been dubbed by meteorologists to have already started) and sweat will roll, heads will loll, and moans will escape parched lips.

So, apart from vague hopes of being able to sweat it all out, my cravings seem to be leading to an impractical layer of insulation around the middle. Oh well.... at least laps at the pool are more appealing (though the sweltering bike ride to and from may be something to be endured)... Lolling in the Taj pool is much more likely.

Well, haven't heard from any of you Melbourne mob in a while (perhaps it is because you have disowned me for gratuitous use of the word 'mob'?). Hope all well in the down under of down under.

xx Love from the North. xxx

Racism sucks

2008-08-16T19:56:00.001-07:00

I've just come from 2 hours' volunteering at the book exchange. Some days this involves being flooded with customers - mostly tourists, interspersed with some locals and occasionally friends who drop in to say hi and laugh at the 80s sewing patterns which are accumulating in the art and craft corner. Other days, it involves sitting with a book or a crossword (or, in today's case, a Sudoku) enjoying peace and quiet, not a customer in sight.

Today looked like it was going to be a 'no customer' day. After one and a half hours, a lovely old lady came in. Dissatisfied with her current Miss Marple, she perused the shelves for another murder mystery. She settled on another Agatha Christie which we both hoped to be better. She was traveling on the Ghan - the only way to do it: first class!; She enquired about my dreadlocks - Now that I'm up close to someone with them, I've always wanted to ask: how do you wash them? As she was leaving, she told me how disgusted she was with the amount of rubbish around the tourists information centre. Somehow, her disgruntlement at the litter escalated into sweeping generalisations that 'Aboriginals' were responsible for it, and that 'the white man' shouldn't be cleaning up after 'them'.

I grappled with self-composure while trying to dissuade her of her assumptions by pointing out that many Indigenous people are employed, work hard, don't throw rubbish around, while many white, highly educated tertiary students leave rubbish all over university grounds, and that you can't make statements about an entire race based on the behaviour of a couple of people you saw in a public place. She would not be moved. She continued 'us'-ing and 'them'-ing, and making irrational arguments about how well behaved 'they' were in Darwin (because there's less rubbish in Darwin - heaven forbid this has anything to do with our respective town councils' diligence in rubbish collection! No! It must be how 'they' behave themselves that accounts for Darwin's messlessness!).

This is not the first time I've encountered racism. Nor, unfortunately, will it be the last. Whether it's locals or visitors, I am always astounded (not to mention disgusted) that this attitude persists, almost unchecked.

When I complained in person to the local rag about a racist cartoon published last January, they told me to write a letter:

Thumbs down to [the local rag] for publishing such a distasteful, nasty and racist cartoon last week. With the theme 'Australia Day' no less! Are there no moral guidelines (let alone media guidelines) to prevent such a things from going to press?

Despite short letters being preferred, mine was never printed.

Racism is something that isn't talked about in this town. Redneck locals will knowingly confide to each other their opinions on 'their' alcoholism, unemployment, social dysfunction, domestic violence, packaging their prejudice neatly into one term: 'anti-social behaviour'.

Nothing could be more anti-social than racism.

P.S. Despite the misanthropic bent of this post, it ain't all bad; check out what I'm going to next weekend: Lipstick and Ochre.

Kath to ELQ

2008-08-07T07:13:00.000-07:00

Guess where I went on the weekend?

If you guessed El Questro Wilderness Park then you are spot on. :) Different timezone: sunsets at 5:15pm and sunrises at 5:00am (as opposed to the 6:30am NT sunrises I which I happily sleep through). Temperate climes and fantabulous company (the King and the Legal Eagle). A total distance of 604km and about 7hrs' driving. Top it off with a swag under the stars, a photo shoot with yours truly the Hoochery, and some gorge-ous hikes. Ah, bliss!

Here's the rootin' tootin' route:

Punyu!

(Gurindji: awesome!)

Welcome to the Taj

2008-07-11T22:40:00.000-07:00

Rules:

- 1. Anything can be recycled if you put your mind to it.

- 2. Learn Backgammon. Right now; off you go!

- 3. Keep the clutter off the bench.

- 4. There is no rule four.

- 5. Don't bump the gate. This includes the King!

Consumables:

- The Lord's Classic, or Roo'n'Salad (pron. 'Ruined Salad')

- Orgasms, aka The Best Coffee in the NT.

- I-can't-believe-it's-not-baked goodies.

- Champion's Breakfast

- Fridge Surprise

Delights:

- The King's "Good morning! Good morning!" sung in the wee hours.

- Noodlicious Pool Volley Ball.

- Charm.

Cardinal Sins:

- not refilling the ice-block tray.

- plugging country music at high volumes on Saturday mornings from neighbouring houses.

- lobbing petrol bombs into the yard.

- buying the product because the packaging will look cool when recycled.

Tajisms:

- Fresh as a lettuce (trans. bright eyed and bushy tailed)

- Fresh as a Woolies lettuce (trans. not so bright eyed and bushy tailed; often a descriptor of those who may have boogied at the Base the previous evening)

- Have you been eating clown shit? (trans. Who's a f***ing comedian!?)

- Captain Selfish (def. something created from uninhibited, free and conscious choice for the self and the self alone).

It is TIME

2008-06-06T08:27:00.000-07:00

So, I guess it's time for a new blog. Perhaps a not-so-cryptic one this time.

What's the haps?

I'm going to Barunga (pronounced Bar-oong-a) Festival tomorrow morning. This year we have a stall there, with all our languagey wares. Am looking forward to it, and hoping that manning stall won't interfere too much with participating in all the other festival activities, such as witnessing the spear throwing contest, or the road-safety song comp. V. excited about seeing Archie Roach, as found one of his albums in plastic bag of random tapes in back of previous house's linen-press and have grown quite fond of it.

In other news: I spent the first half of this week relearning what cold crisp air smells like: four days in Alice Springs for professional development was just what the doctor ordered. Though, two 16hr bus rides in one week is a little taxing, one has to admit! The trip resulted in a new ambition: to see the Todd River flowing through Alice. It only happens every couple of years, and it hasn't even rained in Alice for over a year.

Thanks to all concerned re my stressful situation. Things are still quite strange, though I am now in possession of the notion that things will be ok, the sun will rise tomorrow (and even tomorrow's tomorrow!), and, thank you Gloria Gaynor, I will survive. Truth be told, things are even becoming somewhat humorous as new an bewildering events unfold before my eyes.

Well yumob,

That's all for now. Please update me on what's your haps in the comments.

Ngulajuku
(Warlpiri: That's all)
(Pron: Ngoo-la-joo-goo)

The new coriander of the herban mob?

2008-05-30T07:50:00.000-07:00

Yes. You've found me out, readers: I am, in fact, blogging purely because I thought of a title idea and had to put it somewhere. I could have micro-blogged on Facebook, I s'pose, but this one felt too titlish: I just had to splash it out to the world at large. Please comment if you need further explanation. Interpretations welcome.

Addendum: Upon rereading this post, I feel I should provide at least some explanation (however, obscurity is still my object)

Most people who know me know how I feel about Coriander.
Herban is a hyper-correction.

This title is chiefly for Lol.

Again, I invite interpretations of the title...

[insert expletive of your choice]!

2008-05-21T01:11:00.000-07:00

Well well well. There's water in a well, and there's bullshit in corrupt, nepotistic, power-tripping maniacs. Especially when there's two of them.

But there's at least some entertainment value in 'evil stupidity' (as it has been dubbed - something like the antithesis to 'evil genius'). And one can only trust one's ideals that, some time soon, sanity will prevail (chuh!). Where's the good? Where's the rationality? Where's my union membership? (Ah, here it is! Phew!)

And besides, it's only because I have an attitude problem (or so the new king dick accuses!) that any of this is in the least difficult, uncomfortable, distressing or - let's face it - of questionable legality. And that's not to mention the lack of etiquette for the whole thing. Gosh. Unthinkably arseholic adventures are afoot. See you on the other side!

Blogging about blogging about blogging about blogging about blogging... for the sake of it

2008-05-08T05:16:00.000-07:00

Judging by the complete lack of response to my last post, perhaps I should presume only to blog when I have something in mind I wish to blog about, rather than blogging for the sake of it.

This brings me to by current dilema of whether I can justify blogging about not having anything to blog about. Is this enough of any excuse? Or is it as lame as blogging for the sake of it?

Well, I guess I'll let you readermob decide; and your silence (or lack thereof) will dictate whether I continue on in my ranty ways, or whether I defect and start writing some quality prose, not just blogging for the sake of it.

I s'pose, one thing I haven't considered here is that perhaps your silence is no slight against me; perhaps it is nothing to do with how 'for the sake of it'-bloggy the previous post was; it could be purely the product of youse guys busy in your busy lives, not having hours and hours of free time to scour the internet for trashy blogs written by people who just blog for the sake of it.

Well, I feel sufficiently themed to leave y'all now, in peace or in confusion. Perhaps one day I'll blog about something so uber-cool, that my stat counter (had I one) will explode from the strain. But not today, for I suspect even today, I've been blogging for the sake of it.

Humbuggery

2008-04-24T00:26:00.000-07:00

Ahoi hoi All!

I'm sitting in the office, it's close of day, and I'm about to go home. Day has seemed extra long, but somehow I made it through to the end of the day. Tomorrow, some of my friends and I are going to on an overnight hike to Sweetwater pool at Edith Falls. It's only a short hike, and there's a swimming hole at the end of it, so we're all looking forward to it.

What have you mob been up to? (You'll notice, I've adopted some Northern Territory-ese, but Dee, I'll try not to say 'thing')

Umm, Imo's friend Jess came over for tea, and then cooked us tea. There are about a gazillion linguists buzzing round the office at the moment - there are heaps of visiting linguists - Hello yumob! It's all very exciting, we had two of them over for tea on Tuesday night. S - my non-linguist housemate - made a swift exit while L, myself, and our two guests nerded it up discussing the origins of the word 'torte' and how to spell the sound [u]. What fun :)

Well, I have to toddle off and check my scrabulous scores before the 'Woolies run' for the camping trip.

Si Yumob.

What’s a good thing for a hangover?

2008-04-14T00:44:00.000-07:00

Drinking heavily the night before.

Well, here’s my most recent recipe:
Ingredients
1 Friday night
1 generous shot Benedictine over ice
1 boogie to local radio show hosts by boss and housemate
5 glasses red wine
Several pieces garlic damper
1 slice Tziki[sic – that’s how they spell it on the menu!] Pizza
1 shot Jägermeister
1 bottle lime flavoured beer (?!)
1 boogie to classics blaring from the local pub
1 pot unidentified alcoholic beverage bought by your mate (prob vodka/lemonade)
-1 Captain Selfish snack
Some water

Method (huh! there was no method to this madness!)
Take Friday night, preferably sapped of energy from the preceding week’s work. Add alcohol continuously (pausing for pizza) stirring occasionally with boogies from local radio, and pub classics. Return home, watch housemate cook and consume food. Note: do not consume food yourself, as this would undermine the spectacularity of your hangover. Drink token glasses of water, not too much, for same reason.

Cooking time: Allow to stew for 6hrs’ restless sleep, interspersed with several toilet breaks. Serve at 8am on the porcelain bus.

Marching out of March

2008-03-30T15:47:00.001-07:00

Here we are again at the end of another month. The chocolate festival has passed and we’re back to a full five day week. But don’t despair: choir is starting in two weeks; there’s a conference in Sydney coming up; and dry season has started (officially, as in, according to meteorologists and everything).

So, Easter: I spent the first two days recovering from a cold, lazing around the house and reading Gone with the Wind. I finally finished it on Easter Saturday night. Hurrah, hurroo! Sunday brought Erica and Dean from the South, and we have a fantabulous time ‘chilling’ in the pool, catching up on goss (oh, the goss!) and enjoying Katherine in all its glory. Post-Egg-Day Picnic at Low Level by the Katherine River; Erica Ordinary’s debut performance at one of the local taverns. And I do believe E&D even enjoyed themselves, despite the lack of the much hankered for last-night-in-town piss up.

We had a couple of showers last week – the knock-em-down rains. Many blades of spear grass, which was as tall as me, is standing crooked and forlorn, snapped by the weight of massive rain drops pelted from a great hight. These are the last rains of the wet, signalling the dry. We are now in for months of clear blue sky, days of 28~30°C, nights just crisp enough to warrant long legged pyjamas, and we might occasionally wear long pants, closed-toe shoes, or even socks!

Remind me to water the tomato plant…

It is a truth universally acknowledged...

2008-03-12T16:05:00.000-07:00

...that a single girl in possession of a large book collection must be in want of a life. But instead she opted to pay the book lovers’ society of her choice squillions of dollars and expanded her collection. After all, she lived in a small country town where exciting things were afoot every other weekend. The excitement of life seemed to seek her out, and she relished the stolen few minutes here and there when she would snatch a few more words, paragraphs, pages of a treasured tome. Why, just this morning she had left Scarlett Hamilton (nee O’Hara) toiling over the saintly Melanie’s labour pains……

But, I digress. Life in Katherine has been a whirlwind of visitors since last we spoke. The two solid weeks’ stay of work’s fabulous and newest recruit (delayed on her way to Ngukurr due to the inequitable levels of rivers to roads) was peppered with visits from people up from Kalkarindji, down from Darwin, people going down to Kalkarindji from Darwin, sleep overs from Jilkminggan, and Southern guests up for a taste of NT relaxation. In addition to this, a rogue Mexican has taken up residence for a couple of weeks; however, he makes excellent coffee, so he can stay till the weekend.

We were going to have an Irish guest for the St Paddy’s day weekend, but she got a better offer, so we’ll be indulging in a little ‘sog time’ – possibly in front of the BBC’s definitive Pride and Prejudice. Our systems are in need of purging after sitting through a whole 2hrs of Kira Knighly’s breastlessness and Judy Dench’s disappointing deBurgh. (Though Darcy did get a little more ruggedly handsome with a second viewing… *smoulder*)

It has rained a lot. The waters of the Katherine flowed around 4m last Saturday. By Sunday, less than 24hrs later, the watermark was lapping half way up 11. But be not alarmed compadres! No one starts worrying around these here parts till the water hits at least 16.

In the mean time, I’ve been recovering from a cold, exacerbating my insomnia with Gone with the Wind, and rescuing baby green tree frogs from my bedroom (I have no idea how they get in there, but they’re sooo cute!)

Anyway, bed and book are calling me, so I’ll bid you adieu with my latest Kira Knightly impression:

Ai kaan jinggabat neim blanga dijan poust

2008-02-18T22:42:00.000-08:00

I have had so many ideas for my ‘next post’ that I must have been too intimidated by myself to write any of them down, or, indeed, post anything. So here goes with a regular, start from scratch, no plans, post.

Umm…. And this is the part where I get tongue tied (or finger tied? Or whatever it is when you’re typing not talking!). So many things have transpired since last I wrote. It’s difficult to know where to start, especially since I’m writing this in a hotel room as a word document, so can’t even refer to my last post for a few pointers.

Well, hotel room’s not exactly right; but perhaps that’s a good place to start: I’m in some form of paid accommodation, about 200km North of the Taj (for photos of which, my dear friends, you’ll have to wait till Dee puts them on FB as I forgot to transfer them to my USB ere her southern bound return trip.. will see what I can do). I’m up here tutoring the Diploma of Interpreting at BIITE (google it; can’t be bothered expanding the acronym) in a town called Batchelor, till Wednesday. It’s rained near constantly since my arrival, and I left Katherine River at 7m and rising on Sunday afternoon (don’t worry, it has to get to over 18 before we really panic!). The turn off to Batchelor from the Stuart HWY is sporadically cut off throughout the day as the creek rises and recedes every couple of hours, so whether I can get back to the big K is another story altogether! Well, that’s an over dramaticalisation, but hey!

In other news, I travelled to Melbourne for xmas and New Year, spending a spectacular night on the beach watching an electrical storm out to see, meeting some cool new people, but mainly rekindling my love for all you, my dear readers, my old friends, my People. It was fantastic to catch up with each and every one of you. I’m sorry to any who I missed, and look forward to another whirlwind Melb tour some time mid year.

Upon my return to the big K, I plunged back into the madness of full-time-work-after-two-weeks’-leave, which was even more maddening as I had only three weeks in which to cram things before another two week holiday (woe betide the time-poor linguist who applies for holidays in the month of February!). Dee came for a visit which pacifically [sic] entailed two funfilled trips to Darwin, swimming at Umbrawarra Gorge, a sight seeing road trip to Timber Creek, scenic sunrise flying over Nitmiluk (Katherine Gorge) and Leliyn (Edith Falls), many dips in the body of water lying just west of the Taj, feeding Maru the cat, and lots of time with hot glue, drawing pins, interestingly stained giant foam, and egg cartons. Oh and caves, lots of caves. And a disturbingly friendly caveman. And don’t forget the backgammon!

Dee, I started missing you before you’d even left. And it was very strange not seeing you everyday – I’d grown accustomed to your face! I hope you have a great time, we had a great time hosting you, and you are welcome back when e’er you wish. ☺

Since then it’s been ‘back on the horse’ and ‘go go go!’, gee up Hooch, you’ve got interpreters to book and train, recordings to edit, and Kriol courses to run. Leisure time was filled on the weekend with the most frustrating, disappointing, let down of a Film Festival of my life. Indeed, I challenge anyone to compete with the incompetence and misfortune which betide the local cinema.

Beware: what ensues is a purging of frustrations. It may not be coherent, or even interesting; if you dare, dear reader, read on.
The first feature came to a climactic nadir when, in the midst of the action, just as the baddy was admitting all the glory of his badness, the film cut out and the lights came on. A minute later, after groans from the audience (who are not unfamiliar with such mishaps occurring in said cinema) the film came back on, and in silence, we could only lip read the end of the menacing monologue. Grr, mildly frustrating, turns out there was some stickytape on the film, oh well, let’s hope they keep and eye out and it won’t happen again. Not so, my friend, not so. The second film suffered the exact same cut out/lights on fiasco, though it failed to be quite as timely. The third (which you’d think could not be topped until you hear the fourth!) started to play upside down with no sound a bit after halfway through. We were told that the film canisters had been labelled wrongly, though our confidence in the projectionist’s abilities were wearing thin at thin point. Yet again, the following day, Katherine’s film fest frequenters, (oh the masochism!) decided to brave another ‘cinematic experience’. Collective and disheartened laughter rippled in disbelief across the audience as the short came on with no sound. In silent horror we watched as we contemplated leaving. For some bizarre reason most of us stayed. A belated apology from the festival host along the lines of ‘sorry, we’ll try to get some sound for the feature’, was met with more groans. We were at the end of our tether, or so we thought. In vain hope, we remained in our seats. The feature came, and – for a moment – all was well; there was sound and everything! From about 15minutes into the film, the sound kept cutting out. But the stubborn film goer clung to the subtitles (yay for foreign films!). We watched the better part of it in silence, a silence broken by someone answering their phone with ‘I’m at the movies and there’s no sound’, then broken by pop music pumping from the speakers, then by a crackly tapping as though someone was testing a mic. Suffice to say I did not stay for the second feature that evening. Alas for those who braved the inevitable. For it is just that, inevitable: our tropical wet season begat a town-wide power failure that not even the local cinema could withstand.

Not Property

2007-11-04T00:03:00.000-07:00

So. The news when last we spoke was that I didn't have to vacate my lovely home. Well. Three cheers for realestate arseholes, oops I mean, agents! Apparently she hadn't checked with the landlord before offering us a new lease, and when she checked, the landlord said no. Grr. To top it all off, I found this out the day after I had acquired a new housemate. Double grr.

Anyway, the realestate agent is _trying_ to look after us, so hopefully we'll find something soon. Getting information out of her is like getting blood out of a stone, though. And at least I now have someone to move out with, so I'm not on my own. My biggest drama is moving the piano, but whatever happens I think I'll come out of this ordeal relatively unscathed.

In other news, work dramas have finally somewhat sorted themselves.

Friday night we went out on the town, first to a colleague's son's 18th, then a cocktail party, then the Base (the only night club in town - and a pretty seedy one at that). It was great fun. At te cocktail party we started playing cards cs there were only four of us. But when some others turned up, we ran around and hid the cards so that we wouldn't taint our reputation as the coolest cats in town (sorry Wamut, your crazy cardplaying antics have been outed via blog!). We carved up the dancefloor at the Base till 4am then walked home.

Saturday was a bit of a fizzer, with the last Tick Market of the season being washed out. Then today my housemate had her "Sii Yoooo" party at the pool, cos she is moving to Darwin next week. We spent most of the time slipping and sliding over the inflatable 'Commando' course. Then the rain poured down and we sat under cover eating sausages and cooing over babies.

No other news really. The subtle admirer has made no further moves, nor has the stalker. So this is me in a nutshell:

Romance: nil
Home: soon to be nil
Work: was looking like nil, but prospects are much better now.

(no, wait, this is me in a nutshell: "help I'm in a nutshell!")

I've been on a bit of a whingey platform what with all this upheaval, I promise I'll have more interesting things to say when the house stuff is settled.

Well, farewell for now. Please comment. Kel, your updates and conversation have been awesome. Hope you are all well.

xx

P.S. Enjoy

Hot Property

2007-10-21T07:33:00.000-07:00

Well, it would appear my house isn't, as the sale fell through and now I don't have to move! YAY me. However my housemate is moving to Darwin and so I am looking for new housemates. I am meeting one on Monday night who might move in as early as sometime this week. We're going to check each other out on Monday to make sure we're not psychos.

But in regards to the title, apparently I am. I have accumulated a stalker and a subtle admirer (I think he's an admirer, but hey, let's hope I'm wrong :P ). And who wouldn't admire someone who looks like this:

The stalker seems to be leaving me alone now that I am ignoring his txts, but it got nasty for a while there. Giving me a whole new level of stress to add to my already undelightful work situation. But enough of that, I wont harp on about it here, I'll just let you know when it is all resolved - hopefully soon.

So. The main reason I'm writing is that it's been a while. Also, it's a request for comments, cos I would love to know what you guys are up to and I never have time enough to email everybody individually.

I really loved catching up with everybody in Melb. and those with whom I didn't, thanks for your txts and facebook comments - we'll do it next time; maybe over xmas.

Well, it's late and have a staff meeting tomorrow, so be safe, stay well, party on, and I'll try not to leave it too long till the next installment.

Adieu.

2007-10-12T18:09:00.000-07:00

Katherine Times and the headlines are cheesy.
Cane toads are jumping,
And river is high.
So the mango’s rich,
And the paper comes weekly.
No rush little baby,
It’s NT time.

One of these mornings,
Big mob of campers and caravans,
They’re gonna fill the streets
As the road trains drive by.
And from that moment,
Beneath the cloudless heavens,
You’ll finally notice,
You’ve come to the dry.

If I were a linguist, I'd know when to use subjunctive case

2007-09-14T23:02:00.000-07:00

Howdy, and welcome to another edition of 'Let's talk about me!'

Firstly, I'll update you all on the Piano:

This is my lovely ex-housemate Lyndoll and I being great female stereotypes in THE LAUNDRY (no, not the rocken bar in Johnston St, Fitzroy). But, rather than doing the washing, we are playing the ancient traditional tune: choppus-stickus. Yes that's right: the removalists thought they'd be able to get a Piano into an upstairs house with only two people. Hmph. I didn't witness the debacle, but apparently, their attempts were so nail-bitingly frightening that Catherine and Lyndal had to hide inside lest they witness the not-so-silent slapstick splat of Piano-falling-on-man.

They came around the next day, this time with four people, and all went according to plan. Urrah!

In other news: Work is quite stressful, but this week has also yielded some rewards and I feel like I've acheived something. Sigh. Next week is the second workshop for the Diploma of Interpreting. After that it's a drive to Alice, a flight to Adelaide, a linguist-nerd convention (I mean, conference), and a roadtrip to Melbourne.

I'm really hanging out to see the cats. Apparently Ferdinand is giving mum the silent treament since she got back from the beach. I hope I don't cop the same. Beatrix is a loveable as ever.

Well, catch you in less than a month!

xx

If I was a real Linguistics Nerd…

2007-09-05T07:01:00.000-07:00

I’d tell you all about how delighted I was to find a minimal pair for the retroflex and regular lateral in Mangarrayi.

I’d join the Facebook group ‘So, you’re a linguist, how many languages do you speak?’

I’d tell stories in eight languages with all my linguist nerd friends.

I’d make the punniest jokes.

Oh boy, if only I was a linguistics nerd….

Hang on a minute…… !!!

So anyway, what have I been doing in this fine Katherine Region since last we spoke?

Well, we had a staff meeting in Ngukurr and got to check out Wamut’s language centre. We were all blown away at the amazing work going on there. The journey was 4.5hrs each way. And we managed to get addicted to a card game called Liggretto which Betti, our German work experience girl, brought from OS. Here is the road we travelled:

Fathers’ Day passed fairly quietly with txt messages from Mum, Ned and Imo. Hope you guys are all doing well, miss you, love you etc. A cool thing Ned discovered through predictive txt was that ‘David’ and ‘Father’ share the same letters (well, up to the e anyway). So all our Farthers’ Day messages were unwitting txts of memorandum. Kind of cool.

Over the last couple of weeks, I have become addicted to Facebook. In fact, we three housemates sit in the house and, rather than talk to each other, we all sit at our computers and ‘poke’, ‘superpoke’ and ‘pokepro’ each other (not to mention, the bumperstickers, pirate/zombie games, and the newly discovered ‘Scrabulous’ – online
Scrabble). A quite (what I think) strange phenomenon to come from this FB experience, is that it seems to be taking over real life as well. Every time I go to a party, or sometimes in other casual conversations, FB comes up and we all start talking about the online events that have taken place. I am glad for the opportunity to join the groups ‘So you’re a linguist, how many languages do you speak?’ and ‘When I was your age, Pluto was a planet’. Much fun and tongue in cheek to be had, but one must escape back into reality sometimes. This is the place where things like Work and Social Life take place; I must convince myself!

In other, more exciting and more real news: I am getting a Piano (yes, that’s right AJ, a capital P and everything!) delivered on Thursday. Hazzah! (Although I do not relish the thought of discovering just how much technique I have lost since last I tickled the ivories.)

Well, I seem to have rabbited on quite enough. Please update me with all your news. Even if it’s in the comments, or a two line email. I’m really looking forward to seeing most of you in my trip down South next month – Erica, let me know if you’re in Adelaide when I am.

In the words of AJ,

Ciao for niao.

See you on FB! :P

Bloggers' Block

2007-08-11T23:39:00.001-07:00

Hmm… Long time between drinks. Few half backed excuses – the most recent being that I have had bloggers’ block, something which can only be overcome by writing about it.

Prior to suffering the blockage, first I was sick (I was out of commission for about two weeks with a flu/cold combo which left me energyless, exhausted and braindead). Luckily I had accrued enough flextime to get to work late and leave early. Am better now.

Then came the intervention. I had to organise interpreters for many of the community visits which was quite stressful, and filled with many hiccoughs. The stress left me functioning at a bare minimum when I got home, and it was all I could to do lift the remote, turn on the TV and vegetate. A pretty poor excuse for not keeping in touch as much as I’ve been meaning to, but I think I was still getting over the dregs of the cold. Anyway, that’s nearly all over now, and I’m learning all sorts of new and wonderful ways to cope with stress. I must be far down the road to superherodom in that regard (own horn: toot toot!).

If you are interested in reading first hand accounts of some community visits, Wamut and Jangari give their accounts at that Munanga Linguist and Matjin-nehen (the 'h' is pronounced as a glottal stop) respectively.

The most exciting thing happening now, is that I’ve finally been doing some linguistics. And I’ve started on the road to learning a language that has only two fluent speakers left – two sisters. Learning this language involves such wonderful outings as going fishing and recording stories and songs by the river. I have been instructed by the ladies that I must make recordings and listen to them on tape at home, as a previous anthropologist did. Aside from that, after this post I am going to stick posters up on my walls of all kinds of funky pronouns and grammar. You’ll know when I’m starting to feel more confident about it all when I change some of the headings of this blog to language headings, as Jangari has done.

At the moment I’m reading the Diary of Anne Frank. It’s amazing. Highly recommended to anyone with eyeballs.

Another thing I’ve been doing is volunteering at the Book Exchange. I sit in there for 2hrs on a Sunday morning, spending my ‘time of worship’ amongst the books – fitting, think not you? Sometimes it’s busy, sometimes hardly anyone comes through. But you never get bored because you’re surrounded by everything from Romance novels – titles include Indiscretions, Practise Makes Marriage, Husbands on Horseback – to spiritual healing books, children's books, history, geography, science books. I spent this morning reading Here Comes Snoopy – very cute, inflicting all kinds of nostalgia.

Oh, and I have been learning to be hospitable in my new environment – night before last, made a pavlova, and last night had ppl over for DVDs. Thanks Mum: the DVDs you sent up finally arrived this week.

SWOT that issue!

2007-07-04T20:39:00.000-07:00

Secretariat of SNAICC (National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care) has heaps of links to articles and discussion on the child abuse issue. It's also got links to articles which expose the Howard government's continued cuts to funding of projects which were combating the issues of child abuse. Here is an example.