2003-11-01 - 6:51 p.m.
#130: No Need for an Rather Rushed Entry Which Will be Explained At the End of the Entry
Note to self: I'm having a strange old time with the dialup system they have here. The apartment I'm staying at right now doesn't have the new(ish) phone jacks, which are like mini little plug-ins, but instead has this huge beige plastic connecting thing that covers the entire wall socket. And when my computer does dialing up, I can hear the faint multiple clicks of a rotary phone system being used, as opposed to the multi-toned beeps of the dialup I used to hear in New Zealand. It's kinda odd. It makes me worried too. Apparently, this sort of phone jack is still highly prevalent in South Australia, and only now has the local phone services got around to replacing them with the far more efficient digital system. Makes me wonder if it's easy to get a proper ADSL connection at all.
Another day, another entry. There's a reason why I'm typing out this entry so quickly after the last one, and it has nothing to do with any major events that happened in the last few days. I'll go into the real reason why I'm typing this out later on in this entry. But first of all, I'd just like to say: Why did no one tell me Midori was a girl's drink? I mean, here I am, trying to be all cool and suave with my Midori and lemonade and it turns out that facade would be easily shattered by someone shouting "Oy! You! Fag!". I'm feeling somewhat miffed. Here I was, perfectly enjoying this sweetened alcoholic drink, and now I find out I'm a perfect candidate for the Village People. I don't have to take this sort of talk! I'm perfectly happy enjoying Midori and Baileys and white wine and other drinks that tend towards a feminine disposition! Because I'm a man who's completely comfortable with his sexuality, and who thinks drinking stuff that's bright neon green and alcoholic is cool.
I'm mentioning this whole Midori debacle because my cousin (female) recently took notice of my drinking habits and made the above observation about the drink being made for women. I hid my surprise behind a veneer of polite indifference and a casual toss of a head. Perfectly manly behaviour. There's also another reason, the person who introduced me to this drink (my best friend from Adelaide, Terence, of which you can read the entry when I got into this whole drinking thing here) has turned out to be, in the most stereotypical manner possible, absolutely fabulously gay. Or at least, his relatives think he's turned out to be gay. I mean, he did quit in the middle of his University studies to fly over to Germany to live with another man and is now teaching English in his spare time. And where else in the entire world (apart from Amsterdam) is more famous than Germany for its proliferation of successful sex change operations? And then there's his entire demeanour which has always been rather mincey and effeminate, that I never thought twice of until now. Then again, that's all a rather broad and circumstancial conjecture and I haven't actually received any confirmation from him or other members of his family apart from his uncle who's living here in Adelaide. I should probably ask his sister when she flies over to Adelaide from Sydney, before flying off to Singapore to live with her Malaysian beau. Yeah, everybodys leaving the coup, leaving me stuck in a country that's 80 percent desert.
I'm really starting to not enjoy coming back here. More so than before. And what's with all the cousins and leftover friends I have here in relationships (not always with the same gender)? Seems like everytime we meet up with a relative/old friend for a meal, they immediately have some kind of story about someone I know who's engaged in a steamy love-love relationship (oh yeah, to keep the current thread going: a cousin of mine in Sydney has a boyfriend. And this cousin isn't female. what the heck's going on?). I believe I've run into this sort of problem before. Things really haven't improved for me in a year since I've last been here. I should probably do something about that, as quickly as possible. Although it's been reccomended by certain people that I get laid as quickly as possible and get that part of my life over and done with, I think I'll save that particular task for when I'm emotionally ready to be in a relationship (ie never) and do what I've been meaning to do, and that is getting around to fulfilling my dream as a voiceover artist. No, not a job. If I start thinking it's a job I might decide to procrastinate some more, even if I need the money. I have to think of it as a dream. A dream that I have a chance of attaining and I should just go for it before I become a bitter old man. As opposed to just being a bitter man that I am now. And "not old" may be pushing things a bit too.
I've looked in the local Yellow Pages for Adelaide. At first, it was for "Internet Sevice Providers", but then, out of curiosities sake, I decided to gravitate towards "Recording". And there it was: an entire page devoted to "Recording Services" and a whole list of numbers I could call, any one of which could most probably tailor make some kind of demo tape to suit my voice. I looked at that page for a while. In fact, I looked at it, looked away, took another glance one more time: for a whole two days while not doing anything with the knowledge that I now knew. I could record a professional voiceover demo. I had the number, all I had to do was call. I'm scared of failing and being told I have absolutely no chance in professional circles, but what are my real alternatives here? Go back to work at MacDonalds? Not bloody likely. I have no interest in going back to working in a kitchen environment. It just doesn't interest me. So I should start recording now while I still have a chance. Just ring them up, ask if they do professional voice over demos, make an appointment and get the demo done if they do, then send the tape to various talent agencies, and cross my fingers and hope.
So far, I've gotten as far as "ring them up". And that's just one number out of an entire page of numbers. Some of the questions I asked were a little too technical for the receptionist, so she asked for my number and said she'd get a technician to call back later. So I did so, and since then I've been an absolute coward and haven't tried calling them back under my own volition. Sometimes I'm just so frustrated with my inability to get over my fear of failure. Am I going to live this life as a mouse and be filled with regret later on? Bad things are going to happen, but they'll happen anyway, even if you try to avoid them: so why not meet life head on? That way you can see all the good things, too instead of being satisfied with continuous mediocrity. Just go for it, you stupid blockhead! Don't be a Charlie Brown and his perpetual life of doom! I mustn't be Charlie Brown, mustn't be Charlie Brown.... Gawd, I can't believe I'm going to have to make that my mantra.
The search for houses is apparently quite a task for my mother (before being joined by my father). It's only in recent days they've found some nice houses at a semi-reasonable price that's close to city. In fact, they've even already bid on one nice looking home (their op, anyway. I haven't seen it yet) whose bidding period ends this coming Sunday, so hopefully no one will bid higher than us and we'll get it and can move in. Before this lucky break however, my mother was searching through newspapers and saw nothing but houses being sold at outrageously high prices. For 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom and 1 kitchen (both unrenovated) and no front or back area to speak of: 300 thousand. Even the dingiest places were asking for 200 thousand. I mean, I can imagine these sort of prices being demanded of houses close to a major metropolitan centre, but this is ADELAIDE. The city that's.... Well, I've said all I really need to say about this city in my previous entry so I don't need to go on; but this is a city that's barely graduated from being a "town" or a "village". And I don't think that's going to change anytime soon.... But what's really crazy is the fact that despite these asking prices, these places are getting sold anyway. People are DESPERATE to buy houses here. Here! In Adelaide! What kind of idiot would want to move here? I mean, present company excluded, of course. It's the kind of city whose best feature is that if one ever needed a retirement village city, Adelaide would be a great place to do the conversion. And it wouldn't require that much effort to do so. Oy. If I ever get my hands on the people who decided that raising house values in Adelaide was a good idea....
I've been looking at the special events page for Auckland Armageddon 2004 and it's making my eyebrows twitch and my palms unbearably sweaty. It looks.... very ambitious. Incredibly ambitious. In fact, I'm wondering if it can be done at all? There are so many events being lined up for the day and so much to do in the relatively short period of time presented, will it be all right? Admittedly, I'm not the one doing the overall planning, just one part of the whole, so I'm not seeing the whole picture: but I hope Zeb has assembled a cracker team for this. That way if one thing falls through, at least there'll be others to take its place. Several small unique pieces being (hopefully) run by different people so it's small sections adding to a huge whole. It's not as if the events haven't been done before elsewhere at other cons, it's just the first time they've ever been done HERE (well, there) in Auckland. I think I'm forming ulcers thinking about it and it's.... Only six months away??? We're doomed! Doomed, I tell you! Which reminds me that I need to get started on organising the whole "Who Wants to be an Otaking?" competition. Yes, organising a competition while in another country and 4/5ths of the organising crew is overseas. That seemed to be a smart idea at the time. What the heck am I going to do? Can I do this? I'm just panicked right now because I just found this out. I have 6 months to go, everything is going to be okay. We will not screw up due to my incompetence. I have 6 months to get over my incomptence. Everything is going to be okaaaaaaaaaay....
RIght. Moving on. Ironically, moving on to things I haven't moved on from since coming to Adelaide and started comparing the differences here to Auckland. In otherwords, things that I miss. I miss plentiful Japanese restaurants, first of all. I cannot stress that enough, and I'm glad one of the last major meals I had in Auckland was in a Japanese restaurant. There aren't many said restaurants here and of the few that ARE here (exactly ONE in the city centre. unforgiveable) they're the expensive kind with silver service, not the cafe kinds that you see everywhere in Auckland. Admittedly, these restaurant types are probably more authentic, but I'm really starting to miss buying five dollar sushi while walking down Queen St. and also eating katsudon in a food court. Memories.... So painful. And one more thing! Those Commonwealth Bank ads on TV: the ones with that "American" Goldstein trying to probe the New Zealand banking system in a variety of sneaky ways. Yes, I miss those too. As stupid as it may sound. It's one of the only advertisements on TV I feel are genuinely funny and it has a running continuity that makes them even more amusing. Yeah, I'm missing weird things here, aren't I? I also miss the cheese. EB must be over the moon to see that, but seriously: the cheese selection here is incredibly poor. It's as if no one here has heard of anything tastier than plain 'ol cheddar. Cheddar, cheddar and more cheddar. Even the local Subway proves to be unhelpful, as they have only three kinds of cheese: cheddar (of course), old english and swiss. What kind of civilised country does not have sliced smoked cheese, I ask you? And, despite the fact I only really had a sampling of it in the last month I was in Auckland or so, I miss a nightlife. Any nightlife. ANYTHING. A dead city after 6PM (except, grudgingly admitted, Fridays with late night shopping until 9PM)? And god help me, the South Australian Government is thinking of having a curfew to "roust undesireable elements in the state". A CURFEW? In THIS city? What is this, an overgrown daycare centre? DO people realise just how dead this place is after dark? No, I suppose I shouldn't get that answered. It might scare me to know just how much this state is coddled and cottonballed compared to the others and they don't know it.
.... Hmmmmm.... I know I've forgotten about something else that I miss but I can't quite recall. Maybe it'll come back to me later....
.... Natch. Of course I miss everybody in Auckland and the Auckland Anime Club! Geez, I'm not going to forget all the misery and sob-filled nights you've all subjected me to-- I mean.... How wonderful you've all been to me and how much I love you all! Really. I mean it. Truly, I do. Why, I may start to cry now, thinking about how utterly lonely I am in Adelaide, stuck inside the apartment all day long, sitting in my own filth and sweat after days of not taking a shower, my only companions being my Gamecube and the internet.... Why, if I were so inclined, I might very well take my own life out of sheer desperation to be free from this trapped existence! Yay! I apologise if that thought disturbs some people. I'll be sure to leave some body parts behind after my cremation to comfort you all: so you'll always have a little piece of Edwyn to remember me by. I wonder if my odd, off colour humour is preventing me from meeting people? Now there's a thought, indeed!
Now, as to why this entry reads so rushed and doesn't possess my usual flair for eloquence: I've been trying to save it all for National Novel Writing Month. A month long writing event in a competition to reach 50,000 words in that time period. More of a novella, when one thinks about it. I really have no friggin' idea what I'm going to do or where I'm planning to go with this, but I'd decided to apply anyway and am planning to start writing right about after I finish this entry. It's a silly thing, and I'm not going to get any prize money out of it, but I don't really have anything else to do anyway for the next month and so: why not? 50 thousand words should flow out like honey from a bees arse for me, so I may as well project a straight beam of thought from my brain to my fingertips and to my word processor of choice. So that's why I'm writing this entry out right now, I may not get a chance later when in the throes of passionate novel writing. And now I'm going to go start writing a novel for which I have absolutely no ideas, no story, no characters and no plot. It should be fun. Look forward to reading it here. I demand it. And now, I go.
