I had to do a certain amount of sortage and retrieval of old crap because of the imminent parental move to Geneva.
The house is full of boxes.
Things I Did In Canberra (Part 2)
On Friday evening I went to dinner at Anise on West Row with Mum & Dad, for Mum’s birthday. We got hijacked numerous times by other people at the restaurant my folks (mostly Dad) knew, which was very Canberran.
I went out on Saturday night with my friend E. We drank beer at Filthy McFaddens and ate Japanese before evacuating his native Kingston for Civic. We played pool at Toast, had traditional semi-drunken coffee at Gus’s, and then, for reasons which remain less than entirely clear to me, went and saw Sahara, which was crap.
I got a couple of driving practice sessions in with my mother. My clutching is improving, but my steering needs work.
4 hours down, 116 to go..
On Sunday I had a luxuriously long conversation with my sister M (who, unlike my other sister, is definitely not getting married), currently residing at a hostel in Cairns and unphoneable except on her mobile. We used to be very close. We’re less close these days, but it was still fantastic to talk to her.
Filed under Photos
Things I Did In Canberra (Part 1)
On Friday morning I went out Belconnen way to visit my friend S.
Breathtaking views of picturesque Belco bus interchange.
His lifestyle seems very downwardly mobile these days.
But it was good to see him, I guess. He is currently living with two other guys and two kittens, who are brother and sister. For some reason I forget their names.
I didn’t realise how dodgy the first picture looked until after I took it.
Filed under Photos
Airport
I was late for my 3:30pm flight to Canberra last Thursday. I had to get a taxi from Swanston Street.
But I missed the flight all the same, by about two places in the checkin queue, and had to wait for the next one at 6pm.
I took some pictures of the airport but none of them came out very well.
Filed under Photos
Ask Not What Neurocam Can Do For You…
The official Neurocam application has changed – now aspiring operatives have to submit “between 250 and 300 words on what [they] have to offer Neurocam”.
Filed under Neurocam
Neuroblog Roundup
If Xade‘s to be believed, Quilly and Operative Ice (whose blogs have both gone down) are one and the same – and they’ve been given the Neuro-axe.
Tobyesterhase continues to put the tough questions to Maxwell Knight.
And it turns out his fellow Buffalo, NY operative Bob the Mediocre has a blog after all.
Operative Reanimator & NYC Group Assignment
Operative Reanimator of the l337 chess sk11z has a a blog. With pictures.
And Constance has (some) news of the group assignment in New York City tomorrow.
And That Was Canberra
Tonight is the last night of my Canberra sojurn. The folks are moving to Geneva in a few months; I might not be back here again for years.
I don’t know what to say. I was going to blog the whole thing but I don’t know what sort of spin to put on it. It’s been cathartic in some ways and banal in others. It brought me back to the place I was in when I moved in November to some degree, which was horrible.
It was sad and strange and made me glad I don’t live here anymore.
Taken quite a few pictures; ‘spect I’ll post some of them when I get back.
I just had a really lovely conversation with my Dad, which is worth mentioning.
Filed under Life
Assignment NTC-5781/01 Postmortemage
Jojo‘s posted the assignment and an account, Tript has a nice photo of himself along with a few well-chosen words, and Wednesday night attendee (and new blogger) Melbourne Wintermute (as distinct from German Wintermute) has posted his report.
I went on Tuesday. I beat Li, got thrashed like everyone else by Operative Reanimator, and got half a game in with Jojo before 10pm rolled around. I chatted to Tript about John Wayne Gacy’s horrible painting, and had encounters with a few other ops as well. It was simultaneously more convivial than the Bolte assignment, and also more intense. I liked it.
Filed under Neurocam
Assignment NTC-6421/02 Regretfully Declined & Canberra
Well, I submitted my report on Assignment NTC-5781/01 this morning and have already received another, Assignment NTC-6421/02. Unfortunately I’ve had to knock it back for not-in-town-this-weekend reasons.
Got to Canberra. Missed my flight, but caught the next one. Just had dinner with my father. Caught up with the dog. Made & confirmed various arrangements with various people. Wrapped a birthday present for my mother, who is 56 tomorrow. Happy birthday, Mum.
It feels really funny being here.
In The Industry We Call These ‘Cigarette Burns’
Although the largest one was made by holding a lighter to my wrist. I did most of them between 1995 and 1997. A couple in 2000.
I never used to think about them very much, but I’ve become a bit self-conscious about them over the last year or so.
My sister of the getting-marriedness – who is a photography student – is doing a series on scars. She herself has significant scarring on her neck and stomach as a result of several operations for various types of cancer. We spent yesterday afternoon at her place taking pictures of me and my arms.
She is getting married. Have I mentioned that already?
This afternoon I’m off to Canberra ’til Tuesday.
You’re Funny, Neurocam
In both senses. Thank you for a weird but enchanting evening.
I still don’t understand, but I think I love you.
Anyone game for some kind of extracamricular get together at some point? Tahiti at the end of the year seems too far away.
In other surreal news, my sister is getting married.
My sister is getting married.
This is going to take a while to process.
Filed under Neurocam
Here’s A Post About Learning To Drive
Around August last year, in response to one of my then-not-infrequent bouts of handwringing but-what-shall-I-doery, a friend and sometime mentor of sorts suggested that I should get my license, buy a kombi and go on a road trip around the country. I wasn’t sure about the roadtrip or the kombi, but the learning-to-drive idea seemed a good one. The hassles of getting around Melbourne on public transport sealed the deal; I got my Ls in February and have started taking lessons.
I had my third proper session out on the road yesterday. It’s very weird. I wonder to what extent it feels weird because of my age (28). Unsurprisingly, all of VicRoads‘ learner driver promo material is leveled squarely at a teen demographic.
In some ways it’s much easier than I’d expected, in some ways a lot harder. I’m starting to feel more comfortable on the roads but I still have great difficulty assimilating all the information you have to process simultaneously. Successfully co-ordinating the accelerator and the clutch is also proving a challenge. I stalled three times yesterday. I half wonder if I shouldn’t just learn on an automatic. But I’m jaundiced by my mother’s consistent assertion that they’re “not real cars”.
My instructor is this rather stern and incredibly worldweary old French guy called Moshe. He spends a disconcerting amount of time during our lessons playing with his Treo, but he’s always on hand to grab the steering wheel when I’m just about to kill a cyclist or slam on the breaks before I plough into the back of a police van. I like him.
Here’s a nice article by Suzanne Vega, of all people, about learning to drive on the streets of New York City at the age of 43.
Filed under Uncategorised
Work
Sooner or later I’m going to have to get another job. I’d like to work in a cinema. Concomitant to liking movies, I like cinemas. I’ve worked in two previously.
Firstly this one, from 1997 to 1999. I was also apprenticed to the projectionist there for a while. Prior to discovering Peter Greenaway at the age of 14 and deciding I wanted to be a film director, my ambition was to become a lighthouse keeper. Lighthouse keeping is a dead profession, alas, but I reckoned projectionism would be the next best thing. In some ways even better; lighthouse keepers can’t splice single frames of pornography into children’s films. Unfortunately what with increased automation, not to mention the inevitable imminent digitalisation of cinema exhibition, it’s also a dying trade.
Subsequently, in London, I worked at this incredibly cool and scruffy old revival house in Hampstead called the Everyman. It’s since been sold and upmarketed beyond all recognition, which is sad.
The downside of seeking employment in a cinema is that it will involve cold canvassing, which – shy & retiring semi-recluse that I’ve become – fills me with unholy dread. Also, I don’t really feel like I’ve been taking enough interest in movies lately to be very convincing as a prospective cinema employee.
(Digression: Didn’t get to Sideways, due to its timing being misadvertised; saw The Life Aquatic instead. It wasn’t great, but it was unique, and had a number of absolutely classic moments. And it looked really nice as well.)
One of the great virtues of my current job is that pretty much anything would be a step up from it, so I’m not hidebound by snobbery. I’m easy. As long as it doesn’t involve really severe public humiliation, or cold-call telemarketing. Or wearing a suit, goddammit.
All of this is theoretical at the moment, though, coz I’m going to Canberra next weekend before hitting the employment trail.
Neurocam Assignment NTC-5781/01
Charlie loves me after all.
To: Neurocam Operations Division
From: Teigan
Date: 2 April 2005 8:07:37 PM
Charles –
Am I correct in assuming that, despite advising of my availability on the 5th and 6th of April as requested, I have not been chosen to participate in the associated assignment, as advertised at http://ex0.blogspot.com/2005/03/did-you-get-yours.html?
Operative Teigan
To: Teigan
From: Neurocam Operations Division
Date: 3 April 2005 12:04:36 PMDear Operative Teigan
Our records show that you have indeed been selected for this assignment. Perhaps it was filtered by your email package? Can you please confirm receipt of this email.
Here it is again:
[snip]
Regards,
Charles Hastings
Head, Operations Division
Neurocam International
And I’ve scored a comment from the scary but ever-engaging Desci. W0Ot!