Holiday in the Sun

Penguin had this on her blog, so I’ve stolen it to lighten the mood from the regular fire-related posts on here.

RULES:
1. Put your iTunes, Windows Media Player, etc. on shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS.

IF SOMEONE SAYS 'ARE YOU OKAY' YOU SAY?
Oh My God (Kaiser Chiefs)

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOURSELF?
So Hot Right Now (Jade McRae)

WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?
Aerodynamic (Daft Punk Remix) (Daft Punk)

HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY?
Stripped (Rammstein)

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE?
Not the Sunscreen (John Safran)

WHAT'S YOUR MOTTO?
Bohemian Like You (Dandy Warhols)

WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
The Lark Ascending (Vaughn Williams)

WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?
Bad (Michael Jackson)

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?
Ruhe Sanft, Mein Holdes Leben (Mozart)

WHAT IS 2 + 2?
Sweater (Eskimo Joe)

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?
Sonne (Rammstein)

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?
Ein Lied (Rammstein)

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
Bad Old Man (Babybird)

WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
Business Time (Flight of the Conchords)

WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?
Since I First Met You (The Robins)

WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
Everything In Its Right Place (Christopher O’Riley’s interpretation of Radiohead)

WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?
Buck Dich (Rammstein)

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST FEAR?
Muscle Museum (Muse)

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?
Bruise Pristine (Placebo)

WHAT DO YOU WANT RIGHT NOW?
English Country Garden (The Darkness)

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?
Good Morning Starshine (Peter, Paul and Mary)

WHAT WILL YOU POST THIS AS?
Holiday in the Sun (Sex Pistols)

A) Thank goodness for work calling me to Sydney for today and tomorrow...

B) ...while my town potentially burns to the ground.

Err... Hmm. Hopefully it'll all work out okay. But apparently the serious threat will remain for the rest of the week - particularly Friday. And actually will be a threat until there's rain. Oh please, let there be some rain!!!

I'm glad I'm out of the area, though.

Get kind of sick of locals who are like, "I've been here for 750 years and survived all the bushfires that have ever been through the area. In fact, I'll be remaining here to battle any fire front with a toothpick and a 10-centimetre-long piece of garden hose. You're just being a silly girl for wanting to be somewhere safe! Ha! I laugh in the face of danger!"

It makes me think they'd be the kind of people who would have been like, "It's just some ASH, what ARE you freaking about!?" in Pompeii.

But still... going back to the area tomorrow... I'm not sure what to think. Hopefully things will be okay. But I'm not holding my breath. And not just because I'm not into asphyxia.

I feel so shattered.

Yesterday for work, some work people and I went out to meet with a family who had lost their house and everything they owned in the bushfires on February 7. They had been out for the day and couldn't get back to their property when the fires came through. Sadly, their neighbours were home and lost their lives.

The family were lovely and amazingly brave. What I found amazing is how they spoke about their Christian faith sustaining them through this time. I think a lot of people are blaming God at this time (and admittedly, I'm not sure what to think about it). But they said they were relying on Him, and although there weren't any answers, felt God was helping them through what would be an incredibly hard time.

We had to go the long, long, looong way around to their property, and there was a lot of burnt (and burning) stuff on the way. Houses, trees, paddocks, fencing, etc. It was rather depressing, sobering. There were many houses that had survived the fires in areas where they were completely surrounded by bushland, and it was rather frightening to think about what it would have been like to battle the fires and protect your home in that situation. Particularly when the fires were so intense.

Taking photos through the area felt rather vultureish. But you kind of get over it after a while. It was so sad to be at the remains of the family's house. Twisted metal all charred and warped, ash-gray leaves littering the ground, blackened trees. The ground still felt kind of hot. And then there were the crows. Dozens and dozens of crows calling to each other dismally, flying around like blackened remains of everything else in the area.

There was a little burnt bat lying on the ground, being swarmed over by ants. A slightly-charred page of a book is caught against a bush. Another smaller piece of a page of a book is nestled amongst some leaves, words still legible.

It was depressing, in spite of the resilience of the people.

*sigh*

But life goes on, I suppose. And what else can you do in that situation, other than try to work on getting yourself together to face the future.

Life on the run

Last week, life was lived on the run from bushfires. Ironically, the fires are more of a threat now than they were last week, but y'know. Hopefully will be able to escape in time if things get dire.

But last week's adventures were kind of fun. Apart from the fact that the house and its contents could be burning down and all of that. There's something interesting about life being compacted to a few suitcases and living in some variety of limbo.

At the same time, the limbo is somewhat hellish. I mean, it has the potential for an uncertain, horrifying future. And then it may be fine.

The following are some extracts from my non-diary:

"Watching a French film in a dodgy hotel room. It features a murder, which was rather disturbing. Obviously what happens when you find yourself attracted to strange French men who try to win you over with lion cubs. They are killers! I wish I could speak French. Maybe that's what I shall do if everything burns - get insurance, go to France, learn the language. Become a French pastry chef who solves crime with the assistance of a flamboyant and outrageous drag queen. Crazy Lady and Queeny, the adventures of an insane PI agency..."

* * *

"Really, this running-for-life lark is expensive. And rather depressing. But I swear I saw Sam Newman this morning. And he stared at me, probably because I stared at him first and smirked. I found myself looking at him thinking, 'Fondled any good manequins lately, Mr Newman?' He probably thought I was checking out his sugar lumps."

* * *

"On Friday at Maccas, I bought some fries. The manager served me and when he gave me the chips, took my hand and stroked it, wishing me a beautiful day. It was rather unusual on the whole. Kind of wondered how many sexual harassment suits have been filed against him."

* * *

"Living a life disconnected from my own. But I loved the disconnect, somehow. Rather energising, not having the monotony of what life has been for the past x years. My God, my life really HAS been that boring. I don't want to lose my house and possessions, though!"

^ Gangang cockatoo - one of three visiting lately. Not overly shy, which is nice, as you can get sort of close to them.

In other thoughts, shouldn't laugh at "Am I ever gonna see your face again..." accompanying Mr Asia chopping the head off someone in Underbelly. Definitely overtired when something like that amuses me.

Fires still a threat, but at home currently.

Not the most comfortable feeling, to say the least. I just wish it would rain, but that doesn't look likely at all. May have to resort to raindance and sacrificing a packet of Tim Tams.

This morning looks promising at least :)

I can tell I'm getting nowhere near enough sleep.

This morning in the car, while drinking coffee from Maccas, this conversation occurred:

Me, after pondering the writing on the side of the disposable coffee cup thing: I'm not sure I like coffee that talks at me.
Larie: *waaaaaaahahahahahahahaha*

*yawns prodigiously*

Just while I think about it, may I just say how much I love the CFA? And all firefighters, actually. They do a massively fantastic job, and are terribly brave.

Ut-oh...

You know there's something wrong when the Channel 9 helicopter lands on the oval of your local town. Went back as quickly as I could to the office and checked the CFA and DSE websites. Nothing much on them.

Then I checked the ABC website.

There's an article on there about how two of the main fires are likely to join up and make an uber-fire. Join up over the valley, too, by the way. The valley with my town in it. The town with lots of tall trees and gullies and dry, dry stuff. Where there's currently only one way out of and a fire meeting up would block that exit.

Mwarrghh!!

>.<

Run away!!!

*ahem*

So again, we'll be leaving town tonight. We'll probably come back for work tomorrow, depending on the situation, and then head back out of town after that. On the weekend, we'll be staying well away. I do not like the idea of being char-grilled. Not that I like the idea of maybe losing the house, but I relish the idea of a flaming, horrible death even less.

Oh my God.

You would not believe this. But apparently someone's decided to go all Pat Robertson, post 9/11. Which is odd, because Kris and I were wondering how long it would take someone to do it earlier today.

Quite frankly, Danny Nalliah can go and get stuffed.*

And now I think I have some idea of what I might write about for something I have to get done for work. Grr.

Donations for victims of the bushfire crisis in Victoria can be made via:
www.redcross.org.au
www.salvationarmy.org.au/donations

*"Stuffed" is the polite version, obviously.

Some photos

^ First two pix from last evening, third pic from this morning.

Black Sabbath

You've probably seen stuff on the news about the fires in Victoria. The long and short of it is, they're bad. Very bad. And they've been around the area I live in. On Saturday, one of my friends and I went down to the city to escape the heat. Watched a couple movies, enjoyed the air conditioning and then decided to head home around 9pm, seeing as it was cooler by then after the absolute baking hell of the day.

The sky was black, and not just because it was getting dark. Enormous clouds of smoke were covering the valley, and a vivid orange glow was being cast up by flames we could see kilometres away. And it was in between us and home. So after talking with my Mum and Dad and calling some other people, we decided to find a place to stay in town.

Spent the weekend at a motel room, which had a suspicious lot of mirrors. And a notice about making sure "visitors" leave by 10.30pm. But it was somewhere to stay, and a somewhere that wasn't likely to result in us burning to death. We stayed glued to the news over the weekend and in contact with the Bushfire Information Line, as well as friends who were staying in the area.

Anyway. This morning we headed back up to home. The terrifying thing was all the burnt pieces of branches, leaves, bark and so on that were around the house, obviously blown from the firefront by the insane wind we had on Saturday. It's safe enough for the time being, but we're prepared to leave at any time if things get bad.

And it looks like they will. I spoke with my neighbour this morning, who said the fire is predicted as being likely to be in this area by Thursday. His parents have lost their home in Kinglake, and their neighbour is missing, presumed dead - one of the many who have been killed. Another friend was telling me that he's lost some of his friends who lived in St Andrews.

It's horrible to think that were it not for the wind change, there probably would have been no home to return to. But then that may not matter, because of the fires still burning out of control in the area. And the big fire might turn back and end up here.

It's a terrible situation.

But the car is packed with the most crucial, absolutely vital things and hopefully we'll be safe. Although I know there's still stuff I want to take with me. Such as the entire house. But it's amazing when you're in this sort of situation and know you can only take a couple suitcases worth of stuff how clear it becomes about most possessions. And how heart-breaking it is with the larger items that cannot fit in a car, but are worth so much to you.

Hopefully people who are missing family and friends can be reunited with them, insurance companies pay up, the fires can be brought under control and no more lives are lost and properties destroyed.

Praying my house and everything will be okay in this time.

But I'm terrified.

^ The random cat.

He really is totally mental.

Last time he visited, he spent time lying on the rug, licking one of the legs of the futon. He's also been obsessed with licking my hairbrush, the crutches and all sorts of things. In addition to that, in December when it was cold, he tried to crawl into the fireplace. While it was blazing away merrily. Probably Mad Cat Disease.

In other thoughts, the Sniff and Stiff ads make me hope the piano lid falls down very hard and very fast.

NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

"I've got a bad feeling about this, Rex..."

I was watching Rex in Rome tonight.

And...

And...

He...

Died!?!?

He was shot and (apparently) killed!

I immediately burst into tears. After the crying had subsided to sniffles, I called my Mum. She'd been crying over it, too, which made me end up crying all over again. Feel rather silly about it, but it's Rexy. You can't kill him off! I suppose I'm so attached to the character because I've watched the show for so long.

Poor Rexy :(

I do not like being awake until 1.30am or so with my ankle being PAAAAAAAAINFUL. Particularly because I have to be up at 6.30am to get ready for work.

Last night/this morning, I slathered Deep Heat on it to try to make it better, and instead it just made it painful AND hot. Not to mention the smell of Deep Heat. It was like an old person was in my bedroom, hiding mothballs in various places.

Do not like :(

Just some random stuff from December/January, seeing as I haven't been posting much lately on the ol' blog.


^ I love my new shelf thing! Dad built it for me when he was down here and it's seriously awesome. Maybe I just haven't been out enough lately and small things are impressing me easily... But really, it's great. The DVDs/CDs were kind of taking over the area where the TV is and now I have shelves to keep them all in order. Provided that I don't buy too many more... ;)


^ Also decided to turn the linnen press door into a wee photo gallery thing. Actually, I might end up doing the same to the rest of the doors. They're all painted in an odd ultra-high-gloss paint, which is perfect for blu-tack.

The thing I find most hilarious is that I've always been puzzled by the doors. They really don't match the house at all (a selling point, no?). And then a few weeks ago before my neighbours moved, Mum found out from them that one of the guys who used to live here laid low (while high) during the day and then at night they'd hear all sorts of crashing and thumping when he was down.

Turns out he had chopped up all the doors, as well as ripping up skirting boards and stuff, to burn because he felt the cold. Or the imaginary cold. Whatever it was, that's why the original doors from the house are no longer.

Although that really, really doesn't explain the enormous random screen door under the house. Which I really must haul out and put out for hard rubbish collection.

But anyway. My house = more interesting than I'd thought it was. And that's not all. There were a whole lot of other cracked-out people who lived here. Which you can just see increasing the value of the house as I type, can't you. But it's been under "normal" ownership for quite a while now. Still, life is never dull.

Seven weeks

Ugh... Still so ridiculously hot.

Although not as bad as it has been.

Still unimpressed by heatwaves. I cannot wait for Winter.

Today's the seventh week of having a broken leg. Mum left this morning to head back home after being here for nearly seven weeks. It was so good having her here to look after me :)

Still can't walk properly (or without a camwalker), but the physio thinks things are going well. So it's progressing. Slowly. That said, he was a torture master on Friday. Managed to resist screaming and didn't rip shreds in the table thing with my nails, but there were a couple moments where it was close.

However, after a while, it does get to the point where the endorphins kick in and it's actually not so bad. Lying on the table with the physio wrangling with my ankle, I thought of the torture section of Casino Royale (the book, not the movie, mainly because the movie ended up infuriating me). Random.

In short: leg still sore, weather still hot.

But I have corn chips :D