Anybody want to apply to be my replacement? (For the record, that job description bears little to no resemblance to what I actually do.) In related news, I now have a Last Day for this job – next Friday, July 2 – and a First Day for Tapestry Craft – the following Tuesday, July 6. Hooray!

I’ve got a developing case of kitty anxiety. I noticed while I was brushing Dr. Amy Jones the other day that she had a hard little bump under the fur near her right shoulder My first thought was that it was her microchip so I took care not to touch it. Today I noticed that I could actually see the place where it was without touching her, because it displaced her fur a bit. I held her under the desk lamp and checked it out. It’s sorta hard and dry and yellowish, about the size of maybe half my pinky nail. It didn’t seem to hurt her but she didn’t like me touching it too much. (I also think she’s been more vocal with the meowing lately, but maybe I’m just being paranoid.) Anyway, I was pretty sure it’s just a scab, but I thought maybe I’d call the vet just to make sure. Well, that woman freaked me out. She was like, “It’s not the microchip. Those are, like, granular. You should definitely bring her in. Can you bring her in tonight? Ooh, maybe the weekend would be better in case we have to operate.” I’m like, “WHAT? OPERATE?! I think it’s just a scab!” And she was like, “Cats are very prone to abscesses. They can fill up with pus. You should bring her in so we can check her and put her on antibiotics.” So we’re booked in for tomorrow night. The rational part of my brain (and the Snook) insists that she just poked herself climbing around under the dining room table or something, and it’s just a harmless little scab, but the manic little paranoid bit keeps screaming that it’s probably some kitty tumor and she’ll have to have surgery and get shaved and eat weird food and be in all sorts of pain. Which is totally irrational, right?

Roger Ebert has posted a thoughtful essay on Fahrenheit 9/11 that addresses a main complaint about the film: that it’s not “objective” like a documentary should be. Newsflash! No film is objective, and no book is either. If a human being is deciding which images and words to use, then the result is inherently biased.

I think this is a useful point to make. I spent a semester studying with director Jill Godmilow and she quickly disabused us of the notion that documentaries were supposed to be “the truth”. Everybody’s got an agenda. Everybody’s making an argument. I remember she showed us Nanook of the North, which is the prototypical “follow the foreigner through his daily life” documentary. We all assumed it was True. Then we learned how the director cheated, how the big walrus fight was actually staged with a dead carcass, how the igloo was a cut-away to let the light in better, how he glossed over Nanook’s second wife so as not to offend audience sensibilities. The whole thing was a construct, and everything contributed to the theme of the exotic yet noble Savage. It was about as “true” as reality television.

Cinema is by definition untruthful and biased. That’s just how it is. Moore’s under no obligation to present the opposing viewpoint. At least he never claimed to be “fair and balanced”, huh?

Changes I observed in Newtown today…

• A new Gloria Jeans coffee shop has opened and it looks to be doing brisk business. Very interesting. It’s the only big franchise on all of King Street. (I’m told that the Newts basically ran McDonald’s out on a rail when they tried to open a branch a few years ago.) I did notice a large sign out front though: “This is a locally owned and operated business.” Translation: “Please don’t throw a chair through our window, hippie. We’re not The Man.”
• There are now three gelaterias in Newtown. Three! There’s no way the market can sustain that. There’s one in the old Greek place near the Marly, one where Vinnie’s Gourmet Greengrocer used to be, and a brand new one next to Sushi Boat. The last is really gorgeous and gleaming, and its gelato is very yummy. Uh… not that I would know or anything. (Hmmm. It was only a year ago that I was raving about all the gelato I ate in Italy. Maybe I started the new Australian gelato craze!)
• The “pink store” is gone! I can’t believe it. It was this completely random shop on Wilson Street that didn’t seem to fit into any existing shop genre. It sold clothes, furnishings, flowers, all kinds of crap. As near as I could tell, the only criteria was that the product be pink. Now it’s a trendy kids’ clothing shop or something.
• The 7-11 next to the Post Office has closed! I bet it was because of the exorbitant electricity bills they incurred as a result of their extra-sensitive automatic door, which opened whenever anyone walked past it on the footpath.

It’s so weird going back to Newtown. Now I feel like a tourist…

The O.C. is coming… again. Remember how I posted about its Aussie premiere last November? I caught a couple episodes at the gym but never enough to get hooked. It must’ve tanked because it hasn’t been on in months. That’s why I was surprised to see Channel 10 start hyping it recently. (They weren’t the network that showed it originally.) The tone of the commercials is hilarious. The announcer is like: “Dawson’s… 90210… Party of Five… We know the shows you love. And here’s a new one: The O.C. Coming to where it belongs on Channel 10.” From that I conclude that they picked up the rights to the show after the first channel dropped it, reckoning that they’ve got the more appropriate audience demographic. Channel 10 is basically bragging that it’s the real home of trashy teen dramas in Australia. It’s like, “Yeah! None of those poofy documentaries here! We’re all about dumbass rich Americans.” I love it! I’m so going to watch.

Kickass. I just logged into Slashdot to discover that Apple have extended their Logic Board Replacement Program – and lo and behold, my machine is now covered! You’ll recall that I began having display trouble last year but the service guys claimed it was a bad monitor. Well, as soon as I verified that my serial number fell in the magic range, I hauled ass over to the Apple Centre Broadway to drop Boudicca off for repair. I’m now computer-less at home so I’ve got to use the Snook’s Linux machine. (It’s nice, but it’s just not lickable, dammit!) Unfortunately I was in such a hurry to get it there before closing that I neglected to check for recent e-mails. So if you’re expecting an answer from me, you may have to wait a while longer!

Busy Weekend.
Saturday afternoon I had my second shift volunteering at the Cat Protection Society Op Shop. I was with the same old ladies as before – Robin and Barbara – and they mostly left me to tend the till while they sorted and priced donations. I had a good time though and the hours just flew by. I met an American guy who gave me some recommendations for our trip in November and I found a pewter beer stein that I knew the Snook would love. (He did.) So that was successful.

Saturday night was the Lord of the Rings Symphony at the Sydney Opera House. Our seats weren’t great; we were sitting in the front row so we could basically only see a couple violins, cellos, and the conductor. The music was fantastic though. I got shivers when the flautist started in on the Hobbiton theme. The projected concept drawings were beatiful and helped remind you where the music came in the films (though they did look like they were put together using the “Ken Burns Effect” in iMovie). The second half featured Katie Noonan extensively and she sat right in front of us. (She’s the lead singer from george, an Australian band.) She was amazing. Really, really good. I loved her rendition of “Gollum’s Song” and “Into the West”. It was cool to see so many little kids sitting still for three hours at the symphony. I’m very happy that we went. (I’ll admit that I spent at least an hour watching this kickass lady cellist and thinking, “Why aren’t I a cellist? Can you study to be a cellist when you’re 27 or is it something you have to start when you’re 2? If I were a cellist, I’d wear my hair just like her…”)

So… the Nike Women’s Classic was today, Sunday. That suuucked. Unfortunately my injury reduction plan didn’t work very well. I’d had a couple short runs this week without any significant pain, so I figured I’d worked through whatever was bothering my left foot. I started out the race in fairly good form, though I was disturbed that I seemed to be the only one wearing a terry cloth sweatband. (And I thought it was such a brilliant idea!) I was happy to make it to the drinks station (2.5km) before taking my first walk break. That’s when I noticed some slight achiness whenever my affected foot hit the ground. I pounded on… and it got worse with every step. By the 3.5km marker, I was gritting my teeth. I was getting shooting pains up my left leg. I started walking at 4km, thinking I could at least finish the distance that way. Within a few minutes, it became obvious that I needed to stop. I was worried that pushing on would lead to some sort of serious injury. So as I approached one of the race volunteers at the final turn back towards the finish line, I told her that I was hurt and I needed to take the shortcut back to the start. I’ve got nothing but praise for her and the rest of the race staff. She offered to have the medical staff come pick me up but I said I thought I could manage. I saw the Snook soon after, as he’d been watching for me with the camera. He knew what was up as soon as he saw me limping. I made it to the medical area and had a nice hairy paramedic check me out. He said that it could be a stress fracture, or it could be a torn ligament, or maybe it could even be a “spur”. He said that if an X-ray didn’t turn anything up, to pester my health fund for an MRI. Then he rubbed down my ankle and heel with some smelly Chinese balm and sent me off. Snookums and my other running buddies urged me to go collect my race goodie bag before leaving, but I felt like such a loser that I didn’t want to get any prizes that I didn’t earn. So I didn’t even get a medal this year. I hobbled back to the car and headed home. I’ve been putting more smelly balm on it all day, and I think I’ve pretty much isolated the source of the injury: the ligament below my left ankle that runs the length of my foot. If I point my toes, it feels like it’s just going to snap. I guess a visit to the sports physician is in order, huh?

And on a related note, I have decided that running sucks and I’m never going to do it again. 🙁

People Falling Over.com – The only website about people falling over, by people falling over. I predict that this will be my sister’s favorite website of all time. She thinks people falling down is the height of comedy.

On a sadly related note, I nearly wiped out again on my way home yesterday.

More stapler madness! “Khan, you’re my stapler…” and “Damn it feels good to be a stapler.”