Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Presumptions of ethnicity

I just ordered some goulash at a soup place for lunch, and the guy serving it looked at me like I had said the secret password. "Where are you from?" he asks (I'm assuming he was Croatian, as the soup in question was in fact called Croatian goulash). "Canberra," I answer, disingenuously. He looks slightly disappointed. I take pity and elaborate. "I know that's not what you mean, but there's nothing to tell," I say. At a loss, he wanders off to serve someone else.

This is something that happens to me all the time. People think I've got something where there's nothing. Examples from the last seven days:
1. Greek people at the election speaking to me in Greek and being confused when I can't understand them. Their first words to me in English are "you're not Greek". "Sorry!" I say.
2. I told this story to ****, and he said "mmm, what IS your, you know ..." "Ethnic background?" "Nothing," I supply.
"Well it can't be nothing ..." he says, fairly enough. I sigh. "Anglo-Welsh mongrel." End of conversation, confirming my suspicions that he was, in fact, looking for a more interesting answer. Like, my parents were refugees from the Armenian genocide, and I grew up in a small weatherboard house in Marrickville, where my Yaya sang me to sleep with traditional lullabies.
3. Last week, a girlfriend (as my aunties down the south coast charmingly call their female friends) made some allusion to my Jewishness. "Huh?" I counter. "But I'm not Jewish" "Oh!" she says, taken aback. "For some reason I assumed, because [insert ex-boyfriend's name here] is ...," trailing off into a pit of illogicality.

Etc etc etc. A normal week.

I have a vague exotic [read: woggy] look, apparently. According to peoples' visual assessments, I should be either Greek, Italian, Croatian, Hungarian (but that's silly), Jewish or I dunno what. Those are the ones I get the most.

So I think I should come up with an ethnicity for myself that doesn't leave people so let-down. Suggestions below, please.

I don't mind blogging into the void, actually

It makes one less inhibited.

Let's rephrase; it would make one less inhibited. In the blog, natch.

Another 'post not posted' post

I was going to post the most ugly invite in the world but I've decided that it would be churlish.

You'll just have to be content with a mental image of me shaking my head sadly.

Also: note to electoral commissioner - next time make voters mark their ballots in red pen. This will save electoral officers a significant amount of back pain/eye strain. Also, any voter who picks the ballot up and says 'is this the liberal paper?' as though we hand out one ballot for libs and one for labs, should have the ballot snatched back off them and not be allowed to vote.

I wish I spoke Greek. And some other languages. let's say ... Japanese, Arabic, French, Spanish, Hungarian.

People. I just don't understand 'em. (Maybe once I get on top of all those languages ...)

Friday, March 09, 2007

A man falls into a hole ...

I've been hanging out with a bunch of new friends lately. We've been spending SO MUCH time together. It's starting to take over my life! They're a great bunch, super-smart, motivated, committed, witty ... I have to be pretty alert to stay on top of the repartee (I know ... me!). They make me feel smart too. But they're all (to a one) TOTAL workaholics, so it's kind of predictable when I see them that it's all going to be about them and their jobs. Or their hopeless love-lives that never go anywhere. Sometimes it's a bit much and I have to take a break. But I always come back for more. And they're all there for me.

I know that the relationship can't last forever, it's too intense. I'd say I'm about ... seven twelfths through the friendship. I suppose you can't put an end point on these things, though. But you know, sometimes they drag out a bit long and the quality suffers, and you realise you've outgrown it.

But you know? Those days I don't see them, I miss 'em. I wonder what CJ and Josh and Donna are all up to. I'm sure they don't miss me. But I love them anyway.

Thursday, March 08, 2007

Cross and ranting

Our rent goes up $20 a week ($10 each) in six weeks. Is this the dealbreaker? Should I move out/to Melbourne?

I have a sick feeling in my stomach about this ... it's shit that your rent goes up the same month you stop working. I blame the freakin media, feeding landlords full of stories like this all the goddamn time. That's the roof over my head they're toying with for their petty 'news'!

!!

Thursday, March 01, 2007

Trash



It's hard to see what this is. do you want me to explain it, or will that remove the all-too-essential mystique of the art object? Ahem.

Speaking of WTF

WTF etc.