Monkey at a keyboard

Dear Blog,

As I spent the day monkeying at my keyboard on Friday, I silently despaired at the prospect of another "5-day-but-could-be-longer-no-one-knows" lockdown in Melbourne. The repercussions of a rogue nebuliser from Hotel Quarantine were swift and drastic - 5km radius imposed, only 4 reasons to go outside. Already twitter-happy journos were leaking the lockdown measures while the Cabinet meeting was still happening (every politician has friends on the other side). First it was Newscorp, then it was an ABC journo. Both sources turned out to be correct.

Fellow monkeys in the office were already rallying for a last hurrah before we were locked behind doors. Who knows when we will next see each other - at the 30th birthday party of one of the grad monkeys perhaps? 

As I downed my plastic glass of white wine in the gardens just outside the headquarters of top monkey - and part-time North Face ambassador - Dan Andrews (others got down on the beers for the last time), I wondered...would I finally face the mound of life admin I've been avoiding for the past few weeks now that all my weekend plans are cancelled? Perhaps these feelings are universal. Perhaps you - the monkey reading this blog - are also nodding as you silently despair at the prospect of another 4 days (initially) of lockdown.

Until next time.

Monkey at a Keyboard

...

Hi there, a bit of shit creative writing, as I try to channel the voices of every trite omnipresent narrator you've ever come across on TV and film - for me most recently, Bridgerton and Gossip Girl.

Hope you've all been doing well. A bit of update on my life:

1. Dad successfully grew some cherry tomatoes and I got to try them fresh - they were so juicy and sweet.
2. I went swimming twice this week! Probably the best way to catch COVID to be honest, and I felt a bit bad because my dad was quite distressed about it when he found out I had gone, but then I remind myself that our whole household got tested because he was at Northern Beaches last time so it's 1:1.
3. I got an Amazon Prime trial because I Just Wanted Free Shipping for a new phone case and screen protector. I have already used it to watch Emma (again), Little Women (again), Jamestown (wouldn't recommend!!!), American God season 3 (too low-concept, so I have to consume it slowly), and a bit of The Boys (couldn't continue because the dialogue didn't work for me).
4. I got a new phone! Which means I updated my iPhone to what everyone had two years ago.
5. I bought a book called Medieval Misogyny and the Invention of Western Romantic Love at a second hand bookstore and just started giving it a read. It is very academic and dense so I don't know if I'll get through, but what a great title! The problem with heterosexual love is that it often can't escape (and is sometimes even the product of) normalised patriarchal gender relations. What some heterosexuals defend as love is only another expression of conditioned gender roles. ("How can all you men leave her to do all the cooking and cleaning?"; "Oh but she likes to do it, it is how she expresses her love for us!"). Anyway, today I learnt that there are two versions of how man was created. One is that God created Man, and then created Woman out of Man's ribs (and many have interpreted that as women being derivative, inferior and less whole than men). However the first version of the biblical tale (Genesis 1:27) actually tells how God created Man and Woman simultaneously ("And God created man in his image; in the image of God he created him, masculine and feminine he created them").
6. I had a good week at work and feel like I got to know my manager and partner a bit better, and generally feel more comfortable in my surroundings.
7. I caught up with my old manager yesterday morning. The person who took me under her wing when I was a grad monkey, for which my monkey brain will be eternally grateful for. Even though life has changed so much, some things still stay the same.
8. Brendan and I watched Last Christmas last night. Spoiler alert: About halfway through the movie I commented that it would be a bummer if Henry Golding's character didn't turn out to be real i.e. he was just a figment of her imagination, given no one else in the movie really interacts with him, and he always comes and goes mysteriously. Anyway, that is exactly what happened!! Yay.
9. I've been listening to Hadestown. Orpheus' voice is so pretty! There is one motif that's very pretty in the song, the rest of it and Hermes' narration reminds me of a modern, urban, dirtbowl America. In other words, it reminds me very much of American Gods.
10. Some cool places Brendan and I went to recently: Dish and Spoon (in Ashburton), The Hills (in Surrey Hills) both of which I highly recommend.