In all the bad of Darwin, I forgot the good. There’s this
restaurant there called Zombrero (Like Sombrero), and it’s basically a Chipotle
but… Better? Dare I say it?
Yea it might actually be better. Depends on taste. You know
how Chipotle goes heavy on the cilantro in the rice? Zombrero goes more onion
and… chive? I dunno but it’s more crispy and fresh tasting. And they do the
Toms thing where every meal you buy buys a meal for some poor kid in Africa or
something. I dunno I’m not a professional philanthropist.
Darwin also had a ton of birds. If I was an ornithophile (is
that sexual?) then I’d probably love it but I was looking for crocs and wombats
and dingos and kangaroos. All I saw was a dead wallaby on the side of the road.
Two birds attacked me actually. They kept swooping by and
screaming at me. And at first I didn’t notice cuz like, birds fly and make noise
all the time. And I’m staring at all the water making sure a croc doesn’t come
out and eat me. But then they started coming from behind and I was jumping like
a jackalope. They really scared me and I was already bummed and I starting
asking them why they were doing this to me? Was I doing something wrong? Is
this cuz I write really bad thank-you notes for Christmas and my birthday??
But I’m in Melbourne now and I like Melbourne.
I arrived Saturday night and walked down the street and it was like New Orleans before the phonograph was invented. Jams coming from everywhere.
Melbourne and Sydney are different. It’s like if everyone
who got an A in gym class moved to Sydney, and everyone who got an A in art
class moved to Melbourne. I didn’t get any As. Sydney is also more like perpetual summer and Melbourne is like perpetual fall.
I live in a hostel called the Nunnery. I also picked it for
the name. It’s a former nunnery. It’s like a compound and my room has 8 people
and a pretty little balcony and its clean and friendly and it’s great here.
They have free BBQ on Fridays and Ice cream on Tuesdays. They have other activities
too but those are my highlights.
I’ve lowered the bar for jobs now. Bar work, warehouse jobs,
telemarketing, I’d do it all. Just need some cash for now.
I drink tea now and put milk in it. It seems strange and it
is, but I like the way the milk explodes in the hot water.
Turns out I chose the nunnery cuz I heard someone else say
they were coming here from the last hostel. So I have built in friends! Stupid
memory priming, making me pick things I didn’t realize.
I went out with some friends to a small local brewery bar.
They were playing jazz records and Hendrix on vinyl and the walls were chalk board
and there was a piano in the corner and barrels and little nooks and crannys to
sit and drink. I liked the place and the people. Then when we were walking home
I finally some indigenous species! A little wombat cat thing in the tree! I
spotted it. I spot everything.
I went to town today to get a job. I came back with a $4
bottle of wine. Priorities.
I think I might be an impatient person? I was rolling with
the multicultural crew, and it takes us like 3 hours to do anything at all.
Everyone has to eat or pee, Brits need to smoke a “fag” every five minutes. It’s
a mess.
Melbourne has a free tram zone, which I never understood as
a public transport option. Why make a tiny section of the city free to ride in?
If you’re not going far, you’re probably going to walk. You’re just cutting
city revenue and slowing down people who actually have to get across town. It
incentivizes people to ride short distances in the most congested part of the
city. Maybe it gets people off the street, but how clogged do the sidewalks
have to be for that to be reasonable? I think it sounds nice that you can ride
for free but the negatives seem to outweigh any positives. Maybe it’s for the
disabled, but disabled people already get discounts right? I mean we are giving
them free rides anywhere right? ARE WE NOT EVEN HELPING THE DISABLED NOW??
I saw Rob the surfer again! I was in a bar (Priorities
again) called Naked for Satan (importance of names again) and he was just there
randomly like me! So we got to talking and now he might get me a job with his
surf company! Turns out the best resume is one with a little beer on it.
I went to St Klida, which is like the hipster district of
hipsterville. Saw a great band playing in an alley. Then went to a pier where I
heard penguins come out at night. I had been belittled for thinking penguins
would be in Australia, or in Melbourne, or here at this pier. But I’m smart, I
know where penguins can be found. A few scuttled onto the shore, did their
flipper wiggle thing. They were very small. They had come in from dinner in the
ocean and they were getting ready for bed in the rocks. There were also water
rats swimming around. Think more like small beavers.
Why are people proud of who they are and not necessarily the
things they do? People say “I’m a proud American” but you didn’t do jack squat
to be an American. Unless you’re an immigrant. But that’s not who I usually
associate with that phrase. People often say their proud of their race, gender,
nation, religion, sexuality, but mostly you can’t control those. I’m a white,
male-slid, American, haven’t quite figured it out yet, straighto but I’m not
proud of any of those things. How could I? I didn’t do anything to earn those.
I get that you can identify with others perhaps. Especially
if you’re marginalized. Being able to find other people who share your
experiences can be valuable. But isn’t that reducing your individuality? To be
more specific and to get out of the standard census identifiers, I sing, and I
love singing and I’m a singer. But I’m not proud of it. I’m more proud that I
recorded an album on my own. That’s something that I did and also gives way more
identity to me than just saying I’m a singer or a rock singer.
So why say “I’m a proud African American woman” when you
could say “I actively engage in political and social change for African
Americans” or “I’m a proud homemaker” or whatever you do!
Maybe I’m missing something, I probably am, and you probably
are too, you can’t get it all. And this isn’t necessarily to suggest not being
proud identifying with who you are. It’s more like a thought experiment on what
would happen if you identified with the things you did instead. I don’t know
what would happen, maybe you should try it yourself. Maybe I’m just not proud
of who I am? I dunno, I generally like me. Maybe I don’t identify with other people
well? That seems closer.
Def the go-to counter argument is the identifying with other
marginalized peoples one.
What about “I’m a proud American soldier"? That has a lot of connotations about what you do. Maybe I'm just picking non-specific nouns for my examples.
Wait a minute! Isn’t pride one of those seven deadly sins?
Why be proud at all??? Maybe we shouldn’t be proud of anything? That seems sad.
