New tats, being inconvenient and getting stuff sorted

The less often I post the more difficult it is to get started. It's been months, I know. I'm surrounded by computers, but they are used a hell of a lot more than the computers that lie about collecting dust and being used for games of solitaire in Africa.

Actually I have had loads of time on the internet, but due to the super fast speed of connection here I have been spending a large amount of time streaming telly, and surfing. here are a few sites you might like: for your inner geek there's a library of excellent lectures on all things possible, probable and wonderful; www.ted.com. For your inner tabloid addict here's a left wing links and pillow talk www.dailybedpost.com. For your inner skiver go to http://failblog.org or to http://engrishfunny.com. I also enjoy reading my friend Sian's blog on myspace: www.myspace.com/daisyflip. I also like to keep up with current affairs by watching comedy programs... far more interesting than actual news. For US www.thedailyshow.com and for UK I love mock the week on www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer.

So Edinburgh was good. Of course I had expectations, I should have learnt that it's always unrealistic to have expectations. I didn't get the work I had hoped for till the last couple of weeks, travel expenses to the middle east are adding up, shipping boxes to NZ is not the simplest task and as brutal as I was with my stuff I just won't part with the kind of crap that the rest of you wouldn't pick up from a charity shop free bin. 

Missy moved to England, so instead of spreading myself out dossing on sofas I pretty much stayed at the house of the lovely Daves. Between pushing myself into a crammed house and demanding pity-work from my old bosses I didn't really slide back into Edinburgh life as well as I had hoped. Don't get me wrong, I had a great time up there and it was fantastic to catch up with old friends, make new acquaintances and to promote a few people from being acquaintances to friends. I don't seem to go straight into making new friends these days.

I worked back at Minuteman for a couple of weeks just before I left. That was the best. I really do love the printing industry. the work is so varied. Despite not having worked there for years I found that I could take a job from first contact to dispatch myself without too much fuss. The guys at Minuteman are also brilliant, being very kind and welcoming even when I bound 20 books back to front or when I kept using the laminator as a keyboard (it was right infront of a computer monitor). So in a city that I don't fit anymore, there are still warm places for me. 

A lot of my friends are getting married and having babies. I know it's normal when you are in your 30s. But it just feels like suddenly all the women around me are hearing the ticking of their biological clocks. I think my biological clock is digital: it just doesn't tick at all, one day I'll break, or fade out or suddenly a really loud alarm will go off and wake me up from a nice dream in a frantic and desperate panic. Till then it's silent. 

I have 3 more tattoos... that's 300% more than before. My first tattoo is a snake on my back: I designed it for ages, The snake symbolises transience, versatility and adaptation, it is also mythologically symbolic of hidden wisdom, or the keeper of knowledge. Inside the snake there is a combination of alchemy, astrological, pagan and astronomical symbols that are positioned in relation to the charkra points along my spine. In contrast the last three tattoos I got were on a whim... and they are novelty tats for pretty much only comedy value. I have on my fingers a moustache, a goatee and a teardrop.

     

By the way, I'm not blonde anymore, I have gone back to being a redhead. That blonde hair really did make my face look even pinker didn't it. 

So one thing I haven't mentioned but really should is that I'm in a relationship. Yep, me. I haven't mentioned it because I'm in denial. It was unintentional but actually quite lovely. I have been seduced and wooed by Tristam (refer to previous posts: Somaliland), and not for the first time either, we hooked up in design school a decade ago. I don't think I'm very good at dating... not believing that long term monogamy is a natural human state doesn't really help. However Tristam is awesome and worthy of giving it a good ol' college try.

We are travelling together to Turkey tomorrow, then into Iran overland by train. We'll be in Tehran on November 4th during the American presidential elections. Then a couple of days in Dubai, Tristam heads to NZ from there, I'll spend a couple of weeks in Melbourne catching up with friends. I get to Wellington November 22. I'll be looking for a job and a place to live. If you have a place, I'm very lovely and quite efficient at doing stuff. 

I'm all packed, I didn't actually sort out getting all my stuff back to New Zealand. If I was Buddhist I'd say that material possessions will never lead to spiritual enlightenment, but I'm not so I say I like my stuff and I'm not going to chuck it. Guess I'll just keep a box here at Tristam's house for a while. I've already invaded his itunes with my gay man's taste in music. His extensive U2 and Bjork collection is now infused with Dolly Parton, Doris Day, Big Band stripper classics and show tunes.