June 22, 2002 - 8:15 p.m.

there are a few important reasons i haven't been updating my diary this week:

1. i started a new job that requires me getting up at 5 in the morning just to get ready and get to work by 8. i don't get home until 6:30, and by then i am reeeeeeeally tired.

2. simon is still working on his final essay, so all computer time pretty much goes to him. i've got to support the guy because i know how much emotional support he's provided for me over the past 4 and 3/4 years.

3. i've been working on moving out of this house and into the perfect, magic house i told you about in north fitzroy. nearly all of my time outside of work has been on the phone with the realtor, visiting the property, filling out applications etc. we don't have the house yet, but the realtor said she'd call me monday afternoon and that "there shouldn't be a problem."

the house is perfect for us. it's in the perfect neighborhood, just a two-minute walk from marty donald and anthony atkinson's house. in the same amount of time, simon and i could also walk to piedimonte's, the gigantic, independent gourmet grocery store (which happens to stock a wide variety of vegan ice cream treats, from what i've heard) or to the nature walk/bicycle trail that leads to a number of large gardens in the city, including (within about 10 minutes) the melbourne zoo. the zoo has a section called a platypusary. yep, that's a word. it's a dark aquarium where the platypuses live. they're nocturnal, don't you know? simon and i think high school boys take girls there to make out.

so anyway, back to the house. it's a victorian terrace house with two bedrooms (each with skylights). there are three old-school fireplaces, hardwood floors throughout and a biggish backyard. i met with the landlord on my tour, and she said she would provide paint if i was in the mood, which i always am. simon hasn't even seen the place, but he trusted me enough to put in an application of his own. if all goes well, he'll pick me up from work during lunchtime wednesday so we can see it together.

if we got the house, it would reduce my home-->work commute to 11 minutes. hello! as it stands now, it takes me about an hour and a half.

we know we can afford it, but we don't know exactly how much scraping we'll have to do until we actually get there. we made up a budget, but so much of it was speculative. honestly, i'd rather live in a really cool, unfurnished house than a furnished piece-of-crap cubbyhole. plus, i've checked the rent all around the neighborhood, and i know we'll be getting a really good deal. it's more than we originally wanted to pay, but i think we'll be much happier in the long run. so cross your fingers for us.

work is going well, but i think it's sucking the lifeforce out of me. i dreamt about work twice this week (one was an anxiety dream), and simon said i answered the work phone in my sleep on thursday night. there's a bit in waking life about how unfair it is to work in a job you hate that also takes your dreams from you. i just want to yell, "you can't have my dreams, too!" but who would i be yelling to? it's my brain's fault, really. weird, to be imprisoned by your own brain.

the women at work are very nice, very funny and (generally) very crass. of the three women who work closest to me, one belches loudly and the other two swear like sailors. so i suppose it's only fitting that i found this sign on the inside of the toilet stall door:

as you can imagine, it's a pretty relaxed place to work. other than answering 250 phone calls a day, of course. i was told on friday that many customers have been complimenting my pleasant phone voice, adding that my accent is so much "fresher" than they're used to. you never thought of yourself as having an accent, did you? well, you do. i suppose i'm lucky it doesn't annoy them.

in other news, one of the largest department stores in melbourne is shutting down. they're having a closing sale all weekend, so i went down this morning to see what was left. the place is a 5-level dept store in the city center, and it was packed like the day after thanksgiving, only worse. you could smell it every time someone farted or didn't wear deodorant, and there were clothes and things everywhere they weren't supposed to be. my big splurge was a pair of camper shoes. campers never go on sale, so i felt like i was justified. they're immensely comfortable and suitable for work as a receptionist or photojournalist. still, i called simon from a cell phone beforehand to ok the purchase. what a silly thing to do, no?