Raised by Rats

Were you ever into Harry Potter or Twilight?

I did enjoy the Harry Potter books for quite a long while until J.K. Rowling’s anti-trans views became known. [Yes, I sometimes read kids books. Becoming an adult was overrated.] Not just her views – I think people’s views are their own business so long as they don’t get in my face with it – but the actual, money-driven harm she has done. I try to separate creator and creation, because let’s face it, many, many creators are morally questionable, but unable to do so in this case!

 I enjoyed the first book of Twilight and probably about halfway through the rest, idiotic though the sparkling vampires were. As the main female character became more passive and subservient, I lost interest. I do prefer sf to fantasy, though I read in both genres.

Recommend something you've watched, read or listened to today.

I was reading a quite entertaining ‘cozy mystery’, no 13 in T.E. Kinsey’s Lady Hardcastle series, while waiting for M hopefully not to fall over in the bathroom. The coziness has its limits; two people do get rather bloodily murdered, after all. There is a narwhal tusk involved. Set in 1913.

Something you've been thinking about lately.

Wow, hang on while I make a list.

My ideal apartment.  Planning what I want if/when I am able to buy somewhere. No dogs in the building. Better soundproofing. Able to have own washing machine in flat. Not next to a freaking laundry. Actually, I would prefer a Tiny House with lots of land, but Australian laws are bloody frustrating on the subject of such homes.

The bird flu H5N1 which has just reached Australia, with four casualties in Western Australia. I recorded the hotline’s number and hope I won’t need it. There are a lot of waterbirds at the swamp.

My latest epic, Late Zombies, where the prime minister of Westralia is about to address the nation about the outbreak. No, not a typo, this is the country of Westralia, created in an alternate history where the 1933 secession vote was allowed to take effect. In our history, Western Australia voted overwhelmingly to secede, but the federal government quashed the referendum.

 What was your most recent conversation about, and whom were you talking to?

Prepare to be entertained, since Saturday is a parental wrangling day. I talked to M about the heatwave in Europe, specifically England, where she’s from. Laundry was also mentioned, because M wears the same dressing gown in and out most of the time. This means it doesn’t get included when the services people do her laundry, so I need to periodically kidnap it.

Do you remember what you were dreaming of last night?

Yes, I was caught up in a zombie apocalypse that was well under way, and for some reason NOT choosing to bunker down somewhere safe inside. There was climbing on roofs and stabbing with long pointy things. My character in the dream was a runner and thought they would be faster than the zombies, but not so much. Sometimes in dreams I play someone who isn’t me. I’m not sure whether everyone does this or if it’s an author thing. I’m not sure whether I survived, can’t remember being bitten. I think my boyfriend in the dream was lost somewhere and his family wanted me to find him.

Describe your home.

It’s a 51 sq metre one bedroom flat on the sixth floor of an eight-floor building, 12 units on each level, connected with outside walkways, one lift and two stairways at each end. Fake wood floor. I have a Persian carpet, at least I think that’s what it is. Ikea version. [That was Ikea, wasn’t it, Leece?] Quite a lot of cupboard storage and great view of the parkland’s canopy of trees from the balcony.

With just the bedroom and the living area, the living area is also the library/study area and I have a book wall of three and a half bookcases. Books also are lined up on the desk. The Rat Palace is set up next to the window, but sheltered from the sun. Their couch is next to the cage and my armchair is over by the books and the desk. There are six houseplants right now, including a Devil’s Ivy which has made its way over all the bookcases and is now considering advancing over the desk. That makes it about five metres long. I also have my god-plant, a Black Velvet Alocasia that belongs to my landlord and stays here when she’s away. It likes company.

I don’t like crowded space, so the bedroom just has a futon frame and mattress, a cane chest and a shade screen. The screen is on the balcony in summer, but in winter it’s in the bedroom holding my hat collection. I also have an imitation Japanese table for the lamp and anything else I need within reach, while in bed.

Today, coming back from taking the rubbish to the bins, I climbed the stairs to the sixth floor. I try to do this fairly often, as exercise, since I’m not climbing Hill Street in the city three times a week any more. On the fifth floor, a couple of teenaged girls emerged from an apartment near the stairs and headed along the walkway, while I kept going on the stairs. At the sixth floor, I headed along the walkway to the centre, where the lift is, just before my place. The teenagers hopped out of the lift just as I got there. Yeah. They had got in the lift to go up a single level and were still pipped by a 60-plus person. I’ve still got it! Well, some of it, anyway.

I also saw a second quenda [bandicoot] in the bushland outside this apartment complex. We had just had a sudden downpour of rain and perhaps it was inspecting some of the many holes it has dug around my weeding Spot. We saw each other at about the same time. It retreated but didn't seem panicked.