The Slow and Unyielding March of Time | Episode 2
Last night, I watched the finals match of Aussie rules football, a game that is played on a giant oval (what?) field. All the fields are different sizes (what?) and like American football, there are goal posts and no net BUT there are four goal posts, and if you kick the ball through the middle two posts, you score a goal and six points, but if you kick it through either of the side goals, you score a "behind" (what?) and only get one point. You can catch the ball, but you gotta dribble it or get rid of it every ten meters. You can't throw the ball, but you can kick it or punch it. If you catch the ball after it has been kicked, everyone has to back away and let you kick it without trying to tackle you.
I had no idea what was going on at any point in the game, but the Richmond Tigers won 114-25. THEY WON BY 89 POINTS. Go Tigers!
Now, Richmond plays the winner of the Gaelic rules football finals which is a DIFFERENT game with DIFFERENT rules. They play a compromise game called International rules football which is only played three times a year and is incredibly violent and (I assume) confusing.
Alternatively, the three Australian men who were earnestly and kindly explaining to me what was going on every single moment during that game were fucking with me. That's not off the table, but I refuse to look it up and find out. One of them kept disappearing for awhile, and then would show back up and produce several cheeseburgers from his pocket. I ate one. Would a man with pocket cheeseburgers lie to me? I think not. One of them was a fan of a team called the Sydney Swans. I'd love to root for some Swans.
The refs used to wear all-white and so a good ref insult is calling them "maggots." Also! Screaming "YA GRUB" at the other team is a sweet burn. This made me think; should I be upping my name-calling game? Historically I've called people monsters, but I also use the word "monster" affectionately, AND to refer to myself. So it has uhhh lost a little bit of its heat. Nerd's too specific and not as devastating as it should be, dweeb is kind of sweet. Anything that relies on toxic masculinity or the patriarchy is a non-starter for me.
I think I'll start calling people goobers. It's unusual, mean , and makes it clear you don't think the person is that important. Goober can really cut to the core and make someone feel small. And it's fun to say! GOOBER. Butthead is my backup.
Debris:
When I was in NYC, I called a reservation line and the person on the other end answered, "Hello, my name is Davida, what's your name?" I laughed and said, "You're not going to believe this but my name is Davida too." Neither of us had ever talked to another Davida before. We chatted for five minutes about this before getting around to changing my reservarion.
I got a scrub at Island Spa & Sauna with one of my favorite people in the whole world. If you live in NY, you should go. Take the train to Edison, it's a seven minute walk and my skin felt so incredible afterwards. Eat somewhere else after, the food was not great.
It was my ten year pluck-aversay this week! Ten years with the best cat and friend I could ever ask for. She's currently snoozing next to me.
That means it was also the ten year anniversary of my sexual assault and PTSD. That's a bummer, but I didn't have too many feelings about it. Therapy works, ya'll!
What I'm Reading:
In the middle of:
Exhalation: Stories by Ted Chiang: I read one of these short stories, "The Lifecycle of Software Objects" as a novella and found it breathtaking. (The title makes it sounds very boring, I know.) It thoughtfully explores our responsibility to the things we create, the humanity we imbue to objects, and the consequences of obsolescence. His writing is beautiful and he explores our ongoing relationships with technology in a way that is uncanny but not absolutely terrifying.
Just finished:
The Secret Place by Tana French: okay this book was very long and took way more time to finish than I anticipated sinking into a murder mystery but it was very good and thoughtful and examined really close, intense friendships and the way that communities grow and split as we change.
Thanks for reading! I love you all. None of you are goobers.