samvara

(Video Rental | Bremerton, WA, USA)
Me: “Thank you for calling [video rental store]. How can I help you?”
Caller: “Have you seen District 9?”
Me: “Yes, I have. Do have questions about it?”
Caller: “Is this some sort of Australian joke?”
Me: “I beg your pardon?”
Caller: “All this movie has been is interviews with government people and aliens wearing brassieres! Am I watching some weird special feature or is this some kind of Australian joke?”
Me: “Well, the movie is in a documentary style and that definitely sounds like the beginning of the movie. If you want, you can come down to the store and exchange it for no charge.”
Caller: “Thank you very much. Those Australians have a weird sense of humor, man. I should know…I used to be married to a Brit and they’re strange, too!”
Me: “All right, sir you have a good night.”
Caller: “OK. I will put in a decent movie now which is not an Australian joke.”

...government people and aliens wearing brassieres = Australian joke?

• Given the number of shops open on the 26th ‘public holiday’ I find myself wondering if it’s actually a white collar public holiday.
• Mamma Mia was fun the second time around, Brosnan still the low point  - although very pretty (I assume singing is not his thing).
• Woofer doesn’t like doggy toothpaste, sad face is too sad so brushing accomplished without toothpaste with post brushing squeaky ball reward. Will see how he adapts to this in the long term, it’s only been a couple of days and he already approaches me when I‘m holding toothpaste as if he’s going into mourning. Aww
• Have finally bought a doorstop/wedge thingie as the combination of woofer breaking in at 5am to sleep on my floor (thump!) and maharetr hitting snooze (alarum!) is making waking up a sort of multi-stage thing that happens well before my own alarm is due. While trying to find one most stores looked at me blankly but craft store offered me one I can also decorate when inspired. Yay!

• Gossamer Axe by Gael Baudino. Re-reading. Musical feminist fantasy, sweet.
• After Long silence or The Enigma Score by Sheri Tepper. Re-reading. Alien first contact… it takes a while because the humans get shunned for years on account of not being truthful. I am very fond of this bit: “…sang of greed and pride, things that the viggies understood to some extent. She sang of lying, which they did not understand but were willing to take on faith. Then together they sang of what they had learned,…”
• Souls by Joanna Russ. Novelette (20k words) in which a Nun runs rings around a Viking horde and then it turns out to be science fiction.
• When it Changed by Joanna Russ. (4.4k words) in which Man makes contact with Whileaway, which is sadly unimpressed.