Saturday, September 30, 2006

Good Morning

Why do I wake up at 7am on a Saturday? Especially when I went to bed at 1am? Especially when the day stretches out before me, weird and empty? So annoying. When it happens, I usually try to go back to sleep, fail, get up and put music on, potter around, fold some clothes, take photos out my window, then go to the pc bang.
Today I thought I was going on a day trip to some lake with JD Whatever, Steph and maybe some other girls. But JD had weirdly disappeared... So, I dunno. Maybe later if he doesn't call, I'll go hang out with Steph. Anyways.
When My Dearest Charlie was here, he read a book. It was The Plague, by Albert Camus. He'd actually started it long ago, and one of the first best memories (and photos) I have of him is him sitting quietly at my place in Eltham reading it while I hurried about, preparing to depart. Anyways, KP kindly leant her copy to him as he was heading to the airport to visit me, and when he finished it, he kindly left it behind for me.
Everyone seems to agree it is a brilliant book, and I really wanted to read it, but Dad cautioned me to wait until the lament of Charlie's departure had eased. So after a pause, I started reading it. Most way through now and golly, genius. And yeah, beautiful. And some humour. So many quotable, all the stuff about love, especially. And ideas put some simply ::
" The evil that is in the world always comes of ignorance, and good intentions may do as much harm as malevolence, if they lack understanding."

On my way here I noticed all the flags on the lamp-posts. Another series of demonstrations of nationalism. Hmm. I feel so removed from it. When I was in Lithuania I felt so much more connected to these happenings, cos I was studying cultural anthropology and ethno-nationalism. But here, I understand less.

Lyrics for the morning come courtesy of The Shins, and my brother Jack, who gave me the CD ::

Eyeless in the morning sun you were
Pale and mild, a modern girl
Taken with thought, still prone to care
Makin tea in your underwear

5 comments:

Pia said...

I know what you mean. There are some nights when I wake up and can't go back to sleep. Is it because of your blog? Sometimes, there are ideas that just chew away at me until I finally post them.

Thank godness I have the Internet in my apartment. But PC rooms are cheap, so going without isn't so bad. In Japan it was way more expensive--one dollar for every fifteen minutes!

(P.S. I have both Shins albums, but I can't remember that song you just posted. So awful.)

Rowena said...

The Shins' lyrics are great ... my favourite lines are

When our kite lines first crossed
We tied them into knots
And to finally fly apart
We had to cut them off


(from Pink Bullets)

Unknown said...

I almost got in a fight on a plane with an american over Camus.

One think I can''t wait to do when I finish my thesis, is read some of the great works and camus is right up there.

Anonymous said...

LTR and I both read the plague while we were in Turkey. Unfortunately we were both suffering some plagueish symptoms of our own and so rather than admire Camus' genius i developed phantom bubons on the brink of bursting...and felt shithouse.

Bonnie Conquest said...

What's with The Plague being a holiday read, I ask? Huh?

Mmm Pia - No, not the blog. If I have something on my mind I'll write it down. I'm actually a bit thankful that I don't have a computer at home. It'd be addictive. Though PC bang is about 1 minute away, door-to-door, and yeah, cheap. Why did you say awful? Cos you can't remember the song?

Rowena - I like those lines too - but didn't feel like posting 'demise of love' lyrics at the moment...