New Slang

Who'd've known? Who really would have suspected that I'd be this iterant about my itinerance? I'm very pleased with that last sentence. I really should just leave it all there.

But, intrepid reader, you would not be here unless you had some amount of interest, for reasons unknown, about my goings on? It's year three of being back in Australia. I never thought I'd amount to this much time back here. It's not too bad, I have to admit. I have a good life back here. I have an easy life back here. I suspect that will cause me to emit some amount of contempt for it all.

What has been going on with me? I am finishing up my second semester of my second year at university. I can't believe it either. I'm genuinely astounded by me making it here. I get to feeling that the standards have lowered since my childhood cohort attended.

It was a pretty challenging semester. The French unit got bumped up a notch and the two linguistics units were a heck of a thing too. I now have seven more units and I'm finished. That'll be a shock to the system. To be released back in to the mortal world. To fend for myself. What am I going to do after? All these pies cooling by the windowsill.

I've steadily shed mass from when I turned back up here. I forget if I've mentioned it but I was a rotund little boy. I was a Boston cream donut away from being 140kg. That's 308lb for those of you playing for the Imperial system.

I'd like to say that it was, in part, my newfound love of not drinking that helped me out the most. I'm getting on to two and a half years of not drinking. That's also something that is shocking to me. That I've almost turned my entire raison d'être around in the brief time that I've been back. Is this my new normal? Honestly, I hope so. I'm down to just under 100kg/220lb and looking to become even more svelte.

It is weird. Being a big beefy boy was just a kind of "Oh, that's just Cameron" moment.

What else has been going on with me? Uni, weight loss... work? Work is pretty good. I am an entrusted employee of a nationwide poison provider and, as such, I'm responsible for the careful distribution of volatile liquids to the public.

I am trained in the subtle art of selecting said volatile liquids with occasion, intention, and necessity. And so far, so good. I am good at what I do and don't have many regrets. Maybe the money. I could always do with more money.

What are my next steps? Tragically, I did not get selected for the Green Card lottery but maybe that's for the best? I do love the United States. For those of you who've visited, it really is a beautiful place with some astonishingly kind people. They like helping people out. They like to be like and I, in turn, like them.

The current climate is a bit higgeldy piggeldy. I still have my little eye out for the E-3 visa but I'm not holding on to anything tremendously serious. England/the UK? That's also a potential but my biggest fear is returning to the raising of the wrist. Could I battle that? I think so but I'm not willing to tempt myself. Not just yet. Keep an eye out. I'll definitely let you all know what my plans are.

One thing that has been playing on my mind is: how ever might I express my gratitude for everyone who has ever read this? I'm sure a lot of the views I get are from bots. I see an exquisite amount of views from China, Russia, and, weirdly, Botswana. A lot of the search results are, unsurprisingly, for people looking for flowers in Toronto. I guess I should have changed that but I don't intend to.

But how do I? I wish I knew a way to be able to be more gracious of all the people in my life? I've met an exquisite amount of people in my time. Tragically, a lot of them have been ephemeral. I think a lot about the people that I've met in passing or as I've been three sheets to the wind. If you're reading this then please send me a message. Facebook is fine. I'd put my email here but I don't need any more spam coming my way.

I want you to know that despite my previous emotional incarnations, I think I'm probably as emotionally raw nowadays as I've ever been. Goodness, I was angry. I was not a kind person to a lot of people. Nothing's going to change past Cameron but I do hope that present and future Cameron play a better, bigger, kinder role.

I think I've done well. Thank you for reading this far if you have. And if you haven't then you'd never know.

I remember this song. I remember this song well enough that it lived in a delightful little recess of my brain so that I went "Oh, The Shins! Yeah! Them!". I seem to remember buying a bootleg style Japanese album (it very well could've been Chinese but I was fifteen years old and not versed in the difference between the two: Japanese mixes Chinese characters with its own scripts, while Chinese just uses characters) in the Carillon Arcade in the CBD.

I don't know if I really ever deeply listened to it but it was 2001. There were bigger things going on. Like Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring being released. Yeah, that was the absolute highlight that year.

Here’s hoping future Cameron keeps picking the right pies off that windowsill.

Canada Dry

Here we are again. Look at me—two posts in two years! Slow down there, Ryoki Inoue! That’s a prolific writer joke, indeed. Goodness me, I’m too kind to you all!

So, how has everyone been? I’d be shocked if, despite the number of “views” these posts receive, anyone is truly reading them. I’m ambivalent about that, to be honest. Sure, I like seeing how many people (or bots) might be reading my words, but I also don’t lie awake at night with the vain desire to reach more eyes. No thanks! This is, I suppose, more of a slow buildup toward getting back to traveling. More to be revealed, intrepid reader!

What have I been up to? I’m still slogging away at university. Last time I posted—just over a year ago—I was quite pleased to have finished my first semester. Now I’m halfway through my degree—in terms of elapsed time, semesters, and, more importantly, credits. Gotta bag ‘em up and slot ‘em in because those are the important ones. I’ve just finished a summer course on forensic science, and it was bloody fantastic. This will put me one unit ahead, and that’s exactly what I’m keen on doing. Ideally, I’ll try to earn two extra units sometime during 2025 so that, in 2026—specifically in my last semester—I’ll only be doing one linguistics unit. That’d be pretty cool, don’t you think? It probably will be.

As for the overall progress of my studies, I’ve been doing well. Shockingly well, in fact. I don’t know where this whole notion of me being a fool comes from, but I certainly lean into that idea a little too much. My essays are solid, my exams aren’t too bad, and I’m genuinely enjoying the process. I wonder if that’s how academia gets people. I suppose this is where I need to start considering my next path. Ideally, I’ll pursue a Master’s in Speech Pathology—that’s been the plan all along. But what comes before that? Who knows.

I would like to travel a bit after I finish my studies. I’m not sure I’m wild about diving straight back into everything—I also don’t think I can. I’d rather not start in the middle of the year again. Perhaps I could find an opportunity overseas, too. I have to consider that possibility. But yeah, I’d like to head back to the U.K. for a while, catch up with some mates and family, then move on to Canada to do my thing there and, if I’m feeling especially daring, venture into the United States. Oooh boy. That whole thing again, eh? It’s got me biting my fingernails, and I’m not even there yet...

...as I’ve also applied for the Green Card Lottery. Again. Clever and long-time readers will remember that I was actually selected for the GCL waaaaaay back in 2011. I didn’t manage to get the darn thing on account of my Canadian police clearance not arriving on time—not that they doubted me, but they needed it to continue the process. Nowadays, apparently, a receipt is sufficient. Curse it—I missed out on that one. What would I do in the U.S., I wonder? The dream is somewhere warm, dry, and quiet. But not too dry—I crave the snow and the cold. If any Americans are reading this, let me know of a place like that!

Since the last entry, I’ve managed to reduce my mass by an absolutely superb 16 kilos (35 lb for those of you using the Imperial system and 2½ stone for those in England), and I’m not finished yet. I’d like to get under 100 kg (or 220 lb/15 stone) before I start singing my praises. My clothes fit better, I feel better, and my worldview seems a little more cherry red and a little less Aberdeen grey. I might very well be at my highest level of fitness ever—I don’t know exactly how to measure that, but I do feel good. I feel almost happy. Imagine that.

Apart from that, I don’t have a whole bunch going on. I think I like it that way—fewer distractions getting in the way of the ultimate goal: graduation. I’m sure I’ll look back on this later in life and cackle. Regardless, it’s a noble goal and one I’m happy to wait to achieve. I’d like to get back into some sports and even play more guitar, but for now, I’m content to focus a little more on my schooling. As an aside, I will deliberately fail a unit if it means I can use those ferries from Elizabeth Quay to UWA. It feels like it’s my destiny somehow.

I've been giving Matt Berry's new album a fair old thrashing as of the last week. It's sound, it's solid, and it is good reminder that he has thirteen albums to his name. Can't say that I've listened to all of them, but I did love Witchazel when it came out. I think I may have downloaded it from his website which was the style at the time. Okay. Sure, it's called Canada Dry but that's merely a coincidence. I know for a fact that drinking a Canada Dry in Canada as you are dry is one of the best experiences you can get. If you're getting snowed on, then you're gonna have a bad time. 

Also, watch Toast of London and you can appreciate Gale of Baldur's Gate 3 and his oft delivered bastardry.