there’s a hamster mowing my eyebrows from inside my head..

lordy, do I have a headache. Anywho, I’m told it’s a lovely 26 degrees outside, also outside, there is a miserable drizzling rain, and lots of mist on the mountains.. Yes, welcome back to the tropics. Hot, humid, and raining. Oh joy.

So, I feel I have bit of catching up to do. I can’t be bothered filling in the details, so I’ll skip to now. Right now, I’m feeling a little lost, a little overwhelmed, a little .. uh. Indescribable. I went from listening to old Chilli Peppers, to Placebo and here I am. There’s a kitten [one of the two in this house] jumping all over the desk, the keyboard, and me. Mum and Dad are still in Atherton, and are going from there, to Cardwell, back to Atherton, then out camping at Mt Surprise again, then on to Brisbane, then back to Orange. I think my plan is to stay here for a week – two weeks, then go to Brisbane independently, from which point, I will catch a ride with aforementioned parents back to Orange.

[here comes the kitten again..] [short interval whilst kitten attempts to eat the wooden bead necklace that I’m wearing..]

headache is going away, kitten is not. kitten #2 has joined this happy family scene… oh yes, this is amusing..

right. kittens away. heh. as in, both sleeping.. I just found something I wrote the other day, re: family..

Age has wearied them.
Grandad is incontinent, mostly sleeping, or reading in bed, and rarely eats. He really only gets out of bed at dinner time, but then he just sits and watches whilst everyone else eats, and he drinks a beer. Most of this time out of bed, he spends annoying whoever else is around. Nana, is getting ridiculously bossy, doesn’t eat much (but more than Grandad) and has her own health problems, whilst trying to look after Grandad, and putting up with him annoying her. Deliberately.

jeez. then there’s Greg, mum’s youngest brother, who at just 50 years of age, is fighting cancer of the throat, which has seen the removal of part of his tongue, his teeth, and part of his jawbone. He eats less than Grandad (during the 4 day camping trip, Greg ate twice; smoked like a train, and drank beer like most would drink water.) He’s a foot taller than I am, but he weighs less than 50kg.

Then…. there’s Johnny, mum’s cousin, who is 68 I think, has some brain damage from a lifetime of boxing & alcohol abuse (amongst other drinkable toxins), and his now damaged replacement hip.

You wonder why I’m not keen on upholding family ties.. It’s not shame, or embarrassment, it’s the fact that all of them, including the healthy ones, spend pretty much all day, every day, either complaining about whatever is annoying them, or about the one that just walked out of earshot, or about some part of the situation/circumstances/lifestyle/environment/world that doesn’t suit them. NOT ONCE in 4 days, did I hear a positive comment from any of them. That, is the reason why I don’t keep in contact with my extended family.

ahem

So, yes, that was my fabulous camping trip. Me, trying to keep away from them all, without offending them and without taking on any of their bullshit.

Hope you understand why I was so keen to get to Steve’s place so quick.