whitebait

the absent father in the age of internet communication

The internet really throws a new spin on the complicated business of being an an 'absent father' in another city and country (Whitebait has a tween-age daughter from a previous relationship). She is now online and has asked him to complete a couple of these challenging and slightly disturbing quizzes (see questions 3 and 5). The first quiz saw Whitebait achieve a very bad 28% or so result. For the one below he got a more, erm, respectable 50%. Question number 6 was probably the least tricky - once I stopped laughing at the cuteness of it.

How well do you know [NAME]?

1) What did I want to be when I was little?
	Ballerina
	Police Man
	Spy
	Superhero
	Nurse

2) Favorite fast food restaurant?
	McDonald's
	Wendy's
	Taco Bell
	Burger King

3) How many boy/girlfriends have I had?
	0
	3
	7
	10
	More than 10

4) My favorite chip flavor is _________.
	Barbeque
	Chesse and Onion
	Nacho Cheese
	Sour cream and Onion

5) What cell network am I on?
	Telecom
	Vodafone
	Telstra-clear

6) What would be the perfect present for me?
	Clothes
	Jewelry
	Perfume/Cologne
	Music
	A Horse

7) What is my middle name?
	Rose
	Jane
	Grace
	Lou

8) I am most happiest when _______?
	Playing sports
	At work
	Horse Riding
	Watching TV

meme of four

A fun meme has bounced Whitebait's way thanks to Pavlov's Cat. Given that Whitebait's brain is mush following some heavy grant-writing action it is an ideal time to respond to it:

Fours jobs you’ve had in your life

-Chief cardboard carton dismantler, stacker and tie-it-upper, Foodstuffs warehouse

-Painter (of houses and high schools - unintentionally got deliriously high once when painting a house interior with poor ventilation)

-Assistant Traffic Cop (so embarrassing but they were desparate times as far as student jobs go)

-Estates Officer, Public Trust Office, NZ 
(Mostly a deskbound public service clerical/legal executive type of job but on one occasion we had to search the house of a some poor guy who had died alone and intestate (without a will). He had suffered a heart attack while arguing with a neighbour over the driveway fence. It was pretty weird seeing the chalk outline of the body on the concrete as though one had stepped into a Law and Order episode. And going through his stuff).

Four movies you could watch over and over

-Tonari no Totoro (My Neighbour Totoro)

-Dead Man

-Wonderland  (the Michael Winterbottom one)

-Zoolander

Four places you’ve lived

-The Coast (West Coast, South Island, New Zealand)

-The Big Sushi (Tokyo)

-The Most English City outside of England (Christchurch)

-The World’s Most Liveable City (Melbourne)

Four TV shows you love(d) to watch

-Babylon 5

-The OC (first series)

-Queer Eye for the Straight Guy

-The Micallef Pogram

Four places you’ve been on vacation

-Yangshuo

-Catlins Coast

-Cairo

-Montepulciano

Four websites you visit daily (coz they’re tabbed on my firefox browser)

-Bloglines

-Google

-ABC Online

-The Japan Times

Four of your favourite foods

-Nabe

-Tempura with Soba noodles

-Condensed Milk (as a child Whitebait would tuck into tins left half opened by his mother – he has kicked the habit now)

-Eggplant and Tofu in Chilli Sauce (Thai style)

 Four places you would rather be

-Rainbow Serpent Festival with my old crew

-Yamanouchi Town with bathing monkeys (will hopefully go for a night this weekend)

-My own state-of-the-art music studio (currently in its developmental phase: codename 'fantasy')

-A city such as Madrid, Barcelona or Valencia (because Spain sounds great and W. has never been there)

Four tagged (but only if they are interested)

-Mr Miyagi (aka Benjamin)

-On the Rooftop (aka Ian/Tokuoun)

-Good Grief! (aka Becky)

-Symposiasts (aka Elanor - and Guy still?)

gold star end to the day

It often happens like this. Such is the porosity of days. You want to mark off one as completely terrible (see the previous post) but something else turns up from another sphere of your existence and makes it a little difficult to feel just one way ...

Vlog 3.0 is a research blog run by Adrian, one of a number of inspirational colleagues of Whitebait's alter-ego, the human work unit. The human work unit and A. do very different kinds of research work but just knowing that people like him are around doing their thing helps immensely in an osmosis-y sort of way. Academia works well this way when you do your best not to think of it as a competitive thing. And Adrian just found out he got promoted to senior lecturer so a big shout out of congratulations to him. And another most excellent colleague who Whitebait has the pleasure of researching and writing with, she who has appeared in the blog comments as sheepwoman, also got the nod to become what we in Australia decadently refer to as an 'asspro' -- capitalise to AssPro (associate professor) and it becomes a lot clearer and (a little bit) classier it has to be said. So both the kind of excellent people who actually make it exciting to go into work and here they are getting some deserved recognition.

And by some fluke the human work unit that is writing this also got the nod and is now a senior lecturer. All a bit too grown up. Pretty satisfying given the stress of  getting the freakin enormous application document in the day before packing up the house which was the weekend before coming to Tokyo. And it makes the work unit appreciative of the people who do work that help you along (like the referees who help out at short notice).

In fact the human work unit still remembers the day many years ago as a fresh-faced undergraduate at Canterbury University in Christchurch asking his tutor why for this week all the male lecturers had suddenly discarded their daggy cardigans for smart jackets and ties and being told it was promotion round time. And thinking - yep, they are very human and universities aren't so different from other workplaces.

So FrauleinDrDr and good friends E and L obliged and it was off to studenty Shimokitazawa for a small celebration. Not at the place pictured. Unfortunately the photos of where we ended up didn't  come out (which was a shame as all round us waitresses were getting sassy with butane torches and attacking pieces of fish on the table as well as creme brulee ('burnt pudding' on the Japanese menu)).

Airport observations

Memo: to those promoting Christchurch as another cosmopolitan New Zealand destination

Your third largest city should not have sheep grazing in a paddock located between the runways.

Memo to Helen Clark (Prime Minister):

I see from my visit that you are seriously taking on the unemployment problem. But do four separate individuals need to ask for my passport, why I'm here, and whether I'm supporting the Crusaders in the final (rugby)?

Your faithful whitebait dual citizenship holder,

You can't go home ...

... because home ain't there in quite the same form any more.

Judging from the stories contained in the Christchurch Press, delivered by some weekend visitors, one of Whitebait's old New Zealand urban stomping grounds is carving out its own unique middle-class-enhanced whitebread-town-gone-degenerate mythos (yes, that is a reference to you, Adelaide). Stories include a major moral panic around the appearance of Nitrous Oxide bars in the city (which have been there for about two years according to the article).

Also amusing--at the time of reading the printed copy last week--was a story of the increasing demand for a 'breakfast bonk' (as one media-byte savvy, streetworker put it).

On a more grim note, a story published yesterday confirms that a prostitute working the same central city area (Manchester street) has just been murdered. 

Scary place. The city always had that undercurrent but its locus seems to have geographically migrated away from the Square (perhaps?).

That being said Whitebait does have to journey home in a month or so (via Christchurch) so look for a brief report re the Christchurch affect barometer.