Burnt out.

I know. I know. It has been so long since I last wrote here that the 6 of you have no doubt discovered blogs that are not only more eloquently written, but are updated more frequently than an annual report. And so it is with great regret that this rare occasion has to be tarnished by the fact I am writing my first sad entry. Don't worry, I'm not about to dye my hair green and recite greenday lyrics. But rest unassured the following memoirs contain nothing less than deep-seated tragedy.

It all began yesterday morning when I awoke to discover 4 missed calls from my beloved sister. This in itself was quite a shock as she is a tightass and rarely spends her credit on anyone. In addition, I had a concerned text message from a close friend inquiring after the safety of my family. Alarm bells sounded and so I rang every number I had for my immediate relatives.

Eventually I was greeted by the sound of my sweet father who proceeded to deliver one of the top 5 least favourite sentences you ever want to hear....

"There's been a fire"


(The other 4 in no particular order are:)

- There's been an accident.

- I'm so sorry but your entire family has been killed by a psychotic, axe-weilding neo-nazi.

- Hey, how come when I google you all that comes up is "Erotic home video"??

- We need to talk.



After assuring me everyone was ok I braced myself to ask the question I didn't want to ask.

"What about my stuff?"

See, when I came to Macau I knew it would not be ideal to bring all my worldly possessions with me. Mainly because I had a vast deal of worldly possessions. Lots and lots of stuff. And so it was all packed away and shoved onto the already bulging mounds in my mother's store room which also contained - among other things - crap, junk, approximately 10,000 boxes of tea, and a harp. Unfortunate then that the blaze which took 70 firefighters, 14 fire engines, and 8 hours to extinguish was to originate in the very same room.

Mum decided to start with the positives.

"Well, your sheet music is ok. And all your performance dresses are alright. Because they were all upstairs..."

"And what about everything else? What about my cds mum? WHAT ABOUT MY CDS?!??!?!?"

"Ummm, well I don't really know if any of them survived. I think cds melt in fire, so, most likely they've all melted..."

For those of you who don't know me, a little personal history. My mother is a chronic hoarder. Her cousin stated she has "poor girl syndrome" except for the fact she isn't poor. When I had nightmares as a child they usually culminated with Ray Martin from A Current Affair knocking on our door to take my mother away after exposing her and her little "problem". Assuming this illness is genetic I would say I inherited a weaker strain. I prefer to call it "collecting". I collect things. And over my 22 years I have "collected" many different things. CDs being my biggest passion I had at least 1000 (spanning a wonderful array of genres and styles and all in alphabetical order according to male/female vocalists, styles/countries/compilations). There were also - books (the most precious of which was a leather-bound, gold-gilted edition of Mary Wollstonecraft's "A Vindication on the Rights of Women"); clothes; SHOES; jewellery (costume and some of my grandmother's); and dvds.

So back to the conversation.

"So aside from the cds, what else?"

"Well the store room's been destroyed along with everything in it"

"So what your saying is that it's all gone?"

"Yes. If it's any consolation I lost all my tea..."


I didn't really react. After all, it's only material possessions. Instead I put my itunes on shuffle and sat quite still. Itunes sensed something was up and played the following - whether to taunt me or to add some lightness to the situation, only itunes can answer that...

1. Disco inferno 10:22 The Tramps Disco Inferno Disco

2. Fire 2:45 The Jimi Hendrix Experience Are You Experienced? Rock

3. Serpentine Fire 3:52 Earth Wind & Fire The Great Earth, Wind & Fire R&B
4. Firestarter 4:42 The Prodigy The Fat Of The Land Electronica/Dance
5. Ring of Fire 3:59 Grace Jones Private Life - The Compass Point Sessions
6. Fire Island 3:28 The Village People The Best Of Village People Pop
7. Slow Dancing In A Burning Room 4:02 John Mayer Continuum Rock
8. Burn For You 3:32 John Farnham Anthology: Greatest Hits 1986-1997 Pop

I have decided, after serious consideration, that I am ok with this major loss. Or that I have to be. It may be a blessing in disguise. A chance to purge myself of my external and thus internal clutter. Who knows what the future holds for me? After Macau I may pack my swag and hold out my thumb and take the quickest route to Mexico. Or alternately I may decide to adopt a camel, name him 'Lance' (very close to being an anagram of "camel"), and join a caravan of nomads making their way across the Sahara. I only wonder what that would do for my blogging prolificacy...



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