Monday, October 12, 2009

The Be-wildebeest

What a fantastic day! seriously, I lost my caffeine tolerance over the last week, so my single cup (ok it was rather strong, and the plunger went funny so there were a lot of grounds in it) of coffee yesterday resulted in me twitching and having profound thoughts until about 4am… the worst part? I had coffee at like midday! Seriously!

And when my ipod decided that pretending that it didn’t need charging wasn’t working anymore I got to twitch along in silence, while mumbling the words to the collected works of the Parlotones. It was a new low. Seriously.

But this morning decided not to be mean and nasty and bright and sunny, and instead was cloudy enough to allow me an extra hour and a half of sleep. As my traps have gone far beyond ‘comfortably worn in’ to the realm of ‘gross and nasty and worn out’ I changed them for shiny new traps, as well as finishing the leftover coffee from yesterday. Eventually at about 10 I decided that I had had enough waiting around, and I figured although it was cloudy it might just be warm enough for the odd lizard to be out, particularly since it was such a wet and miserable weekend.

And it was pretty good! the sun came out in short bursts, which let me find a few lizards, and they were cold enough to take full advantage of the sun (and generally let me catch them!). By about 2:30 the wind was really starting to get ridiculous and was blowing my traps everywhere, not to mention that the lizards were under their rocks in the ‘bomb drill’ position (I can imagine if I want to!), so I headed home for the day. Right now I’m over the halfway mark for my minimum number of lizards I need, and over a third for the number I really want, and exactly halfway to the number in the middle that I will probably settle for n the end!

As it was nice and cold again I decided to take the opportunity to go for a run. It’s been too hot or too wet and I’ve been too lazy for the last few days, but I’ve also been watching my muscle tone vanish completely which is just depressing. So I walked up the driveway (when I say up, I mean UP, it’s about 1.5 km of upness) and ten ran along the road to the next-farm neighbour’s gate. By the time I’d got there I was totally finished (did I mention the driveway is really steep?) and then I realised the key difference between the treadmill and the real world: I had to walk back! And for some weird reason it was uphill the whole way. And it was far! I think it’s about 5km in total, but it felt much much further! I ran little bits because I got bored, and I was hot and tired, and eventually I got home and collapsed in the chair on the veranda eating carrots.

Because I could.

After that I started measuring lizards, but I stopped to have a tea-break and check my email, and wound up chatting on messenger with CG for about 2 hours. Of course whenever I speak to people I seem to turn into a cross between Oprah and a fortune-cookie. Maybe that’s why hermits always gave advice? There’s something kind of zennishness about the isolation and the time I have to think about things. As she is one of the key players in my social circle I also got to ask her all about my boy-troubles (which are very non-dramatic) and she had a very different perspective, which means that tomorrow i get to find a rock and sit and think through everything all over again.

Oh, and the person who invented cherry-lollipop flavour yoghurt deserves some kind of Nobel prize or something. It’s SO good!

And there’s a frog on my window (on the glass) eating all the moths and Christmas beetles and stuff. I will call him Victor, because he kind of looks like a Victor.

I’m still twitching slightly, but I’ve managed to stop bouncing around in my chair, so there’s even hope for some sleep tonight!

11 comments:

po said...

cherry lollipop flavoured yoghurt! Man you guys have all the good stuff, we don't get that here!

Poor lizards n the bomb-drill position, maybe it is the Helen-drill position ;)

Leia said...

Good luck for the post-run stiffness tomorrow!!

Kath Lockett said...

You might still be twitching Helen, but your day in the field (and the run uphill both ways) makes for entertaining reading for us more deskbound folk!

sarah said...

cherry lollipop yoghurt!!!! send me some!

or rather... dont... hmmm.

EEbEE said...

Boy problems...

try twitching less.

Random twitching freaks guys out.

Tamara said...

You found the cherry-lollipop flavour yoghurt! That stuff is excellent.

How many lizards do you actually want / need?

Victor sounds like a good name for a frog. The human Victor I know reminds me of a frog.

Candice said...

lol! I also turn Zen-ish on MSN Chat!

Well done on the run - I feel slow and lazy now!

Skinny Bitches in the Making said...

i didn't know you get cherry lollipop yoghurt.
i also want some.

Luke said...

Yes...runnning back may in fact be part of the exhaustion problem...

Don't overthink things. Remember, it can blow things WAY out of propotion in your head...

Olga said...

Hi Helen. Thank you for dropping by and for the warm words :) I hope you are doing well and enjoying yourself!

Helen said...

Po: You guys have the original white chocolate Magnums. And Polo mints. And Cherry Coke. Let us have the funku yoghurt!

Leie: thanks! i've been semi-stretching around here so I think that helps...

Kat: good to know! It's quite scary how mundane this all seems to me!

Sarah: When you come home to visit I'll get you some! how's that for incentive? ;)

EEbEE: your advice is invaluable! Twitching is generally not voluntary though...

Tamara: I don't know any Victors. I know a few Victorias, but they don't look like frogs at all.

Candice: you're on messenger and you don't tell me these things? I'm shocked and disapointed!

Skinny Bitches: It's in the kids yoghurt section, Dairybelle. I avoid adult yoghurt becasue they put lumps of brown sludge in it and then pretend that they are 'fruit' pieces. Ew.

Luke; I am female and therefore overthinking is unavoidable! Sorry. I will try and hold off as long as possible though!

Olga: thanks! I'm glad you're blogging again!