Here is my car. Shockingly, the only thing I can find wrong with it is that the aerial won’t go all the way back in - aside from that, and the amorphous spectre of mechanical nastiness that my imagination tells me is lurking in the engine bay, it’s perfect. Now all I need to do is get used to the manual transmission again.

And I’ve received a few good ideas for names, but I’m still not sure. I’ll let you know when I figure it out.

I bought a car yesterday. Neat, hey? I haven’t picked it up yet, so I can’t post pictures, but it’s a Hyundai Accent Coupe. Dark Grey. It’s not exactly a macho sports car, but it seems to be in good condition. It’s actually the first car I’ve owned - I had one a few years ago (a Holden known as ‘The Husband’) but I was just borrowing it from someone else. So I guess this is a milestone of manliness, but also I have to learn about insurance and RAC plans and stuff like that, which will be boring.

Anyhow, I am soliciting names for my new car. Please leave some suggestion in the comments. If you need inspiration, see this pic and imagine it dark grey:
http://incontrol.nexteppe.com/images/vehicles/KMHCF35G81U120010_01.jpg

and I’m planning to do work typing then, so I will have no strength left to offer reflections. So here they are in advance:

25. Or was it 26? No, 25.

Aside from being known as a fag-enabler, I like my job. Talking about the cosmic issues to young people all day is barely like work, and even 100 essays on the same topic doesn’t faze me. I have my problems with RSI, especially when handwriting, but it’s under control. In terms of career stuff, I have had my first publication, which was a huge step, and I’ve submitted my thesis, which means that I’m almost Dr. Mark. Things are going well. On the other hand I’m realising that, even though I’m good at philosophy, I’m competing for jobs against people who are genuinely gifted and have absolutely no lives. Plus, I don’t want to move away just to have a career - it would be OK for a year or so, but not permanently.

So a university career is looking unlikely. Which is not a terrible thing, really. At the end of a PhD you realise why it changes your name. You’re no longer the stand-out person in your class, you’re the most obscure name in world history. A new perspective, and it’s worth getting here just for the view. Not to mention that you fucking learn how to write, which is more than just a job skill.

Apart from that, there isn’t much to add in wrapping up year number 25. I’m fit and healthy, in a good mood, and settling nicely back into WA life, although I do miss my friends in Sydney and everyone who has moved interstate since I left.

Here are the things it would be good to do next year:
Find a decent job.
Start a rockin’ band.
Meet girls.
Visit my dad. Or at least call.
Find a Touchstream keyboard, if they still exist (stupid Apple).
Spend more time cooking and less time watching TV.

(Pls think carefully before bringing this list up with me in 12 months time ok?)

I work at a Catholic university, and the other day the dean of my school, who happens to be a priest, spotted me reading Brokeback Mountain and Other Stories during my lunch break.

My hopes for promotion have diminished. Even further.

Imagination, of course, can open any door – turn the key and let terror walk right in.

-Truman Capote

I just finished reading In Cold Blood. I extremely recommend it. It’s a semi-fictional story about a family who were murdered in Kansas in the 1960s and what happened to the two killers afterward, on the run and then in jail. The great thing about it is the way that Capote renders the ambiguities of the story: portraying the killers sympathetically but at the same time showing them as egotistical, amoral and irredeemable; and describing the various reactions to the crime, ranging from forgiveness to fear and hatred, without letting us know whether he is for or against the death penalty. And it’s great yarn too – the narrative is so coherent that I couldn’t tell which bits were made up and which were true, and the writing is so suspenseful that I actually heaved a sigh of relief when the killers were finally caught, even though I knew it was inevitable. Very cool book.

Sometimes I can’t believe the way I speak. Today we were talking about ancient Greek theories of love and I chimed in with the informative line: “Socrates wasn’t the only one involved in the gayness, that was common in Greek culture.”

Yes, I am expert on “the gayness” apparently. The gayness of Antiquity in particular :)

In other news, anyone who hasn’t read today’s “1783″ version of The Onion should go there immediately.

Unforgettable lines from my own internal monologue: “Fuck, I missed Gilmore Girls again!”

Yep, I need a life.

What am I going to write about today? I have been marking essays all week and have done basically nothing. I learned to fly my little helicopter… that’s something. Kinda. And I started In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, which is great, although nobody has been murdered yet so it might get a bit bad later on.

Now I will have lunch and watch the rally on the tv. That’s… something. (!) (Wow!)