It's now 12:05am on Thursday morning, and I am leaving to go to Cambodia at 10:30am on Saturday morning. I've arranged my visa into Cambodia, but that is basically the only thing I have done. I don't actually know why I am so calm when, if I don't get my act together, I am not going to be ready in time. I have to do a whole lot of washing, ironing, and packing. Tomorrow, I'm getting waxing done and have to get American dollars. There is so much to do. But, like I always say to my mother, "If it wasn't for the last minute, nothing would get done."
On Saturday, I'm flying to Singapore. Then I'm spending the night at a hotel, which I think is either in the airport or very close to the airport. Then I fly out to Siem Reap in Cambodia on Sunday morning. I'm meeting my friend Maiki in Siem Reap on the 19th of December, which means I'll be there by myself for around 11 days. I am actually looking forward to that time alone. I think it's quite reasonably priced to get a car from the hotel for a day for around $100 US dollars, so I'm going to go to the temples and around town.
The whole objective of the trip is to do research for a novel I want to write, so I’m going to literally map out the town and the temples. I’m going to write down every little detail so that when I write about it, I can do so with a sense of authority. It will be good to do all of that alone before Maiki gets there, because he might get bored doing the same thing every day.
We’re staying at a hotel called Borei Angkor, and we’re also staying on the Privilege Floor. I don’t really know what that means, but it only cost a little bit extra, and it sounded like something I could weave into my book. Maiki and I are staying in the same room but in separate beds. It was cheaper to get twin beds, and we’ve stayed together like this before. We have never been together and don’t want to be; we’re very much like brother and sister. If I had a partner, I obviously wouldn’t stay in the same room as another man, but seeing as I’m single and Maiki’s circumstances are complicated, it’s not hurting anyone.
There are a couple of things I've been meaning to write in this blog for a while now, but I haven't had the chance. I've been quite busy. I haven't been busy getting ready for my trip, but I've just had little bits and pieces on. It was just over two weeks ago that I went to a panel discussion at the museum, which was part of the Feast Festival. My friend Rebecca came we me and as we walked into the museum, Uniting Communities had a table set up with rainbow badges and flags that they were giving out for free, which I thought was so lovely. You can see their setup below.
The panel discussion was called "What’s all the Hoo-Haa About?" and it was about the female anatomy in nature. It was hosted by cabaret performer and comedian Libby Trainor Parker, and the panel was made up of Jamie Bucirde, who is a South Australian sexologist, Megan Folwell, who is a researcher at the University of Adelaide, and Kristen Messenger, who is an invertebrate ecologist and 'bug whisperer' from Bugs n Slugs.
The discussion was hilarious, as it was meant to be, but it was also incredibly interesting. I was surprised at how much pleasure animals seem to get out of sex. How they knew this, I really don't know, but seeing as the discussion was about the female anatomy, they talked a lot about clitorises. For example, hyenas have very large clitorises, and some male snakes will vibrate their heads around a female snake's clitoris. Flying foxes and bats perform oral sex on each other. I actually could not believe that.
They talked about female praying mantises and Red Back spiders eating their mates after sex. I did know this, and I always just thought it was the nature of the beast, but apparently, with Red Back spiders, if they don't eat the male, it has a detrimental effect on the eggs she produces.
Because this discussion was part of a festival celebrating the LGBTQI+ community, it was fitting that they touched on homosexuality in nature. Apparently, it is rampant in giraffes, and female macaque monkeys only orgasm with other females.
It was a really good night, and I am always looking around for things to go to at the museum. Below, you can see a very poorly taken photo of the panel.
The only thing that was a bit of a downer on the night was Rebecca. I asked her if she wanted to come along, and she said yes, so I got her a ticket. She got to my house on the Wednesday night it was on, and she sat down and started talking to Mum. I heard her say that she thought it must be an exhibition at the museum because she said she saw online that it went for three hours. Then she says to Mum, "It must be an exhibition because there is no way I'm going to sit there and listen to people talk for three hours."
I knew that it was a talk, and it didn't surprise me that it would go for three hours, so I just said to her, "It is a talk, and I imagine it will go for three hours. I'm happy just to go by myself, though, so you might need to go home." She immediately said she would come, but then the whole night she just complained, bitched, and whinged. When she said she wasn't going to sit through people talking for three hours, I thought to myself, "What else are you going to do? Go home and watch Home and Away?"
The panel discussion itself wasn't three hours. When we first got to the museum, there was an hour to kill, so we went and looked at the National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year Exhibition, which they opened up for everyone. Rebecca was complaining about the time to kill. Then, when we got to the Pacific Gallery where everything was set up, she complained. I just thought to myself, I want to be alone. I would much rather be alone. I only asked her if she wanted to come because I mistakenly thought she might enjoy it. I will not be doing that again. I usually go to these things alone anyway, so I'm just going to stick to that.
A few days after this panel discussion, a much less soul-destroying friend and I went to the Jam Factory and had a look at the glassblowers and an exhibition by Gabriella Bisetto. I know Gabriella is a senior lecturer at UniSA and is also a glass artist, but this exhibition had a couple of mediums. Below, you can see photos from when we watched the glassblowers and my favourite part of Gabriella Bisetto's exhibition.
I think I've mentioned in this blog before that I have tried glassblowing, but neon glassblowing is a specialised skill that involves manipulating glass tubes on an open flame, then blowing into the glass so it doesn't collapse on itself, and shaping the glass tubes using a pattern.
Before attending this exhibition at the Jam Factory, I was considering whether I should learn to do this. Then, when I saw Gabriella's neon, I thought it was definitely a sign that I should. I love neon—I love how seedy it looks, the '80s vibe, and how vintage and iconic it is. I started to notice neon signs everywhere, and I found a master in Melbourne to teach me. But the more I learned about utilising neon signs as an art form, the more I came to realise how dangerous it is. There is a lot of electrical work involved in the establishment of pieces, and a very real hazard is electrocution.
Sometimes mercury is required to create certain colours, and of course, there is always the risk of severely burning yourself with the open flame or on hot glass. I also discovered that no one does traditional neon glassblowing in Adelaide, and if I want to learn or even create something, I would have to go to Melbourne. The most eye-opening thing I learned was that most of the neon lights you see around are actually LED neon lights made of silicone or PVC, which are much cheaper and less work-intensive.
So, combined with the danger and the cost, I realised that if I want to create something using the neon light effect, I can design something and have it fabricated out of LED neon light material, which is what I am going to do. Below, you can see a few of the neon lights I have noticed lately, and I was fooled into believing they were bent by artisans. Thinking about it now, I think they are LED neon lights.
Well, around ten days ago, I had a dream about one of my brother's old school friends, Justin. They were like brothers and still have a very close relationship. I was very friendly with Justin and I even lived with him and his wife for a while when I was in Sydney. So, I had this dream about Justin, and it wasn't anything sexual or romantic—we were just hanging out. When I woke up in the morning, I said to Mum, "I had the weirdest dream about Justin last night." It was weird because I hadn't thought of him in years.
A little bit later, I was in my room doing a few things, and Mum yelled out to me to confirm that I had just told her I had a dream about Justin. I confirmed it, and she asked me to go into the dining room where she was reading the paper. She was on a page where there was a large article... about Justin. He is in the military, and it was something about what he was doing. I could not believe it, nor could my mum.
Call it coincidence, call it whatever you like. All I know is that it was weird, but it didn't surprise me because that kind of stuff happens to me all the time. Most of the time, I just don't tell people because I don't want them to think I am crazy. Which I am.
