More sand. And sun, And surf.

Monday, 16 February 8:32 pm

I’m sorry I haven’t written in so long. Although I don’t have a good excuse, I do have one: I was too lazy to post at first, and then I started reading a long book that engrossed my every extra minute. We’ve also been watching movies most nights, which takes my time up after dinner.

The book I have been reading is Jane Eyre—I had never read it before, and got it in Brisbane with an idea to take up time on the island. It’s worked wonders, because it takes so long to read and because it’s so addicting. There’s something I absolutely adore about the language in books like Jane Eyre and Pride and Prejudice—I love the long, colorful sentences and bluntness of writing. There’s also something marvelous about the goofy sappy romances taking hundreds of pages to develop. Jane Eyre is much more exciting than Pride and Prejudice was—I’m not sure if I like that better, although the slow, descriptive scenes and plot that I love is still true of Bronte’s book.

On that note, I saw Kiera Knightly’s Pride and Prejudice about a week ago. I loved it as I did the book, which a lot of was because of the story, but the movie itself was pretty good as well. As I said earlier, my mom and I have been watching a lot of movies. There’s a local DVD rental store, which he have been frequenting, and the people there by now must know us well. Since early on we have been asking for one particular movie (Love Actually) which has been checked out the whole time—ever since the first day it’s been over-due, and whoever is working there at the time texts or calls the person who still has it. A lot of people have told me to see it, and since I’m trying to watch all the movies on my list, I really hope it comes in. We’ve seen August Rush (sickly sweet and completely wonderful), Atonement (a little sad, but overall good), Wag the Dog (hilariously funny and incredibly upsetting at the end. If you haven’t seen it, you must), Big Fish (Tim Burton, so should be good, right? Well, it wasn’t that good—very cliché and the acting was horrible), What About Bob (very funny. It belongs to W, and is about a psychiatrist who’s patient makes him go crazy. Very very funny), Minority Report (I didn’t know Tom Cruise could pretend to act, but he does a pretty good job of it in this. My favorite part was one of the computer screens of the future, which was the size of a wall, and had gloves that one could put on that would let the wearer move windows around the screen at the twitch of a finger. The movement needed was almost exactly that of an iPhone [except minus the touch part], even though the movie came out years before Apple’s multi-touch interfaces did), and probably others I’m forgetting.
Tonight we watched an amazing Australian movie called “Hey Hey it’s Esther Blueburger.” It was wonderful—it was a movie about middle/high school, specifically cliques, which in the US is something to steer clear from (Hollywood High Schools—I shiver with the thought). Instead of being plastic-y and mean, however, it was sweet and genuine; a little meanness at times, but most of it wasn’t (and would it be high school without it?). The acting was pretty good, as was the direction. We didn’t understand some of it at the cultural level, although it was fascinating to watch—it at times was almost a comedy of manners (though not quite as painful), which made it fun to see the little Australian habits. There were some hilariously funny scenes, such as one in a family psychiatrist’s office (everybody was sitting awkwardly on bean bag chairs which the psychiatrist peeled an apple with a knife into a perfect spiral, no talking whatsoever). I’m not sure if it’s possible to get in the US, but if so I definitely recommend watching it. It helped it had a very good soundtrack (it even had a Missy Higgins song, which always is a good sign). Once I have high speed internet again I’m definitely going to look it up.

As of the island, it’s wonderful. Every day we take wonderfully beautiful walks/hikes, either on the beach, or farther inland (most of the walks are on 4-wheel drive roads, which means the ground is very hard to walk on. The dry sand is about the consistency of tapioca pudding). Those walks get very hot, because of the humidity and heat. After we get home from each walk we sit in front of the three fans we have trying to cool down. A few days ago that changed—it was the weirdest experience, because I was actually cold. It rained a lot those two days, and in the day got up to only 79 degrees (Fahrenheit, that is). It was freezing. That only happened twice, though—it is now hot again. I guess I shouldn’t complain.

The beach has been fantastic also—every afternoon we go swimming. It’s amazingly fun to play in the waves, mainly to try to ride them into shore. Most days it’s a little rough and current-y to actually swim in the waves, but a few days it hasn’t been (today, for example—the waves were huge where we were, but very little current—very fun). I’ve gotten very good at body surfing, if I do say so myself (there’s natural modesty for you, Socrates). There’s an ocean lagoon on the beach near our house that we swim at, which is better on rough days—some waves still break into it, but mostly it’s calm. I like the waves better, but the lagoon is better for actually swimming.
In the lagoon, my parents and I will spend hours playing Monkey in the Middle with a tennis ball. It’s weirdly addicting and fun, and except for a few bops in the nose or eye by the ball, it’s been pretty injury-less. It’s so much fun to throw it where both my parents could get it, and watch them fight for it. Maybe a weird sense of humor, but VERY amusing.

I got a haircut a few days ago. I was terrified before it—so scared there would be some weird Aussie tradition with haircuts, and I would do something completely wrong. As it turned out, it was very easy—the woman who cut it was very sweet, and it was fast and inexpensive. It’s a really nice cut too (again with the modesty), maybe even better than the ones I get in the States (I’m not sure I’d give it that, but it’s still pretty good). It’s so nice to finally have the hair out of my eyes.

Well, I should go to bed. I can’t believe I left my book for so long—the longest I’ve gone without reading it yet. I keep telling myself that after this book I’ll read the school books I have (which look good also), and I have to keep to that—if not I’ll never finish the work.

Goodnight.