Positive thoughts

After my last rant I’d better balance the scales with some positive thoughts so I don’t come across as a whinger. I am a whinger but I’m going to try to be positive for just one day. Already a lot of internal resistance is building up within me to this idea. Manipulating my naturally negative thought patterns is like trying to twist my head all the way around on my neck. It’s possible, but also painful and usually fatal. I'll try anyway.

The new split system A/C’s are still a fantastic novelty. Cool, quiet and instant. All those years down south have spoiled me. Seasons, whole months of cool weather, sunshine and a breeze at the same time, low humidity. Why the hell did we come back to the tropics? You'd never guess I grew up in Darwin and spent 18 years in that sweltering steam box.

The awesome rain we just had after so many months of drought. It also means we don’t have to water the garden. We've had almost a 500mm this month. It’s hammering down every day. Luckily the house site drains pretty well. We're slightly off the ground on half-meter stumps and on a hill. I can’t see a problem with flooding unless we get another 1000mm.

I can use my welder whenever I want now that I have a 15 amp power point. I learned to weld while working in Thailand. The most common method was to strike an arc then turn your face away and weld by feel. Probably should buy a mask now that I’m in Australia though. I should learn how to use the welder properly too. Practice makes perfect, or at the least less mistakes, hopefully.

The bug catcher we bought works beautifully. It’s catching thousands of moths and mossies and flies. We are having an explosion of pest due to the rain. No poisons are needed in this trap. It has a special light that only horny male mosquitos can see. They come over for a look and a fan pushes them into a water reservoir directly under the light. Just a little squirt of detergent is needed to break the water tension so the little buggers drown. The many tiny rotting corpses are good for the plants too. We found that leaving the tray in for two days makes the dead stuff stink a bit and the smell draws (and drowns) the flies like you wouldn't believe. When I empty it the water is almost solid with dead stuff. A praying mantis had taken up residence on top of it and it gets a good feed as well.

Writings going OK. Combed one story straight. What a bloody effort. I'll see what my proof reader thinks (thanks Sis). I finally dragged out my Nanowrimo submission and split the short stories into separate files. As I went though them I had to look very closely at a few that I had totally forgotten about. They weren’t half bad ideas too. I don't mean to sound up myself. Reading old stories can be an interesting experience. (Sometimes I cringe when I forget how bad a few of them are as well.)

I must go to a different place when I write fiction without any external interruptions or interference. Nanowrimo was particularly useful to make me write. It forces you to do nothing but write. I wasn't allowed to edit, spell check or refine my ideas. They are even against re-reading what was written the day before. It’s all about the writing. With these constraints and pressure of reaching that 50,000 word target it’s no wonder there’s whole stories I don't remember writing. I'm doing it again this year and it will be interesting to see if it’s easier or harder without the physical pain and exhaustion to help me along.

Last positive item of the day is that I have cleaned almost every wall in the house. With bleach. Almost gassed myself. It’s a filthy horrific job but the mould and mill dirt had built up to an embarrassing level. So many tradesmen have been through the house lately I started worrying about what they thought of our messy house. I don't often care what other people think of me but a filthy house doesn't reflect well on a person and mould spores can make you ill. So the place is reasonably clean. I also took the time to make a few repairs, move pictures, sorted the stereo and speaker wiring, and found homes for stuff that's always in the way. I feel a bit more organized. You still can’t call our home neat and it'll never be in Home Beautiful but I don't feel embarrassed anymore. Until the mill starts in a few months and it begins churning out choking clouds of smoke from the unscrubbed boiler. Sorry that’s negative. Lets see, how about this, it’s really nice that the mill isn't going at the moment.