18 November, 2004 - 14:11

I'm bored. Bored, bored, bored.

I want this job to get more exciting and perhaps I should have thought of that when I applied for the posting of, "Database Monitor". Aie, oy. In honest retrospect, I applied to this job not to be a database monitor but only to be able to travel.

Is that dishonest?

It's not that I have no experience in coordination of databases - in fact that's all I did at the anti-tobacco coalition. And it's not that I lied to anyone during the selection process. But, damnit, no one ever asked me if I was passionate about databases! If they had, I suspect I might still be on employment insurance sitting in Thunder Bay or relaxing on a Floridian beach.

So instead of actually doing any work, I sit at my desk in the office in front of a computer reading issue papers on things like Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights or how Malawi fits in the new Sector Wide Approach to development funding. It's very interesting for me, but I know that it's not my job. So perhaps I'm meant, instead, to learn about other things in order to push up my general learning curve.

My hair is so long and out of control. I have turned into a Q-Tip head, which happens each time I leave my hair for several months at one time. Shannon, my roommate working at UNICEF, was supposed to cut it on the weekend when we went to Senga Bay but instead we were occupied with other things such as snorkling, swimming, lying on the beach, eating free buffet breakfasts and me getting questioned on if I think being gay is genetic. We met a bunch of other ex-pats working in Lilongwe - one guy, a human rights lawyer from Denmark but working in Geneva was almost obsessively talking to me about gay stuff. He isn't gay, he's just "gauche"ly metrosexual. But I'm sure he thought that the genetics of homosexuality is something that us queers find on the top of our polite social conversation agenda.

Shout Out: IT'S NOT!

In fact, I find the whole idea deeply boring. So I said, in my non-committal way, "Um, I guess I think it's sorta boring." I believe it was at this point that I might have wished to be as eloquent as I am in writing these thoughts down rather than blurting a big, "Duh, umm." In any case, it really is boring. It makes my eyelids close and my brain shuuuuuttttt dooooowwwwww........

See what I mean? Ok, but seriously, not only is it unattractive as an area of research, but it is also quite frightening. Hitler already attempted eugenics and the study of the genetics of gaydom could potentially simply kill us all off. Luckily, all those forward-thinking gays have added words such as Queer, Bi, Questioning, Transgender and Two-Spirited to the mix of things. Because, honestly, who the hell is really going out to look for the Questioning gene?

So the weekend was great, we stayed at at the fancy-shmancy Le Meridien Livingstonia hotel because if we flash our UN passes we get a deluxe room for 40USD with a free brekky buffet. On s'en profite with a beach right beside us and Lizard Island just 500 metres out from shore where we spent an afternoon snorkling, looking at colourful fish and jumping off 12-metre-high rock cliffs.

I do miss.

Sometimes.

The people. Like, people who I have such an unbreakable, old, authentic connection with and people with whom beauty was there already and the authenticity was just starting to flourish.

Coffee. Stopping off at Second Cup to get an Americano. Unabashedly, I miss that.

Mobility and Urbanity. Being able to walk around at all hours of the night in a planned, social environment.

An ant-less lifestyle. Being able to walk around for at least an hour without have to pick off an ant crawling on your arm or face.

Got to get my immigration stamp now.