I loved Blood Meridian. Loved it. There's about 80 pages where the Kid diminishes into the background and the gang become the main protagonist, where it becomes a bit of a slog, but as far as prose style goes, McCarthy has very few peers.

Update on the settlement and move. It went well. Which is to say, it was conducted successfully. Barring unexpected massive windfalls, I am unlikely to welcome having to repeat the process at any point in the next few years.

Place is still replete with boxes. I find little in the way of time or inclination to finish the unpacking. Claude (our felid) refuses to talk to me. And the previous owners took the dishwasher as well as the shed (the shed! - out of the backyard) when they left.

Now is the time as the tension begins to unwind that I begin to notice the things I never spotted during the inspections before auction. Why does the floor on this corner feel strangely spongy and hollow under the boards? Why does this tile in the kitchen rock slightly when stepped upon? Why is there a gap between the earth and the wall of the house in the backyard? For now, I aim to pursue none of these concerns.

I have spent way too long looking at this.

In 10 days we settle on our first house. We settle the sale of our apartment (which we're currently still living in) on the same day. At the same time. The real estate agent representing the vendor states they are legally unable to provide us the keys to our new house until after settlement. This means we need to have everything in the apartment packed and ready for the removalists to pick up at 8.30am, pay them to cool their heels until settlement occurs at 2pm or whenever, and make sure the apartment is vacant and clean by that same time. You would think it would be easy to negotiate early access to the house (i.e. pay them a couple of hundred to let us park stuff there the day before the formal settlement date), but so far no luck.

While this occurs I have to draft an institution wide green paper by the end of the month while also drafting papers and organising agenda for two Council committees. It's a very busy time.

Applied for a job at a different university (still in Melbourne). Not sure I want it.

Hello. Welcome to the site. mk is the creator. Bear in mind it can take a second after hitting the "contribute" button for your comments to go through. I say this because you appear to have inadvertently submitted the same comment multiple times in a couple of threads (something I myself have done on numerous occasions). Where are you from?

Watched Margin Call for the first time only a few months ago (it was on Netflix down here) and I've been thinking about it regularly ever since. Exceptional film. Exceptional script. Exceptional acting. Reminds of Glengarry Glen Ross, but I need to think about why. Maybe it's the Mamet vibe.

Lately I've been thinking about the meaning of the dog burial scene at the end.

Yeah, this is great.