Hail

Melbourne, Victoria, AUSTRALIA


Joined August 17th 2007

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About Me
I'm just a highly excitable gemini, constantly on the go. Everything I love, I love with a passion. I love to write, to read, dance, sing, laugh, swim, talk, learn new things and kick back. African-Arabian blooded, Australian bred.

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Recent Posts

On the nineteenth of the third month, in the ninth year of the second millennium, A.D.


I miss my father so much. Beyond the blackening heartache I feel, I miss the blanket of innocence he had me under while he was alive, and yet, I am partially glad it was removed, for I think it is high time I opened my eyes and saw the world a little more clearly.

I must confess that I know very little about this world, one could very easily call me stupid, or in more socially acceptable and forgiving tones; ‘young’. I admit to pronouncing utter dribble in my conversations to others, to say the silliest sweeping statements, and passionately pronounce romantic notions about life. I cringe, even while I say things, but at the same time I proudly own them, because, when will I ever be able to say ridiculous things and be forgiven for my youth and folly, except for now, while I am young and dumb?

For example: “Oh my God, I want to travel all over the world before I start work. I’d love to spend a year abroad, just going from country to country.”


In my pompous moments, where I forget who I am, and what I know, I can be seen stating things with vehemence and total confidence in what I’m saying, in a way, that in hindsight, makes me smile the way I smile when my baby nieces saying funny childish things. I know and care, and I also know and don’t care.

I find, only in youth, one can dream as big and wildly as they can, without consequence and forethought…no matter how harshly life has treated them thus far.

Or maybe, I shall continue to dream and open my mouth and say things only said in pre-modern novels. Maybe that’s just me, or maybe it’s everyone, or the majority, I don’t know. Is it? Are they? Are we? I can only get the answers from others who have lived longer, and harder, and wiser.

I have a suspicion that my vision of life will only get clearer. Is that not an obvious statement, if there is one?

I am too wordy, and too idealistic in my writing, but I’m adamant to not let that go and write in a simplified manner, because…well, I have a hankering, as of late, to write in the style that the young Elizabethan woman who has taken up residence in my head, chatters. I’m sure she’ll go very soon, but I like her where she is right now.

I miss not even knowing this of myself. My father would always say “You have no idea, I let so many things slide, but you have no idea.” And I didn’t. I pretended, I’d nod and smile and agree with him, and I thought (in my all-knowing mind) that I knew what he was talking about, but I didn’t.

I think, I do now.

Adults and parents…they let so many stupid things slide by, because, well…it would be unfair to scold and judge a young person who wouldn’t really know otherwise. I had no idea I sounded like an idiot when I told my dad that I knew a fair bit of French after taking one semester of it at university. Granted, I learned some things, like ‘hello’ and simple grammar, and a few slang words thrown in to teach ‘the tourists’ to enjoy France a bit more, but how presumptuous of me. And yet, he’d smiled his sweet, charming smile and said “good girl, you almost know as much as I do”.

Of course I didn’t, at one point my dad was fluent in French, but for him to say that…it calmed my fragile teenage nerves, it boosted my confidence, it allowed me grow naturally without any issues in that particular area of study/life. And when I think about it, he did that for me (and so, of course did/does my mother) in everything, and everywhere and every time, and I find it such an interesting notion to learn in one’s life. Or is just instinct? To treat the young without ageism (is that a word?), or rather prejudice against their age.

To be gentle with their senses, and never ever make them feel like they are stupid, even though they are (I’m sorry to say, you may not be, but I certainly am, and not afraid to agree with myself), and to act like they know everything, even though they rarely do. Having one’s parents’ confidence in oneself is such a beautiful and comforting thing.

There are so many aspects to what my father taught me, and ingrained in my subconscious, and did for me, and in the way he treated me, and only now, one month after his passing, I’m starting to realise.

I regret this, and at the same time, understand. This is the natural flow my mind is taking and I should allow it. I cannot force myself to be wise and knowing without catalyst. I couldn’t force myself to come to this conclusion without something to have jarred me mentally and emotionally. I beat myself up so much for not knowing, and understanding and making the most of my time…but then I console myself, because, how could I have known? How can I not have lived my life, like most people do, in the moment? Isn’t this what you’d say to me?

And that famous line just keeps repeating: “You don’t know what you’ve got ‘til its gone.”

I really do miss my father.

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Cancer: The Other Side of the Tracks

August 21st 2007 12:12
This was prompted by Brenton's piece.

One year ago, a distant friend of a friend was diagnosed with Cancer. I was shocked, and saddened, and appropriately sympathetic, and that’s as far as my emotions went. Four months later, my only sister was diagnosed with Leukemia. At first I was horrified and scared and panicked. But then later, when I’d fully experienced the true horror,

i don’t even know how to put this into words

It was all just ghastlyterrifyingnightmarish, can’t breathe, if she twitches your heart goes from 70 beats to 130 in a half a second, ohgodshe’sgoingtodie, how can I live without her, why should i? how is this fair? They’re killing her…made the wrong decision, no sleep for days on end then collapsing, eyes red and puffed with nights and days of crying, silence…so much silence, no one has anything to say, what can you say? She’s so lonely, even when I hold her tight and tell her I love her, she’s lonely. Don’t leave me by myself, don’t go, you can’t leave me here to live. You live, I’ll go, I’d rather that way then having to hurt so much the rest of my life…dad’s crying, he never cries.


I believe that no one really understands what it is that makes Cancer so shocking. No one (unless they’ve lived it) truly knows why it is they sound so shocked when they hear of someone being diagnosed. It’s probably because the word itself has negative connotations. Before it all happened, I didn’t even know why I’d gasp, all I knew about Cancer was that it probably hurts, it’s deadly, it makes you sick. Basic things like that, and I don’t blame anyone for thinking that way.

So, for those who have stomachs strong enough, let me begin educate you, in great detail, about what exactly happens to a Cancer patient.

Because anyone can get Cancer, it will almost always be a massive shock to the patient and their family. A big shock, a shock that will have you frozen for days, sleepless for nights, and crying for weeks. Denial sometimes follows, though I believe that almost always the question of mortality will be raised. Will I live? Is it curable?

Hopefully, it will be curable, and depending on the kind of cancer you’ve got (acute-fast killing, or chronic-slow killing) you’ll be rushed to the best hospital in the area to begin treatment.

Now I can’t tell you about radiotherapy or surgeries, but if you have Leukemia, I think everyone gets Chemotherapy, of this I’m not sure however. But I’m going to stick to what I know. So...chemotherapy? What happens there?

Well, to understand what chemo does, first you’ve got to know what went wrong inside your body. With leukemia, your bone marrow, which is where all your cells are created – red cells, white cells, platelets- makes some kind of mistake and instead of producing a healthy cell (let’s pretend our bone marrow is our factory), it produces a dud. This dud loves making more duds, so soon we’ve got a whole lot of duds, and then that’s what we call cancer.

So, chemo…basically, the patient is filled with harsh drugs for a maximum of one week, this is called one cycle. These drugs enter your body and are pre-programmed to target duds and kill them off. Unfortunately, during that process, lots of your healthy cells are killed too.

From what I can remember the doctors telling me, it takes about 2-3 weeks for your ‘factory’ to restart making healthy fresh new cells.

So, in that time, you’re left with strange cytotoxins running through your system, continuously killing off good and bad cells. Side effects?

- Obviously, your hair will soon fall out, within a week or two. And I’m talking about EVERY hair. Eyelashes, brows, sideburns, underarm hair, leg hair, pubic hair. Everything goes. Maybe you’re one of the lucky few, and your hair might stay, maybe not.

- Continuous nausea. Followed by vomiting. Now, think about how grotesque it is to vomit. Imagine doing that 5-6 times a day. All over yourself because it’s such a surprise. All over your mum, your bed, your friends.

- Diahhorrea, need I elaborate?

- You will need blood infusions, you will need platelet infusions.

- You become sterile. Male or female, at this very moment in time you cannot conceive any more. Of course, maybe a few months down the track once you’re healthy again, your sterility will no longer be an issue.

- You will be pricked so many times that you’ll scream to have a pick line put in your arm, just so you don’t have to feel another needle again.

- You won’t sleep, even during the night. Nurses will come in every few hours to change things, to change you, to check things and to check you.

- The beeping. Oh God, the beeping of the machines telling you that ‘yes GodDAMMIT this bag of fluid is FINISHED’.

- Sick family or friends have to stay away from you, because obviously you don’t have any platelets or white cells to fight away viruses and the like, and your immunity system is down. So, you avoid any sickness like the plague, and stay in your hospital room, and get very, very homesick.

- Everything has to be super clean before you touch. You bathe often, watch yourself carefully for any sign of ANYTHING that’s not normal: flu, rashes, bumps, changes in skin colour, weight gain/loss.

- You report EVERYTHING and ANYTHING new to the doctors, straight away. I’m not kidding. Any small thing must be told. Small things tend to grow into big things in people who have no immunity system, very quickly.

So, if you’re lucky, and you’d better pray to whatever God you believe in that you are, after about three weeks hopefully your bone marrow will kick into gear and start creating new cells for your body. And maybe a month later, you’ll happily go home again. Most likely you’ll come for another cycle or two and that’s the end of your Cancer.


So, that’s the good stuff. It can get much, much worse.

I don’t think I have the stomach right now to tell you about all the other things that can happen if you’re unlucky. And to remember. So maybe in a few days.

Family and Health are everything. To be continued…

Thankyou
Hail Animus
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Dreams

August 21st 2007 07:22
They say to title your dreams. I have no idea why 'they' would say that.
I have apocalyptic dreams. Almost all of them include a world wide natural disaster that wipes out the whole world.
I suppose this one would be called "The Great Drown"

This one was where everything was being swallowed up, and we were sitting in a library. I should like to think it was the Great Library of Alexandria, because it was so beautiful, and I'd been reading The Odyssey recently. Mother and I were seated next to some corinthian pillars eating cucumbers, when everything around us crumbled, and then on the news they were saying once the library fell, everything would fall.

So we grabbed our tickets and bags and we ran for it, then all of a sudden we were in water, a huge ocean, and it was being sucked out from under us. Mum quickly made it to shore to a temple, but I was still swimming, and I saw this guy struggling to get his daughter to the edge to pull her up on a concrete slab, so I helped them out, then I got out and followed mum.

The place was a shopping centre, with a mixture of a bazaar thrown, it reminded me of Chadstone. We turned the corner and found dad. When we all had our tickets, there was a sense of urgency to catch a plane and get out of the there. We were in Greece/Egypt/London because it looked like all of those things with Royal Guard, Grecian vases and pyramids. Once we got out of there, there were no planes because planes didn't work when there was so much water everywhere.

There was the train station instead, but we missed the train, so we waited for the next one and when it came I went up to the Stewardess and gave her money, but she said she wanted Lira. After stressing, we hunted down some people with lira and exchange it, hopped onto the next train that came, gave the SAME stewaradess the money and she gave us tickets and told us to wait.

We waited on London bridge and we could see people were sort of half panicking, half going on with their daily lives and we could see the water being swallowed in crevices, and more water drowning towns and people. Finally the next train came, we boarded it, and there was The Duck and some of her friends sitting down.The train got going, and we travelled for a long, long time and the duck's friends were saying ridiculous things about pink underwear, and the train changed rails so that were were on a wooden rail, kinda like a roller coaster and the driver said that we were leaving the country and it was quite a ride and yeah, that's all I remember.

Does anyone dream in black and white? I have a friend who dreams blind. What are your experiences with dreams? What was your most favourite dream? Your most memorable?

Cheers.


Hail Animus

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Of pigeons and Games

August 20th 2007 05:24
I think pigeons are funny. Why? They're odd, with their little bobbling heads and duck-esque waddling. I like to just watch them, and giggle while other people watch me and think that I'm most definitely nuts.

Most of the time, however, I don't like them. I think it's because they tend to take on human characteristics.

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Dreamers, Pink Tickles and English

August 19th 2007 02:54

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;

[ Click here to read more ]
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Recent Comments

Comment by Hail
on Cancer: The Other Side of the Tracks

August 22nd 2007 11:39
Thanks Brenton .

Kleonaptra, oh for sure. I fully believe that once mankind has found a cure for cancer, we'll be bombarded with a whole new sickness. Even ten years ago, cancer wasn't as prevalent as it is today. I know at least 4 people with cancer, right this very minute.
ten years ago it was so rare.

Remember SARS and the mass hysteria it produced? Then that was contained, and then meningococcal, mad cow disease, bird flu...the list goes on, forwards and backwards, all the way to the bubonic plague. There will always be disease. If not cancer, I'm guessing something worse, because us humans are getting a little too big for our breeches. The better we become at curing things, the harsher the newer disease becomes.

Thanks for your post. I honestly hope that things turn out alright, but in this business, a body's gotta hope for the best and expect the worst. You're in my thoughts, and I'm praying for ya, girl.



Comment by Hail
on Cancer: The Other Side of the Tracks

August 21st 2007 14:47
Thank you. I'm sorry about your mother. I feel you, in the way that only those who've seen tragedy can feel others' pain.

My sister only has one lung now, as a result of so many complications, and we just found out today that there's more fungus growing in her remaining lung. Just when you think the worst is over...

But thankyou. The thought of cancer makes me sick, mostly because no one knows what causes it, and man, your mother having lung cancer, when she didn't even smoke, so one can at least find something to blame . It burns me.
Take care

Comment by Hail
on Cancer - A Not So Memorable Event

August 21st 2007 12:22

Kids are tough, even though they don't seem it. They go through so much and come out giggling the other end.
Seriously, if someone dropped you on your head right this minute, don't you think you'd get at least brain damage, if not a snapped neck? But no, babies and kids just bounce back. It's so lovely.

I'm glad you don't remember. You wouldn't want to remember.
I'm also glad you're alive today, and have battle wounds to prove that you fought for it.

My heart goes out to your family and your mother. You wouldn't want to feel their fear.
Your piece prompted and inspired me to write my own touch with cancer.
Thanks

Comment by Hail
on Sydney Hiphop/Krump Classes

August 17th 2007 16:30
Hey Trina.

I just stumbled on this website about two hours ago, looking for info about hiphop dance classes in Melbourne, and I couldn't help but get totally absorbed in your blogs. And then I freaked out when I accidentally opened up a piece that you'd written last year about your back being mangled and having a disc prolapse.

I had the exact same thing. I have no idea what I did, it could possibly have been something I did while dancing. Anyway, so I was mangled and in pain last October and then I had surgery to chop out the offensive disc . I've only just started to get back on my feet, back at uni, and work, and easing into dancing again. I was just wondering how you're going with that? Simply because I really do empathise and was curious if you're problem had resolved itself. I really hope you didn't (don't) resort to surgery. It's a bugger.

Also( gosh I really got off track), just like Amber, I was wondering if you could tell me of some good studios that taught hiphop dancing? I'd love krumping classes, but I have a feeling that would be very dangerous to do again in my situation. Just anything in the melbourne area. Thanks and cheerios!
Hail Animus