It's a great feeling, finally taking a step that's been coming for months. Breaking away from Darwin, and heading out. Anything's possible: We could have brand new adventures, explore unfamiliar horizons, re-invent ourselves completely.

 So we've moved into a unit in Indooroopilly. It is literally a block and a half from the unit I lived in with friends from college during my Honours year at UQ. I thought I had come full circle when I moved back to Darwin. And now I'm back in Indooroopilly. Is it possible to come two full circles, but end up somewhere different from where you started? Have I come full mobius or something?

Well... so what if our uncharted horizons have come pre-charted; we can re-invent ourselves based on existing and reliable schematics, right? After all,  Indooroopilly sure has. Our street has more construction sites on it than houses, just about, and Indooroopilly Shopping Centre, that old bastion of commercialism and cheap student movie tickets, has literally doubled in size while I wasn't looking. Granted, it's been almost a decade since the last time I was here (geez, that's even older than this blog. Ouch, my head. Keep off the grass), but freak me sideways this thing is huge.

Some things are still the same though. I took a walk along Swann Rd the other night. Our old UNIT on the hill still proudly overlooks the... train line. The shadowy lands of outer Mongolia are still there (though most of the other old houses on that street have been bulldozed and replaced with modern-looking units), the statue of Shaka Zulu throwing a frisbee is still upside down, and, strident as ever on the Five-ways corner, still stands the house of Fu, as majestically orange and green as it was in the glory days. Most importantly of all, Sizzling Mongolian BBQ is still there. I haven't taken Kim there yet, because I'm absolutely terrified she won't like it, and even more so that I won't. It doesn't matter how vivid our memories are, some things just aren't the same when you're out on your own pretending to be a grown up as they were when you were with your college mates pretending to be six.

None of this means anything to you? No idea what I'm esoterically gibbering about?

Fine.

I live in Brisbane now, and it's simultaneously cool, weird and sentimental. Happy now? Just because you don't understand what it's like to be me, doesn't mean I'm not allowed to understand what it's like to be me. Not that I do most of the time. To be honest, the gibbering doesn't make any sense to me either. I'm pretty sure I flat-out made up that Shaka Zulu bit.

Or did I? Yes, I did.

Make of that what you will.

Garry with 2 Rs

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