Good Morning
Tania Marlowe (Monash University, Australia)
“Good morning, lofi hip hop radio 24/7 study/relax/gaming.”
I unmute the tab and chill-hop fills my study.
I open a PDF and continue my highlighting from yesterday. I open Evernote and make notes.
My phone LED starts blinking. I pull up my email and reply to my supervisor. Gmail finishes my sentence for me.
I take a break and pull up Facebook. I like a video of a dog running with a fox, titled “you wouldn’t believe these animals are best friends!”
I go back to the PDF and continue highlighting.
Before I fell asleep last night, Drew asked me if I thought about going into Uni occasionally and using one of the hot desks for postgrads. I told him the commute is too long, and I’ve got this study set up at home specifically for research.
I asked if he’s worried about me being home all day, every day. He nodded. I told him it’s fine, I prefer it this way. I’d never had a real routine, and I just turned 30, so I probably should have one now and be an adult. I reminded him to leave me some coffee in the French press tomorrow morning.
One of my favourite songs on the playlist starts – Def. – CHANNEL (Feat. Jeebanoff, JOMALXNE).
I look at the live chat.
nuumilk says “this my jam”
케이says “a e s t h e t i c”
“Good morning, lofi hip hop radio 24/7 study/relax/gaming.”
I unmute the tab and chill-hop fills the study.
I open the window slightly; it’s balmy today.
I open a PDF and continue my highlighting from yesterday. I open Evernote and make notes.
I take a sip of coffee. It’s all silt at the bottom.
Facebook’s notification ping sounds. Drew has messaged me a gif of two kittens pouncing on each other. I give it a heart eye emoji. He asks how my day is, and if I’ve been out. I tell him he knows the answer to that. I then tell him to pick up some mangos on his way home from work today. He asks why I can’t go and says that I should go for a walk to get some fresh air. He tells me I’m not a machine, after all. I reply that I wish I was. Drew replies saying a e s t h e t i c. No, he wouldn’t reply with that.
“Good morning, lofi hip hop radio 24/7 study/relax/gaming.”
I unmute the tab and chill-hop fills my study.
The anime girl in the video on lofi hip hop radio 24/7 study/relax/gaming is in her study, studying. She is always listening to music on her headphones. She writes in her notebook, turns the page, writes, turns the page. The video isn’t just that loop, though. If you watch long enough, the scene outside her window turns from day to night. It isn’t obvious that she’s living, but she is and that’s all that matters. I wonder if she has a boyfriend.
Tania Marlowe is a PhD student at Monash University, researching It-Narratives of the long eighteenth century and its intersections with Speculative Realist philosophy. Her flash fiction has previously been published in Seizure Online and Tharunka.
