Just home from a lovely day out. Today was our Book Club Day. I was invited to join my good friend Jasmine’s book club. A club she started with a few of her girlfriends whom she has worked with or connected over interests. The book we discussed today was Radical Candor by Kim Scott and […]
Second Hand Books
I love old book stores. Yesterday I found the City Basement Book shop hidden away between a couple of shops. A small single non-descript door and a long flight of stairs down into a squirrels den of musty, dusty books. I remembered going into this store back in the early 1990s and now that I’m […]
L’Hotel du Nord
I signed up for weekly French conversation classes with Nathalie who runs them at a nearby cafe close to home. A small group of us gather there every alternate week in person and also online through Zoom to chew the fat in French and get an informal lesson from her. I found the group through […]
Preparing for the Unknown
This morning while drinking my morning coffee and checking messages on my phone, I type into Google “Russia and Ukraine World War III”. I had to stop myself there and didn’t even see the search results. I put the phone down and contemplated why I did that. It’s not a way to start a new […]
Getting Into Golf
Yesterday I had my first lesson as part of Womens Introduction to Golf Package run by the Woodlands Golf Course. My friend Caroline and I used to be members of the Womens Golf Network, a social golf club ten years ago that organised lessons and golf games as well as trips away. With life getting […]
Testing out WordPress App Story Posts
Mucking about with the mobile WordPress app in my hammock this afternoon, I saw the “Story Post” option which looks like you can create basic stories and upload these as pages onto your blog. I’ve been using the stories feature for many years (with Snapchat – and blogged about this many times in this blog) […]
Not Sharing
I wanted to start an experiment this year and so far, so good but it’s been difficult for me at times. ? Many people know me as someone who shows and shares her work and learning. I’m pretty open about things that I’m learning about, share resources, interact in online conversations, connect people to other […]
Lost In Translation
I wrote a long post yesterday about Salinger, Hemingway and the song that has been floating around in my head the last couple of days. In that post, I share the movie clip to this movie because it’s what Bill Murray sings at a crowded karaoke bar. The words hit a bit deep for him […]
Snippets of Salinger
This morning at 3 am, I was stirred awake from a weird dream that I couldn’t remember and a song by Roxy Music called More Than This which I couldn’t get out of head for the last couple of days. I have had a few niggling thoughts about my work of late and I haven’t […]
Learning French Through Songs
Every Monday night for the next few months, I dedicate to doing a few hours of my own French study. In effect, creating my own personal learning plan that includes one hour of talking with my French friend then a couple of hours of reading, comprehension and grammar exercises. Today I thought I’ll include learning […]
For the Love of the Real World
In the long term, virtual worlds may have most of what is good about the non virtual world. Given all the ways in which virtual worlds may surpass the non virtual world, life in virtual worlds will often be the right life to choose.” David Chalmers, Reality+ Freaky words. About a week ago, I wrote […]
16 Year Wedding Anniversary
Andrew (everyone knows him as ‘Tex’) and I celebrated our 16 years of marriage today and we celebrate each year by giving each other small amusing gifts according to the gift calendar and also trying out a new restaurant in a locale that is not our usual hangout. Tonight it was Mexican at La Cabra […]
On Being a Man
I’ve no idea what it’s like being a man but I gave it a go a few years ago thanks to a Snapchat filter. I had to put this photo somewhere because at times I feel my tweets seem to disappear along with all the experimentations with various tools. I think over the years, all […]
Languishing
I saw a tweet about “languishing” recently and instantly, I resonated with it. The tweet referred to an article in the New York Times about how many people feel that they are languishing in these current times and I resonated with it. This year has been particularly difficult. The return to work after the short […]
Favourite You Tube Channels
I love YouTube, I watch it more than Netflix or any other channel on television simply because I can find anything of my interest – and in other languages. I curate my own television network that has shows that only I want to watch. The only annoying thing are the ads (which I can pay […]
They Live
They influence our decisions without us knowing it. They numb our senses without us feeling it. They control our lives without us realizing it. They live. I recently caught up on all my newsletter reading. I subscribe to some excellent newsletters that give my brain something to think and ponder about. During the day, usually […]
Mid Life
I’m at an age now where I’m going through a new phase in my life and part of this journey meant that I have been re-evaluating a lot of things such as health, family, friends, relationships. What serves me, what doesn’t. What I care for and don’t. I watch my face and body change form, […]
Meta Verse Mumblings
I’m putting it out there, I’m not a fan of the meta verse. Before you say, Helen, you luddite. You haven’t even given it a CHANCE! Have you even USED Virtual Reality? Have you ever PLAYED a VR game? Have you ever made some kind of EFFORT to even UNDERSTAND the value and benefits of […]
Walt Disney Animation Exhibition
Last night we went to the Walt Disney Animation Exhibition held at the Australian Centre for Moving Image (ACMI) at Federation Square. It was a lovely summer evening out and people were outside enjoying sunset and the various events such as the Australian Open (tennis) on nearby, the open restaurants and an outdoor swimming pool […]
Struggling Through Certain Books
‘If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.’ Just about every parent I’ve been reading a book as part of a book club by Kim Scott called Radical Candor: Be a Kick Ass Boss without Losing Your Humanity and admittedly, I’m really struggling to get through this book. I’ve read […]