One of the things I’ve started doing again in my mornings is to incorporate a jog rather than just walk. We have been in lockdown for over 18 months now and we are only allowed up to two hours to be outside. (During the strictest lockdown it was one hour). I like to make use […]
If You Disappeared Who Would Care?
This week, Amy Burvall @amyburvall posted this tweet. Initially curious but on reflection, confronting, she makes an excellent point. If you disappeared, who would care? On the same day, my mother calls me to let me know that it’s my sister-in-law’s name day (I’m Greek Orthodox, so Saint Days are celebrated). Mum was calling me […]
Survival Training
One of the television programs I’ve been watching recently is SAS Australia. The SAS is short for Special Air Service an elite arm of the Defence Force focused on covert operations. The program shows a group of celebrities who volunteer to put themselves through the toughest challenges and we also learn their back stories. The […]
Missing Body Language
Recently on my morning walk, I pondered about how I’ve been working from home and remotely for some years now and what I’ve been missing with regards to working with others “in real life”. In the past, while working in office, I would say that I had some positive attributes that lent themselves well to […]
Tired
There are days where I just feel like shit. Utter shit. Today’s one of them. I didn’t go for my walk or run this morning so maybe my routine was out of ‘whack’ because it didn’t start so well? The day was gloriously sunny and despite going for a mid-morning walk in the park and […]
Learning About the Secret Code Breakers of World War 2
One of the new rabbit warrens dives I’m doing to kill a bit of time is learning about the Australian code breakers during World War 2. Now I’m fascinated by stories of the past and recently I had found out that our street was the site of an intercept station in 1942 that played an […]
Lockdown Habits
I’ve lost track how many days we have been in lockdown in total. 208? 210? 220? To be fair, all days run into each other except for my work days which are on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. They bring me a little bit of variety with meetings and colleague catch ups here and there. Work […]
Be Like Eyam
A few days ago we marked the 200th day in lockdown in Melbourne. That’s 200 days over six periods of separate lockdowns not consecutive days. If it was the latter, I would have gone mad already. As it is, I look forward to the days when lockdown ends because it sends me in a frenzy […]
Ideas for How People Care for Themselves
Last week, in a particular down point, I asked the question on how do people manage to stay sane at these times when all we’re hearing on the news is constantly negative? After 200 days of lockdown (over six periods of lockdown), I think many Melbournites like myself have been affected mentally over the uncertainty. […]
Writing French Stories
I am writing short stories using a French picture dictionary for inspiration. For exercise, I flip open the dictionary and look at the pictures and definitions (there’s no English) so then I concoct a story in French using those words. It’s a way to contextualise the vocabulary I’m learning and in my mind’s eye, I […]
Fuck, I’m tired
I know I’m complaining a lot of late. I can’t seem to help myself. I’m just sad. Angry. Frustrated. Happy. Tired. Resigned. Impatient. Blah. Meh. Argh. I know that in light of where Australia is at with its vaccination and hotel quarantine program, added to how every state seems to be doing something different, lockdowns […]
Lockdown 6.0 Part 2
So here we are in lockdown 6.0 Part 2. I say part 2 because it was originally meant to be for one week and it’s been extended to two weeks. This time around, I can’t tell how others are feeling but I have a feeling of resignation on a lot of things. As each lockdown […]
Giving Feedback
Last week, we had Team Week at our company and it’s a chance for us to get together (either physically if there’s no COVID or online, if there is! ?) to discuss different aspects of our work and plan for the quarter ahead. I look forward to these because it’s an opportunity to see the […]
On Reading & Writing
I had to save this excerpt from Barry Lopez, About This Life which was shared by Robert McFarlane on Twitter recently. Just read it, it’s beautiful.
What Did You Miss in July?
It’s been a relatively quiet month because methinks it was the lockdown that really got me down….again. So I wasn’t my usual chirpy self. Most of the time, I just wanted to throttle stupidity I saw on Twitter and on television so I decided to vent my anger by starting a Covid Art Diary where […]
From Training to Learning to Knowledge to What?
(This is a collection of rambled thoughts – I’m still formulating what the question is in my mind so please humour me and go with the flow. I will find my way soon). I’ve been working on some interesting projects at Adopt & Embrace, a Microsoft Partner and where I work three days a week […]
Be Continuously Surprised
I’ve been reading Martin Amis new book called Inside Story which he calls a novel. I’ll do a video review on it once I finish but so far, all I can say is that the writing is beautiful. It’s as if I’m catching glimpses of his life and in particular, the moments he shared with […]
How to Spot a Fascist – Becoming Politically Engaged
I had an interesting Twitter conversation with my friend @dangerousmere recently about politics and it got me thinking. Usually in Australia, speaking about sex, politics and religion is considered taboo. There’s a fine line where people tend to keep such thoughts to themselves preferring less volatile subjects for fear of creating conflict and tension. As […]
Lockdown 5.0
It is now like a stale old joke that you’ve heard countless times before. Victoria – Melbourne and it’s regions are in a full lockdown for the next 5 days (possibly longer if we don’t control the Delta variant that is making its way through the community). The virus was brought in by a couple […]
What Did You Miss in June?
A busy month of learning in June. Here’s what I wrote about: Separation & Flow – the importance of setting boundaries between work and play Levelling Up Your Skills through Mini Challenges Lockdown Lament A BS Mantra: Fake It Until You Make It When Subscriber Numbers Get Scary Books vs. Cigarettes Ways to Follow This […]