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 […]
Community Service
I’ve been thinking a lot about community service as it’s something that I have missed recently in my life. After many years in the military (you may not be aware that I served as an officer in the Royal Australian Navy (in the category of Education Specialist) for 10 years followed by a further 11 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
A Way To Improve Vocabulary in Language Learning
Many years ago, a girlfriend gave me an old French picture dictionary and I’ve wondered how I could use it as all the definitions of the words are in French too. She had bought it thinking that it would help her learn the language but as she was a complete beginner, the definitions weren’t much […]
Learning a Language Through Coursera
About a few weeks ago, I found the Etudier en France course on Coursera that is at a B1-B2 level. I hadn’t completed a Coursera course for many years and when I saw this, I thought it was time to get back into it again. If you do a search on MOOCs (massive open online […]
Updating my YouTube Channel
For the last week or so, I’ve been trying to put some semblance of order on my YouTube channel and in frustration, I’ve realised it’s a MASSIVE job. There are over 400 videos on the site and as it’s a channel that is used as a record of work and learning, a portfolio if you […]
More French Resources Then Some
It’s fair to say that I have spent HOURS on learning this language over the last 18 months but I figure that I can’t stop now. It’s a skill that I need to work on consistently and continually. Use it or lose it. Utilisez ou perdez. As such, this last ten weeks, I deliberately didn’t […]
Building a Digital Profile
Some time ago, I was asked to present at an upcoming conference on the topic of Building a Digital Profile. I accepted as it was not only an interesting topic, also I valued the person who asked it of me, and it was also a paid opportunity. Since accepting the work, I have been doing […]
I’ve Got Grey Hair
Today I went to the hair dresser and was in the chair for about 3 hours. Now, I don’t like going to the hair salon but as I like to change my hair cut and colour as frequently as I change my underwear, the hair dresser now seems to be a place I frequent. Over […]
The Bed of Procrustes
The irony is not lost on me that much of what we go through in our life happens to be a Procrustean bed. They are born, then put into a box; they go home to live in a box; they study by ticking boxes they go to what is called “work” in a box, where […]
Snippets of Conversations
This morning I went for a long walk from Brighton to Elwood, headed into the Elwood Village and had a lovely breakfast of porridge at The Turtle Cafe. I didn’t listen to anything during my walk, just with my thoughts and decided that on the way back, I’ll listen to what people were saying as […]
When Subscriber Numbers Get Scary
One of the things I’m doing of late is getting ready slowly to remove myself completely from social media (namely Twitter and LinkedIn). At this stage, I’m unsure how it’s going to happen but what I do know is that I think I’ve pretty much reached my limit when it comes to learning how to […]
Fake It Until You Make It: A BS Mantra
If there was ever a bullshit mantra going around, this would be it. I know that many people would say that this is what gives them the confidence to do things in their life they may not have the confidence to do. So, they pretend to be someone else or to set aside those feelings […]
Levelling Up Your Skills Through Mini Challenges
One of the things I do to level up my skills when I feel that I’m getting: Comfortable Complacent Stagnant Is to create little mini challenges for myself. They don’t have to be HUGE enough to have me give up half way through them but not too easy that they’re not exciting or enticing enough […]
What Did You Miss in May?
Blog Posts Alone in My Car (on Digital Minimalism) Time to Get Serious About the Next Phase (of My Life) Loving the Crafty Side of My Network (on preferring to read about the lifelong learning pursuits of my personal network rather than anything to do with their actual work because it’s what they do outside […]
Lockdown…again
So the day after I wrote about the post on solo travelling, greater Melbourne is once again in lockdown…for the fourth time and this time for 7 days. Lockdown Number 1: had us all panicked, anxious and stressed with the unknown. Lockdown Number 2: we were a little bit comfortable and in good spirits….until the […]
On Travelling By Yourself
One of the things I love to do is to travel internationally and explore different places. My husband and I are keen travellers but as he has a senior position at work, it means he’s unable to take long periods of time away. Once he retires, (5 years and counting), my plan is to do […]