Day Ten of the sabbatical - and after a solid week of sleeping in, exercising, reading, cooking mostly for myself and generally doing very little and I'm starting to feel more like myself.
It took a Facebook post memory to really job me back into realising how much ground I'd lost. Something as simple as me doing the 'Dead Ant' at a company Christmas do eight years ago. I remember laughing, having fun and generally just feeling a lot more free. It's a great photo. Jonella took it. I remember her being taken aback when I published it. I see it as a bit of a rally cry. I look happy. I'm smiling. It's good.
I want to get her back.
But I'm learning a few things while I'm on sabbatical. Fun things Things that you don't get to think about when you're working a forty hour week with an hour a day for public transport tacked on for good measure.
Here's a few of my tidbits of discovery:
1. Bubble tea is just an excuse to play with your food.
There are plenty of bubble tea places near where I live. It's a bit addictive - and a bit pointless - but there is something very satisfying about getting that last bit of jelly out of the cup with the straw, making those awful noises. My favourite bubble tea can be found at QV in town - rose and lychee soda with lychee jelly. How the jelly doesn't melt, I don't understand. But like most things that aren't good for you, it's fun - and a bit morish.
2. I've found a begrudging respect for Billie Eilish.
Anybody who an work an ironic, millennial 'DUH!' into a song has my respect. She's okay. She's grown on me - a bit like warts.
3. The more exercise you do, the better you feel.
Being off means I can get to the gym more. It's great. My strength is returning. The cardio is coming along slowly. As I'm heading up to Brisbane tomorrow, I can see myself spending a lot of time in my friend's pool. She's also making me do something called a ParkRun on Saturday morning. I won't be running, but I can walk fast. So walking around a winery in the Brisbane hills at 7 am on a Saturday morning. Fun. Maybe.
4. Creativity takes abit lot of work.
I knew this one, but I didn't realise just how hard it can be. I managed, somehow, to knock out the December Furious Fiction entry - but it's not my best work, and I have no idea what possessed me to write in the second person - but there we go. It's struggle, but I feel like it's starting to make some sense. Haven't touched the novel since I've been off.
5. Making kombucha is a strange and oddly gratifying process
A friend gave me a scoby ( Acronym for 'symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast') the other day. I now have kombucha slowly brewing in my kitchen. It's like having a pet, but a pet which is silent, pig ugly (it looks a bit like a pornographic oyster gone bad) and makes the kitchen smell like vinegar.
Kombucha is stupidly easy to make - brewed tea, sugar and a scoby. Wait 8-10 days, in which time, the scoby hopefully breeds.
(Image courtesy of kombuchee.com)
It's like my own pet science experiment. But I like kombucha and if I can brew it up myself for a few cents for a litre, I will.
I might be giving a way the baby scobies too. We will see.
6. Throwing out stuff is great when you have time
I'm doing a lot of culling while I'm off. It's also a gratifying experience. For the first time in six months my drawers can close with ease.
7. The sights you see on the 109 tram in the middle of the day is mind-boggling
I've made no bones about the fact that I live in one of the less salubrious parts of a good suburb. I'm not too far from the needle exchange. There is a halfway house about two miles up the road. There are some interesting characters who hang out near the Victoria and Lennox Street crossing. It's more pronounced during the day, when the commuters and workers aren't there toshield you from the worst of Richmond's human soup. Also, the bubble tea places are down near what is affectionately knows as "Junkie Corner". If you want a hit of smack (heroin) it's THE place to go.
I don't judge. Addiction is an illness - and I'll take the junkies over those addicted to ice any day. Thankfully, most are harmless.
8. Reading for an hour a day makes you feel good
I'd forgotten this too. Currently dipping into Hemingway. I'm in about five minds about it. We did our book group choosing last night - there is a lot of great books to read in the list.
9. Not having to get up in the morning is a great thing.
But I'm still waking up at 6.30 am, if not before. I'm thinking of investing in some blackout blinds for the bedroom.
It's getting late, I'm not actually tired, but I should go to bed.
I'll leave you with Billie Eilish. Duh!
Today's Song:
It took a Facebook post memory to really job me back into realising how much ground I'd lost. Something as simple as me doing the 'Dead Ant' at a company Christmas do eight years ago. I remember laughing, having fun and generally just feeling a lot more free. It's a great photo. Jonella took it. I remember her being taken aback when I published it. I see it as a bit of a rally cry. I look happy. I'm smiling. It's good.
I want to get her back.
But I'm learning a few things while I'm on sabbatical. Fun things Things that you don't get to think about when you're working a forty hour week with an hour a day for public transport tacked on for good measure.
Here's a few of my tidbits of discovery:
1. Bubble tea is just an excuse to play with your food.
There are plenty of bubble tea places near where I live. It's a bit addictive - and a bit pointless - but there is something very satisfying about getting that last bit of jelly out of the cup with the straw, making those awful noises. My favourite bubble tea can be found at QV in town - rose and lychee soda with lychee jelly. How the jelly doesn't melt, I don't understand. But like most things that aren't good for you, it's fun - and a bit morish.
2. I've found a begrudging respect for Billie Eilish.
Anybody who an work an ironic, millennial 'DUH!' into a song has my respect. She's okay. She's grown on me - a bit like warts.
3. The more exercise you do, the better you feel.
Being off means I can get to the gym more. It's great. My strength is returning. The cardio is coming along slowly. As I'm heading up to Brisbane tomorrow, I can see myself spending a lot of time in my friend's pool. She's also making me do something called a ParkRun on Saturday morning. I won't be running, but I can walk fast. So walking around a winery in the Brisbane hills at 7 am on a Saturday morning. Fun. Maybe.
4. Creativity takes a
I knew this one, but I didn't realise just how hard it can be. I managed, somehow, to knock out the December Furious Fiction entry - but it's not my best work, and I have no idea what possessed me to write in the second person - but there we go. It's struggle, but I feel like it's starting to make some sense. Haven't touched the novel since I've been off.
5. Making kombucha is a strange and oddly gratifying process
A friend gave me a scoby ( Acronym for 'symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast') the other day. I now have kombucha slowly brewing in my kitchen. It's like having a pet, but a pet which is silent, pig ugly (it looks a bit like a pornographic oyster gone bad) and makes the kitchen smell like vinegar.
Kombucha is stupidly easy to make - brewed tea, sugar and a scoby. Wait 8-10 days, in which time, the scoby hopefully breeds.
(Image courtesy of kombuchee.com)
It's like my own pet science experiment. But I like kombucha and if I can brew it up myself for a few cents for a litre, I will.
I might be giving a way the baby scobies too. We will see.
6. Throwing out stuff is great when you have time
I'm doing a lot of culling while I'm off. It's also a gratifying experience. For the first time in six months my drawers can close with ease.
7. The sights you see on the 109 tram in the middle of the day is mind-boggling
I've made no bones about the fact that I live in one of the less salubrious parts of a good suburb. I'm not too far from the needle exchange. There is a halfway house about two miles up the road. There are some interesting characters who hang out near the Victoria and Lennox Street crossing. It's more pronounced during the day, when the commuters and workers aren't there toshield you from the worst of Richmond's human soup. Also, the bubble tea places are down near what is affectionately knows as "Junkie Corner". If you want a hit of smack (heroin) it's THE place to go.
I don't judge. Addiction is an illness - and I'll take the junkies over those addicted to ice any day. Thankfully, most are harmless.
8. Reading for an hour a day makes you feel good
I'd forgotten this too. Currently dipping into Hemingway. I'm in about five minds about it. We did our book group choosing last night - there is a lot of great books to read in the list.
9. Not having to get up in the morning is a great thing.
But I'm still waking up at 6.30 am, if not before. I'm thinking of investing in some blackout blinds for the bedroom.
It's getting late, I'm not actually tired, but I should go to bed.
I'll leave you with Billie Eilish. Duh!
Today's Song:
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