Saturday, March 21, 2020

The Dev Chronicles: Part Deux

I am not going to talk about my new cat. I am not. So I just got my first cuddle and pat, after six hour of him relocating. I think this is promising. But for the moment, I'll record what I am writing on Dev's second webinar to get me writing. So I won't write about my new cat, who is currently alternating between sitting under the couch and coming up for smooches. He's like a mini panther.

Anyway, lets see what Dev has to say and write along with her. Cos you really don't want to hear about my cat.

I am sitting at my work desk - my desk. My table. Pulling my finger out and getting on with it. Let's eat the ugly frog.

So the first exercise. Who do I love?

Oh shit.

I love my friends and family. I do love my friends and family - they are incredibly important to me.

I also love him in England and him in Sydney but we don't talk about that. Different loves.

What do I do?

Erm. Well, by weekday - I'm a technical writer at an energy company. This means I pen work instructions for computer systems.  Joy.

By evening I am a journeyman novelist and feature writer.

What am I looking forward to?

I'm looking forward for life to return to some form of normality. It's only been a week but I am sick of the bloody flat already. But I have my new cat to enjoy.

I'm looking forward to being about to travel again, to go to the theatre and cinema in safety and I'm looking forward to a bit of certainty in life.

Second exercise: Six Prompts. Write like nobody is going to read it... okay it's going on my blog - and I LOVE THIS EXERCISE! Write for me. Don't write for anybody else.

 Use the prompts. The prompts are in bold. Keep writing . The aim is to keep going.


Imagine if there wasn't a reaction to this Coronavirus jobbie. If we were all going on in our lives like we were a month ago, not washing our hands all that thoroughly, going to restaurants and cafes, planning what to do in the footy fixture, going to work on packed public transport and generally being oblivious to everything.

I hate to think what the mortality rate would be.

You can't see around the corner, and what a pity it would have been if we could have seen around that bend? What would we have done differently if we knew what we knew now? I'm not sure I'd have done anything differently. I still get on public transport, but now it is empty and I'm only doing it once a week. I may start wearing food prep gloves when I get on a tram. I've not gone the mask route. I don't want to. People either look like ducks or dickheads. If it makes them feel safer then all well and good.

What had been forgotten, in we humans, is the desire for change is something most of us hate. we don't like change. We can do some change. Like the change that comes with the Death Card in the tarot deck - that slow change that takes forever. Noooo, we've been taken over by The Tower. The change that sweeps you off your feet, blindsides you and leaves you winded like you've been headbutted by a bull.

It was brilliant. Mother Nature, God, Cthulhu, which ever deity to which you subscribe has knocked the planet for six. And good on it. Who knew Mother Nature could be such a cunt.

Thing is, it's probably overdue. We've needed this reminder that we're fragile, that we're not the big tough bullies we think we are.

It took a few weeks , but eventually, most of us - and I say most of us, have come around to the fact that we really are amoeba, stuck in our respective houses for the foreseeable future until we get the all clear - and shite knows when that is going to happen. There are still people crowding Bondi Beach, sending their kids to Corona virus parties (akin to the old Chicken Pox parties) and generally being fuckwits. Listen to the fucking science people!  I think people are starting to catch on.

To be honest, I think this is Mother Nature's way of telling us to get fucked, pull our heads in, start looking after the place and to behave ourselves. It's like we, the human race, are a mob of recalcitrant teenagers, all sulky and sullen. We've had our stash taken away and we've been told to clean our rooms.

Only time will tell what will happen. I just know I'm very discombobulated, but I am trying to be both stoic and positive. Good change can come from this. It has to. I don't want the Coronavirus to sweep through the likes of Victor Harbor - though I can see a few people loving the trust funds now they have lost their jobs - mind your Ma and Pa are probably reverse mortgaged up to the hilt.

Time will tell. Maybe after this we might be nicer to the planet and to ourselves.

Fin.

Books on writing. Hmm. I like Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert.

Element of drafts. Like it.

Last exercise. If you had six months to live, what would you do and what is stopping you from doing it now?

Easy - what is stopping me from doing anything at the moment? I'm in virtual lock down and I am now mother to a black cat named Lucifer.

But what would I do? I would travel the world. Meet people. Try every gin I could get my hands on. Make love. Read books. See films - maybe even see The Godfather at last. I would tell my friends and family that I love them.

And I would take Lucifer around to Blarney's place just before I go, as it will be written in my will that Blarney and Barney can get my cat - I'm getting Maow Maow if something happens to them.

Done

Today's Song:


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