As a child, one of my jobs of the evening was to polish my school shoes. I'd dutifully lay down some newspaper, get out the tin of polish and the shoe brush. If it was winter, this would be done in front of the fire, sitting on a foot stool.
I'd rub the brush in a bit of polish, then run it over the shoe leather. Often, you'd let the shoes rest for a few minutes, sometimes because you had something else to do, other times because dinner was ready. Then you'd go and brush them to a shine.
This was done daily. Often, I had to do my father's shoes too. And of course we were never allowed to use the liquid shoe polish. Always, it was a tin of Nugget or Kiwi, applied with an old brush.
We don't do that any more - polish shoes that is. Unless you're in a job which needs polished shoes, like you're a soldier, it's something people just don't seem to do any more.
But it's meditative. It's a repetetive action which gives you a sense of pride. You end up with shiny shoes and a little bit of self-respect. Just as I iron most of my clothes after washing (Yes, I iron t-shirts and jeans and all of my bed linen). It's a sense of pride.
So, my shoes are ready for tomorrow, so I can put forward my best foot. Of course, I'll dress up, and put on a bit of make up, and give it my best.
I don't want to finish the book. I don't like the book. But I am a bloody minded fool who sticks to her guns. After being in this book group for around 15 years, there have only been two books I haven't finished. Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Nagozi and Brendan Cowell's Plum. Of the former, I was in Europe when book group was held. Of the latter, I was working stupid hours and I couldn't gel with the book, so I gave in. I don't want to make this one the third book I've missed.
Like it's a classic they say. And sure, I can find some redeeming qualities in this 70-year-old book which is an American Classic.
But it's a slog. I mean it's a book about these horrible people who do horrible things to each other and then go pray all of their sins away. Great. None of the characters are particularly likeable. I find the tone quite drony, and bland.
And yes, I know that James Baldwin is an American national treasure, and yes, I know that Baldwin is documenting his life in Harlem, within the realms of the Pentecostal Church, in the Jim Crow era and he's giving insight into a world I will never experience.
And the worst thing - I've got Peter, Paul and Mary's version of the song in my head.
It doesn't mean I am liking the book. I can appreciate it to a point, but I don't have to like it.
I'm just home from a lovely barbeque at Blarney and Barney's place with Norty and her parents. Aging parents are an intersting fact of life. It was great having them about. They're a good laugh.
Talking of parents, I had a quick chat to my mother while I was there. She told me she's found all of her diaries of her time when she lived in Saudi Arabia in the 1980s for a year working as a nurse in an American Eye Hospital. One of her friends has convinced her to ask me to turn these artefacts into a book. I'm a bit gobsmacked over this one. And what would it be like to convert your mother's life into a book. Is it creative non-fiction (a genre I actually love writing) Or does it get fictionalised? or does she just want a straight tidying up of the material, and a translation. There are some big questions in there.
Anyway, on with this week's questions, supplied as always, by Bev at Sunday Stealing (Happy birthday, Bev, by the way.)
1. What is the best thing about your birthday?
My birthday? You mean the week-long festival of me? I like that some people make a little fuss over me. It's nice they remember me. In Australia it's at the end of Winter.
2. What is your favorite thing to do for your birthday?
Something fun. I went to Bali and had a joint party with Alice for my 50th birthday. For my 45th, we all went on Puffing Billy, a local steam train. That was great too. As this year is a semi-big birthday, will have to have a think.
3. What’s one thing you learned in the past year?
I've learned a few things:
Internet dating is okay as long as you keep your boundaries solid.
Born out is awful
Having nothing to do at work is okay for a little while, but not for the long term
There is an arrow on your dashboard, under the speedo, which shows you what side the petrol cap can be found.
Red pandas put up their hands to make themselves scary to opponents.
4. What do you wish for in the next year?
Happiness, stability, love, good health, and enough of everything I need.
This last bit comes from a Paulo Coehlo. I love the sentiment of this.
"Recently I overheard a father and daughter in their last moments together at the airport. They had announced the departure.
Standing near the security gate, they hugged and the father said, ‘I love you, and I wish you enough.’
They kissed and the daughter left. The father walked over to the window where I was seated. I tried not to intrude on his privacy, but I could not refrain from asking:
‘When you were saying good-bye, I heard you say, ‘I wish you enough.’ May I ask what that means?’
He began to smile. ‘That’s a wish that has been handed down from other generations. My parents used to say it to everyone.’
He paused a moment and looked up as if trying to remember it in detail, and he smiled even more.
‘When we said, ‘I wish you enough,’ we were wanting the other person to have a life filled with just enough good things to sustain them.’
Then turning toward me, he shared the following as if he were reciting it from memory.
I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright no matter how gray the day may appear.
I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun even more..
I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive and everlasting.
I wish you enough pain so that even the smallest of joys in life may appear bigger.
I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting…
I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess.
I wish you enough hellos to get you through the final good- bye."
Good, eh!
5. What’s the best thing about turning a year older?
Not much. I'm going up a judgmental bracket on a form this year. Not happy about this.
6. What was the most fun thing you did in the last year?
I started travelling again. And I went to see The Pixies twice. And I went on two writer's retreats. And I did some painting classes. These were all fun. Okay, not as fun as being set into a pen full of golden retriever puppies, but it's a start.
7. If you could understand any animal, which would it be?
My cat. I love the passive-aggressive prick, but I'd love to know what he's thinking half the time.
8. What is something that used to be hard, but is now easy?
Saying no. I've got a lot better at this.
9. If you could only keep one thing in your room, what would it be?
What room. That could be a very loaded question.
10. Which person makes you laugh the most? Why?
One of my colleagues is a bugger for Dad jokes. I roll my eyes a lot, but I giggle on the inside.
11. If you could go back in time, when and where would you go?
I would love to do London in the 90's again, knowing everything I know now. I'd be doing it very differently.
12. If you were to bury a secret treasure, where would you bury it?
It wouldn't be a secret then, so I'm not telling you.
13. What is your favorite memory?
Being able to spend time in the Edward the Confessor chapel, on my own, in Westminster Abbey, for about an hour. It's a terribly spiritual place.
14. How have you helped others lately?
I help others in all sorts of ways. I'm currently doing some mentoring with one of my colleagues. And after yesterday's Sound Session, I'm going to pass over to my friend a few tips on space management. Next weekend I'm taking Blarney and Barney's boys to the movies while their parents go out. I like being useful.
15. If you had to repeat a day over & over, how you'd want it to go?
The Venue: Tempo Rubato, Bresse Street, Brunswick.
Tickets: Online $10
My arty-farty, witchy, spiritual crone needs to be fed regularly with events that nourish the soul. Once a fortnight you find me sitting in a closed kabbalah meditation session, chanting in Hebrew. I've been doing this for years. This is necessary for the world - a happy Pandora is a sane Pandora.
And when I can get my hands on it, I like to go for a sound bath.
A sound bath?
Yep, exactly what it sounds like. You let yourself be bathed in sound. I've been doing this for years too when I can find it. I have a marvelous friend, Shervin Boolorian, who I met in Bali. Shervin is a sound healer of the highest order. An earthbound angel, he can magic your torments away with his Sound Medicine sessions using natural and indigenous instruments, such as digeridoos, bells, drums, whistles - you name it. A one-on-one healing session with him is possibly the most potent healing I've ever had the fortune to receive.
Regardless, I resonate with sound bathing sessions, and when my friend Anthony Artmann advertised he'd be doing a session, I was up for it. Besides, we need to support our friends.
I've bore witness to Anthony's sound meditations before and they've been good, but I had a feeling this would be next level.
Arriving bang on time, thanks to Metro Trains, I took my seat in the circle, saying hello to some friends in the room.
And then we started.
Anthony, with the help of some friends, took us on a wonderful sound journey. Using a synth base, the hour session was peppered with other sounds and music to help take you to a state of real relaxation.
The tenor saxaphone, a guitar, a ukulele, and a double bass melted with some human voices. We were told, but not encouraged to add to the sound cloud with our own voices. There was some humming and a bit of Tuvan throat singing around the place. I found myself giving voice to a note now and then. Having participated in voice clouds in the past, I know how powerful these can be. As this was a first session, it was good to see it happening.
And then it was over. What was an hour felt like about 15-20 minutes. It was most wonderful.
Being the first public session of Drone, there were one or two things that could have made this even better, such as giving an instruction to bring a yoga mat. I reckon I would have got even more out of this lying down. This small adjustment would have upped the sessions power even more.
And ten minutes later, my restored soul walked out into the Brunswick sunshine.
I'll be going to future sessions as I find this one of the best ways to relax. And you're in good hands with Anthony.
This should win the Best Film Oscar. It won't. But it should.
I've seen some excellent cinema over the last few weeks. The Whale. The Banshees of Inisherin. This matches both of these films for greatness.
It's an important film. It's a relevant film. In its own way, it's horrific.
And it's utterly compelling and thoroughly brilliant.
The premise is quite simple really. The women of a religious community in America, set around 2010 have been left by the men of the community, who are trying to get one of their brethren out of prison for raping other members of the community. The men are complicit in hiding the attacks.
The women left behind have to vote as whether to stay and forgive the men, stay and fight, or leave.
The women cannot read or write. Still, they vote.
The ballot comes to a tie between staying and fighting or leaving.
A group of women affected by the actions of the men sit in a barn to discuss what to do to come to a decision on their plight. The schoolteacher, August (Ben Whishaw) has remained behind to take an account of the women's conversation.
What ensues is an hour and 45 minutes of electric cinema as the women work through their situation. There's Mariche (Jessie Buckley) who's all for staying for the sake of her children. Ona (Rooney Mara) who's carrying her rapist's child but wants to leave for everybody's sake. And there's Salome (Claire Foy) who's halfway in between. There are older women, such as Janz (Frances McDormand, in a small part), who can't see why they should go, save they be cast out of heaven at their time. Judith Ivey plays Agata, Salome's mother, who feels guilty for allowing her daughter to marry her brute of a husband. And most poignant, is Greta (Sheila McCarthy) who is still suffering the fate of the younger women. The women know they are chattel, good for nothing but breeding and working. You get a sucker punch when you see Salome carry her daughter 2 days to the nearest clinic to get her daughter antibiotics.
Sarah Polley is a Canadian national treasure. She both directed and helped to adapt the screenplay, making the adaption from Mirian Toews book of the same name. Polley is for an Oscar for the latter. The film has also got a nod for the best film, as I said before. Both nods are well deserved.
What I loved about this - it's an intelligent film. Not much is spelled out, most things are implied. The film is tense - oh so tense. You really can't say where this will go.
And you have to feel for the women of the community, none of whom read or write, or have any idea about the world outside.
It's a good testament for educating women. And how religion, and faith, and lead people to make some pretty daft decisions.
Hunt this one out. More people should see this. It's a very timely, and timeless film, with pitch perfect performances and an unwavering moral compass.
I'll be thinking about this film for days. It is truly excellent.
It's a pity this one won't have the audiences. It's amazing.
The last time I interviewed face to face was in February 2020. COVID was just starting to make its presence felt in the news. Things were in a strange place. It was a quick interview. I was in and out in 25 minutes. I fit the bill as to what they needed exactly.
The last time I had an online interview was last June for the job I'm in now. I had a chat with my wonderful manager. I didn't dress for the role - I thought it was going to be a phone interview. They didn't have any make up on. I didn't have any make up on. We got on well and I had the job at the end of the interview.
Now, with my current job coming to an end I've been in the hunt. And I've managed to secure two interviews.
Tomorrow's interview is being done online. There's a panel of three. Most of the panel are in Darwin.
This means getting up tomorrow, dressing like I have an interview. I have to wear makeup at home.
It will be weird.
I've got another interview next week too, but this one, shock horror, is face to face. What am I going to wear?
Regardless, I'm just glad I have opportunities and options - even if I may have to go shopping on the weekend.
We only see each other once a week on a designated Wednesday or Thursday, so there's a bit to catch up on.
But today we talked about only one thing.
MAFS
Or Married at First Sight to the uninitiated.
We were wondering the following things:
1. Where do they find these manipulative, narcissistic arseholes? Case in point. Harrison.
This dweeb could give masterclasses in gas-lighting. Gaslighting. Yeah.
He's got the DARVO method down pat. (DARVO - Deny, Attack, and Reverse Victim and Offender) It's all we've seen of this guy.
In the words of his "wife" Bronte, he's so transparent, he's bathing in windex. I rather liked that line.
2. Shannon.
Oh, we have lots to say about Shannon. Awful creature who came out and said that he was still in love with his ex. Great. You get chose out of 10,000 people to come on a show to find love and you're still in love with your ex. His experiment 'bride', Caitlyn seems to be a lovely girl who's been insulted, victimized and told it's her fault he's not into her because she's not attractive enough. She got her shit together after this, packed her bags and gave him the dressing down of an age. There was a lot of fist pumping last night when she took him out. She's great. He's a gronk.
Hmm.
But there's a bigger question at play - and it's not the awful haircut or his super bogan parents or the fact that he's brutally 'honest' with his truth.
I look at him and I reckon he's on meth.
3. Melissa
I feel for Melissa, the 40 year-old-nympho.
I also really feel for her "husband" Josh, who just wants to get to know somebody and not be seen as a sex object.
What sort of fucked up existence has this woman had to make her so sex mad. Most of us like sex - but most of us know the best bit about a relationship is the getting to know somebody, the finding out stuff, and the cuddles. She seems to have missed the part that relationships are not just sex.
Josh, the Disney and Marvel loving advertising executive wants something normal, chill. Melissa is none of these things.
I just find her sad, which is a pity. If only she would learn. She's been given a good one.
And this is what we talked about at work today.
We're thinking of getting a MAFS teams chat going.
Seems I'm not the only one who has this as a guilty pleasure.
