I had a couple of drinks - probably one a week. A friend of mine has a distillery and they do these amazing pre-made cans of raspberry vodka and lemonade. I love them. I'll have one when I want to have dessert, but can't be bothered. This is the next best thing.
2. Eat sushi?
Of course. I have sushi once a week. Something I found out recently is that Australian have sushi in concession stands and you can buy a hand roll or two - fresh, easy on the run food. It's always made on the day and chilled. The soy sauce, wasabi and ginger comes in little packets. It's so easy and awesome - and I can't believe other countries don't do this.
3. Go shopping with friends?
No, I tend to shop by myself for food and buy clothes online. I don't need for anything. I'm lucky.
4. Eat an entire box of cookies by yourself?
No, didn't do this either. I'm trying to keep the sweets down - they're not good for me, even though my blood sugars are really good, according to my doctor.
5. Dye your hair?
This I did. I have a standing six-week appointment with my hairdresser to rid me of the greys around my temples. Once every three months, I'll have a touch up on the colour on the rest of my hair. Vain, yes. Makes me happy and feel a bit more confident. Yes. It's worth it.
It's been a while since I've posted some monthly goals, but I want to keep myself on track. Changes of circumstance means that things change and it's time to commit to a few new things and keep myself accountable.
They will be SMART goals - Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Timely.
Oh boy, I've been working in corporate for far two long.
Anyway, here's what I want to get done this month.
1) Read at least six books.
The last few months I've read eight books, either on paper, through audio or on the kindle. I've set the bar a bit lower, but would like to get eight books read. I love my reading.
2) Finish three craft projects
This sounds worse than it is, but it's very doable. I have three projects on the go. A large scarf/wrap which I've been knitting for years, a jumper that I inherited and a beanie. I have committed to making Blarney a blanket for Christmas - this is a huge project, but I need to clear the decks first. Thankfully, the wrap only has half a ball of wool to go, I've just got to finish the neckline and plug a few holes in the jumper and I can knit up a beanie on a wet weekend. The must be finished before I start the blanket. there has been far too much sitting on the back of my couch, which is where all my craft projects reside.
3) Close the Activity Ring on my watch daily
In other words, get 60 minutes of exercise in a day. I feel better for it. It's not hard. After my last job where I was not moving anywhere nearly enough. It's time to get cardio fit again.
4) Stretch, bridge, flex
A preventative measure - and a cost saving. The physio is expensive. If I keep up the rehab stretches, with a few more thrown in for good measure, with any luck I won't have to go back to see Brett. I like Brett, but I'd rather not have to see him on a regular basis. Stretching, flexing and rehabbing helps keep the physio at bay.
5) Write 3000 words of the novel
Decent words. Proper words. Words that sing. Time to get back to this.
6). Take my lunch to work two days out of three.
I'm now doing three days in the office a week. Do I love this? No. it gets expensive. Besides, the options at one location are pretty dire (Docklands). Besides, taking your lunch in gives you more control. I've been at the new job two weeks now. I'm settled enough to not have to run out at lunchtime.
7) Start a vision board
I've never had one. It's woo woo. If you can't see it, you can't be it.
This one snuck up on me. It's also a recurring dream, or at least I've had some variation of this dream over the years.
This morning, when I woke, I wasn't aware that I was dreaming, but it's been haunting me over the day. On a day of what I call Ra-Ra meetings (these rally the troops meetings that large corporations are inclined to have with monotonous regularity) you get some time to think.
When I have these dreams, I'm always high up and outside. When I have these dreams, I have to stand on top of the tallest building, generally without any support or guard rails. I found myself standing on top of the tallest building in Dubai. I’ve been outside of Sydney Hotel where I’ve had to walk around a window ledge on about the 70th floor.
Last night’s dream had me asked toclimb up a thin ladder to the very top of a building. Once again it was a skyscraper. Once again, I was thinking about doing this, not that I wanted to.
Today I found myself sitting in these meetings that I really don’t know why I’m there, thinking about the feeling of having to climb up a ladder on top of a skyscraper, then realising that this is recurring
Generally,I am not scared of heights, they’re not my most favourite things either. Keep me on land or put me in water, and I do like perches, but maybe not that high. High enough that you can feel the building move in the breeze, Which you can feel in very tall skyskrapers. If you haven’t felt it, go visit the Eureka Tower.
As I've got not chance in hell of finishing another book by the end of April, I may as well get my list of books out for the month.
Once again, I've read eight books over the month. Some great, some good, some not so good, but mostly, they've been enjoyable.,
So, here we go.
1) Theo of Golden by Allen Levi - Audio - 4.5 Stars
This is a glorious book with a hell of a lot of heart, not out of the realm of the Fredrik Backman or Virginia Evans' The Correspondent.
Set in the American South in a university town, Theo, a mysterious old man comes to live in the town. A local artist displays portraits in a local coffee shop. Theo buys these paintings and donates them to the sitter. The people gifted with their portraits come from across society. Rich, poor, mad, sane, happy, sad, Theo gets to hear their stories and ultimately befriending the town and changing lives.
My description does not do this justice. This book is a big warm hug - like The Correspondent. The characters are well drawn, Theo's story, which we hear in fragments, is memorable.
I loved this.
2) A Great Act of Love by Heather Rose - Paperback - 4.5
Van Diemen's Land, 1839. Widow Caroline Douglas arrives in Hobart, with her ward a young boy called Quinn. Caroline leases an old cottage from Mr. Swanston and it has an abandoned vineyard, but how did she end up in the colony full of convicts and including one’s who have earned their ticket of leave.
Caroline has secrets, and the narrative takes you back to divulge all the things that happened to her prior to arriving in Van Diemen’s Land or as we know it Tasmania.
Heather Rose is a Tasmanian national treasure. This book, historical fiction, looks at an enigmatic woman doing her best in the early days of the colony and a devastating family history that circumstance and good fortune help to bring that family back together.
Rose's prose is effortless. She's awesome. Hunt her out.
3) When the Red Leaves Fall by Alli Parker - Paper - 3 Stars
This was our April book group book. What looked like an interesting premise turned out to be a bit of a flop.
Emmy Darling has a secret. She has a few. Her lemon meringue pie is a recipe from a women's magazine, she's always wanted to be a playwright, and the best parts of her husband Sebastian's plays are the scenes she's written during edits. But when charismatic theatre impresario and leading lady, Virginia van Belle, insists Emmy write about her wartime experiences as the lead play in her 1957 season, Emmy is faced with every writer's dilemma.
Because Emmy's biggest secret is that her name is actually Emiko Tanaka. She and her Japanese-Australian family were arrested, brutally split up and held in internment camps by the Australian government after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. And it's this secret that Virginia wants to bring to the masses.
This could have been a lot better if it concentrated on the Japanese/Australian experience rather than Emmy's writing career. I found the whole novel incredible ham fisted. Never to mind, you can't win them all.
4) State of Wonder by Ann Patchett - Audio - 4 Stars
I know of the anecdotal story around this book - Elizabeth Gilbert had the idea for this book, the characters, the premise, the location - she worked on it for years - then gave it up. Ann Patchett came up with exactly the same book - and according to Gilbert, wrote a far better novel.
This story of a researcher going down the Amazon in search of answers around the death of a colleague is great. Patchett does a fantastic job of creating the look and feel of the jungle, the river and the predators, wild and human. The audio book had Hope Davis reading this gem of a book. It's worth a look.
5) A Ladder to the Sky by John Boyne - Audio - 5 Stars
I'm a new convert to John Boyne. I've heard there's been some controversies around the author, which I'm tuning out. Boyne wrote The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. This book has a small historical element to it.
Maurice Swift is an aspiring novelist struggling to come up with the story that will make his name, and he doesn't care where that story comes from. Even if he has to beg, borrow, steal or worse, he will make it to the top. Whatever the cost...
Maurice is evil. He's amazing. Even better, the audiobook really brought this to life. I loved this - and I'm keen to check out more of Boyne's work.
6) Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth - Paper - 3.5 Stars
Local author, Sally Hepworth, brings on this tight thriller based on three women who met when they were in foster care. Their batty, vicious foster mother has left them all traumatised. Years later, when a body is found under the house where they used to live, the girls are forced to go back to Port Agatha and face their demons.
As thrillers go, this is very readable, tightly plotted and has so many spins and turns. However, this isn't really my genre and I found some of the writing lacking. As a standalone quick read, it's great. It's getting passed to my mother this weekend. Recommended easy reading.
7) The Heart Goes Last by Margaret Atwood - Audio - 4 stars
This isn't my favourite Atwood, but she's still brilliant. Her mind thrills me. This dystopian novel set in the near future gives an alternative America - and it's very good.
"Stan and Charmaine are a married couple trying to stay afloat in the midst of an economic and social collapse. Job loss has forced them to live in their car, leaving them vulnerable to roving gangs. They desperately need to turn their situation around—and fast. The Positron Project in the town of Consilience seems to be the answer to their prayers. No one is unemployed and everyone gets a comfortable, clean house to live in . . . for six months out of the year. On alternating months, residents of Consilience must leave their homes and function as inmates in the Positron prison system. Once their month of service in the prison is completed, they can return to their "civilian" homes.
At first, this doesn't seem like too much of a sacrifice to make in order to have a roof over one's head and food to eat. But when Charmaine becomes romantically involved with the man who lives in their house during the months when she and Stan are in the prison, a series of troubling events unfolds, putting Stan's life in danger. With each passing day, Positron looks less like a prayer answered and more like a chilling prophecy fulfilled."
Atwood is always fun and thought provoking. Though not her best novel, it's very thought-provoking and entertaining.
8) The Stranger by Albert Camus - Kindle - 4.5 Stars
Oh my! This small novel - all of 120 pages - was read before seeing the new Francois Odon film in the cinema. I read it in English, but there is a part of me that wants to read it in the original French. Because I'm like that.
There is a reason why this is a classic.
First published in 1946, this is the story of an ordinary man unwittingly drawn into a senseless murder on an Algerian beach, Camus explored what he termed the nakedness of man faced with the absurd.
Absurd? Nihilistic? A document showing the internal workings of an autistic person who successfully navigates society for the most part.
You can read it in one sitting. Just like his other short novel about a pandemic, also set in Algiers, Camus is incredible. I'll be thinking about this - and the film - for a long time to come.
Okay, this is another case of being so glad I read the book before seeing the film. The classic novel by Albert Camus is incredible - as is this film. One of my writer friends, Fee suggested we go. We're friends from both of my French trips and I'm never one to say no to a French film. Fee studied the novel extensively at university - I read the book over the last two days. It's incredible.
What Francois Odon in this marvelous piece of cinema is a take on the classic novel, keeping all of the plot points and adding a heap more. It's superb.
For those not familiar with the book, we follow the life of Meursault (Benjamin Voisin). To paraphrase the first words of the book, his mother died, either today or yesterday. He can't be sure.
You soon learn a couple of things about Meursault. He lives in Algiers, working a boring office job. He's very contained. He's a man of few words. And he sees the world as it is. Some would see him as an absurdist, some nihilistic.
On arriving back from his mother's funeral, he meets up with his soon to be girlfriend, Maria (Rebecca Harder) and hangs around with his friend, Raymond (Pierre Lottin) and somehow gets involved with his life. After Raymond is threatened by a group of Arabs after assaulting on of their sisters, Raymond ultimately shoots one of them. Meursault is put on trial, through which he displays his usual indifference. The film ends as he waits to see his fate.
Cheerful stuff.
This is an absolutely gorgeous film. It's in black and white and this lends itself to the story, its themes and the oppressive nature of life in Algeria in the 30s. The black and white also amplifies the oppressive nature of life in Algeria in the 1930s.
Benjamin Voisin is an absolute joy to watch. Odon's lens tends to the homo-erotic - which is not a bad thing. He is a beautiful man. The only time he shows anything that resembles emotion is in the final scene in the prison with the priest. It is almost word for word from the book.
Fee and I left the cinema content. Both of us, with knowledge of the book said the following.
Meursault is on the autism spectrum (they didn't have words for this back then)
Yes, the film felt homo-erotic at times.
The black and white format was perfect for the film
And it doesn't matter if Meursault or not - we're all going to die in the end anyway.
This comes recommended, especially if you like art house films. I also recommend reading the book, all 120 pages of it, as it is a masterpiece. You don't have to do this, but it certainly helps in your understanding of this understated, fabulous, somewhat difficult film.
"I have something for you," I was told at masons on Sunday. This could be anything but sitting on a bench were two bags. "It's Marion's knitting."
Ah.
As I said, it's like the timing has been having a laugh. Marion passed away a year ago on Thursday.
There is a story to this knitting. Marion was a kindly soul. On her property was a granny flat, in which a woman named Kate lived with her partner. As Marion was declining, Kate was incredibly generous with her time and energy looking after Marion, taking care of her dog when she was in hospital and providing assistance in many ways. She's been Marion's tenant for a number of years. We, who knew Marion, were grateful in the knowledge that there was somebody keeping an eye on her. Kate also adopted Marion's dog when she passed - a most beautiful thing.
Anyway, soon after she died, one of the masons said that there was a knitting project Marion was working on for Kate. It was nearly finished. Would anybody know somebody who might be able to finish this off.
I put up my hand. I'm a gun knitter. Okay, maybe not fair isle and colour workings, but I'm great with straight forward patterns, easy cables. I'm a neat, tidy knitter, able to do some more intermediate stuff. I remember my mother asking me to finish off a top she'd made - needed some sleeves sunk. I said I'd do it - she passed it over with the directions to not bugger it up. Two hours later, the top was returned, finished, ends sewn in and to my mother's exacting standards. (Note, Mum was having trouble with this manouevre, I think it was a matter of tools - nothing that a circular needled couldn't sort. )
Regardless, I looked in the bags.
They smelled strongly of unwashed dog.
In one, there were a couple of complete balls of acrylic yarn. Knitter's rule number one - never refuse any yarn. You'll find something to do with it.
In the second bag, the jumper, some extra wool, the pattern and a number of miscellaneous knitting needles.
To my slight surprise, the jumper was a beautifully rendered cobalt blue cable knit in a fluffy 5 ply. A complicated cable knit - something I'd need time and patience to do. The garment was all sewn up, ready to go, with the neckline half off double-sided needles.
Marion had had cataracts - her work is lovely. How she did this with failing eyesight, I will never know.
So, I am now the custodian of this unfinished jumper.
I've had a look at what's to be done. I've managed to tack up the neckline, removing the double-sided needles (never liked using them) picking up the dropped stitches and put the neckline onto a similar sized circular needle. From here, I'll finish the last few rows of the neckline and do any finishing required.
A good spray of Febreeze has sorted out the dog smell, which I'm sure has come from it staying with Marion's executor, who lives in the countryside with a rather boisterous Border Collie named Max.
Anyway, I feel quite honoured to be finishing this jumper. It won't take long. As Marion's house is being sold next month and Kate will be looking for a new home, this small action of completing this garment feels right.
I hope Marion thinks that I've completed it to her standards. It really is a lovely jumper. I'm in awe of the work she's done. In all, this is a very masonic task which has to be done. Alpha and Omega, Order Ab Chao and all that. Despite the fact it's taken a year to get me this knitting, it will be sent to it's rightful place, finished, in order, and smelling a lot better than when I received it.
I went with no pre-conceived ideas about what this would be like - and I'm glad I went in like this. Like many Gen-Xers I have a variable view on Michael Jackson. Genius? Weirdo? Trouble soul? Philanthropist? Abuse victim? Drug addict? All of the above, maybe.
However, I also remember loving the Jackson 5 cartoon as a kid, and the Jacksons' music permeated my younger childhood. I was never a Michael Jackson superfan, but I did enjoy his music. He was an incredible musician, and nobody can take that away from him
This movie is what I would call sanitised. It's obviously been made with the blessings of the family. Janet Jackson has been written out of this. His mother Kathleen, who is still alive, was treated sensitively. But I'm sure this was a cleaned-up version of his life from when he was a young child until his split with the Jackson family juggernaut in the mid-eighties.
I remember most of this history - I was there. Still, this is a very entertaining movie as long as you realise that this is the family's version of the history they want you to see. And this is okay. Look at is it like a story and go for the music - which is fabulous.
This movies takes us from the origins of the Jackson 5 in Gary, Indiana. The five boys (Germaine, Tito, Marlon, Jackie and Michael) are under the thumb of their perfectionist and abusive father, Joseph, played with chilling insight by Colman Domingo. I would not be surprised if there were some awards for his performance - he's outstanding. Joseph Jackson was borderline evil.
Michael is portrayed by two actors - Juliano Valdi plays Michael the boy with an incredible voice and dance moves. Jaafar Jackson, Germaine's son, plays older Michael - and his look is eerily similar to the Michael Jackson we all know at the time.
In the film, written by John Logan and directed by Antoine Fuqua, is cohesive. It does gloss over a lot of what would have happened at this time, a lot of which is not easy. A violent and abusive father. The racism of the age. The reliance on Michael's talent is all there.
You're also introduced to Michael's love of childhood games, books and toys and his desire to own exotic animals. Bubbles, thankfully is AI generated. Knowing this monkey wasn't real helped matters.
Redeeming the movie is the music, which is on brand, sounds brilliant and is just as I remembered it back in the 80s. All of the song and dance numbers incorporated into the film are wonderful. Jaafar Jackson's performance as the older Michael is superlative.
Also, the film stops short of going into all of the not-so-great things we remember about Michael - the marriage, the kids, the drug use (although the film introduces why he was on painkillers after the hair burning accident). This is not a bad thing.
In all, if you go to see this for the music, you'll be happy you've seen this. Go for a great cinematic experience and you'll probably be disappointed. The music, for me, was everything.
