Sunday Stealing: I Say, You Think

 It's been a big weekend. I had masons today. Yesterday, I had meditation, went and saw my friends' kittens because kittens need to be seen. Then I had my legs waxed and bought a new fridge. 

Today, I've also started to empty the old fridge as the new one is coming after lunch tomorrow. It will be nice to have a fridge that doesn't freeze everything inside of it. 

Anyway, I'll now get on with the Sunday questions, partly before Married At First Sight Starts and getting the many magnets off the fridge ready for the new one - a sexy black model of a fridge. Even if it is a bit hard to call a fridge sexy. 

Questions, as always, come from Sunday Stealing. 

Word Association. Share what comes to mind when you hear the word ...

1. Biscuit

I think of my grandpa and Cookie Man cookies that we used to buy at Marion shopping centre next to the Charlesworth Nuts shop. It's a very Adelaide thing. I think the Mrs Fields chain may have bought out the Cookie Man chain, but there is nothing better than their harlequin biscuits. 

2. Crayon

 I think of work. I think about how many times I've wanted to yell, "DO I NEED TO WRITE THIS IN CRAYON SO YOU UNDERSTAND!"  I never have done this, but it's tempting. 

3. Warmth

I think of the patch on the mattress where the cat's been sleeping as I climb between the sheets. Instant bed warmer. 

4. Flip

I think of an Australian singer, G-Flip. 

5. Slush

I think of when I was working at a merchant bank in London and we made jokes about Panamanian slush funds. Strangely, we found one when we were doing audit one time. Somebody got away with a hell of a lot of money. It was well dodgy. 

6. Wing

I think of a Beatle's song. You can tell my Ritalin has worn off - I'm thinking in songs again. 

Anyway, this is the song that came to mind. 

7. Candle

I think of today in my mason's meeting how we didn't have a good time with the candles. Light is a part of the rituals - however, in our lodge we are old school and use naked flames. We are very lucky the building does not have smoke detectors. There was a slip of paper that needed to be burned today - it was a bit funny to watch - in a scary sort of way. 

8. Cinnamon

I think of B.Dylan Hollis, a favourite YouTuber of mine. He's hysterical. For years, he's been cooking recipes out of historical cookbooks with some very funny results. 

But the way he says cinnamon cracks me up. SNINNOMIN! Always said at a half-scream. 

Love him.

Today's song: 

Movie Review: Fackham Hall

 Movie Number: 10 of 2026

The Movie: Fackham Hall

The Cinema: Hoyts Victoria Gardens

Runtime: One hour 37 minutes. 

Stars: 3.75

This is a very, very silly film. Silly and ridiculous and very funny. Spit take funny. Rude funny. Death at a Funeral funny, though a little bit more sly and vulgar - but that's a good thing. From the sign outside Fackham Hall which reads "Incestus Ad Infinitum" (Incest forever) to some more subtle digs at the nobility, to some Monty Pythonesque absurdity, this has it all. This is a cross between Downton Abbey, Agatha Christie and Monty Python. This means it's utter lunacy. Also, it's been written by comedian Jimmy Carr - who's very silly at the best of times. 

As a quick description, Lord Humphrey Davenport (Damian Lewis) and his wife (Katherine Waterstone) are keen to marry off their daughters to one of their cousins, the rather odious Archibald (Tom Felton). Rose (Thomasin McKenzie) sees through her father's plan after her sister Lily (Emma Laird) jilts him at the altar. 

Enter Eric Noone (pronounced No-one... yeah) (Ben Radcliffe) a pickpocket raised in an orphanage asked to deliver a letter in person to Lord Davenport. Eric ends up taking a job as a footman at Fackham Hall, where he becomes close to Lady Rose. Anna Maxwell Martin is rather scary as the housekeeper, Mrs McCallister and Tim McMullen is a very effective as the butler, Cyril. Oh yes, and we can't forget Jimmy Carr's turn as the 

After a few mis-steps getting their daughters married off to their first cousin (because that's what the aristocracy dones.), Lord Davenport ends up dead. What fun. 

As I said at the start, this is a very silly movie with a very blue, dark, quite wrong sense of humour running through it. I tittered through the whole film, with some big laugh out loud guffaws.     

I won't say much more. If you like English comedies, the sillier, ruder and blacker the better, this will keep you happy. It's not a perfect film, but it's great fun. It's also rather wrong in a lot of great ways. 

Today's song:

Theatre Review: Do Not Pass Go

The Performance: Do Not Pass Go by Jean Tong

The Theatre: The Lawlor, Southbank

Runtime: 75 Minutes

Stars: 4

The 2026 MTC program has got off to a good start with this little gem of a play. But this, I mean that this play, staged in the less used Lawler Theatre - a smaller, more intimate place is worth a look. Within the Lawler's proscenium arch two actors put on a wonderful performance about the people we work with, and how they slowly become a part of us. 

There were also a lot of themes which struck a chord. Working to live. Neurodiversity, sexual identity, families, and the live to work mentality that can be a part of some workplaces. A lot of it was really relatable. 

At the start of the play, we meet the prickly Penny (Belinda McCrory) who is busy doing what looks like her pointless job in a non-descript office. She is joined by Flux (Ella Prince), Penny's new workmate. Penny was happy working on her own. Flux challenges a lot of her thinking. Flux is everything Penny is not. Young, queer, wanting more. Penny's had a lot of her desires beaten out of her. Flux is just starting out and wanting more of the world. 

Both actors are great. For me, I understood McCrory's Penny almost at a cellular level, while Ella Prince's Flux let us into a very different life and lifestyle, which Penny eventually begins to understand and appreciate. I've seen Prince in Bell Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. They're great.

Within the hour and a quarter of the play, we really get to the root of work relationships look like. Starting from that person you only tolerate, through to the person you count on more than almost anybody else, all they while performing pointless tasks which never quite meet management expectations. Yep, that's work. 

The minimalist set - a very boring office and warehouse space is also part of this play's charm. Windowless, and unadorned, how are people supposed to thrive?

Jean Tong's acerbic script is darkly funny, putting a spotlight on modern workplaces and the relationships they create. I also liked that the two protagonists had identifiable struggles - Penny's neurodiversity rang a lot of bells for me. 

Directed by Katy Maudlin, this play keeps you entertained for its duration. The Lawler Theatre, a more intimate black box space that seats around 160 people, felt good. This smaller space drives home the eventual intimacy that grows between these two colleagues. 

As I said, the MTC is off to a good start this year. 

Today's song: 

Dev Card: Why write?

It’s been another long day, and an even longer one is to be had tomorrow. Therefore, I believe that doing a quick Dev card might be the way to go. I’m writing this while I’m lying on the couch dictating this into my phone, because I am that tired. As I said, it's been a day. 

How do you feel when you don't write? 

One of the reasons I do this blog is that it forces me to write every day. And even when I don’t have much of an idea about what I will write, I still write, because not writing feels very alien to me. Writing doesn't have the sensation like a runner as high, but I know that when I don’t write I feel empty. This is my way of making sense of the world.

You've probably worked out from this my mind is full of crap and it needs investigating. 

How do you feel when you do write? 

Are you quite writing to activities like swimming or walking or going to the gym? It might take a little bit to get you where you’re going, to find your pace, but once you’re in the middle of it, you feel great. And you don’t even have to write that well just as I am not the perfect gym participant, nor walker, nor swimmer. But it makes me feel good when I’m doing it. 

It feels like I am participating in my vocation.

What prevents you from writing? 

Work and procrastination. There’s also a big sense of me being an impostor. Lots of writers have imposter syndrome. Something else that’s come out of my AUDHD Diagnosis is rejection sensitivity. Neurodiverse people arrive often highly sensitive to rejection leading them to either being triggered or into spiral. It’s a vicious cycle. You write something. You sent it out into the world. You think people are going to hate it. You wonder why you do it. And it goes round and round and round. I am getting better at ignoring these demons, but they do shout louder than those rancid next-door neighbours who need an AVO.

What gets you writing? 

Everything from sheer will power, to a lightning bolt inspiration, to a word that gets stuck in my head, to a song lyric, to something like spot of the tram, to something my cat is done, to news articles,… Inspiration could be found everywhere and you just have to enjoy it when you get it.

Or I pick up a Dev card. 

Today's song: 

Today's Takeaways

 Today was not a great day. I think I need to have a whine about it. 

I'll make it short.

1. Morcheeba played at The Forum last night. Friends of mine went. I didn't. I'm envious, even if I only know a couple of their songs, they looked incredible. I keep telling myself I can't go to everything. 

2. Computer problems meant that I needed to go into the office today. I wasn't planning on going into the office, but the guy on the Help Desk told me that to reinstall this program I had to go into an office. Or a branch. Ummm, I told them, do you mean there are bank branches around here? I live three kilometres from the office, it's easy. I put on some spakfilla and made myself look presentable (Yes, Pandora, you need to wear trousers to the office.) got in, found some lunch as I got there, only to call the Help Desk to be told that I really didn't need to come in. Bah. I worked from the office for the rest of the afternoon. 

3. I'm having fridge woes. My fridge, despite having the thermostat turned right down, is freezing stuff - particularly milk and salad. Frozen salad is gross. I had the man come out and have a look at the fridge today. $200 call out fee. Thermostat is cactus they say. They're going to price up a new thermostat (the fridge is only seven years old). My dilemma. Do I get the fridge fixed for what looks like it will cost around $500, or do I buy a new one? I mean, it doesn't have to happen immediately, as this one is working. I just can't keep salad in it. Stupid machines. Sounds like it needs to go the same way as my work laptop. 

4. And there was no Turkish bread at the supermarket. Toasted Turkish bread with butter and cherry jam is one of life's joys. 

But on the good side of things:

1. I made it to the gym on time and did a good workout after work. 

2. I'm nearly finished this book I've been reading for a while, which I'm not sure why I've continued with it. 

3. I started a Margaret Atwood book (Hag-Seed) based on a Shakespeare's The Tempest. Margaret Atwood makes my heart sing. I'm reading this on the cat's throne. 

4. I got to wear my new lippy today. New lippy is always good. 

5. And on Friday, after six months, it appears we'll be getting a new intercom. At last. The new post box came last week and the electronic gates are finally working, but we get a proper intercom so we can talk to the postie! Yay.

You have to take the good with the not so good. 

Today's song:

Kiss Me Like You Mean It

MAFS broke my heart last night. It doesn't do that very often, but last night, my heart cracked. I'm also very mad at the producers. I can't believe they let this happen. And sure, this is one of the most manipulative shows on television, but how could they do that. 

A bit of context. If you're ever watched Love, Actually there is this creepy scene where Andrew Lincoln ambushes his friend's wife with queue cards. Seriously, not romantic. Not even sweet. Just creepy.

So why do the producers get into this lovely woman's head that it would be a good idea to do this and ask her "husband" of ten days to kiss her like he means it. Make her feel something. 

Bleargh. 

I mean, there is making yourself vulnerable and there's making yourself the topic of work kitchen conversation (we don't have water coolers as a rule in Australia - maybe our equivalent would be the Billy tap). 

I mean, the absolute chutzpah she must have had to stand there, blindfolded, and ask this rather gormless bloke for a kiss. Only then, to be rejected. I felt this within every cell in my body. 

Maybe it's because I relate to this woman. Gorgeous, voluptuous, knows her own mind, intelligent, a seemingly happy soul, who has been stuck in situationships for decades. She's all there. He's not. 

The whole thing, for me, was so disappointing. Some of it was the visceral feeling that came from her humiliation. That the producers let this happen. And that the gormless bloke couldn't step up. (Though looking at it, I do get some of where he was coming from - and they've started to patch things up.)

I also understand what it's like when you want somebody to kiss you properly, and they don't. Or won't. I get the frustration. The loss of power. The feeling of being unwanted. The feeling of unrequited desires. The feeling of not being seen or heard. The feeling of being unworthy. The list can go on ad infinitum. 

Yes, when somebody doesn't kiss you the way you want them to, all of this comes out in your psyche.

So yeah. Rachel, MAFS bride extraordinaire, I am gobsmacked by your bravery as much as I am furious with the producers. You've touched a nerve with many. You are deserving of that great love. Your "groom" is probably not him, even though tonight's episode showed some improvements. I'm also aware of the slim pickings on the dating apps. It's a swamp out there. 

Yet is it ever a good idea to ask a man for favours like this? Unless you're wanting to be in another famous British rom com, most of me thinks you're setting yourself up for disappointment. 

P.S. My tried and tested pick-up line back in the day was a much more direct approach. It had humour, which meant if you were laughed at, you could pretend you're not let down and get on with whatever you were doing. "Fancy a shag?" seems far less intimate than asking for a proper kiss. It's a pity things have come to this. 

Today's song: 

Happy New Year

 Maybe it's because it's the night of Chinese New Year tonight and we're welcoming in the Year of the Horse and many around the place are getting all excited. 

I met up with my Taiwanese next-door neighbours as I was heading out for a swim with Jay. 

"Kung Hei Fat Choi," I said. 

"Happy new year to you. I thought you spoke no Chinese." my neighbour said. 

"This and 'ni how' is as far as it goes. It's better than nothing."

"It's a start."

So we're going into the Year of the Horse. Allegedly this means, according to AI, "The 2026 Year of the Fire Horse (beginning Feb 17, 2026) symbolizes a period of intense energy, rapid movement, and major transformations. Representing speed, courage, and freedom, this year encourages bold action, innovation, and breaking free from limitations, though it may also bring restlessness and impulsivity."

Does this mean there's going to be a revolution?

Interesting.

Me, I was born in the Year of the Monkey. Again, according to AI, this represents,"The Year of the Monkey in the Chinese zodiac symbolizes intelligence, wit, agility, and curiosity. People born in this year are considered clever, mischievous, and resourceful problem-solvers. It is a time often associated with innovation,, rapid change, and, sometimes, unpredictability. 

I find all of this stuff fascinating. 

It might also be the reason this song has been swilling around in my head all day.

Not much of a blog today. I've been making videos for work today. I need to get away from the screen for a bit as I've got another day of this tomorrow. 

Today's song: