19 Days: I Dream of Greece

My colleague left on her holidays today. Three weeks she's gone for. As one of the hardest workers I know, she deserves the break.

However, I'm as jealous as all hell.

Her first stops - Athens, then Santorini and then Mykonos.

I lived in Greece for a few months about 15 years ago. I look at this time as one of the more formative of my life. See, at the time, my plans all fell to crap. The job I was promised fell through and I was a bit stuck, but this time taught me that sometimes, taking a chance and getting out of a rut can be the best thing you can do for yourself.

The other thing that I remember from the time was that my head was all in a mess over a man. Greece put me away from all of this. Once again, I was grateful for the time away.

Talking with my colleague today, my time on Mykonos came back in buckets.

"But don't you like Santorini?" she asked.
"Not really - it's a bit of a blonde of a place - gorgeous to look at but it lacks substance."

Well this is my opinion. For some reason, I didn't feel safe on the island. It was probably more that I'd made friends on Mykonos and was feeling desperately lonely down at Kamari beach.

Mykonos, however, became my home.

There is something about island life which appeals to me. I've been trying to put my finger in it for ages. Is it that the land is finite? Is it that with the stable population? For me on Mykonos, was it that I could pad around at all hours of the day and night in a little dress, a big hat and a pair of sandals, skin brown, hair starting to bleach, living on a diet of Greek Salad, the odd yiros and a daily "kafe frappe metrio me gala", which was ordered in my best Greek.

I was learning Greek. I befriended some bar staff hungering for English lessons.

Greek is easy after a while. They only talk about three things. Money, love and home. Lefpta, agape, spiti. They come up regularly and often in conversation.

I remember being  as happy as a clam, padding around the laneways of this little island, meeting fellow travellers, occasionally making a night of it at one of the many bars, drinking and dancing away the balmy evenings.

My stay there started in the off season. You see a different side of the island in April. It's more relaxed. Calmer. Less bothersome. Fewer tourists. There are days you can't move down the Venetian laneways for the tourists. It's the only place in the world you'll find donkey poo outside a Cartier shop. Or a huge, stroppy pelican, named Petros. He  bailed me up one night as I was ambling home, half drunk at two in the morning. That pelican is a bit of a nuisance.

My colleague was told to say hello to Petros for me.

After a chat, we looked over a map of the island. I've told her to go to Elia beach - an idyllic spot on the south of the island, where the naked men frolic like lambs. It's a liberating experience.

She's been told to get one of the little yiros you find out near gold alley - I wonder if that shop is still there.

Oh, and on that one day where you need to do something quieter - the half day trip to Delos is a must. An uninhabited island full of ruins, it's a fascinating morning looking at the ruins.

I'm not sure if she's into clubbing, but the clubs are great there.

It was a fun time. It was a strange time of my life. It would be good to go back and see it one day.


Today's Song:

20 Days: Party Planning

Sunday afternoon saw me over at Alice's place for a party planning session - or more to the point, we had a look at the food order for our party.

Alice and I are both very different and very similar at the same time. Alice is a slip of a woman, who would be  easily knocked over in a stiff breeze. I'm more the proverbial brick shithouse. Alice is a divorced mother of one. I've been terminally single all my life. Alice is very defined in her reading habits. I'm a bit more flexible. Alice is English by birth, Australian by naturalisation. I am Australian who's really just a Pom at heart.

She and I lived about a mile away from each other in London in the nineties. We met in Melbourne about 12 years ago, but we more than likely would have passed each other in Waitrose on many occasions, or been at the same bar on any given night.

Alice is the person who drops food around when you've been in hospital. I'm the person who sits people down and I let them talk without judgement.

Alice and I are a bit tragic. We both love The Pixies, Rocky Horror and rock music. She's a brilliant Columbia. I'm more Magenta.



When we worked together, our catch cry was, "Cup of tea?" Before rising in unison and wandering  to the kitchen at well defined times.

We're both loud, happy drunks - not that either of us have had a big night for a while. Alice has her son Jasper to think about. I'm normally driving - makes going on a bender a bit hard.

We are both loud introverts - I think I might be a bit more introverted than her, but not by much.

And we are holding a joint birthday party.

Location: Booked.

Invites: Out.

Food order:  Settled

Cake: Must approach my cousin's wife - if not, we need to find a cake.

Name tags:  Ordered in - as geeky as I can find.



Playlist:  Getting there - we need another song to go with this:

The party is a few weeks away, but Alice is off to England and France at the end of the week. In a fortnight, I'm off to Bali. This is why all of this needs to be done and done now.

Alice is having a mega-party with her family in the South of France, sharing the event with her cousin, who is twelve hours older than her. It sounds like it will be a hoot.

I'll be spending my birthday, a week later, in Bali, with a group of friends.

As much as I'm looking forward to Bali, the thought of the South of France, in a farmhouse, with family sounds very awesome too.

Not that I have been to Europe for about eight years. Alice goes back to the Motherland roughly once a year to see family.

I've been decidedly dodging my spiritual home, mainly because of one person. However, as I have a funny feeling that he is no longer on the planet, I should be able to ride out this and get back for another round of Shakespeare and Cathedral spotting.

But our party is planned and we can toddle off to our respective other countries and see our birthday's in with our loved ones.

And we're both feeling relieved that this is all organised and hopeful that people will turn up on the night.

Funny that we both have the same fear that nobody is going to turn up on the night.

We're a bit more similar that we'd like to admit.


Today's Song:

21 Days: Post 1000: Or The Things You Can't Possibly Know meme

I really can't believe this - this is my 1000th posting on Pandora - Queen of Denial. 1000 entries!

When I started this blog, I never thought it would be going on for so long. Having the blog daily over 100 days challenge has pushed up these numbers. Wow.

Anyway, as I have a busy day today, I will do these now, then get to the gym.

Questions, as always, from Bev at Sunday Stealing.


1. What color is your watch?

Black, with a black leather strap - it's a FitBit. My dress watch is a Cartier Tank knock off with a silver face. One day I would love a real one.

2. What do you think of when you think of Australia?

I call it home. It used to be the place of the fair go. Not any more.

3. Ever ridden on a roller coaster?

No. Not interested.

4. Birthstone? 

Peridot.

5. Do you go in at a fast food place or just hit the drive through?

I don't eat fast food, but when I did, I would hit the drive through.

6. Do you have any friends on facebook that you actually hate?

I don't hate anybody. There are a few people who I wonder how they became Facebook friends, but unless they give me grief, I don't unfriend them.

7. Do you have a dog?

No. I would love to have one.

8. Last person you talked to on the phone?

I just got off a call with Reindert, who is in Boulder, Colorado.

9. Have you met anyone famous? 

I've stood behind Emma Thompson and Geoffrey Rush in supermarket queues. I seem to run into Geoffrey Rush a bit. That's about as good as it gets here.

9. Any plans today?

I'm off to the gym in a bit for a quick workout. Meeting Emm for breakfast at 11. Have to go see Alice to do some party planning, then off to see Blarney and Maow Maow. I need to cook and tidy too. Busy day.

10.  Where are you right now? 

Sitting at home in Melbourne, Australia in front of my laptop.

11. Biggest annoyance in your life right now? 

The Australian Federal Government. It's not as bad as Trump, but they have made some awful decisions of late. The new media laws being one of those bad decisions. They really fucked up there.

12. Last song listened to? 

This. Which gets stuck in your head. you've been warned. But it gets into your hips and won't go away.

13. Last movie you saw? 

RBG - a documentary about Ruth Bader Ginsburg. I have a new hero. She's awesome.  I saw this yesterday.

14. Are you allergic to anything? 

Sulpha drugs. I'm also slightly allergic to cats, but I build up a tolerance quickly when I have one at home. Thank goodness for antihistamines.

15. Favorite pair of shoes you wear all the time?

My Harley Davidson Biker Boots. They are truly awesome. And very comfortable.



16. What time is it? 

9.04 am. Oops, I've missed pump - cardio here I come.

17. Do any of your friends have children?

Lots of them, and most of them are nice people - the children that is.

18. Do you eat healthy? 

Big answer - yes. 95% of the time I'm gluten, dairy, sugar, caffeine and alcohol free. My diet is disgustingly healthy. The other five percent of the time - well yeah. The food wanker plan has been the best discovery of this year. I feel great.

19. What do you usually do during the day?

Work, walk, read, cook, write. In about that order.

20. Do you hate anyone right now? 

I don't hate anybody. I do strongly dislike Donald Trump, Peter Dutton and the uglies of the Liberal National Party (Americans, think the GOP). Hate is a too strong a word - and a waste of energy.


Today's Song:

Day 22: Movie Review - RBG

4 Stars. (Rotten Tomatoes has this rating at 94%)

I didn't want to miss this film. I'm glad I didn't.

I've been watching The West Wing and every type of political and legal drama that comes out of America. I think this has fostered a keen interest in political and judicial processes. I will admit, I'm the person you want to watch the election coverage with. Politics is fun. Think of me as a modern day Madame DeFarge.

As a political junkie with a keen interest in both American politics and the constitution, Ruth Bader Ginsburg's reputation was well known to me and I was keen to learn and see more. This documentary provides bucket loads about this feminist and civil rights poster girl, who has been out there, fighting a good fight since the fifties. Now in her mid-eighties she still resides on the Supreme Court bench and there is no stopping her. She's become a cult figure around the world. A bespectacled pocket rocket of a grandmother who has become the last bastion of sanity in this bizarre era of Trumpian Politics and fake news.

For those who don't know anything about this wonderful woman - here are a few facts:

• She was one of the first women admitted to Harvard Law.
• She's short.
• She's Jewish.
• She loves opera.
• She was born and grew up in Brooklyn.
• Bill Clinton chose her for Supreme Court Judge in the early eighties.
• When she was studying law, she was also looking after a toddler and a sick husband.
• She was married for nearly sixty years to an amazing man.
• In her early legal career, she brought some of the first sexual discrimination cases to the Supreme court - and won most of these cases.
• She planks like a boss.
• And she is the grandmother everybody would want to have.

This is an entertaining and enlightening look at one amazing woman, who for most of the last sixty years has been a beacon for women's and civil rights in America.

Her quiet, sensible presence hides a ferocious intellect and a wicked sense of humour.

Through interviews with her, along with colleagues, friends and family a portrait of this iconic figure is painted. I found myself smiling, sometimes welling up, are regularly fist-pumping through the two hours of this wonderful documentary.

The world is a lot better place for having this woman in it.

This is essential viewing for anybody with a passing interest in woman's right's, feminism, American politics or who likes to watch a true iconoclast in action.

RBG is a wonderful documentary which will leave you feeling that maybe, just maybe, if we had a few more of these spectacular people, the world would be a better place. 

Today's Song:

23 Days: Mercury Effing Retrograde

This morning started early. at 6.15 am I was fully dressed, fully awake and in the gym with a session with Peeeeetttteeeee.

"You know Mercury has just gone retrograde. And there's a blood moon tomorrow morning." says Peeeeettteeeee in dead earnest.

Yes, this is the conversation I have with my personal trainer at 6.15 in the morning while doing shoulder presses and kicking around the aqua bag. He's the one who's making the statement. My boofhead, Tasmanian, looks like a tradie personal trainer.

"I thought it was a way off." says me between cable pulls.
"Nope, it went retrograde yesterday."
"Shit. Are you sure?"
"Pretty much."

I got out my phone and asked Siri in the breath break. Yep, Mercury went retrograde this last night. It comes out of retrograde and goes direct on my birthday.

Shit.

It is not enough that I'm talking astrology on a meaningful level with my stand in personal trainer at six in the morning. We wouldn't be having this conversation if Jay was with us. Jay thinks all my 'witch shit' is just that. Shit. We're chalk and cheese Jay and me. It's fine.

Peeeeeetttteeeee was begging me to make Jay to go to a few classes at the Yoga Barn when we're in Bali. I think I'd have more chance of getting Peter Dutton to not look like a potato.

Anyway,  it's not enough that I am feeling this current full moon -  a great big full moon in Aquarius, and it's like a kick in the guts - my energy is all over the place - but we have an effing Mercury retrograde to deal with.

So what's so bad about a planet moving backwards in the sky. Well Mercury Retrogrades are good for the following:

• Rotten communication
• Nothing getting done
• Arguments
• Things falling to shit
• Things getting stalled
• Nothing getting completed
• External creativity goes out the window.

Yep - Mercury retrogrades are great if you're a writer.

They reckon you should not do the following while Mercury is travelling backwards in the sky.

• Make agreements (They aren't going to stick)
• Accept or start a job (It's not going to work out)
• Close a sale (It will come back to bite you)
• Start new projects (they won't get off the ground)
• Schedule meetings (nobody turns up)
• Travel a lot - there may be delays
• Buy things (well get the extended warranty on larger items)
• Find a house mate/move house.(Bound to have a mountain of troubles)

Mercury retrogrades are great for doing a lot of reflecting, taking things easy, listening to your inner self and respecting your quiet time.

Throw a monster full moon with an even bigger eclipse on top of this, and you have a celestial shit storm. 

Part of my afternoon was spent saying goodbye to some colleagues. Another part was spent looking over some natal charts for colleagues (this was late Friday afternoon - who does any real work on Friday afternoons? I know that as of 2 pm Fridays, I do a lot of clean up work)

At 4.45, I joined my colleagues for a rare beer. When Little Creatures is about, who am I to say no to  one?

Mercury is in retrograde. The beer had a kick. My first beer in four months. A rare treat. As I finished it, I felt the feeling of falling - like Alice down the Rabbit Hole. Thankfully after a glass of water, my head righted. 

I wonder what rabbit holes I'll be taken down this time. The Mercury retrograde. They all have big lessons to show you.

Shit.

Today's Song:

24 Days: Old CDs

It's been a little bit of a struggle to find something to write about of late. Call it the Winter Blues. Call it the fact that there is far too much to do at the moment. Call it that I might be getting sick - I just feel a bit run down at the moment and just want to go to bed. Maybe I'm just panicking as I know I have to be in the gym at 6.15 tomorrow morning and I know that I may not get a good night's sleep.

But I made a promise to myself to blog every day until my birthday, and this I will do - I'm not giving up now.

Finding things to write about is being a bit hard.

So today, I think I have to tell you about my CD collection.

Yes, I still own CDs.

Most of these sit in what has been referred to as "The Room Where Shoes Go to Die". I call it my rather messy spare room.

In here, there is a CD stack with about 100 CDs in there.

I spent some time last night looking at the last vestiges of my youth, looking over this motley collection of CDs. There is some cringe worthy stuff in there. Like who the hell is Nerina Pallot? There are the discs which make you lose your street credibility - which I thought I lost at Trivia at work a few weeks ago at work. I quickly tried to hide the Phil Collins CDs - which I still sort of like. But don't tell anybody.

Then there are the multitude of compilation albums - which I still think are good value, as you can associate these with periods of your life. For me, it's university and London.

Looking over one of these discs, I found some gems.

I wonder what ever happened to Skunk Anansie? I don't think I've heard this song in twenty years.

I forgot how good it was.

It deserves more than to be lost in the room where shoes go to die.


Today's Song:

25 Days: On the Walk to Work

An interesting morning commute was had this morning. Not so much that the tram journey was uneventful, but the conversation that was had from the tram stop to the way to work was excellent.

I'd run into our Wednesday Pump instructor. Like most of the people at the gym that I run into regularly, we're on chatting terms, though it is always strange seeing people out o gym gear. Casey is a great pump instructor. She's also South Australian and a lawyer by training - this makes her an interesting person to me.

I asked her what she did in her public service job.

By day, out of gym clothes, she's a policy officer with the health department.  She's currently writing policy around the Assisted Dying Legislation that was passed a few months ago.

I wish I had a job as interesting and worthy as this (not that there is anything wrong with writing documents for an energy company - but her job is sooooo much more worthwhile.)

So as we walked towards our respective offices, we got into a discussion about this new act.

Something which both of us are heartily in favour.

How fascinating must it be to write policy around these new and challenging laws. I say challenging in the way that some people can't see the benefit of this law.

Casey and I are on the same page. It's a bit like the same sex marriage laws in Australia. From what I can see, the sky hasn't fallen in yet.

Allowing the dying to have the ability to end their life with dignity sounds like a very good thing to me. If you want to take these options, you have to go through many hoops - numerous visits to psychiatrists, doctors and lawyers. You need to be dying. Your condition needs to have an end date. This isn't a decision that is taken lightly. This is a highly monitored and regulated process. It's not about knocking off Nana for the inheritance.

If you don't like the law, you don't have to use it. It's a bit like same sex marriage. If you don't like it, don't marry somebody of the same sex... but don't stop other people from having the opportunity to marry the person they love.

Having witnessed a couple of people in the last days of their lives, suffering terribly, I wonder if they had this legal right if they would want to take this on. To give them the option of the dignity of ending their lives before the unbearable pain set in, to me, seems a very humane thing.

I know this is an emotive issue, but listening to Casey talk about her work, and what she does every day, I felt a bit envious - envious that she is helping the community in such a role. It also felt good to know that there's people like this going out to bat for the community.

The quick chat made me ponder what it would be like in such a role too.

It was a good way to start the day.

Today's Song: