tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57394402929269373932024-02-19T12:45:25.092+11:00MindfieldWords by PetaPetahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05437225500214061296noreply@blogger.comBlogger32125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5739440292926937393.post-20502294773458943942013-05-19T16:17:00.001+10:002013-05-19T16:17:30.020+10:00The Remains of the Day.So it's been awhile between posts, but let's not dwell on that now. I have been waiting to feel compelled to sit down, apply my fingertips to keys, and share something suitably miscellaneous. Alas, nothing suitably miscellaneous has compelled me to blog. Until yesterday.
Since the last time I wrote you, we have a dog. She's a French bulldog (not a French pug or a British bulldog, the mistaken Petahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05437225500214061296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5739440292926937393.post-70932953915634322022011-09-12T08:54:00.001+10:002011-09-12T08:54:40.947+10:00Part I: The Friendship Kaleidoscope"Live Life Visceral"
Lately, I have been observing my friendships. Standing back from them and watching.
Back at Easter we had a visit from an old friend. Someone I have known for a long time, someone who has known me.
There are some people from the past that you can let go of, and there are some that you hang on to with both hands. Like clothes you used to wear often, that hardly fit you Petahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05437225500214061296noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5739440292926937393.post-57510041531609920902011-08-01T12:26:00.000+10:002011-08-01T12:26:14.170+10:00True grit
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Okay, so it has been
awhile. You are not the only one who has noticed. There has been a gaping hole
where at least one, possibly two posts should have been. I hear you. I have
been Petahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05437225500214061296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5739440292926937393.post-83249742501533332062011-06-06T13:05:00.001+10:002011-06-06T17:22:19.391+10:00Critical ConditionI find that life happens in cycles. And the cycles I've experienced this year have been all about work.
In between drowning in it, I come up for air for just long enough to gulp in some oxygen, clear my head and get back to the office. Christmas came and went and before I knew it, I was picked up and dropped, dead centre, into the eye of the storm. The proverbial shit storm, that is. Even Petahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05437225500214061296noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5739440292926937393.post-37788858776069134912011-05-09T13:27:00.000+10:002011-05-09T13:27:10.268+10:00My Grandmother's pearlsEach time I visit I start by signing my name and the time I arrive. I walk the corridors, deliberately breathing through my mouth, like I'm snorkelling, to minimise my exposure. The combined stink of urine, oversteamed vegetables and talcum powder still finds its way in. I take a left at the dining room where the door is wide enough for wheelchair access.
A recent refurb has turned the walls a Petahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05437225500214061296noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5739440292926937393.post-22557935690174199062011-03-20T22:28:00.000+11:002011-03-20T22:28:18.498+11:00Rubik's CubeLast year, while shopping for a birthday present, I suffered a moment of complete and utter distress. Cold fright, in fact. I was trying to find a gift for one of my parents.
I stood out front of where the games store used to be, only to find in its place, a shop that caters for all of your personal hair removal needs. A shot of panic ran through me and I went directly to the information standPetahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05437225500214061296noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5739440292926937393.post-73552982281638695162011-02-28T13:03:00.000+11:002011-02-28T13:03:18.523+11:00Shove overSometimes I get so busy I feel like I am running a booking hotline. When are you available? Three weeks time? One month? This Friday? Oh, I can't do drinks, I have a dinner. You can bring the kids. How about 7.00pm? But, we'll have to have breakfast because I'm out for lunch and then we have a wedding.
My diary has become an intricate interplay of different colored Lego blocks all linked and Petahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05437225500214061296noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5739440292926937393.post-40404555325518824512011-02-06T07:52:00.000+11:002011-02-06T07:52:34.172+11:00Any Other DayLast night I dreamed that I was dying. It was literally, my very last day on Earth. The strange and unexpected thing was, it was just the same as any other day.
We've been watching Six Feet Under. Relentlessly. If you are not familiar, this is a brilliant and critically acclaimed TV series about the Fishers, a dysfunctional family who runs a funeral home in Los Angeles. We have been watching atPetahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05437225500214061296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5739440292926937393.post-56138213255644103792011-01-17T16:16:00.000+11:002011-01-17T16:16:52.872+11:00The Friendship FruitThere is a little old man living next door to us. He and his wife are Greek and they have a lovely garden. He is always outside tending it and sometimes, when you look out our front door and over the fence you can see him standing on his stoop, pondering his patch of paradise, the corners of his mouth slightly upturned in quiet satisfaction.
This man's name is George and he is our favourite Petahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05437225500214061296noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5739440292926937393.post-47053088779993028192010-12-31T13:04:00.000+11:002010-12-31T13:04:34.600+11:00The Year of Parts & PiecesThe vacuum of time strikes again.
It sucked us through its straw last January, and we felt the slow pull of irresistible traction. As we passed the year's centre, there was a floating sensation as we were suspended in its vortex. Now we are being lifted and pushed out the other side, to land with a 'pop'...right here. Some of us on our feet and some on our asses.
Today, the final day of the Petahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05437225500214061296noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5739440292926937393.post-49303411756622313242010-12-12T16:51:00.000+11:002010-12-12T16:51:44.467+11:00Trojan horseThe year is almost at a close and it hardly seems the time to start something new. But that is what I've done. Timing is everything or so they say, yet time itself is more a mock structure for our lives that sets our expectations of what should be happening right now, and what comes next.
It's a new job. That's what I've started. The gates opened unexpectedly, and at first I was cynical. Not a Petahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05437225500214061296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5739440292926937393.post-35741589632352705662010-11-16T11:46:00.000+11:002010-11-16T11:46:56.227+11:00Inside the jarThe other night we went out, as you do, to catch up with some friends for a meal at a popular spot, one that didn't require a lot of um-ing and ah-ing. We'd been there before... we knew we'd get a good feed for a fair price. And it was true. What we didn't count on was the colorful and entertaining service.
One waiter in particular captured my attention. It was partly because he walked so very Petahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05437225500214061296noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5739440292926937393.post-8738826521172265402010-10-24T16:06:00.000+11:002010-10-24T16:06:15.812+11:00I summon the GenieRome was built from the ruins, I thought, as I climbed out of my pit of despair. Phew, that was exhausting. I sat, perched on the edge of the hole I had dug for myself, legs dangling, perspiration pouring, dirt smeared across my cheeks. I looked down and then up. I looked for a sign.
Instead, this week, I received a series of revelations. So, in no particular order I am going to share them withPetahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05437225500214061296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5739440292926937393.post-48863864254033498452010-10-10T10:13:00.000+11:002010-10-10T10:13:56.659+11:00Bend it like BenderI am sitting outside in the sun, writing what is my first post this month. Since you last heard from me, I have become one of “those people” you see in cafes tapping at their laptop. Today, the sun has drawn me out, crab from shell, and encouraged to send some unsolicited words out into cyberspace. Have I been lazy? Possibly. Distracted? Definitely. Perhaps I was hibernating, like a brown bear. Petahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05437225500214061296noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5739440292926937393.post-91251417970639999132010-09-15T09:53:00.000+10:002010-09-15T09:53:32.523+10:00An Ode to My GutFor when I am doubled in doubt
Fighting on the fear frontier
With reason lost or unfounded
I will read this again, to remind myself.
I will place my hands atop my belly
And close my eyes to see
If I can reach into the dark
To pluck with precision,
The Answer.
The Way,
and the Truth.
It will be there, alright.
Buzzing around others, from a land Before
That have served their purpose
And havePetahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05437225500214061296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5739440292926937393.post-16554625509701764032010-08-30T19:20:00.004+10:002010-08-30T19:27:10.740+10:00My coffee shop, the OracleI recently set out to challenge myself, to write something other than a post for this blog, a communication strategy or a copywriting job. Set a goal, people encouraged me. Writer folk espouse that competitions can provide the necessary impetus, setting a deadline for you without compromise, a looming date whereby a piece of work must be polished, printed, proofed and posted.
I am used to Petahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05437225500214061296noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5739440292926937393.post-52287392023052912272010-08-11T11:01:00.001+10:002010-08-12T17:20:44.293+10:00Freedom is everywhereMelbourne is such an outstanding place to live for so many reasons. Coffee is the unequivocal, first and foremost reason. I am not sure why people in other states don’t know how to make it, but they just don’t. It’s like all of the baristas that were any good at distilling and frothing a decent brew have somehow found their way here.
Food, and I refer to both the standard and the variety, comesPetahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05437225500214061296noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5739440292926937393.post-7746999311474258342010-07-27T13:37:00.002+10:002010-07-27T14:10:16.777+10:00The Earthquake insideRecently, I made a change. A decision. In fact, 'made' might be a little bit strong. But according to one of my closest friends, who applauded my choices or fate, as it were, I can be proud because "I really owned it". Other people would have just stayed put, treading water, walking in circles, she said.
So, I am now the proud owner of 'it', whatever 'it' is. Well done, me. I think.
It Petahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05437225500214061296noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5739440292926937393.post-90656252191340250362010-07-04T20:47:00.021+10:002010-07-11T09:09:57.719+10:00Separate your whitesLast weekend, I went to the laundromat. We don't have a dryer, you see. So, I took my damp towels and bed sheets, I put them in the boot of my car and drove them about ten minutes from my house to the nearby laundromat with the best parking. I never had cause to visit a laundromat until I left home, at the ripe age of seventeen. After my initial move "out" to board with a friend, I moved again, Petahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05437225500214061296noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5739440292926937393.post-90178370379307797062010-06-21T09:31:00.005+10:002010-06-21T10:39:09.184+10:00The Winter Soul-sticeOn the shortest day of the year I deliver what might be my shortest blog. The solstice occurs when the sun is the greatest distance from the equator. Twice a year, this is the case. The other time, the day is much longer.My soul hibernates now. It has crawled deep inside its shell, my body, to hide away from this harsh and bitter cold. Today, marks the central point on the annum's road between Petahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05437225500214061296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5739440292926937393.post-4311619146333636782010-06-07T11:16:00.010+10:002010-06-07T17:47:11.768+10:00The Red of HeartsLife is choc full of choices. At every turn, there is something new to decide. What to eat for breakfast. What to wear to work. Shall we eat out? Is it time to for a career break? When will we have children? Where to invest? The list goes on. Making life's choices, small and large, can feel like a gamble. A game.Black or red, first choice. Then there are choices within and beneath that choice - Petahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05437225500214061296noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5739440292926937393.post-52436123806697329732010-05-23T22:02:00.013+10:002010-05-24T23:26:12.527+10:00Paradise Lost and FoundThe word 'honeymoon' is a funny one and I wonder where it originates, so I hunt around. Apparently, a long time ago in a land far, far away (called Scandinavia), when it was still okay to kidnap a wife of your liking, newlyweds would drink a daily cup of honey flavored wine called mead. 'Moon' referred to the cyclic nature of our skies and therefore, the first full month of marriage when this Petahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05437225500214061296noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5739440292926937393.post-18322719128373577862010-05-10T13:42:00.004+10:002010-05-10T18:26:48.107+10:00I'm with himMany people have expressed surprise that I will change my surname now that I'm married, although my pen name remains in tact. I suspect that the jaw-dropping is because most people perceive me to be an independent type of person, perhaps even defiantly so at times. To me, a surname is just a symbolic inference. It used to say, "I'm with them". Now it says, "I'm with him". The key to it is, I'm Petahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05437225500214061296noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5739440292926937393.post-78688689935110746102010-05-10T11:13:00.002+10:002010-05-10T12:00:11.668+10:00Words to Wed ByI feel like I've been spun around twice (really fast) and now I find myself back in the chair, married and 'honeymooned' already, with lots to report. First and foremost, I will respond to numerous requests for my wedding speech to be posted. For those of you that I was unable to invite to the nuptials, my husband and I shared the thank you's at our reception, so those that appear to be missing Petahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05437225500214061296noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5739440292926937393.post-31487103706137700012010-04-11T16:44:00.008+10:002010-04-11T18:48:33.038+10:00Karma ChameleonThe world is ever-changing and the corporate world, as I was reminded this week, can be especially harsh and volatile. The chameleon called change is unavoidably everywhere.It has the literal perpetuity of a merry-go-round. Each time you get on, you find yourself a horse. You might choose it because you like the colors or the fact that it bears its teeth. Maybe its seat looks newer than the otherPetahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05437225500214061296noreply@blogger.com2