Leaving his mark

I find it interesting what a mark this image made. For those overseas, this was written all over the footpaths of Sydney in 1930s more than half a million times, by a man named Arthur Stace. It is indeed iconic for us, and Remo made a very popular Eternity shirt in the 1980s.

Back in 2015 it was appearing in chalk again for some reason.

So while it wasn't what he was meaning, his action seems like it might last for Eternity.

Linking with #MuralMondays

A change for the better...

Twice in Japan, in different areas, I've stumbled across these vending machines. They are adorned with fire fighters and fire trucks so you can't miss them.

Part of the proceeds are given to a fund to support widows and children of the fire fighters who lost their lives at work.

How simple, yet affective. Like myself on a hot night, people buy water or drinks. Why not have part of that go and do good in the world?

I want to investigate how to do that here, as we only recently (Nov 2025) expanded the list of cancers covered for fire fighters, even thought those very cancers were more than likely caused by fire fighting chemicals. 

Or a different charity. Any charity. We could have many different kinds. Women's Shelters, Smith Family, Wayside  - whatever! A $1 from every sale. Slowly the world changes a little.

As I saw in Cambodia, tourism and consumer spending can directly help those in need. And for the consumer, nothing changes. 

The world doesn't get better by chance, it gets better by change. Let's be that change!

(Note, I'm paraphrasing a quote by Jim Rohn)

Self Indulgence: Positive or negative?

I was listening to a book on grief and it had a chapter titled Self Indulgence - I was expecting a lecture on not wallowing but it was literally 'indulge yourself' - eat the cake, have the bath, laze about - give yourself permission to do whatever makes you feel good. More what we refer to as self care these days.

I realised that is actually what Self Indulgence means but somewhere along the way, we turned it into a negative. A bit of googling discovered the dictionary description of 'the act of allowing yourself to have or do anything that you enjoy' (Cambridge Dictionary) It is literally a positive, however, what we default to in our meaning is excessive self indulgence, or mindless self indulgence where our gratification comes at the cost of damage to others or ourselves. We default to a negative view of what that 'anything' might be, when for most of us, it's pretty harmless. Or is the 'anything' for a lot of people self destructive and hurtful to others.

I can't find why or when this happened. 

It reminds me of the day it was pointed out in someone's blog that mental health was not a negative. We all had mental health, either good or bad. It was the same as health. We do things that are good for our health and bad for our health every single day.

But this shame and negativity attached to self indulgence seem a really nasty frame for pleasure. I wonder if it goes back to medieval time where people worked to the bone while the wealthy lords frolicked around?  Why are we as humans so judgmental on other people's happiness these days? Why are we so judgemental on our own actions that make us happy? If we eat the cake? If we take the day off chores? There's an internal feeling of being naughty.

Anyway, I had plenty of self indulgence this week - the joys of a Moomin Bath bomb, a wild orange sunrise lighting the room, relaxing with a face mask and a morning walk with my friend. The only excess was the cost of the bath bomb, but it was Moomin and it made me so happy so I did indulge.

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August Reading

It's been a turbulent month for me, and while I've read a few chapters of the Ariel Gore I'm rereading, I've only read a comic start to finish.

I have listened to a lot of audio books, an indication of how much time in the car I've spent.

I saw an ad for this book on FB, and thought I'd check it out. I ended up listening to all three in the series. They are currently free on Audible for a limited time. It is the memoir of a man with a mother who was a hippy. A full blown hippy. As a mum, I was pretty shocked at the age she let her kids take drugs, at the attitude towards the sexualisation of her kids and the fact she could just dump them to fend for themselves as minors.  While I am guessing these books come as a result of much therapy, I found it frustrating he could forgive her. I was furious on his behalf. Perhaps the fault is in me, not him, and I should say all power to him but I found his mother completely narcissistic and frankly awful. And yet she was never held accountable by any of the children. It was heartbreaking. So if you feel you fail as a parent, like I did by having to go and look after my mum in the middle of my kid's exams, know that there is someone so much worse than you....if you like memoirs, you won't be bored. It's one incredible thing after another. 

This was selected for the online blogger book club, I always like to read the book so that I get more from their podcast when I listen to it. (look here for other titles they've discussed). I had heard of Jerome K. Jerome but never read his work. I thought it was hilarious. I loved the opening hypochondria (and know only too well what diseases you think you have if you jump on Dr Google...HA!). I found it amusing from start to finish. It's short and an easy read. A little touching towards the end, but for the most part, nutty and fun. I thought this was an excellent pick, as I really enjoyed the silliness of it and would never have read it without being prompted. Have a short story of his lined up next....

While looking for the Jerome K. Jerome title, I stumbled across this comic. His name is from the bumbling style of J.K.J and Bloch is from Psycho. I guess because of murder? Anyway, it's sweet - he's like Tintin but less competent and stumbles through solving mysteries with luck rather than great skill. I will read the others on Hoopla, but won't seek them out to buy  - they aren't the greatest comic you ever read but they're a bit of fun. You can read them (not listen) though the hoopla app. Took about 50 minutes so perfect if waiting for a kids activity to finish.

This was in Borrowbox and I thought it looked interesting - it's short, only about 2 hours. It has Australian support group contacts and numbers. It covers not just mourning a death, but natural disasters, suicide and supporting children through death. I thought it was very practical and had some interesting ideas. It's a low investment (timewise and free through your library with access to Borrowbox) so worth checking out.

Two things I learnt:

The shock of bereavement affects the pituitary gland so you physically become immunosuppressed in grief. However, shedding tears of grief actually help as these tears contain healing and sedating properties…

and

Apparently 10 mins of sunshine on your eye lids can stop sadness turning to depression (in grief, not dismissing actual depression risk factors).

Short this month but hopefully back to normal with some actual page turning next time!

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Daffodil season

Late Winter, early Spring means you'll start seeing these lovely flowers popping up in the streets of Sydney. This was in the verge garden on my dog walk. It made me smile.

Coincidently, my husband was at a funeral at the same time where they were given a single daffodil in remembrance of their friend who died of cancer.

The cancer council is shy of their Daffodil Day fund raiser so you can still donate here if interested.

It's definitely daffodil season here, one way or another.

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The Little Things - August

It's been a very quiet month for me, though incredible busy, looking after my sick mother so being absent from my life and home, and the kiddo's exams and 18th, so let's see how we go answering these questions...my Insta, instead of being 3 photos, is barely one!

READ While at the hospital, I read this sign. I feel this is not a well known enough fact, and I feel something needs to be done. That's heading towards 5% of the total population (so I guess close to 10% of the male population). You can find out more here. I will be honest this is something I've never thought about, but thought it really needed to be shared, if those numbers are correct. This is not something that needs to even be an issue for those affected to think about. It's an easy fix.

One of the kids is off to a party that involves dressing up and watching The Rocky Horror Picture Show at the cinema before kicking on. I LOVED this movie as a teen (and Shock Treatment). I used to go and watch it all the time at that kooky little cinema on George Street - people threw confetti and toast at the right times and yelled things out at other times. I've had this 1979 book since the early 80's and loved it. A friend and I even wrote a parody called Stony Terror. It is apparently the birthday person's favourite film, so I am giving my beloved book to her as part of the gift, which was a little hard to tell you the truth but it's just been sitting in a box in the roof for decades....so better it receive some love again. I did have fun flicking through the pages though. As I write this, the news flashed up on my phone that Tim Curry passed away, so that's a little sad. He always seemed so positive after such a terrible last decade with his health. Vale.

WATCHED We saw 2 comedians this month - Bobby Lee and Kitty Flanagan for much needed laughs. It was interesting to see 2 comedians more or less the same age but playing to different audience. Bobby Lee's was predominately 20-30 year olds and Kitty's was middle aged and up. Both funny but it was interesting that Kitty's audience aged with her, and Bobby found new markets. I was at Kitty's first gig at the Harold Park Hotel when they did comedy nights and she was as funny then as she is now. I discovered Bobby Lee when breast feeding one on the babies in the middle of the night on MADTV about 25 years ago, so I was surprised when they did the audience cheer by age and there were hardly anyone in the 50's and 60's. I said to a friend 'he must do a podcast now or something' and they looked at me like I was a nut and said 'Why did you go? How do you even know him if you didn't know that?'

Kitty talked about Pollyanna and I remember this from the Little Golden Book version and the telling in the Childcraft series - I don't remember the Glad Game so much but the excitement of the rainbows on the wall - and I only just now wonder if that's why I get so excited by them?

HEARD At FODI I heard Michael Pembroke speak. He raised the advice that we should get our news from more than one source - Overseas sources, so we hear different points of views on the telling of the story. He pointed out that the West is just 12% of the countries in the world, and the other 88% view the world differently (or we think differently to them). So the spin on the news we get differs. I started doing this about 8 years ago. Having always tried to read local newspapers when I travel, I've found it interesting to see countries and cities from a more local mindset. I get the news from Singapore and Malta, two random and more cheery views on the world. Obviously anything in English would have a Western bent, though it's fascinating to see the different reactions to news. He is very smart, and I will read one of his books as he's quite prolific in non fiction, global politics, war and history. I just wish he'd been able to speak more at the talk, it got rather side tracked which was a little disappointing.

MADE it to the fabulous Lottie before it shut. Will be sad not to eat their fabulous food ever again! Alas only made it to one dance class and one morning walk with my friend due to having to stay up at Mum's to look after here. Hoping this weekend gets both happening. I did catch up on steps by walking to FODI both days, walking to the comedy shows and trying to sneak in extra steps when I could.

WORE myself out driving for hours each day and not sleeping with stress. So I'll share this design from the Enmore Tafe school of Design - on display underneath Central, heading to the Goods line.

MY TOP THREE MOMENTS FROM THE MONTH GONE BY The is good news on the dog front, she is improving on the medicine and we wait to see about the operation. Mum is a little better but not out of the woods just yet. So I guess those are the top moments, but for activities, I had a wonderful time at darts (Flight Club) with friends. It was such a great afternoon and I could have played for much longer. Keen to take the fam there now that everyone is 18! A great time with friends at Sing it! and a last mad dance to ELINA at Lazy Thinking before it closed.

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Share Four Something - August

Linking with #SundayBest

 Something I loved  It's been a really quite month as my mum was sick so I had to cancel a few things - fortunately, as there were the exams, I hadn't booked as much as normal. So after a rough an lonely few weeks, it was great to get out and sing 90's songs with friends (and dance!) at Sing it!. If you haven't been and you like to sing, definitely get yourself to a show. It's so much fun!     

Also good to get to a couple of comedians - Bobby Lee and Kitty Flanagan. Nothing makes you feel better than laughing AND thinking! Kitty raised an issue that I raised with friends after a talk at FODI on the weekend. I can't stop thinking about it. So more on that to come in a post....

At the Festival of Dangerous Ideas, you could dig through a HEAP of dirt for 5 minutes (timed) looking for art works. I was surprised that it was deeply satisfying and pleasant to feel the dirt under your bare feet (obviously something I don't do enough of) and while it was a test in patience - I said to my friend 'I won't be able to do this for 5 minutes!' I was genuinely surprised when we were called off the heap because our time was up...so it was in fact a very zen exercise.

Something that sustained me I spent the weekend at Festival of Dangerous Ideas and went to about 9 talks over 2 days. There was so much to think about and I learnt a lot, and it was great to discuss it all with friends over a lovely lunch on the last day, and in the breaks between talks if we had them. One of the best ones was Enshittification and you can listen to it here ($17). It's well worth it, in my opinion. There are plenty of other talks from past years on demand here. One thing that came up in the session on Bad Education is that in Australia, education is transactional. It's for a job or for marks - it's not about learning and the love of learning and what feeding interests can do for you (shame on Morrison for what he did to the Humanities). I realised that's what everyone in the FODI audience was doing. We were learning, we were thinking about points of view we may or may not agree with, we were nourishing our souls and exercising our minds and feeling invigorated by learning. I think it's really sad what we are becoming. And you just have to go on Twitter to realise how many people don't understand how elections work (regarding preferences) or how Super is paid. It's extraordinary. So we have lost something in the last 40 years with our decline in education and more importantly, not valuing education, and that's very sad to see. If you have never been to FODI, I suggest you go to at least one talk next year. It's by far my favourite talk festival of the year.

Something I'm carrying forward from this month to the next As I mentioned in this post, my youngest is now 18, so I am finding the balance of parenting an adult, but also dealing with a school kid, who has school obligations. It's a tricky line to tread....you have to find the balance of adult independence but also remind them to study, to get enough sleep, to be doing all the things required for school in the last months...and not damage our relationship in the process by over parenting, but not damage their options by under parenting.... 

Something I'm making space for Grip strengthening and arm weights, plus some neuro-exercises. They're just off the internet so who knows if they do anything, but I'm working on the theory that they don't hurt (if they're the right ones). This is because I read that poor grip strength is linked to cognitive decline. I don't know if it's true (there are a lot of medical articles so I'm guessing it is) and I guess it makes sense that if those neural pathways weaken, those weaker connections show in a physical way, But whether you can correct them in reverse, strengthening the physically to strengthen the mental, who knows? (Sorry to leave you on that cheery note). The John Olson painting looked like a neuron to me, in case you were wondering why I included it...ha!

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