Tuning Out

Libra---You may feel as if you are running against your own inner tide a bit today so be certain not to push yourself too hard. It is really a day for you to slow the pace of life down and find personal space to be alone, meditate and relax... ASTROZONE

I went away to Stephs on the weekend. Stayed in a cabin overlooking gum trees, a creek, some really fluffy looking cows, another cabin… All green (apart from the black and white Galloways). Finally my neck and shoulder muscles have begun to unravel.

The birds are just as chattery there as here by the beach although at least in the country I can name one or two. Imagine being a bird, “We’re having a little get together - in that circle of trees above the Galloways. Kookaburra? Do we have to invite her? She’s always sooo loud at parties…”

Three of the Other Ten

1. I’m obsessed with paper. I can remember going for early morning walks to the newsagent with my Dad – I’m still a bit of a paper shop groupy now. Having a notebook in my bag can be more important to me than food. I don’t think it’s such a crazy thing – some women have a passion for shoes or feel naked without lipstick.

We went to the Chooka’s exhibition last month for the kids’ benefit of course – well actually I saw the advertisement for Giant Origami and thought 'I' have to be there. I did learn that folding huge pieces of paper takes a long time. We went for an icecream/latte break during one of the projects (this elephant I think) and still made it for the finale.

2. I get straight-eyebrow-looks from people because I like to state the obvious. For example:

When my next door neighbour cut his house in half and moved it to another property, so I had to make a ‘moving house’ joke. I suppose a lot of people had been doing that.

Or when my girlfriend dated this weatherman.

My kids just shake their heads and smile as though they’re envisaging the nursing home they’ll be finding for me one day. The fact is that simple things make me laugh. Give me a bag of jelly ears and I’m in pun paradise. Or a jar of thyme - oooh - it’s like a disease…

3. My kids are generally people pleasers – I brought them up that way. It was the way I was brought up – put yourself aside and make sure the other person is happy at an often ridiculous cost. Life has changed a lot between Gen X and Y I notice that both my children will jump through hoops to please you but not if it prejudices their dignity. This I guess, is evolution.

Ratings

I passed an elderly woman sitting on a bench outside her flat (I'm guessing), today. She was beaming like a little girl with news.

'Lovely day, isn't it?' I said.

'Mmm.' she said, 'Hope it rains soon.'

'It might.'

'I hope so.' Her hands clasped together, her eyes twinkled. If she could have dangled her legs under the seat, I'm sure she would have.

Happiness IS a state of mind and this woman is proof to me that age is just as flexible.

Having spent a fair bit of time around elderly folk, I wonder whether the lady said that because she anticipated watching me and my groceries getting drenched further down the road. If so, good for her - nothing like having the imagination to crack yourself up.

I rated my life the other day.

This Is My Life, Rated
Life:	6.3
Mind:	7.3
Body:	8.4
Spirit:	8.3
Friends/Family:	6.5
Love:	0
Finance:	6.6
Take the Rate My Life Quiz

You've got to try this out. When I was a kid, I used to fill out these things to achieve the best results. No fear of that having happened here! So I'm a grown up now, maybe.

Gravity

There was a piece of cotton stuck in my eye on Monday morning. Somewhere, a tiny fairy is cursing about where all their odd socks get to. Now we know.

Anyway, that, together with a massive hayfever attack, resulted in my waking up looking like none other than Satan’s Auntie. It was a really scary look although Mip didn’t seem too fussed which is a worry. It was very unfortunate. Poor me.

The doctor told me the conjunctiva (how grose does that sound) that had gathered around my eyeballs had also migrated under my eyes into hand luggage sized bags sitting on my cheekbones, because of what???!!! Gravity.

Bloody Gravity! Now, I’ve heard it all. It’s one thing to accept there is a reason why last year’s clothes look so different this year. It’s even fair to accept it when the labels in your underwear drawer use the word ‘support’ more often than a construction site manual. But when your face starts sliding off your skull, it’s time to do something about it, man.

So that’s it. I’m getting the carrots and celery into that juicer and dusting those Tai Chi videos I promised myself I’d practice religiously a hundred years ago. Gravity, my arse (well actually… that’s another thing…)

Maybe if I lived like a vampire and hung upside down at night, I might beat gravity. Hell, they do it with roses while they’re drying out. Hmm, now there’s yet another issue…

10 of 20 things that make you go hmmm

I’ve been tagged by none other than Sugar n Spice of The Missing Ingredient. Bless you my child, I do love a chance to talk about myself. Due to circumstances mentioned in point seven, here are the first ten…

1. I have learned that you shouldn’t wear water resistant watches in the bath as they are as water proof as wearing a raincoat in the ocean.

2. I think we’re all made out of the same stuff. So all our victories are shared and are to our collective credit and we should take collective responsibility for individual failure with exception of the odd idiot who wears his new water resistant watch in the bath and gets narky when it stops working.

3. A decade ago, I painted a mural in one of the therapy rooms of a health care centre. One of the new counsellors saw it and declared the artist was schizophrenic. Bloody cheek.

4. My culture disposes me to live in a cluttered environment but my psyche demands I keep life simple so I live in a revolving cycle of building and clearing.

5. I must be a vegemite purist – I don’t like that cheese and vegemite thing – it’s vegemite OR cheese. Just like peanut butter and margarine. What are people thinking with these combinations?

6. My mother taught me it was cheap to look and act like everyone else so I ‘rebelled’, and tried to blend in with some of the worst and best crowds. I learned a lot about people and what they expect from other people. Now I do my best not to judge my kids decisions too much.

7. When you live in the moment, some stuff just doesn’t get finished. Some people bag me over that. There is never enough time in the day for me but I think that’s a good thing. I get frustrated with people who get ‘bored’ because I can’t understand a world without a million projects to work on. It doesn’t bother me that most of my projects are unfinished. It’s the process that excites me.

8. Having said that, there are a few projects that I would like to finish this year, for example that Tasmanian seascape I started in 1998.

9. My children have been my greatest teachers.

10. Unlike some, I don’t hate my alarm clock. In fact, I have four set at three different times. Some time management resources don’t cost an arm and a leg you know.