In my humble opinion - Life - Observations

In my humble opinion

June 26, 2023

Real honest opinions about what to hit and what to miss: TV, Movies, and Books.

Have anyone else’s favourite shows all ended in the last couple of weeks? Succession, Ted Lasso, Vanderpump Rules – don’t judge me, I only started watching it for #scandoval. If you don’t know what that means, that’s honestly nothing to be ashamed of. I got into Succession late and binge-watched it when I was stuck in bed for a week. I was as gripped by the final season as everyone else. Am I the only person who thinks the kids are better off without Waystar?

Here are a few shows and books I’ve enjoyed lately and one to miss.

Hit: Platonic (Apple TV)

Starring Rose Byrne and Seth Rogan as two forty-something friends who reconnect after their lives took different paths. This show is low on complication but high on the laughs. As someone who has had many male platonic friends over the years, many of whom I would often have drunken outings with, a slew of in-jokes, and generally hanging around making fun of other people we knew. This show is very accurate of such debauchery. Although I’ve never accidentally snorted a horse tranquilizer (not that I know of). Sounds juvenile, and it is, and I love it. 5 stars.

Hit: The Pharmacist (Netflix)

A four-part Netflix series, easily binged in one night. Documentary exploring the opioid crisis of the early 2000s (to now) in lower-middle-class America. One man against the system. Following the death of his son when he is shot in a drug deal gone wrong, a pharmacist sets out to solve the murder and prosecute the murderer after the police fail to act. Once solved, he then turns his attention to the opiate problem and doctors working in ‘pill mills’. Really enjoyed the “if nobody else will fix it, I will” mentality and the lengths he went to to make a difference in his community. 4.5 stars.

Hit: Before the coffee gets cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi (novel)

I saw this novel everywhere online about a year ago, but when I went to buy it I read the back of the book and didn’t like the idea of it:

“It tells of a café in Tokyo that allows its customers to travel back in time, as long as they return before their coffee gets cold”

Time Travel. Weird. See also: not my thing. BUT WAIT. This is a beautifully written book, offering 4 short stories of kindness and love all intertwined and set within a small old Japanese coffee shop. It’s a short book, with short stories meaning you can read just a snippet a day. I borrowed it from the library. Worth a read. 4.5 stars.

Miss: The Triangle of Sadness (movie, Binge)
I did not love this. I did not even like this. But did I watch the whole movie, whilst thinking about how terrible it was? Yes. The mega-rich (and the quite obnoxious) go on an uber-rich luxury cruise and treat those ‘below’ them terribly. The only scene I enjoyed was watching an influencer and her male model boyfriend fight over who was paying for dinner. 0.5 stars.

Life - Observations

Happy Belated International Women’s Day

March 10, 2021

Women could rule the world. Women should rule the world. Women will hopefully rule the world before the end of my lifetime, but maybe not. Even an equal share in the leadership and the same pay would be a start.

The last few weeks I’ve been a little despondent about whether a change will actually occur, whether the glass ceiling is actually made of glass or whether it’s made of boiling hot lava. There is no doubt that women have come a long way, but it is no longer about just having rights and it’s now about being treated with respect as a fellow human being. This doesn’t seem to be happening in our country and it is demoralising to see that even our own government doesn’t care about it.

I thought today I would share some stories from my own career, a career that until the last few years has been in male-dominated industries, and you would like to think this kind of thing doesn’t happen but it did, up until recently, to me. I am so lucky that I get to work where I work now, where nothing even remotely like this has happened.

I was told to keep my legs together and not get pregnant as my boss didn’t want to pay for me to sit at home doing ‘nothing’.
I was made to work more hours/days per week than my male counterparts to ‘prove my worth’.
When I didn’t agree with a course of action, I was asked if it was because I had my period. Stating, “my wife gets cranky when she has hers, so I thought you had yours as well”.
I bent down to tie my shoelace and when I looked up the person I was walking with had taken out his penis and was dangling it in front of my face, with a lovely “while you’re down there…..” comment.
I was called a ‘skinny cow’ in front of a room full of men who all laughed at the joke and when I got upset told me to ‘lighten up’.
I was harassed relentlessly to tell the details to a group of much older men on how I lost my virginity.
I was told to “wear a short skirt and heels” to a job interview.
A colleague who I was asking to help me with something told me I could pay with my “hairy cheque book”.
I got offered money for sex. “Can’t you just pretend you don’t know me and I could pay you”.
I got called a “stupid fucking bitch” by a male supervisor in front of the site manager by a colleague, my HR complaint was dismissed.

Australia has a long way to go. Especially if you are a woman.

Life - Observations

The only time I need a man

December 10, 2020

I use the term “need” very loosely. I’ve never really felt bad about not having a husband/boyfriend/significant other in my life, I don’t feel as though I’ve missed out by not being married. However, that all changed for a small 10-minute window the other evening as a GIANT HAIRY RAMBO HUNTSMAN decided to make my bedroom his own.

I saw Rambo Huntsman downstairs in my living room about a week ago. We were peacefully cohabiting the space together, as long as he stayed on his side and I stayed on mine. We could keep eyeballing each other, from a safe distance. Later, lying in bed, I realised I was being watched. He had decided that my bedroom was now his space and I was having none of it. I grabbed a spatula from the kitchen, an empty bowl and some cardboard and tried to move him back outside where he belongs. Even though he ran UP MY ARM, I still tried to preserve his life. Gently placed him outside and closed the door.

Next minute he has squeezed himself in through the gap between the two sliding glass doors and races. Races. Warp speed, to go back upstairs. I had no choice. This dude had zero respect for my boundaries and we could not live in peace with each other any longer. With the insect spray in hand, I sprayed him until he turned white. This just egged him on even further. He didn’t even slow down on his continuing mission to get into my bedroom. I had to hit him with the thong (for USA readers and others: thong = flip flop). It was my only option. I feel bad but I can’t help his stubbornness and bad decision-making skills.

If I had a husband I would assume that he would have just taken care of it. Big assumption. But I do assume that must be what it’s like to be married, nonetheless. The husband deals with the insects. And garbage. And pipework sewerage stuff. I know old fashioned blah blah patriarchy blah, independent woman blah. But, the way I see it the husband would do everything I don’t want to. Can you tell I’ve never been married?

So, that’s what I’ve been up to lately. As well as pondering whether the spider is not he but is actually a she? Does she have a family she was trying to provide for? Has she laid eggs in my bed/ear while I sleep? Do I need to burn just my house down or the entire neighbourhood?

Anxiety - Life - Observations

The earth just keeps turning, doesn’t it?

October 15, 2020

Sorry everyone – I’ve lost my writing mojo lately. Turns out working full time, doing a couple of uni subjects also having a bout of terrible anxiety makes me a very tired and worn out gal.

Not sure why the anxiety has been bad, maybe a mix of a few things, spending 99.9% of my time at home alone, combined with a dose of general doom and gloom, extinctions, elections, covid, general humanity loss got a little overwhelming for me and I thought I was dying again. I am actually super proud of myself that I have bounced out of it so quickly. Heavily medicated but feeling 99% back to my normal self. That counts doesn’t it?

The trouble with vomiting, can’t sit still, pacing around the house, can’t leave the toilet anxiety is that it makes getting anything done….well difficult. A 4-page uni assignment took 5 days. 5 days! That’s about 4 days too long. I wasn’t even overly happy with it. Should pass but hardly going to win any Nobel prizes for it.

Do you know what else I did for the first time in a long time…….? I went on a date. With an actual living breathing other human being. I know it’s hard to believe. That anyone would want to spend time with me is absolutely astonishing, and overwhelming. I told everyone at work and keyed them up with a “quick one of your products is being recalled” message to get me out of it half-way through, but I actually got through to the end. He wasn’t for me, and I wasn’t for him but ….. A date!

I have gone on some nice hikes lately to clear my head and get out of the house. This picture was taken at Blackheath…..no filter…..seriously! Look at that late afternoon light! Yes, I am old now and say things like Look at the light! Also, this was taken about 2.5 seconds before I told an approx 8-year-old to mind his own business.

I purchased a new diary, all shiny and new for a new year – one befitting of how I have been feeling lately – mental health wise. I think it suits me.

Instalove - Life - Observations

Things I will never understand

September 3, 2020

There are so many things I don’t understand.

Do you often find yourself watching or reading the news or doing something in life where you use the term “What the f*ck?”. Like what the actual f*ck. There are so many times each day, each week, each month…..where I just don’t get it.

Here’s my current list (in no particular order):

Why do stupid people become so successful? Case in point: Donald Trump.
On the flip side, why do smart people do stupid things?
Why is the economy more important than the environment? Nearly 3 billion animals were lost in Australia’s recent bushfires, so let’s destroy some of their remaining habitat where there are some known colonies of Koala’s and build some overpriced McMansions. You can help here.
Why were there millions of jobs throughout the world that required us all to go into an office every day, sit in traffic for hours, that are now magically able to be done remotely with the same output ….
If someone can tell me how to plot/interpret this diagram I would be much appreciative;

Adiabatic lapse rates, aerological diagrams and just generally using this graph paper are not my friend.

Why we work a ratio of 5 days work to 2 days on – it seems really crazy to me. Why does working rule our lives so much.
Why school hours don’t match up to working hours.
Why I can’t wear smart casual attire to work in the office. I’m not talking trackie daks and thongs, I’m talking black jeans, trainers and a cool shirt. I don’t produce work to a higher standard or work harder or more productively because I am wearing a business suit and heels.
Why people believe “Influencers” over actual scientific fact. All those people who promote health, wellbeing and natural lifestyle all while having fillers and implants. Photoshopped instaposts #blessed with captions like: “Today is the day to start your dreams” or “Wherever you find yourself there you are…use “influencer 10” for a 10% discount off incontinence pads”. Note: If anyone online says “You’ve all been asking what I’m wearing…..” you can ABSOLUTELY GUARANTEE that NOBODY has asked them.

My attempt at influencing has earned me ZERO dollars and ZERO respect

Why is bottled water so popular? It’s free from the tap and perfectly safe in Australia.
How people can abuse animals, or children? Some adults… I get.
Why mental health inpatients are given the same treatment as recovering drug addicts? I’m anxious and depressed, not coming off meth or opioids.
Why people stand up as soon as the plane lands (mostly middle-aged man-babies, I wrote about it here). In the same way, why people jump up to go to the toilet as soon as the ‘fasten seatbelt’ sign is off.
Why can’t I sleep at night?
How the trees magically know it’s spring time.
Why – when it’s summer I can’t wait for winter and in winter I can’t wait for summer.

That’s a good little list for starters. Got anything you want to add to my list?

Anxiety - Life - Observations - Student Life - The Hike Life

Can we keep it like this?

May 27, 2020

Oh how I’ve miss this. My writing, my little corner of cyberspace that helps me to quieten the noise.

I have been writing, though mostly emails and assignments. I forgot how much time it takes to be a student. But I am loving the learning, the lectures, tutorials, practicals even the assignments, but after many many hours at the screen, I don’t have the energy to bash out a blog post.

I don’t want to just ‘bash’ out some content to keep the blog ticking over, this space will never be filled with what is not authentic. It will always be my voice, my content, what is circling my head. I have tried over the years to add in bits and pieces that I thought I should write, as a good blogger, a range of pieces to spark the interest of different audiences. But really I write this for me and if you enjoy it too, then that just makes me love you even more. Apart from the odd “I could live here” which will nearly always be a cabin or modern home in the middle of a forest because that is exactly where I want to live.

I actually have written a fair bit lately, just in my head when I have been out hiking. Now that the restrictions are starting to ease, the first thing (when my exams are over) I want to do is go out on an overnight hike. Just pack up my backpack and go. Doesn’t even have to be that far. Maybe the Blue Mountains. Like I haven’t spent enough time alone. I will just stay alone, not in my house, somewhere else.

I like being alone. It has never ever bothered me. Especially when I felt out of control or anxious or sad, I like connection but I don’t want to know how out of control I am. Confused? Try being inside my head.

I only like my people. As they say on Runway “You are either in or you are out” most people I meet can probably just assume they are on the out. You’ll know if you are in. If you are reading this then you are absolutely ‘in’.

On September 12 last year, I took a mental health day work (and you know I was honest with work about it all and they were great about it) and I went for a long hike alone, with nothing but me, myself and my hateful thoughts about myself, in the rain, after 15km and 10 minutes beating a very expensive hiking pole against a rock while yelling at myself “why do I fucking suck at life so badly” until the rock won, I felt better. A lot better. Back to normal better.

I don’t want to go back to ‘normal’, if that means shopping and spending and 50 hour weeks, and sitting in traffic and flying to another city for a ‘meeting’, queues and lines, checking out, checking in, the rat race, glorifying busy…..

Personally I have LOVED the slower pace, the genuine connection, the efficiency, the focus and the benefits to my own mental health. Can we keep it like this?

Category Archives: Observations