Essentials packed and it was off to Melbourne!

Joe/Frank, Don and I flew down at lunch, as she had to work Bessie followed this evening.

We went to an excellent gyoza bar for a very late lunch, grabbed some  supplies for tomorrow’s breakfast and hung about watching AFL programmes on television (a rare treat – we don’t get wall-to-wall footy in Sydney) until dinner.

It’s really quite chilly here and I wish I had brought trakkie pants. As it is, I am snuggled under all the blankets in the apartment.

Brrrrrrrrr.

such a lovely clear spring evening – if a little freezing!

I’m in the middle of two four day work weeks in a row (exciting!). Even better – I’ve had three four day weeks from the last four.

Sadly this cannot last and it will be pretty much solidly slaving until the Christmas holidays – maybe I’ll grab an extra week there on top of the public holidays and mandatory SML shut down – this might ease the pain a little. 

So, October. I’m very excited for the start of daylight savings and not coming home in the dark. As much as I would like it to be, ThePalace(OfLove) is not at all cosy or full of hygge.

I’m planning to use October to carpe the everything and get down to some serious getting things done. This is not necessarily going to manifest itself  in the culty GTD way, it will be more of a getting back on track. At the very least: cycling, running, pilates, general exercise, reading, writing, editing holiday photos and doing something with them, cooking new things, no alcohol until birthday, back on 5:2, knitting, planting. There will be less of: mindless InformationSuperhighway, mindless news sites and other non-value-add activities.
Too ambitious?

further bottlecap maps, darling harbour

As part of the shake-up of SML, we have (yet another) pack of consultants in. This pack (herd? gaggle? siege?) are doing work around culture – as in making the place slightly¹ less dysfunctional and slightly¹ more high performing.

I have Views on this topic (so many views!) and I completely adore culture stuff, so it has been interesting to watch the process evolve. As an aside, I’m rather loving observing the many consultants currently in our habitat (except for the toddlers who were really quite ghastly, but that is a story for another time).

This week we’ve had sessions on SML’s (new) values. In small(ish) groups – we sat around and each had to demonstrate how we were planning to live each of the four values. We could do this through writing, drawing, plasticine, interpretive dance &etc. 

**pause for eye rolling**

Actually it was quite interesting to see what people in my session came up with. And it was all quite positive and fun (I know, what have I become? I don’t even know who I am anymore). Annoyingly we did have a couple of serial whingers who were more interested in complaining about what SML wasn’t doing for them – not the point, dickheads. We were the only session thus blessed – which is both a good and bad thing  – good, not too many vocal dickheads; bad, I ended up with them.

Best of all the things was the plasticine! I went into the session in a pretty curmudgeonly state (see previous post) and came out quite serene, which I pretty much attribute to making wee sculptures. Perhaps I need to acquire some modelling clay for my desk. 

xxx

¹ for slightly read massively

bottle cap map, darling harbour

Me, on waking up: I’ve been very grumpy the last couple of days, I have no idea what might be causing it.

Don: well, it is probably because you’ve just stopped drinking again.

Me: oh duh! 

xxx

I don’t know why I keep forgetting that cutting alcohol from my diet has a really adverse impact on my mood for a few days. I think I need to write myself a large reminder note. 

The upside being that mood equilibrium will be achieved by the end of the week! The downside is that I’ll probably have a couple of wines with dinner on Friday night while in Melbourne and start the whole grumpish cycle again.

Quitting entirely and permanently is just that wee bridge too far right now, but I’m definitely keen for another crack at a lengthy booze-free stretch.

I’m now entering the second week back in reality after the glorious holiday.
The interesting thing about our Japan trip was that it was the first time in ages that we’ve taken time off mid-year. Ordinarily we take a chunk of time off over Christmas/New Year – when pretty much everyone else does. This time the world kind of went on without us – which actually was pretty fabulous.

It does make it quite hard to adjust back though. This week is a little worse than last. Need throw my focus more on the upcoming wee Melbourne trip and Singapore/Cambodia/Vietnam next year! And less of the ARGH! tedious colleagues.

And I need to sit down and sort out those thoughts and photos – else what was the point of taking them all (or having the thoughts!)

The rainbow landing on a chimney duck spotted from the loungeroom window this afternoon should have been a Sign that we going to be successful in the grand final ticket ballot.

As it was, there was rather a bit of agony as the tickets were doled out over a very slow 5 hours (and are still being allocated). 

The only way to find out if you were successful was to wait for a charge on your credit card – official advice tomorrow, but who can wait? – there would have been an awful lot of people repeatedly hitting refresh on an awful lot of bank sites this afternoon.

Exciting! And very exciting to have another small trip!

dreadfully fuzzy – will fix in the better light of the am

We’re currently in a holding pattern to see if we’ve scored tickets in the ballot to watch our beloved ducks in the AFL Grand Final in Melbourne next weekend.

We’ve tentatively booked flights and accommodation – but unlike 2014, we’ll be staying at home if we’re not successful. Kind of a win-win because it will cost us a small fortune to be in Melbourne to (hopefully) watch the victorious victory.

Go ducks!

(I faithfully promise not to promise to get a ducks tattoo on my nether regions if they win. Unlike in 2012 – which fortunately I failed to deliver on)

more sparkles, darling harbour

How can it be a whole week since our last night in Japan?

I still haven’t quite settled back into real life. 

I hope to action a bike ride, short run and further acclimate over the weekend. And also make a start on turning ThePalace(OfLove) into a minimalist Japanese style paradise. And possibly get a start on a bit of spring cleaning.

No pressure!

sparkly

Well, that holiday zen passed rather more quickly than I would have liked. Stupid colleagues.

Fortunately – weekend ahoy!

I really want to take some time to sit and assess what to focus on next – I feel like I have about 80 billion things I want to do and need a plan of attack – else I’ll do nothing.

Today marks TEN YEARS since our first date.

TEN YEARS! Holy!Goodness!

traditional 10 year gift: aluminium / aluminum (tomato / tomato)