Freak Situations

Freak Situations

In one of a number of freak situations, we recently endured a major power outage/failure/interruption caused by wild weather. Fingers are pointing, accusations are flying, and we’re ducking recriminations all ...
Writing Hangover

Writing Hangover

I’ve been trying to get back into my writing routine. But the thing making it difficult, is I’m getting writing hangovers. I’ll be walking down the street or around the ...
A Tale of Two Stones

A Tale of Two Stones

According to popular wisdom, rolling stones gather no moss. In the ancient days, the saying signified someone shifltless, who avoided their responsibilites. Perhaps a vagrant with no family ties.

Life Rafts

Life Rafts

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash I’ve been considering life rafts recently. For some reason, my mind turns to Titanic style life boats, along with the cutting edge cork life ...
More on Labour Exchange

More on Labour Exchange

Aside from redeveloping the new look site, I’ve been thinking about labour exchange again. In Holistic Personal Finance, I posited a direct relationship between time, money and health. Creating an ...
Lack of Focus

Lack of Focus

Recently, I’ve been feeling a lack of focus, so I read Stolen Focus, by Johann Hari. And judging by the wait list at the library, I’m not the only one ...
Boundaries

Boundaries

I live on the edge of a creek that has no boundaries. We decided to fence it off partly because Clever Girl has shown more of an interest in getting ...
Inflation and You

Inflation and You

I’ve been watching the inflation rate with interest. And the local commercial tv stations running around like headless chickens talking about how disastrous inflation is and how we’re all ruined, ...
Princess Jellyfish

Princess Jellyfish

I recently watched a Japanese show called Princess Jellyfish, based on the Shōjo manga (girl comic) of the same name. Tsukimi Kurashita, has been obsessed with jellyfish since her mother ...
Do or Die

Do or Die

It feels like we’ve been in and out of Covid lockdown since before time began. But with so much time spent at home (where possible), many people have found this ...
Serenity

Serenity

I imagine you’ve heard of the Serenity Prayer, generally attributed to Reinhold Neibuhr? God, grant me the SerenityTo accept the things I cannot change… Courage to change the things I ...
The Nature of Pleasure

The Nature of Pleasure

I recently read an article that suggested stoke survivors have a decreased ability to experience pleasure. As do those with depression, traumatic injuries, and chronic stress. So it made me ...
Life is Short

Life is Short

Life is short. It’s over before you know it. Even without the Cult of Celebrity, most of us want to be remembered. Hopefully for something worthwhile. I’d prefer to be ...
The Cost of Money

The Cost of Money

Wealth is worth more than the cost of money. Wealth is an abundance of something, whether that’s time, money or physical wellbeing. And the relationship between them is illustrated below. ...
A Feng Shui Garden

A Feng Shui Garden

With the change in the seasons and the whole social isolation thing, we’ve been working in the garden. Weeding, mulching, pruning. And having done a bunch of Feng Shui research ...
Dances of Death

Dances of Death

Don’t know about you, but I’ve been preoccupied with death. Shouldn’t be much of a surprise to you, I’ve written about death and momento mori before. The lists of Covid-19 ...
What is Love?

What is Love?

I’ve been watching a few romances lately, and I can’t help asking, what is love? Bearing in mind the standard romance book/movie/song storyline where a person meets another person, falls in ...

Memento Mori

For those who don’t know, the Latin phrase Memento Mori more or less means remember, you’re gonna die too. And perhaps coincidentally concurrent with my visit to the Vikings exhibition, the funeral ...
Know Thyself

Know Thyself

We have been exhorted since ancient times to “know thyself”, mainly because you come to know the gods by knowing yourself. Though some ancients felt this was just a way ...
Deliberations on Luxury

Deliberations on Luxury

With the research for my new book Holistic Personal Finance progressing nicely, I’ve been thinking about luxury. Partly inspired by the old guy who just paid $55 for a packet ...
Election Day Reflection

Election Day Reflection

Today I fulfilled one of my obligations as an Australian Citizen and voted in the Federal Election. Barring political tantrums, that’s it until the 2018 state election! Now that it’s ...
How To Dress Like Who You Are

How To Dress Like Who You Are

In my ongoing search for old-school interestingness, (and anti-hacks), I’ve been reading Mary Brooks Picken (1886 – 1981) again. She calls it distinctive dressing , but really, it’s more along the ...
The Pursuit of Perfection

The Pursuit of Perfection

‘Theobroma’ Harper & Co’s Finest Perfection Cocoa Melbourne & Sydney (Charles Troedel & Co.) via State Library of Victoria Over a wide-ranging breakfast discussion this morning, Toseland described evolution as the ...
About Anzac Day

About Anzac Day

Saturday 25 April is Anzac Day.  Along with Australia Day, it marks a key date in the development of both our Australian national character and calendar.  I think it is actually ...
About Australia Day

About Australia Day

Today (26 January) is my national day; Australia Day.  On this day in 1788, our first Governor Captain Arthur Phillip arrived in Sydney Cove with the First Fleet to establish the first British ...
Spiders in the Bathtub

Spiders in the Bathtub

A little off topic, but I had to share this. I recently watched BBC4’s Spider House, and it was absolutely fascinating!  While it’s about English spiders in English homes it’s probably relevant ...