Tag: life journey

Sunday Silences …

Screenshot of Apple TV screensaver I suppose you’d call that function.

It’s Sunday morning here and quieter than I appreciate. It struck me earlier that while I’ve been alone much of the time for the last twenty years, I absolutely depend on people sounds in the background to feel I still belong in human society.

My apartment/unit is so well insulated that I don’t get any noise from my neighbours. A blessing in disguise. Heating the place, for example, is no trouble at all.

With the balcony doors open, I get noise from the bus interchange across the road… buses arriving and leaving.

With the wind from the south, there is plenty of action in the trees. Leaves rustling. The podium sports many leafy plants.

With the balcony doors open, I can hear crows at their business harvesting food from the rubbish at the shopping centre, and seeing off rivals.

But no people. No voices.

Down at groundlevel, at the front of the building, there will be a few people waiting for their Sunday pick ups and a dog walker or two starting or coming back from their jaunts.

I’ve been toying all week with the idea of joining the dog walkers. Or cat owners, if there are any. Or even a bird … budgie, cockatiel or cockatoo. Imagining scenarios of how that would be …

Books …

Some people keep their piles at their bedside. I don’t sleep when I read in bed. This pile —

is beside me, on my couch. Plenty of paperwork under them as well, as you can probably see. My tax return for 2022-2023, for instance. Late already, it’s very forgettable.

Three of the books relate to Interpreting Dreams, the online course I’ve been studying. I’m halfway through but seem to be marking time, like I’m stuck on learning about shadows, and getting side-tracked on a bunch of other interesting stuff.

Ursula K LeGuin’s Tao Te Ching is a wonderful interpretation that I wouldn’t like to do without now. I have three bookmarks in it but most often I “make my daily march with the heavy baggage wagon”. From 26, Power of the Heavy.

Second from the bottom is my health journal wherein I keep track of what my Low Dose Naltrexone regime is doing to me. Good things, so far. Much less inflammation.

Then Sapiens: A brief history of mankind by Yuval Noah Harrari. Have to admit I’m past what’s most interesting to me which is humankind’s early history. I’m struggling through Roman times and the age of the empires.

Next up, is The Three Body Problem by Cixin Lui, famous Chinese SF author. Translated by Ken Liu. Unfortunately I started watching the TV series of the same name before the book arrived via snail mail. While the TV series is an easy and engrossing watch, the book is every bit as cryptic as has been said. Reading it, I keep trying to match events in the TV series.

Last in the pile, there’s Revenger by Alistair Reynolds. It’s just as rich and baroque as the first and second times I read it. It’s meaty with a thick silky gravy, excellent food for my SF hunger. And in addition I’m on the watch-out for the pirate captain’s magnificent orrery that influenced me to purchase the much paler Lego version. My next purchase will probably be the third installment of this trilogy.

Communications

This book, that I tripped over this morning in my longtime search for independent blogs, hooked my attention with its appendices.

Books On Books Collection – Timothy Donaldson

Since my fictions range over many cultural groups and therefore different languages, and I have the main characters moving from group to group, I’m always looking for ways to write language learning …

This is the taster, as I’m on my mobile. Later, when I move onto my laptop with its bigger screen and I can see what I’m doing, I’ll write the expansion if the original idea allows itself to be expanded.

Sometimes I have two or three posts on the go being drafted due to needing more info. Like, for instance, the expansion on the mysterious stone that needs me to dig around in geological areas.

The word ‘expansion’ is really starting to bother me, it needs rephrasing. Never mind, I have a thesaurus on my laptop.

This blog seems to be the best medium to record my ideas as they arise, as I usually allow myself an hour or so of screentime on my mobile first thing in the morning. While I have my breakfast, imbibe my coffee and drink a liter of salted water.

In Between …

I’m sitting in a green chair, different from last time I was here when I was directed to a black chair, in the waiting area of my local Centrelink branch. Gone are the days of queueing … one thing Covid was good for.

I’m here to explain the ‘flow of my finances’ and although I have nothing to hide, Centrelink’s power and layers of bureaucracy and impenetrable behaviour, I’m as nervous as everyone else sitting here waiting for their appointments. Centrelink of course likes to keep us on our toes, we think.

I have with me plastic folder of proofs in two bunches as my printer/scanner has not recovered from the move yet and refuses to shake hands with the computer. First thing this morning had to beg the village’s admin to print stuff off for me, that CL can keep. The other bunch are the paper copies CL will need to copy.

To top off the day, the good news is that my previous unit, where I broke the lease, has new tenants. Meaning, I don’t need to pay any more rent there.

And the bad news is that my hearing aids have spat the dummy. Switched themselves off. I’ve tried everything I know, to get a sign of life, but no go. All verbal communication is like talking and listening through a wad of cotton wool.

I’m outside now, finishing this off. It’s raining. I didn’t bring an umbrella, or raincoat. Probably better wait for my ride.

Guess how high this tree is …

Ti tree at Coorparoo

Jury-Rigged Curtains …

Make-believe curtains are the go for the moment, until I decide curtains or blinds.

What kind of ceiling is this?

The carpenters clamps, rope and bed sheets curtains to the side installed by my son, and the highly unusual ceiling detail overhead.

There are four pristine white levels with only two of them faced with painted-over timber for curtain rails and/or blinds to be fixed overhead …

To be fixed overhead on two levels, neither of them ‘regular’ lengths. Which will make it hard to buy off-the-shelf products.

This morning I was distracted while researching indoor necessities by a pageful of Temu growlights, followed by discovering specialist products are not needed to help my plants survive.

It’s too long to wait for plants until the depth of winter to get a decent day of sunlight. So that’s another ongoing search for solutions. Love a good problem to get my teeth into!