Tag: blogging

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#librarytwittermysteryamonth

Just another day in paradise…

I’m still computer-less. And still job hunting. But really, what have I got to complain about? I have my health, my (relative) youth, my family, a home, vehicles, food, clothes. I’m blessed. Truly.

Okay, so I’m scumming a few minutes of time on hubby’s computer – again – and I so can’t WAIT for a job so that I can buy myself a computer and start blogging again. Maybe continuing my assignment for @katiedatwork which has been on permanent hold for almost a month. Still an’all…

My reason for blogging today is to add my impressions of Marianne Delacourt’s “Sharp Turn” to #librarytwittermysteryamonth. I read her “Sharp Shooter”, the first novel featuring Tara Sharp, just to get acquainted with Delacourt’s writing style and protagonist. A great beginning quickly became quite a readable pageturner. Not quite the sophistication of Agatha’s Christie’s classic for the January read, but entertaining nonetheless.

“Sharp Turn” continued the themes commenced in her first. Tara Sharp, a broke Private Investigator living in her parent’s garage, continues to use her ability to see auras to crack cases within a week. In “Sharp Shooter”, the case involved a Mob Boss. In this, Tara moves into the field of motorbike racing and high class brothels. Both were easy reads, with believable characterisation and a choice of setting – Perth – which is obviously well known and dearly loved by the author.

I must admit a little disappointment with the sheer size of the cast though. And although it may have necessary to include some of the wayward characters to eventually become Tara’s “employees”, it seemed a little contrived.

On the whole, they were enjoyable reads. And I’m very much looking forward to reading and reviewing the March #librarytwittermysteryamonth choice! Hopefully by then I’ll have a job and my own computer…

 

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#librarytwittermysteryamonth Random thoughts

Had to do it…

Okay… nicking hubby’s computer again to type this (arrgghh! I really REALLY need one of my own again!!) but seeing as it’s January 31, it’s the last day of posting about Agatha Christie‘s ‘Murder on the Orient Express‘, which I said I would do for the #librarytwittermysteryamonth challenge.

So… to task.

Never read this novel before. Or seen the movie either, so had little expectations of what I was to encounter. Knew it had Poirot (and imagined the actor now famous for his portrayal of the same character) but was looking forward to the storyline.

Have to admit some disappointment though. It felt too trite. Too overworked. Too pat. Even after just the first few chapters, I admitted some surprise at the overuse of some adjectives describing facial characteristics, “expressionless” being an obvious one. Yes, it was clever. Yes, it was well-written with some beautiful turns of phrase. But plot-wise, I felt as though it wasn’t the masterpiece I had expected it to be.

Anyway, that’s my take on it. Sorry if my opinion disappointed anyone!

And sorry too, for my lack of blogging. I’m REALLY looking forward to buying myself another computer (SOOOOOOOO majorly SICK of ones that die on me!) but that’s going to have to wait until I have a job…

Stay safe, dear readers! As always, thanks for visiting. And I’ll try to be back again soon, I promise!

Yours,

Ceridwyn

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#blog12daysxmas Random thoughts

Tigger vs Rabbit

Today marks the end of my week-long posting series. (It was actually meant to finish yesterday, but I kinda piked out last Thursday due to the Queensland floods.) But anyway, this is the seventh ‘Important Word in my life’, inspired both by the the American Dialect Society’s ‘Word of the Year’ and by @fionawb‘s #blog12daysxmas posts. So, to sum up:

Word 1 was ‘integrity’, Word 2 was ‘restless’, and Word 3, ‘blessed’. I realised that ‘history’ should probably be Word number 4, never having previously comprehended the depth of my emotional attachment to the city of my childhood until it was destroyed in the floods. Word 5 ‘organised’ offset the ‘openly emotional’ of Word 6. And today? The final day? I think it would be remiss of me to not include ‘responsibility’. As in, something which I feel weighs heavily on my shoulders.

I think I’ve always been a responsible person. Maybe it comes of being a middle child. Maybe because I was the girl between two boys. But I can’t ever remember a time when I haven’t felt as though ‘goofing off’ was morally irresponsible. Weird, looking back! Once, I led a devotion at Caloundra Christian College, comparing A.A.Milne‘s characters of Tigger and Rabbit. Tigger, the playful one who bounces through life, oblivious to the damage he causes to others, and Rabbit, the grumpy ‘it must be done properly, in an orderly manner’ one. My point was that as teachers, we shouldn’t force our Rabbit ways on our Tigger students if (as happened in the example I gave) the end result is the same. I was speaking from a wealth of experience. I am far more of a Rabbit than a Tigger. It’s funny, cos Tigger is my favourite of the whole cast of characters! (Maybe it’s true – that opposites attract?) Anyway. I’d say that ‘responsibility’ is an apt choice for my seventh and final word important to me. That reflects the person I think myself to be.

Looking over the list, it seems pretty bleugh. But that may just be my perception. As I mentioned previously, for each character trait I tend to see the negative outweigh the positive. But that’s okay. The list is finished now. So let’s move on to something more fun. More interesting. And I’ll try to present six of them. Momentous events in my life. (That way, I’ll cover that ‘cult’ story I mentioned the other day.)

So… til tomorrow, dear readers – stay safe and well!

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Random thoughts

Of hearts and sleeves

Just thought I’d look up the meaning of that phrase ‘wear your heart on your sleeve’. I mean – I kinda knew it meant ‘to openly display your emotions’, but I just wanted to check. Didn’t know it was from the Bard! But it was used with a negative connotation – the devious Iago, in Othello, planned to fake it.

People say I do this. Wear my heart on my sleeve. For real though, not feigning it! (I think!) Which I guess  can be a good thing. Yes, I’d be hopeless at poker (BlackJack is the game I’m addicted to, anyway – again, another story for another post!) but on the other hand (Tevye‘s singing in my head right now…) I’d like to think that I’m someone that others can trust. That isn’t fake, or so reserved that it’s hard to get to know me.

So the word for today, Day 6 of 7 posts on ‘Important Words in my life”, is ‘open’. And yes, I realise that in yesterday’s post I made mention of bi-polar disorder. Which doesn’t seem to have much at all to do with being ‘open’, except for the fact that I tend to be open about my emotions. And it’s the scope of my emotions that make me sometimes believe that I might have tendencies toward bi-polar. As in, I fit that nursery rhyme down PAT “When she was good, she was very, very good. And when she was bad, she was horrid!” My default position is to vaccillate between being euphoric and hyper-positive about everything (I prefer this state to the other!) and being depressed. I’ve never been officially diagnosed, but it wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest if a diagnosis was positive, were I to take the test. Not that it worries me too much. Early in 2009, I spent some time seeing a psychiatric nurse, and the techniques she taught me have helped tremendously, so I am immensely thankful for that!

Anyway, I feel as though I’ve waffled enough for today. And I’d like some sleep in case my boy starts screaming again in a few hours…

Thanks for reading!

 

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Random thoughts

Word Number 5

I’d say that today’s offering is the one word most people use to describe me. Organised. Which can be a good thing – if kept in moderation. If taken to its anal-retentive extremes however, as I admit to sometimes, it can (I’m sure!) be pretty bloody annoying for those around me – especially my poor long-suffering hubby and three kids!

Let’s focus on the positives, though. Being organised can mean that your life, (and others too, don’t forget!) runs more smoothly. At least, that’s what I like to think. And I’m always wanting to be helpful! Hehe.

I mentioned in an earlier post all I was involved in last semester. I ran myself ragged, and lived on adrenalin. (And chocolate!) But I survived, as did my children and (amazingly enough!) my marriage – just – due to my organisational abilities. Which I guess I’m pretty proud of, even though I sometimes dwell on the negative and berate myself for how badly I let things, relationship-wise, slip on the home front.

So yes, I guess any list of seven ‘Important Words in my Life’ probably wouldn’t be complete without including this one. But I guess it’s not something I’m particularly proud of, as this seems (to me, anyway) to be turning into a pretty blah post. Sorry about that.

Anyway, I’m exhausted from a VERY long day, so shall leave this for now and tomorrow regale you with my notions of bi-polar disorder…

Stay safe, dear readers!

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places to visit Random thoughts

The Brissie Kid

I’m the reason my parents moved to Australia. My older brother had been born in a hospital in New Guinea, four years earlier, and I guess they didn’t want a repeat experience. So when they discovered that I was on the way, they relocated to Australia – to Eight Mile Plains in Brisbane, to be precise. Dad found employment as a lecturer in Literacy and Language Development at Mt Gravatt Teachers College, (later to become Griffith University,) and I arrived on the seventh of June, 1974. Six months before the floods devastated the city.

I spent the first nineteen years of my life in that house on Padstow Road, just up the hill from Logan Road, and opposite Multicap Meadows. It got busy during that time, so much so that the B-doubles letting off their airbrakes as they drove past my window lulled me to sleep during my final years there, while I finished Senior at Redeemer Lutheran College in Rochedale and started my B.Ed at Griffith.

I was fortunate to have a bus stop not 100 metres away. With the help of a year-long, go anywhere at any time’ student bus pass, I did the ‘teenage rebellion’ thing and used it lots, spending the majority of my time passing through Garden City on my way into town, to meet friends and hang out, catch a movie, window shop. When at Uni I would bus to my part-time job/s in town, spend time reading novels while sunbaking at South Bank, or (later still) try winning money at the casino. In fact, I was so comfortable travelling by bus, I didn’t get my license until I was 20 – and that, a motorbike license. I then found an even greater sense of freedom on my blue Suzuki GSX250, travelling to UQ at St Lucia to study French in the evenings, during my 4th year of Uni – and the back way, past the Rocklea Markets, became quite a speedway at the almost-10pm mark!

And now to my apology. My prior two posts were… well… more non-events than events. Due to my incredulity at the floods devastating Brisbane again. Quoting my younger brother, who emailed me from London this morning, “I knew those streets. Now they’re gone.” Perhaps this post will go part-way toward an explanation. And that brings me to what I had not realised about myself, but have now…

My important word for today: history. My past, to be specific. I guess what ‘they say’, IS actually true. Your past DOES make you the person you are. So as I stop, and remember, and grieve for what may never be again, I shall also remember  that if my history IS that important to me, then today, right now, and every moment to come, will also be a part of my ‘history’ one day. So I should make the most of it. How about you?

Til tomorrow, dear readers…

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Uncategorized

Sorry.

I’m sorry, dear readers, but my emotions are too raw to write today.

Keep safe.

Ceridwyn

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Uncategorized

dumbfounded. and speechless.

I have been thinking about this blog post all day. I had planned on posting it early this morning, and sharing my own ‘flood story’ – when hubby and I were flooded in with our three kids at 1770 just the other week. But I have had to force myself to turn on my computer tonight – I’ve been glued to the TV all day. Absolutely speechless at the devastation that has hit my beloved state. Lost for words. And with the feeling that if I add my own little story to all those hundreds coming out minute by minute, it may diminish the gravity of the current situation, and that’s something I don’t want to do.

So I’ll just state that the word I had chosen for me today, to represent who I am, was ‘blessed’. And that needs very little explanation.

Stay safe, dear readers. Please.

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Random thoughts

Life is short…

Today marks Day Two in my aim to discover seven ‘Important Words in my Life’, inspired by the American Dialect Society’s ‘Word of the Year’. This list reflects the person I think myself to be. (But I’m happy to be proved wrong, as for each character trait I tend to see the negative outweigh the positive!) So each day I’ll be explaining why I believe each word to be important enough for me to include in my list. So. My word for today? Restless.

I fully identify with some people’s difficulty in just ‘stopping’. I don’t think that I actually can. Looking back on my life post-school, it would be easy to mistake me for a Gen Y, as I’ve changed direction every few years! (Yes, I realise that this seems to contradict the ‘commitment’ inherent in yesterday’s important word “Integrity”, but all will become clear…)

I graduated High School in 1991. I then started my Bachelor of Education at Griffith University the following year, but left mid-third year to lead the cult I had joined about six months earlier. (That’s another huge story for another post though!) Fortunately, I had left the cult by the following February, so I enrolled in 12 courses in my fourth year, to finish the degree with the rest of my cohort at the end of 1995, the same week of my wedding. From being a teacher in 1996, by mid 1998 I was a Subject Area Cordinator and by 2002 a Head of Department. I became a mother in 2005 and then a Head of Middle School in mid 2006. In 2008 I became a mother of two, and then had my final child in 2009, the same year I founded goodoldtalk.com – the site I run with my own mother. In 2010, I ventured into the world of Primary teaching, and also started my Masters mid-year, with a view to qualify myself as a Teacher Librarian by mid-2012.

So when you boil it all down, it would seem that I lack commitment to seeing things through. Not true though, in my opinion. When commencing each position, there was a steep learning curve initially. But I endeavoured to master the ins-and-outs of each job quickly, developing each department under my care to the fullest of my ability, before moving on to my next challenge, leaving each position better for my being there. (I think that one of my words for later in the week should be ‘conceited’, too!) So regarding being ‘committed’, ask any of my employers. I doubt I would have been promoted as quickly through my career if they hadn’t seen my potential. So rather than being a non-committal employee, I would say I am the opposite. I give 110 percent to any job I have. (And there’s my pathetic maths skills showing themselves again!)

But in my own opinion, after I’ve ‘been there, done that’, and conquered that particular challenge, I’m ready for the next one. I think it’s because I want to ‘suck the marrow out of life’ – after al, we only get one of them! Or maybe I’m trying to find my ‘limits’, or something. Came pretty close to finding them in Semester Two of 2010, too! (Teaching three days a week at two different schools, running a website and the Mosquito Magnet business with my husband, studying 38CP’s worth of my Masters – and getting 2 HD’s and a D, which I’m quite proud of! – and being a wife and mum to three children aged 5, 2 and 1.) That was pretty insane, I must admit. Not going to do that one again!

Anyway, I’ve blabbed on enough. Have a lovely rest-of-the-day, and I’ll meet you here, same time, same place, tomorrow!

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my novel-in-progress Random thoughts

Words, words, words…

As the Bard had Hamlet say, a few hundred years ago, “though I most powerfully and potently believe, yet I hold it not honesty to have it thus set down”. The written word can be so powerful. Truth needs to play a balancing act with tact. Words, words, words. They’ve been on my mind of late, and not only since commencing blogging 19 days ago. (Only four more days and it’s a fully fledged habit, isn’t that right? They say it takes three weeks…)

@fionawb used her 12 posts in #blog12daysxmas to regale us with 12 important words in her life. Graham Kell, my pastor at Chancellor Park Community Church, mentioned yesterday that the 2010 Word of the Year was ‘App’. Both of these got me wondering about the application of important words in my own life. If I had a ‘word of the day’ each day, what would it be? Could I find seven words important to me, enough to fill a week’s worth of posts? I didn’t know, but I’m planning to find out. And by the end of this week, we can all see just how well I went! So. The ‘Word of the Day’ for today? Day One of seven ‘Important Words in my Life”…

Integrity. A concept I like to think that I live my life by. “My word is my bond.” I want to be a person who is trustworthy. If I commit to something, I want to be able to see it through, “come hell or high water”. I guess it stems from my pride, which I have in spades. (And yes, I know that that’s not necessarily a good thing.) But be that as it may, I’ll keep my word once I give it. And hopefully, that’s not so bad. (And on another ‘word-related’ thought, I thought it’d be fun to include a few clichés in my writing this week. How many can you find?)

Anyway, that’s it. My Day One offering – integrity. Tune in tomorrow for Day Two’s word… and have a lovely day today, dear readers!