Archive for July, 2009

Doh je*

Published on 31 July 2009 in gratitude. 3 Comments

Doh je

  1. Time out, having it.
  2. Friends, listening and talking.
  3. Dogs, always there in the moment.
  4. Good books, transporting you away.
  5. Poetry, (re)discovering it.

* Thank you, in Cantonese

Holiday

Published on 30 July 2009 in holiday. 0 Comments

I had a real holiday last week.

No, I didn’t go anywhere or do anything special. The holiday was marked by what I didn’t do: I didn’t check my work email.

You might be wondering why this is something worth remarking on. Or perhaps you are wondering why on earth I would check my work email when I am supposed to be on leave. Um, because I can? Well, after this last break, sans work email, I hereby pledge to never check my work email when on leave, again.

It was blissful. Not looking at my work email meant that I was completely cut off from what was happening in the office. I didn’t know what was going on or if there were any problems. I didn’t see all the requests for me to do things, all of which were perfectly fine to wait until I got back to work this week. Because I didn’t know about them until I got back to work - well, I didn’t think about them at all, until I got back to work. It was a real holiday.

I had been feeling somewhat rundown before, and after a week of much rest and relaxation, I feel pretty good. What did I do last week? Mostly: reading (read six novels in total), napping, and communing with chihuahuas.

Self portrait with chihuahua

Published on 24 July 2009 in holiday. 4 Comments

Have been having a bit of time off from work. Haven’t been doing much at all, much dozing and pondering and reading (have read six books this week).

Just listening to the radio: Australia Post is putting up the cost of stamps again - twice in two years. Costs keep going up, apparently. The news report suggests that even if we are not sending snail mail anymore, online shopping is going to save the postie. I certainly receive a lot of packages these days, and that’s even though I have a self-imposed ban on ebay. (Whenever I look at ebay I always find stuff I “need”, even if, five minutes ago, I had no idea the stuff even existed…)

The chihuahuas have been great company. They are also much warmer than hot water bottles.