Bad pants

Tonight I finally got sick of trying on pants that don't fit anymore. I've gained some weight lately because of my migraine medication and not being able to exercise due to the hip issue. After getting very frustrated and almost crawling into bed instead of going out, I folded up all the pairs of pants (and two dresses) that don't fit. I hid them in the closet in the spare room. It's not that I particularly mind my larger size; it's the annoyance of planning to wear something then not being able to. Maybe in a month I'll get them out and try them on again. If they still don't fit after a month of reduced medication and increasing exercise, I might scream. Then I'll go shopping.

Miss Pronunciation

Often my husband and I take drives on the weekend in search of new places to see and walk. One thing that adds much entertainment to the drive is our sat-nav. She (it's set to a female voice so we identify it as female) mispronounces many Australian place names. Bendigo [ben - di - go] becomes Bendeeego; Dandenongs [dan - de - nongs] becomes either Dand-A-nongs or Dand@#% as she mumbles the end and runs it into the next word. I'm not sure why her pronunciation varies, but it's usually very funny. Sometimes it's so badly spoken that unless we're looking at the name written on a sign, then we can't tell where she's trying to direct us.

RJ Hamer Arboretum, photo by 

Ben Kreunen

To quit or not to quit? (And an observation about Friends)

For the last two weeks I haven't done any blogging because my mum was here visiting. Toward the end of her visit I started trying to thinking of interesting, insightful or worthwhile topics to start blogging with – I didn't come up with any. I started thinking, why even restart? My initial reasons for starting to blog were: to get in the habit of daily writing; to develop my voice; and to get something out there as a writer. I have proven to myself, through other writing projects, that I can work successfully everyday and enjoy it. I feel like writing novels, the form I'm most interested in, is a better way to develop my voice than blogging. Finally, I've begun being paid for freelance writing – admittedly not in the genre I'd prefer – and I have a growing list of publications on my CV.

So why continue blogging if it's serving no purpose and causing frustration and energy to come up with topics and images for each post? Then I realised, another reason I started blogging, whether I was conscious of it or not, is that I like writing about random things that I'm mulling over or that I notice throughout the day in the same way that I kept a journal as a kid. In that case, I should keep blogging but find things to write about that I enjoy and don't cause angst to come up with.

NBC show Friends promotional image

Therefore, tonight I noticed, while I was watching a rerun of Friends, that they referred to women's ability to have multiple orgasms. I'm sure I saw the episode in 1994 or '5 when it originally aired, but I'm sure I had no idea what multiple orgasms were. Twenty years on, things have changed! Many 14 or 15 year-olds are not so innocent, and I've grown up and got married. In fact having watched a few reruns of the early seasons, lately I've noticed that many of the topics and dialogue are quite sexual. I don't remember that aspect of the episodes I saw in my teens, which I think is as it should be.

A dark and stormy night

For the past day or two we've had stormy weather. There was thunder and lightening, which I love listening to and watching. This was followed by heavy rain. I like hearing rain pounding on the roof because it makes the house feel cozy. We cuddled up in bed and watched TV on the computer while rain lashed outside. The only downside to all this rain is the leaks. I have to remind myself that it's the small price we pay for living in a beautiful, old house that's stood for more than a human lifetime. I'm sure I'll be leaking uncontrollably long before I reach 120.