It's turned cold here in Central Queensland. Time to break out the wool doona and the quilted cover. What a wonderful purchase that was! Even without the doona inside its a warm delight, and it's King sized on my Queen bed, so it covers everything beautifully, even when I roll over and take some of it with me. On the "Am I a Grown Up?" screening tool I think I can confidently tick the "Excited by linen" item.
Another thing I can mark off is "Annoyed by supermarket rearranging". Eggs, baking paper and vinegar seem to end up in the least logical places. I wonder if big supermarket chains are beginning to understand that doing this doesn't actually put more product in front of you and encourage you to spend more? In my experience it ignites shopping rage (similar to road road, on a smaller scale) and irritated people pushing trolleys up and down aisles, looking up at signs above the shelves, ducking around similarly disgruntled and confused shoppers and staff re-stocking or assembling orders clogging up the walkway does not a pleasant experience make. When that happens I always go home with less than I came for. No wonder click and collect or delivery is so popular! I wonder if they will start rearranging the website to make it impossible to find things there as well?
Getting older is weird. I honestly don't feel much different to how I felt after I left school. My earrings still fit, for example. Sometimes it still kind of amazes me that I'm allowed to do grown-up things. How funny is that? I remember how excited I was when I got my first cheque book. For the Zoomers, (Did you know that's what Generation Z is called? I didn't. You learn something new every day I guess.), they were booklets of vouchers that you filled out and gave to people instead of cash, but they had to take them to the bank to have the money transferred from your account to theirs. If you were a responsible adult you kept track of the expected account balance on the butt, so you didn't bounce a cheque (which is the three-week equivalent of the "insufficient funds" message on the ATM). It was a monumental day when I signed my first cheque. So much trust and responsibility.
It's not until you really think back over what has changed that you realise that our day to day as kids was quite different to what children are familiar with now. I've had lots of conversations with Cody recently reminiscing about my childhood, school experiences and pop culture references from the 80's and 90's. It's kind of cool that we can look many of those things up online and he can see what I'm talking about.
It's my birthday this month, and each year I reflect on what's been and what's ahead. Since my last birthday I have made some changes that I wasn't expecting, and to be honest I feel less certain about what the next year holds. Feeling like I'm still in my 20s (I don't yet have a "bad knee" with which to predict weather changes, although I did mention to Cody last night as we were watching a movie that it's lucky that I wasn't in it because I would have severely let down Mark Wahlberg in the action sequences) it didn't seem such a big deal to do more training and change careers. I've done it twice in three years. Apparently Australians have on average 13 jobs in their lifetime. I feel it's significant that the stats use the word "job" and not "career". A job is work you do for money. A career is something more. It requires growth, commitment and a genuine interest or passion. You can enjoy a job, but it doesn't get into your soul like a career. I'm a career person. I don't seem to be able to separate myself from "work" and vice versa, and I always have the 'strive to improve' undercurrent. For the last several years I have told people that I'm 29.99 plus postage and handling, so with that in mind career changes aren't the irresponsible folly of someone attempting to reclaim their youth. If I mentioned my chronological age it might make people wonder, especially since the big picture is still a long way off, and by the time I get there I might be like a Jessica Tandy character from any movie (think, Driving Miss Daisy or Fried Green Tomatoes), minus the Southern USA demographic.
When I'm done with the two different types of training that I am currently involved in I think I will enrol in a photography course to get the official qualification. To me, a course without a recognised qualification is a waste of time and money. The longer I do this 52Frames challenge the more interested I am in learning what I don't know. This week is really stretching me. It's Triangular Composition, and it's so open that I can't hone in on a clear idea.
Last week was Everything in Focus, so I chose to shoot a landscape. Cody wasn't keen to accompany me for a drive to the Dam, and he suggested a visit to the Weir instead. It's not my favourite image, but I do like the contrast between the flat, reflective water and the cascade over the weir. If a bird had landed on the branch in the water it would have made the shot better. I was attacked by meat ants pretty much the whole time I was there, so I can definitely say that this was the least enjoyable entry so far.
This morning I haven't ventured far from under my warm quilt, and have been Googling for inspiration. There's something I couldn't have done in my 20s!
It's been quite a party, ain't it
Purple Fairy
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