Down here the new page on my proudly positioned Vulcan calendar heralds the start of summer. The contrast between this and the first day of Advent I am more used being a Northern hemisphere kind of chappess could not be wider.
This year however I am all about NOT recognising Christmas. Last year was a totally demoralising experience, best forgotten, and the cool, damp, dark Christmas's of yore are a treasured memory. Often with close family (erm that will be just Mum and Dad then) and some other entertaining ones with odd waif and strays popping by for Christmas Pudding and a festive tipple.
This year I will be in the southern hemisphere bereft of folks and ducking any potential familial invite from the state of VIC.
This year I will be having an early morning run (maybe); oh no I won't Thursday's aren't my run day... okay so this year I will be having an early morning cycle - probably to the beach. To observe the local populous on Christmas day. And then I will bask in the sun and share such scenes with cold and damp friends back in Blighty. Then as the day progresses I'll cook something; eat something; maybe pull a cracker with myself and see who I can tempt to a Skype call. I may even determine that drinking at least half a bottle of wine/bubbles is a good thing to do. All sounds rather predictable.
It's 24 hours that I'm sure I can put to better use?
It not so much being alone on the day, rather being afraid of wasting precious non-work hours. After-all there are many many people far worse off; and the other extreme is too materialistic and greed driven for me.
So in a bid to fill the day with something worthwhile, I Google Christmas Day volunteering... nada. Well a search round Twitter may help find a purpose to the day. Or it will be like my usual Sunday - only on a Thursday!
Odd that it was the one thing I always wanted to do back home - spend Christmas Day in my flat, in my home, in London. Go for my usual walk, see what was open, what pubs etc; truly be part of the community that I weaved between the rest of the year. Could never persuade my Dad to come and stay with me; they've been happy to come to Oz however. More than once. So no, Christmas was always spent in Kent, with Dad presiding over tradition.
New Years Eve - well that's always back in the big smoke! Of course! No parties or firework displays in sleepy country Kent.
Thus my quest to discover a better use of the day starts here....
Monday, December 01, 2014
Tuesday, November 25, 2014
Back to Blogger?
Well hello ladies and gentlemen, it sure has been a while.
So much so that the entire format of Blogger has undergone a massive change! It looks and feels pretty nifty and the reporting stats - well our BI team will be jealous.
So what brings me here? Oh the usual!
And the intriguing results of Google searches... my full name yields no image results. Nor does Karoona Fairy... which is a little disappointing since the heady days of regular shows and regular reveals! [I was searching for more up dated pictures of the swoonsome Anson Mount; and the discovery that he is a month younger than me; no such pictures to be found but still the distant hope that should our paths cross he would be unable to resist]. The I was randomly searching for people closer to home. (Home now being on the other side of the planet - and does using an Australian laptop generate different results?) I learn that one of my colleagues had a planning application in late 2013 and that the other is an author of tawdry romantic literature. I fear one discovery is likely to be true and the other just the coincidence of name. My full name generates lots of Fred and Richard but no Karoona.
Maybe that's why I am back. The iPhone was in over drive Sunday as I embarked on a personal portrait study trying to see how good/bad/indifferent the body and face had fared now it was in its 40's rather than its 30's... To be honest I was not too disappointed. Then again I have recently had the very fortunate experience of being told that I am beautiful. Twice. By 2 different men. And 'you've go the pretty'' by a female colleague. Is it too late at the age of 41 to perhaps become aware of your visual value?
Maybe not.
I am feeling the positive benefits of no more smoking and much more exercise. Maybe even the lighter days and decreased amount of grey ones plays a part. It certainly is not bourne about from the job I do or the personal life I appear not to have! Either way beauty is in the eye of the beholder. And since moving my real life audience has shrunk so far as to be non-existant. So any form of nicety, let alone compliment is positively cherished.
As for the pictures one day soon I will reprise the solarised self portrait. Now commonly known as a 'selfie'. A thing some of us were openly doing long before iClouds or wikileaks. I'm sure in fact the evidence exists somewhere on this very blog....
This has been good. Not quite the smokey ground floor flat experience of my beloved Fortescue Road - but as warm ups go - it has got me keen to write more.
So much so that the entire format of Blogger has undergone a massive change! It looks and feels pretty nifty and the reporting stats - well our BI team will be jealous.
So what brings me here? Oh the usual!
And the intriguing results of Google searches... my full name yields no image results. Nor does Karoona Fairy... which is a little disappointing since the heady days of regular shows and regular reveals! [I was searching for more up dated pictures of the swoonsome Anson Mount; and the discovery that he is a month younger than me; no such pictures to be found but still the distant hope that should our paths cross he would be unable to resist]. The I was randomly searching for people closer to home. (Home now being on the other side of the planet - and does using an Australian laptop generate different results?) I learn that one of my colleagues had a planning application in late 2013 and that the other is an author of tawdry romantic literature. I fear one discovery is likely to be true and the other just the coincidence of name. My full name generates lots of Fred and Richard but no Karoona.
Maybe that's why I am back. The iPhone was in over drive Sunday as I embarked on a personal portrait study trying to see how good/bad/indifferent the body and face had fared now it was in its 40's rather than its 30's... To be honest I was not too disappointed. Then again I have recently had the very fortunate experience of being told that I am beautiful. Twice. By 2 different men. And 'you've go the pretty'' by a female colleague. Is it too late at the age of 41 to perhaps become aware of your visual value?
Maybe not.
I am feeling the positive benefits of no more smoking and much more exercise. Maybe even the lighter days and decreased amount of grey ones plays a part. It certainly is not bourne about from the job I do or the personal life I appear not to have! Either way beauty is in the eye of the beholder. And since moving my real life audience has shrunk so far as to be non-existant. So any form of nicety, let alone compliment is positively cherished.
As for the pictures one day soon I will reprise the solarised self portrait. Now commonly known as a 'selfie'. A thing some of us were openly doing long before iClouds or wikileaks. I'm sure in fact the evidence exists somewhere on this very blog....
This has been good. Not quite the smokey ground floor flat experience of my beloved Fortescue Road - but as warm ups go - it has got me keen to write more.
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