tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-40672718592740748182024-02-18T21:36:30.877-08:00A Luce AffiliationIt's not rocket surgeryLucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11111164054228468866noreply@blogger.comBlogger114125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4067271859274074818.post-26440050202455077332018-01-21T03:58:00.001-08:002018-02-02T18:54:49.788-08:00A sign of the placeAs our Adventure Year in Darwin draws to a close, here are some signs of the place.<br />
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Looking for the hospital? Ride through the bush, past the nudist beach, and it's 500 metres on your right.<br />
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If you're feeling lost, the hospital foyer's not a bad place to start. It has a huge map of the Top End's indigenous communities and recognition that the hospital is built on Larrakia land.<br />
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The doors to the hospital are fitted with cyclone locks:<br />
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And if you work at the hospital, you'll need to stop by the TB/Leprosy clinic for your annual Ancient Communicable Diseases check. Happily, I'm in the clear!<br />
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After a long day on the wards, remember to sober up before entering the hospital swimming pool.<br />
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Outside of the swimming pool, you'd better stay Croc Wise. And Stinger Wise. And Sea Snake Wise. </div>
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Lucky Bat's a great place for a coffee, but don't park in Des Fong's car park you buggers. </div>
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Going on a road trip? You could pick up a $2000 motor bike from a Lady Owner with an ankle injury.<br />
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Watch out for UFOs....<br />
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CU in the NT!</div>
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<br />Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11111164054228468866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4067271859274074818.post-38416597331373309032018-01-07T20:41:00.004-08:002018-01-07T20:41:40.052-08:00Music 20171. Harry Belafonte<div>
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I have long tormented Jason with the Harry Belafonte song 'Did you hear about Jerry?' but this year we got into some other Belafonte classics like 'Jump in the Line', The Banana Boat song and 'Jump Down, Turn Around'. </div>
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<i>When she winds up her bottom she goes like a rocket!</i></div>
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2. The Meat Puppets II</div>
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In August we travelled to Melbourne to help mum move out of her house and into her fancy new retirement apartment. Of course, this required a Kafkaesque bureaucratic marathon of conveyancing, bank transactions and change of address paper work. Happily Tash and Leith lent me their big boat of a station wagon to run the errands in, complete with the CD 'Meat Puppets II'. What a gem! </div>
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<i>Lost on the freeway again...nobody knows which way it's going to bend....</i></div>
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3. Lorde- Melodrama</div>
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I really really love Lorde's new album. We listened to it endlessly as the dry deflated into the swampy build-up. We went to her Melbourne show at the Sidney Myer Music bowl during my annual leave. When the big day dawned the Bureau of Metereology was warning of a cataclysmic weather event with damaging hail. I felt pretty daggy taking our fancy Goretex jackets to the gig. </div>
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But our spirit of adventure was rewarded...the storm blew past and we danced with the Young People to our little antipodean Beyonce. </div>
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<i>Blow all my friendships to sit in hell with you...</i></div>
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4. Bob Dylan- I'm on fire</div>
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At aforementioned Lorde gig, she did a cover of Bob Dylan's 'I'm on Fire'. It was a pretty good cover, but reminded me of how much I love the original. </div>
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<i>Sometimes it's like someone took a knife baby, edgy and dull, and cut a six inch valley through the middle of my skull. </i></div>
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5. Midnight Oil</div>
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Midnight Oil had a reunion tour and my boss gave me four free tickets to the Darwin show. So much fun, dancing in the Darwin amphitheatre watching Peter Garrett sweat through a series of three long sleeved shirts. He's such a dag, every time he talked it sounded like he was addressing the chamber. But I'd never realised that the Oils are a really tight band. </div>
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<i>The hardest years, the wildest years the desperate and divided years....these shall not be forgotten years. </i></div>
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6. Darwin Festival shows-Yirmmal and Felix Riebl </div>
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These shows were both in the 'Lighthouse', a beautiful outdoor pop up venue in the city gardens. Nora loved the colourful lights and the performances. She was transfixed and so was I. </div>
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Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11111164054228468866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4067271859274074818.post-1076454627715198902017-12-26T03:45:00.001-08:002017-12-26T03:47:09.800-08:00A very boxy Boxing DayWe stayed up in Darwin for Christmas...and what a lovely time we had! I made some fancy table decorations with some tree branches stolen from the Casuarina foreshore...<br />
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On Saturday we had some friends over for our traditional Christmas Die Hard viewing, this time accompanied by Green Ant Gin.<br />
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N found the leftover cheese on Christmas day and got straight into it<br />
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Today we went on a family bike ride to Lee Point, through the mangroves and then along the bush track. It was so green! <br />
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The ride was great, but when we arrived at Lee Point beach the humidity was about 95%. N had an understandable meltdown when we wouldn't let her go in the ocean (stinger season).<br />
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N got a scooter for Christmas...she's getting better already!<br />
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And Jason got a new hat, which came in a special hat box that I made into a boat. By the time we painted it I was ready to apply for my new job on Play School:<br />
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Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11111164054228468866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4067271859274074818.post-60984537903076488722017-08-19T04:43:00.003-07:002017-08-19T04:46:09.325-07:00Peak DarwinWe may have reached Peak Darwin.<br />
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Last night we went out to the Darwin Festival park with Jason's friends the Notorious D.o.D. (Dads of Darwin)<br />
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Nora and her little buddies danced and we drank beer and ate curry in the lovely cool evening. Travis and Elise took their little one into the the Lighthouse for a gig. After a while I decided that we should join them, and because Darwin, of course there were tickets left. I'm so pleased we went. Felix Riebl was playing and it was just a beautiful happy gig. Nora listened quietly, she seemed tired but happy. Here's us earlier in the night:<br />
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This morning after breakfast Nora grabbed her helmet and dragged it through the house saying 'Bike! bike!!' We took her subtle hint and went for a ride to Lee Point. It's a beautiful bush trail, shady and cool. I am terrible at mountain biking and the fact that I was on a flat-bar road bike with quite hard tyres wasn't helping. But it was fun, I half skidded down the hills shrieking, with Jason shouting, 'Release the rear brake!'<br />
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Nora sat behind Jason tooting her horn and looking at the butterflies.<br />
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Then we sat at the beach at Lee Point and I made a little tee-pee:<br />
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What a lovely morning.<br />
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<br />Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11111164054228468866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4067271859274074818.post-43508835747912841282017-06-02T05:34:00.001-07:002017-06-02T05:34:23.647-07:00Reading My bookclub has finally disbanded after 10 years. Felicity moved to WA, I moved to Darwin and Camille moved to Germany. So many happy Sunday afternoons!<br />
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I've joined the Darwin City Libraries, and we take Nora to story time each week. It's shambolic, toddlers tripping over each other, occasionally listening to part of the book. Nora loves it though she spends most of her time pulling books off the shelves.<br />
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I just updated my reading list, here are my favourites in the past 12 months:<br />
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1. The Museum of Modern Love- Heather Rose<br />
I was so pleased that this book won the Stella Prize, because I just adored it. A novel based around Marina Abramovic's installation/performance 'The Artist is Present.' It explores ideas of stillness, meditation and enduring in a really beautiful way. I read the final chapters over a bowl of pho in a tiny Vietnamese place on Smith street.<br />
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2. The Handmaid's Tale- Margaret Atwood<br />
I finally read this after seeing images of women wearing handmaid's robes to protest anti-abortion bills in Texas. I found it so stressful I could hardly keep reading, nor stop reading. I found the scenes where Ofred's child is taken just gut-wrenching. I was also reading it during a very stressful period at work, so I'd get home from a long shift and become more anxious. Thanks, M Atwood.<br />
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3. A Field Guide to Getting Lost- Rebecca Solnit<br />
I'm not sure where Rebecca Solnit's been all my life. A series of essay exploring different ways of being lost. Beautiful concept and beautiful writing. I read this whilst staying with my uncle in the Barossa Valley. It inspired an off-piste wander through the pine forest behind the Seppelts family mausoleum.<br />
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4. Commonwealth- Ann Patchett<br />
Jason's dad and I disagreed wildly on this book, to the surprise of no one. I loved it. Jason' dad is book club is the polar opposite of my old bookclub, and we love to make fun of each other. His club are all business men, my bookclub is all women working in arts or health. His bookclub is run to strict rules and timelines. For example, each book chosen must be published in the preceding calendar year (there are special sub-clauses about translations). Each book is judged against a criteria matrix and the person whose book choice scores the lowest for the year is excluded from picking another book for 2 years!!! <br />
Our bookclub met roughly six to eight times per year. The book choices seemed to meander around topics for a few months. There was a mid-twentieth century phase and a lesbian gothic phase. There was certainly no scoring matrix. Anyway, suffice it to say that Peter's book club did not rate 'Commonwealth' very highly.<br />
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5. Burning your Boats- Angela Carter<br />
This was a book club book last year and it's stayed with me. Carter's writing is lush and challenging. Nora was just a wee baby at the time I read it. She fell asleep in her pram one afternoon and I got to sit in Everyday Coffee for 45 minutes (practically hours in baby-time!) reading stories and drinking coffee.Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11111164054228468866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4067271859274074818.post-44193333029466935262017-05-14T04:10:00.003-07:002017-05-14T04:10:48.448-07:00CommutingWhenever I am asked if I am enjoying working in Darwin, I reply, "My bike ride to work is amazing!"<br />
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And it really is.<br />
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The journey only takes about 10 minutes. After riding to the end of my street, I turn down a gravel track through the bush to the hospital. As Jason says, "You're practically mountain-biking!" Huge trees tower over the path to the left, and fronds of native grass brush against my legs. There are two wooden bridges crossing the creek. <br />
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I travel east in the early morning and west in the evening, so I'm always heading towards the rising or setting sun.<br />
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One Friday afternoon during the wet season I road home through a thunderstorm. It was a truly impressive storm. The lightening was so bright it hurt my eyes. I'd decided to take the bush track home because I thought I'd be more likely to be struck by lightening along the main road. But I hadn't really thought it through. One of bridges was in flood and I pedalled frantically across hoping I wouldn't be swept into the open jaws of a crocodile. <br />
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Much of the path was flooded too. At some parts the water was so high that my pedals were submerged at their lowest clip.<br />
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I hadn't considered the big open clearings between the trees until I raced across them perched upon a lightening rod.<br />
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I arrived home sweaty, spattered with mud and feeling extremely alive. Jason laughed at me. Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11111164054228468866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4067271859274074818.post-46937364293045184692016-07-23T05:04:00.001-07:002016-07-23T05:30:14.705-07:00Get happyI'm in the dying days of my maternity leave and I can already feel myself being swept up in work again. <br />
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Before I had Nora, everybody wanted to tell me how *hard* it would be. But I think working as an emergency doctor is unusually good preparation for caring for a baby. It's unpredictable, thankless and there's no end in sight. </div>
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Of course there are good bits too. So I want to buck the trend and write about these. You can just fill in the blanks about all the boring bits like changing nappies and shush-patting and breast pumps. </div>
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1. No-plastic fantastic</div>
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I developed an obsession with buying groceries sans packaging. Handily, there's a Friends of the Earth co-op at the end of my street that sells all sort of things by weight. I just take my own containers up there and buy oats, rice, tea, dishwashing liquid, flour, spices....It is extremely satisfying. Admittedly I got some dirty looks when I took my shopping bag full of disposable nappies in, but at least I'm trying. </div>
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Pen thinks I might get asked to do some crazy co-op shifts, like Abby and Ilana in Broad City.</div>
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2. Drinking coffee everyday. </div>
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Each morning Nora wakes up with the most enormous smile. I say, 'Good morning Nora!' and she pumps her little arms up and down in a frantic happy dance. <br />
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After breakfast I strap Nora to my chest and we walk down the street to get coffee (in a Keep Cup). This is pretty much the best thing ever. Nora has become quite the local celebrity, with her signature yellow beanie and her gummy grin. </div>
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3. Dancing in the living room</div>
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We have a very small living room but there is still room for dancing. We also do immersive drumming, where Nora sits on my lap and I drum along to a song. She gets completely entranced.</div>
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Here's a selection from my 'Nora dancing' playlist: </div>
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-Rockin' Robin </div>
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-Get Happy</div>
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-Istanbul (not Constantinople) </div>
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-Splish Splash</div>
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4. More painting classes!</div>
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I enjoyed my beginners painting course so much that I've gone back for more. This time I've painted a pair of pears. Pretty soon I will quit medicine and become a painter of fruit. </div>
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5. Weekends </div>
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The awesome thing about being on maternity leave is that you have every weekend off. Every single one! We even went to Bunnings last weekend, 'just like a regular person!' as I like to say. Here is Jason eyeing off his Bunnings sausages: </div>
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Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11111164054228468866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4067271859274074818.post-16005873742871400242016-05-06T00:52:00.005-07:002016-05-06T00:52:55.734-07:00idiom/tIn April I reached Peak Maternity Leave. Nora slept at times and on Wednesday evenings I rode up the Johnston street hill to Fitzroy to do painting classes.<br />
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I have no natural aptitude for visual arts. In high school I disliked it so much I once volunteered to clean the studio sinks instead of painting. I have since learnt to enjoy doing things I am bad at. <br />
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The painting classes were terribly fun. There was cheese, cake and apple cordial. Actually there was wine too but I'm not much of a drinker these days. The teacher was fabulous, he took us step by step through painting tonally (light and dark!) using colours (warm and cool!) and glazing (painting one colour over another colour!). This all culminated in my fairly rudimentary painting of an apple:<br />
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My favourite part of the painting class was learning the artists' idiom 'to pull it out of the fire': to rescue a painting from a seemingly catastrophic error. <br />
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I love learning new idioms. There are lots of great medical idioms, all terribly morbid. A way of avoid 'D' words (death, dying dead) when we are chatting with our colleagues. "Don't buy any green bananas", we say, "He's not fit for a two-staged haircut."<br />
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We are now taught to use the D words when we speak with patients and their families. This sits well with me. It always reminds me of my grandad's eulogy. My uncle Bill said, "Pat never beat around the bush. People didn't pass away, they died. And he did."<br />
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<br />Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11111164054228468866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4067271859274074818.post-59808707519098768052016-02-06T22:16:00.002-08:002016-02-06T22:16:30.746-08:00pool escapeJust returned from a quick 50 minute trip to the Fitzroy pool.<br />
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Sunday afternoon, 34 degrees, summer sounds DJs playing.<br />
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Pool is heaving with people.<br />
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Water runs slick over my sunscreened arms. <br />
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Boy crosses underneath me at the deep end, skimming the bottom of the pool.<br />
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<br />Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11111164054228468866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4067271859274074818.post-6096822486982402332016-01-17T19:22:00.002-08:002016-01-17T19:24:42.925-08:00New year with NoraBaby Nora was born 1 month ago. She is our smallest, softest team member.<br />
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It's been a nice slow time of year to be settling in to life with baby. It's always quiet in Collingwood around new year anyway. The cafes are closed, there's not much traffic on the roads and no one is rushing in the heat. <br />
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In the first few weeks I would go for a late afternoon walk around the streets. I walked slower than I've ever walked. And I felt so adventurous being outside in the world. I would amble very slowly around the block, sometimes down Gold street or just along Johnston street. Each afternoon I would try to return with a community update for Jason. Important community updates included:<br />
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<li>an enormous branch fell off the gum tree in the park opposite our house. A branch as big as a tree!</li>
<li>the old men's club around the corner of our house started advertising a small dinner menu. And the Sonsa man was there so it must be a Turkish club. He gave me a friendly wave. </li>
<li>there is a plum tree laden with fruit in an empty block on Keele street</li>
<li>bike-radios are a thing now! People are cycling with those small bluetooth stereos playing music</li>
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Pen says Nora sounds like a squeak toy when she mewls. <br />
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We love our baby Nora!!<br />
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<br />Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11111164054228468866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4067271859274074818.post-82027215074259356592016-01-04T02:51:00.001-08:002016-01-04T02:56:29.442-08:00reading 20152015 was a bit of a strange year of reading for me. Fewer novels and more non-fiction. Overall I read more than I thought I had.<br />
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I'll begin with my top 5:<br />
Beloved- Toni Morrison<br />
Brother of the More Famous Jack- Barbara Trapido<br />
The Luminaries- Eleanor Catton<br />
The Natural Way of Things- Charlotte Wood<br />
Slouching towards Bethlehem- Joan Didion<br />
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Books I read in 2015:<br />
Feminism Unfinished- Dorothy Sue Cobble, Linda Gordon, Astrid Henry<br />
As I Lay Dying- William Faulkner<br />
Big Magic- Elizabeth Gilbert<br />
The White Album- Joan Didion<br />
The Wife Drought- Annabel Crabbe<br />
M Train- Patti Smith<br />
The Shipping News- Annie Proulx<br />
The Thorn Birds- Colleen McCullough<br />
Beloved- Toni Morrison<br />
The Dressmaker- Rosalie Ham<br />
Green Valentine- Lili Wilkinson<br />
Birth Skills- Juju Sundin<br />
Feminism is for Everybody- bell hooks<br />
How to Be a Woman- Caitlin Moran<br />
My Brilliant Friend- Elena Ferrante<br />
The Intern- Gabrielle Tozer<br />
H is for Hawk- Helen McDonald<br />
Why so Slow? The Advancement of Women- Virginia Valian<br />
Cloudwish- Fiona Wood<br />
The Group- Mary McCarthy<br />
Frankie and Joely- Nova Weetman<br />
The Natural Way of Things- Charlotte Wood<br />
Kit's Wilderness- David Almond<br />
The Girl on the Train- Paula Hawkin<br />
The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction- Walter Benjamin<br />
Warning: the story of Cyclone Tracy- Sophie Cunningham<br />
Bad Behaviour- Rebecca Starford<br />
Brother of the more famous Jack- Barbara Trapido<br />
Bereft- Chris Womersley<br />
Fallen- Rochelle Siemienowicz<br />
The Red Tree- Caitlin R Kieran<br />
Us- David Nicholls<br />
The Luminaries- Eleanor Catton<br />
A Sport and a Pastime- James Salter<br />
The Book of Strange New Things- Michael Faber<br />
Laurinda- Alice Pung<br />
A Philosophy of Walking- Frederic Gros<br />
All That is Solid Melts into Air- Darragh McKeon<br />
Cry the Beloved Country- Alan Paton<br />
The Old Ways- Robert McFarland<br />
Death, Dying and Organ Transplantation- Miller and Truog<br />
No One belongs here more than you- Miranda July<br />
Knots and Crosses- Ian Rankin<br />
<br />Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11111164054228468866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4067271859274074818.post-75751454281074905892015-07-05T04:37:00.001-07:002015-07-05T04:46:26.679-07:00erratum Six months since I wrote here. But I have not been idle! <br />
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I passed the ICU fellowship exam. It's funny how it completely preoccupied me for several months and now it's just gone. Not that I expected to miss it. </div>
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Jason and I went to Tasmania for a week. We spent three days driving down from Devonport, staying at the Bay of Fires and then Freycinet. We had the most glorious morning's walk along the Bay of Fires. It was completely deserted but sunny enough to lie on the sand. In Freycinet we walked to Wineglass bay and the Hazards. The weather was spectacular- it rained but it wasn't cold. We saw seven rainbows. We huddled under a tree at wineglass bay eating our peanut butter and banana sandwiches, watching the rain and the birds and the rainbow over the bay. The waves crashed in completely straight line. </div>
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Then we went on to Hobart for Dark Mofo. What a great festival. I was obsessed with finding the perfect outfit to wear for the freezing winter festival, which is mostly at night. In the end I wore my puffer jacket underneath my ridiculous fashion jacket which i bought second hand in Helsinki. My Russian leather hat. Perfectly warm!</div>
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We made it to the Marina Abramovic exhibition on our last day. I loved all the 'audience participation' pieces. Sitting perfectly motionless wearing noise-cancelling head phones, standing with my head resting on a marble block, lying motionless. I loved them all! I am good at being motionless!</div>
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The centrepiece of the audience participation works is the bean & rice counting exercise. You enter an official looking ante-room and don a lab coat and noise-cancelling head phones. You go into larger room with a long, long table. In the middle of the table, running its entire length, is a pile of rice and beans. People in lab coats are already seated at benches on either side of the table. They don't look at you as you walk in. You are led to your place at the bench and given a small pile of rice and beans, taken from the large centre pile. </div>
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Your task is to count the number of rice grains and beans. </div>
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Initially the pile looks small but it seems to grow as you count. The task is clearly futile. Occasionally someone stands up to leave and their pile is swept back into the middle. This futility sits well with a meditative interpretation of the task. Counting as meditation. A long task as meditation. But then a compulsion to finish creeps in. The compulsion to keep counting, to complete the task.</div>
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I counted 881 beans. I gave up on the rice. </div>
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Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11111164054228468866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4067271859274074818.post-20240244019154465332015-01-23T20:21:00.000-08:002015-01-23T20:21:08.628-08:00favouritesLast night I went out to dinner with our friends Arla and Jesse and Bonnie and George. Arla and Jesse are just emerging from the baby-making madness, with a 3 1/2 year old and an 18 month old, and Bonnie and George are expecting their first in 8 weeks.<br />
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Arla was so full of beans. She'd just finished reading 'What I loved', one of my favourite books. I was so excited that she had the same reaction as me: reading it compulsively until late into the night, and then being so involved with the characters that she missed them when it was over. <br />
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It's also an Art book, and we talked happily about the bacchanalian art parties we would like to throw. So I think the next obvious book for her to read is Emly Bitto's 'The Strays', about Sunday and John Reed. <br />
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Anyway, Arla asked for some recommendations. Here they are, my favourite books from the last 3 years or so. <br />
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The Tin Drum- Gunter Grass<br />
Bossypants- Tina Fey<br />
May we be forgiven- AM Homes<br />
Just Kids- Patti Smith<br />
Slouching Towards Bethlehem- Joan Didion<br />
My Misspent Youth- Megham Daum<br />
My Brilliant Career- Miles Franklin<br />
Crossing to Safety- Wallace Stegner<br />
The Convalescent- Jessica Anthony<br />
Let the Great World Spin- Colum McCann<br />
Summertime- JM Coetzee<br />
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A rag-tag list, indeed.Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11111164054228468866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4067271859274074818.post-67166996308154780202014-10-19T04:41:00.000-07:002014-10-19T16:57:08.333-07:00Three good Saturdays<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The first Saturday we went to Bright for a wedding. Bright is actually paradise. Especially when it's sunny and the trees are blossoming. I wore a dress and sandals all weekend and threatened to go swimming. Jason and I went for a long walk along the river and wondered if the Bright hospital needs a critical care doctor and sonographer.</div>
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We went to a wedding in Wandiligong (Paradise North). We went off the reservation at the reception, down to the creek at the bottom of the property. I didn't quite go swimming:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZoVktYGh9BmpQzzbu47fU2tYclv0AlHiv0xo1kbtCx88cvkaM7zb2akZvjXkss-tuHlLIOWtKe7bq4L8M4sWSHrRb49tCNn1gXdH2GIMWGG4FlQAquN1BBSaIp8Zrlrr-L5sVmLC74v0m/s1600/J&L+bright+wedding.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZoVktYGh9BmpQzzbu47fU2tYclv0AlHiv0xo1kbtCx88cvkaM7zb2akZvjXkss-tuHlLIOWtKe7bq4L8M4sWSHrRb49tCNn1gXdH2GIMWGG4FlQAquN1BBSaIp8Zrlrr-L5sVmLC74v0m/s1600/J&L+bright+wedding.JPG" height="320" width="158" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOyXoaMB89mg4FHqgDGGh8C48Ej4gzfvFtZAxyyqHZaMF2kO4gcTVXt-bMOpj88U05aS0MabD08Ywgx589pXx1TIxZCGfEyPPB_w9_3cvdaGIQxK2_CHTRg_UScj2TT62hZ12x3LA9q70y/s1600/bright+creek.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOyXoaMB89mg4FHqgDGGh8C48Ej4gzfvFtZAxyyqHZaMF2kO4gcTVXt-bMOpj88U05aS0MabD08Ywgx589pXx1TIxZCGfEyPPB_w9_3cvdaGIQxK2_CHTRg_UScj2TT62hZ12x3LA9q70y/s1600/bright+creek.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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But I did attempt a Dirty-Dancing re-enactment. It turns out Jason's no Swayze.</div>
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Last weekend after a long ICU day we rode into the city to see Nihls Frahm, an amazing German pianist with all manner of amps. He played in the Melbourne festival hub, a big hot wooden box of amazing sound. It was a balmy night so we rode home the long way, zooming down the Yarra to bed. Then it was just a breezy (ha!) four more 13 hour shifts before some days off.<br />
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The third good Saturday was yesterday. We went to see 'Finding Vivian Maier' with our friends Arla and Jesse. It's a documentary about the Chicago street photographer who was discovered post-humously by a somewhat obnoxious young man called John Maloof. Vivian Maier was deeply peculiar. My new ambition is to become deeply peculiar. I think many of the best people are deeply peculiar. My sister Pen thinks I am definitely on track in this regard.<br />
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After the doco, we ate at Tonka (modern Indian) and went to hear Tuba Skinny (sleazy New Orleans street jazz). Jason and I walked home on another balmy night. As luck would have it, the Spring street gelati store was still open. So we ate gelati in the park, in the dark, listening to 'Luck be a Lady.'<br />
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIfinjlLPF4">Stick with me, Lady, I'm the guy that you came in with….</a><br />
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<br />Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11111164054228468866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4067271859274074818.post-70564013150466304112014-08-23T05:07:00.000-07:002014-08-23T05:07:15.770-07:00ghostbusting for a grateful public<br />
This year my job involves seven 13-hour shifts in a row, followed by about six days off. Followed by seven 13-hour nights shifts, followed by about six days off, ad infinitum. <div>
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So it's probably not hard to imagine that by working day 7, the wheels have started to fall off. Last week on Day 7, my resident and I had a long conversation about how medicine is an absurd profession. There are so many other fulfilling, worthwhile jobs that don't require basically constant study for over a decade plus horrendous working hours.</div>
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I was reminiscing about my year 10 aptitude test that suggested I should become an economist or an art critic. At the time I thought they were <i>terrible</i> suggestions but now I marvel at how much I'd love those jobs. My resident was keen on events planning or floristry. </div>
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At one point I realised that the medical student <i>thought we were joking</i>. I wheeled around to her, "You think this is a joke?!? It's NOT TOO LATE FOR YOU!!" </div>
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Into this ballyhoo wandered my favourite characters in the ICU, the ghostbusters. Two middle aged men in grey jumpsuits. One inches along with a radar pointed at the upper walls, whilst his partner records readings on a clipboard. I'm am always astounded that no one else finds this hilarious. Every time I ask if they've found any ghosts and every time they tell me not to worry, they're just checking for water vapour. </div>
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Of course, this time I asked how I could become a ghostbuster. </div>
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Today we went to Trentham to celebrate Jason's dad's birthday. For the past few weeks, my mum kept telling us about Dr Wisewould from Trentham. When my mum worked at Ballarat Base Hospital in the 1960s, Dr Wisewould would visit each Friday afternoon dressed in her gumboots and long black farming raincoat. This had clearly made an impression on mum.</div>
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I reckon this Dr Wisewould must have had plenty of gumption, as well as gumboots, to be the sole doctor in the Trentham community. She'd have done it all- delivering their babies, caring for their mad and their dying. And the Trentham community appreciated her. Look what we found in the main street, "erected by a grateful public":</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBZHMUGI1D1K6r-LdehTYzzHibzjMYe9iDeC1NVGB6KydUHl16-XEUxElLAbZphrBR2rUr1n0_M6TRbzKf1pwjvP2tg2A4PtZoZvMYh3OMsOdyovc284Zp57O1RBy-XLTxDHwXi-MQspJK/s1600/Dr+wisewould.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBZHMUGI1D1K6r-LdehTYzzHibzjMYe9iDeC1NVGB6KydUHl16-XEUxElLAbZphrBR2rUr1n0_M6TRbzKf1pwjvP2tg2A4PtZoZvMYh3OMsOdyovc284Zp57O1RBy-XLTxDHwXi-MQspJK/s1600/Dr+wisewould.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11111164054228468866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4067271859274074818.post-6433496922957497092014-08-10T05:45:00.002-07:002014-08-23T04:15:18.658-07:00et cetera1. Sunday DIY<br />
Proper winter again today. We walked to the hardware store to get some wood to hang our awesome canvas throw/picture:<br />
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It was so sunny on the way there, then on the way back it TURNED! Windy horrible rain in the face, running down Wellington street with a 3 metre picture rail. You can't turn corners very quickly with a 3 metre picture rail. </div>
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2. Walking, not sitting. </div>
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If I'd been asked ten years ago what I'd look would look for in a job, I don't think I would have asked for a job that requires standing and walking around. But now I realise that THIS IS AMAZING! My job requires standing and walking for at least a third of the day. imagine if I'd gone into academia or, in fact, most other jobs, I would be sitting down all the time.</div>
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I think I would struggle to solve problems if I had to sit down to them. I like walking around the ICU, mulling over something tangentially, to reach a solution. But perhaps this is a cognitive weakness too. I'm easily distracted, and I trained in ED which involves constant distractions and now I can't think without distractions. But the walking helps, too. </div>
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3. October arts</div>
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Having completely failed at MIFF, I am feeling pretty pleased with my Melbourne Festival selection:<br />
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<br />Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11111164054228468866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4067271859274074818.post-26336552583712210402014-07-27T05:32:00.002-07:002014-07-27T05:32:21.545-07:00Winter Things1. If on a winter's night a traveller…<br />
Reading for next week's book club meeting.<br />
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2. Walking in Mornington Peninsula.<br />
Jason and I went down to Red Hill on the weekend. We walked to Bushranger's bay and Cape Schanck on Saturday and then ate the tasting plate at the Red Hill Cheese shop as reward. The walk was fantastic, heaps of kangaroos bounding across the trailer. We also saw a very handsome fox with a bushy tail, just like Fantastic Mr Fox. <br />
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3. Mahler 1.<br />
We went to the MSO on Thursday to hear Mahler 1. I loved it. I haven't been to a classical music concert for ages. Seeing some of my old MYO friends on stage had me reminiscing about band camps past. <br />
I loved hearing Jason's impressions of the concert, as he'd never been to a symphony orchestra concert before. He kept looking at the players getting their instruments ready to come in, "You just lift your instrument up, get ready with your partner, and then…no…not now…put your instrument down again." I had to admit it's pretty hilarious to see a middle aged man in a dinner suit getting ready to play the triangle.<br />
We went past Blue Train on the way to the concert hall and I was sad to see that they don't serve lentil dahl anymore! Luckily I have more than $4 to spend on dinner these days. (It cost $8 but was big enough to share between 2 people).<br />
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4. The Returned.<br />
Spooky French drama series.<br />
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5. Wearing a thin cotton dress over a neck to toe merino wool body suit.<br />
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6. Daphne making the whole flat smell divine. Jason says, "I can't smell anything. Does it smell like grass?"<br />
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<br />Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11111164054228468866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4067271859274074818.post-73397274040259531682014-05-18T06:15:00.001-07:002014-05-18T06:15:12.733-07:00Autumn things1. 'The Strays'<br />
Emily Bitto's debut novel about the Melbourne art scene in the 1930s-1940s. A rambling house and garden, the Surrey Dive, evenings of Dionysian excess in the artists' commune. A great read.<br />
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2. Welcome to Night Vale.<br />
I may be the last person on the Internet to catch this podcast. Jason and I started listening on our trip to Finland. Although it's set in a small desert community, it seemed well suited to the isolated arctic landscape of Lapland. All Hail the Glow Cloud.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx9BUx63yEbcYCBsz6rOAmKVxhq3myKTTAeaSalL-NVqcs9Grr1qt9UQraytn4aucP-DXeELa-CPKb2mYwQJgEpfHWR-2aiX0gBIMweRMXwQp1wmAbXH16k5dvMmvsYJMurTS80CrIM-Sr/s1600/IMG_0761.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx9BUx63yEbcYCBsz6rOAmKVxhq3myKTTAeaSalL-NVqcs9Grr1qt9UQraytn4aucP-DXeELa-CPKb2mYwQJgEpfHWR-2aiX0gBIMweRMXwQp1wmAbXH16k5dvMmvsYJMurTS80CrIM-Sr/s1600/IMG_0761.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a>**</div>
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3. Lake Elizabeth, Forrest.<br />
Jason and I went camping this weekend in the Otways, to catch some stars and some mountain-biking. Lake Elizabeth was created in the early 50s by a landslide into the Goulbourn river. The dead trees in this lake reflect so well that it feels like walking around an immensely deep crater.<br />
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4. Lady-night<br />
I caught up with Tash, Mel and Mandy on Friday night and it was FUN. Tash drunkenly ordered a bottle of Shangiovese. So of course I had to tell Jason's Sean Connery-DIY joke ("I have only my shelf to blame").<br />
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** The least terrible of my photos from our hotel window.Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11111164054228468866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4067271859274074818.post-63056373849734091092014-05-15T04:57:00.001-07:002014-05-15T04:57:26.615-07:00The Department of Re-animation<br />
Welcome to the Department of Re-Animation<br />
I'm sorry that it's such bad news<br />
There is only one completely pain-free state.<br />
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Whatever it takes? Everything!<br />
I could smell it from the waiting room.<br />
Where'd cub 7 go? Oh, right.<br />
No, she's the one who just looks dead.<br />
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Life is a time bomb<br />
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Shall we begin?<br />
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Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11111164054228468866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4067271859274074818.post-18575187716460867152014-03-10T05:07:00.001-07:002014-03-10T05:07:28.550-07:00I am having a nice timeJason and I went to Golden Plains for the weekend. We did our own thing, our own quiet thing I suppose. Arrived at 5pm and found a lovely spot in the blue gums. Put up our tent. I love putting up our tent. It's an old three-man tent, which is very easy to put up and roomy but cosy inside.<br />
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Then packed our cold bag with some beers and ciders and wandered down to the stage, running into Gen and her friends on the way. By 7pm the sun was streaming golden through the amphitheatre. We went on the Meredith Eye (ferris wheel) to look out over the plains. Yep, them plains be golden.<br />
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The highlight of the first evening was Charles Bradley and his extraordinaries. (I thought they were extraordinaires, but he kept say 'extraordinaries', so I'm running with it). The Extraordinaries were extraordinary. Such a tight band.<br />
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After Flyong Lotus we retired to bed. Happily, I'd bought some earplugs and I slept like a very happy dead woman, waking up 8 hours later. <br />
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Sunday was just an awesome, beautiful day. There was a man with a sign saying, "I am having a nice time" and I should have taken a photo with him. For I, too, was having a nice time. <br />
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We saw the first couple of acts and then heard Michael Leunig give the keynote address. He spoke about 'sleeping on country', a topic close to my own heart. He spoke of the Finke desert and central Australia and stars and meteorites. He told us to be careful that the world didn't pack us down too tight, to have quiet time and let the art come. <br />
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We met our friends Sarah and Dom while Hiatus Kayote were playing. Then Jason and I went off the property and off -programme, hiking down the steep ridge to the river. It was a hot day and the water was glorious. We floated, watching the water sparkle in the sun and the birds hop around on the bank. <br />
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I was super-happy by the time we made it back to the 'Sup. I bought a Zooper Dooper (they cut the top off for me like in primary school) and danced to Los Coronas.<br />
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Then time for a kip in the afternoon heat. I read 'A Girl is a Half-formed Thing' while Jason slept. <br />
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The evening: Osaka Monaurail, our old housemate Alex DJ-ing, Public Enemy and Cut Copy. Public Enemy missed the mark a bit. They are definitely just funding their retirements now. They announced: "Get your smart phones out and go to public enemy dot com slash free, to get your free gift." Pause. "I don't see many phones out." Pause "Ya'll got wifi here??"<br />
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There's no wifi here, Chuck D. This be Golden Plains.<br />
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<br />Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11111164054228468866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4067271859274074818.post-77268493026599766902014-02-20T20:37:00.001-08:002014-02-20T20:58:11.835-08:00Diagnosis WenckebachI had a brief foray into illness this week. I'd had palpitations for several days that I tried to ignore because I was doing night shifts. A weird heart-jumping feeling that makes me want to hold onto my chest.<br />
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By Tuesday night they were really bothering me, so my friend Mel was going to do an ECG, but of course by the time we'd started another Medical Emergency Team call went off. So we trundled off to the wards instead.<br />
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The next night I actually did get an ECG, revealing: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OS-4Fe5zZOU">DIAGNOSIS WENCKEBACH</a>. The arrhythmia with the JT soundtrack!!<br />
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I was a bit freaked out. The nurse in charge saw my trace on the monitor and tried to send me home. I went to ED to ask them to do some bloods. They were like, "Sure, we'll take your bloods…<i>whilst you are in a cubicle on cardiac monitoring until morning!</i>" I didn't want cardiac monitoring and a code blue went off. So I walked moderately fast to the code, cos running gives me palpitations, and ran the code with a surreptitious hand on my chest.<br />
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After that it was a hectic night till morning. I finally went down to ED, had bloods and an echo. Jason came to the hospital to be supportive. The cardiologist said I have a high grade Wenchebach (high grade!!), which is probably benign because I'm young and not collapsing. A phenomena of young athletes! Young athletes with high vagal tone!! Too bad I'm not actually a young athlete. <br />
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Jason drove me home humming, "Diagnosis Wenckebach (AV type I mobitz)….My PR interval it elongates…."<br />
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And then the best part- Jason bought me gelati!! Perhaps I should get sick more often.Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11111164054228468866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4067271859274074818.post-12931250363273230752014-02-16T04:37:00.002-08:002014-02-16T04:37:40.005-08:00Make Hay While the Sun ShinesThe roster gods have finally smiled upon me and I have had some weekends off this summer. I know better than to waste them.<br />
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This weekend we went to Roseville, Blairgowrie with our friends. Jason and I camped on the soccer pitch to stay away from crying babies and barking dogs. Jenn asked me how I slept, I gleefully stretched and told her, "I had the sleep of a childless woman."<br />
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We swam in the beautiful rock hole and walked in the paths through the dunes.<br />
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We walked along the wild backbeach at Rye.<br />
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We ate pie at Johnny Ripe, on a hill overlooking their orchard.<br />
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Jason found nautical ephemera at the antique shop.<br />
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We swam at Rosebud, and lay on the beach reading.<br />
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We napped in our bedroom in the late afternoon sun.<br />
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And then we went to the Shadow Electric cinema at the convent and watched 'Hearts of Darkness'. Hundreds of bats flew over the courtyard and then the movie started.<br />
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Yes this is how all the weekends should be.<br />
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<br />Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11111164054228468866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4067271859274074818.post-43685882807229591542014-02-01T17:54:00.000-08:002014-02-01T17:54:03.459-08:00school for feministsI went to a private, all-girls high school. It was a great school, I had a fantastic education and lots of adventures. But I still find myself reflecting on the strange lack of education about feminism.<br />
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The school's unofficial motto was, 'Girls can do anything!' And they did: alumni regularly came back to speak about their experiences as banking executives, army officers, vets in Africa and activists. We went on compulsory hikes, played football in our compulsory PE classes and built solar-powered cars. It was quite a broad education- 18 months of our religious education was devoted to major world religions and we studied history and philosophy.<br />
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But there was no teaching on feminism, its history or current challenges. We were taught that we could do anything. We were not taught that some people would assume we couldn't do things because we were women. Or that doing some things would be harder for us because we are women. When I hit university, I was unprepared for sexism and had no working knowledge of feminism. This felt like a strange hole in my education, a crucial blind-spot.<br />
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I'm not sure that my 'feminist education' would have been better at a co-ed high school, but at least I wouldn't have been shielded from the casual sexism I have to negotiate in adult life.Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11111164054228468866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4067271859274074818.post-73671561609785382752014-01-22T05:40:00.001-08:002014-01-22T05:40:37.542-08:00Good night.Last week I finished my Last Emergency Night Shift Ever (Hopefully. Until consultants do night shifts. Perhaps 2025?).<div>
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Of course, I've got plenty more ICU nights to work. But nightshift in the Emergency Department is a particularly offensive beast, so it's worth marking the event. </div>
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There's nothing like coming on to a department with at least 25 people waiting (read: any metropolitan department I've ever worked in), receiving handover of a further 30 patients, and then the usual updates: "The police have phoned in two section 10s. One's drunk, the other was wandering on the highway with a knife. They can't find the knife. Oh, and did they tell you about the bat phone? There's a GCS 3, ETA 10 minutes. I've cleared resus 3."</div>
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And then it's on. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07Y0cy-nvAg">No Sleep till Brooklyn.</a> Or 10am. Whichever is later. </div>
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But you know, there are some good times. Like the time I convinced a nurse to eat three cherry ripes and then breathalyse himself. (He got 0.01). Or the lovely family who sat with their dying father and sang Ava Maria, whilst the ice-addled patient in the next cubicle hurled obscenities at everyone. Or the polite patient who bled all over the waiting room and then offered to go and clean it up because he has hepatitis C. </div>
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Anyway, I could go on but the interesting stuff just ain't fit for sharing. And the polite patients bear mentioning only because they are the stark minority. </div>
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Finishing my last night shift I felt so tired but euphoric, it reminded me of coming down after a huge night when I was 20 or 22. I remember standing in the shower listening to Idioteque, and just bawling. Smiling and bawling. </div>
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So perhaps I'll leave you with <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7bIYSVpYSU">this.</a> </div>
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Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11111164054228468866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4067271859274074818.post-40439889453368935732013-12-28T16:38:00.002-08:002013-12-28T16:38:49.826-08:00sit-down-restJason is a connoisseur of the nap. However he would never call it a nap.<br />
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Instead, he has a 'sit-down-rest.' After a long day at work he will say, "Aah. I need a sit-down-rest." And he sits on the couch with a glass of water, staring. Or watching something mindless on TV.<br />
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More tiring situations call for a 'lie-down-rest'. Then, he will lie on the couch with his eyes shut, sometimes curling up on his side. You see my confusion with actual napping.<br />
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In the lead up to exams he prepares with 'mental study.' This is lying on the bed with his eyes shut, gently snoring, next to a textbook.<br />
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I have a growing appreciation for the sit-down-rest. But my true talent comes from my mother. She is renowned for falling asleep in any situation that requires her to sit still for more than about 15 minutes. In the car, on the couch, at the movies.<br />
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This is a really useful skill for long-haul travel. On a trip back from LA, Jason took a sleeping pill at around 11pm because he's terrible at sleeping on planes. I went off to sleep sans sleeping pill and woke at 9am the next morning. That's TEN HOURS of sleep.<br />
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Meanwhile, Jason hadn't slept a wink but was confused enough from the sleeping pill that he couldn't follow the in-flight movies. I suppose what he really needed was a nice lie-down-rest.<br />
<br />Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11111164054228468866noreply@blogger.com0