Showing posts with label tea. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tea. Show all posts

Sunday, July 21, 2013

Feeling better about things.


Astute readers will note that I took a break last Sunday. It was my birthday (almost) and I was off having adventures. If you don’t follow me on Facebook you’re missing out on really important information like this, and also amusing screen shots of the things people have googled to find Hum Drum Plum so I honestly don’t know what you’re thinking of on that front.

This week I want to blog about serious things. But I’m not gonna. My brain is filled with a hundred opinions about asylum seekers and politics, atheism and education, feminism and media… but those opinions are starting to take their toll. I feel exhausted sometimes by the weight of my own thoughts and occasionally you’ve just got to have a bit of fun, sometimes you have to turn off your brain (and step away from the computer) and let the shit of the world pass you by for a few hours.

So here’s a list of things that will make you feel better about any given topic.

1.     Step 1. Cut up a banana, step 2. Stab a banana piece with a fork, step 3. Dip piece into nutella jar, step 4. Omnomnom, step 5. Nirvana.




2.     Play board games (not Monopoly) with trusted loved ones. If anyone starts getting aggressively competitive, make them sit on a tiny chair in the corner until they’ve calmed down.

This is an actual photo of me actually playing board games with my actual siblings.
It was a lot more exciting than we are making it look.

3.     Watch The Emperor’s New Groove.



4.     Use safe mode on youtube, it hides all the comments. 




5.     Buy a packet of pink Hubba Bubba. Chew each piece until it *just* loses its flavour. Spit it out. Repeat. This, for me, is a personal vendetta against adults from my childhood, who made me get my money’s worth on every last piece of quickly-flavourless bubblegum. 




6.     Use the hashtag “cleaneating” on your instagram photos of cheese, chocolate and hot chips. 




7.     Make tea in a teapot. You’re fucking worth it.

8.     Hide all the people on your facebook feed who are wrong all the time.

9.  Go for a long drive in the countryside. Perhaps you have a friend who lives three hours away and would gladly welcome you for a weekend in a small town first founded in the 1840s and known for its rich grain and cotton industries… 




10. Make a playlist of your favourite up-tempo songs. This is not a workout playlist. No, it is not a housework playlist. These are not the songs you’ll listen to on the way to work. This is your dance mix. You will dance to this list when you’re home alone. You will crank it loud, you will sing along, you will jump up and touch the ceiling, and spin around in your socks. No one is watching, and if they were, they’d want to join in.

11. Buy someone a gift for no reason at all.

12. Buy yourself a gift for any reason you can think of. 




13. If you’re the kind of person who is into this sort of thing, do your hair and makeup real special on a day you will see no other living soul. Be glamorous for the only person whose opinion matters… you.

14. Put clean sheets on your bed and go to bed early with a book. This is one of the best cures for grumpiness in the whole world. Don’t knock it til you’ve tried it.




15.  Make something. Build it out of lego, or playdough or sand. Bake a cake if you want, or write something down. There is a whole world of tiny achievements you can create yourself. Today I picked some snow peas I grew myself and I feel like the Queen of the world.

16. Let people be wrong on the internet. They’ll always be wrong, don’t let them make you mad too.

17. When the banana is all gone, keep eating the nutella with the fork. You’re a grown human, do what you want man.

18. Write a list of things you’ve rarely or never done. And then take your own advice.

19. Tell someone you love them. 



Friday, March 23, 2012

Country/Girl: Actually Doing It

Actually doing it.

And when I say it, I don’t mean sex.

And if I did, that wouldn’t be any of your business.

Which is why I am not blogging about sex. I'm blogging about the country. 

So. After months of talking about it, of blogging about it, of planning and packing and being actually quite calm with occasional bouts of crazy… I’ve done it. I’ve moved to the country.

Specifically, I have moved to a town of about 10 000 people called Dalby. You may have heard of Dalby, for the first time, just recently, on your radio. Because 3 days after I moved here, Triple J announced they are bringing the One Night Stand here, and now they won’t stop talking about it. They are even doing ‘Dalby facts’. Apparently Dalby is famous for crumbed steak, which begs the question, what is crumbed steak? I mean I understand the principle, it’s delicious steak, wrapped in less delicious crumbs. I just don’t understand the reasoning, the why of it, if you will. Why would anyone ruin a perfectly good steak with crumbs? I’m not sure. I shall do some research and report back.

Triple J also reported on the Criterion pub’s famous Burger Challenge. Now this I can attest to. I went to the Criterion last night, where about 20 people were all set to do this fabled Burger Challenge. As the burgers came out of the kitchen, a piece of mind exploded. They are so huge, so indescribably giant that for about 10 minutes all I could say was, “that’s not a burger that’s…” and there my sentence would end. I don’t know what they were, but they were more food then I would eat in four or five days. The challenge is to eat one in half an hour I think. Again, the why of this baffles me, I have no idea why anyone would want to do this. Except maybe to really piss of starving people.

So other than the excitement of Triple J bringing live music to a town just after I move to it (coincidence? I think not), what else has been happening? Well. Truth be told, a whole lot of not much. Isn’t that why you move to the country? It’s quiet here, and peaceful. Sometimes the main road smells like manure, but we can’t hold that against the road, or indeed Dalby. Sometimes a kingfisher sits in my backyard and sings. Sometimes I write, a lot of the time I watch TV on my laptop. It’s been like an excellent little holiday where no one expects me to do anything or be anywhere and everyday Boyfriend comes home and makes me laugh.

Soon I will need to get ‘gainful employment’, as I believe it’s called. Soon I will need to do stuff that isn’t just watching TV. But for now, I am having a gloriously relaxed time, walking around town, writing around my laptop and drinking tea around my house.

If you ever get sick of your life, or don’t know what you’re doing with it, or aren’t sure why you have it, may I highly recommend you go to the country for a little while, if only to encourage Triple J to put Matt Corby in it too.