Jean V. Russell

Thank you for brightening my days. xx

Discovery and acceptance
Relinquishing hold
Regaining control
Nurturing, emergence, confidence, balance

Moon, stars, smoke
Soft hands and a gentle heart
Beauty in each moment’s velocity
Quantum conundrums and fluid space-time

Slipping now to another world…
Bonne nuit.

Next went back to TAFE to do some website updates and generally strain my brain.

Somehow managed to crunch my teeth together in a weird way and chipped my tooth while eating lunch. Hurting this morn so might need a trip to the dentist soon

Got a nice surprise delivered to work as a thank you for going above and beyond when making a TVC for the Samaritans. Amazing how good a small gift and handwritten card can make you feel.

After picking up the boys from school I went out to Edgeworth to pickup a missed delivery from the depot: My camera tripod woo hoo! Annoying thing was I was home all day Monday except for the school pickup run, and of course on the way back I passed the truck leaving my street after leaving a missed delivery card. So it took 45 mins to go get it from depot instead cause I wasn’t going to be around rest of the week. Always happens

Then you’ll be proud we went for a bike ride:

Boys got picked up by the outlaws (ex-inlaws) and I went out to see Tex. Great night lots of laughs. Damn he’s a big dude, but most of the band members were really short, and the normal height people sat down to play which just over emphasized his size. It was kinda funny.

Tinkered on the cello after I got home

No progress on the song yet I’m afraid..

Well the day started with a bacon and egg roll on the deck yummo. Then out to the studio for some mixing before my client arrived.

Forked out more $$$ on a new DSP powered plugin that beautifully emulates an analogue mastering tape machine. Threw that over the mixes and it added that ‘glue’ and ‘warm sparkle’ that is so subtle but so important. Then recorded some mandolin and my arch-enemy-banned-from-the-studio-instrument the accordion! Made an exception today and it was actually quite bearable. (I love a cartoon by Leunig where people are entering the firey gates of hell and the devil says “welcome to hell, here’s your accordion”)

After I got the kids from school I crashed in bed for a nap, still catching up from no sleep on Sat night.

Went down to Coles in my HOLDEN for some supplies then cooked up a vego red curry on the wok burner of the barbie – so much better than the lame ceramic cooktop inside.

Unfortunately the photo makes it look like a bowl of vomit but it actually tasted pretty good… Loving that it’s warm enough again to be eating outside.
The kids watched Junior MasterBrat while I washed up, then off to bed for an early night at 9pm, yet here I am tired as all hell and not sleeping at 11.45. Back to TAFE tomorrow. I’ll need to be very careful with my time management over the next 2 weeks in the lead up to Fat as Butter and TEDx and make sure I have plenty of time out and rest.

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This morning I made pancakes with maple syrup for the kids, then they went back to their mum’s at 8am. Now the house is dead quiet and still and I’m in the withdrawal zone.

Woke up feeling exhausted and foggy today. I know what I need and want to achieve but no amount of willpower or caffeine is helping. Not even putting on The Killers cranked up…

Went up to Charlestown Square after lunch to buy a cable I needed for a nerdy thing, and saw some people from work up there running info stalls (which I graciously declined to do). Had a chat to Justine for a while over a coffee. Nearly ran someone over in the carpark because I was tired and distracted. Now crashed back into bed and giving in to exhaustion and sleep after pain relief. Maybe I will be better after a nap. At least I have the day off and no little people making demands of me.

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Started the day with glamorous activities such as washing and pegging out. Then allowed myself the luxury of being tired and lazy for a while. Interrupted by web hosting clients who couldn’t access their email. Spent almost an hour investigating for them being baffled before finding out that they couldn’t access any web pages either and therefore had no Internet access *roll eyes*….

Pulled some weeds out of the path and tied back those low hanging ferns across the walkway.

I can feel myself losing weight and my muscles beginning to bulk up – doesn’t take much for me once I get active.

My dog Dief came over for a visit (Diefenbaker) Nice to see him

I got cooking – first off prepared a coriander & cumin based curry to put in the slow cooker for dinner (hint: this is the “yum” bit

And wound up putting some of it on my white shirt instead doh! Can’t take me anywhere

Then got some mini pizzas on for lunch although it turned out Matt’s friend doesn’t like cheese doh! Cheeseless pizza for him!

(Hint: “yum” part 2

Here endeth the entertainment. For now……

…… Oh my god that dinner was yummy but I was bad and went back for 2nds and oh my god I’m soooooo fuuuuuulll bleaghhhh !

Now star wars Ep 3 time

Whoa! Watch out R2!

Then couldn’t face it so started assembling another bookcase so I actually had somewhere to organise things to. After much allen keying, screwdriving and gluing it started to take shape:

Liz and Mum called and asked us to meet them for ice cream so we hopped on our bikes and went to Kiwi Cones for a helping of decadence. Then over to the lake for some stone throwing:

Home to finish the bookcase:

Responded patiently to some emails from the boss before telling her that I will do the things she asked next week and suggesting she should figure out her problems herself in the meantime using google because… I am on holidays! (Are you proud of me? Huh huh??)

Then mowed the lawn around the driveway…

and was on a roll so did the back reserve as well – damn that was a job and a half…

Then delivered some flowers to Renee’s Mum for her birthday.

After that brought the washing in then it was BBQ time

Then time for Star Wars Ep II

Oh and bugger me there’s still a huge pile of clothes on my bed haha!

So I think I got my motivation back Feeling good again.

Thinking about climbing that big liquid amber out the back. We had one in the back yard when I was a kid and I used to climb it up to 3 stories high and look down at the world from a new perspective.

Today will be about organisation, ruthlessly ditching the clutter, preparing the way…

Went to a technical production meeting for TedXNewy for which we’re doing a multicam video switch streaming live on the web. Shaping up to be a very interesting job..

Came home and went for a walk with Matt along the lake down to the bank and real estate to tell them about leaky roof. Tried skimming stones but it was too windy:

Jarrod had arrived home from ice skating in the meantime then they played outside while I researched tech specs for the TED production.

Then off to my parent’s place at Valentine to see my sister Liz and her kids who were up from Sydney. Cathy came along too. Good to catch up for a family dinner…..

The cousins love seeing each other

Then home and reading with the boys before bed. Had lots of time alone today to think and maybe I overthought some things.. as i tend to. Tired now..