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Sunday 23rd June 2019

I’ve had a great week. I spent time with my family. I had a few social occasions. I did a fair bit of cooking and had a float, a massage and got to one exercise class.

I finished my corrections so I now have a midweek ‘holiday’. One day a week to do holiday things. I am disciplining myself to avoid work on those days, but it’s tricky, when you are passionate about your work to avoid the many ways people contact for work, even just going down the street on a weekend you will bump into a work related conversation. I am aiming for sustainability this year in my projects and it starts with me.

I did not take one photo this week.

I caught up with one of the original co-founders of Alt_Art this week, Xelious. It was amazing to hear about his journey since being with us at The VRI and after meeting with him, I was curious about one of his jobs with a company called Replika. AI that learns who you are and opens intimate conversation – with yourself? I want to learn more. Users are reporting connection.

Last night I went to the Startup Gippsland Pitch night. It was great to see the 40 or so businesses pitch their ideas. Elena Kelareva and her team have made a huge impact on Gippsland in the short time they’ve been in Warragul. It’s wonderful to see the opportunity and capacity building. The audience was also full of supportive people and it was a great social event. It’s such a promising thing for our region to be getting around.

This week I’ve been listening to three books – Your Daughters of Freedom by Clare Wright, The Water Cure by Sophie Mackintosh and Everybody Lies by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz. I’ve been reading The Strawberry Thief by Joanne Harris and These Things Happen by Greg Fleet.

Interesting things I’ve listened to this week have been:

Podcasts

https://www.thegloaming.com.au/podcast/june2019/euansemple – lots to reflect on.

I also revisited this podcast cause I was driving and it came on. Such a good one though – probably my favourite from The Gloaming:

https://www.thegloaming.com.au/podcast/2018/7/16/hackerhustlerhipstersept2018

TED talks are apparently according to the first mentioned podcast are a bit passe now, I’ve heard this from a lot of people but I won’t give up my subscription. I love hearing predictions about the future:

Favourite TED Talk this week

Now I’m off to watch the latest episode of The Handmaid’s Tale. I hope you have a good week.

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Moments

Each week lots of little things happen that give me big joy. It’s challenging to describe my work week sometimes, so much happens….

I watched my friend Jane deliver her first yoga class here to a room packed with people.  Jane headed off to India for two months to explore and be trained as a yoga teacher.  We advertised her karma classes little over a week before. Lots of positive feedback. On a personal note it was the first yoga class I’ve attended for around 30 years (apart from YouTube classes). I loved it! Just got to get to bed early so I can get up.

I went to a meeting for Get Cheffed. Two of our chefs know each other very well as Megan was Manny’s apprentice. As the friendly banter went on, Manny very genuinely said he hopes Megan beats him because he trained her to be better than him. That’s a boss I want to see training our youth. As the team ticks off all the details that have gone into this epic undertaking I feel in awe of all the work, the quality of the work and the generosity of our foodie and business community. An impressive lineup of people from crowdfunding supporters, businesses sponsors, food industry celebrities and some govt funds is going to equal something very special for Gippsland and our team has plowed through the many stages of putting this on.

An irreplaceable belonging went missing this week. Our crew were horrified and went into action to track it down. I’m not sure who or how, but the item was returned within hours of it’s disappearance. A bit of detective work and an honest phone call led to the item returned to its owner with huge smiles all round.

A past participant returned to prepare nibbles for our Art Exhibition opening. He’d joined Alt_Art for a meeting and one of the artists had told him about a job opportunity and he got the job! He was so grateful he came back to give a few hours of time and $$ for ingredients to make a delicious feast for our event.

I was given a ticket to Pause Fest. I enjoyed all the speakers I heard. I bumped into a past student who I remembered loved to draw. He has turned his passion into a multi-media company and his work is amazing.

Lots of other stuff happened too but I’ve ran out of time.

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Car Parks

Last Sunday seems like a month ago! A great and full week. My daughter started a new job that she loves – I love it when good things happen for my loved ones.

I went for float #3 and I have to say it just gets better.  I had a massage as well, so I’ve been extremely relaxed!

 

I joined the 5th birthday celebrations of the amazing Paper Dolls last night and it was laughter, fun and good company. The Paper Dolls are are an empowering dance ensemble who practice in Morwell and perform all over Gippsland. ReActivate HQ space was transformed. Here’s a pic of the delightful Poppy Playdate training us to applaud at the appropriate moment.

 

This is my favourite clip from 2014 #GetSunflowered season. We’ve been getting heaps of enquiries about the sunflowers – fingers crossed for next season.

This week the carpark reality set in. The posters promised 90 new carparks but the loss of trees is a sad side effect.  Here is a before and after. Fortunately it looks like the plane trees will remain, but our courtyard will be less protected and need more watering.

This is what it used to be like:

This is now:

I have to wonder about carparks. I use them so before I complain, maybe it’s time to walk more.

 

It reminds me of the pop up park in Tarwin St. The loss of four carparks seemed enough for it’s removal.

 

I still love this great social media (satire) comment made by Alt_Art co-director Steph (who also started a new job this week-well done!):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This weeks local news:

http://www.latrobevalleyexpress.com.au/story/5203007/tarwin-street-institution-gone-with-closure-of-tanias-deli/

Things that make you go mmmmmm

The eclipse brought many changes and most of them were happy ones for me. The challenging ones have now transformed me and will bring the goods in the long run. The Leo eclipse was in my 8th house can you tell?

My favourite TED talk for this emotional eclipse week was:

The gift and power of emotional courage