Monthly Archives: December 2022

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2022 in 40 questions

1. What did you do in 2022 that you’d never done before?
Managed to tear my right calf muscle. I felt it tear. That rates as one of the worst sensations of my life. Turns out it was 5cm long which is about half of my calf muscle.

Rehab was looooooooonnnnnnng.

2. Did you keep your new year resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
Never make them as I think they’re kinda stupid. If you want to change something, change it.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
I have two new second cousins. I think that’s right. They’re my cousins’ kids so that makes them my second cousins right?

4. Did anyone close to you die?
Yes.

5. What countries did you visit?
None.

But fingers crossed, America in 2023.

6. What would you like to have in 2023 that you lacked in 2022?
No injuries!

7. What date from 2022 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
June 17, the day my friend Tim died.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Asking for help.

9. What was your biggest failure?
Taking so long to realise that I needed help.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
See Q.1.

I also had my first bout of tonsillitis in about 10 years. Juno got very sick at the start of the year with a viral chest infection (not COVID) and unfortunately ended up with a secondary bacterial ear infection that punctured her ear drum so goo was coming out 🤢. I was trying to deal with her hair that had all this horrible goo in it and I stupidly touched my face. Sigh.

And I finally got COVID. 😷

11. What was the best thing you bought?
This totally rocking navy blue dress with a gold line design all over it that’s very art deco.

12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?
The women who decided to run as teals in the federal election. While I’m not on the conservative of politics at all, I admire them for having the guts to just run with it. They really took it up to the federal Liberal party and, in turn, had to put up with so much misogynistic rubbish. It was fantastic to see so many male politicians lose to them.

I really hope they go on to join forces and become a political party in their own right. The Liberals and Nationals are doing a shit job of representing the conservative side of politics. In a two party system, which we’re stuck with, having a strong, viable opposition is critical.

13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?
Well, what Putin is doing is pretty horrific. I think the saddest thing is that he’s actually destroying Russia rather than the Ukraine. The Ukraine will be helped to recover by countries all over the world once this is over but Russia will have lost so much. So many of their brilliant young people have left and have no intentions of going back.

14. Where did most of your money go?
As usual, cycling gear because I love buying it and it’s something I get a lot of use of. Discovered a new brand: IRIS. Totally love their pride jersey. And they make some really great socks.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
I dunno. Nothing is jumping to mind.

16. What song will always remind you of 2022?
Not a song but I listened to Tim Minchin’s album Apart Together a lot.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder? At the moment happier.
ii. thinner or fatter? Sigh. Fatter.
iii. richer or poorer? I always say poorer because I never seem to have any savings. However, I’m actually earning more money these days so richer actually.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
There’s never enough time in the day to ride my bike.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Self-sabotaging. I’m so good at it. It’s why I can’t ever work as a freelance writer. I always, always screw it up.

20. How did you spend Christmas?
In bed, sick. After avoiding it for almost three years I finally got COVID. It has little to recommend it.

21. What was your favorite month of 2022?
Definitely not June.

I was struggling with work, my calf rehab and not being able to ride. At the start of June, it became too much and I fell apart. I ended up with a referral to a therapist, a script for anti-depressants and two weeks off work.

Then Tim died.

I finally made it physically back into the office in the last week of June, determined to turn things around and be a productive and useful member of the team. The very next day I was told my position was being made redundant.

So yeah, definitely not June.

22. Did you fall in love in 2022?
Nope.

23. How many one-night stands?
*scoffs*

24. What was your favourite TV programme?
The Sandman. It was so, so good. I’m sure another re-watch is in order. Late contender is Wednesday. Excellent casting, great writing and Thing was just amazing.

And what do these two shows have in common? Gwendoline Christie. 😍

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
Who has the energy to waste on something like that?

26. What was the best book you read?
I really enjoyed The Ghosts of Paris by Tara Moss. She’s such a great writer and Billie Walker is an excellent, excellent creation. I think I managed to read the whole thing in two days. The first Billie Walker book (Dead Man Switch in Australia, War Widow in America) is great too.

Also loved Fairy Tale by Stephen King. I’ve pretty much gone off him these days but this book is fabulous. It reminded me very strongly of my favourite book of his, The Talisman. I had real trouble putting it down and I wish Mr King would write more books like this. He’s an excellent fantasy writer.

Hannah Gadsby’s Ten Steps to Nanette: A memoir situation is a fantastic read as well. It’s not a straight autobiography. There are a few chapters that are definitely more essays about particular topics than anything autobiographical but they still are autobiographical if you get what I mean?

27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Took me long enough but I finally started using Spotify.

28. What did you want and get?
Shimano Ultegra Di2 groupset on Bertie. I don’t know how I did it but I managed to make it happen. And I love it.

30. What was your favourite film of this year?
Without a doubt, hands down… Everything Everywhere All at Once.

Waymond Wang: So, even though you have broken my heart yet again, I wanted to say, in another life, I would have really liked just doing laundry and taxes with you.

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I finally managed to celebrate my birthday this year! After two lockdown birthdays, it was nice to actually be able to do something. I had birthday dinner with friends the weekend before my birthday.

For my birthday, I was taken for a three night stay at the Lakeside Villas at Crittenden Estate on the Mornington Peninsula. We had lunch at Ten Minutes by Tractor on my birthday, which was amazing Next day was spent at the Peninsula Hot Springs being pampered. Leaving there, I discovered I had a message on my phone to call about a job I’d interviewed for. It seems that August 26 is a great day for me getting new jobs as it’s happened twice now.

I turned 50.

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Less self-sabotage which I think got me made redundant. But if I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have the great job I have now. So eh…

Still, it is my intention to work on changing that particular habit.

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2022?
I actually had to buy things. I’m back in the office full time now so I can’t simply slob about in tracksuit pants and t-shirts. I had to go out and buy some decent clothes for work. I’ve even got nice sandals!

34. What kept you sane?
Venlafaxine and therapy.

One thing that I find interesting about venlafaxine is one of its off-script uses is to manage chronic pain. For some people, it actually either turns off or significantly reduces the pain. For me, it’s pretty much killed the sciatica on my right side but that’s had the unfortunate side effect of allowing my hip flexor/adhesion issues on my left to become the star of my pain show, which suggests what I’m experiencing in my hip is controlled by a different part of my brain than the sciatica. Human brains and bodies are just fascinating! But, also I think sometimes pretty poorly designed. (An aside… Venlafaxine is a serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors – a SNRI not an SSRI which apparently don’t work that well for me.)

Going back to therapy was interesting. I’ve been doing different scales and unsurprisingly, I’ve been diagnosed with PTSD. It’s pretty mild and it doesn’t present in the “normal” fashion but it explains my fast and complete mental collapse in June. I knew what I was experiencing felt very different to my prior depressive episodes but that it also wasn’t anxiety.

So, it turns out I need a pretty specific set of circumstances to trigger me but they’re there and I’m still going to therapy to understand how to better manage this and to work out techniques so it doesn’t overwhelm me again.

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Eh…

36. What political issue stirred you the most?
I’m still annoyed that Fiona Patten didn’t get re-elected to state government.

37. Who did you miss?
My American peeps. For all the awfulness and pain of Tim dying, it did get us talking again and it made me realise how much I miss them.

38. Who was the best new person you met?
Ana and Shae. We were all recruited together and managed to start on the same day. I very much appreciate having other people who are in the same situation as me. We all looked as equally freaked out as each other.

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2022.
It’s not weakness to ask for help when you need it.

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
Meh…