Fat Bunny

  • Clean Room Chronicles Pt 1…

    Maybe the reason I find hotel rooms so relaxing is because they are not full of stuff, unlike my room at the moment.

    So I’m going to take a weekend off to completely spring clean my room. Wash, vacuum, dust blah blah blah, all the small jobs that I’ve neglected lately. I know that I sleep better in a clean and organized space, and my sleep has been pretty bad recently for a lot of reasons. and giving my brain a break from the clutter. Especially my desk, which is at the end of my bed, so constantly in view. I wish I had room for a separate office, but I don’t.

    So let’s remove as much of the problem as we can by clearing all the flat surfaces, or at least the visible ones, and then dumping it all in a big pile.

    I often think all my clutter problems would be resolved by having one extra room. Of course that way madness lies, and hiding clutter isn’t actually the solution, but sometimes it would be nice.

    Tune in tomorrow for Part 2, when I will either freak out and runaway, or get frustrated and just start throwing things out. There is no sensible middle ground.

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  • Stranger than Fiction…

    Over the past two years I’ve decimated my library. This 90% reduction has come about by mostly getting rid of all fiction books, which made sense when I realized I rarely reread fiction. So I’ve gone from 1000s of books to 100s, and the hundreds are mostly reference books, because I revisit art,design, craft etc books especially since you can dive in and out.

    I also have an ever growing collection of self development/lifestyle books, but I tend to cull those fairly often once I feel I’ve gotten everything I’m going to get out of them.

    If I can stop buying boxes of remaindered books from online sites and just borrow books from libraries I’d eventually have even more empty shelf space. However the selection in rural libraries can be quite broad, which is a problem for those of us with niche interests.

    From the $65au box of books that arrived this morning I will keep less than half. Some will get read and given away, some will get half read and given away, a few will get abandoned in coffeeshops. A few will end up in my reference shelves, and some will end up repurposed, because I have books about that too.

    *note: When I said decimated I meant the modern term not the roman version. If you want to be pedantic I guess it was me keeping one in every ten books so an anti-decimation?

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  • My Mom is Ghost Rider…

    I find it difficult to be in the same room as my mother for more than 15mins before arguments start. I should probably mention my mother finds herself constantly surrounded by people who can’t be around her without starting an argument. She’s very unlucky like that, I guess she just attracts argumentative people?

    So why is she Ghost Rider? It’s the penance stare, that special ability to make someone experience are the pain and suffering they have caused others. Except with my mother it’s me seeing her still showing objectionable behaviors that she taught me, and that it’s taken me years to expel from myself.

    Spending time with her is exactly like spending time with 20 year old me, and I hated that guy then, and now I’m ashamed to have been him. It’s not my job to change her, and honestly if she was capable of being a better person she probably shouldn’t have left it so long.

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  • Daze…

    I honestly thought it was Friday today (it’s Tuesday), the constantly juggling everything singlehanded doesn’t require knowing what day it is apparently. Dates matter, the days they fall on not so much. My calendar is filled with little markers on the numbers, I rarely even notice if it has a little F or W above it.

    Also I suspect at the moment I’m trying to run out the clock on December, I’ve got a “I’m going to make it through this year if it kills me” mentality going on. I even have a theme song about it.

    I like to listen to it in the car while driving to appointments I don’t want to go to, and endless visits to the farm to do work that’s mentally and physically ruining me.

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  • Before Winter…

    I really wanted to have the back deck done for Christmas. I want that quintessential Australian boxing day vibe, sitting around listening to a sportsball game on the wireless, drinking cold beverages, while the youngsters play totem tennis and destroy the lawn with the slip n slide.

    But at the moment I’m mostly just looking at it through the window. A collection of bits clutter every corner, desperately needing to be turned into the the alfresco hipster cafe bar of my dreams.

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  • It’s Not My Fault…

    I’m great at procrastinating, but terrible at relaxing. And that seems really unfair, I could live with not getting something done if I could enjoy not doing it.

    At the moment I’m blaming all lack of progress today on people not showing up to buy my sofa. If the people had showed up a 9am when they said they would, then by now I would have moved my dining table inside, cleaned and painted 4 dining chairs and made a tasty lunch. But it’s now 2pm, I’ve done nothing and I’m hungry.

    Update: Couch now sold, but they can’t collect till tomorrow, but at least I can go get something to eat now.

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  • Five Minute Jobs

    One of the biggest changes to the way I do things has been achieved by just doing quick jobs when I think of them. I used to have lists full of small jobs that needed doing, I suspect some of which took longer to put on the list than they would’ve taken.

    In previous years I’ve piled Christmas gifts away so I can panic rap them on Christmas eve, because extra stress is what everyone wants at this time of year. But this year as gifts arrive, I wrap them straight away and put them under the tree.

    It’s been so much less work than usual, and it’s definitely my new way of doing things going forward.

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  • Now Swallow!

    Another day another test. It’s amazing the list of things you can find wrong with you, that aren’t actually the things causing the problems you were worried about.

    Anyway blessed be the public health care system and all who make her work. I’ll toast you all with this gritty cup of mint flavored goop.

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  • Ghosts of Christmas Past…

    I’m trying to be all tinsel and baubles this year, because I feel like all the ghosts arrived at the same time to tag team me.

    Do any children of divorce enjoy Christmas? Competitive gift giving, one year here one year there, 12 days of pressure. Every Christmas from 8-18 was incrementally worse, and it didn’t occur to me why until years later.

    Recently I’ve flipped between trying to Christmas traditionally, and not celebrating it at all. I’m flopping back to trying again this year, maybe it’s the almost adult kids, maybe it’s the loss of my father, maybe it’s the trauma. Whatever the reason for this particular season, I’m trying to provide a few happy memories if possible, but definitely less drama for my own kids.

    Maybe it’s the ghost of Christmas yet to come that’s really weighing on me. There’s nothing like the loss of a parent to say “your next!”. I don’t know how many of these chances I have left, so I’m trying. I even ordered an online Christmas feast delivery in a box, which is the modern equivalent of opening a window and telling a street urchin to get you a turkey.

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  • I’ve Got the Beard For It…

    So maybe I should become a Viking? Wear a tunic, learn to throw an axe, and so on. It might be nice to have an interest that gets me out and about.

    I’m much more likely to plat my beard and go to a renaissance fair than I am to barrack for a sports team. I believe if you want to get out and meet people these are pretty much the only options:

    Sports

    Religion

    Viking

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