Numbats with Hats

 

I added the Santa hats to Lyn Alcock's** beautiful photo as a gesture towards the festive season and shared it on the FaBWA group page I manage. Not long after I noticed several other Numbats with Santa hats. I don't know whether they copied my idea, or whether this is something that appears on environmental group pages at Christmas time. In the end it doesn't matter whose idea it was - the more people who fall in love with these little guys and care enough to help us stop our government from burning them and their hollow log homes the better.

Here are a couple more. I don't think they are as well executed as mine - but I'm probably biased (she says as she pointlessly searches for a laughing emoji).

To be fair - the Conservation Council of WA claimed the Numbat as their mascot long before we did. We ended up with a Numbat because the devastating 'prescribed' burn of about 65 of them and their habitat really got our members fired up. The outrage was so intense our membership grew from about 500 to 1500 in a couple of months.

Ok so this isn't a Numbat - it's 13 year old Molly in a Christmas elf's costume. She was being such a good sport for our hosts and her owners at Christmas day lunch, I though she deserved some recognition. 

Our capacity to anthropomorphise animals is boundless but so enjoyable (and funny).

**Thanks to Lyn Alcock for FaBWA's Numbat photo. Lyn allows us to use all of her photos for free. She has many and just wants to help us help them.

NOTE: No animals were harmed.

Life After Work

Life without a job is great - apart from the lack of income of course. I didn't realise how much my job had been stressing me out. I'm in the sweet spot now - feeling more energised whilst living off my savings and a generous tax return. I suppose I'll start feeling stressed again when the money starts to run out. But for now, it's a luxury to have my time and mind free of work related dramas. There are plenty of other dramas going on in the world to occupy me anyway.

I finally got the edits done and emailed my article back to the publisher of the C. G. Jung Institute's journal. This is what I saw when I opened the document after the publisher's edits. Eeek! How could I have got so many things wrong? It was a bit overwhelming until I realised that most were commas, hyphens and formatting. I stuck to my guns stylistically. I found it a bit annoying having to think about that to be honest. On a couple of occasions I heard myself saying: 'NO! I said it like that on purpose!' I'm sure this is normal for anyone who hasn't worked much with an editor. To be fair there weren't too many suggested stylistic changes. 

It took a lot longer than I expected to track down several academic references because web links were no longer valid. I enjoy that kind of sleuthing. It was really uncanny that one in particular led back to a book I had in my prison art library. I really struggled to find the reference for this quote by Aboriginal elder, Wandjuk Marika:

I am not painting just for my pleasure; there is the meaning, knowledge and power. This is the earthly painting for the creation and for the land story. The land is not empty, the land is full of knowledge, full of story, full of goodness, full of energy, full of power. Earth is our mother, the land is not empty. There is the story I am telling you – special, sacred, important. (Marika, 1995, p. 125)

When I finally tracked it down after following a couple of different sources - this is the image I saw and I realised where I had seen this book. It had been right under my nose all along but ironically when I realised I needed it, I no longer had access. Thank God for Google Books is all I can say, because that's where I eventually found the quote and the page number. 

The other uncanny thing that happened re my job was that my work watch stopped - just like that! I only ever wore a watch to work so I knew what the time was in the art room. We used to have clocks but got sick of replacing the batteries because the guys would take them for their TV remotes.

Another interesting development - I am involved in a community dance project that spans a couple of years and will eventually travel across the state from west to east. Too much to say now so I will do a post about it at some stage. I'm still not sure what I am contributing but it's something to do with 'storyboarding' the narrative.

I'm still enjoying my eBike and just spent my Xmas money from my Mum on some funky panniers for it so I can ride the 5km into town on the old rail tracks and go shopping, or 15km to the beach and take my swimming gear. The bike was a big investment for me but it has already been worth it.

Apart from that - I'm growing lettuces, cucumbers and tomatoes, and landscaping the soak to create a small island so the ducks have somewhere to nest away from the foxes if we get another wet winter and it fills up. Waiting for my booster shot - which is kind of frustrating. We have been vaccinated for months but our state has been a fortress so we have't been exposed to COVID. It means it was a waste of time being vaccinated and now I need a booster. This virus is still raging around the globe and I just don't know where it will end. It does seem to be a good antidote to rampant capitalism though, and that's the best thing I can say about it. 

Magic Pudding Climate Policy

Our gobsmackingly ridiculous government has finally made a pathetic attempt to announce a 'climate policy' - net zero by 2050 - just in time for COP 26. Of course it won't do anything to make it possible to live on a burning planet, but more importantly it won't disadvantage any sector of the economy either, particularly their buddies in fossil fuel or mining. It will also keep the farmers happy, even though many have seen the writing on the wall and started moving across to new ways of doing things.

This policy is so gutless, so nebulous and so perfect in its ability to feed everyone - it's been dubbed the 'Magic Pudding Climate Policy'*. I'd already tagged it thus before one of my favourite ABC journos called it.

Oh yeh, and because the government really 'struggled' to get agreement between the 2 coalition parties that enble it to hold power, this amazing policy has a 'badge of authenticity'. FFS. Do they really think we are that stupid. Obviously many are, because they have continued to vote for them - through 20+ years of climate wars in this country.

I hope our prime minister's arse gets roasted at the next election.

* The concept behind Norman Lindsay's Magic Pudding is that it replaces itself and therefore has the ability to feed (please) everyone.

Image 1: Parody photo-collage by author.

Image 2: Norman Lindsay's 'Magic Pudding', 1945.

One day at a time

After dropping a bombshell at my place of employment last week I've been met with silence. I haven't heard from anyone there. It's a bit disturbing, especially when you have dreams that your boss is really angry and won't forgive you. Inevitable I guess. I'm dreading going back to retrieve some personal items and say goodbye.

I'm still working through the necessities of getting my health back on track. Some of my time is spent attending naturopathic and medical appointments, and probably will be for some time. But my partner and I went for a boogie board bash in slightly challenging conditions yesterday. My stamina was poor because the set of muscles required for this activity haven't been engaged for months, but the water was a crystal clear turquoise under a clear blue sky in light winds. Submerging myself in the ocean always makes me feel better. Getting tumbled is also good for severely inflamed and clogged sinuses. I got 5 hours respite before symptoms kicked in again.

I'm slowly moving towards more creative pursuits and finally finished off my quokka. He is now part of a poster I am designing to educate people about the relationship between trees and rain, basically that LESS TREES = LESS RAIN.

I had to share this unbelievably cute photo of a baby wombat peering out of its mother's pouch. 

Original artwork by author.

Photo courtesy of the Conservation Council, ACT. 

A door closes

Well I've done it - I've quit my well-paying, 2 day a week job. 

I can't afford to and there are many other reasons I should stay, but these are all 'head' constructs. The 'heart' reality is that my heart is no longer in it and the stress has been making me ill.

I sent the email to my boss this morning. It was a difficult email to write and I know it will have huge flow on effects. I console myself with the knowledge that I gave everything I could for 5 years and 1 school term. I'm exhausted and I can't do it any more.

I needed the space to sort out what was really going on. In the end I needed less space than I thought because I made the decision in about 2 weeks. One of the key indicators I am on the wrong road is that I haven't been doing anything creatively for myself for quite a while. Serendipitously it was this meme I randomly came across on Facebook that triggered my decision - and the question I asked myself: 

wtf am I doing trying to function in a completely dysfunctional uncreative patriarchal system?

I couldn't find an acceptable answer, so here I am.

What's next? I don't know. I have some vague idea about completing my Certificate IV in Mental Health - I've done a few units already. Other than that, nothing. I'll keep engaging in my environmental activism but that's voluntary. 

I guess I'll go along with the medical model for a while and get a heart ultrasound done (though they found nothing abnormal when I had one last year, after misdiagnosing an ulcer - probably stress-related) and do a heart stress test as well. I had to request to be bulk-billed. Technically I am on the 'poverty-line' in regards to income, but I don't get any concessions. My first visit to a doctor a few weeks ago to get steroid medication for severe headaches as a result of chronic sinus issues cost me $126 - of which only $75 was returned to me.

I'll invest some more money in my Naturopath who, unlike the medical system, seems to have a more nuanced appreciation of the mechanisms of hypothyroidism (not all TSHs* are the same).  She'll get some blood tests done to assess what is going on and we can go from there. She also knows a lot more about diet than the doctor I saw who told me that cow's milk has more calcium than soy so is better for you. A quick Google will tell you otherwise (cow's milk also has more fat unless you use no-fat, which tastes like cardboard):

Advice like this doesn't increase my confidence in the medical system. I must say that I am very grateful for their input when it comes to the mechanical side of things - they are brilliant at reconstructing broken bodies, removing blockages and bits that don't work any more, and replacing them with bits that do work. But when it comes to an appreciation of the holistic aspects of the body-mind relationship, they generally have a long way to go.

My partner tells me that you have to close one door before another opens. We'll see what's next.

*Thyroid Stimulating Hormone

Images: Referencing on images.

Chart: I've lost the reference but a quick Google will probably get you there. 

Poets vs Politicians

As an artist I really resonate with this. 

The destruction of a world dominated by left-brained logic and rationalism is damning proof of its veracity.

And it has focused my mind on something I regularly forget. So I will now ask myself - wtf am I doing trying to function in a completely dysfunctional uncreative patriarchal system? 

No wonder I'm sick.

Time to re-evaluate and make some new choices.

Image: Another random Facebook meme, with credits to the wise man who spoke the words.

People Are Like Flowers

I should be at work but I'm home because I've hit a bit of a 'brick wall'. I suspect it's just burnout - something like chronic or adrenal fatigue. I'm going to get some medical input but figure it's most likely going to be a case of me taking time out and putting myself back together again.

It was inevitable and it has happened before. Of course I can't afford to take time off work because I'm a casual, but my boss is being as supportive as he can be. It won't replace my 2 days a week income but he is looking at allowing me to work on some documents for the new training package for my art course at home and wants me back as soon as I am able. You can't ask for more than that.

Image: Random photo of Mona Meier's from the internet, words by me.