blissripple

Posted by trish on Feb 22, 2012 in Blog | 1 comment

Love is the Seventh Wave

(Sting)

In the empire of the senses
You’re the queen of all you survey
All the cities all the nations
Everything that falls your way
There is a deeper wave than this
That you don’t understand
There is a deeper wave than this
Tugging at your hand

Every ripple on the ocean
Every leaf on every tree
Every sand dune in the desert
Every power we never see
There is a deeper wave than this
Swelling in the world
There is a deeper wave than this
Listen to me girl

Feel it rising in the cities
Feel it sweeping over land
Over borders, over frontiers
Nothing will its power withstand
There is no deeper wave than this
Rising in the world
There is no deeper wave than this
Listen to me girl

All the bloodshed, all the anger
All the weapons, all the greed
All the armies, all the missiles
All the symbols of our fear
There is a deeper wave than this
Rising in the world
There is a deeper wave than this
Listen to me girl

At the still point of destruction
At the centre of the fury
All the angels, all the devils
All around us can’t you see
There is a deeper wave than this
Rising in the land
There is a deeper wave than this
Nothing will withstand

I say love is the seventh wave

My favourite chorus is the one in bold.  If I have this song playing in the car at just the right volume, with the sun coming through the window at just the right angle, those words can reduce me to tears of joy.  Feel it rising in the cities, feel it sweeping overland… goosebumps.

Since writing that first post about happiness and joy, I have been inundated with messages from the universe – and from all the lovely people who commented on my blog – telling me that this is something that so many people are feeling right now: the need to edit out any unnecessary sadness, anger and angst, and instead concentrate on the things that bring us happiness and peace.  It’s not about shutting yourself off completely from the world, and it’s not about ceasing to care about others.  It’s about looking after yourself by limiting your exposure to those things that make you feel bad, that you don’t really need to be exposed to.  It’s pretty simple.

The first words:

In the empire of the senses
You’re the queen of all you survey

… have never made more sense to me than they do today.  You are in charge of the way you feel.  You are in charge of your feelings and emotions.  Nobody else can tell you how to feel, only you can do that.  And if you’ve got your head buried in tweets from all those journalists and hacks you follow on Twitter then it’s your own damn fault that you’ve fallen into a funk over the state of federal politics.

I’ve just started a new Twitter feed – @blissripple.  I made that word up.  To me, it describes how happiness and joy and bliss can be sent out from a central point in waves that other people can feel.  A blissripple can be an emotion or a fragrance or a sound, a response to some kind of event or happening… it’s energy that comes from somewhere and can be felt as it hits you and passes through your body.  And then it keeps going and going, catching people in its endless, outward journey, getting stronger and bigger as it goes.

Does that sound a bit twee?  A bit cutesy?

I don’t care, because for me it perfectly describes what I’m going to try to do more of with my life… send out blissripples and to keep my mind and my heart open to feeling them when blissripples come to me.

I’m going to use @blissripple to follow tweeters who only tweet blissful, happy, positive, joyful things.  I’m keeping @eatshootblog open for everything else, but I’m about to unsubscribe to a bunch of tweeters who seem overly obsessed with Australian politics.

more on being happy

Posted by trish on Feb 21, 2012 in Blog | 5 comments

The VMCA (aka Vanessa) said something interesting in the comments -

It never ceases to amaze me how all those tragic stories draw readers like flies to honey, yet write a blog that is filled to the brim with happiness and light and you run the risk of ‘not keeping it real’ or being called a fraud, because afterall how could *anyone* be so  happy all the time.

One of the happiest, most positive blogs I have ever read was The Pioneer Woman’s blog.  She never complained about anything.  She celebrated the simplest things.  She loved her children and husband and her life on the ranch and was unapologetically up-beat, all the time.  The only reason I’ve stopped subscribing to her blog is that I found it all a bit much – the cookbook and the novel and the associated book tours, the tv show, the guest bloggers, the movie deal, the weekends at the Ranch that I could never attend…  even though she was still writing charming little anecdotes about life on the land, they were buried under what seemed to be, I don’t know, some kind of marketing machine gone crazy.  I’m sure she’s still keeping it real, I’m sure she’s not a fraud, and I sincerely wish her the best of luck.  But she has taken happy happy joy joy and made it somehow a bit unreachable, a bit commercial, a bit much.

I’m grateful for all your comments on that last blog.  It’s true, everyone seems to be on a bit of a high these days and have less time for all the bullshit that we used to allow in.  I’m completely zoning out on all the crap in the media at the moment (Australian politics is a hot mess right now) and I have also reduced the amount of negative ‘noise’ in my life by unsubscribing to people in the virtual world as well as a few people in the real world. I thought I would feel a bit guilty about that, but I don’t.  I feel good.

I think the most important thing to do – when you’re trying to find more happiness and attempting to feel more gratitude in your life -  is to NOT feel guilty about that.

You know when you’re going through a bad time, whether it’s to do with health, finance or family, there’s always some helpful bugger ready to point out that “there are people worse off than you” as though that’s supposed to make you feel better?

That always bothered me – that you couldn’t wallow in your self-pity or ask for a bit of sympathy because someone else decided that really, in the great scheme of things, your problems are miniscule.

So it would also bother me if someone told me I couldn’t wallow in my good mood, soak in my good fortune, bask in my happiness, marinade in my merriment, celebrate my contentment.  I don’t want to gloat, I don’t want to be thought of as a smug prat.  But it is difficult to be outwardly happy and positive (ie to fill your blog with posts about How Great Things Are Right Now) without turning people off. Especially here in Australia, where keeping other people’s feet firmly on the ground (and cutting down the Tall Poppies) is a national passtime.

Which begs the question… why blog about happiness and contentment if you’re worried about what people think?  Why blog about happiness and contentment at all?  What’s your point, exactly, and what are you trying to achieve?  Are you trying to encourage people to be happier?  Are you attempting to set an example and inspire people to try to follow it?

OK so it begs a couple of questions.

I’m still just thinking out loud.  I’m trying to come up with a way to celebrate and enjoy this time in my life, and to blog about it without sounding like somebody who has lost touch with reality.  I just want to show how grateful I am for all the blessings I have, but I don’t know how to do that.  I need practice.  I’ve never felt like this before,  I don’t know how to do it.

I love that quote, the one Phillipa added from India Knight:

“The older I get the more I just want to sit next to radiators.  You know, things that generate warmth.  If that makes me selfish, then so be it.  But I’m much happier for it.”

‘Sitting Next to Radiators” – that would make a good title for a new blog, don’t you think?

happy happy joy joy

Posted by trish on Feb 20, 2012 in Blog | 5 comments

One of the many bloggers whose blogs I read without any expectation or hope that they might read mine in return* recently linked to her three or four favourite bloggers.  She is a beautiful writer, and her favourites are also beautiful writers, and I clicked through to read their blogs because of her recommendation.

All of the bloggers she linked to write beautifully of their relentlessly tragic, sad, depressing, desperate lives.  I read a few posts on each of their pages before I had to click over to Pinterest and search for “puppies” to cheer myself up.

My husband has been a fan of Manchester United since he can remember.  We got Pay TV so he could watch the English Premier League.  I confess to not being completely up to date on what’s been happening in the EPL but I do know that some of the players have been involved in racial vilification that has in turn sparked some extremely ugly behaviour from the fans and grossly inadequate responses from the football officials.  It has gotten so bad that PJ has decided to stop watching the EPL until something is done about the racism in English football.  This is a man who would stay up for a 4am kick-off between Man-U and Liverpool.  He is now not watching football.

The thing is, misery-bloggers will keep on writing their cathartic stories and the football players will keep being complete arseholes, but me and PJ are opting out.  Because this is 2012, the Year of the Dragon, and a year of enormous, positive change for us.  We are in such a happy place right now, everything is going well, and to be frank we just don’t want to invite anything into our life that doesn’t match our current mood.  No, we’re not just covering our ears and saying “la-la-la-la-la-la-we-can’t-hear-you” or burying our head in the sand until global warming stops happening.  I’m just saying that we are making a conscious effort to avoid any extra sadness, anger, frustration, pettiness, conflict etc.

I am trying very hard not to yell at the traffic.  I am also trying very hard not to still feel intense anger about my former brother in law and what he did to my sister.  I am trying every day to not let the kids’ silly arguments about whose turn it is to do the dishwasher get under my skin.  I am trying to surround myself with wonderful friends, beautiful things, uplifting music, romantic comedies, 1200 thread count cotton sheets and comfortable shoes.  I don’t gain anything from reading a beautifully written blog post about the death of a five year old boy.  I don’t need to read about somebody else’s marriage woes in order to better appreciate my own life.  I don’t want to know that English football fans have been booing the black guy – who had the audacity to report his abuser – every time he touches the ball.

Now that the kids have gone back to school I have thrown myself back in to writing and editing my book.  I am about to rip out several chapters’ worth of sub-plot and re-write an entire plot device.  My head needs to be clear of noise. I need to stay focussed and positive and clear in my mind about what I am doing.  I have enough distractions in my life with the two puppies sleeping at my feet.

*she doesn’t read my blog, so if you are reading this, you are not her.  I just wanted to make this distinction because a bunch of you are seriously wonderful writers and I didn’t want you thinking that this was about you.

Goosebumps

Posted by trish on Feb 14, 2012 in Blog | 0 comments

I had never seen this video of Whitney Houston singing the American National Anthem at the Superbowl until this week.  I have never in my life had goosebumps all over my body in response to hearing somebody sing.  Incredible.

(sorry, I don’t know where the video is… just google Whitney Houston American National Anthem Superbowl and you’ll see it, if you’re interested).

impulse purchase

Posted by trish on Feb 9, 2012 in Blog | 2 comments

I know, I know, I said I was only going to buy things that are grey or navy blue… but who can resist a  scarf?  Especially one this pretty?  Some impulses just cannot be ignored.

My dear friend Sophie made this.  See the little red stitching along the bottom?

It’s a ladybird.  So, there’s my little flash of red.  This is going to look gorgeous with all my new navy tops.  I saw it, and bought it faster than you can say “That’s going to make you look particularly chic on your bike this autumn, Trish.”

Sophie has been making beautiful things to sell in her etsy store for a few years now.  Proceeds from the sale of her clothes and things ‘for in the home’ go to supporting the work of the doctors at the Melbourne Royal Children’s Hospital’s Stroke Unit.  She’s just re-branded and she is now known as ‘The White House’.  Sophie is yet to blog about the meaning behind the new name, but she has hinted at opening a real, live, actual shop one day and I haven’t been this excited for her since she told me she was pregnant with her little boy…

Isn’t he divine?

Mini-break

Posted by trish on Feb 9, 2012 in Blog | 2 comments

I’m off to Byron Bay tomorrow, to meet up with a girlfriend (Brooke) and then attend the 40th birthday party of another old school friend of ours, Dan.  Dan and Brooke both came to Canberra for my 40th, he and I both went to Sydney for Brooke’s last May, and now we’re all going to be in Byron Bay for his and that just seems fair and right, doesn’t it?  Brooke and I are going to stay in a beach house that belongs to another dear school friend, Penny (who lives in Brisbane), but Penny can’t come because she had a prior engagement, in Sydney.

For those of you who don’t know, Byron Bay is on the northern NSW coast, not far south of the NSW/Queensland border, where it’s always tropical and warm and lush and green.  I’ll be taking my camera and practicing my landscape photography.

The theme of the party, by the way, is “80s Yacht Rock”.  So I’m thinking navy/white striped tshirt, wide-leg pants, sailor’s cap and enormous white-framed sunglasses.  Hilarious.

on editing

Posted by trish on Feb 6, 2012 in Blog | 0 comments

The editing of the First Draft is coming along well.  Those of you who’ve read it will know that it’s heavy on dialogue, light on descriptive passages.  I’ve had feedback from a few friends who have suggested it could be improved by a few more breaks in the conversation to talk about what is going on in that scene, what’s going on inside the main character’s head, maybe a little about the setting and what is happening around them.  I think it’s good advice, so I’m going through and adding paragraphs and sentences here and there to break it all up.  Not surprisingly there’s a word for these breaks – they’re called ‘beats’ in editor-speak. (I’ve been reading my how-to editing books!)

I’ve had a bit of feedback about the syntax and structure, and some about whether or not a particular character would behave/speak in that way.  It’s tricky to give your characters different voices so that they don’t all just sound like the same person speaking.  I’m going through the text to make sure everyone has their own sayings and indiosyncracies and perhaps try and tweak the cadence if I can be that clever.  Hard work.  But rewarding.

To give you some idea of how much more work I have in front of me, the novel is a bit like a fixer-upper house, a big renovation project.  The ‘bones’ are there but the kitchen needs ripping out, the tiling in the bathroom needs repairing and every single wall needs to be repainted.  And there are a hundred little holes in the walls where someone tried to nail in picture hangers; those need to be fixed.

I’m really keen to get it in front of someone who can give me some completely objective feedback.  My girlfriends assure me that they’re not just telling me it’s good because they’re worried about upsetting me with a bad review, but I’d still like to hear it from a complete stranger.  Well, I’m not sure I’d “like” to hear it but I know I need to hear it.  The kids go back to school tomorrow and then I’ll be able to sit at my desk for a couple of hours of uninterrupted writing every day, and I hope by the end of February to have it ready for a Manuscript Assessor.

there’s a hole in my brain

Posted by trish on Feb 1, 2012 in Blog | 1 comment

Several years ago I was working in the office of a very senior public official – a Member of Parliament, actually -  just doing a bit of temporary administrative support work, and I was given the task of writing a letter to a constituent.  I was given rough guidelines for what to write, and I sat at my desk and composed a really well written letter, if I do say so myself.

So I wrote this great letter to the constituent and then showed it to my boss, the MP’s Executive Assistant.  She read it, said it was terrific, then pointed out the glaring mistake.

I had printed it upside down a sheet of letterhead.

This is just one example of hundreds of small errors I have made in my life because I am seemingly incapable of mastering the art of paying Attention To Detail.  This is where I consistently, continuously fail.  I copy down the wrong number.  I make the wrong coffee.  I forget to call the guy back.  I don’t tick the right box.  I order the wrong photographs from the print lab.  I double-book the kids into haircuts and tennis lessons.  I don’t check the exposure on the image before I click…

I know that everyone forgets things from time to time but I’m quite convinced that I have a special talent for this kind of thing.  Working in the Cafe for six months confirmed it for me: some of the mistakes could be blamed on a communication break-down or simple misunderstanding but there were plenty of times when I would suddenly realise that, for example, I hadn’t put the right price tag on all the new packets of pasta that I had just priced for the store.  I would look at the price guide, then look at the price-gun thing, and wonder how on earth I managed to get that wrong.

There’s nothing like a small error to make you feel like a BIG idiot.

It’s a good thing I’m not a nurse, administering drugs.  You know those horror stories about patients getting injected with the wrong drug, or ten times the correct dose?  That would be me.

wardrobe malfunction

Posted by trish on Jan 29, 2012 in Blog | 3 comments

All this First Crappy Draft editing has got me looking at other areas of my life that could do with a bit of a going-over.  The most obvious place to start is my wardrobe.  You can blame Pinterest, in particular those Pins from people who use POLYVORE to create outfits.

(I’ve had a quick look at Polyvore but I can’t quite get my head around it… basically you find online images of clothes you like and group them together to create an outfit or a mock-up of a page out of a fashion magazine.  I got a bit overwhelmed by it all, because I’m not 21 years old anymore, but I’m happy to rePin other people’s creations if they fit with my personal preferences…)

I keep rePinning similar things, which may or may not suggest that I am starting to develop a Signature Style.

Oh yes, I just wrote that.

Navy and grey?

More navy…

Grey, this time with green accessories…

Grey and a splash of hot pink…

I like grey.  I like grey clothes, and I like grey furnishings.  Our sofa is grey.  My hair is grey.  Wait, no it isn’t.  But it will be, one day, and I want to be ready for it with a coordinating wardrobe.

I also like navy blue.  And I love red.  And I love green.  And plum.

I might need some help.

I’m going to ask for a Wardrobe Audit + Shopping Date for my next birthday.

Though to be honest, I could do the audit bit myself, if I was really brutal about it.  Get rid of everything I don’t wear. Even the green trench coat that I bought a couple of winters ago that I absolutely love love loved in the shop… I barely ever wear it.

I think I need to pick a few colours and stick to those.  Maybe I need to stick to a couple of basic colours (grey, navy and white) and then use red and green to brighten things up.

Yes, that seems sensible.

Maybe I’ll chuck out everything in my wardrobe that isn’t grey, navy or white and start over?  Except I’ll keep my red winter coat.  And a couple of Marimekko Stripey Tshirts.  And the dress I bought for my 40th.

Hmm… this could be interesting.  Maybe not interesting enough to blog about or even talk out loud about but it is certainly something I can work on when I’m procrastinating on my novel.

*I was going to call this post “completely vacuous nonsense about clothes”.

layers

Posted by trish on Jan 29, 2012 in Blog | 0 comments

(via The Sartorialist)

I love the navy coat over the denim jacket over the cream woollen jumper over the check shirt…  And the red lipstick and nails and purse.  Very chic.  Very Parisienne.

You’d have to be pretty slim to get away with wearing that much fabric and still look so svelte.  Demin in particular is really bulky.  I think I would actually find it uncomfortable, in a restricted-movement kind of way.

On the other hand, if it’s a fine merino wool, and a well-worn denim jacket, and a nice roomy coat, and a thin cotton shirt…  that might not be so bad.

These are the thoughts that occupy my brain in the dying days of the eight week long summer holidays.

Your YouTube Moment of Zen for Friday

Posted by trish on Jan 27, 2012 in Blog | 1 comment

Never laughed so hard in my life. This is… perfect.

Stuff to make you smile

Posted by trish on Jan 27, 2012 in Blog | 1 comment

Sometimes you come across an hilarious or clever comment on someone’s blog or YouTube video and you think “damn, I wish I’d written that!”  Here are a whole bunch of them for your enjoyment: HERE.

That Star Wars Improv on the Subway thing… watch it and be the 7,081,736th viewer.  HERE.

Watch ‘Charlie Bit My Finger’ and be the 413,123,729th viewer.  HERE.

oh crap

Posted by trish on Jan 25, 2012 in Blog | 5 comments

A new book has just come out.

So I guess I’m really going to have to think of a new title for my book, huh?

Meanwhile, if you want to read someone else’s Plan C here’s the link.

Good luck to her.  And – awesome cover design.  I love the red wine stain.

cruel but hilarious

Posted by trish on Jan 24, 2012 in Blog | 1 comment

I don’t think I’ll ever be able to use a changeroom again after watching this. What a horrible and cruel thing to do. And yet… I snorted my mineral water out of my nose.

Your YouTube Moment of Zen

Posted by trish on Jan 24, 2012 in Blog | 2 comments

stuck in traffic

Posted by trish on Jan 23, 2012 in Blog | 3 comments

Someone I know is stuck in traffic, so to speak, for the next few weeks and so in order to help the time pass and save her from certain Death By Boredom I am going to try a bit harder to blog daily, and make it interesting.  Let’s start with this.

Are you on Pinterest?

It took me a little while to get the hang of it but I can finally say with absolute certainty that I’m completely addicted.  It’s a way of sharing images (of ANYTHING) that you see on the Internet and want to show other people.  You see something, then you ‘pin it’ to your ‘board’.  Other people can see your board, and you can see other people’s boards.  Your board can be divided up into several different boards according to themes or subjects.  You can make it private or public.  And you can use the search feature to find things that have been pinned to other people’s boards.  For example, my friend Clare is searching for a pendant light for her new house, so I searched Pinterest for that:

When you pin something onto your board, the source of the item is automatically recorded, so if Clare likes the look of any of those pendants, she can click on the link and see where to buy it from.

This website is quite brilliant, if you happen to have hours and hours to while away.

To join, you need to be invited by a current member.  I was invited by a friend, and now I can invite you!  If you want to sign up, say so in the Comments and I’ll email you an invite.

good champagne

Posted by trish on Jan 13, 2012 in Blog | 1 comment

This afternoon my dear friend Vanessa came over for a cup of coffee and a catch-up, and somewhere in there we talked about my book and how I’ve been telling the story and ohmygoodness I think I’ve decided to do a substantial re-write.  She has inspired me to take a slightly different approach, one that I had considered earlier but dismissed as a bit too superfluous-sub-plot-ish but she reckons (and I agree) that it would actually add a lot to the story.

I was just telling PJ about it, over a glass of champagne, and I suddenly made one of those connections, those little discoveries or realisations or breakthroughs where you figure out the answer.  I’ve got it!  Now I know how I’m going to structure it in this new and improved way.  Yay!  Pour me another glass!

It’s going to require some serious re-doing.  I won’t need to delete very much, but there’s an awful lot to be added.  But I’m very excited to embark on the make-over.

Meanwhile, I’m adding my mother in law and my BFF Mel to my list of people who have read the manuscript as-is and think it’s terrific.  I can’t tell you, internet, how wonderful it is to be getting all this great feedback.  Because even if I eventually give it to someone in the publishing industry and they tell me it’s actually crap, I won’t care so much because the people who matter to me think it’s alright.

And what do publishers know, anyway?  How many of them rejected the Harry Potter books?  I rest my case.

Saffy.

Posted by trish on Jan 13, 2012 in Blog | 1 comment

The pups were desexed yesterday, and last night we brought them home, doped-up on anaesthesia and feeling a bit sore and confused.  This morning they woke at about 4am to go outside for a pee, then slept a bit restlessly until 6am.  Between 6am and 8am poor little Saffy threw up the very tiny contents of her stomach about half a dozen times, which was enough to warrant a phone call to the Vet.  They suggested we bring her in, so the poor little bun has spent the day in Puppy Hospital, hooked up to an IV for fluids.  I’ve just spoken to the Vet and she’s looking much better, she has stopped throwing up and started whimpering for attention which, apparently, is a universal sign of improvement.  They want to keep her overnight but if she manages to keep the fluids and her evening meal down they’ll let us bring her home in the morning.  (Darcy is fine).

No, I haven’t been crying, I just got something caught in my eye.

back in the saddle

Posted by trish on Jan 13, 2012 in Blog | 2 comments

Over the last few weeks I’ve been considering my career options.  I need some cash, is what it boils down to.  I need a thousand bucks to pay a Manuscript Assessor to tell me how to turn my First Crappy Draft into a Best Seller so that I can be a Writer. I need another thousand bucks to fund the Product Development Phase of my Top Secret Project so I can be an Entrepreneur.  And I need another few hundred bucks to buy myself that KitchenAid Mixer I keep talking about, so that I can be a Serious Food Blogger.  Oh, and I’d quite like to upgrade my Espresso Machine, please, so I can also continue as a Barista.

And whilst I love my job at the Cafe/Cooking School, the cold hard truth of the matter is that I can make significantly more money if I return to my former line of work, which is Scribing.  So, I have resigned from the Cafe and I have emailed my resume to a former colleague who still works in the Recruitment industry and who has already offered me some work.

So… let’s see how that works out, shall we?  Because if you’ve been reading for a while, you’ll know that I never thought I’d ever go back to a job that required me to wear a suit and carry a briefcase.

Oh.

I also need a few hundred bucks for a new suit.

Ugly Renaissance Babies

Posted by trish on Jan 13, 2012 in Blog | 0 comments

A blog about ugly babies in Renaissance paintings.

Who thinks of these things?

Brilliant.