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    Emerging from the Fog…


    2022 - 09.12

    Yes it’s been a couple of years since I have updated this blog, I’ve been trying to get started again several times over the last 12 months but just haven’t been able to make it happen. Emotionally last year wasn’t a particularly bad year for me, probably upon reflection a better one than this year. Chemoux died around March this year, probably snakebite, putting me back to a single cat household again. Tiggakat has definitely stepped up the interactions since but I still miss my “shadow” and Supervisor.

    The last couple of months have seen me drop down mood wise quite a bit, still being connected to Centrelink really is a pair of psychological concrete boots now. This new system is even worse than the previous and I didn’t really think that was possible. It seems that the cost of having that small amount of financial assistance to fall back on is now no longer worth the psychological and emotional weight it brings with it. I’m just hanging on until car registration is due and I can pay it, then I think I’ll just have to drop off for my mental health. If I can manage to get through 25 hours per week with either Menulog or Uber then truly my need to have anything to do with Centrelink will evaporate and I feel sure there will be a substantial positive impact with regard to my Depressive Bouts.

    In some ways this year has been much better for me financially with the addition of extra income provided by Menulog. However it’s definitely reminded me about how quickly my mental health is influenced by the number of hours I work. It seems that the reality for me after my last full time position is that I deteriorate rapidly once hitting about 25 hours in a week. Sure, I can make it to up to 40 hours in a single week, but to repeat that for more than a couple of weeks will bring me unstuck withing the month. What is postive is that I know that something like Menulog or Uber can work for me as far as bringing in regular income in a way that nothing else in the last 7 years has been able to do. The flexibility of this type of work allows me to actually get income coming in on a regular basis without exacerbating bouts of Depression, provided I don’t get myself in a position where I feel compelled to overdo it. This has helped me get through financially without sinking too far down over the winter which has been the most difficult time over the last half decade.

    I hope to get a regular blogging habit back over the next month, aiming for at least one entry a week over the next month. I’m hoping to get a list of several things that need to be reinstated as good habits done over the next day or so, including my walking, since much has fallen off over the last couple of months.

    There are also a couple of tasks that need to be taken care of such as submitting my tax for the last financial year and getting organised around a new exhibition for next year. I’ve let my Art suffer this year in pursuit of income but without really achieving the baseline to allow the time for my Photography.

    Focus of Gratitude for the Day: I am very fortunate that I still have people in my life who do care about me and wish me well.

    Apple Exodus…


    2020 - 10.01

    Well this year has been trundling along despite an inconvenient (to some) Pandemic. Since the decision to drop Apple products late last year, the Exodus has been proceeding in dribs and drabs. At this stage I would say I’m 85% of the way if not more. Yes I’m still using some of their products, but there’s no replacements of an Apple device with another Apple device.

    Most of this year has consisted of preparing, from a software perspective, picking up Windows versions of my regularly used software when they’ve been on sale. It’s fair to say that’s 95% complete: I can move over completely anytime now with no down time. All that’s keeping me in the Apple Ecosystem now is my iMac (Late 2013). The older Apple gear was fine, not a single issue with any of the hardware that I’ve ever purchased: it’s all still working as it did the day I bought it. But I’d not replace ANY of it with ANYTHING from the last three to four years of product lines. Unfortunately I can’t say the same about the software side of things. Apple OS / OS X / iOS has been a mess of botched updates and removal of features.

    The iPhone 6 has been replaced with a Samsung Galaxy 10. This is probably the single most important replacement based on the fact that it’s the most significant tie to the Apple Ecosystem. As a friend of mine pointed out, once you change your phone you’re no longer invested (from a data management commitment) in their system. The Apple TV (ver. 3) has been replaced with a Chromecast. An excellent Benq Monitor specifically designed for Photography was purchased earlier this year in preparation and the laptop and possibly a windows PC will replace the iMac when it dies.

    My MacBook Pro (2014) is still going great guns, but it’s being moved on to be replaced by a Lenovo X1G2 and to be honest I’m not sad. It’s got the best keyboard I’ve ever experienced on a laptop and I’ve had a few over the decades.

    It’s been so long, I know…


    2020 - 10.01

    I’m very pleased to hear about a new expansion for Twilight Imperium IV has just been announced: https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2020/8/2/prophecy-of-kings/ which has me very interested in chasing it down once released.

    For My Mother…


    2020 - 08.12

    Menzies, Laurel May.
    Died 11th August aged 81.

    Loved wife of Jim, loved mother of Craig & Sharon, loved grandmother of Geena & Carly.

    Thank you for your unwavering faith in me. I’m forever grateful for the gift of a curious and open mind”. Your loving son, Craig.

    She died peacefully at Gandarra. Much gratitude to the staff at Gandarra Palliative Care Unit & the staff of Hospice for their care and support to our family over the last month. Thank you to all my friends and family for their support during this time.

    Creativity versus Art…


    2019 - 08.08

    I was commenting in a photography blog earlier in response to the question, “is an Artist born?” I think it’s quite a nuanced answer. Some of the conversation mirrored what I seem to be hearing a lot today: that creatives are artists. I am of the opinion that there’s a difference between being creative and being an Artist (although Artists are certainly creatives).

    In my experience almost all people are creative given opportunities, resources and encouragement. Even without encouragement people will still be creative from time to time to get through a situation etc. Hobbies are often an expression of creativity. But, the Artist is a different beast. There is an obsession with theme and process, determination, and long-term conscious and unconscious observation being melded with an insight. All of this manifests in a pursuit of expressing and representing a vision or perspective. Often through alternative processes and mediums.

    I posit that for the Artist there is no other path that is not a living death. There is an interesting documentary called “David Lynch: The Art Life” about David Lynch, often known for his surreal filmmaking but is an extremely prolific sculptor, photographer, painter and practitioner of assemblage. It’s very enlightening around this idea without being overly political.

    Delving into Unexplored Spaces…


    2019 - 05.04

    Lately I’ve been experiencing a renewed motivation in my photography. Much of this is with the encouragement and support of an artist friend for which I’m very grateful. She’s encouraging some collaborative projects and regularly suggesting trips and subject matter that she thinks will inspire me to create more works.

    Much of her work has been either in Sculpture / Assemblage or Charcoal, rather than in photography. So it may seem there’s not much overlap; but the cross pollination and discussions around the ideas and inspirations for the subject matter and interpretation is stoking the fires of my creativity.

    Knowledge is both the Parent & the Child.
    I Will Not Be Swayed.

    Above are two of the works that came out of a project earlier in the week. Human Portraits are not my usual fare, but we were both very happy with what we came away with from the afternoon’s session.

    The Art Life…


    2019 - 02.03

    I’ve been watching The Art Life, a documentary about David Lynch and “The Art Life”. It’s such a different picture of David Lynch than I’ve previously had, so much so that I was wondering if there are two David Lynch artists, the Director and the Artist. By that I mean literally separate human beings. But it’s one & the same. That aside it’s provoked some interesting thoughts. So food for thought.

    Some of his inspirational “mottos”:

    • Coffee, food & art (work).
    • Compartmentalising life and those others in it.
    • Keep making “bad art” until you find your good art.
    • We’re deeply and constantly influenced by others all our lives. Keep making until you find your own art.

    I’m so glad he’s refused to be part of the “hollywood establishment” because it’s inspirational to know that people can make it in their own way.

    Raindrops keep fallin’…


    2019 - 02.03

    Lately I’ve been pondering the origins of my love for the rain. Just when I started to be come enamoured of listening, being caught in, going out in, and generally just experiencing rain is something I’m unable to put my finger on, although some of my earliest memories are of enjoying rain.

    Memories such as looking out the window on a rainy winter day and enjoying just listening to it and watching it fall. Others are of being out in it under a tree, waiting for it to lessen enough for me to be able to walk in it without getting drenched through. Or dashing through it when I was only 10 or 20 metres from my destination and the excitement of getting out of it, yet not. For me the rain seems only to have positive memories.

    Rain just revitalises plant and animal alive.

    During the day or during the night, inside or outside walking in it. Yes there are times it’s cold and miserable if there’s a howling wind, but despite all else it still tells you that you’re alive.

    Beautiful and mysterious.

    I really do love rain.

    One, Two, Five and out…


    2018 - 05.21

    So it’s back to the drawing board for me. That old devil and I just couldn’t reignite the old flames enough for me to be able to hang in there when it was getting tough. To be fair it wasn’t anyone’s fault particularly.

    I was into my third week of the commute to Melbourne. Training had technically finished but there was still no work in my designated region therefore it was a situation of going where the current work was: Melbourne suburbs and CBD. At that time I came down with what I refer to the cold from hell. It knocked me flat for the best part of three weeks, I didn’t have a hope while trying to commute. The two times I tried to go back to work during that period I was a heap on the floor by the end of the day. I was physically and emotionally exhausted. Getting up at 05:15 and getting home at 19:00 each day just weren’t going to allow me to be able to fight it off. Anxiety and Depression were having a field day with me, they may as well have been pre-emptively dancing on my grave.

    To top it off, around the middle of week four, Tiggakat decided to go for a walkabout without consultation. I was shattered. She returned about 22:30 on the fourth night after she’d disappeared, thankfully as healthy as I could expect being unharmed, simply hungry and thirsty. Clearly she had a story to tell me but I was just too human to understand. She has been quite chatty since her return.

    By the end of week five I had to resign. There was still no clear deadline for a regional handover of work, and I couldn’t face another commute. Even if I’d been able to pick up regional work immediately at the start of week six, I was basically too much of a physical and mental wreck to even be able to accept and manage it. They couldn’t give me a timeline and I couldn’t in return give them a timeline on my health improving. End of a chapter.

    There were a few small positives out of the experience: I can say without a single doubt now that I for one am unable to physically or mentally (in particular) deal with a commute to work of that type day after day. It’s beyond me now. Additionally I did receive some money before winding up, so I’ve managed to close off a couple of large bills. So at least I’m heading forward on the basis of zero again rather than a negative position immediately. Something to be pleased about and to have brought out of it all.

    It was a grasp at an opportunity that just didn’t pan out for me but I guess needed to be accepted and seen through as best I could. Now it’s regroup, get healthy again and just move on.

    Remembering Old Blues…


    2018 - 03.25

    It’s been over two and a half years since I left my last full-time position and quite regularly I’m left scratching my head some days how I’ve managed to survive it. The reality is that I wouldn’t have survived it without family & friends. I’m extremely grateful to all concerned.

    It seems that an old devil has reeled in my soul again for another run and I’ll be starting paid employment again in a couple of weeks. There’s a number of feelings racing about in my head over the last week as a result of that news, not all of them good by a long shot. However it is income better than I’ve had and will help me get back on my feet. I probably still won’t be able to afford to put shoes on my feet but I will be able to afford to stand up!

    A positive aspect of this role is that my record must have spoken for itself given that no referees were required. Perhaps that is a thing now, because to be honest if I was employing unless the referees were internal I’d consider them a waste of time and unreliable: from an employer’s point of view. I’m certainly not saying that I think that about any of my referees. It’s simply that if you’re picking referees that aren’t painting you in the best picture, maybe you should be rethinking your referees strategy.

    What I am desperately focussing on are the mental health benefits of not having to worry about how I’m going to be paying the next bill that rolls in every week. That in itself should provide a huge positive in my continuing struggle with Depression. It’s definitely been escalating in a downward direction the last six months particularly despite the fact it was my cheaper season of the financial year. After all there’s only so much you can cut from costs before you’re at basically ground zero and homeless. Thanks to all my friends and family I’ve not slipped into that cadre since that’s clearly extremely difficult to escape once in it.

    I’m going to have to continue to focus some efforts on generating extra income from my photography. But at least the pressure will be off to try and generate it via subjects and means I’m not really interested in pursuing from an artistic point of view. I won’t be able to get ahead with the money coming from this new role, but I aim to use it as a “floatation device” while I work on the photography and writing. It has certain benefits too given that I can avoid having to deal with Office Espionage and Politics as it’s a fundamentally solo role placing me outside the office 100% of the time. As some have pointed out, perhaps that is best for me these days from an emotional point of view.