Category: Personal

  • Happiness Used to be When the Sun Went Down

    •

    The laughter around the dusk campsite was carrying for miles. Good-natured fun, kids giggling, mothers only half-hearted with their berating. Sunset in this remote camp was the best part of the day. Everyone was relaxed and food was about to be shared. There was no television to schedule the evening…

  • What Was I Thinking?

    •

    I’m not sure what got into my head back in High School, but I decided to do a prank at school for some reason. A bomb hoax seemed a good idea. My telephone announcement to the South Perth police went something like this: “There’s a bomb at Wesley College, and…

  • Depends on Your Perspective

    •

    My first linguist job was at Strelley Station during a Uni vacation when I spent three-plus months living in a remote community learning the indigenous language. It was a hot summer in the outback – no air conditioning, rudimentary shelter and water had to be carted from the overhead tank…

  • Living in Perth

    •

    Double brick, small rooms, wood oven and stove, plus a cooler sleepout room flywired for the hot Perth summer nights.. this was my first and only home in Perth where I was born and grew – aged 0 -17 years old. From here, I went to two Primary schools and…

  • Desire

    •

    “Desire is a contract you make with yourself to be unhappy until you get what you want” Naval Ravikant As a kid, I always wanted a toy ambulance. I pleaded with Father Christmas, I prayed to the birthday present Gods and I willed it to be until I finally got…

  • Speed Reading

    •

    My instructor took this photo of me at a Uni of WA Summer School I attended. I did a course on how to speed read. I’m not sure what I had in mind with the haircut, the watchband or the course, but I was on a fast track somewhere. Speed…

  • An Hour of Reconfiguration

    •

    I had a pleasant surprise the other day when my 12-month subscription for Headspace fell due. A bit of NY resolution back in the beginning of 2021, but it has been one that I’ve included in my daily system. So it was good news to know that I had been…

  • Do Something Completely Different

    •

    The best part of my work-from-home morning routine is to read some quality fiction. It’s like a whoosh of fresh air to start the day with a chapter from a Booker Prize-winning novel and immerse myself in something 100% unrelated to my day job. The same with podcasts. Now and…

  • We’ve All Made Mistakes at Some Stage

    •

    👋 👋 Often when a team member leaves the business to take up other opportunities, I must admit I can sometimes be a tiny bit relieved only because I’ve probably had some embarrassing engagement with them along the way. And their presence continued to haunt me. 👿 👿 Typically some…

  • H.A.P.P.Y.

    •

    As I progressed through High School, it was starting to get to the stage that a career path needed to be decided. The ‘What are you going to be when you grow up’ question had come up often enough already, and the first sensible response was, I recall, ‘a teacher’.…

  • Curating Information

    •

    I’ve often struggled with seeking to curate the information flow that catches my attention. Doomscrolling through Twitter, Instagram and Facebook has really wasted my time – just to find a few Gems that may interest me. The solution has been to subscribe to a few newsletters that I know have…