wow- its me!

Life is good,
but no haiku has been written for a while.
The weather is cold and fires are on and the beautiful autumn view has been replaced with damp and bare and a little bleak.
Life is busy,
new challenges and responsibilities have emerged but I'm managing to keep them all airborne, nothing has been fully dropped as yet (besides this blog) and I am learning.
Life is love,
the children are settled, happy, getting less complex (well the girls anyway) the bean is growing and making new demands where they left off. The bloke is his same calm, slow and generous self.
Life is full, overflowing. I'm liking it. I'm pushing boundaries Ive never pushed before.
Lots of lists unfinished, holes in shoji screens (big airblowing ones), unwashed floors and dusty curtains. Weeds in the garden and appointments forgotten to be made, again. Every minute of the day is full. Its all good.

lecture * with pracie

Gave an interesting one yesterday,
Don't think those there child-dentists liked it much.
Few too many home truths; I tried to be gentle.
But someone's gotta tell it like it is.
Dentistry in this country serves the dentists well... shame about the people.
They don't hear that much in dental school.


amendment: pracie of lecture.
Defined equity.
Defined values.
Defined subjectivity.
Defined distribution.
Defined values of developed nations
Defined health as a human right in this context.
Described distribution of poor oral health in Australia.
Described medical vs dental expenditure in Australia
Defined communism (they always confuse equity with communism)
Defined universal health care
Described dental system as NOT universal
Queried the equity.
Queried dental health profession interest in equity
Queried dental health profession commitment to population health
end of story

A Splendid Torch

My heart sang when I first met the Bloke, he had this pinned in the bathroom on the wall, one of my favourite pieces of writing of all times. I knew immediately i really was onto a good thing.

This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.

I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community, and as long as I live it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can.

I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no "brief candle" for me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.

George Bernard Shaw

my crowded hour[s]

Ive been mad crazy busy at work lately preparing to go on 3 weeks leave. Today is my last day at work and I have just crossed off the last project on my list. Jesus that felt good. Celebrated with a Kit Kat (shhh) and a cup off tea. Goin' craaaaaazy i know! I'm hours ahead of schedule and I can feel a stress release headache coming on. Mid-winter school holidays here I come! Not too sure about internet access where we are staying, i do recall something about wifi... will post if and when I can. Totally looking forward to weeks with the kids and the bloke, sun, a good book or five and some drafted webpage ideas. Any suggestions on that front?

Work Life balance

its a bit outta whack me thinks. I had thought we were getting pretty good at this but the last few days Ive been a bit crabby, snappy and just a tad cranky. Ive shut up emotional shop. Bunkered in. Overall, all is good, but something is rotten in my home state. No routine due to lots of work travel, kids needing me more when i get home (well as soon as i present through the back door actually), more travel next week (hello Newcastle and Melbourne!) and feeling worn out.

I feel just so busy getting everything done in a day - market shopping dash before work, writing, editing, teaching, exercising, home, washing, kids, bedtime, dinner. blah blah blah. Divergent things which have no obvious fluid connection. Brain in one mode then another, then another. Not alot of leftover time to feed the parents. Im ready to crash when i walk through the door. Snap. How do you fix this...more me time? more us time? More family time? Both? All? Im in bed with a laptop with a sign on the door 'do not disturb' I discovered why it was so quiet when i went to steal the laptop from a sleeping B1. Si had stuck it on. But now im drowning in the guilt trip. How can i be so unavailable yet he's giving even me more?

Crap. Sometimes lifes tricky.

how to win friends and influence people

what not to do when out for a work dinner supposedly discussing 1.3 million of dental assessment stuff with a bunch of local male GPs who begin lamenting the loss of opportunity for obstetric care for GPs with obstetric speciality to reckless, incompetent, ego driven midwives and who then start talking about homebirthing and 'those' women who do it, in a not very favourable fashion...

respond like i did.

damn, its beautiful

Im off to the Barossa Valley this morning for work and damn, the weather is beautiful. Clear blue skies and sun, looking forward to seeing all the grape vines in their autumn glory and consuming some fabulous Barossa produce. Last week in country Victoria it nearly killed me walking past the op-shops knowing i had no time to stop and browse, thinking of all the treasures that are really only findable and affordable in rural second hand shops AND I WAS WALKING BY! So my lovely colleague has actually factored in some op shop time this trip! What a treasure! Thats my kinda work trip and my kinda colleague!

Haiku Friday

sitting still, thinking.
watching life pass below me
things hum, the phone rings.

cutting the crap

I was telling Kale for Sale last week that i had begun fishing through the rubbish bins at work. Yikes. Ive become a bin lady. Seeing the stuff that gets tossed; food scraps, tuna tins, pot o soup bowls and tetra milk cartons is getting my knickers quite twisted but it wasnt until Thurdsay that i started really fishing around in there. Enough was enough. My duds had seriously twisted and then caught fire! It reminded me of when i was a kid, travelling in a car on the Sydney Harbour Bridge with my best friend and her parents and they stopped to pick up a discarded Coke can. Stopping on the bridge is no mean feat but this was a full on recycling mum who rode around on a bike with a roof slate and chalk tied to the handlebars of her bike for her shopping list! I was pretty embarrassed then but I think Ive been affected.

While i was on leave i had been thinking about the problem of lack of recycling at work and how to manage it, but being part time coupled with the local politics ( admin vs academic staff) i felt there was not alot i could do that would be effective. Trying to organise and managing a recycling system would not go down too well with the already maligned administrative staff who seem to take matters of the kitchen as their crucible. One slip up by me; forgetting to take it home if I had organised it would be a akin to murder in the first degree and i dont think there woud be many willing to cover. 'Forgetful' (imperfect) academic staff aren't forgiven easly. Oouch. So i had comitted to just doing it quietly; sort through it at the end of the days when im at work and just take it home as my own business. Until I read Mels post on normative behaviours, which pretty much just spelled out the doubts Id had about my 'system' (or lack thereof). Quietly taking home other peoples waste wont change how people view tossing their rubbish in the bin but if they know Im taking responsibility for their s/crap and taking it home to recycle or compost maybe they'll start taking responsibility for it themselves or will they just get pissed off with me for sticking my nose in 'their' business?

So in the process of writing this post Ive become at least clear that i need to have a discussion and that the relatively informal atmosphere of morning tea is just the place to start. I just cant believe that a 'Group of 8' university, which advertises itself as a leader, innovative and responsble, doesnt have more than a paper recycling system in place. Somethings gotta give. If a then middle aged millionaire could ride around with a slate tied to her bike and take the time to stop and pick up a can someone has discarded on a busy freeway, surely we can all take responsibility for our lunchtime tuna tin, or at least let me?