I have made a slightly abnormal decision re: resolutions for this year. 

My sister told me that "if your life is a to-do list you start each day behind," which was something that a friend had told her. At the time I thought this was very profound and original, even though variations on it turn out to be a staple of self-help websites across the Western world. Nonetheless, it has inspired me enough not to write a to-do list this year. (I actually know what I need to do, so writing it down really just seems like an extra step.)

Instead, I have decided to put some mental effort into answering the following questions: 

A - Why do people who think respect needs to be "earned" always assume they have already earned it?
B - Why are they always wrong?

Ideally, this might replace my previous mental fixation, which has been to think about why so many people insist that the world owes them a 'debate' on their political opinions, even though they never do anything to turn them into a reality. I have (slowly) worked out that this behaviour is ultimately borne out of a desire to complain freely from a position of no accountability, much as a child does to its parents. This is now completely clear to me, and hopefully I no longer need to think about it. 

On the subject of earning respect, I had previously assumed that people who thought respect must be 'earned' also assumed they had some kind of 'natural authority' and therefore did not need to earn it themselves, whereas everyone else needed to earn theirs. In other words, I though they were hypocrites. But I no longer think this is true. I am beginning to think that such people actually believe they have already earned everyone else's respect, by previous acts of skill or forbearance, which in fact mean nothing to anyone else, and are in many cases quite imaginary. People who pat themselves on the back for being 'battlers' are almost always self-flattering idiots. But how do they imagine that everyone else is impressed by them, despite so much evidence to the contrary? 

It's been just over a week since I got back. I spent the first 4 days in a bit of a frenzy of appointments and sorting out stuff that had been left undone while away. Then, I got up to Burra on Saturday and...slept. 

It's so quiet here, and lovely in the Spring. There has been a very wet winter and the yard is in full flower, but was also full of weeds. I have done my best with the whipper snipper but the place still looks a bit like an overgrown country jungle yard. 

The sleep was much needed. My physio has said I needed to take it easy, but I did not realise exactly how easy that would be. I have been taking the days slowly, going to bed at 10pm and getting 12 hours sleep over a 14 hour period, Sat, Sun and Monday nights, to awake at midday. I have one more night and am hoping insomnia doesn't kick in. Adelaide tomorrow. 

The equinox is over and my Adelaide life must start again, at some point. It is already full of appointments and needful activity. For now I am enjoying the last days of perfect temperature, and an even balance between day and night.

Hello folks,

This coming Sunday (June 29) I am flying to the UK / Ireland and will be over there a while. It's "trip of a lifetime" stuff, a thing I have been planning for 7 years. Various COVID / LIFE factors have prevented it until now. I'll be journalling the trip here. 

Rough itinerary: London / Chiltern region / Devonshire / Wiltshire / Oxfordshire / Chiltern Region again / Holyhead in Wales / Dublin / Folk Festival in County Clare / Belfast / Ballycastle / Galloway / Glasgow / Fort William to Inverness / Ullapool / Outer Hebrides / Back to London / Kuala Lumpur and a deep breath before getting back again. 

I'm attempting a few long distance hikes while there. And, there will be a lot of birding. 

Wish me luck! 

Steve.

Long time no see, journal readers. I have been preoccupied with fitness this month - I'm 2/3 of the way through a self-designed fitness blitz called Stevember! I'm also closing in to complete a role-playing publication project by year's end but that's for another post...

My maths were wrong. I see that now. In fact I'm going to end up doing 6 walks and 6 ruins, not 5 of each. So far I have lost no weight at all but am looking a lot bigger in the chest and back than I was before...