Picasso Picasso Picasso

Sunday L. P. & I went to the Art Gallery of NSW specifally to the visiting Picasso art exhibition.

http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/exhibitions/picasso/room-by-room/

No pictures were allowed to be taken of the exhibition it's self. This was the best I could do.

 I have always loved Picasso, not all his work but a lot of it. It is interesting talking to people about the exhibition. It seems to divide people quite strongly. I loved it. The exhibition walked you through the changing periods in Picasso's life, each period strikingly different, yet you can still see the fundamental character that carried through his work.

The Deluge

It was a very busy weekend. Thankfully the rain managed to wash out some of the sporting activities which made the weekend bareable. Friday night my son played in his baseball semi-final. They won 5 to 4. With 3 RBI's to his name, M was feeling pretty happy with himself. I didn't make it to the game as I took my daughter L to her hockey match. The first game of the season with quite a few newbies in the team they defended well magnificently to keep the score to a 0 - 2 loss.  Saturday morning we were up at 6:30am. L. had a softball game, M had a hockey match both at 8:00am. The softball game was called of at 7:15am. Only a violent thunder storm stops a hockey match. L got the luxury of remain at home while we attended M's game. It was only raining lightly. Not long after we arrived a deluge of water hit the field.

They played, the deluge only lasted about 15 minutes and hockey fields are designed to drain quickly.

Don't Mess with my Morning Rhythm

What is it with people at the moment? I like to get to the train platform with plenty of time to wait for the train to arrive. When I say plenty of time, I mean I have between 6 to 2 minutes to wait for the train to arrive, depending on the traffic.

When I arrive at the platform I have a casual stroll to the other end, I like to get into the second carriage from the front of the train. There are always the usual suspects on the platform who also obviously like to have plenty of time to spare. I walk past the regulars. The young blind chap with his walking stick. There’s the tall fiftyish man who reminds me a little of Michael Cain. There is the irritating Asian couple who like to take 15 minutes to reverse park their car at the perfect right angle in the car park. If you are unlucky enough to find yourself walking behind them on the foot path, walk at a frustrating snail’s pace and leave no room for you to walk past. There is the man and his son I always stand slightly behind and to the side when I arrive to wait for the train. No one smiles. This platform is a very sombre platform. My comment this morning is about getting on the train. I am third to arrive to wait for the train where I get on. I don’t know how it happens, I always seem to get jostled out of the way when it’s time to get on the train. Why is this? There are always plenty of seats, even though I’m last on, I generally have my choice of seat, by the window, on a three seater by myself. Why do these people feel it’s necessary to push to the front, shoving me out of the way? Is it the need to feel first on? Is it the rush of every day that starts as soon as they get out of bed? Or have they simply had too much coffee? I am quite happy to make way for them. I’m relaxed once I get to my waiting spot.  I know I’ll have the 53 minutes of blissful relaxing time. It would spoil my trip if I rushed.

I laughed a little at myself after I re-read this entry. Here I am complaining about the snail’s pace of a couple walking, when I am complaining about people rushing. In my defence, I simply like to walk at my own pace. I don’t like it dictated by others. It upsets my rhythm.

I hope It’s a nice day for you. My day is starting out relaxed. I listened to Bach while reading this morning. Very relaxing.

Shock, Leading to Empowerment.

After I resigned I have been through a range of emotions. It really has unsettled my train trips. I've found I can't concentrate on anything for long. So I read for a while, listen to music for a while, send a few disjointed emails. Shock--is that an emotion or a state of being?--played a big part in my first week; immense relief; fear of an unknown future: anger that I should have felt forced to leave. These emotional states have cycled through me at a rapid rate. Right now I feel empowered. I just had a heart to heart with my boss. It went really well. I won't say we are now bosom buddies, but I can now leave knowing I don't hold any animosity toward him. I am relieved by that, it would have lingered with me for a very long time. There are always two sides to every story. Each person has an entirely different perspective, with some validity. Today, for the first time, I was able to get my boss to appreciate my perspective. Too late for him as I have made the decision to leave, there is no turning back. I hope my boss can learn something from this experience. I've given him the opportunity anyway. Somewhere along the line communications broke down between us. Part of it was some issues of mine; a lot of it was him. I've always felt like didn’t fit in this role. There is no guarantee the next job will be better, I'll do my best to ensure that it doesn't occur a second time. The job market looks good today, there were quite a few positions that looked worthy of my interest.

The music I listened to today was from a collection of songs put together in July for a group of friends. I was proud of the final result.  I did get some extremely valuable help from my partner. At the time I lacked the confidence to complete it on my own.

Here is one of the songs from the collection I listened to this morning.

Cool --> Dud in 15 minutes

A few weeks ago, I got a new phone. I had been really happy with my old one, but I had started to have battery problems, the keys on the keyboard weren't working properly, other problems, just niggly little things. My new phone is an iPhone. Yes, I sold my soul to the devil. I struggled with the new phone. I had never owned an iProduct previously, it didn't do things the way I was used to. A week in, my loyalty was shifting. A few weeks later and I am addict. I discovered apps. Like a little frog I dipped my toe in the pond, I explored my options. What I discovered were educational apps, but where to start? Do I want to learn a language? That could be fun. Should I catch up on some English Literature? It has always been a weakness!  Photography, yes I need to learn how to improve my shots. Ohhhhhh so much choice! at such a small price. So what were my new apps this week? My two favourites are the very cool star app that identifies where stars, planets, galaxies etc are located. I can now look up at the night sky and identify what I'm looking at. I already know and can identify some constellations from my studies in astronomy at school. Now I can fill in all the missing spaces, that is, if the lights of Sydney didn't interfere so much. But if I could see them, I could, honest! The second app I picked up is a frog guide. It was created by the Australian Museum. It identifying frogs around Australia, complete with locality, interesting frog facts, photos, and more importantly, a recording of each frogs call. Brilliant. So I show my kids the two new apps, I was really excited by their coolness. After an initial excited interest, my apps were labeled duds. Oh well. I know one day they will show more interest. I just have to be patient :)

If I Run

I discovered on Wednesday, if I see the train coming while I'm standing near my car, if I run, I can still catch it. Always good to know!

The weather's a little cooler today. It suited my mood as I was deliberating if on Tuesday I had made a very unwise move. I quit my job. I have wanted to quit for a very long time, but I suffer from chronic inertia when it comes to changing jobs. Generally it takes a company collapse, having a baby or something equally as significant to get me moving. On Tuesday, after a long period of tolerating a boss who liked to use me as a punching bag, I resigned. I am feeling a little nervous right now. The job market isn't great and I don't interview well. I think people have employed me in the past because they felt sorry for me. Okay, I'm steeling my back bone. It was the right thing to do, the timing just wasn't ideal.

This was my view from the train, crossing the harbour bridge this morning.

It was my husband’s birthday yesterday. His gifts were a little lame. I've been a bit distracted. I had ordered a book for him on-line (not the only thing he was given). I received a message from the company last week to say the book had arrived at their warehouse damaged. They appreciated my patience. Ha, it's not their spouse’s birthday they were stuffing up. Oh well! Next year I'll do a better job. Maybe--things have a habit of distracting me from the task. 

I'm looking forward to finishing work today, looking forward to a relaxing weekend. I have my daughter’s softball grand finale. The team is a lovely bunch of girls who don't necessarily take softball very seriously. It will be interesting to see how they react to grand final conditions. My guess is that they will step up a notch. My husband also has his baseball grand final on. For a team in the lowest possible grade in all chrisandum. They take it very seriously. Or is it the esky after the match they take seriously? In any case, I am not expecting to have my voice in tacked after all the cheering I'm going to do this weekend.

Guilty Pleasures

This weekend I had to make a guilty confession to the family. I have had a little black cloud hanging over me.  My confession… I’d been catching the slow train home on Friday nights without telling them. I know I’m very bad. I just needed the extra relaxation time the slow train allowed me.  I needed to ease into the weekend after a stressful week at work. It made me feel so guilty, like I was selfishly stealing some family time. My confession is out now. I’ve been granted permission to indulge in my guilty pleasure…bliss…on the proviso that I do catch the fast train when I’m needed at home early on the odd occasion. I was doing that anyway. Nothing has change except I no longer need to feel guilty. J

A Melancholy Friday

Today could only be described as gloomy. I was going to say it was cold, but I’m sitting here in a sleeveless top. Perhaps cool would be a better way to describe it. I am feeling melancholy. The mood on the train was weary? It's Friday. Rainy, more rain expected. After the long years of drought, it has taken people a while to adjust to this current extended period of rain. I’ve adjusted. I carry my umbrella with me always. I’ve started wearing dresses again, my trousers were getting soaked at the cuffs.  

A lot of people must have slept in this morning. My train carriage was half empty. My friend was on the train.  I chose not to sit next to him. Was that rude? I’m not sure. He was engrossed in his book.  I wanted some time to read, some quiet time to myself. Glancing around I looked to see what people now do to amuse themselves. It has changed a lot since I first started catching the train. In the early days you would get the annoying person next to you, struggling to read their broadsheet newspaper. Inconsiderate idiots. The book readers, which allowed you to peek at what they were reading, sometimes leading to a discussion.  There were only a few who listened to music. In those days the trains were jam packed. Finding a seat wasn’t guaranteed. Now the trains run more frequently, I live further away from the city, I have my choice of seat and it’s crowded only on the rare occasion when trains are delayed. Today, quite a few people are playing on their phones. Listening to music. Reading, some paper books, mostly eBooks. A small number of people are sitting with nothing to amuse themselves but their thoughts.  They don’t appear to be happy thoughts. One young girl is sleeping. Two young blond girls got on the train about half way through the trip. They were chatting quite loudly. Blissfully ignorant of the dirty glares they received from some fellow passengers.

From the train station to my office I took my time. I’m always early, no need to rush. I took the time to take some photos of my favourite building along the way.

 Who are these people? I feel I should recognise some of them, but don’t. The sign to the car park says ARTISTS IN RESIDENCE. Are these pictures of the artists themselves? There was a sign advertising beer above the pictures at one stage. I am glad it's gone. It spoiled the image.