Category Archives: Random

Two Birds, a Car and a Hippie

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It might sound like that start of a really bad joke, and in some respects, what I'm about to tell you has its hilarious moments, but there are also moments when I question the sanity of some people—including my own sanity.

The past week has been filled with lots of writing and write-ins, complicated with near misses with not one, but two birds, and an interesting tirade from someone who clearly doesn't understand my sarcasm.

Where does one even begin?

Well, I guess it all started last week on Monday morning.

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Why the Sunrise?

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I've been taken sunrise photos for a long time now. I'm up so early (naturally and by choice), often getting so many things done. I deliberately take the time to watch the sunrise, and I capture it on in digital pixels with my DSLR. It's my routine, and it works for me.

I have recently uploaded my September 2019 collection of sunrise photos, but it was so hard to chose a favorite. It was hard to decide on my latest fuel.

Some time ago, at a meetup with some of my writing buddies, one of them asked me a simple, but complicated, question: Why the sunrise? She was asking how I was able to actually be up so early in the mornings.

With the sunrise between 5 and 6 am in the summer, it’s actually easy to understand how she struggles to fathom the hour that I get up. Yet, my answer to her question was just as simple, and complicated, as her question: It’s just part of who I am.

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Emotions and Talking About It

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As many are aware by now, on Friday March 15, 2019, my home city of Christchurch, New Zealand came under attack. On the morning after that attack, I posted my thoughts about what had happened, trying to make some sort of sense to the insanity. While that post was well received, there were other things going on in the background that highlighted a few others things to me about myself and how people react to stress in general.

As a country as a whole, this is going to be a long road back to any sense of normalcy. This event will change our perceptions of our home forever, and in ways that none of us can predict right now. A friend said to me that this event, in a way, is our 9/11. She’s right.

But we will heal. How do I know this? Because I refuse to go into a shell and hide like a turtle. And I refuse to let others do the same.

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New Zealand

But in New Zealand???

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It is Saturday morning, and I’m now facing a shift in my sense of reality. Less than 24 hours ago, my world was safe and calm, and my worst worry was how I was going to convince my husband to buy the new lounge suite that I want, or how was the next scene in my manuscript going to play out, or where does one find the money to pay for the writers conference that I want to go to in August.

No, instead, my worst worry has now joined that of many others around world.

Will today be the day that a terrorist takes my son, my daughter or my husband away from me?

On Friday 15th March, 2019, an unknown number of madmen marched into two separate mosques on opposite sides of Christchurch, New Zealand (my home city) and opened fire. They then proceeded to locations north and south of the central city, attempting to evade arrest while causing more acts of terrorism.

For the first time in history, the entire city of Christchurch, New Zealand was on lockdown. All schools, all malls, all businesses closed and locked their doors. Residents citywide were encouraged to stay inside. For nearly 4 hours, an entire city was held to ransom. And what makes it all bizarre… It happened in little, old New Zealand, one of the safest countries in the world. 

Lives have been lost in this senseless madness. Families have been ripped apart by an act driven by hatred. Nothing can make up for that. New Zealand as a whole is now suffering.

Be warned, this is a LONG post, but I had to get it out, because so much is going on in this mind of mine.

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Conversations in Science

End of an Era. Goodbye to ConvoScience.

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It was an incredibly hard decision to make, but I’ve decided to bring the radio podcast ConvoScience (or Conversations in Science, as some know it) to an end. There were many different reasons behind this decision, the biggest of which is a refocus on priorities.

I’m a writer. I’m an editor. I do have knowledge that I like to share, but I should be writing!

Saying that, this is NOT the end of the science from me. Science is in my blood. It’s a part of who I am and my family. I have always had a way of explaining science in a way that others can understand, so that is NEVER going away. Instead of talking it out, I’ll just write it.

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