Jelssievision Episode 5, Season Finale!

Unveiled! What to say, what to say... it's a special episode with extra length. A lot of introspection, some puzzlement, and a beautiful backdrop. Thanks for watching, and thanks Bec!



Jelssievision 5 from Bec Jee on Vimeo.

How to test drive.

A few of us at work are selling cars or car shopping, and I said, "What's a test drive anyway? I don't know what I'm supposed to do!" So Martyn wrote us this checklist. I include it with his permission, to benefit all car-buyers of little experience.

1. Is there an Owner's Handbook/Manual? If not, I suggest you proceed no further! If so, to whom was the car originally sold and where? (eg if it was originally sold to someone in Darwin, what is it now doing in Sydney?)
2. Is there a Service Record...if so have the services been done more or less in accordance with the manufacturer's recommended intervals? If not, I suggest you don't proceed...a "lost" service history may mean the seller has something to hide OR they or a previous owner were pretty slap-dash about getting it serviced.
3. Do they have the registration paper?

4. If the above points are OK, walk around and look for the following:
a) Signs of body repair eg panels that don't quite fit, non- matching sections of paint
b) Do all the tyres have plenty of tread?
c) Have someone with you to get in and turn on the headlights, blinkers, windscreen washers and wipers and horn
d) Open the bonnet and check that the Compliance Plate is affixed. Compare the details thereon with the registration paper ie the engine number and  "VIN"

5. Take the car for a drive and check for the following:
a) When you turn the key, does the engine start quickly? If it struggles to fire, the battery may be nearing the end of its useful life, or there could be other problems. Does the tachometer settle into a constant RPM reading (normally around 750) within about 10 seconds or does it fluctuate up and down above and below say, 1,000 rpm?
b) If manual, when you let the clutch out, does it 'take up' smoothly and progressively as you start easing the clutch or does it suddenly 'catch' and you lurch forward?
c) Are there any unusual sounds from the engine, exhaust or gear box when changing gears (manual or auto)? Leave the radio off and drive with the window down so you can hear the car. (Check the radio later)
d) Assume it has A/C, turn this on as you drive to make sure it works OK.
e) On a straight section of road, accelerate hard for a few seconds to check the response. Find somewhere without too much traffic and 'just' take your hands off the wheel - does the car continue to 'track' straight or does it pull to one side or the other?
f) Find a quiet street and check the brakes: accelerate to about 50 km/h then hit the brakes quite firmly. Does the car come to a quick stop? Does the steering wheel want to pull to one side or the other?

If there are one or two things on the above checklist which you are not happy about but otherwise the car seems OK, get an NRMA or other expert to check it out. If three or more problem areas you should probably keep looking!

Fried Chicken.

I just want to point out that there is a story on the front of smh.com today about KFC (Korean Fried Chicken). I'm proud to say that jelssie eat street was eating that fried chicken back in 2012. Good times.

Last word on Jelssie

Given Jess has already blogged The Last Days, I thought it appropriate to give my voice on the ending of Jelssie the blog.

The title of this post itself feels very...weighty. Final. This is it!

I have really enjoyed my time on Jelssie. It's been a joy to share our ramblings with you, and I especially thank Jess for keeping Jelssie going while I've been so quiet. I'm not sure what happened with me being all quiet on Jelssie. I still had Jelssie things to say, but I started to just say them to Jess and not get around to posting them here.

And what about me and Jess' friendship itself? It will change. We don't know what it will look like. We know how we feel about friendships: we will invest in those who are physically closer, and have the time for us (I can't find the relevant blog post!). What I do know is that I will look back in this season of life with many fond memories, and if I'm bored or looking to procrastinate, I will work my way through this blog.

It's been fun - thanks for reading, for telling us how much you loved it, and thanks for my partner-in-crime, Jess! God has provided so well for you, I look forward to seeing how he will continue to bless you in your next stage of life xoxo

Woe is TV.

It seems kind of sad to me that the best night of TV at the moment is Tuesday night. TUESDAY NIGHT. With New Girl and Big Bang Theory. And the return of Snog Marry Avoid. SMASH season 2 was also on last Tuesday but it started so late it was actually Wednesday morning viewing, so I don't count that. Now, I do enjoy these shows, but the fact that these are the viewing cream of my week BY A LONG WAY is a  sad SAD indictment of the state of programming. I know it's First World Problems, but TV did not used to cause this much angst! Shows used to start promptly on the hour or half hour, in line with the printed TV guide. There used to be something fun on Sunday nights like Doctor Who or The Mentalist or both. If the viewing audience is spending more time watching TV on the internet or DVD boxed sets (I'm enjoying Dark Angel most nights), who can blame them!!!!!

The Last Days.

Life has chapters, and jelssie has marked one of those chapters. Nothing lasts forever. You finish the block of chocolate too soon. Braces come off, eventually. And half of jelssie, me the Jess part, is leaving Sydney at the end of this week. So it seems like the right time to finish blogging here, round things up and appreciate what has been. It's either that or take a new photo for the banner. I love that this blog is an archive of so much fun, it's been a GREAT chapter.

There will hopefully be another jelssievision soon, yesterday we did a 5th and final episode for Season 1 :) so stay tuned for that.

If you miss me (Jess), I plan to keep blogging on my other blog, but that's not much like jelssie, it's mainly craft and my new favourite songs and so on. I have a smartphone now so if I start twittering I'll let yous know. Elsie said she might start a blog if she ever wants to blog again. But officially, jelssie is saying goodbye this week.

Minimalism.

It's like scales falling from my eyes. Finding something like this during a packing/decluttering binge and thinking "What the?".

I must have scavenged it from my parents or grandparents. Still in original 70s packaging. 4 soup bowls with lids. Now, they would make cute little tureens, so somebody might want them, but why have I been carrying them from house to house and dutifully putting them right at the back of some cupboard every time I unpack? It's insanity, when you think about it. Utter lunacy.

I've come to the point where decluttering and frugalism has merged, and I want to think of myself as a minimalist, even though I probably won't look like one from the outside. I'd like to be able to fit all my possessions into one car, but that isn't going to happen. Once you've got stuff and you're used to using it, it's hard to justify getting rid of it just so you can meet a romantic criteria of nomadic minimalism. But I'm seriously tightening up my definition of "useful" and resisting the lure of shopping to improve my life.

Nacking.

So snacking and feeling hungry aren't really a thing for me anymore, unless my meals are too small. The body can adapt to ANYTHING.

The FlyBuys.

I was very anti flybuys for years. I thought, I hate cards, I don't want my spending tracked. Well, I don't have to have a card because I just stuck the barcode on the back of my paywave card with sticky tape, and I figure when I pay with credit or eftpos my spending is tracked anyway.

Now I have actually started changing my spending because of flybuys. I use those vouchers for points when you spend a certain amount on fresh food. The amount is always carefully calibrated against my normal spending to raise it by a small amount. So one week I eat a lot veggies (spend $14 to get 175 points), the next week I stock up on cheese or meat. I CAN'T HELP MYSELF.

Article of my week:

No, I'm not talking about the hilarious one about the Expedit I facebooked, which you can read too if you like.

This one about Gen Y maybe wanting to leave the inner cities, against all the trends.

I wouldn't say I ever missed the suburbs, but I'm trying to see the bright side now. I'm sadly giving up my carfree lifestyle and figuring out which car to buy. Enjoying my walking-distance-from-the-beach location every swimming-weather day I can, before I go inland. Even breaking my No Takeaway rule because the days of easy access to cheap asian food are slipping through my fingers.

But on the bright side, there will be a vast improvement in my finances—the proportion of my income spent on rent will be reduced and even buying a place will be within reach one day. I'll be able to own and play a real piano as loudly as I like, no shared walls. I'll have a front door that goes outside instead of onto a corridor. I may even have a BACK door! I may have access to dirt I can grow things in, instead of a concreted common driveway area. This is all stuff I can live without, and have lived happily without, but they are upsides.

Should watch Hart of Dixie again.

Declutter: sell vs give

I sold my freezer on gumtree, woohoo! And then found out a friend would have bought it if I'd just put it on facebook. Oh well! I am actually glad I dipped my toe in the world of selling things online because it's a crucial skill in decluttering.

I'm reading the blog Miss Minimalist a lot, and found a good post about selling vs donating. Good guidelines to be efficient at decluttering when you think you should try and recoup the money you've spent on stuff, but it's so much easier to just donate it. Personally I'm very lazy/efficient and prefer to donate, but sometimes it's obvious that I could make some money back if I went through a little bit of bother just listing it online, which was the case with the freezer after years of indecision and using it as a cupboard for extension cords and vacuum cleaner heads.

No loss.

Something I've noticed about getting rid of things is that I don't notice the absence as much as I expect. Which is a pro and a con. A pro because it proves it wasn't at all essential in my life. A con because I had higher expectations of how much I'd love the empty space... you just get used to it though.

Tall skirts.

Long skirts. I have two, a dark blue/grey one and a bright red/cream one, and they get worn a fair bit. I've jelssied the wonders of the long skirt before, but I'm freshly enamoured.

• Excellent in the rain. When they get wet, they aren't directly against your legs like trousers. The fabric dries faster too.
• Great for summer days when you haven't shaved your legs.
• Comfortable and unrestrictive.
• Convenient for sitting on the ground or curling up your legs in the car.
• Safe in strong winds!
• Stairs can be a hazard, you can step on your skirt going up stairs, so please be ladylike and gather your skirts up, which is fun.

Smart financial decisions I have made.

I'm a long way from being a finance guru, but my frugalness means I keep an ear out. The Barefoot Investor and Alan Kohler are handy people to pay attention to. They speak plainly. So here are three things I've actually done as per general advice/advertising. Each one involved filling out a form.

Starting a First Home Saver Account. I ummed and ahhed for a year or two when they first started. I disliked the idea of being locked in for 4 years and then if I can never afford property the money is locked up forever. But they loosened the restrictions a bit, and I decided I'd wasted 2 years and could have been halfway through the time already so I might as well stop faffing around. So what if I never buy and it only ends up in my super, the return is still great. If you save $6000 in one financial year, the governments adds $1020. That is a LOT of free money. One year I forgot to put the whole amount in and I am still grumpy about it. So even if you don't think you're in the "first home buyer" category, I say take the plunge before the end of June. No term deposit will give you over 17%.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_home_saver_account

Opening an ING Everyday account for the 5% cash back on paywaves. 5% doesn't look like much, dribbling in a couple of dollars at a time, but when the 6 months is up, I will count up what my 5% savings adds up to.

https://www.campaigns.ingdirect.com.au/everyday-banking?cid=dpy:Fairfax%20Digital%20AU:DRx:AU_INGD_OE_Q3_2013:7336405:9502877#!/CashbackSavings

Thirdly, I switched my super into a high-risk high-growth investment. Because that's what you are supposed to do when you are under 35, and as you get older it shifts into progressively safer investments. No short-term benefits there but it's the proper thing to do. Although in a few years I think it will be the default anyway.

Culling guilts.

One of the blind spots I have traditionally had when decluttering is gifts. If someone gives me something, I never get rid of it. But this time I am being a little bit more ruthless. If I got given it several or more years ago, that's enough time for me to enjoy it.

If I feel guilty about getting rid of something I never used/wore, one thing I do is give it a "last chance" month. Get it out, use it, wear it. If I can't make myself wear it, I know I can resign myself to getting rid of it. One last shot at lowering the cost-per-use.

The Poorgeois.

I discovered this term last week. I love it, why didn't I know about it before? It's a lot better than hipster. Poorgeois is like bourgeois but the opposite. It's the middle class trying to look not wealthy but poor. Trendy poor. Think stubbly beards and new boots that look old. This trend is an excellent place for frugal people to flourish.

Decluttering is a state of mind.

I have crystalised a thought. I will resist decluttering for others and resist joining them and helping when they ask.

I have always enjoyed decluttering, and even when I was a teenager I got $20 to clean up some friend's kids bedroom. Which was easy money because I found it satisfying. But whenever I've done that that, gone in like the marines, I think it hasn't made any long term difference. People need to do it for themselves, and have their own motivation to see change. If I DC for someone else it is counter-productive because DC is a state of mind. And there is great joy to be found in gaining control of stuff for yourself. Gaining control is the drug that motivates you to keep going! I shouldn't steal that from anyone.

Maybe I'll change my mind, maybe there are people who have the DC state of mind but just need more arms, or a second perspective as they throw things away, or something. But no! It's better to teach a man to fish than go fishing for him. I really want to draw a comic or something about decluttering.

Best of facebook.

I don't love facebook, but I can't kick the habit. But there are many things that make it worthwhile, so it's a habit I don't mind.

I've got a facebook friend, my family and his family were super close when we were little. Lived around the corner, played every day, until I was about 10 and my family moved to Maitland. His older sister was my first best friend and we were inseparable, so moving was cruel, but I did get my own room instead of sharing with 3 siblings. Anyway, we're all grown up now and he's married and living somewhere in the central west. He is one of those happy people. I find him very hilarious, so it's a shame I don't get to see him in real life. But from facebook, what comes across is his joy in life: appreciation of the small things, and general way of living a simple life in an adventurous way. He documented the time his wife's horse fell down a well. He learnt to bread. His pregnant wife asleep on a bean bag. He found a baby chicken hatched from an abandoned egg. I love his life. I think that is the best stuff on facebook.

Style.

Rachel Khoo. This girl has great style.

• Copy someone. Rachel Khoo, or Sheldon Cooper, or Zoe Hart, or Sherlock Holmes, or Clara Oswald, or an actual person you know, or a blogger. Be realistic, though. I'm not going to successfully copy Taylor Swift. But imitation is an excellent shortcut to success. It's just about vision, really. And it'll be different because it's on you.

• Pick one colour, any colour, and dress in it. Dye your hair in it. Everyone knows The Purple Lady. I'm not bold enough but I admire her spirit and it must make life VERY easy, re shopping and matching outfits.
   
• Pick a couple of colours that go together and stick with them, eg navy blue, grey and white. I've tried this when packing for holidays and it's brilliant. Just packed blueish things. So easy to get dressed. But I'm too fickle to ban the majority of colours from my life. I even have yellow! Although I have banned pastels.
   
• Pick a neutral colour and wear a fair bit of it amongst your other fickle colour choices. Black or grey or white or navy etc ties a broad palette together and makes bright colours POP.
   
• Pick a shop. Shops tend to have a consistant style. Millers. Khatmandu. Cue. Tree of Life. I used to rely on Colorado. Life was simpler then.

It really makes it easier to be put clothes on if you know what you're trying to look like, and it makes you shop with discrimination.

It's not that hard to eat healthy.

I googled "salad for work" today. (This was the first result.) I despair that healthy food recipes always looks so gourmet and unattainable. It's got fancy grains (Bulgar wheat??) or it's got figs and beetroot that didn't come from a tin. I'm sure it's delicious AND healthy, but I'm so intimidated by recipes with SEPARATE HERBS that if I didn't already have "basic healthy food skillz" I would give up and buy KFC already. I'm thankful that I know how to cut up a carrot and dip it in hommus. I'm glad that I can make a sandwich with cheese and tomato. Also, I can toast baked beans between two slices of bread in a sandwich press. I am able to peel a banana. It's boring, I know, but these things are healthy plus EASY plus CHEAP. That's good enough most days. I don't think TV chefs and food magazines do very much at all to improve the eating habits of non-cooks. They're for people who already love cooking food and are interested in doing it really well. The rest of us just want to put food into our mouths with as little effort as possible.

Lucky red packets

It's Chinese New Year (or Lunar New Year to be politically correct). I've received some lei si (aka lucky red envelopes/packets), and I've realised some of them have very cool designs. Here are some random images of said red envelopes I found on the internet.

I have chucked out some really nice ones in the past. I regret that now. I'd like to start a collection of them, turn them into a collage and hang it on my wall. That would be pretty and meaningful to me. I'm not really good at getting in touch with my creative side. I think I'm a creative person, but the pragmatic side of me doesn't make room for creativity. This is probably the one of the few creative things I'd like to do.

Speaking the truth in love

Last night, our Bible study groups kicked off for the year. A lot of the groups met together at church and we did an intro seminar on Ephesians 4:1-16. We spoke a bit about verse 15, "But speaking the truth in love, let us grow in every way into Him who is the head—Christ." People spoke about it as rebuking and correcting each other in a loving manner, but I see it more than that. Speaking the truth in love can also be giving a word of encouragement.

When we struggle, we can lose perspective, lose sight of God. Speaking the truth in love in this case can be reminding each other that God loves you, cares for you, is in control etc. Encouragement is a great way to speak the truth in love.

Surprise Lord's Prayer.

We usually remember to pray before music practice at church. I decided to to the Lord's Prayer once. So the three of us shut our eyes while I recited it, and it was good but weird. And it seemed a lot more epic than music practice requires. As those familiar sentences loomed in my mind the split second before I said them out loud I kept feeling "wow". YOUR KINGDOM COME. FORGIVE US OUR SINS AS WE FORGIVE THOSE WHO SIN AGAINST US. THE KINGDOM THE POWER AND THE GLORY ARE YOURS NOW AND FOREVER. It was big stuff compared to what we normally pray at 4.10pm.

Use it or lose it.

Things last better when they are used. With a few exceptions. China breaks, DVDs scratch. But, I think there are only a few exceptions. Although books get a bit scuffed from being read, it still helps keeps them fresh, lets the air into the pages. Books that have sat closed on the shelf for years get spotted and musty, which is far worse. Same with shoes and bags and clothes. At my house, they get mouldy. Wearing them gets them out in the sun and fresh air.

Why I Hide It.

Interesting. Can't upload a screen shot of facebook. It goes blurry.

Anyway. I am a rampant hider of posts on facebook. But none of the reasons they ask me really apply. Annoying is the closest, but it's not really annoying, it's just annoying me. It's not spam. I want to tick boxes that say:

• I've seen it already, I'm bored, and I want to see the other posts fb filters out.
   
• It's ugly or stupid. Seeing it once was too much.
   
• It makes me feel bad or jealous, when I should be feeling happy for someone. Easier to hide it.
   
• It's political.

The Buffer.

Elsie and I were talking about flat-breaking, which is where your flat is sold or your flatmate(s) moves out or you have some kind of BIG uncertainty about where you will live and what you should do and how much your rent will be and specifically, how long to pay the rent on a 2 bedroom unit while you try and find a flatmate. We've both been very lucky and never had to pay the whole rent on a unit in a flatmate gap. And the idea is quite frightening, paying 2 or 3 times your rent for an unknown number of weeks. I mean, my rent is not far off 1/3 of my income already. What a horrifying thought. Anyway, Elsie said "I actually shouldn't stress about spending my buffer, because that's what it's for." Mind Blown. I'm the kind of person who saves a buffer, which is to prevent stress at times of financial uncertainty. But then if I stress about spending the buffer, that defeats the purpose of the buffer. It's there so you don't have to worry. You've got the money, it's for a rainy day, it is actually raining right now, so don't worry about whether you should stay wet or spend it! Focus your worrying on other things, haha.

Daily Bin Challenge.

James is back on the radio! It was some kind of "personal renovation project" theme on his first day back. A lady said she is going to throw out one item every day. SOUNDS LIKE A CHALLENGE. She started with an old pair of undies. Every journey starts with a small step. And then a lot of other steps about the same size.

I think the reason I am often obsessed with decluttering, other than the effort of overcoming the pain of throwing things away, is that if you aren't decluttering, you are cluttering. It's like gravity. If it's not being pushed one way, it's being pulled the other. Without deliberate intent, the default is towards overconsumption and overflowing storage.

A colleague recommended a blog about the whole slow and steady decluttering thing. 52 weeks of decluttering. It's just one small project a week, like the front of the fridge or the handbag.

But as we know, I don't do small steps, I do obsession, so while there is nothing on TV I'm filling the bin. I'm addicted to decluttering. It's like you ignore your surroundings most of the time and then you get rid of one thing and the feeling of letting go of it is strangely empowering, "I DON'T NEED THIS!", and it goes to your head and you see everything with new eyes. For a week or two you weed the house with clarity and dedication, and then it's another 6 months of the fog of mess.

But I'm trying to push through as long as I can with the getting rid of one thing a day. I'm calling it Daily Bin because it's catchy, and just writing what I get rid of in my diary to maintain momentum. Not all things go in the bin though. Some go to other people, or the op shop. I gave a Bill Bryson book to Julia for the plane. I took my old computer to the recycling place. I am giving some very good quality shoes to Anglicare. One day it was just a sock. Another day it was some old sunscreen. Cos sometimes even when things are rubbish I don't get rid of them promptly, but the challenge motivates me.

I'm also reading about minimalism. Not as an architectural style but as a way of life and attitude to stuff. Just because it actually asks the question "Do I need a coffee table?", which by the way you probably don't. I hate coffee tables. They fill up the best floor space and they aren't close enough to put your cup of tea on but they are good for putting your feet on and they just become a dump zone for your handbag and mail. If you want a thing to put cups on, a side table is the thing.

Shoes for orthotics.

I have done a considerable amount of research into shoes that are good for your feet, with hot tips from my podiatrist.

First of all, if the sole bends where your foot doesn't, that's an unsupportive shoe. Podiatrists like shoes that bend like an L, not like a C.

And if you wear orthotics you need shoes that hold firmly to your food, so for preference things that have laces, but at least a good strap over your foot.

A lot of people do wear orthotics even if they are just from the chemist. This is the results of my research for shoes that have removable inner soles / removable footbeds, and also look like young people's shoes not Grandma shoes, and are made to last. They're all about $200 a pair, which isn't cheap, but I'd rather have good pair I wear every day and last a few years than 5 cheap pairs that I replace regularly. And of course, I "shop the sale"!

Bared. If you shop in Melbourne, this is their current "orthotic friendly" range. Quite bright and trendy. I was considering ordering some online if I couldn't find any Sydney shops where I could try things on.

Naot. These are shoes from Israel. They have a range when you search under "removable foot beds". There's a big shoe shop outside Bondi Junction that sells a lot of these, I found them by accident and they look great but I don't think I've tried them on.

Ziera. This is from New Zealand. These are the orthotic ones. They helpfully show you weather you can wear half or whole foot orthotics. I went here because it's in the city close to work and the lady was great and they had a very good sale. I tried on a lot of pairs and they were all pretty comfortable, and they have half sizes eg 39.5.

I tried to check out Waldlaufer shoes at Peter Sheppherd (also in the CBD) but they didn't have anything my size in store and it was completely fruitless, but the lady was as helpful as she could be, and the shoes look nice enough.

Finally, if you have the luxury of buying shoes based purely on fashion, chunky soles are on the way in. It's not just the black sandals, look at these. Hilare.

Fashionable shoes.

I found out last night what the trendy shoes are for teenage girls at the moment. Because a mum was wearing her daughter's shoes. If you had asked me what was fashionable with the young ladies I would have said thongs and ballet flats, but these shoes are the opposite of thongs and ballet flats. They are black clumpy sandals from Windsor Smith. The sort of thing you choose for comfort over fashion. From the sort of brand that sells work shoes for adults. Until now.

See what I mean here.

Peeved.

Bus riders will know what this means. I looked at my bus ticket in the morning and thought "I can go there and back!" but the 9th trip hadn't printed so there was no trip back. NO RIDES LEFT = peeved face >:|

Stonehenges.

I've now seen BOTH Stonehenges, the stone one and the bouncy one, in real life. And both of them through a fence because I wasn't interested in hanging around in the weather for too long just to appreciate the history/inflation up close.

Sloths.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sloth

You may not have noticed, but sloths are a trend. Like owls, but owls were about Harry Potter and folk music, and sloths are about ridiculousness, sleeping and hugs. Ice Age and Kristen Bell have raised the profile of sloths, which is fine. But I can't get into it. I don't like sloths. Firstly, their heads are disproportionally smaller than their bodies. Weird little faces on big hairy long-armed bodies. Secondly, they have long nails. I like short fingernails, and sloths have long claws as big as fingers. I rest my case.

Old diary.

I just went through my old diary, saving a few important things like addresses before I chucked it away. One of the things I found in the diary relates to throwing away old diaries: a list of thoughts from the book Unstuff Your Life.

- I am not my stuff.
- We build stories into stuff, so interacting with the stuff becomes interacting with a powerful story.
- Don't value stuff over relationships. Lend.
- It all ends up in landfill eventually, after you die if not before.
- Yes throwing out is hard, because I feel responsible for wastage and the environmental impact. Learn from that feeling not to bring things into the house in the first place.

Everyone is different, and different systems and thoughts work for different people. I personally need to acknowledge the "stories" of my stuff, but not let them control everything. Throwing away an item means throwing away the memories. Throwing away last year's diary means throwing away lots of reminders of events, random lists, even the way I organised my work in 2013 on paper. I got it for free from Elsie, it's from some French business. I glued a map of the CBD inside the front cover. The elastic broke and I repaired it and it broke again. So much history in one item! But I'm learning, I am not my stuff, life needs constant pruning, and I threw it away.

Post holiday Monday.

There are some good things about being back at work. I moisturise my hands regularly, for example.