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mikeyd1986 · 6 years ago

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MIKEY’S PERSONAL BLOG 155, May 2019

On Monday afternoon, I had my Creative Writing short course at Balla Balla Community Centre in Cranbourne East. Today we learned about ways to “show” rather than “tell” in your writing and to find a balance between the two. We also did some practice exercises with freewriting which is essentially writing in a non-stop, stream of consciousness style without correcting or editing anything. And lastly, we discussed the importance of setting in a story, which is the time and place a story is set in.

Here is a piece of writing I began this week for a homework exercise: SETTING HOMEWORK (CREATIVE WRITING – WEEK 2)

I remember growing up in the town of Ashwood. I lived close to Jordanville train station and Cleveland Road. I attended school at Parkhill Primary School in 1995 and Ashwood Secondary College in 1999. The schoolgrounds featured a wide grassy oval, a line of tall pine trees which separated the two schools, rolling rolls and play equipment. I remember being able to see the golden arches of McDonalds from behind one of the portable buildings.

The shops along Cleveland Road consisted of the Commonwealth Bank, a fish ‘n’ chip shop, a milk bar, a pharmacy and a hairdressing salon. The footpath featured a patterned mosaic brickwork and sloped downwards toward High Street Road. Across the road, there are some recreation reserves, sports ovals and an enclosed wetlands area. I used to walk down to my primary school via a gravel pathway, cutting through the ovals as a shortcut.

I visited the wetlands frequently during my primary school and early high school years. It took me a while to figure out how to open the entrance/exit gate to the wetlands, which faces High Street Road. All you had to do was pull the knob above the black metal post in order to release the latch on the gate. The wetlands feature many species of trees, shrubs, grasses and bird life. It also consisted of wooden boardwalks, benches, balustrades and bridges which all interconnects and leads you to Ashwood College.

Jordanville train station is a very short distance walk from where I grew up. It faces Huntingdale Road and is surrounded by tall gum trees. It is also neighboured by the Riversdale Golf course. Mum and I used to catch the train often from here, usually towards the city but sometimes to Glen Waverley or Holmesglen. Both High Street Road and Huntingdale Road could be quite busy with peak hour traffic and buses regularly travelling to Chadstone and Ashburton.

I remember how pungent the exhaust fumes from the buses were – grimy, unpleasant and gassy. Whenever it rained, I could smell the eucalyptus and pine coming from the towering gum trees near the train station. I would describe their scents as earthy, lemon and peppermint. I also remember hearing the roar of the car engines as they accelerated, the birds singing in the trees and people’s shoes contacting the ground.

As Mum and I were patiently waiting for the bus to arrive on Huntingdale Road, a random stranger approached me offering some chewing gum. We were sitting inside the bus shelter, which was constructed out of hardened river stones and painted black metal. The shelter obscured our view of the busy main road and therefore made the encounter with the stranger even more intimidating. However, the bus shelter did protect us from the blustering, freezing wind that was blowing outside at the time.

My naivety got the best of me and I was about to accept the strip of chewing gum from the stranger. He seemed harmless and the gum was still wrapped up in its paper covering. However, my Mum quickly intervened and after the stranger had left, told me to throw the gum away. It was a lesson in trust, and she was protecting me, like the important motto “stranger danger”. Who knows if that piece of gum had been tampered with? It’s better to be safe than sorry.

On Tuesday morning, I had my first mentoring session with my employment mentor Brad from Aspect Capable at Glen Waverley Branch Library. I was feeling a bit reluctant and worried about how this session would go considering all the chopping and changing that happened leading up to it. I was initially going to meet up with Brad in Bayswater then Boronia then Glen Waverley on Monday at 4pm. But the appointment got changed several times and I had difficulty trying to balance it with my other commitments.

The last thing I wanted was to deal with peak hour and afternoon school traffic driving to the library and so we settled on a morning session instead. Parking was a moderate challenge as there was limited spots near the library but thankfully I found a spot before the doors opened at 10am. Brad booked a private room for the two of us to work in. Unfortunately, there was a storytime group singing nursery rhymes outside the door which was more than a little distracting for me. But what can you do?

The most challenging part for me during this first mentoring session was coming up with ideas about what career I would like to have in the future. I’ve said in the past that I’m a career counsellor’s worst nightmare and that statement still rings true now. The problem is that I have many different interests plus a lack of self-confidence and motivation to pursue another job. It’s the question I still haven’t figured out the answer to. I’ve always said that I have no idea what I’m doing with my life and generally take things a day at a time.

However, doing career quizzes certainly helps to narrow down my options. According to the results from Job Outlook, the work styles I enjoy the most are creative, administrative and enterprising. Some possible career matches include: author, book and script editor, artistic director, tourism and travel advisory, secretary, journalist, florist, payroll clerk and information officer. As you can see, that’s a broad range of careers to explore right there. https://joboutlook.gov.au/CareerQuiz.aspx

Besides this, I really need to work on my confidence and social skills in the workplace. How to strike up a conversation and engage in small talk? How to sell myself to employers and demonstrate my specific work skills? How to feel more confident applying for jobs and performing in interviews? These things have always presented a major difficulty for me but can hopefully be overcome in the future. https://www.autismspectrum.org.au/content/mentoring-program

On Thursday morning, Mum and I celebrated Mother’s Day early by having a morning tea at Lady Lavender's Tea Room in Bunyip. Even with the freezing cold winds, the weather was surprisingly holding up outside and offered breaks of sunshine through the clouds. We decided to sit near the front window and ordered a serving of fruit scones each with jam and cream. Later on we visited the gift shop which contains garden ornaments, homewares, plants, books, cards, vinyl records, paintings and lots of lavender.

I’ve honestly been struggling to get motivated when it comes to Mother’s Day this year. It’s not because I don’t love my mum but more the societal pressure of having to rush out to the stores to buy her a gift (and time hasn’t been on my side as usual). It’s also tough when you have numerous other commitments taking up your time and vying for your attention. Plus lack of money and working out what to buy my Mum is also difficult. It’s annoying to say the least.

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drivingchool · 8 years ago

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mikeyd1986 · 8 years ago

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MIKEY’S PERSONAL BLOG 62, July 2017

On Monday morning, I had my first Healthy Cooking on a Budget class for Term 3 at Balla Balla Community Centre in Cranbourne East. Despite recognising half the people from last term, I was still feeling a bit anxious and uneasy. I was like a strongly bonded molecule being unable to loosen up and relax. I was working with Kevin today who is also very friendly like myself but because I don’t know him that well, my guard instantly went up. It takes me a long time to warm up to and open up to people.

Our cooking teacher Jodie was her usual chirpy and bubbly self. I really didn’t want to bring up her mother’s death or funeral as these are sensitive subjects but it seems like she’s doing better now. Today we ended up making three different dishes from one roasted BBQ chicken. Watching Jodie cutting up the chicken into segments felt like an animal anatomy demonstration. We used the breast for the wraps, the drumsticks and wings for the pie and the bones for the stock/soup.

We started off by making the shortcrust pastry. It took me a while to get used to working with rubbing flour and butter together to make breadcrumbs but I got there eventually. We then cut up a few different vegetables including celery, onions, capsicum and carrots, frying them off in a saucespan for the pie filling. We also used a pressure cooker to make our chicken stock which only takes about 25 minutes. http://www.ballaballa.com.au/progra...

On Monday night, I had my Strength Training session with Luke Davey at Breakaway Fitness in Berwick. To be honest, tonight wasn’t my best performance of all time. Far from it in fact. However, I did learn from valuable lessons about myself so I can consider that to be a really positive thing. Part of it was me trying too hard and the expectations on myself being highly unrealistic. Sometimes you’re just not going to be able to lift that weight. That’s life.

WARM-UP...I actually started really strong with my warm-up exercises. Beginning with a few yoga-esque poses including wide-legged side stretch with overarm, forward fold and twisted calf stretches. But when it came to doing the kettle bell deadlifts and pull aparts with the resistance band, I was having some issues with my lower back. I was also struggling to keep my form and I was beginning to get frustrated with myself.

DEVELOPMENT...This frustration continued into my deadlifts. Today I started doing 5 rounds of 1, maximum weight. I was overthinking and second-guessing myself a lot, even with sliding the plates onto the bar. I just felt so stupid because I couldn’t do it properly. Still, I wasn’t going to cry and I wasn’t going to give up. I was doing okay with the lighter weights but when it came to do 100kg, I was on the verge of losing my form and not being able to do it. I got fatigued and worked up even though I just wanted to get it done and smash the deadlifts. It just didn’t happen for me today.

WORKOUT...At this point, Luke decided that it was unsafe for me to continue with the deadlifting and I can completely understand that. But of course, my mind had other ideas after I was strapped into a 15kg weight vest and told to run through Intrepid Drive and back around the block...”Oh no! Luke’s disappointed in me because I didn’t complete the deadlifts and now he’s punishing me.” But this thought was beyond ridiculous and obviously untrue.

Still I wasn’t feeling that great about myself in the moment. Running was a struggle both physically and mentally. I also had to be mindful about vehicles reversing out of driveways and turning at the interaction so I had to slow down a few times. When I got back, Luke explained why he changed my workout. I know that he had good intentions for me. If he was truly disappointed in me, he would have cracked the shits and walked off.

It was like a reflection and a wake-up call at the same time. Reflecting on the fact that I’ve come a long way since I started training with Luke and dropping 17kg which was almost the amount of weight I was carrying with the vest on. He also wanted to me clear my head and hopefully get myself into a better headspace rather than continue with the deadlifts and most likely not get anywhere in my current mental state. https://www.facebook.com/breakawayf...

After the session, I had a one-on-one discussion with Denee Lalouette. The look of concern on my face must have matched my thoughts...”Oh shit! I’m in trouble. This is going to be a Principal’s office type conversation.” But of course that was just my fear and anxiety talking. He essentially just wanted to clear the air with me after Thursday night and get me to understand his intentions behind what he was telling me.

I did take things the wrong way and got defensive at him. Simply, my emotions and my ego got in the way and I misinterpreted everything he said to me. I saw it all in a negative, harsh and judgmental light as if he was attacking my character. The four principals that he discussed with me are: What you think you become. The world is a mirror of your life. Every battle is won before it is fought and Life is a paradox. It was tough trying to articulate myself to him but I still managed to be open and honest with him about the beliefs I held within. https://www.facebook.com/compiapp/

Driving from Berwick to Frankston South was a bit of a challenge in terms of peak hour traffic but still manageable. I was a little worried that I might be late making it to my Meditation class at Brahma Kumaris Centre for Spiritual Learning, The Peninsula but Angie is pretty casual about lateness so it wouldn’t be a big deal. Typically, I got there a few minutes before 7. Phew!

Tonight we discussed another huge topic which followed on from last week’s class. We did a recap about Soul’s being eternal beings which have original qualities including peace, love, joy, wisdom, purity and innocence. Next Angie talked about how the faculties of the soul (Mind, Behaviour, Intellect and Sanskaras) all interact and influence each other. The most important point was that the intellect part was responsible for changing the cycle and whether our thoughts and feelings are positive or negative ones.

She then discussed the concept of the Soul World where souls spent time to rest before leaving and moving into the Physical World and into another body. The soul is like a fully-charged battery with all original qualities. But after many births and rebirths, these qualities deplete and lose energy. They are then covered up by Vices (Ego, Greed, Lust, Attachment and Anger) which are not lasting and not fulfilling.

The last part of the class was dedicated to the Supreme Soul, which is the existence of a higher being that is looked up to. It is known by many names including God, Jehovah, Bubba, He, Him, Father etc. The role of the Supreme Soul is to provide an energy source and connect to other souls. It is in a state of total peace all the time. This part definitely challenged my current spiritual beliefs but at the same time I still found the information interesting. http://brahmakumaris.org.au/events/...

On Tuesday night, I attended at Vinyasa Yoga class with Aaron Petty at Personal Performance Training Centre in Berwick. I’ve been practicing yoga for about 8 years now and I absolutely love experiencing different styles, teachers and venues hence why I decided to give this class a try. It was a fully booked class with about 11 students and it was held in the upstairs training room.

Being a Vinyasa styled practice, I knew that this would be quite an intense, high energy class. Thankfully it was also a judgement free zone. In fact, a few people were laughing at themselves when they couldn’t hold their balance in Aeroplane Pose and Flip The Dog Pose. The main thing was that everyone was giving it a go. It didn’t matter if you couldn’t quite keep up with the Flowing Sequences or be able to lift your feet up in Crow Pose. These poses are meant to be challenging so there’s no shame if you can’t do something (advice I really need to take myself sometimes!).

Aaron’s approach is very easy going and flexible (pardon the pun). Unlike most yoga teachers, he eliminates most of the Sanskrit jargon and focuses more on which muscles to activate during each pose. I was sweating heaps through the class and I was thinking thank god this wasn’t a hot yoga or bikram yoga class or else the entire room would be melting (It’s getting hot in here!). Aaron is also very knowledgeable, explaining the benefits about Pigeon Pose including the promotion of healing by releasing tension through the hip flexes.

The toughest part of the class for me was definitely the flowing sequences which included the following poses:

Flowing Sequence 1...Forward fold, Half Lift, High Lunge, Plank, Chaturanga, Cobra/Up Dog, Downward Facing Dog.

Flowing Sequence 2...Chair pose, Aeroplane pose, Crescent Warrior, Warrior 2, Reverse Warrior, Side angle pose, Triangle pose.

I also appreciated Aaron’s choice of music which was a mixture of 60’s inspired ambient funk to modern lounge and chill out tracks. During my relaxation, I began to feel weightless and could feel the vibrations of the music through my body. It was quite an unusual sensation but it was quite a pleasant experience and I was able to just let go of my yoga practice. Hopefully PPTC makes yoga a regular thing because I really enjoyed Aaron’s style of yoga.

On Thursday afternoon, I had a Remedial Massage session with Brendan Rose at MyoMAX in Berwick. This week, I’ve really been burning the candle at both ends and by the time I walked into the waiting room, I was ready to fall in a heap. I was feeling flustered and worn up so this massage couldn’t have come at a better time for me. I was particularly sore in my shoulders, arms, upper back and sides especially after my yoga class on Tuesday night.

I was feeling a lot more comfortable and a lot less nervous than my first session with Brendan. When he asked how my week’s been and how I’ve been feeling, I honestly didn’t know where to begin. Suffice it to say, I’m trying to balance out my time better rather than cram everything into a couple of days. I made a spur of the moment decision to pick Sia for today’s background music. She’s a great singer songwriter and I needed something to wind me down.

Brendan was very thorough when it came to releasing the tension and stiffness through my back muscles. I think through Crossfit/Strength training and my own self-development, I’ve learned to “toughen up” and deal with the pain. Plus I trust that Brendan knows what he’s doing. No pain, no gain as they say. He wants me to work on straightening my spine out using the foam roller. We also worked on my squat depth and squat technique. I felt a little self-conscious about it but I was going for it. I didn’t care how many times it took to get it right. https://www.myomax.com.au/

On Friday morning, I had my Strength Training session with Luke Davey at Breakaway Fitness in Berwick. Today was another ordinary session for me as a week’s worth of stress had accumulated on top of me. Sleeping in, I was rushing out the door at 8.30am and of course I got stuck in peak hour traffic along Clyde Road. The only thing that was calming my nerves was the new Feist album I was listening to in the car. Besides that, I was feeling anxious about not making it to UFT on time.

By the time I saw Luke, I was already mentally exhausted. I was having difficulty articulating how I felt inside and just wasn’t feeling myself today at all. I was even getting jealous about Luke having side conversations whilst I was training because the attention wasn’t on me. It was really bothering me. I began questioning whether UFT PLAYgrounds was the right place for me because I just didn’t fit in here. Once the “negative thought” train has left the station, it’s very hard for me to get it to stop even when I’m slamming on the brakes.

WARM-UP...These exercises were a mixed bag for me today. Starting with the rowing machine, I had to do an 8 round TABATA (20 seconds on, 10 seconds off). I tried to focus but I was getting distracted by the conversation Luke was having. I was also getting frustrated by how much I was struggling with my single arm rows and could feel the emotions festering up inside of me. The awkward silence was extremely loud between Luke and I but I really didn’t want to bring up my issues today. Instead, I tried hard to channel my energy into the workout and feel a bit better about myself.

DEVELOPMENT...Today I was working on my bench press again, this time doing 5 rounds of single reps at 50kg. This was a really heavy weight for me so I really needed to dig deep mentally. After the first few rounds, I decided to focus my attention on taking deep breaths in and out, visualising myself lifting the bar up in a straight line without struggling. This was a much better and more productive way of using my rest time and thankfully it paid off.

I felt really proud of myself for managing to turn this negative session into a positive one just by believing in myself and blocking out all other mental distractions. It’s been a tough week for me and it’s even harder trying to explain it to your personal trainer. Sometimes it’s just easier to go within and sit with the silence, as uncomfortable as it may feel.

Straight after my PT session, I went to the Fountain Gate Hotel for the Denise Drysdale Xmas in July show. My parents were already there inside the function room but I was only a few minutes late and didn’t miss much. It was a surreal experience meeting Denise in person after seeing her on countless morning shows such as Ernie & Denise and Studio 10.

She performed a one hour show filled with songs (What a Wonderful World, Tell Him, Jingle Bells, Silent Night), funny stories about her life and plenty of rude jokes relating to menopause, breasts and surgery. This was exactly when I needed in that moment, positive energy and laughter. After the show, we lined up at the buffet table and filled our plates up with salads, roast lamb, pasta, lasagna, roast potatoes, carrots and broccoli.

On Friday night, I went down to my friend Mandi Herauville’s gym for my first Bootcamp class at The Yard Strength & Fitness in Pakenham. I was still feeling emotional and not thinking clearly when I arrived. Unloading with Mandi before the session tonight helped immensely. Sometimes you just need to laugh about shit in order to let it go and feel better about it and that’s exactly what we did. I feel bad whenever I get defensive and annoyed at somebody else because then I become the victim. It’s difficult whenever you’re in a hypersensitive state to see things objectively and that’s what happened today.

I met a few of Mandi’s other clients tonight who were all really friendly. Despite feeling mentally drained and worn out, I decided to participate in the Bootcamp class. The warm-up consisted of a rope walk, sit ups, push ups, mountain climbers, squats and lunges. Next we worked on our dead lifting technique, doing 3 rounds of 10 reps. I’m still working on my form and technique but it has improved heaps and I was feeling good about them tonight.

For the workout, we did a circuit with 10 different exercises including: sumo dead lifts, overhead sandbag lifts, fit ball crunches, skipping, leg raises, jumping over the rope, boxing, ladder jumps/runs, pike push ups and renegades. We had to do 3 rounds each and it was all self-paced. We all had a lot of fun with Mandi cracking jokes and singing along to Drake (You used to call me on your cellphone) whilst working hard and sweating heaps.

We ended the session by doing a series of stretches and a brief guided meditation by Mandi. I really enjoyed myself tonight and I’m glad that I made the effort to come out despite how shitty I was feeling inside at the time. I pushed myself out of my comfort zone and now I’ve discovered a new safe place to go to both to hang out and to train. https://www.facebook.com/TheYardStr...

“There’s one thing that I never did, its called giving up. It goes on and on and I felt so alone. As I grew up and grew old life began to unfold. Heavy hearts filled with hope and the truth will be. That there is something there but nothing wrong with me. And the truth will be that there is nothing wrong with me.” Dream on Dreamer - Taking Chances, Breaking Free (2011)

“Sometimes I take another breath, Another step to embrace what I have. Then I stare at you, staring back. And I know that I'm not dead. It takes a voice to make a change. It takes courage to not be the same. If the world is silenced today, I make sure to scream my name.” Dream on Dreamer - Don’t Lose Your Heart (2015)

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mikeyd1986 · 8 years ago

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MIKEY’S PERSONAL BLOG 54, May 2017

On Monday morning, I had my Healthy Cooking on a Budget class at Balla Balla Community Centre in Cranbourne East. Today we made fresh pasta from scratch which meant it was time to get messy! We started by cracking four eggs into a mound of 00 plain flour and then slowly kneading the mixture until it forms a ball. Next, we rolled out the dough and cut it into four sections before starting to feed it through the pasta machine.

I was actually quite intimidated using this device at first mainly because I didn’t really know what I was doing. But you slowly feed the dough through the rollers and repeat the process several times on each setting. This is called the lamination process where the pasta dough becomes longer and thinner. After it gets to a near transparent state, you then feed it through the cutters to make spaghetti, ravioli and fettuccine.

Finally we cooked the pasta in a large pot of boiling water. I made the mistake of mixing the two different types in the one pot and it started clumping together. Our teacher Jodie was fine about it though. I do get rather sensitive when I make a mistake but this was a new learning experience for me so I made the decision to be gentle with myself and just make note of it for next time. We also made a pasta sauce and some ravioli with a burnt butter sauce. http://www.ballaballa.com.au/progra...

On Monday afternoon, I started working through Lesson 5 of my online Wellbeing course through the MindSpot Clinic. This week’s focus is on dealing with relapses, ways to manage your symptoms, coming up with a relapse prevention plan and the importance of goal setting. I’ve found the course helpful in seeing depression, anxiety and stress from a different perspective and discovering additional ways to cope with the symptoms of these issues. https://mindspot.org.au/wellbeing-c...

On Monday night, I had my Strength Training session with Luke Davey at Breakaway Fitness. I was feeling much more relaxed and mentally prepared than last Monday. I was determined to keep myself in a positive headspace tonight. I’m still learning to love and accept myself more but it is getting easier. I’m also slowly adapting to the UFT PLAYgrounds environment. They’ve had a few recent interior changes including some separate spaces for the personal trainers to work in, which instantly put my mind at ease.

I decided to put all my cards on the table and let Luke know how I’m really feeling inside. There’s no point bottling this shit up inside anymore and plus I’ve grown to like and trust Luke over the past few months. I was still recovering from the DOMs (Delayed onset muscle soreness) in my arms and I also felt physically worn out from the weekend but I didn’t let these factors hold me back tonight. https://www.facebook.com/breakawayf...

WARM-UP...I started the session by doing several stretches into the hamstrings, quads and hips including 90 second squat holds and a 3 minute butterfly pose. As usual, I was feeling pretty tight in these areas but I was actually surprised at how flexible I’ve become. I’m holding these stretches for longer which is a clear sign of progression.

DEVELOPMENT...Easily the hardest part of my session tonight. I had to do 15 rounds of 8 weighted back squats EMOTM (Every Minute on the Minute). Honestly, I felt no shame in having to take a break or rack up before my round was done but I stuck it out for as long as I could. My form and technique was pretty good but of course fatigue and muscle burn were making my life hard. To be honest, I didn’t actually complete all 15 rounds as I used a couple of them to rest. But I made the decision not to be too hard on myself tonight. I should be proud of myself no matter how many reps I do or don’t do.

WORK-OUT...And just went I thought it was over. Luke played a track called “Bring Sally Up” and I had to basically do squat holds in time with the music. My brain wanted to stick “Sally” where the sun don’t shine especially when my knees started to burn and give way but I did what I could. It was a really tough session tonight and yet I didn’t give up even though I struggled a lot through it.

On Wednesday morning, I had another Strength Training session with Luke Davey at Breakaway Fitness in Berwick. I was still feeling sore in my thighs and glutes from all the weighted back squats I did on Monday night but otherwise I was doing okay. I’ve been starting to recognise the importance of using positive affirmations or mantras before my sessions as they help me to get into a more positive mindset and to let go of any worries or anxieties I might be carrying around with me. Some people might laugh at me or think I’m weird for doing this but it’s what works for me.

WARM-UP...I started the session by using a soft plastic ball to release tension from my hips and upper back muscles. Honestly it’s poses like this where I’m truly in my zen moment. I just close my eyes, take in the sounds happening around me and breathe. Next I did some back extensions on the machine (3 rounds of 10 reps) and some kettle bell dead lifts (3 rounds of 12 reps).

DEVELOPMENT...Today I really made a massive achievement...lifting more than my body weight. I did 5 single reps of 100kg. It’s a personal best for me and something to be truly proud of. But I’m not the kind of person to brag about it and blow my trumpet. Still I should be really happy with that effort. The most challenging thing about dead lifts for me is overthinking (Am I doing this right? Have I got my body in the right positions? Is my form okay?).

But thankfully Luke was there to make sure I was doing them correctly. The last thing I want to do is injure myself. My technique was pretty good for the most part. The initial lift from the ground up was probably the toughest part and then having to squeeze my glutes in as I’m raising the bar. But besides that, I made sure I was keeping my shoulders back, my butt raised, eyes forward and my back straight before lifting. Just gotta keep practicing and I’ll get there.

I was also trying hard to work on my mental health during the session. I reminded myself that it’s okay to be introverted, to not have a lot to say, to be silent and not have every single trainer and client talk to me. Grounding myself in the present moment is so important. People at UFT PLAYgrounds do care about me otherwise nobody would be acknowledging my existence or saying hi to me. I just have to believe that in myself and say yes I do belong here.

Sara: Can’t you see I’m not like the others? Freddie: I know you’re not like the others. You know you’re not like the others...Being scared is good. Fear is good. Fear motivates. Fear gives you the feeling of being alive. Quote taken from the film Halloween: Resurrection (2002)

On Thursday morning, Mum and I attended the Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea charity event held at Balla Balla Community Centre in Cranbourne East. The large hall contained several round tables in which we all sat around. There were guest speakers, door prizes, raffles, a silent auction and games, all to raise money towards the Cancer Council Victoria. When it comes to supporting important causes, I will always be there to participate and give generously. This is what truly defines me as a person. Giving to other people.

Everyone received a small plate filled with miniature cupcakes, slices and sandwiches and had access to a variety of different teas, coffees and hot chocolates. It was a great event to be apart of and my mum actually won a prize in the Guess Which Cup? game. The topics of improving mental health and wellbeing were also raised as these can help to reduce the likelihood of getting cancer. Awareness and prevention are both very important things to consider. http://www.ballaballa.com.au/event/...

On Thursday night, I attended my Water Workout class at YMCA Casey RACE. It’s been a few weeks since I last did this class but I felt like this would be a good way of promoting muscle recovery after my sessions with Luke this week. Our instructor Mary guided us through a variety of different movements including jogging, ski poles, digging and scooping, rock n’ roll, front and side kicks and rolly polly. I still found it difficult using the underwater dumb bells to keep me afloat but I still gave it a go. http://www.healthfitnessrevolution.com/...

On Friday morning, Mum and I went to the Morning Melodies social function at the Waltzing Matilda Hotel in Springvale. Today’s performer was Chris Griffith, doing a tribute show to British artists who were popular back in the 60’s. Chris entertained the crowd by telling us about his childhood, growing up in Cardiff, Wales and making plenty of jokes. The songs he played were from a variety of artists including Herman’s Hermits (I’m Into Something Good), Cliff Richard (Summer Holiday, Living Doll), Gerry and The Pacemakers (I Like It), The Beatles (With Love From Me to You), Tom Jones (Delilah, It’s Not Unusual), The Bee Gees (To Love Somebody). https://www.waltzingmatildahotel.com.au/...

On Friday night, I attended a Yoga class at YMCA Casey ARC in Narre Warren. Unfortunately the yoga instructor was involved in a car accident whilst driving down to Casey Arc but thankfully she wasn’t hurt and was able to still run the class tonight. We started the class by doing a couple of different breathing practices including Sun Moon Breathing which involves leaning over your knees from a kneeling position and touching the mat with your forehead.

Next we did several variations of the Lotus Pose which involves laying down on your stomach and lifting your legs and arms simultaneously. We also did Eagle Pose, Warrior I sequence, Warrior III, Seated Spinal Twists, Downward Facing Dog, Low Lunge, Shoulder Stand, Bridge Pose and Extended Child’s Pose. I decided to pull back on my shoulder stand tonight as last time I actually injured myself and I’ve never really been comfortable doing inversions. http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/lo...

“So you say you’re alone? Well I don’t think so and I take this moment now. No I don’t. So you say you’re alone? Every time, this might as well just burn.” Closure in Moscow - Jewels For Eyes (2008)

“We have never lived, we have never even tried. Come on now give that burden to me...It never ends, carry on the sin. It never ends, it never ends, we can never rest. It’s like kissing cousins. It’s like breaking bread.” Closure in Moscow - Kissing Cousins (2009)

“You’re chasing happy days, tell me are you closer now? Praising yesterday, dreaming of them better times. I won’t let anyone have mercy until you bring ‘em down.” Closure in Moscow - Happy Days (2014)

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