#Live Studio Session 2017 WHS

[mikeyd1986]

MIKEY’S PERSONAL BLOG 76, November 2017

“With persistence, courage and the willingness to learn and grow, we are often capable of achieving far more than anyone - including ourselves - might ever have expected.”               The Confidence Gap by Dr. Russ Harris (p. 244)

On Monday morning, I had a full body aromatherapy message by my friend and workmate Shannon Currant who is currently completing her Diploma of Beauty Therapy at Chisholm Institute of TAFE in Berwick. I was honestly really grateful that she asked me to participate in her assessment because a) Hello! Who doesn’t love a free message? and b) I really wanted to help Shannon out. After filling out a questionnaire and consent form, I was ready to go.

Unfortunately, we had to deal with loud construction vehicles working outside which was literally shaking the whole building. But once I was on the massage table, it didn’t bother me as much. Plus the soft chimes and swamp noises playing through the speakers was a welcome distraction. I thought that Shannon did a really good job, making sure I felt comfortable and relaxed the whole time and asking me if the pressure was okay. She was very professional about it and I’d be happy to participate again if she needs me.

On Monday night, I went to an RPM class at YMCA Casey ARC in Narre Warren. My emotions were still running pretty high after receiving an unexpected message on social media. It seems that I truly can’t handle criticism or anyone having a go at me because reading that message hurt me so much. And I had to admit that I’m partly to blame for this. I fuck things up without intending to but it was a sign that I need to cut the cord and let go. So I decided to do the mature thing and own my shit. It’s time to take responsibility.

Tonight’s class was vital for me in releasing these intense negative emotions festering within me...anger, guilt, hurt, shame, depression, disappointment. No matter what anyone thinks about me, I have to keep focusing on doing what’s best for me and looking after myself instead of wallowing in self-pity and playing the “Poor Michael” violin. I can’t let other people stop me from living my life nor can I please everyone. All I can do is learn from my mistakes, apologize, hope they accept it and move on.

Despite this emotional storm going on inside my head, I was pleasantly surprised with how well I did tonight. There were seven tracks from several older releases. The fitness instructor Janine who was filling in for Claire recognised me when I walked into the cycle studio and immediately I felt a little better about myself. I pushed myself over 130 RPM which I haven’t done in a very long time during the racing sections and up to 90 RPM during the internal training sections. It was pretty much giving a big FUCK YOU to all the negativity that’s been holding me back in my life. https://www.lesmills.com/workouts/f...

On Tuesday morning, I visited Bunjil Place for the first time since it opened last weekend. It was designed by Francis-Jones Morehan Thorp and cost $125 million dollars to build. The architecture both inside and outside the building is very impressive. There are major influences made to Aboriginal art, culture and past history. Bunjil itself literally means creator deity and is represented by a wedge tailed eagle, which the building is shaped like from an aerial view. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bunji...

There are also some throwbacks to the styles of Art Deco and Art Nouveau with the use of spiral staircases, large expansive curves, block rectangular forms in the windows and simple, clean lines. The combination of natural materials such as the abstract timber sculptural forms in the foyer, dark grey woolen carpets and plush leather/suede seating works really well as does the use of large glass panels around the entrance. This maximises the amount of natural light coming into the building and provides spectacular views of Fountain Gate.  https://www.bunjilplace.com.au/abou...

The facilities inside of Bunjil Place are all ultra-modern and state of the art. These include an 800 seat performance theater, a 200 seat studio space, a 350 seat function centre, art galleries, meeting rooms, a multi-level library, a cafe, an outdoor plaza, an open foyer and customer service centre. It is a major improvement and necessary upgrade compared to the now outdated council buildings over the road. https://www.bunjilplace.com.au/venu...

On Tuesday afternoon, I had a formal one on one consultation with my potential new personal trainer Abhishek Ashokkumar from Silverback Training Co.. We spent most of the session talking about past experiences, who I am as a person, my short term and long term goals, what I want out of my training and how I’m going to get there. It felt good being able to express myself, be honest with Abhi and unravel what I truly wanted from the complex depths of my mind. My fitness journey so far has been a turbulent roller-coaster ride but I have no regrets and I wouldn’t change any of it.

Honestly, I’m still in a state of transition right now and buried beneath a massive “What If?” cloud when it comes to where I want to head next. Most of that is being able to let go of the past and confront the fear of change and uncertainty of the future. But otherwise I walked away feeling assured that Abhi could be a good fit for me. He is highly knowledgeable, no bullshit, funny, passionate, caring and training clients for the right reasons. There’s also no pressure to make a decision either way nor do I have to worry about any dreaded lock-in contracts. Certainly a lot of pros and green lights there. Now, I just have to be ready to start. https://www.theyardfitness.com.au/

On Tuesday night, I attended a nutrition seminar at YMCA Casey ARC in Narre Warren. It was just a small intimate gathering of five people inside one of the training rooms on the pool level. Nutritionist and Dietitian Marnie Nitschke facilitated the seminar, talking about whether things like coconut oil, probiotics, A2 milk and activating nuts are good or bad for your health. She also discussed the top 10 trendy diets, explaining what evidence each of them had and why they don’t work. These included Sarah Wilson’s I Quit Sugar diet, the Paleo diet, the Detox Diet, the Blood Group diet, Raw Food diet, High Carb Low Fat diet and the 5:2 diet. http://www.everydaynutrition.com.au/...

The biggest problems with these diets are the lack of scientific evidence, not being sustainable in the long term, are missing key nutrients that are needed for the body to function correctly and are usually far too restrictive and unrealistic. It all comes down to having a balanced diet high in plant based foods plus eggs, fish, nuts, yogurt, cheese, milk and meats. And everything else in moderation. Nobody should feel guilty about eating a slice of cake or a chocolate biscuit, just don’t eat the whole packet in one go. https://www.caseyarc.ymca.org.au/wh...

Because the seminar was running slightly overtime, I was a few minutes late getting to my Body Combat class but thankfully I didn’t miss too much. Took me a while to get into the rhythm and not feel uncoordinated but eventually I got there. Cinamon mixed the tracks up again, putting in a Braveheart battle theme with a bow and arrow movement and The Prodigy’s Spitfire which included lots of dynamic lunges and side kicks. I always seem to walk away from a combat class feeling like I worked hard and that I really enjoyed myself. https://www.lesmills.com/workouts/f...

On Thursday night, I caught up with my friend Amy Amy in Thornbury. Getting off at Croxton station, I walked down Darebin street and met Amy at a pizza restaurant called Il Pizzaiolo. Thornbury is not an area I’m very familiar with but I was well prepared with directions in my head and in my pocket. I love admiring the older styled houses that are still preserved including Californian Bungalows, Queen Anne and Federation. I noticed that there were quite a few political posters up for the upcoming local election as well as support my marriage equality.

The Il Pizzaiolo is a traditional Italian pizza restaurant and for the most part, I had a very pleasant experience there. I decided to play it safe and order a Margarita pizza as the other options weren’t very appealing and were difficult to understand let alone pronounce. We then walked around the block to the SPAN Community House Thornbury in Clyde Street for the Om Chanting Circle class. There’s nothing that says getting out of your comfort zone by being in a new suburb, a new venue and meeting a new group of people.

As expected, my social anxiety was pretty high initially as meeting new people is a huge trigger for me. But eventually it did simmer down. Once I’m able to feel comfortable in the space and recognise that these people have good intentions, then the anxiety doesn’t have as strong effect on me. And the truth is that the people in this group were all friendly, kind, loving, compassionate, non-judgemental and open minded. Pretty much the types of people I need to be around more often.

The Om Chanting meditation class was facilitated by Paul “Paulie” Daniele. Red plastic chairs were positioned in a circular formation with two chairs in the center forming an inner circle. Essentially we had to chant om continuously for 40 minutes. That prospect for me was pretty concerning as I wasn’t sure I could last that long. But the good news was that you can take a few seconds to recover before breathing in again and knowing that everyone can go at their own pace. I did find that my throat was straining at times but that’s probably because I’m not used to doing it.

It was a really beautiful experience. During the reflective discussion at the end of the class, I described it as being inside a towering cathedral with a large choir of people all chanting together. You can literally feel the vibrations and the energy generated from the sounds we were all producing. There was a large range of harmonic frequencies that could be heard during the meditation from deep brassy tones to high pitched angelic-like tones. Very much brought my back to my days of studying Physics back in VCE.

Overall, I’m really glad that I made the effort to travel all the way out to Thornbury to see my friend Amy and to experience a different form of meditation than what I’m used to. Getting home was unfortunately a major hassle as I had to deal with replacement buses from Caulfield to Dandenong. Things went smoothly until I was forced to depart at Clayton station and was essentially left stranded there waiting for another bus. Getting close to Midnight, I didn’t want to take my chances waiting around for a bus that may never arrive. My gut instinct told me to call my parents to pick me up and that’s what I did. Thankfully I got myself home safe and that’s all that matters really. https://www.facebook.com/mindfulbod...

On Friday morning, I went to a Body Pump class with Gina at YMCA Casey ARC in Narre Warren. It’s probably been about six months or so since I last did a Pump class as I was already doing on-going strength training with my PT. It’s been a few weeks since I’ve done any sort of weight lifting so I knew going in that I was going to be pretty rusty and needed to go easy on how much weight I should be putting on the bar. It really didn’t take long before I started to feel the burn and the muscle soreness in my arms, shoulders and lower back.

It was really lovely of Gina to give me a greeting as I really didn’t expect her to remember me let alone my name. She also pointed out that I was the only guy in the room but this didn’t bother me. I’m used to being in female dominated fitness classes. We did a combination of deadlifts, rows, back squats, overhead power presses and shoulder lifts with the barbell and some bicep and tricep curls with the hand weights.

There were a few times I struggled to keep up especially during the bench press sections and I even had to skip a few reps to recover but I did what I could. We also did some squats and lunges, core crunches and yoga stretches to finish the class off. https://www.lesmills.com/workouts/f...

“We were talking about the love we all could share. When we find it, to try our best to hold it there with our love. With our love, we could save the world, if they only knew. Try to realise it's all within yourself. No one else can make you change.”  The Beatles - Within You, Without You (1967)

“Child-like. No one understands. Jack knife. In your sweaty hands. Some kind of innocence is measured out in years. You don't know what it's like to listen to your fears. You can talk to me, if you're lonely you can talk to me.” The Beatles - Hey Bulldog (1969)

[roodiaries]

Sydneyside

Foreword: This blog post is divided into sub-sections to make it seem less long ;)

Residing on Sydney's North Shore: The Compartment Life

I arrived back in Sydney in late January 2017 with a vague resolve to get a house, job, girlfriend, life, etc. on a nice comfy, non-committal, short-term basis. I haven't spent more than a year in one accommodation since I was 18 in fact.

House was the first objective, even before a guarantee of a stable income and some rapidly dwindling funds, post-Asia/East Coast travel. I spent a week of searching high and low for an affordable place with my own room and not in the back end of beyond. I visited numerous dull-sounding (and looking) suburbs, such as Lidcombe, Ashfield, Arncliffe and Auburn. I did also check one out in Woolloomoolloo. That would have been a cool place to call home, and Russell Crowe lives there!

I settled for a shared-room in the north shore suburb of Willoughby, and sacrificed my single-room agenda because there was a giant partition in this room (a deal-breaker and meaning I had privacy and my own corner), and the room-mate seemed a good fit: a shift-working nurse from The Philippines named Andrew, and not a major party guy. The 'landlord' – actually renting out the place himself and sub-letting it to us – was a Korean wing-chun instructor called Sam who worked in the studio area at the front of the house, but lived elsewhere with his family. There was also a single room near ours, where a guy from Taiwan called Dean was staying. I regret not hanging out with those three more often, but our schedules clashed and everyone was always busy. In 5 months (before Dean left), we managed to eat dinner together a total of once! The lack of a communal area or large kitchen kind of prevented much socialising anyway, and I mostly just saw Andrew (but even sharing a room, I wouldn't see him for up to a week at a time). It was functional and comfortable, but not social.

Pullman Prestige

I got a job at the Pullman Sydney Hyde Park Hotel in the Food & Beverage Department in late February. Like my apartment and car, I found the job on Gumtree – the perennial lifesaver! I immediately loved the job, and it was certainly my favourite one so far in Australia. I ended up staying the entire 6 months that I was permitted with the WH visa. I liked the prestige of wearing a tie and uniform at work, and being in a fancy, air-conditioned establishment right in the heart of the city. It was my first taste of hospitality, and I particularly enjoyed the team atmosphere, with staff bonds forged via countless high-pressure stressful-but-funny situations,

e.g.:

Having just two hours to transform two rooms, including the main events room from a day conference into a giant dinner party complete with dance floor, stage, hypnotists and countless decorations, while trying to manage the three-inch high flood of reeking viscous sewage in the pantry next door

Anzac Day when every room was full with lunch events and tonnes of staff were needed (getting paid double-time = $49 per hour), listening to stories of veterans and their relatives (but later that day I was in the wars myself when I fell down the stairs and sprained my ankle!)

Numerous sports teams (AFL and NRL) eating relentlessly and drinking unstoppably, and all the constant clean-ups and late-night stays; listening to their conversations was surprisingly boring

When outlandish day-conference guests and clients rampaged illegally through the uncleaned, bombshell-like pantry and store-rooms, clambering dangerously over furniture

Being behind the pop-up bar during massive rushes, and having my first exposure to lemon and lime bitters (which I learned to make), as well as pouring techniques for wine and beer

The classic 'no cutlery or glasses ready' scenario right before a big event and the rush to find everything with not enough staff or time, making do with the wrong types

Lorenzo not getting along with the rest of the staff, tickling you while you carried stuff and refusing to do the vacuuming because it was beneath him! “Not the hero we deserve, nor the one we need.” But also a legend in his own right

Mardi Gras night in March – our hotel was the starting point for the whole half-a-million-strong parade: as extravagant floats passed by, we served drinks and canapes to numerous drag queens and divas (with requests including putting a sausage roll between their boobs, “can I take you home tonight?” and much more, producing plenty of awkward laughter and lack of a clever response from myself)

Arguments with the narky banquet chefs: “where's your supervisor!?” Plenty of tut-tuts if you couldn't carry three plates or were not on time, but all good fun in the end (I think)

Some shifts in breakfast or room service: plenty of awkward customer exchanges – e.g. saying “have a good day!” and then finding they were just getting up to get food; trying to choose between saying “you're welcome,” “that's OK,” ��no problem” and “no worries,” and then mixing them up: “that's no worries, welcome!” Also when the owners of the building were in town, and I took away the coffee of Wong Kan Seng, the former Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore, before he was finished (almost died of mortification); and some good times there too, especially working with Joshua (the only other Englishman who also started on the same day as me), as well as Steve or Anne Sophie in room service

Particular mention goes to the banquets team I worked with the most: Bibek with his sudden high-pitched voice when speaking to customers (“room service”) and the infamous brown bag; Jess, the Aussiest girl in the hotel who always helped me out patiently while never taking shit from nobody; the supervisor Jona who hired me, taught me the ropes and was always keen for after-work beers; Guthrie with his laid-back attitude and film chats; and management trainee Sy whose random soundbites echo in my head to this day (“get to the choppers,” “OK team, it's show time,” “time to disappear”), always facilitating an atmosphere of fun and nonsense in the face of some overwhelming shifts.

Since I still work for the same company in a different location right now, I won't bitch too much, but plenty of staff at Pullman Sydney were not happy and began quitting over various issues, including management and lack of shifts. Money often seemed to be favoured over staff (or customers for that matter) with shifts regularly cut and annoying initiatives to upsell more stuff (the guests don't want a bloody extra croissant, leave them alone FFS). Lack of sufficient staff for a shift was also a constant blight, but in general you had a lot of freedom and variety working in banquets, and were often given considerable responsibility, and the experience was definitely a positive one.

A Brief Commentary of Sydney as a City

Overall, I like Sydney a lot. I prefer it to Melbourne, Canberra and definitely Adelaide. However, it’s a city of two halves. On the one hand, you have the dingy, dull, congested, prosaic, worn-out, uninventive, crappy, commercial-and-business-dominated city centre, which has a surprisingly high East Asian population (it feels like 50% Asian, not that that’s a bad thing; just unexpected). On the other hand, you have the stunning Sydney Harbour & Parramatta River (together known as Port Jackson) with its unending bays and natural/man-made sights; and the relaxed coastal suburbs with further wondrous views west over the city and east out to the vast Pacific Ocean. Public transport is second to none, and the Opal card makes travelling relatively cheap and convenient (by bus, train, tram and boat). Going out is expensive, but there are always cheaper hidden places, and happy hours provide good value for money: the beer and bars improve exponentially when you escape the CBD. Like much of Australia, it feels very suburban, middle-class and family-oriented: sometimes a little too clean and organised for my tastes (though I never visited notorious parts like Blacktown or Mount Druitt). It also has access to some incredible nature and national parks in all directions. It’s somewhere I’m glad I lived, but not somewhere I particularly need to live in the future. It lives up to the hype in many ways, but from my perspective, it can’t match the major European cities for history, architecture, food or atmosphere.

Social Life a.k.a The Pub & A Few Other Things

I had three main friends outside of work: Tatjana and Eisen from my farm work days in Renmark, and Mark from my uni exchange in Singapore. I spent many sessions out in Sydney's array of bars: those at Circular Quay and Darling Harbour which were pricier but had wondrous views while imbibing copious schooners of sweet wholesome 'cold ones'. These included but were not limited to the Bavarian Bier Cafe (lovely German beers for $5 at happy hour), Pontoon, Sweeney's, Hotel Harry's, Lord Roberts, The Clock, The Palace Hotel, Bald Rock Hotel and all other bars in Balmain (where Mark lived and our favourite suburb, full of homely pubs). I was sad when all three of them left in June/July.

I don't want to try and seem cool by boasting about drinking sessions (I could never claim to be cool), but I did not do a lot else outside of work: this was due to the physical and mental toll some of the long shifts (especially night ones) took on me, leading to a reluctance to do any other exercise, and the unpredictability of my schedule meaning I couldn't reliably sign up to many social clubs. However, I did get out and about to enjoy some fantastic city walks along Sydney's coastal suburbs: Botany Bay, Spit Bridge to Manly, Bondi to Coogee, the Royal National Park, and the Blue Mountains to the west. I also enjoyed a four-day holiday in April to Queensland to visit Fraser Island, the world's largest sand island and a natural adventure playground full of intriguing rainforest, a highway on the beach, sea swimming pools, freshwater perched lakes, and lots of dingoes.

In addition, I occasionally worked for my Romanian friend Costi, who helped people move house in his spare time. One extremely memorable, epic job was during the hottest day of the Australian summer, when it was a ridiculous 43ºC in February: we drove 3 hours over the Blue Mountains to the town of Bathurst to help a Bangladeshi family move to Sydney; their new apartment had several flights of stairs which we had to carry everything up by hand, sweating profusely in the mean time; then we had to drive back to Bathurst (so 9 hours of driving that day) because the neighbour also wanted to use our van to move house, so we slept on his mattress, then woke up very early and began packing his stuff into the van. His furniture was way too big, so we had to drive to Sydney with half of it, unload it, and then drive back again to Bathurst, pack the rest and unload again at his new house, finishing at about 6am on Monday morning. It was a full 48-hour working weekend, including 18 hours of travelling and a great deal of physical work: I would name it as one of the hardest, most intense single shifts I've ever done. However, it was made a lot more enjoyable by the company of Costi, who drove the whole time, never bitched or complained and maintained a calm, good-natured demeanour throughout the weekend, making it feel like a doable team effort for which I was well-compensated. A legend and a role model, that's for sure.

Riding the Bus

A boring topic to write about in my blog, but taking public transport on average twice per day over 7 months in Sydney provides one with a window into a city's soul. I loved crossing the Sydney Harbour Bridge every day to and from work or social events, basking in epic sunsets and sunrises over the incredible Sydney Harbour while jamming to the classic tunes (see Crossing the Bridge playlist below for details).

-The time the bus driver didn't know how to get to the Harbour Bridge because of roadworks and shouted to the passengers at large to ask for directions!

-The time the driver yelled at a guy to come to the front because he supposedly hadn't tapped on his Opal card, but it turned out that he had: the incident had a tense racial undertone because he was the only black guy on the bus...

-When the driver of the last bus of the night couldn't pull up at the last stop before the bridge due to taxis obstructing the stop; a girl was waiting and screaming desperately for him to stop – and even I (Captain Quiet On Public Transport) – shouted to the driver to stop somewhere! He didn’t.

-The drunken night bus back to Artarmon after a late shift: two guys that had just met for the first time, the younger, cockier and skinnier of whom constantly disagreed bluntly with everything the much older, bigger guy said, leading to a confrontational end to the conversation (this journey was always followed by an unpleasant 25-minute uphill walk through the lost lonely suburbs where not a soul stirs and spider webs hang over the path ready to snag an unsuspecting face passing through).

Thanks for taking the time to read,

Scroll down for photos and previous blog posts,

Oliver