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If you met yourself from the future, what would you ask your future self?
What if they wont tell you anything?


Fleurieu Weekend

A short but sweet trip to some of the dog friendly attractions of the Fleurieu Peninsula.

Friday Night - dinner in the garden at Forktree Brewing overlooking the ocean at sunset.

Friday Night - dinner in the garden at Forktree Brewing overlooking the ocean at sunset.


Starting the weekend with the appropriately named Sunset Amber Ale

Starting the weekend with the appropriately named Sunset Amber Ale


Saturday morning, balmy and cloudy, a view over Encounter Bay after a sunrise drive through the backroads and hills.

Saturday morning, balmy and cloudy, a view over Encounter Bay after a sunrise drive through the backroads and hills.


Nash gets a quick pet stop on the way to the top of the hill.

Nash gets a quick pet stop on the way to the top of the hill.


Top of The Bluff. The Victor Harbor Heritage trail along the cliffs led to some rocky beaches and pools.

Top of The Bluff. The Victor Harbor Heritage trail along the cliffs led to some rocky beaches and pools.


After a coffee, early lunch at Port Elliot bakery. Steak and onion pie, followed by caramilk donut. Good thing I climbed that hill first.

After a coffee, early lunch at Port Elliot bakery. Steak and onion pie, followed by caramilk donut. Good thing I climbed that hill first.


After a nap at the holiday house, a brief trip to Normanville for another walk and some late afternoon sunshine.

After a nap at the holiday house, a brief trip to Normanville for another walk and some late afternoon sunshine.


Saturday Night - the only board game in the holiday house was the 1983 edition of Trivial Pursuit. After three hours someone finally managed to answer a pop culture question.

Saturday Night - the only board game in the holiday house was the 1983 edition of Trivial Pursuit. After three hours someone finally managed to answer a pop culture question.


Sunday Morning - walking the length of the Carrickalinga Esplanade Walking Trail.

Sunday Morning - walking the length of the Carrickalinga Esplanade Walking Trail.

On The Other Hand

Is a covid throat and nose swab the cure for the common cold?


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The Light at the Beginning of the Tunnel

I was supposed to wake up this morning in a hospital bed and my right arm in a sling. Instead, I rose two handed to birdsong and a vibrant, violet-orange sunrise over the mulberry tree. A pre-admission COVID check was enough to convince my surgeon that the tail end of a cold was worth delaying my arthroscopy another two weeks.

I'm not sure if it's appropriate to feel good about this. There's something about my right arm that makes it my favourite of all my limbs. I think that's because it holds the pen, holds the mouse, taps the screen. I'd say I do about 90% of my communication through writing. Going without my arm, just for a couple of weeks, makes me think of having duct tape over my mouth rather than missing an opposable thumb to crack a tray of ice into a blender, steer a car, or reach above my head in a yoga pose to open my hips. I can live with two arms for a little while longer.

Potential frustration also fermented into philosophy. What if this delay was fate. What if I don't really need this surgery. After all, my shoulder only hurts when it's away from my body, pushing something, or trying to hit threes in community centre basketball courts. Can I live without those things? Maybe. I don't know. Maybe it doesn't hurt that much. I can't tell if I'm in denial about my injury, or in denial about being in denial.

Either way, I wasted a lot of time cleaning the house last week.

Welcome, Autumn

Twice daily soup.
Football without a jacket.
The occasional porridge.
Crisp, clean and vibrant landscapes.
Good cycling weather.
The simple pleasure of a blanket on a lap.

image 2218 from bradism.com

That Was Left Handed

Today I have accepted that I am going to have an operation on my shoulder, and that I’m not going to be able to strengthen my rotator cuff muscles to the extent that they provide stability to my labrum for the rest of my life.
When I encounter strangers while my arm is in a sling, they won’t need to ask, “Do you play basketball?”
(They'll already know.)

At least there will be one less hand to constantly sanitize for a few weeks.

Despite only accepting it today, I have been booked for the surgery for over a month now. And so I have spent a lot of the past weeks practicing daily tasks with my left hand to prepare for the recovery period. So far I have successfully, left handed:

  • Buttoned my pants
  • Put headphones on
  • Taken slippers off
  • Cleaned my teeth (but not flossed).
  • Peeled a banana
  • Made a coffee (although the bottom of the milk frother will probably not be looking great by July.)
  • Patted a dog
  • Got up from the ground
  • Toilet

I have a suspicion this will effectively cover all my daily activities from May 19 to June.

Surprisingly, nearly all of these things came naturally and didn’t require much honing at all.

I suspect I have been preparing for not having a right arm ever since I got addicted to my smartphone.

5 perfect timings of May 13 2021

The end of a two hour podcast episode coming to a close as I approached the front door after my morning walk.

Finishing my final accessory exercises (single leg glute bridges and supermans) as the final verse in Krafty Kuts and A Skillz' Superchunk mix filled the home gym.

The bank calling me to confirm I can save $2000 by breaking our current fixed loan, right after this fortnight's anaesthetist called to tell me that my anaesthetic gap was going to be $90 higher than the anaesthetist I was going to have last week. (Maybe the drugs will be 40% better - can't wait to find out!)

Bringing the Ice Coffee Maxibons to the checkout at the same moment Vanessa texted to remind me she'd earned ice cream by deadlifting 115kg.

Reaching my 10,000 daily step goal as I approached the front door after my evening walk.

What Did I Learn From Napoleon This Week?

I like delving into historic biopics. The longer they are the better. There are so many things that have happened in human history that are fascinating and a really long book can be the best way to be immersed in the details of these prominent people. And as usual I mainly reflect upon my own life.

I'm currently five hours into Andrew Roberts' 37 hour audiobook Napoleon the Great. I suspect it will be a good way to pass some of the next two weeks. So far I've learned about Napoleon's origins in Corsica and, just like me, his own love of history books. However, at mention of the Ceasars - subject I read about only a few months ago - I felt disappointed that I'd seemingly forgotten so much of what I read in Tom Holland's Rubicon.

Napoleon, I've learned, was a writer. Of letters and poems and short stories. I write, and I write this journal to help me remember the things that happen to me, or that I learn. I have an excellent recall of many specific things in my life, and for that I can thank my journal. So, I've concluded that if I want to retain more memories of important things then I should write them down.

For some reason, Napoleon seems important to me this week. Here is some things I have learned:

Napoleon wasn't French, but as Corsica was governed by French power, he went to a military school in France which led to him joining the French army.

During the French Revolution he took long breaks of paid sick leave and went back to Corsica, which the French army approved because they didn't want to lose any more officers at that time.

Napoleon owned a mulberry tree (a lot, in fact.)

Napoleon's intelligence saw him assigned to the artillery branch because he knew enough mathematics to fire a cannon.

Napoleon wrote a 'History of Corsica' book in his early 20s, and a lot of his maneuvering through noble and political circles seems to have been motivated by trying to get someone to publish it.

His father died at a young age, and Napoleon may have believed he would share a similar affliction and fate, which could explain why he YOLO'd so hard in later life.

He perfected and reused many successful strategies, both on the battlefield and off it. After every success, he demanded more power and threatened to resign if not given to him.

He wrote a lot of letters - something I could maybe do more of?

To my dear, beloved Journal. Tu wouldn't believe the day I've had today...

One Down

Day 1 post op has gone well. I have not taken the hourly 5-20mg of Endone that was originally recommend. I should have bought ice-cream cones.

Polar Opposites

One of the last tasks that I completed pre-surgery was to drag the outdoor gas heater next to my patio chair in readiness for a fortnight of gloomy recovery.

So I'll admit I was a little annoyed to see the weather forecast for the days following my surgery were suddenly all sunny and mid-twenties. In late May!? How dare life throw this new insult in my face? Days perfect for bike rides or even beach walks, and getting things done in the garden, all now to be observed from the shadows with my arm in a sling.

In hindsight, nice days have been a blessing. I've been able to walk around in a singlet, rather than with my arm awkwardly swaddled within the confines of my jumper. I've done less shivering. The warm air has given the afternoons a serene ambience in which to listen to audiobooks and watch Nash chase the birds out of the bushes.

image 2222 from bradism.com

It's also been good weather for eating Zooper Doopers.

What Did I Learn From Napoleon This Week? Part 2

The last time we (the non-royal we) were reading about Napoleon he was a sexually-awkward, brilliant military strategist who was perfecting his French and avoiding the guillotine in the aftershocks of the French Revolution. Another 12 hours of Napoleon The Great later and he's being coronated as the Emperor of France, trying to wedge a replica crown of King Charlemagne over the top of a replica crown of laurels modelled after Julius Caesar's. In the same amount of time I've managed to rotate my forearm about 95° from my body and picked up half a dozen buckets of leaves.

I think this is the right part to point out that, while I'm interested in Napoleon and I related to him in some ways last week, I don't like Napoleon nor do I necessarily dislike him. He is, from an anthropologist’s perspective, extremely interesting and I judge his actions the same way I do for all historical and contemporary people: Like they’re characters in a prequel, and that morality can’t influence their destinies.

Napoleon spent his mid-twenties and early thirties across all parts of the world - from the Italian alps and Lombardy, to Malta and Alexandria and across the deserts of the Middle East, before eventually returning to France, pulling off coup-ception, rewriting an entire country’s legal system, introducing metric (primarily for commercial reasons), selling a massive chunk of the USA and hanging out with the pope.

Honestly, it makes me question how I have achieved so little in my life in comparison. But perhaps this is simply because I am so isolated, tucked away in between deserts and oceans in Australia, and humans just tend to get more things done when you live near the Mediterranean.

Napoleon’s Rules for success in conflict

Read the map
Bring along some scientists
Keep your pieces close together
Always follow the religion of the country you’re in (if a massive revolution has left your nation without religion, introduce whichever one will benefit you the most politically).
Remember the central position

Ivory Bellrope handles, and how to Negotiate Effectively

Concerned that the interior decorators working to renovate the dead King’s palace were ripping him off, Napoleon asked one for the cost of the ivory handle on a bell rope. He then cut it off and asked an aide to take it into Paris and buy a few more from the shops and to report back the cost. When the aide returned and confirmed the average price was 33% lower, Napoleon simply reduced the amount he paid to the renovators bill by 33%.
Note, you may need to become an emperor and execute a Duke for this to work.

One (Week) Down

Week 1 post op has gone well. Starting with basically no mobility beyond the fingers last Thursday, I now have full range of motion in my wrist, along with forearm pronation and supination. I was able to get my elbow around for the "handshake position" by Monday and I do 20 minutes of static resistance in this position three times every day.

Beyond rehab, I've managed to carry light objects, do up my fly, squeeze a tube of facial scrub, and give my dog a head scritch.

I have been resting, reclining, eating healthy and getting lots of fresh air when I'm not doing exercises. I've drunk a lot of milk, along with protein powder although I don't think the "Repair and Recover" motto on the tub of WPC specifically had shoulder cartilage in mind.

How To Meditate With One Arm

It's been eleven days since my shoulder surgery, and I've had a lot of time on my hand since. I've never tried meditation before, and figured this was a good chance to experiment and give it a shot. Not for spiritual reasons, I'm just a bit bored.

I would consider myself mindful already. I'm usually aware of my emotions if and when I experience them. I'm disciplined and I don't lose my focus easily. I did look at a bunch of amusing TikToks while writing this paragraph but when I realised I was distracted I was able to stop immediately so I could get this done.

To begin my meditation journey I set up a chair overlooking the garden. You will also need a pair of noise cancelling headphones, a meditation training app (I'm trialling Headspace although I'll probably cancel before I get charged) and a can of bug repellent (I'm using Aeroguard - Tropical Strength.

image 2223 from bradism.com

To meditate, you sit comfortably, breathe slowly, and close your eyes. Become aware of the environment around you - the sounds and smells, the feel of your body on the chair, the sensations in your head, shoulders, chest, legs, feet. Once all these are categorised you can ignore them all and focus on your breath. Don't control it, just let your mind tune in to the rhythm of your body inhaling and exhaling. If anything distracts you then that's okay - acknowledge the diversion and let it go free like a helium balloon escaping into space.

Eventually your mind becomes clear and your consciousness slips down into a place in your brain kind of behind your nose and it feels sparkly and nice. At this point you'll think "I'm doing it! I'm meditating!" and you'll need to discard that distraction too.

I do not recommend writing a journal article about your meditation experience, at least not when starting out. Most of my distractions have been in the form of observations about meditating that I could journal. As well as if I should have a tea or a cup of soup when my meditating was over.

However, if you struggle with distraction, or like the idea of having a nap in the garden each morning, I recommend giving meditation a try.

I did not get distracted once writing the rest of this entry. Even though it's a really boring one. Perhaps I have gotten better at handling distraction over the last five days. Perhaps it's because I only have one arm.