Night Shift

I know what you mean about looking more deeply into a person, and that's admirable. I have been self-isolating for most of the past year and a half and I have to 'get out there again' - getting involved with a church community would be the best idea since God worked a miracle of healing in me. I do find it hard to give my fellow Australians much of a chance. I fit in quite astoundingly badly in this culture and am female, which is tres unfashionable. Nevertheless, there is good and bad everywhere and I must make the effort this year. Women are seen as 'wholly inferior' in Australia and that's reflected in the legal system (or vice versa) and that makes it all a real boor, if you ask me. But everyone else has to play by these stoopid rules too, so I must make nice, especially as I have survived everything so far, by god's grace!

@Former-Member, you mention that there are nice and kind giving people in Australia (like there are everywhere in the world) but you don't mention the effect the culture has on them. Surely, you're not claiming that the Australian colonial culture is a nice entity? Are you trying to claim that there are no nice, caring, community-spirited people anywhere else in the world? And I am 'different' (eccentric) and the first tme my life was threatened because of it was when I as 18 and it has been threatened quite regularly ever since.

What an interesting conversation.

I think there are positive and negatives to every place/country/culture. I have only ever lived in Australia so cant really comment on other cultures but I believe I have been quite fortunate to have experience inner-city living, semi-rural living as well as living very isolated and remote in 3 different parts of Outback Australia. Each place has had differences and again some are positive and some are negative. Outback Australia will always have a large chunk of my heart but its very different to the city and to me this shows that even in Australia we have varying levels of culture (not sure if this is quite the right word).

Im wondering @Terry what is Australian Colonial culture?

On a side note, how are you @Mazarita? Have you managed any rest? How are you going @Former-Member? How is your anxiety?

I am in a good mood pattern at the moment. Forever waiting for that cycle but Ill enjoy it while it lasts. Hoping that while Im doing good that I can better prepare myselves for the downs - I want to make a journal for myself that has a bunch of managing techniques etc that I can literally reach for when I need it... Also trying to navigate centrelink still, sort out a GP, investigating bulkbilling psychologists etc. and continuing my Cert 3 work more. Im highly motivated with it at the moment, so again making the most of it while it lasts coz it could be gone tomorrow.

@Terry I've always had a strong instinct to withdraw from people and have done that (sometimes with a partner) for long periods of time. I see this as arising from a range of things: abusive childhood with alcohol and addiction issues; mental health and nervous issues that seem at least partly biological; family legacies passed down through generations from ancestors who suffered great hardship; other factors including, as you say, cultural learning. In my daily life, I have been getting out more over recent months and now have some regular independent 'outings' that involve socialising and group activities. I hope you do join in more with the church community. I have been generally happier and healthier since make the move to come a bit more out of my shell. The challenge for me is to keep doing it!

@PeppiPatty I like the blues in the fabric and the way the embroidery is shaping up for your friend's bag!

@Jacques My first PC in 1988 was an Amstrad with irregular sized floppy disks and a printer that had a glitch in it where it would suddenly sound like a jackhammer, lol. It used to scare me all the time. I was a bit freaked out by computers and the odd things they would do when I first started, hehe. Now, well I like the communication and what you can do creatively with them mainly. I can't remember much about what I learned of computer programming. The IRC chatroom I was a part of back in the '90s was for social anxiety. What a thought that you might have been there too! I'm looking forward to seeing your mum's kookaburra when you post it.

@Former-Member Hugs to you. Hope you had something nice to eat for dinner. Looking forward to chatting more when you feel like it.

@everyone Thanks heaps for your support with my sleep cycle extremes. Woke up about 4pm after another sleep today and have taken it slowly since, gently getting some domestics done. Wasn't feeling too physically well there for a bit but quite a lot better now. Will try to be more sensible tonight.

Hi @Billamba great that you are feeling good and motivated for now. I have a feeling these things can grow of their own accord once we make the initial steps as you have done. That's a really interesting range of places you have lived and I'm sure it's given you great perspectives.

I am loving reading about peoples experiences with computers. I was born in 1993 and can see how much technology has changed in my life but to experienced and to have been usng computers from early on really would have been amazing to see the progression.

Im glad you got some sleep @Mazarita. Hopefully tonight will be easier for you. I will be thinking of you.

OMG @Mazarita,

Talk about a trip through time, an amstrad!!!!!, oh my gosh and the big 5 1/4 floppy disks, yes, yes, yes, i remember having to load different disks for different parts of a program, and th egood old dot matrix printers, and the huge box of paper you had to feed into it 😄 OMG this is bringing back some nice memories. thinks i have not thought about in a long time.

i was a regular daily user of IRC chat rooms from 95-99, such good times, i was at the start of my social isolation then 😞

i hope you will like my mum's embroidery, she makes such nice prints. hope to get some photo's in a few weeks.

take care @Mazarita

Jacques