“Everything that needs to be said has already been said. But, since no one was listening, everything must be said again.” – Andre Gide
A mondo shared with Tanka Tuesday #42 – gift
Submitted to No Theme Thursday
Today I’m feeling:
Tired because I had slept too much over the last two days and so struggled to sleep last night along with Cap wanting to be let out and back in again three times. I hope to get home in the early afternoon and catch up on some sleep then. The air is still making me feel dizzy and sick too.
Today I’m grateful for:
The four staff at the post office who I communicated with Google Translate telling them that I didn’t want to pay customs tax on a parcel from Yukari in Japan. The shirt and CDs were already expensive and I don’t want to have to pay even more just to receive them.
Anyway, in my mind I’m already resigned to having to pay the tax but I thought that I would try my best to not and the four guys were all a little stuck as it is just their job to collect the money and send it to the customs people.
I explained that the things in the parcel were just some stuff that I left in Japan when I was visiting there and it was just being sent back to me. The value on the customs declaration is just for insurance claims if it gets lost. They were sympathetic but said they just collected the money.
This would be different in Australia where you have a good chance of not paying import duty if you can argue a good case as I have done in the past on several occasions.
Well, as it was up to the customs people I asked them to call them and explain the situation. They tried but said there was no answer, maybe because it was lunchtime. OK, when you’ve talked to them you can call me and I gave them my phone number and left.
I doubt that they will call as none of them speak English so I will go back in a day or two and see what the situation is.
The best thing about today was:
Getting my grading files all done and dusted by 9.30am, allowing me time to enjoy coffee before a little bit of shopping, where, finally, Big C has the Strawberry Granola in stock again.
What was out of your control today and how did you handle it?
I suppose the situation above that I describe about the customs tax is out of my control and I dealt with it calmly and softly. There was no point in getting upset with the staff at the post office – they were just doing their job.
How do I deal with uncertainty?
I remind myself that everything is uncertain. When you consider that everything is uncertain and that you have been dealing with this reality for 56 years already, you might not be exactly sure how you deal with it but like my mum always said you ‘just get on with it.’
I have become more flexible and accepting of change over time, something I know that Hayden often struggles with. I have also reduced my expectations around things being a certain way – Thailand has taught me this quite well.
I hope in my lifetime to see the first human being created without pain.
Aria Babu, on Artificial Wombs
Gratitude Journal
I am so happy and grateful to meet Matt yesterday and get a surprise gift which was very kind and generous.
Time goes quickly, whether at home or work. I should remind myself that time quickly goes when I’m having fun, so I should be happy with that.
Last night, after getting home, I fiddled about with the things I fiddle about with and then enjoyed watching some comedy. I wanted to watch a movie but within a couple of minutes, I was put off by the acting, so I checked IMDB for reviews and read that the story was ok but that the bad acting spoiled it all so I decided to give it a miss.
Had a good sleep that I would’ve enjoyed for longer if I could but got up and did an arm workout. As I was eating breakfast, I saw someone walk past our window, which, weirdly, didn’t surprise me as much as I thought it would! I quickly realised that it was just Amy’s mum and she had come early, as grandmum wanted to go to the temple for her birthday today.
This morning’s classes were fun and I was very heartened to hear from students that next week, when they all have to do Red Cross activities, they all said that it was a waste of time and that they would prefer to be studying instead. Apparently, we (the high school teachers) are supposed to be going to Primary to help out there. I would rather be teaching!
Sitting in House for the rest of the afternoon. Looking at writing prompts and the first one is about obstacles. I don’t feel that I have any obstacles, really. But I want to imagine myself having an obstacle to overcome and how to go about it. Actually, I don’t want to imagine myself, but to write a story about someone else having that problem to overcome. I need to get my imagination back in gear again. My creative side.
I’ve enjoyed messing around with the keyboard to create mini-tunes, so want to continue developing that side of my personality. When talking to Matt yesterday, he said that he hadn’t been recording anything of the modular music he’d been creating and I was considering saying to him to record some and give it to me to manipulate more, but then I remembered that I had self-committed to remixing all the Senyawa stems last year but only ended up doing three. So, really, I would probably feel better motivated by doing it all myself from scratch – that would feel like more of an investment to me.
Anyway, obstacles. As I sit and write, I can think of many minor obstacles that I could consider. They just don’t seem significant. They feel like they will just naturally be overcome. I’ve learned to sit back and reflect on things more and problems (obstacles) tend to just naturally disappear. The importance we place on many thing just aren’t really what they seem.
Twelve
Take me to the twelve
The leaders of the show
From up on your mountain
Looking down on all below
In awe of your majesty
All the fighting has been done
Time to make some toys
Now the battle has been won
Something still was missing
All the goals had been achieved
The minions needed order
And something to be believed
Here we are many eons later
Mistakes still being made
Fighting amongst each other
Our peace has been delayed
On our way underground
Discovering truth much too late
Wishing for eternal youth
For which we’d always wait
Wisdom came and found us
It was always oh, so near
Take it to the after life
Because you can’t have it here
Sailing down the winding river
Darkness is descending
Say goodbye to all you know
This is your life ending
Currently reading Stephen Fry’s ‘Mythos’ – it’s intriguing that the tales of Gods captivate us in some way despite knowing that it isn’t real. Are we even looking at them and laughing at these old stories to describe our existence? I laugh at many religious beliefs because they are nonsensical and I wouldn’t even really bother to read them and whilst I’m enjoying reading this book and these stories – what to make of it?
Gift
You got a gift, virus infection
Breathe it out, in every direction
No one knows until inspection
No one safe until injection
Students came back to school on Monday, by Friday the school was closed again as there was a case of Covid (more on this at some point in the future) and they are still making the teachers come to school to teach online! Something that we can easily do from home. Thailand – I despair, sometimes.
Gratitude Journal
I am so happy and grateful for the regular visits from Tangmo, our neighbour’s dog. When he comes to play with me it distracts me a little from my own mini-stress of things I plan to do for myself and gives me a few minutes of fun and laughter. Tangmo is a disobedient, stupid dog but he’s full of love.
1994ever 