Elizabeth

Angie McMahon – Just Like North

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I was lucky enough to be at one of Angie’s shows at The Forum at the end of May when she surprised us with this beautiful new song.  She explained that it was recorded at the time of making her latest album Light, Dark, Light Again but didn’t make sense anywhere in the sequencing of the tracks.

I’m not sure I agree, but I’m kind of glad that such a special song was released into its own spotlight this week.  Perhaps it was always supposed to serve as a reassuring overview of the personal journey she describes on her album.

pain will be on every map, just like north is
pain will be in every year, just like August

failure is on every map, just like north is
failure is in every year, just like August

Life (for me) ended up being all A Bit Much at the time of the Forum show, so I didn’t end up finding the spoons to do anything with the photos and videos that I took that night.  Seeing more live music this year has been one of the greatest joys, and I remember feeling especially present for this show and managing to pause all of the white noise in my life for a few hours.

It’s a particular gift of hers, the way that she captures the attention of the crowd between songs with her gentle and fragile storytelling, and then sweeps us off our feet with ferocious strength when she sings.

When Angie talked about how different she was the last time she played this venue (anxious, scared, “didn’t know how to hold a crowd”, as she put it), I was catapulted back to that night in 2018 and reminded that my life was different then, too.  It was a highly anticipated show for me, and it was almost ruined by the person I chose to see it with.

What an absolute joy and healing experience to see Angie again a few years later, in one of our favourite venues, both of us a little older and wiser and in love with the right people.

Failure is on every map, just like north is
Failure is in every year, just like August
You had to be ugly before you were gorgeous
Balancing tiger with rhythm of tortoise
Here in your (Chest) chest, (Chest) chest, chest

You’re not gonna blow it ’cause slowness is calling
You don’t have to know where your feet will be falling
If you get everything right, then there’s nothing else left, left
If you get everything right, then there’s nothing else left, left

Here’s some little memories from that night in May, when this song first landed on my ears.




Sarah McLeod, George Lane – 29 June, 2024 (101 Things: #071)

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Thing #71 on my list of 101 Things in 1001 Days: See live music in 20 different venues (3/20)

Sarah McLeod
George Lane, St Kilda
29 June

This show by Sarah McLeod was one of the most delightfully chaotic gigs of my entire life.

We arrived about an hour before the show, hoping to grab a coveted table near the stage.  We hadn’t counted on the rain, or the cold, or the fact that the venue would be about 20 minutes late opening its doors to punters.  We were freezing and drenched, but each time a staff member came out with a “5 more minutes!” update I told myself it would be worth it.

I was right.

The cold was forgotten once we were inside and warm, and we managed to grab a table where we could settle in for the night.  We ordered food and beers, and before long Sarah walked onto the tiny stage at the front of the room.

“Funny story”, Sarah tells us, and explains that the cover band had fallen through at the last minute.  The delay in bringing everyone inside had been because she was quickly writing another set of songs, which unexpectedly meant playing the haunted underwater piano at the back of the room, behind the audience.

It was at around this point that I got really excited, because I could see that this was somebody who was willing to make magic out of a shitty situation and not be precious about any of it.  The piano was an absolute piece of shit, but every single person in the room was dying to see how this unfolded and so the energy was electric.

And off she went.

There was an alarming amount of unsolicited audience participation, a dramatic love story in the crowd (followed by breakup), and a punter who invited himself up on stage to sing a duet.  Another artist might have cracked it over the multiple technical glitches, the snarky AV technician and eye-watering overfamiliarity of the audience, but instead Sarah seemed to run towards danger and embrace it all.  The end result was one of the most joyful, improvised and intimate shows I’ll ever experience.

An incredible night, all set to Sarah McLeod’s phenomenal voice and songwriting. There will never be another gig like this one and we will never ever forget it, or just how generous and talented she is as a performer.  I left one of her biggest fans and can’t wait to see her again.

Dale Cox, Take Me With You – Australian Galleries (101 Things: #091)

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Thing #91 on my list of 101 Things in 1001 Days: Visit 10 different galleries.

Dale Cox | Take Me With You
Australian Galleries, Collingwood
2 July – 20 July 2024

Artist’s statement:

In Take me with you the notion of convenience and the quick fix, so embedded in modern life, is dissected and re-presented as a conversation with nature.

The modern condition has resulted in a profound separation of mankind from the natural world. Likewise, there can be a tendency to insulate our personal selves from our own natural state. Increasing diagnoses of mental and physical malaise are met by an eager pharmaceutical industry offering chemical interventions.

 

Another defining feature of our modern world is an emphasis on convenience, quick fixes and ‘bite sized’ chunks of experience and consumption. These new works offer a playful nexus between our commoditised consumer society and the natural world. I offer easily swallowed doses of nature to which our biophilic* needs remain.

*Biophilic; a love of living things and nature, which some people believe humans are born with, the inborn affinity human beings have for other forms of life.

 

Ubiquitous consumables such as aluminium soft drink cans are ideal vehicles for consumption on the go. Even a fire extinguisher might be seen as an urgent delivery system for nature. In other works, gas bottles are used to package or commodify the essence of a place and provide another useful container to remind that much like the drugs and processed foods we consume, the awe-inspiring wild places we might visit are absorbed and contained within us, and can sustain and enrich our lives in ways a pill or sugar never could.

 

As part of a living ecological system from which we often presume ourselves exempt, it’s becoming increasingly apparent we have paid a huge price for this exceptionalism. Perhaps instead of drugs and sugar hits we need most urgently to reconnect with our natural world, as an antidote or panacea against the stress and alienation of our fraught modern existence.

Glenn Morgan, Home and Away – Australian Galleries (101 Things: #091)

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Thing #91 on my list of 101 Things in 1001 Days: Visit 10 different galleries.

Glenn Morgan | Home and Away
Australian Galleries, Collingwood
2 July – 20 July 2024

Sunday before last I took myself for a spontaneous solo art expedition and found myself at Australian Galleries in Collingwood.  I had done no research and arrived with no expectations, so it was an absolute delight to stumble upon an exhibition of works by Warrnambool / Melbourne artist Glenn Morgan.

Morgan’s art is unapologetically bright and chaotic, each carefully chosen scene hinting at the noise and brilliance in the mind of the artist as he created it.  Glance casually at his paintings and you’ll be blasted with colour and energy, but run the risk of missing the serious complexity of thought and execution that goes into his work.

Look closely and you’ll discover that the irreverence of his painting style betrays the reverence with which he chooses his subjects.  Each piece feels like a snapshot of a moment in time, set in a location that’s personal to the artist and then generously shared with the rest of us.  The art extends to the edges of the framing, most pieces are captioned or scattered with speech bubbles, and as a viewer you sense that you’ve stepped out of a time-machine and walked into the middle of somebody’s conversation.  It seems clear that Morgan wants viewers to understand the point he’s making with each piece – whether you’re a viewer who can extract meaning from the abstract imagery, or one who understands best through literal text captions.  

 

I came away from this exhibition wanting to know more about Glenn Morgan, his process and his politics.  This interview from 2014 is a truly wonderful glimpse into the person, and the importance he places on teaching, community and symbolism as a form of communication.  

Instagram: @glennwilliammorgan

 

Beatrix Bakes – Pistachio and lemon curd layer cake (101 Things: #047)

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Thing #47 on my list of 101 Things in 1001 Days: Make a very fancy cake.

One of the nice things about having excellent humans in your life is that sometimes you get to surprise them with fancy cakes, and there’s nothing they can do about it.  This is a post about Bene’s birthday cake, which was a phenomenally decadent pistachio and lemon curd layer cake from Natalie Paull’s iconic recipe book Beatrix Bakes.

This isn’t a recipe blog, and I’m not going to make anyone scroll past a lengthy story to get to the point.  Instructions are below, I’ve also included some of my own tips which would have made the process much smoother for this infrequent baker.  Click ‘read more’ for the recipe.

Read more

Zak and Sara – Ben Folds cover (#36 – 101 Things in 1001 Days)

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The thing about Ben Folds is that he always manages to make his piano sound like an entire band, one with as many members as The Polyphonic Spree.  It’s ridiculous and he makes it seem so effortless.

Anyway, here’s a video of me making my piano sound like a descant recorder in the hands of a caffeinated 8-year-old 🙃

Thing #36 in my 101 Things in 1001 Days project – Record 25 covers on piano

The 30 Day Weakling Challenge – Arms | Core | Squats | Whining

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As part of my commitment to get off my lazy butt in April I put together this little program for myself.  The idea of this one is to set a minimum bar of strength work, but leave enough in the tank to do other stuff like cardio and crying.

Looking forward to making some serious gains in these four important muscle groups by the end of April!


You can also help yourself to this printable PDF version of the 30 Day Weakling Challenge.

101 Things in 1001 Days: February and March 2024 (3/33)

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It really shouldn’t come as a shock to any of us that there has been limited progress on my 101 Things in 1001 Days project since starting my brand new job this year.  The conditions over the past 8 weeks haven’t allowed for much outside of getting used to my new routine, and cramming as much information into my very tiny brain as possible.  I really miss that feeling of knowing everything about my job and the organisation, of understanding what information to retain and what can be safely ignored.  I hope that I can hit that point in my new job soon so that there is capacity for living properly outside of work again.

Having said that, I’m pretty pleased with myself for keeping the fire burning on a few of my longer term goals while I’ve been juggling this new career of mine – especially since March was also a busy and social birthday month.  This update will be short, but I am still giving myself some kind of participation award for not grinding to a halt with these goals.

 

COMPLETED

#047 – Make a very fancy cake
This cake turned out to be so fancy that I’ve decided to devote an entire post to it later this week.  I chose Natalie Paull’s Pistachio and Lemon Curd Layer Cake from her magnificent book Beatrix Bakes, and for my underequipped kitchen this was a real marathon.  More on that later, but just know that the end result was extremely worth it (even if I did invent a few new combinations of swear words).  A special thank you to my pal Bene for having a birthday / giving me a good reason!

 

IN PROGRESS

#001 – Track my health and fitness goals for 12 months
It’s been easy to track the little I’m doing right now, but I’m still keeping my records up to date.  Big plans for this one in April!

#020 – Distance challenge: Hume Highway (Melbourne to Sydney – 840km)
I wasn’t very good at wearing my Apple Watch in February and March, often forgetting to put it on before heading into the office.  As a result my steps and distances are much lower than actual figures, but for the sake of this goal I’ll just use what was actually recorded and try harder to wear my watch next month. Even without the watch issue, my distances have been pretty abysmal since becoming a fulltime desk worker again.  It’s a good reminder that I need to up my game in April.

 

#044 – Record a tiny video every day for a year
This daily habit has turned out to be a true joy in my day, and it’s one that I think I’ll continue once this 12 months is up.  It reminds me to look up from my feet, notice the beauty around me and pause for a moment on something that deserves attention or gratitude.  My February video is at the top of this post, and here’s one for March.

#055 – Cook a recipe from 25 different cookbooks from my bookshelf
My epic Natalie Paull / Beatrix Bakes Pistachio and Lemon Curd Layer Cake is the first of many discoveries from my own cook book collection.

#057 – Maintain Duolingo streak (follow me @elzxbth)
As at 31 March 2024, my Duolingo streak is 818 days.

#071 – See live music in 20 different venues
In GREAT news for me (but terrible news for this project) I have a stack of gigs lined up at The Forum this year.  Fortunately it’s one of my most favourite venues for live music, so I don’t mind.  I did branch out in February to see Taylor Swift play at The MCG – perhaps you’ve heard of her?  She’s pretty good, I think she’s on Spotify…

APRIL PLANS

I loved February and March for so many reasons, but if I’m honest, improvising my way through the past couple of months has left me feeling kind of sluggish.  I want to finish this month feeling better than I do at the start, so I’ve written up a plan of attack to make sure that it happens.

It looks a bit like this:

MOVE – I’ve thrown together a 30 day challenge to strengthen my core and arms.  I’m also tracking my cardio for the next 30 days to make sure that I’m doing something most days.

PLAY – Guitar or piano, every day, even if it’s for 5 minutes.

READ – I am halfway through 4 books at the moment, and I want to finish at least 2 of them this month.

CREATE – I am never not thinking about drawing, but it’s been so long since I’ve picked up a pencil.  There are also a bunch of time lapses, photo projects and music challenges that I could be getting started on.  Either way, April is the month when I make a proper start.

Today is April 1st, and outside my window the leaves are just beginning to fall, right on cue.  April, you are such a babe.

The mind is just a hard drive

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Cassandra Jenkins – Hard Drive (An Overview On Phenomenal Nature)
He said, “You know, the mind, the mind is just a hard driveIn this life, the mind is just a hard drive”

The first Cassandra Jenkins song to ever grab my attention was this one, from her kaleidoscopic album An Overview On Phenomenal Nature.  When I was introduced to this album I was barely surviving a deep personal crisis – just a few months into clawing my way out of a toxic relationship that simply would not flush, and navigating associated losses that at times felt insurmountable.  It was early 2021, and I listened to this song for the very first time as I was driving to work – a rare opportunity to leave my 5km radius during Melbourne’s second year of lockdown.

When people around me talk about the pandemic lockdowns of 2020-2021 I have to choose my words so carefully.  For so many people, those two years represented a complete halt to life and progress – no weddings, funerals or birthday parties, no holidays or school camps.  It was a time when people said goodbye to loved ones over Facetime instead of by their hospital beds, and children missed developmental and social milestones stuck in their bedrooms.  Relationships broke down, businesses closed, and many people were forced to face up to their personal demons for the very first time.

I know this now, and I knew it at the time.  We are not designed for solitary confinement and so many people buckled under the pressure of it.

I was one of the lucky few.  Lockdown was my salvation.

 

Darryl’s been teaching me to driveI finally got my license when I was thirty-fiveSpeeding up the west side, changing lanes,He reminds me to leave room for grace
He said, “Have you been seeing your therapist?You seem a little on edge. Are you always this nervous?”
I said, “Yes, and this is a hard drive.”

Melbourne was the most locked down city in the world, and I experienced it so differently to most people.  My stupid little email job meant that my salary was never interrupted, and some of my work was significantly easier when I was doing it from home.  I had a house and a yard and a hammock all to myself, so I never had to negotiate with kids or housemates for a quiet hour to have my meeting.

I had space, space to spread out and the time to make my home a sanctuary from the fear and misery outside.  I was never low on fresh air or sunshine.  I missed my friends and family, but things had gotten so bad that I was just grateful to not be trapped inside with somebody who was mistreating me.

With no cars humming outside my window after curfew I slept deeply.  I learned how to tell my magpies apart, and knew which one would pretend to have a sore foot until he was rewarded with a piece of meat.  With no people or cars around at night, life passed more slowly and foxes made themselves at home in the quiet of my garden.  I took online classes in whatever I could find – painting, ethics, how to write a budget.  I lacked the foresight or attention span to sink my teeth into any meaty projects, but with every day that passed I was stronger and more like myself again.  Only better than before.

When lockdown began in March 2020 I was suddenly and completely alone, physically sick and fighting to stay above water.  By the end of 2021 I had largely rebuilt myself from the ashes, and while everyone else yearned for the freedom to leave our suburbs, I was just beginning to enjoy the newfound freedom in my mind.

 

I ran into Perry at Lowell’s placeHer gemstone eyes caught my gazeShe said, “Oh, dear, I can see you’ve had a rough few monthsBut this year, it’s gonna be a good oneI’ll count to three and tap your shoulderWe’re gonna put your heart back togetherSo all those little pieces they took from youThey’re coming back now, they’ll miss ’em tooSo close your eyes, I’ll count to threeTake a deep breath, count with me”

Hard Drive became a kind of anthem for this period in my life.  When crisis descended, I instinctively tried to rebuild myself according to the original blueprint.  But what are we to do when entire building blocks are missing, warped or eroded?

When I heard this song for the first time I found solace in this notion of all my little pieces coming back to me, in their own time, and in whatever shape they found themselves in.  Welcoming back the parts that were always supposed to be mine, without worrying too much about what the final product would look like when I got around to putting them together.

When time stopped being linear, the journey became far more important.  And this song arrived in my life when the finish line was so unattainable that it wasn’t worth picturing.

She said, “One, two, three.
Just breathe.”

This song reminds me of healing, and hope, and slowing down for long enough to formulate a plan.  Part of me wonders where I’d be right now without those two gentle (for me) years, and this specific album.

 

101 Things in 1001 Days: January 2024 progress (month 1/33)

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#044 – Record a tiny video every day for 1 year (1/12 – January 2024)

 

Let’s be honest: there won’t always be a monthly recap of my progress on my 101 Things in 1001 Days project.  Sometimes life is going to get in the way and there won’t be much to report, and at other times I might be deep in the weeds of some longer-term goals.  In the months where there’s something worth saying I’ll try to write a little recap like this one.

January 2024 has been a really productive opening month for my goals.  Despite some pretty interesting chaos in my personal life I’ve been able to fully complete 3 of my ‘Things’ and make good headway on another 12.  I can’t remember another round where I have had such a strong start, and my theory is that the list I’ve written this time around is authentically built for my truest self, and therefore unfolding without a whole lot of effort.

 

COMPLETED
#069 – Rewrite my resume
I think it’s nice that I was able to complete Thing #069 first!  If you want to know what happened next, I wrote about it here.
#019 – Rejoin the gym
It had been so long since I’d been to the gym that I started to have some mild social anxiety about ever showing my face there again.  Rejoining the gym is something I’ve wanted to do for years, and I knew that putting it on my list would give me the kick up the butt I needed to just get on with it.  I booked a personal trainer, asked him to demonstrate how all the machines work again, and now there’s pretty much no stopping me.  I’ve got 24 hour access and a plan, and it feels good to have stopped procrastinating over something so dumb.
#100 – Volunteer
A funny thing happened last week when I realised that a project I was working on was accidentally going to qualify for an item on my 101 Things list.  Somewhere in the first half of January I found out that my contract at work was going to end quite suddenly, and on the same day I came across an unpaid website redesign project for a not-for-profit organisation that I really love.  The cause is dear to my heart, and the timing of the project gave me much-needed purpose in my day outside of submitting applications for jobs that made me want to die.  I had to laugh at myself when I remembered – 40 hours into the project – that item #100 on my list is ‘Volunteer’.

 

IN PROGRESS
#001 – Track my health and fitness goals for 12 months
At the end of each month I am setting goals for the month ahead, and keeping track of them in my paper planner.  I’m really enjoying the accountability that it provides, and I’m also never locked in to anything for more than 4 weeks at a time so I’m less inclined to give up.  So far, so good!
#020 – Distance challenge: Hume Highway (Melbourne to Sydney – 840km)
This is just a different way of tracking my steps, I guess.  January hasn’t been a fantastic month for distances because I’ve been welded to my desk, but at the time of writing I am 105km in (which puts me somewhere around Tallarook, VIC on the map).  It’ll be cool to see this map zoom out more and more as I get closer to Sydney in the months ahead.

#023 – Weight loss goal #1
I’m not doing anything crazy towards this at the moment, but small changes add up and there are a few bad habits that need attention.  The strategy for now is to be more mindful about what I eat (and why I’m eating it), move a bit more than usual, and strengthen the parts of my body that I need for some of my future goals.  I’ve also bought a sit/stand desk to help make those passive hours at my computer a little less life-span reducing.
#036 – Record 25 piano covers
Here’s the first one – a little Wendy Matthews cover.
#044 – Record a tiny video every day for a year
This originally began as a ‘1 second every day’ project, but I’ve decided to give myself some creative flexibility with the length of the clips.  You can see January’s compilation at the top of this post.
#050 – Build and maintain a website to document my 101 Things progress
You’re looking at it!  I’ll call this done once I’ve built out the other pages, but it’s starting to take shape.
#052 – Take a short course in a personal interest
I am enrolled in a course about The Science of Wellbeing, mainly so that I can say I graduated from Yale.  I am only a few classes in but it’s really interesting and I have already recommended it to others.
#057 – Maintain Duolingo streak (follow me @elzxbth)
As at 31 January 2024, my Duolingo streak is 759 days.
#063 – Read 10 biographies of people I admire
Currently reading: Nick Drake by Richard Morton Jack.  It’s an authorised biography about one of my favourite musicians who overdosed from antidepressants at the age of 26, just a few years before I was born.  He achieved next to zero fame until well after his death, but his 3 studio records are amongst my favourite of all time and his story is absolutely captivating.
#068 – Read 5 career-related books
Currently reading: Good To Great by Jim Collins, and The Modern-Day Assistant by Lucy Brazier.
#070 – Find a fulltime job that I love
Here is some background about why this is important enough to be on my list.  I signed a new permanent contract today (and could not be more excited about what’s ahead!) but I won’t be marking this complete until I have a few months under my belt and can say that I really do love it.
#071 – See live music in 20 different venues
Started strong with a phenomenal performance by Gregory Alan Isakov at The Forum on 28 January 2024.

 

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January wasn’t without its failures though – there were a couple of items on the list that I attempted at the start of the month but didn’t follow through with.  I started my Couch to 5K program strong, but didn’t return to it after an unplanned break.  I also abandoned a 30 day yoga challenge after giving myself a wrist injury.  I’ll return to both of these goals down the track.

It’s probably unrealistic to expect that every month is going to be as productive as this one when it comes to my list of 101 Things in 1001 Days – especially as I start a new and somewhat ambitious job next week.  But it’s great to have cracked the back of the challenge, and I’m going to do what I can to use the momentum from January to keep chipping away at my list next month.