Sunday Blog 170 – 2nd Feb 2025
It has come to my attention that the Chinese New Year 2025 kicked off 29th January-and it’s the Year of the Wood Snake. I am a Wood Snake, indeed a woman entering her third act of her life this year.
There’s going to be some shedding.
Here’s me pictured next to a 2025 Wood Snake sign in Singapore airport on Friday 31st January. There are a few things missing from this picture.
- The furrowed brow when I realised my eSim wasn’t happy when just about to board my flight from Perth to Singapore. My absolute must-have lifeline to drive from the San Francisco airport to my hotel in Los Gatos.
- The gog-wozzled look on my face when I realised I’d messed up the very detailed, explicit instructions from the Singapore transit hotel. Don’t go through passport control. Which would have been fine if I hadn’t checked in my cabin-bag sized suitcase. Why did I do that? Why? I had so much time up my sleeve at Perth airport but I made the impulsive choice so I didn’t have to lug it around at Perth airport. Doh. I had to clear immigration to get my bag, so that was the end of that booking.
- The sag of resignation when I did my usual “throw money at it” response to it being 8pm and I was tired and in need of a bed. It’s just that, with it being Chinese New Year and all, it was a lot of money. I bloody well enjoyed that bath, though, in that giant, expensive room.
- The slapped forehead when I realised that I’d meant to book a night’s stay in Los Gatos to meet with a friend, just an hour from San Francisco. But I’d accidentally booked in a totally different place, which was a two hours’ drive. So much for an easy breezy dinner catch-up.
- The pensive hand on chin as I sat up in my giant, expensive Singapore hotel room, freshly bathed and re-energised, and booked a San Francisco hotel room so I could get a full night’s sleep after my 15 hour flight before attempting, for the very first time in my life, to drive on the right-hand side of the road.
- Still pensive, I bought a new e-Sim.
Before boarding my flight to Singapore in Perth, I was feeling very complacent, a regular seasoned traveller. But journeys are always rich with teachings/ ego deaths.
I’m happy to say that after waking up very refreshed in my San Francisco hotel, I safely managed the two-hour drive to my writing retreat in Carmel. Even though when I got into the rental car, the concrete bunker parking area was an internet dead spot. And I couldn’t get the damned Apple Play to work. (Top tip-always bring a phone charger lead. If pairing fails, plugging in will always work).
And so to shedding skin. I’m here at the wonderful, magical, dream come true Carmel Writing Retreat with Linda Sivertsen to keep honing the revision of my 2014 memoir. By now the revision is so fundamental, it’s a bit like saying I’m swapping eggs, butter, flour and sugar for a fully baked cake.
And so I’ve done it. Shed the page on my website that links people to the 2014 version of my memoir. Making way for the growth in my writing skills over the last decade, and the new iteration of the memoir that’s still in progress.
And just in case you were wondering, it is still Sunday here in America, and that’s why it’s coming to you on Monday, if you’re in Perth. So there.