Coming Home

Big life changes are scary (especially for me, I've never been very good with change), but coming home makes me happy.

To read more about my big life change go to my new blog:

http://sabbaticalpom.wordpress.com/


 

Book Wish List

Death on the Streets: Cars and the Mythology of Road Safety
by Robert Davis

From Copenhagenise:

"I've been reading it for ages. A couple of pages is enough for me to put it down and reflect. It's chock full of facts and references, as well as thought-provoking observations about the role of the car in our societies.

It discusses how most of the 'road safety improvements' of the past 50 years, from road design to seat belts, have actually resulted in a terrifying increase in danger from cars, which permeates all over lives and the book is also 'a social history of the terrible toll of car supremacy...'"

It's exactly the book I've been looking for. I have a feeling it will explore a lot of what I've been thinking about lately.

Upside Down: A Primer for the Looking-Glass World
by Eduardo Galeano

It sounds like an interesting read, especially its attack on car culture:
It starts with:
"Human rights pale beside the rights of machines. In more and more cities, especially in the giant metropolises of the South, people have been banned. Automobiles usurp human space, poison the air, and frequently murder the interlopers who invade their conquered territory - and no one lifts a finger to stop them. Is there a difference between violence that kills by car and that which kills by knife or bullet?"

Papa's Portland
by William Papas

I read his "People of Old Jerusalem" book and fell in love with the aesthetic and design. It's so beautiful. It has given me some ideas for my Sydney book I want to do as well as maybe another website...

The prospect of new books with interesting ideas makes me happy.

Resolved

Being not so deliberate with my sister

Oh the promise of a new year, with new resolutions and nothing but opportunity. It's like being in college again with the whole world in front of you!

This year I am resolved to live more deliberately. The decade ended and I hardly even realised it. People's birthdays and birth days came and went without much acknowledgment from me. This is not how I want to live my life.

As we prepare to take a year long break from Sydney and our jobs, I will also be preparing to put the deliberate back in my life, starting with:

1. Send cards to friends and family on their birthdays

The optimism of a new year (and decade!) makes me happy.

New Year Wedding

My siblings and I at the last wedding my aunt and uncle threw

My cousin is getting married on New Year's Eve. Some people say they don't like the idea of getting married on New Year's Eve because the guests can't do whatever they want for New Year's. My family? We think it's great (especially when my aunt and uncle are throwing the wedding- they throw great weddings)! We are all together, get great food, and dance the night away.

Celebrating both my cousin's wedding and the new year with my family makes me happy.