Why I hate ironing.
I’m impatient, the irons too heavy, it’s boring, and why the hell should I?
Published: Sylvia Jimenez
Mind-wandering in solitude in a city swarmed by high rises.
Who would have thought that in the middle of inner-city Sydney, a parcel of land, large enough to develop a small suburb lays dormant to real estate aficionados’ grasp, provides solitude to early morning walkers, as well as being a true representative of Australian colonial history? On Easter Saturday I met with my good friend Liz for overdue catchup. We often meet in between our homes for a brisk walk and interesting conversation. She is one who listens intently and offers insightful observations. It was on this crisp morning walk that she showed me Yaralla from a local’s perspective and I’m ashamed to say that living in the area for nearly a decade I had never ventured past the gates. The estate, now heritage-listed was initially the home of a convict turned landowner who later mortgaged the land and was then converted as a convalescent home for returning soldiers.
Published: Sylvia Jimenez
How having a Beta Reader has made me a Better Reader
To all those writers, journo’s, bloggers, vloggers, poets, laureates, composers and so forth, you would understand that the joy of writing, while creative and intuitive is somewhat an isolated process. We draft and redraft. Edit, sub edit, antagonise, get caught up on, rewrite and finally, when we are ready for our writing to emerge from our subconscious and the conscious world (where all great ideas form), having not only Alpha readers but a Beta Reader is better for the creative process.
Published: Sylvia Jimenez
A lucky moment - how hard is it?
I’ve been dappling with the whole idea of luck. Just what is it? Scientifically speaking, luck is a chance encounter, but what about those who appear to have a chance encounter that leads to good fortune? That’s not luck; that’s called persistence and hard work and recognising the core of what luck represents. If luck is a chance encounter, you’re not going to encounter anyone sitting at home doing nothing right? And if I read about how ‘lucky’ someone is, I think I’m going to scream. If you’ve had a fortunate outcome, that’s not luck, honey; that’s payback for the countless hours dedicated to the task.
Published: Sylvia Jimenez
Mentors – make the connection.
This blog post isn’t about the importance of acquiring a mentor; there are several excellent articles written about the importance of a good mentor; I am concentrating on my experience and connection with two people who have and still mentor me to this day.
Published: Sylvia Jimenez
Praise for the list.
I love writing lists. Seems like so many others do as well. There are Pinterest boards dedicated to correct list writing. Youtube videos demonstrating the ‘write’ way to write a list. Some would say that it’s too rigid, while others claim that life without a list would be chaos.
Published: Sylvia Jimenez
Moments. In. Time.
Three words to be exact. I’ve read that a great title for a book should be summed up in three words. Your life can also be summed up in three words. Search for Meaning. Life with Purpose. Actions that Matter. Friends for Life. Clean my House. And it was this morning when another three words sprang into mind. Moments in Time. This occurred as I turned the page of a great book I’m reading right now, and when the dog looked at me with those big brown eyes, or when my online shopping was delivered to my veranda at precisely 7:18am, right in the middle of the 6 and 8am intended delivery time. Right. On. Time. It’s these moments where you read a paragraph that makes you laugh out loud, which reminds you of a memory long forgotten. Did I really wear that purple ill-fitting off-the-shoulder ensemble because I had nothing else to wear to the school disco? Or when you know you need to take the dog for a walk, he’s saying ‘Hey lady, it’s time for me to do you-know-what, so get up off your arse and open the front door.’ You laugh at the imaginary speech bubble above his scruffy face and remember the day you bought him home and how he curled up on your lap in a state of complete bliss. Or when the last shopping bag is placed by the door. You now know that you’ve spared two hours of your day not pushing the shopping trolley up and down the supermarket aisles, avoiding that impulse buy, the parking lot, the florescent lighting, wiping down the trolley for any Covid infection, remembering to take your mask. Instead, you’ve gained an insight for reading and looking at the dog, patting the cat or like the sign says, you’ve been able to Take. It. Easy.
Published: Sylvia Jimenez
Why holidays make you lose your mind…metaphorically speaking
‘Have you lost your mind?’ was one of the poignant comments my mother would say to me as a child when I did something wrong and many decades later, I say the same. Prominently this is referring to getting sunburnt to a crisp on the first day of the Summer Vacay. And Vacays are for blue skies, bikinis and bathing; it’s a BBB in Byron Bay.
Published: Sylvia Jimenez
What's the reality of a reality show?
I admit it, there’s nothing more I like than to tune into a reality show to make me laugh out loud. And by that, I mean, I can convince myself I’m the normal one in the comfort of my inner voice (ah, but what constitutes ‘normal’ one would say, ok, I confess I would say that). What I find funny is whose reality are we talking about here? Is it those whose socio-economic wealth-o-metre is more than the debt of a third world nation or those who consider orange spray tan and a ‘bedazzled jewelled gown’ haute couture? Or that you’ll find ‘true love’ on an island, or that botched plastic surgery can be magically repaired by another surgeons knife? And while I cannot subscribe to every reality show, the few that I watch religiously never fail to entertain me at all.
Published: Sylvia Jimenez
Reminisce in your long-term memory; it could define who you are.
At last, I can identify that I have experienced a reminiscence bump! What is it about certain events or periods in one’s life that stands out in the memory bank brighter and more vivid than what was done last week, last month or last year? One theory of the ‘Reminiscence Bump’; the ‘life script account’ describes that during early adolescence, one starts to make essential decisions that have influencing experiences on their identity.
Published: Sylvia Jimenez
To have a 'beautiful mind' is not what you see reflected in the mirror.
“Most people can be reasonable and competent, well at what they do but at the same time be rather dull. New ideas are rare because we have been taught analysis and judgement but never creativity.” Edward De Bono.
Published: Sylvia Jimenez
I've finished writing a book: how I'm keeping myself busy in between querying
Daunting, fighting imposter syndrome, ecstatic, excited, tense, optimistic and reconciled that whatever happens, happens! But I won’t be sitting on my laurels. One of the aspects of falling into the writing rabbit hole was that time did fly by until my novel was completed (a few drafts and many edits later). For my close friends reading this, I apologise for my incognito state; I was simply obsessing over getting it finished, and as you know me well…a deadline is still a deadline! Hence, the best advice given by my mentor and writing communities is to start writing the next one.
Published: Sylvia Jimenez
Receiving a postcard was the best thing that happened to me today
Greetings from lockdown!
Published: Sylvia Jimenez
Somewhere north of So-Ho – October 2000
Currently embracing the armchair traveller movement, more images of past trips emerge as I finally get to the end of a five-decade photographic journey. I won’t even begin to count the number of images I’ve paused, giggled, and sighed at. Come on Covid, go away so we can travel again! When this picture was taken, we were sans children and on a trip to NYC. We learnt about ‘tree rodents,’ the importance of tipping, that a hot dog from a corner street vendor makes for a great lunch and tourist companion, and that coffee made by Australian baristas in Australia will always be the best. Apologies to my U.S friends but hoping for a good coffee we realised was all but a dream…Passing the myriad of mirrored Starbucks coffee shops along W Broadway, we came across this madam who decided to have a snooze. While she was very much alive (yes, we went in to check) we loved the fact that she was not only a fashionista-coloured co-ordinated granny, but that on close inspection she had the smoothest complexion. (Remember we lent in to make sure she was breathing and not in a creepy sort of way.) And as we channelled our inner Samantha Jones we said ‘Girl Paleese!’
Published: Sylvia Jimenez
It started with an 80s mix tape...
…and a Covid project that propelled me to pull out every single photo album and take out each photograph on a lockdown infused Sunday afternoon. The idea is to scan each and every pic so that it’s forever captured digitally. This will probably take years I know, but pausing at images, some I didn’t even remember, tested my long term memory to categorise scenarios into chronological order. Thank goodness for one of my besties. She just looks at an image and knows exactly when it occurred. She is now my official curator of memories!
Published: Sylvia Jimenez
Should have, would have but couldn't
I’ve noticed lately, many of my FB friends have been posting where they ‘should be, where they wanted to be’, but alas, can’t.
Published: Sylvia Jimenez
A little distraction...
I've never had a dog before. We were a family of felines. My grandfather always kept cats to help with the rodents and birds around the hens and the vegetable patch. So when our puppy came along, admittedly I didn't have a clue. Also, although he is 'our' puppy, the men in the family sold me the idea of having a puppy as being 'their' puppy. But with me working from home and everyone else out the door at work and school, the responsibility of caring, training and feeding ultimately fell onto me.
Published: Sylvia Jimenez
An open letter to my offspring
To the millennials and the something i-generation, I’m (we are all) learning from you.
Published: Sylvia Jimenez
A pic in time
My sister and I were in Budapest a few years back and I remember we had to kill time before our scheduled train trip into the countryside. We passed a small convenience store where fresh produce winked from the wooden cart. I bought us a couple of bananas. The streets were empty except for the garbage collectors down the way. The sun was just peeking through the shadows. Apart from fog, cobblestone streets and textured city sidewalks, I also have a fascination with gaudy entrance doors. They tell a different story. If they could talk. Pictured, this door leads down underground. It could be a cellar, it could be an underground record store. I’m not sure. But my sister passed it nonetheless, oblivious that it was there. You wouldn’t have guessed we were on our way to a funeral.
Published: Sylvia Jimenez
Make every minute count
I was sitting on an open top bus in London January 2020 when I took this photo. At the time I didn’t know what the billboard was advertising, however, the message resonated with me. LIke a call from the universe, we had stopped at a set of traffic lights and it yelled out to take a look. Was it in anticipation of what was about to come? We had heard some reports of a virus spreading in China, but in January, Australia was on fire. Literally. Naturally, our attention was focussed on what was happening back home.
Published: Sylvia Jimenez