Tag: family
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Ozzy the rescuing rescue dog
Reading the profile of Ozzy the Australian Bulldog on the Pet Rescue website in March 2018 felt like someone had described me, but pretended I was a dog: “Ozzy likes getting out for walks, but no longer than 10-15 minutes or he will lie on the ground like a big lump and refuse to move.…
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So-ober it
In the July issue of The Westsider, in a piece entitled ‘A brief history of my former life as an occasionally-but-very drunk dickhead’, I promised the next issue would carry a follow-up, on the very easy and very hard aspects of quitting drinking. Keen observers will know that didn’t happen. You see, I am quite…
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“Life by a thousand cuts’ | The Westsider
As a creative writing student quite some years ago, one of the mantras instilled in me was to “kill your darlings”. Alarming to hear out of context, to be sure. What it means for writers is to focus on the overall purpose or value of your piece of writing, and to be fearless in cutting…
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Adelaide Fringe 2017. That happened.
As the cool kids say, O.M.G! Adelaide Fringe was something equally wonderful and terrifying. Nothing like I ever thought truly possible, but nearly everything I dared hope, at the same time. I was to do 5 shows of HUMPTY DUMPTY DADDY, my one-person storytelling show about fatherhood, mental health, and storytelling. It’s ultimately the story…
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In the face of nastiness, I will still be as strong as I can
This has been a week and a bit straight from the depths of hell. There are things going on in my life that even with my belief in candour and openness, I can’t and won’t go into right now. Some because it is now the subject of legal proceedings, and some because I simply refuse…
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Breaking it down: my mental health isn’t great
It didn’t hurt when I ran into the sandstone wall at full pace. Not immediately, anyway. I was able to regather myself a little bit and for a little while. Pushed on some more, moved in what I thought was a forward direction. But I couldn’t outrun the beast as well. Squeezed between a rock…