Taking my own name in vain.
17 June 2025
I’ve been in the new apartment now for a little over a week. It’s weird to say it but the quiet is even more deafening with more space. Don’t get me wrong, I like the fact that there’s three bedrooms, the front room is bigger and that, contrary to my assessment, my white goods weren’t too big for their spaces. It’s just when the kids aren’t around and I’m on my own, the emptiness just feel that much more than it did before. I’ll get used to it I’m sure, I did before after I moved out. Then the feelings were more around the realisation of what was happening though intertwined with that was the quiet.
I watched The Amateur last night, a move I’d been wanting to watch for a while. It was enjoyable but there was a moment in there that struck. One of the characters talks about the sounds you miss. Not necessarily big things but the incidental like the sound someone makes when they breath or their car pulling up in the driveway that lets you know they’re home. I then realised that these were the sorts of things I was missing and, like the characters in the movie, I’m trying my best to replace that silence.
Overall though, the move has been a success. I had some help from a couple friends (that I’m very greatful for) and whilst the movers had to bump me a day, it only took a morning to move in and just over a week to arrange things how I wanted. It’s been helpful to have a garage as storage as there were plenty of things I’d squirreled away in cupboards that I can now banish to the garage instead. A few new pieces of furniture have been procured and I think the girls are enjoying having their own spaces to retreat to if they want. There’s still some things I’d like to get, but I’m hitting pause for now whilst I navigate the first quarter of home ownership, mostly to make sure I can cover any incidentals that may arise; I’ve already had to replace one cupboard door.
The other reason for pausing is that some of the strata fees and such are a little sooner than I’d hoped. Whilst not entirely unanticipated, it just means I want to keep a buffer in case the math doesn’t quite work out. Things should be okay but better to be safe and prepared than having to scramble. It’s also going to give me time to live in the place too and get an idea about what exactly I’m wanting to do. I’ve honestly no sense when it comes to interior decorating or what works together or not so it’s not a bad idea to figure that out first before throwing some more money at it.
One of the things I love the most about living in Canberra is that we get four very distinct season. Technically we have five seasons but I don’t think Second Winter is an officially recognised season. That generally comes sometime in Spring, out of nowhere to remind you just how cold things were before Spring showed up. Right now we’ve had a particularly fresh start to Winter. We’ve already had plenty of negetive temperature nights and I suspect we’re in for plenty more as the season rolls on. I don’t think I’ll be clarmouring for Spring anytime soon but I’m certainly learning how best to keep myself warm in a 1970’s built apartment; insulation being an afterthought.
Football (soccer) is well underway now and we’re still doing pretty decently. Unfortunately I had the ignominy of scoring an own goal on Sunday but otherwise I’ve been pretty happy with how I’ve been playing. I’ve created some chances, defended pretty well and overall I’ve come off the park content with how I did. We’ve been unlucky in some games, more than lucky in others so all-in-all it’s shaping up to be another fun season. I’m hoping I can keep on playing for a while but I really do need to do something about my weight and fitness, a goal, perhaps, for the rest of the year?