#my panic clean strategy for the last 6 years has been Shove It In The Closet so it was......... a process

[succubusted]

I am so tired despite my vow to stay up to fix my sleep schedule but hahahahahaaa

I have completely destroyed my room so I don't have anywhere to sleep

[mikeyd1986]

MIKEY’S PERSONAL BLOG 156, May 2019

On Monday morning, I took myself to see the dentist at Casey Smiles Dental Clinic in Cranbourne. This was a very unexpected last minute appointment after the dental pain I’ve been experiencing recently was becoming more and more severe. Of course I thought that I could tackle it myself by simply throwing pain killers and mouthwash at it. WRONG! After a week of this, I had to face the music and get a professional to look at it.

I heard about Casey Smiles thanks to a post on Facebook which has been regularly popping up on my newsfeed. It’s been at least 3 years since I last visited the dentist mainly due to financial struggles and anxiety but today both of those things had to take a back seat. After filling in the new patient form, two dental assistants dressed in bright pink escorted me to the treatment room where I met my dentist Dr. Mohamed Massaud. He was tall, handsome and wore bright blue scrubs.

Sitting back in the leather dentist chair, he asked me what I needed. I really didn’t have any concrete answers for him besides the fact that I’ve had spikes of severe pain on the left side of my mouth. It sure was a strange feeling to be back at the dentist after several years but this was urgent. I got taken into another room to get an x-ray done. Here I had to stand inside a machine called an O.P.G. (Panoramic Radiograph) which is similar to an M.R.I. but for taking images of teeth.

It turned out that I’d have to get a tooth on the upper left side removed. I certainly wasn’t prepared for this and yet this wasn’t my first rodeo either. My last dentist appointment was to get one of my wisdom teeth removed. Thankfully the team made this process as relaxed and comfortable as possible. They had music playing in the background and a computer scene displayed a lovely, picturesque landscape.

Of course having numerous surgical instruments and a suction tube being shoved in your mouth isn’t exactly a pleasurable experience but I did my best to remain calm and focused. I knew this had to be done to stop myself from suffering in oral pain. There was lots of pressure, crunching and bleeding but thankfully not too much pain as I’d been strongly numbed up on the left side of my mouth.

Dr. Mohamed constantly checked in with me to make sure I was doing okay and gave me several breaks as the tooth had to be extracted in stages. Considering how much I was sweating in the chair, I did remarkably well to not freak out and bolt for the exit. For my first time being at this dental clinic, I was really satisfied with the service even in the face of my own uncertainty and doubt. Now I just have to let the area heal over the next couple of days.  https://caseysmiles.com.au/dr-mohamed-massaud

On Thursday afternoon, I had an appointment with my new occupational therapist Meghan. This session, we really honed in on having more structure and organisation around my cleaning tasks. She asked me to list them in order of importance to me, set specific times during the week in which to complete each of the tasks, use some motivation boosters such as doing the tasks in the morning and playing music in the background.

I had some reservations from my previous appointment as to whether Meghan is really a good fit for me as she could come off as a beauty cosmetics consultant at times with a charming smile and a forced giggle. My biggest concern was that these sessions would be a complete waste of time for me and that Meghan wouldn’t take me seriously. But I feel like we’re finally going to be making some progress as she’s laid out some concrete actions and strategies to use before the next session.

On Friday morning, I completed the daunting and overwhelming task of dusting my bedroom. When it comes to tasks such as these, I always seem to get myself worked up, emotional and stressed out. To me, there’s a lot more going on. It’s confronting how much clutter and mess there is, how long the task will take to complete, whether I’ll be able to get it all done, whether I’ll have the energy to do it. But thankfully with the help of mum, I managed to do it. Of course there was a lot of barriers in the way for me but I still did it.

On Friday afternoon, I finished my creative writing homework exercise for Week 3. This week we had to choose an idea and work out a rough plan for a very short story of around 500 words. Then write notes on the background of the characters, locations etc. I really didn’t have much time to focus on doing this exercise but I gave it an attempt and did write at least half the story. I decided to go with “A disastrous holiday”.

SHORT STORY: A DISASTROUS HOLIDAY 

Ryan, a busy corporate worker with long hours, endless deadlines and a consistently tight schedule. He wishes to escape his dead-end, stressful and demanding job by going on a relaxing holiday to Fiji.

Upon arriving at Tullamarine airport, there are massive delays and a long queue of disgruntled, impatient and irate customers demanding to know what is going on. Despite making his best endeavours, scrambling and worried that he wouldn’t make it to his gate on time, the flight ended up being cancelled anyway. There would be a lengthy wait until his next scheduled departure to Fiji. Defeated and exhausted, Ryan collapses into the nearby seat at the departure lounge.

On the flight, the plane’s engine malfunctions and one of the propellers catches fire. This triggers the emergency alarm which blares loudly. With all this commotion, Ryan suffers from a panic attack thinking that he’s going to die. A nearby flight attendant rushes to his aide and attempts to calm him down. The plane begins to tear itself apart and the passengers are forced to evacuate. Ryan finds a parachute and begins to descend slowly towards the South Pacific Ocean.

Ryan’s main objective is to find safety, survive from the plane crash and hopefully find his way home. He’s lost all his luggage and only has personal possessions on him such as wallet, keys, phone. Ryan ends up landing in New Caledonia, which is halfway between Australia and Fiji. 

Ryan eventually finds help from the locals, makes contact back home in Australia and ends up being rescued. He finds that even though he’s had a disastrous holiday, he still has a lot of things to be grateful for.

NOTES· 

Background of the main character/protagonist Ryan – wants to escape from his dead-end corporate job and enjoy a relaxing holiday in Fiji. Ultimately, he hopes to “find himself” by going on a personal journey like in the novel Eat. Prey.Love.· 

Research into the locations, settings and disaster scenarios – I will need to look into things such as air crash investigations, how planes function and operate, emergency procedure’s used while travelling on a plane, the geography of Fiji, South Pacific Ocean, New Caledonia and nearby islands.· 

The physiological and psychological changes that Ryan endures from panic attack episode to escaping from the plane and needing to be rescued. He’s literally in “survival mode” and will need to use his problem-solving skills in order to overcome this situation. · 

How will Ryan get out of this situation? Who can he contact? How will he manage his stress and anxiety levels?

On Friday night, I went to my boxing class with CinFull Fitness. I’ve had to shuffle a few things around this week due to my unexpected dental procedure but thankfully I do have some flexibility when it comes to slotting in my training sessions. Being the only male in a room full of females does present its challenges (my knowledge of babies, pregnancy and dating is pretty average at best) but it doesn’t bother me too much either. I couldn’t be further from macho and masculine in my nature and I get along with most people, even if I’m not the most social of people.

Tonight we did the usual combos and partner work plus a mini-circuit (sit-ups / plank hold knee taps, non-stop jabs into pad, step ups / step jumps / crossover lunges) and a 5 round AMRAP (10 jab crosses, 6 star jumps, 20 hooks, 4 squats / squat jumps, 10 Russian twists, 20 highs). I’m finding that my boxing technique is improving but the fatigue does kick it pretty rapidly. I know what my limits are though and when I need to take a break. It’s obviously really important to listen to my body and not overdo it when it comes to my fitness levels.

To be honest, this election has probably been the most difficult one to decide. It's true that I do vote for Labor 95% of the time. But do I completely trust opposition leader Bill Shorten and the past track record of the disastrous Rudd-Gillard-Rudd government? Not really. However, I detest everything that the Liberals / Nationals have done over the past 6 years far more.

The current PM Scott Morrison leads an unstable government who has changed leaders twice through an embarrassing and public leadership spill. Wasted millions of dollars on an unnecessary and divisive plebiscite for same-sex marriage. Have made many cuts to schools, TAFE, hospitals, medicare and penalty rates. Has lied in their recent budget about being in surplus and Australia having a "strong economy". Have not done enough to support women in parliament with MP's like Julia Banks and Kelly O'Dwyer leaving before this election.

I'm voting for Labor many because I align myself with most of their policies. Better funding for hospitals and schools. Higher wages for low and middle income earners. Restoration of penalty rates. Cleaner renewable energy. Real action on climate change. Improving the NBN. Investment in mental health services. Investment in the NDIS. More places for university and TAFE.

Bill Shorten is far from perfect but I'm willing to give him a chance considering the past 3 prime ministers have been arrogant, corrupted, untrustworthy and fake. Tony Abbott, Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison have put their own agendas first and the interests of the Australian people last. Plus the entire Liberal / National party has been in a shambles with many members jumping ship before the election this month.

P.S. I did consider voting for The Greens as I do agree with SOME of their policies (renewable energy and climate change, fully funding TAFE, university and public education, introducing medicare for dental and mental health services, legalising medicinal cannabis). It's just that I align myself more strongly with Labor policies.

I've always found the white senate ballot paper to be ridiculously long and cumbersome especially in recent years with many independent parties signing up and making the sheet of paper longer and longer. It used to be so much easier to vote for, simply putting a number 1 in the box above the line.

NOW you have to choose a minimum of 6 parties to vote for above the line or 12 candidates below the line. It essentially forces you to do your research into which political parties aligns with your values and views. And which policies do you find to be the most important. Or else you just follow the How To Vote cards which is really the easy way out.

Even before I turned 18, I considered myself to be a "Leftie". Always voting for Labor, The Greens or both. But even now at 33, I consider myself dumb and uneducated at times when it comes to politics. I can get myself easily mislead by the bullshit politicians and the news media are selling, confused by complex economics and tax policies, and just not knowing who to believe anymore.

Before yesterday, I didn't even know how preferential voting works. So now I'm forcing myself to do a bit of research and give some of the smaller independent parties a go particularly in the senate. The most important things to me are healthcare, mental health, autism awareness, education, workers rights, wages, penalty rates, sustainable energy, climate change and protecting the environment.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve done a lot of research and careful consideration into each of my electorate’s candidates as well as the individual parties to see what’s important to me and where my values lie next to them. With the federal election fast approaching this Saturday, my brain has been conflicted between voting for Labor and The Greens.

Which policies do I align myself more with? It’s even harder to make a decision after watching the many interviews, debates and news stories about the major parties. Plus social media is loaded with misinformation and internet trolls trying hard to tell you who you “should” vote for. Only recently have I learned about how preferential voting works, which adds further confusion as to which way I should vote.

So here is how I’ve decided to vote in this year’s federal election:

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES (ELECTORATE OF HOLT)                               1. Anthony Byrne (Australian Labor Party)                                                             2. Jess Wheelock (The Australian Greens)                                                            3. Jatinder Singh (United Australia Party)                                                               4. Jennifer Van Den Broek (Liberal Party of Australia)

SENATE (VICTORIAN UPPER HOUSE)                                                                1. The Australian Greens                                                                                        2. Australian Labor Party                                                                                        3. Australian Democrats                                                                                          4. Australian Worker’s Party                                                                                  5. Derryn Hinch’s Justice Party                                                                              6. Animal Justice Party