Ozlilly's musings...

You know what a blog is? It’s an online diary. And what’s a diary? A daily journal. Okay, so I have lots of ideas and things I want to do. How often do I get around to actually writing, journalling and posting to my blog? Well, I guess a little less than I had expected. So maybe now that I’ve started again, there’ll be a flood. I’ll try to pace myself and if I write too much today, ration it out for tomorrow or the next day.
So I’m going to write a post about something that happened a week ago. So boring! A week ago? You have to post it straight away! Nobody wants to know what you did last week! Really? But I don’t want to let people know where I am at the time. It could be dangerous.
Anyhow my posts are about attitudes and opinions and mindsets, not people who were glamorous or important or special. I meet so many important and special people. Many do not want to be tagged or posted on FaceBook so it is safer if I don’t even write about them! Take my children for example. I feel like I am not allowed to write about them because that is an intrusion on their privacy. So I find other themes to write about.
My mind is racing at a thousand miles an hour anyhow so there is really no lack of themes to write about. It becomes more a matter of discerning what should I select to share today? So much I do write and then it stays in my personal diary as background for my autobiography. When will I write that? Not yet. This week I even began transcribing some of my diary from 1978! Yes! More than forty years ago! I have been journaling for years and thought once I retire I will write my autobiography. Maybe someday I will. But not today.
And yes, my posts will be about things I went through yesterday and yesteryear. I have afterall had a very rich and inspiring life which has given me a rich and inspiring attitude with lots of inspiring friends, contacts and colleagues.
And that’s how I waffle on and get enough words for a blog entry! Why? Because I feel compelled to write and to share! So many exclamation marks!
Tonight (a week ago) Josef and I went to see Birgit Kelle speak. I took a selfie with her afterwards. She talked about the downward spiral of silence. Barbara Grabner introduced this concept to me at a WFWP conference a few years ago. So true. Edmund Burke nailed it when he said, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” – Edmund Burke.
I refer to this because I was a bit shocked yesterday to discover that Josef’s homepage: https://www.familienforum.at/ was hacked. Everything was deleted! He’s been working so hard, day and night on his articles and documents. Most hasn’t even been published. But his home page was hacked. Deleted. Gone. Meanwhile an older version has been restored.
It just jogged my consciousness to think that we are targets. I mean, when I was working for Mayor’s for Peace, the tagline was people are not targets. When I was working for Nuclear Security virtually everything was confidential. How does that match my unerring urge to publish, post and share?
Back to Edmund Burke, Birgit Kelle and Barbara Grabner.
If I don’t speak up and share good things, how can I complain about all the bad things in the world? If I’m really so full of good thoughts and ideas, attitudes and concepts, I should be able to share them and multiply goodness. Shouldn’t I? Well, yes, that’s my challenge. Instead of getting upset about the corona virus or the Syrian refugees, the Turkish Prime Minister or the Chinese fish market I could tell you a nice story.
Last week at the Toastmasters meeting we had a different approach to the Word of the Day. Instead of a recommended word to use, we received a list of words we could substitute for a word we should not use – interesting. The word we should not use was the word “interesting”.
I was the General Evaluator at the meeting and commended the new approach, especially the provision of suitable substitutes, similes to use instead of interesting. I pointed out in my evaluation of the meeting that I learned in primary school not to use the word “nice”. It is a non-descript word which doesn’t say anything. We could use a lot of other better adjectives to describe people, things, experiences attitudes and situations.
On Wednesday morning I went to Tulln and had breakfast with my dear friend Diana. We’ve found a place we like in Tulln which is about half-way for both of us to travel. We used to meet in Krems, but now that I live in Vienna and she lives in Langenlois, Tulln is an appropriate compromise. Last month we discovered a health food store in the town square. So today we went there again and I bought some fresh beetroot and crunchy peanut butter. Last month I bought some turmeric tea and fresh beetroot.
I mentioned something to Diana about my YouTube Channel. No! Don’t look it up! I am way behind! Like my blog. I’ll do it when I have time. I’m a retiree. I don’t have time. Haha. Such a joke. Pensioners have no time. All your life you look forward to retirement so you can do all the things you never had time for.
I’ve had to come to terms with the fact that my project for 2020 is my health. Since finally booking my knee replacement operation in May I’ve accepted that I can still follow a lot of groups, events, people and compelling (nearly wrote interesting there lol) topics without having to attend every event I get invited to. I still go to the Toastmasters meetings at the VIC twice or even three times a month (they still invite me to attend the executive committee meetings) and every step I take hurts. So it seems obvious, the time has finally come when I can no longer postpone my operation. Was it really a pity that I did not trust the doctor ten years ago, who diagnosed that I needed two knee replacements immediately? I figured why get sliced open when there are alternatives. Apart from the fact that my short term contracts would have been jeopardized had I taken a longer sick leave break. And I was supporting the whole family then. Now the kids are all independent and Josef is still working part-time. Funny how the pain seems to have got even worse since visiting the hospital and confirming the operation. I was often walking my ten thousand steps a day when I was working. Now I am glad when I’ve done my 15 minutes on the home trainer. The pain disappears after a few minutes of cycling. But walking is pure torture. I’ve started taking my Nordic walking sticks with me for support. And now I’m even looking forward to the operation. Well at least to the time afterwards.
I watched a Youtube video and it is quite gory. But I was a nurse afterall and it’s good to know what’s going to happen.
So now it’s still a matter of clarifying the supplements I want to take. Todd Burrier said his doctor insisted that he protocols his supplements because she had never seen anybody recover as quickly as he did. So of course I’m curious to know what he really took.
Went to the Orthopaedic surgeon and got all the referrals I need in preparation for the operation. Then he even gave me an injection into the left knee for the pain. Seems to have actually helped.
Still, I don’t think I’ll got to the VIC tomorrow. Lots of people from all over the world for the UNODC conference. Today my masseur called to say two of her clients had cancelled, did I know anything about the VIC? I told her about the doctor’s appointment in the afternoon and we cancelled my appointment too. So she doesn’t need to come in. Somehow with all this corona hype right now, feels just right to not go anywhere unnecessarily.