Photo a day 2014

I've done photo a day twice before. I originally heard about the idea of taking a photo a day sometime before October 2007. I had read an article about Jeff Fatt, the purple Wiggle, and he had taken a photo of the most eventful thing that happens each day since 1990. "It could be a person he meets, a meal he eats or something on TV."  If I do a bit of a google, I suspect it may have been this article from The Daily Telegraph on September 2, 2007 (link)  

As my 39th birthday approached I came up with the idea to take a photo each day of my 40th year. And so I began a project that would run from October 2007 to October 2008.  I faithfully took a photo every single day from the day after my 39th birthday to the day of my 40th birthday. It was fun and I love looking back on that year. Some days were easy; days when there was something unique or photograph worthy happening. Other days were routine and more difficult. I'd wander around my house looking for things to capture. I didn't miss a day though. 

A few years later I decided to do it again. The year was 2010 and I decided to take a photo a day featuring a troll doll. Yes, you read right, a troll doll. My aunty collects them. She has thousands and I am not exaggerating. This pic below shows part of one wall in one of two rooms she has that trolls line the walls in.

Our whole family is on board with her troll hobby. Just this past Sunday I was at a trash and treasure market and I came across a couple of them. They were packaged up with My little pony's, but I left the pony's and took the trolls at $2 each. My aunty is the easiest person in the world to shop for. Just find something troll related and you're on a winner. Here is a snapshot of 3 days from my album that year.

In 2010 I always seemed to have a troll doll on hand. I started off wanting a different troll in each picture but it grew difficult to get some of them from my aunty so I just stuck to rotating a few amongst the different photos.

So, after dipping my toes into Instagram last year and seeing posts tagged #fmsphotoaday I decided I would do a new photo a day project for 2014.  This time I'll be using Instagram and taking the photos using my smart phone. I'll also be using the prompts from Fat Mum Slim.

If you're curious about photo a day, or want to see what I am photographing throughout 2014 please pop by my Instagram account. @primmich1 

Citizen Journalism...fun but crazy

(Note 27/11/13)
I used this post as a starting point and wrote a new piece that was published at The Kings Tribune


UPDATED 3/9/13

A couple of weeks ago I received a direct message on twitter from Margo Kingston (@margokingston) asking if I would like to report from Corangamite for the Federal election as a citizen journalist. I was incredibly excited and flattered. I had become a little disengaged from politics after the removal of Julia Gillard as Prime Minister and this seemed like a way to get back into it.

It's been a fun and consuming project. I've met more of the candidates in my electorate than I ever had previously and gained a respect for them all; major party candidates and smaller party candidates. They're all in it with good and genuine intentions. They're wanting to make our country good and that's inspiring.

So far I've interviewed 4 candidates, The Greens' Lloyd Davies (link), The Australian Sex Party's Jayden Millard (link) and the Palmer United Party's (who was dis-endorsed by the party 4 days after my interview and is now an independent) Buddy Rojek (link) and The ALP's Darren Cheeseman (link).

I was incredibly nervous for the first interview. I'd never done anything like this before and felt a little out of my depth, but Lloyd was so lovely and our chat was quite natural and informal. After I stopped recording we sat and chatted for another half hour. We'd met in a quiet space of the Belmont library. My next interview was with Jayden and we met at the Grovedale Pub. Teeing up a time and place had been a little tricky as he studies in Melbourne. I wondered if my phone would record well with the background noise of a pub but it was fine. Jayden talks fast! Transcribing his interview was hard work :) I was noticing a trend though. He was passionate about his beliefs and why he was standing for election, as Lloyd had been.

After publishing my opening piece for @nofibs I had been informed of a Candidates forum on Climate Change in Torquay so I made arrangements to attend. This was another first for me; attending a pre-election forum. By this stage more candidates had announced for Corangamite. I think we were up to 7 and I was wondering if I'd get to them all.

Buddy Rojek had made his presence known on Twitter and Facebook. His posts were random and difficult to follow and I wondered if his social media strategy was sound. I attempted to contact him via Twitter to tee up a time before the forum in Torquay. As it turns out a flyer hit the news about his election night party and he was front page news in the Geelong Advertiser on the day of the forum.(link) I could tell he was being sought by media outlets and wondered if my interview with him would go ahead. I took my 14 year old daughter with me to the forum. It was interesting and a chance for her to see democracy in action and to appreciate the privilege we have of living in a country like Australia where people can disagree, yet discuss things civilly. One attendee at the forum stood up and commented that he had recently returned from Africa where the idea of a panel of candidates for election sitting alongside each other discussing political matters was almost inconceivable. It was a sobering reminder of how fortunate we are.

At the conclusion of the forum I approached Buddy. He told me he was having a media blackout but I managed to convince him to chat to me. he wanted me to agree to not publish my recording but then at the conclusion of the interview said he was fine with it and I could publish anything. When my piece was published he was thrilled. I guess we all see things differently.

I decided to go along to the Geelong Advertiser debate between Darren Cheeseman and Sarah Henderson. Talk about immersing myself in this election. When I was able to confirm that I could organise my kids and their activities and actually make the debate (5pm on a week night was a tricky time-slot ..I wonder who thought of that? Obviously not a parent) I then contacted Darren Cheeseman's office to see if I could interview him post-debate. I need to maximise my time. if I'm at an event I may as well kill two birds with one stone. The media adviser was non committal. When I arrived at the debate I spotted up the media guy and approached him. I'd met him at an event at my kids school so I knew who he was. He was still a little unsure but I was hopeful. I introduced myself to Sarah and told her I would approach her office next week to organise a time for a brief interview. I didn't get an enthusiastic reply but we'll see what happens.

The debate was fiery. Sarah seemed to make some quite personal comments about Darren in a derogatory way, suggesting he was not respected. At one stage the audience collectively gasped. Darren played a pretty straight bat, targeting Abbott rather than Sarah herself. Sarah frequently wanted an additional say after her time was up and the crowd got a little agitated when this happened more than once. She is a strong media performer and speaks clearly and strongly. Her years as an ABC journalist have helped her in this regard. The Geelong Advertiser report on the debate is here and my tweets from the night are here. 

After the debate the media adviser approached me to see if I wanted the interview with Darren straight away. It was a pleasant surprise to not have to fight for it. We stood to one side of the hall and I recorded the interview for about 15 minutes. I was conscious of a crowd milling behind me, people eager to put their concerns to him and when I finalised the chat and asked one of them to take a photo I left him to his constituents. 

The first thing I had noticed about Darren up close was that he looked exhausted  His eyes were quite red. He was enthusiastic and fighting as a Labor person desperate to retain his seat. But I suddenly realised the toll an election campaign must take on people and their families. Sure they're doing it by choice but gee what a tough slog. He'd been up since dawn to attend a rally with the Prime Minister and then campaigned all day with the PM, which I imagine is quite stressful with all the bigwig media trailing behind, then a fiery debate and an interview with a citizen journo. This was then followed by chats with some voters whose issue means so much to them that they turn up in person to put it to their local member. I thought of his wife and young kids, and all the partners and kids and parents and friends of the other candidates.

I don't think Jayden will mind me saying this, but after I recorded his interview and we chatted informally while we finished our drinks, he commented on the support he is receiving from his family and friends, and he got quite emotional. It made me emotional too. It's so easy to judge politicians, or the people who want to be politicians, but they're human. Putting themselves out there requires a thick skin and strong support. Everyone has an opinion and it seems some will say it to your face, some will say it from behind a keyboard. I respect them all enormously.

So, when nominees for the election closed it turned out Corangamite had 12 candidates. 12! I knew I was never going to get to them all. I'm still keen to interview Sarah Henderson, but between finishing up at work (2 weeks to go), getting to parent teacher interviews, school dances, my nephews birthday, hockey finals and celebrating Father's day...I'm not sure when. I've been playing tag with her office, calling when I see her car there. I hope i get the opportunity. I've tried to be fair and independent when conducting my interviews, and generally publish them as a transcript rather than an opinion piece.

After I got home from work the other day and was sitting on my couch I saw a post on Facebook featuring a picture of a guy out the front of Sarah's office with a sign saying 'Tony Abbott is a tool'. I'd seen pictures of him elsewhere so I asked my friend if he was there right now. He was. I thought for about 30 seconds and then decided, What the heck. I jumped in the car and headed up to her office. I asked him if I could have a chat about his protest. I came home and wrote it up and sent it into nofibs. (link) It was up within about an hour or so. It was a bit heady. It was just a minor human interest story but I felt invigorated by the experience of seeing a story opportunity, acting on it, following through and writing it up and then seeing it in print. It was different to the interviews with the candidates and I'm glad I did it.

I also wrote up a story following the 2nd Leaders debate about undecided voters. I had experimented with surveying my Facebook friends by asking if they had decided how they were voting. That story is here. I guess it's totally out there that I'm a politics nerd... I'm pretty sure that not everyone in my life knew that before. I didn't keep it a secret, I just didn't advertise it. It's been weird to have that side of me out there to all the various groups I interact with.

I think I'll look back on this election in such a different way to others. It's been such a unique experience and has given me a far greater insight into how things happen. I hope I get that interview with Sarah. I'd like to chat to the other candidates too but my schedule will probably work against me. I also want to write up a story about the Climate Change Forum at Torquay. 

Take the time to meet or read about all the candidates standing in your electorate. You can bet they're all good people trying to do what they think is best.

UPDATE
I finally managed to get an interview with the Liberal Party's Sarah Henderson (link) After phone calls and emails she finally contacted me via phone and although I had offered to meet her somewhere along her campaign trail she suggested she was too busy one week out from the election and didn't think it would work while she was meeting voters. I then offered to record an interview over the phone and that is what we did. Given I'd just got home from a working bee at my kids school and was covered in sweat and grime it probably worked out best that I could conduct the interview in the privacy of  my own home with no vision :) 

I was keen to focus some of my questions on policy that distinguishes the Liberal Party from the Labor party and these included Direct Action (Climate Change), Paid Parental Leave (PPL) and the NBN. Unfortunately she still managed to refer to Labor in her replies in those three areas. I was even accused of having a negative tone to my questions. That stung a little but I honestly think I was just trying to extract detail about policy.

I managed to get interviews with the two major party candidates likely to fight it out for the seat so I'm pleased with that. As I told her before recording the interview. i wasn't planning on writing an opinion piece but publishing the transcript so it was her words. I hope my pieces on @nofibs have been of some use to the people of Corangamite, but even if they haven't I've enjoyed doing them and they've helped me decide my vote.

The day lunches were forgotten

I wrote this post a couple of weeks ago and never hit publish for some reason...
Re-reading it makes me think...this is borderline typical of my everyday...


I had one of those days today. Woke a little earlier and saw that the weather was nice so decided to get a few loads of washing done. Noticed that the clothing on the clothes horse had dried so I started to fold them. Kids got up, ate their breakfast and started getting dressed. Dishwasher needed emptying. In the back of my mind I was writing a blog post for the @nofibs website. I think I knew what I wanted to write so I was running those ideas through my head. Kids were busy, noisy, lots of craziness, as per usual. I also have a uni application half written, deadline is next week. Ideas for that kept floating to the surface too. This is all normal. Lots of crazy, busy half ideas floating in my brain while I deal with the everyday.  Must remember lunch with an old friend. That’s right, need to be out the door earlier than usual so I can drop the car off for new tyres. Better get in the shower. Half way through it dawns on me that I haven’t made the kids lunches. Eeek. Panic sets in. I make lunches every day – how did I just let that slip? I call out to my kids to write out a lunch order. Much excitement. Maybe it would have been easier to quickly throw together a sandwich, but they’re in the groove now. Pie or sausage roll? Can I have a drink too?  Look for change, rummage through the bottom of my handbag, hoping a gold one emerges instead of all these 5 cent pieces. Raid one of the kids money boxes. Time is really ticking now. We need to get out the door.

Drop the three kids at their two different locations and then back to drop the car for its tyres. Walk toward the primary school via home. Must check if someone put the dog out. They did, but forgot to lock the back door. Leave again to head to school and remember I need to return a costume lent to me by another Mum. Back track again. All sorted. Arrive at the school to help cut fruit. Feel like I’ve run a marathon and it's just gone 9am. Brain full to capacity but haven’t really done much.

Some emails matter more...

I feel sick.

I just hit send on an email that will potentially change my life. I volunteered for redundancy substitution. It means I might not have a job in about 8-10 weeks.  I’ve cried about 5 times this morning prior to hitting send on the email, which if you’ve read this might not surprise you. I’ve had 3 weeks to come to this decision. Three weeks of knowing that agreeing to go the way I’ve gone would mean signing off on security and my comfort zone.

I like the place I work at and I like the people I work with. I like how much I’m paid and I like the flexibility this job gives me but…. And there is the million dollar question, the but… ‘The but…’ is what made me hit send. ’The but….’ is that nagging feeling that I am not destined to work my entire career in this current role….this role that chose me. This role that I am good at and qualified at, but this role that doesn’t light the fire in my belly….that doesn’t represent what I am about.

The problem is, I don’t know what lights my fire. I don’t know where my passion lies. I just know it isn’t here so I’ve spun the dice and taken the gamble. Sure, the redundancy gives me a little cushion on which I can land, but between now and the next little while I need to find that passion. I need to work out where I’m going and what I want to do. I’m nervous. Actually, I’m more than nervous. I feel sick. But I keep thinking that the timing of this wasn’t meant to be a kick in the guts, it was meant to be an opportunity, so I’m grabbing it. It will still be about another week or so before I know if my choice has been accepted so nothing is really any clearer now than what it was this morning, but I’ve shown my hand. I’ve put my cards on the table and taken a step into the abyss.

As I drove to work this morning, confident in my decision, I listened to the morning news announcing that Ford was probably going to close their doors in Geelong…the first tears came, and the doubts about my decision. If Ford closes, then that’s more people in the job market in Geelong. I know it’s kind of selfish to think of myself when there’s a bunch of good people wondering about their future and their ‘involuntary’ redundancy, but that’s where my head was this morning. It had turned my decision on its head. I’m not in the same job market as Ford employees but it still seemed that the Geelong job market would be impacted. A friend and colleague, but mostly friend, came to see me and the tears came again. She reminded me that I hadn’t been happy here for awhile and as much as she doesn’t want me to leave for her own reasons of having a friend nearby, she reassured me that my decision was right for me.

My boss came to see me. He was shocked. He was sure I’d opt for the safer option of staying. I guess I present as risk averse –heck I am risk averse. I don’t think he could believe it, but he supported me. He’s facing a similar scenario. We both could be out the door. A colleague from another state phoned me to find out what was happening. Whispers are going around, as they often do in these circumstances. He too was supportive and understood why I was making the choices I was making. But still I cried. I think I was up to 4 lots of tears.  Being brave sure brings the tears to the surface for me. So much for work colleagues not knowing I was a crier! Ha!

Our work group decided to have a pub lunch. A few wines later and back in the office, I wrote the one line email that confirmed my decision. My finger hovered over the enter key. This is it. And so, I hit send. A few minutes later the Group boss called me. I ignored his call. I replied to his voice message with an email saying I was too emotional to talk. I’ve shed enough tears today.

In a week or so I’ll know. I don’t feel like the weight has lifted yet but I feel at peace with my decision. 

I feel thankful I have a husband who genuinely wants me to be happy and to make choices that will make me so. The financial concerns and staying in our comfort zone could have been his dominating drivers but he’s chosen happy over money. Yay me for marrying the right bloke, for more reasons that this, let me assure you! I have friends and family who are equally supportive.  My work team and immediate boss are great. We’re all in this together. I’ve got a good 20 years to give the workforce. I’m ready for a new challenge and a new career. Time to start researching just what that will be.  

Let any new tears be happy tears.

I'm a crier too...

I’m a crier, always have been. When tear ducts were handed out, I must have grabbed more than my fair share. It doesn’t take much to set me off and I think my eyes are cleansed multiple times each week for sad, glad and mad reasons.

I’m also a professional. I work in an office and deal with a variety of colleagues. I am fairly well paid and do my job effectively, efficiently and professionally. Most colleagues who I only see at work would probably not know I am a crier. As a rule my work generally doesn’t involve much emotion. It’s all numbers and spreadsheets and black and white decision making.

But…a few weeks back I cried at work. It wasn’t a few discreet tears, it was tears pouring out of my eyes and unable to stop crying… the type I usually reserve for a something particularly sad. Without going into detail of the circumstances too specifically I’ll try to explain what happened… I had been asked to attend this meeting at another location to my workplace…it was still part of my workplace but a different site. It felt ominous. I was in a meeting that was video linking to other meetings across the country so all staff in similar circumstances to me could attend simultaneously.  In the room I was in, there was a colleague I see a couple of times a year and a Senior Manager who I knew but didn’t work with and a HR person with a reputation for only being at meetings when there was bad news….and there was bad news. It affected me and all of my colleagues and the minute the news started coming through I just knew that my working life as I knew it would never be the same…and the tears came. I didn’t choose to cry. In fact, if I had my time over I definitely would have preferred that the tears didn’t come. It felt weak and stupid.  I stared at a black dot on the white board as hard as I could, trying desperately to stop the tears, and then someone in another room and in another part of the country would ask a question and I’d hear their voice wavering, the emotion right on the edge of their words and the tears kept coming. And I didn’t want a comforting pat from the HR rep and I didn’t want anyone to look at me and no I didn’t want tissues. I just wanted to stop crying and I bloody well couldn’t.

You see, crying comes easy to me. I can sit here typing this and be reminded of numerous occasions when I cried, both specifically and generally. I often joke that I would have a weekly Thursday night cry as a young girl watching ‘Little House on the Prairie’, it was almost a given. I recall seeing the movie ‘Gallipoli’ when I was younger with my grandparents and remember this as the only time I ever saw my Poppa cry and seeing him cry made the movie even more poignant, so I was a mess.

I recall happy tears too. I distinctly remember taking my eldest daughter to see Hi-5 on stage. She must have been about 4 and as we sat in the audience and Hi-5 came on stage she looked at me with such awe and wonderment as if to say ‘Mum, they’re really there…not just on the screen’ and tears slid down my cheeks because I knew she was so happy and it made me happy.

Some of the best tears are the laugh out loud until you almost can’t breathe variety and I recently had one of those moments with my Mum and sisters. We laughed so hard we were doubled over and just about rolling around. Tears were streaming out of our eyes and we couldn’t even speak and then someone would say one word and we’d be off again.  They’re the kind of tears I love… and the memory of them brings a huge smile to my face… You are possibly wondering what it was that set us off and to be honest the re-telling of the story wouldn’t do it justice. It was one of those ‘you had to be there moments’.

 Driving to work today, Chrissie and Jane on the radio were talking about Prime Minister Julia Gillard and the tears she shed as she brought NDIS legislation to parliament. Hearing them discuss workplace crying is the reason I decided to write this piece, and I bloody well cried listening to people call up with their stories; the lady who cried singing the goodbye song with her pre-schoolers, the celebrant who had to perform a wedding for a bride whose father had died the night before. More tears slid down my cheeks for people I don’t know… My tear ducts just react to things like that.

When I heard that Julia Gillard had cried in Parliament yesterday I didn’t even need to know what the subject was to know that she would be judged. I saw tweets suggesting they were ‘crocodile tears’ and a newspaper report that the stress of the budget had got to her. It annoyed me no end. I have great admiration for Julia Gillard and have always thought she is one tough cookie and more than capable. I see some of the things she puts up with and can’t believe she doesn’t just throw her hands up and say “for f*cks sake”. I think that’s what I would do. I’ve since heard snippets of the tearful speech she was making and thought about how monumental it was. I have never done anything that affects hundreds of thousands of people’s lives, and not only affects them, gives them opportunity and hope. It makes me glassy eyed to think of how that must feel to know that you are involved in improving the lives of so many. Politics gets pretty nasty and petty and mean spirited and fighting over this road or that railway and then something like NDIS comes along. To legislate something like that into law, knowing it will change so many lives for the better would overwhelm me. It must have felt like a moment of ‘this is why I do what I do’ and I say kudos to the Prime Minister. Emotion can be strong and all encompassing. It doesn’t mean you are less of a person or weak, it means you are human.  And it doesn’t mean you are more or less equipped to perform your job.

After my meeting where I cried I was concerned I would be seen as weak or unprofessional but seeing the Prime Minister cry reassured me that tears in the workplace are not weak or unprofessional. Tears just show that things mean a lot and you care about things that happen in your professional life. We spend a lot of our life at our workplace. I’d prefer it if I had more “laugh out loud tears streaming out my eyes” type events at work and less of the “shit’s hitting the fan and life’s about to change” type tears.  The person you are during the hours you work is the same person you are in your non work time. I’m a crier, and occasionally, I might cry at work…

Michelle has something to say...

I've known for awhile that I'll start a blog and today I got brave and decided to jump in. There's millions of blogs out there, so why add my voice? Good question, that I'm not sure I can fully answer just yet, except that I often find I am wanting to write something about lots of random topics. 

I will sometimes be walking the dog or hanging out washing or driving along a boring stretch of road and my brain will be writing something. I can just tell that I should be speaking into a dictophone or something to capture those thoughts because they always sound so awesome during that first 'brain draft'...when I later try to recapture what I was thinking it never quite comes out the same... So, I'll write and if people want to read or comment or counter me then that will be a bonus.

As way of introductions, my name is Michelle. I'm mid 40s. I live in suburbia with my husband, three children and dog. I work part time. I am fairly involved in my kids school and activities. I have a close 'extended family' including my parents and two sisters and their families and also my husbands siblings and their families. I want to stay somewhat anonymous so I wont use my husband or kids names...or school or workplace names... We'll see how that pans out.

I don't know exactly what I'll write about but I imagine it will be random. As an example...do you sometimes hear a conversation on radio and they'll invite callers to phone in with their story? I hear things like that all the time and if I wasn't making kids lunches or driving or too nervous that a bunch of people would recognise my voice on radio I'd be on the phone with my take on their story. These are the sort of things that could lead to a blog post from me.

So, as my first post I did want to comment on my name...Michelle. My Dad named me. He just knew he'd have a 'Michelle' one day and lucky for him my Mum agreed. I grew up imagining that the Beatles were singing their song for me. "Michelle, my belle...lalalalala something in french, my Michelle" I've pretty much always been known as Michelle, a few people call me Chelly or Mish...but for the most part I'm 'Michelle'.

Awhile ago when I reserved this blog name I asked on twitter for people to tell me about well known "Michelle's" they know... Think about it now... When you hear the name Michelle who do you think of? Let's face it, you probably personally know at least one Michelle and you'd have to have your head in the sand to have not heard of some of the more famous names. Some of the names that people suggested to me were: Obama, Pfeiffer, Williams, Grattan, Bridges... A first lady, actresses, a journalist and tv fitness guru. 

But really, there's a good chance you actually know someone named Michelle... A friend, a cousin, a neighbour or acquaintance  I know I constantly had 2 or 3 in every grade at school, plus there are several Mum's at my kids school named Michelle and I once went to a conference and we had a photo taken of all the Michelle's since there were so many of us. I know the "Shirley's" of the world have a little club, maybe us Michelle's need one too :)

So when you see a blog with a title, "Michelle has something to say..." it could just as easily be Tracey has something to say or Paul has something to say... So by attaching my name to my blog I am putting a new 'Michelle' in your head...a new voice that is not famous, nor necessarily known to you...commonly named (at least in Australia and of my generation) but really just little ol' me. I'll have a thought or two, I might get some things wrong but I'm putting it out there. Bear with me. Hopefully something I have to say will interest you...and if I try to be clever and put photos or other things into my posts please forgive my amateur efforts as I learn :)