June Newsletter
My first newsletter!
Analogies and quotes; too many.
I am no longer wearing colour. My exuberant, flirty, free era is over! Monochromes, preppy, serious colours only! I announced this over the weekend to a table of fifteen at my friend's birthday lunch, and my boyfriend said “and this is why you need a newsletter.”
So here it is. My newsletter.
I am not precious about starting a new diary, so I will not be precious about starting this newsletter. I never worry about setting a diary out neatly, for I know it will become messy, chaotic and scrappy, eventually. You can’t be fussy at the beginning of new projects, because it will eventually change anyway.
You just gotta do it girlie - Nike
The first round of Monopoly Deal is starting a new project. If you don’t know the top tier card game, stop reading, go buy it and get playing. If you do already know it, congratulations on making great life choices so far and please know that it can be even better if you collect 4 properties instead of 3 when playing with two players.
Once you have played MD as much as I have, you learn you can’t be precious with what property cards you initially put down. They ARE going to be stolen off you. But you just got to get them down so we can get the game flowing. Just get started! Get those boring stations out of your hand and on the table! Eventually you can use your Force Deal to gain, say, Mayfair. Starting this newsletter is me placing my stations down and some day I’ll use my Force Deal to trade them in for my own TV show, a book deal or my own property flipping company. I don’t know. The dreams change A LOT.
An almost-OG Hi-5 star, Stevie Nicholson, once said to me as I sipped on my carrot, apple and ginger freshly squeezed juice in Singapore,
“How you do one thing in life, is how you do everything”
And at the time I was like “Waah??”
And he was like, “You’ll get it one day. Just think about it.” And think about it, I did. And quite truly, I ALWAYS think about it.
How you do one thing in life, is how you do everything.
And for me, how I do one thing, can present itself as starting a thing with enthusiasm (finishing it is another story). I will always throw my hat in the ring. I will always put my name in the hat. I will always ring up the hat and ask for its name.
Let me explain…
This week, a friend and I entered a sketch competition and like most creative applications, it was an EFFORT. We had 5 pages of writing to present our pitch and I was able to throw down the words, spew out the vibe and just get the project going. Luckily for me (and the application readers), the talent that is my friend, Maddy Wilson, extracted the essence of my slapped together gherkin, cheese, sauce and patty and made it look like a Mcdonald's ad campaign quarter pounder. Just like how I will send this mash potato of a newsletter to my grammar extraordinaire friend, Katie and get her to make it read like a Sunday Roast. First on her list… sort out these analogies (is it a burger or meat & potatoes? Choose one analogy at a time! I’m lost!)
In short, I find it way easier, and I am much better at doing the big bits in life.
I exampled this to myself at my Improv Jam the other night. I am actually quite intimidated by my new improvisation team, everyone is SO talented and clever and I feel like everything I say is the dumbest or ditziest thing to come out of my mouth. Imposter Syndrome aside, I realised while they are all providing outrageous characters, game play and clever callbacks to build the scene, I am doing the big concrete slab pour. Getting down that foundation before they can build the mansion. If you’ve ever watched an improv show, you would know that once the team gets a suggestion from the audience, be it a random word i.e “calendar”, there is a big, fat, gigantic, pregnant elephant pause where the players move to the sidelines and if no one initiates a scene in those 5 seconds, the silent sound of stress in the room from both audience and players can be heard like a fart in assembly. It takes courage to step into the middle of the stage and create the first scene. It is always awkward! And it always will be. It’s the pilot episode! We don’t know what's going on yet! But someone has to do it before we can construct the first floor of the manor. And you knowww, how you do one thing in life is how you do everything - and I start things with enthusiasm. So I do it! I step out from the sidelines into the middle of the stage and create the very first scene. I turn my lips inward and scrunch up my nose and become an angry old man complaining about firefighter calendars not having enough Australian icons like Barry Humphries. It is not a good joke. At all!! But look, now the talented people I am learning to trust slide on in and are weaving magic, laughter is happening, story lines are appearing and callbacks are being found. I put down my boring station cards and the playing starts. I trust the team to do the trading, and— Weeee!— we’ve got hotels on Mayfair.
How do you do Life? Because, I bet it’s how you do everything. If you’re not using each of your 3 moves in a Monopoly Deal game, how are you playing YOUR LIFE?? Maybe a little too safely?
I read the dang coolest, life affirming line in Queen Froomesy newsletter last week. She wrote
“But to be cringe is to be alive in life.”
She may have just thought it was a funny final line to complete her introductory paragraph in Froomy's perfect Sydney Weekend (subscribe to her newsletter here) but I will be taking it to the grave as one of the most profound things I’ve ever read. I don’t think I have to explain it. It just makes so much sense to me. If you’re not being a little cringe (say putting your thoughts into a newsletter and thinking people will care enough to read it) then ARE YOU REALLY LIVING?! Like, quit holding yourself back bby boyie!
I am not precious about starting a new diary, or a sketch application or an improv scene, so I won’t be precious about this newsletter. I will, however, write it while wearing pink pants, a pink shirt, a red jumper with red socks. My colour era is back!
Reading:
Love stories Trent dalton
Still!! I've been reading it on and off all year, I LOVE it, easy to put down then pick it back up again, because it is full of short unrelated stories. All true and extremely well written, collected by Trent on the Brisbane streets.
Listening:
Armchair Expert Podcast
Choose a celeb you’re interested in and dive in.
I love Dax Shepard, I relate hard to his interview style where he projects his stories on to everyone, I feel I would do the same. Many people don’t like that he tells his own story so often, but honestly the guests wouldn't open up as much as they do if he didn't choose to be vulnerable by revealing his insecurities and quirks first. I have a lot more to say on this, and vulnerability in general, and will do so in future letters!! I recently liked the Tim Ferris Ep - he is so calculated and smart beyond my comprehension. I always enjoy what he has to say but hate how he over explains his questions on his own podcast, so I was pleased to listen to his smarts through Dax and Monicas led conversation.
How to win Friends and Influence People
I am listening to this on Audible after chatting about it with my surrogate housemates a few months back. It’s good, but gosh I have gorged on so much self-development and self-reflected hardcore over the years that it sounds very basic and DERRRH LARRY at the moment. But in saying that, I reckon I would have loved it in my early 20s and has reminded me of some practices I’ve forgotten. In short: masculine energy self-help starter pack.
Shameless Podcast
Is a weekly ritual for me! It’s easy listening on celeb gossip and pop culture. I enjoy listening to the conversations about scandals. I am IN IT at the mo and enjoy the familiarity and regularity of my Monday Scandal ep and Thursday Pop culture update but soon I’ll be back on my bullshiii and turning my nose up at discussing celebs as though they are not people like us.
Song on repeat:
Dear Seventeen - Gretta Ray.
Nostalgic and sweet.
Listen and watch ME
Presenting Radio Every Tuesday Triple H, 4pm-6pm
Watch me perform Improv Fridays at Improv Theatre Sydney, in House Team ‘Drywall’
7-8pm 2nd June (oops, you missed it)
23rd June
30th June - Team is performing but not me, I’m away that weekend.