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Another Reflection

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If we were having a coffee I’d be telling you that as I looked at recent posts, that reflections have been somewhat of a common theme. So here is another.

My blog, and how it has evolved across its life. It very much started as a part of my retirement project or as I referred to it ‘What’s Next’. That was more than 10 years ago. Across that period I’ve had periods where I posted regularly and then had gaps. Over the last couple of years those gaps have been longer and my desire to post has waned somewhat.

Once again, I wondered if I would continue it. This time, when I got my web hosting bill. I nearly fell off my chair!  The charge had gone through without me getting notice that it was about to renew. It was my fault, as I hadn’t notified the hosting service that the email attached to the account was no longer valid.

I wondered if it was worth the money to continue. Perhaps my blog had served its purpose. I wasn’t sure. In the end, after a chat with the hosting service, I found a suitable hosting plan that better matched how I view my blog. I’m now on a new plan and have committed to a 5-year service.

But as I discussed why I had my blog with my favourite person, I started to think about how I will use it in the future. So many of the posts in the past were about travel, but we are doing less of that now that we delight in spending time with our grandchildren. Our travel is domestic and shorter, but as my favourite person said, there is much to write about these trips.

I also blogged about my journey through my PhD which was very much a ‘What’s Next, project. I completed it around three years ago. It’s a bound book on my bookshelf. I still use what I learnt in the few consulting projects I have but I’m not sure if that is a topic for this blog .

Then there are the general reflections on wine, music, and the world. I realised, as I thought about it, that I have a number of posts on songs that look at the songs in a more reflective tone, e.g.  I just want ot enjoy their music – A reflection on Bob Dylan. Perhaps that a direction for future posts?

So with my hosting service renewed, I have whet my blogging appetite with a new motivation to keep on posting!

Remembering Melanie

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Melanie Dead: Singer Performed at Woodstock and Sang 'Brand ...

In an article on Quilette, Dave Thompson asks, Who remembers Melanie?
Well, I do!

Melanie, born in Queens, New York, in 1947, died in late January 2025.

It’s only appropriate that I post my obituary.

Melanie has always been a favourite of mine, albeit that in an Australian context, I suspect her fame is pretty much limited to Brand New Key, which reached No. 1 on our charts in 1974. It was a global chart success, but it’s always been her version of The Rolling Stones’, Ruby Tuesday, that has been my favourite. I have always preferred it to the original.

In addition to Ruby Tuesday, other favourites of mine are Lay Down (Candles in the Rain), apparently inspired by the Woodstock concert, Beautiful People, What Have They Done to My Song Ma, and The Nickel Song. However, she has an extensive discography, which over the years I have kept coming back too.

I was fortunate to see her on one of her Australian tours at Adelaide’s Festival Theatre in the latter half of the 1970s. I was at University and went with a great friend with whom I shared many evenings listening to, dare I say, obsessing over music and attending concerts. There were so few we didn’t enjoy. Melanie’s concert was no exception. 

I only have one of her records on vinyl, the 1978 release Phonogenic—Not Just Another Pretty Face. Aint that the truth, she had a wonderful voice.  I also fondly remember visiting London’s  Oxford Street HMV Store and buying one of her CDs. I remember bouncing out of the shop with a massive grin that I’d managed to find it, much to the bemusement of my favourite person. With the benefit of Spotify, her discography is all available. I have to say that I listened to the record while preparing this post.

For most, Melanie’s time in the Sun was the 1970s, starting with a fortuitous appearance at Woodstock where the audience raised candles and cigarette lighters (that’s a sign of the times). While others have claimed to have been the first to have this happen, her Woodstock appearance was the first recorded occasion.  A Google search says Melanie was in glorious female company, as she and Janis Joplin and Joan Baez were the only solo women who appeared at Woodstock.

We are poorer for her passing.

RIP Melanie Safka

Photo Source – The Hollywood Reporter, GAB Archive/Redferns

A New Year Post

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Over the years, I’ve often used my year-end or New Year post to reflect on my music listening of the year, but this year, I’ve decided not to.

Instead, I’ve reflected on what I could do in 2025.

I was taken by Maddy Kearns’s post in  The Free Press to cold-call friends and family. That’s going to be my New Year’s Resolution.

As Maddy reminds us, it’s easy to do but also easy not to.

Just how many of those I’ll call you or be in touch have just gone by?

It matters, as one of my dear friends died a few years ago, and I didn’t realise it. I saw an obituary a year or so after and realised I just hadn’t been aware. I could have reached out so easily, but life got in the way. It shouldn’t have.

I recall checking in with an acquaintance mid-COVID, someone I  hadn’t spoken to in years. He lived interstate, so it was easy to lose touch. It spawned a regular Zoom chat over a glass of wine and a great day with him in Sydney mid-last year. I want more of that this year. I’m looking forward to seeing him in Adelaide when he visits.

One of my bike-riding friends is I’ll. I try to catch up with him regularly for coffee. He struggles to communicate easily, so the onus is on me. I look forward to catching up with him soon.

I posted about being ghosted by a friend a while ago. Well, I reached out again, and it’s led to a few emails. Yes, it’s been me driving it, but so what?

Thanks, Maddy, for your suggestion. It’s a resolution I want to hold to this year.

 

 

 

 

 

This time next week I will be a Doctor!

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I have spent the morning ordering a bound version of my thesis and organising my academic gown. The puffy hat will finally be mine!

Last Monday, I received advice that I had fulfilled the academic requirements for my PhD and that conferral would occur on the 31st of July. As I read the letter, I had a feeling of joy and my favourite person one of relief!

It is the culmination of the first chapter of the journey thatI entitled “What’s Next” when I started this blog. It’s a theme I have returned to since, as a fifty-something, I contemplated retirement from the professional firm I had been privileged to have been a partner for more than 20 years. With the completion of my PhD, I feel that the transition is complete, and a new chapter of What’s Next will begin.

When I commenced the journey with the assistance of Michael and Tim, I had no idea where it would take me. Through many conversations with Michael and Tim and the benefit of Hermina Ibarra’s book “Working Identity: Unconventional Strategies for Reinventing Your Career”, I am now just over 7 years into that journey.

Across that time, my favourite person and I have been lucky enough to travel to Italy several times; I have seen my first EPL game live and walked the beautiful beaches on the Isle of Sandy in the Orkney Islands. Other highlights have been attending my first large academic conference and becoming a published academic author. Across that period, there has been the joy of two of my children marrying, the arrival of three wonderful grandchildren and my youngest daughter’s graduations.

So “What’s next”?

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Contemplating What’s Next – My thesis is nearly done!

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I’m nearly there. My PhD thesis is with the copy editor for the second time. I know there will be yet more typos to fix and references to correct. I know my supervisors will make a few more suggestions, but I’m nearly there. In a few weeks my PhD Thesis will be in the examiners hands.

It’s almost six years since I started my PhD journey and eight since, in contemplating what’s next, that I commenced an academic journey. At that time I was exiting my career as a partner in a global consulting firm and I had to think about what I’d do next.

With the benefit of some wise counsel from two colleagues and after reading Herminia Ibarra’s Working identities I had a plan. I didn’t want to pursue the non-executive director route or remain in the corporate space. I thought I’d be an academic and explore a completely new path.

That was the and this is now.

All of those years later, I am close to completing that journey and I’m feeling a bit lost. What’s Next?

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