My mum has been staying with me for the past 17 days. The timing was such that it happened when work was crazy with grant applications and Seed was crazy with post-even stuff, but there wasn’t a better time. She’s done lots of stuff on her own, reconnecting with the earlier independent self, which is great and makes me happy. We’ve done city ( Read more... )

Hi, I’m still here and have not been eaten by a grue. I have, OTOH unexpectedly had just about the most intense work month of my life, which ranged from producing two 70-page grant applications in a fortnight to interviewing toothless aboriginal artists in the far north (man, is this a big country!) to getting a high speed (literally jogging ( Read more... )

Where’s Jodi? Jodi is now a research fellow at the University of Melbourne Faculty of Business and Economics. I’ll be focusing for the next 3 years on measuring the benefits of social investments -- those investments intended do social good and (possibly) turn a profit at the same time, ranging from philanthropy to microfinance to partnering with ( Read more... )

It's a new financial year, so it's performance review season here at work. Like the end-of-calendar reviews I do annually in my 'real' life, I look forward to the enforced reflection that this involves. I'm often surprised by the results. Writing up my self-evaluation reveals that I've worked like a dog for the past six months. I've written ( Read more... )

I woke up this morning to the aroma of fresh bread and the sound of the surf while I snuggled my sweetie under a soft flannel duvet in a cozy bed overlooking the sea. What an awesome combination ( Read more... )

Having reached the end of this work-sprint, I spent a bit of time bent over by the side of the path, hyperventilating and wondering if I was going to hurl. Apparently not. The 10 hours of kiwiburn meeting was actually a pretty good cool-down lap, and I suspect that I'll feel better for having done that than I would have for stopping cold and ( Read more... )

Today I played grey-suited economist at the Treasury, wearing our serious faces. Discussion was lively and sophisticated, and had a $$ slant that one would expect given the company. It's been very interesting to go from ministry to ministry and see what different flavours they have. Friday is a targeted internal presentation and half-day meeting ( Read more... )

( financial goals )

I feel like I've lost my path over the last year, and I'm floundering about... uh, I mean *trailblazing* in unknown territory. I'm off the map, which is forgivable, but I'm also without a compass. There was a time, not that long ago, that I knew who I was, what my core values were, and how to best enact them in my life and the world. But life's ( Read more... )

I have been in the throes of big changes for the last few months, and often not known which way was up. I had an epiphany Sunday about my choices, and how they've helped create certain situations in my life. Suddenly a bunch of pieces fell into place, and the career-go-round stopped spinning for the first time in several months (although I could ( Read more... )