The Faces of Janus
"Just be kind. Kind to my boys, other people, animals, each other, the planet. We desperately need it."
These are the words of an old friend Joanna Griffith in her "Last Post". She was one of the first people I got to know when I moved to Melbourne more than 25 years ago as she headed the local RPG gaming club, Infinite Images. We were never really close friends, but we had a rapport and every encounter I had with her was one that recognised the qualities of a person who was very intelligent (she was Dr Joanna Griffith, veterinary scientist, and well-cited koala specialist - there is now a Southern Koala and Echidna Rescue Jo Griffth Research Initiative), insightful, seriously feisty, just, and also with good humour and kindness. Several months ago I had the opportunity to visit Adelaide where she lived, and of course, I wore the Infinite Images t-shirt on the visit which generated some amusement that I still had the old piece of rag. It also came with a story of some absolutely foul looks I received when wearing it in Sydney one afternoon; it was emblazoned with an RPG fourth wall joke "Don't Shoot! I'm a plot device!". Little did I know it was the day of the Port Arthur Massacre.
But the reality was that Jo was not well; metastatic terminal breast cancer. A few days ago she died, and there has been quite a notable number of posts from those who knew her well. There has even been an article in the local newspaper (paywalled, alas). For my own part, as I have found myself doing a few times in recent years, I took the opportunity for some quiet time by myself and read through her old Livejournal entries. I find it soothing to read such 'blog entries, especially from such a platform. The words written there are often of a personal, reflective nature, and express the human and emotional side well; they speak from the heart. Like others, I wish the very best for her partner Simon and for her two boys and I remind myself that she would not be one for grieving, but it would bring her greater joy if we were inspired by the example of her life. It is in that spirit I will carry my memories of Jo.
As the title implies, Janus has two faces. On the same day I was processing the loss of Jo, caseopaya received our first serious bite for our Willsmere property, mere hours after signing an agreement with an agent, which of course is very exciting in a positive sense. Talk about a day of mixed emotions. We've also had to do the paperwork for a contract for sale, and poor caseopaya has been given all sorts of stressful rigmarole from the banks for other financials, the poor dear. On another positive note, funonontheupfield dropped over last night (this is our idea of cautious social activities) and after dinner, drinks, and conversation, we joined our regular online Cyberspace game - which concluded with a rather dramatic failure at a religious-cult convention involving too many sharp pieces of cybernetics and embedded Gestalt-network chips. It was a great way to end a story arc; Jo would have understood.
These are the words of an old friend Joanna Griffith in her "Last Post". She was one of the first people I got to know when I moved to Melbourne more than 25 years ago as she headed the local RPG gaming club, Infinite Images. We were never really close friends, but we had a rapport and every encounter I had with her was one that recognised the qualities of a person who was very intelligent (she was Dr Joanna Griffith, veterinary scientist, and well-cited koala specialist - there is now a Southern Koala and Echidna Rescue Jo Griffth Research Initiative), insightful, seriously feisty, just, and also with good humour and kindness. Several months ago I had the opportunity to visit Adelaide where she lived, and of course, I wore the Infinite Images t-shirt on the visit which generated some amusement that I still had the old piece of rag. It also came with a story of some absolutely foul looks I received when wearing it in Sydney one afternoon; it was emblazoned with an RPG fourth wall joke "Don't Shoot! I'm a plot device!". Little did I know it was the day of the Port Arthur Massacre.
But the reality was that Jo was not well; metastatic terminal breast cancer. A few days ago she died, and there has been quite a notable number of posts from those who knew her well. There has even been an article in the local newspaper (paywalled, alas). For my own part, as I have found myself doing a few times in recent years, I took the opportunity for some quiet time by myself and read through her old Livejournal entries. I find it soothing to read such 'blog entries, especially from such a platform. The words written there are often of a personal, reflective nature, and express the human and emotional side well; they speak from the heart. Like others, I wish the very best for her partner Simon and for her two boys and I remind myself that she would not be one for grieving, but it would bring her greater joy if we were inspired by the example of her life. It is in that spirit I will carry my memories of Jo.
As the title implies, Janus has two faces. On the same day I was processing the loss of Jo, caseopaya received our first serious bite for our Willsmere property, mere hours after signing an agreement with an agent, which of course is very exciting in a positive sense. Talk about a day of mixed emotions. We've also had to do the paperwork for a contract for sale, and poor caseopaya has been given all sorts of stressful rigmarole from the banks for other financials, the poor dear. On another positive note, funonontheupfield dropped over last night (this is our idea of cautious social activities) and after dinner, drinks, and conversation, we joined our regular online Cyberspace game - which concluded with a rather dramatic failure at a religious-cult convention involving too many sharp pieces of cybernetics and embedded Gestalt-network chips. It was a great way to end a story arc; Jo would have understood.