I’ve been super sensitive over the past few days - I’m blaming it on the dust storm that swept through Sydney. It put the youngest in bed for a day, coughing and sneezing. It just put me in a weird mood. As a result, what should have been a fun weekend was not quite right.... Continue Reading →

Remember a movie called Risky Business? It’s the Tom Cruise classic featuring the iconic scene where he slides across the hallway in his socks and undies, lip syncing to "Old Time Rock & Roll". Until last night, that was the only part of the movie I remembered. Anyways, the youngest wanted to watch tellie with... Continue Reading →

I've been a parent for almost 15 years now, but I still feel like an imposter. I've come a long way. I panicked when I had my first baby. I felt completely inadequate - I knew how to run a weekly magazine and direct a staff of 35, but caring for an infant was terrifying.... Continue Reading →

Three years ago I terrified DD by announcing my womb was the size of a 16-week pregnancy. There was deathly silence on the other end of the phone. It was a bit mean to scare a 52-year-old father of four like that - he wasn’t going to be a daddy again, it was a fibroid... Continue Reading →

That's a Whovian reference in the heading ... poor Yvonne and her oily Cyber tears ... Fortunately, I didn't do my (jury) duty yesterday ... unless you count twiddling my thumbs in the arrivals hall for endless boring hours. Should you ever be called up for jury duty, I strongly recommend taking a good book or... Continue Reading →

Most Friday and Saturday nights of my youth were spent dancing, as Kevin Bacon would say, my ass off. Gunfighter's Rest and The Crazy Horse were my usual haunts. It was the bulkest of fun. These days, my dancing is restricted to the (very) occasional party. But I went to a bar on Friday night... Continue Reading →

I gotta say, I wasn't too keen on heading out to another work function last night. Partying with the ethanol crowd wore me out on Wednesday. It was also a drizzly, miserable afternoon and I was a bit frazzled by juggling work with running the eldest to the doctor for a medical certificate. They needed... Continue Reading →

The ethanol crowd really know how to party. I was invited to the Manildra Christmas bash last night. It was on a fancy boat called Kokoma 2. Kokoma cruised around Sydney harbour while we sipped sparkling wine and supped on arancini balls and gourmet sausage rolls and oysters. I was there because Manildra is an... Continue Reading →

Once upon a time, I lived in New York. It wasn’t for very long, just a little while. I can’t quite believe it actually happened. But it did - we had an apartment on the Upper, Upper, Upper West Side. I was a stay-at-home mum while my ex studied business journalism at Columbia University. As... Continue Reading →

One of the final nails in my marriage coffin was a swimming pool. And Hama beads ... but that’s a story for another day. Have I told you the swimming pool story? I can’t remember. I’m so vague at the moment that I wrote my name on an official document as “Ala” yesterday. Yup, totally... Continue Reading →