October 2025
The Vibe
I am running behind on my monthly post, having just got September out the door a week into November. That said, October was special - our first family overseas trip! That statement needs a few qualifiers as it wasn’t technically the first or even the second (there’s a trip to Vanuatu and Fiji), but in terms of going somewhere to be tourists and explore something new and not spend most of our time in a single place - this was it! I’m going to write up our Japan trip separately, so I’ll try to just capture the vibe in this post.
The first week of the month was quite a lot of preparation and organisation. Heading off for two weeks and leaving a nervous and high-demand fur-baby meant organising someone to stay in the house. Luckily, a friend could come and stay for the two weeks, so the next step was unpacking the quirks of the house and turning all of the tacit knowledge about how we live into clear instructions. There were a lot of nerves before we left, trying to remember if we remembered everything - but once we were away, it was amazing!
I love travelling.
This was the first family trip where the aim was to explore a new place, and we took to it with gusto. Everything was new and needed to be sampled. We ate and drank new things, often picking things at random rather than researching each decision. We spent a week in the cities before hiring a car to get off the tourist track a little. I loved the Japanese rail system, but I also love to drive, so this was a good compromise and enabled a few accidental encounters and visits to ‘real’ Japanese places where tourists don’t go. We walked a lot and did really well as a family – I don't think we had any meltdowns or fights the whole time.
Coming home was hard. I spent the first week missing travelling and trying to re-acclimatise to work. One thing that became clear, though, was how much ‘noise’ there is in this job at the moment. So little of what’s happening is of consequence and just takes up space and time - at least the trip away made this abundantly clear. This has meant my stress levels have dropped as I've stopped investing so much into the workplace. Rather than worrying about all of the things, I’m just staying within my zone of control. I still need to take action regarding my career, but that involves shifting the focus to myself and not the job.
One thing I came to realise while on holiday was the place my job has within the context of life. It probably doesn’t “spark joy”, but it has enabled our family to grow and grow up without having to want for much. It’s made transitioning to a new place not only possible, but pleasant. Travelling with my teenager let me see the proof that we have done well as parents. While work has felt like it’s taken over my life a few times, the reality these have only ever been distractions from the bigger whole. It’s felt good coming to that perspective, and maybe complements us as a good family unit that is happy because we get along and actually enjoy each other's company.
Events
Travelling to Japan! I did get to hang out with my best mate before we left and briefly after we got back home, which was a bonus.
Photos
There's a whole album of photos from Japan...
And this perfect shot taken back in Adelaide.
Watched
I watched a few things on the plane rides... but only a couple were noteworthy.
- Mountainhead - part critique of Silicon Valley mindset, but I also felt the way the plot went, it was an endorsement of it as well. Sits in that genre of shit people doing shit things, and perhaps the lack of resolution is the point.
- I really like Michael Fassbender and watched his Steve Jobs on the flight over and The Agency: Central Intelligence on the flight home.
- Enjoyed Mickey 17 as an interesting take on work and life.