July 2026
The Vibe
July has felt fairly momentous. It started with wrapping up my old role – a couple of team lunches, some farewell drinks on a cold and cozy evening, and a fairly anticlimactic send-off from senior leadership. What I did get, and what actually mattered, were some genuine words from my team, past and present. That meant a lot.
Looking back, the biggest accomplishment in that role wasn't any single project or initiative – it was building the team itself. Bringing together people with genuinely diverse skill sets and backgrounds and creating an environment where they could actually collaborate. It was the thing I'd set myself as a challenge when I took the role at Adelaide - knowing it was a missing piece in my career path up to that point.
Before leaving, I had a chance to catch up with my new director and hear a bit about the future direction of my new role. It gave me something to chew on – what my role could look like, what I might bring to it. A good way to close one chapter and orient toward the next.
Then we had four days in Brisbane — just me, Miss A, and K — which was exactly what was needed. It's been a rough year as a family unit. Having a 14-year-old navigating change and bringing all of that home has been challenging for everyone. So having some time to decompress and just enjoy each other's company was good. We got our art and sculpture fix at GOMA and the gallery, wandered the city, and stayed in the CBD this time, which opened up parts of Brisbane I hadn't really seen before.
From Brisbane we drove up the Sunshine Coast to catch up with family — my mum, brother, sister, and their kids. We had a day at Australia Zoo, which produced a Beatles-mania moment for my nieces when we saw Bindi and Terri Irwin perform with the crocodile show. I was actually amazed that they exist as real people continuing in that job is genuinely interesting.
Then it was back on the plane, and Monday morning I rolled into the new job.
The first week was less about settling in and more about hitting the ground. I spent most of it working on an EOI to bring some business into the university, which turned out to be a pretty good way to start – it forced me to get across what we actually do and what we want to promote. In between, I started meeting the team and getting a feel for how things are set up. There's already a lot of process improvement work visible that plays naturally to my strengths.
In the middle of all of that, I had a birthday. Bought tickets to see Queens of the Stone Age and Primus at the end of the year, and had a nice dinner out with friends at a new Malaysian place. The restaurant made their own lychee cider — apparently 6%, but deceptively so. Highly recommended.
The change feels good. There's that saying that a change is as good as a holiday, but having both in the same month is probably a level up on that.
I've also been doing some reflecting on the performative side of work – what it takes to operate in large organisations, what I'm actually good at, and where I consistently fall short. I have a high pain threshold, which serves me well in a crisis but means I'm genuinely bad at noticing when things aren't working until I've absorbed more than I should. I'm also not a natural performer – I wear everything on my sleeve, which I've always thought of as a feature rather than a bug. But it's becoming clearer that a lot of organisational culture that claims to value openness is actually asking for the performance of openness, not the real thing. Something I need to sit with.
Events
Farewell drinks and team lunches to close out the old role. Four days in Brisbane with Ms A and Mrs K — GOMA, the art gallery, city wandering and riding scooters around the gardens. Then up to Coolum for a few days and a day trip to Australia Zoo on the Sunshine Coast. It was great spending time with mum, brother, sister, and the nieces. A birthday dinner at a Hut and Soul.
Photos
Watched
The Agency Season 2 was good. Really enjoyed the story arc and evolution of Martian.
Listened
Season 3 of Buried was really interesting. It delves into the world of hare coursing (that seen from Snatch of the dogs chasing the hare).