Psychology Updates, Social Events

There are two items of psychological note this week for me. The first was submitting my first assignment for my GradDip in Applied Psych at Auckland University; I am not entirely happy with it. The topic was effective means to reduce re-offending, and whilst my knowledge of the topic is pretty good and I could provide good references to the main drivers (certain mental health conditions and substance abuse combined is a very significant driver), I did not do so well in the short "elevator speech" that was part of the assessment. In any case, I am powering through the rest of the first course as well as working on the academic integrity course. The second part was attending my first session for my own chronic depression and driven dysthymia and, of course, issues from my partner once removed. At one stage it seemed my poor therapist was going to burst into tears as I told the story, but I will take it as a positive from a caring and sympathetic listener. It was interesting that my therapist raised, unprompted, the same remark that several of my friends have asked me quite bluntly on a certain matter: "Have you told her?" You're all correct, of course, and I was wrong to be silent to on the matter. Foolishly I considered the matter to be a sign of dependency (and people of my generation value their independence enormously) and did not speak of it, when in fact it was a vulnerability that was being cared for. So, in the future, they will be informed of the situation; but the time is certainly not right at the present. My apologies, gentle readers, to be so necessarily vague.

Social events over the past several days have been quite prevalent. I had a surprise visit from Conan F., of the Exiles Gaming Club who was in town from Sydney and correlated with Liana F., dropping by after seeing a rather skilled photographer. The following evening Simon S., and Jude S., came over for dinner, the latter being a particularly competent reviewer of the arts and former ministerial advisor. The following was a close-to-birthday lunch with a former housemate and a dear friend from decades ago, Lauren R. Always a delight to be in their company, and given how nearby she works further reunions will certainly occur. That evening was another visit to the Shibari Lounge with Liana; my prior comments apply and I will confess that I was perhaps not in the right spirits for said event. Finally, last night was seeing the subtly-named Hard Ons gig at the Espy in St Kilda. For a while, in the 80s they were Australia's most prominent punk band. As for the Espy, once a beautiful dive, now quite a horrendous mainstream venue. We ended up having pre-gig drinks at the Prince of Wales which, whilst it has been cleaned up a lot, is still a pretty pleasant place to visit. Nevertheless, the Gershwin Room at the Espy has remained in a dilapidated beauty, and the Hard Ons delivered in their famous hardcore surf-punk style with new front-man Tim Rogers (Box The Jesuit, You Am I). That evening was a birthday of significance for my dear old friend close to thirty years Des J., and I attended with an equally dear old friend Robbie K., and a new friend Simone G. who certainly brought a smile to my face.