Diary Entries

Payten Family Poems Ode to Corona I’m a senior, bunkered down, Living all alone, Eating, sleeping, maybe reading, But mostly on the phone Talking, sharing, Laughing , caring, Presto, boredoms gone! I know Corona’s on the prowl, Especially after docking Killing people off It really is quite shocking. So I’m staying at home Enjoying the phone And it’s Holy Week, then Easter Lots to reflect upon, Not all a disaster!

Payten Family Poems Dream of corona There’s no movement at the station For the word is going round That the virus from Wuhan has got away. It has come from nasty critters and no cure has been found— Who’ll get it next we really cannot say! There’s Morrison who stopped the boats and fondled lumps of coal— An adman with a hotline to the Lord— “Stay home!” he said, “Shut down! Keep clear! I really do not care if you are bored!” And Frydenberg, a younger man, came up to write some cheques. “You’ve lost your job, I’ll fill the gap with more than you expects!” Another bloke, so-called Dee Stancing, chipped in “No parties, beach or sport! Just jigsaws, Facebook, zoom at home, If you break out you’ll be caught!” And so it’s working! Now out by Koorawatha where the breezes gently blow We talk of crops and stock and drought And how we beat that deadly virus Back in the year two-0-two-0

Payten Family Poems CORONAVIRUS ACROSTIC Community surrounds us. However Only enforced isolation is in store. Regulation requires that we stay apart One point five metres or more, but No person is an island so Adaptation comes to the fore Virtual meetings are arranged Internet technology is our saviour Real connections are re-established U and me together again, and Soon it won’t be digital, but a knock at your front door

Sorry Melbourne, Sorry Melbourne that you have to go into quarantine AGAIN. We hope that you stay safe in this horrible time. PLEASE don’t go out UNLESS it is an emergency. Please don’t get Corona. Everyone wishes the best for you. I also hope that America can get though this pandemic. They have SOOOOOOOOOOOO many cases. I wish everyone the best and stay safe!

"Well my dear, if we are all living on a turtle's back what is beneath the turtle?" "I'm sorry to tell you, it is turtles all the way down." The way we think about consciousness is dependent on the instrument we use. A measurement is only as good as the accuracy of the instrument. So to think of one's mind as a vector tending to one point of understanding as a reflection of the external world is not such a bad understanding of the world around you and where you sit in it. To be drunk on money or sick with fear or crazy with lust, these are all motivators for action. Most exist together in humanity as forces like bull and bear markets stir people to make the decisions that create (and destroy) their lives. Ants on a turtle isn't such a bad analogy. I would say fleas except fleas jump and either assumes the turtle undamaged, merely annoyed by it's hitchhikers. If the turtle must breathe, filling the air with poison was surely a bad idea. Enter Elon Musk, a guy with a Physics degree and a Business degree who saw the missing element in humanity- making the electric motor into a vehicle propulsion system. Today in Feb 2020, we have net zero carbon dioxide increases in the atmosphere, something humanity has been talking about for more than 50 years. World governments are struggling to make policy and finally everyone is realising not only the mess we have made but how it is the fault of everyone. Billionaires cannot make zero carbon choices today. We are all ants on a turtle. And so we try to offset what we do with other things - plant more trees, build more windfarms, use more solar power, buy an electric car.

A note on our changing society. Coronavirus. Hasn’t the world changed? We didn’t realise how happy go lucky we were until Coronavirus hit. We all had houses full of stuff, had to fix nothing and didn’t even need to wash our hands. Now suddenly the quintuple issues of Covid-19, Climate Change, #MeToo, #BlacklivesMatter, and LGBTIQ+ Rights are on the agenda for everyone. Michael Jackson had been saying it for decades...’They don’t really care about us’ (Jackson, 1995) and although it is too late for Michael the issue of #BlackLivesMatter became forefront with the death in custody of George Floyd. It came on the heels of coronavirus as protests happened in a lull in cases. The riots started in Minnesota and were watched on the internet with lightning speed. The ferocity of the spread of information has lead to copycat rioting which spread to over 50 cities in the United States and led to protests around the world. In Librarianship and Print Culture, Luke Tredinnick argues the case of Arnold, 1869 that culture is anathema to anarchy. The internet has with incredible 25 year ferocity become a roaring fire of information joining people and ideas the world over. Tredinnick also states it is the innovation itself or ‘idolatry of the machine’ which is the besetting danger. Just as the fire of the internet has had many advantages it has clearly showed each other the inequalities that exist in our collective world society. All of these major issues have been fuelled by the internet and at the time of writing this see no abating. Traditionally the function and purpose of a library has changed throughout the history of humanity to meet the needs and requirement of the people at time.

MENTAL COVIDITY Nobody was prepared for the coming onslaught of a new virus code name Covid19. It was purported to be the most lethal, and of epic proportion. It did rock the boat around the world which powered on to its bended knees as imperilled by pandemic thus propelled total lockdowns across all borders. It came at the untimely season of colds and flu that was approaching Australia. It's always normal and a health reality check that this time of year, from Autumn through half of Springtime, people - both old and young - get sick. You hear and see their sniffles, hard breathings by the way they cough, the red tiring eyes, and their turbid state of being due to infirmity. All these are much part of Australians' seasonal psyche. It's also a known fact that when it comes to flu season, the older generations are always the most vulnerable. There were numerous deaths occurred in the past that the people were never aware of. It was left unaccounted for by the mainstream news purveyors. And there was no strict orders for self-confinement or isolation issued on that account coming from big brother. In this covid season, are we all lost to reasons shovelled through our throats by confusion which truth or which lie to cling to? Even the authorities are divided in quite many spectrums of what they found from their researches, autopsies, symptoms and asymptotic preclusions. Is this 'new normal' a new way that leads us to paranoia? While few restrictions are now easing, some are enjoying outdoor life among nature like beaches and mountains with precautions. It's best to play safe and not be too complacent. Let's beat the odds with "an ounce of prevention better than a pound of cure." Just my thought.

COVID-19 has affected me by not letting me see my mum and my brothers and sisters and there was no toilet paper cause people were panic shopping.

Hi Kuya Vonnie and Kuya Ryan, I missed you. Thanks for visiting me. I appreciate scoring points for me at Timezone. I liked hanging out with you. Thanks for the Maccas. When will I go to your house? I’m looking forward to see you. PS. Thanks for the books, Darna. PPS. Is the park finished yet? ❤️Nathan

I needed to get out of the house last night – to dress up, wear makeup, be around strangers, and feel an atmosphere of boozy anticipation, but with Tommo. It felt quite fitting to end up at O'Donoghues (an Irish Pub) – especially after reading Sally Rooney’s "Normal People", set in Sligo and Dublin. Tommo had the “parmi” with salad and chips, I had a booty "medium-rare" steak with steamed veggies and mashed potato, a schooner each. We sat in the T.A.B, the Panthers were playing, a group of young women sat on the table yonder, most of the tables were groups of young men. Tables weren’t allowed to mingle. I slowly sipped my beer, the men too. Everyone’s bets, I’m sure, were on the Panthers. It’s their year, I hear. A young woman was trying to get the attention of the young men. She wore a white shirt and a black bra. The shirt wasn’t buttoned but tied in a loose knot. She adjusted and readjusted the knot. The men were more interested in Cleary's footwork. The other young women were eating wedges, looking at each other's phones. I thought about the family who owned O'Donoghues during the First World War and about the son they lost in Gallipoli. I saw the young man’s photo once – on display at Penrith Library. I thought about his mother weeping. We came home after eating. I didn't feel like lingering. Tommo finished watching the footy (I think the Panthers won?), I read some of my book about young people in Ireland. They got drunker than we did.