This will hurt me...

Things are looking up. The corner of Campbell and Liverpool Streets, Hobart. September 2013. A long-delayed Q and A stolen again from Sunday Stealing. This time, Meme 325 ! Something that’s holding you back from achieving your dreams: Life! Something you think you could win an award for: Irritability. Something you fear more than anything: Caring what people think. Something you wish people would understand: That life would be much easier if they were a little nicer to each other. Something that keeps you going everyday: The promise of sleep. Something amazing that happened last Summer: Henry and I saw a foot-long weedy sea dragon while snorkelling at Opossum Bay. We were less than a metre away for a good couple of minutes. Something you hate that people say: The casual use of the word ‘bogun’ in work contexts. Something you refuse to pay money for: Friendship. Something you wish you could have told that person that you never saw again:

Henry at work. Geilston Bay. September 2013. The Winter Queen , Boris Akunin: A story of murder, suicide, deception and disguise that hurtles through pre-revolutionary Tsarist Russia. Crafted with care, Akunin weaves some beautiful expression and a series of exotic historical settings - primarily Moscow, Saint Petersburg and a quick jaunt to the seedier side of London in the mid-1870s - together with a wonderful series of well developed characters that really does feel like Tolstoy tackling a murder mystery. I loved it. A .

The view from the top. The summit of Mount Wellington. September 2013. 100 Essential Things You Didn't Know You Didn't Know , John D. Barrow: This book explores one hundred conundrums, questions and queries through the lens of mathematics. The book runs through infinite monkeys banging out Shakespearean plays on typewriters, your odds of winning the lottery, horse races, divorce, Google, game theory, infinity and chaos; there is much to enjoy here even if Maths is something other than your strong point. While the book is (happily) not dumbed down at all, it remains jammed to the brim with equations sure to make you squirm. C+ . Life at the top. The summit of Mount Wellington. September 2013.