Adding changes to the list

It’s no secret that I have trouble with personal organisation, and that I’ve come up with strategies to deal with that. The system I came up with has had some successes, and one major failure. I’ve now changed directions to try and fixt the one that didn’t work.

Back in 2023, I wrote about a personal organisation system I’d created for myself. That system had a section called “What’s Up” that I intended to help me keep track of things I wanted to get done. I explained it in more detail in a post after six months using it, and that’s how I used the system throughout 2023 and 2024—and then I didn’t.

In January of this year, I started writing out the dates on the sheets for this year’s “What’sUp” section, but I struggled—or, more accurately, I struggled. At the time I thought to myself that “I’m just not feeling it”, and so, I stopped. I’d gotten as far as June 1, but just couldn’t face it any more (and I’d just bought a new ring binder to put the old sheets in; more about about in a bit).

Part of the problem was that it had become a list of what I did, not what I wanted to do in a day. That’s still useful for things I don’t do on a schedule so I can tell how long it’s been since I did that task (which is why I was going to save the old sheets in a binder). Even so, it had become useless for scheduling things—because I didn’t use it for that. I also found the limit of six items to be arbitrary and utterly silly. So, it wasn’t working, I was frustrated, but also unsure what to do about it.

In the meantime, I made a version on Apple’s Notes app, and I just listed what I did on a given day—pretty much like I did on the handwritten version, but not limited to only six items. However, just as with the paper version, I sometimes forgot what I did on a day, or over a few days, and I had to try to remember later. It wasn’t a huge improvement—except that the Notes app is on all my devices and I could add something to my list anytime, anywhere—even if I suddenly remembered something as I was getting into bed (it’s happened).

I next made a temporary “to do” list using Notes because users can add check buttons—to make the list an electronic checklist. I was originally thinking how I could copy-and-paste items from one to the other, and then it hit me: Why not just make it one list? And that’s what I did (shown in the screenshot up top).

At the end of May, I made up the entire month of June in Notes, and each day has “Something or other” as the default placeholder text (I can type over it, obviously). So far, it’s been a combination of the old system and improvements. As I said, a list of what I actually did each day is useful, but the new system means I can schedule things for that month, too, then click the button for the things I’ve actually done, and if I don’t get it done, I can easily copy anything I didn’t do and add it onto the list for the next day.

It’s very early days for this revised system, but I’ve already noticed that I’ve been scheduling things I’d like to get done because, first, it doesn’t matter if I go beyond six items, and second, I can easily move an uncompleted task to another day if I don’t get it done. This suggests that the new system may finally be one that can actually work for me—MAYBE.

This has been a particular kind of journey, but I think I knew all along there would be changes to my systems as I found things that didn’t work. Coming up with ideas I think would work better is hte easy part. Actually successfully using it? That’s the unknown part. Maybe I should schedule a review in six months…

Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 9

This series is back on track this week with a new Number One song for this week in 1985: On June 8, 1985, “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” (video up top) by English pop rock duo Tears for Fears reached Number One on the USA’s Billboard “Hot 100”, and remained there for two weeks. The song was the third single from their second album, Songs from the Big Chair.

I first heard of Tears for Fears when they released their first studio album, 1982’s The Hurting., and that was mostly because their song Mad World”. which I loved, primarily because I saw the music video for the song, which was their first video. I did not, however, buy the album, but a friend let me tape their copy (that tape is long gone).

When “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” was released, it was played on the radio a LOT, and that can make me get tired of a song. For whatever reason, that didn’t happen with this song, and to this day I still like it when it comes on the radio—though that’s now rare because I only listen to the radio in the car when I’m running errands here in town.

I bought the album Songs from the Big Chair, which I left behind in the USA. However, I bought an anniversary collection of their early albums from iTunes (as it was called then…). And that I still have. The collection included several remixes, and “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” was one of them.

I used to follow Curt Smith on Twitter back in the day (Roland Orzabal was apparently never on it), and thought he was quite interesting (in fact, I was on his email list for quite some time, too). I think I may have traded Tweets with him at some point, and he may even have followed me back (the only celebrity I know for sure followed me back was Stephen Fry, though I think a few others may have, too). That was all way back, at time when Twitter was still fun, before it was subsumed into the pool of fetid slime it would become (that was well before Elon bought it, by which time it was already becoming a hellscape).

“Everybody Wants to Rule the World” reached Number 2 in Australia (5x Platinum), Number One in Canada (Gold) and in New Zealand (5x Platinum), Number 2 in the UK (4x Platinum), and Number One on the USA’s Billboard “Hot 100” and “Hot Dance Club Play” charts, as well as Number 2 on their “Adult Contemporary” chart. It was also reached Number One on the USA’s Cash Box “Top 100” chart. The song wasn’t certified in the USA.

The album Songs from the Big Chair reached Number 5 in Australia, Number One in Canada (7x Platinum), Number 2 in New Zealand (Platinum), Number 2 in the UK (3x Platinum), and Number One on the USA’s “Billboard 200”. It was Certified 5x Platinum in the USA.

This series will return June 22, 2025 with a brand new Number One single for that week—and the week after that, too.

Previously in the “Weekend Diversion – 1985” series:

Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 1 – February 2, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 2 – February 16, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 3 – March 12, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 4 – March 30, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 5 – April 13, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 6 – May 11, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 7 – May 18, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 8 – June 1, 2025

Sometimes, it’s not the eggs

Over the past few years, I’ve shared a few photos both  here and on social media (especially the latter) of meals I’ve made, like the photo above of my poached eggs this morning. For no particular reason, I rarely share such photos now, but I realised recently that’s probably a mistake. These days especially, it’s seldom about the eggs.

I’ve done cooking experiments of one sort or another for decades, but especially in the last ten years—and even more frequently beginning with the first Covid lockdown. Those experiments were a way to beat the boredom of lockdowns, but I also I thought it was an interesting and creative thing to do.

Time moved on, and my enthusiasm waned a bit, particularly during challenging times, and I found myself focusing on very specific things, like consistently making good poached eggs (because sometimes it is about the eggs…). And yet, the experiments continued.

Today’s eggs were perfect, as they usually are, so I feel I’ve now pretty much mastered making them—as long as I pay attention to what I’m doing, because a wandering mind is a ruinous thing. Getting things right—even a meal—feels really good, and while I could joke about the “dopamine hit” this activity actually really does help: Accomplishing a goal, especially one that results in good food, can absolutely increase dopamine levels in our blood.

When times feel bleak, as they have for me off and on over the past 18 months or so, succeeding at a small task—even a very small task, like making eggs—often ends up being the biggest help. It’s actually the main reason I talk about celebrating “small victories”: They matter.

I think it’s deeply embedded in human nature to not see what’s positive and to instead focus on worries, dreads, and possible dangers. I think we all do that, at least sometimes, and I certainly do it, too. It’s like ignoring the beautiful sunny tropical ocean beach we’re standing on because off at the distant horizon we see dark clouds and storms. We ignore what’s right in front of us and instead worry that the far-off storm may turn and hurl itself right at us, even though it may never do that.

When times are especially rough, we’re more likely to have this happen, even repeatedly. This is why celebrating small victories is so important: Making a point of focusing on good, positive things can help break the miasma of negativity, maybe not at first, and maybe not individually, but the benefits of celebrating positive things, especially repeatedly, makes it easier to break the negativity loop.

This has been on my mind a lot lately, not the least because I wanted natural, non-pharmaceutical approaches to help me cope better with the occasional rough times I was experiencing, and I pretty much managed that. My daily walking routine helped, and so does spending time with family or friends, and, maybe especially, playing with Leo. But celebrating small victories, especially repeatedly, has definitely played an important part.

I first realised this when I was a young boy, though not for this purpose. I used to write “to do” lists for projects (some things have never changed…), most memorably for tidying my bedroom. I realised that instead of writing “tidy bedroom”, it worked better to write small tasks, like, “clean top of dresser”, or for a bookcase I might even put tidying each shelf as a separate task. Then, as I checked off each completed task, I got lots of check marks on the list, and that, in turn, encouraged me to keep going to check more tasks off the list until the whole thing was done. Without knowing it, I was celebrating small victories over and over until they led to an even bigger accomplishment, the completion of the whole job.

Many (many…) decades later, the lessons I learned in childhood still matter, and so does celebrating small victories. I don’t always succeed in doing that, but sometimes I do, and that makes the difference.

Which brings me back to those eggs this morning. I took the photo, something I often do simply for practice alone, which is why I don't share them. I began to think that such photos were too shallow, which figures since I’ve backed away from posting much of anything on social media. That’s where the mistake is.

Because of all the things I said earlier—especially about celebrating small victories—me not sharing this photo (or the many others) means I was not celebrating small victories, and that was a mistake. To be clear, it's not important that I have a small victory, however, plenty of other people are looking for reasons to be hopeful, and me hiding mine under a bushel does no service to them—or me, actually.

Sometimes, it’s not about the eggs, and sometimes it is, and it’s really not up to me to determine which it is. This is about more than photos of food, it’s about giving hope and an example to others when we can, yes, but it mostly means celebrating the small victories we get. Today I had one, and it was about eggs. Tomorrow? No idea.

The non-birthday birthday holiday thing

Today was the first day of the work week for most New Zealanders, as it is every year at this time. That’s because the first Monday in June is the King’s Birthday public holiday, which means this past weekend was a three-day holiday weekend. It used to be the last public holiday until Labour Day at the end of October, but now we have Matariki (also known as “Māori New Year”) which comes between the two, and this year it will be on Friday, June 20

Technically, the holiday is actually the “Reigning Monarch’s Birthday” or some such (that’s what it was called in my various employment contracts), because it’s not their actual birthday. The late Queen of New Zealand, Elizabeth II, was actually born on April 21, and her successor and son, King Charles III, was born on November 14. I have a hunch that while most New Zealanders know that the first Monday in June is just a public holiday, I doubt all that many know when the monarch’s actual birthday is. For some unknown reason, I somehow memorised King Charles’ actual birthday, but I could never remember the exact birthday of our late queen, aside from the fact she was born in April. So, yay me? Yeah, I’ll go with that.

King’s Birthday is one of two pubic holidays on which honours are handed out (the other is New Year’s Day), but it’s a werid process. Technically, anyone can nominate someone (other than themselves) online. The nominations go to a special committee chaired by the Prime Minister of the day (currently the National Party’s Chris Luxon). This year, additional committee members include the leaders of the parties in Luxon’s coalition, Winston Peters of NZ First and David Seymour of Act. The other members of the committee are from all three parties in the coalition.

After the committee reviews the list (according to some sort of process), the prime minister makes a recommendation to the King of New Zealand, and he then approves the honours list, as the saying goes, “on the prime minister’s advice”. Put another way, it’s kind of a rubber stamp. Naturally, there are problems with this system.

First, and most obviously, it’s controlled by the government of the day. Traditional, National Party-led governments reward business people, and Labour Party-led governments tend to reward teachers and union/worker organisers. Both tend to reward community organisers, as well as folks in the arts, and sport, though ratios may vary between the two.

I always read through the entire list of folks getting an honour (Related: This year’s full list of King’s Birthday Honours), and I seldom recognise very many names. Whenever I raise an eyebrow at an honours list, it’s inevitably a National Party-led government that’s created it. This year was no different.

The one that jumped out at me was them honouring Ruth Richardson, a neoliberal’s neoliberal, who was Finance Minister from 1990 to 1993 in the Fourth National Government led by Jim Bolger as Prime Minister. She was the first female to hold the position, which absolutely is notable—or, it would be if she hadn’t been so absolutely awful. Darien Fenton, a former Labour Party Member of Parliament, summed it up well on her Facebook page:

Ruth Richardson did untold damage that our country wears til this day. But 30 years on, she is still boasting about it: "I have always worn those reforms that I championed as a badge of honour, and the restoration of New Zealand's fortunes made it worth it. So I guess this award thirty years down the track is a recognition of that work." Nicola Willis [the current National Party Finance Minister and Deputy Leader of her party] is following in her tradition.

Richarsons’s 1991 "Mother of all Budgets" drastically cut benefits to “encourage employment”, but it led to an explosion in income inequality and poverty, and general hardship for the poorest New Zealanders. It wasn’t until 2016 that there was a small effective increase under National, and then Labour largely restored pre-1991 funding levels 2020-21. Richardson’s policies were so toxic that National barely won re-election in 1993 (they had a one seat majority in those pre-MMP days), and she was fired from the Finance Minister role, so she decided to resign from Parliament rather than accept a different Cabinet position, thus forcing an expensive by-election on NZ taxpayers, which, in my opinion, is the ultimate “fuck you” from a selfish, arrogant, and narcissistic politician.

New Zealand still hasn’t fully recovered from the damage done by the 1991 Budget, nor from the neoliberal takeover of Labour before that which also caused huge damage to New Zealand. The architects of Labour’s awful neoliberal policies natually joined with Richardson to establish the expressly neoliberal Act Party, and neither they not Act have wavered from their war against working people in favour of the rich—leopards really don’t change their spots, apparently.

All of this just underscores why the honours process should never be under the control of the government of the day: Partisanship always gets in the way. I think that a ministerial committee (made up of non-political career ministry workers) should review all nominations and make recommendations to the government of the day that they can either accept or reject. Ideally, that should be it—the politicians shouldn’t be allowed to add strictly partisan nominees, but maybe they could be allowed to add a certain number (5?) of lower-level honours. In my opinion.

While I’m a huge fan of public holidays—especially because they matter in New Zealand—I’m like most New Zealanders in that, for me, the King’s Birthday public holiday is nothing more than a three-day holiday weekend. Honestly, I don’t even care about the Honours List, even when I think one includes people who shouldn’t be honoured. After all, people who have opposite political beliefs from mine probably think the same of lists put out by a Labour-led government. It is the way of things.

So, a three-day holiday weekend was had. Happy us!

Related: "King's Birthday Honours: Dai Henwood, Tim Southee and Jude Dobson among those recognised" – RNZ

Leo is eight

Today is a very important day on my calendar: Today is my best friend Leo’s 8th birthday! He’s still as awesome as ever, of course, and has no idea what a birthday even is, but I know, and I’m glad to celebrate it on his behalf.

We got together with some of the family for lunch today, which had nothing to do with Leo’s birthday, of course, but he got to go, too, so it was still a treat for him. Later, he got special dinner, as he always does. In between those two, he spent a lot of time sleeping—I think his lunchtime adventure wore him out!

As I said last year, “Leo came to live with us just before his first birthday, but his Daddy Nigel only got to celebrate two of Leo’s birthdays. Nigel would be so very happy to see what a happy boy Leo is these days. I feel both happy and honoured to have spent all seven of Leo’s birthdays with him.

That's still true now that I’ve spent all eight of his birthdays with him. Something else I wrote last year is also true:

Today I also trimmed the fur around his eyes a little bit. Every year on his birthday he’s always being groomed, about to be groomed, or was just groomed. Who am I to buck tradition? He didn’t seem to mind.

Leo still makes every day better, simply by being—whether he’s making me laugh, or just looking at me while I talk to him as if he completely understands what I’m saying. He still loves playing “the chase game” where we take turns chasing each other around the house. He also still loves the toy rabbit I gave him last year.

There are times when I feel bad about how I don’t look after him as well as I should, but I could say the same thing about myself or the house or pretty much anything else. But, like I always say, each day presents us with a new opportunity to do better and be better. Leo deserves to get only my best, and I know one day he will. In the meantime, every day is better because he’s in it. I kinda think he’s rather fond of me, too.

Happy Eighth Birthday, Leo!

Related:

Leo is seven – 2024
Leo is six – 2023
Leo is five – 2022
Leo is four – 2021
Leo is three – 2020
Leo is two – 2019
Leo is one year old – 2018
Another new addition – The post in which I announced Leo joined our family
All blog posts tagged “Leo” – All the posts in which I’ve talked about him

Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 8

Well, this is rather embarrassing—or, it would be if it mattered. This post was supposed to be published last week, but I got totally confused about the dates, and missed it. On the other hand, the same song was also Number One this week in 1985, too, so, it’s all good, I think.

On May 25, 1985, “Everything She Wants” (video up top) by British pop duo Wham! reached Number One on the USA’s Billboard “Hot 100”, and remained there for the following week, too. The song was a Double A-side released with “Last Christmas”. It was the band’s third consecutive million-selling number-one hit in the USA, and was the fourth single from their second album, Make It Big.

I remember this song very well, and I liked it. While I personally always thought the song’s meaning is pretty obvious, the Wikipedia areticle to linked to above quotes George Michael’s explanation, which is quite detailed:

It's a lyric about a man who is six or eight months into a marriage which obviously isn't going well. He's faced with the 'happy' news of an arriving baby. So he's in that situation where he can't back out. [The song] talks about the situation [in which] many men find themselves, working really hard to support a family… and see it as a kind of trap. It's a situation I've seen. It's not the kind of thing I usually write about. Our lyrics are usually a lot closer to the kind of pop lightweight lyric we enjoy, but it's a departure, and I think it worked.

I think that in those days I heard the song on the radio more often than I saw the video, though of course I did see it. In any case, as is so often true about pop songs and me, I liked the overall sound of the song, the arrangement, and the vocals. George Michael was an amazing singer, in my opinion.

“Everything She Wants” reached Number 7 in Australia, Number 5 and Canada (Gold), Number 6 in New Zealand, Number 2 in the UK (Gold), and Number One on the USA’s Billboard “Hot 100”, and also reached Number One on the USA’s Cash Box “Top 100” chart, and Number One on Radio & Records “Contemporary Hit Radio” chart. The song was certified Gold in the USA.

The album Make It Big reached Number One in Australia (Platinum), Canada (6x Platinum), New Zealand (Platinum), in the UK (4x Platinum), and on the USA’s “Billboard 200”. It was Certified 6x Platinum in the USA.

This series will return next week—no, for real!—with a brand new Number One single for the week of June 8, 2025.

Previously in the “Weekend Diversion – 1985” series:

Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 1 – February 2, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 2 – February 16, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 3 – March 12, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 4 – March 30, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 5 – April 13, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 6 – May 11, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 7 – May 18, 2025

Winter again. Again.

Today is the first day of Winter in the Southern Hemisphere (or this part of it, anyway). Winter is absolutely my least favourite season (I don’t like it all, but I don’t want to provoke it by say that…). On the bright side, three months to Spring?

The image above is what I posted on my personal Facebook, something similar to what I do every year. While I have that “tradition”, any season isn’t necessarily like it was in other years. This year, NIWA is predicting the temperatures will be warmer than average. We’ll still have cold snaps, of course, but, overall, the temperatures should be at least somewhat higher than usual. Apparently, this is happening because sea temperatures around New Zealand and 1 to 4 degrees Celsius higher than normal for this time of year. In fact, researchers have found that the oceans around New Zealand are warming faster than anywhere else. This, in turn, leads to more severe weather, rainfall in particular. [see also 1News’ weatherman Dan Corbett’s look at our coming winter weather, advising us “Get ready for a wild ride”. So, yay.

I suppose maybe it’ll give me stuff to blog about, so there’s that, I guess. Yeah, but I still prefer the other three seasons.

A change of clowns

New Zealand’s 3-ring circus government had a major change today when the leader of the hard-rightwing Act Party, David Seymour, became Deputy Prime Minister (aka “DPM”), replacing Winston Peters, leader of the rightwing populist New Zealand First Party (Peters will remain Foreign Minister). On the surface, its not a big deal at all, but it may prove to be one for entirely partisan political reasons.

The job-share Deputy Prime Minister position (a description of the job that both Seymour and Peters loathe, which is ironic since they both say disparaging things about opponents that are far, far worse) was part of the two parties’ coalition agreement with the right-of-centre National Party, headed by current Prime Minister Chris Luxon. The role of Deputy Prime Minster exists so that someone is “in charge” when the Prime Minister is out of the country, at which time the DPM becomes acting prime minister. Because there were times over the past 18 months when both Luxon and Peters were out of the country, Seymour has been the acting PM a couple before. And that’s where the unimportance ends.

By taking the first half of the job-share role, Winston is free to start campaining for next year’s General Election. He has never won re-election after serving in Government, but he clearly hopes that this will give him the distance to run against the very governmnt he was part of. Insteresting ploy from the wily Winston, but it’s by no means certain it’ll work. The election of change” was 2023, and 2026 will be largely a reaction to the past three years of this Government.

I wrote about this circus arrangement back in 2023, and in that post I quoted TVNZ journalist John Campbell making the same point about Winston’s motivation for being DPM first. Today, 1News published a new piece about his interviews with Winston and Peters about the job-share change, and Winston confirmed the reason he went first. So… not so secret then. Clearly.

Seymour, on the other hand, apparently wanted to be the sole DPM because his party won more seats in Parliament than Winston’s did. Those of us who oppose this rightwing government have dreaded this job-share change because, of the two, Seymour is way more reprehensible. His “Treaty Priniciples Bill” was the most divisive—and racist—bill in decades, or even longer. It resulted in the largest-ever protest march on Parliament and an astounding 300,000 submissions to Parliament the VAST majority of which opposed the bill. The parliamentary select committee recommended that the bill be rejected, and Parliament did: It only got 11 votes, all from the Act Party’s own MPs—ALL other parties voted against it and former politicians from all over the spectrum denounced the bill.

Among other neoliberal things, Seymour is a proponent of “charter schools”, as he was in the past, and many of his opponents, including me, see it as his way of privatising education by stealth. He and his party are not friends of working people, though in a sort of backhanded compliment, they’ve also never pretended to be. Their policies promote the sort of far-right, neoliberal agenda that could never get through democratically (kind of like the current occupant of the USA’s White House’s “Project 2025” fascist agenda).

Seymour is openly hostile to the news media—often aggressively so (though one suspects it may be mainly performative…) but always in a dickheadish way. John Campbell talks about that, too. Seymour has ties to a far-right a foreign neoliberal network that worked behind the scenes to affect public policy in multiple countries. He dismisses concerns about his past, and denies any connection, even though his policy objectives align with the neoliberals’ priorities. The extent of his involvement in the far-right group and its influence on him, AND his prickly relationship with journalists, can be seen in an RNZ documentary in its “Mata Reports” series, titled “ACT: The Foreign Influences That Have Shaped David Seymour's Political Agenda” presented by veteran journalist Mihingarangi Forbes.

Seymour has a habit of making outrageous and confrontational statements that openly and strongly contradict official government policy, often to claim “credit” for his party. While some of that is purely performative, mainly for the benefit of the minority of New Zealanders who agree with him, he’s always nevertheless consistently promoting an unpopular hard-right political agenda, and he does so with a weird blend of attempted humour and aggressive bullying. It’s never pleasant to watch him perform for the cameras—but, to be clear, he really is very, very good at performing and has a productive social media team, which is why the very journalists he attacks always cover him and his antics.

The bottom line in all this is that for the majority of New Zealanders, Winston was (and is) bad, but Seymour is far worse. To be abundantly clear, I have never voted for Winston or Seymour’s parties, and I can’t conceive of any scenario whatsoever in which I would consider it for even a nanosecond. This is a truly “duh!” statement: As I’ve made abundantly clear over the past 18+ years of this blog, I am absolutely not a “conservative”, much less a hard-rightwinger. It is, in fact, my centre-left politics and values that make me reject both Winston and Seymour. It’s not personal, it’s political.

As difficult as the past 18 months have often been, the coming 18 months may be even worse. If they are, it’ll help ensure this current government is turfed out at the next election. That gives Seymour an incentive to behave himself in his job-share role. Can he do it? Dunno. But I doubt it.

Food storage teaches me

Life habits are a lot like Rome: They’re not built in a day. They’re also not changed in a day, either. Carrots showed me a way that such things can change.

Changing decades of habits isn’t easy, even when it comes to food. For much of our life together, I did the cooking for Nigel and me, and for our last fifteen years or so I did nearly all of it. That meant I built habits to make that easier, and to ensure we didn’t run out of things.

Running out of things—hooboy! Nigel’s breakfasts nearly ruined us. He might get grumpy with me if we ran out of margarine to put on his morning toast (he could use butter…), but if we ran out of peanut butter, I might need to plan on moving out. I’m exaggerating, obviously, but for many, many years he had the same breakfast nearly every morning on work days (and sometimes on weekends): Toast with margarine, peanut butter, and strawberry jam. Sometimes I made it for him, but he often made it for himself—and he let me know his displeasure if we ran out of one of the ingredients.

So, I started having not merely one margarine container in reserve, I often had two. Similarly, I always had at least one unopened peanut butter jar on hand in addition to the open one, and when I noticed the open one was getting low, I’d buy a new jar so that there’d still be one in reserve. I learned and improved—from Nigel’s perspective, anyway. Jam tended to last longer, but we usually had one unopened jar in reserve.

Everything changed when Nigel died—everything except my buying habits. I kept making sure I had two tubs of margarine in the fridge, and at first it was because I was on autopilot, but as post-Covid prices soared, I started buying a new reserve one when they were on special—but that sometimes means I have two in reserve, which even I know is stupid. Peanut butter is different: I only ever have one in reserve, and I’ve even run out a time a two, but that’s also how I ended up with extra peanut butter when Nigel died: I had two in reserve and the opened one. I think that underscores how quickly my life unravelled, and may it even point to why it took me so long to change my ways to meet my new reality.

And that brings me to carrots.

I had a years-long habbit of buying bags of fresh carrots (1.5kg) because, back then, it was cheaper than buying a few at a time, and because we went through them reasonably quickly. I kept buying those bags, and I kept doing that once I was alone. However, the carrots would frequently start to rot or become mummified before I could use them all. This was not good, and I knew it: The media and my local council often tried get us to reduce food waste, but there I was, a poster child for wasting food. This shame could not remain unaddressed.

My first thing attempt at self-improvement was to switch to buying a few carrots at a time, since the unit price (the price per kilogram or gram) was similar to the larger bags. However, I kept running out of carrots, and if I bought more, the old problems returned. There simply had to be another and better way!

So, I did what any self-respecting Digital Immigrant would do: I googled “best way to store carrots”, or similar, and may even have added “NZ”, though I don’t remember for sure. At any rate, I ended up on a New Zealand site, “Love the Food, Hate the Waste”. There, I read that globally, one-third of all food is lost or wasted,” which is pretty abyssmal, and I bet it’s much higher in at least some developed countries. The site adds that food waste “has a profound environmental impact and is the third-largest contributor to global carbon emissions.” Yikes.

Fortunately, their site also had information on how to store carrots (summarised in the graphic below). I took it to heart immediately, and pulled out a small airtight container, and I bought a few fresh carrots to put in it, and they were perfect to the very last one.

Next, I bought a 1.5kg bag of Woolworth’s “The Odd Bunch” carrots, which are called that because they’re considered “imperfect” because they’re too small, too big, too misshapen. I buy a lot of “Odd Bunch” produce primarily because it keeps them out of landfill, but they’re also a bit cheaper: 1.5kg bag of “The Odd Bunch: carrots is currently $3.10 ($2.07/kg) while the “normal” bags of the same size are $4.29 ($2.86 per kg). The middle price would be for loose carrots, which are currently $2.59/kg. So, buying “The Odd Bunch” bag is cheapest, but, more importantly, it may help reduce food waste, too.

I then bought a larger NZ-made plastic container (at left in the photo above), which was able to store a 1.5kg bag of carrots, though I bet sometimes that may be harder than other times (the carrots I buy aren’t uniform in size or shape, after all). However, I could get away with keeping a few carrots stored less ideally for a short time, so Im not worried about this potential problem actually being a problem.

I’ve been using the new system for several weeks now with no complaints—in fact, I no longer have rotting or mummified carrots. That’s good news in itself, but it reminds me, yet again, that there’s always a solution to challenges if I look for them. Sometimes I just need to realise I need to look for a solution. Carrots showed me a way that can change.