I guess it’s pretty hypocritical to write a bunch of short stories about a travelling nomad who goes from place to place, using her bubbly personality and worldly wisdom to encourage others to live life to the full, when I barely leave the house. I guess it really is projection. I just hope…one day I can become this person, I suppose.
My character is very well-rounded and awesome, and I love her. Her name is Cary-Xu, and she’s half Japanese and half Irish and part Icelandic, and also descended from a fair-angel-dragon hybrid. Cary has naturally pink hair with gold streaks, one purple eye and one green and she’s super beautiful, even though she thinks she’s super ugly. It’s such a burden. One day, Cary’s parents died. She was mistreated by some evil relatives before escaping and traveling Australia, meeting keynote speakers and advising them on how to advise people, because Cary is so naturally wise, maybe because she was descended from magical creatures and she also has cool magical powers. She’s the only person who can transform into a dragon in the world, but it never rips her clothes or anything like that, and she thinks it’s a total curse because it makes her a bit tired. All of her friends think it’s super cool though.
So yeah, Cary is like…a super, ultra motivational speaker, but she’s so much better at it than all the others because she uses magic to speak right into people’s hearts and make them super cool, almost like her but nowhere near that cool. Cary really just wants to be normal, but she’s so super cool that she can never be that. Everyone just keeps loving her, and she makes people’s lives better just by talking to them all the time, and sometimes making the other motivational speakers look bad but not too much because she’s magical after all, and oh gosh I just love her, she’s great.
So that’s Cary-Xu. See how I gave her some realistic weaknesses? Oh, and she can also change her clothes just by thinking about it. Did I mention that her eyes change colour with her mood? Yeah, she’s basically the event speaker that everyone wishes they could have in real life, pretty much.
-Cary
Okay okay I’ll be the first person to put my hand up and say, public transport is terrible. It sucks, I’m sorry, it just does, and if I could I’d just drive my car everywhere, but when you share with three other people sometimes that just isn’t an option. So yeah, occasionally (as occasionally as possible) I find myself sitting on a train and scrolling through social media, hoping against hope I’ll get to wherever I’m going on time. The only thing that makes the trip worthwhile is that sitting on a train is the perfect way to people-spot. Everyone just acts as if they were on their own when, really, there are people all around them – it’s amazing. And, once in a blue moon, I’ll have to opportunity to eavesdrop on a fantastic conversation.
Not many people can say they’ve lived in any one place for almost a century, but I’ve lived in this house for eighty years. My parents moved us here when I was ten years old and I just never left. It’s a big beautiful property in the outer suburbs of Melbourne. I know it’s a bit unusual that I lived with my parents until they died. But I never met my match and never had any cause to move out. The property was big enough that we didn’t get in each other’s hair, and when they got old enough it was time for me to look after them. They’re long gone now and it’s only me, me left behind to clean up the long abandoned backyard and get an 
It is always a little nerve-racking when my son’s nursery phone me. Most of the time it is to tell me something like, he has a tummy ache or he missed his nap, but every once in awhile it’s telling me he has done something awful and they can’t control him. This latest one was serious because they asked me if I could make it to the kinder to talk about it with him and them together. Turns out he had discovered a love for 
Well, almost. Those miscreants have poisoned the minds of the employees so that they value each other and their well-being, and sometimes chat about their lives when they could be doing work. I can’t have them actually valuing each other as human beings! Productivity will plummet! They must be drones, or nothing at all. Perhaps I should increase the staff turnover. Naturally, my convenient ice skating rink injury plan was a complete failure, because Mack as per usual turned out to be brilliant at it even with the faulty skates I set up for him to wear. I managed to temporarily get them out of the way, and no they’re learning all about 
It’s here everybody. We are all, well and truly, living in the space age. Technology has one-upped itself and reached a whole new level of crazy to help us prolong our lives and live (nearly) forever. I’m not talking about wonder drugs, or cosmetic surgery, or space travel, or cryogenic freezing, or anything too crazy. I’m talking about a form of science that’s almost scarily applicable and accessible: the humble 
Ugh. I’m torn. Part of me really, really, 