True Professionals

Tonight, I went to the movies down at the Regal Theatre. I was the only person in the entire cinema. That has happened to me a few times before at the Regal, but I know how they stay afloat—it can't be through their movies alone. Their live shows attract large crowds. The Tina Turner show Mum and I recently attended was nearly sold out, and I've been to other shows there with similar turnouts.

I went to see a movie called It Ends With Us. On Instagram, I follow a lot of entertainment news pages, and there has been quite a bit of hype about the movie. There have also been many stories about how the main characters, Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni, fought a lot on set and can't stand each other. So I secretly wanted to see this movie to assess how good their acting skills were, given that they were playing a romantic couple. Justin was also the director of the movie.

Blake and Justin were amazing—you would never know that in real life they can't stand each other. Their rift was reportedly so bad that he even hired a public relations firm to spin the stories about him being difficult on set. The good thing about this movie was the main character, Lily Bloom, played by Blake Lively, was a florist. I loved watching all the scenes in her flower shop.

The bad thing about this movie is that it is actually about domestic violence. I'm not going to recap the story; to be honest, if you can imagine what a Hollywood movie, advertised as a romantic drama featuring domestic violence, would look like—well, this is it. Once you figure out what's going on, you know exactly what will happen.

Because I have been following all the gossip about this movie and watched the stars promote it, I have to say their approach really annoys me. I read an article that said they weren't doing enough to use the movie as a platform to educate about domestic violence, and I agree 100%. They could have used this as an opportunity to highlight domestic violence in our communities and to really send a message to both perpetrators and women stuck in these relationships. But instead, they are running around in floral-themed dresses, focusing on the florist part of the movie.

The movie is actually based on a book by Colleen Hoover, and apparently, there are two sequels. But there is no chance they will be made into movies with this cast, at least, because Blake and Justin can't stand to be in the same room together, let alone film another movie.

I'm glad I went tonight, though. As I said, the movie was predictable and, in some parts, boring, but what I learned is that the actors themselves are true professionals, and I like to learn from people like that.

Around lunchtime today, I went to the Travel Doctor TMVC to get my vaccinations for Cambodia. I have been to them before; they have always been called the Travel Doctor TMVC, but they come under the umbrella of Sonic HealthPlus, which is probably some big medical conglomerate. They act like it too.

For example, today my Medicare card wasn't registering, which was weird because it works at my GP. Whenever I've had trouble with the card at other doctors' offices in the past, they called Medicare to sort the problem out. These guys could have done that, and I suggested it, but this one incredibly argumentative woman told me that they couldn't do that and that Medicare wouldn't give out my details to them. As I understand it, there is a line that doctor's offices can call, but I wasn't going to fight her on it.

I was called into the doctor's room, and he introduced himself. Then he showed me his name on his stamp, as if I needed clarification of the spelling. I told him that it was a great name and asked what nationality he is. He actually seemed a bit offended by me asking that, and as soon as the words left my mouth, I wished I could take them back. He quickly responded, "India." I then said I would love to go to India one day, which I would. 

He was a nice man but very intrusive. He asked me all sorts of questions about my trip, some of which seemed excessive. For example, he asked a lot of questions about who I was going with, how many days I would be there, and where in Cambodia I would be going. The last one is fair enough because he needed to determine whether I needed anti-malarials, which I didn’t—thank goodness, because last time I took them, they made me feel high anxiety.

He determined that I needed three vaccinations for my trip: an all-in-one vaccination for whooping cough, diphtheria, and tetanus, as well as rabies and typhoid. I took the opportunity to get a flu vaccination aswell since I hadn’t had one this year. This doctor was a good salesman; he managed to sell me a holiday kit that includes some antibiotics for gastro and cold and flu, so that will be nice to have as a backup.

Below is the vaccination room where they jabbed me. 

I was talking to the nurse about the cost of the vaccines, which is quite high. Specifically, the rabies vaccination is over $300 for two doses. I have to go back for the second one. I was thinking, if you had a family of four going on a holiday, that adds up to over $1,200. That is a lot, and when we were talking about it, the nurse said sometimes a family will decide not to go to any areas with monkeys or animals so they don't have to get the vaccination. I think that is such a shame that people have to miss out because of the price of a preventative measure.

Last night, I went back to mosaics class in Gawler. I didn't realise it, but it has been about three months since I last attended. There were some new faces in the class, but still, everyone was a woman. I tend to stick to myself and not contribute much to the conversation, but it's interesting to hear what different people are talking about.

Last night, I heard two people discussing a family member who was terminally ill and dying of cancer. Others were talking about their grandchildren, and since most of the ladies seem to come from the Gawler area, they often talk about local things like upcoming events and the shops they frequent.

I am still working on the pot that I started all those months ago, and I am very keen to finish it and grout it so I can learn that process. I have so much to learn about mosaics, and I also need to find my groove in terms of spacing the tiles, cutting them, and sizing them to both fit and look good on the object. These challenges are not unique to mosaics, but I think, like anything, the more I do it, the more comfortable I'll become in creating something good.

Below, you can see some photos of my pot, which is taking me so much time! I know it sort of looks a bit unfinished, but I had a vision for it. Now, I literally just want to get the tiles on the pot so I can grout it and then move on to glass. Below that, you can see the tile cutter and then a row of cut tiles.