Ramblings

For a long time, tBPG has existed the way most real things start; as a philosophy, a naming convention, a folder structure, a set of principles that had been tested until they held. That's not nothing. But it's also not a legal person, and at some point a body of work that intends to outlast a mood needs to become one.

That point is now.

Meeting the Accountant
The first concrete step was sitting down with an accountant — not to talk about branding or vision, but about the boring, load-bearing questions: what structure actually fits an operation that spans creative work, research, and commercial product and services, and what the tax and reporting implications look like once “a bunch of related projects” becomes “an entity with obligations.”

I'm not going to get into the specific structure here (partly because some of it is still being finalised, and partly because the structure isn't really the interesting part yet unless you, like me, geek out on that sort of thing). What matters at this stage is that the shape has a direction, and that direction has been sanity-checked by someone whose job it is to notice when a nice idea and a workable structure aren't the same thing.

What's Left
The next step is a solicitor meeting next week, which is where this stops being a conversation and starts being paperwork. That meeting is intended to instigate the final steps toward actually creating the entity: the part where a philosophy that's been operating on trust and goodwill gets a formal skeleton underneath it.

I won't pretend this part is exciting to write about. It's accountants and solicitors and structure, not the five movements or the principles or the work itself. But it's the part that makes the rest of it durable — the difference between something I run and something that exists independent of whether I'm having a good week.

More on the structure itself and how it's all going to operate once it's actually locked in. But it may take a while after the next meeting to actually write about it.

There is almost nothing here.

Two eyes.
The suggestion of eyebrows.
The bridge of a nose that isn't really there.

And somehow, a face.

I could keep drawing. Add the nose, the cheeks, the mouth. Give the face an edge. Give the viewer enough information that they no longer have to do any of the work.

But I don't want to.

I've always found it interesting how little we actually need before we recognise someone. Sometimes it's a smile. The way they hold their head. A particular expression.

Sometimes it's just their eyes.

So this one stops here.

Not unfinished.

Just finished before everything was said.

The simple definition according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary is:

1: people in general thought of as living together in organized communities with shared laws, traditions, and values

2: the people of a particular country, area, time, etc., thought of especially as an organized community

In this and (potential future posts), “society” will be referring specifically to the society in which I have lived my life – working class Australian – and more broadly as “Western Society”; that is, societies based around capitalism.

Like any organised body, society relies on systems and processes to function, and, again, like any organised body, these systems and processes purportedly cater more for the good of the whole than that of the individual. Unfortunately, the two are often the same, and the systems and processes fail by being too rigid.

When I say systems and processes, I’m not just referring to legal ones. This includes traditional processes, which extend (more often than not) into the ways people/things should or should not be.

And while it is easy to blame “society” for some of our troubles, given that we ARE society, it’s hard to escape the fact that we have the power to change the way we see and do things.

Given I have some direct experience with navigating this from inside a neurodivergent, trauma-shaped brain, I’ll be writing a few bits and pieces about some of the ways in which I have seen our society fail and succeed and perhaps some options on how to make things “better”.

I’m going to start with something sideways from what you may expect after reading this: personal relationships.

Why relationships? How is that even relevant to what I’ve just written? Because we as a society have very strong rules about what a relationship can and should be and not all of them are written down. But also, because these rules are a good example of how we can change the shape of things if we choose to do so.

It's been a big week, really: drove around 900 km. Walked more than 63,000 steps. Visited 10 sites on my list of places to visit in Victoria. Wrote more than 3 blog posts lol. Spent much time in the garden today in the sun, mowing, weeding and trimming. Visited Bunnings. K1 kidnapped me to Aldi, from where I barely escaped with my life.

Fun times.

I've also - further developed some of my tools/products/services, moved closer to formalising the entire complex legal structure and learnt in one hour more about ADHD and grief than I have in ten years.

Tomorrow... back to work. 

...

But for now - some drawing, and here, an older drawing, selected entirely at random.

It's a beautiful place, Phillip Island. I've been there quite a few times - mostly work - but never really for looking around.

This time I was extra lucky. No work, visited the Koala Conservation Reserve, saw the penguins on parade and caught up with some of my amazing friends.

I'm exhaushappy. I just made that up because I'm exhausted and happy. See how tired I am? And I don't even care.

Anyways.

All the koalas were sleeping (seriously, sleeping, not drunk!) except one, and she kept her back to me the whole time I stood trying to get a photo of her (like 15 seconds). Rude!

The penguins were very.... penguiny. Love love love!

Pictures!

OK so I'm a little behind on these, but that's ok. Today was a good one. 160 odd kilometers. Left about 10:00 am, got home a bit before 5:00 pm. Where did I go? Tarra-Bulga National Park! Never heard of it? I'm not unhappy about that. There was no-one there when I arrived - and as I was leaving I saw three other people. Briefly. From a distance.

It was tranquil.

First stop was Tarra Falls - oh, it's rainforest, by the way - massive ferns, massive trees, the only sound was birds (hello lyrebirds) and the water in the streams. The falls aren't massive but oh lordy I could have stayed forever.

Then on to the Corrigan Suspension Bridge. Uh, have I ever mentioned, I don't like heights? Or bouncy bridges that are high up? Still worth it! I crossed that sucker and didn't scream once! I even recorded a little video (ok, it was the second attempt because I may have been too nervous and forgotten to press record the first time).

The bridge was originally built in the late 1930s as a tourist attraction. The current structure was built in the early 1980s (so, it WAS older than me, but it really isn't. It's also more sturdy!) I am grateful for this, because it may not look it, but it's actually close to 30 m above the ground (there's some really BIG ferns below it). Also, to give an idea of that height, the bridge itself is between 30 m and 40 m long.

Then after all of that, back to "civilisation" to catch up with a friend and see the "Little Grave". Disappointing. Not for what it is, but for the lack of care it's had recently. Coffee and home! In addition to the hours of driving, also well and truly exceeded my target 10,000 steps lol

It's been a good day!