update
Still alive. Still stressed out by multiple commitments (work, union, academic work, family). Still trying to start the paper I am meant to be giving on 6 July. Still trying to steer a course around my best friend's illness (one of the hard things is accepting that her whole life has changed, that absolutely everything revolves around her illness, that friends and books and music must necessarily remain on various back burners).
Other news (good): I found out that I have (just) enough frequent flyer points for an upgrade to Business Class on the Bangkok-Heathrow leg. Pre-flight champagne. A BED to stretch on. Hundreds of films. 13 hours of living the way "the other half" lives - in contradiction with the bit of news that follows . . .
Other news (bad): The Australian state pension agency discovered that (through NO fault of my own: I had explained exactly what all my "income streams" were when I applied for a pension) they gave me overpayments for 6 months or so, and as a consequence I need to repay $6,000. Hope that they don't want it all in one go, because I ain't got it.
Other news (sad, but best of available options): My son's girlfriend started talking houses and children, and my son panicked and bolted. Sad for everyone, including him, but the alternative would have been getting married out of inertia, which I would not recommend to anyone I am fond of. I hope the young woman finds someone who is mature and ready for that kind of commitment.
Feeling a bit worn out and dried out, but still trying to carry on on all fronts, because the alternative would be worse. For two hours' relief and positivity, I strongly recommend Karismaki's film Le Havre, about a group of decent, aging, poor people who shelter a young African refugee. When my son was little, he would ask whether each story I read to him was "going to end well". Dear f-listers, rest assured, Le Havre "ends well".