Tea&Whiskers Newsletter for the Month of September

So last night my current host student was showing me how she makes stunningly beautiful collages to post on Instagram - using an array of different apps, tools and media - all very fascinating stuff I had no idea about.

Recently, my current host student introduced me to a game called Sky: Children of the Light, and I say this - hand on my heart - it has become my favourite game. I don't say that lightly - for the longest time, Kingdom Hearts has kept that spot, followed by Death Stranding, and then came Baldur's Gate III, which upended the apple cart. And now...Sky...wow...

Stars – there are trillions of them. Stars are being born every day, it seems. But we are unaware because they are so far away, and their light takes many light-years to reach us. There are the human stars of TV, films, the sports arena, the music industry, even God.

Dear Grandma, I will miss you. Every time I sit down to write this, I find myself overcome with tears, filled with the realisation of just how much of a cornerstone you were in my life. Your quiet, gentle and warm radiance I have always known. Since the day I was born, you were there, like the most gentle touch of sunshine, always watching and always caring.

A question I often get asked is 'Where do you get your ideas from?' And it's a difficult question to answer on the spot. I tend to give a vague answer like 'oh, you know, they just come to me.' Which - technically - that's true. But it is a little more complicated and convoluted than that, and it does tend to take time for a story to mature to the point of being 'readable'.

So, you may notice some changes have been made around here. The old website outlay was getting a bit clunky and outdated.

Kylie talks about her recent keloid scar and radiation surgery...

There is something sinister that I have been noticing online recently whenever I open my Instagram, which I will admit, is rare these days for the very reason that I find it a place of depressing toxicity. Creatives seem so angry, bitter and upset because of the rise of AI - and don't get me wrong, I completely, 100% understand the lamenting and ALL the concerns. This is not me dismissing those AT ALL....

Kylie went to see He-Man: Masters of the Universe - here are some of her thoughts about the movie.

A little video about my love of gaming even though don't consider myself overly good at it.

Just a little story about when I went to a writer's course as a teenager and how it shaped my rebellious ideas of heroines. XD

What can make a male hero truly compelling? When my sister asked me a question about Hawks, I found myself pondering the responsibility in masculinity within fiction.

It has been a really long time since I ventured into the world of The Dynasty of Earth and Stars. A few weeks ago, I woke up from a dream... As I lay in bed, in the darkness of my bedroom, I pondered the odd feeling I was having and then I realised what it was - Homesickness. I was feeling homesick. Homesick for an entirely imaginary world of my own creation.

I feel like a completely different person than who I was this time last year. For such a long time I tried to force myself to find a community, to fit in, to go to a church, to find friends, to meet 'The One' - or even 'The Group' - and I was met with a wall. Pain. Just pain. No matter what I did, or how I did it, I could not move pass that wall. So I gave up. I told God that I was throwing all that at his feet and it was his problem to deal with. I couldn't take it anymo

Come on an Adventure with Tea as she explores Faerûn in the wonderous game that is Baldur's Gate 3. Basically let's just relax when pain get's to much. ^_^

Tea & Whiskers first little pocketbooks 'Tiny Acts of Discipline' are available now in our brand new online Bookshop. As you may recall, a couple of months ago I mentioned that I was debating about going back to the Pain Clinic. Well, I did end up going back for that first workshop and...it...didn't go great.

For Christmas I was gifted a PS5 thank to several members of my family and my Personal Trainer, Ben. (Hi Ben! Thank you!!) Encase it isn't obvious to anyone, I love gaming. I've never considered myself particularly good at it, but it brings me a great deal of joy and satisfaction. I consider games to be another way of telling and receiving stories in our ever evolving human experience.

Maybe the internet hates everything. I don’t. A ramble about Star Wars, Avatar, He-Man, nostalgia, and letting people enjoy stories again.

It’s still very clear in my mind, the day I walked into the Pain Clinic at Flinders. I was in my early twenties, and I immediately felt unsettled. The walls were rotting and peeling, and I felt squished and oppressed from the low ceilings and tight spaces. It was as though everything about the corridors and waiting area was designed to be as uncomfortable as some post-modernist Foucauldian institution.