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.

Around this time, every year, I write an email to myself and schedule it to arrive sometime in April, usually after my birthday.

These past couple of days I've really had to knuckle down and push past a fear barrier of mine. The new gym I've been attending has been a bit busier over the school holidays/Easter break, and I don't deal well with - er - people.

Once upon a time, here in Adelaide there was a place called Glenside Hospital. I can remember walking it's decrepit, depressing halls...

Today I received my hearing aids. To be honest, I was a bit skeptical about it all. Was my hearing really that bad? Was it really--