Day To Day: Calm Conversations with a Friend

#11 Penpals and Cicadas

• Jacquie Joy • Season 1 • Episode 11

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Ever found yourself yearning for the good old days of handwritten letters and the cozy warmth of a chat with an old friend? Jacquie talks about her experience in 'nature's orchestra’ with the symphony of crickets, cicadas, and the calls of rosellas, capturing a moment of tranquil bliss that starkly contrasts our bustling lives. This episode takes listeners on a nostalgic journey, highlighting the charm of long-distance friendships and the enduring magic of pen pals.  She also chats more about skin creams and has a fun discussion about unique fragrances like Eau de Space.  Amidst the whirlwind of everyday chaos, this episode is a gentle reminder to cherish the connections we have and to pause and appreciate the simple pleasures that bring joy and meaning to our lives.

Speaker 1:

Welcome to the Day-to-Day Podcast, calm Conversations with a Friend, spoken by Jackie Joy, and you are listening to Episode 11. You decide to check your messages. One new voicemail it's from one of your friends. You decide it's time to sit down, make yourself comfortable and have a listen. Hey Wow, isn't this a crazy time of year. It sounds like we've both got some very tight work deadlines, and you in particular have been working super hard, but at least we're still managing to do some other fun things as well, and we're actually lucky that we both love our jobs too, which makes it so much easier when these tight deadlines come along and you have to live in front of a screen for seemingly days on end and also also deal with crazy tech problems that come our way. I hope you sorted out yours.

Speaker 1:

I had certainly my share of some audio problems the other evening, but sometimes it doesn't just seem to be that one thing goes wrong, but you have a number of things to deal with. At one stage, I was hearing my sound through one headphone and then I was not hearing any sound. Then I was hearing buzzy sound. Anyway, I got there in the end and it seemed to be a few things I had to fix to get there, but I did it. I'm really happy to hear that you have a holiday break coming up. I mean, this is something that you so deserve and you definitely have earned it. I hope the weather is great for you and please send photos, as usual. I'm really looking forward to hearing everything about your upcoming journey, so keep me in the loop when you have a chance, which does remind me that I was going to tell you a little bit more about our beach trip with my friend from Scotland. Actually, she has been my friend for a very, very long time. She is officially my longest friend, since kindergarten, which is preschool here, so it's been a while. I'm just trying to remember how we stayed in touch because she actually moved back to Scotland at the end of the first grade, so we didn't grow up with internet or emails or text messages, so it was a way more challenging time to keep in touch. I think we wrote letters initially, but then that dropped off and we did lose contact for years. Then we met up randomly again through a mutual friend here in Australia and after that we made way more of an effort to stay in touch, mainly by letters, and by that I mean written letters.

Speaker 1:

It's a bit like pen pals. I suppose I'm speaking of pen pals. I'm speaking of pen pals. One of my school friends has two pen pals and she's actually had them since primary school. So she's kept in touch with them regularly via letter writing for many, many, many years and it's crazy, but she's never actually ever met either of her pen pals in person, I suppose because one is in LA and the other is in Japan, so they're two places she has never travelled to yet. So this friend has very pretty handwriting. She even puts little love hearts instead of the dot above the letter I. It's super cute and she's one of a kind, and I think I mentioned a card that she sent me in one of my earlier messages. So yes, she sends us these handwritten cards for every birthday and every Christmas and I always open them with care, because sometimes they are filled or booby-trapped with lots of confetti or shiny little stars.

Speaker 1:

Actually, she was in the paper fairly recently too. They were talking about the fact that she'd had these two pen pals for so many years and the article was called People of Letters and I dug it up and I have it here right in front of me. I'll read out the first paragraph to you, which goes Does anyone write letters anymore? Does anyone write letters anymore? You know, actual handwritten words on a page, sealed in a paper envelope, stamped and sent on its way through a big red postal box. We talk to those who want to revive what is fast becoming a lost art. Anyway, it was a great article and I think I was actually talking about the holiday.

Speaker 1:

The other thing I wanted to tell you about was the amazing sounds of the crickets and cicadas. I started telling you about the sounds of the rosellas, which were extreme every morning and every evening, but alongside the rosellas were both crickets and cicadas, were both crickets and cicadas, and at times I really felt like I was in the middle of nature's orchestra. Apparently, the crickets have higher pitched musical chirping sounds, whereas the cicadas have more of a buzzy, raspy sound. So the crickets sound a bit prettier. I mean, you probably already know this, but I found it interesting. There just seem to be so many layers of sound. There just seem to be so many layers of sound. Actually, the crickets and cicadas often feature in film soundscapes and they really do add a great texture to the whole sound field and make a great bed for dialogue and are often used in more evening scenes, for example, when people are chatting out in the garden in the Hollywood Hills. And I think I've already mentioned that the crickets, or the cricketscape, was a very large part of the recent film I worked on, which was set in the Mojave Desert.

Speaker 1:

No message of mine would be complete without an audio clip or two. So here is a little audio clip I took of the cicadas in Yamba, and you can also hear a noisy minor bird chirping in this as well, and this is the sound of cicadas in our local neighborhood. Courtesy of Tilly, she has been sending me audio clips of places she's been visiting, like the coffee shop and other interesting sounds like this as well, so I've been loving that. So now, yes, my update on the snail cream. I've been using it at least once daily and now under my eyes feel so incredibly hydrated, to the point where I feel like I have soft pillows under my eyes, but in a good way. Also, my neck is feeling so soft and even a bit velvety. So I would say so far, so good, and I'll definitely keep using it, and I think Tilly wants to try it now as well.

Speaker 1:

But now also, this serum of plenty that I was talking to you about last time has arrived after being out of stock for six months. Apparently, it took so long to come back into stock because because it is now a new formula, so I'm not really even sure that I need to use it now. I have the snail cream, but I might as well try it now that I have it in my hot little hands. It in my hot little hands. The tagline of this serum is aging brilliantly, so that's encouraging. It is really not what I expected. It arrived firstly in a very nice, quite large box, and it seems as though you have to actually activate it. So there are two bottles, and one of the bottles is called you never guess the activator, and apparently by mixing it fresh it will maximize the potency of the formula. But it does have a use-by date of six months after you mix it. So that's interesting. I won't mix it right now, but I will do that next time.

Speaker 1:

I leave you a message and I'm hoping to order something else which you will find interesting, that is, if you haven't already heard of it. It's something called Eau de Space, which is a perfume, and it literally is supposed to smell like space, and it's for men and women. Now, I don't know if smelling like space is necessarily a good thing. It was designed originally to train astronauts on how outer space smells and has been on the market since 2020, so people must still be using and liking it. However, I don't think it will be one of my go-to perfumes and I'm going to buy it just because it sounds fascinating and I'd like to try it myself and see what space is supposed to smell like, and it will also be funny to see what the boys, and maybe even the dog, think of the fragrance too.

Speaker 1:

I've checked out a few reviews and it doesn't sound too great, to be honest. People say it smells like truck fumes, burning metal and overheating brake pads. People also describe that they can smell burnt cookies that are topped with rubber. Some people, surprisingly, mention overtones of raspberry and walnut, which is sounding a bit more promising, but I'm really not quite sure what to expect, and I'll let you know when I can find some. It seems as though I might have to order from their US site, and it also looks like they sell something called Odaluna, which is supposed to smell like the moon, so I will also read some reviews on that one as well, just to see which one is going to be the best one to order, and I'll keep you posted.

Speaker 1:

And again, I'm wondering is this something that you've heard of? Thanks? Thanks again for your message and all of your updates. Answer to your computer question no, I still haven't even opened the laptop. It's going to be the first black laptop I ever have, so I can't wait to see it. But I'm just working out how to transfer files and where to transfer them from, so I need a bit of time to be able to do that. But mostly, I'm looking forward to seeing what it looks like, and I might even put a couple of special stickers on it too and decorate it. Anyway, have a wonderful time away. I hope you come back feeling refreshed. Have a wonderful time away. I hope you come back feeling refreshed and relaxed and, most of all, stay nice and healthy and I'll leave another message soon. And also, we do need to actually have a phone call again soon as well, so we can speak in real time. I'm looking forward to that. Take care and bye for now you.