Campfire Ghost Stories

Posted on June 9, 2025 by suesbent

Just call me Alice. I’ve gone down the rabbit hole and have scared the living daylights out of myself.

The latest scary story comes from Timothy Alberino about the “face-peelers”. He sat in a comfy chair talking to podcaster Shawn Ryan, looking like a newer younger and more handsome Indiana Jones. He held an unlit cigar that he didn’t bring up to his Muskateer-moustached mouth.

He wove a tale, perfect for a campfire ghost story, set in remote Peru, where these “face-peelers” terrorized the people of a small village. Of course, Timothy speaks the local dialect, allowing him to speak directly with the traumatized victims.

This is the latest video I’ve watched on YouTube about strange anomalies, and I realise I need to stop this as it is giving me the heebie-jeebies.

Combine this with watching The Handmaid’s Tale on TV and I feel like I’ve got PTSD. The first time I tried to watch this dystopian story, I couldn’t. I found the repression of women too disturbing and too real. But of late I have watched the whole series, and it is truly traumatizing. What the heck is going on in Margaret Atwood’s brain?! She really is a sick person. Anyway, I’m glad that is behind me.

So, on the topic of UFO, UAP, NHI, and other unexplained phenomena, here is an unordered list of some of the podcasters I’ve been watching on YouTube (some are better quality and more credible than others):

Jesse Michels (knows too much)
Shawn Ryan (not really my cup-of-tea)
Timothy Alberino (good for 2 minutes)
Jeremy Corbell (credible investigations – especially this series with whistleblower Matthew Brown)
The Skinwalker Ranch Series on the History Channel (bit of hype but I like the science experiments)
Ross Coulthart on News Nation (detest his fake Aussie accent)
Alex Ferrari (hmmm)
Dr Steven Greer (a very disturbed man)
Jake Barber and Skywatcher (trying their best)

I do find these stories perplexing and like many, I want answers. The Bob Lazar story is especially compelling. Jeremy Corbell’s account narrated in the gravelly voice of Mickey Rourke is excellent.

But this hobby can become obsessive and it sits on my psyche in a negative way. I think it is similar to the conspiracy theories that drew in many people during the COVID pandemic. Not the same content, but the same effect.

So, I really do need to escape from this rabbit hole. How did Alice get out? Oh, she woke up.

TV viewing is so bad nowadays, and the news media is truly awful. AFL has been hijacked by woke causes. And the only truly great sports viewing is the cycling in Europe. I love Le Tour. There is a wider variety of content on YouTube.

So, for a ray of sunshine and some more positive upbeat stories, I need to stick to art, music, books, travel, cooking, animal stories, etc. Here are some that I do watch and enjoy:

Rich Roll (from 2012 and still trying to inspire people for self-improvement)
Isabel Paige (living a simple life in a tiny house in remote USA)
Valerie Lin (finding herself through her beautiful art)
Benjamin McEvoy (helping us to read The Classics)
Nick and Matilde – Next Meridien Expedition (French explorers back together again after a small medical hiatus and now in Indonesia)
Brad and Hayley – Our Australia Trip (lovely young polite couple continuing to explore Australia living in their caravan)
The Scottish Summiteer (Young Scot hiking and camping in Scotland)
Uncanny Expeditions (skulking around Area 51 on his small motorbike)
Cooking with Carter (so cute and the next Jamie Oliver)
Jimmy Rees (for a laugh)

Any recommendations that I can investigate?

What trip?

Posted on December 8, 2024 by suesbent

As our recent trip to the far side of the Earth fades into memory, I take stock of the few months since we’ve been back at home. The trip of a lifetime seems like a dream now. Did we go at all?

So, what have I been doing with myself for the few months since then?

Exercise

I’ve been tracking my walking using Strava just so that I know how far I go and how many steps I have taken. While I walk, I listen to podcasts: Rich Roll of course, and Bronwyn, the true crime mystery, among others.

I continue with my yoga routine at home, and I play Mahjong and learn French with Duo on my iPad to exercise my brain.

Visits

Baden Croft is an artist whose work I admire, and he had a recent exhibition at the Studio and Co. in Moorooduc. I love his big bold paintings thick with colours and it was great to see these up close.

Lunch with friends is a treat and I’ve caught up with a few recently at Kirk’s in Mornington and the Wildflower Café in McCrae.

Watching our granddaughters and the local primary school children perform Christmas songs was lovely and we felt very proud to witness Lily confidently present the “Welcome to Country”.

We went along to a gorgeous family wedding at Noojee beside the Latrobe River on a hot sunny day, and then to the fun and happy reception at a family home in Drouin. It is always precious to catch up with extended family, especially our 80-year-old aunt.

Sue and Mick beside the Latrobe River, Noojee

Watching

Too much screen time applies to Grandmas too and I am guilty as usual. I’ve been watching Homeland on catchup TV, Survivor 47, Yellowstone, and vlogs and podcasts on YouTube: Isabel Paige, Valerie Lin, Nick and Mathilde, and Alex Ferrari to name a few.

Reading

I haven’t read many books this year and won’t reach my Goodreads target of 50, having only finished 27 so far.

I recently read The Color of Everything by Cory Richards after listening to a conversation between him and Rich Roll. I gave it five stars on Goodreads and found it exceptionally insightful and well written.

I am rereading Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M Pirsig for about the fourth time. It is one of my all-time favourites.

I am also reading Nexus by Yuval Noah Harari, which is about Artificial Intelligence, something we all need to learn about. In fact, in preparing this blog post I tested the Microsoft Copilot function which was a real eye-opener but totally generic and boring to say the least.

I have a lot of books reserved at the local library, but the queues are long and inevitably they will arrive together, which is of little use to me.

Thinking

My mind is always searching for new things, and I’ve been thinking about art, creativity, inspiration, learning, and house design. I enjoyed making a vlog this year but can’t see that expanding into anything. I will continue to watch, like, appreciate, and enjoy the efforts of others who are making this into a positive lifestyle.

Planning ahead

We have been actively looking at potential prospects for a new house design project which is exciting.

I will set my reading target for 2025 at 50 again on Goodreads.

I plan to join a local meditation group and a local art group.

My own reading, study, writing, and art will continue and if anything of interest emerges, I will mention it here. I did enjoy the Armchair Travel exercises that I plotted out prior to our actual travel this year.

As a committed SiLLé learner I love expanding my knowledge and enjoy delving into things that interest me and are available online.

We have no big trips planned for 2025 at this stage, but you never know.

Merry Christmas and a Happy and Peaceful 2025.

42 Aussie Librarian Bloggers in 2013

Posted on November 2, 2013 by suesbent

In 2011, I began an investigation into Australian Librarian bloggers: how many could I locate online; who were they; what sector did they work in; the topics they posted about; and the overall look and feel of their blog. I was interested in individuals and did not want to investigate the blogs of library organisations. So I narrowed the field to the personal blogs of Australian Librarians. While I did include librarians from tertiary academia, I narrowed the field by not including the blogs by teacher librarians situated in primary or secondary school libraries. I also added 14 Librarian bloggers from overseas just to provide a measure of comparison.

After a quick and dirty Google search I located Libraries Interact where there is a list of Australian Librarian bloggers. Of these, in 2011, many were already inactive after running out of steam following the 23 Things training. There were other lists and indexes I stumbled across and I soon listed 66 active Australian librarian bloggers. Although my list did include many of the active bloggers from the Libraries Interact list, it also included others not on that list. I looked for the names of the bloggers and their twitter links. I tried to ascertain the library sector that they worked in. I read about their favourite topics and attempted to evaluate the content by gauging them against a content rubric that I created for the task.

Some bloggers like to write book reviews; some like to talk about their experiences answering customer’s questions; others like to pass on information about technology; some vent; some show their creative talents in the kitchen or with crafts; holidays are popular topics; most were personal; and many were superficial. My five-smile rating 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 was a rare gem indeed on my incomplete list.

I was searching for relevant, interesting, deep, and meaningful content. I wanted to hear opinion. And while there is much great content from our bloggers, one stood out – It’s Not About The Books by Hugh Rundle. Good on you Hugh! Hugh continues to boldly post thought-provoking and challenging articles that are written with excellence. He embeds relevant links thoughtfully. He sets the bar high and is a fine example for anyone wanting to lift their own efforts to a new level; myself included.

So I have once again reviewed the list on Libraries Interact. Of the 58 bloggers listed under personal blogs of Aussie Librarians only 27 are still active (46.5%). Of the 66 Aussie Librarians on my list that were active in 2011, 46 bloggers have posted content in the last year; and only 36 in the last 4 months. (69% still active). Of the 14 blogs from overseas all are still active.

Here is my list of Aussie Librarians who are active bloggers:

1	A Chivas Regal Moment	@CatyJ
2	Alyson in Library Land	@alysondalby
3	A work in progress	@fionareadersrr
4	Ballarat Library Chick	@gemmas1980
5	Better than cheesecake	@susannenewton
6	Biblio Turismo	@Biblioturismo
7	Blog Fest at Tiffany’s	@LibrarianCat
8	Book boy	@bookboy
9	Bronwyn’s Library Blog	@pivotalbooks
10	Connecting Librarian	@michelleamclean
11	Digital Collaboration	@SusanMyburgh
12	explodedlibrary.info	@explodedlibrary
13	Feral Library Tales	@kalgrl
14	From Melbin	@malbooth
15	Girl in Landscape	@wateryone
16	Hecuba’s Story	@polyxena
17	HeyJudeOnline	@heyjudeonline
18	Hmmm	@Kridwyn
19	Inn0vate	@petahopkins
20	It’s not about the books	@HughRundle
21	JayGee Library Log	@jaygee35
22	Jenelle Net	@jenelle
23	Langridgep	@langridgep
24	Librarian Hoi	@librarianhoi
25	Librarians Matter	@libsmatter
26	Library Dreamings	@VesnaC
27	Macaronic	@jobeaz
28	Opinions from an OPL	@newgradlib
29	Pixelated Mushroom	@pixelmushroom
30	Ramblibrarian	@boycetrus
31	Ramblings from yet another Librarian	@katejf
32	Read Watch Play Participate	@ellenforsyth
33	reeling and writhing	@mulberry_road
34	Ruminations	@flexnib
35	Shallowreader’s Blog	@VaVeros
36	Shelterit	@shelterit
37	snail	@snailx
38	Stained Glass Waterfall	@warrencheetham
39	Sues Bent	@suesbent
40	The Land of the Surprising Pun	@librarianidol
41	There she goes	@stephmcg
42	Thoughts and Reflections	@shewgirl

And the list of Library bloggers from overseas:

1	Annoyed Librarian	@LibraryJournal
2	Circulating Ideas	@circideas
3	David Lee King	@davidleeking
4	Free Range Librarian	@kgs
5	Librarian by Day	@bobbinewman
6	Librarian in Black	@TheLib
7	Librarian Net	@jessamyn
8	Phil Bradley	@Philbradley
9	Self-plagarism is style	@daveyp
10	Stephen’s Lighthouse	@sabram
11	Swiss Army Librarian	@SwissArmyLib
12	Tame the Web	@mstephens7
13	The Shifted Librarian	@shifted
14	Virtual Dave	@rdlankes

P.S. This list is not complete in an online world that is constantly changing, but if you are an Australian Librarian who writes a blog and your blog is not listed here and you would like it to be, then please leave a comment below.

On my eBook shelf

Posted on May 21, 2013 by suesbent

So I spent an afternoon traipsing around the city shops of Melbourne in search of two particular books. I asked at the desks and eventually conceded that these two titles were not currently available in print. Neither were old or obscure titles. I want to support local businesses in preference to large multi-national companies that monopolise the market. Alas this was not possible.

The next day when seated at my desk with blisters on my feet I quickly and easily and cheaply downloaded the two ebook versions onto my iPad. I find that my eBook shelf is gradually filling up (if that is possible?!) Talking with colleagues at work, who share a love of books, reading, and techno-gadgets, we compare our eBook experiences. One person deletes the books she buys after she has read them assuming they remain on her invisible purchases sitting in ‘the cloud’. None of us seem to mind what format the book is in, and ultimately it is all about the content and getting our hands on it when we want it.