Before Barbie (Vol.3, 1982)

*** Content note – we mention child killing and suicide

I find out that Mum once planned to burn her diaries once they got ‘too ridiculous to read’...

Wonder if we’re at that point now?

This episode we read about Mum going to dinner with a murderer (more on that later), failing her psych lab report, wandering Lygon Street and realising that she might even ‘enjoy being alone,’ and becoming even more time obsessive than usual by noting down the time with seconds when she starts writing. This sparks a big chat about procrastination in the ‘80s compared to now, as Mum’s on south lawn at Uni with 1.5 hours to kill, noting down the seconds in her diary, feeling the time go sooooo slowly, whereas I lose 5 hours in a blink on skincare TikTok. 

We also read about Mum trying to dye her hair back to brown but it goes purple, buying another bedspread at ‘Faraday Follies’ for $5 (but this time the plan is to actually use it as a blanket not a jacket), Mum’s plans to make a darkroom down at Inverloch, an all-nighter to get a history essay done, going out to The Venue in St Kilda to see No Nonsense, Allniters and Randy and the Roots, and meet ‘Peter from Void’- whatever that means. Mum and a friend get followed by boys in a car for ages, and buys books on playing the guitar (what happened to wanting to learn the drums??)

We chat about how we like to stay in our pjs all day, how I can’t remember the last time I did that, the art of letting things go if they don’t serve you, Brideshead Revisited and the Bennington podcast which Mum is absolutely obsessed with. I go on a rant about mediocre jobs, and the wifi mucks up and we wonder if it’s getting tired like we are. I also comment how young Jenny hasn’t really consented to this, which gives Mum a bit of an existential moment but she then realises that young Jenny would’ve said yes and we discuss what we wish we could say to our younger selves. 

Also, this is our last ep until November while Mum goes to live her best White Lotus life in Italy!!!

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