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Unfiltered Thoughts: Log #4

  • Writer: Ash
    Ash
  • 2 days ago
  • 7 min read

Kia Ora friends! Happy Thursday! Welcome back to another unfiltered thoughts log from yours truly - Ash/Ashy!!!


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Collage of a woman with a corgi at the beach, sunset shore portrait, dog close-ups, and a sunset field. Unfiltered Thoughts: Log #4
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Unfiltered Thoughts: Log #4


In all honesty, I wanted to write something a bit more substantial today, but I just don't have a topic, and I just read a thing that said it doesn't really matter what you're writing if no one is reading it anyway, LOL! Here we go!


It's currently 1:05 PM on Thursday, 11th June, 2026. Melbourne is sunny but a little cold. I am drinking a sparkling watermelon lemonade celsius drink. So far today, I had chocolate overnight oats for breakfast with coconut water, then we took Benji for a decent-sized walk, and for lunch I made myself two poached eggs on English muffins - I am really trying out the protein-maxxing right now. I know from past experiences that the more protein I get, the better I feel (and that's only from an IBS perspective), but protein does really help me in general to feel good, so give me all the protein!! Hehe. Luke also got his flu shot before, so hopefully his arm isn't too sore today (I had mine a few weeks ago when I saw my GP - she gave it to me for free, how good).


This afternoon, I am planning on doing my strength training + core workouts, proofreading my Freaky Friday Files post for tomorrow, and reading some of my book. I have been quite slack with reading this month, and I really need to get on it for my book reviews!! I haven't been reading as much because I have been playing games. I have a few ones I am cycling through at the moment - Solitaire, Tetris, Disney Solitaire, Wordscapes Search, and Monopoly Go Bingo. The games are good for when you want to stimulate your brain, but your body needs some rest. I also learned that, apparently, playing Tetris can help people process trauma and specifically help survivors of vehicle accidents to have fewer symptoms if they're able to play it as a behavioural intervention. I'll pull a few quotes up to help explain!


Our hypothesis was that after a trauma, patients would have fewer intrusive memories if they got to play Tetris as part of a short behavioural intervention while waiting in the hospital Emergency Department,' says Professor Holmes. 'Since the game is visually demanding, we wanted to see if it could prevent the intrusive aspects of the traumatic memories from becoming established i.e. by disrupting a process known as memory consolidation.'

The study involved 71 motor vehicle accident victims, of whom half received the intervention (recalled the trauma briefly and then played Tetris) while waiting in the hospital emergency department, and half performed another task, all doing so within six hours of the accident. Results showed that the researchers’ hypothesis was right: those who had played Tetris had fewer intrusive memories of the trauma in total over the week immediately following the accident than the controls. The researchers also found that the intrusive memories diminished more quickly.

It's not clear whether the research from this study would be beneficial long term, but the researchers did suggest that looking into computer-based games as a behavioural intervention for trauma should be looked into more.


Reading stuff like that makes me feel less guilty for playing games on my phone, especially because video games can also help with things like problem-solving skills, processing speed, and memory. I'm also pretty sure some games are great for spatial awareness and motor-neuro skills!


Other games that I like playing are definitely Pokémon Go, Pac-Man, Super Smash Bros, Mario Kart, Mortal Kombat, Tekken, and any sort of esports - especially badminton, haha! I miss playing badminton. I definitely feel guilty for giving up the sport so young, as I won so many games in high school. Maybe one day I will go back, but for now, playing it socially and within esports is all I really need. Speaking of the sort of arcade-type games - those are my favourite games to play, and I am excited because it looks like some of the places we are going in Victoria, BC, Canada have some arcades!! I need to add that to my list. These are the ones I've found so far:



And yes, as I said in another one of my blogs, I will be doing a travel guide once we're back from Vancouver/Victoria, BC! I'm going to have to remember what blogs to come back to for things to do, hehe. I haven't decided if I am going to take my laptop overseas yet or just a journal, but I plan to write down what we do each day - even if it's just a note on my phone.


I feel like there was so much more information in my brain before I sat down to write this post, and now my brain is just empty. Maybe the house feels quieter too because we don't have Frankie every week any more, so not a lot of barking going on, haha!





Another thing that I've been looking into lately is Reddit's subreddit RBI (Reddit Bureau of Investigation), and I think some of it is legit and has helped solve some stuff, and some of it is a bit weird, but I thought I'd share a list of some of my favourites I've read lately! I encourage you to go and read them - even if it's just skimming them:



I'm pretty sure I've talked about the creepy neighbour before in a YouTube video and my post "Freaky Friday Files: REAL LIFE CREEPY things that have happened to me". But I'm going to talk about this neighbour again because it feels relevant. So mum's house was at the back of a few other units, and in the front one, this guy called Pat (yep, I'm using his real name) lived there. He was a bit eccentric and odd at first, and I didn't really notice him too much until I was about 14/15. When I walked home from school, he would always be outside ready to greet me, and he always called me "Hayley" because he said I looked like Hayley Westenra (the opera singer with curly hair) because of my curly hair. Obviously, that's not my name. As a teenager, people called me Ashleigh, but I do prefer Ash - please call me Ash or Ashy! Anyway, it was annoying having to correct this old dude about my name. Sometimes he'd get it right, and other times he wouldn't. I also noticed that he liked to wear a sarong, but I don't think he had any ties to Pasifika (I could be wrong). He also once asked one of my mum's exes if I was his daughter, and he told that ex that I should be a model (he also told me this at times, too - I usually brushed it off). This ex of my mum's told me to stay away from this guy, which I did, but I feel like some other people thought this guy was harmless. Pat would also walk up and down the driveway and look into my bedroom window. This behaviour was also brushed off as odd. AND THEN ONE F*CKING DAY, I was home alone and having my afternoon shower, and as I got out of the shower, I heard the back gate open, so I ran to my room and looked out the window, and who do I see walking down the driveway - Pat! WTF? I have no idea if Pat ever got inside the house, but the back door was open, so he could have. What was he planning on doing? That was so weird. Luckily, I never got hurt, and nothing major ever happened to me, but I feel like this is one piece of trauma that is just there in my mind, and the above story reminded me of it.


I also have to say that the ex (mum's, not mine) who I mentioned in the story has turned into a complete a$$hole, and I find it ironic because he's literally broken into mum's garage before "just to prove he could do it". I don't understand how a guy like that can be like "stay away from this man", but I'm gonna be a creep too?! Do creeps just recognise creeps? LOL. Gah, I feel like I've got some stories. Should I write a book about my life? My psychologist likes to joke that my life is basically a TV show - although I think that would be a scary book/TV show. Things happen, and I just exist.


And on that note, I'm going to end today's blog here. I hope you enjoyed this really weird stream of consciousness thought process; it was definitely a journey.


I'll see you all tomorrow for my Freaky Friday Files!


Thank you for reading!

Ash x


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