Melbourne

I miss living in Melbourne. And there is so much more options for my little one. If (and when) I finish my education degree I'm going to seriously consider moving back. At least working in school I might avoid the ridiculous travel times like I had when I had to work in the city.

Every fibre of my being wishes today was Saturday...

E: also, holy COW the Medicare safety net is amazing. 475 psychiatrist appt, would've been ~265 out of pocket with the normal rebate. Today the full safety net rebate came through - I've paid $46 out of pocket for a 90 minute consult. That's less than 10% of the total fee. Awesome.

The burgers are better at my house.

Image: A beef patty with special sauce, 2 slices of cheese, Asian slaw, kimchi, on a brioche bun with a side of onion rings and chips. Beer not pictured. It was delicious.

Cheers everybody 🍻

My dumbass old neighbour decided to mow his lawn...the wind knocked him over cause he's old...I actually went out to help him up (felt bad for a minute)...he started cursing the greens for convincing people climate change is real.

Stay well old mate. Stay well.

I have just spent way too long comparing electricity plans now that my Lumo contract is about to run out. Looks like I'll be moving from Lumo to Sumo for power, and to Alinta for gas. I hate that we have to contantly be doing this to get a decent price, and it sucks that the people who can't have to pay more. Why do we allow people who can't constantly stay on top of this sort of thing to be taken advantage of? It might be popular to call it a "lazy tax" but it is really an extra cost burden on the vulnerable.

Just a small note. You are all ball-breakers. I will do both onion rings and chips. Happy now.

Decided to go in to work today so I can give myself an early finish to go shopping. Someone had just freshly hit massive deer, easily a 400kg male (the deer not the person who hit it) poor thing.

Tonight I watched A Man Called Otto and even though I read the book and knew what it was about, I still cried through the movie. And. I. Never. Cry. At. Movies. Ever. It's not even a true story for goodness sakes. Pull yourself together old girl.

Good job Thornburywitch!

Hey lovely peoples. I'm just lying on the couch, waiting for a nap to come along while scrolling through job listings. My brain is mush and I've dealt with my fair share of nonsense this week. Just thought I'd say tgif - from my couch to your couch.

I have made it as far as the train. To work I go

You can always count on a Witch to save the day when the Bot has been tricked by the mischievous Cat again...

Met up a friend for a mutual birthday lunch (between hers and mine) after missing the last three years - first two lockdowns happened just after hers, last year I didn't feel like going out and celebrating anything.
The cross stitch pressie was a success. \0/

Giant froggo with lemon for size. Sorry no banana. Sorry not sorry this is dinner.

Rate my dinner

Guess who asked the bar guy to be her silly goose?

:)

Poor Botbot didn't make it tonight
No thread automated at midnight
A few witnesses to its plight
Its code Raven will have to fight
Check it out, make it tight

Something something something I'm tired the end

What a week. Spent the first half barely being able to walk because of a painful small toe. After many footbaths and pedis , after much research on why I have found the shoes that were the culprit, a pair of sandals with a ridge next to the toe and also socks that were too tight. It's not the high heels! Also a sore boob. I had a bra disaster when I ran for a tram. Was badly bruised from a pinch and tore my underboob. Had to use savlon and dressings for a week. Hay fever can go in the bin. Bill Cat decides he hates his new cat litter and starts having accidents. Culminates in defiantly spraying!! He has his fave litter now but I'm still in trouble and he has made himself sore. Now I have to use the carpet cleaner machine, which Bill Cat hates. 🤷‍♀️

PSA re the Vic energy comparison website:

Make sure you tick the boxes to include all plans, not just the single tarrif plans. The time of use plans might be cheaper for you, but you won't see them with the settings it defaults to.

The settings are in the sidebar

PSA: People with split systems in their house/apartment, get it cleaned! I didn’t for 5 years or so and it was running badly and randomly had black dusty bits blow out. Yeah, those bits were mould! I paid a place $129 and they cleaned the whole thing out and now it’s working perfectly. This is what came out of it after a chemical spray and then a pressure water wash. That bottle is 2 foot high and they even emptied it and did another quarter of a bottle drainage:

https://ibb.co/Kh7hRVG

I’m surprised I’m not dead or really sick from all that shit in there.

I'm making hamburgers tonight. Do I do chips or onion rings?

Ok let me clarify. It will be an Asian inspired burger with Asian slaw and kimchi and of course cheese a bit like this.

hamburger.

So actors are on strike. Fran Drescher had a really passionate speech that had me in tears.

Didn't end up going out, because we couldn't be bothered braving the cold to go to Footscray haha. Stayed in, about to crack another bottle of wine, and listening to my everthing playlist. The cat is warm and lovely, very pleased we stayed home. He's so chatty, yelled at me to pick him up and just hold him.

I don't mind showing my face, (image description: tabby/white cat lying on my face - dont mind my kitchen behind me)

spoiler

One or both of the cats chewed my keyboard cable through. I semi fixed it but just went and bought a cheap bluetooth keyboard. I was out for many hours and they were bored. They are not fooled by the birds youtubes anymore. This mean I'm finally going to have to put all cables in under rugs and gaff others plus put the mouse away when I go out. The kitten got himself locked in the closet for a little while and mumma was scratching at the door. She's so protective and knows how to communicate with me through her movements. It's pretty special. Two months with the little darlings and I'm loving them very much at this stage. Crazy cat lady I'm becoming. New work is better than expected and I can leave it at work.

Still haven't heard confirmation from my old manager which is par for the course. Just terrible at communication, but always a fucking know it all. I'll escalate it to his group manager on Monday, if not. He'll have had all weekend by then. Stupid cunt. Most spineless piece of shit I've ever had the displeasure of working with. Sleazy, lazy and badly trained. Nuff said. I've decided I will got through with some further action against them as well but I'm not sure exactly what, work safe wil be called first anyway. Artists don't have a very good union but I have no desire to let them get away with the bullshit they get away and the constant sexual harrassment of staff is just fucking disgusting and I've always spoken out about it but no one else has. Everyone sat in my car talking about how bad it was, then did the same thing when it suited them or they were intox on booze and whatever other drugs they could find on the floor. Resentful it turns out I still am.

The only decision I have to make tonight is whether to wear my cute new little denim skirt over my leggings to the aa meeting or not. Tough call.

This place is soothing though and putting it down in writing is therapy indeed.

Again, thanks to all you good humans for endless words of support over the last year. Its been a challenging and rewarding year and I'm so glad I've had people I don't know all that well to journal with. You all rock and I wish we could all be in a room together right now so I could cry and tell you how much I've grown to love you all in person individually.

Mr Woof has a dog bed on one of the armchairs, and he really enjoys scratching around, getting under it, then tossing it onto the floor. Tonight he is having the best of both worlds. He pushed it half off, and is snoozing on the edge of the bit left on the chair. He is looking a touch cozy.

cozy Mr Woof

Image: small fluffy white dog with brown spots curled up sleeping on the edge of a dog bed which is half pushed off an armchair. The weirdo.

Bye Bye Phillip Lowe. Dont let the door hit you on the ass on the way out. To be clear, I dont blame him for the economic problems, I blame him for being not particularly bright around messaging and not even slightly PR savvy.

"Hi, here's more info please sign up with us"

"I can't be bothered, please just call me"

WHY DO PEOPLE PREFER CALLS? Like I get that it's easier to explain and understand people via phone calls, but as someone who is hard of hearing and has anxiety I hate it.

Like the information is there, why do you need me to call you? I don't want to. Bugger off.

5 bottles of tomato sauce made, 16 home made chicken sausage rolls in the oven , vacuuming done, spot cleaning of carpet done, kitchen floor clean, one load dishes done, one load washing done and put away, cat litter room clean, chili plants watered, tail sewn back on Bill's toy mouse, Still have some sorting of clothes to do and hope to get in an hour of calligraphy after I clean the kitchen 😵

Everyone is cooking such lovely things.. my foot is still knackered, I've had about 4 hours sleep, and I've decided I'm just not cooking. Today is a rest day in my program, and thank goodness too. I made some beautiful lasagna sheets for the factory yesterday which I've converted into a very tasty lasagna today. Then I peeled 30kg of potatoes which I was asked for during the afternoon (! Normally we sort out everyone's production schedule for the day in the morning so we know where we're at and what we're doing; it helps each individual apportion their efforts accordingly). It's Fat Arse/Fast Food Friday here and the children have chosen McDonald's. May the lord have mercy on my soul. And my arse. I still intend to do my tummy exercises. I really do.

Sesame beef stir fry for dinner

I was having a beautiful sleep until Mr Peeler woke me up stuffing around in the kitchen. He was trying to be quiet, unsuccessfully as it turns out. Now I've been awake for 2 hours. Fuck I hate living in a small place. Also I wake up easily. I'll tell myself, at least you're resting, that'll have to do.

I left the cat on his own overnight because I had to go away for work, and I've come back to a pathetic little limping paw. I suspect he's suffering from you-left-me-to-starve-itis. Poor baby.

Mr. Omoikiri and I are heading away on a mini break for his 30th this Sunday and are back on the Monday. The intention was to get the exegesis portion of my PhD sorted and finished by tomorrow night. The plan was to get the intro, chapters 1, 2 and 3 done tonight and do chapters 4 and the conclusion tomorrow. I have been working since 7am and just started on chapter 2. I am already half way to losing my mind. I reckon I’ve got another 5 hours of work tonight, alone.

Do you think some gin will help or hinder me right now? 🤔

Veeeerrrrrryyyy slow day at work today. On the plus side, I'm getting pretty good at snake.io.

Anyone noticed that the texture of potato chips have gone funny? I feel like they are now thicker and it's like they aren't just potato slices being fried but had something else mixed in?

P.s. I'm still on the couch.

I guess the one benefit of venturing off the mountain and into work is Haigh's. I have purchased the bf a gift that I shall help myself to. Hello super frog.

I think today needs a to do list so I can make the most of it. If I get everything essential done today I can have a free day tomorrow before I go back to work on Sunday, well worth planning for.

Roast coffee 3/3 ✔️✔️✔️
Study - Housing, spreadsheets & documents
Vacuum/tidy house
Lift heavy things ✔️
~~Plant~~ water some seedlings. Weather's awful, I ain't planting anything today! ✔️
Make a banana cake (optional extra if I have time!!!

I feel like there is something else I have forgotten in there, maybe I should add "remember forgotten task" to the list.

Am exhausted and have crawled into bed.
The cats are puzzled as I've been later most of this week, between the cross stitch and Zooks parking herself on me about this time of night for a snuggle and snooze.