Melbourne

Sounds heard from my balcony this week:

• tram dings and trams accelerating
• train horns
• a man playing saxophone from a nearby balcony (I call him 'The Sax Man')
• distant general construction
• The Office (US) theme song from a neighbouring apartment every half hour or so
• hooting and screaming from the social housing next door
• helicopters
• neighbour's dog barking
• birds tweeting, mostly lorikeets and pigeons
• nearby general construction
• skateboarders laughing and skating below in the alley
• ambulance sirens
• two tradies arguing over something to do with their EWP
• sounds of glass smashing and people laughing at a nearby venue
• a group singing Happy Birthday and cheering
• cars on the road
• drunk people laughing in the alley, on a pub crawl
• general construction on my building
• neighbour's cat meowing
• planes flying above
• police sirens
• the garbage truck
• the motorcycle my neighbour drives and revvs in the alley like a hooligan (she is so lovely though 🤔)
• the downstairs restaurant changing their kegs over
• trash being put in the dumpsters
• the downstairs door beeping, opening, and closing.
• real estate agents in the alley having dumb conversations during the workday

Wooo road trip to moe. With a fellow ASD of a fellow age with a wonderful alignment of music and conversation lengths and topics. Quite looking forward to it.

Found a lovely seat in the shade to enjoy my fancy pie. I should be so lucky.

Took the bottles and cans to the nearest deposit place only to discover it's got an electrical problem and isn't operating. Piled them all back in the car and Mr P scraped the front of the car on those yellow bollards on the way out 🤦🏻‍♀️ So we went up to the depot in North Coburg & got $24 from it. The outing cost $34 in snacks and Slurpees. Luckily the kids chipped in with their pocket money (I've told them that I'm happy to supply essentials and some treats when on special, but if they want junk food etc from a 7-11 or similar, they've got to pool their resources and pay for it themselves).

3 loads of washing and a batch of bolognaise sauce bubbling away on the stove, and we had an "inside BBQ" (where I cook sausages on my cast iron grill pan inside instead of sweltering outdoors). I've got tidying and junk on the table to sort through but I'm feeling 🦥ful.

I wanted to leave a second google review for this place I love it so much, but apparently that's not possible so I'll hype it up here. "Pasta Khan Dolan Uyghur" not far from Melbourne Central. I first went about 4 weeks ago, since then I've been about 10 times, including 3 this week. Extremely good, authentic Uyghur food (excuse the clumsy rebranding to 'Pasta'). Every dish I've tried has been amazing. It's hard to choose a favourite. Pics below are Big Plate Chicken (for two), 'Chefs Special Spaghetti - with lamb' - please note is not spaghetti but hand pulled Chinese noodles. Lamb neck with flat noodles in spicy sauce with Szechuan peppercorn And a very spicy one with Chinese celery, capsicum, onions etc.

If you're near Melbourne central and don't know where to eat, give this place a try, you won't regret.

pics

Furniture has arrived. I've assembled two trolleys so far. One of the trolleys I have three already that are nearly identical that I've collected from various hard rubbish piles.

Update: Shelves now assembled as well. Three drawer units to go, then I can start on the hard bit - sorting and putting away all the stuff to go in them.

Got my beard trimmed today. The barber complemented me in a very heavy arabic accent as follows 'My friend, you have very nice and soft skin'

Thanks?

So this is like the world's biggest first world problem, but it is a pet peeve of mine that Grammarly can be so impressive and yet it fails to register a quote in my work, even when using quotation marks. It constantly annoys me that it keeps trying to correct grammar errors in quotes. Is slowly driving me insane the more I write.

What a lovely drive. Ended up fanging a left at Harcourt instead of going all the way to Bendigo, cruised the A300 through to Daylesford. Chucked another lefto and headed for Ballan to get on the Western. Stopped in Bacchus Marsh for cheaper fuel and wash the front of my car (I have dubbed my windscreen Mothsbane, Scourge of the Skies. The Cabbage Splat Kid. Breaker of Wings.) and then ended up in Melton where I bought supplies for some snags in bread and a 10 pack of Beam Blacks.

My parents have taken off with their caravan up to the border for a couple of weeks so I'm going to take advantage of their split system, comfy couch and spare bed for the evening.

To your health, Prost!

Jeez the sound of the surf this morning sounds rough.

I was cleaned up fairly hilariously yesterday by a triple wave (where 3 waves sort of turn into one). Seen 2 waves do that before many times but not 3... I was not ready for that ~3m wall of water.

I think that was my first real encounter with a rogue wave. Usually diving under waves is no biggie but it certainly did not work with that one.

Good reminder that the sea can f you up even at 'safe' beaches

edit: and hrmm, another drowning this morning just down the road at Barwon Heads apparently a boat overturned :( It's rough out there today so if you're planning on swimming on the surf coast over the w/e take care.

Two totally different front yards side by side. I know which one would be mine.

In other news, it hot 🥵 Definitely not going anywhere tomorrow. Cocobella coconut water is half price at woolies, imma stock up on like 8 cartons the way back so I don't need to lug it around in the heat. Thank goodness it doesn't look like a humid night

Another very weird dream overnight but involving a lot of childhood friends and a weird alternative version of the country I grew up in. No details today because it was very personal and at one point weirdly sexual and I'm still feeling pretty weird about that...

I think my brain is still processing the fact that I'm really here for good now after over a decade of uncertainty. There was a sense that I was very much a visitor over there and I liked that I had somewhere else to return to.

Toni Childs!

Kitty still has the uti. Debating whether to give the first dose now or wait til supper

Edit: Ok, I've had the 5 minute rest. I'm giving it to her now. It's close enough to her dinner time that I should be able to give the next dose in the morning. It's with food though so I hope she still eats her medicated dins Edit 2: It's once daily so that is totally fine.

Breakfast 🍏🍎🍐🍊🍋🍈🫐🍓🍇🍉🍌🍒🍑🥭🍍🥥🥦🥑🫛🍆🍅🥝🥬🥒🌽🥕🥐🍠🫚🥔🧅🥯🍞🥖🥨🧀🧇🥞🧈🍳🥚🥓🥩🍗🍖🫓🍕🍟🍔🌭🥙🧆🌮🌯🥗🍲🍜🍝🥘🍛🍣🍱🥟🦪🍥🍘🍚🍙🐠🍤🪼🦀🐙 🍗🥮🍢🍡🍧🍰🧁🥧🍦🍨🎂🍮🍭🍬🍫🥜🌰🍪🍿🍯🥛☕️🍵🍺🍶🥤🧋🧃🥂🍷🥃🍸🍹🧉🔋

daughter of CEO I heard you like electrons ⚡️

Out doing the unit inspections again, having a breather before a couple later this afternoon.
So far:

• One which the agent had been touting but which I only vaguely liked. Didn't help that there was a literal traffic jam trying to park and then practically one inside, not to mention so many dramas getting an inspection that it was never available for viewing before it went on market.
• One where there wasn't room to swing even a small cat
• One beachfront one with a prime view of the local toilet block
• One that was okay but nothing special.
  Now about to head off for the next lot!

Ooo slightly headachey today.

Slow day today. Made plans to go to the beach tomorrow with a friend. So that's exciting! Breaks the isolation a lot.

I'm gonna go tooooooo... *licks finger and holds it in the air* Kyneton for a pie. Then maybe Bendigo just because why not. Then I'll see.

Second lot of unit inspections done.
First is the favourite - unfortunately owners seem committed to going to auction. Also small kitchen and no dishwasher and no room for one. 😕.
Second was nice but kinda small overall, though more storage space in the kitchen and a dishwasher.
Still got a month and a bit before I really have to choose something, and the estate agent I'm in touch with most said a few places will be ready very soon, so fingers crossed!

Adventures in television.

Netflix. Imagine my delight while surfing Neflix menu I saw a Bottersnikes and Gumbles show, At last.

Animation was lovely, excepting that the Bottersnikes didn't go red enough about the ears and nose when angry and the Gumbles were pink instead of blue. Nice Gumbles had moderated middle class accents. Those comical ugly Bottersnikes had Ocker accents.

The stories were absolute shit.

The cute Gumbles were constant arseholes to the recycling wizard Bottersnikes.

Stressful evening today, if saying something made me feel distressed or angry why would someone keep doing that when I've previously and said again how it makes me feel?

Anyway I'm hoping to maybe watch a movie tonight, get some dinner soon and maybe comfort myself with ice cream or crack open a bottle though I know drinking too much isn't good for my body.

I really need some time out from the drama.

I just murdered the shit out of a huge white tail spider. They are spiteful, angry creatures.

I'm also nearly out of bourbon.

I’ve seen neither Mean Girls or The Colour Purple. Both have now been remade as musicals, so I figure they are classics for a reason. Not sure if Mean Girls is my thing, but giving it a go tonight. The Colour Purple is more serious so I’ll save that for when I feel like concentrating more.

Update: Mean girls is hilarious! Laughed out loud several times.

Got a $3500 bedframe for $600 today. The bedroom is now classy as - in stark contrast to the rest of the house

Need to buy a mandoline, need to buy a mandoline. NEED TO BUY A MANDOLINE!!

Julienning (is that a word?) my third mango and I want to fucking die, so annoyingly slippery. I mean, I don't actually mind having to julienne things because it's pretty simple, but when it's multiple things that are a bit cumbersome to grip it's a huge pain.

Years ago in art class Lao Shi said that it's best to do ones work at the same time of day everyday. And I found that to be true, I like to do my art practice and my art work after lunch. I prefer to study languages in the morning and I have always studied the hard stuff like sciences at nigh, unless there is an exam then I'm cramming all day.

Weekends are a flurry of hard housework.

So that is how I will organise my days. With time for PT and exercise every 2nd or 3rd day.

I have a new organiser/trolley I can put next to my desk/table too. Have ordered some new calligraphy pens for doing italics.

Not having depression is awesome. 🤓

I was lucky to see this duo live. If you have the opportunity, do it. They are freaking rad....

[https://youtu.be/ENBX_v1Po1Y?si=_DeyWlQm3ITzpXNo](Rodrigo y Gabriela)

Suddenly find myself alone for the evening, so now I'm thinking of inviting the six pack in my fridge to my Wonderfalls rewatch marathon.