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  • The Herald Scum are at it again. According to them firefighters are being offered a "whopping pay increase". 12% over four years - which means 3% a year. Wow, less than half the current inflation rate, how outrageous. 😡

  • Exercises for this morning were completed, and to my surprise the Elder Minipeeler asked shyly if he could join me! It was a good teaching moment about not going at it too hard when you're beginning with exercises so you don't hurt yourself and get disillusioned, and doing 10ish minutes a day is a good habit to get into no matter what age or ability you are. He also showed me some exercises he's been taught at school!Let's see if he joins me again tomorrow or starts his own thing!

  • Had a chat with my boss, and I apologised for listening to things. He said that it's fine to listen to things, just not to have my phone out. So podcasts and music are back on the menu boys!

  • Curse my stupid healthy sleep routine for making me miss the cool alien space junk. I'm feeling awake and refreshed, but at what cost?

  • If I killed 3 people and seriously wounded another accidently with my cooking my face would be puffy from crying and my body would be so incapacitated that I would not be able to move from the couch.

    • Just don't go scrounging around for mushrooms to munch, and you should be safe lol

      • Do you know what I reckon she's done? She's grabbed a toadstool from the back yard and mixed it into the Coles packaged mushrooms, fried em up. Dig in. Bon appetit.

    • It's quite possible it was completely accidental and she still doesn't care because she hates them because they treated her like a servant.

      It would not surprise me if they collected the mushrooms themselves and asked her to cook them.

  • So since we are a very international mob here let's share some good and bad flying stories.

    I think my fave flight was flying on xmas eve/xmas day, London-Singapore-Melbourne. The pilots came on board dressed in santa suits and we had xmas dinners and got gifts! Surprisingly the plane was half empty.

    Another time, this was before 9-11, I arranged for young Miss Seagoon ( age 15 ), and her friends who were travelling with us, to visit the cockpit. They were allowed to experience the landing into Singapore, they sat in the cockpit. . ( and that's a lovely airport at night , the harbour is so pretty with all the lights )

    • my dad worked for a multi-national so i travelled a lot growing up.

      • i remember flying business class on Malaysian Airlines in something like 1987 or so. It was our family and like 3 other people on the whole top floor of the 747. The flight attendant came up to me and asked how i would like to be addressed (i was 9), i said your majesty as a joke....they referred to me as your majesty for the rest of the flight.
      • another business class flight around the same time (give or take 5 years), coming into land at Kuala Lumpur when there was a tropical storm happening, pilot tried 5 times to land, each one more turbulent that the last. me aged ~7 or 8 throwing up progressively louder and more violently with each touch&go.
      • also through a perk of my dad's work, i got to fly on a private jet (Gulfstream i think) Melbourne to Wellington. Sat in the cockpit from takeoff to landing with a headset on. was cool

      for the record, i have not flown business class since the 80s.

      edit - oh yeah, and that time i flew to Argentina and the plane had an engine failure 2 hours after we'd passed NZ. I was sitting window seat over the wing, and was watching out the window. saw something that looked like that vapour like you see on take off and landing sometimes on a cold day, all wispy-like...then it got a bit thicker and blacker. then there was a small bang and little puff of extra smoke. then the seat-belt lights came on and the pilot very very causually told everyone that we had had an engine failure and would need to turn back to NZ.

    • Oh man I also remember going up to the cockpit on a Melbourne-Darwin Ansett flight back in 1988 or so. Such a shame my own son will likely not experience that (unless he becomes a pilot himself of course).

      My least favourite flight would have to be on a work trip across the Cook Strait between Auckland and Christchurch, in a small (I think Saab) commuter turboprop. Went through a storm so bad that I swear the wings were about to come off... the only flight I've ever been on where a round of applause broke out on landing and the pilots looked physically relieved afterwards.

    • Melbourne to Toronto 14 years ago (via Sydney and Vancouver), ~28 hours all up. I was withdrawing from nicotine and couldn't sleep a wink. It was a torture I wouldn't wish on anyone.
      \ Flying from Bali to Sumbawa about 20 years ago as a kid. 12 seater airplane. Takeoff was held up for half an hour while the pilot unscrewed the panels containing wiring behind all the cockpit controls etc and tinkered around in there for a while , which was in plain view😬

      • I flew Melbourne to Toronto via HK (cause it was much cheaper). HK-Toronto leg was like 16 hours. Never again.

    • Best flying experience was during the airline pilots strike. I had to go to Adelaide on business, and caught the dreaded army cargo carrier there. Which was interesting in its own way but NOT COMFORTABLE. Rows of high school moulded plastic seats welded together and bolted to the floor with seatbelts superglued onto the plastic. Only some of the bolts were loose and the whole confection wiggled and groaned whenever we hit a patch of rough air. Felt like a Centrelink waiting room with added sound effects and no toilet.
      On the way back, however, I scored a seat on a 12 seater private jet - single line of seats, sheepskin seat covers, ample leg room, luxxury food, and the pilot did a low altitude sweep over the Coorong which was humming with birdlife and full of water. That flight was magical. We stopped in Mt Gambier to re-fuel, so I got to see the blue lake which was very blue. Also some of the best fish & chips I've ever had at one of the hotels. All courtesy of the plane's owner.
      Another good one was from Alice Springs to Sydney over the western plains of NSW. It was just on sunset, and we got high enough that we could see the whole terminator from the plane windows - that is, behind us was broad daylight, then a fuzzy zone, then black night ahead of us. No clouds, you could see the darkness creeping over the land as the sun set.

    • I’ve got another one for ya. Barely took off from Anchorage, Alaska. Around a 500 meters AGL, a flight crew come bolting towards the rear of the aircraft screaming “WHERE’S THE MANUAL!!??” Everybody looking around shitting themselves haha. Me included.

      Turns out we had multiple bird strike. When deboarding after landing you could see the front of the plane riddled with red splotches. Like some giant paintball gun shot the plane.

    • Flying into (and out of) Lukla airstrip Nepal in '99. On a school trip.. that was a very bad idea.

      2nd scariest moment of my life.

    • I've done a fair bit of flying in my years but I can't think of a single eventful tale to tell from them lol

      No misbehaving passengers, no plane troubles.. all pretty boring. I did miss a plane to Thailand once in 2014 because I was too busy chatting in Nandos (so before the international entry/customs in Melbourne Airport) and didn't realise it was so close to boarding/didn't take into account how long it'd take to get through customs and then get to the gate which was a bit of a hike. Ran but didn't make it. That was embarrassing. The annoying thing was I was REALLY early to get to the airport.

      Told family and friends the plane had been cancelled until the next day rather than admit what happened. Luckily nobody checked online to see if it was a lie... but I did admit it to my family only earlier this year what actually happened.

    • I don't have many stories. I have such a PTSD trigger response to the Barefoot Investor though because when I was coming back from Sydney, I had the middle seat and I'm also fat so this middle age grumpy Karen was giving me death glares because I have the audacity to be fat meanwhile I had no idea because I was trying not to have a panic attack (I hate flying).

    • Best flight - got upgraded to business class on a Cathay flight from HK to Melb. Fell asleep at one point in the comfy seats and I swear when I woke up, the flight attendants put a blanket on me and tucked it around my arms.

      Worst flight - flying Caledonian airlines from Toronto to London (Gatwick airport). The food warmer was down so everyone enjoyed a very cold meal. Hot water ran out halfway through due to some technical fault. My parents were quite miffed. Thankfully it's only like 6-7 hour flight.

  • Since I've gone down a size or two I'm getting rid of the too big clothes and last of the stuff I don't wear anymore. 👍 two bags of stuff for the op shop

  • hmm i cbf today

    finish cooking, do the dishes, a little walk, and then i'll get back in bed

  • Really want late night potat. Just remembered I have potat gems and access to a Phillips xl air fryer. Problem solved.

    Making glacial but gradual progress on work. Half way through 1 of 6 discussion sections with images. My ability to concentrate is totally shot atm. I kinda wish I did have that psych appt yesterday after all. Maybe meds might've helped.

  • I've officially gone insane. I'm listening to the entire Tornado album by Yes. Look, I have a brand new appreciation for the legendary Squire/White combination, but even the cat is worried about me

  • I really hate that when I try to study, I fall asleep. Holy shit, so inconvenient. Any suggestions for how to ease it?

    • sleep first get up early to study

      • Unfortunately it's due to my brain chemistry more so then tiredness, because the topic doesn't interest me and the questions confuse me, my brain shuts down as it's always seeking dopamine and this doesn't give me the dopamine I need. Lol. But I am going to try to go to sleep and wake up early to do more.

  • Had my alarm set for 6 am to do some morning Yoga. Even fell asleep before around 11 to get my normal 6-7 hours. Woke up a minute before the alarm, turned it off and closed my eyes for one second.

    Next thing I know my missus is waking me up at 7:30.

    Who can I blame for this?

  • I can hear a singer playing an acoustic version of Faith by George Michael. Such a lovely evening 💜

    • Nice! That, and Tracey Chapman's 'Fast Car', is the go to for every solo acoustic singer on a Sunday arvo at the pub.

  • It’s surprisingly warm atm so you know what I’m going to say. Get that Vitamin D in right now if you can. Go for a smoko? Idk 10 min break if you’re in the office. Whatever get that Sun and warmth. Who knows how long it’ll last. I can’t enjoy it as I’m about to go into an appointment. Have a bloody good day everyone!

    • Sunshine being enjoyed as instructed.

      Image is of a ginger cat, a black cat and a Jack Russell terrier enjoying the sunshine in a garden.

    • thank you goddess. I will do so after finishing lunch.

    • Shamelessly sat in the gutter of the work car park for 10 minutes because it's absolutely glorious in that sunshine!

      • No shame. I’ve sat in odd places when there was no seat, just long enough to either rest or eat. You do you and you got that Sun. That’s what matter! Enjoy the rest of the day! ☀️

    • I went outside for my dose of sun and it was glorious. Verily, did I see that not one, but three (!) ancient nasturtium seeds have germinated. This pleases the kitten.

  • FINALLY. The toil is over! I can sleep soundly for the rest of this week. I'm driving across town to show my face in the office tomorrow because there are still colleagues I like and they're doing a thing. But I think I'll need some extra effort not to be battery acid level sarcastic with certain people...

    e: the really good side of today is I had some unexpectedly lovely emails come through. I don't feel like I spiral as much as I did before with confrontation or feeling patronised/ignored. I have a much better sense of self worth and inner peace now and I'm not quite sure where that came from

  • it is better to pack a random bag of dirty clothes to the laundromat and miss a number of items than not do any laundry at all.

  • I have steak and veg for dinner. I'm doing a tray bake of the veg, and I have so much I'm not sure how I'll fit everything on the plate.

  • Well... that was a very circular and unproductive discussion with the boss and admin person. I'm left absolutely no clearer about where things are going and the business still wants to throw everything into my court without providing me enough information to make a decision. I guess that alone is information in itself. I'm so sleep deprived it was probably not the best frame of mind to understand what they were getting at anyway.

    Part of me is so over it all I'm tempted to just jump onto fb marketplace and start selling off all my stuff NOW and get away and get out of Melbourne within a month for a clean break and reset.

    Buuuut okay, first things first. Start with today. Make toastie. Eat toastie. Drink water. Do the image-insertion thing that I said I'd do (that'll be about 3 hours of mind numbing shit). Meeting at 3:30. Enter timesheet. Feed cat. Then go the fuck to sleep.

    • Take care of yourself. Nap before you snap.

      • I napped for a few hours early this morning. At this point now I'm too jangled to sleep until I get this shit out of the way and know it's finally done and dusted for the week.

        The good thing is I can probably take half of Thursday and all Friday off with how much time in lieu I've accumulated this week

  • Laying on the couch, wearing nothing but my oodie is such a pleasurable and decadent experience, it should be illegal.

    sigh bliss 😘

    • oodies are definitely bliss 🤭 I don't know if people know but they are so soft to the touch and very very snuggly

  • My guest has overstayed their welcome. I don't know how this fly got in but it's been hanging around and popping up randomly in the last few days but I found it following me to the loo just now for a two-ey and I think that's the last straw.

  • I wish I could knit and play Baldur's Gate at the same time...

    Edit: I feel like I could. It'd just be during cut scenes and combat. But sometimes they're so quick I won't be able to do the knitting.

  • Finally braved the cold to open the gates and it's still bloody foggy out there.
    In other news, the cats now love Coles Purr cat food. In fact Zooki loves it so much she shoved Sammi out of the way and helped herself from her plate. Usually it's the other way around...

  • I was a bit late getting to the food cupboard this evening and it was picked clean of everything except some spring onions. Which is actually pretty good news, both because onions are the main thing I need more of right now and because it means all the jeruselum artichokes I took up this afternoon are gone.

283 comments