Skip Navigation
281 comments

  • 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.

    • 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.

    • 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.

    • 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.

    • 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.

    • 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 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

  • 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 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.

  • 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

  • hmm i cbf today

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

  • 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.

  • 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

  • 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 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.

  • 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

  • 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.

    • 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.

    • 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 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.

  • 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.

  • 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...

  • Online Orders 1 Week Delivery Challenge update: order 2 of 4 has arrived today.

    This is the one which came from South Australia too, Auspost are killing it! My 2 remaining orders are from Catch so we'll see how that goes. I know one of them is being shipped by a 3rd party not Catch themselves.

  • I'm a little annoyed.. when I booked my US flights I wasn't able to select a seat, just set a preference for Window or Aisle. At some point between then and now, they enabled to ability to select seats without telling me and other people have taken all ones I would have chosen. I only had the choice of these 2 seats (screenshot of plane seat map):

    So I've naturally picked the aisle because what maniac wouldn't?

    I still can't select a seat for the return flight but I'll just have to keep checking until I can so I don't get shafted with a middle seat or something.

    • to LA it's mostly ocean so there isn't much to see, water half way there and then cloud

      except sometimes the tropical isles, which look like bright jewels during the day and at night you see the lights of the little villages on the beaches that circle the islands

      I admit, flying is a beautiful experience that we are lucky to have .

      • I admit, flying is a most beautiful experience that we are lucky to experience

        Not if your plane is delayed for 8 hrs and you hit the booze at the lounge, cop a middle row and 15 people are lining up for the toilet as soon as the seatbelt light goes off.

      • It wasn't so much the view, it was so I could have a white russian and go ni-nighs uninterrupted. I've just submitted bids to upgrade to business.. screw it, let's spend some money lol

        Fingers crossed my bids get accepted.. it's an extra $1500 ($750 each way) but it'd still be a lot cheaper than paying for business by several thousands of dollars.

  • Fuck family are annoying. Mum still refuses to do some ten minute reads about having a trans kid so she still treats me like a fucking man. My son was asked to house sit for my sister for a fortnight, so she just plonked herself along. Now I can't stand to see her because it fucks with my head so I'm missing quality son time, which I've been missing a lot, cos he's terrible at messaging, but super present when we spend time together. He was the first person to know I'm trans and has been awesome.

    Mum called me daddy yesterday and has a very, you're a certain aged person when I was excitedly showing them how my baldness is receding, I've told her a dozen fucking times I'm a 14 year old girl mentally right now. Can you please show the same sensitivity? Acceptance of my new superficialities are nowhere near enough. Her and my sister have been very no, you tell us what you're going through, even though I've explained multiple times that it's painful to talk about the insensitivities they show. There's so much support around for families of trans people, I've given them the advice and showed them how to access it. As I've stated again, multiple times, if I had autism or was blind, they'd be across it of their own volition, but this all comes across like they think I have some kind of choice over this. I've had so many shitty experiences with being trans in the last month and it's starting taking a toll.

    Journal entry no 311 dated 8/8/23 kthxbye

    • but you don't have the life experience or education of a 14 year old girl, this experience may be new to you but you have context and a grown up brain

      just be you , big hugs ,

      your mum will come around, she's had fewer hours of contact time with you than you've had, you have 24/24, she has maybe a few hours a week

      • This is true, but I have almost no experience in dealing with female emotions, a noticeable cycle and the daily stresses of being misgendered, laughed at. I'm starting to hate the straight world. So many people say they're allies, but they really don't get it. Pronouns are a good start but most people ultimately won't try too hard. Which is fair enough, everyone has their own shit going on. Lots of gays and cis queers don't get it either and a lot of trans people gatekeep it and pick at others, generally projecting their own insecurities or expressing their envy toward the fact I've never shied away from indulging my femininity and they became toxic males to mask their own internalised transphobia.

        My baseline happiness is a lot better than a year ago and I am making a lot of good choices now, due to yes, life experience and because I finally feel like I own my body.

    • sounds like your kid is a good one - you've done good there, right on.

    • Put your foot down, seriously. 'cos she's not gonna change unless you drop a very large ACME-style anvil on her head.

      • I mean I have, a few times now. Asked her to please reach out to other parents of trans kids. She doesn't think it will help, but if she refuses again, I'll take a leaf out of my sister's book and find other people to talk to.

    • I'm sending warm positive loving vibes in your direction because this stuff is infuriating and hurtful for you and sad. If there's one person in your life who should be accepting and making an effort to understand it's your mum. She should take a leaf out of your son's book by the sound of it.

      • I've told her again, she said she read something and will be better. I've asked her what she read and told her I can't keep getting the point of exhaustion and frustration. I spelled this out very clearly a couple of months ago and have put noticeable distance between us in the meantime. Time will tell.

  • It was a lovely afternoon for gardening. I did some weeding in the front yard and divided up the jeruselum artichokes. I was thinking I would just spread them out a bit and not eat much this year because I only planted a few small pieces last year, but they are really prolific - I ended up with a box full to eat! I also cut a couple of fennel bulbs which are growing really well this year.

    • Once you have Jerusalem artichokes, you have them for life. If there is a vegetable that NEEDS to be grown in a pot, its them and mint. Just to keep them under something resembling control. Learned my lesson on that a while back. Also, be prepared for stinky pee after eating them. They are even more notorious than asparagus for that. Yummy though. I like them steamed with garlic butter, and I don't bother peeling the very young ones. There are some very good soups made with purees of the cooked tubers.
      PS the only way to get rid of them entirely is to hire a neighbour's pig to rootle up all the tubers. Which they will do very eagerly.

      • They are along the driveway, so the only way they can escape is into the patch of weeds that counts as lawn between my property and next door. I presume the lawn mower would keep them down if they try it.

        I've only had them once before, in a soup. I plan to try roasting them tonight, and I enough to try out every possible option over time! I'll donate some to the food cupboard too, share the stinky pee around.

      • I’ve tried the artichokes before but they were so hard to prepared because I was trying to peel them.

        They’re very delicious roasted in the oven though.

    • I love them, and I especially love the plant! We grew them once and my MIL hated that she couldn't just grub out the plant whenever she wanted. "Just wait until the leaves fall and the plant starts to dry out!" she was repeatedly told. No patience with the garden. I loved how tall the plant grew and it's bright flowers, made an awesome backdrop for family photos for a while.

  • I LEFT PRAWNS ON THE BENCH TO DEFROST BEFORE I LEFT HOME 🫠

    • if your house has poor insulation and no heating in the kitchen and no direct sunlight they might still be fine

      • I tick two of the three boxes 🫠 I feel like I would've been better off leaving them outside of the place

281 comments