Melbourne

Batdog made it through the night. Fought strong and self soothed with a heartbeat bear and a blanket from his litter.

Still very clingy and not interested in food, but loves lots of cuddles, head scratches, and belly rubs.

Dog tax

Thanks for making the DailyThread cuavas 👍 the bot must be asleep

Feeling better today anxiety wise. A couple of jobs popped up on seek that sound pretty chill so I applied for both and now about to put some nuggets in the oven for lunchie munchies. Also having a laugh at the expense of the greek family next door renovating the rental that they own. They are having the most mundane, polite conversations but speaking to each other in a tone so aggressive that they sound like they're all about to have a punch on.

Seems like a chill kind of Sunday, today.

For some reason, I’ve taken a liking to motor inns recently. Something about budget, no frills you pretty much get what you expect is… comforting?

I’ve had the fortune of staying in nicer places, but they always seem to be… I don’t know maybe the higher the price the higher the expectation and the I don’t find they quite meet in the end.

Anyways, how is everyone?

porterhouse steak with mustard seeds mashed potato tonight

I'm knackered today. I keep walking into a room going "why am I in here again?" but I'll plod along.

I slept for about 12 hours and still feel tired, but not in an oversleeping kind of way. Also my legs are melted from my long walk yesterday and I also got bruised from how I was sitting on the bus back from Bendigo

Still, that was a fun trip and I'll do it all again one day

A teacher at my son’s high school apparently had no choice but to resign after displaying racism while teaching a class. It’s a very multicultural school, I didn’t expect this. But given the amount of racism I get from random strangers in Melbourne, I really shouldn’t be surprised. Looking at threads over on r/melbourne, the introverted and unwelcoming attitude that permeates the city is really obvious. Rationally, I know it isn’t everyone in Melbourne, but God damn these people make sure you notice them.

oops forgot to get up

I slept in much like Botbot but I don't feel refreshed. After being in a house in the burbs for a month, being back in an apartment has not been relaxing. The minor traffic noises of cars driving past even at night have been making me feel tense, let alone the downstairs neighbour's Sunday morning bass heavy music, the upstairs neighbour vacuuming, and random talking from the garden next door... Honestly it's making me feel like curling up in bed all day wanting it to stop. It sounds so silly and irrational that I don't feel safe in my own home from perfectly normal noises? I really don't think I can live in an apartment for a while 🙁

But I certainly can't afford to rent a townhouse or house in most of Melbourne and moving is expensive. If I'm going to move I'm honestly leaning towards just having a new start interstate...

I think this realisation is adding just that extra bit of fire towards making those big life decisions around work, study, family, etc... Luckily I'm cat/housesitting for a month again in a freestanding house, from the week after next. So I'll have more time to let those decisions fall into place.

The balcony looks a bit less sad. Took out a lot of dead stuff and crispy bits.

So I uninstalled BG3 and am reinstalling from scratch. Fingers crossed that it gets past 92% this time, but I won't know until tomorrow.

Least the download speed is jumping between 1.6MB/s and 3.0MB/s. Much better than .01.

I just want to fuck the bear ffs

Ate too much junk last night, but the coffee has got everything moving today 🚽

instant coffee has been achieved ( delicious and satisfying ) , also pb toast ( sans beurre because I'm not a savage )

Chicken tikka masala for dins. Marinade smelling gooood. Going to be served with heavily discounted store bought frozen samosa that tend to fall apart mid-frying with coriander chutney for the full quasi-experience.

spoiler

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Dinner is served. Again, two new dishes.

8 hour stovetop jackfruit in some storebought pulled pork jar sauce (mostly pear puree and smoked paprika??), with Carib flavours (allspice, thyme, two scotch bonnets from the garden added whole) and other bits (cinnamon stick, couple cloves, bay leaf, stock powder). The pot sucked arse so there's a whole bunch of burnt bits.

Plus steamed Brussels sprouts in butter with a sprinkle of sumac and salt, and basmati rice and a side of spicy fried fish from a jar

dinzzzz

White light needs to be banned, my eyes are turning to putty and my little noggin is going to explode.

the steak packaging has a sticker telling me to remove all packaging before microwaving

excuse me i am not microwaving a porterhouse steak

Day 18 of exercise program was completed. Looked for a quiet place in the house to do it, as I generally don't like exercising in front of people. Settled on the formal living room in my MILs part of the house and started, then she came in and chatted briefly and was about to go when Mr Peeler came in and started chatting as well. I felt a bit like an exhibit but continued regardless.

MIL is looking into her family history and we found out some really interesting stuff about an ancestor of hers who was a Baron, engineer, philanthropist and published expert in lighthouse optics among other things.

Miniest Peeler is not well, was coughing a bit this morning. I can tell because she suddenly starts sleeping during the day, something very unusual. Funny how when some people are sick they sleep a lot, and others (me) find it hard to sleep at all. I'm keeping an eye on her and will give her a RAT test when she wakes up. Probably caught something from the Petri dish, oops I mean primary school.

Loose bits of tobacco litter my desk;
I don't think about why I'm not at my best.
A pleasurable pain that fills up my chest,
I won't think about why I'm not at my best.
Losing control of this ship in distress,
Stormy seas drowning this vessel under duress.
I'm fighting my mind for my life in this test,
I don't think about why I'm not at my best.

TIL my local Aldi has in stock net bags of 10 small Hass avocadoes - each a bit bigger than a large egg - for cheap. I really like these as there is an acceptable flesh to pip ratio, and each avo is one serve so no half avos going brown and squidgy in the fridge. They are the end of season thinnings but I actually prefer them to the big ones.

Man I love the pizzas that baker delight. Just had a meat lovers and a mediterranean and i am not complaining

umm.. so it's time to check in for tomorrow's flight and just out of curiosity I hit the "change seat" button, mostly to see if the only other seat it let me pick was available, but now it shows several seats to pick! Including the exact seat I actually wanted (front row, window).

It is next to a bassinet seat which is also showing as available, so I'm taking the gamble and I've switched. My bid for an upgrade to business class still might come through anyway but if it doesn't, at least I got the seat I was hoping for now and I can cuddle up against the plane wall rather than potentially a passenger.

Pray to the flying spaghetti monster with me friends that no baby is in the seat next to mine..

Strongly advise staying away from the city today; RMIT Open Day has everything at a standstill, it's pandemonium out here

Finally got approval for work to pay for my first aid renewal, hell yeah!!

I have bought 2 different coffees from 2 different McDonald'ses today, my usual order, and both have tasted like hot milk. They're coffee coloured but I cannot taste coffee in them at all.

This is where someone tells me I've probably got COVID for the first time ever, 24 hours from my flight to the US.

More likely explanation is the McEmployees making McCoffees today McSuck.

I suppose I should start cooking dinner now. It's gonna be chilli with macaroni and melted cheese on top

AAMI Park will be open on Wednesday to watch AUS vs ENG. Free!

So I got an appointment with my psych on Thursday which is great, but it's at 8:30 in the morning and I have work at 11, so I'll have to go to my psych, have the appointment, go home (all uber because there it's located is not near the train station or busses), and then uber back to work.

I have turned my apartment and my old bedroom at my parents place upside down trying to find my little travel pack I've been using for a decade or so, which is just my deflated-inflatable neck travel pillow and an eye mask tied together for easy stashing. Looks like I'll need to buy new ones before tomorrow night.

I've always kept it in a place where it'd be really obvious for when it's time to travel.. but it's not in any of those places. The thing which gets me is that I'm 100% sure it'll just appear once I get back from my holiday.

So the chicken tikka masala (nagi's) was really very good. No photo though :(