Melbourne

It has been 4 weeks since we had to help our little dog sleep for the last time. We had 18 extra healthy and happy months with him because of chemotherapy.. when we were told to expect a couple of weeks if we didn't get chemo. It comes and goes in waves but I miss his tiny little furry body and his chatter. We made those 18 months count, he even went on a 2 week roadtrip adventure with us when we drove to WA Image: A smiling Pomeranian pleased with his new haircut.

Good morning all!

Thankyou all for your responses yesterday, they were too many and varied in nature to respond to individually in the detail I would have liked to give, but thankyou for taking the time and for your support.

I arrived home last night to be greeted by a very humbled, remorseful and apologetic Mr Peeler. The fine gave him a big shock, and when I saw it I could see why. A good mate of his had ripped into him about it before I got home, saying 2 kmph more and he would have lost his licence and gotten an $800 fine.. and then I probably would have pretty understandable grounds for a separation.

He has been seeing a psychologist about his depression & anxiety, which he was considering discontinuing due to the emotions it was dredging up. It was on the way home from one of these sessions that the speeding occurred. At my insistence he will continue the therapy and discuss what has happened and talk more productively about strategies to manage those feelings, but take time out after the session and sit in the park or take a walk before he gets behind the wheel, take time to decompress.

Today he will arrange for installments to be taken out of his fortnightly money, and I made it clear that, given all the other support ihave already given I am drawing the line very firmly on this one.

I also made it clear how disgusted I was about the drink before picking up the kids, and he knew given the circumstances there was no point arguing. The friend he visited is a flagrant alcoholic with a death wish, and he can visit that person after he's dropped the kids at home or on the weekend, but absolutely not during the day. He also needs to discuss this with the therapist. Visiting this guy is like a trap, everyone ends up drinking there. It's why I don't visit him anymore either, and I used to count him as a friend.

Finally, I asked if he felt I was being unreasonable in any of this, and he said no. I then told him that, given he agreed its fair and reasonable, if any of these things are not done, then I will end the relationship. Let's see how it goes.

Oh by the way I did my exercises, day 26 and I think 9 or 10 of tummy, I lost track. And I'm still off the grog. Have a lovely day everyone!

Interview done, I think it went well. Even if it didn't, I was still cute so it's fine (im trying to be positive about my looks ugh).

Cousin invited me to go to the european food market thingy tonight, so I suddenly have Friday night plans yay!!

Look what my daughter bought me.

Image of 3 Snoopy face washers.

I ♥ Snoopy

City thoughts: it smells like cigarettes and it makes me want one gorram it.

Men with long hair, and ponytails 😍🤤

Women are beautiful 😍🤤

Was gonna head out to a gig but I'm not travelling 1.5hrs each way by PT only to buy an $11 melbourne bitter and pretend everything is okay.

Instead I'm doing sushi.

So update on the unplanned emergency chips I did last night.

Didn't have white vinegar to put in the water for parboiling so subbed with apple cider vinegar and it was the same.

Also chicken and cashew is a good emergency main even if you don't have cashews.

5 days. Bots going strong

Hugs and sympathies to all those feelin a bit down tonight. Seems like there’s a few that need a Friday night under the covers watching tv. Look after yourselves.

Normally we drink Pure Blondes but tonight we thought we'd give Aldi's Natural Blondes a go and it's turned out to be a big big fucking no no. It tastes like it's been filtered through hay. Luckily we have back ups. This is a PSA. Don't make the same mistake guys.

I'm starting to get sick of online communities (present company excluded) - namely how much people are willing to complain about something while continually consuming it. Two recent cases come to mind:

1. Diablo IV - people were upset with Blizzard that it was online only, and then they were upset about it being so heavily monetised, then they were upset with its recent updates (sending the user score on Metacritic below 5). And yet they STILL continue to play it, constantly. Blizzard won't give a shit about your complaints if people are still consuming it.

and

2. Reddit - particularly, the new r/Places that has opened up. The complaints in there about how it seems that bots are destroying the very essence of the "game", and that mods are sabotaging anything against u/spez... as if they didn't think this would happen anyway after the last few months. And yet people still continually use the platform.

I knew this day would happen. Forgot my ADHD meds at home, so now I'm feeling very... Not focused. Ugh.

Good thing it's not too busy at work I suppose.

I'm trying to defend Bluey on r/place but next door someone's turning MY LITTLE PONY into SLIMY LITTLE PENIS which I'm finding funny but also disturbing.

Today is shit. Everything is hard

I'm doing some of tomorrow's cooking today. 12 home made naans and a big apricot layer cake. Tonight's dinner is already done. Sometimes cooking mass quantities is a time and mind saver.

I've got just over 2 full days left before the big move. It's a lot easier to cope with now that I've been to the house a few times, know it's not a shithole and I've met the lead tenant mentor people and know they're alright. I'm still a bit annoyed by the whole being forced to move in before I'm ready thing, but I'm trying not to think about it too much because it's kinda just a waste of energy and emotion

There's 1 other kid there at the moment, and he was meant to move to a different place today, but then the supreme beings of child protection changed the date yesterday, because of course they did. So my move in was pulled a week forward, and his move-out was pushed a week back, but from what I've been told (I haven't been able to meet him), he seems chill and does stuff most of the day, so things should be alright. But if worse comes to worse, he's only there for 4 days after I move in anyway

Not a care in the world

spoiler

ALT TEXT: A kitty called kushkie at Glenrowan Ned Kelly museum

Just got an email from a colleague congratulating me on my Quarterly Awards nomination at work.. HR have put my name as the nominee when I was the one nominated my teammate :(

Now everybody who would have seen the bulletin would think I did something cool. I've sent an email to HR to fix it but nobody is going back to check updates to a bulletin. For absolute fucks sake. I know both of our names start with B (I'm Brad, he's Ben) but that's about whether the similarities end!

All is good with the world when one gets a haircut.

I’ve had mulled wine, a bratwurst and some cherry strudel with custard. Das ist gut

I was just sitting here thinking about what I'll do this weekend. I might go dust off my golf clubs and hit a driving range. I haven't even looked at my golf clubs for... I honestly don't even know how long. Has to be approaching a decade though. There's probably going to be spiders in the bag....

Cheers astronauts 🍻 🚀

I have got the sads today...just gotta sink sink sink to the imaginary bottom of the ocean where the peace and quiet is....

Going to Port Melb in the arvo for this interview, via Southern Cross. Will prolly end up finding a place to have a quick drink afterwards in the cbd looool healthy coping strategies whoo!

The university system to let you connect with other students in not working properly to upload photos for my avatar, so I have had to use the system to draw my own.

This is now me.

Image: A really bad drawing that looks nothing like me.

It is still better than the default avatar it gave me, which looked a bit like Donald Trump.

Edit: I've been saved! I discovered it has an AI art generator.

This is the new me

Image: Dog in a straw hat, doing some gardening in a flower filled garden.

I am scared by sea surface temperature anomalies.

I am a doomer at heart but it's a lot of anomaly.

Part 2

Well I think I may have to resign myself to letting my partner just discharge herself though I’m worried about how she’s going to make her way home by herself in such a fragile state

Arguably there are some downsides to having someone who is slightly stubborn and a strong will even if it does seem broken at the moment.

Been trying to convince her not to discharge herself because I think we lose all the aid of home services we organised but it might be for the best.

sigh

For context she’s been stuck in hospital for 3 years or more and she was about to go home but got told she has to stay another week and got her hopes dashed again of going home so she’s been very emotional today after having the high of going home then having it crushed to deal with another medical problem where we’re not I a position to treat it at home due to cost.

Edit: a nurse overheard a phone conversation we had and has organised for my partner to wear a security bracelet so she can’t leave.

Its a rare two coffee kind of day but I realise it sometimes is like trying to change gears or pedal response or one of those things that make you zoom faster... but the low fuel light is still on and your oil filter is clogged 🤪

I just need to make it to the servo (weekend) after doing all my deliveries (stupid damn emails) ... Even if I'm limping along at the end. I don't want to think of this shit for the next two days. Still need to work out a way forward with my boss too

how can an official soundtrack have some songs that aren't available for streaming? - eg.

Bladerunner 2049

___

Good bot. One of these days you'll know how to use these 📌📌📌📌📌📌📌

I'm going to sleep to Eno again tonight. Cleared one out of five work backlog jobs thankfully. Yay!

Sauna ✅

New king sized bed arrives tomorrow. Time to go wash the new sheets in preparation.

Excited!!

Wakey wakey everyone! It's Friday! And even though it's cold, there's only a slight chance of a shower and the wind will be light. So with a bit of luck we won't freeze today.

Rudely awakened by Spam callers. A plague upon all such scum.

Balcony Cat has returned for another visit!

I am doing a terrible job of studying today. It is nice and sunny outside, so I think that I'll go and do some weeding. That will obviously help me get in the right mindset to study and is in no way another avoidance tactic.

Microsoft Word turned one of my dot points red, and I have no idea why. I've just submitted the assignment with one random red dot.

Marketplace sale finalised, paid for and in the mail. I really love technology and how much easier it makes these things. Having started off in the days of the Trading Post where everything was slow and difficult I am constantly impressed by how things work now. Being able to take photos of an item, share them with an offer to sell (for free, with no word limit!) and have the item sold, paid for and posted the next day is an amazing advancement. Being able to print a postage paid label at home (from the money the buyer gave me) and provide a tracking number for the buyer to get updates, with services linking together pretty seamlessly, is just icing on the cake.