Daily Discussion Thread:🎯 Sun 24 Mar 2024

I take this medicine which is an opiate blocker. It's kind of a "in case of emergency" sort of thing.

My doctor fucked up the injection. Badly. And it reduced the efficacy of my anti depressent to zero. Which is a bad time. A real bad time.

I've just started feeling normal again tonight.

As much as it fucking sucked the last few days, it's nice to be normal again.

just take care 🤗

The nearby social housing residents are really acting up this week. Screamy guy was yelling incoherently at the neighbours with the disabled moaning kid a couple days ago and had a few flare ups. Loud exhaust guy has been around. And tonight there's some male voice making repeated monotone "aah, aah, aah" sounds that have been so consistent that I thought it was a frog for a while. Mixed in with screamy guy. In a way I look forward to the cold when I can close my windows all night and not have to hear all this...

Ear plugs are your friends. I recommend Happy Ears ear plugs.
The part I struggle with, is that I want people who are in need, to have a place to call home.

But what do you do when it comes with all these kinds of issues?

I think I'd struggle to cope.
- The housing first model is absolutely needed. Unfortunately Australia often stops at housing (if even doing that) and just warehouses people. So there's a really bad mix of vulnerable people in with aggressive people or challenging behaviours, little to no support or oversight, and a lot of issues arise.
  
  Basically I tolerate it until my safety is on the line.
- Yeah, I have the same thoughts. Speaking from my experience with Resi, people often feed off of each other's energy and vibes, and it's hard to treat somewhere with respect when nobody else cares. In the case of public housing towers, that can mean anything from not giving a shit about how noisy you are when nobody else does either, to littering or graffitiing because why not?
  
  The only 2 ideas that come to mind are either: not allowing such behaviour and evicting people who don't behave in an acceptable manner (not great since then a lot of people would have no choice except homelessness, and there's a very big power imbalance), or spread everybody out into the wider community with little units or similar (not great since that would be very expensive, and can you imagine the NIMBYism everybody would kick up if they tried?).
  
  There's also other options, although to be effective enough they'd also need to be combined with other things, like better mental health care, generally affordable housing, less institutionalisation through incarceration and similar, etc
  
  I know how much those housing towers suck. I've never been in one, but I have been in a housing commission flat out in the country and that wasn't great. I'll be honest, I would never consider living in one of those housing towers. I would genuinely rather be homeless than live in one. So I can't exactly say I blame the people there for very much at all

See you soon, Melbourne!

You are the sun that shines on all of us. 🌞
- Aw thanks seagoon ♥️
it's glooooooomy here
- Sun just came out! Welcome back 🌞
- I just saw
  
  Typical Melbourne welcome 🙄

The gym can be a fascinating place. Today I saw a species I haven't seen in a long time:

The "wander around flexing guy"

This particular species generally uses light weights to squat, then does a loop of the gym huffing and puffing. In what I assume is an attempted display of domination. When no one pays any attention to him, he may repeat the loop and extend his arms out to assume a larger stature.

This character also never puts his stuff back.

Oh I saw their sister species, the "do laps of the block revving the engine" guy last night.

This particular species, generally drives a fancy car they definitely can't afford, although they have occasionally been spotted in Holden's, usually red in colour. They usually slam on the brakes at the first sight of an orange light just for another opportunity to rev their engine until it sounds like it's on the verge of exploding. Other dropkick behaviours including (but not limited to): cat calling women, speeding, blasting doof doof, running red lights, cutting people off, and trying to run pedestrians over had also been observed in a large portion of them.

This character almost always drives either a red or yellow car.
- Oh I went to high school with that sub type. It's amazing to see them grow up and still act the exact same way.
  
  I remember I was walking around with my white girlfriend and one of those guys yells out "pick a white guy next time".
  
  Classic.
- The less said about their behaviour towards cyclists the better. In my youth, the car to be afraid of was a yellow Merc driven by a fat man smoking a cigar. Or any car driven by someone wearing a hat. Does this still apply?

I'm using up the last of my tomato harvest to make soup. The recipe is made up as I go, and at the moment it's oven roasted tomatoes, garlic and onion, simmering away with some vegie stock from the freezer and a bit of bacon for pizzaz. I have no idea what it's going to end up like but it smells sensational.

Fully approve of oven roasting the toms before soupifying them. They lose water and the flavour intensifies amazingly. When can I come over and do some quality control testing ?????
- Any time! Its done, pureed and added a dash of cream and its sensational with some homebaked spelt sourdough toast.

I am a grown up, responsible human. I also just found two skittles underneath the couch cushion and ate them.

Lol.

I hope they're not second hand if you have a pet.
- Oooh no...little cousin...I think they were first hand
How old do you think they were?
- A couple weeks? I figured the shelf life is waaay longer

I made fried rice on my teppanyaki plate that I've had for about 20 years but never used it until now. The rice was fantastic. The only problem was the bacon trying to escape. I have an oily clean up now.

I'm far to messy to attempt cooking on something without sides!
That is a work of art.
🤤
what a great idea
That's it, fried rice on the menu next week for my packed lunch. Craving one with some delicious sesame oil and chopped up shiitake
That's some yummy looking rice for sure. I'm also loving what I can see of your wall tiles. One of my hobbies is pretending I have the resources to buy a house or apartment and browsing through listings, and the abundance of places with "greige" interiors is really disheartening when I like to see a bit of character and colour.
- Here's a better pic. I fell asleep. I still haven't cleaned up lol.
- I too have been admiring CEO's tiles.
Yuummmoo!
Looks tasty!!!!

Not too bad a day today. I faffed my speech but eh, it was flipped at the last minute so I can now see it wasn't really on me. Plus first speech and all that. I was summoned onto the stage with a bunch of other "young consultants" as they call us and had to accept a scroll and a purple monkey, although I didn't need to speak (thank goodness) then we left.

We went down to Belair...

Then up to Gawler...

And then into the central Adelaide station...

Then we went to this cool little yank burger joint in the city, coincidentally called "yankee burgers"...

Although on the whole I've found Adelaide people to be more respectful and quiet than Melbourne, drunk people don't really care about norms and social expectations, so there was some gronk in a noisy red Holden and blaring music who was looping 3 blocks for about an hour, and all the drunkies yelling at each other below.

Then we went to Glenelg and did a Ferris wheel ride, apparently the last one of the night before they closed...

And yeah, I definitely get st Kilda vines from glenelgy, except I do not like st Kilda do I'm gonna say glensy is better

One more sleep and then I'll come back to the dark side (only quarter joking). See you soon, Melbourne heads!

Also, apparently despite a few unsavoury antics over the last few days, the Vic group was actually really well behaved. There's been a shit ton of rumours, but on confirmed behaviour, we haven't actually done anything. It's been the other states running amok. It's pretty much become state vs state. One of our group was even practically exiled for buying into the rumours. I am really happy to go home and not have any more drama though! Gossip and stupid drama is a solid 85% of the reason I despise school. At least I'll have a clean room though I guess

Sorry I haven't been very present for you guys recently - I've been trying to keep up on what's happening with everyone, but I haven't replied much
- Thank you so much for posting your adventures. We are lucky to have you. 😘
Great post and pics! Sounds like you're having a great time 😊
- It has been an overall good trip, although I'm really looking forward to having buses that actually go where I want them to go, and sleeping in my own bed!

I don't know why I cared enough to do this but I figured out how to split my mp3 audiobook out into chapters then merge them back together into a proper audiobook format which supports chapters. Now it looks like the real deal in the app! Literally does not change anything about the way I listen to it. The app already remembers where you left off etc but now I have ✨ CHAPTERS! ✨

What app?
- I used Audacity to split into chapters, then AudioBookConverter to create the audiobook

We're back after an anti-nausea shot and painkillers. The alternative was to hospitalise her which would be expensive and I don't think she needs it. I'm really hoping I have enough energy left in the tank to manage a visit to the regular vet this week.

I seem to be a bit of a cat magnet lately. We went past an orange one that didn't run away... I was a bit concerned about his eyes, skinniness and rapid breathing but he got up and gave me a sniff so seemed alright. Then the black cat was outside warming his/her bum on the water tank.

Cat rambles

Edit: I'm still thinking about that orange cat. The reason I was worried is that his (I'm assuming most likely his because orange) third eyelids were showing which is a health concern, and his eyes looked squinted and red. He was breathing a bit fast. And he looked skinny. His fur looked great but I didn't see a collar.

Unfortunately I've barely got enough physical ability right now to look after myself and my own cat. And doing anything would possibly involve bundling an unknown cat into my own cat's carrier (potentially contaminating it plus risking being bitten and scratched) and walking my exhausted disabled arse back to the emergency vet or getting a taxi to the other place to get him checked for a microchip. I really don't feel that I have the physical energy to do that right now and get my own cat to the vet.

When she's sorted and once I've recuperated from this demanding time I might walk around the block to see if he's around and if his eyes have improved... I'm hoping he has an owner.

Edit 2: It's highly possible that it's conjunctivitis from cat flu and highly contagious so I'm gonna wash my clothes he sniffed and the bedding I just lay on. If I can remember which house he was outside I might slip a note in the letterbox wondering if he's theirs and asking them to take him to the vet.

Is there a local cat rescue group in your area?
- I’ve seen him outside that place before so I think he lives there. I could drop a comment on a cat rescue group on Facebook but I don’t use FB, neglected to take a picture of him and don’t want to dox my area.
  
  I also risk nabbing an owned outside cat.
  
  It would help if someone else with more energy recognised him and stepped in. But it’s possible that I’d be pressured to do things that I was unable to afford the energy for or could get me into dramas. There are some divisive opinions on dealing with situations like this.
  
  Fuck I wish people would care for their animals
  
  Edit: The emergency place suggested calling the council after hours but idk if he’s still there.
  
  I should have dropped my cat off at home, come back with a towel and treats and walked back to the emergency clinic with him but I was already in a fair amount of pain, didn’t want to leave my sick cat alone at home and didn’t want to get bitten or scratched. I should have called the council when I got home but I physically passed out from exhaustion.
  
  Guess I’ll add that council call to my list for morning.

The fucking F1 cars have been at it since 7 😭 it's basically in my back yard and it's louuuuud

The Grand Pricks.
- I'll be honest - I've always thought the GP and car racing in general are kind of stupid. I don't like most sports and similar events, but I wouldn't go as far as to outright call most of them stupid, except the GP. Seems like such a waste of everything. But I suppose it brings in those tourist $$ so it'll be what it'll be I guess
I'm 7 kms away on the north east side of town and I can bloody hear them from here!!!!
- Oh thank God it's not just me. I thought I was going crazy here in Fitzroy North. I thought surely that can't be what I'm hearing.
- Docklands here and I can't hear nuffin. About 4km away from the track. I just opened my balcony to check but maybe they're not racing right now either.
I hear children playing in the distance and birdsong 😎
It's one weekend. Grin and bear it. Or buy a ticket and enjoy it for what it's good for. Whichever.
- I agree, in context it's totally fine. I'm still allowed to bitch about it each year though
I’d take that over the stupid tradies I have here working on gutters. So bloody noisy on the roof it’s disturbing me and I can’t even hear the F1 over them.

Ooo I'm a celebrity get me out of here is on tonight. I love watching idiots eat sheep dick and maggots for cash while I'm munching on my twisties.

If the celebs are eating sheep dick who is eating the roast?
- The camera crew.

I love how much skinnier I look after a long sleep in!

this actually might be true

our spine elongates when we lie down and sleep and we get taller
- I think water loss from not having had fluids for an extended period of time also helps.

Need to find my big fat red pen and go for a second walk. Local church is advertising “stripping of the alter” 🙄

Even with the correct spelling I have no idea what that is

E: am now enlightened, thanks google!
- I think it’s a complicated way of saying Spring cleaning I must wash the tablecloth, in Northern Hemisphere.

Feels like I'm getting sick. No idea if it's just from being pushed into a flare (which I definitely have been), allergies, or if it's something caught on the bus. I avoided risks for so damn long but needed something and it was too far to walk... I was stupid to forget my mask.

I've put a cloth mask on around the cat just in case. She's still seeming painful, I heated her wheat bag and am trying to get her to rest her ear on it. Guess I rest up until Monday, do a RAT, and then if it's negative with no text back I'll see about getting her back to the vet myself

Edit: Yeah she's vomited again. Repeatedly. I've applied through the website for them to ring me about making an appointment and will ring to check how busy emergency is after handover.

Have a good sleep everyone. 😘

Well, I was an idiot. Forgot about the GP and got stuck on Lygon. Thank goodness it didn’t take too long.

Still a snot block. If I don’t kick it this week, might be anti-biotics for me. I might not have had them since I was a teen?

Here’s to hoping I don’t have to…

Everyone in my house is sick to a degree and coughing. The kids aren't too bad. But Mr P (the worst hit) has taken to wandering out to the kitchen, forgetting why he's there and coughing wetly all over the place. I've taken to hovering around there so I can chase him out lol. If you're sick and you need something, ask! I'm taking my favourite herbal sachet things (Sido Muncul Tolak Angin Flu in the blue packet) as a preventative (works for me) but nobody else likes them. Admittedly they are pretty full on, but I like that sort of thing.

In other news I made waffles.

Yes, I know FB is a general plague, but WTF is with getting tagged in Everybody posts of groups I left years ago? Some sort of residual data thing that is very not ok.

I can't believe it's the day before the bad day that went quick!

Soo!! we need a rave choon..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIelfwl46tE

Also the BoM forecast is interesting. 3 days of low 30's again here we go :) Chillies will be losing their shit over this. It has been a good season.

I need my manzano to hurry up and do its thing because otherwise I suspect it'll be holding onto big green chillis through all of winter.
- I've got about 50 manzano chilis still growing. I just want them to get big, they can ripen on a window sill
Maybe I'll get a few more ripe jalapenos to volunteer for my chipotle plans.

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

Bacon, eggs, hollandaise on an English muffin please! I'm late to the hollandaise party. So good but I feel like it's hardly ever on breakfast menus anymore ☹️
- 🥓🥚🥚🍯
  🥯
- It's good when it's good. During the hollandaise craze before covid, a lot of places bought the stuff ready made in a plastic bag and it was HORRIBLE. Also is a good breeding ground for bacteria, so order from a reputable supplier only imo. Or learn to make it yourself, which is not particularly easy but is by far the best.
Roast goose and frumenty please
- 🔥🪿🥣
Fun fact: in a recent study, Burmese python proved to be the most efficient source of farmed protein. In light of that, can I please have bacon and eggs on toast?
- 🐍🥓🍳🍳
  🍞
Goat burgers and slaw please
- 🐐🍔🥬

Welp I finished the 3rd Annihilation audiobook today/tonight on my drive. Still a little confused about what exactly was going on but I think maybe that's the point.

Saw someone mention World War Z so I went hunting for how I can listen to that one. Turns out it's not available as part of the Spotify Premium audiobooks and there was no option I could find besides buying it sooooo I may have hit the high seas. I could only find a version of the cool 2013 edition in like 92 WAV files and every 10th had overlapping parts so I stayed up late merging them all into 1 big MP3 and getting rid of the overlaps so it's nice and smooth. Found a great Audiobook player for Android which has Android Auto support called Smart Audiobook Player and was more than happy to right away pay the $3.29 or whatever it was for the full version after giving it a quick try.

It's a fantastic app from what I can see. It's how apps should be.. like they used to be before everyone started charging subscription fees.

I've driven Kia's, Mazda's, and Toyota's, and all of them have a strange issue: whenever inside my apartment complex parking area, the driver controlled power windows either don't work at all, or work unreliably. While everywhere else, it works perfectly.

Clean the contacts
- For brand new cars also?
  
  (some of the rentals with the issue are pretty much brand new 2023 model with only 1500-4000km on it, plus the car we bought, all had exactly the same problem at the same complex)

Such a lovely day today. Just taking it easy and doing a few easy and necessary chores. 🌞😊

Just watched another Brazilian movie with Leandro Hassam, the funny guy. It was so loud and chaotic I found it exhausting ...lol. But I do love watching any South American movie or tv series. All genres. Even telenovelas. I haven't seen one show yet where the depiction of characters or writing was bad. Except maybe The Chosen, that was a copy of Green Frontier but Green Frontier was pretty much incredible and makes everything similar look amateurish.

Jamie Dutton has to be the most annoying character in Yellowstone. So snivelling and easily manipulated.

Pacific Drive. Is. Infuriating.